Archive for: smartphone
Nuclear apocalypse is inevitable, right? Okay, maybe not, but if it were true, wouldn’t it be beneficial to have an iPhone app that could detail your personal radiation exposure. Thanks to a concerned radiologist out of Canada, Dr Mark Baerlocher, and Tidal Pool Software, the reality of such an iPhone app is real.
The application taps into normal exposures to radiation to give you a detailed report of where you stand. Are you glowing green in the dark or have you not been radiated enough? The iPhone application takes measurements from X-rays and CT scans for example. With the simple input of personal information based on your own situation, the application will let you know where you stand and if you are at risk. While not free, this $3.00 application might be worth your money if you’re prone to getting medical tests and are exposed to high levels of radiation.
A bonus to this application is the graph it will create to inform you if you are at risk of cancer based on the amount of radiation you’ve been exposed to. So is this worth it? Entirely up to you. Suffice to say that if you’re consistently going in for procedures or exposed to radiation for any period of time, it would be wise to get the facts, and perhaps check with a doctor.
LG has just had its first stab at a smartphone and it is even running on Googles Android operating system, its call the GW620. Previously we have profiled lots of Android based phones on Crenk, such as the HTC Tattoo and even the G2.The GW620 combines a physical QWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen so that it appeals to both the business and consumer markets.
The screen measures three inches, and though LG doesn’t say this in its official press release, word on the street is that this phone has a 5-megapixel camera. Not shabby. We don’t have any other details yet, except that the GW620 will launch in “select European markets” — definitely including Germany — sometime in the fourth quarter of this year.
A Dell smartphone has been a long-standing rumor, and now we’ve finally seen solid evidence. In addition to the two blurry photographs in the gallery, there are some specs available.
Dell’s Mini 3i smartphone operates on GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks, over which it can send instant messages (Google, Yahoo!, AIM and MSN) and e-mails. A virtual QWERTY keyboard lets you type those messages efficiently, though a physical one would have been preferred, of course.
Other specs include a 3.5-inch 640 x 360 display, a 3-megapixel camera with auto-focus, flash, and video capturing capability, AGPS, Bluetooth, and Microsoft Exchange support. Unfortunately evidence only points to a Chinese release for the Mini 3i.
Google’s mobile platform Android is taking off very quickly. Multiple phone makers are picking up on the OS because of is functionality and features. Now, HTC have come out of the OD closet and stated that by 2010 over half of their phones will use the popular OS. This follows the Android success of their previous phones the G1 Magic and the Hero.
They have also announced that a new phone coming out in a couple of month’s time in either September or October which will be based on the Qualcommis platform from Brew mobile. While they may be stepping away from the Android OS for a little while I’m sure that they are busy as beavers behind the scenes working closely with Google and their Android platform.
The developers of mobile phones actually quite like the Android platform as it’s extremely easy to work with. Because Android takes care of the look and feel of the phone developers just have to give it their own little twist instead of starting from scratch with themes, user functions and then get on to the programs.
Android devices seem to be the next big thing and are hotting up the market pretty quick with Google being the main warrior. However recently, there have been rumours that the old Finnish mobile giant Nokia were planning to jump into the Android platform and abandon its Symbian platform which the company actually owns.
The company bigwigs decided enough was enough and flat out denied any rumors that they would be releasing an Android phone onto the market at the Nokia World event in Germany this coming September. A report stating these predictions in The Guardian has been responded to by Nokia. “There is no truth to this story whatsoever. It is a well known fact that Symbian is our platform of choice for smartphones”, said Nokia in a statement to TechRadar.
For a company to make such bold statements about its own future in the mass media it’s almost a sure thing that Nokia won’t be using the Android platform anytime in the near (or distant) future, preferring to stick to its own developments. As for the meantime, Nokia are continuing in their development of a new platform of their own called Maemo OS for their internet tablets. Outsourcing is not one of Nokia’s favourite habits.
The PSP is by no means the most successful handheld gaming device. It trailed behind the DS for all of its life and now even the iPhone has it beaten when it comes to the selection of games, even though the PSP had a three year jump on the iPhone.
However, recently stories have emerged that seem to indicate the next PSP will have smart phone capabilities. Reuters revealed that Ericsson and Sony Entertainment have been drawing up plans to create the phone even before their latest invention; the PSP Go, has been released.
The current PSP already has some communication capability with Wi-Fi allowing internet browsing and Skype chat. However, if this plan was to proceed we would likely see 3G, a touch screen and a host of other smart phone features thrown into a PSP. The main problem with this would of course be battery life, but with an electronics company such as Sony I’m sure they could come up with something.
Sony are reported to be putting together a team to begin creating this PSP smart phone as early as July and are engaged in talks with British telecom to bring voice and video chat to the PSP. However, I wouldn’t get my hopes up just yet. Plans like these have a tendency of falling through due to overcrowding in the market or just a really bad finished product.
Orange today announced the launch of the BlackBerry® Curve™ 8900 smartphone exclusively on pay as you go. The offering builds on the success of the BlackBerry Pearl 8120 smartphone, which Orange introduced on pay as you go earlier this year, the easy-to-use Curve will be priced at £249.99, providing consumers with a rich multimedia experience at their finger tips.
Also announced today, Orange is offering new customers taking a pay as you go BlackBerry® smartphone*, six months of free email and web browsing. After this time, customers can take out Orange’s pay as you go BlackBerry Internet Service for just £5 a month on a rolling monthly subscription.
The BlackBerry Curve 8900 smartphone delivers expanded functionality and reliability and its refined design makes it easy for one or two-handed use. It is the thinnest and lightest full-QWERTY BlackBerry® smartphone and features a striking 480×360 pixel display that offers up crisp and vivid content. Fully equipped with GPS, Wi-Fi® , a 3.2 megapixel camera that can also record video**, and an expandable memory slot supporting up to 16GB, the BlackBerry Curve 8900 smartphone allows users to balance work, life and everything in between.
We have long thought that the Nokia N97 would be shipped out in July, but there is a new rumour that the North American version will be shipped on the 2nd of June.
The evidence: a screenshot from the site of a major North American distributor, as seen above.
Additionally the Vodafone UK website is now listing the release to be in June instead of July for the Euro edition.
However, June is supposed to be a very quiet month for new handsets in the USA, but im sure you will see the iPhone and the Pre releases be next to the N97.
iPhones seem to be everywhere these days and even the release of the G1 phone hasn’t really had an impact on their growing marketshare. Palm have also announced that they will soon be launching their new smartphone called the Palm Pre, which is getting a huge amount of buzz at the moment. Thus bringing us to the final major player in the market who is yet to release a smartphone that can actually take marketshare and thats Nokia.
Nokia announced about three months ago that they will be releasing the N97 which is their rival to the iPhone. The N97 will be release in the 2nd quarter of 2009 and its sure to raise some eyebrows.
Here at Crenk we are still yet to get our hands on a new N97 test version, but I thought I would provide our readers with a basic overview of the phone and how it compares to iPhone and G1.
Nokia N97 – compared to the iPhone3G and G1
3.5 inches screen size
( iPhone3G : 3.5 inch ; G1 : 3.2 inch )
640 x 360 pixel resolution
(iPhone3G : 320×480 pixels ; G1 : 480×320 pixels resolution)
16:9 Aspect ratio,the same as that of TV,PC Monitors etc
(both iPhone and G1 have aspect ratio of 3:2 )
Resistive touchscreen display with tactile feedback
(both iPhone & G1 boast a capacitive touchscreen(feather touch sensitive) )
Sliding QWERTY Keyboard
( iPhone : No physical keyboard ; G1 : Sliding QWERTY Keyboard )
Inbuilt WiFi,Bluetooth,HSDPA,A-GPS,3G
( Both iPhone and G1 have it )
32GB Onboard memory (expandable through microSD card upto 48GB as total capacity)
(neither iPhone nor G1 go beyond 32 GB as total capacity )
Battery : 1500 mAh (Heavy duty ! )
(iPhone : 1400 mAh ; G1 : 1150 mAh )
5 MP Digital Camera (DVD quality video capture)
(iPhone : 2.0 MP ; G1 : 3.2 MP )
OS : S60 5th Edition
(iPhone : iPhone OS 2.2 ; G1 : Android 1.0 )
Weight : 150 g (approx.)
( iPhone : 133 g ; G1 : 158 g )
Price : $550 (before network subsidies so expect it to go way cheaper than this)
(iPhone : $199(min.) ; G1 : $179(min.) )
Conclusions:
After a direct comparison with all the feature of the n97, G1 and iPhone3G the Nokia is by far the leader from a hardware perspective. However, it terms of the software and the OS, Nokia is a long way behind Google and Apple but this is expected.
The key also is that the App Store has made a huge impact on making the iPhone such a big success, and with the Android Market just being launched I’m sure that the G1 will slowly gain more and more marketshare. Where does this leave Nokia? Nokia really need to think hard and long about how they are going to open up their software to outside developers and then allow the average user the ability to pick and choose the applications that are right for them. OS has never been a strong point for Nokia, but it is about time they actually improved this sector if they are going to continue to be a major player in the smartphone market.
Also that the ‘App Store’ is something that has played a very critical role in making iPhone a worldwide success and now the same thing is occurring in the form of ’Android Market’ for G1, Nokia(being ‘new’ to open developer support for apps) can’t afford to reach the standards set by the other two veteran smartphones(specially iPhone)
3banana is a Silicon Valley startup that just appeared on the market, launching a new note-taking application (called 3banana Notes) for the Android, the iPhone, and small-device Web use.
The application is free and works by synchronizing with an online notebook so you can save information you want to save quickly and easily from your phone. This allows free access online, whether you have your phone with your or not.
The app has a wireless synch-up and allows for social media sharing. Think of it as Twitter for your iPhone, but with a few more uses. Notes can be shared or kept private, as you prefer, and on an individual basis. So if you’re wanting to jot down that next great American novel idea you came up with, you can keep that to yourself, but if you’re wanting to see if anyone is up for coffee on the corner of Johnson and Main, you can broadcast that to your friends.
Andreas Schobel, the co-founder of 3banana and its CTO, says, “…the 3banana note taking app helps you catch those ideas before they escape. 3banana also makes it easy to share your notes with friends—rather than being lost forever, that idea in your notes can be the beginning of an online conversation.”
This seems like a great idea and one that could catch on quickly. Especially since it will work on so many platforms of portable phone. More universal apps like this are needed, in my opinion, to stop the trend of “it’s all about the iPhone.” Not that I don’t like iPhones, I just want to see more competition so the technology will improve faster.
Probably the sum-up from Steve Brown, the CEO and other co-founder of 3banana, does it best: “In the information-rich and fast-paced world today, the challenge is to get information from the brain in your head, into the brain in your pocket, and connected to the brainpower in the Internet cloud. We streamlined and simplified our note taking app so that users could quickly jot down a thought or tag a photo on their Android smart phone with as few keystrokes as possible, and then synch and share those notes wirelessly and effortlessly.”
Basically, it works like this: the 3banana software stays synched with their online service so that photos and notes on the smart phone can be immediately stored and kept online. At the same time, websites, online notes, and other Internet-based information can also be kept through a browser interface. Synchs in Twitter-like feeds with friends and colleagues can also be set up so that it creates an “always on” cloud for data sharing.
Shared notes can be linked with Twitter or Facebook for wide broadcasts or can be kept inside 3banana for easier and more private sharing and discussion.
3banana is currently available for download from the Google Android App Market free of charge.
There has been a lot of talk about the new BlackBerry Storm. The BlackBerry Storm is going to be the new touchscreen phone from RIM. Here at Crenk we haven’t yet had a chance to play with the new phone, but we think this could take a large share of the market.
The BlackBerry Storm is aimed to help RIM get into the touchscreen market, while at the same time help Verizon Wireless (its exclusive U.S. carrier) have a decent smartphone competitor to the Apple-AT&T iPhone.
However, as this is the first real touchscreen from RIM it is always going to have its drawbacks. Unlike the iPhone when the touchscreen is easy to use and has good sensitivity, the RIM BlackBerry Storm however is currently a little less touchy and more pushy (if that makes sense), but all the same still works.
There’s still some variables to get ironed out, like pricing. And the phone has some glaring shortcomings, like no wi-fi, no support for iTunes-DRM-encoded music and movies, and a tiny third-party app platform. But last we checked, the iPhone, for all its merits, was still just 24% of the U.S. consumer smartphone market — meaning three of four buyers were putting their money elsewhere. Bottom line: There’s plenty of room for competition, and with Verizon’s marketing dollars behind it, we think RIM’s new phone will do well.
