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Avi Greengart is the Research Director for Consumer Devices at Current Analysis (Cellphones, Connected Devices, and Digital Home). He also writes for Slashgear, blogs at Home Theater View and Tweets as @AviGreengart. Avi's expertise lies in understanding consumer electronics marketing, consumer behavior, and technology adoption patterns: where new technologies meet the mass market.

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October, 2008

10/27/08 - I'll be out at Nokia most of this week and probably won't be posting here much.

10/24/08 - To say that a lot is going on in the mobile device world this week would be a gross understatement.

	The T-Mobile G1 went on sale on Wednesday; I've been using one for a couple of weeks and if all goes well my report on it should be up tomorrow.
	The BlackBerry Pearl Flip launched last week; I've been using it for several weeks and my report on it is already off to our Editorial staff (look for it tomorrow morning).
	AT&T announced pricing ($299) and availability (11/4) on the BlackBerry Bold. I have just upgraded my Bold to the AT&T-approved software; I'll probably time my report to hit with general availability. It's pricey, but its the best BlackBerry I have ever used, and if you just want a solid QWERTY BlackBerry, AT&T is selling the Curve for just $79.
	AT&T has quite a comprehensive smartphone lineup going into the holiday selling season. In addition to the Bold and iPhone, AT&T also announced the Samsung Epix this week. The Epix is a Windows Mobile smartphone with a long list of features and a $199 price tag; I'll have an unit in for review shortly.
	HP announced a pair of smartphones for Europe. They're pretty much plain vanilla Windows Mobile; HP is going to have a hard time differentiating them from the pack, but at least its moving away from its previous notion that all it needs to do to sell smartphones is build them - Vodafone will be picking these up for its business channels.
	Motorola launched a high end fashion phone, the Aura. With the once-exclusive RAZR now effectively your grandmother's free phone for emergency use, Motorola definitely needs something on the high end, and the Aura's swivel form factor is actually a good (and identifiably Moto) design. Motorola is trying to squeeze the Aura in between Nokia's 8800 line and Vertu; the Aura will sell for about $2,000. I'll see if Moto is willing to part with one; I definitely want to see this one up close.
	RIM announced an App Store -like initiative of its own.
	Sony Ericsson updated the SDK for the X1, but still hasn't said when the phone will be available in the U.S., if a carrier is picking it up, or how much it will cost.
	Apple announced earnings, which included sales figures on the iPhone (6.9 million iPhone 3G's in the quarter). A journalist asked me "Can we make any conclusions or see any trends in Tuesday's news that the iPhone outsold RIM?" Aside from the obvious - the iPhone is selling really, really well - I think the key is when you combine Apple's earnings announcement (6.9m iPhones sold) with AT&T's earnings announcement (2.4m iPhones sold): Apple sold 4.5m iPhones outside the U.S. RIM still sells the majority of its hardware in North America. Apple's sales may be constrained in the U.S. by availability at just a single carrier, but it appears to have a broader global sales base than RIM. Also worth noting, it looks like Nokia is deliberately running away from Apple. It's launching the 5800 at a much lower price and primarily in emerging markets where it has brand power and sales reach Apple can't match. That won't help Nokia in Europe and means it is actually falling farther behind in the U.S. But it's not a bad global strategy.

10/17/08 - The embargo on discussing G1 review units was lifted yesterday; clients and journalists should feel free to call if you want to discuss my impressions on Android, the hardware, and the overall user experience.

Brad Akyuz and I put together a full write-up on the Motorola Krave ZN4 that was posted earlier this week: Motorola Kraves Attention at Verizon Wireless But May Get Caught in the BlackBerry Storm. I'm also working on reports on the Samsung Rugby and Sony Ericsson W760a which will probably be up early next week. An update to our Smartphones Market Assessment is under way as well.

10/10/08 - There's some link weirdness over at my other site (Home Theater View); the site is frozen in time unless you use the full Typepad URL: http://hometheaterview.typepad.com/hometheaterview/ rather than http://www.hometheaterview.com. I'll get it sorted out one of these days. One of these days I'll port this to a blogging platform rather than hand coding things; it'll save time and allow you to RSS this stuff. One of these days.

Good news for those of you who aren't Current Analysis clients or journalists with account access: my initial report on the T-Mobile G1 should be posted in front of the firewall for anyone to access. I don't see it up yet, but it should be there soon. (update: it's here, but it's still missing some major sections that clients get to see) I've started working on a follow up report on the G1 as well.

My report on the BlackBerry Storm was posted earlier this week. It's tough getting these reports out in the middle of Jewish holiday season; Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are now behind us, but I'll be off Tuesday and Wednesday for the next two weeks for Sukkot and Shmini Atzeret/Simchat Torah. And then I'm off to Finland for meetings with Nokia.

Lots and lots of new products have arrived; I can't quite talk about most of them yet. SanDisk sent over a Sansa Fuze; it's a bit bigger and thicker than last year's iPod nano (the squarish one) and has a good user interface on the device. At $99 for 8 GB (compared to $149 for Apple's latest nano 8GB) it is an excellent value. The iPod is much, much sexier, though.

10/3/08 - I've been playing with Slacker Radio online (I haven't gotten the portable player in yet), and I like it. It's a very simple user experience, combining streaming radio with the ability to customize it by skipping songs, banning songs, and designating songs as favorites. Custom channels can be created around artists, and the premium version allows you to save some songs for direct access (they seem to have the rights for one out of every three songs I've thought about saving). For example, when I'm writing reports I like a custom version of the Today's Hits, but for active music listening I've created the Delbert McClinton channel. It can't integrate your own music with its playlist like Rhapsody can, and it can't mix genres like a good custom created playlist. Still, the whole point of Slacker is that it requires very little effort (hence the name) to get semi-custom music mixes.

10/2/08 - Nokia's 5800 announcement is up, and my full report should be ready tomorrow. Nokia showed me a prototype of the 5800 a few weeks ago; it has an innovative home screen and nice navigation shortcuts, but the innovation pretty much stops there. Still, if you're a European on a budget waiting for a touchscreen S60 device with Nokia's brand on it, this is your phone. That description probably applies to a few million people, so the 5800 is bound to be a sales success for Nokia in its core markets.

RIM just sent over a BlackBerry Pearl Flip. I'm still not crazy about the design (it's long and has an awkward hinge) but the Flip has gotten a thumbs up from some of the regular folks I've shown it to who don't like slab business-looking devices like the BlackBerry Bold. If T-Mobile prices it low enough, it should be successful.

Also just in is Nokia's 8800 Carbon Arte, Nokia's insanely expensive European fashion phone (my report on its launch is here). It's nice. However, at these prices, I wish there was a bit more attention to detail. For example, there is no place to rest your finger to push up the slider, there is no spot for the headset to charge in the desk stand, and I would have hoped that the carbon fiber detail had a tactile feel to it (it appears to be encased in lacquer of some kind). I love the accessories (a matching Bluetooth headset, form fitting leather case that "lifts" the phone out, and a desk charger/stand that glows underneath when the phone is docked) but hate the packaging (lightweight cardboard with a cheap plastic insert tray).