While I was discovering the HTC Desire for myself at Melbourne’s Telstra T-Life Store, I happened to meet a HTC representative. I won’t mention his name just in case.  As we discussed the HTC Desire, he also gave me some juicy tidbits that are sure to spark excitement with those restlessly waiting on the HTC Legend to land in Australia.

continue reading "HTC Legend : Only A Few Weeks Till Australia Gets Them"

I’ve completed 85.6% of my packing for my Seoul trip tomorrow. For those who don’t know, I’ll be attending the LG Blogger Forum where 35 other international power bloggers from around the world will be gathering to talk about the LG GW620 and to have a workshop where we’ll provide concepts that make up our dream phone

I just realised that I haven’t written a review on the LG GW620 despite making a YouTube Video a couple of days ago. So below are some of my honest thoughts on what I liked about the phone and how it can be improved.

What I liked about the LG EV / GW620:

• Compact size: Even though the screen is smaller than the iPhone (which I am currently using) I liked the size of the phone. It seems to fit better in my hand and therefore I feel more like it’s in my grip – less chance of accidentally
• QWERTY Keyboard: I’m fairly confident that people who didn’t know that the GW620 came with a physical keyboard would be surprised it did due to its slimness. The keys are of a decent size and I like how LG have incorporated up, down, left and right arrow keys. Takes a little getting used to but once you know where everything is, I believe one can type faster than via a touch screen
• Android OS: Although the phone I got was running version 1.5, I had a personal glimpse of what has attracted so many people to the Android platform. Menu and interface are intuitive and despite having a slower processor than many of the newer Androids was still reasonably fast. Having everything like calendar, email and maps all Google isn’t bad either
• 3.5mm Stereo Audio Port: For obvious reasons such as I can use my favorite Sennheiser headphones with the GW620
• MicroSD Expansion Slot: the LG GW620 can accommodate up to a 32GB MicroSD memory card which means you’ll be able to load heaps and heaps of your favorite photos, music and files
• SNS Manager: Being able to get a unified view of your Facebook, Twitter and Bebo (who uses Bebo?) is the way that things should be. Incorporating social media accounts with address book contacts also makes a lot of sense
• 5 Megapixel Camera with LED Flash: Takes decent photos and with the LED flash lowlight conditions are no longer a no-no.

What Can Be Improved on the LG Eve / GW620:

• Latest Android OS: My Eve came with Android 1.5 and the current version is 2.1. The latest version has incorporated many bug fixes as well as some nifty functionality like speech-to-text and living wallpapers!
• Get Rid Of Resistive Screen: Screen seems much less responsive than the iPhone’s. I also don’t see the need for that physical feedback. One only has to look at the iPhone to see how little that means to users. Surely it also places unnecessary burden on the battery too
• Faster Processor: How about a 1Ghz Snapdragon?
• Even More Slimmer: If LG could make the device even more thinner with the keyboard I think it would appeal to more people
• Multi-touch Screen: It will allow users to do tasks on the LG GW620 more naturally using multi-touch gestures. I found it a eye-opening experience going from my iMate 8502 Windows Mobile device to the iPhone interface
• More Powerful Battery: Although it comes with a 1500mAh, bumping this up higher and giving users more talk-time, surf-time and play time will definitely keep them smiling longer
• Front Side Video Camera: To allow users to take video logs since it seems to be the way things are going

Again these are my own personal points of what I liked and what can be improved on the LG Eve / GW620. If you have any other ones that you feel should be included please let us know via the comments below.

You may be seeing the words “Nexus One” appear all over your RSS feeds and favorite websites. If you don’t know what it is, it is Google’s first official smartphone. Yes, there have been other phones from manufacturers such as LG, Motorola and HTC that run their Android operating system, but this is the first device that will be sold directly from Google itself via its Nexus One online portal.

The device was officially announced in California yesterday at an invitation-only event (Yes I am sad I didn’t get an invite). Google have dubbed it a “superphone” as it comprises of all the latest in mobile phone technology such as superfast 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 5MP flash camera, voice-to-text typing, GPS, huge 3.7 inch screen and full wireless capabilities.

Pricing is US$530 unlocked or US$180 on 2 year contract with T-Mobile. Unfortunately, it says that the phone is not available in Australia yet

Google seemed wary to call it the “iPhone killer”. I think this is wise considering how quickly the Apple iPhone market has grown. Personally, I think it’s a step closer but other smartphone manufacturers are still 2-3 years away from truly taking over.

Here are all the juicy specifications of the Nexus One (ref: NextWeb)

Nexus One Specifications & Features:

Size & Weight:

Height: 119mm
Width: 59.8mm
Depth: 11.5mm
Weight: 130 grams with battery, 100g without battery

Display:
3.7-inch (diagonal) widescreen WVGA AMOLED touchscreen
800 x 480 pixels
100,000:1 typical contrast ratio
1ms typical response rate

Camera and Flash:
5 megapixels
Autofocus from 6cm to infinity
2X digital zoom
LED flash
User can include location of photos from phone’s AGPS receiver
Video captured at 720×480 pixels at 20 frames per second or higher, depending on lighting conditions

Cellular and Wireless:
UMTS Band 1/4/8 (2100/AWS/900)
HSDPA 7.2Mbps
HSUPA 2Mbps
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n)
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
A2DP stereo Bluetooth

Power and Battery:
Removable 1400 mAH battery
Charges at 480mA from USB, at 980mA from supplied charger
Talk time:
Up to 10 hours on 2G
Up to 7 hours on 3G
Standby time:
Up to 290 hours on 2G Up to 250 hours on 3G
Internet use:
Up to 5 hours on 3G
Up to 6.5 hours on Wi-Fi
Video playback:
Up to 7 hours
Audio playback:
Up to 20 hours

Processor:
Qualcomm QSD 8250 running at 1 GHz

Operating System:
Android Mobile Technology Platform 2.1

Capacity:
512MB Flash
512MB RAM
4GB Micro SD Card (Expandable to 32 GB)

Location:
Assisted global positioning system (AGPS) receiver
Cell tower and Wi-Fi positioning
Digital compass, Accelerometer

Additional Features:
Haptic feedback
Teflon™ coated back
Second microphone for active noise cancellation
SIM card slot
Micro SD slot
Proximity sensor
Light sensor

Pre-Loaded Applications:
Maps, Gallery, YouTube, Market, Phone, Gmail, Browser, Voice, integrated Google suite, Navigation, and others. No full official list available at this time.

File Formats Supported:
Image: JPEG (encode and decode), GIF, PNG, BMP
Video: H.263 (encode and decode) MPEG-4 SP (encode and decode) H.264 AVC (decode)
Audio encoders: AMR-NB 4.75 to 12.2 kbps sampled @ 8kHz
Audio decoders: AAC LC/LTP, HE-AACv1 (AAC+), HE-AACv2 (enhanced AAC+) Mono/Stereo standard bit rates up to 160 kbps and sampling rates from 8 to 48kHz, AMR-NB 4.75 to 12.2 kbps sampled @ 8kHz, AMR-WB 9 rates from 6.60 kbit/s to 23.85 kbit/s sampled @ 16kHz., MP3 Mono/Stereo 8-320Kbps constant (CBR) or variable bit-rate (VBR), MIDI SMF (Type 0 and 1), DLS Version 1 and 2, XMF/Mobile XMF, RTTTL/RTX, OTA, iMelody, Ogg Vorbis, WAVE (8-bit and 16-bit PCM)

Languages Supported:
Keyboard: English (U.S), French (France), German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil)
Display: English (U.S), French (France), German, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Korean, Japanese, Russian,

If you’re one of those website owners who never checks their website logs, here’s one good reason why you should – you just may find some strange new devices with never-seen-before operating systems crawling through your website. Take for example the screenshot above taken by the guys at BGR. It shows a device running Android 2.1 called Nexus One. This of course is the name given to Google’s first smartphone.

Team BGR also report that Google will be selling their first Google Phone directly through online sales channels. Details of where exactly it will be available at the initial launch are still sketchy. Hopefully Australia will be in the mix!

What Will It Take for Google To Overtake the iPhone?

Again the question is, will it have enough firepower to dethrone the iPhone? I personally think that unless, Google establishes AppStore-like and iTunes-like infrastructure with at least the same amount of users already transacting then the answer is an emphatic no. I’m not just saying this because I like the iPhone 3GS, but rather based on the rapid adoption of the device all across both international and social demographics.

iPhone OS Still Rocks

The ease-of-use factor of the iPhone is also still one of the greatest differentiators against its competitors. Seeing a 55 year old woman enjoy and navigate her iPhone just as easily as her teenage son speaks volumes of why the iPhone is so popular at the moment…

What are your thoughts? Do you honestly believe that Google will turn the tide in 2010?

Via Boy Genius Report

It’s been a couple of days since Android 2.0 has been officially released. To help those out there who are trying to catch up in regards to the upgrade from the previous version or even more fundamentally, what it actually is, watch the Android 2.0 video below. I’ll admit it’s more geared towards developers but you’ll see the major improvements and UI of Google’s latest iteration of its mobile OS platform.

Here’s the list of New User Features for Android 2.0:

Contacts and accounts

• Multiple accounts can be added to a device for email and contact synchronization, including Exchange accounts. (Handset manufacturers can choose whether to include Exchange support in their devices.)
• Developers can create sync adapters that provide synchronization with additional data sources.
• Quick Contact for Android provides instant access to a contact’s information and communication modes. For example, a user can tap a contact photo and select to call, SMS, or email the person. Other applications such as Email, Messaging, and Calendar can also reveal the Quick Contact widget when you touch a contact photo or status icon.

• Sync support for contacts from multiple data sources including Exchange. Handset manufacturers can choose whether or not to include Exchange support in their devices.
• New way to hover on a person to see more info and select communication mode (for example, phone, SMS, email).

Email

• Exchange support.
• Combined inbox to browse email from multiple accounts in one page.

Messaging

• Search functionality for all saved SMS and MMS messages.
• Auto delete the oldest messages in a conversation when a defined limit is reached.

Camera

• Built-in flash support
• Digital zoom
• Scene mode
• White balance
• Color effect
• Macro focus

Android virtual keyboard

• An improved keyboard layout to makes it easier to hit the correct characters and improve typing speed.
• The framework’s multi-touch support ensures that key presses aren’t missed while typing rapidly with two fingers.
• A smarter dictionary learns from word usage and automatically includes contact names as suggestions.

Browser

• Refreshed UI with actionable browser URL bar enables users to directly tap the address bar for instant searches and navigation.
• Bookmarks with web page thumbnails.
• Support for double-tap zoom.
• Support for HTML5:
  • Database API support, for client-side databases using SQL.
  • Application cache support, for offline applications.
  • Geolocation API support, to provide location information about the device.
  • <video> tag support in fullscreen mode.

Calendar

• Agenda view provides infinite scrolling.
• Events indicate the attending status for each invitee.
• Invite new guests to events.

Read more at the Android Site

HTC have finally officially announced its newest Android phone, the HTC Hero. This time, it’s running the new HTC Sense interface which promises to provide even a better experience than the previous TouchFlo platform. One of the biggest features on the HTC Hero is its ability to run Adobe Flash.  Great for Adobe and great for multimedia on the device.

Other HTC Hero features include:

• AGPS
• 5 Megapixel Camera
• Gravity Sensor
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• 512MB onboard storage
• 1350 mAh battery
• MicroSD Expansion
• 288MB RAM
• 528MHz Qualcomm processor
• Google Android platform

See all the details in the press release below.

Via HTC – HTC Hero Press Release

LONDON – June 24, 2009 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of mobile phones, today debuted HTC Sense™, an intuitive and seamless experience that will be introduced across a portfolio of phones beginning with the new HTC Hero™. With its distinct design and powerful capabilities fully integrated with HTC Sense, Hero introduces a unique blend of form and function that takes Android to new heights.

HTC Sense is focused on putting people at the centre by making your phone work in a more simple and natural way. This experience revolves around three fundamental principles that were designed by quietly listening and observing how people live and communicate.

“HTC Hero introduces a more natural way for reaching out to the people and accessing your important information, not by following the status quo of todays phones, but by following how you communicate and live your life,” said Peter Chou, Chief Executive Officer, HTC Corporation. “HTC Sense is a distinct experience created to make HTC phones more simple for people to use, leaving them saying, it just makes sense.”

HTC Hero
HTC Hero continues HTCs leadership in cutting-edge design that focuses on introducing a variety of distinct devices to represent your own individuality. Boasting bevelled edges and an angled bottom, the HTC Hero is contoured to fit comfortably in your hand and against your face while youre on a call. The HTC Hero is built to last beginning with an anti-fingerprint screen coating for improved smudge resistance and a longer lasting, clearer display. The white HTC Hero includes an industry-first, Teflon coating, resulting in an improved, durable white surface that is soft to the touch.

With its 3.2-inch HVGA display, the HTC Hero is optimized for Web, multimedia and other content while maintaining a small size and weight that fits comfortably in your hand. It also boasts a broad variety of hardware features including a GPS, digital compass, gravity-sensor, 3.5mm stereo headset jack, a 5 mega-pixel autofocus camera and expandable MicroSD memory. HTC Hero also includes a dedicated Search button that goes beyond basic search, providing you with a more natural, contextual search experience that enables you to search through Twitter, locate people in your contact list, find emails in your inbox or search in any other area in Hero.

HTC Sense
Built on a culture of innovation and a passion to enhance peoples lives, HTC shapes the mobile experience around the individual. Debuting on the HTC Hero and available on all new HTC devices moving forward, Sense delivers on three basic principles: Make it Mine, Stay Close and Discover the Unexpected.

Make It Mine
Make It Mine, is about feeling your HTC phone was created for and by you. To do this, HTC encourages you to dictate and organize how you want to access the people and content in your life in a way that fits best for you. For some, this means adding glance view widgets that push content like twitter feeds, weather and other content to the surface while others may want quick access to business-focused information like email, calendar and world-times. HTC is also introducing a new profile feature called scenes that enables you to create different customized content profiles around specific functions or times in your life.

Stay Close
Today, staying in touch with the people in your life means managing a variety of communication channels and applications ranging from phone calls, emails, texts, photos, status updates and more. HTC Sense takes a different approach by integrating these communication channels and applications into one single view enabling you to stay closer to your important people. With HTC Sense, friends Facebook status updates and photos along with their Flickr photos are included along side their text messages, emails and call history in a single view.

Discover the Unexpected
Many of the most memorable moments in your life are experienced, not explained. HTC Sense is focused on providing a variety of these simple yet innovative experiences on your HTC phone that will sometimes bring you moments of joy and delight. It can be something as basic as turning the phone over to silence a ring or as simple as improving the smart dialler for making calls quicker. HTC Sense also includes perspectives, a new way for viewing your content such as email, photos, Twitter, music and more in different ways.

Availability
The HTC Hero will be available to people across Europe in July and in Asia later in the summer. A distinct North American version will be available later in 2009.

The guys at Gear Diary have been able to secure a HTC Magic and have provided great pictorial review on it. Overall they confirm that HTC have made some major improvements with their next iteration of their Android line.

On the HTC Dream / T-Mobile G1:

I had the opportunity to test out a HTC Dream (unlocked version of the T-Mobile G1), and to be perfectly honest, I didn’t like it at all. The software wasn’t that great, the battery life was poor and whoever thought of that design should be locked away forever.

Looks like the battery life especially took a turn for the better on the HTC Magic:

I’ve only had the Magic for three days and I’m already very impressed with it. Everything on it is easy to use, it looks great and so far the battery life seems to be good too.

A friend of mine recently asked what are my top recommendations for smartphones are the moment and the HTC Magic has earned it spot in my top #5 after the reviews like these.

Via Gear Diary

AndroidRingToneMaker lets you create your own custom Ringtones for your G1 or android phone using the music from your own music library.

This software runs on Microsoft Windows 2000, XP or Vista.

Features of AndroidRingToneMaker:

• Super easy and intuitive user interface
• Automatically transfers your custom ringtones into your Android Device
• .MP3, .WAV, .OGG, .M4A Support
• Fade In and Fade Out your ringtones
• Create ringtones with accuracy up to a hundredth of a second

Try it for FREE today : Android Ring Tone Maker

IM+ for Skype is a web-based application for phones with Android OS that enables voice and text communication with other Skype users and provides cost-effective calling to landlines and mobiles.

Features of IM+ for Skype [Android]:

• Call Skype users to their PCs
• With IM for Skype you can talk with other Skype users all over the world.
• Make cost-effective calls to any destination
• IM for Skype is based on SkypeOut service that allows users to make and receive calls for a low fee.
• See who is online and chat with Skype users
• Have conversations with other users who are logged in with their Skype accounts on PC. Text messaging is cost effective way to say something to your contacts instead of sending an SMS.

Minimum Requirements:

• SkypeOut credits for voice communications

Try it for FREE today : IM+ for Skype for Android

Looks like HTC’s grip on exclusivity of Google Android devices is no more with this video showcasing the upcoming Samsung i7500.  The screen looks larger than the HTC Dream and HTC Magic which is a plus when using multimedia applications. Some of the other features I like that were exhibited in the video were the 5 Megapixel LED flash camera and responsiveness.

Still not enough to sway me to the Google Android party but looks like a decent phone.

Via Engadget