Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve been waiting to get our grubby mitts on the LG Arena KM900 and try out the S-Class 3D UI for ourselves, and well — it’s a nice featurephone interface, but it’s not exactly revolutionary. The widget interface is nice, and we’re into the picture-based contacts screen, but the icon-based home screen just feels cluttered, especially when viewed in the expanded horizontal orientation. It’ll be interesting to see how LG refines these elements in its upcoming onslaught of Windows Mobile phones — we wouldn’t drop back to a featurephone for this stuff, but we’d be plenty interested in seeing more phones like the GM730 with this interface. Video after the break!

Read – Engadget Spanish coverage of the KM900
Read – Press release

Continue reading LG Arena KM900 hands-on with video interface tour

Filed under: Cellphones

LG Arena KM900 hands-on with video interface tour originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We had opportunity to check out one of LG’s newest smartphones, the LG GM730 at MWC today. We’ve seen all the specs but thought knew you all needed a really good look at the new S-Class UI. This phone is not final, so our hands-on shows a few interface hiccups, but, you’ll get the drift. So what’s the take away here? This appears to be a darn fine overlay on Windows Mobile, access to things from the home screen are simple and quick: mail, messaging, calendar, menus to get at network settings and so forth are a welcome addition. The device feels sturdy (even without a back) and looks just fine in our sleep deprived eyes. Carry on for a video with all the action and a gallery stuffed full of MWC love.

Continue reading LG GM730 hands-on (with video!)

Filed under: Cellphones

LG GM730 hands-on (with video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Feb 2009 10:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I got a good feeling groping the Nokia N97 here in Barcelona. Not in my pants, but close. Unlike the boring E75, it goes beyond “nice,” aiming its guns against iPhone and Android.

On first touch, Nokia seems to have a nice package in the N97. Even while it’s running Symbian, the interface—which divides the screen in big, easy-to-click buttons—felt quick and smooth.

Physically, the unit is light, although it is chunky next to the iPhone. It is similar to the Android HTC G1, however, which someone had next to me. The surface finish is ok, although the white matte back felt a bit cheap to me.

The full keyboard is good, with each key having the right size and space for fast two-thumbs operation—at least with my chorizo fingers. There’s no multi-touch support, just single touch. The quality of the display was good in this unit, which is headed for release this summer, according to the press conference this morning.

Overall, my first impression has been quite good, but it still feels like a follower, and not a trendsetter. There’s nothing in this cellphone that you can find elsewhere. On top of that, “elsewhere” has two rather exciting software supermarkets, one of them massive. It’s hard to see Nokia competing against Apple and Google in that front, because their N97 fails to better those two except for the better camera.

Here she be, up close and personal, Nokia’s newly official E75 QWERTY slider. We’re still not seeing much of the 9000 series heritage Nokia mentioned in its presser, but it’s one sexy wide-QWERTY phone, any way you slice it. There’s video after the break!

Continue reading Nokia E75 hands-on

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Nokia E75 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Feb 2009 06:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, we played around with the new Windows Mobile-sportin’ nuvifone M20 from Garmin-Asus this evening, but there’s really not much to say: the software is barely even alpha at this point. Most every tap or swipe of the screen was met with a two or more second delay, and we managed to crash a couple of the phones. That said, it’s clear that Garmin-Asus aren’t just adding a pretty launcher to Windows Mobile and calling it a day, there’s some good navigation and location-based stuff happening here, and we look forward to playing around with it all once it’s closer to reality. We don’t look forward to meeting the resistive touch screen a second time, but we’ll just have to live with that fact — at least the Garmin-Asus apps are all touch-optimized, but you might have to pull out the stylus for a gander at the rest of Windows Mobile 6.1.

Update: Official media handed out for the M20 reveals a small handful of new screen shots, mainly a swanky new media player and calling screen that really don’t say a damned thing about the M20’s deep-rooted nav capabilities. Thing is, when you have a winged disco ball, you can get away with bending a whole lotta rules — but yeah, this is one phone where we think we’d rather let the hardware do the talking.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Garmin-Asus nuvifone M20 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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