Hasta La Gadget!

General Mobile — maker of the DSTL1 dual-SIM Android phone — has always walked a fine line between KIRF and originality with its phones, and its latest batch is no different. Normally it’s easy to resist a device widely regarded as a knockoff (for most of us, anyhow), but in the case of the newest model here, General Mobile’s actually managed to answer a question HTC’s failed to so far: where the hell is the HD2 with Android? The so-called “Touch Stone” (deep breaths, Palm) rings true to many of the actual HD2’s specs, from the 5 megapixel camera to the 4.3-inch capacitive WVGA display, but this sucker adds an “optional” analog TV tuner (which won’t do countries with digital transitions any good) and Android 2.0 atop an ARM9-based PXA935 core. Sadly, this phone doesn’t quite exist yet — we were shown a dummy model today with the promise of retail toward the end of the year, at which point HTC and others will undoubtedly have phones like the Supersonic on the shelf. If you’ll excuse us, we need a cold shower, but you’ll find more shots of the Touch Stone along with the Cosmos (launching soon) and Cosmos 2 dummy (launching… well, eventually) in the gallery.

General Mobile’s Touch Stone: how can something so wrong be so right? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget Mobile Podcast 036: MWC 2010 Day 2 – 02.17.2010 originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are many kinds of schwag to be had a trade-shows, and high-tech trade-shows like CES and the Mobile World Congress offer equally high-tech junk. Years ago, the branded give-away of choice was the ballpoint pen. Then, when people stopped writing things down, the PR people would try to buy you off with a useless CD.

Then a strange thing happened. USB sticks started to replace CDs as the method to pass on press info, but they were still expensive. Many of the PR people acted like they were giving you a precious 128MB gift, and that you should be grateful, dammit!

This last year has been different again. Presumably the prices have dropped below that of the CD, because I wasn’t given a single optical disc this year. Instead, the PR people were almost desperate to dish out the USB sticks. It goes something like this:

Me: “Hi. I’m Charlie from…”
PR person (hysterically): “Have you got a PEN DRIVE!?”

Above you see the selection from just the first day of the show, spent and tired after delivering their payload of specs and product shots into my soft, welcoming MacBook. How did they do? Clockwise, from the one that is plugged in.

SanDisk Cruzer, 2GB

This should be the best, as it comes from the daddy of flash memory, SanDisk. It opens like a switchblade, the USB plug popping out to enter the port. The sliding switch doubles as an orange lamp that flashes on activity and otherwise glows sleepily like a Mac’s sleep light. The added bonus comes in the form of its recursive contents, which is the product details of other SanDisk flash drives.

Result: A solid standard

Opera, 2GB

Next is Opera’s offering. The browser company chose a case that mimics the color and logo of its product. The metallic red finish is rubbery to the touch, and inside is a smokey-brown plastic body. The keychain-ring is flimsy, though, and the removable cap easy to lose.

Result: On message.

Pepcom, 2GB

Pepcom is a company that organizes get togethers at CES and MWC. High-profile vendors pitch their wares from tables and invited guests (mostly journalists) get free booze and canapes. For such a well organized and stylish event, this rather pedestrian Kingston pen-drive is a disappointment. It contains contact details of everyone showing at the event, but doesn’t even have Pepcom written on the outside.

Result: Nothing to see here. Move along. And pass me another sausage roll.

Powermat, 2GB

2GB is proving to be the new 1GB — plenty of room for the PDF boarding passes you take once a year to be printed at Kinko’s. Powermat’s 2GB drive conforms, but is non-impressive in any other way. Actually, that’s not quite true. The Powermat pen wins my award for the ugliest stick of the show. The company might make some rather popular wireless charging mats, but whoever chose the USB stick supplier was having a bad day.

Result: Fugly, with metallic trim.

Sony Ericsson, 1GB

This little number was pushed eagerly into my hand by the Sony Ericsson press person, and no wonder: At just 1GB it must have cost just pennies. It is also hard to operate as the hinged, two-part case initially appears to be a slider like the SanDisk. Worse, it has a couple of files on there named MEMSTICK.IND and MSTK_PRO.IND, which cannot be moved to the trash.

However, it wins points back by having a cute green glowing light which matches the equally nice 3D logo, just like you find on SE phones. It also has a removable Memory Stick Micro inside, which would be neat if you own any Sony products.

Result: Stylish and yet hard to use and packed with proprietary technology. More Sony than Ericsson.

Marvell, 2.11GB

Who knows where the extra 0.11GB comes from? This little stick is, apart from the color, the double of the Pepcom pen, although at least Marvell bothered to brand it. It is cheap and ugly in every way, but it does the job it’s meant to do, just like Marvell’s cellphone processors. Dull but functional.

Result: Over-clocked?

SanDisk microSD Card and Reader, 16GB

Yes, 16GB! This monster is not technically schwag or even “press materials”. Instead it is a “review unit” in that it is the product whose details are contained on the other SanDisk drive above. The tiny card reader comes equipped with an even tinier microSD card, which could be put in a phone to store music and photos. To me, this would be completely useless, but hey, it’s so small I’ll probably lose it before I get a chance to test it out. Wait? Where is it?

Result: Already lost.

Barcelona — It may not look like much, but the Armada chipset from Marvell could totally change what your cellphone can do. Based on the ARM v7-spec chip, the Armada 618 also packs in enough graphics hardware to power a home cinema and gaming rig at the same time, all while staying cool and merely sipping battery power.

I caught up with the Marvell guys at the Mobile World Congress, and saw this little box hooked up to a pair of screens. One, which you see above, was running a hi-res 3D video game. The other screen was a huge TV set showing an HD movie.

The Armada is designed to be used in the next generation of smart phones, and will be available later this year. The numbers are impressive. The chipset can drive up to four 2K x 2K resolution displays at the same time, which means it sniffs at mere 1080p, and the 3D-engine can render up to 45 million triangles per second. It will turn your phone into a full-on movie and gaming machine.

The Armada 618 will work with Linux, Android, and Windows Mobile, and even has enough power to run Adobe’s Flash. And of course, its not just limited to phones. The Armada could power an HD netbook and put Intel’s Atom to shame.

Armada 618 [Marvell]

Barcelona — The only thing Motorola’s new handset will quench is your enthusiasm. As the sole new Motorola handset at Mobile World Congress, it’s the one I have to write about. But the Android-powered Quench (to be called the CLIQ XT in the US) is overshadowed by pretty much every other Moto phone I saw.

It’s a competent phone, with a 3.1-inch, 320 x 480 capacitive touch-screen, a 5MP camera and a decent enough 528 MHz processor. It even has a neat extra on the home button, which doubles as a tiny trackpad. But its boring rounded corners and chunky body scream “ho-hum” (imagine that for a second, will you). Everywhere I looked I saw higher definition screens, sleeker, hotter handset designs and more interesting features. In fact, I’m having trouble imagining who would buy the Quench: it’s too big to sell to the mass market, and too limited for the smartphone user. Still. At least the name is honest.

Motorola Quench/CLIQ XT [Motorola]