Free Mobile Phone Heaven

Group Test: Apple iPhone 3GS smartphone contenders

2009-07-21T00:57:00.000-07:00

It's an all out smartphone war

The iPhone 3GS isn't the biggest or grandest of updates, but for us, it does enough to maintain Apple's number one spot. We assume Apple has taken an "if it's not broke, don't fix it" approach.

Gone, however, are the days when Apple's mobile was a class apart from its rivals. All of the smartphones here give it a run for its money, beating the iPhone in some key areas, notably the camera, and running it close in others, including the touchscreen – until recently, the iPhone's was, well, untouchable.

So we have the Palm Pre, with its elegantly integrated mail, calendar system and super-slick webOS. Then there are two contenders from HTC – the Android-powered Magic and the more traditional Windows Mobile experience of the Touch Pro 2 – both excellent in their own ways.

Nokia's N Series continues to grow with the new- N97, which adds a pull-out keypad to the range. Finally, the Samsung i8910 HD takes the fight to Apple on the media front, with a superb AMOLED widescreen and eight-meg camera. This time last year, Samsung's "iPhone beaters" were laughable – the excellence of the i8910 shows how far Apple's competition has come...

	HTC Magic £400 unlocked Love: Large, responsive touchscreen. Android OS better than ever. A compact, robust and beautiful phone Hate: Poor camera. No 3.5mm socket
	Nokia N97 £500 unlocked Love: Huge amount of storage built in. Easy to use QWERTY keyboard with slick hinged action. Compact given its power Hate: Poor battery life. Underpowered processor. Dull looks
	HTC Pro 2 £500 unlocked Love: Easy-to-use keyboard. Ultra high-res screen. Clever shortcuts. Slick interface Hate: Heaviest and thickest. Lacks media options. Poor processor
	Palm Pre £TBC Love: Super slick OS paired with a clever interface and responsive touchscreen. Lightweight, compact design Hate: Poor camera. No 3.5mm socket
	Samsung I8910 HD £500 unlocked Love: Brilliant and vivid screen. Accurate controls. Superb multimedia Hate: Could do with more than 8GB of internal storage. No YouTube

Whatever you get, you can get DVD Ripper Platinum to rip DVD to iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, Palm Pre, HTC Android Magic, Touch Pro 2 and Nokia's N Series mobile phone, etc.

Related Software:

DVD to iPhone 3G S Converter -

Rip DVD to iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S.

Viedo to iPhone 3G S Converter -

Convert video to iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S.

Pocket PC Converter - Convert video and

DVD to Palm Pre, Pocket PC, HTC Magic, HTC Touch Diamond.

DVD to Gphone Converter - Convert DVD to Google Phone (G1) 3GP, MPEG4, H.264, WMV etc.

iPhone 3G Vs iPhone 3G S Vs Palm Pre, Which one will you choose?

2009-07-14T22:25:00.000-07:00

The rumor is over, Apple finally announce the next generation iPhone 3G -iPhone 3G S at WWDC 2009 on June 8th, Don't let appearances fool you.
On the outside nothing looks much different with the iPhone 3G. Meanwhile, Palm Pre is available at Sprint on June 6th, and the touchstone Pre sale out fast at the first weekend, long line waiting for the Spring Pre. So how will Apple's iPhone 3G s compare to the Palm Pre? I've put together a chart for a quick glance at how they
stack up (see below).

Basics
	iPhone 3G	iPhone 3G S	Palm Pre
Price	$99 8GB ($299 for ineligible upgraders)	$199 16GB, $299 32GB ($399 and $499 for ineligible upgraders)	$199.99 (sprint)
Camera	2.0 megapixel fixed focus	3.0 megapixel auto focus with macro mode and auto white balance	3 megapixel camera with LED flash and extended depth of field
Video recording	None	30fps VGA with on-device editing capability	Yes
Voice control	None	Dialing, music control	None
Nike+ support	No	YES	No
Water- and oil-resistant finish	No	YES	No
Wireless technologies	3.6Mbps HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR	7.2Mbps HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR	Wi-Fi , Bluetooth® 2.1 + EDR
Dimensions	115.5 x 62.1 x 12.3mm	115.5 x 62.1 x 12.3mm	100.5x 59.5x 16.95mm
Weight	133 grams / 4.69 oz.	135 grams / 4.76 oz.	135 grams (4.76 ounces)
Capacity	8GB	16GB or 32GB flash drive	8GB
GPS	Yes	Yes	Yes
Display	3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display	3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display	3.1-inch touch screen with Touchstone™ Technology
Carrier	AT&T	AT&T	Sprint
Media formats supported	Audio format: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV video format: MP4, H.264, M4V, MOV	Audio formats: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV video format: MP4, H.264, M4V, MOV	Audio Formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCELP, WAV; Video Formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264; Image

Obviously, the iPhone 3G S features as faster speed, larger pixel camera, voice control, video recording, longer battery life, support to cut, copy and paste word and photos compared to iPhone 3G. In contrary, iPhone 3g is not good for nothing, the low price (only $99 for new AT&T subscribers) is the biggest advantage.

Then compared to Palm Pre, large capacity (16gb & 32gb is available for iPhone 3G S, only 8GB for Pre), camera auto focus, voice control, powerful and widely support App Store maybe the main advantage for Apple iPhone 3G S. However, the Palm Pre also has their own advantage,
such as the Pre's camera has an LED flash, touchstone technology, layered calendars etc.

Besides, both iPhone and Palm Pre expert as great media players, and iPhone 3G S
allows you watch YouTube video on-the-go, just a pity both of them support a limit music/movies format (see above chart), and some popular video format such as WMV, AVI, FLV can't play on them, if it attach with a third part software called video converter which can convert between any video format, it will act as perfect media player..

But the final battle between the iPhone 3G S and the Palm Pre will be carried out on June 19, when Apple's new device is to hit the stores.
Besides the obvious storage capacity and price difference, each buyer will have to carefully consider which one fits you best.

iPhone3G (low price, only $99), iPhone 3G S (so cool but much expensive), Palm Pre (also great but not cheap), then which one will you choose?

Related Software:

DVD to iPhone 3G S Converter - Rip DVD to iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S

Viedo to iPhone 3G S Converter - Convert video to iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S

Pocket PC Converter - Convert video and DVD to Palm Pre, Pocket PC

Nokia Intrigue for Verizon hands-on

2009-03-31T19:36:00.000-07:00

Nokia isn't typically known for its virtually non-existent CDMA fare, but the situation's gotten better in the last year or so -- ostensibly to capitalize on Nokia's already commanding position in the Chinese market, but also possibly to help the boys and girls from Espoo win some points with Verizon ahead of the LTE migration. It's no secret that Nokia intends to invest big in LTE, and seeing how Verizon is one of the larger carriers in the world, it only stands to reason that manufacturers would be doing everything in their power right now to get in on the ground floor.

To that end, Nokia has worked with Verizon to introduce the 2605 and 6205 in recent months, but let's be very honest -- they're forgettable devices with little to differentiate them from their countless competitors in the dog-eat-dog midrange. They're not phones that you aspire to own.

Enter the Intrigue. This is the phone has Nokia screaming "we do give a crap about CDMA" from the tops of the hills; a phone so good, so pretty, and so uncharacteristically Nokia for this market segment, that we're a little bewildered by the whole thing. Read on for our quick take.

So let's just get this out on the table upfront: the software on the Intrigue is Verizon through and through. If you were hoping for a stock Series 40 device, look elsewhere (and don't bother looking anywhere on Verizon's shelves). The status bar will be immediately recognized by anyone who owns a Verizon feature phone of the last several years -- right down to the divided EV / 1X signal strength meter. In a way, that's a shame, because the latest generations of Series 40 are really slick, capable platforms -- but this is Verizon we're talking about here, so we're not the least bit surprised to see any trace of it wiped from the Intrigue's silicon brain.

On the plus side, the Intrigue introduces something that Nokia and Verizon are calling "Habitat Mode," a pretty cool interactive contact-centric home screen. As the name sorta implies, Habitat Mode has an environmental theme (as does the rest of the phone -- more on that in a moment) with animated wallpapers that change over time and layered icons that represent contacts. As people call you -- and vice versa -- these icons are automatically created and float at random on the screen, representing a chronological history of your communication. By pressing the d-pad in the down direction, you can call up the icons and access complete call histories for each of them, delete them, and modify them. Useful? Not particularly, but a welcome break from the typical home screen monotony.

Back to the Intrigue's environmental tie-in: the companies are aggressively marketing this phone as eco-friendly. The box is seriously one of the smallest we've ever seen a phone come in -- even smaller that the Motorola Renew -- the default screen and keypad dimming is ultra-quick at just 7 seconds (many folks will want to adjust this), and the charger's specially designed to draw just tiny nibbles of electricity. Nokia has been on the forefront of pushing toward more Earth-conscious manufacturing and retail strategies the past couple of years, and we think some of the initiatives we're seeing with the Intrigue here probably represent the future of the way phones will be sold and operated.

In terms of usability, the Intrigue is at the top of its game -- especially considering how fashionable it is. Normally, usability and style are at loggerheads, but this one manages to balance the two pretty perfectly. The main display is bright and crisp, the keypad is amazingly usable and tactile considering that they're not "real" buttons, and the outer display is one of the largest, brightest, most useful secondary displays we've ever seen on a flip. The concealed OLED is frickin' huge -- it practically covers the entire surface of the phone -- and immediately below it you'll find illuminated, touch-sensitive music controls. Well done.

Convert video to nokia intrigue with the mobile phone video converter

We're going to go ahead and make a bold statement here: this could very well be the best clamshell feature phone both Verizon and Nokia have ever released. Never mind the CDMA, never mind the regrettable lack of Series 40 -- the Intrigue rocks. It's extraordinarily comfortable and solid in the hand (we'd go so far to say that we want to touch it), it looks as great as it feels -- we'd definitely call it a premium design -- and if you can get past the normal Verizon firmware woes, the software's reasonably snappy and usable; if we had one complaint, it'd be that we'd like a couple more notches of volume on both the earpiece and the speakerphone, and a true 3.5mm headphone jack would've been a nice touch, too. That being said, look, Nokia: for the sake of the rest of the world, remix this bad boy with GSM, sell it unlocked with Series 40 and HSDPA, and you've got a serious device on your hands. Trust us.

Nokia E63 Preliminary Review

2009-03-08T23:16:00.000-07:00

BY: Awright, Brighthand.com Contributor
PUBLISHED: 3/8/2009

The Nokia E63 is a Symbian S60 QWERTY smartphone. Most will look at it and easily mistake it for the Samsung BlackJack II, Palm Treo 755, or the BlackBerry Bold. All four devices are similar in their design, application, and approach. However, the E63 represents something of response from Nokia to bolster its appearance in the low and mid-range market segments, where most of the purchasing power with consumers lie. And so far in my impressions, I can say it nailed the target.

How to convert video to nokia E63 on PC.

Build and Design
Though it looks similar to the Nokia E71, another QWERTY smartphone, the E63 is considerably thicker, and slightly underspecced. This is to ensure its marketing position below that of the E71, and at the same time to allow the E63 some distinction of its own.

In addition to the aforementioned keyboard, the E63 features a 320-by-240-pixel (QVGA) screen in the landscape view. Offering some striking colors and contrasts, it works well in office or direct sunlight.

There are not many buttons surrounding the E63. The top has a covered 3.5 mm headset jack -- better than that of the E71 -- and that's it. The power button on the E71 has been moved to the End Call button. The sides are also bare of volume or voice recorder buttons, having only having two covered slots for the Micro-USB and microSDHC memory card slots.

The rear is likewise bare, featuring only a the 2.0 megapixel camera (with flash and auto-focus) to break up the one-piece battery cover.

Thankfully, the 1500 mAh battery of the E63 is the same as its E71 stablemate. This battery proved to be quite the champion in that model and I'm looking forward to similar results for the E63 once its broken in.

Performance
In general, Nokia E63 maintains the S60 look-and-feel -- which is a positive to some, a detriment to others.

Thankfully, the enhanced Active Standby screen first featured on the E71 makes it way here too. This screen adds not only better notification icons for voicemail, email, and SMS, but also the contact search feature that is pretty handy.

The E63 is chock full of applications that make it easy to just get up and use. I've not encountered anything that's a limitation yet. In fact, in just jumping into the web browser with Wi-Fi showed a much faster experience than what I am used to with my N95. So in that respect, it looks like the core operating system has been very tweaked for performance too.

At the 2009 Nokia World event, Nokia spoke a lot about its E71 QWERTY smartphone. Much of the praise coming from the fact that not only Nokia's targeted enterprise users were liking it, but the increased multimedia abilities endeared it to consumers as well. The E63 is in respects a further, and less expensive, solution in the same guise. And while they look very similar, the E63 benefits from some lessons learned as well as a much more accessible price point.

Stay tuned for the full Nokia E63 review coming in a few weeks.

BlackBerry Javelin and BlackBerry Niagara explained

2009-03-03T19:26:00.000-08:00

(Posted by The Boy Genius )There was a little bit of confusion with the 3G-less BlackBerry 9000 we posted. We heard two different codenames: Javelin and Niagara. Well, we were just told some more information on both devices. It seems the BlackBerry codenamed Niagara is actually an EV-DO device slated to hit Verizon in May of 2009. That seems a long way away but here are the specs on that model:

"Large screen family"
QWERTY keyboard
480×360 LCD
EV-DO Rev. A
aGPS
3.2 megapixel camera
4.7 OS platform
BES 5.0 support (HTML email, etc)
Qualcomm MSM7600 processor

That’s the Niagara review simply. What about the BlackBerry Javelin? Well, here you go:

QWERTY keyboard
480×360 LCD
Quad-band GSM/EDGE
GPS
Wi-Fi
3.2 megapixel camera
4.6 OS platform
BES 5.0 support as well
ArgonV processor

Both devices look extremely similar in physical appearance, thus the confusion. So, look at that. You just got two devices for the price of one. Who's out there in Verizon land and excited for this one? May of next year, though…doesn’t seem right does it? Then again, you never know with Big Red.

Tutorial: How to convert DVD to BlackBerry niagara, blackberry storm phone?

Share: Enjoy DVD and Video on your BlackBerry Curve 8900, 8300 etc.

2009-03-03T18:50:00.000-08:00

This guide is mainly about how to rip DVD and convert video to BlackBerry Curve 8300, 8900 and other BlackBerry serials such as BlackBerry Storm, BlackBerry Bold, Pearl etc.

For most of DVD has CSS copyright protection, we need a program to rip DVD or video to BlackBerry Curve support video formats such as MP4, WMV, AVI, 3GP, AAC, MP3, WMA etc. The tool we use is Wondershare BlackBerry Curve Converter Suite, this program not only supports BlackBerry Curve 8300, 8900, but also BlackBerry Bold 9000, Blackberry Storm, BlackBerry Pearl and other BlackBerry serials.

Now, let’s start the guide about ripping DVD and convert video to BlackBerry Curve or other BlackBerry Serials.

Step 1, Download and install the BlackBerry Curve Converter Suite

Step 2: Import the DVD Files or video to the program

If you want to load DVD files, please run “DVD to BlackBerry Converter”;if you want to import video files, run “Video Converter for BlackBerry” instead.

Step 3: Select output Profile
This software can convert DVD and video to all common formats for BlackBerry Curve 8300 serials, BlackBerry 8900 such as MP4, WMV, AVI, M4A, AAC, MP3 etc. You can select one output format you want to convert as below.

Step 4: Start to convert After you select the output format, all you need to do is clicking the “Start” button. Then you can get a cup of coffee and come back later to check if the conversion is finished.

(Tips: This DVD to BlackBerry Storm Converter offers the option to automatically shut down the computer when the conversion completed.)

It will take about 30 minutes for converting a regular two hours DVD movie. When the conversion finished, click “find target” to located the converted video on your computer, connect your BlackBerry Storm to computer, and then copy the video to your BlackBerry memory card, the rest thing just enjoy the DVD or video on your BlackBerry.

HTC Touch Diamond review

2009-02-05T00:51:00.000-08:00

HTC Touch Diamond review
form CNET

Product summary

The good: The HTC Touch Diamond has a cool 3D interface and a beautiful touch screen. The Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone also offers Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a 3.2-megapixel camera.
The bad: The Touch Diamond is sluggish and call quality is subpar. The TouchFLO interface has a bit of a learning curve, and there's no expansion slot.
The bottom line: The HTC Touch Diamond offers much in the way of sex appeal and flash, and it's certainly got a formidable feature set. However, we hope HTC resolves some of the performance issues we experienced before the smartphone is released in the States.
Specifications: OS provided: Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional ; Installed RAM: 192 MB ; Processor: QUALCOMM 528 MHzMSM7201A ;

Price range: $699.99

Features

Behind all the flash and pretty looks, the HTC Touch Diamond is at its core still a Windows Mobile smartphone. It runs the latest Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional Edition. Since the Touch Diamond uses the TouchFLO 3D interface, you don't get the new Getting Started menu on the Home screen to set up e-mail, Bluetooth, and the like. It's still there but you'll have to go under the Windows menu to access it. Here, you'll also find your standard productivity tools, including a PDF reader, a task manager, a voice recorder, a Zip manager, and a calculator. Of course, you also get the Microsoft Office Mobile Suite for editing and creating Word and Excel documents and viewing PowerPoint presentations. As for memory, the Touch Diamond has 256MB ROM and 192MB DDR SDRAM and 4GB of internal storage. While we appreciate the large storage capacity, we're disappointed that there are no expansion capabilities, so keep an eye on this, especially if you like to store a lot of pictures and music on your smartphone.

Like other Windows Mobile devices, the Touch Diamond offers Microsoft's Direct Push Technology for real-time e-mail delivery and automatic synchronization with your Outlook calendar, tasks, and contacts via Exchange Server. You can also access your POP3 and IMAP accounts, and HTML e-mails are supported. Using the Getting Started utility, we configured our review unit to access our Yahoo account and also synchronized our phone with our PC via Microsoft ActiveSync 4.5. Both processes went off without a hitch.

How to rip dvd in fast way

2008-12-25T22:26:00.000-08:00

This guide is designed to help you get started using Daniusoft DVD Ripper. It offers you specific procedural steps on how to make perfect DVD ripping in the most convenient and fast way and how to make wonderful video editing (cropping, trimming, effect adjusting, watermark designing and output settings customizing etc) with Daniusoft DVD Ripper

This DVD Ripper guide consists of the following four parts:

1. What can Daniusoft DVD Ripper do for me?
2. How to rip DVD files into versatile video/audio formats for playback on iPhone/iPod/PSP/Zune/Apple TV/ Xbox/Zen AVI/MPEG?
3. How to make perfect video editing by cropping, trimming, effect adjusting and watermark designing?
4. How to customize output settings to completely fulfill your different requirements?
5. How to capture pictures from video while previewing?
6. How to convert ISO file to FLV format for Youtube and other video website?

Please download Daniusoft DVD Ripper, install and run it first, and then experience the fantastic media world together with Daniusoft DVD Ripper!

Part 1: What can Daniusoft DVD Ripper do for me?

Daniusoft DVD Ripper is all-in-one and powerful DVD ripping software designed to help you rip your DVD into various video/audio formats. This professional tool empowers you to:
Directly convert DVD into popular video/audio formats (MP4, WMV, AVI, FLV, MKV, MOV, 3GP, MP3, AC3 and WMA etc) without any loss.
Edit video by video cropping, movie trimming and effect adjusting to make tailor-made video in the palm of your hands.
Customize either text or image watermark to coin and color your video files in a personalized way.
Capture any picture from video and save as jpeg or bmp format.
Customize output settings including resolution, bit rate, frame rate, etc to completely fulfill your different requirements.
Import and preview ISO file directly without installation of any Virtual DVD-ROM on your PC.
Preview video with two real-time preview windows out of your movies in an intuitive way.
Enjoy your favorite video freely sync with outstanding quality on any portable player like iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, Zune, PSP, Pocket PC, PDA, PS3, Archos, iRiver, Creative Zen, Xbox 360, PMP, Smart Phone, Mobile Phone, etc.

Part 2: How to rip DVD files into versatile video/audio formats for playback on iPhone/iPod/PSP/Zune/Apple TV/Phone/Xbox/Zen AVI/MPEG.

Daniusoft DVD Ripper is committed to making its operation easier for everyone. You can accomplish converting DVD files into various video/audio formats with the following four steps.

Step 1: Import DVD files.
Click Add button, you are allowed to import DVD folders or click , you are allowed to load DVD Rom, DVD folders, ISO files and IFO files respectively.

Step 2: Edit video files.
Click Edit button, you are allowed to make wonderful video editing by cropping, trimming, adjusting effect and editing watermark.

Step 3: Customize output settings.
Click Settings button in the output settings area, you are allowed to customize the output parameters and specify output format and folder.

Step 4: Start conversion.
Click Start button on right bottom of the main interface, you are allowed to start conversion. All the tasks of conversion will be finished at fast speed and high output quality.

Part 3: How to make perfect video editing by cropping, trimming, effect adjusting and watermark designing.

After loading DVD files, you are allowed to make the perfect editing of videos by cropping, trimming, effect adjusting and watermark designing by clicking Edit button.
Cropping
Click Crop, you are allowed to crop video by selecting aspect ratio, dragging cropping frame or setting the values to make tailor-made video in the palm of your hands.

Effect adjusting

Click Effect, you are allowed to adjust video effect such as brightness, contrast and saturation etc to get the best video effects.

Trimming

Click Trim, you are allowed to make trimming of video by dragging the slider, controlling Mark in and Mark out button and setting start and end time to get your desired video clips.

Watermark designing

Click Watermark, you are allowed to customize either image or text watermark by adjusting Transparency, Vertical Space and Horizontal Space to coin and color your video files in a unique way.

Part 4: How to customize output settings to completely fulfill your different requirements.

Daniusoft DVD Ripper enables you to customize output settings in the bottom of the main interface. You are allowed to select subtitle/audio track and specify output format/path etc.

Click Settings button in the output settings area, you are allowed to set video/audio output parameters including resolution, bit rate, frame rate, encoder, sample rate and channel etc.

Part 5: How to capture pictures from video while previewing.

Daniusoft DVD Ripper empowers you to capture any picture from video while previewing. There is a Snapshot button below the preview pane on right of the main interface:

Click and the current picture in the preview pane will be captured and saved in the specified folder in the image type as you have set.

Click to open the snapshot folder to view the captured pictures.
Note: You are allowed to specify the output folder to save the captured pictures and the output format of pictures. Here is how to specify the output folder and format for captured pictures.
Click on the top of the main interface -> Click Format in Options window -> Specify the folder to save captured picture/select output format of captured picture.

Part 6: How to convert ISO file to FLV format for Youtube and other video website.

Do you want to share your favorite DVD clips with your friends on network? Are you confused about how to put your DVD clips on Youbube and other video website? With Daniusoft DVD Ripper, all your troubles will disappear. Now lets have a look at how to make it.
As we know that DVD ISO image is a common disk image distribution format which contains the image of disk. Daniusoft DVD Ripper enables you to directly convert DVD ISO image without Virtual DVD-ROM. When you click in the menu bar of the main interface and select Load ISO File, you are allowed to import ISO file from your PC directly without any Virtual DVD-ROM installed on your PC. Then you can trim the DVD ISO image file into any segment you like with the trimming function in Edit window. At last, you can select the FLV format in the categorized output format list in Convert to area in the bottom of the main interface or in the Format Preset area in Settings window and start conversion. After conversion, you can upload your DVD clips in FLV format to Youtube or the website to share them with others.

Five Things You Really Might See At MacWorld 09

2008-12-24T00:28:00.000-08:00

by Chris Howard Dec 17, 2008

So we've all being doing a bit of prognosticating lately. I said you won't see a netbook soon, Hadley thinks you will, Chris S says we won't. Recently Bakari gave his wishlist for MWSF09, which did include a netbook. And Chris S also gave us his expectations for MWSF09.

Since I started writing this, one rather interesting bit of news has come to light: Steve Jobs won't be delivering the keynote at MWSF09. You can speculate if this is health or political, but the big clue will be in what gets announced. Steve always announces the big ones; it's what he lives for; shaking up the world. The three I'm listing below are big but not huge. There's no iPhones, Apple TVs or Intel Macs here. So I think they are the sorts of things - as they are all essentially variations on existing products - that Steve would be happy to acquiesce the launch of to Phil.

Like the supermodel who several years ago said she won't get out bed for less than $10,000 a day, well I suspect Steve won't get on a MacWorld stage for anything less than revolutionary.
Now, that out of the way, here are the five things I think are 50/50 or better chance of showing up at MacWorld San Francisco in January 2009.

iPhone nano
Unlike Chris S, I do think the iPhone nano is a real possibility. The market is there. The smartphone market is just a small part of the overall phone market. There are people who, for whatever reason, just will never want a smartphone. But they've probably already got an iPod and would be quite happy to have a phone with an iPod built in. I think Apple has the confidence, and now the experience, to release a product into that non-smartphone market. I dont' see it creating confusion anymore than the shuffle, nano, classic and touch do in the iPod market.
Talk of this has gained momentum lately with some rumors.

It would make sense because if Apple is going to play in the phone market, it needs another option. Having a choice of two phones would allow Apple to update one every six months, thus each each once a year. This would keep Apple dynamic in the mobile phone market and give it both a smartphone and um... a less-smart phone. Could you really call it a "normal" phone? I think Apple would enjoy redefining the non-smartphone market, just as it did the smartphone market.

However, what features does Apple cut from the iPhone classic to make the nano? The most logical would be internet, i.e. email and web, as internet is the main attraction of the standard iPhone. (However, then Apple would have to include MMS.) GPS should go too. The only other possibility would be the camera, but cameras are pretty much de rigueur on phones now. Without internet, WiFi could go too.

The other challenge is whether to allow iPod apps on it, or iPhone apps. The latter would require developers to code for a smaller screen dimension, which could get messy. Maybe Apple could have no third party apps on it.

So, an iPhone without internet, Wifi and GPS. Essentially, an iPod nano with phone services. That seems nano enough.
Chances: 50%
Addition: Guide of how to Convert DVD to iPhone and convert video to iphone 3G

Mac mini
Another rumor gaining ground is an update of the Mac mini. MDN, I think it was, pointed out that the mini is consistently in the top 5 selling desktops on Amazon. Not bad for a machine that's way overdue for an overhaul.

This rumor has to come to fruition sooner or later. And if this is a quiet MacWorld product wiseas appears likely, a new mini should be a walk up start.
Chances: 90%

iWork online

As James rightly pointed out, Apple has been rather quiet on the desktop application software front for a while. iWork and iLife should both be due for upgrades, which we might see at MWSF09, but online is where the future is fast racing and Apple could very well give us a first taste of its own foray into online apps with all or part of iWork going online under the umbrella of MobileMe.

However, this might be too big for MacWorld and an announcement Apple would rather keep for its own specific launch, especially if these were iPhone compatible.

Chances: 50%

iWork and iLife updates
iWork and iLife haven't casued much excitement of recent years, so a refresh of these could be used as filler in an otherwise quiet MacWorld.
Chances: 70%

Snow Leopard

This one seems to be tracking well for a release early 2009. Provided there really are no exciting new features, it could also be filler at MacWorld.
Chances: 80%

Rumor: Zune Phone Is Coming to CES 2009

2008-12-21T23:49:00.000-08:00

After years of rumors and brusque denials, it appears the Zune phone is the real deal.
According to Trip Chowdhry, an analyst at Global Equities Research, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will announce a Zune-style mobile device during his keynote address at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, on January 7, 2009.

In an article in Barron's, Chowdhry claims that the company's new centerpiece will combine the best features of the Zune media player with the hardware design of Danger's mobile Sidekick, in addition to "motion enhancement features," like an accelerometer.

Basically, this means the device will come with a physical keyboard like HTC's G1 and will likely feature a larger screen to accommodate heavy multimedia elements. And since we're all here copying each other's mobile phone features, we'll be shocked if the Zune phone doesn't feature multitouch capabilities.

This report seems to confirm an earlier one revealing that Microsoft was working on a phone code-named "Pink."

It's a long way from Ballmer's original statement in April 2007 regarding the iPhone: "It's not a concept you'll ever get from us. We're in the Windows Mobile business."

In fact, this was always the excuse Microsoft gave as to why it couldn't build a phone -– its WinMo business was too successful and it couldn't afford to cannibalize the market. This year, Microsoft's WinMo profits are expected to be near $300 million in revenue.

Not bad if you can shake that amount of cash, but it seems positively paltry next to the $4.6 billion in revenue that Apple just made in the last quarter from its iPhone sales.

If Microsoft releases the Zunephone within six months of a January announcement, it might also mean that Windows Mobile 7 will be available to its hardware partners within that time. No one wants to be played for a fool, and the imminent Zune phone would cut into their profits.

The pre-Zunephone timeline reveals MS' unwillingness to reveal its plans. In September '07, a Microsoft rep warned that expecting a phone from the company was "not unreasonable."

In the intermittent 15 months, however, the company limited its enthusiasm and its leaks. Several top executives consistently batted down rumors of a full-on Microsoft phone. In January '08, Bill Gates simply said "No, we won't do that."

Then, this past summer, a leaked internal e-mail by CEO Steve Ballmer strongly suggested Microsoft was working on a phone: "We're changing the way we work with hardware vendors to ensure that we can provide complete experiences with absolutely no compromises. We'll do the same with phones."

And to convert DVD Video to zune, you can get Zune DVD Video Converter, as well as the iPhone DVD Video Converter.
By October 2008, Ballmer was revealing that the software used on the Zune was ready to be ported to PCs and to Windows Mobile devices. Some believed he was admitting that the WinMo system was flawed and that a phone version of the well-received Zune UI was the next logical step.

Add the chatter that revealed that NVidia is making a special chip purely for a mobile Microsoft product, and it's pretty clear the Zunephone is at hand. Or is it?

One way the rumors could turn out to be true while allowing for Microsoft's continual denials would be for the mythical phone to instead be a web-enabled portable XBox Zune, for gaming.
Either way, here's the one question we really care about: Will it squirt?

Zune Phone or Xbox Zune Announcement Coming At CES?

2008-12-21T23:36:00.000-08:00

Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry may have spilled some beans about Microsoft's upcoming CES showing.

According to the analyst, and Wired's Gadget Lab seems to buy it, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will be announcing a Zune-style mobile device during his keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas next month.

The device is said to include "motion enhancement features" like an accelerometer, a large, multimedia-friendly screen and a keyboard.

What's that mean for gaming? Well if nothing else, I'm sure we will see an explosion of portable gaming hit this new Zune device, perhaps even that long awaited Live Anywhere software. But Gadget Lab seems to think that perhaps this device may not be a phone at all, maybe it will be a web-enabled portable Xbox Zune.
Before using Xbox to download music music for Zune, you can put DVD Video to zune with zune dvd video converter.

On the surface that seems plausible, what with NVidia making a special chip for a mobile Microsoft product, and Microsoft being the only gaming hardware company out there without a portable device for gaming. But with the economy crashing down around our ears, is now really the time for that? It all depends on the price.

Free Wondershare Video to Gphone Converter

2008-12-09T00:17:00.000-08:00

Wondershare Video to Gphone Converter is a professional and Free Gphone/G1 video converter application that can convert regular video formats to Gphone 3GP, MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV etc. Furthermore, this powerful Gphonve Video Converter also can extract audio from video to Gphone MP3, WMA, AAC etc. with fast conversion speed and excellent output quality.

Wondershare Gphone Video Converter is a powerful tool with various settings to edit your video files, such as movie trimming, video cropping, video effect settings, video and audio encoder settings, video file merging, and movie picture capturing and so on.

This G1 Video Converter also is an easy use tool. All a user needs to do is click on the menu and all the options of the program are available to you. All conversions can be done easily and smoothly. Don’t hesitate to use Wondershare Gphone Video Converter now and receive unlimited enjoyment from your digital life.

Try Wondershare Video to Gphone for free!

BlackBerry Storm VS iPhone 3G: Will RIM's Blackberry be iPhone Killer?

2008-11-25T18:20:00.000-08:00

Recently I had published a side-by-side comparison of the iPhone 3G and T-Mobile G1 which evoked an interesting debate.

Here comes another side-by-side comparison of Apple's iPhone 3G with RIM's BlackBerry Storm, which is considered as another iPhone Killer.

BlackBerry Storm is expected to be released some time in November exclusively by Verizon in the US and Vodafone in UK.

Hardware Spec
Dimension:
Storm = 4.4 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches
iPhone 3G = 5.5 x 2.4 x 0.48 inches
Weight:
Storm = 155g
iPhone = 133g
Screen Size:
Storm = 3.2 inches
iPhone = 3.5 inches
Camera:
Storm = 3.2M pixel
iPhone = 2M pixel
Memory:
Storm = 1GB on board + 16GB expandable with MicroSD
iPhone = 8GB / 16GB (No expansion)
Battery:
Storm = 5.5hrs talk time / 360 hrs standby
iPhone = 5hrs talk time / 300 hrs standby

Unlike T-Mobile G1 that we have reviewed earlier, BlackBerry Storm "steals" the design and looks much like the iPhone 3G. However, it does not look as sleek as iPhone 3G. It's a little bit thicker (0.14inches more) and heavier (22g more) than iPhone 3G. And, surprisingly, BlackBerry Storm does not come with Wi-Fi support or they probably consider Verizon's 3G network is good enough.

BlackBerry Storm's screen is also a little bit smaller (3.2 inch) as compared to iPhone 3G (3.5 inch), however it sports a slightly higher resolution (460x360 pixels) than iPhone 3G (460x360 pixels).

Winner: iPhone 3G

Tips: How to convert DVD to iPhone 3G

Input Method

With the success of iPhone's multi-touch interface, touch is now the standard for any new smartphone. Like iPhone, Storm does not have physical slide-out keyboard and uses the screen as input, in fact its RIM's first smartphone to feature a touch screen. However, RIM highlights that the touch technology developed on Storm is somewhat different to other touch screen smartphone available. RIM refers its touch technology as "Clickable Screen". That means, when users press key on screen, they can actually feel the key pressed and release, just like you press the mouse button. They call it a game changing touch technology that makes on-screen keyboard more appealing.

Also, like T-Mobile G1, it will have built-in cut and paste capability across applications a feature missing from iPhone 3G.

Winner:Its difficult to call a winner on this one, until we get feedback from users on RIM's touch technology. We love iPhone 3G's revolutionary multi-touch interface.

Multimedia
Multimedia support is not the strong area of RIM smartphones, as they predominantly targets business users. Storm is developed with multiple support in mind to lure more casual users. Standard feature like music and video playback is included. A wide range of audio format (including MP3, AAC, WMA, etc) and video format (including MPEG4, WMV, etc). Storm also allows you to sync iTunes music files via BlackBerry Media Sync and has its own media software to manage your music.

iPhone 3G is the best iPod Apple has ever created. The music and video playback experience is awesome. And, Apple continues to update features like Genius Playlist into iPhone makes iPhone's multimedia support nearly unbeatable. With its seamless integration with iTunes Store, you can download songs wirelessly or sync it between desktop using iTunes. iPhone 3G also supports a wide range of music formats but only plays Quick Time video.

Winner: iPhone 3G

Camera & Video Recording

Apple did not upgrade the camera in iPhone 3G, its still a basic 2 megapixel camera while Storm comes with 3.2 megapixel camera and includes video recording capability. Storm also includes a flash and auto focus for its camera.

Winner: BlackBerry Storm

Modem Capability
iPhone 3G does not support tethering and Apple tends to ban any applications in App Store that adds this capability. The only option you have is to jailbreak the iPhone and use jailbreak apps such as PDANet, iPhoneModem etc. BlackBerry Storm, on the other hands, comes with tethering built-in.

Winner: BlackBerry Storm
Tips: How to convert DVD to Blackberry?

Enterprise Feature

Apple has made quite a few strides to take market share from RIM in the enterprise area. iPhone 3G, with built-in support for Microsoft's ActiveSync protocol, lets enterprise users to access Microsoft Exchange's services. Also, it takes a great step forwards to support Cisco IPsec VPN, which is a standard in enterprise wireless security. Further, it incorporates a feature to let administrator to wipe data remotely, in case the iPhone is lost or stolen.

RIM is always the leader in enterprise wireless devices. Storm, by no means, continues to lead in this area. The enterprise support is outstanding that different security policies can be defined, such that administrator may enable or shutdown specific bluetooth profiles; and even, to disable its digital camera access.

Winner: BlackBerry Storm

To sum up, BlackBerry strikes a balance between business and causal use. It's, by far, the sleekest BlackBerry; which should help RIM lure causal customers.

Is it another iPhone killer? Its difficult to conclude. iPhone 3G and BlackBerry both come with some unique features that neither have and they are positioned differently in the market.
However, I still fail to understand the omission of Wi-Fi in BlackBerry Storm, its true that BlackBerry is targeted at the business users who use it primarily for email, but still it seems like a major disadvantage over iPhone 3G.

As a consumer device, iPhone will definitely win thanks to the iPod application, its Safari browser which is easily the most advanced web browser on a portable device which makes browsing the internet on the iPhone a treat and overall for its cool factor. But if you turn to some business-savvy users and enterprise, BlackBerry is still the de-facto choice.

RIM has also not disclosed the pricing or the official shipping date.

You can checkout the demo video of BlackBerry Storm to get an overview:

BlackBerry Storm, T-Mobile G1 and soon to be released Nokia's XpressMusic phone (Nokia's first touch screen phone) might or might not end up being iPhone killers but they are healthy competition to Apple's iPhone 3G that will ensure that Apple constantly innovates which in the end is beneficial for consumers like us.

Let us know which one is a winner from your point of view and why?

BlackBerry Storm review (BlackBerry 9530)

2008-11-10T23:34:00.000-08:00

As BlackBerry fans, you can’t miss the BlackBerry Storm.
At Nov 6th, 2008, the word on the street is that Best Buys around the colonies was start taking pre-orders for the BlackBerry Storm for a stiff $50 deposit. It’s a great indication that they're expecting elevated demand when it finally launches this month.

From engadget.com by Darren Murph, posted Nov 5th 2008: “…you North Americans are going to have to suffer through the agony that it is knows Voda subscribers are delighting in this handset well before you.” “Vodafone's BlackBerry Storm is way ahead of Verizon's in terms of availability”.

Since the Storm supports a bunch of audio and video formats, will come with an 8GB microSD card and supports stereo Bluetooth. It'll also have Verizon's V CAST, naturally.

But fortunately, we can convert DVD Movie Video to Blackberry storm, you can go here to get BlackBerry Converter software.

BlackBerry Storm Good:
RIM's first all-touchscreen keyboard-free smartphone
HTC Touch HD Screen, 184-pixel-per-inch stunner could be the best screen on the market
3.25-inch
480x360pixs
3.2MP camera, with the LED flashIt comes with a free 8GB memory card, 600 minutes and 3000 textsIt’s toggles seamlessly between portrait and landscape mode.

BlackBerry Storm Bad:
NO Wi-Fi
small gap (dust or water could go in and attack the internal circuitry)lack of an equivalent to the App store Browsing and network, it had some trouble with a text entry field in the browser

There's much to love about the new device but the talking point will almost certainly be the clickable touchscreen with the so-called feedback or haptic technology. And T3 has managed to get a RIM-issued BlackBerry Storm underneath the lens for a quick unboxing. The screen is a giant button, one you have to punch for basically every action, even every letter you type, completely breaking the touchscreen paradigm.

Surprisingly, it's got an innovative multi-touch UI (thanks to ClickThrough), runs on Verizon's EV-DO 3G network in the US, as well as any GSM HSPA 3G networks when abroad, so it's a true global smartphone.

Free Thanksgiving gift Free Video to Audio Converter software review

2008-11-06T19:15:00.000-08:00

Do you have iPod nano? or Creative zen? any mp3 players? Do you want to get a great free gift for your family at Thanksgiving?

There are so many software that can convert DVD video to mp4 video players, but how can we convert video to audio free? Where can we get free mp3 audio converter to convert audio mp3 music free, so we can enjoy any audio, any music free with our friend or our family at home, bus station, any where?

The answer is Video to Audio Converter software.

Fortunately, I'm came across a powerful free Video to Audio Converter software as my 2008 Thanksgiving free gift- Daniusoft Video to Audio Converter software, which valued $25 now completely free for windows users, it can convert RM/ MPEG to MP3 or extract the audio of video files like AVI, MP4, MPEG, WMV, XviD, DAT, MOV, ASF, FLV to the most popular audio formats. So it's actually a very useful program for any of you to convert video to audio free.
As usual we start off with the Specs and Features of the program, this is just the basics grabbed from their site, if you wish to read everything they've got about Daniusoft Video to Audio Converter, you can get this free Video to Audio Converter software here.

Daniusoft Video to Audio Converter

Price: Original $25.00 Now $0.00 (It's free during Oct 24 - Dec 31)

Follow is my personally review of the free Video to Audio Converter...When I first run Daniusoft Video to Audio Converter software on my XP, it starts as

Features:
1.Directly convert audio of video free for playback on all popular portable video/audio players as iPod, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, Zune, PSP, iPhone, iRiver, Archos, Creative Zen and some other MP4/MP3 players.

2.Supports all music format - Extract the audio from video files like AVI, RM, MP4, MPEG, WMV, XviD, DAT, MOV, ASF, FLV to MP3, M4A, AC3, AAC, WMA, WAV, OGG, APE.

3.Free Convert video to audio mp3 formats with powerful audio editing functions including trim any segment of your Video by set the Start time and End Time.

4.Customize video/audio quality with various video and audio settings.

5.Adjust the Volume, you can set volume of output files as you wish and convert Video to Audio free with flexible audio settings.

With this powerful free Video to Audio Converter, you can enjoy any music on all popular MP4/MP3 players like iPod, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, Zune, PSP, iPhone, iRiver, Archos, Creative Zen etc. This Convert Video to Audio free Software is so easy-to-use that whether you are an experienced user or a beginner, Convert RM to MP3, Convert MPEG to MP3, convert audio mp3 free or other supported video formats to Audio is just a breeze.

After we test with the free audio converter program, this is just the function simply converter software from their site, if you wish to convert DVD/Video movie, copy DVD in one step on computer and more popular players, stop and go to here.

Here's some stats for you:
Time to convert: 25:19
Output Size: 3.5MB
CPU Usage:Average: 25%
Peak: 31%

The software estimated the output size at 4.0MB, and the actual output size is 3.5Mb, so it's smaller which is nicer, you'll be able to fit more music on your player.

The time to convert is pretty good as well, coming in under 3 minutes to convert a video that's over 20 mins long, that's about the average time for most conversion software packages out there today. Yes some are quicker, and of course so do take longer, but 3 minutes isn't bad really.

And I threw the converted Stargate over to my phone, quality was very good.

If I had to rate this software I would give it a 4.8 out of 5 score, and I think I could recommend it as well to anyone looking for a free Thanksgiving gift for your girl friend/boy friend, etc. that's very useful, but does offer the ability to customize your output files and convert video to audio free.

Blackberry Storm's Surprise Screen : Blackberry Storm: Touch Without Haptics - 2

2008-10-17T23:55:00.000-07:00

5. The Storm’s Springy Tactile Feedback
By now, vibrating tactile feedback sounds pretty promising. However, Blackberry opted out of this technology with the Storm. Will customers suffer from RIM’s deliberate omission?
Unlike Windows Mobile devices, where touch screen and keypad-driven devices have radically different interfaces and features, the Storm is built on the same Blackberry 9000 platform (codenamed Thunder) as the Bold. The on-screen buttons don’t look precisely the same, but the OS, the browser and other features are the same, and the familiar Blackberry menu button remains present for applications that aren’t optimized for touch.

Open the keyboard when you hold the Storm in portrait mode like a normal Blackberry and you’ll get the Blackberry Pearl-style SureType keyboard, where many keys have two letters on them (or you can choose a traditional phone keypad where you tap multiple times to choose the letter you want).
Turn the Storm sideways and the accelerometer switches it into landscape mode, with the full QWERTY touch screen keyboard. The screen is spring-loaded. Press on a key and it lights up to make it easier to see whether you’ve hit the key you meant to (the iPhone does this as well through enlarging each key), but the whole screen clicks down or depresses like a key on a physical keyboard.

That’s not haptic feedback, a RIM spokesperson pointed out. “The Blackberry Storm doesn’t include haptics," the spokesperson said. "The entire screen functions like a big button and depresses when the user clicks it. Neither the case nor the screen vibrates, and there’s no vibrational motor."

Because the Storm’s screen is on springs, it also is clickable for links in the browser, plus there is an arrow cursor that follows your finger across the screen, confirming what you’re going to select if you do indeed press down. Just as a tablet PC with an active digitizer (most tablets have this) lets you see what you can click on the same way a mouse does on a PC screen (and so feels much more responsive than one with a passive pen that doesn’t give you hints about the interface), having a cursor that makes it very clear what you’re going to click on could improve the touch screen experience on the Storm as well.

Here’s a video from European carrier Vodafone extolling the virtues of the Storm’s touch screen.

The feedback isn’t localized either, a RIM spokesperson said. “When you press the right side of the screen, the whole screen depresses (and the same goes for the left side),” the spokesperson said. But that feedback will still be helpful for using the keyboard.
Although there are experimental technologies like piezoelectric actuators (used in Nokia’s Haptikos prototype, some Alpine car stereos and some portable devices available in Japan) that can give you feedback closer to the area you press on, most vibrotactile haptic feedback vibrates the whole device.

Piezoelectric actuators can be very small and thin and they use very little current, but they need a very high voltage (up to 300 V), which means you need a separate power circuit in the device. The vibration feels different too, Immersion’s Levin said. “They’re higher frequency so they can give very crisp effects," Levin said. "You get very small but quick motions out of them — you’re going to get a quick click but you won’t feel it moving the way a real key would.”
RIM is working with Immersion, Levin confirmed. "We’ve got a relationship with RIM, but it is nothing I can disclose,” Levin said. So why didn’t the Storm incorporate the vibrotactile feedback most people think of when they talk about haptics?

6. So, Why Doesn’t the Storm Use Haptics?
The cost of the actuators — or more likely the space needed to fit them in — may have been an issue; the Storm doesn’t have Wi-Fi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi and RIM says there simply wasn’t room on the motherboard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motherboard for it. But it’s also likely that RIM chose the spring-loaded screen because of the impact it would have on battery life, which the company is fanatical about. "If battery life doesn’t last an extended day, people won’t use it," RIM’s Lazaridis said.

For the other new Blackberry launching this season, the Bold, RIM claims twice the battery life of other 3G phones, and it has put a lot of research and development into making that happen, including tuning the 3G radio stack so it disconnects after sending data rather than waiting for an acknowledgment. Feature phones from LG that use feedback don’t have significant battery life issues, but the Storm needs to power a faster processor and more memory to support the new browser, and Blackberry users tend to type significantly longer messages and send more emails than average phone users do. Even a small drain on the battery could be too much.

One reason that haptics would seem to be the obvious solution for tactile feedback on phones is the number of phones that already use it, Immersion’s Levin said. “What we’ve seen from Samsung and LG is that they’ve determined all touch screen phones need some level of haptic confirmation," Levin said. "It seems almost every new touch screen phone has VibeTonz in.” Between them, manufacturers have launched 93 different VibeTonz models worldwide since 2005.

April’s report in the New York Times about a touch screen Blackberry known internally as the "Apple Killer" didn’t mention feedback technology. But the Boy Genius Report blog gave details in July about a touch screen Blackberry that it called the Thunder, with “haptic feedback” as well as a screen that “clicks.

A reader using the name "bomba" who claimed to have seen the Thunder in action posted details on CrackBerry.com, saying “you actually push the screen in to make buttons do things.” While another reader asked if the phone used haptic feedback, bomba didn’t confirm this.
The CrackBerry blog followed up with a post talking about the screen pushing in "a little" and added that it gave “localized haptic” feedback: "You hear an audible clickety sound, and can feel a buzz in your finger where you actually pressed on the display," the post said.

Other CrackBerry posts repeated the haptic claims. By September, CrackBerry was showing a Verizon flyer for the Storm describing "a ’click’ touch screen for smooth precise text input that feels like a keyboard” with no mention of any vibrotactile feedback, but the idea that the Storm had vibrotactile haptics had stuck and many articles still repeat the rumor.

7. Beyond the Touch Keyboard

The Storm does have multi-touch support and gesturing capability. You’ll be able to select a block of text by putting one finger at the start and the other where you want the selection to stop. You can tap in the browser to zoom in and slide your finger to scroll or swipe it to pane. These aren’t the same multi-touch gestures as on the iPhone, but the Storm has other features the iPhone doesn’t: cut and paste and the ability to use it as a 3G modem with your laptop for dial-up networking on the go.

Gestures are going to become increasingly important on phones. On-screen multi-touch gestures are just the beginning. Bill Pinnell, user interface, graphics and mobile gaming principle product manager at phone operating system company Symbian, predicts the advent of “3D spatialized gestures that are less about looking at device and interacting with it and more about using the device in your hand and interacting with the environment.” He talks about combining touch and multi-touch with shaking, rotating or flipping the phone.

When Series 60 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S60_platform gets HDMI support so you can connect your phone to an HD display, he imagines using it to play a game, control the volume or paint. “How you hold the device would control the strokes of ink on the virtual canvas ," Pinnell said. "Think about moving photos around or grabbing things by pinching towards the screen — you’ll have items you can flick around, float around or push and prod.” And you’ll also want haptic feedback to know when you’ve selected an item or the phone has detected a gesture.

All of these functions are due in Symbian 9.5, possibly launching next year, which will have an extensible sensor framework that can integrate accelerometers, compasses and other sensors. There are more advanced vibrotactile haptics coming from Immersion and other companies. Phones with multiple actuators could give you directions with feedback dictating which way you should turn your phone for various effects. Isolating the screen and attaching actuators to it would give feedback through the screen itself. Put it all together with the processing power of the GPUs that Pinnell believes will be in nearly all high-end mobile phones in 2009 and 2010, and 3D gestures and haptics could combine to create an immersive user interface that’s far beyond a Virtual_keyboard .

Blackberry Storm's Surprise Screen : Blackberry Storm: Touch Without Haptics

2008-10-17T23:32:00.000-07:00

1.Blackberry Storm: Touch Without Haptics

The Blackberry Storm is RIM’s first touch screen device, and it is designed to appeal to a consumer market that’s crazy about the iPhone. It has the largest screen of any Blackberry to date, and to make room for that 3.25” touch screen, RIM has left out what most people think is the definitive feature of every other Blackberry: the keyboard. And they convert DVD to blackberry to enjoy anywhere.

Instead, the on-screen keyboard uses what RIM calls "tactile-touch" feedback that it claims offers "easy and precise touch screen typing." In fact, its a spring-loaded touchscreen that acts like a big button — a departure from the haptics-based touchscreen technology currently available to consumers.

Throughout the summer and into early fall, gadget blogs were abuzz about the new Blackberry that eschewed a keyboard but incorporated a touch screen that could best Apple’s through tactile feedback. Tipsters and analysts mulled over the scarce data available about the new phone and deduced that it would use “haptic” technology: a series of little motorized bumps that let you know you just hit a key. After all, the Blackberry already had vibrating tech built-in, as does nearly every phone on the market that can be set to buzz instead of ring. Apple’s phone slows you down because you don’t feel the feedback in your hand, but this Blackberry would give you signals.

This seemed plausible to everyone — including Tom’s Guide — because several handset manufacturers have already turned to haptic feedback to make touch keyboards more usable. Many of them use San Jose-based Immersion Corp.’s VibeTonz technology to get finer control of the vibration than just turning it on or off.

But everyone was wrong. After RIM officially launched the Blackberry Storm on October 8, the company began divulging more details about its new phone and correcting assumptions about the touch screen that everyone had been making for months (for more details on the pre-launch rumors, see page 6).

RIM didn’t incorporate the common vibrotactile haptic feedback into its Storm — instead, the company revealed on October 9 that the whole screen clicks like a big button.Why is RIM taking this different approach? Why did so many people assume RIM would use vibrotactile haptics? And why do you need mechanical feedback on a digital touch screen anyway?

2. RIM Does Without the Keyboard
For RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie, it’s not actually the physical keyboard that’s the essence of the Blackberry — it’s whatever makes users more efficient and lets them get more done, he said. “The thing is, if you don’t design something for its intended purpose, it becomes cumbersome. When it comes to input and output and form factor, whether it’s a media player or speakers or a camera, or a keyboard versus a SureType or other derivatives — we’re not religious," Balsillie said. "We’re not religious on input. We’re not religious on form factor. We’re religious on efficiency." And efficiency for typical Blackberry users includes being able to type full words and sentences, with punctuation, quickly and accurately.

A virtual keyboard doesn’t take up any space when you’re not using it, and it’s flexible; you can switch from QWERTY to a foreign language to music and browser controls instantly. But unlike a physical keyboard, you can’t tell without looking whether your finger is on one key or two and you don’t get the feel of the key moving when you press it, so you’re more likely to press twice or not press hard enough.

Studies conducted during the 1990s comparing typing speed and accuracy on touch screen and physical keyboards show it’s slower to move from one key to the next on a touch screen and you spend more time pressing each key. Although adding audio feedback (like the clicks on the iPhone keyboard) speeds up moving between and hitting keys, it can’t bring you back to the speed you can get on a physical keyboard.

And you’re always more accurate on a physical keyboard than you are on a touch screen. If you’re not a touch typist, you’ll get faster and more accurate after a few days of using a touch screen but you’d still get 10-15% more typing done in the same time on a physical keyboard. Expert typists don’t find the touch screen better over time and they get twice as much typing done on a physical keyboard where they get physical feedback. You can see the same difference in a recent study from the University of Glasgow comparing QWERTY and touch screen phones.
Many Blackberry users count themselves as expert typists. After RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis publicly criticized the difficulty of typing on glass, and Vodafone had asked for a touch screen phone that was something different, RIM would never have launched a touch screen without some kind of feedback to improve the experience.

3. Touch Screens Look Pretty, Make Mistakes
Just looking at the screen as you type doesn’t help as much as you’d expect, Michael Wehrs, vice president of evangelism at Nuance (the company that now owns the technology behind the T9 predictive text input system), said. “People mis-hit keys on a soft keyboard, especially on glass where you have the problem of parallax,” Wehrs said.

The glass screen acts as a lens refracting the image of the keyboard and the keys seem to be slightly displaced from their actual position. You can’t correct this easily with software because it depends on the angle you’re looking at the screen from, your eyesight and even the amount of light. In theory, using a mechanical effect like vibration to tell you when you hit a key should let you type more quickly and more accurately, because you can learn to compensate for it more easily.

This is known as haptic (from the Greek word for touch) or tactile feedback and it’s been a subject of research for decades. In 1960, Professor Frank Geldard of the University of Virginia observed that unusual patterns of vibration attract our attention easily and could be used for alerts. There are two main types of haptics: vibrotactile feedback, which you feel under the skin as a vibration, and kinesthetic, which involves actual movement of the body.

Phones already come with a mechanical motor to vibrate them — 95% of them have a spinning motor and a few have a linear actuation motor that moves up and down like a speaker. But you can convert video to blackberry.

Immersion’s VibeTonz technology can control either type of motor accurately enough to choose the speed and frequency of the vibration as well as how long it lasts, how strong it is and how it starts and stops. VibeTonz has eight different kinds of key clicks, for example, and the handset manufacturers can combine them. “With a full VibeTonz implementation, you can control it just like audio and we can do everything up to symphonies,” Mike Levin, vice president of Immersion, said.

Manufacturers are buying into Immersion’s tech. Nokia has just launched its first touch screen phone, the 5800 Xpress Music, which has haptic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haptic feedback for menus and the on-screen keyboard. Expect more touch screen devices from Nokia in 2009, “in particular an N-Series class of device,” Jonathan Arber, a research analyst for IDC, said.

Samsung, LG, Motorola and some media player http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Player manufacturers have been producing devices with touch feedback for more than a year, including the best-selling sprint Instinct and the LG View, Viewty and Voyager, as well as a string of devices available only in Asian markets.

Consumers have good reason to want this technology in their phones, too — it appears to increase efficiency. In studies, users can easily identify up to 85 different haptic rhythms or "tactons" (the tactile equivalent of icons). That’s useful for alerts, so you can tell who is calling, whom a new message is from or whether you’ve just been out-bid on eBay. But finer control can also improve typing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typing accuracy.
Researchers at Glasgow University compared a Treo 750 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treo_750 with a QWERTY keyboard to the standard virtual keyboard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_keyboard on the Samsung i718 smartphone and to a touch keyboard that the researchers designed for the i718 using VibeTonz haptic feedback. They added different tactons so users could tell when they were touching a button, touching the home keys (F and J), clicking on a button or touching the edge of a button. Then they asked users to type in a poem, either while seated in a lab or standing on a moving subway train.

The touch screen keyboard was substantially better with haptic feedback than without it. The keyboard was also almost as good as a physical QWERTY http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY keyboard, while adding a more expensive linear actuator improved typing performance even more. The users also found typing on screen was less annoying and frustrating with the haptic feedback.

The research team has developed an experimental haptic keyboard for the iPhone Though the iPhone does not incorporate haptics or tactile feedback of any kind today, you can never count Apple out of a hot area of consumer electronics. The company has applied for a patent on its own brand of touch screen feedback, so wait and see.