The Thrill 4G is the second Android smartphone in the United States capable of recording and displaying 3D video and photos without the need for special glasses. We first saw the phone during CTIA earlier this year and, after delays, it will launch soon on AT&T for $99.99. I spent the better part of the last three weeks carrying the LG Thrill 4G everywhere I went. Are the 3D effects useful and fun or are they just a lame gimmick? Does the “4G” in its name equate to faster data speeds or does it surf on a par with 3G phones? All of this and more is answered in my review, so hit the read link to get started.

Hardware

The LG Thrill 4G is identical to its European cousin, the LG Optimus 3D, in nearly every way. It’s equipped with a 4.3-inch 800 x 480-pixel screen that’s capable of displaying both 2D and 3D content on the fly. Measuring in at 5in x 2.7in x 0.47in and with a weight of 5.9oz, the Thrill 4G is a bit bulkier than other high-end smartphones on AT&T, such as the Infuse 4G, but it’s not terrible.

Despite its plastic back cover, the Thrill 4G feels very study just like its LTE counterpart, the LG Revolution. The front of the phone has black faux-brushed metal accents around the screen and AT&T ditched the matte gray back on the Optimus 3D for a more attractive matte black design with a faint cross-hatch etching. The back of the Thrill 4G is also home to two camera lenses capable of recording 3D content, and a single LED flash. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top of the Thrill 4G and microUSB and mini-HDMI hatches on the left side of the device. A single button on the right side of the phone can be pressed to quickly enter the phone’s “3D Space” application, and I wish it was a camera quick-launch button instead. AT&T also included an HDMI to mini-HDMI cable, which means you’ll be able to connect the phone up to your TV right out of the box.

The Thrill 4G is a nice package overall but I noticed two yellow splotches towards the bottom of the screen. The discoloration was most noticeable while accessing the web, since most websites have a white background. The defect is too subtle to see in the various images in this review, but it’s there. At first I assumed this was just a one-time flaw with my unit, but I noticed the same problem on my European Optimus 3D and confirmed the discoloration with another journalist, too. Perhaps the screen is responsible for AT&T’s delayed launch of the phone, although that is not confirmed. (Update: A second device from AT&T didn’t have this issue so it was clearly limited to my phone or at least an early batch.)

Software

The LG Thrill 4G runs Android 2.2 (Froyo) out of the box but AT&T has promised an Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) update is on the way. Android ran smoothly and I rarely saw any lag thanks to the phone’s dual-core 1GHz processor. LG overlays Android with its own lackluster and ugly user interface. There aren’t any worthwhile widgets aside from a decent third-party weather app, and the icons that infiltrate the status bar and the main menu are too colorful and toy-like for my tastes. The entire UI reminds me of LG’s experience on feature phones, which was never a good thing. Thankfully there are free applications such as LauncherPro that can rid your phone of the ugly icon and UI problem, but I wish LG had left this a “pure Google” experience as it did with the T-Mobile G2x. LG also added several 3D-specific applications and I’ll go over them in the following section.

3D

3D. Whenever I hear the term I immediately think I’m being sucked into a gimmick no better than a holographic trading card. I won’t even go to a 3D movie. You may remember my impressions on 3D when I reviewed the Nintendo 3DS; the display wasn’t impressive and it took away from the gaming experience in a number of titles.

The Optimus Thrill 4G definitely has a superior screen compared to the 3DS though, and since 3D is optional for the most part I, oddly enough, enjoy using it. LG included a full 3D menu that allows you to quickly browse 3D YouTube videos, 3D pictures and videos in your gallery, and fast access to 3D games.There are a couple of decent games that definitely suck you into the 3D experience. I liked playing Let’s Golf 2 in three dimensions and Fragging in Nova was also decent fun, but it wasn’t much better than playing in 2D. Additionally, there aren’t a lot of games pre-loaded, so you’ll need to buy more to keep the experience going. While there’s a YouTube application with dedicated access to 3D videos, I spent most of my time showing off the pre-loaded videos to friends and strangers in bars. The response was nearly always “that’s cool, but who cares?” And that’s the problem: who cares? 3D is somewhat exciting and it works, but at the end of the day it’s totally unnecessary.

Camera

The Thrill 4G’s camera is capable of shooting in both 2D and 3D modes. In 2D mode you can capture 5-megapixel photos and record video in 1080p HD. The stereoscopic 3D cameras are also capable of snapping 3-megapixel 3D images and recording 720p HD video in 3D. Videos came out well. In fact, here’s a video of a Jane’s Addiction concert on YouTube that was filmed entirely in 720p 3D video with a number of LG Thrill units, if you want a better sample of the camera’s quality.

The tricky part with the camera is that if you aren’t in the right light or aren’t careful enough when snapping a photo, there’s actually an overlap of two images and it looks like a blurry 3D mess. When I was careful to steady the phone and snap a photo of an object in a well lit area, the photos came out pretty well. If I held the phone in a darker area, to avoid any glare, the images didn’t appear to pop off of the screen. A shot of chips, salsa, and plates on a coffee table came out really well, as did a picture of a coffee mug on a bookshelf. Other shots, such as those taken down my street, weren’t as impressive. You’ll need to really get up close to your subject in order for it to appear to pop off of the screen. Otherwise the image looks like it has a lot of depth but it doesn’t pop off of the screen.

Another cool feature: you can take shots in 2D and then view them in 3D, although the effects are much better if you take the pictures in 3D originally. Worse, 2D pictures were often on the blurry and washed-out side (see above). Overall, I liked snapping photos better than recording video; the results came out better. Unfortunately, I didn’t have access to a 3D TV to see my home videos blown up.

Call Quality and Data

Call quality on the Thrill 4G was good during my tests. I used the phone daily for a solid two weeks to place a number of phone calls and didn’t have any complaints. I was able to hear the callers on the other end loud and clear and they said I sounded “crisp.” I dropped a couple of conversations but that’s par for the course on AT&T in New York City. One issue I did notice: the signal strength indicator would frequently jump around between two and four bars. The icon doesn’t always reflect the actual signal strength, but there could be issues with the phone’s ability to maintain a solid signal.

As its name implies, the LG Thrill 4G runs on AT&T’s HSPA+ “4G” network. I ran a number of tests with the Speedtest.net application in my apartment, where I usually run my tests, and rarely saw the phone peak over 1Mbps while running a download test. Instead, I averaged about 750Kbps, which is slower than I’ve seen with a number of 3G phones. The phone’s upload speeds were solid, however: I averaged 1.6Mbps in my upload throughput tests.

Battery

I was able to get through a full day with the Thrill 4G without a problem using the phone moderately. Obviously your mileage will vary if you’re spending more time using the 3D display or streaming video, but generally the battery was on a par with the Infuse 4G on AT&T, which is one of the longer lasting Android devices out there.

Conclusion

I like the Thrill 4G because LG tried to differentiate itself with a device that could display and record 3D content. It’s a fun concept and works in practice, but it’s hard to recommend a phone simply because it offers 3D as an option. The third dimension, as it stands in mobile, is purely for entertainment purposes, and the problem is the phone has so many other faults.

The Thrill 4G has a solid build, despite its plastic accents, but it’s far bulkier and heavier than many of its competitors. Call quality was satisfactory, but I had issues with its download speeds in New York City.

Overall, the LG Thrill 4G is just a mediocre device. You might be better served picking up a Motorola ATRIX 4G for the same $99.99 price, as it still packs a mean hardware punch. If it’s power your after though, my advice is to stick around and see how Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S II handset for AT&T turns out.

The DROID Incredible 2 recently landed on Verizon Wireless, and it has some tough shoes to fill. When the original launched, it was BGR’s favorite Android phone to date despite stiff competition from the Motorola DROID, which launched at the same time. The DROID Incredible 2 packs some decent hardware, like a 1GHz processor, an 8-megapixel camera capable of recording 720p video, and more, but its specs — and data speeds — don’t match those of phones at the higher end of Verizon’s portfolio. Is the DROID Incredible 2 a worthy successor to the original or does it fall short? Read on to find out!

Hardware / Display

I remember reviewing the original Incredible and feeling a sense of loss the day I had to send it back. It had a unique race-car inspired design and HTC even had interchangeable red and white covers for the back panel that you could buy separately. The whole idea was that HTC was totally tweaking the industrial design of the phone to really get consumers turned on to the sexy designs possible with a mobile device. There’s less shock value with the Incredible 2. The red battery compartment is gone, the contours aren’t unique anymore, and the whole device feels too similar to the original to be exciting.

The phone feels excellent in the hand, though, and the soft-touch black finish provides good grip. The volume keys are in easy reach on the top left hand side, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top across from a power button, and the back is home to an 8-megapixel camera and a dual-LED flash. I love that the menu, home, search, and return buttons automatically rotate so that they’re displayed correctly in both landscape and portrait view. HTC should definitely carry that feature into other phones.

The most noticeable difference on the Incredible 2 is its larger 4-inch 800 x 480 resolution display. I like that it’s bigger than the original 3.7-inch screen on the first Incredible, which was a hair too small, but I’m disappointed that HTC ditched the AMOLED display panel. Text looks decent on the screen, but the colors don’t pop in the way they did on the original Incredible. The trade off is that the current display is much easier to view under direct sunlight, however.

I’ll discuss the rest of the hardware in various parts of this review, but here’s a quick rundown of the raw specs: the DROID Incredible is powered by a 1GHz processor — that’s the same clock speed as the original — and it has an 8-megapixel with a dual-LED flash, a 1,450 mAh battery, a 1.3-megapixel forward-facing camera for video chat, and a 16GB microSD card pre-installed.

Software

The Incredible 2 is powered by Android 2.2.1 (Froyo) with HTC’s custom Sense user interface running on top, and its 1GHz powered through it all just fine. Unfortunately, the phone is not loaded with HTC’s new revamped version of Sense, which will make its debut on the T-Mobile HTC Sensation 4G any week now. I’ve always been a big fan of Sense. It’s one of my favorite Android user interfaces, but it’s hard to recommend software that’s already being replaced. The DROID Incredible 2 also runs Android 2.2 (Froyo), too, instead of the newer Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) OS.

Thankfully, there’s relatively little bloatware installed, save for V Cast Apps, V CAST Media, V CAST Music, V CAST Tones, and V CAST Videos. Verizon has pre-installed some other software, including 3G Mobile Hotspot, Blockbuster, Amazon Kindle, Lets Golf 2, NFS Shift, Skype Mobile, NFL Mobile, Slacker, and more, but those applications are often very popular Android apps, too, and I’m a big fan of many of them. The 3G Hotpsot application will allow you to share your 3G connection with other Wi-Fi enabled devices, and I used the Incredible 2 hotspot during an entire workday without any connection drops.

Calling / Data

Calls on the DROID Incredible 2 were solid, as is typically the case on Verizon’s phones in New York City. During a test call, the other party said I sounded “clear” while walking on the streets of New York City, and she said she couldn’t make out the background traffic. The speakerphone was a bit watery but the volume was sufficient. As far as data, the Incredible 2′s data speeds were just OK. I averaged 1.2Mbps on the downlink and 1Mbps up, which is good enough for a 3G phone but a far cry from Verizon’s brand new 4G LTE network which offers download speeds that are nearly 20 times that.

Camera

The Incredible 2 packs an 8-megapixel camera, just like the original, and can shoot 720p HD video. I was satisfied with the images I snapped — they look great on the phone itself and just as solid blown up on a computer screen. Unlike some newer phones, the Incredible 2 isn’t capable of auto-focusing while shooting video, though, which was a bit of a disappointment. Similarly, it lacks an HDMI-out port, so you won’t be able to show videos or photos on your bigscreen TV, another feature that’s supported by many other high-end devices.

Battery Life

During my few days of testing I didn’t have any problem getting through a full day of moderate use before the 1,450mAh battery ran out on the Incredible 2. Verizon rates it for 6.5 hours of usage, though, so you’ll want to bring a charger along if you’re planning to watch movies during a long plane ride or car trip.

Wrap-up

The DROID Incredible 2 is a good phone — there’s nothing inherently wrong with it — but I don’t think it brings the Incredible brand forward at all. In fact, there really isn’t anything “incredible” about it. The phone is very similar to the original, save for a larger screen and some small tweaks like a forward-facing camera, but at $199.99 it costs just as much as dual-core smartphones like the DROID X2, and it’s $50 shy of Verizon’s 4G LTE smartphones that offer much, much, faster data speeds. Is it a solid follow-up to the original? No. In fact, I like the original better.

Sprint just announced the HTC EVO 3D, its latest 4G WiMAX smartphone with a 3D-spin, and we had some time to sit down to check out the device first-hand. In one word: Amazing. The EVO 3D’s 4.3-inch 3D display is incredible to look at while displaying 3D images and video. It reminds us of looking at a holographic trading card. We watched some user-submitted 3D YouTube videos on the phone, and a few jesters dancing around really popped off of the display. Similarly, the flowers in a bouquet that one woman was holding in an image seemed to jump off the screen — we actually reached out to touch them at one point! There’s a ton to discuss here, so hit the jump for more impressions on the EVO 3D, and don’t forget to check out our hands-on photo gallery.

If you’re a spec junkie, we’ll get a few things out of the way first. The EVO 3D is powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, and the thing flies. HTC’s Sense homescreen works like a carousel on the EVO 3D, so you can flip through different customized homescreens quickly. We shot our finger across the screen and the carousel took off spinning without any sign of sluggishness. The back of the EVO 3D has a nice divoted texture to it that adds to its premium feel. It’s a little bulky, but not too bad considering how much HTC packed into the device, and Sprint told us HTC removed the kickstand found on the original EVO to keep the device more pocketable. While connected to Sprint’s 4G WiMAX network, we were able to load the BGR.com homepage pretty quickly, too.

The EVO 3D is capable of recording 3D video in 720p, or 2D video in 1080p. The coolest part about snapping photos or video in 3D is that you actually see the images popping off the screen as you look through the viewfinder. To make things even easier, HTC added a dedicated metal camera button and there’s a sturdy metal switch for toggling between 2D and 3D shooting modes. In the images, you’ll notice that the HDMI-out port is missing. Sprint told us that the microUSB port will also provide HDMI-out functionality, so it sounds like the device will need (and hopefully come with) an HDMI connector accessory. Sprint hasn’t provided any details on pricing or a launch date for the EVO 3D, but one representative confirmed it will land sometime this summer. From what we’ve seen so far, we can’t wait to spend more time with the EVO 3D.

A sad Samsung Focus owner recently took to AT&T’s online forum with a tale of woe that could spell trouble for AT&T and Samsung. With pictures as evidence, the man alleges that his Samsung smartphone overheated while charging and burned both the charger port and the cable connector. He claims that his handset began repeatedly sounding a charging chime, even when it was not plugged into the charger. The man plugged his phone in to see if it might stop the chimes and within 30 seconds he says he smelled the delightful aroma of burning electronics. A power surge could have been a possible explanation, but the plot then thickened; several other Focus owners have since reported symptoms similar to those that lead up to the meltdown, though none have reported fiery finales at this point. The story doesn’t quite have the same flare as news of an iPhone 4 owner whose device recently exploded and burned his hand, but we’re sure this former Focus fan didn’t mind escaping unscathed. What he did mind, however, is AT&T store reps’ less-than-helpful response to the man’s predicament. Rather than swapping the phone out on the spot, they’re making him jump through warranty claim hoops in order to replace his fricasseed phone. Hit the break for two more images of the damaged Focus.

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It’s always a lot of fun for us — and hopefully for you, the readers — any time we can run wild with pictures, news, and even reviews of an unannounced handset. Today, however, RIM spoiled our fun and formally announced the BlackBerry Bold 9700. Things like carriers, release dates and pricing have been withheld for the time being, but RIM has made a statement saying that we should all expect to see the BlackBerry 9700 go on sale “around the world beginning in November.” Spec wise, nothing has changed since our pre-release review, but just in case some of you forgot or weren’t paying a whole lot of attention, here’s a quick refresher on the critical specs:

• BlackBerry OS 5.0
• 624MHz CPU
• 256MB flash memory and support for microSD cards up to 32GB
• Quad-band UMTS/HSDPA (800/850/1900/2100 MHz) or tri-band UMTS/HSDPA (900/1700/2100 MHz)
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g with UMA support (carrier dependent)
• A-GPS
• 2.44″ HVGA+ display
• 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash
• Optical trackpad
• Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP/AVCRP
• 1500 mAh battery
• 6 hours of talk time and 17 days of standby (3G)
• 109mm x 60mm x 14.1mm, 122g

In short, this is the BlackBerry device of your dreams. We’re expecting pretty much every single major GSM carrier on the planet to pick up the 9700 sooner or later, so we’ll be sure to keep the updates coming. As always, high res pics and a few other odds and ends are available after the jump.

UPDATE: AT&T, Rogers and T-Mobile have announced they will be carrying the Bold 9700 in the weeks ahead. AT&T and T-Mobile’s 9700 will go for $199.99 after a $100 MIR on 2-year deals while Rogers will be asking for $299.99 on a 3-year contract with a monthly minimum voice and data plan of $45. Bell and TELUS have yet to come forward with pricing but have confirmed they will be carrying the device.

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Excited about the upcoming Samsung B7610 Louvre? Well wait just a tick, because we’ve got some interesting news to report. Yesterday Samsung slipped up and pictures of the Louvre were briefly published to its press gallery. Apparently Sammy referred to the Louvre as we know it as the Omnia Pro, a device that we have been hearing about since late April. Truth be told, we wouldn’t be all too surprised if this were the case considering all of the known specs of the Louvre match up with the rumored specs of the Omnia Pro. And speaking of the devices specs, a more detailed list has surfaced that makes the device look even more promising:

• 3.5-inch AMOLED resistive touchscreen display w/ WVGA resolution
• 800MHz processor
• 5.1 megapixel camera with auto-focus and LED flash
• Sliding QWERTY keypad
• 2 UIs (Pro & Media w/ dedicated button to switch between them)
• TV-OUT
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• MicroUSB
• Divx/WMV/H.264 accelerations
• GPS/WIFI/HSDPA/HSUPA/Bluetooth
• FM Radio
• DNLA support
• 1GB internal memory with microSDHC up to 32GB
• 1500mAh battery

The Louvre/Omnia Pro is believed to be on track for September or October. There are some reports that the device is currently running quite slowly because of a very buggy ROM however, so rumor has it the launch might be pushed back a month. September is still quite a ways away though, so we’re hoping Samsung can sort any issues out in time. Until then, hit the jump for a few more press shots.

[Via Unwired View]

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A day after launching three new devices for emerging World markets including the cheapest 3G model the company has ever offered, Nokia has announced the 6600i slide. Essentially nothing more than an update to the 6600 slide with a 5 megapixel camera, brushed metal body, smaller pant size and 3G connectivity, the 6600i could be just what the doctor ordered as summer approaches and the thought of ruining your N85 at the beach floats around in your head. Here’s what the 6600i slide has going for it spec wise:

• Dual-band WCDMA (850/2100MHz) and quad-band GSM/EDGE
• S40
• 2.2″ QVGA display
• 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus, 8x digital zoom and dual-LED flash / VGA video recording at 15fps
• Bluetooth 2.0, FM tuner, accelerometer, microUSB
• 20MB internal memory and 1GB microSD card in box
• 1100 mAh battery
• 3 / 4 hours talk time (GSM / UMTS), 14.5 days stand-by
• 93mm x 45mm x 14mm, 110g
• Available in both black and silver in Q3 for approximately 200€ ($272 USD) before subsidies and taxes.

Not bad at… Oh who are we kidding — there’s only room for one slider today.

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While this might come as a bit of a shock to some, there is a little known country just north of the good ‘ole US of A that just so happens to be home to the World’s second largest smartphone manufacturer. That country is of course Canada and the manufacturer is RIM. It used to be the case that BlackBerry fans in the US got the latest BlackBerry devices before Canada, but in recent times it seems that Canada has launched RIM’s latest devices long before its neighbors to the South — the exception to this being the Storm. Canadian carriers stuck it to the Americans once again however, when Bell was the first carrier to release the CDMA Pearl Flip 8230. Sure, a few hiccups six days after launch due to buggy software killed off a lot of the excitement, but thankfully for RIM, TELUS launched the Pearl Flip 11 days after Bell, a launch that went off without a hitch.

Now back in October we reviewed the GSM version of the Pearl Flip (the 8220) and found it to be a pretty decent device considering its affordability. However, we couldn’t help but feel let down by the build quality which made the device feel extremely cheap, and the ridiculously pixelated display. So does the CDMA Pearl Flip offer any notable improvements over its GSM cousin? Hit the jump to find out.

The Pearl Flip comes in the standard, old school BlackBerry box that has been around forever. Inside the box is a 900 mAh battery (the same C-M2 battery that all others Pearls come with), a microUSB cable, stereo headset, travel charger, the standard new phone papers and installation CD and of course the device itself. An 8GB microSDHC card came loaded inside the device, though there is no mention of this on the box or on the TELUS website.

Our Pearl Flip was running OS 4.6.1.182, the latest official OS. We’re not going to get too heavy into OS related details in this review because we’ve already covered OS 4.6.x to death and there are no surprises here. In case you need a picture of what things look like in your head, just think of what’s running on the Bold and Curve 8900 and that’s exactly what you’ve got on a smaller scale. In terms of memory, the Pearl Flip has 128MB ROM / 128MB RAM. In terms of free memory, we averaged around 62MB after a battery pull.

As mentioned before, we were really let down with the GSM Pearl Flip and its poor build quality which made the device feel more like a working prototype than a retail model. Unfortunately, the CDMA Pearl Flip does not offer any improvement in this department. The build quality is not so bad that it will shatter into a thousand pieces if dropped a short distance, but compared to the rest of RIMs offerings — old and new alike — it’s probably the most cheap feeling device ever to bear the BlackBerry name. One part of the phone in particular we feel we have to single out is the battery cover. It honestly has to be the cheapest battery cover we’ve ever seen on a phone. It comes in at under 1mm thick and is not big enough to remain snugly in place — so much so that you can feel it move when typing.

Since we mentioned typing, we have to say that the keyboard has definitely grown on us. The keys are set up in a wave pattern and each key has a minute ridge on it to break up the monotony of typing on a flat key. Guitar-like frets separate each row of keys like they do on the Bold. They’re nearly flush with the keys, but they’re raised ever so slightly so as to make typing without looking a breeze. Of course being a SureType phone, strange typos are often made which make typing without looking a rather foolish move unless one doesn’t care about making typos.

The 2.4″ QVGA internal display on the GSM Pearl Flip sorely disappointed us but we’re pleased to report that the display on our 8230 was much more vibrant, crisp and colorful. It’s not better than anything else out there with the same resolution, but it does its job and it does it admirably well. As for the 1.6″ external display, we must confess that we don’t like it all that much. It does make things pretty simple by displaying messages without making one flip open the phone but the screen is so tiny and so dim that unless you’re in a pretty dark environment, it has a tendency to get very washed out. If you do find yourself in a dark environment by the way, the Pearl Flip does feature a 2.0 megapixel camera with flash. The pictures it takes are nothing to write home about but it will serve most people fine for the occasional candid.

As was long expected, the CDMA Pearl Flips does not have the WiFi but it does have GPS. If this were a more high-end device we’d do the typical bitching and groaning that so irks some readers… But alas, it’s a lower-end device meaning that yes, while it really, really, really does suck that users will be forced to pay data roaming fees while out of the country, at least the GPS is unlocked and doesn’t require a $10 per month subscription to TELUS Navigator, right?

It might shock some people to know that he Pearl Flip is running the same processor as the Pearl 8100 did back in 2006, but hums along rather well with the only major loading delays occurring where you would expect them, such as when opening a picture or starting a movie. There are times such as the aforementioned web browsing issues where it becomes pretty clear that OS 4.6.1 is pushing the 312MHz processor to its limits.

One of the first things that we noticed when handling the Pearl Flip was that it was having a difficult time maintaining full signal strength, typically staying somewhere between three and four bars while occasionally dropping to zero for a few seconds. We were able to isolate the problem to the device itself and rule out a network issue as we happened to have a 8830 on hand which was able to consistently achieve five bars. Because we didn’t have a newer OS build to upgrade to on hand, we’re unable to say whether or not this is a hardware issue or a software issue. Even with signal issues however, the Pearl Flip ran pretty fast with its EV-DO Rev. 0 connectivity but browsing anything beyond a WAP site on the thing is about as fun as looking at a photo of the New York City skyline on a postage stamp. That is, non-WAP websites load up pretty much like they do on a computer except that to fit on the screen the whole thing is zoomed out. By the time you zoom in to where text is legible it takes up so much of the screen that it requires constant scrolling which in turn makes the phone lag.

Conclusion:

If we were to rate the Pearl Flip against the best phones on the market like the Bold, Fuze and iPhone 3G, it would absolutely be crushed and no one can deny that. But doing that would be foolish as this device is not at all intended to compete with such devices. So, taking into consideration where it stands in the market place, what it offers and how much it costs, we’d have to say that the Pearl Flip is definitely capable of holding its own. So what would we rate the TELUS BlackBerry 8230 Pearl Flip? 3.5 BG’s out of 5.

Head on over to our gallery for more shots of the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 from TELUS.

Somewhere over the rainbow in a land far away, wireless phones will actually be wireless. We’re not just talking about cellular voice and data here of course, we’re talking about handsets that can communicate, move data, sync and be charged all without the need for a single external wired connection. We still have a ways to go before technologies such as inductive charging and higher-speed data transfer standards are a commonplace, but Samsung has just announced a major step towards that reality with the advent of Wireless USB. By way of new System-on-a-Chip (SoC) technology, Samsung claims W-USB will allow portable devices such as mobile handsets and digital cameras to connect wirelessly using an interface that is nearly identical to a wired USB connection. Dr. Yiwan Wong, vice president, System LSI Division at Samsung is heading up the group responsible for the breakthrough and had this to say:

Connected consumer electronic products are the next step in enabling anytime, anywhere access to information and services. One of the keys to wireless connectivity is W-USB technology. While W-USB technology is just beginning to ramp up, its application will soon increase with the consumer electronic and mobile phone markets’ demand for wireless connectivity technology and UWB’s fast download speeds.

The SoC itself is comprised of a built-in ARM core, a UWB physical layer, a memory controller and a memory component. It operates in the 3.1~10.6 GHz-band range and as far as numbers go, we’re looking at speeds of 480 Mbps. Real world tests have shown actual transfer speeds of 120 Mbps which is hardly a rate to be scoffed at and security hounds will be happy to know Samsung employs 128 bit AES encryption to thwart prowlers. Long story short, W-USB can’t happen soon enough.

[Via DailyTech]

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Today Nokia announced the latest handset that runs on its S40 platform, the 6260 Slide. The 6260 takes its styling queues from the 6220 Classic and boasts an amazing 2.4″ 320 x 480 HVGA screen. It basically is the perfect handset for those who want nearly everything and more from a mobile phone but for some odd reason don’t want a smartphone. Why someone would want this much juice but not want it to run on S60 is a question in and of itself, but we’ll leave that for another time. Specs from the Nokia data sheet are as follows:

• Series 40
• 99.4mm x 46.5mm x 15.4mm, 114g
• Quad-band EDGE with tri-band HSDPA/HSUPA
• WiFi and aGPS (with Nokia Maps pre-installed)
• 2.4″ 320×480 HVGA display
• 200MB internal memory, up to 8GB microSD
• 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens
• Front-facing camera for video calling
• Bluetooth v2.1 w/ A2DP/AVRCP
• TV-out and 2.5mm AV connector
• microUSB
• 950 mAh battery
• 4/6 hours talk time, 370/400 hours stand-by (3G/EDGE)

Expect to see this mobile hit Europe in early 2009 with an estimated MSRP of €299 before taxes and carrier subsidies.

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