New Symbian UI stars in pulled promo vid, takes Three UK for a dizzying spin

Something's going on in Espoo, and YouTube just gave us a very good idea of what it might be -- with only two days remaining before Nokia's London announcement, a new Symbian UI is popping up in promotional videos alongside the sleek X7 and stylish E6. Unfortunately, all three such videos are listed as private now, but we managed to nab one right before it got canned, demoing an improved Symbian with smooth scrolling that follows one's finger, a browser purportedly three times faster and a portrait QWERTY keyboard -- yes -- all courtesy of a Three UK representative. Find the remaining two (currently inactive) videos after the break, and let us know if you see them wake from cryo-sleep, please! 

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HTC Launches Desire S in India

HTC has launched the Desire S Android smartphone in India. It is the updated version of the original HTC Desire, which is still on sale for Rs. 21,999. The Desire S, on the other hand, is priced at Rs. 25,490. Compared to the Desire, the Desire S has an updated version of the Snapdragon SoC with a faster GPU, more RAM and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. HTC has done away with the optical trackpad on the Desire S but it has a front video call camera. 

Read the full specs below:

• GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA 900/2100
• 3.7-inch, 480 x 800, S-LCD
• Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255, 1GHz Scorpion CPU, Adreno 205 GPU, 768MB RAM
• 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus and LED flash, 720p video recording
• VGA video call camera
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth v2.1, A-GPS
• 1.1GB internal memory, microSD card slot
• 1450mAh Li-Ion battery
• Android 2.3 Gingerbread

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HTC Desire Z Review

The first Android phone had a QWERTY keypad and was manufactured by HTC. After that there haven t been a lot of droids with QWERTY keypads and HTC in particular never visited that territory. Not until now, that is. The successor to the original droid, the T-Mobile G1 was followed by the G2, which is several leagues ahead of its predecessor.  Of course, that phone is restricted to T-Mobile so HTC came up with the Desire Z - the phone that we are reviewing today - where they loaded it with their own Sense UI and are selling it unlocked in other markets. The phone has been selling in the Indian market for some time now but it took HTC a while to send us a review sample. Nevertheless, we have the phone with us now and we have been spending some quality time with it. So read on if you want the full review. 

 
Design and Build

The Desire Z has a slightly subdued design compared to the Desire. You can tell it is designed to suit a businessman more than, say, a college goer. Nevertheless, it is still a handsome phone. The silver brushed aluminum finish goes well with the grey rubberized plastic. Metal is used sparingly on the Desire Z, possibly to keep the weight less; the sliding mechanism already adds a lot to that. 

 

On the front you have the large earpiece on the top with the ambient light sensor and the proximity sense hidden towards its left. Below is the 3.7-inch display covered with a Gorilla Glass. Below the display is a thin row of touch sensitive keys along with an optical trackpad. We preferred the physical controls below the Desire's display; it is much more difficult to press unintentionally. The trackpad has a ring that glows when you have a notification. 

 

On the left side are the volume control buttons and the micro USB port. On the right is the camera shutter button, and the button for releasing the battery cover. 

 

On the top is the 3.5mm headphone jack and a power button. 

 

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PSP starts streaming Music Unlimited on April 14th

What started as loose-lipped tattle is now official: the PSP will get a taste of Sony's Music Unlimited streaming music service starting on April 14th. The service, tortuously entitled "Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity" by Sony, requires a PlayStation Network ID to access all that digital audio. Once setup, Sony promises a "synchronized music experience" across your PSP, PS3, PC, and other network-enabled Sony devices like Bravia TVs and Blu-ray players -- a claim backed by a cloud-based catalog of some seven million tracks supported by a "music sync" functionality that will automatically organize your Music Unlimited library after perusing the local files and playlists found in your existing media player (yes, iTunes is supported). Click through the break for the full press release and a good video overview of the service while you ponder the $3.99 basic and $9.99 premium monthly service fees.

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Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo delayed to Q3, Arc and Play facing limited supply due to Japanese quake

There hasn't been much good news coming out of Japan lately and this sadly keeps up with the unhappy trend. Sony Ericsson has officially bumped the broad launch (it's already available in limited quantities) of its Xperia Neo handset to at least July, explaining the delay as the result of "supply chain disruptions." Additionally, the Xperia Arc and Play devices, two other members of the company's new Android Gingerbread family, will be available in smaller volume than expected, at least for the near term. We guess that might go some way to explaining why the Xperia Play failed to reach some UK carriers in time for its April 1st launch date. Skip past the break for a statement from Sony Ericsson, who promises to be more explicit about the situation when it delivers its latest quarterly results on April 19th.

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