“The sides of the ROKR E2 are filled with all sorts of buttons. The left side of the phone contains the volume keys along with dedicated music player buttons including previous track, play/pause, and next track. On the right side, the miniUSB port is located toward the bottom along with the SD memory card slot. Yes, the ROKR E2 utilizes SD cards instead of the usual microSD cards that Motorola has used in the past. This might prove to be a very positive move since SD cards are cheaper and easier to find than their smaller brethren are. A key lock slider is located next to the voice dial button on the right side of the ROKR E2. The back of the phone holds the 1.3 megapixel camera lens with LED flash. The loudspeaker is located to the right of the camera lens.You will find a light sensor on top of the phone that automatically adjusts the keypad backlight. Let’s say you are in a dimly lit room and you take out your ROKR E2 – the light sensor will automatically switch on the keypad backlight. When you are out in the sun or in a brightly lit place, the keypad backlight will be turned off. Sadly, the light sensor does not adjust the brightness of the display. Music aficionados will be glad to know that there is a 3.5mm headphone jack located on top of the phone, enabling owners to use their favorite headphones to listen to their tracks.Measuring 106mm x 49.5mm x 18mm (4.17″ x 1.95″ x 0.70″) and weighing a mere 107g (3.77oz), the ROKR E2 is quite a funky looker and should prove to be quite attractive to younger users. Others who might prefer a more professional or conservative look would do well looking at other color schemes of the ROKR E2, such as while or full black.” Read more here:
Long awaited P990i update now available
Finally the long awaited Sony Ericsson P990i update is OUT! There is a lot of discussion on the net and many users say that this is the thing that was missing from the start! I own a w950 UIQ Smartphone and I am curious about this particular update. Thanks to allaboutsymbian for the tip.. “The long, long awaited Sony Ericsson P990i firmware update is now live on SE’s Update Service, according to a forum member. The new version is “R4A13″ (Org) and seems to have around 2MB more RAM at boot up, plus better memory management generally. Note that this is for unbranded devices only, as usual.”
NPD Reports Smartphone Growth Spurt
” According to The NPD Group, a leading consumer and retail information company, the U.S. smartphone market has entered a significant growth spurt. October 2006 sales soared 230 percent from January of this year, rising from 216,000 units to nearly 715,000. On a quarterly basis in 2006, smartphone sales have risen more than four percentage points to more than 6 percent of new phones sold through October in the fourth quarter of 2006.The long-awaited growth in smartphone sales comes at a crucial time for carriers who have been anticipating wider adoption of smartphones,” said Neil Strother, research director for wireless devices at The NPD Group. “For the past couple of years, carriers and their handset suppliers have been hoping more buyers would migrate to these devices, since smartphone owners tend to spend much more on wireless data than those who don’t own them.”Here’s the breakdown of the top sellers from August through October: Motorola Q Palm Treo 650 Verizon Wireless XV6700 Palm Treo 700p BlackBerry 8700 The current top five best-selling smartphones reflect a shifting market that’s no longer limited to Treos and BlackBerries. Motorola’s Q has come on strong, and actually led sales between August and October 2006. The key reasons behind the overall growth in smartphone sales included the following: Prices have declined by 10 percent on average since January 2006. More smartphone choices are available – Motorola Q, Palm Treo 700p, BlackBerry Pearl and Nokia’s E62 have all entered the market this year alone. Smartphones meet the growing demand for personal e-mail usage, which has doubled since March 2006. More robust devices are now capable of better handling of music and video applications. Devices now boast significantly greater data storage capacity than standard phones, and many provide slots for removable memory cards. Smartphones can now take advantage of faster networks for quicker data transfers and Web browsing. “All of this is welcome news to carriers, and not just because devices are moving in record volume,” Strother said. “The simple fact is that smartphone owners spend more on data and are therefore more attractive customers.” Smartphone users spent an average of $6.31 per month for wireless data in the third quarter. By comparison, owners of all types of mobile phones spent just $0.89. “It’s no wonder carriers covet smartphone owners so much,” Strother said.”
Big review of HTC P3300 (code name Artemis)
“The front panel is not only rich with controls but also features a unique solution for one-handed operation, unparalleled in the world of Pocket PCs. But fist things first. The front panel is dominated by a display. Above it is a small phone speaker, neighbouring with two status LED indicators. The one on the left blinks with three different colours, depending on which modules are active: blue for Bluetooth, green for WiFi, and orange for GPS. The right-hand one blinks either orange or green and indicates activity of the GSM module and notifies of standard events (charging, appointments etc.). Below the display is a unique control called HTC RollR™, which is devoted a separate chapter below. On the sides of the HTC RollR™ are six white-backlit buttons. The inner ones have two functions, depending on which part of the button you press. The upper parts of the buttons serve as the left and right WM5 soft key, respectively, for easy control without tapping on the screen. The lower halves of the buttons function as system controls: Start and “OK”, respectively. The outside upper pair of buttons control the phone; the right-hand one with the red handset symbol will also return you to the Today screen from anywhere. The lower outer buttons can launch pre-defined applications. What is rather unusual is that you can assign any application or action not only to these two buttons but also to the “Start” and “OK” buttons. I was happy with the default settings but having a choice is definitely welcome. All the buttons are large enough and sufficiently sensitive, which adds to the overall good experience. All the buttons can be locked to prevent accidental operation.” Read this BIG review here: