Touch Screen Gadget

Blackberry Bold, iPhone-like with 3G

Posted by admin | Category: Mobile Phone

Research in Motion’s (RIMM) new BlackBerry Bold should be a big hit with IT operations professionals convinced the iPhone isn’t an enterprise-class mobile device but driven to near-aneurysm by discontented employees demanding them.

The device is largely as expected–an iPhonish-looking thing with both GPS and Wi-Fi, 1GB of permanent flash memory, a 2-megapixel camera, full HTML browsing, 3G support on GSM networks with HSDPA access and, of course, the BlackBerry’s one-trick killer app: instant, secure email. That’s a compelling combination for business users and casual ones not easily swayed by the iPhone’s hype juggernaut as well. Indeed, Citigroup analyst Jim Suva says it could boost RIM’s quarterly shipments by 200,000 to 400,000.

But perhaps not without a bit of struggle. The BlackBerry Bold won’t ship until as late as August, which means Apple (AAPL) could beat it to market with the enterprise-friendly 3G iPhone it’s rumored to be uncrating at its Worldwide Developer’s Conference in June. Which has got to worry RIM. After all, the first-generation iPhone had claimed a 28% market share by the fourth quarter of 2007. That’s still less than the BlackBerry, which holds about a 41% market share, but the iPhone hasn’t even been on the market a year.

[digitaldaily.allthingsd]

Does Blackberry a worthy iPhone killer?

Posted by admin | Category: Mobile Phone, Smartphone, Trend Watch & News

Many analyst even I also complain that every new touchscreen handset is promoted as an “iPhone killer”, yet I can’t stop posting about them. This “iPhone killer” story is particularly interesting because it’s about that behemoth of the mobile phone world, BlackBerry.

RIM CEO Mike Lazardis isn’t a fan of touchscreens. In a New York Times story about how RIM is reacting to Apple’s assault on the mobile phone market, Lazardis is quoted as saying “I couldn’t type on [the iPhone’s glass screen] and I still can’t type on it, and a lot of my friends can’t type on it”. Despite their lord and master’s misgivings, RIM is still hard at work producing the BlackBerry touchscreen. RIM engineers have dubbed the long-rumoured touchscreen BlackBerry the “the A.K. – for Apple Killer”. Brave words indeed, RIM engineers.

The NYT article also revealed that BlackBerry’s tactic is to stick close to carriers. This is the opposite to the approach adopted by Apple and Google, who are trying to “dislodge the carriers from the nexus of the North American wireless market”. BlackBerry partner with 350 carriers around the world, and they often sell heavily discounted BlackBerry handsets. Apple sells the iPhone from its own stores and calls the shots with its carriers, offering them comparatively stingy deals. Google has been (unsuccessfully) bidding for wireless spectrum this year, in an attempt to force carriers to be more open to allowing a variety of handsets and Internet services on their networks.

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Full Keypad LG-KF700 launched

Posted by admin | Category: MP3 Player, Mobile Phone

In order to cut out lots of fiddling with menu’s and to create a simple but sophisticated navigation system, LG has launched the KF700 multimedia phone which allows you to input text on a touch screen and on a keypad as well as having a Shortcut Dial. These functions are quickly accessible and allow the user to instantly get to the function that they require without scrolling through endless menu options.

The LG KF700

The 3” touch screen displays its features perfectly and provides a generous screen for watching movies or music videos. With a familiar look and feel to the Apple iPhone, the LG KF700 allows you to flip through the menu with a swipe of your finger and easily access features such as the calendar, scheduler and memo pad. The alpha numeric keyboard slides out from the bottom of the handset for those who would prefer to type texts with the buttons rather than on the touch screen. The Shortcut Dial is located on the back of the phone and quickly accesses six user-selected features by controlling a virtual dial on screen. The shortcut dial wheel can also be used for scrolling through web pages and adjusting volume for example, functions for which a wheel is naturally best.

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Drives millions hook to G900i touch

Posted by admin | Category: Mobile Phone, Smartphone

To organize the busy schedules, Sony Ericsson unveils the latest G900i touch. As a matter of fact, the personal organizer of the handset keeps the lives of the users in perfect order what with contacts, calendars, notes, images as well as access to favourite websites in one place. The inclusion of megapixel camera, media player and 3D games takes the owner of Sony Ericsson G900i to hitherto unexplored levels. With its advanced multimedia functionalities, it also drives the transformation and growth of the converging internet communications with WLAN.

The Sony Ericsson G900i Touch is a slim and stylish 3G smartphone that is available in choice of two coloured casing - dark red and dark brown. The Touch weighs only 99 grams, this means that it is not heavy to hold. This handset sports a slim profile and measures 106mm in height, 49mm in width and 13mm in thickness. The G900i Touch comes with a 2.4 inch screen. The screen offers touch screen text input, web surfing and phone navigation. As a matter of fact, the users can either use their finger, stylus or a pointer. This user-friendly touch screen displays up to 262K colours on a TFT high resolution display.

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CTIA Wireless 2008: All point to iPhone

Posted by admin | Category: Mobile Phone, Smartphone, Trend Watch & News, Windows Mobile

The specter of the iPhone hung over the 2007 spring CTIA Wireless show, casting a dark shadow of uncertainty over the whole event. Fast forward a year to this year’s conference. How things do and, to some extent, do not remain the same.

As expected, the iPhone’s been a huge hit, turning Apple not just into a huge smartphone player, but a significant force in the mobile phone industry period, all from scratch. And while, like last year, Apple did not have a booth, the iPhone’s impact on the wireless world reverberated throughout the show floor.

Unlike 2007, where trepidation over the iPhone’s impact seemed to rule the day, 2008 saw a significant shift in attitude regarding the iPhone. This year, we gathered from our time at the show that the iPhone is now seen by a significant portion of the cell phone industry as representing not just a threat but an opportunity.

Building awareness of capablities and making progress in improving the ease-of-use, access and integration to mobile content were some of the key themes running throughout CTIA this spring. That is, while there are plenty of data services available, most of them aren’t - save messaging - used as much as they could be, that easily, speedily (even with 3G networks), and - most frustrating of all to all stakeholders - on consumers’ radar.

For a lot folks in the industry, while they’ve been aware of these problems for years, the release of the iPhone is what got them out of their malaise and into taking more aggressive action.

So we had a number of vendors, even direct Apple competitors, speaking to us about how the iPhone’s drawn a lot of positive attention to the industry. It has also shown consumers some of things you can do with a cell phone and smartphone that they may not have been aware of before.

On the platform side, at CTIA, you had Microsoft come out with Windows Mobile 6.1, which features mostly usability enhancements, and, over the past year, Nokia adding touch screen support to S60. The first Nokia device with a touch screen, the Tube, started to make the rounds in throughout the Internet rumor mill shortly after CTIA ended.

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"Tube" Nokia’s iPhone Killer

Posted by admin | Category: GPS Navigation & Guidance System, Mobile Phone, Smartphone

Nokia showed its vision of a rival to the iPhone this week at Evans Data Developer Relations Conference in California. The Finnish handset giant will be launching its first touch screen device in the next two months, a spokesman from Nokia confirmed.

The company insists the phone it showcased was just a demonstration of the Nokia’s vision of a touch screen interface rather than a finished product, but the device was uncannily reminiscent of the Apple device.

The touch screen concept phone first made an appearance last summer at Nokia’s GoPlay event in August 2007.

The device will be named Nokia Tube 5800, according to reports. However, the discussion surrounding the device has dubbed it ‘Nokia’s iPhone killer’.

Nokia refuses to discuss specifics of the phone, but according to reports it will have a 3.2 mega pixel camera, 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, a TV output port, and is appointing 140MB of memory.

Although the Nokia version beats the iPhone in some features, such as the 3G functionality, by the time it comes out there may well be a 3G iPhone in the market.

View a demo of the platform concept at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qgg65KgFXY

[mobiletoday]

Pictures: [symbian-freak]

Nokia’s Touchscreen Mobile Phone in sight

Posted by admin | Category: Mobile Phone, Smartphone, Trend Watch & News

Nokia’s rumoured iPhone competitor was shown on a powerpoint slide at the Evans Data Developer Relations Conference on Monday. The handset, code-named as ‘tube’ showed the familiar touch-screen user interface and was demo’d with a movie playback.

“It’s our first touch device,” Tom Libretto, vice president of Forum Nokia told InfoWorld. Interfacing with the system is done via touch similar to the iPhone. He said the company has not published the planned date of shipment for Tube.

This is not the first time that Nokia has shown off a touch-screen handset, as the company showed initial prototypes last November to analysts. The handset appeared to be using a touch sensitive screen with haptic feedback and a screen display which does resemble the iPhone interface, if only superficially. It is expected to be launched later this year. The company also added touch screen capabilities to its smartphone OS - the Series 60 platform - at around the same time.

In a research note last November, when news of the new handset emerged, Nomura analyst Richard Windsor warned that Apple claimed to have patented its touchscreen interface. “I think Apple will likely view Nokia as infringing on its user interface patents,” said Richard Windsor “But I don’t see this being the same scale of the legal battle Nokia has with Qualcomm,”

Taiwan’s Innolux, the world’s second largest monitor assembler has previously confirmed that it has touch screen display orders from Nokia, with shipments expected to commence shortly. Innolux is an affiliate of Hon Hai, which is an outsourced handset manufacturer for Nokia.

A survey last year found that European consumers preferred Nokia to Apple as a handset brand and there have been reports that sales of the iPhone in Europe have been hampered by the handset’s lack of 3G capability. Apple is expected to launch a 3G model within the next couple of months.

[cell-news]

Korea Touch-Web LG LH2300

Posted by admin | Category: Mobile Internet Device, Mobile Phone

T he LG LH2300 has a 3-inch wide LCD display with 800×480 pixels that provides a crystal clear display. The phone has a 3 Megapixel camera with auto-focus and face recognition. If you are a heavy internet user, then this sleek phone is made just for you. The phone is also known as a ‘Touch-Web’ phone for its excellence in using the internet.

LG Telecom has also introduced a new 3G service named ‘OZ’ which is “Open Zone” and provides great internet services to their mobiles.

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LG Venus a classic beauty sleekness

Posted by admin | Category: Mobile Phone

The Venus is a 3G EV-DO device and a capable media player, plus a 2-megapixel camera (though lacking a flash) so there is a cornucopia of usable modes you’ll be accessing with that novel touch interface.

This phone is also a slider and when you do slide the touch-screen face upward, it reveals a very good T9 keypad with nice, large buttons.

Negatives are minor, but I just wish there was a raised bar between the screens to make opening and closing it smoother, such as the Motorola Z6 RIZR. Also, I would have negated the sleek, solid feel, but that’s just personal preference. I could also do without the cheap plastic-leather upholstery on the back. It helps with comfort, but cheapens the look.

All in all, for about $200 with activation you could do a lot worse that the Venus if you’re looking for a solid, fun, feature-packed, easy to use cell phone.

LG Venus in details review

Features
The LG Venus is more than just a pretty face; in fact, it has a very impressive feature set that complements its design nicely. But before we get to that, we’ll start with the basics. The Venus has a 1,000-entry contacts list with room in each entry for five phone numbers and two e-mail addresses. You can organize them by caller groups, and pair them with a photo or any of 16 ringtones and five alert tones for caller ID. Other essentials include a vibrate mode, a speakerphone, text and multimedia messaging, a calendar, an alarm clock, a world clock, a stopwatch, a notepad, a tip calculator, and a voice memo recorder, plus voice command support. On the higher end, there’s also e-mail, PC syncing, USB mass storage, instant messaging, a wireless Web browser, and stereo Bluetooth. A nice departure from Verizon, the Bluetooth supports file transfer, object push, and dial-up networking protocols. In addition, the Venus has built-in GPS so you can use it with Verizon’s own location-based service called VZ Navigator for turn-by-turn directions.

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Verizon LG Voyager package review

Posted by admin | Category: Mobile Phone, Smartphone

The new, feature-packed LG Voyager from Verizon Wireless does many things well. The reasonably compact (though not super-skinny), 4.7-ounce touch-screen phone makes excellent-quality voice calls and flips open sideways to reveal a first-rate QWERTY keyboard for typing e-mail and instant messages.

Its 2-megapixel camera captures digital stills superior to most I’ve snapped with a camera phone, and its little stereo speakers do a pretty good job playing my MP3s (downloaded to the handset or a Micro SD card via a supplied USB cable and Verizon’s V Cast Music Manager). Its built-in GPS receiver and VZ Navigation service (an extra-charge option) were easy to set up and worked well, making the Voyager truly useful for, well, voyages. Web browsing over Verizon’s EvDO network was zippy, and the handset supports V Cast Mobile TV (this extra-cost service wasn’t activated on my test unit, however).

When closed, the Voyager looks similar to an iPhone, with a   face dominated by   a beautiful   2.8-inch display. But as an iPhone competitor, the Voyager falls short in the touch-screen department. While the display looks great and its VibeTouch haptics technology provides good tactile feedback (a little vibration) when you press an on-screen button, fingertip scrolling is disappointing, lacking the effortlessly smooth quality of the iPhone’s implementation.

During trials, the touch-screen and keyboard modes sometimes didn’t play together as well as they should. Several times I tried to launch an app from the touch-screen menu, only to wind up having to flip open the phone and turn it sideways to use the keyboard or navigation pad inside. You can’t activate the speaker phone from the touch screen, and of course any data entry requires the keyboard. Also, I sometimes found the relationship between screen and hardware controls confusing–I had trouble finding the volume control for the music player, for instance.

The Voyager isn’t based on a major smart-phone platform such as Windows Mobile or BlackBerry, so you won’t have the range of productivity applications that’s available for those operating systems. And its battery life in our trials–4 hours and 38 minutes–was poor compared with those of other units we’ve tested. But the handset does deliver a lot of style (not to mention a good hardware keyboard and 3G, but no Wi-Fi, connectivity), along with its messaging, multimedia, and navigation capabilities, for its $349 price tag (with a two-year contract).

If you’re not expecting an iPhone-caliber touch screen and the battery life isn’t too much of a drag–or if you prefer Verizon Wireless to AT&T–the Voyager’s pros may outweigh its cons and provide a good alternative to Apple’s gem.

[wpost]

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