This just in: the Viliv Boys are moving to a new Blog – outofoffice.net.au

After lots of soul searching and discussion we’re moving to a new blog. Vilivboys will remain here as an archive but we won’t be updating the site. Join us at our new blog:

Out of the Office – http://www.outofoffice.net.au/

After having a great experience with both the Viliv X70 and the S5 we both sold our Viliv’s. That’s kind of the guys we are: pretty early adopters and pretty fats turn arounders of technology. Basically we go through computers and phones like no one’s business! We’re not proud of it…actually we probably are.

Since we (me and J) are both always on the lookout for mobility solutions and indeed are trying to setup our lives and work to become completely untethered from the office, we thought a more genral style blog was called for. We’re not limiting ourselves to a brand or even a type of mobile device.

The new blog will cover: smartphones, UMPC’s, tablets, slates, solar power devices (you need to be untethered form the wall outlet too sometimes), car mounts for technology, any kind of portable tech you can imagine. Our usage of these devices and also our active journeys to become mobile workers.

Hope you can join us for the ride.

Apple wireless testing lab a work of fiction?

Call me a cynic but when Apple takes a group of journo’s on a secret back street tour of Cupertino and ushers them into the wireless testing rooms I feel that it’s so much like science fiction – that it is! I mean come on. Apple have been caught pants down on this design flaw in the iphone 4. And in the scramble to right the situation I’m sure there have been long nights spent with PR hacks in rooms trying to come up with the best way out for Apple. Including free cases and refunds and keeping Steve Jobs off the airwaves as he seems to put his foot in his mouth a fair bit (his solution – hold the phone a different way – wacked). I have nothng to back this up but I think Apple spent some money and built this hollywood set to get massive media covergae (achieved) and reel back some of the negative comments about them not seeing these issues in testing. OK so if you did see these issues in testing then why did you not fix them? You can’t tell me with Apple’s “genius’” of which we hear so much they coldn’t fix this problem? RIM can, Nokia can. Apple probably can – they just screwed up.
Phone testing kit looks like this:

Wireless and phone test labs look like this:

Wireless and phone testing labs look like this

Not like this:

Need a MID or smartphone that can replace a laptop for travel – comparing the iPhone 4 to the Nokia N900 to the HTC Advantage

The hunt is on for a new MID or smartphone or something very portable that can still meet my productivity needs while travelling. I’ve narrowed it down to a few contenders and put them up against the iphone 4 for good measure. I’m almost set on a smartphone bu the viliv N5 could make the cut if the 3G model is not too expensive. Here’s my table trying to compare apples with apples.

		Nokia N900	IiPhone 4	HTC Advantage x7510
General	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 900 / 1700 / 2100	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100	HSDPA 2100, UMTS 850 / 1900
	Announced	2009, August	2010, June	2008, February
	Status	Available. Released 2009, November	Available. Released 2010, June	Available. Released 2008, June
Size	Dimensions	110.9 x 59.8 x 18 mm, 113 cc	115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm	133 x 98 x 16 mm
	Weight	181 g	137 g	375 g
Display	Type	TFT resistive touchscreen, 65K colors	TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors	TFT resistive touchscreen, 256K colors (65K effective)
	Size	800 x 480 pixels, 3.5 inches	640 x 960 pixels, 3.5 inches	640 x 480 pixels, 5.0 inches
		- Proximity sensor for auto turn-off	- Scratch-resistant surface	- QWERTY keyboard
		- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate	- Multi-touch input method	- Handwriting recognition
		- Full QWERTY keyboard	- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
			- Three-axis gyro sensor
			- Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
Sound	Alert types	Vibration; MP3 ringtones	Vibration, MP3 ringtones	Downloadable polyphonic, MP3 ringtones
	Speakerphone	Yes, with stereo speakers	Yes	Yes, with stereo speakers
		3.5 mm audio jack	3.5 mm headset jack	3.5 mm headset jack, dual speakers
Memory	Phonebook	Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall	Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall	Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
	Call records	Detailed, max 30 days	100 received, dialed and missed calls	Practically unlimited
	Internal	32 GB storage, 256 MB RAM	16/32 GB storage, 512 MB RAM	16 GB storage, 128 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM
	Card slot	microSD, up to 16GB, buy memory	No	Mini SD
Data	GPRS	Class 32	Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 – 48 kbps	Yes
	EDGE	Class 32	Class 10, 236.8 kbps	Yes
	3G	HSDPA, 10Mbps; HSUPA, 2Mbps	HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps	HSDPA, 1.8 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, DLNA	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.1 with A2DP	Yes, v2.1 with A2DP	Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
	Infrared port	Yes	No	No
	USB	Yes, v2.0 microUSB	Yes, v2.0	Yes, miniUSB
Camera	Primary	5 MP, 2576×1936 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, Dual LED flash, video light	5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash	3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
	Features	Geo-tagging	Touch focus, geo-tagging
	Video	Yes, WVGA(848 x 480)@25fps	Yes, 720p@30fps, LED video light, geo-tagging	Yes
	Secondary	Yes, VGA	Yes, videocalling over Wi-Fi only	VGA videocall camera
Features	OS	Maemo 5	iOS 4	Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional
	CPU	ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz, PowerVR SGX530 graphics	1 GHz Apple A4 processor	Marvell PXA270 624 MHz processor
	Messaging	SMS (threaded view), Email, Push Email, IM	SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email	SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
	Browser	xHTML, HTML, RSS feeds	HTML (Safari)	WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML ( Opera 9)
	Radio	Stereo FM radio (via third party software); FM transmitter	No	No
	Games	Yes, 5 + downloadable	Downloadable, incl. motion-based	Yes
	Colors	Black	Black, White	Black
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support; Ovi Maps	Yes, with A-GPS support	Yes
	Java	No	No	Yes, MIDP 2.0
		- Skype and GoogleTalk VoIP integration	- MicroSIM card support only	- Voice memo
		- MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+ music player	- Scratch-resistant glass back panel	- MP3/AAC/AAC+/WMA/OGG/AMR player
		- WMV/RealVideo/MP4/AVI/XviD/DivX video player	- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic.	- WMV/MP4 player
		- TV-out	- Digital compass	- TV-out
		- PDF document viewer	- Google Maps	#NAME?
		- Photo editor	- iBooks application	- Pocket Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF viewer)
		- Adobe Flash Player 9.4	- Audio/video player and editor
			- Voice command/dial
			- TV-out
Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1320 mAh (BL-5J)	Standard battery, Li-Po 1420mAh	Standard battery, Li-Po 2100 mAh
	Stand-by	Up to 278 h (2G) / Up to 250 h (3G)	Up to 300 h (2G) / Up to 300 h (3G)	Up to 300 h
	Talk time	Up to 6 h 30 min (2G) / Up to 4 h 30 min (3G)	Up to 14 h (2G) / Up to 7 h (3G)	Up to 6 h
	Music play	Up to 24 h 30 min	Up to 40 h
Misc	SAR US	0.92 W/kg (head)     0.82 W/kg (body)		0.48 W/kg (head)
	SAR EU	0.80 W/kg (head)