Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Review

You're hearing it here first, folks: The long-awaited Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 will be available in the United States on November 28 for an unlocked price of $799.99 through Sony Style stores. Go ahead, we'll give you a second to catch your breath from the sticker shock. For the last couple of days I have been playing around with what could arguably be the best Windows Mobile phone in business – Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X1. From the packaging to the diminutive USB charger to the sleek finish of the device itself, the whole X1 experience is flawless. It is a well-designed smartphone that is very well-engineered. It is no different than Sony VAIO laptops or Bravia TVs, and as such it’s no surprise that it’s expensive: $799. The device is going to be available in the U.S. starting Nov. 28 on Sony’s web site, Sony Style. It comes with a very comfortable slider keyboard, great connectivity options (WiFi, 3G, Quad-band GSM etc.) and is a multimedia powerhouse. The phone comes with a 3-inch WVGA display with resolution of up to 800 X 480 pixels screen, which means it can play back videos in almost DVD quality and makes it easy to play 3D mobile games. I love the photos taken by the 3.2 megapixel camera and the music playback is solid and clear. X1 has a pretty decent battery life — and yes, it beats the pants off the iPhone 3G battery. It got about 8 hours on AT&T’s 3G network — ahead of my iPhone — but lagged the Android G1. However, it had better GSM standby and talk times. But again, battery usage differs from person to person. One thing I hate about the device is that it lacks built-in memory, but the good news is that it can take up to 32 GB in a memory card. What will surprise you the most is that this phone is powered by Windows Mobile 6.1. Despite the torturous Windows Mobile interface, I found myself liking this device, which shows that with some creativity and lots of imagination, even Windows Mobile can stand up to assaults from Apple’s iPhone, RIM’s ( s rimm) Blackberry and Google’s Android. Of course Windows Mobile means that the phone syncs with Microsoft Exchange over the air. It can read documents, spreadsheets and presentations natively. I was surprised by how nimble the phone feels — I have yet to use another Windows Mobile phone that comes close to X1. The device gives you many ways to interact with the contact touch, full QWERTY keyboard, 4-way key and optical joystick navigation and panels. It is the panels which are awesome and function almost like how the applications are accessed on the iPhone. Well, we've actually had the smartphone for a couple of weeks now and have a few thoughts about it. So before you start saving your pennies or start looking for an alternative, read our full review of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 for all the details and check out our hands-on photo gallery.

World Thinnest Notebook (Macbook Air)

Macbook pro is the amazing notebook due to its light weight and extra slim & Sleek design. People attract more towards this amazing thinnest laptop. I am sure this is best laptop if you talk for design and performence as well as.

Review of BenQ Joybook Lite U101:

The BenQ Joybook Lite U101 was first announced last month, and at the time it looked like another case of netbook-by-numbers. It’s only just now launched in Hong Kong, and according to these BenQ slides we may have missed a couple of distinctive features (as long as you remember that, in netbooks, “distinctive” can mean as little as an extra memory card supported). The screen is the key difference, being true 16:9 aspect rather than the more typical 16:10. That means more visible area when you’re watching widescreen content. Now while the thought of watching a movie on a netbook might be strange - after all, the U101 does only have an 10.1-inch LED-backlit LCD - it’s not so hard to imagine using them as a portable media player. In which case, you’d be even more loathe to give up any of that precious screen-estate to black bars. We also now know that the keyboard is 90-percent the size of a regular desktop QWERTY, which is still slightly behind the 93-percent of the Samsung NC10 but only a little. The WWAN option has also been fleshed out as 3.5G HSUPA (though I think BenQ mean 7.0 rather than 70Mbps, unless they’re confusing it with WiMAX) and unlike many netbooks there’s draft-n WiFi rather than just b/g. Still no word on pricing, however, nor when it will be available outside of Hong Kong.

Mio Launch Its First 3.5G Windows Mobile Touchscreen Phone

Mio, maker of popular consumer GPS products, is reportedly developing its own 3.5G Windows Mobile touchscreen handset in the first quater of 2009, according to the company sources. Mio’s GPS handset will be powered by 3.5G chipsets from Qualcomm and will also come with Mitac self-developed touch user interface called the spirit.

Like some of its currently existing GPS handsets, Mio’s upcoming touchscreen model will come with a 3.5inches touch screen , 3.2-megapixel auto-focus camera, and possibly the latest version of Windows Mobile.

The launch of Mio’s 3.5G GPS handset will probably run ahead of the planned launch of the Nuvifone handset by rival vendor Garmin slated in the first half of next year, according to estimates of market sources.

Nokia N79 Hands On Review

Nokia N79 is not just another candybar handset by Nokia, the new Nokia N79 which is believed to have succeeded and complemented the Nokia N78 features, is basically a lot more than just that. It comes with a 5MP camera & Carl Zeiss optics supporting dual LED flash. Its lens will be protected by a sliding camera cover. It also supports Geo tagging. Nokia N79 also has a FM transmitter just like the N78, also has a 3.5 mm audio jack and dedicated music keys. The handset supports up to 24 hours of audio playback. Nokia Maps 2.0 is also on board to make use of the built-in GPS receiver and a 4GB microSD card is included in the sales package. Looks wise the device looks great, simple yet stylish it has Xpress-On like covers and its 2.4-inch display.

Review of the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic

The Nokia 5310 XpressMusic is a music phone that makes us happy for a number of reasons. This isn't an iPhone competitor, which makes sense, considering the low, $50 price tag. But it is far better than most other so-called music phones on the market, and includes many features that should set the standard. We like the 3.5mm headphone jack, the included 1GB memory card, and the two-stage stereo headphones a microphone. We also liked this phone for regular calling, and found call quality and even its messaging capabilities were surprisingly good. There are phones at four times this price that don't have all these features, and though the phone lacks 3G networking and the accompanying services, when we focused simply on the music abilities, we were happy with what we heard. Release: May 2008. Price: $50. Pros: Slim design keeps the dedicated music keys, adds a 3.5mm headphone jack. Surprisingly robust messaging clients. Cons: No 3G networking means slow Web browsing, no advanced services. Transfer software needs a serious update to bring it in line with iTunes.

Sony Ericsson Presents W980i

The W980i is a stylish Sony Ericsson mobile phone which comes with easy-to-use external music keys which are circular in design. This handset comes with an external colour screen that allows the user to view the music and calling information even if the mobile phone is not in an opening position. This TFT external screen displays 262k colours with a resolution of 176x 176 pixel. It also has an internal screen whose size is 2.2 inches and has a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. The feature that makes this widget stand tall among the other handsets is its built in music player. This player delivers true and clear sound that has the ability to soothe any body. Even if this mobile phone is in a closed position the listeners can relish the music on it and also view the music related information on the screen. Its external music controls help the users to rewind, play and put forward the music with ease. One can also rearrange the existing play list for a better play back experience. Other music related features on the Sony Ericsson W980i are the PlayNow, TrackID and SensMe. The PlayNow helps the user to down load new songs on this widget. However, this feature depends on the network provider of the area where the user resides. The TrackID helps the user identify the music he is listening to. It also helps him to make out the playback artist of the song, the title of the song and the album to which the song belongs. Besides these, the SensMe helps the user to create their own play list based on the tempo and style of the music. The presence of the shake control on it enables the user to switch to the next song that follows the song to which the listener is tuning in. This facility keeps the user free from the keys. One can be sure of faster Internet connectivity and faster data transfer from this device to other compatible devices as this device supports 3G HSDPA technology. Users often look for a hassle free electronic gadget and due to the presence of the Bluetooth on the Sony Ericsson W980i users can enjoy wire less connectivity and have hassle free experience. Flight mode is also a smart feature on the Sony Ericsson W980i that allows the user to keep working on some of it features while in a mobile phone restricted zone. Actually, this feature helps the user to keep the mobile off yet relish the features which are not harmful for the mobile free restricted areas. The data storage capacity of this smart phone is also quite sufficient as it supports 8GB of memory which can store handsome amount of data. When completely charged, its battery can give you 9 hrs. long talk time and if not in use, it can deliver 300 hrs. of standby time.

Second Firefox 3.1 beta due 'very shortly'

The second beta version of Firefox 3.1 is "due out very shortly," Mozilla programmer Ben Turner said Thursday. One big change in the 3.1b2 is the addition of "Web workers," a feature that lets the browser process tasks in the background. That feature, part of the still-evolving HTML 5 specification, adds another level of sophistication for programmers writing Web applications and gives multicore computers a better way to use their processors' abilities. "We've been hard at work with folks from Google, Apple, and others to get this new spec nailed down," Turner said of the Web workers work. Google and Apple also build their own browsers, as does market-leading Microsoft and ever-scrappy Opera. With the browser wars back in full force, those organizations are racing to outdo each other on features and performance. He gave one illustration of Web workers in action running a JavaScript program that emulates a decades-old processor design, the 8080. One thread emulates the processor in the background while another handles user interaction such as checking for typing on the keyboard. In a post on the Mozilla Add-ons Blog, Paul Rouget said: "Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 will likely be released the first week of December." He added: "We have added a Beta 3 to our schedule."

Koobface virus hits Facebook

A worm responsible for sending Facebook users malicious code appears to be limited in nature, although the social engineering attack may be used again, say experts. Facebook representative Barry Schnitt said the worm isn't new; it dates back to August, although the variant that first appeared on Wednesday targets only Facebook users. Craig Schmugar, threat researcher for McAfee Avert Labs, confirmed this in a call with CNET News and said that, in general, Koobface strikes only social-networking sites. After receiving a message in their Facebook in-box announcing, "You look funny in this new video" or something similar, recipients are then invited to click on a provided link. Once on the video site, a message says an update of Flash is needed before the video can be displayed. The viewer is prompted to open a file called flash_player.exe.

Schmugar said the prompt for a new player should be a warning. "The messages you tend to get from these sites don't look quite right." For instance, IE will tell you where the update is coming from, and usually it's not an Adobe site. If the viewer approves the Flash installation, Koobface attempts to download a program called tinyproxy.exe. This loads a proxy server called Security Accounts Manager (SamSs) the next time the computer boots up. Koobface then listens to traffic on TCP port 9090 and proxies all outgoing HTTP traffic. For example, a search performed on Google, Yahoo, MSN, or Live.com may be hijacked to other, lesser-known search sites.

Facebook's Schnitt said, "Only a very small percentage of Facebook users have been affected and we're working quickly to update our security systems to minimize any further impact, including resetting passwords on infected accounts, removing the spam messages, and coordinating with third parties to remove redirects to malicious content elsewhere on the Web."

A closer look at Nokia's would-be iPhone killer

Nokia's new N97 smartphone is cool, but it's still no iPhone

I got a chance to look at Nokia's latest smartphone, the N97, on Thursday at the company's annual Capital Markets Day here. While Nokia's marketing team wouldn't actually let me play with the phone, since it won't officially go on the market until 2009, I got a demonstration of some of the phone's features and functionality from Jukka Heiska, director of product management for the N97. A video of the phone demonstration will be posted Friday on CNET News as well as on CNET TV. In some ways it's unfortunate that every touch-screen phone that comes out these days is compared to Apple's iPhone. But given the popularity of the iPhone, especially here in the U.S., it's difficult not to do the comparisons. My first impression of the new N97 is that even though it has impressive specifications, like a total of 48 gigabytes of potential storage and a 5-megapixel camera and video recorder, the phone seems more like an evolution of Nokia's N-95 or N-96 smartphones rather than a ground-breaking new touch-screen device that could potentially be the next iPhone killer. For one, the touch-screen wasn't terribly sophisticated. Icons could be dragged and dropped using a finger, but unlike the iPhone, which allows you to pinch text to magnify it or reduce it, or even the new BlackBerry Storm that allows you to double click on text or images to make them bigger, the N97 didn't offer these features.

Design-wise the phone looked more like Sony Ericsson's Xperia X1. It has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a tilted screen. In this way, it's an improvement over the N95 or the N96, which offer tons of features and functionality, but lack full QWERTY keyboards. That said, there are a few key features that the N97 offers that the iPhone doesn't. For example, the Nokia Web browser on the N97 supports Flash and Flash video, something that Apple's Safari browser doesn't support. And of course, heavy texters and e-mail enthusiasts, will like the full QWERTY keypad. I've had several iPhone owners tell me that they still carry around a BlackBerry for sending e-mails on the go, because they don't like the iPhone's virtual keyboard for typing longer messages. The phone, which Nokia's marketing team calls a "mobile computer" also offers a whopping 32GB of storage on the device with the option of adding up to another 16GB of storage through a microSD card. And then there is the 5-megapixel camera, which also records DVD-quality video. By contrast, the iPhone only offers up to 16GB of storage and users are unable to add additional storage via microSD cards. Also, the iPhone's camera is only 2 megapixels, and it doesn't offer video recording. The N97 also offers assisted-GPS services, which improves accuracy over regular GPS receivers, such as the one offered in the iPhone. The device also uses Nokia's mapping technology and virtual compass that allows the device to actually point users in the direction they need to go when they're using the turn-by-turn navigation.