The smart cell key phone

In the latest move by convergence, your car keys are about to be swallowed up by your cell phone. The big goal of convergence seems to involve emptying our pockets, not of cash, although that is a side-effect, but of things. The fully equipped tech nerd used to carry a cell phone, PDA, MP3 player, and digital camera. Cell phones took over all those functions, so convergence went rummaging through your pockets looking for something else to subsume. And it found your car keys, which, thanks to new smart keys, can easily be converged into the cell phone.

This latest effort is being spearheaded by Nissan, Sharp, and Japanese phone company NTT Docomo. Nissan has been offering smart keys in its cars since 2002, and we've gotten so used to them that we don't bother mentioning it in our reviews any more. Sharp designed a phone that would, we assume, work on NTT Docomo's service, and include the functionality of a smart key for a Nissan car.
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Skyfire mobile browser bulks up for open beta

Skyfire, a Mountain View, Calif., start-up that competes directly with Opera Mobile browser, announced Wednesday the opening of its public beta for Windows Mobile phones. This is good news if you've been waiting months to join Skyfire's private beta program.

In addition to going public, Skyfire has upgraded from version 0.6 to version 0.8, a move that brings significant performance improvements and a more fleshed-out start screen design.

On the start screen, Skyfire has shifted from a spindly design of bare text links to a fleshed-out look that includes shaded boxes and icons. The headline content--world, business, sports, elections, and a weather widget--is all fed by Yahoo, though it's not an exclusive partnership.

Skyfire has introduced SuperBar in version 0.8, a field that combines the address bar and search into one. SuperBar helpfully offers suggestions to complete your query as you type, but unlike Opera Mobile 9.5 beta (which has separate search and URL fields), Skyfire doesn't remember your URL history. Nevertheless, it's one new feature that helps elevate Skyfire from a scrawny mobile browser with potential to one that is a viable browser alternative.
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How the T-Mobile G1 stacks up

Now that we've had a taste of what the T-Mobile G1 offers, we compare it with other phones on the market and see if it brings anything different to the table.



1. Design--The combination of a touch screen and a keyboard isn't new of course, but I thought it would be good to remind people that others exist. The HTC Touch Pro is a Windows Mobile device that has both a touch screen and a keyboard, while the LG Voyager is a non-smart phone with both a touch screen and a keyboard as well. That said, the addition of a QWERTY keyboard does make it a little more easy to use than touch-screen-only devices like the Apple iPhone or the Samsung Instinct. Also note that so far, it seems that the G1 has a removable battery while the iPhone does not.

Update: It turns out that the G1 does not have a 3.5-mm headset jack, which is a big downside considering it does have a music player with access to the Amazon MP3 store. And because it doesn't have stereo Bluetooth either, you might have to cough out some extra cash for a headphone adapter.

2. Interface--Of course, we won't be able to really tell the difference between the G1 and that of other touch-screen phones until we get one in our hands, but from the demo, it appears that you use the touch screen just like you would with the others. You swipe the touch screen to switch pages and scroll down menus, and you tap an application to open it. However, you can also hold down something (or a long press) to open up options. Just like the LG Dare, the T-Mobile G1 lets you drag and drop any application to the home screen as a convenient shortcut.
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T-Mobile G1 in pictures and video

We've brought you the details on the T-Mobile G1 with Google's Android OS and now we present it in pictures and video. CNET Executive Editor David Carnoy attended the G1's New York City launch event Tuesday where he gave the phone a good once-over in our First Look video. Check it out to get his impression of the handset's design and features

Meanwhile, take a peek at this photo gallery of the G1 in all its glory.

The T-Mobile G1 will go on sale October 22 in the US.

Via Crave CNET

T-Mobile G1: What we didn't get

With the new T-Mobile G1, a.k.a. the HTC Dream, the Google Android OS is now a reality. The touchscreen device with the QWERTY keyboard offers a host of intriguing features, but there a few things left off the list, some of which are surprising. Here's what we noticed so far.

Exchange server support
Sure, this may come later, but this is a glaring omission on any handset that's hoping for a slice of the smartphone pie. Of course, that also means there's no Outlook calendar and contacts syncing, either.

Video recording
We've raked Apple over the coals for not including this on the iPhone, so we'll have to to the same for the G1. Video should just be standard on a phone with a 3-megapixel camera.

Stereo Bluetooth
The support for the new Amazon MP3 Store shows the T-Mobile G1 is not taking its music player lightly. Stereo Bluetooth is a common feature these days, and the G1 should have it, particularly since there's no 3.5mm headset jack (that's next).

3.5mm headset jack
Seriously, HTC and T-Mobile, no 3.5mm headset jack? The port uses a proprietary connection? Wow... that's just wrong. Even if you can use your own headset with an adapter, you shouldn't have to.
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