The SAMSUNG Finesse is will soon be available at Metro PCS. The handset features advanced touchscreen, which gives you complete access to the internet, your email and social networking applications.
You’ll always be connected with the latest news, whether it’s about the world or your friends. Plus, the virtual QWERTY keyboard makes responding to texts and emails a snap. You can’t imagine anything better.
The advanced touchscreen on the Finesse has SAMSUNG’S TouchWiz user interface so your favorite applications and functions are only a widget away. And you can use TouchWiz with a stylus or your fingertip.
There’s a full 2.0 megapixel camera in the Finesse, complete with digital zoom, night shot and a flash. You’ll be able to take better pictures anytime, anywhere. And with the camcorder, you can take better moving pictures, too. Keeping tabs on your social scene is easy with metro 411 and mobile IM. MetroPCS SCH r810 Finesse
The Finesse is equipped with metroNavigator, which gives you audible turn-by-turn driving directions, easy-to-read maps and the feeling you actually know where you’re going, for a change. It also has a local search feature so you can find points of interest as well as movies and events going on in your area.
With mail@metro, you can easily access some of your favorite Email accounts (and set your phone to alert you when new emails are received.
The Finesse is equipped with metroNavigator, which gives you audible turn-by-turn driving directions, easy-to-read maps and the feeling you actually know where you’re going, for a change. It also has a local search feature so you can find points of interest as well as movies and events going on in your area.
Sanyo SCP-2700 stylish phone to all Sprint customers. Available starting at $49.99, the canby-bar style Sanyo SCP-2700 boasts of a full QWERTY keyboard with threaded messaging (similar to the iPhone), a 1.3 megapixel camera, some useful Sprint data services. The Sanyo SCP-2700 will be available starting May 11 at all Sprint retail stores. Juging by the way the Sanyo SCP-2700 looks from the press photos, we could definitely say that the SCP-2700’s main point is its stylish and trendy form factor.
To make it easy for you to own the Sanyo SCP-2700, Sprint is offering the device through a very affordable plan which includes 450 anytime minutes, unlimited night and weekend minutes from 7 pm, unlimited mobile-to-mobile minutes, and unlimited text, picture and video messaging.
In addition, the Sanyo SCP-2700 features Sprint Family Locator which uses GPS for locating children’s phones and display its location on an interactive map on the phone. It also has Social Zone which provides you qith quick access to Photobucket, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and other social networking sites. You can also quickly post mobile photos, and other updates anytime, anywhere.
Other features of the Sanyo SCP includes 2.2-inch TFT LCD, Bluetooth, rear-spotted speakerphone, SMS Voice messaging, voice-activated dialing, built-in tools including calendar, alarm clock and more.
Nokia 5730 XpressMusic, Nokia 5330 XpressMusic and Nokia 5030 XpressRadio boasting features that give music lovers around the world easy access to the music they love. By expanding the music range to different price points, introducing more markets with their Comes With Music service and the Nokia Music Store as well as making the integration of these elements as easy as possible, on both the mobile device and the PC, Nokia is changing the way music is enjoyed.
The flagship device of the trio has to be the 5730. Everyone who touched Nokia’s last XpressMusic phone, the 5800, said the same thing: does this thing slide out? It seems to exude a slidey-ness, but it doesn’t back it up by actually having a slide-out keyboard. Now that yearning will be satisfied, thanks to the launch of the Nokia 5730 XpressMusic, Nokia’s first music phone with a full Qwerty keyboard. If you’ve ever fancied the emailing talents of the E75 but couldn’t stand its pinstripe-suited looks, the 5730 might be right up your street.
Combining the ultimate quick messaging interface with an avalanche of social, sharing and on-the-go entertainment services, it’s clear that Nokia threw out the cookie cutter when creating the new Nokia 5730 XpressMusic.
The real highlight for the Nokia 5730 it’s new XpressMusic Homescreen. This provides access and dynamic information on music, people, games, email and calendar. It features an improved contacts bar with up to 20 friends and family members and provides direct access to other applications, such as Facebook, Photos, Ovi Contacts, Maps, messaging and more. With Ovi Contacts, people see which friends are online, chat and even view what music they are listening to.
Alongside its social skills it’s fully N-Gage enabled, and features dedicated gaming keys for the best possible mobile thumb-mashing experience. Direct access to the N-Gage Arena community and the preloaded N-Gage games invite to connect and compete and check high scores with online friends. Of course, music remains the lynchpin in the 5730 XpressMusic’s arsenal of abilities, enabling you to download tunes over-the-air via the Nokia Music Store.
Wi-Fi and GPS, plus the “Say and Play” feature first introduced in the Nokia 5320. The music credentials of the 5730 include integration with the Nokia Music Store, dedicated music control keys, Say and Play music finder, 3.5 mm audio jack, comprehensive format support (MP3, WMA, AAC, and eAAC), 3.2 megapixel camera and 8GB memory card included with the device for huge storage capacity. In select markets the 5730 will also be available as a Comes with Music variant.
The Nokia 5730 XpressMusic will hit the shops in the third quarter of this year. The only price quoted at this moment in time is in Euros, 280 of them to be exact (before taxes and subsidies). It will also be available in four colour variants: red, blue, pink and monochrome which to the best of my understanding, means a colour made up of slight tone variations of itself??… I’m sure it will look good. To stay in the know with Nokias new creation just click here and sign up.
Nokia 5330
Next up is the 5330, with its edgy, top-sliced design and illumination effects; the Nokia 5330 XpressMusic is ideal for music and keeping in touch with your social network, but I think its safe to say if it has the words XpressMusic anywhere on the box your music needs will pretty much every time be met and then exceeded. XpressMusic touch keys on the side of the display provide instant access to music. The standard 3.5mm jack offers crystal clear sound for any headphones, as with the 5730 and the extended battery life gives more than 26 hours of playback time!! And of course, the Nokia 5330’s final touch, providing access to sites that specialise in online sharing, including Ovi, Facebook, and MySpace.
The Nokia 5330 XpressMusic is expected to be available in the third quarter of 2009 for an estimated retail price of 160 EUR. Click here for more info and images.
Nokia 5030
Last but by no means least, is the bargain handset of the 3, the Nokia 5030. It is the company’s first phone with an internal FM radio antenna, which eliminates the need for a headset or external speakers. The one touch FM radio and channel selection keys on the side of the device ensure the product lives up to its XpressRadio name. The Nokia 5030 has up to a day of listening time and 10 hours of talk time, quite impressive for such a penny saver, which comes to life thanks to it’s powerful loudspeaker.
Samsung Omnia HD was undoubtedly one of the phones of the Mobile World Congress event and is now one of the most eagerly anticipated new phones of 2009. Having been drooling over the specs and official press photos for the past month, Mobiles.co.uk can now go one better. Yep, we’ve got one and are going to put it through its paces to give you the low down on what’s potentially set to be the phone of the year. Read on for our thoughts on the Samsung Omnia HD…
The first thing that strikes you with the Omnia HD is its size; the phone is by no means a small one. The front is of course dominated by the huge 3.7 inch display which is nicely framed by a metallic silver strip. In the top left corner we find the video calling camera, directly above the screen sits the earpiece and beneath we find the three physical buttons.
The reverse of the phone is dominated by the camera lens, on the left side the memory card slot and volume keys and on the right the camera button, micro USB slot and screen lock key. The design of the Omnia HD works well, combining the classy metallic silver frame and camera with a high quality, highly polished black plastic material to great effect. At 12.9mm the phone is remarkably thin considering what lurks inside and at 144g has a reassuring weight to it without being too heavy.
Despite the uncompromising size of the Omnia HD (also known as the i8910), powering on the phone reveals the true power of the awesome display and soon all is forgiven. The screen on the Omnia HD is of the AMOLED variety (as seen on the Tocco Ultra) which provides a truly stunning visual experience. The increase in size really shows off what an OLED display is capable of. Colours are rich and sharp, everything is crisp and vivid and at times you feel like you could reach out and grab what’s on screen. If the Omnia HD is anything to go by, OLED technology is definitely the way forward for mobile phone displays.
The touchscreen on the Omnia HD is capacitive meaning it only reacts to your finger. While this eliminates the use of a stylus or other accessory, it means that icons stick to your fingers like glue, swiping across the screen always registers and everything is effortless with the minimum of pressure required to perform an action. The touchscreen on the Omnia HD is a revelation; everything is simple, fast and intuitive and not once did I find myself having to retouch the same icon because of a failed first attempt. The phone runs on Symbian series 60 5th edition as previously seen on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. The Symbian interface will come as second nature to anyone familiar with the interface. Menus and applications are easily customisable and the number of third party applications is growing nicely in time for the phones summer launch. The home screen adopts the TouchWiz interface with the task bar on the right the home for shortcuts such as the music player and clock which can then be dragged and dropped on to the home screen. Lastly the Omnia HD also plays host to an LG arena style cube which lets you flick between the Symbian menu, TouchWiz home screen and your photo contacts.
The Samsung Omnia HD gets its place in the record books and indeed its name from its video capture capabilities. The Omnia HD records video in high definition at 720p, a world first for a mobile phone. The boost in quality is only really apparent when watching video playback on an HD ready TV but it is worth it; the increase in quality is staggering. In recent mobile launches we have seen manufacturers adopting VGA quality as standard for video capture but now that Samsung have raised the bar once again, it’s time for the other big players to play catch up. Check back on the Blog in the next couple of weeks for a more in depth look at the Omnia HD’s video capture capabilities and some much sought after sample HD video clips.
Never before has the still digital camera on a phone played second fiddle to the video capabilities but that’s definitely the case here. But while the HD video capture will get all the headlines, the Omnia HD does feature one of the most impressive cameras yet seen on a phone (check out the sample to the right). The 8.0 Megapixel camera is complimented nicely with autofocus, face detection and smile detection. The large touchscreen interface is also very user friendly; the centre provides the main viewfinder which is framed on either side by a row of settings including shooting mode (multi shot/ smile shot etc.), scene, picture size and focus (auto focus/ macro mode etc.). Tapping the required icon opens up the menu with icons clearly labelled and big enough so that they are easy to access with your finger. The camera on the Omnia HD is perfect for casual users and enthusiasts alike. Point and shoot images show incredible levels of detail and clarity and for those willing to delve a little deeper and set the camera up to match the scene and conditions, the results are even more rewarding. The gallery is also equally impressive; the main over view gives you thumbnails of all your files whilst double tapping will show the image in full screen. From here, simply swiping your finger across the screen allows you to flick through your gallery. The built in accelerometer is also fast with little delay between turning the phone to landscape and matching the screen.
The i8910 features HSDPA connectivity and Wi-Fi for high speed web access. Clicking on the web browser icon brings up a list of options including Bookmarks, history options and the option to enter a new URL. Choosing the latter opens up a small pop up window which asks whether you want to use network data access or a Wi-Fi connection. Once you have selected and been taken to the web page, you are presented with an easy to use and incredibly clear interface. Initially you get a tool bar of options which sits on the right but this can be discarded in favour of a full screen view. This is where the large display again comes into its own; holding the Omnia HD on its side activates the accelerometer and gives you the web page in glorious wide screen. Navigating around is a simple case of dragging your finger across to scroll. To zoom in and out simply hold your finger on screen until a zoom cursor appears then roll your finger forwards or backwards to zoom in and out.
In terms of multimedia, the Omnia HD picks up where its predecessor left off. Support for pretty much every audio format under the sun ensures proves the Omnia HD’s worth as a portable music player. The music player sorts by artist, album, track or genre and also lets users create playlists. The speaker is loud and clear enough to play your music through though for the best experience plug in the bundled headphones. When it comes to video, the Omnia HD is head and shoulders above the rest. The i8910 supports DivX, Xvid and WMV which covers all the major movie file formats meaning you can load the phone with movies without overloading the memory. Not that this is an issue with 8GB internal memory and a memory card slot. Our sample came with Indiana Jones 4 and Transformers trailers and on the 3.7 inch screen they looked simply amazing. There was no delay, everything was completely fluid and you could easily envisage watching a whole movie on the move. Put simply, watching videos on the Omnia HD is a joy.
When the Omnia HD first arrived on my desk the uncompromising size made the Omnia HD a slightly daunting proposition but as soon as the phone was powered on all is forgiven. The OLED screen looks amazing and is capable of displaying unparalleled detail, colour and clarity. What is even more pleasing is the fact that behind the good looks the Omnia HD is excellent to use. The touchscreen is responsive and user friendly, the camera is among the best camera phones out there and the HD video capture turns mobile video recording on its head. Throw in the huge memory, wealth of connectivity options and a Symbian operating system that is begging to be played with and Samsung have a potential world beater on their hands.
Samsung Omnia HD
LG GB210 is the new phone’s name, and the South Korean company has just announced it in Ukraine.
Like the GM200, LG GB210 is quite a simple candybar.
However, it comes with a speaker that provides good-quality sound and it can play several media file types, including MP3, AAC, AAC +, MPEG4 and H.263.
The handset looks OK, especially for a low-end device:
The rest of the phone’s specs include:
* Dual band GSM connectivity (900/1800 MHz) with GPRS
* 1.77 inch TFT display with 128 x 160 pixels
* Bluetooth
* WAP 2.0
* 4MB of internal memory
* MicroSD card support, up to 4GB
* 106.2 x 46 x 13.8 mm
LG GB210 should be available in Ukraine starting early May, retailing for only 950 UAH – that’s about €90 or $120. No details yet about the phone’s release in other countries, but it will probably be introduced in other European markets too.
LG GB210
Samsung UltraTouch S8300 (known as Samsung Ultra Tocco in U.K), is heading for the shops right about now, so I think it is a good time to give this handset a closer look.
Samsung Ultra Touch has quite an interesting mix within it – 8 megapixel camera, full touchscreen interface and physical T9 keypad.
It is not the first TouchWiz UI equipped Samsung phone – they have already been selling like hotcakes throughout 2008.
But this kind of feature combination is the first for Korean vendor. In a closed position, you may never guess that UltraTouch S8300 is not just another touchphone - slider keypad does not significantly alter the overall size of the device.
Slide it open and you get a normal feature phone with familiar keypad. It is a really nice bonus. You can easily get by without ever opening the slider, but the keypad comes in handy quite often . Actually, I found myself using physical keypad a lot. Even answering the call by opening slider is a much more intuitive thing then tapping a touch button.
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Samsung Ultra Touch construction is not the only thing that sets it apart from other handsets. New generation of widgets, photo contact application, great video capabilities… I could actually go on and on, but let’s dive into the details already
Samsung Ultra Touch Design
Both, the insides and the outsides of Samsung S8300 Ultra Touch are very good. The overall design is pretty striking, but not too flashy and gives Samsung S8300 almost a premium image phone look.
When closed, you UltraTouch looks like any other grey-metallic Samsung phone, a nice red bezel it’s only distinguishing feature. Open the slider and it’s colorfulness emerges. The colors are bright, but not too much so to transform Ultra Touch into a girly phone. It’s fully “unisex” handset, that both you and your girlfriend can carry around.
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The chassis of Samsung Ultra Touch combines metal and plastic, with the prevalence of metallic parts and some plastic elements. The upper sliding body is fully metallic, while the keypad and battery cover is made from plastic. Samsung has used good quality materials to make UltraTouch S8300 and the handset has a nice tactile feel overall. It also does not get any smudges or dust even after extensive use.
Well, except for the display, but the screen is very easy to clean as well.
Samsung S8300 UltraTouch Display
Samsung S8300 UltraTouch display is one it’s distinguishing features. S8300 is one of the few handsets today that comes equipped with AMOLED screen. The pictures on it look very good, with really bright and lively colors. Even in a bright sunlight the display dims only a bit, and can be easily viewed. The display is 2.8” and has a resolution of 240×400px, which is common in Samsung handsets. It might feel a bit smallish for the Net browsing, but most multimedia needs are served nicely on a display of this size.
User Interface, Usability & Ergonomics of Samsung S8300 Ultra Touch
From the usability point of view, you I cannot find any beef with it. By now Samsung has got TouchWiz UI working pretty well and is very easy to use.
On UltraTouch, Samsung has made it’s desktop area span beside the actual visible area of the device. By swiping a finger you can scroll up and down through it to access additionl widgets.
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One of the more interesting applications on the Samsung S8300 is PhotoContacts. It allows you to associate people in the pictures with contcts in the addrss book. After doing that, you only need to click on the photograph to make a call or send SMS to a particular person.
Any problems inherent in full touchscreen phones, on Samsung S8300 Ultra Touch are easily remedied by the physical keypad and numerical navigation options. So even when wearing gloves (capacitive touchscreen does not work with covered fingers), the phone is pretty easy to use. The only thing that I found to complain about is a separte unlock key, but you get used to it pretty quick.
Sasmung UltraTouch camera
So what does this beauty have inside of it? Well, tons of very nice things.
Let’s start with the camera on Samsung UltraTouch. Maximum resolution on it is 3264×2448 pixels, which gives you a total of 8 mpx. The pictures at this resolution are pretty “heavy” – 2 megabyte a piece, so be sure to use a big memory card if you plan to take a lot of them.
The camera settings are quite extensive and should fit the needs of most of the creative types. You can set white balance, autofocus parameters (macro, face and smile recognition, panorama focus), manual ISO (100-1600) settings and digital image stabilization.
Samsung S8300 has a GPS chip inside and is able to use EXIF geotags on the photos, so you can sort your pictures by location on most of the popular photosharing sites and applications. Samsung UltraTouch can manually or automatically upload your pictures to Flickr, Picasa, Facebook and other services.
Camera on Samsung S8300 has also pretty good video shooting capabilities. It records at 30fps, 720×480 resolution and has 3 different compression modes.
Samsung UltraTouch camera is operational only in open slider mode, with slider mechanism serving as a lens cover too.
Multimedia on Samsung Ultra Touch
The music player on Samsung S8300 is pretty good and easy to use. The only problem is the lack of standard 3.5mm headphone jack, but that should be remedied by the adapter.
Videoplayer cand play all major video formats, including DivX at VGA (680×480px) resolution and 1.5 Mbps bitrate – which is really great for a mobile phone.
Samsung UltraTouch has built-in accelerometer and switches between portrait and landscape mode automatically both in video and browsing modes. Unfortunately, it does this only in one direction – left. If you turn the phone right, you still get the landscape mode, but the picture will be upside down.
Conclusions
When Samsung UltraTouch S8300 was first announced, it looked like just another 8 megapixel slider. This time from Samsung and again with it’s TouchWiz UI.
But a closer look at the phone left me impressed. Great design, some interesting new approaches, and very good usability makes Samsung S8300 UltraTouch a very good choice if you are in the market for this type of a feature phone.
HTC has you in its sights for the Touch Viva. It's the cheapest handset in the company's range of Touch devices, but it jettisons extras like GPS and 3G in an effort to keep the price down. The question is then, in dropping many of the higher end features, has HTC thrown the baby out with the bath water?
From the outset it's pretty obvious that the Viva is a budget model. It lacks both the classy piano black finish found on the Touch HD and the more metallic shell used on the mid-range Touch 3G (look out for our review soon). Instead, you're left with a much plainer and cheaper looking plastic fascia with a graphite effect paint job. It's not exactly unattractive, but it certainly doesn't scream high end at you.
Size-wise the Viva sits somewhere in the middle between the largish HD and the pocket-friendly 3G. It's small, but not exceptionally so and is a good bit thicker than the 3G, although the curved rear of the handset does help to hide this somewhat. 
The screen on the Viva isn't flush with the case (unlike its more expensive siblings), but instead it's recessed slightly which gives it a more old fashioned and less stylish look. However, the screen itself isn't all that bad. Although it's a standard touchscreen rather than a capacitive one, it's pretty responsive to finger presses so you don't have to constantly dab at it to get it to register commands. The resolution, at 320 x 240, is relatively low by today's smartphone standards, but as the screen is bright and relatively small, text and graphics still look reasonably sharp.
Flip the handset over and you'll find the camera mounted on the rear. It's actually hidden in a small recess which should help it avoid getting scratched when the phone is in your pocket. The camera only has a two megapixel resolution and it lacks both autofocus and a flash so it's quite basic. As a result, the shots it takes are a tad short on detail and suffer from a good deal of digital noise, especially when you're taking snaps in low light.
Unfortunately, when it comes to a headphone socket, HTC hasn't followed the lead of other recent Touch handsets. Instead of a standard 3.5mm headphone jack the Viva uses the mini USB port on the bottom for audio output. As this is also used for syncing and charging the device (a wall plug charger is included) it means you can't listen to music via headphones while you're topping it up with juice or syncing data with your PC. But this won't bother you immediately as the handset doesn't actually come with any headphones at all! Instead you have to buy them from the HTC accessories store! A pretty ridiculous situation if you ask us.
On the software side, the Viva uses the 2D version of HTC's TouchFlo interface. This sits on top of Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system and offers finger-friendly access to most of the phone's key features. For example, you can move between functions such as text messaging, the music player or the Internet browser just by running your finger across a row of icons positioned at the bottom of the screen.
The 2D version of TouchFlo has less flashy animation than the new 3D version found on the Touch HD, but we prefer it as it feels much more responsive and less fiddly to use. That said, there are still too many occasions when you get dumped rudely back to the standard Windows Mobile look and feel. In this respect, it's still a long way off the slickness of the iPhone user interface. Nevertheless, the use of Windows Mobile OS does offer some benefits like the suite of Office Mobile applications for editing Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.
HTC has added a few more applications including a dedicated viewer for YouTube, a handy RSS news reader and, best of all, the Opera web browser which is a big step up from the standard Windows Mobile version of Internet Explorer.
Google Maps is also preinstalled, but don't get too excited because the handset doesn't have GPS onboard - it just uses mast triangulation to work out your position. The other big downer is that the phone lacks 3G functionality. Instead, you're limited to EDGE download speeds, which is fine for picking up emails on the move, but noticeably slow when you're browsing the web or using Google Maps.
Apart from the slow data download speed, the Viva actually feels relatively zippy in use no doubt thanks to its reasonably fast 201MHz OMAP 850 processor. It's not too shabby for a budget handset in terms of storage space either, as it has 256MB of ROM and 128MB of RAM onboard. You can supplement the storage space further with MicroSD cards, although to get at the card slot you have to remove the battery so cards aren't hot swappable.
HTC has used an 1100mAh lithium-ion battery on the Viva, presumably because it was banking on the lack of 3G making the handset less power hungry. However, it wasn't exactly a marathon runner during our test period, as we found with medium usage of the core functions we had to give it a recharge every day and a half.
HTC's Touch franchise seems to be expanding at a rate only matched by Subways. The Touch 3G brings the total number of handsets in its current range to nine. So what does the 3G add to the fold? No stars for guessing that it supports HSDPA, but there's also onboard GPS and perhaps most importantly a fairly affordable price tag, as the 3G sits neatly between the cheapo Touch Viva and the wallet bashing Touch HD.
In many ways the 3G can be seen as a direct update of the original Touch phone that HTC launched way back in June 2007. Like that model, its petite dimensions make it very pocket-friendly - much more so than the larger Touch HD and even Apple's iPhone. Although the 3G's body is made from plastic, HTC has given it a great looking metallic finish and this combined with its sleek, curved edges make it very appealing to the eye. The fact it's available in multiple colours including brown, gold and blue, is also a refreshing change from the usual ‘any colour as long as it's black' smartphone rule.
Thankfully, the screen on the 3G is flush with the case so it doesn't suffer from the same 90s smartphone look of the cheaper Viva. Nevertheless, the screen is rather small for a smartphones in this price range. It's narrower and about an inch shorter than the display on Apple's iPhone, for example, and at 320 x 240 its resolution is also lower than Apple's wonder phone. That said, the smaller physical size of the screen means that text and graphics still look very crisp and sharp, so it's only really when you're viewing webpages or work documents that the lack of screen real estate makes its presence felt.
As with all the other Touch models this one uses Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system with HTC's TouchFlo finger-friendly interface running over the top. However, instead of the new 3D version of TouchFlo that HTC is using on the Touch HD, this model is loaded with the 2D version. Even though the animations are less flashy, we actually prefer that as it's a little more straightforward to use and feels much more responsive. That said, TouchFlo certainly isn't perfect and its usability still falls short of what Apple has achieved with the MultiTouch interface on the iPhone.
Because TouchFlo isn't completely integrated into the Windows Mobile OS there are still plenty of times when you're forced to leave the comfort of the slick TouchFlo menus and revert back to the standard awkward Windows Mobile interface. To be honest, we can't see this issue being resolved until Microsoft actually switches over to a native multi-touch interface and this isn't expected to happen until Windows Mobile 7 arrives towards the end of this year.
Obviously, the use of Widows Mobile does bring some benefits like support for cut and paste as well as the inclusion of the Office Mobile suite of applications that let you view and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. As well as this, HTC has pre-loaded the Opera web browser, which is faster and easier to use than mobile Internet Explorer, although still not as fast or intuitive as the iPhone's Safari browser. Nevertheless, as the device supports both HSDPA and Wi-Fi, pages are quick to load even when you're out and about and away from a hotspot.
Other software on the device includes a dedicated YouTube viewer, useful RSS reader and Google Maps, which can be used with the built-in GPS receiver to pin-point your position. Sadly, no other navigation software is included, although there are plenty of options on the market for Windows Mobile devices.
The phone's processing grunt come courtesy of a 528MHz Qualcomm processor, which keeps things ticking over at a sprightly pace. In terms of storage, there's 256MB of ROM and 192MB of RAM, and you can add more space using microSD cards. The card slot is hidden under the battery cover, but thankfully you don't have to actually remove the battery to get at it, so cards can be hot swapped.
Unfortunately, the phone's camera isn't all that great. Despite having a respectable 3.2-megapixel resolution, the pictures it takes don't exactly have stunning amounts of detail and colours tend to look a little bit washed out. Under low light conditions it really struggles to produce acceptable results and things aren't helped by the fact that it lacks a flash. It's not the worst camera we've used on a phone, but it's certainly far from being the best.
There are a few other niggles too. There's no accelerometer, so you can't just tilt the phone to automatically switch it from portrait to landscape view when visiting web pages or viewing photos. And unlike the Touch HD, HTC hasn't kitted it out with a standard headphone adaptor. Instead, the supplied headphones connect to the miniUSB port at the bottom of the phone which is also used to sync and charge the handset. At least the supplied headphones have pretty decent sound quality and also include hands-free functionality and a volume control.
The call quality from the handset was good, but by no means perfect. The speaker sounds a little bit tinny at times which can make listening to calls in a noisy environment rather difficult - a packed pub for example. That said, it did have good reception and the battery life isn't bad either. We got around two days out of it with medium usage of features like the GPS receiver, HSDPA web browsing and general phone calls.
Blackberry devices as the Bold and Storm recently, it’s hard for any other Blackberrys to get any respect just because they don’t have as many cool features or are on as popular a wireless carrier. But as I played with the Blackberry Curve 8900 this past week, I discovered the lack of respect is unwarranted.In fact, the Curve 8900 is packed with a lot of goodies and still has as much quality as any other Blackberry that came before it (well, the jury’s still out on the Storm, but you get my point).And with the device showing up on T-Mobile, it has a couple extra features to take advantage, which I will get into later.On first impression, it has a very similar look and feel to the Curve 8300 series, but with the same OS as the Bold (4.6). After dabbling in the Bold and having been a user of the 8310 and Pearl 8100, it didn’t take long for me to get used to the 8900.
Enough small talk — let’s discuss the ins and outs of the Blackberry Curve 8900.
Design of the 8900
Let’s examine the outer shell of the 8900. The phone is really a revamped, modern-looking version of the 8300 series. The buttons are all the same, and even the keyboard has the same exact feel, though I’m not sure if one technically has larger keys than the other. The 8900 screen, however, is certainly taller and wider.
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When comparing the thickness, the 8900 is thinner by a very small margin. They almost look exactly the same thickness if you’re not looking closely.
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Now, onto the other differences. First, the sides:
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On the right side we find volume keys, shortcut button (camera by default), 3.5 mm headphone jack, and the major difference — a Micro USB port, departing from the usual miniUSB that the Blackberry has kept standard for years.
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Not much to see on the left side. RIM left this side rather blank with the exception of another shortcut button (by default, it does voice dial).
On the back we find a sleek-looking battery cover and 3.2 MP camera with an accompanying flash.
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That looks nice. But you may be curious what’s underneath (peeping Tom…).
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The thing I like most about this view is the fact that the MicroSD card is accessible without having to take the battery out. To be quite honest, this was one of the biggest frustrations I had with the 8300 — taking out/putting in the MicroSD involved yanking out the battery and thus turning off the phone.
The 8900 comes with OS 4.6, the same OS as the Bold, and it looks identical. Anyone used to OS 4.5 or lower may need to get used to the futuristic look, but as long as you’re familiar with any Blackberry or used it for longer than 5 minutes should be able to figure it out pretty fast.
All in all, this is a nice improvement in design over the previous Curve model. The only shortcoming I can see on first impression is a lack of color choices. With that said, T-Mobile Blackberrys typically begin offering several different colors eventually.
Features of the Curve 8900
WiFi/UMA - The inclusion of WiFi is a must since there is no 3G connectibility. Using the WiFi is a breath of fresh air when compared to the EDGE speeds of the 8300. However, T-Mobile also takes the device to the next step by including the UMA at-home service, which enables you to make unlimited calls using your WiFi router instead of T-Mobile’s network.
To try it out, I turned off the network connection and made a call with only my WiFi connection on, and I couldn’t tell any difference in the call than if I were actually using the network.
GPS - While there is no voice turn-by-turn navigation that I could find, I was able to download Google Maps onto the 8900 and utilize the GPS to find my location.
Finding my location was a rather quick process. As the 8900 uses a-GPS, it triangulates your position using a combination of GPS, nearby WiFi hotspots and cell towers to find my location faster than strictly GPS alone. It took only 1-2 minutes to find me the first time and faster each time after that.
I plugged in the route I had planned, told the app to find me, and GPS followed me along the route in real time. So while Google Maps will not speak the turns, it will still show you each turn and where you are in relation to that turn.
Memory - The 8900 includes roughly around 120 MB internal memory, with a MicroSD slot for external memory.
Camera - There is a 3.2 MP camera with flash, zoom and autofocus included. Video capture is also featured. It’s not the best camera T-Mobile offers anymore, but it still the best camera resolution on a Blackberry thus far.
Here are some scenic pictures taken in my backyard with the 8900 camera.
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The picture on the right takes advantage of the zoom feature
MyFaves - T-Mobile threw in MyFaves, which is the service that gives you unlimited calls to up to 5 specific people. I did not take advantage of the service, but it was easy to turn on the MyFaves feature and it showed prominently on the front screen.
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Multimedia - RIM has integrated a good multimedia viewer into the 8900. The resolution of the screen (at 480 x 360 HVGA, compared to the Bold’s 480 x 320) certainly makes a huge difference in your video-watching experience, and the included headset does a surprisingly good job with the audio, though having the 3.5 mm jack will give you the option of using your own, more comfortable headphones to listen to music and watch movies with.
The 8900 comes included with a minute-long snippet of a John Mayer concert video, but I strongly recommend you get a MicroSD card with movies and music of your own to show off on this phone. With a screen resolution that rivals the Bold, you’re bound to have a great experience.
Internet Browser - The included browser is full HTML, so it gives us the opportunity to see all of our favorite websites as if they were on the computer’s browser. A little magnifying glass acts as the cursor, allowing you to zoom in and out as needed.
I did notice a bit of sluggishness on this browser with the default settings activated. Even with WiFi enabled, it did seem to take longer than usual to load all of the images from Unwired View’s site. Thus, I recommend tweaking the settings in such a way that the pages will load up faster.
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Applications - The Blackberry has a large capacity for downloading apps both OTA and from your computer. On the 8900 I installed Google Maps, Flycast, Slingbox, and a few different games.
Naturally it came with Brickbreaker. No Blackberry is complete without Brickbreaker already loaded onto the device, right? It’s a tradition unlike any other, in that regard.
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And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for apps. I won’t bother going into more specifics, but there are hundreds of great apps available for Blackberry devices.
Docs to Go - Another app already installed on the 8900 when I received it was Documents to Go. I’m not positive if this is pre-installed on every model or if it was just on the demo unit I received, but either way it is definitely worth your while. Documents to Go gives you the ability to not only view but create and edit any Office Documents you need with you at all times.
Performance of the Curve 8900
In a sentence: the 8900 performs as well as its predecessors. RIM has a knack for coming with phones that have good phone quality and battery life, as well as a reliable OS.
Battery Life is rated at 5.5 hours of talk time and 15 days of standby. Those numbers are pretty accurate when only talking and text/email are factored in, and are better than the Bold due to the lack of 3G; however, when I used the GPS to navigate my routes the battery drained much faster. Thus, when using the GPS on the road be sure to have a car charger handy.
I found all other aspects of the 8900’s performance to be nearly identical to that of the Curve 8300. Call quality, multimedia, reception, etc. were all good.
My overall opinion? The Blackberry 8900 is a great catch. The only negative on it that I could find is the lack of 3G, but at least WiFi is included to make internet surfing a more pleasant experience. The 8900 works wonderfully for both business users and consumers alike.
BlackBerry Media Sync 2.0 has been updated to support Windows Media Player and will be available as of 4PM EST. The program will enable you to fill your ‘Berry with music via iTunes — and now Windows Media Player — making it unnecessary to manually load MP3 files onto your device like in days of old.
BlackBerryforum explained download details as follows:
*Software Name:
*BlackBerry Media Sync for Windows
*File Name:
*BlackBerryMediaSync.exe
*Download Size:
*35.298 MB
*Language:
*English
*Published Date:
*03/25/2009
Operating Systems: BlackBerry OS 4.x, BlackBerry
Additional Requirements: Compatible with BlackBerry Storm, Bold, Pearl Flip, Pearl, Curve 8900, Curve 8300, and BlackBerry 8800 Series smartphones. Requires OS version 4.2 and higher with mass storage capability
BlackBerry Media Sync 2.0
Sprint WiMAX announced their 4G WiMAX plans which mirror Clearwire. The benefit of 4G’s speed is reported over today’s 3G networks, and reach as high as five times the speed offered by any 3G service. Surely, the new service needs new access devices as well, which Sprint also has in the works, including a single-mode 4G data card, embedded laptops, a SOHO broadband modem, and a tri-mode phone. Sprint 4G data cards, laptop solutions and phones will enable businesses and individuals to work when and where they want.
The Sprint WiMAX network has been up and running in Baltimore since September, but will soon be going live with WiMAX in Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Portland, and Seattle in 2009. Sprint will follow up with 4G launches in Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. in 2010.Sprint’s WiMAX services are currently the fastest mobile broadband services on the market, offering peak downlink speeds of 12Mbps and average downlink speeds between 2Mbps and 4Mbps.
By rolling out its WiMAX services in major cities, Sprint is hoping to stay ahead of the curve of rival carriers AT&T and Verizon, which each plan to launch their own 4G mobile data services based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) in roughly two years’ time
Sprint WiMAX
Sony Ericsson hired tennis star Maria Sharapova to present its latest mobile phone, the Sony Ericsson T707. The company did unveil this new model Thursday in Miami. It is said that the Sony Ericsson T707 is packed with light effects and gesture controls.
“The T707 is my ultimate new accessory,” said Maria. “I am always on the go and I need a phone that is easy to use, and of course chic as well! I never miss a call with the eye-catching light effects and personalised pulsation settings and I love the fact that I can just wave my hand to mute a call using the gesture control. I can also use my practical and stylish Bluetooth Headset HBH-PV715 to take my calls, check my emails and blog to my website from the phone. It’s great to have a phone that looks good but also lets me keep up-to-date with everything I need.”
The full specs of Sony Ericsson T707 include:
*2.2 inch TFT internal display with 240 x 320 pixels and 262K colors
*Quad band GSM connectivity
*UMTS/HSDPA 2100 connectivity (T707)
*UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900/2100 connectivity (T707a - North America will probably get this)
*Google Maps
*NetFront HTML browser
*Email, Exchange ActiveSync
*Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
*YouTube access
*Media Player
*FM radio with RDS
*3.2 MP camera with video recording and geotagging
*100MB of internal memory
*Memory Stick Micro card support, up to 16GB
*93 x 50 x 14.1 mm (3.7 x 2.0 x 0.6 inches)
*95 grams (3.4 ounces)
The T707 has a battery life of up to 400 hours standby and 10 hours talk time. The Sony Ericsson T707 will be available in selected markets from Q2 in the colors Mysterious Black, Spring Rose, and Lucid Blue.
Some photos of a new Samsung smartphone with Windows Mobile have emerged on a Chinese forum. Samsung smartphone with Windows Mobile would be. The slim smartphone is running Windows Mobile 6.1. Similar to the Samsung Omnia i900 which includes the TouchWiz. The B7300 boasts a mini USB connector and four-way navigation button below the display screen, although the centre button could be an optical sensor. Other specs include a 3MP camera, answer/end phone button, dedicated volume controls at the side and microSD slot.
The B7300 is confirmed for release in China, but there’s no rumours of a UK release yet.
See the galleries below:
Sony Ericsson T707, with tennis star and style icon Maria Sharapova, who perfectly epitomises the phone’s sleek and elegant qualities.
The T707 truly interacts with the user – it lights up when you receive a call and you can personalise the light settings to each of your friends, so you always know who wants you. If you are too busy to answer, simply end the call with a wave of your hand over the screen – you can also do the same gesture to snooze the alarm – your very own magic wand!
Perfect pixels for every pose
Coordinate the T707 to any outfit, as it comes in a rainbow range of three clam shells to suit every mood. Whatever you wear will be perfectly captured by the 3.2 megapixel camera, making sure that you stand out on screen as much as you do in real life.
The photos can then be uploaded to your personal social networking site using the HTML web browser, so you and your friends can keep up to date wherever you are.
Sony Ericsson T707
Customise your phone like your clothes
With the T707 you will never be left behind in the style stakes, as the 2.2 inch screen is waiting to be customised to your individual taste. The changing wallpaper themes will ensure that you are never caught wearing clashing colours! The theme also changes from day into evening, which is perfect if, like Maria, you need to match with everything from tennis whites to a little black dress.
Packed with extras, as one option is never enough…
This is one accessory you will never leave home without as the T707 packs in more extras than even your handbag. The FM radio and Bluetooth audio streaming will entertain you when you are out and about, and you can download music, games and ringtones at the touch of a button with PlayNow to ensure that boredom is something which happens to other people!
Maria knows that all eyes will be on her this season and thanks to her new T707; she can rest assured that whatever she does, she will look stylish, glamorous and be in control of her life with just the wave of a hand.
The T707
The light of your life
* Unique pulsating notification and light effects
* Day and Night changing theme
* Gesture control for muting calls and alarm
* Capture moments with 3.2 MP camera
The T707 supports GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 UMTS/HSDPA 2100. The
T707a supports GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900/2100. The T707 will be available in selected markets from Q2 in the colors Mysterious Black, Spring Rose and Lucid Blue.
Opera Mobile 9.7 features Opera Turbo, Opera’s breakthrough compression technology, along with the company’s latest Presto 2.2 rendering engine (also used in Opera 10 desktop) and full support for dynamic Web technologies such as Ajax and Flash (for accessing popular sites like Facebook and YouTube).
At next week’s CTIA Wireless Show, Opera Software will be announcing the new Opera Mobile 9.7 server-accelerated browser for smartphones and mobile devices. To learn more, check out the Opera Mobile 9.7 with Opera Turbo demo video to the right.
In today’s tough business climate where customer expectations are ever-increasing, Opera Mobile 9.7 with Opera Turbo can help carriers reduce network congestion while helping mobile device manufacturers bring increased speed and a more rich Web browsing experience to their customer and users.
Popout
For carriers specifically, Opera Mobile 9.7 with Opera Turbo provides a more consistent and compelling full Internet experience by compressing data up to 80%, thus reducing unwanted traffic and congestion and allowing users to access the Web regardless of network limitations.
For mobile device manufacturers, Opera Mobile 9.7 with Opera Turbo can make for a faster, more rich browsing experience by leveraging current device capabilities and utilizing hardware resources more effectively. Opera Turbo offloads Web page rendering to Opera servers freeing up device resources. Even devices with limited hardware capabilities show improved page download rates and better overall performance.
Opera Mobile 9.7 with Opera Turbo also features better standards support (100% Acid 3 test) and developer tools, hardware acceleration Open GL ES, and support for Google Gears.
In addition to Opera Mobile 9.7 with Opera Turbo, Opera will be showcasing Opera Turbo on other connected devices as well as the latest version of the award-winning Opera Mini 4.2 on today’s hottest mobile devices – Sprint Instinct, Blackberry Bold, Blackberry Storm, and T-Mobile G1.
Finally, stay tuned for Opera’s latest partner announcements, and make sure to check out Opera executives at the following panels and presentations:
BRIC Conference – “The Important Role of the Mobile Internet for Developing Countries”
* Opera Presenter: Jon von Tetzchner, Founder & CEO
* When: Tuesday, March 31st @ 3:10pm
* Where: Las Vegas Convention Center, North Hall, Room N255
CTIA Wireless – “Applications & Operating Systems for Devices”
* Opera Presenter: Jon von Tetzchner, Found & CEO
* When: Thursday, April 2nd @ 3:30pm
* Where: Las Vegas Convention Center, South Hall, Room 223
CTIA Wireless – “Mobile Internet – Access to Internet is Not a Desk Job Anymore”
* Opera Presenter: Rod Hamlin, Senior Vice President, Americas
* When: Thursday, April 2nd @ 4:00pm
* Where: Las Vegas Convention Center, South Hall, Room 228
CTIA Wireless will be held from April 1st – 3rd in Las Vegas, NV. Visit Opera at Booth #6724 in Central Hall. For media inquiries, please contact Ted Miller at tmiller@opera.com tmiller[at]opera.com.
Today Nimbuzz is announcing the launch of ultimate iPhone VoIP app with the latest Nimbuzz update now available from the iPhone App Store. The new app is focused on bridging the 3G VoIP gap on the iPhone - anywhere:
With free Wifi calls to instant messaging buddies already available, we added a full dial-pad, and the ability to make VoIP calls to landlines and mobile phones with Skype Out, and via 10 VoIP partners including Gizmo5, Vyke, SIPgate and A1. You can even see the available Skype Out credit you have directly on the dial pad.
If Wifi is unavailable you can make VoIP calls to Nimbuzz buddies using Nimbuzz Dial-Up VoIP in over 50 countries. (Dial-Up VoIP - dials a local access number that connects to anywhere in the world via Nimbuzz VoIP servers to make calls to Nimbuzz buddies anywhere for the same cost of a domestic call.) Turn iPod touch into an iPhone - Make calls over Wi-Fi via SkypeOut or via VoIP provider. Upgraded interface with much improved usability and the awesome landscape-mode chat
NIMBUZZ IPHONE APP BRIDGES 3G VOIP GAP
VoIP over 3G, Skype Out, SIP calling, and Twitter support, make Nimbuzz the most comprehensive mobile social VoIP and instant messaging application – and turns iPod touch into iPhone
19 March 09 – Rotterdam - Nimbuzz (www.nimbuzz.com) today releases the most comprehensive VoIP application for the iPhone. With free Wifi calls to instant messaging buddies already available, new additions include the introduction of a dial-pad and the ability to make VoIP calls to landlines and mobiles via Skype-Out, and Nimbuzz’s major SIP provider partners including Gizmo5, Vyke, and SIPgate over Wifi – effectively turning the iPod touch into an iPhone. iPhone users without Wifi connection can make VoIP calls using Nimbuzz Dial-Up VoIP in over 50 countries.
Unique to Nimbuzz is the available credit shown on the users dial-pad when using Skype Out for phone calls to landlines and mobile phones.
Nimbuzz bridges the iPhone VoIP gap by allowing VoIP calls over 3G via its Dial-Up VoIP option in over 50 countries. It allows iPhone users to call (international) mobile and landlines at significantly reduced costs, by dialing a local access number that connects to anywhere in the world via Nimbuzz VoIP servers.
New VoIP call options are available via Nimbuzz’s global affiliate SIP partners: Gizmo5, Vyke, SIPgate, and 7 other global players. These additional call networks are seamlessly integrated into the interface to use Nimbuzz for cheap (international) VoIP calls to landlines and mobile phones over Wifi.
Another feature allows Twitter updates via the Personal Message option. Popular communities, including Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ, Google Talk, AIM, and social networks such as Facebook and MySpace are already supported with call and chat options.
“The fact that Nimbuzz adds a new user around every 4 seconds is partly due to our successful iPhone application launched in November last year”, says Evert Jaap Lugt, CEO of Nimbuzz. “We are a mass-market lifestyle application and are keen to ensure we keep up to date with the needs of the hyper-connected, so this update reflects initial feedback from our users.”
The additional iPhone SIP calling functionality will be promoted via a two week online banner campaign on partner sites Gizmo5, Vyke, and SIPgate.
Says Michael Robertson, CEO of Gizmo5:”We are excited to promote Nimbuzz for bringing Gizmo to the iPhone, and profit from Nimbuzz’s impressive growth and value add services.”
Nimbuzz Facts:
• Signed global manufacturer partnerships with Toshiba, RIM, and Spice Mobiles!
• 1 new user in less than 4 seconds – or well over 20,000 new users a day.
• 95% would recommend Nimbuzz to a friend (based on 10/08 user survey with 15,000 respondents).
• Only mobile social messaging aggregator to ever win the prestigious Red Herring Global 100 award.
• We also won Best Mobile, Best VoIP and Best IM app at the Top Mobile 20 awards
www.nimbuzz.com/press
Today Nimbuzz is announcing the launch of ultimate iPhone VoIP app with the latest Nimbuzz update now available from the iPhone App Store. The new app is focused on bridging the 3G VoIP gap on the iPhone - anywhere:
With free Wifi calls to instant messaging buddies already available, we added a full dial-pad, and the ability to make VoIP calls to landlines and mobile phones with Skype Out, and via 10 VoIP partners including Gizmo5, Vyke, SIPgate and A1. You can even see the available Skype Out credit you have directly on the dial pad.
If Wifi is unavailable you can make VoIP calls to Nimbuzz buddies using Nimbuzz Dial-Up VoIP in over 50 countries. (Dial-Up VoIP - dials a local access number that connects to anywhere in the world via Nimbuzz VoIP servers to make calls to Nimbuzz buddies anywhere for the same cost of a domestic call.) Turn iPod touch into an iPhone - Make calls over Wi-Fi via SkypeOut or via VoIP provider. Upgraded interface with much improved usability and the awesome landscape-mode chat
NIMBUZZ IPHONE APP BRIDGES 3G VOIP GAP
VoIP over 3G, Skype Out, SIP calling, and Twitter support, make Nimbuzz the most comprehensive mobile social VoIP and instant messaging application – and turns iPod touch into iPhone
19 March 09 – Rotterdam - Nimbuzz (www.nimbuzz.com) today releases the most comprehensive VoIP application for the iPhone. With free Wifi calls to instant messaging buddies already available, new additions include the introduction of a dial-pad and the ability to make VoIP calls to landlines and mobiles via Skype-Out, and Nimbuzz’s major SIP provider partners including Gizmo5, Vyke, and SIPgate over Wifi – effectively turning the iPod touch into an iPhone. iPhone users without Wifi connection can make VoIP calls using Nimbuzz Dial-Up VoIP in over 50 countries.
Unique to Nimbuzz is the available credit shown on the users dial-pad when using Skype Out for phone calls to landlines and mobile phones.
Nimbuzz bridges the iPhone VoIP gap by allowing VoIP calls over 3G via its Dial-Up VoIP option in over 50 countries. It allows iPhone users to call (international) mobile and landlines at significantly reduced costs, by dialing a local access number that connects to anywhere in the world via Nimbuzz VoIP servers.
New VoIP call options are available via Nimbuzz’s global affiliate SIP partners: Gizmo5, Vyke, SIPgate, and 7 other global players. These additional call networks are seamlessly integrated into the interface to use Nimbuzz for cheap (international) VoIP calls to landlines and mobile phones over Wifi.
Another feature allows Twitter updates via the Personal Message option. Popular communities, including Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ, Google Talk, AIM, and social networks such as Facebook and MySpace are already supported with call and chat options.
“The fact that Nimbuzz adds a new user around every 4 seconds is partly due to our successful iPhone application launched in November last year”, says Evert Jaap Lugt, CEO of Nimbuzz. “We are a mass-market lifestyle application and are keen to ensure we keep up to date with the needs of the hyper-connected, so this update reflects initial feedback from our users.”
The additional iPhone SIP calling functionality will be promoted via a two week online banner campaign on partner sites Gizmo5, Vyke, and SIPgate.
Says Michael Robertson, CEO of Gizmo5:”We are excited to promote Nimbuzz for bringing Gizmo to the iPhone, and profit from Nimbuzz’s impressive growth and value add services.”
Nimbuzz Facts:
• Signed global manufacturer partnerships with Toshiba, RIM, and Spice Mobiles!
• 1 new user in less than 4 seconds – or well over 20,000 new users a day.
• 95% would recommend Nimbuzz to a friend (based on 10/08 user survey with 15,000 respondents).
• Only mobile social messaging aggregator to ever win the prestigious Red Herring Global 100 award.
• We also won Best Mobile, Best VoIP and Best IM app at the Top Mobile 20 awards
www.nimbuzz.com/press
KC550 LG's With all the 5 megapixel cameras on offer today it can be difficult to choose one to suit your needs. For those who require a decent camera, but don't want to fork out for unnecessary features, the LG KC550 could be the perfect choice. Touted as the cheapest 5 megapixel camera phone on the market, the KC550 is sure to worry its competitors. We take a closer look to find out if there's a catch to this great deal.
Despite its keen pricing, the design of the LG KC550 certainly hasn't been affected. It sports a simplistic, classy look, with lashings of chrome and fingerprint-loving glossy black plastic. It shares the same slider layout as LG's range-topping Secret, and the sliding action is just as smooth. Happily, the KC550 has rectified my main gripe with the Secret, and provides a 'proper' tactile 4-way d-pad and enter button. It seems that cost-cutting has its perks.
Either side of the d-pad you'll find the device's softkeys and call/end keys, as well as the dedicated cancel button. Oddly, the cancel button didn't function as expected. Rather than offering a quick way to delete things, it is instead used to go back one screen. However, when entering numbers or text, it resumes its expected role as a backspace button. The red 'end' key also doubles-up as the device's on/off button.
The front of the device is otherwise dominated by the 2.4" screen, with its bright 262,000 colors and 240 x 320 pixel QVGA resolution. The display appears to be the same as the LG Secret's, but without touch-sensitive capabilities. However, unlike the Secret, the KC550 doesn't have a mirrored finish over the display, making it much easier to view in bright environments. Just above the display is a discreet slit housing the earpiece. Overall the front of the device is very simplistic and stylish - very LG.
The rear of the phone is clad with grippy soft-touch plastic, so you don't have to worry about fingerprints here. There are also a few slits for the loudspeaker, next to the camera's brushed metal effect lens cover. The lens cover slides across with a satisfying click into place, but is fairly stiff, so you might find yourself opening the phone instead. Opening and closing the lens cover automatically activates and deactivates the camera.
The left side of the device is home to a single headphone/data/charger port, covered by a plastic door that slides across to keep grime out. The right side is a little busier, with a covered microSD slot, zoom/volume keys, and the camera shutter button. At the top corner of this side you'll also find a neat lanyard fixing. The microphone and button to unclip the back panel can be found on the bottom of the device.
Giving the fascia a push upwards will reveal the KC550's large 12-key keypad. It sports an attractive checkered design, with some keys being black, and others in a grey spun metal effect, similar to the
Call audio quality on the LG KC550 was good, with callers coming through loud and reasonably clear. Unfortunately, the device is tri-band only, on the GSM 900/1800/1900 bands. Still, network reception was good, showing full reception a lot of the time. I didn't experience any dropped calls with the KC550 either. Overall, call performance was good for a 2G device. Battery performance was average for this type of device, lasting 2-3 days in our tests. Your mileage may vary, as our use was moderate, with a few calls, some light texting, web browsing, and some multimedia use. LG claim the device's battery can offer up to 450 hours of standby time and up to 6 hours of talk time. This seemed a little optimistic to me though, based on our tests.
The contacts system was very easy to use, with a handful of different data points available for each contact. These included several phone numbers, an email address, and a contact specific ringtone and photo. The number of data points could be an issue for some people though, with only three phone numbers and one email address available per contact. Adding and removing contacts was very simple, as was the search system. However, the contacts system only contains one 'name' box, meaning that you can't input forenames and surnames separately. This means that the search system will search only by forename, unless you type contacts in surname first. It is possible to group contacts to manage them more easily.
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Ring profiles are supported on the KC550, with five to choose from. Three of these are customizable. There are options for ringers, message alerts, and keypad tones. A decent selection of ringers are included, such as the classic 'ring-ring'. It is possible to choose from various alert types, such as ring and vibrate, or ring then vibrate, and MP3s can be used as ringers/message tones too. There are also customizable sound effects for turning the device on and off, and opening/closing it. Thankfully these can be turned off altogether. Long pressing the # key will put the device directly into silent mode.
The LG KC550 features a decent loudspeaker for making calls via speakerphone. Overall the quality was good for calls, with voices being easily heard and understood. Callers reported no change in sound quality at their end when speakerphone was activated, which is good. Speed dialling was also present on the KC550, with the number 1 key preset to voicemail. Voice dialing is not supported on this device.
Thanks to the device's large keypad, typing messages was quite easy. However, the predictive text function wasn't the best I've used. It felt quite clunky and prohibitive - making it difficult to piece together words from individual letters. Like Sony Ericsson devices, the d-pad is used to toggle between predicted words. This is a departure from other LG devices like the Secret, that use the * button for this purpose. Unfortunately, I was unable to get IMAP4 email working on this device, with it reporting various errors when trying to retrieve my inbox. The LG KC550 also does not feature an instant messaging application.
As the KC550 is only a 2G device, this means no high-speed downloads for web browsing and such. All is not lost though, and LG have included Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP to sweeten the deal. This allows users to connect a set of stereo Bluetooth headphones. Users can also send music, photos, and documents between the KC550 and a Bluetooth-enabled computer. Transfers can also be made via the included USB cable, at USB 2.0 transfer speeds.
Multimedia / Applications
The main feature of LG's KC550 is its high-spec 5.0 megapixel camera. Despite its favorable price-tag, the KC550 still features a Schneider-Kreuznach lens for superior shots. To compliment this, an image stabilizer and LED flash are included to help improve shots even further. If the flash isn't enough for your darker shots, don't fret, because the KC550's camera also features ISO800 sensitivity for improved low light photography. As with most higher-end camera phones these days, the KC550 features autofocus, which provided us with crisp images during our tests. There was also a macro mode for capturing close-up shots. Some of the shots we got with macro mode were very impressive indeed. Example shots can be found at the end of this review.
vibrant media
Overall, images taken with the KC550's camera were clear and offered vivid colors. Images were also very detailed and low light performance was generally good. There was an element of graininess to photos taken in low light, but this is to be expected from a phone camera. Unusually, there are no scene mode options on the KC550, although white balance and exposure values can be adjusted. There is also a multi-shot mode that allows you to take multiple photos with one press of the shutter button. There are options for 3, 6, or 9 shots to be taken, and they were taken in very quick succession. Unfortunately, using multi-shot (burst) mode reduces photo resolution to a mere 640 x 480 pixels. A nice feature of the KC550's camera, is the four icons that appear on the device's d-pad, providing shortcuts to; flash settings, macro mode, image stabilizer, and photo album. Once photos are taken it is then possible to edit them in a variety of ways, using the in-built image editor from the gallery. Effects on offer are quite basic, but there are options to crop and rotate images too.
The LG KC550's imaging capabilities don't end there though, as it also features a formidable video recorder. Videos came out surprisingly well during our tests. Once captured, you can then play your footage back in 740 x 480 (DVD) resolution. Color reproduction is good, and the footage is pretty detailed. It is also possible to adjust the brightness and white balance. The only real downfall was a juddering that we noticed when recording some test clips. This was surprising, given the device's advertised 30fps encoding - so we checked it out on the computer to find that our device was only encoding videos at 15fps in both WVGA and VGA resolutions. Videos were also recorded in 3GP format, rather than the more popular MP4 format that many devices use these days. This is a shame, as the video quality is otherwise pretty good.
Browsing through images and videos is as simple as every other aspect of the device. There are several ways to view your photos from the camera menu, or they can be accessed from the 'My Stuff' folder. The KC550 is equipped with an accelerometer, so when you turn the device on its side, the image automatically rotates to landscape. This works in any direction that you turn the device, even upside-down. You can also view your photos with the device's 'Muvee studio' application. This allows you to make a presentation from your pics, with music and transition effects.
Web browsing wasn't the KC550's best feature, and loading up pages was quite slow. This should be expected really, as this is only a 2G device, but the browser even shut down remarkably slowly, which was frustrating. The KC550's browser was also very limited, only being able to show very basic pages because of its lack of HTML compatibility. Overall this browser is definitely for emergencies only.
Thankfully, the KC550's MP3 player was better, although I had to completely re-format my microSD card before the device could find any of my music. The headphones that came with the KC550 were of low quality, and connect to the device's charging/data port. This meant no charging whilst listening to music, unless you use the device's Bluetooth A2DP connectivity to link up a set of Bluetooth headphones. This was definitely the MP3 player's saviour, as there is no 3.5mm headphone port to be found on the device. However, when testing the player with a set of Samsung Bluetooth headphones I found a strange flaw. With the headphones connected, the music player refused to minimize, meaning it was not possible to lock the device's keypad. This of course meant that I had to carry it in my hand as I walked - not ideal, especially when all the controls are on the headset anyway.
Playlist creation was supported, and the device automatically creates 'recent songs' and 'favorite songs' playlists too. The music player also features an equalizer, although this is best left alone in my experience, as it didn't really help the sound. Overall sound quality was pretty good, but I found it somewhat lacking in volume and punchiness. Playing music through the device's loudspeaker didn't sound too bad, and offered respectable volume. You can search your tunes by song, artist, album, and genre, plus shuffle or repeat them. You can also view visualizations whilst listening to your tunes, with a choice of album art or moving bars. Music can be synchronized with a PC via the included USB cable, or loaded onto the device and memory card in mass storage mode. To compliment the music player, an FM radio is featured on the LG KC550, but requires the headphones to be connected to use as an antenna.
The KC550 also comes loaded with some handy information management functions, such as a calendar, calculator, stopwatch, memo application, unit converter, and world clock. An alarm clock is included too, and offers up to five alarms to be set at once. If written memos aren't your thing, a voice recorder is included to keep you covered. It is also possible to view various documents on the KC550, including word, excel, powerpoint, and PDF files. The device has an internal memory capacity of only 12MB, but can take microSD cards up to 4GB. We tested the device with a 2GB card without any issues once we'd re-formatted it. Unusually, it couldn't read most of the data on the card until we did this, despite plenty of other devices reading the card fine.
Lastly, the KC550 features a selection of different games, including LG's 'M-toy' games that use the device's built-in accelerometer. The games on offer are; darts, baseball, magic 8-ball, hammer throw, mazes, and fishing. Each of the games offer a Nintendo Wii-like experience, being controlled by the user waving the phone around. The games are very short though, with little variation, so are only good for a bit of quick entertainment. There were a couple of other games on our test unit; 'Extreme Skateboard', and 'Mini Game World'. Again, these only offer entertainment for short periods of time, but use the device's keypad for control, rather than it's built-in accelerometers.
User Interface
The LG KC550 is altogether a very simple device to use. Everything in the menu system is well placed and easy to find. The main menu is preset to grid layout, but can be changed to a list if you wish. All submenus are in list format, and this cannot be changed. Within any of the menus each item is numbered, and pressing the corresponding number on the keypad jumps directly into the item. Overall, the KC550 was very easy to navigate, with consistent menus that ensure you'll be able to find what you're looking for. I'd say that this device was one of the simplest phones I've used in a long time.
vibrant media
Theme support is very basic, with only two themes to choose from - 'Black 3D' and 'Black line'. Both themes are very similar, with the only difference being the menu icons. They even use the same default wallpaper (water), which amusingly uses the built-in accelerometer to rotate itself as you turn the device. To make things a bit more exciting, you can set some of the M-toy games as your wallpaper - either darts, mazes, or the magic 8-ball. You can even play the games from the standby screen! Another welcome customization feature, was being able to change the device's font. Doing this changed the font throughout the entire phone - from the menus, to messaging, to the MP3 player, and even the standby screen!
As mentioned earlier, the cancel button functions as a dedicated 'back' button, or a delete button when entering text. During our tests this button could sometimes be quite unresponsive, frequently missing key-presses. I think this was due to the interface being a little slow to respond at times. It seemed to struggle with quick typing and quick menu navigation, which sometimes made buttons feel unresponsive. There was also a dedicated camera button for focussing/taking photos. This could also be used to activate the camera by long-pressing it from the standby screen, though you'll still have to open the lens cover.
KC550 LG's
We’ve heard about the BlackBerry Niagara 9630 before, and it looks like we might see it go on sale in May as far as Verizon is concerned.
Based on what The Street reports, analysts have confirmed that it will indeed be debuting in May. A specific date and price, however, was not mentioned, but the news that it will be dropping in two months time is certainly most welcome. The BlackBerry Niagara 9630 is expected to feature a 3.2-megapixel camera, A-GPS, and GSM/GPRS/EDGE/HSPA and CDMA/EV-DO rev A connectivity. No WiFi on this BlackBerry, but as BGR notes in their brief hands-on review, this is the best BlackBerry as far as keyboard, speakers, screen, and size/feel are concerned.
Here’s a quick walk-through video that BGR has cooked up to get BlackBerry aficionados even more excited for this new smartphone:
Popout
We’ve also heard that Bell will also be offering the BlackBerry Niagara 9630, but we have yet to receive further details as to when this will exactly happen apart from the earlier report that it will come in Q2. Anyway, with the Verizon release confirmed in May, we might see it go on sale on Bell around the same time as well.
Contrary to prior reports, it looks like the Pico Projector-equipped Samsung Show will actually be released in the international market and not be limited to the Korean market only.
Summer is the expected roll out period for this truly unique mobile that comes with a 5-megapixel camera, touchscreen display, and TouchWIZ interface. Pricing, though, is still not available. However, another projector-equipped mobile phone, the Samsung MBP200 has also been announced with a May release date and price of $637. It might seem a little bit expensive, but remember, you do get a Pico Projector for that price built into your mobile phone.
Unfortunately, this announcement only concerns the European market, but we’re optimistic that we’ll hear more new regarding the pair’s availability in other regions as the months go by.
Cricket Wireless has announced that it is now offering the Nokia 3606, a thin 3G capable flip phone, to its customers in the United States. As it is announced in the third quarter of 2008, The 3606 is one of the first from Nokia to support the AWS band.
The Nokia 3606 is an ultra-thin and stylish flip phone optimized with popular features; including an MP3 music player with dedicated “hidden-until-lit” external music keys to provide instant access to your favorite songs and a 1.3 megapixel camera with an LED flash. The phone measures 90mm x 47.5mm x 15.3mm (3.5in x 1.9in x 0.6in) in size and is expected to offer up to 3.5 hours of talk time or 10 days of standby from a full battery charge.
This Ultra thin Phone also features an FM radio (wired headset required), an integrated speakerphone, BREW 3.1.5 with 15MB of user memory, SMS/MMS with predictive text, stereo Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel camera with LED flash, a MicroSD card slot for up to 8GBs and a micro USB charger/connector.
Cricket Introduces Nokia 3606
The Nokia 3606 is available immediately at most Cricket retail locations for $180
Nokia 3606
The LG Neon TE365 has arrived at Rogers Wireless via Fido. Regarding the LG Canadian Texting Championships: “LG Neon, which is a slider model that features a full QWERTY keypad and easy touch screen for dialing. This full QWERTY slider is now available for $50 on a 2-year plan, or outright for $175. The Neon has a 2.4 inch touchscreen (240 x 320 pixels) with a 2.0 megapixel camera that has video capabilities, MP3 Player with FM Radio, Stereo Bluetooth, expandable memory up to 4 GB MicroSD.
It also comes with:
* LG TE365F handset
* 800 mAh battery
* Travel charger
* Stereo headset
* USB cable and CD
* Fido Smart card
* Get to know Fido guide
* User manuals (EN/FR) (Getting started guide)
LG Neon TE365 Arrives at Fido
Be the first one to grab this new touchscreen/QWERTY phone thats perfect for texting!
