Technology | JayMonster Reviews

First Look: Windows Phone 7

September 1, 2010 By JayMonster Leave a Comment

I was quite excited when I found out that Microsoft would be showing off Windows Phone 7 at BlogHer ’10. I was even more thrilled when I was able to get a personal walk though of the device at a time when nobody else was around. I felt a bit more comfortable that I would get some complete answers rather than the typical marketing speak that you usually hear at such events.

Most of that worked out, I did get a fairly complete look at the new metro interface that graces Windows Phone 7, but I couldn’t get past the marketing speak, which I found somewhat condescending when they trying to use terms like “the myth of multi-tasking” to try and cover up some of the known flaws of this phone.

If you are paying attention to the SmartPhone market at all over the past couple of years, there are some obvious things going on. Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android are presently running away with the market. Palm has a decent contender in the WebOS, however some lousy hardware, a terrible marketing campaign (seriously what was up with the creepy, pasty white woman in their ads?), and pockets not deep enough, combined to keep WebOS from competing (though we will see what happens now that HP picked up Palm). And Microsoft. Poor, poor Microsoft was left holding the bag with the severely outdated and difficult to use Mobile OS that shed marketshare the way the winner sheds pounds on the Biggest Loser.

After finally acknowledging (after an simply abysmal launch of Windows Mobile 6.5) that they needed to go back to the drawing board, that is exactly what they did. They opted to try and mimic the model that worked so well for Apple. They took back control of the OS, the specs, the set requirements of what the phone must have in order to be allowed to put Windows Phone 7 on a device.

Except, they may have gone a bit too far in copying Apple. Major features like Cut and Paste and Multi-tasking, two huge issues for the iPhone for a long time (and finally included in iOS 4) will be missing from Windows Phone 7. Microsoft, while having a fairly strong hold on the Corporate market opted to go after the “fun and games” crowd, and tightly integrated this phone with both the Zune Marketplace and the Xbox. Which is fine if you are 16 to early 20s, but is going to do nothing endear them to corporate users or IT Departments.

The front screen shows the “social” face of the phone, the “hip” that Microsoft is going after (and failed to acquire with their aborted Kin product earlier this year). It is a cutesy interface, the sort that many Android phones sport, and most power users immediately take off the phone as soon as they get it home. Except you can’t do that with Windows Phone 7. The tile interface is broken down into what Microsoft calls “hubs” There are hubs for games, for apps, for social, etc. It looks fairly clean on a new device, but as each application adds itself to a hub and creates a tile for itself, I see this interface becoming cumbersome and unwieldly for most people to use.

People that are using devices like the Blackberry Bold, the Palm Pre or (heaven forbid) Windows Mobile 6.x devices might be able to be swayed over to Windows Phone 7, but at first glance I see nothing in Windows Phone 7 that could pull an iPhone or Android user over to the Microsoft camp. Honestly though, having been a developer dependent on Microsoft technologies for more years than I care to admit, if you look at Windows Phone 7 as a version 1.0 product (which really that is what it is since there is no legacy for older apps from Windows Mobile 6.x and earlier), then this might be fully flushed out, fixed and ready for prime time in Windows Phone 8 or 9. Considering that would mean 2 or more years down the road, based on this first look, I’d say look elsewhere for now, and then revisit Windows Phone X when your contract is us in a couple of years. There is no sense in bogging yourself down with this until they work everything out… unless you spend most of your life listening to music and playing your Xbox… if that is the case… then it might be worth waiting to see when the Windows Phone 7 Series phones hit the market and see if it is for you. But if you want to actually be productive and are still missing Microsoft, get an Android device and load the Bing app and Bing Maps… it will be like having a Microsoft device without the limitations of Windows Phone 7.

Filed Under: Featured, Mobile, Technology

Droid X

July 31, 2010 By JayMonster Leave a Comment

Due to a fortunate (for me) need to get a new phone for my princess, an opportunity arose. My wife was finally interested in getting a SmartPhone due to all the things I had told and shown her I could do with my original Droid, and the little one had be pestering us to get her something other than the Blitz pre-paid she has had for the past year. So, we shifting things around. The princess got the LG enV Touch that the wife had originally selected for herself, the Wife took command of the Droid, and that gave me the opportunity to go out and pick up the newest member of the Droid family of phones from Verizon Wireless, the Droid X.

For those that haven’t already seen or heard about the Droid X, this is one BIG phone. It sports a 4.3″ screen, roughly the same size as the HTC Evo available on Sprint. This is a huge plus for some, but a major drawback to others. Those with small hands or tiny pockets may find this phone unmanageably large, but at the same time it is easy to look at and read apps and websites from thanks to the larger size, and typing on the virtual keyboard is easy for even the most ham handed of us that have trouble typing on a smaller screen,

Like the Evo, the Droid X currently runs Android 2.1 (with 2.2 promised as an update later this summer). The Droid X includes a customized interface from Motorola (an improved version of MotoBlur, though Motorola is reluctant to use that name on the interface) that adds some functionality to the base Android operating system and a bit of eye candy for the iPhone envious types. 2.2 is supposed to increase speed, and I am curious just how much faster this phone can get, because with the 1GHZ OMAP processor supplied by Texas Instruments and the fact that Blur interface does not slow down the phone as much as Sense does on HTC phones like the Evo makes this phone crazy fast to begin with.

Call quality (yes iPhone users, some people actually care about call quality) is good, but not nearly as close to perfection as the original Droid was. That phone was as close to landline quality as I have had in a mobile phone. The X is good and better than many mobile phones out there, but just not up to the bar set by its older brother. The phone also has 3 microphones, the standard to speaking of course, a second for noise cancellation (which works, though not as well as most good noise cancelling Bluetooth headsets), and a third for shooting video.

The Droid X sports an 8MP camera (which is curiously defaulted to 5 MP), and HD video capture, which you can playback either through the HDMI output or through DLNA for those who have such enabled devices (I do not, so I couldn’t test the DLNA). As I mentioned, the Droid X has 3 microphones, and in a very nice (and smart) move, enable you to use the one on the back (where the camera is) if you are trying to record the sound from the source of the video, or you can enable it to use the standard phone speaker (on the face) if you are narrating what you are taking shooting in your video. It is not an earth shattering feature, but one that shows some forethought, and almost makes up for the fact that the Droid X does not have a front facing camera like the iPhone 4 or the HTC Evo.

The phone is incredibly thin, except for a protrusion at top where the camera and flash is housed. Since they took up that much space I was hoping that the camera performance (one of the weak spots of the original Droid) would be improved. And it is… somewhat. They camera is still a little sluggish in focus and shooting and while once again, daylight performance is good, in poor light the camera does not perform as well. Video performance however is as good if not better than any smart phone I have seen so far.

One of the biggest fears of a phone with a screen this large (and one of the biggest complaints most people have about the Evo) is battery life. Battery life on the Droid X is not as good as an iPhone, but better than the Evo, and actually (and quite surprisingly) about as good as the original Droid, that is to say, it will get you through the day with moderate use. A larger capacity battery will be offered later (presumably with a custom back cover replacement) that is supposed to offer longer life and only add a few millimeters of thickness to the phone if you actually need more time.

If the size is an issue, you may wish to wait for the Droid 2 which is anticipated to be released in mid August (sadly, the original Droid has not been served its end of life papers, and while you still may be able to find it in some stores or authorized dealers, I would be wary of recommending somebody buy of phone that is already discontinued, especially when you factor in the 2 year contract), or the Samsung Fascinate (I will have a review of this phone soon as well)… or if you can be patient enough for it to (finally) get back into stock, there is always the Droid Incredible. But if you want someething that can double as a small eReader (thanks to the Amazon Kindle app or Barnes and Noble Nook app), can play video (or the TV.Com app from CBS Interactive) that you can actually see and not have to squint, the the Droid X is an excellent member of the Droid line of Android phones from Verizon Wireless.

Filed Under: Featured, Mobile, Technology Tagged With: Android, Droid, Droid X, review, Verizon Wireless

Palm Pre Plus

June 7, 2010 By JayMonster Leave a Comment

There was a time I wouldn’t have bothered with looking at the Palm Pre Plus. Then a few things changed. None of them actually affect this phone directly, but did make a difference in how I look at the phone.

First of all was the acquisition of Palm by Hewlett-Packard. True this doesn’t make the phone itself better or worse. It does however breathe some new life into the WebOS platform, which is what I find most intriguing about this device. Palm took forever to build this new OS and it is every bit as stunning and smooth as described. The financial woes of the company concerned me however. But thanks to the takeover by HP, that is no longer a concern. I expect to see a new phone and/or a tablet running the WebOS before the year is out.

Then there is the price. Yes, SmartPhones are starting to take center stage in the mobile space thanks largely to the popularity of the iPhone and to a lesser extent some of the newer Android phone like the Droid, NexusOne and Evo, but all of those phones come with a price tag that is at or around $200… or more. True, the recently released version on at&t is at $149, but I expect that to drop in very short order as you can pick up the same exact phone (well, the CDMA version anyway) on Verizon for under $50. Yes, less than $50 (and free if you qualify for a New Every 2 rebate from Verizon Wireless). for a smooth (mostly) multi-tasking SmartPhone. Less than you would pay for messaging phone posing as a SmartPhone like the Kin 1 and Kin 2.

Now, the next reason is why I had this phone issued to me. VZW is currently (I don’t know when this offer ends) is throwing in the hotspot abilities for free. I had been begging my company for a Mi-Fi Card (a 3G wireless hotspot card) to go along with my corporate mobile. With this deal, I got both in one device, and can save the extra expense of a second account. Using it as a hotspot couldn’t be easier. Simply select the Hotspot “app” to turn it on, and find it with your laptop as you would any other wireless router, and boom, you are up and running on the Internet. (Just as a reminder, “unlimited” data means different things to different carries. With VZW 5 GB is “unlimited” at&t no longer offers an unlimited data plan at all, only offering a scam of a 250MB plan for $15 and a 2GB plan for $25/month. T-Mobile doesn’t charge users who go over 5GB, but reserves the right to “throttle” their bandwidth over 5GB, and Sprint currently says it has no plans to put any sort of cap on usage).

But what about the phone?

OK, so I have covered everything about the phone… except the phone itself. Let me start with the negatives first. (Since I know that I usually want to know up front if their is some dealbreaker up front rather than reading all the good stuff only to find that there is something that will prevent me from buying a particular phone).

Small screen. 4 or 5 years ago, when every phone was about how thin and/or small it was, this would have probably been considered a HUGE with a 3.1″ screen. Now, it is considered and feels tiny. Now granted, that may not be a negative to everyone. The phone is small and sleek, and almost feels like a polished stone in your hand. But when trying to browse the web, or even read an e-mail, that small screen can be annoying.

Small Keyboard. It is sad that the keyboard on the Pre Plus is *much* better than the original Pre. I guess it is better, but only marginally. Only the slightest of hands can possibly find this thing comfortable to type on for any length of time. True, the Droid’s keyboard is lacking as well, but at least with phones like the Droid, the Devour and other Android phones with a physical keyboard, you have the option of using the onscreen keyboard. The Pre Plus does not offer this convenience, so you have to get used to the keyboard.

No speed demon. Many people expected a boost in processor speed when the Plus came out, instead the same slower processor (a 550 Mhz OMAP) was put in here. It is enough for most basic tasks, but start using the great multi-tasking this device offers and suddenly you find lag coming up to bite you pretty quickly.

The Good Stuff

Since I only have VZW’s CDMA version, I can only speak for that one, but call quality on the phone is acceptable to good. Some might consider it great, but I was spoiled by the superb call quality of the Droid, and it is the gold standard by which I now judge, so the bar is set pretty high.

Screen clarity and contrast blows just about every other phone out of the water. I hated the whole concept of VZW marketing this phone as the “only phone to keep up with Mom” But I have to admit… they may be on to something there. I used this phone today is broad daylight. A bright sunny day, and I didn’t need to turn away from the sun or do anything else to read the screen. I could read it easily. The HVGA display looks almost “eInk” like in contrast quality making it the easiest I have seen in the bright sun. For the”soccer mom” trying to keep up with schedules, e-mails, Facebook posts, twitter, and so on, this is a major benefit. Heck, for anybody that needs to be able to read e-mails outside, this is a cool product for that alone.

Apps… yes it does to have apps. It may be disappointing to anybody coming from Android or an iPhone the number of apps that are currently available in the Palm App Catalog, but while small, at least it currently has an ecosystem to play with, which makes it better than messaging phones like the Kin 2 and Kin 2, the Chocolate Touch, the EnV Touch, etc.

Summing it up

So who is this phone for and who is it not? If your an Apple Fanboy, there is nothing here that will change your mind.

If it is about power… or apps or… or browsing the web… or other such things… then no, this may not be the device for you.

If you want a SmartPhone, but don’t want to pay the price for one of the bigger devices, but still want to be able to browse the web, and run an app here and there. Then yes this phone could be for you.

If keeping up with task lists and e-mails and calendars rule your life… this phone could be for you.

If you want a phone that easily fits into a shirt (or skirt) pocket… this phone could be for you.

If you want hot spot abilities to connect your other devices to the web wirelessly without having to buy a data card, this definitely could be the device for you.

The Pre Plus is more about the promise of what might come next more than what it is now. But what it is now, could be just enough to satisfy some people… especially at the current price.

What do others think?

Too Vague? Too Technical? Want another review from a real live parent using the phone (as opposed to those blogs that only want the “latest and greatest” and anything older is “outdated”), then also check out some other reviews of the Palm Pre from some of my favorite sources that I trust.

Busy Mom Reviews - Palm Pre Plus from Verizon Wireless Review and Giveaway

This Full House Reviews – Palm Pre Plus Blogger Review and Giveway

(sorry the giveaways are over, but the reviews are still worth reading).

Filed Under: Mobile, Technology Tagged With: Android, HP, iPhone, Palm, Pre, SmartPhones, WebOS

Microsoft Kin 1 and Kin 2

May 16, 2010 By JayMonster 1 Comment

Microsoft Kin 2

The idea looks pretty solid. The first phones that Microsoft developed from their Danger acquisition (Danger was the company that developed the Sidekick). It was to be the first phones that integrated Zune software. Cloud storage of contacts, and pictures makes for great buzzwords these days (though Sidekick owners might disagree after loss of data for better than a week recently).

Not a full blown SmartPhone the Kin phones were meant to straddle the line between messaging phone and SmartPhone. It almost made it. Almost.

Problem one, and this really is in my opinion a deal breaker from the very start, is that this phone requires a full data plan from Verizon Wireless. A data plan that is going to set you back $29.99 per month. Now, Verizon Wireless and Microsoft both feel that this is justified because of the amount of data that will be required to move your contacts, pictures and other information to and from “the cloud.”

This may be true, but that doesn’t make it a good value. As I alluded to earlier, the snafu that occurred recently with Sidekick, make me less that thrilled with data being stored out of my control. But even if I got past that issue, every contact has to be synchronized back to the device, and pictures are slow to load because they are not stored on the phone they are stored ” in the cloud” and thus must be retrieved back to the phone each time you want to view it. that makes for one poky feeling device.

The Kin 1 is very similar in look and feel to the Verizon Wireless Blitz, a popular little messaging phone from a couple of years back. The Blitz did not have all the “social” aspects that has been built into the Kin1, but you also didn’t need a data plan to go with it.

This small form factor also is not very conducive for the “social” display which, like that on some smart phones attempts to show you what all your friends are up to. But with its tiny screen, showing all that information leads to a lot of scrolling.

Microsoft says that this phone will eventually be rolled into the same eco system as Windows Phone 7 devices due out later this year. Eventually. What that means, is right now, there is NO ecosystem to speak of. No games, no additional apps, no way to improve on the little quirks, like the fact that this “social” device has no Instant Messaging client.

The Kin 2, has the same software, so the same problems apply. It does have a bigger screen, so unlike the Kin 1, you could actually view some web content on it without having to scrool. Unfortunately however, the browser is nothing to be thrilled about in the first place, and is deadly slow, so you “could” view some web content… provided you have the time to spare.

Microsoft it seems spent all its time trying to be hip, which only added to the obnoxiousness of the phone to me. The keys are all done in a very odd phone, and offset, so that they letter are actually hanging off of the edge of the key. I guess that is supposed to look hip, to me, it just looks sloppy for sloppy sake.

The other big allure of this phone is supposed to be the “kin spot” and little green dot at the bottom of the screen you can drag pictures to share, contact to… um… contact and other such nonsense. This is one of those things that sounds sort of cool, until you try to use it (did I mention these phones are slow and poky??) and it comes off kind of pointless. If I want to share a picture, do I really have to drag it to “the spot” in order to send it to somebody?

If this is what Microsoft gets out of its $500 Million dollar purchase of Danger and 2 years worth of development, then I would have to say, that Microsoft flushed half a billion dollars down the drain, because these phones are just plain behind the curve, and require too expensive a plan to be interesting to anybody. If you are going to spend $30 a month on a data plan, you might as well get a real SmartPhone. The Droid Eris is around the same price if not a few dollars less than the Kin 2, but is a much more powerful and useful device. The Palm Pre Plus (review coming soon), is another device that is far superior to the Kin 1, but yet costs around the same.

These aren’t the worst devices ever made, far from it, they feel pretty good, and look nice. But even for a Zune owner like me (or even my daughter), with all the drawbacks and expensive data plan attached, I’d say at this point, short of being a Microsoft or Verizon Wireless stockholder, I see no valid reason to actually want either of these devices.

Filed Under: Mobile, Technology

Gateway NV5922u Laptop

May 5, 2010 By JayMonster Leave a Comment

Their name has been dragged through the mud for many years (and arguably they deserved it), but even before they were acquired by Acer in late 2007, Gateway had started back building machines that were worth owning again. After years of selling low end junk that was closer to the eMachines brand they acquired than to their powerhouse machines of the 90′s, Gateway started selling some good machines again.

I have always had good luck with Gateway computers when I have owned them, and decided to give them another try when I found the NV5922u. Priced under $650 in most locations, I picked my up for $629 at TigerDirect.com, which I thought was an excellent price for a machine of this caliber.

For that price it boasts an Intel Core i3-330M 2.13GHz processor, has 4GB of DDR3 memory, a slightly stingy 320GB Hard Drive, a 15.6 widescreen (16:9) display, and comes with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. More surprisingly (to me) it also has an HDMI port, so you can hook this baby up to your flatscreen and watch Streaming videos on that big screen sitting in the living room rather than on a laptop monitor.

This machine is in a word… fast. I rarely, if every have to wait for anything, no matter how many apps or Browser tabs I have open. The multi-touch track pad is a nice little toy that is available on most if not all Gateway (and probably Acer) laptops. I like it for the novelty factor, but actually found it annoying in day to day use, and turned off the multi-touch features.

The display is crisp and sharp. The keys are responsive, the webcam is serviceable but certainly nothing to write home about. It support 802.11 b/g/n so it will work with just about any wireless router out there right now. Battery life is decent. I haven’t gotten the 4 hours 30 minutes claimed, but that isn’t really surprising, I have gotten over 3 hours use in conferences and such when I am constantly typing and note taking, but not much streessing in the way of video to get that much life.

As I mentioned the keys are quite responsive. They are quiet and soft, but not too mushy to touch. However, the keys are very large, and thus very close together with virtually no “fall off” area between keys. This has made for a very needed adjustment period in getting used to this keyboard.

Since it uses Intel’s GMA integrated graphics, one thing this machine is not is a “gaming rig.” But the graphics are good enough for the vast majority of people out there, just not the hardcore gamer types. It also ships with some crapware (Office 2007 Trial Edition, Norton Anti-Virus trial, and some games), but it is far less than you find on some laptops these days. So yes, you may need to uninstall a few items, but it is not an all day affair with of junk.

If you are looking for a decent mid-range machine, that can play some games, handle with web with ease while muti-tasking that post you are trying to write and listen to Pandora, this machine can handle it quite easily. And for a machine this powerful for under $650, it definitely is worth a look.

Filed Under: Computers and Accessories, Technology