Even though SPB Benchmark is officially dead for quite some time, the ital9ian web site SoloPalmari has somehow managed to patch new device’s performance data into it(and seemed to even fix the bug with the WM6 applications). They now got their hands onto a Diamond and performed a benchmark test – the results are available here(scroll down for the images):
http://www.solopalmari.com/content/view/4985/298/1/1/
Cutting a long story short: the Diamond is incredibly fast…
Unlike an orange company with a four-letter name, Sony Ericsson understands the value of developers and power users. This valuation is shown in the fact that the company frequently posts whitepapers containing loads of technical specification about upcoming devices well before they hit the market.
As the picture above tells you, this has now happened to the Sony XPERIA X1. People who manage to get past the captcha at the link below can download a 100page PDF file contai9ning information on every nook and cranny of the device – enjoy:
http://developer.sonyericsson.com/getDocument.do?docId=100340
According to JAMPB, RoverPC(link to web site, but it’s all Russian) has just announced a smartphone called P7 – the device is pictured below:
As of now, the following specs are known:
- Marvell PXA270 416 MHz
- GSM (900/1800/1900), GPRS / EDGE
- microSD
- Windows Mobile 6.1
- 2.8″ touchscreen
- 2MP camera
- Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi
- MiniUSB
Unfortunately, the manufacturer has not given any further information on pricing and/or availability; and the web site doesn’t list the device either. Should any of our Russian readers knows more, please let us know ASAP! Comments are free and can be made anonymous; TamsPPC is hosted in Austria and thus can and will protect your identity via the Austrian press freedom laws!
Japanese readers who fancy a colorful version of the Sony XPERIA X1 will probably like Wilcomm’s new offerings that are due to drop in late June – here is a mug shot of the bunch:
The boxen have an 800×480px touchscreen, weigh approx. 135grams and are 50 mm × 116 mm × 17.9mm big(approximately). Computing power is provided by a 520MhZ Marvell processor; it has 128MB of RAM and 256MB of ROM.
As of now, no information is given on pricing and on when these boxen will come to the United States(or to Europe). We could very well look at a Japanese-only box…
(A tiny bit of) further information can be obtained at a Google-translated version of Wilcomm’s press release – get it here.
Users have reported weird issues with the TouchFLO application on their TyTN 2 after upgrading to WM 6.1 via the official upgrade released a few days ago.
In case your device accidentally activates items while scrolling, please change the following registry value to reduce the program’s sensitivity:
HKLM\Drivers\TouchPanel
PressureThreshold=200
Via PocketNOW
All of you who feel like a HTC Touch Dual(aka the original Touch with a keyboard) AND who live in the United States can now get their hands on one via a reputable dealer – BestBuy is now selling the box for 549$ on its web site according to Engadget.
As of now, it is not known when the box will be available in stores.
P.S. In case anyone of you is looking for the Diamond – no information on that as of now. This box is a Touch Dual – once again, this is NOT the HTC Touch Diamond that was released a few days ago…
After HTC published a Windows Mobile 6.1 update for the HTC Kaiser (also known as HTC TyTN II, MDA Vario III and others), some users report several problems in the xda-developers.com forum. Instead of running faster, their devices are even slower and suddenly freeze for about 20 seconds. Furthermore, some applications do not work any longer, there is few internal memory and even some microSD cards stop working correctly.
The German ppc-welt.info forum has similar reports – . While some users are glad to have this update as it solves problems, the majority wants its old version back. There are already manuals how to downgrade to Windows Mobile 6.0 again which does not have these problems.
I wrote a list of problems that occur on one or more devices:
Some of these problems only occur on one device, perhaps because of a wrong configuration done by the user. Nevertheless, if your Kaiser works correctly using Windows Mobile 6.0, it would perhaps be better to wait for other feedback before you run the update.
Resco Defender is an excellent game – and usually costs a bit of cash:
However, our long-term friendship with Resco has allowed us to give away a free copy of the program to a lucky reader – but there’s a little job to do in order to qualify.
Tell us what you like and dislike about TamsPPC. What can we do to make TamsPPC better? Is there a topic that you would like us to cover? Anything you paticularily dislike? Or, are you totally happy and feel that we are the best news service in the world?
Visit the TamsForum, log in and post your feedback in the thread linked below in order to enter this contest(and don’t forget to state that you own a PPC):
http://forum.tamoggemon.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19
MoDaCo reports that HTC will soon release an official Windows Mobile 6.1 upgrade for the TyTN 2.
The update ships in a file called RUU_Kaiser_HTC_WWE_3.28.405.0_radio_sign_25.83.40.02_1.65.16.25_Ship.exe’ and is said to improve the device’s video performance – nope, this is not the promised hardware video acceleration driver; but is still said to accelerate the box a bit.
In case anyone of you is looking for an official source – all HTC upgrades are available from the HTC e-club(yes, you must log in to access them):
http://www.htc.com/member/login.aspx
If I’d have to use a single word to describe the 214, I’d definitely pick big. Very big. Insanely big, even. But big can also mean great – loads of expansion ports, strong battery, etc – can the 214 stack up?
The front of the device is dominated by the huge touchscreen. Other than that, there’s the power button, HP’s dual LED indicators, the 5way assembly and a light sensor. Surprisingly, HP refrained from messing around with the 5way buttons – all is excellently done here:
Unfortunately, HP positioned the speaker at the back of the unit. The back cover can be removed to reveal the huge 2200mAH battery(which, of course, is user exchangeable):
The top of the device houses the dual extension ports(protected with card dummies) and the stylus silo:
A 3.5″ headphone jack at the bottom allows you to connect your favorite headphones. Additionally, HP included a MiniUSB and a classic ipaq port – most existing peripherals(except for the classic sleeves) should be recyclable:
The sides of the device are very plain and contain a voice recorder button and a reset hole(that can be toggled with the stylus tip):
Finally, here’s a picture of the 214’s stylus next to a few others:
In the end, the 214 is an excellent handheld. Huge screen, dual expansion ports(including a lovely CF slot for things like USB and Ethernet) – and HP’s dev team even managed to refrain from screwing up the controls.
The only thing that could still kill the good impression is the screen – tune in soon to find out more…
The folks at The Boy Genius Report managed to get a snapshot of the 850 – we at TamsPPC now have the full specs of the upcoming Treo 8850 due to a good friend of mine working at Palm’s(who recently got his box).
He describes the box as following:
This is not the PalmOS version of the Centro.
It can be regarded as the evolution of the 750 line of devices. The unit is a little wider, but much slimmer than the Centro, it’s 175 MB for user), 32 MB SDRAM and Windows Mobile Pro 6.1.
The Codename for this unit was “Skywriter”
Anyways, here are the full specs:
I am especially happy to hear that Palm finally managed to give the Treo 850 WiFi and a MiniUSB port – farewell, Athena Connector. While this may be annoying for all who currently own such devices; people who travel a lot and carry many gadgets will be happy to hear that they now need one charger/cable less.
As for the rest – nothing too interesting here. Enjoy!
The folks at The Boy Genius Report managed to get their hands on an in-the-wild shot of Palm’s Treo 850 – here goes:
Specs-wise, little new info is available. BGR claims that the device will have
.NET developers who plan to create an application that involves photo editing(or that want a graphical button like the ones found in Palm OS applications) will be delighted to hear about Resco’s new controls.
The ImageButton control more-less emulates the behavior of a Palm OS graphical button – this means that the text on your button is replaced with one or more images(depending on pushedness, toggle state,…).
ImageBox, on the other hand, seems to be some sort of in-pace-image editor that can do jobs like rotating, cropping and scaling images that arrive in various file formats(seems to be Resco Viewer in a control package).
Both controls are currently in beta(aka can be downloaded for free), the final release is expected June or July 2008…
MobilityToday’s David Ciccone claims that the HTC Diamond does not support the 850MhZ band used by most American GSM carriers. While this doesn’t make roaming entirely impossible, it definitely means that users must expect worse coverage while traveling.
User discussion on the topic is still active at the moment, with several people claiming that the Diamond will ship in two different versions(USA and Europe); with each one lacking one band that the other supports.
Anyways, Expansys is currently taking preorders for the device and confirms the information above – looks like the (european version of the) HTC Diamond does NOT support 850MhZ…
Handhelds designers have traditionally had to balance screen size against portability. Some devices(e.g. Palm’s now-legendary IIIc) were built around a huge screen, but were rather unportable. Other handhelds sacrificed screen size in exchange for portability. HP’s 4inch boxen have always been the quarterpounders of handhelds…but how big is the 214?
Our first contender is the 214’s distant sibling, an ipaq 37xx(thanks to Sir Bernd Mayr from MasterTrails for providing the device). The 214 is bigger…:
Palm’s widescreen handhelds also are smaller(T3 on the left, TX on the right):
The Treo 680 is considered a rather large handset – HP’s Goliath box definitely corrects that:
Apple’s iPod touch is so thin that it can be barely seen next to the 214:
HP’s baby ipaq appears truly minuscule to the 214 – the entire box seems to be smaller than the VGA screen alone:
Finally, here are comparison shots next to a few smartphones(Nokia N71, QTek 8500):
In the end, the 214 is the largest handheld/smartphone I have ever reviewed. This may sound shocking – but it fit into all of my trouser pockets. And once its in there, size and weight constraints become secondary – for me, the difference between a 100g and a 400g handheld is negligeable(just think of your wallet+keys)….
