We’re not at CES in person but we’re definitely there in spirit, looking over the various coverage from top tech blogs. Engadget, once again, has one of the first comprehensive review of one of the hottest mobiles at the moment: Google’s Nexus One. Joshua Topolsky gives the Nexus One high points on design and feel of the hardware and noted the very powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, which is still hard to come by in mobiles. The AMOLED display holds a special place among the Nexus One’s honors, with a few minor drawbacks:

“In terms of touch sensitivity, the display is as good or better than any Android phone we’ve used. While the resolution is high (480 x 800), it’s missing 48 pixels that we expected given the size of the Droid’s screen. It didn’t bother us that much, but it’s noticeable in certain apps — Gmail for instance, where you have to scroll further in some menus than you do on the Droid. The big issue with the screen, though, is actually the color balance. We found colors on the Nexus One, particularly in the reds and oranges, to be severely blown-out and oversaturated — a common effect with AMOLED displays like the Nexus One’s.”

The 5 megapixel camera is an out-and-out success. The real score of the Nexus One lies in Google itself and how it sees its mobile OS. Noted, Motorola has produced a fine handset to run Android (currently our best smartphone) and with the coming out of Nexus One not long after may jeopardize the Motorola Droid’s future success. We agree with Engadget that the Nexus One is “just another Android phone.” We also agree that the Droid with its QWERTY keyboard and its Verizon tie-in is the better deal. We also want to add that had Google seen the finished product that is Moto Droid, it might not have contemplated the Nexus One at all. My own guess, but suffice it to say Nexus One is too small an effort in pushing the Android OS for the search giant. We expected a lot more.

[read: engadget]

Second, the plastic just isn’t the same. The buttons on the PXP-2000 are clickety, the slide-out action lacking in snap. Screen resolution and screen size seem OK, but don’t bothre expecting a few pre-loaded 64-bit Nintendo games. Sure the makers of the PXP-2000 leave a lot to be desired in terms of construction but did TweeterMan287 actually notice the amount of pre-loaded games? And what about that surprisingly functional joystick? Read on for the video review (watch out for the guy in the hockey mask, he don’t read books).

[via engadget]

There’s a bit of controversy with regards to the announcement of the HTC HD 2. It’s quite simple. if the ZuneHD can be considered an iPod Touch killer, then surely HTC’s HD 2 is an iPhone killer. The most obvious the HD2 has over the iPhone is its massive 4.3-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen. This is quite ordinary in the PMP market, but for a cellphone it seems to be a throwback to the era of PDAs.  Of course, the success of the HD2 depends on how good Windows Mobile 6.5 will be. To be sure, even if the handy Apple iPhone still remains on top of the list of smartphones for casual everyday users, the HTC HD 2 has a good case for top spot among business users.

Click the links for comparison shots of HTC HD 2 and iPod Touch.

[source via engadget]

David Pogue of the NYT agrees with us. The new 5G iPod Nano is going to be a hit. I know, tech blogs have by and large been very disappointed with Apple’s announcements yesterday, but PMPToday is not only about bleeding edge; we’re also about what the consumers want. And they’d love the world’s smallest camcorder, we think. Imagine being able to record up to 16 hours. On your cellphone camcorder, you have 2 hours at best. Anyway, now with a video camera built-in, I believe the price of the iPod Nano is just right. But feel free to type down your reactions in the form below. Read more of Pogue’s iPod Nano 5G review at the NYT.

The Samsung M1 you’ve been watching above is just a prototype, but what an awful prototype, especially when it boasts Tegra.

[via engadget]

Cheap PMPs do not have to look and feel cheap. The Memorex TouchMP is a touchscreen PMP that though not exactly packed with features gives you pretty good video support and a touchreen UI that isn’t exactly a disaster. CNET has a thorough review of the device. Bottomline: the cheapest touchscreen PMP from a reliable manufacturer.

What you should know:

• touchscreen UI does a good job for a PMP with simple features
• up to 50 hours of music and 3 hours of video is amazing battery life for a cheap player
• 2.8-inch 320 x 240 screen may not wow and codec support is choosy
• your hand and pocket will love the form factor

[source]

Well, the Koreans knew it before any of us did. The UMID M1 sucks big time on built quality. UMPCportal was in the mood for a full review of the Mbook M1 and here’s what they have to say:

1. Groundbreakingly portable computer
2. Totally hand usable (no table or lap necessary)
3. Plastic body is of poor quality
4. Thumb keys too deep, FN combination keys for some punctuations… not an entirely usable keyboard for thumb typing
5. No 3.5mm jack
6. Good screen
7. Card slot suffers from poor design
8. Buttons for WiFi and Bluetooth
9. Good multimedia performance
10. Touchscreen interface far from perfect (could be a browser problem)
11. Fast boot up
12. 3.5 to 4 hour battery life
13. No mouse control, strictly touchscreen

Still the Mbook M1 gets a pretty flattering summary from UMPCportal:

We’re impressed with the technology in the UMID Mbook, the processing power, the battery life, the screen and the fast SSD. We’re not impressed with the fiddly micro-SD slot, headphone and USB ports though and these, we’re sure, will be major issues for a lot of people. Build quality could also be better. Despite these issues, the UMID is a device that you keep going back to and keep wanting to take with you, even if you don’t have any ‘computing’ activities planned. It’s a very flexible, and fast, pocket companion. One might say, a pocket microblogging rocket!

[source via engadget]

It’s a stack of post-its says Dapreview, who has published an impression of the Mintpass mintpad. The device is plasticky with a forgettable design. Too bad that besides taking a couple of photos, Dapreview hadn’t really got into the user interface of this mini-PDA. But those two hours is enough for assurance when it comes to the built of the mintpad. It handles very solidly and should be handy for now up until a thinner Apple Media Pad with bigger screen is announced later this year.

[via dapreview]

In terms of build, the Viliv S5 MID (or UMPC, whatever you want to call it) is one of the better buys on its niche, though we were hoping the UMID mbook improves on its current hardware. The Viliv S5 is an Atombased machine with a 4.8-inch WSVGA touchscreen. For $599 it is good value, according to Gizmodo, even in this economy? Very precise touchscreen control, multimedia playback similar to any computer, WiFi and the added GPS, which takes the features cake, gives the slapped price a lot of justification.

We’ve encountered another Viliv Atom device, the X70, this time with a 7-inch screen, but I’m guessing the company is most proud of the S5.

To get an idea on how good the Viliv S5 is, compare it to the same range of devices from Korean rival Maxian.

[via gizmodo, itinside]

Still curious if you are willing to jump Sony’s way in your next touchscreen PMP purchase? CNET Asia has a brief review of Sony’s X1000 Walkman, the first touchscreen Walkman. One major disappointment is the low-rez 320 x 240 screen. When most new players are going to WVGA, Sony’s Walkman range lags behind in the realm of QVGA. For the upside, the battery lasts 33 hours of continuous music and 9 hours of video at only 1.5 hours of charging. The user interface is very responsive, especially the album scrolling and the addition of WiFi is not wasted with the pre-loaded web browser and YouTube support.

[cnet]