Top 10 smartphones of 2011 ... for now
It was extremely difficult to come up with just a top 10 list for smartphones this year as the market explodes. Interestingly, seven of my top 10 are Android device. What is your favorite so far this year?
It was extremely difficult to come up with just a top 10 list for smartphones this year as the market explodes. Interestingly, seven of my top 10 are Android device. What is your favorite so far this year?
I wrote about my Samsung OMNIA buying experiences in Singapore and wanted to post a first impressions article as I continue to work on a full review of the device. I purchased the 16GB white colored device and think it may be my new preferred Windows Mobile device. Like the HTC Touch Diamond, the Samsung Omnia is quite a departure from a standard Windows Mobile device and with the large 3.2 inch display it looks a lot like a direct iPhone competitor, but with far fewer limitations. The only thing lacking so far is 3G support for the US, but it does have a quad-band GSM radio and works with EDGE (2.5G) here in the US. I found two specific capabilities over the last couple of days that have me quite excited about the device and my T-Mobile SIM has now moved from my BlackBerry Curve to the Samsung OMNIA (SGH-i900) for the indefinite future.
Last month Samsung announced the OMNIA Windows Mobile device that looks like a direct competitor to the Apple iPhone. I was bit surprised, and yet pleased, to see that Samsung announced it will be available on 22 July starting in Italy. It seems these devices are usually announced and then appear several months later, but this release is being made just one month after the official announcement.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab will be rolling out to US carriers in November and T-Mobile just announced they will get theirs on November 10th, beating Sprint's November 14th date.
There are several accessories rolling out for the Samsung Galaxy Tab and in this article we take a look at three with kickstand functionality.
There are still only a few select UMPC models available and only one that is easily found in retail stores. One enthusiast was able to get both a Samsung Q1 and TabletKiosk eo 7110 and compare them side-by-side. TabletKiosk also has two upcoming Road Shows where you can get some hands-on time with their devices so if you are in the Orlando or Houston area in November check them out.
While the Samsung Q1 UMPC only has a 900 MHz processor and 1GB RAM, Kevin Tofel has been able to get Vista running on it quite well with only a couple of limitations. If you want to try this out, create a partition first and test it before leaping into a full install.
The Samsung Q1 was the first UMPC to hit the market and is probably the most popular model available. After seeing the details of the new Samsung Q2 UMPC, my Q1 will be up for sale shortly so I can pick this one up instead. The Q2 has native 1024 x 600 WSVGA resolution, a unique QWERTY thumb keyboard, two integrated cameras, a larger 60GB hard drive, and a faster Intel CPU along with many other new and upgraded features. It still sports the multimedia powerhouse functions and has just about everything you could need, but integrated GPS.
It looks like Samsung will be offering buyers several choices when it comes to their UMPC lineup with a flash drive based model and now one with HSDPA high speed wireless radio. We should see these models out in time for the holiday buying season this year.
Microsoft was forced to unveil their new operating system, Windows Mobile 6.0, last week due to a breach of NDA by a media source and today they posted the "official" press release. A couple of exciting bits of news that can be found in the press release that were not revealed last week are that future T-Mobile Dash devices in the U.S. will come with Windows Mobile 6 and existing owners like myself will be able to upgrade our devices to Windows Mobile 6, Orange will deliver the SPV E650, and SoftBank Mobile Corp will offer new devices from Toshiba and HTC in mid-2007. Yes, that's right it looks like Toshiba is coming back to the world of Windows Mobile and hopefully we'll see more details about the hardware soon. Look for lots of hardware details soon from 3GSM in Spain.The first Windows Mobile 6 hardware revealed at 3GSM is the Samsung SCH-i760 and a couple photos are included in this post. I saw this unique Windows Mobile 6 Professional device at CES, yet it did not have a battery so I didn't get to see it in action. The Samsung SCH-i760 has an original phone keypad with an offset directional pad on the bottom left with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.