Nov 23

Samsung Omnia II Hits Verizon Stores

Posted in: samsung, Smart Devices, Today's Chili, Verizon Wireless, Windows Mobile

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Verizon Wireless and Samsung announced that the Samsung Omnia II smartphone, which we originally previewed in June, is now available in stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $199.99 with a two-year agreement and after rebates.

The Omnia II, in its final form, is a Windows Mobile 6.5-powered slab with a 3.7-inch, 480-by-800-pixel AMOLED touch screen, and a rounded and more attractive than the original Omnia. The Omnia II features an on-screen QWERTY keyboard, and a “3D cube” user interface that I hope is an improvement over the Android-powered Samsung Behold II.

The Omnia II also features the excellent Opera 9.5 browser, support for the usual array of Verizon V CAST music and video services, plus VZ Navigator and Visual Voicemail. The Omnia II also packs a 5-megapixel camera with a flash and auto-focus, along with DivX and Xvid movie file support just like the original Omnia. Stay tuned for a full review.

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Nov 20

Hands On: Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 (Rachael)

Posted in: Android, Smart Devices, Sony Ericsson, Today's Chili, Windows Mobile

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I had a chance to test out Sony Ericsson’s new Xperia X10 (codenamed “Rachael”) for a few minutes at last night’s Pepcom in NYC.

The Xperia X10 is a slim, sleek slab with an expansive 4-inch capacitive touch screen with 854-by-480-pixel resolution. That’s the same pixel count but slightly larger than the 3.7-inch screen on the Motorola Droid. Unlike its predecessor, the Xperia X1, the X10 drops the keyboard and also switches from Windows Mobile to Android.

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Nov 19

Palm Pixi Already Discounted to $25 on Amazon

Posted in: palm, palm pre, Smart Devices, Today's Chili

Palm_Pixi.jpgWell, that sure didn’t take long. Amazon has discounted the brand-new, mostly-good Palm Pixi webOS smartphone to just $25 with a two-year Sprint contract, only one week after its introduction.

The Pixi is a smaller, sleeker, but less powerful version of the Palm Pre. The Pixi drops the slider mechanism, steps down to a slower CPU architecture, loses Wi-Fi, and has a smaller touch screen with less resolution.

None of that is terrible, necessarily. The big problem all along has been its big brother the Palm Pre, which is a truly excellent smartphone that was already selling for below $100 when the Pixi hit stores last Thursday. (Via Engadget Mobile)

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Nov 18

Nokia N900 Hits Stores

Posted in: nokia, Smart Devices, tablet, Today's Chili

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Has Nokia finally figured out the formula for a successful Internet tablet-gadget-thing? We’re about to find out, because Nokia just announced the Maemo-powered N900 is now on sale in the U.S. and shipping to customers who pre-ordered the device.

Unlike Nokia’s earlier efforts such as the N800 and N810, the N900 is roughly the size of a regular smartphone. It also actually makes cellular calls on T-Mobile’s 3G network or AT&T’s 2G EDGE network, instead of relying on Wi-Fi or WiMAX. The N900 offers the Linux-based, open-source Maemo OS, along with 32GB
of internal storage, 3G connectivity, multitasking, and the ability to
install third-party apps (commercial, homebrew, or otherwise).

The N900 also features a 3.5-inch touch screen, a full QWERTY keyboard, four customizable home screens, and Adobe Flash 9.4 support within the N900 Web browser. Look for it in Nokia’s flagship Chicago and New York stores for–hold onto your earmuffs–$649 unlocked, as well as online at www.nokiausa.com and www.amazon.com. And if you grab one, let us know what you think of it in the comments.

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Nov 18

BlackBerry Bold 9700 Hits T-Mobile Stores

Posted in: BlackBerry, Smart Devices, t-mobile, Today's Chili

BlackBerry_Bold_9700.jpgT-Mobile announced that the BlackBerry Bold 9700 with Wi-Fi Calling is now available in T-Mobile stores, authorized dealers, and online at www.t-mobile.com for $199.99 with a two-year contract.

The Bold 9700 takes on the slightly slimmer and sleeker look of the Curve 8900, while keeping the best features of the larger Bold 9000–namely, the original Bold’s roomy, comfortable keyboard. The Bold 9700 also contains fewer moving parts, as it loses the bottom compartment latch and the failure-prone trackball of the 9000 in favor of a smooth trackpad.

The Bold 9700 offers a 2.4-inch non-touch LCD screen with 480-by-360-pixel resolution, T-Mobile’s excellent Wi-Fi calling feature, and a 3.2-megapixel camera.

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Nov 16

Samsung Unveils Galaxy Spica Android Smartphone

Posted in: Android, samsung, Smart Devices, Today's Chili

Samsung_Galaxy_Spica_i5700.jpgSamsung has launched the Galaxy Spica i5700, the company’s latest Android-powered smartphone.

It offers an 800 MHz core–meaning it’s probably similar to the Samsung Moment inside–as well as first-in-class DivX video support. The Spica features a 3.2-inch touch screen display, dual-band 900/2100 MHz HSDPA support, and 128MB of internal memory.

The Galaxy Spica also comes with a standard-size 3.5mm headphone jack, a 1500 mAh battery, and the usual full compliment of Google-powered services.

It’s available beginning today in Europe and the CIS region, and will soon expand to the Middle East and Africa. No word yet on an American release.

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Oct 26

Allerta inPulse Smartwatch for BlackBerry Now Official

Posted in: BlackBerry, bluetooth, Smart Devices, Today's Chili, watch

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The Waterloo-based Allerta has officially announced the inPulse smartwatch for BlackBerry–but as we reported last week, it’s not exactly what it seems.

The inPulse isn’t a full-blown BlackBerry smartphone, and Research in Motion has nothing to do with it, as CrackBerry.com reports. Instead, it works as a companion device that alerts you to incoming BlackBerry messages or calendar events.

The inPulse features a 1.3-inch full color OLED display, Bluetooth 2.0, a tiny 150 mAh lithium-ion polymer battery, a glass lens, a vibrating motor for alerts, a micro-USB port to charge the thing, and the ability to install firmware updates over the air. The company estimates that the inPulse lasts about four days on a single charge; it also requires an app install on the main BlackBerry, which needs to run BlackBerry OS 4.3 or up.

Allerta is taking pre-orders for the inPulse smartwatch at $149, with deliveries scheduled for February 2010.

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Oct 14

Acer Unveils Snapdragon-Powered Android Smartphone

Posted in: Android, Google, Smart Devices, Today's Chili

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Looks like Acer may release a smartphone this year after all. The company has announced the Liquid A1, an Android-powered touch screen smartphone. It’s also the first Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered Android device, with a 1 GHz clock speed that should banish all talk of sluggish user interface response.

As SlashGear reports, the Snapdragon processor also means the Liquid A1 will support accelerated 3G graphics. The Liquid A1 will come preloaded with Android 1.6. So far, we know about a few other Snapdragon devices, including the Toshiba TG01 and the drool-worthy HTC HD2–but those devices run Windows Mobile instead of Android, the report pointed out.

The Liquid A1 will feature WVGA resolution; Acer’s own proprietary UI; a geotagging 5-megapixel camera; and Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Picasa, and Flickr integration. No word yet on a price, release date, or even country–though this signals we may see 1GHz smartphones in the U.S. sooner rather than later.

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Oct 12

HTC Hero Lands on Sprint

Posted in: HTC, Smart Devices, Sprint, Today's Chili

HTC_Hero.jpgThe Android-powered HTC Hero smartphone is now available on Sprint, according to eWEEK. It also faces tough competition.

The Hero joins the BlackBerry Tour 9630, the Palm Pre, and the HTC Touch Pro2, giving Sprint subscribers four powerful, capable smartphone choices.

The HTC Hero features HTC Sense, an interesting UI overlay that combines with the capacitive touch screen to make an eminently usable phone. As we found in our review, it’s not the fastest performer, and it’s a little buggy. But it includes a 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, 3G Rev A, and plenty of multimedia capabilities.

Look for the HTC Hero in Sprint stores or online for $179.99 with a two-year contract and after rebates.

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Oct 06

HTC Launches Stunning HD2 Smartphone–Overseas

Posted in: HTC, Smart Devices, Today's Chili, Windows Mobile

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Now this is killer: HTC has unveiled the HD2, a Windows Mobile 6.5-powered smartphone that’s just 0.4-inches thick. That’s despite its enormous 4.3-inch, 480-by-800-pixel capacitive touch display and next-generation 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile CPU. (That display is almost an inch bigger than the iPhone’s 3.5-inch panel.)

The HTC HD2 will be the first Windows Mobile smartphone to feature multi-touch. HTC also outfitted the HD2 with HTC Sense, the company’s less-radical, alternative interface to TouchFLO 3D that made its debut on the Android-powered HTC Hero. Whatever interface it has, that processor should make Windows Mobile 6.5 fly.

Like other Windows Mobile 6.5 handsets, the HD2 will also let users browse, buy, and download new apps from Windows Marketplace for Mobile. The device includes a 5-megapixel camera, a proximity sensor that prevents false screen touches when on calls, and an optional car kit for better in-car GPS navigation.

The HD2 will land later this month on several carriers across Europe, before “rolling out to other regions in the coming months.” Here’s hoping.

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