Technotrip's Weblog

Nokia begins shipping N900

Shikha — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:03:02 +0000

The device, which runs the Linux-based Maemo operating system, features a 3.5in touch-screen, slide-out Qwerty keyboard, fast web browsing and access to Nokia’s online app store, Ovi. Nokia said the N900 was designed to bring the desktop computing experience to mobile devices.

It has a powerful ARM Cortex-A8 processor and 1GB of dedicated application memory, which enables it to handle multiple apps simultaneously. It pulls in contacts from a variety of social networking sites, such as Facebook, and “threads” conversations by person, regardless of whether communication took place via email, text messages, chat service or through Facebook. The device boasts 32GB of storage, and can be expanded to 48GB using a microSD card.

Nokia dominates the mobile phone market, accounting for 40 per cent of all handsets sold worldwide. But it is wary of losing ground to the likes of Apple and Research in Motion, which makes the BlackBerry.

“The Nokia N900 has generated a lot of interest since its public launch in August, which has been reflected in the device pre-orders,” said José-Luis Martinez, a vice president with Nokia. “What’s exciting is the Maemo software, which takes its cues from the desktop computer and offers a full browsing experience like no other handset.”

The N900 will be available free on some networks, depending on contract and tariff, while a SIM-free device will set users back around £500.

Technology experts say the N900’s arrival will be crucial for the future growth of the Finnish mobile phone giant. Nokia is expected to use its Maemo platform to power an increasing number of devices in order to meet the growing needs of consumers to remain connected to the internet and their social networks at all times.

“Maemo will deliver the next generation of ‘computer-like’ experiences,” says Geoff Blaber, an analyst with CCS Insight. “The emphasis on rich visuals and multitasking is key. Multitasking will become increasingly important in a world where the phone is being used to access multiple functions, applications and services. It’s a challenge that Apple faces with the iPhone.”

Sources: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/

Photoshop.com Mobile for Android handsets released

Shikha — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:10:22 +0000

iPhone users got to lay their hands on the Adobe Photoshop.com Mobile and now it’s the turn of Android owners to explore this innovative software. The Android application offers users quick and easy image-editing tools, color adjustments and instant photo-sharing capabilities.

The photo editing application enhances the camera-phone experience by enabling users to browse for their photos online and on their Android device, right from the handset. Some of the functionalities that the Photoshop.com Mobile app offers include crop, rotate and flip.

“Adobe is excited to extend its digital imaging capabilities to Android phone users so they can take control of their growing collections of mobile photos. Photoshop.com Mobile is a great resource to edit, upload and share photos in a few short moments. It’s the perfect complement to the mobile phone cameras found on Android devices,” stated Doug Mack, vice president and general manager of Consumer and Hosted Solutions at Adobe.

With the Soft Focus filter, users can create a subtle blur effect and also carry out color adjustments such as exposure, saturation, tint changes and classic black-and-white. Further, users can also upload their edited photos from their mobile phone to their Photoshop.com account via an Internet-connected computer.

Owing to the Android API, new tab-based user interface allows users to view local and online content. Android users can also automatically upload pictures to Photoshop.com albums in the background, even when the Photoshop.com Mobile application is not running.

The Adobe Photoshop.com Mobile for Android application can be downloaded for free from the Android Market.

Source: http://www.mobiletor.com/

HTC HD2 Windows Phone Smartphone Review

Shikha — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:54:20 +0000

HTC has a history of making enormous, feature-rich smartphones and the phone I’m looking at today is the pinnacle of those efforts so far. The HD2 incorporates an enormous 4.3in capacitive touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera, and plenty more besides, but with it running Windows Phone can it possibly be our favourite handset of the moment?

Well we weren’t joking when we said enormous. At 121mm tall and 67mm wide, the HD2 is some 5mm taller and wider than the iPhone 3G/3GS, which some people find too big too handle already. Now, 5mm may not sound like all that much but when added all over it makes for a significant increase. At 11mm thick, it’s at least a tad thinner than its fruity rival and it’s still markedly smaller than the behemoth that is the Toshiba TG01.

Adding to the feeling of this being a large phone is the size of its screen. While, the iPhone’s screen actually fits within the palm of your hand (even if the whole phone doesn’t) and is thus completely accessible using the thumb of one hand, the HD2’s screen always requires a readjustment of your grip or your other hand in order to use all of it. Again, this isn’t uncommon per se but it’s definitely the marker of a phone we feel goes beyond the point most people would find comfortable for everyday use. Also because the screen fills so much of the device, you’re left with very little room to position your hands without pressing and activating some part of it.

Nevertheless, if all you want is the biggest and best screen on your mobile then you won’t be disappointed. Not only is it enormous but its resolution of 800 x 480 pixels is equal to the best on the market and is double that of the iPhone’s and most Android phones. Combined with excellent brightness, pitch-like blacks, and wonderfully vivid colours, it is simply a joy to behold. In fact, because it uses standard LCD technology, rather than AMOLED, it seemed to suffer less from the slight over saturation that plagues devices like the Samsung Galaxy, and the Samsung Jet (Samsung does seem to be at the forefront of this display technology when it comes to phones).

Whatever task we put this phone to, its screen never failed to amaze us. Probably the most memorable thing was this phones ability to fit the entire TrustedReviews website on screen and still maintain readable text… when held in portrait mode! Of course, watching video, viewing photos, and all the other multimedia tasks one can enjoy on a modern mobile phone are dutifully taken care of as well.

Helping our perhaps (on second read) over-zealous enthusiasm for this phone’s screen is the fact that it’s glass is super tough and scratch resistant. You’ve probably also guessed from this that it uses capacitive touch sensing as well and, again, it is superbly implemented, reacting instantly to any gesture with the lightest of touches. Multitouch is also supported but more on that later.

Source: http://www.trustedreviews.com/

Analysis: Google’s Dashboard Tackles Transparency

Shikha — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:31:09 +0000

One product stood out this week amongst the standard flurry of Google product releases. It wasn’t a Gmail Labs experiment or a new parameter for search. It was a fairly unassuming new product called Dashboard, which aggregates users’ personal information from more than 20 Google services into a single, password-protected page.

Google unveiled the new service with a blog post titled, “Transparency, choice, and control – now complete with a Dashboard.” The choice and control parts of the equation are pretty clear – users can update their account information directly from the new Dashboard, which is far handier than being forced to visit each page individually.

However, the fact that Google opted to lead its Dashboard blog post with the word “transparency” speaks to a fundamental concern about the company’s current position in the world. Some time ago, the company adopted the admirable motto “Don’t Be Evil,” a slogan pundits have often suggested is a dig at Microsoft.

As Google quickly discovered, however, the adherence to such an abstract notion is at times inversely proportional to the size of a company. As a company grows, opportunities for evil become more numerous, and the ability to police them decreases. Things get even trickier when a company’s stated objective is to gather and catalog all the world’s information.

Over the past few years, concerns about the “anti-evil” corporation have grown at nearly the same rate as the company itself, from its cooperation with the Chinese government to the cameras it perches atop its Street View vans. The sheer breadth of Google’s knowledge base is staggering, something that becomes far more apparent on a personal level when one investigates their own Dashboard.

But if Google has always been so devoted to transparency, why are we only seeing this feature rolled out now?

The answer is that, ultimately, even the most noble corporation is only as transparent as they have to be. The good news, however, is that in this post-Web 2.0 world, the bare minimum is ever increasing. As personal information becomes more publicly available, the same goes for corporate information. The informational megaphone that is Twitter and the blogosphere makes protests all the more powerful.

Remember Amazonfail, the Twitter protest against a seemingly homophobic move on the part of the online retailer? What about the online kerfuffle surrounding Facebook’s new Terms of Service? When information moves at the speed of the Web, corporations must operate at a similar pace. This means more than just creating a corporate Twitter account, it means offering information in anticipation of complaints, which is where the concept of transparency comes into play. Companies that make information publicly available have less to hide, and it therefore becomes more difficult to bandy about words like “evil.” Sunlight, as the saying goes, is the best disinfectant.

While the advent of Dashboard can be seen as a response to past criticism and an attempt to avoid future accusations, the availability of information like our Web history does have the effect of bringing to light even more questions — such as what exactly does Google plan to do with our information? It’s a reminder that, as we hand more and more of our own personal information over to a company like Google, we need to keep asking questions.

Fortunately, the Internet is history’s most powerful suggestion box, and if corporations want to operate in that world, they have to listen.

But if Google has always been so devoted to transparency, why are we only seeing this feature rolled out now?

Fortunately, the Internet is history’s most powerful suggestion box, and if corporations want to operate in that world, they have to listen.

Source: http://www.pcmag.com/

Nokia N900: A computer in every pocket

Shikha — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:32:03 +0000

Smartphones are often described as “pocket computers” but, despite advances in usability and processing power, many fall short of providing a user experience comparable to a desktop or laptop computer’s.

Nokia’s new device aims to change that. The Finnish mobile-phone maker, the largest handset manufacturer in the world, has been losing market share to the likes of Apple and BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion, and recent efforts to develop cutting-edge, touch-screen devices have received a mixed reception from industry experts and consumers.

That’s why the launch of the company’s latest phone will be crucial: the Nokia N900, which goes on sale this month, is set to be the most powerful mobile phone on the market – a true pocket computer.

The device, which received rave reviews when it was demonstrated at a technology summit last month, has all the features we’ve come to expect from the modern smartphone: fast internet access, 3.5in touch-screen, plenty of storage, high-quality digital camera and access to an app store to download extra software, games and tools.

It also has a slide-out Qwerty keyboard, which is sure to divide opinion. Some users still favour a physical keyboard for quickly tapping out messages on the move; others believe touch-screen devices should rely on a virtual keyboard, as the iPhone does, and that adding a physical keyboard is an admission that the interface isn’t up to scratch.

Crucially, the phone will be turbocharged by high-calibre processors, but by far its most important element is the operating system, which promises a powerhouse performance that could put the iPhone to shame.

The N900 runs Maemo, a Linux-based operating system developed by Nokia that has been designed to bring many features of desktop computing to a mobile device. Nokia has previously used the software on its internet tablets, but the N900 will be the first mobile phone to use this slick platform.

As a result, users can create multiple “desktops” – separate home screens dedicated to, say, listening to music, or enabling them to contact friends with a single click – and switch between these desktops simply by skimming a finger across the screen. The device can run multiple applications simultaneously, enabling users to get instant notifications when they receive an email or instant message, and it offers a full web browser based on the same architecture as Mozilla’s Firefox browser. Users will also be able to download games and software from Nokia’s embryonic Ovi app store.

As with the Palm Pre, released last month, the N900 makes no distinction between the ways in which you choose to correspond: it will assemble communications into a single “thread” whether those conversations took place by phone, text, email or instant message.

“The philosophy behind Maemo was to find a way of bringing computer technology to a mobile device,” says Janne Heikkinen, director of product planning for Nokia. “We wanted to introduce a true internet experience in a pocketable form.”

Heikkinen believes the N900’s multitasking capabilities will go down especially well. “People always have multiple windows and programs open on their computer at home. When they browse the internet, they have multiple tabs open and switch between those. That is the sort of experience people now want on a mobile device. The user interface and architecture behind Maemo means that we can bring lots of new capabilities to users.”

He sees the device as sitting somewhere between a standard smartphone and a ultra-portable netbook computer, and says it is targeted at technology enthusiasts. “This will be the most powerful mobile device on the market, not just because of the technical merits, but because of how the user interface and overall architecture support multitasking and the other functions. We also see it as a very important innovation platform for developers.”

Industry experts, too, believe it could be a game changer. “Maemo will deliver the next generation of ‘computer-like’ experiences,” says Geoff Blaber, an analyst with CCS Insight. “The emphasis on rich visuals and multitasking is key. Multitasking will become increasingly important in a world where the phone is being used to access multiple functions, applications and services. It’s a challenge that Apple faces with the iPhone.”

Indeed, Apple’s engineers are likely to pay close attention to the N900. Despite the intuitive nature of the iPhone interface, its inability to run multiple applications simultaneously could become a problem as other mobile phone-makers continue to innovate.

Google’s operating system, Android, is also building up a head of steam, and is now available on a wide variety of well-designed, easy-to-use handsets that offer plenty of innovative features.

Although it remains to be seen how the N900 resonates with consumers, one thing is clear; the idea of truly having a computer in your pocket just moved a big step closer.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Sony Ericsson Embraces Android With Xperia X10 Smartphone

Shikha — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:28:45 +0000

Sony Ericsson has officially launched the Xperia X10, formerly known as the X3 or Rachael, a smartphone that is the first device build by the company using Google’s Android platform.

(ed: no confusion here with the X10 Wireless Security Cameras ads that flooded the net a few years ago) Just like HTC with its Sense user interface, Sony Ericsson has chosen to overlay the default Android UI with a new touchscreen user interface which it calls the UX platform and will provide “unrivalled” integration of “social media services” – think Facebook, Twitter, MSN and will allow the phone’s users to “truly humanise the way people interact with their phones”.

One executive vice president of Sony Ericsson, Rikko Sakaguchi, said in a statement that “With the X10, we are raising the bar we have set ourselves with entertainment-rich phones like Aino and Satio by making communication more fun and playful, multiplying and enriching opportunities to connect.”

The Satio and the Aino were two Symbian-based smartphones that were released back in October but aim at a slightly less upmarket audience compared to the X10 which will be the flagship model in Sony Ericsson’s 2010 range of devices.

Sources: http://www.itproportal.com/

Amazon Kindle DX E-Book Reader

Shikha — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:30:53 +0000

In spite of its larger size, the Amazon Kindle DX ($489 as of October 29, 2009) comes off as a surprisingly lean and elegant contender in the current e-book reader steeplechase. This enlarged version of the Kindle has a number of appealing features–including strong PDF support–along with a few missteps.

The shift to a larger-screen Kindle makes sense. Dominating the front is its 9.7-inch,16-grayscale E Ink display. The device measures 10.4 by 7.2 by 0.38 inches and weighs 18.9 ounces. Like the Kindle 2, the Kindle DX has a keyboard, but it’s awkward to type on. In my hands-on examination of the device, I came to appreciate many aspects of its design. Still, some roadblocks ahead could impede its widespread adoption. The most problematic of these are the reader’s price ($489, more than some full-featured laptops cost), and the fact that early newspapers available for the Kindle DX lack the visual design and appeal of physical newspapers.

The Kindle DX’s design was strongly influenced by that of the Kindle 2: It has a white finish, a keyboard at the bottom, and navigation keys and a five-way joystick at the right (unlike the other navigation buttons on the Kindle DX, the five-way joystick and its associated Menu and Back buttons are similar in size to those on the Kindle 2). Gone are the left-hand navigation keys–a conscious design choice, according to Amazon. When you flip the unit upside-down, the screen automatically inverts itself and the navigation buttons respond appropriately, reflecting the new orientation. (Of course, the printed wording on the buttons remains inverted. Perhaps a future Kindle will solve that issue with invisible capacitive touch buttons that appear as needed, depending on the orientation.)

Like the Kindle 2, the Kindle DX has a minimalist design. The only port on the bottom is the unit’s Micro-USB 2.0 connection. The reader charges via Micro-USB, but the charging cable detaches from the outlet plug, so you can plug it into your PC’s USB port for data transfers as well. Direct-to-Kindle data transfers are more important with the Kindle DX, due to the PDF reader in the new device: PDFs of large, image-heavy documents can eat up 10MB, 20MB, or more. Since Amazon now charges 15 cents per megabyte for data you e-mail to yourself over the Kindle’s Whispernet service, fees could add up quickly if you’re an avid viewer of PDFs.

The top of the Kindle DX houses a power slider switch and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Like the Kindle 2, the Kindle DX has text-to-speech reading capabilities for handling content whose producers permit it. But whereas the Kindle 2 has a monaural speaker, the Kindle DX has built-in stereo speakers.

One major Kindle DX enhancement is the ability to reorient content. The accelerometer inside can adjust to display all content horizontally or vertically, or even at a full 180-degree rotation. This ability renders left-side navigation buttons unnecessary, and it’s great if you’re left-handed–or even if you just want the freedom to vary how you hold the e-book reader. And unlike the iPhone, the Kindle DX lets you turn off the autorotation (and anyone who has tried to read an iPhone at an angle while in bed knows how aggravating autorotation can be).

The other big enhancement–mentioned earlier–is the Kindle DX’s native PDF reader, enabling Amazon to target the professional market, where financial documents, reports, marketing flyers, and even PowerPoint presentations are commonly published as PDFs.

Of course, the Kindle DX also opens wide opportunities for textbooks and such highly formatted books as cookbooks and profusely illustrated books). In addition, newspaper and magazine publishers will have the opportunity to deliver targeted, customized content that takes advantage of this platform.

At $489, the Kindle DX will make consumers think hard before buying one (especially since highly functional netbooks can be had for substantially less). But it is also a very capable device that can benefit from a broadened scope. The more multipurpose Kindles can become without detracting from or minimizing their primary mission as electronic readers, the better-positioned they will be going forward.

Sources: http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Apple App Store Reaches 100,000 Apps

Shikha — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:18:54 +0000

Apple has scaled yet another milestone, as its mobile app store now includes a whopping 100,000 approved apps, according to unofficial data revealed by the iPhone app directory App Shopper.

Although Apple hasn’t made any official announcement about reaching such remarkable figures, but App Shopper claimed that the iPhone maker’s app store is now home to around 102,000 standard applications.

The online store reportedly had around 65,000 apps in the month of August, and it took two-and-a-half months to reach the coveted mark of 100,000.

Of all the currently available apps on the company’s signature applications store, as many as 93,000 apps are actually available for download or purchase as of October 28.

The total count of apps on Apple app store has comfortably outnumbered the number of apps available on the rival’s stores, including Windows Mobile Marketplace, Android Marketplace, Nokia’s Ovi Store, and Google’s Android Marketplace put together.

Source: http://www.itproportal.com/

BlackBerry Storm 2 to blow in this week

Shikha — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:39:14 +0000

Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Storm 2 will be available to Verizon Wireless customers Wednesday, according to the carrier.

Like its predecessor, the BlackBerry Storm 2 will feature a touch screen. Unlike the BlackBerry Storm, though, the Storm 2’s SurePress “clickable” display doesn’t actually move (except for around corners). Instead, the display provides an electronic feedback that mimics the feeling of a click. It also features multi-touch support, allowing users to click two keys (like shift plus a letter) on the virtual keyboard at the same time.

Aside from a revamped touch screen, the Storm 2 offers built-in Wi-Fi and EV-DO Revision A. The Storm 2 provides global support, allowing users to make calls and get 3G data overseas, thanks to an included SIM card. The phone comes with 256MB of flash memory, and 2GB of “onboard” memory. It also ships with a 16GB MicroSD card.

The Storm 2 runs BlackBerry OS 5.0. According to Verizon, the new software will improve the device’s typing and selection accuracy. It also features more use of animations.

The Storm 2 has a 3.2-megapixel camera and video recording. The phone comes with BlackBerry Maps, which allows users to access turn-by-turn directions and maps, and to find local businesses. RIM has also included Verizon’s VZ Navigator service, which adds voice-guided directions, but costs an additional $9.99 per month.

Like some of the latest BlackBerry smartphones, the Storm 2 will provide access to the BlackBerry App World. It also supports Verizon’s tethering service.

The phone features a removable battery that, according to Verizon Wireless, will offer up to 5.5 hours of talk time. It asserts that the battery will last for 11 days on standby.

When the Storm 2 hits store shelves for $179.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate, both RIM and Verizon will be hoping that users have forgotten about the mistakes made in the original BlackBerry Storm. That phone’s touch screen and software annoyances yielded some unhappy customers. It also failed to break three stars in a CNET review last year.

That said, Bonnie Cha at CNET Reviews had an opportunity to check out a near-final version of the Storm 2 recently. According to Cha, the Storm 2’s SurePress touch screen is much improved over its predecessor. She was also happy to see Wi-Fi make its way to the follow-up smartphone. Still, she found that the software reset spontaneously at times and that, overall, the GPS performance was sub-par.

Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Storm 2 will be available to Verizon Wireless customers Wednesday, according to the carrier.
Like its predecessor, the BlackBerry Storm 2 will feature a touch screen. Unlike the BlackBerry Storm, though, the Storm 2’s SurePress “clickable” display doesn’t actually move (except for around corners). Instead, the display provides an electronic feedback that mimics the feeling of a click. It also features multi-touch support, allowing users to click two keys (like shift plus a letter) on the virtual keyboard at the same time.Aside from a revamped touch screen, the Storm 2 offers built-in Wi-Fi and EV-DO Revision A. The Storm 2 provides global support, allowing users to make calls and get 3G data overseas, thanks to an included SIM card. The phone comes with 256MB of flash memory, and 2GB of “onboard” memory. It also ships with a 16GB MicroSD card.The Storm 2 runs BlackBerry OS 5.0. According to Verizon, the new software will improve the device’s typing and selection accuracy. It also features more use of animations.
The Storm 2 has a 3.2-megapixel camera and video recording. The phone comes with BlackBerry Maps, which allows users to access turn-by-turn directions and maps, and to find local businesses. RIM has also included Verizon’s VZ Navigator service, which adds voice-guided directions, but costs an additional $9.99 per month.Like some of the latest BlackBerry smartphones, the Storm 2 will provide access to the BlackBerry App World. It also supports Verizon’s tethering service.
The phone features a removable battery that, according to Verizon Wireless, will offer up to 5.5 hours of talk time. It asserts that the battery will last for 11 days on standby.
When the Storm 2 hits store shelves for $179.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate, both RIM and Verizon will be hoping that users have forgotten about the mistakes made in the original BlackBerry Storm. That phone’s touch screen and software annoyances yielded some unhappy customers. It also failed to break three stars in a CNET review last year.That said, Bonnie Cha at CNET Reviews had an opportunity to check out a near-final version of the Storm 2 recently. According to Cha, the Storm 2’s SurePress touch screen is much improved over its predecessor. She was also happy to see Wi-Fi make its way to the follow-up smartphone. Still, she found that the software reset spontaneously at times and that, overall, the GPS performance was sub-par.

Source:- http://news.cnet.com/

Known as the B3310 in Europe

Shikha — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:53:30 +0000

Known as the B3310 in Europe, Samsung has announced its latest full QWERTY phone as the Corby Mate in India

The Corby Mate sports a rather weird looking design, thanks to the numeric keypad seen on the left of the screen – quite unlike most other phones. The QWERTY keyboard, however, is a standard slide-out one. The phone will make an excellent mid range messaging phone and sports a 2 inch QVGA display and offers quad-band GSM connectivity.

It also offers easy access to social networking sites and e-mail. There is a decently specked music player with FM Radio as well. The camera is a very basic 2 megapixel one. With 40MB of internal memory and MicroSD card support, the device has enough space for all your multimedia.
There is no word as to when the phone will actually be available in India – nor there is an inkling of the price range at which it will sell in the country. For more on this, head to the Samsung Website.

Source: http://www.techtree.com/