Reviews

HTC Touch Diamond2 photos

Following on from my HTC Touch Diamond2 unboxing video that I posted yesterday many of you have emailed to say that you would like to seem more photos of the Diamond2 and some Diamond comparison photos. So here’s a selection of photos for you. Click the images to go full size.

The Diamond2 has an attractive silver and black colour scheme which makes it look newer and less plastic than the original Diamond although having said it looks less plastic the silver surround appears to me made from a matalic coloured plastic rather than black painted metal on the Diamond.

On the bottom you’ll find the ExtUSB connector for syncing and charging the handset as well as for plugging in headphones. The small whole above that is the microphone and to the left and eyelet for a phone charm or lanyard.

In order to get to the MicroSD card socket you have to remove the back cover. The socket is just above the tip of the stylus in this photo.

You’ll see that the back of the Diamond2 is now flat rather and angular like the Diamond was. I prefer the flat back from a usability point of view but the angular back did look cool. Also on the back you’ll find the 5 megapixel camera. Sadly there’s no flash nor is there a a self portrait mirror but if you want to take photos of yourself then the back is probably shiny enough.

The left hand side is fairly ‘clean’ with just a simple volume control at the top.

On the right you’ll see the loudspeaker grill at the top and the space for the stylus at the bottom.

The power button still resides at the top of the unit but sticks out slightly which makes it easier to press.

As you can see in the picture above, the sides of the Diamond2 are sloped the same as the original Diamond but the back is smooth rather than angular.

In this end view you can see that the Diamond2 is a litter ‘fatter’ than the Diamond but there isn’t a great deal of difference.

And from a side-on view you can see that the Diamond2 is a little longer than the original Diamond but is not a great deal bigger overall.

So I’ve had the HTC Touch Diamond2 for about 24 hours now and so far I am enjoying using it. HTC have done an excellent job with how well they have integrated TouchFlo 3D in to the OS. There are few places that you can really see the raw Windows Mobile even the settings and notifications have been replaced with HTC’s own which just makes for a much nicer experience.

Reception and signal strength is a little better than the Diamond but still not great and nowhere near as good as an ‘ordinary’ Nokia phone. Why is that?

Finally (for now) the built in GPS is much better than the Diamond. Used it a couple of times yesterday and got a GPS within about 30 seconds from cold. My Diamond generally takes several minutes to get a fix and seems to prefer clear skies and open spaces but not so with the Diamond2.

Keep you emails and comments coming. We’ll try to cover all of your questions in our upcoming review.

EDIT: Our extensive HTC Touch Diamond2 review is now live!

Posted by: Matt

[ Post Tags: HTC Touch Diamond2, Diamond, HTC, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]

Sony XB40EX headphones review

In-ear style headphones are now pretty commonplace but the downside of these is that they have to be small enough to fit in your ear canal which often means that the speaker driver is also small and small drivers lead to a puny sounding bass. However, that’s where the Sony XB40EX headphones are different as they are specifically designed to offer a better bass performance.

What’s in the box?

• The Sony XB40EX headphones
• Three different size ear plugs
• Clip to hold the cable in place
• Headphone Case

Sony XB40EX headphones specification:

• Ear bud design
  Directs sound into the ear and reduces ineffective sound passages. Included small, medium and large ear cushions offer a custom fit.
• 13.5mm driver
• Sealed acoustic designReduces sound leakage and delivers deep bass.
• Hybrid silicone ear buds
• Flat cord
• 4Hz – 24kHz frequency response
• 105dB/mW sensitivity
• 16 ohms impedance
• Carrying case
• Weight: Aprox 9g

Review

It’s always a little tricky to review products like headphones – is there much that you can say about them?!

The Sony XB40EX headphones do live up to their claims as the bass sound is truly amazing, it’s the kind of sound that you would typically expect to get from a much larger set of cans. Thanks to their excellent low end response the middle and top end sounds so much clearer and tighter.

The package also includes three different sizes of ear plugs which means you can pick the ones that are right for you. When you have a good fit this helps to isolate outside noise and stops your music leaking out and annoying fellow bus travellers!

The other decent thing about the Sony XB40EX headphones is that the cable is flat rather than round. This may not seem like a big deal but in practice this seems to help prevent the cables from becoming tangled when kept in a pocket or bag.

There are a few things I didn’t like about these headphones though. Firstly the size is a bit off putting. I’m not talking about the size of the speaker driver, which needs to be large but the silver part that the driver is attached to. I don’t see why that really needs to be there. This leads me to the second thing I dislike about them – they are uncomfortable! I can wear the Sony XB40EX headphones for a while but after about 30 minutes they begin to make my ears ache. This is partly because of the shape of the outside which digs in to my ear.

Conclusion

The sound performance of the Sony XB40EX headphones is truly amazing and they do have to be heard to be believed. You don’t have to be a bass head to appreciate them.

The biggest let down for me is that they are just too uncomfortable to use for long. I’m sure this wont be a problem for everyone but you have to try them yourself to find out which isn’t always possible.

Review by: Matt

Nokia Bluetooth Headset BH-804 Review

I am sure, like me, you have always been told to never judge a book by its cover, or in this case never judge a Bluetooth headset by its box. Well the later statement would be extremely difficult given the fantastically creative packaging for Nokia’s smallest ever headset – the BH-804. Packaging which will have gadget fans gleaming and environmentalists screaming.

The Nokia Bluetooth Headset BH-804

If you have not yet experienced the wonderful treasure chest of goodness otherwise known as the packaging yet let me direct you to Matt’s recent unboxing video.

What’s in the box?

• Nokia BH-804 Headset
• Lanyard carrying strap
• Additional rubber earpiece covers (x2)
• Ear loop
• Mains charger (micro USB connection)
• Adaptor cap (to connect mains charger to the headset)
• Desktop charging stand

Nokia BH-804 Specification:

• Dimensions: 42 x 13.6 x 6 mm
• Weight: 7.2g
• Operating keys: Answer/end/power
• microUSB charging connector
• Operating range (maximum): 10 m
• Operating time (maximum): 4 h
• Standby time (maximum): 150 h
• Charging time (maximum): 1 h
• Compatible Nokia chargers: Nokia Travel Charger AC-6/DC-6
• Bluetooth 2.0 specification with EDR
• Hands-Free (HFP) Profile 1.5 and Headset (HSP) Profile 1.1

The headset.

The headset comes in at 42 x 13.6 x 6 mm and just over 7g so not only is it the smallest but also one of the lightest I have ever seen.

Personally I have never really been a fan of Bluetooth headsets. I can just about see their purpose but the thought of having a small tusk like item sticking out of my ear all the time is not an idea that has been particularly appealing. But, I have to say even I couldn’t help but be impressed by the BH-804, it is sleek, stylish, and surprisingly comfortable.

The idea behind the size of the device is to give the wearer the impression that they are not wearing a headset at all and just enhance the experience of wearing one. For that reason it does come just as it is with no over ear loop attached. However, even after switching the different sized earphone covers around I still found myself reaching for the comfort and security of the bundled over ear loop.

But, to take the grand total of good old fashioned clichés in this review to two. ‘beauty is only skin deep’. However, I am pleased to announce that the BH-804 does not disappoint on substance. Sound quality is fantastic and although I have limited experience of Bluetooth headsets I have sampled a few in the past, none of which compare quality-wise to the BH-804. This increased sound quality I imagine is largely due to the enhanced audio quality with digital signal processing (DSP) which is used for background noise cancelation which, I have to say although it is not as effective as being locked in a chamber of silence it does do the job cutting out the most obvious and somewhat distracting sounds of the world. I experienced little to no muffling and clarity was excellent with no need to sound like a broken record demanding everything be repeated through miscommunication.

The device is simple to use with just two buttons to get your head around and connecting the headset to your Bluetooth enabled mobile device is as simple as well connecting a Bluetooth headset to a Bluetooth enabled device in other words ‘simple’.

The device comes with a claim of 150 hours standby and around 4 hours talk time which is more than acceptable and should leave with few problems. As for charging the device, this is handled via micro USB either through the simple USB charger or via the included desk dock and Nokia claim just 1 hours charge should be sufficient to fulfil the above stated battery life.

The Nokia BH-804 headset – docked

Conclusion

Overall, the Nokia BH-804 is an extremely accomplished item. It is sleek, sexy and stylish, and although Bluetooth headsets are very much something you either love or hate, if you are in the love bracket, the BH-804 is certainly worth a look to give you that polished look of sophistication on the move.

Reviewed by: Nick

SanDisk Extreme IV compact flash review

As soon as you hear the mention of SanDisk’s name I’m sure that memory cards will spring to mind. SanDisk are arguably the top memory card manufacturer and certainly the choice of many a professional photographer.

Here we are looking at the SanDisk Extreme IV Compact Flash card. So what’s the Extreme IV part all about? Extreme IV refers to the fact that this Compact Flash is UDMA so should be capable of up to 45MB/s transfers. 

One of the ways you’ll know that you are looking at a quality product is that it comes neatly boxed and well presented rather than in a plastic blister pack that you’d find cheaper memory cards in.

You may be wondering why speed is so important and why not simply focus on capacity? As DSLR manufacturers continue to push the boundaries with their sensors we’re starting to see even the entry level cameras with 15 megapixel sensors with the higher end going to 25+. If you add the RAW shooting capability in to the mix then you’ll find that each photo can be upwards of 17MB. That’s a fair amount of data to write to a memory card every time the shutter it released and if you add in high speed burst shooting you can start to see why memory card speed might be important. The faster the memory card the more photos can be recorded in a burst. So taking the Extreme IV for example and recording JPG images to the memory card on the Canon EOS-50D you can record in bursts continuously! Pretty important if you are photographing a lot of action.

So in order to see how much difference the UDMA technology makes to the Extreme IV I’ve compared it to another unbranded 8GB compact flash card.

In the test I wrote a series of RAW photo files to the memory card and timed the overall write speed. I performed the test several times with each card and took the average of each. I’m writing 6 RAW files to each memory card and the images are 17.1MB each.

SanDisk Extreme IV 8GB CF 6.03 seconds
Generic non-branded 8GB CF 14.94 seconds

So just simply looking at the results above you can see that the Extreme IV is more than twice as fast as the generic compact flash, this will certainly make a noticeable difference.

However, it’s not just about write speed, we should also consider read speed.

Having used the generic no-name memory card in my Canon 50D for such a long time and reading a few hundred images in from the card at a time this can take a few minutes. I’ve been using the Extreme IV for the past few weeks and it’s obvious that it’s a much faster card when it comes to downloading images, in fact I’m pretty sure that the memory card is faster than the USB connection on the camera and the card reader, so we’ll be looking at a Firewire reader soon.

Conclusion

Is the SanDisk Extreme IV compact flash card worth the extra money? That al depends on how much you use your camera. If you are a casual photographer then I’d say the Extreme IV isn’t going to be worth the additional cost (more than twice as expensive as a generic brand). If however you are a very keen amateur or a pro then you might want to invest in one of these. I’m sure that the time you’ll save at the end of the shoot will mean that the SanDisk Extreme IV will pay for itself in no time!

Review by: Matt

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte Review

The Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte certainly looks the part, it certainly feels the part, and a quick glance at the phones spec list it certainly seems to tick a number of boxes however as soon as the price tag is discovered the 8800 suddenly has a lot more to live up to and certainly some extra weight on its 150g shoulders.

The Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte

What’s in the box?

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte Specification:

General

As I mentioned the 8800 certainly looks every inch a well built, high quality device with some real weight behind it. However, as I also mentioned £1000 is a huge price to pay for a mobile phone so lets have a look around the 8800 and see if the device can match the price tag.

The front of the device has a fairly small screen certainly smaller than recent phones Nokia have put out such as the 5800 however as this is not a touch screen device this can be expected.

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte – Front view

Seen below on the front of the device is the multi directional navigation D pad with a selection push button in the centre and either side of this are four soft keys for call control and menu quick start.

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte – Keypad view

The 8800 is of course a slider with a difference, whereas many sliders have the screen sitting on-top of the keypad the 8800’s keypad is housed in the bottom of the device meaning the phone can remain clean and portable when closed while keeping the thickness of the device down when open.

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte – Opened view

The 8800 Carbon Arte is a very clean device with very little to no buttons cluttering either side apart from the two battery cover release push buttons meaning it looks as well built as it feels.

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte – left side view

With no buttons to speak of it makes the sides of the device very difficult to talk about so rather than doing so I will allow you to admire the 8800’s beauty for yourself.

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte – right side view

 
The standby button Is the only real key on any of the four sides of the Carbon Arte and it I wont patronise you in telling you what its function is.

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte – Top view

The back of the 8800 continues the clean theme of the phone with the camera lens housed in centralised square housing and below this is a silver Nokia logo sitting perfectly against that carbon battery cover.

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte – back view

Highlights

• Superb Build Quality

• Design

Lowlights

• Price

• Lack of features

Review

The 8800 Carbon Arte from Nokia is certainly the most expensive I have and probably ever will have the privilege of using, however when you are told the price your initial reaction is likely to be one of great anticipation for a device which is feature filled to the brim with built in lasers and a switch will will instantly launch a nuclear attack on the nearest unsuspecting nation, OK maybe I am exaggerating a little buy you would certainly expect some pretty decent features from a device of this price.

The explanation and justification of the 8800 Carbon Arte price is its build quality and exceptional feat of technological engineering and this I cannot knock the device looks fantastic, extremely stylish in its design and is incredibly well built, these are all things that are reflected in the weight of the device, as Matt said in his un-boxing of the phone when you hear of things such as carbon etc. used in the construction of a product you instantly assume it will be not only sleek but also lightweight however at just over 150g this is not really the case for the 8800, its weight though is not something that should be held against it as it further enhances the feeling of quality.
One thing that impressed me when I reviewed the 5800 was not just the device but also the things included in the box it felt like Nokia had thought of everything, and the same applies for the 8800, the contents of the box you can find at the start of this review but one thing that is slightly different to be included with a device is the blue tooth headset. The headset doesn’t feel like a last minute addition and a case of chuck the last few budget headsets we have left in the box it is a quality headset, sound quality is great and fits comfortably in the ear.

Bluetooth Headset BH-803

As I mentioned earlier the phone features a 3 Mega pixel camera the quality of which I felt was actually fairly poor, and certainly worse than some other mobiles I have used with similar spec devices. Another disappointment of the 8800’s camera is that no flash is included in any form which does make photography in different levels of light that much more difficult.

As for the storing of your photos as well as multimedia such as video and music the 8800 has an in-built memory of 4GB with no room for additional storage via storage card. Watching videos and listening to music is not something you are likely to use the 8800 for seeing as there is no headphone jack and the only connection is via a mini USB.

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte – bottom view

If you do manage to retreat to your safe haven from background noise and distractions you will find that the 8800 offers great sound quality and clarity. One downside to watching videos and or using the phone itself is it becomes useless in direct sunlight, something I experienced several times during the past week of surprisingly pleasant spring sunshine.
Connectivity of the 8800 is unsurprisingly agreeable with Bluetooth 2.0, 3G, Edge, GPRS to name a few, I have no complaints about using them however I have to mention that the phone keypad is not altogether the most efficient I have used and this did affect things such as browsing. The phones connectivity is at an acceptable level as I mentioned however for a device of this price I suppose I was expecting something a little more groundbreaking or earth shattering but I’m afraid the 8800 doesn’t deliver this but it does keep you connected which is most important.

A phone is an item you are going to be using every day you own it so it has to be easy and enjoyable to do so, that is why in my reviews I always try to let you know what the phone is like when using it for simple or more complicated daily tasks. One problem I found throughout my time with the device was that they keys do at times feel a little small and I often found myself accidently pushing two keys at once a problem I feel is largely due to the keys sloping design. Provided you are not standing in direct sun light and manage to get over the awkwardness of the keys navigation through menus is simple it uses the standard Nokia menus which I am sure may of you are familiar with, however, if not it certainly doesn’t take long to get use to. It seems amazing that I have managed to get this far into a review of a mobile phone without actually mentioning what the phone is like to use as well just that a phone, it is so often taken for granted now but I have used devices in the past with poor sound quality when in a call. However, I am pleased to report that the 8800 has great sound clarity I experienced no problems with muffling and the same goes for when using speaker phone. Battery life is stated to be around 300 hours standby by a mere 3 ½ talk time which I think is pretty poor and I did have problems with the battery life in terms of several charges in just a few days.

Conclusion

Overall I feel that my conclusion would be very different if at this point I could tell you that the Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte comes with all the features and functions listed in the review and cost only £250 however I can’t and for that reason you may be understandably disappointed with the 8800, but as I kept reminding myself the 8800 is not about having a great camera or music player it is a masterpiece of design and technological engineering it feels every bit as good as it looks, it is the ultimate status symbol in the world of Mobile phones and is a true object of beauty which you could say would be more suited to the Tate modern than the shelf of your local carphone warehouse.

Reviewed by: Nick

INQ INQ1 review

The INQ1 is excusive to 3 and was released in the UK in November of last year. A much more affordable phone, aimed at the younger generation, the INQ1 is being sold as “The Social Mobile” with fast access to Facebook, Windows Live Messenger and free Skype-to-Skype calls.

The INQ INQ1 – exclusive to 3

What’s in the box?

• INQ1 handset
• Battery
• Instruction cards
• Software CD
• Warranty and safety booklets
• USB – mini USB sync cable
• UK Wall charger (mini USB connection)
• Stereo Headphones/handsfree (mini USB connection)

Check out Tracy’s unboxing video for more information

Specification

• UMTS 2100
• Bluetooth
• microSDHC card support (up to 16GB)
• 3G, HSDPA
• USB 2.0
• 3.0 Megapixel camera
• 2.2" 240 x 320 pixel LCD screen
• 47.6 x 14.4 x 97 mm
• 100 grams
• SMS, MMS, E-mail, Instant Messaging, IM
• Integrated Facebook, Skype, Windows Live Messenger and email applications

General

Front – 2.2″ display, right and left soft keys, D Pad, Menu button, clear button, ‘call’ and ‘hang up’ buttons (the phone is powered on/off using the red ‘hang up’ button)

INQ1 front view

Keypad – A good size standard phone keypad (T9 input for text)

INQ1 keypad view

Left side – Mini USB socket for pc connection and charging the phone. The speaker is also located on the left side.

INQ1 left side view

Right side – Right convenience key which is set as default as the camera soft key, Switcher menu selector button, Up/down rocker volume control buttons (also used as zoom with the camera function)

INQ right side view

Bottom – Not much here. just the microphone.

INQ bottom view

Back – The back cover encloses the battery, micro SD card, sim card and 3MP camera.

INQ1 back view

Highlights

• Easy access to Facebook, Windows Live Messenger and free Skype-to-Skype calls
• Facebook integration with phonebook
• Simple to use
• Carousel quick app menu
• Widgets
• compact design
• lightweight

Lowlights

• Screen is too small
• No camera flash
• No self portrait mirror for camera
• Difficult to access the micro SD card
• Position of the speaker – muffled when holding the phone
• no 3.5mm stereo earphone plug

Review

OK, first impressions of the phone. From the pictures on 3’s website the INQ1 looked pretty cheap and nasty if I’m being honest. But, when I received the handset from Matt I was nicely surprised. Definitely a lot better looking in real life and feels pretty sturdy and well made.

The packaging of the phone definitely suggests the type of market that the INQ1 is aiming for. The bright colours of the box and instruction cards with colourful illustrations on the back of each card tell you that it’s aimed at the younger generation.

There’s nothing out of the ordinary with the INQ1 that would really convince me to buy it. The handset seems quite plain and simple. That’s not necessarily and bad thing. It’s just too plain for me. (I like my gadgets as you might have guessed!) You can probably tell I wasn’t blown away with this handset, but strangely enough, the lowlights I have to share with you aren’t that drastic. Maybe I should just get these over with now.

• The screen seems a bit to small for the applications the phone offers, such as, Facebook. It’s still readable though, and pictures can be viewed pretty clearly.
• No flash for the camera. Low light picture taking can be tricky! There is night mode however, but a flash would be of more use.
• No self portrait mirror. Tracy mentioned this in her unboxing video – and I agree. This is strange as it’s supposed to be a ‘social networking phone’.
• A 3.5mm stereo headphone plug would have been a good idea but never mind.
• It’s very fiddly when dealing with the micro SD card. Mainly when trying to take it out. You also have to the the battery out to get at it.
• and finally, the speaker. This can easily be muffled by your hand because of the location of it.

OK, lowlights over. I’m going to stop being negative about this phone now as it really does have quite a lot to offer.

Because of the simple and plain design of the phone it is very easy to use. The carousel menu on the home screen is controlled buy the dedicated switcher button on the right side of the handset. This is for quick access to your most used applications and you can add applications and websites to the carousel as well.

You can also show widgets on your home screen (up to three at a time). Some examples of the widgets on offer are, Yahoo weather, Google search and RSS feeds.

As mentioned, phone has Facebook, Windows Live Messenger and Skype integrated into the workings of the phone in a very mobile friendly format. “Integrated how exactly?” I hear you ask! Well, from the very basic and easy and instant access from the menu (their own shortcut icons) right down to the messages inbox and even the phonebook. Your contacts from these applications can be merged into your phonebook and the options menu has been tailored to include making calls, chatting and even ‘poking’ the selected contact using these applications. It also pulls the data to your phonebook so profile pictures from Facebook show against the contacts on your phone.

Windows Live Messenger is easy to use. A QWERTY keyboard may be what some would have liked on the phone, but as long as you are comfortable with typing with T9 I think that the standard phone keypad still does the trick. If it really bothers you that INQ didn’t put a QWERTY keyboard on the phone just keep your eyes and ears open. apparently INQ have said that a QWERTY keyboard version is on the cards!

You can switch between applications with out logging out which is a nice touch. Means a lot less hassle and navigation through the phone is faster.

The web browser isn’t anything special. Does the job it’s supposed to! Just hindered by the small screen but.. oh, sorry, being negative again!

There’s a dedicated ‘Feeds’ section which comes in handy for keeping up to date with the latest news from your favourite websites.

The music and video players are pretty average. Again, they do what they’re supposed to do so nothing much to say about them. The camera is a 3.2 MP one and takes pretty good pictures in well lit situations. These photos can then be easily uploaded to Facebook of course!

Call quality on the phone is clear. Had a few instances of people not being able to hear me or vice versa, but I think this is to do with 3’s coverage in my area rather than the phone’s performance.

A small addition to the other features is that you can connect it to your laptop using the USB cable and the phone becomes a plug and play USB modem (using its 3G connection).

Conclusion

The concept of the INQ1 is that it is a social networking phone that is integrated with Facebook, Windows Live Messenger and Skype. But, most of all, compared to the smartphones on the market that can access these apps too, the INQ1 is much more affordable.

It’s simple in its design and easy to use. It performs well, is well made and robust for the price.

I think the phone is worth the price that’s being offered and there’s really not too much wrong with this phone. Maybe just a bit to basic for the gadget/smartphone fans out there!

Reviewed by: Emma

HP Voice Messenger Review

This is HP’s flagship Windows Smartphone. It sits alongside the HP Data Messenger, its Windows Mobile brother. It’s a fantastic looking phone but, in my opinion, and like its keyboarded brother, it’s not ready for general use. However for the record here is my 2 cents worth.

The HP iPAQ Voice Messenger

What’s in the box?

The phone supplied with Windows Mobile® 6.1 Standard aka Windows Smartphone, Mains charger with USB output socket, Micro USB data / charging cable. Ear phones with Call Answer/End button, manuals.

Check out Matt’s HP iPAQ Voice Messenger un-boxing video for more information:

HP iPAQ Voice Messenger specification:

• Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard
• Qualcomm 7201A 528MHz CPU
• 128 MB SDRAM
• 256 MB flash ROM
• 2.4” transmissive TFT, 64K colours, 320 x 240 pixel non-touch screen display with LED backlight
• 20-key keyboard with alphanumeric/QWERTY layout
• 5-way optical navigation key
• Integrated WLAN 802.11b/g with WPA2 security
• Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
• Micro-USB connector for synchronisation and charging
• Micro SDHC card slot – supports up to 8GB
• Tri-band UMTS (900/1900/2100 MHz), HSDPA Category 8 (up to 7.2Mbps downlink) and HSUPA
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• Integrated GPS navigation (Assisted GPS)
• 3.1 Megapixel autofocus camera, 5X digital zoom
• LED flash
• Removable/rechargeable 1260 mAh Lithium-Polymer Battery (user changeable)
• Dimensions (W x D x H) – 5.0 x 1.36 x 11.4 cm
• Weight – 107g

General

A solid and conventional ‘candy-bar’ phone but with a great combination of gloss black and deeply chromed trim and back panel make this phone stand out from the crowd. The screen is 320×240 pixels, 2.4” non touch, with LED backlight for high contrast and low power usage.

On the front there is a 20 Key phone pad. Call Answer and End keys with integrated LEDs. Two Soft Keys. Home and Return Keys. 5 way optical mouse with push to select button. LED status indicator.

HP iPAQ Voice Messenger front view

On the top a physical switch to select ring or vibrate.

HP iPAQ Voice Messenger top view

On the left, Key Lock, volume up/down, voice command select.

HP iPAQ Voice Messenger left side

On the right, 2.5mm headphone jack, Micro USB charge/data port, camera button.

HP iPAQ Voice Messenger right side

Underneath the back cover are the battery, Sim and hot swappable MicroSD slot. There is no separate reset button; soft reset is accomplished by removing the battery.

On the back the 3.2Mp camera and LED flash.

HP iPAQ Voice Messenger back view

Highlights

• Style
• LED Backlit screen

Lowlights

• Raw Windows Mobile 6.1
• Issues with optical mouse and touch sensitive buttons

Review

The phones layout is mostly fine; the keypad has a healthy response to it. The Optical mouse is a nice idea but not quite precise enough for me to use. I found it either too sensitive; jumping several menu options at a time or not responsive enough i.e. not moving when one intended it to. The end result was very frustrating. It was however way better than the optical mouse on the Data Messenger I reviewed last month, and possibly one could get used to it.

In a similar way the 2 touch sensitive buttons each side of the optical mouse were a disappointment. They seem to have great potential but partly the layout and partly the combination of real buttons and touch buttons just didn’t really work for me.

I feel for a active business phone, which seems where these phones are pitched, physical push buttons are still the best option as they reduce the vagueness around ‘did I select it, or didn’t I?’. Especially useful when your phone is having one of those “I will keep you waiting because I sense you are in a rush” moments. In case you wonder why new phones have these slow downs, it’s because they are basically small, but powerful computers. And like computers they too have personalities, the sort found in 4 year old children who have had too much chocolate and coke on a long hot car journey. (J)
The touch buttons on the Voice Messenger were actually so sensitive that they sometimes activated just by bringing your finger near them. Not ideal on a cramped keyboard.

HP iPAQ Voice Messenger keypad view

The biggest problem with this phone is that it runs an unmodified version of Windows Mobile Smartphone Edition. Many manufacturers now provide highly modified ‘frontends’ for their phones making the user experience so much better. It’s not that there is anything particularly ‘wrong’ with Windows Mobile it’s just that it is lumpy and has remained virtually the same for several years now. Version 6.5 of WM is due soon and it promises improved usability. These phones may be unreadable to that, but we haven’t had confirmation yet, so check first if it’s important for you. That said this is the Smartphone version of Windows Mobile i.e. doesn’t have a touch screen and because its designed for button and phone pad use, it’s actually less of a problem than the touch screen version.

Conclusion

Very nice looking phone, some features are questionable. But overall there are much better options from other vendors to consider.

Review by: Daniel des Baux

[ Post Tags: HP iPAQ Voice Messenger, Windows Mobile, HP iPAQ, Smartphone, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]

Blackberry Storm 9500 Review

This is the first Blackberry touch screen handset from RIM. At a glance it looks fantastic, but can it compete with the iPhone?

The Storm 9500 is exclusive to Vodafone here in the UK – You can see what Vodafone have to say about it by clicking here.

The Blackberry Storm 9500

What’s in the box?

• RIM Blackberry Storm 9500

• Battery

• Quick guide manual

• Mains charger (UK/US/EU)

• Stereo headset/handsfree

• 1GB Micro SD card

• Pouch case

• Data cable

• Screen cleaning cloth

Check out Matt’s Blackberry Storm 9500 unboxing video

Specification

• Dimensions: 112.5 x 62.2 x 13.95 mm

• Weight: 155g

• Battery Capacity: 1400 mAh

• Display: 480 x 360 pixels/3.25 inch

• Network: GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 (Quad-Band), WCDMA: 2100 HSDPA (Single-Band)

• Camera: 3.2 mega-pixels (auto-focus)

• Video: Video Recording supported formats: MP4, 3GP, H.264 & H.263

• Music: Supported formats: MP3, AAC, ACC+, eAAC+ & WMA

• Messaging: SMS, MMS (with video),  E-mail (POP3, SMTP, IMAP4, MS Exchange, BlackBerry), Instant Messaging

• Memory: 1GB (internal)

• microSDHC (external)

• microUSB

• 3.5mm Audio Connector

• Bluetooth (2.0)

• Navigation: AGPS, BlackBerry Maps

General

The Blackberry Storm 9500 looks impressive with its large 3.25 inch screen. It seems quite striking after looking at previous Blackberry phones with their QWERTY keypads that take up much of the handset.

Front – 3.25 inch SurePress touch screen, ‘call’ and ‘hang up’ buttons, menu button and back button. (The ‘hang up’ button is also the power button)

Blackberry Storm 9500 front view

Top – on the top of the handset are 2 buttons. From the picture below, the left side is a mute button and the right side is a keypad lock.

Blackberry Storm 9500 top view

Bottom – There’s not much on the bottom of the handset except for the microphone

Blackberry Storm 9500 bottom view

Right side – Right convenience key which is set as default as the camera soft key, Volume control buttons (also used as zoom with the camera function) and 3.2mm stereo headphone socket

Blackberry Storm 9500 right side view

Left side – Left convenience key which is set as default as the voice command soft key, Micro USB socket used for USB connection and charging the phone.

Blackberry Storm 9500 left side view

Back – The speaker is located near the bottom of the handest (left side of the picture below). The back cover encloses the battery, sim card and micro SD card. The 3.2 MP camera and flash can also be seen here.

Blackberry Storm 9500 back view

Highlights

• Large 3.25" high resolution screen – great quality
• 3G connection
• 3.2MP camera with auto focus
• Rotating display
• SurePress touch screen

Lowlights

• SurePress touch screen (yes, I have put this as a highlight too. You’ll need to read on to see why!)
• No WIFI
• Touchscreen QWERTY keyboard can be difficult to use
• The size of the handset is a bit on the large side

Review

The Blackberry Storm 9500 is definitely a great looking phone, and the screen size and resolution is a definite highlight. The casing is black and chrome plastic and the back battery cover is brushed metal which gives it a classy, professional look.

Before I had even switched it on I found the handset rather cumbersome due to the larger size and weight. But, that’s just my personal opinion of course. I’m sure some people with bigger hands than me won’t find this an issue.

Once switched on the first thing that grabbed my attention was the brilliant display. Very sharp and erm, well. big! The inbuilt accelerometer rotates the display depending on the position of the handset. It rotates both the the left and right which I guess will be quite handy for left-handed users. Unfortunately I found that the accelerometer was a bit slow to respond at times.

The SurePress technology included in the Storm gives a spring-like effect or physical button-like effect when pressing on the screen. The idea of this I think is great. It’s designed to eliminate any type of confusion between navigating and confirming/selecting. For example, navigating through the menu – you highlight what you want to select but touching the screen. You can see if you’re on the correct icon before pressing the screen to actually select your option. The best part is that whilst on a call you are unlikely to accidentally select any options on the screen with your face!

Now, I seem to be raving about the SurePress technology here but you may have noticed that I have also placed this a lowlight. The reason for this is that because the whole screen is designed to be clicked it does actually move. This makes the handset feel a bit flimsy and surprisingly makes it feel a bit cheap. Shame really.

The sound quality during calls is clear and the microphone filters out background noise quite well. The numeric keypad for dialling is huge! Very user friendly! There is also the option to use numbers stored on the sim card as well as the phone’s memory.

Moving on. 3G!!! Ok, this doesn’t actually make a big difference for me but from browsing forums many people much prefer 3G to EDGE technology as 3G is faster. Other Blackberry handsets seem to all use the EDGE network connection so the Storm using 3G seems to be a good selling point.

Then there’s the WIFI. or lack of in this case. I’m not really sure of the reasons for this. It’s been suggested that the carriers want users to use their mobile broadband network and that’s the reason there’s no WIFI. Anyway, this is a definite lowlight for me.

The software and general setup is almost identical to that of the Blackberry Bold, Curve and others. The obvious difference being the integration of a touchscreen QWERTY keyboard. When the phone is held in a normal upright position it is a 20 key SureType QWERTY keyboard (which can be set to multitap), and when it is rotated either onto its right or left side a full QWERTY keyboard is presented. The Storm 9500 also supports the copy and paste function which can com in handy.

For messaging, SMS, MMS, Email, and Instant Messaging are supported. Multiple email accounts can be added and the inboxes can all be kept separate. Push email also alerts of new emails in each account.

Blackberry’s built in web browser looks great on the large screen but navigation using the touch screen takes a lot of getting used to. There’s a bit of a wait sometimes while scripts are loading which seems to be a bit of a common theme though the Blackberry range.

Word, Excel and PowerPoint files can be opened and edited with the built in viewers. The full version of the Office application would need to be purchased in order create files.

Other applications include a memo pad, a Task application, a calculator, and password keeper. Maps software which works with the GPS function is also included

The music player is capable of playing MP3, AAC, and WMA files and the built in speaker on the back of the handset gives surprisingly good quality sound.

The 3.2MP camera produces quite impressive images. The colours are great and the auto focus comes in handy. Unfortunately the quality lessens when the image is enlarged which can only be expected as 3.2MP in the (if you’ll excuse the pun) bigger picture is not that great. I found the video camera quality pretty poor. Especially in lower light. The colours seemed to change whilst filming as if the camera was trying to correct the white balance, but this ended up producing ‘off’ colours.

A clever addition to this touchscreen smart phone is the magnetic strips in the pouch. When the handset is placed in the pouch the magnetic sensor (which I’m guessing is in the back of the phone hence the metallic back cover) senses the magnet in the pouch which in turn switches off the display and locks the keys. This is an energy saving feature of the phone.

Conclusion

The Blackberry Storm 9500 was a strange device to review! I seem to have had many positive points written out, yet if I’m honest, I just didn’t seem to like it!

Just seemed a bit to bulky for me. It sometimes seemed a bit sluggish in its performance and I although I got used to the touchscreen QWERTY keyboard I just couldn’t type as fast as I could on actual buttons for making so many mistakes!

The Storm 9500 definitely looks great and the screen quality is brilliant. The SurePress screen is a brilliant idea but you’ll either love it or hate it. Unfortunately it’s not my cup of tea.

No WIFI. I missed it. But, that’s personal preference I guess. Just as well Vodafone’s network coverage didn’t let me down.

There are many people out there who say that the Storm 9500 is a huge competitor to the IPhone. You’ll just have to see for yourself!

Reviewed by: Emma

T-Mobile G1 review

To be honest I have not taken a lot of notice of the whole G1 / Android situation, as a loyal and long time Windows Mobile user, I have not really seen the need to change, granted WM is not by any means perfect, it does the job. So now is the time to see what I have been missing out on, will the G1 / Android convince me that there is more to life than Windows?

Made by HTC the Google Android G1 is their first departure from Windows Mobile that I know of, it has been developed and designed to be open source and, in a lot of ways, better than Windows Mobile, in such things as the ability to customise and a more computer like experience.

The T-Mobile G1 Android phone

The review unit is the T-mobile version of the phone which it appears is theirs exclusively; I did try other SIM’s in the phone with no real success, it looks like they have this locked down pretty well, for now..

What’s in the box?

• The G1 of course
• Stereo headset with in-line mic, the connector is ext-miniUSB.
• Getting started Guide and CD
• Some stickers?!
• Screen protector
• Protective pouch
• USB to miniUSB sync / charge cable
• AC charger

Take a look at Matt’s T-Mobile G1 unboxing video for more details.

T-Mobile G1 specification:

• 55.7×117.7×17.1mm
• 158 grams
• Google Android 1.0
• 32bit Qualcomm MSM7201A 528MHz CPU
• 192MB RAM, 256MB ROM
• 3.2" 320×480 color transflective TFT LCD
• Proprietary audio jack
• GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900
• UMTS1700, UMTS2100
• microSDHC memory card slot
• mini-USB port
• Bluetooth 2.0
• WLAN – 802.11b/g
• GPS, A-GPS, QuickGPS
• Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
• Accelerometer
• 3.1MP camera with autofocus
• 1150mAh removable battery

The top of the phone as nothing to show except the back cover release clip.

T-Mobile G1 top view

On the left hand side has the up/down volume rocker, and also the covered microSD card housing which you have to have the keyboard open to access.

T-Mobile G1 left side

The right hand side has the dedicated camera button

T-Mobile G1 right side

On the bottom there is the covered miniUSB port for charging/syncing/headset etc. Also the mic.

T-Mobile G1 bottom view

The business end of the phone shows a 3.2" 320×480 screen, under which is a trackball which also functions as an enter button, positioned in the middle, around this from left to right is the phone answer button, a ‘home’ button, a back button and finally the phone end / power button.

T-Mobile G1 front view

The G1 has a strange arcing slide open motion which reveals the 5 row keyboard covered in the review. The slide mechanism can be seen on Matt’s unboxing video.

T-Mobile G1 keyboard open view

Highlights

• Superb screen
• Very customisable
• Trackball
• Call quality
• GPS

Lowlights

• Awkward keyboard
• Camera

REVIEW

My first impression of the G1 out of the box is that it is butt ugly. I don’t like the white and given a choice I would plump for the black version, having said that my wife loved the look and colour. It comes in at 55.7×117.7×17.1mm so you definitely know where it is in your pocket, though not overly large for a phone with a full keyboard.

At this point I would normally take a look the software; this review differs in this respect as the first impression of the Android operating system was that it appears boring and basic, there is a novel 3 screen ‘Today’ screen, the middle screen showing the typical clock, contacts, phone, messaging icons as standard. Swipe the screen right and there is a blank screen to add your own program shortcuts, swipe left and there is a Google search bar preinstalled and room for further icons/programs. It all seems a little bland and uninteresting but then…

There is a tab at the bottom of the middle screen which when swiped up displays the menu of settings and programs available, not that unusual until you find the ‘Market’ icon which revolutionises the G1 and enables you to customise your device with a plethora of software available from the market, some free, some trials and some you have to pay a modest amount for. This is really where the OS come into its own, I spent many a happy hour in the market, trying out a host of applications from the open source, there are literally hundreds available and far too many to describe in detail, such things as ‘WeatherBug’, ‘Twitter notifier’, ‘Power manager’, ‘Compass’, ’Easytext’ etc. etc. etc. where some of my personal favourites among many. The device is ideal for a gadget freak like me as you can customise to your heart’s content, you can have minimalist, cluttered, techy whatever you fancy.

To top this, the status bar at the top of the device is also very useful, showing icons for such things as incoming email, text, RSS feeds, twitter updates, weather info etc. swipe this bar down and all your notifications are now readable and useable, another clever piece of development.

As for the device itself as a few things to mention good and bad, firstly there is no stylus, this is deliberate as the G1 has been developed to be finger touch friendly and mostly it does achieve this and there was the odd occasion I found a pen was more appropriate to use than my fingers. The superb screen is very bright and vibrant and it has to be said is one of the best ones I have seen in a long time. It is very responsive and proves to be a great screen to live with.

The keyboard, is OK, there is a real niggle with the fact that when open, you have to straddle the buttons housing on the right had side of the keyboard, awkward to say the least. If you have read any of my previous reviews the 2 things I am not a fan of are trackballs and keyboards which are both found here, therefore there is no way i can get on with using this phone on a day to day basis.

The great surprise is that I enjoyed using both; the trackball is VERY responsive and easy to use, flying round the screen and proving very accurate, I found that I used this all the time, which is more than unusual for me.

The keyboard once you get passed the straddling piece, is quite well laid out, positive and again easy to use, the fact that for most things such as email and texting you have to have the keyboard open means that it is a case of having to get used to it. I feel that the omission of an on screen keyboard is a mistake, as to just quickly send a text you have to open and use the keyboard, there is no facility to use the device in portrait, no doubt with the open source and ongoing development a screen based keypad won’t be long in coming.

I did find it difficult you use the keyboard in its default mode as the white keys along with the white backlight made it impossible to see the letters, apparently this is not an issue on the black model, and I have seem a modified keyboard with black keys on the white model which seems to work well. There is an option to switch off the backlight, which work for me.

The next surprise for me was the GPS fix, I have never been able to get these things working very well in my area, the GPS on the G1 fixed everywhere I tried in a matter of a couple of seconds, locking on to multiple satellites with ease, therefore making using software like Google maps a breeze.

The camera is a 3.1 megapixel variety, not the best, in fact not really that good at all. Definitely one of the lowlights for me.

Call quality and signal fix, where available were good, I have to say that this is the first time I have used T-mobile in this area and was disappointed to occasionally find that I had no signal at all, something I have never had on my O2 contract.

The back cover was a bit scary for me as once unclipped you have to get quite physical with it to release it fully, in time this might prove to be a problem.

Also, for me, the lack of some settings menus was a further aggravation, as far as I could tell there is no way to set things like screen brightness etc. it may have been that I missed it in my relatively short time with the device, but I remember a few times wanting to change some of the settings and not being able to find a way to do it, as you can on Windows mobile.

Conclusion

I have really enjoyed my time with the T-mobile G1, it has been a refreshing change and a pleasurable one, to the point when Matt asked for it back I stalled as long as I could.

I don’t like the phone design itself, as I have said, I really like the uniqueness of the OS, given time, with even more development of the programs and the addition of this system on a better looking and more useable phone this will be a great move away from windows. Couple together the best bits of WM and android and the future is looking good. Well done all involved.

Review by: Steve

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