News

HTC Touch 3G Unveiled

Well it looks like the guys over at HTC are churning out their devices in a mass way. We now see another new release in the shape of the HTC Touch 3G.

HTC Touch 3G

Are they now showing that the iPhone is not the only trendy looking touch phone on the market with this device which will be running on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional?

The HTC Touch 3G comes with HTC’s next generation TouchFLO covering over the sizeable cracks in Microsoft’s long serving Operating System.

Various Views of the Touch 3G

Connectivity wise, the Touch3G comes with HSDPA/WCDMA (Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHz) offering up to 384 kbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds, and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, Bluetooth 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for stereo wireless headsets and IEEE 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi. Naturally, there’s GPS and A-GPS onboard.

There’s a 3.2 megapixel camera for stills and video onboard with a microSD slot for expandable storage, plus HTC’s ExtUSB 11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and combined audio jack forcing users to fiddle about with proprietary headphone connections. Maybe one day…….soon, HTC and the others will realise that people want 3.5mm audio jacks!

The rounded, pocketable phone (102 mm X 53.6 mm X 14.5 mm) weighs in at 96 grams and is powered by a Qualcomm MSM7225 528 MHz processor supported by 256MB ROM and 192 MB RAM, with the 1100 mAh battery promising up to 360 minutes for WCDMA/400 minutes GSM talk time and a standby time up to 450 hours for WCDMA and 365 hours for GSM.

The exact release date is still unknown and but we expect to see this in shops sometime in September / October / November (ok, so I just don’t know) so why not head over to either Clove or Devicewire and pre-order yours now?

The device will come in sophisticated black, noble gold, sparkle blue and modern brown and the official stats on the handset are:

• Size: 102 x 53.6 x 14.5 mm
• Weight: 96g
• Connectivity: GSM/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz & WCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz.
  • HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
  • HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• Software/Operating system: HTC TouchFLO with Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• Display: 2.8 inch QVGA screen
• Camera: 3.2 megapixel
• Internal memory: 256 MB flash; 192 MB RAM
• Memory card: microSD™
• Bluetooth®: 2.0 with EDR
• GPS: GPS/AGPS
• Interface: HTC ExtUSB™ (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
• Battery: 1100 mAh
• Talk time: WCDMA: Up to 360 minutes*** / GSM: Up to 400 minutes
• Standby time: WCDMA: Up to 450 hours*** / GSM: Up to 365 hours
• Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM7225™ 528 MHz

Posted by: John

HTC Touch HD now official

Just days after the first images of the HTC Touch HD leaked out on the web HTC have officially announced the device with a full press release (below) and by adding the product to their site.

The Touch HD is one device that I am very excited about but it looks like it’ll be on the large side, I suspect along the lines of the HTC Blue Angel in form.

Devicewire already have the HTC Touch HD listed on their site and are expecting to have them in stock from the 10th November! No word on pricing at the moment but head over to their product page where you’ll be able to check the price and get availability updates.

The HTC Touch HD (Click images to enlarge)

NEW HTC TOUCH HD^TM RAISES BAR FOR MOBILE INTERNET AND ENTERTAINMENT

Large, 3.8 inch wide-screen VGA display, HTC TouchFLO^TM 3D, desktop-class broadband browsing and a 3.5mm audio jack and more provide the ultimate entertainment combination

Taoyuan, Taiwan — September 16th, 2008 — HTC Corporation, a global leader in mobile phone innovation and design, today unveiled its latest handset, the HTC Touch HD^TM, an entertainment focused mobile handset that will transform how people experience multimedia on the move. Integrating a large 3.8 inch wide-screen VGA display (WVGA), a standard 3.5mm audio jack and a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, the HTC Touch HD^TM is the perfect device for multimedia fans.

Shifting the boundaries of design and innovation
The HTC Touch HD^TM combines high performance capabilities with a stylish, sleek design that has made HTC a global leader in mobile phone design and innovation. Its large 3.8 inch WVGA touchscreen offers users stunning clarity and vibrant colours, providing an unrivalled experience when watching movies, browsing the Internet or even scanning through photos taken with the 5 megapixel auto focus camera.

The stylish new device also features HTC’s beautiful TouchFLO™ 3D user interface to provide quick and intuitive access to the people, messages and content that are most important. A standard 3.5mm headphone jack has also been designed-in, allowing consumers to use high-performance headphones with the device for the best possible sound quality.

“Today, Widescreen TV, Internet and video have become the standard so there is no reason to compromise when you leave the house, the Touch HD^TM delivers that uncompromising multimedia and Internet experience,” said Peter Chou, president and CEO HTC Corporation. “We are living in a time where the concept of entertainment has radically changed. The internet is so much more than just email and our customers expect to be able to access the Internet and high quality multimedia content no matter where they are in the world.”

Getting the most out of the Internet
The large high resolution, widescreen display combined with download speeds up to 18 times faster than standard 3G, enables the HTC Touch HD^TM to render websites quickly and in full-page width. This provides a comparable Internet experience to that of home broadband in terms of both speed and page layout. This true mobile broadband experience allows users to navigate more easily, leveraging the mobile internet in a variety of ways. For example, browsing to favourite websites, using Google Maps to find a restaurant for lunch, searching for and streaming video from YouTube or even catching up to the minute news, blog posts and video podcasts with the integrated RSS reader, will be more intuitive for consumers familiar with desktop browsing.

No compromise 
The HTC Touch HD^TM has been conceived for both business and consumer users alike, who demand style and performance and do not think the two are mutually exclusive. The HTC Touch HD^TM is the ideal handset for people who are embracing the mobile multimedia shift but who do not wish to forgo quality, simply by being on the move.

Availability
The HTC Touch HD will be available across major European carriers in Q4 2008 and be introduced in other global markets shortly following.

Key Touch HD specification:

• Size: 115 x 62.8 x 12 mm
• Weight: 146.4 grams/5.164 oz with battery
• Connectivity: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHzWCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• Software/Operating system: HTC TouchFLO 3D with Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• Display: 3.8 inch Wide Screen VGA screen (480 x 800 WVGA)
• Camera: 5.0 megapixel with auto focus – Second Camera: VGA
• Internal memory: 512 MB flash; 288 MB RAM
• Memory card: microSD™ memory card (SDHC™ capable)
• WLAN: 802.11b/g
• Bluetooth®: 2.0 with EDR
• GPS: GPS/AGPS
• Interface: HTC ExtUSB™ (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
• Battery: 1350 mAh
• Talk time: WCDMA: Up to 390 minutes*** / GSM: Up to 310 minutes***        
• Standby time: WCDMA: Up to 450 hours*** / GSM: Up to 390 hours***
• Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM7201a™ 528 MHz

EDIT: Our HTC Touch HD review is now live for your reading pleasure!

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 preview video and photos

As you probably know, we were at the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 today where we were introduced to the device as well as Johnny-X.

Paul (MoDaCo) and I managed to get a little bit of hands on time with the device so I took a few photos for you and we recorded a video tour for you to enjoy. There is another event for the X1 later this week so we will try to get more hands-on time and naturally secure a review unit!

Magnus Andersson showing off the Black and Silver Xperia

Black and Silver Xperia X1’s

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 showing off its keyboard

Paul gives us a quick tour of the Xperia X1 in the video below:

Sorry about the background noise on the video, the SE guys started packing up their kit while we were recording the video!

Our Xperia X1 review is now live!

As we should be getting more hands-on time later this week and will be meeting with Sony Ericsson and Magnus Andersson again, please do drop us a line if you want us to ask any specific questions!

Posted by: Matt

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 launch event

Today I will be heading over to Covent Garden to the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 launch event. As we now know, the X1 should be available from the 30th September but this event should give us a chance to get our hands on the device ahead of launch, and fingers crossed well have one to review shortly too!

We’ll be live blogging with our friend Paul O’Brien from MoDaCo and the live blog will be here in this post later on. Be sure to come back by about 12:45 when we hope to start coverage.

Webcast
To start the countdown to the launch of Xperia™ X1, Sony Ericsson will host a live global webcast on September 15 at 13:00 GMT + 1, offering viewers the first in-depth demonstration of the handset. The web cast will also premiere the first episode of an alternative reality thriller Johnny X. To register to view the web cast and Q&A session with Xperia™ X1 Senior Product Manager Magnus J Andersson, please visit: www.sonyericsson.com/premiere.

“We are extremely pleased with the innovation and new user experience we have created for consumers on the Xperia™ X1,” said Rikko Sakaguchi CVP and Head of Creation and Development at Sony Ericsson. “The in-depth demonstration on the web cast will showcase how this handset is truly unique. The nine panel eco system puts the user in total control of the primary experiences available on the phone and allows consumers to personalise the panel interface to suit their needs and lifestyle. The Xperia™ X1 has the highest quality screen on the market, four-way navigation keys and optical joy stick to give a stressless browsing experience and, with its super fast processor and network speed the Xperia™ X1 really bridges the gap between personal, entertainment and work mobile needs.”

Johnny X Alternative Reality Thriller
Johnny X is about a young man with amnesia desperately piecing together his identity. The webisodic thriller comprises of nine episodes, created to demonstrate the rich, immersive and experiential elements of the Xperia™ X1.
The storyline follows Johnny X on his mission to rediscover his identity. As he finds out more about his lost life in a race against time, he updates his Xperia™ X1 with new content to piece together his personality and identity, reflecting how the phone can be personalized to suit users’ individual lifestyle and needs. Will Johnny X find out who he really is before it’s too late?
“Producing the Johnny X thriller has given us an engaging platform to demonstrate all the capabilities and features a user can experience with the Xperia™ X1 phone,” said Lennard Hoornik, Head of Marketing at Sony Ericsson. “The panel interface is a perfect way to reflect your personality and can be tailored and changed to suit your exact needs at any given time. No two Xperia™ X1 will ever have the same combination of panels on the phone; we are all individuals and deserve to have a phone that reflects that. ”
Over a three week period, one new episode of Johnny X will be posted online at www.sonyericsson.com/Johnnyx every Monday, Wednesday and Friday starting on Monday, September 22. Check out the trailer for the series at www.whoisjohnny-x.com

Global Launch
The official global launch of the Xperia™ X1 will take place at Tent London as part of London Design Week between September 18 – 21st. Journalists are invited to attend the official Tent London opening party on Friday evening 19 September 2008 to see the Xperia™ X1 and meet with Sony Ericsson spokespeople.

Check out this post for a couple of photos and some hands-on video of the Xperia X1!

Posted by: Matt

Friday Deals!

We have some superb Friday deals for you from eXpansys. We’ve managed to get these products to a great price point and the deal won’t last long!

MWg UBiQUiO 503G

Normally £229.99 Special price only £99.99 inc VAT, save £130

BenQ E72 Smartphone Special UK Email Offer

Normally £99.99 Special price only £79.99 inc VAT, Save £20

OQO model e2 with Vista Ultimate

version: 1.5GHz, 1GB RAM, 60GB HDD, Vista Ultimate

Normally £1099.99 Special price only £699.99 inc VAT, save £400

OQO model 2 with Vista Business

version: 1.5GHz, 1GB RAM, 60GB HDD, Vista Bus, Office

Normally £1229.99 Special price only £764.99 inc VAT, save £465

* Special pricing only applies between 11am and 4pm UK time, normal pricing will resume at 4pm on Friday 12^th September 2008. Deals available while stocks last. eXpansys/partner voucher codes do not apply with these deals, limited to 2 units per customer.

Posted by: Matt

HTC go HD with the HTC Touch HD – Follow Up

Following up from yesterday’s post by Matt it looks like the specs of the new device have now been leaked. I have spoken to HTC about this but they were not able to comment on this at the moment bud did reveal that there would be a few new devices being released over the next few months that have had no coverage yet.

System:
– 4-inch 65K TFT touchscreen with 480 x 800 pixel resolution
– 512MB ROM, 327MB available to the user
– 288MB DDR SDRAM
– microSDHC (up to 32GB)
– Built-in accelerometer

Connectivity
– GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS900, UMTS2100
– CSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA
– mini-USB connector
– Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
– Wireless LAN
– FM radio with RDS
– 3.5mm standard audio jack
– GPS receiver Qualcomm gpsOne with A-GPS

Camera
– 5 megapixel autofocus camera
– No camera flash
– Video recording: 320×240 pixels(QVGA)@30fps
– Secondary VGA video calls camera

Battery
– 1350 mAh capacity

Based on Windows Mobile 6.1, the new HTC Touch HD measures 115 x 62.8 x 12mm (which is just about the iPhone 3G with 115.5 x 62.1 x 12.3mm). Boasting a large display at 4-inch with the overwhelming resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. It also seems to be running TouchFLO 3D.

HTC Touch HD

The HTC Touch HD (we don’t know whether that would be its retail name) is powered by a 528Mhz CPU courtesy of the Qualcomm 7201A platform. There are 512MB flash memory and 288MB of RAM.

Of course, goodies like GPS, Wi-Fi and HSPDA go without saying, but the HTC Touch HD also has a 5 megapixel camera (without a flash though). Unfortunately, video recording is not that high-end as it maxes out at QVGA@30fps.

The Touch HD is due this Christmas, so we could be in for some official announcement really soon.

Source: GSM Arena

Posted by: John

HTC go HD with the HTC Touch HD

Our friends at MoDaCo have breaking news of another new device from HTC, this time in the form of the HTC Touch HD which looks like an iPhone killer if ever I saw one!

As you would expect, very little known about this new device at the moment but early specs suggest the folowing:

HTC Touch HD Specification:

• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• Qualcomm 7201A processor @ 528MHz
• 512MB ROM / 256MB RAM (+32MB on processor)
• WVGA (480×800)!!!
• 115mm x 62.8mm x 12mm
• GPS / HSDPA etc. etc.
• 5 Megapixel camera (no flash)
• No Dpad or scroll wheel, does have a stylus
• microSD slot
• 1350mAH battery
• 3.5mm headset jack on the top

There are plenty more photos and information about the Touch HD on MoDaCo.com so check it out. What an amazing looking device!

If you know more then please drop us a line!

Posted by: Iain

Sony Ericsson launch dedicated Xperia blog site

Today Sony Ericsson is launching a dedicated blog site for the up coming Xperia X1. The site will go live later this morning and will offer news and announcements regarding the Xperia. Head over to www.xperiancers.com later on to see what they have in store!

Hi, welcome to the Xperia blogger’s centre. We’ve created it so that Sony Ericsson can start to understand and engage in all of the conversations that are already happening about the Xperia.

It’s fair to say that up until now, apart from with the developer community, we’ve not done a great job of listening to and talking with the wider blogging community. This is our first step in changing all that. We’ve been inspired by some of the great initiatives by other companies, but this is very much our own idea and we hope we’ve learnt from what others have done.

Like everyone else, we are hoping to get our hands on the X1 soon and will have a review online just as soon as possible!

Posted by: Matt

Palm Treo Pro launch event (now with video)

I’m just heading back from the Plam Treo Pro launch event which was held today in London. I’ll have some photos and video online just as soon as I can download and process them so do watch this space!

Initial impressions of the Treo Pro is that it’s a nice looking device that seem to have everything built in! We should have a review unit in a few days too so that’s another thing to keep your eyes open for!

Here are a couple of images of the Treo Pro for you to look at. The video is taking a while to process but that too will be here soon!

A Selection of Treo’s!

Palm Treo Pro side view

Palm Treo Pro bottom view (showing the micro USB and 3.5mm headphone socket)

I’ll have better pictures for you over the next few days. The lighting at the venue wasn’t great!

The presentation video will appear below as soon as it has finished processing. I’m sorry about the quility but I took a different camcorder with me to this event and it was quite dark in the room. If anyone wants to give me a decent HD camcorder then please email me! 🙂

Make yourself comfortable – the video is almost 30 mins long.

Posted By: Matt

Google Chrome – A fresh take on a browser

Google yesterday released a comic book guide to their new powerful browser Google Chrome on their official Google Blog. Today they released the actual browser for all to use

I’m not going to depress everyone with thousands of text about this browser but simply say "go have a look", I think you will be simply impressed with what Google have to offer.

Google Chrome Logo

"On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn’t the browser that matters. It’s only a tool to run the important stuff — the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go."

"Under the hood, we were able to build the foundation of a browser that runs today’s complex web applications much better. By keeping each tab in an isolated "sandbox", we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites. We improved speed and responsiveness across the board. We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren’t even possible in today’s browsers."

A full review of this as a stand alone browser will be posted tomorrow at some point.

Posted by: John