Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Last night I had the occasion to play around with the new crop of phones put out by the industry’s big players.  It always surprises me how quickly a phone can feel great or not so great in your hand vs staring at it on the screen.  I was shocked at how quickly I hated one of these supposedly sexy models and how much I liked one I really didn’t think I would.  Here is the run down:

HTC Touch Diamond. One word: HOT!  This little phone is very sexy and after I figured out how to turn the bugger on, it was off to the races.  The skin over the Windows Mobile OS is the best yet in terms of speed and functionality.  I’ve played with a few of these skins and this one is rather remarkable.  The screen is very responsive, and it’s tempered glass feels very high end.  It even has a tilt game with feedback as your little ball hits the obstacles.  Overall, I was very impressed with this diminutive phone and could easily see owning this one. 

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I’ve been waiting for some kind of response from the big manufacturers to the iPhone.  Sure they’ve thrown some clones our way but nothing that puts them on the path to a true “iPhone killer”.  Today, they’ve shown they mean business by uniting the Symbian OS. 

Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and NTT DoCoMo have all joined forces to open up Symbian and work to encourage developers on the common platform.  By bringing together Symbian OS, S60, UIQ and MOAP(S) they will create one open mobile platform.  And they are working with carriers and other telecom giants like AT&T, LG, Samsung, STMicro, Texas Instruments and Vodafone to widen the net of users and developers.

This is a relatively big deal.  To me, it says, “we get the idea that software is king.” To the world, it says, “this is how we move forward.” And a lot of weight moving forward it is.  Going open source and royalty free they hope to attract all the developers who have iPhones royalties in their eyes right now.

This is definitely a step in the right direction.  As my Econ professors used to say, “competition is a good thing.”

Read [Sony Ericsson]

Let’s clarify the title to “the end of the high-end iPod”.  That’s better and far more accurate.  There will always be room for a Nano and Shuffle in busy lives that need the gadget to do just one thing: play music.

But as you move up the price scale and feature spec, the original intent becomes cloudy.  Take the iPod touch as an example.  Start talking with their owners and listening to music is somewhere in the 2-3 priority ranking (myself included).  Web browsing and WiFi email around my house or on the go get top billing.  Are we just a bunch of PDA groupie leftovers?  Perhaps.

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In the latest indication that Apple truly is revolutionizing mobile phone technology, Google appears to be borrowing one of the most anticipated features from the forthcoming iPhone 2.0 revision.  While an official announcement has not been made, comments by Android project leader Andy Rubin indicate that an Android App Store is definitely in the works:

“It would be a great benefit to the Android community to provide a place where people can go to safely and securely download content and where a billing system would allow developers to get paid for their effort”.

The weight of these two up-and-coming names in the cell phone industry (Google and Apple) represents a complete sea change.  Previously, application distribution models have been carrier-specific.  Applications are usually available only from a single, carrier-chosen storefront, such as Verizon Wireless’ V Cast service.  Applications bought through such services are usually tied to the phone they are purchased on, and are always tied to the carrier.  With the iPhone App and Android App stores, that appears ready to change.

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Rumors are flying fast and hard as we all gear up mentally for the big Apple party coming June 9 at 10 am.  One I really like is the idea of 2 iPhones being introduced.  Isn’t it more like Apple to whip out something they’ve undersold and surprise us?  Apple knows we love surprises and I suspect they’ll not disappoint this year.

Back in December I squawked about why an iPhone Nano makes lots of sense for Apple, AT&T and consumers.  The family line that helped make the iPod such a raving success could do the same for the iPhone and give us a more comfortable feeling about Jobs claim they’ll hit their target numbers.  A down market iPhone Nano, selling for $199 would sell off shelves faster than water jugs at the start of Hurricane Season (coming Sunday to a coastal town near you).

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While we have already reviewed both of these cases, sometimes its nice to see how the case looks on the phone, and while we cannot send one out for everyone interested we have taken a bunch of pics to hopefully give you a good idea of just how the case looks and fits the iPhone.

First up we have the ClearBoost;

Keep reading to check out some more images of the cases on the phone, and don’t forget to also check out our review.

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Product: Griffin Technology ClearBoost and Wave case
Price and Availability: Both currently available, the ClearBoost is $29.99 and the Wave case is $24.99
Rating: ClearBoost 5/10 and Wave case 9/10
Pros: Both cases offered solid protection for the iPhone along with the display.
Cons: A personal issue, but they both make using the Apple dock difficult.
Overall: If you are looking for a solid case or a signal booster, then either of these from Griffin would make an ideal option to consider.

Keep reading to check out the full review, and don’t forget to check out our follow up post with some more “real-world” pics of the Griffin cases…

Read [Appletell] Product [ClearBoost] Product [Wave case]

With just a few weeks left until the rumored June 9 launch date, it seems the sightings and details are only going to come at us even faster. The latest is another sighting, along with three images of the yet to be released phone. At this point your guess is as good as mine when it comes to these images, they do look real, but then again the Photoshop skills that some have are excellent. Thankfully June 9 is coming quickly. Keep reading for the other two images…

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AT&T CFO Rick Lindner has let slip a semi-confirmation regarding the arrival of the much anticipated next-generation iPhone.  Widely believed to be announced during Steve Job’s keynote address at the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) on June 9th, the next iPhone is expected to run on the AT&T’s recently upgraded 3G network.  Lindner’s comments regarding the iPhone indicate that pricing has not yet been determined, which leaves the door open to continued rumors of a subsidized version of the device:

“There’s not been a product announcement. There hasn’t been any pricing decision made. That’s yet to come,” he [Lindner] said.

Other popular smartphone devices, including RIM’s Blackberry devices and the Motorola Q are offered on all major networks at reduced prices, in exchange for a long term contract commitment.  Rather than profiting from the device sale, the carrier added packages or services to the plan, including data access and MMS messaging, to recoup the cost of the handset.  At its introduction, the iPhone bucked this convention by offering a full price handset and cheaper, unlimited data packages, a condition set by Apple. 

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So what happens when you combine a Japanese ISP Founder, the idea of an iPhone, and the idea of WiMAX together in a room? You get a fun-filled day of iPhone/WiMAX bashing! Sachio Semmoto, the founder of eAccess (a broadband provider as well as a wireless company) said that the iPhone is a “total failure” in the US compared to the number of phones sold by others (think RAZR). While he liked the functions, he doesn’t like it on AT&T (who doesn’t?).

“If I have a chance to talk to Steve, I’d like to tell him face to face: You made a wrong choice.”

In between shots at the iPhone, Semmoto also mentioned that WiMAX will lose the 4G mobile battle versus LTE (no mention of UMB?) and CDMA (the technology Verizon and Sprint uses) will fail on the way to LTE.

So… How many iPhones have been sold in one year? Such a miserable failure. And CDMA will die because LTE is not CDMA-based, it’s roots are in GSM. Ahh… Thank you, Mr. Semmoto.

Read [NZ Herald]