Design

Compared with the Samsung i780, the Samsung Omnia Pro B7320 seems to be a bit thicker and “pudgy”. I do like the brown color but again, I don’t like the keypad design. It’s also too bad that Samsung scrapped the optical D-pad with a regular one. It would have went well with their Samsung homescreen. Aside from the directional keypad, there are two softkeys that flank the D-Pad, a homescreen button, a back button, and the call and end buttons.
Features and Performance

Like what everybody in the US is thinking, the Samsung Omnia Pro B7320 already looks like the twin of an already existing Samsung WinMo device that is available on AT&T: The Samsung i637 Jack. What is different about the Samsung B7320 over the i637 Jack is the homescreen. When I first saw the picture of the Samsung B7320, I thought it was a touchscreen device since it has a Samsung TouchWiz-like homescreen. For those already used with the Samsung TouchWiz Interface, you might find yourself at times fondling the screen, forgetting that the B7320 is NOT a touchscreen phone. The TouchWiz-like interface on the Omnia Pro B7320 works using the directional pad. The home key would take you to the widgets side and pressing the right button or the center directional key will bring up the menus under that widget. It’s a bit confusing at first and I was like: What was Samsung thinking? The only other thing different about the B7320 from the i637 is that the former has a secondary camera for video calling, an autofocus for the camera as well as smile shutter and face detection.

Anyways, after a while, you will get used to browsing the homescreen. It’s a pretty interface but it does nothing at hiding the classic WinMo interface. What was improved though is the photo browser on the homescreen widget. As you can see from the picture, you will get a coverflow like interface when browsing your pictures using the homescreen widget. I also like the way Samsung skinned the Windows Media Player. It’s still the Windows Media Player but you can hardly tell. I wish Samsung would have added their own music player on it.

The camera is also an improvement from the i780. There’s a bigger resolution plus, as I’ve mentioned, the addition of smile shutter, face detection, autofocus, etc. I took a sample shot but I think I may have deleted it. Anyways, since the place I was testing the unit was a bit dark, the B7320 didn’t do so well compared with the Samsung Jet S8000, I can’t exactly comment on the picture quality but I’ve never had problems with Samsung’s picture quality before.

Halfway through browsing the device, I fell asleep…Well–almost. It was just, this device seemed so boring and plain with nothing new to offer–in short, it’s like a Motorola Q!! Don’t get me wrong, it’s solid and fast but I don’t know, it’s all pretty standard to me. It may be because every manufacturer out there has been dressing up their windows mobile devices that reverting back to the old windows mobile interface just bored me to tears. Yes there are new apps such as facebook and twitter but I don’t really use those social networking sites. Oh yeah, there’s an additional FM radio with RDS, HSDPA, WiFi, and Bluetooth.
Anyways, audio quality is passable although at high volumes audio comes out tinny. I was so bored to tears that I didn’t even bother checking out the browser which was an Opera browser.

Design:

The first thing that came to our heads when we saw the LG KF510 was: „Oh, another elegant and beautiful model in the company’s product line”. And it really is, because at 0.4” (10.9 mm) it is quite slim and has pleasantly gradating colors. In our case, they go from black to grey, but the other version, which is red, is even a bigger attraction.

The weight of 3.9 oz (110 g) is justified by the materials (metal and scratchproof) used to make the phone. Unfortunately, the KF510 is a fingerprint magnet and in order to keep it clean and shiny, you’ll have to carry a handkerchief.

The entire front of the LG phone is encircled by a metal edge and is covered in scratchproof glass, which protects the 2.2” TFT, able to reproduce 262K colors. Indoors, the picture is beautiful, but once you try to use it in broad daylight, you get the annoying mirror-like effect, which makes the display almost unusable. Over it, we have its automatic light/brightness sensor and the speaker.

The navigation zone is separated from the upper part of the front with a slightly protruding chrome line, which helps to open the phone. Instead of buttons or a color display, like in KF600, here we see a touch sensitive area with LEDs, where we have the soft keys, the green receiver, and the “Clear” button. There are no arrows and you’ll have to either run a finger in or just touch the area, pointing at the direction desired in order to scroll. This system is actually pretty convenient, but as any innovation, it takes time to get used to it. However, you can only go vertical/horizontal. There’s also an option for a vibration feedback (three levels) or a sound, to confirm commands, in case you have difficulties understanding when it happens.

Opening the phone is easy and thanks to the monolith construction, it is more stable than most other sliders. Doing that, reveals the 12-button numeric keypad. Its design resembles a chessboard (like in Chocolate) and all buttons are in a similar square pattern, making them very pleasant to press. Their relief is slightly expressed and they are hard to distinguish, unless you are looking at them.

On the right side of the KF510, on the metal edge, are located the charger/handsfree connector, the camera/multimedia button and the closing one. Both have a well-expressed relief and are easy to find by touch. One untypical solution is that the red receiver is a sliding key. In order to reject a call, you have to slide and release it, which activates the touch pad so you can confirm. The first action can also be used to switch off the phone, so do not hold it for too long.

On the same side, the phone has a slot for a microSD card, but in order to see it, you’ll have to open the slider. It would have been better if there were indications in the front.

The top and bottom parts are free from any elements and on the left, we have the volume rocker and the strap hole.

On the back, is the back lid, covering the battery and a 3-megapixel camera with a small LED flash and a tiny mirror. Changing the SIM card is pretty hard since its house doesn’t come out completely and you’d have to push it in/out at an angle.

After the excitement over its two older brothers, the Satio and the Aino, it’s the turn of the Yari to impress the world as part of the new Communication Entertainment message from Sony Ericsson.

Dubbed as ‘high end pre-pay, low end contract’ the Yari is clearly a phone for the youthful and active, as its main role in life is to be a gaming device and not a lot more.

That’s not to say it doesn’t have a decent feature line-up behind it (5MP camera and decent music playback are mandatory options for a phone to be considered part of the Communication Entertainment line up) but it’s just you can tell that this phone is ready for gaming.

The first clue is in the interactive home screen. You have to enter applications to unlock the gaming carousel, but once done, it synchronises with your home screen and runs in the background.

And when we day runs in the background, we mean it, as the little gaming icons sit happily in the faded distance on the home screen, ready to pop back up to life whenever you need them.

And the connectivity is what Sony Ericsson hopes will make the difference with the Yari, as the idea is you can easily scroll up and down the different gaming types as well as check out what games are proving popular downloads on an easily accessible chart.

The visuals of the home screen were impressive, and you got the impression that you had a fair wealth of options at your fingertips.

We decided that we couldn’t really call this a hands on if we didn’t at least give ONE of the games a try, so we decided for a Wii-Fit-a-like, which asked us to initially do squats.

The instructional messages at the start had us setting up the phone ready first time, (although the disclaimer stating we shouldn’t do these exercises if unfit was a bit worrying) and when we performed our three squats it registered each one happily.

Obviously in a full test we’ll run through the full range of squats and other exercises, but in a room full of journalists we decided against breaking out the Spandex and grunting with effort. Clearly this type of gaming is one for the home.

This phone is actually quite confusing to hold in the hand. It feels quite light and almost plasticky, but weirdly not in a bad way, and also the range of functions on hand felt plentiful.

Knocking the pleasant-to-touch navigation wheel upwards started the music player, left and right were messaging and Bluetooth, with down activating the contacts (although these are customisable) and the whole think slid up and down with a nice action.

With Sony Ericsson’s UI once again plastered all over this device, it’s hard to find something massively different to write about, although the addition of a search button on the home screen was a nice addition out of the box.

However, after being able to search through the whole phone on the Satio, it was a bit upsetting not to be able to do it on the Yari as well. We know the two are miles apart in terms of functionality and price, but still, it would have been nice.

The camera, a 5MP effort as mentioned before, is a decent snapper for a phone of this calibre, taking good pictures without much in the way of blur, even with our notoriously shaky hands.

Introduction

The Nokia 8800 Sirocco Edition, as with the original 8800, looks very distinctive. It retains the smooth design and hefty price tag of all previous 8000-series devices, which have traditionally been Nokia’s final step before having to move to the ultra-premium Vertu line of handsets. Whilst design is a very personal thing, evaluating the functions of the handset is more objective, and that is what we are trying to do today.

Physical Aspects

The Nokia 8800 Sirocco Edition is a minor update of the 8800 released a year ago. Apart from the camera, there has not been much else updated hardware-wise. The phone can be recognized from afar by the reflection of its stainless steel body. According to Nokia, the signature feature of the 8800 Sirocco Edition’s design is the concave ‘thumbprint’ on the front of the handset. Not only does it look nice, but it also makes the phone a lot more ergonomic, as it is now easier to slide open. The body measures 107mm x 45mm x 17.5mm (4.21″ x 1.77″ x 0.69″), making it fairly compact. The 8800 Sirocco Edition weights in at 138g (4.87oz), making the handset disproportionately heavy for its size. Of course, some people like it heavy, saying that the handset feels solid and high-end to justify its price. Although the mirror surface is a fingerprint magnet, it is extremely scratch resistant compared to the Sony Ericsson Z610i. Nokia stressed that the glass in front of the screen is specially treated to withstand scratches.

With the slide closed, the two softkeys take up both sides of the metal strip on top of the thumb rest. They also act as an effective anchorage when you slide the phone open. The only button found outside of the slide is the power button on top of the handset, which also allows you to change the phone’s active profile. The keys at both sides beside the screen are actually mechanical releases for the battery cover. The power plug, data, and headset connectors are on the bottom of the device.

The spring-loaded sliding mechanism is extremely well constructed. It gives a sturdy metallic sound when opened and a solid snap when closed. Nokia claimed that the sliding mechanism is crafted with ball bearings to increase durability. Whatever the case, this solid feeling is nowhere to be found elsewhere in the market today.

The keypad on the 8800 is a bit small, with the alphanumeric keys measuring just 5mm tall. However, they feel more ergonomic than they look. This is partly due to the ‘sand dune’ convex design of the keys and the excellent tactile feedback. The d-pad is crafted to look like a rectangular jewel surrounded by a thin frame of brushed metal. The select key is very easy to press, as are the dial and hang up keys, though the directional keys can be a bit tricky at times. Although Nokia claimed that “the jewel-like navigation key shines like the brightest star in the darkest night,” the key itself is the only part of the keypad that is not backlit. Even so, we did not experience any major problems operating the phone in the dark.

The camera lens is hidden on the back of the slider, and will only be revealed when the phone is open. The back of the phone is plain, and the surface around the camera is the same brushed bronze material as the keypad. It is not as reflective as the silver self-portrait mirror, but personally I preferred Nokia using the less shiny material, as it is less prone to fingerprinting.

In terms of physical aspects, the Nokia 8800 Sirocco Edition is great but not perfect. Fingerprinting is an issue and the keypad is not the best around. I am not sure if I fancy the design enough to clean out my wallet on purchasing one.

Design:

Samsung´s star measures almost the same size, weight, functionality and general specifications like the LG Cookie KP500, but looks more shiny and polished. It is on the compact size and carrying it around in your pocket feels as if it´s not actually there. The phone sports 3-inch display with 240×400 pixel resolution and 262k colors that manages to deliver proper image quality in artificial lighting conditions, just as most other screens featuring similar specs do. Situation gets much worse in direct sunlight though with the phone turning into immaculate mirror, just like the Cookie. Come to sensitivity, the resistive display of the Samsung S5230 seems to be a step behind what it arch rival delivers, yet as a whole it doesn´t fare bad at all

The three buttons below are not really large, but they have enough travel and pressing them is easily discernible. Volume rocker, power and camera shutter are onto its sides and our only gripe is pressing the first two requires more efforts alongside of the other keys. We would have liked it better if side buttons were located slightly below where they actually are, because pressing them during calls feels somewhat uncomfortable. Unfortunately, the phone sports the standard manufacturer´s port used for both charging or connecting it to a computer and not a mainstream microUSB port. The whole back side is actually a single plastic panel with rugged stencil pattern that helps to prevent the phone from sliding out of your hand. We are disappointed that you need to remove the battery to get to the microSDHC card slot.

Last year Nokia released two mid-range fashion candybars – the 7500 Prism and 7900 Prism. They demonstrated  an eccentric prismatic motive and some interesting customization options by introducing changeable lines and different RGB LED lights. The clamshell 7070 Prism is a lot more simplified compared to the previous Prism models – it doesn’t even have a camera- but it offers the same exotic and attractive design at a lower price.

The phone doesn’t have an additional display, just a service light, which blinks when it’s ringing or there’s a missed event. The light as well as the line circling most of the device can be either blue, or pink. Unfortunately, these features cannot be customized like with the 7500, and you’ll have to make your choice at the store. You won’t find any keys on the sides of the phone – there is only a 2.5mm headphones jack, connectors for a data cable and the charger.

The 1.8-inch display has a typical low budget resolution of 128×160 and supports 65k colors. The overall image is heavily pixelized and colorless, and as an additional drawback you’ll find it very difficult to use it in direct sunlight.

All the keys (functional, send and end keys, 5-way D-pad, keyboard) are with prismatic shape, which makes them pretty hard to press. Bearing in mind their limited motion and pale backlight in the end you really get a terrible keyboard.

Design

The LG KS660 has the classic touchscreen candy-bar style design phone. The phone has a dimension of 105×55×14,9mm  and with the weight of 115g which is not a small size phone. On the front is the 3.0-inch TFT screen. Like other phone, your fingerprint are easy left on the screen. However, the screen working quite well under bright sunlight. Actually the LG KS660 don’t have any interesting innovation or extraordinary means in the design. Not ugly but not impressed me much.

Camera

LG KS660 is equipped with a built-in 5 MegaPixel camera which comes with autofocus, flash, and video recording capabilities. The quality of the image is quite acceptable.

Anti-theft

The LG KS660 actually is a business oriented phone. So the phone have a feature called Anti-theft Mobile Tracker, which is capable of tracing the handset if ever it is stolen and the important  information for a businessman will not lost.

TouchScreen

LG KS660 is come with a stylus which is for user to control the phone. However, you will found that fingers are easier then the stylus. However, the phone also has come with handwriting reorganization feature, so the stylus are play the main role for this feature.

Multimedia

Like most of the high-end phone, the LG kS660 support most of the music format which includes AAC, eAAC, MP3 and WMA. Also, the  MPEG4 and WMV video file can be play in the intergrated media player too. LG claims that the phone has the capacity of nonstop 15 hours of music playback. The built-in FM Radio providing recording facility,which you can record your favorite radio program anytime you want.

Dual Sim

Beneath the battery of LG KS660, you will found two sim card slot where you can insert your sims. Note that you have to choose a “primary” sim-card, and “secondary” sim card in the proper card slot. The cool about this dual sim phone is you can received call and sms without changing Sim-cards or turn off the phone. Well Done!

Samsung S5600 – Camera & Imaging

It you like taking photos then you will like the built-in 3.15 megapixel camera which takes photos in up to 2048 x 1536 pixels, even though the megapixels are not as high as you may like there is a lot of great features on this camera that will make the most of your photos. Some of those great features include LED flash, auto-focus and image stabilisation that helps you take a clear image even if your hand is shaking. There is also smile detection which means the camera will take a photo automatically when it detects a smiling face, and also geotagging so you can tag a photo with the location so you know where it was taken. You can record video footage on your Samsung S5600 with the video recorder which records in 15 frames per second (fps) and also make video calls to other compatible phones.

Samsung S5600 – Internet & Connectivity

Surf the internet on your S5600 with WAP 2.0, HTML and xHTML web browsing technology and to help you achieve high speed connectivity and data transfers the S5600 supports EDGE, GPRS and 3G HSDPA with 7.2 mbps (megabytes per second) so you can chat to friends on my space or find out the latest news with ease. You can connect to other compatible devices such as PCs and other mobiles on your Samsung S5600 using wireless Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP or by USB cable. Whether you are away on business or on holiday stay in contact as the phone supports GSM850/900/1800/1900 networks so you should be able to use your phone in most destinations.

Samsung S5600 – Messaging & Applications

Sending a message is a quick and easy way to stay in contact with family, friends or work, on the S5600 there are messaging services such as SMS, MMS (multimedia messaging service), EMS, Email and instant messenger so there is no excuse not to stay in touch. There are some great application tools on the Samsung S5600 including GPS with A-GPS support so you can plan a journey or find the nearest shop hopefully you won’t get lost again. You also have Turn-To- Mate an organizer with features such as alarm clock and calendar and also a document viewer.

Samsung S5600 – Music & Gaming

If you enjoy listening to music then that is not a problem on the S5600 as it has a built-in music player with MP3, AAC AAC+, WMA, OGG and AMR music formats. So you can down load your favourite songs or albums onto your S5600 and listen to it when and where ever you like with the headphones provided. There is also a stereo FM radio with RDS support so you can tune in to your favourite radio station. Customize your Samsung S5600 with a polyphonic or MP3 ringtone which you can download. If you want something to do on a long journey then why not play a game you can choose a java game or download your favourite games on to your S5600.

Design:

The Touch Viva’s specifications are very similar to the original Touch, but there are some differences in design aspect. To begin with, the little device has in fact grown up in every direction; this is somehow strange, since its bigger size doesn’t lead to anything new. The screen is 2.8”, running in QVGA resolution, but it doesn’t find its place exactly on the same plane the front side is, which makes it different from the other devices of the series. It’s a bit concave, which spoils the overall appearance a bit, but the main reason to mention it, is that in Windows Mobile most of the screen buttons are situated over the angles and edges, to which you can’t reach very easily using your fingers only. The display boasts bright and saturated colors, but this is only until it falls prey to the noxious direct sunlight. When this happens, the image becomes pale and hard to read.

Like most touchscreen phones, the Touch Viva is also not very generous when it comes to physical buttons. On the front you’ll find only the send and end keys and the luminous 5-way D-pad. They are comfortable to use, but the main instrument for navigation throughout the menus remains the touch screen. Other physical buttons include the volume rocker on the left side and the power button on the top. The bottom houses only the miniUSB port, which is also used to plug in the headphones. We are aware that HTC are capable of putting 3.5mm jacks on their devices and the proof of this is the Touch HD. It’d have been nice to have one here so that we’d have been able to test the sound through headphones, since there aren’t any included in the box.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1  is the new flagship smartphone for the electronics giant. Packing the new “Panels” interface, a full QWERTY keyboard, 3G data and 800×480 touchscreen in a full metal body, is the Xperia X1 poised to challenge the top smartphones?

The Xperia X1 is kind of a mixed bag. For every good thing the phone does, there seems to be something detracting from it as well. From a hardware standpoint, this is a well built phone that feels extremely solid in the hand. But at the same time, it’s not exactly the lightest or slimmest phone available (even for a slider). The 528MHz Processor and 256MB RAM also give the X1 enough horsepower to run smoothly…most of the time.

The 800×400 VGA screen is beautiful, considering all that resolution is tightly packed into a 2.8-inch screen. Videos and images are bright, vibrant and sharp. The fact that it uses resistive touch techonology, however, is not so great. But my favorite hardware aspect of this phone is the keyboard. The keys are well spaced, responsive and I rarely have typos in my texts; this lets me worry about what I’m saying instead of whether or not I’m typing gibberish. The phone also has an optical sensor stuck in the middle of the four-way directional pad that lets you flick your thumb over its surface, and it will scroll up and down, side to side. It’s an interesting use of tech, but feels slightly awkward, a bit gimmicky since there’s already a touchscreen and a d-pad make the sensor somewhat unnecessary.

On the software side, the big sell for the Xperia are its custom panel interfaces, which range from different types of homescreens, a media player interface, and even a Google-oriented screen. While selected, these panels serve as the default screen for your phone and all navigation tracks back to the panels. In theory, this is a good idea. But when you’re in a panel that isn’t built around a today-style screen, and you quickly want to check any missed calls or text messages you may have, this interface becomes a bit of a nuisance.

But the one panel that does stand out is the Media Player. Sony Ericsson took their design cues from the PSP and PS3 and created an interface that is equally appealing as it is functional. Clean and streamlined, the media player features large icons and buttons that work well without a stylus. From the screen, you can watch movies, listen to music, view photos or even bring up your contacts list to make a quick call. Aside from the keyboard, this is probably my favorite feature of the Xperia X1.

In terms of calls, signal strength and call clarity were generally good in the parts of the Bay Area I tested in, but phone screens could be better designed. When you hit the call button from your home screen, it brings up your keypad with a list of recent calls. A series of icons for call logs, favorites, and contacts sit above the keypad. In the call log subscreen, it’s a bit tough to tell what are missed calls, dialed calls, and received calls at first glance.

Battery life is great, as I can make calls, browse the internet, and watch videos at a moderate level for two or three days without charging it. The 3.2 MP camera has a pretty good sensor that takes crystal clear photos, and uses your touchscreen taps to autofocus on a specific object. But a slow shutter—especially in low light—detracts from the camera experience. Other than that, the software experience on the Xperia is pretty standard WinMo fare.

Overall, the custom software upgrades Sony Ericsson added to WinMo 6.1 are good, but feel tacked on; ths ranges from random 6.1 elements popping up over the custom UI when you get a call or text, text messages and missed calls that go unreported or the frozen screens that occur when you try to transition to another panel/app. It feels like Sony Ericsson chose WinMo by default, not because it’s the mobile OS they really wanted.

To be blunt, the Xperia X1 isn’t quite up to snuff with the top smartphones in the market from an overall standpoint. Whether you’re talking about its $800 price tag, stylus-based resistive touchscreen or 3.2 MP camera, this is a phone that would have fared better amongst early adopters a year or two ago. This is not to say the Xperia X1 is a bad phone—on the contrary, it’s a very respectable piece of hardware. It’s just not good enough to justify the cost when better, cheaper phones are available.