Archive for July, 2009

By July 2, 2009 Read More →

Street Heroes – amazing bus jump!

Just came across this rather unusual video promoting the HTC Hero that I thought you might all like to see. Don’t try this at home kids!

 

 

Posted by: Matt

Posted in: Videos/Unboxings
By July 2, 2009 Read More →

Toshiba’s TG01 Going Orange

As you may or may not have already noticed, the much talked about Toshiba TG01 is heading over to the Orange Network.

Toshiba TG01
Toshiba TG01

Currently on Orange’s UK site with a "coming soon" badge, the TG01’s appearance could mean that the July 9th London press event is when this device will be showcased.

I’m sure Matt will be on the phone to Orange really soon to get our hands on one so watch this space closely.

Posted by: John

Posted in: News
By July 2, 2009 Read More →

Acer X960 Review

Acer got on the smartphone bandwagon earlier this year and have released their ‘Tempo Smartphone’ range. I’ve been given the Acer X960 to review. It looks quite good, but I’ve heard quite a few mixed views and opinions about it. So, I’ll get on with the review to make up my own mind about it.

X960_angled_right The Acer X960

 

What’s in the box?

  • Acer X960 handset
  • Battery
  • Stylus
  • USB cable (mini USB connection on the handset)
  • Screen protector
  • Quick guide manual
  • CDs (User manual, Windows Mobile ‘Getting Started’ software, Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 trial)
  • Mains charger (mini USB connection to the handset)
  • Stereo headphones/handsfree (mini USB connection)

 

More information can be found in Matt’s unboxing video.

 

Acer X960 specification:

  • Operating System – Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
  • Processor – Samsung S3C 6400 mobile processor 533 MHz
  • Memory – ROM: 256MB/RAM: 128MB
  • Display – 2.8" 480×640 pixel TFT Touchscreen
  • Operating Frequency – GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
  • HSDPA / UMTS 850 / 1900 / 2100 MHz
  • microSD
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
  • Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
  • MiniUSB
  • Built-in GPS receiver (SiRFstar III)
  • 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, flash, video; secondary VGA videocall camera
  • 1530mAh Lithium-ion Battery
  • Dimensions – 106.4 x 59 x 13.7 mm
  • Weight – 131.5g

 

General:

Front – There is the VGA front-facing camera for video calls, the speaker for phone calls, 2.8 inch TFT touch screen, call and end buttons, dedicated GPS button, D-pad with select key in the centre and a home/back button.

x960_front Acer X960 – front view

 

Right – Here you have the stylus, dedicated camera button, microSD compartment and the power button.

x960_right Acer X960 – right side view

 

Left – Eyelet for a lanyard or wrist strap, up/down rocker button for volume (and zoom for the camera), reset button, and select/ok button (user defined).

x960_left Acer X960 – left side view

 

Bottom – The mini USB connection and the microphone hole are all that in on the bottom of the phone.

x960_bottom Acer X960 – bottom view

 

Back – On the back you can see the 3.2MP camera, flash, self portrait mirror and speakers (for audio playback and speakerphone). The back cover houses the battery and sim card.

x960_back Acer X960 – back view

 

Highlights:

  • Sturdy build
  • Haptic feedback
  • Decent pictures with camera
  • LED Flash for low light pictures
  • Built-in speakers are of a good quality

 

Lowlights:

  • Bulky build
  • Quite a heavy handset
  • Touchscreen very slow to respond
  • Acer user interface over Windows Mobile OS

 

Review:

I was thought I would be quite impressed with the Acer X960. Although you can see straight away that it’s quite a chunky phone to carry around, its bulk gives the impression that it is going to be packed with high quality and high spec features. It’s definitely on the weighty side but it does feel sturdy and robust. The handset has a black body and chrome edging which looks ok. Matt mentioned the E-Ten look still sneaking in here (Acer purchased E-Ten last year) which you can definitely notice. Moving away from the E-Ten design to a fresh new one might have given this phone a bit more appeal.

 

x960_angled_leftThe Acer X960

 

The screen is 2.8 inches which is a generous size and the quality of the display is pretty good. I did however find that the display was quite hard to see when out in sunlight. I guess this is quite a common annoyance of many phones but I found the X960 particularly bad for this as the screen is quite reflective. There is no accelerometer (which would change the orientation of the display as the phone was rotated) which is a shame as it would have made the most of the 2.8" inch screen.

If you watched Matt’s unboxing video you will have seen that the phone takes quite a time to start up for the first time. Unfortunately it actually takes quite a long time every time you start up the phone. Obviously not as long as the first time as it is initialising and installing apps but don’t expect to be able to make a quick phone call or text if the phone has been switched off! Ok fair enough. you just don’t switch it off unless you really need to.

One of the main features that you will see with this handset is Acer’s user interface which has been placed over the Windows Mobile operating system. I’ve read other reviews on this and it seems that there are varying opinions about it. It has three desktops (or ‘home’ screens) which you just slide across the screen to get to each one. It is designed as an office desk with items on it which represent shortcuts to applications such as the calendar, email, etc. 

Some people like it, and some don’t. It’s a simple to use interface and quite a good idea, but I think it looks very dated and there is no option to customise what is on display so I’m not that keen on it. Of course, being a Windows Mobile device you can expect all the usual features too, which can be accessed through the Start menu.

Whilst checking out the features through the menus it became apparent that there was one huge thing letting this phone down. The touch screen. It can be very slow to respond and even sometimes doesn’t respond at all so I found myself having to select options more than once. This became quite frustrating so I found myself checking other people’s views again (just in case it happened to be just the review model I had). It seems that I’m not the only one who experience this issue.  A definite improvement required here as this really lets the phone down. To add to this, the stylus is too small and flimsy so I felt less inclined to use it. This unfortunately lead to ‘fat thumb/finger syndrome’ where wrong options are accidentally selected as the icons and buttons are very small.

This leads me on to text input. A nightmare without the stylus!! The soft QWERTY keyboard is near to impossible to use without the stylus, and when you do use it, inputting any text takes twice as long because you will find yourself taking the time to make sure you press the right letter. and then wait for it to respond to your selection. There are other input methods like handwriting recognition but again, not that user friendly.

 

There is a good range of connectivity – HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 and SiRFstar III GPS. Quite impressive for high speed web browsing but the unresponsive screen and fiddly zoom in and out on the browser really puts you off.

The X960 comes with a 3.2MP camera and LED flash which you can take stills and video with. The interface used for the camera isn’t that impressive and there is a bit of a shutter lag. A 3.2 MP camera is quite common amongst smartphones and you can normally take a decent picture with them (mainly in good lighting). For some reason taking decent still pictures with this 3.2 MP camera on the X960 is really difficult and the pictures seem slightly blurred. This is a shame as the quality of the pre-loaded pictures are brilliant and really show off the display quality.

I was glad to see that there was an LED flash as the last few phones that I’ve reviewed didn’t have one which meant that low lighting picture were pretty much out of the question. But, I found another issue here that taking photos with the flash gave off coloured (greenish yellow tinge) photos. Video quality doesn’t seem much better. The size of video is pretty small, and if you move quickly or are shooting a faster moving object the quality goes right out the window.

Windows Media Player is used for music and video playback. The inbuilt speaker on the back is actually pretty good for a phone loudspeaker. So, you can playback music using the loud speaker, or use the stereo headphones that come with the phone. The X960 would benefit from a 3.5mm jack so that there was the option to use your own headphones but the packaged ones aren’t that bad.

Video can be played back in landscape mode when Windows Media Player is set to full screen. As mentioned before, there is no accelerometer to do this automatically.

Phone call quality is good (of course network coverage would affect this) and the quality of the loud speaker means that when using the speaker phone mode the sound is loud and clear.

 

Conclusion:

I was really disappointed with Acer’s X960. I expected Acer to enter the world of Smartphones with a handset that would have everyone wanting more. OK, I guess I did want more – but more from the phone!

As with all gadgets there are always features that people like and don’t like, which is just personal opinion. An example here would be the user interface Acer have place on the phone. Not my cup of tea, but others like it. But i think there is one thing that has completely let the X960 down which I can’t imagine any one would like, and that is the very slow responding touch screen. It’s frustrating to say the least and completely takes the enjoyment of using the phone.

Acer need to hit the Smartphone market with a fresh idea and steer away from the E-Ten design as it’s already starting to look old. There is definitely potential to we’ll have to wait and see what will appear next!

 

 

Reviewed by: Emma

Posted in: Reviews
By July 2, 2009 Read More →

HTC Hero hands on pictures

image The guys over at Clove have scored an HTC Hero and have shared some hands on pictures of this well anticipated device. They are also telling us that the shipping date has slipped slightly to between 16th-21st July and due to limited numbers you can pre-order if you want one straight away. Enjoy the pictures right after the break.

Posted in: Phones
By July 1, 2009 Read More →

O2 wins exclusive Palm Pre deal

image Palm will next week confirm that it has signed a deal with O2 which will see the mobile phone network become the exclusive UK partner for its eagerly awaited Palm Pre handset.

The Pre, which went on sale in the US last month, has been tipped as the most viable alternative yet produced to the iPhone. The new version of the Apple device – the iPhone 3GS – went on sale less than two weeks ago and a million were snapped up in the first three days.

O2 already has an exclusive deal with Apple to stock the iPhone and grabbing the Palm Pre is likely to further cement its position as the UK’s largest mobile phone network. Reports of a tie-up between Palm and O2 first appeared in May and Carphone Warehouse is also expected to stock the Pre.

O2 is believed to have seen off fierce competition for the device from Orange, which it also beat to the iPhone at the last minute.

Posted in: Phones
By July 1, 2009 Read More →

Toshiba TG01 coming to UK in July

image According  to Pocket-lint Toshiba has confirmed that it will be announcing the UK launch details of its Snapdragon powered TG01 mobile phone on the 9th July.

The phone, first announced back in February, will be the first handset to feature the Qualcomm 1Ghz Snapdragon processor and promises to take on the iPhone, Palm Pre and HTC Hero when it eventually launches in the UK.

The Toshiba TG01 is a skinny 9.9mm running Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional with a 4.1-inch WVGA 800 x 480 384k pixel resistive touchscreen, 3G HSPA, WiFi, GPS and A-GPS.  It also features Toshiba’s own 3D user interface, and is the first device to use Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon QSD2850 chipset.

Although Toshiba is keeping quiet on an operator launch partner, it has already teamed up with O2 in Germany following an announcement on Monday.

Image courtesy of Slash Gear

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Posted in: Phones
By July 1, 2009 Read More →

Uniea Reintroduces Cases for the New iPhone 3Gs with New Look and Features.

iphone3Gs_06 2 Universal Electronic Accessories (“Uniea”), a leading designer and manufacturer of innovative electronic accessories, is set to unveil updates of four classic Uniea cases that will work with the newly-released iPhone 3Gs from Apple. The collection of cases includes the U-Suit Premium, U-Skin, U-Motion, and the U–Suit Folio Premium, all popular Uniea cases offered for previous generations of the iPhone that will now join Uniea’s new U-Glance iPhone hard case. A classic hip-case with leather-clip on the back will also be available as an alternative option.

The U–Suit Folio Premium will offer improved features, allowing easy-access to the headset plug-in and the volume-control, while still ensuring total protection in style. As always, the U-Suit Premium and U-Suit Folio Premium both feature soft, lavish leather construction that is classic and elegant to the touch and works well for the casual and business user alike. The U-Suit Premium comes in three leather options, the signature leather model, a Napa leather model, and an Intrecciato leather model, all in black.

Posted in: Phones
By July 1, 2009 Read More →

Vodafone UK customers to get a better deal on roaming data

image Travellers are now set to get even better value and greater clarity on costs when accessing the internet around the world from their mobile phones or laptops from Vodafone UK.

From July 1, business and consumer customers, across Europe, can access the internet from their mobile phone for just £4.99 per day for up to 25MB. Those who choose to only read a couple of emails, or quickly check Facebook for example, and keep their usage below 1 MB, will be charged on a per kb rate. Receiving and replying to a short email will use around 100KB, which would cost just 50p.

Once a customer reaches 1MB the cost will be £4.99, but the next 24MB are free. This would be enough data to browse approximately 250 internet pages, read and reply to 25 emails, find your way to a restaurant on Google Maps, read eight news stories on the BBC website, change your status on Facebook and watch three 90 second videos on YouTube. Any further internet usage will be charged at £4.99 for each 25 MB.

Posted in: Phones
By July 1, 2009 Read More →

Cheaper data roaming with Vodafone

If you travel overseas and use your mobile for picking up your email or web browsing I’m sure you’ll know just how expensive data roaming charges can be. Taking Orange for example, data roaming can cost up to £8 per MB – to put that in to context, receiving an email with a 1MB attachment would cost you £8! There are travel bundles that you can pre-purchase to reduce the cost of you roaming charges and these typically reduce the per-MB rate down to about £2.50.

However, £2.50 is still ridiculously expensive in my opinion, and just a little bit of casual browsing and email activity can easily run up huge bills.

Vodafone have gone a step further as you’ll see from their press release below. Vodafone Passport gives customers up to 25MB for just under £5 per day, around 20p per MB.  While this is definitely a step in the right direction I wonder if 25MB is really enough?

 

VODAFONE UK CUSTOMERS TO GET EVEN BETTER VALUE WHEN USING THE INTERNET OVERSEAS

  • 2.5 million Vodafone UK customers benefitting from great value summer calls, text and picture messaging roaming with Vodafone Passport
  • From 1 July, customers can browse the web, check their inbox and send emails for less than £5 a day while overseas
  • Only UK network with  per day data roaming charges
  • from £4.99 per day on a mobile for up to 25MB across Europe – the equivalent of 20p per MB
  • £9.99 for 50MB on a laptop across Europe

Travellers are now set to get even better value and greater clarity on costs when accessing the internet around the world from their mobile phones or laptops from Vodafone UK.

From July 1, business and consumer customers, across Europe, can access the internet from their mobile phone for just £4.99 per day for up to 25MB.  Those who choose to only read a couple of emails, or quickly check Facebook  for example, and keep their usage below 1 MB, will be charged on a per kb rate. Receiving and replying to a short email will use around 100KB, which would cost just 50p.

Once a customer reaches 1MB the cost will be £4.99, but the next 24MB are free. This would be enough data to browse approximately 250 internet pages, read and reply to 25 emails, find your way to a restaurant on Google Maps, read eight news stories on the BBC website, change your status on Facebook and watch three 90 second videos on YouTube. Any further internet usage will be charged at £4.99 for each 25 MB.

This greater clarity and value has also been introduced for laptop users who want to use the internet when they are abroad.  Customers with their laptops in Europe will receive 50MB for £9.99.

For the purposes of roaming, a day is classified as midnight to midnight UK time so customers need to be aware of their time zone.  Outside Europe, customers will be charged £14.99 for each 25MB when accessing the internet via their mobile and £29.99 for 50MB through a laptop.

Vodafone is currently the only UK operator to offer per day data roaming charging which when broken down equates to just 20p per MB in Europe. Later in the summer, customers will receive real time alerts as they approach the end of their data allowance.

On June 1, Vodafone UK abolished roaming charges for Vodafone Passport customers in 35 countries across Europe.  Until August 31, Vodafone Passport customers can call, text and send picture messages from overseas for the same prices as they would at home.

For further information on data roaming visit vodafone.co.uk/data roaming. Information about Vodafone Passport and the summer roaming promotion can be found at vodafone.co.uk/roaming

 

Posted by: Matt

Posted in: Press Releases
By July 1, 2009 Read More →

Rolando for iPhone – review

Let’s face it: computer games are fun and iPhone and iPod touch are very well suited for mobile gaming, even though they don’t have gaming controls like Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. Since games are so much fun, we decided that we will cover games for iPhone and iPod touch to a bigger extend than previously.

Here we are reviewing Rolando for iPhone made by iPhone-specialized game maker ng-moco – a company that received several million of venture capital and that has been promoting heavily also by Apple itself (the best promotion anybody can get!):

Posted in: Phones
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