mobile gadget

Omnia … Oh my next i-phone alternative

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Yeez had been working late for the last few days, and today was no difference. Instead of going home alone, I decided to drop by Vivo City’s Samsung retail outlet to take a second look of Samsung i780, to spend my time off. . I ended up checking out on the latest Samsung’s Omnia. And I got to say, it was a time well spent!

I got to first put a disclaimer, that the next few paragraphs merely recapitulate my first impression of the gadget, after a brief 20 minutes fiddle. Yes, I was playing with the phone for 20 minutes, oblivious of the people around me trying to get their hands on the demo set.

samsungi900omnia-lg.jpg

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A taste of i paq six-one-two

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Had it for 2 weeks, and took a short video of the phone itself. More detail review to come later!

unexpected addition of new ‘kwell’ gadget – MOTO-Q9H

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It was quite a week for me for the last 7 days, just after my birthday.

After a hectic week of night teleconference,s I was greeted by a rude theft shock. One of the lost item was my favourite Palm Treo 500v, which I have sung praises on it despite the mediocre product specifications.

As a matter of fact, for the last 3 weeks, I have been thinking the new Motorola Q9H. There was however no really strong reason for me to change given my wonderful Treo 500v. But now there is, though not something I would have expected or wanted.

So while I was looking around for a new replacement, Q9H certainly topped in my radar list. The sight of iPAQ 900/600 is still fictional, so really my choices were rather limited, based on my personal buying critieras; ASUS 530W, Motorola Q9H, Samsung I600 or simply go back to Palm Treo 500v. 

Not that the Treo is a lousy one, just that getting back another Treo 500v may not excite me like a new toy would.  I can’t bring myself to fork out another few hundred dollars on exactly the same gadget that I have been using for the last 4 months. If I have to spend, I must let myself know explicitly that I got a new toy right?

I finally managed to get my hand on the Q9H. The buying experience was a saga though, but I shall not digress any further since what it matters now most is the toy itself. Continue reading →

First hand experience of Treo 500v

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With a stroke of luck, I managed to grab a good deal for a “brand new” Treo 500v. Like a 5 year old kid receiving his new toy, I wasted no time in setting it up and have been using it for the last 2 days. So here’s my candid impression of this smartphone.

The first impression of the phone is good. The phone feels well built and showcases high quality finishing, probably perceived by its glass ornament over its LCD screen. The battery cover has a perfect fitment and the phone does not creak as you hold it, as reported. On the otherhand, the QWERTY key buttons do not feel flimsy, every key press is firm but not hard, except maybe for the space bar. The key backlight illuminates the keyboard well in the dark. Interestingly, even the mini-USB charger socket is illuminated, although it is not known to me if this is purposely designed, or “a side effect” by the key backlight. Continue reading →

new ipaq?

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in a report by the::unwired, there’s a news snippet which sneak-peaks on the new iPAQ 600 and 900. There’s even an artists impression of iPAQ 600 rendered probably from the iPAQ 500. How’s that rendered picture compared to this?

possible ipaq-600?

Plus, this might well be the new ID of the iPAQ 900.

ipaq-900 ?

 Watch out this space.

Review of Treo 750 versus iPAQ 6965

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Just had a chance to try out Treo 750 at Funan few hours ago. Despite the short trial, I immediately feel that the keyboard is a worthy one, unlike when I tried out Sony Ericsson P990i previously.

Compare to my iPAQ 6965, the phone feel heavier and thicker, but slimmer. The form factor is just nice imho, for those who want to have phone form factor but ppc phone capability. Few things I would compare based on what I need, so the following are just my personal opinon;

qwerty keyboard

the buttons feel good, admittedly equally good, if not better than my ipaq 6965. One hand operation is better than my 6965, mainly because of its slimmer form factor, therefore you are able to hold the phone comfortably than 6965. Two hand operation, is okay, except that the buttons are alittle tad close to each other. Not really an issue, vis-a-vis SE P990. I tried typing a long message, as I do read and compose/reply emails frequently using my 6965. It’s not too bad, but I can feel my hand starting to feel cramp after writing a short paragraph. Contrasting to my 6965, the latter has better keyboard ergonomic.

Ergonomics

Palm did quite a fair bit of customisation to make the phone more ergonomic than some of the ‘generic’ ppc phones. It appears that the keyboard is designed to be able to navigate around, just like my 6965, without having to touch the screen. It doesn’t have the ‘tab’ button that 6965 does, which means you have to scroll your cursor down to the bottom so that the mouse focus will be on the tab before you can switch from tab to tab. Still, it’s better than having to poke the screen.

A couple of software are bundled to improve the user friendliness, e.g. the today plug-in for contact, and the menu softkey. Having said, the main ergonomic comes from the keyboard, and further convinced myself that qwerty keyboard is a must for all my future ppc devices.

3G

I was told that the current firmware doesn’t support 3.5G or HSDPA yet, although Palm has indicated that the new firmware is available in a months time.

Bluetooth & Audio playback

Have not tried playing audio over the A2DP. But given that it’s MS based stack, I won’t put high hope on it. Furthermore, the device doesn’t come with default bass/treble setting, which means I have to depend on media player’s software equaliser to drive the playback, not important if you are using wired/bluetooth headset, but surely will be missed if you hook it to your car headunit or house amp system.

Lack of WIFI and GPS

While I don’t really use much of WIFI in my 6965, I do use it at home to stream media files from my home media server. GPS, is useful when I am in Singapore and travel. For these two missing components, there’s alternative in terms of getting an external card/device to pair with the Treo, but nothing beats having the component ready to be activated on demand, without worrying that you have not brought along with you for a particular occassion. There’s pros and cons for a convergence device versus best of all breeds, but for me, I am definitely looking at the former, especially the total cost of ownership for Treo will be $1500 or more (if I have to buy wifi card and gps receiver)

All in all, I think Treo 750 is a worthy phone to consider, in my opinion. Not Dopod 838PRO, not Eten 600 reloaded or Mios A700, but Treo 750. However, because of the high price tag, and lack of the features I mentioned, it’s not a straight forward decision for me to ditch my ipaq 6965 to Treo 750. Still, if you ask me, between the two, the key differentiator will be 3G versus Convergence. These two factors, should be able to help a potential buyer to clear up his confusion. If after considering the two factors, and the buyer is still confused, it means that keyboard-based ppc phone (at least) like Treo 750 and iPAQ 6965 are not suitable for him grin.gif sneaky.gif