Motorola Droid X smartphone powerful but not all that impressive

BY BRIDGET CAREY

bcarey@MiamiHerald.com

Product: Verizon Motorola Droid X smartphone
Features: Has a 4.3-inch touch screen, powered by 1 GHz processor running Android 2.1 operating system with Motorola's Application Platform. It has 8-megapixel camera with mechanical shutter, auto focus and flash. Camera records 720p HD video. Has 8 gigabytes of internal memory and comes with a 16 gigabyte microSD memory card, but supports up to a 32 GB microSD card. Is also a 3G Mobile hotspot and has an HDMI output to play recorded HD videos on an HD TV. Installed with Swype keyboard, giving users the option to slide finger across keyboard while typing, instead of picking up fingers.
Price: $199.99 after two-year contract
Ups: No need to fumble with opening a camera app with the shutter button built into the side. Lets users get creative with different effects in shooting video and photos and has a text-friendly, low-quality video option. Some may find the large screen to be cumbersome, but I found it to be easier to type and read on. The screen also is good for viewing high-definition videos on YouTube. Audio recording sharper than on other phones running Android.
Downs: Motorola's widgets worked great, but left me visually bored (the animated graphics on HTC-brand Android widgets have spoiled me). There was a noticeable delay when opening and closing some applications or when unlocking the phone from sleep. But a flaw that irked the most has to do with sharing vertical photos or videos. If you send a vertical photo or video to someone through text, it's sent horizontally to the receiver, forcing them to turn their head to see it (because turning a smartphone -- in most cases -- will only continue to flip the photo in the wrong direction). Bottom line: It's a powerful phone that has great features, but I'm left unimpressed. The lag I saw in some programs, along with how it can't share vertical videos and photos, sours my view of this phone. The Droid X is built to be a social-sharing dream phone, and it's disappointing that Motorola has chosen to ignore fixing this detail that's also present in other models.
I don't recommend this phone for those who love to share photos -- that is, until Motorola fixes its software. And even if that wasn't a problem, I'd still recommend anAndroid phone with HTC Sense for the more appealing interface.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/20/1737818/motorola-droid-x-smartphone-powerful.html#ixzz0uDnUzeS9

SOURCE:: miamiherald

HTC EVO 4G

A device beyond compare
HTC EVO 4G delivers a robust list of features, including a 1GHz Qualcomm^® Snapdragon™ processor ensuring a smooth and quick user experience. With dual cameras – an 8.0 megapixel auto-focus camera with HD-capable video camcorder and a forward-facing 1.3 megapixel camera – HTC EVO 4G unleashes the ability to create, stream and watch video that far surpasses expectations of what is possible on a phone today.

With built-in mobile hotspot functionality, HTC EVO 4G allows up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices to share the 4G experience. Users can easily share an Internet connection on the go with a laptop, camera, music player, game unit, video player, or any other Wi-Fi enabled device.


With integrated HD video capture and 4G speeds, HTC EVO 4G makes slow uploads and grainy video a thing of the past. Now, it is possible to post high-quality video to YouTube™ or Facebook, or share moments in real time over the Internet live, via Qik. After these videos have been captured, it is easy to share them on an HDTV via an HDMI cable (sold separately).

The custom Web browser is optimized for HTC EVO 4G’s large display and Sprint 4G speeds to deliver a full, no-compromise Internet experience. Adobe Flash technology ensures that rich Internet content, such as embedded video and animation, are displayed the way they are meant to be seen. Pinch-to-zoom and automatic text reflowing provide easy Web page views. 

HTC EVO 4G features the newest version of the highly acclaimed HTC Sense user experience. Along with all of the HTC Sense features first introduced on HTC Hero, HTC EVO 4G adds a number of new features, including Friend Stream, which aggregates multiple social communication channels including Facebook and Twitter™ into one organized flow of updates; a “Leap” thumbnail view to easily switch between home screen “panels;” the ability to download new, interactive widgets; and a “polite” ringer, which quiets the ringing phone once lifted up.

“HTC and Sprint have a strong history of working together to bring consumers technologies and advancements that make their lives easier,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC. “We believe that the HTC EVO 4G represents the best of Sprint and the best of HTC working together to bring an unmatched device to the U.S. This combination of HTC and Sprint innovation will allow people to do even more while on the go, faster than ever on the Sprint 4G network.” 

Experience Android at 4G
HTC EVO 4G, the world’s first 3G/4G Android handset, features the latest iteration of the increasingly popular Android platform. Leveraging the Android 2.1 platform, HTC EVO 4G can deliver a wide array of useful new features:

• Android 2.1 enables a new way to search with pictures instead of words. Google Goggles™ works with everything from books, DVDs and barcodes to landmarks, logos, artwork and even wine labels. A picture taken of the Golden Gate Bridge returns all of the information anyone would need to know about the structure. By just taking a picture of several restaurant options, HTC EVO 4G will provide restaurant reviews to ensure the best choice.
• Text messaging and email composition feature built-in voice-to-text technology. By simply pressing a microphone button on the screen, messages can be composed by just speaking, making keeping in touch faster and easier than ever.
• Through Android Market™, HTC EVO 4G users have access to thousands of useful applications, widgets and games to download and install on their phone, with many more to come.

In addition to today’s Android apps, the performance of which will be enhanced by 4G speed, application developers will be introducing new apps that take advantage of 4G power in new ways – games and communications tools and other apps that bring together video, presence and location simultaneously, and capabilities that haven’t yet been imagined. For example, an application developer might create an app that allows a customer to simultaneously watch a streaming sporting event while pulling down stats and conducting a video chat with a friend.
A Sprint 4G developer guide is available today from the Sprint ADP Web site http://developer.sprint.com. The Sprint 4G developer guide explains how to develop on an Android 2.1 handset and how to take advantage of 4G and unique hardware/software capabilities, including how to use a forward-facing camera in an app; how to use HDMI output; and how to build in network detection (3G, 4G or Wi-Fi) to optimize quality of data in an app. The Sprint 4G developer also will include sample apps and source code that highlight these features. It will supplement the Android 2.1 SDK.  As a charter member of the Open Handset Alliance™, Sprint is actively engaged with the Android community. Sprint has employed an open Internet approach, and the Sprint Application Developer Program has been providing tools for third-party developers since Sprint first launched the Wireless Web on its phones in 2001.


“Sprint and HTC have come together to propel the Android platform into the 4G world with the introduction of HTC EVO 4G,” said Andy Rubin, vice president, mobile platforms at Google. “The Android platform was developed to give people unmatched mobile connectivity to the Internet. By combining this vision with the promise of Sprint’s first-to-market 4G technology, HTC EVO 4G makes accessing thousands of applications from Android Market, using Google™ services like Google Goggles, Google Earth™ and the all-new Gesture Search, or simply browsing the Web faster, easier and more enjoyable than ever before.”

Blazing trails with Sprint 4G
As the first national wireless carrier to test, launch and market 4G technology, Sprint made history by launching 4G in Baltimore in September 2008. Today, Sprint 4G covers more than 30 million people and expects to have up to 120 million people covered by the end of 2010. 

Sprint currently offers 4G service in 27 markets, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Portland, Ore., San Antonio and Seattle. Following is a comprehensive list of markets by state where Sprint 4G is currently offered: Georgia – Atlanta, Milledgeville; Hawaii – Honolulu, Maui; Idaho – Boise; Illinois – Chicago; Maryland – Baltimore; Nevada – Las Vegas; North Carolina – Charlotte, Greensboro, (along with High Point and Winston-Salem), Raleigh (along with Cary, Chapel Hill and Durham); Oregon – Portland, Salem; Pennsylvania – Philadelphia; Texas – Abilene, Amarillo, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, San Antonio, Waco, Wichita Falls; Washington – Bellingham, Seattle. For more information, visit www.sprint.com/4G.

In 2010, Sprint expects to launch service in multiple markets, including but not limited to, Boston, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Minneapolis, New York City, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.  Sprint is harnessing the power of 4G as the majority shareholder of Clearwire, the independent company that is building the WiMAX network. Sprint is the only national wireless carrier to offer 4G services on the Clearwire WiMAX network.

About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two wireless networks serving more than 48 million customers at the end of the fourth quarter of 2009 and the first 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. The company’s customer-focused strategy has led to improved first call resolution and customer care satisfaction scores. For more information, visit www.sprint.com.

About HTC
HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry. By putting people at the center of everything it does, HTC creates innovative smartphones that better serve the lives and needs of individuals. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.

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¹ “Up to 10x faster” based on download speed comparison of 3G’s 600 kbps vs. 4G’s 6 Mbps. Industry published 3G avg. speeds (600 kbps-1.7 Mbps); 4G avg. speeds (3-6 Mbps). Actual speeds may vary. Sprint 4G currently available in over 25 markets and counting, and on select devices.  See www.sprint.com/4G for details. Not all services available on 4G and coverage may default to 3G/separate network where 4G unavailable.

Note: Device features, specifications, services and applications are subject to change.

Luxury iPhones in African Blackwood/Gold from Gresso

Luxury phone maker Gresso introduced their own versions of customized Apple iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4. In the design they used 200 year old African Blackwood for a case, and 18 karat gold for an Apple logo soon.

The cases of the models are made of African ebony (African Blackwood), which has become the ”business card” of Gresso mobile phones. This is a rare material, which has a high strength and durability. Note, that there is no two identical models of the iPhone from Gresso, cause there is no two identical trees in the world. The ”branded apple” on the back panel is decorated with 18K gold .

Gresso offers models both for men and women. Female African Blackwood iPhone 4 and 3GS will come with “dainty engraving and Swarovski crystals incrustation”, and cost $3500, while male versions will be more strict and cheaper by $500.
Gresso iPhone 3GS will start shipping in July, and they plan to have iPhone 4 ready for market in December.
Apple iPhone 4 and 3GS can be preordered in the salons of official  Gresso dealers or the company’s website – www.gresso.com.

Bellperre launches new “affordable” ultra slim luxury phone

Luxury phone maker Bellperre has announced it’s launching a new handset that has a price level meeting “sincerely wider audience compared to current luxury phone brand offerings” – and I assume it’s referring to Mobiado and Vertu. The new phone is an ”ultra-slim” candybar. The handset is offered in several types of cases: steel, polished silver, 24-karat yellow gold or 18-karat rose gold. It also provides several options for leather design.

Specifications:

• Networks: four band GSM, tri-band HSPA (900/1900/2100)

• Screen: 2.2-inch, QVGA, 16 million colors, sapphire crystal

• Accelerometer

• GPS

• Stereo Bluetooth

• FM-radio

• Email, web browser, Outlook synchronization

• Camera: 5 megapixel, autofocus, flash LED, VGA video recording

• Dimensions: 111×45x11.2 mm

The price of this luxury phone is still unknown, but it’s claimed to be ”atractive”.