Learning or Slacking at Work

I am quite luck that I get to work for a big carrier for a lot of different reasons.  One of the best being that I get to attend product launches.  This means they come to the square between two of the AT&T buildings and model the product for passers by and feed everyone usually.  First up was last month with Blackberry Torch.

This one is totally a true blackberry with two huge enhancements that I absolutely hate about my blackberries.  First is the operating system (OS).  New 6.0 version which is much better.  The second is the browser is upgraded.  It is similar to the one that iphone and android phones use but this also allows you to use tabs much like you would in internet explorder 7.  Love that feature.  It is also touch screen and all the issues with the storm phones are fixed in that regard.  There is a virtual keyboard that is nice for some people and the standard blackberry keyboard slides up.  The chip in it is Mauvee 624 which "test as fast as the snapdragon" they say in the way that it processes data.  The chip is made by a company that intel or microsoft bought out cant remember which it was.  Other than that same old blackberry same benefits as before.

Next was earlier this week.  Sony/Ericsson came and did a demonstration of their new phone (new to America) Xperia.  There are several different models released in Asian markets it seems but this is the first "American Smartphone" for both Sony and Ericsson and the first phone Ericsson has released in America in a long time.  The benefit of this phone is that the back is curved to fit your hand so it isnt such a box feel in your hand and feels easy to hold yet still hold on to.  It does only feature Android 1.6 but it is upgradable they say.  Not sure why they did that.  It does have the snapdragon processor so that is good but it only has wireless b/g card so it isnt as good as n.  Other than that this is the same smartphone except 2 features.  Timescape and Mediascape as they call it.  As it is now you have your menu with apps and things you click a menu or home button and go to it then go into each individual app, camera, video camera etc.  With Mediascape (see the picture to the right) you have it all right in tiny little windows cascading down the phone for instance photos.  You swipe your finger and bam there is music, swipe again and bam there is video.  Easy.  Simple click on the bottom brings up the Timescape which brings up all your latest calls swipe and bam all your latest texts swipe bam all your latest emails etc.  Another great feature is if you pull up a contact it will do the same for everything involving that contact calls swipe texts swipe emails etc.  In regards to media you can have your songs up touch one to listen to it and then tap a browser icon at the bottom and it will auto search for that artist and you can then watch a youtube video about the artist or read about the artist etc.  Back to the physical features of the phone.  No physical keyboard here it is all virtual.  That keyboard and the touch screen are good for my initial use of it and the screen is vibrant and can even be toned down if you want.  So all in all the mediascape and timescape are the really only things that make that phone standout.  If you took those out you would have a regular unimpressive phone.

So all in all I get to go do these things while I'm at work.  It is kind of like a little party seems like monthly and I feel bad for going so I always do it during my lunch hour so I keep myself honest.