NorthGeek

Some cool announcements at Google IO – Android 2.2 and Google TV

Here are two videos that Google put together to officially introduce a couple of their announcements to the world. The first is for Google TV, and the second is for their mobile operating systems’s latest iteration, Android 2.2 (Froyo). My thoughts follow the videos. Enjoy!

This, while very cool and exciting at first glance, isn’t exactly anything BRAND NEW. Maybe this will be the first web-connected TV initiative to be adopted buy the masses, as it’s being backed by some little company called Google – but it certainly isn’t the first and only device (or service) of its kind. Have a quick Google search session (ironic? What other search engine do you use) for Popcorn Hour, Western Digital HDTV, MythTV, TViX, Apple TV, and… dare I say, Playstation 3. Oh, and there’s Windows Media Center PC’s – I know, you’re all yelling at me. But, if you want a TRUE home theater experience, then you’re going to need to support the real players in the game – and they all support Microsoft’s MCPC OS.

This is very exciting – although I’d be much happier if 2.2 was released yesterday, as opposed to just announced. We all sort of knew all the specs Froyo was going to be boasting. 2-5 times faster overall performance, WiFi hotspot-in-a-box, etc – and some things we assume but they didn’t mention, like Flash support. What about my battery? Will it make my Nexus One battery last longer than 4 hours? Pretty please?

Sony Ericsson calls on EU to help save our planet

NorthGeek’s good friends at Sony Ericsson have informed us of an announcement made today by an alliance of global companies, including Sony Ericsson, demanding that the EU further restrict hazardous substances in consumer electronics. Joining forces with Sony Ericsson are Acer, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and the public interest organizations ChemSec, Clean Production Action and the European Environmental Bureau.

Sony Ericsson has made products that showcase more sustainable materials available through their GreenHeart™ strategy which takes a holistic approach to reducing negative environmental impacts and positively affecting those who use its products. Sony Ericsson’s Naite™ handset is the first GreenHeart™ product available in Canada. Some of its environmental benefits include:

The official press release follows:

Sony Ericsson calls on EU to further restrict hazardous substances in consumer electronics

Sony Ericsson joins forces with an alliance of public interest organizations and global technology brands to persuade the European Parliament to ban the use of hazardous substances in consumer electronics from 2015 onwards.

Brussels 19 May 2010 – In a partnership announced today Sony Ericsson joined Acer, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and public interest organizations ChemSec, Clean Production Action and the European Environmental Bureau, to call for a strengthening of the EU Restrictions on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive.

Currently the RoHS directive restricts some heavy metals and two types of BFR. However, Sony Ericsson along with other members of the alliance is calling for restrictions on all brominated flame retardants (BFR) as well as PVC. When BFR and PVC are incinerated under substandard recycling conditions, they form halogenated dioxins that are potent toxic chemicals. Sony Ericsson believes these brominated flame retardants and PVC should be phased out from electrical and electronic products as soon as possible. Over the past 18 months Sony Ericsson has been developing products without these unwanted substances and believes that substitute materials are available and could be rolled out across the industry with little disruption.

“Sony Ericsson is committed to a complete phase-out of halogenated organic substances from its products, and at the current time has phased out almost all brominated flame retardants (BFR),” said Daniel Paska, Environmental Expert at Sony Ericsson. “We believe the electronics industry has a responsibility to move proactively to find substitutes to replace BFR and PVC and are therefore calling on EU legislators to show leadership on this issue by voting to tighten the RoHS directive.”

Sony Ericsson along with the other members of the alliance will lobby EU legislators who are currently in the process of debating whether to tighten the existing RoHS directive and invites other members of the industry to join them.

“Sony Ericsson is committed to delivering products with the best possible environmental performance in the industry”, said Mats Pellbäck Scharp, Head of Corporate Sustainability at Sony Ericsson. “That is why we support strong environmental legislations. We have also introduced a range of GreenHeart™ pioneer phones that showcase more sustainable materials like recycled plastics, waterbourne paints and energy efficient chargers. We have also committed to making the majority of our 2011 portfolio compliant with GreenHeart™ requirements.
Sony Ericsson has to date phased out all PVC in its products and nearly all halogenated flame retardants.

For more information on GreenHeart™ and our environmental work, please visit the Sony Ericsson GreenHeart™ web page at http://www.sonyericsson.com/greenheart or the Sony Ericsson Greenheart™ blog at http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/greenheart/

NorthGeek Review: Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

By now you all know that we have been in possession of a brand spankin’ new, white Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 courtesy of Sony Ericsson Canada (@SonyEricssonCA on Twitter). This cool new Android handset, running Google’s OS in version 1.6, comes in a sexy casing with a solid 8 megapixel Sony camera built-in, LED flash, a truly impressive 4″ touchscreen (at a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels), and boasts Qualcomm’s blazing fast 1GHz Snapdragon processor. To enjoy your various media in Sony Ericsson’s proprietary Mediascape media browser, they even throw in an 8GB microSD card. If you’re an online social maven, then you’ll enjoy Sony Ericsson’s own Timescape – an aggregated timeline of you and your friends’ Twitter, Facebook, and email updates.

We played with the device for nearly a week and put together this video review for your enjoyment and education. Let us know (in the comments or by tweeting us at @NorthGeek) if you have any questions! Enjoy:

Create your own view – anywhere!

Now, this is pretty cool stuff. According to uncrate.com, the Winscape is “based on two 46-inch Panasonic TC-P46G10 plasma screens, a Mac running specialized software, a Wii remote, a custom-built IR-emitting necklace, and an iPhone app, Winscape creates two virtual windows, which can display static images up to 4096×4096 resolution, or 1080p video — with sound — and tracks the necklace wearer’s movements around the room, realistically changing the view out of the ‘windows’ accordingly.”

NorthGeek Unboxing: Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

Thanks to Sony Ericsson Canada, we have our paws on this slick little device. Stay tuned for some hands-on impressions in the coming days. In the meantime, here’s a quick unboxing video to whet your appetites:

Please be patient, the video may still be processing so its FULL HD delight might not be there yet…

Sneak peak at Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

Yesterday in Vancouver, NorthGeek met with Peter Farmer and Neil Dutton from Sony Ericsson Canada about the upcoming Xperia X10 launch. Canada is highly anticipating the release of this new Android device, and, well, so are we. The news is that we should know in mid April exactly what it will cost and when it will be here, which will likely be sometime in Q2.

THE SPECS
You probably already know that it comes with the blazing fast 1Ghz Snapdragon processor, a mega four inch WVGA display, and a sharp 8.1 megapixel camera… also 13mm thick, white or black, microSD up to 32GB (16GB included). If you want more specs, check them here.

SIGNATURE APPLICATIONS
“Signature Applications” is Sony Ericsson’s label for their Android skin — the front look and dominant applications on the Android platform. On the X10, this is dominated by Timescape, Mediascape, Infinite Button, and face recognition. Learn more about these in their online demo. Basically, the device is focused on aggregating your social media streams. It’s not just SMS, MMS, emails, and photos, etc, but also connecting with Facebook, Twitter, and something called MySpace, so you can visualize a person’s presence and correspondence in one place. Sony Ericsson is not the first to do this, but it’s certainly useful and centrally located on the X10.

However, the links within the apps go to the individual services’ mobile sites, not embedded apps like Hootsuite, Seesmic, or Facebook for Android. Also, there’s no Flickr yet — what other integration will you want? We will have to wait and see how Sony Ericsson continues to innovate and add functionality here. Will these features (a mix of the Signature Apps mentioned above) eliminate the need for standalone apps? I doubt they will — apps like Hootsuite or Facebook are so impressive and complete — so we will see how we might use both options or if they will coordinate well.

WHY MORE THAN A VANILLA ANDROID DEVICE?
Rogers has been recently tweeting about the Google Nexus One becoming available in Canada, so it’s hard to ignore the face-off between these two devices. The Nexus One also has the Snapdragon processor (yes, it does have a smaller 5MP camera and 3.7″ screen), but a bare-bones Android likely offering quicker performance and speed. And the most recent version of Android, always.

The X10 comes with Android 1.6, because the Signature Apps need to adapt to new Android OSs, and won’t have the same battery management, task management, etc. It would be difficult for any Android device manufacturer to keep pace with Google’s quickly iterating OS if there is a skin built on top which always needs revisions.

The X10 is trying to do something different here. With a background in media, hardware, and taking chances with their phones (eg. their attempt to embrace Symbian a few years ago), as well as recognizable brands like Cybershot and Walkman, Sony Ericsson is trying to create a unique device experience here. Their skin is impressive and slick, but it will take some time to determine if it is better and who will embrace it. Is a skin really better for Android?

THE BUSY CANADIAN ANDROID LANDSCAPE
Rogers now has lots of Android devices. They are likely a world leader on this front, and were even the first mobile operator to offer both an iPhone and Android. Sony Ericsson believes that there is room here for multiple Android phones. All this competition is going to be very, very, very good for consumers. Watch out Apple.

OVERALL
This piece of X10 hardware is phenomenal. It feels great in the hand, is good looking, has a class-leading screen, and sports a camera verging on real. We’re still wondering if a skin is a good thing. They are competing with the Nexus One now, which sells without support from Rogers — does this matter? Ultimately, we need to spend more time with the device, but this certainly looks promising for Sony Ericsson in the future of smartphones. Coming soon is NorthGeek’s Nexus One review (the Canadian version with 3G frequency support).

NorthGeek Product Review: Sony Ericsson Naite eco-friendly GSM mobile phone

Sony Ericsson recently launched their GreenHeart™ initiative, with the aim of offering an environmentally friendly option to mobile phone users. As the company puts it, GreenHeart™ “introduces green innovations that reduce the overall environmental impact of the phone without compromising on style or features.”

We think they did a great job with the Naite. The Naite is a $25 (with plan) compact phone, now available from Fido in Canada, that does pretty much what you’d expect from any compact candybar phone in 2010 – it has a solid 2.0 megapixel camera, and another mini cam on the front of the phone for video calling; is 3G compatible; has a solid TFT screen with excellent clarity, brightness, and color; and is email ready, with a WAP browser as well.

For more details and a closer look, check out our video [sorry, we lent our HD video camera to a friend at SXSW, so please enjoy this standard def review]:

To keep the video under 10 minutes for YouTube, we had to cut out some parts… Here’s what you missed:

Available colours:
– Vapour Silver
– Ginger Red

Dimensions: 108.0 x 47.0 x 12.6 mm

Layar: Augmented reality on your mobile

Have a look at a new “life browsing” experience, available now! Check out layar.com.

Miss NorthGeek 2010 – Win a new phone courtesy of NorthGeek and Sony Ericsson Canada!

It’s true! You could win this brand new, PINK, Fido-branded Sony Ericsson T715 phone. Win it for yourself or that special someone in your life – a perfect gift for this coming Valentine’s Day!

Miss NorthGeek 2010 is awarded to the most tech-savvy, geekiest (in the coolest way possible), awesomest femenita in the NorthGeekosphere. To win it, you can either nominate yourself, or nominate the Geekette in your life. She will win the T715 phone, the glory, and the respect of kajillions of adoring fans.

All you have to do, is tweet your story (be sure to include #NorthGeek) or comment in this post, with your best tech-enabled (so that means it could be a text message, an email, or some social media form of communication) romantic story. Maybe you asked someone out on a date by SMS, or perhaps you wrote a song, recorded it, and posted it to YouTube? Whatever it is, let us know, and you could be our lucky winner! Remember, the story has to involve the person you’re nominating as Miss NorthGeek 2010!

We’ll be announcing the winner – selected by an esteemed panel of NorthGeek judges and industry experts – on Valentine’s Day – February 14th 2010, at 12:00pm PST.

Good luck, internet lovers!!

Some info on the handset:
– 3G high-speed experience
– Quad-band phone
– 3.2 megapixel camera with video recorder
– Integrated Facebook application
– MP3 player
– External memory expandable(MicroSD)
– Bluetooth® technology
– Handsfree speaker
– Picture and Video Messaging (MMS)
– Flight mode, calendar, to-do list, calculator, unit converter
– World clock, alarm and note pad

iPhone, Nexus One 3G Frequencies

Also known as, why you can’t use the new Google phone in Canada… yet.

The chart shows the 3G frequencies (different from 2G) supported by each of these two devices, as well as the 3G frequencies of four mobile carriers.

Rogers/Fido does also use 1900MHz but it seems only for 2G, not 3G. Bell and Telus’ new HSPA network uses 850MHz (possibly also 1900MHz — this is unclear but irrelevant here).

Can people run the Nexus One on Wind Mobile in Canada? It seems so. So why can’t you buy the Google phone in Canada yet? Or you could always bear with EDGE speeds from The Three Stooges. And considering that option, I still think it’s a terrible shame you can’t buy this shiny new toy in Canada yet!

We also want to know why Google decided to go with that spectrum selection? Either T-Mobile had a say, Google is in no rush to ship millions of devices to the mass market, or… price? Qualcomm pushback? (Other Android devices do have a different choice of frequencies.) Please share your thoughts below!

More info at Wikipedia. However, this info is surprisingly mysterious. Ok, maybe no one really cares about it? Prove us wrong!