The Mobile Phone Helpdesk have managed to get some hands on time with the new T-Mobile MDA Vario IV which is the latest HTC handset the HTC Raphael. This phone has the same feature set as the imminent HTC Diamond with the addition of a slide out QWERTY keyboard and expandable memory.
I’ve just received this text on my phone:
“Good News! Your monthly data allowance is now unlimited so u can use mobile internet & email every day. Fair use applies. More at vodafone.co.uk/mobileinternet“
Looking on the link supplied, I see the standard price of £7.50 is unchanged, but there is no mention of 120mb anymore – only unlimited.
Also, the cost if you add it to your contract (ie: can’t remove it until your contract expires) is just £5!
Not bad for a free upgrade. I suspect there is still a limit on messaging and VoIP though 🙁
Useful Vodafone Resources
Vodafone Homepage – Mobile Phones – Vodafone Help
Posted by: Mark
Rumours about the HTC Raphael have been rumbling along for the last few months. Indeed we thought that HTC would announce the device at the same time as the HTC Touch Diamond during their press announcement earlier this month. However, until now there really hasn’t been anything concrete on this device which many regard as the Touch Diamond with a QWERTY keyboard and others have dubbed the HTC TyTN III.
However, the guys over at GSMHelpdesk managed to snap a few pictures of the T-Mobile version of the Raphael at a T-Mobile press event. This was rather unexpected as we were lead to believe that the launch of the Raphael was many months away, however, T-Mobile say that their version, the Vario IV, will launch Q2 2008 which gives them a month to meet the deadline!
T-Mobile MDA Vario IV specification:
Now this is the device that I am looking forward to, I like the Diamond but really need a hardware keyboard!
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, T-Mobile, MDA Vario IV, HTC, HTC Raphael]
Another great game release from Astraware this time, in partnership with Pazzazz Games they release GTS World Racing. I just wish I had time to try all these games out!
From the press release:
Astraware and Pazzazz Games are excited to announce the release of GTS World Racing for Palm OS(R) and Windows Mobile(R) smartphones and PDAs.
GTS World Racing is the must-have sequel to the highly acclaimed GTS Racing Challenge, and has been created by Pazzazz and published by Astraware.
Fans of classic coin-operated arcade racing games will love the retro style graphics and exhilarating sound effects. Experience the roar of engines as you select your car, race your opponents, set the fastest laptimes, score points for most race wins and burn rubber to gain championship victory!
GTS World Racing offers 64 track layouts across 16 worldwide locations – from snowscapes to dusty deserts; 3 car types to choose from each with their own handling characteristics; and 4 difficulty levels from Easy to Extreme!
The game offers 4 play modes to satisfy every level of expertise:
GTS World Racing is available for a wide range of smartphones and PDAs running Palm OS(R) 5 and later, and Windows Mobile(R) Professional, Classic and Standard 2003 and later.
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Astraware, GTS World Racing, Windows Mobile Blog]
SanDisk has just released their latest Mobile Ultra range – which includes microSD, microSDHC and Memory Stick Micro (M2) flash mobile memory cards, available in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB capacities. Mobile Ultra offers more side-loading speed and capacity for storing and transferring music, videos, photos, games and even maps. For added value and convenience, the card is bundled with a MobileMate™ Micro Reader that plugs directly into a USB 2.0 port to assist in this quick transport and easy management of digital content.
From the press release:
SanDisk Corporation, the leader in flash memory, today announced the availability of SanDisk Mobile Ultra microSD, microSDHC and Memory Stick Micro (M2) flash mobile memory cards, which are available in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB capacities – the industry’s first premium mobile phone storage cards.
A must-have product for consumers who embody the digital lifestyle, the SanDisk Mobile Ultra high-performance cards are “best of breed” premium cards that provide fast side-loading speeds. This means that users will experience accelerated transfer rates of digital files to and from their mobile memory card and their computer. In addition to speed, SanDisk Mobile Ultra cards allow consumers to “wake up” the multimedia features of mobile phones by increasing the phone’s storage capacity for maps, music, videos, photos, games and other essential applications. For avid mobile phone videographers, events and experiences captured by the phone’s video camera can be quickly and efficiently transferred to social media or video-sharing websites. For added value and convenience, the card is bundled with a MobileMate™ Micro Reader that plugs directly into a USB 2.0 port to assist in this quick transport and easy management of digital content.
“Mobile phone usage for multimedia activities, such as digital photography, music downloads, videos, and GPS functionality has doubled over the last two years, and spending on mobile media globally is expected to surpass £50.5 billion by 2012,” said David Kerr, vice president mobile research, Strategy Analytics. “This product launch further proves SanDisk’s ability to anticipate changing user needs and provide the market with the right mobile storage solutions at the right time.”
Michael Romero, vice president of Mobile Retail Business, SanDisk, said, “SanDisk’s new Mobile Ultra line will make consumers’ digital lifestyle more manageable by offering them greater ability to quickly transfer photos, maps, music, videos, games and other large file size content wherever they go. These cards are truly the most convenient way for people to store, move and play content using their mobile phones, so we’re excited to introduce this high-performance, premium product to market to meet this need and growing demand.”
Sample Storage Capacity
With 8GB of digital storage, for example, consumers will be able to store 1,000 songs, 1,200 photos and 21 hours of video – more than enough storage to drive from Exeter to Edinburgh without hearing the same song twice, fill six photo albums with images and watch both Star Wars trilogies and the Matrix trilogy.
Expected Pricing and Availability
Manufacturer’s suggested retail prices range from £14.99 to £59.99 (including VAT). SanDisk Mobile Ultra memory cards will be available at various retail outlets in mid-to-late June 2008.
The microSD cards are engineered for slot-equipped legacy mobile phones and can hold a maximum capacity of 2GB. The microSDHC cards, available in 4GB and 8GB, are ideal for newer mobile phone models, most of which are compatible with these higher capacity cards. The Memory Stick Micro M2 cards are designed for Sony Ericsson’s new generation of mobile phones, all of which are compatible with the 2GB, 4GB and 8GB capacity levels. SanDisk Mobile Ultra cards come with a 10-year limited warranty.
Posted by: Mark
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Sandisk, Compact Flash]
Part 1
So I drove into Newcastle this morning and decided to call into Starbucks to test out the new Three USB mobile broadband modem. I plugged it in and have to say I was impressed, the drivers and launcher software are already stored within the modem and installed themselves without any need for me to do anything.
You may recall that Philip reviewed the Palm Centro for us a few weeks ago and, although Philip was fairly happy with the device, my comments were that it was a nice form factor but as I’m no fan of the Palm OS it wasn’t for me. Having used Windows Mobile for years I find Palm less friendly, but that said I’m sure Palm fans feel the same way about MW!
So when I first heard about the Palm Treo 850 I thought this might well be the answer. Similar in design to the Centro the 850 comes with Windows Mobile 6, 400MHz and 128MB RAM. You’ll also notice from the image below (courtesy of Boy Genius) that there’s a 320×320 square screen that’s possibly subject to the same software compatibility issues as the Samsung i780. But check out the rest of the Spec. below (subject to change) GPS, HSDPA and 256MB ROM!!
Palm Treo 850w Specification:
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Palm, Treo 850, Tracy & Matt]
Some time ago we spoke about the new Windows Mobile devices coming from Toshiba and now at last the G710 is now available from Clove Technology.
If you are looking for a Blackberry-style Windows Mobile device with built in QWERTY keyboard and GPS then the Portege G710 might be the device for you!
Overview of Toshiba Portege G710
The Toshiba Portege G710 us a compact messaging smartphone built for the demanding business user. Designed for fast and simple email access, the Portege G710 has a slender design.
With a full QWERTY keypad, creating, editing and responding to emails and documents is simple.
Powered by Windows Mobile 6, the G710 has all the standard applications for mobile office.
With built in GPS, this mobile messaging device can offer a quick and efficient solution to navigation on foot or in a vehicle. With appropriate software satellite navigation from one location to another has never been so simple.
The G710 has a 2.0 mega pixel camera for those all important business and personal shots.
In addition to the usual functions you’d expect from a high quality smartphone, the G710 offers a Windows Media Player, which is ideal for listening to music and watching videos for entertainment whilst on the move.
Toshiba G710 specification:
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Windows Mobile blog, G710, Toshiba, Tracy & Matt]
A few days ago Mark told us about the expected release of the TyTN II offical ROM and performance update. Well today I can confirm that the official ROM is now available for download from the HTC website (htc.com) but only through the e-club.
In order to download the update you must have an HTC branded TyTN II (not an Orange version for example) and you’ll have to register its serial number through your e-club account. Once you have done this then the download will be available as a “Phone Software Update” in the “My Downloads” section of your account.
The download is just over 66MB in size and the update process takes around 20 minutes to perform. This is a full ROM update so EVERYTHING will be wiped from your TyTN II during the upgrade so be sure to backup all of your important data before you begin the update process!
Drop by and let us know how you get on and, if you had any issues with your TyTN II before the update then did the ROM upgrade help?!
Posted By: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, HTC, TyTN II]
Matt asked me to review the Orbit 2 and I remember stating, ‘Copy the Polaris review and put black’, but it’s not as straight forward as that. I have been using this device for 2-3 weeks now and it’s been fun having an old friend back to stay for a while. Being a loyal Orbit user for many months, I found the newer version a creditable successor.
What’s in the Box?
O2 XDA Orbit 2 specification:
Tour of the Orbit 2 layout
Top of the Orbit there is only the power button.
The bottom houses the Mini USB, the reset hole. It also has the non-telescopic stylus housing. Also found is the slide lock release to open the battery compartment, which proves a lot less fiddly than a lot of other devices, and very simple to use, and not found on the HTC Polaris/Touch Cruise.
On the left side we find the voice command button, and volume slider which again is a slider and not a wheel, also here is the lanyard holes that has a changed position from the HTC Polaris/Touch Cruise.
The right hand side gives us the Camera Button and the covered microSD card slot, which is handy for hot swapping but I believe the cover may prove liable to snapping off with regular use, time will tell.
The back of the unit holds the 3.0 Megapixel auto focus main camera, with mirror but no flash. Differing for the HTC model there is only 1 aerial socket for the external GPS. There are 2 aerial sockets, one for an external aerial and one for external GPS, on the HTC model. A speaker grille is also found here.
And finally the front of the device looks impressive and I prefer the look to that of the Touch cruise although very similar; the flat 2.8” screen has a mirrored effect, this attracts every fingerprint and smudge mark within range, below there is the usual left and right phone function keys, answer and hang up, internet explorer key and OK button. In the middle is the rotating dial with enter button in the centre, the dial also acts as a directional up/down/left/right rocker. At the top of the screen is the VGA camera for Video conferencing. There is also the earpiece and microphone.
Software
I think first thing to the mention here is the CoPilot which I really enjoyed and like the interface and ease of use, as a lifelong Tomtom user, a big plus for me with CoPilot was the feature whereby if the software can’t find a GPS lock then it will still continue and function based on the last know position recorded by the device, unlike Tomtom which basically locks up until it fixes a satellite link. The downside was that I found the safety camera warnings somewhat erratic, even with the latest update installed it pinged and bonged when there was no evidence of cameras a little too often for me, (I understand these are proposed and mobile sites as well) and then to make matters worse it missed at least 2-3 long term existing sites as well.
Windows Mobile 6 Professional fitted as standard and is pretty standard all round really, there is the edition of the HTC Touchflo, as mentioned before this is a great piece of software development, but I have still not found the need to use it and find the functionality of Windows Mobile, with a few selected Third party software products more than sufficient. A point of note here that I wanted to mention, 2 of my favourites at the moment are SMS Chat from Vito technologies. And the other is Touchpal 3 from Cootek, both of which, for me, really compliment the Windows Platform.
Highlights
Lowlights
Review
As already mentioned this is very much an old friend returned, brighter, faster and more capable. It is only when writing this that in the past 2-3 weeks I have only reset the device twice from memory, and that speaks volumes in its self!
Overall the PDA is more than a match for anything on the market is this class, I was surprised to find that it is a 400 MHz processor, having used 500+ speeds this unit does not demonstrate any problems in this area whatsoever, it zips along very well, handling multiple applications at once without missing a beat.
The battery also was more than capable and better than a lot of devices on the market, commonly 2 days or so of normal use, Bluetooth on, wifi off.
The camera is OK, again not being a professional, adequate enough for me, certainly not the best on the market, but as said OK.
The mirrored screen although nice to look at and professional looking, has 3 main drawbacks, firstly already mentioned is the fingerprint magnet matter, secondly the touchscreen response, although better than the HTC Polaris/Touch Cruise, can still be a little annoying as it is not as responsive as you would like, sometimes taking multiple tap attempts to get a reaction, and finally and more importantly is the use of the unit in sunlight, I primarily use the device on the road, and with the Sat Nav running, I find that it is completely useless as you can’t see it at all, and when the keys are locked it is even worse as it dims until locked. After this week of fine weather this has been a real issue for me.
I like the call clarity, as I have already recorded previously, this device is very clear and precise even in a low signal coverage area. The only down side is having to clean the screen again after a call taken when used on the ear.
O2 have done a good job with the overall design, it definitely looks Orbit like and I feel this is an improvement over the Touch cruise as it is slightly rounder on the edges and I my opinion better looking, and more businesslike, all round.
Conclusion
I have now got used to having a physical keyboard rather than a virtual one, and I still prefer to have that option available. Having said that, I easily got used to not having one again. The stability was great and refreshing to see.
As you can probably tell, I have had a good time with the XDA Orbit 2, it has been very reliable and useable on a day to day regular basis as primary machine. The size is spot on, although the HTC Diamond may challenge that , the toys and specification as up there with the best, at loosely around the £300 mark it is worth a look when considering an upgrade, and existing/old HTC Athemis/Orbit users are sure to be happy with the improvements made to an already cracking device. Stick a phone pad on the bottom and I’ll buy one.
Is it time to start hassling Matt for a go on the HTC Raphael yet, or am I a bit previous? Matt…..
Review by: Steve
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, O2, HTC Artemis, XDA Cosmo, XDA Orbit 2, HTC P3300]
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