Phones

The HTC Dream is basically the T-Mobile G1, but only without “T-Mobile”. The dream is functionality identical to the G1 in every way the only difference is the badge.

Android lovers when first launched needn’t get too excited about this though as the dream was not a “general release” device, instead it was sold to SingTel in Singapore and Optus in Australia. The two markets where t-mobile did not have any presence, so the HTC Dream did not compete directly against the G1 in those markets. SingTel owns Optus outright also, so it did appear to be a staightforward HTC/SingTel deal.

This is an Android powered 3.5G handset with WiFi, GPS, a 3.2 megapixel camera and a 480 x 320 pixel display. The Dream is a large device, and a bit slabby in design.. but it has a lot of admirers. The Dream is certainly an interesting alternative to the iPhone 3G, a handset that is also available on SingTel and Optus. All in all a great handset in whicj i first got my hands on well (T-Mobile G1) actually however as discussed it is the same phone. This phone changed the game for me and brought me to all things android/google/linux/ubuntu. I Still have and still use this phone and has been a total work horse , with that being said i can’t wait for my next Android handset. Will either be and i hate to say it …. a Moto device , or T-Mobile Pulse or HTC Tatoo, One cant decide.

The HTC Magic is HTC’s second Android-powered handset after the T-Mobile G1 / HTC Dream. Rumours appeared in febuary under its codename “HTC Sapphire” and assumed (incorrectly) that it would be heading for T-Mobile.
Vodafone snapped up exclusive rights to the HTC Magic in the UK, Spain, Germany and in France through SFR. Vodafone also sold it in Italy, although they don’t have exclusive rights in that market. Perhaps best described as the G1 without a QWERTY keyboard, the HTC Magic has a 3.2″ 320 x 480 pixel touch-sensitive display, a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, GPS, WiFi and 3.5G support.

The controls on the HTC Magic are minimal, other than the touchscreen display there is a trackball and some basic control buttons, and that’s it. Everything else is done through the screen.

The Android operating system
can be thought of as a work in progress. One key weakness with the original G1 was the lack of video playback for anything other than YouTube. This has been improved, and the Magic can now play back MPEG4 and 3GP clips, which is still a pretty poor selection by current standards. Most major audio formats
are supported though, and always remember that the Android platform is still under development and a future upgrade should bring more features.Compare this phone to the HTC Touch Diamond2, LG ARENA or Samsung Omnia HD and it seems that the hardware specifications are looking a bit dated. But the key selling point with Android is the quality of the operating system and the ease of adding new applications through the Android Market. And the “Google” co-branding indicates that this handset integrates well with Google’s ever growing suite of web-based applications.

This is a slightly more compact device than the G1, and at 119 grams it is much lighter too. The large 1340 mAh battery provides up to 6.5 hours talktime on 3G and an impressive maximum standby time of almost four weeks.

The HTC Hero is HTC’s third distinct Android handset, demonstrating a further evolution of that operating systen combined with a little bit of HTC know-how.

HTC Hero The hardware is a step up from the existing HTC Magic, but perhaps the most significant development here is under the hood. HTC have taken the standard Android interface and have added “HTC Sense”, a enhanced user interface which HTC says is more people-centric and easier to use. HTC Sense is roughly equivalent to the TouchFLO interface found on HTC’s Windows devices, and although HTC are very good at this sort of thing, the danger is that Android phones from different manufacturers will come with a very different look-and-feel.One major improvement that the HTC Hero brings to the Android platform is support for Flash. Yup, we can’t quite believe that it has taken all this time, but it does bring significantly greater capabilities to the phone and its browser.

The display on the HTC Hero is a 3.2″ 320 x 480 pixel touch-sensitive panel with an anti-fingerprint coating to keep it clean. It’s very similar to the display on HTC’s other Android devices, and it lags behind the newest Windows phones in terms of resolution.. and behind the iPhone in terms of size.

The HTC Hero is a 3.5G phone with 900 / 2100 MHz UMTS support and quad-band GSM, although a future US version will probably support different UMTS frequencies. The Hero has a maximum download speed of 7.2 Mbps using HSDPA, and the maximum HSUPA upload speed is 2 Mbps. 802.11b and g WiFi is supported too, which is often a more cost effective way of transferring large amounts of data. Local connectivity is via Bluetooth 2.0 or USB.
On the back is a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, much better than the 3.2 megapixel one in the Magic. GPS is built-in for use with Google Maps and other location aware applications, and the HTC Hero also has a digital compass.
The built-in media player handles most common formats including MP3, AAC, MPEG4, H.263, H.264 and Windows Media audio and video. And at last, the HTC Hero comes with a standard 3.5mm audio socket.

The processor is a fairly standard Qualcomm MSM7200A running at 528 MHz, and internal RAM is a decent 288 Mb. Flash storage is via microSD cards, but we’re not sure how much is built into the phone. The large 1350 mAh battery is quoted as giving 7 hours of talktime on 3G and an astonishing 31 days standby time – if these figures are accurate, then it means that you can talk on the HTC Hero for pretty much a whole working day.The HTC Hero looks very different to the Magic and the HTC Dream / T-Mobile G1 devices. The squared-off shape is a little like the new HTC Touch Diamond phones, but it retains the Magic’s trackball on a pronounced “kick” at the bottom of the phone. It does look quite distinctive, and not at all like the black slabby handsets that some of the competition come out with. The white version is Teflon coated to improve protection, the brown version presumably is not. Perhaps it doesn’t have the exquisite looks of the iPhone, but the HTC Hero is certainly a good looking handset.

The HTC Tattoo is HTC’s latest Android handset, designed to bring the Android platform to a wider market with a lower cost device than previous HTC Android smartphones.Think of the Tattoo as being very similar to the HTC Touch 3G, but running Android instead of Windows and you’ll be pretty close in terms of specifications. The HTC Tattoo has a 2.8″ 240 x 320 pixel touchscreen display, a 3.2 megapixel camera, built-in GPS and a digital compass, 3.5G support, WiFi and microSD expandable memory.

The Tattoo’s media player can cope with most major formats including MP3, AAC, MPEG4 and Windows Media. As with some other recent HTC phones, the Tattoo comes with a 3.5mm audio socket which is a huge improvement over the old USB-based headphone arrangement. There’s a built-in FM radio as well.

HTC have taken the standard Android package and have worked their magic on it, giving it a unified way of tracking communications with contacts, and a version of the TouchFLO interface on top. There’s all sorts of Google software included as well, including Google Maps.It’s not a particularly bulky device – measuring 106 x 55 x 14mm and weighing 113 grams, it’s certainly more compact than a lot of other Android smartphones. The 1100 mAh battery is quoted as being good for 5 hours 40 minutes talktime on 3G and 21 days standby time, which will probably make it a practical phone for all-day use.

Inside is the usual Qualcomm MSM7225 528 MHz processor, coupled with 256 MB of RAM which is a similar arrangement to most other comparable phones.

HTC say that the Tattoo should be available in Europe in October with other regions following later, possibly with different UMTS frequencies. We have no word on cost, but the HTC Touch 3G retails for about €350 SIM-free, so expect something broadly similar for the Tattoo.

This here sitting pretty is none other than the Samsung Galaxy. It does stike a great resemblence to other Samsung models and does not look much different to a Samsung d500/d600 either. Released last month this device has WiFi, Bluetooth, AMOLED screen and comes packed with 8GB built in memory and not to mention the the 5 MP Camera. This is the first venture for the Korean giants into the world of Android. With the releases samsung has broughts us year after year im sure Samsung will do the business in the market where Android phones are concerned. At first we had the HTC Dream also known as the T-Mobile G1 now we have 4 Android devices posied for another 4 to be released in October, who knows what lies for November and we have now got news that Motorola is set to launch there Sholes device sometime in December. Since the Dream we have seen the launch of the HTC Magic were US seen the release of the MyTouch 3G which is pretty much a HTC Magic with different specifications. After that came the mighty Hero by HTC after several months of running custom Hero roms, HTC went and released the device available now in the UK. The US thought there was no hope for Hero untill Sprint made an announcment that they were releasing there own customised HTC Hero. Anyway back to the Samsung Galaxy, this handset and its Specificaions are great for Android users it was announced at the tail end of April 2009. It was rumoured that it was in battle and was put out for direct battle with the HTC Magic. It does pack a better camera and supposed better audio for video recording. One thing that sets it appart is the AMOLED screen which is new in the world of Android phone’s and with the D-Pad instead of the usual trackball is another feature that is changing the game and making this Phone OS ione of the best at the moment especially as it still is not even 1 year old.

Specifications

3.2″ 320 x 280 Pixel AMOLED touch screen
5 Mega Pixel Camera auto focus and LED flash
MPEG4, H.263 & H.264 and Windows Media playback
3.5 MM Audio jack
Quad band, GSM plus GPRS, EDGE and WiFi
115 x 56 x 12mm
119 grams in weight
Internal memory of 8GB and expandable upto 32GB
MicroSD slot
Bluetooth 2.0
USB 2.0 support

The biggest weakness for the Samsung Glaxy they say is the screen due to the 320 x 480 pixels. When we have some that are rocking 640 or 800 pixels. But that commen knowledge with Android phones however it does have the AMOLED screen remember but even still they say the its not always bright & clear and can sometimes be limited. The samsung Galaxy was available from June this year with network o2

The Motorola Cliq was announced yesterday and what a comotion it made. This by a long shot is the best thing that has come out of Motorola labs for a long time and by Motorola’s standards is a powerhouse and is good to see an Android device with a hard keyboard again. personally thought HTC would have been along to give us there 2nd Android device with a hard QWERTY keyboard. However Motorola stepped up to the plate with the bad boy due for October release. Known in the US as the Motorola DEXT also for Orange users in the UK and France. It comes with the brand new MOTOBLUR service which is software that it offers just sort of like Sense UI from HTC, its Motorola own customised User interface. It seems Motorola have been hard at work on this one and makes for a cracking Android debut. Although its based on Android vanilla this handset will turn heads and least of all sell units.This is a social networking unit per say with the intergration of twitter, facebook etc etc the things that have come now to be seen as normal in everyday handset use. It also comes with a very unique Motorla emblem on back which is mighty kool and it iluminates. This badboy has all the sual offerings such as WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and a 5 Mega Pixel camera. The screen is a large 3.1 inch 320 x 480 pixel touchscreen. It weighs in at 163 grams butagain what we got to love is thats the device is bk on the hard QWERTY keyboard format.Its not just about social networking however this device can handle intergration with email systems such as Microsoft exchange. It supports standard pop 3 email and has SMS functionality also. I wonder how good this unit will sell, as Moto have just come bk into the spotlight with a device sure enought worthy to fight other android device’s , i mean it does have the same processor as the G1. Another kind of cool thing about this the Cliq is the d-pad is actually located on the left of the device like a standard directional pad on a games console such as the Sony Playstation. I thought it would be weird at first then i actually though about it and the similarities with that of a games console game pad i now feel if the chance comes to get my hands on this phone i would certainly have a go and excel.

The Operating system will be Android 1.5 (Cupcake) which we are all used to by now and will be able to playback a range of media files , and remember it comes with 3.5mm audio socket so Motorola is keeping up with the times now or so we hope. I can only wonder that the next Android Moto device holds in store for us with the expected release of the Moto Sholes in december who knows if this company can keep up with the times that are now Android and hey lord only knows it mjight just be Android that saves Motorola, whatevever the opinion this handset may generate i for 1 would never have though i would say that this handset is probably the only Motorola handset i would even consider having. If you like widgets then this phone is for you. As as said before its an itergration of all things social and im sure if your up to date with blogging, twitter, facebook etc then this device is for you and more but again its not just for social networking as it does all the thing the G1 and the Magic can do also its just that the social side of t is Moto’s plans to get back on track i mean they are depending on this to work to stay alive! now really who can tell me the last Motorola device that you owned ? hard question egh but the question this time around is are you going to own one of these ?

Samsung’s second Android-based smartphone is the Samsung I5700, known either as the “Galaxy Spica” or if early rumours were to be believed, the “Galaxy Lite”. Very similar in specification to the existing Samsung I7500 Galaxy, the I5700 seems to be a pretty decent Android device.
One interesting feature is the 800MHz processor which is much faster than most other Android devices. Processor speed is becoming increasingly important in the smartphone market, although there’s more to performance than raw Mhz.
The I5700 is a bit more interesting to look at than Samsung’s standard black slabby designs, and it looks more nicer that the slightly retro looking Galaxy. The I5700 is available in black or white colours, and in my view the black I5700 is the best looking.
Samsung did release partial specifications of the I5700, and here are some, We do know that it has a 3.2″ touchscreen display (presumably 320 x 480 pixels), GPS plus a digital compass, a 3.2 megapixel camera and 3G support, WiFi, and we assume that it does support 3.5G data.

The large 1500 mAh battery should provide enough power to make the I5700 useful, but Samsung rarely quote talktime in any case, but is rumoured to go 6.83 hours (410 mins). Size is 4.53 x 2.27 x 0.53 inches but there’s no details weight, but the original Galaxy weighs just 119 grams, so expect the I5700 to weigh something similar.
Available now in Russia and presumably other countries, Samsung have given a guide price of about €320 for the I5700 which is a little cheaper than the current selling price for the Galaxy.
There’s certainly a lot of competition in this market, but the fast processor gives the Galaxy Spica a bit of an edge over most of the competition, and it might well be worth looking out for. Still no news on whether this will be heading to the US or will even be released here in the UK, guess its just a case of playing that old game again that is waiting. Personal opinions aside this phone should sell, i have had Samsungs before and my experience were good but this phone is a no go area for me due to Samsung not having a custom UI for it, but lets just wait and see what Samsung come up with, with regards to a custom UI of their own.

The first Android 2.0 smartphone, the Motorola DROID is an impressively specified device that is initially exclusive to Verizon Wireless. The good news is that this is potentially a truly great offering from Motorola, the bad news is that this is a CDMA-only device that will be limited to use in the United States. In other words, for most potential customers.. this is not the DROID you are looking for. We’re hoping that Motorola will launch a GSM / UMTS version of this for everyone else to use, and if you look at what the Motorola DROID can do, then you will see why. Android 2.0 (codename “Eclair”) is brand new, and it completely overhauls the user interface to make it better to use. Much of the software has been improved, including the web browser and Google Maps, and now Android can support Microsoft Exchange email which is ideal for corporate customers. The latest version of Android has improved camera functionality, including support for flash and digital zoom, which brings Android photography more into line with the competition. The Motorola DROID itself is an impressive piece of kit. and the most obvious feature to begin with is the very large 3.7″ 480 x 854 pixel touchscreen display. The display will be ideal for web browsing and multimedia playback, indeed it has one of the highest pixel counts of any mobile phone on the market. But this isn’t just a touchscreen phone, as the DROID has a fairly conventional slide-out QWERTY keyboard as well. There’s no real spacing between the keys though, and the navigation pad that sits alongside them looks strangely retro and out of place but dont let that put you off. On the back is a 5 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, autofocus and image stabilization. Video capture resolution is an impressive 720 x 480 pixels at up to 24 frames per second, which means that the Motorola DROID looks like a potentially very capable camera phone. The DROID’s GPS receiver is tied in with the latest version of Google Maps, which in itself is a pretty significant update as it now gives free turn-by-turn voice guidance which we here at Leakdroid has taken it a test run and work pretty well, and also comes with voice recognition so that you can tell it where you want to go without touching it. Android 2.0 also features a “Car Home” screen which reflects the fact that this should make be a useful in-car satellite navigation device. The DROID also has an electronic compass. Android multimedia support has always lagged behind rivals a little, but this latest version can cope with MP3, AAC, WMA and AMR audio and MPEG4 video. The large screen would ideal for movie playback.

The DROID also has a standard 3.5mm audio socket, and it supports stereo Bluetooth as well. The SD storage can be expanded further using the microSD slot upto 32GB. This is a CDMA / EVDO device with support for WiFi connectivity, and as such it will only work in the US. Maximum talktime from the large 1400 mAh battery is 6 hours with up to 11 days standby time. This is an exceptionally impressive smartphone, and Verizon customers are very lucky to have a world exclusive on it. We don’t know if Motorola will make the DROID available on other networks, but we certainly hope so! and for us UK users we just need to hold out and see.