Smartphones

Dialed In 129: Welcome back, Kent! (podcast)

Hooray! The Dialed In gang is back together again with Senior Editor Kent German back from his month-long sabbatical, just in time for the next iPhone. On this week's episode, we make some predictions of what we might see at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference and we discuss AT&T's new data plans. Plus, Motorola announces a new Android phone with a twist, and we take a look at Garmin's latest smartphone. Is it a flop like the last one? Tune in and find out.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) … Read more

Hands-on: IMing with Trillian's BlackBerry beta

A new instant messaging app is on its way to BlackBerry smartphones, and it's name is Trillian.

Trillian-maker Cerulean Studios announced work on its BlackBerry beta in May, adding one more operating system for the multinetwork IM app that's already well-known on Windows, Mac, and more recently, on iPhone. Although we expect to see Trillian launch into public beta for BlackBerry phones running OS 5.x, we got to try it out this week.

The app closely resembles the screens we saw from the closed beta (see slideshow below). Trillian lets you quickly sign into accounts from a start screen, and gets you chatting with friends on MSN, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, MySpaceIM, Facebook Chat, Jabber/XMPP, and Google Talk.

The feature set is basic at this point--not so unusual for a beta app. It can display avatar images, add emoticons, and send photos that you either grab from the image gallery or take fresh with your phone's camera. The app alerts you to new instant messages with a flashing LED light or with pushed e-mail alerts when the app is closed.

Trillian beta is easy enough to use, but not very elegant at this stage. You control the app with the BlackBerry's Back arrow and menu key, but unlike competitors, Trillian doesn't utilize a lot of on-screen buttonry. For example, competitors like Beejive do a better job alerting you to new IMs and who sent them, and makes switching among conversations possible from within open chat windows. Instead of being able to switch among open chats with a menu item, Trillian has you arrowing back to the buddy list and navigating to the developing conversation.… Read more

Check your AT&T data usage to keep within new iPhone, iPad plans

With the big announcement coming from AT&T, introducing tethering and changing the data plan structure for iPhone and iPad, here is a quick guide to checking out your monthly data so you can purchase the right plan for you.

Starting on June 7th, iPhone and iPad customers may want to be a little more savvy about checking their data usage, given AT&T's new plan structures. To check your data usage online, open your favorite Web browser and navigate to the AT&T Wireless homepage. Enter your account information and log in. Click on "… Read more

Google edges into the mobile download game

With nearly every smartphone manufacturer and carrier creating its own application storefront for downloading mobile apps, we suppose it was only a matter of time before Google got into the game one way or another.

Starting Wednesday, searching Google.com for iPhone and Android apps--from your iPhone or Android phone--will likely yield a mobile app as its result. The trick, it seems, is to enter the magic word, "download," before the name of the app you seek.

The resulting link and surround context, like a star rating and number of user reviews, isn't a direct download URL … Read more

Up close with the Dell Streak

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif.--The tablet parade at D: All Things Digital continued into Wednesday afternoon, with Dell doing a brief onstage demo of its 5-inch Dell Streak device.

The Android-powered gadget is bigger than any smartphone but smaller than nearly all other tablets. The size of the device seemed to puzzle the conference moderators, with Walt Mossberg saying that using it as a phone was like holding a waffle to his head, while Kara Swisher said the most likely use for the device was as something to eat.

That reaction came in stark contrast to the veritable love fest … Read more

Hands-on with the HTC Evo 4G's HDMI-out

Sure, the HTC Evo 4G is one of the first smartphones to offer an HDMI-out port, but how well does it really perform?

On the bottom of the Evo is a small HDMI-out port. It's much smaller than the HDMI interface you're probably used to, so make sure to purchase a Micro-D size cable. One end will fit the port at the bottom of the Evo and the other end terminates in a standard HDMI interface.

After spending some time encoding various file formats and sizes, we found that MP4 movie files performed the most consistently. Also, files rendered closer to the Evo's native 800x480 resolution worked best as larger videos stuttered and would not play properly on-screen.

We were a bit disappointed in the lack of control the Evo gives in terms of HDMI-out playback. In fact, there are absolutely no settings associated with the connection. Other than videos stored on the external MicroSD card and YouTube, the phone can't play anything else through the port--this also includes third party software like Slingbox Player Mobile. Oddly enough, the Evo can't display individual photos either; they must be arranged together in a slideshow for them to show up correctly.

The Evo seems to output all video at 720p (1280x720), regardless of the source resolution. Also, it takes a few seconds for the phone to handshake with a TV, so be prepared to miss the first second or two of playback. In terms of sound, every video file played back was accompanied with solid audio quality. You can control the volume of the source material via the Evo's two-button rocker on the right side of the device.… Read more

Google Maps delivers better biking for BlackBerry

BlackBerry-carrying cyclists seeking direction for their two-wheelers are now privy to the same directions database introduced three weeks ago for Android smartphones.

In addition to requesting biking directions, you can also activate the Bicycling layer in maps to check out cycler-centric trails.

As with the Android version, the cycler-friendly Google Maps for BlackBerry 4.2 update only applies to handsets in the U.S.

In addition to devising safe bike routes, the map app update also refreshes the search results list, adding images and place ratings, in addition to some welcome quick-link buttons that you can tap to get directions … Read more

Motorola Flipout makes official debut

We've already heard so much about the Motorola Flipout that at this point, the official announcement just seems like an informality, but here it is, Moto's newest Android phone.

Similar to the Nokia Twist, the Flipout sports a square design that twists open to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. With its fun design and such hip colors choices as Licorice, Fairway Green, Raspberry Crush, Brilliant Blue, Poppy Red, Saffron, and White, the smartphone most definitely aims for a younger crowd and includes a new version of Motoblur software.

The Motorblur enhancements include:

The ability to filter the Happenings … Read more

RadioShack opening early for Evo 4G launch, extra savings for preorders

As many of you know, the HTC Evo 4G goes on sale June 4 at Sprint stores and other retailers nationwide, including Best Buy and Wal-Mart. There's a lot of excitement and anticipation for the nation's first 4G phone and rightfully so, but it's hard to tell whether there will be huge lines, but RadioShack isn't taking any chances.

The electronics retailer said Wednesday that it will open its doors as early as 6 a.m. at some of its retail locations to help preorder customers activate and set up their phones. In addition, if you … Read more