F-Secure announced today the availability of its new standalone smartphone solution, F-Secure Anti-Theft for Mobile. The solution provides three useful security features to protect your phone: remote lock, remote wipe and theft control and is available for Symbian and Windows Phone platforms.
The remote lock protects confidential information quickly and easily by locking the device with a single SMS message. The theft control feature activates if someone changes the SIM card by locking the device and informing you of the new number. The remote wipe is the ultimate safety measure, erasing all the data on the phone with a single SMS message.
Indi Siriniwasa, regional director for F-Secure Australia and New Zealand, says, “You carry your smartphone with you where ever you go, which means it can be particularly prone to being lost or stolen. Nowadays our mobiles contain a great deal of personal and confidential data that need protection. F-Secure’s standalone anti-theft software provides an easy and affordable way to make sure this information is not misused by anyone.”
F-Secure Anti-Theft for Mobile is also easy to upgrade to the all-in-one security solution, F-Secure Mobile Security, by activating the inbuilt automatic upgrade system. This adds new security features to the solution for an additional fee. You can see the currently available additional security features directly from the solution’s user interface.
In the good old days we’d let our fingers do the walking when using the Yellow Pages. These days our fingers do a lot more with our mobile phones.
Touchscreen technology has come along way in the last few years. It was once a technology reserved for high-end PDAs, and now touschscreens are incorporated in a large range of new mobile phones, from the most expensive all the way down to a handful of prepaid models too.
How do you choose the right touchscreen?
Firstly, there are two major touchscreen technologies being used in mobile devices: capacitive and resistive. Capacitive touchscreens work by transferring a small electrical charge from the screen to your finger and detecting the region where the charge is removed. Resistive screens use two extremely thin layers below the glass that are pressed together when the screen is touched. The difference between the two means that resistive screens can be touched with any object, like a stylus, while capacitive screens need to make contact with your body, usually through your finger. In practice we find capacitive screens, like the one used on the iPhone, to be more responsive, though recent resistive screens, like the Sony Ericsson Satio, have shown that well designed resistive displays can be nearly as responsive.
The second important element to consider is the design of the interface used by the manufacturers. Touchscreens demand that the icons are large enough to be pressed with a finger and well spaced enough to avoid accidentally pressing the icons beside it. The phones listed below represent the best of both of these necessities. They all make use of responsive touchscreen displays, while also featuring well designed, finger-friendly interfaces.
Well this one is a… doozy? Today Nokia announced a rather bizarre partnership with Intel. Namely, the two companies are merging their odd, half-finished, Linux-based OSs into one crazy little package called… MeeGo. No, really. Intel is mixing its peanut butter Moblin with Nokia’s chocolatey Maemo to create a “software platform that will support multiple hardware architectures across the broadest range of device segments, including pocketable mobile computers, netbooks, tablets, mediaphones, connected TVs and in-vehicle infotainment systems.” That broad enough for you? According to the company’s press release, the new platform will begin baring fruit (AKA devices) later this year, though the specific types of devices weren’t touched upon. Nokia’s CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo claims that the union will “create an ecosystem that is second to none” through openness, though at this point it’s largely bluster. Why the two monoliths have decided to pair up on these decidedly niche platforms rather than focusing energies on their front and center products is anyone’s guess, but luckily you can attempt to decipher more detail in the PR, included for your convenience after the break!
Windows Phone 7 Series. Get used to the name, because it’s now a part of the smartphone vernacular… however verbose it may seem.
Today Microsoft launches one of its most ambitious (if not most ambitious) projects: the rebranding of Windows Mobile. The company is introducing the new mobile OS at Mobile World Congress 2010, in Barcelona, and if the press is anything to be believed, this is just the beginning.
The phone operating system does away with pretty much every scrap of previous mobile efforts from Microsoft, from the look and feel down to the underlying code — everything is brand new. 7 Series has rebuilt Windows Mobile from the ground up, featuring a completely altered home screen and user interface experience, robust Xbox LIVE and Zune integration, and vastly new and improved social networking tools.
Gone is the familiar Start screen, now replaced with “tiles” which scroll vertically and can be customized as quick launches, links to contacts, or self contained widgets. The look of the OS has also been radically upended, mirroring the Zune HD experience closely, replete with that large, iconic text for menus, and content transitions which elegantly (and dimensionally) slide a user into and out of different views.
The OS is also heavily focused on social networking, providing integrated contact pages which show status updates from multiple services and allow fast jumps to richer cloud content (such as photo galleries). The Xbox integration will include LIVE games, avatars, and profiles, while the Zune end of things appears to be a carbon copy of the standalone device’s features (including FM radio).
As promised, HTC introduced three new phones and the score is Android 2 – WinMo 1. The HTC Legend is a Hero’s remake and the Desire is a half-twin of the Nexus One. In the PocketPC camp, there’s the HTC HD mini. Small it very well is, not so sure about the HD bit. But still, the tiniest among them is actually the big news here. The Legend and the Desire leaked well in advance.
The HTC Legend will run Android 2.1 (Eclair) to be enjoyed on a 3.2″ AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of HVGA resolution. The Legend is powered by a 600 MHz processor, and has 384 MB of RAM and 512 MB of ROM. Of course, you’ll also get a microSD card slot, a built-in GPS receiver and support for HSPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
The HTC Desire comes with huge 3.7″ WVGA AMOLED capacitive touchscreen we’ve already seen and love, as well as the sizzling 1GHz Snapdragon CPU. 576MB of RAM and 512MB ROM are part of the deal too. The Desire will have a GPS receiver, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support.
The HTC HD mini lives up to its name, at 103.8 x 57.7 x 11.7 mm and 110 grams of weight, which isn’t bad at all for a PocketPC with a 3.2″ capacitive touchscreen (of HVGA resolution), a 5-megapixel autofocus sharpshooter, GPS receiver, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support, and a 600 MHz processor.
The phone will also come with 384MB of RAM, 512MB of ROM and a microSD card slot ready to accommodate microSDHC cards. Like its bigger bro, the HD2, HD mini will also be able to serve as a Wi-Fi hotspot to use with a computer.
The HD mini packs the latest Sense UI on top of the latest operational version of Windows Mobile: 6.5.3
The HTC Tattoo is the fourth Android device from the
Taiwanese company. That’s quite a feat considering many
phone-makers committed to the platform have not even
released a single product. The Tattoo has one feature that
sets it apart as an entry-level smartphone — a resistive
2.8-inch QVGA display. Let’s see how this smaller,
lower-resolution screen (compared with the 3-inch and larger
HVGA panels) performs coupled with Google’s mobile operating
system.
Design
The Tattoo’s 106×55.2x14mm dimensions and 113g weight
make it a compact and light device. The device is solidly
built and we like how the rounded edges give it a nice feel
in the hands.
Like most full-touchscreen devices, the front of the
Tattoo is taken up mainly by the screen. This is a 2.8-inch
QVGA LCD, similar to what you find in many older Windows
Mobile smartphones. During our use, we found it sufficiently
bright and sharp for reading text. Images also displayed
nicely. Unfortunately, those who have used devices like the or
HTC Magic, which come with HVGA (480×320) screens, may
find the halved resolution on the Tattoo lacking. This can
be felt mainly when browsing the internet and trying to type
with your fingertips. More on that later when we discuss
this smartphone’s features.
You get the standard set of buttons for an Android phone.
Aside from the Call and End keys, there are dedicated Home,
Menu, Back and Search buttons under the display. A round
directional pad is also found there which we felt worked
well, thanks to its large circumference and prominent select
button. The sides of the Tattoo are bare aside from a volume
rocker on the left.
Connectors on this smartphone include a mini-USB for
charging and syncing on the base and a 3.5mm audio port on
the top. This means you can use your favourite pair of
headphones for music playback, a feature that will please
those particular about earphone audio fidelity. Memory
expansion is possible through a microSD card slot found on
the left side under the back battery cover.
With the Tattoo, HTC has provided a way for users to
personalise the chassis of the phone. Every single part of
the external plastic shell is replaceable. You do that first
by removing the battery cover, and from there, the front
face plate and back base plate can be pried off completely.
The company has partnered with gadget accessory company
Garskin to sell replacement shells. The patterns are quite
varied and you can even design your own from the
Garskin website. HTC is giving users a redemption card
in the standard sales package which entitles you to one free
phone cover. If you want to buy more, they cost US$24.90
each.
Features
Though the Tattoo is supposed to be a budget Android
handset, HTC has put a lot of features in this upcoming
mobile phone. It comes with HSDPA and Wi-Fi for high-speed
data, Bluetooth and GPS for navigation. Powering the phone
is a Qualcomm 528MHz processor found in many other high-end
HTC phones, too, so that’s good news for this entry-level
handset.
One thing we really liked about the
Hero, HTC’s last Android device, was the Sense UI
interface. This custom software comes with many useful
widgets and integration of social-networking services into
the contacts. The Tattoo will also sport Sense UI so many of
those features will appear on this handset. One widget we
did find missing was the Stock app — HTC probably assumed
that those using the Tattoo aren’t interested in the stock
market.
Back to the matter of the 2.8-inch QVGA screen, it wasn’t
perfect, but it was better than we expected. For starters,
HTC did a good job scaling down all its widgets to fit this
screen, so the seven scrollable displays on the Home page
can be well-utilised. For example, the People widget (which
shows your favourite contacts so you can access them
quickly) has contacts’ photos that are noticeably lower in
resolution compared with the Hero’s implementation, but we
could still make out the faces.
We did run into some problems with the browser. The small
screen meant reading text required zooming into the page.
This led to more scrolling just to read a news article or
wiki. There was also some frustration when trying to tap on
small links. In these cases, we ended up using our
fingernails to do the job. This was possible because the LCD
is resistive, not capacitive (which requires a fingertip
skin contact) like other Android phones.
Somewhat frustrating as well was the on-screen QWERTY
keyboard. Keys were really narrow, so typing with the tips
of our thumbs became near impossible unless one held the
device in landscape mode or had pointy fingernails.
Another consequence of the QVGA screen on the Tattoo is
that fewer apps appear on the Android Market. Only programs
which developers have tweaked to support multiple
resolutions (introduced in Android 1.6) will be available
for download. Though we didn’t count exactly how many there
are, some of our favourite games were not available. The
excellent Twitter app Twidroid had not been ported over as
well, last we checked.
A 3.2-megapixel camera is found on the back of the
Tattoo. Remember, this is an entry-level handset so there’s
no autofocus or LED flash. It produced decent pictures
though — just don’t expect too much of it.
Performance
We were impressed with the battery performance of the
Tattoo. With background data and Gmail syncing turned on, we
got 2.5 days of use on a single charge. This included web
surfing on HSDPA and some phone usage and texting. GPS
navigation worked well with Google Maps but we don’t
recommend trying to use it for in-car navigation because of
the small screen.
Voice quality was good and we didn’t experience any
dropped calls during our period of use. One thing that did
poorly was the volume of the speakerphone. It was way too
soft to be useful unless you were in a quiet room.
Conclusion
For an entry-level smartphone, the Tattoo met our
expectations. It does everything you expect an Android
device to do, and has great battery life to boot. The screen
is a little small, but usable for the most part. Those with
large fingers should really try it out at a store before
deciding if they can live with the text input.
If you are someone who wants maximum mileage with your
Android device, we advise spending a bit more for either the
HTC Magic or Hero. This is mainly because developers have
designed their apps mostly for HVGA screens for the Android
Market.
But for those looking for a capable smartphone on a
budget, the Tattoo is a great choice. In fact, we liked it
more than the
Touch2 which goes for a similar price. The compromises
made in the Tattoo are acceptable considering the cost.
Nokia X6 is a touchscreen smartphone within a compact and square for music lovers, since it provides up to 35 hours of uninterrupted music. Not to mention the 36 GB of internal memory that stores a large number of tracks and more. other specifications of the phone include support for UMTS network, HSDPA, 3.2-inch display with 360×640 pixel resolution, Wi-Fi connectivity, a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash, integrated GPS receiver with Ovi Maps on Symbian OS v9.4 S60 fifth edition, video calling, media player with graphic equalizer, playlists and other advanced features to play music at its best.
As we suspected, the Nokia X6 looks a lot thicker than you would (should) expect from a touchscreen device without physically qwerty keyboard.
X6 Video Review
This is partly because the device is designed that the top and bottom a little ’slope’ (see pictures below this Artkel), but the X6 is an extremely compact device. This course does not necessarily, but if you look to the first press photos that were raised or impressed. In practice, it falls in that area so a bit disappointing.
Which of course the Nokia X6 is a big improvement over many other devices, both Nokia touschreen itself and its competitors is the fact that the X6 is equipped with a so-called capacitive touchscreen. This makes operation and the perception of the Symbian S60 Touch UI much more comfortable and looks, and is all a lot smoother. Switching between menus, applications and browse the photo gallery is all just a little smoother, and smoothing back faster than the N97. You do not so hard to rub on the display. Owners of an iPhone or the Android phones that are already for sale immediately know what I mean.
Another nice detail is that the Nokia X6, like the N97 Mini, failed to provide a camera cover. For perhaps the thinking in damage (other than the now infamous cover) to prevent the camera from Nokia has the X6 slightly sunken in the back. Not much (no milimeter I estimate) but just enough to lay down and scratches on tables to avoid sliding. Of course that does not help against small keys and money in bags and (trousers) bags, but a touchscreen device you always in my one (hip) storage bag. Hopefully Nokia will soon be a standard protective bag or case in which is one of the drawbacks of the N97. That is not supplied. Buy yourself? Of course, but devices from 500 + Euro may (read: should) that I think is standard in the box.
All features of the device are adapted to the market segment where it is placed: the more expensive. With a Nokia X6 retail price of 459 euros plus VAT is the unit close to the iPhone.
Genuine Nokia fans, and there are many, they get the chance to buy an upmarket device that must lie alongside the iPhone. Whether it has enough appeal to whom the iPhone window beckons, do look up the other side, well over one months will prove if the X6 is actually in the store.
Simultaneously Nokia launches the N97 with its combination of touchscreen and keyboard, and the X3 for about 140 euros in the store will be a classic example with mobile access to the extensive portfolio of Ovi Music Store.
Nokia X6 Specs
Brand Nokia
Type X6
Model Candybar
Color Black / Red, White / blue
Network
[:: There are three basic networks available, GSM (= for EU and USA) CDMA (= for Asia) and 3G/4G (not region-specific). The network and the frequency, determine where the phone can be used geographically. Frequencies for the GSM network, dual band (= 900, 1800), Tri band (= 900, 1800, 1900) and Quad band (= 850, 900, 1800, 1900). The standard frequency for the CDMA network in 2000.]
GSM 3G network, EDGE, GPRS, GSM, HSCSD, HSDPA (3G)
Service 850, 900, 1800, 1900, 2100
Connectivity
[:: Provides insight into the available connections, Bluetooth (= sending files via radio waves), Infrared (= sending files through infrared), Wi-Fi (= wireless network) and USB connection (via cable to a file = PC).]
Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared No
Wi-Fi (WLAN) Yes
JaMicroUSB USB v2.0
Fax / Data Yes
Display
[:: Here you type display, the number of colors, size and resolution of the main display. If there is one extra front display is also shown here (mostly by Shell Clamp phones).]
Main display Color TFT touchscreen
Color display 16.000.000 colors
Size 81.28 mm.
Resolution 360 x 640 pixels
External display No
Memory
[:: Besides the internal memory, most new mobile phones also have the opportunity to expand the memory with an external memory card. You can also find here the type of memory that the memory is expandable.]
32GB Internal Memory
No expandable memory
Memory slots No
No Storage Medium
Performance
[:: There are two common types of batteries, Lithium Ion and Lithium Polymer. Lithium Polymer batteries are developed along the lines of Lithium Ion batteries, and others have the advantage that they are not combustible. The number of hours the phone with full battery pack can be displayed at the stand-by time (= at least use) and talk time (= to much use). Temperature changes can affect these values.]
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion 1320 mAh (BL-5J)
Standby time 401 hours
Talk time 8.5 hours
Call
[:: Provides information about whether to have a vibrating alarm and the possibility of a photo-ID to a phone number to add. Furthermore, the different types of mobile phone ring tones support as the standard monotone polyphonic ringtones, or more like MP3 ringtones.]
Vibrate alert Yes
Photo ID Yes
Ringtones MP3, Polyphonic
Camera
[:: If the phone has a digital camera here parts as the amount Megapixels and the presence of digital and optical zoom defined. Also find here information about the presence of a video function and half (front) camera to conduct video calls.]
Camera Yes
Megapixels 5 megapixels
Maximum photo resolution 2592×1944 pixels
Digital zoom Yesx
Optical zoom No
Autofocus Yes
Flash Yes
Video Recording Yes
Second (front) camera Yes
Messaging
[:: Functions as SMS (= text messaging) and MMS (multimedia messaging =) are now appointed, along with whether to have a T9 predictive text feature. Furthermore messaging options like browsing the Internet and have e-mail on your phone defined.]
SMS Yes
MMS Yes
T9 text function Yes
E-mail Yes
Internet browsing Yes
Entertainment
[:: Extra options as an FM radio and Java are specified here. If the phone has an MP3 player under the title, this audio player included, while the supporting file types are described. Furthermore, here, if applicable, the type of video function can be found.]
FM radio Yes
Java Yes
Audio player AAC, M4A, MP3, RA6, WAV, WMA
Video player 3GP, MP4, RV, WMV
Features
[:: If you yourself can add ringtones to this phone are included here, along with whether to have a video call feature, which can be a video conversation. In addition, various organizer functions specified here. You will also find other details any additional features of the phone.]
Add ringtones Yes
Organizer Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Voice command / dial, Handwriting recognition
Video call No
Other features Symbian OS v9.4, Series 60 rel. 5, Auto turn-off, Auto-rotate, 3.5 mm audio jack, touch Dedicated music keys, GPS with A-GPS support; Ovi Maps 3.0, TV-Out
Format
[:: Subject information about the weight and dimensions of the phone. When the weight is the number of grams of the phone including battery included. The dimensions are shown in Height x Width x Depth.]
Weight 122 g.
Dimensions (H x W x D) 111 x 51 x 13.8 mm.
Nokia N97 Mini White Available Now @ MobileCiti.com.au
For perhaps the thinking in damage (other than the now infamous cover) to prevent the camera from Nokia has the X6 slightly sunken in the back. Not much (no milimeter I estimate) but just enough to lay down and scratches on tables to avoid sliding. Of course that does not help against small keys and money in bags and (trousers) bags, but a touchscreen device you always in my one (hip) storage bag. Hopefully Nokia will soon be a standard protective bag or case in which is one of the drawbacks of the N97. That is not supplied. Buy yourself? Of course, but devices from 500 + Euro may (read: should) that I think is standard in the box.