Mobile Phone Reviews

Archive for the ‘Touchscreen’ Category

When it comes to the latest mobile phones, you want to be sure you are getting plenty for your money, and the HTC Desire HD offers many features that users will not be able to resist. 

The handset has a 4.3 inch screen that has a sharp image and is very responsive.  The phone makes use of the latest Android operating system.  The handset itself has a sleek look with a metal casing, which makes it feel as though the phone is far more resilient than many other mobile handsets. 

As with many of the latest mobile phones, the HTC Desire HD is equipped with an 8 megapixel camera.  The images are clear and the camera works well in poor lighting.  The quality of video recordings is also good and there is an easy to use menu. 

The user-friendly features are the main attraction with this handset.  The interfaces are easy to use and will suit even a mobile phone novice.  You can customise your home page so that you can directly access features such as Twitter, and the latest weather reports.  Users also have access to an online hub through which you can find new apps, and download at the touch of a button.  In the event that your phone is lost or stolen, you can track it and wipe data from it, so that it cannot be used by anybody else.  Using apps such as Facebook and sat-nav can really help you to get your money’s worth from the HTC Desire HD.

The Samsung Omnia 7 is a mobile phone that uses the Windows 7 operating system.  The 4-inch screen compares well with rivals, HTC HD7 and the Galaxy S in particular.  The phone is a worthy competitor of the Android phones in terms of design but it is functionality that is most important.

Windows phones do not support removable memory so you have to be content with the supplied 8GB of internal memory.  However, you can avoid cluttering up your phone by smart use of the SkyDrive, which comes with your Windows Live account, in the same way that Android phones support virtual expansion through using your Google account.  It is a solution to lack of memory, but not an ideal one.

Integration of the Samsung Omnia 7 with Facebook works well and you can also import your Google contacts, diary, and emails.  It supports the use of Exchange and Outlook since they are also Microsoft applications.  These mobile phones operate through the Orange network so they come with the Orange Wednesday’s application pre-installed, through which you can watch movie trailers and discover cinema ticket deals.  A few other Orange applications are available free but the company have thankfully avoided adding too many other unnecessary applications, probably due to the memory limitations.

The reception and GPS solution on the Samsung Omnia 7 works well.  You can also easily use the provided headphones to listen to the built-in Zune player.  The phone is also voice enabled for handsfree usage.

The 5-megapixel autofocus camera has an LED, but not a flash, and is also capable of recording video.  The camera software allows you to implement a range of effects such as sepia, negative or mono.  Video quality is not great and the fixed focus causes some issues on playback.

Overall, a quality phone but with memory limitations that may discourage power users or those who want more from the camera.

You may think Android phones are expensive.  However, if you compare mobile phones you will now find a number of cheaper mobile phones with the Android operating system.  The HTC Wildfire is one of those; you lose very little functionality but pay a much lower price.

Design

The HTC Wildfire is a mini version of the HTC Desire.  They look very similar, except that the HTC Wildfire case is made of soft-touch plastic in a range of colours.

Screen

The touchscreen is an average size for cheap mobile phones at 3.2 inches diagonally.  The 240 x 320 pixel resolution pictures are displayed differently in order to suit the screen.  However, it is still a high performance screen when compared with other cheap mobile phones.

HTC Wildfire power

The built-in Li-Ion battery with a 1300 mAh capacity allows around 1.5 days of use, eliminating fears of Android devices with minimal battery life.

Software, hardware platform

The HTC Wildfire uses the Android 2.1 operating system.  It has 384MB RAM and 512MB internal memory.  It supports the 3G network and has Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth.

Camera

The 5-megapixel camera in the HTC Wildfire works better than the HTC Hero but falls short of the HTC Desire in darker conditions.  It also has a maximum video recording definition of 352 × 288 pixels; so not high definition by any means.

When you compare mobile phones, the HTC Wildfire is obviously good value for money.  It has rather modest specifications but the use of Android 2.1 means it is fast, efficient, and reliable.

The Palm Pre 2 is a slightly improved version of the Palm Pre.  One difference is that is that is uses webOS 2.0, which is faster with a processor speed of 1GHz.  As a result the applications usually open quickly.  Several applications can be open at one time; all are stacked-up and swapping between them with thumb swipes is easy.  An updated feature is that applications can be grouped so that you do not have to swipe through them all.  However, this card stacking system does not work as well as widgets on the Android phones.  Users rarely stack open applications so perhaps this is a pointless feature.

The menu of the Palm Pre 2 has been tweaked to group the icons together or add and remove applications so they are easier to organise.  Nice changes, but nothing spectacular.  However, one nice improvement according to mobile phone reviews of the Palm Pre 2 is the search facility.  As soon as you type into the home screen, you are given the option to search the internet, your contacts, address book or create a new email or text, etc.  It does speed things up considerably, but only if you remember to just start typing before looking for the application.

The shortage of applications for the Pam Pre 2 is a little disappointing.  Facebook is there, but no Twitter, for example.  The battery life has been improved, with over a day of multi-application use now possible.  The Wi-Fi of the Palm Pre 2 provides fast internet browsing although unfortunately it does not support the BBC iPlayer, even though it supports Flash.  However, the screen is sharply focused and text is easily readable.  The QWERTY keyboard also makes texting and emailing easy.

A worthy successor to the Palm Pre, but some improvements are still necessary, especially in the area of available applications.

What It Has

The Palm Pre Plus has one of the best screens on a handset that this reviewer has ever had the pleasure of experiencing.  It’s crisp, the colours are bright, the floating menu over the homescreen makes multi-tasking convenient and easy, and the touchscreen is superb, not giving us one bit of trouble.  The design overall looks great too.  Very modern black and glass appearance. It comes with a pouch to protect that superb quality screen, which is a definite plus given how protective you might feel over it once you’ve used it a few times, The slide-out QWERTY is there for those who want to type in longer messages, too.  The call quality and browsing quality of this handset are both just perfect.

What It Lacks

There are a few glaring problems with the Palm Pre Plus, one of them being that initial start up takes some time, though granted it does go fast once its all booted up.  Another issue with the handset is the rather short battery life.  The QWERTY is also a bit uncomfortable to use, and very small, which makes it difficult for someone like me who has larger fingers.  Unlike the Android apps, the webOS apps that are offered here are all more expensive and the selection not so wide-ranging.  There’s no expandable memory slot here, either.

Conclusion

The Palm Pre Plus mobile phone is fast, its good-looking, and it’s got a lot of other features that make it attractive if you are in the market for a new handset.

If you are looking for an inexpensive mobile phone, the LG Pop is a good option.  It is also a good option if you are looking for a serviceable phone with a camera and music device, but do not need the speed of Wi-Fi or 3G network for browsing.

The handset is small, lightweight, and has a 3-inch touch screen.  A single front button performs several functions, depending on which direction it is pushed.  The camera and volume controls are on side buttons.

This mobile phone was designed to be environmentally conscious, using recyclable and nonhazardous materials.  It even lets you know when your battery is full, so you don’t use extra electricity charging it.  The normal drag-and-drop and swipe options on the touch screen work well.  The intuitive typing option is nice, predicting what word you are typing to save keystrokes.

The keyboard is comparable to other virtual landscape keyboards, though definitely not as user- friendly as a full QWERTY.

Call quality is very good; the keypad for dialling numbers is large and easy to use.

The camera is 3 megapixels.  On video playback, you have the option to stop an image and make a jpeg of it.  Video is QVGA quality at 320 x 240 megapixels.

Memory options offer up to 8 GB external memory for extra storage and the music player is good.  Downloads from your PC can be done with USB or the LG program.
 
Deals:

Several companies offer a free handset and 15 pounds per month, with contract.

What It Has

The Motorola Defy mobile phone is described by its manufacturer as one tough little phone that is built to withstand whatever life has to throw at it. This is a particularly powerful selling point to anyone who can’t baby his or her handset.  It’s a rugged little phone with rubber coating and a 3.7-inch display screen that is constructed of scratch-proof Gorilla Glass, and with a sliding catch on the back that protects the phone battery cover from falling off along with the battery, should you drop it; it lives up to expectations in this regard.  Better yet, if you’re out at the pub with mates and someone spills their drink on it, the protective rubber seals over the jack and the micro-USA keeps liquid and dust out. The screen is high resolution, which makes it easy to navigate and a pleasure to look at, and the camera effects are basic but allow for easy customisation.  The screen also has some useful widgets to help you navigate contacts and most-called numbers.

What It Lacks

The design of the Defy isn’t really all that pleasing to the eye.  It may be ‘life-proof’ but it’s not getting any bonus points for its beauty.  The Defy is also a bit on the slow side when it comes to downloading apps and swiping screens from left-to-right.  Navigation can sometimes be a little annoying.  It’s an Android mobile phone, which is good, but it’s a bit bulky and doesn’t have either the call quality or the browsing and social media sharpness that we’d like to see.

Conclusion

The mobile phone news on this model is that it’s great in terms of its toughness and if you need a phone that can be dropped or otherwise abused and keep going strong, this is the phone for you.  It will suit all of your needs even though some of the features may not be as sharp as we’d like.

The sports brand Puma have teamed up with Sagem to bring the ultimate phone for sports fans onto the market.  The handset offers a number of quirky features.  However, it doesn’t really offer enough for the real tech-savvy people out there.

What it Offers
This small, lightweight phone fits easily into your pocket when you’re out for a run or playing football in the park.  Additionally it offers solar charging via its solar panel screen.  Although you should keep in mind, that it will not gain so much power under the British sun!  Other extra sporting features include the analogue stopwatch (also digital), a GPS running tracker, a pedometer to count your steps, and a calculator to calculate how many calories you’ve burnt.  There’s even a yachting compass, for those of you who are keen to be out in the open sea air.

Drawbacks
The main drawback is the confusing text messaging.  In addition, although it offers a full QWERTY keyboard on screen, the screen is not big enough to take it.  This makes text messaging extremely cramped and difficult.  A further annoyance is the menu system.  The menu contains a lot of instruction text which becomes a chore to read through.  Additionally, it’s possible to cheat the pedometer if you wave the phone around in the air enough times!

Other Things to Note
Although this phone started out as quirky and fun, it soon became somewhat irritating.  For example, when the phone is running out of battery it tells you it’s hungry.  Although this was cute at first, it became a nuisance later.

The Vodafone 845, available from all good mobile phone dealers, is another handset, which uses Android technology to create a simple yet effective smartphone.  This particular handset offers a camera, a screen, which are just over 3 inches and a music player.  All these features are combined into an attractive handset, which fits nicely into your pocket.

Praise for this phone includes its sturdy design, effective touchscreen, and music player quality.  In addition, unlike many other smartphones it is not too expensive to buy if you want the handset simply for pay-as-you-go purposes.  If you are after a contract deal, there are many available via Vodafone.  In addition, some of these monthly deals start at as low as £15 per month.  For £15 per month, you will get 500 text messages and 100 minutes.  Deals also reach as high as over £75 per month.  Such deals give you 3000 minutes and 250 text messages.  The majority of contract deals offer this particular handset free.

A few criticisms have been made of this handset.  For example, although it is not ugly, it is not considered one of the flashiest phones currently on the market.  A further criticism is that the phone has not been reviewed as being particularly easy to use, suggesting navigating through website menus to be quite a challenge.

Despite these criticisms, the Vodafone 845 is offered in some good deals, and uses the latest Android technology to create a pocket-sized handset of a sturdy design.

The LG Optimus 7 is a Windows Phone 7 handset.  It appears very similar to other LG phones, but has a good-looking metal back piece and very nice camera plate.  The LG Optimus 7 has a massive 16GB of memory, though there is no way of adding extra storage.  For anyone wanting to store lots of apps, media and documents, this model offers the biggest memory of all Windows Phone 7 handsets currently available.  There is also a 5-megapixel camera, if you enjoy taking lots of photos.

For LG Optimus 7 deals try Vodafone’s £30 per month 24-month contract, which offers a free handset, 900 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB internet connection.

The LG Optimus 7 offers the facility to stream media content stored on the phone to a TV, stereo, Xbox 360 or PC, as long as the devices are connected to a Wi-Fi network.  The handset is quite bulky, but still sleek, while the screen is very responsive and web browsing quite fast.

The build quality is not as good as equivalent HTC models and the buttons feel cheap and wobbly.  The camera’s LED flash is not particularly good and photo quality is average, although the panorama feature is a bonus.  The LG app store does not have many apps yet, but the user interface is simple and attractive and the on-screen keyboard is good.

To summarise, the HTC HD7 is slightly more responsive than the LG Optimus 7, which has a slightly smaller screen, but is also cheaper.  The LG apps are not very good, but the interface is fast and easy to use.