Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, continues to cause quite a commotion with his various antics and comments.  While speaking at CTIA on Wednesday Chou declared that the Nexus One was a complete success and will surly drive new business to HTC despite the shaky public reception it has received.  For those of you that might be unaware when the HTC was first released it was to a somewhat unsettling beginning.  Early customers reported 3G reception issues that damaged the views of various consumers.  Lagging sales numbers clearly put the Nexus One well behind the DROID in popularity as well.  Now these current issues surrounding the display have further damaged the phones reputation.

Chou also caused a stir with his reluctance to acknowledge any shortcomings with the phone.  Instead Chou decided to focus on the innovative design of the Nexus One and the experience HTC gained when developing the Android 2.1 device.  Chou mentioned that HTC is quickly trying to leverage that credit associated with creating one of the first Android 2.1 mobile devices into becoming the top Android brand. While many critics will disagree with Chou and his statements pointing to the fact that the DROID is a much more popular phone amongst consumers Chou may not be that far off in his assessment.
I do believe that Chou and HTC have a learned a great deal and gained valuable experience while releasing the Nexus One.  They will be able to utilize that experience and enhance any other phone that they may develop in the future.  By knowing what consumers are looking for and what sorts of aspects they want working correctly with their mobile devices HTC will be better equipped to produce quality products in the future.

Slacker radio is one of the best music discovery, custom radio station websites on the internet.  It is a website that I use daily on my unlocked cell phone and really helps pass the time while surfing on the internet.  This website works much like Pandora where you can search for artists or songs and create radio stations to listen to based on your likes and dislikes.  During the recent CTIA conference Slacker Radio announced that their Windows Mobile app will be launching very soon and with that release Slacker will be available for every major smartphone platform.

All early accounts are very positive when it comes to this new app.  The album art is quite massive and really allows you to enjoy all of the aspects of each album you are listening to.  The user interface is very easy to use and really helps the whole app seem to be very user friendly.  Their new app had most of the aspects you would come to expect from Slacker including artist bios, album reviews, song lyrics, liking/banning songs, etc. except for the offline station caching feature which allows you to listen to your stations without a data connection.  Slacker also confirmed that a Windows Phone 7 port of the application is in the works.  This will make a great addition to the highly anticipated Windows phone set to hit the market this summer.

Slacker is also in the process of creating a station caching version for the iPhone.  With this version you will be able to listen to all of your favorite songs and stations without having a data connection.  This will certainly take the Slacker app to new levels and really allow the app’s users to fully enjoy all of the fantastic features that are commonly associated with Slacker.

Recently Google introduced a new version of its Google Mobile search application for the BlackBerry Storm and Storm 2.  The application includes Google Voice Search, which allows users to use spoken search queries, search suggestions and search history.  The new application will also link Gmail to Google Maps for faster access.  The application is a free download from Google and certainly a must have for any power searchers who own a BlackBerry Storm or Storm 2.

This new app contains all of the useful features of the Google Mobile App but is specifically tailored for the BlackBerry touchscreen devices.  One of the best features of this new app is the ability to search using your voice.  This will certainly cut down on a lot of time needed to press all of the letters to make sure you are searching for the exact terms you wish.  This voice search capability is available in a wide variety of languages including English, Mandarin, Chinese and Japanese.
You can also use this new search feature to search through your emails and contacts.  If you are like me and never delete an email for whatever reason then this feature can truly be invaluable.  Having the ability to locate an old email message by sender, recipient, or part of the message itself will undoubtedly save you hours and hours of scrolling time on your BlackBerry device.  There is nothing worse than not being able to quickly locate an important email and having to scroll through hundreds of old messages to find the one that you actually want.
This new Google Search app will certainly enhance the user experience for any BlackBerry Storm or Storm 2 user.  Actually it is about time that Google finally updated their search feature to be more user friendly for these devices.

If you have ever wished you could own a more eco friendly cell phone then Sprint has a new announcement that you might be quite interested in.  Sprint is coming out with the very Earth friendly LG Remarq.  The LG Remarq is going to have a slew of features that are designed to help save the environment and is even going to have an Eco Calculator so you can calculate just how much CO2 you are pumping into the atmosphere.  The LG Remarq is going to be made up of partly recycled plastics and the entire device will be 87% recyclable when it comes time to get rid of the phone.  Not only will the phone be recyclable but the box it comes in will be made of recycled paper, printed with soy ink and will not contain any paper manuals.  All of the manuals will be made available online so as to save on paper products.

 Specs wish the LG Remarq is not all that remarkable.  The phone is set to come with a sliding QWERTY keypad, 1.3 megapixel camera and QCGA display.  While these are rather pedestrian specs it is the way the phone makes you feel good about yourself for doing your part for the environment that sets it apart from other mobile devices.  The LG Remarq is set to hit store shelves on May 9^th for $0 on a two year contract and rebates.  So if you are looking to save some money and save the earth at the same time then I would suggest picking up an LG Remarq this May.  Mother Earth will surely thank you for sacrificing a little bit of cell phone to help save the environment, just like the Sony Ericsson Aspen.

With March rapidly drawing to a close the anticipation for HTC’s launch of Android 2.1 in early Q2 is growing rapidly.  HTC has reportedly issued a statement on a Chinese website called Plurk, which is very similar to Twitter here in the US, that they expect to release the new Android 2.1 update in HTC’s home country of Taiwan on April 26^th.  It is expected for this update to go global very quickly after this release on April 26^th.  This is fantastic news for all of us that have been waiting patiently for this new Android update.  Now we finally have a set date when we can expect Android 2.1 to appear on our HTC Hero mobile devices. 

Finally it appears as if the waiting is coming to an end for those of us who have eagerly been anticipating the new release of Android 2.1.  I am especially excited to see the latest version of Sense UI that accompanies this Android 2.1 update.  Many people have actually not been able to wait and hacked the newest update into their HTC phones.  While most of us are not techy enough to perform such a task it appears that will only have to wait another month to see the latest update for Android. 

It will be especially exciting to see all of the new features that are associated with the new Android OS and how the Sense UI fits in with everything.  From all preliminary reports this latest update for the Android is expected to be a huge success and many mobile device users will be pleasantly surprised with the various additions made to the Android OS.

While the Dell Aero is certainly considered an odd unlocked cell phone in its own right it is finally starting to hit the mainstream.  AT&T announced that the Android powered Dell phone is set to hit the AT&T network which will increase the number of potential customers that could purchase this new phone.

 Right now the Dell Aero looks like a cross between the T-Mobile CLIQ XT and NeXT Cube.  The photorealistic icons are one of the better features of the Dell Aero.  Because this particular model runs a specific version of the Android OS there is not too much room for improvements or upgrades which has been a complaint among mobile device consumers.  In addition to the lack up upgrades the decision to not have a formal Android app store is another huge complaint amongst cell phone consumers.  One of the best parts of any Android powered cell phone is the ability to purchase some of their powerful apps from the Android app store.  With the Dell Aero this is not possible and really limits what the phone is capable of.

 There are some good features to the Dell Aero however.  The Aero seems to have all of the basic features such as Facebook and Twitter applications and also includes apps for Picasa and Flickr.  Will these extra apps outweigh the negatives of not being able to enjoy various Android upgrades or purchase any other apps from the Android app store?  Only time will tell how this phone is received on a much broader market such as the AT&T network.  It is likely that the Dell Aero will continue to hold it’s place among the niche phones and appeal to certain small demographic of mobile device users.

It has been long rumored that Apple was going to start selling a contract free version of the iPhone mobile device at list prices.  It appears as if these rumors have finally come true.  After confirming with several Apple stores it appears as if you can now pick up a contract free iPhone for $499 (3G), $599 or $699 (3GS).

 While these phones do not have a contract associated with them these devices are still carrier locked to AT&T so you do not have much freedom with the various plans you can purchase.  This is considerably different than many parts of Europe where you can get the devices without a specific carrier service attached to the device.  It would make much more sense for Apple to sell the iPhone unlocked without a contract agreement like they do over in Europe.

 The only benefit of purchasing the iPhone this way, without a contract agreement, is if you were planning on switching mobile devices before the 2 year contract was up.  Otherwise it would make much more sense for most mobile device consumers to sign up for the contract and get the iPhone at a much cheaper price.  With the contract you can usually get the 3G version for $199 and the 3GS for $299.  This is a significant savings when purchasing a new cell phone.  Esepcially when you are going to have to use AT&T as your service provider anyways.  Purchasing the phone with a contract might actually be cheaper in the long run even if you were to break the contract early if you wanted to purchase a new cell phone.  It might be worthwhile to look at the fine print associated with terminating your cell phone contract early with AT&T.  The price of terminating your contract might be less than the extra money you will have to spend on the iPhone without a contract to have that freedom of switching providers whenever you would like.

If you have a cell phone you absolutely have to have a phone case, in this case the Moshi iPhone case. This case is actually pretty cool because it is specifically made for the Apple iPhone 3GS. And it is made of a really thin, but very strong and durable silicone material. I liked this because I can still put it in my pocket when it’s not being used, but it doesn’t protrude a ton. Also, since it is silicone, this almost always adds a promise of extra protection! The pros of this phone are that is covers the phone all the way, which is really important if you want to keep your phone safe from getting crushed or scratched.

Also, unlike some of the other full-covers out there, this one makes sure that you can still use all the functionalities that the phone offers such as the power and volume buttons. I have used cases and covers before that were supposedly contoured and designed to allow for the same functions as if you didn’t have the cover on, and it simply did not do what it was supposed to do. So this was a nice change. One of the things I didn’t like about this, and maybe it’s just me, but the top of the latch for the cover wouldn’t close completely.

I tried this every which way and it simply would not close. Maybe this is a user-problem (just me) or maybe it happens with everyone! However, even though this was a problem, and a little one at that the rest of the features made up for it. I especially liked the flip over option which covers my screen completely. This adds an extra layer of protection and allows your phone to work for years to come. No scratches, no smudges, no dents!

Recently Opera announced that they have submitted Opera Mini 5 to Apple for approval to be used on the iPhone.  Opera seems to think that their chances of having their new app get approved is pretty good as their new browser uses a proxy system to deliver web pages to the handset rather than render web pages on the handset itself.  While Apple has a history of disapproving applications for apps that mimic the behavior of native apps on the iPhone it will be interesting to see if Opera get their new web browser passed. 

As with any device having the chance for several options is usually a good thing and will force each company to produce a better product.  If Apple does in fact allow Opera’s new web browser to pass their application process it will be interesting to see how this browser works on the iPhone compared to the factory installed Safari browser iPhone customers utilize now. 

To me it sounds like this new Opera browser has the chance to be slightly quicker than the Safari browser is right now.  This would be a welcomed experience when I am using my iPhone.  Sometimes it can be quite frustrating when a website will not load quickly enough.  I would be very excited to test out the new Opera web browser to compare it to Safari.  If there is any chance of creating a faster web surfing experience while using my iPhone I am all for it.  But unfortunately it does not sound promising that Apple will actually approve of this new app since they have a track record of vetoing any app that mimics one they currently developed for the iPhone.