Samsung Stratosphere/Review

Samsung Stratosphere

Product highlights
*  $149.99
*  Verizon's ultrafast 4G LTE speeds
*  QWERTY keyboard
*  Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, and VPN support.
*  5-megapixel camera that takes good photos

A glossy, all-touch black face with rounded shoulders that still looks elegant in its minimalism. Here the soft-touch finish gets a pleasant, slightly nubbly texture that's reminiscent of suede. The Samsung Stratosphere is Verizon's first LTE phone to also have a keyboard.
Fits right into the middle of the pack in this age of "jumbo phones," and is neither too large nor too small. It's still a bit on the heftier side at 5.8 ounces, but the weight adds a sense of durability that's to be expected in larger phones with greater mass.

The 4-inch WVGA (800x480 pixels) Super AMOLED screen is still impressive, with bright, saturated color that leaps off the display.

The Stratosphere runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread using Samsung's TouchWiz interface.With the drastically revamped Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich right around the corner, and the strong graphics and smart contributions from HTC's Sense interface, Samsung needs to offer something more beautiful or dynamic to make the interface truly compelling.

Customizable home screens right out of the box, your choice of some nice backgrounds, the "leap" screen for viewing all your home screens in one view, and a horizontal-swiping treatment to the app tray.
Swype is a virtual keyboard option on the Stratosphere, but you have to choose it if you want it, since Samsung's keyboard is the one that comes preloaded by default.
Above the screen is a front-facing VGA camera for self-portraits and video chats. Below the screen are four touch-sensitive buttons for the Menu, Home, Back, and Search. The power button lives on the right spine, and on the left is the volume rocker. Up top you have the 3.5mm headset jack, and on the bottom is the Micro-USB charging port. The back has the 5-megapixel camera lens, and beneath the back cover is the microSD card slot. The Stratosphere generously comes with 4GB of external memory preinstalled.
The keys are backlit, fully separated, and rubbery; angled in slightly that snaps back when touched. Samsung has also added a handful of convenience keys, like ones dedicated to Search, Back, Menu, and Home, plus keys to pull up a blank text message, the browser, and four directional navigation arrows.
E-mail, texting, multimedia messaging, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth support (3.0), and GPS. There's also contact-importing and access to a range of Google services, from Gmail, maps with turn-by-turn-navigation, to Google Places, Talk, Search, and YouTube. Essentials include a calendar, a calculator, a clock (plus alarm clock, stopwatch, and timer), an HTML WebKit browser, and a memo pad. Android's basic music player is also onboard, along with a handful of other Google services.

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Nokia N900/Review

Price: $649 (preorder)
Official Site: Maemo.Nokia.com
Specs: 6.34 oz; 2.35” x 4.37” x 0.71”; Wi-Fi, HSPA; 800x480; 600MHz processor; 1GB RAM; 32GB-48GB internal memory
Company: Nokia

What do you get when you combine two of the hottest electronic trends like mini netbooks and touchscreen smartphones? The answer would be Nokia’s new N900 phone and its custom-made operating system, Maemo. Designed as a loose follow-up to Nokia’s N97, the Nokia N900 has a bit of an identity crisis between a smartphone with a desktop OS, or a portable computer with telephone capabilities. Either way, this search for identity has created an excellent entry in what could easily be a new cell phone subgenre. Although the price is still shrouded in mystery, this drool-worthy gadget will start to roll out on North American shelves for T-Mobile beginning this fall.
With its 3.5-inch touchscreen and slide-out QWERTY keyboard, the Nokia N900 appears to have a lot in common with several other of the latest smartphones to be released. However, as you start to unravel the bulk of the details and specifications for this gadget, more and more unique features move to the forefront.

As opposed to a typical 360 x 640 resolution cell phone screen, the Nokia N900 rocks a significantly higher 800 x 480, giving you a picture more akin to your laptop rather than your phone. In order to effectively run this advanced mobile device, Nokia has had to do away with the standard Navi-Key format, and replaced it with a new robust operating system called Maemo 5.
Features such as a live dashboard that allows open tasks and messages to be viewed simultaneously really give the Nokia N900 a huge leg up in functionality over other smartphones. The Maemo 5 system also supports the Firefox 3 web browser and instant-on software updates for your N900.

While the Nokia N900 undoubtedly has a weight problem for a smartphone, the added heft is a necessary evil in order to handle the impressive feature list. In addition to the WVGA touch-resistive screen and full QWERTY keyboard, there is also a built-in stand that can flip down from the back of the phone and is perfect for when you want to watch a video clip or movie in high resolution from your desk.
The digital camera on the Nokia N900 is also anything but an add-on, thanks to its highly technical Carl Zeiss optics, 5 megapixels and dual LED flash. It was also a great move on Nokia’s part to put a slide-out lens cover over such a rich camera, so the usual pants pocket dust, lint and fingerprints are not a worry on the Nokia N900.
One of the areas that Nokia is going to really have to work on is with downloadable applications. Thanks to the iPhone, app support is a huge key to phone success now, and the N900 does not ignore this. There will be at least a dozen applications ready at launch for the N900, ranging from games to Twitter programs, and the hope is that this software library will continue to grow exponentially in the near future.

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Google Nexus One/Review

Price: $529 unlocked; $179 with contract
Official Site: Google.com/phone
Specs: Depth: 0.45”; 4.58 oz; Processor: Qualcomm QSD 8250 1GHz; Capacity: Up to 32GB 
Company: Google & HTC

The Nexus One (built in partnership with HTC) sells for $529 unlocked or $179 with a two-year service plan.
With no physical keyboard, and a spacious 3.7-inch OLED touch-sensitive screen, the Nexus One draws almost immediate comparisons to the Apple iPhone. However, unlike the current king of smartphones, the Nexus One is slightly thinner, lighter and comes with a removable battery, 4GB microSD storage card (expandable to 32GB), USB charger and microphone headset. It can be said without any reservation that this is the finest smartphone display screen ever released. The 800 x 480 resolution blows away anything else available today, showing off visuals that are bright, bold and just a pleasure to look at.
Unlike an Android phone such as the DROID, the Nexus One has four functional touch buttons and a trackball below the screen for more efficient control. One of the big improvements on the Nexus One phone over the competition is with the camera, which has a streamlined and faster application and five megapixels with a very sharp flash.

The big highlight of the overly impressive Nexus One package has to be the unveiling of the Snapdragon 1GHz core processor. With enough power to run your old laptop, the Snapdragon is more than capable of handling multiple applications, 3-D graphics and heavy browser use all at the same time. Unlike previous Android phones, or really anything else on the retail shelves today, the Nexus One shows no slowdown or stutter when you push the device to its limit.
Of course, all of this mind-blowing power and tech bling comes at a price, and that shortcoming is the battery life. With an on time that feels brief even by iPhone standards, it is easily possible to kill an entire charge in way under the advertised seven hours. Google does take some internal measures to try to extend the battery life, like auto adjusting brightness and turning down the processor when it is not in heavy use, but you should still be prepared to have a charger at arms length whenever possible.
The Nexus One is a superior effort among both Android phones and smartphones alike, and with the backing and application support of Google, the first great phone of 2010 is here.

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Motorola DEVOUR/Review

Motorola DEVOUR

Price: $100 with contract
Official Site: Motorola.co
Specs: 3MP camera; 389 mins of talk time; Android 1.6; 3.1" HVGA; 5.89 oz; 8GB microSD
Company: Motorola

 The Motorola DEVOUR joins the DROID and the Eris as the third Google Android-powered phone for the Verizon network. Positioned as a midrange smartphone, the DEVOUR has a few new features and some scaled specifications that Motorola has targeted for an audience interested in a “younger brother” DROID device. The key bullet point for the DEVOUR is MOTOBLUR, which keeps you constantly connected to all of your social media networks. The Motorola DEVOUR is available for $99.99 with a new two-year contract, but it is possible to locate an even better price on the smartphone through some bargain hunting on sites like wirefly.com.

Taking an aesthetic cue from the current generation MacBook Pros, the Motorola DEVOUR goes for the single-body aluminum-and-black-casing look. The style of the DEVOUR is without question one of its strongest aspects, and the phone looks fantastic both turned on and off. The slide-out QWERTY is a step up from the one used on the DROID. The buttons are hard, slightly domed, spaced out nicely, and are overall much more ergonomically comfortable. While the build quality is certainly in line with high-end Verizon phones and the DROID, the hardware on the DEVOUR is clearly more budget-minded.

The screen on the DEVOUR retains the capacitive touch technology of the DROID, but the lower resolution is hard to ignore. The inclusion of MOTOBLUR is a cool feature for Twitter and text message fanatics who crave instant updates, but it has yet to be reworked for Android 2.1, so the DEVOUR is locked into an older build. While an updated version is surely in the works, there is no current timetable for a release, and these types of updates tend to run way off schedule.
The camera on the Motorola DEVOUR is not one of the better offerings we have seen on either Android-powered phones and smartphones in general. At 3 megapixels and with no auto-focus, this is major step down from what is included on the DROID. The media experience remains pretty much unchanged from other Android products. There is the V CAST app with Rhapsody and DLNA support, but no killer feature to be found.

This would have been the perfect area for the DEVOUR to differentiate itself. The battery life on the DEVOUR is rated at almost 400 minutes of talk time, but like with any high-powered smartphone, you are going to want to charge it on a nightly basis. The DEVOUR seems best approached as a messaging phone, but the current price point is just too close to the DROID to really make it stand out in any way from the glut of smartphone offerings.

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Motorola Reveals Droid Razr: 'World's Thinnest Smartphone'

The Motorola Droid Razr, a Google Android powered gadget that the company claims is the world's thinnest smartphone.

Motorola Mobility revived its once best-selling Razr brand to tout its latest gadget, the Droid Razr, as the world's slimmest smartphone.
The company, which has agreed to be bought by Google for $12.5 billion, hopes to compete with arch-rival Apple's iPhone when it kicks off pre-orders at Verizon Wireless on October 27.
But the device, which sports a more powerful chip than the iPhone and a higher-speed wireless connection, costs $299 -- far more than $199 for the latest basic iPhone 4S.
NPD analyst Ross Rubin said that while the phone could put a dent in iPhone sales at Verizon Wireless, it would be unlikely to sell as many as Motorola's previous Razr, which sold more than 130 million units.
Only about 10 percent of U.S. consumers would buy a $300 phone, Rubin said. "That's a relatively small part of the market. At $199, it would be an explosive seller."

Outside of the U.S. market, the device will simply be called Razr. Motorola hopes to rekindle the popularity of its original Razr, which was the thinnest flip phone on the market when it debuted in 2004.
Motorola also introduced MotoActv, a combined music player, performance tracker and GPS device aimed at fitness enthusiasts. This device will start at $249 for an 8 Gigabyte version. A 16 GB model will cost $299, Motorola said.
Motorola uses Google's Android software to power its smartphones. The Droid Razr, sporting Corning glass, will be able to download movies from Netflix and comes with front-facing and back-facing cameras.
The phone, unveiled days after Apple's iPhone 4S hit markets, is the latest iteration of a line-up that helped stage a recovery for Motorola after years of market share losses.
Motorola's Razr was the most successful phone brand in the company's history. The height of its popularity was from late 2004 until late 2006, when the device started to lose its luster amid tough competition and heavy carrier discounts.
That led to years of market share losses as Motorola failed to come up with another hot device to replace Razr, after having focused on the brand for too long.
Motorola started to turn around in late 2009 with the launch of its first Droid phone sold through Verizon Wireless.
(FOXNEWS)

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Palm Pre

    Official Site: www.Palm.com
    Company: Palm, Inc.

Specs: 802.11b/g; GPS; 320x480; HVGA; QWERTY; IM, SMS, and MMS; 4.76 oz; Accelerom
Palm has possibly saved the company by introducing its best phone ever to the crowds at CES 2009. The Palm Pre is a slider that has a 3.1-inch LCD touchscreen, a brand-spanking-new operating system (OS) and a curvaceous body you won't be able to keep your hands off of.
The Palm Pre hits shelves this Saturday and while it fails in many aspects compared to the iPhone (the App Catalog is incomplete, auto correct is anorexic, battery life is lackluster, and it's full of bugs), it gives Apple something to think about with its Push Gmail technology. This means that e-mail goes directly to your phone as opposed to you having to tell your Pre to fetch it.

For a company that was so hot during the Palmtop craze, Palm stumbled its way into the smartphone market, to be sure. However, the company is making up for lost time with a device and an OS that are both beautiful and perfectly matched. On the physical side, there's a 3.1-inch multitouch touchscreen with a gestures area that lets you interact with content with the flick of a finger, à la iPhone. The slide-out keypad offers able thumbers a good, tactile alternative to onscreen typing. The features list includes all the usual suspects, like Wi-Fi, GPS and 3G networking, as well as a 3.5-mm headphone jack and stereo Bluetooth, a 3MP camera and 8GB of storage space, as well as a USB port.
But really, the hottest part of the new phone is the OS. Putting a legacy OS into such a pretty case would be like bolting a Yugo engine into an Audi. With WebOS, Palm is slipping into something a little more comfortable. Gestures lets you easily flip your way through contacts and open apps (as well as shuffling through them like a deck of cards). Also, Palm Pre’s WebOS seamlessly merges IM and texting into one window, which is a nice touch in today's chat-heavy world. At the bottom of the screen there’s a dynamic notification dashboard that brings up alerts and new IMs as they arrive; it also lists missed calls and running media. Essentially, WebOS on Palm Pre is a robust and very polished OS.

The Palm Pre is definitely cool. It's the right mix of features and eye candy to give the iPhone and Android guys a run for their money. The USB port opens up storage options for those who find the onboard 8GB a little anemic, and the stereo Bluetooth eliminates the need for headphone wires. Oh, and the integrated keypad is a real boon for anyone who hates typing on a screen. For a handset that has as yet to be priced and will be available exclusively from Sprint, it's not clear if this will be an iPhone killer or not. Likely, it won't be, but it might just carve out a sizable niche for Palm -- and save the company to boot.

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LG debuts Optimus LTE Smartphone

Electronics giant LG has announced the Korean launch of what is claimed to be the highest resolution IPS (in-plane switching) display available on any smartphone. The Optimus LTE has a 4.5-inch, 329 pixels per inch resolution "True HD IPS" screen which is said to offer crisp, clear visuals and render colors in their most natural tones. Beneath the display, the smartphone is powered by a dual-core processor, runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and benefits from a large capacity battery.
Introducing its newest smartphone, LG points out that a recent report from Intertek showed that IPS display technology outperformed AMOLED for color accuracy, brightness, battery efficiency and performance. LG says that its True HD IPS technology - developed in association with LG Display - takes things up a notch with a distortion-free 4.5-inch, 1280 x 720 pixel resolution screen at an iPhone 4S-beating 329 pixels per inch. LG's Mobile HD Graphic Engine takes care of automatic color adjustment.

The super high-resolution Android 4G smartphone has a 1.5GHz dual-core processor supported by 1GB RAM, 4GB of internal storage with expansion via Micro-SD media and a 1,830 mAh battery. There's an 8 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash at the rear and a 1.3 megapixel webcam to the front and the device includes an HD Movie Editor. It's DNLA compliant for wirelessly sharing content with other compatible devices, and also boasts an HDMI interface.
LG says that availability in markets outside of Korea has not yet been determined - we'll keep you updated.

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Sony Ericsson C905 Cybershot/Review

Sony Ericsson C905 Cybershot

• Price: $179.99 (with 2-year AT&T contract)
• Official Site: www.SonyEricsson.com
• Specs: 3G/HSDPA; 8.1 MP; Xenon flash; 240 x 320 TFT screen; 160 MB onboard memory; Memory stick micro-compatible; Wi-Fi (international model only); FM tuner; video calling
• Company: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB

The last few years have seen Sony Ericsson’s engineers churn out ever cooler gadgets, and though not all have been fab, the brand is generally headed in a sweet direction. With the C905, the company pushes the envelope in terms of camera performance. Americans can get in on the action through the able agents at AT&T, though the U.S.-market C905a doesn’t offer the Wi-Fi capability of the international model.

The Sony Ericsson C905’s most exciting feature is an 8.1-megapixel camera with a 16x digital zoom. For still photos you can choose from four resolutions and two different photo qualities. The cam offers all the usual suspects like smart contrast, a bazillion shoot modes, and face detection, plus a Xenon flash; the resulting pics are better than you’ll get from most of the camera phones out there. The video is fine for casual use, but budding Caleb Deschanels will be unimpressed.
On the phone side, the C905 offers the usual vibrating alert, caller ID and Bluetooth interface, plus liberal organizer and messaging features. The standard web, instant messaging and assisted GPS goodies are all here as well. Exactly what video features there are depends on whether or not you’re with AT&T. 

The phone supports all the usual audio formats, though without the 3.5 mm headphone port that made the W995 so cool. This reduces your headphone choices somewhat, even though the phone offers Bluetooth stereo.
Physically, the slider phone is good looking and solid, with a good keypad and protective door over the camera lens. Button placement is well thought out, and everything works as it should. The battery life is rated at 9 hours of GSM talk time and almost 16 days of standby. UMTS is good for 4 hours of talk and 2.5 hours of video calling.

The audio player, FM tuner and basic phone functions all offer good sound. Ditto for the phone’s photo features, which makes the ho-hum video disappointing. As for the included A/V features, that really depends on where you are and what sort of streaming content is offered by your provider. In a world where all service plans are created equal, this phone is a good buy that will keep you happy for a few years. In the real world, check out the available plans.

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Luxury Gadgets/Yves Behar & Aesir Copenhagen Luxury Phone

Yves Behar, founder of the San Francisco-based design and branding firm fuseproject has collaborated with Danish mobile phone design company Aesir Copenhagen to create luxury Yves Behar Phone. The Yves Behar phone focuses on the idea of voice, clarity and simplicity but also places value on a unique user interface while championing the idea of craftsmanship. At first sight this cellphone looks like a large watch band and in fact was designed from a jewelers viewpoint.

The YvesBehar cellphone comes in 18k gold or 316L stainless steel with sapphire crystal lenses, laser engraved keypad characters with LED backlighting, caller ID, text, calendar, calculator and Bluetooth functions and an open SIM card. The phones also include custom ringtones composed by the Master of the upright Bass, Chris Minh Doky. This decadent cell also holds a 5.2 talk time charge, lasts 220 hours on standby, is engineered for superior sound and displays 7 languages.
The phone will first be available in Europe this summer and the rest of the world this Fall. The 18k gold option is available for $63,000 and the stainless steel for around $11,000.

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Cell Phones And Cancer

Decades ago, doctors ardently debated whether cigarettes had adverse health effects. Nowadays, cell phones are in the spotlight.

In the never-ending battling between experts trying to determine whether or not cell phones do in fact lead to brain cancer, chalk one up for the “no” category in the latest round.
The Journal of the National Cancer Institute just published a study that tested the effects of cell phone usage on children and adolescents. The study included 1,000 people and compared a control group in good health with a control group of people diagnosed with brain tumors.
The result showed that children who started to use cell phones regularly five years ago were at no greater risk than those who had never used them regularly. In a subset of the study, no increased risk of brain tumors was discovered for brain areas receiving the largest amount of exposure.
That’s good news, but it still comes on the heels of a World Health Organization study that determined cell phones are possibly carcinogenic.
With so much money in the cell phone industry, it looks like straight answers regarding the risks will be hard to come by.

Story Credit  : ASKMen.com

Photo credit: Christopher Macsurak/flickr

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