Review Archive

  • iPhone app review: GoodReader

    iPhone app review: GoodReader

    One of the things I've always wanted to do with my smartphone -- whether it was my original Palm Treo 650, or my current iPhone -- was to read books while on-the-go. Unfortunately, the screens on these smartphones have all been way too small to make reading comfortable for anything more than a screenful or two. Even reading long email messages can be a strain on my eyes. It doesn't help that many e-books are formatted for a full screen, so they require vertical and horizontal scrolling to read. Thankfully, GoodReader exists, and only costs a buck.

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  • Review: BugMe for iPhone

    Review: BugMe for iPhone

    I'm not a Getting Things Done kind of guy. I've never understood people who live and die by their Franklin Planners. I've never understood the huge proliferation of scheduling and reminder applications for the various computing platforms I've used over the years. I'll reveal my secret at the end, but for now we're going to take a look at BugMe, a reminder application now available for the iPhone.

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  • App review: MailTones

    App review: MailTones

    So you've been using your iPhone for a couple months or years now. You might be addicted to your iPhone. Even if you're not addicted, chances are that you have a stock of applications on which you rely heavily. Without a doubt, the single most useful application on my iPhone, and the one I use constantly throughout the day, is email. I live by email, and I read and compose email messages far more often than I make actual phone calls with my phone. To preserve my sanity, I've disabled the notification sound for new emails: if I hadn't, my phone would be making noise pretty constantly throughout the day. But that's not an ideal situation, because there are times when I do want to be notified of an important new email. Enter MailTones, an application that allows you to set custom alert tones, and makes good use of Apple's push notifications.

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  • Review: Sprint Overdrive 3G/4G WiFi hotspot

    Review: Sprint Overdrive 3G/4G WiFi hotspot

    Short Version: The Sprint Overdrive is a small, compact portable 3G/4G cellular data network to WiFi dongle designed for use by up to five people simultaneously. The best part is the ease of use and the worst part is the dearth of 4G networking outside of a few major cities. Features: Internal, replaceable battery Front OLED screen Sprint 4G [...]

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  • LG GW300 impressions

    LG GW300 impressions

    LG's kept our thumbs busy over the last few days with its GW300 -- a 2G featurephone with a portrait QWERTY keyboard, a first from LG that joins the likes of Samsung's CorbyTXT and Freeform along with INQ's Chat 3G. O2 UK offers this phone with just a standalone price of £78.29 ($129) with a minimum £10 ($16.50) initial top-up, but little is known about US availability for now. Either way, there's no harm in pointing your sexy eyes to our review just in case something happens tomorrow. Go ahead -- you know where to click.

    Continue reading LG GW300 impressions

    LG GW300 impressions originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Verizon Samsung Omnia II impressions

    Verizon Samsung Omnia II impressions

    When the Omnia II first appeared on our radar, two things caught our attention: TouchWiz 2.0 and Windows Mobile 6.5. To be honest, neither of these items really piqued our interest: we knew what to expect from WinMo and had serious reservations about Samsung's latest and greatest UI. That said, we were more than willing to suspend judgement until we saw her in action. With bullet points that include a 3.7-inch AMOLED display, 800MHz processor, and 8GB storage (before you even get to your microSD card), one could honestly hold out hope for a pretty decent product. Did the handset make for a satisfying, well-rounded smartphone? Or did it just find new ways of repeating the same old errors? You'll have to read on to find out.

    Continue reading Verizon Samsung Omnia II impressions

    Verizon Samsung Omnia II impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Review: TomTom Car Kit for iPhone and iPod Touch

    Review: TomTom Car Kit for iPhone and iPod Touch

    Short Version $219.94. The price says it all. The TomTom Car Kit is great; it works perfectly, and I loved using it. In fact, I wish I could keep the review unit that TomTom sent me. That said, would I ever spend 2 bills and change on it? Mayyyybe, but it’s unlikely. A standalone TomTom [...]

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  • Samsung Behold II review

    Samsung Behold II review


    It was but a year ago that Samsung graced us with the original Behold. At the time it was more or less positioned to win the hearts of folks who wanted a luscious touchscreen but had no real truck with smartphones. So what do we have here? With the Behold II, the company has switched things up a bit: instead of a respectable feature phone, you not only get Android 1.5, but a 3.5mm headphone jack and WiFi as well. At least this shows that Sammy has been paying attention! Still, a couple questions come to mind: how does this one compare to the original? And how does it stack up as a Google Android device? Engadget has put her through the paces and our findings are sure to shock or surprise you (or maybe not). Continue reading below.

    Continue reading Samsung Behold II review

    Samsung Behold II review originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • HTC HD2 review

    HTC HD2 review

    digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gadgets/HTC_HD2_review_Engadget'; When Microsoft finally launched Windows Mobile 6.5 earlier this year, there may have been lots of fanfare, but there was little honest excitement. After a tepid showing at MWC in Barcelona followed by the proper launch this October, no one was exactly up in arms over the OS, though support from the big M's partners was characteristically plentiful. Still, there was nary a ray of light to be seen in the otherwise bleak and basic landscape of handset offerings... until the HD2 came along. In August of this year, HTC showed off what seemed to be one of the few Windows Mobile devices capable of generating honest enthusiasm. The massive, full touchscreen device boasts impressive specs: a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, a generous 4.3-inch, 800 x 480 capacitive WVGA touchscreen display, a 5 megapixel camera, GPS, and lots of other bells and whistles. But the centerpiece here isn't the hardware, it's HTC's totally revamped user interface, Sense, which doesn't just hide Windows Mobile 6.5 -- it all but zaps it out of existence. Sadly for Microsoft, that's the most enticing part of this equation. So, is the HD2's new face enough to quell the bad vibes of Windows Mobile and make the platform seem viable again, or is that a challenge which takes more than just a coat of paint? We've taken a hard look at the phone... so read on to find out.

    Continue reading HTC HD2 review

    HTC HD2 review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Palm Pixi reviewed on Engadget

    Palm Pixi reviewed on Engadget

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    Palm's second-ever webOS device has just landed at Engadget HQ, and naturally we put it through the paces to bring you the low-down. Is the Pixi the perfect device for those who held out on the Pre (and didn't get sucked in by the Droid)? Is the omission of WiFi really a deal-breaker (ladies)? There's really only one way to find out, and that's by clicking over to our review right here.

    Palm Pixi reviewed on Engadget originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • BlackBerry Bold 9700 hands-on and impressions

    BlackBerry Bold 9700 hands-on and impressions

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    RIM's successor to the original Bold -- the BlackBerry Bold 9700 -- has finally landed on our doorsteps. The 9000 is in many ways a hard act to follow. Hardware-wise, it lived up to its name, going where most phones never went with its retro, leathery, nearly clunky looks in an age of rounded edges and shiny curves. Don't get us wrong -- we loved the 9000's aesthetics obsessively -- which is why we couldn't wait to get our hands on its newborn child. A few questions we had in mind: would the 9700 live up to its predecessor's notoriously uncompromising fashion sense? Would the new Bold feel as good to hold and use in the hand as its loving parent? How would it stack up against other, new devices from RIM? If these are the kind of questions you think you might want answers to, read on for our impressions.

    Continue reading BlackBerry Bold 9700 hands-on and impressions

    BlackBerry Bold 9700 hands-on and impressions originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Motorola DROID review on Engadget!

    Motorola DROID review on Engadget!

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    It's finally here: the Motorola DROID, perhaps the most hotly-anticipated Android smartphone yet. We've been poring over every nook and cranny of this svelte QWERTY slider, and our full review is up on Engadget Classic -- so what are you waiting for? Hit the read link and dive right in!

    Motorola DROID review on Engadget! originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Samsung Moment review

    Samsung Moment review

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    In the world of Android, it's not yet clear who's going to come out victorious -- QWERTY sliders or their keyboardless brethren -- but does there really need to be a winner? We say there's room for just about everyone in this open-source party, and Sprint is starting to round out its Android offerings by introducing the keyboard-equipped Samsung Moment to saddle up alongside the the HTC Hero that was released a few weeks ago. In the scheme of things, the platform is still extraordinarily young which means that virtually every new handset that's announced brings "firsts" to the table; in the Moment's case, it's both the first Android device with an 800MHz ARM11 core and the first Android QWERTY phone with an AMOLED display (you'd have to go back to another Sammy, the Galaxy, to find the first AMOLED Android phone regardless of input method).

    Being able to stuff Android, AMOLED, QWERTY, and 800MHz all into one sentence certainly sounds like a winning combination, but does the Moment deliver? Let's find out.

    Continue reading Samsung Moment review

    Samsung Moment review originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Jabra STONE Bluetooth headset review

    Jabra STONE Bluetooth headset review

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    Finally, the teaser's over. The latest delivery to Engadget's UK penthouse is the Jabra STONE Bluetooth headset due out in the US on 8th November, and we took no time to extract the pebble from the transparent cylinder. In front of us are the two parts of the STONE: an earpiece of a breakthrough form factor that instantly makes you pity its rivals, and behind it is the accompanying portable charging base which serves as an external battery. The latter is equipped with a micro-USB port and an LED indicator -- simply green or red -- to show whether there's enough battery juice for one full charge. It's a pretty neat idea as this is the only feasible way to fit eight hours of talk time (or twelve days of standby time) into such tiny package: two on the earpiece and an extra six from the surprisingly light battery base -- our scale reckons it is just under one ounce. We also dig the auto-off function when you dock the earpiece and vice versa. Docking and undocking are pretty straight forward too: just snap in for the former, and poke your thumb through the bottom hole of the base to push the earpiece out. The generic click button hidden under the Jabra badge is easy to access and responds well. Above that is the invisible vertical touch strip for volume control and similarly it responded nicely to our strokes. What's left on the earpiece are the two LED indicators on the underside for Bluetooth connectivity and battery. So far so good, but what really matters is the ear-on experience and the audio quality -- listen for yourself after the break.

    Jabra STONE Bluetooth headset review originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • LG BL40 New Chocolate review

    LG BL40 New Chocolate review

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    You know the deal by now: we grab a slab of fresh new hardware, fiddle, play, and tinker with it until exhaustion or boredom is reached, then wax poetic about the whole experience, with a side serving of pictures and videos thrown in. Today's candidate for a grilling is LG's BL40, which is now available in Europe. You'll be familiar with it already from our hands-on look last month, but do join us past the break where we explore what's under the glossy hood in more detail, and give you a definitive answer on just how useful that elongated screen really is.

    Continue reading LG BL40 New Chocolate review

    LG BL40 New Chocolate review originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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