Samsung i780
Samsung’s Windows Mobile devices often house some impressive features, and the Samsung i780 is no exception. Hidden away in the black casing you’ll find a number of features to make you look twice.
The Samsung i780 is a touch-screen device with a small stylus housed in the casing if you’d rather not use your fingertip to tap away at the screen.
Alternatively, you can opt for utilising the tiny touchpad. Normally with a Windows Mobile device we would expect to see a navigation D-pad or a mini joystick sitting beneath the screen. However, the tiny touchpad controls the on-screen position of a miniature cursor. Get the cursor in position and press the touchpad to select.
The good thing about this system is that it offers 360 degree movement of the cursor around the screen. However, the touchpad can take some getting used to as it is very small.
Small is also the word best used to describe the i780’s screen. at 2.5 inches corner to corner and square, its 320 x 320 pixels are somewhat squeezed. If you like web browsing or other activities that require a lot of information to be viewed on-screen, then it may not be good enough for your needs.
Tall, thin and slender - Despite the small screen, the i780 is quite a tall device at 116mm and this is largely down to the inclusion of a QWERTY keypad. The keys are tall and thin, well spaced and nicely raised from their surroundings making it relatively easy to use them at speed.
Well-spaced - With Wi-Fi, HSDPA and a front-facing camera for two-way video calling, the i780 is well specced. Although it’s slightly let down by the standard two-megapixel camera and Samsung’s propriety connector for its stereo headset.
Prospects are lifted again by the inclusion of separate applications for RSS and podcast management and by the Opera web browser.
The verdict - Battery life is one of the real plus points of this device. The i780 comes with two batteries and a separate charger unit. Between them the batteries should provide plenty of life away from a mains charger.
However, Samsung lets itself down by using a proprietary connector for applying mains power to the i780 and to the battery charger. We would have preferred a mini USB connector.
O2’s Xda Atmos
O2 has launched a new Xda smartphone which provides business users with the Windows experience on a mobile device.
Powered by Windows Mobile 6.0, the new Xda Atmos mobile phone combines a standard mobile keypad and a QWERTY keyboard, making it far more convenient for writing e-mails or editing documents.
The device is fully connected with GPRS, EDGE, 3G, Wi-Fi, HSDPA and quad-band capabilities.
The Atmos comes with Microsoft Office on-board so users can open, edit and send documents in Excel Mobile and Word Mobile. PowerPoint Mobile documents can also be viewed on the device as well.
3 Launches Ad Supported Music Videos
3 has teamed up with Sony BMG to launch a new mobile music streaming service supported by mobile advertising.
3 says that customers won’t have to pay data charges to access Sony BMG’s library of video’s from 3’s music homepage because the service will be supported by short targeted video ads.
Rhythm NewMedia will sell and deliver a targeted and personalised video ad which will be played before each music video. The targeted ads will be based on demographic information collected by 3.
3’s UK head of portal advertising said ‘We know that our customers want to receive high-quality content on their mobiles and that they’re happy to view ads in order to receive it’.
‘This agreement with Sony BMG and Rhythm NewMedia enables us to meet that demand with some of he best music content around’.
‘We were the first to market with an ad-supported mobile video service and now we’re building on that with the industry’s first mobile music service’.
Free Internet Calls with Nokia 6300i
Nokia’s monstrously popular 6300 has been revamped with a couple of nifty new features, including Wi-Fi connectivity and VoIP.
The new Nokia 6300i costs under £100 and comes complete with Nokia Maps on a 512Mb memory card, mini-browser for the internet, a 2.5mm audio port and a QVGA two-inch screen.
However, the headline features are the addition of Wi-Fi and the integrated VoIP for free internet calls.
Reports suggest that the device will display VoIP and W-LAN symbols next tot eh contracts, depending on the type of connection they are associated with.
A final UK release date for the 6300i is yet to be confirmed by Nokia