Vince from TracyandMatt has reviewed the Acer P300:

For Acer, making itself a known brand in the mobile industry will be difficult task, as with any brand that’s new to the market. Acer already have a small portfolio of both Windows Mobile and Android smartphones available, but none have really been able to capture the media spotlight and secure carrier promotions and subsidies as well as phones from manufacturers more established in the mobile market.

However, their lack of brand image in the phone space doesn’t mean they can’t produce decent phones, so when I received the Acer neoTouch P300 for review, I was eager to see whether their new Windows Mobile powered smartphone can challenge its rivals from the likes of HTC and Samsung.

Read on to find out more…

Today Resco released a beta version of their Photo Viewer application. Resco gave MobilityMinded the possibility to review this betaversion. In this artice I will point out the most interesting changes since the last verison of Resco Photo Viewer. Please be aware that this review is about the latest Beta; functionality might change in the final build!

So the first question that comes to a lot of people is: Why do I need an extra Photo Viewer on my Windows Phone, I’ve already got a built-in photo viewer.

To give a direct answer to this question Resco states:

Resco Photo Viewer is a favorite photo viewing program with features far beyond standards of the classic built-in viewer. Users gain functions of complete image management in a modern looking and easy to handle application. Intuitive way of work, outrageous effects and many slideshow and edit features move other image viewing programs to the second line

And from my first impressions I can only say that it’s true; Resco Photo Viewer gives a user far more possibilities managing their photo’s on their Windows Phone than any build-in photo viewer which comes shipped with their Windows Phone.

Lets go through the new features of Resco Photo Viewer 7.00 Beta.
In the press release Resco names as new features for this verion:

• 3 main User Interfaces
  Users operate in 3 main interfaces (Browser, Viewer, Slideshow), each with own rules and options of use.
• 4 main Image Databases
  Browser’s home screen offers 4 main image databases — My Documents, Camera Roll, Favorites and My Albums.
• Support for Devices with GPS Module
  User is able to add GPS position to any image. The position can be, afterwards, located on map (using Google Maps).
• Upload Images straight to Flickr, Facebook, Picasa or Twitter
  Along with Flickr, the biggest internet image database, users can choose among other three popular social networks (Facebook, Picasa or Twitter) to upload their photos to.

3 main User Interfaces.

The new Resco Photo Viewer has 3 main User Interfaces:

• The Browser Interface.
• The Viewer Interface.
• The Slideshow Interface.

Compared to version 6.33 the new interfaces look very modern and clean. Everything is “Touch” based and doesn’t need a stylus anymore.

The Browser Interface.

The main screen of the browser has 4 Image Databases. “My Documents“, “Camera Roll“, “Favorites” and “My Albums”.  The last option gives you the possibility to browse trough your device and search for photo’s .

The browser interface works really well in this beta version and doesn’t need any improvement at all. Browsing is fast and looks very clean.

When in one of the folders you have several buttons on the very bottom of the screen. The most interesting one is “Actions”.

Actions

Actions lets you select the photo’s in the folder and do something with these photo’s. You can either choose to Send, Upload, Copy, Move, Rename or Delete the selected photo’s.

When you directly do to a folder on your device click the “Browse” buton on the bottom of the screen. You will than see a tree-view of your device and directly go into a folder.

The Viewer interface.

The viewer interface is the interface when viewing a photo. The photo can be viewed full-screen with no controls, but when pressing the touchscreen controls appear for the displayed picture. Depending on the settings different controls can be shown or hidden.

Among these controls are the following:

• Rotate the photo left or right.
• Go to the previous or next picture.
• Return to the album where the photo is in.
• Start the slideshow.
• Send the photo via IrDA, Bluetooth, Email, MMS or Upload the picture.
• Edit photo (like brightness, RGB etc.)
• Menu.
• A Photo Zoom slider.

Most controls are self-explanatory but there are some controls that might need some extra information.

Send the photo via IrDA, Bluetooth, Email, MMS or Upload.

Several options from this control don’t work yet in this beta. For example I’ve tried uploading the picture to several services (The options are Flickr, Picasa, Facebook & Twitter) and sadly not everything worked as smooth as I thought it would. I am convinced that in the final version these issues are completely gone and uploading to these popular services are fully integrated in this application.

Photo Zoom slider

The photo zoom slider is a great control in the View interface. Scrolling your finger up on the slider zooms in to the picture (at a maximum of 2000%), scrolling down obviously zooms out. What impresses me a lot is the scrollingspeed. You can literally zoom form 1% to 2000% within a second. very Smooth!

Menu

The Menu control shows 4 options: Save, File, Properties and Settings

“Save” gives the possibility to save the picture with a different filename, set the photo to a contact or set the photo as Home Screen.

“File” lets you Copy or Move the picture to a folder, Rename or Delete the photo.

“Properties” gives all the file properties like filesize, Dimension, color depth etc.

“Settings” brings you to the “Viewer Settings” page where it’s possible to change the preferences of the viewer interface settings.

The Slideshow interface

The Slideshow interface shows the selected photoroll as a slideshow. The slideshow can be configured with several options like Speed, Slide Direction, Slide Effect, Hide Notes and Repeat.

Just like the other interfaces the slideshow interface look very well. In the slideshow interface I couldn’t find anything that didn’t work the way it should be so I think this interface will be pretty much the same in the final version like it is in this beta version.

Thoughts & Wrap-up

First of all I would like to point out that I think it’s good for you to know with which device I’ve been testing this beta version of Resco Photo Viewer. The device is a HTC Touch Pro 2.

Secondly I think it is not time yet to come up with a final verdict of the new version of Resco Photo Viewer. This reviewed beta however is a great step in the development of Resco Photo Viewer and already has a lot of functionality which should be available in the final version.

As a last point I would like to mention that the name “Photo viewer” is in my opinion a little bit of an understatement. From all the added features that should be available in the final version in my thoughts it became a true Photo Manager in stead of just a Viewer.

We all know the Xperia X1; Sony Ericsson’s first Windows Mobile device. The X1 became a massive success and Sony Ericsson now announces it’s successor: The Sony Ericsson Xperia X2. Unlike the X1, which is created by HTC, the X2 will be made by a company called Mobinova.

Specifications

The Xperia X2 will be shipped with Windows Mobile 6.5, a 8.1 MegaPixel Camera and 13 pre-loaded Panels.
With it’s 8.1 MegaPixel camera, the X2 is -as far as I know- the only Windows Phone with a camera of that size, which is quite impressive.

Other specifications of the X2 are:

– The X2 has a vibrant 3.2 inch TFT LCD
– Available user flash memory up to 110 MB and we include a 4GB card with every phone; Total flash is 512 MB & RAM 256 MB; the X2 has microSD™ and microSDHC memory card support up to 16GB
– The chipset inside is the Qualcomm 7200A with 3D hardware acceleration through OpenGL ES 1.0

Like the X1 the X2 has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard which is good for writing emails and messaging.

“Windows® phones allow people to manage their whole world – from work to home to play – on a single handset,” said Stephanie Ferguson, general manager, product management, Microsoft Corp.  “The XPERIA™ X2 taps the powerful messaging and multimedia capabilities in Windows Mobile® so customers can be in touch, productive and entertained wherever they are.”

Entertainment

The X2 is not only a device for business people. As mentioned above the 8.1 MegaPixel camera and the 3.2″ TFT LCD Display make sure that it is also an entertainment device:

Entertainment is not compromised on XPERIA™ X2. Enjoy amazing multimedia with the 3.2” high resolution touch screen and DVD quality and take advantage of the 8.1 megapixel camera to capture and instantly share experiences with friends and family. Personalise the panels and users can access Facebook™ to upload their party or holiday images and they can chat with friends across the world via Skype

Thoughts & Wrap-up

In my opinion the X2 has the potential to be as successful as the X1.

I think Sony Ericsson has tried to take a good look at the points which could be improved from the X1 and indeed improved it! The screen is larger, which is one of the major downsides of the X1. Also the keyboard looks better than the keyboard of the X1 and of course the Camera is a great improvement.

]]> http://www.mobilityminded.com/3790/sony-ericsson-xperia-x2-announced/feed 1 http://www.mobilityminded.com/2749/samsung-propel-pro-by-att-quick-video-review http://www.mobilityminded.com/2749/samsung-propel-pro-by-att-quick-video-review#comments Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:00:47 +0000 Johan van Mierlo http://www.mobilityminded.com/?p=2749

I was lucky last week to get my hands on the Samsung Propel Pro by AT&T last week. I mentioned in my other reviews that I still prefer the Non-Touch Windows Smart Phones over the Touchversions.  I really still like my Motorola Q9h a lot due to the form factor and feel of the keyboard and of course being a world phone. (HSDPA/3G across the globe).

The latest Windows non-Touch Phones that were released in recent months are the :

• Pantech Matrix Pro 
• Samsung Jack
• HTC Snap
• and The Samsung Propel

Below is my quick video and my impressions on the Samsung Propel Pro. ( I am working on a new camera with better close-up  focus. The Flip HD isn’t doing it).

All in all, I really like the slider function and the increased screen estate. The Samsung Propel Pro would definitely be a device I would carry around.

Any suggestions on a camera that would improve my picture ?

Yesterday we got a nice note in from our MobilityMinded AT&T Pantech Matrix Pro winner Pierre Aterianus.

Below is a quote that he wanted to share with us.

Here’s a picture of me enjoying my new AT&T Pantech Matrix Pro which I won in your recent online contest. Sure is nice having a pop-out full qwerty keypad to answe my messages. The screen is reallysharp, Windows 6.1 and a 3G network,wow.

Sincerely,

Pierre Aterianus.

These are the kind of e-mails I like seeing. Thank you again to AT&T and Pantech for allowing us to have this contest.

The Pantech Matrix Pro is available  for $99 with a two year subscription (after rebate) at the AT&T website.

The long awaited successor of the HTC Touch Pro has finally been released to the public. Only  two days ago I received an email from Clove Technology informing me they had the HTC Touch Pro2 on stock,  almost one month before it would be released in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe ! I ordered it straight away and had it delivered to me in one day thanks to FedEx Priority. I grabbed it from the FedEx delivery guy’s hands (sorry about that!) and started unwrapping. It is always a lot of fun unpacking a brand new device which you have only seen on pictures. What will it look like, how will it feel? Is it big, is it heavy? I am going to answer all these questions in this review. So, let’s get started!

First impression

First impressions are crucial they say, which is more than true in this case. The Pro2 is a bit bigger than the old Pro and also a bit heavier. Whereas I found the Pro sometimes a bit too small, the Pro2 lives up to my expectations. I think size and weight of the device are just right. I also like the grey/silver color and the chrome outline of the screen gives the device a very stylish and distinctive look. It reminds me a bit of the HTC Universal, which had the most excellent keyboard. The keyboard on the Pro2 is good, but not as good as the keyboard on the Universal. However there are more similarities with other HTC devices. Again, it has a tilt screen option, just like the TyTn II. I loved that feature and was very disappointed it had not been incorporated in the Touch Pro. But now it is back again ! The Pro2 also features the extra numeric row on the keyboard, just like the old Pro, something I can’t do without. It enables you to type without having to use the FN key for every number you type.

But there is more. The Pro2 also features a hardware zoombar to use in applications and use for instance while taking a picture. You can use the zoombar to zoom in: very nice ! One of the other hot new features is Straight Talk.

Straight Talk integrates messaging, voice, and conference calling, allowing you to seamlessly transition from a message to a single call or multi-party conference call. With dual microphone and speaker that enhance voice quality and reduce noise, Straight Talk turns your device into a conference room speakerphone system.

This all comes together on a large 3,6 inch WVGA screen with a resolution of 480×800 pixels which also features a Proximity sensor. The old Pro featured a light sensor which would switch off the screen when making a call. Often times the device would have to be switched on again in order to get the display back. The sensor on the Pro2 is now similar to the one used on the iPhone. If you hold it to your ear the display switches off: if you move it, it is back on. Very nice feature I must say. The last sensor this device features is the G-sensor, which automatically turns to landscape mode when you turn it over.

First impressions are very positive. Now let’s take a look at the specs.

Specifications

• Operating System: Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• Processor: Qualcomm® MSM7201a™, 528 MHz
• Memory: ROM: 512 MB RAM: 288 MB microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
• Dimensions: (LxWxT) 116 X 59.2 X 17.25 mm (4.57 X 2.33 X 0.68 inches)
• Weight: 187.5 grams (6.61 ounces) with battery
• Display: 3.6-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with WVGA resolution Adjustable tilt screen
• Network: HSDPA/WCDMA: Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHz Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• Device Control: TouchFLO™ 3D; Zoom bar
• Keyboard: Slide-out 5-row QWERTY keyboard
• GPS: Internal GPS antenna
• Connectivity: Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0, audio jack, and TV Out* in one)
• Camera: Main camera: 3.2 megapixel color camera with auto focus Second camera: VGA CMOS color camera
• Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery Capacity: 1500 mAh
• Talk time: Up to 270 minutes for WCDMA; Up to 419 minutes for GSM
• Standby time: Up to 454 hours for WCDMA; Up to 348 hours for GSM Video call time: up to 150 minutes (Subject to network and phone usage)
• Special Features: Proximity Sensor, G-Sensor, auto speakerphone on when facing down the device

These specifications are quite impressive I must say. Almost forgot: What’s in the box ?

In the box

In the box you’ll find the Touch Pro2 and a battery of 1500 mAh. A spare stylus is also included in case you lose the original one. There’s also a power adapter. Each power adapter is specific to the country you ordered it from. Mine therefore came with a (pretty useless) UK power adapter. Have to see if you can buy this EU part somewhere online. Also in the box is an (imitation) leather carrying pouch to protect your precious device. Another item is the USB headset. You can use it to listen to music as well as answering your incoming calls with a push on a button. A USB cable comes standard with every device these days and the usual amount of CD’s with manuals, quick start guides and Activesync installation files is also there. Finally there’s a warranty guide which hopefully you’ll never need and a screen protector.

Now let’s have a look at the device itself:

Design

Please note that I am using some of the press pictures made by HTC. I took some pictures myself but they were nowhere near as good as these and I was in a hurry to write this review. The picture below gives me a lot to talk about.

The front of the Touch Pro2 shows four buttons. Below on the left you’ll find the Answer button, which obviously answers your incoming call. Next  there is a Windows button, which allows you to access your programs the same familiar way as on your desktop. The Pro2 is the third HTC device with a Windows button (just like the TyTn II and Diamond 2). Next to the Windows button, you’ll see an arrow pointing left. This button sends you back to the home button on TouchFlow. When inside a submenu, it functions like the backspace key: it returns you to the previous menu. The fourth key on the right ends your incoming call and double functions as a Home key.

The left side merely shows two buttons: volume up and volume down. One thing I really miss here is the jog dial. I enjoyed it very much on the TyTn II and wish it would have been incorporated on the Touch Pro2 as well.
On top there is one button: On/Off. Pretty straight forward I would say. To switch off, press and hold for approximately 3 seconds. The right side does not show any buttons at all: it houses the stylus and on top there is a microphone entrance.

At the bottom you’ll find the USB connector which also serves as an earphone Jack and a TV-Out (cable not included). HTC calls this the ExtUSB (TM) port. The second microphone for Straight Talk is here as well.

At the back of the device there is a camera lens and a mute button for Straight Talk. More about Straight Talk in the next chapter.

Straight Talk

Straight Talk is one of HTC’s brand new features.

Straight Talk integrates messaging, voice, and conference calling, allowing you to seamlessly transition from a message to a single call or multi-party conference call. With dual microphone and speaker that enhance voice quality and reduce noise, Straight Talk turns your device into a conference room speakerphone system.

For this feature HTC has completely redesigned the back of the Touch Pro2. The back now has a  double speaker and a microphones allowing all participants to be heard crystal clear. It uses the microphone on the side as well as the one at the bottom.
The concept is very easy: Straight Talk allows you to add several people together in one conference call.
First you select the participants. This is easily done by opening the phone screen and pressing the button next to Talk, which will enable the Conference option.

Now select all participants and press Conference when you’re done.

The conference screen will now be opened and each of the participants can be dialed. Now slide open the hardware keyboard, displaying the Conference Room screen. This is an intuitive interface which will make it much easier to set up conference calls. Simply tap photos or buttons on the screen to dial participants, joining them to your conference call and more.

Tap the first participant’s picture and right after he/she has answered, tap the second picture. The first participant will be put on hold. As soon as the second participant has answered, press Join to connect the calls and dial the next participant if needed.

Now all participants are connected and your conference call is in progress. When you’re done press End Call to stop the conference call.

HTC TouchFLO 3D on the HTC Touch Pro2

“Leveraging HTC’s TouchFLO 3D, people-centric communication and Push Internet technology, the Touch Pro2 features a high-resolution 3.6-inch widescreen VGA display for an expanded viewing area and large finger-friendly QWERTY keyboard. “

The following section will describe the continuous development of TouchFLO 3D, and focus on the people-centric communications as stated in the press release. HTC TouchFLO 3D now consists of 11 tabs. A few of the new tabs have undergone some improvements, others were added. A few examples are:

People

The people-tab has undergone some drastic changes. In the TouchFLO 3D version on the first Touch Diamond and Touch Pro, a short-list with your main contacts could be added. If you wished to communicate with a particular person, you simply clicked their name which would open the contact card, etc.

With the people-centric communication HTC has made some clever improvements, linking contact data (mobile phone, work phone, home phone, sms, e-mail) directly under the picture of the particular contact. This development has a few advantages:

• It takes fewer clicks to access the contact card and select the data from there. Now it’s just a matter of hitting the right communication button and Bob’s your uncle.
• It gives you all communication options, linked to that specific person. You don’t have to open the dialer nor Pocket Outlook.

This approach makes communication really simple and is probably one of the biggest improvements in TouchFLO 3D.

Internet

The internet-tab has also changed quite drastically. It now gives you more functionality in one overview. On top there is a search box to insert your search-parameters. Clicking it will automatically open Google-search in the Opera Mobile web browser. The second and largest section is the open browser field, followed by a YouTube field. Clicking the latter will open a “custom” YouTube client / viewer.

Further down the bottom there are four fields saying “Add Push page”. The push-internet technology is meant to automatically download the content of your favorite websites in given intervals. This means there’s no need to open your web browser and re-type the URL. The website will refresh automatically, in a way similar to synchronizing your e-mail account over IMAP.

This feature is very helpful if you regularly check a website on the go. You could for instance program a website that shows traffic jams in your local region. Simply give in the URL, a name for the website, and the update frequency. Its contents will now be kept up to date automatically.

Calender

The calendar-tab gives you the overview of the current month whereas with the left soft-key you can switch to a daily overview. I personally think this is really helpful, for you often need to quickly access your calendar program to make an appointment. This is now possible straight from TouchFLO 3D without first having to enter the start menu. With the right softkey you can add a new appointment.

Summarizing:

TouchFLO 3D has matured and has evolved into something more than just an easy user interface. Especially if you note that HTC has also changed the layout of the notifications and menus to make them more finger-friendly. Main reason for this conclusion would be that TouchFLO 3D allows you to use the most important features, without having to use the start menu or even deeper layers in TouchFLO.

One of the best features of the HTC Touch Pro2 is the people-centric design for optimal communication. In my point of view it is a really clever integration and/or connection of the different databases for each type of communication. However the strongest feature is in the way people are linked to their contact details.
With this improvement you can speed up communication and minimize your search-time, which is extremely helpful for business people on the go. Note also the fact that in the e-mail of a contact there is a call-button in the header. This will enable you to directly call the person who e-mailed you.

Everybody loves TouchFlo 3D and now you are going to love it even more. The TouchFLO 3D interface now remains unchanged, regardless of your mode of operation. Whether it be landscape or portrait mode, all functionality remains available at the tip of your fingers.

Overall there is one single conclusion. HTC is continuously developing and improving TouchFLO. There truly is a world of difference between the first incarnation of TouchFLO 3D and the current version. The current version truly makes everyday life easy, resulting in very efficient use of this type of work tool. TouchFLO 3D has become more than just a user-interface. In now is a complete set of applications on top of Windows Mobile that help you to effectively manage the information on your device.

Zoombar

The Zoombar at the bottom of the screen is a relative new feature. Although not functional yet within every single application, there are quite a few applications that already make use of it. The browser for example. On any given website, simply sliding  your finger from left to right zooms in the page. Repeating this gesture zooms in even more. To zoom out simply slide your finger in the opposite direction, from right to left. The zoombar can also be used in the camera application. In the camera application the zoombar will function as a digital zoom for the pictures you take.

In addition to that the Zoombar also is functional within Pocket Outlook or Word documents. In a similar manner sliding your finger from left to right increases the text size,  sliding from right to left to decreases the text size.

Haptic feedback, Proximity Sensor and G-Sensor

The Touch Pro2 also features haptic feedback. This means that the device gives you tactile feedback when you press the screen within TouchFlo 3D. With every screentap you will feel a little vibration that confirms that you have touched the screen. It is enabled by default and cannot be turned off. A very nice feature I must say.

The next thing I would like to mention is the Proximity Sensor. An extremely cool and useful feature of the Touch Pro 2. It senses whether the device is being held next to your ear. Once the device is raised up to your ear, the Proximity sensor immediately turns off the screen in order to save battery life. Moving the device away from your ear turns the screen turns on again. PDA screens by nature are one of the biggest battery drains, especially when a screen is as large and bright as this one.

The Touch Pro2 also has a G-Sensor built-in. We have seen this feature before in other devices such as the Touch Pro and Diamond / Diamond 2. The G-sensor automatically turns the screen to landscape when you turn the device over.

Overall conclusion and  wrap-up

With such a great and feature-rich device like the HTC Touch Pro2, it is hard to summarize an overall conclusion about the device. As I previously mentioned it combines great features of different HTC devices (HTC Universal, HTC TyTn II) into a nice form factor. The Pro2 actually even is a little bit smaller than HTC Touch HD. Overall the design is very modern and clean, with a nice business finish to it.

Hardware wise it truly is a tremendous powerhouse. The HTC Touc Pro2 is quite the responsive device. The tilt mechanism is great and the slide-out QWERTY keyboard makes it a great messenger. The large 3.6″ WVGA screen, the good camera and the 1500 mAh battery make it fun to use. Not to mention the great straight talk “design” and the built-in sensors (Proximity & G-Sensor).

Software wise only have one conlusion. This version of TouchFLO 3D is by far the best yet, and works identically both in portrait and landscape mode. The people-centric communication approach in  HTC TouchFLO 3D makes life so much easier. Add the graphical changes on the start menu, the notifications, and the menus on the softkey that have significantly improved. All of this shows that HTC is continuously working on improving the user-interface in front of the different facets of the Windows Mobile OS.

A good device is a combination of great hardware and stable, fast and easy to use software. With the introduction of the HTC Touch Pro2, HTC has brought a killer-device to the market. This device definitely will be loved by a large number of people, simply because the hardware and software are so well balanced and the fact that that a ton of features are packed with it.

Underneath you will find a few lists describing my likes and dislikes about the device. While they represent my personal opinion about the Touch Pro2, they could be used as a starting point for a discussion. On a side note, I need to emphasize the fact that I have only used the Touch Pro2 for a few days now. While this review does highlight the most important features and aspects, you might want to keep visiting mobilityminded.com for follow-up articles about this device.

Editorial note (Willem Ditters): Close observation of the back of the Touch Pro2 reveals a very nifty little detail. If you look closely you will note the edges of an immensely thin transparent layer that spreads over the entire battery cover.  The best area to see this is around the volume buttons. If you look really closely you will see these same edges around the stylus and microphone cutouts as well. Nice detail indeed. For me this means I can lower some of my caution when lying the device down on a desk somewhere.

What I like about the HTC Touch Pro2 ?

• Straight Talk
• Straight Talk (yes, that is two times)
• Great design with chrome finish
• Large 3,6″ WVGA screen
• Newest TouchFlo 3D version

What I like a little less about the HTC Touch Pro2 ?

• Biggest disavantage: No 3.5mm headphone jack. It finally appeared on the Touch HD, why dropping it now?
• Limited number of hardware buttons; I use those to control the softbuttons so I miss these.
• It tilts a bit easier than the TyTn II. On a flat surface it is not as stable as the TyTn II either.
• Where is the D-Pad ?
• Although it is quite common now, I would love to see a camera hardware button.
• Laying the device face-down on a table for the purpose of a conference call increases the risk of screen damage. Therefore, a screen protector is an absolut must. Regrettably the screen protector that comes with the device only is of an average quality.
• Where is the FM radio? All pre-release versions had it, the HTC website listed it … Now that the device is out, the software has gone and the HTC website has been updated by taking out the FM radio from the specifications list.

Links

1. Pocketinfo:  HTC Touch Pro2 review (in dutch, published by Paul Willen of MobilityMinded)
2. Mobilitysite:  HTC Touch Pro2 Surprise Mini Unboxing video
3. Pocketnow:  Touch Pro2 Hardware tour
4. Pocketnow:  HTC Touch Pro2 Unboxing video
5. Lifepak:  HTC Touch Pro2 and Snap review

MobilityMinded AT&T Pantech Matrix Pro give away package contest will start now April 29th, 2009 untill May 3rd 11:59 pm EST . Finally it is time to have this contest on MobilityMinded. We are part of this contest with 26 other sites. This contest is open for our US Readers only.

The prize package consist out of:

• AT&T Pantech Matrix Pro handset;
• Service Credit (via gift card) in the amount of $100. The gift card is good for anything sold through any AT&T store or can be used for the cost of a service plan.

The rules are very easy:

1. Sign up with twitter and follow @mobilityminded
2. tweet the following line: RT Win an AT&T Pantech Matrix Pro @mobilityminded  just follow the easy rules. http://twurl.nl/i7430y
3. Come back to this post and leave a comment. In the comment you leave your Twitter name.

Little side rules are:

• Individuals who’ve won at another site are ineligible to win another;
• Winners are limited to US residents only;
• MobilityMinded.com is not responsible for any lost packages or incorrect addresses;
• The prize is not redeemable in cash and must be accepted as awarded.

All those that entered using the three above will be entered to Random.org to find a winner. The winner will be announced on May 4th, 2009.

If you love Smartphones this is definitely one to get.  Just check my first impressions

In this short preview we will show you the new Acer M900 Windows Phone.  The long awaited successor of the Eten Glofiish M810 will soon be available to all you gadgeteers out there.  The M700 was the first QWERTY slider Phone Edition from Eten. After that it has been followed by the M800 and the last high-end model M810. Since Acer has aquired Eten, it has developed a second full QWERTY keyboard slider Windows Mobile device. As you can see, even the keyboard perfectly matches the layout of MobilityMinded.com! The specs are also quite impressive:

It runs on Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional (Crossbow), has a Samsung S3C 6410 533 MHz Processor onboard and the memory is 128 MB SDRAM for user applications & storage and 256 MB FLASH ROM for the Operating System and embedded applications.

The display is a 3.8″ WVGA TFT LCD touch screen with 800 x 480 pixel resolution and 256k colors, which is quite a big screen as I might say ! The dimensions of the M900 are 119 (L) x 62 (W) x 17.1 (H) mm and it weighs 188 grams.

When you are on the road, you’ll have plenty of wireless options to be connected at all times:
HSDPA Category 8/ HSUPA Category 5 ( 2100/1900/850 Mhz)
GSM/EDGE: Quad-band, 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
GPRS/EGPRS: Class B, multi-slot class 11
WLAN: 802.11b/g Wi-Fi CERTIFIED® network connection
Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
It also sports a GPS with Embedded SiRF Star III chipset, so you won’t get lost !

The camera is a 5M pixels VGA Auto-Focus with flashlight CMOS camera,
up to 2560 x 1920 resolution and with Digital zoom (1x, 2x, 4x)
On the front we’ll find a VGA CMOS Camera for video calling, which has a 640×480 resolution.

The M900 also has a Finger-Print Recognition mechanism for security and navigation and a Light Sensor for sensing the brightness of environment to adjust panel luminance. A Gravity Sensor is also present for Auto-Sensing of device position for displaying in potrait or landscape mode

You might read on other websites that it has a TV-Out also, but the M900 has NO TV-Out. It’s power comes from a Lithium Polymer rechargeable battery with 1,530 mAh capacity.

Below you will find some screenshots which shows the new Acer Shell and some more improvements.

The new Acer Shell now consists of two pages where you have easy access to your tasks.

In Settings you can easilly manage your Communications Manager, Sound profiles, Backlight, your Today Softkeys and if you want to, you can even unload the Acer Shell to get the Windows Mobile Classic look.
The Communication Manager has clear buttons, where you can turn all your connections on or off.

This new M900 also features the new Internet Explorer 6 Mobile. This new version has been improved a lot and you will enjoy a better expierence when surfing on the net !

The ROM on this previewed M900 has not been finalized, but when this device is released to the general public, we will publish an in-depth review of this brand-new device.
If you have any questions about this new device, don’t hesitate to ask them.

I have been using the Pantech Matrix Pro from AT&T pretty heavenly in the last few weeks and I am starting to like the phone more and more. I was a little disappointed about the thickness of the phone but now I have to say that it actually feels right in my hands. The rounded edges makes it feel great and easy to handle the phone.

What I like most about the Smartphone is the reliable input of the keyboard and d-pad compared to a touch screen device. Entering text is great using the on the slide out keyboard or keypad. I spend less time correcting typo’s as with a touch screen keyboard. That’s a big plus for me.

The 3g connection is pretty constant in my area which indicates to a good internal radio. With maintaining this good 3g connection, it will use less battery power trying to keep finding and connecting to a 3g network over the Edge network. Many people will turn off their 3g connection and fall back on the Edge network to preserve battery life. I didn’t have to do this at all.

While in Seattle last week for the summit I went for two days using the phone constantly without recharging the battery. And I mean using it like; exchange server, tinytwitter, 3 imap account synchronizing every 30 minutes, bluetooth on and connected to my TomTom 940 for the carkit functionality. I even used it for internet sharing on my laptop while the Microsoft campus guest wifi went down.

Just one little thing. I have to carry around the Pantech specific cables that only interfaces with the Pantech. I wish they would switch to more of a standard like the Mini USB many devices/external harddrives have. I will post more experiences soon. The Pantech Matrix Pro from AT&T is available at a cost of $179,99 with a 2 year contract and a Mail in Rebate.

We had Mobility Minded were lucky enough to get a Pantech Matrix Pro from AT&T for review. In the near future we will be holding a contest here at Mobility Minded and are able to give one of these away.

I just got this Windows Mobile 6.1 standard phone(non-Touch Screen) in the house yesterday and I was able to use it for quite some hours. The rounded edges is a nice feature which makes the device look attractive but also gives a good feel in the hand.

Some other early reviews online have remarks on the thickness of the device. Yes it’s is slightly thicker, but don’t forget that it has two different keyboards that pop out. One a numeric keypad and one full QWERTY-Keyboard. Both are spring loaded and gives it a great experience.

The phone is a 3G phone. The 3G data connection give you a high speed data and voice. The setup was easy, just insert your SIM-card and all the settings were correct. I was able to pull in all my emails (imap,pop3 and exchange) with no problems. There are many great media software’s installed on the device to instantly use with your data plan. (XM radio, MobiTV, etc)

Please follow this link for the specifications. To get the online experience of the Pantech Matrix pro from AT&T you can go here for a tutorial. I will be using this phone extensively in next coming weeks. Periodically I will post some updates on my experiences with this already great feeling device.

O yes, the non-touch screen, I am not missing a touch screen at all yet, actually I get a better reliable experience using the hardware buttons and keyboard buttons to operate the Pantech Matrix Pro by AT&T. Also kudos’s to AT&T for the start-up and shut down splash animation screens. I like it.