Fun Facts about New Nokia’s

Ah, a Tour owner’s dream. The BlackBerry Bold 9650 started life out as the BlackBerry Tour2. It then went through a late-stage metamorphosis and received a memory upgrade and name change for a couple of different reasons. One of the reasons is to utilize a positive product name RIM has built (the Bold line), and another would be to prevent hundreds of thousands of angry BlackBerry owners from practically taking over the entire city of Waterloo, Canada. You see, the BlackBerry Bold 9650 is what the Tour should have originally been, and by releasing a Tour2 under a year from the original device’s debut would be straight up insulting. RIM killed two birds with one stone by renaming the device to be a Bold, continuing a successful device brand, and also trying to not completely obliterate an existing handset (even though the Tour 9630 will certainly be end-of-life’d very, very quickly). So is the BlackBerry Bold 9650 the best in the biz? You’ll see soon enough, after the jump of course.

We have been playing with the BlackBerry 9650 on and off for a couple months, and now that we have an official unit from RIM and Sprint, we’re able to effectively judge the handset. Instead of doing a traditional review, we figured since the device really hasn’t changed so dramatically from the original BlackBerry Tour, we’d put our likes and dislikes into different sections.

Likes:

• Durable, solid construction and hardware.
• Great keyboard as always.
• Sounds great as a phone, great reception, perfect voice performance with calls.
• Much faster than the original Tour 9630, no real slowdowns or hangups in the OS, and a much speedier overall experience thanks to a newer and faster processor.
• Wi-Fi — obviously.

We love the solid hardware that RIM has been known for. It definitely shows in the BlackBerry Bold 9650 and it’s a real work powerhouse.

Dislikes:

• The raised trackpad, menu, send, BlackBerry, back keys (they are raised up beyond the keyboard and are a little too high).
• The terrible music speaker on the phone. It’s on the left side, and is a single speaker with a single opening in the case compared to 3 openings in the BlackBerry 9700 case. Sound sounds muffled, and the volume is pretty low. Overall, it’s kind of disappointing. Note: the speakerphone sounds great, we’re talking strictly about music/audio playback.
• The camera lens is still recessed so it can collect dust and isn’t cleaned easily. It would have been great for RIM to make the entire cover go over the camera lens so it would be flat and thus easily accessibly/wipeable.
• The phone is large in size and feels pretty outdated compared to sexier, even on carrier alternatives.

At the end of the day, this is what the BlackBerry Tour should have been. RIM’s hardware roadmap seems to be 1-2 years behind other mobile smartphone powerhouse manufacturers (that is being generous), and the BlackBerry Bold 9650 demonstrates this. The device is incredibly solid, but it’s overly large, especially when compared to a sleeker, sexier BlackBerry Bold 9700 sitting next to it. With phones that are pushing CPU speed barriers at 1GHz and beyond, RIM’s using an estimated 500MHz CPU here with 512MB of RAM and no internal storage. And that’s not exploring the truly ancient operating system that powers it.

The handset itself just straight up feels outdated. It’s a logical choice for a CDMA user, but we can’t help but feel like this device really doesn’t belong in a 2010 lineup. This is a great BlackBerry, and if email is your life, great. If not, there’s not too much we can say the BlackBerry 9650 offers over competitors on Sprint or Verizon. HTC’s EVO 4G and the HTC Droid Incredible (yes, they are two Android handsets) are miles ahead of this device, and unfortunately we’re not sure we’d recommend this handset over one of those except in extreme scenarios.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

Well, it was bound to happen: a flagship device released as a KIRF (for the second time) well ahead of its official launch. Unfortunately, that’s what happens when you delay a product that already leaked months in advance. The $99.20 “N8-00″ might share its name and stylings with Nokia’s imminent Symbian flagship but that’s where the similarities end. This Chinese N8 packs a 3.3-inch touchscreen (resistive, no doubt), a quad-band GSM radio, pair of VGA cameras (ha!), 2GB of MicroSD blah blah blah… hey, let’s be honest, the specs don’t really matter do they? This “Nseries” device, like all KIRFs, will be sold to poseurs who want to look the part before quickly discarding it for the next trend. Picture of the backside after the break.

All credits and information was found on engadget.com

Love Android? Think its UI could use a little unifying sexification? Well, you may be in luck. All Things Digital/Digital Daily is reporting that Matias Duarte, Palm’s senior director of human interface and user experience who was largely responsible for webOS, has left Palm HP, and will be joining Google’s Android team. His official position over at Google will be: “User Experience Director for Android.” Before joining Palm in 2007 Matias was the design chief at Heilio, and previous to that he was project lead on the team that designed the Danger Hiptop mobile device. Congrats Duarte, and we look forward to your future work.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

We’re beginning to encounter an odd psychological effect of too much exposure to CTA’s wild and wacky game accessories. It’s almost as if we’ve developed some strange variant of Stockholm Syndrome that’s tricked us into believing that the Weighted Gloves for Wii are worth twenty bucks. At least the premise makes sense — strap your Wiimote and Wii Nunchuk into these weighted gloves and start in on your fave boxing game. The space-age velcro fasteners will hold your controllers tightly in place as you throw punches and dodge jabs with the best of ‘em. And if you really want an out-of-this-world experience, try it while wearing wings! Get a closer look after the break.

All credits and information was found on engadget.com

If this isn’t the product of Photoshop, then what we’re looking at here is the Motorola Shadow. Allegedly found lying around in a Verizon corporate gym, the employee that found the Big Red exclusive claims they were able to confirm rumored specs which include a 4.3″ WVGA display, 8 megapixel camera with 720p video recording, 16GB of internal memory, Snapdragon processor and HDMI out. Of course these claims — and the entire story for that matter — beg the question “why weren’t more photos taken” as proof, but we guess that’s just too much a chore for Mr. Blurrycam. Other rumors peg the Shadow as having a TI OMAP3630 processor approaching 800MHz and a PowerVR SGX530 GPU capable of 1080p output. We should find out how accurate these rumors are when the Shadow drops either in June or July.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

When it rains Bold 9800 news, it pours. Just yesterday we were given a glimpse of its virtual keyboard and AT&T branding, and now BlackBerry’s upcoming slider can be seen more fleshed out thanks to the power of moving pictures. No narration for this video — that’s either good or bad, depending on your own personal preference — and the horizontal menu swipe looks like it’s missing some animation, but otherwise the phone’s looking pretty snappy for a pre-release. Unless we’re mistaken, that’s clearly a capacitive screen, and even better, it’s got pinch-and-zoom mulititouch. Not in the video? Some Dylan-esque troubadour holding up a cue card that gives price and release date. Bummer. Video after the break.

All credits and information was found on engadget.com

Considering the country that these photos were snapped in, we can’t help but hear the words “fake” in the back of our minds, but Apple.pro is claiming what we’re looking at is proof positive that the next-gen iPhone will be available in an all white body. If you look closely at the pics you’ll notice a curiously big gap between the fascia and the aluminum mid-section, but in fairness, that alone is not enough to rule this as fake. Same goes for the holes for screws seen next to the 30-pin dock connector, something we know to be a hallmark of early prototypes.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

With all the action going down at Google I/0 you can be excused for missing this latest tidbit: the folks behind Wikitude have made the beta version of Drive (their augmented reality personal navigation app) available for free for 2,000 users. And we just got our hands on it, so we know that there are at least a few downloads left at the Android Market. The full-featured demo sports NAVTEQ map data, both AR street view and 3D map view, worldwide coverage, voice commands, and both driving and walking directions. There’s no word yet on when the final version will be released, so this might be your last chance for a while to play with what’s stacking up to look like a pretty decent application. See the thing in action and check out the PR yourself after the break.

All credits and information was found on engadget.com

That Asian Pacific pipeline of prototypes continues to flow with a new iPod Touch now gracing the front pages of blogs across the world. This latest leak showcases an iPod Touch with a rear facing camera and the designation DVT-1 which indicates that it is an early design. Very similar in appearance to the iPod Touch pair that appeared on eBay recently, this latest leaked prototype has a bare bones OS that is chock full of diagnostic utilities. Despite the iPod’s pristine condition, it is unclear whether this is an older prototype left over from Apple’s failed attempt at placing a camera in the iPod Touch last year or if it is indeed the next generation model. We may have to wait until September to find out whether this is a prototype hot off the presses or if it has been stored safely in someone’s drawer for a long time. Hit the jump for a hands on video.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

CTA strikes again! The company known for its unorthodox (and rather silly) game controllers is back with a plastic drawbar / foot pedal combo that is supposed to be “very similar to a rowing machine you would find at the gym,” although we highly doubt it. Designed for games like Wii Sports Resort and Jillian Michaels’ Angry Sports Resort, this is something that would probably only enter your home as an ill-considered Christmas gift before gathering dust in the back of a closet, alongside your Bowling Ball and Football controllers. But we must admit, even if the company’s products are dubious, its infomercials are an endless source of entertainment. See for yourself after the break. As for the rowing machine, it’s up for pre-order now at Amazon, as if you care.

All credits and information was found on engadget.com