First Pictures: HTC Touch Diamond2
Tom on July 04, 2009
Yesterday we received a pre-release version of HTC’s brand new Touch Diamond2 smartphone for the Australian market in unlocked form. There haven’t been any carriers pick up the Diamond2 as yet — and while it’s not available for sale just yet, we have got our hands on an early version.
Packaged in a plain black box with a few essential accessories, this is not the finalised retail version. A few glitches in the Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system will be cleared up before shoppers can pick them up!
Check back soon for the full review!
Thanks to Cheryl from Upstream for the hookup!
Review: HTC Magic
Tom on July 04, 2009
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
— Arthur C. Clarke.
The latest Android handset from Taiwanese manufacturer HTC, the Magic, may not fulfil dreams of any wizardry taking place beyond its pebble-like form, but is it sufficiently advanced to satisfy Sir Arthur’s definition?
As a fan of HTC’s developing work with the open-source Google Android platform, I was keen to use the Magic after observing the potential of the first phone produced by HTC using that operating system, the Dream. That phone, while demonstrating what really could be possible in the future by mixing HTC’s excellent skill set with handset design with the power of Android, failed to show any real progress in the user experience field.
Despite this, the Dream, sold as the T-Mobile G1 in the USA and Europe, has been a massive hit with punters who are looking for a capable, reliable alternative to the Apple iPhone. Despite its flaws the nature of the phone won over people looking for that potential and for a future investment.
A year has passed since the G1 hit the US market and six months since the Dream was unveiled here in the Asia-Pacific region. The Magic deletes the popular QWERTY keyboard that featured on the Dream but adds more solid hardware, a better all-round design, and more refined technology to improve the overall experience of the phone.
Hardware design
The Dream was a ‘different’ course of action for HTC - and not just with the inclusion of Android. The sleek designs of handsets of the day, like the original Touch Diamond and Touch Pro, were thrown out and in their place, a wide, matte-black sliding brick of a handset (to be crude) emerged. Practical, yes; aesthetically appealing, perhaps not.
The Magic, however, cures any hurt feelings generated in the HTC-Android fan crowd; the Google operating system camp no longer has to put up with sub-par design. The Magic is beautiful. It sits in one’s hand like a small, rounded white pebble. It is light and sleek and glossy. However, the white colour hides most finger trails around the body.
The crisp and large 3.2-inch screen nearly fills the width of the phone and, when off, the blackness of it somewhat overwhelms the more feminine beauty of the body shape. Turn it on, though, and it is colourful and vibrant. While the screen does not offer the haptic feedback (vibration when touched) of its Windows Mobile sibling, the Touch Diamond2, it is visually satisfying. All portions of the Android system are produced well on-screen and there was no trouble with size limitations.
The front face of the phone is dominated by this display. Below it, are some handy soft keys, though, including the standard Android home, contextual menu, return and search keys, plus two send-end shortcuts. An indented, lit rollerball seperates the two sides.
The border of the phone is nearly clear of obstacles for the hand. A piece of (plastic) brushed silver trim adorns the sides. On the left, a simple, unmarked up-down volume rocker alters the sound level of the phone. The top is similarly devoid of features and the bottom of the phone is interrupted only by the semi-proprietary HTC ExtUSB port, used for charging and syncing. Any standard mini-USB cord can be used but only HTC headphones need apply; there is no 3.5-millimetre port to be found here.
The rear face of the handset is similarly glossy white and features the small Google branding as seen on the Dream, plus an upgraded 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera. Featured here is the only HTC branding on the phone.
In terms of size, the phone is about 90% the size - height and width - of an Apple iPhone 3G S and the same thickness. It is significantly less wide than a BlackBerry Bold, but larger than most consumer Nokia handsets such as the 6210 Navigator.
Software operation
The Magic for Australia, sold and licensed by Vodafone AU, is loaded with a vanilla copy of the Google Android 1.5 “Cupcake” system. This update has substantially increased the stability of the system, and added creature comforts like the on-screen QWERTY keyboard that should have been delivered in the Android 1.0!
The Android system works remarkably well and is fairly easy to adjust to if you are coming from a standard phone. Coming from other smartphones is similarly simple. The Android software layout is pretty well the same as other common mobile OSes such as iPhone OS and the new LG S-Class system; graphical icons, sliding screens, flickable lists. You get the gist.
Operating the core features of the Android system, like the scrolling application selection field and the three home-screen layout, where “gadgets”, like clocks and web-links can be placed systematically, is easy. Android is designed for the consumer in mind; there are few advanced features on this phone, and this is a plus for the kind of person interested in the Magic.
Disappointingly, the Google branding on the phone (which does not appear in countries like Singapore) prevents any Microsoft Exchange support from being added. If you are looking to use a work or school e-mail account which utilises Exchange on this phone, you need not apply.
Similarly, the support for even IMAP4 type e-mail is spotty. My own TB Tech mail server, hosted by Bluehost USA, was rejected for failing to authenticate properly. There is no option to override this and confirm its safety - even though I obviously know that my account is virus free. It stubbornly resists.
Luckily, the Magic redeems itself somewhat by offering a great web browser. It’s no Mobile Safari, but it’s far better than the Opera mini offered on the Touch Diamond2. It is fast, renders quickly and is easy to navigate around.
Large, finger-friendly graphics are the norm in the operating system. Unlike the HTC Windows Mobile builds, there’s no mish-mash of old and new portions to the system. Everything is perfectly designed for easy operation and it delivers. The processor needs to be faster, though, to deliver that iPhone-like immediate reactions!
Those who chide the iPhone for still not featuring application multi-tasking will be satisfied by the Magic, though; Android 1.5 offers much better support for running several applications at once and the handy notification bar, which remains at the top of the screen at all times, can be dragged down to show all new notifications like updates from Twidroid, the excellent Twitter client for Android which I discovered during my evaluation.
Everyday use
The Magic is touted as a smartphone, so it was a severe blow to my impression of the phone that my Bluehost IMAP e-mail was not supported. It was a problem on the Dream and I expected it to be rectified on the Magic. Alas, no. Not having instantaneous access to my work e-mail was a problem at times, but something I could go without for a few hours on end!
Walking down the street and using the Magic was no problem, especially due to its diminished size in comparison to the behemoth HTC Dream. However, the on-screen keyboard offered with Android 1.5 was simply atrocious.
The keyboard was so bad and so inaccurate for double-thumbed mashing that I nearly had to resort to using my Nokia E71 during the evaluation period. Luckily, a pretty good auto-check system is built in for the inevitable mis-typings that you will experience. In two weeks I did not become accurate which is simply unacceptable.
This is the fault of the Android operating system, mostly; but HTC are to blame for not offering better integration with their handset. I have come to expect an iPhone-like typing experience, but clearly this is too much to ask! It was awful to type on this handset. I could perhaps have got used to it with a longer period and it was not as if I could not type. It was just bitterly slow.
Using the web was a much better experience, though. Google Search is built right in, as one would expect from a Google operating system. Handy links to Facebook, eBay, and the like were already included and this was a blast to use such features right out of the box.
The camera is a heinous blow to the credibility of mobile phone cameras of 2009. How dare HTC build in such a disappointing camera that cannot handle any low-light situations whatsoever. The iPhone 3G S can basically serve as a replacement for a point-and-shoot. So say it mildly, the HTC “cannot”.
This phone does not suit me for day-to-day use. It might have, had the e-mail worked. I do hope this is fixed in the future, along with that keyboard!
However this phone is not aimed at BlackBerry-rocking addicts like this journalist. It is aimed at lifestyle-phone enthusiasts who have a GMail account, keep their calendars on Google Calendar, use YouTube all day long and want to navigate their way around with the excellent Google Maps client built in. It’s a half-baked smartphone, but that won’t matter to its owners.
Indistinguishable from magic? The HTC Magic offers no special features, but it delivers well on everyday tasks like web browsing, is designed impeccably, and offers the benefits of the Android system. A great upgrade from the Dream, but, no, it’s not quite there.
That responsibility rests on the shoulders of the HTC Hero!
Commentary: The iPhone 3G S
Tom on June 29, 2009
An essay by Tom Baker.
I haven’t used an iPhone 3G S yet. I can quite easily imagine what it will be like, though; I’ve used the iPhone 3G running the 3.0 software extensively.
My vision of the 3G S experience was easy to create. This is down to the fact that the 3G S is nearly identical, hardware-wise, to its predecessor, the iPhone 3G.
While some minor hardware changes have, admittedly, taken place - such as the move to silver mirror lettering for the iPhone text on the rear - the aesthetic changes have been so minor that they may come to be a detracting factor to the primarily non-discerning buyer of these phones.
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Affirmative commentary
2009 has been an evolutionary year for technology, not a revolutionary one. Products have been updated satisfactorily but the space for new product has been fairly lacklustre; in keeping with this year’s trend, then the iPhone 3G S is far from disappointing. It is a relevant, and pleasing upgrade.
I am somewhat hesitant to label the 3G S a new model. I feel that, hardware- and specification-wise, the 3G S is exactly what the older iPhone 3G should have been. And, in some ways, what the original aluminium iPhone should have debuted with.
However I am of similar mindset to John Gruber of Daring Fireball on this one. The original iPhone, and to some extent, the iPhone 3G, dared to show the public that they didn’t really need tangible keys, or a flip cover, or boring operating system to own a true smartphone. Similarly, Apple showed us that we really didn’t need or want MMS, or a landscape experience, or a video camera. Until now.
It is the decision of the mother company that we are ready for these features now. Probably a smart move; imagine if all of the iPhone’s innovations had been released back on June 29, 2007. One problem is that global mobile networks were simply not ready for the hugely increased network traffic that resulted even from the fairly spartan original iPhone.
Should the full mobile iTunes store, third-party data-using applications, full Exchange support, MMS, tethering and video recording (and with it, mobile video uploading), there would have been network chaos.
3G would have been necessary, of course, from the very start. It was the case, though, that the American networks were lagging behind with this technology and Cingular was undergoing the transition to AT&T. Not a good time for so many network-intensive features, then.
The European and Asian networks would have coped, of course. But if America couldn’t, then it wasn’t going to happen. Of course we must also look at sites like YouTube. It is having difficulty coping now with the 1200% increase in mobile video uploads after only one week. Back in 2007, when the site was immature, it wouldn’t have. —
So in this way, logically and categorically, the iPhone 3G S delivers the features that the ubiquitous nagger who constantly says “But the iPhone can’t do this!” has been whining about for years in a timely fashion.
It can be easy to forget that Apple only began building the iPhone platform three years ago; and selling it only two years ago. While more staid companies like Nokia and Motorola engaged in the pioneering aspects of the mobile industry, their lack of inspiration over the recent years left a gap which Apple filled at just the right time.
The speed increases that come from the faster processor and doubled memory will be good news for power users and gamers, certainly. It is a satisfying, if predictable, upgrade that will benefit the platform in the years to come as applications - specifically, games - become more intensive and involving.
Video recording, as mentioned previously, will simply be a hit. The younger generation who will undoubtedly flock to this phone - those who understand the speed boosts and benefits - are going to embrace video capture on the fly like they embraced mobile photography five years ago.
YouTube may not cope under the pressure; technically, and financially. The site lost in the vicinity of $600 million last year. The 3G S will, I predict, directly cause an increase of around 25% in videos posted to the site. Unless more ads are applied to YouTube videos soon, the site cannot remain financially viable even for its wealthy owners, Google.
The updated 3.0-version software works, as it always has, in great harmony with the hardware. The features exclusive to the 3G S, such as voice control and video capture, are implemented beautifully and easily for the end user.
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Negative commentary
Truthfully, there are few real disadvantages to the iPhone 3G S and almost all of these are completely objective. For example, there are those who still whine about the lack of a physical QWERTY keyboard. My answer to that is that it won’t happen in the near future.
You can deal with personal objective problems with the 3G S in one of two ways:
1. Purchase a different phone and be quiet, or;
2. Take what you get, and like it. Be happy Steve knows best.
However there are of small problems that do not reflect on the phone itself that have sat at the back of my mind since WWDC. Instead, they reflect on Apple’s philosophy behind the 3G S.
These issues all stem down, really, to what can really be labelled a small lack of true innovation. While the 3G S represents the pinnacle of what’s doable in the mobile industry - the ‘best of the best’, one might say - it could probably do better.
Perhaps I am incorrect, and have just been bred badly by being spoonfed better and better Apple products thrice a year. But it is almost like Apple did not put in the same effort it has in previous years, and in the two previous iPhone iterations.
If there was an emotional scale, the original iPhone rated as a cheer, the iPhone 3G as a clap and the iPhone 3G S as a sigh. The rumour mill predicted the correct specifications days before WWDC. It failed on the aesthetic changes, though; blogs expected at least some change. And this is there the 3G S underwhelms most.
While, technologically, the 3G S is a far superior phone to its predecessor, the immediate psychological recognition tells a different story. We are taught, almost hard-wired, to associate pleasing aesthetic difference with positive change.
Take the example of Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Obama’s politics have been moderate at best and not too much ‘change’ has happened as yet in his administration. But the radical aesthetic differences between himself and Bush continue to cast positive light on the United States and its political spectrum.
We have to reverse this example to understand why the 3G S naturally disappoints us somewhat. The core has changed substantially; it is far better, can achieve so much more, and is technologically innovative. But as long as the outer shell remains the same, or at least mostly the same, we experience that nagging feeling.
Luckily for the iPhone, that outer shell is pretty darn good-looking, so it doesn’t really need an update. It will last another year looking the same way as the 3G and it will get away with it down to pure sex appeal. But it can’t look that way forever, or else the kind of people who buy the phone who are non-technological, and non-savvy, will not see the wonderful change occurring inside.
But what of marketing? The 3G S advertisements tell us that it is the “fastest and most powerful iPhone yet. However as a modern species we have come to know that advertising is a free market and we can be told anything. We want to see, feel, and experience things for ourselves, not be told about it.
And if we can’t tell the difference immediately, you won’t develop the kind of satisfaction that arose with the original iPhone and somewhat with the iPhone 3G - which were both aesthetically separate from anything before them.
—————
Concluding, though, the iPhone 3G S is once again a great phone and model for Apple. It will serve over the next twelve months as the main brand ambassador for the company. The iPhone has in spirit taken over from the Mac, and the iPod, as the core symbol at the heart of the brand; a symbol of everything that can be done, being done.
The iPhone combines the power of a Mac with the popularity of an iPod. This core belief remains true in the new model, and I am certain it will be at least as popular as ever, if not more so.
Even I am considering laying down on an iPhone now. And they say I don’t like to tie myself down.—
HTC Hero: Taking Android Higher
Tom on June 25, 2009
Firstly: an apology. We currently have a white HTC Magic in our midst. Our ‘tech-photo’ lens is broken. Darn! Coming soon…
On a brighter note, the third-generation Android model from HTC, the Hero, was unveiled by HTC late last night AEST time. To me, this model is not so much about how it works production-wise, but a showcase of the company’s amazing talent with re-interfacing somewhat clunky mobile operating systems.
While Android heralds an open-source win for mobile device software, I’ve often thought the UI has left a lot to be desired; it works, sure, but the quality doesn’t match the tireless efforts put into phones like the HTC Magic.
Hero interface tour by HTC [5 minutes]
Like their work with Windows Mobile 6, HTC have completely reskinned their own custom Android ‘Rosie’ release. The result is spectacular; beautiful colours, gradients, fonts and effects. Exactly what I have come to expect from handsets like the Touch Diamond.
It seems that HTC’s pattern with interface skinning has been revealed. HTC, largely before they became a brand in their own right, manufactured handsets for the likes of O₂ and i-mate. The interface was the bland, utilitarian Windows Mobile. However more recently HTC have beautified - and made at least usable to the non-pro consumer - the WinMo OS.
Now, with Android, there have been two ‘good’ phones (both of which I have used for a while) but the software has needed that magic touch (oh, what a pun..) that, as it would seem, is now being bestowed upon the range.
The Hero mixes the concept of the Dream with the quality of the Touch Diamond2.
Without holding one in my hand, which will undoubtedly occur later this year, the Hero’s hardware looks a little blocky. It reminds me firstly of the Dream (the HTC / T-Mobile G1) then of the second-generation Touch Diamond. Blended into this mix is the little HTC-Android-device kink in the bottom of the face. I love that.
The white or brown palette is very 2009. I like.
The concept looks amazing, the software wonderful. The hardware will need to convince me, but I can’t wait for this one.
Pictures: Nokia E71 smartphone
Tom on April 29, 2009
Last week, TB Tech received a new, aluminium-grey E71 smartphone from our friends at Nokia and Open Haus for demonstration. Our upcoming review will tell if this stylish and ultra-thin QWERTY smartphone is as good as its excellent predecessors!
For now, though, as usual our more creative shots come first with the more traditional daylit images to feature in our review, which is in the works.
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