HTC Touch Diamond vs. Samsung i900 Omnia

It’s PocketPC playoffs and HTC are giving Samsung a match. With two of the stars of the season arriving in our office all at once, we thought it’s a heck of an opportunity for some Diamond-Omnia-Diamond-Omnia-Diamond-Omnia game-set-match with a pinch of iPhone flavor. We got two aces up to the challenge, so sit back and stretch out. Ah well, get that six-pack too and join us for the kick-off.

HTC Touch Diamond official photos

Diamond over Omnia:

• VGA display (2.8-inch, 480 x 640 pixels)
• TouchFLO 3D Home screen (better than Omnia’s Touchwiz UI)
• Nicer design
• More compact body
• Lighter weight
• Active magnetic stylus (Omnia has no stylus slot)
• Touch-sensitive scroll wheel (better than Omnia’s optical joystick)
• Better sunlight legibility (by a small margin)
• Standard miniUSB slot (as opposed to Samsung’s proprietary custom plus)
• Dedicated graphics chip with 64MB memory
• Comes with the amusing Teeter game (uses the accelerometer)
• Has pre-installed YouTube client and MP3 Trimmer application for ringtones
• Better video playback performance

Samsung i900 Omnia official photos

Omnia over Diamond:

• Bigger, though lower-res display (3.2″, 240 x 400 pixels)
• Has a better, more solid build and finish
• Almost double battery life
• Better CPU performance (by a nice margin according to software benchmarks)
• Quad-band GSM support (Diamond has two versions to cover all the four bands)
• microSD card slot (Diamond has none)
• 8 or 16 GB of storage memory (Diamond has 4GB)
• Much better 5 megapixel camera (better processing, higher resolution, face and smile detection, geotagging)
• TV-out (Diamond lacks that)
• Landscape QWERTY keyboard (Diamond has one but only in browser)
• Auto screen rotation is available in all applications and can be switched off
• Comes with DivX video support (Diamond has none, but DivX players can be installed)
• Has pre-installed a custom Alarms app, a Video editor and a unit converter

Samsung i900 Omnia and HTC Touch Diamond might differ here and there in specs but no doubt we’re talking fine top-of-the-shelf species. Never before have Windows Mobile powered devices been so rich in features without being coyote-ugly (another way of saying TyTN-bulky).

It’s been a year now since Apple iPhone is out and its ground-breaking user interface took the industry by a storm. Windows Mobile however still fails to pick up the gauntlet thrown by the iPhone so device manufacturers are creating their own customized touch interfaces that don’t necessarily require a stylus to make the Microsoft OS a bit more competitive and much more intuitive.

It took almost a year to see all manufacturers introduce their solutions. With the HTC Touch Diamond we are looking at the third generation TouchFLO UI – a really mature and impressive piece of software. The Omnia and its TouchWiz UI is Samsung’s first attempt in this field, but they’re building on their expertise in full touchscreen feature phones and they have achieved some impressive results too.

So you already probably guess that we will be spicing up today’s Windows Mobile competition with a few Apple iPhone quotes. With the iPhone 3G just behind the corner, we think that several key generic comparisons might be of use to most of you. But for starters, check out some photos of the contenders lining up for the Windows Mobile cup. Slick, aye?

HTC Touch Diamond

Samsung i900 Omnia

Before we begin today’s match, we should warn you about the units we are testing. The Samsung i900 Omnia is still a beta version, while the HTC Touch Diamond is a retail unit. However, dozens of bugs are being reported for the Diamond recently, so it isn’t actually as stable as it should be. In fact, HTC are struggling to polish the Diamond performance, which – even though utterly impressive – is rather unfinished at its launch. Looks like HTC made haste to beat the iPhone 3G announcement.

The three hottest touch devices of the season

In all fairness, the both handsets seem pretty stable at this point so their non-final status is not an issue and we can get to reviewing them in detail.

The two contenders for the WinMo throne

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte

Nokia introduced today a new addition to its premium Arte-series. The new Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte stays faithful to the family tradition, and the exquisite finish is yet again tinged with a touch of distinctive personality.

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte is cast in the same mold as the Arte and the Sapphire Arte. The materials used are different this time, carbon fiber with etched 3D patterns dominating the exterior. And yes, it does remind us of the LG KF750 Secret’s battery cover too.

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte

The new Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte will feature the turn-to-mute and tap-for time features that we got to know in the original Arte. Those use the built-in accelerometer to show the time by simply taping twice on the case or mute calls by turning it over. In fact, the only difference in functionality is the internal memory, which has grown to 4GB now.

Some of the other features of the Carbon Arte include a 3 megapixel auto focus camera, 2″ OLED screen with scratch resistant coating. There is also 3G support, as well as Bluetooth and microUSB on-board.

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte will become available in the 3rd quarter of the year (meaning it’s got a month or so) at an estimated retail price of 1100 euro before subsidies or taxes. A wide range of exquisite accessories will ship with the handset. Well, with a price-tag like that they’d better do.

Nokia E66 review: Business Thing

It’s been a while since mobile phones became an essential business tool and a huge number of devices are being specially designed for the purpose (not even mentioning the camera-free versions of some handsets). Nokia Eseries is almost a default name that comes to mind. Following a comprehensive review of Nokia E71, we are set to explore the other hot Eseries gadget. It’s Nokia E66 with a priority appointment in our office. Refreshments served upon conclusion.

Nokia E66 official photos

Key features:

• Quad-band GSM support
• 3G with HSDPA 3.6Mbps
• 2.4″ 16M-color display of QVGA resolution
• Shortcut keys mean business
• Symbian 9.2 OS, S60 UI with FP1 (topped with some FP2 goodies)
• Accelerometer sensor for screen auto-rotation
• 369 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 128 MB of SDRAM
• Wi-Fi
• Built-in GPS receiver, A-GPS
• 3 megapixel auto focus camera with LED flash
• 110 MB of internal memory, microSD expansion, ships with a 2GB card
• Comfortable keypad
• Compact body (62.6cc only)
• Stainless steel casing
• Standard 2.5mm audio jack
• Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• microUSB v2.0
• FM radio
• Infrared port
• Great battery life
• Good retail package
• Nokia Maps comes with three months free turn-by-turn navigation license

Main disadvantages:

• Average camera performance
• Video recording maxes out at QVGA@15fps
• No camera geotagging
• Cheap-looking power key
• Office document editing not available
• No RDS in radio

We’re obviously on a streak here, dealing with phones that are, above all, tools. All right, after a bit of blue collar comic relief with the Sonim XP1, we’re back to the corporate floor with Eseries.

Nokia E66 lacks the full QWERTY keypad of its sibling- the E71 but still packs some serious business power. The great looks and the more than decent multimedia capabilities are also a welcome bonus. Those working in camera-restricted areas are probably the only ones to frown at the business slider but who knows – a camera-free version might be lurking out there.

Nokia E66 in our office

Screening the market for a worthy alternative of Nokia E66, we almost instantly stumble upon Samsung i550w. It has almost the same specs as the Nokia, comes with a larger screen and costs less. Now, all that doesn’t make your choice any easier. Nokia E66 has much better build quality and looks so much hotter.

That said, Samsung seem to have a sub warming up to run against Nokia E66. The Symbian-based Samsung L870 is no lesser looker with that brushed steel hull, though quite trimmed down on specs.

The software goodies are also noteworthy: E66 has some extras that are normally only available to Feature pack 2 (and even some that are Eseries exclusive like the dual homescreen modes).

BlackBerry and their Pearl series are also trying to pressure Nokia E66 but at this stage they don’t seem to have the ultimate challenger. It’s either 3G or GPS, or some other important feature missing, to relegate RIM’s devices to a lower league.

Finally, without the full QWERTY keypad of E71, Nokia E66 is exposed to quite some pressure within the Nokia’s very own Nseries too. With the same OS and Feature Pack 2, the Nseries devices can cover almost all the business applications of E66 and be powerful business tools in their own right.

Sony Ericsson W950i 3G Phone

Detailed Specification and Comments

Key Features
3G Technology
262k Colour Touch Screen (240 x 320 Pixels)
Walkman Music Player
FM Radio RDS
4 Gbytes Memory

Sony Ericsson W950i 3G Phone Review

The Sony Ericsson W950i is a very slim & highly attractive 3G Walkman® mobile phone which comes in an eye catching mystic purple coloured casing. The W950i is extremely thin considering all that is inside the 106 x 54 x 15 mm casing. The phone weighs a total of 112 grams which makes the W950i feel solid & provides a high quality feel to the handset. The phone package comes with a complete Walkman® music kit which includes a stereo headset, music management software & a USB cable. The W950i is from the same family as the Sony Ericsson W800i & the Sony Ericsson W810i but all of the phones have their own unique style & independent features.The W950i come with a large 262k colour touch screen (240 x 320 pixels) which provides the user with the perfect display & the use of the touch screen is an easy way to select menu options. The user will enjoy using the touch screen & find it an extremely user friendly way to manoeuvre around the phones menus. The keypad is very stylish as the keys are totally flush with the handsets surface which is very smooth & simple to use.

The media player is of an outstanding quality & it is very easy to operate. The phone allows the user to actually see album covers on the screen with the help of the built in album art support. The advanced Walkman® player allows the user to transfer music from their computer by using the USB cable which is provided in the Walkman® music kit. The user can download music from the Internet in a matter of seconds. The media player is compliments with some very usable music features which include PlayNow™, MusicDJ™ & Mega Bass™. The user can enjoy listening to their favourite radio station whenever they desire with the built in FM radio.The phone comes with a good quality video clip record feature & the user can use the video streaming feature which is easy & quick to use. The picture phone book allows the user to bring a very personal feel to their W950i by attaching a picture to each contact in their phone book. The W950i comes complete with an animated picture wallpaper, screensaver & themed displays which can be changed to suit the users mood. The imaging on the Sony Ericsson W950i is of a high & clear quality.

The messaging services include multimedia messaging (MMS), text messaging (SMS), email & instant messaging. The MMS service allows the user to send video, images, sound & text all together in one easy to create message to any MMS compatible mobile phone. The instant messaging service allows the user to send a message very easily & quickly to any contact that is online at the same time as the user. Emailing is made very easy for the user as the W950i comes with a push email feature. The phone comes with 3D Java™ games & it is possible for the user to download many more of their choice.

The user will find surfing the Internet a very pleasurable & enjoyable experience with the help of the fast 3G technology. The phone comes with Bluetooth® wireless technology so therefore the user can connect wirelessly to any local Bluetooth compatible device & enjoy the wireless freedom. The W950i comes complete with Opera™ 8.0 which is the ultimate web browser & will provide the user with the Internet experience they have come to expect from their computer.

The W950i has great organisation tools which include a calendar, phone book, notes, contacts, file manager, tasks, alarm clock, timer, stopwatch, business card exchange, calculator & conference calls capabilities.

Sony Ericsson W950i Specifications & Features

Screen
262k Colour Touch Screen (240 x 320 Pixels)

Imaging
Video Clip
Video Streaming
Picture Phonebook
Picture Wallpaper
Screensaver
Themes Display
Wallpaper Animation
Handwriting Recognition
Macromedia Flash Lite™
SVG Tiny 1.1

Messaging
SMS (Text Messaging)
MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
SMS Long
Email
Push Email
Predictive Text
Instant Messaging
QuickShare™
Sound Recorder

Sound
Media Player
Music Tones (MP3/AAC)
MusicDJ™
PlayNow™
Polyphonic Ringtones (40 Voice)
FM radio RDS
Java MIDP2
Mega Bass™
Music Mode
Vibrating Alert
Voice Mail

Entertainment
Java™ Games
Embedded Games
Downloadable Games
3D Games

Organiser
Calendar
Contacts
PIM Sync
Alarm Clock
Business Card Exchange
Calculator
Symbian™ OS
Conference Calls
Phone Book
Speaker Phone
File Manager
Stopwatch
Tasks
Timer
Notes

Connectivity
3G
Bluetooth®
Infra Red
USB Support
GPRS
UMTS
Fast Port

Network
Tri Band Technology (GSM 900, 1800 & 1900)
UMTS
High Speed Data (HSCSD)

Internet
Modem
Opera Web Browser
RSS Feeds

Memory & Talk Time
4 Gbytes Memory
7.5 Hours Talk Time
340 Hours Standby

Weight & Size
112 g
106 x 54 x 15 mm

• Overall Rating: 88.5%
• Design: 90.0%
• Features: 90.5%
• Usability: 87.0%

Sonim XP1 review: Phones that deals with everything…

Introduction

In the world of mobile phones it’s all about diversity, and just about everyone has their favorite. We’ve seen enough of brand loyalty taken to extremes but it’s for the first time we come across a phone that might deal with anything you can throw at it (or better yet – anything that you throw it at). Sonim XP1 is said to survive just about anything.

This ultra-durable bloke can take some impressive abuse and the worst weather extremities. The XP1 may be somewhat under the weather featurewise but hardly any other phone can put up with what this soldier can endure. If you are just as curious as we are, join us as we take the Sonim XP on a really rough ride.

Official photos of Sonim XP1

XP1 model designation has nothing to do with either Micro, or Soft. It stands for Xtreme Performance, simple as that. Sonim XP1 is officially proof against a stream of water, near 1.7-meter-high drop to concrete, and has an operational range from -20C to 60C. We’ve seen it tossed and kicked around, run over by cars, treaded on by elephants, dropped in a cement mixer. Meet the survivor form factor.

The Sonim XP1 (also known as JCB Toughphone in some markets and the Chuck Norris phone in our office) was created for the most challenging of environments and activities. Hardened rubber is molded to the durable non-porous casing, keypad buttons are tested to 500,000 pushes, the screen has a scratch-resistant coating. Finally, the USB port, ear jack and external antenna port are sealed with plastic caps so moist and dirt are kept away from those vulnerable points.

Key features:

• Shock, water and dust resistant (after all, we’re talking the closest a phone has ever got to a weapon)
• Scratch resistant display
• Philips Nexperia 6120 platform
• Push-to-Talk
• Bluetooth v1.2 (Object Push and Headset profiles only)
• Tri-band GSM/GPRS phone
• 1000 SMS storage
• MP3 and WAV ringtones
• Very loud speakerphone
• 10 MB flash memory
• 2.5 mm audio jack
• Nice battery performance thanks to the Li-Ion 1100 mAh battery
• No-questions-asked 3 year warranty

Main disadvantages

• Featurewise on-par with the cheapest phones out there
• No EDGE, UMTS or HSDPA
• Chubby and unsightly, though that may as well be a benefit
• Poor screen resolution, basic user interface
• Compatible with only a slim number Bluetooth headsets
• Quite expensive at nearly 300 EUR
• FM radio could have been a nice add-on
• No extra features such as a compass or a flashlight

Sonim XP1 live photos

Technically, Sonim XP1 is not alone in its class, but the competition is barely up to par when it comes to the most important point: durability. The XP1 redefines ruggedized and scoffs in the face of Sony Ericsson C702, Nokia 5500 Sport and Samsung M110. That’s well reflected in the price too: the XP1 is the most expensive of the lot. Don’t bother guessing the cost of GPS, built-in camera, MP3 player, quad-band GSM and 3.5G. Indestructible costs and you’ll just have to have Sonim’s word on that.

Now, here’s one for you. You’re reviewing cars and you’re well on top of things. You get them sedans, estates and coupes inside out, you peek under the hood, you rev them up, you push them hard, you love’m, you hate’m, and you’re so in control. Then suddenly, a monster truck falls in your lap. What do you do? We, for one, would put a helmet and go car smashing. No, seriously, we didn’t do any nasty experiments to the Sonim XP1, but we’ve prepared a nice video compilation of such tricks so that you can see that the Sonim XP1 is built to last.

Enough of that babbling, let’s get to some real tough work – reviewing the Sonim XP1 ultra durable GSM phone. Take this jump to continue.

Motorola introduces ZN200, W396 and W388

Motorola is throwing three new phones today in the low-to-mid-range skirmish. Coming in three different form factors, Motorola ZN200, W396 and W388 all have shortish spec sheets to most likely be matched by a modest price tag.

Motorola ZN200 comes with quad-band GSM support with GPRS and EDGE connectivity options. Stereo Bluetooth and USB are also on board. There is also a 2 megapixel fixed-focus camera and a 1.9″ 262K-color display with a resolution of 176 x 220 pixels.

Morotola ZN200

The built-in memory of Motorola ZN200 is 30MB, topped with the microSD card slot, which supports cards with capacity of up to 2GB. Finally, the Motorola ZN200 comes complete with an FM radio and the CrystalTalk technology.

Motorola W396 is a clamshell and has two dual-band GSM versions. A 1.8″ 65K-color TFT display with a resolution of 128 x 160 pixels is fitted on the device. USB, FM radio and Motorola’s proprietary CrystalTalk technology are some of its other features. Data transfers are entrusted to GPRS only, as there is no support for EDGE. A microSD card slot allows expanding the internal memory by up to 2GB.

Motorola W396

The best parts about Motorola W396 are its compact dimensions of 95 x 45 x 17 mm and its weight of 88-94g. Yeah, you got that right – Motorola are still of two minds about weight.

Finally, the bar-shaped Motorola W388 has been around the web for quite a while, so its official announcement isn’t much of a novelty. The most affordable of the lot comes with FM radio with RDS, USB port and a microSD card slot. Much like the W396, it will feature a 1.8″ 128 x 160 pixel 65k-color display and will have two dual-band GSM versions with only GPRS support.

Motorola W388

The handsets will become available until the end of Q3 at an yet unknown price.

Double Sales Predicted for IPhone…

New York-based investment banking firm Morgan Stanley has just expressed its belief that the new 3G iPhone and its $199 US price tag will give Apple’s smartphone a big boost in terms of sales.

The prediction is that, the lower price, coupled with the release of the iPhone in additional markets will see some 27 million iPhones being sold in 2009, this being more than double the unit amount expected to be shipped this year. We’ll see…

World Record by FireFox 3…

Mozilla’s record-breaking initiative that was coupled with the release of Firefox 3 has officially paid off as the new browser now holds the Guinness World Record for the most downloads in the course of 24 hours. 8,002,530 downloads have been recorded in the first day of Firefox 3’s life with the number now reaching 28.6 million.

According to Net Applications Firefox’s worldwide browser market share stands at 19.03% and Firefox 3 will surely help bring that percentage up. In the mean time, congrats to Mozilla for the record!