HTC Touch....slightly touchy

Greetings, folks...The past few weeks have been very hectic, and so the holiday on Thursday provided a breather admist the mad frenzy.....Anyways, I'm back, this time, with the HTC Touch, a cute and refined looking phone from HTC.

This phone, which came out in June 2007, measures 99.9 x 58 x 13.9 mm, weighs 112 gms, making it one of the smallest touch screen phones available, and boasts a handsome curved design. Its display measures 2.8 inches diagonally, with 65K colours and a resolution of 240 X 320 pixels. The highlight of this handset, however, is the TouchFlo technology on which the display stands, which allows a user to switch screens by finger swipes.

As with most other touch screen phones, the display of the HTC Touch, covers pretty much the whole of its front. A five way navigation button sits just beneath the display, flanked on both sides by tiny Call and End buttons. The right side of the Touch houses a camera activation switch, and a microSD slot. A volume rocker and a mini USB port reside on its left, and the power button sits right on top. Finally, the phone's speaker and camera lens are located at the back.

The HTC Touch runs the Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition, providing the complete Microsoft Office Mobile suite, which entitles you to view and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. The embedded Direct Push technology assists in real time synchronisation with Microsoft Exchange server, for sending and receiving messages. Be that as it may, the small on-screen keyboard isn't a pleasure to use, and may cause some annoyance. Also, the TouchFlo screen has been found to be low on sensitivity, which means you may have to press down firmly for certain options. Apart from this, even the finger swipes have failed to bring up intended screens more than once. Occasionally, response times have been a source for concern too.

Other features include, smart dialing, voice commands, and text and multimedia messaging. It supports Bluetooth 2.0, and has EV-DO support. The address book can hold practically unlimited entries, with upto 12 numbers for a particular contact, with email, screen name, etc. You also have options to link a photo to a contact, and also one of 15 polyphonic ring tones. To call a friend, just tap his photo on the display, and the call is under way. Call quality has also been found to be pretty good.

HTC has added the Audio manager which basically acts like a music player sporting large buttons for on-screen use. It supports all the usual file formats that one would expect in a standard Windows Mobile 6 device.

Coming to the camera, the Touch has a 2 megapixel camera with a self-portrait mirror. It has a 5X zoom and provides a choice of five resolution settings and 4 quality settings. Video recording capabilities include support for MPEG4, Motion JPEG, or H.263 format. The results, sadly, are a bit on the poorer side. Images are not high on clarity, and videos experienced some quality concerns.

Users give the phone a just above average rating with some of them even, saying it has exceeded their expectations....a mixed response there. Ofcourse, that depends on what their expectations were ;-) The Touch has been rated for approximately 4 hours of talk time and up to 10 days of stand by time.

Nokia N95

Even though the Nokia N95 has been around for quite a while, I reckoned, this amazing, feature-packed phone definitely deserves a mention here. And guys, as we go ahead, at length elaborating on its features, make sure you dont get thrown off balance, taking it to be a PDA/smart phone; the N95 IS still a phone, even though its capabilities may suggest otherwise !! This quad-band phone, exhibits high call quality with plenty of volume and clarity.

Though not very sleek in appearance, this phone has a boxy, yet appreciably handsome look. It houses a two-way slider, that exposes the alpha-numeric keypad on sliding upwards, and music player controls on sliding downwards. This dual functionality is pretty attractive and unique. Calls can be answered as well, with the upward sliding, though sliding it back into place does not disconnect the call. Alternatively, you may use the traditional Call receive and Call disconnect buttons, located beneath the display, alongwith 2 soft keys, the Gallery and Menu shortcuts, a Clear key, and an Edit key.

Talking about display, the N95 has a splendid 2.6 inch VGA TFT screen rendering a 320 X 240 pixel resolution. Images and text are displayed with high clarity levels, and sharp definition. Interestingly, the screen has a surrounding light detector that automatically adjusts its backlighting against your environment. A very useful feature, if you're moving through varied lighting environments.

The foremost, principal feature of this phone is a 5 megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens - a feature not available in any smart phone available even today!!! If any of them do have a similar or better feature, you guys gotta let me know.... This camera is loaded at the back of the phone, accompanied by a sliding activation switch. On sliding the shutter open, the display automatically shifts to camera mode in landscape. The camera activation button on the right side of the phone, will be on top, when held horizontally, and in this position, the phone gives the look and feel of a digital camera. Astonishingly, the camera features aren't lesser either. With 7 shooting modes, and 5 quality settings, you have most of the options that come with a digital camera!!

The device has a 3.5mm headset jack, into which you can plug in a pair of earphones, to listen to your favourite music, the volume of which can be controlled by the volume adjustment on the right side of the phone. An integrated music player is available, that supports MP3, WMA, and W4A among other audio formats. Additionally, RealPlayer comes onboard the N95 with video streaming support.

Yet another blockbuster feature is the GPS receiver built into the N95, along with a mapping application, that helps you with route planning, on trips. However, the quality of the service may depend on your service provider.

With so many useful and astounding features, the Nokia N95 is still one of the best phones available in the market today. You wouldn't regret it, if you got yourself one....

Apple iPhone 3G on the way.....

Ok guys, its official..... A year after releasing the original Apple iPhone, the second generation of the device is due to hit the market in a matter of weeks. Apple followers looking forward to the launch can rejoice with the functionalities embedded within the phone, notably the addition of 3G support giving it the name, iPhone 3G, and a revamp of its software, adding more features for its business users. Keeping aside rumours and speculations on the features that the iPhone will have, the 3G support itself is poised to be a big win, and if data speeds hold up as expected, the phone will bring real time internet into your pocket. Enabling this, is the support built in, for three 3G bands, and both UMTS and HSDPA networks, deeming it ready for use over high speed networks around the globe. Of course, this had better be, considering Apple's promise to bring the device to 70 countries. 3G was excluded from the previous version owing to the severe drain it would have caused on battery life, a problem which has apparently been solved by Apple. The iPhone 3G promises a solid 5 hours of 3G talk time, 10 hours of 2G talk time, 5 hours of 3G Internet time, 6 hours of Wi-Fi Internet time, 7 hours of video playback, 24 hours of audio playback, and 12.5 days standby time. The audio and video times are unchanged from the original iPhone.

The other scoring feature is an assisted GPS supplemented by satellites, offering live tracking so that you can monitor your movement while you drive. The earlier version could go only so far as to give you your current location, due to its dependence on cell phone towers with close proximity. So thats another hole, plugged.

The iPhone 3G is thinner than its predecessor, and weighs slightly less. The front basically has the same looks, with the same display and resolution. However, the silver-aluminium back has been replaced by a black plastic skin. The 8GB model comes only in black, while the 16GB version comes in black and white.

Now for the best part.....these features come to you at a price tag of $199 for the 8GB version, and $299 for the 16GB one, raising its affordability level well above its precursor. Ain't that cooool?? Definitely worth a buy, guys......Happy phoningggggggggggggg.............