The Eee PC T91 is ASUS’ first full touchscreen tablet netbook and it is finally making its own way onto the United States retail market. Touchscreen tablets have been, in many ways, an oft-repeated mix of excitement and disappointment – great ideas coupled with mediocre hardware, or nice-looking hardware coupled with bad implementation of the touchscreen. Has ASUS managed to sidestep these issues with its own tablet PC?

• Hardware and Specifications

The Eee PC T91 is an 8.9-incher, which means you’ll have a small keyboard even by many netbook standards. Surprisingly, it is easy to type on this one. It got a nice clickiness, and while it is certainly compact, it does not feel cramped, and we really didn’t experience more mistyping than average – which was, to be honest, a pleasant surprise. The trackpad is responsive and on par with other netbook pads. The backlit LED resistive touch panel is quite bright and nice looking. The netbook boasts a VGA, two USB, and two audio ports, and it’s got a power button right on the left bottom edge of the screen. Directly to the right of the power button is another button on the bezel, which is one of the ways to activate the touch interface. The T91 also has an expandable stylus housed under the right bottom side of the chasis.

Spec-wise, the Eee PC T91 has a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 CPU, and if you’re accustomed to a more standard netbook configuration with an N270 or N280, you’ll definitely feel the difference. It also has 1GB of RAM, Intel GMA500 graphics, a 16GB SSD and a lithium polymer battery rated for about 5 hours of power. It also got 802.11 B/G/N Wi-Fi, 10/100Mbps Ethernet, and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR.

• Software and Performance

The T91 has an easy, 9-point calibration process to get the touchscreen properly responsive. ASUS has also loaded the T91 with some custom-built software – namely the Touch Gate interface. From the regular XP desktop, you can activate the touchscreen interface three ways – via the icon on the desktop, the slider icon at the top of the desktop, or that physical button to the right of the power toggle. Hitting any of those brings up the Touch Gate main interface – which is essentially a very simple row of icons that can be rearranged in any order – with up to five icons in the mail row, and others behind it. For now, there is a limited amount of icons on the list – preferences, and four custom-built apps – Fotofun, Memos, Notepad, and Internet Explorer with Touch Capability. We should say that we find the interface to be really clean and pleasing to look at, and the applications are pretty elegantly designed.

• Wrap Up

Overall, the software included with the T91 is really nicely designed, and operates pretty much as advertised. There are limitations to the CPU and the resistive touchscreen – we had to move a bit slower than we liked or our touches did not always get recognized – but the touch interface also functions better than we expected. Overall, the Eee PC T91 is a product we had a hard time justifying the purchase of — because the custom apps aren’t that useful, but they are kind of fun, and we hope future iterations will improve upon the things we really like about it. The T91 is not super cheap, either, but if you really want a tablet, it’s worth checking out – especially if, like us, you also feel the need for a keyboard.

Read the complete review via Engadget

According to reports, RIM’s BlackBerry Storm 2 – the touchscreen follow-up to the original Storm launched back in November last year will indeed include WiFi b/g along with EVDO Rev.A and 2100MHz UMTS (for roaming).

The BlackBerry Storm 2 from RIM leaked out specifications re-confirm news that the soon to be released smartphone is ditching out the problematic click touchscreen. The clicky touchscreen of the first Storm has been replaced with a more traditional touchscreen.

The BlackBerry Storm 9550 will also have a 3.2-megapixel camera, 360 x 480 capacitive touchscreen and use BlackBerry OS 5.0.

Photos of the BlackBerry Storm 2 leaked out a few months back, promising a powerful touchscreen smartphone, only this time with Wi-Fi.

Here’s a run down of the specifications for the BlackBerry 9550:

• CDMA 1xRTT/EVDO Rev. A
• Quad-band GSM/EDGE
• Single-band UMTS/HSDPA (2100MHz only)
• Wi-Fi b,g
• 3.2 megapixel camera
• 360×480 resolution capacitive screen
• OS 5.0

It was originally thought that the BlackBerry Storm 2 was going to be released last month, obviously, it did not happen. As of this writing, there is still no official release date for the device. We will keep you posted.

BlackBerry Storm 2 via Engadget.

Smartphone users just don’t know what they want. One of the biggest, loudest complaints about all-touchscreen phones like the iPhone is its lack of a hardware keyboard, and now a survey shows Pre users most want a soft keyboard.

The survey shows that users like the hardware keyboard but don’t like sliding it out every time they want to type something. Certain Android devices have both soft and hardware keyboards, but they’re very much in the minority. It’s an interesting problem for Palm, whose rumored next WebOS device, the Eos, features a fixed hardware keyboard but a much smaller screen. Still, Palm wouldn’t have too difficult a time updating the Pre’s firmware with a soft keyboard—after all, Android did it already.

Despite Palm having added the QWERTY keyboard in response to gripes about touch-only devices like the iPhone, many users want a software keyboard like Apple’s, as Palm’s design gives them no choice but to use the hardware solution. The opinion holds even for those who chose the Pre for the physical input.

Adapting the design might be difficult for Palm, which designed the Pre and webOS with the assumption that a physical keyboard would be present and free up space onscreen for more data. The Eos may partially address the problem by including a fixed physical keyboard, although it should shrink the touchscreen as a consequence.

Apple has long insisted on a virtual-only iPhone keyboard as it lets the company adapt to non-English languages with a single phone model and can be updated with new features without having to revamp the hardware at the same time. It also saves users from having to memorize two-key combinations for special characters.

Beyond the keyboard, Strategy Analytics has still encountered many who were “impressed” with other elements of the Pre, including the concept of using cards for real multitasking; it behaves “like a PC,” the researchers have been told. They also liked Synergy, the contact management platform that merges data from the phone, Facebook and Google and links it to the calendar and other apps.

More of this news at Electronista.

The two enterprise smartphone heavyweights from Taiwan and Finland are going head-to-head in a battle for smartphone supremacy. Will the HTC Touch Pro2 “The 1-2-3 From HTC” manage to knock out the Nokia N97 “The Finn-isher”? It’s going to be a close fight. Let’s take a look at our two smartphone contenders!

The HTC Touch Pro2 takes its new place at the top of HTC’s Windows Mobile smartphone portfolio. The Touch Pro2 basically takes the original HTC Touch Pro’srecipe for a true business-class Windows Mobile smartphone and spices it up with an extra helping of processing power and a much larger touchscreen display. As the baddest WinMo handset in the Taiwanese smartphone maker’s stable, HTC blessed the Touch Pro2 with all the latest and greatest smartphone features on the market. It’s got a class-leading 3.6-inch WVGA (800×480) resistive touchscreen display, 3.2-megapixel camera, 3G data connection (HSPA), WiFi, GPS, a Qualcomm MSM7200A 528 MHz CPU, and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard – ensuring the HTC Touch Pro2 comes ready to play with in the big leagues.

But, there are always two sides to every story. On the one hand, we have the power-packed HTC Touch Pro2 aiming to take as much marketshare in the enterprise segment. On the other hand, we have Nokia looking to hold on to as much of its business customer-base with the power-packed Nokia N97. As an Nseries smartphone, you can bet your donkey that the N97 sports all the highest-tech features from the Espoo. Nokia has built a reputation for themselves with smartphones that boast some of the most-advanced hardware on the planet, and the Nokia N97 is no exception. Underneath the N97’s heavy-set exterior lies a 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera (with flash), 3G data connectivity, WiFi, GPS, 32GB of on-board storage, slide-n-tilt QWERTY keyboard and a speedy ARM11-based processor clocked at 434Mhz. And, the 3.5-inch resistive touchscreen display boasts near-HD resolutions, which makes for a dandy video-viewing experience. True to Nokia’s tradition, the Nokia N97 sets the standard for high-end smartphone feature-sets.

Both handsets offer comparable feature sets and don’t necessarily have any major usability issues. Both handsets feature slide-and-tilt touchscreens. Both smartphones have QWERTY keyboards. Both the HTC Touch Pro2 and Nokia N97 rock high-resolution displays paired to awkward mobile operating systems. We could keep going, but you get the picture.

So, which smartphone is the better choice? How does the HTC Touch Pro2 compare to the Nokia N97 in terms of a satisfying user experience?

The Verdict: The winner by decision is… the “1-2-3 From HTC” – the HTC Touch Pro2! It’s a close fight between the Touch Pro 2 and the N97, but in the end, it mostly hinged on the difference in specifications. The Touch Pro 2 clearly outpaces the N97 with a 534 MHz processor (versus the N97’s 434Mhz), 288 MB / 512 MB of memory (against the N97’s 128 MB / 192 MB), and 800 x 480 screen. The N97’s been getting a pretty sound beating around the reviewing circles these days, but even if it gets knocked out by a stiff competitor in this weight class, the gap between the two is surprisingly small.

Get the “round-by-round” match up by these two magnificent phones at www.intomobile.com.

It might not be the most exciting new handset to come to light this year, or this month, or even today, but Motorola has just added a new piece to the ROKR puzzle. The Moto ROKR ZN50. For the time being it looks like this gadget will be confined to South Korea but availability in other markets is likely at some point down the road.

It is about time Motorola delivered a stand-out touchscreen handset. We haven’t been hearing too much in the way of new products from Motorola in a minute, so it’s good to see the RAZR-maker still alive and kicking. It has a full widget-ized touchscreen interface.

The feature set is as good as any musicphone available today. The Motorola ZN50 sports a 3.2-inch touchscreen, 3.2-megapixel camera, SRS WOW HD sound system with equalizer, GPS, 3G data (HSDPA 7.2Mbps), Bluetooth 2.0 and 3.5mm headphone jack. And, because this is a Korea-bound handset, the Motorola ROKR ZN50 features a T-DMB TV tuner.

The Moto ROKR ZN50’s custom touch-based interface seems good enough, but let’s all remember that Motorola’s other feature-phone operating systems consistently failed to deliver a usable UI in the many years since the blockbuster RAZR was launched. It would be interesting to see elements of the ROKR ZN50’s widget-based UI making it to Motorola’s future Android handsets.

Features of the Moto ROKR ZN50:

• WCDMA 2100/HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900
• Dimensions: 108.9mm x 54mm x 14.3mm
• Weight: 143g
• Display: widescreen touch-sensitive 3.2-inch, TFT, 240×427 pixels resolution, 262k colors
• Camera: 3.2 megapixels with auto-focus
• Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR
• “SRS WOW HD” sound system
• GPS
• microSDHC support
• Battery: 900 mAh
• Other applications: Alarm clock, calendar, calculator, units converter, world time

At the right price and in the right markets, we can see the ROKR ZN50 shining to some extent. Rumor suggests it will drop near the end of the year and will come with free access to a music download service of some kind.

Motorola ROKR ZN50 via unwiredview.com

Hold your horses; you should know the drill by now. A patent application doesn’t necessarily mean an actual product is on the way — but it’s always fun to speculate, right? And this latest trio of applications from Apple certainly provides plenty of speculation fodder. The most notable of the lot is an application for a “multi-touch display screen with localized tactile feedback”, which Apple seems to be at least considering as a possibility for the iPhone (or iPod touch). Like some similar systems, Apple’s application covers a screen that uses a grid of piezoelectric actuators that can be activated at will to provide vibrational feedback when you touch the screen. Apple even goes so far as to use a virtual click wheel on an iPhone as an example. Other patent applications include a fairly self-explanatory RFID reader embedded in a touch screen, and a fingerprint identification system that could not only be used for security, but to identify individual fingers as an input method – for instance, letting you use your index finger for play/stop and your middle finger to fast forward.

• Haptic Tactile Feedback

Perhaps most interesting amongst the patent applications is the acknowledgement by Apple that despite the many advantages of the iPhone’s multi-touch screen, a lack of tactile feedback remains its biggest disadvantage.

However, one of a touchscreen’s biggest advantages, the ability to utilize the same physical space for different functions is also one of a touchscreen’s biggest disadvantages. When the user is unable to view the display (because the user is occupied with other tasks), the user can only feel the smooth hard surface of the touchscreen, regardless of the shape, size and location of the virtual buttons and/or other display elements. This makes it difficult for users to find icons, hyperlinks, textboxes or other user-selectable input elements that are being displayed, if any are even being displayed, without looking at the display.

Unless touch input components are improved, users that, for example, drive a motor vehicle, may avoid devices that have a touch input component and favor those that have a plurality of physical input components like buttons, wheels, etc.

The proposed solution is the adoption of “haptic” display technologies which allow for some tactile feedback from touch screen displays. Apple proposes including a grid of piezoelectronic actuators that can be activated on command. By fluctuating the frequency of these actuators, the user will “feel” different surfaces as their finger moves across it. As an example, a display could include a virtual click wheel which vibrates at a different frequency as the center. Users could easily sense the difference and use the click wheel without having to look at it.

Haptic technology has started gaining adoption in other mobile phones and there had been some talk that Apple mght have been looking to adopt it.

• Fingerprint Identification as an Input Method

A second very intriguing patent application suggests the detection of a user’s individual fingerprints as an input method. Fingerprints have already been used in computers for security purposes, but Apple’s research involves the use of fingerprint patterns to actually identify distinct fingers. This could then be used to produce specific functions depending on which finger is being used. As shown in the table below, an index finger press might perform one action (PLAY/STOP) while a middle finger press could fast forward.

The reason for such a distinction again falls back on non-visual usage. Instead of requiring the user to find a button on the touchscreen, the use of different fingers alone could trigger different commands.

• RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Reader

Finally, the last notable application covers the dual use of a touch screen as an RFID reader. RFID tags are small circuits that can be embedded in objects for identification using a special reader. Apple suggests that an RFID antenna can be placed in the touch sensor panel itself, allowing it to also be used as a RFID reader. As RFID tags become more prevalent, this could add a very useful function to future touch screen devices.

I can’t say I didn’t see this coming. In fact, I’ve long waited for the day some brave soul would hack an iPhone and attach a physical keyboard to it. While the virtual QWERTY keyboard is good, you really need a physical keyboard sometimes especially when you’re doing something that requires intense typing.

continue reading "iPhone Hacked and Hooked with a Physical Keyboard"

Look, if Sony Ericsson has already rolled out the XPERIA X1 globally, I would have been a bit more excited. After all, that would mean this one’s got a chance to be officially unveiled soon. So far though, what we have is just leaked news that Sony Ericsson is working on the company’s next touchscreen handset codenamed Hikaru.

continue reading "Sony Ericsson Hikaru Touchscreen Phone in the Works"

T-Mobile G1? What G1? Motorola intends to wipe the G1 out of the picture with its own Google Android phone currently in the works. According to BusinessWeek, spec sheets and drawn concepts of the handset have been making their rounds.

continue reading "Details about Motorola’s Android Phone Emerge"

There really must be a sweet tooth in LG for the company to be naming its handsets after sugary treats. Just like the LG Chocolate, the new LG KP500 is slated to be released as the LG Cookie. Cookie?! Yep, I can’t imagine why either.

continue reading "LG KP500 to be Released as the LG Cookie"