Nanu
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Posts by Nanu
SocialScope BlackBerry Twitter app explains their beta process…
Jan 19th
By far my favourite Twitter app for my BlackBerry is socialscope, and I have been using it for quite a while now, but SocialScope has to be the longest running Beta app ever, (not quite as long as Google mail etc held their beta status for!!) and those not yet lucky enough to have SocialScope are feeling left out in the cold.
As well as handling Twitter, SocialScope brings your FaceBook status updates into the mix, keeping you completely updated. All this is neatly handled with tabs a top of the screen, giving you instant access to either Twitter and FaceBook, @ replies, DM’s, Twitter or FaceBook. Add to that your own channels/tabs such as individuals or lists. SocialScope supports keypad shortcuts and autotext, shortcuts are the most important for me and saves a lot of scrolling and clicking.
If you would like to apply to become a beta tester you can do so here
This is what SocialScope have said over the matter,
We’ve been getting a lot of questions about the SocialScope beta process and want to address them. First, no one should feel left out because they haven’t received an invite or are running a different version then someone else. As the beta progresses every one will be upgraded and more users will be added.
Second, we’re always seeding new versions of the app to small groups of users to test, tune and tweak SocialScope. Keeping the test groups small allows us to work closely with these users; making changes that would otherwise drive you crazy and lead to overwhelming number of support emails for us. This is an iterative process that can take many versions until its ready for a wider group of users.
Finally, we’ve tried to be as inclusive as possible leading to a very very large private beta. That means we can’t respond to every email or @reply (we wish we could, but we’re a small team), but your feedback is really valuable to us and we read every email we get.
“How do you select users to seed versions to?” Its largely random, but sometimes based on device type and carrier if we’re trying to track down a specific issue.
“How long will it take for me to get version x?” We can’t give you a date, but as soon as its ready you’ll get an upgrade notice within the app.
“I haven’t even gotten an invite yet…” We’re constantly expanding the beta when a spot opens up or the app is released publicly we’ll let you know.
Finally follow us http://twitter.com/socialscope and become a fan at http://facebook.com/socialscope to stay up to date with our latest news.
-Team Conan er SocialScope
Dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon CPU coming before the end of the year
Jan 11th
Just spotted this over at GSMarena.com, I have only just got my self a dual core PC and have the 1ghz snapdragon Nexus One on its way and it seems I’ll be slap bang out of date again before the end of the year!
Dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon CPU coming before the end of the year: “And all of a sudden your 1GHz Snapdraggon-powered HTC HD2 doesn’t seem all that powerful any more. Apparently Qualcomm are almost done with the development of not one but two new mobile CPU units that are about to top their lineup.Before January has ended 1.3 GHz Snapdragon 8X50A CPU with reduced-size 45nm core process will be offered to manufacturers and is expected to appear in end-products by the end of this year. We guess, HTC HD3 will be getting one of those.
Now for the even better news. Before 2010 has ended Qualcomm will unveil another powerful processor. The dual-core Snapdragon 8X72 will have two Scorpion cores clocked at 1.5 GHz. That would make it powerful enough for usage in smartbooks too – not only phones. According to the manufacturer this CPU should have no trouble providing 1080p resolution video output.”
Google’s Nexus One goes on sale
Jan 7th
Google launched their first Google phone for sale in the US, UK, Hong Kong & Singapore through their new on-line phone web store. It is available to the four countries sim free for $529 so roughly £408 inc VAT + delivery to the UK, add another $20+VAT to that if you want the Euro charger with the phone!
Now this may cause a little confusion here and there as you may be thinking the G1 was Google’s first foray into the mobile world, but that was more of a joint venture between Google, HTC and T-Mobile, the Nexus One on the other hand is Google going it alone, with the device built by HTC and available through the T-Mobile network or Google. I hope that clears things up!
Anyway, I am still waiting for mine to be shipped so for now I’ll leave you with the specs, taken from Google, and a few vids and I will post my review and unboxing when Google get the phone out to me.
HTC Smart, new device, new OS, new direction?
Jan 7th
Today HTC announced a new way forward for themselves with the HTC Smart a new type of smartphone that creates a new category of easy-to-use, connected smartphones that are accessible by people all over the world. The HTC Smart will be available this spring across Europe and Asia.
“HTC Smart breaks new ground in delivering the powerful, in-demand smartphone features that consumers want on a more accessible device for global markets,” said Paul Jacobs, chief executive officer, Qualcomm Incorporated. “We are pleased to be supporting HTC as they utilize the capabilities of Qualcomm’s Brew Mobile Platform open operating system to offer high-end capabilities and a compelling mobile user experience at mass-market price points.”
Qualcomm Brew Mobile Platform (Brew MP)
HTC Smart utilizes Qualcomm’s Brew MP, a popular mobile operating system that enables smartphone devices to be offered at more aggressive price points, providing HTC with the flexibility to deliver smartphone features on devices across multiple tiers.
Overview
The HTC Smart is a compact phone that’s ready to help you be a smarter YOU and a funner YOU.
Make it Mine
The HTC Smart is at your service, be it for your productive side or your playful side. HTC Smart comes with Scenes—different phone configurations that reflect different moods in your daily self. There’s a mode for your busy weekdays, filling your home screen with panels that help you ease on through your workdays with apps like email, calendar and the web browser. There’s a mode for relaxing (or not!) weekends, which brings fun to the forefront with music, camera, and photo album panels. There’s even a scene that you can personalize to fit your unique style and daily needs.
Stay Close
With HTC Smart, your interactions are neatly placed right under the pics of your favorite people. Rather than having to open multiple applications, there’s a single view of all your communications, be it email, text, or a Facebook update with any one of your contacts.
Discover the Unexpected
The more you use the HTC Smart, the more small touches you will find – each one elevating your phone experience. For example, with just one tap you can turn your web browser to landscape mode so you can get a better view while surfing the internet. There is also smart zoom, which enlarges and reflows the text for your reading pleasure with just a double tap on the screen.
HTC Hero Review
Jul 24th
OK I managed to get me a Hero through on Orange on Wednesday and it was delivered 24 hours ago, since then I have put it through its paces before writing this review.
First Thoughts:
Having used and loved the G1 for a number of months now I was expecting to be disappointed in the Hero due to its lack of physical QWERTY, perhaps just cushioning myself for what lay ahead. As the courier handed me the parcel I could hardly believe the size of the box within the bag, It is literally half the size of the G1 box and there isn’t a magnetic catch in sight!
Bundled in the box is the new type HTC charger which utilises the data cable to charge the phone, a set of 3.5mm headphones with built in mic, play/pause, forward and backward controls and a quick start guide, oh and obviously the phone itself.
There is no manual bundled or a CD containing software, the later not being surprising seeing as Android devices don’t sync with the PC (or do they) and applications are installed over the air through the market.
Sadly the Hero doesn’t come with a slip case as the G1 did.
So I gently lifted the Hero out of the box and turned it on, the familiar vibration went off in my hand and it started to come to life, the Hero feels a lot better in the hand over the G1, it doesn’t creak for starters which means it feels a lot more solid and more expensive as the device has a rubberised feel to it, with a nice cold brushed steel bezel around the screen and housing the four oval evenly spaced buttons, Call Home Menu & Call End (power on/off) , below that with have the centrally placed trackball and a single switch containing Search to the left and Back to the right, I have yet to mistakenly press one for the other and if pressing the Back key causes spasms in your thumb then you are holding the device wrong and yes, I am right handed!
Above the not so smudge proof screen lie what appears to be two leds separated by a nice piece of mesh covering the internal speaker, to the left are the only other two buttons and that is the Volume rocker switch, yep the Hero is devoid of a dedicated camera button (more about that later) to the top we have a not so familiar looking hole on a HTC device and that would be the 3.5mm headphone socket, oh joy of joy’s at last I can listen to music whilst the device is being charged, i.e when in bed! The battery cover covers the whole back nothing new there, and it has four holes, one for the camera (just a hole no glass!) and oval slot for the speaker and another smaller oval for a lanyard and the hole at the top for the 3.5mm socket. The only Orange branding externally is the logo to the back, which means it will be easily replaced as soon as new covers are available.
So initially I like this device over the G1 it feels more solid, smaller, looks more expensive and has a 3.5mm headphone socket, BUT it does lack the physical QWERTY and a dedicated camera button! how will I cope??
The Device Boots:
And so it begins, set up on the Hero is a little more than just giving the device your Gmail account, the Hero wants more, it wants your FaceBook details, your Flickr details and your Twitter details I’ll go into that in more detail later, in order to really test the device I want to use it just as I did the G1 although that will be limited due to the fact I was running the G1 as a Dev phone which was rooted and I ran the apps from the SD this option isn’t open to me yet with the Hero. Realising that the Hero comes bundled with a paltry 2GB micro SD I will need the 8GB card out of the G1, which will need formatting before being used, I also don’t want to lose the bundled items from the supplied 2GB card so I will have to copy them across too.
On the supplied 2GB card is HTC Sync a piece of software to install on your PC which will allow synchronisation with Outlook on the PC something I haven’t used since Google came along and I can sync, contacts & calendar OTA to both the Hero and the Bold so I haven’t installed HTC sync yet, though I will if only to see what it is all about. As well as the sync software the full Hero manual can be found in PDF format, and a few sample images, a video and quite a bit of music.
Setting up the home screen is far better with all the HTC niceness that comes bundled with the Hero there are far more widgets to choose from including the original Google widgets which to be honest would look out of place if you were to implement any of these. From HTC we have the Bookmarks widget with a choice of 2 styles, the Calendar widget again with 2 styles, the Clock widget with 12 styles to choose from, Footprints with 2 styles, Mail & Messages widgets with 1 style each, the Music widget with 2 styles, People, Photo Album & Photo Frame widgets with 1 style each, HTC’s own search widget, Settings widgets including Airplane Mode, Bluetooth, GPS, Mobile Network & WiFi, there is a lot a choice of 3 styles of Stock widgets, 2 styles of Tweeter widgets and 3 styles of Weather widgets.
With all that choice it is very quick to get the 7 screens set-up to run just how you want it to, but what if you choose the larger widgets which occupy the 1 whole screen, you can quickly find yourself running out of space, this is where scenes comes into play to start with HTC gives you 5 scenes HTC, Social, Work, Play & Travel there is then a clean slate option and you can create and save scenes of your own as well as making changes to one of HTC’s pre built scenes and saving your changes! So really the choices are endless.
I also had a list of Apps I wanted to bring over to the Hero, a few apps were crossed off the list immediately, as the Hero comes bundled with a Twitter client “Peep” which is suspiciously like Twidroid I will no longer need that, “Peep” also has it’s own Twitter widget so I will no longer need Twidgit, I would still like to use Twidgit but I don’t think HTC want me too as it doesn’t appear on the market on the Hero yet it does on the G1! As the Hero also links to your Flickr account I won’t need any of the 2 Flickr apps I have previously paid for, another app is weather I had a few running on the G1 but the Hero’s weather widget kicks ass so I no longer need any of those! I can no longer use any of the apps that required root so they can go! Although the messaging app on the Hero is quite nice and has it’s own widget I have grown to like Handcent SMS which brings a lot of good options to the device, such as a pop up for new SMS, text to speech, bubble style chat, and repeat notifications to name a few. Unfortunately I don’t have a choice to link the messages widget to to handcent app which is a shame, it also shows HTC is flexing it’s muscles over what you can and can’t do but I am sure the Dev’s will get around that little problem in time. Another app I really like is a simple app, Scrobble Droid which basically scrobbles your played music to last.fm but it doesn’t work with HTC’s music app, though the developer of Scrobble Droid assures me he is looking into this.
So with all the apps I want now installed and running I have noticed none of the sluggishness I had on the G1, though to be fair HTC has taken over the jobs I had previously used apps for so I should imagine the memory management will now be better.
Time to test the keyboard:
I have had HTC’s keyboard on the G1 for a while so that was nothing new to me, the responsiveness on the other hand was, using the onscreen keyboard on the G1 could be frustrating at times yet on the Hero it is a breeze using a similar correction system as the iPhone it works really well, in fact it’s very impressive, one thing fixed over the G1 is the edge of screen responsiveness has been tweaked which means pressing the keys closer to the edge now works! Whichever way you use the keyboard whether it be with one finger in portrait or both thumbs in landscape it is a joy to use. Sure I’ll miss the G1′s qwerty but I certainly don’t need it and if not having it gives me a sturdier device and shaves a few mm off it’s bulk then so be it!
No Camera key???
So there is no dedicated camera key, hmmmm so I can’t start the camera by pressing a physical key? but I can place numerous icons on the screen! using the trackball is surprisingly comfy and having the ability to zoom in and out with the same thumb is just genius, again those reporting using the trackball as awkward and nearly dropping the device you are holding it wrong and you have 2 hands don’t you? use them!!!
The camera itself is pretty good, no LED is a bit of a let down but lets remember this is a phone if I want to take shots in the dark I have a few digital cameras for that! as I mentioned before the zoom and shoot key are handled by the trackball which works well, if it doesn’t now give it a short while and it will my thumb hasn’t slipped using the trackball for well over a year now as it is the same unit used in BlackBerry Smartphones I have had a bit of practice! In fact the same zoom/shoot setup using the trackball is used on BlackBerry though they have the camera key as well.
So we got a 3.5mm socket:
This means I can use my Shure’s with the device which can only be a good thing as the bundled headphones are pretty poor, no volume control to be found just forward/back & play/pause yeah that is more than the Shure’s have but I’d rather have no remote and proper sound!
Hopefully HTC will bring out a nice set of headphones with an in-line remote and a 3.5mm socket just after. The location of the socket works well for me too I prefer to have the socket at the top as it feels better in the pocket.
Final word (for now)
So is the Hero an iPhone killer? No it isn’t!
Why oh why do we have to have that question asked all the time?? why does the iPhone need to be killed off?? surely that would be for the worse!
What we have is a bloody good device in it’s own rights, sure it shares similarities with the iPhone but people seem to forget we had touchscreen phones long before the iPhone!
The Hero is a good alternative for those who want to use an up and coming OS, for those who don’t want to sign away their soul to O2 for an iPhone, for those who are sick of Nokia feeding them S60 which they have done for a good few years now, for those who are fed up of the archaic Windows Mobile which is still essentially the same OS I was using nearly 10 years ago on my Hewlett Packard Jornada.
I certainly don’t regret getting the Hero and doubt I will, OK there will be newer and better devices out, some using the new Snap Dragon processor but for now I’m a happy chappy!
I will be adding more to the Blog as I individually test out apps on the Hero so keep tuned!
