Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

I believe this week we’ve witnessed the birth of crack 2.0.  Like Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo, it follows up the original but with more flair and outlandish moves.  From the dance of the pretty phones in Barcelona to the hubbub over Hulu,I am not certain if I should bother with this list or just point out who is not on crack at this point.  Here we go, try to follow along, huh?

• Phone Parade: a.k.a. Ed’s Pants
• Window Mobile 6.5 is for suckers
• Hubbub over Hulu
• Verizon pirates Fave Five

Spanish Hotties

The big show has come and gone and here are the phones that will be in your face for the next year:  *cricket sound*, *cricket sound*, *cricket sound*.  Seriously?  I hate to say this as I am pretty sure (but far too lazy to go back and verify) I say this every year: where is your iPhone killer?

Appletell’s Ed Parry shares that his pants are a buzz with iPhone excitement:

“Even today, people still get excited when they here there’s an iPhone in my pocket, and are constantly asking to “have a go.“

We’ll assume Ed is only talking about his iPhone there…haha.  But his point is valid: show us something that isn’t instantly forgettable.  I can’t even name a Samsung phone at this point.  Same goes for LG.  Phone after phone of mildly usable features looks to fit the bill.

It isn’t like the iPhone isn’t without out faults: copy+past, removable battery, video etc.  Is it up to Palm Pre to put an end to Apple’s hootenanny? HA!  3 months ago the very notion of Palm slaying the iPhone or even getting close would have been laughable.  Who doesn’t love surprises from dark horses?

Windows 5 (oops, I mean 6.5) sure.

Which brings me to Windows Mobile.  Grrrr.  Word on the bustling Barcelona streets is we won’t see 6.5 until later this year, maybe 2010 according to some.  Sweet.  6.5 looks to make some targets bigger for touch phones sans stylus, gives us an odd honeycomb grid slider and changes the home screen.  Oh, don’t forget the upgrades to the all-but-unusable Explorer. 

Our Vince Pane had this to say, “While this isn’t the total system overhaul that many Windows Mobile users have been hoping for, it may be just enough to keep the OS competitive until Microsoft rolls out Windows Mobile 7.”

This stuff is so far from par, what is MS thinking?  Any phone with Active Sync is at least as good as a Windows Mobile phone.  And if that isn’t damning them, I don’t know what is. 

Hulu points finger

Earlier this week, Hulu pulled its content from the popular Boxee.  A letter of apology was posted on Hulu’s blog pointing the finger to their content providers.

This news signals TV networks are going down the same blinded-by-fear path as the RIAA.  Pulling from Hulu only means I now have the incentive to go and get it illegally.  Read the comments on Hulu’s blog, I am not alone amigos.  At least with Hulu, I had to watch your commercial.  A guy could get hooked on illegal stuff and never come back, you know.

Fave Five isn’t just for T-Mobile anymore

Was it the name Fave Five?  Did someone at Verizon need a punchline that ended with, “you are out of my Fave Five, sucka?”  Was the marketing team just bored?

Ah, the carrier world is not the place for creativity anyhow.  Verizon boosted the concept, it says, from newly digested Alltell’s “My Circle.”  I say, nay.  Differentiation is for chumps anyhow.

Our Heather Wood points out:

However, the option does not come without some catches.  For instance, users will need to have a minimum plan of $59.99 a month for single lines and $89.99 for family lines in order to be eligible

Always catches.  Darn you Verizon!