Never buy from Expansys! Bad shopping experience for HTC Hero

Europe has the release of HTC Hero first, Orange and T-mobile were the first operators offering the phone. We decided to get a phone for extensive testing.

We quickly placed a pre-order from Expansys UK, and the order was quickly expired with their rep' asking us to buy in Expansys Hong Kong instead. We followed their advice and pre-ordered in Hong Kong for HK$4,812 excluding shipping.

After the launch delay, when the product was finally available (more than one week after Orange's Hero Graphite was available, one week after T-mobile's white version was available, Expansys Hong Kong had been raising the price from $4,812 (no VAT in Hong Kong) to $4,868 to $4,951 to $5,231 to 5,332 as of 5 August 2009.

Expansys contacted us thru email and said they cannot offer the product for $4,812, which was clearly a lie, since Expansys UK has been selling at 347.82 pounds (ex VAT) with 30 pounds voucher rebate. One of their rep' called Agnes Chan had said ". . . we can lower the price to HKD4,812 . . .", implying the offer is a boon to us and we should be very appreciated for their "kind" offer. And this Agnes Chan subsequently ate her words and said minimum price must be $5,000. We have immediately replied her email with her own email clearly indicating that they agreed to sell at $4,812.

Another rep called Chilli Kum (weird nice name by the way) insisted that the price was a very low price (which is not), and urged us to confirm the order with that offer. Meh. We urged them back to make sure they expire our order, instead of holding our credit card charges in the "pending confirmation" status. We are preparing the documents to follow up the case in Consumers' Council, and of course, WE RECOMMEND READERS NOT TO ORDER FROM EXPANSYS.

Then we turn to computeruniverse.de, a German site selling electrical gadgets. We had heard about this company from users who bought some Sagem phones which were otherwise unavailable to Hong Kong (As a side note, the distributor in Hong Kong for Sagem mobiles was closed down.), and the user had very good comments on this company in terms of shipping time and product choice, we decided to give it a try.

We have just ordered an HTC Hero weiss (White) and an HTC Hero silbergrau (Silver) (Quote coupon code: FW8TY5K for €5 off), and no VAT to countries outside EU means we save 75 euros on the price, offsetting the extra shipping charges incurred. We will update this blog to recommend ComputerUniverse if we receive the product in satisfactory condition.

Extended Battery for HTC Diamond (Update)

Battery life for HTC Touch Diamond P3700 and Extended Battery

(Originally posted on 12 January 2009, update on 24 July 2009)

Original content:
HTC Touch Diamond ("P3700") is a great phone with multimedia functions, but we've heard that most users are complaining the very short battery life of the handset. Even if you switch off GPS, Wi-fi and Bluetooth, it's hard to sustain the battery for one day.

The original battery is 900mAh, which usually lasts for less than your daily usage. If you decide not to charge your Diamond in office, it seems inevitable to acquire an additional battery for your normal usage. You can find in the market some types of replacement batteries to beef up Diamond's battery life.


1. The original extended battery, model "BP E270", features a larger size 1350mAh battery. This still comes with a thick back, but it's more elegant though. Warning: High price.



2. "Big" batteries. With capacity ranging from 1530mAh to 2000mAh, so physically big that the original back cannot be covered, and the dealer will include a rather bulky back along with the battery. This new back does not look as good as the original one, of course. The extended battery will affect reception of GPS due to its size. Don't believe words like "works like original".


Besides these two, you can always buy the 900mAh batteries. This is not recommended as you will soonly find yourself changing batteries several times a day.

UPDATE: We recently got a BP E270 for extensive testing on the duration of battery. The battery has significantly prolonged by around 40%. It still cannot support prolonged use of MSN Messenger so you either have to turn in off in long train trips or you really should bring along the original 900mAh battery.

With the software "WMWifiRouter" on, we enabled wi-fi sharing, and the machine is not as hot as using the original battery as there are space inside the thick back. We wish the final launch of WM6.5 include wi-fi sharing (like what ASUS P835 offers) though.
Click here for an extended reading on wi-fi sharing / ASUS P835 on our site

One more thing, the thick back makes the machine looks flat as is not as reflective as the original one. Basically the Diamond becomes lower profile, and and fingerprints are no longer attracted.

LG KM900 Arena will launch ... on March 2009

Yes, it's official. LG KM900 Arena is out this month. Being one of the most powerful flagships in the MWC this year, Arena takes the earliest invasion to the market.

LG's marketing strategy is to focus on the multiedia features. True, aside being regarded as too "iPhone" in the menu, its media functions are overwhelming. In addition to the Dolby Mobile sound system, a 5mp camera on a 3 inch WVGA screen, it features the all-new "3D S-Class" interface.

Better still, it finally features a 3.5mm audio jack, which is a big stepforward - you can finally use the handsfree when charging.

Beware of their "40GB" memory though. It merely means it has 8GB internal storage and can support a 32GB MircoSD card.


Hey, look, it lags.

Samsung C3110, interesting low-end 2G phone

We understand there must be some users who are not aiming to get all hi-tech stuff in one machine. Sometimes it get to back to basics.

C3110 is a slider phone which aims are basic users, no 3G shenanigans. It comes with Bluetooth and FM connectivity though.

Samsung C3110 has two very interesting features, attracting low-end users.

1) Motorola's Crystal Talk Technology. No, we are kidding, but according to the official site, it is actually Crystal Talk: "Thanks to Dynamic Noise Suppression, Handset Echo Canceller and other SAMSUNG's enhanced audio technology, SAMSUNG C3110 cancels out the echo and gives users the most crystal clear sound."

2) Forged incoming call function. Once enabled, you can activated it by hitting the down keys for four times. An anonymous call will be simulated and you have to pretend to be talking. For smooth action you can even pre-record the message so that you can "interact" with the "anonymous call". Superb function to interrupt annoying person / boring situations.

Oh and a bonus 3) for you guys:
8.5 hours talk time. Nuff said.

i908 Omnia hack - Modify sensitivity of touchscreen

Using any registry editor, go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/HARDWARE/DEVICEMAP/TOUCH/

Change the value of CalibrationData to:
519,503 177,881 182,129 847,127 849,872
You can jot down the original values of your Omnia for backup purpose.

Save.

You should feel better touch when using, especially when dialing.

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INQ1 - Winner, Best Mobile Handset, Global Mobile Awards

INQ¹ (INQ1) is the winner of the Best Mobile Handset of the 2009 Global Mobile Awards.

INQ¹ does not have cutting-edge technologies, but it has virtually every function that you ever need to use in your daily life. Windows Live Messenger, Skype, Facebook, Last FM (UK-based online radio), you can keep in touch with all friends with this little machine without even have to install anything.

Its convenience makes it to the top of the award. Congratulations to INQ¹!

This phone is currently only available to 3 (Hutchison) users in UK, Australia and Ireland.

LG KM900 Arena Device Presentation, MWC 2009

In Mobile World Congress 2009, all major manufacturers are presenting their flagship mobiles, attempting to astonish the crowd. We don't have the ticket to the Congress, and so we are lurking around in website and Youtube trying to get the bits of information:

Official Promo Video:


Youtube video taken by commentator sites of MWC:


One more:


and finally:


The multimedia subpage seems to be not quite convenient if you have a lot of pictures (Before believing everything in the video, think "Cache" and "Thumbnail". They might have did something before presenting). If you have lots of MP3s, especially when you don't have the album art stored, you will surely face massive problem in scrolling.

Oh, btw, the three buttons on the bottoms seems to be sensored by heat, will it work if air temperature > 37 degrees?

Touch Diamond2 - HTC's new phone announced in MWC

HTC is finally realising their problem on naming their product. "Diamond 2" is never going to be searchable in Yahoo!, and they name it as "Diamond2". Wise move.

There were two notorious problems that gives irritates Diamond users: speed and battery. Diamond2 is taking a bold move to resolve the two problems.

Speaking of speed, the CPU is now upgraded to QUALCOMM 528MHz with 288MB RAM and 512MB ROM. Of course, due to WM restraints, its speed is no way comparable with iPhone. With the nefarious TouchFLO still around to devour Diamond2's phone system resources, believing the blatant lie of "as fast as iPhone" is going to disappoint you.

Specifications (according to HTC's Official site for Diamond2):

CPU: Qualcomm® MSM7200A™, 528 MHz
Operating System Windows Mobile 6.1 "Professional", 512 MB ROM, 288 MB RAM
Dimensions: 108 X 53 X 13.7 mm
Weight: 118g (Diamond is 112g)
Display: 3.2-inch touchscreen, resolution 480 X 800
Network: HSDPA/WCDMA/Quad-band EDGE
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 EDR+ A2DP, 802.11b/g, GPS,
Camera: 5.0 megapixel
Battery Capacity: 1100 mAh
Talk time: Up to 5 hours
Standby time: Up to 500 hours
Misc: microSD slot, FM Radio, G-Sensor (Accelerometer)

Toshiba TG01 - Yet another "iPhone killer"?

*Yawns*.

Toshiba has just unveiled announced their latest flagship - a WM6.1 mobile phone in London with very powerful system configurations.

HSDPA, Wi-Fi, GPS are a must for any reasonable iPhone killer, and we need no introduction for these.

The eye-catching specifications for TG01 are:
- A giant 4.1 inch screen featuring 800 x 480 resolution.
- Less than 10mm thick, which is thinner than both iPhone and HTC Diamond.
- A 1GHz CPU chipset. To quote SlashGear, TG01 "is the first device to use Qualcomm's 1GHz Snapdragon QSD2850 chipset."
- A long battery duration capable to sustain multimedia uses as the CPU can regulate its speed. No info on battery capacity yet.

Too bad this very brand is notorious for its poor voice quality, the fundamental function required for proper communicate. If the voice quality is the same as G800/G910, we will continue recommending reader not to buy one.

The rumoured launch date is not earlier than Summer 2009, before that, will it be possible that another brand launched a better phone? Windows Mobile 6.5 might probably be launched by then.

LG Arena KM900, another copycat of iPhone?!

According the photo put up by AllAboutPhones.nl (Holland language site), which is supposed to be on a certain promotion material in Holland language about LG Arena KM900, a high-end phone with GPS, wi-fi and "innovative S-Class 3D interface".

The layout and color scheme is fairly unoriginal. What phone is it trying to mimic?

Nokia E63 - Basic Blackberry-style QWERTY Phone

Nokia E63 - Basic Blackberry-style QWERTY Phone

Mimicking as a Blackberry-style QWERTY business phone, Nokia E63 is sometimes regarded as a watered-down version of the popular handset of the same brand, E71.

For a budget smartphone 200€ you can't really ask for trendy stuff like GPS or 7.2MB HSDPA. It is:
- 113x53x13mm, 2mm thicker than E71, but still compact though.
- UTMS 900/2100 or 850/1900
- Wi-fi (802.11b/g)
- Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
- Screen size 2.3", resolution 320x240
- 2.0 Megapixel camera (1600 x 1200, 1.92mp)
- 3.5mm audio jack! How often can you find a non 2.5mm jack for a Nokia phone? Props to Nokia.

E63 features two distinctively sharp colors - dark marine blue, and red for users with different business styles. (As a side-note, this machine has the same name as a model of an AMG saloon. Though with this color scheme, we doubt that Mercedes Benz E63 AMG users would be interested in this E63.)

LG KS360 - a Nominee of Global Mobile Awards 2009

LG KS360 is one of the Nominees of Global Mobile Awards 2009 [Link] (the other four are Nokia E71, T-Mobile G1, INQ¹, BlackBerry Storm 950). Let us examine how does this cute phone gets its nomination.

For technology chasers this "Ultimate Chatter Box" won't be your dream phone, not even close, and we'd say this is a bit feminine with the cute round shaped design. It'll be a great addition for your girlfriend, especially if she tend to "accidentally" lost a phone when she see another dream phone. The phone tracing function will SMS the number of the new SIM card inserted to your phone, so you can contact the one who pick/stole(/bought) the phone.

Sure there is no cutting edge technology, with its limited specification of EDGE 2.75G connection, 2 megapixel camera, and 2.4" screen, this is very basic comparing with other competitors. But it's probably one of the cheapest full QWERTY phone around (150€). Even though it does not have touchscreen (except as dialpad, strange), QWERTY keyboard alone is additive if you need to send emails, albeit the keyboard is a bit too small for men.

LG Prada II (KF900) and Prada Link

LG Prada II (KF900) is the sequel of LG Prada, one of the first fashion branded phones.

Specs:
Screen: 3", resolution 400x240
Input: QWERTY Keyboard
Camera: 5.0 Megapixel (2560x1920), video 30fps 720x480
Connectivity: HSDPA, Wi-Fi(b/g), Bluetooth 2.1
Dimensions: 105 x 54 x 17 mm
Weight: 130g (with battery)
Time: Standby up to 400 hours, talk 3 hours

Similar to KC910, with tabbed menu and widgets, no new additions. A nice collection of background pictures pre-loaded in the phone memory, plus the brand printed on the phone body (like the previous PRADA) - if you are a fan of the brand, PRADA 2 is made for you.

There is an optional accessory called "Prada Link", which is a watch capable of displaying the phone's status - calls, SMS, battery, reject call etc. Wearing it = "I'm rich".

Bonus: The background can actually be downloaded online (http://www.pradaphonebylg.com), and since the pictures are 400x240, your Viewty or Renoir can also use these background.

The 2009 HTC Touch Cruise, yes - same name different models.

Touch, Touch HD, Touch Diamond, Touch Pro, Touch 3G, Touch Viva, Touch Dual, Touch Cruise. Won't it be a headache if you are in search of "HTC Touch"? When you search it in Google, all sorts of other models pop up. Now, the problem persists with HTC Touch Cruise (Touch Cruise a.k.a. Iolite).

THEY ARE REPEATING EXACTLY THE SAME NAME, "TOUCH CRUISE", AS THE OLD MODEL. This will certainly wreck havoc to users searching for this model, and to the bidders in ebay too. We really hope that HTC can name their products in a more user-friendly way.

Basic specs:
CPU: Qualcomm MSM 7225 528MHz Processor
Memory: 512MB ROM, 256MB RAM
Screen: 2.8" 320x240
Camera: 3.2 megapixel camera
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0, GPS (AGPS), UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA, wi-fi 802.11 b/g
Dimensions: 102 x 54 x 14.5 mm
Miscellaneous: MicroSD slot, USB 2.0 port, Radio
OS: Windows Mobile 6.1
Nothing really special. Nothing.

Software features:
With HTC TouchFLO, a streamline user-friendly appli... Okay, not with that crap. We all know TouchFLO significantly slow down the machine.

Footprints function is described as the innovative feature which enables you to record the geographical location when taking pictures... Wait, you say older models can also do this with really simple registry hack? Yes we know. This one is slightly different - you can record the location even when you're indoor. Sadly, it is expected that if you disable TouchFLO, you won't be able to access to this function at all.

Other than that, no other features. With mediocre hardware and limited features (vs Pro/HD), poor outlook (vs Diamond) and high price (vs Viva, 3G), we highly doubt that the phone will be sucessful.

Disabling the ActiveSync (for Omnia, Touch HD, Diamond, Motosurf, Xperia, O2, Glofiish or whatever that uses Windows mobile)

ActiveSync is the incredibly annoying function for connecting your PocketPC/Smartphone to your Windows computer. Since you are unlikely to synchonize every time when you use your computer or phone, you might want to disable the annoying auto-on functions.

Disable the ActiveSync in Windows
Sometimes you only want to charge your Windows Mobile/PocketPC with the USB cable, but the ActiveSync keep waking your handheld machine. Annoying. To stop this:
- Open The ActiveSync
- File->Connection Settings
- Disable "Allow USB connections"
Voila.

Disable the ActiveSync in your PocketPC/Windows Mobile
This is more tricky, and needed to hack the system registry. We recommend Fdcsoft Task Manager or DinarSoft MemMaid.

- install the software you've chosen.
- go to Notification Queue
- Delete the AppRunafterDeleteTimeChange with "repllog.exe"
- reset the machine


Warning: Don't delete the appRunatRs232Detect repllog.exe otherwise you might be unable to sync your machine at all!

How to change wallpaper of Samsung F480 Tocco?

We're asked a couple of question regarding the background wallpaper of Samsung F480 Tocco.

Q: How to change the screensaver wallpaper for Samsung Tocco?
- No, you can't do that. No, we're not kidding.

Q: Okay, so how to change the background wallpaper for Samsung Tocco?
- Drag the widget out and choose, you can pick to use your own pictures as background too. If you don't see the widget, enable it in settings.

Philips Xenium 9@9j / X520

One year ago, Philips Xenium 9@9j was announced as the revolutionary mobile phone capable of using AAA batteries. It is now officially Philips Xenium X520.

This phone is absolutely amazing to lazy users - it features one month of waiting time, 8 hours of talk time. If you somehow empty the battery due to idleness or excessive chat, you can always insert an AAA battery into the machine and charge the phone while talking!

Features:

• GSM 850/900/1800/1900; GPRS Class 10
• Dimensions: 111 x 45 x 17mm
• digital camera of 2 megapixel (the camera is mediocre)
• microSD supporting up to 2GB
• FM radio, mp3 audio, Java MIDP 2.0, Bluetooth (with A2DP)
  

The package includes 2 Energizer AAA Lithium Batteries.

We have no news on the release of this phone in Europe, but it is already available in Asia. Up to this date, Xenium X520 should be available on ebay for around €200 (remember the shipping costs).

Samsung PIXON M8800 or LG KC910 Renoir?

There has been comparison on Samsung Pixon M8800 (M8800H) and LG KC910 Renoir recently. Here we provide a really simple comparision for your convenience.

What Renoir features but Pixon lacks:

• wi-fi
• front camera for video call (CMOS 0.3 megapixel)
• Xenon flashlight (Pixon uses LED flash)
• ISO 1600
• 120 fps video

What Pixon features but Renoir lacks:

• 720 x 480 video (Renoir is 640 x 480)
• 16x digital zoom
• 200 MB internal memory (100 MB for Renoir)
• a larger screen (3.2" for Pixon, 3.0" for Renoir)

As of 14 January 2009, Renoir sells for $440 and Pixon sells for $490 here. Seems Renoir wins in many ways but the screen size and outlook. It is still not clear that the Renoir will have the versatile customization ability like its precedator KU990 Viewty, but all in all, we believe that Renoir has some edge on the competition.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Symbian S60

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic (5800xm) is based on the Symbian S60 5th Edition system.

As 5800 xm is a S60 phone, so you can:
- tap *#92702689# to check if the phone is a new one.

- tap *#7370# to perform a master reset (default password: 12345).

- Go to Handango, Nokia Software Market, or SymbianGear to buy applications.

Talk volume issue: If you found the volume of the 5800xm unstable, it might be not related to software or reception - it's the hardware that caused the problem! To solve it you have to dissemble the phone and fasten the hardware. It is recommended that you go to Nokia for the dirty work, or demand for a replacement if necessary.

Verizon Samsung Omnia Low Battery Beep Issue

We have recently received a question from an US reader on his Samsung Omnia beeping in silent mode. So far only Verizon's version has been reported having the issue of beeping every five minutes of "low battery" in any mode, including silent mode. We have heard no case for other carrier's (Europe, Asia etc) on similar problems. If you are using a non-Verizon Omnia and still have this problem, please leave a comment below and we will follow up. Verizon users can attempt to modify the system registry at your own risk. The file in concern and in irritation is called "phonelowbatt.wav", you can try to do something on it. For example, change or add the value of the following registry: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Sounds\phonelowbatt]

Change or add the value Sound to a .wav file with no sound, or to an invalid file.

Alternately, user might attempt to replace phonelowbatt.wav with another file, if possible.

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Update: Some reader pointed out that certain version of Omnia can change the low battery sound directly in option (Settings -> Personal -> Sound and Notification), you can change to a blank quiet.wav, and you can disable it, depends on model. If you don't see it, go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\{A877D663-239C-47a7-9304-0D347F580408}\ Add a stringvalue with valuename: "Default" and valuedate "lowbatterywarning" try the above again.

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Users are encouraged to leave their feedback or question on this page. There are useful information in the comment of this article, please refer to it. Thanks to the anonymous contributor!

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