Despite all the iPhone 3G, the Samsung Blackjack II got the top rating in Consumer Reports’ 2009 issue which, among other features, looks back at the best smartphones of 2008.
The media-darling iPhone and the equally hype-laden T-Mobile G1 (the HTC Google Android smartphone) didn’t even make the Top 5, instead tying with one another for 6th.
The remaining Top 5 behind the Samsung Blackjack II were:
2. T-Mobile Wing
1. Motorola Q9C
2. T-Mobile Shadow
3. BlackBerry Pearl Flip
There is, however, a HUGE caveat to this list, albeit not one that affects the iPhone’s status any (or the HTC G-1’s for that matter), that being that the following contenders were released too late in the year to be considered in the running:
• BlackBery Bold
• BlackBerry Storm
• HTC Touch Pro and all its variants
Surely, that would have made a big difference to the results.
In this face of broad-sweeping success with their HTC Touch Pro and HTC Touch Diamond series handsets, the smartphone maker has announced that they are still on course to release their first (and possibly the first) Google Android OS powered device by the fourth quarter of this year.
Expected to be called the HTC Dream, the new smartphone from HTC flies in the face of recent rumors about possible delays in the launching of any Google Android powered smartphone.
Promised to bear both a large touchscreen and a complete, slide-out or swivel-out QWERTY keyboard, the HTC Dream will be about 5” long and 3” wide with controls for online navigation placed on the handset itself, beneath the touchscreen.
The HTC Dream is readying to face its biggest competition, at least initially, from Samsung, which seems poised to put out the 2nd Google Android smartphone to be scheduled for release (with Motorola not far behind).
It was last November that Google announced their entry into the smartphone OS battle (alongside Symbian, RIM BlackBerry OS, Microsoft Windows Mobile, and of course the inimitable iPhone) but we have yet to see the first Google Android smartphone on the market. Well that is soon about to change.
A British chip maker named ARM has released a prototype of its unbranded handset running the Google Android operating system, equipped with:
email (provided by Gmail)
text messaging
multimedia apps
internet browser (with Google as the default home page)
Google Calendar functionality
GoogleMaps software
Meanwhile, Google's own engineering director has unveiled an Android smartphone prototype as well, this the Google branded GPhone. While Google won't be manufacturing the GPhones itself, it aims to design the basic handset in such a way that manufacturers of all capacities can still deliver a quality, Google-worthy product. The first of these looks to pack the equivalent power of the iPhone into a smaller, tighter package (and that includes the screen size).
The first Google Android smartphones are expected to hit markets later in the year.
The ASUS P735 is a Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Pocket PC 3G smartphone. With tools and features for both the professional user and the general consumer, the P735 is bundled with an impressive combination of multimedia features and productivity tools.
For example, its multimedia features include:
Dual camera
Video calling
Total multimedia playback
Business card reader
And its productivity tools include the deft and dexterous ASUS Remote Presenter app that allows users to access and manage Microsoft PowerPoint presentations from your PC, as well as a meeting planner capable of scheduling teleconferencing across three time zones.
The ASUS P735 lacks GPS or HSDPA, but it does operate on GPRS Class 10 networks. It has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity as well as a miniSD card slot for extra data storage.
The look and feel of the ASUS P735 resembles the Apple iPhone with a large screen dominating the face of the smartphone, though it has a few other buttons surrounding its primary, multipurpose button. A touch screen smartphone, the P735 has no keyboard or numeric keypad.
Recently this blog reported on results of a study that showed the RIM Blackberry OS to be the "best" smartphone OS among industry analysts. However, according to an informal survey conducted by internet technology review stalwart CNet, the preferred smartphone operating system among consumers (or at least, CNet readers) is Windows Mobile.
Smartphones running Windows Mobile include the Samsung Blackjack, the Motorola Q (the top two tier-1 smartphones), as well as many manufactured by HTC, including the widely-popular HTC Tilt.
Based on pure market share alone, the study of 130 users showed Windows Mobile at 42.3%, RIM Blackberry at 19.2%, Apple OS X at 17.7%, and Symbian and Palm OS at 10%. Those are the stats for operating systems. As for smartphone manufacturers, RIM and HTC both took the lead, tying with a 19.2% market share each, Apple following close behind with 17.7%, Motorola at third with 11.5%, Palm at 10%, and all the rest (Nokia, Samsung, etc.) taking the remaining 22.3%.
Interestingly enough, the praise for Windows Mobile was balanced out (read: marred or tainted), however, by half of the respondents reporting complaints of the very same OS. Finally, a whopping 66% of CNet readers responding the survey said they would be likely to consider purchasing an Apple iPhone as their next smartphone, three times more than those who said they'd opt for the second place contender, the Blackberry.
For sheer quality and durability it may be argued that Nokia makes the best smartphones around. And for software functionality and versatility none is more revered than Microsoft. So it's no wonder that the two industry leaders would eventually bring together their winning expertise into a single offering. In fact, one only wonders what took them so long.
HTC and Motorola customers already enjoy the PC performance that the Windows Mobile OS gives their smartphones, not least of which is access to mobile versions of the Microsoft Office suite of applications. Now Microsoft is aiming to put their coveted OS into a Nokia N-Series smartphone. About time!
Following on the heels of the most recent convert to the WinMo family, Samsung, with its T-Mobile Shadow. And if Samsung can diverge from its Symbian loyalty, so can fellow Symbianite Nokia, right?
It likely won't happen until after Windows Mobile 7 or Windows Mobile 8 hits the market, but one thing seems certain - it will happen.
We're all used to the typical promotion where you get a free cell phone in exchange for signing up for a set period of service. So it should come as no surprise that the same phenomenon has begun with the product representing the evolution of the cell phone - the smartphone.
CNET reported today on the Samsung BlackJack II being offered for free on Buy.com for anyone signing up for a two-year AT&T contract. While not the fastest or easiest phone to use, the Samsung BlackJack II nonetheless has some impressive qualities, including:
a GPS
a 2- megapixel camera
and AT&T HSPDA network support
Researching this phenomenon further, I found that Buy.com actually offers several smart phones for free with activation, including:
From here, I checked into how commonly this phenomenon occurred at competing cell phone and smart phone vendors and found that everybody's doing it. In addition to more of the aforementioned brand names, I also found all sorts of other smartphones (such as Sony Ericsson, Nextel, and Nokia) offered for free by all the major carriers:
AT&T (and the former Cingular)
Verizon
T-Mobile
and Sprint
Now there's a way that people on a limited budget can still afford to get a smartphone of their own (though maybe not the latest and greatest model), just by signing up for the wireless service they're going to need to get anyway.
To boot, most of the participating smartphone vendors will even throw in free shipping with the deal.
With such great deals flooding the net, and every phone manufacturer and wireless carrier competing for your hard-earned dollar, we may soon see the day when you never have to pay to obtain a smartphone again.
In response to the widespread popularity of Windows Mobile software and the equally widespread dissatisfaction with how well (or not so well) it's so far been integrated into other companies' smartphones, HTC, the developers of Windows Mobile software, is putting out their own smartphone.
Called the HTC S730, the new smartphone will be an HSPDA phone with 3G capabilities housed in a grey metallic casing with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. One of the most exciting features of the HTC S730 is that it will be Wi-Fi enabled and able to perform as a modem when a nearby PC or laptop is without one.
But of course, the HTC S730 wouldn't be worth making if it wasn't primed to be the best implementation of Microsoft Windows Mobile software yet, and it shouldn't disappoint with the latest, Windows Mobile 6, installed. The HTC S730 will include:
