Nokia N9 Information

Nokia has unveiled what comes next in its Linux and Qt fronts. Here you have links to the sources and a summary of the implications for the MeeGo and open source communities:

N9
The Nokia N9 is the ultimate Qt-powered mobile device. I find it a pleasure to watch and play with. Its polymer unibody chassis complemented by a strong and scratch-resistant curved glass makes it both solid and smooth in the hand. Multitasking is pushed forward with a combination of open tasks, events and apps. You navigate through these views with a simple gesture, a swipe of a finger.
N950
While the N9 becomes publicly available, Nokia has produced a limited edition of N950 devices for the most devoted Qt and MeeGo developers with apps in the works. We are offering 250 devices to open source community developers through theMeeGo Community Device Program. Nokia Developer has more for champions, partners and other professional developers.
MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan
Nokia’s implementation of the MeeGo platform has been released. It combines a playful multitasking UX with an efficient OS that shares the same API and architecture pillars of MeeGo upstream. It’s a great demonstration of what can be done with the MeeGo platform on a mobile device.
Qt updates
The Qt SDK has been updated with a Harmattan target including the Qt Quick UI Components. The way for Qt developers to target MeeGo, Symbian and other platforms is being paved. Nokia is also making Qt core to its strategy to take the Internet to the ‘next billion’. Qt is a star in the OSS stack and is at the backbone of all these announcements. The Qt5 governance plans becoming reality as we speak make it even brighter.
MeeGo Community Edition
The community team that has brought usable MeeGo upstream releases to the Nokia N900 will add now the new devices in its scope. The planning and work will happen in the open, just like the rest of the Community Edition activities. Remember that these are not Nokia official releases, but fun R&D experimentation open to all community contributors.

HTC Amaze 4G Phone Review

The HTC Amaze ships with the Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread operating system and the HTC Sense 3.0 user interface. First appearing on the HTC Sensation 4G, the latest version of Sense offers a number of enhancements, many of which can be found on the lock screen. Aside from a display of the date, time, and other vital statistics, you now get shortcuts to four of your favorite applications. By default, the shortcuts are set to phone, mail, camera, and messages, but you can change them in the phone's Personalize menu. To open a specific app, you can simply drag the icon to the ring at the bottom of the screen, instead of having to unlock the phone first.

In addition to the shortcuts, HTC wanted the lock screen to showcase more user content, so now you can personalize the screen with your photo gallery, friend stream, favorite stocks, or weather. The content then floats by or flies by (depending on which option you choose) onscreen.
Once you unlock the phone, you'll find even more improvements. For example, the home screen features a 3D carousel so you can more quickly flip through the seven home screens, rather than swiping through each panel. (Of course, you can also use the Leap screen function.) The pull-down notification tray has a second tab called Quick Settings where you can manage your wireless connections and access other settings. The mail app and widget now give you a preview of each message, and the photo gallery widget features a flip-board effect.
It would be nice if there were the capability to remove some of the home screen panels as on the HTC Rhyme, but it's not a big deal.
Weighing in at 6.1 ounces and measuring 5.12 inches tall by 2.58 inches wide by 0.46 inch thick, the HTC Amaze 4G is a good chunk of hardware. In fact, the first thing we noticed when we picked up the device was its weight. It's one of the heftier handsets we've seen in a while, but as with most things, we got used to it with time. Plus, with its metal construction and soft-touch finishes, the Amaze is definitely one sturdy handset.
The second thing we noticed is the Amaze 4G's display. The 4.3-inch qHD (960x540-pixel resolution) Super LCD touch screen is quite eye-catching. Text and images looked crisp and sharp on the bright screen. The screen's large size also makes it great for viewing Web pages and video. The Samsung Galaxy S II's Super AMOLED Plus display shows off more saturated colors and has slightly better contrast, but we were still very happy with the Amaze's display. The touch screen was responsive and features a built-in accelerometer, pinch-to-zoom support, and a proximity sensor. Note that it only comes preloaded with HTC's virtual keyboard, but it does offer Swype-like functionality (HTC calls it Trace) so you can drag your finger from key to key for quicker input.
Below the screen, you get your usual Android controls: home, menu, back, and search. On top, you'll find a power/lock button, while the Micro-USB port is located on the left spine. The right side features a volume rocker, a camera button, and a dedicated video button. Holding down the video button activates the camera in video mode. You can also launch the camera right from the lock screen by either doing a long press on the camera button or dragging the camera shortcut to the center ring (see the user interface section below for more). In addition to the 8-megapixel camera and dual-LED flash on back, there is a front-facing 2-megapixel camera just above the display in the upper right-hand corner.
The HTC Amaze 4G comes packaged with just the basics: an AC adapter, a USB cable, and reference material.

The Design Of LG Encore

The LG Encore's design is rather humdrum. Measuring 4.17 inches long by 2.10 inches wide by 0.47 inch thick, the Encore appears to be a run-of-the-mill touch-screen phone with an ultraslim profile and rounded corners. It does have a minimalist appeal, however, with a mirror-finish trim that surrounds the display and a back plate that is designed to look like brushed metal. The Encore has an overall plastic build with a cheap feel in the hand at 3.7 ounces.

On the front is the 3-inch 260,000 color display that is the only way to interact with the phone. It supports 400x240-pixel resolution and looks colorful and bright for the most part. Colors look vibrant and rich, though the text isn't as crisp as we would like. You can adjust the font color and size, brightness, backlight timer, menu style, and themes.
You get up to three home screens, all of which are customizable. One screen is for widgets, which you can customize with a pop-up widget tray in the bottom row. You only get up to seven widgets to choose from, though. Another screen is for your favorite shortcuts, and the third screen is for your favorite contacts. You can only have nine of each on the home screen.
At the top of each home screen is a pull-down menu that provides quick access to the music player, the Bluetooth toggle, the sound profile, all the messaging options, the calendar, and the alarm clock. In the bottom row are four shortcut keys to the phone dialer, the address book, the messaging inbox, and the main menu.
The display is a resistive plastic screen, which makes for an annoying user experience. It took quite a bit of pressure for the screen to recognize our taps, and even then we needed to be a little more deliberate when swiping a finger so that we didn't accidentally launch something. We eventually got used to it, but we don't think it's a pleasant experience.
The phone dialer is pretty self-explanatory. It has a nice roomy keypad and quick access to the speakerphone, and you can create a new text message from there as well. You can enter text via the alphanumeric keypad--for ABC or T9 input methods--or you can turn it sideways for the accelerometer to kick in and the virtual QWERTY keyboard will show up. Though the keyboard is roomy enough, the finicky touch display did mean that we had to slow down quite a bit when typing. Otherwise, there would be too many errors.
Underneath the display are three touch-sensitive keys for Talk, Clear/Back, and End functions. They are flat to the surface, and you need to wake the phone in order to use them. We would prefer them to be physical keys, but they do provide vibration feedback when pressed.
On the top of the phone are the 3.5-millimeter headset jack and the Power/Screen lock key. On the left spine are the volume rocker and Micro-USB charging port, while the camera key and task manager key are on the right. The camera lens is on the back and the microSD card slot is located behind the battery cover.