The Phone of the year 2010

How do I even start this one? This is definitely the hardest article I’ll ever have to write. But I have come up with an ingenious plan. Wait you will see. So here we go. The phone of the year 2010 is the Samsung Galaxy S. We also have another winner ladies and gentlemen…Nokia N900. I know you probably don’t see it yet but that’s how things have to be. I could have picked the Galaxy S but last week something amazing happened to the Nokia N900 and remembered all the amazing things that had happened to that phone. While the Galaxy S is probably the phone of choice for many people the Nokia N900 is definitely the phone for the geeks and I think geeks are cool. Geeks come up with all the cool stuff and we use these stuff to get laid while they get rejected. No am just kidding.
The winner had to be a phone that could do everything so as you’ve guessed the iPhone 4 is already out because of its various limitations, no true multitasking being one of them. Some phones however only missed narrowly and they included the Nokia N8, Nexus one, HTC Desire, Motorola Droid 2 and also the Samsung wave 2. So the winner had to be the Samsung Galaxy S and the Nokia N900.
The Samsung Galaxy S when compared with the iPhone left the iPhone for dead. The phone is just too sexy and the screen is 4 inches of glory and protected by a gorilla glass display. Internal memory is between 8 and 16GB with 512mb Ram and 2GB rom. The Wi-Fi is b, g and also n. The processor is ARM cortex A8 running at 1GHz. There is also the usual GPS. The selling point of this phone is definitely not the features but the usability. It is the most practical phone you will ever get. Opening applications, swiping and scrolling through menus, browsing and also typing via the swipe enabled virtual keyboard is a breeze and simply amazing. The camera is a 5megapixel snapper but is incredible. Samsung simply did what the iPhone does and they did it in style and of course they did it better. Well, the iPhone normally has pathetic features but using it is great. The galaxy S has amazing features and using it is more amazing. Currently it runs android 2.2 but the upgrade to gingerbread (android 2.3 is on the way).
The Nokia N900 cannot be described by a single word. If forced to describe it by a single word I will call it “Rambo”. There is nothing this phone cannot do. It has the same screen resolution as the galaxy S but features a smaller 3.5 inch screen making it better. The internal memory is a massive 32 GB and the RAM is 256mb which seems small but this phone does wonders with it. It also has an ARM cortex 8 processor but at 600MHz. This also seems slow but the N900 does miracles with it. The usual GPS with OVI maps is onboard. The N900 also features a slide out QWERTY keyboard.
So the features seem standard or actually less than standard and we wonder what makes the N900 so special. The first thing is that it runs on maemo 5 and it is the only Smartphone from Nokia that does not run on symbian. The maemo 5 brings multiple home screens and this is the most customizable phone yet. The browser on Nokia N900 is the best browser on a phone. It supports flash and can open any page. There is also Mozilla Firefox but you will find yourself using the phones browser. Yes, that’s how incredible it is. Calling the N900 a phone is usually an understatement. The N900 is more of a tablet than a phone. The phone can run many applications at the same time without slowing down and the iPhone cannot even dream of that.
The geeks have also done something special with the N900. The N900 can run android from 2.1 to the latest 2.3. Currently android 2.2 is very stable and android 2.3 is very promising. Only the nexus S natively runs android 2.3 and the Samsung galaxy S has not received the update yet and can only look at the N900 with envy. The good thing is that you don’t do this at the expense of maemo 5 because you get to dual boot operating systems just the way you can run windows 7 and windows XP or Linux on one computer. I forgot to mention the obvious. The phone will be able to run Meego after it will be released next year.
Gaming on the N900 is a different story. The N900 not only plays android games but also Nintendo games, playstation games and most recently web OS games. There are no words for that.
So in the end the phone of the year deservedly goes to the Nokia N900. Oh and did I mention that the processor in the N900 can be over clocked to 1.3GHz in which case it becomes faster than the Galaxy S? The N900 is a beast of a phone and it has no boundaries in its usability. The geeks and anyone daring enough will definitely go for this one cause the power of this phone is just too much for casual phone users. They might think they have a computer instead of a phone and they would be right because the N900 is more than a phone.

Nokia C6-01: The New Nokia 5800

The resurrection of Nokia has started. While most of the attention is on the Nokia N8 probably the Nokia C6-01 will move most people. The phone is also based on the new symbian^3 platform. The C6-01 will be aimed at the masses and it doesn’t disappoint.
So anyway the phone has a 3.2 inch screen which will now be considered smallish by many. The screen however is AMOLED, yes AMOLED on a Nokia phone and it also has something which Nokia calls the Nokia clear black display. Indeed the screen is really good and it’s capacitive (yaay). Internal memory is 340mb and there is 256mb of RAM. Processing is still done by the ARM 11 chip but now at 680 MHz and there is also a 3D accelerator, wow! There is also an 8 megapixel fixed focus camera and amazingly video recording is at 720p. So far all I can say is good job Nokia.
In terms of connectivity there is Wi-Fi b, g and n. There is also 3G with HSDPA of up to 10.2Mbps. Bluetooth is Bluetooth 3.0 and there is also USB on the go so you can connect your favorite flash drives. There is also GPS and TV-out support though there is no HDMI.
The new symbian^3 also brings major improvements. Now there are multiple home screens. The music player has received a major upgrade and there is support for xvid/divx. These are all very welcome and the web browser will be upgraded soon. In the meantime you can use the ever friendly opera mobile. Gaming has also been improved just that the OVI store still doesn’t measure up to the demands but it is growing fast.
The phone has definitely been released to replace the Nokia 5800. The journey of Nokia 5800 has been a long one and the most popular phone will be happy to leave behind a capable successor. It has been argued that Nokia 5800 is the best touch screen phone by Nokia especially following the V50 update and the Nokia C6-00 firmware port but that’ s a story for another day.
Compared with the N8 the phone has a smaller screen size and there is lack of a HDMI port. The camera has also been scared down from 12mp to 8mp. The N8 will be about 400 Euros while the C6-01 should be about 260 Euros.

Orange San-Francisco ZTE Blade

The phone is called ZTE Blade but adding the Orange San Francisco surely sweetens the name. But that’s not all. The ZTE Blade has been voted by many websites, bloggers and basically most phone reviewers as the phone of the year 2010. The phone only came out in the last quarter of 2010 but has already won the hearts of many. I also think it’s a great phone despite ZTE being a small company compared to Nokia or Samsung.
Okay the big deal is that the ZTE blade is the cheapest android phone at 99 pounds (about 12,000 Kenya shillings) and there are only a few compromises as we shall see.
The phone has a 3.5 inch capacitive AMOLED touch screen which I believe is large enough, 150mb of internal storage with 512mb RAM. Storage is expandable to 32 GB with an SD card. The processing is done by a Qualcomm chip at 600MHz. These specs seem too limited for android but surprisingly the phone doesn’t lag. In fact it is very zippy and switching between applications is fast enough.
In terms of connectivity the phone has 3G with HSDPA of 7.2Mbps and HSUPA of 5.76Mbps. Amazing stuff! There is also Wi-Fi b and g. The phone comes with android 2.1 but the good news is that it is upgradable to android 2.2 Froyo. There is also GPS on board for the navigation lovers. The battery is 1250mAh and some people have said that it can last for up to 3 days on a single charge.
The downside is that the camera is only 3.15 megapixels and the images produced are not of the best quality. Video recording is pathetic. Another downside is that there is no graphics chip so gaming won’t be as enjoyable and the games such as Asphalt and Raging Thunder 2 tend to freeze a lot.
All in all at that price this phone is incredible. We all know android phones are around 450 dollars SIM free but at 150 dollars and awesome specs sheet the ZTE Blade may as well be a best seller and continue to dent the resurrection of Nokia. Just ignore the camera and the gaming capabilities and you may as well place this phone besides the Google Nexus One.

The Touch Screen Revolution

It seems like touch screens is the way forward. Nowadays there are touch screen phones, computers and even GPS systems and also media players. People are finding touch screens easier and fun to use. In the case of mobile phones touch screens have almost totally taken over. Big phone companies like HTC, Motorola, Samsung and Apple are only making touch screen phones. Nokia is the only big phone company which is still making the kawaida phones although they have a range of touch screen phones.
Touch screens are slowly creeping into the computer world. In this area fully touch tablet computers are the way forward. The Apple Ipad was already launched earlier this year and its reception has been good. The giant computer company Hewlett-Packard (HP) is yet to release a tablet computer although there are rumors of HP Slate in the works. Mobile phones are also expanding their service range such that they can function as computers a good example being the dell streak which was released a month ago. The dell streak has a 5 inch capacitive touch screen and it runs android OS. That brings us to some important issues about touch screen devices. You have to consider the screen type, screen size and more importantly the operating system of the particular device.
With regard to screen type there are two types, capacitive and resistive. Capacitive is more responsive and is the preferred choice in most devices. It allows for using the touch screen with your fingers hence no need for stylus. It also supports multitouch which allows for pinch to zoom and other interesting things which I won’t go into. The negative side is that capacitive is very delicate and has a short life span. Resistive touch screen as the name suggests is resistive meaning it is mostly used with a stylus although you can still use your fingers but it won’t be as responsive as you may have to tap on the screen a couple of times. Resistive touch screens are mostly used by Nokia and earlier tablets. Resistive screens last longer and pretty decent to use the only disadvantage being that it doesn’t support multitouch.
Screen size is a matter of preference really. With regard to phones, 3.2 inch or 3.5 inch is a good size considering the use of the on-screen virtual keyboard. 2.9 inch screen is really too small for a touch screen and 5 inch screen may be considered too big by some although for me the bigger the screen the better. 4 inch screen phones are becoming common with the HTC Evo 4G leading the pack. In the case of tablet computers 7 to 10 inches is the norm.
The other issue was to do with the operating system. Android OS is fastly becoming the choice in most smartphones with HTC, Samsung and Motorola plaguing alliance. The reason for this is that with touch screen phones you need a user friendly operating system with easily accessible menus and android does just that. In the computer world it is really surprising that Microsoft has to battle it out with Android and Meego considering Microsoft is the ruler of the computer industry. Currently there are more Android tablets than windows 7 and the much hyped Meego OS by Nokia and Intel is on the way.
So basically that is all about touch screen devices and in the end it all depends on an individual. Whether we like it or not touch screens are here to stay. The best we can do is to be prepared and finally we can choose the right devices. If you want my opinion on the right choices I would go for the yet to be launched Nokia N8 and for a tablet computer I would go for ASUS Eee Pad 101.

USB OTG (On-the-go)

Oh yes! Mobile phones have taken another major step forward in trying to edge out notebooks. It has been argued that smartphones can completely replace notebooks but in the real sense that is not entirely true. An evidence of this is when you seamlessly connect your smart phone to your PC in order to transfer media files or update your phone or simply back up your files. It was also argued that smartphones are more mobile than laptops but mini netbooks had the last laugh (and then tablets came along). But USB on the Go has greatly improved smart phones.
So with USB on the Go one can connect a flash disk to a phone and access the contents of the flash disk on the phone just the way it would be done on a computer. This makes it easier to transfer media files between phones and also between phones and computers without the need of annoying data cables. With USB on the go you can for example play videos saved on a flash disk and you even have the option of copying the video files to the phone. Cool indeed. But what really amazes me is that you can connect your portable hard drive and therefore memory will never be an issue.
So far Nokia is leading in this venture and this will go a long way to help them recover from their slump. Nokia N8, Nokia C7, Nokia C6-01 and Nokia E7 support this feature. Nokia C7, Nokia C6-01 and Nokia E7 were announced last week during the Nokia Mobile World Congress in London and will be released by the end of the year. And Nokia even went a step further. They have new specially designed headsets that act as DVB-H receivers and they work on Nokia phones with USB on the go. So basically that’s the phones I have named above. In case you still tryna swallow and digest that DVB-H thingy I have mentioned above then you are in luck. Well, it’s just what we refer to as DSTV mobile. And if you think that phone screen is too small for watching Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson lash out at referees then you can just connect the handset to a television but that’s a story for another day.
USB on the go will definitely change the way we view phones and at the moment we can’t possibly know what exactly will be achieved but I have a good feeling about this.

Nokia C3

It’s also the first Series 40 device to come sporting a full QWERTY keyboard. It lacks 3G connectivity so network access is only possible via quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE. Built around a 2.4" 262K-color display of QVGA resolution and a full QWERTY keyboard, the C3 is a rare breed of S40 phones to have Wi-Fi connectivity. Designed to put messaging and social networking in the palm of your hand this tiny tyke comes packing access to your favourite Instant Messaging, social networking and email accounts, all courtesy of Nokia Messaging.
Not content with just being a social butterfly the C3 also boasts Wi-Fi connectivity, a two-megapixel camera, 2.4-inch screen and support for up to 8GB of storage on a microSD card.
This is definitely the best series 40 phone at the moment and one that I recommend for Kawaida people like me. As in the screen is big enough at 2.4 inches, it has a QWERTY keyboard, connectivity is well taken care of including the Wi-Fi and it is a messaging phone with Facebook integration. I also forgot to mention that it is cheap (considering all the features it has).

Nokia E5

Nokia E5, the latest addition to the Eseries stable, taking the best of the Nokia E71 and E72 and making something even better. It has quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and tri-band 3G/HSDPA support and runs on the non-touch Symbian 3rd edition OS.
Before we go through the raft of tasty features on board the Nokia E5, we should ponder on the battery life. 18 hours and 30 minutes talk time (in GSM mode). 29 days standby time. Yep, you read that right. The Nokia E5 is for perfect for anyone who doesn’t like charging their phone. Too often.
Nokia E5 also sports a 5 megapixel fixed-focus camera with LED flash, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity as well as GPS, a 3.5mm audio jack and microUSB port. A microSD card slot completes the list of noteworthy features. That's definitely the first fixed-focus 5 megapixel camera we've seen.
Packing the latest version of S60 3rd edition, the Nokia E5 boasts a suite of home screen features including one-touch access to your favourite contacts, and your favourite social networks. It also boasts Facebook updates direct to your contacts list, so you can always see what your friends are up to and, as it packs the latest version of Nokia Messaging, you get full Instant Messaging functionality too.

Ovi Maps with free walk and drive navigation is on board, as is Ovi Store and with Nokia Messaging comes access to email on the go with support for multiple email accounts, including popular mail services such as Ovi Mail, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail and for the business folk, Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes Traveler.

The Nokia E5’s screen is a 2.4-inch affair which is perfect for showing off snaps taken with the 5-megapixel camera. Below the screen comes two hot keys and dedicated buttons for both the home screen and messaging and call start/answer and end buttons, the latter doubling as the on off button – like the C3.

Nokia C6

Nokia C6

The side-slider Nokia C6 runs on Symbian S60 5th edition (a.k.a. Symbian^1) and packs quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support and quad band 3G with HSDPA. It comes with a 3.2" touch screen of nHD resolution, capable of displaying up to 16M colors.

The new C6 brings the best of messaging together with instant access to your favourite contacts and communications. Not to mention a five-megapixel camera and a very respectable seven hours of talk time (in GSM mode).

The Nokia C6 boasts a customizable home screen which will also play host to your favourite contacts, your latest emails and your friends’ Facebook updates. With Nokia Messaging on board, you have support for up to 10 email accounts from your favourite email hosts including Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail and Ovi Mail.

It has an internal memory of 250mb and a card slot for up to 16 GB. There is also Wi-Fi on board and a 5 megapixels autofocus camera. There is also GPS with Ovi maps preloaded.

The Nokia C6 is a much improved Nokia 5800 with a slide out QWERTY keyboard and you could even put it side by side with the Nokia N97.

Nokia C5: New Kid in Town

The C5 was announced earlier in the month. It is the latest phone from Nokia and the 1^st in the C series.

The C5 will target the mass market but unlike other phones in this category it has a lot more to offer.

It is a beautiful candy bar more like the nokia 5630 although it is prettier. It is similar to the 5630 in almost everything except Wi-Fi and GPS. 5630 has Wi-Fi while the C5 doesn’t but the C5 has GPS which the 5630 does not have. Otherwise it features a 2.2 inch screen, the 3G is HSDPA with download speeds of up to 10.2 Mbps. It features symbian OS 9.3 with series 60 version 3 feature pack 2 which also has the contacts bar.

The internal memory is 50mb but you can add on to this by inserting a microSD card with a capacity of up to 16GB. The camera is 3.15 MP with LED flash and video recording is at 15fps. There is also a secondary camera. Another nice feature is the fast ARM 11 600MHz processor which on such a phone will perform very well.

The phone also comes with some pre installed applications like You Tube, Flickr, MySpace, Facebook among others. So almost everything you will need will be in the phone.

The battery life should be good with the 1050 mAh BL-5CT battery. Battery life will be boosted by the fact that there is no Wi-Fi which is one of the only few disadvantages of the phone.

I see this one doing well, nice job Nokia

Welcome

Welcome y'all. So this blog is all about what many people like- phones and computers. So I will be giving you the latest news, phone reviews and a couple of tricks and tips. Feel free to share your ideas, comments and criticisms. So welcome guys