Technoholik

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Thursday, July 28

Nokia E6 review: The E spirit

Posted by Unknown on 12:46 pm , , , , ,

Introduction

Don't let your E71/72 smartphone read this. No, it won't have a heart attack or anything. But you don't want it suddenly feeling sad and useless. You certainly realize the E71/E72 duo is getting old and rusty. Like it or not, it's time to move on.
The Nokia E6 will not take No for an answer. A super crisp VGA touchscreen, the finessed Symbian Anna, the strong messenger bloodline and the stainless steel armor are a tempting combination. The package will make long-time Eseries users feel right at home and cheer the upgrades.
Nokia E6-00 Nokia E6-00 Nokia E6-00 Nokia E6-00 
Nokia E6 official photos
Touchscreen or D-pad is not a decision you're forced to make. It will come naturally instead. Where the small screen won't allow the required level of touch precision, the D-pad will fill in. Five homescreen panes to fill with shortcuts and widgets will do better than the good old Active Standby with alternative setups for business and leisure.
Most importantly though, to even the most old-school of Eseries loyalists, touchscreen will be a fair price to pay for finally upping the screen resolution to acceptable levels.

Key features

  • Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
  • Penta-band 3G with 10.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2 Mbps HSUPA
  • Symbian Anna OS
  • Messenger bar, stainless steel body, four-row QWERTY keyboard
  • 2.46" 16M-color capacitive TFT touchscreen of 640 x 480 pixel resolution; Gorilla glass protection
  • 680 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 256 MB RAM
  • 8GB internal storage, 1GB ROM, microSD card slot
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
  • GPS receiver with A-GPS support and free lifetime voice-guided navigation
  • Digital compass
  • 8 megapixel fixed-focus camera with dual-LED flash, 720p video recording @ 25fps; geotagging, face detection, smart zoom in video
  • Built-in accelerometer and proximity sensor
  • Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
  • Stereo FM Radio with RDS
  • microUSB port, USB-on-the-go
  • Flash and Java support for the web browser
  • Stereo Bluetooth 3.0
  • Smart dialing and voice commands
  • DivX, XviD and Matroska video support
  • Social network integration
  • Office document viewer and editor
  • Excellent battery life
  • Excellent audio quality

Main disadvantages

  • Symbian Anna is still catching up with Android and iOS
  • The tiny touchscreen has no room for big fingers
  • Fixed-focus camera
  • Relatively limited 3rd party software availability
This phone seems to have almost everything - well, save for HDMI and an actual life-size touchscreen. But we're talking Eseries and the E6 is the business. It feels like Nokia really wanted to rekindle the magic. The E6 makes the E72 look like a routine, cursory attempt at an update. Where the E72 wanted quietly keep on cashing in, the E6 is keen to make a difference. A tall task indeed, considering the times.
Nokia E6-00 Nokia E6-00 Nokia E6-00 Nokia E6-00 
Nokia E6 live shots

Wednesday, July 27

Nokia X7-00 review: The stealth xpress

Posted by Unknown on 8:42 am , , , ,

Introduction

Dressed to kill and with a fresh coat of paint on the interface, the Nokia X7 is keen to show there's still fight left in Symbian. The screen is a definite high point and the stainless steel body is fashioned like a stealth jet fighter. Symbian Anna adds in features that have been lacking in the OS, closing the gap on the competition.
   
Nokia X7 official photos
The Nokia X7 combines stainless steel and Gorilla glass into one seriously attractive package. It boasts stereo speakers (just two, rather than four as you might think looking at it) to justify its Xseries spot and an 8MP camera with 720p video recording.
The screen impressed us quite a bit as you'll see in our hardware chapter but that's not all we liked about the hardware. The software changes are not as far-reaching as we would have liked, but there are some key developments that that give Symbian a usability boost.
Here's the short version of what the Nokia X7 is about and what didn’t work out very well.

Key features

  • Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
  • Penta-band 3G with 10.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2 Mbps HSUPA support
  • Stainless steel body
  • 4" 16M-color AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution; Impressive brightness and Gorilla glass protection
  • 8 megapixel fixed-focus camera with dual-LED flash and 720p video @ 25fps recording; geotagging, face detection, smart zoom in video
  • Symbian Anna OS
  • 680 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 256 MB RAM
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
  • GPS receiver with A-GPS support and free lifetime voice-guided navigation
  • Digital compass
  • microSD card slot (8GB card pre-installed)
  • DivX and XviD video support
  • Built-in accelerometer and proximity sensor
  • Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
  • Stereo FM Radio with RDS
  • microUSB port
  • Flash and Java support for the web browser
  • Stereo Bluetooth 3.0
  • Excellent audio quality
  • Smart dialing and voice commands
  • Social networking integration

Main disadvantages

  • Symbian Anna is still catching up with Android and iOS
  • Uncomfortable volume rocker, SIM tray and microSD card slot
  • Camera lacks auto focus, oversharpens images
  • Relatively limited 3rd party software availability
  • No office document editing (without a paid upgrade)
  • Battery life is not on par with the best in business
Despite our complaints, this is the best that Symbian has ever looked and Nokia has picked excellent devices to carry it. While the other one, the Nokia E6, is a business phone through and through, the X7 focuses on the fun stuff. From taking photos and videos, through deeper social networking integration, to watching HD videos and browsing the web on the large 4" screen.
The Nokia X7 is something you'll want to show off to your friends. The Nokia designers have done a good job of breaking the touchscreen mould that makes so many phones look uniformly similar.
Nokia X7 00 Nokia X7 00 Nokia X7 00 Nokia X7 00 
Nokia X7 in our office
The Nokia X7 comes more as a successor to the C7 than a stand-alone version. But the C7 itself will be getting Symbian Anna soon, so the X7 needs to bring more to the battlefield than just the (admittedly great) bigger screen.
First we'll check on the arsenal in the box and then we're off to inspect the phone's angular charms. Join us on the next page to feast your eyes on the cool screen and discover the Nokia X7.

Tuesday, July 26

Nokia N9 lands at FCC, bares all for the camera

Posted by Unknown on 2:39 pm , , ,

You must have seen enough pictures of the N9’s beautiful exterior but now thanks to the FCC you can get a peek inside that unibody shell as well. The Federal Trade Commission skillfully took apart the handset on one of their routine tests and took plenty of photographs of the internals.

You will notice the pop-out SIM tray on the top of the device that thankfully does not require the assistance of a pointed tool to be taken out because of a lever mechanism. The non-user-replaceable 1450mAh Li-Ion battery uses a cable to connect to the phone, unlike the N8, which used a standard Nokia battery and was hence, to some extent, user-replaceable. You can also see the inside of the back shell that houses all the radio antennas. Then there's also the 8 megapixel camera sensor.
Nokia N9 FCC Nokia N9 FCC Nokia N9 FCC Nokia N9 FCC Nokia N9 FCC Nokia N9 FCC Nokia N9 FCC Nokia N9 FCC
FCC has also been kind enough to provide the user manual for the Nokia N9. To download the manuals and see other images, click on the source link below.

Nokia N9 hands-on: First look

Posted by Unknown on 8:37 am , ,

Introduction

Today's smartphone scene is one of fierce competition and breakneck growth. Rarely though do announcements get any bigger than this. The Nokia N9 seemed forever stuck in rumorland, but never lost its grip on users' minds. The handset is rightfully enjoying as warm a reception as it would have had if it had been announced a year ago.
Nokia N9 Nokia N9 Nokia N9 Nokia N9 
Nokia N9 official photos
And you can easily see why: a spanking new OS based on some pretty impressive (and novel!) concepts, sleek unibody design, some decently powerful hardware (even if the N9 missed the dual-core train) and that magnificent 3.9" curved AMOLED of FWVGA resolution is a package that's hard to resist.
We got our hands on this baby today, and although our meeting was brief, it was enough for it to earn a special place in our geeky hearts. The Nokia N9 is an excellent device based on an exciting UI concept and boasting some sleek hardware. But what casts doubt on it is the claim that it represents a dead end in the smartphone tree of evolution.
But let’s not get all emotional now, the thing isn’t even on the market yet. And it looks like the right thing to help Nokia through the hard transition period in the second half of 2011. What we know for sure is we would love to have more whence this came from.
Here are the key specs of the Nokia N9 but remember these numbers tell only half the story:

Nokia N9 at a glance

  • General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
  • Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
  • Dimensions: 116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm, 76 cc
  • Weight: 135 g
  • Display: 3.9" 16M-color FWVGA (480 x 854 pixels) AMOLED capacitive touchscreen; Gorilla Glass, anti-glare polarizer, curved display, multi-touch input
  • Chipset: 1GHz Cortex A8 CPU, PowerVR SGX530 GPU, TI OMAP 3630 chipset
  • RAM: 1GB
  • OS: MeeGo OS, v1.2 Harmattan
  • Memory: 16/64GB storage, no microSD slot
  • Camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection, touch focus and geotagging; HD (720p) video recording at 30fps, LED flash, front facing camera, video-calls
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 2.1, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, TV-out, NFC
  • Misc: Polycarbonate unibody, built-in accelerometer, proximity sensor, uses microSIM cards
On paper, the Nokia N9 looks like solid, if not spectacular. As soon as you set eyes on the real thing though, there's no mistaking a smartphone that will reach for the top rather than settle for anything less.
The premium finish and the outward curved screen are nothing short of outstanding. And the great news is that the good impressions don't end with the exterior. We were pleasantly surprised by the MeeGo Harmattan platform and starting to doubt whether switching to Windows Phone 7 was the only option available to Nokia.
Nokia N9 Nokia N9 Nokia N9 Nokia N9 
The Nokia N9 at ours
There's a time and place for that discussion, and they are not here and now. We know you are as eager as we are to see what the Nokia N9 is really made of. Join us after the break for the hardware checkup.

Monday, July 25

One down, one to go in Twitter domain name dispute over typos

Posted by Unknown on 9:42 am ,

In early June, Twitter filed a dispute with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over the domain name twiter.com.  Days later, Twitter added the .biz to the same case. 
The case was eventually suspended, then terminated.  But not before Twitter was able to get at least one of the domain names.
The microblogging company took control of twiter.biz this past week and a new case  (Case No. D2011-1210) targeting just twiter.com has been submitted to WIPO.
Domain Name:                                 TWITER.BIZ
Domain ID:                                   D42038125-BIZ
Sponsoring Registrar:                        MELBOURNE IT LTD
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID:                13
Registrar URL (registration services):       whois.inww.com
Domain Status:                               clientTransferProhibited
Registrant ID:                               C131048869463234
Registrant Name:                             Twitter, Inc.
Registrant Organization:                     Twitter, Inc.
Registrant Address1:                         795 Folsom Street
Registrant Address2:                         Suite 600
Registrant City:                             San Francisco
Registrant State/Province:                   CA
Registrant Postal Code:                      94107
Registrant Country:                          United States
Winning the case if it proceeds to a panel, should be easy.  Twiter.com remains online. 
The web address re-directs visitors to a scam site confusingly similar to Twitter.  A survey takes visitors through a series of questions promising free prizes.

Sunday, July 24

HTC ChaCha

Posted by Unknown on 10:28 am ,

Standing out in the ever growing crowd of droids is a tall task indeed. Doing so while keeping the whole thing affordable, is next to impossible. HTC – of all makers – somehow managed to achieve it, vastly improving the market prospects of their ChaCha, aka the Facebook phone.
HTC Chacha HTC Chacha HTC Chacha
HTC ChaCha official photos
Who would say no to a friendly smartphone with a thing for social networking? It takes a little blue button and we get the point, but the QWERTY keyboard is a statement of its own too. Facebook integration is said to be deeper than ever (and that's on Android 2.3 where it was just fine from the get-go).

Key features

  • Light and compact metallic body
  • 2.6" 256K-color TFT capacitive touchscreen of HVGA (480 x 320) resolution
  • Full four-row QWERTY keyboard and a dedicated Facebook button
  • ARMv6 800MHz CPU, 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM
  • Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) with HTC Sense 2.1 for Messenger
  • Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support, 7.2 Mbps HSDPA
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g, n with Mobile Hotspot functionality
  • GPS with A-GPS connectivity; digital compass
  • 5 MP autofocus camera, D1 (720 x 480 pixels) video recording @30fps
  • microUSB port (charging)
  • microSD slot (up to 32GB, 2GB in box)
  • Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
  • Accelerometer and proximity sensor
  • Stereo Bluetooth v3.0
  • Document editor (free download from HTC Hub)
  • Stereo FM radio with RDS
  • Smart dialing
  • Secondary video-call camera

Main disadvantages

  • Awkward landscape UI and limited compatibility with some apps
  • Limited Adobe Flash support in the browser
  • Sub-par camera image quality
  • D1 video recording is short of inspiring
  • Non-hot-swappable microSD card slot
Even if you take Facebook out of the equation, the HTC ChaCha seems fit to tackle its rivals in the mid-range. Targeting the young, where heavy-texters are in no short supply, the QWERTY keyboard will earn itself quite a few fans. The quality metal finish makes for an upmarket look and feel.
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