Samsung Louvre: The Omnia with the keyboard

Written on 1/30/2009 08:06:00 AM by poison_ivy

At last! Samsung has answered my prayers. Just when I thought that no new phones would pique my interest this year, aside from the Palm Pre and the Nokia N97, the people over at Expansys said that Samsung is working on another Windows Mobile Phone, has the same Samsung widgets, but more importantly, it has a keyboard!!! Whoohoo!!!

However, I do hope that they're wrong about the specs. The Samsung Louvre has a slide out keyboard similar to the Nokia N97 and the TyTN II. It will run on Windows 6.1 but the thing I didn't like is that it only has a 3.2 megapixel camera...whaatt??? From 5 megapixel to 3.2 megapixel??!!

Another windows mobile device that Samsung will be releasing is the update to their i780, the Samsung Pivot. I also like the i780 so I'm also excited about this one. This time, the Samsung Pivot is the one with the 5 megapixel camera and will run on windows mobile 6.5.

That's why I'm a bit confused. Maybe Expansys got it mixed up and the Samsung Pivot is actually the update to the Omnia while the Samsung Louvre is to the i780? I'm hoping for pics and more specs soon so that I know if this will be worth upgrading to. Unfortunately, I couldn't find that particular post over at the Expansys blog which leads me to believe that maybe they removed it.

Anyways, I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.

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Sony Ericsson W595 Sakura (unlocked) Review: An in depth Look

Written on 1/28/2009 03:50:00 PM by poison_ivy

Okay, so I've reviewed some Sony Ericsson phones before but I never really owned them. The Sony Ericsson W595 is technically my first walkman phone. Here's a closer look at it.

Design

The Sony Ericsson W595 has a chunky design. It has a plastic materials though doesn't feel cheap except for the battery cover which I REALLY, REALLY hate. The back/battery cover is made of thin, plastic material, it's very hard to open and there's a high chance that it would break if you're not gentle enough. But then again, if you are too gentle, you probably wouldn't open the battery cover which is a bad news for those who would want to swap sims or take out the M2 card. There have been several reports of the battery cover being broken from some W595 users. The shiny border around the W595 makes the design more attractive especially the white version. On the left side is their proprietary connection and on the right the dedicated Walkman button and volume control. There's not much to say about the Sony Ericsson W595. It's not attention grabbing or anything but the white one does look “cute”.

Features and Performance

So, since the W595 is a walkman phone, it should be a good music phone right? Well, I'm a bit on the middle about this one. The loudspeaker does a good job of playing back jazz music or any audio with a lot of bass but acoustics sound tinny. The loudspeaker on my Omnia sounds much better which is not good news for Sony Ericsson. The phone doesn't have a 3.5mm headset jack on the phone itself but there's an adapter which you can insert two 3.5mm headset jacks to. I think Sony calls this technology, the Share Music feature. The provided headset is crap so you have to replace it with your own. Using a higher end headset or a stereo Bluetooth headset, it is now clear that the W595 is indeed a Walkman phone. Playback is GREAT! And the MegaBass feature further enhances audio quality. There's also a lot of music options such as SenseMe, Shake Control and TrackID. The 45MB internal memory on this device is a joke but Sony rectified that by adding a 2GB M2 card with the package.

The user interface didn't change much on the W595, you still get animated themes and the media button will still bring up the Playstation-like menu. I honestly love the themes of Sony Ericsson. They're cute and easy on the eyes. The 2.2 inch QVGA screen of the device enhances the rich and colorful themes of Sony. The W595 has a built in accelerometer which automatically changes the screen from landscape to portrait mode whenever you tilt your phone. The accelerometer on this device has greatly improved, I was expecting to see a lag but the transition from portrait to landscape is smooth and fast. What I don't like about the interface is when it comes to messaging. Text input is SLOWWWW. Or maybe it was because I got so used to the one button one text input of QWERTY keypads compared with phone pads. But then again, compared with the text input of my old Motorola and Nokia, the W595 is slow. I also hate the backlight. Yes, it's a power saving option wherein the light would dim if you're in a brightly lit area but when you're texting and the light suddenly dims, it's not really good for the eyes. Also, the keypad is rather small and cramped so texting is also hard. Wow, I never thought QWERTY keypads would grow on me. I used to be a phone pad girl.

The Sony Ericsson W595 is 3G/HSDPA capable and has the Access NetFront Browser. The Browser is pretty decent, offering a finger-mouse, fast rendering of webpages and a copy and paste function. I don't know whether it's a network problem or phone manufacturer but when I use my Sony Ericsson W595 as a modem, it seems that my internet conneciton is much faster compared with my Omnia. Maybe it's the signal, the W595 gets stronger HSDPA signal than my Omnia. No, YouTube on the browser is not supported but there's an included YouTube and Google Apps application on this device.

There's a lot more application on the W595 compared to games though you can download some games at the Sony Ericsson website using your browser. I love the applications. I can't say the same thing about the junk applications that Sony bundles with their VAIO but the ones on the W595 are a treat. I love Music DJ, PhotoDJ, and that comic strip application.

The Sony Ericsson W595 has a 3.2 megapixel camera and no autofocus. Picture quality is good when taking outdoors shot, passable when taking indoor shots. Will display sample images tomorrow.

Conclusion

The Sony Ericsson W595 is not really a ground breaking phone. If you're choosing a free phone to go with your contract, this would be a good phone choice. If you're looking for an unlocked music phone, not really a good value for your money unless you get it free with a contract. There are a lot more good unlocked phones out there that would be worthy of your money. The W760i, with GPS and WiFi is a better choice.

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Compare Samsung J700 vs. Sony Ericsson T303 vs. Nokia 2600 Classic

Written on 1/12/2009 12:16:00 PM by poison_ivy

If you're looking for a comparison between the Samsung J700, Sony Ericsson T303, and Nokia 2600 Classic, chances are, these are the free phones being offered to you in a contract deal that offers 12 months free line rental. Anyways, here's my take on these phones so that you can get a more informed decision.

If you're looking for a cheap cameraphone...

The Sony Ericsson T303 is definitely better camerawise compared with the Samsung J700 and WAY better than the Nokia 2600 Classic which only offers a VGA camera compared with Samsung's and Sony Ericsson's 1.3 megapixel camera. Though the Samsung J700 and Sony Ericsson T303 both offer 1.3 megapixel camera, Sony Ericsson surpassed the J700 in terms of image quality, reproducing evenly balanced photos outdoors compared with the J700's overexposed photos.

If you're looking for a stylish phone...

The Sony Ericsson T303 also gets my vote in terms of design. I like brush metallic finish of the T303 compared with just the plastic casing of the J700. However, the Samsung J700 and Nokia 2600 Classic offers much more colors to choose from so if you're the type who likes colorful products, then the J700 and 2600 might be more well suited for you.

If you're looking for a simple phone...

The Nokia 2600 Classic wins for being user-friendly. The most senior of seniors can probably work this phone. The 2600 Classic is a no-nonsense phone, simple design, VGA camera, FM radio, and a simple mobile browser.

If you're looking for the phone that can give you the best value for your money...

The Samsung J700 wins over the other for just being better in features, that is if you're not too keen on the camera. The Samsung J700 wins over the other two for being a better music phone, offering an expandable microSD slot to store your photos and music, stereo Bluetooth, and also offering a FM radio. The Sony Ericsson T303 has a better player with TrackID musci recognition but with only 8MB of onboard memory and no card slot, you won't be able to store your MP3s. As for web browsing, though all three phones are not 3G capable, only the Samsung J700 offers faster web browsing since it's EDGE capable.

*links in italics are sponsored links.

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The Palm Pre

Written on 1/11/2009 02:10:00 PM by poison_ivy

When I got a press release of the Palm Pre, I held off reporting about it thinking that it was just another Palm Centro. Well, after taking a look at the press release and the videos of the Palm Pre in action, I hurriedly whipped out my laptop because iPhone may be looking at another iPhone killer. I've previously said that the Blackberry Storm may be the real iPhone killer because of its clickthrough interface but the Palm Pre just bumped the Blackberry Storm and has challenged the almighty iPhone.

Design

Like the MotoSurf A3100, Palm dished the bar design and opted for a more rounded design and only one hardware button Unlike the MotoSurf however, Palm decided to bring in a 3.1 inch touch screen for the Palm Pre. Still a little small by today's standards but it's still big enough. Plus what's great about the screen is its not QVGA, it's an HVGA, 24 bit color 320x480 screen. What I didn't like about the Palm Pre's design is the bezel on the screen. They could have made it more touch friendly by removing the bezel. Anyways, the Palm Pre is not an all touch screen phone. There's a slide out QWERTY keypad which reminds you of the keypad on the Centro. Like the Xperia X1, the Palm Pre has a slight arc when you slide-out the keypad.

Features and Performance

I'm actually pretty excited about the Palm Pre. From the product videos, you can see that Palm's new OS, the WebOS is pretty good. Unlike the iPhone, the Palm Pre is designed for multi tasking, similar to the panels on Xperia, you can launch different “cards” or applications. Closing this applications is as simple as “throwing away” these cards. Though from the videos, the interface is not as fast as the iPhone, maybe because of the added animations, it's still faster than other phones and rarely lags. It is a multi-touch phone because you can also do the panning in and out of photos similar to the iPhone. Whether it can do the copy and paste feature that can be done on windows mobile phones, we have yet to see.

The processor is pretty fast. The Palm Pre runs the latest OMAP processor which according to some, can be clocked around 600-1000MHz. Hard to believe but if it can handle multi-tasking and animated icons without a lot of hiccups, then 600-1000MHz processing power is not very far-fetched.

As for the camera, the Palm Pre has a 3 megapixel camera with LED Flash. I'm not too familiar with camera features about according to Palm Pre's press release, it has an “extended depth of field”, whatever that is.

Multimedia wise, I have always thought of Palm as strictly for business users so I don't know whether it can compete with the iPhone in terms of audio playback quality but it does support Bluetooth A2DP profile and it can probably handle decent video playback thanks to its HVGA screen. The Palm Pre has a 3.5mm headset jack and an 8GB internal memory though I couldn't find anything on Palm's website whether it supports microSD card slot.

The web browser is capable of rendering web pages very fast but again, I don't know whether it supports flash or YouTube directly on its browser. The Palm Pre has a variety of messaging features including Outlook EAS, POP3, IMAP, MMS, and IM.

Other features on the Palm Pre includes EVDO REV, WiFi, GPS, microUSB connection, accelerometer, light sensor, and a proximity sensor that disables the screen when you put the Palm Pre to your ear. The Palm Pre is also the first mobile phone to support wireless inductive charging, meaning you can charge your phone without wires by just placing the Palm Pre on the Palm Touchstone charging dock.

Outlook and Availability

I've never been a fan of Palm especially since their botched plan to create a sort of laptop companion for smartphones which they subsequently scrapped. I forgot the name of that said project. Anyways, you have to give them credit for the Palm Pre, it looks like they're going to make a turnaround, and I though they were due for bankruptcy. Though I hate the design (hopefully, they'll be able to release more decent hardware in the near future), the webOS is definitely something to look forward to. The Palm Pre has definitely jumped on top of my list of next mobile phones to be bought but unless you're in the US, we have to wait for the second half of 2009 to be able to acquire the Palm Pre since it would be sold exclusively to Sprint first for the whole first half of 2009. Bummer.

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The MOTOSURF A3100

Written on 1/07/2009 01:16:00 PM by poison_ivy

Motorola has ~~finally~~ again joined the full touchscreen mobile phone wagon with their Motosurf A3100. However, they’re kinda a year late, aren’t they? First, they launch their 5 megapixel mobile phone while everybody else is already launching their 8 megapixel phones and now, while every touchscreen phone is touting more than 3 inch screens, they’re still in the stone age with their 2.8 inch screen.

Design

I would have to give a point to the Motosurf A3100 for its design. Motorola didn’t succumb to the iPhone mania by copying their bar design. Instead, they’ve made the MotoSurf A3100 more rounded albeit, without the larger screen.

Features

I highly regret Motorola’s choice of screen size. 2.8 inch?!!! It’s like the ZN5 all over again. I surely hope that the MotoSurf A3100 has a lot more under its hood to compensate for the mere screen size. Let’s see, since the MotoSurf A3100 is running Windows Mobile, the processor has to be great, right? A 528MHz Qualcomm Processor with 128MB RAM is not bad at all. I was a bit worried that like the Motorola Q 11, Motorola is going to scrimp on the processing power.

As for the camera, a 3.15 megapixel camera with auto focus and video recording capability plus a secondary VGA camera for video calling is also not bad. It can compete with the HTC Diamond and hopefully, if the A3100 is not made by HTC, then the camera on the Motosurf A3100 would probably be better compared with the Touch Diamond.

As for multimedia, since the Motosurf A3100 is running windows mobile 6.1, you can expect the windows media player on this device though Motorola would probably add their own video player since in the product specs, Motorola boasts that the Motosurf A3100 will be capable of MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 & WMV playback support, .3GP and .MP4 file playback support, and H.263 capture support.

The MotoSurf A3100 will also have aGPS, Bluetooth with A2DP, WiFi, and MicroSD support. No mention if it has a built-in accelerometer though I doubt that it would have one.

Hmm, looks like the only new thing on the Motosurf A3100 is an omni-directional trackball (the one in the middle), probably to compete with Samsung and Sony Ericsson’s optical mouse directional pad.

Outlook

Looks like I’ll be holding on to my Samsung Omnia a little while longer. Samsung and HTC can rest easy knowing that the MotoSurf A3100 won’t even put up a good fight in the smartphone department although die-hard Motorola fans who didn’t bite the Motorola Q 11 might be interested in this one. Expected release date of the MotoSurf A3100 is first quarter of 2009. I won’t be holding my breath.

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New and Upcoming Mobile Phones for January 2009

Written on 1/02/2009 11:59:00 AM by poison_ivy

Well, it's a new year and if you're looking for new mobile phones to start your year right, here are some of the upcoming mobile phones that you might see this January.

Nokia 6260 Slide

A mid-range phone sporting the S40 operating system, the Nokia 6260 slide features a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss Optics, 3G capable and assisted GPS! Wow, 5 megapixel camera and GPS on a S40, makes you wonder what other features Nokia is cooking for their higher end devices.

The Second Google Phone

If you still haven't gotten your hands on a G1 Phone, well, better hold of your purchase as there are various reports all over the blogosphere that says that the follow up to the G1 Phone will be released sometime around January 29. Also, I don't know whether it will be made by HTC too as there are reports that Australian based company, Kogan Technologies will be the one to make the handset. Hmm, I don't know, it looks kinda like a BlackJack to me.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

Sure, it's been available sim free just this late December but maybe not too many of you knows about it so I'm still writing it down as a new phone for January. Besides, Vodafone will slate it for release during February and they might jump the gun and release it late January.

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Best Mobile Phones of 2008

Written on 1/01/2009 08:17:00 AM by poison_ivy

Happy New Year everybody! I thought I might end 2008 with my own list of the best mobile phones that were RELEASED this 2008. I'm sure everybody has their own opinion of what might be the best and what might be best for you may not be included in this li'l old list of mine so feel free to add what's on your mind on the comment list.

Samsung Omnia

On top of my list is my own mobile phone, the Samsung Omnia. Okay, so call be biased but I really love this phone. The only thing I wish it has is a physical keyboard. Samsung has proved that a windows mobile phone can actually have a pretty decent camera (hear that, HTC?). And it actually does EVERYTHING and not just in a “so-so” way but it does everything good. The only other problem is that Samsung still hasn't released an SDK kit so that developers can make their own widgets to be placed on the Samsung Omnia widgets screen. I do hope that Samsung addresses this soon.

iPhone 3G

So Apple fanboys might argue that this should be number one and it should be if I were just judging on user interface alone because like I always say, there's still no other phone that can top the iPhone's smooth, multi-touch interface. However, the poor camera quality and not to mention the lack of multitasking capabilities has just placed this revolutionary phone on my second place list.

Blackberry Storm

RIM has proven that its presence in the smartphone market is not something that could be challenged. Rather than just release a touchscreen phone that's a copycat of the iPhone, RIM took its sweet time in developing a revolutionary capacitive smartphone and came out with the Blackberry Storm that has a very cool “clickthrough” interface. I personally loved the interface as I've mentioned in my short Blackbbery Storm Clickthrough review but I've read that there are others who's not so much into that. Oh well, you can't win them all just like Apple didn't win them all but kudos to RIM for trying to set itself apart.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

The first windows mobile phone that Sony Ericsson has released, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. This top of the line smartphone also made by HTC has captured the hearts of many winmo fanatics. It would have won me over except that it's not so much as touch friendly (maybe because of its raised bezel), and has no accelerometer. The poor camera quality has also dampened my enthusiasm for this phone but other than that, the X1's panels interface definitely earned this mobile phone a place in my best of 2008 list.

Google G1 Phone

I haven't actually gotten the chance to play with the Google G1 Phone so maybe that's why it only placed fifth on my list and the only reason being is that it's a Google Phone. The G1 also made headlines and though the waiting line when the G1 was first released wasn't as long as the iPhone's there are Google fanboys out there that might be angry with me if I didn't so much as mention the G1 Phone on my list. Anyways, the reviews I'm hearing about this phone are good though.

Sony Ericsson C905 / LG Renoir

I didn't exactly know who announced their 8 megapixel mobile phone first, Sony Ericsson or LG so I have to place them together. 2008 has marked the release of the first 8 megapixel mobile phones. Aside from Sony Ericsson C905 and the LG Renoir, Samsung jumped the gun on them and first released their own 8 megapixel phone, the innov8. I didn't place the innov8 here because I can't really vouch for Samsung's track record when it comes to camera phones but both LG and Sony Ericsson did fairly well with their five megapixel phones, the LG Viewty and the Sony Ericsson K810i so I'm assuming that these two will come head to head in the 8 megapixel camera phone department.

Motorola ROKR E8

First announced in CES 2008 and released the same year, the Motorola ROKR E8 is Motorola's own way of saying, hey, we're still here and we're still fighting. It's been a tough 2007 for Motorola and the E8 showed that the company is still capable of producing revolutionary mobile phones aside from churning out different versions of their RAZR phone line. You have to give the Moto E8 credit for its cool morphing interface and of course, since it's Motorola, the phone feature also works great as well.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

Nokia's first touch screen mobile phone. Although Vodafone has announced that it would be releasing the 5800 XpressMusic in February 2009, a sim free version has already been circulating the UK since the last week of December. If you read my Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Review, you'll know that I'm not quite impressed with the phone. It only has a resistive touch screen and the Touch friendly version of the Symbian OS didn't really do it much good. I'm sure a few firmware upgrades would make this mobile phone much more responsive but again, you have to give it to Nokia for giving in and joining the iPhone look-alike bandwagon.

HTC Touch Pro

I loved the HTC Touch Pro more than its Touch Diamond version. The TouchFlo 3D is more stable on this device and there's a TV Out option too not to mention a physical keyboard and a separate graphics card. The HTC Touch Pro proved that practice does makes perfect and the 2nd one's the charm. It learned from the mistakes of its Touch Diamond counterpart and is less buggy.

Samsung Soul

Probably the only other non-smart phone of the bunch but why I love the Samsung Soul? Well, it has great audio made by bang and olufsen, and it's the first mobile phone I've encountered that features the face detection and smile detection technology on its camera. You have to give it to Samsung for making their mobile phones feature rich. The Samsung Soul also has touchpad interface which is also cool feature to be found on a slider phone.