Now that's a big one - the handset with one of the longest spec sheets we've ever seen has just dropped on us like a bomb. The Omnia HD is Samsung's go at touch-taming the Symbian S60 and is introducing truly revolutionary stuff. A 3.7" OLED capacitive touchscreen, an 8 megapixel camera that should be able to humble even some digicams and of course the HD video recording - does it really get any sweeter? Geeks have been warned - continue reading this preview at your own risk. We are not to be held responsible for sleep disorders or compulsive spending. Samsung i8910 Omnia HD is surely one of the most interesting packages to look out for at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. With a specs sheet like that it's hardly a surprise but we cannot quite get Samsung's choice of name. There was nothing wrong with the original Omnia but reusing a name is not exactly suggestive of revolutionary. Oh, and don't get us started on the superscript. It may look cool and all, but just go ahead and google OmniaHD. With the following preview we did our best to provide you with as much information as possible for the very short time we spent with the handset. Since our unit is at the very early stages of development we would focus mainly on the hardware and ergonomics as the software is well in need of getting polished. By the way, we've already reviewed the Symbian S60 5th edition touch user interface with Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, so you should already know the basics. For starters here is a bunch of photos of the i8910 - while certainly not as sleek as the Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH, the handset spells multimedia and that is enough of an attraction to a lot of people. So let's waste no more time, the hardware part of the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD preview awaits In the video below. 
Samsung i8910 Omnia HD official photosSamsung i8910 Omnia HD at a glance:
Samsung i8910 Omnia HD
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Acer announced four PocketPC's, which we'll roll out in a mo but not before a glimpse of what seems a properly done homework in terms of getting to know their market better. Acer have split consumers into three groups to pitch their latest releases accordingly. The first group is that of power users. They want the best there is and know how to make the best of it. For the second market group communication prowess comes first and they hold personal and professional information security above all else. The third group is just loosely defined but the key properties are stylish design, reflecting the user's personality and ease of use, especially when it comes to mobile Internet. For all of their devices no matter what group they fit in, Acer have prepared a custom thumbable user interface to sit on top the deep murky waters of Windows Mobile. The Acer M900 tries to cater to the power user. The spec sheet of this jack-of-all-trades includes Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, a 3.8 inch touchscreen of WVGA resolution and a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, as well as GPS and a 5 MP camera with autofocus and flash. The Acer M900 fits the pragmatic user profile too as it comes with HSDPA and full office document editing. Another feature, that's still quite rare too, is the fingerprint sensor for better security management. And with the memory also being expandable there is hardly anything missing, is there? Acer M900 at a glance: QWERTY, WinMo 6.1, Outlook Mobile, Office Mobile, HSDPA, 3.8" WVGA, fingerprint, sensor, GPS, FM Radio, 5MP camera autofocus flash, expandable memory. The Acer DX900 fits this category as well but it has prime bait for the pragmatic user - dual SIM handling. This lets you keep business and personal calls separate without the need for an extra handset. HSDPA is still on board. The display is only 2.8 inches wide, though VGA resolution quite makes up for that. The camera is a 3.2 megapixel unit again, with autofocus and flash. The UI is designed to ensure ease of navigation. It lets you quickly dial your most important contacts with the speed dial panel that shows contact photos. The Acer DX900 has microSD expandable memory and a video calling. Acer DX900 at a glance: dual SIM, HSDPA, 2.8" VGA, UI 3d animated icons, 3.2 MP camera autofocus flash, videocall, expandable memory. The Acer F900 tries to attract the style-conscious users who value good web browsing. It uses a new user interface with homescreen widgets and comes with Internet Explorer Mobile 6 with JavaScript and Flash support. Data connections are covered by HSDPA/HSUPA support and Wi-Fi. The 3.8" WVGA display offers plenty of room for fitting web pages. The other features of the Acer F900 are integrated GPS, expandable memory and the very same 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash like the rest of its siblings. Acer F900 at a glance: 3.8" WVGA, new UI - widget homescreen, 3.2 MP camera autofocus flash, GPS, FM Radio, expandable memory, IE6 with Flash Lite, HSDPA/HSUPA, Wi-Fi. The last newcomer is the Acer X960 - it has a 2.8" VGA screen and widget based UI that gives quick and easy access to contact details and messages, as well as calendar details. The X960 should appeal to people who travel often - it has integrated GPS for navigation. The Acer X960 has a 3.2 MP camera with flash and autofocus as well as a secondary videocall camera. Acer X960 at a glance: 2.8" VGA, widget-based UI, GPS, 3.2 MP camera autofocus flash, videocall.Acer M900
Acer M900Acer DX900
Acer DX900Acer F900
Acer F900Acer X960
Acer X960
Just in time for Pierre-Auguste Renoir's anniversary (born on February 25, 1841) LG unveil an update of their own Renoir, which also goes by the less inspired name of LG KC910. It won't be much of a spoiler to say that a Renoir is only supposed to grow in value over time.
It's important to note though that the black LG Renoir is not a new model, but just a facelift of the original KC910 and both versions will be available concurrently (possibly in different markets).
The newcomer is still officially called LG KC910 Renoir at many sources but at the LG booth at MWC 2009 it was labeled as LG KC910i, so we'll stick to that to avoid confusion.
The most obvious differences are that the LG KC910i Renoir is now all black and has lost the mechanical camera lens cover. In hand, one can't help but notice that it is also slightly thicker - perhaps the same reason why the camera lens doesn't stick out that much now.
The mechanical cover is not the only change in the imaging department. The camera interface has been revamped. It's all new and improved and fixes a little nuisance of the old version - it no longer crops part of the image in the viewfinder so what you frame is what you get.
LG KC910i Renoir
Here's a quick refresh on the specs of the Renoir. It's a full-touchscreen cameraphone with an 8 megapixel autofocus shooter and xenon flash. The camera captures VGA video at 30 fps and can go up to 120 fps in QVGA resolution. Videos are DivX encoded and there's support for playback of DivX /XviD video. The microSD card slot accepts 16gB cards easily plus there's TV-out functionality and a basic document viewer. HSDPA, Wi-Fi and GPS are also included, which means the phone is quite keen to answer most user needs.
The LG KC910i Renoir will be available pretty much throughout the whole world except for the USA and unlike the original Renoir, the LG KC910i will have only a tri-band GSM version.
The M900 features a 3.8-inch WVGA touchscreen, embedded fingerprint sensor, a full keyboard and allows users to keep track of activities and access their contacts and files through synchronization with a notebook or desktop computer. 
It comes preinstalled with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, OutlookMobile email and Office Mobile (Word, Excel and Powerpoint) and has HSDPA connectivity.
The M900 comes equipped with GPS, FM Radio, voice recorder and voice-command, as well as expandable memory, and a 5-megapixel autofocus camera with flash.
Acer F900
The F900 has a 3.8-inch WVGA touch screen and touch keyboard. The user-interface makes navigating through the device easy and provides quick links to contacts, email messages, bookmarks, calendars, date and time, world weather and music. 
The F900 comes also with an integrated 3.2-megapixel auto-focus camera with flash, GPS, FM Radio, voice recorder, voice command, and expandable memory.
With direct access to key applications via the widget-based home screen, The F900 features easy one-hand navigation with the new Internet Explorer 6 supporting JavaScript and Adobe Flash Lite, providing access to various webmail clients and a suite of internet applications. The F900 features high-speed 3.75G HSDPA/HSUPA and WiFi connectivity.
On the inside is a large and very clear 2.6-inch TFT LCD display with a 240 x 320 pixel 65k color resolution. It’s very easily visible in all lighting conditions, which is great. The Flip is also equipped with a half QWERTY Sure-Type keypad and the Pearl trackball for smooth navigation. The SureType is Blackberry's new avatar of having QWERTY letters share the same key. But we found that it can get a bit annoying at times when you’re typing emails, and when you want to add specific words, but you can get used to it, especially if you’re switching from an older version to this.
The Flip 8220 exudes a refined, well designed form factor with a hint of femininity. Not that that’s been stated officially by the company, but we do feel that this BlackBerry would be something the ladies would really like more than the gents. But that’s just our opinion.
Features and Performance
Interface
There’s nothing new about the interface, if you’re already familiar with that of the Bold or the Storm. It’s just a little smaller considering the screen size and shape. Personally we’re big fans of the new OS (v4.6) and UI. It’s smooth and fluid with trackball navigation. The external display is convenient enough to get a gist of incoming mails so you won’t necessarily need to open up the handset to read every unimportant message that could come in.
One of the biggest issues with the BlackBerry OS is that it has no file system option wherein one can simply transfer files from the device memory onto the memory card.
Connectivity Options
RIM has really done a good job adding the Wi-Fi feature to this phone, as the Pearl series usually isn't complete without that. During testing we found Wi-Fi to be extremely superior to the other BlackBerrys that we have used in the past. The Flip is not 3G compatible but GPRS and EDGE are available for your regular connectivity and the presence of a secondary browser for a WAP profiles is always handy. Using BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service) from your service provider is definitely a faster way though.
Other connectivity also includes Bluetooth with an A2DP profile for a truly great audio experience, provided you get yourself a good StereoBluetooth headset. USB 2.0 for PC connectivity works like a charm and is quick when it comes to data transfer.
Last year our trip to the Garmin booth at the Fira de Barcelona was one of the greatest disappointments of the whole event. By that time we were promised that the upccoming Garmin nuvifone G60 a mobile with great GPS-navigation and a smoothly operating touch UI. Instead we got a couple of dummies, and nothing really to write home about. Now that Garmin have joined forces with Asus things are starting to look a whole lot better. Of course a whole year has passed and the nuvifone G60 risks getting way too late even if it arrives on schedule in Q2 of this year. At least the Linux-based interface is a real looker, easily thumbable and running very fast and smoothly. The Garmin-Asus nuvifone G60 is also equipped with a very sensitive display and is really responsive. The image quality of the widescreen display is also pretty nice with some impressive viewing angles. And here goes a quick video demo of the UI. It should give you an idea of its layout and performance. The new handset at the Garmin-Asus stand is the Nuvifone M20. Running on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional this ultra-compact device is still quite far from release at this point and was only showcased behind glass. Luckily we managed to get one of those dummies out of its cage for a quick photo session. In reality, the body of the handset looks better than the official photos suggest. However, there is always a possibility for parts of the exterior to be changed before the Nuvifone M20 actually gets going. We also noticed in the screenshots that the M20 will come with some Garmin-Asus home-brewed UI plug-in. It seems nicely thumbable but only after we acquire a more mature unit will we be able to judge its performance. Until then we'll have to do with the bunch of photos we took and hope for the best.
Garmin-Asus Nuvifone G60
The UI is really nice to work with
Nuvifone M20 at the Garmin-Asus booth
Nuvifone M20 live photos