Everything You Need to Know About the G1 – Google Phone

September 23 was G1 day. The much awaited and highly anticipated Google-Powered Phone, Google Phone, Google Android Phone or whatever you may want to call it was finally announced by Google, T-Mobile and HTC. It made three major companies to make it happen, T-Mobile, HTC and Google joined forces to bring what people are calling the iPhone killer. But does it really match up to Apple’s very popular and widely used iPhone 3G? For those who are planning to take the G1 plunge, here is possibly everything that you need to know about the G1.
Feature Highlights – Of course, if you are looking into an iPhone killer, first feature that you will have to look into is whether the phone supports touchscreen. Well, the G1 certainly does. The G1 offers instant access to key information with the mere touch of a finger. Just tap the screen and you’re good to go. Next up, mobile browsing capability. The Google Phone offers quick and easy access to the Internet with rich web content. Then we have the camera features, in this department the G1 beats the iPhone 3G with its 3MP camera as compared to the iPhone’s 2MP. Even sweeter is the built-in auto-focus feature of its camera. The G1 also boasts of customizable home screen where you can drag and drop any of your favorite applications, photos, or folders onto your home screen for quick access to your frequently used applications. Want more features? The G1 seems won’t run out of good features to boasts of. It also has a full QWERTY keyboard, one feature which the iPhone certainly doesn’t have. The G1’s keyboard is well placed in a hinged screen slides which you can just slide close to avoid accidental dialling. Then of course, this is a Google Phone, so it must have full access to various Google applications. And it does, in fact users can easily access this Google applications through one-touch h control. These applications include Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, one-click Google Search and Video Playback support. Other features of the G1 include; IM/Text/Email feature, Music player, 3G network and WiFi access.

The Android Market – The next important feature of the G1 which would certainly match up to the iPhone is of course the Android Market or the G1’s iTunes, where users can have access to third party applications developed specifically for the G1. The G1 Android Market offers one touch access, customize and personalization of the device with software applications such as games, social networking and on-the-go shopping. Of course the G1 comes preloaded with free applications to although these applications are nothing to brag about. We still have to wait and see if third party applications for the G1 would be as useful or not as useful as the iPhone applications.
The T-Mobile Deal – As the G1 is exclusively distributed by T-Mobile, the phone carrier is offering the G1 for $179 with a two-year service contract. T-Mobile is making the G1 available on October 22 with $25 dollar data option for 400messages/web, 35 dollar option for unlimited web/messaging.

Full Specs and Details:

• Qualcomm MSM7201A™, 528 MHz Processor
• Android OS
• 192MB RAM
• 158 grams
• 3.2-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with 320×480 HVGA resolution
• HSDPA/WCDMA Network – Europe 2100 MHz, US 1700/2100 MHz, Up to 7.2mbps down-link (HSDPA) and 2 mbps up-link (HSUPA) speeds;
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• Trackball with Enter button device control
• Slide-out 5-row QWERTY keyboard
• GPS navigation capability with built-in GPS receiver and map software
• Bluetooth2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
• HTC ExtUSB (11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
• 3.2 megapixel color camera with fixed focus
• Built-in microphone and speaker
• Ring tone formats: AAC, AAC+, AMR-NB, MIDI, MP3, WMA, WMV, 40 polyphonic and standard MIDI format 0 and 1 (SMF)/SP MIDI
• Up to 350 minutes talk time for WCDMA,406 minutes talk time for GSM; Standby time up to 402 hours for WCDMA and up to 319 hours for GSM
• MicroSD memory card support;
• Digital Compass and motion sensor as special features.

T-Mobile has already started accepting pre-orders for the G1 phone, although as of press date, virtually the projected stocks are already depleted even before the G1 phone is released. That only goes to show how highly anticipated the G1 phone is.

The success of the G1 phone still remains to be seen though. If third party developers would enter into the Android market, then the iTunes apps store might be in trouble. And there is also news of other mobile manufacturers who might come up with their own Google Android power mobile handset in the future. Hence Apple is up with not just the HTC-branded G1 phone but soon, other mobile handsets from other mobile phone manufacturers ahead.

Virgin Mobile USA’s First EV-DO Handset - the Shuttle

Virgin Mobile USA is bringing its first EV-DO handset to the US soon via the Shuttle.The Shuttle will be the first handset that will integrate several Helio features including improved access to social networking communities and other mobile internet sites with Virgin Mobile’s partnership with content providers such as Accuweather, ESPN, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Yahoo and many more. The Shuttle will also be VM first’s location-based services through its ULocate service. These services include; the friendfinder solution Buddy Beacon, and local information discovery and recommendation service Wher. For its mobile phone features, the VM Shuttle is loaded with a 1.3 megapixel camera, a 2-inch screen, video capture, playback and messaging, an integrated media player that supports streaming and sideloaded music, a stereo Bluetooth, and SD card support. In addition to these features, Virgin Mobile USA is also introducing its mobile web data packs to its customers as add-ons to calling plans. These plans include; monthly plans of $5.00-20 MB surf the web plus unlimited BirginXL (wap deck) $10.00-50 MB and unlimited VXL. For Virgin Mobile’s Pay as you Go plan, the cost would be $5.00-5MB surf the web, $10.00 20MB unlimited VXL, $20.00-50MB unlimited VXL. Other features of the Virgin Mobile Shuttle include;EV-DO 3G for mobile browsing and content downloading, mobile phone games, animated and real music ringtones, 253 minutes of talk time and 2 weeks of standby time on a single charge, 500 contacts capacity and has Virgin Mobile USA’s Contact Vault.

MWG Zinc II

Going all the way in Singapore, MWG which the smartphone arm of O2 in Asia has released a new smarthphone in the Singaporean market - the MWG Zinc II. The MWG Zinc II is a Windows Mobile 6.1 powered smarthphone which boasts of a slide-out keyboard. But the Zinc II’s keyboard has no real keys, instead the keyboard area is flat with raised bevels around the key areas. The MWG Zinc also features a quick menu and it can be quickly launch using a touch button in the phone’s today screen. The quick menu features four functions/shortcuts which are the Windows Media Player, pictures and videos, camera and games. It also feature a finger swiping feature for accesing contacts and other short cuts. On its network connectivity features, the MWG Zinc II boasts of a 3.6mbps HSDPA speeds, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a GPS antenna. The GPS also features a nifty viewer. The MWG Zinc II also features a 2-megapixel camera. Other features of the MWG Zinc II include; Samsung 500 MHz processor, 2.8-inch TFT QVGA Touch Screen, semi-automatic sliding mechanism with qwerty keypad, WLAN (802.11 b/g) and BT v 2.0, GPS SirF Star III, 64MB SDRAM,  256MB NAND Flash ROM, MicroSD expandable memory, speakerphone, stereo speaker, playback support: MIDI, MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, WVE, AMR, AAC, AAC+, DRM: OMA 1.0, Ringtone Support: MIDI, MP3, WMA. The MWG Zinc II offers up Standby time of up to (GSM) 200-260 hours and  Talk time of up to (GSM) 4-6 hours.

Introducing the dirt cheap Philips 198 and 199

Philips is set to release two new affordable phones for the Asian and European mobile phone market. Both handsets looks the same in design, dimension and features except that the 199 is equipped with FM radio and headsets. These two candy bar mobile phone pretty much carry the same features as their predecessor, the Philips 192 which was released not too long ago. And these features include; the simple black/white design, 65g weight and the 99 X 42 X 13.5 mm dimension. In addition to this similarities with the Philips 192, both Philips 198 and 199 boast of 1.5-inch CSTN color display with support for 62k colors and 128×128 pixel resolution, simple to use keypad, 4-way navigation key, polyphonic ringtones, 3 embedded games, miniUSB, SMS and MMS capabilities, T9 predictive text input and 800 mAh battery which can give out 5 hours of talk-time and 20 days stand-by time. Connectivity wise, the Philips 198 and 199 remind me of the old Nokia days, where dual-band GSM connectivity was a great feature. Yes, both these mobile phones has GPRS too. And guess how much the Philips 198 and 199 will retail in Asia and Europe? $68 and $70 respectively. Didn’t we say dirt cheap?

 

Mobiado intros another luxury phone - Professional 105 ZAF

 

After releasing the CAMO Professional phone, here comes Mobiado with yet again another luxury phone as it unveils the Mobiado Professional 105 ZAF mobile phone. This mobile phone beauty boasts of a shiny, metallic finish aside from touting itself as the world’s thinnest mobile handsets. Measuring a mere 10.6 mm thin, the Mobiado Professional 105 ZAF beats the thinnest mobile phone released so far - the Vertu phone at 22mm. Being a luxury phone, we would expect the 105 ZAF to be made of the finest materials. And indeed it was. Adorned by sapphire crystals from front to back, users will definitely be forced to take good care of this mobile phone. The phone’s keypads were made of stainless steel and its body with anodized aircraft aluminum. The Mobiado Professional 105 ZAF also supports quad-band GSM/dual-band WCDMA networks. And for its other features, the Mobiado Professional 105 ZAF boasts of 2-inch display with up to 16 million colors, 2.0 megapixel camera, 1GB of internal memory, Bluetooth, USB connectivity, music player that supports MP3, AAC, and eAAC. Unfortunately, Mobiado has not provided pricing details for the Professional 105 ZAF. But expect it to be expensive as it is not your ordinary mobile phone.

Philips’ got a new mobile music phone – the M600

Before I tell you the bad news, I’ll introduce you first to the latest mobile offering from Philips. If you would recall, Philips used to be an active player in the mobile phone market, especially during the time when the mobile phone industry was still in its early stages. Anyway, Philips still continues to make mobile phones and for its latest offering, Philips decided to come up with a music phone, the Philips M600. Yes, the M600 is a music mobile phone packing of a built-in SRS WOW feature for enhanced music surround quality. It has a quick access key for accessing the phone’s MP3 player, for adjusting volume and navigating music playlist. Sporting a sleek candy bar design, the Philips M600 boasts of decent mobile features that include; a 2-inch 256K color TFT display, equalizer settings for classical, pop, rock, SRS WOW surround sound, 1.3 megapixel camera, support for audio formats – Midi, MP3, WMA and AMR, microSD card slot for storage expansion, Bluetooth profiles – A2DP, handsfree, headset, object push profile, 3.5 mm headset jack connector, USB 1.1, 40 way navigation key and enter, soft keys, side keys, customized hot key, and music player keys. In addition, the Philips M600 also features support for JAVA MIDP 2.0, GPRS/GSM dual band network (900/1800 MHz) plus it lets you enjoy music playback for up to 40 hours on a single charge. Now, here’s the bad news – the Philips M600 will be released in China only. But all hope is not gone yet, as the phone as text input for English, French, Russian and Turkish language aside from the default Chinese text language. So, Philips may still release the phone internationally later on. Via

GigaByte’s GSmart i350

GigaByte will soon be launching its new smartphone – the GSmart i350 which boast of the latest GPS chip SiRF Star III which offer a powerful GPS tracking feature. Aside from taking good photos of users’ treasured memories, the GSmart i350 also lets users to GeoTag these photos, record their tracks and describes these photos. The GSmart i350 supports mapping software compatible with .kmz, and.gpx file formats commonly used by Google Earth and other mapping applications. GigaByte’s GSsmart i35 also features an in-house built software called Wise-Talk which allows users to have the freedom to decide when to take a call or not. It is equipped with an answering machine that can playback pre-recorded greetings as well. Users can use these pre-recorded greetings when there is an incoming call. In addition, the GigaByte GSmart i35 smartphone also features a 2.6” VGA touch screen with handy navigation tool, Bluetooth with simple interface that skips through complicated settings and allows users to exchange files and vCard with friends, 2.0 megapixel camera, GPRS Class 12/Wap 2.0 support, miniSD slot for storage expansion, Marvell PXA270, 520 MHz CPU, WI-FI 802.11b/g, and various mobile applications including Windows Live, IE, Windows Media Player, PowerPoint Mobile, Excel Mobile and Word Mobile. Additionally, users can also connect the i350 to a PC through ActiveSync and they can control their PC using the i350 as a remote control. The GigaByte website has not given release date and pricing information for this smartphone yet. Better keep an eye on this one.

HTC to release Touch Dual mobile phone to the US

HTC has announced during the CTIA Wireless 2008 that it will be bringing its highly successful HTC Touch Dual phone in the United States this quarter. The HTC Touch Dual boasts of an intuitive touch screen with integrated TouchFLO technology and slide-out keypad and Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional software, making it the first mobile phone released in the US that runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 OS. HTC will also continuously provide Windows Mobile 6.1 Updates which will give users new timesaving features, easier phone navigation and management, stronger security safeguards and support for Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008. The HTC Touch Dual will give US mobile consumers an interactive cube interface for quick and easy navigation to emails, text messages, calendar appointments and contact. Its other features include; Microsoft Office Mobile for documents and Outlook email facility, Live HTC Home featuring time and wheather display, quick launcher and one-touch ring-tone settings, 2 megapixel camera for shooting photos or videos and Quad Band network support – GSM/GPRS/EDGE and HSDPA. The HTC Touch Dual will be first released through Best Buy’s mobile retail outlets and also through Best Buys online shop and at HTC.com.

Verizon Wireless unveils the G’zone Type-S in Black and Silver

Verizon Wireless has just unveiled a new color version of the G’zone Type-S mobile. This little piece of mobile device may look a little like it doesn’t offer anything at all. But actually it is packed with useful features that you could possible imagine it ever has. The G’zone Type-S was designed to perform, to last and to survive all possible environmental conditions you could ever throw at it. It can survive rain, humidity, submersion, shock, and dust and come out of it all still in great working condition. Aside from its durability, the G’zone Type-S boasts of high-end features that makes it worthy of being elevated to the level of other high-end phones. It has a built-in CMOS camera with Flash and a camcorder to record every precious moments that you would experience. The G’zone Type-S is also built for mobile web 2.0 and can be used for email, IM and chat. It has the VZ Navigator and of course various messaging features – MMS, SMS and Voice Mail. For your portable organization needs, the G’zone Type-S comes packed with phone book with 500 contacts and picture caller ID, calendar, calculator, notepad, timer, stopwatch and speed dialing. The G’zone’s selling point is of course its push-to-talk capability and compatibility with other VZ mobile phones. Other features of the G’zone Type-S include; Bluetooth, hearing aid compatibility, 203 minutes talk time and 170 hours standby time. The G’zone Type-S is available under 2 years service contract with Verizon Wireless for $79 after rebates. Its features and durability definitely makes the G’zone Type-s worthy of the said amount.

MySpace is going mobile

MySpace has just announced that it is going to available via cell phone. This is not really that surprising news. It was either going to be Facebook or MySpace to provide this service. MySpace just beat them to the punch. Sprint will be providing the service-this was a good idea as MySpace is the new social playground for all ages. This might make some younger users switch over carriers as there MySpace homepage is an hourly check for a lot of users. The bottom line is users want there messages on the go.
Users will be able to:
- View/edit MySpace profiles
- View/add friends
- Send/receive messages

Your next question is probably how do you access MySpace? 1st open the Web. 2nd select messaging. 3rd click on MySpace mobile link and voila you will be connect to MySpace. We will continue see a wide range of web based services being offered via cell phone in the coming future. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw match.com available soon:-) Remember, it’s currently Sprint offering this service. Enjoy!

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