HP has launched an application that allows iPhone users to print their photos and pictures wirelessly. iPrint Photo is available to download as an application through Apple’s App Store and lets users print a photo simply by touching it on their screen. Once the image is pressed an instruction to print is sent over wireless to an inkjet printer. “Wireless printing is a fun extension of the iPhone/iPod touch’s easy photo capture and viewing experience,” said HP. “Images stored on your iPhone or iPod touch can print on most HP networked inkjet printers connected to a local Wi-Fi network. Pictures will print out at a standard photo size. “HP iPrint photo uses Apple’s Bonjour tools to search for and identify printers, and supports Wi-Fi networks including Apple Airport, Linksys, D-Link and Netgear.
Available free from the iTunes App Store.
via Yahoo
In last nights episode of The Gadget Show in the UK, Channel 5’s presenter Jon Bentley was testing four smartphones to see which one would come out on top. The phones in questions were the Blackberry Storm, T-Mobile G1, HTC Touch HD and the iPhone 3G. They carried out three tests, none of which were very scientific and dropped the phone that came off worst in each test. The first test was the camera and email attachments and the T-Mobile G1 came off worst and was dropped. The 2nd test was how easy the phones were to use and this time we saw the Blackberry Storm say goodbye with poor keyboard performance taking around 40 seconds more to create and send an email than the Touch HD, in second place the iPhone but there was not much in it. The final round saw the iPhone 3G and the Touch HD go head to head on battery life, this is where it all becomes a little silly as they started calling each other then taking pictures and playing games, all requiring different processing power etc so not really a very scientific test however this did see the Touch HD come out on top lasting 30 minutes longer than the iPhone 3G. You can see the full video here.
The Samsung M8800 (Pixon) is Samsung’s latest attempt at replacing your digital camera by combining a great 8 mega-pixel camera and a high end touch screen mobile. So is it really time to say goodbye to your current compact?
The Samsung Pixon
As for styling the Pixon is dominated by a large 3.2” touch screen display which allows for clear and high quality playback of your videos and photos, as for the phone’s capabilities the specifications are as follows:
Samsung M8800 Pixon specification:
- Dimensions:107.9 x 54.6 x 13.8 mm
- Weight: 121g
- Battery:
– Talk Time: 220 mins
– Standby Time: 290 hrs
– Capacity: 1000 mAh - Display: 240 x 400 pixels/3.2 inch
- Network:
– GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 (Quad-Band)
– 2100 HSDPA (Single-Band) - Camera: 8 mega-pixels (auto-focus)
– Dual LED Flash
– Shake Reduction
– WDR (Wide Dynamic Range)
– Face Detection
– Smile Shot
– Face Link (Face Tagging) - Video:
– Hi-Resolution VGA Video Recording
– 30fps Video Recording (VGA)
– 120 fps Slow Motion Video (QVGA)
– Supported formats: MP4, 3GP, H.264, H.263, DivX & XviD
– Video Streaming - Music:
– Supported formats: MP3, AAC, eAAC+ & WMA
– FM Stereo Radio (RDS)
– Windows Media Player Sync
– DNSe (Digital Natural Sound engine) - Memory:
– Phone Book (2000)
– Dilled Calls
– Missed Calls
– Received Calls
– 200MB (internal)
– microSDHC (external) - Connectivity:
– TV Out
– Bluetooth (2.0)
What’s in the box?
I wont go in to any detail here as matt has already recorded a great Samsung Pixon unboxing video.
General
At 13.8mm thick and weighing just 121g the Samsung Pixon is surprisingly small considering the large amount of features packed into the device. The general style of the phone is similar to several of the LG touch screen devices. In your hand the Pixon feels fairly substantial and as for build quality it certainly feels like a quality device.
The phones overall appearance is more likened to that of a digital compact camera with a simplistic layout and with most of the the controls being handled via the touch screen display the Pixon is fairly clutter free with regards to buttons.
The Front of the device as mentioned is home to the wonderful 3.2” Touch screen with the call buttons below and a single button for navigating menus. A forward facing VGA camera is also located on the front of the device for video calls.
Samsung Pixon front view
The left side of the phone is home to a micro SD slot below which is a quick launch button allowing for easy access to the phones music player, camera or messages and finally a hold button for locking the device.
Samsung Pixon left side
On the right a button for controlling volume which also becomes zoom control when the phone is in camera mode. Below this a playback button allowing for quick and easy viewing of photos and videos. The camera button is the final button on the right side of the phone and is used to launch the phones camera function as well as doubling up as the shutter button for capture.
Samsung Pixon right side
The Proprietary connector input for headphones and the phones charger is located on top as is is the phones battery cover release.
Samsung Pixon top view
The back of the device is very similar to a compact digital camera largely due to the impressive looking 8 mega-pixel camera which is obviously this phones big selling point. Above this is an LED flash and below is a fairly powerful speaker which is great for music playback. The camera lens has an automatic lens cover which is activated when the phones camera function is launched and remains closed when the camera is not in use.
Samsung Pixon back view
Highlights & Lowlights
+ 8 megapixel camera
+ Responsive Touch Screen
+ Easy to use
– No WiFi
– small internal memory
Review
The Samsung M8800 is a great looking phone full of promise and I am pleased to say that in many respects it has lived up to my personal expectations. The First thing that struck me about the Pixon was its size, for a phone with so may features I was certainly expecting the Pixon to ave more depth but the fact Samsung have managed to squeeze all of this into a device 13.8mm thick is a great achievement.
As it is the first thing you will see when you unbox the Pixon it makes sense to start by talking about the touch screen display. I am sure I am not the only one who has not always been the biggest fan of touch screen displays on phones I have often found them to be over sensitive and for this reason make tasks such as texting very difficult indeed. I can honestly say though the Pixon has changed my opinion on touch screen displays, it is not perfect but it is certainly one of the best I have used. The screen is clear and crisp which makes navigating through the phones menus quick and easy.
As far as using the Pixon day to day call clarity is good and I had no problems with the receiver, as mentioned texting as well as carrying out any other tasks which involve you typing such as sending emails or adding event to your organiser are easy to do either using a classic numeric text pad layout or by using the touch screen QWERTY activated by rotating the phone horizontally. Browsing the net is as expected nothing special and the lack of wi-fi is a disappointment. The phone includes the standard organisational tools such as calender and memo’s also included are widgets similar to vista these allow for quick access to your favourite applications as well as providing some fun extras such as photo viewers and world clocks.
The Samsung M8800’s party piece is its 8 mega-pixel camera this includes a number of functions which manage to match those included on an average priced compact digital, the camera includes face recognition, auto focus, anti-shake, blink detection to mention just a few. Videos can be recorded using high-resolution VGA recording at either 30fps or 120fps for slow motion playback. The picture Quality of the Pixon is certainly accomplished for a mobile for but also would be considered more than acceptable for a standard digital camera. The phone also managed to perform well even in low light situations which is a common problem. When combined with all the other features such as the included multimedia functions it really is a suitable substitute for many mid range digitals but will be replacing your high end compacts just yet.
Speaking of multimedia functions the phone has support for MP3, AAC, eAAC+ & WMA with clear playback either through the mobile’s in built speaker on headphones. As for memory the phone has 200mb of internal memory however support for up to 16GB with the use of microSD.
Standards such as battery life not great with the Pixon stated as 220 minutes talk-time and around 290 hours stand by however obviously these will vary depending on the amount and type of use you put the phone through with tasks such as browsing taking the battery life allot quicker. The M8800 supports Bluetooth 2.0 and TV out allowing for big screen playback.
Conclusion
In conclusion the Samsung M8800 (Pixon) is an attractive stylish piece of kit packing a big punch in the form of an 8 mega-pixel camera. The phone has some great features and the clear and responsive touch screen allows for quick and easy navigation as well as text input. The phones’ picture quality is not perfect and may struggle to match many 8 mega-pixel digital cameras currently available on the market however that said a combination of the Pixon’s camera and video capabilities along with it’s multimedia functions leads us to a great phone for the popular party goer, the phones puts to much emphasis on the camera and relatively little in terms of accessibility through features such as Wi-fi to be a great corporate phone but with this being the time of year for parties the Samsung Pixon is perfect party accessory.
Review by: Nick
[ Post Tags: smartphone news, Samsung Pixon, M8800, camera phone, 8 Megapixel, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]
Mail on Ovi, the free email account from Nokia, is now ‘live’ and can be set up directly on Nokia phones without requiring a PC to get started. People who use Nokia Series 40 devices can create their own email address directly on their mobile phones. The Ovi email account gives a person all the features and functionalities of a typical PC-based email account. During the Beta period, consumers will be able to choose from 12 languages based on the settings of their device, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Hindi, Bengali, Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia.
Orange today unveiled its fourth Digital Media Index, a detailed report offering an insight into customer consumption of digital media. The latest findings reveal a marked increase in mobile data usage, which has almost doubled in the last quarter. This increase follows improvements to devices designed to access mobile data – from USB dongles to more advanced mobile handsets, all matched with new price plans specifically created to increase mobile internet relevancy to consumers. At the same time, the evolution of social networking to the mobile platform, combined with more effective promotion of on portal content and services, means consumers are now accessing the content they want, quicker and easier than ever before.
Faster mobile voice and data services hit Northern Ireland today. Orange announced the completion of its new 3G HSPA (3G+) network in Northern Ireland, giving customers, living, working or traveling in the country access to even more reliable voice and data services. More people are relying on 3G and 3G+ access for voice and data at work and play, the latest network enhancements are designed to make sure they have the best service possible. The areas updated include cities and towns, as well as major roads, rail routes, business parks and conference centres, hotels and airports.
We mentioned last week that a sim unlock should be available for the iPhone 3G on New Years Eve, well we now have a video showing yellowsn0w in action and it seems to work. The video was produced using QIK on a Jailbroken iPhone by one of the dev team members and you can take a look after the break.
O2 Germany announced their latest XDA handset yesterday named the XDA Glide. Looking very much like the very popular XDA Orbit 2 and modelled on what looks like the HTC Touch 3G which we be reviewing early next week, we believe that this is the new HTC Cruise 09 that we’ve been hearing about.
The Windows Mobile 6.1 powered device comes with GPS, TomTom Navigator 7, Car Kit and a Mount holder which suggests (even to me) that this is primarily a SatNav phone just like the XDA Orbit 2.
Specifications wise we can expect it to have:
- 528 Mhz Qualcomm MSM 7225 processor
- 256 MB Ram
- 512 MB Rom
- MicroSD Slot
- TouchFlo (2d we think)
- 2.8 inch QVGA Screen
- HSPDA
- WiFi
- Bluetooth 2.0
- A2DP
- Opera Mobile 9.5 browser
Among the most interesting features of the new O2 XDA Guide there is the footprint function and the dedicated footprint button. The footprint feature lets you send pictures taken with the built-in 3.2 megapixel snapper along with positioning data. On a compatible device, the pictures can be used for navigation and whoever received them will be able to navigate to the photographed location by a single click.
The O2 XDA Guide is about to start shipping by mid-February 2009, price tag still unknown.
TamsPalm has posted an article linking to a couple of interesting stories over at the CreativeAlgorithms company blog. Justine Pratt, from one of the oldest Palm OS software houses still operating, talks about the possible reasons why Palm OS software sales have plummeted in 2008. Justine says that Palm OS sales dropped below sustainable levels at the end of 2007. The sales dropped even below levels in which support is justified, and some developers responded by offering existing titles for free with no support.
It might be too good to be true, but in fact, the G1 might already be an old deal for T-Mobile, HTC, and Google, therefore, the companies started working on the G2. Only specifications are available, and a mock-up shot. Rumours are said to be “not-confirmed”, so we cannot actually qualify this as a strong possibility. The G2 is said to be in a touch screen-only form factor, and like many competitors, has four buttons. The trackball is going to stay. A 5 megapixel camera will be the upgrade to the current 3.2, while an additional VGA camera will be included, for 3G video calls.
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