Handheld Now

Why I Was Wrong About The Microsoft Kin

Kyle — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 04:44:46 +0000

When I wrote the pro-KIN article back in April I had not used or seen the phone. Still to this day I have not, but I have watched several videos of people using them. I don’t need to say that they suck, because the world already knows that.

Microsoft only sold 8,810 units. Ever. To put that into perspective with other recent releases – iPhone 4 had 600,000 pre-orders and Evo 4G sold 150,000 its first weekend. While the KIN is just a feature phone its all time numbers are nothing compared to the rest of the markets first weekend.

I read about the KIN when it was first announced and I agree that the turtle shaped KIN ONE was garbage, but I did fancy the KIN TWO. That is until I actually saw how slowly it ran. It is slow. Slow slow slow. The status updates looked cool, but not when it takes over 30 seconds to load all the information every time you unlock the phone.

This phone seems great for middle school aged kids. They left out one killer feature for this young market. All the kiddies love AIM! There isn’t an instant messaging client for the KIN! Not even for Microsoft’s Live Messenger. I have no idea what they were thinking.

They did do one thing right though – Zune player. The best mp3 player in my opinion is definitely Zune. Microsoft thought it would be a great idea to add it into KIN. From everything I have seen, it was a flawless implementation. This gives me hope for Windows Phone 7, which also sports Zune’s sexy UI.

To conclude, I made a huge mistake. You live and you learn right? Be sure to let me know what an idiot I was in the comments!

Why the Microsoft KIN is actually worth considering

Kyle — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

A few weeks ago (April 12) Microsoft announced the KIN and it has received much dissension on the internet on tech blogs on user forums. Honestly though what were they expecting? For a long time we have been hearing rumors about Project Pink (Codename for KIN) and they were extremely accurate: a social networking phone targeted at youth.

The KIN is not a useless paperweight, as others would have you believe, but a relatively powerful feature phone. Engadget posted an article confirming that KIN is extremely similar to Zune HD specs wise. The processer is underclocked to 600MHz, which sounds like dial-up compared to the abundance of 1GHz smartphones launching. The iPhone 3GS runs a 600MHz processor as well, so I do not think that anybody will experience speed issues on the KIN.

Microsoft worked very hard to give KIN a good battery life. Their goal was to have it last a weekend on one charge with average use. They claim to have accomplished this. I find this very hard to believe, but I hope that it is true.

MicroSD support is nonexistent. GOOD! I hate removable memory. I do not see the point of it. The argument is that you can upgrade your MicroSD card for more space. Unless the company packages a card with the device, it is just another fee. In addition, removable storage is slower than internal flash storage. Microsoft also wants to keep a lot of your content on the web rendering local storage obsolete.

Have you ever heard of Zune? Well you probably had not before the launch of the Zune HD. KIN has the exact same user experience as the Zune HD for music and videos. Microsoft also shows the KIN as one of the Zune products on the Zune website.

What I love about modern day is the fact that people always have a camera in their pocket. If you do not then your phone is probably five years old… Anyway, the KIN boasts an impressive 5 and 8 MP camera, on the KIN One and KIN Two respectively. Now MPs are not everything, but 8MP means that the KIN Two shoots HD video that can be uploaded to their friends in minutes.

The naysayers’ most logical argument though is very simple… why? Why launch another phone/OS just after announcing the revamped Windows Phone 7? Why not just have KIN be a subset of Windows Phone 7 instead of a different user experience? Why fragment your users before the devices even launch? I do not have answers to any of these questions. Microsoft addressed these questions partly by claiming that they are working on integrating Windows Phone 7 services into the KIN.

There is so much more to be said about these devices, but I think that this is enough for now.

KIN is a bold move by Microsoft. Do you think that it will be a hit or a miss?

Sprint Hero Sense 2.1 Update Coming Early May

Kyle — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 02:00:03 +0000

Sprint has been toying with its customers for months now. They promised a 2.1 update for the Samsung Moment and HTC Hero in “early Q2.”

Android update! Upgrades to 2.1 for Hero/Moment now expected early 2Q10. Currently working through options for upgrades w/ HTC and Samsung.
-10:42 AM Feb 16th via CoTweet

Now Q2 is April, May, and June, so logically early implies April. Waiting an extra month is torture for some Android users watching other phones like the Motorola Droid and Nexus One touting their brand new 2.1 Operating Systems.

So when will the wait finally be over? Mobile Crunch published a post about a week ago citing a Sprint memo. The visible part of the memo states, “Android 2.1 software update is coming early May!” There is not any mention of either the Hero or the Moment, but MC only writes about the Hero receiving the over the air update.

Samsung’s device has a (pretty much) stock version of Android 1.5, so I cannot understand why it has taken this long to upgrade, since the first 2.0 device (Motorola Droid) launched November 6, 2009.

I can wrap my head around the delay of the HTC Hero though. First, the Hero runs SenseUI, which is a very customized version of Android which naturally would take some time to implement the new version of Android. I am positive that it took them no time at all to do this though. The real reason that the update has not arrived is that the first US SenseUI 2.1 phone is launching April 29th on Verizon. HTC would not like their older models to upgrade right before the next great smartphone launches.

Several video walkthroughs have emerged on the internet of SenseUI 2.1, and it comes with a few notable upgrades:

Live Wallpapers (Android 2.1)
Friend Stream – A widget aggregating your social network feeds (SenseUI 2.1)
Leap – A quick way to navigate through the seven homescreens (SenseUI 2.1)

Those are the only notable upgrades. It may not seem like much, but the minor tweaks like an improved Android Market (With Screenshots!). Many applications require 2.0+ and Hero users will now be able to download these apps.

Will the long wait have been worth it? That has yet to be seen, but what do you think?

Bank Run Is The Most Fun You Can Have On Your iPhone

Kyle — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 04:18:43 +0000

This iPhone app is a game, but the game sucks. It is just a side-scrolling, 2d, action game, and is currently available for free in the App Store.

What makes this game unique is the videos that create an interactive movie experience. If this were a movie released in theaters, then critics would complain about the sub-par acting and poor writing, but an exciting film for action junkies.

The better half of the game is actually online. It is like a choose your own adventure like movie. I say like because the plot is extremely linear and you can die if you choose incorrectly.

The game froze quickly on my iPhone 3G, so I would not recommend it to anybody who owns a 2G or 3G. Play it online though, it does not disappoint.

Apple App Store Reviews

Great video and sound! Lots of Fun

by DigitallyBranded
I’m amazed at the production value given this app’s selling price. The video is so vibrant and beautiful. It really pops on the iPhone’s screen. And the music/sound is great! Good to see it didn’t go overlooked. I suggest wearing headphones for the best experience. The game portion of the app is a lot of fun. The elevator scene is nice and challenging. I urge everyone to give this experience a try. It could be the first in a new genre. I can’t wait for their next release!!!

Great fun! Cool concept!

by SammySRF4
I’ve never seen a game like this before. Looks really cool and has a fun elevator mode that gets pretty tough.

In a league of its own…

by finger.jockey
This game is truly in a league of its own. Graphics, fun, innovation and most of all price!!! When the big boys out there want to charge you 5 bucks for friggin scrabble, I have no idea how this was developed and sells for less than half the price!!! Unbelievable fun! You wont be let down…

Nexus One AT&T Review

Jordan — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 03:40:38 +0000

I just recently acquired the new Nexus One with the AT&T frequency bands! So far I love it. The only complaints that I have about it reside with the capacitive touch buttons. They can be difficult sometimes, and almost useless when lying flat on a table. Video review after the break.

HTC Sense 2.1 Rolling Out Some New Features

Kyle — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 04:31:07 +0000

Today HTC announced a few new phones. Some of which have Android 2.1 with Sense UI. So far there is not much news on the new additions. What we do know is that there is a new widget called Friend Stream. It aggregrates all of your social networks live on your homescreen.

Speaking of homescreens, you can now pinch on the homescreen to see all of your homescreens at once. This is a much faster what to switch between screens than scrolling past them all.

The Sprint Hero should be expecting this update over the air soon. Sprint just tweeted that it will be updated in early Q2.

Source

What is all this Buzz about Google’s new social networking service?

Kyle — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:32:22 +0000

A few days ago the internet superpower, Google, announced Buzz. This is at least their third attempt at a social networking platform. There was Orkurt, which only seemed to take off in South America and at least one other attempt to gain market share in the social networking arena. For all intensive purposes we will just say third time is the charm.

To explain Google Buzz in a few words, I would say it is Twitter meets Google Latitude. The majority of the innovations comes in the mobile version. Android users can post Buzzes natively on Google Maps and Google Search widget, and other users can access the mobile site. You can upload pictures and have messages Geo-tagged to your exact location. Not only does it give an address, but it can also give the name of the store, mall, school, or other place that you are currently in.

Feature	Android 2.0+	BlackBerry	iPhone	Nokia S60	Windows Mobile
buzz.google.com		Coming soon		Coming soon	Coming soon
Buzz Layer on Google Maps for mobile		Coming soon
Buzz on a Place Page
Voice shortcuts
Buzz icon shortcuts

Buzz is very infantile currently and it will take at least a month to see if it will be a success. So far there have been millions and millions of Buzzes sent from mobile phones and the integrated Gmail application. This was Google’s plan to get Buzz out there by using the millions of Gmail users that they already have to get it started.

You can integrate all of your other social networking sites, personal RSS feeds, and many other services. Sign up for your Google Account now if you haven’t already and see where Google goes with this.

You can follow me on Buzz by clicking Follow Kyle Dornblaser.

Windows Phone 7 Series Announced at Mobile World Congress Today

Kyle — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:48:12 +0000

Earlier today Microsoft unveiled its latest creation, Windows Phone 7 Series. It is just a newer version of Windows Mobile that has been built from scratch. This was smart on Microsoft’s part because the only way they could ever catch up would be to forget backwards compatibility and just move forward. This could very well be what they have done since there is no word on whether or not any current programs will be compatible with 7 Series.

Microsoft also realized that resistive technology is a way of the past, and not only made it capacitive touch capable, but all devices are required to have capacitive touch support. There are also some more unreleased minimum specs that are required for all phone manufacturers that wish to have this OS on their smartphones. They also noted that physical keyboards are also permitted to use with the software.

The User Interface is largely inspired by Zune HD with large fonts and simple but stunning buttons. Unlike most touchscreen phones these days, the homescreen isn’t just a grid of tiny app icons, but it has a two column tile system. The tiles are very large to make it easier to tap. These tiles are also animated with live information from the cloud, as well as other notifications.

On that note, Microsoft is bragging about being extremely connected with social networks. They only seem to support Facebook and Windows Live natively though. Apparently other social networks like Twitter and Flickr are available through Windows Live, but I am not too sure how well that will work out.

For years there have been rumors about Xbox Live integration with Windows Mobile. Today that is finally confirmed! Unfortunately there is no working example of it. Joe Belfiore explains the future features though, “I want to show you how this looks and works on a real phone. So you’ve got your avatar here, spotlight updates, and recent achievements. There are requests — you can see someone is nudging Anna to come and game with them.” On top of that some games will be able to earn you Achievement Points.

Xbox integration was not the only other Microsoft product added to the operating system. Zune, Microsoft’s semi-successful portable media player, is available in all of its glory. This full featured media player is simple and sexy. The operating system will also be compatible with the Zune Pass, which is the envy of iPod owners. For $15 a month users can listen to and download unlimited songs from the Zune Marketplace. This gives owners millions of songs available on their phone via the built in marketplace.

Of course there are tons and tons more features to this operating system including Microsoft Office, third party apps, and GPS. The OS won’t launch until this holiday season though. Windows Phone 7 Series will likely become obsolete by then considering all the new highly anticipated and rumored phones like the iPhone 4G. As a Microsoft fanboy, I can not wait to try out this on the latest hardware later this year.

Source

Sprint HTC Hero Review

Kaitlin — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 23:41:24 +0000

I have mixed opinions about the HTC Hero. In theory, it’s amazing. In practice, it can use a little work.

The phone, of course, comes without a physical keyboard. The on-screen keyboard is decent, though a little more cramped than that of the iPhone. Basically, it would be disastrous without the predictive text. With the predictive text, it’s actually pretty good. With one word, I typed every letter wrong and it still knew what I meant. Impressive, right?

Then there’s the messaging. To me, messaging is the most important function of any phone. It’s all I do every day. It’s somewhat of an improvement over my last phone, as the messages are grouped together into conversations where instead of viewing one message at a time, you can see a whole thread of them. It also allows you to send messages that are more than 160 characters. There is also this really cool feature where the phone tries to guess when messages you received were sent, and insert them in the correct place on the timeline. For example, if someone sends a message a minute before you but you don’t receive it until after send yours, the phone will insert it before your message. Unfortunately, sometimes this messes up and it can be confusing because the phone will show someone answering your question before you actually asked it.

The phone includes a 5 Megapixel camera. Although it does not have a flash, it takes beautiful pictures outdoors and indoors, as long as there is enough light. This camera has autofocus, which helps eliminate blur. Sometimes the camera will bring up an error and refuse to open, but usually all you have to do is restart the phone and it will start working again.

The Hero has multitask capabilities. You can have many different programs open at once, though as other reviewers will tell you, it will start to lag if you have too many programs open.

Lag is a major problem with this phone. Even when you only have messaging and mail open, it will sometimes start to lag. Generally turning it off for a few minutes will fix this too. Most problems on this phone can be fixed with a restart.

Battery life is about as to be expected for a smartphone. If you use it heavily (such browsing YouTube for six hours straight), you might have to recharge it when you get home from work or school. Otherwise, you should be fine if you plug it in to the charger nightly.

Overall, it’s a pretty good phone. It’s multitouch and multitasking, with a beautiful camera and a fairly intuitive interface. Unfortunately, it likes to lag to the point where it takes 10 seconds for the text message to catch up to your typing. I’ve yet to decide if the delay is worth all the things it can do.

Camera Test

DonutGames’s Rat on a Scooter XL for iPhone Review

Kyle — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 21:26:29 +0000

While browsing the App Store today I came across this game. I’ve played a lot of DonutGames’s free iPhone games and thought I would try this one out. So I purchased it for $0.99. After playing it for a minute, I realized that it was just interminable monotonous jumping on a scooter. While I realized this was the concept of the game, I thought it would contain a little more.

Their game Rat on the Run contains the exact Rat Scooter game, and it’s free! The only difference is that there aren’t different “gametypes” for the scooter like on Scooter XL. These “gametypes” are just different items you have to land on to score points, so all of them are essentially one in the same.

To sum up, the Rat on the Scooter XL game is mildly fun but is not worth paying anything for. Just download the free Rat on the Run game that contains a Rat on Scooter game and two other minigames.

Video Review by MrKangarooBill to show gameplay