Mobiac: January 2008

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

How Sony Ericsson PSP Could Look Like

In the Summer of 2007, rumors about a Sony Ericsson PSP mobile phone have appeared, allowing both Sony Ericsson and PlayStation fans to hope that, someday, a device that combines
the two brands' technologies could really exist. Since then, the PSP handset was confirmed, denied and almost confirmed again, so it has become a sort of a mobile myth. However, it is a general belief that the phone will exist sometime in the future, as officials from Sony Ericsson stated they seriously consider creating it.

Recently, new images of how Sony Ericsson PSP might be like appeared in the January issue of Stuff magazine in the UK, showing a device that looks almost real. Unfortunately it's not, being only a very well done Photoshop rendering. However, this imagined PSP phone could be very close to the real one that Sony Ericsson will work on (or maybe it's already working on it and keeps everything secret until the device is ready – I believe no one would be upset about this).

The Sony Ericsson PSP conceived by the Stuff magazine looks simply beautiful and has a sliding design, a wide screen and a large, simple keypad that would surely be easy to use. When closed, the phone only reveals its game control keys, that can probably have phone functionality too. This new PSP handset looks different from the original concept, which has more rounded shapes and doesn't come with a sliding design, but with a touchscreen that rotates to offer both a phone and a gaming mode.

Whether Sony Ericsson PSP will indeed exist is a fact that no one can be certain of. But, as I said, all the PlayStation and Sony Ericsson fans are waiting for an official confirmation of the device that should bring excellent gaming and phone capabilities.

Source: softpedia.com

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Samsung E590 Review

Design
The most notable thing about the E590's design is its simplicity. There are no glossy surfaces. There are no touch-sensitive keys. There is no floral embossing. This lack of festive flair doesn't make for a boring phone though -- the phone has a clean, utilitarian design, but then so does a little player called the iPod.

The candy bar E590 comes in black or white, and at 66 grams almost floats on the palm. Grasping it in your hand, you feel like a giant meddling with the mobile of a standard human -- the footprint is about the same as a second-gen iPod nano.

A 220 x 220-pixel, 262k colour display sits atop a grid of refreshingly normal number keys and navigation buttons. All are the same shape -- think the cross-section of a Tic Tac. A stubby joystick handles the on-screen menu movement.

On the back of the phone is a 3-megapixel camera in a solid cylindrical housing that protrudes from the main casing. There is no lens cover, and the cam is in just the right place to get in the way of your fingers when holding the phone upright.

The sides of the E590 are punctuated thrice each with an array of elegant buttons and ports. On the left are a volume rocker, a multi-purpose connection port (headset, USB and charging), and a microSD slot. The right face houses a dedicated camera zoom key, a shutter button and a Mode key that switches between applications when the camera is enabled.

We weren't huge fans of the headset design; the plug sticks out too far to the side of the phone and you can't substitute standard headphones because it's a Samsung proprietary port.

Features
The spotlight feature on the triband E590 is the 3-megapixel camera, which oddly does not come equipped with a flash, LED or convex self-portrait mirror. To be fair, these omissions are redeemed in other areas: the cam is equipped with autofocus and the dedicated zoom rocker is a rare and welcome inclusion.

A basic image editor allows you to adjust colour settings and apply effects, frames and clip art to your snaps. It's not Photoshop, but it is diverting enough to hold your interest on the train ride home.

The Java World menu option features an array of trial games such as Cannonball, Forgotten Warrior and Midnight Pool. Our handset came with Paris Hilton's Diamond Quest, a simple gem matching game with an utterly ludicrous premise. A pixelated version of the lazy-eyed heiress pops up on screen with a speech bubble that says "I've got a hot idea for a jewellery line and I need the best gems for it. That's where you come in, babe". Cheers darl!

A music player, voice recorder, FM radio and Web browser round out the features list. The player has a simple interface but offers quite a few customisation options such as repeat, shuffle, equaliser presets and a rainbow of visualisations.

Performance
We were a little concerned that the teeny proportions of the phone would result in it being difficult to handle. Fortunately, these worries came to naught. The keys may be small, but their widely spaced placement precludes any accidental fat-fingered button mashing.

The camera performed nicely at higher resolutions, but didn't do so well at the lower end. Shots taken at the minimum resolution looked grainy and shapes were ill-defined. The autofocus was a blessing though, and the plentiful shooting modes -- including panoramic -- offer a lot of flexibility.

All up, the E590 is a solid phone that performs well, and goes back to the basics instead of relying on gimmicks. There’s no fuss, no superfluous decorative fancy bits, and no performance problems to speak of. We liked it a lot, but if you prefer your gadgets a little more flashy, you might find the look a little bland.

Source: www.cnet.com.au

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Nokia 5310 XpressMusic Review

The Nokia 5310 XpressMusic is a compact & versatile music phone which the user will be proud to own. The handset is incredibly stylish which comes in a mainly black coloured casing complete with coloured sections which makes this phone look very fashionable. The 5310 XpressMusic comes with a choice of either bright red or bright blue coloured sections which highlights the phones large screen & dedicated music keys. The screen is 2 inches in size & has a high resolution & high colour display for the user to enjoy a full colour experience on their screen. The handset is compact & thin which measures 9.9mm in depth, 44.7mm in width & 103.8mm in length. The phone is lightweight therefore easy for the user to carry with them at all times which weighs 71 grams including the battery. The 5310 XpressMusic is a member of the XpressMusic family which includes other music orientated stylish handsets including the Nokia 5300 XpressMusic & Nokia 5700 XpressMusic.

This music focused mobile phone comes with an easy to access music player which supports MP3, MP4, AAC, eAAC+ & WMA music formats. The user can access & control their music easily using the three dedicated music keys which are situated to the side of the high colour screen. The Nokia 5310 XpressMusic comes with high quality music features including album art, music playlists & an equaliser. The user can listen to their favourite tunes over the phones speaker system or simply plug in the headset provided in the kit to experience a private listening experience. This phone will certainly keeps its music loving user entertained with up to 18 hours of music playback time & the 5310 XpressMusic can store approximately 3000 tracks for the user to enjoy. The user can search for music & games on the Internet by accessing the XHTML browser on their Nokia 5310 XpressMusic.

The phone comes with preinstalled games which include music guess, snake III & citybloxx games. The phone Nokia 5310 XpressMusic supports Java™ games & applications which allows the user to download more games of their choice. The user can access their games whilst on a plane using the flight mode feature. The user can store up to 2,000 contact names with up to three contact numbers under each contacts name. The calendar feature can hold up to 3,000 entries at any one time including Birthday reminds & appointments. The 5310 XpressMusic comes with easy to access countdown timer, clock, alarm, stopwatch features & much more.

The 5310 XpressMusic comes with thirty Mbytes of built in memory & the phone supports MicroSD™ memory cards which allow the user to add a memory card up to 4 Gbytes. The phone works over a tri band technology which works over GSM 900, 1800 & 1900 networks. A fully charged battery will provide the user with approximately 300 hours of standby time or 5 hours of talk time. The user can transfer music files & download music easily using either a Bluetooth™ wireless connection or a USB cabled connection between compatible devices.

The user can capture photographs & video clips using the integrated 2 megapixel camera feature. The camera comes with a useful zoom feature which allows the user to get closer to their subject when taking a shot. The zoom is a 4 x digital zoom & the user can view their subject on the 2 Inch high resolution screen. The phone supports video capabilities which allow the user to view & record their video clips. The user can share their photographs & video clips with others by using the MMS messaging service or the email service with supports attachments. The user can create an email complete with an attachment in JPEG, 3GPP, MP3, PPT, DOC, XLS or PDF format. The MMS messaging service allows the user to send & receive messages complete with photographs, images or video clips with sound & text.

Nokia 5310 XpressMusic Specifications & Features

Screen
2 inch 16.7 Million Colour QVGA Screen (240 x 320 Pixels)

Imaging
2 Megapixel Camera
4 x Digital Zoom
Ambient Light Sensor
Photo Editor
Video Record
Video Player
Animated Colour Screensavers
Colour Wallpaper

Messaging
SMS (Text Messaging)
MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
Email (IMAP4, POP3 & SMTP)
Email Attachment (JPEG, 3GPP, MP3, PPT, DOC, XLS & PDF)
Nokia Xpress Audio Messaging
Predictive Text

Sound
Music Player (MP3, MP4, AAC, eAAC+ & WMA)
Three Dedicated Music Keys
Loudspeaker
Stereo Headset
Real Time Equaliser
Album Art Display
Playlist
Video Ringtones
MP3, MP4, Polyphonic MIDI Ringtones

Entertainment
Music Guess Game
Snake III Game
Citybloxx Game
Java™ Games
Downloadable Games

Organiser
Phonebook (2K Contacts)
Calendar (3K Entries)
Alarm Clock
To Do List
Notes
Clock
Stopwatch
Countdown Timer
Calculator
Converter
Flight Mode

Connectivity
Bluetooth™
USB
GPRS
HSCSD

Network
Tri Band Technology (GSM 900, GSM 1800 & GSM 1900)

Internet
XHTML Web Browser
WAP 2.0

Memory & Talk Time
30 Mbytes Memory plus MicroSD™ Memory Option up to 4 Gbytes
5 Hours Talk Time
300 Hours Standby

Weight & Size
70 g
103.8 x 44.7 x 9.9 mm

Source: www.yourmobilephonereviews.co.uk

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Sunday, January 27, 2008

Motorola MOTOFONE F3 Review

Design
What does seventy bucks buy you? Well, in mobile terms, any number of capped plans for a month, or about one-tenth of a decent phone. What you wouldn't normally expect it to get you is a half-decent phone -- or at least a phone that looks like it was designed in the last six years. That's where Motorola's low-cost MOTOFONE is deceptive; it's a thin, stylish phone with enough features liberally cribbed from Motorola's bag of design tricks to appeal to most users -- but it's also only one dollar short of seventy bucks. For some mobile phone users, that's practically throwaway money.

The other notable thing about the MOTOFONE, from a design perspective, is that it's remarkably thin for a candybar form factor phone. It measures in at 114 by 47 by 9 millimetres with a carrying weight of 70 grams. The keypad is large and easy to use, with simple dial, hang up, contacts and menu buttons surrounding a five-way keypad.

Features
The crux of whether or not the MOTOFONE will appeal to you lies in its feature set -- or lack thereof. It's a GSM-capable mobile phone, which in the Australian market is locked to Optus -- and it comes with a prepaid SIM in the box. It'll do SMS, and you've got a choice of some very standard monophonic ring tones. That's it, however -- there's no Bluetooth, GPRS, camera, GPS, 3G, HSDPA or even simple phone games. If you're incurably addicted to features like this you'll find the MOTOFONE vexatious in the extreme. Then again, it's a phone, and it works. Why pay for stuff you don't need or use?

The MOTOFONE features a rather unusual display, for two primary reasons. It uses a black and white electrophoretic display that Motorola brands as ClearVision. The intention with ClearVision is that the display should appear as paper-like as possible, but also with an eye to being viewable in all sorts of lighting conditions, including direct sunlight. The other display oddity is in the font used, which is massive. That's undoubtedly a plus for those with visual difficulties, but the horizontal orientation of the text, which only ever scrolls like a ticker along one line, means that most SMS messages -- and even missed calls and contact details -- scroll along multiple screens, which can make comprehension difficult. If anything, it's a strong incentive to use SMS-speak, if only to enable easily scanned messages.

Performance
In case it hasn't sunk in yet, the MOTOFONE is just a basic phone, and as a basic phone it works quite well. Call clarity was good in our tests -- those of a paranoid bent might like to note that the default call volume is quite loud -- and battery life was fairly solid. Motorola rates it for up to 450 minutes talk time and up to 270 hours standby time -- largely because when not in use the screen powers down to a simple digital clock display. In our testing, it lasted around three days heavy usage before needing recharging. This brought up one of our lesser concerns about the MOTOFONE, and that's in the fact that it takes quite a while to recharge. This isn't a concern if you're an overnight recharger, but it's not possible to do a quick recharge and get anything but a perfunctory charge into the MOTOFONE.

In order to make sense of the MOTOFONE's icon-based and rather simple menu system, the phone comes with voice prompting for each and every feature in a variety of languages. It's a good way to get to grips with how the phone works -- and how its menu designers think -- but can be quite embarrassing in public situations to have your phone patiently explaining how to send an SMS. It's basically a training tool; once you've worked out the menu structures you'll undoubtedly want to switch the voice prompting off as soon as possible.

SMS was acceptable, but the phone is lacking in one feature we'd say was essential for SMS devotees -- there's no predictive text facility. Admittedly, the huge size of the screen font could make some automatically completed words indiscernible, but it's still something we missed having.

There's no doubting that there's a whole market out there that would hate the MOTOFONE for its lack of high-end features, but that's not the market that Motorola's after with the impressively simple MOTOFONE. For what it is, and what it sets out to be, it succeeds admirably, and comes highly recommended.

Source: cnet.com.au

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Nokia N82 mobile phone

Nokia's flagsip mobile phone is the N95 8GB, but that still hasn't stopped the Finish company from launching the N82 a pseudo N95 with a focus on the digital camera elements rather than an overall multimedia device. But is it just a candy bar version of the N95? We get phoning to find out.

Described as "the latest multimedia computer optimized for photography, navigation and internet connectivity" the Nokia N82 is a candy bar handset that comes in a plastic and metal finish. Dimensions are 112 x 50.2 x 17.3 mm while it weighs 114g slightly lighter than the N95.

Tech specs include A-GPS, a 5-megapixel camera, Xenon flash, Carl Zeiss optics and internet connectivity alongside HSDPA and Bluetooth connectivity.

The design, which is large and fat is also confusing to use with too many menu shortcut buttons cluttering the keypad. Do you really need two dedicated menu buttons for example? In fact there are 12 shortcut keys beyond the 12 numeric keys, all of which are fiddly and like Sony Ericsson's W880 prickly to use.

If that wasn't enough buttons for you, then there are a further four buttons on the top side for the camera function and that's not including the on/off switch or the lens cover slider for the camera.

Compared to the iPhone's four buttons, the tally of 29 is impressive.

Get past the buttons and the, in our mind, ugly design, and you've got the Symbian S60 software interface as found on most of the Nokia N series handsets.

With two menu buttons you have two ways of looking at the applications in addition to the home page and you can either opt for a rotating page system (which works like Apple's Coverflow interface) or for the more traditional amongst us via icons in a grid formation.

Applications of note here are the A-GPS and preinstalled Nokia Maps that allow you to find your way around and users can buy additional features, such as city guides and longer subscription to the navigation.

The A-GPS works extremely well in locking on to a GPS signal when you are in doors and compared to the first N95, finding where you are is a lot quicker.

Additionally maps have now been stored on the device from the start meaning you don't have to download as you go, again speeding up finding directions and you can get voice guidance so you don't have to look at the small screen to know where to turn next however this is an optional paid for extra.

Map excerpts and routes can be sent to friends by MMS or users can save map screen shots to the gallery.

Like the Nokia N95, one of the main reasons to get the N82 is the 5 megapixel camera. Exactly the same as the N95 the only difference here is the inclusion of a Xenon flash, the same as the Samsung G800, and picture quality was good.

The camera is more responsive than the first N95, comes with autofocus with a dedicated autofocus assist lamp, fast reloading between shots and DVD-like quality video capture however it doesn't have an optical zoom as found in the G800.

Thanks to the 2GB microSD card in the standard Nokia N82 box, you can store up to 900 high-resolution photos or up to 84 minutes of high quality video on the device, although customers opting for the N95 8GB will clearly be able to store more of everything.

Like the N95 the N82 has Wi-Fi connectivity and one-click upload to online communities allowing you to share content to flickr or Vox.

Games wise the phone supports the N-Gage platform and games are vastly improved on previous efforts from Nokia outside of the N-Gage handsets however we found it frustrating that you aren't able to opt to rotate the screen to play landscape.

Source: pocket-lint.co.uk

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Manchester United Mobile Game Announced for April

Jump Games, an important developer of games across mobile platform and part of Reliance Entertainment, just announced that it was open for business in Europe
on the eve of the Mobile Gaming Forum. It also revealed an exclusive global deal to design, develop and distribute mobile games with one of the most popular football clubs in the world – Manchester United Football Club. The company announced that it intends to develop six Manchester United mobile games during 2008.

The European launch and global announcement of 'Official Mobile Games Partner of Manchester United' were celebrated in London in which a video message from Sir Alex Ferguson stated: "Manchester United, all of us, are delighted in our new arrangement with Jump Games. I think it's a fantastic venture. And to all our fans all over the world it's an opportunity to get yourselves involved in it."

There was also a presentation from 1990 World Cup central defender and ex-Manchester United player Paul Parker.

Commenting on the launch, CEO of Jump Games, Salil Bhargava said: "We’re pleased to be moving into a new phase for the business at a time when so much interest is focused on the mobile platform and its development beyond voice revenues. Our association with Manchester United is the ideal platform for us to further strengthen our offerings and reach out to a much larger set of audiences worldwide."

The first of the six Manchester United mobile games, called 'MANCHESTER UNITED Word It!' will be available on all top operators globally. On the occasion, MUmobile Manager, Mike Dunphy commented: "Working with Jump Games, a leading games developer in the mobile space, will mean that fans will be able to extend their experience of Manchester United, increasing their knowledge and enjoyment of the brand, wherever they are in the world."

There will be six games available in Europe in 2008. The first game will be priced between three and five Euros and around three UK Pounds. Other network charges may apply. Further IP partnerships will be announced during the course of the year.

Source: softpedia.com

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Saturday, January 26, 2008

Cell Phone Hack (receive police transmissions)

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Shinya Kasatani has developed PocketGuitar, a native iPhone virtual guitar

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Samsung G600 and its 5 Megapixel Camera Go Pink

Samsung announced that its 5 Megapixel G600 phone will be available in the UK in a new pink version, obviously preparing the handset for the Valentine's Day frenzy. So we have yet another Samsung

phone for girls, after the recently announced Samsung L310 and Samsung L320 or the older models that we lost track of. What the pink version of G600 brings new is the fact that it is UK's first mobile phone with a 5 Megapixel camera that gets dressed in this color.

As I'm not a girl nor a boy that enjoys pink too much, I don't find the new look of G600 too appealing, but I'm sure others will. Besides, the girly cover hides the same specs that the original phone does, which means it's the same high-end device that won the "Phone of the Year" title in 2007.

Samsung G600 measures 101 x 47.8 x 14.9 millimeters, weighs 104 grams and offers a 2.2 inch, 240 x 320 pixels TFT display. Its 5 Megapixel photo camera comes with Auto focus, image stabilizer, flash and video (VGA) recording, being one of the most evolved cameras integrated by Samsung into a mobile phone. The slider supports quad-band GSM connectivity (850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz) as well as EDGE and GPRS Class 10. 3G is missing, but under the pink case of the handset users will find other features like Media Player, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, USB 2.0, WAP 2.0/xHTML, NetFront 3.4 browser, e-mail capabilities, Java MDIP 2.0, Stereo FM radio, TV out, microSD card support and built-in hands-free.

We're not sure if the pink version of Samsung G600 will make it to other countries except UK, but we do know that those living there can buy the phone starting this month from O2, The Carphone Warehouse, T-Mobile, Orange, Virgin Mobile and Phones 4U.

Source: softpedia.com

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New Virtual Keyboard Imagined by Nokia

Nokia keeps on filing patent applications with the clear intention to make future improvements in the way users interact with mobile phones. After a patent filed in December

2007 for a 2 in 1 keypad idea, now the Finnish company has another keyboard-related idea, but this time we are talking about a virtual one (the keyboard, not the idea).

The new concept requires, first of all, a phone with a built-in camera and optical sensors and comes to enhance the way we write text messages or e-mails on our phones – we all know it's not really the fastest way to do it, due to handsets' reduced sizes. Samsung has found a way to overcome this drawback, by adding projectors to phones, in order to project a virtual (and large) display that will enable easy text input. However, this is also just a concept and it will be a while until it can be functional.

Nokia, in return, comes with a virtual keyboard that doesn't require additional equipment, since photo cameras are now becoming common for most mobile phones. The patent application, entitled "Mobile device with virtual keyboard", reveals an entirely new concept: the main idea is to use the built-in camera for capturing user's fingers movement. As seen in the picture from the patent, the phone would sit in a special cradle, in a vertical position, while the user types behind it, allowing the camera to record its moves and send the data in real time to the phone's screen, where both a virtual keypad and the entered text are displayed. Furthermore, the handset would also come with sensors capable of capturing vibrations and sound generated by users and translate them into input commands, but we don't have more details about how exactly this works.

While some might say that text input could be simply done with a hardware QWERTY keyboard (like the ones packed in Nokia E90 Communicator or HTC TyTN), the new virtual keypad from Nokia might be a much better option. Or at least that's how it seems now, when the keypad is only a concept. Nevertheless, this idea is surely interesting and may really improve the text input on mobile phones but, as any new concept, it has to overcome many implementation difficulties until it becomes usable.

Source: softpedia.com

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Friday, January 25, 2008

BlackBerry Pearl 8110, of which we first heard at the end of 2007, was officially released by Vodafone Spain and RIM, coming as one of the smallest and lightest smartphones to date and the first Pearl handset with built-in GPS.

Despite the fact that it measures 107 x 55 x 14 mm and weighs only 91 g, BlackBerry Pearl 8110 packs lots of goodies, starting with the GPS capabilities that, together with the Vodafone GPS Navigator, will provide quick searches for business locations and other points-of-interest as well as audible directions while driving. The handset also comes with a QWERTY SureType keyboard and the BlackBerry trackball navigation system to offer an excellent mobile experience. A 2 Megapixel camera with enhanced flash, 5x digital zoom and video capture support will allow users to take pictures at a decent quality and make clips at a maximum 240 x 180 resolution.

The feature list for the new BlackBerry goes on and unveils EDGE, GPRS, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, Media player and Media manager, SIVR (Speaker Independent Voice Recognition) for Voice Activated Dialing (VAD), Document viewer (PDF, Word, Excel and Powerpoint) and microSD/SDHC card slot for up to 8GB of extra memory. Unfortunately, we have no 3G in this little Pearl, although many BlackBerry fans hoped for it. However, the other features that the device packs can still make it perfect for customers on the move.

Vodafone Spain offers the Pearl 8110 for 89 Euro (about $130), but only with a BlackBerry data plan and a "25 Más" voice plan, so we should expect the smartphone to have a much higher retail price. There are no details about the future markets to get the BlackBerry Pearl 8110, but it will surely be available soon in other European countries as well as in North America.

Source: softpedia.com

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Nokia Finally Reached 40 Percent of the Global Market Share

Nokia announced its financial results for 2007 and reported that it has reached 40 percent of the global market share, a goal that the company had
for some time but never managed to achieve it. This was possible thanks to the excellent sales from the fourth quarter of 2007, when a total of 133.5 million Nokia devices were sold.

According to the press release from the Nokia website, the total number of mobile devices shipped by the company world-wide in 2007 raises to 437.1 million, which represents a new annual volume record. This is an increase of 25.8% when compared to the 374.5 million units sold in 2006. Furthermore, the 2007 net sales have reached a value of 51.1 billion Euro, with 23% more than the net sales from 2006.

Besides the overall increased sales, which sure make Nokia officials satisfied, the Finnish company also reported a surprising decline in sales on the North American Market, where only 19.4 million handsets were sold during 2007 – with 23.3% less than in 2006, when 25.3 million units were shipped. However, all the other markets reported increased sales for 2007, especially Middle East & Africa, where 75.6 million handset were sold, and Asia Pacific, where no less than 112.9 millions Nokia handsets were bought.

As always, Europe comes in the first place when talking about Nokia phones sold, with 117.2 million handsets shipped. This fact might change in the next years, as Asia-Pacific is a blooming mobile market that already has an important role in Nokia's business.

The 2007 net sales increasing for all the Nokia products and services (including services from the Nokia-Siemens joint venture) brought a net profit of 7.2 billion Euro to the company, a 67% increase compared to the 4.3 billion Euros in 2006. So it seems that things are brighter than ever for the Espoo-based manufacturer, at least when it comes to financial results.

Source: softpedia.com

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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Fujitsu F705i is World's Slimmest, Waterproof 3G Cellphone

With a thickness of only 13.7mm, the F705i is the slimmest, waterproof phone ever made. Our little wonder meets IPX5 and IPX7 waterproof standards; the phone should continue operating after being sprayed with water or plunged underwater (1m max for 30 minutes). Perfect for those who use their phone at hot springs (Japanese onsen) or in the bathtub.

The F705i also features the Super Clear Voice and Super Clear Mike, which automatically adjusts the volume of an incoming caller’s voice according to the ambient noise level.

Our device also receives a 1.3Mpix camera, the Quick Zoom (in order to increase or decrease the size of the text displayed on the screen). 106x49x13.7mm, 111g, 170min of talk time and 100min for videophone.

Source: gizmodo.com

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Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Yamaha NX-B02 portable Bluetooth speaker

With 10 watts of "unsurpassed audio excellence" Yamaha's compact new NX-B02 claims to "breaks the sound barrier" set by the plethora of portable speakers on the market offering "feeble" sound quality.

With the option to directly connect to mobile phones and laptops via Bluetooth and iPods/MP3 players via a 3.5mm input jack, the NX-B02 offers Yamaha's patented "Charged Capacitor Amplifier" technology and Yamaha's SR-Bass technology reproducing what they claim is the deepest bass ever from a remarkably small unit.

Power is supplied from the supplied AC adaptor or via batteries, options which give you extra flexibility as to how and where you want to listen.

Source: pocket-lint.co.uk

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Mobile phone with pull-out e-paper display to launch

Like Amazon's Kindle, the Readius has a so-called electronic paper screen, which displays black-and-white text and images that look almost like they have been printed on paper.

The device -- which will also just make phone calls -- connects to the Internet using the third-generation mobile phone networks with high data speeds.

The company said it was talking to retailers as well as mobile operators to sell the device. Like Apple's iPhone, the gadget offers the chance for operators to boost data usage, which is more profitable than voice revenues.

Users will be able to set up their email accounts, news sources, podcasts, audio books and blog feeds at home on their computer, and the data is then pushed to the device whenever it is updated.

McGoldrick said the company opted to use this approach -- which rules out quickly browsing the Web on the go -- because it was simpler in a mobile environment.

"I see these devices with 50 buttons on them. We have eight," he said, adding that the company plans to add a keypad to future models.

Source: Reuters

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Monday, January 21, 2008

Sony Ericsson W520i Concept: Touchscreen and Music

A new Sony Ericsson concept phone appeared these days, Sony Ericsson W520i, a handset that should integrate into the Walkman series if the Swedish-Japanese manufacturer will ever decide

to produce it. If not, we'll be left with just a concept, but at least it's a very nice one, as all the latest Sony Ericsson concepts are.
This new W520i handset, imagined by Muhammad-Oli of the Esato forums, lacks a full keypad, and instead offers a wide display with touchscreen interface that enables finger navigation and typing on a virtual keyboard, just like on Apple's iPhone, Samsung F490 and all the other touchscreen phones. Unlike the iPhone or Samsung F490 though, W520i offers some basic hardware keys, so navigating without using the touchscreen is also possible. Sony Ericsson W520i's screen dimensions were not "imagined" yet by its creator, but, by the way it looks in the picture, the display should be at least a 3 inches one, so if the phone is to be produced someday it will surely have a high pixel resolution.

The music features of Sony Ericsson W520i include the new Walkman 3.0 Touch Screen software, Bluetooth with A2DP, SensMe (creates playlists based on users' mood), Shake control and TrackID. Moreover, the phone has FM Radio with RDS and a new MP3 ring tone application that allows users to personalize and create their own ring tones. Four stereo speakers are integrated in the back of the phone to make the mobile audio experience complete.

The concept phone also packs a 2 Megapixel camera with LED flash, Auto focus, photo fix, image stabilizer and VGA video recording at 30 frames per second. Along with the Sony Cyber-shot interface, the above mentioned features make W520i's camera a great one, even though it only offers 2 Megapixels. Other specs of W520i reveal that it should be a quad-band GSM phone with EDGE, but no 3G.

As in the case of all concepts, Sony Ericsson W520i has little chances to become a real phone, but let's hope it will in the end, because it looks like a very nice device that shouldn't come with a high price.

Source: softpedia.com

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Asus Officially Unveils Its Nokia E90 Competitor

Asus M930, the smartphone with a full QWERTY keyboard announced last year to be a tough competitor for Nokia's N90 Communicator, is now officially unveiled and should be

commercially available in March 2008.

Leaked specs about the smartphone appeared for the first time back in November 2007, and the official ones that now surfaced are pretty much the same. What doesn't coincide is the nature and power of its processor: while rumors said it's going to be a Marvel PXA27x 520 MHz one, the real processor is a Texas Instruments TI2431 one at 450 MHz, so we have less power than expected. Anyway, Nokia E90 runs with a processor at only 330 MHz, so the M930 is clearly a winner from this point of view.

Another worthy feature that Asus M930 comes with is its unusual design that allows you to open it at both 90 and 180 degrees to reveal the QWERTY keypad. However, the rest of M930's features are pushing it away from the high peak Nokia E90 stands on. First of all because of its screens, an external 2 inch QVGA one and an internal 2.6 inch WQVGA one that offers a 400 x 240 pixel resolution. When compared to E90's 4 inch (800 x 352 pixels) internal display, the Asus one doesn't stand a chance.
An unpleasant surprise is that the new Asus smartphone works on Windows Mobile 6 Standard, hence it has no touchscreen capabilities. Also, the built-in camera that the phone packs is not as good as rumored (a 3.2 one was expected), bringing only 2 Megapixels and Auto focus. Other specs include 3G / HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 113 x 54 x 18.7 millimeters and 158 grams. Good features, nevertheless, but the Taiwanese producer could have done much more.
Asus M930's retail price is unknown for the moment and we don't have info about the markets the handset will be available for. But it will probably be presented at the CeBIT in March and by then all the details should be known.

Source: softpedia.com

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The New Toshiba Portege Handsets Officially Presented

The Italian division of Toshiba recently presented, in Milan, the new Portege handsets announced a few months ago: Toshiba G910 / G920 and Toshiba G710,
plus Toshiba G450 – a USB modem with phone functionality.

It seems that the G920 and G910 names hide the same device, and its naming will differ depending on the market it's launched for. Since in Italy (hence Europe) the handset was just presented as G910, the US will probably get it as G920.

The official specifications for Toshiba G910, as presented in Italy, are: 3 inch touchscreen TFT display with a 480 x 800 pixel resolution, 2 Megapixel camera, 3G/HSPDA, built-in GPS receiver, GPRS, Bluetooth, VoIP (via Wi-Fi), Media Player, Java (MIDP 2.0 and JSR179), Mobile Outlook and ActiveSync. The handset measures 117 x 64 x 19,8 millimeters, weighs 183 grams, packs a full QWERTY keyboard and can offer up to 6 hours of talk-time and up to 460 hours of stand-by time. Toshiba G910 runs on Windows Mobile 6 Professional and will be available in Europe starting April 2008 for a retail price of about 600 Euros ($880).

Toshiba G710 is the second handset from the Portege series that got an official presentation, and it's a compact-form GSM/EDGE smartphone that runs Windows Mobile 6 Standard. The device offers a full QWERTY keypad, GPS receiver, a 2.4 inch TFT display with QVGA resolution, photo camera with 2 Megapixels, stereo Bluetooth and microSD card support for up to 2GB of extended memory. Toshiba G710 measures 115 × 62 x 13 mm, weighs 130 grams and will hit the market in March 2008 for an estimated price of 300 Euros (about $440).

Toshiba G710 is the second handset from the Portege series that got an official presentation, and it's a compact-form GSM/EDGE smartphone that runs Windows Mobile 6 Standard. The device offers a full QWERTY keypad, GPS receiver, a 2.4 inch TFT display with QVGA resolution, photo camera with 2 Megapixels, stereo Bluetooth and microSD card support for up to 2GB of extended memory. Toshiba G710 measures 115 × 62 x 13 mm, weighs 130 grams and will hit the market in March 2008 for an estimated price of 300 Euros (about $440).

Both Toshiba G910/G920 and Toshiba G710 are created mainly for those who need devices with business functionality.

The third Portege device that was unveiled by the Japanese company is Toshiba G450, which is a USB modem, a MP3 player and a mobile phone – all in one case that measures only 98 x 36 x 16 millimeters. The handset supports GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS and HSDPA connectivity, comes with a USB mini interface and can provide 3 hours of talk-time and about 300 hours of stand-by time. The interesting aspects about Toshiba G450 are its unusual rounded design, unusual rounded split-keypad and its more than unusual tiny OLED display with the 96 × 36 pixels resolution.

Aside from the interesting aspects about Toshiba G450, there's a strange one too. About a week ago, at the CES 2008, UTStarcom showcased the UTStarcom HSM 180 device which, in my eyes at least, looks exactly the same as the G450 exposed by Toshiba. Moreover, the HSM 180 was presented with the same functions the G450 is said to have, which makes me wonder what in the name of mobility is going on? I searched the web for references regarding the device's resemblance and I haven't found anything except some info on two Russian sites, but they're as confused as I am. I believe many other mobile users will be confused too, so either Toshiba or UTStarcom should say something about the matter.

Source: softpedia.com

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samsung g800

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Boost Mobile Commercial

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Pigeon Mobile Ad

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Saturday, January 19, 2008

Blackberry Addiction (Hilarious)

Blackberry Addiction - The best bloopers are here

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Apple Sells 4 Million iPhones: Software Update Announced

During his keynote address at MacWorld 2008 today, Steve Jobs announced Apple has sold 4 million iPhones since the smartphone’s introduction late June of last year. That's an average of 20,000 iPhones per day over 200 days.While that number is not unexpected, it is still wow inducing. It also places Apple, with 19.5 percent of the market, behind only smartphone leader Research In Motion and its BlackBerry devices in the U.S.Jobs also confirmed Apple's intention to release a software developer kit (SDK) in February. The SDK would allow for the creation of 'official' native applications by developers.

Currently, only unofficial software can run directly on the iPhone, which you must jailbreak first—a process too complicated, too much trouble or too much of a risk for many iPhone users.
As expected, Jobs officially announced the latest software upgrade for the iPhone, version 1.1.3. A video outlining a leaked version of this upgrade appeared a couple of weeks ago. The new features added in the actual update closely matches what the unofficial video walkthrough showed.

Here's what iPhone users gain with the upgrade:
First up, and perhaps most significantly, is the addition of Google's "My Location" service. This upgrade to Google Maps uses cell phone tower triangulation rather than GPS satellites to determine your location.
While less accurate than GPS, this technology is capable of determining your general position and displaying it on a map.
Apple is partnering with Skyhook Wireless in a bid to improve accuracy of the service by leveraging Skyhook's data about 23 million Wi-Fi networks to compliment the information provided by the cell phone towers.
You can also now send SMS or text messages to more than one person simultaneously. Unfortunately, the update doesn’t add support for MMS (picture & video) messaging to the iPhone, which still, by the way, can't take videos.

Other improvements include the addition of support for song lyrics to the iPhone's iPod function and the ability to create as many as 9 custom home screens. A simply flick of the finger allows you to go through them. Home screen icons can now be rearranged as well.
Apple also adds a button in the Safari Web browser to allow users to save bookmarks, called Web Clips, directly to the iPhone's home screen(s). This should be very convenient for those who've made good use of the thousands of so-called Web 2.0 applications—this is software that runs through Safari from a remote location, available for the iPhone.

In addition to the new features listed above, upgrade 1.1.3 brings the iPhone's Mail, Notes, Stocks and Weather applications to the iPod touch. As the iPod touch isn't a phone, Google’s "My Location" service relies only on Wi-Fi wireless to attempt to determine a user's location.
Unlike with the iPhone, Apple is charging iPod touch users $20 for the upgrade. Doesn’t seem very fair, does it?
Both the iPhone and iPod touch will support a new iTunes movie rental service, also announced by Jobs today.
Apple gives you a month to view a movie, which costs $4 for new and $3 for older films, once it has been downloaded. After you start viewing it, Apple allows you to watch the movie as many times as you like.
You can learn more about iPhone/iPod touch update 1.1.3 here.

Source:blackberrytoday.com

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Over 250 Free Games for Your BlackBerry

More users than ever turn to their BlackBerry for fun, and not just productivity. With that in mind, be you a soccer mom, a stock broker or something in-between, you'll want to click here and here to access two lists of free games (around 250 between them) available for your BlackBerry. You'll find games in every category imaginable: action, adventure, puzzle, strategy, card, Sudoku, trivia, Tetris clones, mini and more. Go ahead and give as many as you like a try to find the ones that are right up your alley.

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Friday, January 18, 2008

Motorola and Angstrom Bring the First Fuel-powered Mobile Phone

Angstrom Power Inc., a company based in Vancouver, Canada, together with Motorola, the US mobile manufacturer, have completed a six-months trial using a new technology that promises to reinvent the way mobile phones are powered. Angstrom developed a revolutionary mobile solution intended to replace the standard Lithium batteries with a platform that uses hydrogen to provide the needed power.

The "Micro Hydrogen" platform includes a refillable hydrogen storage tank, advanced micro-fluidics and an innovative fuel cell architecture. Angstrom and Motorola implemented the new platform on a MOTOSLVR L7 (Motorola SLVR L7) phone, without changing the phone's looks and size (and we must say that MOTOSLVR L7 is a slim handset, having only 11.5 millimeters in thickness). With the hydrogen-powered platform, the phone managed to provide twice the talk-time than it does when equipped with a standard Lithium battery.

"As consumer demand for smartphones and multimedia devices grows, so does the need for efficient powering solutions that help enable 'always on' experiences," said Jerry Hallmark, Manager, Energy System Technologies, Motorola Mobile Devices business. "Motorola is working with Angstrom to develop fuel cell technology that will support the increasing energy demands of next generation devices."

"Our research shows that insufficient battery run time ranks as one of the leading considerations in the adoption of handheld devices with rich multimedia functionality," said Stuart Robinson, Director of Handset Component Technologies at Strategy Analytics. "Development of Lithium batteries is too slow to meet the growing energy demands of cellular handsets. Angstrom's achievement, the world's first successful integration of micro fuel cell technology into a standard mobile handset, demonstrates the potential of micro fuel cells to provide a better solution for demanding mobile energy applications."

Using hydrogen as fuel for mobile phones has also been considered by Samsung last year, when the South Korean company filed a patent application regarding this technology. Apparently Samsung works silently on this project, as we haven't heard about it since then.

The Micro Hydrogen platform from Angstrom Power Inc. is expected to be commercially available starting 2009 and the Canadian company foresees that by 2010 it will become highly popular. That's very likely to happen, but we must say that another method of powering mobile phones could be soon available too, as researchers from Stanford University discovered a new way to use silicon nanowires in batteries and provide a huge stand-by time. These being said, I can't help thinking that we might see a Hydrogen vs. Nanotechnology battle in a few years. May the best man.... pardon me, the best technology win!

Source: softpedia.com

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Thursday, January 17, 2008

Morph your mates with T-Mobile and Facebook

T-Mobile is celebrating the launch of a new tariff with a Facebook application that lets you pick your five best mates and then merge them into one person (terrifying!).

T-Mobile's MyFaves Mate Morpher application is now available online.

You can morph between two and five friends, so can have hours of fun freaking yourself out as to what a mix between you and your partner may look like, or play safe and morph celebrities.

T-Mobile has developed the application to celebrate its new tariff MyFaves, which gives customers unlimited calls, texts and MMS to their five selected 'MyFaves', regardless of network.

MyFaves has a selection of call packages to choose from: MyFaves 25, 35 and 40.

Alongside the unlimited contact with your top five, MyFaves 25 offers an allowance of 25 minutes and 50 texts, MyFaves 35 offers 100 minutes and 200 texts and MyFaves 45 offers 200 minutes and 400 texts.

Source: pocket-lint.co.uk

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Samsung i900

An Italian website (called Cellularmania as you might have gathered from the subtle watermarking on the product shot) has got the gossip on the new handset.

Offering a 3.5-inch 240 x 400 touchscreen and a Windows Mobile OS, the i900 looks as if it will rival both Apple's iPhone and HTC's Touch range.

According to the site, the i900, measuring a slimline 112×56x12.5mm will offer quad band GSM/UMTS and mega-speedy 7.2Mbps HSDPA connectivty.

These speeds - only available in certain areas in the UK - would make it one of the fastest, if not the fastest, handset on the market.

Other connectivity comes in via Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR and Wi-Fi and it will offer a 5-megapixel camera, integrated GPS as well as FM radio, TV out, microSDHC up to 8GB and will run Windows Mobile 6.1 and an boast Opera 9.0 mobile browser.

Skeptics might think the specs, as well as being wish-list ideal, are a little confused. We'll have to wait and see if this has been mocked up by a fan, or is the real deal. Pocket-lint will be attending the World Mobile Congress so will bring you all the news nearer the time.

Source: pocket-lint.co.uk

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Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Nokia Clip In Museum

Nokia Clip In Museum - These bloopers are hilarious

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Nokia 3310 Spy Phone

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Too nasty for TV? Exclusive! Verizon Ghetto Ring Tone Ad #3

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Parkoz Hardware Transformers Cell Phone

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UFO Mobile Transformer

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HTC Touch Dual Windows Mobile Phone

When HTC launched the original Touch phone in June, they beat Apple to the launch of a small form factor touch screen phone by a couple of months.

We liked the original touch for its small size, interface and inclusion of Wi-fi, but found it a little fiddly enter text using the on screen keyboard. HTC seemed to have listened to the feedback and have now launched the Touch Dual, a similar sized device but with the addition of a slide out keypad at the bottom of the device. The Dual is currently available only through Orange.

At first glance, the Touch Dual looks a very similar form factor to the original Touch, but when placed side by side, you realise that the device is slightly longer and narrower, as well as being a millimetre or two thicker to allow for the sliding keyboard. The 4 way rocker pad and selector button remain on the front of the device below the screen, along with call pick up and drop buttons. The camera button found on the original device is also there on the side, along with a volume button for both device and call volume.

To use the keyboard, you push the top half of the device up and the keyboard slides out of the bottom section. In use, this has a nice positive action to it and on sliding out, calls up an action screen on the display, offering common tasks such as New E-mail, SMS, appointment etc. If you don’t choose one of these options, the display returns to the normal Windows 6 Today screen after a couple of seconds. The keys on the 16 key keyboard were slightly small for our fat fingers and a little tricky to use at speed. As well as the normal 0 – 9, * and # keys, the device has 4 larger keys around the edges, offering shortcuts to the start menu, e-mail, the web and a backspace key. Currently Orange are only offering the 16 key version of the device (when announced, HTC announced both a 16 key and a 20 key version).

The device also sports a 2nd camera on the front top right of the case, allowing for video calls. Like the original, the back of the device has a 2 megapixel camera for normal shots and videos. In use, we found the picture quality to be surprisingly good for a 2 Megapixel device.

HTC have also enhanced their today plug in from the original device, now offering 4 tabs to choose between displaying the time, weather, a customisable quick launcher for applications and a photo dialler screen. The touchflo functionality that was introduced with the original device remains and is easy to operate in day to day use.

The phone has also been upgraded from the Tri-Band GSM to a full HSDPA enabled 3G device, but the cost of this upgrade is the removal of the Wi-Fi functionality. In use, we found that the phone was fast at downloading e-mail and surfing the web, but this is only a cost effective solution if you have an inclusive data package in your mobile contract. The inclusion of Wi-fi was one of the reasons we loved the original device, but it’s removal is probably due to size limitations of fitting the aerial within the device.

The dual has also been upgraded in its processor, now running a Qualcomm 7200 processor at 400 Mhz as opposed to an OMAP 850 running at a slightly slow 201 Mhz. The RAM has also been bumped up to 128 MB from 64 MB, offering that all important extra space, so crucially needed when running Windows Mobile programs.

Source: pocket-lint.co.uk

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Monday, January 14, 2008

Vodafone 7.2 USB "Stick" Modem

Vodafone has expanded its range of high-speed USB Modems with a new "Stick" design that as well as being super small and lightweight, is capable of connection speeds of up to 7.2Mbps.

But, it's worth noting that these impressive speeds - up to twenty-two times faster than that of "normal" mobile broadband - are currently only available in a few locations throughout the UK.

Coverage is continuing to be rolled out in the London districts of E1, E1W, E14, EC1, EC2, EC3, EC4, NW1, SW1, W1, W2, W8, W9, W10, W11, W14, WC1 and WC2.

In addition to the capital's coverage, 7.2Mbps can also be enjoyed at major airports such as Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, London City, Southampton, East Midlands, Liverpool, Manchester, Belfast City and Belfast International.

The new USB Modem Stick is Vodafone's smallest and slimmest yet and is no
larger than a standard USB flash drive.

It really is tiny and lightweight and to say that it offers you full-fat internet connectivity anywhere there is mobile phone coverage makes you marvel at the wonders of tech today.

With the claim that it will work out the box, the Stick is compatible with both Windows - Vista and XP - and Mac OS X so we were interested to see just how quickly we could be up and running online.

Installing the software is refreshingly easy - we used a2Ghz Intel Core Duo MacBook running Mac OS 10.4.8 to test the E172. Simply insert the CD and follow the instructions. That's really all there is to it.

It uses your default web browser to take you through the steps then places the installed software within your "Applications" folder.

To activate the device, just go to "Internet Connect", again within the "Applications" folder and select "Vodafone E172" and click on the connect button.

By all accounts, it would be even easier on a PC as you don't even need the install CD to get going.

This is a great device, that enables fast access to the internet. Possibly our only complaint, and even this is slight, is that the device itself is a little wide, so if your machine has two USB ports side by side, unless you have a USB extension cable, you won't be able to plug anything else in, as it takes up a bit of space. But, said USB extension cable is included in the pack, so just remember to take it with you.

If you're worried about someone accessing unsuitable content, Vodafone has it's own set of filters in place that restrict access to adult sites for example.

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LG Prada phone to launch in silver

LG's Prada phone, launched in March 2007, was one of the mobile phone success stories of last year selling over 700,000 handsets.

Evidently hoping to sustain that success throughout the coming year as well, LG in Korea has announced that the LG-KE850 will launch in silver to complement the already available black version.

The only difference, other than the colour and accessories, revealed at this stage is that the new silver Prada will apparently boast improvements to the touchscreen Qwerty keyboard software.

It's being reported that the silver LG Prada Phone will launch across Europe in 18 countries at the same time, including the UK, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy.

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No iPhone for China Mobile, This Time for Good

China Mobile have been discussing to bring the iPhone on the Chinese market since November 2007. At a given moment, the discussions stopped, but the fact seemed possible at the end of the last year. However, now it's clear that China Mobile will not be an iPhone carrier, as the two companies have officially called off the negotiations.

Apparently, the deal went down because Apple wanted a bigger share form the sales than China Mobile offered, which is no surprise, since Apple lost other negotiations for the same reason in the past. Both Apple and China Mobile's stocks declined with a few percents after the news about the discussions' ending surfaced.

With more than 360 million customers, China Mobile is the largest mobile operator in the world, so, if the discussions with Apple had lead to an agreement, the iPhone global sales would have surely bloomed. And this despite the handset's price (about $500), which is quite high for the normal Chinese user. But even if, let's say, only 1% of China Mobile's subscribers are interested in the iPhone, it would still be a great deal for Apple, leading to more than 3 million handsets sold.

Even though the negotiations with China Mobile failed, the iPhone might still hit the Chinese market, as the country's other important mobile operator, China Unicom, which has more than 100 million customers, could be interested in a deal with Apple.

By far the most influential mobile device from the last years, the iPhone is currently available in China only on the black market, illegally unlocked. Also, there are many iPhone clones in China, handsets that look very similar, but have an inferior quality and can be bought for 100-200 USD. Well, unless Apple doesn't convince one of the two Chinese mobile operators to make a deal, this is how it will always be.

Source: Softpedia.com

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Sunday, January 13, 2008

iGoogle customized for iPhone

Google's never-ending quest to customize every one of its products for the Apple iPhone continues, the latest being Google's personalized homepage, iGoogle. iPhone users can now access all their Google gadgets and RSS feeds they have subscribed to from their iPhones. This version has many improvements compared to the standard iGoogle accessible on other mobile phones. The standard version displays feeds and a very small number of gadgets. Users have to manually add the items and the number of items displayed from a feed cannot be changed.

iPhone users can access iGoogle via http://google.com/ig/i and they will be automatically be directed to this URL if users types in http://google.com/m, the URL for other mobile phones.

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CES 2008: Video Review mobile phone accessories

Bluetooth, cases, chargers, iPhone speaker docs ... even Crocs for your cell phone. Hands-on with mobile phone accessories from CES 2008 in Las Vegas.

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CES 2008: SanDisk announces 12GB microSDHC card

Sandisk announces at the CES 2008 a 12GB microSDHC card.

Sandisk already started shipping samples of the 12GB microSD card to mobile phone manufacturers. So you can expect mobile phones in 2008 that will support microSD cards with up to 12GB capacity.

SDHC is the designation for any SD or SD-based card that is larger than 2GB and adheres to the new SD 2.00 specification required for cards and hosts to support 4GB to 32GB capacities.
The specification was developed by the SD Association, an industry standards board, which has also created three classes to define minimum sustained data transfer speed. These cards adhere to the SD Speed Class 4 Rating.

CES 2008 officially started and we report about the hottest product releases, and there are plenty of them. We are in Las Vegas and will be covering the CES 2008 first hand.

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CES 2008: LG Viewty 5.0-Megapixel Camera Phone

Viewty(LG KU990) is still not available in the States, it was given prime position at the LG booth next to the live DJ, with multiple units mounted around a large rotating animated robotic looking display. Viewty is a 5.1 megapixel quad band GSM camera phone. It boasts low-light capabilities, high-speed video recording (120fps), direct-to-YouTube uploading, a DivX player and handwriting recognition. The menu navigation is intuitive, the camera functionality extensive and styling minimal with an understated matt-black finish. Only criticism aside from the name (it's a viewty) is the missing lens protection, although it will be a while before we see that addressed in camera phones.

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CES 2008: LG Watch Mobile Phone

Dick Tracy would be proud. At LG’s booth we spotted this concept watch phone behind glass (thus the blurry pics). While I was peppering the product rep with questions, about a half dozen people asked when the device would be available, and each time he said that LG had no plans to bring the watch to market. Hmmm, maybe LG should rethink its stance on this product.

Here’s the deal with watch phones. They sound futuristic-chic on paper, but they’re just not practical. LG’s concept is a bit different than previous attempts. It has a built-in speaker, but it also has integrated Bluetooth so you can can gab without having to hold your wrist up to your mouth.

You can also view text messages on the concept watch’s huge display (I asked if it was OLED but no one knew the answer). There’s even a little scroll wheel on the bottom of the watch so you can send canned or full text messages, as well as call up contacts. I also found out that the concept rides on GSM, which means one would be able to insert a standard SIM card and then start making calls–if you could buy one.

We say “bring this concept to market.” Judging by the looks of disappointment on showgoers’ faces when they learned that the LG Watch Phone wasn’t for sale, we think it could be the must-have timepiece for gadget geeks.

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Asus Launches GPS-Powered P527 Smart Phone

We’ve never been too keen on smart phones sans a QWERTY keyboard, but the Asus P527 could prove tempting for road warriors who want a PDA and GPS navigator in one sleek form factor. Especially intriguing is the Travelog feature, which allows owners of this candybar to record their travel routes and export them to Google Earth. Another perk is Location Courier, which can send your GPS position via SMS to five preset phone numbers–good for emergencies. You don’t get 3G data (it’s EDGE only) but at least there’s Wi-Fi on board. This is the first Asus cellular product to launch in the U.S., and we’ll be keeping an eye out for exact pricing as the P527 gets closer to launch.

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CES 2008: Motorola ROKR E8 and Z10 - Short Review

Motorola takes music phones to a new level with the ROKR E8, which uses innovative ModeShift technology to transform this glossy handset into a music player. With the touch of a button the perfectly flat virtual dialpad disappears and is replaced by music playback controls, and they feel like real buttons because of the amazing work Motorola has done to improve haptics technology.

A variable-speed FastScroll navigation wheel makes it simple to scroll through the ROKR E8’s menus by sliding your thumb, as well as up to 1,500 songs stored on the 2GB of memory. And the sound quality rivals what you would expect from standalone music players, whether you’re listening through traditional earphones (plugged into the 3.5mm jack) or the powerful speaker.

Just when you thought Motorola only knew how to make RAZRs in different flavors, the company busts out two multimedia phones that truly impress, one a music-focused handset that morphs personalities based on how you’re using it and the other a highly evolved camera phone that lets you shoot, edit, and share high-quality videos on the spot. We had a chance to go hands on with both phones last night, and they both have a lot of potential.

What makes the ROKR E8 so innovative is its ModeShift technology, which morphs the device from phone mode to music mode with the push of a button and displays only those controls you need on the slick glass front surface. So when you’re in music mode, for example, the dialpad disappears and you’ll only see the playback controls on the bottom part of the phone. And in camera mode the playback controls give way to zoom buttons. In each mode Motorola employs haptics technology in a new way to make it feel like you’re pushing a button instead of providing an overpowering and imprecise buzz.

We also dig the new FastScroll navigation wheel, which replaces the traditional D-pad and allows you to scroll through everything from the Linux/Java-powered main menu to 1,500 tracks stored on the ROKR E8’s 2GB of built-in memory, which you can expand with a 4GB microSD card.

Motorola claims that the audio quality surpasses that of many standalone MP3 players but we’ll need more hands-on time before we can agree or disagree. Other features include a 2-inch display, 3.5-mm headphone jack, and compatibility with WMP 11. The only bummer is that this sleek candybar doesn’t rock 3G; there’s only an EDGE data connection inside.

Motorola also provided more details on its Z10 kick slider, which makes it easy to capture video, edit your clips, and even add transitions and music right on the phone. From there you can watch your masterpieces on the crisp 2.2-inch QVGA display with more than 16 million colors and upload your masterpieces to sites like YouTube and ShoZu. And don’t worry about running out of memory: this device can record up to 24 hours of video when equipped with a high-capacity memory card.

The still pictures from the 3.2-MP camera didn’t look too shabby either. More important, the Z10 is the fastest camera phone available, turning on in 1.5 seconds and able to shoot up to three images per second. And, unlike the ROKR E8, this one has a 3G HSDPA connection for fast uploads and downloads. Add in a polished metallic finish and you have a serious multimedia powerhouse that could put the Samsung FlipShot to shame.

Both the ROKR E8 and Moto Z10 should be available in the first quarter, but Motorola told us last night to expect the E8 to come stateside first. We can’t wait to bring you full reviews.

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CES 2008: Intel Presented its iPhone-ish Mobile Concepts

Intel, the Californian microchip manufacturer, revealed back in September 2007 a new mobile concept, similar to Apple's iPhone but with a length that surpasses any other
modern handset's length (and that, of course, isn't a good thing at all). But Intel said the new device, which isn't actually a mobile phone but a UMPC with phone capabilities, brings the Moorestown platform with Silverthorne processor and is able to offer a 10x reduction in power usage. Along with the iPhone-like design and touchscreen interface, that should make a pretty good device, right? Well, until now it is only a nonfunctional concept and it's not clear whether it will be commercially available or not.

At this year's CES, Intel came not only with the previous mentioned handset, but with a whole range of iPhone-ish prototype devices based on Silverthorne processors. Unlike the UMPC unveiled last year, some of the new devices are fully functional and are also prepared to be launched during 2008. The devices are powered by the Intel Menlow mobile platform and are presented as being able to outperform any other device of this kind by using very little battery power. This performance is achieved thanks to a chemical element known as Hafnium, used on transistors to prevent energy leaks.

One of the functional Intel mobile devices, unnamed yet, comes as an UMPC with a User Interface similar to iPhone's and a full sliding QWERTY keyboard. Apparently, the device will hit the market in the second quarter of 2008, packed with either 3G or WiMAX, not both – in order to reduce the device's cost and the battery life. Other details about the future Intel mobile device are not available.

Currently, Intel powers Apple's Mac computers and it's said that the next iPhone, the 2.0 edition, will also pack Intel processors, more exactly the Silverthorne ones. We're now waiting to see how Intel's own iPhone-ish devices will be and how they can influence the mobile industry.

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Saturday, January 12, 2008

Hack a Motorola RAZR cell phone password

This is a very simple way to hack a Motorola RAZR or sliver password. This only works if they or you has not entered a security code which most people dont.

Start: Just press 0 (zero) until it stops and the press OK. Thats it, you are in.

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Get Things Done Over the Phone with Jott

At its most basic level, webapp Jott is a voice to text transcription service: you call Jott, leave a message, and Jott transcribes it and emails you or your contacts the text. That alone can capture the big idea that pops into your head on the drive to the office, but Jott can do a whole lot more than send you email. With Jott's built-in links and tools that capitalize on its email-sending abilities, it can give nearly any personal organization system a go-anywhere, add-anything boost. Today we've got a quick primer on how to turn your phone into a ubiquitous capture tool that zaps info into all your favorite organization apps by voice.

Getting Started
If you don't already have a Jott account, have your cell phone handy and head to their sign-up page. Fill in the forms, confirm your email, add 1-866-JOTT-123 to your contacts and/or speed-dial and make the confirmation call.

Once you log in, head right to "Contacts" and add "My Phone" (first name, last name) as a contact with only your own phone number. "Wait," you might ask, "doesn't Jott let you have all your messages sent to your phone as a preference?" Precisely—that's every single Jott, which isn't something I want to deal with. By having "My Phone" as a contact, you can skip your email inbox and leave yourself notes on your cell phone—which comes in handy when trying to remember a number or address while driving.

Next, hit up "Groups" and think of any sets of emails and phone numbers you might want to message all at once using one phrase, such as "Co-Workers" or "Family." After that, head to "Jott Links" and enable any the growing number of Jott-enabled webapps—including Lifehacker favorites like Remember the Milk and Google Calendar—you use.

You owe it to yourself to check out Jott's simple How To guide before calling, but the basic technique is simple. Dial the number, wait for the "Who do you want to Jott?" prompt, and then say either "myself" or one of the contacts, groups or "Links" you set up. After the confirmation and beep, you can speak clearly for less than 30 seconds, and your message will be translated by a mix of computers and humans (your privacy, they say, is assured) and then sent to the right inboxes, phones or web apps. I've had pretty decent luck with both the accuracy and turn-around on the service, but your mileage may, of course, vary.

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