The HTC Flyer Arrives …
Not much to say about it, as the picture says it all! The Best Buy WiFi version of the HTC Flyer has just arrived, and I can’t wait to start playing with it! Just thought I would share my excitement! =)
Android
DoubleTwist Brings AirPlay to Android
I really like Apple’s AirPlay which allows you to use your Mac or iOS device to stream video or music to an Apple TV, powered speakers connected to an AirPort Express or one of the growing number of AirPlay enabled speaker systems. (In fact we have reviews of two such systems on the way.) I have expanded the “reach” of AirPlay in my home so that it is now available in four different rooms. I have, however, resisted jumping fully in because I don’t want to be completely and totally locked into Apple’s ecosystem. (Like I’m not totally locked in…
Gear Games Update: Playstation Network / Qriocity User Data Compromised
Yesterday I wrote about the ‘ongoing PSN outage saga’. Today things get worse. Sony has confirmed what all users feared – personal user and account information has been compromised and ‘may’ have been stolen. Here is the full text of a message I got and that every PSN and Qriocity member will get: Valued PlayStation Network/Qriocity Customer: We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19, 2011, certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account information was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network. In response to this intrusion, we have: Temporarily turned off…
The HTC HD2: A WinMo Story with an Android Happy Ending
When the EU model of the HD2 came out in late 2009, it was one of the coolest phones I had ever seen. Knowing it was coming to the US a few months later, I had to decide if I was going to ditch my Mytouch and pick one up. The hardest part about doing that was that the HD2 still ran Windows Mobile 6.5. If you ever had that OS, or if you still have it now, then you know that there is much to be desired with that operating system, and it should for all intents and purposes…
Android Device Review: The HTC Verizon ThunderBolt
It’s becoming a problem for me that HTC keeps releasing some of their higher-end phones on Sprint and Verizon; see, I am an AT&T customer. One of my old excuses for why I wouldn’t switch to Verizon was that they were CDMA and therefore didn’t use a SIM card. Not using SIM cards (which are easily swappable into other phones) is a huge problem for people who like to use more than one phone, or in other words, people like me. That’s why the ThunderBolt, a phone that I have thoroughly enjoyed testing, became a bit of a conundrum. It…
How to Win the Tablet War Against the iPad? It’s Not Even a Battle, I’m Afraid
Brandon over on Just Another iPhone Blog has a provocative post up today entitled “How to Win the Tablet War Against the iPad”. The simple answer to the title is: sell a Wi-Fi Samsung Galaxy Tab for just $349.99. That’s a full $150 less than you can get an iPad 2 for. Both have 16 GB of storage. Both are only Wi-Fi enabled. One costs $150 less. Brandon makes some good arguments about why this is the right strategy. His core point, So, this is how you win the war. You build a solid device and you sell it at…
Android Device Review: Motorola Atrix, Laptop Dock and Media Dock
It was my last day at CES 2011 and we had already had quite a full morning. I was exhausted, but Francis just kept pushing. “I want to go see Motorola. I want to go see Motorola.” And he kept whining, “I want to go see what Motorola is offering and I want to go now.” He wore me down. So I acquiesced. Okay, so perhaps that’s not exactly how it happened. In actuality it went something like this: Francis – “Hey Dan, what do you say we go check out Motorola?” Me – “Sure.” And, thanks to Francis, we…
A Quick Look at the HTC Verizon 4G LTE ThunderBolt
Later today you’ll be able to buy the HTC ThunderBolt from Verizon for $299 with a two-year contract; yesterday I received a review unit, and I have spent much of the day (and evening) getting acquainted with it. The 4.3″ WVGA screen is beautiful, and it’s immediately reminiscent of one of my all-time favorite devices, the HTC HD2. You’ll likely hear quite a few comparisons to the HD2 as I work my way through this post and the resulting review, because more than any device since its introduction, the ThunderBolt feels like the HD2’s worthy successor. The ThunderBolt is hefty!…
Android Mobile Phone Review: T-Mobile MyTouch 4G
I have wanted to like Android for quite some time. I really did. I kept trying device after device hoping that the next device would be “the one”. Sadly, that never seemed to happen. Even with those devices that I initially liked I found myself growing tired of both the device and the operating system within a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Android handsets I purchased ended up on eBay within a relatively short period, and those that I had received as loaner review units went back without any remorse on my part. Yes, I wanted…
Honeycomb’s Strawman
I’ve noticed a troubling and confusing theme in reviews and comments about Google’s new OS, Honeycomb. It seems everyone thinks it’s great, but there’s an anti-Xoom, anti-Honeycomb meme that keeps appearing about the lack of Honeycomb-specific apps in the Marketplace. This is what’s called a “Straw man” argument. Rather than argue Honeycomb on its actual merits, pros and cons, they’re trotting out something that sounds awful (Honeycomb has very few apps) and using it as a distraction. Now, I can’t comment too deeply on Honeycomb, but I’ve played around with Android on a tablet with a rooted NOOKcolor, and I…
MWC: One Last Look at Mobile World Congress 2011
Beyond hamming it up with wandering oompah bands at Mobile World Congress, Helena and I managed to get hands-on time with some of the new devices and technologies that will be causing a stir in 2011 and beyond! HTC’s New Android Devices HTC won me over with their lovely new ChaCha. After using the BlackBerry Bold for a week, with its tiny little keys that I never got used to, the generously sized keys on the ChaCha, along with its softly curved body … I so wish that my Tru SIM had been installed in one of these babies. Helena…
MWC: AppUp, MeeGo, Open Source, and Tablets
The partnership between Nokia and Microsoft that was announced the other day has caused some speculation that the Intel powered AppUp store in general, and the MeeGo in particular might be the losers in this story. Helena and I spoke with Peter Biddle, General Manager to AppUp Products and Services, and he said that despite this partnership, AppUp and Meego will thrive. Proprietary systems have a place in the ecosystem, and so do open ones. Further scaling the development of flexible, open software platforms and applications for all mobile devices, Intel demonstrated a compelling new MeeGo tablet user experience to…
MWC: Hands-On Photos with Sony’s Three New Experias
CES saw the release of the new Sony Ericsson Experia Arc, but tonight we got to see three new Experias: the neo, the pro and the long-awaited PLAY — the Playstation phone. Oh my. I had a chance to attend the press conference where these were introduced, and a moment to fondle all three. The Experia neo: The phone I am most excited about personally is the neo; it has a beautiful screen and an amazing camera that works well in even the worst lighting situations. This phone is very media focused, and it comes equipped with HDMI support, an…
Review: HTC Desire HD / AT&T Inspire 4G
Mitchell Back in early 2010 I reviewed the HTC Desire, and I liked it a lot. I liked it so much that I actually bought one the day that it was launched here (which lined up well with the day the review unit went back). Unfortunately the love affair ended about 2 months later, and I returned to my iPhone. Why? Apps. Not just the selection of apps, but the polish that so many iOS apps display that other platforms didn’t at the time. My iPhone also had the major advantage of being jailbroken so it was even better. As…
#1 Reason the Motorola Xoom WILL Fail (But Shouldn’t)
Everyone seems to be freaking out about the recently revealed pricing for the upcoming Motorola XOOM tablet. On the surface that seems silly: the XOOM has a dual-core processor, a 1280×720 10.2 inch touch screen, two cameras (a 5MP rear camera with flash and a 2MP ‘webcam’), as well as the latest Android 3.0 operating system. On paper it seems like the XOOM completely blows away the iPad, but as we have learned with the fictitious Samsung Tab sales numbers, having better specs means little. An article at eWeek lists 10 reasons why the XOOM is overpriced, but there was…
Samsung Tab Afterglow Reality Check: ‘Quite Small’ Sales, Quite Large Returns
If you are like me, you love the iPad but were thrilled to see Samsung doing well with the Galaxy Tab. I wrote back at the beginning of December how the Galaxy Tab had sold 1 million units in two months, and Doug wrote about more mainstream attention being paid to the wonderful little Tablet. Personally I think we all benefit from competition – just look at the huge things Nintendo has done in 6 years with the DS in the face of competition from Sony and Apple compared to the tiny changes they made to the GameBoy over 15…
Droid Does Smartphone Monogamy
I bought my Motorola Droid in December of 2009. 2009 was a very busy year for me with smartphones; I started with an original iPhone, then became frustrated with the notification system and jumped ship to Windows Mobile. That lasted only a few months before I jumped ship AGAIN, to a Nokia E71x. I didn’t love Symbian, so I jumped yet again to Windows Mobile Smartphone, which lasted all of two minutes before I went back to the iPhone again. Finally, a combination of factors led me to switching to Verizon from AT&T, and I switched to my Droid…the last…
Gear Diary at CES Brought to You by Google
We hope you enjoyed Gear Diary’s coverage of CES 2011! All of the editors of the site worked with various devices, but they all had one thing in common: Google. Yes, Gear Diary at CES was brought to you by various Google OSes and services. What were our favorite Google-y gadgets? Read on to find out! Carly My day job is fairly restricted, and so I don’t have access to anything behind the scenes at Gear Diary on my work PC. Thankfully, I have the CR-48 Chrome OS computer, and that made my life very easy all week while Dan,…
First Ever Demo- Motorola Atrix 4? Phone To 20? Desktop to… 24? iMac
Francis and I got to spend some intimate time with Motorola’s Xoom powerhouse tablet and Atrix smartphone and we came away impressed. Toward the end of the demo we asked for a chance to try something new; we asked to take over the Atrix while it was connected to a 20″ monitor, keyboard and mouse and use it, in conjunction with LogMeIn, to take over my 24″ iMac in New Jersey. The result… The smartphone took over and controlled my Mac seamlessly. We asked if anyone else had done this, and were told this was, at least in their experience,…
CES: Handsets and Tablets, Oh MY! All from Motorola!
Today at CES Verizon had their day in the sun! During that announcement they officially announced what looks like a great handset in the new Droid Bionic, plus the new Xoom Tablet. Both are due to hit Verizon early this year. The Droid Bionic boasts from the press release: Packing a dual core processor with each core running at 1GHz, delivering up to two GHz of processing power, and 512 MB RAM, the sleekly designed DROID BIONIC smartphone with 4G LTE delivers a mobile Internet experience that’s up to 10 times faster than 3G. This means consumers can stream their favorite…
CES: T-Mobile Press Event and their Newest Tablets
Very exciting tablet details coming from T-Mobile at CES! Phillip Humm, T-Mobile CEO & president and CEO and Dr. JS Park, president and CEO of LG introduced the G-Slate from LG & T-Mobile. T-Mobile has fastest data in top 10 markets according to Nielsen. 900K 4G devices sold. T-Mobile is focused on affordable smartphones and tablets, aggressive plans and pricing, and rich and compelling services. Aggressive 4G data plans starting at $10/month. Data traffic on their network doubles every 12 months. Neville Ray, T-Mobile CTO, said that their network is 160% larger than Verizon’s new 4G, and 40% more major…