Technology News

Free Microsoft eBook - 412 Pages about deploying Windows 7 for IT Professionals

2009-11-05T05:56:00.001-08:00

Microsoft has a free 412 Page eBook available for download that is focused on deploying Windows 7 for the ITPro.

Deploying Windows® 7 Essential Guidance from the Windows 7 Resource Kit and TechNet Magazine

Top 5 PDA-phones

2009-11-05T05:26:00.000-08:00

PDA-phones make life easier by combining the mobile organisational features of a personal digital assistant with the connectivity of a mobile phone.

Although it varies from model to model, input is generally through a QWERTY keypad or a touchscreen and stylus combo, either of which allows you to effortlessly write or type messages. Business users are usually attracted to push email capabilities of PDA-phones, where new inbox messages are transferred directly to the mobile device. To set up push e-mail, a Microsoft Exchange or BlackBerry Enterprise Server is usually required, although personal and other third-party solutions are available through network carriers.

The latest PDA-phones hitting the market support the now ubiquitous connectivity threesome of High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and Wi-Fi for data transmission and an onboard GPS receiver for use with pre-installed mapping software, like Google Maps.

While PDA-phones can't compete with the processing power of a desktop PC, a high-speed connection combined with a zippy processor can keep workers productive when they're on the road — editing Office documents, catching up on email, taking photos on-site and sending them back to the office, watching a movie, etc.

Nokia E71

Mobile professionals who need a powerful but sleek messaging-centric smartphone will be well-served by the Nokia E71; just be prepared to pay a price.

Palm Treo Pro

Beneath its iPhone-esque exterior lurks a very capable business phone.The Palm Treo Pro may not have the snazzy interface designs of the competition, but this means it performs better in most areas.

i-mate Ultimate 8502

Market newcomer i-mate have recently released Australia's first HSUPA enabled smartphones in an exclusive deal with Telstra, the i-mate Ultimate 8502 and 9502. We had a look at the smaller sibling and were very impressed with what we found.

BlackBerry Bold 9000

The Bold is what BlackBerry fans have been waiting for. It's feature-rich and sharply designed, let down in small measure by some cumbersome software.

HTC Touch Pro

The Touch Pro is a step in the right direction for HTC. It's still a bit sluggish but overall it performs better than the Diamond, plus the keyboard is a winning touch.

Motorola Droid (Verizon Wireless)

2009-11-05T05:16:00.000-08:00

You have to hand it to Verizon Wireless: though the Google Android operating system now extends to a handful of devices, the carrier was able to get the tech world "excited" about its first Android phone. First known as the Sholes, the Motorola Droid swirled into the gadget rumor mill this summer. And even as Verizon unveiled its television commercial attacking the iPhone, firm details on the Droid remained few and far between. That is, until now.

Officially announced on October 28 and set for a November 6 release, the Droid delivers on much of the hype. The display is gorgeous, the Android 2.0 updates are excellent, and the handset is lightning fast, particularly for an Android phone. We'll refrain from using the dreaded "iPhone killer" expression, but comparisons between the two devices are obvious, and we see the Droid as a real competitor to Apple's device. On the downside, we weren't crazy about the keyboard and dialpad accessibility, the calendars aren't fully integrated, and we'd prefer to see dual-mode (GSM/CDMA) capability. But for Verizon's first pass at Android, the Droid more than delivers. And even better, it's a clear departure from Verizon's locked-down past. At $199, the Droid is on par with T-Mobile's Android device, but it's slightly more expensive than Sprint's devices.

Design and display
At first glance, you might not think the Motorola Droid's design amounts to much. Its build is rather dull and the sharp angles result in a boxy look. But this is a smartphone with a lot of surprises, the biggest being the positively gorgeous WVGA display. At 3.7 inches, it surpasses even the iPhone and is firmly in the bounds of what we consider to be an acceptable size for a touch-screen display. Color support is generous (16 million hues) and the resolution (440x854 pixels) is some of the richest we've seen. We aren't kidding when we say that this display is bright and brilliant with vibrant colors and sharp graphics. It also lends itself well to the welcome Android 2.0 interface updates (more on that later).

As we said, the Droid's display is spectacular.

Of course, with such a large display, the Droid is rather big (4.56 inches tall by 2.36 inches wide by 0.54 inch thick), but that's a small price to pay for the top-notch display. You'll notice that the Droid is heavy (5.96 ounces) compared with other smartphones, but the trim design keeps it portable. We also welcome the solid feel in the hand, even if the slider mechanism is a bit quirky. The actual sliding motion is quite stiff, but the front face doesn't really lock into place on either end. Indeed, we noticed that even a gentle nudge can start to close the Droid. No, it's not a big deal, but it's something to consider.

The Droid is slightly larger than the iPhone.

The capacitive display's touch interface is quick and responsive and we love the added multitouch capability. As with previous Android phones, there's vibrating feedback only for certain functions (like a "long press"), though you can turn off the haptic feedback completely if you desire. When we selected items and scrolled through long lists, there was no lag time in performing the command (more on that later, as well). You also can customize the display's brightness, backlighting time, and animations. The accelerometer will adjust the display's orientation as you rotate the Droid in your hands, but you can turn this feature off.

Outside of the upgrades from Android 2.0 and the Droid-specific tweaks, the basic interface will be familiar to Android users. You get only three home screens--we prefer the five we got on the Motorola Cliq--but you can customize each pane with widgets. And, of course, the central pane has the Google search bar. The main menu is accessible via the pull tab at the bottom of the display. The menu's design is mostly unchanged. You can move icons around and add shortcuts and folders.

Keypad and controls
Below the Droid's display are four touch controls: Back, Home, Search, and Menu. They perform the same functions as on other Android phones, with the search and menu keys being the most useful. The former activates Google search with just one press, and the latter opens relevant menu commands for various handset modes and features. Though the touch controls are responsive, they're not very big. And at the end of the day, we'd prefer actual physical buttons. We know this all comes down to a personal preference, but that is ours.

The Droid has four touch controls below the display.

In a baffling change from previous devices, the Droid does not have a physical Talk control. Instead, you'll have to access the calling functions through a widget on the display. We're not in love with this change, mostly because we prefer to be able to call up the phone dialer without having to go through the home screen. For example, you have to close the browser if you want to make a call while viewing a Web page. The phone dialer interface is mostly the same. The buttons are square rather than round, but you get access to your call log, voice mail, contacts list, and favorites.

We don't love the Droid's keyboard just yet.

When you open the Droid to display the physical keyboard, the screen orientation will change automatically. Though many users will welcome a physical keyboard, we weren't particularly impressed. The keys are flush and squashed next to each other, which makes it difficult to text quickly or by feel. Also, though the buttons do give a slight downward "push," they're a bit slick and we were thrown off by the "dummy keys" on either end of the bottom row. On the whole it is a better experience than the T-Mobile G1, but typing is not nearly as comfortable as with the Cliq or even with the Samsung Moment. Sure, you'd probably get used to it eventually, but on the first pass we have our reservations.

The letters on the keys are large and backlit for dialing in the dark. Four rows of keys do mean that numbers and common punctuation and symbols double up with letters. That's common on smartphones, so we won't make a big deal and we like that the top row of keys isn't too close to the slider. Fortunately, there are a fair number of additional controls. We welcome the two Shift keys and the two Alt keys (they sit in pairs on either side of the keyboard), the large and convenient space bar, and the menu and search keys. You'll also find the usual back and delete buttons. Additional symbols, however, require a separate virtual keyboard.

Speaking of which, the Android virtual keyboard is largely the same, but Google says it revamped the keyboard layout for faster, more-accurate typing. We haven't noticed specific design changes just yet, but we'll explore a bit more. Also, as Google puts it, "the multitouch support ensures that key presses aren't missed while typing rapidly with two fingers." When using either keyboard, Android 2.0 offers a better dictionary that includes contacts names.

The toggle and central OK button next to the display is easy to use. It can help you browse through the menus and select items, but with the exception of games, we barely used it given the fantastic display. It's flush as well, but it's quite large and accessible. On the downside, however, it does shrink the width of the keyboard. Some users may not mind, but we noticed its impact.

The Droid has a 3.5-millimeter headset jack.

The remaining physical controls consist of a volume rocker and a camera shutter on the left spine. Both are almost flat, but we could find the rocker when on a call. The Micro-USB port is used for a USB cable and (thankfully) the charger. You also use it to connect the Droid with the multimedia dock. We're pleased with the 3.5 millimeter headset jack on the phone's top end. Not only can you use your own headset, but it's also in a convenient place. A stiff power control sits next to the port, while the camera lens, flash, and stereo speakers rest on the rear face. Unfortunately, you have to remove the battery to access the microSD card slot.

You must remove the Droid's battery to access its memory card slot.

Features
The Motorola Droid offers a number of the same core features as previous Android devices, such as the HTC Hero and the Samsung Moment. However, it's distinct in that the Droid is the first smartphone to run Android 2.0, which brings a crop of new features and interface enhancements. For this review, we'll concentrate more on the new rather than the old, but to learn more about some of Android's main functionalities, please check out reviews of other Android smartphones.

Android 2.0 updates
As we mentioned earlier, the home screen and main menu on Motorola Droid don't look terribly different from, say, the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G's at a glance. However, as you use the device, you'll notice subtle changes and enhancements that make the user interface a bit more refined and streamlined; the gorgeous display doesn't hurt, either.

Also, although it's a Motorola phone, the Droid does not use the MotoBlur software that we saw on the Motorola Cliq. Part of the reason is that the Droid is targeted for a bit of a different audience than the Cliq (read: older, more business-oriented) so it didn't really jibe with the experience that Moto and Verizon want to offer to its customers, and we think that was a good decision. In MotoBlur's place, there is a Facebook widget on the Droid that you can use to update your own status and scroll through your friends' updates. Other preloaded widgets and shortcuts include YouTube, a corporate calendar, and something called "Power Control" where you can turn on/off your wireless connections, adjust brightness, and so forth--quite handy.

Some other minor changes include the slightly revamped onscreen dialer mentioned in the Design section, as well a new lock screen that features a sliding curve that allows you to unlock the phone as well as adjust the its volume simply by dragging your finger from one side of the screen to the other.

E-mail, calendar, and contacts
Perhaps one of the top highlights of Android 2.0 is the expanded capabilities of the personal information management tools, including e-mail, calendar, and contacts.

The Droid now offers native Microsoft Exchange synchronization out of the box for e-mail, calendar, and contacts, in addition to support for Gmail and POP3 and IMAP accounts. Note that only Exchange and Gmail offer push delivery, while POP3 and IMAP messages are retrieved at user-specified time intervals, starting at every 5 minutes up to every hour. With Android 2.0, you can have messages from various accounts displayed in one unified in-box; messages are color-coded by account so you can visually differentiate them at a glance. Of course, you can also choose to separate them if you like to keep your personal and work lives separate.

Unfortunately (well, depending on your preference), it doesn't appear that you can combine work and personal calendars as you can on the Palm Pre. Instead, you'll find separate apps for your corporate calendar and your personal one. The corporate calendar is full featured in that you can send messages to meeting attendees, see who has RSVP'd to an event, and/or create your own invites and have it all synced back to your PC.

With the support for various accounts, contact management could get a bit dodgy, but the Droid offers a pretty smart contact management system. Similar to the Palm WebOS Synergy feature, the Droid merges contact information from various accounts, Exchange, Gmail, and Facebook, and combines them on a single contact card for an individual. When you pull up a contact, you'll then be able to see the contact's Facebook status, photos, various e-mail addresses, IM handles, and so forth.

There's also a handy Quick Contact feature: you simply tap on a contact's photo and a toolbar offers you the various ways to get in touch with that person. It's also smart in that you can choose to sync all your Facebook contacts or just those who are already in your contacts database.

Browser
Android 2.0 also brings some improvements to the Web browser, which now supports HTML5. You can add visual bookmarks and toggle between multiple windows through a simple list view. What's more, thanks to the aforementioned multitap support, you can now double-tap on the screen to zoom in and out of Web pages. It's certainly easier than tapping the magnifying glass numerous times, but we still like the simplicity and ease of use of the pinching gesture used on the iPhone or the Palm Pre.

Most importantly, though, the browser feels faster. With a cortex A8 processor and support for Verizon's EV-DO Rev. A network, CNET's full site loaded in 14 seconds while CNN's and ESPN's mobile sites came up in 8 seconds and 5 seconds, respectively. For comparison, we checked out the same sites on the Samsung Moment for Sprint and the Moment's browser results were 40 seconds, 9 seconds, and 8 seconds in the order listed above. We'll continue to test the browser over the next few days, but the difference in speed doesn't go unnoticed.

Finally, while the Droid's browser doesn't have Flash Lite support, it does have a plug-in that will support Adobe's Flash 10 player when it's available. We also like the refurbished browser interface that includes bookmark thumbnails.

Universal search
With all this information stored on the Droid and the World Wide Web in the palm of your hand, search is key and the Droid certainly delivers on that front. From the home screen, you can easily enter terms into the Google search box either by typing or using Google Voice search and the Droid will search the Web, your text and multimedia messages, your contacts, and your multimedia library for any relevant results. It can search through messages, but you must be in your in-box to do so.

Google Maps Navigation
The Motorola Droid is equipped with GPS/A-GPS, but what's different is the new Google Maps Navigation app. While still in beta, you can now get voice-guided, text-to-speech directions, instead of just text-based instructions, on Google Maps. And the best part? It's free. You don't have to sign up for a monthly subscription or pay a day-use fee for a location-based service, such as VZ Navigator, and in fact, VZ Navigator isn't even offered as an option.

Google Maps also offers layered maps with traffic data, satellite view, and Google Latitude. You can perform searches simply by typing a term, or you can use Google Voice search and speak a business name or general category right into the phone. Once done, Google Maps displays your search results; you can tap on a result, which will bring up numerous options, including navigation, call, or street view. While all of this is wonderful, there are some limitations.

Since we've only had the smartphone for a few hours, we haven't been able to take the Droid and Google Maps Navigation for a road test, but we certainly will over the next day or two. It looks very promising, however, and is certainly a huge feature addition for Android 2.0. We'll be interested to see what kind of affect it will have on LBS providers if it takes off.

We should note that a separate car mount will be available for $30. Once docked to the car cradle, the Droid will automatically display a navigation menu from where you can plan a trip, view maps and directions, and search businesses. Undocked, there's an app called Car Home that shows the same options.

Multimedia
One area that remains relatively untouched by Android 2.0 is the built-in media player. There aren't any major enhancements to the player in terms of interface or functionality, which is too bad. You still get support for MP3, AAC, AMR-NB, WAV, MIDI, and Windows Media Audio 9 formats and the player includes shuffle, repeat, and playlist creation. You can advance and revisit previous tracks by tapping the forward and back buttons or you can swipe the album covers using the touch screen. Unfortunately, there is no syncing software to help you manage and transfer your music. As it is right now, you have to use the old drag-and-drop method using the USB cable or sideload them using a microSD card.

Of course, you can also download songs via the Amazon MP3 store. The store allows you to browse by album, song, artist, or genre. You can download the DRM-free songs over Wi-Fi as well as Verizon's 3G network, though the Droid advises you switch to Wi-Fi when possible since it's faster. We downloaded several tracks from Amazon using the carrier's 3G network and it took an average of around 1 minute and 15 seconds from purchase to download.

Music quality was quite good. Thanks to the 3.5 millimeter headphone jack, we plugged in our Bose On-ear Headphones and enjoyed rich-sounding songs. We listened to a variety of music, from punk rock to pop to classical, and found a nice balance between treble and bass. Songs even sounded decent coming from the phone's speakers. There was plenty of volume and while slightly harsh, the audio wasn't as tinny as it is on some other smartphones we've tested.

We like the Droid's multimedia dock.

Motorola offers a multimedia dock accessory, which also is sold separately for $30. When you slip in the Droid you get a nifty digital clock interface with instant access to local weather, the media player, the photo gallery, and the alarm clock. You can even change the backlighting color for a softer look. The dock is very handy as a stand for watching videos and you can connect the charger to power the phone while it's inserted. Unfortunately, a wired headset is not included in the Droid's box.

As with other Android devices, there's a dedicated YouTube app. You can comment on clips, favorite them, or share videos via e-mail and Facebook, as well as view them in high quality if available. Obviously, load times and quality depend on the video, but in general, we found that video playback was smoother and didn't require much rebuffering. One of the features that Motorola and Verizon highlighted when giving us a demo of the Droid was its multimedia capabilities, but we think that Google really has to step it up and make more moves, like expanding the video capabilities (for example, the capability to purchase videos from other services), in the near future to make the statement really ring true.

Camera
The 5-megapixel camera takes pictures in three resolutions and boasts a slick user interface. For example, it's now easier to switch to video mode. With previous Android phones, we've complained about the lack of camera editing options. Fortunately, Android fixes that problem by adding four white balance settings, several "scene" modes (night, landscape, sunset, and so on), three image quality choices, an autofocus, a macro setting, and seven color effects. The Droid also has a dual-LED flash.

The Droid's camera lens and flash are on its rear side.

Camcorder settings are fewer, but you can edit the video quality and the length allowed for each clip. You can film for 30 seconds if you're adding the video to a multimedia message, but you can go for up to 30 minutes in normal mode. When finished with your clips and shots, you can store them on the phone or transfer them off using e-mail, a multimedia message, Bluetooth, the memory card, or a USB cable. You even can upload shots directly to Facebook and Picasa with geotags.

The Droid's photos had a pinkish tone.

Photo quality was decent, but not spectacular. Though colors were bright, our images were a tad fuzzy and had a pinkish tone. The flash adds a decent amount of light, but still is a bit dim in completely dark situations. Video quality is actually fairly good--it could handle action better than its Android counterparts and there was little pixelation. Indeed, a closer look at the specs told us why. Not only do videos record at a 720x480 resolution, the Droid films at 24 frames per second (fps) (video playback can go up to 30fps). You can access the media gallery directly from the camera interface. Once there, the normal Android slideshow interface lets you view your work.

Android Market
You can download free and paid apps and games from the Android Market. The Market's interface received a much-needed upgrade with 1.6--we like the white background and the more intuitive search. Android 2.0 doesn't appear to offer any additional changes, which is fine in the short term. On the other hand, the quantity and quality of apps continues to grow every day. For updates and reviews of available Android apps, visit our Android Atlas blog. Of course, you must store apps on the handset's integrated memory, which is limited to 512MB ROM and 256MB RAM. The Droid's memory card slot is only for saving photos, music, and other attachment files. You get a 16GB card in the box, but the slot is compatible with cards up to 32GB.

Basic features
Essentials include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a calculator, and an alarm clock. And though we've said it before, we want Android to offer additional organizer options like a world clock, a notepad, a file manager, and a to-do list. Beyond the basics, you'll have 802.11b Wi-Fi, USB mass storage, Google voice search, Google Talk, instant messaging, visual voice mail, PC syncing, and speaker-independent voice dialing. Stereo Bluetooth is also onboard, but Android 2.0 adds object push and phone book access profiles.

Internal performance
The Droid makes a big leap in internal performance. Compared with its rather sluggish Android predecessors, the Droid is lighting fast when opening applications and menus, scrolling through lists and switching display screens. The integrated 600Mhz processor no doubt helps, but we came away impressed and almost amazed with the Droid's internal performance and its capability to run multiple applications at once.

Call quality and performance
We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO Rev. A) Motorola Droid in San Francisco using Verizon service and call quality was excellent. We enjoyed crisp-sounding audio on our end, with little-to-no background noise, so we had no problems hearing our callers or using an airline's voice-automated response system. Our friends also had good things to say about call quality, though they could hear a slight echo at the end of sentences when we activated the speakerphone. On our side, we had no problems with the speakerphone; volume was plenty loud, with no disruptions.

We didn't have any dropped calls during our testing period and had no problems pairing the smartphone with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset or the Motorola S9 Active Bluetooth Headphones. The Droid has a Hearing Aid Compatibility rating of M3 and T3.

We admit we're disappointed the Droid doesn't have dual-mode capability for domestic CDMA networks and GSM networks abroad. The Droid is a nice device and we would hate to leave it at home when we left the country. Such capability would also be of great benefit to business users, who are among the Droid's main target market.

The Droid has a rated battery life of 6.4 hours talk time and 11.25 days standby time. We beat the promised talk time in our tests for a total of 7 hours and 35 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests, the Motorola Cliq has a digital SAR rating of 1.49 watts per kilogram.

htc touch2

2009-11-05T05:10:00.000-08:00

Processor:Qualcomm® MSM7225^TM, 528 MHz
Operating System: Windows Mobile® 6.5 Professional
Memory: 512 MB ROM, 256 MB RAM
Dimensions: (LxWxT) 104 X 55 X 12.9 mm (4.1 X 2.16 X 0.51 inches)
Weight:110g with battery
Display: 2.8-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with QVGA resolution
Connectivity: Bluetooth, WiFi
Camera: 3.2 megapixel color camera with fixed focus
Battery: 1100 mAh

I'll be honest: I haven't used a Windows Mobile phone since 2005, when touchscreens still required a stylus and Microsoft's mobile operating system offering was a crippled, hideous thing desperately trying to escape its Windows heritage in terms of both style and function.

Windows Mobile 6.5 is a different beast altogether, rendering the HTC Touch 2 a slick, speedy, easily navigable device. Applications are easily browsed via the Start menu's new honeycomb grid layout, and common functions like contacts, messaging, media and the Opera web browser are easily accessible via a scrolling shortcut bar at the bottom of the home screen.

It's interesting to note that Microsoft's IE 6 has been bumped as the default mobile browser in favour of Opera Mobile, but I agree wholeheartedly with the choice; Opera's browser renders pages faster, navigates around sites more intelligently and sports a far less cumbersome interface than Internet Explorer.

Speaking of applications, the Touch 2 comes with a wealth of choices and applications like Google Maps, YouTube and FaceBook. They all work much as you'd expect, and it's nice to have them available straight out of the box on a Windows Mobile phone. Of course, the elephant in the room whenever mobile applications are discussed is the iPhone and Apple's ever-swelling App Store. Microsoft launched its own version today with around 40 applications, dubbed Windows Mobile Marketplace. Time will tell how successful the venture is and ultimately, how widely useful Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphones can be.

The Touch 2's 528MHz processor handled multi-tasking well, with the phone's processor performing admirably despite using Google Maps, Gmail, the media player and Opera Mobile at the same time. The Task Manager makes switching between open tasks a doddle too, meaning that you're able to do a surprising amount on such a small device.

But a smartphone's applications are only as good as the screen you view them on, and the 2.8-inch screen is vibrant and easily visible both indoors and out. However, the touchscreen is resistive (rather than capacitive, unlike the HD2, also announced today), and a fair amount of pressure needs to be applied before the interface responds, making swiping and scrolling unreliable as the amount of pressure required to make your touch register with the device makes smaller, finer gestures hard to pull off. The end result is that you often end up fighting with the user interface to get anything done, especially if your hands are a little oily, and lets face it - you aren't going to wash your hands before each use. The screen also feels a little small for a touch-based operating system at times, particularly when a large proportion of the screen is obscured by the on-screen qwerty keyboard during text input, or when wrestling with the smaller UI elements such as scroll bars, which I was unable to operate with anything other than a fingernail. I can't imagine how I would achieve the levels of finesse required to operate this phone after a few drinks.

And while you're out partying, forget about taking decent snaps with the fixed focus 3.2MP camera, which performs particularly poorly indoors. The camera is fine for the "utility snap" – taking a photo of something you need to remember or want to show someone later – but you'll want to buy a MicroSD card straight away, as the 512MB of internal storage is woefully inadequate for storing music, images and video.

The HTC Touch 2 is a pretty phone with a svelte profile, a reassuring but lightweight heft, a vibrant screen and a subtle, elegant design. But its small size makes it an interesting creature. On the one hand, usability suffers somewhat due to its small screen (for a smartphone), but on the other hand some smart UI decisions in Windows Mobile 6.5 make better use of the smaller screen real estate than ever before, making this one of the most useful compact smartphones I've used.

Don't expect to do much serious work on this phone, but if you want the bells and whistles of a computer in your pocket, without, well, feeling like you've got a computer in your pocket, this phone could be for you.

The HTC Touch 2 will be available later this month.

Wired

Elegant stylings, a lightweight but reassuring heft, Windows Mobile 6.5 manages to squeeze an incredible amount of power and utility out of a diminutive phone, My Phone online back-up function guards against the inevitable trip down the toilet

Tired

Small is as small does: the 2.8-inch screen makes some UI elements fiddly, the resistive touchscreen is finicky, a decidedly average camera

Pink HTC Hero

2009-11-05T05:07:00.000-08:00

Pink HTC Hero on Pay As You Go Deals UK

Friday, October 30th, 2009

The retailers are starting to get ready for the prepay rush this Christmas with the release of the HTC Hero in pink on pay as you go deals, originally launched back in July on contract deals followed by a SIM free launch in August the pink HTC Hero can now be bought with having to sign up to a contract.

This latest release is great news for anyone who struggles to get past the credit checks in order to buy a pay monthly phone, the pay as you go pink HTC Hero can be purchased without any credit checks and then simply registered and topped-up as and when needed. It also opens up the possibility of buying this top girlie gadget as a present for someone.

HTC Hero Pink

The HTC Hero in pink uses the Android OS with the HTC Sense UI for a great mobile experience, a big advantage over previous HTC Android phones is that the Hero supports Flash for viewing content in the web browser.

Features include 3.2 inch touch screen display, connectivity via 3.5G support, quad-band GSM, HSDPA, Bluetooth and USB, a 5.0 mga pixel camera with autofocus, GPS with Google Maps and an exapandable memory with MicroSd cards. Running on a 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM7200A processor and a good 288 Mb RAM the HTC Hero is fast and effecient.

Nokia N98

2009-11-05T05:02:00.000-08:00

Nokia N98 Announced for Release – Nokia N98 Uk

Fitted with a 7.2 mega pixel camera that includes Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus and built-in Xenon flash, the Nokia N98 camera even supports 8x optical zoom and 40x digital zoom.

With this in mind, the 3.5 inch 540 x 480 VGA touch screen is perfect for viewing and editing images or browsing online, editing text and replying to emails.

Videos on the other hand are recorded at 60fps with a resolution of 720 x 576 and include 5x optical zoom and 20x digital zoom functions.

BLOG UPDATE: 12/12/08 - Nokia Touchscreen Phone – Could it be the N98?

Apart from the impressive camera onboard, the Nokia N98 is a Symbian S70 3rd Edition that offers WiFi Capabilities and HSDPA 3G support for high speed internet connections plus Bluetooth Wireless with A2DP stereo support.
The integrated GPS satellite navigation system is great for getting you home and away from long traffic jams whilst the Music Player and Stereo FM Radio with RDS will happily keep you entertained and up to date with the latest breaking news.Although there is a lot to be said for all the highly advanced features of the Nokia N98 there is one very interesting feature that worth being highlighted and that is the 3D Graphics Accelerator, ideal for gaming.
With all its capabilities one has to wonder what the memory capacity is of the Nokia N98? But with 8GB of internal memory and optional expansion, they’ve definitely not been stingy.

The Nokia N98 even boasts a French TNT digitial TV receiver which will no doubt appeal if you happen to find yourself somewhere within the french boarder.

But as with all N Series handsets, the Nokia N98 is of course a smartphone and as such carries essential business tools such as PIM including calendar, to do list and printing, plus a document viewerand integrated handsfree.

HTC HD2

2009-11-05T04:27:00.000-08:00

HTC HD2 delivers an experience your senses have been waiting for. The unprecedented 4.3-inch pixel-packed display is stunning. The world’s first capacitive touch technology on a Windows® phone along with 1 GHz processing power ensure a smooth and lightning-fast response to the lightest touch of your finger.

Most importantly, it is our first Windows phone to embody HTC Sense™ - a holistic experience that focuses on making phones work in the most intuitive way. HTC Sense is based on three core principles – make it mine, stay close, and discover the unexpected.

Make It Mine
HTC HD2’s expansive display is like a canvas on which you create a phone that is just right for you. Customize the phone by prioritizing essential features like mail, calendar, messaging, browser and more. Next, with just a tap, put shortcuts to the most important people, favorite websites, or most used application right on the home screen. And if you feel like something is still missing, visit Windows® Marketplace for Mobile, and install fun and useful applications.

Your phone doesn't only reflect your personality; it also tunes into your location. The clock automatically updates to the local time wherever you are. You can see the outside temperature and weather at a glance. And, if you choose the weather wallpaper, you'll get a brilliantly lifelike animation that lets you virtually feel the sun’s rays or the chill of the breeze without setting a foot outside.

Stay Close
With HTC HD2, communication is focused around people rather than applications, so all of your interactions like email, SMS, phone logs, and even updates from Facebook are all in one place. Right where your instinct tells you to look – next to the photo of the person with whom you want to stay in touch with.

In business, a phone call often has the power to prevent a mile-long pile up of inconclusive emails. HTC HD2 makes it simple to go from reading an email to calling the sender. All it takes is a single tap on the large phone icon right from the email. And if you need to get everyone involved in the discussion – just tap next to the images of everyone to create an instant conference call.

Forget the challenge of jumping from your calendar to your phone application while trying to find and memorize the number for your next conference call. On HTC HD2, conference call reminders conveniently appear with a big dial button ready for you to press, even the PIN is displayed, so you’ll never miss out on the latest strategy session.

Discover the Unexpected
Some design features of HTC HD2 are far better experienced than can be explained in mere words. Like the ringer volume level that immediately scales down when the phone detects that you have picked it up, or the display that automatically adjusts to the light level in your surroundings and turns off to prevent false screen touches during a call.

HTC HD2 is built for pure finger touch control. Zoom in and out of documents, web pages, pictures or emails with just a simple pinch. Type up responses faster and more accurately on the large onscreen keyboard. The capacitive touch experience combined with an interface optimized for the spacious display, lets you easily adjust the settings, set up calendar appointments, browse through photos, and navigate through menus with only the touch of a finger.

Carry the HTC HD2 in your pocket and you’ll never have to worry about finding a Wi-Fi access point for your laptop. Your phone simply connects to superfast 3.5G cellular networks and becomes your personal wireless access point – anytime, anywhere.

HTC HD2 has you covered when it comes to taking and viewing pictures wherever you may be. The 5 megapixel auto-focus camera is perfect for capturing the beauty of the great outdoors; combined with the dual LED flash it’s also ideal for capturing images in dim conditions. And when you’re ready to move from behind the lens and start sharing your collection, you’ll dazzle your audience with the large beautifully displayed pictures in the new river-flow gallery.

Nearly 1.7 Million T-Mobile Users Hit by Service Disruption

2009-11-04T02:42:00.001-08:00

Nearly 1.7 million T-Mobile USA subscribers are affected by a service disruption that hit the mobile operator beginning late Tuesday afternoon.

"At this time, approximately 5 percent of T-Mobile customers are experiencing service disruptions," the company said in a statement, adding that voice and some data services are affected by the disruption which began at 5:30 p.m., Eastern time.

"Our rapid response team is working continuously to fully resolve this disruption," it said, without offering an estimate for when service will be restored or a reason for the disruption.

T-Mobile had 33.5 million subscribers at the end of the second quarter.

Based on that figure, 1.68 million users are affected by the outage.

T-Mobile suffered an embarassing mishap last month, when thousands of Sidekick owners lost data due to a server crash at Danger, a Microsoft subsidiary that provided service for that segment of T-Mobile. Much of the data was later recovered.

A Single Sign-In for All Your Websites? Google Hopes S

2009-11-04T02:39:00.000-08:00

Jeff Bertolucci, PC World

Nov 3, 2009 10:41 pm

It's one of the basic tenets of online security: Never use the same password/username combo for every website that requires one. The logic is sound, of course. A single security breach could expose your most private information — such as banking and credit card numbers — to the bad guys.

Problem is, who can remember multiple passwords and usernames? Many times I've signed up for a service, returned to the site a few weeks later, and quickly realized that I couldn't remember my login details.

Google and other major online players, including AOL, Facebook, Microsoft Plaxo, MySpace, and Yahoo, are pitching a simpler alternative: A single password/username combo, such as your Google or Yahoo ID, for multiple sites. The concept, based on the industry standard OpenID 2.0 protocol isn't exactly new. In fact, Google announced over a year ago that it would support the single single-in plan.

However, industry support appears tepid for OpenID, as many popular sites still don't accept an OpenID login. Perhaps that's why The Official Google Blog on Tuesday beat the OpenID drum, and gave a quick run-through of how the service might benefit Facebook and Plaxo users.

A Gmail user who receives an invitation to use Facebook or Plaxo, for instance, won't have to create a new account for those services, but rather can log in using a Google ID:

As the Google Blog points out, this simplified sign-in eliminates a tedious, multistep process for Gmail users who join Plaxo. It's more secure too. Verification (in this example) is handled by Google, so Plaxo never sees your username and password. "Since you don't have to enter your password on additional sites, your password remains closer to you and is less likely to be misused," writes Google security product manager Eric Sachs.

OpenID is a great idea, but wider acceptance is needed for it to become truly useful. I suspect that Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google aren't truly comfortable with a single sign-in approach for their key properties. Today, for instance, I can't use my Yahoo ID to sign into my MSN account, nor can I use my Windows Live ID to enter Yahoo Mail.

In the mean time, I better work on my memorization skills.

Contact Jeff Bertolucci via Twitter (@jbertolucci) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com.

HTC Touch HD Review

2009-11-04T02:34:00.000-08:00

The Touch HD is an exciting new phone from HTC which takes Windows Mobile to the next level. An attractive phone that features a massive VGA screen, the HTC Touch HD looks set to take the UK by storm. It will be available very soon for free on an Orange contract.

Design
HTC has a history of making serious-looking business phones that don't always inspire us, but the HTC Touch HD is beautiful. Everything we expected the HTC Touch to be but didn't quite see is encapsulated in the Touch HD -- it feels and looks superb.

Not too heavy and not too light, the HTC Touch HD houses a large VGA touchscreen that we found more responsive than any HTC device to date (not counting the T-Mobile G1) and is excellent for viewing pictures and videos.

The Touch HD's convenient 3.5mm headphone jack

The Touch HD is as thin as the iPhone 3G and fits comfortably in a pocket or bag. Thankfully HTC has added a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top so you can plug standard headphones in without an adaptor, cutting out all the cable mess.

On top of the smooth backside of the Touch HD lies a 5-megapixel camera recessed into a metallic bump -- we wanted it to act as a lens cover, which it didn't, so that's a shame. Overall, though, the Touch HD is HTC's most attractive device yet.

Features
While we'd like to say that the Touch HD runs Android like HTC's other phone, the T-Mobile G1, it actually runs on the less exciting Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. On top of the Windows interface, HTC has added its TouchFLO 3D menu interface.

TouchFLO 3D is HTC's attempt at making Windows Mobile more finger-friendly, and to some extent it works. But it's not as deeply integrated as we would have liked. You still have to use the stylus at times when you need more accuracy.

It's worth noting that Windows Mobile and TouchFLO 3D ran faster during testing than we expected, and felt slightly smoother than the HTC Touch Pro, which uses the same chipset and features the same amount of ROM and RAM.

Many of the features on this phone really benefit from its large screen size, including Google Maps and the Opera Mobile Web browser

At your disposal is all the Windows Mobile 6 functionality that you'd expect, including Exchange email support, Microsoft Office documents editing and viewing capabilities, and Windows Mobile media player, which supports various codecs.

Where it gets a little more exciting is when you realise that the HTC Touch HD packs HSDPA, Wi-Fi and GPS, which all work well and provide a fast and easy way of staying connected and located. Depending on which network you're on, 3G speeds will vary.

We tested out the Touch HD's GPS with Google Maps and it looks great on the large screen. Another feature that benefits from the Touch HD's large screen is the Opera Mobile Web browser that displays full pages similar to the iPhone's browser.

The 5-megapixel camera sounds impressive but we weren't overwhelmed by the picture quality. It sufficed for small to medium-sized prints but wasn't as sharp as we expected. There's no flash, either, so shots in low light don't come out well.

The HTC Touch HD packs a 5-megapixel camera

Performance
Battery life is quoted at 420 minutes talk time with 3G turned on and 680 hours on standby. We found that with regular use -- activating features like the GPS and HSDPA -- it lasted for a full day before needing to be recharged.

Conclusion
While we'd like to say it's as good as the iPhone 3G, we can't. Windows Mobile just doesn't offer the same ease of use, even with TouchFLO 3D. Still, it is one of the best Windows Mobile devices we've seen, so don't write it off because of that.

If you don't mind using a stylus every now and then, we thoroughly recommend the Touch HD. Plus, small details such as the responsive screen and 3.5mm headphone jack are clear signs that HTC is listening very closely to its customer base.

We found the HTC delivered an overall experience better than the Touch Diamond. We still hope the next version will come with a mechanical keypad, though, and while we're wishing for new features, Google Android would be nice, too.

USB 3 vs USB 2

2009-11-04T02:15:00.000-08:00

Buffalo HD-HXU3 hard drive speed tested

In the beginning, a coalition of the finest tech minds brought us the plug-and-play phenomenon that was USB. Then, a coalition of slightly brainier bods upped its game to bring us the miracle that was Hi-Speed USB 2. Today, Crave has the Buffalo HD-HXU3, the very first external hard drive in the UK that uses the SuperSpeed USB 3 standard. SuperSpeed USB 3, people! Pull up a chair and let's take a butchers'.

Before we rip the drive itself to shreds, sniffing at its innards to discover what manner of secrecy it hides, let's talk about the USB 3 standard in general. Its major advantage over USB 2 is its improved speed. USB 2 tops out at a maximum throughput of 480Mbps, but in reality, the actual throughput depends on many external factors. USB 3, in contrast, tops out at 4.8Gbps -- 10 times higher than USB 2, and 1.8Gbps quicker than a SATA hard drive. That's the theory, at least.

In practice, USB 3 -- or at least the Buffalo HD-HXU3 -- isn't anywhere near its promised throughput, but it's still fast. With its accompanying PCI Express interface card connected to our test PC, we fired up the synthetic Atto Disk Benchmark appliation, which measures performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Here, we saw peak read rates of 119Mbps and peak write rates of 83Mbps in USB 3 mode. The same benchmark, repeated in USB 2 mode, yielded far slower results. Atto recorded a peak read speed of 29Mbps and peak write of 25Mbps.

In real-world testing, things were a little more impressive. We copied a 13.1GB .mkv 1080p movie file from the Buffalo HD-HXU3 to a Hitachi Ultrastar 15K300 SATA drive with 16MB of RAM and a 15,000rpm spin speed. The entire process took 2 minutes exactly. We repeated the same test with the same disks in USB 2 mode and the test took a whopping 8 minutes 11 seconds.

Are we impressed by USB 3? Well, yes and no. On initial results, the Buffalo HD-HXU3 is around four times faster over USB 3 than it is over USB 2, which is significant, but it's nowhere near as quick as one might expect. Still, it's definitely a step in the right direction and we expect these devices to get even faster over time, as USB chipsets reach full maturity and software is tweaked to optimise performance.

In the meantime, Buffalo plans to release three versions of the product: a 1TB model for £110, a 1.5TB model for £160, and a 2TB model for £240 -- all of which are due at the end of November. The PCI Express interface card, required to enable USB 3 support, will sell for £40. PCs supporting USB 3 as standard should begin appearing towards the end of the 2009.

Disclosure: The disk inside our HD-HXU3 test unit uses a SATA interface limited to 3Gbps, and the PCI Express interface card uses an NEC chipset that may not feature in final retail models.

Windows 7: Tested in depth

2009-11-03T11:42:00.000-08:00

Deserved or not, Microsoft had dug itself a cold, deep, dark hole with Windows Vista. Users demanding that Redmond extend the life of Windows XP wasn't exactly something they could be proud of, either. Bombarded by complaints and negative press even after the first service pack was released, the bar had been set high for Vista's successor: Windows 7.

Luckily for Microsoft, Windows 7 is more than just spin. It's stable, smooth and highly polished, introducing new graphical features, a new taskbar that can compete handily with the Mac OS X dock, and device management and security enhancements that make it both easier to use and safer. Importantly, it won't require the hardware upgrades that Vista demanded, partially because the hardware has caught up, and partially because Microsoft has gone to great lengths to make Windows 7 accessible to as many people as possible.

It's important to note that the public testing process for Windows 7 involved one limited-availability beta and one release candidate, and constituted what some have called the largest shareware trial period ever. As buggy and irritating as Vista was, Windows 7 isn't. Instead, it's the successor to Windows XP that Microsoft wishes Vista had been, and finally places it on competitive footing with other major operating systems such as OS X and Linux.

Microsoft is offering six versions of Windows 7: Starter, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate, OEM and Enterprise. The three versions that Redmond will be promoting most heavily are Home Premium, Professional and Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, although Starter will also be available to consumers.

Windows 7 will support both 32-bit and 64-bit systems. The bare minimum requirements for the 32-bit include a 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of available hard-disk space and a DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver. 64-bit systems will require at least a 1GHz processor, 2GB RAM, 20GB of free space on your hard drive and a DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver. A touchscreen monitor is required to take advantage of the native touch features. Do note that some users have claimed to have limited success running the Windows 7 beta with less than 1GB of RAM, but that's not recommended.

Installation

Microsoft is offering several paths to install Windows 7. People can buy a new computer with the operating system already installed, upgrade from Windows XP or Vista, or do a clean install on a computer the user already owns. The clean installation took us about 30 minutes, but that will vary depending on your computer.

The upgrade procedure is different depending on whether you're running Windows XP or Windows Vista. Vista users merely need to back up their data before choosing the Upgrade option from the install disc. Both XP Home and XP Pro users will have to back up their data, then choose Custom from the install disc. Custom will have the same effect as a clean install, although it'll save your old data in a folder called Windows.old. Once you choose Custom, you'll need to select the partition of your hard drive that contains Windows XP, and then follow the instructions to enter your product key and allow the computer to reboot as needed.

If you're not sure if your current computer can run Windows 7, you can download and run the Microsoft Security Essentials from Microsoft.

The iPhone is the worst phone in the world

2009-11-03T11:28:00.000-08:00

That's right, we said it -- and we're not taking it back. The iPhone may be the greatest handheld surfing device ever to rock the mobile Web, and a fabulous media player to boot. It may be the highest-rated mobile phone on CNET UK, rocking the pockets of half of our crack editorial team. It's certainly the touchscreen face that launched a thousand apps. But as an actual call-making phone, it's rubbish, and we aim to prove it.

Say what? iPhone call quality is bad

Call quality on the iPhone is pathetic, and it's mostly because of the tiny speaker. It has to be aligned with your ear canal with the accuracy of a laser-guided ninja doing cataract surgery, or else the volume cuts down to nothing as the sound waves bounce uselessly around your ear shells.

The earbud headphones that come with the iPhone include a hands-free microphone, but they're tinny and as weak as a kitten, with no sound-isolating rubber nubs. Rumour has it Steve Jobs is hard of hearing and Apple has been criticised for making iPods too loud. We don't want music players blasting the hearing of future generations into fleshy tatters, but we could use some of that power in our iPhones' speakers.

The microphone is similarly craptastic, letting in all and sundry sounds to pollute your important calls, from fire alarms to passing unlicensed mopeds. Thank heavens the 3.0 version of the iPhone's software supports Bluetooth, so we can get our headset on and make some calls.

Dropped calls and data gaps

If, like Will Smith in Enemy of the State, you're trying to avoid the eagle eye of Big Brother, the iPhone could be for you. It drops calls, fails to connect and doesn't even ring sometimes -- not for everyone, but more often than any other phone we're currently using.

Most iPhone 3G and 3GS users can share stories of phone calls that disappeared mid-chat or voicemails that frighteningly appear, fully formed, without the phone ever ringing. But the people we've talked to who own the first iPhone, which sticks to the 2G network, don't tend to report the same problems.

Unsurprisingly, where voice is bad, data is often worse, and cries of 'no network' are a familiar sound for some iPhoners -- there's even a blog about it. Others complain about failed text messages, but it could be worse: some 52 people took the time to mention in Apple's support forum that their iPhone calls random people by itself.

For iPhone users, there are no straight answers about where the problems come from. As usual, Apple sticks to, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all," and has kept its mouth shut about the issues.

We could point the finger of blame at O2's network, which has the thinnest 3G coverage in the UK, according to maps released by Ofcom this year. In our tests, however, it's common for other O2 phones to work well in places where the iPhone gets nothing.

O2 admits it does have capacity problems "from time to time", and notes it has seen an 18-fold increase in data in the last year. Traffic continues to double every 3 months. Apparently, "watching an average YouTube video on a smart phone can be the network equivalent of sending 500,000 text messages". But O2 claims it's investing £100m over the next year on pulling its socks up, with £30m of that going to the over-burdened London network.

Others blame the iPhone's hardware, but an antenna test for a Swedish newspaper found the phone's antenna works fine. Bluetest, an antenna-testing company that spun off from Chalmers University, took some iPhones to their lab -- including phones that seemed to work perfectly and samples from people wth complaints -- and decreed, "If these mobiles do not keep the connection with the network like they should, the reason is not the antennas or how they are mounted."

But the antenna is just one part in a phone that's packed with doohickeys and whatsits. Those plucky Swedes struck again when Swedish engineering mag Ny Teknik wrote about a report from an unnamed expert that some iPhones are less sensitive to 3G than they should be. According to AP, the news agency, the report said the most likely cause of the 3G problems is defective adjustments between the antenna and an amplifier that captures very weak signals from it. This could lead to poor 3G connectivity and slower data speeds.

Whether it's the network or the phone, users have been left languishing in support threads by O2 and Apple, and left to try voodoo such as adding a piece of sticky tape to the SIM card to try to make their phone work properly. At least thanks to its tight iTunes integration, the iPhone has the option to wipe everything and restore all your apps, content and settings from a backup.

You can't answer if it doesn't ring

Perhaps the worst of the iPhone's problems is its ability to sit there stealthily and ignore incoming calls. With no ring or vibrate to clue you in, your friends and family are redirected to voicemail... or just treated to silence. If you're in a two-iPhone family, it can be a case of the deaf leading the mute.

But even if your phone works like a dream and nary a call is missed, the iPhone's very beauty can be its undoing. The default ringtones and message alerts are so soothing and melodic they can barely penetrate a pocket, and they certainly can't out-wail a crying baby on the bus. iPhoners can change to a custom ringtone, but most just select the most irritating, blasting option from the built-in list -- leading to a massive over-subscription to the traditional 'Old Phone' ringtone. For text messages, we recommend the honking horn -- you'll look like an idiot, but at least you'll hear it.

You'll suffer again if you want to increase the number of rings so you have a chance in hell of getting to the phone once you realise the lovely marimba tune is coming from your backpack. On most phones, this is a simple matter of changing the settings in some menu. On the iPhone, you have to type in an umpteen-digit number -- possibly the number of the Beast -- to reprogram the voicemail settings, in the manner of writing a BASIC program on the Sinclair Spectrum.

The iPhone might burn your face off

According to our ultra-sciencey test, it is extremely unlikely that the iPhone will burn your face off. It's probably just as likely that any smart phone will burn you, or even your laptop, thanks to the masses of techno gubbins that are being packed into ever-thinner cases.

Nevertheless, holding the the iPhone up to your face can be uncomfortable, and not just because it gets rather warm. Pressing a large, flat surface to your cheek is always going to be sweaty, especially as you press it ever harder against your ear in a bid to hear through the tinny speaker. Thus the current trend for people to walk down the street with their phones on hands-free, yelling into the mic at the bottom while they hold the rest of the phone away from their faces. They look like idiots, but at least their faces aren't sliding sweatily along a touchscreen.

iPhone battery life

Battery life is the first casualty of smart-phone development, as the power of 3G, GPS, Wi-Fi and heavy-duty processing sucks the power out of over-miniaturised cells. But the iPhone was the first to really flaunt its slim body while you watched the bars drop almost in front of your eyes. A couple of hours of Google Maps over 3G and you'll be lost in the woods without even the possibility of phoning for help. Compare that to the good old days when your phone would last a week without charging, and you'll wonder why you ever bothered to switch.

The iPhone 3GS is an improvement over the iPhone 3G. In our tests, it lasted over 45 per cent longer -- but we were comparing a new 3GS to a six-month-old 3G, and batteries do hold less charge over time. And, if you turn off 3G, GPS and Wi-Fi, you can squeeze a weekend out of the iPhone 3GS... but why would you want to, without the best features of the phone?

The iPhone sucks -- so what?

If the iPhone is inaudible, unconnected, on fire and out of battery, why is the thing so popular? The fact is, although the iPhone is the worst phone in the world, it's the best handheld computer there is. Web browsing is a revelation, it's a fantastic music- and movie-playing iPod, and it's easy as pie to install thousands of apps that do everything from editing your photos to tuning your guitar. And unlike its competitors, its responsive touchscreen and crystal-clear user interface make tapping away on the iPhone a real pleasure.

Making calls just isn't what it used to be, back when Grandpa used to dial by shouting down the party line at the operator. Many of us prefer Facebook and text messages to chatting on the phone, and the home phone is dying out altogether. Meanwhile, for some of us, finding a new venue without a little Google Map help is like trying to navigate by the stars, and we can't bear to wander without Wikipedia. For all these features that make smart phones live up to their names, the iPhone does a bang-up job. Just don't try to actually make a phone call on one.