Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II Reviewed

The Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II is an Android phone that features Samsung’s very own Exynos chipset, Super AMOLED Plus screen and the ultra-slim body.

LG Optimus Black P970 Reviewed

The LG Optimus Black P970 is an Android smartphone with a 4-inch NOVA capacitive touchscreen display.

HTC Droid Incredible 2 Reviewed

The HTC Droid Incredible 2 is the follow-up on the Droid Incredible released last year.

Nokia X2-01 Reviewed

The X2-01 is Nokia's latest entry level QWERTY bar mobile phone. It features quad band GSM/EDGE connectivity, 320x240 display, and built-in social networking sites support.

Free Video Calls with new Skype for iPhone App

The Skype for iPhone app has recently been updated, bringing free video calls over 3G and Wifi.

Nokia E5 Reviewed

The Nokia E5 (~US$292) is a business/productivity class QWERTY smartphone that runs the Nokia S60 3rd Edition operating system.

Sony Ericsson Announces 3 Upcoming Phones, Android OS Upgrades for Xperia X10 Line

Sony Ericsson recently announced three upcoming phones: SE Xperia X8, SE Yendo, and SE Cedar GreenHeart. Also, the Xperia X10, X10 mini, and X10 mini pro smartphones will be upgraded to run the Android 2.1 OS by Q3 2010.

Apple iPhone 4 Officially Announced

Apple recently announced its newest mobile phone, the iPhone 4 (16GB – US$199, 32GB - US$299; with contract). This is available for pre-order starting June 15, 2010.

Multi-SIM Nokia C Series Phones Expected This Year

Nokia recently announced four upcoming C series mobile phones, two of which support two SIM cards. These are the Nokia C1-00, C1-02, C1-01, and C2-00 models.

iPhone OS 3.1.3 Software Update Now Available

Now available for the iPhone and iPod Touch is the iPhone OS 3.1.3 Software Update.

iPhone OS 3.1.3 Software Update is only available through iTunes, and will not appear in your computer’s Software Update app, or in the Apple Downloads site. It is recommended to update to the latest iTunes before updating your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Ovi Maps – Navigation on your Nokia for Free

Nokia recently announced that all users of their Nokia X6, Nokia N97 mini, E72, E55, E52, Nokia 6730 classic, Nokia 6710 Navigator, Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic, Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition, and Nokia 5230 handsets can download Ovi Maps for free.

Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus Specs Leaked

The Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus specs were recently leaked out from Verizon Wireless. I was hoping that Palm was brewing a new device, something like a ‘not really a netbook’ and ‘not really a tablet’ sort of device. In any case, a refresh of their current smartphones is still good news.

Compare Smartphone Total Cost of Ownership

If you’re in the US, you may be interested in a finding out the Total Cost of Ownership Table of the 4 new generation smartphones, presented by the billshrink.com site. This includes the iPhone 3GS (AT&T), Palm Pre (Sprint), Motorola Droid (Verizon), and Nexus One (T-Mobile).

Meet the Nexus One, also known as the Google Phone

Google just recently announced their smartphone, the Nexus One (US$529 without contract). It features the Android 2.1 OS, AMOLED touch screen, wireless n, 5MP camera with flash, 3.5 headphone jack, memory card slot, and removable battery.

Nokia N900 Reviewed

The Nokia N900 is the first internet tablet from Nokia that features built-in telephony features. It features the Maemo 5 operating system, GSM and HSDPA network, 3.5-inch 800x480 TFT resistive touch screen, and 5 megapixel camera with dual LED flash. (You can see the full specs here.)

Nokia N97 2.0 Software Update Now Available

Nokia recently released firmware 20.0.019 for the N97 Symbian smartphone.

Changes:

• Improved touch screen scrolling
• Ovi Maps 3.1 with 3–D maps
• Nokia e-mail, Ovi Contacts, Ovi Store
• VoIP support
• Improved memory and battery performance
• Improved image and video stability

You can update to the new software using your phone, or using your PC. To update via PC, you need a USB cable for your phone, and must download the Nokia Software Updater (23.3MB).

Read more at the Nokia site >>

Technorati Tags: nokia, n97, software, update, firmware

Motorola Dext Android OS Smartphone Reviewed

The Dext MB220 [a.k.a. CLIQ] is Motorola’s smartphone that has Android OS v1.5 (codenamed Cupcake). It should already be out on the store shelves this month of October 2009.

Features:

• 2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
• 3G Network: HSDPA 1700 / 2100 / 900
• Android OS, v1.5 (Cupcake)
• Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 MHz processor
• 5 megapixels camera, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, w/ geo-tagging
• 3.1-inch 320x480 TFT capacitive touch screen
• Accelerometer sensor
• Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
• Full QWERTY keyboard with 5-way navigation key
• MOTOBLUR UI with Live Widgets
• Memory: 1 GB storage, 256MB RAM, 512MB ROM
• microSD card slot, up to 32GB
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP
• microUSB v2.0 connectivity
• Dimensions: 114 x 58 x 15.6 mm
• Weight: 163 g

CNET gave the Motorola Dext an 8 out of 10:

“If you're drowning in a social-networking deluge of updates and messages, the Motorola Dext may be the answer for keeping everything under control. Throw in a full QWERTY keyboard, you've got an excellent phone that's built for staying in touch, as long as you don't actually want to make calls.” [CNET Asia | Motorola Dext]

Sometimes, smartphones become too smart, that its main purpose is no longer making calls. ;)

Technorati Tags: motorola, dext, cliq, smartphone

Nokia N900 Available Very Soon

The Nokia internet tablet series will have a refresh in the form of the N900. Expected to be released this October 2009, this is the first Nokia internet tablet that has  built-in telephony features. (The previous models, N770 and N800, did not have phone features.)

Features:

• 5 megapixel camera, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, Dual LED flash, video light, Geo-tagging
• WVGA(848 x 480)@25fps video recording
• secondary VGA camera, for video conferencing
• GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
• HSDPA 1700 / 2100 / 900
• 3.5-inch 800 x 480 TFT resistive touchscreen
• Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
• Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
• Full QWERTY keyboard
• Memory: 32 GB storage, 256 MB RAM
• microSD expansion slot, up to 16GB
• 802.11 b/g WLAN
• Bluetooth v2.1, with A2DP
• microUSB connection
• Maemo 5 operating system
• ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz processor, PowerVR SGX graphics
• Stereo FM radio; FM transmitter
• GPS with A-GPS support; Ovi Maps
• MIDP 2.1 Java
• Digital compass
• MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+ music player
• WMV/RealVideo/MP4/AVI/XviD video player
• TV-out
• Dimensions: 110.9 x 59.8 x 18 mm
• Weight: 181 g

In my opinion, the lack of popularity of the previous Nokia Internet Tablets could be due to the absence of the mobile phone function. This shortcoming was addressed by Nokia in coming up with the N900, and also added the whole nine yards!

The Maemo operating system is a modified version of Debian GNU/Linux, specifically developed for the Nokia Internet Tablet series.

Technorati Tags: nokia, maemo, n900

Spontaneous iPhone Screen Cracking Being Investigated

Recently, there were reports of some iPhone screens suddenly cracking up, without just reason.

“Consumers in the UK, Holland and Sweden have reported similar problems, prompting an earlier EU investigation. … Apple said it was aware of the reports and was waiting to receive the handsets from the affected customers.” [Exploding iPhones investigated | BBC News]

Some reported that the iPhone’s lithium ion batteries could possibly be the source of the problem.

Technorati Tags: apple, iphone, screen, problem, battery

Nokia N86 8MP Smartphone Reviewed

The N86 8MP is the Nokia’s newest offering in the N8 smartphone series.

Features:

• 2.6-inch 240x320 OLED display
• 8 megapixel autofocus camera with 28mm wide-angle lens, dual-LED flash, and AF assist light
• Symbian OS 9.3 operating system
• ARM 11 434 MHz CPU, 128MB RAM
• Quad-band GSM / 3G with HSDPA 3.6Mbps
• Wi-Fi with UPnP technology
• Built-in GPS with A-GPS functionality
• Dual slide design with dedicated gaming/audio/gallery keys
• microSD card slot with microSDHC support
• 8GB internal storage
• Built-in accelerometer
• Stereo FM Radio with RDS, FM transmitter
• Standard microUSB port
• stereo Bluetooth v2.0
• Digital compass
• Dimensions: 103.4 x 51.4 x 16.5 mm
• Weight: 149 g

 

“… Great all-round performance is what you can expect in one of the most-complete smartphones on the market. A cameraphone, an N-gage gaming phone, a dual slider with a kickstand, a true Symbian all-in-one. … Nokia have got the hardware right however and the image processing is hopefully fixable through a firmware update. How the first Nokia 8 megapixel cameraphone fares against the competition is probably a short-term strategy. The important thing in the long run is the Nseries is done catching up and is ready and willing to discover. ” [GSM Arena | Nokia N86 8MP]

One can say that the N86 is an N85 with a better and cooler camera. If you’ve been wanting to buy an N85 but held off, the N86 won’t disappoint.

Technorati Tags: nokia, n86, 8 megapixel, wide angle