T-Mobile G2 gets an early unboxing

T-Mobile's official street date for the G2 is Wednesday next week, but we knew some pre-orderers would be getting the phone early, and it looks like we've already got an unboxing to show for it. Rugged, free-spirited tipster Silverwolfe did the honors, and even managed to size the phone up against the original G2 while he was at it. Check out a few shots below, or hit up the source link for the full gallery.

Via : engadget

Nokia N8 vs. iPhone 4

What's the first thing you should do when you get the N8? Considering it packs the biggest image sensor embedded in a phone yet, Carl Zeiss optics, and an eight-digit pixel count, it seemed obvious to us that the answer was to take it on a picture- and video-taking stroll around London. On our way out we saw our iPhone 4 looking all sad and lonely, so we went ahead and brought it along as well. Below you shall find one gallery of pure, unadulterated N8 sample shots, another interspersed with the iPhone's results for comparison's sake, and a final one with side-by-side 100 percent crops from each image taker. Once you've digested all of those, we suggest hopping past the break and tucking into some tasty video comparisons for dessert.

Naturally, all the images are entirely unretouched (but for our masterly watermarking) and the iPhone 4's HDR hocus pocus has been left off. We've also provided a zip file containing all the full-res imagery shot with the N8 in a link below.

A quick note is also merited about the N8's resolution. The sensor's display ratio is 4:3, which means that full 12 megapixel shots are only available in those dimensions. The camera software, however, defaults to shooting 9 megapixel snaps at the increasingly popular 16:9 ratio -- this is done simply by cropping away the "excess" bars at the top and bottom of the image, meaning that the 9 megapixel images are giving us identical performance as the 12 megapixel ones, they're just chopped down (from 4000 x 3000 to 4000 x 2248) for the sake of convenience. Now, on with the show!

Read More @ engadget

NOKIA X6 ON ORANGE LESS THAN £25 A MONTH

The Nokia X6 is for all you music lovers out there. While the iPhone of course has the pedigree of coming from the same family as the iPod, the music experience has become diluted thanks to Apple’s shifting focus to apps and other smartphone operations. The Nokia X6 on the other hand is a music phone for music purists. And its a whole lot cheaper than the iPhone as well.

First of all let me highlight the non-music highlights of the Nokia X6. With a nicely slim design, big capacitive touchscreen and a camera that takes considerably above-average photos, it is certainly a decent, if unspectacular all-round smartphone.

But all of this is unimportant, as if you decide to go for the Nokia X6, it will be because of its music capabilities. The first thing that hints at the X6′s focus is the 16GB of internal storage packed into it.

Filling up all of this space is a real pleasure, as Nokia have built a programme that rivals iTunes for usability and in fact has some extra features that make it an even better platform for transferring music.

As well as the usual USB linking between device and PC, you can also transfer music over bluetooth. This is a real lifesaver if you are on the move and don’t want to be constantly trailing a USB cable after you. Downloading music is also extremely easy and the whole process just feels very intuitive and fluid.

As for actually playing your haul of music, the X6 packs a good multimedia player. It is simple yet very effective, with the usual set of navigation options making browsing through your collection very easy. Again bluetooth support is good, as it is a matter of a couple of presses of the touchscreen and your bluetooth headphones will be paired and ready to play music.

Though extras such as the camera could have easily just be thrown in as an afterthought, given the focus on music playback, Nokia have instead added a very impressive and significantly above-average camera. Shooting in 5 Megapixels and with high-quality shots, especially closeups, the X6 more than competes on the standard cameraphone front as well.

The cherry on the top of the Nokia X6 is that you can get the whole package for just £22.50 a month on Orange. With Orange Wednesdays and Magic Numbers as added little extras to enjoy, you more than get value for money.

Via : wirelesstechnews

Unlimited Music Downloads with Nokia 5230

T-Mobile’s big Christmas push is beginning now – yes – on the first of October. But their impressive package on the Nokia 5230 and you’ll forgive them for shouting about this one early.

One can throw around a term like ‘unlimited’ and there’s generally a catch, something in the small print to be wary of – especially if the word ‘music’ follows on….

Something like ‘when you top up £10′ or ‘for November only’. But this time there really are no strings.

So ‘unlimited music’ from the Nokia Ovi Store for a year. Unlimited downloads from their catalogue of 10 million tracks. Unlimited in the sense that it won’t cost you another penny after you put up £99.99 for the PAYG handset, and you can download every one of those 10 million. Unlimited in that you can forgo eating, sleeping, moving and working for the sake of clicking track after album to complete your encyclopedia of music.

More @ geeks.co.uk

Nokia E7 turned the most heads

Nokia has carried out a poll to find out which phone was most popular at Nokia World – and the Nokia E7 was the runaway winner.

The smartphone, which is due to be released in early 2011, received 70 per cent of the vote.

Its nearest rival is the Nokia C7 on 13.5 per cent, with its sister the Nokia C6-01 following on 10.5 per cent.

The Nokia C3 Touch and Type brings up the rear with just six per cent of the vote.

Nokia says the E7 is expected to retail at €495 (£414) pre-tax and subsidies. It packs a four-inch touchscreen, slide-out full QWERTY keyboard, Ovi Maps and Ovi Store pre-loaded, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync for accessing and editing work documents, access to work email inboxes and personal email and Nokia’s ClearBlack Display technology.

The Nokia C7 and C6 are expected to go on sale from October onwards – just in time to make it on to our Christmas gifts list.

The Nokia C7 will cost €335 (£280) and the Nokia C6 will set you back €260 (£217), both prices are excluding tax and subsidies.

The former is a slim touchscreen with an eight-megapixel camera, 3.5-inch touchscreen and social networking integrated, including global social networking, such as China’s Renren, as well as Facebook and Twitter.

Via : mobileshop

Motorola ES400S earns its keep on Sprint in October

You may not remember the Motorola ES400 announced back in June; it's the first device to run Microsoft's Windows Embedded Handheld platform, after all -- an offshoot of WinMo 6.5.3 -- and doesn't have a whole lot of relevance to the average consumer. Well, let this be your refresher: Sprint has revealed that it intends to launch its own version of the phone, the ES400S, through a variety of Sprint sales channels next month, marking the first time an enterprise-oriented Moto has been branded and offered directly by a carrier.

It meets a variety of standards for ruggedness and includes a 3-inch VGA display, full QWERTY keyboard, 3.2 megapixel camera (which actually performs the barcode scanning duties, not a traditional laser scanner), 802.11a / b / g, GPS, and both CDMA with EV-DO Rev. A and GSM / HSPA for international use.

You get a 1540mAh battery in the box, but a whopping 3080mAh unit is available separately if you plan on enterprisin' away from a charger for days on end. "Qualified" businesses will be able to get in on the ES400S starting sometime before the end of October for $499.99, while average Joes will have the option of paying $549.99 on a new two-year deal. Follow the break for the press release.

Via : engadget

Taser shotgun firm shoots itself in foot

Controversy continues to dog a non-lethal weapon called the Taser shotgun.

The "X12" Taser shotgun is made by Taser International of Scottsdale, Arizona and fires a battery-packed 12-bore shell with forward-facing barbs that deliver a debilitating electric shock.

In August last year, New Scientist revealed research that showed an early version of the weapon was both difficult to aim accurately, putting victims' eyes at risk, and sometimes delivered a shock for more than five minutes, rather than 20 seconds.

Such issues were part of the reason that the Taser shotgun went into a programme of testing in the labs of the UK Home Office's Scientific Development Branch (HOSDB).

The weapon is still being tested at the HOSDB lab and has not been approved for use by UK police forces.

Yet it emerged in July that the weapon had been fired by police attempting to subdue a killer named Raoul Moat in an armed standoff in Northumbria, in the north of England.

It turned out that Pro-Tect Systems of Daventry, Northamptonshire, a company set up in 2000 to import US-made Taser stunguns of all types into the UK, had supplied the unapproved Taser shotgun to the Northumbria police.

Yesterday, the UK Home Office issued a statement revoking Pro-Tect's licence to sell any Taser weapons. "Pro-Tect breached its licence by supplying X12 Tasers direct to police that were only available for supply to the Home Office Science and Development Branch," the Home Office says. Its licence expires on 30 September.

It may seem harsh, but the breach of Pro-Tect's licence - issued under the UK Firearms Act - is described by Sky News as "very, very serious indeed".

The Home Office says Pro-Tect may seek a judicial review of its decision. A Pro-Tect spokesman said: "For legal reasons we are not issuing any comment on this."

The Taser shotgun is already in use in a number of US police departments. This account by Taser International describes one example of its use in 2009.

Via : newscientist

Canada: Acer Liquid E is now also available from Fido

The Acer Liquid E is basically the original Acer Liquid with Android 2.1 thrown in for good measure, as opposed to the original’s ancient 1.6 version of the mobile OS.

The Acer Liquid E has been available on Rogers in Canada for some time now, but today Fido also started selling it. If you are or intend to become a Fido customer, the Liquid E can be yours for $30 with a new 3-year contract or $375 without a contract.

This is Fido’s first Android smartphone, but there’s a good chance that others will start joining it pretty soon. After all, the smartphone revolution is in full swing, and not even Canadian carriers can afford to ignore it.

Via : unwiredview

Fido releases first Android: Acer Liquid E

Fido has released another smartphone and their first Android-powered device, the Acer Liquid e. This can be yours for $30 on a 3-year contract or $375 no contract.

From now on you can expect more smartphones (and more Android devices) to trickle down from Rogers lineup to Fido. The reason is more handset competition from the mid-level carriers and that customers are demanding devices that can do more than talk and text. Bell’s Virgin Mobile started to bring on smartphones when they hopped on to HSPA back on February 2nd. TELUS’ Koodo Mobile has also started to release smartphones over the past few months. The entry level devices will be left for Solo Mobile and Chatr.

As for the specs of the Fido Liquid e: comes with a 3.5-inch display, 768MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 5 megapixel camera with video capabilities, WiFi, full HTML browser, GPS, Bluetooth, 3.5mm headset jack, holds up to 32GB. Overall dimensions are 116×54×12.75mm with a weight of 135 grams.

Via : mobilesyrup.com

Source : Fido

HP Envy 15 and Envy 14 with Radiance display no longer available through HP,

Well, this is depressing. Earlier today we were tipped off on disappearance of the Envy 15 on HP's site, and according to the company it'll no longer be available through HP. Obviously, you can still snatch up the 15.6-inch version of HP's magnesium alloy rig through other e-tailers, but there's no telling how long they'll be in stock. The vanishing of the Envy 15 happens to make a lot of sense with the introduction of the Envy 14, but there's also something fishy going on with that one. The machine, which we do love so, doesn't have an option to be configured with HP's brighter Radiance panel any longer. HP wouldn't comment on future plans, but did confirm that the Radiance panel is no longer available on the 14. We'll be keeping an ear to the ground for further updates, but it's on you to bring the tissues next time.

Though it's little consolation for nature-loving outdoor laptop enthusiasts, there is a silver lining in this cloud -- the Envy 14's now showing a new set of powerful CPU options, up to and including that 2.66GHz Core i5-580M we've been lusting after for months.

Buy @ HP Envy

Nokia N8 shipments begin, usher in Symbian^3 era

Nokia's N8 is now shipping to those of you who pre-ordered. It may not be the device that'll make you leave your beloved BlackBerry, iPhone, or Android phone but Nokia's N8 with its significantly enhanced Symbian^3 OS is without a doubt the best you can do if you're one of the millions of Symbian users looking for a smartphone upgrade. Having said that, fans of cameraphones on any platform might be swayed by the N8's 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens, xenon flash, extra large image sensor, and HDMI out. Nokia says that availability will vary by country and operator and should be everywhere within the coming weeks.

Via : engadget

Nokia N8 first unboxing

Nokia said Q3, Nokia has delivered Q3. Just. The long-awaited first shipments of the Finnish market leader's N8 handset are today finally going out, and we've gotten our hands on one of the very first retail units out there. Gaze upon the gallery below to see what you'll be getting inside the box alongside your multimedia powerhouse, and do make full use of our comments section too -- we want to hear any questions you may have about the N8 and will try to answer them in full, both here and in our full review, which is naturally coming up soon!

Via : engadget