“Open the flip and the Katana looks a little less like a RAZR. The Katana has small rectangular plastic buttons instead of the RAZR’s etched-metal keypad. The Katana’s screen is superior to the RAZR’s—a dazzlingly sharp 320-by-240; the RAZR’s is 176-by-220. Combined with the built-in Access NetFront Web browser or, even better, Opera Mini, that makes for a very pleasant wireless Web experience. Like the RAZR, the Katana is a good-looking voice phone with a few frills, not a high-end featurezoid. Four hours of talk time is good for a Sprint phone so slim, and reception is strong. The Katana has analog roaming for rural use. The phone’s volume goes up extremely high. There’s a definite hiss in the earpiece and voices sound quite harsh at high volumes, but that diminishes as you turn the volume down. Transmissions are clear enough, though there’s some noticeable digital compression. The speakerphone is of moderate volume and works with the flip closed. Voice dialing is the old-fashioned recorded-tag type. The phone book supports 500 contacts with multiple phone numbers, e-mails, and a photo for each person. Polyphonic (not MP3) ringtones purchased from Sprint are loud, and the vibrate function is decently powerful. ” Read more at pcmag.com
Acer e310: a new GPS navigator for Europe
“The European unit of Acer has announced a new compact GPS-navigator Acer e310 with low price. It is equipped with a GPS-module SiRFStar III and preinstalled Navteq 2006 software. In addition to navigation the device can view digital photos and play MP3-files.The navigator has compact size – 103×58.4×17.5 mm and weighs 130 g. Besides there is a 2.8” LCD supporting landscape and portrait orientation. The approximate price makes up €269, i.e. about $345, the release is scheduled for August.” via mobile-review.com