Features

O2 Palm Pre GSM review

By Chris Davies on Tuesday, Oct 6th 2009 No Comments

For European consumers, the Palm Pre has been a long time coming. Announced – in CDMA form – back in January 2009, with Palm coyly dancing around the matter of a GSM version until its Sprint launch took place in June, the smartphone has even gained a sibling (in the shape of the Palm Pixi) before those across the Atlantic have had a chance to play with the original. That’s all finally changing this month, with carrier O2 exclusively offering the Pre in the UK and Ireland from October 16th and Germany from October 13th. Has time dulled the Pre’s appeal? SlashGear have been testing out the GSM Palm Pre; check out our full review after the cut.

O2 Palm Pre GSM SlashGear review 29 540x400

Continued »

HTC HD2 Windows Phone gets official: Hands-on Video

By Chris Davies on Tuesday, Oct 6th 2009 13 Comments

After weeks of rumor, HTC have confirmed the existence of their latest flagship Windows Phone, the HTC HD2 (aka the HTC Leo). As expected, the HD2 runs Windows Mobile 6.5 on a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, with a 4.3-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen and 5-megapixel autofocus camera; it’s also the first Windows Phone to support both multitouch and HTC Sense. Perhaps best of all, HTC CEO Peter Chou has confirmed that HTC will be offering a US 3G version of the HD2 in Q1 2010. SlashGear sat down with Chou earlier on today to get a preview of the HD2 and find out more about HTC’s focus moving forward.

htc hd2 slashgear hands on 0 400x500

Video hands-on with the HTC HD2 after the cut

Continued »

HTC Touch2 Windows Phone review

By Chris Davies on Tuesday, Oct 6th 2009 No Comments

Windows Mobile 6.5 is arriving with a fanfare, and a number of high-end Windows Phones to demonstrate Microsoft’s latest OS’ flexibility. Not every device is a do-everything uber-phone, however; part of Windows Mobile’s strength is that it also does duty on relatively entry-level handsets. The HTC Touch2 – replacement to the original HTC Touch – is one such device; what it lacks in bells & whistles, it attempts to make up for in simplicity. Can a Windows Phone really make a splash in the crowded feature-phone segment? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut. Click to Read Windows Mobile 6.5 Review

htc touch2 windows phone slashgear 17 466x500

Continued »

AT&T HTC Pure Windows Phone review

By Ewdison Then and Vincent Nguyen on Tuesday, Oct 6th 2009 No Comments

AT&T’s first Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphone, the HTC Pure, has some reasonable heritage; while the casing may look new, the guts of the handset are shared with HTC’s Touch Diamond2. Back when we reviewed the Diamond2 in May, we described it as the best Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone on the market, and suggested it was well placed for the promised update to 6.5. Has the Pure managed to deliver on that? Check out the SlashGear review after the cut. Click to Read Windows Mobile 6.5 Review

attpure 1 slashgear 540x397

Continued »

Windows Mobile 6.5 Review

By Vincent Nguyen, Ewdison Then and Chris Davies on Monday, Oct 5th 2009 No Comments

It’s been more than eighteen months since Microsoft pushed Windows Mobile 6.1 out of the door, itself a relatively minor update to a smartphone platform dating back to February 2007. In that time, Apple have shaken the smartphone segment to its core with the iPhone, Google and Palm have launched Android and webOS respectively, and so-called feature-phones have punctuated a consumer market ever-more mature in its mobile demands. So, is 6.5 a legitimate release, or just a stopgap half-measure on the road to Windows Mobile 7 next year? Read on for the SlashGear review. Click to Read Windows Mobile 6.5 Review

Windows-Mobile-6.5-SlashGear-04-r3media

Continued »

Verizon HTC Imagio Windows Phone review

By Vincent Nguyen on Monday, Oct 5th 2009 No Comments

A thoughtful person might look at the Verizon Imagio and decide that it’s almost HTC delivering the Touch HD (Review part 1 & part 2) that their US audience never officially had. A comparatively large touchscreen, slender casing and 5-megapixel camera certainly tally with what the Touch HD offered; still, it’s been almost a year since we reviewed the GSM phone, so does the Imagio deliver the goods with Windows Mobile 6.5? Click to Read Windows Mobile 6.5 Review

htc imagio verizon lock screen r3media 362x500 Continued »

Sprint HTC Hero Review

By Chris Davies on Monday, Oct 5th 2009 3 Comments

We weren’t short of praise for the HTC Hero when we reviewed the European GSM model back in July, and since then there’s been no small amount of anticipation for the US version of the device. That arrives on Sprint come October 11th, and we’ve been playing with it to see whether its lost its charm in the journey across the Atlantic.

htc hero sprint 01 r3media 431x500 Continued »

SlashGear Week in Review – Week 40 2009

By Shane McGlaun on Saturday, Oct 3rd 2009 No Comments

It’s hard to believe it is October already and the leaves are already falling off the trees. Another week come and gone and today I am back with another week in review for your perusal. We found out early this week that the Palm Pre is still headed to Verizon according to an insider. The alleged insider didn’t give any word on when exactly this may happen.

all palm pre mypre slashgear 017 r3media 480x360

Continued »

HP Z600 Workstation Review

By Ewdison Then on Wednesday, Sep 30th 2009 1 Comment

It’s been a few months since HP launched their Z400, Z600 and Z800 workstations, and we’ve finally got the company’s mid-range Z600 on the SlashGear test bench. A dual-processor monster that HP envisage being used in midrange CAD, financial modelling and even high-end DCC, the Z600 would also make for a storming video editing workstation; HP also claim it’s environmentally friendly. That’s the theory, anyway: can the Z600 really deliver performance in a home or small-office friendly way?

hp z600 1 slashgear 540x363

Continued »

Sprint Instinct HD by Samsung Review

By Chris Davies on Monday, Sep 28th 2009 No Comments

Samsung’s original Instinct surprised many when an eager public turned it into one of Sprint’s most successful devices, so it’s little surprise that the carrier are now expecting similarly impressive things from its successor, the Instinct HD. High-Definition is certainly one of the more popular buzzwords around right now, so you can’t argue with Sprint’s branding onus; the big question is whether the device itself lives up to the billing. Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.

samsung instinct hd sprint r3media 426x500