Handphone and Gadget Review

Apple iPhone 3G S Review

2011-02-12T16:22:00.001+07:00

The latest iPhone - the iPhone 3G S - launched in the UK on June 19th 2009 on O2, and is now available on Orange and Vodafone too. It is available from free on contract, although you'll have to pay £35 per month for the basic 16GB version. The iPhone 3GS adds features like a video camera, voice control and a digital compass. The camera has been upgraded to 3 megapixels with autofocus. Battery life has been improved and applications run faster. And, set your eyebrows to "shocked" because you can now copy and paste text, and forward messages. It looks like Apple have now managed to fill in the missing pieces of the jigsaw and produce a phone that can really deliver on its promise.

There was never any doubt about the basic platform on which the iPhone is built. The original iPhone set the benchmark for touchscreen phones, and the iPhone 3G S is arguably still the best touchscreen-driven phone on the market, in terms of usability. What was lacking in the first two generations of iPhone was the featureset that power users expect from a modern phone. Now, with the 3G S, we can say that there is nothing missing and that the latest iPhone can match any smartphone on the market. That's not to say that it's the best in every department. The camera is still relatively basic when compared to the 8 megapixel camera with xenon flash on the Sony Ericsson C905 for instance. And the HTC Touch HD has a much higher resolution screen. Etc, etc. The point is that the perfect phone doesn't exist - will never exist - and as buyers we have to weigh up the options and choose the one that seems to meet our most important needs. In the past, the iPhone often failed to meet quite basic needs, and had to be excluded from the shortlist, but now it does enough to be considered a real player.

First off, there can be no doubting the sheer style, ease-of-use and fun that the iPhone 3G S delivers. It's such a slim, tactile, good-looking phone with such gorgeous graphics that we want to just kiss it - phwa! The iPhone delivers on its promise to replace three devices with one. One - it works brilliantly as a phone, and once you've started touching your friends' names in the contacts list to make a call, you'll never want to go back to a conventional phone. Two - it replaces your iPod, obviously, no contest. Three - it's definitely one of the top mobile internet devices around, with the wonderful Safari web browser and the easy scrolling and zooming of full web pages, displayed in all their glory. It's also brilliant at email. But the iPhone has more than this. It also has the App Store, which is now a mature library of thousands of applications, many of which you can download for free. Whether you want to play games, access Facebook, edit your photos or plan your finances, you can probably find an app that does what you want.

The camera is a considerable improvement on the previous iPhone. It's now up to 3 megapixels and crucially has autofocus. This works really well in fact - you just tap the screen to tell the camera where you want to focus - quite a brilliant innovation we think. Although the camera can't match most similarly-priced smartphones, it's probably good enough for 90% of users. The video camera isn't bad either, with a respectable VGA resolution and up to 30 frames per second.

The GPS system has been upgraded, with a digital compass added, which is very handy. There are other improvements across the board, such as enhanced YouTube support, voice memos and voice support, and faster apps. All these improvements make a big difference in fact.

We think that Apple have finally made a device that ticks nearly every box. The iPhone works well as a phone, brilliantly as a media player and portable internet device, and perhaps most of all as a portable mini computer internet games music camera thingy that is so good it's virtually a must-have. Once you have it, you'll ask yourself how you ever lived without it. The only problem is the price. Although it's the best value iPhone yet, it's still very expensive, and you'd be silly not to consider what else you can buy for this kind of money. Options include the HTC Desire, Samsung Galaxy S or Sony Ericsson Xperia X10. The bottom line is that if you have this kind of money to spend, you're really spoiled for choice. The new iPhone 4 launches on 24th June 2010.

Apple iPhone 4 Review

2011-02-12T16:03:00.002+07:00

Another year, another iPhone. Released on the 24th June 2010 in the UK, the iPhone 4 is in many ways the best iPhone so far. But it's also the most expensive. Whereas the iPhone 3G S was available free on an (already very expensive) £45 per month contract, you'll have to sign up to an eye-watering £60 per month 24-month contract to get the iPhone 4 16GB free, and to get the 32GB version you'll have to shell out an extra £60 on top! On the cheapest tariff available, you'll still end up paying more than £800 over two years. We seriously question just how far Apple can keep pushing their customers, especially in these cash-strapped times.

There's also a problem with the new design. The stainless steel body of the handset acts as an antenna and Apple claim this will help to improve reception of mobile signals. But only if you hold it the right way, because if you place your hand over the bottom left corner of the phone, you'll see your signal drop to zero. Is that a problem? "Just avoid holding it in that way," Steve Jobs remarked. Apple's official statement is more sober, but no less reassuring: "Avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band." Actually that's quite hard to do, especially for a large device like the iPhone. Alternatively, you can buy a case to shield the antenna. You know, if this was any other phone, we'd simply have marked our rating down and advised you not to buy it. But this is the iPhone after all, and you can maybe learn to hold your phone in the way approved by Steve Jobs or buy a case and then the problems will go away. So, we'll drop one star from our rating and carry on with the review.

So, if you can handle the high cost and the signal problem you'll want to know what you get for your money. Well, what you get is a very high quality device that's approximately the same height and width as the previous iPhone, but considerably slimmer, at just 9.3mm thick. It still weighs in at a chunky 137g though. It smells of quality, of course, from the box to the accessories, to the device itself, but apart from the slimness it doesn't look very different to previous generations of iPhones.

The display is the same size as previous iPhones at 3.5 inches, but the new Retina display packs in double the number of pixels in each direction, giving a total of 960 x 640 pixels in total and fantastic image quality as a result. It can't beat the Samsung Galaxy S if you want the best display on the market, but it's probably second best and surely that's good enough.

Apart from the screen, the biggest change comes in the form of upgraded cameras. The still camera has been given a larger sensor so it takes better images at night and in low light, the resolution has been increased to 5 megapixels and an LED flash added. The video camera has been seriously uprated to record videos at HD resolution (720p). That places the iPhone 4 in the top league for video recording with only a handful of other phones able to match - the Samsung Galaxy S, the Samsung Wave and the Sony Ericsson Vivaz among them. But perhaps the biggest change is the addition of a secondary video camera that enables video calling. "People have been dreaming about video calling for decades. iPhone 4 makes it a reality," exclaim Apple, ignoring the fact that other manufacturers have been offering this feature since 2003. Note also that you can only make video calls to other iPhone 4 users and only on Wi-Fi. That's rather limiting.

The other main improvement is the battery life of the phone. Although the quoted standby time is the same, Apple say that talktime and web browsing time have been improved by around 40%.

Multi-tasking has also been improved so you can run multiple apps without slowing down the performance of the foreground app or draining the battery unnecessarily.

So, Apple have created one of the very best phones on the market, but potentially a flawed beauty. Does it work as a phone? Not if you have no signal! But there are ways to work around that if you really want to. Apple have certainly gone a long way to plug the gaps in the iPhone's capabilities, but it's phenomenally expensive. Is it worth the money? Is it worth the risk? Only you can decide.

New Walkman Mobile Sony Ericsson W350i Electric black

2009-08-03T06:42:00.002+07:00

By: baji

The Sony Ericsson W350i is made of pure plastic; it looks more like a toy rather than a cheap phone. The backside cover is made from a rubber-like plastic, while the rest is lusterless plastic. The device strongly resembles Sony Ericsson's T series, with its flip clap and retro design. The thin flip looks really flimsy and features external music controls. These offer haptic feedback when they're pressed. Actually, the user pushes the numeric keypad when using the external controls. Above the flip, there's a very small display protected by scratch resistant plastic. Near the bottom left of the screen, there is a small light sensor which adjusts the backlighting of the keypad.

On right side of the phone, there is a dual volume key that can also be used to mute an incoming call (one press) or to simply reject it (two presses). The left side features a small dedicated button that will open up the Walkman interface when the flip is not closed or show the music player menu when the flip is closed. Lower on the left side, there is the proprietary Sony Ericsson port used to charge the phone or to attach the headphones in the sales package. On top of the device, there is a small key that controls the locking mechanism of the external music keys placed on the thin flip.

The backside of the phone features a small unprotected 1.3 Megapixel camera at the top and a small loudspeaker at the bottom. The back cover is so slim that you can actually see through it (I'm joking!). Even so, it is extremely flexible, thus reducing the chances to break it. When flipped down, the phone reveals a comfortable keypad, visible even under low light conditions thanks to the very good backlighting system. While the big D-pad controller is reasonably responsive, the keys offer an excellent tactile experience, which makes texting a smooth and enjoyable experience. Moreover, the Sony Ericsson W350i phone's flip can be opened with one hand, thus improving its functionality. The phone is lightweight (80g including battery) and small in size (104 x 43 x 10.5 mm), which will surely attract fans of mid-level devices. Overall, Sony Ericsson W350i looks compact and slim, but also 'old' and flimsy. Its retro aspect has already attracted lots of fans, but quite some enemies as well.

Sony Ericsson W350i features a very small (1.9 inches) TFT display that supports 262k colors and 176×220 pixels resolution. The screen is perfectly visible in strong sunlight conditions and may be reckoned as one of the best in its range. Unfortunately, its small size takes away all the fun and considerably limits functionality. Check out the various benchmark results scored by Sony Ericsson W350i's display. Please purchase on online http://www.phoneandbeyond.com

Article Source: http://www.ezarticles.info

Microsoft Windows Mobile Palm One 750

2009-08-03T06:38:00.000+07:00

By: baji
The Palm One 750 is one of Palm's new antenna-less designs. The 680, which uses the Palm OS, is the other one. The Palm One 750 runs Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system and includes Palm's enhancements. The Palm One 750 is a GSM/GPRS/UMTS Smartphone which can be used nearly everywhere on the planet. Inside there's a 300MHz Samsung processor, a 240 by 240 color touch screen, 128MB of memory, a 1.3MP camera (with 2X zoom), mini-SD expansion port, Infrared and Bluetooth connectivity and a 1200mAh Lithium-ion battery. It measures 4.4 by 2.3 by 0.8 inches and weighs 5.4 ounces. If you're familiar with the Palm Treo design and Microsoft's Mobile operating system you will know how to operate this device instinctively. You will also find that this combination makes for a worthy contender.

In a week of testing, the Palm One 750 has been flawless. I really appreciate Cingular's UMTS broadband data network which allows the Treo to do its thing with speed, style and grace. Palm has also improved battery life. Earlier Palm/Windows Mobile devices had problems lasting through a full 24-hour day of email synching and phone calls. The Palm One 750 came provided me with at around 36 hours of battery life before needing a recharge. With the Palm Treo 750, users get the same vast functionality of the earlier Palm Treo models in a more compact package. The design of the Palm Treo 750 is thinner and lighter weight than earlier Treo models, with the long-awaited and much-appreciated absence of the bulky and unnecessary antenna. About time!

Beyond that, the Palm Treo 750 is much the same as its predecessors, with excellent call quality an external memory card slot (though this time for miniSD cards), and support for EDGE and Bluetooth wireless networks as well as UMTS. While the Treo 750 does support 3G networks, though, it does not have Wi-Fi, nor does it yet support HSDPA. For more details http://www.phoneandbeyond.com
Article Source: http://www.ezarticles.info

Slim Slider Phone LG KF510 Red

2009-08-03T06:33:00.000+07:00

By: baji
LG announced ahead of an upcoming mobile phone conference a new phone which looks rather stylish. It is called the LG-KF510 - no word on specific pricing or region availability at this point. The LG-KF510 is described by LG as an "extremely slim slider phone." It has a metal frame, tempered glass and will be available in two colors - gray and red. It will reportedly also offer "advanced touch technology."

LG also plans to have as features for this mobile a 3-megapixel, multi-function digital camera and a MP3 player. We expect more will be announced later this month. This elegant slider with its slide out conventional keys, measures just 10.9mm and features LG's sophisticated 'Interactive Touch Lighting' technology incorporates Haptic Feedback on the navigational keypad and some very interesting animated menu effects to boot. The LG KF510 even comes with an Auto Luminance Control functions which works to conserve energy and prolong the battery life increasing talk time and standby

The features include an MP3 Player for music entertainment and FM Radio for tuning into your favorite radio station or live football match, hearing the latest news and sports headlines and generally keeping up to date with what going on. The 3 mega pixel camera is multi-functional with an autofocus function ensuring high quality pictures and video clips that you can play back at a later date or share via MMS, Bluetooth or Email with friends and family. Ultra slim at just 10.9mm, the LG KF510 has certainly got tongues wagging worldwide especially since its debut at the 3GSM Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona.

A visually interactive user interface includes captivating animation developed based on the LG's touch technology. The KF510 integrates a multi-function camera and MP3 player. Available in a choice of either Sunset Red, Stardust Dark Grey or Silver, the LG KF510 has certainly achieved its aim in making a huge impression. For more details http://www.phoneandbeyond.com
Article Source: http://www.ezarticles.info

BlackBerry Finds New Home in China

2009-07-15T21:47:00.002+07:00

Research In Motion getting approval to sell BlackBerrys in China has been a "long time coming," said IDC analyst Sean Ryan. "Any time you're dealing with data transfer over proprietary lines," as with the BlackBerry, Ryan noted, it is likely to raise concerns in a controlling government such as China's.

Eight years of trying to sell BlackBerrys in China has paid off for Research In Motion (RIM), which finally won permission from the Chinese authorities to sell its handsets there. The breakthrough could help the Canadian company continue its wave of financial good news.

RIM co-CEO James L. Balsillie is reported to have made the announcement in a conference call with analysts last week. According to an unnamed manager in RIM's Beijing office, cited in Canada's Globe and Mail on Wednesday, RIM received approval from the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry in June.

The manager also told the paper that the first handset to go on sale in China will be the BlackBerry 8700g, which will sell for the equivalent of $700 by the end of August.

Good News All Over

Nearly 5,000 orders, largely from business users working for foreign companies in China, already have been received for the 8700g, the manager reported, indicating that RIM is investigating the possibility of setting up manufacturing there. There are an estimated 500 million cell phone users in China.

The opening of this huge new market continues RIM's streak of positive news. Last week, RIM reported a 16.3 percent increase in revenue to $1.082 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2008, compared to the previous quarter. This was a whopping 76.5 percent jump over the same quarter last year and, according to Balsillie, was RIM's "first billion-dollar quarter." About 1.2 million new subscribers were added in the quarter.

The company's financial news came out the day before Apple's much-publicized iPhone was released. But the iPhone is helping RIM, Balsillie has said, because it "drove attention" to handsets with multiple functions.

There have been reports that AT&T, Apple's carrier in the U.S. for the iPhone, has been suggesting the BlackBerry Curve as an alternative choice when the iPhone sells out. AT&T, the exclusive provider of the Curve, has denied the reports.

RIM on a Roll

The approval for RIM to sell in China has been a "long time coming," said IDC analyst Sean Ryan. It probably took so long, he stated, "because it's China" and the government oversight makes it a challenging market.

"Any time you're dealing with data transfer over proprietary lines," as with the BlackBerry, Ryan noted, it is likely going to raise concerns in a controlling government such as China's.

But RIM is "very much on a roll," he said. "They have expanded their portfolio of devices, and continue to expand their pipeline" as well as their markets, he said, while largely remaining focused on the business user.

He noted that employees of foreign companies in China likely will be the key target there, at least initially. "Just think about trying to input Chinese characters into a Qwerty keyboard," he suggested, adding that some other smartphones there use handwriting recognition to accomplish that task.

By Barry Levine

Nokia Dominates Top – 10 Sales Report

2009-07-15T21:38:00.002+07:00

The Swedish manufacturer of carrying cases for portable electronics, Krusell, has released their "Top 10"-list for February 2008. The list is based upon the number of pieces of model specific mobile and smart phone cases that have been ordered from Krusell during February 2008. Krusell's list is unique due to the fact that it reflects the sales of phones on six continents and in more than 50 countries around the globe.

* (1) Nokia 6300
* (3) Nokia 3109/3110
* (2) Sony Ericsson K810i
* (7) Nokia E51
* (5) Sony Ericsson K850i
* (4) Nokia N95 8GB
* (6) Nokia 6500
* (10) Sony Ericsson K530i
* (9) Nokia N95
* (-) Nokia N73

() = Last month’s position.

"By taking seven out of ten positions, Nokia is in total lead of the Krusell Top 10 list for February. It is rather fascinating to see that no other brand than Nokia and Sony Ericsson are represented in the list this month," says Ulf Sandberg MD at Krusell. "At least for the next month I will expect to see one of the units from HTC, Apple and Samsung making a comeback."

Source: cellular-news

What Is An Unlocked Cell Phone And Why Would I Want One?

2009-05-21T22:09:00.001+07:00

To explain what an unlocked cell phone is, it may be better to describe a "locked" cell phone. Normally, when you purchase a cellular phone and a particular plan for that phone – through service providers like Cingular, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile – your cell phone will remain "locked" within their network. If you try to change carriers for your cellular phone service, your particular cell phone will not work. So, someone using Cingular who wishes to change plans and become a T-Mobile customer will also have to purchase a brand new phone.

Cell phone service providers have been competing aggressively for years and trying to tempt other company's customers to their network with cheaper plans and more "free" minutes. Before unlocked cell phones, this was a huge hassle. Not only did you have to buy a new phone when you changed cellular services, but you had to replace a fully-functional phone

Most U.S. service providers for cellular service work off of individual networks, so when you go to transfer your service and change your phone, it can be a big challenge. Well, that is…up until recently! An unlocked cell phone gives you a lot more freedom of choice in your cellular service provider. When you have an unlocked cell phone, you can switch providers without the need for purchasing a whole new phone!

Thank goodness you can now buy an unlocked cell phone! This opens up so many possibilities when you go to buy cellular service. If you don't like one service provider, you can switch providers (once your service agreement has been completed) and keep the same cell phone, complete with your phone book and all other programmed extras.

In some cases, when you didn't buy an unlocked cell phone to start, you can have your current carrier unlock your cell phone. Just call the customer service department of your current carrier and ask if they would be willing to unlock the cell phone you have with them.

Buying a GSM unlocked cell phone would be a good investment if you have any future plans to travel overseas. GSM, which means Global System for Mobile Communications, will give you the knowledge that your cell phone will work with overseas networks.

Having an unlocked cell phone is much more convenient when you go to change carriers. An unlocked cell phone allows you to insert any kind of SIM card, or Subscriber Identity Module, into the cell phone. Then, that phone will be able to pick up local network service.

By Jereme Thomas - GadgetFind.com Editor

Five Tips on How to Teach your Kid to Organize His Toys

2009-05-21T22:02:00.001+07:00

Kids make a mess. That's a reality all parents must accept. But there is some point in their childhood when you can begin to teach him the importance of cleanliness and organization.

First important tip is to make your kid realize the advantages of cleaning up his playroom. If at first you can't make him cooperate to help you, the next time he looks for his favourite Kidkraft toy, try hiding it for a while in the pile of toys sitting in the middle of his playroom. After some time, help him find it and tell him nicely that finding his favourite toys wouldn't be so hard if he organizes his toys.

Second tip is to show him that organizing his toys is not a chore but a part of the game. Sing songs with him while you put away his toys. Let him enjoy cleaning up by using attractive and brightly colored toy boxes as storage places. Kid furniture makers like Guidecraft offers toy boxes that have a safety hinge catch and cut-outs to prevent finger pinching. The Guidecraft Moon & Stars Toy Bench for example is a colorful toy box with star cut-out designs.

Or you can opt for the Guidecraft Spindle Toy Chest, a colonial styled toy box that can also be used a seating area while providing a wide storage area with removable dividers and casters for easy mobility.

Kidkraft, another leading toy manufacturer, also released toy boxes in the market like the KidKraft Limited Edition Toy Chest which assures you of generous space for organizing toys, games, and books. Like Guidecraft, it also has safety in priority and features a flip-top lid that has a secure safety hinge to prevent kids from having their fingers stuck. It also works as a bench where you or your kid’s playmate can sit.

A good third tip is to be a good example to your kid. You can't expect him to clean up his act when you have a messy room yourself. Remember, your kid looks up to you and you have to set yourself as a role model for him to follow you.

Fourth tip is to reinforce his behaviour through positive feedback and rewards. If you finally see him putting away his toys by himself, don't hold back any praises that you want to give him. Tell him he's such a good boy and mommy and daddy are very proud of him. You can even give him an occasional treat for a job well done. The word occasional should be kept in mind as not to spoil your little kid. Also don't be too critical or hard on him if he does not arrange his toys or his kid furniture in the playroom as you yourself would do it. Always remember that your kid is still a kid. The initiative and effort are good enough.

Fifth tip is to show him that you treat him the way you treat a responsible adult and that is with respect. Responsible attitude emanates from children more easily if they are treated as responsible and mature beings. If you always scold him in front of other people or treat him like a mindless person, it'd be impossible to get any responsible attitude for him or probably any positive attitude for that matter.

Keep in mind that the key in establishing in the right attitude in your kid is to have a healthy relationship with him—one that depicts love, care and respect for each other. Play with him, bond with him and he'll see that cleaning up with you wouldn’t be such a boring chore.

Keeping Your Data Safe - Synchronisation

2009-05-01T21:51:00.000+07:00

The Nokia E50 is a business phone and as such it usually carries a lot of private information that should be protected. If the phone gets lost or stolen, we want to be sure that no one can access our private data. It is true that the E50 has excellent security settings. For example, one of its basic features is that it locks itself after certain time. In order to access the phone’s data you have to enter a security code to unlock it.

Keeping the data safe is only one part of the problem. Another part is to have your data available even if your device gets stolen. And this is where synchronisation comes into play.

Synchronisation process allows us to easily restore the lost data onto the new device. Since we are using many different platforms, the compatibility could be an issue. Fortunately, smart folks got together and developed a standard protocol for data synchronisation. It was initially called SyncML (Synchronisation Markup Language) but since 2006 we know it as OMA DS (Open Mobile Alliance Data Synchronisation)

The most of the modern phones, including the E50, can handle the SyncML (or OMA DS) protocol. This allows us to synchronise our devices with a compatible server using the OTA (Over The Air) method. There are several solutions available on the market. In this article we will explore two of them – Mobical and ZYB. Both are free and require minimal setup.

Mobical

Mobical is a service provided by a Swedish company called Tactel. The web interface of Mobical is excellent, probably one of the best on the market. The synchronisation servers are a little bit slow but other than that it is probably the best choice considering the cost, support and performance ratio.

Mobical is very easy to configure on the E50. To set it up, go to Menu – Connectivity – Sync and create a new profile. All the needed information for setting up a new profile can be found from the Mobical website. With Mobical you can synchronise calendar, phonebook, notes and tasks.

ZYB

ZYB is a synchronisation solution from Denmark. Zyb.com has, over the time, become a networking website offering much more than only mobile phone services. After you register, you can browse other people’s profiles, mark them as your contacts and take use of the social networking features. However, our main focus is on its synchronisation capabilities. Zyb can synchronise contacts, calendar and messages (SMS). Unfortunately there is no support for the notes and tasks synchronisation. One of its biggest advantages is the support for Google Calendar. Considering Google Calendar is one of the most popular online calendar applications, this might be a strong reason to use ZYB for data synchronisation.

Summary

Storing your data on a synchronisation server is an easy way how to have them available any time and anywhere. To sum up what synchronisation services can offer:

they are platform-independent services; in fact, you don’t even need a computer to have your data secured; just sync them once a week and you’re done.

they provide you with a web interface very similar to a common desktop organiser; you can add a note, task, appointment or contact, edit them with a QWERTY keyboard and sync them back to your device.

they act as a second place to store backups; we all know that pc hard disk can fail.

they make switching and synchronising devices easy; in case your phone dies, just configure the sync profile on the E50, synchronise it, and all your data is there again.

if you do the synchronisation of your device, you should keep in mind the costs for data transfer; during one of the tests, 180KB of data was transferred doing a full synchronisation of the device (200 appointments, 250 contacts, 30 long notes).

time zones get messy with some service providers; I’m located in the GMT-3 zone and when I sync using any of the mentioned services, they automatically switch to the GMT zone; therefore, there is a 3 hours delay and all my appointments are 3 hours late (e.g. appointment scheduled for 09:00 is moved to 12:00); since this happened with all of tested services, I understand that it is a carrier.

if you decide to go with a server synchronisation, keep in mind that your personal information travels over the air; this could possibly be a security and privacy issue but since all the web interfaces are accessed via secure protocol, I don’t see this as a problem.

Other Services

There are other services like O-Sync or GSMSync. I haven’t been able to test them as much I would like to so I didn’t cover them in this article. I’ve been testing Mobical and ZYB for some months now, and I found them to be really good solutions. When I bought my E50 (after my Siemens S65 died on me), I just configured synchronisation settings and synced my device. The E50 makes synchronising very easy.

Most of you know what push mail is

2009-05-01T21:48:00.000+07:00

Most of you know what push mail is. Basically it means that emails are pushed to our devices instead of being pulled from the server, hence we don’t need to continually check our inboxes. Until some time ago, the only available solution was BlackBerry service.

RIM (Research In Motion, the company that makes BlackBerry devices) developed a compatible application called BlackBerry Connect to use non-BlackBerry devices with the BlackBerry service. Nevertheless, this application has not been homologated on all carriers, making a lot of S60 devices useless, despite the fact that we can indeed connect to BlackBerry servers. Beside it, sometimes we only want to check our personal emails because not all of us are corporate users and the whole BlackBerry service package is, to say, overkill.

This time, we will review two applications that can be a replacement to BlackBerry devices. I have narrowed the options to only two applications because I have tested them specifically on the E50, checking RAM usage, stability and overall performance. A much extended review can be found at All About Symbian. Since we are referring specifically to the E50, the options have been chosen to what fits best on this device. Other applications have not been chosen due to different reasons (either they consume too much memory, or they don’t fit nicely on the E50)

Just to note, the applications have been tested with a Gmail account, with POP access enabled, and both applications have been tested only with 24×7 push email settings, meaning, they are pushing emails all the time.

System Seven

The first choice that we have is System SEVEN by SEVEN Networks. Not to repeat what has been already said on the quoted article at All About Symbian, the future of this beta program is unknown, and we do not know if the final release will be free or not. The following is an overview of pros and cons:

Pros

Emails can be truncated at any size. For people living in countries where carriers charge a lot for data transfer, email truncated at 1KB is enough to read sender, subject and first words of the email. The application provides through the menu the option to retrieve the complete email, and separately attachments (if any).

Stability. It is indeed very stable. The connection can be paused at any time, and resuming it consumes just a few bytes and is very fast. New emails start to fall in the device inbox just a few seconds later.

You can set more than one inbox for pushing simultaneously.

Cons

Consumes more RAM than the other application tested, and for example, you can’t run simultaneously Active Standby, System SEVEN and Nokia Maps.

Emails can’t be deleted on the device only yet. If you delete an email on the device it will be deleted on your Gmail account too.

Emoze

The second application tested is emoze. This has been selected as Editor’s Choice in the mentioned article on All About Symbian, and not without reasons:

Pros

Consumes less RAM than any other email pushing application.

It is fast*, really fast (most of the time, my emails arrive to my device even before the Gmail Notifier on my notebook tells me that a new email has arrived)

It is very stable

You can delete emails on your device only, your Gmail account will not be touched.

With additional software, you can push your desktop email to your device, making possible to push any email that can be retrieved via your email desktop client (though, unfortunately, this additional application works with just a few POP desktop clients, namely Outlook and Lotus Notes).

Scheduling is much more advanced on emoze, you can set specific days and times in which emoze will active push mail.

When an HTML formatted email is sent, emoze strips all html tags, leaving a text-only email. This saves a lot of characters, and makes emails easily readable.

Cons

You can only truncate messages to 5KB (less than 5000 chars) or 8KB (less than 8000 chars).

Even if it uses much less RAM than any other email pushing application, you still can’t run at the same time Active Standby, emoze and Nokia Maps.

You can set only one account.

Startup takes much longer due to database integrity check on both device and server.

Conclusion

Both applications have their pros and cons. For me, one of the biggest advantages of System SEVEN is the possibility to truncate any email at 1KB and retrieve the whole email and/or their respective attachments. However, the fact that any email deleted on my device will be deleted also at my Gmail account is quite a big issue since the main idea of Gmail is not to delete any email anymore.

The only disadvantage of emoze is that emails cannot be truncated to less than 5KB. Considering the fact that we are testing applications to push personal email to our devices, I don’t see the “one inbox only” option as disadvantage (though this can be considered as disadvantage by many of you).

Finally, the unknown future of System SEVEN is a factor to consider before making a final decision. Despite the usual disclosure letter, emoze seems to be on the path of staying as a free service for personal use.

I hope this article has given you a possible approach to receive your personal email on your devices at low cost without the need to be attached to a specific BlackBerry service. I have been testing these applications for the last month, and receiving approximately 15 emails per day and sending 10, I have consumed 12MB of data. Even here in my country, 12MB of data are cheaper than a BlackBerry service.

How To Increase Font Size On Nokia E50

2009-05-01T21:44:00.003+07:00

One of the most common questions that keep reappearing on this website or come to my inbox is How to change font size on Nokia E50. I usually reply that there is no official way to increase font size but there exists some kind of workaround. Trick is to change font for something bigger and more readable. I don’t have problems with small font, in fact I prefer it because that way more information fits on the screen. However some people have problems reading it. Here is a guide on how to change the font in your phone (do it on your own risk!):

You’ll need a memory card and a file manager (e.g. Y-Browser or ActiveFile).

1. Open your file manager and navigate to Z:\resource\Fonts

2. Check the names of the files (these are the fonts that are actually used); they have extension .ttf and most likely they are nosnr60.ttf, nssb60.ttf, nstsb60.ttf and S60ZDIGI.ttf; write them down, you’ll need them later

3. On your memory card create a folder called resource and inside it a folder called Fonts

4. Copy the new fonts to the Fonts folder on your memory card (there are numerous fonts available on the internet for free; try a few of them, experiment and see which fits the best)

5. Rename them in the following order: – nosnr60.ttf regular (normal) font – nssb60.ttf bold font – nstsb60.ttf font for titles

Note: if your font files have different names rename them accordingly. Font names on your memory card must match those on phone memory in Z:\resource\Fonts.

6. Reboot the phone

If you want to switch back to the default font simply erase the whole resource folder from your memory card. If you take your memory card out of the phone the default font will be used.

How To Fix Your Dead Phone

2009-05-01T21:14:00.000+07:00

You wanted to update your phone’s firmware but the phone died in the middle of the process. It happens quite often. People either don’t follow the recommendations (i.e. have your battery fully charged) or there really is something wrong with the update itself. The best thing you can do in this situation is to contact the closest Nokia Care point. They should repair it free of charge if your phone is still under guarantee. However this is not always an option. There are not that many Nokia Care points, especially not outside Europe.

Send your phone to iUnlock

I’ve heard good things about the guys from iUnlock. They are located in Boston and for certain fee they will flash your phone with new firmware. Price depends on the model and its condition. If it’s completely dead you’ll have to pay $5 extra. Flashing of Nokia E50 will cost you $35. I think that $35 is the price if you are located within the US.

One of the readers from Germany contacted me a couple of weeks ago to let me know that iUnlock reflashed his phone for a total cost of $46. It might seem expensive but if your phone is completely dead you have only two options – throw it away or have it repaired for $30 – $50.

How does it work

First you have to register on iunlock.com. Log in to your account and find the model you own. Fill the form at the bottom you’ll be taken to the checkout page. After you make the payment you’ll receive an invoice. Send the invoice together with your phone to iUnlock. Your phone should be repaired in a couple of days (for more details check out their FAQ page). It goes without saying that by having your device flashed you lose your guarantee.

Do you have any experience with iUnlock? If so, please share them in the comments.

7 tips to extend your battery life

2009-05-01T20:38:00.000+07:00

When it comes to batteries it looks like we are at the same point we were 10 years ago. Batteries don’t last longer than a few days. But to be fair to the battery designers we have to admit that nowadays’ smartphones require much more energy than phones 10 years ago. We can’t really compare them but what we can do is use them with more care. Here are a few good tips how to go about it:

1. Turn off your Bluetooth – I find Bluetooth to be the most power hungry application; turn it off when you don’t use it

2. Disable sounds and vibrating alert – you don’t really need keypad tones to be on, do you? What about vibrating? It is surely useful on the meetings or in a cinema but most of time you’ll do just fine without it; I usually set up a vibrating profile to be used in places like cinema or theatre and in all other profiles I have vibrating turned off

3. Brightness – lower the brightness of your screen; not too low, otherwise you’ll destroy your vision

4. Setting the Power saver time-out and the Light time-out to the low values will help too (you’ll find them in the display settings)

5. If you are not using an application switch it off – you’ll get a list of all active applications by long pressing the menu button; this is a general rule that can be applied to any device

6. Games – it’s fun to play games on your way to school but they are power-hungry beasts; I can’t tell you not to play games but think about your battery when you are playing

7. Turn off your phone when you don’t use it – I know that for many of you this is not an option and I’m not sure if turning it off and on is even good for your battery but I heard this tip from so many people that I just had to mention it

My Nokia E50 lasts 3-5 days depending on how often I use it. I have to say that I don’t play games, neither I browse the internet very often. How about you? How long does your battery last and how often do you use your phone? Do you have some additional tips that could extend battery life? Feel free to add them in comments below.

More Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Tips and Tricks

2009-05-01T20:29:00.000+07:00

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, the latest touchscreen handset from Nokia, is 'trickier' than I thought. After writing the previous article about tips and tricks that I found while using it, I discovered other amazing features that make the device even more user-friendly than I had previously believed. In the following, I'll be presenting more Nokia 5800 XpressMusic tips and tricks that will help you customize the handset to the max. There's the possibility of customizing the Shortcuts bar on the Home screen, if you choose to use it. The only drawback is that it can only contain 4 application shortcuts.

If you don't have your Shortcuts bar displayed on the screen then go to Main menu/Settings/Personal/Home Screen/Home Screen Menu Theme and select the Shortcuts bar. You can alter the default setting by going to Main menu/Settings/Personal/Home screen/Shortcuts.

Furthermore, for those who are installing and using a large number of third-party applications and don't have enough space on the Shortcuts bar to add their shortcuts for quick access, there's the possibility of rearranging all the icons that can be found in any folder in the Main menu.

By going to Main menu/Applications/Options/Organise and moving various applications using the drag and drop feature, you can change their places among each other.

Another interesting shortcut is the Green key (Accept calls), which can be used to send a message without the need of pressing any other key on the touchscreen. If you need to send the same message to multiple recipients, you just need to click the 'To' word displayed above your message, so you won't need to go into other menus. Also, when you're in any of the phone's menus, pressing the Green key will bring up the dialer. Bear in mind that doing this while the Home screen is displayed will only bring up the Call log. A long press on the same Green button will activate the Voice command function. If you ask the phone 'What time is it?' it will respond by telling you the time.

A long press on the middle button that opens up the Main menu will make the handset display the Task manager, which will show what applications you have opened. Nokia 5800 XpressMusic also features all the quick access commands available on all Nokia handsets with keypads. Just bring up the dialer and try any code that you know it works with other Nokia devices and you'll be surprised to find that it works with 5800 XpressMusic also.

In case I'll find more tips and tricks, there will be a third article that will explain them, but most likely you'll be reading a full review of the device by then.

Note: You can easily follow my daily guides by subscribing to the RSS feed.

Nokia Travel Tips

2009-05-01T20:26:00.002+07:00

Nokia Travel Tips
When You’re Out Of The Office
You prepare. You plan. You travel. But when the roving gods of misfortune frown upon you, despite all preventative efforts, you could use some extra help. That’s where your Nokia comes in; it’s the perfect travel companion, helping you stay organized, connected, and on time. Read on for some Nokia tips to help you cope with the pitfalls you may encounter while on the road.

Locking the keypad can ensure your Nokia phone has the juice it needs when you are ready to make that important call.

Lock The Keys

When traveling, it’s vital that your phone works when you need it to. To make sure you don’t drain the battery by accidentally starting applications or calling contacts while your Nokia is tucked away in your purse or pocket, enable the keypad lock. To do this, press the left selection key and the blue function key simultaneously. When the keypad lock is on, any button press will display the unlock instructions. You’ll still be able to dial 911, but no other calls or applications will be accessible until you unlock the keypad. To unlock, press the left selection key and the blue function key again.

Outlook On Your Phone

When on the road, email is easily your most important method of communication, and recently Nokia made email on S60 3rd Edition smartphones even better. Late last year, Nokia announced that all S60 3rd Edition devices support Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and the Mail for Exchange mobile email application. If you purchased a Nokia Eseries or Nseries device in the past six months, then Mail for Exchange is already installed on your phone. If not, you can download it by pressing the Menu key, selecting Download, Email, and then Mail for Exchange. The following screen shows Mail for Exchange and a Quick Guide PDF. Select Mail for Exchange, press the Options softkey, and then select Get. You can also download the utility by visiting tinyurl.com/MailForExchange. Select your region and phone, and then click Show. Next, click the download link for the appropriate version and then use PC Suite to install it on your phone.

After installing the program, you’ll have real-time access to your email accounts on the Exchange Server, as well as your calendar, contacts, tasks, and company directory. Mail for Exchange isn’t difficult to enable either, thanks to Autodiscover, which lets you set up the account by entering your email address, password, domain, and username. Especially handy for frequent travelers is the ability to turn on Out Of Office messaging directly from your Nokia. Other handy features include synchronization, flag status for follow-ups, the ability to set email priorities, alerts for meeting request conflicts, a standalone global address list application, and the ability to download and edit attachments.

Locking your phone with a five-digit lock code adds a whole new level of security for your Nokia.

Lock The Phone

For additional security, you can lock your phone using a lock code. Press the Power key, select Lock Phone, and enter the lock code. The default lock code is 12345. To unlock the phone, press the Left selection key, input the lock code, and select OK. To change your lock code, press the Menu key; select Tools, Settings, Security, and Phone And SIM; and then select Lock Code. Next, select Options and Change. Enter the old (or default) lock code, select OK, enter the new lock code, select OK, and then enter the new lock code again to verify the change.

If you enter the code incorrectly three or more times, the phone will enter sleep mode. Turn the phone off and on and then try entering the code again after 15 minutes. If entering the default or manually changed security or lock code doesn’t work, you’ll need to visit an authorized Nokia service center to have the code reset.

by Andrew Leibman

Nokia Codes..

2009-05-01T20:22:00.002+07:00

Nokia Codes..

Some Codes here... May work... May not wok..

*3370# This Nokia code activates Enhanced Full Rate Codec (EFR) - Your Nokia cell phone uses the best sound quality but talk time is reduced my approx. 5%
#3370# Deactivate Enhanced Full Rate Codec (EFR) .
*#4720# Activate Half Rate Codec - Your phone uses a lower quality sound but you should gain approx 30% more Talk Time.
*#4720# With this Nokia code you can deactivate the Half Rate Codec.
*#0000# Displays your phones software version, 1st Line : Software Version, 2nd Line : Software Release Date, 3rd Line : Compression Type .
*#9999# Phones software version if *#0000# does not work.
*#06# For checking the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI Number) .
#pw+1234567890+1# Provider Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w" and "+" symbols).
#pw+1234567890+2# Network Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w" and "+" symbols) .
#pw+1234567890+3# Country Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w" and "+" symbols).
#pw+1234567890+4# SIM Card Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w" and "+" symbols) .
*#147# This lets you know who called you last (Only vodofone).
*#1471# Last call (Only vodofone) .
*#21# This phone code allows you to check the number that "All Calls" are diverted to.
*#2640# Displays phone security code in use .
*#30# Lets you see the private number.
*#43# Allows you to check the "Call Waiting" status of your cell phone.
*#61# Allows you to check the number that "On No Reply" calls are diverted to .
*#62# Allows you to check the number that "Divert If Unreachable (no service)" calls are diverted to .
*#67# Allows you to check the number that "On Busy Calls" are diverted to
*#67705646# Phone code that removes operator logo on 3310 & 3330
*#73# Reset phone timers and game scores.
*#746025625# Displays the SIM Clock status, if your phone supports this power saving feature "SIM Clock Stop Allowed", it means you will get the best standby time possible .
*#7760# Manufactures code.
*#7780# Restore factory settings.
*#8110# Software version for the nokia 8110.
*#92702689# Displays - 1.Serial Number, 2.Date Made, 3.Purchase Date, 4.Date of last repair (0000 for no repairs), 5.Transfer User Data. To exit this mode you need to switch your phone off then on again.
*#94870345123456789# Deactivate the PWM-Mem.
**21*number# Turn on "All Calls" diverting to the phone number entered.
**61*number# Turn on "No Reply" diverting to the phone number entered .
**67*number# Turn on "On Busy" diverting to the phone number entered .
12345 This is the default security code .
press and hold # Lets you switch between lines.

Author :

Most of the content taken from :

http://www.nokiainfo.net/info/nokia-secrets.php

New Sony Ericsson W715 Announced

2009-04-27T21:54:00.000+07:00

Sony Ericsson has recently announced the launch of a new phone, the Sony Ericsson W715 Walkman, which is an upgraded version of the Sony Ericsson W715 announced just a couple of months ago. The Sony Ericsson W715 offers all of the features of the previous version of the phone but is upgraded to include GPS as well as an improved music service. Mobile phones today are starting to meet the many different needs of the consumer and the two improved areas of service on this phone reflect two really important areas of mobile phone development: location-based service offerings and media player functionality.

Sony Ericsson W715 Features:

The music service is the thing that is really going to sell the Sony Ericsson W715 phone to you if you’re interested in getting a new phone. The phone is designed to incorporate all of the latest and greatest Walkman phone features for people who yearn to have a full musical experience at their fingertips. Walkman music features included in the Sony Ericsson W715 phone are easy music downloads, shake-to-shuffle music selection, features that match your phone’s music to your mood and the inclusion of a music recognition application that lets you automatically know what you’re listening to.

Although the use of the Sony Ericsson W715 Walkman phone as a music player is going to be the major draw for people interested in this phone, there is also the important addition of the GPS features available on this phone. This allows for the turn-by-turn directions that we’re starting to seek on our phones as well as for advanced location-based services (such as photo tagging) at your fingertips. The incorporation of Google Maps into the phone enhances the ease of using the GPS features available on the Sony Ericsson W715.

In addition to these two advanced features (music and GPS), the Sony Ericsson W715 has a lot of the basic features that you might want from your mobile phone. These include a decent-sized display (2.4 inches at 240×320 pixels), built-in camera, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi with browsing, email and IM services. Advanced online services available with the Sony Ericsson W715 phone include photo blogging and video blogging features, the ability to receive web feeds on the phone and ease of viewing streaming video from sites like YouTube. In terms of additional entertainment, the phone’s accelerometer and screen rotation allow for fun advanced mobile phone gaming on the Sony Ericsson W715.

In terms of design, this is a professional-looking mobile phone based on the slider-phone style. It is going to be available in both black and silver so you’ll have some choice in what you’re getting when you purchase this device. The phone is exclusive and will only be available in certain Vodafone markets. It’s being released this quarter so keep your eye out for a release date in your area to be announced soon.

Posted January 15th, 2009 by Katrhyn

First Look: Hands-On With BlackBerry Bold

2009-04-27T21:48:00.000+07:00

By Danny Dumas

Categories: Phones, Reviews and First Looks

After months of online speculation, rumor and badly photoshopped innuendo, Research in Motion announced its new BlackBerry Bold today.

RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis stopped by the Wired offices last week and gave us some one-on-one time with an early version of the Bold. It’s, well, kind of awesome. I’m by no means a BlackBerry fanboy, but the Bold has some impressive features.

First off the big news:

HSDPA: We tried it out in G-Lab HQ and were able to load several graphic-heavy sites quickly with the BlackBerry Bold’s fast 3G data access. A few hiccups occurred when pulling up Wired.com’s front page, but keep in mind this was also a beta unit. Mike assured us they’re still ironing out all the bugs and final units would not have any issues.
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/ compatibility: No n spec, but that’s no biggie. Having nearly unrestricted Wi-Fi access will make this BlackBerry even more useful.
Half-VGA, 480 x 320 pixel screen: The screen itself is gorgeous, bright and colorful. We watched the seizure-inducing trailer for Speed Racer and it was gorgeous and glitch-free. Too bad we can’t say the same for Speed Racer itself.
Built-in GPS: Paired with location-based services plus BlackBerry Maps, you’ll also be able to use it while making a phone call. Try that while driving and see if you can avoid crashing your car.

The external speaker is loud, clear and excellent for handsfree use. It’s also passable as an impromptu speaker for playing music or movies. Comparatively, it’s about as powerful as the speakers on an average laptop. Plus there’s now a requisite 3.5mm headset jack so you can plug in standard headphones.

The keys have been reconfigured slightly from previous BlackBerry iterations. Mike pointed out that they now have metal dividers resembling the shape and feel of guitar frets, making touch-typing easier. Interesting, considering most CrackBerry heads I know can already touch-type without a second thought.

The BlackBerry Bold is going to ship preloaded with 1 GB of memory, a 2-MP digicam with a built-in "flash" LED light, and media-management software that can sync with iTunes. For additional storage, you can also plug in a microSD card; the Bold supports cards up to 16GB in capacity. The back panels are removable and will come available in a variety of colors.

While the Bold is not the touchscreen-enabled iPhone killer that has been rumored for the last nine months or so, from what we saw, it’s shaping up to be a solid device with some very cool, forward-thinking features.

The Gadget Lab will get the first working models as soon as they are ready — just before the projected launch date in late June. We’ll have the review up for y’all around then.

(Photos by Jim Merithew / Wired.com)

Hit the jump for more details from the press release.

RIM Introduces the BlackBerry Bold Smartphone

Top of the line BlackBerry smartphone with premium design and unprecedented performance and functionality; targeted at business professionals and power users.

Waterloo, ON – For customers seeking a smartphone that makes a bold statement, Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today introduced the enviable BlackBerry® Bold™ smartphone. Crafted from premium materials, inside and out, that radiate elegance with a dramatic presence, the BlackBerry Bold is designed to give users unprecedented performance and functionality in an intuitive BlackBerry® smartphone. It is the first BlackBerry smartphone to support HSDPA high-speed cellular networks and comes with integrated GPS and Wi-Fi®, as well as a rich set of multimedia capabilities. From its lustrous black finish, satin plated frame and leather-like backing, to its stunning display, to its newly designed and highly refined full-QWERTY* keyboard, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone is a symbol of accomplishment and aspiration.

SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone’s support for HSDPA and enterprise-grade Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g) are powered by a next-generation 624 MHz mobile processor and 128MB Flash memory that make short work of downloading email attachments, streaming video or rendering web pages. The BlackBerry Bold also comes with 1GB of on-board memory storage and a microSD/SDHC memory card slot**, conveniently accessible from a side door. It comes with the renowned BlackBerry productivity applications, including phone, email, messaging, organizer and browser, and works with thousands of mobile business and lifestyle applications, making it easier than ever to stay connected, productive and entertained. With this new smartphone, users can even talk on the phone while sending and receiving email or accessing the web, and download Word, Excel or PowerPoint files and edit them directly on the handset using the preloaded DataViz® Documents to Go® suite.

STUNNING DISPLAY
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone comes with the most vivid and bold display ever introduced on a BlackBerry smartphone. Its color LCD is fused to the undersurface of the lens, making images leap out with stunning definition and clarity. Pictures are vibrant and razor sharp, while videos play smoothly and web pages, documents, presentations and messages snap with exceptional quality and contrast.

DESKTOP-STYLE WEB PAGES
With its newly enhanced, high performance browser and high-resolution, ultra-bright display, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone gives users an on-the-go web browsing experience with desktop-style depiction. The trackball mimics a mouse, making it easy to navigate sites in "Page View" or "Column View" or to zoom in on specific parts of a web page, while various emulation settings allow users to choose between the full desktop-style HTML content and layout or the mobile version. Attachments can also now be downloaded from within the browser and there is support for watching streaming videos (RTSP – real-time streaming protocol).

RICH MULTIMEDIA
While it is designed to meet the extensive requirements of the business professional during the day, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone also caters to the consumer side of the business person during evenings and weekends. It features a 2 megapixel camera with video recording capability, built-in flash and 5x digital zoom. The enhanced media player can display pictures and slideshows quickly, play movies smoothly in full screen mode, and manage an entire music collection. Audio can be played over the handset’s dual speakers in rich, stereo sound, and when using wired headphones or external speakers, the media player gives the user an equalizer with 11 preset filters – like "Lounge", "Jazz" and "Hip Hop" – that boost or soften audio ranges to create the perfect ambiance.

For managing music and video, the BlackBerry® Desktop Manager software includes Roxio® Media Manager for BlackBerry® as well as Roxio Photosuite® 9 LE, which makes it easy to enhance pictures and create photo albums on the computer. For users that manage their collection with iTunes®, the new BlackBerry® Media Sync® application provides a simple way to sync iTunes digital music collections with the smartphone. Support for high-speed USB allows all files to be transferred to the smartphone as fast as 10 MB/sec.

POWERFUL WI-FI & GPS
For even broader high-speed network coverage, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone supports the 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi standards, ideal for use in enterprise or campus wireless LAN deployments, over Wi-Fi hotspots and on wireless home networks. A new "Push Button Setup" is included, making it faster for users to sign on to protected wireless networks.

Through its integrated GPS, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone can pinpoint its exact location, supporting applications like BlackBerry® Maps and other location-based applications or services. With its improved rendering capabilities, faster download speeds and ability to support simultaneous voice and data, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone even allows users to navigate while on a call.

FIRST CLASS PHONE
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone features a new acoustic design that increases the size of the phone’s audio sweet spot, improving listening quality and clarity. It also comes with numerous premium phone features including Speaker Independent Voice Recognition (SIVR) for Voice Activated Dialing (VAD), Bluetooth® 2.0, with support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits (including car kits that adhere to the Bluetooth Remote SIM Access Profile) and other Bluetooth peripherals. It is a quad-band handset that supports global roaming*** and features dedicated ’send’, ‘end’, and ‘mute’ keys, smart dialing, speed dialing, conference calling and call forwarding. It also features noise cancellation technology that offsets background noise, a powerful speaker phone and support for polyphonic, mp3 and MIDI ring tones.

ROBUST EMAIL & MESSAGING
Like all BlackBerry smartphones, the BlackBerry Bold gives users the industry’s leading mobile messaging solution. It works with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, which enables advanced security and IT administration within IBM® Lotus® Domino®, Microsoft® Exchange and Novell® GroupWise® environments, as well as BlackBerry® Professional Software for small businesses. It also works with BlackBerry® Internet Service, which gives users access to up to 10 work or personal email accounts (including most popular ISP email accounts), and the BlackBerry® Unite! software for SOHO and home users.

CONVENIENT ACCESSORIES
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone comes with a variety of accessories including a stereo headset, travel charger, carrying case or sleeve and USB cable. The removable / rechargeable 1500 mHh battery provides multi-hour usage with a target GSM talk time of approximately 5 hours and 13 days of standby. Additional accessories for BlackBerry smartphones, including leather holsters and totes, charging pods, premium earphones, the BlackBerry® Remote Stereo Gateway and Bluetooth headsets, are available through retail outlets or online at: www.shopblackberry.com.

AVAILABILITY
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone (model number: 9000) is scheduled be available from wireless carriers around the world beginning this summer.

Sony Ericsson W580i : An Exhilarating Multimedia Experiance

2009-04-27T21:32:00.000+07:00

These days, mobile phone users don’t only expect to make calls and send messages from their phones. They want to listen to music, snap photos, record videos and even have access to the Internet through their devices.

One mobile device that can satisfy such needs is the Sony Ericsson W580i, a slide phone which is only 14mm thick and could provide up to 4GB of storage space and a talk time of up to 9 hours.

Layout

The slim 580i has a layout that pleases the eye. Before you slide the phone, you’ll see only seven keys below the LCD screen, among which are the Camera shortcut key, the Walkman key, Navigation and Menu keys. When you slide the phone, the keypad appears. The connector for charger, volume control and camera zoom are conveniently placed at the side.

Menu

Among the items available for selection in the menu are Entertainment, Organizer, Messages, Internet, File Manager and Fitness. Under Entertainment, you have Radio, Games, Video Player, Video DJ, Photo DJ, Music DJ and Record Sound. Under Organizer you have the usual suspects – Alarms, Calendar, Tasks, Notes, Calculator and Stopwatch. Messaging offers Email, RSS Reader and Call Voicemail to mention a few.

Camera

The phone comes with a 2.0 megapixel camera with a digital zoom of 4x. Among the popular image formats supported are JPEG, GIF, BMP and PNG. If you have a PictBridge compatible printer, you could print the images stored in your phone memory.

Music/Video

W5801 is often referred to as a Walkman mobile phone. A first look gives the impression that it could be an iPod-like device instead of a telephone, especially with the Walkman logo on it.

The music player supports shuffling of tracks, playlist creation and the ability to rewind, fast forward and equalize your music tracks. To enhance your listening experience, you could activate MegaBass, especially if you have a good pair of earphones and need a little thump in your music.

One interesting feature here is the ability to switch to Flight mode to turn off your radio so as not to interfere with sensitive equipment in planes and hospitals.

Among the file formats supported by the music and video players are MP3, Windows Media Audio, WAV (16 KHz maximum), MP4, M4A, 3GP, AAC and Real 8, among others.

Fitness Partner

If you’re a health buff, you will be left impressed with the Fitness application. The Walking function calculates the number of steps have taken during your walks and the distance covered. The Running function, on the other hand, records the distance, time and your running speed. Additionally, calories burned during the session could be calculated if you key in your personal details.

Blogging

You can even blog using the Sony Ericsson W580i. However, you’re only limited to sending images to your blog address.

All in all, Sony Ericsson would satisfy you if you’re a mobile user who fancies a multimedia experience.

Written by Kumara Velu in Gadgets

How to Recycle Old Cell Phones

2009-04-27T21:28:00.000+07:00

Most Americans change their cell phone every 2 years or so. So what happens to the old cell phones? They contain a number of hazardous eco unfriendly materials like lead, mercury, cadmium, brominated flame retardants and arsenic. So if they are just dumped in the trash, they could become a major pollutant and add to the world’s already growing problem of e-waste. It is estimated that in America alone more than a hundred million cell phones are discarded and these add almost 60000 tons to the toxic waste across the country. There is however a glimmer of hope in the fact that a new generation of nonprofit organizations called electronic recyclers who see opportunity in this, have come into the picture.

These organizations resell these old cell phones to distributors in developing countries where such cell phones have a ready market. They do this after refurbishing and sell the phones or cannibalize them so that new cell phones can be made from the parts thus obtained. This even includes batteries which are similarly recycled.

The problem of disposal of old cell phones has achieved such great proportions that a number of countries are putting in place laws that will prevent any distributor from selling new phones unless he has such a recycling system in place. It is already illegal to dispose of nickel cadmium batteries as cadmium is considered toxic, but the problem is being eased by manufacturers shifting to the more eco friendly lithium batteries.

There are a lot of small charitable organizations which will also accept your old cell phone so that you are spared the problem of looking for a recycler. Cell phone manufacturers have discovered that they and the service providers can collaborate to implement recycling programs, by giving the customer some benefit when he buys a new model and the distributors take back the old phone. Once this has a legal backing, the recycling of old cell phones will get a boost and reduce the huge problem of e-waste that these old cell phones present at the moment. Surveys have indicated that 90 percent of the people will opt for such recycling if the places where they can drop them off are conveniently located. Fortunately cell phone scrap still has a positive value and this easily takes care of the costs that organizations have to incur in their collection and redistribution or recycling.

The biggest problem in the recycling cell phones business is setting up collection points and arranging to collect and dispose of the cell phones to the recyclers. There are organizations on the web which will advise you on these matters and even suggest likely locations for you. They would even advise you how you could further dispose of these collected old cell phones and send them to a recycler who would refurbish them or cannibalize them. So this could be a new business for you if you are so inclined. And with the tremendous growth that is being witnessed in the communications world, this business is likely to have a very long cycle of success.

Written by Jayant Row in Environment, Gadgets