First, let me just say this: the user interface is very impressive. You will not be able to take your eyes off the excellent VGA screen when you’re navigating. Dubbed TouchFLO 3D (which must be the HTC Manila leaked some months ago), it can seriously be considered as more appealing to consumers than iPhone’s user interface. The dashboard (see video after the break) is just awesome and HTC’s take on Coverflow is very impressive. Soon, Internet Explorer 6 will be included in the list of features of the Windows Mobile 6.1 OS of the Touch Diamond. We’ll get to judge how it stacks up against iPhone’s Safari.

It will soon be available in Europe in June through Orange and will host Orange’s mobile TV with 61 channels using its HSDPA 7.2Mbps. No price yet. More specs (from Engadget) after the break and a few videos that will sure impress.

[via cellphones, engadget, slashphone] (more…)

Microsoft has made the Zune a lot better in the new 2.5 firmware update. The Zune, virtually officially, is going a different direction from the Apple iPod. I will not hesitate to pronounce the Zune a non-competition of the iPod after the 2.5 firmware. The Zune Video download spotted a couple of days ago turned out to be a little better than we expected. Instead of movie downloads, which is already available in some high-end PMPs like Archos, Microsoft opted for TV shows. It may also come as a pie in the face of Steve Jobs that “The Office” will be one of the first offerings of Zune Marketplace. “The Office” was specially featured during Jobs’ keynote and now Zune users can watch it legally on their Zunes.

The Zune Card is adds more sharing to The Social. As previously announced, it will allow Zune users to sample other Zune users content. Sharing one another’s music preferences and recently played music should add to the spirit of “The Social.”

Also in the new update are gapless music, better syncing, auto paylists, meta data edit, and more. Watch the video after the break.

[via engadget, gmp3] (more…)

It’s officials, the tech-hungry Canadians will have their own iPhone, thanks to a deal struck by Rogers Wirless with Apple. Rogers refused to release information on pricing and availability, though they promise to do it so later in the year. “We’re thrilled to announce that we have a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to Canada later this year. We can’t tell you any more about it right now, but stay tuned,” said Ted Rogers, CEO of the company. It’s not as if a Rogers iPhone isn’t a forgone conclusion but I’m sure the official word is a relief in many Canadian’s mind.

In fact, the official announcement did not even merit a statement of its own from Rogers. It came as one of the announcement in a financial report release by Rogers today, the number four item in the 2008 highlights of the wireless company. Canadians, no doubt, are ecstatic. Savvier Canadians worry that as usual they will be paying a high premium compared to their counterparts down the border.

[via cellphones]

Archos Gen5 PMPs just got better, way better. With several press releases, the French PMP manufacturer has made available GPS feature on the Archos 605. Once a rumor, it’s now official and Archos didn’t even have to make hardware changes. According to Archos, the 605’s 4.3-inch screen is unmatched by other GPS devices in the market. “With more than 50 times the hard drive size, twice the screen resolution, and similar pricing as stand-alone GPS navigation products, the ARCHOS 605 GPS is the ultimate navigation and entertainment device.” The GPS sells for $129.99 separately or comes bundled with a 30GB Archos 605 for $399.99.

TVPortation is Archos breakthrough technology that convert a portable device into portable TVs. It’s available for the 605 and 705 WiFi Archos PMPs. It uses the Archos TV+ as media server. Henri Crohas, ARCHOS founder and CEO claims, “The ARCHOS TV+ is the first home entertainment device that combines a home TV streaming server with a DVR, giving TV, movie and music fans everything they need to stay entertained and connected both inside and away from the home.”

Through a free firmware update, 605 and 705 users will be able to support Adobe® Flash® 9, Windows Media Video® (WMV) 9 and ON2 video formats. This will open up almost all videos on the Internet for Archos WiFi PMP users, and it’s free. Plug-ins for Web TV and Radio have also been made available for $19.99.

Last but not least, Archos and Paramount has signed an agreement allowing Archos users to watch movies like “Cloverfield,” “Shooter,” and “Beowulf” on their portable players. In North America and Europe, Paramount content will be preloaded to ARCHOS TV+ WiFi Digital Video Recorder (DVR) so you can get movies directly on your Archos WiFi portables.

Thanks to A Jackson for the tip.

[press]

One of the best PMPs to be announced last year, Samsung’s Yepp P2 will be available in a higher capacity. Sure, the iPod Touch is already available in a 32GB version but 16GB for $347 or about $100 cheaper than the 32GB iPod Touch is not a bad deal at all, especially when that is the announced Korean price. Korean prices tend to be higher than US or European prices for the same device.

Just to recap, the YP-P2 a 3.0-inch WQVGA, Bluetooth 2.0, an FM tuner and MP3, WMA, OGG, JPEG, SVI, WMV, H.264 (MPEG4 AVC), MPEG-4 (ASF), TXT support. It plays 30 hours of audio or 5 hours of video.

[via gmp3]

Two new countries will join the world in being able to own the iPhone. O2 subscribers in Ireland can pick up an 8GB or 16GB iPhone for 399 euros and 499 euros respectively. Though O2 iPhone customers will not be able to enjoy Visual Voicemail or free WiFi as normal O2 customers do. In Austria, T-Mobile will be distributing the iPhone for the same prices. Both wireless providers wll not offer unlimited plans for the iPhone.

[via cellphones.ca]

Sandisk has finally announced their iPod Nano rival, and with a $79.99 price point or just $10 more than the screen-less iPod Shuffle, it’s going to be a rough road ahead for the iPod. The Sansa Fuze has a 1.9-inch plays MPEG-4 video and a variety of audio files including WMA, MP3 and WAV. It comes in 2GB, 4GB ($99.99) and 8GB ($129.99). Sansa Fuze has built-in support for Rhapsody To Go®, Napster, eMusic and in case you do not like online music subscriptions, you can always listen to FM on this device. And, oh, this PMP is only .3-inch thin.

[product]

Sun has announced it will have Java ready for the iPhone and iPod Touch shortly after the June SDK release. Though pple never seemed very interested in Java, Sun is going to offer the Java Virtual Machine based on Java Micro Edition. Java on cellphones is popularly associated with games, but it will also bring enterprise applications like ERP or CRM. “We’re going to work to make sure that the [virtual machine] offers the Java applications as much access to the native functionality of the iPhone as possible,” says Eric Klein VP of Java marketing

Sun came to the conclusion it could make a JVM work on the iPhone after taking 24 hours to look at information on Apple’s SDK. Sun saw nothing in the public statements preventing the JVM from being one of the applications enabled on the iPhone, said Klein. Apple released the SDK in conjunction with the beta release if its iPhone 2.0 software; the general release of iPhone 2.0 is scheduled for June.

The future of Java on iPhone will not be limited to JVM and could include Java Standard Edition (SE) and JavaFX. With that iPhone 2.0

[via infoworld, photo: intomobile]

Apple officially introduced the iPhone SDK, which they are going to release in June. The software is going to be free, unlike the iPod Touch upgrade from not so long ago. SDK allows third-party developers to develop applications for the iPhone and Apple already has some of the bigger names in software announcing the iPhoneapps they have developed. EA, the gaming software company has developed Spore, a game that maeks use of the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer. Salesforce.com has some jazzy stuff for sales people (big ? here for me), SQLite, AOL’s AIM now on iPhone, SEGA with “Super Monkey Ball.”

All iPhone 3rd-part applications will be sold via the App Store. This is the new only way iPhone users will get their new applications. You can buy them , is what is meant by “get.” You’ll get an electronic certificate from Apple, which means anything the new app does to your iPhone should probably be covered by the Apple warranty. Porn is illegal in the iPhone.

SDK is available the iPod Touch, too, of course.

[via computerworld, engadget]

The N2 touch screen phone may not be making tsunami waves in the handset industry but that does not stop its Swedish manufacturer from adding more colors. Neonode does not actually have the new products yet for picture taking but come March we are going to see the N2 in, hopefully, tastier colors than black.

[via slasphone] (more…)