Unboxing the HTC Hero, US version

What’s the first Android device with CDMA and the Sense UI? The HTC Hero, US version, of course!

A few days ago, I was lucky to attend the Sprint Open Developer Conference (thanks Tony) and to receive a free Hero (like the other participants). But then the Motorola Droid crashed the party :)

So here is a proper Hero unboxing, albeit slightly delayed. Enjoy my pictures above and my video after the break…

Unboxing the Motorola Droid, part 2

Sure, the Motorola CLIQ and HTC Hero are very nice, and the HTC Magic and T-Mobile G1 are pretty good, but this phone takes Android to a whole new level!

You’re looking at HAL 9000 the Motorola Droid, the first Android device with 2.0 (Eclair) and a 848×480 pixel screen – possibly the slimmest (and hottest) QWERTY slider ever designed…

Feast your eyes on my unboxing pictures, and if you’re still hungry for more, check out my unboxing video :)

Unboxing the Motorola Droid, part 1

The Motorola Droid is here! Take a look at my unboxing video, and come back later today for my unboxing pictures…

Podcast: Talking with Matt #17 (Nokia N900 special)

It’s time for another podcast (23 min) with Matthew Bennett:
- Audio version
- Video version

This week was all about the amazing Nokia N900!

We also discussed the N900 meetup we are planning on October 29th at 6:30 PM at Schroeder’s in San Francisco, the BlackBerry 9630 (Tour), and a few other things…

Click here to subscribe to this podcast.

Nokia N900 first impressions

I’ve been using the Nokia N900 since unboxing it 5 days ago, and I’m still blown away!

I wrote “the N900 is brilliant”, and it’s true – I have not been this excited about a Nokia device since the N95, and that was pre iPhone.

For better or for worse, the iPhone changed people’s expectations. Suddenly, having the best hardware was secondary to having the best software, services, and user experience…

Unboxing the Nokia N900

Today, hot on the heels of the Nokia Booklet 3G, I received one of the most eagerly anticipated devices of the year, the Maemo 5 powered Nokia N900…

Although I’ve barely scratched the surface, I’m pretty smitten so far. It combines the software goodness of linux, a great user experience, and Nokia’s best hardware, all in a flagship phone!

The N900 is brilliant. It’s like the mutant offspring of the N810 and N97, but a lot meaner and faster, and with 2100/1700/900 MHz 3G instead of 2100/1900/850 MHz 3G :)

Check out my unboxing pictures above, and my videos (1, 2) after the break.

Exclusive: Nokia Booklet 3G hands on

This afternoon, I attended an exclusive hands on preview of the Nokia Booklet 3G premium netbook mini-laptop here in San Francisco…

I’ve been wanting to play with the Booklet 3G since it was announced at Nokia World, and after using it a little today, I’m suitably impressed!

Take a look at my pictures, and jump to my video and first impressions after the break.

Podcast: Talking with Matt #16

It’s time for another podcast (22 min) with Matthew Bennett:
- Audio version
- Video version

This week we discussed the elusive Nokia N900, the awesome Nokia 86 8MP, the HTC Touch Pro2 (Sprint version), the Samsung Reclaim, and a few other things. Enjoy :)

Click here to subscribe to this podcast.

Nokia 7705 (Twist) camera

As I’ve already mentioned, the Nokia 7705 (Twist) offers a great form-factor and decent hardware, but horrible software – just watch my rant at the 12-minute mark in this podcast :)

Ditto the camera. With a 3 megapixel sensor, an auto-focus lens, macro, and flash, the specs are fine. But the resulting pictures are quite poor considering the hardware.

I think it’s a software problem: shots are systematically overexposed, and colors are noticeably muted. There’s a general lack of detail – it’s the exact opposite of the Nokia Surge camera!

To make matters worse, the auto-focus is turned off by default and must be enabled each time the camera is used. There’s also no geo-tagging or auto-rotation…

Ultimately, the Nokia Twist camera just ads insult to injury, further eroding an innovative design.

Fixing a scratched lens with a floppy disk

Tonight I was inspired by Micky Aldridge (not Ricky Cadden, as I said in the video – my apologies to both), who wrote about Nokia finally acknowledging the N97 scratched lens problem, which I’ve experienced myself.

I used Micky’s tutorial on replacing the N97 lens cover to fix the scratched lens on my N97 review unit with a MacGyver-esque hack involving a floppy disk :)

If you’re thinking WTF, watch my video! No matter what, don’t try this at home, unless you’re OK voiding your warranty…