Technodorm » Gadgets

Blackberry Tour 9630 Review

Fahad — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:37:22 +0000

The Blackberry Tour is one of RIM’s latest devices and aims to bring much needed improvements to the popular Smartphone series. That said, it should be noted that this is not a Blackberry Curve replacement. Although they share similar dimensions and design cues, the Tour is a whole different story compared to its brother the venerable Curve 8300.

DESIGN:

If you take a look at the Curve and the Tour it’s clear to see they have an obvious resemblance, but at the same time, admire the differences between the two. The Blackberry Tour would remind you of what would happen if the Curve and Bold made love and out popped a baby phone. The device is sleek and slender measuring just 4.4 inches high by 2.4 inches wide and only 0.6 inches thick. Weight is a mere 4.58 ounces.

The screen is 2.6 inches with 480 x 360 pixels and over 65,000 colors. The phone features a 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus and image stabilization, video capture, 2x digital zoom and geo tagging. Also included is a Bluetooth 2.0 chip which accepts hands free, stereo headset and Phone Book Access. A standard 3.5mm jack is also included. The different networks supported are CDMA 800/1900 with support for EVDO. Rev A. a SIM card slot is also included so roaming is supported on the 850/900/1800 and 1900MHz GSM/GPRS and EDGE networks.

Full QWERTY keyboard and a 1400 mAHr removable battery that is rated at 5 hours of talk time and up to 14 hours of standby time are all included.

PERFORMANCE:

Blackberry’s have long been known for the stellar call quality, top of the line messaging support and more recently, great multimedia functionality, all of which have been bundled together in the Blackberry Tour.

The full QWERTY keyboard is beautiful and typing is a pleasure. The keyboard is more in line with that of the Blackberry Bold and keys are not too firm and not too soft. Plus, thanks to a special coating, slipping and sliding on the keys due to sweating fingers is not a problem.

The 3.2 megapixel camera is decent. While it didn’t take the best quality picture we’ve seen on a mobile device is was still comparable to most and colors were accurate. Video recording quality on the other hand was not the best. While not as bad as the Curve, there were still some pixilation and jitters.

Messaging is still the best. Being a Blackberry owner myself, I never knew how much I loved my email until I got one. The Tour brings all the messaging functionality the Blackberry is known for and thanks to Blackberry OS 5.0, support and integration is tighter then before.

Call quality was, as always, great. Voices sounded crisp and clear without a hint of any noise. Speaker phone was also good but still not hitting the mark that the Bold has set. While we’re at it, WiFi is nonexistent on this device thanks to Verizon. That said you will be stuck with either Sprint or Verizon’s high-speed 3G network when data is required.

Speaking of data, we did find that the JAVA based browser wasn’t comparable to that of the iPhone, Pre or Skyfire. While it is a great improvement from Blackberry OS 4.3 it still needs some work as pages don’t always render right and sometimes the CSS is screwed up.

During our battery drain tests we were able to pull a full 6 hours of continuous talk time out of the device.

CONCLUSION:

Out of all the Blackberry’s to come out in recent years, the Tour seems to be one of the best. No, it hasn’t reinvented the wheel, but rather RIM has wisely chosen to refine the features that define the Blackberry. Have they succeeded? Yes!

PSP Go Review: A closer look at the new Sony PSP Go

Fahad — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:06:55 +0000

The new PSP Go is a not a replacement to the original PSP (now PSP 3000). Sony classifies it as an alternative, mainly something that is more portable, and we might add a little more expensive. Starting at $250 the PSP Go has taken on the price of the original PSP when it was first released. Sony hopes that through a tight integration with PlayStation Online as well as PS3 they can get more then a few of these consoles off the shelves.

DESIGN:

The PSP Go is a radical change from the original PSP. While it is clear that the PSP Go and the original PSP are siblings there are quite a few differences between both systems. For instance the screen is smaller then the original (although the resolution is the same). The PSP Go has a 3.8 widescreen TFT LCD display (16:9) which boasts 480 x 272 pixels. The PSP 3000 carries a 4.3 widescreen TFT LCD with 480 x 272 pixels.

The controls have been changed also. Instead of being on either side of the screen they now slide out from underneath the screen. However, they are all located in approximate locations except for the analog stick, select and start buttons which are located towards the center. The left bumper and right bumper buttons are still located at the top of the screen. But the volume, WLAN and other controls are located at the top of the device. The device also supports Bluetooth 3.0 meaning that a variety of compatible Bluetooth headsets can be paired.

One of the biggest changes is the addition of a new 16GB internal memory (still expandable though), integrated battery (to prevent hacking) as well as a new proprietary connector meaning PSP 3000 accessories will not work with the Go. Moreover Sony has removed the UMD reader from this version so all games, movies, etc will have to be downloaded.

PERFORMANCE:

Overall the performance of the PSP Go is comparable to that of the PSP 3000. However there are some drawbacks. For those used to the control arrangements of the PSP 3000, the placement of the analog switch on the PSP Go will be very awkward. That said, the right and left bumper buttons are a lot better then that of the PSP 3000.

Although screen resolution is the same, as we said before the size of the screen is smaller. While this is not a big deal for movies the smaller screen real estate might hamper your game experience.

One of the most controversial features of the Go is its lack of a UMD drive. Sony decided to omit this for portability reasons. At first Sony had promised that people who owned UMD versions of a game would be able to get a free download credit for that game on the Go. However, that deal was soon bagged and as such, left many people with large game libraries out in the cold.

But our major gripe is the fact that downloading large games can take quite a long time. Most PSP games range from 1GB to 1.5-2GB and as you can imagine downloading onto the Go can be a pain to say the least.

The processor provides around about the same performance as the PSP 3000 so there shouldn’t be any noticeable difference there.

CONCLUSION:

So the major question will ultimately be is whether the PSP Go is worth it? If you’re used to the PSP 3000 you might want to play with a store demo before you drop your $250 on this. On the other hand if you’re looking for a new gaming system and have your eyes peeled between the DSi and the PSP Go, you should definitely check out the PSP Go. Just be prepared for life without a physical disk or cartridge.

Nokia N97 Officially Released!

Fahad — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:20:57 +0000

Nokia has officially released information regarding their 2009 flagship phone, the N97! The N97 comes fully loaded with all the latest specs and more!

Featuring a 3.5-inch, 640 x 360 pixel touchscreen display with tactile feedback and QWERTY keyboard, Nokia calls it the “worlds most advanced mobile computer”. Nokia N97 also has HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth radios, A-GPS, 3.5-mm headjack, 32GB of onboard memory with microSD expansion (for up to 48GB of total capacity). The N97 also features strong battery power to keep this beast running non-stop. The battery is capable of 1.5 days of continuous audio playback or 4.5 hours of video playback. The N97 also features a 5 Megapixel camera. It is powered by Nokia S60 5th Edition operating system. The following videos show more info about the phone.

The N97 will launch with a retail price set at around €550 ($693) excluding subsidies and taxes. It is expected to be shipped by H1 2009.

[Via Engadget]

Download Pwnage Tool 2.0 to Unlock iPhone 2.0

Fahad — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 08:15:24 +0000

The much awaited Pwnage Tool 2.0 has just been released a few hours ago! Pwnage Tool 2.0 is the name of the software which allows for the unlocking of iPhone of versions 2.0 firmware. So you can use this software to unlock the 2.0 firmware for iPhone 3G, iPhone, and iPod Touch!

You can view the official blog entry posted by iPhone Dev Blog by clicking here. As you can see, their server crashed over the heavy load of downloads, so mirror links are being sought after. I have provided various mirror links from rapidshare to megaupload to torrents.

Note: This release is only for Mac users but windows users can also install and use this tool. For the tutorial click here.

Also Note: If at anytime, you get an error 1600. Following is the extract from iPhone Dev Blog:

If you get Error 1600 from iTunes (or if you see in your log a failure to prepare x12220000_4_Recovery.ipsw), try: mkdir “~/Library/iTunes/Device Support” ; if that directory already exists, remove any files in it. Then re-run PwnageTool.

Download Links

Download Pwnage Tool 2.0 from Rapidshare

Download Pwnage Tool 2.0 from Rapidshare #2

Download Pwnage Tool 2.0 from Megaupload

Download Pwnage Tool 2.0 from Torrent

Download Pwnage Tool 2.0 from Mirror Link

Unlock iPhone 3G using Pwnage Tool 2.0

Fahad — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:06:00 +0000

The iPhone Dev team have done it again! The iPhone 3G with the new 2.0 firmware has been shown to be fully unlocked in this youtube video given by the iPhone Dev team. The tool is called Pwnage Tool 2.0. Although the bad news is that the tool hasn’t yet been released to the public. The team is still ironing out bugs and glitches with the Pwnage Tool 2.0 to make it as error-free as possible. From their recent blog entry, it seems like the tool will be released any day now. I will update this post with the download links as soon as the tool is released.

By using the Pwnage Tool 2.0, users will be able to fully unlock their iPhone 3G, which will then enable them to use their iPhone 3G with any GSM cellular network as well as being able to install third-party apps from the App Store.

Stay tuned for the download links.

Update(thanks to rallat for informing): Pwnage Tool 2.0 has just been released. To Download Pwnage Tool 2.0 click here.

CulArt, Stylish Concept Phone with Nature’s Help

Fahad — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:53:59 +0000

As you may know, I am an avid reader of Yankodesign. I like the technology designs concepts that they come up with. Today, I liked the new CulArt(pronounced Cool Art) cellphone design by Seungchan Lee. The main theme of the phone is to incorporate both the retro aspect as well as the nature’s gifts. As you can see from the image above , the wood paneling represents the idea of trees. Also, the rocky textured surface at the back of the phone represents rock climbing. So these two aspects cover the nature aspect of the phone.

The retro aspect is covered with an external bluetooth keypad(see image below). The keypad has a bunch of knobs that are used to access the basic functions of the phone. This does bring out the retro factor but at a great cost since its not really convenient to use your phone through an external keypad but still it is a creative idea and I will give it that. Overall, I really liked the idea of mixing both the retro and nature’s perspective. Although I really like the design, I doubt it will ever be made nor would it be very successful.

Comment posted by omar
at 1/29/2008 6:09:59 AM

wow! very nice cellphone…thanks for the information…i will talk about it on my blog…

Comment posted by Nathaniel
at 2/2/2008 7:26:04 AM

It looks nice! And does incorporate both aspects. The only complaint is the color of the wood at the bottom of it. I think that should be a different color

Comment posted by modifoo
at 2/1/2008 2:11:06 PM

Reminds me of a watch from the 90s, that was made of wood.

Love the idea of having nature in my hands.

Comment posted by Search rapidshare
at 2/5/2008 4:21:46 PM

This is freaking sweet! Web 2.0 phone shall we say?

Top 10 Most Intriguing Gadgets Released in December 2007

Fahad — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 13:02:55 +0000

Well, I had thought of doing a post like this earlier on in the month but for one reason or another it got delayed…. till today. This will be a very captivating post for many of the gadget and tech lovers of Technodorm. I have basically compiled a list of the top 10 most intriguing gadgets that were released in the past month of December 2007. I scavenged all the nice gadget and design sites to handpick these great and exciting gadgets plus some concepts. I picked them mostly on the basis of the nice ideas of the designers, creativeness and their usefulness. I am pretty sure that many people wont agree with this list and that is to be expected as these are my personal favorites and may not be much favorite of yours. This post has consumed my last couple of days on the net so I hope you like it! I would love to hear your comments about this post.

10. LLUON Crystal, an Ultra Slim Desktop from Trigem Computers, South Korea

This tiny computer, weighing in at 3 kilos and measuring at 45×277×244mm, should catch your attention. The specifications are not as tiny though, as both the type of models have an inter core 2 duo processor. The price ranges from 892€ to 1041€.
For more info, click here.

9. iPhone Platinum

From the precious metal enthusiasts at Goldstriker International, you can now buy a platinum-coated iPhone for about $2,230.
Click Here for more info.

8. Au releases high-res widescreen phone claiming to have a 2000:1 contrast ratio

Manufactured by Sharp, this phone has a 2.8-inch Acquos screen, 240 x 400 resolution and a 2000:1 contrast ratio.
Click Here for more info.

7. Wallet MP3 Player (Concept)

Walletex has produced a concept MP3 player named the Wallet MP3. Wallet MP3 is supposed to be a USB flash drive-based MP3 player, the thinnest MP3 player in the world and the world’s 1st wallet friendly credit card sized MP3 Player!
Click here for more info.

6. Spy Snooper Robot

This spy snooper robot is capable of entering a room undetected and listening in on conversations and then transmitting them up to 90 feet away to the listening receiver.
Click here for more info.

5. Micro TV (Concept)

This micro TV concept design by Tokyo Fiber really is an interesting piece of gadget. It is specifically designed to impact all your senses.
Click Here for more info.

4. Nokia Digital Pen

This latest Digital Pen SU-27W by Nokia can record writings and pictures from the Digital Note Book and store them in the 1.3mb built-in memory. So that later on, users can transfer the data into their telephone directory via USB or Bluetooth.
Click Here for more info.

3. Fingertip Sized Cube Speakers

These tiny 1-inch cube speakers are an easy to carry alternative to your headphones. Priced at just $9.99, these speakers have an amplification rated at 0.8 Watts. Not too shabby!
Click Here for more info.

2. Chocolaty Flash Drives (Concept)

These last two concept products are my favorites. This one is a bunch of USB flash drives that connect together with a central touchscreen, that lets you view and organize your files, to form the shape of a typical chocolate bar! Although it is a nice and very captivating design, its not of much use. The several smaller flash drives can get lost easily and this design is just not practical enough for the real world.
Click Here for more info.

1. Sony’s Apple Remote Control (Concept)

Now this may look like a product from Apple but it isn’t. This concept is designed to be a remote in the shape of an Apple for all the household members. Each can get their own shade of green apple. You can program your own functions into the remotes to suit it to your TV watching needs. The remote also responds to motion gestures. Rotating it left lowers the volume, rotating it right raises it. The stylish and elegantly looking bowl that they reside in, is perfect for showing some style. The bowl also recharges the Apples through induction charging!
Click Here for more info.

I hope you enjoyed this post. It took me a damn long time to find these gadgets and to incorporate them into this post. If you liked this post, please leave a comment. If this post gets to be popular then I will certainly continue the trend every month.
Have a great day everyone!

Comment posted by Pages tagged “intriguing”
at 1/29/2008 10:15:29 PM

[…] bookmarks tagged intriguing Top 10 Most Intriguing Gadgets Released in Decembe… saved by 6 others naruto22b bookmarked on 01/29/08 | […]

Comment posted by Becky
at 1/20/2008 2:14:06 PM

Enjoyed your post. Thanks for your hard work. I really like the Sony remote control. Let us know when it goes on the market.

Comment posted by Fahad
at 1/20/2008 3:28:58 PM

Thanks all.

@Becky
Your most welcomed. Even though it took me a long time to complete this post, it was fun as well seeing through all the great gadgets and then picking these 10. I am also a sucker for new and sleek gadgets…

Comment posted by Norski
at 1/21/2008 1:48:02 AM

Thanks for this post, and the effort it took to make.

I enjoyed getting a look at the new products (the Sony Apple Remote Control and the cube speakers remind me of something from my pre-digital childhood).

Also, your post gave me something to add to my “Apathetic Lemming of the North” (Shameless plug).

Comment posted by SadPanda
at 1/21/2008 4:40:43 AM

4 of them are concepts. Meaning: it only exists in the imagination of someone unknown who happens to be handy with photoshop.

Comment posted by Techman
at 1/19/2008 1:30:58 PM

Its an excellent and informative post!

Comment posted by Fahad
at 1/18/2008 11:48:58 AM

@Aaron
Thanks for your kind words. And I surely will be adding more quality content in the coming days so you will be glad that you subscribed!

@Keshav
Thanks buddy!
And the fingertip sized speakers is a nice little gadget. I personally don’t like to wear headphones and these will replace their use quite efficiently!

Comment posted by Edward
at 1/18/2008 11:08:39 PM

The iPhone… It’s so cool!

Comment posted by Aaron Wakling
at 1/15/2008 1:08:43 PM

I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.

Aaron Wakling

Comment posted by Fahad
at 1/26/2008 1:02:17 PM

@Chris
Yea, the wallet mp3 is really nice as well. And thanks for the info, its nice to know that its being made. It would be awesome to have the other concepts made as well.

Comment posted by bhaktapurgirl
at 1/23/2008 11:58:11 PM

its dammed good
thats the technology
thanks for sharing
bhaktapurgirl
mazzako.blogspot.com

Comment posted by Chris
at 1/24/2008 5:42:11 AM

@SadPanda
If you click the link below the wallet mp3 player, it seems like they’ve actually made one of those. It says on their website that its patent is still pending, but they should be on the market pretty soon.

All of this stuff is awesome, but I really love the credit card sized mp3 player.

Comment posted by Keshav Khera
at 1/18/2008 7:30:22 AM

great post buddy. my favorite are the Fingertip Sized Cube Speakers!

Nokia 8800 Arte and Nokia 8800 Arte Sapphire

Fahad — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 08:29:58 +0000

The Nokia 8800 Arte and Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte combine elegant appearance and uncompromised functionality. On the surface, the seamless metal and glass body gives the Nokia 8800 Arte and Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte an incomparable sense of style, while under the skin their hearts are driven by pure innovation. By tapping the steel surface below the display, an analogue clock appears – indicating time in its most classic form. Incoming calls on a Nokia Arte handset can be silenced gracefully with the “turn-to-mute” feature – allowing owners to quiet their phone inconspicuously by simply turning over the phone, screen-side down. Other state-of-the-art features include:

Stunning 2.0? QVGA 240×320 pixels, OLED display with up to 16 million colors
3.2 megapixel auto focus camera with 8x digital zoom
3G capabilities
1 GB built in memory space
MicroUSB all-in-one-connector
Anti-fingerprint coating on metal and glass

Both the Nokia 8800 Arte and Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte feature a high-end metal and glass composition, creating their classic, iconic style. A smooth slide mechanism – comprised of state-of-the art ball bearings and a unique spring mechanism – ensures each handset is a pleasure to touch and behold. The Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte adds to the sense of exclusivity by further enhancing its polished steel case with a genuine sapphire gem stone and an accent of soft leather, creating an even more rich, sensual feel.

The Nokia 8800 Arte will start shipping in the fourth quarter of 2007 with an estimated retail price of 1000 EUR before taxes and subsidies. The Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte will follow in the first quarter of 2008 and retail for approximately 1150 EUR before taxes and subsidies.

My thoughts: This is a pure beauty. It is definitely one of the most stylish and elegant phones of all time. The price is very much on the high side though, and you could buy 4 or 5 iphones with this kind of dough! But still this is an awesome looking phone!

Comment posted by pligg.com
at 1/9/2008 11:25:48 AM

Nokia 8800 Arte and Nokia 8800 Arte Sapphire | Technodorm

The Nokia 8800 Arte and Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte combine elegant appearance and uncompromised functionality. On the surface, the seamless metal and glass body gives the Nokia 8800 Arte and Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte an incomparable sense of style, while …

Chinese iPod Nano with 2 MP Camera

Fahad — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 06:55:31 +0000

Well, here is something interesting that I found while surfing the web. It is a rip-off of the iPod Nano. The real name of this device is the M2406 and is made by BTL International from China. Basically it has the same design and features of the iPod, but they have added a 2-megapixel camera at the back to provide added functionality to those who desire it. The shape has been compromised because of the addition of the camera and if you ask me, its just down-right ugly!

Specs-wise, the device supports AVI videos, MP3, WMV, WMA and WAV audio files. It has a 2.4-inch TFT screen (220×176 pixels, 262,000 colors), a built-in speaker and six EQ settings. In terms of storage capacity, the BTL International M2406 is available from 128MB up to 4GB, and if you need more, there is a miniSD card slot available as well.

Gun-Shaped Computer Mouse!

Fahad — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 02:20:13 +0000

Well, I found this picture when stumbling. I thought it was cool so I decided to put it up here as well. Its basically a mouse shaped in a gun. A design engineer from Solware to come up with a gun-shaped computer mouse – labeled to be the first of its kind in the world. This mouse is a perfect replica of the Sig P230, where the trigger functions as the left mouse button while the right mouse button is located where your middle finger rests.

It would be interesting to use this mouse sometimes, but unfortunately this mouse is now discontinued.

Comment posted by Fahad
at 1/9/2008 2:06:49 AM

I would personally buy it, if I had the chance.
It would be a nice collectors item.

Comment posted by Random
at 12/19/2007 12:24:54 AM

they sell these at a local store for 7.99$ each.. i guess i should go buy a few if they’re discontinued.

Comment posted by m
at 12/18/2007 11:20:29 PM

A similar mouse can be found at Fry’s Electronics. I think it’s around $15.