Tag Archive for ‘QWERTY’
The first Android full-QWERTY slider from the Taiwanese leader in smartphones was the HTC Dream released back in June 2009. Now you have a successor in the HTC Desire Z. A closer look and it’s really the HTC Desire that just grew a sliding QWERTY keyboard from the outside. Inside, it’s another story, though close.
Familiar Features
Like the earlier Desire, the Z comes with the same 3.7-inch Super LCD capacitive touchscreen with 480 x 800 resolution and 16 million colors, plus accelerometer and proximity sensors and the multitouch input feature. It could have been AMOLED just like the first batch of HTC Desire handsets, but HTC has already shifted to S-LCD in the later batches as Samsung failed to deliver the needed quantities of the screens.
Then there’s the same 5-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, geo tagging and face detection. But the HTC Desire Z one-ups the Desire with 720p video recording courtesy of its higher Android v2.2 Froyo. But an upgrade on the older Éclair in the Desire should fix that.
Other Desirable Features
Powered by a Qualcomm MSM 7230 CPU clocked at 800 MHz, a bit less endowed than the 1GHz Snapdragon on the first Desire, the HTC Desire Z enjoys the same plethora of radio and data connectivity options, starting with a quad band GMS/GPRS/EDGE on 2G and a dual band UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA on 3G.
It comes with hotspot support from an upgraded WiFi 802.11 b/g/n with DLNA and local data connectivity like Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and microUSB v2.0. Other features include a stereo FM receiver with RDS, a 3.5mm audio jack, SatNav support with GPS, A-GPS and Digital Compass.
There’s a 1.5 GB onboard user memory with 512 MB RAM and up to 32GB microSD support. Its 1300 mAh Li-ion battery delivers 9.8 hours of call time on 2G, 6.6 hours on 3G with 430 hours on standby. Some very attractive HTC Desire Z contracts have already emerged and the handset is expected to hit shelves in late October.
Tags: 5-megapixel, Android-2.2-Froyo, Google-Android, HTC, HTC-Desire-Z, qualcomm, QWERTY, social-networking, Wi-Fi
We just came across a neat little site called archive.org, also known as The Way Back Machine. This site allows you to check out cached versions of websites from the past. What’s really interesting about this is it can give us a little snapshot of the state of the mobile industry in years past. For instance, we did a search for mobile phone comparison site best-mobile-contracts.co.uk and discovered that at the earliest archived date (May 2007), the Nokia E61 was the front page phone to own. You could get your hands on one for as little as £20 per month with 50 minutes of talk time and 75 text messages.
Three years is a long time in the mobile industry and the old Nokia E61 hasn’t really stood the test of time, sadly. No touchscreen, no camera and a 220 MHz processor that would be laughed at in the high end market today. It did have a full QWERTY keyboard and WiFi support, though, which is nice. Still, we think you’d expect a little more power for your twenty quid a month these days… We’ve come a long, long way.
Tags: Nokia, Nokia-E61, QWERTY, Wifi
Fans of Google’s Android smart phones now have a new device to look forward to: the new Stream handset from electronics manufacturer Acer. The handset has been designed to deliver a complete Android experience when it comes to high end devices, which places the Stream on the same bracket as the Google Nexus One, HTC Desire, Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10, Samsung i9000 Galaxy S and Dell Streak Mini 5.
The only thing about the Acer Stream that buyers should remember is that online retailer eXpansys has retail exclusivity on the device, making it a very elusive Android smart phone. For those not too keen on ordering online, you might want to consider getting one of the other Android devices mentioned above.
For others, the Stream is very impressive handset that is worth trying out for one’s self.
The device’s look and form factor are pretty reminiscent of the Motorola Milestone –only this phone has better features but lacks a slide out QWERTY keyboard. But it does have those stylish line forms and slightly molded edges that give the handset a very solid look. At only 140 grams, the device is light and easy to handle, do not worry about placing it on your pocket as it will not encumber users.
The 3.7 inch AMOLED touch screen display easily matches the visual quality of all other smart phones in the bracket –with the exception of the Samsung Galaxy S which uses a super AMOLED screen. The Streak’s screen has a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels which makes viewing both websites and videos quite the experience.
The handset has plenty of focus on its HDMI features. The 5 mega pixel camera records videos at 720p HD (30 FPS) and it even comes with a mini HDMI output port for viewing content on larger screen displays.
Tags: 5-mega-pixel, Acer, Acer-Stream, AMOLED, Google-Android, QWERTY
