PDA & Gps Nav Reviews

Posts Tagged ‘review’

Based on the Android operating platform and a processor that provides the operating speed of no less than 528 MHz, the new smartphone from Taiwanese manufacturer HTC is equipped with a large LCD touch control, as well as integrated GPS antenna and Bluetooth technology. Weighs only slightly above average category.

HTC Magic main features: network, display and power

The flat screen LCD HTC Magic has integrated a large proportion. Its 3-inch diagonal measure it. Filter, active matrix TFT, this display is touch sensitive (ie it can be controlled through the so-called touch screen). The screen resolution is HVGA, which displays 320×480 pixels in total. As for available connections, it lacks support HSDPA for navigation at very high speeds, to be precise up to 7.2 Mbps There are also GPRS and EDGE protocols, as well as quad band GSM operability, the frequencies of 850 , 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz. Uses wireless Bluetooth technology and are guaranteed by the Wi-Fi 802.11b / g. Power entrusted to the lithium rechargeable 1340 mAh, with autonomy up to 660 hours standby and up to 500 minutes talk time.

HTC Magic design

The new HTC smartphone Magic has a very refined and pleasing design standards. The lines are very soft, rounded corners and the presence of the now popular screen with touch-screen control enables the containment of space, because that is absent the alphanumeric keypad on the front of the device. The model gives almost all the space in front of the display, in fact, except the area below where they hold the keys to start and stop calling. The main body color is white and also because this contributes to the aesthetics of elegant and original HTC Magic, however, characterized by a standard form or monocoque design. The weight of 118.5 grams including battery, together with dimensions of 113 mm in height, 55 mm in width and 13.65 mm in depth, make it an instrument of medium intensity.

HTC Magic multimedia messaging and main functions

It’s the processor Qualcomm MSM 7,201th to adjust all the core functionality of your smartphone called HTC Magic. The device then uses the platform or operating system Android.
Incorporates a ROM memory of 512 MB RAM and 192 MB total. Among the resources are particularly highlights the integrated GPS antenna, which provides the function of satellite navigation, compatibility with the Google Maps service. Do not miss the media player can encode audio files in standard MP3, AAC, AMR, WMA, WAV, MIDI and OGG among others. Even major video formats are compatible, particularly MP4 and 3GP. Not the presence of radio signals instead. The model has one slot can accommodate memory cards format microSD or SD 2.0. G-Sensor and bush between the special features HTC’s Magic, which handles e-mail in addition to traditional SMS and MMS.

HTC Magic the integrated camera

The view of integrated resources in a technically advanced smartphone certainly is finally completed by the presence of a camera. This is a camera of average quality, when compared with other devices in use on mobile phones (considering that the cameras have provided less than VGA resolution, and that those better equipped with integrated sensors that can amount to 8 megapixels). The total resolution proposed by the image sensor of this camera is 3.2 megapixels and the color filter is there. There is also the autofocus function automatically adjusts as the focus before shooting. Is not specified by the manufacturer the ability to record video clips, although the video message and video call capabilities should be supported by reason of advanced connectivity.

HTC Magic final verdict

Controlled by a processor operating speed of 528 MHz and operating on the platform called Android, the new model of smartphone HTC Magic is characterized by fast connectivity, among which the 7.2 Mbps HSDPA has a screen TFT with size of 3 inches diagonally, which reaches the value of resolution 320×480 pixels. Included also includes a color camera, 3.2 Megapixel sensor resolution, and a media player compatible with a good amount of standard audio and video. Another important resource to consider is constituted by the antenna built-in GPS with support for Google Maps. White, the model contains the weight 118.5 grams, including batteries also. The thickness of the device measures only 13.65 mm.

HTC Magic user review

Based on the appearance, I saw this phone as a collaboration of the BlackBerry and the iPhone due to it’s rollerball navigation as well as the touchscreen technology.
I’ve never bought an Android phone before and I’ve got to tell you, they definitely won’t let you down!

The interface is surprisingly quick and simple to use, there’s the centre screen and a screen to the left and right when dragged in that direction. In which, shortcuts to applications, widgets, customised themes can be placed.
There’s literally 1000’s of free apps and games too just like the iPhone.
A real intriguing app for me was the metal detector, it’s definitely one to show off to your mates!

As it’s a Google phone, it comes with Google Maps, which is excellent. It runs just as well as it does on your laptop/computer. It’s even compatible with the street view.
Another Google feature which can be downloaded in the App Market is Google Sky Map in which it uses the in built GPS and you simply aim your phone around the sky whilst looking at your screen and it’ll accurately provide you with where all the stars/constellations/planets are!

The only thing I could say could possibly do with improving is the camera, it really could do with a xenon or LED flash, however on a good note, when taking a photo in daylight, upload it to your laptop/pc and you’ll see how surprisingly good the quality is for a 3.2 megapixel camera.
The battery life is pretty good. With average use, the phone should last you around 3 days before having to charge up again. Charging time is unbelievably fast, it only needs to be on the mains for about an hour before it’s fully charged and ready to go.

I hope this review has been of some help to you, as I say, the HTC Magic will definitely not let you down!

HTC Magic video review

Compare prices of HTC Magic on Bestproductsreview.net

Click here to check all offers for HTC Magic

Click here to check price of other HTC smartphone

Click here to check the price of all smartphone

The software supplied with the Psion handheld has always been one of the most complete for an average use of the handheld. It includes more applications that are used both for business or simple home use machine. Many of these were taken for inspiration to do new programs, shareware or freeware downloaded via the Internet that will complement the rich software bundle.

Let’s see in detail the characteristics of each program.
The Data Base is named ARCHIVES, is present on both models and serves to store data such as addresses, customers, various collections. There are the normal functions of each database that you respect as research records, sorting and exporting. Ability to insert images, tables, etc..
Series 5mx is also present in the database that handles special CONTACTS exclusively contacts in the form of VCARD in Outlook. And ‘possible to make interfacing with the mail program to EMail Messagesuite for e-mail addresses and GSM phones compatible.
Also in Sieres 5mx was added jotter program which allows the insertion of text or graphics mode sketch. This program can also plug in Series5 but taken from the network.
The agenda is the strong point of Psion. Complete each part allows the inclusion of any appointment, anniversaries, lists the “DA_FARE” of the day and temporary appointments, be confirmed. Display data by Year, Day, week or month, alarm functions and printing. Inserting recurring appointments and, importantly, sync with Lotus Organizer (included with the purchase of the Series 5) and Outlook with some more difficult.

Psion Series5: Internet connection.

Series 5mx was included in the email program directly to ROM. For customers of S5 normal install it from CD or better, using a file from the Psion site where you can download the version 1.52F. Email clearly serves to manage e-mail and FAX. In the version for 5mx you can manage some GSM phones allow sending of SMS messages.
Series5 Browser is a mess. Does not allow the display of FRAMES and JAVA. That provided in the CD 5mx compensates these shortcomings but can not be used in Series5. Lately has been around for a new browser “Opera” which, in beta testing, allows a full view of all web pages.

Psion Series5 Word Processing.

It’s called head and is a wordprocessor. It offers good compatibility with programs for the PC (M $ Word) allowing the insertion of objects such as graphs or tables of calculation, allows the spelling of the document and the use of fonts.

The spreadsheet is a spreadsheet with the ability to create explanatory graphics. In my opinion not a good program, especially because it always offers a comparison with a sacred monster, such as Excel. It ‘very useful if you use very light, maybe just simple tabular calculations because the addition of functions differs a lot from other spreadsheet programs. In this version the 5mx is now possible to order the selected data is totally missing in Series 5.
The program used to record the sound recording and sound needed to create the alarm. It can also be used to record “voice notes”.

The program SpellCheck Italian (or check) allows you to check the spelling of words as anagrams and find missing letters to solving crosswords.
Maps: To view a map with the entire planet earth and set the home city and then get news about the time zone, the code number and distance of every city.

Time: displays, sets and maintains time and alarm the Psion, including or ing office.
Calculator: CALC is the program included in the budget calculator software Series5; consists of two screens “desk” and “scientific.” These are two separate calculators used simultaneously without interference.

Composition: Series5 manages admirably to generate DTMF tones for the settlement of telephone numbers. E ‘numbers can fish from the agenda or otherwise address book simply dial the number manually by typing and sending the call approaching the Psion to the receiver of the phone.
Graphics: allows you to create images of different types exploiting the clip-art included.

Games: this is the game bombs, a remake of Minesweeper.
Comms is communicating with TTY, VT100 terminal emulation through the use of scripts.

OPL programming: the Series5 is programmable and has an editor (Program), to implement programs with OPL, the integrated programming language.
PSi-win is a bundled software of Psion5 that allows connection to a PC running Windows. The Series 5mx is equipped with version 2.3

Psion Series5 video review

Compare prices of Psion Series5 on Bestproductsreview.net

Click here to check all offers for Psion Series5

Click here to check the price of all Pdas

The RIM BlackBerry Storm brewed up a lot of hype and excitement as the first touch-screen BlackBerry. The touch capabilities were news enough alone but add to that Research in Motion’s SurePress functionality (the technology that makes the screen clickable), an impressive feature list, and the competitive $199.99 pricing, and there were a lot of expectations for the BlackBerry Storm to succeed. However, when the Storm finally blew into town, it was a definite letdown because of the phone’s sluggish performance and bugginess.

Verizon Wireless has since released two firmware updates. The latest, released on May 31, 2009, greatly improves the device by resolving a number of bugs and improving general performance while adding some nice feature enhancements. While we would have preferred all of this from the get-go, the BlackBerry Storm is now a more stable device that should please current owners.

Design

In terms of form factor, the RIM BlackBerry Storm doesn’t stray far from the other full touch-screen smartphones on the market today, including the Samsung Omnia and Apple iPhone. Sporting a black casing with silver accents, the handset is a bit blocky and heavy at 4.4 inches tall by 2.4 inches wide by 0.5 inch deep and weighs 5.6 ounces, so it feels a bit wide when you hold it in your hand and it’ll make for a tight fit in a pants pocket. That said, the Storm is a well-constructed smartphone. It has a nice, solid feel and the edges have a soft-touch finish to provide a better grip.
The RIM BlackBerry Storm is a bit shorter and heavier than the Apple iPhone.

While the Storm’s design might not be the most inspiring, the smartphone’s display is another story. Obviously, the fact that the Storm is the first touch-screen BlackBerry is news enough, but its 3.25-inch VGA glass display also demands attention for its sharpness and brightness, showing 65,000 colors at a crisp 480×360-pixel resolution. We weren’t as impressed with the Storm’s screen as the BlackBerry Bold, but it’s still beautiful. You can also adjust the backlighting, font size, and type. The Storm is also equipped with an accelerometer, so the screen orientation will switch from portrait to landscape mode when you rotate the phone from a vertical position to a horizontal one, left or right.

Moving onto the touch-screen capabilities, the BlackBerry Storm uses SurePress, so that when you select an application or enter text, you actually push the screen down like you would any other tactile button. You can see a bit of a gap at the top and bottom of the screen, which but makes the phone. In terms of text extry, the BlackBerry Storm features a soft keyboard in both portrait and landscape mode. Originally, only a SureType keyboard was a available in portrait mode, but with the latest upgrade, you also have the option of a full QWERTY keyboard. It’s not automatic though and you must enable it by pressing the BlackBerry menu key and then selecting Enable Full Keyboard. When using the keyboard or selecting applications, you do a simple finger touch over the item until it’s highlighted and then you press down on the screen to register the action.

The Storm’s SurePress touch screen and onscreen keyboard takes some acclimation.
In addition to the SurePress technology, you can also use a number of finger taps or swipes to perform certain actions. For example, you can tap on the screen twice to zoom in on a Web page or map, or do quick finger swipes to scroll though a page. Also, to copy/paste text, you just touch the screen at the start of the text and then with a second finger, touch the end of the block of text you want to copy. You can adjust the tap interval, hover point, and swipe sensitivity in the Options > Screen/Keyboard menu.

While the SurePress technology is cool, it definitely takes some acclimation. It’s not a natural feeling to physically push down on the screen, and we often found ourselves forgetting to actually press down; instead just tapping or double tapping on the letter button or link. You do get used to it after a while though, but as far as e-mail creation or text messages, we missed having a tactile keyboard. We couldn’t comfortably type long messages as fast as we wanted and when we tried, the message was riddled with errors. The keyboard buttons are just a bit too small and cramped. If I had problems with my small hands, I can only imagine it would be worse for users with larger thumbs.

You get some standard controls below the display, but we missed having the trackball navigator.
Below the display, you do get a set of tactile navigation controls that consists of Talk and End/Power buttons, a Menu key, and a clear button. Unlike other BlackBerry models, there is no trackball navigator and we have to admit that we missed it. It may be that we’re just used to having the trackball, and often we found our thumb automatically looking for the control while trying to scroll through pages and menus. However, even beyond that, we think it wouldn’t hurt to have a trackball navigator since it allows for easier one-handed operation. Also, you wouldn’t always have to rely on the touch screen and it would be useful for certain operations like for selecting links on a Web page.

On the left side, there’s a user-programmable shortcut key and a micro USB port, while the right spine has a 3.5mm headphone jack, a volume rocker, and another customizable button, which is set as the camera activation/capture key by default. The camera lens and flash are located on the backside, and behind the battery cover, you’ll find the microSD/SDHC card holder and SIM card slot. Finally, though not readily apparent, there is a device lock and mute button on the top edge of the Storm.

Behind the battery cover, you’ll find the Storm’s SIM card and microSD expansion slot.
Verizon Wireless packages the RIM BlackBerry Storm with healthy set of accessories, including a travel charger with various adapters, a USB cable, an 8GB microSD card, a SIM card, a wired headset, a software CD, and reference material. For more add-ons, please check our cell phone accessories, ringtones, and help page.

Features

While the RIM BlackBerry Storm might be the first touch screen for Research in Motion, the company wanted to make sure the smartphone offered the same feel and functionality of previous and current BlackBerrys. The Storm runs the latest BlackBerry OS 4.7, bringing an updated user interface much like the BlackBerry Bold and the BlackBerry Pearl Flip. You now get DataViz Documents To Go Standard Edition, so you can now edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files as well. If you want the capability to create new documents, you will have to upgrade to the Premium Edition. We had no problems opening and working on Word and Excel documents, but we can’t imagine doing more than minor edits on the Bold or any other smartphone for that matter. Other PIM applications include a Calendar, a task list, a memo pad, a voice recorder, a calculator, a password keeper, and more.

You can also get more applications for your Storm through the recently launched BlackBerry App World. The store was not available when the Storm was first released, but you can download it through the phone’s mobile browser. We installed it on our review unit with no problem and were able to download apps such as Pandora quickly and easily over Verizon’s 3G network.

For e-mail, the Storm can sync with your company’s BlackBerry Enterprise server, with support for Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino, or Novell GroupWise, to deliver corporate e-mail in real time. You can also access up to 10 personal/business POP3 or IMAP4 e-mail accounts via the BlackBerry Internet Service. Like all recent BlackBerry models, the Storm has a spell-check feature that will look for errors in e-mails and memos, but not text messages. There’s also an attachment viewer for opening Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Corel WordPerfect, PDF, JPEG, GIF, and more.

As a phone, the BlackBerry Storm offers dual-mode functionality, so the phone switches automatically between CDMA and GSM networks to offer seamless international roaming–all while keeping the same phone number. (Note that the phone does not support domestic GSM bands.) In all, you get voice coverage in 157 countries (22 of those on CDMA) and e-mail coverage in 62 countries. Just be aware that you’ll still incur roaming rates, which range from $0.69 to $2.49 a minute. Verizon also offers technical support if you need help while overseas. First, there’s a 24-hour Global Help Desk that’s open seven days a week. In addition, you get a calling card for free support calls while traveling outside of the United States from any landline phone to technical support your BlackBerry Storm is lost, broken, or stolen.

The address book is only limited by the available memory with room in each entry multiple phone numbers, e-mail addresses, work and home address, job title, and more. For caller ID purposes, you can assign a photo, group category, or one of 32 polyphonic ringtones. Other voice features include a speakerphone, voice-activated dialing, smart dialing, conference calling, speed dial, and text and multimedia messaging. You can also download Visual Voice mail. Bluetooth 2.0 is onboard with support for a mono and stereo Bluetooth headsets, serial port profile, phone book access, and dial-up networking. To use the Storm as a wireless modem for your laptop, you will need a subscription to one of Verizon’s BroadbandAccess plans, which start at $15 per month.

The BlackBerry Storm runs on Verizon’s EV-DO Rev. A network, which allows for faster Web browsing, e-mail, and downloads. The Rev. A offers an extra boost over regular EV-DO, bringing download speeds up to the 450Kbps-to-800Kbps range versus 400Kbps-to-700Kbps, while upload speeds will average around 300Kpbs to 400Kpbs (compared with EV-DO’s 50Kpbs to 70Kbps). Of course, this is all dependent if you live in a coverage area (you can find a coverage map from Verizon’s Web site. The smartphone also offers support for the 2,100MHz UMTS/HSDPA, so you can get 3G support while overseas. Unfortunately, there’s no integrated Wi-Fi, which we find disappointing. We realize and understand the argument that the 3G radios does away with the need for Wi-Fi, but we still like having that option, especially if you drop out of range or don’t live in a coverage area.

The BlackBerry Storm has a full HTML Web browser that you can view in Internet Explorer or Firefox mode, depending on your preference. You can check out sites in page view or column view, and navigate via pan mode or cursor mode. In pan mode, you can move around pages simply by dragging your finger and then double-tapping the screen to zoom in. To select a hyperlink, you just highlight the link and then click. Meanwhile, in cursor mode, you can just place the cursor over the link and click or use the onscreen magnifying glass to zoom in. There’s also a collapsible toolbar along the bottom that lets you go to new sites, change views, and more. There is support for streaming media, including YouTube’s mobile site. As we’ve said before, the BlackBerry browser has greatly improved over the years, but it’s still not as easy to use as the iPhone and its multitouch screen.

Last but not least of the wireless radios is integrated GPS. You can use the BlackBerry Storm as a handheld navigator, but to get real-time turn-by-turn directions, traffic data, and more , you will need to subscribe to Verizon’s VZ Navigator location-based service, which costs $9.99 per month or $2.99 per day.

The BlackBerry Storm features a 3.2-megapixel camera with video recording and auto focus.

Moving onto multimedia features, the BlackBerry Storm is equipped with a 3.2-megapixel camera with video recording capabilities, as well a flash, auto focus, 2x zoom, and image stabilization. In camera mode, you get a choice of three picture sizes and three picture qualities. There are white balance settings, and you can add various effects to your photos, such as black and white, and sepia. With the built-in GPS, you can also geotag photos. As usual, options are more limited in camcorder mode as you only get a choice of two video formats (normal and MMS) and three color effects. The volume rocker can be used to zoom in and out in both camera and video mode.

We were pretty disappointed by the picture quality, as colors looked flat and gray.

Picture quality was subpar. While we could identify objects in the picture, they looked a bit soft and the colors were completely washed out. Video quality, on the other hand, was pretty impressive with good light and better image quality than other smartphones we’ve tested.

The Storm’s built-in media player can play various music and video formats, including MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, and MIDI music files, and MPEG4, WMV, DivX4, XviD (partial support), and H.263 video clips. There’s a search function, playlist creation, shuffle and repeat, and you get a full-screen mode for video playback. The included software CD also contains a copy of Roxio Easy Media Creator, so you can create MP3s from CDs and add audio tags. Like the latest BlackBerrys, the Storm also works with the BlackBerry Media Sync application so you can load your iTunes library. There’s 1GB of onboard memory and 128MB of flash memory onboard, while the microSD/SDHC expansion slot can accept up to 16GB cards. Unfortunately, for now, it looks like the BlackBerry Storm will not support Verizon’s V Cast music and video services.

Performance

We tested the RIM BlackBerry Storm in San Francisco using Verizon Wireless service, and call quality was quite good. We enjoyed clear audio with no noticeable background noise or voice distortion, and we didn’t experience any dropped calls during our test period. There were also no problems using an airline’s voice automated response system. On the other end, our friends reported similarly positive results and said they had no problems hearing us. Unfortunately, the speakerphone didn’t fare as well. Both sides experienced choppy call quality as words occasionally were cut off. There was also some slight voice distortion on our end. Overall, we were able to carry on full conversations and volume was not a problem, but we definitely had to ask our callers to repeat themselves on more than one occasion. Finally, we successfully paired the Storm with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset and the Motorola S9 Bluetooth Active Headphones.

Verizon’s first firmware update, version 4.7.0.113, definitely improved performance, but there were still multiple issues. We downloaded the software upgrade using the desktop manager, and the entire process went smoothly with no problems. The biggest improvement we noticed was the improvement in the accelerometer. The Storm was much faster to change the screen orientation when we rotated the phone. However, page redraws are still on the slow side and there’s continued bugginess. For example, while checking out a Web page, we turned the phone to check it out in landscape mode and the screen went on the fritz for a couple of seconds and went completely blank, though eventually the site came back up. Also, when we were listening to music, we changed orientation and the player controls started to flicker. Launching and using multimedia applications like the camera and multimedia player were definitely better, however, with faster response times and the problems with the inconsistent camera toolbar looks to be resolved.

Now, with BlackBerry OS version 4.7.0.148, the smartphone is even more polished. The browser and camera didn’t freak out when we rotated the phone, and in a two-week period, we didn’t have any system freezes or crashes. There are also some nice additions, such as a phone icon on the home screen and better test selection for copy/paste–it’s the simple things. Since we haven’t been using the Storm over a long period of time, we didn’t experience first-hand some of the problems and bugs that plagued its owners. However, some of features of 4.7.0.148 include a fix for the phone freezing during incoming calls or a blank screen appearing while on a call and improved camera functionality.

Music playback through the phone’s speakers sounded blown out, though there was plenty of volume. Thankfully, the built-in 3.5mm headphone jack so should allow you to enjoy better sound quality. Video performance wasn’t quite as dazzling as the BlackBerry Bold’s. There was a bit more pixilation, but we still enjoyed smooth playback. Web browsing was pleasantly swift thanks to Verizon’s EV-DO Rev. A network. It took about 25 seconds to 30 seconds for graphics-intensive sites such as CNET to fully load, while the mobile sites for CNN and ESPN loaded in about 10 seconds.

The Storm’s GPS capabilities were great. It took the smartphone only about 2 minutes to get a fix on our location, and we used VZ Navigator to plot a course from the Marina District of San Francisco to CNET’s downtown headquarters. Route creation was quick and it was able to get us back on course in a timely matter after we purposely missed several turns. That said, the voice-guided directions sounded blown out at the medium-high level and too soft at the medium level, so that was a bit of a struggle.

The BlackBerry Storm comes with a 1,400mAh lithium ion battery with a rated talk time of 5.5 hours and up to 15 days of standby time. In our battery drain tests, the Storm offered 7 hours of continuous talk time on a single charge. The battery performance in day-to-day usage was better. Before the firmware update, the battery would already be at 50 percent after just a couple hours of using the phone, Web, and multimedia applications, but after the update, it would only be drained about 25 percent. One thing we noticed, however, after a period of use the phone gets a bit warm where the battery is located on the back.

Good

The RIM BlackBerry Storm features an innovative touch screen that provides tactile feedback to confirm your selection. The Storm offers dual-mode functionality for world-roaming capabilities as well as EV-DO Rev. A and UMTS/HSDPA support. Other highlights include GPS and a 3.2-megapixel camera.

Bad

The Storm’s SurePress touch-screen takes some acclimation and the onscreen keyboard is a bit cramped. The smartphone can still be sluggish even after the firmware update. Speakerphone quality was a bit choppy

Verdict

The RIM BlackBerry Storm may blow in a frenzy for Verizon Wireless subscribers wanting a touch screen similar to the Apple iPhone. However, there are bugs and performance issues that prevent the Storm from delivering its full potential.

Compare prices of RIM BlackBerry Storm on Priceandoffer.co.uk

Click here to check all offers for RIM BlackBerry Storm

Click here to check price of other Blackberry smartphones

Click here to check the price of all PDAs

The HTC hero is a full touchscreen smartphone, in fact, it is born to remain always under UMTS or WiFi connection, to function as a powerful vehicle that can take the user beyond the simple use of a cell phone. After other models, HTC produces a full touchscreen devices with Android, confirming the intention to focus on the operating system in this period. Will be repeated the goodness of Magic? Let’s see togheter.

Package

We have a USB data cable, headset jack, 3.5 mm and controls on the wire, the 2GB memory card, the travel charger, battery.

Features and Materials

The new HTC Hero is a full touchscreen candy bar device which operates in the dual system UMTS – GSM Quadband. Connectivity is very complete: there is the HSDPA at 7.2 Mbps, the HSUPA with 2.0 Mbps, but the wi-fi and bluetooth (unfortunately only audio, but there are additional programs that expand the functionality), which added to the data cable, return to “talk” telephone and home computer.

Aesthetically, Hero offers a nice change from the usual: the body is not in fact flat, but rounded on the bottom, in a curve that gives harmony to the whole body and personality.

The white color gives extra luster to the entire structure, but it should be noted that, compared to the images you see here, the model on sale will have a more grayish color.

Remains, skiing, the back cover with a covering of Teflon, which finally takes off from a HTC those annoying fingerprints with which we were accustomed. The terminal, in addition to being compact, it is very solid, but not heavy. On the front, sits on a 3.2-inch display, resolution 320×480 pixels, TFT 16 million colors.

The shades are returned with excellent sharpness, and also touschcreen capacitive allows the combined operation of more than one finger, quite agile. Although UMTS, Hero does not have a second camera on the front (not video calls). At your disposal there is only one, the one on the back cover. Si tratta di una cam a risoluzione massima 5.0 megapixel, munita di autofocus ma non di flash. This is a cam-resolution 5.0 megapixel camera, equipped with autofocus but no flash.

The photographs are quite good, especially those caught with lots of light and macros. Meno buoni i filmati girati a 352 x 288 pixel. Less good movies shot at 352 x 288 pixels. Integrated into the shell must not forget the chip GPS, digital compass, and even the accelerometer. Tutti funzionano alla perfezione. Everything runs smoothly.

Dimensions and Touchscreen

HTC Hero is one of the most ergonomic terminals that we have ever used.

Is it because of its compact size, it will be for the solidity of the chassis, or more likely will be for the form factor with that curve on the bottom, but all these things, together, contribute to a great handling and a simple alloggiabilità the terminal.

That is in every pocket, from jackets to skinny jeans to tight (suits curves back …). Hero has a height of 112 mm, a width of 56.2, and 14:35 mm thick, with a weight of 135 grams. As we have already noted more than once in this review, Hero is a terminal full touchscreen, no physical keyboard.

The center control arranged below the display, however, there are a total of six buttons: start and end call, homescreen, menu, and just below the search function and the back, near the excellent BlackBerry trackball style. On the backs, however, have the volume buttons on the left, while right-back is completely clean and seamless.

In the top of the chassis, we have the jack and 3.5 mm, while below you can engage the charging cable / sync the device. The touch screen, capacitive, it works very well: the sensitivity is above average, but perhaps slightly less than the iPhone.

Great it’s the possibility to act on screen with two fingers, for example, when we decide to enlarge or shrink your content.

Our test

As soon as a car produced and marketed, this Hero is completely new.

Not only the interface Sense, but in general the whole user experience is one step further usability of the manufacturer to simple and concrete.
Obviously, this product is a no brand, and will be marketed at a price of 499 euros.

To which you add the digits necessary to equip yourself for a flat subscription data with which to use all round the new model created by HTC. Hero is powered by a 528 MHz processor from Qualcomm, has 288 MB of internal memory and an optimized resolution to determine a simple user interface.

The only flaws of this system to cycle from light delay that in some cases affecting the software: we do not stop dead, but not exactly lightning-quick responses, as we had to wait, if we use fully all the features and widgets that HTC provides. In general, however, be said that the phone has never crashed during our tests, has suffered delays so strong.

The interface is completely customizable, ripetta standard Android, here we have 7 pages Home with the 3 classic., With up to a page indicator in use over the crescent on the phone and dedicated to the menu. In addition, HTC has decided to increase its customization of Android. How? By placing many widgets that you can insert and remove at will on each of the 7 faces. Widgets time, clock, shares of stock, Twitter etc … are all very nice and functional, some of whom need access to data but to stay up to date.

Almost all widgets are present in two versions, small and explosive, depending on how many blocks we want to occupy in the page that are customized. Obviously these shortcuts to contacts and favorite programs. Widgets do not replace the widget HTC Android, which remain available for those who wish to use them.

The screen, a command may be removed, cleaned, changed, to have a phone again and always suitable for every situation.

This enables us to create shortcuts functional, and the merits of virtual keys is that we always have on the bottom of the device.

Very interesting is the possibility of creating custom profiles, or create different homescreen to suit many different situations, switchable with a quick command.

Comfortable touch buttons placed in the bottom of the phone. Among these is also included in the button “telephone”, which we will allow a rapid typing contact numbers (with a quick search of contacts). Navigating between the different sides is almost a game, especially because we will never have fear of missing a notification through the top bar that will keep us updated of any event and that you can open each page by simply sliding your finger from top to low.

The trackball, in this sense, comes to our rescue flashing, and also to display a notice on the front further notice, and even preview (even with the phone locked), for instance for text entry. The icons in the menu, organized in a grid, we access via dedicated keys, the virtual and the physical.

Each item is easily accessible, every feature is accessible with just a few steps of the fingers on the display, from the point of view of the touchscreen there never creates obstacles. The party machine was equipped with a powerful speakerphone, with the reception that is abundant in the media and always sound very good. Maybe a little cold, but clean.

Messaging, in addition to displaying HTML email input, we devise ways to enable the mere writing of the text available, we reduced the QWERTY keyboard, and extended wider, and even the alphanumeric. The user will only have to choose. With Gmail, you have the push email and a virtually equal to that site, folders are included.

Our advice is to always use the T9, the system quickly enter the text may be too intrusive when using the qwerty, but very often effective. Be noted that, whenever we decide to orient in a different terminal, Hero all’accelerometro we will follow through with the positioning in the vertical and horizontal.

Early in our review, but we are left with an important premise: if you want to use Hero the best, forget to go offline with the data connection. The reason is the many points of agreement with social networking, and browsing online, that make Hero the ideal vehicle to reach friends, workplaces and even “virtual”.

Especially with Facebook, Flickr and Twitter, Hero proves capable of a great synergy. Facebook account with no canon, viewable to the special section, but real shortcuts designed for this application.

The contacts in our address book, for example, have a bar on the bottom which not only give us the history of phone calls, messages, e-mail, we can establish a direct dialogue with the Facebook application, as well as Flickr.

Let me explain: we can see, entering a contact, such as text messages I exchanged with that contact, such as mail, its status on facebook and his album uploaded on Flickr, in addition to the historic calls.

All of them, in a single screen. Brilliant indeed!

The additions, however, does not stop there. Even looking at the gallery of images, for example, besides our shared’ll have those of our contacts, Facebook and those of Flicker. A real treat, especially because the speed of loading of the albums online is really good. Web browsing, then, confirms truly remarkable: the scrolling of pages is straightforward and fast, rendering even the size of the disply more than enough to determine an easily readable font even smaller. Full support to flash then allows browsing experience closer to that PC.

And then, we can always zoom in with the movement of the fingers: two on the screen simultaneously to broaden or tighten the magnification. Among other features, you can not forget the multimedia course, with good audio part (no FM radio) and a 5.0 megapixel camera with autofocus but no zoom. The pictures taken are of good quality, especially those made with such light. In the dark, of course, you will have problems. HTC also deeply customize the menus on the camera, which are very similar to the corresponding versions of windows mobile.

Less well, however, the video, shot in a simple resolution of 352×288 pixels. The excitement for this final end there, though, came from the use of GPS. Of course there are the maps of Google, but not all. The fix to the satellites is quite fast, the system functional.

To cheer us, if anything, is the Street View built (as seen on magic). In practice, we can see directly, as on the pc, reproduced not only by our location map on the display terminal, which rotates the rotation of the phone, thanks to the digital compass (you first see him explain that). Hero is proving an all in one device, with a general speed of the processor more than sufficient, and a host of features that will delight owners. A device to promote, a success that can reach significant numbers, thanks to the battery that allows us to use multimedia for a whole day.

SPECIFICATION

• Processor Qualcomm® MSM7200A™, 528 MHz
• Operating System Android™
• Memory ROM: 512 MB
• RAM: 288 MB
• Dimensions (LxWxT) 112 x 56.2 x 14.35 mm ( 4.41 x 2.21 x 0.57 inches)
• Weight 135 grams ( 4.76 ounces) with battery
• Display 3.2-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with 320×480 HVGA resolution
• Network HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz
  Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
  (Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent.)
• Device Control Trackball with Enter button
• GPS Internal GPS antenna
• Connectivity Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets
• Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g
• HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Camera 5.0 megapixel color camera with auto focus
• Audio supported formats MP3, AAC(AAC, AAC+, AAC-LC), AMR-NB, WAV, MIDI and Windows Media® Audio 9
• Video supported formats MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 and Windows Media® Video 9
• Battery Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery
• Capacity: 1350 mAh
• Talk time: Up to 420 minutes for WCDMA
  Up to 470 minutes for GSM
• Standby time:
  Up to 750 hours for WCDMA
  Up to 440 hours for GSM
  (The above are subject to network and phone usage.)
• Expansion Slot microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
• AC Adapter Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz
• DC output: 5V and 1A

CONCLUSION

Value for money
Terminal without keyboard born to remain connected, with lots of technology and multiple ways to get to talk with friends and acquaintances, even in unconventional ways. Qualities are there, then. Price? 499 euros. In line with the top of the range.

Packaging and envelope
Good. There is a 2GB memory card, the stereo controls bell’auricolare thread, travel charger, battery, USB data cable. Niente male, dunque. Not bad, then

Ergonomics
We really enjoyed the chance to have a phone with a sharp corner on the bottom. Truly ergonomic, this Hero, and easy to use even with one hand. Cover with Teflon and display scratch complete the facilities.

Usability
User friendly and easy to use. With a rapid and only a few small delay to be addressed. The many great shortcuts that are available. Obviously it is not like having a physical QWERTY, but the keypad is defended well.

Multimedia
Lacks the FM radio, but instead the well 5.0 mpx digital camera available to us gives excellent performance (not video). Well even the music player. Incredible synergy with the world of web and social networking.

GENERAL RATING

A terminal that ultimately we liked it very much. Capacitive touch screen performance, and generally lots of opportunities to complete a huge variety of operations. A device created to stay under cover data.To be taken into account. Success.

Compare prices of HTC Hero on Priceandoffer.co.uk

Click here to check all offers for HTC Hero

Click here to check price of other HTC smartphones

Click here to check the price of all PDAs

The trade in eBook readers is picking up considerable momentum right now. After a few years on the sidelines, and devices dribbling out at snail’s pace, we’ve seen a flurry of products hit the market in recent months, and there’s now a new name to add to the list: the iRiver Story.

While not exactly a household name here in the UK, iRiver can usually be relied upon to cook up a quality product that’s a little different from the norm. Entering the e-book reader market with the Story, this all-white device looks a lot like Amazon’s Kindle. On more careful inspection its obvious the similarities are simply down to the colour and the presence of a full Qwerty keyboard below the 6in electronic paper screen, rather than any shared heritage.

At 127 x 203.5 x 9.4mm and weighing 284g the Story is par for the e-book reader course. Even if the white plastic case lacks the cool, machined finesse of Sony’s aluminium Readers, it still has a solid and substantial feel to it and will only flex or groan when subjected to some pretty severe torque.

The Story is heavily tapered on three sides with only the bottom having a flat surface. This is home to a 3.5mm headphones jack, the on/off switch, mini USB and SD card slots – the latter two being concealed by a plastic flap in typical iRiver style. The SD card slot requires just a little too much in the way of push to get the card to sit. Fine if you have long fingernails, a bit of a pain if you don’t.

Like Amazon, iRiver has done a service to both the left and right handed users by duplicating the page turn keys that sit next to the keypad and form part of the fascia on both sides of the unit. For one-handed use though, the page turn keys could have done with being placed a few centimetres nearer the top.

The keyboard itself is well designed and built. The keys are well spaced and have a firm and pleasant action making it look and feel a bit like the best keypads from HTC. The majority of the Story’s controls sit together in a row above the letter keys, while four arrow keys for navigation along with the Back and Enter keys are grouped together at the bottom right hand corner of the keyboard.

All the keys are labelled with admirable clarity, rather than with cryptic symbols. In typical Korean style, the Story comes with a fair amount of extra functionality including a voice recorder, memo facility and diary. Of course, all these features can also be found on any half decent mobile phone, so we wouldn’t hold them up as reasons to buy a Story in the first place.

iRiver supplies the Story with an impressive 2GB of built-in storage, but the SD card slot is good for another 32GB. Applying Register Hardware’s patented e-book reader storage formula, we find that the Reader will hold 1037 copies of War and Peace or 2554 of Moby Dick in ePub format, after the system has swallowed its 300-odd megabyte morsel.

Being iRiver the storage system has its idiosyncrasies, so if you load your SD card with music files and then try to access the card from the Home screen menu, they vanish. What you have to do is hit the Menu key, select Music and then SD Card, then your music reappears. The same is true for image files, which have to be accessed from the Comic menu key.

Data on the storage card and in the on-board memory are kept separate, rather than presented as a whole but, thankfully, the main menu also contains a Folder view, which gives you an unfiltered picture of what exactly is where.

Aside from MP3 files, unlike Sony’s Reader Touch, the Story’s music player can also handle Ogg and WMA files. It presents your music library in a sensible artist/album folder layout too, and puts album tracks in the correct running order rather than alphabetically. While short on offering fully-fledged ID3 tag support, it does at least make the Story a genuinely usable device capable of handling a large music library.

Music files can be loaded onto the Story using an MTP media player. It sounds pretty good, helped by the eight different available EQ settings. Given the MTP support, it’s a slight shame iRiver didn’t fit the Story will a playlist facility. Even the 0.6W mono speaker round the back does a pretty decent job of audio playback and never makes listening to music too painful even at higher volumes.

iRiver divides the Story’s file support into three categories – the E-Book Viewer handles ePub and PDF files while the Office Viewer can cope with PowerPoint, PDF, Word, plain text and Excel spreadsheet files. The Comic Viewer deals with JPEG, GIF and BMP files contained in zip archives or loaded individually.

We have two minor complaints about the Story’s file handling. Firstly, if you want your PDFs to reflow, you will need to update the Story’s firmware from v1.02 to 1.04 which is pretty straightforward once you have downloaded the new firmware from here.

Secondly, the text in Excel files always appeared rather too small to read comfortably even when the magnification was set to maximum. Flip the image into landscape and the zoom option vanishes all together when looking at spreadsheets. Someone at iRiver needs a slap around the head for that, but hopefully a future firmware update with take care of things.

The Story’s screen is the now common 800 x 600 E Ink affair. With its eight levels of grey scale it is crisp, clear and easy to read. While the Story doesn’t ‘turn’ pages any faster than other e-book readers we have tested, the basic menu system does move a lot faster. Flicking up and down through the library was a noticeably more brisk affair than it was on the Sony Readers.

Navigating about the Story’s menu system is helped by the home screen’s double menu layout. If you are scrolling through your books or tunes, just hit the left arrow button and the cursor moves to the small subsidiary menu without having to refresh the entire page. Similarly, if you hit the Menu key a pop-up menu appears allowing direct access to all the Story’s functions, again without a time consuming page refresh.

Conveniently, you can control the music player directly from the keypad even when it is playing the background, so changing track, pausing or altering the volume doesn’t have to interrupt your reading. The only trick iRiver has missed on the book reading front is not having a one-touch bookmark button. As it is, you have to hit Option, arrow down to highlight Add Bookmark and then select. It’s a bit of a faff compared to Sony’s one hit system.

iRiver doesn’t supply any e-book management software, so loading non-DRM content is a simple matter of drag’n'drop which worked out of the box with Mac and Linux machines, as well as Windows. If you want to load DRM protected files, then Windows and Mac users can download Adobe’s Digital Editions software, which works a treat with the Story.

When it comes to battery life, the Story again comes on strong. iRiver quotes 9,000 page turns or 20 hours of audio playback. The latter proved to be a little optimistic, as the best we managed was 17 hours, but that’s still not bad going and the Story is over a thousand page turns better than any of Sony’s Reader’s can manage.

It’s a pity that iRiver’s rather useful combined zip-lock bag and carry case doesn’t come with the Story. In Korea, it’s only a £10 accessory if bought direct from iRiver, so hopefully it will follow in the Story’s wake.

But the critical issue isn’t linked to the features, or the quality of build, or the file format support. It’s the price, which is far too high – more costly than any of Sony’s current offerings, including the Reader Touch. Meanwhile the Sony PRS-505, which is still our favourite reader, can now be had for well under £200.

Don’t get us wrong, we do like the iRiver Story; it’s better than most readers we’ve seen, but it doesn’t quite do enough to justify that price premium.

Verdict

In all the iRiver is a good device, especially if you are interested in being able to upload any ebook format, or your own documents which is not currently possible on the Kindle.

Compare prices of IRiver Story ebook reader on Priceandoffer.co.uk

Click here to check all offers for IRiver Story ebook reader

Click here to check the price of all PDAs

Click here to check the price of all GPS navigator

Toshiba isn’t a major player in mobile, and it doesn’t seem the TG01 will change that . The super-slim smartphone was one of the most hyped phones in the early half of 2009, with a processor twice as fast as most, the largest WVGA display around and claims that it would be the gaming and internet phone to end all.

Unfortunately, it falls short of expectations on almost every front and runs on a lag-ridden, rather ugly user interface, which is a pity, because its sleek, matt chassis is at least quite good looking.

Toshiba has been MIA for some time now, but seems quite intent on making it back to the cell phone market by trying to shake the reigning concept of what high-end cell phone hardware means. Does the brute force of the Toshiba TG01, and its 1GHz Snapdragon chipset get along with Windows Mobile, probably the best business oriented operating system as of now? Is the result a marvel of modern technology? Can the gigantic 4.1-inch screen win over customers and pip competition at the post? Read on to find out.

Here’s what we found in the box of our Toshiba TG01:

• 8GB microSD card + adapter
• Charger
• Stylus
• 3.5mm headset with a converter to microUSB
• microUSB cable
• Cable for connecting with a USB device
• Getting Started CD
• Software CD
• Getting Started manual

Design

We would be lying if we said the design of the TG01 is something we have seen often. First, we cannot pass any judgment relating to what optimal size means in the case of cell phones, but what we can say indeed is that handsets are supposed to be comfortable to carry around. Bringing along your new Japanese friend into your pocket is actually a viable an option, because the handset is extremely thin, just 9.9mm. Well, provided you keep away from tight pockets and snugly fitting clothes. Using it with one hand is a problem however, due to its respectful length and width, 129mm and 70mm respectively.

It seems the impressive 4.1-inch touch sensitive screen with a resolution of 480×800 pixels is the only reason behind Toshiba´s decision to come up with a mammoth device. You can´t quite figure how big this means? It´s so big that the standard Windows Mobile icons are actually handy to press. It´s this big. You won´t have any troubles hitting scroll bars or Xs to close windows. Doing such things is now a child´s play, but this is certainly not the case when it comes to developing a screen technology that allows users to properly use their handsets in direct sunlight, at least judging by many devices from various manufacturers. You will have to do some heavy peering until you manage to read the text on the screen of the TG01 in such cases. The sticky penchant for fingerprints that similar devices seem to suffer from has been curbed here and all things considered, you will need to clean the display substantially less often than with similar devices.

There are two touch sensitive buttons below the display to get to the home screen or make a step back in the menus. The zoom bar sticks out a mile, but we´ll talk about it later. The trim that frames the phone makes for an interesting design element. Its part onto the left hand side of the phone houses the power on and volume rocker buttons, while the camera shutter and microUSB port are on the opposite. There is nothing thrilling on the back, just a 3.2-megapixel camera, loudspeaker and both the manufacturer´s and carrier´s logos. There’s no phone compartment for a stylus (who needs one with such a huge screen anyway?), but you will get a stylus in the box.

Interface

The Toshiba TG01 runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional that is a marvelous performer when it comes to what business customers need.

Toshiba offers a personalized home screen – 3D Menu.

The manufacturer has equipped the phone with its own home screen that for short, is called 3D Menu. It consists of eight stripes and the phone visualizes three of them at a time. Hold and slide your finger to your left or right to switch between them and you will see an eye-catchy 3D transition effect. The latter is not always an easy thing to do, because you need to be very careful when choosing an empty part of the screen to start the sideway sliding motion, well, if you want this to work of course. Eventually, you will get used to this, but still, the likelihood of erroneously starting up apps instead of moving left and right is not to be underestimated. The stripes are actually different categories, allowing access to relevant functions and they are arranged in the following order on our unit – Phone, Settings, Applications, Orange World, Messaging, Media, Files and Tools. The icons they host look miniature and rather ugly and they all start apps or get you to the corresponding phone function. Sliding your finger upwards reveals all icons belonging to a certain stripe.

Phonebook

Being a business user, you supposedly need a handset that allows storing of staggering number of contacts and overwhelming amount of information about them. The TG01 does deliver. The phonebook memory is virtually limitless and you can enter tons of data – from the company and department of the person, to the names of their children and personal assistant. Unfortunately, we couldn’t locate the option for the names of the assistant´s children and neither were we lucky enough to spot where we were supposed to add the names of a person´s Mom´s lateral branch of the family cousins, although we really need such functionality, so figuratively speaking, we rummaged every nook and cranny of the handset.

Calendar

The phonebook memory of Toshiba TG01 is virtually limitless

As a typical Windows Mobile device, the Toshiba TG01 offers quite decent organizer functionality. You are allowed to store events with varying recurrence pattern, plus you have Notes and Tasks.

Messaging

Given the huge display, you must be wondering if this is not the cell phone to rule them all with the handiest QWERTY keyboard to date. Buttons are of a decent size, but since the handset measures quite a width, you will probably find reaching them an uphill battle when using one hand only. When we arrived at this part of the review, we were thrilled and turned the phone to landscape, trembling with anticipation to behold the largest screen buttons we had ever feasted our eyes on. Alas, it seems Toshiba has failed to take advantage of the otherwise pretty good opportunity to gain an upper hand with this respect. The landscape QWERTY is handy indeed, but we won´t go as far as to say it´s sight unseen. Still, we need to say we managed not to make too many mistakes even when typing away like really fast.
You can use the screen keyboards to enter short, multimedia and email messages. There´s nothing new about the whole process here and everything feels entirely the same as on any other Windows Mobile Professional device.

Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of the Toshiba TG01 is its 1GHz Snapdragon chipset and you can feel its power while navigating in different menus, lists and applications.

Windows Mobile OS has never been so fast and smoothly running before, ever.

Our only gripe is the irritatingly sluggish accelerometer when changing the 3D Menu screen orientation. We cannot wait to see how the device stacks up against the competition when it comes to more demanding applications like Internet Explorer.

Internet, connectivity and GPS

Internet is a major source of information these days and buying handset of the same or similar caliber means you probably need network access almost all the time. You will be able to get down to surfing the Net on the browser, that´s “favored” by many customers – Internet Explorer and you can do it right after you take the Toshiba TG01 out of the box. Now is the proper time to point out that thanks to the snappy processor, this is the first time we have seen Internet Explorer running smoothly, without any hang-ups, lagging or stuttering.

Surfing on Internet Explorer

Well, there is this trifling problem you know (as you might have guessed already, not that trifling at all). The Zoom band located right below the screen doesn’t work all that smoothly and when you finally manage to attain the maximum zoom level, well, you will end up pretty disappointed at what you have achieved. The problem is that the text on most pages appears way too small and is really hard to read, especially if you are shortsighted. There is a solution, called Magnified Display that will help you see things in larger size, although you would need to zoom in and out all the time, which as we have already mentioned, is not properly implemented in this particular browser. Internet Explorer delivers partial flash support and we have to say that this is perhaps the first time we have seen videos on the computer version of YouTube playing without annoying hang-ups on a cell phone. Content is played smoothly and you can even take pleasure watching videos online. However, we utterly failed at our attempts to play streaming video on other sites, such as Vimeo.

Thanks to the snappy processor, this is the first time we have seen Internet Explorer running smoothly

If you don’t mind the small text then using the integrated browser of the Toshiba TG01 won´t be an issue for you.

In case you happen to travel a lot, just keep in mind the Toshiba TG01 is a four-band GSM which allows you to use your device on any GSM network around the world, but you will have 3G network support in Europe and Asia only.

Certainly, the device comes equipped with a GPS receiver, but since out unit has been tailored for Orange, the only GPS software that comes preinstalled is Orange Maps. Installing other apps for navigation is, of course, no problem at all.

Camera and multimedia

The Toshiba TG01 is equipped with 3.2-megapixel camera, which is not that much given today´s standards, but we have often had the chance to see that megapixel count is not the most important thing to affect the snapshot quality. We wonder if this is the case with the TG01.

The camera interface doesn’t offer many options, but is quite snappy, just like everything else on the device. You can take still pictures and videos at maximum resolution of 2048×1536 and 640×480 pixels respectively. Unfortunately, you need to use the dedicated screen button for focusing, because the camera shutter can´t do that. We tend to think this complicates the matter unnecessarily.

Video playback

It seems the only good thing we have said about the Japanese contender is the device is really fast. Still, we´ve found out one more thing it´s quite good at – video playback. Toshiba had the ingenuity to add CorePlayer to the list of preloaded software. We do like it, because it features awesome codec support. We are pretty happy with its performance, because the device plays DivX and Xvid videos at the native resolution of the screen. We encountered heavy hang-ups with MP4 files, so you need to convert them to lower resolution if you feel like getting a smooth playback. When we tried to play an HD video, CorePlayer said the maximum supported resolution was 1008×1008 pixels. The huge screen, of course, is awesome when it comes to watching videos and provides quite a pleasing overall experience. Unfortunately, the loudspeaker is rather weak to significantly contribute to the playback performance.

Performance

We´ll be pretty straightforward. Speaking of performance, the Toshiba TG01 is head and shoulders above its competitors. Its 1GHz processor allows lightning-fast navigation between menus and applications. The computing power of the TG01 becomes evident with more complex 3D apps. To prove the point, the manufacturer has preloaded the demo version of Need For Speed Undercover for Windows Mobile and we must say it runs without a hitch. Playing 3D titles won´t be a problem on this device, just as we expected. Now, what we need is someone takes care about gameplay, i.e. more titles for it.

We aren´t pleased with the in-call quality at all. During our tests, sound was extremely quiet on our end, so you will simply not be able to carry on a conversation in noisy places using this particular handset. The sound strength was decent on the other hand was decent and the relatively sharp voices failed to produce a lasting effect on us, because we were happy with what we could get. People who will buy the TG01 however, will hardly be pleased with this.

We are of the opinion that the 1,000mAh battery of the Toshiba TG01 is unable to maintain the phone working for a decent amount of time in between consecutive charges. According to the manufacturer, it should be able to keep your phone alive for 5hrs of continuous talk and 276hrs in standby. If you switch on the high performance phone mode however, you will certainly not get the above mentioned times between charges.

Conclusion

Apple’s iPhone became the current king of touchscreen phones not by having the most features but by being a pleasure to use. Even a very speedy processor can’t save the TG01 from the fact that Windows Mobile is a nightmare on a touchscreen phone. We appreciate the TG01’s wide range of Windows features, but we wish Toshiba had taken a punt on Android instead.

If your colleagues in the IT department insist you get a Windows Mobile device, and you decide not to just punch them in the guts and quit, the TG01 is sure to elicit a few oohs and aahs, thanks to its slim design and epic screen. Otherwise, like a fit but dumb date, its drawbacks far outweigh its looks.

Compare prices of Toshiba TG01 on Priceandoffer.co.uk

Click here to check all offers for Toshiba TG01

Click here to check price of other Toshiba Pdas

Click here to check the price of all Pdas

The HTC HD2 is the greatest Windows Mobile phone in the world. That may not necessarily be saying much, but HTC has effectively covered up Windows Mobile’s flaws with a customised user interface so beautiful that just looking up the weather brings tears to our eyes. Also, the HD2’s huge, 109mm (4.3-inch) screen makes the tiny icons in Microsoft’s mobile OS worth tapping on.

Hardware

The HD2 is a magnificent monster. It is a hulking, intimidating, massive slab of a gadget. If you think the device looks big in photos, it’s nothing compared to how it seems up close. Yes, the HD2 is large — some might say too large — almost less a phone and more a tablet. We don’t happen to fall into the camp that has complaints about a device of this size (the whole thing measures 4.74-inches up and down by 2.64-inches across), in fact, we love the bulk and surface area of the HD2. Of course, not everyone will feel as affectionate about the size as we do, and even though the phone is a svelte 11mm (0.43-inches) thick, the sheer vastness of the handset might be a turnoff to some; to be fair, small-handed folks might have trouble getting comfortable with their grip. The industrial design of the device itself is perfectly at home with its contemporaries in the smartphone space, and the metal and glass unit comes off feeling like a kind of large, first-gen iPhone (minus the gaudy bezel). It strikes just the right middle ground between sophisticated and ostentatious — and we think it’s a winning mix.

The basic layout of the HD2 is uncluttered and uncomplicated, providing only a few hardware buttons, and leaving the rest of the navigation up to that beautiful screen. On the front of the device are a set of standard hard keys: phone, home, a Windows key, back, and end. Around the left side is a thin volume rocker, along the bottom is the micro-USB port and 3.5mm headphone jack, and the backside reveals an oddly protruding camera — it really stands off the rest of the phone. In all it’s a handsome and useful mix, but given all this real estate, a ringer on / off switch and dedicated camera button would have been welcome inclusions.

Internals

Much fuss has been made about the guts of the HD2 — mostly due to the inclusion of the heavily hyped 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, a first for HTC. We won’t lie; this thing blazes. For a WinMo device (or any device, for that matter), the HD2 is one of the most fluid and snappy that we’ve tested. Applications open up like whip cracks, scrolling through menus in the graphically intense Sense UI is buttery smooth, and the overall speed of the phone feels accelerated compared to its competitors — especially in the Windows Mobile space (including HTC’s other offerings). Aside from the ‘dragon, the device sports 512MB of ROM, 448MB of RAM, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, an auto-focusing 5-megapixel camera with dual LED flash, a microSD slot (supporting up to 32GB cards), a 3.5mm headphone jack, plus an accelerometer, proximity sensor, and light sensor on-board. To say it’s stacked is an understatement; hardware-wise, the HD2 joins the ranks of devices like the Droid, N900, and Liquid in the new class of high-end smartphone.

Display

Forget miniaturisation. We want bigger, flashier screens on our mobiles, and that’s what the HD2 delivers. It sports an epic screen — the biggest of any mobile currently out there, in fact. Despite this, unlike the Toshiba TG01, it doesn’t feel that huge, since the bezel around the screen is so small. At 67 by 121 by 11mm, it’s possible to pop the HD2 into a pocket, although you’ll need a big one.
We love the large touchscreen for all the usual reasons — it makes it simple to surf the Web and watch videos, for example — but one of its biggest strengths is that it makes using Windows Mobile easy. Despite improvements in the latest version of the OS, Windows Mobile 6.5, there’s no hiding the fact that this operating system was originally designed to have tiny icons that the user poked with a stylus. Now that we’re used to poking with a fingertip, we need big, finger-friendly icons. The HD2’s huge touchscreen makes everything easy to tap.
Emails on the home screen look great, but, to read the whole message, you have to use the ugly Windows Mobile email viewer

What really made us drench the HD2 in tears of joy, however, is the fact that the touchscreen is of the capacitive variety, so you don’t have to apply pressure to make it work. The touchscreen is responsive and a pleasure to use, especially in the parts of the user interface customised by HTC. The home screen, for example, has a fun, sliding menu bar along the bottom, for navigating to key areas of the phone, like contacts and messages. HTC’s great design and the huge screen make this part of the phone simply gorgeous. We usually consider weather apps a waste of space, but we could watch the smooth, beautiful animation of clouds rolling in on the HD2 for days.

Camera

The HD2’s 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and dual LED flash is only part of the cameraphone experience; software factors in heavily, too, and HTC has loaded up the device with its own special blend of camera / photo management apps. At the outset, we felt that the device was capable of really solid picture-taking, offering more than adequate standard shots and decent macro with excellent focal lengths for the small lens. We ended up with a handful of nice images — the focus time was The experience was a quick and painful reminder that no matter how pretty the window dressing is here, HTC has staged its fashion show in a building that should be scheduled for demolition.
sufficient, and while the color balance seemed a bit mismatched to our subjects, it wasn’t a show stopper by any means. In general, the camera performed dutifully, and seemed on par with many of the HD2’s contemporaries. We can’t say that’s a consistent feeling we have about this camera, however, due to the incredibly buggy experience the software provided when trying to capture video. Switching to video mode caused the device to stutter into the secondary functionality with a not-so assuring hiccup and jump. Once we were able to actually shoot, what we saw on-screen was a laggy, jerky mess. The refresh rate was abysmal — perhaps 5 FPS. We experienced similar problems when going from dark to light settings with the still mode, but nothing like what we saw when shooting video. The real insult happened once we completed shooting; when trying to play back the video, not only did it never load, but it crashed out the app and forced us into a nice Windows Mobile error screen. The experience was a quick and painful reminder that no matter how pretty the window dressing is here, HTC has staged its fashion show in a building that should be scheduled for demolition.

Coincidentally, some HD2s in the field are afflicted with a strange issue causing images to come out with strong pink casts, and admittedly, our unit did have an odd hue in some shots; HTC has yet to determine whether this’ll require a hardware or software fix, but for the sake of current owners, we’re hoping it’s the latter.

Social-networking

HTC has brought the same social-networking mojo that we loved on the HTC Hero to the HD2. This includes an address book that grabs your friends’ info from Facebook, a photo gallery that grabs their online photos, and a dedicated Twitter app as one of the home-screen tabs. It all works fairly well, although we had to merge many of our contacts manually if they weren’t using the same email address everywhere. Also, Twitter didn’t update reliably enough.

Walking the Web

You have a choice of two built-in Web browsers. HTC has gone with the speedy Opera Mobile as its default choice, but Internet Explorer is also on-board, and, although slower, it supports Flash so you can see more Web sites as their designers intended.

You can also track down other choices, like Fennec (from the crazy kids who brought you Firefox) and Skyfire. With a big screen like the HD2’s, it might be worth trying them all out to find your favourite.

Multitude of touches

HTC has put some welcome effort into making the HD2 support multi-touch gestures, letting you, for example, zoom into Web pages by pinching the screen with two fingers. But be warned that, in terms of browsers, multi-touch gestures only work with the default Opera Mobile. Multi-touch functionality also makes an appearance, however, in the Google Maps and photo-gallery apps. It makes using the phone so much more fun that HTC should get a hug every time someone takes advantage of it.

Speaker / earpiece

The sound on the HD2 was certainly more than passable. We wouldn’t say it was Droid-level clarity, but HTC has done an admirable job of equipping the phone with a solid, loud speaker, and a decently clear earpiece. We mainly tested the unlocked device on T-Mobile, which handled calls well, and there was little-to-no distortion or noise for both sending and receiving. The speaker had no trouble handling our conference calls (of which there have many lately… hello redesign), and all callers reported clear signals from our end. Generally there was little to report of note, suffice to say that the HD2 held up well in tests, and certainly can’t be knocked on sound quality.

Software

Ultimately — as most avid readers of the site are probably thinking — the HD2 questions aren’t really about the hardware (impressive though it may be). No, the questions you likely have about the HD2 concern the software side… more specifically, HTC’s Sense Experience UI and its marriage to the newly (kinda) minted Windows Mobile 6.5. This is where the phone ultimately shows its true colors, and where we think the meat of this review lies.

If you don’t know (and honestly, you don’t?), HTC has moved on from its TouchFLO interfaces into decidedly more mature and sophisticated territory with Sense. Instead of simply skinning some of the elements of Windows Mobile, the company has eradicated major parts of the OS, created a handful of really dense and useful applications and utilities, and added functionality like multitouch pretty much throughout the OS. The Sense Experience is based on a simple use paradigm; the lower part of the display is lined with small icons — shortcuts to applications and widgets — on a potentially endless, scrollable list, while the majority of your view up top is used to display the application or widget itself. The widgets are either self-contained programs, or hook into more in-depth apps, usually activated by a single tap on the main content of that particular view. Because the Sense UI is shared by both Windows Mobile and Android now, not all of these applications will seem completely fresh. For instance, the company has bundled its Twitter client, Peep, with the HD2 (as on the Hero / Eris), as well as the geotagging photo program Footprints, and has skinned the mail, message, and homescreen views with Sense’s polished style and functionality. The home view is of particular note; HTC has created a combo clock, weather report, calendar notification, and application launcher which is not only really useful, but incredibly attractive. One of the really jaw-dropping points of the phone is its animated weather displays in this view, which take over the entire display with rainstorms, lens flares, and banks of clouds moving in from the screen edges. It’s a delightful — if totally useless — example of just what this platform can do.

Windows Mobile is a great platform for app developers, but we found the HD2’s on-board apps to be a mixed bag. For instance, the YouTube app is fast and easy to use, while the Facebook app doesn’t have all the features we need — we ended up going to the Web site to check our inbox.
There are heaps more excellent apps out there for this platform, but they’re not always easy to find or install. Microsoft has launched Windows Marketplace for Mobile to help, but the shelves are still almost bare. We missed the simplicity of Apple’s App Store, but at least the big screen makes browsing the Web for good apps a pleasure.
The HD2 also includes the Microsoft My Phone service, which makes it wonderfully easy to back up your files and manage them from anywhere over the Web. It beats ActiveSync and a USB cable any day, and, unlike Apple’s MobileMe offering, it’s free.

Battery life

As with most smartphones we test these days, the HD2’s battery life was sufficient, though not by any means breathtaking. On an average day of use, we could power through till evening without need a recharge, though if we were on the phone a lot, we found the drain to be fairly noticeable. We got the overwhelming impression that WM 6.5 isn’t perfectly optimized for data-heavy devices like the HD2 — phones getting constant emails, IMs, Twitter updates, and pulling down robust webpages. Still, the device held up decently in our tests (it didn’t strike us as terribly distinct from something like the iPhone 3GSs battery performance), and given the gigantic screen and 1GHz CPU, that’s pretty heartening.

We like:
Huge capacitive touchscreen; speedy and responsive; good-looking home screen; great virtual keyboard; built-in social-networking links; speedy Wi-Fi and HSDPA connectivity; 3.5mm headphone jack means you can use your own cans; useful My Phone back-up service; good apps available; support for multi-touch gestures in many apps; 5-megapixel camera with two LED photo lights

We don’t like:
HTC’s user-interface tweaks feel skin-deep in places; apps are hard to find and install; confusing overlap between features; rubbish app store; some features are rough around the edges

You might also need:
A microSD card will pump up the memory

Conclusion

The HTC HD2 applies a substantial boot to the backside of every other Windows Mobile phone currently available. In fact, it accomplishes the near impossible — it makes Windows Mobile crave-worthy. We love its huge capacitive touchscreen, and, thanks to HTC, it’s got a lovely home screen and some excellent apps. We only wish that the user-interface tweaks were less skin-deep in places, and that Windows Marketplace for Mobile did a better job of helping us find the best apps out there.

Compare prices of HTC HD2 on Priceandoffer.co.uk

Click here to check all offers for HTC HD2

Click here to check price of other HTC PDAs

Click here to check the price of all PDAs