Let’s get down to where this phone hit, and where it missed!

Hits

• Great bright screen
• Great call clarity
• Music controls are easy to understand and operate
• Very loud speaker phone

Misses

• Super small keypad for dialling
• Center button for menu navigation is poorly designed
• Camera quality is just bad
• Phone must be de-branded for custom tones. (or Downloaded from Rogers Music Store)

In the end, if you’re looking for a phone to simply make calls this is a gem. If you want all of the extras, wait for something a little more……. fat finger friendly!

What does this mean? Think of this as a router for cellular data. So instead of having a router at home, you could take this anywhere you have 3G reception, and connect multiple PCs to the Internet.

Now you have even fewer places you can go to escape the Internet!

Full Specs and Information: Here

I must say I was hoping that this phone would make me want to take my iPhone and smash it into tiny bits and pieces! As it turns out, this phone really disappointed me. It seems as though Samsung is back to it’s old tricks giving us an unresponsive UI, and applications that do nothing but crash the phone!

Those of you who follow me on Twitter (AGoldenberg) must have seen the update I posted about crashing this phone 4 times right out of the box!

Hit the Jump if you Dare!

Let’s go over the pros and cons shall we?

Liked:

• Screen Size is Great
• Sound Quality is OK
• Camera Quality is Decent

Didn’t Like:

• 3-Pages Worth of Menus to Go Through to Find What You’re Looking For.
• Basic Phone Functions are a Pain in the Butt!
• Web Browser is Terrible
• Windows Live Messenger Client Crashes the Phone
• GPS is Incredibly Slow with Clear Sky View!

Overall, I was definitely disappointed with this phone. It simply reassured me that my iPhone was the best choice I’ve made in a long time!

Sorry for the delay guys, but here it is! The first of many iPhone 3G related posts with some video thrown in for good measure. The iPhone has been doing an awesome job here at NerdyBlog.com HQ, however we have heard tons of complaints about applications, battery life, exchange, and just about everything in between!

If you have an iPhone 3G and have something to tell us, leave it in the comments and we will do our best to test out the issue on our iPhone and report back!

Enjoy the video!

Thanks to SherWeb.com for our Hosted Exchange Account! Get yours today at Sherweb.com!
Starting at only $10.95 CAD per month, you can get your very own Hosted Exchange account allowing you to sync contacts calendars, and much more! Sherweb is a Canadian company, and their service and support is amazing!

This is one of the most important factors in determining if the HTC Shift is right for you. Pricing is starting at around $1500 to $2000, though that will probably to come down shortly after supply increases. That is a lot of “hard-earned” money to pay for something which can’t replace your main computer and when you can get wi-fi laptops at half the price its a difficult dicision to make in purchasing a Shift unit. However, I am happy to say if you’re in the market to get an UMPC, the Shift is worth a long, hard look. It’s pretty much the only game in town with a real keyboard and 3G connectivity.

The Pros:

• The speakers excellent.
• The GSM/3G reception is probably a little better than HTC’s Windows Mobile devices.
• It’s good and HSDPA  I speed tested at around 1500kbps
• The screen is pretty good but not perfect.
• It looks good and is very responsive when using it as a touch screen or tablet While the specs might look pretty poor on paper, that shouldn’t be an automatic turn off. Try it before you buy it. More than likely you’ll be impressed.
• The keyboard itself is good to use.
• The fingerprint reader works well. The included software called VitaKey serves it purpose
• The design and button layout is super friendly and clean. You can’t get confused even if it’s the first time you’ve picked one up, and there is a nice tactile feel to them.

The Cons:

• There’s no back-light on the keyboard. While this might not be a huge issue for some people, it really is incredibly difficult to see the keyboard in low-light conditions
• On the SnapVue (Windows Mobile-ish) side, email works great. But, you can’t open any attachments! Nothing! No Word, PowerPoint, MP3s, pictures, etc.
• Random quirks…for instance, all of sudden, they’ll be a pop-up in Vista saying that you just plugged something into the audio jack. Eh?!?!
• Battery life is fair. Needs to be worked on.
• The touch pointer mouse square thingy works alright but is a little awkward to use when the keyboard is out.

Having said all that, over the last few days this serial review has been running, I believe this device is still a little bit ahead of the network it is supposed to run on.  The HTC Shift is crying out for a more reliable fast network than (at the moment) Rogers has to offer.  I can see this unit working well in Europe where 3.5G is starting to become the norm, however, for us unfortunate North Americans who are stuck for cash and want everything now, now, NOW, a laptop with wi-fi is the better option…..for the time being!

SnapVue is basically the Windows Mobile side of things. On the SnapVue homescreen, you get a nice Today plugin. It shows the time, date, weather, emails, contacts, SMSs, calendar and settings. The issue is that since HTC has not provided us with the full Windows Mobile experience, you are limited in what you can do.

Let’s take the email program, for example. You have your server all set up, your emails are being pushed to the device, and everything is all well with the world. However, what happens when you get an email with an important attachment. No problem, just click the attachment and it will download, however, try opening it. You can’t open any attachment in an email in SnapVue, you are forced to switch over to Vista. I don’t think most people are asking for document editing, though that would be nice, but we should at least have the ability to open simple attachments on the platform!

That brings us to another issue…phone calling.

HTC has not included the ability to make phone calls from the device. The closest thing to using the system for calling is using the likes of Skype via the Vista platform.  If I had this system I would be a little cheated that I would have to have two SIM cards, one for data on the HTC and the other for my business phone.  I thought the idea of the future was convergence (putting all mobile devices into one).  Not that I am saying you should  be able to use the unit like a normal cell phone, it would look kinda stupid holding the unit to your head!!  I was thinking more of using a Bluetooth headset instead, after all, with 3G, you could be talking while browsing the web. That’s a real must for me and other people who would want to multi-task.  You can use SMS texting but not call people!!!

The email application, calendar, contacts are programs you would find on a normal Windows Mobile device, it’s just the whole attachment and no phone calling that “does-my-head-in”!  If you really need to get something done your best bet is to flip the switch to Vista and get on with it!!.

SCREEN

The screen is good, however, its not the best.  The default resolution of 800×480 is fine for most applications and you have the option of changing to 1024×600 which is always a bonus.  You’ll have to adjust the brightness if you’re outside, but I am happy to report the screen is perfectly viewable even in direct sunlight. The screen is also, of course, a touchscreen. It’s a passive touch screen, so you’re free to use your fingers to tap and select items. The included stylus works fine for navigating, handwriting or anything else you’d like to do with it, I just had a hell of a time getting the stylus out from the unit!

KEYBOARD

The keyboard is a tricky subject for any user. And the point of a portable device is that it should be able to function for all your needs when you’re not at the office or at home on your main computer. After all, if you can’t even manage to enter a web address, you can forget about answering those emails in Outlook, and editing those Word attachments that you cannot open in SnapVue. The Shift keyboard is to be used in more of a traditional setup using your fingers to type, no using your thumbs with this beauty!  The setup is a little strange. The numbers on the top row of the keyboard are aligned more to the right than the traditional QWERTY keyboard. This means the “1″ key is over the “W” key instead of the “Q” key, this threw me off a little when typing but I got used to it.

PERFORMANCE

To give you the hard specs: 800MHz A110 Intel CPU, 1GB RAM, 40GB 4200rpm hard drive, which is the bare minimum in terms of today’s advanced specifications for a mobile computer.  However, even in Vista (and I HATE Vista) there were no lock-ups, slow downs, or any kind of issues related to the speed of the device, Internet Explorer gave me no troubles, and AIM worked well, too. Playing videos and music also didn’t cause the computer to hiccup.  I am quite pleased with how usable it is, even with below-standard hardware.

BATTERY
This could be one of the biggest problems the Shift unit has to face. To be fair, the specs are exactly as HTC specified: 2 hours of battery life in Windows Vista.   I asked the business community what they would expect from length of battery time and most were wanting at least 3 hours.  You might be able to squeeze out a couple extra minutes, but do not try kidding yourself, you are notn going to be able to settle down and watch a 3 hour movie epic using the battery alone! On the upside, SnapVue lasts for a hell of a long time, even with the 3G connection on, I had it one for over 36 hours!!  This is absolutely great for anyone who is constantly away from the office and need to keep in touch with emails etc.  Please HTC, lets see a better high-capacity battery soon!!!

The Shift specs include:

HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100

Excellent dual stereo speakers

30GB HDD drive

USB 2.0

Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g

Bluetooth 2.0

VGA, 640×480 pixels, front facing video conferencing camera

Microsoft Vista Business platform

VitaKey Fingerprint Solution

Full Review and Pictures After the Jump!

You’d be hard-pressed to find a UMPC that is more neatly designed than HTC Shift. Taking into account the mechanics with the tilt and slide mechanism, the design is a benchmark that all other UMPC’s must perform to. There’s not a huge amount of ports or buttons or switches on it, and that’s a good thing. On the right side, you have the HTC Communications Manager button, the screen resolution adjustment button, the trackpad, right speaker, and finally fingerprint reader. Moving to the left side, you have the right and left mouse click buttons, left speaker, and below that is the SnapVue/Vista button to switch between the two operating systems.

As I move around the unit, there is a Power/Hold switch, USB port, and charging port. On the back, the only thing is a VGA out port which is perfectly placed. All there is on the left side is the 3.5mm headset jack and nothing on the front side of the unit.

The unit is encased around a magnetic brown leather case which makes the unit look more like an expensive hardback book than the usual UMPC, very nice!

]]> http://nerdyblog.com/2008/07/day-one-introduction-the-htc-shift/feed/ http://nerdyblog.com/2008/06/day-five-review-conclusion-of-the-nokia-n95-4-big-check-mark-or-a-thick-red-cross/ http://nerdyblog.com/2008/06/day-five-review-conclusion-of-the-nokia-n95-4-big-check-mark-or-a-thick-red-cross/#comments Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:20:13 +0000 Da Limey http://nerdyblog.com/?p=406

When looking to buy N95 Nokia phones there are some things to consider prior to purchasing.

The first is price the Nokia N95 smartphone used to come with a sizeable price tag at roughly CAD$500, however, Rogers has dropped the price (little) BUT (and this is a big BUT) the running of the beauty on the Rogers network isn’t cheap!! If you are a person who just wants a “flashy” cell phone and doesnt use GPS, PIM and the entertainment features THINK before you buy!!!

As this is a “ground-breaking” smartphone some of the functions require additional software which can add more costs to an already costly phone to run. Its a big disappointment that the ONLY GSM cell network provider is Rogers. With the joke we would like to call “additional bandwidth audtion” by the non-lobbying Industry Canada done expect this to change. I for one was hope another big fish in the cell market like Vodafone and/or T-Mobile but thats not going to be the case and unfortunately Canada will forever be the cellphone graveyard for the masses

but I digress……….

The Nokia N95-4 has been impressing critics in Europe for sometime now and its appearance in Canada BEFORE the USA is nothing short of bloody amazing!! The device is everything from a mini computer that lets you send emails and instant messaging around the world, to a personal info management device to day-to-day buisiness useage. While at the same time giving great entertainment from music to being able to watch a download video or live streaming TV (albeit at very very VERY low resolution for the MobiTV application).

The highlights are the web browser and software. What puts the phone way way WAY ahead of the rest in the crowded cell market is the fact it has a TV-out feature that makes me want this as part of my wish list of phones. I believe even the new 3G iphone will find it difficult to pull another lovely fluffy “apple” “ibunny” out of its hat when it launches in Canada. The Nokia N95 is truely a new phone that leads the way we are going as human beings in the digital era!!!

What’s more, its camera features a Carl Zeiss lens, automatic focus, and detailed user-configurable settings.

On the right side, under your right pointing finger you will find a large release button; right next to it is an instant-access key to the Gallery; there is also a dual zoom key located under your left finger.

To sum up, taking pictures with the phone is as natural as with your common digital camera.

On the front there is another camera for video calls, which can also be used for taking pictures. It creates images of up to 640 × 480 pixels and might be quite useful for portraits to go into the phonebook.

It takes a few seconds to get the camera application running. From loading the application to firing off your first shot can take up to 10 seconds, which is kind of long considering the use of cell camera phones for taking instant shots. To take a shot, first half-press the release button until the focusing frame becomes green, and then press the release button fully; just like you would do with a standard digital camera. 4 different shutter sounds are available and each can be silenced completely should the phone be set to silent mode.

The camera application is very user-friendly and easy to manage. Function icons are displayed on the right and switched between by using the vertical ways of the navigation key. The horizontal ways duplicate the zoom function, also available on the phone side. When a function is selected, an additional menu pops out. The upper context key closes functions, while the bottom one opens the option menu.

Among other options here, you will find camera resolution settings, automatic insertion of images into albums, shutter sound setup, or default storage. Once you have set up all above mentioned features they remain saved, even if the camera application has been restarted. However, the same does not hold true for the functions displayed in the right menu column, which load their default settings each time the camera is activated - which can be a right pain in the “you-know-what”!!.

Nokia N95 can be also used as a video camera. You can record videos of average quality in 3GP format, suitable to go into MMS as well as high-quality videos in resolution of 640 × 480 pixels; the latter speed up to 30 shots in a second. High-quality videos are recorded in MP4 format, but they use a crazy amount of MB - half a minute of such a video “eats up” approximately 10 MB. Videos maximum length only depends on the available free memory.

Video function menu is somewhat poorer than the camera one. Here you will find shooting mode settings, white balance, and a number of colour nuances. You can zoom in digitally while recording, but zooming is not fluent, and most of all, it worsens the overall image quality. The microphone can be silenced if you wish. Another unusual function in the menu is the so called image stabilizer, but its influence is almost invisible.

Videos look brilliant both on the phone display and on a TV screen. On a PC screen, however, they come out much too colourful, with a far too high contrast. Nevertheless, for the moment this is the best you can get from a photo mobile on the market.So the big question is do you throw away the digital camera and converge?? Nokia N95’s glamorous presence along with the latest bunch of cameraphones marks the beginning of interesting times for small digital compact cameras. The trend of replacing the compact camera with photo mobiles has been long spoken about and it will surely remain one of the hottest topics for some time.

Yet, putting this trend in practice is going to take long time. For example, many users already perceive Sony Ericsson W810i as a full-functioning substitute for a common camera; its drawback is its resolution: 2 megapixels only. It does not mean that two megapixels are not enough for the production of a good-quality image; it is when mobile phones are confronted with standard cameras that the cameras score higher as their minimum resolution is 5 megapixels. Now that the Nokia’s N95 has the 5 megapixels the standard digital camera will be the next thing to disappear in the multi-media market place.

The primary reason to buy the N95 8GB is, arguably, its media playback. Having 8GB of storage equates to nearly 2,000 songs and is a welcome relief compared to many phones, where having any kind of permanent storage is still considered a luxury. For the most part, the N95 lives up to claims made in this area.

Unfortunately the media player supplied by Rogers Wireless is poor compared to the Nokia’s built-in media player or Sony Ericsson’s Walkman application. It’s the same basic player as found on far simpler phones and is decidedly more limited than what Nokia itself offers. Worse still is that it is set as the default player for the music shortcuts on the device: there may well be users
who never see the more powerful player hiding just underneath. While it’s easy enough to get in the habit of manually launching the built-in software, it’s an unnecessary complication and seems designed to steer inexperienced users towards buying songs from Rogers’ own music store, surprise! Surprise!

Rogers does contribute positively to media features through its VISION service; the Canadian carrier’s N95 8GB is likely the only Nokia smartphone on the continent to officially support two-way video calling. This gives it a decided edge over simply buying an unlocked version for those who want the feature. A definite catch of the service is the vicious circle of support.

With relatively few phones supporting the feature on Rogers’ network, so far, most people aren’t likely to sign up for VISION and spur their friends on to buying a similar device; until a lot of phones are already on the network with video call support, the front-facing camera isn’t likely to get as much use.

The phone’s exterior boasts both a left and right speaker for stereo separation – and they’re powerful enough to fill a large room on full blast without distortion. The most exciting external feature had to be the 3.5mm output jack. This can accommodate normal audio player headphones (no more proprietary cellphone headphones – yeah!) but also RCA cables for watching any of the phone’s multimedia functions, whether it be photos, videos or streaming TV – on your home television set.

The phone’s design is almost 2 years old (ha! and that’s “super-new” for Canada’s cell phone market!), therefore it wasn’t designed with N-gage gaming in mind. The phone is only good for one-handed gaming. During this time I tried using it with FIFA 08, and although it has great graphics for a cell phone, it’s challenging using two hands to play the game. However using one hand, the learning curve is short and the controls are pretty straight forward. It’s just a pity that the N95 8GB can’t be used in landscape mode for practical gaming.

Between the Rogers Vision suite and Nokia’s own set of pre-loaded applications and widgets, the N95 manages to provide virtually every conceivable way of ingesting, transferring, recording or sending media. The sheer amount of media the N95 puts at the fingertips is impressive: GPS (which I reviewed yesterday), two-way video calling, a dynamic and fast-loading Web browser with WLAN support, streaming video, TV and radio, access to 1.8 million tracks from the Rogers Music Store, support for up to 10 e-mail accounts. It also includes various social networking outlets which are Facebook Mobile, MySpace Mobile, Windows Live Spaces, Flickr and the newest mobile fad: Lifeblogging, where you can upload images and text to a Typepad blog on the fly.

In conclusion, the downside is with applications, and it’s not necessarily the phone’s fault. Rogers’ MobiTV is still patchy and inconsistent. N-Gage games are still nowhere near the caliber of standalone portable gaming consoles like the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP. There’s still the long-standing issue that to get all of these neat applications you’re going to have to pay monthly subscription fees – on top of the phone itself costing $399.99 with a three-year activation on the Rogers Vision Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing Plan.