Mobile Phone Reviews

The Treo 500v reworks the Windows Mobile user interface to generally good effect, but the absence of HSDPA, Wi-Fi and a front-facing camera may prove to be serious shortcomings. Overall though, it's a creditable addition both to the Windows Mobile ecosystem and to Palm’s stable.

Friday Sept 14, 2007

Apple reduced the price of the 8Gb iPhone 200$ to 399$ last week in a bid

to boost sales and market share. This move has upset the early buyers so much Apple is offering them a 100$ rebate..

nice move by Apple.. I remember my first Nokia 2110 I bought for 699$ which dropped the next year to 399$… Nokia and Ericsson ignored early customers’ hurt feelings in these early days

At the same time, the 4Gb model is being dropped..

But users in Europe and the Middle East are waiting for the real news .. When will the 3G model be available ?

“I would be very surprised to see the first iPhones in Europe not be 3G,” Mark Donovan, senior analyst at mobile industry research firm M:Metrics, told Macworld. “Having 3G will be very important for them [Apple] out of the gate.”.

When Apple released the iPhone domestically in June on AT&T’s network, the two companies used Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) or Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS). The decision to use the slower 2G standard caused complaints among users, but U.S. customers have the option to use Wi-Fi where available.

However, Wi-Fi networks are not as plentiful in Europe and those customers will be less forgiving of a 2G phone, according to Donovan. According to M:Metrics research, 80 to 90 percent of Europeans use smartphones for things like text messaging on a regular basis.

What M:Metrics fails to evaluate is that users in Paris, London or Dubai are now watching TV on their cell, making video calls and downloading files on the fast UMTS 3g networks.. No can do without for iPhone …

HP has revamped its iPAQ range with no fewer than five new products, ranging from state-of-the-art smartphones to 'classic' PDAs.