Gareth, Matt and James are joined by Tracy to chat about the Acer Stream, a new Samsung Android tablet, HP releasing a WebOS tablet and a few new Windows Phone 7 devices.
Regulars – Gareth, Matt, Tracy and James
In their never ending quest for total world information domination (or something like that), Google have now added calls to regular telephones from your Gmail account. For some time you’ve been able to have voice chat and video chat through Google Talk but this is the first time the Googleplexers have stepped their Google communications suite out of the G-bubble and into the real world of telephone calls with Google Voice. Presently you can call for free only in the US and Canada (and only until the end of the year), while in the UK, Germany, France and interestingly China will have to pay 2 cents a minute (pre.) Clearly this is a big stab at the heart of Skype but it’s yet to be seen whether Google can topple the world’s best known VoIP provider with some 550 million or more users. Google Voice does have some interesting features though, including allocation of a Google Voice number which you can set to ring any or all of your contact numbers. Smart. Currently this is all still through a desktop browser but it’s not a great leap of imagination to think that Google will filter their new technology to their own Android mobile operating system. It does however remain to be seen how this will work in China – will the communist government allow encoded communications or has a deal with the big red and the big G already been struck?
Google Voice is currently only in the US but will be rolling out to the other test nations in the near future. Watch Google’s video here for an animated overview.
Posted by: Ian
If you saw our unboxing video of the Nokia C6 and were thinking about getting one you now can. The device has today gone live on the Vodafone site.
Available from free with contracts starting at £20 per month the C6 will offer you a pretty decent specced phone with the bonus of having the OVI Store at hand. Free Sat Nav anyone!
Want a reminder of the Nokia C6 Specification?
In this review I will be talking about the newest addition of Samsung’s Corby range of mobile phones which is the S3370 or Corby 3G as it is also named. We have seen a lot of these types of handsets here at tracyandmatt.co.uk now so how does this one compare to previous ones?
The Corby 3G is not the best specced phone but it does come with an attractive price tag both on PAYG and on contract. This could well be the deciding factor.
Want to find out more about this handset? And to find out where I think it sits in the market?
Then please do read on.
It has been a wee while since we have had a new Android device from Acer but the Stream is here and its specs are on par with many of the top end handsets from other manufactures. Sporting a 3.7 inch screen and powered by a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor the Stream with Android 2.1 on board certainly has what it takes to be a flagship device but looks wise it is defiantly unique. I don’t think we have seen media controls on the front of another Android phone before and it looks a bit odd to be honest.
If media is a big part of your mobile life then maybe this is the perfect device for you.
Let’s unbox the Stream and see what it’s all about.
One of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 trump cards – Phone to Console – will be standard with WP7 handsets BUT not at launch. Coming across a little like the combination play between the Gamecube and the Gameboy Advance, it heavily integrates your Xbox Live account into your mobile gaming including your avatar (editable on the phone), messages and achievements. Additionally, if you have a game on the phone that integrates with a sister title on the 360 (Assassin’s Creed for example), it’ll add achievement points to your Live score and, game dependant, open up parts of the main title. There’s also phone-to-phone for free (Silver Live) on turn-based games (chalk one up for Tower Defence games). Clearly MS playing this card for all it’s worth and could prove interesting with Apple and Android having no comparable technology.
Check out RGBFilter’s comprehensive video interview with Greg Milligan of MS Canada here, with plenty of WP7 and Live action. You also get a good look at an LG WP7 handset that’s not the E900.
Posted by: Ian
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