Last week, I briefly handled a 4.3-inch Galaxy S2 smartphone and almost found it uncomfortable holding such a large device in my hands as a phone. I like the Galaxy S2 and will certainly give it a try inspite of my misgivings about the size.

As such, you can imagine my shock when I first read the specs of the Samsung Galaxy Note – specifically the display size – 5.3 inches of SuperAMOLED goodness!

How in the world is anyone supposed to use a device that large as a phone? Yes; that was what we said when we first heard of 4-inch displays; right? So, we are likely to get used to this too; aren’t we?

Other specs include:

• Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread
• WXGA (1280×800) display resolution
• stylus support
• dual-core 1.4GHz CPU, plus GPU
• 1GB RAM
• 16GB/32GB storage + microSD support
• 8MP autofocus camera with LED flash & 1080p video recording
• 146.9 x 83 x 9.7 mm and 178 grams of weight
• 2,500mAh battery

PS: In related news, have you heard of the upcoming Galaxy Tab 7.7 too? Runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb and the same processor as the Note.

Just yesterday, while on the road to Abuja, I asked Dayo to help carry out some tasks online on the 4-inch display Nokia E7. He picked it up and said, “Ahhh, this display is so small”.

I was taken aback, but I guess that coming from the 7-inch Galaxy Tab and 10-inch iPad, he would feel that way. Perhaps the 5.3-inch Note won’t be a bad idea exactly.

But, come to think of it, is the Note a smartphone or a tablet? Where does one start and where does the other begin? Does it matter anymore what we call these things?

There are different techniques for keeping your memory razor_sharp. While the progressive, insidious and degenerative effects of old age on memory storage/recall – is inevitable, your mobile phone can come in handy to remember thing.

Most phones come with built in note_taking applications. Apart from the dirt_cheap ones, you are almost certain to (also) have a calendar/reminder application.

By making use of these memoire_aides (pardon the Swahili!), it would just be the result of pure laziness to claim that ANYTHING escapes one’s memory. After all, those devices are almost always with us.

I mostly use these to maintain my ‘to do’ list. Strictly short_term. The doctors would tell us that it is great to keep as many details as possible in our brains. It keeps those synapses in the brain functional and firing efficiently – longer. Sure, Sure. However, we are all having situations where we need to retrieve a piece of information from our head, and we draw a blank. Consequently, keeping critical information stored in an easily accessible place (your phone) would look like a wise move.

True; these apps will not help you remember a face you met at that Part, but, hey – half bread is better than ‘chin-chin’!

Now, why do most people just do not bother to write (jot,scribble..) things down? One reason could be that there is no pen(cil)/paper at that point in time.

In recent times, mobile phones with touchscreen are being adopted in droves. App developers have been creative in using this to advantage.

Mobile Software that allow us to scribble (or draw) right on that touchscreen are legion. That way, we can quickly scribble that list of items to pick from the supermarket. We do not want to forget to buy that packet of sugar for the early morning tea, or pay that cableTV subscription this Friday afternoon – right?

All of these apps (desktop PC variants are plentiful) merely mimic the ubiquitous Yellow Post-It Notes. Convenient, fast and ulta-useful. Such applications (for Symbian) – that I currently use (or have used) – on a touchscreen phone are iisted next:

1) NoteIt – This is my favorite of the lot. It is a Symbian application. Compatible with Symbian s^3 and s^1. It allows you place ‘draggable’ virtual sticky notes anywhere on the phone screen

2) OffScreen Sticky Notes – This is also a symbian application, meant for s^1 (but may also work on s^3).

3) ScribPad – Java app.

4) ScratchPad – Java app.

These are all free applications. Each has its comparative strength and weakness. Each allows you to quickly scribble anything on your touchscreen phone. You may use the back of your index_finger_nail, or use a stylus (if your phone has one). I used to improvise my (lost) stylus with a toothpick (until I was taken to task!)

If you do not own a touchscreen phone, a Java application you can try out is NotesOnThePhone. It is a Java application. The main attraction of this is that it can (intermittently) scroll your text across the screen – if you wish. You can define the interval. Or you may want to try out Mobineon Smart Notes.

Unlike the other apps mentioned, you do not scribble. You type in the text.

You may want to ‘google’ for these applications (or check Ovi Store) and give them a spin.

[This post would not be complete without mentioning the use of heavy_duty calendar applications for storing (recurring) events, and generally organizing our lives better. I use Handy Calendar (Symbian S^3).]

Erase the word ‘amnesia’ from your dictionary! Permanently.

It has been a long time coming, but folks who have been clamouring for more powerful processors on Symbian devices finally have their dreams coming true.

The Nokia 500 has a 1GHz processor powering its 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen display, and runs on Symbian Anna. The 3G and Wifi enabled device also features a 5 megapixel camera and 2GB internal storage.

Impressive, and at just 150 Euros, you don’t have to break the bank to get one either. Scheduled to launch before October, this looks like a collector’s item, if only to see how the 1GHz CPU powers Anna.

Inspite of the popularity of pure touchscreen slabs since the coming of the iPhone, the QWERTY candybar form factor has proven that it has its very loyal share of fans and users. All over the world, QWERTY candybars are selling like hotcake, and it doesn’t look like the form factor is fading away for a long time.

Apparently aware of this trend, the manufacturers have decided to ride the wave and are throwing out a slew of hybrid devices that incorporate both a hardware QWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen in a candybar form. We shall borrow a term to call them from Nokia – Touch-and-Type.

Behold the Touch-and-Type entrants –

Nokia E6

• 640 x 480 pixel, 2.46 inch, Gorilla glass TFT capacitive touchscreen
• Symbian Anna on a 600 MHz ARM 11 processor, with 2D/3D Graphics HardWare Accelerator
• 8 megapixel, full focus camera, with dual-LED flash
• 720p@25fps video recording
• 8 GB internal storage, microSD slot, and USB On-the-go support
• 1500 mAh battery
• The E6 is being expected before the end of June 2011

Samsung Galaxy Pro B7510

• 320 x 240 pixel, 2.8 inch, TFT capacitive touchscreen
• Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo) on a 800 MHz processor
• 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera
• QVGA@30fps video recording
• 512 MB internal storage, plus microSD slot
• 1350 mAh battery
• The Galaxy Pro has been available since April 2011, and is already in the Nigerian market

BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900/9930

• 640 x 480 pixel, 2.8 inch, TFT capacitive touchscreen
• BlackBerry 7 on a 1.2GHz processor
• 5 megapixel camera with autofocus & LED flash
• 720p video recording
• 8 GB internal storage, plus microSD slot
• 1230 mAh battery
• The 9900/9930 is being expected before the end of June 2011

So, we have a touch-and-type smartphone represented on Symbian, Android and Blackberry, so for you QWERTY candybar folks, you have options. In addition, the Motorola DROID PRO XT610, another Android messenger, has been around since November 2010, but that is one handset that hasn’t been seen in many markets.

If you had to pick one of the above, which one would it be, and what would your criteria be?

Nokia has announced the widely anticipated Nokia X7, its first 4-inch entertainment smartphone. Made from toughened glass and seamless stainless steel, it offers a unique and durable design that will stand out from the crowd. Offering all the benefits of the latest Symbian operating system, Symbian Anna, it’s a fast and fluid experience from browsing the web to scrolling through your music collection. Read on for the details.

The 4-inch, capacitive AMOLED display offers 16 million colours and a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels. And it’s made of Corning Gorilla Glass, so it won’t shatter if you lose control during a drive around Asphalt 5 HD.

This device is purpose-built for entertainment and that includes the media you create yourself. The 8-megapixel full focus camera also offers 720p video recording and comes with a dual LED flash. The Nokia X7 comes with 8GB memory card pre-installed, with up to 350MB built-in operating memory. It can support MicroSD cards up to 32GB.

The device measures 119.7 x 62.8 x 11.9mm (thinner at the edges) and weighs 146g. It offers Pentaband 2G/3G network connectivity and 802.11 b/g/n WiFi support. It offers a 3.5mm audio connector for headphones.

The 1200mAH battery is rated for up to 450 hours standby and 4.5 hours talktime on a 3G network – longer over GSM.

The Nokia X7 comes with free walk-and-drive navigation through the latest Ovi Maps. There’s messaging through Nokia Email and you can connect to Facebook, Twitter and RenRen (in China) using Nokia Social. It comes with Galaxy on Fire HD and Asphalt 5 HD preinstalled. And there’s thousands more great games and apps on Ovi Store.

The Nokia X7 will be available in Q2 2011 and, before taxes and operator subsidies, it will cost €380.

More images and info at Nokia Conversations.

What has a 4.3-inch display, runs Windowsphone 7 and is in our office at MobilityNigeria right now?

Yes; it is the HTC HD7 monster.

The first thing that will arrest your attention with the HD7 is the size. This is huge. Next up is the display – 4.3 inches of capacitive goodness is irresistible. You sort of love the phone immediately. That is until you find out that it is actually best defined more by what it cannot do than what it can. Take a look at the long list of wantings:

1. No copy/paste
2. No multitasking
3. No Bluetooth file transfers
4. No USB mass storage mode
5. No internet tethering
6. No Flash support in the browser
7. No video calls
8. No DivX/XviD video support

The list of missing features almost gives me a headache, and I actually developed one when I really started using the device. It is almost unbelievable. Leaving an app means that it is closed, so forget about multitasking.

Still, the HD7 is impressive in lots of other ways. Take a look at the specifications:

• Windows Phone 7 operating system
• 1GHz Snapdragon Processor
• 576MB RAM
• 4.3″ capacitive LCD touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• Dual-band 3G with HSDPA (7.2 Mbps) and HSUPA (2Mbps)
• 8GB Built-in storage
• 3.5mm audio jack
• Standard microUSB port (charging only)
• 5 megapixel auto-focus camera with dual-LED flash
• 720p video recording
• Dolby Mobile and SRS sound enhancement
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 2.1 + A2DP
• Accelerometer for screen auto rotation
• Office document editor
• Facebook integration
• Built-in A-GPS receiver
• Stereo FM Radio with RDS
• Kickstand

First Impressions

Getting my mails, contacts and calendar onto the device was a joy. I simply set up my Google-based email account and the HD7 synced everything flawlessly.

Getting anything else – music, videos, et al – onto the device has been a royal pain in the butts. You see, there’s no USB mass storage mode. There’s no Bluetooth file transfer. I am yet to download the Zune software that enables PC synchronisation. But why do I have to do that in this day and age?

I like some parts of this device, and I am absolutely stumped by others. The user interface is nice, but so limited that it feels like a hybrid monster to me. Also, that display is a fingerprint mega magnet – and the fingerprints hinder your viewing pleasure, especially in sunlight.

But I am so, so tempted by that email app and the web browser. More detailed reviews coming in after I have used the HD7 more extensively.

It isn’t everyday that one gets the opportunity to carry about two of the most capable devices on the planet. The Nokia N8 is the latest device in Nokia’s N-series range. It is a pure touchscreen Symbian-powered device. The N900, on the other hand, has been around for over a year, but this QWERTY slider device running Maemo 5 is still very much a capable device in the smartphone market.

When I recently announced that the N900 is my smartphone of the year 2010, there were cries of “foul” from Nokia N8 fans – and that is testament to how much the N8 has come to be loved and regarded in the mobile space. Nokia certainly has hit a home run with the N8. It is indeed a lovable, capable device that meets the needs of lots of people.

Same Father; Different Strengths

Children of the same parents often have different strengths. Having used both devices extensively, I am qualified to present to you in what areas one outshines the other. This will help people in understanding how to choose devices that cater to their specific needs.

Note that this is not a detailed comparison, but a quick list of areas where the differences of the two excellent devices stand out.

Browser: While we are still waiting for the new Symbian browser that Nokia promised us (and I am hoping that Nokia will copy the N900′s browser to the dot), the N900′s Mozilla-based MicroB browser clinched the spot as the best mobile browser at its release and holds that spot till date. The Symbian browser on the N8 pales in comparison so badly that it is an uneven match.

Camera: The tide is turned immediately here. The N8′s stunning 12 -megapixel camera simply leaves the N900′s 5 megapixel camera in the dust for both still shots and video capture. The N8 does HD/720p video capture. No contest here too.

I took my wife out on a Friday night date yesterday and we took some shots. The N900 generally was left in the dust. Glad I took the N8 along with me.

Display: The N8 has a brighter, more colourful display, while the N900 has the greater resolution. Both of them work well in sunlight. Most people will opt for the N8′s display for video playback, but for web browsing and reading documents, the N900′s greater resolution makes it the preferred display.

Also, the N900′s resistive display is almost as responsive as any capacitive, but you will notice the difference.

Video Playback: Both devices handle playback well. The N8′s AMOLED display produces brighter colours, but the N900 has the better WVGA resolution of 800 × 480 pixels against the N8′s 360 x 640 pixels. Also, the N900 handles more video codecs than the N8 does, especially with DviX and Xvid files. There were video files that I could not watch on the N8 but the N900 handles them fine.

Customisation: Symbian has much more applications available than Maemo. Yet Maemo is much more highly tweakable via plugins, scripts and apps than Symbian. For example, the N900 is easily overclocked just by installing an app, and can have Linux desktop apps installed on it. Other mobile OSes e.g. Android, have also been installed and run on the N900.

UI and Multi-tasking: The N8 handles this like a champ, but my impressions are that the N900 does it better with more resources and a better UI. The N8 sports 256MB RAM, but the N900 takes it a step further with 256MB RAM and an extra 768 MB of virtual memory. This means that the N900 has a total of 1GHz application memory at its disposal.

The N900′s PC-like approach to tasks makes it the better user interface in every way. The N8′s UI is not bad; the N900′s is simply better. Having used iOS, Android and Symbian devices, the Maemo 5 UI is the closest thing to iOS’s sleekness, simplicity and ease of use. In my opinion, the Maemo UI actually matches iOS in user experience.

Mass Storage: N900 has 32GB and N8 has 16GB. No contest.

Maps: Simply put, the Ovi maps application on the N8 is miles better than that on the N900. No contest.

Social Networking Integration: Out of the box, the N900 has Skype and GoogleTalk integrated into the contacts and conversations applications. Install a few more plugins and you add Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook, and lots more. These are not separate apps, but plugins running right in your Contacts and Conversations apps.

Your chats show up in your Conversations as threaded messages. Your Contacts can be arranged according to online availability, so your available contacts show up at the top when you open the app.

It is simply incredible.

Text Entry: The N900 offers you the best of both worlds – an onscreen keyboard and a slide-out hardware QWERTY keyboard.

Battery Life: Of the two, the N8 has the better battery life. Linux-powered devices tend to consume more resources than Symbian. In this case, the N900′s battery life is prey to this as well. The N8 simply keeps going after the N900 has given up.

Conclusions

Slider QWERTY devices have never been top sellers in the market. They have always been niche devices. Naturally, the majority of people will opt for the N8. Form factor aside, the N8 is the device that you need to buy if you are looking for media content creation. You simply cannot go wrong with buying a Nokia N8 if that is what you are after.

The N900 is a mixed bag and has a much smaller targeted audience – people who are looking for a more PC-like experience on a small device, a better social networking and web experience, as well as office content viewing, creation and editing. That’s where I fall. That’s why the N900 is my smartphone of the year 2010.

I have had a few days with the 3Gs, playing games, surfing the web taking pictures, chatting on Yahoo via wi-fi, and listening to music, among other tasks. Here I present my impressions of the device.

Note that this is not a full review but a compilation of my impressions of the device over a few days of use. NB: I will update this page with more detailed impressions as I use the device.

User Interface
I have found the user interface really very fluid and fun to use. The iOS user interface is not wanting for eye candy. However, it is not without its glitches and annoyances. For example, while the capacitive display is very good, I keep reading reviews of how every tap is registered and responded to. This is simply not true. Like on competing platforms (Android, Symbian, Windows), not every tap is registered.

Also, I found the 3GS homescreen flawed. It is simply nothing but a menu – no widgets and no app integrations of any sort. It is not a very useful homescreen for a smartphone. Still, I am sure that there are people who like it that way anyway. That kind of simplicity is not necesarilly a bad thing even though it won’t fly with hardcore smartphone users.

Another usability glitch is the fact that the homescreen does not have landscape mode. As such, you may be web browsing or checking out photos in landscape and hit the menu key to launch an app from the homescreen. You get portrait right away and have to adjust. Double-tapping the menu button for a list of running apps too displays the app manager in portrait as well even though you may have been in landscape elsewhere.

This user interface inconsistency exists in other areas of the phone as well. Landscape view is simply not enabled for some menus e.g. in Settings, as well as apps e.g. in Maps and App Store. I wonder why there is so much talk about inconsistencies in say Symbian S60 5th Edition, and none about the inconsistencies that exist on iOS.

Besides the above, the user interface is indeed very polished. It is just that the above are an annoyance in use.

Text Entry
The onscreen keyboard is indeed good, but suffers a usability flaw that I keep running into with many such keyboards – the lack of arrow keys for navigating through blocks of text. You have a correction to make in some text that you have already typed and there’s no way to scroll to the very point where you need to modify or insert text. Many times, you have to delete entire words just to correct one letter or number. Or did I miss something? Seasoned iPhone users may help here.

Again, the keyboard is available in landscape in some apps and available only in portrait in others. Quite annoying for me.

Web and Email
Web browsing on Safari is very good – and again enjoyable. I miss Flash, and it is my opinion that Apple needs to re-think their policy on Flash.

Safari has its quirks too, though. For example, I find it very frustrating and time-wasting that I have to scroll back all the way to the top of a page in order to reload/refresh the page.

Email is superb. Setting up an Exchange account got my mails, contacts and calendar items syncing without issues. Those are winning qualities for me any day.

Gaming
I have already spent some time on gaming on the 3GS. It is superb. I haven’t tried many games on it but from the two that I have, I can say that gaming on the 3GS is as good as on the Nokia N900 which was my best gaming experience before now. Perhaps it is even better.

Camera
The camera produces good shots. Nothing exceptional, and certainly not a strong point of the 3GS.

Like all other menus on the 3GS, the photo gallery looks sleek and does a good job of displaying your pictures. However, I love the way you can select multiple items for deletion off the device. Sweet.

Wi-fi
Because my unit is currently network-locked, I had to resort to Wi-fi for data. Unfortunately, wi-fi on the 3GS has been unreliable. Getting a connection is a hit-and-miss affair. Sometimes, even after a connection has been made, data transfer is painfully slow.

I cross-checked with a Google search on the internet and found that this is a well reported issue, so it isn’t just my unit.

Music and Video
Music playback is very good and the built-in speaker is okay. Unfortunately, it isn’t as loud as I had expected it to be. I ran a comparative loudspeaker test with a Nokia 5800 and the Nokia came out tops.

Video playback is lovely on that beautiful display. Codecs are limited and the same not-so-loud speaker is a minor let down again.

File Transfer
Now, this is where I have a big headache with the 3GS – and indeed the iOS platform. There is no USB mass storage mode and no Bluetooth file transfer, so getting files on to and off the device is a pain.

Yes; I know there are third party apps that let you transfer files from one iPhone to another. I take pictures, and I can send them only to other iOS devices? Honestly, that is a joke; right?

In an age in which other products are toting USB-on-the-go, not having such a basic function as USB mass storage is unbelievable.

At the end of the day, all that you have for file transfers is iTunes, and that software is choosy and picky too about what and how it transfers them. File transfer (or the lack of it) is a very strong disappointment with the 3GS. I cannot use a device with this kind of limitation as a primary mobile device. Apparently, many others don’t mind, because the iPhone continues to sell.

Different strokes for different folks.

Appstore
The Apple appstore has tons of apps available. As has already been said before, you do not need a credit card to register in the appstore and download freeware. There are lots of free apps to download too, so if you have an iPhone, go get those apps now.

Conclusions
I love the iPhone 3GS. It is a phone I could use, especially because it handles both email and web browsing well. The fluid user interface stands out and is a huge plus. But beyond that, it has its usability annoyances and functional limitations just like with any other mobile OS platform.

One thing you cannot fault with the iPhone 3GS, though, is how the 600 MHz processor keeps everything running smoothly. Everything looks and feels good. The user interface is indeed very fluid and fast> But let no-one make the mistake of confusing that for user friendliness. There are a number of glaring inconsistencies that I have found not friendly in the interface.

Eye-candy? Always. But user friendly and/or intuitive? Not always.

Still, this guy gets a 4 out of 5 points from me.

Last Monday, I received a call from Nokia West Africa. The summary was that I would be getting a Nokia N8 from them this Thursday (today). They kept their word, and I have with me now a brand new unit of the N8. My unit is greenblue. Believe me when I say that the pictures do not do this handset any justice. The greenblue unit positively makes a statement!

Earlier this year, I made an appeal for phone manufacturers and dealers to step up to the plate and provide Mobility Nigeria with loan devices for review. We have had CricketPDA, and now we have Nokia. Let it be on record that Nokia is the first manufacturer to do this kind of thing in this country. We hope that other manufacturers with a physical presence in Nigeria will also step up. Samsung? LG? What say ye?

It Gets Even Better
This has to be said. The guys at Nokia say that this unit is given to me for keeps. Yup; it is not going back. Before you go all blue with envy, the truth is its about time. Think of all the devices that I have spent hard cash purchasing for review purposes. Think of all the mobile devices (including Nokias) that have been purchased because of my reviews. Think of all the mobile devices (including Nokias) that I have given away free or at subsidised costs. Consider all that and you will agree that this has been long overdue. A Christmas present in November! Pass the thanksgiving turkey!!

Thank you, Nokia!

PS: It needs saying too that you can count on me to be as objective as I am known to be in all my reviews, this gift notwithstanding.

First Impressions
Setting up the N8 was a dream come true. Getting my contacts, mails and calendar entries on it was as simple as setting up an Exchange account with my Google Apps email and in a few moments, I was home dry. Am I impressed or what?

Of course, getting my files, documents and media on it was as simple as popping in my 8GB microSD card. It couldn’t have been simpler than that. Shame on devices without an external card slot.

Next was social networking – and that too was dead easy. Using the social networking widget, i was connected to both Facebook and Twitter in minutes. I’m now back online on the go.

I plugged the N8 to my netbook and selected USB drive mode on the device. Immediately, I could copy other files. In addition, I was prompted to install Nokia Ovi Suite. The installation file was on the device. No CD; no downloads. Excuse me, but this is what I call easy setup.

The new Symbian user interface is cool. While the icons are the same old S60 5th Edition icons, eye candy is there. It is different from how it is implemented on iOS or Android or WebOS, but it is there. I don’t have a problem with different. Plus there is haptic feedback when you touch the screen, making the touch experience much more enjoyable.

My device came with the very latest firmware, V11.012, so I was good to go right from the start.

The sales pack contains:

• charger
• headset
• manual
• quick start guide
• USB data cable (also for charging)
• USB-on-the-go adapter
• male miniHDMI to female standard HDMI adapter

That is a very complete pack.

The N8 feels solid (and cold) in the hand. That Aluminium build makes it a solid device. But it doesn’t stop with the build. The user interface is lovely too, at least I can say that of the parts that I have interacted with so far.

So far, Nokia seems to have got it right with the N8. And I haven’t even touched that 12 world-acclaimed camera yet. Nokia has succeeded in making it super easy to pick the N8 up and get going. That counts for a lot. Expect detailed review parts over the next few weeks.

Reactions welcome, please!

I have had the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro for two (2) months now and have used it extensively in that period. While I have written bits and snippets about the device – its great usability due to the size and Sony Ericsson’s UI customisation, and its top-notch 5 megapixel camera, among others, I have refrained from doing a full review until it received the andropid 2.1 update that SE promised at launch.

Well, that update is here now, and it is a pleasant surprise. Android 2.1 has catapulted the X10 Mini Pro into a level of performance hitherto reserved for devices like the Nexus One and HTC Desire. This guy may be much smaller but it packs a punch that no-one was probably expecting.

The X10 Mini Pro is one of the smallest smartphones on the market, and just a little bit bigger than its sibling, the X10 Mini. It is a sliding QWERTY Android-powered smartphone initially launched with v1.6.

Hardware
The build quality is very good. The handy dimensions help too. Almost everyone who has seen it took a second look. It looks good to the eyes and feels good in the hands. The sliding mechanism feels sturdy and is spring-assisted.

The display is scratch-resistant capacitive TFT at 240×320 pixels. No AMOLED or Super-AMOLED here. It fades significantly in direct sunlight but is usable if you set the brightness to 25% or 50%. If you notch the brightness all the way up to 100% (with the consequence of greater power consumption), it is very usable in sunlight. But at 50%, you are really good to go.

There’s a really loud speaker at the back of the Mini Pro. because of the “human curvature” curve at the back of the phone, the speaker is never totally covered when you put the phone down on its back. As such, music playback still comes out quite loud (the sound bounces off the surface that the phone rests on).

At the bottom of the Mini Pro is the microphone slot and a larnyard slot. To the left is the USB port. At the top are the quite large power button and a special 3.5 mm audio jack. The right side of the phone spots the volume keys and the camera shutter button. All keys are comfortable to use.

The front of the phone (which is in black) features only three hardware buttons (all in chrome) – a menu button, a home key, and a back button. The contrast is really cool. See the chart below for a labelled walk-through of the Mini Pro.

The 2.6-inch capacitive display is a joy to use. Usability is further enhanced by the small size of the device – one-handed texting and general use works so well that for the first time I am really enjoying entering text via touchscreen and only use the slide-out hardware keyboard for more extensive typing.

Sony Ericsson did their homework with customising the Android interface to work on such a small display. They did a good job. There are four large icons in the corners of the homescreen. You can set your favourite apps to these slots.

During ongoing calls, the same concept of large icons at the four corners is utilised to provide you in-call options.

Widgets can be placed on the homescreen, which has multiple desktop pages. Because of the display size, only one widget can be placed on each desktop page, though you can have as many pages as you desire.

When the display is off, you can unlock it by pressing the power button (or home button) to light it up and then sliding an onscreen button to the right. The phone can also be muted without having to unlock the display at all.

All icons in the menu are large and finger-friendly. The menu itself is flat and you navigate by swiping horizontally.

Text Entry
One would think that a device this small could never provide a usable hardware QWERTY keyboard. Wrong. The keyboard is quite good and I am able to crank out text with almost no mistakes. It has no dedicated numeric keys though, as it has only four (4) rows, but that is forgivable on a device this small and with the good performance of the keyboard.

But there’s also an onscreen keyboard. In portrait with the hardware keyboard retracted, you get an alpha-numeric keyboard that is an extreme joy to use for short text. There is auto-prediction and correction. Both work quite well. You can add new words to the dictionary’s vocabulary and so increase its usability per time. Once the hardware keyboard is extended, the onscreen keyboard disappears.

Messaging
Messaging is a cinch on the Mini Pro, whether it is SMS or Gmail. They just work well. The built-in Gmail app supports labels, batch operations, searching and multiple Gmail accounts.

Gmail retrieval is a breeze. My mails regularly arrive on my device faster than they show up on my PC. I am talking of instantenous email.

Where I have faced issues till date is trying to setup a non-Gmail email account on the device. I always get an error that says the server could not be found. Entering all the paprametres manually didn’t make any difference either. Till date, I have not been able to setup a non-Gmail email account on the X10 Mini Pro.

Web Browsing
Web browsing on the X10 is typical Android-fare. It works well, supports javascript and supports text reflow when you zoom into a page. It works fine. There is no flash, as that is supported only in Android version 2.2 upwards.

My only complaint with web browsing on Android has to do with the way that multi-tasking is implemented on the platform and Webkit’s issues with cache. By default, when you launch an app that Android has shut down in the background, the OS restores it to the last state it was in before it was killed off. In the web browser, all pages that were opened before are re-opened – and the browser actually reloads all those pages afresh by connecting to the internet. It does not reload them from cache. You can begin to imagine how much of your mobile internet bandwidth is wasted this way.

Believe me when I say it is expensive business using the built-in Android browser. If you need to save on mobile internet, download Opera mini from the market right away.

Besides that, I have no other complaints about the browser.

Camera
Permit me to say it upfront – the X10 Mini Pro has one of the best 5 megapixel cameras on the mobile market. While the options offered in the camera interface are few and limited, that simplicity works well for how the average person uses their cameraphones.

Again, Sony Ericsson has implemeted four, large finger-friendly buttons at the four corners of the camera interface. Simple. Elegant.

The hardware camera shutter key is easy to use, though you need to watch out that you do not push the slider down while shooting.

The Mini Pro produces stunning images. Colours are sharp and bright. Details are fine. Auto-focus is fast. Pictures are processed quickly so you can take your next short almost immediately. The camera simply rocks. it is one of the reasons why giving up the Mini Pro is going to be difficult for me.

To see for yourself, visit my X10 Mini Pro Camera Samples Gallery.

In video recording mode, there is continous auto-focus and also LED light for recording in low-light situations. The continous auto-focus, which was added with v2.1, is not quite smooth, as you can clearly observe brief pauses when the camera re-focuses.

This is hoping that SE refines this feature some more so we can enjoy it to the max.

Music and Video
The X10 Mini Pro performs above average in the multimedia department as well. There is no stuttering and audio reproduction is fine. There is no support for AAC files (audio) or DivX and Xvid (video), so I keep having to convert some files. Minus these limitations, I am quite satisfied with its audio and video playback capabilities.

Other Features
There is Facebook integration with contacts, so you can synchronise your Facebook contacts with those on the phone, and even pull their profile pictures. It is also stressless uploading images from the album to your Facebook or Picasa albums (or sending them as email attachments et al). You can create new Facebook albums and add a caption to each image. Videos can also be directly uploaded to YouTube too with a few taps.

There’s Bluetooth file transfer and apps downloaded from the Android Market can be set to automatically update without any action on your part once an update is available for individual apps.

There’s Wifi, GPS with A-GPS support, FM radio, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, and HSUPA, so the Mini Pro lacks nothing on the connectivity front.

Oh, there’s also Timescape – Sony Ericsson’s homegrown solution for aggregating all your communication information – Facebook updates, Twitter updates, call logs, messages etc. To be honest with you, I didn’t find any real use for it. Clicking on a Facebook update for example launches a web page or the built-in Facebook app. Twitter updates are also handled the same way. Timescape is just not functional enough. After trying it a couple of times, I just filed Timescape away on a back shelf. I didn’t miss it, and I doubt that anyone else will.

Battery Life
The Mini Pro won’t win any battery performance marathon, but it has one of the best battery performances among touchscreen devices out there. It gets me through a day of fairly intensive use (that amounts to really intensive use for the majority of mobile users that I have met).

I ran an extreme battery test on the X10 Mini Pro to see how much to expect of it in a worst case scenario. In this test, here are the parametres that I set up:

1. I charged the battery full
2. Set network mode to always-on 3G
3. switched WiFi radio on
4. switched Bluetooth on
5. set volume to loudest
6. set Gmail synchronisation to automatic, so delivering always-on real-time email
7. set the display backlight to brightest
8. watched a movie for about 20 minutes
9. played some music for about 10 minutes
10. automatic synchronisation with Google calendar and contacts

During the period of the test, I received 2 SMS conversations and had three phone calls of a little over 4 minutes. I also browsed the web for 1 hour.

The test commenced at 7.25 p.m. About nine hours and twenty minutes later, the X10 Mini pro shut down at 4.43 a.m. That kind of result in an extreme situation suggests that my regular experience of having the battery last a day or more is just fine.

Performance
For a device running on 180MB of RAM and 600 MHz, one would have expected some level of sluggishness; right? Wrong? The Mini Pro is snappy and performs like a champ.

Running several Quadrant benchmark tests, the highest figure the Mini Pro hit was 553 and the lowest 537. Here’s the surprise – even at the lowest score, the X10 Mini Pro outguns bigger boys like the HTC Desire (v2.1, 1GHz processor; 576MB RAM) and the Nexus one (v2.1, 1GHz processor; 512MB RAM). The X10 Mini Pro sits right below the Galaxy S (v2.1, 1GHz processor; 512MB RAM) on the scale. Take a look:

Don’t let the looks fool you: if you want a powerful Android device but cannot afford the Galaxy S, give the X10 Mini and/or X10 Mini Pro a shot.

Conclusions
Do I like the X10 Mini Pro or what. You know Michael Bolton’s song with the lyrics, “Said I loved you but I lied… this is more than love I feel inside…”. The X10 gives me that feeling. Saying I like this smartphone is an understatement, but I will leave it at that.

It is so handy that using it as a phone is a breeze. yet, it is so powerful that it puts many other smartphones to shame in terms of features and performance.

If only I can get to setup my non-Gmail accounts (tips, anyone?) and also cut down on that data guzzling…..

Score: 4.85 out of 5.0

By virtue of running an “old school” OS, the HTC Touch Pro2 would be considered by many as no longer in contention. Though launched only February 2009, one and half years in the modern smartphone world can be a long time.

Coming from a new-kid-on-the-block OS, the Nokia N900, I should be able to tell whether or not the Touch Pro2 is still a credible device in today’s smartphone world. Let’s get to the meat of this review; shall we?

Key Features

• Operating System: Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional
• Size and Weight: 116 x 59.2 x 17.3 mm. 178.5 gm
• Display: 65, 000 colors. 480 x 800 pixels, 3.6 inches resistive touchscreen
• TouchFLO 3D finger swipe navigation, Touch-sensitive zoom bar, Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate, Handwriting recognition
• Processor: Qualcomm MSM7200A 528 MHz processor, 288 MB RAM
• Data: GPRS, EDGE, 3G, HSDPA (3.6 Mbps), HSUPA (2 Mbps)
• Camera: 3.2 MP, 2048 x 1536 pixels, autofocus
• Connectivity: USB. Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP
• Text Input: Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
• Mesaging: SMS (Threaded view), MMS, EMail, Instant Messaging
• Web Browser: Opera Mobile 9.5, Internet Explorer Mobile
• Large capacity Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery
• Wi-Fi
• Video call with secondary VGA videocall camera
• Office documents viewing and editing
• PDF viewer
• Built-in modem (internet sharing)
• TV-out

Strengths

• Excellent and highly functional QWERTY keyboard
• Very good display
• Good battery life
• Very good loudspeaker
• Excellent video playback
• One-handed use and fluid desktop interface

Weaknesses

• Very poor 3.2 mega-pixel camera

First Impressions
At first sight, the Touch Pro2 looks big, but in reality is smaller than it looks. Once you hold it in your hand, it loses that huge impression a bit. By way of comparison, the TP2 is smaller (but longer) and lighter than the N900.

It is also well built and has a classy look and feel, unlike the N900′s mostly plasticky impressions. Overall, the TP2 is the kind of device you want to walk into a business meeting with, if first impressions are important.

PS: Note that I have the T-mobile version, which looks different from the regular version, though specs remain the same.

Operating System and User Interface
The TP2 runs Windows Mobile OS 6.5, a thumb-optimised version of Microsoft’s mobile platform. HTC has also added its home user interface, TouchFLO 3D on top of this to provide users with a beautiful desktop experience.

With TouchFLO 3D, I had access to contacts, calendar, mails, messages, weather updates, settings and more – all right on the TP2′s desktop. You swipe across different customisable tabs and tap to select menu items. It is all very fluid.

With the keyboard retracted, the TP2 is quite usable with one hand in many areas, which is a plus for a touchscreen device that is this big.

Form factor and Display
At first glance, all you see is a slab of glass covering most of the front of the device – much like any typical touchscreen smartphone. But then, there’s a side-sliding QWERTY keyboard lurking behind that slab.

With a slight push, the keyboard extends out – and it is a glorious keyboard. While you can use it extended straight out, it also tilts upwards at an angle if you want to use it that way.

Navigation and Text Input
Navigation is by touch and the four hardware buttons at the bottom end of the display.

For text input, there’s the superb 5-row QWERTY keyboard, onscreen software keyboard (regular and QWERTY, its your choice), and also handwriting recognition. You have the full range of options to pick from.

The QWERTY keyboard of the Touch Pro2 is now officially the best keyboard (hardware or software) that I have used on any mobile device. Scratch Nokia 9500. Scratch Nokia E90. Scratch Nokia N900. This is the keyboard to beat. Tactility is good, the keys are large and well-spaced, and there are shortcuts for everything under the sun – mail, SMS, browser, page down, page up, and other PC-style functions such as copy, cut, and paste.

I dig this keyboard and rate it 5/5.

Web Browsing
The TP2 comes with two browsers built-in. Someone should file a suit to prevent Microsoft from imposing Internet Explorer Mobile. I wouldn’t mind if it was such a good browser, the average Windows Mobile user simply never uses it. What’s the point?

Anyway, HTC was smart enough to include Opera Mobile 9.5 as the default browser on the TP2. Brilliant guys!

Opera Mobile 9.5 is finger-optimised, supports javascript, SSL, multiple tabs (I configured mine to open as many as 9 tabs), and zoom with text reflow. It lets you select text (and copy and paste), save pages, and search text on the page. Simply put, it remains a capable browser though version 10 is already available at this time.

I did download and run Opera Mobile 10 on the TP2, found it good, but it disn’t handle javascript/AJAX drop-down menus as good as v9.5 does. That was the same issue I had with v10 on Maemo. I am sticking with v9.5 on the TP2.

Opera Mobile 9.5 is not MicroB (the built-in browser on the N900, and still the best mobile browser on the block). Opera Mobile 9.5 does not have the full flash capabilities of MicroB and its page rendering is slightly inferior, but it is a capable browser still.

Email
Email on the TP2 works without issues. I didn’t have to slug it out with the OS to get Gmail and Google domains mail working on it as obtained with the N900.

Like with every other Windows Mobile device that I have used, I have no complaints with email.

Organizer and Office features
The TP2 contacts app is extensive, letting you save almost any detail to your contacts. It also comes with Facebook integration. This pulls your contacts’ Facebook status, photographs and other contact information and integrates it with their details on the device. Cool.

Even the ability to view the location of a contact via maps application is integrated into the contacts app.

There’s full Office viewing and editing out-of-the-box. There’s online backup and synchroinisation via Microsoft’s My Phone service, which works extremely well. All my previously synchronised contacts, calendar entries, and browser features from my previous Windows Mobile devices (Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, Samssung B7320, and LG GW550) were retrieved to my TP2 without issues.

If I wanted, I could opt for images, videos, music, documents and even items on my memory card to be added to the mix. Honestly, everytime that I use My Phone, I am tempted to stay with Windows Mobile. It just makes switching handsets seamless.

Synchronising with PC via ActiveSync is also available, though personally I find little use for it.

Multimedia
The TP2 is a strictly business; right? Right. And wrong.

Right first. The poor 3.2 megapixel camera is the worst thing on the TP2. As a matter of fact, if HTC had left it out with the excuse that the TP2 was strictly business, the TP2 would have been a faultless device. Just take a look at the TP2′s camera shot samples and see why HTC shouldn’t have bothered.

But camera aside, it is amazing how good this device is for multimedia consumption. That huge, lovely display makes watching movies a lovely experience. Add to that the fact that the TP2′s loudspeakers are LOUD and audio quality is good.

Unfortunately, there’s no XviD/DivX support out-of-the-box, but 3rd party solutions for that exist. Still, let me say this: if you ever have the opportunity to watch a movie on the TP2, don’t miss it.

Music playback is good as well, but I wish that HTC had put in a 3.5 mm audio slot. The supplied earpiece set is just not up to scratch. I wouldn’t use it if my life depends on it.

Battery Life
For a powerful device totting a 3.6-inch touchscreen display and consistently connected to a 3G network, the TP2′s 1500 mAh battery delivers the goods.

I have the device connecting to my mail server every 5 minutes, and using the device the way I do, I find myself not having to nurse the device in order to make it through a day. I cannot say the same of the N900. With the N900, I had to disconnect from the 3G network, set mail polling to 30, 60 or 120 minutes, turn off some desktop items, etc in order to keep the device alive till 5 p.m.

While I love the N900′s feature set and fluid interface, I live in the real world and have better things to do than nurse a mobile device through a busy day. The battery life of the TP2 is a breath of fresh air. I need no compromises to use this device to the max.

Customisation
Windows Mobile has thousands of applications available for customising your device to your needs. Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s appstore, MarketPlace, hasn’t been a hit in any way, but its there and you can download and install a range of apps from there.

If you have a Windows Mobile device, what you should not miss is OMarket, a 3rd party appstore that trounces Microsoft’s Windows Mobiile MarketPlace in every way – including number of apps and usability. Best of all, all apps there are freeware.

Besides 3rd party apps, one of the most unique characteristics of Windows Mobile is the active modding community. You can mod your device and flash it with a wide range of custom ROMs available from a number of online communities, including the popular XDA Developers where I am a member too (though I’m mostly dormant).

Even camera performance can be enhanced somewhat via modding and tweaking with the device’s registry settings or available hacks from the community. That is the beauty and strength of Windows Mobile. You can take a device and transform it into almost anything you want.

Miscellaneous
The TP2 also has GPS and there’s Google Maps pre-installed to put that to use. Alternatively, there’s Garmap for Mobile if you want something more comprehensive.

As a phone, call quality is good. There is little to dislike about the TP2 once you get past the terrible camera performance and the lack of a 3.5 mm headset.

Conclusions
Do I like the Touch Pro2? Like crazy!

It has all my needs checked – and very well too. The integrated package that delivers a powerful desktop-like web, email and office experience without making me paranoid about battery life has me sold.

I think I’ll keep this one over the N900.

We have a unit of LG’s bestselling touchscreen budget phone, the KP500 “Cookie”, available for sale. The device is in very neat condition and has the following accesssories with it:

• Battery
• Charger
• Headset
• USB cable

Specifications of the KP500 include:

• 3-inch TFT 240×400 pixel display
• 48mb internal memory plus microSD slot
• GPRS/EDGE data
• Bluetooth 2.1; USB port
• 3.2 megapixel camera
• Java
• Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)
• 900 mAh battery
• Stereo FM radio

Current market price for brand new boxed device is about 16, 500.00

Initial bid price is: N8, 000.00

You can submit your bid by posting in the comments section. Please include your GSM number, so that we can contact you if necesarry.

The highest bid wins. If there is only one bidder, that individual wins.

Bidding is open to individuals based anywhere within the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

• Preferred bidders must pay for and collect the phone from our office in Ojodu (not Ogudu), Lagos within 48 hours of announcement of a winner.
• Alternatively, a successful bidder resident outside Lagos can pay by bank deposit into a designated bank account and also arrange for the phone to be sent to him by courier at his own cost and bearing all risks associated with delivery.
• If a preferred bidder fails to meet the deadline, the next highest bidder will be contacted to pick up the phone.

The bidding is now on.