The Motorola Backflip smartphone brings a distinctive form to Android
Tom on January 07, 2010
There have been a few phones in the last decade that have offered truly distinctive form factors. Think the Nokia E70, or the LG EnV series, which were massively popular with the texting-teen generation, in the days PCIB (Pre Cheap iPhone & BlackBerry).
Devices to feature Google’s Android smartphone operating system have thus far been fairly regular in terms of form. Of course, at the time, the T-Mobile G1 (the original Android phone) had a cool form factor (a horizontal sliding QWERTY keyboard). But since that time, we’ve seen only a mix of candybar, slate, and slider style Android phones.
Today, Motorola is changing all that with the introduction of their third Android-based smartphone, the Motorola Backflip. It took me a while to understand the form factor, but the story goes like this. The Backflip folds – and when closed, it has the keyboard on the front and touchscreen on the back. To open, you slide the screen up and ‘backflip’ it around to face you.
Motorola assures us that the keyboard is durable enough to take a few knocks, but according to sources on the scene, the keyboard has worse travel than the flat-keyed, and more famous, Motorola Droid (the first ‘super’ Android phone which debuted in November)
The Backflip must have missed the Android 2.0 / 2.1 boat, as it currently includes Android 1.5 with the Motoblur skin. Don’t worry – Motorola’s Sanjay Jha says Android 2.1 is coming to each Motorola Android phone. The Motorola Backflip also features a 5-megapixel camera, WiFi, and a black and silver colour scheme.
Most likely, the Backflip will launch first on Canada’s Bell Mobility network, in the not-so-distant future. If an educated guess suffices on pricing (details aren’t available just yet), Bell should subsidise the Backflip for around CAD$99.
The Samsung W9600: A projector in a smartphone!
Tom on January 07, 2010
Samsung’s line of touchscreen phones is populated heavily with phones in many shades, feature-sets, and even operating systems. However, the Samsung Anycall W9600, which was announced today, adds a layer of tangible usefulness to the usually average Anycall line.
The projection given by the Anycall W9600.
The W9600 includes a mini, Pico Projector for sharing media with friends or colleagues. Still doesn’t entirely make sense, but projection is a better idea than a group crowding around the small screen. The projector can display videos, pictures, and even the regular old user interface.
Details are scant at this point in time, but the Anycall W9600 also includes a 5-megapixel camera, Samsung’s trademark, bright AMOLED display. Pricing and dates are not available at the moment, and we’ve read that the test model of the W9600 at CES didn’t feel like a finished product.
We’d expect this project to launch not before Q3 2009 and to retail for at least US$499. If more details arrive during CES, you’ll read about it here.
[Hands-on photo credit to Engadget]
The Buffalo Dualie iPhone dock is pleasantly, dually useful
Tom on January 07, 2010
It’s all very well to have your iPhone sitting in Apple’s pretty-but-basic iPhone 3G dock. At least Apple’s own Universal Dock offers IR-remote capability. Buffalo, a computer accessory maker, has destroyed this farce of sophistication with their latest iPhone dock, the nicely-named Dualie.
The Buffalo Dualie dock not only lets your iPhone sit in a rather dapper black-and-silver holder, but the Dualie also includes a 500 GB external hard drive in the rear – and connects both through just one USB cable. In this generous mindset, the Dualie will even accept iPod touch models. Now that’s a useful dock.
Of course, such convenience will add up. The Dualie will retail for US$250 when it launches in the US very soon.
[Hands-on photo by Engadget]
TomTom’s Ease should make personal GPS extremely accessible
Tom on January 07, 2010
TomTom are known for making solid personal navigation devices that offer value and decent connectivity. Of course as the PND market has become more accessible over the last few years, TomTom devices have developed with this. However, that company is taking things to a new level for 2010 with the announcement of the new TomTom Ease.
The Ease, which will be marketed as a very entry-level plug-on sat nav, will include a 3.5-inch display running at a paltry-but-acceptable 320×240 display, 2GB of internal memory for preloaded maps – which will be provided by TeleAtlas in the USA – text-to-speech, Map Share, and an integrated rechargeable battery. Connectivity will flow through TomTom’s proprietary Fold+Go port mount.
As you’ll see from the included photo below, though, TomTom have fallen into the unfortunate trap so many PND makers find themselves in. We still don’t understand why anyone would use an ABCDE-layout keyboard on any typing-orientated device in the year 2010. It’s counter-intuitive as we are surrounded by QWERTY-type ‘boards.
Available colours at launch will be a simple choice of black or white. The TomTom Ease will weigh in at just 170 grams which should make this device equally attractive to both drivers, riders, and walkers.
Price and introduction dates, you ask? We can answer one. TomTom hope to ship the Ease within Q2 2010. In terms of pricing, all our friends at TomTom are saying now is “[the Ease will be] priced very competitively”.
[Hands-on photos by Engadget]
The new HP Slate tablet: It’s not Courier, but it is glossy black – a winning formula?
Tom on January 07, 2010
When designing a fairly large, touch-based, slate-type device, is it really a winning formula to rely solely on a glossy black screen and brushed-aluminium trim? Or is this so Apple, and so 2007?
HP doesn’t think so, and in another day of exciting announcements from the Palo Alto, CA based company, HP has announced a new product, the Slate tablet PC. And guess what – it’s a no-keyboard slate style tablet. And it’s running Windows 7, which is renowned for it’s new tablet- and touch-friendly features. Apart from our previously said opinion on the design, this is about all we know of this new HP Slate device.
Our educated guess would be that the Slate will be running an optimised mobile processor – be that the new Atom N450 Pine Trail from Intel, the NVIDIA Ion type, or a new technology from ATI. Expect around 1 GB of RAM and a solid-state storage drive to be included. Pricing should start under US$1,000.
What we do know is that the Slate is Microsoft’s flagship mobile device for the 2010 CES. Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, demoed the Slate at the Microsoft Keynote – Steve showed off the Amazon.com Kindle app for PC on the device, and a game of Frogger. Hardly showering us in detail, but this short display does tell us two ways HP wants us to use this device – e-reading, and mobile gaming.
Check out some photos from our friends at Engadget of Steve Ballmer showing the HP Slate off on stage. And stay tuned here at TB Tech for the forthcoming details of this exciting new product, when the eventually materialise.
[Photo credit: HP Press / Engadget]
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