Nokia N97 mini, No Small Affair

Nokia N97 mini is the successor of the popular N97. Why the Finns pulled a successor out of the hat so quickly? There is little official explanation, but the main reason is the size of the phone. N97 mini is smaller, making it more attractive for those who have a soft spot for midgets. The second reason seems to be the software. N97 mini has an improved software version, fixing many bugs existing in N97.

Whatever the reasons, N97 mini has already become popular and is one of the logical choices when someone wants a powerful smartphone that fits into any pocket, and I mean the price tag too.

Key features

• Slide-n-tilt 3.2" 16M-color resistive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution

• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash and VGA@30fps video recording

• Symbian OS 9.4 with S60 5th edition UI with kinetic scrolling

• Slide-out three-row full QWERTY keyboard

• ARM 11 434MHz CPU and 128 MB of RAM

• Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G with 3.6Mbps HSDPA support

• Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS

• Digital compass

• 8GB onboard storage

• micro SD card slot with microSDHC support

• Built-in accelerometer

• 3.5 mm audio jack and TV-out

• Stereo FM Radio with RDS

• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.0

• Web browser has full Flash and Java support

• Nice audio reproduction quality

• Office document viewer

Full specs here.

 The retail package is as standard as it gets, you will find a charger, a data cable and the hands free headset.

In terms of size, yes, it does matter; the midget version now has only 113 mm in length, 52.5 mm wide and 14.2 mm thickness. The weight of 138g is another improvement over the original N97, which weigh the hefty 150g. The phone is available in Cherry Black, Garnet and White.

The phone has a full plastic casing except for the metallic battery cover, on the sides it features a micro USB port and stereo speakers, also a 3.5 mm audio jack.

On the back panel, N97 mini has a 5 megapixels camera and a flash with two LEDs.  The camera lens has no protection from scratches. Under the back cover is a Li-Ion battery of  1200 mAh. According to the manufacturer, the battery should provide a range of up to 320 hours on standby and 7 hours talk time in 2G and 310 hours of standby and 6 hours talk time on 3G. Under the battery there is also a micro SD memory card slot.

In terms of design, the phone looks almost the same as its big brother. The build quality of the Nokia N97 mini is really satisfactory. With the addition of some metallic elements it is now even nicer to touch than the original N97.

Like its big brother, the Nokia N97 mini runs  Symbian S60 5th Edition. Navigating the menu is faster and slightly more fluid than N97 because of a newer software version. The ARM 11 434 MHz processor does its job well, everything runs smooth and fast.

The task manager  is launched when you hold down the menu button. The interface is similar to the Symbian S60 3rd Edition phones.

When you slide the Nokia N97 mini open, the three-row QWERTY keyboard pops up in front of your face. The keys are a bit smaller than on the original N97 but they are still large enough and will enough spacing to be comfortable even for larger-handed users.

The touch screen is 3.2 inch, 0.3 inch less than the N97. It is capable of displaying a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels and 16 million colors. Image quality is the same as N97’s, the same contrast and excellent brightness level. The resistive touch screen gives you a firm response to the slightest touch . Readability in direct sunlight is excellent.

Telephony is great,  there are no problems with the signal reception or sound clarity.

The phonebook is the same as in any other Symbian smartphone.  The storage capacity is unlimited. On each contact you can add an unlimited number of additional information, such as a secondary phone number, email address, date of birth, fax number and more. Nokia N97 mini supports all common message types - SMS, MMS and email.

The music player is similar to the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. It has only a few changes in appearance and is slightly better optimized for touch. Songs can be sorted by artist, album, genre and composer.  The player can also be minimized to play in the background. In this case a tab appears on the stand-by screen indicating the currently running track. With the huge number of supported formats you will hardly ever come across an audio file that the phone won't handle. Audio quality is exceptional.    There is no distortion at high volume. Music sounds good even on the standard headphones, but an upgrade will rock your world.

The video player does not support DivX / Xvid. Watching a video on the Nokia N97 mini is generally a pleasure due to its big screen. The Nokia PC suite has a built-in application that automatically converts all kinds of video files to the format and resolution your phone supports.

If you get bored of your own music you can open the FM radio app. It has RDS and knows how to automatically save stations in your area. It can also run in the background, just like the music player.

The camera has 5 megapixels and takes pictures at a maximum resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels. It has autofocus and Carl Zeiss optics. Dual flash LED technology helps to capture photos in low light. The interface is similar to that found on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. It offers a wide range of contrast settings, white balance, ISO sensitivity and other common settings. The picture quality is decent, and the colors are vivid. It can successfully replace a compact camera if you are not very picky. Video recording is good, at VGA resolution (640 x 480 pixels) at 30 fps.

Nokia N97 mini is still a smartphone with complete connectivity. You can stay connected to the Internet, whether you are in an area Wi-Fi or HSDPA (up to 3.6Mbps). Both USB and Bluetooth are version 2.0 and the latter naturally also sports A2DP. Wi-Fi with UPnP support is also at hand. Finally, the Nokia N97 mini has a memory card slot, which can usually give you the fastest data transfer rates and can take up to 16GB cards.

The web browser is excellent.  Pages load quickly, are displayed correctly, and the information can be read easily, even without zooming the page. If the writing is very small, you can quickly zoom by double clicking with your finger in the area you want to magnify. Flash and Javascript run smoothly.

N97 mini has QuickOffice preinstalled, you can read Word, Excel, PowerPoint or PDF files. 

The GPS receiver is present and the default navigation application is Ovi Maps 3.0. The large screen is suitable for GPS navigation. Unfortunately, you have only ten days free of charge for voice guided navi. 

Nokia N97 mini is a powerful smartphone, a versatile tool for every imaginable task,  the build quality and materials are on an exacting high level, it’s suitable either for a multimedia enthusiast or as a business tool with high end connectivity and excellent internet features.

 You can have your own Mini on a monthly contract deal here.

continue reading "Nokia N97 mini, No Small Affair"

Blackberry Curve 9300, Ahead of the Curve

The Blackberry Curve 3G 9300 is a pretty nice phone, but, for those of you who were expecting a whole bunch of new features, tough luck. It's very similar to its predecesors, but that's not a bad thing, if you follow my humble opinion.

Though it's not something you haven't seen before, you just have to appreciate its slim, old-schoolish look. The 2.46'' TFT display is hosted, among the very practical QWERTY keyboard (that proves to be your best friend when texting) by a chic case, with the back made out of texturized rubber. This minor change is kind of useful, if you think of it, your phone isn't going to walk away from you after putting it on a smooth surface and it will "stick" better on your fingers.

Features of the BlackBerry Curve 3G include:

2 megapixel camera with video recording

LCD display: 320 x 240 pixels, 65,000 colours, 2.44 inches

Media player (Supports MP3, WMA, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, MPEG4, WMV9 formats)

Messaging: email and text messaging, BlackBerry® Messenger

Built-in speakerphone

Hands-free headset capable

MP3 ringtones / 32 voice polyphonic ringtones / Vibration alert / LED indicator

GPS with BlackBerry Maps

Personal organiser functions

Internet: Web browser

Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, USB, RIM wireless modem, 3.5mm stereo headset port

Memory: 256 MByte flash memory plus microSD memory card slot

Size: 109 x 60 x 14 mm

Weight: 104g

Quadband GSM (1900/1800/900/850 MHz) plus UMTS (2100/1900/850/800 MHz)

Battery: 1150mAHr removable/rechargeable lithium-ion cell

Talktime: 5.5 hours

Battery standby: up to 450 hours

Another change is that, unlike its predecessor, the Curve 9300 comes with support for 3G, GPS and WiFi. You also might like the trackpad replacing the rollerball.  

On its left side, you'll find the microUSB port and near it, the 3.5mm headphone jack, which allows you to use whatever headset you desire. 

On the top are the dedicated media controls (play/pause, skip), so you'll also be the owner of a brand new media player.

When making a call, you'll be easily impressed by the sound quality, as the voices are audible and crystal clear for both sides.

When it comes to browsing, you won't be very pleased. Opening web pages is kind of slow and you'll have to abuse the zoom function if you want to read any text or view small images. The optical track-pad will be very helpful when moving the cursor around the web page, but it can also become annoying and over-responsive when trying to select a link.

Unfortunately, if you're into taking photographs at all sorths off stuff, like sunsets, flowers, babies, cats and all, you won't like the camera either. I sure know I didn't. It's very weak, having only 2 megapixels and lacking flash and autofocus. Oh well.

The video camera doesn't offer much, the colours are slightly changed while filming and you don't have the "zoom" option. What a shame. If it makes you feel better, the phone lets you pause your recording and continue it when you feel like it. Cute or what ?

When it comes to media, the phone is pretty average. You have the possibility to build your own playlists, shuffle or see track and album information. The sound quality is good, but could have been better. 

You won't find any FM radio support. 

The supported audio files are MP3, AMR-NB, AAC-LC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, Flac, Ogg Vorbis, and the video ones: MPEG4, H.263, H.264 and WMV9.

The video player is quite satisfying, you can visit YouTube without problems and enjoy watching whatever you want. Too bad it has only a 320x240 pixel screen.

If you're the phone-abusing type, you'll like this smartphone, because this baby will last aproximately two full days even if you're going to take photos, make calls, web-browse etc.

When in areas with good reception, the 3G is going to be very nice to you, but if the signal drops, no more Mr. Nice Guy. You may then trust WiFi, which is way friendlier and faster. The Bluetooth connection is also okay by me. 

The application store lacks variety, if you have my standards. The apps in Blackberry's App World are kind of expensive compared to the Android Market, for example, and a lot of them are useless.

For office-apps, it has WordToGo for reading and editind word processed documents, SheetToGo for spreadsheets and SlideToGo for slideshows.

In conclusion, the Blackberry Curve 3G is an average smartphone, made for average needs and is happily available for an also average price.

You can have one on a monthly contract deal here.

continue reading "Blackberry Curve 9300, Ahead of the Curve"

LG Pop GD510, People of the Sun

 LG GD510 Pop is something really new in the world of smartphones. The back cover houses a solar panel, so you will never run out of battery, wherever you are. At least, in theory, and Sunlight is a must to prove the theory.
 LG Pop is an eco friendly device for those who want to save the planet, one smartphone at a time. Also, it’s on the cheap side, a product for the masses, the new Cookie if you like, with a cool unisex design and an affordable price tag. In terms of specs, we have a midrange smartphone with no Wi Fi and a fixed focus camera. Let’s take a closer look:



Key features:

• 3.0" 256K-color TFT LCD touchscreen display (240x400 pixels)
• 3.15 megapixel fixed focus camera, QVGA video @ 15fps
• Quad-band GSM support
• Bluetooth with A2DP and microUSB v2.0
• micro SD card memory expansion
• Standard microUSB port
• FM radio with RDS
• Widget interface and LiveSquare homescreen
• Accelerometer sensor for automatic screen rotation and turn-to-mute
• Landscape on-screen QWERTY keyboard
• Office document viewer
• Smart dialing
• Nice battery life
• Optional solar panel battery cover
• Allegedly affordable price


View the full list of specifications and features of LG GD510 Pop

 LG GD510 Pop stands at 97.8 x 49.5 x 11.2mm. There is only color available for the casing, which is silver.
These dimensions make the phone easier to hold. Even one-hand use is easy, unlike on phones that reach 60 mm wide. The casing is all plastic but by no means plasticky, it seems solid and well built, the Pop's compact appearance and feel will surely be appreciated, it even has a business like appearance.

The front is dominated by the 3-inch touch screen. Below the screen is a single hardware button, which serves different purposes depending on context. For example, you can use it to start or close a call. Above the screen is the speaker. No camera for video calls and no ambient light sensor here.

The left side of the phone houses the volume keys and the micro USB port, used for both charging and connecting the phone to a computer.
Unfortunately the headphones connect to the same port, which means you can not use  headphones other than the standard ones.
The back of the phone features the solar panel. Not all specimens have solar panel; you can opt for a battery cover with or without this accessory. The solar panel is said to provide over 2 minutes of talk time or 180 minutes of standby time per every 10 minutes of sunlight exposure, which sound quite efficient.
Whether you opt for the solar panel or not, the back of the phone houses a 3.2 megapixel fixed focus camera without flash. The battery is 900 mAh. Under the battery cover we also find the hot-swappable micro SD card slot. The device lasts for 4-5 days with moderate use which is not bad at all.


LG GD510 Pop uses S-Class user interface. The processor is powerful enough so the interface is running fluid and without interruption. Transition effects and animations look very nice.
The 3" screen has a thin blue frame and mirror-like finish. Pop GD510’s touch screen of 3 inches TFT is offering a WQVGA resolution (240 x 400 pixels) and 256,000 colors. The screen responds well and accurately to the touch, the picture quality is good indoors, but bright sunlight makes it almost unreadable.

The phone features a task manager that allows you to alternate between applications and close them.
In terms of telephony, everything is alright, it handles phone calls trouble-free, no voice quality or reception issues. There is Smart Dialing, and Speed dialing is supported.  The sound of the speaker is loud and clear, even in crowded and noisy places I could carry on a conversation without problems. Signal strength is also good, even if  you're in the subway station.

The 50 MB of internal memory are certainly not enough for multimedia files, but you can add a micro SD card.
The music player is very good. It features a cool interface and configuration options are rich. You can display album art while listening to a song. It has a graphic equalizer so you can optimize the sound according to your preferences. You can sort songs by artist, album, genre, or date added. A dedicated widget allows you to control it from the standby screen.

The video player is not very good due to the lack of DivX and XviD support. It only supports 3GP and MP4 formats. Videos can run in both portrait and landscape mode.

Pop GD510 has an FM radio with RDS. You can listen to your favorite radio station on either headphones or the speaker. You can store the frequencies of up to 50 radio stations. The radio can run in the background, controlled by a widget.

The camera has 3.2 megapixels but no autofocus or flash, it takes pictures with a maximum image resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. The phone design enables you to take photos easily with one hand. There are several camera settings such as exposure, shooting mode (single picture / more pictures) and others. Photo quality is very good, the colors are vivid, and the noise level is acceptable.
 The handset captures video in QVGA resolution at 15 fps. With enough handsets around shooting WVGA@30fps this is hardly a commendable achievement by today's standards.

Also, in terms of connectivity, LG GD510 Pop does not shine, there’s no 3G or Wi-Fi. You can only connect to the Internet via GPRS or EDGE; the other connectivity options include Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and USB v2.0.  Actually, for the price tag of the device, these things do not come as a surprise.

The web browser looks very nice, with good touch response and a decent amount of features. Zooming and scrolling is fast enough.
I was pleasantly surprised by the preinstalled Quick Office app. You can view Word, Excel or PowerPoint files. There is also a viewer for PDF files. Zoom and navigate through these documents is trouble free.

LG GD510 comes with some pre-installed games. You can also download games and other applications in Java format.

Final words: LG GD510 Pop is a very good phone for the price tag, it has a reasonable amount of features, looks stylish and well built, it even appeals to the green heart public with that cool solar panel but by all means, it’s not a multimedia rocket or a business phone.

 You can have one here on a monthly contract deal.

continue reading "LG Pop GD510, People of the Sun"

BlackBerry Storm2 9520, Back in Black

BlackBerry Storm2 9520 is the successor of Storm 9500, an innovative model for RIM, but much criticized at the time. The BlackBerry Storm 9500 was a truly intriguing device; Storm's touchscreen has attracted the greatest criticism due to its mechanism which involves pressing the click to register a command. Storm2 aims to solve all the problems that have tarnished the image of Storm.

The screen now works better, but you still have to click on it like a button. I don’t understand why RIM insists to change our habits of using a touch screen. We are happy with conventional touchscreens, and Storm has shown that this concept doesn’t have a future.
We will see how good and how easy to use it Storm2.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and 2100 MHz 3G with HSPA support
• 3.25" 65K-color capacitive touchscreen of 360 x 480 pixel resolution
• Improved touchscreen experience with piezo-electric touch feedback system
• 3.15 MP autofocus camera, LED flash
• BlackBerry OS 5
• Wi-Fi and built-in GPS with BlackBerry maps preloaded
• 2 GB internal storage and a hot-swappable micro SD card slot
• Landscape on-screen keyboard is as close to hardware keys as we have seen on a touch phone
• Nice looks and great build quality
• 3.5mm standard audio jack
• Accelerometer sensor for screen auto-rotate
• Bluetooth v2.1 and USB v2.0
• Document editor
• Good audio quality


View list of specifications and features of BlackBerry Storm2 9520

BlackBerry Storm2 retail box comes with strictly necessary accessories:  the charger, a hands free headset, the micro USB data cable, the phone manual and the software CD. The leather case, common to other BlackBerry models, is missing in action.

In size, the phone is within normal limits. Width is 62.2 mm, is 112.5 mm long and 14 mm thick. It weighs 5 grams more than Storm, reaching 160 grams. It’s a lot of weight for a phone without a slider, but it is saved by its compact shape that gives the impression that it is actually lighter. The back cover is made of metal, but most of the housing is plastic.

The front is dominated by the magnificent 3.25" piezo-electric display. Its picture quality is among the best we have seen from RIM, the remaining space being occupied by the four buttons at the bottom of the screen: call and reject call buttons and the menu and back key. The contrast and brightness are top-notch, easily among the best we have seen on an LCD screen.

The left side houses the micro USB and the dedicated voice command key. The Micro USB port is protected against dust.
On the right phone has an audio jack of 3.5 mm, volume control and a dedicated camera button.
The back of the phone houses a 3.2 megapixels camera and a LED flash.  The lens has no protection against scratches. Removing the metal back cover reveals the power plant; the battery is 1400 mAh, which managed to keep the BlackBerry alive for 2 days with heavy use. Also, here we find the micro SD memory card slot.  It is fully hot-swappable and has no trouble handling the largest memory cards currently available on the market (16GB).
 According to the manufacturer, the phone offers autonomy of 305 hours of standby in 2G and 280 hours in 3G and talk time does not exceed 5 hours in 2G network and 6 hours on 3G.

BlackBerry Storm2 uses OS 5 operating system. It has several improvements over version 4. The icons are 3D and the transition effects are nice. The BlackBerry OS 5 also introduces kinetic scrolling which greatly facilitates handing of longer lists.  Accelerometer is better than the Storm’s, rotating the screen almost instantly.
Storm2 OS works very well, feels snappy and lag is almost inexistent, it also supports multitasking. RIM doesn't provide any information about the CPU inside the Storm2 but either it is faster than the original.  In the phone menu, the icons are arranged as a matrix. Most functions are intuitive, but you need an adjustment period if you've never used Blackberry before.

BlackBerry Storm2's screen is 3.25 inches and offers very good image quality. The screen resolution is 360 x 480 pixels, and the number of colors is 65,000. The TFT screen has excellent contrast and vivid colors. You get the same image quality when using the phone in bright light conditions, legibility remains good. The screen is softer to the touch than the Storm, which improves utilization and makes writing text much faster.

In terms of telephony, everything works as it should, the in-call sound quality is very good and we didn't experience any drops or coverage issues at all.

BlackBerry Storm2 comes with 2GB of internal memory which can be expanded with a micro SD card.

The music player is not as advanced as other smartphones, but it gets the job done, playing most file formats which can be sorted   by artist, album and genre.  Also, it can run in background without problems, multitasking rules, remember that folks. Strangely enough, there's no indication of the currently playing song on the home screen. Audio quality is excellent; you may connect any headphones due to the 3.5 mm audio jack, not just the standard headset. A minus of the multimedia department is the lack of radio.

The video player captivated me so much that I managed to watch a whole movie on Storm2. The videos run smooth and clear, they have bright colors and high contrast. The screen has a size suitable for viewing movies and the native support for DivX and Xvid codecs allow you to copy movies from your PC to the phone memory without having to convert them.

The camera has 3.2 megapixels and is able to take pictures up to a maximum resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. It has autofocus and LED flash.  BlackBerry Storm2 does not offer a lot of camera settings. Photos are of average quality but the colors and contrast are quite good. I do not think we can ask more from a 3.2 megapixels camera.
The video recording is at a resolution of 480 x 352 pixels with 30 fps. Clips are saved in 3GP format. LED flash can be used in filming. Quality is satisfactory for a phone, but you should not expect miracles.

In terms of connectivity, Storm2 is brilliant, you have access to the Internet via Wi-Fi  and the HSPA with  quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE  and the 3G with 7.2 Mbps HSDPA .

Storm2's web browser is good, but unfortunately does not support Flash. Pages load quickly and are rendered correctly even when they are complex; it’s an improvement over the original Storm browser.
Storm2 also features a mobile office application, you can read and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files but you have no PDF reader preinstalled.
Other preinstalled applications are a calculator, a converter sizes and some games.

Storm 2 comes equipped with a built-in GPS receiver. For navigation you get BlackBerry Maps and you can also get the free Google Maps if data traffic doesn't bother you.

Conclusion:  BlackBerry Storm2  is proof of evolution for the company and it's a pretty decent smartphone, the Storm2 is the dream device for those who have a solid BlackBerry background and want to explore touchscreen.

 You can have one here on a monthly contract deal.

continue reading "BlackBerry Storm2 9520, Back in Black"

BlackBerry Bold 9700, Born into Stardom

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 comes from a family with tradition in delivering perfection. This can be a blessing or a curse, it all depends on what you make of it. What I mean is that Bold 9700 comes on a wave of high expectations and has a lot to prove to the fan base.
When you already have an excellent device on the market, sometimes it’s not enough to provide a facelift, a minor upgrade or small incremental change, this can spell failure in a blink of an eye. Let’s take a look at what BlackBerry Bold 9700 has to offer.


Key features:

• 2.44" 65K-color TFT landscape display with a resolution of 480 x 360 pixels
• Comfortable four-row full QWERTY keyboard
• Quad-band GSM support and tri-band 3G with HSDPA
• Wi-Fi and built-in GPS and BlackBerry maps preloaded
• 3.15 autofocus megapixel camera, LED flash
• 624 MHz CPU, 256 MB RAM
• BlackBerry OS v5
• Responsive track pad navigation
• Hot-swappable micros card slot (up to 16GB)
• DivX and XviD video support
• Good web browser
• Office document editor
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Decent audio quality
• Smart dialing
• Great battery life
• More compact body and lighter weight compared to the Bold 9000
• Good build quality

Full specs here.


 It’s hard to improve an already perfect device, but with Bold 9700, BlackBerry decided to give it a shot.
 The retail package is rich, it contains a charger with 3 adapters for different sockets, a leather pouch and of course, the hands free set. The good part is that BlackBerry uses the 3.5 mm audio jack so you can upgrade your headset at will. Also in the box you find a USB data cable and a 2 GB micro SD card.
 The Bold 9700 measures 109 x 60 x 14 mm and weighs122 grams. The design is sober; the body is all plastic, rubbery on the edges.

The device comes with a 2.44" TFT display, capable of displaying up to 65K colors. The resolution has been slightly increased to 480 x 360 pixels. That's a 4:3 aspect ratio. In terms of brightness and contrast, it is at par with the best displays on the market, it has a respectable pixel density and that helps. Sunlight legibility is also a strong point of the device; overall it’s an impressive display.

The QWERTY keyboard is the trademark of BlackBerry, it uses a four-row layout; apart from the space bar all keys are of the same size and are incredibly tactile.

Below the display we find a touch-sensitive track pad which handles very nice and responds perfectly on any flick of the thumb.
The left side of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 features the 3.5mm standard audio jack and the standard micro USB port. The BlackBerry Bold 9700 comes with a 3 megapixel autofocus camera. Removing the back panel reveals the impressive 1500 mAh Li-Ion battery, quoted as lasting 408 hours of stand-by or 6 hours of talk time.
In real life, the phone lasted for almost a week which is outstanding. Under the battery cover we also find the micro SD card slot which handles up to 16 GB memory cards.

 Overall, the build quality of the Bold 9700 is very good and the curved design makes for a sharper look of the smartphone, also for a better grip.

 The BlackBerry OS 5 is an upgrade from the previous 4.6 but there are no major changes. The new version of the BlackBerry OS has retained the menu structure almost completely so any experienced BlackBerry users will feel at home. The OS runs smooth and fast, impressive actually, showing absolutely no lag, helped by the snappy CPU.

In terms of telephony, yes, you get smart dial, there are no problems in terms of reception or in-call sound quality, the smartphone performs well in its main task.
The BlackBerry Bold 9700 handles messaging without breaking a sweat, it has support for all common types of messages - SMS, MMS and email. It also has the BlackBerry Messenger and Google Talk IM clients preinstalled.

The music player was face lifted too but there are no major upgrades, it sorts the music library automatically by artist, album and genre and you can search your tracks by gradual typing.
 In terms of audio quality, it’s quite good, like its predecessor, comparable to the best in class.
The video player works full screen and has support for DivX and XviD, it has an impressive picture quality.
Camera is average, at 3 Megapixels it’s hardly a performer. The camera interface is basic with few settings; at least you have geotagging as a feature. Image quality is decent but nothing to write home about, the idea is that if you buy a BlackBerry, photography is not your thing anyway.
In terms of video recording, videos are captured in 3gp format at 480 x 360 pixels, pretty pathetic, not worth mentioning actually.

The Bold 9700 shines where it counts, in terms of business and I mean connectivity here. You get quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support secures global roaming and the 3G with HSDPA gives you the extra speed. The Wi-Fi is also present with a nice and easily customizable Wi-Fi manager taking care of all the connections. Bluetooth with A2DP support rounds off the list of wireless connectivity options. The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is also equipped with a standard microUSB port that is enabled for both data connections and charging.
This device is not a toy for teenagers, it means business, the Bold 9700 has superb time-management capabilities.

Mobile office is also fully functional, with preinstalled applications able to open and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.

BlackBerry Bold 9700 is equipped with a built-in GPS receiver and comes with A-GPS support. For navigation you get BlackBerry Maps preinstalled.

In conclusion, if you are a fan of the brand, this is the business tool for you. It is a serious smartphone, perfect for emails, messaging and viewing/editing documents, and even some internet surfing due to its excellent connectivity; by all means it’s not a gadget for geeks or a multimedia center. If you appreciate its strong points, it’s a must have.

You can have one on a monthly contract deal here.

continue reading "BlackBerry Bold 9700, Born into Stardom"

Nokia E72, King of the Eseries

Nokia E series has always been dedicated to business people who use email services heavily. E72 is the successor of E71 and Nokia didn't have to try and experiment, the recipe for success was already there. E72 retains the same features that have made the success of the E71, but also brings improvements to convince us to buy it. E72 not only looks better, it is more efficient also.
Nokia E72 is not just for business. If you use the Internet frequently and you want a phone good at everything, with a large capacity battery and a full QWERTY keyboard, you can ask for Nokia E72 anytime, anywhere.

Key features:

• Quad-band GSM support
• 3G with HSDPA 10.2Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps
• Landscape 2.36" 16M-color display of QVGA resolution
• Comfortable full QWERTY keypad
• Optical track pad on the D-pad
• Symbian 9.3 OS, S60 UI with FP2
• 600 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 128 MB of SDRAM
• 5 megapixel auto focus camera with LED flash
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, UPnP technology, DLNA support
• Built-in GPS receiver, A-GPS support, digital compass
• Accelerometer for turn-to-mute
• 250 MB of internal memory, micro SD expansion, ships with a 4GB card
• Standard 3.5mm audio jack
• Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP support and microbus v2.0
• FM radio with RDS
• Remote Wipe
• Great battery life
• Office document editor (including MS Office 2007)
• User-friendly Mode Switch for swapping two home screen setups
• Smart dialing
• Full Flash support
• Great audio output quality
• Lifetime Nokia Messaging subscription

 Full specs here.

Nokia E72 comes in a package which has all the essential accessories for a business tool. We got a hands-free headset with a 3.5 mm audio jack and wireless control keys, a charger, micro USB data cable, a leather bag, a leather hand strap and the user manual. We also found in the box   a 4 GB micro SD card and a piece of cloth to clean the phone.

In size, the phone is within the normal range for its class, is indistinguishable higher than E71, that is a gram heavier and wider with a mm. Thus, E72 has a length of 114 mm, a width of 58 mm and the same thickness of 10 mm. The weight is 128 grams.  The metal battery cover plays a role here. Nokia E72 is still among the slimmest QWERTY handsets on the market and comes in three colors: Zodium Black, Metal Grey and Topaz Brown.
The front houses a 2.36 inches screen and a QWERTY keyboard along with the main control keys, the speaker, a secondary camera for video calls and the ambient light sensor.
On the left are the micro USB port and the micro SD memory card slot. Both have protective covers to prevent dust penetration.
At the top of the phone we find an audio jack of 3.5 mm and the start / stop button. The start / stop can be used both to change the profiles and lock the phone.
In the back, the E72 has a stainless steel lid with some small ditches, which are designed to prevent fingerprints. It is a useful innovation; many phones have problems with fingerprints on their stainless steel casing. Here is the 5 megapixel camera, a LED flash, self-portrait mirror and the speaker. Camera lens is not protected against scratches.  Under the stainless steel back cover we find the 1500 mAh BP-4L Li-Ion battery which is the same unit in the Nokia E71. For the E72 it is quoted at 576 hours of stand-by time and 12 and a half hour of talk time, pretty impressive to say the least.
All materials are top notch; the phone is very well built.
Nokia E72 uses the Symbian S60 3rd Edition. This is version 9.3, which is newer than the one on the E71. The user interface is common for Symbian. Menus are well structured and intuitive. The processor is strong, running at 600 MHz.  Memory is also sufficient at 128 MB of RAM. Interface and applications are running smoothly.

The standby screen shows you a lot of information. You can see the time, date, battery charge level, signal level. You can also see if you have messages or missed calls. You can add shortcuts to applications or websites.

E72's TFT screen is not very big, is the same used by the E71 and E63. It measures 2.36 inches and offers a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. The screen performance is still great, with excellent contrast and vivid image. Sunlight legibility is among the best of its class.
Nokia E72 offers top notch sound quality during calls. Signal reception is strong so you'll do well in areas with poor coverage.
Messaging functions are very important for someone who buys an E72. The phone knows how to work with SMS, MMS and email.  The QWERTY keyboard helps to write text quickly. The email client is well thought.
The internal memory of the phone is 250 MB.  The 4 GB micro SD card was very useful for storing photos, music and movies.
The music player is well developed, with a feature rich interface.  It supports most file formats and playlists. You can sort songs by artist, album, genre, composer; it has eight lanes and five equalizer modes.
Audio quality is good; the phone can successfully replace an MP3 player.

 The video player is the same, I am talking here about Real Player of course, it supports 3GP and MP4 files, but the E72 lacks DivX and XviD support out of the box. Luckily, finding applications for the S60 3.2 that support those codecs is a fairly easy task. Since the screen is positioned horizontally, the player only works in landscape mode. The screen is big enough for short clips.
The camera has 5 megapixels, autofocus and LED flash.  Photos are taken at a maximum resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels. The interface offers numerous settings.  The image quality is excellent, among the best 5MP snappers we've seen. Contrast, color, brightness and the level of detail are very good.
 The video recording is at VGA resolution (640 x 480 pixels), but only 15 fps.
Nokia E72 is an ideal phone for those who want to stay always connected to the Internet, it just has it all: from Bluetooth v2.0 and USB v2.0 to Wi-Fi and 3G. Furthermore, the 3G comes with HSPA support for the fastest network data transfers - up to 10.2Mbps downlink and 2Mbps uplink.
Web browser is very good, as we are already accustomed to Symbian phones; it supports Flash and loads pages faster.
To connect your phone to your computer, you can use a micro USB cable, and/or Bluetooth.
 In the business department, you have QuickOffice preinstalled so you can read all Microsoft Office documents and PDF files too. You have the ability not only to view documents but also to edit them.
For GPS navigation, the phone is using Ovi Maps.
Nokia E72 is an ideal phone for anyone who uses email, internet and messaging heavily. It handles just about every means of communication available today - from voice calls, through video calls, VoIP to texting, email and IM. Business as usual in the Eseries.

You can have one here for FREE on a monthly contract deal.

continue reading "Nokia E72, King of the Eseries"

Motorola Atrix, Enter the Dragon

For Motorola, the partnership with Android was truly a love story. It had ups and downs, like any relationship but it helped the telephony giant to emerge from the shadows.
 Atrix is the first smartphone from Motorola that features a dual core processor or the HDSPA + network, it marks a first for the company in many regards, let’s take a closer look:

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G with HSDPA and HSUPA
• 4" 16M-color capacitive touchscreen of qHD (960 x 540 pixels) resolution, scratch-resistant Gorilla glass
• Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor, ULP GeForce GPU, Tegra 2 chipset; 1GB of RAM
• Android OS v2.2; MOTOBLUR UI (update to Gingerbread planned)
• Web browser with Adobe Flash 10.1 support
• 5 MP autofocus camera with dual-LED flash; face detection, geotagging
• 720p video recording @ 30fps (to be upgraded to 1080p Full-HD )
• Wi-Fi ab/g/n; Wi-Fi hotspot functionality; DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS; Digital compass
• Fingerprint scanner that doubles as a power key
• 16GB storage; expandable via a microSD slot
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP
• standard microHDMI port
• Smart and voice dialing
• Office document editor
• Active noise cancellation with a dedicated secondary mic
• DivX/XviD video support
• Lapdock and HD Dock versatility
• Web browser with Adobe Flash 10.2 support

Fulls specs here.

When it was launched, Atrix was the most powerful device ever made by the company; it featured a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and the ultra low power GeForce GPU, an avenger in its time and place.
Add to that multimedia capabilities i.e.  a 5MP camera with dual LED flash and a 4-inch capacitive touchscreen of qHD resolution of 540x960 pixels, and the ATRIX 4G is more than ready to go where no other Moto droid has gone before.
Even now, it’s a remarkable smartphone, one year later. Ok, time to kick ass and chew bubble gum, but I’m all out of gum so let’s review this baby.

A short glimpse at the retail package reveals a pretty standard one, along with the smartphone you get a charger, a data cable, the HDMI cable(nice one Moto) but what is striking is the absence of both headset and micro sd card. So you must dig in your pockets if you want to play with the other kids.
The phone’s dimensions are 117.8 x 63.5 x 11 mm, the Motorola ATRIX 4G is quite compact for a 4” handset, in terms of design is very ergonomic and sits well in hand.
The display is humongous, 4.0 inch wide, qHD, with a resolution of 560 x 940 pixels. The capacitive touchscreen is very sensitive and the colors are sharp and vivid, brightness is one of the highest I’ve ever seen.
In terms of design, Motorola Atrix doesn’t shine, the phone is made of plastic without any traces of metal, the big screen is a scratch proof Gorilla Glass and the weight is about 135 grams.
An interesting feature, Atrix can scan your fingerprint to use it as screen lock security. Also, on the front of the phone you have an ambient light sensor and a proximity sensor.
On the left of the phone you find 2 ports, the micro HDMI and micro USB, the last one serves for charging and data connections.
 On the back panel, which has a carbon look finish, you find the 5 MP camera lens along with a dual LED flash.
Under the back panel there is a hot swappable micro SD card slot and a huge 1930mAh battery. Motorola quotes it at up to 400h of standby in 2G and 50h less in 3G mode. As to actual phone calls, the ATRIX 4G promises the pretty decent 9 hours.
In real life tests, the phone managed to last almost 2 days, not bad at all for such a monster screen and dual core processing power.
In terms of build quality, Atrix feels very well put together, the plastic is high quality and the general impression is one of sobriety and class.
The OS is Android 2.2.1 Froyo preinstalled, customized by Motorola with its social network-integrated MOTOBLUR UI.
In terms of day to day use, Atrix feels high end, the UI is snappy, due to the high amount of RAM and processing power, there is no lag in menus/apps whatsoever.
Telephony wise, Motorola Atrix had no problems with holding on to a signal or any reception issues while in a call. The phone also comes with smart dialing and active noise cancelation, called in this case CrystalTalkTechnology. Voice commands are here too, just like with the Motorola DEFY. They can be used to dial, send message and so on.
Messaging is a pleasure on Moto Atrix, all types of communication are handled in the messaging app, part of the social MOTOBLUR UI.
The camera on the Motorola Atrix 4G is a 5 megapixel one, capable of capturing pictures of 2592x1944 resolution. You get a dual LED flash for night photography, which doubles as a video light and a flashlight. In terms of image quality, is an average camera, not among the best on the market.
In terms of video recording, it can record HD 720p, clips are recorded smoothly at an acceptable frame rate.
Very good news from the video player, it supports both DivX and xvid codecs, also you get full HD mp4 video playback. The player itself is typical android, plain simple and efficient.
 The music players is also pretty decent, it supports all types of files,  including MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ so you’re pretty much set for listening to music on the Atrix 4G.
Atrix provides excellent audio quality, both on headphones and on the internal speaker, a normal thing in this price range in my opinion.
Connectivity is top notch, Atrix offers quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and quad-band HSDPA, capable of speeds up to 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 HSUPA.
The local connectivity features include Wi-Fi a/b/g/n (with DLNA support), Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and a microUSB port.

Web browsing is a pleasant experience, the browser on Android Froyo packs Flash support.
You also have a GPS receiver with A-GPS technology which features Google Maps and Street View Mode.
With Atrix, it seems that Motorola is back in business, featuring a dual core power plant, copious amounts of RAM and a high end display, we have the recipe for a winner.

 You can have the phone for free on a monthly deal here.

continue reading "Motorola Atrix, Enter the Dragon"

Sony Ericsson Satio, King Me!

 Sony Ericsson Satio was released with a bang in 2009, some long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, and at the time was a mélange between a cyber shot top dog with its 12 MP camera and a Walkman all rounder, a true multimedia flagship, unfortunately it didn’t catch mostly because of the OS, the outdated, almost dead and buried now, Symbian S60, to be precise. Even if it is the most efficient OS in terms of productivity and efficiency, it didn’t stand a chance before iOS or Android.

Key features

• 3.5" 16M-color resistive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution
• 12 megapixel state-of-the-art autofocus camera
• LED and xenon flash, active lens cover
• VGA@30fps video recording
• Symbian OS 9.4 with S60 5th edition UI, spiced up with a home-brewed home screen and media menu
• ARM Cortex-A8 600 MHz CPU, PowerVR SGX dedicated graphics accelerator and 256 MB of RAM
• Quad-band GSM support
• 3G with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA 3.6 Mbps support
• Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS
• micro SD card slot (up to 32GB)
• Built-in accelerometer
• TV out
• Stereo FM Radio
• USB and stereo Bluetooth v2.0
• Web browser has full Flash support
• Preinstalled Wisepilot navigation software
• Office document viewer




Here is the list of specs and features of Sony Ericsson Satio

Sony Ericsson Satio’s retail box is rather small but inside you can find all the accessories you’ll ever need, i.e.  a wall charger, the user guide and a USB cable for connecting your Satio to a computer. There's also a stylus in there, a one piece headset   and the 8GB micro SD card.
In terms of size, the phone is within the normal range for a smartphone, it has a length of 112 mm, a width of 55 mm and a thickness of only 13 mm. The camera is protruding, the back is not uniform. The weight is acceptable at 126 grams. Satio is available in three colors, black, silver and Bordeaux (dark red).
For maintaining its weight within normal limits, Sony Ericsson has chosen to manufacture the casing entirely of high quality plastic.

The front is dominated by the large 3.5 inch screen, above which is the ambient light sensor, the camera for video calls and, of course, the speaker. Below the screen there are three hardware keys, call and reject call keys and menu key. Also here we can find the proximity sensor. Holding down the menu key launches the task manager.

On the back of the phone you will find an impressive 12 megapixel camera, which has a xenon flash and a LED. The two small holes around the camera sensors are intended for measuring the brightness and adjust the image during the capture of photo or video.

Under the back cover you find the 1000 mAh power plant, for such a multimedia device, it seems a little bit underpowered. The manufacturer says it should provide an autonomy of 360 hours of standby in 2G and 340 hours in 3G and a talk time around 11 hours in 2G and 4 hours and 50 minutes in 3G.
 Truth is that using the phone at full capacity, you will have to charge it daily. In the hands of a moderate user it could last for a few days.

Sony Ericsson Satio uses the Symbian OS S60 5th Edition.
The ample touchscreen is a treat in terms of image quality and the touch response is quite pleasing.Satio's screen is 3.5 inches wide and displays a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels and 16 million colors.  It offers exceptional image quality, brightness and contrast are excellent for a TFT screen, and sunlight legibility is also very good.

In terms of telephony, the in call quality is decent.  Signal reception is also good, even when you are in the passageways or underground parking, there was no interference whatsoever.

The main menu of the phone resembles Nokia with Symbian.

Sony Ericsson Satio knows how to send and receive all types of messages, SMS and MMS plus email. SMS and MMS use the same editor, the email client uses a separate app.
Email client looks even better; it supports POP3 / IMAP and SMTP.

The music player is the usual Sony Walkman. You can sort songs by artist, composer and genre.
Satio also has a stereo FM radio which comes handy when you get bored of your own music.
 The video player is quite limited. Unfortunately it does not support DivX or Xvid. When it comes to the watching experience itself, the Satio is nothing short of flawless. High resolution screen, excellent image quality and 16:9 aspect ratio makes watching videos a pleasing experience.

The camera is impressive, with 12 megapixels and double flash, LED and another one with Xenon technology. The two flashes are not used simultaneously. The Xenon is used for photographs, and the LED is used to shoot videos. It has two sensors that automatically adjust brightness on images and movies. Still images are taken at a maximum resolution of 4000 x 3000 pixels. The camera has autofocus and several shooting modes that can be selected using the dedicated button located on the phone. Picture quality is exceptional. Colors are rendered very realistically, details are good and the noise level is very low. The video recording is at VGA resolution (640 x 480) at 30 fps. The quality of the videos is really good with an almost unmatched amount of resolved detail, very good contrast and precise colors.

Satio lets you connect to the Internet via quad-band GSM and EDGE support, as well as 3G network compatibility. The Satio has dual-band 900/2100 MHz support for worldwide coverage, as well as an American version at 850/1900/2100 MHz. Data speeds are quite high with 7.2Mbps HSDPA and 3.6Mbps HSUPA.
The web browser of Sony Ericsson Satio supports Flash and JavaScript, the pages load fast and rendering is very good.
 The phone comes with a Mobile Office application that lets you view Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.

Satio is definitely one of the best phones from Sony Ericsson. Camera is top notch, the hardware is strong i.e. an ARM Cortex A8 CPU running at 600MHz along with a PowerVR SGX graphics accelerator,  in terms of design it looks pretty good and Symbian allows you to install a lot of applications.

You can get your Satio for free on a monthly contract deal here.

continue reading "Sony Ericsson Satio, King Me!"

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, Seeing is Believing

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 was meant to be the swan song of the company, their first android device and they want it to be absolutely perfect, both in terms of hardware and software. Perfection comes at a price; in this case it took them quite a long time to get there.
 Even if this was their first droid device, it’s not the kind of smartphone you can take it for granted and forget about it after the first date.
So let’s see the specs and the main highlights of this love child:

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G support
• 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2 Mbps HSUPA support
• 4" capacitive touchscreen of WVGA (480 x 854 pixel) resolution and scratch-resistant surface
• 16M-color ready (65K effective colors under Android OS v1.6)
• Android OS v1.6 with complete Sony Ericsson UI customization
• Timescape and Mediascape UI
• Excellent social networking integration
• Excellent build quality
• Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon 1 GHz CPU, OpenGL ES 2.0 support; 384 MB of RAM
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, touch focus, image stabilization, geotagging, face and smile detection
• WVGA (800 x 480 pixels) video recording @ 30fps
• Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS
• 1GB storage, microSD slot, bundled with an 8GB card
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
• Document viewer
• Li-Po 1500 mAh (BST-41) battery
• Great audio quality

Even if R&D for this phone took quite a while, when X10 hit the markets was on par with its rivals at the time of release.
First things first, let’s start with the retail package which resembles the one from iPhone, in terms of minimalist design and dimensions, which are petit to say the least.
In the box you can find a charger, the USB cable and a two piece headset easily upgradable due to the standard 3.5 mm jack.
The phone has a 4 inch display, pretty huge actually even with today’s standards, and that makes the device a big league player, it measures 119 x 63 x 13 mm and weighs 135 grams, not too much for such generous dimensions. This has to do with the absence of metal on the casing design but despite this, X10 is as solid as they come.
In terms of design, the phone is subtle and elegant; most part of the front is covered by the huge touchscreen. The 4" capacitive touchscreen unit has a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels and great picture quality.
 In terms of contrast and sun light legibility, this is as good as it gets on Sony Ericsson and the sensitivity of the screen is also excellent. Above the display we find the earpiece and the ambient light sensor is hidden on its left, a small status LED on the right. On top we find the 3.5mm audio jack, the power key and the micro USB port which is covered by a small plastic lid.
The back of the handset features the 8 megapixel camera lens and the LED flash. Camera lens has no protection so you should be careful with this baby. Under the battery you find the micro SD card slot which obviously is not hot-swappable. In terms of build quality, X10 is a tank, there are no creaks and the plastic parts are very well put together.
 On the back there is some matt plastic which is finger print proof and the front, well, you should give it a rub from time to time, and glossy plastic is not that hardcore.
As in later phones, X10 benefits from a design called Human Curvature, the phone feels very comfortable and smaller than it really is.
X10 runs on Android OS 2.1 (upgraded from 1.6) and the interface is customized with Timescape and Mediascape, in terms of hardware it comes with a fast 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and the aforementioned 4 inch beast capacitive screen, UI runs smoothly and flawless.
In terms of telephony, Sony Ericsson X10 is strong, there are no problems with signal reception or call quality, the sound is loud and clear, unfortunately we don’t get smart dialing but if you ask me, I can live without it.
 As in most Sony Ericsson devices, audio quality is great, X10 is among the best in its class.
X10 features an 8 MP camera with LED flash capable of taking photos at a maximum resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels, you have a bunch of options like four capturing modes and five focus modes available, it takes very  good photos with excellent detail and colors, but that’s normal for a Sony cyber shot. Video recording is captured in WVGA resolution (800 x 480 pixels vs. 720 x 480 for D1) at 30fps, in mp4 format with AAC audio codec.
In terms of connectivity, the force is strong with this droid, you get  quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, three localized versions - each with tri-band 3G, 7.2Mbps HSDPA and 2Mbps HSUPA.
Local connectivity is well covered too – Wi-Fi b/g with DLNA, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and file transfers.  There’s also a microUSB port for connecting with a PC.

 Web browsing is a pleasant experience on Android based devices, the browser is simple and efficient, pages load quickly and surfing is a pleasure on that high res screen.

 For business users, the phone comes with QuickOffice preinstalled   and it has support for viewing document files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF, including the Office 2007. Due to its big screen and fast processor, reading docs on X10 is a pleasant experience.

XPERIA X10 comes with a GPS receiver and Google Maps as application; the app supports Street View and Wise Pilot.

 In conclusion, Xperia X10 is a nice multi media tool, excellent for business users, browsing the web, taking pictures and riding social networks. Sony Ericsson did a great job with this first android flagship, even if there’s still some stuff needs polishing.




 You can have one on a monthly contract deal here.

continue reading "Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, Seeing is Believing"

Sony Ericsson Aino, Fun Overload

Aino is a “speshul” model from Sony Ericsson. In essence, it’s a regular slider phone with an extra big screen. What differs from the other touch screen phones is the keyboard, not a QWERTY one but alphanumeric.  Aino has pretty much everything you need - excellent connectivity, full-featured navigation, a great camera, plenty of internal storage and a simple-but-snappy touch media menu.
Amino also  has very good hardware specifications; however, the unusual slide keyboard makes it look pretty ugly. Of course, that’s my opinion; let’s see what’s in the store for Aino.

Key features

• 3" 16M-color capacitive touchscreen, 240 x 432 pixels
• Quad-band GSM support
• Tri-band 3G with 7.2Mbps HSDPA, 2Mbps HSUPA
• 8 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash; geotagging, touch-focus, face detection, image stabilization; VGA video recording @ 30fps
• Some degree of touchscreen functionality - touch-enabled media and camera interface
• Touch works in Java apps as well, e.g. Opera Mini
• Built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS; Trial version of Wisepilot navigation software
• Wi-Fi with DLNA
• FM radio with RDS
• Stereo Bluetooth 2.1
• microSD card slot
• Wireless Bluetooth headset with 3.5 mm audio jack and nice headphones, desktop docking station and 8GB microSD card in box
• Remote play for Playstation 3


Main disadvantages

• No standard USB port
• No 3.5mm audio jack (but there's one on the Bluetooth headset)
• Touch control is limited to camera, gallery, multimedia players and some Java apps
• Media library updates very slowly in the touch media menu
• No DivX/XviD support
• No xenon flash
• No camera lens cover


View list of specs and features of Sony Ericsson Aino

The box in which I received the phone is nice; it has a light green color. Aino comes with plenty of accessories in the box, beating my expectations. Besides your usual charger, USB cable and user manual, I found in the box a generous 8GB memory card (the software you need to connect the Aino to a computer is preloaded on the micro SD card and you're prompted to install it when you connect the phone, so that's easy peasy) plus a Bluetooth headset with a 3.5 mm audio jack. And that's not all; you also get a desktop docking cradle included in the retail package, one of the richest we've seen to date.
The phone has normal dimensions for its class; it has a length of 104 mm (of course with the slide closed), a width of 50 mm and a thickness of 15.5 mm.  The weight of 135 grams is similar to that of other smartphones. Aino is available in two colors, white and black, both glossy.

The front of the phone is dominated obviously by the display which is 3 inches wide and sports the somewhat peculiar WQVGA resolution of 432 x 240 pixels. The screen sunlight legibility is quite good. Above it is the ambient light sensor and the speaker. When I first opened the slide I was disappointed, because the phone is extremely long. But the keyboard is comfortable and using it is enjoyable. The keys are soft and easy to press and the slide mechanism seems to be of good quality.
At the bottom of the phone are the microphone and stereo speakers. They are well concealed in the phone’s body.
In the rear of the phone you have the 8 megapixel camera accompanied by LED flash. Camera lens has no protection from scratches.

Under the lid you will find the 1000 mAh Li-Polymer power plant, which Sony Ericsson says that it should provide autonomy of 380 hours of standby in 2G and 367 hours in 3G. Talk time reaches 13 hours in 2G and 4 ½ hours in 3G. In fact, if you use the phone a lot, you will charge it on average every two days. If you use it moderately, it will last you for about four to five days. If you like to listen to music, you'll be able to do this for about 31 hours with a full battery. Also under the back cover you will find a micro SD memory card slot, and the SIM card slot
The Aino handles nicely and has a solid feel without being too heavy. . The capacitive screen is very responsive, the slider action smooth.
The phone runs smoothly through applications, it doesn’t get stuck and I did not experienced slow motion situations.

Aino has a 3 inch touchscreen and a resolution of only 240 x 432 pixels and 16 million colors. Resolution is pretty low for a phone with such claims, but the touchscreen is very responsive to commands. The aspect ratio is close to 16:9, making it suitable for watching your movies on the go.
 In terms of telephony, Sony Ericsson Aino works without problems. The sound is loud and clear. Signal reception is good too
Although is not a high-end smartphone, Aino is well equipped for multimedia.

The music player is the latest Walkman Player, which is version 4.0; it has a lot of skins, you may customize them to your liking. It also has a graphic equalizer. The audio quality is pretty good, whether listening to the stereo speakers or headphones.

Aino features an FM radio with RDS and it can store 20 radio stations.
The video player has a simple interface and is efficient. There's no XviD or DivX support of course, but according to Sony Ericsson, their MediaGo desktop software is enough to transfer any video from a computer to the handset in the correct format and resolution that the phone supports.
 The camera impresses with its quality, you get excellent images for a camera with no settings.
They are captured at a maximum resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels. LED flash is very useful for dark environments. It is one of the best 8 megapixel camera on the market. The colors, the contrast and brightness are perfect. About image noise I can’t say, because it lacks entirely.
The Sony Ericsson Aino is also capable of capturing video - and it's VGA@30fps we're talking about here. The LED flash is usable in the video recording. The clips are recorded in 3gp format. The recording quality is not as good as the still pictures, but is acceptable for a phone.
In terms of connectivity, Aino can easily fight with a smartphone.  There's quad-band GSM and EDGE support, as well as 3G network compatibility. The Aino has tri-band 850/900/2100 MHz support for worldwide coverage, as well as a tri-band American version at 850/1900/2100 MHz. Data speeds are quite high with 7.2Mbps HSDPA and 2Mbps HSUPA.

Local connectivity offers the obligatory Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP. Aino also comes with Wi-Fi, which includes DLNA support. Oh, and there's the wired connectivity, which unfortunately makes use of only the proprietary Fast Port connector.

In terms of web browsing, you get an updated version of the popular NetFront 3.5 mobile browser. It offers a much smoother experience than before and renders web pages more quickly. The large screen is great for browsing the web; unfortunately it should have slightly better resolution. One minus of the NetFront browser is lack of support for Flash.
Aino comes with a preinstalled YouTube app only good to look at videos on this site because your Web browser does not support Flash.

Sony Ericsson Aino is great if you want to take pictures, listen to music and surf the Internet. But is not suitable for those looking for a smartphone and want to install complex applications, because Aino permits only Java applications.

 You can have one for free here on a monthly contract deal.

continue reading "Sony Ericsson Aino, Fun Overload"

HTC, a Legend In Its Own Time

After launching Hero and having success with this model, HTC created its legendary successor, HTC Legend. A super smartphone with Android 2.1, exceptional hardware and a nice design. The aluminum housing makes a good impression, and the AMOLED screen offers a very attractive image.
In addition to hardware performance, the software also contributes to the success of this model. Android 2.1 has a lot of useful and interesting news and the apps from Android Market offer the possibility of almost doing everything you want with your phone.

Key features:

Aluminum unibody design
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
3G with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps
Android OS v2.1 with latest Sense UI
3.2" capacitive AMOLED touchscreen of HVGA resolution
Qualcomm MSM 7227 600 MHz CPU, 384 MB RAM
5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash and VGA@30fps video recording
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and GPS receiver
Digital compass
Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate and turn-to-mute
Proximity sensor for automatic screen locking during calls
Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP); File transfer over Bluetooth
Standard microUSB port for charging and data
Standard 3.5mm audio jack
FM Radio with RDS
microSD card slot with support for up to 32GB cards (2GB one included)
USB tethering support right out-of-the-box
Social networking integration with Facebook and Twitter
Web browser comes with Flash support
Multi-touch zooming in gallery and web browser
Direct access to the official Android application repository

 Full specs here.

In the phone’s box I received its charger, microUSB cable, a headset with a 3.5mm audio jack, a 2GB microSD card, a software CD and the user manual.

The phone is very compact, even if it has metal housing. Legend has a length of 112 mm, a width of 56.3 mm and its thickness is only 11.5 mm. The weight of 126g is similar to other smartphones on the market. Using plastic would have reduced a few grams, but the metal offers a very pleasant aspect and I was glad to observe that fingerprints are hardly sticking to the phone. It’s available in two colors, black and gray.
The Legend's frontal side is dominated by the 3.2 inch screen. Lacks secondary camera for video calling. Below the screen are four hardware buttons: home, menu, back and search. Under these buttons you will find the trackpad, which replaces the usual trackball for HTCs. It is easy to use and accurate, but trackball fans will miss it.
The right side of the phone has no button and the left has only the volume control key.
On the top, you will find a 3.5mm audio jack for headphones and the ON/OFF button. The audio jack is not protected against ingress of dust.
The bottom is not made of metal, but plastic. Here is the microphone, microUSB port and the hand strap attachment hole.
The back of the phone is simple. Here is the 5 megapixel camera and LED flash. The camera’s lens is not protected from any scratches, so you may notice a quality drop when taking photos after a while. The camera’s area is soft plastic, in some places having some speaker holes.

The Legend’s 1300 mAh  battery has a good capacity for a smartphone, which consumes more than a regular phone. The manufacturer says it has an autonomy of 440 hours standby and 7 hours talk time on 2G. The 3G autonomy increases to 560 hours standby time, but it decreases the talk time to 6 hours and 10 minutes. The reality is different, because this phone prompts you to use it a lot. If you use the whole capacity and listen to music, watch movies or surf the Internet, you’ll have to charge it it daily. If you use it moderately for calls, messages and occasional take pictures, it will resist even four days. It depends very much on how you configure the screen’s brightness and on the Internet browsing frequency.
Legend uses the new Sense user interface, which is very user-friendly. The processor is powerful  and the memory size is generous enough to eliminate delays.
The call sound quality is very good, the Legend’s speaker provide clear and powerful sound. The signal reception is good too.
The video player does not support DivX / Xvid, so you can just look at 3GP and MP4 movies. The high resolution does not block the phone because the CPU is fast enough.
The music player is simple and efficient, it’s standard on Android phones.
FM radio is present on the HTC Legend. It’s able to automatically search the FM radio stations in range and save them. RDS function prsent.
The camera has 5 megapixel camera and LED flash. You have quite many image settings such as setting ISO speed and white balance, change resolution, layout, photography, etc.. Unfortunately, no dedicated shutter key. Image quality is pretty good, but I expected more from a 5 megapixel camera on a phone with such a big name.
The video is recorded at VGA resolution (640 x 480 pixlei) and 30 fps. The user interface does not differ much from the camera. The video quality is good for a camera of this type.

The HTC Legend’s connectivity is complete and provides a very good speed. For browsing, you have WiFi and HSPA (7.2 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload).
The Web browser is excellent, it loads the pages quickly and accurately, you can load any web page without blocking, even if it is complex. The copy & paste function in Android is available everywhere, being very useful in web browsing. It has support for Flash, so you can browse Flash sites and YouTube.
To connect to the computer, you can use the micro USB data cable and Bluetooth.

Like any Android phone, Legend comes with a rich range of applications. If the pre-installed ones are not enough, you can download many others from the Android Market.
The QuickOffice application is very useful if you work with Microsoft Office files. It knows how to open Word, Excel or PowerPoint. Legend also has an application for PDF files.

HTC Legend also has GPS and it uses Google Maps as map-application. Unfortunately, Google Maps has voice navigation in only a few countries for the moment, so you cannot use the phone as a GPS unless you buy another car navigation application.

In conclusion, the Legend is one of the best phones of the HTC manufacturer. Android is an excellent operating system, which makes this phone to be good enough for any user. Whether you use it for music and photos, surfing the Internet or using it as a GPS, Legend will not disappoint you.

 You can have it here, on a monthly contract deal for free.

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