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BlackBerry Bold 9700 hands-on and impressions

by Laura June posted Nov 5th 2009 @ 12:00AM

RIM's successor to the original Bold -- the BlackBerry Bold 9700 -- has finally landed on our doorsteps. The 9000 is in many ways a hard act to follow. Hardware-wise, it lived up to its name, going where most phones never went with its retro, leathery, nearly clunky looks in an age of rounded edges and shiny curves. Don't get us wrong -- we loved the 9000's aesthetics obsessively -- which is why we couldn't wait to get our hands on its newborn child. A few questions we had in mind: would the 9700 live up to its predecessor's notoriously uncompromising fashion sense? Would the new Bold feel as good to hold and use in the hand as its loving parent? How would it stack up against other, new devices from RIM? If these are the kind of questions you think you might want answers to, read on for our impressions.

Continue reading BlackBerry Bold 9700 hands-on and impressions

BlackBerrys for coppers: UK law enforcement to smarten up in 2010

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 16th 2009 @ 9:01AM

Police men and women of Blighty are about to step into the 21st century, albeit a decade late, with a new weapon in the fight against boredom on the beat. The BBC reports that smartphones will become standard issue throughout the Queen's realm by March 2010, as a result of successful trials carried out in 30 constabularies through this year. Improved "operational efficiency" and reduced bureaucracy are argued as the key benefits, with a solid 30 minutes less time being spent in police stations each day. And we're absolutely positive that extra half hour will go toward increased "visibility in the community" and not checking out friends' Facebook status updates. No, really!

Read -- BBC report
Read -- Bedfordshire case study

Nokia posts $834 million quarterly loss, smartphone share down to 35%

by Thomas Ricker posted Oct 15th 2009 @ 8:12AM

Nokia just posted a net loss of 559 million euro (834 million dollars) for the third quarter -- its first quarterly loss in a decade according to the AFP. The loss comes after a reported 20% drop in sales and 1.17 billion euros in write-downs, mostly for impairment charges on Nokia Siemens Networks. Nokia also said that its smartphone market share dropped to 35% versus 41% in the previous quarter. With fierce competition from Apple and RIM, and Palm just launching its Pre into Nokia's European stronghold, well, it's a good thing Nokia's branching out into untapped markets like single-core Atom-based netbooks.

Read -- Smartphone slip
Read -- First loss in a decade
Read -- Nokia Q3 statement

BlackBerry Messenger 5 now available, we go hands-on

by Jacob Schulman posted Oct 8th 2009 @ 4:20PM

BlackBerry Messenger: it's the holy grail of the BlackBerry platform, and, for many, the only real reason why they don't make the jump to another smartphone. Well, RIM has finally gone ahead and released the latest and greatest version upon the world (in an official capacity at least), and we're definitely pleased with the added functionality and other updates that they've cooked in to the app to make it even more useful and better. Read on after the break for a full breakdown of what's hot, what's new, and what we think of it all.

Continue reading BlackBerry Messenger 5 now available, we go hands-on

New study says Palm Pre second only to iPhone 3GS in mindshare

by Joshua Topolsky posted Sep 24th 2009 @ 8:48AM

Market research firm Interpret recently made some discoveries about public perception of smartphones that should shock, surprise, and amaze you. The just released report, dubbed "Signature Smartphones: Gaining Mindshare in Order to Gain Market Share," reveals that despite being massively disadvantaged in the marketplace, Palm managed to nab a huge chunk of mindshare with the Pre -- in fact, the report suggests that the Pre is number two only to the iPhone 3GS in the metric. The study looks at the driving factors behind purchaser's decisions to buy a smartphone, narrowing down the list to three major components: belief that the phone is "smart," belief that the phone is "hip / cool," and belief that the phone will make them more productive. Rating a swath of phones (BlackBerry Curve and Storm, G1, iPhone), the report found that only the iPhone and Pre balanced the three factors in a way in which consumers felt the higher price tags were warranted. More to the point, only the Pre and the iPhone 3GS managed to strike that balance at all; offerings such as the two BlackBerrys were lopsided. There's not much more meat to the study, though it does shed some interesting light on just how Palm managed to squeeze its way back into the limelight (of course, it doesn't hurt to have a product that's actually kind of cool). Check out the whole PDF for yourself over at that read link.

Disclosure: Engadget columnist Michael Gartenberg is an employee of Interpret, and worked on the study cited above.

Intel presentation promises Medfield-based smartphones by 2011

by Donald Melanson posted May 17th 2009 @ 7:21PM

We've been hearing about Intel's Medfield processor for some time now, but much of the talk so far has been about it being an Atom-replacement for netbooks and MIDs. A seemingly recent Intel presentation obtained by the folks at UMPC Portal is now shedding a bit more light on the matter, however, and it's looking like smartphones could actually be at the heart of Intel's long-term plans. As you can see above, and in the complete presentation at the link below, Intel sees its base of devices getting larger and larger as its processors get smaller and more power-efficient, and it looks like "mainstream smartphones" could become a reality as soon as 2011. That's due largely to the 32nm manufacturing process used for the smaller Medfield processor, which also makes uses a smaller board size that leaves more room for keypads, batteries and whatnot. Of course, we are still talking about Intel predicting the state of devices two years out, so who knows how things will shake out in the interim.

Qualcomm makes a play for the sub-$150 smartphone market with new chipset

by Joshua Topolsky posted Feb 14th 2009 @ 9:03PM

In a press release recently issued by Qualcomm, the company states that it's taking direct aim at the sub-$150 smartphone market with a new chipset on offer. The platform -- known as the MSM7227 -- is apparently designed with higher-power, lower-cost handsets in mind, offering HSDPA / HSUPA radios, a 600MHz CPU, 320MHz application DSP, 400MHz modem processor, hardware-accelerated 3D graphics, Bluetooth 2.1, and GPS support integrated in a 12mm x 12mm chipset. The MSM7227 can also supposedly handle 8 megapixel camera and 30 FPS WVGA encoding / decoding with ease, and is capable of supporting Android, S60, Windows Mobile, and BREW platforms. Given the company's recent foray into Snapdragon and other pricier options, it's interesting to see them taking a shine to the low end of the market. We know that ASUS are planning on launching a cheaper Eee phone sometime soon, and they're currently snuggling up to Qualcomm for chip duty on an Android device. Is this the year we'll see the rise of the smartphone version of the netbook (cheap, plentiful, almost disposable)? Only MWC knows for sure.

[Via The Inquirer]

NVIDIA shows off Tegra on video

by Joshua Topolsky posted Jun 3rd 2008 @ 5:06PM

Yesterday we told you about NVIDIA's new mobile platform, Tegra, and today, we've got some videos from the company showing off the system, and giving you a good impression of just how much less juice this architecture uses compared to the competition. Check the videos after the break demonstrating the systems' lean energy needs, HDMI output capabilities, blazing fast gaming, and that fancy UI we keep telling you about.

Continue reading NVIDIA shows off Tegra on video

New study finds average purchase price of handsets on the rise, uptick in smartphone demand to thank

by Darren Murph posted Jun 2nd 2008 @ 10:41PM

We suppose the uptick in smartphone demand could be to blame, depending on your perspective, but regardless of semantics, a new study put out by J.D. Power and Associates has found that surging interest in high-end handsets is causing the average purchase price of mobiles to shoot upward. Compared to 2007, consumers are currently paying around $9 more on average per phone. The average price rose to $101, up from $92 just six months prior, and it also marks the highest figure found since the study's inception in 2003. Analysts are pegging recent demand in RIM, Palm (saywha?) and Apple devices as the primary culprit, and it's noted that the average price paid for a smartphone these days is $208. Not surprisingly, these folks also found that the percentage of customers who receive free phones on contract has sank from 36% to 33% in the past six months. If you're the number loving type, be sure and hit the read link for lots, lots more where this came from.

[Via RCRWirelessNews]

AT&T offering free WiFi to Laptop Connect and smartphone users?

by Joshua Topolsky posted May 21st 2008 @ 10:23AM

According to the Boy Genius, it's not just iPhone users that will be getting / not getting the telco's WiFi on the house -- the company has plans to offer use of its hotspots for free to Laptop Connect and smartphone users. An internal memo from the provider appears to state that effective May 20th, anyone with a $60 or higher Laptop Connect plan will be able to take a ride on AT&T's networks in 17,000 locations, and the service will be extended to smartphone users later in the year. Of course, the company hasn't exactly wowed us with its rollout of this service for iPhone customers, so don't be surprised if nothing goes the way it's planned.

E-TEN's VGA and HSDPA-packin' Glofiish X800 now shipping

by Evan Blass posted Nov 5th 2007 @ 10:09AM

We've had our eye on this willowy little minnow ever since we first gave it a proper once over at CeBIT earlier this year, and now E-TEN has announced that its everything-but-the-keyboard Glofiish X800 WM6 Pocket PC is finally shipping (we saw it unlocked on MobilePlanet for $650). Very similar to a number of 3.5G HTC devices already on the market, the X800 steps up the game by offering a sexy 2.8-inch, 640 x 480 screen, 500MHz Samsung processor, and dedicated SiRFstar III GPS chipset. Still, if you can hold out just a little bit longer, a QWERTY-fied M800 boasting the same specs is right around the corner.

Stanley Electric develops miniature projector for mobile screens

by Brian White posted Feb 5th 2007 @ 4:02PM

Are you ready to project that SMS or Opera Mini image from your mobile onto a nearby wall? We've been waiting for something -- anything -- to make it to market that would allow us to take our grandiose images and xHTML browsing (and thumb-emailing) from that 2 inch handset screen to, say, the size of a 15 inch LCD -- as in the wall next to you almost everywhere you may be. The delightful folks at Stanley Electric have developed a ~~disco ball~~ mirror system that is meant for ultra-compact projector systems...like the kind that would fit inside a newer smartphone handset. What for, you ask? To actuate images from that dashing 2 inch screen prison all of us have and get that mobile information over that EV-DO or HSDPA connection bigger and better by being projected on a nearby wall or similar structure. The deets? Micromirror actuators, piezoelectrics and biaxial laser scanning systems sum up Stanley's technology here. Sounds like a PhD thesis in physics to us, but we'll take it for our precious mobiles any day.

[Thanks Steven]

T-Mobile Dash now available

by Donald Melanson posted Oct 25th 2006 @ 3:14PM

Right on time, the hotly-anticipated T-Mobile Dash Windows Mobile-based smartphone is now up for grabs direct from T-Mo, retailing for the expected $199.99 after the usual contract signings, instant discounts, and mail-in rebates. If you been following it as closely as we have, you no doubt know the specs like your shoe size, but for those not quite up to speed, it boasts quad-band GSM / GPRS / EDGE capabilities, WiFi and Bluetooth, a 2.4-inch TFT, 1.3 megapixel camera, myFaves support, 128MB flash / 64MB SDRAM, and a microSD slot for expansion, all in a slim 4.2 ounce, QWERTY-riffic package. If you're still on the fence about it, you can always take another peek at our review of the device, or bust out the credit card and do your own hands-on -- just don't forget the unboxing pics in all the excitement.

[Thanks, Scott R.]

Hands-on with the Treo 680

by Peter Rojas posted Oct 12th 2006 @ 2:35PM

It was a total mob scene after Palm's DigitalLife press conference, but we managed to fight the crowd and get our hands on the new Treo 680. Click on for a bunch of jumbo pics!

Continue reading Hands-on with the Treo 680

Nokia releases N73 and N93 "multimedia computers"

by Evan Blass posted Jul 24th 2006 @ 2:18PM

Even if you're a die-hard Palm or Windows Mobile fan, it's hard to deny the appeal of Nokia's N-series lineup of S60-powered "multimedia computers," whose connectivity and imaging options are some of the best you can find on a smartphone today. As promised, the company has just officially released both the N73 (pictured, bottom) and N93 (pictured, top) handsets that we've been following for some time, and although you probably won't be able to pick them up through traditional channels, we know that they'll definitely be available at your local Nokia retail outlet. As a quick refresher, both of the phones (we know, we know, we're not supposed to call them phones) are highlighted by 3.2 megapixel, Zeiss lens-equipped cameras, with the N93 throwing in a 3x optical zoom and support for 30fps VGA video. Both models also feature high-res 2.4-inch displays, Bluetooth radios, a miniSD slot for image capture or rocking tunes, and quad-band GSM plus 3G UMTS capability. On top of all these attractive features, the N93 also gives you built-in WiFi with UPnP functionality, video out for replaying your precious memories on a big screen, and what sounds like better-than-average in-camera editing. We're still gonna stick with our current smartphones for now, but these models are so hot that we're seriously reconsidering our snobby insistence on rocking those handy QWERTY thumboards at all times.

Read- N73
Read- N93
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]