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TechXNY 2003

Intro Sony Ericsson Motorola Siemens & RIM

The Siemens SX1 was on display, and I had a chance to spend some time with it. I really love the size - it's much smaller than most other smartphones currently on the market. I had a chance to hold the Nokia 6600 the other day, and the SX1 feels smaller to me. The display is very nice. It didn't photograph very well, but the "Sitris" game opening screen looks really amazing on the SX1's display.

SX1

SX1 MP3

Compared to the last time I played with one, the software has been updated significantly. Siemens has made considerable improvements and additions over the standard Series 60 interface. One key innovation is the use of the side keys as soft keys. This clever trick is employed in several places, such as the MP3 Player, FM Radio, and even the home screen, as shown below.

The OS has been tweaked in other areas, including the camera application, which has a full-screen mode for framing shots, as shown below. All in all, Siemens's tweaks are impressive, and it's shaping up to be a slick little smartphone. The tweaks come at a price, though - the phone has been delayed and now isn't slated for release until early 2004.

Finally, I wanted to add in a photo of RIM's Blackberry 7230. The display, in particular, is amazing. It's reflective, so you can use it without a backlight and in direct sunlight. There are other reflective LCDs out there, but this is hands-down the best reflective color display I've ever seen. Even in low light, you don't need a backlight. That's good thing, because the backlight is very dim, but it doesn't really matter. It's hard to desrcibe, except to say that looks like paper - electronic paper - it doesn't look like a normal LCD display at all. Luckily, it photographs very well - the photo below is pretty accurate - that's a real photo of a real display, and that's really what it looks like.

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