Samsung Tocco Lite Review

The best-selling phone in the first half of 2009 has probably been the LG Cookie. The secret to the Cookie's success is simple: it's a touchscreen phone with loads of gadgets for just £100. So now Samsung have released the Tocco Lite to go head to head against the Cookie for best budget touchscreen phone. Which phone will win in the Cookie vs Tocco Lite battle?
Well, the Tocco Lite is arriving on the scene 6 months later than the Cookie, so it should be 6 months ahead of the curve, and a clear winner. But in fact the specification is almost exactly identical to the Cookie, and the Tocco Lite is retailing at a slightly higher price, although this may fall in the weeks after launch. What then, is the point of the Tocco?
Physically, the two devices are exactly the same size, to within a millimetre! The screens are identical in type, size, colour definition and pixels. With a good size screen (3 inches) and high resolution, Samsung's TouchWiz user interface works well on the Tocco Lite. TouchWiz can now be regarded as a mature technology, and it seems to be pretty much universally popular. Mobile widgets let you customise your home screen and give easy access to apps such as the clock, weather forecast, etc. There are also widgets for popular web apps such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube. The built-in accelerometer sensor will automatically rotate the screen when you turn the phone on its side, so you can easily switch between portrait and landscape modes. The virtual QWERTY keyboard is easy to use, and we think that you'll have no problems using the touchscreen. The addition of "real" keys for call, send and select make it even easier to use than a full touchphone. The user interface also supports handwriting recognition and gesture lock.

source: mobile-phones-uk.org

Nokia N97 to hit 75 countries this very month.

In an attempt to stir things up around the Nokia N97, Nokia have just announced that the device will hit the global market this month in the staggering 75 countries simultaneously. Well, it was about time!
Not that we've had any concerns that Nokia would stick with the initially announced release date, but we guess getting the Nokia N97 finally on the shelves will be a time of joy for many Nokia fans

The Nokia N97 is hardly revolutionary anymore and we can't really see what's the point in all the fuss. We would have preferred Nokia to announce several more high-end devices instead of still sticking to their February agenda.

source: gsmarena.com

ViewSonic Announces Own 3G Smartphone

Here’s the tech question of the day: When you have 20 years experience in the TV and computer monitor display field, what’s the next logical move for your company? According to ViewSonic it’s time to move on to cell phones. While we don’t really see that as a “natural extension” of ViewSonic’s product line, we are interested to see what will become of ViewSonic’s reckless entry into the smartphone arena after their announcement yesterday of their plans to develop a 3G phone.
Apparently someone at ViewSonic has got it in their heads that its product line would span from 3″-300″. We can live with that. And we can even live with ViewSonic’s reasoning behind the move. As smartphones blur the lines between computers and phones, it’s only logical that, after computers and TVs blurred the lines, that smartphones and TVs would blur the lines as well. It’s actually probably a smart move on the part of ViewSonic to bring their expertise in quality viewing experiences to the smartphone.
It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes ViewSonic to get their device done and out. We know from past experience that these companies just entering the smartphone market can have some difficulties getting the product out on market (*cough* Garmin *cough*). But we’ll be hopeful.

Source: blog.toptenreviews.com

Acer Smartphones Hit the Market

Acer’s new smartphones are now available. The DX900 and the X960 are now available in Europe and Asia (no mention of the United States). Neither phone is going to win any beauty pageants any time soon, but the DX900 does come with dual SIMs.
This allows for triband HSDPA and quadband EDGE. Basically, the phone works everywhere. The DX900 operates on Windows Mobile 6.1 and features a 2.8 inch display, WiFi, 3 megapixel camera, and GPS to boot.
The X960 adds HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) and can download at 7.2 Mbps. It also features a new 3D user interface and a slightly higher resolution 3.2 megapixel digital camera.

Source: blog.toptenreviews