Recently in Motorola Category

Motorola's latest offering in the form of the RAZR i, comes with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and what Intel claims to be the fastest chip ever placed in a smartphone.

It is Motorola's first phone to launch in the UK after the Google acquisition and after getting my hands on it, it seems to be leading the way in the mid-range smartphone market. 

Launched at the beginning of this month, the phone contains the Intel Atom providing up to 2Ghz of speed. The Android software runs without hitches, yet there are some compatability issues with the Intel chip. As pointed out in Pocket Lint, some applications do not run, such as Adobe Flash Player, which means you can't run apps such as BBC iPlayer or ITV Player. 

It may be that this hasn't been addressed as Flash is no longer in its prime, however it will be interesting to see if Motorola rectifies this, or waits to see if developers make changes instead.

OK, so not the best start. But first impressions in the looks department and, yes it is another "Black Mirror", but press the unlock button and a gorgeous bright screen comes to life. Another big claim for the device is that it has a 4.3 inch 540x960 screen which "goes right to the edges." And it does indeed go right to the edges of the screen, avoiding that black frame you get with other smartphones.

It also sits really nicely in the hand at only 126g and even with the Intel chip powering away, the 2000 mAh battery will keep you going for the day. 

I particularly like the widget that comes with the Motorola overlay. It is made up of three circles of varying sizes which are customisable. You can select for text messages, missed calls or voicemails to rotate in the circle which provides the time. You can also turn over the middle circle to see  the weather in preselected countries. The smaller circle also provides you with how much battery you have remaining. 

It just makes the homescreen feel very personal. And after all that, if you're a more angular person and despise circles you can still remove it from the homescreen, nice to know you're not stuck with it, even if it is a Motorola addition.

Having created this blog and nurtured it for the past four years, I've decided to put the best blog posts/videos from the best on one page.

Diary of an outcast: Apple's Special iPad 2 Event
I will start with my favourite post, the infamous Apple event. I had been invited to Apple events before but somehow started getting missed off the list. I hate Apple so it was no surprise that they didn't want me there. Safe to say that after this post not only was I missed off the list but Computer Weekly never received an invite from Apple ever again.

iPhone Vs N97
This was the first big video project that me and David (video editor) put together. At the time I was so happy that I'd got the N97 I decided to make a video pitting it against the iPhone while mocking Apple's advertising campaign. Little did I know that the N97 would prove to be the worst purchase I've ever made in my life.




HTC Desire HD Review
David (who stars in this video) and I wanted to do something different and create a cool video review. This is what we came up with.

Sadly once we started recording David (and the department he worked for) were made redundant. It didn't effect the video but it wasn't a happy time for us. Having cleared out his desk he set up at home the next day to finish it. This was our last hurrah and the last video I made. Very proud of it.




What is the best mobile OS around?
At this point, no one wanted to be in any of my videos. The company was starting to cut back on them and so I tried to play four roles with four outfits and a moustache before I got told that what I was doing wasn't a productive use of my time. Honestly, how could they say that?

This video used to have a voting element that has since been removed because we couldn't afford to pay for the server the flash sat on.

The most ambitious video we ever tried.





Video: The future of business cards, I'm not taking the Poken
There was a girl I was desperate to go out with at my work. I needed to do a video to have a reason to talk to her but the only thing I'd been sent was a Poken. No phones or cool gadgets. Somehow I persuaded her to help me make this video. We're still together :)




Video review of the wiimote like Gyration Air Mouse
This video is pretty much when I realised that I can be funny. What people don't realise is that filming didn't take long but discussions between David and I on what was funny took forever.

He would stand there saying "That's not funny" every time I cracked a joke or did something stupid. Or one of my favourite lines of his was "You might think that's funny, but it isn't".




Video: Palm Pre vs the iPhone - The big debate
I had 2 weeks before Christmas to do a video armed with my wit and a white wig that was left over from a very bad 'Back to the future' spoof I'd made where I played the Doc. That video was so bad that the company we producd it for sent us a letter saying that if the video ever saw the light of day, they'd sue my a** off. 

David went on holiday with a week left of editing/filming to do so I didn't have anyone to tell me that what I was saying wasn't funny and some of the editing is a bit off. It's still a good video but we felt it was rushed.




Video: I heart iPad - Dating website matches man to iPad
What do you do when you get your hands on an iPad before the UK release? Write a review. Then what? Make a video about having a special relationship with it. Yep, not sure why.



The HTC and Google story: A love affair and a tragedy
Lord knows what compelled me to write this. Had I taken more time to craft it, I think it could've been great but when I read it now I feel it's rushed. Still good, where the idea came from I'll never know.

Video: Flip Mino HD review
This video took 84 takes. For no reason at all I couldn't stop laughing during recording. We got in trouble because it was meant to take a couple of hours but took almost two weeks.

Video: Zeemote review - Is this the future of mobile gaming?
I did this video because Zeemote said that they'd give me a free phone if I reviewed it. So...

GeeklyWeekly Sexy Halloween Special
Wow, how bad is this video? It doesn't even have anything to do with gadgets!!

At Intel's keynote, Motorola Mobility chairman and CEO Sanjay Jha joined in the Intel processor love-in to announce that theu have a 'multi-year, multi-device agreement' with Intel to produce smartphones with Intel Processors.

This agreement is interesting because of Google's involvement with Motorola, meaning that Motorola will be the second manufacturer of Intel-Android smartphones after Lenovo.

Motorola devices sporting the Intel processor will ship in the second half of this year.

I am ashamed to say that, because I've only ever had iPhone handsets since their release in 2007 (go ahead and call me an 'Apple Fanboy'), I hadn't seen Swype or any other gesture input up until a month or so ago. 

This is the story of a man named Google and three women named HTC, Samsung and Motorola.

Originally, Google and HTC were just good friends as HTC moved into a big new city and wanted someone to show her around. Things were going well as she was finding her feet in the world of smartphones.

Google often talked about ruling the world but needed a strong woman to stand by him. Inevitably HTC could no longer resist Google's charms and they fell madly in love.

It was a great relationship. HTC hadn't made big waves in the mobile phone market and probably would have continued to quietly carry on their development until Google needed a mobile phone manufacturer to build their first Android flagship phone.

Along came the HTC Dream aka the T-mobile G1. Google had made his big break and wasn't going to slow down.

Over the following years, HTC continued to be known as the manufacturer of Android phones, or to some as 'Google's girl'.

Samsung and Motorola also joined the company but, in the main, the high-end handsets were created by HTC leading to the creation of the Google Nexus One, Google's first phone although it was made by HTC.

It was kept quite quiet that the Nexus One was made by HTC but everyone knew and HTC didn't seem to mind too much as she was now being known on merit for her achievements.

For a company to build Google's flagship phone has many advantages.

1. The most obvious is that the company gets to be the first to release the newest version of Android,
   
2. It is the only phone that is purely Android,
   
3. By being given such a task it's a statement by Google that they see you as the best phone manufacturer around and finally;
4. But probably most significantly, it shows that you're Google's lover.

The other mobile phone manufacturers one Christmas looked through the frosted glass window of Google's office and saw HTC sat on Google's lap sharing a glass of champagne and started to dream that one day they could share a place alongside him... and they will.

After the Nexus One was released, HTC really started to grow releasing the HTC Desire winning many awards in the process and now firmly establishing herself as the world's biggest smartphone manufacturer. This was a big move for her, she was well respected and her work was now seen as her own and her rewards were not due to her closeness to Google.

She was happy and proud. She'd made it.

HTC continued by producing what is still the best Android skin in Sense. Google was over the moon as HTC began to show off their new open-source clothes. Sales soared and the phones were being held as iPhone killers. Samsung, got very jealous and started to plot HTC's demise.

Samsung decided stopped being the cheap low-end manufacturer and started coming out with some high-end devices that made some waves. The Samsung Galaxy S was unveiled as the sexiest handset on the market with a beautiful Super AMOLED screen (something only Samsung could offer). the Samsung Galaxy S was now arguably the best handset alongside the HTC Desire.

Google's eyes were drawn away from HTC. They started to flirt with Samsung as she got plaudits for a great phone with the most advanced screen on the market. She laughed at all of Google's jokes, she wore more revealing clothing and new exactly what to say to him.

Google hailed the Galaxy S to get more attention and even to annoy HTC who was busy with Sense.

Google didn't like the amount of time HTC spent on Sense, especially as marketing campaigns were starting to be built around Sense and not Android in order to differentiate her from the slew of Android handsets on the market.

HTC wanted to excel. She wanted to be the best. Not at Google's expense but alongside Google.

Cracks started to appear and when HTC started to delay the roll-outs of upgraded versions of Android in order to add her Sense skin, Google became furious!

"A skin can't be more important than the OS" he was heard shouting.

HTC replied "Please, think of the users!"

Google slapped HTC and said "How dare you?!? I did this, all of this for them. And don't you forget it."

Samsung however, was only too happy to roll-out new versions of Android the day after the upgrade was made available, even advertising the fact.

HTC could see things were starting to fall apart. She didn't like what Google had become and there were troubling times ahead. She got a little desperate, releasing every type of smartphone she could to try getting Google back on side and also to put a front to pretend everything was OK, but it was too late.

Google was getting really close to Samsung, and when Samsung released the Galaxy SII that was it.

Google had stayed late one night and found himself in the office with Samsung. She offered him a drink and one thing led to another.

That one thing or the other was now the Samsung Galaxy SII. Google and Samsung proudly flaunted the amazing handset as it broke records and quickly became the best on the market.

Soon after Google made an announcement that it would now be Samsung that would release Google's flagship handsets. Everyone knew but now it had been confirmed.

HTC was embarrassed and scared but still persisted with Android and Sense. She then started seeing Microsoft and released a few Windows Phone 7 handsets but Microsoft wasn't the young, confident guy that she had wanted and so Microsoft ended up with Nokia which, to be fair suits both of them and they look like they have a great future ahead of them.

During this period, Google and Sammy (as she was so affectionately called) released the Nexus S, google's latest handset.

Before Google didn't want any indication that their phones were being made by HTC, he had changed his stance with Sammy as the 'S' was a clear message to all that Sammy was Google's favourite now.

HTC sat in the background with Sony Ericsson and Motorola, claiming to just be happy making Android handsets and not be too bothered about Google and Sammy.

The Galaxy SII and Nexus S became stars and showed just how great an Android handset could be.

But disaster struck. On an alcohol fuelled weekend in Vegas, Apple goaded Google into a quickie wedding with... Motorola.

"Motorola, Google? I thought you were better than that!" Sammy exclaimed.

Apparently Apple and Google were drunk, Apple made some claims about patents and somehow Google decided to put his money where his mouth is and marry Motorola. Did I mention he was really drunk?

Apple then started to pick on Sammy, who Google still loved and seemingly had no aspirations to ditch for Motorola.

Google came back to Sammy stronger than ever, apologised and promised to make things up with her. And he did, they created Google's best handset to date in the Galaxy Nexus which showed off a new OS and UI in Ice Cream Sandwich and in order to prove Google's love for Sammy had both their surnames on it.

Sammy is also about to release the Samsung Note which will help reassure Google that he is with the best in town.

Meanwhile HTC is lost. Ice cream Sandwich looks like it may prove too difficult for HTC to adapt Sense to and Google doesn't seem to care. Why should he? He has not only Sammy but Motorola and, lurking in the shadows, Sony giving him all the attention he wants.

He feels slighted by HTC's fling with Microsoft and her obsession with Sense. He won't show any loyalty to HTC even though it was because of her Google Android is the OS it is today.

So what now for HTC? Well there are rumours that she will take Sense to a better home. Maybe not Microsoft as they look all set to release the Nokia Sea Ray but possibly Palm's WebOS.

Palm, a firm that was also treated badly but looked upon fondly by many. Such a relationship could give them both the boost they need and not only put them back in the limelight but also put a dent in Google's world domination plans.

Let's hope this story has a happy ending. I'll try updating this article as things progress.

Following disappointing sales, Motorola is taking a leaf out of HP's book and slashing the price of the Xoom, although not as drastically as consumers saw with the Touchpad. 

I will start by saying that my previous experience with Acer extends as far as my brother having once owned an Acer Laptop and I occasionally used it.  Basically, the point I'm making is that I had no preconceptions when I picked up this tablet for the first time.

Acer currently has two lines of tablets available, the Iconia W series, which is a little bit pricier, and the Iconia A series. You'll also be glad to hear that I can offer a little bit more information, the W stands for Windows 7 and the A stands for Android, makes sense when you think about it really.

So, what we have here is an Acer, Android 3.0, 10" Tablet but I'm sure you would like to know more.

Looks

I'll just jump straight in and throw some numbers at you, the A500 weighs 765g, respectable, and measures 260 x 177 x 13.3 mm. All in all, this tablet isn't the slimmest or the lightest around but it's certainly not going to cause you any problems if you want to put it in your bag and carry it around all day.

It wouldn't be out of the question to hear that Acer may have some sort of reflection fetish going on after you've looked at this tablet. The brushed metal rear, darker plastic inserts and screen can almost leave you dazed if the light catches it in a certain way. As a matter of fact, the screen, even when turned on, makes as good a mirror as it does a tablet display.

Along the top of the Iconia you'll find the volume rocker and a rotation lock switch. However, these are made from the cheapest looking silver plastic imaginable, and although they're only small, it still detracts from the overall look.  There is also a compartment covered by a sliding insert which, by the way, is far easier to slide off than it is to put back, and this is where sim cards and micro SD cards are inserted. Along the bottom of the A500 there sits a solitary docking connector.

The right side features the charging jack and two USB ports, one of which is a Micro USB port. A mini-HDMI port and earphone jack, along with the weirdly fascinating translucent on/off button are all found on the left side.

Unlike so many other Android tablets the home, back and menu buttons aren't found in the bezel around the screen, they are actually part of the screen. The bezel does, however, have the front facing camera embedded within it. There is also a rear facing camera, with flash, on the back, accompanied by two mesh covered speakers, more on both of those later.

Everything on the Iconia looks neat, precise and orderly, from the front it looks excellent, yet it could have been put together a bit better. By that I mean that the seams of inserts on the rear along with the actual seam of the tablet on either side should have been made less obvious. The devil is in the details.

Screen

The Acer offers up a 800 x 1280 pixel, 10.1 (the .1 makes a difference, trust me) inch TFT LCD screen, capable of displaying up to 256K colours. If you compare that to the HTC Flyers 16M colours, it comes out looking a tad bland but, by tablet standards, it isn't too shabby.

Its clarity and crispness is only slightly dampened by the amount of glare that the screen picks up, as well as its tendency to attract fingerprint grease, though a very effective cleaning cloth is also supplied.

Despite boasting about wide viewing angles on the box the glare again restricts how much of the screen you can see and at what angle.
 
The capacitive touch screen on the A500 is amongst the most responsive I have ever tested, as is the accelerometer, which I put through its paces with a few levels of Need for Speed.

Camera

As I mentioned previously, the Iconia comes with a front and rear facing camera. The latter is a 5MP effort with an LED flash, whereas the front facing snapper is only 2MP. I say only 2MP, it's better than the usual VGA numbers that many other tablets are fitted with.

With good light, the rear camera is a little over acceptable for taking still, close up shots, but start playing with the focus and zoom then images just become come a hazy mess of colour.

Here are a couple of sample shots, the portrait shot was taken using the zoom:

You won't be suprised to find out that the he video recording capabilities aren't really any better. The tablet is supposedly capable of 720p recording but, much like the HTC Flyer, it falls far short of that. To be fair, I can't see many people buying the Acer just to walk around holding it up to record video anyway. It's most likely there on the off-chance you bump into Bobby Davro and want video proof to show your friends. 

Here is a sample:

Features

Again, I'll get straight into it with more numbers and spec. The A500 comes with either, 16GB or 32GB storage and 1GB of RAM. It gets better, it is also packed with a Tegra 2 T20 chipset, a dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor and GeForce graphics processing unit.

A couple more little bonuses are flash 10.1 and Bluetooth 2.1 support.

Media

The rear grille covered speakers I mentioned earlier, with the help of Dolby Mobile 2, actually sound pretty darn good, well in tablet terms at least.

Don't go expecting ground shaking bass or pure musical clarity because that's not what I'm saying, but they perform admirably during gameplay and, at a stretch, it is probably strong enough to share a movie with three people sat in the back of a car.

One seriously annoying thing I encountered was that before you can begin taking media from and putting it onto the tablet, you must first go to Acer's website and download a 82Mb driver. I've never had to do this with any other Android tablet I've used, they've all been plug and play.

Android

Android 3.0 is one of the main selling points of this Acer Tab and, aesthetically at least, it doesn't disappoint. Everything is laid out nicely, flows with no lagging and does everything you'd expect it to do.

Acer have, of course, included some of their own apps and regular readers will know that duplicate apps grind my gears.

Well, whilst using the Acer, even the duplicate apps didn't bother me, it brought with it a sense of serenity. Possibly because the apps that were duplicates had subtle differences.  

For example,  clear.fi multimedia browser basically does the same thing as Android's Gallery and Music apps, but clear.fi looks as if it has had much more time spent on it and the level of functionality is greatly increased.

The drag and pull lock screen, which is becoming increasingly common, is another nice touch, however, my favourite bit, by far is the web browsing widget. It sits in the top right corner of the home screen and can contain up to 14 bookmarked pages, all of which scroll smoothly down as you run your finger over it.

Battery life

Despite the extra 4.5mm thickness that the A500 has over the iPad 2, it only comes with a Li-polymer 3260 mAh battery and that that doesn't come close to the longevity that the Apple device can offer.

You can see the Iconia's battery life slowly creep down with moderate usage and if I owned one I'm sure that one day, inevitably, when I'd need it most I'd have forgotten to charge it and end up running out of power.

Conclusion

The Acer Iconia A500, available at around £369 for the 32GB model, or £349 for 16GB, is a solid Android tablet. It comes close to being labelled average but the power of the Tegra dual-core processor is its saving grace. That, and the fact that the RAM means apps and Honeycomb can run without the slightest snag.

The screen, camera and build quality could be improved upon but it's a constant balancing act between performance and cost. In this case Acer have been sensible, it could have become iconic if they'd taken more risks to differentiate themselves.

The Asus Eepad Transformer, around £419, and Motorola Xoom, £399, are the alternatives and they come with very similar specs but better screens. The only other major difference is the additional skin that the manufacturers put on top of Android.

Price and personal preference are the deciders here, 3.0 hasn't yet reached it's full potential and whilst the spec of these tablets are almost identical the performance and strong points of each device varies.

Motorola have labelled this "The World Most Powerful Smartphone", which after my review I may have found some truth in, all be it with help from a number of accessories. Luckily for all you readers I have also been able to get my hands on a shed-load of these accessories, yes, yes don't worry I also got the laptop dock from the advert.