DESIGN

The Blackberry Curve is the upgrade to the Curve 8300. The upgrades come in the form of a redesigned keyboard as well as a streamlined body, not to mention the thing is packing Blackberry OS 5 which is a mark improvement over the former version (OS 4.3).

That said I was pretty impressed with the design of the phone. I have been a previous Curve owner (until I fell for the Palm Pre) and while it did lack in some areas, it was a beautiful device nonetheless.

In terms of specifications the Curve 8900 packs a lot of nice features into a beautiful package. Starting off the features is a beautiful 2.44 inch (diagonal) 480×360 pixel Transmissive TFT LCD screen that supports over 65k colors. While not as bright as the Blackberry Bold, it still is a nice screen. Other features include a 3.2 megapixel camera that supports JPEG encoding with auto focus and image stabilization. It also has a flash and 2X digital zoom. He camera can also shoot video in normal mode at 240180 pixels and MMS mode which drops it down to 176×144.

Wireless features include 802.11b/g WiFi and can support WPA as well as WPA2 encryption both personal and enterprise. There is also Bluetooth x2.o + EDR which allows not only a Bluetooth headset but also handsfree serial port profile, stereo audio and dial up networking.

The media player is not too shabby either. It supports a variety of sound and video formats including the AAC/AAC+/Eaac+, WMA (both standard and pro), MIDI, WAV, and of course your common MP3 and 3gp files. On the video end there is support for MPEG4, XciD, DivX, h.263 AND wmv3.Ringtones can be used from any of the variety of audio codec’s listed so there will be no need to download premium ringtones from rip off sites.

The phones dimensions are 4.29 inches long by 2.36 inches wide and .053 inches thick. Weight is only 3.87 ounces with the battery in and while I are on the battery issue, the phone comes with a 1400 mAHr removable battery that is rated at 5.5 hours of talk time and 356 hours of standby time.

PERFORMACE

In terms of performance the device performs great. Call quality is nice and so is the speakerphone although it is not as good as that found on the Bold. The camera is comparable but still lacks in quality when compared with that of other Blackberry phones. Video quality is also nice but yet again I can’t help but thing the Bold has a much more vibrant screen (in fact the most vibrant screen I have ever tested on a device).

My one major complaint in terms of this device (and it’s a big one), is the exclusion of 3G support. In a day and age I think its quite dumb for companies like Blackberry to release devices that do not take advantage of the speedier networks I have around. That said I found page load times to be quit excruciating. The average load time for a site like NY Times, CNET, Engadget etc was between 45 seconds to a minute. That is quite a contrast when you take into consideration the Bold loads site like these on average within 15-20 seconds. That said WiFi is a nice change as it will give some improvements over the EDGE network supported by the phones chip.

The OS is a mark improvement over the previous version. The menus look livelier and the Browser has been updated and now supports better navigation such as curser etc. More importantly the media player has been revamped, and while it will not afford all the luxuries of a dedicated media player or PMP, it is still nice. Music quality is excellent and bass is pretty good.

If you have a Blackberry with O.S 4.3 or earlier it would be a nice idea to upgrade if not only for the upgraded OS.

CONCLUSION

So in conclusion I think this is a nice phone. Unfortunately I cannot help but notice that there are certain flaws that make it a little less exciting. In any case your requirements will depend on the purpose of your phone. If you want something just for email and media then this is the phone. On the other hand if you surf the web VIA mobile you might want to look else ware. I suggest the comparable Blackberry Bold.

According to The Guardian, the main competitor of O2 was Orange. Orange tried to get the right to sell the iPhone, but failed also and iPhone went to O2.

Presumably, Palm chose to compete with the Apple phone in a single operator.

The Toshiba TG01 is already available in Spain through Movistar, and as we reported a while back, O2 Germany snatched an exclusive deal to offer the phone in Germany. It should have launched a few days ago but O2’s online store still has it as “Coming soon”. The prices are up though – 150 euro with a contract and 500 euro commitment-free.

The UK will also get on the TG01 action in just a week, though there’s no mention of which carrier will get it. Pricing is unknown too, but we guess we’ll learn more on the 9 July.

Palm Pre Design:
The design of the Palm Pre is one that speaks class. It has a beautiful 3.2 inch screen that carries a 480×320 resolution. The screen supports multitouch just like the iPhone and also supports the pinch, double tap etc. to zoom and navigate photos, webpage’s, games etc. The device is very small and fits nicely in the hand. Although the screen is a little smaller then that of the iPhone it has the same resolution and things display crystal clear.

As for the slide out keyboard, that is an added plus. One of the major contentions I have had with the iPhone is the lack of a physical keyboard. Thankfully Palm realized that not everyone is interested in the virtual keyboard and decided to include a Centro style model on it. Although it is as small as the Centro, it has more space between the keys so there is better accuracy. Also the keys are rubberized so there is hardly any slip. While the keyboard is a little cramped, trust me when I say it’s a lot easier to type on it then it looks. I have owned both the original MotoQ as well as the Blackberry Curve as personal Smartphones and while the Pre does have a smaller keyboard then the other devices I have been able to type at about the same speed. That said I will still say that the Curve’s keyboard is a little more refined then that of the Pre. But the Pre has a solid keyboard nonetheless.

Concerning the camera, the Pre has one that sports 3.2 megapixels. The picture quality is exceptional and unlike the iPhone it also carries flash as well as a metal back that can be used as a mirror for pictures.

Software:
This is the part of the phone that most people are concerned with. While there has been many phones that claim to be “iPhone killers” (namely the Instinct) and fail miserably the Palm Pre is different.
At the core of the UI is a Linux based OS called webOS. According to Palm they will have other phones that run the webOS so the software will be popping up on other devices around the world. That said I was very pleased with the UI. The gestures are smooth and navigating is pretty simple.

Unlike the iPhone the Palm Pre handles multitasking like a charm. Palm uses a system called “Cards” which allows you to open multiple programs at a time. According to Palm the system can handle a maximum of 12 Cards (programs) simultaneously. I was able to get it up to 16 and 20 but at other times when I only had 6 cards open, the phone would inform me that I had to close some Cards before attempting to open a another one. Basically put, the maximum amount of Cards that can be opened depends on its demands. While you can open up over 12 webpage cards without a problem, opening up the Pandora app, camera, YouTube, Music app and an email as well as SMS client will might overwhelm the system. The good thing about it is the device will not crash if you open too many cards. Before that happens, it will prevent any more from being opened.

The device comes with dedicated YouTube, Facebook and MySpace apps. Although the YouTube app works pretty well, it is prone to a few glitches (software related). I wasn’t too fund of the Facebook app as it was not as intuitive as that of the Blackberry. Secondly it’s just a glorified webpage. I found it less stressful and more exciting to use the normal Facebook website VIA the browser. And since it handles JavaScript pretty well, most things are in place. As for the MySpace app, it was better then that of Facebook.

The phone also has Pandora radio, ever since I used it on my previous Blackberry Curve I fell in love with the app. It does a real good job of the Internet radio and allows you to save songs as well as artists for further viewing. While we are on the subject of music, the built in music application is also very intuitive. While it lacks the patented “Cover Flow” that you will find in the iPhone or iPod Touch it does allow you to scroll through songs, albums and artists based on album cover. You can also download music from the Amazon online music store via a built in app (similar one can be found on Google Android). There is a wide selection of songs available and at a 256 bit rate with most songs being only $.99 and all being DRM free it’s pretty awesome.

The browser is probably the single best designed app on the device though. It is very intuitive and supports every type of finger function that is found on the iPhone including double tap to zoom, pinch to zoom in and out and full accelerometer for orientation changing. In my tests it loaded webpage’s as fast as the iPhone and the scrolling and rendering was just as good. I am yet to find a phone that could compare with the iPhone in browsing experience, but I can honestly say that this is on par with the browser on the iPhone.

Email on the device is also very good and allows you to view full HTML mark-up. That said I wasn’t impressed that the phone only syncs with the mail servers every fifteen minutes. I am used to getting instant feedback on my emails VIA my Blackberry. While it is a minor detail I wish there was an option which would allow you to change this. The mail client does support Exchange so that is a plus. The included SMS application is also very good and allows you to view messages in conversation format.

The only major problem I had with webOS was there were a few times when the software would slow up. So far the OS is yet to crash on me, but I would like Palm to get an update out ASAP that would fix a few of the minor performance issues some of the users have been experiencing.

CONCLUSION:
So in conclusion would I recommend the phone? Yes I would. But if you are in a contract I would advise waiting a few more months as the current news says Sprint’s exclusivity deal ends in January of 2010. And while Palm is yet to confirm this Sprint has said that they have the device through the end of 2009 and Verizon has said they hope to pick up the Pre when Sprint’s deal ends in December of 2009.

The lower part of the body made of an angle of 15°, which allows it lay comfortably in your hand. As you know, it’s white colored and has a special Teflon coating, which would avoid scratches.

3.2″ touch screen also has a special coating, which should protect the screen from fingerprints.

The debut of the model is scheduled for July. It will be very interesting to look not only at the hardware capabilities of the communicator, but also on the updated software.

Samsung C3060R Mobile Phone has an internal memory of 15 MB. It supports downloadable polyphonic ringtones and MP3 ringtones. The device has speaker phone option. It has a phonebook that can store 500 entries. It has photocall feature. The messaging options are SMS and MMS. The handset has a WAP browser to access the internet. It has a built-in FM receiver. Its features include T9, voice memo, organizer and mobile tracker.

Samsung C3060R Mobile Phone has games. Its connectivity options are GPRS and HSCSD. The device has an SOS key. The SOS key is a small red button in the side of the mobile phone. It can store five emergency contact numbers from which the required contact number can be easily selected without searching the contact list. If the SOS button is pressed for few seconds, the first emergency number is dialled automatically. This Samsung GPRS mobile phone is powered by a lithium ion battery. It has a stand-by time of up to 340 hours and a talk time of up to 7 hours. The candy-bar phone comes in black colour.

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This Sagem mobile phone has Bluetooth and Infrared for wireless connectivity. This Sagem slide mobile phone measures 90 x 44.5 x 23mm and weighs 92 grams. It also consists of 4.7MB of shared memory and it has CSTN display type that comes with 65K colours and the display resolution of 128 x 128 pixels. The call records upto 20 dialed, 10 missed calls, 10 received calls.

This Sagem Bluetooth mobile phone has other special features such as javaMIDP, T9 dictionary, calendar, wall papers, downloadable pictures, calculator and currency converter.  The battery provided in this mobile Li-ion with 630 mAh. This mobile phone has the talk time up to 4 hours and standby 240 hours. It also MY C-4 supports WAP browser. This mobile phone now available in Red, Silver and Black colours.

Check out latest mobile phone reviews, blogs, forums, guides, resources and mobile phone buying guides at UK mobile phone directory.

Nokia 2720 Fold Mobile Phone comes with 1.3MP camera. The TFT screen size is 1.8 inch and it has a resolution of 128 x 160 pixels. It is capable of producing 65K colours. The secondary display also gives same featured output but the screen size is smaller (1.36“). The total memory capacity is 32MB and it doesn’t supports memory expansion . It also supports some additional features like voice recording FM radio and music player. There are much more interesting and entertainment  feature in this mobile. The bluetooth connectivity enables the user to communicate with other devices easily.

This hand held device supports EDGE .GPRS technology but failed to do with 3G. The total talk time of this Nokia 1.3MP camera mobile phone is 5 hours and it can stand upto 16 days. Using Nokia life tool , the user is allowed to access the client information without the Internet access. This phone is expected to hit the market by3rd quarter this year.

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Motorola Karma is targeted at teenagers and young adults. It is an oval-shaped with a sliding QWERTY keyboard, 3G (dual-band, 850/1900 MHz), threaded messaging, and a homescreen with one-click-access icons for Facebook and MySpace.

The Motorola Karma QA1 will be available starting June 28.

Moto Karma QA1 specifications

* 2.5 inch QVGA display
* GPS
* Stereo Bluetooth
* 3.5mm headset jack
* 2MP camera with flash and video recording
* 100MB internal memory
* MicroSD card support, up to 16 GB
* 1170 mAh battery

Karma will be available by At&T for $79.99, but only of you sign a 2-yr contract agreement and choose a plan of at least $60 per month.

It is had more convenient platform for texting and talking with its new features. It can be handled easily in a highly hostile environments. It allows the user to have a multitasking functions. Clutch provides IM-style texting and short cut keys. It has TFT display screen of size 1.79 inches, diagonal size studded with 128 x 160 pixels and with 64K colors. With  the help of Bluetooth facility you can transfer and save the data in your PC. Using USB 1.2 port the Device can be plugged in personal computers. The phone supports GSM technology with the frequency of  800/900 MHz and comes with an inbuilt memory of 20MB.

Apart from a standby time of 100 hours , it offers a talk time of 205 minutes. A 300K pixel camera with 4 x digital zoom is also integrated into the phone. The price of this Motorola GSM mobile phone is yet to announce. Several entertainment features are available like stereo ,Media player etc. We can also connect Internet to download  and install several applications.

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LG’s LX370 features GPS, a web browser, 3G speeds, Sprint TV, MP3 support and everything else you’d expect out of a normal handset. Samsung’s Exclaim on the other hand will feature a full QWERTY keyboard along with 3G, Sprint TV and GPS capabilities. Finally, the HTC Snap will feature a Blackberry form-factor with full QWERTY keyboard along with a web browser, digital camera, GPS, Sprint TV and of course email support.

You’ll be able to pick up the LX370 for $99.99, the Samsung Exclaim for $79.99 and HTC Snap for $149.99 all after mail-in rebates and 2-year contracts, of course.

In addition, the 7208 is equipped with Bluetooth 2.0 approved by the Bluetooth SIG, and the front panel of the device has «hidden» OLED-screen, which becomes visible when activated.

No info regarding Nokia 7208 release date and price isn’t reported

It was reported that HTC Firestone will run Windows Mobile 6.5, with a Qualcomm 8250 processor with a frequency of 600 MHz inside and supporting networks GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA.

One of the most important features worth noting is the 8 MP camera, GPS and, of course, the 3.6″ display with a resolution of 800×480 pixels.

Many will like the presence of 3.5 mm audio jack for headphones, and the accelerometer. Smartphone is expected to be released in August this year.

Figure 5 in the title of the standard means that the resistance to dust on the phone is at a very high level, «Quartet» refers to the protection against spray (but not submerged in water).

It has been quite some time after the release of the Finnish company last «extreme» – Nokia 5500 Sport. In contrast to it, hardly a the Nokia 3720 is a smartphone, and it will be probably have software platform S40. The main rivals of the phone will be devices from Samsung – B2700 and B2100 Explorer.

A more detailed technical specifications will be available later, we know only that it will be sold in September via T-Mobile.

This device is a compact slider and has a 1.8″ display with a 128×160 pixels resolution, 1.3 MP camera, Walkman player, support MemoryStick Micro M2 cards up to 2 GB.

On the shelves of stores, this device can be found in two colors: black and white.