There are two 6500 handsets that were launched by Nokia. One is the 6500 classic and the other is the 6500 slide. The 6500 Classic is the direct successor of the Nokia 6300, embodying the super-slim mobile phones in the tradition of Motorola RAZR V3. While some users have criticized Nokia 6500 Classic for paying more attention on the design, it showed that the focus has paid off as it became the slimmest Nokia phone at 9.5 mm thin.
This sleek and sophisticated-looking phone has a 320 x 240 pixel LCD display in a dimension of 109.8 x 45 x 9.5 mm and weighs 94 grams in black and bronze aluminum casing. It also features an average-sized alphanumeric keypad with buttons separated with strip of silver bars. These buttons are easy to press even in the dark especially that it is well-lit in white, contrasting the dark color scheme of the handset. Only one port is developed for the micro-USB socket and headset. This unifying move may have been an advantage for the aesthetics but it sacrificed the possibility of multi-tasking. On the back side of the camera are the 2.0 Mega-pixel camera, LED flash light and speakers. Nokia 6500 classic’s 2.0 Mega-pixel camera may not fair accordingly with other camera phones.
Image quality is poor, although the LED light can provide improvements when used in dark environment. One of the achievements of 6500 is the inclusion of the 3G, although it still lacks video call support. This quadband smartphone supports the following network types: GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800 and GSM 1900. Aside from the 3G, it also offers GPRS, Java, Bluetooth, A2DP and USB connectivity options.
Multimedia capabilities of Nokia 6500 Classic include a media player that support AAC, eAAC+ and MP3 formats and some videos, although there are no FM tuners. The media player can sort tracks by play lists according to artists, albums, genres and has the following playback options: shuffling, repeating, stereo widening and equalizer customizing. Games in 6500 Classic are Golf Tour, Rally 3D, Snake III and Sudoku. A user who will buy this unit must expect the following in the package: stereo headset, charger, battery, micro-USB connectivity cable, user guide, contemporary leaflet and CD-ROM.
While a number of users might get disappointed with the limitations of Nokia 6500 classic, some will still fall in love with such a beautiful gadget. The elegant design can easily slide over its shortcomings.
If you’ve seen the Academy Award winning superhero movie The Dark Knight, you might have at least experienced a visual taste of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. Yes, you got it right, the 5800 made a cameo as Batman’s phone, as a sonar imaging device. Lest, before we became overhyped with this metal fella, also known by its nickname, The Tube, as the sonar thing is a little too much for a commercial phone. Nonetheless, the 5800 has a strong connection with sonar as it is a wonderful music phone.
So this is Nokia’s attempt to bring down the iPhone, again. It features a good range of multimedia features, slim packaging and touch screen. It offers an easy to use design, not to mention a very attractive with some characteristics from the iPhone and Samsung Omnia. It sports a dimension of 4.37″ x 2.04″ x 0.61, with a weight of 3.84 oz. The build factor is also impressive and its very comfortable to hold in the hand. Nokia 5800’s touch screen is as big as the iPhone’s 3.2 inches, supporting 16M colors and an aspect ratio of 16:9. The result is a screen offering bright and vibrant colors and sharp graphics and photos. You can even change brightness, font size and backlighting according to your preference. The lighting adjusts automatically to different lighting conditions.
It features a responsive screen, whether you use your hands or stylus. Tick on the items and they will open quickly, no need to press too hard, although some may find it hard scrolling through long lists a little daunting but users will surely get used to it. The display is also equipped with a vibration feedback.
Aside from the touch screen, user can also type using the spacious QWERTY keyboard. Numbers and symbols have a separate keyboard and switching language alphabets and writing languages is so easy with the touch of a button. The dedicated shift keys, large space bar and back and return controls are also delighting in the typing features.
The thin yet tactile Talk and End buttons and menu control are housed below the display. The volume rocker, handset-locking switch and camera shutter are on the right spine while the SIM card and microSD card are on the left spine. Atop the unit is a dedicated power switch along with the 3.5mm headset jack, a micro-USB port, and the charger port. It is composed of two camera lenses, a 3.2MP and a VGA lens located on the back and above the display, respectively.
Features in the 5800 include vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a calendar, a calculator, an alarm clock, a world clock, a notepad, a currency and unit converter, a voice recorder, a speakerphone, and a notepad. We also found full Bluetooth with a stereo profile, file and application managers, speaker-independent voice commands, PC syncing for music and photos, instant messaging, USB mass storage and a file manager. It also includes a Wi-Fi and GPS support.
Of course, this won’t be called the XpressMusic, without the music feature that makes this gadget special. It offers a great sound, whether you go the headphone of speaker route, which can be further enhanced with the equalizer.
Motorola i930 is one of the two of the first iDEN smart phones released by Motorola. The Motorola i930 brings in almost the same features brought by its predecessor, the Motorola i920, only to include a built-in camera, to the delight for photo aficionados, which has actually been a basic feature among usual smart phones in the market. The i930 has been considered an underrated gadget, as it has shown that many are still under the tail of the more established smart phones, without realizing the i930’s potential power.
Lovers of the Motorola i930 have focused much on the advantage of it being an all-in-one mobile device, wrapping up essential functions like messaging, calendar, media player, recorder, calculator, alarm clock, camera, contacts list, notes and a lot more in one package. Although its interoperability lies mainly for sandwiching iDEN, WiDEN and GSM in one, and this seems to invite executives and businessmen who would most likely prefer to have a single number wherever they are located in the world and use it anytime.
Although much has been talked about i930’s poor battery capabilities, Lithium Ion with a standby time of four days and a talk time that lasts to 2.75 hours, there’s a lot of praise behind its magnificent features, much of which is a replica to that of the little earlier i920.
This clamshell phone has dimensions of 3.46 x 1.93 x 1.18 inches or 88 x 49 x 30 mm and weighs 5.9 oz. It has a retractable antenna, a 2.5 mm headset jack as well as side keys. The camera, which has been absent from the prior model, is one such feature for i930, with VGA LED flash which outputs are greatly displayed on the phone’s colored TFT LCD display with 16-bit 65,536 colors and a resolution of 176 x 220 pixels. A second display is also included in the front, with 4,096 colors and a resolution of 96 x 65 pixels. Video streaming and music player is also included in i930, a surely important feature for multimedia enthusiasts. It supports MP4, H.263, WMV formats for video and MIDI, WAV, AU, VSELP, AMR, MP3, AMBE, WMA formats for music in Windows Media Player.
Data messaging proves to be i930’s forte as it includes Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS), SMS, MSN Messenger and POP3, SMTP and IMAP4 e-mail clients. It also features Predictive Text Entry function that allows users to enter text by pressing only one key per letter. This smart phone, with a built-in 64 MB and additional SD memory slot, is powered by Windows Mobile Standard, 2003 Edition operating system, another common criticism for not using the more upgraded Windows Mobile 5.0. It has a 180 MHz processor and a 32MB separately allotted for RAM and ROM. It can also be connected through a main computer via the USB port and through the Internet with WAP and the Pocket Internet Explorer. Just like the i920, i930 is criticized being not blue-tooth capable, although some would pass this as a minute mishap for i920, although such additional feature could have helped it rise above the mobile phone pedestal.
Continuing the LG phone craze is the LG Venus VX8800. The LG Venus is a beautiful phone that showcases innovation in design, featuring a touch-screen dual screen, 2-megapixel camera and a lot more. Additionally, this smartphone is relatively cheaper as compared to other units in the market.
LG Venus is a sleek, slender phone measures 4.0 x 2.0 x 0.62 inches, offering comfort to users through its curved corners and leather covering on the back. LG Venus is easily comparable to the LG Prada, with the emergence of at first glance a 3-inch display, which is actually two separate screens: a regular QVGA display on top and a touch screen on bottom. The top primary display measures 2 inches and displays 262K colors. Texts and images are displayed brightly and legibly.
The lower screen measures 1.5 inches and serves as a navigation interface, displaying touch-sensitive navigation controls according to applications such as the menu button that offers shortcuts to message, calls and contacts, music player, camera and more.
Although the new navigation technique is an innovation on its own, a number of critiques have questioned its usability concerning the sensitivity of the touch screen, the use of the unlock button, among others. A number keypad, which includes Send, Clear and End/Power buttons, can be revealed by slide opening the LG Venus handset. The alternating colored-keys are well-spaced which made pressing easier. The left side of the LG Venus is where the volume control, voice recorder button, headset and charger jacks while the right side is where the microSD card slot, music player key and a camera key. The camera lens is on the back side.
While LG Venus’ design has enamored a number of users, the phone’s list of features is truly lovable as well. Among the phone capabilities include a 1,000-entry contacts list, vibrate mode, speakerphone, SMS, MMS, alarm clock, notepad, voice recorder and a lot more. The list of connectivity options showcases USB, e-mail, web browser, stereo Bluetooth. It also comes with 3G and built-in GPS.
An important multimedia feature that will never be absent in the Venus is the music player. The player has a simplistic and nice interface with easy-to-use controls. Users can easily sort songs according to artist, genre ot album and they can also create their own playlist which can be controlled via the shuffle and repeat options. Multitasking is also an important feature of the music player, allowing the player to continue even while doing other tasks such as text messaging and web browsing. Supported formats are MP3, WMA, AAC, and AAC+. With an internal memory of 64MB, users can add up an additional 8GB with the microSD card.
The camera phone can take pictures in four resolutions and offers settings for brightness and night mode. It also takes videos in two resolutions with editing options, although 30 seconds is only allowed for video recording. While the camera can take commendable pictures, the video is shaky, blurry clips. Such mediocrity aside, the LG Venus remains a beautiful slider phone.
The HTC Advantage X7501 is a handheld computer that is also a mobile phone. It has a quadband GSM and a triband HSPDA for network connection and a great speakerphone for making calls if the user forgets their wired or Bluetooth headset. It measures 5.25 x 3.85 x 0.63 in inches and weighs 12.66 ounces.
Its transflective VGA screen is quite big at 5 inches and so are the icons and fonts on it, making reading, viewing and operating it with one’s fingers very easy. Users can also activate the VueFLO which enables users to scroll sideways when the Advantage is tipped to its side or vertically when it is tipped up or down.
You can use the Advantage like a slate tablet computer which makes both wide and tall orientation possible, or in a clamshell mode. The 3mm thin keyboard gets clamped to the Advantage with a magnet, which is so strong that credit cards and those with pacemakers must be kept at a certain distance. The keyboard also is used as the Advantage’s cover when carried around. The keys are well-spaced, large and sensitive enough for thumb typing if one needs to. The enter key, letters, space bar and other keys are in their standard places. There’s a control key for easy editing and four arrow keys that can also be used pulling the page up or down.
The power button can also put this PDA on sleep mode or turn the Advantage off. There’s a 3.5mm stereo headset jack, SIM card slot, speakers, VGA/USB host 1.1 port and a stylus. Owners can hook the Advantage up to a monitor or projector for doing presentations using Excel, PowerPoint and Word, or to a television.
The Advantage makes use of the Intel PXA270 processor at 624MHz with 128MB of RAM and 256MB of ROM. There is also 83MB of free RAM and a SDHC compatible miniSD expansion slot. These give the Advantage plenty of file space.
The Advantage has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connection and runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition, with Acrobat LE, eReader, Internet Explorer, mobile Outlook, Office Mobile, Opera and Windows Media Player Mobile. It also has a 20-channel GPS. As a phone the Advantage’s call features and quality are better than most. It has call barring and forwarding, conferencing, smart and voice speed dialing and dialing over headset, even Bluetooth and car kit types.
X7501 also has a 3-megapixel camera with an auto-focus lens, 8x digital zoom and a flash. It takes 2048 x1536 pixel photos. It can also be used as a camcorder with audio saved as an MP4 file. The Advantage uses a 2200 mAh Lithium ion battery that allows 11 hours of MP3 playing or one whole day of business multimedia use.
A purchase of an HTC Advantage includes the unit, detachable keyboard, 3.5mm stereo headset with mic, brown leather case with magnet locking mechanism, manual and start guide, screen protector, software CD with ActiveSync, two stylus, USB sync and charge cable, VGA-out cable and world charger.
HTC SMT-5800 joins the group of smaller Windows Mobile smartphones. Its pocket-size feature was accomplished by making its mid-section narrow. The QVGA resolution screen’s size is maximized at 2.4 inches, but the navigation and separate numeric keys’ utility are affected.
It does manage to squeeze in a full sliding QWERTY keyboard to its 4.1 x 2 x 0.7 in inches measurement. It weighs a total of 4.2 ounces.
Texts and images are easily seen in its 65,536 color output screen with a 320 x 240 pixel. Though, the display can definitely seem washed out under bright sunlight.
The power key is on the left side together with the volume slider and a microSD slot that is without a cover. The SMT-5800’s right side contains the easy to locate and use camera button, while its bottom has the battery cover release. Tests have shown SMT-5800’s clear call quality and ability to sustain a signal. It has both EV-DO and 1xRTT connection. It also has standard voice communication features like smart dialing, speakerphone and voice command. It can have a talk-time of 3.5 hours.
Its EV-DO capability enables it to reach data speeds of 600Kbps which will be enough for smooth web browsing, downloading and streaming.The SMT-5800 uses Windows Mobile 6 edition. Its Outlook is synched with the contacts database, which can contain not only addresses and numbers but personal information like important dates and names as well. Owners not only have Microsoft Outlook mail at their disposal, they can also upload Google, AOL, Hotmail and Yahoo. They can also launch the Pocket Internet Explorer from its Start menu, but without a mini-map or RSS feed reader.
Like other Windows Mobile smartphones, owners can also view and use Adobe PDFs, Excel, PowerPoint and Word programs. Another plus to SMT-5800 is its Windows Media Player 10 Mobile that enables users to play AAC, MP3, MPEG-4, WAV, WMA and WMV files, as well as music and videos; and integrated Bluetooth 2.0. Add-ons are Bubblebreaker and Solitaire games. Bluetooth music streaming can drain this smartphone’s battery in a day, but limiting use to calls and web browsing can lengthen use up to 3 days.
This smartphone’s 2 megapixel camera feature can take still shots and videos fairly sharp from as far as 10 feet. You can make adjustments to ambience, capture, exposure, mode, size, timer and zoom settings, among others. It takes photos and videos well outdoors, but not as well indoors most likely due to the fact that it does not have a flash.
The HTC Cavalier S630 is considered a T-Mobile Dash upgrade with 3G support. Like the Dash, the boxy Cavalier is compact at 4.4 x 2.5 x 0.5 in inches and 4.2 ounces. It has a 2-4-inch diagonal QVGA screen with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixel and 65, 536-color. The display is easily read even when one is under the sun.
The QWERTY keys have more space between the rows, but have basically remained small and square, which must be noted by prospective owners with particularly large fingers. The left spine is where the power button, microSD slot, mini USB/headphone/power port and voice recorder
key are, while the right spine is where the camera key and scroll/volume strip are located. Camera lens and self-portrait mirror are at the back of the device. This smartphone uses the Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition operating system, which includes an enhanced Calendar application, Direct Push Technology and support for HTML email, Microsoft Office Mobile Suite, Windows Media Player Mobile and Windows Live Integration. Standard PIM tools like Adobe Reader, calculator, notes, task manager and voice recorder are to be expected.
With the above, owners can enjoy games, movies, music and video on their Cavalier smartphone; synchronize their Outlook email, calendar and contacts via ActiveSync; view Word and PDF documents; and browse the web fast.
To ensure that these applications and tools respond at acceptable speeds, the Cavalier has a Samsung SC32443 processor with 400MHz. There is also a ROM of 128 MB and RAM of 64MB. With the microSD slot, additional memory can be had. Since it has 3G support, speed reaches broadband level of 400kbps up to 700kbps.
There is also Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity that allows object exchange, file-sharing, hands-free kits, and wireless or Bluetooth headsets.
The Cavalier is also a quad-band smartphone with an address book, caller ID, text and multimedia sending and receiving, smart dialing, speakerphone and voice dialing and command.
Its 2-megapixel camera has an 8x zoom but without a flash. It can take videos in H.263, MPEG4 and Motion JPEG formats. Both photo and video functions have the standard adjustment choices for resolution and quality settings. The Cavalier has a talk time of six hours according to the manufacturer. If users need to lengthen battery life they can limit the use of wireless technology. A purchase of a Cavalier S630 comes with an AC adapter, car charger, USB cable, wired headset, CD guide and manual.
AT&T finally got its hold of RIM BlackBerry smartphones with its introduction to the RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8120. This small smartphone magnificently embedded Wi-Fi and a 2.0 Megapixel camera. Who said that BlackBerry can’t be that stylish and trendy and would be trapped in the world of feature-deprivation? The BlackBerry Pearl proved the speculations otherwise.
The candy bar-like design of BlackBerry Pearl 8120 makes the whole world talking trying to analyze how the functions of a smartphone could be embedded inside such tiny component. The Pearl 8120 has a dimension of 4.2 x 1.9 x 0.5 inches and a weight of 3.2 ounces. The phone looks very attractive and sleek with its deep sapphire blue color.
The 2.25 inch screen displays 65K color on a 260 x 20 pixel resolution. It has a light-sensing technology that adjusts backlighting in relation to the environment which helps attain a crisp, bright and well-readable text, video and images. New themes, graphics, fonts and colors were also added. Navigation keys are located below the display. These keys include Talk and End keys, menu shortcut, back button, pearl trackball and the SureType keyboard, which is the QWERTY-like keyboard that cramps out two letters in a single key.
The left side of the phone is where the 3.5mm headphone jack, mini-USB port. microSD memory card slot and push-to-talk button are located. The right side is where the camera activation button and volume controls are located. The mute button is on the top of the unit while the 2 Megapixel camera, mirror and flash are located on the back side.
Pearl 8120’s greatest contribution in the features section is the inclusion of WiFi on its offerings. It includes a setup wizard that helps in the configuration of the device although it automatically scans for networks and hotspots. It only supports AT&T’s EDGE network. 8120 also has an improved web browser. Other connectivity options include the Bluetooth 2.0 which supports Bluetooth wireless headsets, hands-free kits and serial ports. Although 8120 doesn’t include a GPS radio, there is an option to a Bluetooth GPS receiver.
Pearl 8120 is a quad-band world phone and offers these voice features: speakerphone, voice-activated dialing, smart dialing, conference calling and speed dialing. Of course, it has real-time e-mail support for Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino or Novell GroupWise. It also includes an attachment viewer that opens famous file formats like Microsoft Word, Excel, JPEG, GIF and a lot more.
Multimedia lovers will also have fun with Pearl 8120. It has a built-in media player that can play a number of music files like MP3, WMA, AAC and MIDI files and H.263 video files. The 2.0-megapixel camera has 5x zoom, flash, white-balance setting and color effects that can enhance the photos.
An addition to the BlackBerry Curve series is the 8830, and it is released for Sprint and Verizon Wireless. This silver-colored smartphone boasts its 3G and EV-DO connectivity. There’s a sacrifice to pay though, since unlike the 8320, the 8330 lacks Wi-Fi. Setting this aside, BlackBerry Curve 8830 remains a promising gadget for corporate users and casual users alike.
The design of Sprint Curve 8330 is relatively similar with other Curve models, despite the fact that it is slightly thicker and heavier due to the inclusion of the 3G chip. It measures 4.2″ x 2.4″ x 0.6″ inches and weighs 4.2 ounces. The QWERTY keyboard and the 2.5-inch 65K color screen at a 320×240 pixel resolution are compacted in the gadget. It still includes the light-sensing technology that makes reading texts and images not a problem. It conditions the screen according to environmental conditions. Below the display are the controls for navigation: Talk and End buttons, Menu shortcut, back Button and trackball navigator.
The right portion of the BlackBerry Curve 8830 is where the volume control and a user-programmable shortcut key are placed, whereas the default option was camera activation. The left portion is where the mini-USB port, convenience key and 3.5 millimeter headphone jack.
The back side of the phone is where the 2-Megapixel camera and mirror lens are placed. The top side is where the mute button is. Accessing the microSD slot may be a painful one since it is located behind the battery. The lack of Wi-Fi doesn’t really appear to be a problem Curve 8330 because of the EV-DO that allows data speeds of around 300Kbps to 600Kbps which make surfing the Net via the mobile much faster.
Among the loads of features of the 8330, the GPS and 3G are its remarkable treats. The integrated GPS support Sprint Navigation, an add-on service that offers turn-by-turn text- and voice-guided directions complete with text-to-speech functionality, local search, traffic updates, and other navigation tools. The 3G, on the other hand, offers support in a vast array of multimedia services including Sprint TV and Sprint Music Store. Sprint TV’s channels include CNN and Comedy Central while the Sprint Music Store features live music streaming from MTV Mobile, VH1 Mobile and Sirius. Downloading is also possible with the Sprint Music Store at a little cost.
It’s imperative that Curve 8830’s multimedia capabilities include a built-in media player that can play music in MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, and MIDI formats, and video in MPEG4, WMV, and H.263 formats. Multimedia files should be stored in a microSD card. The expansion slot can accept up to 8GB cards.
Voice, messaging and e-mail capabilities with 8330 just retain the earlier models and its performance remains to be at its best. Other connectivity options with 8330 is the Bluetooth possibly acting itself as modem for laptops.
Continuing the tradition of the BlackBerry Curve series is the Curve 8320. The Curve, which started with the release of Curve 8300 in June 2007, has given birth to a new set of strong smartphones. Released by T-Mobile, the BlackBerry Curve 8320 merged up Wi-Fi and UMA with the other functions, setting a trend of standard in mobile technology.
The design of the Curve 8320 is based on its predecessors namely the 8300 and 8310. Compacted inside the 3.9 ounces, 4.2 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches body is the new improved QWERTY keyboard and a 2.5-inch 65K color screen at a 320×240 pixel resolution. Reading the contents isn’t a problem, regardless of the environmental conditions as the light sensing technology automatically adjusts the light. Navigation is done via the controls located below the screen: Talk and End buttons, Menu shortcut, Escape key and trackball navigator.
Located on the right side is the volume control and a launch button that may be redefined, although the default option was that of the camera activation. The left side of the unit is where the mini-USB port, convenience key and 3.5 millimeter headset jack are located. This jack allows any Walkman-style headphones.
The back side of the phone is where the 2-Megapixel camera and mirror are placed while the mute button is on top. The microSD slot behind the battery may be inconvenient for users. Marking one of the biggest additions in Curve 8320 is the Wi-Fi which supports 802.11b/g on any Wi-Fi hot spot. It also includes UMA, the technology that enables users to make and receive voice calls using both wireless networks and cellular networks over WiFi. Calls done in this method is non-chargeable in cellular plans, although a monthly charge of 10 can make the possibility of unlimited calls inside a Wi-Fi hotspot attainable. Users should be reminded though that UMA works only with GSM and it’s technically not VoIP as are SIP services. Call quality is not of question with UMA remained excellent.
Other connectivity options are the EDGE and Bluetooth. Bluetooth profiles supported by 8320 are wireless headsets, hands-free kits, dial-up networking and Bluetooth headsets. There are no 3G support and GPS radio. E-mail over EDGE is quick enough with 8320. It also has the same web browser with the 8300 that can also open table, Javascript and CSS. T-Mobile has a number of Instant Messaging applications that support Yahoo, AIM, Windows Live, Google Talk and BlackBerry Messenger. It still supports SMS and MMS.
8320’s multimedia capabilities include the Media Player application that can play music formats (MP3, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+ and WMA files) and video. It also includes the image viewer. The camera can only takes photos and the camera isn’t equally great as compared to the cameras of other phone models, but 8320 is at least, commendable. The bottom line, 8320 is a very promising device and many will really get excited with the addition of UMA among its features.
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