Motorola i1 Review

Motorola, Inc. and Sprint today broke new ground with the announcement of Motorola i1, the world’s first push-to-talk Android™-powered smartphone. Sleek and attractive, yet durable, Motorola i1 is the first iDEN device to carry the features of a modern smartphone including a 3.1-inch touch screen, Wi-Fi®, optimized browsing experience with the latest Opera Mini 5 browser, access to thousands of apps and a push-to-talk experience that includes exciting new features. Sprint will begin offering Motorola i1 this summer.

With more than 17 years of expertise, Sprint is the industry leader in push-to-talk, serving the world’s largest push-to-talk community with millions of Nextel Direct Connect subscribers on the fastest national push-to-talk network. Nextel Direct Connect® has set the industry standard for push-to-talk worldwide. More U.S. workers communicate in less than a second with Nextel Direct Connect than with any other push-to-talk service.

“Motorola remains focused on delivering differentiated Android experiences within our product portfolio,” said Mark Shockley, senior vice president, Motorola Mobile Devices. “With the Motorola i1, we’re excited to offer iDEN users the opportunity to enjoy a feature-rich smartphone with push-to-talk, whether it’s for work or play.”

“As the first Nextel Direct Connect Android smartphone, Motorola i1 with Wi-Fi offers a powerful tool for our customers with access to thousands of applications in the Android Market™,” said Fared Adib, vice president – Product Development, Sprint. “With rugged durability, a full touchscreen and 5 megapixel camera, Motorola i1 gives push-to-talk customers a compelling smartphone that can withstand some of the harshest environments.”

Motorola i1 enhances the push-to-talk experience with the ability to view who is calling regardless of what application you are in, whether you are managing your emails, checking your calendar, composing messages or viewing media.

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LG Remarq Review

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Proving that it is easy to be environmentally friendly and save money, Sprint (NYSE: S) and LG Electronics MobileComm U.S.A., Inc. (LG Mobile Phones) today announced the upcoming availability of LG Remarq(TM), which meets Sprint eco-criteria and is the latest addition to Sprint’s growing portfolio of eco-friendly devices. Sprint is the recognized wireless industry leader in delivering to consumers and business eco-friendly devices and recycling programs.
LG Remarq will be available on May 9 in all Sprint retail channels including http://www.sprint.com for FREE with a new two-year service agreement and after a $19.99 instant rebate and $50 mail-in rebate (taxes and surcharges excluded). Customers can pre-register for LG Remarq beginning today at http://www.sprint.com/remarq.

Sprint ranked highest among all U.S. telecom companies and #15 overall on Newsweek’s Green Rankings, with a series of new environmental initiatives and green innovations. Sprint also scored highest among U.S. based wireless companies on the Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP) 2009 Global 500 Report on carbon disclosure.

“LG Remarq gives the eco-minded consumer a way to stay connected with the people who matter most at an incredible price,” said Kevin Packingham, Sprint senior vice president-Product Development. “Sprint continues to lead the U.S. wireless industry with our commitment to environmental initiatives and products.”

LG Remarq is a chic messaging whiz with a full sliding QWERTY keyboard featuring a 1.3 MP camera, MP3 player with microSD card slot (supports up to 16GB), Stereo Bluetooth(R) wireless technology and instant messaging. Customers can stay connected to their friends and post their latest pics with easy access to Facebook(R) and Photobucket(R).

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T-Mobile Dash 3G by HTC

Yes indeed, a smartphone with 3G on T-Mobile US! The Dash 3G, otherwise known by its code name, HTC Snap (a name that Sprint stuck with for their HTC Snap), is a Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard Edition smartphone. It has a landscape QVGA non-touchscreen display and a great QWERTY keyboard (we like it best among all the HTC Snap/Ozone variants). Likewise we like the trackball quite well and BlackBerry converts will feel at home.

The Dash 3G offers quite a bit more than the original Dash, including a much faster 528MHz Qualcomm CPU, 256 megs of RAM and flash storage, a GPS that works with Telenav (a $10/month subscription navigation service offered through T-Mobile) as well as Google Maps and Windows Live Search. It has a meager 2 megapixel camera, WiFi and Bluetooth with A2DP Bluetooth stereo support.

Other goodies include HTC’s YouTube player, plenty of IM clients (AIM, Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, MySpace IM and Yahoo) and Microsoft’s Office Mobile suite.

If you’re a T-Mobile G1 user who’s tired of the G1’s bulk and poor battery life, the Dash 3G will seem like a thin slice of heaven. It’s extremely thin, small overall and fits in a pocket. The battery life is surprisingly good for a 3G HSDPA phone and ours easily lasted 3 days on a charge with moderate use. MS Direct Push email will eat more battery, so expect more like 1.5 days if you use push email. That’s obviously quite a bit better than the G1’s battery life, but you do forego the touch screen.

The Dash 3G is thin. That’s the volume rocker on the smartphone’s left side, and that’s the only side control.

Above: the Sprint HTC Snap and the Dash 3G.

The Dash 3G went on sale mid-July 2009, and the price seems a bit high at $169 with a 2 year contract. The retail price is quite reasonable at $349, however. If you want a data plan, the phone is available only with T-Mobile’s 3G Smartphone Unlimited data plan ($25/month with no SMS/MMS and $35/month with unlimited messages), just like the G1. A data plan isn’t required though, for those of you who want to save money and use WiFi for data.

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Nokia nuron mobile reviews

Nokia’s first affordable touch screen phone, the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music, sold like hotcakes in Europe and was available unlocked with AT&T 3G in the US. No love for T-Mobile folks and no contract subsidies in the US meant not very wide distribution for this touch screen phone. The Nokia 5230 followed more recently in Europe as a “Comes with Music” phone, a subscription all you can eat music service that isn’t available in the US. The Nokia Nuron shares much of the 5800’s DNA and almost all the DNA of the Euro 5230 with an almost identical design and the same resistive 360 x 640 touch screen. The price is nice at $69.99 with contract given the phone’s low to mid-range smartphone feature set that includes a GPS with Ovi Maps free navigation, Bluetooth with A2DP stereo, a 3.5mm stereo jack and a 2 megapixel camera. Alas there’s no WiFi and that camera resolution is at the low end for a Nokia phone. The Nuron (Nokia Nuron 5230) is a Symbian OS 9.4 smartphone running Nokia’s S60 5th Edition software. If you’re already a Nokia S60 user, you’ll likely feel right at home, even if you’ve never used the touch screen 5th Edition version. The icons, menus and metaphors are largely the same. That’s great for familiarity, but the user interface still isn’t ideally touch optimized as it is with the iPhone 3GS and Android (two mobile operating systems that were designed from the ground up for touch rather than being ports of d-pad centric product lines). Since Nokia has released six 5th Edition phones, starting with the high end Nokia N97, we’d hoped they’d have evolved the UI more. But the new ^Symbian phones are coming later this year, and we assume Nokia didn’t want to spend much more development time with S60. What exactly bothers us? It’s not just the resistive touch screen, which has its good points: you can use it with gloves and fingernails and it’s more precise. Yes, you do have to press a bit harder than on the iPhone or Motorola Cliq XT, but it’s not a wretched task. What we don’t like is that you actually have to use skinny scroll bars in some places, and those are certainly not finger-friendly and are terribly dated. In some cases you have kinetic scrolling and in others you don’t. Since this isn’t a capacitive display, there’s no pinch zooming. In some places you must single-tap on an item and in other places a double-tap is required. Good gosh, these kinds of things should have been sorted out long ago. The on-screen keyboard isn’t the easiest to use, but once you remember it’s not capacitive and that you must pay attention and precisely tap the key you want, it’s passable. But there are things to like as well: once you get used to how the UI works, it’s easy enough to fly around the screen and get things done. It’s a fun phone to use, though it gets sluggish at times running on an ARM11 434MHz processor with a lean amount of available RAM. The smartphone is compact and very light at 3.98 ounces, and it makes the Cliq XT look like a battleship. Like the Nokia 5800 and 5230, the phone’s hardware is laid out a bit differently from most phones. Nokia ships the phone with a sticker over the display that lets you know that the SIM card slot and microSD card slots are under rubber doors on the side of the phone instead of under the battery door. The Nuron has a screen lock slider on the right, a feature common in recent Nokia phones. It’s easy to operate and saves you from the two step touch the power button then slide on the screen to unlock method that we find tedious. There are dedicated hardware call send and end buttons and a center key that opens up the programs window. These are mechanical buttons and work easily. A touch sensitive button lives at the top right corner above the display and this launches a shortcut bar to the multimedia apps. There’s a standard 3.5mm stereo jack up top (music is one of the phone’s strong points) and a dedicated camera button. The volume buttons are on the right and they control everything except ringer volume (you must use the Profiles settings to change the ringer volume which seems a little silly).

As we’ve come to expect from Nokia phones, the Nuron has excellent voice quality and strong reception. If making calls and holding a signal are important to you, the Nuron is definitely a good choice. It has better reception than the Cliq XT and Nexus One Android phones. Again, like most Nokia phones, the Nuron plays well with Bluetooth headsets, car kits and stereo headsets– it’s not finicky in the least. The contacts application is the usual Nokia affair with plenty of fields. The PIM applications sync with Outlook on the desktop, but there’s no iSync plugin (at least not yet). Using the Ovi Store application, you can download Mail for Exchange which supports syncing with MS Exchange 2003 and 2007 as well as Google contacts and calendar.

We’re a bit disappointed that the phone has only 3.6 Mbps 3G HSDPA when most T-Mobile smartphones are now shipping with the faster 7.2 Mbps flavor. The Nuron is a quad band GSM world phone with 3G on T-Mobile’s US 1700/2100MHz bands. It features Nokia’s usual webkit-based web browser that really impressed us 3 years ago but now looks a little weak compared to the Android and iPhone browsers. It’s not bad though and does a good job of rendering desktop sites (and it’s much better than RIM’s BlackBerry web browser). Email comes in the form of Nokia Messaging, which is functional but not sexy. The phone works with POP3, IMAP, Gmail and MS Exchange email (Exchange support is a free download).

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Motorola Cliq XT

T-Mobile was the first to adopt Android smartphones in the US, and they currently offer the most models. The Motorola Cliq, launched in November 2009, was the first US MOTOBLUR Android phone, and the Cliq XT is T-Mobile’s second MOTOBLUR phone, this time without the hardware keyboard. The Cliq and Cliq XT share similar specs: a 3.1″ HVGA capacitive touch screen, a 528MHz Qualcomm CPU, GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth. But the Cliq XT adds more custom software, and we’re talking good stuff rather than bloatware. These include a very capable music player that integrates with TuneWiki and can download album art and lyrics on the fly, SoundHound (a free music ID app), Slacker Radio, Shazam and a player for Internet video and radio. Motorola has also enhanced the stock Android web browser to add pinch zooming and Flash Lite

The Cliq XT, like the Cliq is a bit outclassed among Motorola’s Android offerings when it comes to looks. The Motorola Droid is of course a high end phone and it looks the part. Even the Moto Devour’s casing is metal and the Motorola Backflip on AT&T is made of alloy and plastics that speak of quality. Neither the Cliq or the Cliq XT try to dress it up: they’re 100% plastic phones. The Cliq XT is the odd man out, neither resembling the small, rounded Cliq and Backflip nor sharing the angular, modern design of the Droid and Devour. In fact, it looks more like an Asian market phone, and if the branding were gone, our first guess would be that Samsung made this phone.

The Cliq XT is a bar style touch screen phone that’s surprisingly large given the relatively small 3.1″ display. It’s almost as big as the high end, high res Nexus One whose screen is a half inch larger. All that space allows for large buttons and an oversized trackpad that sit below the display. These are mechanical buttons that go “click” rather than touch sensitive buttons: a relative rarity on Moto Android phones. Once you become accustomed to a good touch sensitive button implementation, it’s hard to go back to mechanical buttons, especially ones with lots of travel like the XT. The trackpad works like a tiny version of a laptop trackpad, and given the small size, it’s not that easy to use (but easier than the super-tiny trackpads we’ve seen on some Samsung Windows Mobile phones).

Like all Android phones, the Cliq XT has an excellent webkit web browser, email (POP3, IMAP and Gmail) and it can sync calendar and contacts with Google’s services. MOTOBLUR adds good MS Exchange support (email, calendar and contacts) and contacts integration with Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. You can download free and paid applications via the Android Market application on the phone and it has support for Amazon’s MP3 store. We particularly like the custom music and video application that can download album covers and lyrics on the fly. It integrates with TuneWiki and also comes with SoundHound (a free music ID service). The application also handles music video playback (YouTube and GoTV channels), FM radio (a 3.5mm standard stereo headset is required but not included) and locally stored video playback. Given vanilla Android’s bland handling of multimedia, the Music app is a blessing.

Both a textured black back and a purple back are included with the phone.

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Blackberry 9520 Storm 2 Launched in India

Blackberry Storm 2 Storms into India. All you Blackberry lovers, Good news for you, Blackberry 9520 Storm 2 has arrived in India and that too with OS 5. However, with a heavy price tag of Rs.31,990.

Features and Highlights of Blackberry Storm 2:

• The next generation SurePress technology on the BlackBerry Storm2 smartphone – combined with SureType® technology – provides better typing accuracy and a more tactile feel.
• Link to wireless networks or hotspots with Wi-Fi connectivity.
• With a powerful battery and removable back plate for easy battery swapping, the BlackBerry Storm smartphone helps you do what you love, longer.
• Built for speed and endurance, the BlackBerry Storm offers fast, reliable browsing and communication coverage.
• A high resolution 480×360 screen displays over 65,000 colors across a large wide screen – creating an awe-inspiring display that enhances all your multimedia.
• Snap pictures like a pro with the built-in 3.2 MP camera featuring auto-focus and auto-flash. Or catch the sound and action, then share it with friends with the video camera function.
• The familiar BlackBerry phone buttons are at the bottom of the BlackBerry Storm, ensuring an easy transition from browsing to call taking, without compromising current on-screen data.

Specifications of Blackberry Storm 2:

• Wi-Fi® Enabled¹
• 3.2 MP Digital Camera
• Video Camera Capabilities
• Supports BlackBerry App World™
• Bluetooth® Enabled
• Multimedia Player
• SMS/MMS
• Wireless Email
• Organizer
• Browser
• Phone
• Corporate Data Access
• Height::4.43 inches (112.5 mm)
• Width::2.45 inches (62.2 mm)
• Depth::0.55 inches (13.95 mm)
• Weight:5.64 ounces (160 grams)

Battery & Battery Life

BlackBerry Storm2™ 9520:

• Standby time: GSM: 12.7 days (305 hours), UMTS: 11.7 days (280 hours), CDMA: 11.2 days (270 hours)
• Talk Time: GSM: 5 hours, UMTS: 6
  hours, CDMA: 5.5 hours
• Battery: 1400 mAhr removable/rechargeable cryptographic Lithium cell

Memory

BlackBerry Storm2:

• 2 GB Embedded Multimedia Card
• 256 MB Flash Memory

Bluetooth

• BlackBerry Storm2 9520: Bluetooth v2.1+EDR1
• BlackBerry 9500: Bluetooth v2.0
• Mono/stereo headset, hands-free, phone book access profile and serial port profile supported
• Bluetooth stereo audio (A2DP/AVCRP)
• Dial Up networking

Wireless Networks

• Quad-band: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM®/GPRS/EDGE networks
• Single-band: 2100 MHz UMTS/HSPA networks
• Dual-band: 800/1900/ MHz CDMA/Ev-DO Rev A networks

Data Input & Navigation

• Navigation: SurePress™ touch screen
• BlackBerry Storm2 9520: On screen keyboard: portrait SureType®, QWERTY and multi-tap, landscape QWERTY, portrait QWERTY
• BlackBerry Storm 9500: Portrait SureType and multitap, landscape QWERTY, portrait QWERTY
• Dedicated keys: Send, End, Menu, Escape, Left/right convenience keys (default voice activated dialing and camera), 2X Volume/Zoom, Power/Lock, Mute

Wi-Fi

Only on BlackBerry Storm2 9520:

• 802.11b/g enabled
• 802.11 infrastructure mode; ad-hoc mode is to
  be disabled
• 802.11d
• 802.11i including EAP-TLS, PEAP, EAP-TTLS/MS-CHAPv2, PEAPv0/MS-CHAPv2,PEAPv1/EAP-GTC

“Powered with the latest SurePress technology and BlackBerry OS 5,  the new BlackBerry Storm2 offers customers a powerful and unique mix of advanced communications and multimedia features in a smoothly designed smartphone that will appeal to both consumers and business professionals,” said Frenny Bawa, Managing Director, India, Research In Motion.

Price in India:

Blackberry Storm 2 is available in India at a Price of Rs.31,990

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Videocon V1402 Dual SIM Mobile in India

Videocon V1402 is amongst the latest mobile phones launched by Videocon in India. Videocon V1402 is a low priced phone with just more than basic features. It is Priced at Rs.2,895 in India.

Key Features and Highlights of V1402:

• Digital Camera with Video Recording
• FM radio on speaker and Stereo FM recorder
• Large EZI Soft Touch key pad
• Audio Recorder and Loud Speaker
• Bright LED Torch and Mobile Tracker
• 1000 mAH Long life battery
• Upto 4GB expandable memory
• Dual SIM, Dual Stand-by

Features and Specifications in Detail:

• Display and Battery Life
  • 1.8″ Hi Resolution TFT screen
  • 128*160 Pixels
  • 5 Hrs Talk Time/240 Hrs Standby time*
• Dimension:107mm x 46.5mm x 14mm
• Entertainment
  • FM Radio on Loud Speaker
  • Stereo FM Recording
  • MP3 dedicated keys(set by Toggle function)
  • Audio Recorder
  • Loud Speaker
  • 3GP/MP4 video player
• Memory
  • Up-to 2GB Expandable Memory
  • 1000 Phonebook memory
  • 250 SMS memory
• Camera
  • Digital Camera with Video Recording
  • 3GP Video Recording
• Connectivity
  • Dual Band GSM (900/1800 MHz)
  • GPRS and WAP browser
• Colour
  • Black and Orange
  • Black and Blue
  • Black and Grey
• Others
  • Voice Morphing
  • Background Noise Changer
  • Mobile Tracker
  • SMS
  • LED Torch
  • EMS/Smart Messaging
  • Loud Speaker
  • Vibrating Alert
  • Polyphonic Ringtones
  • Wallpapers and Ringtones
  • EMS/Smart Messaging
  • Loud Speaker

Price in India:
Videocon V1402 Dual SIM Mobile is available in India at a price of Rs.2,895

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Videocon V1750 Touchscreen Mobile Phone in India

Videocon Mobiles, the new Player in India Mobile Market has announced new Touchscreen Mobile named Videocon V1750 in India. V1750 is priced at Rs.9500 in India.

Features and Specifications of Videocon V1750:

• First Ever Dual SIM (GSM + GSM) with Smart Divert
• 3.2” WQVGA Full TFT Touch Screen
• 3.5 mm Headset Jack and Adjustable Equalisers
• 3.2 MP Camera with Auto Focus, LED Flash and Image Editor
• Motion and G Sensor
• Bluetooth Streaming (A2DP)
• Upto 8 GB memory expandable

• Display:3.2” WQVGA Full TFT Touch Screen,240*400 pixel resolution
• Battery : Upto 180 minsTalk Time/ upto 150hrs Standby*
• Dimension:111 mm x 56 mm x 14 mm
• Entertainment
  • Music library search
  • FM Radio/Recorder/Loudspeaker
  • 3.5 mm Headset Jack
  • Adjustable and Preset Equalisers
  • Bass Enhancer
  • Music Player supporting formats MP3/ WMA/ AAC/ WAV
  • Video Player supporting formats AVI/ MPEG4/3GP
• Camera
  • 3.2 MP with Auto Focus 4X Zoom Camera and LED flash
  • Image Editor
  • Video recording and playback at 15 frames per second
• Memory
  • Upto 8GB expandable memory
  • 1000 phone book memory
  • 500 SMS memory
• Connectivity
  • Smart Divert* feature for the first time in India.
  • Bluetooth Streaming (A2DP) with Audio Video Remote Control Profile
  • GPRS and EDGE enabled
  • Tri-Band GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz)
• Security:Mobile Tracker
• Colour:Dual Tone Black and Chocolate
• Others
  • Voice Morphing
  • Background noise simulation**
  • G Sensor for auto screen rotation
  • Motion Sensor for changing/shuffling screen, wallpaper, music
  • Motion Sensor based games

Price in India:

Videocon V1750 is available for Rs.9500 in India.

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Fly Linkz E 145 Dual SIM Touchscreen Mobile in India

FLY Mobiles has recently launched their new touchscreen mobile phone, FLY Linkz E145. It is a Dual SIM Mobile Phone available at Rs.5500 in India.

Features and Specifications of Fly Linkz E145 Mobile:

• Dual SIM Mobile Phone with GSM + GSM Capability
• 68.5 grams with 107 X 49 X 8.9 mm dimension
• 3.2 inches WQVGA display, 262 colors and screen resolution of 240 x 400 pixels.
• 2 MP camera
• Video recording
• Video & Photo Call ID
• Bluetooth (EDR +A2DP), USB, and GPRS
• 1150mAh battery
• Talk time of 6 Hrs 30 Minutes and stand-by time of 200hrs
• Internal memory of 8 MB and card slot with an expandable memory of 8 GB
• Social Networking applications supported.
• Full Touch Phone
• Handwriting Recognition
• Drag & Drop Widgets
• Indian Traditional Calender
• Nimbuzz Messenger
• Snaptu
• Opera Mini Browser
• Photo Slide Show
• 3.5 mm Audio Jack
• Accelerometer
• Support Motion & Java Games

Price in India:

Fly Linkz E 145 Mobile Phone is available in India at a Price of Rs.5500

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