HTC DROID Incredible on Verizon Wireless is an iPhone killer Photo: Justin Fox

This week, I’ve had the opportunity to spend some time with the new DROID Incredible by HTC. Being an iPhone user myself, enslaved by AT&T, I look at the Droid (and Verizon) through the eyes of a newbie to the whole experience. From the moment I took this little Incredible piece of tech out of the box, I was blown away at what life could be like without an iPhone….not bad.

DROID Incredible by HTC Key features:

• Android 2.1 with HTC Sense experience
• 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ processor for maximum responsiveness
• Friend Stream for unified Flickr, Facebook and Twitter updates
• “Leap” view for quick access to all seven home screen panels
• 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash for crisp, detailed images
• Razor-sharp 3.7 inch WVGA (480×800) AMOLED capacitive touch display
• Optical joystick for smooth navigation
• Dedicated, touch-sensitive Home, Menu, Back and Search keys
• Proximity sensor, light sensor and digital compass
• Integrated GPS
• Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g)
• 3.5 mm headset jack

Breaking the features down…

Apple iPhone next to the HTC DROID Incredible Photo: Justin Fox

Hardware

Droid Incredible by HTC is the first Verizon Wireless phone that takes advantage of Qualcomm’s 1GHz superfast Snapdragon processor. This is where this device smokes anything else I’ve ever used in a phone. The launching of apps is instant. Once open, they are smooth and effortless. Loading the web browser is so fast, everyone I showed couldn’t help but to say “wow” out loud when pages loaded. When connected to Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), the internet speed feels more akin to computer browsing than what we are accustom to on a phone.

Another gem on this Droid is it’s gorgeous 3.7 inch WVGA (480×800) AMOLED capacitive touch display. This is one of the major features that clearly demonstrates why this phone is dubbed Incredible. The touch sensitivity and detail is fantastic. Long gone are the days of Verizon phones being called touch screen when it was a horrible joke. The contrast ratio is also terrific. While the screen is bright and vivid, the blacks stay pitch black. When compared to my iPhone, this screen is far superior in resolution, contrast, and color. Movies, pictures, games all look fantastic and compliment the great GUI of the Droid 2.1 OS.

Along with the bad-ass screen, the phone has an 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash. Again, I was blown away. The pictures were of a quality not found on phones of just a few years ago. Dark locations where the shots usually end up blurry and always grainy are lit up like daylight with the dual LED flash. So bright in fact, its more like a real flash on a real camera. It definitely gets the job done. While I didn’t take pictures until the battery died, it seemed to do a decent job of not draining the battery even when using the flash.

Got a craving for the inner Spielberg in you? This HTC device also does a terrific job at video. It records only in standard definition (640×480) but it also does wide screen (800×480). What would have been “incredible” would be the ability to record 720p video, but I’m not going to be greedy or unrealistic. Next year. Definitely, the camera-phone quality has finally arrived as an actually usable feature for more than Facebook shots and tweets.

My iPhone is starting to feel pretty lame in comparison.

HTC DROID Incredible on Verizon Wireless Photo: Justin Fox

Software

Droid Incredible by HTC features the newest version of what they call the “HTC Sense experience”, which is a seven-panel home screen GUI with a wide selection of interactive widgets so the most important content is immediately available at a single touch. After a few minutes of playing around with the OS, I was transformed from confused to comfortable. The whole interface is organized and evolved from the endless scrolling I do on my iPhone. I especially loved the the amazing animations and transitions in the interface.

Some of the other features that I really enjoy are the dedicated, touch-sensitive Home, Menu, Back and Search keys. Kind of a foreign concept to iPhone users is the addition of more than one button on the phone for navigation. Again, after a few minutes, I began to really appreciate the ability to instantly access those features in any app or page.

There is also an optical joystick, what is akin to that of a ball-less mouse, but it wasn’t as cool as I was hoping it would be. In my opinion, even slightly redundant to the whole touch-screen thing. I found its use was limited in purpose in most situations. I can see that for certain apps or games it might come in handy as a great alternative to having your fingers covering all the action up.

Sound Quality

One of the things I noticed right away after the amazing screen and speed of the Droid Incredible is the little phone’s sound quality. Again, fantastic. Calls are clear and loud with little speaker distortion. Being an AT&T user I’m not sure if its Verizon or the phone itself but I noticed the calls were “gated”. A term and technique used in the music industry to describe when audio is muted once it falls to a certain level of volume to reduce noise. Everything in between the words spoken in my conversation were gated. The silence while nice, also is a bit unnerving as it I found myself repeatedly asking to see if the call was dropped “can you here me now?”. Something I’m used to with AT&T.

Calls aside, the speaker for playback of apps, music & movies was fabulous. Loud and clear. One of the loudest speakers I’ve heard in a phone. You tube clips and songs played back with booming command without the few in audience having to strain to hear the punch line.

Storage

The Incredible is equipped with 8GB of internal storage as well as a MicroSD slot which can handle an additional 32GB, which you’ll need if you want to use that amazing 8MP camera to go crazy with. This is also a feature that gives this device a leg up on the Apple fanboys out there waiting for the new iPhone next month. Apple will most likely never allow external memory as an option to protect their OS and their business model.

Remainder

Some of the other features: the phone also has seamless integration with Exchange ActiveSync, quick and easy access to Flickr for sharing and viewing pictures, video, and Android Market with more than 30,000 Google applications. One app I immediately setup was the Facebook app (which came pre-installed). It was fast and hit the major points, however it fell dramatically short of the features offered in the iPhone’s version of the app. While I didn’t download other apps, I hope developers realize that many (most) people use phones other than that of Apple’s.

Price and availability

• Droid Incredible is available now online at www.verizonwireless.com and in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores. Pricing is $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.
• Droid Incredible customers will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk and an Email and Web for Smartphone plan. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access. Email and Web for Smartphone plans start at $29.99 for unlimited monthly access.
• For additional information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.

Bottom Line

With the release of the DROID Incredible by HTC, I find myself for the first time really considering jumping ship on the whole Apple thing. The other kids on the playground have finally caught up to little Stevie, and in some instances kicked his butt. The speed of phone in general is ridiculously fast thanks to that 1GHz processor. The Droid 2.1 OS is nimble, beautiful and intelligent. The camera and video ability is superior to anything else on the market today. Finally, the whole purpose of the device, that of being a phone, is loud and clear and sips on the battery like a gentleman.

For those who looking for a new phone: look no further than the DROID Incredible by HTC.

For those who are waiting for the new iPhone to be announced, if Apple doesn’t at least meet all (or most) of the features in this device, feel confident in jumping ship with me.

The post Review: HTC DROID Incredible is the iPhone killer appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

No future updates for 1st Gen iPhone

When Steve Jobs began to announce the new iPhone OS 4 features last week, the excitement was palpable. Years of anticipation finally realized with the addition of multitasking as well as other tent-pole features. That was the climate of the room until the very end when Jobs casually mentioned during the Q&A that many of those shiny new features you were just made to drool over were not going to be available on the iPhone 3G (so iPhone 3GS and newer only).

At no point was our good ‘ol metal battle ax iPhone (first generation) mentioned. Steve Jobs has now confirmed what many had assumed. MacStories published an email between a reader and Jobs, asking if Apple will supply any updates to the first gen iPhone in the future.  Steve’s answer: “Sorry, no.” So that’s the word from the mountain. The “original” iPhone has peaked in its glory days and will be running iPhone OS 3.1.3 for the rest of eternity.

My advice: Don’t be the Zack Morris of the iPhone age, this summer will be good enough reason to just go out and get a new iPhone already!

The post Apple drops support for 1st Gen iPhone appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Dreams of an iPhone 4G on Verizon

Its that time of year again when the new iPhone is just around the corner. Just before the summer of every year, the Messiah Jobs comes down from his mountain to bestow upon the land his latest gift to mankind. The groundswell of anticipation from the people below reaches deafening heights as June approaches.

With all the anxious anticipation comes the plethora of educated predictions and “reliable sources” that foretell of the miracles that the latest and greatest will contain. The list seems ever-long, yet consistent. Rumors of a forward facing camera, HD video, higher resolution display, and multi-tasking are always at the top, accompanied with some believable-yet-bogus photoshopped image.

With every generation of iPhone released, the fruity bastards in Cupertino give us just enough to want more, but not enough to satisfy our craving. Nothing on the list has been desired or anticipated more than the release of an iPhone that would support a CDMA cellular network, which just so happens to be the same used by Verizon Wireless.

This is the one broken dream held steadfast by millions of subscribers enslaved to either one of the two major carriers. AT&T subscribers who live in big cities and get terrible reception, or Verizon customers who are sick of their craptastic 1997 phones and are possibly tied in to a lengthy contract.

To date, AT&T has maintained a Vader-like grip on Apple’s golden baby. The revenues for both Apple & AT&T have reached into the sky. Reports of leaked meeting memos from the carrier show their unrelenting taste for profits tied to the little darling and their intentions to keep it exclusive for as long as possible.

“We expect the iPhone to be a part of our future for a long time,” Siegel told InformationWeek.

The idea that the iPhone will be going CDMA is very doubtful. Any speculation was shot down during the iPad announcement citing that Apple was staying true to AT&T.

Now again, we find ourselves waiting at the foot of the mountain for the Messiah to appear. The tech blogs are abuzz with speculation. Everyone is waiting with baited breath.

The Wall Street Journal reported that while Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry is building an iPhone set for summer release, an iPhone that would run on Verizon Wireless’ CDMA network is also being built by Pegatron Technology, a contracted manufacturing subsidiary of ASUSTek Computer. They claim mass production could begin as early as September.

Verizon is expanding their network to be one of the largest 4G LTE service providers in the nation.   But this does not necessarily mean the next-generation iPhone will purely support 4G, it just makes Verizon a good candidate to support the technology.

So what to believe? I for one am guiltily of wishful thinking. The idea of an iPhone on another network opens the possibilities to a larger iPhone community. A larger community to share pics and video with, play games with, and to market to. If there is a Verizon iPhone in the near future, we should expect its release during the month of June at the WWDC 2010 event.

So hold your breath if you dare and wait with me.

The post Verizon iPhone 4G speculation mounts, expected this June appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

2010 Toyota Prius

For the past few years, the mighty Toyota brand had taken a major bloodbath. The company which at one point could proclaim with a straight face they had “The Best Built Cars In The World”, is now under worldwide scrutiny for its quality control and overall product safety.

“Drive a Toyota. You’ll Never Stop.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there have been a total of 52 confirmed deaths to date that can be linked to what is being dubbed: “unexpected acceleration” in their vehicles. In a delayed reaction by Toyota execs, the US government finally stepped in to pressure the car maker to initiate a mass recall, pulling over 8 million Toyota & Lexus vehicles off the road for repairs worldwide.

But the big question still remains….Why? Why is this happening?

Theories have been argued ranging from gas pedals all the way down to simple floor mat slippage. However, no one has really been able to pinpoint the true source of this public catastrophe. A few weeks ago, Mr. Toyoda himself sat in front of agitated House committee with only apologies and little answers.

Facing a dead end in its investigation, federal regulators are now looking at a new culprit: cosmic radiation. Yup, I said it.  Just when there was no one left to point the finger at, an “anonymous tipster” directed regulators to look into the impact that energy particles from outer-space may have on sensitive microprocessors, similar to the kind found in most modern cars.

An in-depth article written by LiveScience explains how Toyota has led the auto industry in replacing mechanical components with microchips to run a growing list of features in their cars. According to scientists, the binary code in chips can be corrupted in what’s called a “single event upset” by high-energy particles that bombard us constantly from space.

Cosmic rays hit Earth - Illustration: S. Swardy / U. Chicago / NASA

While military and aerospace industries have long known about the effects of cosmic rays on computation, automakers have given the subject little attention. If testing shows any positive proof in this direction, the standards in which auto makers manufacture their electronics systems in the future will have to be revamped to military-spec quality to prevent any future such disasters. This could mean even more expensive costing cars.

I’m no statistician, but I think the likelihood of this number of vehicles being randomly struck by space-born particles at just the right moment in their computational cycle, causing a catastrophic malfunction, is beyond ridiculous. Everyone on earth would have won the lottery before this happened. Toyota is not the only car company on the road using chips to control things. Have you ever tried to open the door of a Cadillac when the batteries die? You might as well use it as a paper weight at that point.

Today’s horoscope: If you bought a Prius because you love the Earth, maybe you should just ride your bike to work today.

The post Anonymous tipster says “Toyota’s crashes caused by Cosmos” appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Unfortunately, tech-nerds all over the internet were critical of this approach and demanded a more controlled data set. In other words don’t use their stubby, Cheeto-dust covered fingers. So back to the drawing board, the Moto guys wrote a special script for their trusty laboratory robot and then re-ran the comparison to see how the touchscreens stack up when the lines are drawn by a robot’s slow and precise “finger.”

After the Moto robot mechanically groped the phones for a few hours, the team had their results…not much difference from the high-tech “finger” test. The iPhone is still the champ! Being an iPhone user myself, this was fairly obvious from the few times I’ve had to borrow a friends phone to make a call. It’s generally a ghetto version of the real deal. But now you don’t have to take my word for it.

Look at the results below:

Comparison Chart of Robotic Touchscreen finger test

In the long run, however, Moto says they don’t expect the high degree of touchscreen variation between handset manufacturers to continue for long because capacitive touchscreens are a relatively new technology to appear in consumer electronics products. Factually, the screens in current phones, besides the iPhone, are all last-generation silicon and touch panel components.

Moto closes by saying:  “the other touch screen makers are hard at work perfecting their new solutions, and they may just leapfrog Apple in some areas when they arrive on the market over the next year.”

…but I doubt it.

The post Most mobile screens just don’t have the touch appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Opera Mini for iPhone

If the new app can survive Apple’s cryptic and gauntlet like review process, it will be a big win for the millions of iPhone owners who have been left less than satisfied with their current browsing experience found in Safari.

The Norwegian company claims its mobile browser is “fast like a rocket” and host to a long list of features that are sure entice you: browser tabs, page caching, text search, and history are at the top but the real secret to its reign over Safari is its compression engine.

“Opera’s streamlined rendering engine and server-side compression allows Opera to load Web pages much more quickly than other mobile phone browsers.”

This magical compression they speak of accomplishes this by simply reducing the amount of bandwidth your hungry mobile device consumes while browsing the web. The wonderful side effects are that less page loading wait times while saving you money on roaming data fees.

Opera wants this so badly that they’ve launched the Opera Mini counter that tracks how long Apple takes for them to get an iPhone App Store approval.  I’m not sure if this is helping their case any, so it may just be for jailbroken iPhones until then.

“Opera Mini uses only a tenth of the bandwidth of other browsers, compressing Web pages by up to 90%”

Eat that Safari.  Dear Apple, don’t be a tool, let Opera Mini come play with the rest of the apps. Check the video preview below.

Opera Mini on iPhone loads pages 90% faster than Safari

The post Opera Mini for iPhone is a huge improvement over Safari appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Sprint wants to "Make your iPhone 4G" - Photo TUAW

Enjoying a nice evening in front of the TV last night, a Sprint commercial came on touting the ability to “Make Your iPhone 4G“. Being a bit of an iWhatever junkie and a slave to AT&T, I was excited to say the least.

I instantly went to their company site for more information. Once there, Sprint promises to “Turbo charge your productivity with an even faster Mobile Broadband connection”.  What black magic would allow you to escape the clutches of your 3G carrier?   Sprint’s Overdrive 4G mobile hotspot comes to the rescue!

The new unit allows you to wirelessly connect up to 5 mobile devices like laptops, cell phones, or any other piece of tech that uses Wi-Fi, and shares its 4G data connection with all of them. All of this voodoo goodness for only $99 after a $50 mail-in rebate.

According to the provider, their 4G network boasts average download speeds of 3-6 Mbps as compared with the more restrictive 600Kbps-1.4 Mbps now offered on other carrier’s 3G networks like the data plans offered by AT&T for the iPhone. A whopping 10x faster than 3G, the 4G network speeds are more akin to what we now enjoy with home broadband.

At this point I am drooling.

In their latest marketing campaign, Sprint asks: “What can you do with 4g?” Well if you live anywhere in the US that is outside a very small group of select cities, primarily located in Texas and Washington, you can’t do very much my friends.

Unfortunately, I also fall into that tragic category, living in Southern California, so any dreams of a slick new 4G gadget for all my other wireless gizmos will have to be put on hold until Sprint can roll this network out nationwide.

The post Sprint wants to make your iPhone 4G, maybe appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Who says being green is for hippies anymore! Casio is the latest company to jump on the money train and “green-wash” its products with the introduction of the Pathfinder PRG110C-3.

In addition to telling you how late you are for work, the watch sports an altimeter, barometer, thermometer and digital compass if you should ever find yourself flying an airplane and all the instruments suddenly fail.

No batteries you say?  With a photo voltaic cell built right into its face to ensure that it’s still running long after you’re not, we don’t need such archaic technologies. Casio claims that this will help cut down on the approximately three billion batteries Americans toss in the trash each year. But watch batteries are tiny and how often have you ever changed a watch battery? Exactly.

As far as being on the cutting edge with its eco-friendly tech, I know that Timex & Citizen watches have had the solar feature for years, way before Al Gore said it was considered cool.

To really drive the point home, they decided to make it available in the most obnoxious green color that is sure to make a bold statement about your desire to help mother earth while clashing with even the best planned outfits. To Casio’s credit, the Pathfinder does do its part for our blue marble by being packaged in recycled materials.

If you consider $250 a small price to pay to let everyone know you love the Earth, this teched-out watch is for you – exclusively available from Amazon soon.

The post If the Hulk was Going to Buy a Watch appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Nokia Concept Phone

The once king of mobile innovation has launched a new project called “Design by Community” whose sole mission is to dive deep in to the hearts and minds of handset users and tech junkies alike, worldwide, in hopes of one day regaining the mobile tech-throne.

Using a slick new website, Nokia aims to collect feedback about the most preferred device characteristics users want in their next-gen smartphone.  In each voting round, the company will focus on various design parameters, tabulating the results collected from its site. The current round focuses on the preferred screen size and type as well as preferences for the keyboard and any other physical buttons.

Nokia says that it received thousands of votes within the first 24 hours of launching the project. And future voting rounds will focus on an array of specs including: preferred shape, materials, connectivity, and other features like camera. There will also be a round in which users will get to vote on which mobile OS they lust for the most: Linux-based MeeGo or Symbian.

Aiming to hit the creative bull’s-eye, the site’s voting system will restrict a submission if the user tries to select a configuration that’s either too wild or not imaginative enough. Based on the responses so far in the first round, Nokia reports that a majority of the voters want around a 4-inch, 16:9 capacitive touchscreen accompanied with a physical QWERTY keyboard.

The sad part is Nokia has no intentions of actually bringing this creation to market, it will however be designed into a concept. To try your hat at being a mobile handset designer, mosey on over to their project site. The next round of voting opens on March 22.

The post Nokia wants YOU to help design its next smartphone appeared first on Mobile Magazine.