Apple iPhone review
“The good: The Apple iPhone has a stunning display, a sleek design, and an innovative multitouch user interface. Its Safari browser makes for a superb Web surfing experience, and it offers easy-to-use apps. As an iPod, it shines.
The bad: The Apple iPhone has variable call quality and lacks some basic features found in many cell phones, including stereo Bluetooth support and 3G compatibility. Integrated memory is stingy for an iPod, and you have to sync the iPhone to manage music content.
The bottom line: Despite some important missing features, a slow data network, and call quality that doesn’t always deliver, the Apple iPhone sets a new benchmark for an integrated cell phone and MP3 player.”
This is what CNET.com has to say about the Apple iPhone on its article Apple iPhone - 4GB (AT&T). Apple iPhone is one of the most awaited gadget for 2007. It is really impressive on its design and multitouch user interface for easier navigation. Now cellphone manufacturers are pressured to release cellphones that could give users the feel of an MP3 player. Read more of CNET’s review on their website.
Motorola W510…simple but cool
Another cool designed phone from Motorola is the W510. Its designed is inspired by the slim MOTOKRAZR design. It is very handy to bring with being light and compact at 17.5mm thick. Despite its compact design, it is made up with a large 1.9 inch color display.
As what I have read from the Motorola website:
With stunning design and compelling content, the Motorola W510 is the phone every user will crave. At the heart of this good-looking mobile is a fun multimedia package. From its easy to use 1.3 megapixel camera to the integrated audio player – it will keep you entertained and connected. Keeping you in touch across the globe with its quad band connectivity¹ and quick sharing of pictures, music and files, the Motorola W510 keeps you in style, effortlessly. Go ‘beneath the flip’ for a journey into music, imaging and seamless connections.
The W510 has an internal memory of 15MB but has a microSD slot enabling users to expand its storage capacity of up to 1GB, 2GB for SanDisk microSD cards. It is said to be available in the market in the first quarter of 2007.
Nokia 1112: Back to the Basics
I wrote before that I usually go through cycles of having high-end phones and then coming back to basic ones. Well, it seems right now I’m in the basic part of that cycle, and perhaps I’ll stick to this for quite some time.
I arrived home the other night with a flat cellphone battery. My SmartPhone (vintage, with Microsoft Smartphone 2002 software) apparently died while I was driving home, and I didn’t realize this until yesterday morning. So when I charged the phone, I went through the usual boot-up sequence, entered my PIN and just left the phone on the table to charge. But as I checked on it, the screen said I had to input my PIN again, as the first try was an error. I keyed my code in correctly (and carefully) but the phone suddenly said my SIM card had been blocked! I had to key in my PIN unblocking key (PUK) before I could use the SIM again.
SIM Blocked!
Horror of horrors, I lost the PUK slip years ago, when I first purchased the prepaid SIM card I’d been using. Those things were designed to get lost, since they’re really thin and small. And my mobile provider wouldn’t give me the PUK–I don’t think they really disclose that to prepaid users (maybe they don’t even have records).
So I ran off to the nearby mall to see if anyone can unlock my SIM, to no avail. I decided, instead, to check out the latest phone models if I found one to my liking. I was set to buy the cheapest, but reliable, model. A couple of my siblings own the Nokia 1100, which I thought was pretty decent for a very basic phone–it did just what you would expect from a mobile phone: calling and texting. It even lasts a week on a single charge (my brother found this useful when we had a week-long blackout because of a storm).
Basic or Higher Model?
I was also thinking of getting a Motorola L7 (SLVR), but it cost about five times my tentative budget. I could have opted for zero-percent installments on my credit card, but opted against it. After all, I’m no longer such a cellphone junkie like I used to be a couple of years ago, when I had to have the latest and greatest in cellphone technology. Also, after almost a year dealing with the Smartphone’s interface, I opted for something simpler.
So I got what I originally came for: a basic model. And instead of the 1100, which was a dated model, anyway, I got the Nokia 1112, for the equivalent of $45 with prepaid SIM.
Sprint SCP-2400 Review
Laptop Magazine decided to take a second away from their Laptop reviews to take a look at the Sprint SCP-2400.
Targeted toward parents concerned about their children’s safety—not to mention shockingly high phone bills—the Sanyo SCP-2400 offers a lot of versatility for a very reasonable price. Sprint’s free parental control software lets you set which numbers this clamshell can dial, as well as which numbers your kids can receive calls from. Plus, you can lock out services that cost extra, such as text messaging. We’re not so sure, however, that the different color faceplates make up for the lack of cutting-edge features.
The SCP-2400 is certainly basic, and it shows. It’s large and heavy for a clamshell (measuring one-inch thick). You can take your pick of five colors (Silver Sky, Midnight Black, Dark Bronze, True Blue, and Misty Rose). The silver unit we tested has all the charm of army surplus.
In the end they give the SCP-2400 a three out of five, thanks to the fact that it is inexpensive, has a good battery life, and parental controls. They mention disliking its size, lack of a camera, and spotty reception. For more inexpensive phones, check out Digital Advisor.
Palm Treo 750v Smartphone Review
Pocket-lint has a review up for the Palm Treo 750v a Windows based smartphone with 3G among other things. Can it beat the strong going devices from RIM?
Launched exclusively on the Vodafone network, the Palm Treo 750v is the company’s latest smartphone and the first in Europe to feature the Windows operating system.
Other features include a 1.3-megapixel digital camera, Windows Media Player 10 Mobile for music and video, Bluetooth connectivity, Mini-SD expansion slot and a 240 x 240 TFT touchscreen making the overall offering very appealing indeed.
In the end they give it an eight out of ten, stating that the BlackBerry Pearl is still the better device. Check out more Smartphones at Digital Advisor.
Joel Spolsky Reviews the LG Fusic From Sprint
Joel Spolsky of joelonsoftware fame reviews the LG Fusic from Sprint, and frankly, this is one strong and very straightforward review. Now Joel is know for his knack for design and usability, particularly when it comes to user interfaces. He should–he’s into software design and development. So you can expect him to feel strongly about the shortcomings of a device and the network’s mobile service when it comes to usability.
Joel was actually reluctant at first to review the phone. After all the marketing people were having a field day sending off (free) review units to bloggers, hoping to start some buzz about their music- and video-download service. It turns out that they were in for some negative publicity.
The phone they sent me, an LG Fusic, is really quite awful, and the service, Power Vision, is tremendously misconceived and full of dumb features that don’t work right and cost way too much. So I’m going to review the dang phone anyway, even though if anybody from Sprint is paying attention they’re going to lose their lunch and some executive bonehead over there is going to go nuts and I sincerely hope that this doesn’t put an end to the entire free-phones-for-bloggers boondoggle, because I’d hate to get beaten up at Etech next year by all the other bloggers who would hate me for spoiling all the fun.
So what’s wrong with the phone and service, anyway? Joel thought the phone’s built was too cheap, and the interface unintuitive. The Fusic is supposed to be an MP3-capable phone, but it does not offer the usual functionalities one would expect from an MP3 player such as bookmarking and even basic capabilities like playing music with the clamshell closed.
Joel found the video aspect lacking, too, with no decent movie titles and a screen too small for viewing. The pricing for both music and movies was prohibitive, too, especially in light with the de facto standard that Apple had set, at $0.99 a pop (for songs).
I consider Joel to be quite fortunate. For one, he’s a blog A-lister. Secondly, companies are sending him freebies for review (hey people, if you’d like me to review some of your gadgets, I’d be glad to send you my postal address). But Sprint was probably wrong to send him a Fusic for review. The phone might have been considered decent and even cool by a younger, less tech-savy user, but it wasn’t meant for a tech- and design-savvy individual.
Here’s a lesson to companies who are starting to turn to blogging and bloggers for word-of-mouth marketing. Do your research first. And make sure the product you plan to market thru blogs are aptly targeted.
BlackBerry Pearl 8100 Review
Pocket-lint has a review up on the BlackBerry Pearl 8100. This is one device that I would love to have.
Small, thin and compact are the best way to describe the sleek mobile phone. It’s the company’s thinnest yet and almost half the size of Nokia’s N70 handset. Showing it around the office and to hardened BlackBerry fans most seemed to like the gloss black finish with chrome trim and the small white iridescent “Pearl” looking control dongle situated just under the screen.
In the end the Pearl 8100 gets a 9 out of 10 from Pocket-lint and 9.1 out of 10 from readers. This is the BlackBerry to have it seems. They do list some negatives though. They found the screen a bit too small to read longer e-mails on, and the keypad takes a bit of getting used to. The last small knock against the device is its lack of 3G support.
Nokia E70 Smartphone Review
MobileBurn has a review on the Nokia E70, a foldable QWERTY smartphone.
The Nokia E70 is the ‘other’ QWERTY keyboard equipped phone in Nokia’s latest E-series range, sharing the feature with the E61. Designed in a similar way as the old Nokia 6800 and 6820, the E70 has a full QWERTY keyboard hidden in a fold open design. For the uninitiated, this means that the E70 will look just like a normal phone with numerical keys when the flip is closed, but opens up to provide a full QWERTY keypad when needed.
Armed with a 2-megapixel camera and WiFi capabilities, the E70 seems like a very good alternative for those who prefer a smaller form factor than the E61. The Nokia E70 is a dual mode phone, featuring WCDMA/GSM operation (GSM 900/1800/1900MHz and WCDMA 2100MHz).
I don’t really like the way this one folds open to reveal the keyboard, but MobileBurn did not seem to mind it, though the reviewer, like myself had a hard time getting used to the split keyboard design, as it can be faster when thumb typing to move your “free” thumb to the next key, and if the two letters are on one side of the split, it can slow down typing.
In the end they give the Nokia E70 a highly recommended rating due to its QWERTY keyboard, high resolution display and capable camera.
Digital Advisor Nokia Listings
Nokia 7390
Nokia is releasing the 7390, an update the L’Amour 7380. The new 7390 can play mp3 and mp4 formats, has a 3 megapixel camera and, a second VGA camera for video calling and self portraits.
The 7390 is a clamshell phone, and the companies first 3G fashion phone.
This GSM triband phone also offers broadband-speed video calling and audio/video streaming.
Expect to pay a pretty penny for this phone though as its powder pink and bronze black units have a list price of $576 USD and they will be available sometime this fall.
Samsung SGH-X820 Review
The World’s Thinnest Cell Phone, that is what the Samsung SGH-X820 is marketing itself as currently on the marketplace, as it looks to show how thin a cell phone can really go. Mobile Burn takes a look at it.
The first thing that caught our attention is the claim of the thinnest phone in the world. Some say that Samsung has cheated, as the camera module at the back protrudes out slightly, bumping the thickness to 9.9mm (0.39″). When you take into account a two megapixel camera module measures at least 6mm in thickness, Samsung really has already done a remarkable job.
So how thin is the X820? What do these numbers mean? To make it easy for everyone to understand, I can say that the X820 is as thick as an iPod nano. A lot of us are still a haunted by build issues with slim devices; the X820 weights 66g (2.33oz), and apparently, there is not much metal reinforcement in there. It would be just too ambitious to test how much pressure the phone can handle, since it doesn’t come free, but I haven’t scratched or cracked anything carrying the X820 in my jeans pocket for a week.
In the end they conclude that the X820 is a highly recommendWed device including excellent portability, good multimedia functions for its size, good keypad, excellent build. Some of the things that Mobile Burn was not as impressed with is the lack of a vibration mode for a ringer, average battery life, lack of USB Mass Storage mode, and absence of ringtone profiles.
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