A pretty cool app has been highlighted this week across the Windows Phone Blog, Techcrunch and Engadget. The Tango app for Mango is cross-platform, offering support for iOS, Android, and PC. Microsoft happens to own a pretty awesome VoIP service called Skype, so this Tango app may have some pretty serious competition on the Windows platform in the future. Watch the video below to see Aaron Woodman from Windows Phone discussing the app in more detail when used on the new HTC Titan.

eType – The Personality Card Game To Get To Know Yourself And Your Friends

OK so this landed in my inbox earlier in the week from a PR company and I have to admit, it has intrigued me. Here is a bit of background: Fortune 1000 companies worldwide have been using personality metrics to hire people and match their strengths to suitable positions. Briggs-Meyer test and the Enneagram are the two most widely used systems. The Enneagram is based on an ancient “spiritual science” that originated centuries ago; and is now being studied and taught at top universities such as, Harvard and Stanford in the United States.

The thing with personality tests is that only the results are interesting, the tedious multiple choice questions, which can last for up to 40 minutes, are
quick to induce boredom. Not so with eType! Based on a unique and patented methodology, this unusual iPad application for the first time makes it fun to do the test. Instead of answering question after question, users are invited to pick 4 visual cards out of a stack of 36 cards provided. These cards show a combination of images that together evoke a subconscious reaction. In an empirical test with over 2000 samples, this personality test has achieved over 85% accuracy!

You probably acknowledge the popularity of personality tests amongst certain circles of friends of yours. But you, you refrain from reading horoscopes and getting your palms read. So what’s in it for you with eType?

Know thyself  – In the movie “Matrix” the Oracle asked Neo this same question. And we all know Neo did not quite become the One until he started knowing and believing who he is. This is not to say you would now be the one to go out and save the world after trying eType. But with self-knowledge and self-awareness, you will find ways to reach your potential much more easily – just like a map would sooner get you to your desired destination.

What about my friends and family? – eType remembers your results and your friends’ and families’ results. Want to know how come you never got along with Uncle Benny? Want to score some tips on spousal relationships, or to better smooth out office politics? eType lets you review these results and suggests ways for you to better get along with others.

• The many features of eType are robust and not found in any other personality app today.
• The user interface and game play allow everyone to have fun discovering their personality.
• It is made for individuals, friends and families that want to find out more about themselves and how they relate to each other.

eType Personality Cards is available NOW in the iPad APPstore.

Earlier in the week I completed 2 reviews. One was of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray and the other for the new BlackBerry 9860. Although I cannot share them in their entirety with you as yet, here are my conclusions on both;

Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray:

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray is a great phone. It looks classy and could easily be passed as a professional mobile device for any self-conscious business man; alternatively it would comfortably fit the look of any trendy hipster. It’s powerful and fast and does come with the Gingerbread. Let down only by the Sony Ericsson Timescape UI and the occasional unresponsive app or game.

 BlackBerry Torch 9860:

All in all the 9860 is great BlackBerry device. It looks from distance like it should belong with the Storm family but as mentioned it luckily leaves that stigma behind. It now sits in the Torch family and performs as a BlackBerry should. It would have been nice to see QNX on this phone especially with screen size taken into consideration but I guess we will just have to wait a little while longer for that.

HTC Sensation XE

October 1^st will see Phones4U in the UK exclusively launching the brand new HTC Sensation XE. Powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, this Android device features a 4.3-inch touchscreen with qHD (540 X 960) resolution and boasts a larger 1730mAh battery that promises prolonged run times. As the first smartphone produced under HTC’s partnership with Beats Audio, this special edition Sensation also ships with a special pair of Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, along with an 8GB or 16GB microSD card.

HTC Titan at a glance

With its large, bright 4.7 inch Super LCD screen, the HTC Titan brings your favorite apps, games, pictures and videos to life. Sporting an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera the HTC Titan combines high performance innovation with a super-slim 9.9 mm curved body enhanced by a brushed aluminum shell. Great for multi-tasking, you can view a presentation while you’re on a conference call, listen to music while writing an email or switch between your favourite apps and games on the go.

HTC Radar at a glance

The HTC Radar™ helps keep you close to the people, news and entertainment that matter most. Capture life’s memorable moments with its powerful camera, then share them easily. The People Hub keeps you up to date with your friends’ latest news, social network updates and photos. You can also stay in touch using SMS, Facebook chat and Windows Live™ Messenger in one thread, without having to switch applications or disrupt the conversation flow.

Nokia with Windows Phone Launch Event

In a couple of weeks now I will be attending the Nokia launch event for their new Windows Phone devices. I am attending the event and providing coverage on behalf of the Best Buy Europe Blog as well as picking up valuable information and contacts on behalf of the company I work for. It should be a fascinating event and I will be sure to keep you guys all updated on anything I learn.

 Apple to remain top dog according to J.P Mogan

I stumbled across this article from BGR earlier today. It bascially reads that an analyst at J.P Morgan believes 51.9 million tablets will shipped throughout 2011 with Apple still remaining the pack leader. He obviously hasn’t played with the Asus Transformer. He does recognise however that Amazon’s own tablet looks like it could be a good contender in the tablet race. Although he does agree a Windows 8 tablet could step in and be a game changer.

 What’s on the table for review Kris?

So the next 2 weeks are a little busy for me in terms of reviews for work. Luckily for you guys I will be able share them with you a little while after they are done. So what can you expect? Well firstly my review of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray is almost complete. It’s a fantastic little device running Android. Unfortunately SE have ruined it by using their own Timescape UI over the top. In addition to that I also have 3 brand new BlackBerry devices on my desk, all of whice are due out later in the month. I have the Curve 9360, Torch 9860 and Torch 9810. So far the Curve 9360 is my favorite, without a doubt. I’ll share details with you on these reviews when they are complete.

My only  concern so far is that BGR gave the Torch 9850 (Amercian model number for the 9860) a pretty bad review.

So that’s it from me this week. A few tasty tit bits to keep you going over the weekend and keep  you checking back for more as the month progresses. I’ll leave you to your weekend by telling you you absolutely must download Bunny Shooter. If you use Android here is a link, and here is one for iOS. A very addictive game from the developer; Best, Cool & Fun Games – Free Game App Creation S.A.

The Atrix is a dual-core Android phone running 2.2 (Froyo). Some of the key features include an extra-long life battery, aGPS with Google Maps, a 5 megapixel camera with HD video recording, every kind of connectivity including Wi-Fi and DLNA, 16GB of on-board memory and even a fingerprint scanner. An optional docking station turns the phone into a powerful laptop (who needs the Xoom?), or you can purchase the HD Multimedia Dock and combine it with the Wireless mouse and keyboard to turn your 40inch LCD TV at home into an office.

With prices hovering around the £400 mark, the Atrix needed to bring a lot to the table to justify the cost. It gives us a lot to play with and think about, but seems to leave us feeling a little cheated. For starters it comes with Froyo 2.2. This I don’t get especially as 2.3 (Gingerbread) has been around for 8 months or so now. Reskinning Android is a pet hate of ours, but the Moto Blur UI isn’t actually that bad. It does what it says on the tin and helps you keep up-to-date on your social networks with a ‘Latest News’ feed, amongst other useful tweaks Blur includes. The thing I like about Moto Blur is that it isn’t as intrusive or extensive as the HTC Sense UI. And as with any Android phone you can customise most things in any case. Motorola have promised an update to Gingerbread later in 2011 – probably just as other phones upgrade from Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich.

Physically, the Atrix is more plastic than metal and although the back case feels flimsy and delicate, the overall feel off the device is quite sturdy. Weighing in at 135g it is only slightly heavier than the BlackBerry Bold 9900(130g) but much lighter than the newly announced HTC Titan on Windows Phone 7 which weighs in at 160g. Smaller than the Galaxy S2, but hardly petite, the Atrix is a very good size. The display isn’t as big as the 4.3 inches on offer from Samsung and HTC, but at 4.0 inches it’s not small by any means. The resolution is very high too with 540 x 960 pixels and the screen also packs punches in terms of its Gorilla Glass display, touch sensitive controls and the other usual offerings of accelerometer and proximity sensors.

There is one feature that I am still confused as to whether it is a gimmick or a stroke of genius and the sign of things to come. I’m talking about the biometric fingerprint reader you can enable to lock your phone. Motorola claim it’s more secure than a password?

The Atrix is supposed to be fast, after all the advert claims it is the most powerful in the world, the ugly truth is however that even with a Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor with Tegra 2 chipset; it does seem to struggle under pressure. Luckily it does have 1GB of RAM up its sleeve to call upon to help it out. But all said and done it is just not as quick as we would have liked or expected.

Some other noteworthy features are the 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash and image stabilization which can takes great shots and can record video in HD 720p format. The dual-core processor shows its power here, with near-instantaneous image capture and judder-free video capture.GPS works very well indeed, with full support for all the Google mapping tools including Street View.

Connectivity is on par with other high end smartphones, with Wi-Fi (support for a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1, USB, a 3.5mm audio jack and even a DLNA connection. The amount of memory available can’t be faulted either, there is a generous 16GB onboard and the option to add microSD cards up to 32GB. The battery is a 1930 mAh Li-Ion cell, a rarity as most smartphones use 1500 mAh. The difference in battery life is quite apparent and I was able to use the phone for 7 hours heavy usage and then 12 hours standby before needing a recharge. Normally after 7 hours of heavy testing most Android devices are already begging for more juice.

Conclusion:
Although not the most powerful smartphone I have tested and reviewed, it isn’t too far behind the competition. Moto Blur isn’t as bad HTC Sense and the device does come with some great, albeit expensive accessories.

Although the news shocked many around the world, analysts and mobile specialists had been expecting this for a long while now. Jobs has been absent from his normal duties at Apple HQ since January this year and his protégée; Tim Cook has been manning the helm whilst keeping Apple on its successful and profitable path without too much of an issue.

Although share prices dropped rapidly on Wednesday night with billions being recorded as lost, Apple’s future still remains bright. There is one thing to be said about Apple, and that is how well it is run as a company. They have a clear vision, set goals and an incredible knack of being able to please the mass market especially with its mobile offering, the iconic iPhone. Now don’t get me wrong, I am no Apple fanboy – infact I have never owned an iPhone or iPod, but I admire the way (as a Mobile Technical Consultant would) Apple stepped in and changed the way handset manufactures did business. They did it again with the iPad in 2010 and still manufacturers struggle to keep up with them.

Jobs will remain with Apple as Chairman of the Board and Director, but Tim will take over fully as Chief Executive and all the duties that along with that role… including the iPhone 5 announcement later this undoubtedly. Below is the letter of resignation from Jobs;

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

Do I see this as damaging to Apple? Maybe in the very short term, but looking ahead I believe Apple will bounce back and remain a market leader in mobile innovation.

At the same time as the above announcement was another equally important, and major announcement from BlackBerry (RIM). Unfortunately for them they were overshadowed by Apple (again). This week BlackBerry announced BBM Music; a new social music sharing and discovery service .

BBM Music is set to be a easy-to-use cloud-based service that enables social and viral music discovery by allowing users to build an evolving, community-based music library that is shared amongst their BBM Music friends. The size of the music library is said to continue to grow as new friends join the community and each user can select music from a catalogue with millions of songs from leading music companies like Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI.

Some of the key features include:

• Music made social – BBM Music is a cloud-based, social music service that allows you to share and discover music with your friends, creating a continually evolving music library:
  • Build a personal music profile with 50 of your favorite songs. You can refresh your profile by swapping out up to 25 songs each month.Invite your BBM friends to subscribe to BBM Music and to join your BBM Music Community.
  • With each friend that is added to BBM Music, you grow your music collection since the songs from the profile of each BBM Music friend are available to you at any time.
  • Up to 50 tracks from your personal profile are shared with your BBM Music Community, and each member of your community shares up to 50 songs from their profile with you.
  • Enjoy a truly social community-based music experience – the more friends who join your community, the more songs you can listen to.
  • Easily discover music that your BBM Music friends are listening to, and comment on your friends’ songs and playlists.
  • You can create multiple playlists from music in your profile as well as all of your friends’ profiles, and with one click you can shuffle the entire collection of music from your BBM Music Community. You can even see which friend contributed each song while it plays.
  • Within your BBM Music app, you also see a visual timeline that shows the recent updates of all users within your community. It gives you a chronological view of community updates, including who added new friends, which songs were added or removed, which playlists were created and what comments were made by your BBM Music friends.
• Listen to Full Tracks – BBM Music subscribers can listen to full tracks from their friends’ profiles – not just previews.
• Offline Listening – Music can be saved to smartphones for offline listening, allowing users to access songs even when they don’t have wireless coverage.
• Topping the Charts – Keep track of how many friends are listening to your tracks.

Pricing has yet to be announced, but you can be amongst the first to know by registering your interest here.

And finally last week I spoke about the Minecraft themed Sony Ericcson XperiaPlay that was being sold on Ebay for charity. Well if you missed out on it you can get your hands on one by following @XperiaGames and retweeting their Twitter update;

Fancy getting your hands on a #Minecraft skinned #XperiaPLAY? bit.ly/r1KvWc We’re giving one away! Follow and RT to enter!

(This Twitter competition is not run by or in anyway associated with The Electronic Farmyard).

Well that’s it from me, I appreciate you reading this. Let me know your thought on Jobs resigning from Apple below in the comments section. And will you be subscribing to BBM Music? If so let us know your BBM PIN and maybe we could get a Electronic Farmyard Group started!

Kris.

Patents are bought and sold like cheap used cars, acquisitions have become common place and then of course we have rumours; whether started by the opposition to tarnish a competitor’s name, or started by Steve Jobs himself to help build hype for the iPhone 5, it just doesn’t matter. Rumours keep us all excited, make us mad, make us spend our hard earned cash and make us do silly things like breaking in to the Carphone Warehouse and looting it dry.  The rumour mill keeps the Mobile market moving, almost as much as the handsets and operating systems themselves.

One of the biggest things to happen this week is of course the news that Google have spent $12.5 billion on the acquisition of Motorola Mobility; an Android partner. The $12.5b price tag breaks down to $40.00 per share which according to last Fridays stock market reports is 60% more than where the share price closed. So why have they paid such a premium for Motorola Mobility, and what does it mean for Google’s Android OS in the future?

The Motorola DefyPlus powered by Google's Android Operating System.

Opinion is divided if you read the coverage of this that appeared earlier in the week. Many believe that this was either the smartest move Google have ever made, (in regards to Google Mobile and Android), or the dumbest. I personally believe it is a smart move. Why? I will try to explain below.

Patents, patents and even more patents.

Patents are fast becoming the bread and butter for the key players in the mobile market space generating them millions in revenue every year. However Google recently lost a major patent auction, (The Nortel patent), and have now entered a battle over the InterDigital patents which is likely to see them lose again. They are now down nearly 15,000 patents, a harsh slap in the face. But the acquisition of Motorola Mobility sees them gain at least 17,000 patents over night.  It gets more complicated from here on out so I will simply direct you to a great article by MG Siegler on Techcrunch if you want to learn more about the patent battles.

Another big release this week was the launch of BlackBerry Management Centre, a new cloud based service that enables small businesses to have the power of BlackBerry Enterprise Services without the large price tag of Full BES or the issue of finding someone to install BES Express on their Exchange server.  The full press release from RIM follows:

Free Online Service Helps Small Businesses Centrally Manage and Protect BlackBerry Smartphones in the Cloud

WATERLOO, ONTARIO – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) today announced BlackBerry® Management Center – a free online service* for small businesses to centrally manage company- or employee-owned BlackBerry® smartphones in the cloud and protect business-related content stored on the handsets. The service is designed for businesses with up to 100 BlackBerry smartphones that access email services from an Internet service provider (ISP) or web-based email services like Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo!.

“We are pleased to introduce RIM’s latest cloud service designed specifically for small businesses,” said Alan Panezic, Vice President, Enterprise Product Management at Research In Motion. “BlackBerry Management Center is a free service and an effective way to centrally manage and support employees’ BlackBerry smartphones in the cloud.”

BlackBerry Management Center makes it easy to manage company- or employee-owned smartphones in the cloud, and helps to minimize risk from lost or stolen handsets to keep business moving forward. Small businesses can use the service to:

• Wirelessly back up BlackBerry smartphones automatically on a daily, weekly or monthly basis to aid in the recovery of lost business-related content stored on the handset
• Protect content on an employee’s lost or stolen BlackBerry smartphone by remotely locking it and, if necessary, wiping the contents, including the microSD card
• Locate a lost BlackBerry smartphone by remotely locking it, initiating a loud ring, and displaying a message on the Home screen
• Easily restore the settings and content on a new or replacement device
• Reset a password

BlackBerry Management Center is available today at www.blackberry.com/managementcenter.

Quite often I get asked about mobile convergence and what it means. I sometimes struggle to explain it quickly or over the phone. So a short while ago I wrote a small piece on convergence and as I wll be talking about converged devices over the coming weeks, I thought I would share it with you all to bring you up to speed.

Consumer Convergence:  what does it mean? Quite simply, the merging of technology.

Convergence relates to previously separated technologies, (Video, Data and Voice), that now share the same resource, (hardware and/or software), that result in these technologies now interacting with each other and potentially creating new abilities or productivity.  Convergence is happening for the B2B market but also and no less importantly the high street consumers also.

Convergence for the consumer can therefore be defined as the entwining of console computing and other information technologies, (IT), mobile phone services, media content, (TV, Radio, Film), and social networks that have arisen due to the increased popularity of Internet based services and activities, (Facebook, Twitter, Xbox LIVE, PhotoBucket, Flickr etc.). Bring all of these individual pieces together and getting each one to talk with the other. But it doesn’t stop there, there are other products and services that can added on like digital photo frames, DVD players, TV and sound systems and digital TV.

‘The Black Box Fallacy’ – Many experts expect we will eventually access all media content through one device, or as they call them, ‘black box’. This has led to millions of pounds of research and development. Over the last 5 years as these have been introduced to the market and then abandoned it has left consumers with numerous gadgets’ that can perform the same task. An example would be the Apple iPod vs. iPhone or a computer and video games console, subsequently owning two DVD players.  But as awareness has increased and bigger brands like Sony, Microsoft and Google are getting involved the market has begun to slim down to a set of mainstream products and services.

As mobile technology has become more and more portable it was only to be expected that convergence occur in high end mobile devices.  A mobile phone incorporates MMS, GPRS and GPS, 24/7 Internet access and of course Mobile Telephony. This has led to the rise of what we call the ‘Smartphone’. A smartphone removes the need to carry multiple devices while away from home. Have a think about the following; what do you do on your handset currently? Do you check your Facebook account? Update your Twitter status? Do you order products from EBay? Check the news and weather? All of these ‘services’ you are accessing via your device are converged services… but this is just the tip of the iceberg.

And finally something that made me chuckle that I found reported on elsewhere. A Sony Ericsson Xperia Play themed in the style of Minecraft for auction on Ebay. Currently the bidding sits at just over $1200 with a couple of days to go. Would you buy one?

Alongside the 9900 we have a 9850 and 9810 also being announced. They’re all powered by a 1.2GHz processor, have 768MB of onboard RAM and most importantly run the latest operating system BB OS7.

Unfortunately for RIM, they haven’t been received well ever since the official announcement back at BlackBerry World held in Orlando earlier in the year. RIM has also been plagued by bad press in the last few months, staff redundancies, trouble with the management structure and also a poor start to BlackBerry PlayBook sales.

RIM desperately needs these new devices to do well, both in the consumer and business market here and around the world.

I managed to get my hands on the 9900 via my employer a few weeks ago and you can read my full review of the new device here. It is due to launch on 15^th of this month.

You can also read my review of the BlackBerry PlayBook here.

Check out the full press release from RIM after the photo gallery.

[Show as slideshow]

Research In Motion Introduces New BlackBerry 7 Smartphones

Largest Global Launch of BlackBerry Smartphones Ever With More Than 225 Partners Around the World

Research In Motion today announced plans to launch 5 new BlackBerry® smartphones based on the BlackBerry® 7 Operating System (OS).  RIM, in conjunction with carriers and distribution partners around the world, is rolling out two new BlackBerry® Bold™ models and three new BlackBerry® Torch™ models, all running the powerful new BlackBerry® 7 OS.

The launch of this family of handsets will be RIM’s largest global launch ever and more than 225 carriers and distribution partners have already commenced or completed over 500 certification programs for these 5 new handsets.

Featuring RIM’s next generation of hardware and software platforms, these five new BlackBerry 7 based smartphones offer users a variety of designs to choose from and deliver the ultimate in communications, multimedia and productivity.

The new BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 and 9930 are RIM’s thinnest smartphones ever, each offering a large keyboard and brilliant touch display. The new BlackBerry® Torch™ 9810 smartphone builds on the popularity of the BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 and combines a large touch display with a convenient slide-out keyboard. The BlackBerry® Torch™ 9850 and 9860 introduce an all-new, all-touch design featuring the largest display on a BlackBerry® smartphone to date.

“This is the largest global launch of BlackBerry smartphones in our history,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO of Research In Motion. “The BlackBerry solution offers a best-in-class mobile communications experience that customers love and we think they will be thrilled by the faster performance, enhanced browsing and richer multimedia delivered by these powerful new BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Torch smartphones.”

Next-Generation BlackBerry 7 OS
BlackBerry 7 introduces a next generation BlackBerry browser with a significantly faster, more fluid web browsing experience that is among the best in the industry. Combining the dramatically improved performance of the advanced WebKit browser engine together with the powerful hardware enhancements found in the BlackBerry 7 based smartphones delivers browsing  results that are up to 40% faster than BlackBerry® 6 based smartphones and up to 100% faster than BlackBerry® 5 based smartphones*.  Additional enhancements to this next generation BlackBerry browser have also optimized zooming and panning for smoother web navigation and optimized HTML5 performance for incredible gaming and video experiences.

RIM’s new BlackBerry 7 based smartphones also feature Liquid GraphicsTM technology, with each smartphone combining a dedicated high-performance graphics processor with a blazingly fast CPU and stunning high resolution display to deliver a highly responsive touch interface with incredibly fast and smooth graphics.

In addition, BlackBerry 7 based smartphones continue the tradition of delivering the world’s best mobile communications experience with a highly refined and integrated suite of phone, email, messaging and social apps to keep users connected and productive throughout the day. Recent enhancements include the newest release of BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger) which now extends the real time BBM experience to a range of other apps (see separate announcement on July 28, 2011). The updated Social Feeds (2.0) app has been extended to capture updates from media, podcasts, and favorites all in one consolidated view. The new Facebook® for BlackBerry smartphones (2.0) app introduces features like Facebook chat and BBM integration that makes it easier for users to connect with their Facebook friends in real time.

BlackBerry 7 OS also includes a number of other pre-loaded applications and integrated functionality for increased productivity and collaboration right out of the box. The Premium version of Documents To Go is now included free of charge, offering users powerful document editing features as well as a native PDF document viewer. BlackBerry® Protect is also pre-loaded**, offering customers the peace of mind that personal data can be backed up and secured in the cloud.  BlackBerry® Balance (announced May 2, 2011) is now integrated in BlackBerry 7, allowing users to enjoy the full BlackBerry smartphone experience for both work and personal purposes without compromising the IT department’s need for advanced security and IT controls. And further, the popular universal search capability has been enhanced with support for voice-activated search, so users can now simply speak to begin searching their device and the web for information.

A New Performance Driven Platform
RIM’s line up of next generation BlackBerry smartphones are built on a new performance driven platform powered by the latest BlackBerry software and hardware. In addition to supporting the new BlackBerry 7 OS, each smartphone also features a range of powerful hardware enhancements including a 1.2 GHz processor, HD video recording, 24-bit high resolution graphics, and advanced sensors enabling new augmented reality applications such as Wikitude that can be seamlessly integrated with BBM 6 – all designed to deliver the ultimate in communications, multimedia and productivity for users around the world.

BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 Smartphones with Touch Display and Keyboard
The BlackBerry Bold 9900 series is the thinnest BlackBerry smartphone yet (at only 10.5mm) and the first to offer the perfect union of a high performance keyboard and touch display integrated within the iconic BlackBerry Bold design. The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 are also the first BlackBerry smartphones to include built-in support for NFC (Near Field Communications), a new technology that is  enabling many new and exciting capabilities, including the ability to pair accessories or read SmartPoster tags with a simple tap of the smartphone. Distinguished by its beautiful design, amazingly effective keyboard and brilliant touch display, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 series is crafted with premium materials including a brushed stainless steel frame that puts the finishing touch on a truly outstanding smartphone.

BlackBerry Torch 9810 Smartphone with Touch Display and Slide-Out Keyboard
Building on the popular design of the BlackBerry Torch 9800, the new BlackBerry Torch 9810 is faster and more fluid with high performance hardware features and the new BlackBerry 7 OS delivering an enhanced multimedia experience. Featuring a large 3.2”, high resolution touch display and a distinctive BlackBerry keyboard that easily slides out to allow faster typing, the BlackBerry Torch 9810 truly delivers the best of both worlds.

Meteor
In Soviet Russia, Meteor controls you!

I don’t get the tag line either, but let’s get going with it!

Ever been sat at home, your media server is hooked up to your 50″ HD TV and you can’t find the remote? I’m sure it’s happened to us all at one point or another.

As a Windows Phone 7 user I like to make the most out of the 100′s of £££ I paid for the phone, so I have every app under the sun, one of which has taken my attention quite recently. Meteor for Windows Media Center. The easiest way to explain what it does is this.

Meteor connects to your Windows Media Center client via its windows based server application, it grabs all your films, the DVD covers and meta data, (if you have it), and shows it nicely on your phone for you to peruse and pick from.

The app itself is split into three sections.

Now Playing – From here you can easily manipulate what is currently playing, whether it’s a song or a movie.

Recent – This area shows your recently played items.

Library – Here is where all the fun happens. Meteor gathers all your library data and shows it here, with sub sections of music, movies and TV shows.

Now the app has only just come out of beta, and its windows service has very limited functionality, personally I’d like to see it with media library settings within the Meteor interface. Maybe in future it will.

Now for some eye candy, below you can see the now playing section of the app, where the data is streamed to the phone to show realtime playback info. Check out the videos below to see it in action.

* Images provided by blog.landdolphin.net

So if you are the guy with the 50″ TV, I’m sure you’ll have some professional solution for your home media entertainment. If you’re not, here is the next best thing, a media guide in your pocket. The app itself is free, but with header and footer adverts. The paid version removes these adverts but doesn’t unlock any additional features.

Check out their website - http://landdolphin.net/meteor/

And if you have Zune, check out the app – Zune Marketplace

Keep your eye out for next week’s WP7 App Review

To illustrate the connection between mobile devices and cars these days, take a look at the 2011 Ford Focus. The dashboard of this car has controls that look quite similar to a cell phone keypad. When Ford was researching the design for the Focus three years ago, they found information suggesting that young buyers of cars were more interested in their mobile devices than their cars. In order to target these buyers, Ford decided to model the interface of the car after a cell phone.

Unfortunately for Ford, by the time the Ford Focus came out in Canada, the dashboard of the car was outdated because the cell phone keypad it had been modeled on was now passé. Smartphone interfaces like those found on the iPhone and Droid had taken over. New cell phones and mobile electronics come out all the time, especially with Apple constantly releasing new models. Electronics manufacturers like to redesign their interfaces often to keep their products fresh, which causes a challenge for car makers trying to keep up.

One of the latest trends from the mobile device world that’s made its way into cars is touchscreens. iPhone work by the touch of your finger – why shouldn’t your car dashboard be the same way? Knobs and buttons are so 2005. 2D displays and images are being replaced by 3D and videogame style graphics. Not only can you operate your phone via Bluetooth – you can use Bluetooth to access features in some cars now as well. Navigation systems are savvier than ever. Just GPS isn’t good enough anymore – new navigation systems can download both 2D and 3D maps from the Internet.

The same problems that plagued drivers using cell phones also affect those using these new high tech features. If you thought talking on a cell phone and driving at the same time was highly distracting, try trying to interpret a 3D map while asking your phone to dial your mother and your music player to locate a particular song on your iPod at the same time. With this in mind, car engineers are now devoting more attention to trying to eliminate driver distraction while still providing the information and entertainment car buyers are looking for.

This is a guest post from Ryan Embly – he writes for the car rental comparison website CRX.

The ViewPad 7 is surprisingly nimble for such a humble device. Running Google Android 2.2 powered by an ARM II (600MHz) processor with 512MB internal memory, the device is outstandingly quick and responsive compared to other 7inch devices we have been looking at recently. In regards to its multitasking capability, it does not disappoint. Streaming YouTube whilst working on an email and then updating your Facebook profile, is all made painless and quick.

Being Google Android it has full integration with all your favourite Google Apps and services like Gmail, Maps, Google Talk and Documents. And unlike the ViewPad 10 this device has access to the full Android Marketplace with its 50,000 and growing applications. The likes of Androidify, Angry Birds, Facebook, Twitter, Seesmic, LogMeIn and Amazon Kindle are all compatible with the ViewPad 7.

Unfortunately there isn’t much (512MB) built-in storage but you can add a microSD card up to 32GB to counter this. It’s one of a very few minor issues we discovered with this tablet which also include no camera flash and HDMI output functionality. Other than that there are no other obvious failings with this tablet.

At 110 x 179.4 x 11.5 mm (W x D x H) the tablet is the perfect size to slip into an outside jacket pocket, inside a briefcase, satchel or even a laptop bag. And even the female users of this device will find no problem with handbag space. Weighing in at 375grams it is easy to hold and carry around for extended periods of time.

Video playback on the ViewPad 7 is a pleasure to behold. At a time where so many tablets struggle with Flash support it is refreshing to find a tablet that supports Flash and does it well. When compared to the Samsung Galaxy Tab, more expensive than the ViewPad 7, which struggles with lousy Flash support you will be stuck for reasons not to purchase this device.

The ViewPad 7 comes with an abundance of connectivity options from built in WiFi, Bluetooth, GPRS and 3G GSM. The built in WiFi works flawlessly switching from one network to the other as you change locations, and the SIM Card connectivity ensures you are connected at all times whilst on the go. You can make a call, send a text message, update Twitter and reply to business critical emails without the unsettling feeling of not being connected to the outside world.

The ViewPad 7 is a device designed for both work and play as it comes fully capable of playing an assortment of multimedia files. You can use it as an EBook reader, watch movies, listen to music, view pictures and even listen to the radio. With Android’s Exchange compatibility it makes the perfect work companion with a bunch of available Apps on the marketplace to increase your daily productivity. Your contacts are clearly stored and presented on the tablet and even include SIM, Exchange and Facebook contacts ensuring you can always reach the person you need.

This is a device for anyone looking to enter the tablet market or even the more hardened tablet veterans. Ignoring the fact it isn’t running Android 3.0 Honeycomb the ViewPad 7 does a stand up job of providing us with a great user experience. Whether for use at home, in the office or on the go the ViewPad 7 is the tablet for you.

Pros:

• Responsive and high quality TFT 7.0″ multitouch display.
• Full Android Marketplace.
• 2x Camera’s. 1x front facing 3.0 MP & 1x VGA rear camera.

Cons:

• No HDMI output
• No camera flash
• No built-in memory (upgradeable using microSD).

Technical Details: ViewSonic ViewPad 7 Android Tablet

• Processor: ARM11 600MHz
• Chipset: Qualcomm MSM7227
• Internal memory: 512MB
• Inbuilt Flash: 512MB NAND Flash and microSD expandability up to 32GB
• Display screen size: 7” Touch TFT, touch & capacitive type screen with 800 x 400 WVGA resolution
• GSM bands: 900/1800/1900/2100 UMTS bands: 900 /1900/2100
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 3G and assisted GPS
• Multimedia: Microphone and speakers
• Camera: Built-in camera 3 megapixel (front) & VGA camera (back)
• Sensors: G-Sensor, E-Compass sensor and ambient light sensor
• I/O ports and cards: 3.5mm audio jack for stereo headset, mini-USB connector with data sync, Micro-SD card slot and SIM slot
• Operating system: Android 2.2
• Dimensions: Width 110mm, Depth 11.5mm, Height 179.4mm
• Weight: 375g
• Battery (type): Li-Polymer, 3240mAH
• Battery life (approx): 4–6hrs (heavy, continuous use), 600hrs standby

Thats right folks, rumors of the iPhone 5 are hitting the streets. Not that i care as an avid Windows Phone user

Right now who knows what it wil be like, is it going to have the same issues as the iPhone 4, antenna problems all over again. Or will be be 4G capable delivering the fastest mobile internet to your handset?

The word from apple in phonecalls is that its going to have a design rethink and overhaul the phone itself, new chassis maybe?

Something i read today also mentioned an iPhone nano. http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/iphone-nano-rumours-gain-more-traction-928511 Cheap option me thinks?

So what would i like to see coming from the iPhone 5, or 5G. Well, id love to see iproved specs, a larger screen, a 1.2GHz processor maybe? One thing that would clinch me into buying an iPhone is battery life? Can they make it work? Can they make it last longer than a day!

Apple’s established a rhythm with iPhone releases, with new models appearing in late June or early July each year. It’s a safe bet that the iPhone 5 release date will also be late June or early July.

Keep an eye out!

webOS 2.0, welcome to the game…

After months of waiting, wondering what HP might be up to with Palm and leaks that pointed towards a wider strategy than just smartphones, HP on Wednesday introduced the world to webOS 2.0 and the devices that it will launch with.
I have said for a while the OS to look out for in 2011 was probably not from Apple, Google or even Microsoft but instead from Palm thanks to their new owners HP. Lets take a look at whether the hype has lived up to promise that webOS under HP’s guidance offers.

HP Touchpad (featured above)
The excitement around this event was largely down to the rumours that HP were finally about to announce the tablet that was expected last year. Previously we expected this to run Windows 7 and then when HP purchased Palm in the middle of last year it was clear that the delay meant it would actually now more likely run webOS.

It’s now real and the device does run a tablet optimised version of webOS 2.0 in its full glory. Packing the very latest 1.2Ghz Snapdragon Dual-core processor from Qualcomm, 1GB RAM, up to 32GB of storage, Camera’s front and back, a capacitive touch screen running 1024 x 768 resolution into a well designed 9.7 inch form factor (same as the iPad) it already sounds like a winner. The case we are told is high quality plastic and the weight very much on par with the iPad, the winner here is likely to be the webOS which has always just felt more natural to interact with that any iOS before it. Brilliant, this is exactly the kind of impact we were hoping HP would have on Palm.

HP Pre 3
Following a similar design theory to the Palm Pre’s we already know, this device packs the very latest 1.4Ghz Qualcomm processor, a 5MP camera with HD video recording, WiFi hotspot ability and a capacitive touchscreen running at 800 x 480 pixels. Very impressive, and reports say that webOS ’screams’ along, ‘probably the slickest operating experience available on any phone’. It also has a slide out keyboard packed cleanly behind the screen and we are told he build quality is second to none. Sounds great!

HP Veer
Its like a mini Pre 3 in design but much smaller. About two thirds the size of an iPhone and again with a slide out keyboard it sports a slower Qualcomm processor clocked at 800Mhz, 8GB of internal storage, and mobile hotspot abilities. Build quality again we are told is superb and we expect that is largely down to HP who are known for producing some excellent equipment in the PC/Printer markets. webOS even on this device runs extremely well which is credit to just how well put together it must be under the hood.

All of these devices now have a system called ‘Touchstone’. This is designed to enhance sharing of data across the webOS range of devices using the understanding that a user will probably have both a phone, and a tablet. To quote HP they say ‘Simply touch a Pre 3 with a Touchpad to share a URL, recieve answerphone calls or text messages to your Touchpad or even start reading a website/blog on your Touchpad and then tap it across to your phone to take it on the go’

It’s about a connected, mobile world and thankfully we may now have a company at the beginning of a journey that ends up delivering a genuine ‘iPad killer’. Time will tell, and as we said at the conference… watch the webOS space.

Nokia & Microsoft announce a new strategic alliance

Just a short while ago Nokia and Microsoft officially announced a new strategic alliance that will see Windows Phone 7 become the primary OS for Nokia smartphones. This comes just a couple of days after the rather brutally honest internal memo from the Nokia CEO Stephen Elop revealed the company is standing upon a “Burning Platform”.

The alliance also extends into other Microsoft services including Bing, Office and Xbox Live integration but will also combine the Nokia application store and integrate this into the heart of the Microsoft Marketplace. And finally according to the official press release from Nokia, Nokia Maps will be the heart of Bing and AdCenter.

We will create opportunities beyond anything that currently exists

said Nokia CEO Stephen Elop.

But what will happen to Symbian and MeeGo, the other Nokia operating systems? According to Nokia Meego will become an open-source, mobile operating system project whilst Symbian will be a franchise platform, leveraging previous investments to harvest additional value.

Nokia will help drive and define the future of Windows Phone. Nokia will contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies.

Both Nokia and Microsoft are leaders in their field, even with Nokia losing its share on the market over the last few years. But who will benefit the most from this deal? Microsoft now have one of the worlds best handset manufacturers on board with them, a manufacturer with a ton of experience dealing with international markets, and as Gizmodo pointed out earlier this morning unlike HTC, they dont have to worry about the other mobile platforms using the same Nokia hardware. Nokia now have access to a successful mobile OS they have desperately craved for some time.

ViewSonic sell the vision of the ViewPad 10 with the tag line The best of both worlds. You may occasionally get a tiny glimpse into just how good this device may have been, but not very often.

Specs:

• Processor: Intel Atom N455 (Clocked to 1.66GHz)
• Memory: 1GB
• 16GB SSD internal memory (12GB taken up by Windows 7)
• Size: 15x275x170mm
• Weight: 1.1kg
• Sound: Realtek ALC 662G/268
• Screen Size: 10in
• Resolution: 1024×600
• Graphics: Intel HD Graphics (64MB)
• Other: 2 USB ports, Bluetooth Compatible, 802.11n Wireless support and minijack audio output.

Battery life whilst running Windows 7 Home Premium on PowerSaver mode will see you get around 5 hours of usage. If you crank this to High Performance mode you can expect just less than 2 hours. Android will see you get between 5 and 7 hours of usage.

ViewSonic provide 2 CD-ROMs in the box. One which contains a User Guide (only for Windows 7) and drivers and the other contains a copy of the Windows OS incase a fresh OS install is needed. Just do not expect to be able to use these CD-ROMs if you are running anything older than Windows Vista. Considering that 56.7% (2010 Microsoft figures) of UK businesses still use Windows XP, this was another bad decision.

Whilst using both Windows and Android do not expect to be able to use the camera without a SD Card. An unnecessary restriction placed on the device.

The device also comes with a SIM Card slot. The only use for this is to copy contacts to Androids contact management application. Do not expect internet connectivity through this thanks to buggy software.

Android 1.6 OS

After using the Android OS a couple of times there will be very few and far between instances where you will want to use it again.

The AndAppStore for the ViewPad 10, has a number of programs on there to choose from, however very few if any have descriptions making browsing them near impossible. A good selection of them cannot run on the tablet and you will not learn this until you have downloaded, installed and attempted to run the application. In total the AndAppStore has 1893 applications. The restrictions made on the Android Market place for devices that are not smart phones make Android on a tablet a very off-putting experience.

The OS is prone to freezing for none apparent reasons. My 3 year old BlackBerry freezes less than the ViewPad 10. One of the most irritating software errors is the Cannot Contact Server error that appears daily without fail. Whether I am trying to retrieve email or browse the internet, this continues to plague my user experience even when I have a 5 bar WiFi connection.

Most confusing on both operating systems is the back button which does not actually act as a back button. Whilst running Android the button actually gives the user access to a status bar from which to open Settings, Expert Settings and the Wallpaper options. And also hugely irritating is the Home button which does not immediately return you to your home screen. Infact if you have been browsing the Internet for 15 minutes the Home button works as a back button and needs to be repeatedly pressed until you eventually back track your way to the home screen. After some digging through a bunch of Android related forums you realise that if you hold down the button for 3 seconds, you can bypass this.

A positive for the Android side is the multi-touch when compared to Windows 7; quick, responsive and very accurate. If I am to be fair, this is the only positive thing I have found.

The rapidly ageing Android 1.6 OS is a horrifically frustrating experience on this device and is likely to be responsible for turning more people away from Android.

Roll on 3.0 Honeycomb.

Windows 7 Home Premium OS

Regardless of just how much firepower a tablet may have built in you just cannot escape the fact Windows 7 Home Premium is not built for touch operation, yet alone a tablet device. Almost everything you do from navigating Windows Media Centre to closing a browser window on the small red X is made impossibly fiddly. To combat this annoyance I plugged in my Bluetooth Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 which worked extremely well.

The resolution 1024×600 resolution is simply too-tight when used in landscape mode and far too narrow in portrait.

The joy of running a Windows machine of course results in the joy of Windows related errors. If the tablet freezes and you need to restart it you will be presented with the Windows Recovery Screen when booting up. To select Start Windows Normally you use the back button. WiFi connectivity is temperamental and will occasionally decide to switch itself off. Running the troubleshoot option does not work on the Tablet so it is time for another reboot. Internet Explorer seems to want to ask you to diagnose connection issues even when connected to WiFi, it is time for another reboot. The only thing I have not seen this week is the dreaded Windows Blue Screen.

When I did manage to keep a steady WiFi connection and start browsing the internet the experience could not have been further from user friendly if it tried. The ViewPad 10 offers multi-touch and pinch-to-zoom; avoid this at all cost, use a Bluetooth mouse. It is slow, laggy and extremely unresponsive whilst browsing.

The nice thing about running Windows 7 Home Premium however is the added benefit of freely available software on the net. Windows Live Essentials installs onto the machine giving you MSN and Outlook-like functionality. Skype, Tweetdeck, Yahoo Messenger and PokerStars all install. Just make sure you use a Bluetooth mouse.

Using Windows 7 Home Premium on a device that should only use Windows 7 Starter (designed for Netbooks primarily), causes overheating and sluggish performance after 90 minutes of usage and because it is Windows 7 Home Premium it is very difficult to set up on a home network running XP or Vista for file sharing (music, video, and pictures). Windows 7 has its own built in feature which does not recognise anything other than Windows 7 machines. There are ways to overcome this, but for the average consumer it is not a recommended route.

Conclusion

ViewSonic seem to have been confused when putting the ViewPad 10 together. They needed to concentrate on one OS and ensure they create the best user experience possible. Instead we have 2 that just do not meet the standards set by Apples iPad or the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Neither of the operating systems really do the responsive hardware justice. Windows 7 Home Premium simply is not an OS designed to work well on these machines.

The build quality of the ViewPad 10 is good. There is no flexing of the device when picked up with one hand although it is a little on the heavy side, but no to much so.

Not quite The best of both worlds as we were promised.

The Archos 70 Internet Tablet is part of a larger family including the 28, 32, 43 and 101 Internet tablets and comes packed full of great features at a budget price. The device includes built in WiFi (there is no SIM Card capability), a Cortex8 1GHz ARM processor with support for OpenGL ES 2.0 3D graphics and HD video playback 720p. It has a 7 inch screen size with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels type capacitive touchscreen, and will support Flash 10 very shortly.

The screen size is a comfortable 7in and still manages to feel easier and more comfortable to look at whilst seeming to come across larger than the Samsung Galaxy Tab; also a 7in screen. The tablet is clearly marketed at a media savvy user and can play just about any video file you can throw at it without the need to search the internet for various and obscure codex files. The device includes a HDMI-out for output feeds onto a large home TV.

The Archos is awaiting a small firmware update due in the next few weeks to add Flash10 support to the device. Archos are working on adding the Adobe certificate at present and are confident it will be released very shortly.

Storage wise the device comes with 8GB flash storage with the option to choose a 250GB hard drive instead. Factor in a MicroSD card and you will have all the space you willl have all the space you will need for movies, music and pictures. ?The 8GB version has a size of 7.91 x 4.49 x 0.43 and weighs 11 ounces. The larger 250GB version is slightly thicker at 0.55 and weighs 14 ounces.

In terms of connectivity the device is without space for a SIM Card instead relying on either WiFi connectivity or hooking up with 3G enabled phone via Bluetooth and tethering them together. At present tethering is only available on older devices but since speaking with Archos we have learnt there are updates due at any time now to include a broad range of newer feature and smartphone devices. WiFi works well in a home network environment allowing you to stream videos, music and photos to the device from any room in the house as long as you have network sharing configured from your home PC/Laptop.

Battery life on the device is good, with moderate use I can get a good 48-60 hours out of the device and with heavy use it dramatically drops. Watching video is obviously much more taxing on the battery than casual web surfing and email checks. What is above-average is the capacitive touch. It’s accurate, sensitive and fast. This makes things like browsing the web great. The pinch zooming is buttery smooth and reacts quickly to my fingers.

We got the device delivered running Google Android 2.1 (Cupcake) but immediately we were able to update the OS to 2.2 (Froyo) from the settings menu on the device.

The Archos 70 Internet Table is unable to access the Android Marketplace but instead uses the AppsLib service to allow users to choose from a varied number of applications and games.

If you are looking for a device for some casual web browsing and checking emails then this is great when you throw into the mix the networking capabilities for your own home network. An all-rounder device that we fully recommended to all newcomers to the tablet market.

Remember to get in touch with us if you have any questions about this tablet.

Kris