Archive for September, 2008

By September 15, 2008 Read More →

HTC Opal is now the HTC Touch Viva

OK so you might be asking the question right now, "what is the HTC Opal and why has it never even been mentioned on this site?" Well it’s another one of those "is it real" moments. I seen this device a few days ago and to be 100% honest never knew if it would actually amount to anything but low and behold here it is.

HTC Touch Viva Side View

HTC Touch Viva is the name of the latest-leaked smartphone produced by HTC. The device was initially said to be called HTC Opal, but it seems that the Taiwanese company will officially dub it as Touch Viva. You may have already guessed that this so-called Viva is a full-touch smartphone – and so it is, indeed.

Apparently, Touch Viva will be the successor of the first HTC device from the Touch series, the one simply called HTC Touch and released in Europe about one year ago.

Leaked over at Pocketpt, HTC Touch Viva is said to come with features like quad-band GSM connectivity (850 / 900 / 1800 /1900 MHz), a 2.8-inch TFT touchscreen display with the classic 240 x 320 pixel resolution, Microsoft’s latest Windows Mobile 6.1 OS, HTC’s new TouchFLO 3D, Wi-Fi, a 2 MP photo camera, support for microSD / microSDHC cards, and so on – all packed inside a case that measures 104 x 59 x 15.5 millimeters (4.09 x 2.32 x 0.61 inches) and weighs 110 grams (3.88 ounces).

HTC Touch Viva Bottom View

So, basically, the Viva is an old HTC Touch with a new User Interface and worldwide connectivity. Which is not a bad thing, of course, as not all mobile users can afford a Touch Diamond, but they might still want to own a touchscreen device.

As far as rumors go, HTC should present the new Touch Viva this month. More exactly, the smartphone is said to be launched on September 15 in Asia (probably across Taiwan and China), while Europe will be getting it two weeks later, on September 30.

The retail price of Viva should be no higher than 300 Euros (426 USD), but we have to wait for an official confirmation to know this for sure.
In the end, HTC seems to have yet another new device that might be quite successful. It might not be the Touch HD, but it’s still a pretty nice handset.

Posted by: John

Posted in: Phones
By September 15, 2008 Read More →

Asus Glaxy7 (Zest)

image The Unwired have spotted some interesting information on what looks like a soon to be released Asus Windows Mobile device. We saw the announcement last week of the average looking P552W but this one looks like a much better device. Sporting an 800 x 480 pixel display and a 5 megapixel camera things are really starting to warm up in the Windows Mobile world. Full specs after the break.

Posted in: Phones
By September 15, 2008 Read More →

MMS now on your iPhone

image Flutter has just been released in the App Store and this service gives you the ability to send MMS messages. What’s more and this is the best bit it does not need a jailbroken phone as this is an official application available through iTunes. It doesn’t help with receiving MMS messages, your still stuck with a web page link from your operator but at least its a big improvement to what we have. Full details and links after the break.

Posted in: Phones
By September 14, 2008 Read More →

Xperia X1 advertising campaign

image Looks like Sony Ericsson are going to be really pushing the launch of the Xperia X1, the guys over at the SEMC Blog have spotted some interesting advertisements which will shortly be appearing in the press. We have them after the break. Also don’t forget on the 15th of September to join the live in depth video demonstration and questions session online at 1pm GMT+1 if you want to see the device in more detail.

Posted in: Phones
By September 14, 2008 Read More →

Palm Treo Pro unboxed

A few weeks ago we attended the Palm Treo Pro launch even in London and since then I’ve been trying to get my hands on a review unit. Finally managed to get my hands on one last Friday and have spent the last few days ‘playing’ with it.

Palm Treo Pro_Facing_hi res

The Palm Treo Pro

 

So far I’m quite happy with the Treo Pro, battery life seems really good and I quite like the fixed QWERTY keyboard rather than a slider. The OS is quite fast thanks to the 400MHz CPU and 128MB RAM.

I dislike the fact that it uses a Micro USB cable rather than Mini USB – every other device that I own, from Cameras to WM phones, has a Mini USB so this now means another cable to carry. I guess no big deal but it means I have to remember to take it with me if I think that I might need to charge or sync. Interestingly, when we saw the previews of the Treo Pro the other week, we commented that Micro USB cables were a lot easier to insert the wrong way and therefore damage the socket. We said that there needs to be an arrow or mark on the USB cable to show which way up. In the final version Palm sent me this week they have in fact done that!

The screen on the Treo Pro is a 320 x 320 touchscreen which is fairly unusual, I can think of only a few other devices that run at this res. This can cause problems with some third-party software so if you plan to use anything on the Treo you’ll want to check it’s compatible. The LCD screen also seems quite well set back from the flush front of the device. For me it makes stylus use feel a bit strange and somehow disconnected from what I see on screen.

 

I am possibly being a little over critical of the Treo Pro, overall I quite like the all in one design, the fact that it has built-in GPS and WiFi is good too. Have a look at the unboxing video which should act as a nice teaser before the review later on!

 

Palm Treo Pro unboxed

 

Palm Treo Pro specification:

  • Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional Edition
  • Qualcomm MSM7201 400MHz CPU
  • 256MB storage (100MB user available), 128MB RAM
  • 320×320 transflective colour TFT touchscreen
  • HSDPA/UMTS/EDGE/GPRS/GSM radio
  • Tri-band UMTS — 850MHz, 1900MHz, 2100MHz
  • Quad-band GSM — 850/900/1800/1900
  • Wi-Fi – 802.11b/g with WPA, WPA2, and 801.1x authentication
  • Bluetooth Version: 2.0 Enhanced Data Rate
  • MicroUSB 2.0 for synchronization and charging
  • Built-in GPS
  • 2.0 megapixels, up to 8x digital zoom and video capture
  • Removable, rechargeable 1500mAh lithium-ion; up to 5.0 hours talk time and up to 250 hours standby
  • microSDHC cards (up to 32GB supported)
  • 3.5mm stereo headset jack
  • 60mm (W) x 114mm (L) x 13.5mm (D); 
  • 133 grams

 

EDIT: Our Palm Treo Pro review is now live!

 

Posted by: Matt

Posted in: Videos/Unboxings
By September 14, 2008 Read More →

Windows Mobile Satellite Phone

image EB and TerreStar are working to bring to market the world’s first quad-band GSM and tri-band WCDMA/HSPA smartphone reference design with integrated satellite-terrestrial voice and data capabilities in a compact form factor. It will be a fully IP-based satellite handset reference design using high speed packet data. The smartphone reference design will have a touch screen and a full QWERTY keyboard and based on Windows Mobile.

Posted in: Phones
By September 13, 2008 Read More →

Camcorder group test (Part 1)

If you are a regular on tracyandmatt you’ll remember that I recorded the Palm Treo Pro launch event a few weeks ago. At the time I mentioned that the Camcorder that I was using at the time didn’t perform very well in the low light conditions at the event and that I was looking for a replacement.

So over in the last few weeks I started looking for a new camcorder that I could use to record our unboxing videos but that would also be small and light enough to take out to press events without contributing too much to my already overloaded kit bag. I for the sake of convenience, also wanted a camera that recorded footage on to memory cards rather than DVD or Tape (yes the still make DV camcorders). I preferred to have camera that could record HD but this wasn’t essential, it was the recording quality that mattered most as our videos would always be scaled down for web-streaming anyway. Finally I didn’t want to spend a fortune on the camera; about £200 – £250 was ideal.

As you can imagine, there are a lot of models to choose from within the requirements set out above and it was difficult to decide which one would suit me best. So I decided it would be a good idea to perform a group test of some camcorders that fit the bill. Not only would it help me to select the model I wanted but would also make for an interesting series of posts here on the site.

The models that we short-listed (and were able to get hold of) are the Sanyo Xacti HD700, Panasonic SD7, Canon FS100 and Toshiba Camileo H10.

All of the cameras record on to SD memory cards. The Sanyo and the Toshiba are capable of recording at 720p whereas the Canon and Panasonic record SD.

Sanyo Xacti HD700

Canon FS100

Toshiba Camileo H10

Panasonic SDR-S7

hd700_no_dock

 canon_fs100 toshiba_h10 SDR-S7

Effective Pixel Count

Approx. 7.1 megapixels

1.07 megapixels

10.48 megapixels

0.8 megapixels

Camera Element

1/2.5 inch, 7.38-megapixel CCD (total)

1/6" Interlaced CCD

1/2.5 inch, 10.48 megapixel CCD

1/6" CCD 800k Pixels

Recording Media

SDHC (up to 8 GB)

SDHC (up to 16GB)

SDHC (max cap. Unknown)

SDHC (up to 16GB)

Recording File Format

Still: JPEG
Video: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264
Audio: AAC-compression (stereo)

Still: JPEG
Video: MPEG-4
Audio: AC3

Still: JPEG
Video: MPEG-4
Audio: MPEG1-L2

Still: JPEG
Video: MPEG-4
Audio: MPEG1-L2

Resolution (Pixels) Still:

[10M] 3680 x 2760 interpolated
[7M] 3072 x 2304

1152 x 864
1152 x 648

4608 x 3456 max

JPEG size:640 x 480

Resolution (Pixels) Video:

[HD-SHQ] 1280 x 720 (30 fps, 9 Mbps)
[HD-HQ] 1280 x 720 (30 fps, 6 Mbps)
[TV-SHQ] 640 x 480 (30 fps, 3 Mbps)
[TV-HQ] 640 x 480 (30 fps, 2 Mbps)
[Web-SHQ] 320 x 240 (30 fps)

standard-definition video resolution of 720×480

 

H.264 – 1280 x 720 – 30 fps
H.264 – 720 x 480 – 30 fps
H.264 – 640 x 480 – 30 fps
H.264 – 320 x 240 – 30 fps

640 x 840 XP (10Mbps/VBR)
640 x 480 SP (5Mbps/VBR)
640 x 480 LP (2.5Mbps/VBR)

Zoom

5.0x optical zoom lens

37x optical zoom lens

5.0x optical zoom lens

10.0x optical zoom lens

Digital Zoom

Shooting: Max. 12x
Playback: Max. 58x (in [10M mode], depending on the resolution)

2000x digital zoom

4x digital zoom

10 – 700x Digital

Focus

Auto (Stills: 9-point AF), Manual

Auto/Manual

Auto

Auto/Manual

Sensitivity

Still: Auto (ISO 50–400), Manual (ISO 50/100/200/400/800/1600/3200)

1.7 Lux Minimum Illumination

?

2 Lux Minimum Illumination

Self-Timer

2 sec. or 10 sec.

2 sec. or 10 sec.

10 sec.

No

Flash

Auto/Forced/Off

No

Auto/Forced/Off

No

Audio

Microphone: Built-in stereo
Speaker: Built-in mono (L/R mixed output)

Stereo Mic
Built in mono speaker

Stereo Mic
Built in mono speaker

Stereo Zoom Mic, Wind Noise Reduction
Built in mono speaker

LCD Monitor

2.7-inch, TFT color wide screen LCD, Approx. 230,000 pixels

2.7” Wide LCD (123,200 pixels)

2.7” Wide LCD (123,200 pixels)

2.7” Wide LCD (123,200 pixels)

Interfaces

Via docking cradle: AV output (HDMI/component video/S-video/composite video, Audio: stereo sound), USB 2.0

AV output (S-video/composite video, Audio: stereo sound), USB 2.0

AV output (HDMI/composite video, Audio: stereo sound), USB 2.0

AV output (S-video/composite video, Audio: stereo sound), USB 2.0

Power Source

Lithium-ion battery (1200 mAh)

Lithium-ion battery

Lithium-ion battery

Lithium-ion battery

Approx. Battery Life

Stills: CIPA standard approx. 180 images
Video clips (HD-SHQ): Approx. 80 min.
Playback: Approx. 190 min.

TBC

TBC

TBC

Dimensions

73.7 x 109.0 x 35.0 mm

58 x 60 x 124 mm

56 x 117 x 65 mm

41.0 x 59.0 x 102.0 mm

Weight

Approx. 189 g (main unit only), Approx. 214 g (including battery and SD card)

260 g with battery

340 g with battery

Approx. 165 g w/o Battery

Price (Amazon)

 £249.00

 £215.00

 £173.00

 £228.00

Over the next few weeks, with Nigel’s help, we are going to be testing the four camcorders under real world, general use conditions as well as for the specific job I need them for. We’ll have an unboxing and a sample video from each camera as well as a short review and then we’ll have a final summary post at the end where we’ll pick the camcorder that we’ve decided to buy.

If you have any questions or comments along the way then please do get in touch through our contact page!

Part 2 of the group test is now live – check out the Panasonic SDR-S7 review!

Part 3 of the group test is now live – check out the Toshiba Camileo H10 review!

Part 4 of the group test is now live – check out the Sanyo Xacti HD700 review!

 

Posted by: Matt

Posted in: Reviews
By September 13, 2008 Read More →

RIM jumps past Windows Mobile in 2Q 2008

2q08share_3 Who’s leading in the market share for Q2 2008? Jkontherun has posted an interesting article and marketshare breakdown of smartphone adoption. The figures are surprising as RIM and Symbian were very much leading the pack in 2Q 2007 and have since managed to increase the gap. Have a look at the article after the break.

Posted in: Phones
By September 13, 2008 Read More →

Mobile Tech Moment Podcast No4

image Steve Trotto over at Mobile Tech Moment has posted his latest podcast episode number 4. If you haven’t listened to it yet you should check it out. In this episode it’s all about the iPhone 2.1 update and early impressions of what it fixes and if it is the answer to our problems. He is joined by David Ciccone, J Doss and Bill all from Mobility Today. You can get all the details here.

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Posted in: Podcast
By September 13, 2008 Read More →

Kinoma Play update now available

image The Kinoma Play software that we recently reviewed has received a second update to make it all run much smoother and faster. Check out our review here. If you are already using it then you can go to "Check for updates" and it will automatically install the update. If your not using it you definitely should give it a try as it is a great piece of software. Full list of fixes after the break.

Posted in: Phones
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