Treo 500V - A Review

The new Palm 500V is the latest in the Treo lineup from Palmone. When fans of the Treo asks for a new Treo design, this is not what they meant. Obviously, Palmone is not listening intently. Design is not ground breaking, and the screen looks too small for a truely innovative PDA phone.

That being said, let's take a deeper look at the phone. It runs on WM6, which may be a time for celebration for many. It opens up the oppoetunity for users to run the many WM enabled applications, and even local GPS software such as MapKing that used to be out of reach for Palm users. This is especially true for Asia, although in the USA and Europe, you have a wider range of options as far as GPS softwares go.

Glancing at the face of the 500V, you will notice that the querty keypad is a carry over from the 700 Treo series, which isn't a bad thing. Size of the keys itself is exactly the same as the 750V, and takes some getting used to if you are a new user to Treos.While a lot of other PDA phones are adopting the minimalist design without a full keypad, it sure is good news for the rest of us who like the ease and speed of typing with a full querty keypad.

The 500V is smaller in size than the 750V, it has grown more compact. In fact, it is the thinnest Treo to date measuring 110 x 61.5 x 16.5 mm. Being a Palm, the ease of use of the WM6 system is there, it gives it a customized look compared to other WM6 phones. One hated feature that this phone left out is threaded messenging. It gives your sms a threaded chat feel to it. Why on eath will Palm leave such a trademark feature out?

The 500V is a 3G phone, but leaves out HSDPA and no wifi as well. While we see other pda phones come with more features by the day, Palm always leaves something out that keeps the Treo user a little disappointed. It will be great to see wifi and HSDPA in a new phone like this. Internal memory is 256MB with a microSD expansion slot. It should really include 1GB of standard memory by the rate new phones are today. It has a 2MP camera, but with no flash and no autofocus. There isn't a front camera on this phone as well.

As usual, this Treo is a disappointment in terms of its feature set. Users' expectations of today's hot features have been ommitted. Unless you are a die hard Treo user, you may want to give this one a miss.

Nokia N95 8GB Release Specs

Nokia Asia released pre-launch info on the 8GB N95. Appearance wise, it looks almost identical the the current batch of N95s, except for a slight difference of the buttons on the front fascia. More info on the appearance and release specs can be viewed here.

Review of Vaja i-Volution case for Nokia N95

When I got the press release of the new i-Volution case from Vaja, of course I am keen to take a closer look. Afterall, being a past customer of Vaja in the past, I am very happy with the high standards of quality this company offers, despite the high price and often 1 month waiting time, although for this particular case for the Nokia N95, it only takes 10 days.

As a owner of the Nokia N95, it is quite obvious by now that there aren't a lot of cases available on the market for it, mostly for the fact that it is a slider phone, which makes it more difficult to design one. Taking a closer look at the i-Volution, you will see that the design is simple, covering only the back of the phone with cutouts for the camera and side buttons. This is a let down, as the most important part of the phone, being the front with the screen is left exposed with nothing at all.

Even though Vaja can offer a palette of colours in customizations, it will not be an ideal case to get, as it offers minimal protection for the front of the phone. A more recommended alternative will be the Noreve Case.

i-mate Ultimate 6150

We've all played some form of that game where two photographs are put side by side, and you try to find five differences within a short time. That's the feeling we got when looking at the image of the i-mate Ultimate 6150 beside the 8150 model. In this case, it isn't particularly hard to spot the differences.

read more digg story

Samsung Ultra Edition 12.1 (U700) Review

From the super-slim design of the Ultra Edition 8.4 which snagged an Editors' Choice to one of the earlier HSDPA-enabled Ultra Edition 13.8, the Korean chaebol has constantly been trimming the form factor of its Ultra series lineup. One of its latest introductions, the Ultra Edition 12.1 (U700), manages to pack a wealth of features including 3G...

read more digg story

Asus P526 Pegasus (with GPS)

Asus showcases its all new P526 with GPS capability and updates it with Windows Mobile 6 for the tech-savvy user. With the rising popularity of smartphones amongst general consumers, manufacturers are pulling out all the stops by flooding the market with a myriad of "smart" products...

read more digg story

Apple iPhone Review

The Apple iPhone. Even long before its launch, there has been so much hype that it seems that the speculations and rumours have formed a mountain of high expectations that people have come to expect of the phone from Apple.

The longer we have to wait, the higher and wilder the expectations became. So, is there such a thing as too much hype? Yes, and in this case, it is not necessarily a good thing, as we will discover later.

Even if you are not familiar with the iPhone, just by looking at it, you can tell that it is a trendy piece of equipment, and fashionable is not out of the question either. I am sure many will end up in the hands of female buyers just for its form factor. It is slim (11.6mm thin), looks expensive, and has a bright display (480 x 320-pixels). These features attract lots of attention already. But wait a minute, where are the buttons on this phone? This is where the fun begins. It has got only one hard button on the front panel. It is all touch sensitive. This means that you got to use your fingers to navigate around the phone. I can see some people might already be thinking "fingerprint magnet". You are not wrong here. It is one for sure.

This phone is different, and no copycat designs here. So if you want something unique, the Apple iPhone is worth taking a look. The functions of this phone is all menu driven via the colourful icons on the main screen. All is easily located and navigating through the different functions is an easy task. Thus, the learning curve is very short on this phone. You will feel at home in no time.

However, remember that this phone has no external buttons to perform a function.

Therefore, to perform tasks such as playing a video or even making a call, you got to call up the respective application first. Some people might find this extra step troublesome. But I guess this is a small price to pay for the fully touch sensitive design. Remember the iPhone has got one hard button on the front? It is like a "Home" button. It brings you back to the main screen should you lose yourself in navigating. Right now, you can be forgiven to think the iPhone is so great that you should rush to the stores to get one. Hang on a minute. For such a high-end phone, its drawbacks are pretty serious. Read on.

1) The battery is not removable. What were they thinking? Why can't they make it convenient for people to replace their own batteries?

2) There is no voice dialling.

I know it is not a live or die function, but it have been nice to have this included for convenience.

3) Want to set your favourite MP3 as your ringtone?
You can't do it.
4) No 3G

So, you can have the latest and most trendy phone, and even the great Safari browser but no 3G.

The Apple iPhone is a bit of a mixed bag. It is a bit like wearing a business suit to the gym for a workout. It has the potential to be a great phone, it has a great design, a great interface, but is hindered by its flaws. It is like a half filled dream. They created a great looking phone, innovative even, but took away features that other competitive phones are already offering. It is just such a waste. Therefore, I would not recommend this phone as value for money.

Review of HTC Touch PDA Phone

HTC? You can't blame yourself if you have no clue what brand is that. Many haven't heard of it before. The HTC launched its first range of products with what they call the HTC Touch. Touch as in "Touch down"? Maybe.

Let's take a look. You will see that design wise, this is a clean looking phone. Simple, and yet effective enough to look the business. The screen is even flushed with the front panel of the phone, which makes it look one piece, instead of different parts attached together. Quite a seamless design.

I think for PDA phone users, one of the common scenario will be that, even we love the capabilities of our devices, it looks like we are carrying a small brick. They are usually quite thick in dimensions. Therefore, it is pleasant the see that the HTC Touch is slim. What a relief! Weighing in at 112g with battery included, it is pretty good.

This fact aside, you will see that the design on the front is pretty much a minimalist concept, nothing more than a button for making and receiving calls. Now, the specs is a mixed bag of joys and wishes. This is a tri-band GSM phone, with wifi, bluetooth, 2MP camera, runs on Windows Mobile 6, but no 3G and HSDPA. I think PDA phones really need 3G and HSDPA, I am sure many data heavy users will agree. The specs may look decent for this phone, but at many times, I feel that some manufacturers tend to include features for form rather than function. Do they think buyers will buy the phone just by looking at the specs on paper? It has got to work well in reality to be an excellent product.

Take for example the camera. It is without autofocus. As expected, you can't expect much from the quality of the pictures. It's basic function is a PDA. Therefore, consider it as a PDA with added functions as secondary bonus. Again, if you look at the OMAP850 201MHz processor which powers this unit. Not exactly innovative, and it really slows down when you try to run more than a couple of programs or multitask. Therefore, I do not recommend this product.

Nokia 6300 Video Review

I like the Nokia 6300 for its simplicity in design, which is a good thing. It is traditional Nokia design at its best. Immediately by looking at the phone, you will become familiar with its usage if you had used a Nokia phone before. Learning curve is very short, and easy and fast to become comfortable using it. For the average phone user, the feature set is more than sufficient. However, the camera multimedia feature is important to you, perhaps this might not be your top choice as the 2 MP camera has no auto-focus or flash installed, which may be frustrating when expecting too much in terms of the quality of pictures.

Not one, but many "gPhones" in the works: report

Google has developed multiple mobile phone prototypes and is shopping them around North American and European carriers, according to a new report. A mobile web browser is also in development.

read more digg story

Samsung WEP200 Bluetooth Headset Review

The Samsung WEP200 Bluetooth headset is perhaps the smallest I have come across. Weighing in at just 9g, this feather weight headset is made in Korea, and not China. Some people might feel this is of better quality.

It is so light that you can hardly feel it is there, it is easy to forget you are wearing one. This headset is different from the norm of a "ear clip" design. It employs a "ear plug" design with a rubber ring which will stay firmly attached when worn. Just to make sure you get a comfortable fit, it comes with interchangeable rubber attachments in small, medium and large fitments. There are no issues to fit ears of all sizes.

One physical feature which I liked is the large multi-function button which is used to make and receive calls. No confusing buttons here, which is good for user friendliness. There is also an up/down button conveniently located on the side to control the volumes. The design is simplicity at its best. It is a perfect choice for people looking for a small and light weight headset that is simple to use. This is a bluetooth headset, which means you can pair it up with most phones that has a bluetooth capability. I paired it up with both a Samsung Z720 and Nokia N95 with no problems at all. After the initial paring is done, it even auto connects should the signal drop off, after you remove it from the charger for instance.

Talking about charging, the charger that came with this unit is innovative as well. It is in fact a storage case with charging pins where you can put the WEP200 to charge it. It looks great as well. The audio quality is considered good for voice calls, although there is no noise cancelling feature on this headset. You can stream MP3s as well if your phone supports it, but don't expect stereo quality. It is not meant for this purpose. That being said, having a talk time of 4 hrs and standby time of 70 hours, this is a pretty good headset for "life without wires". Personally, I love using it.

Motorola Showcase in New York City

This is a video clip showing the Motorola product showcase in NYC. I think it makes for great viewing especially if you are a fan of the Moto mobile phones. I like the upcoming Z8 model. I think they nicknamed the "banana phone" to an interesting effect.

Good Review on Nokia N95

This is an excellent review of the Nokia N95 Multimedia phone from YouTube. One of the most detailed reviews I have found. It gives both potential buyers and owners of the N95 a great insight into the functions of the phone. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Review of Nokia 8600 Luna

The Nokia 8600 Luna. From the name, you could probably tell, there is something special about this new creation from Nokia. It is dark and mysterious, and brims of quality as well. With materials used such as opaque smoke glass and stanless steel, it sounds like parts that is more suited for a racy car rather than a phone.

Well, at least the price tag of around USD$750 at launch sounds equally sophisticated. Think of it as a premium item, a designer collection, like Lexus is to Toyota and aimed squarely at consumers with deep pockets. At140g, it is elegantly light. With the smoked glass, it sure exhibits a certain touch of class. Glass? Yep, and how durable to drops and shocks, we don't know as yet.

I think Nokia has really gone to make sure the finest details are not overlooked in the presentation of this phone. Hold the phone in your hand, and soon you will realize that keypad is special. It has a pulsating light that mimicks your heartbeat. Some people say this thing seems "alive".

Well, that is a good attraction to get enough attention to this phone. What about the real deal? In effect, this is a light weight slider phone. No flimsy sliders here. Firm and positive sliding action, which is good news. Maybe this phone is designed with female consumers in mind, as the keypad might be a struggle for males, especially if you got big fingers. This can be good or bad news. Maybe, you can say Nokia is very focused in their marketing with this phone. Very targeted, very specialized.

Think of it as a designer item, you get class, elegance, quality, but the bare essentials with few bells and whistles. This is no N95. If you are looking for a powerhouse of a phone in a small package, you are looking at the wrong phone. The N95 in the Nokia range might suit you better if that is what you want. Just look at the specs.

I mean a 2-inch screen isn't exactly amazing, along with a measely 128MB of internal memory with no expansion card slot, you are having a very streamlined phone. No expansion capabilty whatsoever. I think this is a limitation, as there is just so much data you can store on the phone before you are forced to delete files when memory runs out, which happens quickly.

Sure, you have the usual PIM features, web browser and email functions, but nothing new and innovative to win any awards. The 2MP camera included is nothing to shout about, with no auto focus and flash. Taking pictures less of the perfect lighting conditions will mean blurred images and frustration. The problem of not having an integrated internal antenna means that to listen to FM radio, you still need to plug in a headset or earphones. With just over 3 hrs of talk time, and limited potential in its feature set, it just falls short of being the phone to have, apart from the chic factor.

Changing Back Cover for Nokia N95

I guess with any mobile phone, we would like to have a different look to it at times. Some would prefer it to be in a different colour, while other have no choice but to replace a badly scratched cover. The following videos show you how to do it for the Nokia N95. Enjoy.

Black Faceplate for Nokia N95

It is almost like a disease that people who own gadgets like to make theirs look and feel different and unique. I guess that is why the accessories market is so hot! The Nokia N95 is not an exception.

With rumours of an upcoming black N95 with 8GB, the pages of Ebay started to flood with people selling black housings and faceplates. Since the faceplates are rather cheap, I got myself one.



First of all, these faceplates are made of plastic, and they are thinner in dimensions compared to the stock ones. As with quality of theses items you get from Ebay, don't expect much or you will be vastly disappointed. But you can have a different look.:) Installation is easy. All you got to do is to remove the 4 torx screws at the back of the slider unit, and the cover comes off. Place the black faceplate on, and put back the screws.






Fitting is okay, no big dramas there. If you get a bit of scratches on the plastic black faceplate, I find they are easily removed by lightly polishing with a plastic resin polish.


I guess this is an alternative solution as the original nokia ones only come in silver for the moment.

If you are a Nokia N95 Fan

Well, if you are like me, and into this crazy world of mobiles, and in particular the Nokia N95...then you can't miss the following sites:

http://www.n95users.com/

http://darlamack.blogs.com/

http://n95blog.com/

I.Tech Clip Radio Bluetooth Headset Review

I think it is quite common these days that anyone who owns a phone will want a bluetooth headset. No mess of wires connecting to the phone itself means a world of convenience. One of the most common uses is when driving for example.

Then again, there are some of us who love to listen to radio on our earphones or headset, and yet some phones pose a problem. Why? Even if some phones do have a FM function, you can't listen to it unless you physically connect your earphones, as the audio adapter acts as an antenna. So what will we do? A crisis situation? :)





This is where I.Tech Radio clip tries to solve the problem. Never heard of it? Then read on. The website quotes this gadget as "an elegant Bluetooth headset that combines entertainment and communication all-in-one. It plays music in stereo from your phone's music player* or built-in FM radio, and switches freely between music and phone calls. It is equipped with auto-searching radio station function and 4 stations could be pre-set. The clip style with standard 3.5mm audio socket allows the users to use their own favorite earpieces."




Sounds good? Well yes. However, there is no LCD display showing which radio station you are tuning to, so there is guesswork involved. But why don't they simply include one? Beats me! It would be nice to show who is calling either with some kind of display. Another thing, the earphones they provide is very low quality. If you are like me who are somewhat into music, you will definitely want to chuck the stock item out and replace with some decent ones.

If you can get past these two flaws, this is a pretty good unit, as quality of radio reception is good, and the mic works well during calls.

Below are some specs:

Bluetooth Specification: Version Version 2.0, Class 2
Profile Supported: HSP, HFP, A2DP & AVRCP
Range of Frequency: 2.4GHz Spectrum
Operating Distance: 10 meters
Charging Time: Within 3 hours
Talk Time: Up to 6.5 hours^
Music Playing Time: Up to 6.5 hours^
Standby Time: Up to 200 hours^
Dimension: 55(L) x 24(W) x 27(H) mm
Weight: 21 grams

It now retails locally for USD $65.00, price has dropped.