BlackBerry Kickstart Details
Posted by tehreem | Filed under Blackberry, Cellphonenews, Industry news, Mobile Industry
We’ve seen it, seen it in more detail and seen how it works, but now we know just what it brings to the table. UK online retailer Expansys has put product pages up for the Kickstart (Pearl?) 8210 and 8220. As always, the 10 indicates the device has GPS and the 20 indicates Wi-Fi. It looks like they will come in red and black initially, but knowing RIM we’ll have a full rainbow of colors when all is said and done.
The details are:
• Dimensions: - 101.6x 50.8 x 17.18 mm
• Weight: 101.2g
• Battery: - Capacity: 900mAh
• Display: - 240 x 320 pixels/2.6 inch (Main) - Secondry 160 x 128 pixels (Secondary)
• Network: - GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 (Quad-Band)
• Camera: - 2 mega-pixels (auto-focus) - 5 x Digital Zoom - LED Flash
• Video: - Video Recording - Supported formats: MP4, 3GPP, H.264 & DivX
• Music: - Supported formats: MP3, AAC, eAAC+ & WMA
• Ringtones: - Monophonic - Polyphonic - MP3 - AAC
• Messaging: - SMS - MMS (with video) - E-mail (POP3, SMTP, IMAP4, MS Exchange, BlackBerry) - Instant Messaging (Yahoo! & Google Talk)
Tags: Blackberry, BlackBerry Kickstart, cell phone, Cellphone, Mobile Phone, Mobile Phone News, mobilephone, RIM, Wi-Fi
Samsung i900 Omnia review
Posted by tehreem | Filed under Mobile Industry, Mobile review, Samsung
Now that the dust of the Diamond vs. Omnia PocketPC battle settles down, our up close and personal look at the rivals continues with Samsung i900 Omnia. Slick looks, great feature-pack and ingenious software solutions are things that hold true for the i900 Omnia in the same extent as for the Diamond.
And since the Samsung i900 Omnia boasts loads of character and personality it’s no wonder it holds the crowd hooked ever since it was announced. The first five megapixel Windows Mobile cameraphone has inspired quite a following and now that it’s already market available in Europe we are more than happy to welcome the Omnia back after a well deserved breather. Well then, we’ve seen it race, let’s watch it cruise.
Key features:
- Quad-band GSM support
- 3G with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
- Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS
- 624MHz Marvell PXA312 CPU and 128 MB RAM
- 3.2″ 65K-color touchscreen with resolution of 240 x 400 pixels
- 5 megapixel autofocus camera with wide dynamic range mode, face tracking, smile detection, geotagging
- 8 to 16 GB of storage memory, microSD expansion
- Built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS
- Wi-Fi
- Stereo Bluetooth and USB connectivity
- FM radio with RDS
- Optical joystick with virtual mouse functionality
- Built-in accelerometer for auto screen rotation and call muting
- TV-out
- Solid build and great finish
- Slick design and slim body
- Nice battery life
- Fast response and performance
- Excellent thumb-optimized software package
- Thumbable virtual QWERTY keyboard with optional landscape mode
- TouchWiz UI
- DivX video support right out of the box
- Above average audio quality
- Headset comes with a 3.5mm audio jack
Main disadvantages:
- No stylus slot
- Poor sunlight legibility
- Memory card not hot-swappable
- Non-standard display resolution
- No dedicated 3D accelerator
- Non-standard USB port
- Web browser lacks real Flash support
The PocketPC mid-season may as well be a hush before the storm with the HTC Touch Pro and Xperia waiting to be unleashed. But for now we have two other bitter rivals to keep us busy: Samsung i900 Omnia and HTC Touch Diamond. It truly is a great achievement for Samsung to have a gadget fit to stand up to the top PocketPC manufacturer HTC.
The two devices are doing a great job standing their ground to the Apple iPhone 3G and it’s no wonder since each of them is technically more advanced than Apple’s creation. In fact, they have a lot of things in common with the iPhone - the full Touch UI, the nice multimedia capabilities and the superior web browsing experience. But we digress.
We already saw the Diamond and Omnia in action and you’re free to replay the game here. The Diamond surely has a few things to offer over the Omnia (VGA screen, smaller size, 3D acceleration, and magnetic stylus) but it also has its issues here and there to make it a tough call indeed. We do hope however that this review will bring you a little closer to deciding your allegiance.
Tags: , Mobile Phone review, Omnia, Samsung i900 Omnia, Samsung i900 Omnia Review, samsung mobile phone
Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte Revealed
Posted by tehreem | Filed under Cellphonenews, Industry news, Mobile Industry, Nokia
Nokia introduced today a new addition to its premium Arte-series. The new Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte stays faithful to the family tradition, and the exquisite finish is yet again tinged with a touch of distinctive personality.
Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte is cast in the same mold as the Arte and the Sapphire Arte. The materials used are different this time, carbon fiber with etched 3D patterns dominating the exterior. And yes, it does remind us of the LG KF750 Secret’s battery cover too.
The new Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte will feature the turn-to-mute and tap-for time features that we got to know in the original Arte. Those use the built-in accelerometer to show the time by simply taping twice on the case or mute calls by turning it over. In fact, the only difference in functionality is the internal memory, which has grown to 4GB now.
Tags: Arte-series, Carbon Arte, cell phone, handset, Mobile Phone, Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte, Nokia cellphone, Nokia Mobile Phone
HTC Dream Received FCC Approval
Posted by tehreem | Filed under Cellphonenews, HTC, Industry news, Mobile Industry, T-Mobile
The long rumored HTC Dream handset — once referred to as “The Googlephone” — just received FCC approval. The handset is listed as type, “Dream’ with a model of “DREA100.” The same model also appears with a WiFi Interoperability Certificate touting 802.11b/g WiFi. If indeed this is the long awaited Android phone, then T-Mobile, HTC, and Google are free to announce in September with an October launch as originally planned. FCC label with that DREA100 moniker pictured after the break.
Tags: FCC, handset, HTC, HTC Dream, HTC Dream handset, htc mobile, htc phones, htc smartphone
Nokia E71: Review
Posted by tehreem | Filed under Mobile review, Nokia
Nokia’s new E71 is the company’s 3rd try at the popular “BlackBerry” form factor of business smartphones. The original Nokia E61/E62 handsets had the right basic shape, but were thicker and overall bulkier than those from the competition at the time. The E61i improved on that, but still wasn’t quite capable of going toe to toe with the best on offer from the likes of HTC and RIM. But with the E71, Nokia has shown that it can be a leader in this space. The E71 has a great spec sheet, a slim and solid body, and the powerful S60/Symbian system lurking inside. We give it a thorough thrashing to see how it holds up.
Physical Aspects
The E71 is a very solidly built smartphone. Its body is largely made up of strong metal panels, and its solid 129g (4.5oz) weight inspires a lot of confidence, even if it is a fair bit heavier than some competing models. In spite of its weight, though, the E71 is very compact. It measures only 115mm x 57mm x 11mm (4.5″ x 2.2″ x .4″) in size. That’s a hair longer, but a few millimeters narrower and 1mm thinner than Samsung’s svelte BlackJack II.
The front of the E71 consists of two main features, the 2.4″ QVGA resolution display and the QWERTY keyboard and associated navigation buttons. The display is a bit small for my liking, but if the display had been any larger then the entire device would have grown in size and E71 would lose some of its pocketability. The display is reasonably bright and colorful, and the automatic backlight adjustment setting manages the screen’s battery drain pretty nicely.
The full QWERTY keyboard on the E71 is pretty good, though I prefer the spaced out keys on the BlackJack II for the confidence they inspire. Admittedly, the E71’s keyboard is much better looking due to the fact that the keys fit snugly together and, instead of spacing, rely on a domed shape to guide fingertips. The keyboard is somewhat cramped, but I have managed to adjust to it pretty well in spite of having large hands. Most women would probably find the keyboard spot on. The control and shortcut cluster above the keyboard is also a bit cramped, but they do provide the user with a lot of flexibility. The chrome d-pad controller is good enough for general use, and the softkeys and call keys are wide, even if they are quite narrow. The dedicated home, calendar, contacts, and mail buttons are very handy, and can be reprogrammed for both short presses and long presses, which gives the user a lot of customization options.
There are few other controls on the E71. On the left edge you’ll find the covered microSD slot and micro-USB port (data only, not power), and on the right edge you’ll see the two volume buttons that straddle the voice dial button (activated with a long press). There is no dedicated shutter button on the E71, in spite of the fact that it sports an autofocus 3.2 megapixel camera. I like the spring loaded back cover release buttons that are located on the bottom of each side of the phone. They require a bit of strength to depress, but they make for a very solid rear cover fit.
Tags: Nokia E71, S60, smartphone, Symbian system
BlackBerry Bold Coming to AT&T Mid-September
Posted by tehreem | Filed under AT&T, Blackberry, Cellphonenews
The BlackBerry Bold will be coming to North America within the month now that RIM (Research In Motion) has launched it in Chile and Germany.
The Bold is RIM’s first major BlackBerry model in more than a year. It offers twice the screen resolution of current BlackBerry models. The Bold matches the resolution, but not the size, of the screen on Apple’s iPhone, which has emerged as a competitor in the smartphone market.
AT&T said it will be the exclusive U.S. carrier for the Bold, as it is for the iPhone.
Reports expect AT&T to start selling it mid-September and Rogers in Canada to release it late-August. Some stores in Canada have already unveiled store models and fliers.
RIM had announced a summer release for the Bold, but issues with chips and battery life caused a delay. It unveiled the Bold in Chile on July 22 and in Germany on Aug. 6.
Tags: Blackberry Bold, Mobile Phone News, Research In Motion, RIM, The Bold
iPhone 3G review
Posted by tehreem | Filed under Apple, Mobile review, iPhone
It’s finally here - the iPhone 3G. No, we mean that literally. It’s finally at our office and boy, are we excited! GPS, HSDPA purring under the new iPhone hood with a hefty number of software enhancements.
But all them software goodies are available for the first-gen iPhone too - so is it worth the fuss? It may as well be, but we never know before we take it out for a spin.
Key features:
- 3.5″ 16M-color TFT display with a resolution of 480 x 320 pixels
- Quad-band GSM support
- Tri-band UMTS support with HSDPA
- Built-in GPS receiver
- Wi-Fi
- 8 to 16GB of onboard storage
- Accelerometer, proximity sensor and ambient light sensor
- 2 megapixel camera
- Silky smooth user interface with multi-touch user support
- Unsurpassed web surfing experience
- Push email with MS Exchange support
- AppStore access for direct application download and installation
- Redone rear
- TV-out port
Main disadvantages:
- No video calls over the 3G network
- The handset wobbles on hard even surfaces
- There are a number of messaging downers
- Camera has no auto focus, nor video recording… nor any settings at all
- Safari browser doesn’t support Flash and Java, doesn’t have a download manager
- Bluetooth support limited to headset use only (no A2DP or file transfers)
- No office document editor
- No copy/paste functionality
- You cannot sync Notes and TO-DOs
- No memory card slot (but knowing Apple there will never be one)
Now, since we’ll be heavily comparing the old and new iPhone, how about the following arrangement - the first one we’ll call Number One and the newbie will be Number Two. Sorted. Wait a minute, no good? Crap, we knew it. OK then, the first one will be the iPhone 1G (as in “generation” of the device), while the new one will still be iPhone 3G (as in “generation” of the wireless network). That might sound inconsistent, but it’s short and we like it this way, so before you go ballistic in the comments section, remember Number One and Number Two.
So, back to the drill - the 3G-enabled iPhone was rumored ever since the iPhone 1G surfaced last year. Now that we have the real thing in our hands, it doesn’t seem that groundbreaking anymore. Nevertheless, there are quite a few things to cover so we think reviewing it in detail is worth it. There’s the updated design, the new white color (which we happen to have), the new iPhone 2.0 firmware/software/OS (call it what you will) with AppStore on board, the push email functionality and, finally, the GPS and HSDPA topping.
Tags: iPhone 3G, iphone review
Samsung E200 Eco: External Casing Is Made Of Corn-Based Material
Posted by tehreem | Filed under Cellphonenews, Mobile Industry, Samsung
Samsung is hoping to steal a little of the Olympic spotlight in Beijing as it unveils its latest “eco-phone.” The E200 Eco is the third phone Samsung has introduced this year with parts made from bioplastics — materials extracted from corn. It is the first, however, in which the entire case is bioplastic.
Cheil Industries, a company that is part of the Samsung Group, has been developing these environmentally friendly materials.
The E200 Eco has a 1.3-megapixel camera, video messaging capabilities and an MP3 player. The phone will be available in Europe next month but does not yet have an American release date. As a bonus, the phone’s packaging is made from recycled materials.
In June, Samsung introduced two handsets in the Asian market, the W510 and F268, that it says are produced using techniques that eliminate harmful materials like lead, cadmium and mercury. The F268 and the new E200 Eco devices and their chargers are also free of a common flame retardant that can harm the environment. The F268 has an alarm “feature” that reminds users to unplug their chargers when the phone is fully charged.
Tags: Bioplastics, Eco Friendly Phone, eco-phone, Mobile Phone News, Samsung E200 Eco, samsung mobile phone
Windows Mobile Based Plam Treo Pro Surfaces Online
Posted by tehreem | Filed under Cellphonenews, Mobile Industry, Plam
As it seems Palm have a really nice looking Windows Mobile PocketPC in store for all GSM users.
The new Palm Treo Pro (previously rumored as Treo 850) appeared online in several screenshots grabbed from some sort of presentation slides.
Unfortunately, the slides don’t reveal much about the technical specs of the Palm Treo Pro, however it’s clear that the device will support GSM, there will be fast HSDPA data transfers and the whole thing is running on Windows Mobile Pro instead on Palm OS.
Wi-Fi is on board, as well as a microSD memory card slot. An infrared port is also present - a technology we thought to be long gone before Nokia released their latest Nokia E71 and Nokia E66. Next Bluetooth, 3.5mm standard audio jack and a microUSB port complete the tally. There’s also a camera lens on the back - but we don’t know any details.
One thing’s for sure, the Palm Treo Pro seems like quite a looker (although not that slim) and we are already anxious to see it live (or at least shot live).
Tags: Mobile PocketPC, Palm OS, Plam Treo Pro, Windows Mobile
Google Revampes Web site search service
Posted by tehreem | Filed under Google, Industry news
Google plans to launch Google Site Search, a re-branded version of Google Custom Search Business Edition.
Site Search, like its less elegantly named predecessor, gives businesses a way to offer Google search on their own Web sites.
“Search continues to be the way people find information,” said Google enterprise product director Matt Glotzbach. “It has really taken over as the navigation paradigm for the Web. We’re really set on addressing that and creating a hosted search offering that’s accessible to everyone.”
The new Site Search offers enhanced index coverage. It now indexes documents on public sites that otherwise wouldn’t be indexed. Glotzbach described these files as “content that the crawler knows about but isn’t in the main index due to space constraints.” Public documents hidden behind submission forms represent the types of files that might not normally make it into Google’s index, he explained.
Site Search now handles synonyms, so a search for “car” will now include “automobiles,” for example. And Site Search administrators can add their own custom synonym dictionary to associate specific search terms with each other.
Top-results biasing and date biasing are also now available, allowing Site Search administrators to make specific documents rank more prominently for certain search terms. This is useful for presenting customers with newly released information, for instance, that might not otherwise rank at the top of a search results list.
Tags: NSDQ: GOOG, Search, search service, site search service
