An informative video by Gadget Video Reviews that compares Google’s new phone (manufactured by HTC) with the iPhone. Straight, to-the-point, and fills you in with what you’re really after.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6UL9uUxwEU

Although you’ll never be able to fully judge until you get your hands on one of Google’s new boys, it is useful to have a broad idea. The one aspect that I am particularly concerned about is the touch screen of the Nexus One. If it cannot match the intuitive scrolling of its Californian counterpart, then Google might have a bit of work to do before it can grab a market share of any significance.

The iPhone and iPod Touch application store just got bigger and better. Ping! is a new service emulating the BBM feature of Blackberrys. The idea is simple: instead of using SMSs which are costly across borders, and instead of using an IM (like Skype, MSN, etc.) which are standalone applications, require you to log in and out, and eat away the already deficient battery, Ping! gives you free instantaneous iPhone to iPhone messaging.

If you download the application, you choose a username, and that will be your identification. When you would like to send a message to anyone with Ping! installed anywhere in the globe, you will be using an interface that is just like that of the SMS, but instead of typing in the phone number, you’ll punch in the name. The message gets sent immediately, and the recipient receives an instant notification that he or she has a message waiting for him to read (just like an SMS).

As if an SMS

What happens is that you are not charged by your carrier, because the message is sent using the network’s 3G (or whichever internet connection your are on). Since the message is simple text, the bytes sent are minimal, and thus the cost is close to nothing. After that, instead of having an IM open, you have this application running, but it does not consume any resources. It’s sole function is to provide you with a “push” notification as soon as a message is received. Therefore, you’re not charged for an SMS, using minimal iPhone (or iPod Touch with wifi) resources, and you exchange messages that are identical to SMSs, but are absolutely free!

Ping! conversation

It was quite the genius idea behind the Blackberry, and it was anything but a bad one to bring the same technology to the iPhone. The application is currently free (for a limited time), and is not expected to be too pricey when it goes commercial. Wouldn’t be nice to have the same technology, but applied to VOIP, allowing users to make free calls at anytime, anywhere in the world? Perhaps only a matter of time.

UPDATE: Credit to my good friend Reem Abulleil for bringing the subject to my attention, and recommending me to write up a post about it. You can visit her Tennis Blog, TV Blog, or follow her on Twitter: @ReemAbulleil.

It could take a considerable amount of time to get properly acquainted with Twitter, but it takes no time to fall in love with it. Regardless of what this Web 2.0 revolution was originally made for, it’s current uses surpass those of the most optimistic of the Twitter founders. A huge factor behind its success in reaching and recruiting millions is its flexible API, permitting anyone to develop software on different platforms that communicate with the service and display it differently, allowing users to interact on a much more profound level.

In a previous article, I briefly discussed the four main methods of communicating with Twitter. The one category that is arguably the most important, since it gives Twitter its unique edge, is that of mobile applications. Tweeting and following other people’s tweets regardless of location is an amazing experience, taking the communication between the diverse crowds to a different level. From this pickle spins off the debate: Which is the best Twitter application for your mobile?

Before answering the question, it is necessary to note that there are various platforms on which mobile applications are built, and unlike libraries such as AIR for the desktop, they don’t tend to be available and consistent across all mobile OSs. There are those who own an iPhone, and have had no problem using the “web device” to access Twitter via the 3.5″ screen and the numerous iPhone applications. On the other hand, there is a minority who are so oblivious to the constant failure of the the Windows operating system on desktops, that they chose to take on the hellish torture with them on the road. Aside from the growing Android-based community, many of the main stream cell phone owners are running a recent version of Symbian or Symbian OS (learn more at the symbian.org FAQ page).

Until recently, Twibble was without a doubt one of the best free Twitter mobile applications. Judging by the number of downloads and the fine print associated with many of the tweets, few were unaware of it, and many fully relied on it. That is, of course, until the German makers decided to force users to pay in order to “activate” their accounts and enjoy full features. If you chose not to, besides the annoying announcements getting in your way, you’d be stripped of some of the striking features that had previously attracted an enormous user base.

Let the research for replacements begin.

The following are the common characteristics that the average twitterer would seek:

• Access to many tweets within the same page, and fitting at least two or three within the screen size
• The ability to easily tweet, retweet and reply. As well as the ability to view direct messages and mentions
• Searching hash tags, in order to follow topics on the road (usually precisely related to being on the road, for example: #cairotraffic)
• View people’s profiles, revealing the numbers of following and followers

Some advanced users might be greedy and demand features such as the ability to follow and unfollow others directly, creating groups to show tweets from certain people only, and viewing a complete list of people you are following, as well as those who follow you. It is of my humble opinion that this might be too much to ask from an application running on the basic processors of cell phones, and displaying on the tiny screens attached. For that reason, the goal is to focus on the applications that cover the main points mentioned above, taking anything extra as a plus.

From a long list of Twitter applications available across all mobile and hand-held devices, the following are the creme de la creme.

Snaptu

Snaptu logo

Snaptu is a free mobile application that acts as a platform for many apps and services to be built upon. It could be seen as a mini operating system, or a collection of programs that are accessed from its dashboard after opening it. Funny enough, Twitter is but another one of a handful of applications available, but it might just be the most important one. In fact, using Snaptu exclusively for Twitter is indeed worthwhile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukM9bORGHYE

A bit boring, but informative nonetheless.

Twitter on Snaptu offers all of the basic features, in addition to the following:

• Search: People as well as hash tags. It also saves your search, so you don’t have to write in the hash tag every time
• Group people: Only thought to be available through desktop applications, but the guys at Snaptu bring this impressive functionality to your mobile phone
• Attach images: After taking a photo with the camera on your phone, you can locate it on your memory and attach it to a tweet
• Follow and unfollow: You can select to start following people, and you can view a full list of those following you, or anyone else for that matter

Most importantly, the interface of Snaptu’s Twitter is both very attractive/sleek, and efficient at the same time. The size of the image thumbnails associated with each person is adjusted to not take too much space, while still being visible. It also loads the off-screen tweets on demand, significantly improving performance and reducing the load on the network you’re on (which isn’t always as cheap as we would like it to be).

The major turn off for anyone looking to migrate to Snaptu is its lack of support for Arabic (as well as other scripts). Unfortunately, it is impossible to read the tweets that are written in Arabic, making it a no-no for many-a-twitterers.

Tweets60

Tweets60

Tweets60 is another free Twitter client for any phone running the S60 operating system (a full list of phones that run S60 found here). It is the ideal solution for those who don’t break too much sweat on the extra features, and in fact prefer a simplistic approach. Tweets60 is an example of a mobile application that carries out all of the basic tasks, while maintaining a clean interface making it easy to manage.

This is how it looks on the Nokia E71:

Tweets60 on Nokia E71

The biggest advantage over a strong candidate such as Twitter on Snaptu is its native support for Arabic. It’s small, light-weight, and displays the Arabic tweets. While there’s a crowd that view that combination as ideal, many could be pushed away by the lack of features and functionality, as well as the dull interface.

Twibble

Twibble goes commercial

At 4,90 Euros, the former number one has exchanged it’s title for a familiar “if you can’t beat’em, join’em”. In all fairness, it is not too much to ask for, but it still results in an inevitable feeling of betrayal when your favorite Twitter application on your cell phone goes commercial over night and forces you to pay to essentially continue using it. It only take a day’s following of the #twibble hash tag to view the furious comments by users from all corners of the globe.

While very powerful, Twibble does not offer all of the functionality found in Snaptu, but it does offer features on top of the basic needs of a twitterer. Indeed it becomes easy to follow hash tags, handle tweets, browse attached URLs and read/write messages.

Above all, Twibble supports Arabic, making it the ideal solution that has taken the best of both worlds, as it offers a large portion of the goodies produced by Snaptu, while being light-weight and properly rendering Arabic tweets.

But it’s not free.

Regardless of the fact that it is priced at a humble 5 Euros (even when ignoring the fact that many people in the Arab world do not have paypal accounts to pay the Germans and use their application), having to pay for something that bring its beauty from Twitter’s free API leaves anyone with a feeling of guilt for investing. Using Twitter, regardless of the platform, application, or motivation behind it, should always be free.

Conclusion

Unless many of the tweets are written in Arabic, you can fully rely on Snaptu and keep Tweets60 on the side for those tweets that you want to be able to read. Otherwise, you might just need to shell out a fiver from Europe and be a legitimate owner of a commercial twitter application on your mobile phone. I personally use Snaptu regularly, and only open Tweets60 whenever there are a series of consecutive tweets that were written in Arabic that I happened to be interested in (and cannot wait until I’m at a desktop). As for Twibble, I’m not even considering paying for a service, regardless of how powerful it is. Soon, there will be open-source mobile apps for Twitter, and Android seems like a strong candidate to set the stage, and let the people act out the play.

One of the biggest advantages of the latest generation of cell phones and hand-held devices is the ability to browse any websites, check your e-mail, follow your RSS feeds, etc. While there are mobile devices, such as the iPhone, that are pay particular attention to the user’s experience with the web, the huge majority leave you the option without encouraging you to fully exploit it. For that reason, I’ve put together a quick tutorial on how to take full advantage of the web-surfing capability on your mobile running, running Windows Mobile or Symbian. I am using the Nokia E71 (which I’ve reviewed many months after, as well as compared to lower-end counterparts), but the process is the same for most phones of the same category.

Connectivity

Although 3G Internet access has become significantly cheaper, it is still more economical, as well as rapid, to access the web via wifi whenever available. Therefore, if at a wifi hotspot, it is imperative that you take advantage of the connection and add it to your list of regulars. Aside from free wireless connections, the average telecommunications provider automatically detects the type of phone, and sends a configuration file in shape of an SMS to get your mobile phone on the net in no time. As a result, whenever you open the browser that comes built in, you are prompted to select the access point of choice. Having said that, it is a bit of an inconvenience to make the choice every time, and the process because repetitive and rather tedious.

Birdstep: Makers of SmartConnect

The solution is a free software available for most called SmartConnect from Birdstep. It carries out a simple task that could save you infinite time and energy. It allows you to create connection groups where you place your preferred access points, and then allows you to move them up and down the priority list. Logically, you would place all of the wifi networks of the places where you are frequently located, followed by the 3G connection from your provider. You can name the group any unique name, such as MyConnections.

After that, any program on your phone that accesses the internet can be configured to make the smart choice. Simply access the settings area of each, and make the default network of connection the group that you created (in this case, MyConnections – yes it appears as a network connection, even though it is merely a group of favorite connections, and that’s the beauty of SmartConnect).

As a result, whenever you access the Web, you will always be automatically on the free wifi if available, or your 3G network if not, without having to answer any questions or calculate the possibilities.

Browsing the web requires a good browser

Now that you’re on the right connection, you will notice that it is not very convenient to use your phone regularly for surfing, even if it’s via a free wifi connection. The reason being that with a small screen and limited functionality, you immediately realize that nothing’s worth so much sacrifice, and will consequently opt for a full browser on your computer. While the difference is too big to consider mobile browsing in any way a contender to the real deal, there are still measures that can be taken to ensure the most pleasant experience on the web.

The web browser that comes built in with the Nokia E71 and similar Symbian-based phones is not even good to be part of the past. Mainly due to the following:

• Below-par performance: takes ages to open simple text websites
• Not intuitive: no matter how much experience you have using it, you never get used to handling it
• Zoom: You can only zoom out at 50%, and you can only do so when the page is done loading. If you’re opening a large-sized website, it could take a solid few minutes before you are allowed to zoom out, when you still can’t see anything because the pages simply don’t fit
• Limited functionality: limited or no control over font size, image settings, RSS feeds, etc.

Opera Software logo

The Internet Explorer that comes with windows does not have much to brag about either (and let’s not get started on the problems of the desktop version). Needless to say, this needs to be taken care of. This is where Opera comes in. An experienced, open-source browser that has been specializing in mobile devices from the times of dial-up connections. The main advantages of the Opera browser on your mobile are the following:

• Performance: extremely fast and light-weight
• Usability: very easy to use, you become best friends at first sight
• View port: you initially get the entire website and can automatically zoom in to any section of the page. IT makes it very easy to spot info and get closer to fully view it
• Advanced options: you can control if you want to photos to be rendered at low quality (saves immense amounts of time, especially since you never notice the difference from a small display like that of your cell phone), default text size, and more

Above all, it’s free and open-source! To install Opera on your phone, simple open the default browser and go to http://www.opera.com/ and you will be automatically directed to the site optimized for mobile phones. Go to the download page and find your version (Windows or Symbian). If your phone is from a select few (the Nokia E71 included), then you can click on the corresponding link that allows you to download and install Opera Mini, which works like magic.

There you have it, the adequate connection automatically chosen and connected to on your behalf, combining with the best browser for mobile phones available, giving you the optimum solution for fully exploiting the web-surfing capability with the majority of cell phones offered through the market today.

When Google announced the open source mobile operating system, it reminded everyone of how the power of open source extends beyond desktops, it can now be experienced on the road via portable devices and mobile phones. Skeptical linux fans would’ve preferred the open-source community to come up with it first, but nevertheless, even if it is a huge corporation that set the stage, it is still the users and the penguin people that produce the play.

That has been precisely demonstrated via Dj’it, the latest and most exciting product of the Android industry, that brings a wealth of functionality and flexibility to your Android phone.

The Dj'it Application for Android

Dj’it is an application for your cell phone that turns it into a music console. It’s the ideal solution for music lovers that want to take their parties on the road, and be able to preform advanced tasks, such as composing and mixing, on the go using their mobile phone.

Whilst still in the development phase, it promises to bring live dual-track mixing directly from your music library straight from your phone. Therefore you have the ability to play different tracks in parallel, and mix between them. No need to worry about the volume levels, Dj’it automatically settles the tunes on the some tone so that the transition is smooth and seamless. Moreover, you can use your phone as a compositor to record tracks and blend them in with the ones on your phone.

Throw a party, and spin away

Even for those who love the music, but dislike the technicality behind it, Dj’it can be all fun and games, as it allows you to organize parties, locate them on the map, and invite those who will be dancing to the live DJ spins, also carried out by the Android application.

Create playlists

After sorting out your playlists and tunes, you can then share them with fellow Dj’iters and connect with them. You can also map out the locations of Dj’it parties, or send out invitations for others to join the musical revolution.

The Dj’it team, boasting developers Roberto Diaz and Gema Socorro, is based in Gran Canaria, Spain, and is taking the music console to the Android Development Challenge. You can learn more about the project through the Dj’it Facebook page.

Nokia Booklet 3G

To the surprise of many in the tech world, cellular telephony giants Nokia have announced that they will be introducing a “mini-laptop” by the name of Booklet 3G by next month. The Finnish company has come through the ranks over the years and has established itself as the king of the domain as far as cell phones and portable devices are concerned. Now they have taken it a step further with a small laptop that seems dubiously similar to the netbooks available in the market today:

• Intel Atom processor
• Ships with the new Windows 7
• 10.1″ screen
• Bluetooth, Wifi and GPS
• Card reader

Until this point, it does not seem significantly different than its counterparts produced by the likes of Acer and Asus. However, there are a couple of features that could just excite the crowd into rushing for it:

1. HDMI out means you can watch the high definition videos from your laptop on a large external HD screen
2. 3G sim slot brings the long-awaited possibility of inserting a sim card with a 3G connection and use your laptop to browse the web

In fact, there seems to be such hype on the new notebook, that the official website has been down ever since the announcement. If it does come back up, you’d be able to view it here.

It’s always good news when there’s new competition entering the market. The ability to access the internet via an integrated sim card slot is a right consumers should’ve been granted ages ago, but was not available due to the monopolies of the telecommunications companies forcing users to sign two-year contracts. However, judging by the quality of the high-end phones and portable devices produces by the Finns, it is difficult to be optimistic about the very first netbook they come up with. Yet another case of how time will tell.

It is a shocking fact of life that the telecommunications industry behaves quite differently to similar markets in terms of what is offered to the consumers. It seems like investing in a cell phone immediately places you in an awkward situation where it is not always best to throw in huge sums of money. Sometimes it is wiser to buy the cheaper product, even when you have the resources available for its top-of-the-line counterpart.

When purchasing a digital camera, the more expensive models tends to offer the stability of a few years with exceeding performance. A $400 camera will always be around five years after purchase, while a $200 model could last just half of that period, and never offer the features and functionality brought forward by the former. The same applies to notebooks. While Acers (a personal favorite) offer advanced characteristics at very reasonable prices, you cannot expect a lifetime that competes with a Sony Vaio that has cost more than double. It is generally best to invest the maximum amount possible to guarantee that you will be profiting from a significantly long lifetime, while enjoying advanced functionality.

As water-tight as the plan may seem, it is not always possible to buy the high-end products. If you can only pitch in with 700 dollars for a notebook, than you simply cannot afford the Vaio that boasts the specs that you are requiring, while brands like Acer, Dell and Toshiba satisfy your needs. Therefore, when making a purchase, you automatically place a budget depending on the maximum amount that you can pay, before you search for the best available option in that price range.

Having said that, it becomes evident that mobile phones do not follow that trend: Investing in a high end phone, means that the phone is a lot more fragile and susceptible to damage, more likely to have software failures, and will most probably disappoint you with a sorry lifetime. A cheap Nokia 1112 may not be fancy, nor will it offer any sort of eye candy, but it certainly boasts the following:

1. Very low price
2. Virtually unbreakable, survives swimming pool accidents no problem
3. Battery lasts up to a week or more
4. Never freezes, very quick software response time
5. Generally allows you to use its limited features very efficiently

Nokia 1112, your basic needs

You might not be able to browse the web or check our email, but you’ve got all of the basic functionality you would need from a cell phone. If we were to compare the Nokia 1112 with the Nokia E71 (which I had discussed in an earlier post), you would immediately notice the following:

1. Extremely expensive
2. The sound of the sea waves means it instantaneously starts falling apart
3. The battery will last up to 3 days, which is considered to be a revolution amongst similar-category phones
4. Inevitably causes software freezes and issues over time
5. It can take you ages to change settings like a ring tone, and SMSs are anything but a swift experience

Nokia E71 - bit off more than you can chew?

But it looks cooler, and gives you the possibility of doing things you never thought were possible with a small device that you keep in your pocket. To top it all off, a low-end cell phone like the Nokia 1112 will easily give you a handful of years without any problems whatsoever (and even if anything arises, it’s fixed at no cost, and on the go). On the other hand, you can consider yourself lucky to carry a high-end mobile device such as the E71 for two years, and you will have seen the best of it merely six months after purchase.

Thus, when you buy a car, bet on the best one within your desired budget. When investing in a laptop, make the most out of the money available. But when you are about to buy a cell phone, you might want to use only a small percentage of what you have available, as it could be the wiser choice.

Nokia E71

Whenever a cell phone is introduced to the market (and sometimes before it’s even out), the web gets swamped with reviews of all sorts. There is a constant competition to bring out the informative, comprehensive review that helps the consumer decide if he or she is willing to invest or not. Analysts who beat the crowd in offering a quality review consequently drive immense traffic to their website or blog, and their visitors exponentially boom as they show up in high positions in search-engine results. I was interested in analyzing the performance and reliability months after purchasing Nokia’s E71, because that is the real measurement of how successful the product is.

I purchased the Nokia E71 around New Year’s, and have been heavily relying on it ever since. Looking back, things seem very different than when I first chose to make the investment. To start off, let’s look back at what was said or reviewed when the iPhone 3G competitor hit the shelves:

• Nokia’s official webste (for reference, not opinion)
• The Boy Genius Report review
• The Engadget Mobile review
• The All About Symbian review

To summarize what everyone agreed on at the time:

1. Design: Sexy as hell
2. Size/Weight: Small, slim, sleek
3. Screen: Good quality, OK size
4. Keyboard: After getting used to it, very efficient
5. Connectivity: Offers everything you need (wifi, bluetooth, etc.)
6. Sound: Crisp and clear
7. Battery: Outstanding
8. Camera: Not great, but gets the job done

Nokia E71 White

Mainly, it was the phone that meets all of your needs. You can use it to organize your appointments, place reminders, use the office applications to open and edit documents, install software and further functionality and much more.

The sad but true story is that after owning the phone for a while, even if it was as revolutionary as Che Guevara when it came out, your appreciation towards what used to be strong points inevitably deflates. That is only normal. Subjectively, the following are the initial advantages that turned sour with time:

• Screen: After a while, you came to realize that the display is simply way too small. It is difficult to view any sort of image or video effectively. Besides, going through numbers or writing an email is quite the challenge, let alone editing an office document
• Keyboard: I’ll admit I don’t treat my cell phone like a girlfriend, but I still keep it relatively protected. However, the letter “z” fell off, and I keep relying on using a key to door push the button when it’s absolutely necessary (I’d change it, but I’m currently in Paris and they still believe that they have the right to stick to the AZERTY keyboards. Even if they had QWERTY keyboards, they wouldn’t have the Arabic alphabet, thus I’ll have to wait until I’m back in Cairo). It’s relatively easy to type, but I still cannot get the grip on using “shift” and the “function” button (the one that allows you to type numbers or punctuations). You’d think I would get comfortable with that by now
• Connectivity: It is very easy to fool yourself into thinking that you will be connecting with Bluetooth regularly. The fact of the matter is that it’s a number of buttons away, and eats up the battery. Added to the fact that the screen isn’t ideal for viewing images or documents anyway, it’s become somewhat impractical. The wifi is slow, just like with any portable device. Only whenever there’s a long wifi key (the typical default password that comes with new routers) it repeatedly fails to connect
• Sound: After one trip to the beach, and for a period of at least a month, the sound would randomly become bizarre. It would become distorted and very distanced. A couple of months later, however, it went back to normal
• Camera: Honestly, I would’ve rather payed $100 less and not had a camera at all. It has been completely useless. Between the horrible quality, the small screen, and the limited storage (no one’s willing to keep changing Micro SD cards), it has become a waste of space
• Calendar & ToDos: After the first week, I did not use it once. It is not intuitive and seems like a bit of a hassle. Perhaps there are people who would argue that they rely on it, but personally, I don’t use the E71 for the organization of any appointments or tasks
• GPS: The map that ships in is somewhat sluggish. But then again, that also depends on the network you are on. Either way, the screen is too small to be able to comfortably navigate with maps (no to mention that in a place like Egypt, the maps are far from complete or accurate)

Moreover, I rarely use it to listen to music (needs special earphones, the protective sponge around the ear plug’s very sharp edges have fallen off, making it a painful experience to listen to music!). The worst of all is that, after that one trip to the sandy beach, the keyboard gets stuck sometimes typing away random letters and numbers, making it impossible to send any SMS. This problem comes and goes, but thankfully, hasn’t popped up in a while. The issue should completely cease to exist upon changing the keyboard for a new one.

There are a couple of advantages that have held strong, standing out even more:

• Battery: Surprisingly enough, the battery still lasts for up to four days! With constant phone calls and internet usage, it still lives for up to 2.5 days. Something that has saved a lot of hassle
• Email: It remains an easy and efficient way to view and reply to emails. This also relies on the rates by the telecommunication providers, but that aside, communication is generally easy
• Fring: Depending on the speed and quality of the 3G network you are using, the E71 allows you to make VOIP calls using your skype account and credit. This can be achieved via Fring, a free software that runs natively on Symbian and is (generally) easy to use

Fring adds some powerful functionality

It is easy to overestimate the value of a given product, and it is even easier to overlook the negative possibilities that lie ahead. Looking back, albeit with hindsight, I would say that the Nokia E71 has somewhat disappointed, but continues to be a successful investment. However, I would not recommend purchasing the E71 if any of the following apply:

• You do not have access to accessories and parts: Some things are bound to fail, and it is easy and cheap to replace them. However, without access to a store that could do that for you, the value of the mobile phone somewhat deteriorates
• You would like to constantly listen to music: The media player is not intuitive, and the headphones that come with it do not last very long. You are better off with an iPhone 3G or something more media-oriented
• Office documents are vital: Not the most efficient of phones when it comes to dealing with Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents.

If none of the previous points apply to you, baring in mind that over time, some advantages deteriorate, the E71 might be a wise choice. All in all, it is important to note that a good 40% of the features that ship with the cell phone will not be used at any point in time. While they do not consume much space, and do not interfere, they inevitably pressure you into thinking that the E71 is the appropriate choice thanks to the increased functionality. If you are looking for a cell phone that is small and light, relatively cheap, displays email and web pages, and has a very respectable battery, the Nokia E71 becomes an evident choice. Otherwise, the market does not stop bringing forward competitors of all sorts, you’ll certainly find your match.