The Touch Generation is here

Samsung Omnia HD
For those who want to show off, Samsung Omnia HD is the most awaited phone. It’s an all-in-one device sporting the largest (3.7-inch, 360×640 res) AMOLED screen to have ever been integrated on a cell phone in recorded history. The screen is simply to die for, as anyone that’s seen an OLED display in action can attest. Deep blacks, rich colors and pin sharp resolution really make every frame from this phone stand out, and it’s very easy just to spend time showing your friends just how beautiful your new handset’ screen is. The OMNIA HD runs on a Symbian OS modified with manufacturer’s TouchWiz 3D interface, giving it the ability of multitasking and stability. Making the switch to capacitive technology makes the use of stylus impossible, and the screen is so large that you shouldn’t ever need one, but the response time and accuracy is greatly improved. The manufacturer has managed to pack all the features in a 12.9 mm. thin body. The DLNA technology on this phone makes it possible to connect it to other branded devices (for instance, a PlayStation 3) or you can watch your HD content on TV. Thanks to Samsung’s 5.1 virtual surround sound system (the same as it uses on its notebook range) the music was impressive and loud. The 8-megapixel camera that allows HD video capture and playback makes it a pioneer among all the cell phones on the market. Battery life is pretty impressive; 2 days easily with standard day to day use (which includes heavy video watching). Wifi enabled gives an edge on browsing. The only catch here is the price…it’s not everybody’s c stereo headset is no good for such a premium music phone, so I’d advise you to pick a decent pair of headphone or in-ears to experience the sound quality that the 5800 is capable of delivering. In all I must say this phone with the present price tag is very good, almost in accordance with the given features.

iPhone
Many came but none could conquer the charm of an iPhone. It is relentlessly stuck on the first place, fighting all its completion by its app-heavy system. In many ways, the 3GS is a mirror image of the iPhone 3G; physically there’s no difference. Majority of the stuff is done on the inside, with a tweaked CPU, new internal compass, larger capacities for storage, and improved camera. The release of the 3GS marks the launch of iPhone OS 3.0, a major jump from previous versions of the system software adding features like cut, copy, and paste, stereo Bluetooth, MMS, tethering, video recording, landscape keyboard and many more. The RAM is said to have improved and Apple has changed the previous graphics chip with a new version. All this basically means that end users will see a noticeable difference in application loading times. The camera has been upgraded to a 3MP from 2 but that’s not all. The real change is done by adding the autofocus option giving the users the freedom to tap and focus. One more main addition was that the company has actually stuck a compass inside the new 3GS. In practice, the inclusion of a hardware compass is actually really helpful when it comes to navigating a new city. You now have the option to not only locate your position via GPS, but orient the map to the direction you’re facing. Other than these the landscape keyboard and improved battery life add to the sizeable list of why the iPhone is still everyone’s favourite when it comes to touch devices.

Nokia 5800 Xpress music
Nokia might be late in the touch market but its here with a boom. With its new 5800 touch. The 5800 sure doesn’t seem like it’s out to be an iPhone killer but it works its way very well keeping things very simple in the Nokia way by just adding the Touch feature to what it best owns; Symbian. Though the body is all plastic the design is good it’s like a candy bar. The rubberized finished at the back gives nice feel. The 3.2 inch screen is good with nice touch responsiveness. The Accelerometer of the 5800 is pretty sensitive. The phone switches between landscape and portrait seamlessly but without any transition, hence it doesn’t feel as smooth as the iPhone. The touch inputs are of different types, this phone gives you many options to type like normal, mini Qwerty, or full Qwerty. The bundled stereo headset is no good for such a premium music phone, so I’d advise you to pick a decent pair of headphone or in-ears to experience the sound quality that the 5800 is capable of delivering. In all I must say this phone with the present price tag is very good, almost in accordance with the given features.

N900
According to me, N900 was a desperate attempt from Nokia to beat the iPhone 3GS, and not a bad one I must say. N900 is what they call a mobile internet device and a Smartphone. N900 is a landmark in the history of Nokia, for this is the first time they have used Maemo 5 (open source) as its default operating system, something that has never been used for phone functionality before. Maemo places a lot of emphasis on multitasking. For example, when you’re running an application, the dashboard icon on the top left gives you quick access to other current open apps. From the dashboard, the icon changes to the application menu icon, where touching it gives you access to all your available apps. The Nokia N900 has a 3.5 inch touch screen display with an 800 x 480 resolution, that means a pixel density of 267 pixels per inch (PPI). The more pixels you have in an inch, the more information they can represent, and hence the clearer and sharper the picture. Believe me when I say the display on the Nokia N900 is sharp. When Nokia says it’s a mobile internet device trust me they are not joking. With N900, the days are gone when you had to open pages specially formatted for mobiles; the web browsing experience is closer to what it’s like using a computer at home. And yeah, it can support the full version of Google Wave without a glitch!

iPAD
I think this one was the most awaited product by Apple. The discussions about what it’s be finally names started months ago on Twitter. Very interesting suggestions were flowing in, but on January 27, when Steve Jobs announced that the device is called the iPad, the first reaction was WHAT!! About the looks? Well what should I say, it’s like an iPod touch, a really BIG iPod touch. The Apple iPad has a 9.7″ display with a 1024 x 768 resolution with LED backlight and uses IPS technology. The iPad is powered by a 1GHz Apple A4 custom designed processor, designed for high performance and low power consumption. Considering that today’s smartphones have a gig under their hood, the iPad’s is not much for it’s size but still runs smoothly. The iPad comes with its own set of applications, namely an iTunes app, a new Calendar, new Mail, new Safari, new Photos , new YouTube (with HD support), new iWork and even a new Google Maps, which on a device that big looks really amazing. Sorry folks but still no flash support. With the iPad, Apple is also announcing their new e-book service, called the iBook. E-books appear on your Bookshelf of the iBook application and from there you can just click on it to read it. As usual Apple has added some extras to the application. So when you turn a page in the e-book, you are actually turning a virtual page on the screen, which moves with such an ease, just like a real page. If there’s one thing I can compliment Apple technologies on, it has to be the interactive displays and the brilliant transitions which are so realistic. To conclude, I must say that although the functionality of this device is not even close to that of a notebook, but the level of interface it provides cannot be beaten. As far as multimedia is concerned, once again the iPad is miles ahead of the notebooks available. None of them have the kind of display quality that it offers, or the audio quality.