Cell Phone Classifications: Alcatel, Siemens, Benq –Siemens, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, Pantech, Philips, Samsung, Sagem, Sony Ericsson

Posted on April 29, 2008
Filed Under iPhone General, iPhone Tips | Leave a Comment

Recently I’ve got very interested in comparing iPhone to its probable (or better to put it like this – potential) competitors. In order to find which devices can compete with my all-time favorite I decided to learn the classification of phones by the major manufacturers: Alcatel, Siemens, Benq –Siemens, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, Pantech, Philips, Samsung, Sagem and Sony Ericsson.

I’m sure that you are aware of the fact that all phones fall into different categories or classes: from simple devices to highly sophisticated smartphones. So what is the classification of phones?

Alcatel

Initially the classification of this manufacturer featured 5 classes:

A – budget phones (are real rear phones)
A+B – youth-oriented phones of the series 30x and 31x
B+ - middle-class phones of the series 50x and 51x
C – expensive 70x series phones
G – image phones which planned for production

From 2005 the company introduced the new system which features 3 classes:

OT-E – budget phones
OT-C – middle class
OT-S – image class

Siemens

A – budget models
C - consumer-level devices
E – economical devices
M – Active lifestyle phones
S - Business class
SL – Image phones
SV – smartphones and multifunctional devices

Benq –Siemens

The scheme of giving names to phones of the young brand Benq–Siemens has been left unchanged: the indexes of phones are named by letters and digits, but the meaning of the symbols proper have changed and t he digital sequence has been violated:

The new names:

P – Smartphones with qwerty keyboard
E – Under the letter the company released a number of devices which fall into different classes, so iti s hard to say anything certain
S- it is the only letter that was left unchanged; these are still business-class devices

The devices are classified according to one feature and it is possible to encounter phones of different price category in the same class

B – Basic level devices
W – WAP-enabled devices
G – GPRS-enabled phones
V – 3G phones
F – Image models
L – Multifunctional phones
C – Middle-class devices

Motorola

Motorola uses letter designations:

A – High-tech devices which feature the latest inventions of the company
V - Image phones
T – Business-class phones
E – Entertainment and youth phones
C – Cheap models
MP – communicators and smartphones

Digits also carry information:

The 1st digit stands for the price category
The 2nd digit – The generation of the phone in the given model line
The 3rd digit – the place of the phone in the given generation
The index “i” stands for modified devices

Apple iPhone Review: iPhone vs. LG Voyager

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Tuning For iPhone: “Stealth iPhone” from ColorWare

Posted on April 29, 2008
Filed Under iPhone General | Leave a Comment

If you’re willing to go the extra mile (and paycheck) to customize your gadgets, but you’re not a big fan of the flashy colors, the new custom edition matte black iPhone (Stealth iPhone) may be the ticket.

ColorWare has been making drastic hue adjustments on iPhones for a while and recently announced that their color-customizing services were available for the MacBook Air. While they’ve offered a gloss black before, the new “stealth” iPhone’s matte black finish is a departure from their usual eye-catching pigments. It seems to be more appealing to a good number of people.

The customization is only available on new phones purchased from ColorWare, and with the matte black customization your new iPhone will run you $675 for the 8GB iPhone, $775 for the 16 GB. A 1-year warranty is standard, but you can extend that to two years for an additional $149.

You can find more details on the ColorWare site.

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Widget Directory for iPhone users By WidgetBox

Posted on April 29, 2008
Filed Under iPhone Web Apps | Leave a Comment

Apple has created the site with its own directory of iPhone Web applications mainly for desktop users, not taking care of people on the portable handset. It is still easy for Apple users to bookmark Web applications by adding a quick link from inside of Safari Mobile, but the official directory is still not for iPhones, only if they are not on speedy Wi-Fi connection.

Widgetbox appears to be cleverer and issued a directory of iPhone friendly widgets. Those mini Web applications can be set up on the home screens. The mobile Safari web browser is built in all iPhone and iPod Touch and uses the same Safari desktop technology that is supported by Widgetbox.

By tagging your work with iPhone you can add converted widgets from Web content to the directory. There is even a widget-building wizard for inexperienced users to make their own iPhone widget application.

The limitation is on the maximum widget width that should be 290 pixels with any height. Also all references to Flash files will not image.

Widgetbox thumbnail images of web gallery are 96 x 96 pixels. The icon of each installed widget is 56 x 56 pixels. In this case the images more than 56 x 56 pixels cannot be seen.

Another indignation is that iPhone widgets don’t take up the entire screen and reveal themselves like in the directory with most of the examples. They also have Widgetbox branding and links back to the directory, and you have not much time to load while on EDGE 2,5G connection, so try to minimize the amount of data for widget to transpher.

Anyway, that’s the whole lot better than to load the entire Web page. Three-fold load time decrease was observed in comparison with BART’s home page with Quick Planner for local Bay Area trains.

Just take your iPod or iPhone and travel to iPhone.Widgetbox.com to go to the directory. Here is also the official docs.

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OtterBox iPod Nano 3G Waterproof Cases For SummerTime

Posted on April 28, 2008
Filed Under iPhone Accessories | Leave a Comment

It’s springtime, and it means that summer is just around the corner with its showers. The case is whether to leave your iPod at home or get it wet. There is no reason to worry, because there are cases from OtterBox designed to keep your portable player safe and waterproof.

OtterBox iPod Nano 3G Armor Case 40$

The Armor models expand the line of truly waterproof iPod cases. A gasket forms a watertight seal as you close the case with your nano in it, keeping out water. Rubber bumpers inside create shock protection, and plastic case itself is crushproof.

Nano being in the Armor case, the Hold switch is inaccessible, but a thick membrane over the iPod’s Click Wheel controls playback and volume. With its 4.4^2.8^0.6 inches, an Armor case with 3G iPod nano is more weighty than the iPod alone.

A removable belt clip on the back functions as a place for wrapping excess headphone cable. An optional armband ($15) can be chosen instead.

OtterBox iPod Nano 3G Defender Case 30$

The iPod Nano 3G Defender Case features a slim water-resistant design consisting of a hard-plastic internal shell with a silicone external skin as a cover. Your 3G iPod placed between front and back of plastic shell, which snap close together when closed. Then black-silicone skin is stretched over the shell for additional layer of shock protection.

Hold switch is also inaccessible, like Armor’s. The iPod’s screen and Click Wheel are clearly observed and can be used through openings in the case. A thin, clear-polycarbonate sheet protects iPod and is much thinner than the membrane on the Armor case.

Although you may connect Apple’s USB dock cable through Defender, you wom’t be able to use other dock-connector accessories. Also a strip of silicone over the bottom-front of the case is too thin.

So Defender offers slightly less shock protection than Armor case, but the price is less as well.

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Apple iCal Can Assist Better Than You Think

Posted on April 24, 2008
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While adding an event to your Apple iCal calendar for iPhones, you can do even more than just name it and specify a date and time.

It’s a great personalassistant that reminds you of upcoming events, assists in gathering others for meetings, and regulates the access to the right files at rhe right moment.

iCal has got hidden superpowers, and it’s easy to enable them by simple

double clicking on the event’s name
then clicking the Edit button.

To invite other participants to an iCal event, you need to type their email addresses into the Attendees gap, or you can open Addresses panel by typing Command-Option-a, then drag contacts from the list. After adding the desired contacts and event details, click Send for Apple Mail to deliver the event request. If it is necessary to change event, you can send an update with the repeated information.

There are many options here. For instance, you can assign customized, color-coded categories to track work projects, personal arrangements, and other commitments. You can set up the same events with the repeat menu. To create an event that lasts over one or more days, click the all-day checkbox.

iCal can remind you of your upcoming events through an alarm function, which reminds you of one or more event via pop-up messages or email. When pop-up reminders emerge, you can delay them for one minute or as much as a week. It is possible to schedule the iCal alarm to automatically run a script or access a file on your PC at a specified time.

Attach documents, graphics, pictures, maps, spreadsheets, or whatever to an event and include relevant URLs is also very easy. Finally, you can insert additional text where the Note field is, like a phone number or meeting agenda.

After all editing click Done. All the data event you added will be accessed next time you double click on it.

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