Now the experience finally comes to the iPhone. The most recent (v 1.5) update of their Xfinity app now allows iPhone and iPod touch users to join the iPad in streaming onDemand content from Comcast’s servers.

Comcast may be under fire for their massive merger with NBC Universal, but one thing that hasn’t yet drawn much negative attention is their Xfinity TV service. Cable companies are racing with each other to get their content out of the living room and into our pockets (as well as stave of Verizon’s FIOS).

Now that the cable giants have finally realized that their customers don’t just want to watch their content in their homes in front of their TVs, Comcast, Cablevision and Time Warner Cable has found ways to pump their Xfinity TV content into devices that users can take anywhere (with a Wi-Fi connection, that is).

The importance of this particular migration to the iPhone is clear: while Apple has done brisk sales of the iPad and iPad 2, the numbers pale in comparison to the number of iPhones in circulation.

The main advantage Comcast’s app enjoys over those of their clueless brethren at Cabelvision and Time Warner is that despite the functionality’s Wi-Fi limitations, users of the Xfinity app can use the service over ANY Wi-Fi connection, not just their home network. The number of people who would want or need to watch TV on an iPhone in a home that already has cable service is undoubtedly miniscule, but for those who do, TWC and Cablevision have you covered.

No word on where Comcast customers who have 4G service with a mobile hotspot fit in regards to the “Wi-Fi-only” restrictions.

iTunes via Engadget

• Comcast announces $25 Novatel MiFi 4082
• WatchESPN app now available for Android
• Sources: Sprint forms cabal with cable companies to buyout Clearwire
• fring VoIP app for iPhone
• FaceTime is coming to the iPad and iPod Touch

Now that WP7 is finally available on CDMA, we should see the floodgates open for multiple handsets running the platform on Sprint and Verizon both. This is going to be great for Microsoft, since up until this time the OS was only available on exactly 50% of the major nationwide networks, and it’s only going to continue growing.

But before we see any sort of floodgates in action for WP7, let us first reflect upon the HTC Arrive, the phone responsible for leading the charge against the CDMA carriers. With one more OS platform becoming available on Sprint, I love seeing carriers offer more OS choices to their customers.

Let the HTC Arrive review commence!

Here’s Part 1 of the Video Review.

First impressions and Unboxing

Check here for my first impressions of the HTC Arrive immediately after unboxing it, and watch the unboxing video below.

Software of the HTC Arrive

Windows Phone 7 devices are the most consistent of any OS platform (with iOS perhaps excepted) currently, which is another way of saying it’s the most boring across the board. Every single device running WP7 has to be running a minimal hardware standard, and the most customizing any OEM or carrier can do on WP7 is restricted to the Hub for that company.

It’s a locked-down OS to the max, which makes Microsoft sound a heckuva lot like Apple. My guess is that they have chosen the same closed-OS model as its competitor because they were too worried that an open-sourced or open-to-customization WP7 would easily just spiral out of control, essentially turning into the same exact problem Windows Mobile 6.x ran into.

The software of any WP7 device is going to be boring to review, because there’s very little room for each OEM and carrier to innovate and be different from their competitors. The only hope for each WP7 phone to shine is to find a nook or cranny on the software or hardware that makes it look or feel different than the rest. In the case of the HTC Arrive, they were supremely different in 3 things: NoDo pre-installed, Sprint Zone, and a couple new design ideas that had me sold from the first moment I tried the phone.

NoDo Update on the Arrive

The HTC Arrive is the first to come pre-loaded with the new NoDo update, which is finally now starting to roll out to select WP7 handsets. This NoDo (which stands for “No Donut”, a direct crack at Android’s naming scheme system) update is the famous one that finally makes copy-and-paste come alive along with a few other important bug fixes and performance enhancements.

Here’s the laundry list of enhancements in the NoDo update:

• Copy and paste – still not implemented perfectly, but a massive improvement over the non-existent kind of copy/paste on the original version of the OS. See the video review for more detail on exactly how the copy and paste works. Like I said, though, it is definitely not a perfect system as we would like it to be; there are restrictions on developers that force them to have to rewrite the code for their apps in order to have their apps properly work with the copy and paste functionality. But natively, the copy/paste actions seem to work flawlessly in emails, messages and web browsing.
• Marketplace search. My largest complaint about the Marketplace is not how few apps there are in it — I understand it will take time to get developers to hop on the bandwagon — but how difficult it was to filter through all of the search results. Previously, you could only do a general search through every aspect of the Marketplace, so your quest to find the band “Crazy Leg Warmers” would also reveal a list of apps, artists, albums, and games that would fit under that same search, and there’s no way to separate them out or categorize them at all. In the new Marketplace under NoDo, simply go into the games or apps section, and the new search menu will let you search ONLY apps and games. Same with the music section. Again, not perfect but much improved.
• Other Marketplace enhancements. Added stability in downloading apps, and improved the experience of downloading apps larger than 20 MB. NoDo also made it easier to upgrade from trial apps to fully-puchased versions, using a credit card from outside the US, and other improvements to XBox Live.
• Faster app/game loading. Another big complaint about WP7 has been focused on how long it takes to actually load a game or app before finally letting you in. This update will help each app on the WP7 system load up faster, so you can get to enjoying your apps sooner.
• Better Facebook syncing, improved ability to switch from camera to camcorder and vice versa, improvements in the Wi-Fi performance and Microsoft Outlook, bluetooth improvements, and many more general bug fixes.

NoDo is considered a major update, technically, though it doesn’t really add a whole lot to the WP7 experience. It’s definitely not an overhaul of the OS, and doesn’t come anywhere close to the kinds of improvements you can expect to see in the next major update, nicknamed Mango, likely coming out late 2011 or early 2012.

Here’s part 2 of my video review:

Hardware and Design of the HTC Arrive

The Arrive is a hefty phone, even more so than the HTC Thunderbolt I just recently reviewed. This particular phone is thicker (at 15.5 mm) and heavier (6.5 oz) because it has a full horizontal slide-out keyboard, and it is comprised of more durable materials. For instance, the battery cover is made of brushed aluminum, and the top and bottom of the back are all soft rubber. Finally, plastic lines the sides and edges of the phone. I prefer lighter phones, but I’m willing to make a sacrifice if it’s made of durable materials.

I think one of the biggest differences in the weight/size issue that I had with the Thunderbolt (in short, I did not like having such a large and wide phone be so thick and heavy) is that the Arrive has a smaller screen and they compact a physical QWERTY keyboard into a smaller package. It reminds me much of the HTC EVO Shift 4G in that it’s a skinnier phone and the weight, though heavier, is all condensed. Thus, the Arrive has a natural feeling when you’re holding it in your hand, like it belongs there.

Beyond the types of material used and the overall look, HTC threw a couple other design innovations into the mix for good measure. The most important design element is in the keyboard slider: when open, the phone’s screen tilts up. the slider uses a bar that goes length-wise across the back of the phone and pivots up and down. As soon as the keyboard is slid all the way out, the pivot is freed up and automatically flexes upwards, pushing the screen up with it. This particular style certainly differs from anything else I’ve seen in a slider phone; for instance, the HTC Touch Pro (AT&T Tilt) used a plate on a hinge to allow the screen to tilt.

The drawback to the pivot style for the screen tilt is that you’re not given the option to push the screen down and use it like normal. It’s tilt, and tilt only. Not everybody enjoys having their screen tilt upward at an angle. I prefer it this way because I don’t have to look at the screen straight-on in order to see what I’m typing.

However, this pivoting style does add to the complexity of opening and closing the slider itself. Opening it isn’t much of a problem, though sometimes there is a little too much friction caused between the keys and the slider, making me have to push a bit harder. Closing the slider is different than usual because I have to push the screen down to be parallel with the keyboard first, rather than diagonal. The pivot only releases its grip on the screen when it’s pushed down, finally giving the slider a chance to be pushed back in at that time.

Keyboard

This is one of the best keyboards I’ve tested recently. For starters, it uses a 5-row keyboard with a dedicated number row. I can never emphasize strongly enough the importance of having a row of numbers on the top of the keyboard — if it’s not a dedicated row, it becomes a large nuisance because it’s treated as a symbol. Trying to toggle the Sym or Fn key several times is a huge hassle if you need to type a string of numbers at the same time.

The keys are separated slightly (not too much space to make it awkward trying to type back and forth, but not too little space that my thumbs are constantly smushing on the wrong keys), made of a comfortable soft rubber and is elevated off the board perfectly, so that it offers enough feedback when pressing the keys in but doesn’t cause it to bounce back too much. It sounds weird to say, but the higher the keys are off the board, the harder it is for me to type on them; I think the extra bouncing down and back up throws off my rhythm. And I can’t stress enough the importance of having a rhythm when typing on a smartphone keyboard.

Also, the keyboard has 2 LED lights on the left-hand side that will light up when the caps lock key or FN key are activated. I enjoyed seeing these light up to indicate I was using an uppercase letter or one of the yellow symbols on the keyboard. There’s also a dedicated direction pad, emoticon button, and comma button. Anyone who has read my reviews of other phones with keyboards will know that I strongly dislike the lack of a .com and / button. I heavily use both of these buttons, whether it’s just for emails or for web browsing; either way, these two activities are huge when using a smartphone.

Performance of the Arrive

The Arrive has similar specs to that of any other Windows Phone 7 device: 1 GHz CPU, 576 MB RAM, 5 MP camera with 720p HD video capture and LED flash, 16 GB internal storage space with no MicroSD accessibility, and no front camera.

Also, it’s important to keep in mind that the Arrive is not an international phone. It only uses dual-mode CDMA, so there is no GSM and no 4G WiMax either. That’s right — any international travelers or speed enthusiasts need not apply here. You will still get access to the 3G network on Sprint, but it almost feels like a step backwards these days, considering every other high-end device on Sprint’s lineup is 4G-capable.

The processor and RAM are not excessive, but still sufficient on WP7. Every transition is a smooth one, with no ghosting effect when scrolling up and down through various screens; the apps all boot up fairly quickly (faster with NoDo, for sure) and the games run smooth with no lagging.

I absolutely love the audio quality and volume control on the Arrive. I could hear the other end of the line clearly and loudly in every environment, even on speakerphone. Most smartphones have a difficult time keeping the volume loud enough, forcing me to put the volume on max almost exclusively, but I never had to go to maximum volume on the Arrive.

The battery life on the Arrive is nothing spectacular, but certainly is average for a smartphone. It’s rated to last 6 hours for constant talk time, which is true to my tests.

Overall, I felt like the phone performed very well, with few bugs or lags.

Overview of the HTC Arrive

I recommend it for: those who prefer a physical keyboard to touchscreen-only, need their phone calls to be nice and loud, want a new OS experience, and for smartphone novices that are just learning the ropes.

I don’t recommend it for: international travelers, screen display enthusiasts who like the best possible screen resolution, anyone who wants to have 4G-capable phone, or those who prefer the lightest phone with the largest screen.

You can find some great deals for the HTC Arrive right now. On Sprint you can get it for $199.99 with contract, but you can find it on Amazon for $49.99 (new customers) or $149.99 (upgrades). Either way you’re still saving more by taking that route.

Also, you can find it at Let’s Talk:
HTC Arrive (Sprint)

• Sprint HTC Arrive Unboxing and First Impressions
• Minor Update May Come to Windows Phone 7 This Week
• Windows Phone 7 NoDo update starts rolling out, brings copy&paste and more
• Samsung Focus to Get NoDo WP7 Update Monday?
• HTC Arrive is Now Available on Sprint; $199 with Contract

But when Samsung announced the Galaxy Tab 8.9, the company also re-announced the 10.1 version and gave it a couple new fresh twists to make it worth hearing about: a revamped Touchwiz UI that went right over Android 3.0 Honeycomb with some new features, and a much thinner form factor at 8.6 mm thin.

Both models, the 8.9 and 10.1, will have the same form factor and look virtually identical with the exception of size. Both will use the TouchWiz UI as well. The only difference between the two will be its size (although I suppose price is another difference as well).

Pricing was announced for both versions, with WiFi-only being the only connectivity option for now; however, during my hands-on with both devices, I noticed a SIM card slot on both, giving me the impression that there will be a good chance we’ll see it show up on AT&T or T-Mobile eventually (or at least globally on any GSM network for that matter).

The pricing for both models are definitely competitive and could do very well. The 10.1, for instance, is priced at $499 for 16 GB and $599 for 32 GB (available beginning June 8); the 8.9 is priced at $469 and $569 for the same storage options (available sometime in early summer).

I’ve included the videos for both the 8.9 and 10.1, as well as some comparison shots. One thing I noted in the videos was the carbon-fiber material on the back that allows for better gripping, but I had the chance to go back later and handle the “real, closer to finished” models hiding under glass; these models didn’t have the grippy material on the back but rather a slick non-glossy plastic. Since it was also the official 8.6 mm thinness (the hands-on models were 10.9 mm), I do believe this is the model closest to being final.

(In the above shot, this is a comparison between the Galaxy Tab 10.1 announced last month at MWC measuring 10.9 mm thin, versus yesterday’s announced 8.6 mm thin frame)

• Samsung’s Galaxy Tab Android tablet looks like Galaxy S on steroids
• Samsung Galaxy R now available in the UK, can be yours for £409.99
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 brings Super AMOLED Plus to the tablet space
• iPhone OS-based Apple iPad (tablet) officially announced, prices start at $500 (video)
• New smartphone naming scheme for Samsung. Galaxy R, W and Y on the way

The G2X will also run on T-Mobile’s 4G (or, as Dan Hesse just called it today, “faux G”) HSPA+ network, though it will max out at 14.4 Mbps and will not be able to upgrade up to T-Mobile’s new max of 42. It uses the Tegra 2 dual-core processor with a 1 GHz clock speed to make it the fastest device on T-Mobile at present time.

The G2x should be upgradeable to Gingerbread, and according to LG this should be relatively soon. We’ve heard “soon” before, and won’t believe it until we see it. In the meantime, it’s still at least running Froyo so you have access to Flash Player and a decently fast browser.

We anticipate seeing the G2x arrive on T-Mobile shelves sometime in April, and while the price has not yet been disclosed, we should be seeing it at no more than $199, most likely.

Check out my pics and video below!

• LG Announces Optimus 2X Dual-Core Android, Due in Korea Next Month
• LG Optimus 2X on pre-order in the UK, £499.99 unlocked
• LG Optimus 2X available now in India
• LG Optimus 2X available now in the UK
• LG Optimus 3D appears at Orange UK’s website, still not available

We found the Xperia Play to be running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread; specifically, it was running 2.3.2. In fact, it is almost completely vanilla Android, with a few tweaks here and there to make room for the specific Xperia Play experience; for instance, when opening the slider, you’re automatically taken to the Xperia Play section, which lets you choose between several games already installed or pre-loaded on the device and the option to download new games.

There’s really no other surprises to the Verizon-branded Play besides the obligatory bloatware, but even that isn’t much of a shocker. I do enjoy the fact that Sony Ericsson kept this phone relatively free of UI overlays, unlike other members of the Xperia lineup.

Sony Ericsson representatives on hand could not specify a date or pricing yet, but the firmware on the Play looks pretty close to final; no bugs could be seen, and all of Verizon’s usual apps and bloatware are already on it.

Look on below for the full video showing off the Xperia Play, with some extra pictures.

• #MWC11: Sony Ericsson Xperia Play hands-on video
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Play on sale for $99.99 at Verizon
• Verizon may launch a 4G LTE Sony Ericsson Xperia Play
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Play gets a price drop in the UK: £418
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Play goes 4G on AT&T, available for $50 starting September 18

You may have heard already, but the Thunderbolt is the very first LTE smartphone to show up on Verizon’s superfast 4G network. This 4G network is different than the other 3 major carriers; Sprint uses WiMax, and T-Mobile and AT&T are currently on HSPA+. However, LTE has the highest capacity of them all in terms of overall network speeds and reliability, and the aforementioned carriers are all either planning on building out their LTE network, or at least highly considering it. We could very well see all 4 carriers using LTE at some point over the next few years.

As of this writing, Verizon claims speeds of 5-12 Mbps download and 2-5 up using the HTC Thunderbolt. I haven’t been able to thoroughly test the LTE network, though I will be taking the Thunderbolt to Orlando for CTIA, where Verizon has LTE up and running, and giving it a good thorough testing.

I’m very excited about the Thunderbolt because not only does it offer the 4G speeds, it also comes packed with every other spec imaginable. This 4.3-inch WVGA phone comes with 8 GB internal storage space AND a 32 GB MicroSD card pre-installed. I don’t think I’ve reviewed a phone yet that has come with 40 GB storage in the box. It also has the latest generation of Snapdragon 1 GHz processors (single-core, not dual) and 768 MB RAM, 8 MP rear camera and 1.3 MP front camera with 720p HD video, and 802.11n WiFi. It runs on Android 2.2 Froyo and uses HTC Sense. The phone actually reminds me a lot of the Inspire 4G in many ways.

You can also use the HTC Thunderbolt as a mobile hotspot and tether that 4G connection to up to 5 other wireless devices. The kicker on all this is that Verizon is offering free tethering on the Thunderbolt until May 15, before they begin charging you $20 per month. This is another reason to get the phone as soon as possible, so you can start taking advantage of that deal.

The Wirefly offer for the $25 off, by the way, is only good until March 21. So you have 3 more days to take advantage of it!

Use Coupon Code THUNDER0321 for $25 off the HTC ThunderBolt

Here’s my video showing off the unboxing and a few first thoughts about the phone. Then, stay tuned for my review of the Thunderbolt shortly after CTIA.

• Verizon HTC Thunderbolt 4G now only $150 at Wirefly until April 18
• HTC Thunderbolt Has 8 GB Internal Memory, Only 2.5 GB Can be Used
• Verizon HTC ThunderBolt and Motorola Droid X2 now only $99.99 with contract at Wirefly
• HTC Thunderbolt launch date and price officially confirmed by Verizon: March 17, $249
• Verizon HTC Thunderbolt ships on March 17, pre-orders start tonight, simultaneous voice&data confirmed

With the HTC Arrive being the “arrival” of WP7 on CDMA carriers, I imagine we’ll see a wave of new CDMA WP7 devices rolling out not too far from now. Hopefully we’ll even have a few to report on at CTIA next week.

This device in particular is a full horizontal slide-out with physical QWERTY keyboard included, much like the LG Quantum, with one exception — the keyboard tilts up for easier viewing. It comes with 3.6″ WVGA display.

But the other big reason the Arrive fits its name well is because it’s the very first WP7 device to come with the latest update, aka NoDo, and it’s pre-installed. This brings the much-awaited copy and paste functionality to Windows Phones as well as a few other minor enhancements.

My first impressions? I dig it. I love the look of the phone and it feels about the same as the EVO Shift 4G in my hand: heavier because of the full keyboard, but designed well enough to feel comfortable holding it. I have typically been a fan of HTC’s designs. In fact, I’m absolutely fond of the tilting mechanism the phone uses. When you see the video, you’ll get a better idea of it, but here’s a brief picture.

I really enjoy the keyboard because first and foremost, it is a 5-row keyboard which means it includes a number row at the top. Far too many phones leave this option out in order to make the phone as small as possible. The keys are separated and just a little bubbly, which means there’s enough give to provide feedback for your fingers, yet not so bouncy that it feels like you’re typing on a trampoline.

In our unboxing today we will get some first impressions of the phone with its keyboard, copy and paste, and any other goodies we can find. So check out the video below to see the HTC Arrive, making its way into Sprint stores on March 20 for $199 on contract. In addition there will be a $10/month premium data charge required.

Here’s the full video of my unboxing and first impressions:

• HTC Arrive is Now Available on Sprint; $199 with Contract
• Here’s What Copy and Paste Will Be Like on Windows Phone 7
• Verizon HTC 7 Trophy Windows Phone 7 device may come in March
• Copy-paste tech from Apple Newton could make its way to iPhone
• Unboxing the LG Quantum: Brad’s First Impressions

The Freestyle is just the beginning of a new strategy that AT&T has been developing as a way of transitioning all of its customers into smartphones. The premise is that it’s much easier for a customer to transition from a Freestyle to an Android device than it is for a customer to go from a basic phone like the Pantech Breeze. This sharp transition causes a dramatic increase in phone returns and a loss of customer interest in getting future smartphones. The idea is to introduce customers to budget-friendly devices that still look and feel like smartphones, but without all the extra functionality commonly found in them.

Brew MP is the featurephone OS that AT&T plans to stand behind, stating at CES 2011 that it expects to have 90% of its QMP lineup running this platform by year’s end. By creating an entire lineup of phones that run universally on Brew MP, developers will be much more inclined to build applications for these phones, making them more desirable. As it currently stands, most Quick Messaging Phones on AT&T are all powered by proprietary (and rather junky, might I add) OS platforms that simply don’t offer much selection in personalizing your phone.

The Freestyle is the beginning of a new generation, so join us as we unbox it and get some hands-on time with the OS. Watch our video below!

Get the HTC Freestyle on Amazon for one penny!

• AT&T HTC Freestyle Hands-On at CES 2011
• AT&T HTC Freestyle non-smartphone will be available on February 13 for $99.99
• Brew-based Motorola EX300 touchscreen phone coming soon
• AT&T HTC Freestyle non-smartphone shows up unannounced
• AT&T announces five Android phones from HTC, Motorola and Dell

Now that iPhone exclusivity is gone, the game has changed and AT&T knows this. Thus we are now seeing a whole lineup of 4G-capable Android phones with top-of-the-line specs and reasonable prices getting launched, so AT&T can be truly competitive with the other networks. After all, now the network has to rely on other things to keep its numbers up.

So without further adieu, we intro the HTC Inspire 4G on AT&T, the very first phone that the network is attaching the “4G” moniker to. Everyone has their own ideas about what 4G actually is, and if the current AT&T network can even be considered real 4G. The answer is yes, it IS technically 4G, but it’s not going to be running on the LTE network that’s slated to come out later this summer.

On top of the 4G debate, is the Inspire 4G actually worth considering? Is it a legit post-iPhone contender that will likely be butting heads with the likes of the EVO 4G and HTC ThunderBolt? Let’s find out.

Unboxing the Inspire 4G

We had the opportunity to unbox the Inspire 4G and get some good first impressions of the device in the video below.

Overall, my first impressions of the phone were good, though the 4.3” screen is not for everyone. Small hands need not apply, that’s for sure. Otherwise, a very solid phone with a battery cover (door?) that is nearly impossible to open and close without worrying that you’re going to break the cover.

Design and Hardware of the Inspire 4G

Since the Inspire 4G — a revamped US version of the Desire HD — will be the first one on AT&T to bear the name of the high-speed network it is using, there’s a lot of pressure on the landmark handset to get it right.

In terms of overall design, for starters, HTC sure did get it right. HTC excels at phone design by sticking with what works, and branching out for unique unibody aluminum exterior with the classic industrial silver and gray look is a wonderful design choice that’s both elegant and durable, and appears to be one of HTC’s lasting trademarks over the last couple years. By that, I mean that I can recognize an HTC phone from far away without squinting, because of its design.

Let’s look at some of these elements one at a time. The aluminum backing is a smart choice when you’re trying to design a phone with durability in mind, but there are some side effects. The phone weighs more than the average, and aluminum generally attenuates the cell phone signal (especially if designed poorly). In my review I determined that the wireless connections were never an issue, though I can attest to the additional weight.

I’ve always felt that one of the biggest factors that you need to consider when shopping for a new phone is the comfort level when you first use it. There are just simply some phones that feel more at home in the palm of your hand than others, and the Inspire 4G is a wild card because of its large 4.3” Super LCD screen. The screen makes the phone so wide that unless you have larger hands, it doesn’t feel natural to hold. I consider my hands to be average-sized, and it’s on the borderline comfort level for me. Fortunately HTC contoured the back of the phone so it tapers off the sides instead of opting for the boxy feel, which helps the phone fit in the hand as well as it could given the circumstance. But still, a lot of people pass on the Inspire 4G because of the size.

The screen itself uses HTC’s new Super LCD resolution, which is basically its version of Samsung’s Super AMOLED and Motorola’s qHD displays. The screen is very bright and easy to see, and when I viewed the screen outside in the sunlight, I could still see almost everything decently. In comparison with many other phone screens it’s rather tolerable in the daylight.

A major flaw in the design of the phone is the battery access panel in the back. Since the phone is unibody, the usual back door battery cover style was replaced by an access flap that once open will allow the battery to slide right out of its lair. The key phrase is “once open”, because  it was much easier said than done. It was incredibly difficult to not only open the door, but put it back on and have everything click in and have it look like it’s completely closed.

At least the SIM card and MicroSD card access doors are on the bottom of the phone, making it much more easy to slide off and access these when needed.

Beyond the issue with getting the battery out, I have high praise for the Inspire’s sleek look and solid feel. The wild card, as mentioned earlier, is your personal comfort level with the wide 4.3″ display. While having the larger screen makes your usual Android apps a much more awe-inspiring (pun not intended) experience because of the extra real estate to take advantage of, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons together. The phone is wide, and it’s heavier than many of its rivals. If you can’t properly grip your phone and it keeps slipping out of your hand, the large screen will only serve to annoy you over the course of time, and heavier phones may also be an annoyance to you and your hand muscles.

• dimensions of phone: 4.8 x 2.7 x 0.46 inches
• weighs 5.8 ounces

Our final verdict on the design: Comfortable for large hands, but many of you will find it to be just a tad too wide. It is on the weighty side for non-QWERTY phones. However, it is one of the most attractive phones I have used on AT&T in quite some time. Just pray you don’t have to take the battery out on a regular basis.

Software and OS of the HTC Inspire 4G

The Inspire 4G is the very first phone released on AT&T that uses Android 2.2, better known as Froyo. In the tech community, no Android phone is acceptable that doesn’t have at least Froyo, if not even newer. There are several reasons for this: a true Flash Player is finally supported, the web browser is now much faster than before, offers better battery life due to better task management, and there are now more options to keep your personal and work information secure.

Now that the Inspire 4G has received Froyo, now we have seen several devices on AT&T receive the update as well. The ATRIX 4G, Samsung Captivate and HTC Aria all now offer this update, which means AT&T has finally caught up to the rest of the US carriers in their Android selection.

In addition to using Froyo, the Inspire 4G uses HTC’s trademarked Sense User Interface. Sense is my personal favorite UI for Android because of its ease of use, vast amount of widgets and customizable content, and it doesn’t cause the phone to get bogged down and slow.

Sense has been around for a few years, and is actually used for other OS platforms such as the old Windows Mobile and the new Brew MP. The brilliance in the UI is that no matter what platform gets used, the Sense remains the same. When I used the Brew MP-powered HTC Freestyle, I noticed it was much easier for me to learn the OS because I already felt familiar with it. That’s the beauty of Sense – a universal feeling to the user interface.

Along with HTC’s most recent offerings on Android, Sense has some new enhancements that make the experience even better. A new icon graces the bottom left corner of each home screen panel that looks much like paint and brush, which takes you to a full menu of customization options. This menu lets you change Scenes (different sets of home screen panels, apps and settings that you can change to when your situation and needs change), wallpapers, widgets, and skins, and you’re given several other options as well. If you don’t find what you want or need, HTC also offers additional content that can be downloaded directly into the phone. Simply click on the included link to HTC’s database, where you will be able to surf through everything HTC has to offer.

The new Sense also gives you the ability to rearrange your home screen panels. Sick of seeing the large clock/weather widget on the main page, but still want it sticking around just in case? Just change which screen panel is home.

HTC also makes a few tweaks to other programs within Android itself. For example, HTC opts to use its own version of the music player, camera, and web browser to name a few. There are also a few other features that you’ll find on the Inspire that aren’t guaranted to show up on every Android.

Final verdict on OS/Software: My absolute favorite UI keeps getting better, and helps the Inspire 4G perform admirably.

Cool features on the Inspire 4G

The very first feature that adds to the phone’s cool factor is the mobile WiFi hotspot feature. This is, again, AT&T’s first venture into this category, with MiFi being the only exception, having become widely available only within the last few months.

The Mobile Hotspot feature takes the Inspire’s 4G connection speed and broadcasts it out as if it’s a wireless router, allowing up to 5 devices to simultaneously connect to the signal and access the AT&T 4G mobile broadband connection. This could include your iPad, laptop, Wii, or any other WiFi-capable device.

Just don’t go too crazy on the internet, though — you’re forking out $45 for 4 GB data per month, which isn’t much if you’re streaming video and music like mad. Just be very careful about when and how much you use it, and make sure you keep a close eye out on your monthly internet usage so you don’t go over. If you do, don’t fret too much: it’s $10 for each GB increment you go over. Obviously, don’t make a huge habit of it.

Another wonderful feature that, in my honest opinion, should be included on every single phone made today (both feature phone and smartphone alike): the Blocked Caller app. This is found on very, very few devices (none actually come to mind right now) and hopefully this is a predicator of things to come. The app does exactly what it sounds like it does. You add an unwanted number on the list, and every call that number makes to your phone goes straight to voicemail, thus leaving you from being disturbed by that person.

Frankly, the blocked caller list is a bit of a surprise to me because AT&T offers a similar program that blocks specific numbers from calling your phone (or conversely allows only specific numbers to call it) called Smart Limits for $5 per month. Having such a feature on the network’s phones will surely cannibalize sales of that particular plan (As a side note, the Smart Limits will do much more than just block calls — it will also put restrictions on your kid’s phone use, time of day, etc.).

How annoying is it to get a new smartphone and have to worry about finding a way to transfer your old phonebook over to it? Sure, there are different methods of doing so (for instance, I prefer backing up my contacts through Google, and then it automatically syncs with whatever smartphone i’m using at the time), but HTC threw in an app that lets you transfer your personal data from one phone to another using a bluetooth connection. Personal data includes contacts, texts, and calendar events. This feature is offered when you first set up your Inspire, and can be accessed at any time in the app tray.

Note: Not every phone will be supported, but there’s a very good possibility that if you already use a smartphone, its personal data can be transferred over using this method. If it can’t, it’s still easy to transfer contacts via SIM card or go to your local store to have them transfer it for you.

In helping you keep your data easily backed up, HTC has created its own website dedicated to this very purpose called htcsense.com. You’ll be invited to set up your very own Sense account when you first start up your Inspire, and then you’ll have access to it through the phone and your computer browser.

When thinking about this service, think of an HTC version of MobileMe that is completely free. You can sync your contacts and texts, and even use it to locate your phone. You can also purchase apps online and download them direct to phone, though this isn’t as impressive now since the Android Market came out with the same thing. Still, HTC is working to create a seamless transition for you in case you change phones or your Inspire ends up lost.

Performance of the AT&T Inspire 4G

We admit, the Inspire 4G is not the most powerful smartphone on the planet. With the introduction of dual-core CPU units such as the Tegra 2, a single-core 1 GHz CPU is beginning to feel somewhat inferior.

But here’s the deal: firstly, the Inspire 4G is only $99 with contract on AT&T; this is still a bargain when compared to other similar-spec’d phones, and if you want the extra power then shell out the extra $100 to get the Motorola ATRIX 4G. Secondly, a single-core 1 GHz CPU, especially when paired up with 768 MB RAM, is still plenty fast for the vast majority of phone shoppers. Unless you are going to be doing any sort of gaming beyond the usual Angry Birds, the Inspire will be quick and powerful enough to handle almost all of your needs.

I was happy with the processing speed and power of the Inspire 4G. While it’s not the most powerful on the market today, it’s also not being compared to devices that may be more powerful since it’s in a different price bracket. Most of the phones (regardless of carrier) in this price range are definitely similarly spec’d. The iPhone 4, which only beats the physical hardware specs of the Inspire in its frontward-facing camera and Retina Display, is still $100 more.

Also, I had no problems in making phone calls and sound quality on both ends of the conversation was good enough to be uneventful (meaning, no complaints at all on either side of the line).

However, the “4G” branding on the Inspire may be technically correct according to the ITU because it includes HSDPA+ 14.4 Mbps max download speeds, but it sure doesn’t live up to the name because it doesn’t get anywhere close to those speeds. Also, I can’t forget to mention that HSUPA is present on the phone but is at present time disabled (there are some technical reasons why this is so, and we have been told that the HSUPA should be running within a couple months). So when I attempted several speed tests, I was getting 3-4 Mbps down (granted, I do live in an area that doesn’t offer the fastest speeds possible) and a mere 300-500 kbps up.

So the HTC Inspire 4G on AT&T has been a tough one to judge overall, because as a phone and Android device I found the Inspire to be top-notch, and one of my absolute favorites to use. It’s a gorgeous phone with beautifully bright screen, plenty of screen space to work with, and runs HTC Sense with Froyo on it. The aluminum exterior unibody shell makes me feel as though the phone will last longer than a few months with hardy use.

There’s plenty of storage space with MicroSD, a fast processor with abundant RAM, and a high-res 8 MP camera with HD video recording. I experienced much better battery life on the Inspire than on earlier Android models. The mobile hotspot is also included which is one of my must-have features in a smartphone, for my needs.

But on the other hand, much of your opinion of the phone will be different depending on if the phone feels too large for your hands and how good or bad AT&T coverage is in your area. For me the coverage is good, but I don’t think we are getting the fastest 4G speeds possible in my area. The lack of high-speed uploading is worrisome to me, since I rely heavily on uploading videos and files on a regular basis. I also would have liked to see a mini-HDMI jack somewhere on the Inspire.

All in all, I consistently am impressed with the amount of TLC that HTC likes to put into its phones. The Inspire 4G is one such phone that left me impressed. No, it’s not perfect, but it is definitely one of the best Android phones you can find on the market today for $100. If it lacks some features you need in a phone, keep searching the higher-end models on all networks. But the Inspire certainly covers almost everything else that is important.

Check out the full video review below!

Get the Inspire 4G on Amazon

• AT&T HTC Inspire 4G Hands-On at CES 2011
• AT&T HTC Inspire 4G Unboxing
• HTC Inspire 4G pre-orders starting tomorrow at RadioShack?
• Google Instant for iPhone and Android launched (beta)
• AT&T intros HTC Inspire 4G and dual-core Motorola Atrix 4G

The Samsung Galaxy S 4G is also known as the Vibrant 4G, for good reason. It is in many respects an exact replica of the Vibrant, only with 21 Mbps download speeds, a cool new silver casing and a front-facing camera for video chats. Not only are these some great specs to throw in as a way of refreshing an already good phone, it helps make the phone look better, sleeker and more modern.

Not to mention the 21 Mbps makes the Galaxy S 4G the only one on T-Mobile’s network that can go that fast; all other 4G phones like the myTouch 4G and G2 max out at 14.4 Mbps instead.

Let’s play with the phone now.

Get the Samsung Galaxy S 4G on Amazon.

• Samsung Galaxy S 4G Now on T-Mobile Shelves; Available for $129.99 on Amazon
• Samsung Vibrant 4G to hit T-Mobile with Android 2.2, front-facing camera
• T-Mobile Confirms Galaxy S 4G Coming February 23 for $149.99
• Samsung Vibrant now free at T-Mobile. Galaxy S 4G launch imminent?
• Samsung Vibrant (Galaxy S) confirmed by T-Mobile USA

Regardless, the Xoom is a landmark device, stepping up as the first batter in a lineup of heavy hitters all hoping to compete with the elephant in the room known as the iPad (1 and 2). Rounding out the lineup are Blackberry, WebOS and the Xoom’s Android Honeycomb brethren. Heck, there’s even a little Gingerbread thrown in for good measure. Being the second realistic competitor of what can only be called the Apple domination (behind the original Samsung Galaxy Tab) has a heavy responsibility behind it. Google is throwing all of its Android support at the Honeycomb tablets, and the Xoom is a huge representative of that work. If the Xoom fails, what will that say about the rest of the Honeycomb tablets coming after it?

There are two separate elements for which Motorola has significant pressure riding on it: being the very first Honeycomb device, and being the first “iPad killer” that is the same size and has the same capabilities as its primary competitor. A lot of people are watching the Xoom’s launch very closely.

And it definitely packs a punch. The Xoom is running off a Tegra 2 dual-core processor clocked at 1 GHz, including 32 GB internal memory, dual cameras, dual LED flash, hefty battery, 10.1-inch display, and some powerful software.

So without further delay, let’s venture into the box of the Xoom and get some first impressions. Check out the video below.

• Wi-Fi Motorola Xoom can be had for just $450 at Staples until July 9
• Motorola Xoom 2 and Xoom 2 Media Edition launched in France
• 16 GB Motorola Xoom coming soon to Verizon, upgradeable to 4G LTE
• New Motorola Xoom 2 and Xoom 2 Media Edition coming soon
• New Motorola Xoom 2 and Xoom 2 Media Edition Android tablets announced

As usual, there’s nothing special about the box. It’s a standard-issue AT&T box with the usual oranges and whites, and inside all we can find is the wall charger module and USB cable. No headphones or other special features/accessories.

But the box aside, I came away having very good first impressions of the Inspire 4G itself. Boasting some great stats like 1 GHz Snapdragon processor with 768 MB RAM, 8 MP camera with dual-LED flash and HD video capture, and a huge 4.3″ Super LCD screen, it certainly packs the most it possibly could into its price tag. The same cannot be said about many comparable Android handsets.

We will be posting a full video and written review in a few days, so enjoy the unboxing video for now and let us know what you think of the Inspire 4G so far!

Get the HTC Inspire 4G on Amazon

• AT&T HTC Inspire 4G now only $29.99 at Amazon, Sprint HTC Arrive just $0.01
• Red HTC Inspire 4G for AT&T now available at RadioShack for $29.99
• Red HTC Inspire 4G to cost $49 on contract, may be out this week
• AT&T HTC Inspire 4G Hands-On at CES 2011
• AT&T HTC Inspire 4G only $59.99 at Amazon

It’s pure speculation at this point, but it’s hard to see otherwise. EVO is here to stay, folks, and it’s shining brilliantly so far. Sprint hit one out of the ballpark with the original EVO 4G, throwing in just about every possible top of the line spec that’s come to market so far. Can they duplicate the same success with the midrange QWERTY-packing EVO Shift 4G?

This is my experience with the EVO’s younger brother, the Shift 4G.

Unboxing the Shift 4G

Nothing special was caught when I first unboxed the Shift 4G. It’s another phone in Sprint packaging, complete with the standard yellow/white box with the picture of the random person in the shadow of a hilariously oversized phone. Inside the box, USB cable and wall charger with user manuals and a bag with which to recycle your old phones. It’s very eco-friendly that way.

Still, I made a video of it nonetheless.

First Impressions

Easy to hold without awkwardness of gripping (present with most larger screens such as original EVO); impressively fast for a phone that doesn’t have a dual-core processor; simple to navigate around and all pretty small compared to the size it could have been.

Design of the HTC EVO Shift 4G

Ever since the Droid Incredible was released last year, HTC has been responsible for some of the most clever and innovative phone designs. The original EVO 4G was one example, being not only the first 4G phone in the US but top of the line in every way — and that includes design. What other phone outside of HTC has an actual kickstand built-in, let alone make it look classy?

The EVO Shift 4G may not have as quite dramatic a difference in design, I find the subtleties in the way a phone is constructed to be rather intriguing. For example, the Shift 4G took a decent-sized (but not overbearing) screen and put a full keyboard in such a way that the phone doesn’t feel boxy in the slightest.

On the back, the edges contour inward so the phone gets smaller and smaller the further away you get from the screen and keyboard. This helps make the phone feel incredibly comfortable fitting in my hand, even though the weight and overall size make it rather hefty on paper. But this is where the miracle of good design comes in; it fools us into thinking the phone is actually smaller and easier to handle than any other similar phone.

The EVO Shift 4G is also constructed in such a way that it feels more robust than the standard plastic-bearing phones. The Shift 4G is still made of plastic, mind you, but it has a peculiar way of making you feel like the phone is still invincible. Perhaps it’s the weight and size. Either way, don’t be fooled; it’s still vulnerable.

The 3.6” touchscreen is large enough for me, since I have a full keyboard to take advantage of. The main reason I ever like large screens is that it gives me extra real estate by which to use the larger on-screen keyboard, making full use of the size of each button. But with a fully-functional physical keyboard that can be slid in and out, I don’t need as much space to type or message.

Don’t get me wrong — sometimes it’s nice using the on-screen keyboard for the EVO Shift 4G, but then why buy this phone over the keyboard-less competition if you prefer that?

I would’ve preferred seeing a screen on the EVO Shift 4G, however, that filled up more of the available bezel space. For instance, at the bottom of the screen we find 4 touch-sensitive navigation buttons — home, menu, go back and search — that could have been pushed down a couple centimeters under its current position, thus allowing more room for a bigger screen. There’s just a lot of unused space on the front of the Shift 4G. I did like the longer speaker on top that allows for better audio feedback.

My favorite part of the HTC EVO Shift 4G is its keyboard. As I am normally on the team that prefers on-screen keyboards over physical ones, I tend to be more skeptical of the physical QWERTY keyboards on phones today. Most keyboards are either too wide, too narrow, too small, too large, too spaced out or not spaced out far enough. Sounds picky, right? It’s hard to find a good middle ground for my taste.

Let me tell you exactly why I love the keyboard on the Shift 4G: everything is done just right. The phone is not too large so the keyboard doesn’t have to spread out way too far for its own good; all buttons are well spaced and just barely large enough to cover my fingers (but again, not too large). When pressing the keys they are set slightly above the base, so there is a reasonable amount of button bounceback. It’s simply a comfortable keyboard to type on, and I can type reasonably fast on it.

I like that there is a dedicated @ button as well as a emoticon button. Personally, I would also like to see the .com button be dedicated instead of tucked away as a Function key shortcut, but at least it’s included somewhere.

Hardware/Software of the HTC EVO Shift 4G

The most important part about a smartphone besides performance is the user experience. If you cannot figure out a phone within 3 days of owning it, nor do you feel comfortable using it, you’re just going to get more and more frustrated as time goes by. Android in and of itself has a relatively low learning curve when compared to other smartphone OS giants, but each phone manufacturer likes to take a crack at making Android look better and easier to use.

HTC’s user interface for the Android is called Sense. It’s essentially the exact same UI on every HTC Android phone made over the last couple years, with only a few minor tweaks here and there. I have many fond feelings for Sense, as it has always performed exceptionally well (not every UI overlay on Android works so smooth), has some great features, and genuinely works to make Android a better experience.

The EVO Shift 4G also comes with Froyo, aka Android 2.2, included by default. Froyo is best-known for adding the Flash player to the Android experience. As I loaded up several Flash videos and even visited Badger Badger Badger (I do not recommend this, as doing so will get the song stuck in your head for at least 2 days) because I knew it was a good test of the Flash. The Flash player worked as well as I would expect it to on a phone with 800 MHz CPU and 512 MB RAM.

Speaking of which, there are several other great features that the Shift 4G has that should be emphasized.

CPU: The Shift 4G uses a second-generation Qualcomm processor, the MSM7630. It clocks at 800 MHz and uses 45 nm architecture, which basically equates to lower heat and power consumption than the first-generation chips that use 65 nm. In other words, the newest generation chips outperform the first-gen even though it technically sees a slower clock speed. When I wrote the unboxing, I originally saw the 800 MHz clock speed and naturally assumed it would be slower than the Snapdragon 1 GHz CPU located in the original EVO 4G, but was surprised when I noticed the performance of the Shift 4G was the same, if not better than the original.

In addition to the processor, the Shift 4G also smartly includes 512 MB RAM which makes it easier to multitask without slowing the phone down. This is perfect for a midrange smartphone that’s both powerful and budget-friendly. Sometimes it can be difficult to balance those two attributes, oftentimes sacrificing one for the other. However, the Shift 4G has done an excellent job balancing power with price.

5 MP Camera: Sure, it’s not 8 like the original EVO. But for 95% of interested buyers, a 5 MP camera is perfectly acceptable. It’s the standard for most Android smartphones coming to market in the US, so it’s not particularly surprising either. But it also comes with 720p HD video recording capability, which to me is a must-have. Raising two young kids under the age of three, they have a tendency to do really cute stuff at a moment’s notice, and it’s essential for me to have something pocketable and handy to catch them on video as quickly as possible before the moment’s gone forever.

4G access: I always love using a phone that has 4G internet access because of how speedy it can be, and when combined with the Mobile Hotspot feature that takes that 4G internet, broadcasts it out as a WiFi signal and allows up to 8 devices to connect to it. I found this feature to be very handy at home, since our home internet connection can be spotty at times and my wife likes to use the Netflix streaming when going to sleep. As I try to use our home internet it causes her Netflix to go incredibly slow, so I just used the Mobile Hotspot for all of my computer activities. It worked like a charm.

Storage Space: The Shift 4G comes with not even 400 MB storage, though HTC has equipped the Shift 4G with a 2 GB microSD card already. This still isn’t a lot of space to put music or high-quality pictures, so I highly recommend you get a larger storage card; the Shift 4G can handle up to 32 GB, which should be plenty for most. These phones can make excellent music players, and if you have it you might as well use it.

FM Radio: It’s always nice to see these show up on smartphones. FM radios are not insanely popular, but you never know when they come in handy. The only way to make them work, however, is by plugging in headphones because they act as the antenna.

One of the biggest question marks that get placed on smartphones is the learning curve on them. How easy are they to figure out? What if I can’t do anything on my phone? How do I learn? Fortunately HTC has thought ahead and addressed this question directly on the phone by preloaded the HTC Mobile Guide app, which is nothing more than a bookmark shortcut in the app tray that sends you into a website that is set up specifically to be a user guide. This way, you don’t have to blow dust off a user guide that’s been sitting in the basement for months, if you’ve kept that user guide at all. Plus, most of your questions about the phone will pop up at random times outside of your house or apartment.

Performance of the HTC EVO Shift 4G

For being the younger brother of the original EVO, it sure packs a mean punch. By that I mean it’s a wonderful phone to use that has all of the major features you’ll ever use in a smartphone. It doesn’t have the top of the market components, nor does it pretend to be “that phone” — you know, the one phone that leaves all other smartphones behind in the dust — in order to be a great device to use. It just has solid parts, and has good call quality with good-for-Android battery life (1500 mAh Lithium Ion battery with 6 hours talk time).

The Shift 4G has a speedy processor, even though on paper it doesn’t seem like it should. With a 3.6″ touchscreen and 4.6″ x 2.31″ x 0.61″ dimensions, it’s smaller and thicker than the standard smartphone but it isn’t boxy or bulky either. Weighing 5.87 ounces, it’s still lighter than similar phones with full slide-out QWERTY keyboards. The keyboard is also well-designed and a good fit for my picky fingers and thumbs.

All in all, I was very pleased by the performance and outlook of the EVO Shift 4G. It is a great addition to the new EVO lineup and one that I would feel comfortable using on a regular basis.

You can get the Sprint HTC EVO Shift 4G here on Amazon

And check out my full video review of the HTC EVO Shift 4G below:

• Unboxing the Sprint HTC EVO Shift 4G
• Sprint HTC EVO Shift 4G Drops to $89.99 on Amazon
• Sprint HTC EVO Shift 4G Preview and Hands-On at CES 2011
• Sprint HTC Evo Shift 4G now available, Amazon has it for only $119.99
• Sprint HTC Evo Shift 4G now only $69.99 at RadioShack

It could just be that Samsung wanted to go along the lines of its current Galaxy S series, as evidenced by how eerily similar the Nexus S was designed to that of the rest of the Galaxy S power team. It could also just be Google signifying that this was not a direct sequel to the not-as-popular Nexus One, but a fresh new design with a fresh new strategy.

Whatever the reason, it’s really not all that important. What IS important is the actual phone itself. Carrying the title of inaugural phone running Android 2.3, aka Gingerbread, it signifies the beginning of another era in Android history. Let’s just hope it’s a chapter that’s worth reading.

Samsung opted to use the same S icon that it uses on the Galaxy S series, and therefore it’s expected that both phones would be incredibly similar. Indeed, they are, though the Nexus S does add in a few extra things to set it apart, such as the curved display (which normally sounds dumb, but in theory it’s designed to fit your ear better) on the front, a front-facing camera, and Gingerbread inclusion, which allows for Near-Field Communications capability.

Now it’s time for some exploration. I’ve been eager for quite some time now to see the phone in all its glory and play around with it. Expect to see my full review in just a few days, but in the meantime I have provided a brief video that goes over the basics of the phone, and even takes a brief look inside the Nexus S box.

Get the Google Nexus S at Best Buy

• Google Nexus One Gingerbread update coming OTA in a few weeks
• Samsung Nexus Two to have a 4 inch AMOLED screen, front-facing camera
• New picture of the Samsung Google Nexus S uncovered
• Samsung’s Google Nexus S leaked again, shows off Android 2.3 Gingerbread
• Wi-Fi-only Samsung Galaxy Tab and mystery Samsung GT-i9010 (Google Nexus Two/S?) hit the FCC

Well, it was. Yesterday Samsung i7110 has been officially announced.

And today we already got to play with it and got video and some live pics to prove it.

We are not ready to do a full review yet. But for a preview I can say that I liked Samsung i7110. It’s a solidly built  Symbian S60 handset with tons of interesting features like W-Fi/ DLNA support, GPS and built-in pedestrian navigation tips, 5 megapixel camera and really good 2.6″ AMOLED  display.

Just to remind you, full Samsung i7110 specs include:

• Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity, 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
• Dual band HSDPA 3.6 Mbps, 900 / 2100 MHz
• 2.6 inch AMOLED screen with 262K colors and 240 x 320 pixels
  Accelerometer
• Optical mouse
• GPS with pedestrian and driving navigation, geo-tagging
• Wi-Fi, DLNA
• DNSe 2.0
• 5 MP camera with autofocus, LED flash, Smile Shot, Blink Shot and VGA video recording at 30 fps
• Music player (MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, RA)
• Video player (DivX, WMV, MP4, H.263, H.264, RV)
• FM Radio with RDS, FM transmitter
• Bluetooth 2.0 & USB 2.0
• Preinstalled 3D games (Asphalt, FIFA 2008)
• 50MB of internal memory
• MicroSD & SDHC card support, up to 16GB
• 118 x 52 x 12.9 mm
• 1200 mAh battery
• Talk-time: up to 11 h / 6 h (EDGE / WCDMA)
• Stand by time: up to 427 h / 451 h (EDGE / WCDMA)

If you are into candybar form factor,  Samsung i7110 is definitely worth a try. And here’s that video preview I promised:

• Samsung I7110 now official: one of the thinnest Symbian S60 smartphones
• #MWC09: Samsung Omnia HD i8910 preview video
• Sony Ericsson W715, a Vodafone exclusive
• Samsung B5722 and C6112 dual SIM phones show up
• Stylish Nokia 5330 XpressMusic slider

KDDI, Japan’s second largest mobile carrier, will soon introduce a new set-top box (aka STB) called “au BOX” and targeted at users who want to “enjoy music and video content downloaded via their TV sets on their au mobile phones”.

Built by Motorola, KDDI’s new set-top box uses Opera Devices 9 SDK. Thus, in addition to providing Japanese mobile users with multimedia content, it also enables them to enjoy the Web on the large display of a TV.

With au BOX, consumers can further purchase content and make use of video-on-demand services.

It’s not too clear yet how the handset-TV interaction will function via KDDI’s new set-top box, but this “accessory” seems to be a perfect fit for Japan’s advanced mobile phones.  

The au BOX will be commercially available for KDDI’s subscribers starting the 1st of November, for a price that was not unveiled yet.   

So, a trip to Japan, anyone?

Via Opera

• KongZhong Opera 3.0 – the new mobile browser for Chinese users
• Opera Mini reaches 50 million monthly unique users
• Opera Mobile 9.7 to be showcased at CTIA Wireless 2009
• Opera Mini 6.1 and Opera Mobile 11.1 launched with auto-complete and auto-suggest features
• Opera Mini 4.2 out of beta, available for Android and Samsung Instinct too

And they also held a number of launch events around the world for the new handsets.

Well, we managed to sneak into one of them and play a little with all three new Walkman phones.

Not much, but enough  for a short video preview of Sony Ericsson W902, W595 and W302 walkmans, and some good quality live pics of them.

So, here we go:

Sony Ericsson W902 video preview

Live pics of Sony Ericsson W902:

Sony Ericsson W595 video preview

Sony Ericsson W595 live pictures:

Sony Ericsson W302 video preview:

Sony Ericsson W302 live pics:

• New Sony Ericsson Walkman Phone (Shinobu?) Slider Coming Soon
• Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman launched in India
• New Sony Ericsson P3i pictures
• Extensive Sony Ericsson W890i review done in Poland
• Sony Ericsson W890i (probably) surfaces on Polish Auction site

We were watching all the LG KF750 Secret pre-launch hype, with early KF750 leaks and official LG KF750 Black Label Series 3 pre-announcement leading up to official unveiling of LG Secret a bit sceptically.

We know that Black Label series phones are THE major sellers for LG, but for us, mobile geeks, it’s just another pretty lame mobile fashion phone. So we expected LG’s Secret to be nothing more but a bit soaped up Shine or Chocolate – yet another fashion gimmick for the girls.

Well, we were wrong. There was a lot of reason behind LG’s excessive marketing hype for LG KF750/KF755 Secret. It’s a great great looking, feature rich phone , that would give any high end mobile handset a run for it’s money. And it has plenty of cool and unexpected features that we’ll talk about in the following review.

LG Secret KF750 / KF755 Video Review

As they say, the picture is worth a thounsand words, so let’s start with the video review of LG Secret KF750:

And, if you are not inclined to sit through 10+ minutes of my rambling, read on further.

LG Secret design and materials

LG Secret KF750 is a slim slider that not only looks impressive, but is made from quality materials as well. The face panel is completely covered with tempered glass which is very resistant to scratches – scissors didn’t leave any mark on ours. There’s a sleek and shiny metallic frame all around it except for the top of the phone, where leather-textured plastic takes place. The sides and the bottom of the phone are made from rubbery Soft-Touch plastic for easier grip, and the battery cover is produced from carbon fiber – same composite material like the one used in spaceships. On top of this all, the quality of assemblage of the phone is also very good.

The face panel of LG KF750 Secret combines scratch-resistant glass with leather-textured plastic and sleek metal frame:

Next to the second built-in camera which is used for video calls, there’s a an ambient light sensor that allows the phone to adjust the contrast of the screen and the keyboard backlight automatically.

LG KF-750 Secret controls

The main control element of the phone is a touch panel with haptics/vibration force-feedback; it also responds to commands with blue illumination. The “OK” button in the middle is mechanical; so are the three buttons (“Accept”, “Decline” and “C”) below the touch panel, and, naturally, the keypad itself. The latter is made from plastic; the keys aren’t very large, but comfortable and usable enough.

The touch panel of LG Secret is equipped with haptics:

On the left side of the phone, there’s only the port for connecting the charger or the headset. On the opposite side we have a volume control scroll, a camera button and two rather interesting keys which open the “secrets” of the phone (pun intended) – but we’ll talk about them a bit later.

Left side:

Right side:

LG Secret KF750/KF755 software

The menu of the LG KF750 Secret looks typical for an LG phone, with the exception of a new item “Google” which lists all popular services of this company such as Search, Mail, Blogger, Maps and YouTube.

The browser installed on the phone is pretty interesting: it is functional enough, and can also change the screen mode from portrait to landscape and back depending on the orientation of the device (horizontal or vertical).

One of the cool points of LG Secret – is it’s multi-tasking capability. E.g. you can launch several applications on the phone, minimizing inactive ones to the tray to run in the background. Granted, LG Viewty had this capability as well, but with LG Secret KF750 you can launch and minimize as many apps as you want, so long as you don’t run out of memory. If you do, new applications simply won’t launch – you won’t even get a warning or anything like that.

It’s debatable whether this is true multitasking or not (as minimized applications don’t actually work in background), but it’s progress on LG’s part nevertheless. You can freely switch between minimized applications and listen to music with your MP3 player simultaneously. As for the MP3 player itself, it became more functional as well, finally getting an equalizer and support for Album art.

The menu of LG KF750 Secret will look familiar to you if you’ve used LG phones before:

But these features are not the main “secret” of the phone, either.

Who would have thought that an ordinary fashion phone like LG Secret would have a touch-screen display as well. Especially when touch features doesn’t normally reveal themselves at all!

To enable the Touch media functionality, you have to press “Touch media” key – one of the two “magic” keys on the right side of LG Secret that I wrote about earlier (the first key starts the Task Manager, for multi-tasking features).

This will make the phone switch to Touch mode and enable you to use applications optimized for finger touch, such as Music, Photos (which too have automatic switching between landscape and portrait modes), Documents (Secret can view .doc, .xls and .pdf files), FM Radio, and finally, M-Toys. Like the name suggests, it is a collection of very interesting games, most of which make use of the built-in accelerometer as well.

The menus are transformed when in Touch media mode to allow for easier navigation:

LG KF750/KF755 Secret Camera

The built-in camera of LG’s KF750 Secret not only has good specifications (5 MPx resolution and an autofocus), but great video capabilities as well. Besides the high-speed video recording function that Viewty had (120 frames per second), KF 750 Secret is also capable of slow shooting mode (recording at 7.5 FPS and then speeding the clips for viewing at standard 30 FPS).

LG Secret is equipped with a good 5 megapixel camera:

Conclusions

LG Secret KF750 / KF755is the first model of the company in a very long time that has managed to really impress me. LG KF-750 Secret is a premium fashion phone that looks and feels great; at the same time, it’s also packed with almost every feature and function that LG is capable of putting on their products. The design, friendliness towards the user and the functionality are all outstanding.

There also are some downsides that need to be noted. The capacity of the battery is a bit disappointing – it only lasts 24 hours under heavy use (music, wireless data, camera, video, etc;) . Another substantial downside is the cost of the LG KF750, which in the beginning will be somewhere around $650.

Still, overall it’s a great handset. If you are searching for a very good looking, feature rich mobile handset, and have some money to spare – LG Secret is a great choice.

• LG Secret soon in four new colors
• LG KF750 Secret now available from O2 in UK
• LG KF750, LG KF240 and LG KF300 "Fashion" phones in the works
• Not the best kept LG Secret KF750
• LG Secret launched in Korea

We liked it quite a bit and our conclusion was that “SE G900 is a great smartphone for people who want usual mobile phone functionality to come first, but still retain all the smartphone gimmicks too.”

What we did not mention then, was that we also had shot an almost 10 minute Sony Ericsson G900 video, while doing a review. It took a bit longer to process and make it ready for publication, so the G900 video did not make it into an original review.

But now here it is. Enjoy Sony Ericsson G900 video review:

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• Sony Ericsson K550/K550im – slim and affordable Cyber-Shot Camera Phone

Now SlingPlayer for Windows Mobile Pocket PC and Smartphone are on version 1.6, while SlingPlayer for Symbian is now rocking version 1.1. However, the SlingPlayer for Palm has not received any updates as of this time’s writing, and there is no word on when (or if it will ever come) it will come for Palm.

The updated software also adds support for a few new devices, which are the Nokia N95 8GB, Treo 500v, and the Samsung i760.

The updated software will be free to download as long as you are already a certified subscriber of the service. But if you want to sign up for a new account with Sling, then you’re going to have to pay a grand total of $30 per handset for it. Which is not too shabby if you’re the type who just can’t live without having TV to go. Having a Slingbox set up at home is also a requirement, unless you want to watch make-believe TV on your mobile.

The updated software clients are now available for download here. And of course, if all else fails, there’s Youtube.

• Sling confirms plans to roll out SlingPlayer for iPhone
• AIM for Windows Mobile 2.0 Beta now available for download
• Motorola Pulls All iDEN Firmware Updates, Reasons Unknown
• fring for S60, Windows Mobile get updates
• Windows Mobile 6.5 SDK released by Microsoft

All rights to this User Interface software belong to Nokia, so it’s really hard for Samsung (and others) to come up with something their main rival hadn’t thought of yet.

Frankly speaking, until recently the Korean handset maker didn’t have any Symbian smartphones worth a look and the ones it had, didn’t have much appeal.

However this fall, Samsung introduced two interesting new smartphones: Samsung SGH-i550 and Samsung SGH- i560 models.

Among these two, i550 is in a better position to succeed in the market as a standalone model, due to its unusual navigation/control device (a trackball) and an overall better look. And especially now that Samsung i550w got it’s own Wi-Fi.

The prospects of the SGH-i550 ain’t that bright- it just doesn’t have that one thing that should sell it. And built-in GPS definitely is not it.

GPS in Samsung i560 – a fashionable gimmick. Not a must have feature. Yet

To understand the reasons, let’s make a few steps back and try to see, who would find a GPS built into a device like Samsung i560 useful, and why.

Who uses GPS navigators in their daily lives? Well, drivers, for sure. Would such a navigation device work for them?

Certainly not: the display is too small, and the set doesn’t include the needed car accessories. What’s more, car owners that don’t have a built-in navigation system, tend to prefer standalone GPS equipment anyway.

Thus, we come to the conclusion that GPS in Samsung i560 might only be useful to a pedestrian who needs one; how many such people are out there is a big question. For now, we can safely say that a GPS on a mobile phone is nothing more but a fashionable gimmick.

It’s fun and cool for the owner to carry around and show it off, but otherwise useless – much like those early low resolution cameras, when they started putting them on mobile phones for the first time.

GPS may become a must have feature in future phones, when location based services are mature enough. But not just now and not soon enough for Samsung SGH-i560.

But let’s put these theoretical questions aside, and return to our review of the Samsung i560. And for those who prefer watching to reading, let’s start with:

Samsung i560 video review

Samsung SGH-i560. Overall design, camera & ergonomics

The phone is built in a typical Samsung style: it’s a quite big slider in standard black and silver, with a metal frame around the front. Which is surprising, as Samsung rarely uses metal in it’s phones, preferring plastic with a metallic finish. The rest of the casing is made from plastic that is pleasant to touch; the quality of the assemblage is excellent like always.

As with the most products of the Korean company, the front side of Samsung SGH-560 is easy to scratch. There are no special stops for opening and closing the phone, so you are forced to touch the screen all the time, which makes it dirty faster.

The lens of the built-in camera is located at the back of the Samsung i560; it stays visible when the slider is closed, and sticks out slightly. The lens flash and the speaker is positioned at the sides of the lens cover; where there’s also a label showing off 3.0 megapixel resolution of the camera. The latter is pretty odd, since the camera is a pretty vanilla for this kind of phone, and the space would have been much better used to show off GPS capability of the Samsung i560.

Besides the usual function buttons, there is a special fast launch button on the front panel of the slider. By default, it’s programmed to launch Media Player, RealPlayer and Radio applications. Again, this looks rather odd, because it would have been more logical for it to give the user fast access to the GPS navigator.

All the buttons are convenient and big enough – no problems here. The keypad is rather stylish – it’s a RAZR-like single sheet with horizontal dividers. The only problem is that it will be hard to feel the right keys without looking. Unusually positioned at the top of the dial keys is the on/off button; it also lets the user to change profiles fast.

Unlike most Samsung phones, the i560 has two communication ports: one of them is the universal interface port to which you can connect the data cable, the charger, and a headset, and the other one is the standard 3.5 mm audio output jack for third party produced headphones.

The memory card slot is located on the right side, and covered with a very solid panel.

The design, materials, and the controls leave the most favorable impressions; the only drawback in the design of the Samsung SGH-560i is the fact that it looks almost the same as all other Samsung models and doesn’t stand out in Samsung phone line-up at all.

The display of this phone is quite impressive 2.4 inches, with bright and realistic colors. It’s still barely readable under direct sunlight.

Samsug i560. Overall functionality and music phone features

Sasmung I560 runs the latest version of Symbian/S60 OS, and right now that’s Symbian OS 9 S60 Third Edition, Feature Pack 1.

Overall User Interface is largely the same as in Nokia 6120 classic, Nokia N95, and other phones. The only change, it seems, is the look of menu icons and GPS software –unlike Nokia, Samsung seems to be using Navigon software in i560.

Regrettably, there was no navigational program preinstalled in the device we were given to test; according to the representatives of the company, the negotiations with the software developer aren’t complete yet. We will update this part of the review as soon as we get the new device for testing with official Nav software installed.

Now, let’s get to the music functions in Samsung i560, which deserve additional attention in this handset. While SGH-i560 isn’t being marketed as a good device for music playback, it seems like it actually is such.

There is a fairly functional music player installed, a separate jack for connecting your headphones directly to the phone, without the need to use any kind of adapters, and a high quality signal output ensured by a separate sound chip.

Unfortunately we didn’t have the chance to directly compare Samsung i560 with the Samsung SGH-i450 dedicated music phone, which uses a chip from Bang&Olufsen to process sound. However, the memory tells me, that even though i450 may sound a bit better, the sound quality difference is so small as not to be noticed by most.

Anyway, the sounds produced by the Samsung i560 are comparable with such musical phones as Sony Ericsson Walkman W910i and Nokia 5310 XpressMusic.

The whole set-up works like this:

• After you connect the headset which ships with Samsung SGH-560 through the universal port, you can listen to music or talk on the phone. The quality of the sound is mediocre; the headset is nothing special.
• However, if you connect any headphones to the 3.5 mm jack, the sound changes drastically for the better. The signal is strong enough for headphones with resistance up to 64 Ohm, and the volume level is quite good. If there’s an incoming call while you are listening to music in this mode, you will be able to hear the caller with the headphones and talk into the speaker of the phone; a bit unusual but quite convenient.

SGH-i560 GPS phone also has no problem reading memory cards of up to 8 GB (despite the announced 2 GB limit), so you won’t run out of storage for your music, either.

Samsung i560 supports full HTML browsing over high speed HSDPA 3.6 Mbps networks. It comes with a pretty functional, full HTML browser preinstalled, supporting both landscape and portrait browsing modes. Of course, when Opera 9.5 for Symbian phones finaly comes out, you will probably want to switch to it ASAP.

The phone uses a 1100 mAh capacity Li-Ion battery, which, when fully charged is usually enough for two-three days of fairly intensive use in GSM network. However, if you often transfer data through HSDPA, or use the GPS navigator, it’s quite possible to “kill” the battery within 3-5 hours.

Samsung SGH-i560. Conclusions

Despite all the good quality and cool features in Sasmung i560, we can safely say that a a dim fate awaits it as a standalone handset in retail: the sales will be low, and many customers will never even learn of its existence. There are several reasons for this.

• uncertain market positioning of i560 GPS phone. It’s unclear what is the target market of this product, and who it was made for. If it’s the for early adopters/geeks who like getting the latest thing – it’s doubtful they will choose Samsung SGH-i560 among the wide variety of smartphones; if it’s for the typical consumer, it’s unlikely they would prefer a smartphone to the simple and easy to use native Samsung OS.
• lack of focus on some single key area. While the phone has every function you can think of, and should theoretically appeal to almost anyone, it doesn’t excel in any one area, and looses to more specialized models of the competitors.

With the tentative price of 350 euro, Samsung i560 can hardly hope for any commercial success of this model; unless it can convince mobile operators to give an additional push for this handset.

• LG KM500 review
• Sony Ericsson Motion Activated Headphones MH907 announced
• Dolby at CES, Offers Surround Sound for Phones
• Nokia Music Store becoming Ovi Music, going DRM-free?
• Samsung F200 and Samsung F210 Music Phones launched

The first part talked about Sony Experia, Windows mobile initiatives in consumer space, mobile handset software/hardware relation issues, usability and User Interface design in Windows Mobile.

The second part covered multimedia features in Windows Mobile, WM/Zune relationship, Touch interface in Windows Mobile and relations between WM and it’s partners on touch initiatives.

In this third part we discuss Microsoft/Zoomobi relationship, mobile browsing and search experience in future Windows Mobile versions, integration of Live services like Mapping and Messenger, Musiwave acquisition, possible music download & streaming service and mobile gaming initiatives.

Here’s the of the video interview and the transcript.

There’s also a link to the full interview audio/mp3 file download at the bottom of this post, for those of you who prefer to listen to it in a car or while exercising.

And that completes our Windows Mobile for Consumer series

Transcript

UV. What about Zumobi, what’s the relationship here, and how much of Microsoft is in Zumobi?

TW. Oh, so Zumobi was a project that was a part of Microsoft research, and was spun out as a different company. Certainly there are a number of Microsoft personnel who left Microsoft that are now part of that startup, as part of the spin-off. We have our marketing relationship with them to put it on devices, we still have license to the technology, so we can use other technology as part of how we evolve, of how our devices are going forward, and that’s the current relationship.

UV. So, where’s the Windows Mobile 6.1, and when do you plan that?

Well, we haven’t announced Windows Mobile 6.1, so I really can’t comment on the future.

UV. The difference between the mobile and wired Internet browsing is actually disappearing, except for the display size probably. What is Windows Mobile doing or planning to do about that, say, Internet Explorer mobile, Windows Live mobile, or integration of various MSN services, the Zune marketplace you mentioned and such?

TW. For browsing, there has been, I would say, in the last 12 months a pretty dramatic shift in user expectations around browsing.

So you should expect that we will bring a much better browser to Windows Mobile than what we’ve had in the past. So, you know, Microsoft – we’re the leaders in terms of creating a browser technology; our browser on the desktops would browse much more websites than any other browser on the planet. We’ve been working with the IE team, collaborating going forward, so users can expect a much better browser than today.

Before, we’ve been limited, I would say, by the memory constraints of the current devices, and current screen sizes, but both of those things are starting to be alleviated. And as you can see, even in the announcements of Sony Ericsson device, one of the reasons the UI is snappy, is that it’s on a fast Qualcomm processor, the screen looks great because it’s a full VGA screen; all those things make browsing a more important scenario, and we’ll start to bring more of our desktop browser technology over to take advantage of those advances.

On the services side, we’re continuing to innovate there; we introduced in the US and in the UK Live local search, which is a free-download, and that’s a great application, it has won all the reviews of the different local search applications that are available out there, against people like Yahoo and Google, and we’ve incorporated voice as a part of it.

So in the US it integrates with our TellMe acquisition that we made about a year ago, so that I can pick up my device and say “find pizza!” and it will find the pizza places near me, and it uses the TellMe service which powers a number of US operators’ 411 services, to help integrate that, and bring the map back as part of the device, and we will continue to evolve local search.

One thing that we’ve been doing in Windows Live local, in our mapping products, is really building our set of assets around the mapping. So in the US right now, we have street sight data, we have what we call “birds eye” imagery, where it’s aerial photographs at a low level so that you can see shape of buildings. We will be bringing that towards (other) geographies in the next year, so that more people in Europe than just folks in the UK, will be able to see some of those features. So that’s one of the things on the Live side.

Messenger, of course, is very popular in Europe, and we’re continuing to advance the mobile work there, not only on Windows Mobile, but on other platforms as well. Of course, we announced the integration of Series 60, well, I guess I’ll leave that here…

UV. Now, everyone heard about Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo, and if you are able to buy Yahoo in the end, how would that affect Windows Mobile, and how would you be going to integrate their services in Windows Mobile?

TW. For regulatory reasons, I can’t speculate on what might happen if we acquire Yahoo.

I’ll just be safe to say that we’re very excited about it, Yahoo’s done some impressive work in the mobile area, we’ve collaborated with them in the past in building Windows Mobile applications, we support them; but, you know, I think it would be very good for the industry to have a good, strong competitor in the Internet search, and I think it would be great to be able to collaborate with the Yahoo R&D people on the future of the Internet search on the mobile space.

UV. And you recently bought Musiwave, a mobile music service.

TW. Yes.

UV. It was said that Windows Mobile division was behind that or drove that acquisition. So, what are you going to do with it; launch your music download service along the line of OVI, let’s say, or…?

TW. We’re very excited about Musiwave, and we have, since we closed the acquisition – which just happened – less than 45 days ago, happened right at the end of the year, so our plans are still just beginning; but we do view Windows Mobile as something that will extend to consumer scenarios, we think music is an important part of that scenario.

We really like how Musiwave have done work to integrate with the mobile operators, and that part of the proposition; so, you can expect that we’ll do things both in the first party and third party kind of space, to integrate those services as part of it. So, you might see both a white label service, and I think you’ll actually see a first party music service from us.

UV. And what about mobile gaming and X-box integration, do you have plans there?

Well, I think when we originally launched the XNA strategy for gaming, we said that eventually it would be there on mobile. We do have some of the XNA API’s, you know, things like the D3D Mobile available for 3D gaming, but we don’t have any particular announcement of bringing more games to Windows Mobile.

But certainly, I’ve been talking to my peers on X-box, you know, J Allard who runs Zune and others, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about how to move the mobile platform forward and how to best integrate with things that are on Entertainment & Devices division.

UV. Okay, thank you. Great talking to you!

And that concludes the third part of Windows Mobile for Consumers interview. You can find the first part of interview here, the second part is here.

If you want to listen listen full interview in a car or while exercising, here’s full mp3/audio file (22.5 MB/ mp3, right click to download)

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• LG president says Windows Mobile is “rather unqualified in mobile interfaces”
• Google’s mobile offensive. Sony Ericsson, BenQ, who’s next?
• Windows Mobile for Consumers. Interview with Todd Warren, Windows Mobile VP, MIcrosoft

The first part covered Sony Experia announcement, Windows mobile initiatives in consumer space, mobile handset software/hardware relation issues, usability and User Inteface design in Windows Mobile.

In this, Second part, we talk about multimedia features in Windows Mobile, WM/Zune relationship, Touch interface in Windows Mobile and relations between WM and it’s partners on touch initiatives.

The third part will discuss Microsoft/Zoomobi relationship, mobile browsing and search experience in future Windows Mobile versions, integration of Live services like Mapping and Messenger, Musiwave acquisition, possible music download & streaming service and mobile gaming initiatives.

Transcript

UV. What about the multimedia features? This is the next thing that the average person looks at. So, video, music playback, photo and video capture recording and editing, and the whole user generated content thing, like uploading, mobile blogging, sharing, etc. Are you going to provide this functionality in the mobile operating system, or are you going to rely on third party apps?

TW. You can expect as we evolve the Windows Mobile that the media functionality will continue to improve. Of course, there will be cases (and Sony Ericsson is a great example), where Sony Ericsson brings to the party a lot of expertise around things like the camera scenario, with the work they’ve done with their CyberShot brand, or with music, the Walkman brand.

And the advantage of working with a broad set of partners is Windows Mobile is an open enough platform, they can bring those experiences to the phone, and we can add our productivity experiences where we’re strong to augment those.

But we are also working on improving the base of media and picture experiences as part of Windows Mobile. You can expect, I would say, pretty dramatic changes to those in future versions of the product.

UV. Another popular consumer portable device is Zune. I know that you probably won’t be working on a Zune phone (or will you?). But are you using the Zune team experience, for, let’s say, the consumer version of Windows Mobile?

TW. We collaborate a lot between the Zune team and the Windows Mobile team in Microsoft. In fact, the Zune project actually evolved from a project called Portable Media Center that I was responsible for before; so, I’m very familiar, intimately familiar, with the UI metaphor that’s on the Zune device, and the way that works.

I think there were some very innovative things in terms of that user interface approach that might scale to more complex tasks, and you can expect us to take the advantage of that. I also think that in the future, we certainly expect that on mobile phones, you will be able to access some of the things that make Zune unique, like the Zune community, Zune marketplace, and those pieces of the system, so we’re collaborating with the Zune team on bringing out to users in the best possible way.

UV. Touch interface. The functionality had so far have been, let’s say, okay for business handset and stylus operation. But for the average user, again, it’s about natural finger touch, gestures etc. And there’s obviously an iPhone, Samsung has their Croix interface, then it’s LG with their Touch interface, which is also getting better; Nokia is launching S60 Touch soon… how are you addressing the touch in Windows Mobile?

TW. Well, our initial approach to touch (and of course we had stylus and some touch operations since the introduction of Target PC phone edition in 2003), so with our devices today in touch, especially for operations like dialing, we’ve really looked at how we can use resistive touch to do some of those operations.

We’ve added in (Windows Mobile) 5 some of the individual soft key work, so that you can do some of those operations.

Lately we’ve been working with the OEMs and in particular HTC, on something related to touch operation. HTC Touch has been an incredibly well received product, they sold over 2 million units of it. We’ve done some work with them in the system, so that we can accommodate some things, even beyond, for example, what you might have seen here in Europe; the Sprint touch device in the US has a different thumb-able keyboard that you can use as part of device, and we collaborated with HTC to help bring (that) to the market.

So you’ll see us continue to work with the device makers as new touch technologies come out. Same is true for the LG phones like the KS20, there are some things that are finger able in that UI.

The next set of work that we need to do is really for the common controls, let the user make the right trade-offs between the fingers and stylus; there are advantages of both pieces as part of the system; obviously if you’re in a hurry, or you’re in a car, you want to be able to use your fingers against the device, you know; if you want to have handwriting or ink or sketching as a part of the application, using a stylus makes more sense. Also with a stylus and with things like resistive touch, you can have a lot higher density of information on the screen. So, especially for business kind of applications, which is the strength of Windows today, having the ink capability as part of the system is important and you need to use some of the resistive technologies to do that.

So, I think we’ll be augmenting our touch capability, we’ll continue to keep the strengths of stylus; we are going to build on the work we had in terms of ink on the device, so we can take advantage of some of the things you have seen on the PC in the future. Not talking about specific products or stuff that’s going to appear, but we’re definitely doing a lot of work.

UV. Would HTC see you as a competition if you worked with a TouchFlo interface, their gestures, and later integrated it natively into Windows Mobile; would they be upset about that?

TW. No, I don’t think so. I mean, we have a very good relationship with HTC, we talk a lot about where we are going to extend the platform, and where the platform is, and we can work with all OEM’s and ODM’s, for whom we do changes; and I think there will be lots of opportunities for TouchFlo, as we integrate some more native things into the system.

I would say frankly, you know, HTC’s main ask to us is, today a user encounters some cliffs in experience between, say TouchFlo and the native Windows Mobile applications. They would like us to have more touch and core applications to make that experience more seamless. And that’s really the area we are collaborating now.

This was the second part of the interview. You can the first part of it here, and the third part -here.

• Windows Mobile 7 to come with Zune?
• Windows Mobile for Consumers. Interview with Todd Warren, Windows Mobile VP, MIcrosoft
• Windows Mobile for Consumers. Part3
• Nokia S60 Devices to get touch interface next year
• Microsoft Zune / Pink phone coming in two months, WM7 included?

The topic of the interview was the new focus of Windows Mobile on a consumer market.

Due to YouTube 10 minute limitation on single video length, I had to split an interview into 3 parts.

In the first part we talk about the Sony Experia, Windows mobile initiatives in consumer space, mobile handset software/hardware relation issues, usability and User Inteface design in Windows Mobile.

Second part covers multimedia features in Windows Mobile, WM/Zune relationship, Touch interface in Windows Mobile and relations between WM and it’s partners on touch initiatives.

The third part discusses Zoomobi, mobile browsing and search experience in future Windows Mobile versions, integration of Live services like Mapping and Messenger, Musiwave acquisition, possible music download & streaming service and mobile gaming initiatives.

Transcript:

UV. I know Windows Mobile has been doing quite well in the enterprise business market. But now, you seem to be turning more attention to the consumer space as well.

TW. Yes, we’re doing more work with Windows Mobile in the consumer space, so the big evidence there at the Mobile World Congress is the introduction of Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA line on top of Windows Mobile. We’re pretty excited about that – we think Sony Ericsson will bring a number of very interesting things to Windows Mobile and it’s been great working with the Sony Ericsson team on the product to get it together. We’re quite excited about that.

We’re also, from some work that we’ve been doing – especially with the mobile operators – starting to do some more things in the consumer area. Two examples of that: in the US, we worked with T-Mobile USA on a product called the “Shadow”. On the HTC Shadow, we worked with them on integrating the five faves experience into the home screen, making it easier to access ringtones and music as part of the device.

Another effort that we had there is with Vodafone. As part of both a Samsung device – the 610 I believe is the number – and the Palm 500v, we worked on a set of software to better integrate in the Vodafone’s Internet experience as part of the device, and add some things around contacts, and give it more of a consumer “flavor”, in addition to the business work that we do.

We do view what we’re doing with Windows Mobile as building a set of phones that can span all aspects of someone’s life.

UV. Congratulations on Sony Ericsson deal.

Thank you.

UV. And, there was a short video of Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA X1 yesterday. It was quite impressive interface features there. So, how much of that was Sony Ericsson team, how much of that was HTC, and how much of it was Windows Mobile?

TW. Most of work, well, I would say, the foundation that let Sony Ericsson do that experience, was Windows Mobile. So, we had a developer platform since the inception of what we’ve done with the set of software, development kits and tools that let people take advantage of that.

The actual experience was done by Sony Ericsson, so a lot of work that we’ve done is to walk this very fine line and create a common platform for application developers and a common course set of experience so a user who picks up a Windows Mobile phone by a different manufacturer can immediately figure out how to use it. Sort of just like any person who gets into a car can find the steering wheel, brakes and the gas pedal; and how to drive that car. But also offering the opportunity for our partners that have expertise in particular areas, to bring those applications to the foreground.

So, the panels, the user interface on Sony XPERIA was done by Sony Ericsson. We provide them some developer support, but it’s all done on open document APIs, any programmer would have access to atop of Windows Mobile.

UV. Was it really that fast like you showed on the video? Do you know yet?

I don’t know yet – I think, I would say we’ve done a lot of work overall on the performance of Windows Mobile in the last couple of versions, but also we provided them good support for fast graphics, as part of the system.

UV. For the average high-end user, which is probably the target user for Windows Mobile phones, for now it’s all about how cool the mobile phone looks. And and then it’s about the features: camera, display quality, music player, GPS, etc. So, how do you get them excited or at least interested in mobile phone operating system?

TW. Well, I think the mobile operating system is the key to make those hardware features come out. We really view that where the phone is going, that there’s set of advanced areas that really make the software bring the device alive. So, whether that’s the productivity scenarios of connecting person to person with e-mail, or SMS, integrating into your contact list, this idea of being able to better connect with people.

A great example of that would be, for example, when we integrate the Windows Live instant messaging experience into Windows Mobile. We show the presence of that user in a contact card. So, if I receive a call from you, I can bring your contact information on, I can see your presence, I can text immediately. So, software helping access those deeper product functions that are enabled by the more advanced hardware in the easier way for the end user.

I think the other thing is, GPS is a great example of a hardware feature that’s exposed through software. I mean, once you have that GPS feature, you really want to have a good mapping support, you want to be able to integrate a search as part of what you do, that’s much easier as a software feature.

As you add more of these features and functions, you need to have a good, consistent operating system to do it. Also, from an operator’s perspective, their goal is to bring more services to their end user, and more data services. And software is really the magic that makes the data traffic come alive. So, we provide a good platform for new kinds of data services. I know that’s what attracted both T-Mobile USA and Vodafone in these consumer projects we just talked about.

UV. Windows Mobile is a great operating system for a smartphone. But until lately, there was an impression that it was more about being smart than being a phone, let’s say. And now you mentioned that your partners are addressing this via their own custom interfaces. But are you going to address these issues through your own native interface, for example, a number of clicks to perform basic tasks, text, icon size options, etc.

Yes, absolutely. I think there still are some things that are too hard to do in all phones, but in Windows Mobile phones in particular, and we’re going to work on those.

We did some of those things in 6, so for example, Windows Mobile 6 is very much geared around a business user, in managing e-mail and those pieces, but we showed actually in our launch of 6 last year, a number of places where we consolidated the number of clicks and how hard a number of common e-mail operations were; even things in the basic call experience – so it’s very easy from your call log to bring up another contact information and make that much simpler. In future versions, while we will continue to work on that experience.

A very important program that we ran internally to help us figure it out, we ran a program called 10-10-10, where we look at the first 10 minutes of someone’s user experience with the phone, we found from our data that’s when a lot of returns happen; to make sure that a user can do all the things he needs to do to setup the phone, to set things like the alarms, and the clock, and get their e-mail connected. Then we also look at the first 10 days on the phone, because that’s the next period that they look at; then the first 10 months of their overall experience. So, we’ve focused ourselves on simplifying those tasks across the pieces of the system.

That’s the end of Part 1 of the interview. You can find the second part here and the third – here.

• Windows Mobile for Consumers. Part 2
• FCC approves Sony Ericsson Xperia X2, provides User Guide
• Next Sony Ericsson Windows Mobile smartphone should be ready by the end of 2009: sources
• Droid X launch bits pt2: Motoblur (as we knew it), is dead. Beginning of the end for custom UIs?
• Windows Mobile for Consumers. Part3

This happened to KG800 Chocolate (with Samsung SGH-E900 as a response). The the story is repeating itself with LG KU990 Viewty camera/touchscreen phone, a direct competitor to which- Samsung F490 – will get to the market only this April, half a year after the first Viewties shipped.

And if Samsung U900 Soul launch and marketing campaign is not strongly influenced by a wildly successful LG Black Label Series (LG Chocolate and Shine) marketing strategy, I don’t know what is.

The object of today’s review – Samsung P520 Giorgio Armani – was also conceived, at least in part, as a response to LG Prada KE850 designer phone. Samsung Armani and LG Prada are so similar in their concept, design and market positioning, that it’s inevitable we will be drawing a lot of parallels between the two.

Overall look& feel

Samsung Armani is a quite small candybar phone, with the touchscreen display taking up most of the front panel space. It’s a so-called card phone, as its size is comparable to that of a credit card. There are some difficulties related to this, but we’ll talk about that later.

The phone feels pleasantly heavy in your hand, giving an impression of durability and reliability, and the weight is just right for the device of such dimensions. This parameter is actually rather important, because often an impressive looking phone weighs much less than you’d expect, and it feels like a toy as a result. Such a situation is observed with some recent models from Nokia, especially the N95 and N82; but again, that’s not the case with the Samsung Armani.

The bezel around the display is metallic, as is the back cover that sports a matte metallic finish – a nice touch, already seen in products of other companies, e.g. W880i Walkman from Sony Ericsson. The edges and part of the back panel are made from non-slippery plastic that contrasts well with the metallic elements.

The phone is assembled perfectly: there’s not a hint of any squeaks, and the casing seems to be solid. The battery lid is tightly secured in place with a mechanical lock. The visible screws in the upper part of the phone is an additional touch to the elegant look of Samsung Armani– undoubtedly, the designers could have hidden them if they wanted to, but they were left to accentuate the reliability of the assemblage.

Located just below are communication port and the memory card slot, closed tightly with plastic panels that don’t fall out and are fixed to the casing.

Overall, the design, materials used, and the assemblage of the casing leave only most favorable impressions: when you hold the Samsung Armani in your hands, it really feels like a premium product.

Control and Navigation

The main input device of the phone is the touchscreen; the mechanical elements play the secondary role, and there aren’t so many of them in the first place. These are the keys for accepting or declining the call, the buttons on the right for turning on the camera and blocking the input, and a volume control on the left.

All of them are quite convenient and have no faults. Only the location of the volume control in the lower bottom side part doesn’t seem to be where it’s supposed to – on other phones it’s usually positioned closer towards the top – so you will need to get used to it.

The touchscreen on Samsung P520 Armani, however, is not so great. The phone is made to be controlled via the “finger touch”. But sensitivity of the touch sensors is sometimes too low, so quite often you need to tap the touchscreen several times, in order to complete some action.

Besides, the screen is a bit too small for such interface: while using the menu might be comfortable enough, you notice the drawbacks immediately when typing messages, or even a number that is not in the phone book. You can control some items of the menu not by tapping your finger, but by moving it around the touchscreen, but it doesn’t work so well (you will be able to see all that on the video).

Samsung Armani video review

Armani Croix Interface

Let’s move on to the interface of the phone.

Samsung P520 Armani is one of the first models that has the new Samsung “Croix” interface. You could first have seen it in action in the video of Samsung F490 here.

Words don’t do this interface justice; while it is not revolutionary, and doesn’t improve the usability of the phone much, it makes up for this with the amazing eye-candy. At any time you can call up the fast-launch menu on the screen, which contains 5 options: Calls, Messages, Contacts, Player and the Menu.

When the phone is in the stand-by mode, you can access the fast launch menu by tapping the lit square in the center of the touchscreen; and when browsing the submenus, it will be located at the bottom part of the screen.

What strikes us as strange is the fact that the arrangement of the menu on Samsung Armani has been modified once again. It’s unclear why in every new phone from Samsung, you have to look for the same function in a different place – such politics of the company are surprising, to say the least.

Multimedia

As for parameters of the display, such as brightness, contrast and viewing angle, they are very good on Armani P520, like it usually is with Samsung products. The only letdown is the performance of the screen under direct sunlight: the information is readable, but barely so. Regrettably, Samsung either hasn’t mastered the transreflective displays yet, or doesn’t want to introduce them for some reason.

The functionality of the phone is on the same level as the majority of other modern Samsung models, despite P520 Armani being a fashion phone first and foremost. You can’t say that anything is missing; both the traditional and multimedia functions are well implemented. The only unusual thing for modern phones, Samsung and others, is the lack of Java support. It exists theoretically, because the preinstalled games on the phone run on Java, but you can’t install any additional applications or games.

What about the music features of the P520?

Samsung Armani doesn’t have the 3.5 mm audio output jack for connecting your on headphones, nor does the set come with an adapter for them. But it’s unlikely that customers would be buying this phone for listening to music in the first place, so not much is lost here.

The player application, however, is functional enough – it uses a new interface that leans on the minimalist side, but is quite convenient when you get used to the controls. It works in the background, showing information about the currently played song and the album cover on the screen.

Camera & Battery

The built-in 3.2 megapixel camera has a maximum photo resolution of 2048×1536. The interface of the camera is handy; the main options are displayed as icons on the side of the screen. You can get pretty good photos in daylight – nothing amazing, but not bad either.

However, there is a great deal of noise in the photos made indoors, and the built-in LED flash doesn’t save the situation.

You can apply a number of effects to your photos, funny borders, and more.

The Samsung P520 runs off a 960 mAh Li-Ion battery; with 30-40 minutes of daily phone talks and slight use of other functions, it should last three days on average. The phone rings loudly enough, although there is no separate speaker for the ringtones and it uses the same one as for the speech.

Conclusions

As expected, the impressions of Samsung Armani P520 are twofold.

On the one hand, it’s pleasant to use, has a good design, feels nice to touch and attracts genuine interest of the people around you, which is very important for a fashion phone like Samsung Armani.

On the other, there’s the lack of an ordinary keypad, a display too small for comfortable finger touch control, and it sometimes has an unexpected reactions to pressing several icons at once (this is actually a problem of most touchscreen devices).

If we compare Armani with the LG Prada, Samsung P520 is more interesting due to materials used for the casing – it just feels better in your hand.

Prada, however, wins a little in other area due to it’s slightly larger display – but it has the same problems with ergonomics.

When comparing the functionality, these two phones are fairly similar. The Samsung Armani will primarily be interesting to users who want a stylish and unusual phone for making calls and don’t need many other functions. It could also possibly be a secondary phone for use during holidays or fancy parties.

• Samsung F490 and Samsung P720 outed in Ukraine
• Samsung Armani is SGH-P520 touchsreen card phone
• Samsung Armani SGH-P520 Launched Officially
• Samsung Armani Windows Mobile smartphone in the works
• Samsung Giorgio Armani W820 / W8200 shows up in Korea

But during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, I found one really interesting device maker, that just might have already caught up with Apple, at least when it comes to the responsiveness of the touchscreens.

It’s Neonode and their new handset Neonode N2.

While looking at their PR materials I was pretty skeptical about the possible user experience of such a small device. After all, you do require a sizable display for finger touch interface to work.

And Neonode N2, which with it’s 47x77x14,7 mm dimensions, 60 g of weight and 2″ touchscreen display is smaller then a credit card, hardly seemed up to the task.

Well, having played a bit with it, I can say that it works. At least on first impression. Instead of capacitive or resistive touch, used in iPhone and other touchscreen phones, Neonode has developed it’s own optical/infrared touchscreen technology called ZForce, which hardly requires any touch to work.

Just swipe a finger gently over the display or tap it and you are scrolling through address book, selecting menu items, dialing a phone or typing a text message.

And the small size of the device has actually it’s own advantages. Thank’s to it, very responsive touchscreen and internally developed “neno” interface, single hand operation actually works very well on Neonode N2. That is, you can easily hold N2 in one hand and use it’s thumb to operate the phone and perform any functions on it. Just like you do on a non touch phone keypads.

Here’s short video of Neonode N2 in action:

Of course, Neonode N2 is not that good as a media player or the net browsing device.

But used for it’s primary purpose – as a mobile phone, it works great.

And it’s really portable. Instead of worrying where to carry it, you might be spending more time figuring out into which pocket it went, when you need to make a call.

• Neonode Inc’s Swedish subsidiary files for bankruptcy
• Neonode N2 gets software upgrade
• Nokia is exploring 3D multi-touch interface
• Neonode 2 Now Available in New Colors
• Nokia Clamshell with display and touchscreen

I had a possibility to chat with Opera reps during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona about the new browser and the thinking that’s gone into developing it.

It looks like the development of this version was heavily influenced by the iPhone Safari browser and super convenient full HTML mobile browsing experience that came with it.

With 9.5, Opera tried to bring this convenience to the rest of us. And with the features like tabbed browsing, zooming, panning, page overview, responsiveness to touch and other features, it looks like they have succeeded and made Opera experience even better then Safari.

Here’s short video demo of the main Opera Mobile 9.5 features:

And here’s full list of Opera Mobile 9.5 features:

• Intuitive user interface
• Tabbed browsing
• Improved text wrap
• Page overview, zooming and panning
• Landscape mode
• Save Web page for future offline access
• Call phone number from Web page
• Send link as SMS/MMS
• Send image as SMS/MMS
• Small Screen Rendering™
• Password manager
• Web address input auto-completion
• History and bookmarks
• Copy text
• Opera Widgets

Looks really impressive. Public beta should be out as summer approaches, and I surely will be checking it out.

• Huawei to preinstall Opera Mobile 10 on its phones for China
• Apple finally approves Opera Mini for iPhone (after 20 days)
• Garmin Asus Nuvifone M20 comes with Opera Mobile 9.5 preinstalled
• Opera Mobile 10 for Windows Mobile available now
• Opera Mini for iPhone coming at MWC. Will Apple approve it?

During Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week, I had an opportunity to check it out live. And I have not changed my opinion – Nokia N96 is boring.

However, I had an epiphany while playing with Nokia N96. It turns out, that except for us geeky/blog newsy types, boring is actually very good.

When Nokia N95 hit the market, it had multiple bugs, was slow, used to crash, did not really felt right in the hands, the slider on it sucked, as did the battery life. We, early adopters, actually became beta testers for a new device and even shelled out some serious money for the privilege.

But all was forgiven in the name of all these cool gimmicks like GPS, 5mpx camera, Wi-Fi and others, that worked more often then not.

With Nokia N96 it’s a completely different story. You can feel that the N95 platform had a year to mature just by holding device in your hand.

Smooth shiny surface, really well implemented slider hinge, big clear screen, fast responses and small details like touch pad navigation or built-in quick stand for watching video, makes using Nokia N96 much more pleasant experience then a year old Nokia N95 in my pocket.

But, as they say a picture is worth a thousand words and a moving picture should be worth even more. So here’s a video demo of Nokia N96:

You might not see it in this video, but the movie quality that Nokia N96 is really great. Thank’s to built-in video accelerators, N96 is able to support video bit rates of well above 1.5 Mbps (up to 5 Mb’s ?!), while conserving the power use at the same time.

I also have to take back what I said about Nokia N96 in my previous post.

2.8″ screen is not too small and, given enough bitrate/video quality, it is actually quite good for watching movies and TV shows on it. Nokia N96 should give a run for the money to any flash based portable media player around.

Other cool feature on Nokia N96 is 5 megapixel camera with geo tagging functionality (Via GPS). When enabled it automatically tags the images with the GPS location coordinates, which you can later use when sorting the pictures on your PC or online photo service.

Nokia N96 also comes with 16 GB of built-in flash memory and microSDHC memory card slot, where you can fit 8 GB memory card for a total of 24GB of storage.

One thing I’m not sure about – is the battery life. The 950 mAh battery in Nokia N96 is the same as in N95, and we all heard about the troubles with battery life that N95 had.

Let’s hope that newer, more efficient chips and software in N96 gives it much longer durability then it’s predecessor.

Full specs of Nokia N96 include:

• WCDMA2100/900 (HSDPA) / EGSM900, GSM850/1800/1900 MHz (EGPRS) connectivity
• DVB-H Class C, 470-750 MHz
• S60 3rd edition, FP2 UI
• 2.8” QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) LCD TFT display with up to 16 million colors
• 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus and auto-exposure
• Dual-LED camera flash, video light, recording indicator, auto-focus assist light
• Secondary VGA (640 x 480 px) camera for video calls
• Video capture in MPEG-4 up to VGA at 30 fps
• Digital Video Stabilization
• Built-in GPS/A-GPS
• WLAN – IEEE802.11 g/b
• Stereo FM radio (87.5-108MHz, 76-90MHz) with RDS
• Hi-Speed USB 2.0 with Micro USB type B interface
• 3.5mm stereo headset plug , TV-out support (PAL/NTSC)
• Bluetooth 2.0 A2DP stereo/EDR
• 950 mAh battery with up to 220 min talk, 220 hrs standby time, 5 hrs video, 14 hrs music or 4 hrs TV playback
• Dimensions: 103x55x18 mm
• Weight: 125 g

All- in-all, Nokia N96 is a great, feature packed mobile handset. Initial retail price for Nokia N96 will be around 550 Euro, which is OK for it’s category.

The only problem is that Nokia N96 is expected to start shipping only in Q3, 2008 – and that’s about half a year from now. Which is way too long a time to make me happy.

• Nokia N96 specs leaked in Germany. Boring
• Nokia N85 multimedia powerhouse launched
• Nokia N79 gets really official
• Nokia N81 and Nokia N81 8GB oficially launched
• 8GB Nokia N95 listed at Popular Electronics

So what is the fuss all about? To tell you the truth, I’m not sure.

It’s not that Samsung Soul has some groundbreaking new technology, the interactive touchpad was around since Samsung E950, 5 megapixel camera (no zoom) is becoming standard in the new higher end Samsung phones. Slim body, 7.2 Mbps HSDPA connectivity, radio with RDS … duh

Maybe, it’s because in U900 Soul, finally all these technologies really come together at the right price point, for Samsung to expect to have a major mass seller on it’s hands? Something like LG had with their Chocolate and Shine lines?

Samsung rarely bothers naming it’s handsets and usually just slaps the model number on it’s phones (Samsung Armani and BlackJack excepted). The branding with the “Soul” name and announced major marketing campaign suggests, that with Soul U900, Samsung may indeed be taking it’s cues from LG.

Here’s some live pictures of Samsung Soul:

And here’s the video demo done by Samsung rep.:

Overall, Samsung Soul U900 is a solid, good looking handset with somewhat unusual, but interesting and easy to use navigation pad.

And, if the price is righ and the marketing push works, Samsung may indeed have a bestseller on it’s hands.

• Samsung G400 Soul Clamshell to launch at CeBit
• Samsung Soul U900 completes Ultra Edition
• Samsung SHG-u900 Soul Now Available
• Cheaper Samsung S7330 Soul pops-up
• Samsung Sells 1 Million Souls in a Month

Hello! It’s 21st century already! Text write-ups of the cool features, with months old press pics of the officially announced old models and a grainy small picture with a tiny phones line-up is not enough. We need live pics. Of each new phone model. From every angle. And video. With at least a short interface walkthrough.

Well, thankfully, somebody at Mobile-Notes was not asleep, and now we can show you how Samsung P720 DuoS and Samsung F490 look in real life:

And there’s even cool video of Samsung F490, F700 and Samsung P720 DuoS:

• Dual-SIM Samsung Galaxy S II Duos headed to China
• Motorola Alexander and Motorola Attila live pics
• Samsung D880 DuoS Dual SIM card phone
• Samsung D780 DuoS coming
• Sony Ericsson Walkman W902, W595 and W302 video preview and live pictures

But one of them decided to break the NDA and show off how the Dreamphone works.

Enjoy worlds first live Google Android Dreamphone demo:

LOL

• Google Android 3 Honeycomb announcement. Live chat
• Google Wallet update adds coupons, rewards, and more retail partners
• Android 3.0 Honeycomb gets officially unveiled, alongside Web-based Android Market
• Google intros Orkut, Google Buzz widget for Android
• Hands-off with Palm Pre GSM

Paul Sinclair from PSP World says that he has noticed Sony Ericsson PSPhone ad or article in U.K’s Stuff magazine. And he even shot a video of it:

This Sony Ericsson PSPhone looks real enough for me. The picture looks more like an ad, but could be part of the article with creative PSPhone Photoshop renderings by Stuff.

And with all the explicit denials of the existence of PSP Phone, it would be really strange to have the ad on the darn thing appear without any prior announcement, or at least unofficial leak.

Anyone in U.K. can get their hands on the latest Stuff Magazine to clarify the issue?

• Sony S1&S2 Honeycomb tablets have the looks. Little else for now
• OMG, PSP Phone is coming!!!… No it’s NOT!!!
• Sony Ericsson Susan and Sunny to be rugged, waterproof phones
• HTC Obsession / Diamond3 photos show up, might be fake though
• Sony Ericsson P5i specs and looks

Why can’t I have this cool feature on my Nokia N95? It’s really annoying to switch between landscape and portrait modes while browsing the Net or my picture gallery.

Well, now it seems that this problem will be solved soon with the help of French developer By Samir and his cool freeware app rotateMe v2. Check out this video demo (only in French, unfortunately):

rotateMe application has already been around for a while and, in an unsigned version, is available for Nokia N80 and N73 devices. But it will soon get better with a version 2.

As you can see in video demo, rotateMe 2 is taking advantage in the little advertised feature of Nokia N95 – a motion sensor used by the camera. This motion sensor can be used as an accelerometer to detect orientation of the device and automagically switch between landscape and portrait modes.

rotateMe 2 for Nokia N95 should become available this November.

via MobinauteÂ

• Automatic Screen Rotation for N95 8GB with new firmware
• #MWC10 Nokia’s Ari Jaaksi talks Maemo, MeeGo, shows how to enable portrait mode on N900 browser
• Nokia N8′s music player and HDMI capabilities showcased on video
• LG KP500 – affordable full touchscreen handset
• Nokia’s Maemo 6 to support capacitive displays, multi-touch

Still, GPS equipped Samsung i780, that we spotted in September is one fine smartphone, and it was officially launched in London yesterday.

Samsung i780 is a slim messaging mobile phone based on Windows Mobile PPC with a full QWERTY keyboard. It has a large 2.55� TFT touch screen and an optical joystick, allowing for 360’ navigation on menus, Internet and applications. It allows users to be connected at all times through HSDPA (up to 3.6Mbps) and 802.11b/g. It is equipped with A-GPS, while a full navigation package is also available.

Martijn from PortableGear.nl has been present at London Launch event and was able to shhot a video of SGH-i780 that gives you a better feeling how this handset looks in real life:

Full specs for Samsung i780 include:

• Mobile Windows 6 Pro OS
• 2.6″ TFT touch screen
• Full QWERTY keyboard
• integrated A-GPS
• Triband GSM (900, 1800 and 1900 MHz), GPRS/ EDGE, 2100 MHz UMTS/ HSDPA
• 2mpx digital camera, front VGA camera for video calls
• 256 MB ROM
• 128 MB RAM
• Bluetooth 2.0 + A2DP
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
• MiniUSB 2.0
• microSD port
• Dimensions : 11.6×6.1×1.3 cm

Samsung i780 price and shipping date has not been announced yet. However it’s part of this years phone line-up so it should start shipping in the beginning of December at latest.

• Samsung SGH-i780 possible Black Jack 2 spotted in Dubai
• IFA 2007 Report. Samsung i620 Windows Mobile Slider
• Samsung (BlackJack 2?) SGH-i780 GPS phone confirmed
• HTC Touch HD with full QWERTY keyboard to be named HTC Touch HD Pro?
• Samsung Omnia Pro B7610 with changed design appears in promo video

Bjorn Wigforss, Head of Trade Marketing at Nokia Multimedia made a presentation that included live demo’s of upcoming Nokia Ovi Music & Games (N-Gage) services.

Here’s the video of the Nokia Ovi Music store:

And here’s Nokia’s N-Gage video demo:

• Nokia will say goodbye to N-Gage in 2010
• GameLoft’s Guitar Rock Tour coming to Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
• Nokia launches free Rihanna App
• Nokia: Mobile gaming market not growing, touchscreen N-gage coming in 2009
• Nokia starts work on allowing N-gage game transfers

Sony Ericsson has also presented quite an intersting vision of where the converged mobile phone/computing/entertainment devices are heading within next five years. And they showed an interesting video of their vision too:

Yeah I know, I know. My head hurts too from all the shaking and moving images. I should have held the camera more steady.

I promise I’ll do better next time

• HTC Vision QWERTY Android phone shows up in the wild
• UK: Phones 4U won’t sell the Huawei Vision after all, even though it was supposed to be an exclusive
• New Windows Phone 7.5 Mango features unveiled
• HTC Vision to be sold by T-Mobile as the G1 Blaze?
• Motorola Pro will only be available in the UK in September

Today, at the Symbian smartphone show Nokia’s senior VP for software platforms, Lee Williams the most extensive view of how and what Nokia plans to accomplish.

New Nokia touch screen UI will become a part of S60 and will be available to multiple manufacturers that are using S60 User Interface platform. So we can expect not only S60 based Nseries devices from Nokia, bot something interesting coming from Samsung and other cellphone makers.

The S60 touch UI itself will look like this:

Lee Williams also gave an extensive description of how this will actually work.

Key highlights for S60 touch interface will include:

• It will be able to support devices with and without keyboard, stylus and finger inputs
• It will provide tactile feedback via haptics technologies
• The interface will be multilingual with support Asian languages as well
• Advanced sensor framework and UI acceleration toolkit will be provided for developers for easier adoption
• Multiple gestures will be supported. Possibility for users and developers to customize them provided
• It will be backwards compatible with older S60 applications
• Embedded Flash Lite 3 for desktop like video experience
• First products with touch support will become available in 2008

You can watch most of Lee Williams presentation here:

Well, it looks like Apple wasn’t 5 years ahead of other portable device makers. If everything described in the presentations will become a reality, S60 devices soon will give an iPhone a serious run for the money.

And Apple better make up it’s mind opening an iPhone to the third party developers, or it may soon be Apple Mac vs Microsoft Windows PC, all over again.

• #MWC10: €100 Symbian smartphones promised for later this year
• Nokia Ovi Suite 2.1 Beta and Nokia Image Exchange updated
• Nokia is exploring 3D multi-touch interface
• Symbian tablets and netbooks coming in the next few years?
• Sony Ericsson will open Xperia X10 Timescape and Mediascape UX apps to developers, port across Android and Symbian devices

It looks like there’s Samsung BlackJack II type of phone already in the works, to be announced pretty soon. It’s called Samsung SGH-i780 for now and was showcased during Gitex trade show in Dubai.

I does not really matter how it will be called – Samsung BlackJack 2 or just SGH-i780, but if you are into full QWERTY keyboard phones, this one is so packed with cool features that it will be really tough to resist.

The specs for Samsung i780 include:

• HSDPA/WCDMA/GSM/GPRS/EDGE conenctivity (900/1800/1900 +2.1GHz)
• QWERTY keyboard
• Full Touch Screen
• 3.2 megapixel camera
• front camera for video calls
• 2.55″ 320×320 px 65K color display
• Built-in GPS with Navigation client
• Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, WiFi b/g
• MicroSD memory card slot
• Dimensions:115.9 x 61.3 x 13.3 mm

In addition to full QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen, Samsung SGH-i780/BlackJack 2 will have an optical mouse, which looks pretty similar to optical joystick found on Samsung V960 slider.

Here’s the video showing how optical mouse/touchscreen navigation on Samsung i780 works:

Samsung SGH-i780 should be launched in Europe pretty soon.

Via The Unwired and Mobility site

• Samsung i907 Epix Now at AT&T
• Touchpad input on Samsung phones
• Samsung i780 GPS Windows Mobile phone officially launched
• Cingular/AT&T BlackJack 2 from Samsung launched
• Samsung Jack i637 officially announced by AT&T

There wasn’t a whole lot of new cellphones displayed during IFA Consumer Electronics show in Berlin. But among those that were there, LG KU990 Viewty certainly was the most impressive.

Even before going to IFA I already had great expectations for LG Viewty KU990 . First, it’s the looks and the fact that it’s a successor for LG KE850 Prada full touchscreen phone.

Then it’s the specs:

• 3.6 Mbps HSDPA connectivity
• 3″ 400×240 px touchscreen
• 100MB of internal memory
• microSD memory card slot extendable up to 2GB
• dimensions 103.5×54.4×14.8 mm
• Weight: 112 g

and, of course, 5.1 mpx camera with Schneider Kreuzenach optics, Xenon Flash, manual/autofocus modes, image stabilzer, ISO800 SmartLight, face tracking and high speed 120 fps video recording capability.

With a specs like these, how can LG KU990 go bad? And it didn’t.

LG KU990 Viewty review. Camera

Here’s the picture made by LG Viewty in manual focus mode:

As you can see the quality of the picture, that was taken from about 70 cm, is really good for camera phone. The other shooting options for LG Viewty KU990 camera include: autofocus, panorama, burst shots (9 fps) and a frame shot.

Another cool thing about taking pictures with LG Viewty is the speed with which they are saved. On your usual cameraphone it can take from 5 to 10 seconds between the moment you hear the click of picture being taken and when it appears on screen. LG Viewty does that in less then 2 seconds.

And that circle that you see around the camera lens? It’s actually a jog dial, that you can use to (digitally) zoom in and out in a camera mode or focus the camera in manual focus mode. And it doubles as a volume control when you are talking on the phone, or a scroll wheel to scroll through music tracks and menu options.

In video camera mode, in addition to shooting VGA resolution clips at 30 fps, you can also take pictures in 120 fps fast video recording mode and then play video in slow motion at up to 15 fps. LG Viewty also has a dedicated microphone to capture sound during video recording.

Here’re the effects that you get with video recorded at 120 fps on LG Viewty and played back at 15 fps:

It’s been made under pretty lousy lighting conditions, but you should get the general idea how slow motion effects can look on LG Viewty, even in a low light.

And if you want to know more about camera capabilities of LG KU990 Viewty phone, the guys from InToMobile.com has pointed me to this great video made by the girls from ShinyShiny.TV:

LG Viewty KU990 review. Multimedia&Navigation

For your media, in addition to all traditional formats like Mp3, AAC, 3GP and others, LG KU990 Viewty has the media player that supports MPEG4/Divx video file playback, so you’ll be able to watch downloaded clips, TV shows and movies on your phone.

Between the touch controls and the Jog Dial, the overall navigation and interface of LG Viewty is very intuitive . I was easily browsing through the media files collection and menu options within minutes.

LG KU990 Viewty review. Text entry&dialing

Dialing numbers with the onscreen numeric keypad is no harder then on a normal phone. Writing SMS or e-mail with with onscreen QWERTY keyboard is even better.

The best thing about the number and text entry on LG Viety KU990 is the tactile feedback. You can feel vibration every time you press a key on Viewty, making the process as intuitive as on any normal phone. Thank’s to incorporation of Immersion’s VibeTonz technology, LG was able to solve the problem of tactile feedback, that plagued early touchscreen devices, pretty well.

LG KU990 has onscreen drawing/handwriting recognition feature too. You can draw pictures on a touchscreen, and Viewty will even recognize the numbers and characters, if that is your preferred data entry mode.

LG Viewty KU990 review. Other

LG Viewty KU990 model displayed at IFA was still a prototype, so there were some things missing to it.

E.g. it was really awkward to try handwriting or draw pictures with a finger on a touchscreen. And there was no stylus available. But LG manager told me that stylus will be added in LG Viewty sales package. Unfortunately there’s no place for it in the body of the phone, so carrying it around might pose some problems

LG KU990 Viewty and other LG phones on display at IFA were not connected to GSM network, so I was unable to test phone/data functions for now. Among the features that Viewty will support, but were not available for testing are:

• Full HTML browsing via Obigo browser
• Tight mobile Google apps integration. Following Google applications will be preinstalled/integrated in LG Viewty:
  • Google Maps
  • Google Search
  • Gmail Mobile
  • Blogger Mobile
  • YouTube, with a single click video uploads

  Also, from discussions with LG representatives it looks like some cellular carriers are not too enthusiastic about integrated Google apps. So do not be too surprised if your carrier subsidized LG KU990 Viewty will be missing some of them.

LG Viewty KU990 review. Conclusions

LG KU900 Viewty is a great mobile phone with outstanding camera capabilities, easy navigation and operation and lot’s of other cool features, like on screen editing and drawing, MPEG4/Avi file playback, tactile feedback, tight mobile Google apps/YouTube integration and high speed data transfers.

It may not have Multi-Touch features or the sleekness of the iPhone, but touch interface combined with JogDial on LG Viewty KU990 is still is very easy to use. And what it lacks in fancy gimmicks, LG Viewty certainly makes up in features and overall functionality.

There is one drawback to Viewty phone as well. LG Viewty KU990 is not a smartphone. It is a very good phone with good collection of additional applications, fast Internet browsing and the best camera features I’ve seen. It will also be able to run mobile JAVA apps. But if you are looking for rich third party software ecosystem like Symbian or Windows Mobile phones have, LG KU990 Viewty is not for you.

On the other hand, how many of us do really need a smartphone in their pocket? I got my wife Nokia E65 a few months back. She likes the form factor, but really hates the complexity around it. According to her, there’s too many options, too many choices and very often it’s just too hard to find the one simple thing she needs at the moment.

I usually end up fixing the things that got somehow messed up, every couple of weeks. Oh, and she never asked me to install a single third party software app.

According to LG, KU990 Viewty is due to be out by mid October in Europe. So I think I know already, what I’ll be getting my wife for Christmas.

Overall LG Viewty KU990 is one of the best phones I have tried and certainly the best one among the phones displayed during IFA Consumer Electronics show.

Get the best deal on LG Viewty KU990 5 megapixel camera phone in U.K. Click here!

• LG Viewty Smart available this month in the UK. 12MP LG phone re-confirmed
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This credit card sized mobile phone with 2.6″ 240x320px touchscreen and 3 mpx camera was one impressive gadget.

Today, thanks to the Czech site idnes.cz we can bring you live images and even video demo of Samsung P520:

Here’s the video:

While not in the same league as the iPhone, the touch interface on Samsung P520 is still pretty user friendly and easy to operate.

Sasmung P520 is also among the first phones to actually implement VibeTonz haptics technology to provide vibration feedback whenever you press button on a touchscreen.

• Samsung P520 Touchscreen Card Phone
• Neonode N2 touchscreen phone review. Really small and responsive
• #MWC09: LG Arena preview video
• Samsung D980/D988 – DuoS with touchscreen
• Nokia’s lid on a touchscreen interface

It was Presented at International Conference on Intelligent Robots in Beijing this fall and you can see video here (note: 40 sec of noise before video starts):

Quite a funny video, I especially liked the smelly phone part

Found via Mobil.cz

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• Hit the malls remotely via telerobotic shopper and cellphone in Japan
• Samsung Robot Sentry can shoot you on sight
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First comes YouTube video with live demonstartion of Nokia E65:

And then there’s a new E65 dummy phone photos from RPAS Telecom dummy phone shop:

As the official introduction of Nokia E65 smartphone nears, the leaks about it increase. My guess is that we will see offcial announcement of this phone in two to four weeks.

• First official press photos Nokia E66 and E71
• Nokia N93 approved by FCC
• New Nokia E75 pics – official announcement just around the corner
• Leaked Nokia N79 pics turns out to be fake
• Nokia speaks up about product leaks, broken promises, and what to do about them

Nokia Explore :

Nokia Achieve:

• Nokia Explore and Share technology provides ultra fast data transfers
• Nokia 7480 Fashion Phone Concept
• Tactile iPhone case concept goes a long way to pleasing the visually impaired
• New Nokia concept phone by designer Ulisses Gardim
• Nokia Stealth and Nokia 82 Dragonfly concept phones