Motorola MILESTONE review: Hello Droid (Mobile Phone Review, latest, tech, news, report)

Android devices come from all walks of life but rarely do they carry as much baggage as the MILESTONE. Motorola seem to be betting the farm with the MILESTONE and the warm reception it’s getting must leave them breathing a sigh of relief. Catching the Android wave may’ve seemed like the last available move but a device like the MILESTONE makes turning the tide much more likely.

So, Motorola are back with a bang and the MILESTONE is one of the best spec’d phones to ever run Android. The Google Nexus One is supposed to instill fear in nearly every touchscreen device out there but the Moto Droid must be positioned well enough by now to withstand the attack.

Key features

Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support

10.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support

3.7" 16M-color capacitive touchscreen of WVGA (480x 854 pixel) resolution

Android OS v2.0 with kinetic scrolling and pinch zooming

Slimmest side slider with full QWERTY keyboard yet

Great build quality

ARM Cortex A8 600MHz CPU, PowerVR SGX graphics accelerator; 256 MB of RAM

5 MP autofocus camera with dual-LED flash and geo-tagging

D1 (720 x 480 pixels) video recording @ 24fps

Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS

133MB storage, microSD slot, bundled 8GB card

Accelerometer and proximity sensor

Standard 3.5 mm audio jack

microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1

Main disadvantages

No DivX and XviD video playback

No smart and voice dialing

Somewhat clumsy camera interface and limited camera features

No free GPS navigation solution

No Flash support for the web browser

No FM radio

There’s hardly anything missing on the Motorola MILESTONE spec sheet so we should be ready for an exciting ride. The test-drive got us impressed: at the end of our preview we felt positive about the MILESTONE prospects. So now, the Moto DROID has a full review ahead to build on that good impression.

Considering the rate of its sales, the handset is doing well from a user point of view too. Yet, a short-lived success is just not good enough for Motorola: the company doesn’t have the resources to come up with an equally talented successor as quick as some of the competitors. So, the MILESTONE needs to stick around the top of the sales charts for at least a few months to give Motorola some breathing space.

_____________________
This post is sponsored by:
ASPA Mobile Phone Repair and Unlock
Unit I, No. 1, Hayr Road
Three Kings, Auckland
Tel: (09) 625-2068, Fax: (09) 625-2069
Mobile: 0211138880
Skype: aspamobile
Email: aspamobile@gmail.com

LG GS290 Cookie Fresh (Mobile Phone, PDA, tech, news, report, Auckland)

LG GS290 is the third Cookie following the announcement of its bigger brother - the GS500 Cookie Plus. The new sweetie lowers the camera resolution and lacks 3G, but retains the cartoon UI and standard audio jack.

Last month LG announced two new Cookie handsets - the GS500 Cookie Plus and the GS290, but only revealed the specs of the Cookie Plus. Fortunately LG set that right with the today's proper announcement of the GS290 Cookie Fresh.

The specs sheet resembles the original Cookie, but the camera is downgraded to 2 megapixel resolution and there's a standard 3.5mm jack added. The rest of the features remain intact - 3-inch resistive touchscreen, Bluetooth, FM radio and microSD card slot.

The LG GS290 Cookie Fresh will be available in 10 different colors all over Europe and Asia later this month.
_____________________
This post is sponsored by:
ASPA Mobile Phone Repair and Unlock
Unit I, No. 1, Hayr Road
Three Kings, Auckland
Tel: (09) 625-2068, Fax: (09) 625-2069
Mobile: 0211138880
Skype: aspamobile
Email: aspamobile@gmail.com

Submit url

MWC 2010: LG overview (Mobile Phone, PDA, tech, news, report, repair, unlock)

Now there's an interesting one for you - despite being a platinum sponsor of the MWC 2010, LG aren't among the exhibitors, for … um… cost-saving reasons. They've set up their own booth just outside the Barcelona Fair. Hope it fits their austerity budget.

There were no new announcements on their part, but LG still showcased three devices that they thought were worth attention.

LG GT540

The Android powered LG GT540 was officially announced a while ago by one of their trademark three-specs-are-all-you-need-to-know press releases so its hardware is still very much an enigma.

Nor did they bother to reveal many new specs here either and chose to focus on the social network integration in the LG GT540. OK, access to Facebook on your phone is cool and their approach is pretty neat but we can't see how that's more important than - say - the CPU. But maybe it's just us.

Anyway, the handset runs decently, though nothing spectacular. The occasional lag is there but it won't bother you too much in everyday uge.

However we just couldn't quite get the idea behind the LG GT540 design. We'll say no more. That thing on the photos there is the LG GT540. No, honestly.
_____________________
This post is sponsored by:
ASPA Mobile Phone Repair and Unlock
Unit I, No. 1, Hayr Road
Three Kings, Auckland
Tel: (09) 625-2068, Fax: (09) 625-2069
Mobile: 0211138880
Skype: aspamobile
Email: aspamobile@gmail.com

Google Nexus One review: Firstborn (PDA, Android, tech, news, report, review, "iPhone Repair"

All droids are equal but some droids are more equal than others. Google it. You’ll get the Nexus One. There are around 50 smartphones and tablets running Android today. That’s right, out of all the offspring they fathered with the Open Handset Alliance, Google finally have one to proudly call their own.

What does it mean? Well, not that the ones we’ve seen so far are some poor half-blood droids but the Nexus One is supposed to be THE thing. For one, it’s the first Snapdragon-powered Android and it shows. The Nexus One is wickedly fast. The WVGA touchscreen is a treat to look at and it’s only the second AMOLED display to find on an Android handset. D1 video is sure to sweeten the deal too, and perhaps so will the Live Wallpapers.

Awash in rumors well before launch, the Google Nexus One was officially revealed in January 2010 and it became available right after the unveiling event. Of course, the first units were to sell only in a very limited number of countries (UK, Singapore and Hong Kong).

Anyway Google are to start shipping their Nexus One through various carriers across Europe, starting with Vodafone this spring. That’s about the time when Verizon subscribers will be getting a CDMA version of the device. Google have a phone to sell, so it’s a fair guess they’ll be seeing to it that everyone can have it. Now, will everyone want to? Let’s see.

Key features:

Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support

7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2 Mbps HSUPA support

3.7" 16M-color capacitive AMOLED touchscreen of WVGA (480x 800 pixel) resolution

Android OS v2.1 with kinetic scrolling and pinch zooming

Slim profile and some great build quality

Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 1 GHz processor

512 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM

5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geo-tagging

D1 (720 x 480 pixels) video recording @ 24fps

Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS

microSD slot, bundled with a 4GB card

Accelerometer and proximity sensor

Standard 3.5 mm audio jack

microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1

Trackball navigation

Main disadvantages

No DivX and XviD video playback

No Flash support for the web browser (update is on the way)

No smart and voice dialing

Somewhat clumsy camera interface and limited camera features

No dedicated camera shutter key

Non hot-swappable memory card

No FM radio

The soft keys below the display are somewhat unresponsive

The Google phone has HTC fingerprints all over it. We just had the pleasure of the HTC Desire at the WMC and we quite liked what we saw. There’s no reason to expect less of the Nexus One – quite the contrary in fact, a little bit of nepotism only seems right.

The Google Nexus One won’t come with the HTC Sense of course, but who would’ve expected so! The Android 2.1 novelties will keep you busy enough anyway, but the first thing on everyone’s mind will be: Is there any special Google treatment the Nexus One is getting?

The latest of the Androids is in a way the firstborn, for all the good and the bad of it. It’s all in the name really: a name that will open doors but that carries a certain obligation too.

Will the Nexus One raise above its droid siblings or will it get lost in the crowd? That’s the kind of questions we’ll be trying to answer on the pages to come. You’re welcome to join: let’s see what the Google Nexus One is made of (and packed in, as well). Search Engine Submission - AddMe Search Engine Submission
_____________________
This post is sponsored by:
ASPA Mobile Phone Repair and Unlock
Unit I, No. 1, Hayr Road
Three Kings, Auckland
Tel: (09) 625-2068, Fax: (09) 625-2069
Mobile: 0211138880
Skype: aspamobile
Email: aspamobile@gmail.com

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Pureness review: I see through you (Mobile Phone review, preview, latest)

Luxury phones are having a tough time being unique nowadays. The Sony Ericsson XPERIA Pureness is having a hard time being… luxurious. But that’s no way to start a proper review now, is it?

There we go again then. Rare metals and precious stones are commonplace, but a transparent screen? Now, that’s a first. The Sony Ericsson XPERIA Pureness keeps only the essential phone functions and that explains the Pureness moniker. And just like a proper luxury phone, it comes with a concierge service.
|

You can access the concierge service 24/7 via a phone call or email and have them book you a hotel room, buy tickets for a game or ask for advice. But it’s not just a simple booking service – going through the concierge service has some perks, like free room upgrades in some hotels, discounts (well, well), complementary champagne and so on.

You see, the luxury of owning a Sony Ericsson XPERIA Pureness doesn’t just come from what’s in the phone itself. But since we’re not going to be using the concierge service anytime soon, let’s focus on what the phone has to offer:

Key features:

Quad-band GSM support

3G with HSDPA and HSUPA support

One-of-a-kind transparent greyscale display (1.8", 240 x 320 pixels), scratch-resistant surface

Very lightweight, only 70 grams

FM radio with RDS and TrackID

Bluetooth with A2DP and USB (Fast Port connector)

2 GB internal memory

Smart dialing

Excellent audio quality

Main disadvantages:

Small screen is poor on legibility

Looks cheap and poorly built

Fast Port instead of 3.5 mm audio jack means limited use as a music player

Fast 3G connectivity with HSDPA/HSUPA is only usable for tethering

No camera

Non-removable battery

Internal memory not expandable

A phone with a transparent screen is nothing short of unique. But the display certainly is a liability in terms of actually using the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Pureness. It limits the physical space available inside the phone, leaving Sony Ericsson engineers with very little room to work with.

Plus, the low-resolution greyscale display makes a camera (even just a video call camera) and proper web browsing pointless. This leaves tethering as the only reasonable use for the fast 3G data.

Samsung S8500 Wave preview: First look (Mobile Phone Review, tech, news

Enter a new platform. With a boom. With a bang. A Bada kind of bang. Another of the big guns wants to play by their own rules. Samsung’s second spot in global market share was hard fought but it will be a while before they as much as wish the same for the Bada. They’ve been a consistent innovator over the last couple of years but getting baby Bada up and running must be quite a challenge.

The Samsung S8500 Wave is Bada’s carrier vessel and it certainly looks interesting. It seems to have the right thing to make it newsworthy: slim profile and an absolutely gorgeous screen. But is it enough to make it a success?

Over the past years new touchscreen platforms have been spreading like wildfire but not all of them have managed to catch on as well as their developers must have been hoping. Android fares well but still hasn’t quite overcome its growing pains, while the well settled Symbian platform is still coming to terms with touchscreen.

Update 05 March: We received a second Wave unit after this preview was originally published. The new sample had a properly working camera and comes with the final design of the product (some slight changes). We've updated most of this article to match the more recent device. We've replaced the photos and the screenshots plus we've added new sections on the camera and the preinstalled applications. Have a look around!

Samsung S8500 Wave at a glance:

General:GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 1900/2100 MHz, EDGE class 10, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA 2 Mbps

Form factor:Touchscreen bar

Dimensions:10.9 mm thin

Display:3.3" 16M-color Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with 480 x 800 pixels resolution, scratch-resistant glass surface

Platform: Bada OS

CPU: 1 GHz processor

Memory: 2GB internal memory, microSD card slot

Camera: 5-megapixels auto-focus camera, 720p video recording

Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with WPS support, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack

Misc: Accelerometer for screen auto rotate, proximity sensor for screen auto-turn-off, ambient light sensor, FM radio with RDS, DivX/XviD support, multi-touch input and pinch-zooming gestures

Battery: 1500 mAh battery

The S8500 Wave is among the best spec’d Samsung phones we’ve seen and it seems every aspect of the overall performance will have to pull its weight. Samsung are keen to focus attention on the young Bada OS, and that might as well bear future fruit. However, if the young platform fails to perform as expected, its shortcomings will be harder to forgive.

In the geeks' world 720p video recording and 1 GHz CPU are probably the best remedies for a few usability issues. However they rise the cost of the device and that in turn prevents some people from purchasing it. And in a market where smartphones come in all tastes and flavors you really want to get you device in as many pockets as possible.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves and make hasty conclusions. We’ll hopefully know more about how Samsung will pitch the first Bada phone to the users so let’s waste no more time. Join us after the jump for the hardware inspection.Search Engine Submission