Mobile Phone Blog

Motorola A3100, tries to steal some of that pie!

2009-01-11T02:24:00.000-08:00

Motorola, has been on a slump, and when I say slump I mean SLUMP! Motorola is trying to climb back, and now they announced their new smartphone - the A3100 (also known as MOTOSURF). The A3100 will hit the Asian market first, and it will have the following features:

Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and tri-band UMTS (with HSDPA)
2.8" QVGA display
3 megapixel autofocus camera (LED flash)
MSM7201A Qualcomm chipset 528 Mhz processor
128 MB of RAM
Built-in flash memory of 256MB
Wi-Fi (Finally!)
GPS
USB v2.0
Video Call Camera
Pocket Office
3.5mm jack

If you ask me, this is a great move by Motorola since nowadays majority of the consumers prefer a touchscreen device, but I must add that the price of the phone will decide whether or not this will be a success or not. Personally, I'm looking forward to this phone, but the price comes first!
Bluetooth

Sony Ericsson adds two new phones to their portfolio!

2009-01-11T01:51:00.000-08:00

BEFORE CES HAD STARTED, Sony Ericsson added two new phones to their portfolio (well, at least for the Asian market because the spanking w715 is vodafone exclusive), the C510 and the w508. How well do these two fair off? Based on the features, I'd say not half bad, these two are a great addition to the portfolio. No non-sense, mid-tier phones packed with awesome features, and budget is taken into consideration (thanks SE!)!

C510 has been dubbed as the most affordable Cyber-Shot to date, it sports the following features:

3 megapixel camera (with Imaging shortcuts, sad to say it only has LED flash)
Face detection
Smile Shutter
2.2-inch QVGA scratch-resistant display
Quad-band GSM support plus tri-band UMTS/HSPA connectivity
Accelerometer
Threaded SMS/MMS
Svelte Camera Lens Cover
PhotoMate Application

While, the W508 revives the classic way of changing your looks - by changing the case. If you ask me, the w508 seems to be the little brother of the successful W980. When you purchase the w508 you will be given a free extra case with the package, features include:

Interchangeable StyleUp covers
external music keys
Shake control
SenseMe
TrackID
Accelerometer
Gesture Control
2.2-inch QVGA main display
Monochromatic scratch-resistant 1.1-inch external OLED screen (128x36)
Threaded SMS/MMS
3.2 megapixel fixed focus camera
Quad-band GSM support
HSDPA
FM radio with RDS
The device is also supposed to offer 24 hours of constant music playback.

Here are the promotional videos of the two phones, personally I like the W508 video more compared to that of the C510.

C510 Promo Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJL6hpSjqhQ

W508 Promo Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDxPvhWlLZE

C510 Smile Shutter at work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUZ0ABb6tdg&eurl=http://forums.se-nse.net/index.php?showtopic=37513

Enjoy!

Palm unleashes their beast! (do I see Iphone trembling?)

2009-01-09T04:34:00.000-08:00

Palm recently announced their Palm Treo Pro, however, Palm seems to be on a rampage! Recently at CES (Consumer Electronics Show), Palm unveiled their beast, the Palm Pre, does Iphone-killer ring a bell? This may snatch the first-ever Iphone-Killer award, what awaits?
Palm's Treo devices have not been that successful, but Palm is trying to survive, and with the Palm Pre I'd say the company will be revived. Palm Pre is the first Palm device that runs on its own Operating System, WebOS. As stated by Palm executives, the main selling point would be the fast Web browsing and efficient multitasking. Also, Pre is the first smartphone with TI’s latest processor — “laptop-like performance.” So here's a summary of what the Pre is packed with:

Gorgeous 3.1-inch display (320×480 lcd with multitouch gesture area under the screen)
8gb of storage
3 MP camera with flash
GPS navigational capabilities
Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g)
slide-out keyboard
multi-touch display
USB Mass storage support
3.5 mm jack
Bluetooth stereo (A2DP)
Motion gesture
Variety of sensors (Accelerometer, proximity, ambient light)
EV-DO Rev
All basic navigation is gestures — flick, tap, swipe, no buttons cluttering up the screen
Touchstone (wireless inductive charging base)

“Our intention was never to build an iPhone killer but to build a killer Palm product,” Mr. Rubinstein said in an interview. He said he felt Palm had been fighting an uphill battle with outdated devices and software, and was doing so no longer. "The Pre allows us to get back in the game,” he said.

Source: NYTimes

pics of the Palm Pre:

Nokia's Roadmap

2008-12-21T18:07:00.000-08:00

This is quite a late news already but it seems like its worth mentioning. You might have been disappointed with Nokia lately, with the late release of the Nokia N96 and the not-so-super-phone 5800 Tube (by the way, if you want to read a review on this check out my fellow BNCer's review here http://bncxe.org/showthread.php?p=399821#post399821). But wait a minute, there was a not-so-recently rumor spreading about Nokia's roadmap for the smartphone category, here's a summary of it. Reminder, these are just rumors, some say that these are early prototypes so if this does hold true, there may be slight changes to the features as there are many prototypes!

IP08:
Widescreen touch, Naviscroll, QWERTY, AGPS, FM radio and transmitter, 5MP AF camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, TV-out

Corolla:
3.0-inch VGA display, non-touch, 8MP camera, half QWERTY keyboard, 128MB RAM, 8GB ROM, WiFI, UPnP, HSPA, AGPS, FM transmitter

Eitri:
Landscape candybar with QWERTY, 3.5-inch 640x350 display, minimum 8GB ROM, microSD, pressure sensitive touch UI with tactile feedback and gestures, charging via USB, 5MP AF camera with dual LED flash, integrated compass and accelerometer, proximity sensor, FM transmitter

According to a reliable source, Corolla's features have encountered major changes, so the features mentioned above were based on the old prototype. Have fun with the goodies that Nokia has to bring! The full list of phones along with their codenames, status, and OS can be found here, enjoy guys!
http://img2.abload.de/img/nokia-smartphone-roadmhnpn.jpg

Red Mobile, will you go Red?

2008-12-21T06:17:00.000-08:00

This is one topic that I wanted to share to you. Let's see if Red Mobile ends up King of the Hill or not.

Red Mobile was first owned by Connectivity Unlimited Resource Enterprise (CURE), the 4th network in our country, and was named Umobile before being named Red Mobile. However, this did not get the attention of the consumers, in tagalog "hindi nag-click". So SMART, wanting to expand its network coverage, bought CURE and rebranded Umobile to Red Mobile. SMART now has a wide netwrok coverage, not only in GSM networks but in 3G networks as well, I must remind you that Red Mobile Subscriber Identity Modules only work in 3G handsets. Now, Red Mobile is starting its ad and it seems like a worthy opponent compared to other network couriers. Let's see what Red Mobile has to offer:

-Sim Card is sold at PHP 39.00 (Each SIM is pre-loaded with Php10 or an equivalent of 20 minutes of RM-RM calls)

Voice Call rates:
-RM-RM at PHP .50/min
-RM-Other Networks at PHP 6.50/min

Short Message Service rates:
-RM-RM at PHP .50/text
-RM-Other Networks at PHP 1.00/text

Multimedia Messaging Service rates:
-RM-RM at PHP .50/MMS

Video Call rates:
-RM-RM at PHP .50/min
-RM-Other Networks at PHP 6.50/min

WAP Browsing
-PHP 7.50/15min

You do the math right now and compare it to the other networks, some rates Red beats the other networks without a doubt BUT that is if you use it with another Red Mobile, while some rates other networks just beat Red Mobile hands down. Qouted from Red Mobile "We are committed to delivering the best rates through our lowest per minute call rates and affordable text/mms rates."

Tips on Buying a New Phone

2008-12-19T02:29:00.001-08:00

Hey guys, I'm back with some tips, but now it's on to the buying side. Here are some simple tips when you're about to buy a phone:

-Check the Price and the Features
Mainly, when you buy a phone, the first thing that comes into your mind would be the price. If your budget maxes out at 15thousand, don't go more than that and find ways just to get there, but instead just find a phone worth the money. Next would be the features, if your not really into business then don't go for phones such as e90, x1, Bold, and the like because these phones are targeted mainly for those who are business minded, that's why they are called "Business Phones".

-Know what you're looking for
This is what I always tell people when they buy phones from me, know what you're looking for. Some always say, what's the best phone to get with a budget of 15thousand, well tell me what you need. Is it a Multimedia Phone?a phone that snatches looks from by passers?a phone wherein you can text easily?a phone wherein you can browse the net on the go?There's a lot of categories to put them under, so be specific!

-Compare Phones always, Don't make up your mind!...yet!
For example, you want to buy a new phone, specifically a Nokia 6500 Slide, by this time that costs around 12-13 thousand, and you, being an impulsive buyer, bought the phone ASAP! When you got out of the store all jolly with your new phone, you see this phone so beautiful that it catches your attention away from your new phone and when you look at the price its the same, even cheaper! Then your vision turns dark and you collapse, just kidding! What I'm trying to point out here would be before buying your "idol phone", think of another alternative first. For example, the 6500 Slide, sure it's a nice phone, but with that budget you can go for a C902 (non-warrantied of course), n82 (non-warrantied as well), G800 (you know what I'm going to type), w960 (yes, you guessed it right!), E63 (Warrantied!), and a lot more, so think before buying!

-Time to be different
Lastly, when you buy a phone, try to be unique as much as possible. I always tell those who buy new phones, it's your chance to be different, don't buy those PNBs (Phone Ng Bayan), so as much as possible be unique!

Thanks and hope you learned from this!

THANK YOU

2008-12-17T03:03:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Roland Resurreccion aka Rolandchok for buying a Sony Ericsson W880i and to Ryan Belga for buying a Sony Ericsson C905! Another satisfied customer!:)

Rolandchok comments:
"Up ko ito. Kuha na kayo, I just got a unit from him. Very accomodating. Murang mura na CP, brand new pa. Bakit bili kayo second hand my affordable na brand new!"

"Up for this. Order na po kayo while dami pa supply. Murang mura na phones. Original pa."

"UP for this. Order na kayo. Ang bilis kausap. No hassle. Kanila pa shipping. Ayos na ayos."

Ryan Belga comments:
"A very enthusiastic seller when it comes to promoting his products. He has a vast knowledge in gadgets which satisfies all of the queries of the customers. An excellent salesman! Trusted and Reliable!

:)

Vertue Boucheron 150

2008-12-14T06:11:00.000-08:00

Vertu and Boucheron's SINGLE Limited Edition. A phone crafted out of SOLID GOLD, this took 1000 hours to cut into shape, 700 hours to hand polish, and 500 hours hand craft, now that's a lot of work! That's not all, the phone's box? nah! call it, the phone's walnut chest! yup, you heared it right, the phone comes in a walnut chest! Pretty awesome! Now, the question remains, who would end up having this SINGLE limited edition phone?

Problem with Memory Cards

2008-12-14T05:38:00.000-08:00

Recently, 3 of my friends encountered a problem with their memory cards and they approached me. Here, I'll share to you some tips and suggestions on how to use and care for your phone's memory card:

-Memory Card Corrupted
The biggest no no in memory cards! When placing or transferring files from computers, I always tell my friends that you should be aware of the status of the files. Some may be corrupted, or even worse, some may contain viruses in it. So before transferring your files, it is best that you scan the files first because if not this may lead to a serious problem.

-Formatting
Some problems can't be fixed by just simply deleting the files, so i suggest that when your memory card is corrupted, you format the memory card if and only if the file cannot be detected and deleted. There are cases wherein if you format the memory card, nothing will happen, the formatting process never takes place, if this happens, it is best to bring the memory card to a cellphone repair shop.

-Write Protected
When you want to reformat your memory card, there are instances when the memory card cannot be formatted due to write protection. If you encounter this problem, there are several ways in solving this problem. One is, if your using Windows XP (I am not so sure about the OS), use the usb cable of your phone and plug it in your computer, after the computer has detected it as a removable hardware go to My Computer->Right Click on your memory card->Properties->Select the Security Tab, here you can adjust the security options of your memory card. Another way is, try to locate a switch in your memory card, usually there is a lock or write protection switch so that your files will not be deleted. Unlock the switch then you can now delete your files. This is easier.

These are just some simple tips, hope you take good care of your memory card. For any questions you can mail me at notnerb_8808@yahoo.com or notnerb.8808@gmail.com

Market Shares for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Quarter

2008-12-07T03:51:00.001-08:00

Since the beginning of Mobile Phones, there has always been a strong competition among the mobile phone manufacturers. On the top spot, we always see the Finnish Company, then the following spots were of no certainty to the other manufacturers. In 2004, we saw the Finnish Company Nokia holding on the top with 34.7% of the global market shares, followed by the American Company Motorola with 16.39%, the South Korean Company Samsung with 10.88%, the South Korean Company LG with 7.16%, then the German Company Siemens and the Swedish-Japanese Company Sony Ericsson with 6.96% and 6.49% respectively, other manufacturers with 18.04%. At present, there has been a big change in the global market shares, though not on the top spot wherein Nokia still reigns. Here is a small summary of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd quarter shares for this year in order from 1st downwards:
(the sequence would be: #of units sold in millions - manufacturer - market share)

1st Quarter:
115.5M - Nokia - 41.1%
46.3M - Samsung - 16.48%
27.4M - Motorola - 9.75%
24.4M - LG - 8.68%
22.3M - Sony Ericsson - 7.94%
45.1M - Others - 16.05%

2nd Quarter:
122M - Nokia - 41.08%
45.7M - Samsung - 15.39%
28.1M - Motorola -9.46%
27.7M - LG -9.33%
24.4M - Sony Ericsson - 8.22%
49.1M - Others - 16.53%

3rd Quarter:
117.8M - Nokia - 39.27%
51.5M - Samsung - 17.27%
25.7M - Sony Ericsson - 8.57%
25.4M - Motorola - 8.47%
23M - LG - 7.67%
6.9M - Apple - 2.3%
6.1M - Blackberry -2.03%
43.3M - Others - 14.4%

As you can see, there has been a slight change in the top 5 from 1st - 3rd quarter this year. Some have fallen, some have risen. With contenders from every company - Nokia(5800 Tube, N96, N85, N78, N79, E71, E66, etc.), Sony Ericsson(C905, Xperia X1, C902, G900, W980, W902, G705, etc.), Samsung(Omnia I900, I8510, F480, M8800 Pixon, G810, D980, U900 Soul, etc.), Motorola(ZN5, A1600, A1800, Rokr E8, Razr2 V8, Razr2 V9, etc.), Apple (Iphone 3G and ummm..Iphone 3G), Blackberry (Bold 9000, Storm 9500, Pearl Flip 8920, Curve 8900, etc.), LG(KC910 Renoir, KF900 Prada, KP500 Cookie, KF600, etc.), and HTC(Touch HD, Touch Pro, Touch Diamond, Touch Cruise, TyTN II, etc.). Who knows what the 4th quarter results may bring upon?LG, Samsung, Blackberry, and HTC have been persistent and have shown that they are a force to be reckoned with. While Motorola is still struggling to get its feet back on the right path. Nokia and Sony Ericsson have done well also and deserve the credit. Good Luck to all the companies, the competition has never been this feisty.

Sony Ericsson k660i Review

2008-12-07T02:39:00.001-08:00

Finally, I got my k660i, a mid-range phone from Sony Ericsson. I’ll be making a simple review on this phone and I’ll be sharing to you some of my thoughts about the phone. Before I start, let me tell you something, this phone is sweet!
I got the black color of the k660i. The box of the k660i is quite small and the necessary tools are there, a charger, headset, usb cable, manual, and the pc suite for the phone. GSMarena calls it as a polished 3G bar, which sneaks some high-end goodies into the midrange, and I do believe so. Now, let’s go to the design and construction of the phone.
The phone followed the design of the k810i and the k850i, a glass-like object covers the surrounding of the keypads, which are round, but the keypads are lifted so that you can have tactile feedback when pressing it. When you hold the k660i, it’s very light and comfortable in the hand. The upper portion is bare, only the on/off button can be found here. On the right side of the phone is the camera shutter button on the lower part and the zoom keys on the upper part. On the left side, you can see the m2 card slot. The lower portion of the phone offers the standard Sony Ericsson port. On the back portion of the phone is the camera (2.0 megapixel) with fixed focus, and no flash. Clearly, Sony Ericsson didn’t make this phone as a camera phone. This phone is mainly aimed at the fashion-web browsing part of the market. The phone is neatly designed and what I like about Sony Ericsson designs is that they incorporate the video calls camera on the front of the phone yet it doesn’t destroy the beauty of the phone. Actually, it looks sexy and goes on well with the design. On to the keypads, as stated above, the keypads are round like the k810i, maybe some of you think that with these kind of keypads you’ll be having a hard time texting well I tell you no, I did not have a hard time texting even though this is my first time having the circle keypad. The keys located on the front are the d-pad, the soft keys, the end and accept call keys, the activity menu key, and the clear key (c). However, the keys are not the ones worth praising; it’s the LIGHTINGS OF THE KEYPAD, man! Is it awesome! Incorporated beside the 3, 6, 9, and # keys are the icons for the shortcut keys in web browsing: text input, bookmarks, home page and zoom, respectively. This shows that the k660i is mainly focused on web browsing. The most interesting thing about the k660i is the illumination of the keypads; these are not the common ones. When you receive a text the keypad backlight will blink, 4 times. It will illuminate then fade out, then illuminate again then fade out. When the phone is on standby mode, the keypad lightings are turned off and when you press any key, the lightings will go up and the icons on the right side of the phone, the shortcut icons for the web browsing lights up showing activity. By the way, these icons are colored red and look great when illuminated.
Now on to the multimedia part of the phone, the Sony Ericsson has the optimized media center, a 2 mpx camera with cybershot 2.0 UI, walkman 3.0 with megabass, and the Flash lite themes. The camera part of the k660i is very basic, it doesn’t have AF, as well as flash, however, images are ok. So with this I’ll give it an almost average score. Music player is ok as well, loudness is not that loud not that soft also, music are crisp and clear so an average here again. Nothing extraordinary in the media department.
Another thing that I like about the k660i is what I call the “Smart Search”, this is when you type a number on standby mode, all the contacts starting with that corresponding number shows up below. So when I call my friend for example who has a number of 0916-1234567, when I type 0916 his name will appear below the number along with the others who have the same starting number and when I go further by typing 123 the list narrows down until you have the contact you wish to call, an awesome feature indeed.
Messaging is nothing out of the ordinary but with the keypads it’s very easy and comfortable.
Connectivity is one of the fields the k660i focuses on, web browsing is made possible using the traditional Access NetFront HTML browser, this time it's the latest 3.4 version. Improvements here are the mouse pointer, the webpage map view, the "find on page" and "mark and copy" options.
Now that about sums it up, so to conclude, the k660i is not a high-end device but certainly a mid-end device with high-end features. One of the most interesting things is the “smart search” and the illumination. All-in-all, I am very satisfied with the k660i though the camera feature could have been improved more but that’s ok. Because of this, I would give the k660i 7 out of 10 stars for the mid-range value. I highly recommend you consider this one when you opt for a mid-range phone, nice and fun phone. Camera is the only department that disappoints me.

Pros:
Very light
Nice design
Keypad illumination is awesome
“smart search”
Optimized media center
Walkman 3.0
Nice screen
Nice phone for the price range
Video calls camera

Cons
Camera is very basic
No AF
No Flash

Sony Ericsson P1i Review

2008-12-07T02:35:00.000-08:00

Sony has been releasing their p-series for quite some time now, it started back in 2002 when they released their first brand of the p series, the p800, and a year after it was the p900i and followed by the p910i and the p990i, however, these p series mentioned carried a trademark design which was a flip down keypad and gradually added new things in the keypad. However, now the Sony Ericsson portfolio of the p series has been extended once again, now with a daring and different look which followed the new m-series of Sony.
The box has the same design that of the m600i and the p990i. In my case, I was given a chance to choose from a warrantied unit and a non-warrantied unit, of course, I wanted the warrantied unit. But to my dismay, I faced a financial problem during the course of my “pag-iipon” and so I sticked with the non-warrantied unit. With the non-warrantied unit, the box will include the mobile phone with the battery, an extra stylus, a deskstand, a sony ericsson pc suite cd, a leather pouch, a headset, a usb cable, and a 512mb m2 mmc –but for the warrantied units it will come with a 1gb m2 mmb.
At first glance, the p1 gives you the feeling of “wow! That’s a hot phone!...for a smartphone! Ganda!!. I had that impression when I got my p1 and it really did live up to my expectations. When you hold the p1i, it really gives you the feeling of holding a multimedia device inside a smartphone device. On the right side of the phone you can see the memory card slot, the hardware shortcut key which you can customize, and a dedicated camera key. On the left side is the trade mark of ericsson which is the jog dial, then you have the back key and the strip eyelet. On top you can see the on/off button and the infrared port which seems so smooth because of the color similarity with the phone. The bottom part of the phone hosts the fast port and the microphone aperture which gives the users a light feeling looking at it, on top of the fast port however is a new addition, a light port which blinks yellow when you have a message and blinks red when your battery is low and needs charging. The stylus is located where it has always been located since the p900i, on the upper left corner of the phone. The video calls camera is located on the upper left corner on the front of the phone; sony has nicely and smoothly added the video calls camera without disturbing the design. I like the video calls camera’s look!
Enough with the outer appearance, I think I’ve given you enough “wows” for one day. Inside the phone supports a 160 MB shared memory, a 128 MB RAM, and a 256 MB ROM. On the data/connection side, the p1i supports GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) -Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, HSCSD (High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data), 3g, Wlan – Wi-Fi 802.11b, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2dp, an infrared port, and a usb cable v2.0. I’ve tried out the wlan of the mobile phone and I’ve got to say, it’s above average, it only lacks the space available in the screen, nonetheless it still does well in the connection and data department –didn’t have any problem with the sony ericsson p1i usb connection as to my Motorola v3x.
To start things off, I’ll go into the messaging department first. With the equipped hybrid QWERTY keyboard of the smartphone, it gives you some time to get used to it, but take my word and I guarantee it that when you have learned how to use the hybrid QWERTY, typing messages, emails, even editing office applications would be very trouble-free and prompt. You can set up your email as any other smartphones and even multimedia phones offer. Messaging has never been as easy thanks to the hybid QWERTY, you can type 3x as fast as the standard keypads.
Now let’s go to the entertainment department, first of is the camera, a 3.2 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, with autofocus and 3x zoom, it also supports unlimited video recording, depending on the free memory your phone has left. Basically, I was disappointed when I first tried the dual LED flash of the P1i, the flash went all around the pic and I couldn’t see anything, BUT, it was just the protective sitcker of the camera, when I took it off, it gave me great pictures! On the other hand video quality is recorded at 15fps at a QVGA resolution which is ok for me, it’s quite excellent. For the music player, for me, I really don’t mind the loudness of the music, as long as it plays crisp and clear music and with this said, I can say that P1i will be given 8 out of 10 stars which is pretty good for a smartphone, loudness as well rocks! There are two pre-installed games here, the quadrapop and the 3d golf, I like both the games pretty much and have been addicted with the quadrapop and the golf! Not looking for any new games YET, still loving it! FM radio depends on where you are and how well your reception is. Overall in the entertainment department I give it two thumbs up! Yeah! Sound recorder and music dj are also included here and need not to be rated.
With that said and done, it leaves me to two things that I really check out in a phone, the screen resolution and if a phone can do multiple things in a single time. Screen resolution of the p1i is great, even if it only supports 240x320 pixels in 256k colors inside a 2.6 inch screen, I give it a big YEAH! For multitasking, there’s no doubt that p1i does great!
That being said and done, I give the phone an 8.5 out of 10 rating! Hope you like my review! Cheers to sony!