I'm very impressed by the Nook, Barnes & Noble's new e-book reader. It's clear B&N has studied Sony's Reader and Amazon's Kindle very carefully.
The Nook has almost all of the major features of both product lines, plus a few more, with few competitive disadvantages. B&N has also followed Amazon's lead on support services. The Nook has a very good online e-book store as well as applications to support e-book reading on Macs, Windows machines, and smartphones.
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Barnes & Noble)
The Nook doesn't ship until the end of November, but here's what I found most significant from the announcement and the pages at nook.com:
Industrial design
I think the Nook is attractive and well-designed. It looks better than the Kindle 2, but not as good as Sony's Reader Touch Edition, which offers a larger screen in a smaller form factor. Also, Sony's forthcoming Reader Daily Edition is only slightly larger than the Nook, but offers a much larger screen.
Secondary color display
This feature surprised me. It seems expensive and insufficiently functional for what must be a significant added cost. The low resolution of this display (480 x 144, according to a CNET blog post) means it won't be useful for much beyond the basic user-interface features B&N has already described: book covers, menus, and a keyboard for note-taking. (Although I should note for the record that while B&N says "Its full-color touchscreen encourages you to bookmark, add notes, and highlight passages," I haven't found a photo on the company Web site depicting the virtual keyboard shown in some of the pre-release images. Perhaps that's one of the features still under development.)
By comparison, the secondary color screen built into the Alex e-book reader from Spring Design, shown in another recent CNET story, is large enough to be useful. Unfortunately, it's also large enough to be very much in the way, leading to an awkward device. Spring Design and B&N need to make up their minds-- are they making e-book readers or something else?
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Screenshot by Bonnie Cha/CNET)
We know that Sprint has the exclusive on the Palm Pre through 2009, but that never stops the rumor mill from kicking up stories about a Verizon Pre or a GSM version of the smartphone. Both, of course, aren't so much rumors but rather a matter of timing, and it looks like a GSM Palm Pre for North America is one step closer to reality after getting Wi-Fi certification from the Wi-Fi Alliance.
On Friday afternoon, Precentral.net got a tip from one of its readers that shows the Wi-Fi Interoperability Certificate (PDF) for the Palm Pre with the model number P100UNA. The reader points out things that match up in logic to the GSM Palm Treo Pro SKU, T850UNA, where the U is for UMTS and the NA stands for North America, so presumably this Pre will support North American 3G bands.
Now, the other question is whether this Pre is U.S. bound or whether it refers to the version launching with Canada's Bell Mobility on August 27, since, as Engadget Mobile points out, the carrier is making the transition from CDMA to GSM.
One of the cool (and painful) things about GSMA Mobile World Congress is that you get to see some of the best mobile devices available around the world. I say painful because often these products aren't available in the United States and probably never will be, unless you find them online and buy them unlocked for a hefty price.
If you're a glutton for punishment or just plain curious, then take a look at these international Windows Mobile smartphones that I saw while touring the Microsoft booth.
The X1 becomes a cover story.
(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)Since I can read United Airline's in-flight magazine only so many times on a 10-hour flight between San Francisco and Frankfurt, Germany, I took a few minutes to leaf through the ubiquitous Skymall catalog as well.
Normally, for every one thing I would consider buying in Skymall, I find 20 completely useless things (seriously...who really wants to make a bulletin board out of wine corks?). But this issue of the catalog had the fancy Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 on its cover.
As you may recall, the touch-screen smartphone debuted at the 2008 GSMA World Congress. And even as the Idou grabbed most of the headlines in Barcelona this year, the X1 continued to be a top draw at Sony Ericsson's booth.
As my colleague Bonnie Cha said in her Xperia X1 review, the handset offers a full range of features and a unique panel-based interface. Yet because no U.S. carrier offers the X1, it's not readily available stateside. An appearance in Skymall might just help make the ordering process easier, but the first-class price of $799 for the unlocked model remains. No, we don't think it's worth it either.
As we wrap up our coverage of the GSMA World Congress and prepare to head home to San Francisco and New York City, we invite you to take a look at sights from the show floor in Barcelona. Indeed, GSMA is a massive, frenetic show that spreads over eight buildings and several outdoor pavilions. At first, it can be overwhelming and difficult to find your way about, but you learn quickly which areas of the show are worth visiting. Our GSMA show floor photo gallery gives you a guided tour, from the show grounds to the company's booths to the cell phones on display.
At the GSMA World Congress here in Barcelona, there's a lot more to see than just the brand new cell phones. We also relish the chance to check out models that are rather rare in the United States.
Take the Nokia 5630 Xpress Music, for example. As one of Nokia's newest Xpress Music phones, it hasn't made much of a stateside appearance. So when we spied it sitting next to the new Nokia E75, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to give it a test drive and capture it on video.
Its thin candy bar design largely resembles the Nokia 5310 Xpress Music. The 16.7-million-color display is easy on the eyes, though it could be a bit larger. The navigation array also doesn't take full advantage of the phone's real estate--there's an awful lot of blank space around it--but the keypad is pretty standard. Dedicated music controls sit on the left spine while the camera lens and flash are on the rear face.
The 5630 has external music controls.
(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)Besides the Xpress Music player, the feature set covers a good range. You'll find a stereo Bluetooth, a 3.2-megapixel camera with video, voice command, personal organizer options, text and multimedia messaging, a speakerphone, and an external memory card slot. The quad-band 5630 also supports HSDPA 3G networks.
There's not lot of news from the third day of GSMA Mobile World Congress, but we did get more in-depth looks at some of the week's earlier announcements, plus a peek at a few interesting niche handsets.
Kent German and Bonnie Cha have been busy with brief, hands-on first takes of phones like the Sony Ericsson Idou, the Sony Ericsson W995, the Samsung BeatDJ, the Samsung UltraTouch, the Samsung Omnia HD, the HTC Touch Diamond 2 and HTC Touch Pro 2, and the LG Arena and LG GM-730.
Yes, this is a Hello Kitty cell phone.
(Credit: Darius Chang/CNET Asia)Our colleague from CNET Asia, Darius Chang, showed us a unique, modular NTT Docomo phone from Japan, fashion phones from Porsche and Hello Kitty, solar-powered Samsung accessories, and a few PDA-phones from I-mate. To go along with the solar-powered theme, Kent also told us of a new solar-powered phone from ZTE. Also, Verizon is once again leading the data-speed pack by saying it expects a 4G launch by later this year.
We also have a slew of First Look videos from Barcelona, so keep an eye out on our GSMA 2009 feature page for all of those and more.
I'm sure I'm just setting myself up for disappointment one of these days, but I've come to expect big things from HTC at trade shows, whether it be CTIA or Mobile World Congress. The company has consistently delivered some of the hottest product announcements at these events, so can you blame a girl for thinking such thoughts?
Thankfully, I wasn't disappointed at GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009 (well, maybe a little, but I'll get to that in a bit) as HTC debuted several new handsets. The Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer kicked off the show by debuting the HTC Touch Diamond2 and the HTC Touch Pro2, which replace the Touch Diamond and Touch Pro.
HTC Magic
(Credit: Bonnie Cha/CNET Networks)I stopped by HTC's booth on Wednesday to have a look at both smartphones, and I was impressed with the design improvements and enhanced technologies. The Touch Diamond2 probably wowed me more than the Pro2 because of its extremely thin and solid design. The device doesn't feel as plasticky with its brushed metal face and sides. Also, I can't tell if it's the sleeker design, but the screen pops out that much more and grabs your attention.
HTC has also worked on the user interface, providing a new Start screen where you can easily access your applications. It's also customizable and features more user-friendly icons. The touch-sensitive toolbar is a cool little feature. I didn't think it'd make that much of a difference but it definitely makes it easier to zoom in and out on Web pages and e-mails.
The Touch Pro2 is a monster, and I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way. It's bigger than the Touch Pro (4.5 inches tall by 2.3 inches wide by 0.6 inch thick versus 4 inches tall by 2 inches wide by 0.7 inch thick) but again solidly built. The navigation buttons along the bottom are smaller than I like, but that's a relatively minor complaint.
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LG Arena
(Credit: Bonnie Cha/CNET Networks)LG had a rather action-packed Mobile World Congress, making several product announcements including the high-end LG Arena multimedia phone and choosing Windows Mobile as the primary operating system for its smartphones. As a result, the company's booth was buzzing with a steady stream of visitors, and we stopped by ourselves to take a look at some of the company's offerings.
The one thing I came away with is that LG loves its touch screens. Everywhere I turned, there was a touch screen staring back at me. Not that I'm complaining, but it got to the point where the phones were almost indiscernible to me. It would have been nice to see a little variation in LG's design.
The biggest crowd pleaser was, not surprisingly, the LG Arena. It was a battle to get some hands-on time with the phone, and I can understand why. The Arena's S-Class 3D user interface makes quite impression. The cube layout and Elastic Lists and Reel Scrolling make it quite fun to use the phone, and certainly takes full advantage of the touch-screen capabilities. To be honest, though, I'm still on fence about whether the user interface is really helpful or all style and no substance. I mean I can see some advantages of the UI (the Reel Scrolling feature really comes in handy for going through photos and other files), but does it make phone navigation that much easier? I have yet to see it.
To be fair, I only had a few minutes with the device so I reserve the right to change my mind when we actually get to review the phone. Featurewise, the LG Arena is impressive with a 5-megapixel camera, 8GB of internal memory, Wi-Fi, 3G support, and more. Let's just hope it makes it way to the States.
The LG-GM730 smartphone was also at the booth, but unfortunately, it seemed as if all of the display models were frozen or not fully functioning, so I didn't really get a good feel for it. Still, I'm happy to see that the company is committed to developing more smartphones, though I know there are certainly some strong feelings about the choice of Windows Mobile as the chief operating system.
To get a closer look at these handsets and LG's other products, check out our hands-on photo gallery.
At the GSMA World Congress, Samsung ensured that touch-screen phone fans would not be disappointed. Besides the Omnia HD and the Beat DJ, the company also introduced the Ultra Touch.
The Ultra Touch differs from the Beat DJ and Omnia HD by offering a numeric keypad for those who favor physical controls. Alternatively, you can use a virtual keypad when the phone is closed for texting and dialing.
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The Samsung Ultra Touch in blue.
(Credit: Samsung)The 2.8-inch display supports 16 million colors. It's bright and vibrant, and you can take advantage of Samsung's TouchWiz interface. Below the display are Talk and End buttons and a diamond-shaped Back button. The first two controls are flush but the latter is tactile. The flat keypad comes in either red or blue.
You'll have to slide up the phone to expose the camera lens, self-portrait mirror, and flash. The rear face of the slider matches the keypad. A Micro-USB port and a camera shutter sit on the right spine, while a volume rocker rests on the right spine.
Features include a music player, an FM radio, assisted-GPS, stereo Bluetooth, and an 8-megapixel camera. For more pictures, peruse our Samsung slide show.
