Google Phone: Nexus One from HTC

I had a chance to only play with the Nexus One since it's partial support is of course "Outsourced" here and with that I got to handle and experience it's features first hand. The Nexus One phone is pretty fast — you can really feel that processing power kicking from inside. Android OS is quite intimidating at first but the more you explore and use it, it's pretty simple. And as far as specs are concerned, see below:

Cellular & Wireless

UMTS Band 1/4/8 (2100/AWS/900)
HSDPA 7.2Mbps
HSUPA 2Mbps
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
A2DP stereo Bluetooth

Power and battery
Removable 1400 mAH battery
Charges at 480mA from USB, at 980mA from supplied charger

Talk time
Up to 10 hours on 2G
Up to 7 hours on 3G

Standby time
Up to 290 hours on 2G Up to 250 hours on 3G
Internet use
Up to 5 hours on 3G
Up to 6.5 hours on Wi-Fi

Video playback
Up to 7 hours

Audio playback
Up to 20 hours

Processor
Qualcomm QSD 8250 1 GHz

Operating system
Android Mobile Technology Platform 2.1 (Eclair)

Capacity
512MB Flash
512MB RAM
4GB Micro SD Card (Expandable to 32 GB)

Location
Assisted global positioning system (AGPS) receiver
Cell tower and Wi-Fi positioning
Digital compass
Accelerometer

Size and weight:

Height
119mm
Width
59.8mm

Depth
11.5mm

Weight
130 grams w/battery
100g w/o battery

Display
3.7-inch (diagonal) widescreen WVGA AMOLED touchscreen
800 x 480 pixels
100,000:1 typical contrast ratio
1ms typical response rate

Camera & Flash
5 megapixels
Autofocus from 6cm to infinity
2X digital zoom
LED flash
User can include location of photos from phone’s AGPS receiver
Video captured at 720x480 pixels at 20 frames per second or higher, depending on lighting conditions

The good: The Nexus One has a gorgeous display, a lightning-fast processor, and a loaded feature set. The enhanced voice capabilities worked flawlessly, and the phone delivers solid performance.

The bad: Like other Android phones, the Nexus One forces you to store apps on the internal memory. The media player remains average, and it’s missing some wanted features like multi-touch support, dual-mode capability for GSM and CDMA networks.

In Conclusion: It doesn’t have all the features we’d like, but the Nexus One greatly enhances the Google Android family with a fast processor, good call quality, and improved voice control features.

For more info. visit HERE

read more...

The HTC Hero

The HTC Hero has been out of the market for awhile but as far as Philippines is concerned it is still new since Technology turn over hear is moves like the turtle. I have handled this as well since its partial support is once again "Outsourced."

The Hero is HTC’s 3rd handset to run Google Android OS (after Dream and Magic). Here are its specifications:

Qualcomm MSM7200A 528 MHz
Android 1.5
512 ROM, 288 RAM
3.2 inch screen @ 320×480 pixels
3G/HSDPA 7.2Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.1
Internal GPS
5MP camera
3.5mm audio jack

The HTC Hero’s form factor is a little odd with the bottom part bent crooked inward. In a way, it make sense when you make a phone call since the mic is placed closer to your mouth. The handset’s build and construction is pretty solid with a combination of brushed metal finish and a smooth rubbery surface (feels like Teflon coating but earlier reports say only the white model has it). Not thin but not too thick (14.4mm) as well — fits snugly with one hand and not that heavy for its size.

The Hero has version 1.5 pre-installed and got more improvements from the previous version. This one has 7 desktop/panels you can easily switch with a flick of the screen or roll of the trackball — customize each panel to hold shortcuts, widgets and folders (mine has the Calendar, Weather, Home, Twitter and Contacts).

The phone is very responsive and can run multiple applications all at the same time. However, I sometimes notice the handset to slow down when a lot of apps are open or running so the Task Killer widget come in very handy when that happens. The Hero has a 528 MHz (Qualcomm MSM7200A ARM11) processor and 288MB RAM that performs quite well with multi-tasking.

The touch screen is very good and responsive as well; the oleophobic coating of the screen makes it immune to oily finger fingerprints. Video playback is smooth and clear with very wide viewable angle (around 130-150 degrees IMO). The speakers at the back are a bit small and not loud enough for open playback.

While the phone has multi-touch functionality, it is not available on all applications — works on web browsing but not on Google Maps. The 5-megapixel camera has a nice autofucos feature but does not take photos very well especially on low light or non-stationary subjects. There’s no dedicated camera button and relies on the trackball for that function.

Although the Android on it is already quite "old" dream on if you can get your hands on the latest Android 2.1 to have a test in the difference between 1.5 and 2.1, but then again dreaming is free since we are in the Philippines and it will take some time, lots of time to be up to date with the latest gadgetry to arrive here.

read more...