Just the other day, I was in the local O2 (NYSE: TEF) shop, playing with the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre – having heard so much about it, but no opportunity to get hands-on, I was keen to see what the device could do.

Initially, I was really pleased to see an excellent implementation of both the capacitance screen sensitivity, but also of the UI – it really does look that nice, and in my mind at least, is a competitor for the iPhone UI for sure. A couple of swipes across the screen later, and I’d found the right way to control the UI for flipping between,  and closing Apps.

Of course the next logical test was to see what the keyboard was like, and so I decided to add a new contact, called “bob”. Leaving aside what I thought of the keyboard for a minute (hint: not great), my main surprise came when I went to store the handset – there was an appreciable lag, as compared with the rest of my usage of the handset to that point.

To test what I immediately surmised could be the problem, I then opened a video, and also made a calendar entry – this confirmed my initial thinking that substantial read/writes to the memory, via the O/S, were being hit with a  bit of a lag. Usage of the UI in general was super-smooth, but as soon as you called down to the OS (particularly if writing to memory), then there was definitely some slowdown.

Now I should put this in perspective: I’m used to being spoilt by the iPhone, which is incredibly fluid in it’s use, and rarely lags – only occasionally have I tripped it up. The Palm Pre was 90% good in this respect, and maybe just that 10% bad (slow) across certain invoked operations.

But that got me thinking – I have used some devices previously that were really not great in terms of the lag when you selected certain apps, or wanted to do certain things. And I bet the IntoMobile readership have had the same experience – therefore, can you remember the worst handset you ever had for lagging? And can you remember why the lag occurred (opening app, re-skinning etc)?

I’ll put forward the N96 as pretty laggy during general use…. I’m not sure  it is the worst handset that I’ve ever used for lag (that title surely belongs to one of the WinMo devices I had in early y2k!), but I’m open to suggestion from our readers! So it’s:

• What was the handset – make, model, if you can remember
• What were you doing with the handset that made it lag – keep it clean!

Answers on a postcard … (or at least in the comments on this post!)

I don’t know how many of these bad boys have arrived in the UK yet, but the person who’s kindle I played with yesterday claimed theirs was one of the first! Whether that’s true or not, I’m not sure – but one thing is clear – Kindle, with support for Euro 3G, is definitely here!

To rewind a little: the Kindle is Amazon’s play in the e-book reader space – and Amazon have one huge advantage over other e-book reader manufacturers … can you guess what it is?! Yep, the (arguably) critical area of content! To say that Amazon know a bit about selling books is possibly the understatement of the year!

So Amazon have got some hardware in to the marketplace, which has been established for some time – when I say marketplace of course, what I actually mean is the US domestic marketplace (officially) – but in the last few days, the informally-titled ‘Kindle 2’has appeared, rocking 3G and EDGE support for European mobile networks.

What makes this more interesting from my perspective is that the device can supposedly roam on any major network in most countries,  and you don’t pay the data fees for doing your book downloads. Schweet!

Because the Kindle display uses E Ink®, you should theoretically get huge battery life, since the power needed to maintain screen display of a given page is close to zero. Balancing that surely would be the high power consumption needed to stay attached to a 3G network, but it is possible to turn the wireless connection off (you only need it if you are pushing content to your device).

So what is the thing like to play with? Well I just had five minutes to fiddle with one yesterday, and overall, I came away impressed. The form factor of the device is very Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)-esque, and this is no chubby wonder – its very thin indeed, with a brushed metal back, and off-white facia, wrapping a 6-inch screen.

The screen looks ‘passive’ – that is, there’s no light emitted from it, and it’s probably the closest thing you can get to looking at paper, whilst at the same time being represented electronically.  Checking out some pages from a book that was pre-loaded, the text reads nice and clearly, and monochrome images even display nicely too. There are big next/previous page  buttons, a navigation control (joystick), and a full keyboard.

Presumably the keyboard is useful when you are pushing and pulling stuff from your Amazon drop-box – a bit like an email account and FTP account rolled in to one, as I understand it. All the books you by are dropped there for the Kindle to pick up, plus you cans send documents you want to read later to there also.

I’m not sure what the long-term reading experience is like on the device – but certainly it’s capacity is far in excess of one book – so if you read a lot, it’s going to be up there among the range of options you might consider to use – that wireless connection does make in convenient too! One thing I’m not sure/keen about is the price – $269 (for the internal version, 6” screen) is quite a bit in my mind – perhaps I am just being a bit scrooge-like in my old age though!

Overall then, a neat innovation – I like the addition of wireless, and if it can do a couple of other  things well too (I didn’t have time to check in 5 minutes!), then I’d think about  buying one.. of course if Amazon UK want to send me a unit to review, I can give you all a more detailed overview!

Check out more on the Kindle here.

[Images via: Amazon.com]

Avenir Telecom has announced it will exclusively be rolling out distribution of innovative mobile accessories from French company Beewi.

The accessories consist of high-end audio and connectivity accessories, such as what is possibly the slimmest and lightest hands- free car-kit in the world (’credit card’-sized, it sticks on to your windscreen or dashboard), a BluetoothTM streamer for iPods and iPhones (which wirelessly streams music to one or more pairs of headphones), stylish headphones for enjoying you phone’s MP3 collection on the move, possibly the smallest USB WiFi adapter in the world, and a USB adapter which adds BluetoothTM connectivity to laptops and computers without the need for a breakable, protruding dongle.

Avenir Telecom’s Managing Director Andy Tow comments “Avenir’s new accessories division is exemplified by this exclusive Beewi range. It offers the buyer – whether they’re at customer, retailer or dealer level – confidence, clear features and benefits and technical excellence. The accessories market has been populated with an array of incompatible and inconsistent products and ranges for far too long. Avenir will bring the best products to the UK, market them in a clear and compelling way, and help drive this exciting area of mobile communications forward into the future. We aim to do for mobile hardware what the Apple iPhone apps store has done for mobile software!”

I certainly think the range of accessories is pretty reasonable, and I’m particularly liking the A2DP streaming module – now I just need a set of Bluetooth earphones to tune in! You should hopefully be able to find these accessories in UK shops soon enough!

As you’ll know if you saw the post from Simon the other day, the new BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) (9700) is now official. Our friends over at Electricpig.co.uk have gone wild on the BlackBerry Bold 9700, with seemingly an avalanche of pictures for your general edutainment! These are not product shots, but really good quality ‘user-generated’ (well they generated them at least) images – certainly worth a look if you are considering a purchase!

You can check out all the images by clicking here.

[Via: Electricpig.co.uk]

As you’ll know if you saw the post from Simon the other day, the new BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Bold (9700) is now official, and soon to be coming to a retail emporium near you – in the UK, eXpansys have broken from the pack to announce that they’ll have it on 9th November. It will be selling for £419.99.

If you want to check it out, click here.

Anyone that regularly reads IntoMobile will know that I think the Groovemaker range of Apps are awesome (here and here) – sitting in a perfect niche between recreational music, and professional music production – they are kinda like the guitar hero of mobile music production, but there’s real productivity in here too – it’s no  game!

So recently, IK Multimedia, the creators of Groovemaker, released two new versions of the application – Techno and Trance (here). In this post, I’m writing down my thoughts on the Trance App, having used it quite extensively! More after the jump….

Read the full article »

Another week, and another stonking set of deals from eXpansys – however this time, to keep it fresh, they’ve moved deal-day to Thursday! Here’s what hot this week:

Samsung i8000 Omnia II – Windows Phone 6.5

Normally £434.99 Now £399.99 Save £35

Sony Ericsson Aino 8MP Camera

Normally £424.99 Now £374.99 Save £50

HTC Tattoo with £20 eXpansys Vouchers

Normally £279.99 Now £269.99 Save £10

That is a very nice selection of current and happening devices, across a range of operating systems too! I’ve currently got an HTC Tattoo for review, and it’s very nice indeed – so that would be my recommendation from above – but they are all good deals!

Note: These deals are available on Thursday the 22nd October 2009 between 11am and 5pm by following the links above only.

Anyone that regularly reads IntoMobile will know that I think the Groovemaker range of Apps are awesome (here and here) – sitting in a perfect niche between recreational music, and professional music production – they are kinda like the guitar hero of mobile music production, but there’s real productivity in here too – it’s no  game!

So recently, IK Multimedia, the creators of Groovemaker, released two new versions of the application – Techno and Trance (here). In this post, I’m writing down my thoughts on the Techno App, having used it quite extensively! More after the jump….

Read the full article »

I wrote a post the other day about two lots of marketing collateral that I saw, within days of each other, for competing solutions on wireless charging of mobile devices. One solution was called the Powermat, and the other, the PowerPad.

Well both companies responded to my article (!), and here’s what PowerPad (Gear4) had to say (Powermat in another post here):

• There are no magnets in the PowerPad (phones don’t tend to dislike magnets)
• Our solution is WWI (works with iPhone) approved (i.e. Apple have approved it for sale and supply the connector which plugs into the dock)
• There is a larger receiving area built into the PowerPad so you can place the unit down in a fairly care free way and it will start charging straight away (no need to position it carefully)
• Our charge pad is relatively compact and designed for just the iPhone. When he handset manufacturers start building receiving technology into their portable devices, then we believe a multi-pad makes sense, but until this point, we think a small compact pad works better (this fits onto a desk or bedside table better)

So there you go – which solution is better, I’m not sure right now – hopefully I’ll be getting a review unit to try out!

I wrote a post the other day about two lots of marketing collateral that I saw, within days of each other, for competing solutions on wireless charging of mobile devices. One solution was called the Powermat, and the other, the PowerPad.

Well both companies responded to my article (!), and here’s what Powermat had to say (Powerpad in another post here):

• Don’t miss out on getting your hands on Powermat – the first truly wireless charger
• Powermat will change the way you charge as it enables up to four mobile phones, MP3 players and other devices to charge at the same time
• Using wireless energy transfer, Powermat pairs an ultra-thin mat with a receiver which connects to your device
• A sleek black design, Powermat will help de-clutter your home, creating one common charging area for all your devices
• Powermat also helps you travel light with a special portable version that folds up to less than 10cm by 10cm by 3.5cm
• Powermat receivers are currently available for the iPhone, iPods and BlackBerry devices. Consumers who purchase the Powermat Powercube can also connect via mini USB to many other devices to meet their charging needs.
• Powermat products will be available nationwide in October 2009 from all major retailers