CES: Palm Pre is what I want

Sony's bendy TV, Nyko's own Wiimote, Samsung's sleek P2, touch-screen Walkman, I can go on for days. CES is the convention that holds the Microsoft conference, which merely reiterated the stuff found in a previous developer's convention (Windows 7 beta is available for download though), but it's also the convention where all the other brands converge and show their wares.

One in particular looks like my ticket to touchsville- the Palm Pre. While I predict that it seriously won't kill the iPhone, people who know their tech will probably say that it's better. Of course, the iPhone will be guaranteed to have a new iteration by June or so and complete specs for the product aren't readily available (I'm curious about a few other features that it may or may not lack), but for now, the Palm Pre looks real nice and desirable.

It's not sleek like the iPhone, and the QWERTY keypad looks awful to press, but the software is the ticket. If Palm's new WebOS- the upgrade Palm fans have been waiting for- performs as admirably as the iPhone's, I may just jump ship and save for one. It also supports multi-touch gestures like the iPhone, but it will also give you a way to switch between open applications in a manner similar to the way you switch through 'tabs' in iPhone Safari.

OK, so perhaps I'm associating this one way too much with the iPhone. I apologize, but the iPhone is simply the de-facto standard for touch-screen phones for now. I'll try not to associate in the succeeding paragraphs.

Anyway, you may ask: It has a keypad, but where's the directional pad?! Well, you can actually use the area just below the screen to navigate your phone. 

Additionally, charging isn't a mess either- You can charge the Pre wirelessly in the literal sense through a hockey puck.

No AC adaptors.

What do you do with the hockey puck? Well you place the device on top of it, and voila! Charging.

While it's not clear whether you have to charge the hockey puck on the wall, but if you could, it would be awesome and you could charge on the road if you ran out of juice.

If you want to see it in action, watch the video below.

I'm crossing my fingers that this will be the phone for me. Seriously.

Flatulence in iPhone top charts

There are a lot of apps available for the iPhone, but you know the Americans- they have bad taste, as the saying goes.

These fickle folk are the same people responsible for driving up sales of a useless 99 cent app called iFart Mobile. So what is iFart Mobile? Oh come on, don't tell me you don't know what it does. The name alone will give you an idea.

If you still can't use your imagination, here's an idea: You select a sound, touch the screen, and activate the fart.

Great, now the developers who don't deserve getting the coveted top spot in the App Store are the ones making literally almost 10000 US dollars- in ONE DAY EVERYDAY.

Will this model inspire other developers to screw ambition and inspiration for a quick buck? Well, perhaps we'll know when the Caucasians don't stop with their strange affinity for gas passing.

SOURCE: Macrumors

Will Google pwn iPhone?

There has been plenty of news today about the much-touted iPhone OS killer Google Android being in T-Mobile's G1 phone. The phone was made by Taiwanese cellphone company HTC (and TBH, their phones are not so bad themselves) and is the only Google Android powered phone being launched to date. It was formerly supposed to be named the HTC Dream actually.
The phone is not much of a looker, but the OS sure is looking really swell- superior even. There's no telling if the software will be as user-friendly as various tech sites tout it to be, but one thing's for sure: this one's gonna be a huge beast of a competitor once developers start exploiting its open-source-ness. For the uninitiated, open-source means that the code written to empower some kind of program is open to anyone for modification so that updates will be regular and bugs are fixed faster. Heck, a few companies could even make enhancements and modifications to the program if they wanted to, and it would be a rather exciting prospect to gauge how creative companies are going to be with this new OS!

Like the iPhone, it has a touch screen, but it also has real, solid keys that reveal themselves if you slide the screen up like the popular Sidekick. And like the iPhone, it has a built-in music store that you can use to buy music anywhere, but it's the Amazon MP3 Store that's on the offering, and it's better because you won't have to worry about those pesky Digital Rights Management bull.

Plus, the third-party apps that are gonna be on this phone won't have to meet Google's approval if they want to post it unlike in Apple's App Store where updates roll out slowly because they have to go through Apple's inspection process. The Software Development Kit is also open-source, so many, many, many people will be able to make third-party apps for the OS- more than the App Store could ever potentially have.

Maybe this is more dependent from phone to phone, but the Android powered-G1 will have stuff the iPhone bafflingly doesn't like copy and paste, voice dialing, a removable battery, a Street View for Google Maps, a 3.2 megapixel camera and MMS. What it doesn't have however is a regular 3.5" headset jack and video recording, but the first (and for the latter's case, the current) iPhone didn't have that either.

Based on the many videos I've watched on this promising phone however, the OS will probably spark a series of chained events and Apple will be making a run for their touch screen money. This thing will rock the industry when the right phone comes along, but for now, the G1 won't be turning any heads anytime soon. The interface looks extremely easy to use, and sometimes even reminiscent to that of the iPhone and a desktop computer. I can't wait to try a Google Android phone out myself, but maybe I won't be betting on the G1nor Google Android to be the prophesied "iPhone killer"...

...for now.

iPhone 3G Hands-on

Basically both expected and unexpected in terms of features. For one thing, typing is at least made less of a pain because of the extremely intelligent auto-correct system, the camera is pretty good for 2 megapixel (my dad is actually wanting to downgrade from 3 megapixel to 2) but surprisingly, there's no zoom! Still, I'm actually glad to see that there are sane buttons for volume and sleeping (also the equivalent for Lock). The unit overall is actually really sexy up close and personal, and to be honest, I liked the wobbly curved black back. At least there's a phone  
that's not anorexic nor boxy!

Multi-touch gestures are greatly implemented here and although it isn't always responsive, the fact that the unit can tell whether you're holding it sidewards or normally is pretty cool, and it makes browsing music or the web via 3G extremely easy.

Of course, I didn't exactly test everything. And that's because it's merely a demo model from Globe Telecom. However, based from the video that was being shown outside makes it apparent that SMS will be G-Mail like, and again, there's no MMS, but getting extremely user-friendly E-mail options that contains Yahoo! Mail which is surprisingly free even for those not using Yahoo! Mail Plus verily much makes up for it.

The music side of the iTunes store is still not available here, so advertising it will not do any good, but the App Store works... And as I said in the past few posts, there are bad ones and good ones.

It's not as feature stripped as I thought, but it's still not worth the money.

I just noticed: It's iPhone day tomorrow, so here are some tips

I wonder how Apple got my E-Mail address, but there it was in my Inbox: the iPhone 3G is coming tomorrow. And despite my efforts of dissuading my father from buying that overpriced feature-stripped phone, he reserved the 8GB model. But anyway, I'm sure you too got suckered into the hype, so why not go along for the ride?

What is the point of this post, you say? Well, I'm actually gonna help you set up and personalize your new iPhone 3G once it gets out tomorrow by at least giving you tips on what is the best of the best of its much praised, much awaited new service: the App Store.

Of course, it's all judged by real experience, so yes, I myself have played these games and productivity apps. And I can safely say that most of the apps here are a new treat, but I'm not going to divulge on how I actually got to test them- not yet anyway- so now I bring you some of the best iPhone App Store Apps and Games. And if you were asking, yes, you can now make a real iTunes Store account using your parent's credit card for the Philippines.

Best of the Apps: These apps are worth your money.

1) Lumen- Damn, this game is hard! You have to let the laser pass through using your brain, and even the "Easy" puzzles will make you already scratch your head! ($1.99; Lite version is Free)

2) Lumina- It's simple: Follow the pattern. Get it right, get up a level. There's nothing really special about its presentation, and the simplicity is the beauty of it. You're simply given 4 glowing boxes and you have to follow and memorize the pattern it gives you. That's already addicting in itself! And it's not scripted either, it's random! ($1.99)

3) Labyrinth- Yes, you're given just a few demo puzzles, but you can download even more for free! What's more, this is one of the best motion-controlled games for the iPhone/iPod touch! It's responsive, and you don't have to set the sensitivity at all. Just get the ball to the checkered block, and proceed. It's harder than you'd think, and that's what's addicting about it. ($6.99; Lite version is Free)

4) Imangi- It's a simple word game. Just touch 2-whatever number of letters to form a word, and double tap the words that are glowing green to finish. No other twists, no time limit, just spotting as many words as you want. ($3.99)

5) Muddled- Oh my God, this is hooking! If you like Text Twist, this is its portable counterpart. It's almost a duplicate that I smell a lawsuit from GameHouse! If you don't know Text Twist, then here's a little background info: You are presented a few letters, and you should arrange them to form real words. If you form the longest word, you already get an instant ticket to the next round. If not, then get half the words. ($1.99)

6) Numba- Form consecutive numbers, odd consecutive numbers, even consecutive numbers, pattered numbers, etc. just by tapping a number and dragging your finger. For example, the blocks you see are 1, 2 and 3 together. You put your finger on the number 1 block and drag your finger to the number 3 block. Simple, but most addicting. ($6.99)

7) Tic Tac Touch- Bored out of your wits? Then play Tic Tac Toe with your iPod's Artificial Intelligence. Heck, you can even challenge a friend! ($1.99)

8) de Blob- The INKT Corp. has wiped all the color in the world, and it's your job as the titular character to bring it back. You can control it using the motion-controls or the touch-screen, and they both work very well! The controls are simple as well, and if you want to beat an enemy, you just touch a crosshair. Simple, but addicting. ($6.99)

9) Cro-Mag Rally- Although I'm not a fan of motion-control steering, and I was skeptical when Pangea Software introduced this, you can actually set how sensitive the phone is for better steering, and since then I've been having a ball. Get this! It's actually kind of funny. ($5.99)

10) Air Hockey! Fingertip Sports- Engage in 2 player matches, and tilt the iPhone to gain control of the puck, as well as control settings through the home screen's Settings button before you play. It does as advertised, although there is a bit of a problem with collision detection personally. ($2.99)

11) Remote- Apple's iPhone app enables you to literally get a remote control for iTunes (aside from the Apple Remotes that come with the Macs). Select your tune from afar, and your computer's speakers will follow. Just type a passcode and you're in! It's actually worth it even if it costed something! Get it if you have a Wi-Fi connection. (No Wi-Fi connection=no effect) (Free)

Just remember, you have to make an iTunes Store account before you download, and set it to the appropriate country!

Tomorrow, the worst of the lot!