UPDATE: As promised, I'm updating this review as we speak and will add more in the future.
Before anything else, you should know that the Motorola Milestone is up for pre-order at Expansys.com, and yes, I'm one of those who've pre-ordered. I just want to get my hands on this mobile phone which had AT&T and Apple contesting Verizon's ads in the US. So what made me pre-order? Well, I've had a short hands on time with it, thanks to friend who just got back from Germany (one of the luckiest countries to have it first). Anyways, have a read to see if it's worth pre-ordering for you.
Design
The phone is beautiful, I'll tell you that. I've heard of the Motorola Milestone or "the Droid" as it is better known in the US but I didn't really paid much attention to it mainly because I thought it was another touchscreen Android phone. Well, you'll probably be surprised as me when you find you that a mobile phone this thin is actually hiding a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Yes! A keyboard! And the Motorola Milestone is only a tad thicker than the iPhone 3G so that alone made this phone drool-worthy.
The materials used is also top notch with combination of plastic, metal, gold highlights and soft metal, this phone is SEXY.
The Motorola Milestone has a 3.7 inch capacitive screen, it has WVGA resolution and for some reason, even if its not AMOLED screen, I find that the colors seem to be more vivid here, or maybe I just got so used to my Samsung i8910 HD. There's no physical buttons on the screen but there are four touch sensitive icons just below the screen. The Milestone also has an onbaord 3.5mm headset jack on top.
Now while I love that it has a QWERTY keyboard, I hate the fact that the monstrous directional pad and that extra metal that serves as the Motorola Milestone's chin seems to be in the way, at least, for us right-handed individuals. There seems to be a bit of reach for my thumbs for some keys. My friend told me that that was his first complaint about the keyboard but after a while, you get used to it, so I took his word for it.
UPDATE: I still can't get over how thin this mobile phone is but I forgot to mention that it's also heavy. When compared side by side with my Diamond2, both mobile phones are almost the same thickness and as previously mentioned, the Motorola Milestone is only a tad thicker than the iPhone 3G. The glass screen makes any finger sweeping motions really smooth but again, the metal and glass may have added to its weight. I'm still getting used to the directional keypad and I still feel like it's in the way but I do hope that I'd get used to it.
Features
I've read that the Motorola Milestone shares the same CPU as the iPhone 3GS and the Palm Pre so its no wonder that navigating the mobile phone is very snappy. Then again, as with my recollection with my hands on time with the Samsung Galaxy, Android has seem to be more responsive and less laggy than WinMo but its better defined in the Motorola Milestone and the UI is now comparable with the iPhone.
The Motorola Milestone also has multitouch capability and the pinch zooming action is available on the browser and picture gallery. However, the multi touch capability doesn't seem as smooth and fluid as on the iPhone, and even on the HTC HD2. There's a noticeable hiccup when zooming in pictures.
Update: I take back what I said about the laggy pinch zooming in the picture browser. Mine actually does a fast job of zooming in pictures, maybe my friend's Milestone has some issue but anyways, the pinch zooming is GREAT, comparable with the iPhone and even better than the pinch zooming on HTC HD2.
The Motorola Milestone features threaded messaging and there's also an on-screen keypad for those times that you're just too lazy to slide out the physical QWERTY pad. The on-screen keyboard actually reminds me of the one used by Opera on their latest Opera Mini 5 browser. The onscreen keypad is also useable and keys are evenly spaced and not cramped.
Update: One problem I have with the onscreen keyboard is the lack of any directional arrows. Now say I mispelled something two words back, I have to touch the word to bring the cursor back and well, with fat fingers, most of the times, I'm two to three letters off and it kinda slows down my texting. It would be nice if there were any arrow keys or if they implemented something similar to the iPhone wherein you have to hold on to the screen and a magnifying glass appears so you can accurately go back to any mispelled words. And I also want to clarify that the on-screen keyboard is even spaced when in landscape mode, in portrait mode, well, like any other touchscreen, the letters are a bit cramped. I love the fact that your contacts appear with their thumbnail pictures in the messages folder. I don't know if I'm just missing it or if there's really no option at all but I can't seem to find any way to delete multiple messages in your messaging inbox.
New: Contacts and Calendar
Now since I always seem to have a new smartphone to review, I have now made it a point to save my contacts and calendar with Outlook. My outlook contacts and calendar synced without any problems with the iPhone 3G and even the Samsung i8910 HD and even the picture thumbnail was saved but when I tried to synchronize with the Motorola Milestone, well, out came my biggest gripe about the phone: there's no direct synching with Outlook. I had to resort to exporting and then importing them to my Google account.
Speaking of Google account, next came my biggest gripe: You HAVE to HAVE a Google account in order to make use of contacts and calendar. Now while I do love gmail, I have problems sharing my information on a device other than my desktop PC. I've heard of horror stories about gmail accounts being hacked and so, since I have a paypal account linked to my gmail account, like any other paranoid users would do, I created a separate account to use on my Milestone and then forwarded all my mails to that account. I certainly hope that Google would remedy this situation as a lot of potential customers who were Windows Mobile users would definitely be turned off.
Audio, Multimedia, and Browser
Audio quality on the Motorola Milestone is very good, using both the headphones and speakers. Motorola has always been good at producing phones with great speakers and the Motorola Milestone is no exception. Sounds through the speakers come out great, whether it's voice or music. Same goes using the headphones. I guess even though Motorola has been in hiatus, their formula for audio quality didn't get lost. Now while audio quality is great, the music player reminds me of Samsung's TouchPlayer, only a bit more ugly. I really wish Motorola added their own music player or Google would put in a better music player on the Android. Right now, my top 3 music players on mobile phones are still the iPhone, HTC Diamond2, and Samsung's Touchplayer.
Android 2.0 browser doesn't supports flash content and browsing web pages has been one of the best experience I have in a mobile phone--second only to browsing on the iPhone (now if only Apple supports flash content then there's really no reason for me to throw away my iPhone 3G, right Apple?). Anyways, the pages render fast and the pinch zooming action is actually better implemented on the browser.
The Motorola Milestone has a 5 megapixel camera and obviously, Motorola didn't bring any camera expert on this area. Focusing and snapping pictures is Sloooww. Picture quality is really not that great. The Samsung Omnia 2 and Samsung i900 still has the better five megapixel camera on a smartphone. But then again, if you want a good cameraphone, then just buy the Samsung i8910 HD.
Update: Battery Life
I'm on the fence on battery life. It lasted me around 1 1/2 day. On one hand, it lasts longer than my HTC Diamond2 when both phones have their WiFi turned on but on the other hand, when using it normally, my Diamond2 lasts around 2 days compared with the Motorola Milestone which is still around 1 1/2 day.
Conclusion
I was on the brink of purchasing the HTC Hero as my first Android phone but then the Motorola Milestone came along. The Motorola Milestone sports the latest Android 2.0 ROM, it has great messaging feature and superb audio quality. Browser is the second best in the market so if you're not into iPhone and you really want a physical keyboard on your phone without compromising on the weight and bulk of the phone, then reall, you shouldn't think twice about getting the Motorola Milestone. For me, it's one of the sexiest QWERTY smartphones around.
Update: Okay, so it's not really THAT sexy but still the build quality is good and it's thin (you can be thin but not sexy, right?). The UI of the new Android OS is now up to par with the iPhone so those looking for a smartphone which is more "open", the Motorola Milestone is definitely the phone of choice.
Vodafone has always been one to release their own branded mobile phones. Well, the Samsung 360 H1 is Vodafone's latest and exclusive mobile phone made for them by Samsung.
Design
The design of the Samsung 360 H1 is reminiscent of a lot of previous Samsung mobile phone models. It actually looks like a cross between the Samsung Tocco Ultra and the Samsung Omnia Lite, the latter being its nearest doppleganger with the Samsung 360 having a larger touchscreen. The three hardware buttons on the bottom of the phone is not your usual call and end buttons but are menu buttons. It's kind of frustrating and takes a while to get used to.
Features
The Samsung 360's UI is totally new. It's not Samsung's proprietary UI which can be found on the Samsung Jet but it's a mobile Linux OS. Now the UI is very pretty. You can see all your icons on your menu screen and the homescreen is pretty interesting. If it weren't for the homescreens of the Motorola DEXT and the Nokia N900, I'd probably say that the Samsung 360's UI is groundbreaking but no, it seems every phone manufacturer is into that whole social networking UI. Your contacts would appear in a 3D interface based on your most used contacts. Like I said, it's really pretty but somehow, even if I do become a social networking nut, I probably wouldn't be using it as much considering that I have many Facebook friends, browsing through your contacts using the Samsung 360's homescreen UI would most likely be time consuming. Also, in order to make full use of Vodafone 360, your friends need to be in the service as well.
Going past the UI, the Samsung 360 offers a capacitive touchscreen. Now I would have been excited considering that I totally like my Samsung i8910 HD's capactive screen because it's so sensitive and responsive but the Samsung 360 seems to be much like the first generation of Samsung Tocco Ultra. Meaning, 50% of the time it's responsive while the other 50% of the time, you'll find that the interface is laggy especially when opening apps.
The Vodafone 360's browser reminds of the browser on the Samsung i8910 HD. You can zoom in and out of pages by pressing on the screen and the sliding your finger either forward or backward to zoom. You get a lot of pixels when moving around pages but rendering is actually a bit faster.
The camera is typical of Samsung, meaning it's above average. The LED flash is useable, unlike other camera phones.
Conclusion
There are a lot more capable smartphones out there. If you're into social networking, there's the Motorola DEXT with a physical keyboard, as for other Samsung phones, there's the Samsung OmniaLite and Samsung Omnia 2, both full touchscreen phones but the latter two lacks any social networking UI. However, the Vodafone Samsung 360 H1 is probably cheaper than the phones I've mentioned os if it's price you're after, then the Samsung 360 mobile phone is capable enough.
So you've probably heard the news that Microsoft just announced the new Office Mobile 2010 for Windows Mobile 6.5 mobile phones. Apparently, the Office Mobile 2010 Beta is supposed to be available in the Windows Marketplace for download but for some strange reason, some people can't find it anywhere in the Marketplace or can't find a download link for it.
Anyways, a good soul at Xda-Developers has posted a download link for Office Mobile 2010 Beta. I just downloaded the cab file and there doesn't seem to be any problem. You can visit the link and download the file yourself (you need to register in order to view the download link and FYI, you have to download it via Megaupload).
Office Mobile 2010 has some pretty icons. I haven't tested everything yet as I've just downloaded it but the good news is (for spreadsheet users), Excel Mobile 2010 is more finger-friendly as you can scroll through your spreadsheet via kinetic scrolling. No more using that very thin scrollbar. I'll let you know more once I've seen all of Office Mobile 2010 Beta.
Fancy carrying around a Wii with you? Well, that might be possible with the Sony Ericsson Yari, Sony's latest mobile phone with motion sensor gaming action. The Sony Ericsson Yari is now available at Mobiles.co.uk. Currently, the Sony Ericsson Yari is being offered only on Orange and Vodafone contracts.
Other than the Wii gaming feature, other features of the Sony Ericsson Yari include 5.0 megapixel camera, aGPS, stereo Bluetooth, etc. Here's the promo video of the Sony Ericsson Yari to get you excited:
Even though we here in Europe are blessed to have mobile phones released here first compared with the rest of the world, our German brothers are more lucky because they always seem to get the good stuff before we do. I won't list all the phones that they were lucky enough to get but today, they get the much hyped Motorola Milestone before we do.
If you've been hanging out in American blogs such as Engadget, you've probably heard of the Droid, which is the Verizon version of the Motorola Milestone in the States. The Motorola Milestone's claim to fame is that it's the thinnest mobile phone with a slide out QWERTY keyboard and the first mobile phone to run Android 2.0 aka Eclair.
Well, the Motorola DEXT isn't getting a lot of love here so maybe with the right kind of buzz, the Motorola Milestone will create a stir before it lands in UK shores. The Motorola Milestone is available on O2 Germany and Vodafone Germnay will soon follow.
Can't wait for Sony Ericsson to produce a PSP Phone? Well, then you better settle for a Wii Phone because that's what the Sony Ericsson Yari is. The Sony Ericsson Yari is Sony's latest slider phone with motion-sensor gaming function. Anyways, I just got this one so the full review will be coming up maybe this weekend so watch this page. In the meantime, here are some Sony Ericsson Yari pics to get you by.
The one I got is from the Philippines which is named as the Sony Ericsson Kita, but it's actually the U100i with a different branding, kinda like the Samsung Genio here which is known as the Corby in other countries. Apparently, "Yari" has a bad connotation in the Philippines so they opted for "Kita", which in the local language, has three different meanings depending on how you pronounce it: "You", "to see", or "Profit", SE is probably gunning for the last one to lure in profits for the last quarter of the year.
AVAILABLE AT:
THE REVIEW:
Design
The Sony Ericsson Yari comes in two colors: The black with white highlights and the white with red highlights. In a girl's perspective, the white/red version is more appealing. The white Yari actually reminds me of the white Sony Ericsson W595. Design-wise, I can't say that the Sony Ericsson Yari is "stylish" but I'll go as far as describing it as "cute", at least, for the white one.
I have to lash out on Sony Ericsson about the way they designed the key layout of the Yari. First of all, I appreciate that the call, end, task, and delete buttons are BIG. And I do mean, super big compared with Sony's Walkman phones, as the buttons occupy almost 1/4 of the entire mobile phone. Now here's where I lash out, the soft buttons or the ones you have to press when you want to go back or call up the options menu. If you've come to this page trying to find out where the soft buttons are: well, they're the red (in the white version) or white (in the black version) line above the call and end buttons. At first glance, you might think that they're just there for aesthetics purpose so a LOT of first time users probably ended up pushing the call button when trying to call up the options menu. It's just annoying at first but you'll get used to it over time. The two red or white lines above the Sony Ericsson logos also serves a purpose: they're gaming buttons. For what games, I don't know as I still haven't made use of them.
The back of the Sony Ericsson Yari has a soft, velvet-like finish which I like and there's a graphic design at the back of the top slider which would definitely appeal to teeners. The battery cover is easier to take out compared with the W595's back cover and it's not as flimsy so I have to say that the Sony Ericsson's build quality is quite good and the slider mechanism is also not quite as shaky compared with other Sony Ericsson sliders. The microSD slot is conveniently located at the upper right side of the phone, and yes, you read that right, MICROSD and not Sony's proprietary memory stick. I guess Sony is trying to go standard but I wonder why they still put in their proprietary port instead of a MicroUSB slot as what they have agreed with the EU? Maybe we'll see a micro USB slot for Yaris here in Euro.
User Interface
At first glance, Sony Ericsson Yari's homescreen doesn't seem to be much different compared with other mobile phones made by SE, in the sense that it still has a flash UI. But dig deeper and you'll find out that Sony is jumping in on the Facebook homescreen wagon. Yep, the Sony Ericsson Yari has its own Facebook widget. Your friends' pictures together with their status updates will appear on your screen. With the facebook application on your homescreen, you can update your status instantly or get notifications on who "poked" you right from your homescreen. The Facebook app is actually quite nice and who knows, if mobile phone manufacturers keep pushing this social networking trend, I might be forced to actually like Facebook and read my friends' status.
Messaging
Another new thing on the Sony Ericsson Yari is the introduction of threaded messaging. If you click on the messaging icon, there's a "conversations" options which is actually your SMS inbox. The messages icon is for emails and there's also a shortcut that would take you to your Facebook inbox via Facebook for Sony Ericsson. Setting up your email account is not as easy compared when setting up email on Samsung's mobile phones. I tried setting up my gmail account but it had to ask me for Pop or IMAP settings which is a real pain, really. I really like the new threaded messaging and the shortcut to attach pictures, videos, animations, etc can still be located at the bottom of the screen.
Applications, Multimedia, Browser
Aside form the Facebook app, other applications included with the Sony Ericsson Yari include a Calendar Wallpaper which is like a screen saver, Music Quiz, PullFace 2, Voice Transformer Walkmate, YouTube, and Wisepilot. The Sony Ericsson Yari has assisted GPS which means you can incur data charges when you want to use the navigation software.
The 2.4 inches screen can display 256k colors and watching videos is okay though it would have been nicer if it has divX support. I also like the music player on the Sony Ericsson Yari. The Yari's music player has some sort of skins so instead of the Album Art, you can choose to view other animations such as a tape deck, CD, vinyl CD, etc. Even though the speakers are located at the back, the Yari is able to blast loud music through the speakers even if you place it face-up on a table. Bass is okay though some acoustics come out tinny. I'd recommend using your own headset or stereo Bluetooth headset to appreciate sound quality.
The Browser hasn't improved much, still slow and doesn't support flash or tab browsing. You're better off downloading Opera Mini 5.
Camera
The Sony Ericsson Yari is equipped with a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash. Image quality is pretty decent although suffers at low light conditions. The LED flash doesn't do a lot even when you're in a room that's lit. The good news is that it has smile detection and face detection. About time that Sony Ericsson added a few fun things on their cameras. It also has auto focus although the shutter speed is pretty slow compared with some Samsung phones.
Games
Now we come to what the Sony Ericsson Yari is all about: Gaming. You'd think Sony would have went out and made a PSP phone by now in order to compete with iPhone in the phone gaming department but nope, instead of a PSP phone, we get a Wii Phone. I guess Sony Ericsson is jumping the gun on Nintendo in case the latter decides to enter the mobile phone market.
Well, back to the Yari, the Sony Ericsson Yari is all about motion-sensor games. The phone makes use of the front camera to detect your movements and translate it to game language. There are two pre-installed motion sensor games on the Sony Ericsson Yari: Fitness and Tennis. There are two more you can download for free at the PlayNow store: Boxing and Baseball.
The motion sensor is actually pretty sensitive and is useable. I was able to play Fitness and Tennis though it's my first time playing motion games (yes, I'm one of the few who doesn't own a Wii) so I ended up playing harder than necessary. But here's my problem: the screen is just too small for you to play longer than one minute and though the Sony Ericsson Yari comes with a stand (or you can imitate the Yari commercial and have a friend hold the phone up for you while you flail around), nearsighted people will have to wear glasses or risk punching the phone on accident.
Conclusion
Maybe I'm just too old to appreciate motion games on a mobile phone but even if it weren't for the games, I still actually like the Sony Ericsson Yari. It's cute and, has a good build quality, a good messaging and music phone, decent camera at mid-range price. Sure it doesn't have WiFi but it 3G/HSDPA more than does it for me. The Sony Ericsson Yari is priced somewhere in the middle. In this age of touchscreen mobile phones, I'm sure the Sony Ericsson Yari won't find it hard to find its way into the hearts of some teenagers.
Those who've pre-ordered their Nokia N900, better start waiting for the postman because according to Nokia, their newest flagship mobile phone: the Nokia N900, is now shipping and will soon be landing in the shores of Europe, the Middle-East, Russia and North America.
Hopefully, Nokia has baked the N900 to perfection and all bugs previously reported are hopefully ironed out. I'm hoping that the Nokia N900 this time around will have MMS support.
Anyways, Nokia pegged the price of the Nokia N900 around 500 Euros.
For those ordering their new mobile phones online through Vodafone, before you press that buy button, you might want to take advantage of this free Cinema Booklet courtesy of Vodafone.
This cinema booklet entitles the user to 12 free tickets to Cineworld for 1 year (1 ticket per month). The voucher code will expire on November 31.
Once you've selected your mobile phone and tariff, you need to enter the code: freecinema within the basket stage and the free cineman booklet will be added to your order.
You're probably wondering what all the hubbub is about the "windows phone". Well, Microsoft's aggressively marketing their "windows phone" and to tell you honestly, windows mobile phones have been around for some years now. They were previously known as "pocket pcs", "windows CE phones", "windows mobile", and now "windows phone". This marketing campaign may have been brought on by the fact that Android and iPhone are slowly eating into Microsoft's smartphone sales so they need to infuse a new life to their mobile operating system.
Microsoft's most recent mobile operating system is known as Windows Mobile 6.5 and mobile phones running WinMo 6.5 are known as "windows phones". Currently, the mobiles phones supporting Windows Mobile 6.5 or the new Windows Mobile Phones for the year include: the HTC Diamond2, HTC Touch Pro2, Samsung Omnia 2, Samsung Omnia Lite, Samsung B7610 OmniaPro, Samsung Xperia X2, and more recently, the HTC HD2. Acer also has some handsets that support Windows Mobile 6.5.
There are probably more to come and since Microsoft's next generation of mobile phone OS is slated to be released sometime in 2010 (Windows Mobile 7), expect more new windows mobile phones in the upcoming months.
HTC has just announced the availability of the HTC HD2 here in Europe as well as in Asia. You know what that means? You'll see a lot of unboxing and video reviews of HTC's latest gem around the net. Luckily for me, because of friends in high places, I was able to get a hands-on on the HTC HD2. Read on to see what I think.
Design
Honestly, with 4.3 inches screen, the HTC HD2 is the BIGGEST smartphone I've handled. The screen is just HUGE but then the mobile phone itself is thin. For females, the HTC HD2 would seem daunting specially since you can't exactly slip it on your jeans pocket.
The screen colors are remarkably brilliant indoors, but still can't compare with Samsung's AMOLED screens. I wasn't able to test how the screen sunlight legibility is since I got hands-on on this baby indoors in the evening.
User Interface
I love HTC's TouchFlo 3D on my Diamond2 but I've always wondered how the HTC Sense is on the Android. Now, thanks to the HTC HD2, I'm able to see what all the hubbub is on the HTC Sense. First off, I love the weather tab on Touchflo 3D and I've always wished that whenever I open my mobile phone, it would go straight to the weather tab. The new UI on the HTC HD2 has the weather application on the homescreen together with clock. The graphics are really amazing and I love how the clouds rolls around the whole screen.
HTC also updated the icons on the tabs and decided to put in more colors instead of the usual black and white. HTC Diamond2 users (those still on WinMo 6.1) can also change their touchflo 3D tab icons and I actually did that a few days back so that's one less thing Diamond2 users can be envious about the HD2. I'll try to write a blog post on how to do that these coming days. Anyways, going back to the Sense UI on the HTC HD2, you can also call up the menu screen right from the homescreen by flicking your finger upwards.
I actually don't like the new People or contacts tab. In my HTC Diamond2, the contacts are arrange in a sort of Album Art fashion, in the HTC HD2, all your contacts are arrange in big thumbnails. Sure, it's easier to search for contacts especially if you have tons of favorite contacts but it's less of an eye-candy.
The HTC HD2 has a capacitive screen so you don't have to press as hard. Screen responsiveness is fast and if you've own a Diamond2 or the first Touch HD, you'll notice that the interface is a bit snappier. Usually, when I try to browse the tabs after my Diamond2 has been idle for a few hours, there's a noticeable lag but that seems to have disappeared on the HTC HD2 and it may be thanks to the 1GHz processor.
And the best thing I love about the HTC HD2: multi-touch! Yes, I know! I thought WinMo can't do multitouch?! Well, HTC made that possible. You can now use that pinch and zoom thingy like on the iPhone on the image gallery. HTC did a pretty great job and the pinch and zoom motion is smooth and responsive, very comparable with the iPhone.
Camera, Multimedia, Browser
The HTC HD2's camera is still 5 megapixels but now has LED flash. Now I love how HTC just covered WinMo and made it user-friendly and cool but really, cameras are not HTC's thing. Trust me, I've had HTC handsets before and even though a lot of winmo users say that HTC Diamond2's camera is an improvement, it's nothing compared with Samsung's mobile phone cameras.
The audio player also changed on the Sense UI. On the TouchFlo 3D, you can have a glimpse of the Album Art covers or the next song because the Album Art are kinda stacked. On the Sense UI, you only see the Album Art of the currently playing song. The good news is that the accelerometer now works on the music player. When you turn the HTC HD2 in landscape mode, you get an iPhone-like coverflow interface.
Multitouch also works on the browser and the new internet explorer on WinMo 6.5 renders pages quickly. Now this is where HTC HD2 would definitely be a must-have—for YouTube addicts. Since Internet Explorer supports flash, you can now view YouTube videos on the browser. With the large screen, it's no longer awkward viewing YouTube Videos.
Conclusion
My first impressions? One word: AWESOME. But of course, since I didn't have the phone for a long time, I'm still having reservations. My Diamond2 is known for having a few memory leaks when a lot of applications have been opened and when I haven't done a soft reset on the phone for a week, there's some memory leak issues. And of course, theres' the battery life issue. For sure, the HTC HD2 will be a power hog. But for what it's worth, HTC has definitely matured over the past years and I'm okay with my Diamond2 so I'm not too worried about the HTC HD2. But I'll let you in on a full review once I'm able to get my hands on the HTC HD2 for a full week.
I've previously made a post about how there's been a leaked official Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade for the HTC Diamond2. Well, HTC has posted the same official ROM on their European website but sadly, I wasn't able to update my Diamond2 because I got mine from Asia.
Well, our brothers in Asia as well as those holding HTC Diamond2 from Asia can now upgrade their mobile phones to the official Windows Mobile 6.5 ROM because the upgrade is now posted at HTC's Asian website. You can download the Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade for Asian ROMs using the link. I'm downloading as we speak and I'll let you know what I think in a few days.
There's not much mobile phones being released this November but even though the UK market will not be flooded with new phones, the mobile phones that will actually be released are something. Most of them are smartphones and yeah, you better start saving up if you want any of them.
HTC HD2
First up is the HTC HD2 which HTC has just announced to be available in Europe and Asia. The HTC HD2 is the first windows mobile phone with a capacitive touchscreen and supports multitouch plus a 1GHz processor. Got a few hours of hands on time with it and I'll post my HTC HD2 review shortly.
Nokia N900
The Nokia N900 has been scheduled for an October release date and in fact, Expansys has this mobile phone up for sale a few weeks back but subsequently retracted the availability status to "Oct. 29". Word has it that Nokia pushed back the release date sometime in November to fix some bugs. I also got a hands on on this mobile phone and you can find my Nokia N900 review by visiting the link. I don't mind waiting for a few more weeks but I hope that Nokia fixes all bugs before releasing or this will just be another glorified N97.
Blackberry Storm2
HTC and Nokia aren't the only ones with capable smartphones lined up for a November release date. Vodafone has recently put the Blackberry Storm2 on pre-order but is now available to buy on the Vodafone online store.
Since Vodafone won't get the iPhone until early next year, I guess they have to make do with luring in customers with RIM's latest iPhone killer: the Blackberry Storm2. Vodafone says that the Blackberry Storm2 has "Blacberry's most responsive, comfortable touchscreen yet"--uh, okay, but it's not like we're going to take Voda's word.
Anyways, you can get the Blackberry Storm2 for free on a £30 per month contract plus Vodafone's throwing in unlimited landline calls and texts on selected tariffs. You can buy the Blackberry Storm2 on Vodafone's website or you can just wait for the iPhone on Vodafone next year. Your choice.
It's not often that I get a lot of LG phones to review so I recently grabbed the opportunity to try out the LG GD510 Pop although only for a few hours. The LG Pop is somewhat like a replacement to the LG Cookie so let's take a look if it's an improvement.
Design
It's been a while since I've last seen an LG Cookie but it seems that although both mobile phones sport a 3 inch touchscreen, the LG Pop seems a bit more smaller and compact. Maybe because LG trimmed down the hardware buttons to just one on front of the LG GD510. At first it seems a bit odd that you can use that one button to start and end calls but never to reject an incoming call. Maybe they should have just done an Apple and used that one button to serve as a home key and leave any call functions to the screen. Well, going back to the design, the build quality is quite good and seems quite sophisticated for a mobile phone that is supposed to replace the LG cookie.
User Interface
LG added three homescreens to the LG Pop and there's still the familiar widget interface found on the LG Cookie. Like on the LG Cookie, you can still arrange widgets by shaking the phone. The screen is actually quite responsive and scrolling through lists is faster than the Samsung Genio Touch. Of course, the LG Pop will probably be priced higher than the Samsung Genio Touch and would compete directly with either the Samsung Tocco Lite or Samsung Preston.
The second homescreen doesn't have widgets but lets you arrange your contact icons. The third homescreen is similar to the second homescreen in the sense that it's also for your contacts but it has a different graphical interface.
There are four shortcut icons at the bottom of the screen which, as far as I can tell anyways, can't be customised. The four shortcuts are for the phone pad, the contacts, your messages, and the main menu.
The LG GD510's user interface is definitely an eye candy and has a good touchscreen response. Of course, the usual lag when opening programs is still there but it's not noticeable.
Messaging, Audio, Camera and Applications
The LG Pop offers haptic feedback and three input options: QWERTY, alphanumeric keypad, and handwriting recognition. The QWERTY keypad doesn't offer an alternative symbol/number for each letters which is kind of a bummer, I was getting used to just pressing and holding to enter a number like on my other handsets. Furthermore, the handset I tested didn't have a QWERTY keypad when in portrait mode, only in landscape mode, similar to the Samsung i8910. Maybe newer handsets would sport a QWERTY keyboard on portrait mode, I don't know, but for those used to using their phones in portrait mode, this might be irritating.
The music player is pretty good and has some equalizers and you can also view the Album Art and filter your music by album, artist, recently played, or all songs. Sound quality is pretty good although better test it out in store since as I keep mentioning, not really an audiophile here.
The video player is okay although there's no support for DivX. There's also an image gallery but I like Samsung's way of viewing their images. Unfortunately, due to the lack of WiFi and 3G, I wasn't able to test the browser of the LG GD510 Pop.
Now here's what I really like about the LG Pop: its pre-installed games. There are six games all in all but two of them are like demo versions. But still, that's more compared with what Samsung's offering on their handsets and most of Samsung's pre-installed games are only trial versions (at least, on the ones I've tested).
The LG Pop has a 3 megapixel camera without autofocus and flash. Image quality is decent especially in sunlit environment but I prefer the Samsung Genio Touch's camera when it comes to low light shooting conditions.
Conclusion
The LG GD510 Pop pretty much offers the same features as the LG Cookie but makes up for a more responsive toucscreen, better UI, and a better build quality. I'm sure the LG GD510 Pop will not find it hard to copy the LG Cookie's success given what it has to offer, plus an optional solar back panel would definitely entice this mobile phone to treehuggers.
Research in wireless technology has been undertaken for many decades. Accessing the frequency using receivers was first adopted in radios. Later the technology was adopted in using ad hocs, that is transfer of data within a network. But the release and advancement of the mobile technology has greatly changed the world from accessing data. After the usage of mobile phones people have started hating wires and want to access every possible electronic gadget using wireless.
Repeated efforts of the researchers, ISP's and support from the government has given the opportunity for the people of UK to access the mobile Internet. Initially Internet access to the mobile phones were given using the GPRS technology. But the connection was a little slower and was not helpful for wider usage. Also there were many challenges in transferring the data in a voice frequency. But the technologies like GSM, CDMA, and HSDPA has made access of a broadband service using a mobile device. The device can be used in a regular computer to access the Internet at a faster rate.
The broadband providers in UK has introduced many mobile broadband plans that can offer a maximum speed limit of 7 to 8 Mbps. This service can be obtained by purchasing the mobile broadband device from the respective ISP's. The device is similar to a USB dongle which we use for data storage in a USB 2.0 port. This device will not have any compatibility issues with any of the computers running windows XP SP3 and above.
Since this broadband service works using the same technology like the mobile phones, its important that the user receives a better signal. A better signal strength will result in a better speed of access. Its important for users to access a online availability checker which can provide details about the ISP, speed limits and various plans by using their postal codes. There is a also a possibility of the signals getting cut off while the device is connected in a closed area or areas where any other frequencies might interrupt.
The device does not trouble the users for installation instead it installs the required software automatically from a inbuilt memory. Users are required to save the user name and the password which will be provided by the ISP only for the first time. Later the users have to just click on the connect button to get connected. This helps the users to just carry the device with them and use the Internet from any computer instantly.
The usage of the Internet every month is calculated and then billed. But for non-frequent users and others who do not want to commit for a monthly payment can now choose to use the PAYG broadband service. The PAY-G service will allow users to top up the device based on the amount of download. New technologies like VOIP which helps the business customers to use a variety of business applications is also available using a mobile phone and broadband service.
The mobile broadband has added hopes to millions across the country to gain faster access to the Internet where ever they go. Plans are also taken by the government to provide an average of 2 Mbps connection to all the house holds.
For any feedback or queries, you can contact me at: feedback[AT]cellphone-reviews[.]co[.]uk. You can also reach me here if you want me to review a phone or product.
UPDATE: I still can't get over how thin this mobile phone is but I forgot to mention that it's also heavy. When compared side by side with my Diamond2, both mobile phones are almost the same thickness and as previously mentioned, the Motorola Milestone is only a tad thicker than the iPhone 3G. The glass screen makes any finger sweeping motions really smooth but again, the metal and glass may have added to its weight. I'm still getting used to the directional keypad and I still feel like it's in the way but I do hope that I'd get used to it.
