Portable World: Comms: The top-end phones battle it out

The iPhone is huge and i mean absolutely, disturbingly huge. And I don't mean physically. Almost everyone seems to have one, everyone else badly wants one, but i'm not one of them. Apple's OS is pretty good, but overly proprietary. The lack of certain functions irk me, and the Apple-only world the iPhone needs, is just a bit too restrictive. Call me non-conformist, but i'll go for the Android OS everytime.

But, for the time being, there are virtually no Android phones and not many more Android apps (even if some of them are soooooo cool) and so we look the other camp, the Windows Mobile Smartphones. There are plenty of good ones and CNET ran a small comparo a while ago, but it had some notable rivals missing. One of the MIA's was my personal favourite the HTC Touch HD.

Physically, their dimensions are all similar within about a half a centimetre, so not much to distinguish them there. Visually, they are similar, with screens of about 3.5" on a nice gloss black finish, with the odd hard button here and there.

The Touch HD's biggest feature and its namesake, is that screen. Just to set the benchmark, the iPhone has a 3.5" screen running 480x320 pixels. The HD uses a 3.8-inch screen with a whopping 800x480! This actually has a slightly different aspect ratio, the iPhone with a standard 1.5:1, the HD running a tall 1.666:1.

Now to cameras. The HD runs the proper 3G set-up: VGA cam on the front, 5-megapixel on the back. The iPhone? Just the one 2.0 megapixel jobbie.

The touch HD still runs WinMob 6.1, but with HTC's much acclaimed touchFLO system, which is (as i've said before) one of the best ones around, while the iPhone's is quite good, but not to my personal tastes.

Here are some of the more interesting tidbits. The iPhone gets the amazing Apps Store, but the Touch HD? Any app ever written for mobile Windows since the old CE days!

The Touch HD gets real bluetooth, not just basic connection management. The Touch HD has an external memory slot, removing the need for internal flash memory. It has WiFi, and 3.5G internet. It has a 3.5mm jack (about time) and normal USB connections. No proprietary crap here.

And here is one of the big killers for the iPhone. The HTC is sexy, no doubt about it, and anyone who knows their chips can see it's a very similar, if not better machine. But one of the Touch HD's best features. It's not an iPhone...

It doesn't come pre-packed with a superiority complex. People won't earmark you as a non-conformist, a conformist, a geek, an idiot or just about anything else they can think of every time you whip out your HD.

It's not trying to save the world from themselves, and I love it for that if nothing else.

And so i announce the Touch HD becomes recipient of a world first:

PS. It also has a proper virtual keyboard. Hurrah!

Hurrah! HTC second gen arrives

Yay!

HTC's much beloved Touch range of smartphones has been revitalised with the arrival of three new phones.

HTC Touch HD
Hailed as the next messiah when it was announced, it took forever to get here, but still looks pretty good. HD screen on a smartphone, of course it makes sense.

HTC Touch Pro2
HTC's business smartphone has been re-released and against my gut feelings, has in fact become more business-oriented. Now with god-knows-how-many productivity tools and a neat keyboard, it is an attractive proposition indeed for any savvy business person.

HTC Touch Diamond2

Now getting into the business end of said HTC Range, the much-loved Touch Diamond has also been refreshed with a new face, new design and new gizzards. And it's gotten bigger (probably not a bad thing)

Interestingly, however, it was released with an old OS. Yes, the HTC range is still running Windows Mobile 6.1. Maybe they were too late to the market to get WinMob 6.5, but my bet is on the other explanation: HTC's version of 6.1 (with TouchFlo, and other mods) was better than 6.5 anyway! I have always thought that HTC made such an awesome version of 6.1 that even Windows would struggle to improve on. I have always thought that HTC's WinMob was better than Symbian, better than, say, Samsung's negligible improvements and, my god, for someone who grew up with a Windows CE PDA (got the Jornada 450!), it's better than any previous iteration of Windows Mobile. Not that that's real difficult...

Long Post: Multiple Game Reviews!

I have now received a PS3 for Christmas (better than those Wii and Xbox crappy turdboxes) and have spent a good part of the last 2 weeks playing various games, and will review most of them quickly here...

The PS3 is awesome!!

First Game up is my equal favourite: Need For Speed Undercover (NFS15)

THe NFS franchise has been around since the first DOS machines, and i've played or at least tried a good number of them. NFS 1, SE, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, and now 15 have all fell under my purvey (for those not familiar with the series, that means i haven't played NFS 2, Underground 2, Carbon Own The City, or ProStreet), but this new one throws them all into the dust. It is a similar concept to Most Wanted (in turn a development of the original Hot Pursuit) and its freakin awesome!

There is a complex story and plotline which you can choose to follow closely or just play and ignore 'Chase Linh's incessant commentary.  Most of the game is either running away from other people in street races, or running away from cops in pursuits. Both are rewarding in their ways. Races will give you cash and move you forward in the world, but only pissing off cops can give you the full experience. Coming up with new and inventive ways to lose the cops while causing as much carnage as possible is an inimitable feeling.

The game is pretty simple. The physics are basic but well balanced between easily approachable and challenging to master. Car Damage is only cosmetic for most of the game, and getting cash allows you to buy new cars, get upgrades, new paint jobs etc.

The Graphics are truly incredible never slowing down, never glitching and mastering the camerawork, as well as the natural light, glinting off iridescent paint jobs, and all the tricky stuff. Sound is good, and effects are authentic, but the music soundtrack is disappointing. Bad Music, played too loud.

The game has a longevity going past its predecessors with Quick Race Modes, and the novelty of pissing off cops never wears off. By the end of the game, the cops even get 150,000 dollar Nissan GT-R's and multiple helicopters just to make it hard for you.

If you own a PS3 and are even vaguely interested in the racing genre, BUY IT! it won't disappoint... 10/10

Resistance 2

I never did play Resistance: Fall of Man, but who cares when the sequel is this good.

It follows the standard formula of alien FPS, but just makes it that bit better, that bit more addictive. The Story has you as part of the Human resistance, fighting mutated humans, known as Chimeras (in the real world, the word Chimera actually means someone who has two separate DNA strands in them. Freaky).

Controls are not my personal preference, but they work: Left Stick Movement, Right Stick Viewpoint. The controls are complex, but after the first level, they're intuitive as all hell. Targets are many and varied as are the ways of killing/butchering/murdering/incinerating/blowing up your enemies. The 'Secondary Fire' concept is great, and you have to learn to use it well. Note to self: Frag Grenade + Enemies = Chimera Soup! Then again, ever tried using a machine gun, let alone a grenade or a sniper rifle to shoot little flying robot thingies?! Those little silver buggers are seriously giving me the shits...

Sound is, well, i don't really know! It's far too intense to notice something minor like sound. Graphics are freakin impressive. My view is probably a little skewed by the fact that i've spent a long time playing really old games on my knocked around PS2. Ace Combat 4 from 2001 being played on a games machine from the year 2000, anyone?

Overall, a great game let down only by vague objectives and a lack of any sort of map. Neither flaw is fatal. 10/10

MotorStorm

A game so obviously aimed at immature petrolheads, it's shameful. A game whose primary objective is to go faster than everyone else, or just to take everyone else out. There is no denying it either. Why else have a button dedicated to elbowing the other guy off his bike?!

It is intense and it is mostly blindingly quick. It lacks the frenetic action of WipEout, but has its own form of combat. Contact. Shoving. Pushing. Grinding. Crushing. Attacking. Its all there.

The game still needs some element of racing prowess, especially as you go further into the game, but carnage is a pretty big part of it. Nothing can match launching a Big Rig off a ramp doing some ungodly speed, then coming down and landing on top of some poor dude on an ATV, crushing him instantly. Neither does pushing buggies off a cliff ever get old. Except when you're being pushed, then it gets old quicksmart.

Controls are simple, intuitive, responsive, and realistic, as are the effects of different vehicles, surfaces and viewpoints. The realism is even taken to the camera level, which gets splattered by mud or obscured by dust from any vehicles in front of you...

Sound is very good, good lineup of tracks, and you can even customise the music playlist. Visuals are truly stunning, especially the action-replays after you crash. There is one exception to this rule : Shadows. MotorStorm hasn't quite grasped the full shadows. For the most part, their only problem is a lack of definition, but when you're standing still on the grid, the shadows are truly disturbing. Shadows are meant to stay attached to whatever they are shadowing, not run off, swimming across the grid in a barely defined black hazy cloud...

Other than that, another great game for a great console, with only a couple of minor flaws:

1. Shadows

2. Short-term longevity is unquestionable, but there is a possibility of long-term repetition. Unlikely, but possible...

3. Some of the vehicle-track-weather-opponent match-ups are nigh on impossible. Sidewinder Gulch in a Big Rig against buggies in the rain??

Pacific Rift? I'll keep this one thanks very much... 9/10

Formula 1 Championship 2006

A game made for scary levels of realism, which isn't bad at all. It's a good game, just not a great one... One of this game's biggest flaws is the repetition. It focuses on realism and things like practices, qualifying, car setups, all the ancillary stuff which is unfortunately mind-numbingly boring. In Career mode, every GP starts with an 'hour' of Friday practice then two sessions of Saturday practice, then three qualifying sessions all for a 3- or 6-lap race. Staurday practice is the worst culprit, with one of those good-idea-at-the-time features, called Car Evolution. It involves the car and the computer working out what setup is best without you having to fiddle with it. The problem is that it also involves doing literally countless laps of the track with the net gain of all this crap being about 0.2 of a second per lap. Great, a bit over half a second over the course of a race. I did something like 32 laps of a single circuit for 0.6 of a second!

The quick race modes are a bit better, but there are still more problems though! Driving aids: There is almost no middle ground. You either have so many aids on that there's no point in you being there and driving basically involves holding down x and letting it do the rest, or you end up trying to drive a car that is bucking, heaving, spinning, crashing, locking, and generally making a huge nuisance of itself. Annoying. as. all. hell.

The driving experience if you do manage to find that middle ground is rewarding and challenging, and the quick race modes are definitely far more interesting than the mind-numbing Career modes.

Sound effects are good, music non-existent. The Controls are basic and responsive, but lack the technical depth one would expect of a title like this one. Graphics are good, but not impressive.

If some of these flaws were worked out, this would be a great game, but for the moment, it's just an average game...

6.5/10

Gran Turismo 5 : Prologue

A horrid disappointment. Disembodied physics, controls react like they're set in concrete, the sound is unrewarding, graphics good, if drab and conventional, racing uninteresting, no real arcade mode and a focus on development that just ruins the experience...

Enough said.

3.5/10

There you go, five games given either the big tick or a huge red stamp of disapproval...

PSP Game: SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strike

SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strike, or SOCOM TacStrike, is a PSP Game released a little while ago that was at the time and still is a bit of a genre-buster. It's closest description would be a Third-Person Shooter, and don't worry, that doesn't mean its a side-scroller. This game has you commanding a squad of four Special Forces commandos, and getting them from absolutely unco dumbasses into the best crack team the world's ever seen. One of the great things about this game over some of the other SOCOM series is you can choose your team from a whole list of real-life commando units, from the French GIGN, the German KSK-9, the Aussie and British SAS, the SEALs, the Dutch, and even the Spanish, and two others i can't remember. It actually has an effect too. The names change, the uniforms change and even some of the weapons. But one of the funniest things is that it also changes the teams language, so rather than hearing "Tango down" or whatever in English, you hear your KSK-9 yelling in German. it's hilarious (and luckily there are English Subtitles)...

Some mission can be a bit linear, but almost all of them provide plenty of different ways to achieve a goal, or get to a place, and there is also plenty of little sideline routes that can give you heaps of hidden goodies, like Intel (which gives you points), and more baddies to shoot through the back of the head.

Which brings us to the gameplay and controls which is pretty novel to most people and even to SOCOM diehards. The camera angle is the standard above-and-behind, but the crosshair/reticule rather than controlling your commandos movements only changes which direction the camera looks. Movement is very different to any other game, and it's actually a two-step process. First you 'engage' your movement dropper, then you press circle again to
tell your men to go there. And it's that second press that changes everything. It allows you to get over there at a run, really stealthily, with your guns blazing, or you can even tell one half of
your squad to give covering fire while the other two make a run for it. It is possible to control each of your men individually, but that can be a bit clumsy, so unless you are setting up an
ambush, you should keep your squad in either twos or as a four.

The x button is also very important. As your reticule slides over something, it will change what the x button does with a subtle subtitle, telling you about it. Attacking then can be a simple thing of looking at your enemy and pressing x. But if you want to get past about the fourth
level, or get scores even resembling high, then you're going to need to master all your other attacks (which like all the other aspects of the game, is very easy to get the hang of). The controls are effectively press for simple, hold for detail. This means that whenever you focus on an enemy, you have the option of taking him out from a mile away, or you can tell your sniper to take him out, or chuck a grenade at his feet, which takes a bit of mastery to aim well, or you can creep up behind him and knife the shit out of him etc etc.Doors are also great fun as you can watch as your guys creep up, inch it open and silently glide their way in, or you can go in with all guns blazing (literally), or even get them all to line up on eith er side of the door, as one of them
chucks in a flash or a HE, wait for the tongue of light/flame to erupt out the door and then run in. Classic.

So there can be a sense of disembodiment in the real heat of battle, but that only really occurs if you take the fun out of it by just saying fire at will. If you issue your own orders, it can be an
addictive experience. It can also happen that whenever you die, the camera stays there, watching your wounded/dead men lie on the gorund moaning and complaining, just to make you feel bad, and give you an irresistible urge to try again, and get some revenge. (Fortunately for the retards in you, even after your men have run out of health or had a critical hit, they will only be incapacitated for a little while in which time you can heal them and they'll get up and keep fighting. Tough. As. Nails.)

The single player campaign is pretty long, and then there are the quicker, more intense Instant Action missions, and there are twice as many of them as there are normal missions, so that will take you some time to get through, and there is also online multiplayer, with some innovative modes, which i haven't had a chance to try out.

Finally, there are the weapons and training. Before each mission, the team will be armed with a suggested kit-out. I always ignore that. I have my own choice of guns and secondaries. (Secondary weapons with a higher rate of fire than primaries. Hell yeah!), with a nice sprinkling of grenades, sniper rifles, medkits, and a rocket launcher (fun, fun). After each mission you will also receive a rating, and this will give you cash to buy more and better guns, and training points, which if you put them to the right things will turn your dumbass first-level team into a killing machine of Teutonic efficiency.

Overall, this is a truly great game, and anyone with a PSP should buy it now.

10/10

PS. My kit-out always includes SFCR-HWs,
F90's all round, barrel-mounted grenade
launchers, one PSG1 Sniper, One Rocket
Launcher, two HEs each, two Flashes, a
smoke, a bunch of medkits, and some extra
ammo for the sniper and his SMG. Lethal.