Thu, November 05, 2009 - The HTC Droid Eris marks the second in Verizon Wireless's parade of the Droids. Also due this week from Verizon, the Droid Eris ($200 with a two-year contract, price as of 11/5/2009) shares the Droid moniker and many features of competing Android phones, but it also adds some touches that improve the experience for business users.
Wed, October 28, 2009 - The MPro120 Pocket Projector, by 3M, lets you project videos, photos and presentations from a video source (such as your notebook, camcorder or even an iPhone) onto a wall or other screen surface.
Fri, October 23, 2009 - Mixing social networking and entertainment features with the familiar BlackBerry-brand business-centric tools, the lightweight BlackBerry Curve 8520 ($130 with a two-year contract; price as of 10/22/09) is a solid but underpowered addition to Research in Motion's lineup of thumb-friendly smartphones.
Thu, October 15, 2009 - When the BlackBerry Storm debuted last fall, RIM's first touchscreen device received not-so-stellar reviews. RIM took reviewers' and customers' gripes into consideration, however, when designing the BlackBerry Storm 2 ($200 with a two-year contract from Verizon; price as of 10/14/09). The result? This is the Storm that I wish RIM had released last year--the device's build, the on-screen keyboard, and the software are miles beyond the first generation. Even so, pressing to type still takes some getting used to.
Thu, October 08, 2009 - The unveiling of the Samsung Moment is definitely the biggest handset announcement at the Fall CTIA conference in San Diego. With an Android OS, AMOLED technology and a beefy processor, the handset definitely piqued my interest and I was curious to see how it stacked up to other Android offerings, like the HTC Hero and Motorola Cliq. Luckily, I got a chance to play with it and really liked what I saw.
Tue, October 06, 2009 - What's in a name? A few months ago, this smartphone was known as the HTC Touch Diamond 2. Now, it's called the HTC Pure ($150 with a two-year contract from AT&T). Rebranding aside, the handset improves significantly on its predecessor, the Touch Diamond, with better specs, a more sophisticated design, and the new features supported by Windows Mobile 6.5. Unfortunately, the phone lacks multimedia panache while retaining WinMo's trademark sluggishness.
Wed, September 23, 2009 - HTC's third Android OS smartphone, the HTC Hero ($180 with a two-year contract from Sprint; price as of 9/23/2009), is a giant leap forward for the company's family of Android phones, both in hardware and software. It isn't without its flaws, however: Performance can be slow, video playback is unreliable, and the touch keyboard isn't the easiest to use. Even so, the Hero is jam-packed with features, and I appreciated all of its easy customization.
Mon, September 21, 2009 - Here's a concept that business people, journalists, busy bodies and paranoids are certain to find appealing: An application for the iPhone and iPod touch that lets you explore the backgrounds of the people in your contact list. Razix Software's Contact Spy poses the question "How well do you really know who is in your contacts list?"
Tue, September 15, 2009 - Microsoft's Zune HD offers some useful and unusual features that make it compelling - for some users. But it's still not nearly as powerful as its competition from Apple.
Wed, September 09, 2009 - Behind every great point-oh release is a point-one update just waiting for its time to shine. iPhone 2.0 was a revolution for the iPhone, adding support for third-party apps, but it was arguably unusable until iPhone 2.1 ironed out most of the wrinkles. Likewise, iPhone 3.0 added its own stock of features, but it's the newly released iPhone 3.1 that's polishing its predecessor's edges while even adding some new features of its own.
