Videos/Unboxings

Since its launch almost two weeks ago there has been lots of discussion about the Nexus One and whether or not it supports multitouch. There seems to be some confusion about multitouch, it’s believed that Google/HTC did not implement multitouch on the Nexus One out-of-the-box due to some kind of patent related legal wrangle with Apple. Not sure if that’s true or not but sure sounds plausible.

The Google Nexus One

As most will know, the Android OS itself certainly supports multitouch and we we’re pretty confident that the Nexus One hardware supported it. Rumour had it that multitouch support had been removed from the US version of the Nexus One, the version that’s shipping now, all together and that we would have to wait until a UK or European version was launched, possibly by a carrier, to see multitouch added.

However, I can confirm that the Nexus One hardware and Android OS on the Nexus One definitely supports multitouch! As you can see from my little video demo below it’s simply that the apps pre-installed on the Nexus One are not multitouch capable, so the pre-installed maps and web browser for example do not support it. BUT, if you want a multitouch web browser there is an option, check out the video below:

So if you are looking for a multitouch web browser you can grab the Dolphin Browser from Android Market, it’s even a free app and not a bad little browser either and not only offers pinch to zoom but also allows you to configure some of your own gesture based swipes.

The Dolphin Browser

Now the hope is that we’ll be able to get our hands on a multitouch enabled version of Google Maps that we can install on the Nexus One and hopefully an image browser too.

Thanks to my mate Paul from MoDaCo for letting me know.

Don’t forget to also check out my extended Nexus One unboxing and demo video. It’s a pretty long one so grab a cup of coffee before you start! 🙂

Posted by: Matt

Last week we brought you the unboxing video of the BlackBerry 9520 Storm2. Now I have completed the review I thought I would give you a short video demonstration just before the review goes live.

Being a touch screen BlackBerry I thought it was important to give you a brief insight into its features on video and if you are interested in getting the Storm2 this may help make up your mind.

The Blackberry Storm2

If you have any questions regarding the BlackBerry Storm2 please head over to our forums and submit your questions there.

Here is a quick reminder of the BlackBerry 9520 Storm2 Specification:

• 2G Network : GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
• 3G Network: HSDPA 2100
• Dimensions: 112.5 x 62.2 x 14 mm
• Weight: 160 g
• Display: TFT capacitive touchscreen, 65K colors
• Size: 360 x 480 pixels, 3.25 inches
• Memory: Internal 2 GB
• Card slot: microSD (TransFlash) up to 16GB
• GPRS: Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 – 48 kbps
• EDGE: Class 10, 236.8 kbps
• 3G: HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA
• WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth: v2.1 with A2DP
• USB: microUSB v2.0
• Camera : Primary 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email, IM
• GPS: with A-GPS support
• Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)
• MP3/WMA/AAC+ player
• MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV player
• Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1400 mAh
• Stand-by: Up to 305 h (2G) / Up to 280 h (3G)
• Talk time: Up to 5 h (2G) / Up to 6 h (3G)

Posted by: James

[ Post Tags: Blackberry, Storm2, RIM, Blackberry 9520, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]

An exciting arrival here in the office yesterday, no not a new brother or sister for Chloe, but the Nexus One that I ordered from Google arrived already. I only ordered it on Monday and it arrived via DHL on Friday. Excellent service!

The Google Nexus One

Although the Nexus arrived here yesterday I didn’t unbox until this morning so I’ve only been using it for a few hours but so far I really do love it and it’s certainly the best Android device I’ve used to date. It’s responsive and has a great screen and in my opinion is really well made.

I’ll be doing a full review over the next week or so and will give the Nexus a thorough test. I’ll also try it with my T-Mobile SIM card!

So here is my unboxing video which is pretty long. I’ll take you on a tour of the handset and show you a few things in the OS. There may be another video showing some of the other features soon too!

Let me know if you have any questions about the Nexus One and I’ll try to answer them over on the Nexus One forum thread!

Google Nexus One Specification:

• Height: 119mm
• Width: 59.8mm
• Depth: 11.5mm
• Weight: 130 grams w/battery
• 3.7-inch (diagonal) widescreen WVGA AMOLED touchscreen, 800 x 480 pixels
• 5 megapixels camera
• Autofocus from 6cm to infinity
• 2X digital zoom
• LED flash
• User can include location of photos from phone’s AGPS receiver
• Video captured at 720×480 pixels at 20 frames per second or higher, depending on lighting conditions
• UMTS Band 1/4/8 (2100/AWS/900)
• HSDPA 7.2Mbps
• HSUPA 2Mbps
• GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
• Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n)
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• A2DP stereo Bluetooth
• Removable 1400 mAH battery
• Talk time: Up to 10 hours on 2G / Up to 7 hours on 3G
• Standby time: Up to 290 hours on 2G / Up to 250 hours on 3G
• Internet use: Up to 5 hours on 3G / Up to 6.5 hours on Wi-Fi
• Video playback: Up to 7 hours
• Audio playback: Up to 20 hours
• Qualcomm QSD 8250 1 GHz
• Android Mobile Technology Platform 2.1 (Eclair)
• 512MB Flash
• 512MB RAM
• 4GB Micro SD Card (Expandable to 32 GB)
• Assisted global positioning system (AGPS) receiver
• Cell tower and Wi-Fi positioning
• Digital compass
• Accelerometer

Posted by: Matt

[ Post Tags: Google, Nexus One, Android, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]

The original BlackBerry 9500 Storm was not the biggest seller for RIM and it got a fair bit of critism for its touch screen, so RIM have rectified the issues with the Storm and produced the Storm2.

The Blackberry 9520 Storm2

The Storm2 looks more or less the same as the original version. Its weight and metal battery cover give it a sturdy and robust feel and its 3.2 inch screen appears to be impressive to the eye.

But the question is, is it any good as a BlackBerry. BlackBerry users are normally hard core messengers and it will be interesting to see if the new and improved version can give BlackBerry users what they need from a messaging device. James, who’s a recent Blackberry convert, is putting the Storm2 to good use and will have a full review of the device for us soon. For now we’ll leave you with a brief unboxing video on tour of the handset.

BlackBerry 9520 Storm2 Specification:

• 2G Network : GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
• 3G Network: HSDPA 2100
• Dimensions: 112.5 x 62.2 x 14 mm
• Weight: 160 g
• Display: TFT capacitive touchscreen, 65K colors
• Size: 360 x 480 pixels, 3.25 inches
• Memory: Internal 2 GB
• Card slot: microSD (TransFlash) up to 16GB
• GPRS: Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 – 48 kbps
• EDGE: Class 10, 236.8 kbps
• 3G: HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA
• WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth: v2.1 with A2DP
• USB: microUSB v2.0
• Camera : Primary 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email, IM
• GPS: with A-GPS support
• Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)
• MP3/WMA/AAC+ player
• MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV player
• Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1400 mAh
• Stand-by: Up to 305 h (2G) / Up to 280 h (3G)
• Talk time: Up to 5 h (2G) / Up to 6 h (3G)

Posted by: Matt

Back at the beginning of December last year we reviewed the first of a new line of LG Chocolate phones, the LG BL40. It was a pretty unusual form-factor with a 4″ full 21:9 cinematic widescreen display and at just under 11mm thick it invited such comments as ‘It looks like a TV remote’!

LG have taken the same design ideas, such as the smooth glossy black screen and metallic red accents and have applied all of that to a slim slider-styly handset and have come up with the LG BL20 ‘New Chocolate’.

The LG BL20 New Chocolate

I think, overall, the LG BL20 and the BL40 before it, are attractive looking handsets, the red and black does work well and when the screen is off or in standby the front looks almost totally black. The BL20 isn’t touchscreen though but uses a touch sensitive area below the screen for the majority of system and menu navigation. For input there’s the sliding numeric keypad which is also a stylish red colour.

As always, I’ve taken the time to unbox and tour the handset before it gets the full review treatment. Have a look at the video below for a brief tour of the handset and the OS.

LG BL20 Specification:

• GSM Tri-band, HSDPA Dual-band
• Dimensions: 106.9 x 50.8 x 12.3 mm
• Weight: 115 g
• Display: 240 x 320 pixels, 2.4 inches, TFT, 262K colors
• Touch-sensitive hidden navigation keys
• 60MB internal memory
• microSD card slot supports up to 16GB
• Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP
• USB v2.0
• Camera: 5 MP, 2560 x 1920 pixels, Schneider-Kreuznach optics, autofocus, LED flash
• SMS, EMS, MMS, EMail, Instant Messaging
• WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML browser
• FM radio
• Java MIDP 2.0
• MP3/AAC/AAC+/WMA player
• H.264/MP4/WMV player
• Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 900 mAh
• Stand-by: Up to 450 h
• Talk time: Up to 300 min

Posted by: Matt

A few days ago we told you about the new range of Eye-fi cards that had just been announced at CES. We thought it was about time we reviewed the Eye-fi cards as they are such a cool idea!

The Eye-fi pro card

If you’ve never seen them before then concept is relatively simple. Take a normal size SD memory card, fill it with 4GB of memory and then cram in a Wi-Fi adapter that can transfer the content you just recorded over Wi-Fi straight back to your PC/MAC or auto upload to your favourite sharing site for you all without you having to think about it or even remove the card from the camera!

As the Eye-fi card is basically a standard SD/SDHC memory card size it will work with any camera or digital camcorder. As soon as you take your photos they can be automatically transferred as long as you have Wi-Fi coverage. There are plenty of other options available too but I’ll cover it all when I get to the review later this week.

As always I have recorded an unboxing video but this is just a quick one so that I can show you the package and tell you about the various options. Take a look at the video below.

Eye-fi pro Specification:

• Wi-Fi security: Static WEP 64/128, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK
• Range: 90+ feet (27.4m) outdoors and 45+ feet (13.7m) indoors
• Storage capacity: 2 GB, 4 GB or 8 GB
• Power: Powered through device.
• Card dimensions: SD standard 32mm x 24mm x 2.1mm
• Card weight: 2.835 gram (0.1oz.)
• 802.11b/g/n

Currently-supported photo/video services:

• Adobe Photoshop Express
• Costco Photo Center
• dotPhoto
• Evernote
• Facebook
• Flickr
• Fotki
• Gallery 2
• Kodak EasyShare Gallery
• MobileMe
• Phanfare
• Photobucket
• Picasa Web Albums
• RitzPix
• Sharpcast
• Shutterfly
• SmugMug
• Snapfish
• TypePad
• Vox
• Walmart
• Webshots
• Windows Live
• YouTube
• Zenfolio

Posted by: Matt

The Nokia X6 was announced a few months ago and released right at the end of 2009. We managed to get our hands on one for review just a few days ago.

The Nokia X6

To me the Nokia X6 looks kinda similar to the Nokia 5800 and I’m assuming that Nokia are going to pitch the X6 as the higher-end version/replacement for the ageing 5800. It’s good to see that Nokia have decided to go for a capacitive touchscreen, I always felt it strange that the 5800 was capacitive. The X6 does have a nice looking screen though, bright and clear but it is very shiny which leads to a bit of a glare problem in bright light conditions.

We’ll be reviewing the Nokia X6 over the next few weeks and our review will be online soon. For now though, have a look at the unboxing video below where I’ll take you around the hardware and briefly show you the user interface.

Nokia X6 Specification:

• Symbian OS v9.4, series 60
• Arm 11 434MHz CPU
• 128MB RAM
• 32GB storage
• 3.2″ capacitive touchscreen, 360×640 pixels
• GSM Quad-Band
• 3G/HSDPA Tri-Band
• FM radio with RDS
• Built in A-GPS and Nokia Maps
• WiFi 802.11b/g
• Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
• 5MP autofocus camera with dual LED flash/video light
• 3.5mm headphone/av connector
• Dimensions: 111 x 51 x 13.8mm
• Weight: 122 grams
• Stand-by: Up to 401 h (2G) / 420 h (3G)
• Talk time: Up to 8 h 30 min (2G) / 6 h (3G)
• Music play: Up to 35 h

A World Of Entertainment
Connect to the future of mobile entertainment and enjoy more of your favourite music, photos, movies, games and add-on applications.
Responsive To Your Touch
Fast and clear browsing of the web and your media with the large, full touch screen.
Connect And Share Instantly
Your social media centre in your pocket for one touch access to your closest friends. Share your media when and where you want to.

Posted by: Matt

Archos media player products have been around for years but the Archos 5 is the first model that we’ve had the opportunity to review here on tracyandmatt. There is a little confusion around the Archos 5 name and branding as there are actually two distinct models that are called Archos 5, the one we have here is the one with the proprietary Archos operating system and user interface but there is also another model which features Android OS.

The Archos 5 Internet Media Tablet

The Archos 5 is pitched as being more than just a media player, as the name suggests, the Archos 5 is also a well spec’d and featured internet tablet too. It has Opera web browser pre-installed and is Flash capable so can play back YouTube videos for example. There’s also email support with automatic setup for Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo mail but if you have any other email service this can be manually configured using POP3 or IMAP. Sadly no Exchange support though.

Media playback is what the Archos 5 excels at though, it’s play virtually any video or audio format that you care to upload to it and the 4.8″ screen displays content beautifully while the built-in 120GB hard drive (60, 150 and 250GB versions also available) ensures that you have plenty of space for your media.

On top of the basic media functionality there’s also internet radio and support for flash-based games and a number of pre-installed games.

Check out the unboxing and demo video below for a tour of the Archos 5 and I’ll have the full review for you within the next few weeks.

Posted by: Matt

We’ve looked at several phones from the Sony Ericsson Walkman range in the past and this, the W995, is pretty much the top end Walkman handset available at the moment.

The Sony Ericsson W995 Walkman phone

The W995 has some decent features such as the dedicated media controls, 3.5mm headphone connector and a decent 8.1 megapixel camera. You also get built in GPS that can be used along with the camera to geotag the images you take too. The screen slides open to reveal a decent numeric keypad and despite the sliding mechanism the handset is still relatively slim and light.

One disappointment perhaps though is that there’s only 118MB of internal memory and although there’s an M2 micro memory card socket and 8GB card supplied that’s the max memory card that this phone can take and perhaps not enough for hardcore music fans?

We’re reviewing the W995 at the moment and will have the full review online for you soon. For now check out the unboxing video below where I quickly tour the hardware too.

Sony Ericsson W995 specification:

• Dimensions (mm): 97 x 49 x 15 mm
• Weight (g): 113
• Screen Size: 2.6 inches, 240 x 320 pixels
• A-GPS chipset
• Internal(MB): 118 MB
• Memory Stick Micro (M2), 8GB card included, up to 16GB
• Battery Type: Li-Ion
• Stand-by (hrs): Up to 370 hours
• TalkTime(min): Up to 540 minutes
• 2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
• 3G Network: HSDPA 900 / 2100
• Primary camera: 8.1 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
• Accelerometer sensor

Posted by: Matt