The Samsung Omnia Pro will be the second Omnia branded handset that we’ll look at this week as the Omnia Lite review is already under way.
The Samsung Omnia Pro
The Samsung Omnia Pro B7330 (Aka Pro Scala) is one of any a few Windows Mobile Standard handsets out there at the moment, even fewer are of the forward-facing QWERTY keyboard design. The Omnia Pro goes pretty much head-to-head with the HTC Snap which has been around a little while now.
The Samsung Omnia Pro ships with Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard, you need to upgrade the Snap to get to 6.5, and is a good looking handset. There’s isn’t a great deal of difference between WinMo 6.1 Standard and WinMo 6.5 Standard visually, the difference is no where near as obvious as Professional 6.1 vs Professional 6.5 but there are a number of differences under the hood.
James is reviewing the Samsung Omnia Pro at the moment and will undoubtedly be comparing it to his HTC Snap. We”ll have the review for you soon. Until then we’ll leave you with the unboxing video below.
Samsung Omnia Pro B7330 specification:
- Operating System – Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard
- Memory – 4GB + 2GB + Micro SD (up to 32GB)
- Display – 2.62″ 65K 320 x 320 TFT LCD
- Operating Frequency – GSM Quad band / HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, (850/900/1800/1900MHz)
WCDMA Dual band/ HSUPA 2.0 Mbps (900/2100MHz) - Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR
- USB 2.0 HS
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
- A-GPS
- MicroSDHC (Up to 32GB)
- FM Radio wih Auto Tuning
- 3.2 MP AF + CIF (VT Camera)
- Video Recording – 320 x 240 (QVGA)-12fps (MAX, QVGA), 12fps (MAX, QVGA) H.263+AMR NB, MPEG4+AMR NB, ASF, Real One, PVX, WMV
- QWERTY Keyboard
- Talk Time – Up to 4 Hours
- Standby Time – Up to 400 Hours
- Battery – Li-ion 1500mAh
- Dimensions – 114.9 x 59 x 10.8 mm
- Weight – 109g
Posted by: Matt
The iPhone now has a slew of true navigation products, all offering 3d turn-by-turn directions to compliment the built in maps tool. The big names have all launched iPhone version of their products, but these have been joined by products from lesser known companies.
In many way the lesser know apps have actually been the most surprising, because in some cases they far surpass the bigger boy’s efforts.
NDRIVE helpfully supplied us with a promo copy of their efforts, which I installed on a 16gb iPhone 3GS, which has plenty of other apps on it already. It should be a fairly average device in that respect.
On first launch, NDRIVE completes an initial setup of its database – and restart kicks you into the app itself.
In terms of immediate look and feel, it’s the closest Tomtom ‘clone’ I’ve used. I realise that may not go down well with NDrive, but for me personally that’s a very good thing – Tomtom style, with a lower prices and many more features.
The main navigation screen is split into 2 distinct areas. The bottom quarter shows speed and route information, while the remainder shows a 2d/3d map view. The map area contains 5 translucent buttons, allowing the user to zoom in and out, as well as adjusting the view from a top-down 2d setup through to a more standard 3d view. The fifth button accesses the GPS data page with long/lat information and signal quality.
Usability is very good – touching bottom left acts as a quick link to the settings area – which includes route settings as well as more global app settings. The bottom right ‘Menu’ button launches the main menu, and touching anywhere on the map drops a pin, which can then be added as a destination or waypoint. You can also use multi-touch to rotate the map, or dragging to roam around the entire map.
The main menu system is simple and straightforward, with big chunky buttons which make it easy to press on the move. The bottom bar houses 2 buttons – on the left a back button to move up the menu structure, and on the right the map button closes the menu completely.
The menu itself is split into 2 pages, with sub menus for additional navigational options. A neat feature with NDrive is the Record GPS option – to allow GPS tracking and recording for display, for example, in Google Earth. ‘Find’ allows the user to search the map data without navigating to the chosen location. The map is then centred at this point. Navigate is your standard affair, with sub-options to navigate to address, home, recent location, favourite, POI, nearby POI, Coordinates or Postcode. As you can see – plenty of options. There’s also the option to create an itinerary.
Navigation is fast, though before a mid-review update was issued, it did lock up a couple of times here. Routing seems capable enough, although lacks nice extras such as Tomtom’s IQ routes. I was never unhappy with any routes it selected though, as IQ routes is as good as it is bad sometimes anyway.
During navigation the screen is extremely clear and easy to follow. If I’m being picky, I’d say I’d have liked a little more screen space dedicated to the map area, rather than the route information bar at the bottom. Landscape mode also suffers from overcrowding – but the map itself, and the highlighted route is clear and easy to follow. All the map commands for zooming in and out and changing the angle (2d/3d) are all available while in navigation. A neat touch is the ability to ‘tap’ any POI’s that appear on the map in order to get more information about them. You can then double tap a phone number if available, and have your iPhone go away and call it.
The menu has additional options while navigation is active – with a forced alternative route button with then splits into the usual options such as avoiding a roadblock, or avoiding a particular area of the route.
Finally the ‘My nDrive’ connects your NDrive SatNav system with the rest of the world, allowing you to check out reviews of nearby POIs and upload your own.
Conclusion
I’ve played around with many iPhone sat nav systems, and despite lacking features Tomtom was my personal favourite. However nDrive have managed to go with a similar look and feel, but add an array of additional features. That, coupled with the fact its less than half the price means nDrive is an exceptionally good SatNav application.
You may wish to also take a look at NDrive London. I was unable to test this application – since I’m around 250 miles from the capital(!) – but I’m lead to believe its SatNav with aerial mapping. That alone makes it rather exciting!
Review by: Mark
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Posted by: Matt
Here is another app released merely few hours ago:
Continue Reading »
Hal Goldstein owns a company that was publishing formerly, in USA, a print magazine about Windows Mobile. Then he dumped it and created print magazine about iPhone called “iPhone Life”. Business model of Hal is to use unpaid enthusiasts to create content and with “iPhone Life” he is repeating this trick again.
The “iPhone Life” app is basically just a bunch of links and we are amazed that Apple has approved it at all:
Continue Reading »
More and more manufactures are now offering slide out QWERTY devices and heres another one to add to the list. The LG GW520 is not a high end smartphone but I am pretty sure there is a place for it in the market. Lets check it out:
LG GW520 both open and closed
What’s in the box:
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Phone
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Battery
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Charger
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USB Cable
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Headphones
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User Guide
The ten second review:
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Device: LG GW520
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Price: £129.00
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Summary: A nice touch screen feature phone with a decent slide out keyboard.
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Best of: Keyboard, 3G, Camera
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Worst of: No Wi-Fi, Screen Unlock
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Get it now from: Orange
LG GW520 Specification:
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Size: 106.5 x 53 x 15.9 mm
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Weight: 125.5g
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Screen: TFT resistive touch screen, 256K colors, 240 x 400 pixels, 2.8 inches
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Memory: 40MB Internal, MicroSD up to 16GB
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3G: HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
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Bluetooth: v2.0 with A2DP
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USB: microUSB
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Camera: 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels
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Messaging: SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email
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Browser: WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
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Colours: Blue on Black, Red on Black, Silver, Pearl White
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Battery: Li-Ion 950 mAh
General:
The top of the LG GW520 contains the USB connector for charging, and also for connecting the headset.
LG GW520 Top
The left side of the handset houses only a up/down volume rocker.
LG GW520 Left Side
There is plenty of action on the right side. The slot for the MicroSD card is here and also buttons for the camera and locking the device.
LG GW520 Right Side
On the rear of the handset can be found the camera lens and speaker grill.
LG GW520 Rear
On the front of the device is the call send/end keys as well as menu button.
LG GW520 Front
Highlights:
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Keyboard
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3G
Lowlights:
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Lack of Wi-Fi
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Screen Unlock
Review:
I’m a big fan of slide out QWERTY devices but as this one is lacking a few features I am used to I was thinking it is not going to be great. I was pleasantly surprised.
Handling the handset for the first time I was impressed with how nice it looks. The black around the screen and keys looks great sitting beside the silver satin finish that runs around the outside of the device and covers the back. It also felt great to hold. Its well built and although the battery cover feels very “plasticy” the whole thing feels like its built to last.
On the front of the device are three keys that sit below the screen. These are send and end as well as a circular menu button.
LG GW520 Buttons
This menu key provides two choices when pressed. The first is a list of favorite applications which can be edited to give you quick access to the most common features. Secondly it provides you with a task manager. This enables you to see which apps are running and then the option to end them all. A nice feature which is easy to access.
The main attraction to this device has to be the keyboard and its pretty good. The sliding mechanism when you open it is smooth and feels comfortable. It even makes a noise when you open and close. I’m sure this can be edited as its driving me up the wall!
LG GW520 Keys Close Up
As you will see above the keys are slightly raised and although not the biggest keys we have seen on a slide out keyboard they are not bad.
LG GW520 Full Keyboard
Pressing the keys gives a nice click and also another annoying beep noise! When typing this ensures you know you have defiantly pressed the key hard enough. Compared with some other similar devices you do have to use quite a firm press but its just a case of getting used to it.
On the right side of the keyboard are the direction arrows. I personally prefer these to having a D-Pad on the keyboard like on the Nokia N97 and Motorola Dext. Overall the keyboard is better than I expected. Its not the best but it works and that’s what maters.
LG GW520 with Motorola Dext and HTC Touch Pro2
Onto the user interface. Its very similar to other LG devices. This device has two home screens. The first, and main one, allows you to add widgets which really makes it your own. The second screen which, is accessed by swiping the screen left or right, is called Livesquare, which has been seen before on LG phones. The Cookie I think. Its really bad and so much of a waste of time im not talking about it!
At the bottom of the home screen are four on screen keys/tabs. Like on other devices these consist of: phone (which brings up the dialer), contacts, messages and main menu.
The menu consists of a further four tabs. This shows the phones features in categories – Communication, Entertainment, Utilities and Setting. All fairly straight forward.
The screen on the LG GW520 is very touch sensitive and supports haptic feedback. Obviously it auto rotates into landscape mode when the keyboard is opened. One thing that did really frustrate me is the screen lock. Its all well and good locking the screen and I am all for it but what I really hate is having to hold the unlock button (either hardware or on screen) down for three seconds just to activate the screen. It I want to unlock the screen I want it to be instant.
So, what else is the GW520 good for?
Although the camera is only 3MP it produced some nice photos. Not the best quality but good enough for uploading to the web. The video camera was also ok. Slightly grainy but as good as can be expected from the hardware.
Listening to music was reasonable. The external speaker is fairly loud but as usual using the headphones is where the quality can be found. On the GW520 the quality was not amazing but okay. There were no options to change the the music settings but it was easy to use. You will most defiantly need a MicroSD card if storing music on the device due to its internal memory storage being low. You can also use Bluetooth headphones with the GW520 as it supports A2DP.
Web browsing was also okay. Its never going to compete with Internet Explorer or Opera Mobile but for simple viewing of pages its not too bad. I think the kids are going to be spending most of the time on Facebook hammering out messages on the QWERTY keyboard. Shame about the lack of Wi-Fi but at least its 3G.
Setting up email accounts on the LG GW520 was simple. I set up a hotmail account in seconds and it downloaded all my emails instantly. Its not the best email interface but it works and I don’t suppose business users are going to be buying this device anyway.
Conclusion:
Overall the LG GW520 is a nice feature phone. I’m not sure how many people would get this on a contract but as a PAYG phone its a real bargain if you ask me. The keyboard is not as good as on the high end smartphones but its still good.
If you are looking for a new pay as you go device and are big on messaging it may be worth adding this to your Christmas list. I will email Father Christmas the review so he knows how nice the phone is!
Posted by: James
Blimey, two Xperia stories in one day? The phonescoop takes a look at the gorgeous Sony Ericsson Xperia X10. I know, I know the X3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 were oddly skipped out, perhaps they will release a bunch of phone with lesser specs around the same time. However, I can safely say from the video, I want one.
Many have thought that after the announcement of Google Android, it would be the last we’ve heard of the Google Gphone. Apparently, the GPhone is not only software but also hardware. More precisely, Google is actually making a phone.
Techcrunch is saying that the Google Phone will be more exciting than the Motorola Droid and even the following super Android phones that will come–Droid and the HTC Dragon will serve as a warm up to–how do we say, The One?
Google will not instantly go to manufacturing–the phone will be made by a big mobile company, perhaps Motorola again? Google is said to be in total control, though, as far as design and specs, and the phone will not carry any other brand but Google’s. The manufacturer could be Taiwanese or Korean, but the safe bet goes to either LG or Samsung. The Google Phone will be backed up by a major advertising drive. It’s going to be Apple vs Google after today and in the foreseeable future, and Google will have another solid source of revenue, besides their Adwords.
Check out msmobiles.com for info on the new release for Opera 10. The popular web browser just got a little better. There is a link after the break to download. I did and it’s fast and pretty. Very much worth checking out.
According to wmpoweruser there is to be no 6.5 update for the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. This will probably anger a number of people out there as the phone is quite popular. Read on for the full article:
Smashing earlier rumours that suggested an official Windows Mobile 6.5 update for the Xperia X1 will be coming, Sony Ericsson has confirmed the contrary to CNet Asia.
Some owners may be rightfully upset by this, as the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 has been one of the more expensive handsets of recent times, and while ROM’s are available on XDA-Developers they are not blessed with official updated drivers, meaning they would have issues not present in an official release.
The device joins other premium devices such as the HTC Touch HD in not getting updates to the latest version of Microsoft’s mobile OS.
Read more at Crave Asia here.
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