Tracy and Matt

As we all know by now, the Apple iPad was announced last week and already it's met with a mixed response. I for one have been backwards and forwards thinking it'll be great then wondering if some of the design decisions really make sense. I know an awful lot of people were hoping that the iPad would run either OSX are at least some new OS that offered a similar experience to a netbook. There's been some disappointment even among hardcore Apple fans that the iPad simply runs the same operating system as the iPhone and iPod touch. In my mind that does certainly have some limitations.

However, something occurred to me as I logged in to my desktop PC via my laptop over a Citrix Thin Client connection - I wonder if there's Citrix Client for the iPhone already, wouldn't that work well on the iPad!?

Sure enough there is a Citrix Client that I am about to go and try out. There's also a Remote Desktop Client (RDP/RDC) for the iPhone that'll allow you to connect to an enabled Windows PC/Server and then there's also the tried and trusted VNC clients out there.

So if you are looking for a full desktop experience from the iPad then perhaps this will be the answer? Connect to your home or work PC over WiFi or 3G from the iPad and run all the apps you already have installed but with a touch screen! I can imagine that working really well for me!

So bring on the iPad and lets get this tested out! :)

Posted by: Matt

I was visiting Matt the other weekend and he asked me if I fancied reviewing a Nokia. OK I said, and he handed me a large blue box. Large enough that I wondered just how big the phone inside was.

Then I looked at the box better and noticed 'Nokia Booklet 3G' emblazed across the side in white letters.

The Nokia Booklet 3G

At that point I wondered if it was some sort of internet tablet thing running Symbian, and Matt told be it was actually running Windows 7 and had a 10+ hour battery life. At which point I wondered if the startup sound would be the Nokia ring tone :D

An unusual opening box and then my view of the Booklet 3G itself - this was not your standard 'little netbook' I was looking at.

Check out Matt's Nokia Booklet unboxing video for a quick tour of the device.

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Last week saw the launch of the much rumoured Apple iPad. There has been a ton of discussion about the iPad both before and after the announcement. Some believe that it's the best thing ever and others thinking that it's going to be a monumental miss for Apple.

So why am I telling you about the MoDaCo podcast? Well last week my long time friend Paul, founder of MoDaCo, and I were talking about the iPad when Paul said "Hey why don't you come on the podcast as a guest and chat about the iPad with me and Chris?". Sounded like a great idea, I'm getting in to this podcast lark so jumped at the chance.

So if you want to hear what the three of us have to say about the iPad then head on over to the podcast page on MoDaCo. Please do feel free to come back to us and offer your feedback both on the iPad and the podcast itself over on the forum.

Posted by: Matt

I realise that the Palm Pre has been around for a while but it's taken some effort to get our hands on a review unit as they are in such short supply. This is one that James and I were really looking forward to putting through its paces as we'd heard mostly good things about WebOS.

The Palm Pre

Having played with the Pre for a while over the weekend I have to say that I am initially quite impressed. The user interface is smooth and intuitive and I like the way email is handled. There's also mutitasking here so you can have many apps running at once, unlike the iPhone, you don't have to close one app to go to another!

There are a few questions marks over the build quality, the edges around the keyboard for example are just a fraction from being sharp enough to shave with. The keyboard mechanism is also far from perfect, I find it a little awkward to open with one hand, but this could be down to this being a much used and abused PR model.

James is going to be the one to review the Palm Pre so please do feel free to use the Palm Pre forum thread to send us any comments or questions that you would like him to answer about the Pre either now or in the review. As always I have an unboxing video for you where I dive in and take a quick look around WebOS as well. Take a look:

Palm Pre specification:

• Operating system: Palm® webOS
• Display: 3.1-inch touch screen 320x480 resolution HVGA display
• Keyboard: Physical QWERTY keyboard
• Email: Microsoft Outlook® email with Microsoft® Direct Push Technology POP3/IMAP (Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, etc).
• Messaging: Integrated IM, SMS, and MMS
• GPS: Built-in GPS
• Digital camera: 3 megapixel camera with LED flash and extended depth of field
• Ambient light sensor
• Accelerometer
• Proximity sensor
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
• Bluetooth® 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
• Memory 8GB of user storage (~7.4GB user available) USB mass storage support
• MicroUSB connector with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
• Headphone jack 3.5mm stereo
• Dimensions: Width: 59.5mm (2.3 inches) Height: 100.5mm (3.9 inches) Thickness: 16.95mm (0.67 inches)
• Weight: 135 grams (4.76 ounces)

Posted by: Matt

The BlackBerry Magnum, AKA Dakota, has been rumoured for some time now but its only in the last few days that it has been captured on video.

BlackBerry Magnum

To look at the above picture you may think that the device looks just like a Bold 9000 but the Magnum has a special trick up its sleeve - a touch screen!

Yes, the BlackBerry Magnum is somewhere between a Bold and a Storm with the clicky screen. Although this device is still a prototype I am sure we will see a version of it released at some point.

Will BlackBerry users like the Magnum? I'm not sure. I'm a BlackBerry user and I certainly don't want a touch screen. What may be a better option in the future would be a Storm with a slide out QWERTY?

Anyway, check out the below video from the cellularguru and if you wish to comment please do so in our forum.

Posted by: James