CellularStream.com Blog

8pen - Is it so natural?

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 23:06:00 +0000

The QWERTY layout, a concept that was introduced in 1867 is one of the most fascinating case studies of technological diffusion. This general layout was selected due to a necessity to keep certain letters apart just to avoid letter jamming.
The typewriter layout has followed us across two centuries and evolved into the keyboard that we all know and love. However, is it the best way to type?

Have you ever tried to post in a blog using your iPhone?

There might be a different solution.
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The good fellas of 8pen claim that as the keyboard involved from a two handed tool and was integrated into the phone it lost it's functionality. They ask the right question; how good are you in typing on your phone using both hands?
In a way, you will never be able to type on a phone screen as on the real deal.

A different method is needed and while everybody tries to reinvent the same idea (example: SWIPE keyboard that uses the same layout but eliminates that need for tapping) 8pen embraces the idea that the human finger is more accurate in long circular moments than in tapping and introduces a whole new layout.

With that long introduction I think that I will just show you what they got:

So what do you think?

To download the keyboard simp0ley scan the barcode:

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The fast and the furious - The galaxy S running on 1.6 MHZ CPU speed

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 20:17:00 +0000

Believe it or not (I don't) , the Vibrant was successfuly overclocked to a a whopping speed of 1.6 MHZ making it the fastest Android phone today and maybe also the hottest (imagine the heat coming out of this phone).

[Sponsored link] Check our price for the Samsung Vibrant

Some additional screen shots were posted for you see, the links will be posted in the bottom of the posts.

An interesting fact that I would like to mention is that in the Lime pack benchmark the score was as follows:

As a result I would like to raise the following questuions?
1. Why should I buy a Galaxy phone if the score on my Nexus One is 35.56? :)
2. Big hacker guys, at least upload an add free screen shot.... rofl.

Anyway check out the scores on AndroidSpin
[Sponsored link] Check our phone selection at Cellular Stream

Barnes and Noble present the new NOOK, with color and Android inside

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 00:15:00 +0000

The next generation of the NOOK e-reader was presented by Barnes and Noble, forsaking the E-Ink they have decided to have it in color.

While Amazon stayed loyal to the kindle format and took the whole "iPad idea" heads on, Barnes and Noble decided to innovate and to take their e-reader to the next level, on Apples court by adopting the color display and teaming up with Apple's arch nemesis- Google's Android.

Although the NOOK is marketed as an e-reader, I cannot treat anything else then an another Android tablet. A quality one since it was designed by Barnes and Noble and the NOOK was pretty cool.
Yes I know, it is designed for reading and users will have limited options, however this tab will also have the abillity to play movies and to play music.
With other features such as WiFi, 8GB internal memory and the option to expand using an SD Card, all that is needed to make it a fully functional Android Tab are root permissions.

There is no doubt that Barnes and Noble took a big risk, on the one hand they are forsaking the E-Ink (leaving the Kindle to be the last device with no color) and moving towards a market that is already dominated by the iPad and Galaxy Tab.

Barnes and Noble page
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The future of GPS in mobile phones using Augmented Reality

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 16:11:00 +0000

The future is here. In the past week I have stumped upon a video that show the next generation GPS; a real live navigation on roads and through streets as it projected to an actual picture on phone.

I know, it doesn't really make sense until you see the video.

[Sponsored link] Check our phone selection at Cellular Stream

The technology is already available on Android and the iPhone (although a lot longer for the Android) and it uses our actual world to "paint" over it. The surroundings are sampled by the camera, GPS, compass and phone's internal gyroscope.
The results are mind blowing; GPS that highlights the actual road and other cool stuff hat will be presented in future posts.

Check out what they developed:

Motorola expanding it's Droid collection for Verizon

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:12:00 +0000

I think that it safe to say that , Android wise, Verizon was the most innovative company this year; providing great phones from HTC and Motorola . Verizon was seeking to provide more and more Android solutions to the public.

Verizon continues on that course with Motorola and announces the latest phone in the Droid series- The Droid Pro.

Continue reading for more info...
[Sponsored link] Check our phone selection at Cellular Stream

As you see the phone has a QWERTY keyboard but not as the Droid 2 that has a slide-out keyboard.
The phone will have some of the following:

-1 GHz processor
-3.1-inch touchscreen display
-2 GB internal memory
-2 GB micro-SD card included
-5 megapixel auto-focus camera with dual-LED flash
-3G mobile hotspot capabilities.
-Android 2.2
-1420 mAh battery (1860 mAh extended life battery available)

This phone looked great and it seems that it could be a great solution for business and private owners.
In addition I am glad that Motorola is becoming more innovative in this field and does not only stick to the "screen phone" idea.

Original press release of Motorola

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8 million $ iPhone - I like...

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 15:24:00 +0000

What would I do with 8 million dollars? Buy an iPhone of course, but not before I will plate it with gold and pink diamonds- because that's the type of guy that I am.

I ordered it a couple of months ago but unfortunately I got into financial problems. Keep reading to reveal who I lost it to...
In the mean time- isn't that beautiful?

The phone was manufactured and provided to Tony Sage, renowned in the gold mining industry. I guess that he has a little bit more money than I do.

Now... I am looking for a platinum and blue diamonds Desire HD. :)

Original Post

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No iPhone... Verizon offers the iPad instead

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:29:00 +0000

We all know about the weird relationship that Verizon and Apple have. On the one side Verizon has been acting vigorously to obtain Apple iPhones for her CDMA network however the deal could not be finalyzed.

In the past we have posted Verizon's CEO, Ivan Seidenberg, comment that it will take a while to get the phone although they are in constant contact with Apple.
Well the on of the result of those talk is the iPad that is coming to Verizon.

No 3G yet (since Verizon doesn't use the needed SIM technology) however the plans will include a MiFi hotspot.
I guess that the only thing left is just wait and see if this is a smart strategy for Verizon.

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Samsung Transform and Sprint ID hands on.

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:53:00 +0000

Sprint has introduced the latest Samsung phone on the network. It’s packed with Sprint own modification of the Android system – The Sprint ID, which is a pretty cool tool of setting your own customization to the phones and perfect for Android newbies.

Check out the rest...

[Sponsored link] Get a Samsung Transform from Sprint

The phone looks like a crossbreed of the Galaxy S and the Epic 4G.

The phone has a 800MHZ processor with a 3.5” screen, cameras front and back (for you to have that “face time” with your favorite someone) and a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
No 4G connectivity was introduced on this phone and that is a shame, the phone looks like the perfect executive phone and that 4G speed boost could be the right thing to add.

Although the OS kind of looks likes the Froyo release it’s actually running 2.1, however the Sprint ID provided the visual changes that was done on 2.2 with its own little twist.

Check out the phone hands on as it was provided by Engadget

[Sponsored link] Check out our wide veriaty of phones at www.cellularstream.com

Iphone 4 broken glass

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:59:00 +0000

I would like to welcome all of our new subscribers, we had a great (but slow) start and I hope that this community will grow larger.

But let's go back to our main topic...I would like to share this piece with you.
This is an exclusive picture and I doubt that you can find anything similar online.

Let's just say that bragging about your new Iphone, after a couple of shots, on a balcony, on the 21st floor is not a good idea.

The phone flew out, landed on the pavement and completely shattered. :)

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Latest myTouch on T-Mobile- fastest Phone yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 22:00:00 +0000

In addition to the great G2 that was introduced on our blog, today T-mobile has announced it's newest phone yet- we will call it the myTouch 4G, and it's a doozy...

[Sponsored link] Get a myTouch 3G from our store.

This soft lunch (and I mean soft when I say that I could not find a lot of mentioning online) of the next generation of the myTouch introduces a phone with a 3.8" screen, a MSM8255 1 GHZ Snapdragon processor a HSPA+ 4G connection speeds.
No phosocal keyboard- and if you need one you can always go for the G2.

There is no doubt that this is one of the fastest phones out there, having the same CPU as the Desire HD but with 4G connectivity I might risk it and call this the best phone till now.

Packed with some of the latest standards (5MP camera, HD recording) the phone will have some new features and it will support cellular face time along with live video/media streaming.

Overall this sounds like the Android world has got a new competitor for the title and it will come in 3 colors too.

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on cellularstream.com

Quick Android Tip

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 17:23:00 +0000

Have you ever wondered how you can activate your Android phone without going through the pesky "welcome screen" process?

If you backup / restore your phone frequently you will find the next tip very useful.
Just go as described and press the following:

The launcher will pop next, you will be able to register to Google at any time from settings.
Have fun...

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Tablet for the masses?

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 16:07:00 +0000

This is why I love the Android system, apparently nearly everyone can manufacture his own gadget.

The following Tablet is brought to us by "Next" (a UK retail cloths store.... weird right?) that reveal a new 10" Android Tablet - and it is available NOW for only £180 ($286) which is pretty cheap considering that not too long ago the Kindle cost around 260$.

The device does not shines with the greatest specs on the market, but hay... It has two advantages; the price and the fact it is available. Check out the specs bellow.

The specs as they were revealed in www.coolsmartphone.com (Might be not accurate since I found some inconsistencies):

10" LED TOUCHSCREEN.
10.1" DIAGONAL - 1024 x 600 PIXELS.
WIDESCREEN LED BACKLIT LCD.
1.0GHz LNX CODE 11 PROCESSOR.
256MB RAM DDRII DOUBLE RATE RAM.
8GB STORAGE.
SOFTWARE GOOGLE ANDROID™ MOBILE OS. 2.1 version
TOUCH OPTIMISED.
INTERNET & EMAIL READY.
802.11 B/G WI-FI WIRELESS CONNECTION.
10/100Mbps RJ45 ETHERNET (VIA OPTIONAL ADAPTOR).
LI-ION RE-CHARGEABLE BATTERY OFFERS 3 HOURS BATTERY LIFE (DEPENDING ON USAGE).
9V ~ 2100mA DC / 110~240V AC.
1 x USB 2.0 PORT.
3.5mm HEADPHONE PORT.
STEREO SPEAKERS.
VOLUME CONTROL.
MICRO SD CARD SLOT.
RESISTIVE TOUCH PANEL FOR FINGERTIP NAVIG+ATION.
PHYSICAL BACK BUTTON
G-SENSOR (AUTO LANDSCAPE/PORTRAIT ROTATION)
VIRTUAL ONBOARD KEYBOARD.
DIMENSIONS: 270mm x 179mm x 16mm.
WEIGHT - 695G.

This sounds like a pretty cool toy if you don't wanna spend too much money and do not care if the screen is captive or not.
I did not like the fact that there is no TV-OUT, the battery life is pretty poor and the fact that it carries only 2 GB on board.

Will I buy it? I don't think so, nor I need a a tablet PC. However, if a similar device will be introduced in the near future (with a similar price) I might consider to buy it.

Although I am happy to see that the market is charging forward I would really want to see Android Tablets from reliable and experienced companies such as Dell, Sony and may be Asus. In a way those companies has already experienced assimilating the OS to their devices (The Streak, X10 and Gramin Phone) so why not do the same for tablets?

Product page.
Coolsmartphone
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Tablet Vs Tablet Vs Tablet ...

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:20:00 +0000

PC world has posted a much needed comparison preparing us to the upcoming new war - "The tablet front".
With RIM entering the race (for those of you who missed it; RIM has introduced it's own tablet answering the name of "PlayBook") it's guaranteed that we will experience a warn technological winter.

The Playbook will have a dual core processor running at the speed of 1GHZ, outrunning the Galaxy Tab (Samsung) and the Ipad with a single core processor.
Double the RAM, add 5 MP camera on the back, 3 MP camera in the front, total synchronization with your Blackberry phone and you got a possible winner.

Any way not all of the information is shown since the price was not revealed yet, nore it's cellular carrier affiliation.
My guess... wait for Thanksgiving.

The original post on PCworld.
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No Iphone FOR YOU!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 16:28:00 +0000

During the Goldman Sachs conference Verizon's CEO, Ivan Seidenberg, commented that although they are in contact with Apple the company will not get the CDMA Iphone for it's 3G network. Shattering a lot of speculation about the 1st non-SIM Iphone.

In addition Seidenberg mentioned that the option still open for it's upcoming 4G network. The problem is that the network will be nation wide spread only by 2012 and that's only for data since there is no standard yet for phone called over the 4G network.

So in a way Verizon is going to continue and invest in it's Android inventory of Smart Phones, providing Motorola's and HTC's models.

Original Post on AP

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on cellularstream.com

Iphone Again?

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 21:31:00 +0000

JDPower has released their Anuual customer satisfaction research staring Apple as the Award Recipient for the forth consecutive year.

Being an Android fan I was kinda surprised, I mean, HTC and Motorola has released great phones that seemed to take some of the market share for the last couple months.
No surprise about the Iphone battery though.

And Then I found the following:

"...The studies were fielded between January and June 2010".

In a way we did not see the results of the "Iphone 4 vs Droid X vs Incredible and Evo" war yet since the study has finished only in June.
The interesting thing is Motorola's and HTC's Impact on the market. They were following Apple not so far behind with results just a bit bellow 800 (out of 1000).

Original message on JDPower

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Droid Eris will mot be uppdated to next android platform

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:21:00 +0000

Droid Eris (by HTC) will not be getting the latest version of the Android OS- Froyo.

It was announces this Tuesday by Verizon that the company will not upgrade the device leaving the disappointed customers with two choices:
- Pay for an upgrade to a newer device.
- Stay with the Eris and root it.

My personal advice; go and root it. There are so many great stuff that could be found online, you can't miss it.

Original message at Computerworld

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on cellularstream.com

Phone review: HTC Aria

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 21:35:00 +0000

The ARIA, which was released this June, can easily enter this year's successful list of great phones due to the combination of many properties.

In fact, we were not surprised to see this model, especially after the release of the Incredible and HD MINI- In a way the Aria is the HD mini’s twin brother from the HTC’s Android series.

In addition HTC wanted, for a while now to introduce a device for the leading GSM network in the states (AT&T) without really competing against the Iphone.

[Sponsored link] Get a Aria cell phone for free.

The Aria has a different niche - smart but at the same small and cheap.

Droid and the Aria

Design.

This is a small device with a 3.2“ touch screen. The device is closely similar to HTC's HD mini but with custom changes for the Android system. In fact, we can see four touch keys (or touch surfaces) designed the same as it was designed in the INCREDIBLE; same with the optical button on the bottom, this button is as useful as the trackball that was introduced in previous models- not useful at all but still exists!

We can see that the arrangement stayed pretty much the same. On the bottom we can see the keys - "Home", "Menu" , "Back", and "search “. On the top we can find the metal power button which is a nice change in compare to the plastic button on the EVO device.

Button Alignment

The whole front of the device is a large screen (similar to the Iphone).The back cover is actually removable and it is made of rubberized plastic which is comfortable to the touch.

Actually the antenna is integrated into the “Backdoor” and this contributes to the isolation of the antenna. The antenna is not exposed so there is no degradation once you hold it “the wrong way”. The only drawback is that the phone will be without coverage until we closed the lid.

Once we take a look under the hood we can spot the battery, SIM card and flash card, I have to admit that the yellow color was a good choice, it gives a sense of luxury and cleanliness. The phone supports up to 32 GB on flash.

Backdoor

Back

A couple of things that also could be found are the: headphone 4.5 cm jack on the top and a mini USB port on bottom. We can also find a 5 MP camera (no flash), a large speaker and at the top left we can identify the light indicator.

This is very comfortable device despite its small size. I felt comfortable putting it in my pocket and didn’t feel that it could break easily (although we are looking at a broken instrument).

Screen and interface.

The Aria has a small screen resolution of 480X320 HVGA. This is an LCD and not AMOLED as we got used to see in HTC’s devices. In part, Samsung is responsible for that by not being able to provide the amount of screens required for HTC. The alternative - Sony's LCD screens.

The Screen itself takes about 90 percent of the front and covered with a thick glass. The screen is captive and supports multi touch.

This is a Crisp color screen, images from the Internet and the camera seems clear. Although I expected less quality from the LCD I could even clearly see the menus in direct sunlight.

The touch screen scrolling performs superbly, it is smooth and steady. Although it is relatively a slower phone (600 MHZ), the experience is not different from my own Nexus One that has SNAPDRAGON processor. After playing with the interface for a while I can say with confidence HTC did a great job working on the interface reaction.

In general the device works quickly without delays, the reason for that might be the fact that I did not install a lot of applications on it or perhaps because of the amount of the ram (384). Anyway, I don’t think that will change much if I add some more apks.

Although the device is small I was content with the HTC keyboard which was large enough to type quickly and easily. To my surprise the keyboard was actually comfortable.

The system works on Android 2.1 version and it is relatively stable. Obviously there is the addition of HTC’s SENSE UI that adds comfort and use.

I would like to point out that the big SENSE UI widgets are especially useful, seems that precisely because they are deployed on all of the screens, their effectiveness actually increased on this device.

Multimedia

HTC provides a convenient player that is easy to use, no wonder that most of the ROM developers try to port it to other android devices.

The sound volume and quality are pretty decent and the large speaker can play the musing loudly although without good quality and some time discordant- an unsettling fact for new users.

The video player looks good, it is quite possible to see small films on the Aria screen. The speaker also works well. A big drawback is the lack of support for DIVX but it can be fixed by downloading the right APK from the market.

This model comes with a radio but unfortunately it works lousy. Although the device finds the stations it cannot play them without interruption. In fact, a station that sounds perfect in my car could not be reasonably played by the device.

Camera

The Aria has a 5 MP camera that takes good quality pictures. The camera interface is easy to understand and most of the pictures come out sharp with excellent contrast.

Auto focus works great and additional options (such as the geo tagging and face recognition) makes the photography experience fun.

Actually the device’s camcorder gives good results; it encodes the movies into MP4 files in a VGA resolution which is not bad.

It’s too bad that the camera does not have flash, in a way the great camera cannot be really used anywhere and this is a big drawback when thinking about Aria’s camera. Another small drawback is the lack of HD recording that can be found in nearly every new android phone out there.

Web

There isn’t really a change on this field and web surfing looks and feels pretty standard.

The device supports HSPA+ Speeds of 7.2 MPS. Aria’s browsing is fast but it is a bit uneasy to use the web browser due to the size of the phone, I used the pinching mechanism more than usually, but overall it's was not that bad. The average user will probably get used to it pretty fast.

One thing that really bothered me is the lack of a bookmarks button of the browsing window, being used to implement them in the Nexus One I was constantly looking on where to push.

I just want to add that flash is not available on this version and it will be available once HTC decides to upgrade the Aria to 2.2.

Battery

The Aria has a 1200 mAh battery but it seems that the device does not need a lot of energy, in fact I charged it for more than an hour for a full battery and did not noticed a dramatic battery power lose when I used it.

According to different online resources the phone can operate as long as the EVO can.
So it seems that the battery is reasonable (unfortunately not have time to check it mysel

Summary:

I love, love, love this phone ... I must admit that the device is sexy. I liked the feel, the size and how it works.

The design is simple and the easy interface really enhances the experience.

Nevertheless I cannot shake the feeling that this is a “weaker “that might not give me all the features I require. A strong battery might be needed when you are using energy costly features (As tethering).

I would like also to get the missing flash for the camera and HD recording. As someone who likes to take pictures with his phone I see a big disadvantage.

In addition to the above I would like to see some improvement in several areas:

- Bring back the hardware buttons.
- Stereophonic speakers.
- Support for a removable flash card.

Overall, I will definitely recommend this device for people who do not like large bulky sets but still want a smart and cheap phone (relatively).

HTC has proven that you can actually get minimum size SMARTPHONE.

Fun picture of a broken Aria:

The phone was provided by www.Cellularstream.com

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Greatly anticipated HTC G2 goes on Pre-Sale tomorrow on Best Buy.

noreply@blogger.com (Boris B) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 23:28:00 +0000

It seems that Best Buy is becoming the greatest Android phone seller in the market, in addition to selling the EVO 4G and the Incredible; “Best Buy” is the first that is going to offer the G2 for T-mobile.
This GSM-G1-Successor will be available for T-mobile exclusively at the price of 199$ (with a two year contract). This is a pretty good deal considering the fact that the last android phone that came out with a keyboard now sells for 299$ at Verizon- yes, I am referring to the Droid 2.
Although it has only an 800 MHZ processor I am sure that it will be worth it. A sense UI phone with a full keyboard that will run 2.2 is a great buy.
And for all of you guys across the world, I am pretty sure that this phone is coming to be hacked and rooted real soon and pop on Ebay... Just have to be patient.

Original message at Best Buy

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