If the Cosumer Electronics Show 2009 was anything to go by, the year ahead promises to be another exciting year for mobile computing. Of course, we all do expect something revolutionary that will throw us of the seats, but expect it to more evolutionary than anything else. Of course, I would love to end the year by saying, “Damn, I was so wrong.”
Introducing the Anxit-o-meter on the blog, which will try to put the general anxiety and madness of a particular gadget into better, numerical perspective. Yes I am known to be both, a bit mad and not so good at Photoshop.
The Pre is what is supposed to pull Palm out of the oblivion and put it back in the reckoning as far as the smart phone market is concerned. Its been quite a while since Palm released a phone which was gossip worthy, but behind the scenes they have been developing a completely new mobile platform called the webOS, which is presumably meant for better multi-tasking.
It features ‘Activity Cards’ for the same purpose. And as in the real world, cards (visiting or playing) are meant to be thrown around, you can throw these cards around to organize your workspace. And thank goodness for it having a 3.1 inch touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard on top of it. The design is rather cutesy and not what one would call head turning, but on the whole, this phone raises the curiosity bar up a fair bit.
Expected Release Date: Q209
Anxit-o-meter
2) Nokia N97
This is the first N series phone that, to me at least, is truly desirable. While it does have its fair share of rounded corners and the usual Weapon of Mass Destruction Syndrome, this one is unlike any other N series phone.
Case in point being the full QWERTY keyboard and a neatly sliding angular display which aligns itself at the divine 45 degree angle to give the best possible view. It also has a humongous 32GB of on board memory to carry everything digital you own. I just hope that keypad is good, it looks rather flat.
Expected Release Date: Q209
Anxit-o-meter
3) Motorola A3100/Surf
Everyone’s jumping the ‘big-screen-few-buttons’ bandwagon and how can Motorola be left behind? Any which ways they haven’t had something really worthwhile since the Razr and if you’re asking me, the Aura was a lost opportunity with the prices being kept so incredulously high.
Design wise, it follows the ‘pebble’ school of thought and should be pretty to look at with its brushed aluminum finish. Features wise, it has everything you would come to expect in such a device like 3G support, Wi-Fi, a 3-megapixel camera with a secondary VGA shooter etc etc . It runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 and features a customizable interface. The novelty factor being that it has a trackball for better navigation.
Expected Release Date: Q209
Anxit-o-meter
4) LG Renoir
Till the time I saw this phone, I maintained that LG should stick to making washing machines and AC’s for the simple reason that LG just could not make original and classy phones, even to save their lives(no, even the Viewty didn’t impress me). But the Renoir hopes to change all that. It features a brilliant 8MP Schneider-Kreuznach camera along with some very innovative features. The coolest part about this phone has to be its ‘Touch Shot’ feature wherein you can touch a part of the picture on the screen and the camera will start focusing on it and automatically click when it is done. Plus it has Dolby Mobile to process audio better and widgets for a completely customizable main screen. Though, I must add, the buttons look terribly cheap.
Expected Release Date: Available now. Hope it comes to India soon.
Anxit-o-meter
5) HTC G2
I have been attending every HTC press conference since Q308 expecting the G1 to arrive on Indian shores and have received answers like “Today is HTC G1 no comments day” when asked about it. Now its been so long since launch, the G1, for me, has substantially lost its novelty. So, I want the G2 whenever its launched in India. Which by the way was rumored to be a Touch HD with a keyboard.
Which would have been truly awesome, because the HTC Touch HD is easily the most powerful smartphone around and a keyboard would have shut everybody up about it. The current G2 floating around looks like a G1 without a keyboard. And HTC please give it a proper launch this time, I promise to attend it even if you launch it in a restaurant that serves only inedible mushrooms.
Expected Release Date: Q209
Anxit-o-meter
6) INQ 1
Apart from the fact that this phone is packed with almost everything you may need and really cool arty-farty packaging, the INQ1 also happens to be the world’s first ’social mobile phone’ (the last time I checked, cellphones were meant to socialize as well).
If you’re a social network junkie and cant live without checking your pokes, walls and scraps every minute, this one’s for you. And I’m rather impressed at the integration with Facebook/Skype this thing has on offer. Pray hard for the phone to reach Indian shores but yes, also do a big introspective check on yourself before getting yourself one. Super pokes in your inbox for God’s sake.
Expected Release Date
Anxit-o-meter
7) Sidekick LX 2009
This was is just a rumour (Sidekick Blade?), but such a sexy rumour, I cannot ignore. There are a few details but there is some nagging doubt about the credibility of it all. But something should definitely come out of this. Watch this space.
Expected Release Date TBC
Anxit-o-meter
8) LG Watch Phone
The LG Watch Phone was easily one of the most talked about gadgets at CES 2009. And for all the right reasons. It packs in a 1.43 inch touchscreen with most of the connectivity options being present. Voice activated commands aim to make navigation a tad easier. Now if only it could charge itself with the energy coming from hand movements.
Expected Release Date: Q309
Anxit-o-meter
9) Dell Smartphone
The future is mobile, you know it, I know it and Dell should know it bloody well otherwise they shall cease to exist in a few years from now. While that is a fairly bold statement to make, I don’t expect the phone to be anything dramatic. Should be a good and powerful WinMo workhorse. For now, I’ll leave you with a big, shiny Dell logo.
Expected Release Date: Q309
Anxit-o-meter
10) Sony Ericsson
There is nothing worthwhile to tell you about from Sony Ericsson, really. Just a mid range CyberShot candy bar phone(C510) and a pansy Walkman phone (W508). In fact I’ve put this up here so that there is at least something in the list that will look pansy compared to the others. Recession has well and truly hit Sony.
Jokes apart, I think they’ve learnt their lesson from the Xperia X1, that you should not demo a phone till within 3-5 months near launch.
Expected Release Date:Q109
Anxit-o-meter
All product photographs: Manufacturers (LG Watch Phone Pic courtesy CNET)
All number shots: Flickr (I love thee!)
I shall continue to update this page as and when more details surface.
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