Koodo Mobile is Live!

Koodo Mobile has been launched! Koodo has three ‘ready made’ plans or you can build your own.

Talk & Text Combo $25/month
Unlimited Text Messaging
Up to 100 Anytime Minutes
7pm Evenings & Weekends

Five Essentials Combo $30/month
Unlimited Nationwide Talk & Messaging to 5 Numbers
Up to 100 Anytime Minutes
Up to 50 Text Messages
7pm Evenings & Weekends

All You Need Combo $65/month
Unlimited Incoming Calls
Up to 1000 Anytime Minutes
Up to 50 Text Messages
7pm Evenings & Weekends

all combos include Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, Conference Calling and Per-Second Billing

Head over the Koodo Mobile site to learn more at www.koodomobile.com or check out the Koodo Forum on HowardForums.

live_strong

4 comments March 18th, 2008

Koodo Mobile

Canada’s newest cellphone service provider is on track for a launch on March 17. Koodo Mobile with a tag line of “Good Call” will be a CDMA MVNO of Telus Mobility. According to MobileSyrup Koodo Mobile features per second billing, cheap monthly plans (starting at $15/month), and no “chubby” contracts. HowardForums member ‘celltarded’ saw three Koodo Mobile phones on display at a local Wal-Mart.

From the pictures I identified two of the phones and their prices.

Samsung u410 $74.XX
Motorola w385 $124.38

Stay tuned for a follow up article once Koodo Mobile officially launches.

live_strong

4 comments March 16th, 2008

Sony Ericsson K850i Review

In my opinion Sony Ericsson makes some of the best non smartphone phones out there. They’re so good I’d even recommend them to power users. They’re packed with features, have one of the most refined user interfaces out there and most of their features are well thought out and work well.

Here’s their newest, the K850i.

Physical Impressions:

The K850i is a pretty solid phone because it doesn’t have a rear battery cover. Instead the bottom of the phone pops open similar to what you find on a digital camera.

My second impression is that the K850i is pretty thick considering it’s not a smartphone. While it didn’t bother me one bit, the RAZR crowd may find the the K850i to be a bit much. In actuality the phone is a tiny bit thinner than my Nokia n95.

The nav pad has been moved from right below the screen to between the spaces on the numeric pad. It’s not square shaped (it’s longer than it is wide). It took me a while to get used to but it’s not that bad. The shape is probably not conducive to mobile gaming.

The softkeys and select are actually located on the bottom part of the screen. This allows the K850i to have a larger screen while not affecting the vertical spacing of the keys. I’m not fond of touch screens and the K850i is no different. That said I didn’t hate it either, it was okay I guess. You can use these buttons even if you’re wearing gloves.

The numeric keys are much smaller than usual and remind me of little chicklets. I wasn’t crazy about how they feel when you press them (because they’re so small) but they are easy to use and really stick out so they’re easy to find without looking. If you text message a lot you might find them uncomfortable to use after a while because of the shape.

The screen looks great; it’s pretty big and has a resolution of 240×320.

Hands-free usage:

There is support for Bluetooth headsets, fast port headphones, and a speaker phone. Included in the box is a fast port to 3.5mm headphone adapter that has a built-in microphone.

Speakerphone maximum volume was acceptable but I found it caused the phone to make a very slight rattling noise (like something was loose).

Miscellaneous:

There’s a memory slot that can take either Memory Stick M2 or Micro SD and SDHC cards. Included with my K850i was a 512 M2 card. If you want to add more memory do yourself a favour and get a Micro SD card since their compatible with more devices.

I switched the K850i to USB mass storage mode. I found it took 32 seconds to copy a 18MB file to the memory card which is about 563kb/s. This is a little on the slow side.When it’s connected to your computer’s USB port, your computer will charge it. So if you’re traveling with a computer all you need is the USB cable.

Menus:

You get Sony Ericsson’s standard phone menus. SE’s got one of the best looking and smoothest UI’s in the business. Transitions are very smooth and slick plus the icons are very attractive. Also, the look and feel of the menu pervades all aspects of it and not just the main menu.

There’s a shortcut button that you can use to switch between and launch certain applications, view missing calls/recent messages and open the built-in browser - it’s a great feature.

Rogers has made some customizations to the K850i I’m testing. Notably there’s a link to their Java based music player from the main menu. Unless you like buying music from your carrier just skip it and use the Sony Ericsson (it’s found under the Media menu item).

There’s also a link called Vision which is just a bunch of links to some services you can use with the built-in browser. Vision is just what Rogers calls services like Mobile TV, video calling, and things like that.
When you’re not using predictive text entry you can see a list of what characters are available when you’re pressing a number. This is useful when you’re trying to enter punctuation since you can see what’s next.

Phone Related Features:

You can quickly access the phonebook by pressing down on the nav pad.

The phonebook works well though, I sometimes feel like there are too many options when you’re entering a physical address. You have to enter the street and then press save, enter the city and then press save, etc.

I found one small problem, it seems you can’t enter postal codes because you can’t switch the text entry to letter mode (it will only stay in number mode).

You can quickly change the phone’s ringer and other behaviors using profiles. Profiles can be quickly accessed by pressing the power button.

There are some voice control features but you have to train the phone. One neat feature (which Sony Ericsson/Ericsson) phones have had for years is the magic word feature. When you activate it you can put the phone in voice recognition mode by saying the magic word.

Connected Features:

There is an email application that can check POP or IMAP accounts. You can configure the client to check them at a set interval.

There’s a small camera on the top right of the front of the K850i which you can use for video calling.
The built-in browser is from Netfront which is terrific. The browser plus the K850i’s HSDPA makes for a great combination.

It automatically resizes webpages so that you can read them without having to scroll horizontally. When you’re scrolling, the scroll speed increases if you press and hold up/down. There’s a useful History function plus you can find things on a page.

You can view pages like you were on a computer (lots of horizontal scrolling), landscape (sideways) and full screen.

Multimedia Features:

Multimedia features are found under the Media menu. The phone has an orientation sensor which will rotate the screen automatically when you’re in here. The user interface resembles the UI from some other Sony products like the PSP, PS3 and some of their TV’s and receivers.

Probably the K850i’s most notable feature is it’s 5 megapixel autofocus camera with xenon bulb flash. The back looks a lot like a camera. There’s a slick lens cover that automatically slides open when you’re using the camera. While the lens cover is slick for some inexplicable reason, the lens cover is underneath the back cover. So if you scratch the back cover, it doesn’t matter that there’s also a lens cover.

The camera is activated by pressing the power button next to the shutter button. You hold it horizontally like you would a regular digital camera. The K850i’s thickness helps it feel more camera like. The menu resembles the menu you’d find on a Sony digital camera.

When you’re using the camera, icons next to the 3, 6, 9 and # buttons light up which you can use to adjust the flash setting, burst mode, auto timer, etc.

Besides the autofocus and resolution, the K850i’s other notable camera related feature is it’s xenon bulb flash. There’s also a bright LED. The LED and bulb flash give the K850i outstanding night performance. In a pitch black room, the K850i uses the LED to provide enough light for the autofocus, then the bulb flash does it’s thing.

Curiously I found the K850i would sometimes seriously underexpose shots. I can’t figure out why it does this.

Picture quality is very good for a camera phone. While it works well in the dark, it has to raise the ISO to compensate for the lack of light, it then has very aggressive noise reduction which results in pictures that have a water colour like quality to them.

There are many camera features; resolution, picture modes (like night mode), compressions, macro mode, flash (including red eye reduction), self timer, ISO, spot metering, colour balance, stabilizer among other features.

You can switch between camera, camcorder and playback modes by using a switch on the side of the phone.

The camcorder application has many of the camera’s features. It can take videos that have a resolution of 320×240.

You can use the music player while it’s in the background. You control it with the volume keys, pressing them controls the volume, pressing and holding them skips a song. I don’t think you can pause playback while the player is in the background. You can browse your music by artist, album, genre.

If you don’t like the included headphones you can use your own while still keeping the ability to take calls using the included fastport to headphone adapter. The cable that connects to the fast port has a headphone jack that also has a microphone built-in.

The built-in speaker isn’t as good for some of Sony Ericsson’s other phones (like the W600i).

Organizer Features:

You get the usual Sony Ericsson Organizer features: File manager, Alarms, Calendar, Tasks, Notes, Synchronization, Timer, Stopwatch, Light, Calculator, Code memo.

The light is useful if you drop your keys. The calendar and tasks (along with the phonebook) can be synced to your computer.

Apparently there is support for syncing over the air with Microsoft Exchange. I don’t have Exchange and didn’t try it.

Impressions:

RF performance is excellent.

Incoming sound quality was good but there was pronounced hiss. Outgoing sound quality is excellent.

Maximum earpiece volume is acceptable.The top of the K850i has a slight edge to it that can make it slightly uncomfortable when pressed against your ear.

Conclusion:

Just like the K790a before it, the K850i is a terrific phone. It looks and feels expensive plus it has a beautiful UI that works well.

On paper the K850i isn’t a huge upgrade from the K790a and indeed they are quite similar. That said it’s a nice upgrade.

I thought I would hate the weird navigation pad plus softkeys but really they actually work well together.

There are a few extra touches that aren’t easy to notice at first. Extras like the light up camera keys, the light up dial around the camera lens, the orientation sensor. They don’t do much but they are thoughtful extras that you’ll appreciate when you use them.

Pros:

• Nice camera
• Large screen for a small phone
• Solid phone

Cons:

• On the thick side
• Unusual keys

Discuss this review at HowardForums.com
Written by Howard Chui 03.12.2008
This article may not be reproduced without the the author’s permission.

18 comments March 12th, 2008

Helio Mysto Review

Here’s Helio’s newest phone, the Mysto. It’s similar to the Fin in that they’re both Samsung phones except the Mysto has a 2mp camera while the Fin has 3mp. The Mysto is a slider and has built-in voice recognition software. I thought the Fin was an okay phone, let’s see what I think about the Mysto.

Make sure you check out the gallery for some pictures.

Physical Impressions:

My first impressions were how nicely the Mysto fit in my hand. The sides are rounded so that it just melts in your hand.

My subsequent impressions aren’t as rosy. The Mysto has the awful touch sensitive ‘buttons’ on it’s front. They’re kinda cool at first but the fact that you just have to touch them (as opposed to press them) plus the fact that the Mysto is so rounded means there will be lots of accidental button presses.

Another problem I noticed is that the touch sensitive buttons do not work if you’re wearing gloves so watch out if you live somewhere cold.

The bottom left touch sensitive button is actually the talk button. The end button has been relocated to the right side of the phone. It’s unintuitive to use (end buttons are always on the front of the phone) and hard to press since the Mysto isn’t as easy to hold when you’re pressing it.

The keypad has a faux metal finish which looks pretty sweet but is a real pain to use. The problem is that it’s really easy to accidentally press more than one button at once. For example when I press the ‘8′ button I also press the ‘*’ button - it’s horrible and very difficult to get used to. The screen has a resolution of 240×320 which is somewhat standard now but I think it’s worth pointing out that it’s a great resolution (given the screen size) for surfing the web as long as you have good eyesight. Now if only Helio would preload Opera with their phones…

Hands-free usage:

There is support for Bluetooth headsets, stereo Bluetooth headphones, Samsung connector headsets and a speaker phone. The speaker phone is activated by the touch sensitive soft button. Here’s the problem with it; let’s say you’re calling Helio to talk about your bill and you get put on hold. You activate the speaker phone so that you don’t have to hold the phone. Eventually you get through to someone and want to turn the speaker phone off. Problem is the softkeys have locked (to prevent accidental presses), so you have to turn the keypad lock off before you can turn the speaker phone off. It’s really a nuisance.

Miscellaneous:

There’s a microSD card slot underneath the battery cover. I popped a 4GB SDHC Micro SD card in the Mysto. It works fine.

Menus:

The Mysto’s menu resembles other Helio branded phones. If you’ve used the Drift or the Fin, the Mysto’s menu looks pretty much the same.

I thought the menu was pretty straight forward to use but the softkeys made it a little harder to use than it has to be.

When the Mysto is closed, the keys on the top part of the phone automatically lock. You can unlock them if you want.

You can adjust the volume of the ringer by using the side mounted volume buttons when the phone is idling (just like most other Samsung phones).

Phone Related Features:

The phonebook works okay. There’s a feature which searches your phonebook and recent calls list for matching numbers as you’re dialing.

You can sync the Mysto with your computer. You can download the software from Helio. It does not sync with Outlook (you can however import your Outlook address book into your Mysto).

One area where the Mysto differs from the Fin is that the Mysto has built-in voice recognition. You can use it to do stuff like dial numbers, call address book, access your menu, check the status of your phone, etc. There is also integration with a program named ‘Tellme Search’ (more on this later). The voice command app resembles Voice Signal’s software.

You launch the voice recognition by opening the Mysto and pressing and holding the bottom right softkey (the talk button). This can make the Mysto easier to use while you’re driving since the keypad is difficult to use without looking.

Connected Features:

The built-in browser is so-so for a phone. It’s no Netfront or Opera but it is able to render full HTML webpages and do a somewhat decent job of it. By default the browser sends all webpages through some Google or Yahoo thing where it cuts a page up so that a) it fits nicer, b) splits pages up so that a large web page fits on multiple pages. The problem with these is that I don’t feel the browser needs this sort of help. I suspect it’s setup like this for ppl who are still using Kickflips and Heros. It probably also saves Helio a bit of data. If you exit the browser it does not load the last page you visited when you go back. Luckily there’s a useful history feature.

I’m in Canada right now so my Mysto’s browser doesn’t work (no roaming up north) so the following is from memory. You can view pages without the Google/Yahoo reformatting by scrolling to the bottom of the page and choosing ‘view as html’, or something similar to that.

The Mysto has a nice messaging app which is the same one you find on the Fin. It’s actually a combined email/instant messaging app. You can send/receive: text messages, picture messages, Helio Mail. Yahoo mail/instant messenger, AOL mail/AIM, Windows Live IM (MSN), Windows Live mail (Hotmail), Gmail and your Earthlink email (one of Helio’s owners is Earthlink).

The messaging app can check your messages in the background so you don’t have to have it open all the time.

There’s a new app called Tellme Search. Tell it a business you’re looking for, it will figure out where you are using GPS, connect to the web and then tell you the closest matches. While it takes a few seconds to launch it’s kind of neat and can be useful.

Multimedia Features:

The camera is pretty average 2 megapixels with LED flash. Here are some of the camera’s features; different resolutions, exposure +/-, compression settings, white balance and b&w or colour. The camera software does have lots of features but the camera takes very average looking pictures. You can upload pictures you’ve taken to your Helio album. I thought that pics from the Fin look better.

The camcorder apps can take videos of up to 320×240 at 14 fps. Pretty standard stuff.

The Music player has a good feature set; you can view songs on the device by album, artist, genre, etc. There’s an equalizer so you can customize the sound plus there’s a sound visualization feature. You can create your own play lists. The big problem is that there’s no background play so you can’t listen to music while you’re surfing the web or anything like that.

One feature I noticed is that you can tell the player to stop playing after 30 mins, 1 hr, etc. This is nice if you’re listening to music while trying to sleep. The problem of course is that this feature is accessed outside of the music app so you can’t set it after you’ve started listening to music. You have to exit the music app to set it.

Organizer Features:

You get the following organizer features; calendar, to-do, wake-up call, alarm, calculator, world time, unit converter, notepad, stopwatch, voice.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t touched the Mysto’s manual. I have no idea what the difference is between the walk up call feature and the alarm.

I thought the alarm is slightly confusing to set because you have to use the left softkey if you want to toggle between AM and PM.

You can record voice memos from the voice menu.

Impressions:

Sound quality isn’t so great. While I liked the maximum earpiece volume, incoming sound quality was pretty bad. I’d describe incoming audio to be honky and harsh sounding. Like most CDMA phones, the Mysto blanks out hiss when no ones talking.

Oddly enough outgoing sound quality wasn’t bad. It sounds okay though there was a bit of hiss.

Battery life isn’t that great. While the Mysto can make it through a day of moderate usage you’ll want to charge it every night regardless how much you use it.

I didn’t get a chance to do a lot of RF performance testing but the Mysto seems average in this regard.

Conclusion:

The best thing about the Mysto is that it looks cool.

What I really dislike about the Mysto is that it’s hard to hold without accidentally pressing something. The keylock does help a little but it works both ways. If you do want to press a button then you’ll have to undo the key lock. I suppose that you can get used to it but when you hand the Mysto to someone else, they’ll have problems using it.

The end button is on the side of the phone. If you’re tlaking on the phone and grip it too hard you might accidentally hang up.

These issues I mentioned are a big deal but I suppose they’re not so big that you can’t get used to them.

Between the Fin and the Mysto I’d probably go with the Fin.

Pros:

• GPS
• Looks cool
• Mp3 player can be told to shut off after a certain time
• Helio messaging app is useful

Cons:

• Keypad is difficult to use
• Soft buttons are easy to accidentally press
• Soft buttons don’t work if you’re wearing gloves
• Incoming sound could be improved
• Battery life is short
• No background mp3 play

Discuss this review at HowardForums.com | See the gallery here
Written by Howard Chui 02.27.2008
This article may not be reproduced without the the author’s permission.

7 comments February 27th, 2008

Sony Ericsson launches new brand which includes their new Windows Mobile Phone

No it’s not a new Travel website, Sony Ericsson describes XPERIA as their new premium sub brand.

The XPERIA X1 is the first device in ther new brand. It’s a sweet looking Pocket PC (I assume since it has a touch screen) phone with a 3″ 800×480 widescreen display, curved slide out QWERTY keyboard, XPERIA panels WiFi, BT, aGPS, 3.2 megapixels camera plus there will be a model with support for North American HSDPA. Despite the hefty feature set the X1 weighs approx 145g and is 110×53x16.7 (it’s relatively thin). There’s support for Micro SD plus a mini USB port (horray!)

From the pictures it appears that SE has done a lot of customization to the device.

North American availability is expected in Q2 2008.

14 comments February 12th, 2008

Nokia n95-3 review

Here’s my review of the Nokia’s n95-3. The ‘3′ means it’s the North American version of the n95. The original n95 will work fine in NA but the HSDPA won’t operate on the frequencies here.

It’s got almost every feature you can think of: 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, GPS, WiFi, HSDPA, etc, etc.

Make sure you check out the gallery for some pictures.

Physical Impressions:

The n95 fits nicely in your hand. If you’re used to carrying a really thin phone around you might find the n95 a little chubby for your pocket.

Since the n95 has plenty of space on it, most of the keys are nicely sized. If you have really big fingers you may find the soft keys a bit slim. The keypad is alright, I can’t complain too much about it.

The screen has a resolution of 240×320 and looks great. I did notice that the actual LCD display is closer to the screen cover than most phones. If you accidentally touch it you can see patterns on it.

Hands-free usage:

There is support for Bluetooth headsets, stereo Bluetooth headphones, 3.5mm stereo headphones and a speakerphone. The 3.5mm headphone jack is a nice feature if you listen to a lot of music.

Miscellaneous:

There’s a microSD card slot on the right side. It works fine with my 8gb Sandisk Micro SDHC card.

There’s a mini USB slot on the bottom. The mini USB slot is only for connecting to your computer which kind of sucks since most of the competition allows you to charge and sync from the connector.

Menus:

The n95 runs Nokia’s s60 user interface. It’s pretty standard. There’s a menu button which takes you to the menu. If you press and hold it, it will bring up a list of running programs. There’s an edit button (the one with the pencil) which you can use to copy and paste text. The ‘c’ button is like a backspace button on a keyboard plus you can use it to stop programs when you bring up the list of running programs.

There’s another menu button (the one to the right of the nav pad) which brings up a different looking menu. This menu has nice animations and looks fancier than the normal one but it takes longer to draw. It’s one of those things that looks nice in the store but you don’t use often once you bring it home.

What’s special about the n95 is that while it can slide open like a normal slider (screen on top, keyboard on the bottom) it can also slide open the other way where the screen’s on the bottom with multimedia keys on top.

The multimedia buttons work okay with the music player. They work even when you’re in a different application. I like how they allow for background usage but the novelty of sliding the phone the other way wears thin quickly. I would prefer if they were moved to the side and if they needed to be pressed and held to operate.

When you’re using the phone, the left softkey brings up a context sensitive menu while the right one is usually a back button.

Phone Related Features:

As far as phone features goes, the n95 is similar to other S60 powered phones. The n95 has a front facing camera so you can use it for video calling.

The phonebook works well. It’s easy to navigate plus it’s easy to add stuff to it. You can sync it with your computer using Nokia PC Suite (which is a massive 100MB+ download).

Connected Features:

S60’s best feature is probably it’s browser. It has the same engine as that of the Apple iPhone’s browser though they work differently. Of the two, I prefer the iPhone’s browser; it’s faster and easier to use though the n95’s is easier to use with one hand and has more features.

You can get connected using the built in WiFi or HSDPA. Unlike many phones (and like the iPhone) the n95 has the processing power to really take advantage of the faster connections.

The email client works well. It’s fast and supports IMAP and POP3.

There’s a built-in GPS. I’m not an expert on GPS but the n95-3 is pretty fast when it comes to getting a fix.

The built-in mapping program downloads map information as you go which is nice since presumably the map data will be more up to date. You can also download maps to the n95 using your computer with Nokia’s Map Loader program.

You can search for addresses, show location on map, search for nearby points of interest, pick a point and route from there, pick a point and route to, navigate to, send a location and save it.

You can search points of interest from many categories.

There’s a 2D top down view or a 3D view. The views are good if you want to look around and get a general view of where you are. They aren’t so great if you’re using it for guidance while you’re driving.

Now I tried using the n95 as a replacement for the GPS in my car, TomTom One and Garmin 350. Compared to the TomTom and Garmin, the n95 wasn’t that great. You have to pay extra if you want voice guidance (you can demo it for a few days) and the n95’s views aren’t great for when you’re driving because the street names are too small. I also found a few places that were in Garmin that weren’t in the n95 (no doubt this will change eventually since the n95 downloads it’s mapping data). Also, using the n95 for navigation isn’t very intuitive compared to the touch screen on the TomTom and Garmin.

There are city guides you can download and pay for (I didn’t cause I’m a cheap bastard).

While I wasn’t crazy about the included mapping program you can always download a third party solution.

Multimedia Features:

Like most of music players you can view by artist, albums, genres, composer plus you can create your own playlists. You can control the player by sliding the phone open the other way and pressing the buttons. They work in the background even if you’re in another program (such as browsing the web or checking email). They won’t take the focus away from your current program.

There’s a graphical equalizer. I have a 8GB micro SD card full of music. The reason I mention this is because USB transfers to and from the n95 are pretty slow. If you’re going to transfer a ton of music to the n95 I suggest you pop the microSD card out and use an external reader.

You can listen to music using A2DP wireless Bluetooth headphones (there’s AVRCP support too so you can skip songs, play/pause) or regular 3.5mm headphones like the kind you’d plug into an iPod. The build-in speakers are very loud and sound pretty good for a phone.

There is a 5 megapixel camera with auto focus and a LED flash on the back of the n95. It takes really good pictures. It’s so good you might consider not having a separate digital camera if you’re not a demanding user. The LED flash works much better than most other LED flashes.

If you’re used to a regular camera phone you might find it odd that the n95 takes about a second to focus before it actually snaps a picture.

There’s a shutter release button on the right side so you can use the n95 sideways like a regular camera.

My only complaints about the camera is that it’s on the slow side and that there’s no camera lens cover.

There’s a FM radio. You need to use wired headphones if you want to use this feature since they’ll act as an antenna. I didn’t test the radio.

If you get your n95-3 from a Nokia Store in North America, you can get Sling Player Mobile for S60 for free (it’s normally 30 bucks). I have a Slingbox and found that it works really well using WiFi or HSDPA.

Organizer Features:

The to do list is part of the calendar (as opposed to it being a stand alone program).

You can view MS Word, Excel or Power Point files with Quick Office. You’ll need to pay if you want to be able to create and edit them.

Adobe PDF let’s you view PDF files. It works okay but most PDF’s are designed to be printed or viewed on a bigger display.

The list of other organizer programs include: recorder, calculator, convert, alarm clock and file manager.

Impressions:

Sound quality was okay. I found the n95 to be slightly harsh sounding plus there’s noticeable hiss. On the plus side, the maximum ear piece volume is quite good.

RF performance is very good.

The n95 isn’t super skinny so it’s easy to hold if you’re going to talk on the phone for a long period of time.

Despite all the features packed into the n95-3, you can get a very respectable 2 or 3 days of battery life with light usage.

Conclusion:

I like the n95. Unless you like touch screens or want a full QWERTY keyboard, you don’t really feel like you’re giving up anything. Feature wise Nokia has taken an ‘everything including the kitchen sink’ approach to the n95-3’s feature set. You get everything: GPS, North American HSDPA, WiFi, memory card slot, loud stereo speakers, 3.5mm headphone jack, etc.

There isn’t much to complain about. I couldn’t really find any serious problems with the n95. I didn’t like the fact that the n95 has a terrific camera but no lens cover plus I wasn’t crazy about the mapping program. Both these aren’t deal breakers. I guess some may find the n95 a tad complicated too, there are a lot of features in there.

In the end, the worst thing about the n95-3 I guess is the price. It’s not a cheap phone. Then again it’s not aimed at the ‘free on a 3 yr contract’ crowd.

Pros:

• GPS
• WiFi
• North American HSDPA
• Camera takes good pictures
• 3.5mm headphonejack

Cons:

• Slow USB transfers
• Mapping program not useful for navigation
• Camera has no lens cover
• Complicated

Discuss this review at HowardForums.com | See the gallery here
Written by Howard Chui 02.09.2007
This article may not be reproduced without the the author’s permission.

14 comments February 9th, 2008

Sony Ericsson k850i

The arrival of the Sony Ericsson k850i on Rogers Wireless has been confirmed! Canada’s first 5.0 MP camera phone has been launched by Rogers and will be hitting store shelves by weeks end. Rogers’ memory card promotion extends to this phone which will give you an 8 GB card for free on a 3 year term. Locked into a 3 year term with a Vision add-on will get you the k850i for $199, without a Vision add-on $299. The phone on a 2 or 1 year term will set you back $350 and $400 respectively.

source: HowardForums

live_strong

1 comment February 6th, 2008

Voce Premium Wireless

Voce Wireless, a MVNO of AT&T, has apparently shut down. Customers of the premium provider have reported zero service and being doubled billed for service.

A now unemployed Voce employee posted the following information on Voce Class Action.

First things first, to port out of the “Voce Hybrid” network, you should provide the following information:Carrier name: Voce Wholesale
Bill address: 27599 Riverview Center Blvd. Bonita Springs, FL 34134
Account number: 90210000
PIN (if requested): Not applicable

(We heard from the carrier that the ports were delayed yesterday due to volume, but numbers are being released.)

Regarding the double bills, it is best to contact your credit card company immediately and request a charge back, as it is rumored that the new owners charged cards for service to be provided in February.

Finally, a quick update on what has transpired: Voce was purchased in early January by SunCal Midwest, LLC, represented by Anthony Roselli, Brian Richards and Tom Malanca. The intent of the purchase was for SunCal Midwest to maintain and grow the core Voce business, using its connections with enterprise customers. The new owners have thus far failed to meet their end of the deal, including paying employees and vendors. The prior management of Voce resigned or was shut out by the new owners after the sale. We direct all questions to the current CEO/President of Voce, Brian Richards. He can be reached at brian@voce.com

We are deeply disappointed and sorry for your inconveniences.

Head over to Voce Class Action for further information.

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Add comment February 2nd, 2008

Nokia 6555 in Sand

AT&T has released a new color of the Nokia 6555.

The clamshell phone features a 1.3 MP camera, supports 3G network, music player with expandable memory and Bluetooth.

Pick up Nokia 6555 for $49.99 on a two year term after rebates.

Source: phoneArena

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Add comment February 1st, 2008

Sony Ericsson k850i on Rogers?

The Sony Ericsson k850i could be making its way to Rogers in the near future. The k850i features HSDPA 3G, a 5 MP auto-focus camera with flashand Bluetooth to name a few.

The rumor also states an introductory price of $199.99 on a three year term and a $7 vision plan. Rogers will also throw in a 8 GB memory card as a bonus.

Discuss: HowardForums

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Add comment January 30th, 2008