Smart Phones of today

Google’s redesigned mobile Gmail site for iPhone and Android is live and it seems better than the original in every way: It’s faster, more app-like, and has an improved user interface.

It moves a lot faster between pages that don’t require fresh data because it uses database storage on the iPhone and Android’s built-in Google Gears implementation, which supposedly makes it work better on a slow connection besides giving it some offline powers. Search and loading emails from the main screen isn’t necessarily quicker, but picking contacts and opening particular messages within a thread—yes, threaded conversations work just like real Gmail now—is definitely quicker. You can also get to other Google apps (like your calendar, which is improved now too) in a snap.

It feels more like an app with the sunburst style progress spinner anytime you need to load stuff, and a button for “load more messages” at the bottom that responds nearly instantly, rather than having to load a whole new web page. Search is no longer shoved at the bottom of the window, there’s an actual button for it on top (which is great since the reason I fired up the Gmail site was for search).

There’s a “floaty bar” that follows you down as you scroll with functions like delete, archive and report spam. The new UI feels a bit more finger friendly, and it uses Gmail’s newer color scheme, with a grayer blue and more subtle colors that makes it more readable, too.

Comments(0)

Comparing Iphone to Blackberry is just like comparing Mercedes E class with Lincoln Towncar. The Blackberry tried to imitate some goodies from the Iphone, but basically they remained with their Typical bulky looks. Here I am referring to Blackberry Storm or Blackberry Bold. Everyone has their own personal perception on differences.

Iphone Pros

- Sleek design and sexy looks.
- Excellent user interface.
- Excellent stability for most of the applications.
- The presence of lots of useful applications from the applications store is icing.
- If you are a Mac Programmer, you can make an application for your very own needs due to the availability of the excellent SDK.
- Easily the best to device to hit the market since…..well, BlackBerry. I love the screen size, the applications, ease of use, safari browser, its iconic status, push email etc etc

Iphone Con

- Not yet great for enterprise use.
- Not as sturdy as the Blackberry and needs to be used delicately.
- Lacks the keyboards, which makes it really difficult to mail etc.
- Lacks Video recording.
- Lacks MMS, but this limitation is overcome as you have excellent browsing and mailing options.
- Can’t forward SMS and a real struggle to get MMS. Another downside is you can’t have multiple (non apple) apps running simultaneously which is a drawback if you want a decent sat nav application and then run something else!
- Batterly life is a bit poor but this is probably becuase the thing is so damn irresistable, that the screen is on most of the day!

Since I am comparing Iphone with BB, the pros in Iphone are more like Cons in BB and vice versa.

Generally for the Bold – A real bruiser of a device and easier to compose emails than the iphone. When you whip out a Blackberry, it says “this guy is all business” where as the iphone says “this guy is fun”. Most folks use any functionality other than email, calendar and contacts but thats always the way with a Blackberry – they just work!

It really boils down to the features that are critical to you. For eg, SMS usability, MMS, enterprise application integration, Flash, etc.

Both Apple and RIM are trying to reach beyond their usual demographic market which is only natural in this economy. The iPhone is a clever leisure gadget trying to make its way into the corporate world. The Bb Storm comes from a no nonsense family of reliable corporate communications where it has cornered the market.

Both have great features with minor drawbacks, however, its only a matter of time before both phones evolve to where the technical comparison is near comparable.

The only thing that will separate the two phones is clever marketing, cult followers, and consumer perceptions. Ask yourself if you’d rather close an important business deal with someone who carried an iPhone or Blackberry.

The questions you’ll need to ask is which phone would you want to be seen with by business associates? By friends? Which phone would be your preference because both, in time, will get the job done just the same.

For a more scientific approach I suggest that you list your requirements, and then prioritize or rank them. Then you can assess the features of iPhone vs Blackberry and score them. Finally, add up the score in the features list and you have your winner….

Comments(0)

Mobile phone technology has brought a revolution in the market. There are smartphones which are not only communication but also computation phones. Apple iPhone 3G is the latest awe-inspiring smartphone and has reached the hearts of maximum people who are attracted and fascinated by its innumerable features. Its contender in the market is Microsoft’s HTC Touch Diamond smartphone. If you are going to ask that which is the one that stands out best can be a bit tough to answer, as both have their own splendid attractions.

Let us discuss on them taking various points into consideration.

1. Dimensions

HTC Touch Diamond 102mm in height is 51mm wide and 11.5mm thick, weighs 110g.
While iPhone 3G is 115.5mm high, 62.1mm wide and 12.3mm thick, weighs 133g.

2. Display

HTC has 2.8 inch wide touch screen. This smartphone basically comes with one key factor of TouchFLO. It is a single touch interface and you can move your finger for various effects. Touch phone also has TouchFLO3D feature which has more graphical ability.
While iPhone 3G has a 3.5 inch multi-touch display. This means that the device supports multiple points of contact on the screen. Multi-touch allows complex applications such as the zooming of web pages with two fingers or dual-directional movement as some applications require.

3. Operating System

HTC Touch Diamond runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional giving it a more user-friendly navigational system. While iPhone 3G runs on OS x which is Apple’s own operating system.

4. Storage Capacity

HTC Touch Diamond has a 4GB of internal flash memory and is also provided with a microSD card slot for expanding memory.
While iPhone 3G comes in 8GB as well as 16GB memory.

5. Camera

HTC Touch Diamond has a 3.2 megapixel camera with the features of auto-focus. It has the accelerometer to view the photos in the landscape style and be browsed through with a tap of the finger. There is also a second camera on the front, a VGA CMOS color camera, for video-calling. It takes time to setup quality shots and has a white balance too high for most shots.
iPhone has the 2.0 megapixel camera with geo-tagging and third party application integration. This smartphone take the best shots in well lit areas but creates issues in low light areas. It does not have flash as well as zooming feature.

6. Media Player

HTC Touch Diamond has An integrated speaker and FM radio feature and the audio player that can play MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WAV, and AMR-NB formats. The iPhone’s main thrill is indeed the iPod functionality, and with 8GB or 16GB options, that’s a lot of AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 1, 2, and 3), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV. Video formats supported are H.164 video, MPEG4 player etc. In iPhone 3G YouTube application is solidly built, and it runs video quite well.

7. Connectivity

HTC Touch Diamond has 3G HSDPA connectivity, plus integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
While iPhone 3G comes with 3G HSDPA, plus integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

8. GPS

HTC Touch is GPS as well as A-GPS ready phone while iPhone has assisted GPS technology only.

9. Battery Life

HTC Touch Diamond features 270 minutes’ talktime for WCDMA and up to 330 minutes on GSM networks, whereas standby is 396 hours and 285 hours respectively. When video-calling, users will get up to 145 minutes on WCDMA.

In iPhone 3G, you can get up to five hours of talk time using 3G, or 10 hours using 2G, standby is 300 hours, five hours of 3G Internet use and six hours of Wi-Fi internet use, seven hours of video playback and up to 24 hours of audio playback.

Thus it is totally up to you whether you want to buy HTC Touch Diamond which has the camera features. But iPhone wins in the media player features. Both the smartphones are best in their own way.

Comments(0)

I actually waited until the second gen iPhone came out before buying in. I was concerned about the lack of 3G given the amount of data the iPhone was capable of downloading. So I bought mine in August and used it for three months. Having used BlackBerry, Treo, an assortment of different handsets as well as iPhone, it is clear to me that iPhone does not compete with Blackberry on two of the three functions.

So, without further ado, here’s the top 13 reasons I now carry a BlackBerry Bold instead of an iPhone:

1. Battery life

The Bold kills the iPhone on battery life. Under heavy use, say a business travel day with no laptop access, I have repeatedly burned through a full charge on my iPhone by early afternoon. This includes phone, e-mail and web usage, but typically not iPod usage. My Bold gets through a full day of similar activity with a half charge left at end of day. No comparison.

2. Battery life part deux

The Bold is not afflicted by “sudden drain” syndrome, something that has happened a few times on my iPhone. On occasion I have put a near full charge iPhone in my pocket and taken it out after a short period of time to find it down to the red for no apparent reason. Yes, I have applied all the iPhone updates that were released.

3. User Interface

My three year old can drive my iPhone. Should my 3 year old be able to drive my business device? Is that a good measure? I don’t think so. I tire of tapping through endless screens to get to the one I want when looking at e-mail, for example – I have five email accounts. I like the Bold’s contextual menus. Everything I might want to do on a screen has been put only a click or two away. It really works well, once you’ve learned it. Oh, and cut and paste…and keyboard shortcuts. Pretty rows of icons that jiggle on demand are fun to look at, but once you dive in it can be an uneven and frustrating experience.

4. E-mail

The e-mail just works better on the Bold. BlackBerry just knows how to do mobile e-mail. It works great. iPhone is slow to load e-mail, in my experience. Writing e-mail is wildly different as well. I became very frustrated with the iPhone’s keyboard. It was slow to respond, would often lock-up for seconds or more as I typed faster. On occasion it would simply lock-up completely, necessitating a restart – not acceptable for time-sensitive communications.

5. Stability

My Blackberry Bold does not crash. iPone apps crashed regularly. In particular, Safari crashed most frequently, followed by several third party apps I installed. As mentioned above, Mail would lock-up.

6. Appearance

iPhone looks nice out of the box, but as soon as you handle it it has finger prints and smudges. After a busy day with lunch meetings and such it could wind up looking pretty bad and take some effort to clean up. Impressions matter. The Blackberry Bold finish is not subject to this kind of smudging, except the screen area, and that cleans up with a single wipe.

7. Speed

My Blackberry Bold is generally faster than my iPhone. This is based largely on perception, but I’m referring to scrolling through screens, launching apps, viewing e-mail and most importantly, rendering web pages. I have also noticed the BlackBerry browser will pull the mobile interface by default for many sites, which I like, since I’m mainly interested in the data. This makes the experience faster yet.

8. The Keyboard

I prefer the physical keyboard to the virtual one. This is personal preference, I think, but for reasons I’ve mentioned above, I think it is also more reliable.

9. Multimedia content

I use a media monitoring service and need to view TV clips and listen to radio clips. These clips are provided in .3gp. Unlike the iPhone, the Blackberry Bold brings them up immediately in the BB media player.

10. Voice activation

Blackberry Bold has great voice activation out of the box. iPhone? No, which is surprising from a company that pioneered this technology.

11. Clicks are easier than gestures

The iPhone flicks, pinches and sweeps are neat, but clicking my spacebar once to scroll a page is actually more precise and easier in general. Clicking once to zoom page content is faster and simpler than the two finger, two handed equivalent on iPhone. With my Bold, I can stir my martini and navigate the web at the same time. The trackball wins. I think the touchscreen is a good way to get more screen real estate, but it is not necessarily an improvement in UI.

12. Storage

On my Blackberry Bold I can swap multiple 8GB microSD cards whereas I can have only one internal flash memory on iPhone.

13. Video

I like to post pictures and video remotely. I can’t do that with iPhone because it doesn’t record video. The Bold does.

Sorry Mr. Jobs, please don’t revoke my Mac Club Card, but the iPod touch with a mediocre phone = an iPhone that just isn’t eve close to the functionality of the Blackberry Bold. If you want a business communications handset with excellent multimedia internet capability, GPS, WiFi and a 2MP video camera, get a BlackBerry Bold.

If you want the latest tech toy for cool kids, you’ll hit the mark with the iPhone, but please heed my warning that you may find yourself gazing longingly across the room happy go-lucky Blackberry user sitting up at the bar.

Comments(0)

Google’s Android OS powered phones were in most of the tech blogs since the past few days with first the sneak peak, and then the hands-on reviews of the phone which first came with T-Mobile. It is said to be one of the best phones around and competitor for the World’s dominating mobile company Nokia, and to the best gadget of the year Apple iPhone.

And am sure its going to beat the Apple iPhone sales and would be really loved, except the design which does not seem so sleek to me. Here are a few reasons why one would love the Android phone when compared to the Apple iPhone

1. The open operating system

The Android OS powered by Google is an open system, which can be played with by the developers and many cool apps and games would be coming in, and there would be everything available for free, unlike the paid apps as in the App store by Apple. And being a Google product, developers would get really handy with Android.

2. Faster than iPhone

iPhone was already fast, but the reviews of Android phone already state that the phone is faster than the Apple iPhones. Speed always counts, and Android beats iPhone.

3. No Jailbreaking needed

Its an open operating system, so there will be no hacking in or jailbreaking needed for its OS. It will be easy to customize too.

4. Online applications integration

Google products like Docs, calender and maps with Street view, everything would be just a small work to integrate into the Android mobile. Apple does not have those kind of apps, so no integration needed.

5. QWERTY Sliding keyboard

The phone does not look too bulky but it still has a QWERTY keyboard, sliding out when u need it. This is not in iPhone, there is a touch-screen there, which is not so user-friendly for people not good at touching the screens.

6. Format supporting better than Apple

Apple OS is something which does not become easily compatible with many file formats which Windows and Linux does. So Google is working well with this, trying to make the Android phone support almost all file formats.

Comments(0)