Omio News Blog

HTC Touch2 Revealed: Ushers New Generation Of Windows Phones

Following yesterday’s news of a global Windows Mobile 6.5 release on October 6th, the first Windows Phone made with it in mind will see a day and date simultaneous release – the HTC Touch2.

Building on HTC’s expertise with Microsoft’s mobile operating systems, the Touch2 will see full integration with the myriad of new features and functions promised in the 6.5 update, including the new Windows Marketplace, MyPhone data backup service and an improved user interface. Microsoft Exchange, Google Maps, a revamped Internet Explorer browser with Flash support and integrated YouTube access will all be on board.

The original HTC Touch may have wowed in its day, but the TouchFLO interface pioneered by the Taiwanese manufacturer has made the Touch2 a much easier device to use on a daily basis, enhanced by the phone and mail functionality of Windows Mobile.

As a device, the Touch2 shares much of the design cues found in the HTC Touch Diamond2 with a 2.8″ touch display, a 3.2 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0.

“The HTC Touch2 delivers a familiar touch experience that millions of people have come to expect and rely on from HTC in their daily lives,” said Peter Chou, Chief Executive Officer, HTC Corporation.

The HTC Touch2 will be available from October 6th in selected markets, with a wider roll out in other territories during the course of Q4 2009.

Source: TechRadar

HTC Touch Diamond 2 Review Online!

PocketPC.ch have scored another coup for the Germans today, as in addition to the LG blog’s (accidental) Viewty Smart leak, this site has managed to write up a pretty in-depth HTC Touch Diamond 2 review.

With an unboxing, a size comparison to the Diamond and Touch HD, as well as plenty of “fotos und videos“, they’ve certainly gone the extra mile to give HTC’s first big phone of 2009 a thorough going over!

The Touch Diamond 2′s 3.2″ WVGA screen is definitely this sequel’s stongest selling point, and the 5 megapixel camera and an improved touch interface serve to make the handset a great example of combining striking looks with intuitive controls.

So, brush up on your GCSE German and have a look!

UK release date? Unsure, but with a SIM-free Touch Diamond 2 already available from retailer DeviceWire for £450, the wait cannot be long!

Source: CoolSmartPhone

Samsung Gets Touchy With Ultra Touch, Omnia HD and Beat DJ

Samsung was in a positive mood, with a sweet selection of touch based handsets to sample at their sumptuous press conference.

First up was flying in the face of the current economic situation, confident that they will continue to increase their market share well into 2009.

What was their secret weapon? Touchscreens, and lots of them!

Based on the tenet of ‘one product does not fit all,’ Samsung’s new range of touch handsets cater to consumers’ needs in a variety of lifestyles.

First up, the Samsung S8300 Ultra Touch (or ‘Tocco Ultra‘, depending on who you ask!) combines the best full touch user experience and alphanumeric keypad. We’ve already covered this handset in detail with our Samsung Tocco Ultra announcement post, but it was still really nice to see the handset in the flesh! Available at the end of this month, we have some awesome pics and video of the Tocco Ultra to follow…

Next up was the Samsung Omnia HD, which was a very impressive handset in all respects! Able to shoot video in 720p, able to stream hi-def content to your television over DNLA and sporting a glorious 3.7″ touchscreen display, the Omnia HD was a welcome sequel to a popular phone.

Conspicuous in it’s absence was Windows Mobile on this new Omnia, with Samsung opting for a reskinned TouchWiz version of Symbian S60 Version 5. Was WinMo a little too sluggish to keep up with the HD, or just an amicable parting for the two? We’ll find out when we interview Samsung’s UK General Manager later in the week!

Anyway…the Omnia HD also comes equipped with an 8 megapixel camera, wi-fi, Bluetooth and USB support, and will be available in both 8GB and 16GB versions, just like the original.

The Omnia HD is earmarked for a Q2 2009 release.

The Samsung M7600 Beat DJ was…different. Reminiscent of a jukebox but functioning like a DJ’s decks (kind of), the M7600 grabs the ‘music functionality in a phone’ aspect with both hands and proceeds to autotune it to death!

With audio supplied by Bang & Olufsen ICEPower, you know the bass output is nice, but the extra scratching and vocals you can add onto the preset ‘beats’ are the most slammin’ feature!

The entire touch based interface, called Disc UI, operates on the same circular structure the phone is designed around making navigation a lot of fun, and just like using a fancy classic iPod!

The Samsung M7600 Beat DJ is no lazy remixer when it comes to specs, with a proximity sensor to turn the screen off when chatting to your peeps, a FM radio with RDS to listen to pirate grime stations, and of course a 3.5mm audio jack!

Look out for our video with me playing on the Ones and Twos with the Beat DJ, it makes for some pretty harrowing footage!

Alongside these three was much talk made of their green initiative, or rather ‘Blue Earth Initiative,’ complete with solar powered phone. All well and good to try and save the earth and cut emissions, but when asked about their methods for competing in the marketplace, a leading Samsung executive curtly replied “To launch lots of handsets.”

Not very planet conscious, is it? However, if they launch more like these, I think it’s a sacrifice worth making.

HTC Touch HD TouchFLO Panels For HTC Touch Pro / Diamond!

As the name doubtlessly gives away, the HTC Touch HD is very proud of the gorgeous high resolution screen that it is equipped with, and the unique TouchFLO interface was beefed up accordingly.

Taking advantage of the larger display, this version of TouchFLO 3D offered more ‘panes’, including a manager and very pretty stocks and shares checker.

Well, the new interface is no longer the preserve as (you guessed it) XDA Developers has a way of putting them onto the HTC Touch Pro and HTC Touch Diamond.

Installation is a tad complex at times (this is Windows Mobile we’re talking about), but persevere and you too can watch as your children’s inheritance becomes worthless using the TouchFLO stock pane!

New iPhone Game Makes Your Friends And Family Sick!

Dr. Awesome, MicroSurgeon M.D.

I rest my case. Any game which can take itself that humourously with a name like that gets my vote. Rather than claiming to be the game that turns your iPhone into an arcade machine or redefine gaming and your life for only £1.19, Dr. Awesome is just plain fun.

Don’t be put of by the visuals coming off as a poor copy of Phoenix Wright and Trauma Center, both seminal Nintendo DS titles. This is certainly on purpose, and the tongue-in-cheek nature continues during your tenure as Dr. Awesome!

You play the hero, and you spend your time fighting off viruses and illnesses that course through the bodies of your various patients. The difference is…you know them all! The patients are names from your iPhone’s own address book, immediately lending the game a personal air and making it a lot more amusing!

So when your next patient is wheeled in, and it says that (insert name here) has a horrible fungus in their ear which must be removed STAT, it can’t help but to raise a smile on the most jaded gamer.

The actual gameplay is familiar to anyone that has played the classic arcade game ‘Qix,’ where you have to regain control of an area by sectioning off pieces of the playfield with your device whilst dodging foreign bodies. Acquire 75% of the level, and you move onto the next stage.

The game is fairly simplistic tilt-y based action, but combined with the hilarious comic narrative and the inventive use of contacts, Dr. Awesome is worth far more than the 59p sale price they are currently charging for it.

It is the latest title from start-up ng:moco founded by former EA guy Neil Young. They are one of the new developers that have sprung up to make the most of the iPhone’s App Store. It looks like they are doing a pretty good job so far, focussing on smaller and cheaper titles rather than the epics others have tried.

The sooner developers realise that quick fix gaming is what people want on the go, not a magnum opus spanning many hours,the quicker they will profit from the App Store.

Download Dr. Awesome now from the App Store.

Android Running On The HTC Touch!

Check out this awesome video below! It shows…well, kind of blew it in the headline.

It’s slick, it works at almost full speed and aside from a few scaling issues it comes over unscathed to the HTC Touch! Only a matter of time before it gets onto the HTC Touch HD…

Nokia N97 : Nokia’s Big Announcement!

Well, the countdown counted down, revealing the touchscreen Nokia with slidey keyboard that we all dreamt of, but never thought they’d actually do!

The Nokia N97 is the first N-Series handset with a touch based interface, and also has a hinged horizontal slide out keyboard that angles the screen more like the HTC TyTN II or the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 than the HTC Touch Pro.

The N97 has been touted as a web and entertainment focused device, with a customisable online widget-based Home screen (not a million miles away from iPhone jailbreakers favourite, Intelliscreen) and support for the Nokia’s Ovi syncing/entertainment service.

The Nokia N97 features:

- a 3.5 inch (360 x 640 resolution) touchscreen with haptic feedback

- a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and a dual-LED flash

- 32GB of internal flash memory, expandable up to 48GB with a 16GB microSD card

- GPS with A-GPS and compass sensors, and a new touch-driven Nokia Maps 2.0.

-802.11b/g Wi-Fi, HSDPA, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP support for wireless headphones.

Would you like to know more? Then you’ve come to the right place! Click on!

Read more…

Win An SIM Free HTC Touch Pro : Omio Giveaway!

Omio was the very first website with an unboxing video of the HTC Touch Pro. Then we added a video review, a second video review, a Q&A session, photographs from every conceivable angle, a live interactive webcast and – to cap it all – a full text review.

To commemorate this landmark event in Omio’s history we are giving you a chance to win this year’s hottest handset (if you love Windows Mobile): the original Touch Pro with its lovely high-res screen, GPS, accelerometer and fantastic slidey-out keyboard!

All you need to do is register as a user on Omio and write a review of your current handset! If you’re lucky enough to already be a member of Omio, simply add a review of your mobile on the relevant handset page, whether you love or loathe it.

Be sure to stick your name in the entrants thread in our forum too, just so we know who’s involved in the big competition!

Our only rules are that we would like it to be your own work (no stealing), be of significant length (no haikus), and be of an acceptable quality (no spammy spam). That’s it!

The competition closes on Monday 15th December and is open to all and sundry! Join Omio here!

UPDATE: The competition is now closed, and a winner drawn! Check here to see the results of who won the HTC Touch Pro!

Apple iPhone: Over 10 Million Served…Three Months Early

At an Apple conference early last year, when Steve Jobs announced their new entry into the mobile phone market and a lofty goal of 10 million sales in 2008, many were very sceptical.

This was an industry with established titans like Nokia and Samsung, dedicated sellers who would not let such an unconventional device go unchallenged for long.

Despite the legions of iPhone killers, the flood of touch-based challengers that have been released or announced like the Samsung Tocco, the Samsung Omnia, the HTC Touch Diamond, the LG Viewty, the LG Renoir, the Samsung Pixon…none have had close to the same impact.

Even Nokia and BlackBerry have reluctantly entered the touchscreen domain, and whilst the 5800 and Storm 9500 seem like the most well equipped to dethrone the champ, is it too late to stop the charge?

With help from the revamped iPhone 3G, Apple have managed the unthinkable and reached their goal…three months early.

Looking at individual IMEI codes (a unique 15-digit handset identifier given to every single mobile phone made), the Apple Finance Board have tracked and logged 8 million handsets manufactured by early September, and all of those and many more have since been sold through. Wow.

The double whammy of the iPhone 3G and the new firmware and App Store (which I correctly predicted to be a game changer, thank you!) has worked wonders for the iPhone, breathing new life into what was considered a fad and technologically underwhelming device.

Apple performed what can now be officically coined as “doing a Nintendo,” perplexing the industry and consumers alike whilst selling lots of units through innovative ideas and application, despite what many would consider to be an inferior product. Wii Golf, anyone?

Champagne and cigars all round for Apple, methinks! As impressed as we all are with their success the big question, as ever, is “What next?”

HTC Goes Handset Crazy With Touch HD, Viva and 3G

Well played HTC. No fanfare, no leaked shaky-cam footage, they just calmly updated their official site with a triumvirate of touchscreen handsets, sat back and watched the blogosphere implode.

The HTC brand has been doing very well redoubling their efforts to penetrate the market, and these three new phones bring their range up to date in fine fashion.

The HTC Touch Viva seems to be the new entry level handset for HTC, a clean and simple design whilst providing a slight variation on TouchFLO 3D for the user interface. It is a 2G quadband handset, and whilst not having the horsepower of the other two, is still an impressive looking device.

The HTC Touch 3G is…well, just like it sounds. A truer successor to the original Touch than the Viva, the Touch 3G offers HSDPA connectivity as well as a 3.15 megapixel camera. The 2.8 inch touchscreen has handwriting recognition and the TouchFLO interface, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as well as GPS, and comes in at a svelte 96g.

The HTC Touch HD seems to be the jewel in the crown, with specs which take the device on a direct collision course with recent successes like the Samsung Omnia.

A huge 3.8 inch WVGA touchscreen, auto-rotate to work in widescreen as well as upright, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera, and the inherited TouchFLO 3D experience from the Touch Diamond and Pro give this phone an impressive pedigree.

Flourishes like the slim design, a second videocall camera, and the Xperia-matching resolution of 800×480 pixels make this a real handset to watch in the coming weeks.

The only problem is no word about pricing and availability of the trio of touchscreen lovelies, but with spy shots of the HD already out and about, they could be here sooner than you think…