Blackberry 7130g Smartphone Review
Pocket-lint has a review up on the new Blackberry 7130g, a smartphone that many are very interested in.
Now you’ve got even less of an excuse for not taking the office every where you go. The latest BlackBerry offers pretty much everything that the last model – the chunky 8700g does – but it does so in a form factor that’s not much bigger than your common or garden smartphone.
This obviously allows the 7130g to slip into your pocket more easily, and even takes it to the stage where you don’t need to have to consider a second phone for the weekend – something I’d have to do with the larger devices.
Pocket-lint has given the 7130g a seven out of ten on their scale, due to the slimmer form factor and the push e-mail service. The downsides were the compressed keyboard, and the ease of use is not as easy as other people have claimed.
Mobile Phone Service at Sea
Sometime soon you might find yourself able to use your cell phone while at sea, thanks to Carnival Cruise Lines equipping their 21 ships with mobile phone service. They currently have only done this on one of their 21 ships, the Triumph, but they have plans to roll it out on the rest of their ships at sea by the end of the year.
As part of a deal with Wireless Maritime Services, Carnival can use its high-bandwidth technology to give passengers mobile phone service at sea. International roaming fees apply. W.M.S. has deals with eight cruise lines, including Norwegian Cruise Line, and covers 32 ships. Royal Caribbean International also plans to equip all 20 ships with the service by the end of the year.
My Cellphone As My E-Book Reader
I love my SmartPhone. Never mind that it sometimes freezes, and the user interface is a bit slow (it’s Windows-powered, that’s why!). Similar to how I dig simple, spartan phones that just do what a phone’s supposed to do, I also I love phones that I can hack with all my mods, patches and third-party apps.
Most especially, I love the fact that I can read e-books off my SmartPhone. I’m such a literature freak.
E-Book Reader
Why not get a real e-book reader, you say? Or, perhaps a real PDA with a large touch-screen interface? Why not buy hardcopy editions of the books, even?
I’m cool with that. But I’m the person who would rather travel with light pockets than have all sorts of gadgets and books I have to carry around just to make life bearable. I mean, I do love books (the smell and the touch of paper have some magical effects on lit buffs), but I can’t expect to be able to carry around my favorite paperback or hardbound just anywhere.
I want something I can just whip out from anywhere, anytime, without worries over fumbling up or having to use two (or three?) hands to read.
White Sony Ericsson w810i
White on technology makes it better, right?
Well, maybe not, but that does not mean that it doesn’t look nicer. After the success of the white Sony Ericsson W900, it is not a surprise that they are releasing their w810i available in white this July/August.
The white edition will of course cost more, as Sony prefers black, just like Apple prefers white.
The cellphone will have the same specs as its darker cousin and come with a grey headset and memory card. So that means you will be getting an EDGE enabled cell phone with a 2 megapixel camera, quad-band support, USB 2.0, Memory Stick Pro Duo of up to 2GB, and 22MB of internal memory.
Source: Gizmodo
Moto Q versus RIM Blackberry 7130c
Popgadget placed a quick versus battle between Motorola’s new Q against RIM’s new Blackberry 7130c and who comes out on top? Motorola, by a hair.
For most users, perhaps the most significant drawback of the Moto Q is the absence of push email ability without using SMS or a third-party client. The Blackberry conveniently scores here as Cingular’s BlackBerry Internet Service provides push email to the handset. However, for me personally, the absence of integrated push email facility is not really vital, as I am not a keen instant email user. The other drawback with the Moto Q is that there is no possibility of using the device as an EV-DO modem for a PC, which could be rather disappointing.
Overall, however, my first impressions of the Motorola Q place it a notch higher than the Blackberry 7130c. This time around, Motorola seems to have goten it right, and this phone has potential as a Blackberry killer.
I think without a push e-mail service, no other device will beat out the Blackberry, as that is one of the most important uses of such a device. I honestly don’t understand, with the drawbacks listed, how the Motorola Q comes out on top.
Philips S880
It is amazing how many new phones come out every year. My fiance really loves the clamshell style cell phones, while I prefer the candy bar style ones. The Philips’ S880 fits into what my fiance would like as a music phone clamshell. With 128MB of internal memory, a 128×104 pixel VGA screen, USB 1.1 connection and things like SMS messaging and an assortment of little game to keep you draining your cell phone battery for hours, the S880 seems to be trying to fit in as an all around phone.
Nokia-Siemens Merger
Nokia and Siemens have announced their intention to merge their respective mobile network equipment businesses into a new joint venture which will form the entity Nokia Siemens Networks. The two companies intend to be the global leader in providing fixed and mobile network infrastructure.
The combined company is positioned to lead the development and implementation of revenue-generating and cost-saving products and services via its scale and global reach. Nokia Siemens Networks will have one of the world’s best research and development teams with the ability to invest in next generation fixed and mobile product platforms and services. The new company will have a world-class fixed-mobile convergence capability, a complementary global base of customers, a deep presence in both developed and emerging markets, and one of the industry’s largest and most experienced service organizations.
We recall that Siemens has recently sold its mobile handset division to Taiwanese BenQ (formerly Acer). With the Nokia-Siemens joint venture looming in the horizon, I think Siemens is up for sharing pole position in the fierce competition among network equipment suppliers, of which Ericsson, Alcatel, Lucent, and other providers are part of.
As usual, joint ventures and mergers are great at streamlining product and process flows, and allowing for economies of scale for both parties. I would tend to think, though, that Nokia and Siemens should allow for a couple of years into the merger to reap the full efficiency benefits. As for us consumers, I don’t think we’ll see any changes anytime soon, especially since this doesn’t involve the usual merger for mass-market produts, but that for high-end network equipment. That is unless Siemens and Nokia get to develop and introduce uber-cool technology that will surpass current 3G standards soon.
eBay Introduces New SMS Alert Service
For those in the U.S. you can now use a service to monitor auctions you are interested in and bid on them from your cell phone thanks to eBay Alerts, a new SMS messaging service.
Pricing for text message alerts is 25 cents and that will allow up to 10 messages per item. The fee will be charged via the user’s mobile service provider. eBay plans on the Alert service eventually sending auction item links directly to the mobile buyer, as well as adding Skype support in 2007.
No word yet on any expansion plans to other countries.
GPS Enabled Phones Enable Bad Parenting?
Parents have been starting to equip their children and teens with GPS enabled phones from Sprint and Verizon Wireless, and while this gives parents a bit of piece of mind, I really don’t think it is a replacement for good communication.
You should be able to ask where your child is going, and not have to look it up using the GPS on their cell phone. While this could help parents find children that have been abducted, most teens are going to see it as an invasion of privacy, and no doubt, if they are doing some wrong, they are going to take out the battery from the phone, making you unable to track where they go, or even just leave the phone at their friends place, and when you call, they won’t be there. The excuse will be that they forgot to turn the ringer on.
Honestly, as parents try to take shortcuts in parenting due to their busy schedule, they really can’t be frustrated when their shortcuts leave them feeling even more detached from the children they want to protect and help grow into responsible adults.
Robbie Blinkoff, a consumer anthropologist who has studied cell phone usage among parents and teens has been quoted as saying, “there should be a model where parents negotiate the deeal with kids as to what the phone will be used for, on both sides.”
Without communication, “technology gets in the way of just having a decent social relationship.” What’s more, Blinkoff says, while it appears that the cell phone is often an instrument of rebellion for kids, it can also help youngsters foster bonds with parents. “It often tethers the relationship,” he says.
I am not saying that you should not buy the GPS enabled devices for your children and teens, but I am saying that you have to be careful how you use it. It is one thing if it is used for safety, but another if it is used to keep tabs on them because you don’t have time to actually communicate. Heck, use the cell phone you gave them and chat with from time to time to see how they are doing without being too intrusive.
Motorola Q Review
Mobile Burn has a review up on the Motorola Q a device much like the BlackBerry from RIM that everyone loves, and that is what they compare it to many times throughout the review. It has been recently released on Verizon Wireless’ CDMA EV-DO network.
Physically, the Motorola Q is much like a traditional RIM BlackBerry that has been stretched a bit longer, narrower, and thinner. It measures 116mm x 66mm x 12mm (4.6″ x 2.6″ x .5″) in size. When compared to the Palm Treo 700p we just reviewed, the Q is 3mm longer (if you ignore the 700p’s stub antenna), 6mm wider, and about half as thick. When you consider that the Q weighs only 122g (4.3oz) with a miniSD card inserted, you end up with a very pocketable device that weighs 15 to 50g less than the competition. That’s something that Motorola can be proud of.
In the end they gave it a rating of highly recommended as it is compact, light, slick looking, is EV-DO enabled, and has a reasonably easy to use QWERTY keyboard. Some of the downsides of the unit include a short battery life, mediocre camera, and the lack of any WiFi abilities.
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