Android fans have been eagerly waiting for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus because it is the first device on the market powered by Android 4.0. Otherwise known as Ice Cream Sandwich, this new version of Android merges the tablet (Honeycomb) and smartphone (Gingerbread) versions of Google’s popular OS into one version that will be used across both types of devices. I was lucky enough to get my hands on this phone for a few days, so let’s take a look at one of Verizon’s latest Android smartphone.

Note: Click the images in this review to see a larger view.

Before I begin, I will mention that I do not live in or very close to an area with 4G LTE coverage. I was only able to test the phone with a 3G connection.

Hardware Specs

OS: Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich
CPU: 1.2GHz Dual-Core Processor
Memory Internal: 32GB
Carrier: Verizon
Network: CDMA/PCS/1xEVDO Rev. A: 800/1900 MHz,LTE: 700 MHz
Data Speed: LTE, EVDO Rev. A
Display: HD Super AMOLED™ 4.65” contoured display, 1280×720 pixels
Rear-facing Camera: 5.0 MP
Front-facing Camera: 1.3 MP
Bluetooth
WiFi
Battery: Lithium Ion, 1850mAh
Battery Standby 150 hours (6.25 days), Talk Time (hours) Up to 12 hours
Dimensions: 5.33” x 2.67” x 0.37” inches
Weight: 5.1 ounces

As you can see from the image above, the Nexus is a big boy when you compare it to an iPhone 4S. Although it is a large device, it doesn’t feel or look out of place when used as a phone.

The Nexus has a gorgeous 1280×720 resolution display that is bright and crisp. It has vivid colors but isn’t cartoonish like other Samsung Android phones that we’ve seen in the past. The 4.65 inch display takes up almost the entire front surface of the phone. A strip at the bottom of the display is devoted to 3 (and sometimes 4) touch sensitive buttons. From Left to Right, the buttons are Back, Home and Task Switcher. When appropriate, a 4th button will appear on the Right that has three small vertical square blocks. This is the Menu button.

While the phone is in idle with the display turned off, there is a status LED that will slowly pulse when there’s a new email, text message or you’ve missed a call.

Above the display is the front facing camera.

The back of the Nexus has the camera lens and LED flash. It’s a little disappointing that Samsung opted to use a 5mp camera instead of an 8mp camera which seems to be the norm these days. That said, the camera captures decent pics and is crazy fast with no shutter lag whatsoever.

The back of the phone has a thin piece of flexible plastic that is easily removed to reveal the battery compartment and 4G LTE SIM card slot. In my short time with this phone, I found battery life to typical in that I would need to charge the phone once a day with light to normal use. It’s tough for me to offer concrete data about battery life since I’ve only been using this phone in an area with 3G and absolutely no 4G coverage. In my experience with other smartphones, I would say that the Nexus used power slightly quicker than HTC Rezound that I tested last.

You’ll notice that the Nexus does not have a microSD card slot. That’s a bit of a bummer, but the phone does have 32GB of storage, which makes the lack of a flash card slot less painful.

If you look closely at the side of the Nexus, you’ll see that the display is slightly curved. Samsung claims that this will make the phone more comfortable against your cheek when you’re on a call. Hmmm… I don’t know about you, but I’ve never noticed my flat phones as being uncomfortable against my face.

The Left side of the phone has the volume rocker button which has good tactile feedback and sticks up high enough that your thumb tip can easily find it when you’re on a phone call.

On the opposite side you’ll find the Power button and electrical contacts for an optional dock.

On the bottom edge is a micro USB connector for charging and connecting to your computer. You’ll also find the microphone and headphone jack.

I had a rude awakening when I plugged the Nexus into my iMac to transfer some files and found that the phone does not support the USB mass storage feature that I’ve been accustomed to using with every Android phone that I’ve owned over the years. At first I thought it was Android 4.0′s fault because it uses the MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) file transfer standard which is plug and play compatible with Windows machines, but not OS X machines.

In order to transfer files to and from the Nexus with my iMac, I had to install a special file manager app. Bleh! After a bit of research, I came to learn that it’s not exactly Android 4.0′s fault. Other 4.0 devices will support USB mass storage. The reason that the Galaxy Nexus does not support USB mass storage is because it does not include a microSD slot. As long as an Android 4.0 device has a removable flash card, it will support USB mass storage.

In hand, the Galaxy Nexus is comfortable to hold due to the rounded sides. Although the phone is light weight, it is solid and easily passes my patent pending gadgeteer squeeze test with no flexing, creaking or cracking. It’s a big phone though, so it’s not really pocket friendly.

Performance wise, this phone is very snappy. That shouldn’t come as a surprise since one of the best things about the Nexus is that it hasn’t been “polluted” with a lot of carrier bloatware and interface special sauce like HTC’s Sense and Motorola Blur.

Let’s take a look at a few of the new features that Android 4.0 offers.

The default lock screen isn’t too different, but you do have the option to use the front facing camera and your own face to unlock the phone. It’s kind of fun to play with and worked well for me. It falls back to a pattern matching unlock screen if the stored face isn’t recognized.

The app view scrolls left to right instead of up and down. In the image above you can see all the stock apps.

Here is the 2nd page of apps minus the Tiny Tower and Where’s My Water games that I installed. There are only two apps that have been added by Verizon and if you don’t want to see them you can actually disable them. Disabling does NOT uninstall them though, it just removes them from the app view. But, I was happy to see that Android 4.0 offers easier app removal now. Instead of having to go into the settings/applications area to uninstall an app, you can just tap and hold the icon for the uninstall option.

Also added to the app view are your available widgets. You can scroll through them just like you can your apps.

There is also a button in the top right corner for quick access to the App Market.

Here we see the dialer interface.

Your favorites dialing screen reminds me of the Windows 7 phone interface.

I didn’t have any issues using the Galaxy Nexus to make and receive calls. I’ve read that it can have problems with 3G connectivity, but I didn’t find that to be the case during the time I’ve been using the phone. In my area, 3G coverage is very good, so I rarely experience problems with dropped calls and the Nexus was no different in that regard. Call audio was clear and volume was very good even when I made calls from my basement with only 1 bar signal strength.

Browsing the web on the Nexus is a joy. My iPhone feels pretty cramped after using the Nexus! The browser feels pretty snappy too… even under 3G.

Another cool feature that I haven’t been able to test because I don’t know anyone else with a Nexus is the new Beam feature.  It will let you easily share contacts, websites, apps, maps, directions and YouTube videos with other people close by. The phone has NFC (near field communication) and when held near another NFC enabled Android 4.0 phone you can touch to beam and share. It kind of reminds me of the good old days when you could beam contacts and even apps back and forth to Palm OS devices.

All in all, I like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus quite a bit. If I were in the market for an Android phone right now, it would be the one I would probably buy even though it lacks a microSD card and I would have to deal with the annoying lack of the USB mass storage feature. Except for those 2 things, I love the huge display, snappy performance and quick camera. It’s definitely the phone to have right now due to the latest version of the OS and pure Android goodness.

Filed in categories: Android related, Featured Items, Reviews

Tagged: Android, Smartphone

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Smartphone Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 13, 2012 at 11:00 am.

Sick of smartphone stands that are made for a specific phone only (like only an iPhone ) ? Sick of smartphone stands that don’t work once you put a cover or a case on to protect your baby?

The Oona is a collaboration by 3 guys out of the Bay Area that consists of a base, a stand and 2 suction cups.  This allows you to use it in a stand configuration (as above), as a suction-mount to mount onto a window or other smooth surface, and even as a tripod attachment. It will work on any phone, with or without case, up to about  225g (9oz) with a smooth back surface (even a Blackberry ).

Available direct from Oona for $29.95 plus postage.

Filed in categories: Miscellaneous, News

Tagged: Smartphone, Stand

The Oona Smartphone Stand – a Sticky Solution originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 17, 2011 at 12:00 pm.

When it comes to Android powered smartphones, it seems like there is a new phone released every month or so. At this point, there isn’t a lot that can be added to a smartphone to make it different than every other smartphone on the market. There are only so many cores you can add to the processor to make it faster, so much memory you can add for apps, and so many megapixels you can add for better pictures. The HTC Rezound from Verizon Wireless finds another way to stand out by offering a better audio experience with their Beats Audio technology and included Monster Beats Audio headphones. Let’s see if it improves your music listening experience while still performing well as a phone.

Note: Click the images in this review to see a larger view.

Hardware Specs

Operating System: Android Gingerbread + HTC Sense
Processor: Qualcomm® MSM8660 1.5 GHz, Qualcomm MDM9600
Internal memory: 16 GB onboard memory, 1 GB DDR2 RAM
Network: LTE 700MHz (band 13); CDMA 800/1900MHz
Display: 4.3″ super LCD screen, 1280 x 720, HD 720p
Memory card: 16 GB microSD™ pre-installed
Camera: 8 MP with auto focus, f/2.2, 28mm wide-angle lens, 2 x LED flash; 2 MP front-facing camera, 1080p video recorder
Bluetooth v3.0
Battery: Rechargeable lithium–ion battery 1620 mAh Usage: 404 minutes (typical), Standby: 261 hours (typical)
Dimensions: 5.08” x 2.58” x .54”
Weight: 6oz

Package Contents

HTC Rezound smartphone
Monster Beats Audio headphones with 5 different sized ear tips
Headphones pouch
AC adapter with USB micro cable

Let me start out by comparing the HTC Rezound to an iPhone 4S so you can get an idea of how large it is. This phone is a handful, but it’s not uncomfortable to hold or use as a phone. It’s about the same size as my original Motorola Droid X, so it’s not crazy huge… The back is nicely rounded, so it feels good in your hand.

The Rezound has a large 4.3 inch capacitive display with no physical buttons on the face of the device. At the top there is a status LED and the front facing 2MP camera.

The display is gorgeous without looking cartoony like Samsung phones. With 1280 x 720 pixels, this is the first 720p phone.

Below the display are 4 touch sensitive buttons for Home, Menu, Back and Search. These touch buttons have a red backlight when you’re in a dim area, and they have haptic feedback, which will cause the device to vibrate when touched. This is a setting that can be turned off if desired. I always turn off the haptic feedback on my devices because I fear that it negatively affects battery life. I’m not sure how much it really does though…

The back of the phone has the 8MP camera lens and dual LED flash.

The soft touch plastic cover is easily removed to access the battery compartment and 16GB microSD card which is included with the phone.

Removing the 1620 mAh battery reveals the 4G LTE SIM card. Since 4G has not yet made it to bustling metropolis of Columbus, Indiana, I have not been able to test 4G performance with this phone. Of course, it works just fine on 3G too.

The left side has the charge port which looks like a proprietary connector, but it’s really an ordinary micro USB connector.

The opposite side has a volume rocker switch. This switch is narrow and flush with the casing and has very little tactile feedback.

The same goes for the power switch on the top of the phone. 50% of the time I have to press this button 2 times for it to turn the device on or off because I either pressed in the wrong area or not hard enough. Grrr…

I love the large bright crystal clear display on this phone, but the rest of the physical design is nothing special in my opinion. It doesn’t look much different than other Android smartphones currently available. Black shiny plastic. Yay… But it feels solid and doesn’t have any issues with flexing or cracking when I try to crush it in my super human gadgeteer grip of steel, otherwise known as the gadgeteer squeeze test.

Camera

If you read The Gadgeteer, you will know that I’m a big fan of the iPhone’s camera. It’s one of the biggest reasons why I switched back to the iPhone from the Droid X months ago. Well guess what? I am really impressed by the HTC Rezound’s camera!

The camera app has a lot of features including a collection of effects that are applied in real time so that you can see what you’re going to get before you snap the picture. Unfortunately the screen capture feature doesn’t show this.

Here are a few sample images:

The camera actually captures better macro shots than the iPhone and can focus at a slightly closer distance. Dim shots do seem to have a bit of a yellow cast though. But all in all, this phone has a really nice 8MP camera.

Music

The main selling point for the Rezound is the special Beats Audio technology that enhances audio through the included Monster Beats earbuds.

If you use the included Monster Beats earbuds, you will a notice significant boost in bass and over-all fullness of the sound. If you’re not a big fan of in-ear type earbuds (like me), you’ll be happy to know that using your favorite buds will also sound great.

I listened to the same song on a Motorola Droid X and the HTC Rezound with stock Apple earbuds (don’t kill me…) and the Monster Beats earbuds. The Rezound with the Monster Beats earbuds sounded great and very good with the Apple earbuds, too. The Droid X sounded anemic in comparison, even with the Monster Beats earbuds. Whatever special sauce has been added with the Beats Technology, is a great improvement.

Included Software and other HTC Sense Interface Goodies

The Rezound includes HTC’s ever popular Sense UI enhancements.

Some of the extras includes cool lock screen styles. The default is shown above. To unlock, you just push the ring at the bottom of the display upwards. But, if you want to unlock the phone and go right into your favorite app, you can drag the icon into the ring. Nifty.

The notification screen has a horizontal scrolling bar with apps recently opened so that you can access them easily. There’s also a quick-settings tab that can be accessed from this screen too, which is a nice touch.

The app view has some nice touches as well. There are buttons at the bottom to access frequent apps, your downloaded apps, and Verizon’s own apps.

The animated weather app, which is powered by Accuweather.com, has a nice helping of eye candy.

Also included are a handy task manager task killer, Footprints, Hot Pursuit racing game (demo), Let’s Golf 2 golf game (demo), Polaris Office (Microsoft Excel and Word document editor), Scan barcode scanner / price checker app, and Slacker Radio music streaming app.

But can it make phone calls?

Do people still use their smartphones to call people these days? If you prefer talking over texting, the Rezound has no problems making and receiving calls… at least on the 3G network which I tested.

One cool feature that I like is that you can use the number pad to either enter part of a phone number or use it to spell the first or last name of someone you want to call. As you type on the number pad, your list of contacts will filter based on matches.

Of the handful of calls that I placed, they sounded clear on both sides of the connection and I had no problems with reception or dropped calls and was very happy with the audio quality / volume.

Battery Life

Since I’m not in an area with 4G reception of any kind, my experiences with battery life probably aren’t very useful. All I can say is that with normal use of a few calls, some video recording, text messages, some game play, music listening through headphones and surfing, I’m getting 1-2 days between charges. It doesn’t seem better or worse than what I remembered of my Droid X. Charging often is just a tradeoff that we have to deal with when we use smartphones.

Conclusion

I didn’t think I’d care all that much about the HTC Rezound, but I am surprised at just how much I like it and wish I didn’t have to return it to my Verizon rep. My two favorite things about it are the display and the camera. Better audio through headphones is a plus too. If I were looking to switch back to Android from my iPhone, I would definitely consider this phone. Go check it out at your local Verzion store and let me know what you think of it.

Filed in categories: Android related, Reviews

Tagged: Android, Smartphone

Verizon HTC Rezound Smartphone Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 12, 2011 at 11:00 am.

When Motorola burst onto the Android scene with the original Droid (a.k.a. Milestone), the company quickly ramped up to one of the more noteworthy smartphone makers. Then, over the course of a couple of years, their reputation dropped as their phones became less and less innovative, and less and less competitive against the likes of Samsung.

A bright spot was the 2011 CES, where Motorola’s booth, with the Xoom, the Atrix, and the Droid Bionic, was among the stars of the show. But, production delays for the Bionic, lackluster performance by the Xoom, and mediocre sales of the Atrix all undercut Moto’s momentum.

That downward trend could just very well be cut short with the resurrection of one of Motorola’s most hallowed of product brands: the Razr.

If you weren’t hiding under a rock between 2003 and 2007, you probably saw more Motorola Razr clamshell-style feature phones than any other mobile device, at least in the U.S. It was, by any metric, a blockbuster product line. With the release of the Droid Razr, Motorola is quite obviously trying to capitalize on that brand recognition. But, is the Droid Razr worthy of that name?

HARDWARE

The very first thing you’ll notice about the Droid Razr (hereafter “Razr”) is that it’s thin. Crazy thin. Like, “that can’t be an actual, functioning phone” thin. But, amazingly, it is. Except for the hump at the top, a trademark of the Droid family, the phone is 7.1 mm thick.

In comparison to things you might have around your house, the Razr is about the same thickness as:

• a stack of 4 US quarters
• 3 SD cards
• 6 CD-Rs

In fact, here’s a list of smartphones that are thinner:

Now, with that thinness comes some compromises. The first, and probably the biggest, is the Razr’s non-removable 1780 mAh Li-Ion battery. Yep…the back doesn’t even come off (well, it’s not supposed to, anyway).

Also, the entire phone isn’t 7.1 mm thick. As mentioned, the hump at the top is actually about 12 mm (~1/2 an inch). But, that thickness is excused when you realize it houses the 8MP back camera, LED flash, and speaker on the rear (see below), the headphone jack and micro-USB micro-HDMI ports on top (see below), and the front-facing 1.3MP camera, earphone, LED indicator, and proximity sensor on the front. At least Motorola was smart enough not to require the use of a silly headphone jack dongle like HP did with the Palm Veer.

The Razr sports a 4.3″ qHD (540×960) Super AMOLED Advanced display, which is pretty excellent. It’s not quite as crisp as Samsung’s latest AMOLED displays, but it’s really very close. You have to have pretty great vision to discern the very minor pixelation I was able to notice when looking for it. In daily use, however, I never had a complaint.

However, the Razr has a rather wide bezel on the sides of the display, making the overall package 2.7 inches wide and 5.2 inches tall. This makes for a rather large object in one’s pocket, which can be noticeable even though it’s so thin. But, at just under 4.5 ounces, it’s incredibly light and easy to forget it’s there. Despite that lightness, the Razr feels incredibly sturdy. Perhaps that’s because the back is a structural component and not a flimsy piece of plastic meant to be taken off regularly, or maybe because it’s built with Kevlar and Gorilla Glass. Regardless of the reason, there’s no discernible flex in the phone…it feels rock solid like most of Moto’s stuff does.

Other than the ports mentioned, under a door on the left-hand edge are microSD (16 GB supplied) and LTE SIM card slots. On the right edge are the power button (which is so small and nearly flush as to be difficult to find by feel alone) and an unfortunately tiny volume toggle. All told, the Razr is one amazingly handsome phone. The slight tapering at the top and bottom, along with the semi-exotic materials and incredible thinness, make this a real beauty to behold.

Internally, the user is treated to some top-drawer silicon:  a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 16GB of internal storage (separate from the microSD card), a full 1GB of RAM, and all the typical sensors and wireless connectivity (including Verizon’s so-fast-it’s-silly 4G LTE) you’ve come to expect in a flagship smartphone.

SOFTWARE

As of this writing, the Droid Razr comes with Android Gingerbread 2.3.5, but Motorola has promised vociferously that it will get Ice Cream Sandwich / Android 4.0 at some point. So, it’s future-proof, but how far off that future may be is anyone’s guess.

Motorola has also included its latest suite of UI customizations and value-added apps, which they’re no longer calling by a specific name (e.g., MotoBlur). So, I’ll just refer to it as the Moto UI. Motorola has certainly learned from its past mistakes. Where MotoBlur was a case study in terribleness, the latest Moto UI is very, very functional, if still a little less interesting to look at than HTC’s Sense or Samsung’s TouchWiz UIs.

In fact, the more I used the Razr, the more I started to appreciate the little things Moto is getting right. Many of the customizations they’ve added to the Android OS are compelling and add real value. For example, Moto includes on-board a really good automatic profile manager called “Smart Actions.” Smart Actions lets you set up profiles consisting of time of day, location, events (e.g., getting docked), and so on that, when activated, cause the phone to automatically do something.

The easiest example is the first one I set up:  every night at 9pm, the phone gets turned down to 0% brightness and all ringers and vibration are turned off. Then, at 6am, it gets restored to 50% brightness and max ringer/notification volume + vibration. I could, for example, add a location qualifier to that to say only change the settings if I’m at home, so that’s very cool. Sure, there are lots of 3rd-party apps that do the same thing, but having it already on-board is appreciated.

Another value-added UI enhancement is the ability to discard individual notifications from the notification shade. Stock Android (prior to 4.0) and other OEM UIs all offer only mass-dismissal of notifications, which is pretty silly — sometimes, you’d like to keep just one to get back to later on. With Moto’s UI, you can do that.

Also, unlike HTC, which only shows up to 8 recently-used apps when long-pressing the Home button, the Razr will show you up to 20. Nice. So, in a nutshell, whereas Motorola used to have a real disadvantage when it came to comparing their Android UI modifications to those of Samsung and HTC, I would say it’s no longer much of an issue. Yes, some of the menus are a little bland — the Settings icons are all still monochrome (seriously, Moto, you can’t afford color icons?), for example — but functionally, I’d put the Moto UI up there with any of them.

One piece of software that the Razr offers (along with the Bionic, Droid Atrix, and Photon) is Motorola’s innovative Webtop app. See below for more on that as part of the discussion of the Lapdock 100 laptop-style smartphone dock.

Other than that, Moto and Verizon have pre-loaded the Razr with a metric ton of 3rd-party apps. Amazon Kindle, Blockbuster, GoToMeeting, Let’s Golf 2 Demo, Madden NFL 12 Demo, MotoACTV, MotoPRINT, My Verizon, Netflix, NFL Mobile, Pandora, QuickOffice, Slacker, VCAST, and many other apps constitute a considerable “bloatware” load on the Razr. Sure, some of these are things I’d otherwise download, but I’d prefer most of them not being there to begin with.

USABILITY

For me, apart from app availability (not an issue on Android), four factors determine a phone’s usability: size, speed, stability, and battery life. I’ve discussed the size and, unless you wear pants with tiny pockets, it’s largely a non-issue.

Regarding speed, this phone feels VERY fast. I never once noticed anything I’d call significant hesitation or lagginess. The TI OMAP 4430 that runs the apps and the 300mhz PowerVR SGX 540, which pushes the pixels, combine to provide a really smooth experience. Rendering is fast, scrolling is fast, and downloading is fast, especially when doing so via Verizon’s 4G LTE (where I often see download speeds in excess of 15 mbps).

Stability has been excellent…in the short time I’ve used the phone (about a week), I’ve not had a single reset, force close, or other noteworthy hiccup.

Finally, battery life. With a non-removable battery, you have to wonder if this will be the issue that sours the whole thing. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised at how good it is. A couple of times, I’ve gone a full 24 hours on a single charge in a Wi-Fi environment. Plus, it seems that Verizon has gotten its 4G power settings tweaked, as I was able to get a full day’s use on cellular/LTE every day I had the phone outside of Wi-Fi environments. So, all told, unless I was in an area with no Wi-Fi and really poor cellular reception, I’d trust the Razr to make it through a day without any trouble. Of course, YMMV.

WEBTOP & THE LAPDOCK 100

Like I discussed in my review of the Motorola Droid Bionic and HD Dock, the Webtop concept really appeals to me. I love the concept of being able to take my desktop work state with me inside my phone between sit-down computing sessions.

The Razr has two Webtop accessories available for it: the HD Dock (which hooks up to a TV or monitor via HDMI) and the Lapdock 100, a laptop-style portable keyboard dock (shown above). The Lapdock 100 costs ~$250 and consists of a 1366×768 display, a QWERTY keyboard, an extra battery, and a cable to connect the phone.

Below is my video review of the Lapdock 100.

SUMMARY

The Motorola Droid Razr on Verizon is a powerful, compelling, beautiful package with hardly any significant trade-offs. If a Verizon customer was wanting a top-drawer smartphone, he could do much, much worse than by picking up a Razr. Even at the premium price of $300, I would have no hesitation at all about recommending it to friends and family.

The Lapdock 100, however, is not quite as excellent. It’s a little too thick and heavy for what it does, and does slowly. But, for less than what a typical netbook costs, it might make a decent backup device for someone who’s constantly running between locations. I could see a student using it to take notes in class, for example.

Filed in categories: Android related, Reviews

Tagged: Android, Smartphone

Verizon Motorola Droid Razr and Lapdock 100 Combo Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 5, 2011 at 11:00 am.

HTC’s latest 4G Android smartphone is the HTC Rezound, which includes special multimedia features like Beats Audio Technology that offers enhanced bass, clarity and midrange audio that you can enjoy through the included pair of Beats headphones.

The 4.3-inch true HD 720p super LCD display will allow you to enjoy movies using the HTC Watch app which uses progressive download technology to watch videos without waiting for them to finish downloading.

The HTC Rezound will be available beginning Nov. 14 at Verizon Wireless and at Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement. Full press release after the jump.

HTC AND VERIZON WIRELESS UNVEIL HTC REZOUND™, FIRST SMARTPHONE IN THE U.S. TO FEATURE BEATS AUDIO™

HTC Rezound breaks new ground with introduction of advanced audio and high-definition visual experience

New York City – November 3, 2011 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of mobile devices, and Verizon Wireless today announced the HTC Rezound™, the only phone in the United States with Beats Audio™ integration. A result of the recent partnership between HTC and Beats, the HTC Rezound delivers a powerful entertainment experience with unparalleled audio and multimedia capabilities highlighted by a 4.3-inch true HD 720p display. The HTC Rezound, a premium designed smartphone that includes the latest HTC Sense experience and access to Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network, will be available exclusively from Verizon Wireless on Nov. 14.

“HTC is dedicated to delivering the latest in sight and sound innovation and we’re excited to be introducing the first U.S. smartphone featuring Beats Audio technology,” said Peter Chou, CEO, HTC Corporation. “Paired with Verizon Wireless’ blazing-fast 4G LTE network and a robust multimedia experience, the HTC Rezound enables customers to enjoy their favorite music and entertainment on-the-go like never before.”

The HTC Rezound enables customers to hear music the way the artist intended with unique audio tuning by Beats that delivers thundering bass, soaring midrange and crisp highs. Unique to HTC, the HTC Rezound also includes new lightweight Beats headphones, created exclusively to integrate with the Beats’ audio profile on the device.  Hands-free calling is easy with the built-in microphone and the on-cable remote to pause, advance or rewind and answer a call mid-track.

“HTC fully recognizes the destruction to audio caused by the digital revolution. They embrace our vision to repair this ecosystem and bring the feeling from the recording studio to the smartphone,“ said Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Beats By Dr. Dre. “This is only the beginning of our plan to fix how music is delivered.”

Lightning-fast mobile entertainment

The HTC Rezound is the first HTC smartphone to feature a true HD 720p display and is perfect for enjoying high-quality entertainment on the 4.3-inch super LCD screen. HTC Watch puts an entire library of the latest premium movies and TV shows right at your fingertips. Using a wireless connection, HTC Watch uses progressive download technology on the HTC Rezound which makes it possible to watch videos without waiting for them to finish downloading. Customers can rent or purchase videos through HTC Watch and enjoy content on up to five different HTC devices. The HTC Rezound features Mobile High Definition Link (MHL) connectivity, so customers can watch content from the device on an HDTV, including 5.1 surround sound and SRS WOW™ HD surround to take advantage of a home theater setup. Equipped with a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, the HTC Rezound offers a speedy mobile experience even for the most demanding media enthusiast.

“HTC Rezound combines sleek design, innovative entertainment features and the power of Verizon Wireless’ network to create a multi-media phone that consumers have been waiting for,” said Jeff Dietel, vice president of marketing for Verizon Wireless.  “4G LTE speeds take mobile entertainment to a new level, providing customers with advanced functionality in a phone they can count on for everyday use.”

Advanced multimedia features

The HTC Rezound boasts an 8-megapixel camera featuring autofocus, dual LED flash, a f/2.2 and 28mm wide-angle lens with BSI sensor to fit more of the scene into every shot and for better low-light performance. The enhanced camera features available through HTC Sense offer new scenes and effects such as panoramic mode for capturing life on a grand scale or action burst scene for the perfect action shot.

For self-portraits or video conversations, the HTC Rezound also features a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. With a 1080p camcorder, the HTC Rezound enables customers to record a perfect moment with stunning clarity and incredible stereo sound, perfect for sharing on YouTube or Facebook. Customers can also wirelessly send their media to a compatible TV for looking at videos or pictures with friends and family using Digital Living Network Alliance® (DLNA).

HTC Sense

Featuring the latest version of HTC Sense, the HTC Rezound enables people to create a unique and intuitive user experience that matches their personal preference and lifestyle.  A customizable active lockscreen experience transforms the lockscreen into a real-time window to the most important information and content, such as social updates, photos, weather or stock updates that are viewed by simply turning on the display.  In addition, the new active lockscreen becomes a customizable gateway that lets people quickly jump to the most used features, like making a phone call, sending an email, taking a picture or anything else with the same quick gesture usually used to unlock the phone.

HTC Sense also delivers a new group messaging experience simplifying group and multimedia messaging so people can stay up-to-date on the latest conversations quickly and easily. People can view recent status updates from popular social networks in one place using FriendStream™, as well as sync their contact list with all email accounts and social networks for smooth integration.

“HTC and Beats have been important partners to Best Buy over the years and we are thrilled to help them bring the HTC Rezound on the Verizon Wireless network to consumers,” said Scott Anderson, head of merchandising for Best Buy Mobile. “This is going to be a big holiday for smartphones and people will be looking for new and different features. The HTC Rezound, with HTC’s mobile expertise and audio excellence from Beats, will be a great option for our customers.”

Additional features

• Mobile Hotspot capability: share 4G connection with up to ten Wi-Fi-enabled devices
• Operating System: Android 2.3™ (Gingerbread) with latest HTC Sense – An upgrade to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) will available in early 2012
• Internal Memory: 16 GB on-board memory, 1 GB DDR2 RAM
• Memory Card: 16 GB MicroSD™ pre-installed
• Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth®: 3.0 – support for headset, hands-free, stereo, phonebook access and object push for vCard and vCalendar
• GPS: GPS/AGPS
• Battery: 1,620 mAh
• Special Features: HDMI (through MHL), G-sensor, Light sensor, Compass, Proximity sensor, MicroUSB, USIM/CSIM/ISIM, audio jack and Wireless Charging capable
• Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM8660 1.5GHz, Qualcomm® MDM9600
• Dimensions: 129 x 65.5 x 13.65 mm

Availability

The HTC Rezound will be available beginning Nov. 14 at Verizon Wireless and at Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement. Customers who purchase the HTC Rezound will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan beginning at $39.99 for monthly access and a smartphone data package starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data. Customers can visit www.verizonwireless.com/Rezound to sign up for more information.

About HTC
HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry. By putting people at the center of everything it does, HTC creates innovative devices that better serve the lives and needs of individuals. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.

About Beats Electronics LLC

Established in 2006, Beats Electronics is the brainchild of legendary artist and producer Dr. Dre and Chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records Jimmy Iovine, who set out to develop a new type of headphone with the capability to reproduce the full spectrum of sound that musical artists and producers hear in professional recording studios. For more information, please visit http://beatsbydre.com.

About Verizon Wireless 
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s largest 4G LTE network and largest, most reliable 3G network. The company serves 107.7 million total wireless connections, including 90.7 million retail customers.  Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with nearly 83,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD).  For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

Filed in categories: Android related, News

Tagged: Android, Smartphone

HTC Announces the HTC Rezound, the First Phone in the U.S. to Feature Beats Technology originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 6, 2011 at 9:23 pm.

The GiqueGEAR Smart Station is designed to act as a protective holster, a wallet replacement, and a workstation or stand for your smartphone. It claims to be “the ultimate home for your Android smartphone.”  As a local company, GiqueGear (pronounced ‘geek gear’, I think) already has a special place in my heart, but the claim of ‘ultimate home’ for my Samsung Epic? That will take a pretty special case.

The SmartStation’s main claim to fame is that it is a fully protective case that also works as a portrait or landscape stand for your phone.

SmartStation- front (also available with the Android logo)

SmartStation- back, showing the belt strap

As a case, it offers a lot of value. The materials and workmanship are very good. It is nicely padded and lined with a soft fabric. The full double zipper is backed up by a Velcro tab which also serves as a belt strap. Being a universal case, it is a bit over-sized and clunky, but not terribly so. It features two big pockets so it can serve as a wallet as well. The case offers excellent protection from drops, smacks, impacts, etc.

The main thing that bugged me as a case is the ‘belt and suspenders’ overkill of the zipper and the Velcro tab. It made it a bit more awkward to get to the phone when it is on your belt. The phone sits rather loosely in the case, so a moment of fumbling at the belt and it could end up on the ground without any protection.

I must also admit that as much as I like the flaming head logo, I would like to see a ‘professional edition’ with either no logo or a much reduced logo available. I cannot picture myself rocking this sort of image at work, and in all honesty, the alternative Android logo is not much better.

SmartStation- inside

Cases like this are thick on the ground in the cell phone world. What makes this case special is the work station element. Flip the belt strap and Velcro tab around and the case becomes an easel.

SmartStation as a work station

You place your phone in the front of the stand (held by a little mesh sling at the bottom) for a portrait stand, or on the back side against the ‘leg for landscape mode. Note the ‘speed bump’ on the bottom edge.

SmartStation- phone in portrait mode

SmartStation- phone in landscape mode

I found that in either position, it was usually a good angle, and did not interfere with my phone’s charger/sync cable (which comes out of the top). The phone stays in place well, even when you tap on the screen.

The few downsides I found, other than the case issues mentioned above, are that the Velcro tab that holds the case closed bugged me in this configuration as well- you can see it up there just sticking out. I also felt as though with a little modification, the phone could be positioned in either landscape or portrait mode on the leg.

Overall, the GiqueGear SmartStation case is a great value at $24.95. Well-made, good-looking, protective, and functional.

Filed in categories: Android related, Blackberry related, iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews

Tagged: Case, Generic PDA related, holster, Smartphone, Stand, workstation

GiqueGEAR Smart Station Holster/Stand Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 2, 2011 at 11:00 am.

When you want to use your smartphone or tablet hands free, you really need some sort of stand for it. Just like cases, there are a wide variety of device stands on the market. Today I want to show you the FoneStand. It’s an inexpensive plastic stand that can be used for iPhones, Android phones and many different tablets. Note: Click the images in this review to see a larger view.

The FoneStand is a sturdy plastic stand that is available in Black or White. It has a nice wide base that is 3.25 inches across.

The back of the stand has a large grippy rubber pad that keeps your device from sliding around.

There’s also an opening in the base that you could use to route a charging cable.

The FoneStand has 4 feet that are also really grippy and keep it from sliding around on your desk or other flat surface.

I tried my iPhone 4S with the FoneStand and found it to work perfectly in both portrait orientation…

and landscape orientation. It can even accommodate the iPhone when it’s in a case.

I found that the FoneStand also works well with the iPad as long as it’s in landscape orientation. If you try to place the iPad in portrait orientation, it will tip over too easily.

There isn’t much I can really criticize about the FoneStand. It’s sturdy, has a nice wide base that doesn’t slide around, a grippy back that keeps devices from sliding around and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.

The only feature I wish this stand had is the ability to fold up so that I could easily carry it around with me in my gear bag. That said, I think it will earn a spot on my desk either at home or work.

Do you use a stand for your smartphone or tablet? If so, which one do you prefer?

Filed in categories: Android related, iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews, Tablet Computers and Gear

Tagged: Smartphone, Stand, Tablet

FoneStand Smartphone and Tablet Stand Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 30, 2011 at 5:08 pm.

New Zealand’s Nutshell Corporation makes a series of cases for handheld devices called “Tuff-as-Nuts”. Gadgeteer Mike Reigel verified that the name was appropriate back in 2003. They combine that reputation with an interesting fastener in a tough wallet case for your smartphone.

The main body of the case is a nice piece of gorgeous leather with a rich but subtle smell. The inside is a soft fabric that is Velcro compatible. There is a magnetic tab, and pockets on the opposite side for bills, cards, etc. The logo and other info is embossed on the pockets and does not appear anywhere outside.

Wallet case, with my phone inside

Wallet with my phone inside, showing pockets and logo

The big difference in this case is a ‘Micro-fine Velcro Pad’. This interesting stuff features a self-adhesive pad of the ‘hook side’ that is dang near flat! The barely there hooks snag securely into the soft fabric lining the case- it almost looks like magic! Try as I might, I could not really do justice to it with a photo.

Micro-fine Velcro Pads (2 included)

This pad barely adds anything to the back of the phone- even as a pocket-carryin’ guy, the pad rarely caught or interfered, or even felt odd at any time. Yet, it holds very securely in the case. I like this stuff well enough that I am searching for a source for some of my own projects. (I believe it is this stuff- Velcro Ultra Mate.)

OK, so… tough- check. Good looking- check. Interesting element with the thin Velcro- check. How is it in use?

Obviously my experience with the Samsung Epic will be different than your experience with your phone, but I found this wallet to be a bit chunky.

Wallet in use, end view- note the angle of the magnetic tab

My phone is thick enough that the magnetic tab does not lay flat on the cover. If I press down by the tab…

POP! The tab just pops off. It would be fine with a thinner phone, but the Epic is just pushes the boundaries a bit. In fact, I dislike how the Epic fits in most cases- it is already a tad thick and the case just makes it worse.

Beside this rather minor issue (even with the so-so fit, it still works fine), this is a terrific case- well-made, protective, and incredibly durable… although whether it is worth $59.95 is up to you.

Filed in categories: Android related, Blackberry related, iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews, Wallets

Tagged: Case, Generic PDA related, Other PDA related, Palm OS related, Smartphone, Wallet

Nutshell Smartphone Wallet Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 17, 2011 at 11:30 am.

I’m a big fan of the iPhone’s camera. All things considered, it takes really good shots. But I’m all for making it even better, so I was happy to take a look at the Wide & Macro Lens Set from Focalprice when they offered to send one for review.

Note: Click the images in this review to see a larger view.

Package Contents

Wide angle / macro lens
Lens cover
2 stick on magnetic rings
Metal lens cover

The lens in this set has two parts that unscrew. The smaller lens is the for macro shots and the larger one is for wide angle shots.

The lens has a magnetic mount and comes with two stick on metal rings that can be attached to your phone. Although Focalprice sells this set as an iPhone lens set, it can be used with any phone that has a flat back and the ability to stick on the metal ring.

I didn’t end up sticking the metal ring on my iPhone 4 to do this review. Why? Check out the image above. The metal ring is just sitting on the back of the iPhone…

If I were actually to stick it on, you can see that the ring covers the LED flash. Oops… this is probably a deal breaker for most people. I know it would be for me.

I was still able to review this lens because by chance, I am reviewing another lens and it happens to come with a special case that has a built in magnetic ring… I know that won’t be any help if you buy this particular product, but here are some sample images to show what it can do…

Wide Angle

Here’s a shot of my car (it needs a bath!) without the lens attached to my phone.

And here is my car using the wide angle lens. I took both pictures from the same distance.

Macro

Picture of tree bark taken without the lens attached.

Close up on the same bark with the macro lens.

Image of a penny taken without the lens.

Same penny with the macro lens.

The wide angle shots that this lens can capture aren’t as impressive as the macro shots. I’ll admit that I took only a few wide angle shots while conducting my review. I focused mostly on macro shots. It’s funny that I said “focused”… because with the macro lens attached, you can’t really use the iPhone’s built in tap focus feature. You have to actually move the whole phone closer your subject till it comes in focus on the phone’s display. This is kind of hard to do and almost impossible if you’re trying to take a macro shot of a moving object like a flower slightly swaying in the breeze.

This lens set is fun to play with, but that’s about the extent of it. Yes, it can take really good macro shots if you have a steady hand, but the metal ring attachment issue if you’re using this phone with an iPhone 4 makes it an accessory that you’ll probably not purchase in the first place.

Filed in categories: Android related, Digital Cameras and Gear, iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews

Tagged: Camera, iPhone, Smartphone

Focalprice Wide & Macro Lens Set for iPhone Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 26, 2011 at 4:31 pm.

Archos will begin selling their 35 Smart Home Phone with Android at the end of September.  This DECT phone will be compatible with any ADSL box or phone line.  You’ll be able to share your contacts, MP3 ringtones, and caller photo displays on your Android mobile smartphone with this Android home phone.  The 35 Smart Home Phone can also run Android apps, and it has a front-facing webcam that can be used to make video calls to a PC or Android smartphone.  The front-facing camera can also be used as a baby monitor or for video surveillance.  The 35 Smart Home Phone should sell for about $159.  Read the full press release here.

Filed in categories: Android related, Home Tech, News

Tagged: Android, Phone, Smartphone

You’ve Got a Smartphone in Your Pocket, Why Not Have One at Home? originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 13, 2011 at 10:30 am.

Do you ever pine for the days when you didn’t have to charge your phone every day, or when you didn’t have to have some sort of degree to operate some of the functions, or that your phone didn’t have all those functions that you’ll never use  ? Do your kids annoy you with their constant texting and terrible ringtones ? Well this just might be the answer.

This unlocked quad band phone has a single ringtone with three different volume levels, a single line display and 10 speed dials. Of course if you have more contacts than that, there’s an additional contacts book. Yep, turn the phone over and there’s a contacts notebook under the cover complete with stylus pen. Fill it with as many contacts as you want, include pictures, notes or anything and you can even use this function when the phone’s switch off. Battery life is quoted as 3 weeks on standby.  No camera, no texting, no data connection, no frills.

Make calls, take calls, what more do you really want? Check it out at John’s Phones approx: $120

Filed in categories: Miscellaneous, News

Tagged: Smartphone

John’s Anti Smart Phone originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 17, 2011 at 9:00 am.

I’ve been using the same smartphone for 6 months now. I like the Motorola Droid X quite a bit, but we gadgeteers all know what it’s like to use the same device for more than a … month. We get bored and are ready for something new – right? I’ve reviewed a few different phones since the Droid X, but none that have caused me to seriously consider an upgrade. Verizon recently sent me the HTC ThunderBolt for a very short term loan. The first time I turned it on, I was very enamored with the gorgeous display and Sense UI. It had me thinking that this phone might be the worth ditching my Droid X for. Unfortunately, I have only been able to test this phone for about 4 days, so this is going to be more of a first look post. If we cross our fingers, Bryan Sherman might fill in any gaps I l leave with his own review in a few weeks as he’ll be getting one to test too. In the mean time, here we go…

Note: Most of the images in this review can be clicked to see a larger size with more detail.

Hardware Specs

Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM8655, 1GHz, Qualcomm MDM9600
Networks: LTE 700, CDMA EvDO revA
Operating system: Android™ 2.2 + HTC Sense
Display: 4.3” WVGA TFT capacitive touch screen
Camera: 8MP with autofocus, LED Flash (2x LED), 1.3MP front facing camera
Memory: 8GB emmc + 768 RAM Memory card, preinstalled 32 GB microSD™
WLAN: 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth: 2.1 with EDR (3.0 when available)
GPS: GPS/AGPS
Battery: 1400 mAh
Special features: Dual mics with noise cancellation, Surround sound, Compass sensor, G-Sensor, Proximity sensor, Light sensor, 3.5mm audio jack, MicroUSB, FM radio, LTE SIM slot , TI audio DSP
Dimensions: 4.75″ x 2.44″ x 0.56″ inches
Weight: 6.23oz (with standard battery)

The HTC ThunderBolt is very close in size to the Motorola Droid X. It feels slightly heavier in hand though when compared to my Droid X as shown above.

At first glance the ThunderBolt sort of reminds me of a rectangular Nexus One. It has the same gun metal grey shell with a Black bezel around the capacitive touch screen. Below the display are 4 haptic touch buttons for the Home screen, Menu, Back and Search functions. Above the display is the speaker, status LED and the front facing 1.3MP camera.

The back shell has a slightly rubberized texture that resists fingerprints. You’ll notice the 8MP camera lens and dual LED flash. The metal bar at the bottom is a handy flip out kickstand.

This stand is useful for watching hands free video, using the ThunderBolt as a desk clock, etc.

I should also mention that there’s a speaker located under that kickstand…

The Left side of the phone has the mini USB port for charging and data connection to your computer.

The top has the power/wake button, standard sized earphone jack and one of the microphones (there’s another at the bottom edge of the phone).

A large volume switch is located on the Right side of the phone.

If you pop off the back cover, you gain access to the battery and the MicroSD card slot. A 32GB card is included with the phone. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that the largest SD card ever included with a phone? Thanks HTC.

In hand, the ThunderBolt feels pretty substantial. It’s solid and does not flex or crack when squeezed. Giving it a good shake, results in a slight rattle from the power button, but that’s all. So when it comes to the feel of the hardware, I wish it were just a bit lighter weight, but other than that, I like its look and style which is more subdued than flashy.

The Display

The 4.3 inch display is very nice. It’s slightly more vivid than my Droid X, but not quite as vivid as an AMOLED display like the one used with the Samsung Fascinate.

HTC’s ever popular Sense UI adds some pretty nice eye candy features like the combination flip clock / weather widget you see above. The phone also comes with different themes and skins so that you can easily customize your phone without downloading third party stuff.

The capacitive display has just the right sensitivity and responsiveness. Scrolling through the app view is easy and quick.

The HTC ThunderBolt has a couple features I really like. If you look at the image above, you’ll see that I’m in the app view. Notice the buttons at the bottom that will allow me to go right to phone mode? That’s a nice touch. What’s also nice is that the location in the list view is remembered when you go back to the Home screen. By that I mean, that if you scroll halfway down your list of apps in the app view (shown above) and then go back to the Home screen, when you go back to the app view, you’ll be at that same location instead of the very top. I find that to be really handy.

Software

In addition to the standard set of Android apps, there are a few extras worth mentioning:

Flashlight – Uses the dual LEDs on the back with a few brightness settings and an SOS mode.
Bitbop – TV streaming app.
Let’s Golf 2 – Golfing arcade game
Rock Band – Trial version of Rock Band from EA
Peep – Twitter app
Slacker Radio – Like Pandora, only better – in my opinion
TuneWiki – Social media spiced internet radio and video playing app
Stocks – Keep up an eye on your moola
Quickoffice – The full version
Kindle – eBook reader

The Camera

In addition to the nice display and Sense UI, I’ve also been pretty impressed with the built in 8MP camera. It takes nice shots as you can see below.

The only thing missing is a dedicated shutter button. Unfortunately, you have to tap the screen to take a snapshot, which often causes you to move and blur the captured image.

My personal requirement for a good camera is the ability to take great macro shots. The ThunderBolt’s camera exceeded my expectations in that regard.

Let’s not forget that there’s a low resolution camera on the front of this phone too. For some reason Verizon didn’t include Skype so that people could do two-way video calls… I guess you can use the front camera to take pix of yourself. Whee…

Phone and Data Features

Using the ThunderBolt to make and receive phone calls is really no different (other than small graphics / interface changes) than making calls with other Android phones. I found calls to be be clear and with ample volume.

Don’t forget that the ThunderBolt is 4G LTE capable. Unfortunately, my location does not have 4G and probably won’t for a long time… But using 3G, which we do have, seemed on par with the experience I’ve had with my Droid X. No complaints.

There’s a mobile hotspot app that will let you tether the ThunderBolt with up to 8 devices to share the data connection via WiFi. You can use this hotspot feature for free until May 15, 2011. After that time, you’ll have to pay for it.

Battery Life

Unfortunately, I don’t have any data on how long the battery lasts. I haven’t had the phone long enough to really get a good grasp on that. So far it doesn’t seem much different than my Droid X, which means it’s best to carry a charging cable with you.

Overall System Performance

The HTC ThunderBolt feels just as snappy as other 1Ghz devices like the Droid X. Launching applications, scrolling through lists, etc are all quick. No complaints.

Overall Impression

As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, I haven’t had all that much time with this phone. But the time I’ve spent with it, I do like it a lot. At first I thought I’d want to ditch my Droid X and buy one, but the initial infatuation quickly wore off. While I do like this phone, I don’t think it’s a worthy upgrade from my current phone due to the fact that the screen size is the same, the processor is the same speed and the form factor is almost identical. However, if I were shopping for a brand new phone, the HTC ThunderBolt is the one I’d buy. But as it is, I think I’ll hold on to my Droid X till something more exciting comes along.

Filed in categories: Android related, Reviews

Tagged: Android, Smartphone

HTC ThunderBolt Android Smartphone Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 21, 2011 at 11:00 am.

Smartphones are the hottest electronic item as of the last year or so. With the iPhone and the storm of Android devices in the market, it’s almost impossible to ignore. Retailers are loving the traffic, and as long as the manufacturers keep pumping out new handsets people will be handing over their money. Advertisement is directed towards all demographics and encourage you to trade that flip-phone in for something more advanced and cutting edge. Don’t have a lot of money? No problem here are some low-end smartphones that will cost you little to no money (with a 2 year contract). Can not or do not want to sign a 2 year contract, well we have some prepaid smartphones for you as well! Either way, smartphones cost more to have than the average phone in the long run. Whether it’s with the cost for the phone plus the 2 years you will be paying for service with a more expensive data plan and perhaps insurance just in case you crack the screen or it’s stolen, add the potential purchase of applications from the App Store or Market, the carriers definitely want everyone to have a smartphone.  The question is not whether you need a smartphone, because we all know the answer to that. The question is: Why do you think you need a smartphone?

A middle aged man, we will call Arnold, had a basic cellphone for many years and had no desire for anything different. As days, weeks and years went by, he began to hear more and more about the iPhone being such a wonderful device. Finally one of his friends purchased an iPhone and Arnold had a chance to fiddle with it for a while. It was a fun experience and he thought that it was a great little toy, but not for him. Suddenly he began seeing advertisements for something called the Droid, yet he had no idea it was a phone until much later. Another year or so went by, and he began to feel his basic phone was dated and he started to feel embarrassed whenever he had to use it in public because of all the smartphones and their large glowing 3-4 inch screens being poked and prodded all around him. So one day he decided he wanted to get a smartphone. He went online to see what was all the rage. He was quickly overwhelmed with all the choices and complicated  explanations. There seemed to be hundreds of Android phones to choose from, but only one iPhone. He decided he wanted the iPhone, having already played around with it and it seemed like less of a hassle.

After talking with some of his friends about his interest in the iPhone, his friends had Android phones and discouraged him from going to the “locked down” iPhone. He had no idea what they were talking about. But he trusted their judgement and went with the Motorola Droid instead. Initially he felt good about his purchase decision. “No more dumb-phone for me”, he thought. But after the first few days of trying to use it, he wouldn’t admit it, but he was way out of his league and comfort zone. Making phone calls was easy enough and youtube seemed to work fine, but where are those apps that his friends were talking about? How do you erase all the icons on the home screen? How do you import contacts, and so on. Slowly, day after day, Arnold’s phone came less and less out of his pocket. It had become a basic phone to him.  Not because it was basic phone, but because Arnold had no idea what a smartphone really was.

I’m sure most of you know at least one person who bought a smartphone, but use it like a basic phone. Carriers love it. Thats what they want. No one uses their smartphone the same way everyday, but if you have Android, do you know what version you are running? Arnold did not. He still doesn’t know to this day. He doesn’t even know how to check to see which version of Android he is running. Same thing with a young lady who has a HTC EVO, she doesn’t even know how to turn the 4G on! I am in no way saying that just because you bought a high-end smartphone, you should know everything about it. No. Because I have a car, and I can’t tell you much about a lot of things under the hood. But, I do know how to pump the gas, adjust the mirrors and work the wipers and headlights! You know what I mean?

Shouldn’t you know something about what you are getting into before you get into it. I’m sure if Arnold could go back, he would have kept his simple phone. Now, he’s under a 2 year contract, with the most expensive Verizon with a powerful phone that he barely uses.

What about you? Are You a Poser?

Filed in categories: Android related, Articles

Tagged: Android, iPhone, Smartphone

Are you a Poser? originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 3, 2010 at 6:01 pm.

Chances are you have had at least one Nokia phone in your life if you were born sometime before 1990. Fast forward to today, it’s probably a Samsung, Motorola, HTC, RIM or Apple (smartphone). Even if it is from some other brand, I can bet that it is not a Nokia. Why? What happened? Nokia dominates the cellphone market around the world. Except the USA.

Nokia has noticed over the past few years their iron grip isn’t as strong as it was. It is becoming obvious that they are starting to panic. Android the Monster has invaded every land and the beloved iPhone has the minds and hearts of many especially here in the States. Blackberry still has a loyal user base and will not go down without a fight. Microsoft is making what looks to be a come back reminiscent of Michael Jordan’s return to the NBA. Palm has the highly respected WebOS. Where is Nokia? The Big 4 carriers in the U.S. do not carry many if any Nokia phones. The Makers of all the top operating systems are North American companies. The question is: Can you be a dominate force if you have little to no presence in the U.S.?

Nokia’s Market share is dwindling because the competition is better, to put it quite frankly. Even with the release of the new Devices such as the N8, C6 and N9 which look promising, no one will buy them here. Especially at unlocked prices which can be triple the price of something that is better, provided it is bought at the subsidized price from one of the major carriers.

“People tell me: ‘Oh yes, I remember my Nokia device. It was very reliable and very good. I haven’t bought one in a while,”’ Ms. McDowell said. “So I think the opportunity for re-entry is there.”-Mary T. McDowell from Nokia

So they do understand that they are as out of it as Microsoft. Both are looking to get back in the ring. But that’s not possible without the carriers. That is why Nokia has been running an application development contest with the award of 10 million dollars for the top apps! The applications that are developed are to be made specifically for the N8. AT&T are partnered with them in the contest.

“Nokia desperately needs a carrier partner if it wants a successful smartphone in the U.S. and AT&T will soon need some new hot handsets to counteract the likelihood that it will lose its iPhone exclusivity. However, the U.S. market doesn’t generally support the unsubsidized, full-price model found outside of the U.S. so at $549, the N8 won’t attract big sales numbers.” -GigaOm

Will AT&T carry the N8? Will Developers build applications for Symbian ^3, or are they too busy swimming in iPhone and Android money? If AT&T has this phone available, would you consider it?

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: Nokia, Smartphone, Symbian OS Related

Nokia’s Fight originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 7, 2010 at 11:30 am.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Nielsen Research. All opinions are 100% mine.

You’ve no doubt heard of Nielsen Research before with regards to their television ratings system. But that’s not all they do. They also gather information for all sorts of products and services. If you would like to help shape the future of smart phones, you can become part of their Mobile Panel. The Mobile Panel is designed to help the mobile industry understand how consumers use their mobile devices, services and content. The panel produces usage information that the industry uses to build, plan and manage their mobile offerings to consumers. They gather this information through an application that runs silently and transparently in the background of your Android or Windows Mobile phone. The application allows them to measure how you use the phone, including your usage of websites, applications, calling, messaging and other phone utilities.

Don’t worry, they won’t listen to or record your calls and they will not release your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes. Basically they will collect info on the type, name and use of applications and games, the address and content of the websites you visit, the date and duration of the websites you visit, the date, time and duration of phone calls, but not details on the phone numbers you call or receive calls from, the date, time and short codes or phone numbers that you send text/picture messages to or receive text/picture messages from, the battery and network performance of your phone, including signal quality readings and information on failed calls, the file names, types and files sizes on your phone, but not the contents of the files and periodic measurement of your location through GPS (if this functionality is available on your device).

I’m a not a paranoid person, but I’m not sure I want people recording that type of info about me. I guess it’s no different than taking part in a voting survey or TV watching habits survey though. I guess it’s just the fact that it’s an app running in the background keeping track of me.

If you’d like to participate, are over the age of 18 and don’t mind a 2-3MB data transfer from your phone every month, then you should sign up. As an incentive, you’ll receive a Windows $50 gift certificate after one year.

Filed in categories: Android related, News, Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Smartphone

Nielsen Research Needs You! originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 30, 2010 at 10:36 am.

The Primo Battery Cube from Phonesuit is a cube shaped rechargeable battery pack for Android and Blackberry SmartPhones. Actually, it should work with any mini or micro USB enabled device. It’s very compact at 1.5 inches in length and width, but provides 1000mAh battery capacity. It also features a 4 point red LED display that shows the remaining charge in 25% increments. It’s available now for $39.95, or grab 3 of them for $99.95.

Filed in categories: Android related, Blackberry related, News

Tagged: Android, Blackberry, Power, Smartphone, Symbian OS Related

Extra juice for your Android and BlackBerry smartphones originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 22, 2010 at 8:30 am.

PCMag.com has compiled a great list of the top 100 free apps for your phone. They have individual lists for the iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile, WebOS and Symbian. Each list contains a screenshot and a short blurb about the app. These lists will come in very handy for a new smartphone user or anyone that would like to find some new apps for their fave phone.

Filed in categories: Android related, Blackberry related, iPhone, iPad, iPod related, News

Tagged: Apps, Palm OS related, Smartphone, Symbian OS Related

Top 100 Free Apps for Your Phone 2010 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 15, 2010 at 8:30 am.

Done! I’ve pre-ordered what is supposed to be the hottest new phone being offered in the US- Sprint’s HC EVO 4G. As far as I can tell, only Radio Shack is doing this.

I stopped at my local Shack and did not see any signs of the phone coming or an in-store ad for this program, but there are a lot of signs there so I may have missed it.

The manager wrote my order up. He had several pages on a clip board that guided him through the process, including checking that I am a Sprint customer and eligible for an upgrade. I had to buy a $50 gift card that I could use for the phone, accessories, or anything else I wanted. It seemed like an interesting way to get me to make a deposit. $50- no tax, that is all I spent so far.

Now, the odd bits…

No mention was made of the $20 accessories card. I’ll ask when I pick it up.

The paperwork specifically says that they can hold it for the first 2 days of the launch, which should mean it would be available on Sunday the 6th- but you have  to make an appointment to get the phone (odd in itself, but they must expect crowds in some markets) and the appointment grid is set up for Friday and Saturday, so I have an appointment for both Fri. and Mon.

I am rather amazed by the lack of mock-ups, photos, etc. in the stores- it is a pretty quiet roll-out for a pretty interesting phone.

I did just find out that the much-ballyhooed 4G network is only in a very limited number of cities right now, but as far as I can tell, all EVO owners will be tagged for an extra $10/month for the 4G experience.

Now for some planning… what apps do I want and need? What tests need to be run on this baby? What do YOU want to know from the review when I finally get it?

I’ll probably post an initial review, and then a couple of follow-ups in the tradition of some other smartphone reviews. Now to find something to do until the 6th. Grrr!

Filed in categories: Android related

Tagged: Android, HTC, Smartphone

HTC EVO 4G (Sprint)- Preordered! originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 25, 2010 at 9:15 am.

This is the last entry in my week with the LG eXpo smartphone series. It’s time to take a quick look at the camera and Pico projector and then see if this phone has ended up as my new BFF or turned out to only be a five night stand.

The Camera

The 5 megapixel camera built into the LG eXpo is a better than average camera because it passes my one main criteria for a good mobile phone camera. It can do macro shots. I don’t use a cell phone camera as my main photo snapping device. I use it to take pictures when all I have with me is my phone. 99.9% of the time I use phone cameras to take pictures of magazine ads and articles when I’m in a bookstore. It saves me from having to carry around a pad and paper when I see something interesting but don’t want to buy the magazine. As a result, I want a camera that doesn’t take blurry close up images. The eXpo camera passes that test.

The camera lens is located on the back side of the phone (no surprise there) and next to it is an LED flash, which is a nice addition. I do wish there was a protective cover over the lens as it’s really easy to smear the glass with fingerprints and other goop.

Pressing the shutter / camera app launch button on the side will bring up the app in ready to shoot mode. Even when no other apps are running, it can take a few seconds to load the app. Tapping the gear on the top left menu strip will bring up the user settings screen.

A touch dial on the side allows you to scroll through various settings such as resolution, scene modes, white balance, etc.

When you’re ready to take a picture, you just press the shutter button halfway down to auto focus on your subject. Press it all the way to snap the image. Here are a few sample images to give you an idea of the image quality that this camera is capable of. Click the thumbnails to see the full sized unedited images.

The images are decent. Again, I wouldn’t use this as my main camera, but it’s definitely good at macros and with the LED flash, it can take images in lower light.

The image viewer has a nifty scroll interface where you can flick your finger left to right to see the images snapped on a specific date and flick up and down to change to another date.

The Pico Projector

If you want to be the guy with the coolest phone, the eXpo qualifies when you snap on the optional DLP Pico Projector.

The Pico projector is a small add-on accessory for the eXpo, that’s priced at $179.

There’s a protective cover that slides closed over the lens of the projector that doubles as the power switch.

It does not require any special adapters or cables. Just remove the battery door from the back of the phone…

And snap on the Pico in its place.

Yes, it does make your phone look pretty odd, but since it’s easily removable, that really shouldn’t be an issue.

The projector has a max resolution of 480 x 320 pixels and is capable of displaying a 12 – 66 inch diagonal image.

I had some technical problems getting some of my videos to play on the eXpo. It wasn’t an issue with Pico, but with the software. I wanted to play some AVI files, so I had to install some 3rd party players and couldn’t get either one to work right. I kept getting errors or freezes. I ended up just using some old WMV videos.

When they say that the Pico can project a 12 to 66 inch diagonal image, I would have to say sure it can – if you don’t mind crummy image quality. It can’t even project a clear image using the stock media player at 12 inches. The best it could do was 6-8 inches before the picture was too fuzzy. There’s a focus slider switch on the side of the projector, but it wasn’t much help.

I tried a Powerpoint presentation file using the Mobile Office app and it wasn’t any better. That’s disappointing since that’s what I could imagine using the projector for more than anything else.

Viewing static images with the stock picture viewer worked the best. Even so, the clearest picture could only be displayed at a maximum of 12-14 inches diagonal before it became fuzzy. Bottom line is that the Pico projector is a $179 gimmick. Sure it’s ‘cool’, but it’s really not worth it in my opinion.

Summing it all up

There are several things to like about the LG eXpo. It has a really nice display, a nice slider keyboard, a nice camera and good call clarity/volume. But the main thing that keeps me from really liking this phone is actually the Windows Mobile user interface. It’s just not finger friendly enough in my opinion. If you don’t mind using a stylus, it’s great. But for fingers, not so much. It looks like I’ll be sticking with the iPhone a little longer. FYI, I ordered a Google Nexus One Android phone a few hours ago. If any phone can make me throw the iPhone in a drawer, it will probably be that one.

Filed in categories: Reviews, Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Smartphone, Windows Mobile

A Week With the LG eXpo Smartphone and Pico Projector Days 5-7 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 8, 2010 at 10:03 am.

My first five days with the LG eXpo Smartphone has been a mixture of good and bad experiences. Good because I like the phone’s hardware and bad because I’ve had issues with that hardware. Life with gadgets is never perfect is it?

In this installment, I’d like to talk about the user interface, using the touch screen, D-Pad and keyboard. I will also talk about how it performs as a phone.

User Interface

This is the part where I have to tell you that I’m spoiled by the iPhone’s interface and it’s tough not to make comparisons when I’m reviewing other devices. Am I biased? I’ll admit that yes, I probably am. For those of you that have ever used an iPhone and know how well thought out the interface is, how finger friendly it is and how smooth it is to scroll and tap items on the screen, you understand where I’m coming from.

With that said, I have been giving Windows Mobile 6.5 a fair try and have been using the eXpo as my primary phone for the past week.

By default the Today screen appears as it does in the image above on the Left. It’s basically a list of items that you can scroll and tap on to gain more info. The image on the Right is LG’s Today screen, which gives you basically the same info, just arranged in a different way. Instead of a vertical scrolling is, there’s a horizontal list along the bottom edge. There are also 3 different screens. The one you see there, favorite contacts and favorite media.

Pressing the Start menu at the top Left will give you a scrolling list of icons. If you tap the LG Menus icon in the LG Today view, you’ll be presented with rows of icons that can be scrolled horizontally.

I like the screens of icons, but here’s where I find myself missing the scrolling smoothness of the iPhone. The LG eXpo has a resistive display unlike the capacitive display that the iPhone has. This is great because you can tap it with your finger, a stylus, a gloved hand, etc. But, the smoothness isn’t there. If I put my finger in the middle of the display and flick my finger up and down to scroll through icons, often nothing will happen and I’ll have to try again. Or, my finger will activate an icon instead of scrolling the screen and will launch a program. It’s even worse with the LG Menus because the icons are much closer together. For that fact, I rarely use those menus.

Windows Mobile is powerful and relatively easy to use, but as it is implemented, it’s not very finger friendly. You’ll notice that the OK button in the upper right corner of many screens is very tiny. I have to use the tip of my fingernail to tap these elements. Windows Mobile has come a long way, but I really hope version 7 turns the corner and allows everyone to finally get rid of old fashioned stylus input.

Fingerprint Sensor / D-Pad

If you have problems scrolling the screen using your finger, you have another way to scroll. It’s the integrated touch D-Pad, fingerprint sensor that is located directly below the AT&T logo below the display.

The D-pad can be used to scroll lists up and down as well as left to right. To use it this way requires no training, you just swipe your finger across the surface of the button. You can also press the button in to select items. It works pretty well, but I often have to swipe more than once to get the results I expect.

In addition to scrolling, this button is a fingerprint reader that you can use to secure your phone from unauthorized access.

To use your fingerprint as a locking mechanism for the eXpo, you first have to register one or more fingerprints. To do this, you just swipe the figure you choose four times to teach that print to the phone. Then when you press the power button along the top edge of the phone, it will ask you to swipe your finger to unlock it. I had no issues registering my finger prints or using this unlock feature. I actually think it’s pretty cool.

Using QWERTY Keyboard and Touch Screen for Input

Entering text on LG eXpo can be done through the slide out keyboard or the touch screen.

The soft keyboard is pretty cramped as you can see from the screenshot above. It works best for me when I use my thumbnails to tap the keys. I’m not sure how well it would work for someone with large thumbs and no nails though. I suppose they would be better off using the slide out keyboard.

Here’s the LG keyboard compared to the iPhone’s keyboard. Unlike the iPhone, the keyboard on the LG will not rotate if you hold the phone in landscape mode.

The slide out QWERTY keyboard is comfortably roomy, with large flat backlit keys. The layout (click image to see full size version) is good and I had no issues typing quick text messages with it. The size of the keys is also very thumb friendly.

Making and Receiving Calls with the LG eXpo

I’ve found that it’s easier to make calls with the eXpo than it is with my iPhone. This is true for me because there are physical buttons that you can press to initiate, answer and end calls.

The call Send and End buttons are located along the bottom front edge of the phone. If you double click the Left Send button, it will automatically redial your last dialed number.

If you press the Send button once, it will popup the keypad screen that you can use to tap out a number.

You can also dial by favorites if you use LG’s Today screen.

Incoming calls can easily be answered or rejected by pressing the soft keys on the screen or the Send and End keys on the phone.

Call volume and clarity are really good with the LG. Most of the time I have to turn the volume down when I’m in a call, which seems to be a rarity for most phones I’ve reviewed.

I mentioned at the beginning of this installement that I had some issues with the hardware this week. The eXpo started spontaneously rebooting for no apparent reason. A couple of other people (Judie of Geardiary.com, Lisa of MobileTechReview.com and Clinton of ClintonFinch.com) reviewing the same phone had similar problems. Judie narrowed the issue down to a problem with 3G coverage. The eXpo apparently isn’t happy when it’s in an area with little or no 3G service. The bad part is that there is no option in the phone to turn off 3G and just go with 2G. There’s a way to do it if you have the super secret test mode code though…

I also had a problem with charging the phone using the included USB cable and my iMac. One morning I tried to use the phone after it had been plugged in all night and it died and wouldn’t come back to life. I plugged it back into the USB cable and the LG logo popped up, but it wouldn’t power on. I even took out the battery several times to no avail. Judie suggested that I plug it into the wall because she had similiar experiences with Nokia phones and charging them via USB. Sure enough, plugging it into the wall charger and waiting for 30 minutes resurrected it again. Weird, I’d never had such an issue with phones before.

So far I have mixed feelings about the eXpo. I think I’d like it a lot better if the Windows Mobile user interface was more finger friendly. As is, it can become frustrating for me.

In the last part of this series, I’ll be covering:

• 5MP Camera
• Optional Pico Projector

Filed in categories: Reviews, Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Smartphone, Windows Mobile

A Week With the LG eXpo Smartphone and Pico Projector Days 1-5 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 24, 2010 at 11:36 am.

It’s been nearly a year since I’ve carried a Windows Mobile device as my everyday phone. Back then it was the Pantech Matrix Pro. Today it’s the LG eXpo for AT&T. Like the Pantech, the eXpo has a slide out qwerty keyboard. But the eXpo has some other surprises as well. I’m going to use it exclusively for a week and at the end of that time, I’ll decide if this phone has what it takes to dethrone my current fave (the iPhone 3GS).

Let’s call this Day 0, and we’ll start with a quick introduction / overview of the hardware.

Hardware Specifications

Processor: 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8650
OS: Window Mobile 6.5
Wireless Technology: GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, 3G UMTS/HSDPA (850/1900/2100 MHz)
Bluetooth 2.1
Display: 3.2 inches, Resolution 480 x 800, 16 Million colors
Memory: Internal memory storage 512 MB, expandable memory storage supports up to 16GB microSD Card
Camera: 5.0 MP
Battery: 1500mAh Lithium Ion (Talk time up to 3 hours, Standby time up to 10 days)
Dimensions: 4.50 x 2.16 x .63 inches
Weight: 4.46 ounces

What’s in the Box

LG eXpo Smartphone
Battery
USB data / charge cable
Hands-free headset
Stylus
Proprietary hands-free stereo headphone with mic (with 3.5mm adapter)
Power Adapter
Quickstart Guide
Pico Projector (is an optional $179 purchase and is not included with the phone)

The LG eXpo is being marketed as a business phone and normally that might bring about visions of a boring design that works well, but probably lacks pizazz. In my opinion, the eXpo doesn’t look boring at all. It has just the right about of shiny chrome accents to go along with its Black and Pewter colored case. As far as I can tell, the entire case is made of plastic. Don’t let that turn you off though as it feels solid and doesn’t complain when I perform my patented Gadgeteer creak test. Basically this test consists of me squeezing the phone in one hand while feeling for case flexes and listening for creaks. A quick shake yielded no rattles.

The front of the phone has a large touch screen display that is bright, crisp and vivid. The screen is resistive and not capacitive like the iPhone. That is both good and bad. It’s good because you can interact with the phone while wearing gloves and even with a stylus (yes, I guess some people are still using styli even in this age of finger friendly devices). Resistive touch screens can bad because the screen requires pressure to select items and that can mean a less than smooth experience using a finger to scroll and tap. I’m a little worried about this aspect of the phone since I’ve been using an iPhone for about 7 months now. We’ll have to see…

Above the display on the front of the device is the speaker. A small LED to the Left of the speaker provides status for charging and notifications for alarms and missed calls.

Below the display are your normal Send and End buttons as well as a Back button. The strange looking object in the center is a biometric fingerprint reader and D-pad sensor. Don’t worry, I’ll be covering that in greater detail later.

You’ll notice what looks like a protective film over the bottom section. At least that was what I thought it was until I tried to remove it. So far I’ve not had any luck trying to get my fingernail under an edge. I didn’t want to scratch the the phone, so I’ve given up for the time being. I think it’s just the way it’s styled.

The Left side of the phone has a large volume up and down button. It might look like there are individual buttons, but it’s just one long rocker. The ends stick up slightly, making the button easy to find with your thumb while you’re on a phone call.

You’ll also notice a small eyelet in the top corner. That’s for the included stylus. That’s right, the stylus isn’t housed in the phone itself. Weird huh?

The opposite side has the camera application launcher button, a smaller application launcher button and the microSD slot/cover.

The eXpo is slight chunky by today’s standards, but you can’t really complain too much since it does have a full qwerty keyboard.

The display slides to the Right to reveal the backlit keyboard. The slider mechanism feels very strong and has a nice ‘assist’ feature to it that helps it slide open and closed quickly with a nice ‘curchunk’. The size of the keys is generous, but they are very flat. They do have good tactile feedback though and I have had no problems typing quick emails.

Along the top edge of the phone is the power / lock and the combination microUSB charging / earphone jack connector with a cover. I don’t know about you, but I’m not a big fan of those little swivel covers for ports. I’d rather them just be bare.

The other end has the microphone.

The back of the phone has a really easy to remove battery cover, which is a great feature because this cover has to be removed in order to  attach the optional Pico projector. I’ll cover all the details of the projector later in this series.

Also on the back of the phone is the 5mp camera lens (I wish it had a protective cover) and to the Left of the lens is an LED flash.

All in all, I like the hardware of the LG eXpo. Even though the phone is a bit chunky, it doesn’t feel uncomfortable in my hand. I like that the button layout seems to have been well thought out. The location of the volume button and camera launcher / shutter button work out well and I didn’t have any problems using either one. Sometimes using a phone as a camera is hindered by the location of the shutter button, but not with this phone.

These are just my first impressions of the hardware, so it will be interesting to see if anything changes my mind after I spend time using the phone day to day.

In the next part of this series, I’ll be covering:

• Making and receiving calls
• Interaction with the touch screen
• Interaction with the touch D-Pad
• Using the slide out keyboard

Filed in categories: Reviews, Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Smartphone, Windows Mobile

A Week With the LG eXpo Smartphone and Pico Projector originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 15, 2010 at 10:10 am.

Today HTC has announced the Snap Windows Mobile 6.1 GSM smartphone. This is a successor to the HTC Dash and includes an interesting new feature called Inner Circle. With Inner Circle, emails that are most important to you (from a pre-selected group of people), can be accessed with a click of a button, so that you don’t need to wade through a lot of useless gunk to get to the stuff that you really want to read. 

The Snap has a 528 MHz processor, 192MB of RAM, WiFi, GPS, 2.0 megapixel camera and 1500mAh battery. It’s 4.59” x 2.42” x .47” and has a QWERTY keyboard. Yay! The jog ball looks interesting too.

I continue to use the HTC Dash aka Excalibur aka S620 off and on, so I’m very anxious to get my hands on the Snap to try it out. Here are some more pix of this device to provide you with some gadget lust. Click on the thumbnails to see the full-size images.

Note the fact that there is a dedicated MSN chat key, that also doubles as a FN key / camera key combo.

Will you buy one?

Filed in categories: Uncategorized

Tagged: HTC, Smartphone, Spotlight Gadgets, Windows Mobile

HTC announces the Snap QWERTY smartphone originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 1, 2009 at 9:00 am.

It’s been a week since I started using the Nokia N85 and in that time, I’ve found a lot to like and some things that left me wanting more. This last part of my series on the Nokia N85 will focus on:

• Built in applications
• Week wrap up

Although the Nokia N85 is called a smartphone, it doesn’t quite feel as like one to me. I know it has WiFi, a GPS and a camera. But one of my personal requirements for a smartphone is an easy input mechanism. The N85 does not have a touch screen or a keyboard, so that makes things a bit difficult for entering appointments, addresses, etc.

Let’s look at some of the other applications included on this phone…

GPS

The N85 has a built in GPS receiver, that requires a view of the sky to get a fix on the satellites. This phone also includes an application called Maps. Turn by turn voice guided directions requires paying a subscription fee, but you get a 3 month free trial to test it.

When you start the Maps application, you are presented with a globe that you can roll and zoom. I was using AT&T on Edge and it was a bit slow updating. Then at one point, it got stuck and wouldn’t zoom in or out.

By pressing the Left soft key (Options), you can search on popular destinations like gas stations, rest areas, etc and get driving or walking directions to their location.

Of course you can also enter your own addresses to navigate to, or navigate to the address for one of your contacts. The turn by turn spoken directions are handy, but street names aren’t spoken. The male voice just speaks the direction to turn, not the road name.

I found the GPS to work really well, but since it can be difficult to see the display in sunlight, it can be hard to see the GPS info on the screen.

Misc. Applications

Some of the other included applications are an Adobe PDF viewer, unit converter, Zip compressor, Quickoffice and a notes app.

The Adobe Reader application doesn’t work very well on the N85. One of the more obvious reasons is that this phone has a small display, so you have to scroll around a lot to see all the document. But the other reason is that it just doesn’t work worth a hooey. I tried several simple PDFs and you can see the results in these screen shots… Notice the large blocky Black sections? That’s not in the PDF file…

When I was able to get a PDF to load correctly, the resulting image quality was jaggy. Not good.

The unit converter isn’t anything super special, but little apps like this always come in handy from time to time.

The QuickOffice suite will allow you to load Excel, Word and Powerpoint files for viewing on the N85. If you want edit or create capability, you have to pay for a license…

I didn’t have any issues with viewing Excel or Word files, but I didn’t have much luck with powerpoint files… Again, a phone with a screen of this size, really does not lend itself well to working with documents.

Wrap Up

As usual, a week of using one phone ends with me ready to try something new. I’m just never happy… what’s up with that? The Nokia N85 does have a lot going for it. I really like the size. It’s almost perfect in that respect. The 5MP camera which takes very nice macro shots is a real plus too. I can’t fault the GPS or Wifi either for that matter. But when all is said and done, it comes down to the lack of a real keyboard. That tends to be a real deal breaker for me. If I didn’t text as much as I do, the keyboard  probably would not matter to me, but I do, so it does. So there you go… Even though the Nokia N85 isn’t going to work out for me personally, I still highly recommend it as a great little full featured phone.

Filed in categories: Wireless

Tagged: N85, Nokia, S60, Smartphone, Symbian, Symbian OS Related

A Week with the Nokia N85 Smartphone – Day 6 & 7 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 12, 2009 at 4:52 am.

You know how it is when you get a brand new phone, you have to adjust to the location of its buttons, navigation of menus, etc. That’s what I’ve been doing the last couple of days with the Nokia N85. This part will focus on:

• First impressions of the user interface
• Making and receiving calls
• Browsing the web

User Interface

Prior to buying the N85, I had been using the N80 off and on. Even though the N80 is over 3 years old and very chunky in comparison to current phones, I have always enjoyed using it because it just plain works. There is also something about Nokia phones that has always impressed me… they seem to be able to hold a signal better than most other phones.

A quick look at these two phones shows that the N85 is a sleeker version, updated with a thinner and shinier body. While I do like the thinner body of the N85, I find myself missing the individual buttons of the N80.

As you can see, the buttons on the N80 are all seperate physical buttons, while most of the buttons on the N85 are not. What’s the big deal? I can’t really put my finger on it (pun intended). I’m probably just being picky as usual, but for me the N85 feels slightly awkward to use. Interacting with the phone feels stiff and not as comfortable as on the N80. The N85 is also a bit ‘creaky and cracky’ when pressing the various buttons.

The Navi wheel on the N85 does have two unique features. One feature is touch sensitive. You can actually turn on a feature that will allow you to slide your thumb around the Silver ‘wheel’ to scroll through menu items. Think iPod nano touch wheel and you get the idea. In reality, the feature isn’t all that great. I turned it off after a day or so playing with it because it acted a sort of hurky jerky.

The other feature of the Navi wheel is the LED that surrounds the center button. You can turn on a breathing feature that will slowly fade the White LED on and off. It’s sort of like the power LEDs on Macbooks. Just a little eye candy…

Navigating the interface is not difficult. The main menu is accessed with the dedicated menu button in the bottom Left corner that looks like two planets revolving around each other. Pressing it will present you with one screen of icons in grid view. You can also show these icons in a list, horseshoe or v-shaped list views.

Making and Receiving Calls

There are several ways to initiate a call with the N85. If you have a Bluetooth headset, you can use voice dialing.

From the home screen, you can just type in the number you wish to dial with the keypad or hold down a number on the keypad if you have 1-touch dialing set up.

Another way to dial is to look up a number from your contacts list. Go into the contacts application and start typing a name using the keypad and the list will continue to filter as you type. Then you can go into the desired contact and select the number to dial.

When a call comes in to your phone, you will see the number along with their photo if the person is in your contacts list and has a photo associated with them. You can silence the call and have the option to send a predefined text message to the caller.

When you miss a call, you’ll see a message on the display and have the ability to see details about the call.

You can also view the call log, which includes incoming, outgoing and missed call lists. Press the Green call button on any of the entries in these lists will dial the number associated with that log item.

Like other Nokia phones that I’ve tested, this one does very well at holding a signal. I haven’t had any dropped calls yet and the audio quality on both sides of conversations is as good as can be expected here (Columbus, Indiana) on the non-3G AT&T network. Am I dissing AT&T? Yeah, a little…

I did find out that you will want to extend the phone (slide open the keyboard) when you are making or receiving calls with this phone. Calls do not sound as clear (to the other party) when the phone is closed even though I believe that the microphone is built into the bottom edge of the top sliding part of the phone.

Browsing the Web

For the browsing part of this review, I mainly used the built in WiFi because it’s much faster than EDGE speeds.

Browsing with the N85 is only a so-so experience for two reasons – text input and screen size. Typing in web address can be really frustrating using the numeric keypad.

And the small display can be a challenge as well. To see the entire main column of The Gadgeteer, I had to zoom the display to 50% normal size. The image above on the Left is at 100%. The image on the Right is 50%. It’s still readable, but not really comfortable.

Rotating the display to the landscape orientation does help considerably though.

Since the N85 does not have a touchscreen, you use the Navi Wheel to move around a tiny pointer icon to click on links. It’s not hard to use, but if you’ve ever used an iPhone or iPod touch, the N85 will make you feel like you’re trying to surf with your hands tied behind your back.

I would say my main issue with surfing is that I groan every time I have to enter any text such as a user name / password or web address. Using the keypad to enter even a few words gets tedious very quickly for me.

As you noticed from the screen shots shown above, you can watch YouTube videos on the N85 as it has support for Javascript and Flash Lite. When you click a video link, it will load into Real Player. It works pretty well through WiFi.

As a phone, the N85 does a decent job and I don’t have any real complaints. I would like to be able to use voice dialing without a Bluetooth headset though *. As a web surfing device, I wouldn’t use the N85 unless that was the only device I had nearby and I didn’t need to do any intensive surfing.

The next part of my series on the Nokia N85 will focus on:

• Using the camera
• Capturing video
• Listening to audio
• Playing games

* Reader Kenneth Wong pointed out to me that you don’t need a Bluetooth headset to use the voice dialing feature. All you have to do is hold down the Right select button above the Red end key. Thanks Kenneth!

Filed in categories: Wireless

Tagged: Nokia, S60, Smartphone, Symbian

A Week with the Nokia N85 Smartphone – Day 1 & 2 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 2, 2009 at 1:00 am.

The Android G1 was a cool phone, but you and I both knew that I wouldn’t stick with it very long. What can I say, I get bored easily. So, this week I’m going to be trying out the Nokia N85 smartphone. It’s been awhile since I’ve had a newer Symbian phone, so I’m excited to see if it will keep me interested enough to stick around after the week is done. 

Day 0

This first post, otherwise known as Day 0, will provide a short tour of the physical features of this phone. The rest of the series will delve into more detailed usage of the these features.

Hardware Specifications

OS: Symbian 9.3 S60
Bands: Quad-band EGSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, WCDMA 850/1900/2100 MHz
Data: GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA/WiFi
Memory: 74 MB internal, 8GB microSD flash card included
Display: 2.6″ 16 million color QVGA Active Matrix OLED, 240×320 pixel resolution
Camera: 5 megapixel  (2584 x 1938 pixels) with Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus and dual-LED flash
Video: 640×480 VGA, up to 30 frames per second
Bluetooth: 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP
WiFi: 802.11b, 802.11g
Audio: 3.5mm stereo headphone jack
Battery: 1200mHa, Estimated 4 hours talk time, estimated 12.5 days standby time
Size: 4.o5 x 1.97 x 0.63 inches (103 x 50 x 16 mm)
Weight: 4.5oz (128g)

Package Contents

Nokia N85 Smartphone
Battery
AC Adapter
micro USB cable
Video connectivity cable
3.5mm earphones and controller
Getting started guides

Out of the box, I was impressed by the size of the N85. It’s very close to the same dimensions as the Palm Centro as you can see from the image below.

For me, this size is pretty much perfect because it is comfortable in both your hand and your pocket.

The N85 has a shiny Black plastic face that attracts fingerprints and smudges like flowers attract bees. The non-touchscreen display takes up most of the front surface of the phone. Above the display is the speaker, light sensor and a front facing secondary camera.

Below the display is a collection of 9 buttons. The buttons that you can actually see include Call and End keys, the Navi wheel / scroll key with the center select button and to the Right of that is the small multimedia key.

The four buttons that you don’t see when the phone is in idle mode are the two buttons that map to the bottom screen menu items, as well as the Menu key and Clear key C which are located along the bottom edge. To activate these buttons, you just press the case in that area.

On the back side of the phone, you will find the easy to remove battery cover, the camera lens and LED flash.

There’s a protective slide cover for the camera lens. Sliding this cover open exposes the lens and also launches the camera application.

I really like the fact that sliding the cover open will immediately start the camera application and will allow you to capture images straight away without having to navigate various menus in order to launch the camera application.

On the Left edge of the phone, you will find the microSD card slot and lanyard attachment point.

On the opposite edge, you will find two speakers for stereo sound with 3D effects. There is also a camera shutter button, key lock switch and the volume / zoom button.

The top edge has the micro USB connector for charging and syncing. Next to it is a 3.5mm stereo earphone jack and the power button.

To access the numeric keypad, you slide the display upwards. The sliding mechanism feels like it has a spring assist, which makes it pretty easy to slide it open and closed.

The only issue I have with this design is that to slide the display up, you have to use your thumb on the screen to move it. That means smeary fingerprints all over the screen.

Sliding open the screen will ‘wake’ up the phone if it is in idle mode and will not require that you press the screen unlock buttons.

It’s important to note that the keypad does not have individual keys. Instead, it has one flat surface with the buttons under it. It has good tactile feedback and is backlit, but I personally prefer separate keys. That’s just me though…

The numeric keypad isn’t the only keypad on this phone. If you slide the screen in the opposite direction, it will expose four short side keys.

These keys have different functions depending on the application that you’re in. In the image above, you can see that the keys have play/pause, stop, next and previous track functions for the music player. When using the web browser, they can be used to zoom in and out as well as to play/pause and stop music that you may be listening to in the background. They can also be used in game mode.

So far I’m loving the size of this phone. It’s perfect for sliding in my pocket when I take walks at work. The phone is solid, has a good heft to it and feels good in my hand. It does exhibit some creaking noises when I apply my ever popular gadgeteer squeeze test on it.

My main complaint so far is the flat keyboard. I’ve never been a fan of that style and am not sure this phone will be the one that changes my mind.

That’s it for the hardware tour. I’ll be back with my Day 1 and 2 impressions, which will include:

• First impressions of the user interface
• Making and receiving calls
• Browsing the web

Filed in categories: Wireless

Tagged: N85, Nokia, Smartphone, Symbian

A Week with the Nokia N85 Smartphone originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 23, 2009 at 1:00 am.