RIM BlackBerry Curve 3G Phone Review
RIM BlackBerry Curve 3G Inside-Mobile Phone Review :
It has taken much longer than expected, but RIM has finally kitted out its entry-level BlackBerry Curve smartphone with 3G connectivity. The BlackBerry Curve 3G smartphone looks identical to the BlackBerry Curve 8520, but adds 3G and GPS capabilities.
The BlackBerry Curve 3G is an inexpensive smartphone targeted at both the corporate and consumer markets. The Curve 3G is virtually identical in design to the BlackBerry Curve 8520, but swaps the combination of glossy black plastic and rubber sides for a more attractive, shadow chrome trim. The external volume buttons, camera key and shortcut button look as if they’re bulging from the rubber edging on each side and are easy to press. Despite the Curve 3G’s light weight, the build quality is impressive and the rear battery cover doesn’t rattle (a common issue on previous BlackBerry smartphones).
<!–more–>A few design issues remain, notably the multimedia and lock keys on the top of the Curve 3G requiring a forceful press to activate, the smaller Curve keyboard emitting an annoying clicking sound when pressed, and the low resolution display. Although this is an entry-level smartphone, the poor resolution and below-average viewing angles make video playback and Web browsing inferior to many competing smartphones.
A real positive is the BlackBerry optical trackpad, which has replaced the trackball formerly used on BlackBerry smartphones. The trackpad has no moving parts and you simply glide your finger across an almost flat surface. It takes a little getting used to the speed of the on-screen movement and scrolling using the trackpad (the speed can be adjusted in the settings menu) but it’s responsive and is a nice way to interact with a non-touchscreen smartphone.
The BlackBerry Curve 3G smartphone will initially ship with the 5.0 version of BlackBerry OS, but RIM has stated that the device is ready for BlackBerry 6 OS. The new features of the BlackBerry 6 OS include a WebKit-based browser, a completely redesigned user interface, new social-networking features, and an improved music library. While the BlackBerry Curve 3G offers the same software features as the Curve 8520 now, the latter won’t be upgradeable to OS 6.
Any BlackBerry is primarily an e-mail device and the Curve 3G supports e-mail through the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) or the BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES). Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents can be viewed and edited thanks to the on-board Word To Go and Sheet To Go applications. The current BlackBerry browser doesn’t match Apple Safari’s high standards on the iPhone and the low resolution display does hinder the mobile Web experience. It’s also far too easy to accidentally click on links. In addition to 3G connectivity, the BlackBerry Curve 3G has Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth.
The low quality display also detracts from the BlackBerry Curve 3G’s multimedia appeal, but a 3.5mm headphone jack, a suite of multimedia apps (quickly accessed by pressing the physical play button on top of the phone) and a microSD card slot go some way to improving the smartphone’s feature set. Unfortunately, the basic 2-megapixel camera takes poor photos and there is no flash. It doubles as a video recorder, but the video quality also fails to impress.
The BlackBerry Curve 3G provides access to BlackBerry App World, RIM’s third-party app store. It doesn’t boast the same number of apps as Apple’s App Store, or Google’s Android Market, but paid apps can finally be purchased in Australia (using PayPal) and most of the popular apps (such as Facebook, Twitter, eBay and Windows Live Messenger) are available.
Reference :
www.pcworld.idg.com.au
Samsung Omnia W Windows phone
Samsung Omnia W Windows phone Inside-Mobile Review :
The Windows Samsung Omnia W is no world beater, but it offers a far better user experience than most mid-range Android handsets at similar price points.
Launched back in 2010 as Microsoft’s last attempt to gain a footprint into the mobile phone market, the Windows Mobile platform has experienced a rough ride. It continues to lag behind popular iPhone and Android alternatives and even RIM’s flagging BlackBerry. It has been largely been held back by poor promotion from manufacturers and telcos alike.
<!–more–>The Windows Samsung Omnia W is a perfect example of this lack of interest. It launched back in January as a Telstra-exclusive, but did not even appear on Samsung’s own website until early March and has barely been promoted at all by Telstra. It isn’t the only Windows Phone to suffer the same fate: only Nokia’s new Lumia Windows Phone range has received any marketing attention.
The Samsung Omnia W is the first Windows Phone that replaces one of the first generation models, in this case the Samsung Omnia 7. It’s also the company’s first smartphone to run the latest Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango” operating system out of the box.
On paper there is little that is remarkable about the Omnia W. It has a faster processor and a more rounded design than its predecessor but maintains largely similar specifications. This phone won’t convert many users of iPhone or Android devices to the Windows Phone platform, but it certainly offers a slick experience at a competitive price.
Despite not offering anything overly new or noteworthy, there are a few things that we really like about the Omnia W. Its rounded corners and compact size means it fits nicely in the hand. It’s about the same size as an iPhone 4S but is more comfortable to hold and use. We like the faux, brushed metal finish on the rear which adds a touch of class to an otherwise bland, plastic slab.
The Omnia W’s 3.7in super AMOLED touch screen is a real plus on a mid-range device. It’s responsive, bright and clear and offers excellent viewing angles. However, it is often hard to see in direct sunlight and the 800×480 resolution is significantly lower than many higher-end smartphones.
The Omnia W has a physical home button that we find far more intuitive than touch-sensitive keys. This Windows key is flanked by capacitive back and search buttons and these are both responsive and effective. The volume rocker, power button and dedicated camera key are all well positioned and provide good tactility, adding to the overall user experience.
Speaking of the camera, we love how it opens within three seconds if you hold down the camera button from the lock screen. The 5-megapixel camera itself produces photos that suffer from plenty of image noise, but the quality is perfectly acceptable for a mid-range device. Shutter speed is also impressive, meaning you can take a multiple shots with minimal delay between snaps.
Samsung has included a front-facing camera for video calls, which can be made through the included Samsung video call app. The 1.3-megapixel front camera will work with any third-party app that utilises this feature such as the Tango video call app, for example.
Reference :
www.pcworld.idg.com.au
Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone
Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone Inside-Mobile Review :
The Nokia Lumia 900 is a critical release for both Nokia and Microsoft. The former is aiming to turn around dwindling market share, while the latter is trying to compete with popular iOS and Android rivals. In the Lumia 900, Nokia has produced the best Windows Phone device ever, but is it enough to steal the limelight away from Apple and Google?
The Nokia Lumia 900 is basically a larger Lumia 800. The Lumia 800 is one of the best looking smartphones on the market and the Lumia 900 is no different. The phone is again constructed from solid polymer, the same material often found in ice hockey helmets. The Nokia Lumia 900 will be available in black, white, cyan and magenta colours, though its not yet known what colour variants will be sold.
<!–more–>Like both the N9 and the Lumia 800, the Lumia 900′s polycarbonate casing is coloured all the way through in the manufacturing process so scratches, dents or marks from everyday use will not show up. The construction and build quality of the Lumia 900 is first class with no creaks, rattles or moving parts. Combined with a weight that is light enough not to be a burden, yet heavy enough to provide a premium feel, the Lumia 900 is the near perfect balance of size and weight. In a mobile world where many smartphones look like identical plastic slabs, the subtle curves and vibrant colours of the Nokia Lumia 900 are a welcome breath of fresh air. This is without doubt one of the best looking and most elegant smartphones on the market today.
The Nokia Lumia 900 is a typical Windows Phone, so it has three backlit and touch-sensitive buttons below the screen (back, Windows and search) along with four physical buttons on the right side: volume up/down, screen lock/power and a dedicated camera key. Like all other Windows Phones, long pressing the camera button when the phone is locked will immediately jump into the camera app ready to take a photo.
One aspect of the Lumia 900′s design that has changed is the SIM card slot. On the Lumia 800 this was concealed via a plastic flap, but Nokia has opted for a different set up this time around. The SIM card slot on top of the Lumia 900 needs a small pin to pry open (exactly like the iPhone), while the micro-USB port is now unconcealed. We much prefer this design as you no longer need to awkwardly dig your finger to open a flap when you need to charge the phone.
The Nokia Lumia 900′s biggest improvement over the Lumia 800 is its display. It now has a large 4.3in screen compared to the much smaller 3.7in panel on the 800. The Lumia 900 uses the same AMOLED display and ClearBlack technology that provides better blacks and improved outdoor visibility, but the resolution of 480×800 has not changed. The Lumia 900′s screen is both bright and clear, but it doesn’t display text as well as many of its rivals. This is particularly evident in the browser, where text is difficult to read unless it’s zoomed in.
Using the Lumia 900 is an almost identical experience to every other Windows Phone on the market. This isn’t such a bad thing as the Windows Phone platform is slick, modern, user friendly and smooth. We didn’t experience any lag during general use, applications opened swiftly with no delay and most core tasks are easy to access and use on a daily basis. As Windows Phone devices are very similar when it comes to software, you can read our full review of the Windows Phone 7.5 operating system here.
Due to Microsoft’s strict hardware and software requirements, vendor-included apps are the main differentiators between Windows Phone devices. One of the biggest selling points for Nokia’s Windows Phone devices is Nokia Drive, a free turn-by-turn GPS navigator. The app is completely free and allows you to install street maps for most countries. Once installed, you can use the map without the need for a mobile Internet connection. The Australian map we downloaded was a 200MB file, while the English UK voice was 4.1MB. The Drive app is basic, but it’s easy to use and effective. The larger screen of the Lumia 900 really makes a difference during navigation compared to the Lumia 800. The Lumia 900 also includes a free 25GB of SkyDrive storage, but this is a feature available on all Windows Phones, not just Nokia ones.
Nokia Music and Nokia Maps are other apps that are available on the Lumia 900. We particularly like the MX Radio feature in the music app that allows you to listen to free music streams sorted by genre, and we prefered to use Nokia Maps over Microsoft’s own Bing Maps solution. A cool feature in Nokia Maps is the ability to quickly access popular places around your current location. You can view a basic “about” description from TimeOut and WCities, explore places by specific category and even see nearby places appear on a map around you, clearly denoted by a categorised icon.
Disappointingly, the Lumia 900 offers less than stellar mobile Internet performance. The browser feels slick and has all the features we’ve come to know and love on smartphones including pinch to zoom capability, smooth scrolling (still far better than any Android phone) and the ability to open multiple tabs. However, it loads Web pages slower than the Galaxy Nexus and the iPhone 4S when compared directly over the same Wi-Fi network, it doesn’t render pages as well as most of its rivals, and opening a new tab is buried three screen taps deep in the settings menu. In addition to text being hard to read unless zoomed in, the Lumia 900 also struggled to display some fonts on various Web sites we frequent.
Speaking of the Galaxy Nexus, the Lumia 900 (just like the 800 before it) shares an issue with Android’s flagship: the volume of its speaker is quite low. This is particularly telling when using the hands-free speakerphone during a phone call, but it also affects the volume of ring tones, too. Even with volume turned all the way up, we often missed notifications when the phone was in our pocket.
The Windows Phone platform has plenty of popular, third-party applications like Facebook, Twitter, Skype, WhatsApp, Rdio, eBay and Evernote. However, the number of apps is low when compared directly with its rivals, Apple’s iOS platform and Google’s Android OS. We have no doubt the Windows Marketplace will satisfy most users and will only continue to grow, but at this stage it is somewhat limited compared to its competitors.
Perhaps the biggest disadvantage of the Windows Phone platform is the reliance on Microsoft’s Zune software for file management. While the same criticism can be aimed at the iPhone and iTunes combination, at least Apple has iCloud to fall back on. Windows Phone has no such backup option that will save important content like your messages, call logs, settings and app data. Thankfully, Microsoft’s SkyDrive service does work well for documents and photos and $11.99 per month for an unlimited ZunePass subscription is a nice option if you regularly listen to music on your phone.
The Nokia Lumia 900 has an 8-megapixel camera with a dual LED flash and a Carl Zeiss lens. The image quality won’t match the quality of the unrivalled Nokia N8 but the Lumia 900 definitely takes a decent photo, provided you are backed by good lighting. Image noise is an issue with many of our test photos appearing grainy and washed out, though the level of detail is sharp. The camera doubles as a 720p HD video recorder and will record at 30 frames per second.
The Nokia Lumia 900′s polycarbonate design means the phone doesn’t have a removable battery, uses a micro-SIM card rather than a full-sized one and doesn’t have a microSD card slot for extra storage. The Lumia 900 only has 16GB of internal memory, which could be an issue for those who desire lots of storage space.
The Nokia Lumia 900 is a dual-channel HSDPA phone, which means it offers theoretical maximum data speeds of 42 megabits per second (Mbps) when using Telstra’s Next G network in Australia. Though you’ll never see these speeds in real use, our Lumia 900 review unit regularly managed to achieve download speeds of up to 15 megabits per second (Mbps).
The Nokia Lumia 900′s battery life is about average for a modern day smartphone, so you should be able to use it for almost a full day before needing a recharge. With heavy use we managed to drain the battery well before the end of the day, though battery performance will depend on a number of factors including usage patterns and 3G network performance and coverage.
Reference :
www.pcworld.idg.com.au
Android Acer Iconia Tab A200 Review
Android Acer Iconia Tab A200 Inside-Mobile Review :
Acer is attempting to use price as its major drawcard for its latest Android tab, the Iconia Tab A200. Retailing for what the company describes as a “very affordable price” of $349, the 10.1in Iconia Tab A200 is significantly cheaper than most of its rivals, making it good value for money in an otherwise overpriced category.
<!–more–>The Iconia Tab A200 is effectively a cheaper version of the Iconia Tab A500, Acer’s first Android tablet. If you place the two tablets side-by-side, however, you’d be hard pressed to tell which one is the inexpensive model. The Iconia Tab A200 has a cleaner looking and more elegant feel than its industrial looking predecessor. The rounded edges, well placed buttons and smooth angles aid its visual appeal, while the soft feeling plastic on the back makes it comfortable to hold. Unfortunately, the excellent materials and build quality are compromised by a hefty weight — at 700g, the Iconia Tab A200 is one of the heavier tablets on the market.
On the left side of the Acer Iconia Tab A200 you’ll find a power button, a micro-USB port for connecting the device to a PC or Mac, a standard headphone jack and a full-sized USB port. There’s also a microSD card slot and a reset button, but these are hidden by an incredibly difficult to remove plastic cover, without a doubt the most questionable design decision on Acer’s part. A volume button and screen rotation lock slider are on top and a port to charge the tablet is on the right side. Small but nifty touches — such as the tiny LED indicator on the power button and the raised indents on the volume button — add positives to the overall user experience.
The Acer Iconia A200 has a 10.1 capacitive LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 1280×800. The screen is relatively responsive and clear, but it has extremely poor viewing angles. Sunlight legibility is also an issue as we found it difficult to read the screen outdoors. The Iconia A200 also lacks the vivid brightness of many competitors, such as the AMOLED screen of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, for example.
Reference :
www.pcworld.idg.com.au
Windows Phone Nokia Lumia 710 Review
Windows Nokia Lumia 710 Inside-Mobile Review :
Nokia’s Lumia 800 may have attracted most of the attention, but the company’s entry-level Lumia 710 is probably more important for its long term Windows Phone strategy. At just $379, the Windows Nokia Lumia 710 is relatively inexpensive and offers better performance than most Android phones at the same price, even if it does have a few annoying flaws.<!–more–>
If you’re comparing the Windows Nokia Lumia 710 to the more expensive Lumia 800, the former obviously cuts back on a few features in order to obtain a more affordable price point. A glossy plastic body is the order of the day and it’s a far thicker phone at a chunky 12.5mm. We like the glossy front (minus the fingerprint magnet surface) and the rubber-style plastic on the rear is comfortable to grip. There is little remarkable about the Lumia 710′s design, but it does feel well constructed considering its low price.
We are normally fans of physical buttons, but the back, Start and search buttons on the Lumia 710 feel stubborn and require a firm press to activate. The same can be said for both the volume controls and the camera shutter key, though these feel slightly less stubborn than the shortcut keys below the display. Microsoft’s insistence that all Windows Phones must have a dedicated camera key once again applies to the Windows Lumia 710 and it’s a welcome inclusion in our books.
The Windows Nokia Lumia 710 has a smaller 3.7in display compared to the Lumia 800 and it’s a standard TFT panel rather than an AMOLED screen. The Lumia 710 has the same 480×800 resolution as the Lumia 800 and also utilises Nokia’s ClearBlack technology that aims to produce better blacks and extra visibility in sunlight. It doesn’t display the same vibrant colours capable on the Lumia 800 and the whites are a little yellow for our liking, but the Lumia 710′s screen is a real plus point on a device that retails for less than $400.
Reference :
www.pcworld.idg.com.au