Sat 6 Feb 2010

Acer Liquid S100 Review. Sort of.

Posted by Erik Starck under Android
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I bought a new phone to replace my old Android Developer Phone that I bought right after it was released more than a year ago.

One year with Android has at least convinced me of one thing: this is a very good mobile OS. I was sceptical when Google announced the Open Handset Alliance but now I’m convinced that Apple and Google both share the future of mobile at the expense of the “traditional” mobile operating system vendors.

So, when considering a new phone there were basically only two options: iPhone or Android. The number of Android devices is growing rapidly and there’s concern for device fragmentation. It’s interesting to see how Android is basically growing in to become the Windows 95 of the mobile world.

Anyhows… so I decided to buy a new phone after more than a year with the G1. The battery strength was getting worse and worse and the device started to feel painfully slow. I was first looking at the Nokia N900 web tablet-mobile phone-computer-thingy but Nokia just kept delaying it (hear this, my Finnish friends: if the original release, back in December 2009 would have been kept, I would have been a Nokia customer, mmkay?).

I ended up buying an Acer S100 Liquid. It has a Snapdragon CPU (fast!), 800×480 resolution (on a beautiful screen!), Android 1.6 (would have preferred 2.0 but an update should be coming) and a very limited set of extra add-ons to the OS (which in my world is a good thing). The one thing I’m missing is the QWERTY-keyboard but I’m getting used to the virtual on screen keyboard.

The price is hard to beat and possibly its best feature: you can buy it for 3400SEK inc VAT (about €330) in Sweden.

The camera is a 5 megapixel one that I haven’t used very much (I still carry around my Sony Ericsson G502 with its 2MP super fast camera – much more fun to take pictures with). One thing I noticed though is the color balance which is awful.

Video is 640×480 but I don’t use that very much.

If you’re looking for a no extra frills, work horse Android phone at a very competitive price, the Acer S100 Liquid is a perfect buy. I’m happy with my purchase.

Popularity: 1% [?]

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Fri 5 Feb 2010

Amiga games on mobile phones? Try MoSync!

Posted by Erik Starck under Mobile Development
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I helped the guys over at MoSync (The Company Formerly Knows As Mobile Sorcery) put together this video showing an old Amiga game running on a few different mobile phones after being ported to the MoSync mobile platform. Yes, I’m somewhat biased, but I have to say I’m impressed by what you can do with their tool.

We made another video too, with another game that’s a bit better known.

Popularity: 1% [?]

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Fri 29 Jan 2010

The Apple iPad Web Tablet – perfect note taking tool?

Posted by Erik Starck under Apple
[2] Comments

Aah, what a beauty! Of course, coming from Apple, that’s what we expect. However, I can’t help but think when I see the keynote that not even Apple really knows how people are going to use this new device.

Here’s one use case I think I personally will find very attractive: note taking.

Currently there’s a killer tool for taking notes: pen & paper. This is an amazing invention. It’s cheap, requires no battery and is highly portable. Can the iPad beat it?

No. But it can complement it!

Just think about it: you have a setup like below with a case that contains a paper pad.

Add a camera (or an iPhone or any mobile phone with a camera and Bluetooth) to this and you can take pictures of your notes and almost instantaneously load them in to the iPad. Now you can email it, edit it and I’m pretty sure there will be some cool apps that pick out things like lines and boxes from your drawings so you can move them around.

Why is this better than a Netbook? Because of the touch UI. It will feel much more natural to use your hand to move your notes around than a mouse or a touchpad. Plus it’s smaller.

So, the iPad won’t replace your laptop, nor will it replace pen and paper. But it will improve both of them. It’s the perfect bridge between paper and digital.

Popularity: 3% [?]

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Tue 26 Jan 2010

The Apple Web Tablet: Tomorrow it’s coming?

Posted by Erik Starck under Apple
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This has to be one of the most hyped anticipated product releases ever. In about 24 hours from now we will see what Apple has been building in there.
As the owner of a blog titled “The Mobile Web Tablet” I of course look forward to the release and believe it will be a success, but the facts are still that it’s an unproven market with no major hits thus far – the Kindle one possible exception.
The question is if there’s room for a device larger than a phone but smaller than a netbook and with no physical keyboard. Well, if anyone can do it, Apple can. In about 24 hours we’ll see.

Popularity: 1% [?]

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Sun 3 Jan 2010

The Nokia N900 Web Tablet

Posted by Erik Starck under Nokia
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The Nokia N900 mobile web tablet-that’s-also-a-phone has been hitting the stores after months of delay. Reviews are good and it seems like the speed of the device is what impresses the most. The downside is a somewhat clunky interface but an average linux geek should feel right at home. And honestly: can it get worse than S60?

Digital Versus writes:

Franck loved the fact that you can use the N900 as a terminal for getting inside the entrails of the phone (or how to make your life more complicated!) and the visual part of the interface. He regrets the lack of applications on Maemo.org, the fact that navigation isn’t always the most logical and that the keyboard is restricted to three lines (5 would have been preferable) “especially as you need to look up characters in the symbol bank that you often require for those famous “commands”".

PC advisor:

The Linux-based Maemo 5 OS is the star of the show. This really is an advanced smartphone – it’s a genuine handheld computer. Maemo can run multiple tasks simultaneously, the web browser is outstanding and the interface looks smooth and polished, unlike the Symbian operating system usually employed by Nokia. Menu icons and fonts will be familiar to any Nokia users, but Maemo ups the ante with some nice screen transitions; when opening new windows and browsing though running applications, for example.

While the N900 seems to be a great device, the big question is of course if Nokia can keep up against Android and Apple with the Maemo OS. Not just UI- or feature-wise but also when it comes to the developer community and availability of applications.

Then we have the Google Chrome OS and the rumored Apple Web Tablet so Nokia is being attacked from many directions. Never the less, 2010 looks to be an interesting year for web tablets.

Popularity: 4% [?]

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Fri 4 Sep 2009

The Nokia N900 Mobile Web Tablet

Posted by Erik Starck under Mobile Devices, Nokia
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I use my Nokia N800 as a surfboard before sleeping. It gives me my final dose of internet before I doze off. It’s not a phone, though and it can be a little slow sometimes. I also miss a physical keyboard and in order to replace my phone it would have to smaller.

Enter the N900.

By the looks of it it fixes all my issues above and may turn out to be the best phone Nokia has ever released.

The one thing that nags me a little bit is the fact that is’s based on Maemo, the linux phone OS initiated by Nokia. While this seemed like a bold move when the N770 and N800 came out, today there are other alternatives. Or will Maemo, Android and iPhone all be the platforms that the mobile infrastructure of the future is built on?

Maybe the mobile OS doesn’t matter at all as long as there as a compatible browser? On the other hand, browsers are also platforms and on the PC there are still huge fragmentation problems when it comes to browsers.

It will take a long time before the dust settles on this platform battle, that’s for sure.

Popularity: 6% [?]

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Fri 4 Sep 2009

Sony Ericsson Satio 3D graphics

Posted by Erik Starck under Mobile Devices
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A short video showing what the Sony Ericsson Satio can do when it comes to 3D graphics.

Popularity: 8% [?]

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Mon 3 Aug 2009

Always Innovating Touchbook

Posted by Erik Starck under Netbooks
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OK, so you’ve grown tired of your notebook and your netbook and your Macbook and maybe even your cookbook. Time for something new. Howabout a touchbook?

touchbook

For $400 this innovative computer will be yours. It doesn’t run Windows, though, but who needs IE anyway, right?

(Via Prylkoll.)

Popularity: 7% [?]

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