Wow, seems like the mobile industry is really booming over the last few days. Today, we are seeing some big news come from Samsung and T-Mobile in the form of an 8mp touch screen device, dubbed the Memoir. I have to say, I think Toshiba and LG, if they want to play with the big boys, are going to have to adapt these naming conventions and abandon the complicated numbering like the TG01 and the KM900. For Toshiba (check out the new ad for the TGO1 below), what about the Tphone (I know what you’re thinking, but it just works, doesn’t it?) and the LG should just use the Arena and forget the numbers and letters.
Anyway, the Memoir will run on T-Mobile’s 3G network. In addition to its 8-megapixel camera, it also has a full-touch virtual QWERTY keypad, built in GPS, and Bluetooth. We do not know much else about the handset, besides of course the fact that it looks and functions like a standard point and shoot 8mp camera. Kinda reminds me of the Samsung Innov8. In other news, there are Web rumors all over the place about an apparent mid-March release for the Palm Pre. Even with all the other buzz lately, I am still extremely excited about Palm’s new bad boy. Hope it wont be another Storm syndrome.
Lastly, I just finished watching a video review in English, of the famous Meizu M8. For all of you who are not familiar, this phone is made by a Chinese company, who specialize in portable multimedia devices. Now until today, I just released this phone as another iPhone knockoff, but after watching this video, I am thinking this thing is actually pretty impressive. The interface is even nicer than the iPhone’s in certain areas, and the scrolling is pretty much identical. This is pretty amazing seeing as it runs Windows Mobile. The reviewer claims it is the nicest interface on any Windows Mobile device out there, and I have to agree.
The camera is better than the iPhone’s, with a 3.2 mp sensor, and the phone offers other features, like Flash support, missing on the iPhone. The video quality is disappointing according to the review, although it did look pretty decent to me. Anyway, I am actually pretty impressed with Meizu, and I am sure they will sell a huge amount of these phones in China and Japan. This phone might be the first knockoff of any phone, that outdid the original, or came pretty darn close anyway.
-Hillel