Mobile World Congress 2010 round up!February 23, 2010 at 11:17 am by Dan | In Coming Soon Handsets, MWC, Mobile News, New Mobile Phones
The star of the show was undoubtedly the HTC Desire, the Unquestionably a stunning phone on the outside, the Desire follows a similar trend on the inside with the latest iteration of Google’s Android operating system, v2.1 or Éclair, paired up with HTC’s Sense user interface, the highlight of which is the excellent new Friend Stream feature which pulls in updates from friends on social networking sites. The Desire also has the processing muscle to ensure apps, menus and web pages loaded quickly and smoothly thanks to the 1GHz processor on board. Expected in late March, HTC easily unveiled an early contender for phone of the year at this years MWC.
Sony Ericsson took MWC as the opportunity to introduce the world to their new Mini range of Xperia handsets, the X10 Mini and Mini Pro, as well as a QWERTY version of the Microsoft had a strong offering at this years Mobile World Congress despite not having any actual devices on show (so sadly, still no Zune phone). The software giant finally announced the long awaited update to its much maligned Windows Mobile operating system, going under the official title of In a similar move to Microsoft, Nokia had no new phones on display at this years MWC True to form, Apple were also conspicuously absent from the years event, meaning we must wait a little longer to get our hands on the upcoming iPad and longer still to see what the Cupertino outfit have planned for their next iPhone offering. What we do know is that with strong offerings from Android, Samsung and the reinvigorated Windows Phone 7 Series all on the horizon, Apple certainly have their work cut out for them, now more than ever. So, yet another Mobile World Congress has been and gone. Billed as the premier mobile phone exhibition, the likes of HTC, Samsung and Microsoft all ensured the event lived up to expectations. The onus is now on Nokia, Apple and co. to show the world how they plan to compete with the exciting new releases that debuted at MWC 2010. Bookmark at:StumbleUpon | Digg | Del.icio.us | Dzone | Newsvine | Spurl | Simpy | Furl | Reddit | Yahoo! MyWeb Sony Ericsson at MWC!February 22, 2010 at 9:52 am by Dan | In Coming Soon Handsets, MWC, Mobile News, New Mobile Phones
The Vivaz Pro is almost a carbon copy of the standard version (which we’ve managed to take a look at previously) save for two notable differences; the inclusion of a full slide out QWERTY keyboard and downgrading the camera from 8 to 5 Megapixels. HD video capture is still present though along with the added extras such as continuous autofocus and easy uploads to your favourite sharing sites such as YouTube. The addition of a QWERTY keyboard to a Symbian touchscreen device puts the Vivaz Pro in direct competition with the Nokia N97 Mini but the extra multimedia capabilities should edge the Sony Ericsson phone ever so slightly ahead. The design of the phone is nice with a good in-hand feel thanks to Sony Ericsson’s new Human Curvature ethos (curves to match the human form). Better still, the slide mechanism feels reassuringly robust whilst the keyboard itself is comprised of good sized keys that offer good feedback. On to the software and for better or worse, the Vivaz Pro follows its QWERTY-less sibling in running Symbian. Sony Ericsson have made navigation to key areas of the phone more user friendly with the addition of tabs to the home screen, as seen first in the Satio. Let’s hope Sony Ericsson can avoid the software fiasco that blighted the Sa On to the first of three upcoming Android phones now and the Xperia X10 Mini. First things first, Sony Ericsson certainly aren’t kidding with that name, the X10 Mini is absolutely tiny and when held next to the full fat Xperia X10 looks even more so. Sony Ericsson are keen to promote the one handed usability of the X10 Mini and accordingly each corner of the touchscreen houses a customisable shortcut. Easy to set up (this does run Android remember), this makes navigation to key areas of the phone that much simpler. On to the subject of Android. The X10 Mini runs version 1.6 of Google’s OS and while you’re hardly going to be running SatNav on the diddy screen, the Sony Ericsson rep pointed out that the 2.55 inch display met Android’s minimum requirements and so should run pretty much all of the apps available in the Android Market app store. With a range of colourful customisable covers, the one word that describes the X10 Mini is definitely cute. Sony Ericsson are clearly after the youth market with the Xperi Now onto the device we’ve been waiting for for what seems like an eternity; the Xperia X10. Well, the device is slated for launch some time next month and from our briefest of hands on, Sony Ericss StumbleUpon | Digg | Del.icio.us | Dzone | Newsvine | Spurl | Simpy | Furl | Reddit | Yahoo! MyWeb Hands on with the HTC Desire at MWC!February 19, 2010 at 12:23 pm by Dan | In Coming Soon Handsets, MWC, Mobile News, New Mobile Phones
We had the privilege of a practice run for our Desire encounter a few weeks ago when we had some time with the Google Nexus One. The Nexus One, manufactured by HTC, sports similar design cues and near enough as makes no difference dimensions so, from the outside we weren’t expecting to be blown away. Despite this, our first impressions on picking up the Desire is how much more, err, desirable it is over the Google branded phone. The Desire looks and feels more mature than the rougher-round-the-edges Nexus One. Comprised of a matte plastic finish and brushed metal casing that surrounds the display, the darker colours The touchscreen on the Desire is a 3.7 inch AMOLED display that, first and foremost, looks stunning. The use of AMOLED technology really shines through and, despite my best efforts at capturing on camera, really needs to be seen in the flesh. The bright vivid icons leap of the screen and reading text in messages/ emails/ web pages etc. is a doddle. Obviously we were restricted to use in doors so no word on how the display fares out in direct sunlight, something AMOLED display are often criticised for, but here and now the Desire looks stunning from every angle. On to actually using the The home screen is your first encounter with the touchscreen; using it so swipe between one of the seven customisable home screens is ultra responsive and switches effortlessly. The smooth transition is thanks in part to the 1GHz processor on board but the touchscreen itself deserves the lion’s share of the praise. It’s a similar story when opening up the main menu; scrolling through icons is so slick it’s arguably a smoother and therefore more enjoyable experience than the iPhone. In short, the touchscreen on the Desire is easily the best Android has to offer, both in the looks department and usability and from my brief play test, better than the iPhone 3GS, the phone that’s widely regarded as the best touchscreen phone. On to Android and the desire, like its stable mate, runs version 2.1 of the operating system. However, as this is an HTC device rather than a Google experience phone, we’re treated to Sense UI. This sits on top of Android so, rather than the 5 home screens of the Nexus One, we’re treated to 7. The first is a shortcut hub with all your favourite apps, local time and weather though these can all be customised with a long press on the home screen. From here the Sense user interface takes over. It’s pretty much a carbon copy of the experience found on the HTC Hero with the addition of a few tweaks, the best of the bunch being Friend Stream which brings in the latest Tweets and status updates from friends. From here you can search for friends and also post comments of your own without having to launch a dedicated Facebook or Twitter app. The powerful 1GHz processor keeps the Desire ticking along at an impressive speed and, despite the HTC rep stressing that this wasn’t the finished code, we experienced no instance of lag or slow down. Everything we asked the phone to do was actioned almost instantly and the addition of Sense UI has done nothing to hamper the Desire’s performance. With a rather large queue building behind us, our time with the Desire was drawing to a close but we just found time to fire up the web browser and have a poke around at life online with the Desire. The web browser loaded pages nice and quickly and the aforementioned pinch-to-zoom is a nice addition though for text heavy pages you’ll be better off double tapping so that the text fits the screen. The other welcome addition in this latest incarnation of Android is that the Desire was able to load Flash content meaning we Before we arrived at MWC, the Bravo was easily top of our list of phones we simply had to check out. And, apart from getting used to the name (I must admit I wasn’t sold on Desire but it’s definitely grown on me), we were instantly won over. The Desire is, hands down, the most exciting Android launch since the G1 first surfaced way back when. A much more polished device than the Nexus One, HTC’s Quietly Brilliant ethos means you’re bound to still be finding new and exciting little features long after you’ve first picked up the Desire. Slated for an early April launch, the HTC Desire has become the one to watch for 2010. Click here to register for updates and head on over to the official site to check out press photos of the Desire. Be sure to keep an eye on the blog as we hope to track down a Desire in the coming weeks to give it a full on review. StumbleUpon | Digg | Del.icio.us | Dzone | Newsvine | Spurl | Simpy | Furl | Reddit | Yahoo! MyWeb Hands on with the Samsung Monte at MWC!February 19, 2010 at 10:21 am by Dan | In Coming Soon Handsets, MWC, New Mobile Phones
Coming from the Wave, the Samsung Monte is considerably more compact with a 3.0 inch capacitive touchscreen display. The Monte fits snugly into the hand and sports a nice curved design which puts both the physical buttons and the touchscreen within reach of your thumb making one-handed operation possible, something that can be said for larger touchscreen phones. The display itself is sharp and bright, though we can’t help but feel somewhat underwhelmed after staring at the incredible Super-AMOLED display on the Wave. Still, using the touchscreen was an enjoyable experience; we wer The Monte runs Samsung’s proprietary TouchWiz user interface and this incarnation is very similar to any touchscreen Samsung we’ve used in the past year or so. You get three home screens that you can cycle through by swiping from left to right. The home screens themselves can be populated with interactive widgets and at the bottom sits three ever present icons that call up the main menu, phone book and keypad for dialling. Once in the main menu the Monte features three pages of icons which are navigated with the same sweeping style as the home screens. There really is no surprises here but then, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it as they say. In terms of apps, you’re limited to Java applications but for what it’s worth, we tried out one of the pre-loaded games which loaded quickly, ran smoothly and proved quite enjoyable. As for features elsewhere, the camera interface proved a carbon copy of Samsung’s previous offerings such as the Tocco Lite. We weren’t Then, glancing down at the spec list we’re reminded that the Monte boasts both HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity and it starts to make sense. The stylish design, compact body and competitive price point will make this a worthy upgrade to those using the Samsung Tocco Lite or LG Cookie. Expected to launch next month, click here to register for updates and keep an eye on the blog for more information. Bookmark at:StumbleUpon | Digg | Del.icio.us | Dzone | Newsvine | Spurl | Simpy | Furl | Reddit | Yahoo! MyWeb Nvidia show off Tegra processor at MWC!February 18, 2010 at 12:08 pm by Dan | In MWC, Mobile News
The video playback was flawless, so much so that it was easy to forget that this was all made possible by the small tablet device sitting pretty in the corner. Where this gets interesting for the mobile phone industry is that the Locked away in a display cabinet, Nvidia also had an array of tablet devices, both concepts and future releases, as well as Netbooks and the aforementioned Zune HD all utilising the Tegra chip to get the most out of multimedia and the web on the move. With smartphone market share expected to continue growing into 2010 and beyond, the Tegra mobile web processor looks to have what it takes to power the next generation of smartphones. Bookmark at:StumbleUpon | Digg | Del.icio.us | Dzone | Newsvine | Spurl | Simpy | Furl | Reddit | Yahoo! MyWeb Dolby at MWC 2010!February 18, 2010 at 11:32 am by Dan | In MWC
At this point, I must confess that in the past I have dismissed the collaboration between Dolby and LG as a little on the frivolous side, after all, how good can audio on a mobile phone really get? Well, consider me converted. Perhaps it was the high quality headphones or maybe the choice of Avatar (albeit only a trailer) to demonstrate the latest versions of Dolby Mobile technology, either The trailer, which looked great on the widescreen BL40, demonstrated excellent surround sound, with explosions jumping from one headphone to the next to provide an utterly immersive audio and visual experience. And considering the trailer was only a couple of minutes, I found myself so drawn in that I was disappointed when it ended and so decided to have another playtest. With LG and Dolby achieving staggering results in mobile audio quality, expect the partnership to continue and improve the way we enjoy content on our mobile phones. Bookmark at:StumbleUpon | Digg | Del.icio.us | Dzone | Newsvine | Spurl | Simpy | Furl | Reddit | Yahoo! MyWeb Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series booth at MWCFebruary 17, 2010 at 1:28 pm by Dan | In MWC, Mobile News
Following in the Zune’s footsteps, the new range of Windows Phones will also include Xbox Live support Microsoft are keen to extend the Hub theme across multiple areas of the Windows Phone experience and so we also get a People Hub and Photo Hub. People Hub is a jazzed up version of your contacts list which pulls in live updates from Facebook and Outlook (including profile pictures and status updates), aggregates multiple forms of contact and, best of all, lets you post replies to Facebook comments from the contacts list, without having to launch a web page or Facebook app. Similarly, Photo Hub is your photo gallery letting you not only view on the phone but also tag, upload and more. This new level of usability has come at a cost as Microsoft do appear to be closing down some areas of customisation so features such as HTC’s TouchFlo 3D interface will not be an option on future releases. Regardless, HTC have committed themselves to the platform and promise to launch at least one Windows Phone before the year is out. Keep your eyes on the blog for more info as and when we get it. Bookmark at:StumbleUpon | Digg | Del.icio.us | Dzone | Newsvine | Spurl | Simpy | Furl | Reddit | Yahoo! MyWeb NTT Docomo working on eye controlled headphones!February 17, 2010 at 1:18 pm by Dan | In Just For Fun, MWC
Before you wince, there’s no physical contraption connected to your eyes, the tech is all based on the The ear phones use electrodes to pick up on movement of the eyeball. The eyes have electric potential which changes from positive to negative depending on the movement of the eyes. So, the earphones pick up on these changes in signal and attribute specific actions based on the movement. So put simply, looking to the right then left generates a simple electric impulse which is picked up by the headphones and converted into a specific action, in this case playing a music track. No word on pricing or availability but it would be optimistic to expect this kind of technology to find its way to these shores any time soon. Still, it shows what’s possible and hints at what kind of tech we can expect in the not too distant future. Now, if only someone could develop some ear free headphones, we can listen to music completely inconspicuously. Bookmark at:StumbleUpon | Digg | Del.icio.us | Dzone | Newsvine | Spurl | Simpy | Furl | Reddit | Yahoo! MyWeb HTC at MWCFebruary 17, 2010 at 10:51 am by Dan | In Coming Soon Handsets, MWC, Mobile News, New Mobile Phones
Side by side, the Desire is easily better looking than the Nexus One, Next up is the Legend, which keeps its rumoured name and acts as the successor to the popular Hero. The focal point of the Legend is the design with the phone made from a one-piece machined aluminium housing (the first phone to feature a one piece design). Thankfully, HTC have added some considerable substance to this style with a 600MHz processor powering Android version 2.1 (or Lastly, and this one came as a bit of a surprise, was the HD Mini, little brother to HD2. Following in its siblings footsteps, the HD Mini is a Windows Mobile phone running version 6.5 of Microsoft’s OS. Other noteworthy specs include a 3.2 inch touchscreen display, HTC Sense UI, a 5 Megapixel camera and more all tucked into a nice compact 11.7mm thick design that weighs in at just 110g. No word on pricing for any of the newly announced handsets from HTC but all three are in line for a March/ April launch. Keep an eye on the blog for more information as and when we get it. StumbleUpon | Digg | Del.icio.us | Dzone | Newsvine | Spurl | Simpy | Furl | Reddit | Yahoo! MyWeb Hands on with the Samsung Wave at MWC!February 16, 2010 at 5:45 pm by Dan | In Coming Soon Handsets, MWC, Mobile News, New Mobile Phones
Fists things first; the display. Make no mistake, the 3.3 inch touchscreen on the Wave is simply a different class, blowing the current generation of phones out of the water. Okay, so the touchscreen looks fantastic, but what’s it like to use? In a word; awesome. Menus stick to your finger like Samsung were also keen to push the Samsung Hub aspect which, similar to MotoBlur and Sense UI, aggregates all your social networking feeds, provides multiple ways to contact friends, updates profile pictures and status updates from Facebook and much more. We didn’t get a chance to have a dig around in the Samsung Hub side of the Wave but if Samsung can match the level of quality shown of in one of their promotional videos, it could prove another powerful addition to the Wave’s armoury. Finally, we come on to apps. The app store wasn’t available on the device but we did get to take Need For Speed Shift for a spin. The game is set to be a launch title from the app store and again, despite being a work in progress, looked very impressive. The graphical power and excellent frame rate where matched by equally impressive gameplay. The accelerometer took the place of a steering wheel and proved incredibly responsive. Graphics were easily on a par with anything the iPhone or even Sony’s PSP has to offer with multiple cars on screen at once and even the ability to And that was it, with an angry mob forming behind us, we were forced to cut our playtest short, but first impressions where overwhelmingly positive. The killer app, so to speak, is that stunning display but look beyond this and the Wave has so much more to offer. Click here to register for updates for the Samsung Wave and keep an eye on the blog for more information as and when we get it. Bookmark at:StumbleUpon | Digg | Del.icio.us | Dzone | Newsvine | Spurl | Simpy | Furl | Reddit | Yahoo! MyWeb |
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