The HTC Touch Pro2

When I took the HTC Touch Pro2 out of the box that Verizon had sent me, the first thing that struck me was its amazingly large screen. Then, while still holding it in hand, I noticed its weight. It was heavy enough to do some damage if thrown. The 3.6-inch screen, with its stunning 480×800 resolution is made possible by the ginormous size, it measures 4.57″ (H) x 2.33″ (W) x 0.68″ (D) and weighs 6.4 ounces.

Comparing the weight to the iPhone’s 4.8 ounces and the Palm Pre’s 4.76 ounces, it’s a lot heavier. You may say 1.6 ounces isn’t all that much, but when it’s a full 33 percent heavier, I say that’s a lot. The Touch Pro2 isn’t as wide as Apple’s iPhone, but it’s extra thickness and height add to its bulk. When walking around with the phone in my pocket, it felt noticeable and not every phone is. Compared to the Palm Pre, the Touch Pro2 is wider, taller, thicker and heavier.

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The BlackBerry Tour 9630 (Courtesy: Verizon Wireless)

If you’re a Verizon user and were in the market for a new smartphone, there’s a good chance you had your eye on the BlackBerry Tour 9630.  Verizon sent a review unit over and gave me unlimited use with it.  The Tour fits the BlackBerry mold quite well, pairing with the other devices in RIM’s portfolio nicely.  There are some features missing, but for those not looking for a device with everything, the Tour could be a good fit.

When comparing a BlackBerry to all of the other BlackBerry’s, it’s important to note that for the most part, they’re in the same ballpark sizewise.  The Tour measures 4.4″ x 2.4″ by 0.6″ and weighs 4.58 ounces.  Compared to the Bold (the BlackBerry with the best keyboard experience in my opinion) it’s a touch smaller and lighter (The Bold measures 4.48″ x 2.6″  x 0.59″, 4.8 ounces).  For those looking to go even smaller there’s Curve (4.29″ x 2.36″ x 0.53″, 3.87 ounces) and the Pearl (4.2″ x 1.97″ x 0.55″, 3.4 ounces).

The Tour was not uncomfortably large or small, it fit in my pocket without being uncomfortable.  More importantly, it fits in my hand (which is pretty medium).  I didn’t have any problem with the keyboard, which is in my estimation the most important aspect of a smartphone and something each person has to try out for themselves.  It’s important that your thumbs can press the keys and that you can type on the device you own.The Tour was not uncomfortably large or small, it fit in my pocket without being uncomfortable.  More importantly, it fits in my hand (which is pretty medium).  I didn’t have any problem with the keyboard, which is in my estimation the most important aspect of a smartphone and something each person has to try out for themselves.  It’s important that your thumbs can press the keys and that you can type on the device you own. (more…)

The HP Mini it can do a lot (service provided byVerizon Wireless). Will someone hit that popup bubble? It's ruining the picture.

In my home, I have a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a home theater PC.  Each is connected to the internet.  At work, it’s a similar situation, with the exception of the editing computers, every computer I sit at is connected.  On the road, I have my Palm Pre, which provides excellent mobile functionality, but there are some limitations to having just a cell phone while on the go.

Enter, the netbook.  I’m convinced there’s a place for the netbook in my repertoire, even though I’m surrounded by computing devices.  The HP Mini Verizon sent me is small, compact, light and has a bevy of connection options.  There’s something about the netbook that just fits.  Having to soon send it back, I’m going to be disappointed I won’t have that “always on” option available.  I recently switched high-speed internet providers, and in the interim downtime, the only connection I had (not including neighbor’s open WiFi) was through the Verizon mobile service.

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The HTC Touch Diamond. (image courtesy Verizon)

Out of the box, the HTC Touch Diamond (here after referred to as simply the Diamond) is a stunningly elegant phone.  It has a smooth look and fits the hand nicely.  It’s also the first Windows Mobile phone that I’ve ever had the opportunity to review.  The user interface is intuitive, because of the TouchFlo3D software.

The Diamond was first available overseas, but has made its way to the states.  It runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, which has a lot to offer, and because of that so does the Diamond.

A sight to behold…

The design of the HTC Touch Diamond must be expounded upon.  It’s beautiful.  It’s smooth.  There are no large protruding buttons. The interface adds to the aesthsetic.  But this isn’t a fashion blog…

So let’s take a look, is this one of the top phones Verizon has to offer?  (more…)

The Verizon Hub is more than just a home phone, it lives up to its name. (Image Courtesy: Verizon)

The Verizon Hub does something that I haven’t seen in a home phone before, it makes me want one.  Its execution is wonderful, it does everything that I’d want in a home phone and more.

At first glance, the Hub’s touchscreen and handset looks sleek.  Looking at it again and again over the last few weeks, my first impressions haven’t changed.

The setup is truly an amazingly easy thing to do, even if you have a wireless network that’s normally hidden.  I was able to target my network, input the password and start talking quickly after that.

The touchscreen provides your gateway to everything you need to do.  On its home screen are four native widgets: time, weather, calling features and messages.

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Standing tall, with its QWERTY addon. The Versa is a decent phone with a couple of caveats.

At first glance, the LG Versa is a sleek touchscreen phone.  At second glance, it’s a flip phone with a full qwerty keyboard.  The new Verizon phone lets you put the kind of phone in your pocket that you want.

When you open the box, the LG Versa looks a lot like a phone I reviewed a while back, the LG Vu.  The Versa adds some versatility to your common cell phone though with its swappable addons, but it is held back in some very key areas.

It’s hard not to be impressed when you get the phone in your hand.  The Versa has a smooth back and fit snuggly in my hand.  The touch-screen ia a nice 3-inch-wide display with a 480×240 resolution.  The Versa measures 4.17″ x 2.07″ and is little more than 1/2 an inch thick.  It’s also pretty light, only about 3.81 ounces.

On its face you have the display and three buttons, call, clear/voice command and end/power keys.

You can plug in the qwerty addon while the phone is on and there’s no hesitation in recognition.  You can start typing with it instantly.  The keyboard took a little getting used to though, because of its space bar placement.  But once I got over the fact that the space bar was in the middle of the letters, things were okay.
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I just got my hands on the new Verizon Hub and had to immediately come here and post my thoughts.  I’ve been trying to post a couple of things on my twitter page, but this thing demands more than 140 characters can provide.

The Verizon Hub takes the home phone to a new level, and blasts the traditional handset. (Image Courtesy: Verizon)

I just breezed through the setup of this thing, after jumping the hurdle of getting it to connect to my unseen, password-protected home network.

The Hub connects wirelessly without a hitch, but can also be plugged directly into your router (Verizon even includes a cable in the box).  I chose the wireless option though, as the computer/router are in the basement and I’m prominently displaying the Hub on the main floor.

First impressions are hard to ignore and the Hub makes sure you get a healthy dose of nice.  It sports a touchscreen interface that’s fairly intuitive.  Some phone features I’ve already tried and setup include call forwarding and simultaneous calling.  The Hub had no problem playing nice with my mobile device even though it wasn’t a Verizon phone.  You can setup at least three different numbers to ring simultaneously (a very neat feature).  Call forwarding also worked like a breeze, haven’t investigated if I can set call forwarding to a schedule though (such that it automatically call forwards based on time, day, etc.).

Through it’s menu system there are a ton of other features too, I watched some ESPN clips directly streamed to the Hub, and was able to check out movie times for my local theaters.  It even let me watch the trailers for the movie I was checking out!  I was amazed.  More on that to come later.

Just looking through the manual the Verizon Hub with Digital Voice service costs $34.99/mo and on Verizon’s site the Hub retails for $250 (less $50 with 2-year agreement).  Service also requires that you have a high-speed internet connection.

Through my real-time bandwidth monitor I tracked voice calls eating up a mere 10 KBps up and down.  When talking on the phone while simultaneously watching video clips it only got up to about 60 KBps down but was still only 10 KBps up.  So at first-glance it’s not very bandwidth intensive and shouldn’t interrupt my game-playing. I’ll be interested to check out the voice quality while playing though.

Definitely more to come on the Verizon Hub.  I’ll be posting immediate thoughts and updates on my twitter page.  For questions, hit the comments section, message me on twitter or shoot me an email at matt(dot)schuler(at)woodtv(dot)com.

I’ve got to say I was kind of excited when I heard back from the Verizon reps about getting a demo unit of the Blackberry Storm.  I’d read reviews elsewhere, but this is definitely the kind of product you want to try yourself.

A Touchscreen Phone You Click

I would have say it’s probably one of the best phones Verizon offers, read on for my review of the BlackBerry® Storm™ 9530 smartphone.
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