Geek Treat of the Week Considering I grew up with Inspector Gadget, Knight Rider and Warren Beatty’s portrayal of Dick Tracy, it’s unsurprising that I’ve always craved a watch that doubles up as a phone. A ‘photch’ perhaps?
Fortunately, my wishes are no longer a pipe-dream, as watchphones have been on the market for years. Chinese manufacturer Burg has produced such watches for a while too, but recently launched a budget model and sent it in for our official vulture verdict.
Burg 5: chunky
The Burg 5 initially seems to be nothing more than a cheap watch. It’s a big chunk of plastic with a hefty silicone strap and an appetite for wear and tear. Being so bulky it’s easy to accidentally catch something and cause damage too, scratching paint off walls in the process. The buttons around the circumference blend into the design as if they’re part of the oversized body. It’s only when you take a closer look at numbers 11 and 12 – which have been replaced by red and green phone symbols – do you suspect this is more than a basic ticker. Read the rest of this entry »
Review When you buy a mobile, you know that you’re likely to be stuck with it for the life of your contract. Good news: you’ll get used to its quirks and differences. Bad news: you can only watch as gorgeous handsets are released for the next year or two.
Smart move? Nokia’s X7
But what’s trickier about the new Nokia X7 is that it uses Symbian, the much-maligned operating system which even the Finnish phone maker says won’t be its main phone platform. From later this year the company will mainly focus on Windows phone for its smartphones. So do you really want to buy what may turn out to be the last major Symbian handset? Read the rest of this entry »
Review LG distinguished itself recently by releasing the UK’s first smartphone with a dual-core processor. But while the Optimus 2X grabbed all the headlines, LG also delivered another high-end handset – single-core, this time – the Optimus Black.
Optimus Black: are LG bosses JK Rowling wannabes?
The name Black hardly distinguishes it, since it’s a colour it shares with 90 per cent of its rivals. The entire front is covered by a single sheet of glass, with a touch-sensitive strip beneath the screen for the four standard Android buttons. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Touchscreen phones are where both manufacturers and punters are spending now, and all other categories are seeing rapid declines in market share. But if the most important applications you use involve phone calls and messaging, all of the new, whizzy devices fall short. None do voice particularly well, or messaging comprehensively. Few will make it through a demanding day.
The E6: Nokia’s white knight?
Nokia thinks there’s a part of the market here that is poorly catered for, and has revisited one of its former glories for inspiration, the E71, the monoblock Qwerty phone introduced in 2008. I doubt if anyone felt an emotion resembling affection for their E71, but it’s was dependable, it made its rivals seem clunky and immature, and it’s deservedly popular. Read the rest of this entry »
