Reflection Upon » Cell Phones http://reflectionupon.com The ramblings and various tidbits from Eric Ouyang's life Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:37:15 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Microsoft’s View of the Future http://reflectionupon.com/2009/03/01/microsofts-view-of-the-future/ http://reflectionupon.com/2009/03/01/microsofts-view-of-the-future/#comments Sun, 01 Mar 2009 23:05:28 +0000 Eric Ouyang http://reflectionupon.com/?p=339 I found this awesome video of Microsoft’s vision of the future. A longer version is available at istartedsomething.com. Enjoy!

]]> http://reflectionupon.com/2009/03/01/microsofts-view-of-the-future/feed/ 0 CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2009 http://reflectionupon.com/2009/01/17/ces-consumer-electronics-show-2009/ http://reflectionupon.com/2009/01/17/ces-consumer-electronics-show-2009/#comments Sun, 18 Jan 2009 01:33:20 +0000 Eric Ouyang http://reflectionupon.com/2009/01/17/ces-consumer-electronics-show-2009/ CES was last week and quite a few cool devices popped up at the event. Here are some of my favorites.

Palm Pre

pre_open_close

The biggest (in my opinion and CNET’s, is the Palm Pre. This iPhone competitor is a touchscreen phone with a slide out QWERTY keyboard and a cool new Palm OS called WebOS. This OS is filled with cool animations, gestures (multi-touch ones), and seems to be very intuitive. Now, I bet you are thinking along the line of: Doesn’t the iPhone have that already? True, but this Palm does have the ability for you to multitask and it has an actual keyboard (the jelly button kind like the one on a Palm Centro). In addition, it does have copy and paste. Multitasking (not just being able to play music in the background like the iPhone) works by having multiple “cards” on your main screen which you can flick back and forth from. And these aren’t just static views, they are live mini-views of the open apps and you can interact with them too.

Other tidbits: the web browser is also very good (comparable to the iPhone’s), the Pre comes with a 3 MP camera, and you can download music through the Amazon Music Store (similar to the G1). There is also GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a 3.5mm headphone jack (yay!), and 8 GB of internal storage.

No details yet on pricing or release date. But it is supposed to be around the iPhone’s price and released in the first half of 2009. The Pre will be available on Sprint.

Palm Pre Video:

 

More info:

Palm Pre First Impressions on CNET

Palm Pre Photo Gallery on CNET

Official Palm Pre website

Palm Pre Info on Engadget

 

The Sony P-Series Lifestyle PC

Passport_Glossy_Black_-_Front_Right_copy_610x426

This not quite netbook like netbook is going along with Sony’s general premium higher end feel for laptops. It has a wide 8 inch screen with a 1600*768 resolution, is less than an inch think, and weights 1.4 pounds. But it has no touchpad, instead, it has a pointing stick. It also has 3G mobile broadband (Verizon), 802.11n wi-fi, GPS, and Bluetooth. The P-Series runs Windows Vista and will retail at $900.

 

CNET article on the Sony P-Series Lifestyle PC

Engadget Hands-on videos of the Sony P-Series Lifestyle PC

 

LG Watch Phone

 

 

lgwatch5_610x406 This futuristic watch is also a touchscreen phone. It uses iPhone like gestures to navigate through the TFT capacitive touch screen (1.43 inches diagonally). It looks quite cool though I question its usability as a phone. You would probably need a Bluetooth headset to talk calls since your other option is to take phones with speakerphone. There is also a camera built-in. But the main issue is that you can’t get it (no plans, yet), not unless you are in Europe. The LG Watch phone is scheduled for release later this year and pricing has not yet been released.

Hands-on video of the LG Watch Phone

A CNET article on the LG Watch Phone

So that is basically it for what I though was cool at CES. For more info about it, check out the CES Page at CNET (here) and the articles on CES at Engadget (here). Want to mention another gadget that was at CES that I didn’t mention? Tell the readers in the comments!

Images from CNET and Engadget.

]]> http://reflectionupon.com/2009/01/17/ces-consumer-electronics-show-2009/feed/ 1 The Nokia N97 http://reflectionupon.com/2008/12/06/the-nokia-n97/ http://reflectionupon.com/2008/12/06/the-nokia-n97/#comments Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:08:19 +0000 Eric Ouyang http://reflectionupon.com/?p=123 I’ve decided to shift the focus of this blog. So rather than just technology, this blog will talk about nearly everything with a focus on my own life as well as technology. Also, posts will be have more links to other content on the web so YOU as a reader can learn more (unless it is about something personal, of course).

So here we go, the Nokia N97 (image from Crunchgear.com). With the arrival of the iPhone, HTC Diamond (and other HTC touchscreen devices), the G1 (which is an HTC phone), the Samsung Omnia (and related phones such as the Instinct), the LG Dare (and related phones, like the LG Voyager), we now have another touch screen phone: the Nokia N97.

But this one isn’t quite the same.

As a part of Nokia’s N-series, it is more of a high end phone (quite apparent in its unlocked 550 euros ($695) price tag, before taxes or subsides). It also sports a 3.5 slide up and tilting touchscreen (a la AT&T Tilt and Sony Ericsson Xperia X1) and underneath is a full QWERTY keyboard. The phone is Symbian based, has a 5-megapixel camera, and has 32GB of built in memory (as well as a microSD expansion slot). There is also a 3.5mm headphone jack (yay!) It is seemingly a cross between a typical touch screen smartphone and a netbook.

The phone is said to be quite oriented around social networking (with something called “social location” which is when the phone can automatically update a status message using the built in A-GPS and share their location through photos and videos) and web-browsing (including streaming flash videos)

It is coming to Europe (no info yet on when it is coming to the states) in the first half of 2009.

Some videos showing the Nokia N97:

A demo

The N97 in Action

Learn more at (links to the specific pages, not just the main site):

An Article on CNET

A video on Engadget

More Specs and Photos on Hand Cell Phone

An Interview with the N97 Designer

More info on Nokia Conversations

Blog entry on gHacks

Article on CrunchGear

]]> http://reflectionupon.com/2008/12/06/the-nokia-n97/feed/ 4 The Google Phone Arrives! (Aka: T-Mobile G1) http://reflectionupon.com/2008/09/28/the-google-phone-arrives-aka-t-mobile-g1/ http://reflectionupon.com/2008/09/28/the-google-phone-arrives-aka-t-mobile-g1/#comments Sun, 28 Sep 2008 02:53:00 +0000 Eric Ouyang http://reflectionupon.com/?p=110 You can call it whatever you want: the T-Mobile G1, the HTC Dream, the gPhone, the iPhone-Killer, the phone-that-will, but it doesn’t matter as they are the same (well… for some of them, it depends on how you look at it) phone that is the first to fun the Google Android Platform. Yes, this is the result of collaborative work from T-Mobile, Google, and HTC to make this iPhone competitor smart phone.


Image from Engadget.Com

The phone is currently only available for pre-order on the T-Mobile Website and will be launched on October 22 at $179 with a 2 year contract ($399 without). Here’s a quick spec list (from Engadget.Com):

  • HSDPA 1700 / 2100 plus quadband EDGE
  • WiFi
  • 3D graphics acceleration
  • 3-megapixel camera
  • 256 MB integrated storage, 1GB microSD card included
  • Android Market for on-device app purchases
  • Amazon MP3 app for on-device music purchases
  • Push Gmail support with full HTML client
  • Bluetooth (but no A2DP)
  • Google Maps with Street View
  • No Microsoft Exchange support
  • No desktop synchronization — it all happens over the air
  • 350 minutes talk time over 3G, 406 minutes over GSM
  • 402 hours standby over 3G, 319 hours over GSM

An interesting note about the Street View is that the built in accelerometer makes it seem like a “window” into that area (see video)

The 3.2 inch touch screen has a resolution of 320 X 480 pixels.  The full QWERTY keyboard beneath the screen does seem a thousand times easier to use than the iPhone’s virtual one and will be a major appeal point when people are comparing the two. The G1 also has tight integration with the Google suite (Search, Gmail, Youtube, Maps, Talk, and Calendar). The home screen is customizable (to a much higher degree vs just location on the iPhone) and is extended to the left and right which are accessible by swiping. While the iPhone has the Apps Store, the G1 has the Android market, and instead of the iTunes store, we have Amazon.Com’s MP3 service.
You can see how the device has borrowed characteristic from the iPhone, but luckily kept away from the bad things about the horrid Apple device. It DOES have copy and paste (thank you Google) and multimedia messaging. Also, there is no “multi-touch” but that’s a small thing.
Amazingly, according to Engadget, the phone is being sold out really quickly. (though an update says that you can order them again) If you are interested, you can pre-order it here.
In the future when the phone does get released, I’ll post up a full review on the phone and my own thoughts about it (as long as I can look at the G1 at a T-Mobile store)
]]> http://reflectionupon.com/2008/09/28/the-google-phone-arrives-aka-t-mobile-g1/feed/ 0 Designing a Phone: The First Funknowledge Collaborative Project http://reflectionupon.com/2007/10/25/designing-a-phone-the-first-funknowledge-collaborative-project/ http://reflectionupon.com/2007/10/25/designing-a-phone-the-first-funknowledge-collaborative-project/#comments Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:46:00 +0000 Eric Ouyang http://reflectionupon.com/?p=82 Well, the iPhone came out quite some time ago, the GPhone (Google Phone) has its rumors and there are also rumors for a phone from Microsoft (No, not the ZunePhone). But what if Funknowledge came up with a phone. So here I’ll talk about what features are rumored to be on the “upcoming” phones and what the iPhone and other smartphones could have done better. I might also over the next few days make a little diagram of it. This is supposed to be a discussion and a time to reflect. So anyone who wants to, post a comment, or email me at funknowledge@gmail.com.

Although stupid, it is pretty funny :)
(From Mac4ever.com) <= Oh, really.

We’ll start with what the iPhone didn’t do well. First of all, which is one of the most evil: the tight integration between iTunes, you have to activate it through that, download stuff through that and do everything else through that! I hate Apple’s enclosed circle of its products. Also the no stereo Bluetooth and 3G, is kind of disappointing even though it is a pretty expensive phone.

The recessed headphone jack is pretty annoying too, especially if you bought a set of expensive earbuds (or headphones), and you can’t use it along with your $399 iPhone.

There are also numerous features missing like no flash or editing on photos, no video, no self portrait mirror, no external memory card slot, and low volume.

The good things on it we like. The sleek design and interface we loved. The picture quality and additional apps (Youtube, Google Maps) were nice. Even the battery life was good when used normally. So we’ll take those into consideration.

Next, the business people Blackberrys. These are actually not that bad. Although they are not great “fun” devices, they are the preferred device for many companies as they can surf the internet, use third party apps, and are good for emails. But, we’ll want to make “our” phone a little more friendly for the average customer.


The Blackberry 8800 (Courtesy of Phonesreview.co.uk)

Now, the Windows Mobile Based Phones. These mainly come from HTC. The Touch (Not to be confused with the iPod Touch) is a Windows Mobile 6 based phone. It also features finger control (TouchFLO, and it can’t be used in landscape), but you can also use a stylus (which you can’t on an iPhone). TouchFLO features a 3D cube where you can easily access all your basic stuff. The phone also has a modified Home screen that has a lot of basic information (Time, Weather, and a Schedule) and you can also access some programs through this. The Touch uses the normal Windows Mobile keyboard which is small and cramped, only fit for a stylus, making it slow and a pain. The SIM card and MicroSD slot are also hard to get to.


The HTC Touch (From Intomobile.com)

The camera on this phone is 2.0 megapixels, but the picture quality was only OK, but it does have a self portrait mirror and video.

The GPhone (Google Phone) will supposedly use a Linux based operating system and have Java based applications which is said to be very responsive. The thing is that Google hasn’t been denying the GPhone exists, so it could actually be coming. Also back in 2005, Google bought a Android, a phone software producer, further confirming this theory.


A possible design of the gPhone
(From SciFi.com)

With the GPhone it probably won’t be a shiny and good looking as the iPhone. They’ll most likely be focused on usability. It might even have ads so you can have lower priced service, but I’m not sure what the public would think of that. It is said also to have a large color screen and a predictive Qwerty keyboard so you can type faster. It is likely if it is made that the maker will be HTC.


Another gPhone mockup
(From SciFi.com)

Although the iPhone has Google Maps, it isn’t really useful unless it has GPS, and the GPhone might do just that.

One more mockup of the gPhone
(From SciFi.com)

Microsoft doesn’t really have too many good rumors on making a phone, but they have some ideas on phones and calling in general. Bill Gates believes that calling should be moved the the computer and the internet. This in fact is a good idea but will not likely actually happen for quite some time. The VoIP thing although works well, isn’t as reliable as normal phones, and until it becomes that, not everyone will make the switch.

So what will the Funknowledge Phone be like? Well, we want to combine the good ideas and get rid of the bad. So help us design it and we can come up with a phone that will be sleek, at a reasonable price, easy to use, and innovating. So post a comment or email me at funknowledge@gmail.com.

]]> http://reflectionupon.com/2007/10/25/designing-a-phone-the-first-funknowledge-collaborative-project/feed/ 1