TRENT SENSE

Nike+ Running Farewell

2012-01-09T07:58:00.001-05:00

Since 2006, I had been handling my cardio activity on a sporadic basis until August 2010. At that point, I took on the habit of running seven days a week until I could reach my fitness goal. In addition to strict dietary standards and weights, the cardio had helped me surpass my goal and I was pleased about the accomplishment. Throughout every single run, I was diligent in tracking my progress via multiple apps: Nike+, RunKeeper, SportsTracker, and Garmin Connect.

Nike+ was the first application I adopted when I first fell in love with the iPod nano/iTunes setup on a brand new iBook laptop. I can remember being in awe of the shoe sensor/transmitter concept as I reluctantly took to the streets in hopes of making fitness a top priority. Nothing pleased me more than seeing the result of my 3 to 6 mile runs (yes, I had to start somewhere long before my daily 10 milers) being uploaded to the Nike website from my nano via a USB connection to my Mac, and I thought I hit the jackpot. With time, I had no idea that my opinion of the Nike+ sensor would change.

Upon rededicating myself to daily running in August 2010 after years of sporadic cardio activity, I considered GPS tracking with a Garmin fitness watch. I had already adopted RunKeeper and SportsTracker via pocketed Android and Symbian devices, but two factors eventually turned me off to running with my primary phone: increased likelihood of accidental drops and interruptions from incoming calls and messages. With my Garmin Forerunner 305, I was able to freely run without being disturbed and still keep dependable and accurate tracking of my route. I continued to use my Nike+ shoe sensor since I still relied on an iPod nano for cardio music.

The more I used my Garmin and exported its Garmin Connect GPX data to RunKeeper and SportsTracker, the glaring discrepancy between GPS and sensor tracking became clear. For every run, there was always a mileage difference of at least .30 to even .50 miles! This didn't seem like a huge issue until I found myself having to compensate by running farther than I wanted to. For example, once my Garmin reached 10 miles, the Nike+ sensor would have tracked up to 9.75 miles. My inner perfectionist would push to at least have the Nike+ reflect 10 miles even if I already accomplished it with the Garmin, but I eventually questioned the accuracy of the shoe sensor for my outside runs.

As I looked into the tracking accuracy matter via online running forums, I replaced the Garmin 305 with the Nike+ SportsWatch GPS and mistakenly thought I had found the Holy Grail. Even though I could keep ties with my Nike Running account with GPS routes tracked from such a stylish watch, I was still left without music on my runs...meaning that I had to remain tethered to an iPod nano. To make matters worse, syncing run results via Nike software on my Mac was sometimes an utter nightmare. After the first three successful run data uploads via a direct USB to my Mac, random shut downs became commonplace. There were even two instances when my 10 mile run had been completely erased and NOT uploaded at all to the Nike website! Instead of driving my fist through the MacBook screen and throwing the SportsWatch GPS against the wall, I returned to Garmin with the Forerunner 310XT and never looked back. However, I was still spellbound by Nike+ after reaching the highest level of black with thousands of logged miles. Even though ditching Nike+ would have made sense at the time, I didn't want to throw away all that running history since 2006. Believe it or not, I went back to using the shoe sensor while using my new 310XT for GPS tracking.

As luck would have it, my nano began exhibiting playback issues after months of being subjected to sweaty outside runs. After giving it away to a good friend, I turned to an old iPhone 3GS from a family member who had upgraded to the iPhone 4. While that move had helped me to avoid spending money, it posed a new portability issue in having to carry a bulkier gadget while running. On the other hand, it was only being used as a glorified iPod Touch instead of a phone, the Nike+ transmitter was built-in, sensor tracked runs could be uploaded via home wifi, and it introduced me to a new concept: bluetooth music streaming. Lugging around the 3GS through 10 miles every day was surely a downgrade from the smaller nano, but having wireless capabilities made up for it in more ways than one: I no longer had to depend on iTunes for uploading runs and I was able to do away with headphone wires with included bluetooth! This was made even sweeter when I purchased the Jaybird JF3 Freedom headset from Best Buy...which I STILL use to this day!

With time, the mileage discrepancy between sensor/GPS tracking and carrying the 3GS bulk began to bother me once again. While my Garmin Forerunner 310XT continued flawlessly doing what it was meant to do, I was in want of a smaller bluetooth music device that I didn't have to carry while running. The new touch nano with a wrist strap seemed to be a perfect choice, but there was NO way in hell I was giving up my bluetooth headphones! I even looked into the new generation iPod Touch, but I never had good experiences with armbands in the past...even with nanos. That was when I considered the MOTOACTV upon seeing ads again that piqued my interest at the time with the concept of fusing fitness with music. True, I had previously scoffed at the Motorola creation, but I was desperate.

I shall save details on my MOTOACTV experience for a future blog post, but I will say that it is a primary factor in my deciding to cut ties with Nike Running altogether. Once I felt the freedom of no longer having to carry or pocket the iPhone 3GS, I was sold! Yes, buying an armband or wrist strap for the 3GS would have been a cost-effective option...but the MOTOACTV was simply too good to pass up! In lieu of this afterglow, I no longer felt compelled to remain tethered to the history I built with Nike+ since 2006. After achieving the highest accomplishment of level black and knowing there was no way to manually upload future runs, Nike Running began to feel stagnant. With the steadfast support of my reliable Garmin in the midst of a renewed excitement with MOTOACTV, it was time to say goodbye.

That is not to say that Nike Running does not have any relevance in the running world, for it most certainly does! I am sure there are many runners out there who shall keep turning to its site for daily motivation in reaching fitness goals. For me, there's nothing better than ending the season on a high note when my body is in its best shape with my continued effort...thanks to Nike for its support from day one! Even if level black was not on the site and I wished to use the SportsWatch, lack of manual run uploading in addition to syncing issues with Nike+ software on the Mac would have taken its toll.

With my new MOTOACTV and trustworthy Garmin Forerunner 310XT with my Jaybird JF3 headset, I am eager to keep putting my best foot forward...literally.

Trent Smith
TRENT SENSE blogger/YouTube host
http://about.me/trentsense/bio
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note

Samsung Galaxy S II REVIEW

2011-12-14T13:11:00.000-05:00

Nokia N9 UNBOXING & REVIEW

2011-11-22T23:19:00.000-05:00

TRENT IS BACK...with an unboxing sneak peek

2011-11-06T23:50:00.000-05:00

Reflection on my Fitness Endeavor

2011-10-05T05:49:00.004-04:00

For a number of years I had taken up running every now and then, but never adopted a steady routine for the betterment of my own health. I purchased my Nike+ Sport Kit in 2006 with every intention of becoming serious about my cardio, but as luck, web surfing and Judge Judy episodes would have it, I succumbed to excuses and chose the relaxation of my sofa, TV, and laptop. During these years of intermittent physical activity, I also had my fill of calories via heavy portions either at home or at restaurants. I was successful in convicing myself that my half-assed attempt at physical fitness was sufficient, so I never felt the need to strive for anything more. In such bliss of self-afflicted ignorance, I was content, I was satisfied, I was whole...I was wrong. Overall, my weight loss pattern was up and down as I dabbled here and there in cardio in addition to weight lifting. The worst part came when I decided to focus solely on weight lifting and protein shakes while completely disregarding cardio altogether. I bulked up to Shrek dimensions and was not pleased with the result, but still too lazy to do anything about it.

It was late August 2010 and I had returned home from another weekend vacation at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware with my close friends with a lowered self-esteem. Seeing pictures of myself with the group at the beach house and the shore really put things into perspective for me. The potential for man boobage was extremely obvious on top of the chunkiness that resided in my thighs, midsection, face and neck. As much as I loved my father, I sure as hell did not want to end up reflecting his image at that point in my life of being 29! (Sorry, dad!) I could recall from previous years when a female colleague claimed that I reminded her of Michael Clark Duncan from The Green Mile and when a TRENT SENSE YouTube subscriber compared me to Cole Train from Gears of War...not my best moments. Instead of sinking into my own private hell of self-loathing and pity, I made my mind up to get the f**k up and get moving...LITERALLY!

Over the next few months, I took on a strict fixation to my own personal mission of physical redemption for my body that involved cardio seven days a week and a 1200 calorie diet. I am the first to admit that this was not the healthy route for the average person, but I needed a jolt of change to my lifestyle...especially amidst the stress of being jobless and dealing with issues on the homefront. Taking on my iPod nano and Nike+ Sport Kit was indeed a challenge at first with recurring shin splints in the first couple weeks, but I pushed through it! At this time, I believe that completing 4 to 6 mile runs was the initial goal. What had further inspired me was seeing a magazine insert about Al Roker completing 5 miles in 1 hour. At that point, I made it a daily goal to achieve the same, but I ended up running 6 miles in 1 hour!! As time went on into the end of 2010, I had worked myself into the range of 9 miles per run!

During this period, I succeeded at going from 240 pounds to 200 pounds, but was not losing anymore despite my continued runs into 2011. I had hit a plateau, and the surest solution was the re-introduction of weights back into my daily fitness routine. This cardio/weightlifting duo with my strict diet from early January to May had caused for my body to be transformed with increased muscular definition and a weight loss to 170 pounds!

I DID IT! I had not only achieved the best shape of my life, but I had surpassed my physique from the early 2006 period when I was working out a few times a week! I was even in much better shape than when I was in the US Air Force in 2000! My silhouette was slender like the Na'vi on Avatar, and certain parts of my body took on a sinewy appearance with bulging veins! For the first time, I could honestly claim to have washboard abs...and have others support such a claim with boundless enthusiasm! I could confidently complete my daily 10 mile runs shirtless through the streets of Downtown Norfolk and Ghent and appreciate turning heads and exchanging greetings with fellow runners. Yes, in so many words, I felt like the "hot stuff" Donna Summer had sung about and was at liberty to sing along to Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy"...and I had no qualms about it, even though I did maintain a bit of modesty to not seem like a complete moron. The worst thing about this physical transformation was my pants dwindling to only two pairs of 32 inch waist jeans after all the other pants and shorts at 36 to 40 inches were no longer a suitable fit for me. A great benefit was having the security to abandon my strict diet altogether and eat whatever I wanted as long as sensible portions were adhered to. In the midst of all the excitement of achieving such a milestone for myself, I did not realize my body had taken on the fitness routine as second nature to the point where I feel withdrawal on days I didn't run.

Upon posting physique pictures to Twitter and Facebook, I got questions asking how I accomplished such a change. For myself, the answer was a strict diet and daily weight training+cardio...but there were other crucial factors: STRESS and DRIVE. There were inevitable situations in my personal life that could not be helped, and taking on a fitness routine was definitely a godsend in providing an outlet. Weightlifting and running are enjoyable activities that calm my inner spirit much like meditation, so I have come to prefer being alone. As much as I hate sounding like an anti-social hermit in this regard, there is simply a concentration required that would be thrown off in the company of someone else. In the midst of relying on this outlet to maintain my sanity, there was an inner determination to keep pushing myself to my final goal. Recording daily logs of my running progress via Nike+, RunKeeper, SportsTracker, and Garmin Connect seemed like overkill, but it held me accountable for my own efforts. Being able to see improvement over time with timing and distance really inspired me to keep up the momentum. I should also mention the confidence boost received from physique photos taken before and during my continued fitness mission!

At the end of the day, the most important ingredient in achieving any goal is drive. In addition to the obvious physical transformation, I am also proud of the fact that I accomplished it WITHOUT a gym membership or home treadmill! I held myself responsible for my own goal and chose not to depend on anyONE or anyTHING else to reach it. In sun, rain, Miami humidity, Ocracoke Island mosquitoes, snow, icy roads, and even slight sickness, I kept pushing myself to just do it even when I did not feel up to it! Now that I am maintaining a 175 pound weight with a great muscular definition on a daily basis, I am glad to say that the effort has paid off in more ways than one. My weightlifting and 10 mile runs have become a way of life to which my body has become acclimated, and I would have it no other way!

Trent Smith
TRENT SENSE blogger/YouTube host
http://about.me/trentsense/bio
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S II

Lyric Opera Virginia: "La Traviata" Behind the Scenes 2

2011-09-07T13:44:00.000-04:00

Nokia N8 HD (WomWorld) - Hurricane Irene flooding

2011-08-28T01:52:00.001-04:00

Nokia E7 HD EDIT - Hurricane Irene Progress

2011-08-28T01:52:00.000-04:00

My 4inch Smartphone Arsenal

2011-08-16T19:14:00.005-04:00

After using the Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro in addition to the Nokia E6 and Samsung Galaxy Pro, I realized how much I had become accustomed to the large screen in everyday usage. At one point, anything over 3.5inches was considered huge, but supergiants at 4inches and above began to eventually take over the mobile phone market. Getting my taste of Android on the Samsung Captivate, Symbian S3 on the Nokia E7, and Windows Phone 7 on the Dell Venue Pro was enough to permanently rearrange the way I saw the general smartphone for my own wants. It was clear that for any future device to even become considered for possible adoption in my arsenal, its display had to be at least 4 inches...NO EXCEPTIONS!

I also discovered yet another key element of change to my smartphone usage: the death of the portrait qwerty bar form factor. From my first Palm Treo 680 to the Sony Ericsson P990 and P1i to the Nokia E62, E61i, and E71, I was quite familiar with that build and could not see myself doing without it. With devices like the Nokia E90, N97, N97 mini, N900, HTC TyTN, Touch Pro 1 and 2, and AT&T Tilt, the beginning stage of my waning dependence was taking place...and I had no idea at that time. I even went through a phase where I proclaimed disapproval of the sliding qwerty in favor of faster access on the portrait bar. However, even this argument began to lose water in lieu of my using the Captivate with the Freedom Pro bluetooth keyboard and being blown away with such wireless tech prowess. Gradually, the appeal that once inspired me to hold the qwerty bar in high regard was fading...especially as I was drawn more and more to large touch screens.

The dust had settled after taking my time with the Nokia E6 and Samsung Galaxy Pro, and I was over both models for different reasons. The E6 suffered from a touch screen that was too small while the Galaxy Pro's HORRIBLE resolution made the screen almost useless for any worthwhile use. But underlying those initial problems was the fact that my heart was no longer invested in supporting the qwerty bar anymore. Even the opportunity to finally have Android with a hardware qwerty failed to make either the Galaxy Pro appealing or the HTC Status worth my time at the AT&T Store. In regards to wanting a larger screen, the Xperia Pro fell victim to rejection due to its 3.7inch display. While its typing experience was not bad on the sliding qwerty keys, swiping through the OS in closed mode was not on the same level as my Galaxy S2 or Venue Pro. In a funny way, it seemed that my fingertips kept running off the edge of the XPro screen since I was so used to a larger surface area.

As a result, I always felt at home when I would return my SIM card to the Galaxy S2...I even found appeal with the Venue Pro after dusting it off and playing with it via WiFi in my home! The proof was in the pudding: 4inches would be my minimum requirement for adopting another phone as my own. Another interesting twist to the situation materialized as a result of my not favoring the Nokia E6 with its Symbian Anna OS: I used extra funds to purchase a blue E7. While much of my reasoning involved Symbian nostalgia, there was also the necessity of formatting microSD cards that had been used in a WP7 device. Thanks to the USB OTG feature, the E7 could still pull off this feat with a card reader despite its lack of an internal card slot! In addition to those positives, there was also the amazing build quality, sturdy slider, capable keyboard and 4inch ClearBlack display in case I ever wanted to have another go with the Symbian OS again...even in its future Anna and Belle versions.

With the addition of the blue Nokia E7, my supergiant arsenal seemed complete with the 4.3inch Galaxy S2 running Android and 4inch Venue Pro running WP7. Since the Galaxy S2 basically measured up as a most perfect Android candidate while the E7 and Venue Pro offered the best of competing OS models, was there really a need to continue waiting for the unlocked GSM version of the Droid 3? Maybe not.

Trent Smith
TRENT SENSE blogger/YouTube host
http://about.me/trentsense/bio
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S II

Thanks to WomWorld Nokia

2011-08-15T23:47:00.001-04:00

There aren't any words that can fully experess the gratitude I have for the staff of WomWorld Nokia. Over the years, a partnership fostered via Nokia device trials eventually led to being invited to trips for various special events ranging from a tech trade show to a desert excursion to an exclusive movie screening. When I began shooting my first YouTube video in talking about my first Nokia E90 Communicator, I never imagined my destiny would involve such a worthwhile venture with WomWorld Nokia! For such an established company to put its trust in me to review phones and put forth a genuine persona in attending special events still feels surreal to this day.

Every time I've had to correspond with WomWorld staff via email in the early years, there was always a sense of professionalism, and this was further enhanced when I finally had the chance to meet staffers in person. There was Tom Messett and Adam Woodley on my first trip to Orlando, FL for the CTIA Wireless trade show; Donna Suffling and Kathy Garfield on the exploration of the Nevada desert; and finally James Whatley and Donna Suffling again at the Transformers 3 screening in Miami. Through all of the fun activity, it was also a great pleasure to meet Mindy Miller of Nokia who always added a dose of humor and sunshine wherever she went! The best part about meeting these people was how each of them allowed themselves to have a great time with all invited members. While letting loose in rampant conversation and endless banter was always a give in for the invited bunch, I never lost sight of how the WomWorld/Nokia team members all maintained focus on their work. It was definitely not unusual to hear of one of them staying up late or getting up early to be chained to a laptop for the sake of fulfilling pending duties. This kind of dedication did not go unnoticed, and I could not help but have respect for them all.

I an addition to giving thanks to WomWorld and its amazing staff, I must also thank each and every single soul I had the pleasure of getting to know on my trips. It was definitely an experience to be starstruck in seeing faces that were always appearing on social networks on my Mac. For a change, I could finally engage in smartphone-centered conversations that were two-way! I had lost count of moments at home when friends would either smile and nod as I went on and on about a phone. Being granted the opportunity to be with colleagues on the same level was one of those life experiences that made feel 100% whole.

Overall, my journey as a blogger and gadget enthusiast still continues even if I have slowed down quite a bit, and I am just grateful to be along for the ride. What I didn't expect was being told about how my uploaded videos had truly inspired others to either become bloggers or buy certain smartphones! This one part of all my excursions still remains the most memorable to me...aside from phone stress tests, a red-carpet media event for TF3, horseback riding, clubbing (with a sirloin slider on the dancefloor), chicken and waffles in Vegas, Nokia Maps scavenger hunting, quad racing, running in Miami humidity, alligator sightseeing, mine touring, a money-hungry taxi driver, a Lady Antebellum concert, and seeing The Edge from U2 and Tyrese Gibson IN PERSON!!

Without a doubt, if it weren't for WomWorld seeking me out with that email years ago to introduce me to an E75 and E71 review unit, I would not be where I am today.

Trent Smith
Sent from my Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro

HTC Inspire 4G: The Atrix Rebound

2011-08-01T16:33:00.002-04:00

This was a word document being written on the Inspire 4G about the Inspire 4G, and the fact that I was typing on the virtual qwerty said enough in itself about its responsiveness. Even though its virtual qwerty was not really on the same level as Windows Phone 7, the 4.3inch width and word completion made up for it. With such substantial support for my hands, thumb typing never felt so good on any previous Android model I've used. What drew me to the HTC phone in the first place was the UI overlay of Sense feeling better than the MotoBLUR alternative upon trying demo units in an AT&T and Verizon store on the same day. Between the Motorola Bravo, Droid Pro/X, and HTC Incredible, it was quite obvious that Blur had a ways to go to even be on the same level as Sense. Tolerating another clunky UI overlay after TouchWiz on the Captivate was certainly not at the top of my list, and I was not going to start then.

In addition to the software prowess of HTC, the hardware was also a great find as well. A fantastic blend of soft-touch plastic and metal felt great on the Inspire's back and gave it a polished, high-quality presence. From the considerable amount of weight and feel of such solid components, I was actually reminded of the Nokia N8 for a brief moment! After being with the plethora of plastic from Samsung on the Captivate and Focus, the Inspire was indeed a great departure! Unfortunately, there was a snag in the promising hardware design that emerged from what seemed to be a faulty battery door. I struggled to pry open this door from the slot for about three to four minutes, and even bent my index finger nail backwards in the process! I eventually had to rely on a flat-head screwdriver to save the day, but at the price of having some damage done to the plastic slot. While the other door for the SIM and microSD slots was much easier to remove, I was relieved to know the battery door would only have to be opened that one time. After getting over that tragedy, I was overjoyed to know there was a notification LED included on this Android device! After SO many months of tolerating the lack of this most useful feature, I finally got it back with HTC. The 4.3inch SuperLCD screen was indeed a mammoth alternative to the 3.5 and 4inch variants I had used previously, and I was afraid of reliving the portability horrors of the HD2. Sadly, after the honeymoon period, I had to admit that the width and weight of the Inspire was too much. While daily handling of the Inspire was somewhat tolerable, running with it for RunKeeper GPS tracking was a different story. In the course of a run, the size and weight of the device was more noticeable than previous phones, and I also worried constantly about a potential fall damaging its nice build. Removing from my pocket to check cardio tracking progress felt more cumbersome since the 4.3inch screen required both hands to safely operate while running. A belt clip holster would have been an option, but at the sacrifice of my own comfort during exercise. As much as I loved its Sense UI, the Inspire once again reminded me of why I preferred the 4inch screen as a maximum for a mobile phone.

HTC's track record in camera quality for recording video with acceptable audio had not always been a good one, and the Inspire continued this with its offering on the 8 megapixel camera unit. My HD footage test in 720p was not only unimpressive from a visual standpoint with lackluster frame rates, but the tinny audio also played a part in this as well. However, taking still pictures was acceptable even with a dual LED flash that was stunningly bright.

Signal reception was no different than any other smartphone I had previously used. I experienced no dropped calls on AT&T 3G. Actually, there was a strange occurrence with the "H" for HSDPA appearing on the Android taskbar even though I was informed by an AT&T store rep that 4G had not been enabled for my area yet.

GPS worked amazingly well in my usage of RunKeeper for tracking outside runs and Google Navigator on road trips. Obtaining a signal lock happened fairly quickly and there was never any trouble in maintaining its accuracy in route recalculations.

The loudspeaker was yet another area in which HTC fell short for playing back multimedia files for both music and movies. While I was not surprised after once again considering HTC's track record, this was still disappointing to see such a large screen go to waste for the most part without any wired headphones. If audio feedback was not tinny, it was too low for adequate listening even at the highest volume levels. I did find a way to amplify sound with the placement of the corner between my thumb and index finger, but this proved to be an inconvenience in holding the phone for long periods. Even with on-board sound enhancements of SRS and Dolby in addition to standard EQ settings, the differences could hardly be discerned from the lackluster volume on the Inspire. To make matters worse, the mic on my Sony wired headphones did not work for voice calls and playback controls on my Sony bluetooth headset were useless. As a result, this brought on a rare moment where I found myself missing the Captivate.

The SuperLCD display was no competition to the SuperAMOLED from Samsung, but still was not too bad for granting an acceptable viewing experience for the HTC Sense UI. Seeing pictures and movies was indeed impressive on the 4.3 inch screen alone. If not from sheer color representation and visual clarity, the Inspire could at least stand apart with its screen measurements.

Battery life with the Inspire left a lot to be desired...a LOT! When I first read of the 1230mAh capacity, I was not ever expecting a full day of usage from the HTC phone. Memories of the HD2's battery began running through my mind, so I prepared myself for the worst. The latest Android offering from AT&T and HTC certainly managed to meet my worst expectations. The lackluster battery performance on one overnight charge barely got the phone past half a day before it was below 50%! There was no doubt that I would have to keep an AC adapter in my pocket to get any decent reliability on the phone. In retrospect, I may have had a faulty unit since other users online have accounted for decent battery life on their Inspire 4G units.

Overall, I really wanted to fully appreciate the pros of the Inspire involving the notification LED and its Sense UI, but the battery life, poor speaker quality, lackluster video camera and chunky size kept me from doing so. Honestly, the upcoming Atrix from Motorola was due to arrive with its laptop dock to AT&T, and I couldn't help but be tempted by what seemed to be a better upgrade at the time. Unfortunately, I really did not have much time to get comfortable with the Sense UI upon exchanging the Inspire for the Atrix after only a week. Usually, I would have felt guilty for such an action...but my admitted excitement over the new Motorola just could not be swayed. HTC made a considerable Android effort in the Inspire, but it was not enough to keep my attention. Maybe in the future I would have another opportunity to try the Sense UI.

Trent Smith
TRENT SENSE blogger/YouTube host
http://about.me/trentsense/bio
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S II

1080p SGS2 Footage - Direct upload

2011-07-29T19:33:00.000-04:00

Nokia Transformers 3 Miami Premiere With Michael Bay

2011-07-08T15:03:00.000-04:00

This video was created by my good friend CJ Wallis, one of the great folks I met on the WomWorld Nokia Miami trip!

Samsung Galaxy S II direct upload test (1080p)

2011-06-21T14:29:00.001-04:00

Samsung Galaxy S II unboxing (European)

2011-06-21T14:29:00.000-04:00

Dell Venue Pro HD camera test (720p)

2011-06-21T14:28:00.001-04:00

Dell Venue Pro unboxing (AT&T 3G)

2011-06-21T14:28:00.000-04:00

Motorola Atrix 4G: Final Opinion

2011-06-06T03:58:00.003-04:00

Finally getting my hands on the Motorola Atrix 4G seemed like a fleeting dream as I continued to wait for the rumored release time of the first week in March. With the continuing agony of Nokia delaying the E7 in the same period, there was no logical reason that Motorola would keep its word on the new phone's availability. Owning the HTC Inspire had its perks, but I was always aware of it being an inevitable stepping stone to the Atrix. Just when mid-February arrived and the E7 still remained off the virtual shelves of online vendors, I thought it best to just focus on waiting for Motorola instead. As luck would have it, the Atrix release date was not delayed but pushed AHEAD to February 22nd!! If that was not the final nail in the coffin of my hope for Nokia's E7, then I don't know what else it could have been otherwise. As I walked out of the AT&T store with the laptop dock bundle in my possession, the situation felt so surreal. After days of anticipating this mobile gem upon seeing product demonstrations at CES, I was walking on air toward my Honda and eager to speed home for the unboxing!

Holding the main component of the body in my hand evoked a sense of solid craftsmanship. Once I attached the battery door, I was convinced I had found a worthy successor to the Inspire. Despite all the plastic that went into forming the Atrix, it still maintained an acceptable heft from high-end build quality. This was certainly not reminiscent of the lightweight, hollowed Samsung Focus. The form factor with its curved corners depicted perfect dimensions in being a bit smaller than the Captivate, yet still holding on to a 4inch screen. In comparison to the HTC Inspire's blend of soft-touch plastic and metal, Atrix's overall design seemed pedestrian and almost completely devoid of character. The sloping fingerprint scanner button on the upper back of the phone provided the only redemption from being a plain touch slab immersed in total boredom.

I did have concern for GPS on the first time I used Google Navigator on a 35 minute road trip. With the music app playing in the background, the GPS signal was lost for a total of FIVE times! To make things worse, once the signal was lost there was no sign of the Atrix retrieving it again. This resulted in the inconvenience of having to quit and restart the Navigator app in the middle of the road trip...not good. Upon the return trip in my vehicle, I did find everything to work normally with music playback and route recalculations as well. I was not sure if the previous mishap could have been due to my first time using such functionality on that particular phone. Either way, I was indeed overjoyed to be reunited with the RunKeeper app for my outside cardio sessions. Just like the Milestone I had reviewed, the Atrix proved to be very accurate in tracking my running route through Downtown Norfolk and flawlessly transmitted results to my online account immediately.

Signal reception on the AT&T 3G network was no different than other phones I had used previously. No dropped calls experienced on the Atrix. However, there was that same issue with the "H" being portrayed in the upper taskbar when I had been told by an AT&T rep that 4G had not been activated for my area yet.

Call quality on the earpiece was passable for the most part, even though more volume would have been nice. For voice calls, people on the other end sounded clear with no sign of interference.

A HUGE breath of fresh air came from the loudspeaker quality being SO much improved over the Inspire 4G! There was finally an acceptable amount of vivid clarity and depth in the playback of multimedia, and the Atrix could easily rival the Captivate's speaker. Volume range also surpassed what HTC had put into the Inspire, offering a fantastic dose of audio power for movie watching and music listening. Speakerphone calls also benefited from this great speaker as well.

Watching movies on the 4inch TFT screen was not really on the same level as the Captivate's SuperAMOLED, but was acceptable nonetheless. However, I did run into a peculiar problem where the Atrix was not able to playback every movie file I had installed via USB mass storage. This was certainly upsetting considering that the Nokia N8 and Samsung Captivate had NO trouble in playing these same clips. I did take time to research every file affected to see if there was anything in common, but nothing came to fruition. While this was unfortunate, having a movie player was not the primary reason for my acquiring the Atrix. Films that did work were presented with intuitive touch controls for overall playback navigation. Aspect ratio settings were very basic and not on the same level as the Nokia N8 or the HTC Inspire. There was only one touch command that would either shrink the video down to size or expand it to fit the screen. It was very convenient to be able to resume playback from the most recent placement instead of having to start from the beginning. The interface of the Gallery did offer a feature resembling Apple's CoverFlow when the phone was turned into a landscape position.

I have to admit that the Sense UI on the Inspire did offer some welcomed benefits for a more efficient music player. On the other hand, MotoBlur hardly touched the app and basically left it in stock-like Android form unless turned landscape to reveal a CoverFlow-like interface. Since I would not have been sure if MotoBlur could have delivered in the same manner as Sense or even TouchWiz, I was glad to at least not have the music player app mutilated by mediocrity. EQ features were plentiful and presented plenty of ways to customize one's listening experience.

The camera was great for still pictures and acceptable for HD video recording, but there were two issues I found fault with. There was an occasional purplish blotch that would appear in the center of certain HD videos, and the dual LED flash sometimes cast a yellowish coloring. Aside from that, I did determine the camera to much better than what I recalled from the HTC Inspire. The user interface was simple and intuitive at best for quick operation.

My impression of the laptop dock experience was mixed at best. As much as I loved being able to use a full hardware qwerty keyboard with an Android device, there were cons that did remind me of how much improvement could be done. Basically, I took on the role as a guinea pig for this new docking technology with a full expectation of potential pitfalls...especially after having read the Engadget review. Starting with the positives: the Atrix could be used with a hardware connection to a full keyboard and bigger screen, one could monitor phone alerts on-screen via convenient pop-ups, direct interaction with the phone UI could take place within the Mobile View window which could be expanded to full screen view, a native WebTop interface allowed access to features like a flash-enabled Firefox browser and shortcuts to specific functions on a Mac-like dock. All of these benefits combined really made the laptop dock a godsend in regards to owning an Android device! No longer did I have to be at the mercy of a bluetooth keyboard driver or be limited to a phone's 4inch screen for word document editing. Instead of relying on a mobile app like DocsToGo Word to grant me access to Google Docs, I could work directly with the actual Google Docs site as a webtop app! Being able to keep an eye on alerts from my Atrix seemed like a trivial issue, but actually added to the overall convergence experience I always wanted with a smartphone. With the dock, I could almost effortlessly transform my touch slab phone into a portable netbook-like device.

After the initial perks of owning the laptop dock with the Atrix, there were indeed some unfortunate negatives to tolerate in everyday usage. First off, Engadget was 100% correct in its primary criticism of performance being sluggish. If someone wished to browse multiple tabs on Firefox with YouTube videos playing to the hilt while bouncing to Facebook and Mobile View, he was in for a rude awakening if he expected acceptable speed. While being connected to a WiFi network did offer minor redemption (if any at all), it was clear that having a separate netbook or laptop would be the best alternative for the average customer. While I typically had only the Mobile View window open with two windows for Google Docs, I still noticed minor lags in operating scroll functions with a USB mouse or deleting multiple items with the backspace key. This same scroll lag also took place with the Facebook webtop app as well as the Firefox browser. It was clear that if one wanted to do any kind of browsing or multitasking with acceptable performance, MUCH patience was required...MUCH! Through my own personal testing, I discovered that a maximum of eight windows could be open at one time before a memory error was bound to appear and ask for something to be closed. Considering the smartphone nature of the Atrix and my own paltry usage requirements in managing Google Docs, the laptop dock still was not a bad option for a full qwerty and big screen...at least not for me. Another issue I encountered involved the flash-intensive Sports Tracker website with manual uploading of run data. Whether on WiFi or the AT&T data network, there was always an error. The built-in trackpad did not offer any multitouch gestures or scrolling capability, which brought me back to the primitive method of holding down a click button on a side cursor and scrolling on the pad itself! This issue was thankfully solved by a USB mouse that could simply be plugged into one of the two available ports. Using a bluetooth mouse was another option, but I lost patience in the midst of having connectivity issues with a Microsoft model I had. At the end of the day, a small USB alternative was less of a headache for me, so I returned the bluetooth mouse and relied on primary wireless linking with my Sennheiser MM400 headset for music and voice calls. NOTE: After further use of the Sennheiser model, I eventually decided to replace it with the Nokia BH-905i. Speaking of calls, any that were made to the Atrix automatically went to the speaker if no bluetooth headset was connected. I did not have a wired headphone set with a mic that could work with the Atrix, so I was unable to test such usage. When I did use the speakerphone in a quiet setting with the laptop dock, the call quality was less than impressive in comparison to a bluetooth headset alternative. Another big issue was the Atrix sometimes not granting 3G data access for webtop apps. Upon docking the phone and opening the laptop screen, Mobile View would show a pop-up stating that my AT&T account was being verified for use with WebTop. For reasons unknown, my account would sometimes not be verified and I was treated as if I did not have the appropriate tethering data plan when I actually DID! Clicking on Facebook or Firefox or any webtop app bookmark resulted in a most irritating page loading error. The ONLY solution to this problem was to simply turn off the Atrix and power it back on...an inconvenience, but not a deal breaker. Playing back music on the speakers was not the end of the world, but audio quality was a bit too tinny for my taste, and I depended on my bluetooth headset anyway.

At one point, there was a situation with my Atrix that resulted in the phone suddenly reformatting its own 16GB of internal memory without ANY logical reason! I had written a whole separate blog post on the issue (http://www.trentsense.com/2011/03/atrix-atrocity.html), and actually contemplated replacing the Motorola altogether. But at the time, I was smitten by the laptop dock experience and had yet to get the car dock, so I chose to call AT&T and get a replacement unit sent to me instead. Luckily, I had no further problems after that.

AFTER SOFTWARE UPDATE
Just recently there was an Android software update to version 4.1.57 on my Atrix from AT&T. Listed improvements included the following:

Bluetooth Improved multimedia experience with Bluetooth devices as well as the ability to use phone with additional headsets
Fingerprint reader Improved fingerprint reader performance
Battery Improved battery performance for longer battery life
Screen Display will turn off automatically now while charging directly on wall charger
Phone stability Improved stability resulting in fewer occurrences of touch unresponsiveness and/or programs quitting unexpectedly.
Car dock Improved performance of car dock and 3.5mm jack

Upon downloading the update, I first noticed that the MotoBlur date and time widget malfunctioned constantly on the homescreen and I had to do away with it completely. However, there seemed to be an unforeseen benefit to the update in regards to the Atrix's bluetooth pairing capabilities. Late one night, I came across an Engadget article asking readers to share what they thought was the best hardware qwerty Android. After reading a most interesting comment thread, I was inspired to try again to pair and connect my pocket bluetooth keyboard. Since I didn't have any luck after my first unboxing of the Atrix, I naturally expected the same outcome only to be forced onto my laptop dock. Thankfully, I was wrong!! It took all I had not to scream and wake up the house at that moment as my key presses registered on the Atrix screen! Not expecting for luck to strike twice, I took on the attempt to pair and connect my Freedom Pro keyboard that had been collecting dust for the longest time...AND IT WORKED!!! Unfortunately, my rejoicing was to be short-lived due to one huge problem in editing with the Google Docs app. It turned out that editing was only possible when the virtual qwerty was present, so my Bluetooth keyboards were useless!
After another OTA update for full access to AT&T 4G data speeds, the date and time widget no longer malfunctioned. Honestly, I didn't really find anything faster about the so-called 4G on the Atrix in real world usage when compared to 3G. Since the data was truly 3.5G and only "rebranded" as 4G, it was a little hard to take such an upgrade seriously anyway.

After finally getting the car dock, I was convinced that my growing Atrix ecosystem was the best option for me as an Android user. It was such a convenient method to dock the phone securely in landscape mode with a simultaneous connection to the charger and car stereo, and I absolutely loved it! The car home application worked wonders for providing a finger-friendly UI to operate while driving, and the dock itself was extremely sturdy in its construction. The locking latch at the top granted easy removal of the device, although getting the Atrix in position on the mini HDMI plug took a while to get used to.

With such custom accessories surpassing the Nexus One experience, I thought I was destined to be set for life with the Motorola Atrix...but I was wrong. As much as I favored writing with the laptop dock, it could NEVER replace the convenience of a built-in keyboard for the most optimum on-the-go word processing. Having to find a desk, table top, or use my own lap with a mini USB mouse proved to be more of a nuisance at times when I just wanted to pull out my handset and begin writing at a moment's notice. Charging of the Atrix while docked and the WebTop interface simply weren't enough to keep the phone worthwhile for my own mobile productivity. At the end of the day, I still yearned for a device that could grant me a capable touch OS on a large screen with an onboard hardware keyboard. When the cumbersome laptop dock was stored in my backpack, the Atrix was no different than previous touch slabs that could not fulfill my needs as a smartphone user. With this realization, I decided to sell my entire Atrix bundle and go with another hardware alternative altogether.

With my not keeping the Atrix, that was not to declare anything negative on its part as a touch-only device for daily usage. I got the most impressive use out of the high resolution screen in showing more information for web browsing and using apps like TweetDeck. The speaker remained one of the best for listening to multimedia and speakerphone calls aloud, and the camera was suitable despite occasional purplish coloring on video footage and a urine-colored LED flash. Fingerprint scanning proved to be more of a novelty that could sometimes be unreliable. The plastic construction was solid, but still had a slippery grip requiring a rubber case to prevent likely dropping. GPS worked better than ever before with my continued usage of RunKeeper and Google Navigation. With the appropriate updates, my Atrix turned out to be a most capable and competitive unit even when locked to the AT&T network. Unfortunately, I did get to a point where I could advise against purchasing anything more than the vehicle dock. While the multimedia and laptop docks did appear to be tempting buys, the pricing was simply too much for a sluggish WebTop interface that in NO way resembled netbook speeds let alone a laptop! To get the most out of one's money, the Atrix paired with a laptop/netbook via tethering proved to be a MUCH better option in the long run.

Trent Smith
Sent from my Dell Venue Pro
http://about.me/trentsense/bio

Nexus S: Underdone Galaxy S

2011-06-04T05:21:00.003-04:00

When the Nexus S was first announced, I honestly DREADED the concept of the device being modeled after the Galaxy S line of smartphones made by Samsung. Going from the build quality of HTC with its superior blend of soft-touch plastics and metals to the plethora of plastics on Samsung felt like a death sentence for the Google Nexus line. When I read the specs from online, I did not have high hopes for the Nexus S being a suitable successor. Lacking microSD AND a LED notification light did not work in favor of the device at all. Having 3G bands for only T-Mobile at the time of release was another negative point against Google's latest unit, and I was not going to be surprised if I never took the chance to use it. However, after news came of a Nexus S version being capable of supporting AT&T 3G, my curiosity was piqued.

It was an amazing day to FINALLY have pure vanilla Android in my hands once again! After tolerating so many custom interfaces created by numerous manufacturers who thought they knew better, I figured I could be delivered now that Nexus S supported AT&T 3G. I could instantly relive the euphoria I once had with the Nexus One, and I was eager to get started in the unboxing and forsake my Motorola Atrix 4G. After about a couple days, my previous misgivings about the Nexus S specs were verified through my own usage.

One unmistakable aspect of that phone when I unwrapped it was PLASTIC, PLASTIC, PLASTIC! As much as I hated beating a dead horse, Samsung absolutely drove me insane with its plasticky build components. At the end of the day, it was not a deal breaker, but certainly a downer when the predecessor from HTC was superior in comparison. The major cons that followed the plastic were the lack of LED notification light, microSD expansion, and a custom vehicle dock. I was previously under the impression there was no desktop dock, but was informed by a Twitter contact otherwise. Nonetheless, having a new found awareness of that dock did little to redeem the Nexus S. The glossy battery door attracted tons of fingerprints and smudges, but it was at least great to see a LED flash included with the 5 megapixel camera unit. Video chatting was never a regular activity for me, so the inclusion of the VGA front-facing camera was not a big deal at all. Tactile keys for power/standby and volume control exhibited good feedback. Small slits at the back for the speaker did cause worry for audio muffling if the phone should end up on a flat surface. While the curvature of the design seemed to be intriguing in the specs, it really did not have much presence in person. At the end of the day, this just appeared to be a design fad to me...nothing more. Having the headphone jack and micro USB port at the bottom was convenient for placing the unit in a vehicle holster.

The typical smartphone features turned out to be no different from previous models I had used. Signal reception for AT&T 3G was reliable in my local area, but I would have been lying if I said I was not a bit concerned for the Nexus S competing in a market of upcoming 4G devices. Sound quality from the earpiece on voice calls was clear, even if there was a desire for a bit more volume every now and then. Playing back music on the speaker proved to have sufficient volume, but higher levels sometimes went on the verge of being tinny. Sadly, watching movies with the same speaker did not give the same well-rounded audio impression I remembered from the Captivate. GPS was definitely a pleasant surprise after the Captivate debacle, for it turned out that Samsung could finally manufacture sound hardware! Using Google Maps and RunKeeper on a daily basis gave me absolutely no trouble in navigation or cardio tracking, and that was a HUGE relief for me! Connecting to WiFi in my home was easy as expected, and bluetooth worked with my Nokia BH-905i without any problems. Unfortunately, I was unable to pair and connect my Freedom Pro bluetooth keyboard to the Nexus S. Attaching the phone to my MacBook via USB turned the Google phone into an external hard drive and allowed me to drag and drop multimedia files. Sadly, a little over 13GB of the internal storage drive was available after the first boot...causing me to miss microSD expansion on other devices. One accessory I thought would be a godsend was the wired in-ear headphones with the attached microphone and call button. Unfortunately, the ear inserts were much too large and were the only ones provided in the retail package. The ones I already owned were too small to fit.

At the time I was using the Nexus S, I was missing the custom accessory experience I remembered from the Nexus One and its docks. Once I had returned the unit, I was surprised to find out from a Twitter contact there was indeed a Samsung dock made for the phone. On a future Best Buy outing, I noticed a custom desktop AND car dock on the sales floor for the Nexus S. I guess releasing the handset on Sprint really got Samsung to get on the ball in that regard.

Overall, the Nexus S was an underwhelming letdown due to a number of factors. The screen resolution paled in comparison to my Motorola Atrix at that time, and I didn't realize just how much resolution affected my daily usage until I set the two phones next to one another. It was eye-opening to see how much more onscreen content could be gained from the Motorola's increased resolution specs. The internal memory limitation from lack of microSD support was not a deal breaker, but more of a nuisance...and the same applied to the lack of HD video on the camera and less homescreens. To me, the absence of NFC chip implementation in local retail businesses really made that feature a needless waste of time. Future-proofing the Nexus S for use with an upcoming product not yet tried and true in the real world (at least not in my corner) was a huge risk that Google seemed to lose out on. At the end of the day, I would have been happier with a microSD card slot instead of a NFC chip I would most likely not use anyway. With those cons stacked against it, even the original Galaxy S with its TouchWiz UI appeared to be a much better option for a well-rounded user experience with acceptable specs. Unfortunately, that so-called successor to the Nexus One felt like a project that was rushed and incomplete...and no curved oleophobic display, custom docks, or stock Android UI with latest dessert-named updates could deter from such a sad conclusion. Unfortunately, my time with that review unit did cast a stigma on the allure of having stock Android UI. I could recall seeing it first when Google's Larry Page had it at a tech convention to show off new software features from the company, and I was of course intrigued. It was funny how that eventually worked out to be the total opposite to Symbian's problem on Nokia devices of great hardware with lacking software. I just was not impressed with the second Nexus device, and could only hope that Google and its next hardware manufacturing partner could deliver some kind of improvement to redeem the Nexus brand.

Trent Smith
Sent from my Dell Venue Pro
http://about.me/trentsense/bio

Nokia E7 review (WomWorld)

2011-05-29T17:34:00.000-04:00

Google Nexus S (AT&T 3G) unboxing

2011-05-05T08:18:00.000-04:00

Treo Nostalgia

2011-03-30T01:07:00.002-04:00

After the experience with my first Atrix randomly erasing its own 16GB of internal storage, I had to next prepare my Nokia trial devices for DHL shipment. With the E7 and Astound being gone, I was left with a paltry backup selection: shattered Samsung Captivate, non-AT&T 3G Nokia 9300, and an old Treo 750. What was I to do? While the Nokia 9300 seemed tempting with its qwerty, it was not backbit and I couldn't bare to be stuck using its antiquated OS on a daily basis. Even if the Captivate was not hampered by a shattered screen, its lags TouchWiz UI and pitiful GPS reliability was enough to keep me far, far away. By process of elimination, the Treo 750 won out as a temporary phone until the arrival of the replacement Atrix.

Upon wiping off the dust layer that had been caked on its touch screen, I held its plastic body in my hand and stared in awe. I wondered what to expect after spending so many years away from it. Years ago, I had received this as a refurb unit from Cingular and was not happier. I could recall opting for the camera-less design in thinking it would be useful for my work environment at the time...but I was mostly left with camera envy instead. Quite a few blog posts had been written with its hardware keys, and I was excited to be back! The old generation bulk from the tried-and-true design of the Treo platform still felt familiar in the palm of my hand, and it was almost as if I had never left. This was one of the first phones along with the Nokia E62 that shaped my current affinity for hardware keyboards on mobile devices. My interest in smartphones was in full force, and this was where it all began.

Amidst high spirits, there was still apprehension of going without certain luxuries I became accustomed to on recent models. GPS, Wi-Fi, and camera were such ubiquitous staples in my frequent adoption of new handsets, so I eventually learned to just expect them all the time. Going through my Maps/RunKeeper debacle with the Samsung Captivate did awaken me to how I took such features for granted, but it was different to not have them at all. If there was any silver lining, it was being able to hunt for third party freeware apps for Windows Mobile 6 Professional again. Unfortunately, the dark cloud involved the possibility of certain apps being discontinued over time.

Overall, using a classic unit like the Treo 750 did have potential in being a rewarding experience from a nostalgia perspective. In a generation where one automatically expected capacitive feedback on a touch slab form factor, it did not apologize for its chunky dimensions or squared resistive touch screen. At one point, this seemed to be very popular in the corporate world from my work memories of insurance execs toting clunky belt clips. Whether it was Palm or RIM, there was no doubt of their huge role in how business people corresponded with each other. I figured that having access to a hardware qwerty after bidding farewell to the Nokia E7 would be good for me to gradually ease back in to all-touch on the Atrix. The funny thing is that I had previously come back to the Treo, but that seemed more out of leisure instead of necessity.

ONE DAY LATER
The replacement to my ailing Atrix had arrived via mail, and it was time to once again retire the Treo 750 to its resting place on my desk. I doubt that I would have lasted more than a week on it, but it still was not bad in serving as a basic backup smartphone. Considering its age and chunky design, it did perform quite well in keeping me connected via voice calls, SMS, and social networks. Surprisingly, I took to the small touch screen and stylus with no trouble at all and made the best of what I had with Windows Mobile 6 Professional. First thing I knew to do was enable the ClearType feature to smooth out the UI font and make it more appealing to the eyes. Setting up bookmarks in Internet Explorer for Twitter, Facebook, and Accuweather was done right after I changed the ringtone from that AWFUL AT&T Willy Wonka-Kiddie-Cartoon default. What really put a smile on my face was the setup of Microsoft Exchange to initiate syncing of my Google PIM data. In less than a couple minutes, ALL contacts, calendar entries and recent emails were on the Treo 750 and I was ready to go! Being reunited with the tried-and-true Word Mobile app paired with a compact qwerty seemed surreal...especially with a reliable spell checker!

Unfortunately, the setbacks of an old phone began to sink in after that: clunky UI, lack of notification LED, low earpiece volume, paltry support for video playback, lags performance with stereo bluetooth enabled, sluggish support for media on a 16GB microSD card via miniSD adapter. I absolutely did my best to tolerate every single con on the Treo, but the issue with music playback via bluetooth was too much to bare. I had to set aside the Sony DR-BT50 and continue listening to music aloud, and this brought me to the next issue with the Windows Media app. As to be expected, the Palm could not handle the expanded 16GB capacity of the microSD card I installed with a miniSD adapter. Playing over 2000 tracks of music in shuffle mode was impossible with Windows Media constantly freezing, so I had to play them one at a time. Playing videos was out of the question since their resolution was too much for the Treo to handle. Internet Explorer did prove to be handy in displaying mobile websites despite not having flash, and even its UI was more appealing and intuitive than Symbian. The YouTube mobile app was adequate in its execution, but the smallish screen did not inspire any desire to view videos. Earpiece volume for voice calls was not great, and I found the speakerphone to be ten times better.

After considering the age of the Treo 750, I was honestly impressed with how content I could be when giving it a fair chance. Not only did I get the sensation of a time warp, but I also maintained my connection with the hardware keyboard after the Nokia E7. Churning out two blog posts in a short amount of time on the Treo was proof positive of how much I still loved a great tactile typing experience. Using the qwerty bar form factor also reminded me of how convenient it was for one-handed usage. It almost seemed a shame to not have the opportunity to use Google Maps or search out a working version of Twikini, but I was ready to return to Android and its advanced amenities. At the end of the day, my old Treo 750 had stepped up to the plate as a capable backup. At the last moment when I was prepared to complete this post and switch my SIAM to the new Atrix, a thought had occurred to me: the Nokia E7 serving as just an offline word processor seemed silly. Despite its arsenal of specs in comparison to the classic Palm, the S3 slider's QuickOffice app did not have a functional spell checker. I was also shocked to find that I liked the typing feel a little bit more on the Treo. Instead of saving up money to buy the Nokia, I wondered if I was better off simply holding to my old, yet functional Palm for mobile blogging. It turned out that I would need more time to weigh the pros and cons to make a decision on that. Either way, I was extremely pleased to be back with Android on the Atrix and wanted to get back to my laptop dock and Nokia BH-905i ASAP!!

Trent Smith, blogger
Sent from my Treo 750
http://about.me/trentsense/bio

An Atrix Atrocity

2011-03-28T20:33:00.001-04:00

One evening I was out at the bowling alley to visit teammates from a league I had bowled with for two years. All was going fine with my Atrix when I decided to take photos of a Verizon R2D2 Droid phone someone showed to me. I simply quit the camera app and then placed the Moto in standby like I would normally do. It was minutes later when I attempted to find a picture in the Gallery that I noticed something wrong. Every single folder was showing zero content as an orange progress circle continued to spin in the upper right-hand corner. Assuming this was only a minor glitch, I tried a couple times to close out Gallery and open it again. The same glitch remained. Luckily, I had sent this photo to a friend via MMS, so it was saved in the messaging thread. Unfortunately, I was still not seeing anything appear in the phone's media storage. While the SD card files were still intact (mostly music), the Atrix internal drive was showing to be completely empty even under the settings menu. In addition to the Gallery appearing as wiped clean, the Tape-a-Talk app I had used to record my voice for CTIA no longer showed the long list of saved audio files! After spending the next 30 minutes powering on and off and pulling out the battery, I was DESPERATE, LIVID, AND FORLORN. Yes, I was ALL of those! Along with all my voice recordings I made during CTIA for my blog post writing, every video and photo from the CTIA Unplugged Lady Antebellum show had disappeared! The Motorola Atrix 4G had mysteriously formatted its own 16GB internal drive for NO apparent reason, and I had no backup of what had been erased. I assumed all was well with my Android phone, and I ended up getting f****d in the end.

There was no way I was planning to keep an unstable device that could potentially wipe out all stored files at a moment's notice, especially after losing content that was highly important for the writing of my CTIA blogpost. My Atrix was no longer trustworthy, but I only harbored ill will toward the device itself and not the particular Motorola model. In lieu of this, it was a plausible solution to seek a replacement unit of the same make and model. Honestly, if the Atrix was the best Android option, there was no sense in running to the Inspire 4G or another unlocked touch slab.

A replacement Atrix probably did seem like overkill for others, but I found it to be justified. There was a Twitter comment in response to my situation that basically stated that s**t happens and it could have been a simple glitch that could be fixed by an upcoming software update. WTF?! I personally needed a brief moment to muster a calm reaction instead of unleashing a volatile thread of all caps in the Twitterverse. In my opinion, this was not a simple glitch like a random lack of response from the fingerprint reader or capacitive touch screen...this was a random wipe of 16GB internal storage that erased ALL of my important files from the CTIA trip!!! PICTURES, VIDEOS, VOICE RECORDINGS ALL GONE!!! GONE!!! How anyone could simply have such a carefree attitude and tolerate keeping such a faulty device is beyond comprehension for me. I have a good amount of tolerance for malfunctions, for a phone is a machine at the end of the day and nothing is expected to be perfect. However, I have NEVER had a phone randomly format its own internal memory and delete important work files in the process...even the awful and craptastic Sony Ericsson P990 didn't pull such a cruel trick in the midst of its numerous freezes and random reboots! I guess it may not have been such a tragedy if I only had a few casual pictures and some movie files backed up on my Mac, but that was not the case. All I knew was that the first Atrix was not capable to be my daily companion anymore, no matter how soon a software "fix" is scheduled to arrive. The choices for me were quite clear: hold on to a "glitchy" Atrix and hope for an update or take action and switch to a replacement unit. I understood that risks were present for receiving another Atrix that could possess the same flaw, but it was worth it nonetheless. If I did happen to encounter the same problem on the second Atrix, I would have to handle that situation when it made itself known. In the meantime, I think it would have been foolish to remain with a device after it so horribly failed me in such a manner. True, the Atrix's erasing of my CTIA work files did indeed play a major factor over the faulty P990 and GPS-lacking Captivate.

Trent Smith, blogger
Sent from my Treo 750
http://about.me/trentsense/bio

Nokia E7 unboxing (WomWorld)

2011-03-21T05:51:00.001-04:00

Evolution of Qwerty Usage/Respect for Nokia's Symbian

2011-03-19T11:38:00.004-04:00

During my review of the Nokia E7 from WomWorld Nokia, I truly had a most amazing experience in using S3 with a hardware qwerty. In addition to the general presence of a keyboard, I also appreciated its great tactile feedback and spacious layout. I was confident in daily usage of being able to quickly compose word documents, emails, and SMS messages with the help of such a vital feature on a business-centric smartphone. I was once again in utmost contentment from being able to write freely at any time from portable keys at my thumbs, and I loved every minute of it. However, something struck me one evening when I had switched my SIM card back to the Motorola Atrix for a session with the laptop dock and USB mouse.

Sitting before the dock with its full keyboard and mouse really reminded me of how accustomed I had become with such a setup for my typical writing. Instead of sitting at a coffeeshop or Panera Bread targeting chiclet keys with thumbs, I could relax as if I was on my MacBook at home! Suddenly, the Nokia E7 began to lose some of its appeal as a writing machine for me although maintaining its overall credibility. While I could certainly capitalize on its portability, pressing phone buttons instead of keys on a laptop dock variant was not the same. I almost began to wonder if I was being ungrateful, for it was always better to have an onboard keyboard than none at all. After further thought upon using both devices, I realized that was not the case at all. There was an evolution in my mobile tech usage that occurred at the exact moment I docked my Atrix into the laptop accessory. Years of relying on portrait layouts and landscape sliders with function keys seemed to pass away as another concluded chapter in my tech life. I had graduated.

My preference finally expanded to consider another method in performing my writing tasks on-the-go. In lieu of this realization, I hoped this did not mean I would shun the likes of the E7 or any decent phone qwerty, for I still yearned for an Android version. But then a key word emerged to the forefront of my brain as the plausible factor in all this: Android. At the end of the day, it was my familiarity with the OS combined with WebTop UI functionality that made the laptop dock such a joy to use over the E7's qwerty. Even though I did like the appeal of sliding open landscape buttons to immediately write thoughts at a moment's notice, the dock helped me to cope with the Atrix's inability to grant this feature. Hours of getting used to Swype could then be blessed with occasional stints of mobile gadgetry with the laptop dock. In effect, that essentially made the Atrix much more appealing to me than a typical smartphone like the E7. While the touch OS experience also played a factor to a certain extent, Motorola's docking execution really struck a chord with me. It was more than just tethering a phone's data to a dedicated laptop or netbook (which is admittedly better in a number of ways), it was all about the transformation of a mobile device that allowed continued monitoring of onboard functions onscreen. I always thought that I would never turn down an opportunity to have an Android slider, but I had to admit that my Atrix laptop dock got me thinking otherwise.

The unfortunate part of this whole learning process was that the Nokia E7 gradually became a mobile Quickoffice word processor instead of a phone. While I loved having qwerty access on a sturdy slider supported by such pristine hardware, I did not feel much motivation to install my SIM card. As long as I could enable wifi on the device to link with my home network or my Atrix hotspot, I was more than content with the offline status of the E7. Such an arrangement did appear to be an insult to the Symbian device, but I did not think so. In the chance of anything happening to my Atrix 4G, I remained confident that no other available device/OS on the market could fill in as a backup replacement like the E7.

In the unfolding of all this recent mobile tech drama, the same old ending manifested itself in Android and Symbian remaining as favored OS platforms. True, that saying "we're all winners" did have a corny and lackluster appeal in certain situations, but in this case it felt most appropriate. In the midst of my being converted to Android, I never lost sight of how much Symbian had enriched my life since I adopted the E62 from Cingular Wireless years ago. Even through the debacle of the N97, there was still a place in my heart for the OS...and even the Nokia brand itself! Actually, I could even rephrase the ending as my continued fondness for Android and Nokia's Symbian! Through the years, no other brand like Nokia captured my interest in how it managed to consistently execute a harmonious marriage of hardware and software in each mobile device. Although I relied on Android and tolerated fragmentation on a number of fronts, there was (and still is) a steadfast respect for Nokia remaining true to itself with Symbian via set standards. Experiences gained throughout time passing had certainly changed my views, but there was no doubt that Nokia and Symbian would continue to be my first love. In all due respect, I thought it was amazing to still consider Nokia's Symbian as a backup to Android after its evolution over time to a touch interface.

Trent Smith, blogger
Sent from my Nokia E7
http://about.me/trentsense/bio

Nokia E7: Symbian's Last Mobile Marvel?

2011-03-18T02:25:00.003-04:00

After so many months of delays and almost losing complete interest in the Nokia E7, I finally received a review unit from WomWorld! I didn't want to admit my continued fondness for Symbian as I toyed with the Atrix and its laptop dock, but there was no denying it when I received the DHL shipment notification via email. After spending time with the N8, I had missed the metallic feel and solid build surpassing the plastics of Motorola and Samsung. Cutting open the security tape on the box instantly put a smile on my face as I lifted the top cover. The E7 in person was much more than what I initially expected after so much waiting, and it was good to be back with Symbian once again.

The software aspect was simple since everything felt similar to the previous N8, so I focused mainly on the hardware offerings of the E7. In addition to a sleek metallic design, a larger 4inch screen with ClearBlack technology and a sliding keyboard really brought the device home for me! Symbian had never looked so glorious on a screen since the E90, and it felt like home to be reunited with writing on a mobile qwerty. ClearBlack most likely had something to do with how amazing graphics looked onscreen from the standard UI to movies and images. There was no doubt that the SuperAMOLED display of the Samsung Captivate had a contender in the E7. It was no surprise that the Nokia turned out to be a bit longer than both the Atrix and Captivate, yet thickness remained about the same. I favored the added weight from the build, for it gave the E7 a solid stance with its high-end appeal. From the metal of the outside body to the solid plastics and etching of chrome elements, I certainly had a homerun in a true E90 successor! Every single chiclet key on the sliding qwerty operated with sufficient tactile feedback and supported speedy thumb typing. The four row layout was a refreshing departure from the cramped quarters of the N900, N97, and N97 mini, and a centered space bar was enough to induce a happy dance! I initially had concern for the rising edges on either side of the keyboard, but this did not hinder my writing.

After the honeymoon period came to an end, this was when the flaws began to inevitably show. The 8 megapixel fixed focus camera certainly proved problematic for me due to its lack of autofocus, and I was still holding to bitterness from my time with the E5 variant. Despite the onslaught of blurred indoor photos, I was pleasantly surprised by an impressive HD video taken outdoors with the E7. Vibrant colors jumped off the screen as I watched via the viewfinder and I was nearly reminded of the N8. Playback of this footage on my Mac revealed audio capture that maintained depth in my spoken words despite a strong background wind. However, despite the great video recording, there was still no denying the setback of taking pictures without autofocus. Zooming to maximum limits seemed to produce favorable results indoors, but the fact that I had to go to this length proved inefficiency in the greatest manner for me. In that regard, the camera was barely passable at best. Another inconvenience I encountered involved having to repurchase Gravity and JoikuSpot Premium. I did not know if a recent software update had changed things with the OS or if I had been away from Symbian too long after the N8, but that was discouraging. In the Ovi Store, a general search for "joikuspot" produced no matching results and Gravity was not shown as previously purchased. I paid the $10USD again to get Gravity and bought JoikuSpot from its official site per suggestion of a Twitter contact. Despite the existence of a larger screen, there was still an absence of a portrait qwerty. However, this was not really a deal breaker since I could get used to using T9 like I had done on the N8. While Swype was available, it was only good for landscape qwerty which was unnecessary for me on the E7.

GPS remained reliable and fast for capturing positioning with Ovi Maps navigation, but Sports Tracker did show slight inaccuracy in recording mileage for my outside runs. While pocketing it for my runs, the bigger size posed no problem like the Inspire 4G. In comparison to the Atrix, unlocking the E7 screen was much more simple and convenient with the lock switch to view Sports Tracker progress.

Voice call quality was stellar with the second mic handling noise cancellation, and speakerphone calls were sufficient with plenty of volume. I even developed an appreciation for the wired headset.

The mono speaker gave a suitable listening experience for my multimedia files. Very little tinny feedback was sensed from my music library even in higher volume levels. Sitting the phone on a flat surface did pose a risk of sound muffling.

Signal reception on the AT&T 3G network was strong, just like on the N8, and I was once again impressed by having pentaband 3G. If I actually owned this E7 and wanted to switch from my current carrier to TMobile, I would have no trouble connecting to its 3G data!

The 1200mAh battery could grant about a day's worth of usage, but could easily require charging by early evening. Taking many voice calls through the day along with web browsing, watching movies, and listening to music via bluetooth could put a strain on the device if I was not careful.

Just like on the N8, having a LED charging indicator was convenient in determining whether the battery was fully charged.

One feature I was extremely glad to see come back was the torch function with the dual LED camera flash. The N8's Xenon prevented this feature from happening, but the E7 enabled it with a long press on the lock switch.

Vlingo was thoroughly useful in offering speech-to-text capability on the E7 and was handy in composing SMS on the go. Overall, I did not feel that it was as smooth as speech-to-text functions on the Inspire 4G or Atrix 4G.

I was thoroughly shocked by the improvement made to overall stability on the Nokia Social app! There was no sign of login errors or interface freezing, so I finally had a worthwhile alternative to the well-known Gravity application for social networking activities.

One crucial part of the E7 experience I had always taken for granted was the wired headset. With the Nokia BH-905i (also on loan from WomWorld), this was not a big issue, but with the Atrix and Inspire models it most certainly was. I noticed these two Android phones had no wired headsets packaged inside their boxes, so I was left with trying to use my own Sony headphones with inline mic/remote. Of course, using the mic with any of them proved unsuccessful, so I was left with only the speakerphone, earpiece, or a newer set of bluetooth headphones. My Sony DR-BT50 model was good for music, but was truly lackluster in voice call quality. This was where the wired in-ear headset became a dependable backup for me in being able to listen to music and still take calls efficiently while on-the-go. As terrific as the BH-905i unit was for its purpose, it seemed best suited for an environment where I would be sitting down for a while. No matter what Nokia model I ended up with, I could always be rest assured that a pair of wired headphones with at least a mic/call button would be in the box. With a high-end model like the E7, it was great to see Nokia still include this component when other manufacturers deemed it necessary to do otherwise.

Quickoffice worked like a charm on the E7 for the most part, but the spell check function was useless. Once I was forwarded to the Quickoffice mobile site to download the software for US English, there was a pop-up stating it was incompatible with the E7. After downloading it anyway, I was a bit surprised to find that it did not work. Each time I selected the feature, the word doc would disappear and I had to reopen it again. Strange. To make the situation even more peculiar, the spell check function eventually disappeared from the drop-down menu altogether! Was this a sign of the E7 exercising some self-preservation? As with previous iterations of onboard document editors, sluggish performance did affect Quickoffice once I reached approximately 1500 words in one document. Overall, I still liked the app, especially with its updated user interface.

NOTE: A recent software update to version 014.002 was released in the midst of this review. Though minor at 907kB, I did notice a slight increase in speed with the S3 UI on the phone. All of my apps and settings were left intact and I only had to restart a sync of my Google calendar and contacts via MfE.

There were two freezes experienced on the E7 in one week, and I learned to initiate a reboot by holding down the menu and power keys at the same time.

Basically, aside from the larger screen and form factor, sliding keyboard, lack of camera autofocus and microSD card slot, the E7 provided the same experience for me as the N8...actually a better experience. As a Symbian fan, I certainly did come to appreciate OS perks on hardware that could be considered Communicator-worthy in my eyes. In fact, I would go as far as to say that the E7 trumped the E90 for me with its combination of touch OS and sufficient tactile keyboarding. While its sliding form factor may not have been able to fully defeat the qwerty bar, I had to admit one concern that emerged my daily usage. Sliding open the qwerty on the smooth, metallic body posed a risk of dropping the E7, and I was initially worried when standing on a hard surface. Typing with the keypad was a joy and I had no problem reaching fast speeds with thumbs on the button layout. Even the tilt of the screen added viewing convenience when I typed in bed by holding the device above my chest as I laid on my back. Slight interference in comfortable typing came from when the microUSB port was occupied, but that was to be expected. With a spacious display and capable keyboard, one could promptly stay connected through everyday forms of correspondence. I really appreciated the multitasking capability of S3 with my daily usage and found it to be more visually appealing than my Atrix smartphone.

While I did not have a HDMI cable at home, there was one handy at the Nokia blogger room at CTIA! With the E7 HDMI OTG adapter, I was able to connect the phone with no trouble to the Samsung big screen and have the Symbian S3 UI reflected therein. Upon trying out the HDMI OTG feature, I found it to be quite impressive in granting a worthwhile multimedia experience on the television. Overall playback quality was indeed very good with amazing sound feedback. An interesting thing I noticed on the E7 screen was that a remote function was activated similar to the Motorola Atrix. As the film played on TV, the phone displayed the film title along with volume and playback controls and soft commands for “Details” and “Back”. Responsiveness of the UI was quick in navigating to different spots in the film via the progress bar, but with a slight delay in the resuming of audio. Unfortunately, there was no way to change the aspect ratio of the video in the HDMI OTG mode. For navigating the S3 interface, touch response was very good, but I did have a bit of lag in the first time I activated an Angry Birds game. This worked itself out in under a minute and I was able to resume normal game play.

Using the E7 also reminded me of the privilege of having an unlocked device in comparison to my Atrix locked to the AT&T network. In the early hours of one morning, I was writing additional content to to this blogpost via Quickoffice and saw a suggestion on Gravity to try the Picsel Smart application since I had mentioned trouble with the spell check feature. I had no idea of the upcoming adventure I was about to get myself into. Once again, Ovi Store proved useless when I did a general search for "picsel smart" or even "word document editor" with E7. I ended up wasting about 25 minutes on the horrible and sluggish S3 default web browser to find a download link for Picsel Smart. In a fit of frustration, I immediately decided to download Opera Mobile and resume my search. After about 5 minutes on the reliable and fast Opera browser, I FINALLY was able to download Picsel Smart...only to find out I hated its text execution in comparison to Quickoffice! While I was initially challenged to find patience in that situation, I was at least fortunate to have the freedom to download an app outside of the Ovi Store! I could only imagine the potential heartache if the E7 had been locked to download apps from only the Ovi Store which apparently didn't have Picsel Smart OR JoikuSpot available. This brought me back to my Atrix 4G being locked to the Android Marketplace for app downloads, and I once again understood the importance of rooting devices. Rooting or hacking was never primarily about breaking rules, but about giving end-users the freedom to use a device to its full potential even if a carrier thought otherwise. At that moment, I was proud to have an unlocked device in my hand once again.

For the most part, the E7 did turn out to be a worthwhile device that took hardware features a step further from the N8 with a 4inch ClearBlack display and sliding qwerty. The cons mentioned earlier were eventually tolerated for the sake of those two elements alone. There was no doubt that I had finally found a writing companion for my blogposts and emails, and I did not want to part with it. I could seriously consider buying one of my own as a back up to my Atrix 4G, but not as my main device due to such strong ties to the Android OS. As a Symbian user, the E7 was most definitely as close to perfect as phone could ever get for me. With Nokia's recent announcement of a partnership with Microsoft, I believed E7 to be the last great bastian of Symbian's prowess. Despite my reluctance to adopt Symbian as my primary OS over Android, I was nonetheless grateful to WomWorld Nokia for giving me the opportunity to review such a mobile marvel.

Trent Smith, blogger
Sent from my Nokia E7
http://about.me/trentsense/bio

Motorola Atrix 4G HD test footage

2011-03-13T17:32:00.002-04:00

Nokia E7 HD test footage

2011-03-13T17:32:00.001-04:00

Nokia E7 Unboxing from WomWorld Nokia

2011-03-12T06:15:00.002-05:00

Words could never express my gratitude to WomWorld for giving me an opportunity to finally review the Nokia E7! After so many months of delays, I now am sitting here with a SILVER unit that practically matches my own MacBook Aluminum. While I typically go crazy for any mobile tech unboxing I encounter, there is a special reason for me to be even more so at this point. WomWorld Nokia actually put forth the effort to send me an E7 review unit with a package sleeve signed by CEO Stephen Elop AND printed with a phone image depicting my online name, website, and previous quote made about the E7!! How amazing is that?! To make things even better, I have also been invited by WomWorld Nokia to attend the upcoming CTIA Wireless event in Orlando, Florida!

I am not sure if this is day two or three, but I am working to complete my official YouTube unboxing video as I continue to spend time with this device and record findings via QuickOffice. So far, my impressions are very positive for the build quality of the E7 being extremely solid with its sliding qwerty mechanism and metallic body. I cannot help but be reminded of the legendary E90 every time I use Symbian on this phone, and it is indeed a great feeling! As much as I tend to be partial to Android and my latest Atrix phone, the E7 easily beats it in terms of hardware craftsmanship and video playback capabilities thus far. Being back with an onboard keyboard versus a separate laptop dock does indeed remind me of the joy I get from being able to write on-the-go at a moments notice! Speaking of writing, the E7 keyboard is very sufficient for speedy thumb typing. There is a right amount of balance between a soft key press and clicky sensation that grant adequate feedback for me. Instead of the E90, I am reminded of the HTC Touch Pro 2 as I type this blogpost right now.

The only challenge that still manages to irritate me since the E5 is the fixed focus camera. I shall elaborate more on that in my upcoming review, and hope that between now and then I can get used to being without autofocus.

With all that said, I am looking forward to taking on other apps such as Ovi Maps Navigation and Sports Tracker as my duration of this WomWorld review period continues! Thanks again to WomWorld Nokia for this amazing opportunity, for I almost thought it would never come.

In the meantime, all of you take care and stay safe!

Trent Smith, blogger
Sent from my Nokia E7
http://about.me/trentsense/bio

Another Bluetooth Headphone Search

2011-03-11T19:03:00.002-05:00

Since 2009, I had been reliant on the bluetooth headphone after purchasing the Sony DR-BT50 model from a local Apple Store. Listening to music via a wireless connection was useful on the go and also satisfied my desire for geeky gadgetry. Taking voice calls via a built-in microphone was another benefit of added convenience, but there was a slight problem with my Sony headphones. Mic placement on the side of one earpiece made for a horrible calling experience. People on the other end complained of hearing too much ambient noise when I was in public surroundings. Even in the silence of my own home, that same microphone seemed to never be able to improve in providing a clear listening experience. After a while of looking into other models, the secure fit and unique design which fostered noise isolation convinced me to keep the headphones and use them for music playback only. Spending over $250 at the time for this product when it could not fully satisfy my needs was indeed a mistake, but we live and learn. Over the months, I was relatively happy with the Sony DR-BT50 even though it mostly stayed packed in my laptop bag. Taking it out for occasional and eventually rare use turned into a novelty as I put my trust into wired models with integrated mics and remotes. Then came the recent Android smartphones on AT&T.

The HTC Inspire 4G and Motorola Atrix 4G both had a similar quality: no included headphones. While I could understand the manufacturer's decision, I had certainly been spoiled by Samsung with the Captivate and Focus being packaged with capable earbuds I used for music and voice calls. Faced with the prospect of using a pair of my own wired headphones coupled with a remote/mic, I gave a try to both the Inspire and Atrix. This wired model, the Sony DR-EX300, ended in the same result for both: audio playback on earbuds, but no functionality on the remote control or microphone. While I could tolerate this on the Inspire, the Atrix presented a different problem with its laptop dock.

It was clear to me that a bluetooth headphone set capable of suitable voice calls in addition to media playback was of paramount importance when the Atrix was placed in the laptop dock. Incoming calls automatically came in via speakerphone, and this was of course an inconvenience in public areas. Even when I was at home and did not mind using the speaker, I found that it, too, was not reliable for a clear calling experience. At that point, my only alternative was to decline incoming calls and return them once I removed the Atrix from the dock. In order to continue an acceptable and more efficient usage experience with this laptop dock, I would have to face another search for bluetooth headphones.

Out of curiosity, I looked into the Nokia BH-905i model which cost a pretty penny at around $300! Equipped with multiple microphones for active noise cancellation along with an option for a wired connection, I figured it was probably worth the retail cost. Luckily, I ran into a WomWorld contact on Twitter who informed me of a set that could be sent to me for review. Once the package arrived from DHL, I was immediately impressed by the well-built leather case that housed all the components. It was certainly sturdy and offered much protection to everything inside, but did not seem portable enough to comfortably store into a laptop bag. Upon unzipping the main case, there was a smaller secondary case that held the adapters, charger, and cords. This was then embraced by the padded headband of BH-905i unit. As to be expected from Nokia, first glance of this device quickly gave a posh, high-class impression of build quality. The outermost part of each earpiece was adorned in a combination of brushed metal and polished chrome, and headband adjustment was performed with smooth movement instead of clunky clicks. I noticed the 2.5mm charging port, wired connection port, and the switch for Active Noise Cancellation. One element that did not impress me was the build of the earpiece that would come in contact with my ears. Instead of employing a cup design found on models for noise isolation, there was a flat area of netting covering the earphone ports. This worried me in not being able to sufficiently shield my music from surrounding people even though ANC would shield them from me. Bluetooth pairing occurred without a problem after I charged the headphones, and I was soon playing music from my Atrix. Audio quality was very good, and I was thoroughly impressed with the ANC function being able to block out my Bose entertainment center as I sat in my living room with the TV at high volume! Music and volume controls worked as expected on the right earpiece, and pressing the central button activated what seemed to be multiple settings for preset EQ. Unfortunately, the magic of the honeymoon period began to wane as soon as a family member confirmed my worst fear: volume leakage from my own music. While this may not have been enough to sour my experience with the BH-905i, another con emerged in regards to the overall fit from the earpieces and headband. Despite the cushioning, there was no adequate traction to keep the Nokias secure onto my head. Simply bending forward to gather laundry from a basket caused a slight sliding movement that forced me to eventually slide the headband back in place. If left unattended, the earpieces would then slide out of place as well. Unless I was planning to be completely still in listening to my music, this did not bode well for this high-priced offering from Nokia. Voice calls sounded clear with vivid feedback for the most part along with music, and the unique earpiece cushions provided much comfort for prolonged listening. The BH-905i was a bust for me, and it was time to move back to the drawing board.

Upon going online to read a number of user reviews from the Apple Store, I narrowed down my choice to the Sennheiser MM400 and Plantronics BackBeat 903+. After reading more reviews and watching videos and spending almost 45 minutes of private debate at the Apple Store, Plantronics lost to Sennheiser due to its behind-the-ear hook design. I recalled a pair of V-Modas that came with plastic hooks to keep the cords secure behind the ears, and it was the most uncomfortable and irritating experience yet! Another factor to consider was the Plantronics earbud design not offering as much noise isolation as the Sennheiser cup design. Having to potentially deal with outside noise did not sound promising, especially in addition to an irritating behind-the-ear hook and a wire behind my neck. Despite the higher price of the Sennheiser model being at $270 versus $100 for Plantronics, I walked out of the Apple Store with it in a bag with a printed receipt. With its ear-cup design and cushioned headband being similar to the Sony DR-BT50, I was confident I had made the right decision.

Once I opened the packaging, everything seemed on par with the Nokia BH-905i model from the plethora of power adapters, optional wire connection, and the included casing. First thing that came to mind as I held the headphones in my hand was the lesser build quality in comparison to Nokia. Sennheiser did not appear to have put in the same amount of care in designing its MM400 model, for it at times felt like a loose handful of flimsy plastic with random cushioning. While that certainly was what it was intended to be with included components, the impression of cheap craftsmanship that I sensed sadly kept it from being more than that. Despite the slight opposition I had to the build, I favored the simple arrangement of the power/call, volume, and music track commands on the outside of the right earpiece. As another positive, the flimsy sense of the MM400's lightweight body did seem to be more geared to portability for easy carrying within the slim zip case. Upon first charge of the battery, I found it interesting that one could remove it completely from the left earpiece. This surely gave Sennheiser the upper-hand in granting consumers a user-replaceable battery. Like with most headsets, bluetooth linking was simple and I was listening to music from my Atrix phone with no problem. At first listen, audio quality sounded like it was on the same level as the Sony DR-BT50 if not as good as the Nokia BH-905i. Voice calls sounded acceptable, especially more so than what was offered by Sony's side-mounted microphone. Even though there was no active noise cancellation, I thought I could live without that feature and rely on the earpiece design for noise isolation.

Overall, I figured I was on the right track with the Sennheiser...I was wrong. One evening at Panera Bread proved to be the moment of revelation for me. After about an hour of music, my ears exhibited slight soreness, and the headband cushions did nothing to lessen the discomfort on my head. After multiple attempts to shift the earpieces and the headband, I ended up tolerating the fit for the remainder of my time at the restaurant. In addition to this, the noise isolation was not sufficient in comparison to the Sony model which surrounded my entire ear. It was at this time that I began to miss the active noise cancellation option on the Nokia alternative.

Despite my previous complaints on the BH-905i, I gave it another try once I had received the Nokia E7 review unit from WomWorld Nokia...and I was blown away! Voice calls made with the E7 were very clear, and one caller did even realize I was on a headset! This same caller even mentioned that the Nokia was certainly much better than Sennheiser in overall call quality due to less interference. I also noticed that there was not really a hint of a faint background hiss in the midst of my calls. Whether this was a product of the BH-905i playing nice with a new phone of the same brand, I liked the result nonetheless! Additional benefits from the Nokia included increased comfort for prolonged wear from adequate cushioning. In nearly two hours of music playback, no soreness was felt at all either on my head or my ears. When public surroundings became a bit too intrusive, switching on the active noise cancellation saved the day! Upon reading specs on the Nokia USA site, I was comforted to find the even if the battery went out I could still control music and calls via a wired connection without ANC! In the instance of one day, the Sennheiser unit was returned to the Apple Store and I would eventually use those funds to buy my own Nokia BH-905i headset upon returning the review unit to WomWorld Nokia!!

--
Trentonn Smith, Blogger/Netcast host
Sent from my MacBook Aluminum
http://about.me/trentsense/bio

Why I Chose the Atrix Laptop Dock

2011-02-26T00:40:00.001-05:00

Since the release of the Atrix laptop dock bundle, there has been much debate as to the usefulness of this accessory to the latest Motorola smartphone. Reading Engadget reviews speaking of sluggish performance and Tweets about wasted functionality did shake my confidence in the dock, but I purchased it nonetheless.

In the midst of the honeymoon period I'm more than happy to carry a small netbook bag to tote the laptop dock. However, I admit that with time there is a chance this could get old after a while. In lieu of this, there is no denying that I am caught between a rock and a hard place in yearning for a hardware qwerty keyboard.

The fact of the matter is that there is hardly any GSM 4 inch screen Android with an onboard qwerty, so I've had to rely on peripherals like Freedom Pro. While it did come in handy, it felt limited and incomplete since the driver didn't support all the keys on the keyboard. Despite this, I still would have chosen that over spending money for the laptop dock. However, both the Inspire and Atrix proved to be incapable of fully connecting to the Freedom Pro, leaving me stuck without a hardware qwerty alternative yet again on Android. Waiting for the Nokia E7 could have been another solution as well, but time simply ran out on that option after endless delays. Even if I did get my hands on that Communicator successor, using Symbian S^3 would have only satisfied me but so much until boredom set in. At the end of the day, I prefer Android, and relying on virtual qwerty choices would not last long in my urge for prolonged writing.

The laptop dock isn't the most practical solution, but it's one that's seamless and works like it should with Atrix. Similar to the custom docks for the Nexus One in months past, Motorola has blessed this phone with an ecosystem of its own accessories. Call me crazy or old-fashioned, but I am more attracted to the allure of this kind of cohesive system over a gathering of different peripherals that may or may not work. Despite past misgivings about its Milestone device, Motorola certainly caught my attention with the shining examples of extended functionality at CES with the Atrix and its many docks. Upon seeing an online promo video from YouTube demonstrating the numerous functions performed with the Atrix system, I knew that I was hooked immediately.

There was a time when I did find satisfaction from building my own setup and even figuring out how to make it operate when necessary, but that has passed for me. In my quest for efficiency and peace of mind, I have practically lost all will to hack, root, or whatever other term is being used these days for such activity. I have reached a point where I just want things to work out of the box without me having to do too much thinking. Honestly, I may be considered just a couple steps away from getting an iPhone, but there's hardly a viable option for me outside of Android.

In regards to the retail costs, it's a matter of picking your poison. I can truthfully admit that the $500 charge for the laptop dock alone is simply ludicrous, which is why I jumped at the chance to get the more reasonable bundle for the same price. Since I was not eligible for a full upgrade yet, I was granted the early upgrade pricing. Either way, everything still worked itself out with my exchange of the Inspire 4G. I was already paying $20 for data overage charges on AT&T, so I didn't mind going for the peace of mind with the tethering add-on. Yes, I could take my MacBook and tether it to an unlocked phone without paying extra to AT&T, but it is connected as a desktop unit to an external monitor and I'd rather leave it at home for when I'm doing simple word doc editing on the go. Anything more than that such as video editing is done at home anyway, and the laptop dock proves to be a viable alternative for me in this regard. On top of not wishing to move my MacBook, there's also the potential of going over the 2GB data cap for a third month in a row.

Being an Android user who prefers a hardware qwerty has been quite a challenge over the years since I first laid eyes on the Nexus One. While I found solace at one point with the Samsung Captivate and Freedom Pro keyboard, it was only temporary as I soon found myself detesting TouchWiz. Disenchanted with the Android lineup of products at the time, I turned to the likes of Windows Phone 7 and even reunited with Symbian S60 3rd edition for a short stint with a hardware qwerty device. But no matter how far I ran from Android, I could not ignore the fact that it still remained the most functional and favored OS of all time for my own personal usage. Upon making a comeback with the HTC Inspire 4G, I was disappointed to find out my Freedom Pro bluetooth keyboard would not work with it. This same fate fell upon me with the Atrix 4G as well, but the laptop dock was there to redeem me in the best way possible. A touchscreen phone can have a million features bundled with it, but my yearning for hardware keys would only grow stronger and lead to an eventual dislike of it. I am glad that Motorola has at least found a way to make it harder for me to dislike or get bored with its latest device!

After 2 days so far, I learned there are so many reasons as to why I should not get the laptop dock, but there are some as to why I should. Peace of mind and personal satisfaction comes to mind for me at this moment. While a multimedia buff may not take a liking to flash video playback, I can say that for right now it works for my own personal needs in writing word documents on a bigger screen and full keyboard without unplugging my Mac from home. True, this is not perfect and certainly shows a few faults here and there, but it is the closest thing to perfect that I've got with Android...for now.

--
Trentonn Smith, Blogger/Netcast host
Sent from my Motorola Atrix via laptop dock
http://about.me/trentsense/bio

Punished for Lacking Common Sense

2011-02-25T17:14:00.001-05:00

All had been going well with the Atrix 4G and the laptop dock accessory in the first few days, and I had absolutely no regrets in making the purchase or adding tethering to my wireless plan. However, I did run into my first problem with the laptop dock: while inside Panera Bread and not connected to any WiFi networks, I docked the Atrix and was shocked to have no data connection to use Webtop apps. Each time I clicked on the Facebook webtop app or the Firefox browser icon, error messages would appear on windows suggesting that I sign up for an appropriate data plan or find WiFi. But I had already added the data+tethering feature not too long ago onto my own account, so that should not have been an issue. Not knowing what to make of the situation, I shut the laptop dock and disconnected my Atrix to check the hotspot feature. To my surprise, an error message appeared basically stating I was not approved for its usage. Upon seeing once again the suggestion to call 611 directly to AT&T customer service, I had resigned myself to doing just that.

After a couple minutes of being on hold, a rep finally connected with me and did the usual identification clearance. As I expected, a few minutes into the call revealed she didn't know much about the laptop dock at all when I explained my situation. She actually thought it was a separate computer, but I only figured it was due to the Atrix and the dock being so new to the network. She then mentioned that she would have to connect me to a next-level suppport rep and then asked to put me on hold. While I was tempted to hang up and drive myself to the nearest AT&T store, I stayed on the line and maintained patience. That was a mistake.

After going through another ID validation and explaining my situation for the second time, the next-level rep verified that I did have the appropriate data+tethering plan on my account. Once I stated that I was in an area with a strong AT&T signal, that was when I heard the one question that smashed all hope for a solution: "Does your computer have built-in wireless?" I had already explained to her that the laptop dock was an accessory dependent on the phone and not a separate computer!! When I had reminded her of this, she apologized and stated the device was so new to AT&T. At that moment, I got straight to the point and said I preferred to drive to a local AT&T corporate store and speak to someone in person.

Once the phone interaction was brought to a close, I resorted to turning the Atrix off and back on again. As luck would have it, EVERYTHING worked properly with the hotspot feature as well as the Webtop apps and Firefox browser! That was when I could have kicked myself if I had the chance! One of the first rules of troubleshooting that I had followed many times in the past with other phones was the standard power off/on, and I didn't follow it with the Atrix! Honestly, the amount of time wasted with AT&T customer service could then be considered a well-deserved punishment for my transgression.

After accepting this, I simply continued with my day at Panera Bread doing what I do best: indulging in mobile technology. By the way, this entire blogpost was written on Docs-To-Go via the laptop doc in fullscreen Mobile View and then copied/pasted into the Gmail on the same. I LOVE THIS ATRIX!!!

Trent Smith, blogger
Sent from my Motorola Atrix
http://about.me/trentsense/bio

Samsung Focus review

2011-02-13T19:14:00.002-05:00

After tolerating boredom with laggy TouchWiz and faulty GPS on the Samsung Captivate, I was ready for something different. Unfortunately, I seemed stuck due to a shortage of comparable Android devices that could sufficiently replace it with little to no compromises. It was out of curiosity that I decided to take a chance on a different OS recently created by Microsoft, Windows Phone 7. Upon taking a glance at a few new models on this platform at the AT&T store, I was naturally drawn to the 4inch SuperAMOLED display on the Focus. Both the LG Quantum and HTC Surround had displays much too small for consideration, and having to disregard the LG's hardware qwerty did sting a little bit. Switching from the Captivate to the Focus seemed like a more sensible and potentially lateral move since both were Samsung-branded. Once I held the familiar form factor in my hand, I was IMMEDIATELY impressed by the responsive touch feedback from WP7! While Captivate's TouchWiz had exhibited a slight lag even out of the box, the Focus was devoid of such phenomenon. In fact, touch typing was so reliable for fast thumb activity that I did not lose a beat even in using word completion on the new Office app! It was almost hard to believe that this was another Samsung phone with a new OS left untouched by some ungodly interface overlay mutilation. It was only from those moments in swiping over vivid Start Menu graphics and proficiently tapping on a sufficient virtual qwerty that I decided to exchange my Captivate device, and I initially had no qualms about it.

At first glance, the Focus was a close cousin to the Captivate. Form factor dimensions were almost the same aside from rounded corners and increased plastic. The inclusion of chrome on the sides and top was a nice touch, but did not match the refinement (if any at all) of the Captivate's metal battery door. It of course had a lighter weight with its composition, thus feeling a bit cheaper especially when it would vibrate. The glossy surface of the battery door attracted plenty of smudges and fingerprints, but was not bothersome to me. It was great to see a LED flash with a HD-capable camera as well as a physical shutter button. Even though it appeared similar to the Captivate, a part of me sometimes thought it a tiny bit taller and thinner.

From the first time I turned on the Focus at home, I was pleased to see that the speedy feedback of the OS was not a marketing ploy applied to demo units to draw in customers. On top of that, I appreciated the simplified design of the coloful tiling on the Start Menu. From the large font to the slight touches of animation to certain tiles, I could understand why Microsoft would market WP7 as a highly efficient platform. However, I did not think it was that much different than any other competing model in regards to fostering a phone that would "save us from our phones". While the Start Menu did offer a one-glance convenience, alerts from incoming messages and app occurrences still seemed to operate on the same level as the Active Standby mode of Symbian. The presence of AT&T app tiles was a sore spot, but it was good to know these could be removed quite easily (same proved true for removing these apps from the app listing altogether). Once a tile was selected, I could appreciate the swift animation of all other tiles moving away in a page turning motion before the chosen tile followed suit. Other slight touches added more character to the OS: an emoticon on the Messaging tile changing with incoming SMS, fading profile pictures of contacts on the People tile, artist image on Music+Video tile changing according to the current track. This all showed an unexpected sense of style and artistry on the part of Microsoft, and my introduction to WP7 was officially a good one. I was fully aware of the cons that were in store for me in adopting the Focus: lack of copy/paste, voice guided turn-by-turn navigation, multitasking, standard SD card support, and USB mass storage. Despite those downsides, I was still intrigued by Microsoft's resurrection from Windows Mobile and figured they would not be too intolerable during the review period.

It turned out that I spoke too soon on those potential deal breakers, for they did end up putting a damper on my time spent with Windows Phone 7. Having no copy/paste function or multitasking only served as a minor nuisance that could be easily overlooked for the sake of tolerance. Even using Bing Maps for GPS navigation was not too bad without audible turn-by-turn, but lack of USB mass storage resulted in a most horrible experience for me: Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac. Being forced to use software for multimedia transfer to my Focus was expected to be just like using iTunes for my iPods, so I initially had no problem with it. However, effects on video and music content possibly caused by the program left me unimpressed. Imported videos of all resolutions were affected by excess graininess on playback, and ONLY MP3s were supported by the music app. Every time the app encountered a non-MP3, it would simply skip over it and display a pop-up error. I found this puzzling since the Focus was documented to support multiple audio formats out of the box, but nothing could be done to fix the problem. I wondered if PC owners encountered the same phenomena in using the default syncing app. As for watching synced videos, I was extremely disappointed in the grainy appearance that detracted from the SuperAMOLED display. Quite frankly, being limited in the video viewing experience had wasted Samsung's iconic screen technology to a certain extent. It may have been a side-effect only noticeable in person and not on footage recorded for my video review, but it was there nonetheless. Next was the SD card situation where WP7 did not officially support it, yet the Focus left the factory with a slot anyway. Warnings to never use this card slot were boldly advertised on the phone with a sticker on the slot itself and printed text on plastic packaging. It turned out that any installed card would simply become infused with the Focus's internal memory, causing severe damage if ever removed. When all these factors added up, I realized I was truly eager to go with another OS as soon as possible. As much as I could try and be patient and positive for the benefits of WP7 and its upcoming updates, it simply was not an OS that was ready for my own personal usage.

Audio quality provided a mixed bag of results for me. I was very impressed by the earpiece for voice calls in granting ample volume and clarity, and a family member noticed a definite difference from using my Captivate in the past. While the loudspeaker was passable for speakerphone calls and speech recognition results, media suffered from tinny feedback and slight distortion in upper volume levels. Although passable for the most part, the listening experience for movies and music still missed the vivid and bolder sound from Captivate. Even though stock in-ear headphones were sufficient, there was a difference noticed from the set bundled with its Android cousin: an additional volume rocker key on the corded remote.

Signal reception was on the same level as most phones I had used within the AT&T 3G network.

Battery life granted me at least a full day of usage with my typical activity.

GPS was fairly reliable for the most part when used with either Bing Maps or a tracker app called RunSatFree that I found from Marketplace. Signal lock occurred quickly, but there were rare moments in a road trip when it did get lost. This could have been attributed to going from 3G to EDGE in rural areas on the highway.

Due to its muted color graphics and lack of audible turn-by-turn navigation, Bing Maps seemed only okay in comparison to alternatives from Symbian and Android. While I did like the fading of street names in pinching and zooming, the listing method for directions in navigation mode felt clunky and primitive. Hopefully, it would not take long for an update to improve this application.

An interesting feature was speech recognition activated from holding down the Start Menu key. This could be used to initiate a web search, open an application, or locate a destination. Results could be hit or miss at times, so I hardly used it.

Office Mobile was definitely what I had been looking forward to on the Focus, especially with the amazing touch feedback of the virtual qwerty. Editing features were acceptable for the new OS and were easy enough to figure out. What I found strange was the virtual qwerty not getting any wider in landscape mode, but this was not a deal breaker. There was also welcomed convenience in doing a long press to access certain secondary characters. One Note was very useful in keeping memos on the go, and there was even support for audio notations as well. Unfortunately, I did not take the time to look into SharePoint. As much as I liked the typing experience, I still could not fight the yearning for a hardware keyboard.

Despite its despicable lack of support for anything other than MP3 audio tracks, the WP7 Music app had a unique appearance with large fonts. Turning on a feature called the Zune experience linked the app to online data to display an artist bio and background photo. Whenever this picture was available for a currently playing artist, it would also be shown on the Music+Video tile on the Start Menu. A useful shortcut feature was a drop down taskbar to show a current track being played along with playback controls. Video playback was extremely basic and did not offer any aspect ratio changing at all. Despite the nice font and Zune data, the app did not feel intuitive in the way it operated. One particular headache was the search function also including Marketplace results along with my own music content.

A pleasant surprise from Windows Phone 7 was its support for my Google cloud account as well as Windows Live. The Focus flawlessly performed as a hub for my PIM data from both accounts, and managing entries on the People app for linking similar contacts was no problem. Taking time to manually enter contacts onto the Windows Live site proved to be worthwhile in getting an Android-like experience. Facebook integration was pretty impressive in how status updates were listed. A Start Menu tile dedicated to my own personal Windows Live account added another method for social networking via the cloud, Facebook, and Twitter.

The camera seemed like a benefit after tolerating the flash-less Captivate, but something else reared its ugly head. Default settings resulted in grainy pictures, so I took it upon myself to change settings. Unfortunately, once I found a specific set of changes to my liking, the camera could not save them. This was further exhibited in the camcorder app by the default being set to VGA, forcing me to change it to HD EACH time I activated it! This certainly took away from being able to take quick shots of decent quality. When I did implement settings changes, images were visually satisfying. HD video was passable, but not on the same level as the Captivate. The LED flash was sufficient overall, but had moments where it did seem a bit weak. I almost forgot to mention that the physical shutter button was a welcomed good point that allowed a long press quick start from Standby mode. As with the rest of the OS, the intuitive interface was quite nice to look at with readable fonts and smooth transitions.

My experience in the WP7 Marketplace occasionally suffered from sluggish navigation. An interface that sometimes seemed bogged down by excess eye candy was still nice to look at, yet not intuitive. Time and practice seemed like the only solution in this matter. Purchasing apps with my Windows Live account was trouble-free like alternatiives from Android, iOS, and Symbian.

Honestly, Windows Phone 7 was a huge achievement for Microsoft to go a step beyond Windows Mobile. Not only did it surpass that predecessor, but it also challenged current touch OS models as well. From its striking graphic design to its responsive qwerty, it was well on its way to making a name for itself as long as there was a demand for it. Even if current limitations were to hinder certain functions on a device, there was no doubt that upcoming updates would soon rectify that situation. Although those happened to be deal breakers for me in staying with the platform, most users were not said to have my taste in mobile devices anyway. Most likely, it appeared that WP7 could be a suitable for someone out there if not me.

Trent Smith
Sent from my Nokia E5
http://about.me/trentsense/bio

Nokia N8 impressions

2011-01-30T07:14:00.007-05:00

For a long while I had cursed the name of Symbian after the horrid experience of the 5th edition OS and became cautious of any Nokia software offerings. There was nothing to redeem the brand after having to tolerate the N97 debacle even if the mini was a slight improvement. However, as news spread about the N8's hardware in addition to its inclusion of Symbian S^3, I could not help but be tempted. Metallic elements combined with plastic, glass, and chrome components seen via online videos and pictures piqued my curiosity to see the device in person. This caught me by surprise since I initially was going to pass on the touch-only phone to wait for the qwerty slider E7. In addition to being a convenient excuse to play with a new toy, I also figured the N8 to be a great preview of hardware/software expectations from the upcoming E90 successor.

I could never stress enough on how amazing the hardware felt as I held it in my hand upon the unboxing. Flashbacks of the E90 and E71 came to mind as I spent time caressing every curve and straight line, but something was different about the N8. For the first time in a Nokia device, I could honestly say its physical refinement even surpassed the E90 AND E71! Distinct design cues gave an appearance undoubtedly derived from collective minds in Espoo, Finland, yet in a more modern interpretation from previous models. The footprint seemed similar to the Nexus One, albeit with additional thickness and possibly length from what I could recall of the Google flagship. A good amount of heft could be sensed in the palm of my hand and was at the perfect medium to convey worthwhile value in its retail cost. There was no doubt that every single penny spent by a potential buyer would not be wasted in any way in regards to the N8's hardware quality. Not one creak or flex was detected on the unit, and its overall presence was extremely solid.

Although my reception of the N8 was a most positive experience from a hardware perspective, I was still apprehensive of turning on the S^3 software. After the familiar vibration of pressing the power key, I waited for those famous hands to come in contact above the blue font of the company logo amidst the five-note jingle. I was struck with a bit of lowered expectation as a widgetized homescreen flashed before my eyes and reminded me of S60 5th edition. But within a few moments of swiping the three screens via the capacitive Gorilla glass, I was pleasantly surprised by the swift touch response. Simply going from resistive to capacitive provided a world of difference on its own, but feeling that S^3 was a faster OS was a great revelation.

First thing I set out to do was configure settings for Exchange in order to sync my Google data to the phone. Similar to my recent experience on the E72 and N97 mini, things were painless for the most part. However, the same headache in not being able to correspond via email on Exchange reared its ugly head on the N8. Nonetheless, checking and deleting emails was sufficient enough since I had no desire to do any lengthy writing with either the virtual qwerty or T9. Default HTML support was a pleasant surprise on the email app. Slight tweaks to the UI could have made for a slightly more efficient user experience, but lack of threaded emails was a considerable setback. Contacts and calendar entries appeared intact in their appropriate areas with no problem, and any changes or new additions made on the device were relatively quick in being synced to the Google cloud.

Returning to Ovi Store interface did not seem like a huge departure from what I remembered on S60 5th edition. I cannot say whether the app selection had improved, for I was only concerned with downloading familiar staples like Gravity, Accuweather, and Opera Mobile. While searching and buying apps could be done reliably, I could not help but feel hindered by the clunky interface. What I did like from the Ovi Store were the widget apps for certain tech blogs what were not available on Android: GSMArena, PhoneArena, Pocketnow, and AllAboutSymbian. However, I was not pleased to realize Engadget did not have a widget app for S^3...at least not yet. These widget apps may not have seemed to offer much at a glance, but they did provide a convenient shortcut to breaking mobile news without having to rely on a default browser that was not user friendly.

Surfing web on the default S^3 browser really was no different than S60 5th edition. Even though it did support flash, web page rendering and the speed at which it performed was still lacking in comparison to competing alternatives. Clunky and jerky scrolling along with outdated zooming controls over modern multi-touch commands enabled in the gallery app made for a forgettable user experience. Thankfully, a sufficient alternative was found in Opera Mobile from the Ovi Store.

Using the landscape virtual qwerty presented a problem for me on the N8. While I tried to rid myself of the comparisons to other touch OS alternatives as I typed on it, I could not help but do just that. Touch responsiveness was a bit lacking and led to my having to peck the keys with caution to prevent typos. Any attempt to gladly speed along with my thumbs was always thwarted by a mistake or the slower response. Swype was never considered to be a good choice for me even on Android, and my sentiment had remained the same once I tried it on the N8. Another letdown was the lack of a portrait qwerty on S^3! Having to use T9 was not a deal breaker by any means and was found to be quite convenient once I got used to it for short messages, but I still had reason to find fault with Nokia. With Opera Mobile being able to implement a portrait keyboard in its UI, I failed to understand why S^3 still did not have one. I could only hope that some future update would at least rectify that situation if not the touch response. Overall, I did get used to using the text entry methods just like on any device I had spent time with. While I still held on to a yearning for physical keyboards, I was sure a majority of users would be satisfied with what the N8 had to offer.

Tethering with JoikuSpot Premium was great for web access and worked reliably as expected. Having a hotspot from the N8 definitely came in handy for moments when I was left without wifi away from home.

Sound quality was passable for the most part on the mono speaker for media playback. However, there was a slight advantage given to the Captivate which tended to have a warmer and more vivid presence. The negative for the N8 in default mode was a hint of tinny feedback that caused the loudspeaker to suffer with multiple music genres. Of course, the included in-ear headphones provided adequate quality with warm sounds that did exhibit some Sony-like muddiness. As for the earpiece on voice calls, I was impressed with the clarity of callers on the other end. There was also ample volume for both the earpiece and speakerphone.

Signal reception on the phone for AT&T 3G was just as solid as previous Nokia devices.

Using GPS with Sports Tracker and Ovi Maps navigation was simply as reliable as with any other Nokia device I have used. Quick location locks occurring in seconds under clear skies and stable positioning throughout my running and driving excursions continued to prove the high standard I had expected. One great example was how the N8 became a trusty road warrior in the midst of a 14 hour drive from Norfolk, VA to Fort Lauderdale, FL for a family vacation! Never once did the N8 lose the GPS signal or exhibit any other malfunctions as it was constantly connected to a power source.

On another road trip in a vehicle lacking an AUX input, the FM transmitter certainly came in handy as an acceptable alternative for music playback.

Battery life was better than what I expected at granting 1.5 days on a full charge with my typical usage.

Unfortunately, I usually had no use for connecting my mobile device to a TV or external monitor and did not have a HDMI cable available at the time of the review. USB on-the-go would have been great to test out as well, but it was an oversight that was not realized until I had completed the final edit on my video review. Nonetheless, I was sure there were other online reviews that catered to those features.

The camera left me speechless...absolutely speechless. At 12 mega-pixels blessed with Carl Zeiss optics and a Xenon flash, this unit was undoubtedly the best standard I had ever witnessed in person. From resulting pictures and HD video, I could confidently declare the N8 to be a sufficient replacement to a dedicated digital camera. Equipped with dual microphones for stereo audio recording, video footage at 30fps was very smooth with well-rounded sound. I was really impressed with playback quality upon uploading a 4 minute test video to YouTube in the 720p MPEG4 format. Visuals in natural lighting to surroundings as well as my own face surpassed the Captivate in clarity and sharpness. There was no problem sensed in the syncing of video and audio, and the viewfinder exhibited no jerking. The 2-stage tactile shutter button was reliable and a welcomed departure from the irritating touch shutter on my Android device. Focusing and processing of captured images and videos tended to occur quickly and painlessly. Low light conditions were nothing to worry about since the Xenon did its job in illuminating everything properly with accurate colors. Going without LED flash meant no steady light for video shoots or flashlight apps, so I was not completely convinced of Xenon's superiority in that regard. The camera application's interface seemed to be just like the S60 5th edition version, but was somewhat intuitive and still performed with swift touch feedback.

Even though the 3.5 inch screen seemed to take a bit of getting used to after the Captivate, it really was not too bad for watching HD videos. My personal favorite already pre-installed was the Dog Days are Over music video by Florence + The Machine. Vibrant colors and movement on the N8 display were almost just as great as the Captivate's SuperAMOLED alternative, but I wondered if being at 4 inches could have improved the viewing experience for me.

Honestly, I was glad to have the chance to experience Nokia in a whole new light with the S^3 OS on the N8's impeccable hardware. After undoing preconceived notions from my experience with Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 7, it was only then that I was able to truly notice (and appreciate) OS improvements from 5th edition on the N97/N97 mini. Even though I had no plans to keep the N8 due to my hope for the inevitable E7 release, I certainly could not turn down the possibility of doing so if I had no other option.

--
Trentonn Smith, Blogger/Netcast host
Sent from my MacBook
http://about.me/trentsense/bio

Motorola Milestone impressions

2010-11-19T17:48:00.001-05:00

Upon first boot of the phone that was manufactured in Brazil, Spanish appeared onscreen to initiate setup. In a touch command on the lower right corner of the screen, I recognized the word "idioma" as "language" and figured "cambiar" meant "to change". All was smooth sailing from that point on with English.

HUGE problem: no access to data! I went into Settings and then "Mobile Network Settings", searched for available network operators and selected AT&T. Unfortunately, this did not work and I had to do a Google search. I found out I needed the APN settings to access data on my carrier and found the info on this site: http://androidforums.com/motorola-milestone/72103-t-apn-settings-milestone.html

Once I entered the information as a new APN and saved it, I was using 3G data on AT&T INSTANTLY!! However, I was unable to send and receive MMS messages. I failed when I tried to fix things by copying the APN settings of the Captivate, but I soon found a solution from the first entry on a forum site: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=188d18aef2815939&hl=en

Next thing was to try Google Navigation on the phone. I initially ran into trouble when the phone found it impossible to download a speech synthesis component from the Marketplace. After six unsuccessful attempts, I went to Google for help...only to see that the Moto finally got a download at the last minute! To my surprise and ultimate relief, Motonav was nowhere to be seen on the device as a default for turn-by-turn directions. I wondered if the absence of Motonav was a result of my replacing the default 8GB microSD card with my own 16GB, for I remembered reading from an online review that Motonav data was always stored on the stock cards for the device. But things made more sense when I noticed Motonav was nowhere to be found even in the apps drawer, yet Google Navigation was sitting there as if it had never left. I was simply glad to at least adopt this phone AFTER Motorola had possibly come to its senses and got rid of Motonav completely! As I expected, GPS performance with Google Navigation was PERFECT! Not one hangup on signal acquisition or any lagging on route progression. Memories of the Nexus One crept into my mind as I drove with the biggest grin on my face! The third party car dock did its job in securely holding the Milestone to the windshield and allowed access to the microUSB port on the side.

Now that I mentioned GPS, RunKeeper was definitely a stellar app on the phone! GPS signal locks occurred practically instantly as soon as I would activate the app outside my door and remained steady for the most part. There was one instance where the tracking route did have a random spike of inaccuracy, but I was still glad to not have a repeat of what I tolerated on the Captivate before it was hacked with Froyo 2.2. EVERY single run had results that were in relative proximity to my Nike+ results on my iPod Touch with a maximum difference of .30 miles, so I was quite pleased! A pleasant surprise was the high-resolution screen displaying a smooth and crisp picture of my path as it was being traced with more accuracy than even the hacked Captivate. I finally had an Android that could stand comparably to the Nexus One with CardioTrainer and the Nokias with Sports Tracker!

Taking time to download apps and customize desktop screens (which could go up to NINE) really warmed me up to the Milestone and began to free me from the Captivate. More features I had missed on the Samsung were revealed on the Milestone: physical shutter button, dual LED camera flash and a notification light. Being reunited with the Docs To Go app was simply a breath of fresh air with its revamped interface, and I immediately felt back at home with a zeal to write.

Build quality of the phone was very solid in the palm of my hand with no signs of creaking or bending. It had substantial weight and certainly felt its money's worth in overall retail value with a blending of soft touch and metallic textures. I could recall previous online reviews being critical of the blocky form factor, elongated chin, and golden accents, but I actually was not bothered by those elements. It was a pleasant departure for a change to not have a curvy model trying to reproduce the same aerodynamic quality of the Starship Enterprise. The hard lines and sharp corners could understandably give the unit a more tank-like, yet masculine look that was in close resemblance to the Nokia N900. I was mesmerized by the look of the rapid car charger with its futuristic appearance of the Motorola logo etched on a clear plastic disc. I was eager to see if there was a blue glowing effect on that clear surface once it was plugged in to my Honda CRV...a worthy upgrade from the typical green light on the Nokia charger I was already using. On the other hand, the headset was underwhelming with its cheap plastics and foam covered ear buds, not to mention the blocky mic/call button looking like a Starburst candy caught on the cord. I could only hope that my newly purchased Sony in-ear headphones (DR-EX300) with volume/music controls and microphone would be a suitable replacement (UPDATE: Sony model was unsuccessful in being more than just headphones). The slider was entirely manual with no mechanical assist in either direction, and I appreciated its simplicity. I was of the opinion that the latest models had possibly lost touch in trying to do too much in hinge and slider components, making parts potentially more susceptible to malfunction. At first glance a while back to that Droid in the Verizon store, the plastic membrane of the qwerty had turned me off and left a bad impression. In an era where separate buttons with ample feedback demonstrated high-quality, I was shocked that Motorola would go that route for its keyboard design. However, after lowering my expectations in the midst of being desperate for a HW qwerty Android device, I found it to not be too bad for regular typing. Even though the smaller keys being so close together would make thumbnail typing necessary like on the Nokia E71/72, I could make the best of it. In my situation, having a keyboard with stock Android and AT&T 3G access from a maker other than HTC was a great find. UPDATE: The qwerty was not really as great as I thought it could be for regular writing, especially when one had to rely on his thumbs and not his thumbnails. After nails were clipped, I had to depend on feeling out each key with my thumbs which resulted in increased typos. This probably would not have been an issue if the tops of the keys were at least rounded like the E71/72. Alas, the nightmare side of the flat membrane qwerty had reared its ugly head.

Media Gallery app was interesting with its CoverFlow-like execution, but I preferred the simple and more intuitive appearance of the familiar Gallery app with its floating thumbnails. The former's presentation over a default black background seemed too antiquated and dull in comparison to the graphically-superior alternative I was introduced to on the Nexus One. For the music player, it was back to the same default format for Android in the absence of TouchWiz. There was a CoverFlow display for navigating albums or artists in landscape mode, but I was not entirely impressed after having been spoiled by the Captivate UI for so long. Overall movement sometimes felt clunky along with album art looking muted (possibly due to lesser CPU and TFT screen). Nothing else really stood out about the player besides a lack of EQ settings, but there was a separate Audio Settings app on the phone. While watching an occasional YouTube video was not bad on the smaller TFT screen, full-length movies left a bit to be desired. There was an absence of vivid coloration that made the SuperAMOLED so great for Samsung, which turned out to be a weakness for the Milestone. Seeing anything over the average length of a YouTube video was a challenge.

The BIGGEST scare so far was the backlight dying out after an unexpected restart. I was worried when no sliding of the qwerty or touch of the capacitive keys below the screen could activate the backlight. I scrambled to do a Google search to find out if others had experienced the same situation, but found no reliable data. I turned off the device and powered it back on twice and STILL had no backlight. In desperation, I pulled out the battery with the phone still on and found that to be the grand solution.

As for voice calls, I was told by a friend that my vocal volume seemed lower and lacked crispness on the Milestone in comparison to the Captivate. During another call, an echoing problem started in the middle of the conversation and persisted until the end. This left a bad impression for a friend/iPhone owner who took the opportunity to gloat a little bit...that's what friends are for, I guess. Honestly, I did get a sense of better sound quality on the Samsung.

Speaking of sound quality, the stereo loudspeaker was sufficient in providing ample volume support for YouTube videos, games, and multimedia content. Although it did not have the same vivid feedback I recalled from N900 and E90, it was still appreciated nonetheless.

Not being able to hot swap microSD cards was not an issue for me since I hardly remove them once they are installed. I was satisfied as long as I continued to have access to it on my Mac via a USB connection. However, for anyone else, it could most certainly be an inconvenience to have to remove the battery let alone open the battery door at all.

The 5 megapixel autofocus camera was an expected downgrade, yet it granted use of a physical shutter button and dual LED flash. Resulting images appeared grainy in low-light settings even when the flash was used, so retakes were often a must. I figured the D1 video resolution was no different than the Nexus One, so I did not take the time to shoot any video. With this being an older device, I was sure there was another online review that included a sample video clip. The interface was intuitive and just about comparable to the Captivate.

Signal reception was no different than any other phone I've used on AT&T, which could be good or bad depending on dead zones.

Battery life was on par with the hacked Captivate for at least a full day of average use. Extensive voice calls, web surfing, media, and wifi did cause considerable drain toward the mid-afternoon. Overall, there was really no worry on my part since I tended to have the device connected either on my desk or in the car.

The car dock was indeed impressive in its own right since it was custom made for the Milestone, but it lacked the polish and high-end feel of what I could recall for the Nexus One. There was no integrated bluetooth speaker with tactile volume controls or a hidden mount port for the charging cable. Accompanying the Motorola was an empty plastic cradle with inner magnets to automatically affect the phone's screen orientation. Aside from the efficient one-button removal of the device from the dock, there was not anything else to be excited about...if there was anything at all. Despite its low-tech presentation, it at least provided free access to audio and charging ports. One could even slide open the hardware keyboard in landscape mode, but I found the virtual qwerty to be more natural and convenient on driving trips. In all truth, there was really no redeeming quality of the dock to warrant its superiority over a third party model. Spending even $15 for an outdated accessory on Amazon.com seemed like a waste in that regard. When it was apparent that Motorola lacked HTC's refinement in manufacturing custom items for its Android product, I returned the car dock and cancelled an order for the desktop dock.

Overall, the Motorola could not replace my Captivate as much as I would have liked it to. The hardware keyboard was great to have, until cutting my nails forced me to learn the hard way about the flattened keys of the membrane layout. The same reason that turned me off to the American Droid in the Verizon store a while back had come back to haunt me, and there was no denying it. At that moment, what I wanted in an Android phone was only a dream that had yet to come to fruition...if it ever did in my lifetime. Not only did I learn how much I adored my Captivate's hardware specs, but also how the Milestone was the worst way in which I could settle for a mobile device. Holding on to a tactile keyboard that was not even satisfactory was much worse than carrying multiple bluetooth items with my Captivate. No matter how much portability was granted by the qwerty slider, it did not measure up and needed to go.

--
Trentonn Smith, Blogger/Netcast host
Sent from my MacBook
trentsense.com
trentsensevideo.com

Milestone Move

2010-11-01T03:08:00.001-04:00

I made the decision to sell my Captivate to offset the cost of the Milestone review unit I kept for myself. It did not take much time to come to this conclusion after considering the alternatives to await a HW qwerty Android device. Having more patience for an unlocked Desire Z did not seem worth it, especially after I was underwhelmed by a friend's TMobile G2. Hoping for a 1GHz Android slider powerhouse with a 4inch display seemed more unlikely as time continued on, and my want for a keyboard only got stronger. At the end of the day, it was a matter of seizing the moment with the Milestone to be free from settling for something that was not right for me.

I finally found myself with a device that could grant me a pure Android OS experience without the potential complications and quirks of an interface overlay, and it would have been idiotic to pass it up. A part of me did believe there was increasing confusion in the Android industry for the average consumer. Fragmentation from different devices supporting either older or newer versions of Google's OS was made worse with companies wanting to create their own UI skins. It was as if everyone wanted to become Pharaoh and build the highest pyramid to attract more followers instead of working to support a more centralized and clean OS standard. While HTC Sense (and possibly TouchWiz) came out as a crucial benefit to Android for enhanced functionality, there were some atrocious failures that took away from stable efficiency and smooth performance. I believed that waiting for a future device would only expose me to more of this commotion that was unwarranted and quite frustrating. Having specialized widgets, unique touch commands, graphical eye candy, and other perks would not be a problem unless it bogged down the root OS itself...and the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 was a perfect example of this. Being able to take a break and go back to the root OS that I first fell in love with on the Nexus One sounded like a great idea, and this Moto model could offer that out of the box with no hacking necessary.

Yes, there were cons to consider in downgrading to a Milestone, but most of those were subjective and probably would not have an effect on my overall usage: a lesser CPU, decreased internal storage, a smaller 3.7inch TFT display, and increased weight/bulk. I honestly had to look at the Captivate, evaluate each feature I favored, and determine how it could surpass the presence of a hardware qwerty and pure Android: faster CPU, 4inch SuperAMOLED screen, TouchWiz UI, 16GB internal capacity + microSD, HD video capture, Froyo hack, and thinner profile. If I wanted to resume spending time listening to a large music library, watching movies, browsing web, and shooting HD footage, I would have been satisfied enough to keep it and hold on to a bluetooth keyboard. Being able to write on-the-go was one thing I missed terribly from past smartphones, and using a separate bluetooth accessory with the Samsung could indeed pose its own headaches. Not having to search for a flat surface on which to sit the phone to type was a primary factor in my preferring an onboard qwerty. Whenever the impulse struck me to write whether I was lying in bed or free standing in wait, I liked the option of an all-in-one word processor in the grip of my hands. All I really wanted was this along with the usual Android functionality minus any UI overlay, and the Milestone could grant me this in addition to AT&T 3G access. I realized the Captivate was not my kind of phone, even with all of its technical prowess in multimedia and web. I ended up working for the phone instead of vice versa because I really had no viable option for high-end Android on AT&T, and I sure as hell was not going with the Backflip. The Milestone did have obvious feature differences from the Galaxy S model, but I could at least get back into doing what I loved most: writing.

The impulse decision to keep the Milestone was made on the second day of my usual two week review stint, and I was certain it was not my being swayed by the honeymoon period. The more time I spent with it introduced me to simple, yet useful features that had been forgotten on the Captivate: LED flash, directional keypad and notification light. LED was understandably not ground-breaking next to Xenon, but it sure did come in handy for low-light settings. The five-way keypad had been seen more as a curse in touch-only devices, but I came to appreciate its help in accurately placing the cursor. It was always inconvenient to keep tapping the screen to get between letters or words for corrections, so I welcomed the Milestone's keypad with open arms. Notification lights had been a main staple in many phones I had reviewed and owned previously, which was why I was surprised the Captivate did not have it. It was of course easier to glance at a device for a blinking light instead of having to pick it up and press the wake button. The time difference may have been minor in comparison, but I was a champion for more efficiency granted from that simple light. A little bit did go a long way in proving the Milestone to be more than the Captivate being a bevy of high-end features for the multimedia crowd. In lieu of such crucial details in addition to other pros, I could not help but come to my decision in such a brief amount of time.

The Motorola could simply have been a rebound before an inevitable move to a newer model, but I seriously doubted that. Android options on the horizon seemed flooded with models too busy tooting the horns of parent manufacturers with customized UIs. Not to mention the everlasting competition of who could muster the most megapixels, the greatest resolution, the most vivid display, the thinnest profile, and so on (if only having the best HW keyboard could have been included as well). While I would not turn down an option that could offer dream specs with a tactile keyboard, I had simply grown tired of hoping and waiting for that Holy Grail of the smartphone industry. Making the best of a situation with the Captivate with added accessories only took away from simplicity, portability, and efficiency. It was at that moment I knew what was necessary for my own personal needs: a return to the fundamentals of what drew me to hardware qwerty phones as well as stock Android. Actions certainly did speak louder than words, for I was writing this post on the Milestone from my bed at 3AM while the Captivate lay on my desk in the darkness. It was time for a change.

Trent Smith
Sent from my Motorola Milestone
trentsense.com
trentsensevideo.com

Possible End of Touch-Only Chapter

2010-10-29T19:36:00.001-04:00

It was no secret that I had been struggling without a hardware keyboard since I adopted Android as my primary phone OS. Aside from a few models which had been mostly compatible with CDMA, the market was flooded with touch-only units that seemed to be in hopes of stealing some iPhone thunder. No matter how hard I prayed for some Android manufacturer to see the light of product diversity to break the touch slab cycle, every prayer went unanswered. One particular moment of defeat was when Sprint acquired the Epic 4G which was then followed by no GSM counterpart. I even considered calling customer support for Samsung to encourage the making of this dream device, but self-doubt emerged and I figured it best to accept things as they were. After all, Samsung would have already released a Galaxy S Pro model if there was a market for one on GSM. I was holding out for a particular form factor that seemed to be the desire of a niche market. To make matters worse, it appeared that a majority of Android users were pleased with using touch screens for the time being and I was simply making much ado about nothing. Slowly but surely, I had resigned myself to settling for a mobile future without a keyboard after having accepted the Nexus and Captivate as my own.

After some time, I eventually found a solution in portable bluetooth keyboarding with two different models. Both had pros and cons, yet still managed to make my usage experience on the Captivate even more fulfilling. Even if ultimate portability was sacrificed by having to carry one or the other, I felt it was worth it...at that time. Being with portable keyboards was a great element of both efficiency in my mobile routine and showmanship to impressed onlookers, but I still wanted convergence. Worrying about separate components to accompany my phone was an inconvenience that turned out to bother me more than expected. At the end of the day, I still yearned for a slider or a qwerty bar...ANYTHING that could get me back to having tactile buttons on my phone again. After realizing that holding on to features from the Captivate were no longer logical in having to possibly downgrade to a lesser model, I had another realization. My standards for the feedback of tactile keyboards was probably set a bit too high. If I made the effort to ease my judgment of mobile qwerty devices, chances are I could accept either a past, current, or upcoming model and have my wish for at least an onboard hardware keypad if not 100% convergence. This was the first step in getting comfortable with a possibilty of adopting the Motorola Milestone.

Yes, I said it...the Motorola Milestone! The first thought of it some time ago seemed to be an unlikely solution due to my being turned off from the feedback of the keys. However, after returning to past online reviews and reading that this could improve over time, I was suddenly interested. More elements of the Milestone began to make it sound even better: solid, metallic build quality, stock Android OS devoid of MotoBLUR, and hefty weight. One more thing about this device was the result of my reminiscing about the Nexus One: the availability of custom accessories from the parent manufacturer. Despite its lack of a keyboard, the Nexus really impressed me in having custom built docks for both the car and desktop. It simply felt more like a well-rounded product with ample OEM support versus having to rely on third party alternatives. A part of me missed that more than I expected when I had sold my Nexus One and its accompanying docks.

I suddenly found myself having lost just about all faith in the bluetooth keyboard solution I had accepted for the Captivate...and then the Captivate itself. The loss of greater portability was easy to take into account, but there was another issue I found very hard to admit to myself due to pride. The Froyo hack I had implemented via the Odin program was not exactly perfect for interface performance. In order to continue taking advantage of benefits granted by 2.2, I ignored the lag of switching homescreens, occassional lack of touch response, and seldom failed uploads of RunKeeper results to the web. Other cons invloved the folowing: a constant lag in boot animation when powering on the phone; loss of support for voice calls via the mic when connected to the car stereo via aux input; Memo app no longer placing the most recent notes at the top of the main listing; call log showing SMS history in addition to calls which led to a huge mess (lists could be specified to certain types of calls, but never ALL calls without SMS); a wierd quirk where one had to wait 30 seconds after turning off for a vibrate to occur before being able to power on again. In acknowledgment other problems noticed since the hack, I had to accept the bluetooth keyboards as temporary fixes for an ongoing problem. To make matters worse, I had to also realize the Captivate's failure in satisfying my wish for a convergence device.

It looked like a Milestone review was due to happen in my future, but would it be enough to inspire me to sell my Captivate? If so, there was a possibility this blogpost could end up being the last work written on my Samsung with a bluetooth qwerty. Only time would tell. I most certainly understood how crazy it would be to go from declaring contentment one minute and then unfulfillment the next, but the attempt to replace a HW qwerty by other means was done in vain. It was most likely that the touch-only phone chapter was destined to come to a close for me.

TRENT SMITH
Sent from my Samsung Captivate
www.trentsense.com
www.trentsensevideo.com

Captivate Contentment

2010-10-24T18:23:00.003-04:00

Spending so much time with the touch-only form factor since Nexus One had been tempered by my initial Android honeymoon period. I finally found an OS capable of standing toe-to-toe with iPhone and Windows Mobile in terms of touch feedback, music support, and PIM data efficiency. Just when it seemed it could not get any better, there were additional touches on the UI to help Google's alternative stand apart from the competition. With practically ALL of my online presence being solely dominated by Google, my Android allegiance was basically set from day one.

The time with my Captivate had been amazing, especially with the addition of a pocket qwerty and a capable word document editor, but my contentment sometimes waned. Yes, it was amazing to have a 4inch SuperAMOLED screen along with an impressive TouchWiz UI helped along with Launcher Pro; it was great to have 16GB of internal storage for additional media; it was fantastic to have HD video recording capability; it was a godsend to have a Froyo hack ushered in with an unexpected GPS fix! In a number of ways the Captivate had been built into my dream mobile device with its own charm, and I was still yearning for an all-in-one qwerty slider solution. What in the world was wrong with me? One would think after the GSM market was overtaken by Android touch slabs that I would get a clue and simply move on, but I chose not to do so. Even after the release of the CDMA Epic 4G had left me feeling like a fool in expecting Samsung to create an unlocked GSM version, I was STILL holding on to my built-in hardware qwerty fantasy. I had been living with a most accomodating phone since it was hacked with 2.2, and I could not ask for anything more. Was I being selfish? Was I being an idiot? No matter how many times I could justify my perspective, a resounding "YES" always lingered in the logical area of my brain.

Recently, I had gone so far as to even consider trying out models that I knew 100% could never satisfy me like Android/TouchWiz on the Captivate: Nokia E7 and Motorola Milestone (with AT&T 3G). In hopes that the grass would somehow be greener on these other sides, there were still cons to contend with in addition to apparent pros. The E7 would have been the ultimate Nokia comeback for me since I had fallen for the E71 and E90 in years past. A hardware qwerty slider with an aluminum build reminiscent of MacBook Pro seemed like a worthwhile prospect. The presence of a 4inch capacitive touch screen with ClearBlack technology and a renewed version of Symbian could have been icing on the cake. However, fears of going without a microSD card slot and tolerating a potential repeat of 5th edition shenanigans could not be ignored. Not to mention hearing about the camera having fixed focus. Consideration of the Milestone occurred on a whim and actually caught me by surprise. A past visit to a Verizon store to see the CDMA Droid in person left a bad impression from its qwerty lacking adequate feedback. I was not taken by the stock Android OS at that time, but it was proir to my inevitable adoption of it on the Nexus One. There was no doubt that its specs were behind the Nexus and my Captivate, but tolerating a lengthy hardware qwerty withdrawal brought me to the brink of desperation. A part of me reasoned it could be a winner as long as it ran stock Android and could be hacked for further customizations. Going back to a smaller screen and a lack of 16GB internal storage would be a shock at first, but I had no doubt that I could manage (especially if a 32GB card could be supported). Losing TouchWiz features could also pose a potential challenge in using the Milestone, but a little bit of time in usage may have been enough to ease that matter. While taking on a qwerty that felt like a stone slab seemed like asking for trouble, I did hear from online reviews that it could get better with time. A huge risk was losing Google Navigation altogether, but a Google search verified that a hack was possible. I had to admit being slightly interested in the metallic build quality of the Milestone and its hefty girth as a mobile device. Despite my initial excitement for the phone, there was hesitation from taking on a lesser CPU and a camera that could not shoot HD footage. Overall, the usage experience may have been tolerable since it was still running a stock OS devoid of any manufacturer UI mutilation (like MotoBLUR). My yearning for a hardware qwerty enabled device was getting out of hand to where I was even willing to settle for unfulfilling alternatives. Feeling cheated by Samsung's decision to not release an unlocked GSM version of the Epic 4G and growing more tired of the touch-only domination in the mobile market, I had lost sight of the answer being in front of my face the entire time.

In all honesty, the Captivate was a compelling mix of specs that kept me captivated to a certain extent...even without a hardware keyboard! While I did go through growing pains in the beginning with malfunctioning GPS, I was eventually won over by the combination of TouchWiz features and Launcher Pro customizations. The 16GB capacity, large SuperAMOLED screen and inevitable Froyo hack did more to solidify my fondness of the Galaxy S unit. Upon acquiring a portable bluetooth keyboard, I was then convinced that I could indeed remain with the phone just as I had done with the E71 and Nexus One. All was right with the Captivate only after I was forced to stay with it and make it so. The fact that I was still looking to jump ship for another model suddenly seemed mindless, for I most certainly knew better from past experience. There would be NO such thing as a perfect smartphone unless one could build it from alternative methods such as hacking or pairing with separate components. My achievement of gaining a gadget that could work for me to my liking was undoubtedly the result of a Frankenstein-like undertaking. I could not help but think of Hillary Clinton's famous quote "It takes a village to raise a child." While it could not be applied to my situation in a superficial sense, its deeper meaning was absolutely appropriate. Finding contentment did not come directly from the device, but from the sum of its parts whether onboard or separate.

It was at that moment I would be hit with the realization that what I had with the Captivate was all I really needed AND all I ever wanted. If I really wanted to be picky and point out a con in what I was working with, it would have been the lack of spell check in the OfficeSuite application. Aside from that, I could get no closer to perfection unless I designed and manufactured my own phone from scratch. Operating with a hacked OS of course came with its own risks, and I could never claim a spotless usage experience. However, any of these that happened to arise still failed to be serious enough to warrant a deal breaker. I was finally back to writing more often with tactile buttons and relying on capable GPS with tracking and navigating apps, and I did not want to let that go. In the fullest of confidence for the first time in a long while after writing this specific blogpost, I could look at my Captivate and genuinely say that I could not have it any better. While I did not usually come quick to recommend hacking to anyone lacking experience and even avoided it for a while, it ended up being the best thing I could ever do for my Samsung. I was no longer dependent on a carrier or manufacturer to grant me a perfect phone, I simply had to make it happen for myself. I would be lying to state not being tempted by upcoming models in the industry, but the more important lesson was to be thankful for what I already had...not be overly hopeful for what I wished I had.

TRENT SMITH
Sent from my Samsung Captivate
www.trentsense.com
www.trentsensevideo.com

Freedom Pro bluetooth keyboard impressions

2010-10-23T01:57:00.003-04:00

This was the first word document being written via the Freedom Pro bluetooth keyboard, and it was certainly a different experience from the unbranded pocket version purchased from Dealextreme.com. I suddenly felt as if I was home with my Logitech keyboard from Freedom Pro's more expansive layout of keys which also had the same tactile feedback. No clicking sounds were to be heard from the pressing of each button, just the quieter spring action expected from laptop and desktop variants. I was the luckiest mobile enthusiast in the world to actually feel like I was typing on my desktop setup at home! Not to be overly picky, but typing on a clicky mobile qwerty whether it was from a smartphone or a pocket keyboard would always pale in comparison to a full keyboard solution. Not having to rely on a "Fn" key for the inclusion of alternate characters and sometimes numbers was really a breath of fresh air with this fold-out gadget.

Build quality was acceptable with plastics that felt more solid than the toy-like pocket counterpart I had purchased previously. The inner portion with the keys was of matte black while the outer skin was glossy and extremely prone to fingerprints and smudges. The locking mechanism appeared to be secure when the keyboard was closed, and there was no creaking or bending in the body frame.

Just like with any gadget, the Freedom Pro had its own fair share of cons along with the obvious pros. First thing I noticed from the unboxing was a PRINTED user manual instead of the useless mini software disc that contained an electronic copy. Looking back on that situation, the mini disc would not have been useless if it was readable to begin with on a family member's PC. Getting back on topic, there was a cheat sheet of shortcut keys for four different operating systems, but Android was not one of them. The included AAA batteries were nice, but did not seem as convenient as the rechargeable alternative on the pocket keyboard. I guess it could have been seen as a positive to not keep me enslaved to a power outlet, and there were always worse things to be subjected to. Just like on the pocket qwerty, constant captilalization was not activated by the "Caps Lock" key, but by pressing the "Shift" key twice. As a result, I came to the conclusion that the "Caps Lock" issue was due to Android and not the hardware itself. A huge inconvenience emerged from the pairing feature being a button that could only be accessed through a pinhole. If one did not have a mechanical pencil or a paper clip handy, he was most certainly out of luck in this regard. While music controls with the "Fn" key did not work, the volume controls did. After a few minutes of experimenting, using "Fn" with "Home" brought me back to the desktop homescreen while "End" simply put the display to sleep. At that point, I figured that taking time to read the manual to setup further key customizations would provide additional help. The "Ctrl" key was just as useless on the Freedom Pro as the unbranded pocket model, so it looked like I had to continue relying on the interface menu for copying, pasting, and saving. To the left margin, there was a column of hot keys for various functions like email, contacts, tasks, calendar, call, and end...and they had yet to be programmed (if they worked with Android at all). As to be expected, there was much more bulk to be had with the Freedom Pro model and its folding form factor. Even in closed mode and placed in its storage pouch, it was definitely not as appealing as the other model that could fit with my Captivate in my pants pocket. Another downside I noticed was it being more prone to character duplications...it was quite often that one pressing of a letter would produce up to 10 entries in a row onscreen.

Overall, the Freedom Pro keyboard did have its good points, but unfortunately did not win me over. It was just too darn big for everyday portability! While its wider layout could surely benefit a more business-oriented consumer, I was not really in dire need of a mobile version of my desktop keyboard. I realized I was a bigger fan of the smaller qwerty due to its smartphone resemblance with clicky feedback and smaller/slimmer dimensions. I thought I would be able to overlook having to carry a separate gadget in my hand or a backpack, but being able to carry things efficiently remained a paramount concern. As much as I did understand that all devices could go through malfunctions, the Freedom Pro did not have a good track record like the other. I also had to be honest and claim my disdain for having to deal with external AAA batteries instead of a simple microUSB port for charging power. While having a plethora of shortcut keys for special functions seemed like a great idea, it probably would have ended up being overkill for me. I liked the simplicity of the unbranded unit that simply existed as a mobile qwerty with some shortcut keys. If one intended to stay in touch with a mobile office experience closely related to a full desk keyboard, Freedom Pro was certainly worth looking at. As a result of the honeymoon period being cut short, I actually moved back to the smaller qwerty to complete this blogpost. Even though it failed to keep my attention for the long run, it was a worthwhile experience while it lasted.

TRENT SMITH
Sent from my Samsung Captivate
www.trentsense.com
www.trentsensevideo.com

Here is a purchasing link if anyone is interested.

Portable Bluetooth Qwerty

2010-10-21T22:06:00.005-04:00

This was actually my first time writing from a bluetooth keypad to my Captivate and it felt liberating in its own way! After so long of agonizing over not having tactile buttons to type on, I finally had them at last from an unassuming source. Dealextreme.com put my suspicions on high alert when I first noticed the plethora of phony devices manufactured to mimic genuine models from the likes of Nokia, RIM, and Apple. Before I got the impulse to close the tab on the Firefox window, I did a search for bluetooth keyboards and came across an interesting find. Amidst a few models that seemed too bulky with built-in trackpads, there were two that looked absolutely perfect in size with a five row layout. Appearing to have the measurements of a credit card, one was silver and the other was black. A part of me still felt cautious about purchasing items from an unfamiliar site, but this was my only chance to take advantage of the opportunity. For 25 dollars, it was worth the risk.

Once the package arrived from Hong Kong, I admittedly was not impressed with its frugal appearance. If one was looking for the refinement of a Nokia, HTC, or Apple accessory, this was certainly not the one. My unboxing revealed three items: the keyboard, a USB cable, and a mini software CD. The qwerty was made entirely of plastic (which was to be expected for 25 dollars), and there was no sense of refinement to it whatsoever. No solid soft-touch surface reminiscent of Treo Pro nor any solid build resembling the N900. The unit was EXTREMELY light and felt like a second-hand toy from a local thrift store, and the phone snob from within had turned up its nose in disgust.

I dreaded having to find a way to get drivers installed on my Captivate since my MacBook did not have a sliding drawer in its slot to accommodate the disc. To make matters worse, there was no physical user manual since it was included on the disc that I still had no access to. Upon reading a forum Q&A from previous buyers on the product site at Dealextreme.com, I found a link to where the drivers could be downloaded. At that moment, I remembered the PC-only Android side loader app provided by a friend of mine and jumped to a PC in the house. After lengthy moments of fiddling with the sideloader app and then the BlueInput app downloaded from Android Marketplace to no avail, I was back at square one. Even upon realizing the house PC had a drawer slot to accept the mini CD, it was unable to read it. Contacting tech support for the site was an option, but after reading the forums I did not get the impression it would do any good. Being able to pair the keyboard to the Captivate but not have it connect was the worst kind of tease imaginable. I thought for sure I would have to request a return of the failed product and simply not mention it in my blog or YouTube channel, but something else happened.

The hack for Froyo 2.2 I performed on the Captivate was a godsend, for it immediately granted more efficient support for the keypad. Upon pairing the device with the phone and initiating a connection, I was taken aback to see a pop-up asking if I wanted to use a specific passcode! I was instantly thrilled beyond measure to finally have the two mobile units connected via bluetooth! Once a pop-up for bluetooth authorization appeared to have me grant automatic connectivity, I was set. All at once, the struggle I was forced to endure in going without a hardware qwerty had been obliterated! This was the start of a new era with my Captivate, and at that point my respect for it had grown beyond bounds. As impossible as I previously thought it would be, I was a step closer to being 100% content with my Samsung smartphone after it gained this new wireless companion! The yearning for an unlocked GSM Galaxy S Pro was no longer in full effect, and I was able to remain with the Android I had become comfortable with over time.

Writing with the keypad took some getting used to for the first couple of days, but my speed improved a bit over time. All of the keys worked perfectly in regards to alpha and numerical characters, but there were a number of quirks to get used to. First off, the "Ctrl" key did not function with the "C" and "V" commands for copying and pasting, and the delete key was right next to the space bar. Even though there was a "Caps Lock" key, pressing "Fn" did not enable it since a double tap on the "Shift" key took care of that. On the top row, there were additional "Fn" symbols that had limited to no functionality for brightness, music controls, and volume. There was a also a button with a symbol for what appeared to be the Mac Expose feature to display all open windows at once, but this did not work with "Fn" either. After a while, I just figured those particular features were only enabled for use with my MacBook instead of Android.

Tactile feedback was surprisingly impressive when I considered its cheap, plasticky construction. Each press was met with a most reassuring click that not only felt good but was also noticeable to one's ears. Endless pecking on keys for a lengthy email, blogpost or word document seemed to be potentially irritating with that sound, but it did not bother me at all. Having a full row of number keys was also a welcomed benefit as well.

At long last I had finally reached the ultimate compromise for my touch-only device in taking on prolonged writing! There was no more tolerating virtual qwerty buttons to churn out a number of paragraphs to express my opinion. Not that the TouchWiz software qwerty was that bad, it was just that hardware was that much better! I was pleasantly surprised by what I thought could have been a tech toy fraud, and the old lesson of not judging a book by its cover rang true once again. As long as I owned a touch-only phone, I could see this item being a crucial staple in my daily mobile tech routine.

TRENT SMITH
Sent from my Samsung Captivate
www.trentsense.com
www.trentsensevideo.com

Here is a link to the purchase site.

Life After Froyo

2010-10-12T04:27:00.001-04:00

After considering the pros and cons of hacking Froyo 2.2 to my own handset, I was fully committed to accepting the risks and used a PC to begin my endeavor. Upon doing a Google search that took only a few seconds, I was brought to a resource site giving fool-proof instructions. Required actions involved downloading a program called Odin and then connecting the powered-off Captivate via USB. I was shocked by how simple the whole process turned out to be, yet I still ended up making a mistake. At the start, I did not allow drivers to be installed to the PC once I connected my phone. I then sat with a dumbfounded look and wondered why the Odin program was not recognizing it...go figure. Solving this issue was no problem since I was able to disconnect and reconnect the Captivate. Once "COM" appeared in one of the text fields in Odin, I clicked the "Start" command and waited. It was only a matter of minutes before my device had been blessed with the newest incarnation of Android 2.2 Froyo.

A number of new features and surprises awaited my discovery, and I was eager to find as many as I could. The first strange thing I noticed was sluggish animation on the Galaxy S logo while the chime itself played as normal. I did not think there was a reason to be concerned since this was not an official ROM anyway, so I continued to wait for the homescreen to appear. Other than that, nothing out of the ordinary happened with the first boot of the phone. As expected, the default TouchWiz UI reared its ugly, iPhone-mimicking head onscreen, but I knew that I would soon take care of that with Launcher Pro. Swiping through the seven homescreens hardly demonstrated any increase in speed over the previous 2.1 Eclair version of Android, but this was a non-issue. A huge grin swept over my face when I verified the availability of tethering and hotspot features, and there was an added Task Manager as well! In the notification bar, there was an added "Auto-Rotation" icon, but I had yet to figure out its function after seeing it had no effect on the homescreen orientation when activated. The new Beach live wallpaper was included and I also noticed how much easier it was to connect my bluetooth keyboard after being virtually impossible with 2.1 Eclair. For text input on the virtual keyboard, the Android version was removed to make way for the Swype and Samsung models. Even though the Android qwerty was gone, it was good to see that both remaining alternatives had a speech button handy for spoken word entry. Changes were made to the web browser interface and the music player, but there was one major result from the Froyo hack: GPS!!!!

For the longest period with Samsung's device, I had to deal with horrendous lock times with GPS-enabled applications such as Google Maps and RunKeeper. When a signal lock on a Nokia or HTC device would take only seconds on average, the Captivate took anywhere from ten to fifteen minutes! To make matters worse, the long-awaited software update from AT&T did not have ANY effect on my GPS whatsoever. I was left disenchanted and even considered selling the phone, but I was so glad to not have followed through with it. As soon as I activated Google Navigation, GPS acquired a lock in SECONDS!! To add icing to the cake, the amount of stability had increased ten fold!! There was no jumping to any adjacent streets or lagging in the position indicator, and my faith was restored in the gadget once again! Just to make sure it was not a fluke, over the following days I resumed use of RunKeeper with fantastic results that matched my Nike+ application on my iPod Touch!

Aside from the lack of a hardware qwerty and LED flash, my Captivate was finally a well-balanced machine that could rightfully surpass the Nexus One.
I most certainly welcomed the arrival of Froyo via the Odin hack, but there were problems that had to be tolerated. The Docs to Go application I had relied on for blogpost writing no longer had a key available to unlock the full editing version. Puzzled as to why I was stuck with the viewer model, I then looked to preinstalled Quickoffice which had been so good to me on Symbian in years past. Unfortunately, I discovered that the copy/paste function was not enabled on it, which begged me to question how in the hell could it be considered a full-featured document editor! The next contender in line was a basic text editor called Text Edit, and it had some promise in the midst of my dire situation. I eventually got to the point where it did not feel right to go without an office application for too long, so I had no choice but to pay for another one in OfficeSuite Pro. ThinkOffice could have been a choice, but Marketplace reviews did not seem too promising...and I vaguely remembered installing and then promptly UNinstalling it from my Android a while back. Spending 15 dollars was not exactly at the top of my priority list, but it was worth it for the peace of mind and not having to wait forever for tech support. Flash was still present in the web browser, but I did observe a lack of text reflow when zooming into sites. Horizontal scrolling was not the end of the world by any means, but still a slight inconvenience nonetheless. UPDATE: I was able to activate text reflow by checking the box for "Auto-Fit" in browser settings.

As for battery life being improved, I considered the validity to this after mistakenly thinking it was the same after the 2.2 hack. Since I began using a portable bluetooth qwerty keypad, I have been keeping bluetooth on all day along with GPS, WI-FI, and 3G. I did not use bluetooth at all in this manner before Froyo, which led me to believe battery capacity would certainly be improved had I continued this way on the Captivate.

My Samsung had a new reason to live, especially with addition of a tactile qwerty keypad in the size of a Nexus One and 100% accurate/stable GPS. Waiting for the Nokia E7 or Desire Z would not be so bad after all since I had finally found multiple solutions in building my own perfect smartphone arrangement. Who knows, maybe I would end up not missing either of them at all! Hacking had always come with its own risks, so even though it worked out well for me did not mean it would be the same for others. After a long duration of wanting to go "by the book" as a friend of mine once said, I finally took matters into my own hands and regained control. There was no doubt that I did void a warranty, but that was a price worth paying and I would definitely do it again! Someone had mentioned on my Facebook I could revert back to the previous OS to avoid this, but that was not happening anytime soon! After gaining the courage to hack again on top of buying a separate 25 dollar keyboard and another office suite app, I found my perfect mobile device without being at the mercy of a carrier or manufacturer release date. Independence had prevailed, and I was the victor!

TRENT SMITH
Sent from my Samsung Captivate

T-Mobile G2 visit

2010-10-06T09:59:00.002-04:00

It finally seemed liked I would be able to soon have access to a GSM Android with a solid build and hardware keyboard, and I was ecstatic! The fact that HTC was the sole T-Mobile G2 manufacturer made this news even sweeter to my ears. If one company could produce a capable qwerty with tactile buttons in an appealing layout within a sturdy, polished form factor, it was most certainly HTC. Amidst the vast inventories of touch screen units being shipped endlessly from factories, this was a moment to break the cycle. In my eyes, the G2 would be a preview to the best of what was yet to come from Android handsets. Despite initial fears of a smaller screen and lack of TouchWiz perks, I held high expectations as I walked into a local T-Mobile store.

At first sight, the device simply sat there at its own kiosk in the empty sales floor as I made my way towards it. Calming my impulse to go running for my first grasp of the G2 was a bit difficult, but then something else came out of left field: a T-Mobile salesman. I kept silent when he took hold of the phone as he greeted me with a warm Saint Nicholas smile and started the usual probing questions. A part of me immediately wanted to not waste time and kindly tell him to leave me alone, but I relented and allowed him to get a few words in. However, that all came to an end when he proceeded to give me a tour of the sliding qwerty gem. After imploring him to part ways and leave me be since I was familiar with Android, I finally had privacy with the new G2.

It was cool to the touch and then reminded me of previous devices that had a similar blending of metal and plastic in their construction. No creaking or loose parts were detectable on the body, and the hinge opened and closed just fine. The addition of the trackpad cursor was welcomed and brought back memories of my time with the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and Nokia E72. Chrome accents along with the silver-gray coloring gave the Nexus One cousin a high-end appearance devoid of any gaudy tendencies. Form factor sizing was compact and was not found to be chunky with the sliding keyboard in closed mode. I couldn't see much of the back since the G2 was attached to a security tether, but it was great to see a LED flash at the 5 megapixel camera lens. I honestly don't remember if there was a physical shutter button, but I did see volume rocker keys.

There was nothing noticeably new about the interface other than the fact that it ran Froyo 2.2 and resembled the Nexus, but that's ultimately not why I was there. Sliding open the qwerty revealed detailed keys paying homage to the preceding Touch Pro 2, and there was an unexpected gloss to the overall finish. Much more attractive than the small baby teeth that made up the MyTouch Slide keyboard, the G2 alternative looked like a dream come true...until I started typing. There was absolutely no ample amount of tactile feedback, and I was denied the privilege of having that reassuring click from models like the Touch Pro 2, E71, E72, Bold 9000 & 9700, and the Epic 4G. At that instance, I had flashbacks to the Nokia N97 and a Motorola Droid at a Verizon store outing. The keys did not feel far enough from the platform to grant a sufficient pressing motion. To claim that it felt like typing on a solid surface would have been a stretch, but the G2 came extremely close! Testing with the preinstalled Quickoffice app yielded mixed results. While having the keyboard seemed fine for short SMS and email, prolonged writing did not have the potential of being the G2's forte.

Having that negative first impression unfortunately set the tone for the remainder of my time with the handset. I was suddenly put off by the smaller screen and began to yearn for my Captivate's larger SuperAMOLED. Working the camera and successfully shooting HD quality video was hampered by sound not working on the demo. Seeing proof of T-Mobile releasing 4G into Hampton Roads via the solid "H" in the taskbar as web pages quickly loaded still did not shake my judgment. The G2 had failed at impressing me with what it offered to the mobile industry. While I was sure that many T-Mobile customers would take to it, I simply filed it away with the previous MyTouch slider and called it quits. Once again, I would be stuck without a physical keyboard on Android...and Samsung would continue to drag its behind in releasing an unlocked GSM version of the Epic 4G.

I understood that I could possibly come off as a whiner and a picky phone consumer, and it could be that nothing would ever satisfy me. But after my lengthy time with the Nokia E71, I knew that I could stay with a model and be totally content as long as my needs were being met. Even after my not-so-positive experience with the G2, I could at least be glad that the interface retained the look of stock Android. My wait for a suitable phone would continue on, and it would only be a matter of time. A friend of mine would soon come by to show off his new G2, so I was at least hopeful that my issues were only attributed to the demo...but I could only wait and see.

TRENT SMITH
Sent from my Samsung Captivate
trentsense.com
trentsensevideo.com

To clarify things, the following pictures are of a friend's G2, not my own. I am still holding to the Captivate for now.

Exchange Experiment: End of Symbian testing

2010-10-01T07:42:00.000-04:00

Day 2 with the N97 mini had been fairly uneventful, except for a constant error pop-up about needing to change a password. Fortunately, I found out via a Google search that this was a result of Mail for Exchange and I quickly rectified the problem. To make things easier, I also decided to sync only contacts and calendar data to the phone and ceased email syncing. Otherwise, I had yet to encounter any expected troubles with the OS, so the honeymoon was still going smoothly.

Solid build quality remained to be an improvement over the plastics on the original N97, and the small form factor dimensions were not too bad to tolerate after being used to bigger touchslabs. That flawless hardware combination of metals and plastics felt irresistible in my hand and extremely portable in my pockets. However, it was a different story with the on-screen software since it started to wear on me a bit. That was to be expected to a degree, but I did not realize how claustrophobic a 3.2inch screen would affect me with 5th edition's chunky appearance. Text fields being minimized by a column of icons and a thick taskbar crowding the screen really had me missing the ample space of Quickoffice on the E72. Writing blogposts in the Notes app or checking Nokia Messaging for email suffered from this problem, and I began yearning for the vastness of the Captivate's high-resolution screen. In addition, I also had to get used to being without threaded SMS and the Nokia Messaging app not being as well-executed as Gmail on an Android device.

Day 3 of the experiment was when the awaited flaws of Symbian 5th edition really began to surface. Soon running into a memory error pop-up before the opening of Ovi Maps navigation shut down completely did not help matters at all. Even though exiting a running app did the trick at that moment, I was reminded of why I had lost patience with Symbian 5th edition in the first place: lack of usage efficiency. When on a smartphone, I was not wanting to worry about how much free RAM was available to run functions on it. Throughout my day, I wanted to just wake my gadget from standby and kick it into gear with whatever task I asked of it with no lag, no freezes, no hangups. That was not to be the be the case with the N97 mini, and the sad part is that I was not surprised by this. However, I was a bit surprised about my sudden hesitation in adopting S^3 on the upcoming E7.

Would this new iteration of Symbian on the E7 really be an improvement over what plagued the N97 models, or simply a dressed up version of the same old OS? I do remember friends of mine commenting on how opening an email on an E7 demo video seemed to show signs of lag, but I still wanted to hold out with a tiny bit of hope. I was admittedly mesmerized by Nokia's hardware from the aluminum build to the 4inch capacitive ClearBlack screen to the full qwerty chiclet keys resembling my Apple MacBook. Like with any new toy, I simply wanted to hold and caress it for a few minutes to satisfy my curiosity, but my desperation for a tactile qwerty and functional GPS possibly clouded my judgment. Even if the E7 was destined to struggle with the same issues on the N97 line, I could at least be sure that working GPS and a hardware qwerty was at my beckoning call. In the midst of such worry, I figured the best thing to do was wait for online N8 reviews from users and tech blogs alike to determine the validity of this new Symbian OS version. I had to be honest about the overwhelming sense of excitement I had started feeling for the E7 and claim it as blind faith. My Facebook and Twitter followers had the pleasure of reading posts about my growing zeal for the E7 that in some cases had dominated my dreams or even kept me from sleeping (yes, sad, I know)! I had become somewhat disenchanted by my Captivate despite its other pros and wanted to know if the grass was finally greener on the other side with Symbian...especially with that new build design! The prospect of having a TRUE successor to the E90 (over that E75) most certainly amped up my eagerness to get that new Nokia in my hands.

For a brief moment at the start, I had even considered selling my Captivate to keep the mini until the E7 arrived. Needless to say, I was glad I did not follow through with that plan. Slowly but surely, the N97 mini was gaining my trust with its qwerty and FLAWLESS execution of GPS via Ovi Maps navigation and Sports Tracker. I was swept back into the magic of Gravity, downloaded the Engadget app from the Ovi store, and ALMOST relented to pay $20 for a QuickOffice doc editing license! Everything from the bundled car dock to the minimal charm of the hardware really worked me over to accepting it as a main phone. Unfortunately, the software just had to remain true to itself and be the certified killjoy in my Symbian reunion fantasy. Slapped back into reality of neither the E72 or N97 mini being my saving grace from the Captivate, it was time to pull the plug on the Exchange experiment...at least with Symbian 3rd and 5th edition.

The run of Symbian was over for me before the inevitable E7 arrival, but I was glad to at least learn for myself that life outside of the Android OS was possible with Exchange support.

Trent Smith
Sent from my Nokia N97 Mini

Exchange Experiment part 2: Symbian 5th

2010-09-30T03:58:00.002-04:00

After having a pretty good time with the E72 for a few days to test Exchange syncing, I was curious to give Symbian 5th edition another try. WOW! After all the trash I had talked in past years about that particular OS and there I was reunited with it! However, it was only to be a temporary arrangement since I was still preparing myself for the upcoming arrival of the E7. Honestly, I did not want to leave behind the efficiency of Sports Tracker with Nokia's amazing GPS reliability...unlike the Captivate. If I could hold on to using a Nokia device compatible with Sports Tracker until I found a suitable GPS tracking solution for my cardio, then so be it!

Just like the E72, the recent N97 mini was also packaged as the Driver's Edition with a bundled car dock and auto charger. Other than that, all else was the same with the device build and remaining accessories. Aside from yet another qwerty keyboard with great tactile feedback, there was the suitable remote headphones with tactile controls for music, volume, and calls. Unlike the E72, the box looked exactly the same as I remembered from my previous review unit.

Turning on the phone brought back memories of using Symbian 5th edition, and the realist from within was relieved to not have it permanently. Like with any electronic device, there was always a possibility of the honeymoon period wearing off. The more quirks a model had in both hardware and software could quickly determine the duration of that honeymoon, and the N97 line was no different. Euphoria was the word for the day until OS freezing and memory errors started to become commonplace. Once I departed from the two N97 models, I not only cursed the existence of 5th edition...but I vowed to never use it again (or maybe until a major overhaul was done). Either way, at that time there was nothing promising about the OS, especially with Android coming out of the woodwork and iPhone still conjuring nerdgasms in geeks and non-geeks alike. Back then was a different time, and I was so far doing fine with returning for another round with what I had considered a huge failure. Now that I made full circle back to 5th edition on that smallish 3.2inch resistive touch screen (my gosh it feels like obsolete technology already), I could learn to appreciate aspects of the NSeries unit. There was an E72-like simplicity of the N97 mini in comparison to my Captivate once again, and it did feel refreshing in its own right. However, instead of being boring with a non-touch interface, it somehow breathed more life into Symbian as a next generation product. I was never a developer of mobile operating systems, but I could assume it was never easy for any one hired to do so. With that said, I did come to realize the evolutionary gap between 3rd and 5th edition. While touch Symbian did not inspire me to turn speechless with fluid graphical animations from software features, it did have a more get-to-the-point-of-being-a-phone sort of feel about it. Sometimes gadgets seemed to bite off more than they could chew in trying to be everything to everybody, but somehow Symbian continued to be marching to the beat of its own drum. From a positive aspect, I could at least be honest and declare the N97 mini insufficient for my needs (even with the qwerty and GPS), but still be able to appreciate what it brought to the table as a media-conscious phone.

Exchange had been working perfectly so far, and that fueled my eagerness to see the arrival of the E7 as soon as possible. Still having a link with my Google data via server kept me in the know in a much better way than GooSync or Google Sync ever could. Despite a couple of issues with email creation lacking support on certain models and the inability to sync more than one Google calendar, I still considered it the best resource for branching out beyond Android.

Enjoying that N97 mini with its great qwerty brought just as much joy as the E72, and I found that I liked both for different reasons. While I could get used to both keyboards fairly quickly, the ESeries bar felt the most comfortable and convenient to use. Having a stationary form factor and compact dimensions allowed my thumbs to speed along in prolonged writing. I just had to pull out the phone from a pocket and let my thumbs hit the keys running! However, that was not to say the NSeries mini was behind in any manner. To its credit, the keys did offer more width which could be a plus along with additional UI navigation from a touch screen. Overall, I was simply having a great time being able to write to my heart's content on a hardware qwerty while taking a break from the Captivate.

In a couple days or so, the N97 mini would have to be sent away...but this only left me pondering over which non-Android hardware qwerty device I could get next! That Exchange experiment was definitely a great idea to break the boredom of sitting around and waiting for an E7 or a hardware qwerty Android!

Trent Smith
Sent from my Nokia N97 Mini

Nokia E7 Anticipation

2010-09-28T09:01:00.003-04:00

"If the E7 with its new touch Symbian S^3, sliding qwerty, and 4inch screen can have Exchange and similar GPS performance, I would definitely consider leaving the Captivate."

I made that statement in a previous blogpost and most certainly meant what I said without a shadow of a doubt. As a current Android user, I did realize that all was not satisfactory in the land of Google and its range of GSM hardware. I felt I was not really in a position to do anything about it, and thus became tolerant as other features tickled my fancy. Even though items like a large SuperAMOLED display, revamped TouchWiz interface, flawless Google data syncing, and native social network support seemed great at face value, they were only distractions to hide the truth. That ultimate truth was that I was growing bored of Android. However, as if addicted to the pros of what Android offered in its touch-only models, I was more willing to set my issues aside and be content with not writing any more blogposts or using GPS tracking for cardio. I had decided to bend like a reed to the will of my Captivate's limitations, and I did not realize the scope of this until I began using the E72 for my Exchange experiment.

Being introduced to Exchange granted me a revelation that Android did not have to be the one and only OS if I wanted Google syncing on a phone. I was aware of other sync alternatives and even tested some, but discrepancies turned me off from wanting to use them again. Exchange was the first syncing engine to flawlessly measure up to the prowess of Android itself in regards to keeping my PIM data in check. To see this as proof positive for myself on the E72 (in addition to having a hardware qwerty again) really opened my eyes.

I was fully aware of the E72 no longer being a desired offer despite its pros, so the next best thing seemed to be the upcoming E7, Desire Z, or even the Galaxy S Pro. After initial comparison of these three prospects in my mind, the E7 naturally won out. The Galaxy S Pro was thought to be an obvious choice, but it was only available for CDMA and I was still cautious of Samsung's horrible GPS problem. HTC appeared to have done something right with the Desire Z, but I still wanted to have a 4inch display. I would be lying if I said that I did not miss Symbian, so that could have been a factor in my choice to focus on the E7. Even though the touch OS on the N97 and mini model was not the most hospitable, I still wanted to hope that S^3 would bring some worthwhile improvement. The skeptical realist from within wondered if S^3 would only be 5th edition in sheep's clothing, but the optimist welcomed the chance to see the E7 and its new features. A non-removable battery and lack of microSD card slot also seemed to be potential downfalls, but I still wanted to give it a fair try. For not having a card slot, I figured the USB-on-the-go feature could suffice to connect the E7 to my 32GB thumb drive for multimedia! I was also drawn by the silver aluminum build paired with black, tactile qwerty keys, for it instantly reminded me of my MacBook Aluminum model. Reading about ClearBlack technology being introduced on its 4inch screen suddenly began to take some thunder away from Samsung's SuperAMOLED, but only time would tell with reviews and inevitable comparisons. A part of me was willing to bet money that GPS performance would be stellar on the E7 just like the E72. With the Captivate, I would probably have more luck following a homing pigeon to reach a destination!

I had to admit that much excitement was getting generated for the E7 as I continued writing about it, and I then stopped with a sudden thought. Was this the same trap that I had set myself up for with the N97? Not really. With the N97, I was under the impression it would be perfect from misleading commercials in addition to my fanboy anticipation. I had probably worried about possible cons, but in no way did I expect such a different result in real world usage from those promos. Typical phone issues occurred with that model, but no device is immune to them...not even my Captivate. I believe that what bothered me the most was feeling as if Nokia had overpromised and underdelivered. I felt tricked and cheated when swiping those home screens or opening apps did not happen as fast as they did in those commercials. That was a hard lesson worth learning in being able to openly question a device even when it has pristine marketing. I felt more prepared than ever before to expect (and possibly accept) flaws in a new device, for there was no such thing as complete perfection over general satisfaction. That could be the only viable explanation as to how I tolerated the Captivate for so long. The E7 would turn out to be unsatisfactory or otherwise upon my review of it in the future, but being able to say hello to a new Symbian and new E-Series gadget could make it worthwhile.

Trent Smith
Sent from my Nokia E72

GPS performance on E72

2010-09-28T07:26:00.002-04:00

I was THOROUGHLY impressed with the performance of the GPS lock on the E72!! Getting a steady signal happened almost instantly just as I had remembered on the E71 in years past, making Samsung look like an utter joke with its recent trouble. Once the E72 found a lock, it remained solid and did not experience any severe distortion. Another thing I noticed was that this E72 had come bundled with a car dock!! After being informed by a Twitter follower and then verifying on the NokiaUSA site, it turned out I had the Drivers Edition of the E72.

Ovi Maps worked great as an alternative to Google Maps, but another app that caught me by surprise was the all-new Sports Tracker offered with a revamped online interface. Having that E-Series phone as a running companion to track my route was so much better than the faulty nightmare I took on with my Captivate. GPS data closely matched my iPod Nike+ results, and not once did I feel the need to check its progress while it was in my pocket. Just when I thought the magic was over, I then got a chance to see the Sports Tracker site on the web! The older version during my ownership of the E71 was not bad, it just did not measure up to Nike+. All of that had certainly changed, and I was convinced that Nike+ finally met its match. I even concluded that Sports Tracker surpasses Nike+ due to its native support of accurate GPS tracking. Setting up an account online could be as convenient as using my current Facebook profile, and sharing results on social networks like Twitter was possible as well. The site was intuitive and did not seem to suffer from graphical overkill in the eye candy department like Nike+, which made for a smoother web experience. I was really tormented at that point, for I wished I could swap GPS modules between the E72 and Captivate! Honestly, the Sports Tracker experience was almost enough motivation to sell off the Samsung to keep the Nokia. The fact that a flawed GPS was allowed to slip through the fingers of Samsung was inexcusable and infuriating! If the E7 with its new touch Symbian S^3, sliding qwerty, and 4inch screen can have Exchange and similar GPS performance, I would definitely consider leaving the Captivate.

Trent Smith
Sent from my Nokia E72

E72 Experiment: Day 2

2010-09-28T06:48:00.002-04:00

On day two of my E72 Exchange experiment, I hardly had any issues at all. Contact and calendar entries all reflected the exact same information that was on my Captivate and iPod Touch, and it was even great to hear appointment reminder chimes from all three in unison. There was one problem with email creation no longer being supported on Exchange even though downloading/reading incoming mail was still possible. Setting up a separate Gmail inbox via Messaging appeared to be the only solution. Either way, I was pleased to see my contacts and calendar entries synced without fail! Thankfully, I did notice Exchange syncing on its own throughout the day after I had customized settings accordingly.

Thoughts began running through my head as to what potential smartphone could be waiting for me to adopt next. There was the tempting Nokia E7 with a 4inch touch screen and full hardware keyboard or the upcoming HTC Desire Z with a sliding qwerty. I did not have to stay joined at the hip to Android to get a phone with tactile buttons and Google account syncing! In one fleeting moment, it seemed as if the mobile industry was my oyster (as long as I had Exchange), but reality soon hit me with a revelation: the most worthwhile phone OS was Android, and the Captivate offered the best hardware features thus far.

I was not really surprised at my missing Android, for it had proved to be a most useful OS in my daily phone usage. Even if I was mesmerized by the upcoming Nokia E7, there was not doubt that Android with TouchWiz had been the most fulfilling OS for me even without a hardware qwerty. Even if I was stuck with the Captivate on a two-year AT&T contract, the only other device I was moved to save money for was the unattainable Epic 4G on Sprint. Even with the horrendous GPS flaw (THAT STILL HASN'T BEEN FIXED WITH THE SOFTWARE UPDATE) and lack of hardware keyboard, there were plenty of good points about the Samsung model that I adored. I could not help but forgive Samsung of its transgressions whenever I watched a movie on that 4inch SuperAMOLED screen, listened to music on that 32GB of total storage capacity, easily shared content via native interfacing with social networks, or browsed the web in all its pinch and zoom glory.

Even with all that positivity for Captivate, there was no ignoring the fact that actions did speak louder than words in regards to my qwerty preference. An earlier blogpost made from the Captivate some months ago stated how comfortable I was getting with the virtual qwerty. However, that was my first and last posting from the device since then. In comparison to the four to five postings from when I had the BlackBerry Bolds, that was definitely a statement in itself (in addition to the fact that I started writing again on the E72). I simply could not feel the impulse to write without a hardware qwerty, and there was no denying it.

I could honestly say the E72 was no longer the phone for me. As much as I found solace in its stable functioning with Symbian 3rd edition, I had simply outgrown it after getting accustomed with Android touch. The recent adoption of the E72 was for the sake of testing Exchange syncing and nothing more. Aside from the excitement of Nokia craftsmanship, hardware keys, reliable GPS, and LED flash, there really wasn't anything to motivate my keeping it over the Captivate. Using the Sports Tracker app along with a newly revamped online interface came pretty close, but not close enough. The way the E72 operated in comparison to the Captivate was not cause for criticism, for they were two different phones made for different purposes. I became more of a multimedia consumer in addition to being a blogger, so it was only natural for me to be drawn to the Captivate's features. Times were different from those days of praising the E71 and E90, and I could only guess it was the inevitable takeover of the touch-driven phone OS with a large screen. Despite the healthy amount of respect I had for the Symbian 3rd edition OS, I had to be honest with myself as a mobile device user.

As much as it would pain me to eventually let go of the stable E-Series model, it was very necessary. Nonetheless, it was good to get a refresher on the Symbian OS before the arrival of the E7.

Trent Smith
Sent from my Nokia E72

E72 Experiment with Exchange

2010-09-26T20:42:00.002-04:00

After the longest time in being with a touch interface on two Android models, I was thrilled to be back with the E72 for even a short period. Typing on a hardware qwerty was a great feeling, and nothing made me happier than being able to pound away at awaiting keys on a familiar phone. Since leaving behind the two BlackBerry Bolds of the 9800 and 9000 for my Captivate, I found myself settling once again for something that didn't satisfy me 100%. This unsatisfactory circumstance was further perpetuated by the lack of worthwhile GSM Android devices equipped with a hardware qwerty. Two major CDMA carriers in the USA had the privilege of sponsoring models such as the Droid, Droid 2, and Epic 4G, but I was forced to choose between two lackluster units offered by Motorola: the Cliq and the Backflip. None of these even remotely compared to the feature set of my Captivate or Nexus One, so I didn't see the point in wasting my time. Not to mention that these same phones were hampered by a most horrible cluster of a mess called MotoBlur that I plan to stay far away from. Despite my admiration for Android, this frustration eventually led me to wondering if I could survive on a non-Android smartphone.

A friend of mine had reminded me of how the iPhone could sync my Google data via Exchange, but I was skeptical at the time. I had already been let down by the unimpressive performance of GooSync on the previous E72 and Google Sync on the BlackBerry Bolds. Tolerating syncing discrepancies with contact duplications and missing calendar appointments left a bad taste in my mouth, and I was certain that Android was the only way to go. However, being away from a hardware qwerty for that much longer started to shake my faith in Android. I seriously considered leaving the familiar OS, but I didn't want to do without the reliability of my Google data being synced over the air. As an experiment, I took my iPod Touch and disabled all PIM data syncing via iTunes in order to rely completely on Exchange. Once I followed instructions found from an online Google search, ALL my calendar, contact, and email data synced to my Apple device flawlessly!! After seeing that activities initiated on the iPod could be synced to my Google account and then to my Captivate, I was overjoyed! For the first time, I felt like I could afford to leave Android behind as long as I had access to Microsoft Exchange. The next logical step was to acquire an alternate phone with such a feature. That is my main reason for taking on this E72 once again.

Trent Smith
Sent from my Nokia E72

Return to Virtual Qwerty

2010-07-26T10:03:00.001-04:00

I had decided to try my hand at writing a word document with the Docs to Go application on my Samsung Captivate, and I was not enthused in the least bit. Only a few hours passed since I had bid farewell to my BlackBerry Bold 9000 model in exchange for the Samsung, and my grieving period over the tactile qwerty was not done. I believe this is the reason why I had reacted so negatively to the on-screen keys and made a rash decision to flee to my MacBook.

Even after leaving behind the qwerty bar device at the AT&T store, there was still a part of me that clinged to the familiarity of tactile buttons. Sitting up into the late hours to burn the midnight oil with the backlit illumination of keys was a favorite pastime, especially with good music in my ears. Each reassuring click from the BlackBerry keyboard seemed to be weaving itself into a hypnotic rhythm that would grasp my concentration so effortlessly. In this writing trance, I could lose myself for prolonged periods of time and did not care as long as my thumbs could tolerate it. Honestly, this felt like my own private time for meditation. The first part of my going back to a virtual keypad involved my delving into an old method that seemed to almost be forgotten. Suddenly dealing with nuances of touch feedback instead of tactile keys caught me off guard, and I wrongfully cast judgment on the Captivate.

However, after over a week of getting used to typing on the larger 4inch screen, I am more at ease from the first day. The display being larger than the Nexus One was also a strength for Sony Ericsson X10. Unfortunately, it was hampered by inconsistent feedback on a UI that had the potential of being very sluggish. While it is one thing to have interface lag, it is really disconcerting when even simple typing cannot be relied upon. This led to the downfall of the X10 in my eyes, and I am grateful that the Samsung has escaped this same fate so far. There may be occasional lags in navigating homescreens and open applications, but typing on the virtual qwerty is sound for the most part. I can even go as far as to say that my Captivate rivals the Nexus One with its keyboard feedback. When one takes into account the convenience of word completion along with the extra space from a bigger display, the Galaxy S line may have a winner as a Nexus One successor.

All this praise comes from using the keyboard in portrait mode, so one can only imagine the awe of landscape mode. My naked eye may not be able to notice the initial benefit of SuperAMOLED in comparison to the Retina display, but the extra measurement of the screen is absolutely apparent! I recently decided to transfer to my phone from the MacBook my word document log of device findings for my Captivate usage. Since I no longer have to sit at my desk with the Mac, this is a more efficient way to stay on top of recording important entries for my blog post. A bit of a shocking result of this is that I no longer have a desire to try a bluetooth keyboard with the Captivate. I once considered the Logitech DiNovo mini model, but started to feel hesitant upon reading user reviews on Amazon. In addition to the risk of adopting this unit that may not work with the Android, there is also the prospect of adding another gadget to carry.

At this point, I can say in full confidence that I am over the grief period for leaving the hardware keyboard of the Bold 9000. The more I think on the possibility of using a tactile keyboard, there is a potential con that emerges in my mind regarding the ease of use. In order to retain a display that is at least four inches, a sliding keypad seems to be most necessary. When this feature is included in the build of a phone, it is usually the case that additional bulk is to be expected. Accompanying this added bulk is the potential for more cumbersome operation of a mobile device. Sliding a qwerty may not seem to be too bad, but it is much easier to have only one primary touch surface to deal with. Considering my past history with sliders such as the Touch Pro 2, N900, Tilt, and E75, I tend to be drawn to either a qwerty bar or touch slab form factor. It seems that a touch slab is best since a qwerty bar would not allow me to retain a large display of at least four inches. The Captivate now offers the best combination of measurements and interface performance for typing, so I may have found a fitting upgrade to the Bold 9000 in regards to writing. Unlike the Nexus One, the Samsung actually encourages me to write a lot more often...hence this posting.

TRENT
Sent from my Samsung Captivate

Qwerty Bar vs Touch Slab

2010-07-11T02:21:00.001-04:00

Of course, there is much anticipation for the Samsung Captivate on AT&T, but also a bittersweet feeling in leaving the hardware qwerty again. Using this BlackBerry Bold 9000 keypad really helps me to realize just how much I have missed the qwerty bar form factor. Thumbs speeding away at the speed of light whenever I want to express an opinion in written form has been an amazing privilege. Considering how easy it is for me to get lost in this kind of activity for hours, one would think that a hardware qwerty is the epitome of mobile contentment for me. Sitting here and writing right now with such tactile comfort as music plays from connected headphones feels absolutely great from a blogging perspective.

However, from a functionality perspective, the qwerty bar form factor is not conducive to an efficient smartphone experience for my own daily routine. Being with the Nexus One and the iPod Touch has revolutionized the way I prefer to gather, create, and share content on a mobile device. Using fingertips to easily swipe one command and tap another seems to have been imprinted to the very nature of my being. A touch screen practically feels organic in comparison to a non-touch screen, and I wonder if I miss that sense more than the hardware qwerty feature itself. Even taking the Bold to use in a brief moment to check emails or Twitter feels like hard labor with the physical buttons and smaller display. With the added ease of touch can come speed, and I've learned this the hard way in learning the BlackBerry OS. While I understand that speed will eventually come from being familiar with this Bold, I am certain it will not be comparable to a touch OS. I can sit here and complain about how certain applications are not available or how some features are not present on the 9000, but it all comes down to OS performance and preference. Even if I had the Nokia E71, there is a likelihood I would be coming to this same realization.

I prefer the Android touch OS and its performance, there is no other way to declare it. This Google-blessed software along with included cloud data management has been an absolute godsend for optimum mobile proficiency. Being able to have PIM data synced without a hard wire computer connection has been such a freeing and enlightening experience after dealing with Missing Sync and .mac in past years. Adding to this priceless benefit is a growing marketplace, smooth graphics, and a huge variety of hardware and software conduits. While the latter benefit can be hampered with what is known as fragmentation, I believe it is better to have choice than to not. Quite frankly, Android touch OS grants a harmonious blend of iPhone-like touch performance and Maemo/Symbian-like functionality.

I would not be honest with myself if I did not acknowledge that hardware variety in the Android market needs refreshing with more tactile qwerty models. True, a majority of the masses may not be in the market for a physical qwerty paired with a large touch screen, but I am. A most recent phone has been the only one to manifest this desire: the Samsung Galaxy S Pro (aka Epic 4G on Sprint). To hold on to the perks of a touch screen and have the added pros of hardware qwerty buttons, the slider build pattern seems to be the sensible choice. There is a dominance of touch tablet form factors, and I am faced with hardly no choice but to accept that for now. Being financially limited to only units locked to AT&T for personal usage makes things worse, for I would even have to wait for upgrade eligibility once I get the Captivate.

While it will not be the best Android model available, this Samsung is the best that AT&T has to give at this point. Yes, I can be turned off by the prevalence of cheap plastic and lack of LED flash on the camera, but as my mother used to say, "beggars cannot be choosy". Moving back to AT&T as a new subscriber has happened just in time for me to take advantage of the subsidized pricing for this Captivate, and I can only be thankful. Despite initial complaints that may come with using it, I am aware that the full retail Nexus One option simply is not available. With that being said, there can surely be a number of potential good points. I can have a bigger 4inch screen with touch feedback comparable to (if not better than) the Nexus One, HD capable video recording, 16GB internal storage, and UI minimally mutilated by AT&T or TouchWiz. In this moment, I am reminded of a lyric from a Sheryl Crow song called "Soak Up the Sun": It's not getting want you want, it's wanting what you've got. In the situation of adopting the Captivate as my main Android device, I am hopeful for initial cons to be outnumbered by pros. Until more than the Epic 4G on Sprint is available to the public, I can only continue to wait with an Android tablet phone and be content with all that Google has created.

Yes, the likelihood of missing these buttons on this Bold 9000 will be extremely high as I walk out of the AT&T store after exchanging it for the Samsung, but that is life: compromise. My usage preferences have changed over time and may continue to change as time continues, and this occurs in a constant quest for balance. Weighing good and bad points and attempting to make them equal have brought me to bidding farewell to the qwerty bar form factor. Writing my words in durations of prolonged sessions may be a tempting prospect on such devices, but not enough to override my desire for the Android touch interface. Who knows, maybe the bigger screen on the Captivate will make for a more pleasant experience...or maybe I should cling more to my Mac keyboard if I want to write.

TRENT
Sent via BlackBerry Bold 9000

Leaving BlackBerry OS for Android OS

2010-07-07T17:43:00.001-04:00

Well, after some time with the BlackBerry OS and the hardware qwerty marvel that is the Bold 9000, I have decided to adopt Android as my primary OS again. No matter how great it is to be reunited with the tactile euphoria of a hardware qwerty, there are cons to RIM's OS that I cannot come to tolerate for everyday use. This is not to declare that the Bold 9000 is entirely negative in the experience it provides, it just isn't versatile enough for my needs as a smartphone user.

Truthfully, being limited to a small non-touch screen was more challenging than I thought. Aside from the glorious times I spend writing up a frenzy on these keypad buttons, I've been frustrated with the web browser and Google Maps performance of the BB OS. The Bolt browser appeared to be a godsend from one aspect, but it can never measure up to what I grew accustomed to on the Nexus One. Scrolling my thumb to death on the trackball to scale an entire website was bothersome, and I then realized the importance of a large, capacitive touch screen. Google Maps was a total nightmare in navigating to a new location for a doctor appointment. I missed the turn-by-turn directions being spoken aloud on Google Navigation with such amazing visuals on the Nexus 3.7 inch display. Since I avoided the Facebook for BlackBerry app, I was limited to posting status updates via SMS. Twitter for BlackBerry was a wonderful app to use, but still couldn't shake my yearning for the touch version.

These and other factors leading to my decision may not be fair to mention since the Bold 9000 is a device meant for a totally different market. While a part of me fits that market of messaging connoisseurs and writers, there is another part that somehow dominates it. This is the part addicted to UI graphical eye candy, multimedia, and the connectivity of the web and social networks. Despite the awareness and certainty of being able to do these same things on the BlackBerry, I just like how Android gives its polish on a large touch screen. This could be a product of the iPhone generation when it seemed that hardware qwerty keys and small non-touch screens were suddenly deemed obsolete for a majority of the public. I may have been sucked into the hype of the touch screen and lost total sight of my want for a tactile keyboard. There is still a fraction of that desire to write on physical buttons, for I wouldn't be on the wait for an Android device equipped with the same. However, I do realize that compromising with a device that cannot at least grant me a touch experience is worse than having touch without tactile keys. This is why I am due to exchange my Bold 9000 for an Android touch device as soon as possible.

This situation is made interesting with the fact that I am limited to AT&T devices since I cannot afford an unlocked phone at full retail value. Even though it looked like I was at a disadvantage at one point with AT&T's paltry lineup, the Samsung Captivate had been announced and my interest was piqued! Once again, my hands were tied to go ahead and take a chance on this network-locked version of the Samsung Galaxy S. Honestly, if the Captivate wasn't available I probably would have figured out some way to get the Nexus One for AT&T, but I'd be lying if I claimed to not be intrigued by the Captivate's 4inch screen.

I can recall the 4inch display of the Sony Ericsson X10 and how much I liked it in comparison to the Nexus One. Aside from its issues, watching movies, using Google Maps, browsing websites, and navigating UI menus just felt better on its larger screen. I am hoping that initial reviews of the UI performance on the unlocked Galaxy S will bring success to the Captivate model.

Of course, there is always the risk of AT&T tarnishing the Android experience with its onboard software. For instance, I cannot understand why AT&T would want to provide its own apps for GPS navigation and web-based contacts management when it has already been taken care of by Google apps. Either way, if I cannot delete or hide the AT&T app icons, I had still better have access to Google Maps/Navigation and the typical Google services that come stock on Android devices. Being unable to download apps outside of the Android Marketplace is not an issue for me, but being forced to use AT&T definitely is. If necessary hacking and voiding of the warranty won't fix being in this potential problem, I would most certainly have to consider alternative options at that point.

Something else that could bring an issue to getting the Captivate could be the overall build quality of the handset. Samsung insists on using flimsy, lightweight plastics in the build of its devices, and this can only make them feel horribly cheap. However, to have an Android device that can finally stand up to the iPhone 4 may be worth me swallowing my pride and getting off my high horse. At the end of the day, as long as Android works in the way it was intended that may be all that matters.

TRENT
Sent via BlackBerry Bold 9000

Returning to AT&T

2010-07-07T15:54:00.000-04:00

Due to challenges in the current job market, it was extremely imperative that I attempt to save every single dollar when possible in addition to minimizing expenses. In lieu of this, I had to make the necessary decision to consolidate household cellular lines into one family plan. However, there was an interesting twist thrown into this situation: moving back to AT&T from T-Mobile. As much as I would have liked to stay on T-Mobile and start a family plan, it would have been unfair for me to expect an iPhone user to leave AT&T 3G to be stuck on EDGE. I honestly knew I wouldn't be willing to do that, so it would be senseless to ask that of my household.

Another factor was access to more 3G compatible handsets since AT&T's 3G frequency seems more popular than T-Mobile's. Using the Nokia N900 and Google Nexus One when they were exclusive had its own appeal, but that soon wore off with time. I simply felt cut off from most 3G devices on the market as I kept my T-Mobile account active, and didn't like being limited to EDGE speeds on review units.

There were definitely cons to returning to AT&T such as being locked to a contract with a $350 ETF and a 2GB data cap, but the benefits seemed to outweigh them nonetheless. If I could save money on an annual basis by using a family plan, that appeared to make the most sense. As much as I didn't want to admit it, another way to save even more money was to buy a network-locked model at a subsidized price. Yes, I did mention using network-locked device for a change! Honestly, if I could afford to buy another unlocked Nexus One I would have done so, but I could not.

At the time the move was made to AT&T, there was a sad and pitiful collection of Android devices. The Motorola Backflip amounted to nothing more than a Fisher-Price toy hampered with the overcrowded Motoblur UI, and the HTC Aria had a screen that was much too small and cramped. That inspired my move to BlackBerry as a temporary stopgap to await a worthwhile Android device with a hardware qwerty. If it weren't for Google Sync being compatible with the BlackBerry OS, the Bold 9000 wouldn't have been considered at all. I am hoping to one day have a dream Android phone with all that I'm looking for in hardware, but seems a long way off in the future. The only potential candidate at this moment is the Epic 4G coming to Sprint, but moving to a CDMA carrier is absolutely out of the question. One can only pray that an unlocked GSM model would be available for the Samsung Galaxy S Pro, for I would certainly save up for it.

To see people gravitate to one device with such enthusiasm for its simplicity and functionality feels great, and I hope to one day have the same feeling. For right now, the Android OS is my preferred software of choice as I wait for a suitable hardware model. AT&T may not be the best carrier, but it's all I have to work with in the greater good of managing household finances.

TRENT
Sent via BlackBerry Bold 9000

Nokia Rant

2010-07-05T16:04:00.001-04:00

In the midst of Ricky Cadden closing down Symbian-Guru.com after years of running it with Rita Khoury, there was indeed some shock for a quick moment. To imagine one of Symbian's greatest blog supporters shutting down his own site seemed to be very unlikely in the course of countless reviews and postings, but alas it happened anyway. When I read the words of Ricky and Rita in the final post and thought of why I had lost faith in Nokia a while back, I could only agree with every single point that was made.

I can recall when Nokia first announced its Symbian touch interface and aired that unforgettable promo video at a conference. An attractive European brunette was depicted at a harbor town with a phone resembling the current XpressMusic model or even the upcoming N8. The close up rendering shots of the interface were engaging with a black background, white Nokia font, and turquoise highlights. This was made all the more intriguing by a smooth touch response with every finger swipe and press onscreen, and I was instantly hooked! My mouth had hit the floor in shock upon seeing the flawless performance of the onboard camera recording a dog briskly walking by. After being so attached to Symbian 3rd edition for a while, I was excited to believe Nokia was taking initiative and bringing competition to a market mesmerized by the iPhone's debut. Practically being a crazed Nokia fan, I recorded this promo and watched it repeatedly in hopes of the next great gadget that would revolutionize the market. Nokia had done it before with the N95 being hailed as a mobile computer for its time, so there was no reason to doubt the company at that point. This enthusiasm I had for the brand was eventually tested when I saw footage of a prototype tablet running Symbian touch. To this day, my reaction to the performance of that video example can be recollected as if it occurred yesterday: utter disbelief. I refused to believe that the clunky aesthetic and jittery movement of this tablet was to be the destined path of the Symbian OS. After the amount of time I had spent gushing over units from the ESeries and NSeries line, there was absolutely no way that mediocrity would take hold at Nokia. Upon reminding myself of this tablet being only a prototype, I simply moved on with expectation of a better final product to be unveiled to the awaiting public.

N97 debuted with the Symbian 5th edition touch OS and caused a stir with vendors taking preorders, but was soon realized to be a curse in disguise. After much agonizing over calls to Amazon, reading blog articles, and watching photos and videos both official and unofficial, I finally got my hands on one! My first unboxing took place with usual surge of emotions as if it was Christmas day and I was back to being five all over again! As I opened the retail packaging, I was so eager to have my underwhelmed perception be proven wrong from first sight of that Symbian touch prototype. It was not. From first grip I was put off by the plastic construction and hollow weightlessness, but still I decided to consider its potential pros. In retrospect, bringing ridicule to the plastic build may have been too harsh since it was not an ESeries device. However, having great size dimensions for optimum portability, 32GB internal capacity, stereo speakers, Carl Zeiss optics camera, and a solid slider were not enough to downplay other pet peeves. The three row qwerty was limiting and hampered by soft tactile feedback (if any at all), and the touch interface was nowhere near polished or smooth in daily performance. In addition to unpredictable self resets and freezes, there were the irritating memory errors. After a good while with the N97, I hated it with a passion and no longer wanted to have anything to do with Symbian 5th edition. A brief stint with the N97 mini introduced a qwerty with improved feedback, but the damage had already been done by a clunky OS and poor hardware defects. I remembered looking back to those alluring N97 commercials and feeling absolutely cheated as a Nokia customer. True, a certain amount of caution should be given to watching promos for upcoming products, but the difference between the marketing and real world use was too huge for words! I could have been guilty for expecting too much of an iPhone experience, but this expectation was set by the flawless and speedy UI simulations on the promos. With time, I gradually pulled away from Nokia completely in search of a reliable touch OS. I won't even waste time with speaking of Ovi services which turned out to be an utter failure in software execution.

As time goes on with mounting competition from industry challengers, Nokia appears to not have a prayer in hell with Symbian, Maemo or even the upcoming Meego OS. I understand not rushing to avoid an incomplete product, but Nokia is dragging its feet at a glacial pace!! If it is going to improve its touch OS, there needs to be more than just smoothing out fonts and adding minor graphical changes. If it is to build a major fan base, it needs to announce products only shortly before public release to maintain interest. Manufacturing different hardware builds with the same, predictable, sub par Symbian OS only perpetuates the notion that innovation is dead and has no place at Nokia. If this company has a top spot as a reigning manufacturer in the world market, why can't its resources manage to give the perception that progress is being made?! Even though I've lost faith in Symbian touch and still have some respect for 3rd edition, there was a recent story stating that Samsung surpassed Nokia in feature phone sales in western Europe. The clock is ticking and ticking fast, Nokia seems to think that time is on its side. There needs to be a collective wake up call at those headquarters in Espoo, Finland to light the fire of urgency to at least take on Samsung and upcoming Windows 7 if not Android and iOS!!! The Nokia ship is continuing to sink with long-time fans and supporters bailing on lifeboats as competing ships surge on by, and this company doesn't seem to give a damn! In addition to online accounts of horrible N97 failures, a close friend had to tolerate his N97 being sent back to repairs FIVE times!! There is no excuse for this, and the best kind of protest is with one's wallet...which is why I refuse to purchase another Nokia product until worthwhile improvements have been made. Even after Maemo on the N900 and my conversion to Android and BlackBerry, my optimism is at an all-time low for Nokia's comeback. If I'm not mistaken, the term "ovi" is Finnish for door, and it is a shame that Nokia could be closing that door on opportunity as well as its well-meaning consumers.

TRENT
Sent via BlackBerry Bold 9000

Bold 9000 impressions

2010-07-04T14:41:00.001-04:00

So far, I am definitely pleased to have exchanged the Bold 9700 for the older 9000 model. It is now a little after 1AM and I have finally completed setup of my device after updating it to the latest fifth version of the BB OS. With the help of some online resources, I was able to successfully bypass the fact the AT&T did not provide a network-approved update to this OS. Not only do I have a BlackBerry device that is almost perfect in hardware, but it is now worthwhile in its onboard software. Turning on the 9000 to a later version of BB OS 4 was not exactly a misfortune, but I did miss the updated look of OS 5 from the 9700 model. After spending a good amount of time with the Nexus One and its touch interface, it still feels refreshing to have simplicity with the BlackBerry OS.

This is made all the more pleasant in finally getting a hardware qwerty that can satisfy my need for prolonged writing. While the Bold 9700 was not terrible by any means, it was unable to grant me a comfortable typing platform due to its small form factor. Although I had previously been turned off by width from the likes of the HTC HD2, I am now loving this element on the Bold 9000. The extra widening of the previous generation model seems to grant larger keys. There is no doubt that quick thumbs can potentially get lost in a blur when speeding across these tactile buttons. There is certainly a clicking sound that emanates from the qwerty in swift typing, but I don't mind it all. The qwerty clicks remind me of an old fashioned typewriter and give a welcomed break from the soft, spongy feel of past keyboards. A pronounced curvature along with chrome row separators really lends an ergonomic and professional upper hand to the Bold 9000's design. More so than even the former E71, this device helps the time to pass by when I get into a writing frenzy. Yes, this phone has a better keyboard than the ESeries device that had my allegiance once upon a time.

In addition to having a welcoming environment for prolonged writing, there is also more substance to the build of the 9000 model. Being larger than the 9700, it has a more masculine construction even though it feels hollow and much cheaper. One has to be honest and call attention to the fact that this certainly doesn't have the solid feel of the 9700, but this isn't a dealbreaker by any means. Minor creaking is present over the headphone and miniUSB ports, but this is a non-issue in daily use. The added bulk is not as bad as I thought it would be for portability due to the abundance of plastic. Unlike Samsung, RIM has cleverly offset this plastic with a leather-like backing. While I can understand the potential for gaudiness with this design cue, it really isn't as bad in person as I thought it would be. There is a serious aura radiating from this phone that departs from the typical touch only slabs that have been dominating the mobile industry. I truly understand how RIM can be seen as the business consumer supplier in a market seemingly saturated with media-centric mini tablets. By the sturdy make of the qwerty buttons and its sizable platform of a body, the Bold 9000 is a certified writer's dream (or at least my dream).

There are indeed some flaws to be tolerated, but I was fully aware of the risk I was accepting in purchasing the 9000. Downgrades from the 9700 model include low internal memory for app downloads, lesser 2 megapixel camera, and supposed weaker battery life. I have had to be careful with what apps I choose to download from BlackBerry App World and be sure to only include the most essential. I did have an Endomondo app for GPS tracking on my runs, but then uninstalled it after deeming its redundancy with my iPod Touch Nike Sport. The low grade camera is of course not that great for even snapshots, but it works nonetheless. However, I won't even waste time with attempting to record any video footage with this kind of camera. As for the battery life, it has been simply amazing! Since there is no large touch screen or 1GHz CPU to power up, this Bold can last easily for a 1.5 days with Wi-Fi constantly running. One particular down side that I've noticed is the voice call quality that seems sub par in comparison to the Nexus and E72 I recently reviewed. Tinny sounds from the earpiece have no trouble getting distorted in upper volume levels despite the strong signal reception. Speakerphone works just fine with little fanfare, but could use a bit more volume. Facebook for BlackBerry has not been the best of experiences on this handset or the previous 9700 due to its unpredictable nature. After changing settings to have no effect on my contacts and calendar, the app insisted on integrating itself anyway. This caused a great deal of chaos with my PIM data, and I had no choice but to do a hard reset and vow to never use the Facebook app again. Even with the cons of this older Bold, my primary want is for comfortable writing and its broad qwerty provides that for me.

Nice surprises have emerged from the first few days with the 9000 in regards to making the most of its features and apps. While it is of course not a direct resemblance to what I was accustomed to on the Nexus One, it is certainly not too bad. The stereo speakers are a delight to have for media playback, and it causes me to wonder why so many current devices haven't had this feature in a while. A large touch screen with a Snapdragon CPU and a measly speaker opening just doesn't seem like a worthy combination for a flagship. This is not to say this Bold has outstanding speakers with flawless audio, but it can still give plenty of sound with them. Browsing the web is an absolute nightmare, but the new-found Bolt application brings a worthy substitute. Rendering desktop layouts for sites in a quick manner is Bolt's strong suit, and there's also support for playing online video files. While video is not that great and best supported with a wifi connection, it is still nice to have this resemblance to the Skyfire app. Moviefone gives a familiar function in the absence of Fandango, and Dictionary.com always rescues me in times of writer's block. Tether is a promising app that is self-explanatory, but at this point I'm not sure if it is worth the premium price after the free trial is over. One Touch Flashlight V2 from JaredCo comes in quite handy in using the camera's LED light, and ShareIt provides a convenient way to share content with both Facebook and Twitter. Having the Amazon Kindle app really eased the pain of an Android version being released just after I had sold my Nexus One. There may not be much amazement from the smaller screen, but I am glad to have the ability to read my Kindle books on the go without my first gen reader. Twitter for BlackBerry continues to be reliable with its non-touch interface, and Google services such as Sync, Mobile App, and Maps remain priceless for efficient mobile functionality. Last but not least is the DataViz Docs to Go application which has been nothing short of incredible with the Bold's hardware qwerty. While the default MemoPad app is sufficient for writing my thoughts, I must admit that I prefer the advanced options available on a bona-fide word document editor. To my favor, DataViz is now running an $18 sale on the mobile office app, and I of course had to take the offer while the getting was good.

With all that I have gained with the qwerty bar form factor from the BlackBerry brand so far, I admit that I do miss the E71 and its Symbian 3rd OS. While its qwerty may not be as impressive as the Bold 9000, the OS seems more intuitive. One can think this stems from my being familiar with Symbian after so many years, but I would have to disagree. The truth of the matter is both RIM and Symbian offer antiquated OS models for non-touch devices, but Symbian provides a more balanced usage experience. Oh well, maybe this is simply my own lamenting over no longer having the E71. There are plenty of good points about the BlackBerry Bold 9000 that I would not get with the E71: 3.5mm jack, stereo speakers, wider qwerty, better qwerty shortcuts, better tactile feedback, 2 shortcut keys, a dedicated messenger app (made for only correspondence between like devices), and a worthwhile app store.

At the end of the day, this 9000 is not a permanent device at all, but merely a stopgap as I continue to wait for a worthy Android device with a hardware qwerty. As much as I'm hopeful for an unlocked GSM version of the Galaxy S Pro to be available for AT&T's 3G network, this may not happen. Until the day comes for this, I will have to hold on and try to manage without the Android OS and enjoy the time allotted with this tactile keyboard.

TRENT
Sent via BlackBerry Bold 9000

BlackBerry 9700 impressions

2010-06-27T06:13:00.002-04:00

This is the first time I am typing on a BlackBerry device since I had briefly tested the Pearl model in 2006. I certainly miss the browsing and quick navigation of the Nexus One touch UI, but being able to write again in quick speed onto a qwerty keypad is more than what I could ever ask for at this point. My thumbs are now firing away at the chance to finally write out complete thoughts and not worry about touch feedback on a capacitive screen, and it feels great!

The build of the Bold 9700 is chock full of plastics, but that was to be expected. On the other hand, I do like the compact form factor of this qwerty bar handset and its many visual and tactile textures. As I hold this in my hands and write this memo while listening to a library of over 1300 songs via headphones, I get the feeling that this exudes a balance of work and play. In comparison to the Nokia E71, the 9700 can at least hold its own in lightweight size if not build quality. I am tempted to be swayed by the larger 9000 model for a better typing experience, but I don't think the potential cons could be worth it. For more internal storage, better battery life, and a new trackpad, it could be more sensible to accept the 9700 and leave the 9000 be.

I do like the high resolution of the screen that gives a polished appearance to graphics, and colors are extremely vivid. Trackpad navigation of the interface is snappy and may prove to be more durable, but I still wonder if I would prefer the 9000's trackball. I really cannot stress how terrific it feels to type on this qwerty keypad! The tactile feedback is perfect and can certainly be addictive for endless rounds of writing for me! The physical layout and feel of the buttons really lends itself to providing a most efficient typing experience for my thumbs...more so than the E71!

I've heard the battery life to be practically legendary on this 9700, and I have no doubt about this. The battery seemed well below 50 when the device was powered on at around midday and finally reached the last bar at around 3AM as I played music and typed this memo.

Google Maps works just fine upon being downloaded from the mobile site, and GPS has no trouble in the open air. I do miss the Navigator feature with turn-by-turn directions spoken aloud, but it's only a matter of time before I return to Android again.

The web browser is lackluster and a step below what is offered on the ESeries with Symbian 3rd edition. Other than that, it gets basic browsing done if one wants to read text on mobile sites.

Multitasking by holding down the menu key is extremely convenient and turns out to be one of the most appreciated features.

There is a word document editor available, but it is not free and I'm not looking to pay at the moment. I've been informed by a friend of a loophole to be able to edit docs on the BlackBerry, and it indeed works. Either way, the basic MemoPad text editor is proving to be sufficient in allowing me to write this article.

Speaking of writing, the spell checker function is a welcomed surprise from this 9700. The highlighting of questionable words is subtle and can be addressed with either a provided listing of suggestions or additional choices in a menu. The convenience of being able to add words to a built-in dictionary is also another favorite function. At this point, I'm not sure if there is word completion available or not, but I will look into it. There are apparently a number of qwerty shortcuts for the BlackBerry line, but I will have to take some time to study and commit them to memory.

I haven't used the camera for video yet, and only have three snapshots taken from a pier in late evening. Like with any mobile camera with a LED flash, end results are a bit grainy. I'm just happy to see the camera have a flash, although I have been told by a Twitter contact that it can tend to wash out pictures.

Call quality isn't bad at all and seems on par with my former Nexus One, but signal reception is a different story now that I'm back with AT&T for a family plan. While being outside in 3G country is good, I am suffering from the same minor dead zones that still plague my home. All for the sake of saving money on household finances.

Sound from the speaker is pretty good in its own right for media playback, and the earpiece is sufficient for voice calls after increasing the volume. There is little distortion in the upper levels with music being played aloud, and I was pleased to have a worthwhile listening experience on the player with my Klipsch in-ear headphones. The volume controls are useless, but thankfully the microphone works for voice calls along with limited play/pause functionality for music.

Speaking of media playback, I am THOROUGHLY surprised by how effortlessly this 9700 plays the same video files from the microSD of my previous Nexus One! Despite the smaller screen, video playback is smooth with vibrant colors that pop onscreen. Video watching will not be a main use for this unit, but it is good to see that it is possible nonetheless.

The interface for media playback is simple and reminds me of the stock Android UI. Album art reproduction of my MP3 and AAC files is flawless, onscreen graphics for controls are intuitive and there's even an equalizer! However, BB is indeed a step below the web integrated services available on the Android player. Overall, this simplicity is refreshing and makes the BB OS experience less intimidating.

Yes, I did mention the word intimidating for the BB OS. Honestly, leaving the Nexus One touch UI to adopt a hardware qwerty again has been daunting so far. There's no more swiping of homescreen panels and tapping of text fields, and this indeed brings about some apprehension in taking on a non-touch interface again. Not knowing all the intricacies of OS5 on this 9700 is indeed uncomfortable, but nonetheless exciting. This is a new opportunity for me to learn the most recent RIM technology on a phone that is compact and relevant to the current mobile market (or the business market if not the consumer one).

As I type on this welcoming qwerty with much assurance from its tactile feedback, I am reminded of what makes a smartphone work for me from a fundamental perspective. At the end of the day, the advancing of features on high-end and mid-range units alike can seem endless and verge on sheer indulgence. As a consumer who still likes his fair share of tech magic from touch screens, graphical interfaces, and cloud computing, this 9700 did appear to be a downgrade...especially from its OS aesthetic being so plain even when compared to Symbian 3rd edition. But after I overlook my initial discomfort and open my mind to this stable simplicity of the Bold, I realize that it is actually a refreshing departure from the touch-dominated age of flashy interfaces, fast processors, and high-definition displays. From rampant confusion that can plague me in searching for the perfect convergence device, this BlackBerry offers what it can and nothing more. There is no need to compete with the likes of the iPhone 4, EVO 4G, Nexus One, and N900, for there will always be a market for business consumers and messaging connoisseurs alike. I believe that providing comfort in a hardware qwerty with a stable software environment to at least execute standard mobile communication tasks is what BlackBerry is meant to do. Any additional features are simply welcomed luxuries that can shed the brand of its corporate 9-to-5 persona and make it more accessible to the general public. With all that said, in a strange way I do feel like a mature adult when using this 9700 in comparison to my former Nexus One. The form factor may not have the heft, metallic elements or weight of competing models, but this helps it all the more in being a daily companion. I like that this unassuming unit can grant me the basics in a most comfortable and refined manner from its superb qwerty and professional design. Provided that Google Sync support continues to help me remain connected to my PIM data in the cloud, the Bold 9700 may certainly be considered a backup keeper to my dream Android device. As long as I keep in the back of my mind that this is not meant to replace touch models, but complement them, I will be just fine.

TRENT
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T