|
Mobile
|
|
Sunday, 18 July 2010 06:28 |
|
 The DROID X from Motorola could not have launched at a better time. With Apple in turmoil over its flawed antenna design in the new iPhone4, the market is ripe for competing smart phones that may not have the elegance of an iPhone but still pack a punch, and guess what, work really great as an actual phone.
I run into people in Silicon Valley that carry an iPhone and a second phone for voice calls. Often the iPhone is issued through work and the second phone is on the Verizon network. We all know the reason why. The iPhone is an incredible little portable computer but tends to drop calls. If your cell phone is your lifeline you just can’t tolerate dropped calls. Whether AT&T or the iPhone is to blame is moot.
Like other Android phones before it the DROID X from Motorola on the Verizon network makes a pretty compelling case to handle all the necessary mobile tasks for consumers in North America.
The DROID X is big and at first glance simply looks cumbersome. But we’re happy to say it’s actually very comfortable to hold and doesn't feel to heavy for its footprint. The soft touch paint makes it easy to hold and it’s not slippery like the iPhone. We rarely used protective cases for our phones because they usually become antiquated about the same time we tend to break them. The DROID X feels solid and should make it through Verizon's "New Every Two" plan no sweat.
Our initial impression of the DROID X is a good one. It’s fast, sounds good, makes a great media player with the large screen and is easy to carry and handle despite its large size. Navigating the menus and fiddling with apps or grabbing pictures and video is nowhere near as elegant as using the iPhone. Of course, if the DROID X came before the iPhone we'd be saying how slow and quirky the iPhone feels by comparision. However, once you get used to the flow on the DROID X the quickness and multitasking mask some of the ergonomic challenges. Plus it doesn't hurt that it's on the Veizon network. We'll add more to this review after we've lived with the DROID X for a while. It's certainly a device that makes you want to dive in deeper and that's a really good sign for both Motorola and Verizon.
Visit Motorola for more information. |
|
Mobile
|
|
Tuesday, 23 March 2010 17:49 |
 The LG enV3 is a 3G multimedia phone that’s a nice step up from a basic flip phone, especially for anyone interested in primarily talk and text.
The LG enV3 has a nice set of features that includes a full compact QWERTY keyboard that makes it perfect for texting. It’s not too big and can easily be slid into a front pocket. The buttons, hinge and overall feel of the phone is very solid. Call quality is very good and Bluetooth synching was a breeze.
The LG enV3 is a Verizon BREW based phone. BREW is the operating system you find on many of the mid-range Verizon phones. It offers most of the functionality you’ll find in a smart phone but isn’t nearly as elegant or intuitive. But if talking and texting is your thing, who cares?
Audio quality is very good on the enV3. Simply open the phone and use it like a little portable clock radio for background music. It’s surprisingly clear albeit with no low end of course. Nonetheless it’s a good little music player and supports a wide range of formats.
Where the LG enV3 needs serious improvement is with the camera. It’s just not very good. No matter the setting, indoors or out, still pics or video we just weren’t happy with the results. Content just always looked murky. We’re not asking for much, just a clean clip we can send to friends and family.
So if talk and text is your thing and you’re tired of pecking through letters on your flip phone you’ll be very happy with the LG enV3. However, if you’ve got iPhone on the brain and envy, pun intended, the owners of this battery sucking wonder you may want to consider some other smart phone options.
Visit Verizon for more information. |
|
Mobile
|
|
Wednesday, 10 February 2010 06:22 |
 This T215 Speakerphone from Motorola is a great Bluetooth accessory for anyone looking for the fastest and easiest way to be up and running with a hands free setup that doesn’t require sticking anything in your ears.
We love the T215. It’s easy to setup, sounds great and the price is right. We’ve seen it under $50 at a variety of online merchants.
We tested the T215 during rush hour on Interstate 280 here in Silicon Valley. Our team was very impressed with the call quality on both ends of the call. The speaker is plenty loud and both ends of the conversation could be heard loud and clear. A bit of wind and road noise can be heard but overall very good sound.The controls are simple and easy to figure out without the manual and the built in visor clip holds the unit nice and tight.
The T215 is slated for 36 hours of talk time. The battery indicator goes from green to red when it’s time for a recharge. The T215 includes a car charger and can charged indoors as well using a standard micro USB charge that ships with many popular phones including our test unit the LG Env3.
For the technically challenged or not this is a really great offering from Motorola at a very reasonable price. If you’re looking for a painless Bluetooth setup and just can’t stand those obnoxious headsets that always seem to fall out at the wrong time or irritate your ears check out the T215.
Visit Motorola for more information. |
|
Mobile
|
|
Monday, 25 May 2009 08:01 |
 We have waited a long time for a quality camera phone above 5 megapixels, and that time has finally come. The Samsung Memoir from T-Mobile packs a World Class 8 Megapixel Camera. A clever design gives this device a split personality depending on which face you have forward. It's not a softkey function but a conscious design choice to call out very clearly the Memoir's capabilities. So much so that you may be wondering, "Is this a slick little camera with a whole lot of smart phone technology or a full blown smart phone with a really good camera?" Samsung has managed to do a little bit of both.
When you first pick up the Memoir it feels solid and comfortable in the hand. Overall the Samsung Memoir is a nice combination of form and function. It really feels like a luxury device with the metal side caps and leather like finish at the bottom. It has all the important hard buttons you would need for a touch screen phone. We like buttons. It has keys for Talk, End, Back, Volume, Camera, and Lock.
Samsung did a great job with the user interface on this device. It has a side bar that the user can use to send widgets to the home screen. Samsung refers to this as their TouchWiz interface. They even integrate T-Mobile MyFaves into the widget bar, making it less intrusive on the home screen. With everything on the home screen there almost isn’t a need to go into the Main Menu. The accelerometer transitions with a snap as well when rotating the phone to type messages. The on screen Qwerty touch key board was very easy to use and relatively error-free. The camera and video player are very easy to use. For a phone and high end camera combined it does a great job. The pictures are amazing with very sharp and accurate images. It even supports geo-tagging your pics if you want to know the location where you shot them. The xenon flash and automatic camera lens cover definitely helps when you are using it as a phone. Samsung did a great job of integrating Flickr, Kodak, Photobucket, and Snapfish into the camera and gallery for easy uploading of pictures to your favorite site.
On the phone side, call quality seemed to perform very well in the San Francisco area. Calls sounded good on both ends. It's funny but we know lots of our friends in Silicon Valley that have smart phones but constantly complain about the voice quality. Kind of important to get this right. After all, it is a phone first. Yes we dig all the smart phone stuff but if the voice quality's not there, game over. So good sounding phone calls and the Memoir also supports T-Mobile’s 3G network. We didn't do extended tests here but it seemed plenty fast when browsing with the full HTML web browser.
So, who really needs an 8 megapixel camera phone? Well, as far as we can tell just about anyone that can get their hands on one. I've got countless examples of friends and family with digital SLRs and pocket cameras that still rely on their cell phones more than anything else for taking candid shots. Why? Because it's always with them. When your kid is doing something for the first time at the neighborhood park it's nice to be able to take a quality shot. With the Memoir, you always have a formidable image grabber with you.
Which brings us to storage. The microSD slot makes it easy to pop in a memory card for extra storage for music, video, pics and anything else you might want to store on your Memoir and it's compatible with the 16GB microSD cards. To put that in perspective that's nearly 4 DVDs worth of data, on something the size of your pinky fingernail. With an 8 megapixel camera you'll appreciate this feature real quick.
Overall, the Samsung Memoir is not only one of the best camera phones on the market, but a very capable Smartphone as well. We're looking forward to the evolution of this line.
Visit Samsung for more information. |
|
Mobile
|
|
Friday, 30 January 2009 03:27 |
 The MOTOROKR S9-HD Wireless Stereo headphones sound pretty darn good and plenty loud. We tested them with several Bluetooth handsets and were impressed with the range as well as the quality. The headphones are the in-ear type and are fairly comfortable for short periods of use.
These would not be our preferred headphones when it comes to comfort. We don’t care for in-ear headphones unless their custom made. However, if you’re the type that finds in-ear phones comfortable you may find yourself quite impressed with the S9s.
Cords are no fun, especially when working out. Of course, a decent set of corded phones is less than $20. The MOTOROKR S9-HD headphones are about 5x the price and that’s a pretty steep premium to pay, not to mention you now have to worry about charging your MP3 player or cell phone and your headphones. The first time you’re at the gym and your headphone battery conks out you’ll be reaching for the corded phones sans battery.
That being said, we still love the design of the S9s. It’s an impressive amount of technology packed into a sturdy and well designed accessory. This is one of the first times we’ve really taken Bluetooth seriously when it comes to high fidelity audio.
We can’t wait to see how this lineup evolves and how long it will be before we can get this kind of performance in a $29.99 SKU. Until then, if you got the cash check out the MOTOROKR S9-HD headphones and see if you find them comfortable. It’s the next step in a truly cordless world.
Visit Motorola for more information about wireless accessories. |
|
Mobile
|
|
Monday, 05 January 2009 08:04 |
|
 I have to say at first glance this phone looks like any other HTC business smartphone, but once you power it up there's a whole new world with the Android OS that our friends at Google have given us. I have to say it’s a great initial effort since many folks thought we wouldn’t even see an Android based phone in 2008. Okay, barely but it made it.
The commercials and images do not do this phone much justice. It’s really a device with endless possibilities thanks to the Open Source Android OS. Being the first v1.0 product to be released using Android I think they did a pretty good job. Of course, as you would expect with any initial launch there’s plenty of room for improvement. For example, the buttons on the bottom of the G1 (on the right in landscape mode) really get in the way when using the keyboard. We struggled with this when texting. Eventually you get used to it but it’s a bit awkward and we hope it gets addressed in Rev 2.
Okay, so who’s interested? Well, the G1 is a good choice for someone who loves gadgets and is willing to wait for the OS to be modified and expanded. Thankfully we don’t have to wait on T-Mobile/Google 100% to make it happen; instead we have the entire Android developer world working to improve it as well. If you’re a T-Mobile customer this device is a great option for you, especially given T-Mobile's current roadmap for Smartphones.
When I look at the hardware and industrial design the G1 literally looks like a developer phone or even a Beta unit. Given the weight, size, and soft-touch matte finish it seems like it’s a very sturdy device that could easily take a drop or two and survive (which is very important). If I were to sum it up, it’s like a combination of an HTC Business Smartphone, T-Mobile SideKick, and full Touch Screen device running the Google Android OS.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
Mobile
|
|
Friday, 17 October 2008 05:34 |
 Verizon is really starting to get its act together on the music front. The new Rhapsody + V CAST offering is exponentially better than the previous V CAST store and the user experience on the phones is starting to rival standalone MP3 players.
For example, check out the LG Chocolate 3. This phone proves that the third time really is the charm. Previous Chocolates were trendy and did pretty well but never really felt refined enough to recommend. The Chocolate 3 changes all of that.
First off it’s a classic flip that’s easy to tuck away. The buttons feel solid and it has dedicated music buttons. We tried one of the new SanDisk slotMusic cards with this phone and had the music playing in 2 clicks. That’s faster than you can access music on some dedicated MP3 players.
The chocolate includes a full size 3.5mm headphone jack making it easy to plug it directly into the aux input on a car stereo head unit. If that’s not an option it also has an FM transmitter to broadcast the music to your car stereo. This probably won’t be great for battery life but in the car you can have the phone charging anyway. In standalone mode playing music on the built in speakers it sounds like a decent clock radio. Plug in headphones and you’re rockin.
Other features include Bluetooth®, 1GB of internal memory, a 2.0 megapixel camera and a microSD slot for adding more memory, up to 8GB or about 2000 songs. By the way we were able to grab some images from the slotMusic card and use it as wallpaper on the phone.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
Mobile
|
|
Sunday, 29 June 2008 06:34 |
|
If you're looking for a new cell phone this summer and you want the best, check out our funky five. It's hard to go wrong with any of these phones.
    
Depending on your carrier you won't have many options but if you were choosing solely on the functionality of the phone and user experience this is our ranking. Phones are pictured 1-5 From Left to Right.
1. iPhone 3G - With AT&T's healthy subsidy how do you you compete with this? The Interface isn't for everyone however.
2. Nokia N95 - Aside from a goofy power button this brick does it all. Looking more like a camera than a phone it's a true entertainer. 3. AT&T Tilt - For those who like the tactile feedback of actual keys. 4. Samsung Instinct - We never liked that stinkin Blackjack but this isn't bad. Sprint customers rejoice. 5. LG Dare - Apple and Nokia are the kings of handheld UI but LG isn't half bad. Can you hear me now? |
|
Mobile
|
|
Sunday, 08 June 2008 23:05 |
 LG just keeps rolling out the hits for Verizon. The new LG Voyager is one of the first phones to incorporate both a touch screen and full QWERTY keyboard. It includes all the latest toys and features such as Bluetooth, a 2MB camera, MP3 player, and an eight GB SD slot for more storage.
The Voyager is obviously inspired by the iPhone. It doesn't have the ease of use or the elegance of the iPhone but once you play around with it a bit all the functionality is there. Plus something the iPhone doesn't have is real buttons. Having a touch screen in addition to the full QWERTY keyboard is really nice.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
Mobile
|
|
Monday, 15 October 2007 00:00 |
 Portable GPS units are hot items these days and very few pack the features of the 720t. The Mio Digiwalker 720t from Mio Technology does it all but needs a little work on the integration of the various apps and a consistent GUI to tie it all together. This is common in devices that have 'kitchen sink' feature sets often from myriad developers. The 720t is a very capable portable GPS unit first and a camera, media player, Bluetooth enabled device second.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
