Google Docs

   Good news from Google Today as they have released the Android application for their known office editor - Docs. And the same as the web application, the smartphone version is a full editor but has some extra features too. 

   So with Google Docs you can edit for free Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. With your Android device you can view Pdf documents and share any office files with contacts from your agenda. Then if you already have an office suite document in your phone, this can be uploaded and edited in the GMail account.

   The application has a home screen widget integrated which can offer instant access to three core tasks: open any starred documents, create a new document and take a photo to upload. But most wonderful and useful feature of Google Docs for Android is the scanning. If you have a text paper document, this can be scanned and will turn from a photo into an editable Word, Excel or PowerPoint through the optical character recognition system. For now this is working only for English and is not to be used for hand-written documents. But you can convert any already taken photos from your device memory as this is working as a converter. They say that will be improved in time - perhaps support for other languages will be added.

   I believe this is a great replacement for any other free office editor which can be found on Android Market but can also compete with many paid similar applications.

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Sony S2 Tablet - pictures

Sony S1 Tablet - pictures

Sony Tablets

   Sony have announced Yesterday their new products for the tablets market. There is the S1 designed and optimized for a rich multimedia entertainment experience and the S2 which is made more for mobile communication. 

   The S1 has a 9.4 inches touch screen for great web surfing and its 'off-center of gravity' design makes it comfortable in hands and easy to work with. The S2 is a more interesting product as has two 5.5 inches touch displays that can be folded for easy portability. But the twp screens are more valuable then a single big one. This is because these can also be used as two different ones. An example from Sony is to have the controls on a first display and to view the game on the second one. So I may say that S2 offers three screens in total - 2 different ones and one combined as large.

   I did not like that Sony has not released the technical specifications so far but given the fact that both are running the Android 3.0 Honeycomb I believe these have good hardware at least. An important detail is that both are PlayStation certified and according to the press announcement users can run high quality first generation games. This indicates that the hardware is not exactly a low-end one. Through Qriocity you can watch videos and music and with Reader Store you can download an read eBooks. 

   One last and also important thing is that you will be able to control other Sony products with these tablets which can be used as remote control for a variety of audio-video devices. The S1 is using infrared technology and both have DLNA so you can share data and information on a big TV for example. In conclusion I see these as interesting products and I hope to check both in my own hands.

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HTC Flyer - A closer look video

Sony Ericsson W8 - pictures

Sony Ericsson W8

   It`s been a while since I have seen a new walk-man phone from Sony Ericsson. The newest one is the W8 announced Today which is looking very stylish, compact and quite nice. This is the first Walkman phone running the Android OS system and is true if you are thinking that looks like the X8. It`s just that Xperia X8 is not a music phone.

-- DISPLAY: 3 inches TFT capacitive touch 320 x 480 pixels screen, 16M colors

-- CPU:  ARM 11 600 MHz.

-- GPU:  Adreno 200

-- MEMORY:  168 MB RAM.

-- STORAGE:  128 MB for internal, microSD card slot up to 16GB.

-- CAMERA:  3.2 MP camera

-- CONNECTIVITY:  3G, HSDPA, HSUPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, micro-USB port, 3.5 mm headphone jack, A-GPS.

-- SENSORS:  Accelerometer, Proximity.

-- MULTIMEDIA:  Infinite Keys

-- BATTERY:  Li-Po 1200 mAh

-- OS:  Android 2.1 Eclair, Timescape UI

-- APPLICATIONS: social networking, Google apps, Walkman Player, TrackID, PlayNow, WisePilot.

   I do not understand why W8 is not running an newer version of Android. Eclair is old now with Froyo and Gingerbread in front. Perhaps due to limited RAM memory which, by the way, they should have raised it up to at least 256 if not 512 MB. Internal memory is also very limited because the Android platform can offer many applications for download and there are still many which can not be installed on the SD card. But if I remember that this phone is made for music in the first place then the hardware and software are OK.

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Samsung Galaxy S II - commercial video

Symbian Anna on Nokia X7 - video

Nokia E6 - pictures

Nokia E6 - video

Nokia E6

   Nokia has announced two days ago together with X7 another phone. This is their latest business QWERTY keyboard style device - the E6. This has it`s highly successful ancestors E71, E72 which were great devices. I remember the E71, my first truly smartphone, that had marvelous design, high security options, efficient email accounts management and useful applications (like WorldMate). The E6 model appears to offer the same image as has stainless steel and glass premium materials. The technical specifications are making it look like a business phone which is not too complicated and can get the job done without effort for a manager:

-- DISPLAY: 2.46 inches TFT LCD touch 640 x 480 pixels screen, 16M colors

-- CPU:  ARM 11 680 MHz.

-- GPU:  Broadcom BCM2727

-- MEMORY:  256 MB RAM.

-- STORAGE:  8GB for internal, 1GB ROM, microSD card slot up to 32GB.

-- CAMERA:  Primary - 8MP dual-led flash camera, video recording up to 720p,

Secondary - VGA, video calls.

-- CONNECTIVITY:  3G, HSDPA, HSUPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, micro-USB port, 3.5 mm headphone jack, A-GPS.

-- SENSORS:  Accelerometer, Proximity, Digital Compass.

-- BATTERY:  Li-Po 1500 mAh

-- OS:  Symbian Anna

-- APPLICATIONS:  OVI apps, social networking, OVI Maps, JoikuSpot Premium, World Traveler, QuickOffice, F-Secure Mobile Security, Salesforce, Bloomberg.

   The same compact style, the applications and the Symbian OS will make it great for easy business use. As X7 this has hardware accelerated encryption plus the support for Cisco SSL VPN. Other premium business support offered by E6 are Microsoft Communicator Mobile, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SharePoint. One last important detail (probably most important one for a consultant, sales director or manager) is the long battery life which can provide up to 700 hours in stand-by.

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Nokia X7 - pictures

Nokia X7 - The Entertainment Smartphone video

Nokia X7

   Nokia has announced Yesterday the new X7 device. It`s nice to see such model from Nokia which appears to be a front step, but not a long one, in the smartphone market. First thing I noticed is the design which is in the same Swedish trend as I have seen on previous models. It reminds me of E71 perhaps due to the stainless steel and glass high quality materials. The technical details are  not bad but Nokia has more work to do if they want a bigger lot in the smartphones land:

-- DISPLAY: 4 inches AMOLED capacitive touch 640 x 360 pixels screen, 16M colors

-- CPU:  ARM 11 680 MHz.

-- GPU:  Broadcomm BCM2727

-- MEMORY:  256 MB RAM.

-- STORAGE:  8GB for internal, microSD card slot up to 32GB.

-- CAMERA:  Primary - 8MP dual-led flash camera, video recording up to 720p.

-- CONNECTIVITY:  3G, HSDPA, HSUPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, micro-USB port, 3.5 mm headphone jack, A-GPS.

-- SENSORS:  Accelerometer, Proximity, Digital Compass.

-- BATTERY:  Li-Po 1300 mAh

-- OS:  Symbian Anna

-- APPLICATIONS:  OVI apps, social networking, OVI Maps, Web TV widgets, Flash Lite 4.

   This device is made for multimedia as the design suggests and as they say - 'ideal for gaming'. It appears that X7 is made from a combination of seamless stainless steal and glass. I can see that Nokia finally released a 4 inches Gorilla Glass display phone and with a new version of Symbian. I can tell you that I had an E71 more than a year ago and I was impressed with the security features the OS could provide. The new Anna version of this OS comes with better menu and new icons. But the important part is that Anna brings features for the enterprise area with hardware acceleration encryption, security, email, and meetings support. X7 comes with two games pre-installed - Galaxy on Fire HD and Asphalt 5 HD.

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HTC Sensation - pictures

HTC Sensation - First look video

HTC Sensation

   HTC has announced Today in London their latest device - the Sensation. This looks like a new replacement for Desire HD and may be the first model of a new Sensation family which may take-off the Desire generation this year. I believe is a EVO 3D international version but without the 3D features. The technical specifications are below:

-- DISPLAY: 4.3-inch Super-LCD capacitive touch QHD 960 x 540 pixels screen

-- CPU:  Dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 1.2 GHz processor.

-- MEMORY:  768 MB RAM.

-- STORAGE:  1GB for internal, microSD card slot up to 32GB.

-- CAMERA:  Primary - 8MP dual-led flash camera, video recording up to 1080 (MPEG-4/H.264).

Secondary - VGA, video chat, video calling.

-- CONNECTIVITY:  3G/4G WiMax, HSDPA, HSUPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, MHL port (micro-USB & HDMI), 3.5 mm headphone jack, A-GPS.

-- SENSORS:  Accelerometer, Proximity, Ambient Light Sensor, Gyro Sensor, G-Sensor, Digital Compass.

-- BATTERY:  Li-Po 1520 mAh

-- MULTIMEDIA:  touch sensitive buttons, SRS virtual surround sound.

-- OS:  Android 2.3 Gingerbread, HTC Sense 3.0 UI, Adobe Flash 10.2 support.

-- APPLICATIONS:  Google Apps, social networking, HTC Watch.

   The Sensation has a Gorilla Glass contoured screen which makes resistant to scratches and other damage. Just as the Flyer tablet this smartphone comes with HTC Watch for DVD quality movies purchasing and download. The new Sense features bring a new active lock-screen that will show live information from any of the applications available for customize (like weather). Also the new weather widget makes you feel like you are already outside and the 7-screens carousel has a 3D animation look. The same as Desire S, this phone has an aluminium unibody design which makes it thinner and lighter than the Desire HD.

   I believe they could have done a better work for the battery life - like the EVO 3D which has a 1750 mAh capacity. Also I do not understand why HTC makes the Android premium smartphones with such small internal memory. This wonderful smartphone should be available sometime in May and I hope that will not have a high price.  

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Apple iPad 2 - We Believe TV Ad