10/31/09

HTC Touch2 review

Phones Review : Affordable isn't the most common word in the HTC vocabulary but a company whose sole line of business is smartphones is not quite expected to speak the language of the masses. That said, we really need to define affordable first. It's what HTC Touch2 tries hard to be but… let's face it… doesn't get too close to. After all, there's little a PocketPC full of high-tech goodies can do about it.

But there's much a company needs to do to keep pace with an evolving market. HTC are busy updating their portfolio and the Touch2 is yet another in a growing line of sequels. Alright, it may be a small step for PocketPCs but a solid move for HTC in the midrange.

The launch of TouchFLO is a landmark but the original Touch will also be remembered perhaps as the first HTC device to actually have some exterior design and compactness. No offence, but prior to that PocketPC's were just big enough to get away with the lack of style.

Anyway, the Touch Viva and the Touch 3G followed soon after - near clones that tried to give PocketPC's mass appeal.

So, that means the HTC Touch2 will be trying to walk in three pairs of shoes and give the company some flexibility in the midrange. The newbie is smart, fast (in fact, surprisingly fast), compact, and friendly. The sharp contemporary looks are a definite asset but there's more than enough stuff under the hood to motivate upgraders too.

10/30/09

Samsung Blue Earth S7550 review

Phones Review : Brace yourselves! This is not just an ordinary review! You are in for an extensive essay on the power of Mother Nature, the poisonous influence of the human race, the ozone depletion and its impact on the shrinking population of white hamsters! Hey, where do you think you´re going? Come back! We promise we won´t go off the deep end and talk too much about the Earth´s ailing ecology… much. It´s just that the Samsung Blue Earth S7550 has made us think about issues that tend to escape our notice. We all go about our business and preoccupied with our busy daily routine we hardly ever consider things like “can we do more to save energy?”, “Are we doing enough about recycling?”, “What can we do to help nature?” and stuff like that. The Samsung Blue Earth S7550 is an environmentally-friendly handset in every single respect – its body and retail box are made from recycled materials entirely and there are solar panels on its back that help to extend the phone battery life in an ecologically consistent way.

It goes to show that using recycled materials (plastic water bottles in this case) doesn’t equate to worse overall appeal or build quality. The device feels a bit heftier (4.20 oz.) than normal for its size and the increase is mainly due to the extra weight of the integrated solar panels. It feels nice and pleasing in your hand, creating pretty much the same overall feeling that high-end devices like the Samsung Jet S8000 and Pixon12 do, while the mystical blue color of its face makes it stand out from the crowd.

10/27/09

Samsung Galaxy Spica i5700 review

Phonen Review : Samsung has just unveiled that its Galaxy Spica i5700 Android smartphone is now available in Europe and CIS, and will soon reach the Middle East and Asia. The announcement comes not long after the i5700 was officially presented in Russia.

The features of Galaxy Spica include a 3.2 inch HVGA touchscreen display, HSDPA connectivity, Wi-Fi, GPS, Google mobile services, an 800 MHz processor, DNSe 2.0, 3.5mm headset jack, a 3.2MP camera, MicroSD card support and a 1500 mAh battery. Moreover, Samsung i5700 is the first Android smartphone to support DivX.

Samsung didn’t say how much the Galaxy Spica i5700 costs, but we previously heard that its price is of around €320 ($479).

Another new Samsung product announced today is the Samsung Go, a netbook that will be available via AT&T starting November 22 – at about the same time with the Nokia Booklet 3G.

10/22/09

LG-GW620 review

Phones Review : LG Electronics' first Android mobile device is the new LG-GW620 Android-powered smartphone featuring a 3-inch full touchscreen, a slide out QWERTY keypad, and access to Google mobile applications and services. LG has not offered much more details on the device thus far. The new social networking / messaging phone is just one of about 13 new smartphones that LG will be releasing over the next 16 months, with most of them running Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6.5.

As for this LG-GW620 smartphone, it's expected to be available in the fourth quarter of this year in select European markets. Pricing has not yet been announced.

10/17/09

BlackBerry Pearl 8100 review

Phones Review : RIM is getting ready to launch a successor for the popular BlackBerry Pearl 8100 / 8110 / 8120: meet the BlackBerry Pearl 9100, codenamed BlackBerry Stratus or BlackBerry Striker.

Like most of RIM’s new smartphones, the Pearl 9100 comes with an optical trackpad instead of a trackball. It has an overall glossy look, and a SureType keypad that looks larger than the one the 81xx models have.

The BlackBerry Pearl 9100 also features 3G and a camera with LED flash, but other specs are not known at the moment.

10/11/09

Huawei U8230 review

Phones Review : In addition to the T-Mobile Pulse/U8220, Huawei has another Android phone called U8230. Recently, the phone has been previewed and tested by French site, pointgphone.com.

The Huawei U8230 sports a Qualcomm MSM7200A 528MHz processor and 128MB RAM. It gets a 3.5-inch capacitiv touchscreen with 320×480 resolution and a 3.2 Megapixel camera. The device, like the Magic and Hero, has a trackball. It’s 2.5mm jack simply makes it less attractive.

10/6/09

TomTom for iPhone 1.2 review

Phones Review : Perhaps in response to Google’s new and free Maps Navigation for Android 2.0, TomTom has just launched a new version of its iPhone application, TomTom for iPhone 1.2, which brings a set of new features.

These new features include text-to-speech, Advanced Lane Guidance (for “extra clarity when navigating difficult junctions”), updated Tele Atlas maps for the US and Canada, and a Help menu that provides quick access “to emergency numbers and directions to the nearest emergency providers”.

TomTom for iPhone 1.2 can be downloaded as of today via the App Store. Thanks to new TomTom car kits that should be available soon, the app is compatible with all iPhone models and with the iPod touch.

The new TomTom iPhone app including maps of the US and Canada costs $99.99. Other regional versions may have different prices.