SmartPhones

As Samsung comes out with its Android-based Galaxy Spica smartphone (aka the i5700) and then announces that it's not going to be available yet to U.S. consumers, and as Dell announces its entry into the smartphone market, but in China and Brazil, not the U.S., one of the world's premiere smarthone makers, Nokia, is finally bringing one of its most revered devices, the Nokia E72, to U.S. shores.

The Nokia E72, arguably Nokia's greatest stab at the Blackberry Curve, is now being sold to U.S. customers on Amazon.com for around $469 (a welcome step down in price from its price in Euros, equating to $525 U.S.). The E72 is primarily a messaging and email phone, with a built-in desktop email client and chat, and is being targeted at the business community.

Meanwhile, as Palm rolls out its Palm Pixi, analysts and prognosticators are buzzing about the rumors coming out late last week that Nokia might purchase the faltering Palm.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Amazon, Android, Blackberry, Brazil, China, Curve, Dell, E72, Galaxy Spica, i5700, Nokia, Palm, Pixi, Samsung, U.S.

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Look out, HTC! There's another new Droid in town - that is, another new smartphone running on the Google Android OS besides the highly-hyped HTC Droid Eris - and it's coming from LG. It's the LG EVE, the aptly titled debut of LG's promised line of Android smartphones to look forward to.

Interesting on the name: EVE. Recent advertisements for the Droid have already stigmatized it before even hitting the stands as a "masculine" smartphone. So here comes a more feminine alternative, rolled out the same day, and running on the same shiny new mobile operating system from the geniuses over at Google.

So while the HTC Droid is targeted at guys who are into their gadgets (big on music, video, games, and apps), the LG EVE is targeted at social media addicts, with a killer aggregator for the Twitter, Facebook and Bebo set. A prediction on that: both smartphones will be competing viciously for the YouTube set.

The LG is a touchscreen smartphone and a keyboard smartphone with a 3" touchscreen with stupendous 480 x 320 pixel resolution and a built-in accelerometer and it has a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Take your pick. The camera on the LG EVE, at 5 megapixels, could take over as the only digital camera you need too. And expandable up to 16 GB means you can hold plenty of photos - and home videos too! Yes, the EVE has video recording capabilities.

The price on the LG EVE makes for an interesting spread, as unlocked it costs around $400, but you can get it for about 70%, making it $49.95, with contract.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Android, Droid, EVE, Google, HTC, LG

Word has it Google is going to come out with its own Google phone. As the likes of HTC, Samsung, LG, and Sony Ericsson (basically everyone except Apple) scramble to come out with the greatest integration of the much-hyped Google Android mobile operating system in a smartphone, Google itself has apparently jumped into the game and is in the process of doing the same thing.

That has wireless carriers like Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile doing a little scramble of their own to get the contract to carry the Google entry into the Android smartphone market. Or at least they had been, until it was leaked that Google's smartphone will not be sold with any specific wireless carrier requirements. That means people buying one of these devices will still be able to stick with their favorite carrier.

According to someone with inside sources, Google's Google Phone (??) will be sold unlocked, using a chip by Qualcomm.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Android, Google, Qualcomm

PC maker Dell's first Google Android based smartphone for US customers will be arriving on American shores soon, courtesy of AT&T. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, which first broke the story, Dell's first U.S. Android smartphone will be a touchscreen device with a built-in digital camera.

The Chinese got the first taste of Dell's foray into smartphone's (and Google Phones in particular) with the Dell Mini 3i, also a touch screen device with a 3.2 megapixel camera (though it is only 2G). How much the first Dell Google phone for U.S. customers will resemble the Dell Mini 3i is still unknown, but hopefully Dell is at least aware that it's got to give us 3G for us to even be interested.

The first Dell Google phone could be out as early as 2010, they say. And we say, well we should hope so.

The deal with AT&T to carry the Dell Android based device now means that all 4 of the major United States wireless carriers will have Google phones on their airwaves.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Android, AT&T, Dell, Google

Playing catch-up to the likes of Samsung and HTC, two other top smartphone makers - Motorola and LG - have both just unveiled their respective inaugural Google Phones, that is the first Motorola smartphone and the first LG smartphone to run on the Google Android OS for mobile devices.

The first at bat was Motorola, working on a Sunday to announce on September 13 its new touchscreen smartphone aimed at social networking and social media lovers - called (appropriately) the Motorola Cliq (i.e. clique). Also known as the Motorola MC9500, this device that one online reviewer called "a lifestyle phone" will be offered by T-Mobile sometime in mid-October.

Integration with Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace is a major part of the Cliq's feature-set; the 5 megapixel camera, meanwhile, lends credence to the other interpretation of the word cliq (or click). Synchronization of these elements with a user's personal data (i.e. contacts, calendar, photos, blog posts, emails, and RSS feeds) into a feature called "Motoblur" is a highlight of this device.

Then yesterday, Monday September 14, 2009 - LG Electronics revealed its LG GW620. Featuring a 3" touchscreen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, the GW620 is the best of both worlds (at least in the controls department). Little else is known about this tightly-guarded coming attraction.

Don't expect LG to dig its heels too deeply into the Google Android platform, though, as LG still remains a Microsoft Windows Mobile loyalist, with 13 new WinMo smartphones coming out from LG in the next year-and-a-half. In fact, the next LG Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphone will be coming out on October 6, that is before the LG GW620 hits European shelves.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Android, Google, LG, LG-GW620, Motorola, Motorola Cliq, social media, Windows Mobile, WinMo 6.5

HTC is finally getting rid of Windows Mobile in place of the new and improved Google Android mobile platform, Android 1.5 Cupcake, with its HTC Lancaster, billed as "The Consumer Social Messaging Device".

The Lancaster is not HTC's first Android smartphone, but it is its first to be carried by AT&T. To boot, the HTC Lancaster is AT&T's first Android device. It's got most of the usual features you would expect from a modern smartphone, plus a slide-out keyboard and HTC's own unique social messaging interface.

Other big releases coming out from HTC any day now include the HTC Warhawk (aka the Touch Diamond2) and the HTC Fortress (aka the Touch Pro2). And other big upcoming releases from AT&T include the Palm Eos (the WebOS-enabled successor to the Palm Centro), the touchscreen Samsung Infinity, and two from Motorola: the feature-filled Sawgrass with built-in blogging interface, and the Heron, as it turns out another premiere Android smartphone from AT&T.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Android, Android 1.5 Cupcake, AT&T, blogging, Cupcake, Google, HTC, HTC Fortress, HTC Lancaster, HTC Touch Diamond2, HTC Touch Pro2, HTC Warhawk, Motorola, Motorola Heron, Motorola Sawgrass, Palm, Palm Centro, Palm Eos, social messaging, WebOS, Windows Mobile

Last week was the 2009 GSMA Mobile World Congress, and here's the lowdown on its high points:

HTC Magic: The second Google Android powered smartphone from HTC and the first from Vodafone, the Magic is smaller than the inaugural Google Phone, the HTC T-Mobile G1 and will first be distributed into hands overseas (U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain). Downsides? It doesn't have a physical keyboard, nor does the touchscreen keyboard operate in landscape mode.

Also unveiled from HTC, the HTC Touch Diamond2, HTC Touch Pro2, and the T-Mobile G2.

Acer M900: The business set will like this latest Windows Mobile smartphone, with its large 3.8" touchscreen, vast messaging capabilities, and--get this!--fingerprint scanner for cutting-edge security.

LG Arena: It was only a matter of time before we saw a 3D interface, and here it is, looking like the onscreen Rubiks Cube of menus.

Nokia E55: With its own take-off of the BlackBerry Sure-Type keypad.

A common thread for a lot of the devices unveiled this year is the built-in 5-megapixel camera--though the ones in the new Nokia N86 and Samsung Omnia HD sport 8 megapixels, and the Sony Ericsson Idou, with its enhanced touchscreen, has 12.1 and a sliding lens cover. So there!

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Acer, Acer M900, Android, Blackberry, Google Android, Google Phone, GSMA, HTC, HTC Magic, LG, LG Arena, Mobile World Congress, Nokia, Nokia E55, Nokia N86, Samsung, Samsung Omnia HD, Sony Ericsson, Sony Ericsson Idou, Sure Type, T-Mobile, T-Mobile G1, T-Mobile G2, Touch Diamond2, Touch Pro2, Vodafone

The first smartphone company to use the inaugural Google Android mobile operating system was HTC with their T-Mobile G1 which was released to predictably mixed reviews. Well, it's time for the G1's first (of imminently many) competitor to make its introduction, and it will come to us courtesy of Samsung.

It will be a touchscreen smartphone similar in many ways to both the Samsung Instinct and Samsung Omnia.

With an anticipated release date of June 2009, the company has announced that it's amping up production of the as-of-yet unnamed Samsung Google Phone in order to stay competitive. Whatever it'll be called, it'll be available on both T-Mobile and Sprint networks.

Chances are high that the Samsung Google Phone will be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain next month.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Android, Barcelona, Google, HTC G1, Instinct, Mobile World Congress, Omnia, Samsung, Spain, T-Mobile

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.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Android, BlackBerry Bold, Blackberry Pearl Flip, BlackBerry Storm, Blackjack, Blackjack II, Consumer Reports, G-1, G1, Google Phone, HTC, HTC Touch Pro, iphone, iphone 3g, Motorola, Q9C, Samsung, Shadow, T-Mobile, Wing

Motorola sure is busy. Fresh off announcing the latest in the Motorola Q series, the MOTO Q11, a pared-down, budget smartphone, both in features and price, the same company has now anounced that it is working on its own Google Phone.

Following fast on the heels of HTC, the first company to release a smartphone running on the new Google mobile OS, Google Android, with its HTC G1, Motorola is looking to market more on Google's mastery of the web with the heavy integration of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace into the device.

The Motorola Google phone will be similar to the HTC G1 in a number of ways, not least of which is that they'll both have a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a touch screen both. The Motorola Google phone, however, will reportedly cost just $150, $30 cheaper than the HTC G1.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Android, Facebook, Google, Google Android, HTC, HTC G-1, HTC G1, Motorla Google Phone, Motorola, MySpace