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Sony Ericsson Vivaz

admin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:12:45 +0000

Sony Ericsson Vivaz is an elegant cell phone featuring an 8 megapixel camera and the option to record 720p videos. The phone has a large touchscreen, excellent connectivity and a fast processor. Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? If you want to find out more, read on!

Sony Ericsson Vivaz pros:

+ 3.2″ 16M-color resistive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution
+ 8 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash,
+ HD 720p video recording @ 24fps with continuous auto focus
+ 720 MHz CPU, dedicated graphics accelerator
+ Quad-band GSM support
+ 8 GB microSD memory card in the package
+ 3G with HSDPA 10.2Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps support
+ Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS
+ microSD card slot (up to 16GB, 8GB card in the box)
+ TV out

Sony Ericsson Vivaz cons:

- No camera lens protection
- No auto mode for the flash/video light
- The S60 5th edition UI isn’t to the best in class standards
- No DivX or XviD support out-of-the-box
- No smart or voice dialing

The design:
Sony Ericsson Vivaz measures 107 x 51.7x 12.5 mm and weighs only 97 grams. The phone comes in four different colors so you can get a serious silver, or easy-going red. The front of the mobile phone features the 3.2-inch touchscreen showing 16M colors in 360 x 640 resolution. Below the screen are three buttons: menu, call and end call. Above the screen is the earpiece and the ambient light sensor. The phone is made mainly of plastic, but since it is of very high quality it feels right. On the left side of the phone there is the 3.5mm audio jack, the loudspeaker and the microUSB port. The right side houses the volume rocker, two shutter keys – one for the camera and the second one for the camcorder. The back of the cell phone houses the 8 megapixel unprotected camera lens and the LED flash.

Performance:
The screen in the Sony Ericsson Vivaz has vivid colors and it is really responsive, yet it has somewhat poor direct sunlight legibility. The mobile phone runs on the 5th edition of Symbian, but a slightly tweaked (improved) version of the OS. The entire OS is very user friendly with its animations, shortcuts and customizability. It does not lag and the built-in accelerometer takes care of rotating the view. The menu structure is quite predictable and thus easy to use. The biggest disadvantage of this Sony Ericsson phone seems lack of smart dialing, but hopefully it will be fixed in a software update.
The phonebook in the Sony Ericsson Vivaz looks as usual in a Symbian phone so there is plenty of space for your contacts. Of course you can add some additional information to each contact, add a photo and a custom ringtone and so on.
Messaging with this phone is a real pleasure. SMS and MMS messages share an editor which shows you in how many parts your message will be sent if you exceed the limit of 160 characters. The email client can download headers, or entire messages and it is super-easy to set up so it will take just a few seconds. Of course you are free to set up multiple email accounts. To input the text you can make use of the virtual alphanumeric keyboard, or the full QWERTY (virtual) keyboard.

Multimedia:
The media center in the Sony Ericsson Vivaz looks much like in the Sony Ericsson Yari, or the Sony Ericsson Aino. The accelerometer works all the time so you can hold the phone as you wish and you’ll be able to see what you want. The music player shows album artwork, has a few equalizer presets and allows track filtering.
The video player works in portrait and landscape modes and plays HD movies, yet it has no DivX/XviD support out of the box.
The FM radio can remember up to 20 stations, but it does not support RDS. Just like the music player, the radio can also be minimized to play in the background.
Although the phone is not among the loudest ones, it surely has a high audio quality.
The 8 megapixel camera in the Sony Ericsson Vivaz can shoot up to 3264 x 2448 photos. The camera interface is comfortable and straightforward. The cell phone produces images with accurate colors, sharp edges and with little noise. Also the contrast and the amount of detail in the photos are ok so you can say that the overall image quality is really superb.
The Sony Ericsson Vivaz can also record 720p videos at 24 fps with autofocus. The videos look surprisingly good. They are smooth and sharp. The autofocus works quite well although it might have some problems with macros.

Selected Sony Ericsson Vivaz features and specifications:
Network

Phone Network
EDGE, GPRS, GSM, HSDPA (3G), HSUPA
Service
850, 900, 1800, 1900, 2100
Connectivity

Bluetooth
v2.1 with A2DP
Infrared
No
Wi-Fi (WLAN)
Yes
USB
YesMicroUSB v2.0
Fax / Data
Yes
Display

Main display
Color TFT touchscreen
Color display
16.000.000 colors
Dimensions
3.2 in.
Resolution
360 x 640 pixels
External display
No
Memory

Internal memory
75MB
External memory
16GB
Memory slots
Yes
Storage types
MicroSD, MicroSDHC
Basic

Battery
Standard battery, Li-Po 1200 mAh
Standby time
430 hours
Talk time
13 hours
Calling

Vibrate alert
Yes
Photo ID
Yes
Ringtones
MP3
Camera

Camera
Yes
Megapixels
8.0 megapixels
Maximum photo resolution
3264×2448 pixels
Digital zoom
Yesx
Optical zoom
No
Auto focus
Yes
Flash
Yes
Recording video
Yes
Second (front) camera
No
Messaging

SMS
Yes
MMS
Yes
T9 text function
Yes
E-mail
Yes
Internet browsing
Yes
Entertainment

FM radio
Yes
Java
Yes
Audio player
AAC, M4A, MP3, RA6, WAV, WMA
Video player
3GP, MP4, RV, WMV
Other recently reviewed cell phones:

LG GW620, HTC Nexus One, LG GW300, Acer Liquid A1, Motorola MILESTONE, BlackBerry Curve 8520, Nokia X3

LG GW620

admin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:32:27 +0000

LG GW620 also known as the ‚Eve’ is the second LG phone to run Android, yet strangely, only version 1.5 when the latest one is 2.1. The phone features a full QWERTY keyboard, 3-inch touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera and a few more goodies.

LG GW620 pros:

+ Comfy keyboard
+ 5 megapixel camera
+ Supports DivX and XviD videos
+ Camera with plenty of functions
Powerful battery
+ 528 MHz processor and 256 RAM

LG GW620 cons:

- Few personalization options
- Obsolete Android version

The design:
LG GW620 measures 109 x 54.5 x 15.9mm and weighs 139 grams. The front of the LG GW620 houses the 3-inch display and below it are two touch-sensitive keys. When you slide the phone open you will see the the full QWERTY keyboard with 5 row of keys. The key layout reminds the one on a computer keyboard, the keys are responsive and large enough to prevent accidental presses of several buttons at one time. The LG phone has a few standard ports including microUSB, microSD slot, and 3.5mm headphone jack.

Performance:
The 3-inch display in the LG GW620 features a resistive technology which means you can use it even in gloves and it has great sunlight legibility. Although the phone runs an old version of Android (1.5) which means you don’t have some of the latest functions the pre-installed applications in fact provide such functionality (as with the support of Exchange server for instance). Although the phone has only a 528MHz processor and 256MB or RAM it runs smoothly and does not lag. The animations and transitions are fast and all the eye candy features make it only more appealing.
The LG GW620 is integrated with social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Bebo to make it easier to keep in touch with your friends.

Multimedia:
The web browser in the LG GW620 is quite useable. The websites are rendered very well but without Flash. However, zooming is not as easy as on the Acer Liquid A1, or HTC Nexus One.
The media player in LG GW620 supports both DivX and XviD videos right out of the box and it plays them in 480×360 resolution.
The audio player displays album artwork and some visualizations. Of course you can browse your music library in a few different ways and make use of the pre-installed equalizer presets.
The built-in 5 megapixel camera has a wide array of features and different options. The interface has plenty of manual options including white balance, exposure control, macro mode, different shooting modes and more. In auto mode the image quality is good in most lighting conditions. Yet, should that be not enough you may tamper with the different options and achieve even better results.
The LG GW620 can also capture videos yet merely in QVGA resolution at 30 fps so it might be ok for YouTube, but little more.

Selected LG GW620 features and specifications:
Display
TFT resistive touchscreen – 256K colors
320 x 480 pixels – 3.0 inches
Full QWERTY keyboard
Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
Operating System
Android OS
Processor

Memory
Phonebook: 1000 entries – Photocall
Card slot: microSD (TransFlash) – up to 16GB
Network
2G: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 HSDPA 2100
Camera
5 MP, 2560 x 1920 pixels, autofocus
Video
Yes
Sound
Alert types: Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic / MP3 ringtones
Speakerphone: Yes

Features
MP3 / MP4 / AAC / AAC+ / EAAC+ / WMA player
MP4 player
Organizer
Photo / video editor
Voice memo
T9
Radio
Stereo FM radio
GPS
with A-GPS support
Data
GPRS
Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 – 48 kbps
HSCSD
Yes
EDGE
Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G
HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
Wireless
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth
v2.0 with A2DP
USB
v2.0 microUSB
Price: ??
Other recently reviewed cell phones:
HTC Nexus One, LG GW300, Acer Liquid A1, Motorola MILESTONE, BlackBerry Curve 8520, Nokia X3, Samsung OmniaPRO B7330

HTC Nexus One

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:04:06 +0000

HTC Nexus One is the first cell phone to be sold exclusively by Google and to feature the Android 2.1 OS. although the phone is manufactured by HTC you will not see its logo on the box. yet, it can be seen at the back of the phone itself.

HTC Nexus One pros:

+ 3.7-inch AMOLED with 480×800 WVGA resolution
+ Plenty of Ram and fast processor
+ Speech to text
+ Improves UI
+ Excellent connectivity
+ Google integration
+ Pleasant design

HTC Nexus One cons:

- No mutlitouch gesture support
- Poor camera
- No voice dialling

The design:
HTC Nexus One measures 119 x 59.8 x 11.5 mm and weighs 130 grams so the phone may seem a bit heavy, but you can quickly get accustomed to it. The phone’s most prominent feature is its large, 3.7-inch screen showing 480×800 pixels. The phone is grey, but it is available in two different grey shades. there are almost no physical buttons on the HTC Nexus One. It has only the volume rocker on the left and the power button. The front of the phone also features a trackball below the screen. the back of HTC Nexus One houses the 5 megapixel camera lend and a LED flash unit on its right. slightly below is the Google logo and the the bottom the HTC. the HTC Nexus One has a simplistic, yet appealing design saying it is aimed at businessmen.

Performance:
The display in the HTC Nexus One is bright, with great contrast and abundance of colors. The direct sunlight legibility is great and using it is a real pleasure. it is simply one of the best displays on the market at the moment.
The phone runs on the Android OS 2.1. The last version tweaked the visual aspect of the OS and the 2.1 brings some new features such as Facebook integration, or Quick Contacts. But there are some new eye candy features, such as the live wallpapers for instance. Now, with the Android 2.1 you get 5 homescreens and some other small, yet handy features. With its 1GHz processor the HTC Nexus One everything happens so quickly that you will not want to use any other phone.
One more new to the Android 2.1 feature is Speech to text which means you can dictate messages (SMS, and emails). You can, of course, integrate multiple Gmail accounts with the HTC Nexus One. If you decide that text to speech is not a feature for you the virtual QWERTY keyboard should fulfill your needs.

Multimedia:
The HTC Nexus One has a refreshed Image Gallery which not has smooth animations, transitions and plenty of sorting options. The HTC Nexus One also handles videos quite nicely. It smoothly plays H.263 videos, but unfortunately the phone has no DivX/XviD support.
The 5 megapixel camera has very few options and so the camera performance is merely good and cannot compare with Motorola MILESTONE, or Nokia X3.
The music player in Android 2.1 is pretty much the same as it was in earlier versions of the OS. the sound quality is good, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Selected HTC Nexus One features and specifications:

Processor

Qualcomm® QSD8250™, 1 GHz

Operating System

Android™ 2.1 (Éclair)

Memory

ROM: 512 MB
RAM: 512 MB

Display

3.7-inch AMOLED with 480×800 WVGA resolution

Network

HSDPA/WCDMA:

900/AWS/2100 MHz
Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE:

850/900/1800/1900 MHz

Device Control

Trackball with Enter button

Internal GPS antenna

Connectivity

Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets
Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g
Micro-USB port
3.5 mm audio jack

Camera

5.0 megapixel color camera with auto focus, 2X digital zoom, LED flash, and geo tagging

Audio supported formats

.aac, .amr, .awb, .wav, .wma, .mp3, .mid

Video supported formats

.mp4, .3gp, .3g2, .m4v

Battery

Rechargeable Lithium-ion polymer battery Capacity: 1400 mAh Talk time:
Up to 10 hours for 2G networks
Up to 7 hours for 3G networks
Standby time:
Up to 290 hours for 2G networks
Up to 250 hours for 3G networks
(The above are subject to network and phone usage.)

Expansion Slot

microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)

AC Adapter

Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240 V AC, 50/60 Hz
DC output: 5V and 1A

Special Features

Proximity sensor
Ambient light sensor
G-sensor
Digital Compass

Price $529

Other recently reviewed mobile phones:
LG GW300, Acer Liquid A1, Motorola MILESTONE, BlackBerry Curve 8520, Nokia X3, Samsung OmniaPRO B7330, Sony Ericsson Yari

LG GW300

admin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:10:19 +0000

LG GW300 is one of few LG phones to feature a full QWERTY keyboard which makes it a direct competition to BlackBerry phones. Yet, the new LG phone was designed for teens and os it has a great support for social networking and multimedia.

LG GW300 pros:

+ 2.4 Inch TFT 262k Colour Screen (320 x 240 Pixels)
+ 2 Megapixel camera
+ Quad-band GSM support
+ Four-row QWERTY keyboard
+ Standard 3.5mm audio jack
+ 15 MB internal memory
+ Hot-swappable microSD card slot
+ Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
+ FM radio
+ Standard microUSB port and Mass Storage mode

LG GW300 cons:

- No 3G or Wi-Fi
- Camera has no auto focus or flash
- Video recording no good at QCIF resolution
- No DivX/Xvid video support
- No office document viewer

The design:
LG GW300 measures 105.5 x 61 x 12.8 mm and weighs 95 grams so it is relatively small considering the full keyboard. The phone id made of high quality materials and it is well balanced so it is comfortable. The front of the LG GW300 hosts the 2.4-inch screen and below it you will see the D-pad surrounded by 6 additional keys. Below that all is the full QWERTY keyboard quite useful for teenagers who write tons of messages. The left side of the phone houses the microSD card slot and the volume rocker, whereas the right side of the LG GW300 features only the camera key. The top of the mobile hosts the microUSB slot and the standard 3.5mm audio jack. On the back there is the 2 megapixel camera lens with no flash, or autofocus.

Performance:
The LG GW300 runs on the latest non-touch LG proprietary user interface. It has plenty of animations and transitions, moreover it is quite customizable and thus user-friendly. Although the phone may resemble a BlackBerry its interface is much better than in the BlackBerry Curve 8520 and somewhat resembles the one in the Acer Liquid A1. The entire interface is very straightforward and it supports multitasking so you can listen to music while browsing the internet with the LG GW300.
The phonebook in this LG phone can store up to 1000 contacts with multiple fields for information. The phone has no troubles with signal reception or in-call sound quality. As the LG GW300 is aimed at teenagers who frequently write plenty of messages its messaging system is great. The SMS and MMS share an editor and setting up an email account takes only a few seconds. Additionally, the phone features a Facebook Java application so make it easier to stay in contact with your friends.

Multimedia:
The music player in the LG GW300 is very practical and user-friendly. It can work in background, show animations, album art, sort music in a few different ways and it has several equalizer presets. There is also a radio, but without RDS.
The 2 megapixel camera has no flash, or autofocus and with its rather poor resolution it is hard to take a good looking photo. Even the manual settings cannot help it too much.
The web browser in the LG GW300 is also rather poor. More elaborate websites will not be displayed as there may be too little memory so you will be able to watch them only in the text-only mode.

Selected LG GW300 features and specifications:

2 mega-pixel camera with Camera Key & Photo Album
Video Recorder & video Player
Video Gallery
Wallpapers & Screensavers
2.4 inch TFT display with 262k colours & 320 x 240 pixels
Music Player
Polyphonic & MP3 Ringtones
SMS, MMS & Email Messaging
Downloadable Games & Built-in Games
Personal Organiser with Phone book, Calendar, Clock, Alarm Clock, Calculator & Call Log
QWERTY Keyboard
MicroSD™ Memory Card Support
USB & Bluetooth® Connectivity
EDGE & GPRS Technology
Web Browsers & Facebook campatilble
Tri-band 1900 GSM, 1800 GSM & 900 GSM Networks
Talk Time 5 hrs
Standby Time 384 hrs
Size TBA mm

Other recently reviewed cell phones:
Nokia N97 mini, Sony Ericsson Yari, Samsung OmniaPRO B7330, Nokia X3, BlackBerry Curve 8520, Motorola MILESTONE, Acer Liquid A1

Acer Liquid A1

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:17:56 +0000

Acer Liquid A1 is yet another mobile phone with touchscreen and powerful hardware to run Android. The phone is really, really fast with its 768MHz Snapdragon processor processor and has much to offer.

Acer Liquid A1 pros:

+ 768MHz Snapdragon processor
+ 3.5-inch screen showing 800 x 480 pixels
+ Excellent connectivity
+ Fast performance
+ 5 megapixel camera
+ Standard 3.5,, audio jack
+ Built-in accelerometer
+ AGPS

Acer Liquid A1 cons:

- Few customizable options
- Poor headset in the box
- Integration of social networks could be better

The design:
Acer Liquid A1 measures 115 × 64 x 12.43 mm and weighs 135 grams. The phone is made of white plastic and has rounded corners which make it stand out from the crowd of other similar phones such as Acer neoTouch, or Nokia N97 mini. The front of the phone is naturally dominated by the 3.5-inch touchscreen with capacitive technology. Below the screen are four touch sensitive keys. The miniUSB slot is on the top of the Acer Liquid A1, whereas the bottom hosts the 3.5mm audio jack.

Performance:
The Acer Liquid A1 runs on the slightly tweaked Android v1.6. The entire interface looks good and is very fast so you will not have to wait too long for any operations. The phonebook has plenty of fields for information and it is integrated with some social networks so when you add information you can add links to contacts’ Facebook or Flickr profiles. The organizer has only basic functions but since you also get a bunch of applications pre-installed with your Acer Liquid A1 it is not an issue.

Multimedia:
Acer Liquid A1’s nemoPlayer is an application for all media files with comfy interface. It does the job pretty well with movies, music and photos so there is no need for alternative software. You can play high resolution films with the phone as long as they are in MPEG4 format as the Acer Liquid A1 does not support DivX, or XviD files.
The 5 MP camera in the Acer Liquid A1 has autofocus, but no flash so taking photos in dark places is out of the question. There are some manual settings, but the overall photo quality is not that good, so if taking photos with a mobile phone is your thing you’d better look for something else.

Selected Acer Liquid A1 features and specifications:

3.5 WVGA (800 × 480) Capacitive
Processor: Qualcomm QSD 8250 1GHz
256 MB SDRAM
512 MB FLASH ROM
HSDPA Category 8/ HSUPA Category 5 /UMTS (2100/1900/900 Mhz) for EU
HSDPA Category 8/ HSUPA Category 5 /UMTS (2100/1900/850 Mhz) for US
GSM: Quad-band 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
GPRS/EDGE: Class B, multi-slot class 10
Messaging: MMS, SMS
WLAN: 802.11b/g Wi-Fi CERTIFIED network connection
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
Built-in AGPS Support
5MP camera with Auto-Focus
Light sensor
3.5mm jack
Capacitive button: Home, Search, Back, Menu
Battery: Lithium Polymer rechargeable with 1.350 mAh capacity
Up to 5 hours talk-time for WCDMA / Up to 6 hours for GSM

Other recently reviewed cell phones:
Acer neoTouch, Nokia N97 mini, Sony Ericsson Yari, Samsung OmniaPRO B7330, Nokia X3, BlackBerry Curve 8520, Motorola MILESTONE.

BlackBerry Curve 8520

admin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:21:23 +0000

BlackBerry Curve 8520 introduces some ‚new’ features to BlackBerry phones like music keys and a more reasonable price. It also has some standard business functions like functional web browser and office document viewer.

BlackBerry Curve 8520 pros:
+ 512MHz CPU
+ 2.46″ 65K-color TFT landscape display of QVGA resolution
+ BlackBerry OS v4.6
+ Quad-band GSM support, Wi-Fi connectivity
+ 2 megapixel camera with fixed focus
+ Comfortable four-row full QWERTY keyboard
+ Hot-swappable microSD card slot
+ 3.5 mm audio jack
+ Good audio quality
+ Nice web browser

BlackBerry Curve 8520 cons:
- Poor camera performance and features
- No FM radio
- No 3G support
- No TV-out functionality
- Music keys are stiff and unresponsive
- No built-in GPS receiver

The design:
BlackBerry Curve 8520 measures 109 x 60 x 13.9 mm and weighs 106 gram. The phone is made almost entirely of plastic which makes rather poor impression when compared to phones such as Acer neoTouch, or LG BL40 New Chocolate. Because it is plastic the BlackBerry Curve 8520 is prone to attract smudges and fingerprints. To make it easier to grip the mobile phone has rubberized edges. On the front of the BlackBerry Curve 8520 you will see the 2.46” display showing 65K-color in QVGA resolution. Below the display is the full QWERTY keyboard with large and responsive keys making it comfy to use. On the left of the phone is the standard 3.5 audio jack, the microUSB memory card slot and a programmable convenience key. The right side of the BlackBerry phone houses the volume rocker and another convenience key. The top of the BlackBerry Curve 8520 features the dedicated music keys, yet as it is a business phone and they are not comfortable they’re better left alone. The back of the phone hosts the 2 megapixel camera lens which is recessed so it is protected from scratches.

Performance:
The signal reception and in-call sound quality are very good in the BlackBerry Curve 8520. As if it is not enough that the screen on the BlackBerry Curve 8520 seems a bit small it has rather poor direct sunlight legibility. The phone runs on the BlackBerry OS v4.6 with is quite functional and customizable. Although the software is very versatile and thus useable it still looks somewhat bad. You get only text lists written in small letters. A similar statement would also be true for the phonebook – versatile, useable and ugly.

Multimedia:
The music player in the BlackBerry Curve 8520 in only slightly more visually appealing than the rest of the user interface. It offers quite good functionality, good sound quality (although it cannot match the Sony Ericsson Yari) and it can play in the background so it is generally quite good.
The video player supports DivX and XviD files right out of the box which is always a nice touch. The screen might seem a bit too small for watching such videos but still it is nice to have that option.
The 2 megapixel digital camera in the BlackBerry Curve 8520 phone can shoot up to 1600 x 1200 images. Unfortunately, the camera in this phone is hardly useable. The interface is poor, the images are small, and the image quality is… nothing special. The images lack detail, the color balance is terrible and there tends to be too much noise.
The video recording is also not the strongest side of the BlackBerry Curve 8520. The phone records QVGA videos in the 3GP format and the quality is simply mediocre.
Web browser, on the other hand, works just as well as it could. The websites are rendered quite well and ti is also relatively fast, but the small screen (and small resolution) mean that you may fail to notice some details. As most phones the BlackBerry Curve 8520 does not support flash.
The phone has some games, organizer and office document viewer right out of the box so in the spare time between business meetings you can have some fun, or better organize your valuable time.

Selected BlackBerry Curve 8520 features and specifications:

2.0MP Digital Camera
Video Camera Capabilities
256MB Flash Memory
Wi-Fi® enabled
Bluetooth® enabled
Multimedia Player
Wireless Email
Organizer
Browser
Phone
SMS/MMS

Battery & Battery Life

Battery: 1150 mAHr
Talk Time: 4.5 hours
Standby Time: 17 days

Display

Clear, high-resolution display
Transmisive TFT MCD
320×240 pixel screen
Displays over 65,000 colors
2.64″ (diagonally measured)

Camera & Video Recording

2.0 MP camera
5X digital zoom
Video Camera Recording: Normal Mode (320×240 pixel),MMS Mode (176×144 pixel)

Data Input & Navigation

35 key backlit QWERTY keyboard
Dedicated Keys: Send, End, VAD/PTT (User customizable), Camera (User customizable), 2 x volume
Media Keys: Play/Pause/Mute, Back, Forward
Trackpad – Located on the front face of device, ESC key to the right, Menu to the left.
Intuitive icons and menus
Other recently reviewed mobile phones:
LG BL40 New Chocolate, Sony Ericsson Aino, Acer neoTouch, Nokia N97 mini, Sony Ericsson Yari, Samsung OmniaPRO B7330, Nokia X3.

Nokia X3

admin — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 13:36:12 +0000

Nokia X3 is the first cell in the new Xseries music phones by Nokia. The new series of phones offers brand new designs, improved functionality, multi-tasking and Ovi store. If you think that it is nothing unusual read on to find out more.

Nokia X3 pros:

+ 2.2″ 262K color QVGA display
+ Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
+ Stereo FM radio with RDS; Built-in antenna
+ Stereo speakers
+ Standard 3.5mm audio jack
+ 3.2 megapixel fixed focus camera
+ Up to 26 hours of music playback S40 user interface, 6th edition

Nokia X3 cons:

- No 3G connectivity
- Smallish display with poor viewing angles and sunlight legibility
- S40 interface feels clunky and out of date
- Some software bugs

The design:
Nokia X3 measures 96 x 49.3 x 14.1mm and weighs 103 grams. The cell phone is made of high quality and durable materials which shows at the first glance. Nokia does away with curves and goes with straight lines with its Nokia X3 phone. The front is a standard slider dominated by the 2.2-inch screen surrounded by red buttons. Below the screen is the D-pad used for managing calls. When you slide the phone open below the D-pad you can see the alphanumeric keyboard. All the keys are big enough and responsive so they are generally very comfy to use. The left side of the phone houses the microSD memory card slot, whereas the right side of the Nokia X3features the volume rocker and the camera keys. The top of the phone houses the microUSB port hidden under a cap and the 3.5mm standard audio jack. The biggest disadvantage of the Nokia X3’s design seems the screen, so if you are looking for something with a bigger screen have a look at Samsung OmniaPRO B7330, Sony Ericsson Yari.

Performance:
As always with Nokia the phone has great signal reception and in-call signal clarity. The smallish screen on the Nokia X3 disappoints with its poor viewing angles, small size and poor contrast. Even the direct sunlight legibility is disappointing for a Nokia. As the phone runs on the series 40 6th edition user interface is it highly customizable and fun to use. The user interface looks modern, it is responsive and quite quick. The phonebook can store up to 2000 contacts with 5 phone numbers and plenty of fields for additional information. Messaging is easy as always. The SMS and MMS messages share and editor which makes it easy to remember and setting up your email account on the Nokia X3 takes only a few seconds.

Multimedia:
The music player on the Nokia X3 is one of its best features which should not be surprising as it is a music mobile phone. The music player has all the essentials like album art, equalizer, support for plenty of file formats. Moreover, the sound quality is outstanding and almost matches that of an iPhone. The phone also has a radio with RDS and a built in antenna which means you do not need a headset to listen to radio.
The video player in the Nokia X3 is very simple. It does not support DivX, but only 3GP and WMV files. You can make screen captures and view videos in the full screen and that is basically it.
The 3.2 megapixel camera can shoot up to 2048 x 1536 photos and since it has no autofocus, or flash you can take photos only in daytime. Yet even in daytime the digital camera built in the Nokia X3 shoots only about average quality photos. The images tend to lack detail and there is often too much noise and when the noise reduction is on the overall image quality gets slightly worse.
Although the phone has no GPS the Nokia X3 comes with Nokia Maps which you can use for planning your routes. The maps are quite detailed and may prove useful. You can, of course, make use of a Bluetooth GPS unit to make your Nokia X3 work even better.

Selected Nokia X3 features and specifications:
S40 6th Edition
320 x 240 pixels (QVGA); up to 262,144 colours
Dedicated music keys, camera key
Micro-USB connector
3.5 mm Nokia AV connector
microSD memory card slot, hot swap, max. 16 GB
860 mAh Li-Ion standard battery
Music playback time (maximum): 24 h
Quad-band GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Automatic switching between GSM bands
Flight mode
GPRS class A, multi-slot class 32
EDGE
TCP/IP support
Bluetooth version 2.1 with Enhanced Data Rate
Support for PC synchronisation with Nokia PC Suite
Nokia Xpress audio messaging
3.2 megapixel camera
Image formats: JPEG
CMOS sensor
4x digital zoom
Full Focus
Focal length: 2.4 mm
Focus range: 50 cm to infinity
Automatic, daylight, incandescent, fluorescent
Video recording at up to 176 x 144 pixels (QCIF) and up to 15 fps
Up to 4x digital video zoom
Video recording file formats: .3gp, MPEG-4; codecs H.264
S40 video player
Video playback file formats: .3gp, .mp4, .avi, .asf.; codecs: H.263, H.264, MPEG-4, WMV9
Video streaming: .3gp, .rm
Landscape mode video playback
Music Player
Stereo FM radio with RDS support
Other recently reviewed mobile phones:
Sony Ericsson Satio, LG BL40 New Chocolate, Sony Ericsson Aino, Acer neoTouch, Nokia N97 mini, Sony Ericsson Yari, Samsung OmniaPRO B7330

Samsung OmniaPRO B7330

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:56:37 +0000

Samsung OmniaPRO B7330 is a full QWERTY businessmen-oriented cell phone with a 2.6-nich screen, sleek design and excellent build quality.

Samsung OmniaPRO B7330 pros:

+ 2.6-inch display showing 320 x 320 resolution
+ Comfortable full QWERTY keyboard
+ Fast and comfy interface
+ Nice design
+ Windows Mobile 6.5
+ Long-lasting bettery
+ 3.2 megapixel camera

Samsung OmniaPRO B7330 cons:

- Below average camera performance
- Slightly old-fashioned
- Average sound quality
- Music and video player are basic
- No flash for the camera

The design:
Samsung OmniaPRO B7330 measures 114.9 x 59 x 10.8 mm and weighs 107 g. The front of the cell phone features the 2.6-inch screen, D-pad and the full QWERTY keyboard. Around the D-pad you will find send and end keys as well as some context sensitive keys which make going through the menus quite fast. The keys on the keypad a responsive and raised in such a way as to make typing easier and it really help. Yet, as with all full QWERTY phones people with larger hands and fingers may find it difficult to use the Samsung OmniaPRO B7330. The left side of the cell phone features the volume rocker and the USB charge/data port, whereas the right side houses the camera shutter key and the microSD memory card slot.

Performance:
The Samsung OmniaPRO B7330 runs the Windows 6.5 Mobile so it has no touchscreen capability, but that’s hardly surprising since it’s a full QWERTY mobile phone. The interface is quite useable and pleasant. On the bottom of the display is the usual Windows menu and right above it plenty of shortcuts to frequently used services and applications. All aspects of the everyday cell phone use are covered very well and so writing messages, email, making phone calls and browsing the Internet is easy and fast.

Multimedia:
The Samsung OmniaPRO B7330 has no standard 3.5mm audio jack and the music player is only basic not to mention the audio quality which is below average. So if you are looking for a phone dealing with music have a look at the Sony Ericsson Yari, or the Nokia N97 mini.
The built-in 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera lacks flash so taking photos in dark light is out of the question. However, the image processing is quite surprising and low light photos may come out not that bad. At least when it comes to lighting since the camera in the Samsung OmniPaRO B7330 lacks detail and has poor noise performance.
The video recording capability is better than the still photos quality. The audio and video quality is about average for this range of phones and the files are recorded as .wmv.

Selected Samsung OmniaPRO B7330 features and specifications:

Display

TFT – 65K colors
320 x 320 pixels – 2.62 inches
Full QWERTY keyboard

Operating System

Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard

Processor

528 MHz processor

Memory

Phonebook: Practically unlimited entries and fields – Photocall
Call records: Practically unlimited
Internal: 270 MB storage and 256 MB RAM
Card slot: microSD (TransFlash) up to 32GB

Network

2G: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G: HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100

Camera

3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, autofocus

Video

QVGA@30fps

Sound

Alert types: Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic / MP3 ringtones
Speakerphone: Yes

Battery

Standard battery – Li-Ion 1500 mAh

Features

MP3 / WMA / WAV / AAC+ player
MP4 / WMV9 / H.263 / H.264 player
Windows Live
Yahoo!
AOL
Adobe Flash Lite
Microsoft Outlook Mobile
Pocket Office (Word / Excel / PowerPoint / PDF viewer)
Voice memo
T9
Radio
Stereo FM radio with RDS

with A-GPS support

Data

GPRS
Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 – 48 kbps
HSCSD
Yes
EDGE
Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G
HSDPA 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 2 Mbps

Wireless

Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g

Bluetooth

v2.0 with A2DP

v2.0

Other recently reviewed mobile phones:

Nokia 6760 slide, Sony Ericsson Satio, LG BL40 New Chocolate, Sony Ericsson Aino, Acer neoTouch, Nokia N97 mini, Sony Ericsson Yari

Sony Ericsson Yari

admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:24:25 +0000

Sony Ericsson Yari is a very versatile mobile phone handling music and video files but with emphasis put on gaming. Os the phone comes with an accelerometer for screen auto rotation in games and a few hard buttons which may serve as game controls. Sounds interesting? Read on to find out if it does the job done.

Sony Ericsson Yari pros:

+ 2.4-inch QVGA screen
+ Good audio quality
+ Pretty, responsive interface
+ 5 megapixel flash
+ Gaming phone
+ Comes with 1GB microSD memory card and a stand
+ Good photo quality
+ Nice deign
+ GPS with A-GPS

Sony Ericsson Yari cons:

- Rather uncomfortable alphanumeric keypad
- Camera shutter button a bit too small
- Few pre-installed games

The design:
Sony Ericsson Yari measures 100 x 48 x 15.7 mm and weighs 115 grams. The front of the cell phone is dominated by the 2.4-inch screen showing QVGA resolution. Below the screen are the hard buttons which manage call and double as game controls in game mode. Above the screen are two additional buttons for controlling acmes and video call camera.the right side of the phone features the camera shutter button which might seem a bit too small for people with bigger hands. The back of the Sony Ericsson Yari houses the 5 megapixel camera lens and the LED flash unit. When you slide the phone open you can see the alphanumeric keyboard with somewhat uncomfortable keys so if you are looking for a comfy slider have a look at the Nokia 6760 slide review.

Performance:
The Sony Ericsson Yari’s screen shows vibrant colors and quite high resolutions and it is clearly readable in direct sunlight. Both signal reception and in-call sound quality are very good. The phone has also very powerful battery which will make the Sony Ericsson Yari useable for days. The user interface in the Sony Ericsson cell phone is highly customizable with its several themes. It also has nice transitions, animations and icons. The messaging is very pleasant as the Sony Ericsson Yari supports threaded messages and the email account setup is almost entirely automatic.

Multimedia:
Sony Ericsson Yari has something special when it comes to multimedia apart from the standard music player, video player and built-in digital camera. The phone was made with gaming in minds and so the Sony Ericsson Yari features Game Carousel. There are a few games pre-installed and you can get a lot more from the Internet. The dedicated game controlling keys, built-in accelerometer and the high quality screen make gaming quite enjoyable.
The 5 megapixel camera in the Sony Ericsson Yari works surprisingly well. The photos come out sharp, well saturated and with plenty of detail which makes this phone really versatile. Moreover, the Sony Ericsson Yari can also record videos at VGA resolution and 24 fps which is also not that bad.

Selected Sony Ericsson Yari features and specifications:

Display

TFT – 256K colors
240 x 320 pixels – 2.4 inches
Accelerometer sensor

Memory

Phonebook: 1000 x 20 fields – Photocall
Call records: 30 received / 30 dialed / 30 missed calls
Internal: 60 MB
Card slot: microSD (TransFlash) up to 16GB – 1GB included

Network

2G: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G: HSDPA 900 / 2100 – HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 – Yari (a) for Americas

Camera

5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash

Video

QVGA@30fps, video light

Sound

Alert types: Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic / MP3 / AAC ringtones
Speakerphone: stereo speakers

Features

MP3 / AAC / MPEG4 player
TrackID music recognition
Picture editor/blogging
YouTube application
Organizer
Voice memo
Shake control
SensMe
T9
Radio
Stereo FM radio with RDS
GPS
A-GPS support; Wayfinder Navigato

Other recently reviewed cell phones:

Acer beTouch E200, HTC Touch2, Nokia 6760 slide, Sony Ericsson Satio, LG BL40 New Chocolate, Sony Ericsson Aino, Acer neoTouch, Nokia N97 mini

Nokia N97 mini

admin — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:15:44 +0000

Nokia N97 mini might not give you dozens of new features bt it seems that Nokia goes for optimization with its latest touchscreen phones os the Nokia N97 mini is fast, responsive and still full of interesting features.

Nokia N97 mini pros:

+ Slide-n-tilt 3.2″ 16M-color resistive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution
+ 5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash
+ Symbian OS 9.4 with S60 5th edition UI with kinetic scrolling
+ Full QWERTY keyboard
+ Fast processor and a lot of RAM
+ Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G with 3.6Mbps HSDPA support
+ Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS
+ 8GB butli-in memory
+ Standard 3.5mm audio jack

Nokia N97 mini cons:

- No DivX or XviD video support
- No smart dialing
- No office document editor
- No camera lens protection

The design:
Nokia N97 mini measures 113 x 52.5 x 14.2 mm and weighs 138 grams, although it might seem big and so contradict the ‚mini’ in Nokia N97 mini’s name it is in fact quite compact for a touchscreen phone. The phone is mainly made of high quality plastic, yet the battery cover is metallic. The front of the Nokia phone is dominated by the 3.2-inch touchscreen displaying 320 x 640 pixels. Below the screen is the hardware menu key, while above the display you can find the proximity sensor and ambient light detector. The right side of the Nokia N97 mini houses the camera key and the volume button, whereas the left side features the microUSB port and screen lock. On the top of the phone sits the 3.5 mm audio jack and next to it the power key. Sliding the phone open reveals the three row QWERTY keyboard. The keys might seem a bit small yet they are quite comfortable thanks to perfect spacing and responsiveness. The back of the Nokia N97 mini houses the 5 megapixel camera lens and the dual LED flash. Those are unprotected by any cover so they might get scratched easily.

Performance:
The display in Nokia N97 mini is excellent as always with Nokia phones. The colors are vivid, the image is bright and the direct sunlight does not disturb it at all. The user interface in the Nokia N97 mini is entirely touch-optimized and thanks to the fast processor and some software tweaks it all works great. With the accelerometer built-in the screen auto rotates and abundance of widgets allows for great customization. What may be annoying at times is the fact that you have to double click to open a submenu, but as it also prevents accidental mistakes it is a good solution. In fact the menu often resembles the one in Nokia 6600i slide.
The phonebook in the Nokia N97 mini has almost unlimited capacity, it is touch-optimized and very easy to use and customize. There are fields for a few phone numbers, address, emails and so on and you can still create your own fields. The call log remembers the last 20 calls in the usual tabs. The only downside of making phone call with the Nokia N97 mini is the lack of smart dialing.

Multimedia:
Image gallery on the Nokia N97 mini is just fine. It is a part of the interface and to a separate application so it works really fast. There are a few viewing modes, zooming and auto rotation so it is all quite pleasant.
The music player has a wide array of features including album art, equalizer, support of virtually any file format. There are many ways that you can browse your music library in and you can also create your own playlists. The sound quality is very good and so the Nokia N97 mini may substitute an mp3 player.
The video player is also nice but it does not support DivX/XviD videos out of the box which is a pity.
FM radio in the Nokia N97 mini supports RDS and can remember a few stations.
The 5 megapixel camera shoots up to 2592 x 1944 photos. With Carl Zeiss lens and the LED flash you can achieve pretty nice results. The images are sharp and full of details and there is not too much noise. Therefore, the Nokia N97 mini can easily substitute a digital camera for occasional shooting.
The web browser in the Nokia N97 mini renders the websites really well although it is not one of the fastest browsers on the market. Still, it can get the job done so it’s ok.

Selected Nokia N97 mini features and specifications:
Display
Type Graphical
Coloured Yes, TFT resistive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 3.20 inch
Resolution 360 x 640 pixels
- Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
- Full QWERTY keyboard
- Handwriting recognition
Memory
Shared memory 8 GB
- Photocall
- 128 MB RAM
- microSD (TransFlash), up to 16GB
- CPU ARM 11 434 MHz processor
Ringtones
Polyphonic ringtones Yes
Ringtone profiles Yes
- MP3 ringtones
- 3.5 mm audio jack
- Speakerphone with stereo speakers
Networking
HSDPA speed 3.6 Mbps
GPRS Yes, Class 32
EDGE Yes, Class 32
HSCSD Yes
WLAN Yes, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, UPnP technology
USB Yes, 2.0 microUSB
Bluetooth Yes, 2.0 with A2DP
WAP Yes
Browser Yes, WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, RSS feeds
Email client Yes
- Symbian OS v9.4, Series 60 rel. 5
- Push Email
- Instant Messaging
- Digital compass
- GPS with A-GPS support
- Nokia Maps

Other recently reviewed mobile phones:

Nokia 5530 XpressMusic, Sony Ericsson C901, Nokia 6600i slide, Acer beTouch E200, HTC Touch2, Nokia 6760 slide, Sony Ericsson Satio, LG BL40 New Chocolate, Sony Ericsson Aino, Acer neoTouch