A touching experience

MANILA, Philippines - Remember the futuristic sci-fi thriller “Minority Report”? There’s this scene where the lead character portrayed by Tom Cruise works on a virtual monitor and navigates between pages by gesturing with his hands and arms.

Well that technology is not really too far away. Thanks to Apple and its game-changing iPhone, people are now swiping, pinching, flicking and tapping their way through menus, contacts, messages, photos, and a host of other applications on their cellphones.

It’s gotten to the point that every mobile phone maker worth his liquid crystal diode has scrambled to put a touch-screen device on the market. Samsung, in fact, has been most prolific in rolling out touch-screen handsets, with perhaps over a dozen of these models and sub-models hitting the market this year alone.

Let’s take a look at some of these devices now. Here they are in alphabetical order starting with, appropriately, the phone that started it all: 

Apple iPhone 3G S

It’s currently the fastest and most powerful iPhone yet notwithstanding the occasional next-gen iPhone prototype left lying on a barstool. Apple’s 3G S boasts speeds of up to twice that of the iPhone 3G and sweetens this with longer battery life, a high-quality three-megapixel autofocus camera, easy-to-use video recording and hands-free voice control.

The 3G S includes the new iPhone OS 3.0, an advanced mobile operating system with over 100 new features such as Cut, Copy and Paste, MMS, Spotlight Search, landscape keyboard, and more. Users of the iPhone 3G S also get access to more than 50,000 applications from Apple’s App Store.

The higher speed and 7.2 Mpbs HSDPA support render webpages quicker and launch applications faster. It also takes advantage of the OpenGL ES 2.0 standard for stunning high-quality 3D graphics, making mobile gaming and other graphic-intensive applications better than ever.

The new 3MP autofocus camera includes an automatic macro focus for extra close-up shots. With the new “tap to focus” feature, you simply touch the display to select an object or area of interest and the camera automatically re-adjusts focus and exposure. Users can record high-quality video clips and edit them right on the device by simply trimming the start and stop points.

The iPhone 3G S provides new accessibility features including VoiceOver and Mono Audio functions for the visual and hearing impaired, respectively. Its Zoom function magnifies the entire screen, and the White on Black feature reverses the colors on screen to provide higher contrast for people with poor eyesight. Other new features include voice control and a digital compass.

The iPhone 3.0 software also includes a new Find My iPhone feature that works together with MobileMe so you can locate your lost iPhone on a map, send a message that will appear on the screen or play a sound to help you find it even if your phone is set to silent. If you cannot find your iPhone, you can erase all data and content on your iPhone with the new Remote Wipe feature. Genius!

New iTunes features available with the iPhone 3.0 OS include wirelessly downloading movies, TV and audio programs as well as iTunes U so students can download learning materials on the go. A built-in Nike + iPod support makes the 3G S an incomparable workout companion.

BlackBerry Storm 2

Another storm is brewing in the form of BlackBerry’s Storm 2. The revamped smartphone ships with the BlackBerry OS 5.0, the OS that revolutionized the BlackBerry touch-screen platform.

With the same smooth design and premium finish of its predecessor, the Storm 2 features sloped edges, chrome accents, a glass lens, and a stainless steel backplate. The 3.25-inch high-resolution display houses the capacitive touch screen. It also uses SurePress technology, making selections on the display effortless.

The Storm 2’s network connectivity has EV-DO Revision A, UMTS/HSPA (2100 MHz), and quadband EDGE/GPRS/GSM network access. It’s also 3G-capable and supports Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) and Bluetooth connections.

The Storm 2 has a 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera with variable zoom, image stabilization, flash, and video recording capabilities. It also comes with background noise suppression technology, a loud distortion-free speakerphone, and face detection via a proximity sensor that prevents accidental clicks and blanks the screen while the user is on the phone.

It’s equipped with a media player and support for BlackBerry Desktop Manager, as well as the BlackBerry Media Sync for easy syncing with Windows Media Player. There is a 3.5-mm stereo headset jack, 2GB onboard media storage and a microSD/SDHC memory card slot.

HTC Tattoo

HTC’s distinctive new Tattoo is based on the new and much-awaited Android OS. It boasts excellent user customization, from its hardware to its applications and content. “Tat” owners can design and purchase their own unique covers or search and select from popular cover designs, altering the look of the phone to reflect their mood or individual tastes.

The Tattoo is the second phone to embody HTC Sense, a mobile experience focused on putting people at the center by making the handset work in a simpler and more natural way. Designed by listening and observing how people live and communicate, HTC Sense revolves around three fundamental principles - Make it Mine, Stay Close, and Discover the Unexpected.

The HTC Tattoo integrates Google’s innovative mobile services including Google Maps, Google Search, Google Mail, and Android Market where users can download thousands of popular apps and games.

It also comes complete with a broad variety of hardware features including a 3.2-megapixel camera, 3.5-mm stereo headset jack and expandable microSD memory.

LG Chocolate BL40

Aptly called Chocolate, LG’s delectable BL40 is approximately the size of a chocolate bar. The BL40 is equipped with an unconventional four-inch WVGA TFT tempered glass touch screen set at a dramatically wide 21:9 aspect ratio and a pixel resolution of 800 x 345.

It projects a naturally vibrant range of colors that makes photos, videos, games, and even documents appear more vivid. It also allows users to view two screens at once without switching windows, enables quick content transfer with one-touch copy-and-paste option, as well as full-screen Web browsing with minimal side-scrolling. This tasty treat comes equipped with a five-megapixel camera and a 1.1GB internal memory that is expandable up to 32GB via microSD card.

Motorola Droid

Not officially in the local market but worthy of mention here because of its super-fast Android OS 2.0 and, of course, its gorgeous 3.7-inch capacitive touch-screen, the Motorola Droid is almost single-handedly yanking Motorola out of the technological doldrums and, at least in the US, making Motorola a must-have brand once again. 

Seemingly inspired by its iconic RAZR ancestor (has it been that long ago?), the Droid is one of the thinnest touch-screen/full-QWERTY slide phones in the market. Inside the solid, rectangular exterior is an ARM Cortex A8 processor (550mHz), a built-in 256MB memory, as well a microSD card slot expandable up to 32GB. Connectivity is 24/7 via GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g). It also has a five-megapixel dual-LED flash camera and a 3.5-mm headset jack.

Nokia X6

Stunningly sleek and beautiful, the new Nokia X6 makes mobile music a whole lot more interesting. At a touch under 14-mm thin, its slim frame packs plenty of power. It’s capable of playing up to 35 hours of music, comes with 32GB of onboard memory (no slot for memory expansion) and a 3.5-mm headphone jack, and features a widescreen 16:9 3.2-inch touch display optimized for photos, videos, and browsing.

Like most Nokia smartphones, the Nokia X6 will get the full range of Ovi services, including the new Ovi Store, Ovi Maps 3.0, and Nokia Music Store. You also get a five-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and the S60 OSS Web browser with Flash Lite 3 (for YouTube access).

Samsung Genoa C3510

Samsung’s finger-friendly Genoa keeps users out of the frustration zone with ease-to-access widgets and a simplified three-page expandable home screen main menu. Optimized widgets allow navigation to and through users’ favorite apps easier and faster. Personalization is a cinch too, thanks to different theme options.

With Genoa’s quick linking capabilities, users get easy access to their favorite social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Photobucket, Flickr, and Picasa. Multi-Instant Messengers let users keep up with their best friends all the time on Google Talk, ICQ, and AIM through preloaded Palringo platform.

Users can also connect to their friends through Bluetooth Messenger. And thanks to the Genoa’s easy Quick Link widget bar, users don’t even have to navigate through menu screens - just one touch and they’re ready to socialize.

Sporting a 3.5-mm ear-jack, Genoa lets users use their favorite headphones to check out the amazing musical experience delivered via Samsung’s innovative Digital Natural Sound engine (DNSe). Listening pleasure is accentuated with features like 25-hour playtime, a microSD card slot for up to 8GB of added music storage and FM radio.

The Genoa has a video recorder and a 1.3MP camera. It also lets you use Google Search and send and receive e-mails whenever and wherever you are.

Samsung Monte S5620

The Samsung Monte (S5620) is a full touch-screen mobile that boasts a host of multimedia features and a sleek, sophisticated design - providing the style and performance of a high-end handset at an affordable price. It comes in a stunning contrasting orange-and-graphite or black-and-silver casing and an intuitive TouchWiz 2.0 Plus user interface.

The Monte comes with a suite of native social network apps like Facebook and MySpace. The advanced Twitter, Bebo widgets and multi-IM capability also provide users with the opportunity to chat in real-time via their chosen service. In addition, the handset features full Internet browsing with an accelerometer sensor that allows the onscreen image to automatically adjust as you rotate the phone.

The Monte also includes navigation features with GPS as well as a geo-tagging capability that allows users to imprint their photos with geographic tags. Other connectivity features include Wi-Fi connectivity, Exchange ActiveSync for access to Outlook e-mail accounts and Google Sync.

The Samsung Monte comes with a three-inch WQVGA LCD screen with 16:9 landscape viewing and a 3.2-megapixel camera with smile shot, panorama shot, and face detection. It also supports Smart Unlock and One-finger zoom making it easier and more intuitive to use.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz

Sony Ericsson’s new Vivaz introduces HD video recording (720p) and viewing capabilities that allow users to shoot high-quality videos at the touch of a button. Video content can be easily viewed on its 3.2-inch wide touch screen. These clips can be easily uploaded to YouTube and Picasa in high-resolution via Wi-Fi.

The Vivaz ships with an 8.1-megapixel camera, 3.5-mm audio jack, and TV out and USB ports. It comes with a 75MB internal phone memory with microSD support of up to 16GB. Connectivity is made easy with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.