29 Eylül 2008 Pazartesi

Blackberry 9000 Bold Review

A review of the Blackberry 9000 Bold from http://www.tracyandmatt.co.uk

read more | digg story

Microsoft Phone Data Manager does data sync for Symbian, others


ActiveSync and Windows Mobile Device Center have historically dominated Microsoft's first-party mobile sync support for Windows, but there's a little problem with that: not everyone uses a WinMo phone. Enter Phone Data Manager, a new app in the spirit of Apple's iSync that knows how to play nice with a whole host of non-WinMo devices and can sync contacts, photos, video, and music into the cloud (Windows Live, that is) and your local PC. It'll have to do calendar sync as well before it can be called a complete solution, but hey -- it's in beta, so we can hope.

Mail for Exchange Update Released for All Nokia S60 Devices

BY: AWright, Brighthand.com Contributor

Nokia recently announced that it would be increasing its support for Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync protocol, and has now followed through with the release of Mail for Exchange version 2.7.

In addition to increasing the number of supported devices, a new setup wizard featuring Exchange 2007 auto-discover makes setting up accounts on the mobile device easier. Those upgrading from a previous version of Mail for Exchange will also notice an update to the mapping of Middle name, Car phone, Department, Spouse, and Anniversary data fields.

Mail for Exchange supports email, calendar, contacts, and tasks synchronization with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and 2007. Nokia's E series devices are able to receive device policy updates via Exchange. And all devices are able to support receiving meeting requests, syncing via cellular and Wi-Fi networks, timed or Push email, and the sending/receiving of attachments.

It is compatible with Nokia's Symbian S60 version 3.0, S60 Feature Pack 1 (v3.1), and S60 Feature Pack 2 (v.3.2). This includes devices such as the Nokia N75, N95, E61i, E71, and N82.

For more information and to download the free Mail for Exchange application, visit the Nokia for Business website or use the Download! application on the S60 mobile device.

28 Eylül 2008 Pazar

HTC S740 demonstration video

HTC announced their new candy-bar style Smartphone, the HTC S740, a few weeks ago and since then I've been pestering just about everyone to get my hands on one to review.

read more | digg story

Palm Treo Pro Now Shipping

BY: Ed Hardy, Brighthand.com Editor

Several weeks after the official unveiling, Palm has released its latest Windows Mobile-based smartphone, the Treo Pro, in the United States.

Palm Treo ProThis device is being sold unlocked and directly to U.S. consumers, rather than through a wireless carrier, for $550. It is now in stock at Palm's web store, and customers who pre-ordered one should soon receive a notice that it has shipped.

In Europe, the Treo Pro is being offered through Vodafone, who has not yet released it.

More About the Palm Treo Pro

This smartphone has the design that's become a hallmark of the Treo line, a candybar shape with 320-by-320-pixel touchscreen above a QWERTY thumb-keyboard.

It runs Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional on a 400 MHz processor from Qualcomm, and comes with the standard suite of productivity applications.

The Pro is a quad-band GSM device with tri-band UMTS/HSDPA support, which means it can be used for both phone calls and 3G wireless access around the world. In addition, it has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Other features include an external microSD card slot for additional storage, a built-in GPS receiver, and a 2.0 MPx camera.

Nokia's First Touchscreen Smartphone May Debut Next Week

BY: Ed Hardy, Brighthand.com Editor

Nokia will take the wraps off the first ever S60 smartphone with a touchscreen next week, if an unconfirmed report is correct.

Nokia XpressMusic 5800According to Reuters, this device -- code-named the Tube -- will be formally announced on October 2 in London.

Nokia has been promising a touchscreen-based version of Symbian S60 for some time, but has run into problems and delays. Devices running this upcoming version are expected to still be able to run software written for current touchscreen-less S60 phones.

To improve the experience of using its touchscreen, Nokia will supposedly include haptic feedback in devices running this new version of S60. This will cause the display to vibrate whenever an on-screen button is touched.

An Overview of the Nokia Tube

Quite a bit of information has already leaked out about the first touchscreen-based S60 smartphone, which will supposedly be called the XpressMusic 5800.

According to unconfirmed reports, this music-oriented device will have the following specifications:

* Operating System: Symbian S60
* 150 MB of internal storage
* microSDHC slot -- 8 GB card included
* 3.2-inch, 640 by 360 pixel touchscreen
* Wireless:
Quad-band GSM, Single-band (2100 MHz) HSDPA
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0
* A-GPS
* 3.2 MPx camera with flash
* 3.5 mm headset jack
* TV-Out port

Microsoft Again Says It Has No Plans to Make Its Own Smartphone

Ever now and then a rumor crops up that Microsoft is going to release its own smartphone. The man in charge of the company's Windows Mobile program yesterday repeated what has always been said before on this question: it's not going to happen.

This question never cropped up when Microsoft was a software company that just created operating systems and let others handle the hardware. But in the last few years it has released its own gaming console, the Xbox, and its own music player, the Zune. This has lead people to wonder if Microsoft is going to release other hardware, like a smartphone.

Back in 2006, the head of the Zune team even said a combination Zune and mobile phone was in the cards. However, the company has stepped back from that, and in 2007 Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer dismissed the whole idea.

Yesterday, Scott Rockfeld, Group Manager of Microsoft Mobile Communications held to this position, telling Silicon Alley Insider that his company has "no plans to build our own phone."

Instead, Rockfeld says Microsoft is happy to continue developing and licensing Windows Mobile to other companies.

25 Eylül 2008 Perşembe

Blackberry Bold unboxed

Recently RIM released their new baby, the Blackberry 9000 Bold and this seems to be a popular choice among the Blackberry fans. I must admit that I've never really used a Blackberry device in anger, I've set them up for other people and played with BES a little but never really got my hands dirty with the handset itself.

read more | digg story

Blackberry Bold unboxed

Recently RIM released their new baby, the Blackberry 9000 Bold and this seems to be a popular choice among the Blackberry fans. I must admit that I've never really used a Blackberry device in anger, I've set them up for other people and played with BES a little but never really got my hands dirty with the handset itself.

However, the Bold looked like an interesting device, full QWERTY keyboard and a Half VGA display coupled with HSDPA and 1GB of ROM, I thought it was about time that we looked that the BB more closely.



I know many people fall in to one of two camps, those that love BB and those that hate it. Blackberry lovers seem to claim that their devices are easier to use and more robust than their Windows Mobile counterparts. We're going to have a look over the next week or so.

As always, you can see the device up close in our unboxing video below:



Blackberry Bold specification:

* 114.3 x 60 x 12.7 mm
* 133g
* Talk Time: 300 mins
* Standby Time: 780 hrs
* 480 x 320 pixels TFT display
* GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 (Quad-Band)
* WCDMA: 850/1900/2100 (Tri-Band)
* 2 mega-pixels (auto-focus) camera
* Hi-Resolution VGA Video Recording
* SMS/MMS (with video)
* E-mail (POP3, SMTP, IMAP4, BES, BIS)
* 1GB ROM / 128MB RAM
* microSDHC (external
* miniUSB
* 3.5mm Audio Connector
* Bluetooth (2.0)
* Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11g)
* GPS
* BlackBerry Maps

24 Eylül 2008 Çarşamba

Suspected ASUS P565 turns up, gets detailed



Nothing is quite official about this ASUS phone just yet, but the current speculation is that it's actually the ASUS P565 and, judging from some newly-detailed specs, it looks like it shouldn't have much trouble attracting its share of interest. Leading the way is a speedy 800MHz Marvell Tavor processor (apparently a first for any phone), and a still relatively uncommon 2.8-inch VGA screen, which should go nicely with the VGA camera for video conferencing (you'll get 3-megapixels for still mages). Otherwise, you can expect European HSDPA connectivity, built-in GPS, a 1300mAh battery that promises 3.5 hours of 3G talk time, and Windows Mobile 6.1 for an OS (with ASUS' Glide software on top of it), of course. No word on a price just yet, but word is this one is on track for a release as soon as October.

Adding location to a non GPS phone: introducing OpenCellID


In this two part article, we will introduce mobile positioning based on CellID, and we will take a look at OpenCellID, the open source database of CellIDs. We will demonstrate how to use OpenCellID through some simple examples. The second part of the article will show how to use OpenCellID with OpenStreetMap and the 8Motion library to create a full interactive mobile mapping experience in JavaME, with each of these examples being less than 100 lines of code.

What is CellID?
We all know that GPS will be deployed in the vast majority of phones in the future. For now though, only a few high-end handsets are GPS enabled. An alternative, which has been available for some time, but which has gained momentum only recently is location based on CellID. So, what is CellID? A CellID is a number which is associated with a specific cell (the radio tower to which your handset is connected). In most cases, this is the closest tower to your location. So by knowing the location of this tower, then you can know approximately where the handset is. This concept is illustrated below. However, a tower can cover a huge area, from a few hundred meters, in high density areas, to several kilometers in lower density areas. This is why location CellID accuracy is lower than GPS accuracy. Nevertheless location via CellID still presents a very useful alternative.

CellID has recently become much more popular, thanks mainly to its seamless integration into GoogleMaps for Mobile.

OpenCellID
So this sounds great, let's just get the device's CellID, and then we will know its location. So what's the catch? The issue is that the location of cells is not public information. Operators keep this private, for many reasons including:

They don’t want to give tower location information to their competitors
They use this as an extra revenue income, as they provide paying services to retrieve cell location
This is the reason we have set up a service called "OpenCellID". OpenCellID.org is an open source database of CellIDs, serving two purposes:

Anyone can create or use an application to gather information about cell locations, and send this information to the OpenCellID server, thereby improving the coverage
The database can be used by any application to retrieve the location of a cell, according to the CellID



to be continued

T-Mobile G1 Announced. Android On the Loose. Now What?


It's official. The Android-powered G1 will be hitting T-Mobile stores across the US on October 22, the UK in November, and elsewhere in Europe in early 2009. Being a Windows Mobile site, we'll spare you the fine details. Head over to the T-Mobile G1 site, and check out the videos after the break, if you're eager to learn more.

On to other matters: Android is one capable platform, and undoubtedly, one that users of Google services will love. Combined with Apple's continuing efforts to enhance the capabilities of the iPhone and Mac OS X, and the growth of heavyweights such as BlackBerry and Symbian, where does this leave Windows Mobile? Over the past year, we've perused multiple comments from readers suggesting that the platform is becoming increasingly stagnant and that efforts by HTC, Samsung, and other manufacturers to improve the usability of the platform are merely a band-aid solution.

As a result, you may have already jumped ship or are considering it. If you're in that group, just what would Microsoft have to do to Windows Mobile to win you back? If you're not in that group, what is it about Windows Mobile that's keeping you glued to the platform? The mobile war is on. And it's you, the consumer, who dictates the winners and the losers. Tell us what makes, or would make, Windows Mobile a winner for you.

WM 7 Delayed?

Partners who had expected to have a final release of WM7 in their hands by early next year have been told now that the new Windows Mobile platform won't be ready until the second half of next year.

Definitely bad news because Windows Mobile urgently need its refresh and if Windows Mobile 7 is postponed to the second half of 2009, it's most likely that we will not see devices before end of 2009. Nevertheless, every bad news also have a positive aspect and in this case it means you don't have to hold out for a new device and you can go out and get your new i900 Omnia, Touch Diamond, Touch Pro or Touch HD today because based on this news it will be the latest for the next 12 months at least.

19 Eylül 2008 Cuma

XPERIA X1 gets examined in-depth on video


Sony Ericsson itself showed off its XPERIA X1 handset in a webcast the other day, but if you just can't get enough of it (and, judging from the number of comments the phone has gotten, plenty of you can't), you may want to hit up the::unwired website, which has an even more extensive hands-on video of a pre-production unit. Among other things, it shows that switching from portrait to landscape mode takes far less time than before, and the all-important panels seem to be a good deal more responsive as well -- the build being used is from early September, so it should be a reasonable indication of what the final software will be like. Hit up the link below to check out all sixteen minutes of it for yourself.

HTC Touch HD Quick Sizemodo: Pretty Close To The iPhone


French Gadget Site GeekInc, got an early HTC Touch HD unit to play with, and took a bunch of pics to show for it, including a couple of size comparisons against the iPhone. As you can see, they're pretty much the same size, save for some backend tapering. Their own impressions more or less coincide with our own hands-on, in that TouchFlo was super smooth, the screen was huge, and it appears the Touch HD camera handles low light pretty well. Check out a few more images below, and for a bunch more, check out [GeekInc].

Android-powered HTC Dream to sell for $199 on T-Mobile


With under a week to go before the HTC Dream is officially unveiled in the Big Apple, the Wall Street Journal has given us something juicy to gnaw on for the time being: a price. Unsurprisingly positioned to compete directly with the iPhone 3G, the Android-powered HTC Dream / G1 will go for a cool $199 (with 2-year contract, obviously) when it launches on T-Mobile, though there's no word yet on what it'll run sans subsidization. So, how do you like dem Apples?

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 global media launch

This evening we're off to another Sony Ericsson event in London. This time we're attending the 'Global Media Launch' of the Xperia X1 being held at Tent London.

I'm not sure what the format of the event will be but I'll definitely be reporting back to you with any news that I can get my hands on. Hopefully there will be a few video ops. too!

If there is anything specific you would like me to find out about the Xperia X1 or anything else to do with Sony Ericsson, drop me a line and I'll try and get some answers!

EDIT: Just on my way back from the event now. It was a good evening and we had some excellent oportunities to talk to Magnus Andersson as well as a number of other people from SE. I'll have a post with some news and video for you tomorrow.

Posted by: Matt
http://www.tracyandmatt.co.uk/blogs/index.php/2008/09/18/sony-ericsson-xperia-x1-global-media-lau

Windows Mobile 6.1 SMTP issues

Do you have a Windows Mobile 6.1 powered device and use either POP3 or IMAP4 with SMTP? Have you encountered problems sending email or seen the error message below?


If the answer to either of the questions above is yes then read on as what you are seeing is actually a bug that affects all WM 6.1 powered handsets!


Background

I first discovered this problem a few months ago while using my HTC TyTN II. I have access to two Exchange servers but, as you'll probably know, you can only set up one Exchange activesync partnership per device. So for the other account I have to use IMAP4 and send over SMTP.

I've been using the setup for about 18 months and it works perfectly well for me, well until HTC released the WM 6.1 update for the TyTN II it did.

I installed the 6.1 update on the TyTN II and set up my Exchange and IMAP4 accounts. Was able to receive email with both accounts, no problem. All was well until I tried to send an email from my IMAP4 account (through SMTP). Upon trying to send mail I simply got presented with the error message above. I checked the account settings, they were all correct, but still unable to send mail.

I then restored the original WM 6.0 ROM to the TyTN II and the problem went away! This lead me to think that there was a problem with HTC's implementation of the 6.1 ROM. However later test revealed this to not be the case.

I set up my IMAP4 email on my new HTC Touch Diamond and was able to send one email, but subsequent emails then failed with the same error message. Deleting and recreating the account allowed me to send one or two more emails before it then failed again. One sending failed the account never works again!

So I contacted one of our friends at Microsoft to try and work through the problem.

Having worked with the guys at Microsoft for the past 6 weeks or so (including the top Outlook Mobile chap in the US) and having sent them my TyTN II to test we have discovered the following bug affecting ALL Windows Mobile 6.1 devices.

You can see more in the email excerpt from Microsoft below:

We are done with it and just checked in a bug fix last week to address what turned out to be a severe product bug that will affect all WM 6.1.x devices until they receive a fix or upgrade to WM 6.1.4. Your help both made us aware of the issue before it bubbled up through the forums and your device actually did help us debug the issue.

We are driving the issue with our response team and pushing to make a fix more broadly available independent of a device update.

More details on this bug:
Symptoms:
At some point sending e-mail stops working for a given e-mail account.
This will happen if the there is *any* failure to connect to the SMTP server – ever. After that point the user cannot send mail with that account again.

Recovery:
The user must delete their e-mail account and recreate it each time this happens.
There is no way to prevent this from reoccurring.

So as you can see, the problem is pretty severe and affects all devices with WM 6.1. The work around, if you can call it that, is to delete the affected account and recreate it.

I also suspect that this bug is related to the problem that many people report with GMail on their mobile and the reason why you must delete and recreate an email account if any of the account credentials change.

Microsoft are working on the problem at the moment and are hoping to make an independent update available. Let's hope that it will be available in that format rather than part of a full ROM update as I suspect that it will take time to filter through the manufacturers and the operator supply channels.

If you are affected by this issue then do drop me a line and I'll endeavour to keep you updated with the progress of the fix.

Google Android hits the US at $199

The first "GooglePhone" will hit the streets of the US for $199 next week. It's a T-Mobile exclusive (For now) and will require a service agreement with T-Mobile. In simple UK speak: its on contract, not PAYG.

Despite that, it does appear the phone is going to cost a lot less than the iPhone - but that's dependant on what sort of contract you will be pushed into.

Oh and the HTC Dream / GooglePhone has now got a proper name - maybe. Rumours suggest 'T-Mobile G1' is the rather unoriginal name.

18 Eylül 2008 Perşembe

HTC announce 3 new devices


HTC have just announced three new devices!

The three devices are the HTC Touch Viva, Touch 3G and Touch HD

First up is the HTC Touch Viva which is similar to the original Touch device with Quadband and a 2 megapixel camera.

Second device is the HTC Touch 3G device

This is the innovation of the original Touch device but has a 3.2 Megapixel camera and Windows Mobile 6.1 professional.

The device which is getting most of the attention though is the HTC Touch HD. Images of this device got leaked earlier in the week but it’s great to see HTC now confirm it!

The Touch HD has a 3.8-inch wide, WVGA (480 X 800 pixel) screen with a 5 mega pixel camera! It also has integrated GPS and a 3.5mm headphone socket.


You can get all the details on HTC Website HERE

17 Eylül 2008 Çarşamba

One More HTC Phone, HTC HD


HTC has officially unveiled its new iPhone killer called HTC HD. The name HD has not been coined to get the initial hoopla. It actually means what it says here and it is all set to raise the bar of entertainment capabilities that present smart phones have including iPhone. Its specifications will leave you with an open jaw andit will soon be available for real in your nearest HTC store.

HTC HD has a 3.8″ screen which sports a resolution of 800×480. The 3G enabled phone has HSDPA connectivity which means you might be able to surf HD movies on this phone too. It has a 5 megapizel camera to keep the shutterbug inside you busy and rolling. More specs of the phone are given below:

* Processor Qualcomm® MSM 7201A™ 528 MHz
* Operating System Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
* Memory ROM: 512 MB; RAM: 288 MB
* Dimensions 115 mm x 62.8 mm x 12 mm (4.35 in x 2.5 in x 0.47 in)
* Weight 146.4 grams (5.164 ounces) with battery
* Display 3.8-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with 480 x 800 WVGA resolution
* Network HSDPA/WCDMA:Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHz; Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds
* Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE:850/900/1800/1900 MHz (Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent.)
* Device Control HTC TouchFLO™ 3D; Touch-sensitive front panel buttons
* GPS GPS and A-GPS ready
* Connectivity Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets
* Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g
* HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0)
* Camera
o Main camera: 5 megapixel color camera with auto focus
o Second camera: VGA CMOS color camera
* Audio Built-in 3.5 mm audio jack, microphone, speaker, and FM radio
* Ring tone formats: AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, QCP, MP3, WMA, WAV;40 polyphonic and standard MIDI format 0 and 1 (SMF)/SP MIDI
* Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-ion or Lithium-ion polymer battery. Capacity: 1350 mAh
o Talk time:Up to 390 minutes for WCDMA; Up to 310 minutes for GSM
o Standby time:Up to 450 hours for WCDMA; Up to 390 hours for GSM
o Video call time: Up to 120 minutes (The above are subject to network and phone usage.)
* Expansion Slot microSD™ memory card (SDHC™ capable)

More details at the HTC product page.

HTC S740 hands-on


You certainly wouldn't know it from the deluge of Windows Mobile Professional devices in every segment of the market these days, but believe it or not, Microsoft's still trudging along with the Standard edition for the handful of us who still favor the smallest package possible (and a physical numeric keypad, for that matter) to a touchscreen. HTC -- which has always had a penchant for packaging WinMo in as many form factors as it possibly can -- has distilled Standard into what can only be described as its ultimate execution in the S740, a bangin' little candybar that carries over the Touch Diamond's distinctive styling elements to a decidedly slimmer package.

We had a chance to put our hands on an S740 recently, and let's just put it this way: if there's a phone that could convince us Windows Mobile Standard was the way to roll, this would be it, no questions asked. It's stunningly beautiful, has one of the best displays we've ever seen on a device of this size and form factor, and you're still packing a full QWERTY keyboard should the need arise. We're told that the matte keypad will be replaced with a glossy one on the final production device, which is only going to bump the chic look yet another notch. Strong work, HTC -- now just cut us an American version to sell unlocked through Best Buy, and we'll call it a day.

HTC Releasing Touch Diamond in White


Yesterday HTC quietly released a new HTC Touch Diamond into the mix: it seems it's identical in every way to the current Diamonds on the market now, it's just got a new look. I like the white quite a bit, largely because it would help hide the ridiculously smudge-prone surface that HTC wrapped the diamond in. Want to see an even bigger version? Here's the full resolution image.

Samsung Omnia i900 First Thoughts Review


When the Samsung Omnia i900 was unveiled a few months ago, this smartphone's features quickly drew attention as a possible worthy competitor for the iPhone.

Samsung Omnia i900

I've had a demo unit for a few days, and I'm going share some of my preliminary impressions about this device and its massive feature-set.

First thing's first: I'd be remiss if I didn't throw a shout out to the folks over at eXpansys, who happily and quite painlessly provided my review unit.

They sell the Omnia in its factory fresh state, including multiple colors and both the 8 GB and 16 GB models, and they only ask your first-born child in return. In all seriousness, the 8 GB model runs $730.

It's not like you're not getting anything for your money, though. The Omnia is, arguably, one of the most high-end Windows Mobile devices available on the market today, if not the most high end.

In enumerating the Omnia's hardware, the best question to ask is, what doesn't it have? While it lacks a high-res screen like the HTC Touch Pro and Sony Xperia X1 have, it does have widescreen, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, FM radio, TV-out, DivX playback certification, tilt sensor, 5 MPx camera with image stabilization, 8 GB or 16 GB of internal flash on top of its MicroSDHC slot...

It does not, however, make bagels.

Samsung Omnia i900For all that stuff inside it, the Omnia is surprisingly light and compact. Putting it to your ear won't make you feel like you look funny, and it comfortably slips into a pocket.

I will tell you what the Omnia doesn't come with, though -- a decent keyboard. There's no hardware input buttons, so everything goes through the touchscreen, and the included software keyboard is not great. In fact, it's not even particularly good. Replace it with Resco Keyboard and you'll be a lot happier.

The second issue is that being originally intended for release outside the U.S., the Omnia doesn't support the 3G bands used in North America. That means no high-speed Internet, only EDGE. There's persistent rumors about an NA-friendly version of the Omnia slated for later this year, but as yet those are still only rumors.

16 Eylül 2008 Salı

Ports of Touch Viva's new TouchFLO 2D appear for older HTC devices


With HTC's Opal will come an entirely new flavor of TouchFLO, so it seems, with leaks of the updated skin already leaking out onto -- you guessed it -- xda-developers. The name "TouchFLO 2D" is being thrown around on the interwebs, and as the name implies, the package looks like a flattened version of the TouchFLO 3D we're now well acquainted with that's presumably been optimized for use on devices with lower resolutions, meeker processors, or a combination of the two. That makes it a prime candidate for adaptation to older phones, of course, and that's where the whiz kids at xda-devs come into play: without so much as an official reveal on HTC's part, it's already been verified for use on a who's who of handsets from the past couple years ranging from the original Touch to the TyTN II and pretty much everything in between. As usual, proceed with caution -- but if you take the plunge, do let us know how it treats you, alright?

AT&T talks about linking iPhone with U-verse, home control


We've already seen that Apple's iPhone is a mighty fine home controller, but it looks as if AT&T bigwigs are just now getting wind of that. At a recent event where the company showcased some of its newly developed technology, it talked up eventually linking the iPhone and its fiber-based U-verse service. More specifically, the iPhone could be used "as a remote control," and iPhone owners could also listen to voicemails on their television or watch recorded shows on their handset. There's no word on when said features could eventually be rolled out, but may we implore AT&T to spend more on U-verse expansion before making it even more awesome for those lucky enough to have it?

HTC Touch HD: Now Here's Some Sexy Hardware!


NEW HTC TOUCH HD RAISES BAR FOR MOBILE INTERNET AND ENTERTAINMENT

Large, 3.8 inch wide-screen VGA display, HTC TouchFLO 3D, desktop-class broadband browsing and a 3.5mm audio jack and more provide the ultimate entertainment combination

Taoyuan, Taiwan - September 16th, 2008 - HTC Corporation, a global leader in mobile phone innovation and design, today unveiled its latest handset, the HTC Touch HD, an entertainment focused mobile handset that will transform how people experience multimedia on the move. Integrating a large 3.8 inch wide-screen VGA display (WVGA), a standard 3.5mm audio jack and a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, the HTC Touch HD is the perfect device for multimedia fans.

Shifting the boundaries of design and innovation
The HTC Touch HD combines high performance capabilities with a stylish, sleek design that has made HTC a global leader in mobile phone design and innovation. Its large 3.8 inch WVGA touchscreen offers users stunning clarity and vibrant colours, providing an unrivalled experience when watching movies, browsing the Internet or even scanning through photos taken with the 5 megapixel auto focus camera.
The stylish new device also features HTC's beautiful TouchFLOTM 3D user interface to provide quick and intuitive access to the people, messages and content that are most important. A standard 3.5mm headphone jack has also been designed-in, allowing consumers to use high-performance headphones with the device for the best possible sound quality.

"Today, Widescreen TV, Internet and video have become the standard so there is no reason to compromise when you leave the house, the Touch HD delivers that uncompromising multimedia and Internet experience," said Peter Chou, president and CEO HTC Corporation. "We are living in a time where the concept of entertainment has radically changed. The internet is so much more than just email and our customers expect to be able to access the Internet and high quality multimedia content no matter where they are in the world."

Getting the most out of the Internet
The large high resolution, widescreen display combined with download speeds up to 18 times faster than standard 3G, enables the HTC Touch HD to render websites quickly and in full-page width. This provides a comparable Internet experience to that of home broadband in terms of both speed and page layout. This true mobile broadband experience allows users to navigate more easily, leveraging the mobile internet in a variety of ways. For example, browsing to favourite websites, using Google Maps to find a restaurant for lunch, searching for and streaming video from YouTube or even catching up to the minute news, blog posts and video podcasts with the integrated RSS reader, will be more intuitive for consumers familiar with desktop browsing.

No compromise
The HTC Touch HD has been conceived for both business and consumer users alike, who demand style and performance and do not think the two are mutually exclusive. The HTC Touch HD is the ideal handset for people who are embracing the mobile multimedia shift but who do not wish to forgo quality, simply by being on the move.

Availability
The HTC Touch HD will be available across major European carriers in Q4 2008 and be introduced in other global markets shortly following.

Key Touch HD product specifications:
• Size: 115 x 62.8 x 12 mm
• Weight: 146.4 grams/5.164 oz with battery
• Connectivity: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHzWCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• Software/Operating system: HTC TouchFLO 3D with Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• Display: 3.8 inch Wide Screen VGA screen (480 x 800 WVGA)
• Camera: 5.0 megapixel with auto focus - Second Camera: VGA
• Internal memory: 512 MB flash; 288 MB RAM
• Memory card: microSDTM memory card (SDHCTM capable)
• WLAN: 802.11b/g
• Bluetooth®: 2.0 with EDR
• GPS: GPS/AGPS
• Interface: HTC ExtUSBTM (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
• Battery: 1350 mAh
• Talk time: WCDMA: Up to 390 minutes*** / GSM: Up to 310 minutes***
• Standby time: WCDMA: Up to 450 hours*** / GSM: Up to 390 hours***
• Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM7201aTM 528 MHz

About HTC Corporation
Founded in 1997, HTC Corporation (HTC) designs, manufactures and markets innovative, feature rich smartphone and PDA Phone devices.

Since its establishment, HTC has developed strong R&D capabilities, pioneered many new designs and product innovations and launched state-of-the-art PDA Phones and smartphones for mobile operators and distributors in Europe, the US, and Asia. These machines are available as HTC devices and as products individually customized for operator and device partners.

HTC is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile device market. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about
HTC, please visit www.htc.com.

HTC's Touch HD unveiled in very much official glory


We're still sans a press release, but a friendly tipster found this quite official page at HTC's very own site, depicting the sexy Touch HD from every angle, with every spec exposed. The rumors were naturally spot on, but that doesn't mean we're any less enthused about the 3.8-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera, and 3.5mm audio jack. Connectivity-wise we've got Europe-friendly HSDPA, GPS / A-GPS, 802.11g WiFi (we weren't clear on that one before), Bluetooth 2.0+ EDR and a microSD slot. On the software side there's TouchFLO 3D on top of Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro. There's also a front-facing VGA camera for video calls, 512MB of ROM and 288MB of RAM. HTC expects the 1350 mAh battery to score you 390 minutes of 3G talk and 450 ours of 3G standby, with 120 minute video calls just for kicks. The phone measures 12mm thick. Still no word on availability, price, or how you're ever going to stop us from cramming Android onto this thing.

T-Mobile to sell Dream starting late October, sez WSJ


Lining up nicely with most (but not all) of what we've been hearing, the Wall Street Journal is spouting off about some "people familiar with the matter" who are claiming that the Android-christening Dream will go on sale late in the month of October. What's more, these same folks say that we can expect a formal announcement about the worst kept secret in Seattle on September 23, though exact pricing is yet to be determined. That would leave about a month for anticipation -- "Dream Fever," if you will -- to build to a nice, rolling boil, which is important considering rumors that HTC looks to push somewhere between 600,000 and 700,000 Dreams before the year's out. Assuming the sticker shock is kept to a minimum, there's only one question left to be answered: white, black, or brown?

15 Eylül 2008 Pazartesi

iPhone 2.1 update: the aftermath


Now that 2.1's out, your iPhone 3G is finally perfect -- right? Well, that all depends on your definition of "perfect," but odds are you still have a niggle or two poking out from behind that heaping pile of bugs and security flaws that were smoothed over with Cupertino's putty knife in last week's update. Here's a quick look at what we're hearing so far:

* Excluding those of you who don't know where you are, our poll on claimed reception improvements in 2.1 suggests that the majority of iPhone 3G owners (by a slim margin) are seeing no improvement or -- gasp! -- a degradation in signal strength since 2.0.2.
* Given that 2.1 patches up some bugs with third-party apps, it comes as no surprise that a few of 'em are apparently breaking with the new firmware (a disappointment, yes, but not a surprise). It sucks that Apple whacked the ball into developers' courts on this one, and we're hoping for the sake of users and devs alike that it's not going to take many sleepless nights of re-coding and debugging to get the affected apps back on the straight and narrow.
* We're now hearing some reports of email buffoonery ranging from an inability to add new accounts to 2.1-equipped phones, to failures of existing accounts that had previously worked, to total Exchange breakage. Are you folks seeing anything there? Any corporate types freaking out that they've lost access to their beloved ActiveSync setups?

We actually found another bug in 2.1 ourselves: we can't find copy / paste anywhere. It's anyone's guess how that one slipped by the testers.

Is ASUS prepping a 5-megapixel Omnia challenger?


It looks like ASUS has more in store when it comes to touchscreen phones than that P552w we saw the other day. According to pictures leaked to the Mobile01 forums, the company is planning an Omnia-esque device that will feature a large (WQVGA or WVGA) touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera, a trackball for non-touch navigation, and the predictable 3G radios / WiFi. Not much is known about the device at this point, though speculation is running rampant on the forum as to CPU specs and on-board memory. It's likely this will be at least competitive in comparison to recent Window Mobile devices we've seen of this variety, though nothing's certain till we get word from ASUS... which we're waiting patiently for, fellas.

13 Eylül 2008 Cumartesi

Finally some good news from Apple, as we test our Apple iPhone 3G with the most recent update, iPhone 2.1.

The iPhone 2.1 software update works very well, and you should download it immediately if you are using an Apple iPhone 3G. This is the big fix we've been waiting for; the one that Steve Jobs promised at the "Let's Rock" event Apple held here in San Francisco earlier this week. Apple promised a fix for reception issues, reliability concerns and battery life, the holy trinity of the cell phone game. The good news is that after only a few hours with the iPhone 2.1 software installed on our iPhone 3G, we can say that the new release seems to deliver.

Pages load much, much faster, and 3G reception seems greatly improved. Our Apple iPhone 3G has remained a steady 1-2 bars ahead of our AT&T Tilt, on the same 3G network, here in San Francisco. Pages that used to stall before loading now seem to spring open much more quickly. We tested the iPhone 2.1 software on AT&T's network against the iPod touch in Wi-Fi mode and the iPhone was never more than a few seconds behind the iPod, usually taking about 10 seconds longer or less to open the same Web page. Against the AT&T Tilt, Safari is a much faster browser than Internet Explorer, so our results have always been better on the iPhone.

We've also experience no application crashes since we updated to the iPhone 2.1 software. Super Monkey Ball, which used to crash often, hasn't blacked out our device in more than a dozen tries opening and quitting the app. Even better, the App store on our phone and our laptop seem more in sync, both reporting the correct number and type of application updates available, for the first time ever.

We're still testing battery life after the iPhone 2.1 software update, so we'll have to update later with our complete results, but if the only improvements were in the dramatic reception and network speed improvements we've already seen, for that alone we would have been thankful. Of course, we're still holding out for copy and paste capabilities, and maybe some Flash in the browser, but we'll have to hold out for future updates before we get ahead of ourselves. At least now that some significant problems have been fixed, we're more confident recommending the iPhone 3G and looking ahead to the future for the platform.

HTC go HD with the HTC Touch HD

Our friends at MoDaCo have breaking news of another new device from HTC, this time in the form of the HTC Touch HD which looks like an iPhone killer if ever I saw one!

As you would expect, very little known about this new device at the moment but early specs suggest the folowing:

HTC Touch HD Specification:

* Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
* Qualcomm 7201A processor @ 528MHz
* 512MB ROM / 256MB RAM (+32MB on processor)
* WVGA (480x800)!!!
* 115mm x 62.8mm x 12mm
* GPS / HSDPA etc. etc.
* 5 Megapixel camera (no flash)
* No Dpad or scroll wheel, does have a stylus
* microSD slot
* 1350mAH battery
* 3.5mm headset jack on the top

There are plenty more photos and information about the Touch HD on MoDaCo.com so check it out. What an amazing looking device!

If you know more then please drop us a line!

HTC wars: Touch Pro, Touch Diamond and S740 go head to head


Now that the cat's out of the bag it was no trouble tracking down HTC's S740 this morning, and just for kicks we rammed the phone up against the Touch Pro, which we subsequently rammed against the Touch Diamond and an iPhone for a generally violent display of smartphone force. It is worth noting that while the S740's keys are similar to the Touch Pro's, they're not quite as deep or clicky, which leads to a rather sub-par typing experience by HTC's standards. That glossy mirror finish on the phone screens isn't doing them any favors either -- even when wiped smudge free it seems to impede viewing -- and we must say the Touch Pro's matte finish makes the Diamond and iPhone 3G look cheap in comparison. Oh, and when asked about the Dream, the HTC rep quickly replied "we don't know anything." It was worth a shot, right?

HTC's Android-driven Dream revealed in glorious spy photos


Sure, we've seen some blurry videos and managed a few stolen glimpses when Andy Rubin demonstrated this beast, but now we've gotten our hands on a slew of pictures showing off a very real T-Mobile-branded Dream in all its Android-running glory. Not only does this confirm the design spied in those FCC docs as well as show off that nearly-done version of Android, but it seems to confirm the fact that this will be headed to T-Mobile, and sooner rather than later judging from the looks of the above device. Needless to say, our inner-geeks are completely geeking out right now. Hit the gallery below for a handful of other views of the phone. [Warning: read link is a forum, requires registration, and is in Chinese]