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The mobile video broadcasting space is home to a pretty interesting fight right now. Ok, maybe fight isn’t the best choice of words, or perhaps it is. There are a few big boys when it comes to live interactive video feeds streaming from a mobile handset and they are continuously trying to outdo each other. Qik has the buzz generated by many high-profile celwebrity users, Kyte is the new kid on the block entering the space with an already-substantial user base from their existing web service, and Flixwagon is the well-funded video quality leader with an exciting feature set. With the latter, things just got a whole lot more interesting as Flixwagon has just announced a new client version that brings with it a host of functionality that its competitors will surely be interested in. Take a look:

• Share on Twitter and YouTube directly from phone: you can share individual videos on twitter and YouTube directly  from your device, as well as customize the message or titles. All you need to do is add your Twitter or YouTube account details on Flixwagon.com, and then you can customize posts directly from your phone.
• Detailed sharing from device: on your device you can now easily choose which specific groups (friends, family, etc.) can access your video. Make sure you set up your contacts, groups, and alerts first on flixwagon.com and you can start sharing flix with them on the fly.
• Digital zoom-in and zoom-out.
• Post messages back to chat. You can send IM messages back to the video chat room, making chats around your video 2-way. This is especially useful when you want to respond to your viewers’ comments without interrupting the video or audio in the broadcast.
• Change title: you can now change the video title directly from the phone while broadcasting.  This is great when the ‘right’ headline comes to you while you broadcast (and can help more viewers discover your broadcast while you’re still broadcasting live).
• Choose between delay or video quality: in the preferences section you can determine whether your broadcasts will be optimized for the shortest delay, or highest video quality.

Whew! The two things of particular interest to us are digital zoom and the ability to chat while broadcasting. There are plenty of times while streaming event coverage, observation etc where typing a response to an on-screen comment is much more appropriate than speaking a response. Flixwagon also announced a few tweaks to the website such as RSS feeds that help round off this round of improvements. Definitely worth looking into.

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Google Maps Mobile is probably Google’s most actively developed mobile application. It seems like there are new versions popping up for one platform or another every couple of weeks these days. In the past few months for example, Google has issued a native S60 version updated several times, various versions that can make use of internal GPS, versions that can integrate with device phonebooks and Nokia Maps, cell-based location, etc. For the most recent feature addition, Google has decided to implement a bit of voice recognition. Sweet! A new version of Google Maps Mobile has been made available for the US BlackBerry Pearl 8110, 8120 and 8130 that allows users to speak their search criteria rather than type it. Voice search uses the same voice recognition engine as GOOG-411, Google’s free information service, so we know the accuracy will be spot on. Using pretty much couldn’t be easier:

1. Press “0″ to center the map view around your location
2. Press the left-side key and hold it while you say the name or type of business you’re looking for (for example, “pizza”)
3. When you’re done speaking, release the left-side key, and our voice recognition technology will figure out your request and find the business you’ve been looking for, no typing needed.

These days there’s a pretty good chance that the rest of your BlackBerry-toting friends make fun of you from time to time because you’re still carrying a Pearl. Opportunities might be few and far between, but here’s a good chance to show them a little something they can’t have quite yet. Hit http://www.google.com/gmm from your Pearl to snag the latest build.

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Emoze has been a top player in the push email realm for quite a while now. Known for its consistent victories in speed battles with Blackberry, Emoze can likely push new mail to your smartphone faster than any other option on the market. There have been a few drawbacks to the service in the past such as an automatically-added Emoze signature, support for only one email account at a time and handset limitations. The third item mentioned however, has been a point of focus for Emoze in recent history however. Beyond its Symbian support Emoze has added Windows Mobile and even the iPhone to its list of supported devices. As of next month dumb-phone users (sorry guys) will have the ability to push email to their handsets with the speed and efficiency of a smartphone. Made possible with the addition of a java client, Emoze will become one of the most accessible push solutions on the market. The java version will work on a variety of popular handsets from manufacturers like Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia (S40) and will accompany several UI enhancements to all Emoze clients such as new graphics and screen rotation.

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Dash Express users are about to receive a software update and it’s a doozy. For those of you in the market for a new GPS unit, take notice as this already-capable internet-connected portable unit from Dash gets some new functionality that makes navigation much more user friendly. First and foremost, the update process itself is noteworthy. Pulling your GPS unit from your car and connecting it to a computer is so last year. Simply connect the Dash Express to a WiFi network and the update will take place automatically. As a side note, couple the Dash Express with a mobile application like JoikuSpot Light and you have an always-connected unit with some amazing capability, especially now that the Dash API is open. Back to the matter at hand, one of the key features included in this update is called MyRoute. Dash recognizes that users often know shortcuts that may not be recommended by the GPS unit. As such, the Dash Express can now record your route to your destination and save it as an available routing option along with the recommended Dash route and a third detour-route option. What’s more, Dash will automatically analyze current traffic data and take traffic info into account when recommending a route. There are a bunch of other enhancements in this update such as FasterFind for quicker GPS locks and a variety of performance and UI tweaks. Dash is definitely a company to keep your eye on as we don’t see them slowing down any time soon.

[Via Press Release]

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If you’re in the market for an ultra-portable machine running OS X, but the Macbook Air is a bit outside of your budget, you might want to take note. The MSI Wind, one of many recently introduced low-budget UMPC machines, has been caught in the wild running a full version of OS X. According to the hardware profiler, the Wind spoofs the system into thinking it’s a Mac Pro. A few tweaks renders the Wind fully functional, essentially giving you access to a $600 Mac. Sure, you can pretty much bet that you’ll never be able to run down to your local Best Buy and swoop one of these up, but if you’re down to void your manufacturers warranty, this might be a nice little weekend project, assuming MSI decides to actually release these things…

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MyGlobalTalk hit us up to let us know about their new VoIP application for BlackBerrys. Since they are just getting started and really want feedback from the community, we’re exclusively giving away 1000 free accounts, each with $50 of international talk time on them! We doubt they will last long, but it’s open to any BGR reader. Just jump on over to their site, install the app, and you will have $50 already in your new account. Not too bad huh? We’ve just started playing with the application but the concept is great. Hey, who could say something bad about $0.02 cent calling to London? But if you do download and install the app, make sure you give them feedback so they can polish everything and make it better, ‘kay?

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If you’ll recall from our recent review of HTC’s new Touch Diamond handset, we were initially a bit underwhelmed by the performance of the company’s new Touch FLO 3D touch screen interface. The unit that HTC sent us was remarkably sluggish, responding rather tepidly to our best efforts and wrangling it into submission. Turns out we weren’t alone in our observations, and it seems there was some basis to our claim. According to HTC, the test units were sent out with a pre-release version of the ROM that had been let loose without some much-needed final adjustments. Acknowledging their error, HTC recently distributed the official ROM to us. We’re happy to report that the new firmware breathes life into the handset’s interface. Sure, it’s not the most responsive phone we’ve ever used, but everything seems to move much more quickly, making the Touch Diamond a wholly usable handset, which isn’t something we would have said about the first version of the ROM. Furthermore, HTC plans to have yet another ROM revision out by the end of this month, so anyone that might have been turned off by our initial impressions should certainly consider giving this one another look.

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Ahh FP2. There’s no question that there’s plenty that Nokia’s latest flavor of S60 doesn’t address, but there’s also plenty it does address. Remember the SSU functionality we just spoke about in our post on Diablo? Well it’s not just for Tablets! Feature Pack 2 brings with it Seamless Software Updating (SSU) that allows users to update pieces of the operating system without the need for a full flash. What does this mean for N78 owners? It means you can update your firmware without losing your data! This initial OTA update is a minor release but we ran the update earlier and confirm that it went perfectly with no data loss whatsoever. Firmware version 11.043 change log highlights:

• Improved Bluetooth stability
• Improved Music Player stability
• Improved Camera performance
• Naviscroll performance tweaks

The only other thing we’ve noticed so far is that the maximum display brightness has been turned down a few clicks. We liked the bright display but the simple fact that we’ve now confirmed lossless software updating works is more than enough reason to go through with it.

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Yesterday was a big day for Nokia Internet Tablet owners. The N810 and N800 each got a firmware update codenamed “Diablo” and while some refer to it as a minor release, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Why? Let’s look at the change log highlights:

• SSU (seamless software updating) enabling components of the OS to be updated without having to flash/rewrite the entire operating system
• Over-the-air (OTA) updates via Wi-Fi and WiMax connections
• Update of the email client to Modest with several enhancements to the user interface and additional support of several mobile-friendly email features
• Addition of Chinese fonts to the system font list
• Miscellaneous bug fixes to OpenSSL
• Browser panning fixes
• Support for A-GPS in the N810 and N810WE
• Wayfinder GPS application updates
• Additional unspecified features

The first two entries are key. A huge annoyance with both S60 and Internet Tablet devices is the update procedure. In short, all data is lost. Backing up and restoring rarely goes smoothly and even on the rare occasion it does, it’s still time consuming and bothersome. Seamless software updating and automatic OTA application updates mean that everything - from firmware to installed apps - will be easily and seamlessly updated as new versions become available. Update your firmware without losing personal data and files; update your apps automatically over the air as soon as new versions become available. Good stuff indeed.

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Oooooh Android. Things are not going well for you lately. First the Wall Street Journal reports that your release has been delayed and now Symbian, the most popular Smartphone Operating System in the world, will be opening up. Open?!? That was totally your thing! Well maybe not It’s ok, don’t worry; you’ve still got the Google juice going for you. Nokia has made a few major announcements this morning with regards to the heavyweight title holder that is Symbian. First and foremost, 48% ownership is not going to cut it anymore. Nokia will soon pony up €264 million ($412 million at today’s exchange rate) for the remaining 52% of Symbian to become the sole owner. Then what? Nokia has also announced the formation of a new organization: the Symbian Foundation. Foundation members currently include AT&T (huh?), LG Electronics, Motorola, NTT DOCOMO, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, Vodafone, and more. The foundation will be the backbone of efforts with regards to creating “the most proven, open and complete mobile software platform - available for free”. The acquisition of Symbian is expected to be completed in Q4 of this year and it will likely be at least another year or so before we see the tree bear some fruit. We can’t wait.

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If you haven’t yet heard of Fusion Voicemail Plus by PhoneFusion, prepare to be impressed. In a nutshell, Fusion Voicemail Plus centralizes all of your voicemail boxes and presents your voicemail messages visually on your mobile handset. Instead of receiving voicemails in separate boxes for your mobile number, home number, VoIP number, office number, etc everything goes to your PhoneFusion One voicemail box. The messages are then displayed visually on your handset a la iPhone. Each entry displays caller info and incoming number along with your number corresponding to the relevant phone service (so you know if the caller dialed your mobile number or home number for example). And did we mention that the service is completely free? Excellent. Phone Fusion has a long-standing history providing the Fusion Voicemail Plus service for Windows Mobile. The service is currently in beta for BlackBerry but expect a solid offering upon signing up. To get going, simply hit the read link and enter your info. You’ll see a message that your handset is not currently supported but you can then sign up for the beta. After Doing so, you’ll get an SMS on your mobile with a download link to snag the BlackBerry app. Beyond BlackBerry, Phone Fusion is also currently working on cooking up Symbian, Android, Linux Mobile, Palm and Java versions as well. Tie Fusion Voicemail Plus in with a voicemail to text service like SpinVox and you’ve most definitely got our vote for President.

[Via Press Release]

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That’s what our AT&T boys in blue are sayin’! Want some details on it? Well, it’s rumored to have all the usual AT&T stuff like AT&T Music, AT&T Video, AT&T Navigator, and more. But, it’s also going to have AT&T Mobile TV, too. The other specs are pretty well know: a Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional device with a 5 megapixel camera with face detection, quad-band EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, 3.2″ WQVGA touch screen (sadly it’s 240×400), Bluetooth, and either 8GB or 16GB of internal memory. We’re working on some press shots for y’all, but in the meantime, go on and keep comparing it to the iPhone 3G…

Thanks, Omie!

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This is a happy, happy day for any AIM addicts toting around a Windows Mobile device. There are 3rd party solutions (JiveTalk, what up!), but it’s always comforting to get a piece of software directly from the source. AOL has finally released an updated AIM client, and boy does it look sexy! We’re giving it a go right now but sadly, it doesn’t look as if we’ll get file transfers at the moment. Let’s hope this feature makes it way into the final build as it is still in beta. It also is said to be compatible with just about every Windows Mobile device — Standard or Professional, 5 or 6. Anyone looking to give it a try? Hit us up and let us know what the verdict is!

[Via XDA-Developers]

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In a sign that proves just how much the general public dislikes Windows Vista, Dell has announced that they have postponed their kill date for Windows XP from today until June 26th. Interested consumers can still purchase an XP-laden Dell system until 7 AM Eastern time on the 26th, after which point Vista will be your only Microsoft OS option. The extension only applies to three versions of Dell’s Inspiron 530, as well as the XPS 630. If you’ve been thinking about a grabbing a Dell, and hate Windows Vista, we suggest you head on over to the company’s site quickly, as time is most certainly running out.

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This one strikes us as a bit fishy, especially considering the impending arrival of the Palm Treo 800w, but word on the street is that the aging Treo 700wx is set to receive a Windows Mobile 6 upgrade. Great news, but even more suspicious is that the upgrade specifically mentions WM 6.0, leaving out any trace of the current generation WM 6.1 version that is currently making the rounds. The rumor also conspicuously leaves out any mention of an update for Sprint users, referring only to a Verizon rollout. We suppose time will tell all, but until we actually see this thing hit the streets, we’re remaining skeptical. In the meantime, it looks like if you don’t to wait, you can unofficially get Windows Mobile 6.0 running on your Treo 700wx.

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If you’ll recall from our recent review of HTC’s new flagship Touch Diamond, we were a bit underwhelmed by the GUI’s overall responsiveness and performance. Sure, it’s a beautiful new way to navigate the doldrums of the Windows Mobile interface, but what good are appearances if there’s nothing underneath to back it up? Apparently, HTC has taken note of the TouchFLO 3D issues and has incorporated a number of fixes into a new ROM version that is now shipping with every European-spec Diamond to hit the shelves. The company hasn’t spoken to any sort of specific tweaks or changes they made, but initial subjective reports seem to favor the new firmware over the original version, with users reporting a faster, more responsive experience. Unfortunately, all of this is a moot point for American users hoping to get their hands on a compatible version of the phone, but at least we can rest assured that by the time it does officially land on our shores, many of the early kinks will have been worked out.

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The idea of a GPS device provider opening their API seems a bit odd at first. When you have as many developer customers as Dash however, opening your API is a great way to play to their geeky side. Beyond that Dash will now have a great (free) way to see how customers respond to different functionality added to their systems. Maybe they can start promoting certain apps on their site, maybe a few apps will even help shape future development; regardless, third-party contribution is most often a good thing. So it has only been a few weeks since the Dash API became available, when can we expect some apps? How about right now? Developers have attacked Dash head on and come up with some really great added functionality for Dash units. Examples include apps that will give you weather alerts, provide local info based on your location and even locate nearby garage sales for you. Perhaps the most interesting third-party addition however, is the Twitter integration. The again supports our theory that it’s only a matter of time before everything in the world is somehow tied into social networking and / or microblogging sites. Check out the video above to see how a Dash user can share his or her location in just a few clicks. The post sent to Twitter even includes an automatically-created link to the exact location on Google Maps. Users can also see the 20 most recent tweets from their Twitter contacts on their Dash unit, but it’s probably not such a great idea while you’re moving.

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Now that we’ve had some time to spend with the XPERIA X1, we’re going to break down the various features and give you our in-depth review. We’ll continue to update this post as we use the device more, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand what’s at hand — a brand new Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1! Full review is after the jump. Pictures will be added shortly.

Screen:

With a 800×480 VGA screen, you can’t really go wrong right? Right. We’ve got to say off the top that this is the best-looking screen we’ve ever seen on a Windows Mobile device. It puts all the others to shame. It’s not just that the screen has an amazing resolution, it’s that the screen is vibrant and clear as day. If your vision isn’t top notch you might have to increase the font size in settings because it gets a little small with that super high-res. Sunlight couldn’t phase it either as we had no problem using it on the go outside.

Audio quality

We didn’t put the speakers through our normal tests just yet to be honest. We tried a couple MP3s and they sounded good, not great. The speaker volume in general could have been a little louder and the sound could have sounded a little fuller. Speakerphone was the same. We’ll report back with more detailed findings.

Notification lights

If you’ve seen the Sidekick LX, you’ll know what we’re talking about. There are 4 independant notification lights on the four corners of the X1. These are LED lights that change through various colors. Unlike the Sidekick, you have complete control over the notification settings. Only want people to think you’ve got a UFO in your pocket when you’re getting a text message? No problem. There’s a lot to choose from to suit your own needs. The lights offer a nice touch and weren’t too over-powering and bright which we were afraid of. The kids will love it.

Call quality

Calls came in and out with crystal clear quality. The ear speaker was plently loud and the party on the other end said we sounded like we were on a land line.

Data Connectivity

Name something you’d like to see in a mobile device… HSDPA? Wi-Fi? GPS? The X1 has all of it. T-Mobile USA lovers will also be overjoyed at the fact that an AWS 1700MHz version is coming. Our unit had the 850MHz/1900MHz US 3G bands so we were rockin’ over HSDPA just fine. In fact, web browsing was abnormally fast. We didn’t find much of a difference between browsing over Wi-Fi or HSDPA. That’s probably due to the bottleneck of the phone in general, but it was a pleasant surprise.

Build quality

Another winner for Sony Ericsson. While the device isn’t the lightest phone on the market, we think it’s build quality is almost second-to-none. Maybe even iPhone status. It’s just so sturdy and well put together. We have to give HTC some mad props on this one. Could you please try and incorporate some of this newfound metal addition into some of your devices HTC? Please. The sliding mechanism was fantastic even though the device isn’t a normal “flat” slider. Major points for build quality.

Usability factor

This could be subjective depending on your view of Windows Mobile, but we found the X1 to be on par or better than any Windows Mobile device we’ve used. Baring the keyboard issue, (see below) there wasn’t anything that hindered us from taking full advantage of the device. When closed, the device gives you access to all necessary shortcuts on the bottom front of the unit. Slide it open and you’ve got access to everything you could want. People have wrote us and asked about how it is to use the phone when the QWERTY keyboard doesn’t have directional keys, but they’ve overlooked something — the optical joystick. This works wonderfully well and doesn’t have a learning curve. It’s a natural extension of what we’ve been forced to use in the past. There was a “cursor” menu in settings but no cursor showed up on the screen. You also have full control over the sensitivity of the optical joystick. Making phone calls was comfortable and we didn’t have any issues with people hearing us or us hearing them.

Keyboard

The keyboard is a sensitive area for many people. Anyone who follows us know we take it very seriously — we put them all through the ringer! So, it pains us to report, that at least with our particular unit, the keyboard wasn’t great. It didn’t take time to get used to it, it just didnt perform like the way we had hoped. The reason is because the keys almost are completely flush with the case and don’t give good tactile feedback when pressed. Odly enough, the spacebar was actually ok. It faired the best out of all of them. We understand why there really is no travel in the keys — there is a huge sliding mechanism right over them — but we would have liked to see a little more feedback when typing. They have this triangular pattern on top which does make it easy to feel them, but you don’t get a good response when actually pressing them down. The backlight on the QWERTY ‘board successfully helped us find the keys when it was nightime, but that still didn’t help when typing. We said this before, but if we had to compare the keyboard to anything, it would be Sony’s UX-series computers. It’s the same exact thing.

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Considering all that Mozilla has done for us - displaced Internet Explorer by giving us what is arguably the best and most versatile web browsing experience, for free - the least we can do is help them out when they ask us for help. What is it they want us to do? Download the latest version of the Firefox browser. Yup, that’s it! Mozilla is trying to set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloads in a 24-hour period. The official release of Firefox 3 will become available for public download at 10:00 am PST / 1:00pm EST and judging by the tremendous loyalty that Firefox users typically display and the crazy amount of buzz, the record should be theirs. We’ve been using version 3 for a while now and we have to say, it’s good stuff. Mozilla claims that Firefox 3 brings with it over 15,000 improvements; no small upgrade! Most notably in our eyes, the latest release candidate is worlds faster than Firefox 2 and gobbles much less resources. It will take about a week for the Guinness World Record judges to review Mozilla’s download logs so we should find out whether or not Mozilla successfully broke the record around this time next week. As of the time this post was written, just under 1,690,000 have pledged that they will download Firefox 3 today.

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If you asked the general public what the #1 Windows Mobile device they’re waiting for, you’d probably lose count of how many times people said XPERIA. Sony Ericcson, for the first time, has entered into the Windows Mobile market, and our first impressions? Wow. You really couldn’t throw better specs on this thing if you tried. From your local flavor of UMTS/HSDPA, to an optical joystick (fire!), to a whopping 800×480 VGA screen, and even cool funky notification lights, this thing is packed! Let’s not forget the physical design of the device as it’s one of the coolest and hippest-looking phones we’ve seen in a very long time. Since our unit isn’t a production version, the software runs a little slow. Even so, in most tasks, it performs very well. We can’t wait to play with a final production unit. It has us that impressed! One major flaw, though… Do you really want to know? The keyboard! Listen guys, if you’re going to throw on a QWERTY, at least make sure it’s worth having, ok? Not to say that this keyboardis absolutely terrible, but it’s one of the worst. Think Sony UX computer, for those of you that have one or have used one. The sliding mechanism comes right ontop of the keys, and thus, the keys don’t travel a lot when pressed. They give little to no feedback despite having a cool triangular design. We’re putting together our review, but in the meantime, you know where the goodies are!

Click on over to our Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 gallery!

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We’ve seen some pretty cool applications built from the iPhone SDK, but this one certainly ranks amongst our favorites thus far. CodeMorphic has put together a set of dev tools that will allow iPhone software developers to access satellite imagery, global weather info, time zone information, and more, all from the comfort of a multi-touch interface. The video above is merely being billed as evidence of a proof-of-concept, but if the real thing looks as good as the demo, we think they might want to consider dropping this as a full fledged application. Anyone as excited as we are for the 11th of July?

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He’s a witch! Stone him! Ok, ok… Put your pitchforks and torches down. Thai developer Sittiphol Phanvilai, creator of Mobitubia, is not a witch (or a warlock). He is however, a talented developer and engineer. Phanvilai’s latest research project is a doozy; he essentially transforms a Nokia N95 into a smart board with multitouch support. “Multitouch” may not be entirely accurate of course, since use of the N95’s camera means he doesn’t actually need to touch anything. Multigesture? This guy is basically a digital MacGyver as he uses LED light pens, film negatives, tape and a tripod to create what he has dubbed NeuScreen. The only thing that isn’t absolutely awesome about this demonstration is the choice of music. Sittiphol, buddy, give us a shout next time you’re going to whip up a showcase video and we’ll hook you up with something a bit more “Neu”.

[Via AAS]

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The title sort of says it all, no? Qik isn’t far behind in the streaming video game and their client looks to support all the features of Qik we all know and love. You know, like comments showing up, the superior video quality, and excellent networking. It’s not quick out just yet though with only an alpha application being demoed on video. We’d guess that it would be released in the App Store shortly after launch, however.

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After Flixwagon is installed on the phone, users can broadcast videos from it to the Flixwagon website with one click. Videos can be watched live or stored for future viewing. Also, they can be embedded in blogs via our flixee widget or uploaded to the user’s YouTube account. Users can also easily determine which of their contacts to share each video with.

We’re guessing this would be a pretty painful process over an EDGE connection, but Wi-Fi should do just fine until the arrival of the new 3G-equipped handsets. For the time being, the software is only available for those that dare go down the Jailbreaking route, but Flixwagon assures us that they’re working on developing an above-the-board version to release with the App-store when it launches next month. 

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There has been a whole lot of buzz about Funambol since the WWDC keynote, mostly touting the open-source offering as a wonderful free alternative to MobileMe. MobileMe, in case you’ve just awoken from a coma, is Apple’s sync everything everywhere solution. Syncing with MobileMe is seamless, instant and always active. You know, kind of like Exchange. So is this free Funambol offering really going to be a viable alternative to Apple’s new suite? There is an expression that almost always holds true, people: You get what you pay for. There’s a comment in the post on the other side of the read link that pretty much sums up our thoughts and experiences with Funambol quite nicely:

I played with funambol a while ago, and seriously was it rough… You pay for services like MobileMe because they’re seamless, intuitive and easy to use, not because they’re a ‘cheaper option’. Imagine what would happen if your mobile phone’s sms had the performance of Twitter.

The bright side, as mentioned above, is that Funambol is indeed open-source. While Funambol’s shaky free portal - which will only support contacts sync initially - is a possible option for those with low expectations, perhaps some developer will come along and put the Funambol sync engine to use in a more competitive and reliable offering. We shall see…

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Just a few days before Apple dishes the official skinny on the upcoming 3G iPhone and puts an end to all of the rumors, photoshops and speculations (thankfully), S60 has issued an updated video showcasing the upcoming S60 Touch UI. You’ll recognize plenty of the content from the original clip they released, but tons of additional demo footage has been added and we get to see a whole lot more of the UI. Nice. From a visual standpoint plenty is still vanilla S60 but now that more of the UI is visible we can see several nice additions and refinements. Actually, the updated OS is looking pretty sweet. Of concern however, is the part of the video where the woman opens the browser and accesses YouTube. You can see a close up of the YouTube page as the woman drags her finger downward to scroll down (2:06). No, no, no. This is fine if you’re dragging a scrollbar because the scrollbar will be following your finger while page content moves in the opposite direction. It you’re touching the page content itself however, the screen needs to move with your finger and never against it. If you place a piece of paper on a desk and drag it around with your finger, the paper is not going to move away from your body as you drag your finger towards your body. Counterintuitive.

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BGR’s favorite mobile streaming video client is coming to Windows Mobile. That’s right, folks. Today Qik launched a very limited Alpha test of a new streaming video client for the Samsung Blackjack and Motorola Q. Qik, for those that have been living under a rock for the past 6 months, is a media client that allows you to stream live video from your 3G-capable mobile handset. It’s been available for S60-capable Nokia handset for quite some time, but this is the first time Qik has ventured outside of their Symbian safe-haven. We’ll let you know how the new client as soon as we get a chance to give it a spin, but in the mean time you might want to start brainstorming some clever ways to broadcast live video to your friends and family.

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The Samsung i770 may be the talk of the town at the moment, but it looks like the current i760 might be getting a little bit of love before it gets phased out. Rumor has it that the i760 will be the recipient of a fresh Windows Mobile 6.1 update sometime this month. Carriers are beginning to roll out the 6.1 updates in earnest, so this seems entirely plausible, though we don’t have any specifics in terms of an actual date. We’re still betting on the upcoming i770 as the real prize in Verizon’s future lineup, but this should hold you over until you can get your hands on the new model.

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