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Android On The HTC Touch Diamond!

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (491)

Gawd bless those guys at XDA Developers. Whilst we sleep or watch Strictly Come Dancing of an evening (Rachel Stevens to win!) those guys are working hard to make great things happen, including getting Xperia panels running on regular phones and the like.

This time, they have managed to shoehorn Google’s new operating system Android (premiered on the T-Mobile G1) onto the touchscreen of an HTC Touch Diamond, usually staunch Windows Mobile territory!

Granted, there are some teething troubles which the following video depicts in unintentionally amusing fashion, but it is a great proof of concept and Android looks as impressive as ever on the Diamond’s high resolution screen!

How long before they get this running on the 3.8 inch jumbotron screen of the HTC Touch HD and beat T-Mobile to the G2 everyone’s been clamouring for? We give it about a week.

Source: CoolSmartPhone / XDA Developers

Touch Diamond: Now Available With Built-In Earthquake Sensing Goodness

By Robin LandycloseAuthor: Robin Landy Name: Robin Landy
Email: talk@omio.com
Site: http://www.omio.com
About: See Authors Posts (18)

It was surely only a matter of time before an intrepid developer made the logical leap between using an accelerometer for vital ball-in-the-hole games and using an accelerometer to check for earthquakes.

If you’re a seismophobic Touch Diamond owner, you’ll be relieved to know that a free download is now available to feed your anxiety. Seismo converts the jiggles of the phone in your pocket vibrations of distant earthquakes into a pretty graph which you can show your friends, or just feel anxious about.

Although the app’s appeal could be generously described as ‘niche’, it is - in principle - not as useless as it initially appears. The Economist recently explained that researchers at Stanford University are using a international network of volunteers’ laptop accelerometers to detect earthquakes in much greater detail than conventional seismometers.

Happily, the software is able to distinguish between the frantic repetitive motions that accompany some users’ surfing habits, and the vibrations of an oncoming cataclysm.

The Quake Catcher Network (QCN) uses the same distributed techniques as the easily mocked SETI@home project (which has millions of Star Wars fans harnessing their spare computing power on a fruitless intergalactic search for the real-life Yoda).

However, while SETI participants are desperate for a Jodie Foster like moment of extra-terrestrial epiphany, volunteers in the QCN are more likely to get early warning of imminent earth-shaking somewhere else on this planet.

If you still need further inspiration, here’s a thrilling video of the Touch Diamond app in action…

Source: PocketNow

HTC Touch Diamond Gets Coat Of Many Colours

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (491)

The HTC Touch Diamond, whilst a fun little touchscreen device, was apparently lacking in enough personality to appeal to their target demographic…something they’ve now fixed with a psychedelic paint job, offering seven sexy new ones!

White, Pink, Blue, Red, Yellow, Brown, and shiny Purple are the order of the day, here’s hoping they improve the battery life whilst they’re at it…

Source: Unwired View

LG KC910 Is Now LG Renoir

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (491)

As if to spite me, mere moments after I begged them not to, LG have renamed the KC910 the ‘Renoir’.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French artist who was instrumental in the development of the Impressionist style of painting, and as such is a natural fit to their new 8 megapixel camera phone.

I only found that out from Wikipedia, and I’m a damn genius. Come to think of it, ‘name’ phones have been pretty successful in recent days. Samsung Omnia, the Tocco, the HTC Touch Diamond, all top sellers.

Let’s hope the old ‘Viewty‘ magic works for them this time around…

Source: GSMArena

HTC Android Handset Spied On Interweb

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (491)

Seems like the rumours that HTC will in fact get a handset running the new Android platform by the year’s end may have some credence after all. A rather unexciting shaky-cam video has been put up on the Youtubes of a nice white phone running Google’s software, but doing very little with it!

The exciting bit is the shock reveal of keyboard behind the screen Sidekick-style, making an otherwise vanilla mobile a tad more exciting! Word is that this is the HTC “Dream,” another beauty from the makers of the Touch series including the Pro and the Diamond. No official announcements have been made, but the May unveiling of Android featured demos on a fairly similar phone to the one in the vid.

It looks like the Opus Dei quality code of secrecy surrounding Android is beginning to crumble. Guess you can’t deny the very developers you wish to court access to the newest builds, and expect them to keep quiet about it…

Source: Register Hardware

Samsung i900 Omnia Has Appealing Alternate Outfit

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (491)

Another touchscreen phone we are keeping a close eye on is the Omnia, as the Touch Diamond’s direct competition Samsung hasn’t disappointed. This beefed-up Tocco now has Windows Mobile support to make it a lot more useful than the pretty, yet slightly vacuous F480. But it did look a tad dull…

Not any more as the easily impressed amongst us have spied this picture of a new back panel! The ‘Snow White’ edition will be limited to the 16GB Omnia (iPhone 3G much?) and has been earmarked for a far-eastern release, with other territories to follow once the phone is actually available there. Fair enough, and the reviews have been favourable, so roll on White (sort of) Omnia!

Can’t shake the feeling that this smacks of ‘Malibu Stacy’ syndrome… That episode of the Simpsons where the kids go wild over the same old Malibu Stacy doll with a new plastic hat? Maybe it’s just me.

A Tale of Two iPhones : Differences Between iPhone And iPhone3G

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (491)

In light of the unofficial release of the o2 Pay As You Go pricing for the iPhone 3G, we thought it would be a good time to see if the young pretender has what it takes to wrestle the crown from the current champ.

o2 was kind enough to briefly display prospective numbers for the iPhone 3G on their site, which was at the expected price point of £300 for the 8GB and fifty quid more to double up on memory. These were promptly yoinked unceremoniously off the page, perhaps they were testing the waters to see industry reaction?

Using our patented Omio ‘Compare Phone’ feature, we stand the iPhone 3G next to its predecessor to see what magic the Apple camp has weaved in the past year.

See the iPhone Comparison in Depth.

More detailed analysis follows…

Read the rest of this entry »

Diamonds: Everyone’s Best Friend?

By Robin LandycloseAuthor: Robin Landy Name: Robin Landy
Email: talk@omio.com
Site: http://www.omio.com
About: See Authors Posts (18)

Want a cool smartphone? Don’t want to look like a frothing-at-the-mouth Apple fan-boy? HTC might have you covered…

The new Touch Diamond - launched yesterday in a not-quite-as-slick-as-Apple press event (hosted by the superbly monikered Horace Luke) does all the regular smartphone stuff and then some. It is compact (11mm thin), has a hi-res VGA screen and an accelerometer for those vital ball-in-the-maze games.

But the thing that HTC really wants you to notice is its fancy-dan TouchFlow 3D interface. And the thing they really want you to ignore is Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system. Remember when, as a child, your mother would bury the vegetables in ketchup & cheese in the vain hope that you wouldn’t see them? Same thing with the HTC Diamond.

Conspicuously absent from HTC’s demos was any hint of the traditional Windows Mobile interface. Instead, HTC dazzled onlookers with iPhone-style swooshing icons, a custom YouTube app and morphing weather graphics.

Yet, as any Windows Mobile aficionado knows, as soon as you try to actually do anything with it - like ooh, write an email - you’ll be catapulted back into the arms of the antediluvian stylus-based interface.

Still, HTC have probably made the Diamond thin enough and shiny enough to push it into the hands of eager punters on all networks this summer. Get ready for Orange to ruin it with one of their craptastic customised homescreens.

Update: Orange have already done it.