>> Good afternoon everybody. Welcome to Editor's Office Hours I'm Brian Tong here with Miss >> Nicole Lee. She decided that it wasn't as painful of an experience with me so she's back here to talk about cell phones and Bluetooth headsets and everything basically that you can think of with mobile handsets. We're here to take your question--it's all about you guys. Remember down below us we have our chat box, our live chat, where you guys can interact and talk about us or whatever you want to say, and then also up here on the right hand corner, that's where you guys can submit your questions; and if you create a user name, a password, and also give us your e-mail address you'll be able to ask us questions directly and that's really what we need to help you out. We already have a few so keep them pouring in but just to get things rolling and started, what's kind of the phones or the things that you've been messing around with lately?
>> Nicole: I've been messing around with a lot of texting phones like messaging phones like I have a few here like this is the Pentax [assumed spelling] Slate [assumed spelling] because of the QWERTY keyboard, that's the LG Lotus.
>> Brian: And that's purely a messaging device. Correct?
>> Nicole: Yeah it's a messaging...it's not a smart phone. It's not like a Blackberry or anything it's just for texting mostly. This is the LG Lotus with a full QWERTY keyboard for texting.
>> Brian: So they're making these now that are phone functions but really the focus is just for texting.
>> Nicole: I have like four or five here. There's another one here with a QWERTY keyboard, there's another one here with.
>> Brian: Which one's this one? That's the Samsung.
>> Nicole: That's the Samsung Propel and this one is like the Samsung Rant. If you turn it the other way, inside out, it's like a full QWERTY keyboard. So there are a lot of these phones for texting. I don't know I guess it's the crazy's days.
>> Brian: Is that the movement that they're trying to create a new category of phones that are text-focused?
>> Nicole: I think that there's some sort of a list put out recently by some survey saying that a lot of customers now really want phones to text with, so I guess a lot of manufacturers are sort of capitalizing on that and putting out all these texting focused.
>> Brian: And it also makes it easy for let's say like a mom or someone who doesn't want to use...
>> Nicole: The T9? The number?
>> Brian: Yeah using numbers and keep on pressing I mean I can see how that actually would be useful to a large population, maybe not as much to our viewers as much because they're a little more text savvy but somebody who just wants to be able to text but hates messing with those numbers. That serves the purpose. Now is there one of those four that you like the most personally?
>> Nicole: I like the LG Lotus personally because I like the style of it and it's a clam shell so you can just open it up and show the keys and stuff like that, so it's nice and thin, the strip is a little bit squarish, it's a little bit unusual but it's nice so.
>> Okay. Excellent, excellent, so we're gonna jump into some of our questions and we will do our best to answer them for you. So this first question is from Shaun [assumed spelling] 1190, Shaun 1190 was here yesterday and he asked because he's still faithful like that, I like that, will be iPhone ever have stereo Bluetooth?
>> Nicole: Will it? I definitely hope so. You know it's all up to Apple and what they want to do with Bluetooth on the iPhone. I think it should be able to. I'm not sure entirely if it's a hardware problem or if it's a software fixable thing. I mean if it's hardware then probably not unless they can come up with a new version, but if it's like flashable or something like that I think that's possible. I also really want to have iPhone to have stereo to use with the headset or a pair of speakers. It's just kind of cumbersome to have all the wires around all the time. I hope so. That's the answer to that question.
>> Brian: Yeah I do too. I'm going to adjust my [inaudible] before we go to [inaudible] because he says actually you'll see this dangly cable but it's cool yeah, dangly cable. Is that better Anthony? Yes he nods and agrees. So yeah let's go to the next question. This question is from Murrow C. Great it just disappeared did you get it?
>> Nicole: Murrow C. yeah. AT&T now has three touch-screen models. Which one is the best? The iPhone, maybe the Fuse, I think he's talking about I'm not entirely sure which ones, yeah, I can't exactly remember which touch-screen models you're talking about. The ones I can think of is maybe the iPhone, I think that's the AT&T Fuse, and I think that's one HTC Phone so I can't exactly what models you're talking about.
>> Brian: I can name a lot of Verizon touch-screen phones off the top of my head.
>> Nicole: Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry but I can exactly remember which touch-screen models were talking about.
>> Brian: What we could do is let's answer a few of the questions and go back...during the video we'll just look it up and go back to it because I don't know it off the top of my head. We want to actually like plug through stuff. So this question is from M.J. Tegojaws [assumed spelling] and here she asks when is the Blackberry Storm coming out and do you think the pricing structure will be similar to Apple's iPhone? Now isn't there like a leak that showed the Storm like somewhere around like $219.
>> Nicole: Yeah that was definitely what the...yeah $219 of a two-year contract was the rumored price, and I think that's about right competitively. I think the cheapest iPhones are around $199 but I think the Blackberry Storm will have expendable memory plus it's a little bit more on par I think. Plus the Blackberry Storm is a little bit different.
>> Brian: Yeah with that spring loaded touch-screen.
>> Nicole: Yeah it's kind of interesting and have you seen [inaudible]?
>> Brian: Yeah, yeah I have and I believe Bonnie got to mess with it really briefly and she said it took a little bit of getting used to but then it was kind of cool because wherever you push it actually presses down but it's still a flat surface touch-screen.
>> Nicole: Yeah I think it's really interesting and it's definitely a big competitor. I don't know if it's an eye-phone killer per se, but it's definitely going head to head against the iPhone.
>> Brian: Do you have any idea approximately when it might come out? They always have this...the whole thing that's kind of lame is that it says coming soon, coming soon, but they still don't give us a date.
>> Nicole: Yeah but there's been these news reports saying that they'll come out November 17th I think?
>> Brian: Which is like this weekend basically or Monday.
>> Nicole: Right or Monday of next week so it's definitely going to be this month for sure. People are saying it's gonna be next week so it will definitely be within this timeframe. Probably in time for the holidays, for the holiday shopping season, so I think it's around the right time for them to release the Storm and I think it's gonna be exciting.
>> Brian: Yeah here's kind of a follow up question from M 1977, he or she asks what are our actual views on the Blackberry Storm? I think off the bat like when you mention I don't know if it's an iPhone killer. To me it's all the apps and the interface is what makes the iPhone super sexy like even if the iPhone was just...had like bare bones, the apps really are what kind of make it come alive and we keep on seeing more of them. Yes we see really good ones and we see some really crappy ones, but getting those core apps on the Blackberry, they will have their own version of an Apps store that will tell us that if they can have with just all the features of functionality.
>> Nicole: Yeah but I think...I don't know it's a little bit interesting seeing what the market for the Blackberry Storm is because previously Blackberry has mostly been for business consumers, very corporate focused, and the Storm is very clearly, very consumer oriented. The video player.
>> Brian: Even in the ad their pushing, "Oh I can play MP3's on my Blackberry; I can watch video on my Blackberry," I mean you could before but you could do that with other Blackberries they just never pushed those features.
>> Nicole: Yeah so this is definitely a consumer-focused device and I think I mean it definitely won't have the beer application on the iPhone. It won't have like all the crazy things you can do with the iPhone. I think there's a lighter application; some of the just crazy kooky stuff. But if you want like a nice looking touch-screen phone with e-mail and messaging and of course Blackberry is known for their e-mail, and I think this would be very good for e-mail right? So SMS and browser and the media, so if you don't mind going without the Apps store, I think it's pretty good. Plus Blackberry has a very active developer community but you just have to like go out and look for it yourself. It's not really available right on the phone like it is on the iPhone, like it is on the Q1 even so.
>> Brian: Excellent. This next question is from...I don't know this off the top of my head, you might. But he asks, "Hey guys Radio Shack has exclusivity to the Sony Erikson W760A Silver for a limited time; do you have any idea how long this limited time will be?"
>> Nicole: I don't know what the limited time is for the Radio Shack. I think it's usually like a few months. That's usually what they're promotional time is.
>> Brian: Not a few years.
>> Nicole: No, no I don't think so. The W760 is actually a pretty decent phone.
>> Brian: Yeah I've reviewed it. We've done like the W760 I and the A, one was the unlocked version and one was the AT&T version that we did for our Spotlight interviews on them so they're really cool. I like the fact that it's not a touch-screen phone per se but the music controls on it are really slick and really more the compatibility with the unlocked phone and the quad band and all the different GSM's that it can talk to, I mean it's great. That's really the main attractive appeal I feel to that phone. And the music interface is it's pretty cool.
>> Nicole: If you want like a Walkman phone.
>> Brian: Yeah, yeah that's definitely--I actually believe it's like an Editor's Choice phone for--one of our Editor's Choice phones.
>> Nicole: Yeah, a Walkman.
>> Brian: So it's a quality piece but we don't know how long it will be...easy answer, I just don't know.
>> Nicole: Oh okay there's an answer from Shaun 1190 that the LG View is a touch-screen phone. So they're very different phones. If you want to compare the LG View with the iPhone, the LG View is made to work with AT&T's live mobile TV service so you can watch live streaming television on your phone so that's really the primary attraction for the LG View. It's a pretty decent music player, it's a pretty decent video player but of course it's not as robust as the iPhone. It won't work with iTunes obviously, so it's really depending on what you want out of a phone. If you want the AT&T live streaming TV service, then you would go with the LG View, and the iPhone of course won't have AT&T services on it. It will have its own Apple App Store services on it. So I think they're about the same price so it's really personal preference at that point.
>> Brian: Okay, cool, excellent. Let's see here I'm trying to find questions that we have not taken. I haven't even read this but let's check it and see where it goes. This question is from Manual underscore v underscore v. "I have a Mac and I'm with T Mobile. I would like some degree of sync, by the way my phone and my Mac between my phone and my Mac. Any recommendations?" So Manual or Manuel, there's...what is it from Hands Spring it's their product called the Missing Sync. I mean it allows your Mac to talk to a variety of phones. Sidekick's Blackberry's as well; basically some of the smart phones, it allows you to talk to it and that's really I would say from my experience because I used to use it I at least want to have it as my sidekick. It's probably one of the software apps that allow you to talk--have your Mac sync up contacts, calendars and things of that nature. I don't know if there are any other ones off the top of your head that you know of?
>> Nicole: It depends on what kind of phone you have with T-Mobile really. Let's say you have the G1. I think that's over the air syncing mostly so I think you're pretty safe as far as the Mac goes.
>> Brian: Yeah I know with the G1 because it's locked into Google services, there is no actual desktop sync to it so that's not gonna help you no matter what you try and do. That's not gonna help you so.
>> Nicole: But let's see, T-Mobile also has like a Blackberry. The Blackberry will use the Missing Sync software to sync up with the Mac. I think there's also like a third party application called Blackberry Sync or something like that. I think that will work as well. It depends on what kind of phone you have really. If it's the most basic phone, I don't think there is much of a syncing ability with maybe it's because it's so basic you know.
>> Brian: Yeah I don't know why I said Hands Spring, but the company's name is actually Mark Space. They have Missing Sync applications for Blackberry, iPhone, Nokia phones, PSP's, Palm OS Simian phones, Windows Mobile, so there are quite a few different platforms that it can support. So just go to Markspace.com; that's where we will point you.
>> Nicole: There's a question from Zack 000 asking you Brian, "Why do you love Apple so much?"
>> Brian: You know what? Here's the thing. You know when I used to do Prize Fights? Not used to, but when I first did Prize Fights, Apple products would like lose most of the Prize Fights and people were like oh this guy's such an Apple hater. And the thing is like it's really like I'm objective to both sides like just cause I worked for Apple doesn't mean like am I drinking or [inaudible] all the time, so really if you watch a show [inaudible] but if you watch the Apple Bite show that we're doing now, I'll rip on Apple when they're stupid because they are stupid at other times. So ultimately look at our Prize Fights, look at my track record, and you'll see I'm not a total Apple lover. I like this [inaudible] design but there are features and functions that drive me crazy. I could rip on the new Mac Pros for some of the problems they're having; I could rip on Apple TV because it's totally still tripled and stupid right now.
>> Nicole: Yeah it hasn't been updated in a long time.
>> Brian: The fact that their 24-inch LED screen as well as their new revolutionary, not revolutionary, but they have these new inner in-ear ear buds that they talk about that have not only the click control but the volume control which was supposed to be out in October, but hey it's November and I still haven't seen them yet so I may I guess...trust me, trust me I will dig deep on them too. They probably aren't totally happen but I assure you I'm [inaudible]. And actually we're going to see that getting in touch more and more with all these devices really opens your eyes up for all those Apple total fan boys. It really makes you open up your eyes to like how lame Apple can be but how great they also can be at the same time. It's always funny that you'll never find a company that does everything perfect. Each company does different things well. So there you go, there's my rap, I think I'm good there.
>> Nicole: Excellent. This is a follow up question from Rousy [assumed spelling]. "I'm liking the LGV from AT&T but everybody's all iPhone crazy. Are there any applications out there that you can use to upgrade your experience with the view that Apple offers because AT&T LG doesn't offer any." You're not gonna get the same applications. That's just the main thing about it but the problem is people don't buy the View for applications though. People by the View because they want to watch TV. They want to watch the Mobile TV; they want the AT&T Mobile Music stuff on it so the answer is no you won't get the same applications on it. You might get like AT&T's own applications, like their navigation service or something like that, but nothing like the iPhone's App store. So there's that. Anything else?
>> Brian: May you know this question is from the Mojo and maybe my computer's acting up. Every time I like choose a question I can't see it. So you see that question from the Mojo 15 he was asking about a headset?
>> Nicole: The Mojo 15? No.
>> Brian: The Mojo was guy was here it's on yours. Okay we'll just use your computer. Okay I'm looking for a BT headset, not Brian Tong but Bluetooth headset that's a portion [inaudible] that was down. Don't laugh at that. I was excited about the Motor Pure H15 but seems like you didn't like the sound quality. What's the best option there? So I'm assuming the reviewer of the Motor Pure H15 is that you?
>> Nicole: It's me, yeah.
>> Brian: What's the best option out there for multipoints?
>> Nicole: The multipoint, the Moto Pure H15 will work. The call pod Dragon V2 also has multipoint. The Blue NV1 which we...that has multipoint as well. The Motor Pure H15, the sound quality, I didn't like the sound quality on the first go at it, I'm going to test it on a couple more phones and maybe I'll update the review to see if it really is the sound quality if there's a problem with it but stay tuned for that.
>> Brian: Okay, excellent. Let' just use your computer as a reference because I really think that we should. Let's take this one. This question is from Makabahi [assumed spelling], Makabahi. "Hey Brian and Nicole what are some absolute must-have features for today's connected business user?"
>> Nicole: Must-have features for like a phone I'm assuming you're asking. E-mail, mail, exchange support--that is definitely important.
>> Brian: Let's say 3G connectivity also now. This should be able to be more productive. I don't know necessarily why browsing is a must, but as a business user if you're trying to keep on top of what's going on, having 3G and a capable web browser is [inaudible].
>> Nicole: I think having Wi-Fi is also a nice thing to have especially if you're surfing within your own company's intranet or something like that. I think maybe like I know the Blackberry and I know the iPhone has a VPN capabilities, I mean that's a little bit more techy but if you want to look into your own company's like work structure, your VPN may be important to have.
>> Brian: Also being able to take photos; video capture that's really important for business owners.
>> Nicole: Depends on your business. Like if you're a real estate like agent, it's really good to go out to the homes and take photos of the houses and send it to your clients.
>> Brian: If you're a real...no you're right if that's the profession. I'll give you that; I'll give you that okay? But all those early ones that we already talked about those are pretty much core and really on most all of the smart phones that are out there, those are in place. Except some phones don't have Wi-Fi still like some of the what is like Verizon phones, smart phones, typically don't have Wi-Fi on them because they really want them to use their own 3G network. I've found that to be like a lot. Can you hear okay?
>> Nicole: Someone's saying my audio went out but I don't know.
>> Brian: Did it go out? If you think Nicole's audio went out, plug your cable back in to your computer that might work.
>> Nicole: There's another question from the G Dog.
>> Brian: G Dog.
>> Nicole: "I hear that there's a new update for the iPhone/iTouch coming out. Any chance that you'll include interface note syncing?" There has been information that there will be an iPhone 2.2 software or something that will allow tethering, I think that was the big thing and also will allow over the air Podcast download, subscription downloads.
>> Brian: Yeah as well as Google street view, which I ripped on Tom about but he said it's really useful but I can see how it's kind of useful but if that's what they're going to throw in the 2.2 I'll be like whatever. Give me like some more like core features I can use.
>> Nicole: And then the discussion was like whether you'll have cut and paste and whether you'll have the note syncing. Copy and paste, I mean...
>> Brian: You know what's really funny though, well yeah but then when there's other phones that don't have copy and paste like I have to rip on them too because it really makes it such a big deal. But one of the things about the software Beta release at least that developers are testing, earlier on they had set out certain features were like [inaudible] that they couldn't get access to so maybe there will be a few that come out when 2.2 actually comes out, but up to this point there were no indications of even any type of strings or people that dig deep into it that show that copy and paste, or multimessaging or multi-media capture would be a part of this 2.2 release. So that's from what people are saying and have experienced. I would say don't expect it.
>> Nicole: I mean it's definitely low on their priority list from what I can gather which is a little frustrating but there you go.
>> Brian: Let's take this question that J. M. [inaudible] popped in. He said "Any long-term impressions of the G1? I'm close to taking the plunge." Reboot. Is he asking me to reboot my computer?
>> Nicole: I don't know. So like the longer you use the G1 I think the better you'll be. Just because the G1 has access to the end right [assumed spelling] applications store--the end right marketplace, so I think the longer you have the G1 the more applications will be available for the end right operating system, so I think in that sense I think it's pretty good alternative to have. As far as the design of it, it takes a little bit of getting used to. I've heard everything from they love it, they hate it, so it's really like personal preference at this point. I personally did not like the design so much because it was really like a [inaudible] to me to slide up the screen all the time to get to the keyboard so it's a little bit [inaudible] to me, but I've heard other people say that it's great for them.
>> Brian: The platform itself has this huge long-term potential. This is like the first phone that they released it on is kind of clunky and it just feels like okay give me another year until we get a speakerphone that talks to the OS but it's nice. The OS, there's a lot that can be done with it.
>> Nicole: There have been some complaints about the G1's battery life, and I think part of that is because the G1 allows you to run multiple applications at the same time so you're running the GPS, you're running the Wi-Fi, you're running the music player and the browser and all that at the same time. It's kind of [inaudible]. I think that's a little bit one of the bigger questions if whether you can live with the G1 or not.
>> Brian: Here's quick question from A. Gray 77 who asks over here, sorry I'm using your computer. "Will the iphone ever get MMS and texting in landscape mode?" Like we said, we don't know but if you watch the Apple Bite, it's a video about a program, an application called Fire mail. It's a free application that allows you to do e-mail in Landscape mode which is huge because e-mail's going to be longer than your text messages and you can use it with the landscape keyboard and it's totally free and it's integrated and works with your Apple Mail or to your iPhone app so check it out. I'm just telling you; I'm trying to help you out.
>> Nicole: Very good, very good. And let's see I would agree. I don't know though. I actually don't mind texting in the vertical phone factor but that's just me. So do you have anymore questions that you...?
>> Brian: Yeah we can it just sucks that I have to like look at your thing, do you know what I mean? This question is from Simian 124 and the question is, "Is it possible that Firmware upgrades may produce bugs?" It's a multipart question but that's the first one of it. Is it possible?
>> Nicole: To produce bugs?
>> Brian: Well it's really up to the company that releases the Firmware if they did their job. There's always a chance that it can. I don't know if you've experienced this first hand but yeah there's always a chance for that. I don't know what specifically are you asking about--iPhone bugs. He also references, "Is there a way to reduce the scratches on the back of the Nokia 95 A model?" You can get a case for it.
>> Nicole: You can get a case for it or don't mess around with it. I don't know.
>> Brian: Don't drop it and slide it on the ground but I mean a lot of phones no matter what over time they're gonna get scratched and beat up. It really just depends on how much you love your phone. I would more than anything now that people are used to like oh my phone's so pretty I don't want to get it messed up, just make sure the screen doesn't get jacked up.
>> Nicole: You also asked the question about where to get free applications for your Nokia, and I just searched for like Simian 3 applications and there's like a ton of results for it. So there's this site called Simian Freeware.com.
>> Brian: simbien-freeware.com.
>> Nicole: Yeah simbien-freeware.com and there's a whole list of all kinds of applications you can get for your simian phone like smart cam that can turn the Bluetooth and camera into a PC web...it can turn your phone into a PC webcam. There are all kinds of like games you can get for it as well. But yeah that's a cool application that you can download for that.
>> Brian: Excellent. Now here's another question and I don't know this off the top of my head. Do you have...this is from M 1977, "Do you have any idea when Sling Player for Blackberry will be released? Do you have any ideas on that?
>> Nicole: I heard about it.
>> Brian: I mean they opened up the Beta like in early January of this year.
>> Nicole: I have heard about Sling Player for the Blackberry. Yeah there was a Beta sign up earlier this year.
>> Brian: I mean the only thing that they did outright say is that it was supposed to be due by the end of 2008 which is really within the next couple of months so.
>> Nicole: There are a lot of previews showing out on like several blogs and stuff showing that Sling Play actually does work on the Blackberry Curve and 8820, but I think it was on Beta and they keep on saying it will be coming out soon but.
>> Brian: Yeah our CNET News John Falcone writes in this article that it's supposed to be ready for public release by the end of 2008 which is actually a month and a half away so we'll cross our fingers and see if it comes out or not. Okay. This one is from dabbsd, "Can you access the web on a smart phone that doesn't have Wi-Fi without a data plan?"
>> Nicole: Yes but it will be slow and it will cost you a lot more than if you don't have a data plan. Some phones have Edge or something of a little bit lower quality in terms of the speed and if you don't have a data plan, they might charge you like per byte or per megabyte or something like that.
>> Brian: Yeah actually you have the ability to use it but without a data plan you're gonna get charged for it.
>> Nicole: You're just gonna get charged a lot more than what you would normally get charged if you have a data plan.
>> Brian: Okay excellent. Here's another question. "Are you familiar with the AT&T Quickfire?
>> Nicole: Yeah the AT&T Quickfire is this new phone from AT&T. It's sort of like a Sidekick competitor; it's a slide up QWERTY keyboard. The step up from the Sidekick is that it has a touch-screen as well as GPS and 3G so it's a very high-end sort of Sidekick phone. We don't have a review unit right just yet. It is already out with AT&T but we haven't have a review unit yet from AT&T but we will soon--probably this week or next week, pretty soon so.
>> Brian: Okay excellent. Well you guys it's 12:01 now. We didn't even play video because we had so many questions. We weren't even able to get through all of them. I think we knocked out a big fat chunk so we appreciate you guys for participating and being a part of this. Just remember you guys can come back to Editor's Office Hours--will we be, is Thursday up in the air? [Background question]. There will be so before we used to have Ask the Editors live which was kind of a live chat, but there will be Editor's Office Hours tomorrow which normally hasn't happened but that's going to start being a regular thing. So tomorrow 11:30 a.m., West Coast time; 2:30 p.m. East Coast time. Nicole won't be here but KG, Kent German, will be. So you guys just tune in then. Thanks a lot, so much for coming out and we'll see you guys next time. Later.
>> Nicole: Bye.
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