Intex Technologies has just launched the IN-2222, its latest entry-level handset. It has a 65K color display with 128 x 128 pixel resolution, and other salient features include a one-touch torchlight and GPRS. In case you’re a music lover the IN-2222 has an integrated FM radio with a recorder for recording tracks playing over the air, plus a voice recorder. It allows for up to 2MB of recording space.
Kaushik Mitra, Product Group Head - Mobile Communications, Intex, said: "After receiving a very heartening response to our earlier model IN 2020, which has a talktime of 7.5 hours, this is our second offering in the entry-level segment this year. Considering that pricing is a major growth driver for mobile telephony in India – the second largest market for mobile phones in the world – Intex strives to launch affordable models with best of technology features to fulfill the communication needs of the masses who form a major part of the market."
The IN 2222 is available in 'Chic Black' and is priced at Rs 2000.
One look and I was sure this is a Nokia phone with Samsung written on it! Obviously I was wrong, but the i450 seems less Samsung and more Nokia. Moreover, the phone runs on Symbian 60. But giving Samsung no credit for its own phone would be wrong. The phone does have Samsung's odd quirks. Let me explain...
Design The design is truly a cross between the N81 and the N95. What with the dual slider design and a very Nokia-like form factor, you would say the same thing. Having said that, there's absolutely no reason why you should hate the phone.
The i450 possesses enviable looks, and it's not just jazzed up for its own sake; instead a subtle theme of cool blue runs along the sides of the phone, sandwiched between off-white. No unnecessary sparkle, no useless ridges; just a simple sports look that I like. With dimensions of 101 x 52 x 17.8 mm, the phone's not took bulky, and at 114g, it's not too heavy either.
The dual slide may not be original, but it works smoothly nevertheless, and appears quite sturdy too. Sliding the front reveals a navy blue keypad with evenly spaced and responsive keys. The keys are placed on a flat surface with arty ridges dividing them. Nice! The speakers are visible when you slide the phone down. A cool touch-sensitive navigation pad amidst the speakers means you can use it while surfing your music folder. It works fine, even if responsiveness is low.
Hot-swap for memory cards is a good thing. The volume keys are right above the memory slot on the left, while the camera key is on the right. Now to quirk number one: the 3.5mm earphone jack. It's nice to have a 3.5mm jack that lets you listen to music while the phone is charging. But you cannot use the jack to talk via headsets. It's purely for music and that's it! Which primarily means you will have juggle between the earphones (while listening to music) and the handsfree headset (for talking, of course) every time you get a call. Beats all logic!
The back houses the camera, without a lens cover, and the front is embellished by the 2.4-inch TFT. Right below are the function keys: Call, Cancel, Menu, Delete and two open keys. That's pretty much it, and despite the quirks I like the form factor.
One of the things I’ve always admired about Sony Ericsson (SE) is the craftsmanship that goes into the design of its handsets. There are exceptions of course. Many manufacturers don’t bother to integrate new technologies into either the handset or the OS, so the main thing is to see if the existing functions work well.
Form Factor The mocha brown W890 looks classy from any angle. It’s been a while since I came across an SE with normal keys, so this is a welcome change. The 2-inch screen with a 240 x 320 pixel resolution and 256K colors is perfect for videos and images alike. The navigation pad and corresponding keys are well-placed for comfort and ease of use. I’ve always liked SE’s effective shortcut menu. A secondary camera is located above the display. The instrument is slim, at only 9.9mm.
Ingeniously, the rear panel doesn’t just slide open. It has two little locks on either side that need to be unclasped before the panel drops open. It's quite well-designed; you don't need to worry if the phone will spill its guts in your pocket. On one side are the volume / zoom keys and a dedicated camera key. On the other side is a Walkman key for activating the music player and below that is the proprietary USB, charging and hands-free port.
Thankfully the Walkman range of handsets usually comes with a converter so you can use your own earphones. The 3.2 megapixel camera, which does NOT have an auto-focus feature (odd), is located on the back. The M2 card slot is under the rear panel, and getting at it doesn't require you to remove the battery.
Features and Performance The menus won't seem new if you’re a SE user, but they are clear and easy to navigate. As with all SE handsets, this too is decently equipped with features like a calendar, notes, timer, stop watch, calculator, and a code memo option for secure data. It has 28MB of internal memory and comes with a 2GB M2 card.
BenQ has launched its successor to the BenQ C30, the BenQ C36 music phone.
The 78g mobile phone features a 1.3-megapixel camera that supports AVI video recording and playback, and can double as a webcam when connected to a PC. It's also equipped with a 2" LCD display and top key design that brings direct access to FM radio, MP3 player and camera functions.
The C36's multimedia functions include a built-in FM radio with recording and schedule recording functions and an MP3 player that supports MP3, WAV, MIDI and AMR formats.
The C36 also adds an e-book reader and a photo editor for touching up photos and comes with dual speaker for sharing music and a MicroSD card slot and USB connectivity.
The BenQ C36 will be available in Indonesia in May with other countries to follow in the coming months.
Enter, the Big Daddy of all phones! The E90 may look like and perhaps feel like any other communicator, but is it really? The answer is a resounding NO! The previous models, although still quite popular in many arenas has nothing on this baby. With a combination of elegance, style and a sturdy demeanor, the new addition to the business i.e. "E" class of Nokia phones has promised to overshadow its predecessors. But whether or not it can actually live up to that is what we’re here to find out. So let's get to it.
Form Factor Although the design is quite like any Communicators of yore, this one has a few upgrades. For example this is the first to have a fully functional ‘External Phone’ with a 16million color display and a resolution of 240x320 pixels. The reason I refer to it as an ‘External Phone’ is simply because it pretty much looks like any other Nokia phone inside some sort of shell. Whatever a normal S60 phone can do, the outer phone can do as well. No exceptions this time. This may also be the first time Nokia has placed the power switch on the side of the screen rather than on top.
The rear houses the 3.2 megapixel, Auto-Focus camera with a flash and the speakers. At the very bottom you'll notice a little flap, which is where the microSD card can be inserted. All you have to do is slide it open and insert the card. The bottom is where you’ll find the mini USB (2.0), charger pin and a 2.5mm earphone socket. What’s most noticeable are the two steel hinges. This is another factor that sets the E90 apart from the previous models. The steel hinges make the phone a lot sturdier and add a certain rugged appeal to it. On the side are 2 keys. The one on the top is a dedicated voice recorder key, and the one at the bottom just below the infrared sensor, is the shutter release key for the camera. However, it's not a dedicated key to activate it which is quite odd.
Flip it open and this is where all the magic happens. The large internal screen is what this phone is all about with a crystal clear resolution of 800x352 pixels and 16 million colors. On the sides of this fabulous screen are 2 pairs of keys. On the right just underneath the secondary camera is a set of call take and end keys and on the other side of the screen is a set of soft keys. But I don’t like the positioning too much as they’re a bit too far from the nav-pad, so you end up having to adjust your hold every now and again when selecting options.
The Full QWERTY keypad makes the E90 look like a miniaturized laptop. At the very top of the keypad Nokia has graciously provided us with direct shortcut keys to various functions and one key to call your own (Open key). There’s also a separate key to switch on the keypad light when it's dark and on the other side of the keypad is a five way Nave-Pad. So that’s it for the design of this big boy. Let's see what he’s capable of doing.
Spice Mobiles has collaborated with Qualcomm to bring 3G CDMA (CDMA2000 and WCDMA) devices to the Indian market.
The two new Spice handsets - S-950, the first Indian branded 3G device and C-810, a full-featured CDMA2000 device for the open market in India, was unveiled by actor Katrina Kaif.
Spice Mobile S-950 is based on Qualcomm's Mobile Station Modem (MSM) MSM6245 chipset solution, designed for 3G devices that have wireless multimedia features. S-950 supports wideband services like high-speed Internet, high resolution video and enhanced quality image transmission with the same quality as fixed networks.
The slider device also offers a 2MP camera, 262K color screen, music player (mp3/AAC/AAC+), stereo bluetooth, inbuilt stereo FM radio, video playback, JAVA, expandable memory support along with backward compatibility with EDGE/GPRS/GSM. This phone also comes with value added content and applications like Google Search, Opera mini Browser, NGPay application for banking/ticketing etc, and preloaded content from the Bollywood film 'Jannat'.
Spice Mobile C-810 is based on the QSC6020 chipset from the Qualcomm Single-Chip (QSC) family of solutions that enables smaller, sleeker, more power-efficient devices.
Spice maintains that the multimedia handset offers a 15-day standby/10-hour talk-time and storage capacity of 500 songs or 1000 images. It features a 2.2" display screen, 1.3MP camera, Music Player (mp3/AAC), inbuilt FM radio video player, Bluetooth, BREW and expandable memory support.
BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has announced that it would soon unveil new smartphones with a mobile software that allows users access to business data "anytime, anywhere".
The Canadian leader in mobile connectivity said it has joined hands with German software giant SAP to install a mobile version of SAP's business management software in its devices that will available in the market soon.
Though this customer relationship management (CRM) software is already installed in the BlackBerry and is used through a browser, its mobile version will put all information directly on the device. Mobile users will soon be able to work freely on SAP, no longer tied to their desktops or offices to perform their jobs.
With the installation of SAP's mobile software, sales data, purchase orders, contact information, and customer records will become available on the BlackBerry. The device will also be GPS-enabled and capable of storing hours of video data, which could be used for training sales people while they are traveling.
"Just as the BlackBerry wireless platform has transformed the way people use email, SAP and RIM will bring the power and productivity of SAP enterprise applications to the BlackBerry platform in a similarly robust and user-friendly manner," the statement said.
By tearing down the walls between enterprise computing and mobile connectivity, it said, SAP and RIM will enhance employee productivity.
The statement said their partnership will merge the power of CRM software with core BlackBerry smartphone applications, including email, address book and calendar applications, to "deliver an indispensable tool for sales people".
"SAP is thrilled to bolster its long-standing relationship with RIM through the co-development of this breakthrough offering," Bill McDermott, president and CEO of SAP Americas and Asia Pacific Japan, was quoted as saying.
"By combining RIM's expertise for empowering the mobile worker and SAP's strength in business computing, we are embarking on an exciting future to make it easier and more convenient for today's business users to perform their jobs.
"Our extended partnership with RIM will open many new doors for mobile workers around the world who require real-time mobile access to enterprise applications in a secure setting," McDermott said.
As per the data by research firm IDC, 800 million professionals – about 25.7 percent of the workforce – used mobiles worldwide last year. This figure will touch the one billion mark by 2011, leading to a fierce competition among BlackBerry, Apple's iPhone and Nokia.
BlackBerry is all set to unveil many new devices this year.
The Associated Press and more than 100 of its member newspapers are launching a service Monday that will make news stories available on Apple Inc.'s iPhone and other mobile devices.
AP had announced the Mobile News Network at its annual meeting April 14 in Washington. AP's president and chief executive, Tom Curley, said then that six newspaper companies were working to help develop the new service.
Paul Caluori, director of client content services for AP, said the service now has 107 newspapers participating, up from 18 at the time of the announcement. The papers include The Miami Herald, the San Francisco Chronicle and the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press.
Companies that help connect advertisers with networks of Web sites will be among the sellers of ads for the new service and will share revenues with the news providers.
The service will deliver local news from participating member newspapers and national and international news from AP. The reports will be organized by ZIP code.
Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and others also offer news services tailored for mobile devices, but Jeffrey Litvack, global product development director for AP, said the Mobile News Network would offer easier access to local news stories.
Apple offered guidance on how to best tailor the service to the iPhone but has no formal role with the product, Litvack said.
Six newspaper publishers participated in the initial setup of rules governing the service: Advance Publications Inc., Hearst Corp., Lee Enterprises Inc., McClatchy Co., MediaNews Group Inc. and Rust Communications Inc. Since then Media General Inc. and newspapers held in partnerships in California have been among those that have joined.
Caluori said that the two largest newspaper companies in the country, Gannett Co. and Tribune Co., hadn't yet decided whether to join the program and were still evaluating it.
The Associated Press is a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its member news organizations. It was founded in 1846.
The 12.05mm slim phone has 18k and 24k gold plated accents against a luminous, black slate, vacuum metal finish. It has pin stripes on the lens, an engraved diamond-cut pattern on the sideband, linear etching on the navigation wheel and a soft-touch back, embossed with a snakeskin effect. It has a 2.2" internal screen, a 2.0 MP camera with 8 x digital zoom, 2 GB of on-board memory, USB 2.0, MotoSync and CrystalTalk technology for clear voice quality in noisy environments.
The special edition RAZR2 comes with a black slate Motorola H680 headset with 18K gold accents and a patent leather carrying case
In a nutshell: A good alternative to the N95, the N81 offers very nearly the same features, but at a significantly lower price. It's a classic-style smartphone with GPS navigation, an outstanding 5 megapixel camera, media player, wireless LAN, a 2 Gbyte memory card and HSDPA for accelerated 3G connectivity.
The Nokia N95 has been Nokia's best-selling smartphone of 2007, and with sales remaining strong and with no clear competitor from the other manufacturers, the N95 will probably continue to sell well into 2008. The role of the N82 then, is not to push the boundaries of technology any further, rather it's to offer essentially the same features as the N95, but in a different package that will broaden its appeal.
Although they look quite different, the specifications of the N82 and N95 are so nearly identical, that we'll refer you to our in-depth review of the Nokia N95 to learn more. The detailed specification is listed below. Suffice to say that you can't really get more from a phone than you can from the N82: possibly the best camera in a mobile phone (5 megapixels with autofocus and xenon flash), GPS navigation, a superb screen, high-speed 3G, WLAN, a huge memory, etc, etc.
Instead of repeating all of the things that we talked about in our N95 review, let's focus on the differences between the N82 and N95. Probably the most significant difference is the price: the N82 should retail for around £150 less than the N95. That's a big difference and presumably reflects the fact that this is repackaged technology. For this reason, we are hoping that the N82 will be less buggy than initial versions of the N95, although we've yet to see a Series 60 phone that didn't have some bugs. The screen on the N82 is slightly smaller, but the phone itself is slightly narrower and slimmer too. The weight is slightly less, but not enough to make any real difference. We prefer the keypad of the N95 - the N82 has fiddly little buttons - but with fewer "extra" buttons, the N82 arguably has a simpler user interface. One further difference is that the N82 ships with a 2 Gbyte memory card, whereas the N95 comes with a 4 or 8 Gbyte card.
The N81 may not have the looks of the N95, but is has 95% of the features for a lot less money, and we think that it deserves to be a hit!
Features of the Nokia N82 include:
Operating system: S60 software on Symbian OS
User interface: S60 3rd edition, Feature Pack 1
5 megapixel camera (2592 x 1944 pixels), autofocus, 6x digital zoom, Carl Zeiss Optics, Tessar lens, xenon flash, macro mode
Video capture: VGA, 30 fps, 4x digital zoom, MPEG4/3GP, Digital video stabilisation
Front camera for video calling (352 x 288 pixels)
Photo & video editors
Display: TFT, 16.7 million colours, 240 x 320 pixels, 2.4", automatic screen rotation
Assisted Global Positioning System (A-GPS)
RealPlayer media player
Digital music player: supports MP3/AAC/eAAC/eAAC+/WMA/M4A with playlists, OMA DRM 2.0/1.0 & WMDRM support for music
Stereo FM radio (87.5-108MHz) with Visual Radio support
Integrated stereo hands-free speaker
Speaker independent name dialing and voice commands
Nokia Push to talk (PoC)
Messaging: SMS, MMS, E-mail (SMTP, IMAP4, POP3) with attachment support
Advanced S60 PIM features including calendar, contacts, to-do list and PIM printing
Internet: GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA (3.6Mbps download), HTML web browser
Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB 2.0, WLAN (802.11 b/g), TV-Out, 3.5 mm stereo headphone port
Nokia XpressPrint: direct printing via USB(PictBridge), Bluetooth connectivity (BPP), and WLAN (UPnP) or via online printing
The N96 is a dual slide opening 3G Smartphone which has been wonderfully designed by Nokia. The Nokia N96 is a member of the popular N series which includes the highly capable Nokia N95 3G Smartphone. The N96 comes full of everyday useful features & other amazing features which will assist its user on the move. This outstanding 3G Smartphone comes with a clever dual opening slide mechanism which allows the user to slide open their handset to suit their needs. The casing is a little larger & slightly heavier than its predecessor but when considering the advanced technologies the size is still compact & highly useable. Its dimensions are 103mm tall by 55mm wide by 18mm thick & its total weight is 125 grams. This stylish Smartphone comes with 16 gigabytes of built in memory, 128 megabytes of RAM & 256 megabytes of system memory plus it supports MicroSD™ memory cards for further storage capabilities. The large 2.8 Inch colour screen dominated the front angle of the Nokia N96 which is both viewable in horizontal or vertical mode. The screen displays up to sixteen million colours on a QVGA LCD screen with a screen resolution of 240 pixels by 320 pixels.
This camera & media focused handset comes with a massive five megapixel camera feature complete with all the settings & options a standard digital camera would provided. It has crystal clear Carl Zeiss optics Tessar™ lens & comes with auto focus or auto exposure features. The flash is a dual LED flash which will light up even the darkest surrounding for the user to take a clear & precise shot. This five megapixel digital camera can be used just like a standard digital camera complete with easy to reach capture key & camera setting keys. The user can adjust the flash, colour tone, white balance, self timer settings & contact to ensure a perfect picture is captured each time the camera key is pressed. The user will never need a standard digital camera with them with the Nokia N95 as a mobile companion.
The Nokia N96 supports video recording, video playback & video streaming which can be displayed & viewed perfectly in the large high colour display. The user can record their footage which can be stored, deleted, edited, shared with others, transferred to other devices or simply played back for the user pleasure. The Nokia N96 supports MPEG4 video format & the user can enjoy capturing wobbly free footage with the help of the built in video stabiliser. This desirable 3G Smartphone comes with video setting which allows the user to use to change the colour tone & white balance to gain a perfect recording. A video light is included which allows the user to record their video in duller environments & still ensures a great recording quality.
A second camera is discretely situated on the front of the handset which is a VGA camera which allows the user to take part in a 3G video calling or capture a self portrait. A video call can be enjoyed by two compatible 3G video calling users which allows the users to view each other on their screens whilst taking, a true face to face call experience. The N96 comes with TV broadcasting capabilities which allows the user to enjoy DVB H live TV broadcasts on this stunning handset which can be enjoyed on the crystal clear screen. A built in GPS receiver & navigation system allows the user to get step by step directions to desires locations. The user can download over one hundred & fifty maps to assist them on their travels. This GPS navigation system can provide the user with location information & satellite pictures.
The N96 comes with a built in stereo FM radio complete with RDS feature which allows the user to listen to the radio whilst viewing music information on the 2.8 Inch screen. The phone supports a Visual Radio™ feature & Nokia Internet Radio. An integrated music player with playlist creation feature allows the user to enjoy their favourite music on their Smartphone & create playlists to suit their music taste. The user can view their playlists & select their play mode as well as view album art in high colour. The music player comes with a built in sound equaliser which allows the user to gain the best quality sound to suit the style of music being listened to.
This Smartphone is full of all the latest mobile technologies which include 3G HSDPA technology for a fast & highly efficient mobile device. The EDGE technology provides fast data transfer rates & WLAN Wi-Fi technology allows the user to enjoy a wireless connection at broadband speeds. A USB connection point allows the user to enjoy a cabled connection between devices. The built in Bluetooth® technology complete with A2DP technology for a wireless connectivity experience. The Nokia N96 3G Smartphone comes with the popular Symbian operating system complete with S60 software. The fitted battery when fully charged can provide up to three hours of talk time or two hundred & twenty hours of standby battery time. The battery time is fully dependent on the services & features being used so therefore this is a guide line.
The user can experience HMTL mobile Internet on their new 3G Smartphone which comes with a RSS reader facility. An integrated Nokia Web Browser complete with mini maps feature allows the user to enjoy a full Internet experience on this Smartphone. The user can stay in contact with the office, business colleagues, friends & family using the messaging services available on the Nokia N96. The services include an email service complete with document attachment facility, text message service (SMS), instant messaging service & a multimedia messaging service. The email service supports SMTP, POP3 & IMAP4 email formats & comes complete with a highly useful document attachment feature. The user can use this mobile email service like they would do their computers email service which is useful for the user who is forever on the move.
Sony Ericsson made a splash this evening at the 2008 Mobile World Congress with the C702, a candybar Cyber-shot handset that resists water and dust. The handset is designed for one-handed picture taking and features steady-grip materials and an in the box wrist strap, perfect for an active lifestyle.
A built-in GPS receiver on the C702 enables photographs to be geotagged with location information, so you can visually retrace your steps, and Google Maps Mobile comes pre-installed for quick and easy navigation. Pictures taken with the C702's 3.2 megapixel camera will benefit from auto-focus, red-eye reduction, and facial recognition technology.
The C702 offers a standard set of connection options for a mid-level handset, including quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz) and WCDMA (2100MHz), in addition to Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support. The C702 is planned to be available in Q2 2008 with your choice of Speed Black or Cyan Blue color schemes.
Sony Ericsson held a press conference on Sunday evening before the official start of the Mobile World Congress 2008 to unveil its first Windows Mobile 6 Professional powered smartphone. Featuring the new Xperia panel-based home screen, the X1 has a unique arc form slide-out QWERTY keyboard, WVGA (800x480 pixel) touchscreen display, and built-in GPS receiver.
The Xperia X1 features quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz) and 4 bands of HSDPA/HSUPA (850/1700/1900/2100MHz or 900/1700/1900/2100MHz) support, as well as WiFi, for unbeatable connectivity. The slender Xperia X1 measures 110mm x 53mm x 17mm (4.3" x 2.1" x .7") and weighs in at 145g (5.1oz). A 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus and video capture is also on board, and the entire device is powered by a 525MHz ARM 11 processor.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 is planned to be available in Solid Black and Steel Silver in the second half of 2008, though pricing was not announced.
You'll find more live photos of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 on the following page.
Today Sony Ericsson unveiled the new G502, a device that appears to target the European market thanks to its 2100MHz HSDPA 3G and tri-band (900/1800/1900MHz) GSM/EDGE connectivity. Sony Ericsson touts the G502 as its least expensive HSDPA device to date, and at only 83.5g (2.9oz) in weight, we'll wager it is also one of the company's lightest HSDPA handsets. While not the thinnest phone Sony Ericsson has put out, the G502 still measures up at a compact 109mm x 46mm x 13.5mm (4.3" x 1.8" x .5").
The G502, as a mid-tier handset, comes equipped with a competent, if not mind boggling, array of features. For starters, this cell phone sports a 2", 262k color QVGA display that mates up well with the phone's 2 megapixel camera and NetFront web browser. A new feature on the G502 is the ability to have your favorite RSS feed displayed on the standby screen of the handset, making access to your favorite website easier than ever.
In terms of software, the G502 comes with Google Maps for Mobile pre-loaded, but the device lacks any kind of built-in GPS. Email support goes beyond the typical POP and IMAP systems thanks to the inclusion of Exchange Activesync support, which means that G502 users can get push email from their corporate or hosted Microsoft Exchange mail systems. Other features include Bluetooth stereo support and an FM radio, as well as 32MB of internal storage and a M2 compatible memory card slot.
Sony Ericsson claims that the G502's battery should be good for up to 9 hours of GSM talk time or 4.5 hours of 3G talk time, and should be able to keep the device working on standby for almost two full weeks if not used for anything else. The G502 will be available in Champagne Black or Brilliant Hazel when it starts shipping later this quarter. No word yet on pricing or specific market availability.
Sony Ericsson's new Z780 folder handset is the sister product to the company's Z770, but this sister has far more global aspirations and is equipped with tri-band UMTS/HSDPA and quad-band GSM/EDGE support. That means that this cell phone is perfectly equipped to take on the North American markets.
Like the G502 that was also announced today, the Z780 comes equipped with Google Maps for Mobile and a QVGA resolution, 262k color main display. But in the case of the Z780, the display is a larger 2.2" unit, and the Google Maps application is backed up by a built-in A-GPS receiver, so you'll always be able to find where you are on the map. Also like the G502, the Z780 supports having your favorite RSS feed on the standby screen for quick access to your favorite website, which can be viewed on the reasonably capable NetFront browser.
Other features on the Z780 include a 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth stereo support, an FM radio and music player, and an email setup wizard. Email support on the Z780 includes both traditional POP/IMAP based systems as well as support for Microsoft Exchange servers and their direct push, over the air synchronization of email, contacts, and calendar appointments. The Z780 comes equipped with about 35MB of available internal storage and supports Sony M2 memory cards for additional space.
The Sony Ericsson Z780 weighs in at about 100g (3.5oz) and measures up at 92mm x 49mm x 16mm (3.6" x 1.9" x .6"). Sony Ericsson claims that its battery should be good for up to 9.5 hours of GSM talk time, 4.5 hours of 3G talk time, or over two weeks of standby time. The Z780 will be available in two color schemes when it ships later in Q2 of this year: silver with onyx black, and silver with amethyst purple. No pricing or market availability information has been provided yet.
Samsung's new SGH-U900 Soul gets its name from Samsung calling the device the "Soul Of ULtra", a fitting name for what the company says is the last handset in its original Ultra line of thin profile feature phones. The Soul has a lot of high-tech goodies packed into its metal shell, including a 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus and a new OLED backed morphing touchpad controller where the d-pad would normally be. So what's the catch, you ask? Well, the Soul lacks 3G support for North America, and doesn't even work on the 850MHz GSM/EDGE frequency band that is so common on this side of the Atlantic. But while this beauty of a phone might best suit the European market, it still is worth taking an in-depth look at.
Physical Aspects
As the last member of Samsung's Ultra lineup of handsets, the SGH-U900 Soul has a fairly thin profile of only 13.5mm (.5"). The truth is that the rest of the phone is equally compact, considering all the technology it possesses. At 107mm x 49.5mm (4.2" x 1.9") in size when closed, the Soul fits comfortably in the hand as it does the back pocket of a pair of jeans. Of course you wouldn't want to put just any phone in your back pocket - not, at least, if you didn't want to break it. For its part, the Soul feels extremely solidly built thanks to a fair amount of metal in its construction. Solidness comes at the expense of some weight, though. 113g (4.0oz) is far from heavy, but there are many other devices on the market today that are far lighter. But that is OK because few of them can offer what the Soul can.
When closed, the front of the U900 is dominated by its dual displays. The main QVGA resolution TFT screen is incredibly sharp and colorful, looking for all the world like a 2.2" diagonal sheet of paper at times. It might be only passable in harsh, overhead sunlight, but it excels in just about any other situation. The OLED touchscreen that sits below the main display is one of the Soul's most interesting components. It offers amazing contrast and acceptable haptic vibration feedback that actually makes it a fine alternative to a hardware d-pad. In certain parts of the phone, such as camera application, it morphs to show icons for controls like macro mode and flash, which makes it even better than a d-pad.
Surrounding that touchpad controller are a set of fairly conventional softkeys and call control keys. While the buttons are all part of one solid piece of metal, they each offer great tactile feedback to users. The call keys and the softkeys all share the same white color scheme and backlighting. It would have messed with the Soul's style a bit, but perhaps red and green colors should have been used for the two call keys.
The keypad is revealed when the moderately sprung slider mechanism is opened up. The keypad is made of the same bronze-gray colored metal as the exterior of the phone, and the color coordination adds much to the Soul's overall good looks. The keyboard's keys have a fair number of raised finger guide ridges surrounding them, and they offer the perfect amount of click when pressed. The white backlighting on the keypad comes through superbly and has enough contrast to be easily read in both bright and dark environments. The top row of keys on the keypad include, from left to right, a video calling button, a clear key for editing, and a shortcut menu key.
Controls for the camera and volume are set on the side edges of the Soul, directly across from each other. While the position of the camera shutter button is fine, the volume keys would be better located closer to the top of the phone. This isn't really possible, though, since that is where the battery is located. Covered power/headset/USB (charger, headset, and cable included in the box) and microSD memory card ports sit below the volume and camera buttons, respectively. The main 5 megapixel, auto-focus camera, which is located behind the display on the top of the phone, can only be used when the slider is opened up. When closed, the camera lens, flash, and mirror are completely protected by the rear metal panel that covers the battery. There is a front facing camera located above the SGH-U900's main display that can be used for video calls, where available.
I spent a fair amount of time with prototypes of the Soul when the product was first announced earlier this year, but I am surprised by how much better the device seems now versus then. It is a beautiful looking device that is solidly built, has great ergonomics, and possesses some real nice high-tech bits in its clean looking design. 5 stars all the way.
Core Functions
Like many Samsung cellphones designed for Europe, the SGH-U900 Soul only supports tri-band GSM/EDGE (900, 1800, 1900MHz) and UMTS/HSDPA on the 2100MHz frequency band, making the phone less than ideal for users in North America. As such, we were only able to test the Soul on the 1900MHz GSM/EDGE networks run by AT&T and T-Mobile. Call audio quality on the U900 was good both inbound and outbound on regular calls. The speakerphone was passable, but is not a real stellar performer when compared to some other phones on the market. Reception on the 1900MHz band seems pretty decent considering the very weak signal we have in this particular part of Florida. We were unable to test the Soul properly for battery life, and Samsung has not supplied official estimates. We wouldn't expect the Soul to manage more than about 4 or 5 hours of talk time based on our informal tests, though.
The Samsung Soul has a pretty good contact management system. Contact records can store most pieces of information that are handled by typical desktop PC apps like Microsoft Outlook, with which the Soul can sync to thanks to the software suite that Samsung includes with the Soul. Contact searching on the Soul works on both first and last names at the same time, but does not support the multi-word searching that most Windows Mobile smartphones can handle. Speed dials can be activated with a long press of the associated keypad key, but there is no voice dialing capability at all in the Soul. We find that inappropriate for a flagship product like this.
The U900 has a pretty complete ring profile system. 5 regular profiles and one offline (airplane) profile are offered, and the profile editor uses a very nice tabbed interface that makes configuration the vast number of settings less of a chore. Separate tones can be assigned to voice and video calls, as well as messages. Vibration alerts for each type of notice can be set to one of five different patterns. As is the case with most Samsung phones, the silent profile can be conveniently activated by long-pressing the # key from the standby screen.
While text and multimedia messaging on the Samsung Soul worked well, with the messaging system presenting itself with a polished user interface, we ran into trouble with the U900's email support. The Soul is supposed to support both IMAP and POP based internet email, but we never managed to get it to work with our own mail server using either protocol. The system always reported a login failure with multiple accounts when using IMAP, and never reported any kind of message, good or bad, when we attempted to access our server using POP. We assume that this is something in the Soul's firmware that will be fixed eventually, but it was quite unexpected none the less.
As mentioned above, the SGH-U900 Soul supports HSDPA/UMTS connections on the 2100MHz band used across Europe. The Soul supports fast 7.2Mbps connections on similarly capable HSDPA networks, which means that it is capable of acting as a very quick modem for laptops when used with Samsung's supplied PC client. The phone can be used with a computer over USB for USB mass storage and MTP compatible media synching. Bluetooth can be used for headsets and stereo headphones alike. The Soul worked quite well with a pair of Motorola S9 stereo headphones as well as with a pair of Samsung's own Bluetooth stereo headphones, the SBH500.
Multimedia / Applications
For a device that is not touted specifically as a cameraphone, we have been most impressed by the Samsung SGH-U900 Soul's picture taking abilities. It does basically everything right. The user interface is very intuitive, the touchpad controller only making it better, and the auto-focus camera takes wonderful quality 5 megapixel images. The flash is somewhat useless, as is the digital anti-shake function, but those matter little to us. We're just happy at this point when a phone takes nice pictures, and the Soul does just that. The U900 also supports ShoZu's mobile picture blogging system, and the camera can also record nice QVGA resolution videos, too. Score one for Samsung.
The music player on the Samsung Soul is hit or miss depending on how you decide to load music onto the device. Basically, if you use Samsung's own multimedia manager or just copy music over when using the phone as a USB mass storage device, then the Soul does a poor job of sorting and managing your music. On top of that, the multimedia manager is painfully slow at copying files for some reason. If, however, you use a MTP compatible app like Windows Media Player or Winamp, then all is good in the world and your music will transfer over quickly and you will be able to access it by artist, album, playlist, etc. Know that no matter how you load the music onto the Soul, the audio quality is top notch. I found that the Soul generated some really good bass sound for a phone.
Samsung did a good job of integrating the U900's background music play into the standby screen. As you might expect, the buttons on the touchpad will automatically change to become music controls, transforming into pause, play, and next/previous track buttons. The main display will show the currently running track, and even allows the user to browse through the currently queued up tracks. Thanks to the shortcut key located at the top right corner of the keypad, the music app can be quickly accessed from anywhere in the phone, too. The same goes for the other apps listed on the shortcut menu: call, messages, browser.
Speaking of the browser, the U900 Soul uses the Access NetFront browser to handle web tasks. While not as solid as Nokia's S60 browser, NetFront on the Soul is capable of decently rendering most full sized websites on the phone's QVGA display. As you will see in some of the screen shots, it had some trouble with the MobileBurn.com website, but did OK in general.
There are a wide selection of other applications included on the Soul. The normal organizer apps are accounted for, and some of them, like the calendar, can be synchronized with a desktop PC by using Samsung's included PC suite. Some people will find the image and video editor apps of use, while others might prefer the handy RSS news reader that is included. A couple of games are pre-loaded, including our favorite thought provoking way to pass the time: Paris Hilton's Diamond Quest.
The only thing that we found truly lacking was the file manager. While it allows the user to move pictures and other media files around from the internal memory to the memory card, it is awkward to use and limited in functionality. Speaking of memory, the U900 has about 120MB of built-in storage space. Our Soul didn't appear to be able to handle 8GB microSD memory cards, but worked just fine with 2GB cards.
User Interface
While we still believe that there are better overall user interfaces available on feature phones than Samsung's, we can at least say that there are none that are any slicker than that found on the SGH-U900. The combination of a fantastic QVGA display and some simple but effective animations make the UI on the U900 Soul a real stunner. You can get a pretty good look at some of the best aspects of the UI, on both the main display and OLED touchpad display, in the video that is at the bottom of the first page of this review.
Let's start with the main display user interface. The UI makes use of subtle, but very effective animations on the main menu, which slides in from the right side of the screen. Nothing too fancy goes on, but the subtle size changes the icons go through when they are selected works well. The added icon labels are also a nice touch. For those that prefer more traditional menus, the main menu can be configured in a traditional list mode, which better matches the other menus in the phone.
The Soul's UI uses a number of different input types. The two most common are radio buttons and left/right select boxes. When there are only two options available, the option that is not currently active will be selected by default so that a quick tap on the OK button on the touchpad is all that is needed to activate it. When there are more than two options, the currently active option is highlighted. In the left right select boxes, moving left or right on the touchpad (which will then show left and right arrow heads) lets you change an option. Pressing the center button on the touchpad saves the currently configured settings page instead of bringing up a list of the available options that we would have rather seen. Though in its defense, the Soul's touchpad shows the center button as a 3.5" floppy disk icon, the universal symbol for save.
This is a fine example of the Soul's touchpad at its best. The way it morphs constantly to the task at hand is fantastic. No guessing is required. Even better is how it is used in the camera, where the settings shortcuts show right on the touchpad itself when they are available for use. It makes the entire photography process much simpler for novices and experts alike. It simply makes sense.
We are also quite impressed with the Soul's support of themes, especially user created themes. Many Samsung feature phones have rather weak theme support, but the Soul has a theme editor that is beyond pretty much anything else we have seen. While not all of the functionality of the pre-set themes can be duplicated, users can select from multiple menu icons sets, change font colors and styles, edit background images to use new colors, and more. It is very impressive.
The only real downside we see to the Soul's user interface has more to do with hardware than software. While we truly love the new touchpad, with its constantly morphing OLED display, we find that there is a bit of a mental disconnect when we move back and forth between the hardware softkeys, that move and click, and the touchpad, which doesn't move and causes non-localized haptic vibration on the phone. It isn't a major problem, but we do believe that it slows us down a bit at times. Overall, though, Samsung has done a fantastic job with the user interface on the U900 Soul.
The SGH-U900 Soul is a fantastic all-around multimedia cellphone. The camera takes photos that are far better than even Samsung's own photo-focused G800 can muster, and the music player and most of the other major functions work equally well. Except for the email client, that is. When you add to that a very slick and customizable user interface, and the new morphing touchpad controller, you have yourself a capable device. Package that into a slick little metal body, and well, you have yourself a winner.
And that, quite simply, is what the Soul is: a winner. We're not quite half way through 2008 yet, but it looks like we might have found a contender for the best non-smartphone of the year. The Soul is really that good. As such, we give it a "Highly Recommended" rating.
You'll find additional screen shots and sample photos shot with the Samsung SGH-U900 Soul's camera on the following pages.
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In a nutshell: A good alternative to the N95, the N81 offers very nearly the same features, but at a significantly lower price. It's a classic-style smartphone with GPS navigation, an outstanding 5 megapixel camera, media player, wireless LAN, a 2 Gbyte memory card and HSDPA for accelerated 3G connectivity.
