Blackberry Thunder 9500...still in the wild

I was always fascinated by Blackberries and wondered why people use it in the first place. This was couple of years back when i was such a noob ;-). I use to think people are crazy enough to spend their money on a Blackberry device. Compared to Windows Mobile devices these were nowhere, but were in demand due to their unique push email feature. Till sometime back Blackberry devices were no match for Pocket PC's that were being flooded in the market. But i guess the dynamics have changed specially after the release of iPhone. Companies are realizing in order to compete they need to have good hardware along with software with ease of usability for an average user and i think Blackberry Thunder or Blackberry 9500 is a big step in that direction by RIM(Research In Motion) not to mention their recently launched Blackberry Bold. Now a days business users would love to carry a single device which is also an entertainment powerhouse. I may be wrong here, since I've never been a Blackberry user, but the way things are shaping up with intense competition and ever evolving user taste people expect more from these devices.

Blackberry Thunder Specifications

Specifications for Blackberry Thunder 9500 are still not very clear but I've tried to list as much information i came across with some speculation on my part.

1. 624Mz processor - Better than any other devices being released in Sept 08.
   
2. 3" Glass Screen with haptic feedback and MultiTouch - Similar to iPhone
   
3. 480 x 360 Display - Better than iPhone but not HTC Touch Diamond/Pro
   
4. OS 4.7 - New Touch UI
   
5. 1GB Storage and 256MB Flash Memory
6. Expandable memory upto 16GB
7. 1500mAh Battery
8. Network Support - UMTS: 2100 / 1900 / 850MHz, GSM: 1900 / 1800 / 900 / 850 MHz, GPRS, EDGE and HDSPA networks
9. Wi-Fi - 803.11a/b/g
10. 2.0M Camera - With mobile LED
    
11. GPS
12. Bluetooth v2.0
13. USB Port - For charging and synching.
    
14. 3G enabled
15. 4G Ready - It will be exclusively launched for Verizon and is 4G ready for their network
    

Also this device will support wide variety of multimedia content. So gone are the days when RIM was designing Blackberry's only for niche business users with just push email feature. Now, its for the masses. It might lag in UI usability compared to current wave of devices hitting the market like iPhone UI or HTC TouchFLO 3d interface but nevertheless this will definitely give other devices a run for their money. As far as the hardware goes its one of the best i've seen.

The only concern that most of the Blackberry users would have, who are addcited to their phone, is lack of physical keyboard. Blackberry users would find it difficult to use Thunder without a dedicated keyboard as it will not be an easy change for them. Also the much hyped about Software Keyboard with haptic feedback of Thunder seems not too impressive after all, so there is huge risk RIM has taken. But you never know and things might turn out just fine. It could be RIM might win hearts of non business users and become more powerful in terms of market share. So we will see how thing shape up in 2008 Q4.

BGR, Crackberry, GSMarena and BlackBerrySync have more details and posts on Blackberry Thunder.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1...the first step

As a mobile phone fanatic, I've been dreaming to buy this phone when it surfaced couple of months ago. I'm quite excited as Sony has decided to take the first step in Windows Mobile arena. But somewhere down the line my interest fizzed out of this phone after reading reviews and specs in comparison to HTC Touch Pro. Don't get me wrong, this will still be one of the best phones when launched in Oct/Nov 08, but i believe there are certain factors and personal choices due to which i won't be opting for this phone anymore, which I'll explain later. Rumors of this phone started appearing when HTC was in a big mess due to driver issues for Kaiser/Touch Cruise. I guess many people at that time decided not to go for any HTC phones in future. But we all know that life is too short to hold any grudges ;-) specially when all these cool mobile devices are being launched every three months or so.

As far as the features of this device are concerned, the most talked about them are Panels. These are customizations done by Sony over Windows Mobile OS just like other manufacturers but it's a bit different. These Panels are like different home screens/desktop which you can choose with a single touch. You can set each Panel for different mood or situation like home/office etc. It also has a cool arc slider design when you slide out the keyboard. The VGA screen is also bigger and better then most of the devices out in the market today. Nowadays most of the devices have a cheap plastic feel but it seems Sony has got it right and XPERIA X1 has good metal body, which i hope will not result in reception issues like First Gen iPhones. Even though this device is feature packed, I've tried to explain why i prefer HTC Touch Pro over Xperia X1.

One interesting piece of detail related to manufacturing of XPERIA X1 is that HTC is involved in building this phone, but overall design and specifications have been provided by Sony. HTC is just a manufacturer and Sony has the overall control.

Xperia X1 Highlights

1. Beautiful 480 x 800 VGA screen
2. 3" Screen
3. Arc Slider Design for Keyboard
4. Panel Concept for OS
5. 3.5mm headphone Jack
6. Nice Metal Body
7. Backlit Keyboard
8. Camera AutoTouch Focus

Sony Xperia X1 vs HTC Touch Pro

• Features where HTC Touch Pro scores over Xperia X1
  

1. Motion Sensor - This is a cool feature which Xperia lacks and one of the deal breakers for me.
2. Front face Camera - Even though very few will be using this feature but still Xperia lacks here as well.
3. TouchFLO 3D- We just have got a glimpse of Xperia's Panel, but somehow i still prefer HTC's TouchFLO 3d.
4. Keyboard - Touch Pro's 57 keys compared to Xperia's 42.
5. TV Out - No TV out in Xperia.
6. RAM - Touch Pro's 288MB compared to Xperia's 256MB. I know this hardly makes any difference but just added for fun.

• Features where Xperia X1 scores over HTC Touch Pro

1. 480 x 800 VGA screen - Touch Pro has 480 x 640. Not a big deal for me.This is a cool feature which Xperia lacks and one of the deal breakers for me.
2. 3" VGA Screen - Here where i had some concerns as Touch Pro has 2.8" but compared to other features I'm ready to ignore this.
3. 3.5mm headphone Jack- Touch pro has 2.5mm due to which you need to carry the converter all the time and can be annoying sometimes. Sony did a good job here.
4. Nice Metal Body - Body build is better than Touch Pro which i believe is plastic. This better from long term maintenance perspective.
5. Backlit Keyboard- Not sure but i think Touch Pro lacks here.
6. Camera AutoTouch Focus - This is a cool feature in Xperia where you can touch the screen in camera mode and it will focus on it.

Specifications(pdadb.net): Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

Videos
Here are some video previews from PhoneDog and the Unwired.

Accelerometers(Motion Sensors) in Cell Phones…great concept

Now a days cell phones are fitted with accelerometers which are revolutionizing cell phone industry with cool applications and games. Accelerometers in simple terms can be described as devices that sense motion like inclinations, vibrations, movements. They have been used in other industries for a long time and are a new concept in mobile devices like cell phones. iPhone, Nokia N95 were the early adopters of this technology. With time cell phone industry has realized the entertainment aspect of this technology and in coming years nearly all cell phones will have accelerometers which are also know as motion sensors.

Phones using Accelerometers

1. Apple - iPhone 2G, 3G iPod

2. Nokia - N73, N95

3. Sony Ericsson - W580, W710, W910

4. HTC - Touch Diamond, Touch Pro

5. Samsung - SGH-i900 Omnia

Applications

1. Games like Teeter, Maze
2. Bubble Level - Measure surface slope
3. Change screen orientation based on device movement
4. Controlling Radio Controlled devices

There can be many more applications depending upon creativity of developers. The only challenge that lies currently with these motion sensors is integration of software with hardware around accuracy. Applications like Bubble Level haven't been able to achieve great level of accuracy maybe due to the way these devices are placed inside the devices during manufacturing. But i guess with time and maturity we will have better applications and accuracy in future. So if you have any one of the above devices just entertain yourself with new exciting applications designed for them and have fun.

Videos

Here are some videos demonstrating uses of motion sensors in mobile devices.

HTC Touch Diamond, Pro (Raphael)...an evolution

Most of you who are following the windows mobile arena would have heard by now about HTC's new line of Phones. HTC has come a long way in mobile technology and has really improved their phones year on year. Though like any other company they had their own share of problems(HTC TyNT II Driver issue) but I'm glad to say they have finally figured out how to resolve them. This why I'm so excited about their new line of phones specially HTC Touch Pro aka Raphael. HTC recently launched Touch Diamond a lower variant of Touch Pro. This phone has really got rave reviews with some shortcomings but I guess this is a step in the right direction. HTC have done a good job and hopefully this keeps on getting better. Right now Touch Diamond is as close as it gets to iPhone from windows mobile perspective. It is feature packed with couple of innovations(borrowed from iPhone) but nevertheless it does the job well.

I don't plan to buy Touch Diamond as I'm waiting for HTC Touch Pro, but not sure if I can buy it specially the kind of price its being quoted for which is around $1000. I still have my old O2 XDA mini running smoothly so can't seem to justify buying a new phone yet.

HTC Touch Diamond
HTC Touch Diamond is a great device and initially had issues with lack of support for GSM 850Hz(mostly used by AT&T in US) and quite sluggish TouchFLO 3D response, but this has been fixed by release of new Hong Kong ROM by HTC. So it seems as far as the supported frequencies goes the hardware always supported it but initial ROM's released by HTC did not. One of the reasons may be since it has not been released for US market yet.

HTC Touch Pro is a beautiful and powerful device which I haven't seen in a long time. It looks like a great phone but I guess once it is released in first week of August we will really know its shortcoming.Since I believe there won't be much difference in the software of Diamond and Touch Pro so most of the performance related issues might still exist like sluggish performance that has been reported for Diamond but has been fixed to quite a extent by new ROM releases. Reviews have also pointed out Camera quality issues specially for video.

Pro's

1. Accelerometer
2. Great Design
3. Good Custom Interface(TouchFLO 3D)
4. VGA Screen (480 X 640)
5. Magnetic Stylus
6. aGPS

Con's

1. Lack of Expandable Memory
2. Performance Issues
3. Battery life(Now HTC is giving a higher capacity battery 1350mAh)
4. Expensive
5. Lack of good browser(Opera9.5 is still in beta )
6. Camera (Common problem in most mobile phones)

HTC Touch Pro(Raphael)

I love gadgets specially Pocket PC's as I've been fascinated by such raw power packed in these smaller devices and also its user experience similar to Windows. There are plenty of applications available(around 20,000 I believe) which completely transforms the user experience on these devices.
I like HTC Touch Pro as it seems to overcome couple of Touch Diamond's shortcoming like Expandable memory, Qwerty Keyboard, TV-Out. As of now there are no software demos of Touch Pro as it seem HTC has something up in its sleeves as most of the reviews just show hardware. So this is creating more excitement, but I don't think there is much difference compared to Diamond.

Devices are being designed to appeal to wide variety of users like business, entertainment hungry, gadget geeks. It also matters how software running these power houses are designed to make it easy for an average Joe to easily operate these devices. I think Apple has done a great job out there which other's are trying to do as well but it will take some time to get there. As a consumer it's win-win situation because companies are not just sitting over and creating devices but now they are paying attention to the User Interface as well. HTC Touch Diamond and Pro are great beginnings in that direction which I say is "Start Of An Evolution". Here are some of the specifications and Pros/Cons of Touch Pro.

Pro's

1. Accelerometer
2. Expandable Memory
3. Great Design
4. Good Custom Interface(TouchFLO 3D)
5. VGA Screen (480 X 640)
6. Qwerty Keyboard
7. TV-Out
8. Magnetic Stylus
9. aGPS

Con's

1. Performance Issues? (Needs to be seen)
2. Battery life? (Needs to be seen)
3. Expensive
4. Lack of good browser(Opera9.5 is still in beta )
5. Camera (Common problem in most mobile phones)

There are few other good devices which will be out soon(Oct/Nov 2008) like Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 and offer good competition to HTC's Touch series, so 2008 Q4 should be lot of fun.

Specifications(pdadb.net): Touch Diamond, Touch Pro(Raphael)

Videos
Guys at phonearena have posted great review of HTC Touch Diamond. Also Phonemag has got hardware review of HTC Touch pro. Here are some videos.

This one is pretty nice. These people nearly broke the HTC Diamond..great device