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Motorola Droid X Review – Smartphone Nuclear Arms Race Continues – Droid Vs Droid X

June 24, 2010 By NotLost 1 Comment

Yesterday, after several weeks of speculation, the Motorola Droid X was officially revealed and this phone didn’t disappoint.

Let’s start off with specs as they’re pretty beefy:

  • 4.3″ 854 x 480 Screen
  • Texas Instruments OMAP 1GHZ Processor
  • 24 GB Memory (Upgradeable to 40GB)
  • Dual LED Flash 8 Megapixel Camera (with a real shutter button)
  • 220 Hrs of Standby Battery Time
  • 720p Video Recording with HDMI output

For loyal Droid users thinking about upgrading from their original Motorola Droid to the new Droid X, here are some of the big differences.  First, the phone is a lot bigger -- the 4.3″ screen is the same size as the HTC EVO 4G for Sprint (for comparison’s sake, the iPhone 4 has a 3.5″ screen -- the original Droid has a 3.7″ screen).

The camera doesn’t suck this time around.  The dual LED flash and 8MP camera actually take pretty good pictures -- nobody will confuse them with DSLR quality, but they’re definitely on par with entry level digital cameras.

It’s faster -- a lot faster.  It still packs a familiar Texas Instruments OMAP processor, but this one is clocked at 1GHZ and this thing is screaming fast.

No more keyboard.  While it does come with Swype (awesome, by the way) as a virtual keyboard option, the Droid X bids adieu to the dedicated slide out keyboard seen on the original though most people I talk to that have a Droid, myself included, rarely ever use the hardware keyboard anyway.

One of the cool features is the ability for the phone to act as a 3G Mobile Hotspot for up to 5 devices, however, this feature is going to run you an extra $20/month.  My guess is that since this is a feature built into Android 2.2, at some point you’ll be able to enable this for free (but it may require you to root the phone -- I’ll keep ya posted as we learn more and when Froyo shows up on this phone later this summer).

Motorola Droid X - 4.3" Screen - 24GB Memory - 1GHZ TI OMAP Processor

This phone does run Motorola’s skin over Android (unlike the first Droid), but it isn’t Motoblur either.  It’s a new skin setup for social networking and such.

It will be officially released July 15 and is exclusive to Verizon Wireless and will run you $199 (after $100 mail in rebate and 2 yr contract) so it’s in line with every other high end subsidized smartphone in the U.S. right now.

If your contract is up anytime this year, you can get upgrade pricing instead of paying full retail costs, which sadly means that all of us original Droid users aren’t going to qualify as we’re less than a year into our 2yr contracts, but it certainly looks like the new flagship model for Verizon Wireless and a worth competitor to the HTC EVO 4G for Sprint and the Apple iPhone 4 for AT&T.

Here’s a sample video taken with the Droid X Video Camera (certainly doesn’t look like your typical cell phone camera video, but won’t be confused with broadcast quality anytime soon, either):

Filed Under: Android Tagged With: 1ghz, 4.3 inch screen, 720p, 8 megapixel camera video camera, Android, droid vs droid x, droid x, motorola, omap, review, texas instruments, verizon

Apple iPhone 4 Review – The Good The Bad The Ugly

June 10, 2010 By NotLost 1 Comment

Starting June 15th you can reserve yourself a brand new iPhone 4 from Apple’s website, and you’ll be able to buy them starting June 24th.   So before that day comes, I thought I’d post my thoughts on the new iPhone 4 and cover the good, the bad, and yes, the ugly.

There’s certainly more good than bad, but enough with the introductory jibber-jabber, let’s get started.

The Good

There is a lot to like in this phone which really is no surprise – the nuclear arms race really escalated under Apple and the iPhone 4 brings some nifty goodies to the table.

Retina Display

I’ll admit I am a little jealous my phone doesn’t have anything like this.  Samsung just said the retina display really isn’t any better than their AMOLED displays, but my eyes tell me different.  It looks great and I want one.   It has 960 x 640 resolution on a 3.5 inch screen.  Remember when your 15″ computer monitor only had an 800 x 600 screen?   LCD screen technology sure has come a long way.

Fast Fast Fast

As expected, and just like the iPad, the iPhone 4 features the A4 processor – Apple’s own 1GZ low power chip.   It brings the best of both world’s to the table – long battery life (up to 7hrs of talk time or 40hrs of audio playback – that’s amazing!) and blazing fast performance and now that you’re finally getting multi-tasking, you’ll need all the power you can get.

FaceTime

apple iphone 4 - facetime retina display 1ghz a4 processor and gyroscopeI’ll be honest about FaceTime – Apple’s video phone call feature… to me it’s more novelty than every day practical.  Maybe history will prove me wrong, but people have been trying to get people to use video phones for the past 25 years and it’s never really caught on.  The fact that it’s Wi-Fi only is both a good thing and bad thing.  It’s a good thing that it will make the user experience much better and we know Apple is freakishly anal about ease of use, and Wi-Fi gives the end user the best shot at getting it.  However, not being able to use it over 3G is disappointing because it limits where you can use the application.

Sure, I think this feature will be useful for people who travel a lot for work and spend a lot of time in hotel rooms, but keep in mind that to use it, both people need shiny new iPhone 4s (for the moment at least), but for everyday calls, it simply won’t get used.

I think it’s more akin to an application like Google Sky Map – really cool and fun to play with but not something you really end up using all that often.

Gyroscope

While Apple computers aren’t know for their prowess in the gaming arena, when it comes to playing games on a smartphone, the undisputed leader is the iPhone.  With their latest creation, a gyroscope has been added which will only improve upon what you can do to play games on the phone.

The Bad

Durability

While Apple went out of their way to talk about how their new steel is so strong and their glass is so much harder and durable than plastic, reality is showing that the iPhone is living in a glass house.  Don’t throw stones at it and you sure as heck don’t want to drop it now that it has glass on BOTH sides, not just the display side.   Make sure you buy the protective case or you could have a very expensive paperweight in your possession as glass breakage is not covered under the iPhone warranty.

Tethering

While I know some people are eagerly awaiting the arrival of tethering in the new iPhone OS (which has been renamed iOS 4.0), it still sucks compared to what you get with Android 2.2 (Wifi Tethering with 8 Hotspots – no additional fee as long as you don’t go over your data limit).  You’ll get charged $20 a month just for the privilege of using it with AT&T and guess what, you can’t tether your iPhone to your iPad.   Bummer.

The Ugly

In the United States, your options as far a carriers are as follows: AT&T

As a past AT&T customer myself (back when they were still called Cingular), I can attest to the miserable customer service and poor coverage in many areas.   I know it absolutely guarantees I won’t be buying one and will instead stick to Android phones.

And AT&T just recently announced the end of it’s unlimited data plans and is instead imposing a 2GB monthly limit before your start getting overages – it likely won’t immediately effect the casual user, but heavy users could be in for a hefty bill at the end of the month if they’re not careful.

Bottom Line

While I wouldn’t call the iPhone 4 revolutionary even though Steve Jobs tells me so, it’s certainly a nice upgrade and will certainly keep engineers and designers up late at night trying to design an even better Android phone (though I the EVO 4G is extremely impressive if you can handle sub-par battery life and the huge form factor of it’s big screen).

Filed Under: iPhone Tagged With: a4, apple, at&t, Battery Life, durabilty, facetime, gyroscope, iphone 4, processor, retina display, review, tethering

T-Mobile Garminfone Review – GPS Focused Smartphone

June 10, 2010 By NotLost 2 Comments

Updated July 12th, 2010

If you want your smartphone to focus on GPS and navigation first, and then do other smartphone stuff, like check email, Twitter, and tell you what song is playing on the radio; the Garminfone available on TMobile might be right up your alley.

Specs

From a pure power an specs point of view, this phone is really nothing to write home about.  It has a 3.5″ capacitive touchscreen just like most smartphones.

The phone only has a 2GB microSD card, a 3 megapixel camera, and completely omits a 3.5mm headphone jack which seems like a major oversight on a smartphone these days.  (Update: Price has been reduced from $200 to $130 with contract – much more reasonable).

However, the phone comes with a windshield mount and a car charger which is, of course, extra with pretty much every other phone on the planet these days.

Software

While you wouldn’t know it immediately from looking at it, the Garminfone is running a highly customized version of Android (seems to be 1.6 and it is unknown if the 2.2 update will ever make its way to this phone).

Navigation

While the specs and software are otherwise underwhelming, this phone is built to navigate and navigate it does.

Let’s start with one of the nice features – it works offline!  No network connections required so if you find yourself in the middle of Montana with no cell service to speak of, your GPS can still get you where you want to go as it does what all PND units do – uses it’s GPS chip and stored maps to do the navigating.

Bottom Line

As far I’m concerned, this phone actually is a very acceptable replacement for your dedicated PND and while not as fully featured as the iPhone 4, Evo 4G, or Droid Incredible, it still has plenty of “smartphone” capabilities that should serve all but the most demanding users.

I’m calling this phone the best GPS navigation phone on the market right now and for the heavy GPS user who wants a device that can do it all, this phone is worth considering.

T-Mobile Garminfone - Best GPS Navigation On A Phone

I’d like to see the price come down as $199 with two year contract is simply too high when phones like the Evo 4G and iPhone 4 occupy that price point and in addition to a ton of other features on those high end phones, they remembered to include a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Filed Under: Android, Smartphones Tagged With: best gps navigation phone, Garmin, garminfone, gps smartphone, review, tmobile

Nokia Ovi Maps Review – Nokia’s Free Navigation Software For Smartphones

February 22, 2010 By NotLost 1 Comment

Nokia Ovi Maps Review – Nokia’s Free Navigation Software For Smartphones

Taking a play out of the Google playbook and likely looking to get some kind of foothold in the U.S. smartphone market, Nokia has stepped up and is now offering their Ovi Maps navigation software completely free.    It’s like Google Maps Navigation, but for Nokia Smartphones.

It has some nifty features, and the price is hard to beat, but it’s still not as good as paid apps for the iPhone or standalone PND devices.

WIN!

Just like all the best navigation software, your maps are stored locally. That means more accurate routing and (Google, are you listening?) if you lose your data signal, you still have navigation because everything you need is stored locally.

It also has many of the other features you’ve come to expect from PND devices.  It displays your current speed, the distance to next turn, and the upcoming street name.   Voice directions are also clear and easy to understand.

It also works anywhere in the world (Google Maps Navigation only works in the U.S. ) which means that if you live somewhere other than the United States, you now have a free navigation option.

FAIL!

Just like with Google Maps Navigation, there are some bizarre and glaring omissions (and just because the software free doesn’t give it a free pass – cell phone data plans and smartphones both cost plenty of money so it’s hardly “free”).  There is no on screen qwerty keyboard for entering in addresses.  It only offers a handwriting recognition system and a texting style numeric keyboard.    And while the built in keyboard works just fine, guess what?  When you have the unit in the windshield mount, you can’t open up the keyboard.

Just like it’s Google  brethren, it has no idea what the speed limit is anywhere and doesn’t offer lane assistance for complicated interchanges (Navigon does an amazing job with this and I’ll admit spoiled me a bit, but I’m okay with being demanding from my GPS software).

Expect it to be on every GPS enabled smartphone from here on out.   I made a list below for the phones it’s available on now.   Just head to maps.nokia.com to download it.

Available on the following Nokia handsets:

  • X6
  • N97
  • N97 mini
  • E72
  • E55
  • E52
  • 6730 classic
  • 6710 Navigator
  • 5800 XpressMusic
  • 5800 Navigation Edition
  • 5230

Conclusion

Overall, Ovi Maps is a capable navigation program.  With free map updates, no up front cost, no monthly fees, and more importantly, efficient routing; Ovi Maps can take you where you want to go.  It’s not MobileNavigator or TomTom for iPhone yet, but if you have  a Nokia phone, you definitely wan this.

Filed Under: Smartphones Tagged With: Free Gps Software, free navigation, gps enabled smartphones, nokia, ovi maps, review, Smartphone

Google Maps Navigation Review

January 3, 2010 By NotLost Leave a Comment

Google Maps Navigation Review

So I got one of those fancy Droids a couple weeks ago and when you go from a Razr to a Droid, everything is cool and fancy.  I honestly don’t know how a lot of the features that are “gee whiz” cool compare to other smartphones like the iPhone.  They’re all cool to me, but wow is the Facebook and Google Voice integration slick.

Anyway, instead of posting my thoughts about the phone side of things, I figured I’d post about the thing I am qualified to review – the GPS, specifically Google Maps Navigation Beta.

I’m on my fourth GPS device and have extensively researched others.  In fact, I decided to get the phone with its built in navigation instead of one of the new high end TomToms.

So I have fairly high standards for what I want in a GPS device, and I have to say that Google has managed to include cool features I would never have thought to ask for… unfortunately they also neglected to include some fairly important industry standard features.

I like it, I love it

As you’d probably expect, Google Navigation uses their Google Maps data for all the routes.  The maps are up to date (I hated updated buying updates to my old ones) and since it accesses their online database, they’re about as up to date as you can get.  Up to date maps doesn’t sound like a big deal until your GPS device tries to convice you to take an impassible snowmobile trail in the middle of nowhere Colorado – then you’ll appreciate having accurate maps J

The voice search is also awesome.  It knows where businesses are (even local ones, not just chains) and can find them with a simple search.  My car broke down a week ago and I was able to find a towing service close to me (I didn’t want to be stuck there any longer than I had to), and call them using the same device… and I was able to read reviews before I made any calls.

It can find landmarks, categories of businesses, schools, pretty much whatever you want.  And if you decide to type in the information, it’s not all that picky and can even figure out what you meant to spell if you spell something wrong (just like their search engine can).

However, one thing it can’t do is navigate to someone in your contacts list even if their address is in your phone.  My guess is that feature is coming, but so far it doesn’t do that.

Google Street View is pretty cool especially as it can display a picture of the intersection and a picture of the business you’re navigating to.  However, I’d like to more advanced instructions for complicated interchanges.  For example, my last GPS would tell me to take and exit and which lane I needed to be in when necessary.  It isn’t necessary all that often where I live but let me tell you, it’s immensely helpful when it does come up.

You have the option to use Satellite view just like with Google Maps on your computer and you can even overlay the terrain if you’re out hiking.

And one feature I really like was the ability to navigate “nearest” whatever.  For example, you can tell Google Maps Navigation to “navigate to nearest movie theatre” and it will.

Fail!

Night mode

While there are some excusable omissions, one that is just a complete brain fart is the lack of a night mode.  Honestly, I was expected that the phone would not only have a night mode, I figured it’d automatically kick in when the sun set based on its location – the phone has a lot of location aware features like that and I figured Google Maps Navigation would have that… it didn’t.

I learned this on a trip from Nebraska to Wisconsin.  Fortunately, I don’t need directions for the trip, so when it got dark and night mode didn’t kick in and I couldn’t find it in the menus, it wasn’t a problem for me just to turn the program off and finish the drive sans navigation.

But seriously, no night mode?  I’m assuming this oversight will be fixed in the near future, but as far as I’m concerned, the program should never have left alpha testing without that feature.

Update (Feb 2010) – Night mode exists now (came as part of Google Maps 4 app update) and yeah, it works like I expected it would – location aware and based on sunset and sunrise.   Glad to see they added it.

Speedometer

Another industry standard is how fast you’re going.  And TomTom and Garmin devices also happen to know the speed limits where you’re driving and can tell you when they change.  Google doesn’t even display how fast you’re going.  I know, I know, that’s what the speedometer on your car is for.  Well, I find the one on cars is frequently off by 1-3 mph.  On a long trip, a 3mph difference is half an hour I could have saved and the GPS speedometer is always extremely accurate.

Data Connection Required

Here’s another real head scratcher.  The need to have a data connection for navigation.  I can totally understand the need to have a data connection for things like Street View, Satellite View, and some of the more advanced features – it’d just be too much to store on the phones memory and updating would be a pain.  However, needing a data connection for even basic navigation is bad design.   Google needs to offer an option to download the maps to your phones memory card and to use those maps when data is lost.  GPS and navigation needs to work in the middle of nowhere.

Those are my biggest complaints.   But here’s why I’m still happy about getting Google Maps Navigation vs TomTom.  I know that Google will continue to update it and that it’s likely to be a true rival to TomTom and Garmin within a year and those complaints I have will likely be addressed soon.  If I had a Garmin or TomTom, I’d be waiting a lot longer and I’d probably have to pay for the upgrade.

Google Maps Navigation may not be quite ready to challenge the big boys for navigation supremacy just yet, but for the price (FREE), you could certainly do a lot worse.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Android, beta, droid, Google Maps, google maps navigation, motorola, nexus one, night mode, review, speedometer