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Ringtones, Not The "fad" People Thought By Mark Griffiths, Sat Dec 10th The latest research shows that more and more people use theirringtones as a fashion statement. Countless companies aregrowing up to cater for this need and the music industry istaking note. Read more...
Customize Your Cell Phone With Ringtones And Wallpaper By Tim Gorman, Sat Dec 10th As an important part of your daily life, your cell phone shouldreflect your personality. At one time, the only way topersonalize your phone was to get one in your favorite color.Today, great Read more...
Mobile Wallpaper - Totally You By Philip Nicosia, Sat Dec 10th One of the really awesome things about modern cell phones is thecapacity they have for being personalized to suit you. Withpersonalized ringtones, with coloured or designed or sparkly orlight-up Read more...
Ringtones, Not The "fad" People Thought By Mark Griffiths, Sat Dec 10th The latest research shows that more and more people use theirringtones as a fashion statement. Countless companies aregrowing up to cater for this need and the music industry istaking note. Read more...
Thais take incoming ringtones
for granted. I don't even think that service is available in the
States. With this feature enabled, callers don't hear a pulsing tone that vaguely approximates the sound of a rapidly-hammered bell. They
hear your favorite song or comedian, you making obscene noises, a barking dog... whatever. The
service has been available in Thailand for about 5 years, and those who
don't use it are widely considered to be out of touch. Even my mother-in-law,
who doesn't know how to send email, has an incoming ringtone.
Mobile phones are an important part of culture and fashion in Thailand, and if
your phone is outdated, then so are you. I'm talking mainstream media culture here. The Thai people live as varied and disparate lives as citizens of any country. But 8 MP camera phones have been
on the market for some time, and strange multi-function gadgets are the
norm. It's not a crazy as in Japan, where so many new devices have 1 or
even 2 telescoping antennae for receiving live television and radio broadcasts, but
dual-SIM and dual-cam support is expected for high-end devices. Video calls are commonplace.
My wife scoffed when she asked me to recommend a spring-loaded switchblade-type flip
that bursts open with the touch of a button and I couldn't think of
one. (Seriously, comment if you know a model, especially unlocked GSM
or T-Mo. She's getting a phone for Christmas.) I recently told her we need a video camera, and she kind of
giggled before musing about how ridiculous it is that I have this hot new phone
and it can't even capture video. After a brief pout and period of denial, I had to agree. It is ridiculous. Why is America at the
tail end of so much cell tech?
Don't get me wrong, Thailand, Japan, and virtually every other
developed country on the planet has an iClone or three. Blackberry (Canadian) and WinMo knock-offs are a dime a dozen. North American innovation is embraced and imitated in most modern markets. But many of the homegrown contraptions and trends that make so much quirky sense overseas simply don't emerge over here. Then again, we miss out on some comically kooky
bad ideas. And, it's easier to put capital into hardware doohickeys where the use of cracked, unauthorized operating systems by low-profile OEMs is rampant.
It is a different market, and you have to take into account the cost of
living, average wage, unemployment, etc. Even so, check out some of the
standard options and prices in Thailand, keeping in mind that there are currently about 35
Baht to each US Dollar. An average monthly cell plan is 5 Baht a month.
With my mother-in-law's phone card, international calls cost 3 Baht to
connect and 1 Baht per minute. Incoming calls don't count against
minute usage on any cell plan.
With a PCT Homebase plan, 1 account is shared by several phones, and callers are
asked to select their intended contact from a menu. Calls from a
PCT phone are 3 Baht per, with no minutes counted, and no
international fees.
Granted, international travel is far more common for Southeast Asians and Europeans than it is for Americans. While we spend our family Summer vacations at Disneyland or the
grandparents' house 1000 miles away, a Thai may go
to China, and a Briton may go to Germany. So it's not surprising that
International calling should be cheaper for those who live in smaller
countries (Or that fuel is often so much more expensive).
It's time to look at some phones. As tempting as it is to start an image dump here, I'll just give some links to interesting models and you can take it from there. There's a sexy slider, the oddly-configured cam phone, a chunky-clunky smart phone, and one I call the lunch box.
Some of the phones on those sites are not exclusive to Thailand. I guess I can't give you guys an accurate picture until I go there myself, and visit the shopping mall of cell phones; Maa-buhn-krong in Bangkok. I plan to hit it next Summer. And I hope to have some sort of video-capturing device by then...
]]> Enjoy phonedogTV from your Facebook profile Check it out. You can add the phonedogTV Facebook application to your FB profile. Have it always at the ready under the boxes tab, or post and share it on your wall. Live broadcasts will prompt you to join, and when there isn't a live session you can watch the archives. A condensed chat room is included. If you prefer having one side of the screen dedicated to video and the other to chat, you can always interact at the phonedogTV page of our website.
Clicking the "Share this App" button at Facebook takes you to the "share with friends" page. If you skip that, and then click the orange "Get and Share" button, the app will provide you with shortcuts for posting to a bunch of social networking sites. You'll also see the embed code for the webmasters and bloggers out there.
Take care, folks. And don't forget to catch Noah and other phonedogs live, about an hour from the time I post this. That's 7 p.m. Eastern, 6 Central, 5 Mountain, and 4 Pacific. GadgetDog Daily starts 4 hours earlier, Mon-Fri.
According to GeekSugar, Obama's beloved Curve won't be going to the White House, as security concerns regarding e-mail will likely keep the handheld at bay. Maybe it's not such a bad idea, considering the fiasco that ensued when someone broke into Sarah Palin's email account a few months ago. And she was just a VP candidate, not the leader-elect of the free world.
For El Jefe, there's the Presidential Records Act, says The New York TImes, which makes his correspondence part of the official record. (Yikes! Imagine your emails being put up for public review. Future generations would know the dopiness that is you from reading about last week's party, when you got tipsy and kept calling everyone Fred.) President Bush, prior to his inauguration, sent a mass email to 42 friends, ostensibly to say goodbye to his emailing ways, the NYT reports.
Dealing with the presidential email situation certainly would've been simpler if the election had gone the other way. After all, McCain didn't even seem to know what email is. In contrast, Obama wants to be the first commander-in-chief with a laptop in the Oval Office. Politics aside, it would be cool to have a really tech-savvy president.
What appears to be the way of the future for the keypad on your touchscreen, LG Incite users will find a full QWERTY keyboard in landscape mode, and a 20-key keyboard in portrait. With a customizable equalizer you can listen to all of your favorite music with streaming radio from XM Satellite or Pandora.
Available today from AT&T for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate via AT&T promotion card, the Incite should impress those looking to do it all!
The grapevine?which includes TechCrunch and PC World?was buzzing about Apple's dissatisfaction with the user experience of Google's search engine, which was integrated directly into the Safari browser and iPhone. It made a lot of sense to pundits at first, since the almighty fruit-monikered company has plenty of people using its Mobile Me service and access to lots of search-related stats. Monetizing that would seem like a no-brainer. And let's not forget that Google's applications for office-related tasks have a nearly Apple-like design sensibility. We haven't even talked about the iPhone-hunting Android phone yet.
But if Apple was interested in branching out that way, the company would've been looking to hire new search experts and engineers, and it hasn't been. At best, the company might be considering its own user-friendly overlay to run on top of the Google engine, but even that is far from confirmed.
In the meantime, Google debuted a new iPhone app that allows people to use voice recognition for search queries. Was this a bid to appease the computer company or simply a coincidence? The new app, which was slated for release over the weekend, has yet to show up in the App store.
Whatever the drama might be behind the scenes, what is certain for now is that Google remains the big kahuna in search, if not apps.
The rumor mill, undaunted, still produces "what if" scenarios. I suppose the prospect of anyone trying to take on Google is exciting, and the possibility that it could've been Apple was just way too juicy to give up.
Fear not, iFans. If the enormous success of Mac desktops, laptops, MP3 players and cell phones aren't enough to keep you going, and the search rumor gets killed for good, then I'm sure it won't be long before someone thinks up another dream product. So what's next? Cameras? Sportswear? Automobiles? Who's on board for the first-ever Apple hybrid car? In a choice of white, black, or perhaps special-edition green, of course. ]]> Verizon and Photobucket offer easy mobile pic sharing
Although Photobucket has had an iPhone application for a while, Verizon is the first US carrier to provide the Photobucket Mobile Uploader. The program will be included with some forthcoming devices, and can be installed on other Verizon phones by texting "photob" (without quotes) to 2777. It can also be downloaded from Photobucket. Or, if you have Get-it-Now access on your Verizon phone, look in the Community and Sharing section of the catalog.
Once the app is installed, link it with your Photobucket account. If you don't have an account, register, and enter your user info in the phone application. The Photobucket Mobile Uploader will automatically send all of the existing photos on your phone to Photobucket, and each new photo you take after that will be uploaded to the site immediately.
The monthly service fee is $2.99, and allows *unlimited* photo uploads. ]]> Google launches voice search for iPhone Google is launching a new voice-recognition search app for the iPhone. The program, which can look up contacts as well as transmit spoken queries to the search engine, has yet to show up in the App store, but should be available at any time now through iTunes.
So far, the only way to search Google has been through the built-in Safari browser, so this a welcome change. Using the built-in accelerometer and sensors, the app will even know when you're lifting the phone up to your face, which launches the voice recognition software. The queries are then sent to the search engine, which analyzes them and returns results back to the phone in seconds.
What's interesting here is that it's being launched on the iPhone -- not Android. (Are they doing this to work out the kinks before they unveil it for their own platform?)
Speaking of kinks, I'm expecting this to be a little buggy at first. Voice-recognition apps like Jott for iPhone and Reqall are some of the best, and even they are a little hit or miss. But if the ubiquitous search giant can nail accuracy rates at even 50 or 60 percent, I'd still be glad to have the option. If it becomes even more accurate than that, I may give up Google SMS for good. New Yorkers are infamous for schlepping tons of stuff around with them, and speaking into a phone is soooo much easier than dropping all your stuff to touch type into a phone.
Take a look at the NYT coverage here.]]> Mini-Review: Motorola Krave (ZN4) - Verizon Pros: V CAST, crisp widescreen, 3G, VZ Navigator, visual voice mail, neat touch-flip form factor. Cons: touch screen and flip are unpredictable at best, it feels strange against the cheek.
The Motorola Krave ZN4 is the first of it's kind in the US; it's got a 2.8" touch screen with a clear flip that is also touch-sensitive. Users across the pond have seen this idea expressed in the Ming, and the touch-flip novelty is a key selling point for this beautifully-designed device in The States.
The Krave is great with V CAST media, although you can't play music in the background. The widescreen is sharp and the audio quality is does not disappoint. Call quality is also good. 2 MP pictures look decent, and the video capture works fine.
Unfortunately, I found both the screen and the flip difficult to achieve touch accuracy with. This really kills a lot of the phone's potential. It's nearly impossible to scroll without selecting something. The landscape QWERTY that I look for in every phone is nicely implemented, but the less-than-stellar touchscreen left me frustrated. And, as Noah pointed out, the flip gets in the way when typing.
My wife has an unhealthy obsession with Bejeweled. She could hardly contain herself when she found out I was holding a phone with her long-lost game installed. She played for about 3 minutes before giving up, thanks to unpredictable touch response. Without me saying anything to her about the screen, she came to the same conclusion I did: you have to touch somewhere above and to the right of the spot you actually want to hit. Maybe we got a defective sampler, but I'm seeing similar complaints online. I've dialed *288 for device reprogramming, tried the 5-minute battery reset, and diligently searched for some means of calibrating the screen. Alas, the problem continues without apparent solution.
This phone has many traits worthy of praise, but at the current price, I can't get past its flaws. If the Krave were $49.99 with a contract, I'd say go for it. That's the league this phone is in. At that price, I'd be raving about the excellent graphic quality of the screen. However, Verizon wants $179.99 with a two-year agreement. What Verizon customer would pass up the opportunity to own a BlackBerry Storm for just $20 more? This thing costs more than an LG Dare, which has a vastly superior touch screen and camera. Non-Verizon customers have a slew of great options in this range. As far as I'm concerned, this phone has been priced out of the market.
Verdict: Thumbs down.]]> Mini-Review: Pantech Slate - AT&T Pros: Low cost, super thin, Very good QWERTY board, Mobile Email and IM apps presinstalled Cons: No 3G, WAP-only Web browser, low-res display, no music player, No GMail support
Pantech's Slate for AT&T is like a BlackBerry junior. You won't get 3G speeds, a media player, or a full HTML Web browser on Slate, but you will get mobile Email access backed by a great QWERTY thumbboard. If that's what you want - a device that makes calls and lets you access your Email on the go - Slate should make you happy. So long as you're not a GMail subscriber, that is.
Slate is all about managed expectations. Don't expect to get beyond WAP-formatted sites out to the Web at large with Slate, and don't expect to rock out to your favorite music or watch videos on the device's low-resolution display. Slate's camera is okay for taking caller ID photos, but if you use it a lot you'll probably be disappointed by its image quality.
Slate is made for calling and messaging. Everything else here is more or less an afterthought. Keep that in mind, and there's no reason not to like this phone. Slate is ultra-thin, fairly stylish, and super low-cost. More importantly, its QWERTY board is very comfortable to use, and while AT&T's mobile Email app won't play nice with GMail, it does a pretty good job of keeping you connected on the go.
Verdict: Thumbs Up (if you keep its limitations in mind) ]]> Mini-Review: Samsung Epix - AT&T Pros: Killer combination of touch screen, optical mouse, and QWERTY board; Improved battery life vs Blackjack II; Lightweight; 3G and WiFi Cons: Windows Mobile is Windows Mobile; Thicker than Blackjack; Proprietary headphone jack
I'm gonna catch heat from HTC fans for this, I know, but Samsung's Epix is the best Windows Mobile Professional device currently available on a US Carrier - particularly so if your main interest is in getting things done. A lot of this assessment hinges on the fact that I personally LOVE Epix' optical mouse. You might not, and that's fine. But for me the optical mouse makes clicking on tiny little Web links and buttons much easier than mashing repeatedly on the touchscreen with a thumbnail or (heaven forbid) reaching for the stylus.
Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro is kind of a pain in the neck, and it definitely caused me some frustrations during testing, but my Epix loaner didn't crash or even really choke on the OS like its predecessors (Blackjack and BJ II) did when I checked them out long ago. Epix doesn't feature a fancy UI like HTC's TouchFlo 3D or even Sammy's own TouchWiz, but Samsung did some subtle dressing up to the WM interfaces in certain areas like the camera app.
You might bemoan Samsung's move from the ultra-slim Blackjack to the relatively chubby Epix, but Epix' light weight, solid battery life, and usability innovations offset the extra thickness in my book. The touchscreen is good, the optical mouse is great, and the QWERTY board is solid (if not quite on par with the best that RIM and HTC have to offer). Throw in AT&T's 3G network, a WiFi radio, and a bunch of multimedia add-ons and you've got yourself a spot-on Windows Mobile workhorse. Just make sure you ditch Internet Explorer in favor of Opera Mobile or Skyfire.
Verdict: Big Thumbs Up]]> Mini-Review: HTC Touch Pro - Sprint Pros: Brilliant VGA touchscreen; TouchFlo 3D UI; Full QWERTY board with good response; 3G and WiFi; Opera Mobile 9.5 Web browser Cons: Very thick and bulky; Single mini-USB port for charging and headphones; I still don't like Windows Mobile
Sprint's Touch Pro is a little longer and wider, but also a little bit thinner than AT&T's version ("Fuze"). Sprint also eschew's the original Touch Pro's all black & faceted back design for a silver on grey color scheme and a rounded back panel.
Otherwise, it's Touch Pro in all of its WinMo 6.1 Pro, TouchFlo 3D, VGA touchscreen and slide-out QWERTY board glory. The phone tends to run a bit hot to the touch under heavy stress, and nobody would ever call it "thin," but it's a total beast that Sprint spiced up with their own mobile TV and Music Store offerings.
In my own side-by-side tests at the PhoneDog West offices, Sprint's Touch Pro grabbed data slightly faster than AT&T's Fuze, as well. So if you're planning on a lot of 3G Web surfing in the Berkeley, CA area, you might look to Sprint before AT&T for your Touch Pro fix.
Verdict: Thumbs Up]]> Samsung Eternity a867 (AT&T) - Hands-On ]]> Samsung Eternity from AT&T asked for it, and here it is; a new 3G touchscreen for AT&T. The Eternity features Samsung's TouchWiz UI, a full software landscape QWERTY, accelerometers that facilitate automatic screen rotation, and a big, beautiful 3.2" touch screen with haptic feedback. It gives you one-touch access to AT&T Mobile TV, which you can now check out for 30 days on a free trial (new Mobile TV customers only). Here's a cool new feature: scroll through your photos by tilting your phone. Nice.
The Eternity is $149.99 after rebate and contract, and can be found online or in AT&T stores today.
]]> Two new Samsungs from Verizon chatroom asked if Verizon would have any new phones before Christmas. Here you go.
The Saga is a smartphone with a touch screen and full hardware QWERTY, and the Renown is a media messaging flip with V CAST and global mode. The Saga is available today for business customers, online, and by phone @ 1-800-2-JOIN-IN (800-256-4646). The Renown will be available through the same channels on November 19th. Both will be in Verizon stores on the 1st of December.
The touch screen of the SCH-i770, or Saga, is a 2.55" 65k TFT LCD at 320 X320 pixels, and it sits above a full QWERTY. The phone features Quad Band GSM/GPRS, Wi-Fi, stereo bluetooth, 2 MP cam, and up to 16 GB of microSD storage. It's preloaded with Windows mobile 6.1 Professional, including the Microsoft Office Mobile Suite, Active Sync, and the Mobile Device Center for Vista.
The SCH-u810, or Renown, can send video, picture, text, and IM messages. It has a 2 MP cam with NightShot and video capture. And it works with V Cast, so you can watch videos and grab songs over the air, which are also available for download to your computer without any DRM. The Renown has stereo bluetooth, and accepts up to 8 Gigs on microSD.
If you believe the rumor, the next Android phone released on a US
carrier will be made by HTC and released by T-Mobile during the first
half of 2009. The device is code-named "Sapphire" and is more or less
similar in look and feel to the current HTC Touch HD (hence my earlier
post about the Touch HD actually being the "G2"). Sapphire features a
3"-plus touchscreen, a G1-esque trackball, 3G connectivity, a 5MP
camera, and myFaves support. No word yet on Wi-Fi or UMA
(HotSpot@Home) connectivity.
Like I said, this is just a rumor right now, so take it for
entertainment purposes only. Except, you know, when it comes true.
Then you can tell everyone you heard it here first. Well, except that
I think TmoNews already ran it ;-)
No, you won't be able to use this plan to pay for your service (or
late fees) on an interest-free, pay-over-time basis. But yes, the plan
will extend to current customers looking to upgrade their 5300 to a G1,
and not be limited to new subscribers. If, that is, TmoNews knows what
they're talking about. Which they often seem to.
Get yerself some more details on the T-Mo installment plan over at TmoNews.com.
Before long, I am full-on window-shopping. Thoughts like "Oooh, this is sexy," or "OMG! It has HOW MANY megapixels?" start flooding my mind. I rush to check my contract to see when I can upgrade (or jump ship)?like a kid chucking a once-beloved toy when a brand-spanking new Wii shows up at a friend's house. Sadly, my bank account doesn't always support this cause. (Even less so now.) And I am far from alone.
The ripple effects of the depressed economy are far-reaching, not just in the U.S., but abroad as well, and the worldwide cellular industry hasn't been spared. Experts predict that the global mobile phone market will suffer next year, resulting in the biggest slump since its 2001 crash.
According to Reuters, the outlook was a little rosier a few months ago, when only one out of 23 analysts believed that sales growth would dip in 2009. Now eight out of 22 analysts are projecting a slowdown. (They're pegging growth at three percent in Q4 and 2009, which is radically different from the usual 10 percent or more per year.) Although this is better than no increase at all, and way better than a complete drop, manufacturers and distributors have been prepping for the downturn by avoiding a build-up of large inventory.
What does this mean for you and me, as cell phone enthusiasts and end users? Well, there will likely be a big push during the holidays, so if getting a hot new gadget is important to you, keep your eyes peeled starting around Thanksgiving. If price is an issue, look for spectacular deals that will extend at least into the first quarter of next year, and probably beyond, as companies look to unload any remaining overstock.
Will R&D take a hit? Maybe. Then again, if brands become desperate for huge out-of-the-box-hits, we might see some big investments in technology to help boost sales. So there's no reason yet to believe that fewer hot products will be unveiled next year. But only time will tell, so buckle your seatbelts.
And most importantly (here's the shameless plug), stay connected with PhoneDog.com. Noah, John, Ryan, Courtney, Joni, Rebecca, Tom, Andre and I will give you the scoop on which phones are worthy, how to get more play from the ones you've got, industry news, apps, launches and all the best deals as they hit the scene. We've also got revamped forums, the all-new PhoneDog TV and?if you want to win a cool, FREE phone?the One Paw Bandit instant win game.
If only I could take Greyhound's new NeOn bus service there. Rates start at just ONE DOLLAR (if you buy in advance), and for your money, you get onboard wifi and a plug-in port to keep your phone or other gadgets charged. You get other non cell-related goodies too, like videos and extra legroom, but the prospect of being able to play Aurora Feint for hours without draining my battery dry is motivation enough for me. (Last time, I almost didn't have enough juice left to call my folks for a pick-up.)
While it doesn't exactly have a cell tower embedded on the roof for a stable phone connection, the other features would've been plenty to keep me in good spirits during the trip. But alas, NeOn only travels from New York to Toronto and points in between, at least for now. I hope they'll expand service at some point. In the mean time, I'll have to resort to extreme measures -- like bringing a book or something.
]]> Mini-Review: BlackBerry Bold 9000 - AT&T Pros: Vivid, rich display; Very good QWERTY board; 3G and WiFi; Upgraded OS and HTML browser; Legendary BlackBerry push email Cons: Browser not as good as Opera, Android, or Mobile Safari; Device crashed hard on me twice during testing; Phone is big
Bold has basically lived up to the "Best BlackBerry Ever!" hype that preceded it, if you ask me. Featuring a super-sharp HVGA display, the upgraded BlackBerry OS, and a solid but lightweight design, the first 3G BlackBerry has seriously got me considering a switch from my trusty iPhone.
While Bold's footprint is large, the device's light weight and relatively slim profile make it easy to hold and pocket. The redesigned QWERTY board isn't quite as roomy as those found on the various incarnations of the Curve, but it's still a pleasure to thumb type on. RIM also loaded the new BlackBerry OS onto Bold, and the included Precision themes give Bold's user interface a decidedly 21st century look and feel - though those familiar low-on-style BlackBerry menus still lurk under the surface.
Bold's Web browser is a big step forward from previous BB offerings, and while it's noticeably slower to render pages than an iPhone also running on AT&T's 3G network (it seems to get bogged down by JavaScripts), it's still great to be able to view true HTML pages on a BlackBerry. Throw a solid media player and BlackBerry's tried and true push email system into the big and you've got one of the best smartphones on the market in the Bold.
Verdict: Big Thumbs Up]]> Mini-Review: Samsung Behold (T919) - T-Mobile Pros: Crisp touchscreen, 5MP camera, 3G connectivity, Great form factor, TouchWiz UI Cons: Lousy reception and voice quality, disappointing Web browser, wonky virtual QWERTY board
I had high hopes for Behold, Samsung's first TouchWiz phone for T-Mobile. Leaked photos of the device looked great, the combination of 3G data and a 5MP camera sounded great, and T-Mobile got me all fired up with their claims of "real HTML Web browsing" on the device. But using Behold has left me cold.
Behold's form factor is great. Smaller than an iPhone, Behold fits nicely into the hand and feels classy and solid but still very light and pocketable. The touchscreen display is bright and clear and generally works well (though it can be a bit hard to control during vertical scrolling, in particular), and Samsung's TouchWiz UI brings some useful customization and shortcut options to the home screen in the form of widgets than can be dragged between a sidebar and the main screen as you wish. There aren't a ton of widgets available just yet, but that should change as Sammy deploys TouchWiz devices across different carriers in the coming months.
Behold's 5MP camera also worked quite well. The combination of auto-focus, flash, and myriad picture-taking options yielded pretty good images, though I'm far from a skilled photographer. The phone also captures video at up to 320 x 240 resolution, and looks like a very sleek digital camera when viewed from the backside.
With all of that going for it, how could Behold have left me cold, you ask? The actual phone performance was terrible. Behold missed and dropped calls where other T-Mobile devices had no such problems, and when I was able to connect with the other caller, voice quality was poor at best and flat-out terrible at worst. Seriously, either I got a lemon or Behold's got some serious issues when it comes to good-ol' voice calling.
Behold's "real HTML Web browser" was also a huge disappointment. I don't know who at T-Mobile decided that this is what HTML looks like, but they're trying to pull a fast one on consumers if you ask me. T-Mo knows what HTML browsing looks like - they just released the G1, which ships with an excellent browser. Behold, on the other hand, is basically a next-gen WAP browser; it does fine with mobile-formatted sites but more often than not choked when attempting to re-format standard HTML pages into its one-column view. Had T-Mo touted Behold as having an improved WAP browser I'd be singing a different tune, but they claimed HTML here and I came away disappointed.
Verdict: Thumbs Down]]> Mini-Review: HTC Fuze - AT&T Pros: Brilliant VGA touchscreen; TouchFlo 3D UI; Full QWERTY board with good response; 3G and WiFi; Opera Mobile 9.5 Web browser Cons: Very thick and bulky; Single mini-USB port for charging and headphones; I still don't like Windows Mobile
The HTC Fuze is AT&T's variant of the Touch Pro, a Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional smartphone with a slide-out QWERTY board. Like the Touch Diamond (essentially the same device minus the QWERTY), Fuze features a 2.8" touchscreen with full VGA resolution, HTC's TouchFlo 3D user interface, and the potent combination of the Opera Mobile 9.5 Web browser backed by 3G and WiFi data connectivity.
Fuze's display is friendly to both stylus and fingertip, and HTC's done a bang-up job with the TouchFlo 3D user interface, which is far prettier to look at and easier to use than the WinMo 6.1 OS it masks. You can't use TouchFlo for everything, but you can use it for quick access to missed call, weather and messaging status, music player and photo browser, and a customizable application launcher. And while I'll continue to complain about the clunkiness of Windows Mobile, it does offer access to thousands of user-installable applications.
HTC also pre-installed Opera Mobile 9.5 on Fuze, and it's one of the best mobile Web browsers on the market today. While the 2.8" VGA resolution display means you have to do a fair amount of panning and zooming in order to surf the Web, Opera Mobile runs brilliantly on Fuze's hardware, and said panning and zooming is generally quite smooth and easy to deal with. AT&T throws their own Push To Talk, MobiTV, Navigator (location based services), and streaming audio/video into the mix here, as well.
While Sprint gave their version of Touch Pro a cosmetic makeover, AT&T left the Fuze in line with the original, retaining HTC's all-black design and "faceted" battery cover. Fuze is a thick, bulky device, and I wish it had a standard headphone jack instead of HTC's mini-USB based accessory port, but if you don't mind these industrial design choices, it's also one of the best Windows Mobile phones currently available.
Verdict: Thumbs Up]]> AP and Virgin Mobile launch celeb and wacky news sites Virgin Mobile USA customer, you're in luck: The Associated Press has teamed up with the carrier to satisfy even the deepest craving for Lindsay Lohan updates (which, strangely enough, often qualify for both the celebrity and wacky news genres).
The pair have launched two new youth-oriented sites that are directly accessible on Virgin Mobile handsets. Customers can get AP Entertainment's breaking coverage of film, TV and music news, plus celebrity gossip and photos, or read bizarre news stories from around the world through CUBI (Can You Believe It?). Both AP Entertainment and CUBI are ad-supported and accessible on the VirginXL deck.
Why is a venerable news organization like the AP dishing dirt for Virgin's young mobile audience? It hopes that the new sites will lead readers to its Mobile News Network. Although this mobile resource for international, national and local news received more than 26 million page views in September, it appears to be gunning for more.
]]> BlackBerry Storm available 11/21 from Verizon RIM's 9530, the first touchscreen BlackBerry, which features what Verizon calls the "first 'clickable' touch screen," will be available in Verizon stores and on their website in 8 days.
This 3G bad boy is $199.99 after a $50 rebate with a new 2-year contract.
It's got a 3.25" LCD HVGA display at 480 X 360 pixels, 3.2 MP cam w/ video, standard headphone jack, VZ Navigator, and an 8GB MicroSD card. It can easily be used as a cellular modem, is ready for global travel, and comes jam-packed with software; productivity tools, social stuff, full HTML browser... it looks good to me. And the SurePress landscape QWERTY is inviting.
Be sure to check out the 360-degree tour link on this page.
