Sidekick 3 review roundup (Unlocking Mobile)
Sidekick 3 review roundup
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds By the time the Bluetoothin’, memory expandin’ Sidekick 3 drops on T-Mobile come next month, it’s our duty here at Engadget to make sure our readers practically know more about the phone than your average Danger employee. The next phase in that plan involves a barrage of reviews, presented here for your perusal. Complaints centered around the device’s weak-but-common 1.3 megapixel camera, while the redesigned glossy keyboard earned mixed ratings. The critical reaction has been generally positive, with some reviewers suggesting that the third iteration of the Hiptop is the first one strong enough to serve as a dedicated phone. Read – Mobileburn Read – PC Magazine Read – LAPTOP Magazine Read – Phone ScoopPermalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Motorola Capri, a.k.a. the RAZR slider, previewed
Filed under: Cellphones The guys over at PhoneScoop have sure made the site live up to its name today: not only did they get some serious hands-on time with Motorola’s upcoming RAZR slider — codenamed Capri — they also got to preview the next version of Moto’s much-maligned Synergy UI that will show up in such models as the Canary and the SCPL. At least on paper, the Capri seems to offer a very compelling feature set that will probably attract anyone into the RAZR lifestyle- you’re getting a model only slightly thicker and heavier than its clamshell counterpart, but which sports a 2.0 megapixel camera, A2DP-capable Bluetooth, and what sounds like a greatly improved user interface. Especially noteworthy in the overhauled Synergy is an address book that seems to work much more intuitively than past iterations (remember the one on the StarTAC?), allowing you to organize entries by name and search for contacts using multiple letters. Although Phone Scoop was only testing a pre-production model, they have identified some potential problems to watch out for on the final version, such as the unusually crappy quality of what should be a decent camera, and most importantly, a spring-assisted slider that’s difficult to activate due to the raised antenna bulge so familiar to RAZR owners. Click on if you want to peep a few more snaps, but you’re really doing yourself a disservice if you don’t head over to PhoneScoop for the full gallery and a very thorough write-up… Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Palm and RIM to merge? Meh.
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds Perhaps you’ve heard the buzz, but if not there’s a rumor going around right now that mobile communicator rivals Palm and Research In Motion are set to announce a merger of equals as early as this very Thursday. But before you get your panties in a twist about the seemingly possibilities of TreoBerries or BlackTreos (no, not those black Treos), you should trace the breadcrumb trail from the rumor’s prominent placement on CNET all the way back to an anonymous LiveJournal prominently featuring the slogan “Right now I am big on PALM stock, because the Treo is gonna be huge..” Of course, we’d never rule anything out only because it came from an anonymous source, but we’re definitely suspicious. The author of the LJ, titled Covert Stock Operations, points out that Palm would go through with the deal because RIM can offer them “a great investor relations department,” “acceleration of market dominance,” and a lot of other fluffy reasons; apparently it’s in RIM’s best interest to buy Palm because they’re a primary mobile communicator competitor who are beginning to support Microsoft’s entry into the push email space, and their hardware and software offerings would round one anothers’ out, complimenting and improving their total respective product portfolios. Honestly, we see RIM and Palm as two disparate, headstrong companies with a lot less incentive to merge with anyone — let alone with one another — given the goings on of the last few months. RIM’s emerged from the fog of the NTP case and Palm’s 2006 handset offerings are gaining in momentum; whereas there’s no way we can assure you the two won’t be merging, um, this week, we can definitely say Occam’s razor would dictate the anonymous Palm stock pimping blog might have more to gain from the rumor than either of these companies probably would in actually merging.[Via CNET]Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Compulab’s tiny ass PC
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds It’s nothing new these days to have a full-fledged Pocket PC squeezed into seemingly impossible form factors — HTC’s Star Trek comes quickly to mind — but we’re pretty sure Compulab is breaking some new ground with their CM-X270L mini PC. A mere two-thirds the size of a credit card, the 1.7 by 2.6-inch device holds an XScale processor, 512MB of flash memory, 128MB of RAM, a sound card and 802.11b WiFi. The device also manages extra snazz such as a PCI bus and 4 USB host ports, putting this thing beyond the realm of the average PDA. Obviously, those hugemongeous antennas put a little bit of a damper on this thing’s portability, but we’re guessing this thing needs a few extra components to get moving anyways, so we’ll let ‘em fly for now. The best news is that the device not only runs Windows CE and Linux, but goes for $47 a piece if you buy ‘em 10,000 at a time. We’re sure that smartphone and PDA manufacturers will be more than happy to pass the size and cost savings on to us consumers.[Via The Inquirer]Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com