What’s Good: Supports every feature Sprint offers; EV-DO Rev. A data speeds; Good touchscreen response; Bright, clear display; Excellent GPS/navigation and voice command features; Good visual voicemail feature; 3.5mm headphone jack and stereo Bluetooth; Second battery included in packaging; Excellent value at $129 retail price
What’s Not Good: “Full HTML” Web browser is disappointing; No IM support; No calendar synching; No support for user-created ringtones or background images on menu screens; No phone as modem support on mandatory Simply Everything plan
Bottom Line: Sprint’s new flagship media phone is a very good device, even if I wish they’d skipped the whole “Instinct vs iPhone” marketing campaign. The Web browser needs work and mobile IM addicts will be left in the cold by Instinct, but otherwise Instinct offers solid support across a huge variety of features and excellent implementation of GPS-based navigation and voice activated commands in particular. Though plans start at a hefty $70/mo, if you use the unlimited data, navigation, and Sprint TV it’s actually a good value. And you can’t beat the $129 price tag.
Specs:
Make/Model: Samsung Instinct (M800)
Network: CDMA 850 / 1900
Data: 1x EV-DO Rev. A (3G)
Carrier: Sprint
Size: 116 x 55 x 12.4 mm
Weight: 128 g
Form Factor: Candybar with Full Touchscreen
Display: 3.2” Color LCD, 240 x 432 resolution, 262,000 Colors
Notable Features: GPS with navigation; Support for Sprint Music Store, Sprint TV, Streaming music services; Voice control system; First Sprint EV-DO Rev. A device for consumers
After being featured on YouTubes homepage yesterday for the fifth time it’s official that Noah Kravitz is one of the best at explaining all things cellular. What makes his videos so popular is the fact he interacts with his viewers and answers as many questions as he can in follow up videos. Most of his videos are well structured to give the veiwer a chance to experience the device first hand.
It seems as thought Skyfire is posed to takeover the mobile internet browser market with its Beta 2 version set to be released some time soon. No other browser - not even the famed Opera Mini can compete with the speed, functionality and overall user experience Skyfire delivers. Unfortunately it only works with Windows based mobile phones (versions 5 & 6) for now so all of you Nokia S60 3rd gen owners will just have to wait a little longer.
Below is a video clip of the press conference held by Skyfire earlier this year. I just wish they had a better camera angle - maybe a big screen Plasma would have helped, but I guess everyone is on a budget nowadays
Goto to Skyfire.com and register to be notified when they are going to release Beta 2
Apple announced today they are granting unrestricted access to the iPhone’s source code through the now ready SDK allowing third parties the freedom to developed any number of applications and games. Also Apple announced their intentions to make the iPhone more corporate friendly by adding more functionality specifically to the email and calender syncing capabilities.
At a Glance: Ratings:
Styling: 4
Ease of Use: 4
Display: 4
Voice Quality: 4
Battery Life: 5
Quality / Durability: 5
What’s Good: Compact, stylish Windows Mobile 6 smartphone; HSDPA (3G) high speed data; Improved battery life; GPS; Center mounted jog wheel
What’s Not Good: QWERTY keys are a little small and a little slippery; No touchscreen; Display is smallish for a smartphone
Bottom Line: Blackjack II is a solid improvement over its predecessor. There’s nothing revolutionary here, but faster hardware, improved battery life, and speedy 3G data make this a worthy update to the popular original.
Specs:
Make/Model: Samsung Blackjack II (SGH-i617)
Network: GSM Quad-Band
Data: HSDPA (3G)
Carrier: AT&T (Locked)
Size: 114 x 61 x 13 mm
Weight: 116 g
Form Factor: Candybar
Display: 2.4” Color LCD, 320 x 240 (QVGA) Resolution, 65,000 Colors
Memory: 155 MB built-in, microSD card slot
Notable Features: Windows Mobile 6 Standard OS; QWERTY thumbpad; Front-mounted jog dial navigation; Integrated GPS; 2-megapixel camera; Supports AT&T Video Share videocalling
Where do you turn when you need an immediate answer? Mom, Dad, Friend, colleague or Google/YouTube?
I find myself Googling for just about everything including believe it or not - Spell check! Yes it’s faster for me to type a misspelled word into my Google tool bar than it is to take the time to load MS word (all of 1 sec, but what the hey)!
Here is a short list of stuff I had to Google for just today (it was a light day, plus I can’t remember half of them):
Is the Nokia n78 a touch screen
Grams to ounces conversion
MM to inches conversion
Wordpress themes
Keurig (I originally spelled it wrong “kuerig”)
Alltel Voice Max
Apple iphones SDK roadmap (need images)
The funny thing is that even if I know the name of the website it is still faster to use Google (fixes any typos automatically). There is definitely a fine line between being efficient and being lazy huh?
Now we come to Youtube, once just a place to get your 15 minutes of fame to a legitimate information resource portal.
I became an even bigger fan of Youtube after taking on a remodeling project for a friend of mine that at the time was somewhat —-well actually totally over my head. I started off like so many others before me and headed to Lowes and sat in front of the “How to” book section and perused all of their ”Best Sellers” (insert sarcasm here) and found that I was going to have to shell out some serious cash if I wanted to cover all the bases.
Luckily I came to my senses and loaded up Youtube on my phone (still at Lowes) just to see what would come up. During the next 15 minutes or so I must have entered everyone of my ”How do I” or “How to” questions and to my surprise I had a list of what must have been a hundred videos on everything from how to hang kitchen cabinets to installing wood flooring on a concrete slab! Not only did Youtube save me time, money, but the embarrassment of having to purchase so many books ;p
So the question of the day has to be - “What’s the next step for Youtube and Google”? A full fledged Wikipedia style tutorial section would be nice….
It’s amazing how such a simple thing as a single serve coffee maker can make you actually want to get out of bed in the morning. I recently purchased a Keurig special edition B60 series after seeing one at a local car dealership. It was the bet $160 I’ve ever spent (unless you count that time in Vegas, but that is another story).
There is nothing better than not having to clean the coffee pot, buy filters, measure coffee and wait endlessly for it to brew (or in my case burn). Now I simply fill the container with water and program the unit to turn on 2:00 minutes before my alarm goes off and I am good to go.
Other than the obvious benefits of time savings and convenience, the mere fact that several people can all use the same machine to have a different flavored coffee is “Priceless”!
Although I don’t think I’ve every bought anything in the Sharper Image, I still enjoyed taking a load off and relaxing for a few minutes in one of the many massage chairs that line the front of the store. I’m especially going to miss the lower calf massager. It will be a sad day for many tired mall shoppers if they fail to secure the $60 million they are requesting.
I guess there is always Brookstone if one needs an overpriced set of barbecue utensils!
The N96 does everything well - pictures, video, music, internet and high speed connectivity plus it is powered by a 3rd gen Software and OS combination that makes other so called high-end handsets seem rather weak.
Highlights:5.0MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics, HSPDA,GPRS,EDGE data and Wifi capability, Video record (30fps VGA), Digital TV tuner, TV out, GPS and of course games (”Star Wars - The Force Unleashed”). I’m not a big fan of video games (first person shooters always induce motion sickness in .5 sec), but the game play and graphics look very impressive.
I especially like the fact that you don’t have to use the touch screen all of the time to navigate through the menu system. I spend way too much time cleaning finger prints and smudge marks off of the front (and back) of my iPod Touch.
Between Sony Ericsson’s extensive lineup of new phones including the now famous XPERIA X1 and Samsung latest offerings at this years MWC in Barcelona, 08 is shaping up to be a battle of the smartphones …….oh and did forget to mention the possibility of a 3G iPhone being released before the end of this month!!! Stay tuned…..
In any event it is good news for consumers as the more competition combined with the new “openness” of the US carriers should drive the prices down to reasonable levels ($800 for a cell phone??? come now!)
I like the fact that Mitsubishi decided to do away with the front wheel drive and go with and the AWD system borrowed from the Lancer. The car will sport a 2.2 turbo diesel 4cyl putting out 204bhp and 301 lb ft of torque. We all know that its the torque that turns the tires so the relatively low hp number shouldn’t effect the performance.
Besides, it’s a turbo right? How long do you think it is going to take the tuners to come up with a kit to boost HP and Torque to Lancer levels?
The diesel setup should also provide much better fuel economy, less maintenance, less emmisions and increased durability. However it is doubtful the production model will have the Lambo esque’ doors or thankfully that hideous interior with its wrong color choice - too many angles and huge middle console (probably housing the rear driveshaft), but much of the other styling queues should make it to the final version.
Where do you turn when you need an immediate answer? Mom, Dad, Friend, colleague or Google/YouTube?
It’s amazing how such a simple thing as a single serve coffee maker can make you actually want to get out of bed in the morning. I recently purchased a Keurig special edition B60 series after seeing one at a local car dealership. It was the bet $160 I’ve ever spent (unless you count that time in Vegas, but that is another story).
