Released for Sprint Nextel, the Motorola i776 is a slim clamshell with premium finishes, combining iDEN technology, a VGA Camera and Bluetooth wireless technology. Offering communication at the touch of a button, push-to-talk lets consumers use off-network services to communicate with one or a group of individuals. With Talkgroup, businesses can use instant, large group communication to dispatch and collaboration with up to 200 people at once. An embedded GPS chip provides audible and visual turn-by-turn driving directions, mapping locations, and local searches.

Motorola i776 Features

• Built-in VGA camera to capture and share images
• Direct Connect offers one-to-one push-to-talk communication including single number option for one number for both wireless phone calls and Nextel Direct Connect calls
• With Group Connect, users can communicate and coordinate activities with up to 20 Direct Connect users, creating and managing groups dynamically on the phone or online
• Use Talkgroup for instant, large group communication for dispatch and collaboration by getting the word out to up to 200 people at once
• Embedded GPS chip for audible and visual turn-by-turn driving directions, mapping locations, and local searches
• Handsfree conversations with the built-in speakerphone

Next week will be the G1 week as the whole of the mobile phone community set their eyes on the release of the much anticipated G1 Android Phone comes into reality. It’s the first Google phone, so everybody is excited. Finally, an iPhone killer has arrived, and so some people say. But first things first, the G1 is not really a Google-manufactured phone, like the iPhone is a genuine Apple product. The first G1 mobile handset is actually an HTC mobile phone powered by Google’s Android mobile platform and will be released through T-Mobile network since Google is the more popular market brand, it is but fitting that people call the phone the Google Phone. The HTC-Google phone is just the first mobile phone which will have the Android as its OS. Who knows which other mobile phone manufacturers are going to join the bandwagon as soon as they’ve found out how successful or not the first Google Phone would be. The G1 is up for release on October 22. Words on the streets say that there were already 1.5 million pre-orders for the unit. If that figure is true, well the G1 might be on the road to success then.

While those who have pre-ordered the G1 awaits the shipment on October 22, some lucky tech geeks have already had their first taste of the G1 as early as last week. And the whole week, we’ve seen several of them writing out their initial impression of the Google phone. We’ve rounded some of these reviews of the Google Phone to help you gauge whether the Google phone is worthy of your money, is worthy of the monicker iPhone killer and is worthy of the attention that it is getting right now.

Om Malik pointed out immediately that the G1 is certainly not an iPhone killer. The G1 lacks the sophistication of the iPhone touch screen features. But nonetheless he also pointed out that the G1 is certainly smart phone fulfils what a mobile phone should do. Something which the iPhone failed to accomplis.

CrunchGear’s Peter Ha on the other hand was not very pleased with the Android as an OS and contends with the fact that the Android is still in beta. Hence, it is not yet a powerful and robust mobile phone OS. But he nonetheless pointed out that the G1’s hardware would have to be the one to pull off the success factor for the G1.

The Boy Genius Report wrote a very comprehensive review of the phone and pointed out that users will love the G1 for as long as they what it is. It is not a BlackBerry, nor a Sidekick but an adult Sidekick phone.

Lifehacker’s Gina Trapani also got her hands on the G1 and said that she will never trade her iPhone for the G1 for reasons such as; the device bulky form factor, T-Mobile’s 3G coverage in her area which renders the G1’s GPS utterly useless, the inability of the phone to handle multiple Google accounts. But she also praised the G1’s fast mobile web browser which is as robust as the iPhone’s Safari browser, the copy and paste functionality which we all missed on the iPhone and customizable keyboard shortcuts.

Gizmodo also has a comprehensive review of the G1 and declared that it is not a finished product yet. He pointed out that there are only three working Google Apps so far – Gmail, Maps and Calendar. Bottomline is, according to Gizmodo, still depends on users’ preferences. The phone is definitely better than other smartphones available in the market today. Hopefully more Google apps will be ported as well as more third-party apps will be developed.

Walt Mossberg of All Things Digital thinks that the G1 is a very good first effort and a godsent for people who prefer physical keypad . He also pointed out the inferiority of the G1’s user interface as copared to the iPhone, particularly the lack of ability to flick between multiple pictures and web pages or to zoom in and zoom out of a photo or web page.

Suzanne Choney of MSNBC immediately noticed the striking resemblance of the G1 with that of the iPhone particulary the black-slab form factor. But she pointed out that Google has done a good job of making the phone one of the easier-to-maneuver touchscreen smartphones, thanks to the Google Android platform. She thinks that the G1 is not as fluid and simple to use as the iPhone but it will be a popular alternative for those who don’t like the iPhone or AT&T as their wireless carrier .

Source: cellphonenews.com

AT & T just released a latest smart phone the company describes as a smart phone of “epix” proportions. We’re referring to the Samsung Epix smart phone. This innovative smartphone gives users three ways of navigating its touch screen. Users can either use their fingers to scroll through the phone’s menu, a built-in stylus for a more accurate navigation or use the smart phone’s optical mouse. This device contains right and left soft keys which are located at its center. By a single click on those keys, users can access any of the phone’s menu. This mouse can also be transformed into a four-way navigation key to make it a more traditional way of navigating the phone’s menu. The Samsung Epix runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS and features 3G network connectivity. Additionally, the smart phone also gives access to multiple e-mail accounts through Microsoft Direct Push. This would enable corporate users to have access to their corporate email account. The phone also allows over-the-air contact, calendar and task list synchronization through Microsoft Exchange Server or Xpress Mail plus support for Good Mobile messaging service. Other features of the Samsung Epix include, WiFi (802.11 b/g), built-in aGPS that supports AT&T Navigator, AT&R Navigator Global Edition and other GPS-based applications, support for AT&T Video Share service, support for Global connectivity, a 2-0 megapixel camera, full QWERTY keyboard, a 2.5-inch TFT color display, access to AT&T Mobile Music, AT&T Cellular Video program, MobiTV, Windows Media Player support, and microSD memory card support up to 32GB. The Samsung Epix is available now selected AT&T retail outlets for $199.99 with a two-year service agreement.

Source: cellphonenews.com