The HTC Desire HD is one of the smart-phones with the largest touch-screen in the market. It features a 4.3-inch screen which takes up almost the entire top side of the phone. And the smart-phone of Taiwanese manufacturer HTC raises the bar for competitors’ devices in other areas, as well. This is a short review of the HTC Desire HD.

As in 2009, grocery retailer Aldi is selling a smart-phone at the beginning of christmas season. This year it is the Android smart-phone Samsung Galaxy 550 which is available from today at Aldi Nord supermarkets for € 169.00 without plan. On its flyer Aldi Nord uses the mobile phone’s old labeling Samsung Galaxy 5 GT-I5500. Here is a short review of the touch-screen phone running on the Android OS 2.1 (Eclair) and an evaluation whether the Aldi smart-phone is a good deal or not.

German grocery retailer Aldi Nord will offer an Android smart-phone by the Korean manufacturer Samsung next Thursday. The touch-screen smart-phone Samsung Galaxy 550 will be available at Aldi supermarkets without plan and without SIM-lock for € 169.00. Don’t get confused: In its flyer, Aldi Nord is calling the Samsung Galaxy 550 the Samsung Galaxy 5 I5500 - that’s the deprecated version of this mobile phone’s name. The new mobile phone offering from Aldi Nord is quite attractive. However, online retailers in Germany also sell the Samsung Galaxy 550 for comparable prices.

With the iPad, Apple has not only launched a new product but also introduced a new device category – the tablet. There might have been similar devices of other manufacturers before – think of the Nokia 770 or the Nokia N800 – but the Apple iPad is the first tablet offering a great user experience and special content for consumation. At IFA 2010 we have seen lots of other tablets already available at stores or being launched soon. The crowd of so-called iPad killers is led by the Samsung Galaxy Tab which can also be used as a regular mobile phone. Names, features, and purchase prices – this article gives you an overview of tablets currently or soon available in Germany.

Android smart-phones are becoming hot stuff for the common cell phone user. They are easy to use and offer several online services of Google, they always come with a touch-screen, and – that’s very important for many mobile phone users – they are cheaper than the Apple iPhone. HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson are just the well-known handset manufacturer building Android smart-phones, there are several others such as Acer, Garmin-Asus, General Mobile or Huawei. Which means: People looking for a new Android smart-phone have many options. This overview shows the Android smart-phone available at stores in Germany with the Android OS version running on these phones and the purchase prices buyers should expect currently.

Smaller, lighter and less expensive – the tablet PC Camangi Webstation 171 might be an alternative to the Apple iPad. It offers a 7-inch resistive LCD touch-screen with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels, runs on Android OS 1.5 and can be used for browsing the web or as a music player, a video player, an e-book reader or a digital picture frame. For accessing the Internet at hotspots it supports WiFi b/g. Users can also connect an USB surf stick to the Camangi Webstation 171 and surf the web over mobile networks via GPRS or UMTS (3G). The retail price of the Camangi Webstation 171 is € 299.00, but some web stores in Germany already sell it for purchase prices beginning at € 179.00. This review on the Camangi Webstation 171 shows whether that’s a good investment.

There have been lots of rumors about the tablet PC Samsung Galaxy Tab. Now, we know: It is real. Today, Samsung has presented the Galaxy Tab at the consumer electronics show IFA 2010 in Berlin. It will be available in October at all four operators’ stores in Germany with and without plan. Without plan the purchase price for the Galaxy Tab with 16 GB storage capacity will be probably less than the recommended retail price of € 799.00. Later on, there will also be a 32 GB version of the mobile device. I had the opportunity to take a closer look at the Android 2.2 (Froyo) tablet yesterday night. Here is a short review of the Galaxy Tab.

Is that another iPhone? Nope, it just looks like one. It might have been coincidence that Samsung invited me to come Munich to a presentation of the Samsung Galaxy S I9000 smart-phone the very same day that Apple launched the iPhone 4 in Germany. But I don’t believe this – the Samsung Galaxy S seems to be too much a copy of the Apple iPhone. But, heck, I am not accusing Samsung of plagiarism. Lots of cell phone manufacturers have picked up the ideas and concepts that made the iPhone a success story. Since its launch the Apple phone has changed the smart-phone world dramatically and the users have benefited from that. The Samsung Galaxy S is just one example of how simple to use a smart-phone with such a broad range of features can be. Here is my short review of the new Samsung smart-phone and some information on how to buy it in Germany at a comparably low purchase price.

Google will start its controversial Street View service with its navigable 360-degree photo maps in 20 cities in Germany this year, the Californian company has announced. This service integrated into Google Maps will give users the opportunity to explore cities virtually, to retrieve local directions, to find a new apartment, house or property, or to check the maps and photos for vacation planning. At the beginning, Google Street will be available in Germany for these cities: Berlin, Bielefeld, Bochum, Bonn, Bremen, Cologne, Dortmund, Dresden, Duisburg, Dusseldorf, Essen, Frankfort/Main, Hamburg, Hanover, Leipzig, Mannheim, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart and Wuppertal. But unlike in the United States and in 22 other countries around the world, some people in Germany see Street View as an interference with their privacy in an unacceptable way. Some do also think that Google Street View with its detailed street level maps may have potential applications for thieves or terrorists. The strange thing is: According to Google, Germans have already become loyal users of the Street View service.

The Android smartphone Samsung Galaxy S I9000 is now available at stores in Germany. Web stores offer it for purchase prices beginning at € 465.00 including delivery. O2 Germany has been the only German network operator announcing the Samsung Galaxy S as being available in its shops at the end of this month. But eventually mobile phone users will find this touch-screen smartphone of manufacturer Samsung at all other network operators’ stores as well. In this article, I am summarizing my first impressions of this phone after having tested it for two days.