So, as many of you know I’m a tiny bit of an iPhone fan. I spend a lot of time on my iPhone reading and writing emails, checking RSS feeds and all kinds of other stuff. You may also know that just a short while ago we had a review unit come in for a Pantech Matrix Pro and that came to me. I did the best I could, and while I loved the hardware, after a year+ of iPhone OS I couldn’t handle the pitfalls of WinMo… So I sent my review unit to Doug.

Doug, as all of you know is a Winmo guy. Well who knows why, but he went out and bought himself a Nokia E71 NAM around the same time I got the Pantech. As luck would have it, Doug didn’t really like S60… So here we were two people with two bits of hardware we loved but OS’s we just didn’t.

We may not be rocket scientists, but luckily it didn’t require them for us to figure out that maybe we should swap and see if that worked out better. Doug has had the Matrix Pro for a few days now so I’m sure you’ll see his impressions coming soon. I on the otherhand just got the E71 yesterday… And I’m lost.

So if you’re an S60 fan, I’d love to hear how you’re making the OS work for you. I’ve got some cool stuff setup already, but any tips and tricks you’ve got I wanna hear em…

oh… And i typed and published this whole post on the E71. The keyboard isn’t too shabby….

Posted by Wordmobi

One of the items that you’ll notice is missing from all netbooks is a CD/DVD drive and burner.  That can pose a problem if you want to install a program directly from a CD like MS Office for example.  Century unveils its 3-in-1 device:  its a stand, cooling fan, and Panasonic CD/DVD burner.  To me, this is a great add-on to have at home.  You can rip CDs, upload programs or data.  Plus, if you use a netbook as your main computer, you can burn DVDs to back-up your system.  This also is a solution to a thought I had yesterday, I just purchased the new MSI U123, and it came with a restore CD for Win XP.  Well, its a great item to have in an emergency, but how do I use it?  Century has an answer.  There are a few additional features:  2 USB ports and an internal 2.5″ SATA connector to use to add a solid state or hard drive.  I like the idea that its not just an external drive, but has other uses.  Century is a Japanese company, so the product is only available in Japan currently.  Retail price is around a $100.  With the popularity of netbooks, I bet we see this little assistant in the states soon.

Via geek.com

I’ve spent over a month with the k850 and have been quite impressed with all of the thought and care that has gone into its design. I am still a little disappointed by some camera kinks that keep it from becoming a truly fantastic camera phone.

I’m categorizing this piece as a quick look because this isn’t quite a full review. I owned a Sony Ericsson camera phone with auto-focus before, but that was four years ago, so I was eager to get my hands on this cyber-shot phone. Unfortunately, had some difficulty testing it out like I would any other phone because it was locked to Rogers and I’m a Fido user (woof!). That being the case, I’ve decided to focus this review on the hardware and cyber-shot elements of the phone.

Hit the jump for the full piece!

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I use a lot of what I like to call partially connected devices.  These would be devices which do not have a modem or 3G connectivity, but do offer wireless access.  So, I can access the Internet/email when I am near a hotspot, but not from the wilds of the train.  I have looked at several solutions which are designed to help with this problem, such as the Windows Mobile based WMWifi Router and the Cradlepoint Personal Wifi Hotspot.  Both offered a nice solution for accessing the Internet with devices like the iPod Touch from just about anywhere. 

Now, Sprint brings you yet another solution, Mifi.  The Mifi device sets up a portable hotspot all around you.  Now, in functionality, this is pretty close to the Cradlepoint device.  But the Mifi has one significant advantage, you will not need a separate mobile broadband card to use it,  Mobile broadband is built in and already available (for the usual fees, of course.) 

This is really a pretty ingenious concept which should have a few other cell phone companies scrambling to catch up.  Hit the jump for more info and to read the full press release.

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I have reviewed a number of Sony Walkman devices, including the Bluetooth enabled A820, and I have to say that I have always found them to be among the best digital music players around.  The sound quality is fantastic, and the menus are easy to navigate.  The one thing I always found lacking, however, was a touch screen.  Really, the way these menus are designed, they just scream out for a touch screen for easier interaction.  well, ask and ye shall receive, because today Sony (finally) announced the U.S. version of their latest X-series player (which has been available overseas for a few months.)  Of course, the upgrades only start with the nice, finger-friendly touch screen menus, and get better from there,  Hit the jump for the full press release.

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