HTC Magic Pics and First Impressions

Known as the manufacturer’s first Android-powered device, the HTC Magic features the classic PDA-phone form factor. Featuring a minimalist exterior and basic controls underneath the generously-sized display, the Magic is also my first experience with Google’s mobile OS.

Doing away with the classic five-way navigator, the Magic relies on a small trackball for interface browsing and selection. The virtual keyboard is reminiscent of the iPhone’s, with the device emitting slight vibrations upon keypress as physical feedback.

The Android OS was very responsive, with none of the delays the characterize the interface of—dare I say it—Windows Mobile devices as recent as last year. My unfamiliarity with the OS limited my experimentation, but it was weird how it seemed impossible to select a photo from the gallery, open it, and send it to another device via Bluetooth.

I’ll try to secure a unit for review. So far though I was pretty impressed with the clean and minimalist impression both the HTC Magic and Google Android OS made on me. More so after the HTC Magic or the Android (or both) left an impression of reponsiveness. Perhaps that alone is enough to justify the phone’s decidedly high-end price (see buy links below), but we can only be sure after a few days of use.

DOJ to Investigate Phone Exclusivity Deals

Seems those those “exclusivity agreements for popular handsets” have attracted the attention of the US Department of Justice. On the agency’s unofficial (so far) agenda? Whether or not these exclusivity are anti-competitive.

Personally, I don’t really mind when a manufacturer and service provider agree to limit access to a particular phone. It’s just business after all, with the operator hoping to cash in on an eagerly-awaited gadget’s popularity, and the manufacturer enjoying a bigger share of the profits in return. It’s not anti-competitive when you’re trying to acquire any advantage to beat your competitors, more so when an exclusivity deal is strictly a B2B move.

What I do mind is an operator intentionally crippling a phone, apparently hoping its customers will pay for what should already be available to them. Anyone remember the RAZR from Verizon Wireless that had its Bluetooth disabled? The consensus regarding Nokia’s lackluster entry into the US is that the manufacturer doesn’t enjoy operator support because it refuses to cripple their phones for service providers. Another anecdote going around the tech journalism circles is that Palm took its sweet time integrating cellular and wireless connectivity into one device in an effort to remain operator-friendly.

And the specific deal that probably attracted the DOJ’s attention? Well, we all know how the newest iPhone still can’t do MMS and tethering—in the US. Such functionality is already available to European iPhone users, or to people who decided not to play the operator’s game.

Source

Nokia E72 Debuts on Video

So was a video of the unannounced Nokia E72 really broadcast on YouTube accidentally? In any case, the video (now off that site but available through Dailymotion) reveals that the E72 will feature the same tablet form factor as its predecessor the Nokia E71. Right down to the QWEERTY thumboard and four application keys situated below the display.

Some other revelations: A 5 megapixel camera, availability in black, gray and gold colors, and a nifty touch-scrolling mechanism. According to Brighthand, the E72’s workflow demo in the video reveals that the phone will run on Symbian S60, version 3.2.

Based on what I know about the E71, you can bet that the E72 should have WiFi, Bluetooth, and fast mobile broadband connectivity. Most likely HSDPA, but a step up to the faster HSUPA wouldn’t be surprising.

Legit availability and pricing info—as well as more specs—to follow once Nokia officially (or “officially”) announces the Nokia E72.

Palm Pre Easily Jailbroken?

The claim that it’s easy to open up the Palm Pre to third-party software should attract some interest—or raise complaints about its lack of security.

Ah, but given how iPhones continue to chug along smoothly despite the breadth of its undeground software ecosystem, such complaints would be dubious at best. In any case, here’s what led Steven Troughton-Smith to claim ownership of “the first jailbroken Pre in existence.”:

On Tuesday, I decided to be adventurous. I was able to buy a Palm Pre from a local Sprint Wireless store without activation or a contract (apparently I hear it’s very hard to do? $602 including tax), so I instantly ran off back to my hotel room to see if I could A) hack the activation out of the OS, and B) get it working so I can develop apps for it and run them on device.

Well, success I gave up Tuesday eve because I couldn’t get the device into restore mode no matter what I did, but on Wednesday morning I figured it out: you have to hold the volume-up button while the device is off before plugging it into USB, and from there you can use Palm’s firmware flashers to do whatever you like with it. As the device can run unsigned firmware (!!!) I was easily able to hack out the activation check, and get up and running and enable the root shell.

He continues. Read more

Sony PSP Go Pictures, Video

Introducing the Sony PSP Go: Seems Sony realized that the UMD format was effectively dead; the latest planned incarnation of the Sony PSP only accepts media through Memory Stick Micro cards and wireless downloads (via the PlayStation Network). Bad news for current UMD and normal-sized Memory Stick users.

Yet the focus on digital delivery means that Sony was reportedly thoughtful enough to equip the PSP Go with 16GB of onboard memory. The new slide-down form factor may be something new for longtime PSP users. That’s because controlling the portable console requires the hands to be closer together—and below the Go’s 3.8″ screen. Compare that to the thumbs-on-the-side configuration that has defined every PSP model until now. Read more

Palm Pre Review Roundup

Syndicating the syndicated: What follows is Boing Boing Gadget’s compilation of Palm Pre reviews from all over the web.

David Pogue, leaked by the Financial Chronicle, at The New York Times:

So do the Pre’s perks (beautiful hardware and software, compact size, keyboard, swappable battery, flash, multitasking, calendar consolidation) outweigh its weak spots (battery life, slow program opening, ringer volume, Sprint network)? Oh, yes indeedy. Especially when you consider that last weak spot might be going away. Verizon Wireless has announced that it will carry the Pre ”in the next six months or so.”

Steven Levy, at Wired:

It’s a huge win … The Pre emphatically shows that Palm has not reached the stage of suffixes. And multitasking rules!

Walt Mossberg, at the Wall Street Journal:

The Pre is a smart, sophisticated product that will have particular appeal for those who want a physical keyboard. It is thoughtfully designed, works well and could give the iPhone and BlackBerry strong competition — but only if it fixes its app store and can attract third-party developers.

Joshua Topolsky, at Engadget:

To put it simply, the Pre is a great phone, and we don’t feel any hesitation saying that. Is it a perfect phone? Hell no. Does its OS need work? Definitely. But are any of the detracting factors here big enough to not recommend it? Absolutely not. There’s no doubt that there’s room for improvement in webOS and its devices, but there’s also an astounding amount of things that Palm nails out of the gate.

Jason Chen, at Gizmodo:

The software is agile, smart and capable. The hardware, on the other hand, is a liability. If Palm can get someone else to design and build their hardware–someone who has hands and can feel what a phone is like when physically used, that phone might just be one of the best phones on the market.

Mark Spoonauer, at Laptop Mag:

We’ve seen many smart phones come and go since the original iPhone, and the $199 Palm Pre is the first device we’ve tested whose user interface not only matches up well to Apple’s offering, but also beats it in some areas. … Palm and Sprint have a hit on their hands with the Pre, and the webOS is a smart phone platform to be reckoned with.

Boy Genius Report:

The OS is great. There’s no ifs ands or buts; it’s really refreshing to see something that’s brand new with a UI unlike anything else out there. The only problem with this is, Palm’s never been a hardware company that anyone’s really cared about. … Couple that with the nation’s underdog carrier at a $299 price-point (before rebate), and we’re not sure how many people are going to be lined up overnight, yet we’re pretty confident once people are able to play a real unit themselves, there will be more than a lot of happy Palm Pre customers.

Bonnie Cha, at CNET:

Despite some missing features and performance issues that make it less than ideal for on-the-go professionals, the Palm Pre offers gadget lovers and consumers well-integrated features and unparalled multitasking capabilities. The hardware could be better, but more importantly, Palm has developed a solid OS that not only rivals the competition but also sets a new standard in the way smartphones handle tasks and manage information.

Ginny Miles, at PC World:

The long-awaited Palm Pre lives up to the hype with a responsive touchscreen and an engaging interface, but a few hardware design flaws keep it from being the perfect smartphone.

Stephen Wildstrom, at at BusinessWeek:

If the Palm Pre had appeared a year ago, it might have turned the smartphone market upside down. It would have beaten out Apple’s iPhone 3G and the iTunes App Store, Google’s Android, the BlackBerry Bold and Storm as well as BlackBerry App World, and possibly taken the spoils. But the field has grown so crowded with clever entries in the past 12 months that the Pre, ingenious as it is, seems evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

Sinead Carew, at Reuters:

The long-awaited Pre has nice new touches, but Palm Inc has a lot of work to do if the device is to be a serious competitor to the iPhone.

Om Malik:

…it is a pretty good-looking device, but it feels a little plasticky and is lower in build quality than a BlackBerry. It is squat, has a nice screen, and is easy to grip. It is round in the right places. However, the slide-out keyboard seems flimsy and cluttered.

Peter Svensson, at the Associated Press:

Move over, iPhone. You’ve had two years on top of the smart phone world. Now there’s a touch-screen phone with better software: the Palm Pre. In a remarkable achievement, Palm Inc., a company that was something of a has-been, has come up with a phone operating system that is more powerful, elegant and user-friendly.

Ed Baig, at USA Today:

The first Palm Pre will certainly give the iPhone and other rivals a run for their money. To be sure, there are areas where it could improve: Bring on the apps. But Palm has delivered a device that will keep it in the game and give it a chance to star in it.

Would you get the Pre? I’m sure long-time Palm fans like myself would enjoy putting a Pre through its paces.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 Available This Summer

Or say the folks over at Lenovo. In any case, fans of the original Lenovo IdeaPad S10 netbook might be interested.

The S10-2 will come in two variants: The $349 one features a 89%-sized keyboard, an Atom N270 processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160GB hard disk, an integrated 1.3 megapixel webcam, WiFi up to 802.11g, and a 6-cell battery, all running on Windows XP Home. The $399 variant has the same specs, but is 3G capable through an Ericsson transceiver. And yes, no Bluetooth is available on either build, if Lenovo’s publicity materials are correct.

Both variants will also feature a 10.1″ screen, a “multi-touch” touchpad, 3 USB 2.0 ports, and a 4-in-1 card reader. A most notable feature is VeriFace, which will supposedly recognize the user’s face as login credentials. Fingerprint readers are so 2008 indeed!

Somewhat uncharacteristic for Lenovo is the S-10 2’s availability in four colors: black, white, grey, and pink (the 3G version will only be available in black, and the pink looks more like lilac actually). Release of the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2, according to the press release, is set for “this summer”.

Sidekick LX Already Available from T-Mobile

As of last April 17, that is, and only for T-Mobile subscribers in the US. The rest of us will have a chance to grab the newest Sidekick on May 13. In any case, the specs below will probably remain the same:

• Quadband GSM phone (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA capable (3G and 3.5G capable in other words)
• Oh, and GPS too (support for Live Search as well)
• 5.1″ long, 2.4″ wide, 0.6″ thick, 5.7 ounces heavy
• 3.2-inch LCD (854×480 resolution) swivels out to reveal QWERTY keyboard
• 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus and an LED flash
• Video capture and playback capability
• Web browser that can do YouTube
• MP3 player, streamed music player
• Bluetooth 2.0, A2DP capable
• Support for personal email and instant messaging (AIM, Windows Live, YM)
• Included 1GB microSD™ memory card
• 1250 mAh Lithium Ion battery (3 hours talk time, 6 days standby on 3G; 5.5 and 8 on 2G)

T-Mobile differentiates its customers though with clear plans to give their Sidekicks Microsoft Exchange support.

What the LG Cookie Should’ve Had

Should I feel bad that the only thing I think about while watching this video -

is: ARMPITS! ARMPITS! ARMPITS!

Seriously though, that perverted chant should’ve read: WIFI! WIFI! WIFI! For though the Cookie looks like the complete package, especially thanks to its 3″ touch-screen, it lacks the WiFi gadgetheads so badly needed to maximize generous mobile internet visual real-estate. For your convenience, here are the rest of the specs:

• Quad-band GSM Phone
• 3 megapixel camera with digital zoom
• Video recording
• 3″ touch-sensitive 240 x 320 display
• Handwriting recognition
• Music player (MP3/AAC/AAC+/AAC++/WMA formats), FM Radio
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email
• Document viewer (TXT, PDF, DOC, PPT, XLS)
• Phonebook (1000 names)
• Memory: 48 Mbytes plus microSD memory card slot (up to 8GB)
• Connectivity: USB 2.0, Bluetooth
• Internet: WAP 2.0, GPRS, EDGE, web browser
• Size: 107 x 55 x 12 mm
• Weight: 89g
• Standby Time: 350 hours, Talk Time: 3.5 hours

OCZ Set to Release the Neutrino, a Customizable Netbook

Many netbooks are fine the way they are, but what if you were able to pick your hard disk, RAM, and OS? That’s the concept driving OCZ’s new 10″ 1024 x 600 netbook, a boon for those who don’t want to pay for an OS license and opt for a freeware alternative, and those who’d like to pay a bit more for capability.

Stock units feature a 1.6Ghz Atom processor, VGA-out, one ExpressCard slot, 2 USB ports, plus a 2.5″ hard disk slot. Weight is a relatively wimpy-friendly 2.9 pounds, while everything runs on the 945GSE+ICH7M chipset.

No word yet on pricing and availability—and I’d like to know for sure if this setup can do WiFi, Bluetooth, and perhaps wireless broadband—but you can spend the time waiting salivating over the prospect of up to 2GB of memory and 250GB of hard disk capacity.

(Image by fudzilla.com)

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