Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

You know that Sony Ericsson we wrote about a few weeks ago, the Xperia X10. Well Sony Ericsson have gone and taken all the fun away from us unboxing the phone and revealing it to all of you by doing it all themselves. Thanks guys, we feel loved.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz

HD is quickly becoming the norm with almost every LCD monitor that is being sold out there having it as a non-optional extra. It would only be natural for the mobile market to follow and Sony Ericsson have come to the game with the Vivaz. Welcome to the next generation multimedia phone… we hope.

The phone does sound like it will have it all. The ability to capture, view and share HD video makes it seem like a very good phone to have, that is if it does it right.

Blackberry Storm2

BlackBerry are taking South Africa by storm, and they could be doing this quite literally with the new BlackBerry Storm2. Like the first version of the Storm2, it is fully touch-screen keeping as few buttons on the phone as possible. I must admit, I quite like the look of it.

BlackBerry have also introduced a new SurePress technology on the Storm2 which gives feedback when the touch-screen is pressed. The screen also has multi-touch meaning that using Shift or Alt-key combinations are easier and allows typing on the screen to be faster and more efficient.

WorldSIM Logo

There is nothing like going overseas with roaming activated and coming home to a huge cellphone bill. So many people don’t know the cost implications associated with roaming and the rest could not be bothered. In times like these you have to look at ways to lower costs and save every penny. Nashua Mobile have launched a product called WorldSIM, which is in essence a international prepaid mobile phone solution.

It is simple really; buy the WorldSIM at participating Nashua Mobile outlets (Sandton City, Canal Walk in Cape Town, and Brooklyn Design Quarter) and then load it with airtime from www.worldsim.com. The SIM costs R450 (not too bad) and has a monthly fee of about R10.

Blackberry Bold 9700

The BlackBerry has quickly become a very popular handset in South Africa. Not only because of its ability to send free messages to other BlackBerry users but also because the latest handsets are actually very nice. Having said that I am not the biggest fan of BlackBerry and looking at most of the new models, having used a few, I still feel like I am using a phone that was made 5 years ago. This is unlike the feeling I get when playing with an iPhone or the latest Android release.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 is being hurled into the Android market which is currently gaining a whole lot of momentum. With HTC having launched quite a few android phones already, we could call them the Android leaders. However, it’s only right for the other manufacturers to come in and introduce new phones loaded with their take on the Android OS.

Sony Ericsson (SE) have totally chopped up the Android interface and come up with what they call the SE UX (user experience). They have self proclaimed the interface as “the most open, human and intuitive user experience yet”. We still have to see it for ourselves but by the sounds of it we are getting dam close to true AI (artificial intelligence) even if SE have not completely got it.

Nokia N97

Nokia has released a new Nokia N97 software update 2.0 that adds new user experience elements and functionality to the device. The standard version of the Nokia N97 software update 2.0 is available immediately through the PC on the Nokia Software Update website (http://www.nokia.com/softwareupdate), as well as possibility to do the update over-the-air.

HTC HD2 Front and Back

We have been seeing a lot of international news about the HTC HD2 over the last few weeks but had heard nothing from HTC in South Africa. Luckily just before we lost hope, we were sent the news that South African’s will be able to get their hands on the Snapdragon powered Windows Mobile HTC; and you won’t actually have to wait that long.

Ok, more about the phone (that’s why you here right?). In my opinion this phone will have 3 selling points and all of them are actually very cool. The first is the huge 4.3 inch capacitive touch screen which is highly functional whilst delivering a sharper, clearer image with it’s high resolution capability.

TomTom iPhone app

I have always liked the TomTom interface and the many features that the TomTom devices have packed in them. My biggest problem is actually having another device that I have to charge/store/move/carry; that’s why I go for phones with built in GPS systems and this is why I have not purchased an iPhone. This could all change with TomTom’s iPhone app that is already available in the App Store.

HTC Hero

There are a lot of Android phones being released into the harsh mobile playground and HTC must be the leader in implementing the Google mobile operating system onto their phones. Their latest phone from HTC is set to lead the barrage of Android phones with their latest release, the HTC Hero, which is running the latest version of Android and has some interesting new functionality added by HTC.

Quinton Leigh, Managing Director of Leaf International Communications had the following to say:

The HTC Hero is the world’s first Android-based phone with a customised user interface that allows for a level of customisation never before experienced on a mobile phone. With the new HTC Hero, you are not getting a phone, but rather, you are choosing a phone which gets YOU!”

So you may ask what separates this phone from the all of the other Android drones that are being thrown out there. Well, it has an HTC developed concept known as HTC Sense. The idea behind HTC Sense is that it hopes to make the phone work in a more simple and intuitive way which should allow you to find all the functions where you expect to find them. The 3 principles that helped HTC achieve this are true user customisation, people-centric communication and unexpected simplification.