Matt
More than 20 years in the IT industry. Blogging with a passion and thirst for new technology since 2005.
Just a short while ago James managed to get his hands on the excellent HTC HD2, he is extremely impressed with it and in his words he was ‘Not sure if he was shaking because it was my first piece of video for T&M or because I loved the handset so much!’
So James has recorded this brief video for us, the first of many I hope and for now it’s just a quick tour of the handset. We shall, of course, have move video for you shortly but thought you would appreciate this little teaser!
Be sure to come back soon for more and fire away with your HTC HD2 questions on the forum!
EDIT: Our extensive HTC HD2 review is now live on site.
Posted by: Matt
Just last week we reviewed the Samsung Pixon12, the first mobile that we’d seen with a 12 megapixel camera. Now this week we’ve managed to get our hands on the Sony Ericsson Satio which has a 12.1 megapixel shooter. While there seems to be some debate over which company was the first to have a 12 megapixel camera phone it’s obvious that there’s some competition here!
The Sony Ericsson Satio
It’s too early for us to say which is best but I have to say that I like the design of the Satio a little better and I think that the lens cover is a great idea. The Satio also seems to be a little more focused (no pun intended) towards the social networking side in terms of sharing your photos and geotagging them before uploading to various sharing sites. You may have seen the TV ads over the past few weeks.
James will be putting the Sony Ericsson Satio through it’s paces over the next week and will have his review for us soon. I’m sure he’ll be making comparisons between this and the Pixon12. If you have any questions for us then please do head over to the forum to submit, we’ll try to cover them in the review for you.
Sony Ericsson Satio specification:
- Operating System – Symbian OS
- Display – 3.5 inch Touchscreen (360×640 pixels) with accelerometer
- Operating Frequency – GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 & UMTS/HSDPA 900 / 2100
- WiFi 802.11b/g DLNA
- Bluetooth V2.0 with A2DP
- GPS – Built in GPS & A-GPS
- Expansion – microSD
- Camera images geo-tagging, face and smile detection
- Google maps
- FM radio with RDS
- Camera – 12.1 MP, 4256 x 2832 pixels, autofocus, xenon flash, video, video LED flash, secondary VGA videocall camera
- Dimensions – 112.0 x 55.0 x 13.0 mm
- Weight – 126g
Posted by: Matt
LG’s Black Label handset, the LG BL40, has to be one for the more unusual form-factor handsets available at the moment with its stunning 4" 345 x 800 pixel display offering a truly cinematic ratio of 21:9 – this is a tall (or wide) handset!
The LG BL40 Chocolate
When I first head about this handset and its huge display I thought the BL40 would turn out to be a huge handset, however, it really isn’t. Sure it is large in one direction but it’s quite narrow and extremely thin which means that the whole package is quite pocketable.
The widescreen display makes the BL40 idea for mobile web-browsing but whether or not it will provide a better browsing experience than its 480×800 pixel widescreen Windows Mobile competitors remains to be seen. We’ll find out during the review which we’ll have online for you within the next week or so.
For now, have a look at the unboxing video below to see the LG BL40 in a little more detail and for a quick tour of the S-Class OS.
LG BL40 specification:
- Dimensions: 128 x 51 x 10.9mm
- Weight: 129g
- Battery:
– Talk Time: 6 hrs
– Standby Time: 400 hrs
– Capacity: 1000 mAh - Display: 345 x 800 pixels/4" – AMOLED Touch Sensitive(Capacitive)
- Network: 2G: 850/900/1800/1900 (Quad-Band) – 3G: 900/2100 (Dual-Band)
- Camera: 5 mega-pixels (auto-focus) – Schneider-Kreuznach Lens
- LED Flash
- Face Detection
- Video: Hi-Resolution VGA Video Recording – 30fps Video Recording (QVGA)
- Music: Supported formats: MP3, AAC, eAAC+ & WMA
- Dolby Mobile
- FM Stereo Radio (RDS)
- FM Transmitter
- Messaging: SMS / MMS (with video) / E-mail (POP3, SMTP, IMAP4)
- Memory: 1.1GB (internal) / microSDHC (external)
- microUSB
- 3.5mm AV Connector / TV Out
- Bluetooth (2.0 – Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11g)
- Navigation: AGPS
- Accelerometer
- S-Class Interface
- Proximity Sensor
Posted by: Matt
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eXpansys Friday Deals: Selected deals between 11am and 5pm, 30th October 2009 |
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HTC Hero Normally |
B-Stock Acer Aspire One A150B Netbook Open Box Normally |
Toshiba Portege G910 Normally |
TriSpecs Bluetooth Stereo Normally |
Freecom 2.5" Mobile Drive Normally |
Duel Systems DuelAdapter Normally |
Scosche Increased Dynamic Normally |
ORA Netbook Leather Normally |
| These deals are available on Friday the 30th October 2009 between 11am and 5pm by following the links above only. Normal pricing will apply outside of these hours*. |
| In Stock – Smartphone Deals | |||||
Palm Pre Smartphone Now £499.99 |
RIM BlackBerry 8520 Curve Now £189.99 |
i-mate Ultimate 8502 Now £109.99 |
BenQ E72 Smartphone Now £69.99 |
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Posted by: Matt
Just as a follow up to the photos I posted of the HTC HD2 last night here are a few more with the HTC Touch HD beside the HTC HD2 for comparison.
When I first looked at the side-by-side I must admit I was surprised how much bigger the HD2 is. The design of the HD2 is pretty clever and the rounded edges and the curved back coupled with the overall thinness of the handset makes it feel and seem much smaller in the hand than the images below may suggest.
As you can see from the picture below, the HD2 is both taller and wider than the already large HD.
The bottom view of both units shows you how much wider the HD2 is than the HD but the HD does look a little more ‘chunky’ in this shot.
Looking at the side view of the two handsets it’s clear that the HD2 is thinner than the older HD.
And finally, stacking the HD on top of the HTC HD2 shows the difference. I wonder if the HD2 may just be too big for many people to even consider?!
I’ll have more images for you soon and if you have any questions about the HTC HD2 then please do feel free add them on the forum.
EDIT: Our extensive HTC HD2 review is now live on site.
Posted by: Matt
I know everyone is hungry for more information on the HD2 – photos, video and just about anything you can lay your hands on, we know what it’s like, we’re also keen to see more! 🙂
So here are a few photos for you that I took just a little while ago. Yes we’ve been able to see the HD2 but we’re not allowed to show you any video just yet, HTC don’t want us to show you the pre-release ROM build.
So here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure. I’ll also have some more later today/tomorrow of the HD vs the HD2. Click the images for a larger version.
So starting with the front of the HD2 you’ll notice the huge 480×800 pixel display measuring 4.3" on the diagonal, just about the biggest there is on a Windows Mobile device (apart from the HTC X7500 perhaps).
The HTC HD2 front view
On the back you’ll find a large loudspeaker, 5 megapixel camera and, at long last, a dual LED flash! You cant really tell from this angle just how rounded the back of the HD2 is but you’ll see that below.
HTC HD2 back view
On the bottom of the HD2 you’ll find a MICRO USB connector for sync and charge (I hate microUSB!) and thankfully, a 3.5mm headphone socket good for your own headphones or the supplied wired headset.
HTC HD2 bottom view
There’s not an awful lot to see on the top of the HD2, but you can see how curved that back is.
HTC HD2 top view
The left side is home to the obligatory up/down volume control rocker, and not much more!
HTC HD2 left side view
Nothing to see on the right side but as you can see again in this picture, the back is very curvy! 🙂
HTC HD2 right side view
Finally (for now) the keypad on the HD2 is a little different to any of the other recent HTC models, we see the return of physical keys, thanks goodness! So we have the send/answer key, home button, windows start menu key, a back button and finally the end/hang-up button.
HTC HD2 key pad
HTC HD2 specification:
- Operating System – Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional
- Processor – Qualcomm® MSM8250™, 1 GHz
- Memory – ROM: 512 MB / RAM: 448 MB
- Display – 4.3-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with 480 X 800 WVGAresolution
- Network – HSPA/WCDMA: Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHz
- Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
- Bluetooth 2.1
- WiFi 802.11b/g
- MicroUSB
- GPS – Internal GPS Antenna
- Audio – 3.5mm Audio Jack
- MicroSDHC
- Camera – 5 megapixel colour camera with auto focus and dual LED flashlight
- Talk Time – Up to 380 minutes for GSM
- Standby Time – Up to 490 hours for GSM
- Battery – Lithium-ion 1230mAh removable
- Dimensions – 120.5 X 67 X 11 mm (4.74 X 2.64 X 0.43 inches)
- Weight – 157 grams (5.54 ounces) with battery
- G-Sensor
- Digital Compass
- FM Radio with RDS
Of course we’ll have our HTC HD2 review online just as soon as we can get our hands on one that we are allowed to video and talk about!
EDIT: Our extensive HTC HD2 review is now live on site.
Posted by: Matt
Our friends over at SuperEtrader have been busy over the past few months and have totally redesigned and re-launched their website and online store.
If you are not familiar with SuperEtrader (why not!?) they specialise in Unlocked/SIM-free smartphones and wide range of accessories. SuperEtrader also sponsor our forums that we launched recently.
Why not check out their new site at www.superetrader.co.uk?!
Posted by: Matt
Ok this one is very much an unconfirmed rumour but today I had an email from two different sources saying that they’ve been told that the HTC Touch HD2 is subject to some delays and will not launch on the 11th of November as expected.
Now, while it is possible that the HD2 has been delayed, other HTC handsets have been subject to launch delays in the past, I must emphasise that we have not had any official confirmation about the delay, in much the same way that there is no official launch date for the HD2 as yet.
If you have any news about the HTC HD2 that you would like to share with us then please do get in touch using either our contact page above or else via the forum.
Don’t worry, as soon as we have any HD2 news we’ll be sure to share it with you and likewise, as soon as we get our hands on the HD2 we’ll have an unboxing video and review for you.
EDIT: News just in from Devicewire. The due date for the HTC HD2 has not changed as far as they are aware, it should still be the 11th November. However, stock will be ridiculously low initially so you are urged to pre-order.
Additional stock will not arrive until 2 weeks after the original shipment and the the car kit wont be available till January 2010!
In terms of the positives, there is a 2GB memory card and a pouch case included with the handset.
Posted by: Matt
My long time friend and fellow reviewer Nick has decided to go back to university and to help pay his way through uni he’s launched his own web-based business, KudosCases, selling cases for the iPhone 3G/3GS.
The iPhone 3G is an investment and as with any investment you will want it protected. KudosCases offers the perfect peace of mind purchase allowing you to protect that investment.
KudosCases brings a great collection of stylish and practical cases for the iPhone 3G/3Gs to suit all tastes. With a continuous stock rotation policy meaning your case becomes that bit more unique in addition to giving you the opportunity to get the perfect style to suit your needs.
Looking through the site Nick seems to have chosen so quality products to sell. So if you are looking for a decent case for your iPhone please head over to KudosCases.
Good luck with the business Nick!
Posted by: Matt
There’s a good chance that you will have already seen my earlier HTC Tattoo unboxing video but the handset that we unboxed last week was a pre-release unit and although it was final hardware/software the box and contents were fairly generic so having got my hands on the retails version courtesy of our friends at Clove Technology, I thought I’d record a quick follow up unboxing video showing the full retail device so that there would be no question mark over what is supplied in the box etc.
The HTC Tattoo
I’m not covering the handset in a great deal of detail in this video as it is the same as the other version we looked at so if you want to check out the OS and user interface please have a look at the other video.
James is just working on the rest of the review at the moment and will have that online for us, hopefully, later this week.
HTC Tattoo Specification:
- Operating System – Android
- Processor – Qualcomm MSM7225, 528 MHz
- Memory – RAM – 256 MB / ROM – 512 MB
- Display – 2.8-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with 240×320 QVGA resolution
- Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
(Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent.) - Bluetooth 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets
- Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 b/g
- HTC ExtUSB (11-pin mini-USB 2.0)
- GPS – Internal GPS antenna
- Expansion – microSD memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
- G-sensor
- Digital Compass
- FM Radio
- 3.2 megapixel colour camera
- 4-Way navigation control with Enter button
- Talk Time – Up to 390 minutes for GSM
- Standby Time – Up to 340 hours for GSM
- Dimensions – 106 x 55.2 x 14 mm (4.17 x 2.17 x 0.55 inches)
- Weight – 113 grams (3.99 ounces) with battery
- Warranty – 2 Years
Posted by: Matt
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