Reviews and News » Phone Review

Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M20: Decent Phone, Great GPS, Screen Too Small

Noel Kuhlman — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:11:49 +0000

The title of the “best GPS-phone” is still up for grabs, with no clear handset taking the cake, so far. Not that there’s any lack of competing units, though, with Nokia having a couple of models out there, HTC with the Cruise, Pharos and, of course, the Garmin-Asus partnership.

Garmin-Asus’ first phone, the Nuvifone G60, was a decent effort, although the Linux base (which they are abandoning) makes it very unattractive. Their second release, the Nuvifone M20, marries the same built-in navigation favors, along with Windows Mobile 6.1 at the helm.

In truth, the G60 is probably the better in-car GPS, with its larger display. While the M20 fits in the same GPS radio, software, maps and dashboard mounts, the device comes with a relatively small 2.8-inch screen, making excellent vision a primary requirement when used inside a vehicle. For what it’s worth, the navigation suite is excellent, with a powerful turn-by-turn navigation and a comprehensive POI database.

Physically, the M20 has a very attractive candybar form factor that’s compact and slim. The touchscreen display is sharp and bright, making for an excellent screen when performing regular phone functions. Fonts and icons are a tad too small, though, making the use of a stylus an absolute necessity.

Voice calls are topnotch, although the speakerphone adds a bit of noticeable echo. OS performance is decent, but not super fast, even with the installed 528MHz processor and 288MB of RAM. The 920mAh battery, if you keep the GPS radio turned on, should require frequent charging, at least once every day and a half.

Connectivity suite is quite complete, with HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Browsing, like much of the phone, is largely average, with quick page loads, but some delay with the set of functions (e.g. zoom). Being a Windows Mobile handset, it comes with one of the complete messaging capabilities around, along with being highly-extensible due to the wide number of available apps. The onscreen QWERTY is a problem, being too cramped for comfort. Other features include 4GB of onboard storage (no expansion options), a 3.0 megapixel camera (average quality, but unusable in poorly-lit settings) and decent multimedia capabilities.

Overall, the Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M20 is a decent phone that fails where it matters most: being a usable in-car GPS. While I love the phone design, the small screen is really quite the deal-breaker.

Samsung Jet: Great Multimedia Performance, Awesome Price

Noel Kuhlman — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:02:21 +0000

The Samsung Jet is arguably one of the best feature phones around. Yep, this high-profile handset isn’t a smartphone, yet packs a hardware suite that can put most handsets in that category to shame.

Speed was Samsung’s main battle call for the Jet, as it packs a hefty 800Mhz CPU in the guts. Despite the processing power, the phone doesn’t appear to be any faster than most other high-end phones. I blame Symbian for this – and probably a little on Samsung too.

Now that running like a speed monster is out of the way, we can now focus on the rest of the handset’s features, of which it packs plenty. The 3.1-inch display, for one, is gorgeous on an 800 x 480 resolution. Despite being resistive, touch response is well-implemented, making for an extremely usable phone, regardless of what you’re looking to do.

We loved the onboard media player, handling a wide variety of music and video formats, including almost every MPEG-4, H.263 and DivX file we threw at it. There are plenty of options to fiddle with, making the multimedia experience a largely complete one.

The 5.0 megapixel camera is also mighty impressive, with above-average quality in both stills and videos – a combination we rarely find in modern camera phones. There’s a good amount of shutter lag, however, but the quality more than makes up for it.

It supports a wide range of internet connectivity. Those we tested (Wi-Fi and 3.2Mbps HSDPA) offered great performance, loading pages capably. It’s not the fastest we’ve tried, but you won’t hear me complaining. It comes with a new tab-enabled full HTML browser that lets you surf up to five websites at a time, a big deal since we rarely see phones with the capability.

As a phone, phone and video calls were great, although battery performance hinges on the average. Other features of the handset include aGPS, a built-in radio, stereo Bluetooth and microSDHC expansion.

Overall, I like the Samsung Jet a lot. It’s even priced very competitively, making it a good option for those in search of a multimedia phone.

Nokia 6710 Navigator Review: Best GPS-Phone Package Around

Noel Kuhlman — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:56:36 +0000

While the Nokia 6710 Navigator isn’t the highest-profile phone around, it’s probably the best GPS phone package available today. That’s right, you are more than likely better off choosing it over competitors, such as the Garmin-Asus Nuvifone and the HTC Cruise.

It can handle most any type of location-based feature you need, with its hardware trio of a GPS radio, a compass and an accelerometer. GPS controls are great, especially with the dedicated Maps button and the zoom bar. It comes bundled with a lifetime license of Nokia Maps 3.0, giving you guided navigation right out of the box, along with a suction stand (for the dashboard) and a car charger. The software is pretty good, with detailed map coverage, although the license doesn’t come with the extra features (e.g. traffic updates).

What makes the 6710 a particularly great package, however, is that it’s a solid phone even without the GPS features. Running on a 600MHz ARM 11 processor, it’s exceptionally fast for a Symbian handset. Build is solid and the 2.6-inch display is bright and crisp (although some of you may be turned off with the relatively smaller size).

As a phone, the 6710 offers great voice reception. Even better, they made sure the speakerphone was topnotch, allowing you to use it in-car even without using Bluetooth. Messaging is complete – SMS, MMS, IM (Ovi Messenger is preinstalled) and email (almost every protocol and platform imaginable, except Blackberry Connect, is supported).

It’s pretty heavy on the features end. You get a 5.0 megapixel camera module with good quality, XpressMusic-level audio quality, full HTML browsing with expansive Flash support, Wi-Fi and 3G speeds.

Overall, the Nokia 6710 Navigator is one of the Finnish company’s best releases of late. If you can live with the smaller screen, it should as the best hardware to spend that cash you’ve been saving up for a GPS-phone.

Nokia Surge 6790: Arguably One Of The Best Entry-Level Smartphones Around

Noel Kuhlman — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:38:37 +0000

The Nokia Surge 6790 is an odd little handset. While it is a full-featured Symbian S60 phone, it comes with a quirky styling that resembles the glut of today’s square-paneled messaging handsets. Adding extra spice to the mix is the fact that the phone is relatively affordable, positioned as an entry-level smartphone for young users.

While it looks excessively large at first glance, the Surge is actually a highly-compact phone. Build is largely plastic and a bit flimsy in parts, although it handles well enough to inspire confidence. Despite the unusual looks, it’s actually very attractive. Screen is too small at 2.4-inches with a 320 x 240 resolution. There’s actually enough bezel on the phone’s front panel to allow for a much larger display, so Nokia’s decision not to use it is a bit disappointing.

The phone does make up for it, though, by going heavy on the features set. It comes with a full suite of messaging capabilities, including SMS, MMS, IM and Email (POP3, IMAP and Exchange). A good load of apps are also pre-installed, including a number of productivity, social media and entertainment software.

In terms of multimedia capabilities, the phone goes all out, with support for a wide range of formats, an FM tuner, XM radio, MobiTV and full support for AT&T’s streaming media services. Onboard 2.0 megapixel camera takes average quality stills and videos, though it does offer a good number of settings. Other features include 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, a full HTML browser (with Flash Lite), aGPS, Bluetooth and microSDHC card expansion.

Overall, the Nokia Surge 6790 makes a compelling case as one of the best entry-level smartphones around. While the unusual looks are something you’ll either love or hate, the rich set of features is especially attractive.

Sony Ericsson W518a Review: Great Music Phone, Plenty Of Features

Noel Kuhlman — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:58:51 +0000

The Sony Ericsson W518a is one of the few Walkman handsets to find its way into a US carrier’s roster. It’s a good choice too, being a capable music player with a handful of useful features to boot.

Music quality is naturally a high point, offering a terrific onboard player with plenty of options, including a good range of equalizer settings, playlists, album art, airplane mode and stereo widening. If your own library of tunes doesn’t suffice, you can also enjoy the onboard FM tuner and XM Radio app, as well as AT&T’s broadband video and music services.

Controls are a particular focus on this phone, which responds to both movement, shakes and gesture control. The accelerometer-powered movements might seem an odd way to control the music player, but it makes 100% sense as soon as you get used to it.

As a phone, it fits in the usual range of basic handset features and messaging talents, to go with overall good voice calls. Conversations sound clear, although there is an occasionally buzzing present, at times. It supports POP3 email.

The clamshell form factor is well-done, with very good music controls outside the flap. Inside display panel is a 2.25-inch screen, with 320 x 240 resolution. UI looks good and intuitive, but the phone controls offer much to ask for (as is the usual issue with Sony Ericsson phones).

Hardware features include a 3.2 megapixel camera (great image quality, with plenty of options), a GPS tuner and 3G connectivity. It also comes pre-bundled with a lot of useful third-party apps, including Facebook, JuiceCaster and more. Unfortunately, it only offers a WAP browser.

Overall, the Sony Ericsson W518a is a very good entertainment phone. For the $49.99 price (with contract), it’s an especially attractive purchase, given the high-quality music experience and the wealth of onboard apps.

Blackberry Tour 9630 Review: World-Roaming, Full-Featured, No Wi-Fi

Noel Kuhlman — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:27:57 +0000

The Blackberry Tour 9630 is RIM’s version of a global handset, combining the line’s well-known business talents along with international roaming capabilities. Supporting voice coverage in 220 countries and data connectivity in 175, it’s likely the only phone you’ll need to carry throughout all your travels.

Multi-country support, of course, is a double-edged sword. While it’s incredibly convenient being able to use the same number anywhere you are in the world, it does subject to international roaming rates, which can vary depending on which area you visit.

Physically, the Tour combines the aesthetics of both the Curve 8900 and the Bold, turning out a very attractive and compact handset. The keyboard is almost an exact replica of the one in the Bold, offering ample travel and excellent response. Rest of the control array is similarly capable, making the handset easy to navigate and use across-the-board.

Voice calls are downright pristine, a testament to RIM’s intent of making it usable anywhere in the world. Messaging is extensive, offering the same range as you get from pretty much every Blackberry unit, including SMS, MMS, IM, emails (multiple accounts) and visual voice mail (extra charges).

Other specs include aGPS, a 3.2 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, data tethering to a PC (extra charges) and full HTML browsing. It supports high-speed uploads and downloads, although Blackberry surprisingly took out Wi-Fi from the equation. As such, you’re stuck having to pay for expensive data transmissions during your trips, instead of being able to use your phone at no cost when Wi-Fi is available.

The Blackberry Tour 9630 is a great option for anyone in search of a smartphone that you can bring around with your during trips. Simply put, very few phones in the market can match its balance of international roaming and office capabilities, although the lack of Wi-Fi sticks out as a real sore thumb.

Nokia N97 Review: Not The Flagship Handset I Was Expecting

Noel Kuhlman — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 07:25:06 +0000

Bandying itself as a “mobile computer” doesn’t really do the N97 any favors, given that we’ve already long known it’s running on a processor and guts that aren’t all that much different from your run-of-the-mill smartphone. More to that end, the S60 hardly inspires the thought of an ideal “mobile PC” OS.

Being the manufacturer’s second touchscreen phone, the interface has considerably matured compared to their first effort. They’ve also implemented a new widgetized home screen. Unfortunately, there are barely any widgets available (even at the Ovi Store), making it an exercise in futility (at least, for now).

Nokia gets design points for the style of the N97 – it’s an attractive piece of machine. For a flagship handset, though, it uses a little too much plastic (to keep the weight down, most likely), making me a little comfortable about calling it the manufacturer’s best device (sadly, I still think it’s the N71). Build does seem very sturdy, though, despite the plastic.

As Nokia has always done with their higher-end units, the screen is gorgeous, with crisp lines and bright colors. The 3.5-inch resistive touchscreen display on the N97 is probably one of the best you can find on handsets today, with very good accuracy and response. Pulling out the QWERTY keys immediately positions the screen at a 40-degree angle (which I like) that, unfortunately, is fixed (which I don’t like).

As a phone, I wasn’t too impressed with the call quality on the handset. I’ve tried cheap messaging phones that offered the same level of clarity during voice calls. Messaging, however, is pretty nifty, including the super-fast email interface.

Browsing is a great experience on the handset, with quick page loads and good support for a variety of Flash content. Multimedia is similarly high-end, although the interface leaves much to ask for It packs one of the best built-in speakers I’ve ever heard on handset. Other features include an aGPS, 5-megapixel optics and, of course, support for the Ovi Store.

Overall, I don’t find the N97 all too exciting a proposition. Until Nokia can come up with a way to get developers to flood the Ovi Store with apps, I doubt the handset can get any more interesting than the boring device that it is.

iPhone 3GS Review: More Speed, Greater Potential

Noel Kuhlman — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:32:57 +0000

While most manufacturers choose to do an overhaul whenever they’re faced with the task of “rebooting” a phone model, Apple chose to use the opportunity as a way to build upon the last iteration. As such, the new iPhone 3GS feels more like an upgraded version of the handset instead of an entirely new device.

Externally, the two phones are nearly identical, with only a slight difference in weight keeping them apart. Inside, however, the 3GS received major hardware updates that, for the most part, is akin to upgrading your PC’s guts. You’re still running the same programs, but they’re faster, with the option to run new software that just wasn’t possible with your old rig.

The hardware updates also happen to coincide with the advent of iPhone OS 3.0, which brings an innumerable number of improvements to the platform. Results are pleasing, to say the least, bordering on awesome.

As with any hardware upgrade, speed is a tremendous benefit. The iPhone simply runs faster with every single application (provided it doesn’t depend on the 3G connection), from the native functions to the downloaded games. The boot-up sequence alone is accomplished in half the time. These speed gains, of course, are offset a bit by AT&T’s failure to hold up their end of the bargain – no 7.2Mbps HSPA, no MSS and no data tethering until the latter half of the year. Once those things come, though, we should be able to better judge how much faster the 3GS really is.

The camera module, typically an ignored hardware component of the iPhone, has received plenty of attention so far and for good reason. Not only did they bump it up to 3 megapixels, but it has received a good range of capabilities (autofocus and video recording, among others) that render it a very usable feature. The images are far from perfect by any means (some blurriness are apparent, especially with poor lighting) but it’s a very good optics box that you wouldn’t mind using.

What’s most exciting about the hardware upgrades for this iteration, for me, are the new graphics processor and the magnetometer. Both components simply allow for a wide range of new apps to come to the platform. While their benefit is not easily experienced, it’s something I know will figure prominently in the future.

Simply put, the iPhone 3G S is a surprising upgrade. It doesn’t change the game at the surface, but really holds the potential to down the line.

Five Things The Palm Pre Needs To Improve On

Noel Kuhlman — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:50:53 +0000

Used a Palm Pre yet? It’s a great experience, to say the least. Their new webOS platform is a definite step-up for mobile phones in general and will definitely change the game for the better. As with any gadget, though, it could use a little more improvement.

1. Better keyboard. The Pre’s keyboard, no matter how you spin it, is just plain too cramped. Palm should take lessons from Blackberry about how to do better present a vertically-oriented QWERTY panel. With that said, Palm needed to implement an onscreen keyboard on webOS. It would just make life so much easier. While I’m probably still going to use the physical keys for actual messages, it’s just a hassle having to slip the QWERTY out just to enter a password.

2. A new battery. Battery life sucks and it is a universal issue. Palm has already identified a couple of software bugs that are causing the drain, although I think it’s a problem for the OS all around. Fix those and put longer-lasting batteries on the next batch of shipments, please.

3. Storage. While 8GB may have been acceptable last year, it hardly makes sense now, with top-end smartphones being bought as much for apps as they are for regular features. If you can’t be bothered to add extra flash in there, why not just give us the option of using SD cards? Trying to go the route of the iPhone much?

4. Universal Search needs to be universal. I missed this the first time I tried the Pre out, but seriously, guys – no search for emails and calendars? Those are like two of the most important areas that Universal Search needs to work in and you don’t. That’s dropping the ball in a huge way.

5. Better MS Exchange support. If you’re going to be my business phone, you have to embrace MS Exchange as if your life depended on it. While the Palm Pre does it somewhat, it’s limited in a lot of ways. Look at how those Nokia business phones make love to MS Exchange – do that!

Palm Pre Review: Great OS That Could’ve Used Better Hardware

Noel Kuhlman — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:33:48 +0000

With Apple’s unveiling of the new iPhone 3GS yesterday, which comes without multi-tasking, the Palm Pre remains the sole smartphone with the feature on board. Does the sound of yesterday’s iPhone announcement leave you waiting for its release or did it make you turn your attention back to the Pre? Perhaps this short review can help sway your mind.

The Pre, as far as I’m concerned, is the only phone in the market that can really stand up in terms of actual features against the iPhone. While future Android handsets may change that stance, it’s the only truth that stands today. Instead of slapping high-end phone hardware into a box and looking for an OS to take charge of it, Palm went about it the other way, crafting a brilliant platform and putting together a handset that will take advantage of it.

Physically, the Pre is an attractive phone. While not as slick as some of today’s devices, it bears a look that it can call its own. Featuring more pocketable dimensions than many high-end smartphones, along with a surprisingly sturdy build, it won’t lose any design points anytime soon.

The 3.1-inch display is both bright and crisp, apart from facilitating an extremely responsive touch experience. Multi-touch is a bundle of joy those not privy to its charms (i.e. don’t own an iPhone) will discover makes a huge difference in the way a touchscreen is able to facilitate controls. That’s not to say you’ll be enjoying it as soon as you pick up your handset. On the contrary, the Pre’s multi-touch commands are hardly intuitive and will require some amount of learning before you get used to it. After that initial slowdown, though, I doubt you’ll ever want to go back to non-multi-touch phones again.

UI, as you’ve probably seen from the online screenshots, is gorgeous, with plenty of nice touches that make working on the phone easier. Features such as the Universal Search (one search interface to go through all apps and files), easy access to the connection settings (a must for any web-connecting smartphone) and the message notification system (which appears as a non-intrusive bar regardless of what you’re working on) simply put a crowning touch to the immensely easy navigation system.

As we said earlier, multi-tasking sets the Pre apart from competitors, enabling users to run all sorts of applications (including third-party ones) in parallel with no detrimental effect on performance. Suffice to say, this feature will see plenty of use from me, along with probably everyone else who picks up on of Palm’s webOS handsets in the future.

With regards to phone features, the Pre capably manages, offering pretty much every feature in the book save for a couple of overlooked items I don’t personally use (though they may be important to you): voice dialing and visual voicemail. Messaging, from SMS to email, is well-executed with plenty of thought going behind their implementation.

Like most pieces of technology, I do have some problems with it. The slide-out QWERTY keyboard is the most apparent, with its cramped frame making typing a tad more difficult to get used to. It’s not a deal-breaker, as we all eventually learn to get used to working with smaller keys, but it really takes a lot away from the early experience. Similarly, the memory (at 7GB) is a tad too limited for a phone that’s intended to be used as a platform for apps. With no card expansion available, it’s quite a disappointing specification. Other things that may dissuade you include the lack of Flash support and video capture, along with a general feeling of sluggishness (just slight) on the handset.

Regardless of the caveats, the Pre ($199 with contract, after a $100 rebate) is an amazing piece of work that marries a great OS with a hardware that’s good enough to exploit it. Whether this saves both Palm and Sprint from certain demise, however, is still up in the air.

Reviews and News » Phone Review

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