Most of the rugged/adverse conditions optimized cellphones, with their rubberized covers and bulky frames, do not care much about the looks.
Well, Samsung decided to think different and is planning to release a new ruggedized and stylish handset – Samsung B2100 – soon.
Samsung B2100 is an upgrade to the previous Samsung M110 model.
It’s a dust, shock, drop and water resistant handset, which comes with improved looks and specs.
Samsung B2100 specs include:
* Tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900) connectivity
* 1.77” 120×160 px color display
* 1.3 megapixel camera
* FM Radio
* Bluetooth 2.0 and USB 2.0
* 10 MB of memory
* microSD memory card slot
* Battery: 1000 mAh
* Dimensions: 113×49x17.5 mm
Samsung also has flashlight functionality that can be activated via dedicated button. Improved speakers and noise reduction technology for noisy environments and possibility to set vibration patterns to identify individual caller.
Samsung B2100 price is expected to be below 100 EUR
Pharos Traveler 117 has been around for some time, but it’s only now that it got FCC’s approval for being used in the US.
Built by Inventec, the PDA phone runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and comes with a pretty nice set of features – from advanced GPS capabilities to a high-res display.
Moreover, it looks quite nice too, so it might be a good alternative for any of the touchscreen handsets that are currently being sold on the US market.
Traveler 117’s full list of specs and features looks like this:
* Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz)
Tri band UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA connectivity (850 / 1900 / 2100 MHz)
2.8 inch resistive TFT touchscreen display with 480 x 640 pixels
GPS and A-GPS
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth 2.0
USB 2.0
2.5mm headset jack
2MP camera
Secondary VGA camera for video calls
400MHz Qualcomm MSM7201 processor
128 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM
MicroSDHC cards support
2G talk time: up to 7.5 hours
3G talk time: up to 5 hours
Standby time: 200 hours
4.44 x 2.28 x 0.6 inches
4.8 ounces
It seems that Pharos Traveler 117 can already be bought, unlocked, from the official Pharos website. Its price is of $529.95.
The brand new T-Mobile Shadow is out today, a day earlier than we’ve expected, and it’s offered by T-Mo USA for $199 with a 2-yr contract agreement.
Since it’s manufactured by HTC, the new Shadow comes with Windows Mobile 6.1 on board, being the first WM device to support the Unlimited HotSpot Calling service from T-Mobile.
Like the old Shadow (which isn’t available anymore), the new one packs a sliding QWERTY keyboard and it’s marketed as an all in one device. 
The features and specs of the handset include:
* Quad band GSM connectivity (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz)
* QVGA display
* Wi-Fi
* Stereo Bluetooth
* 2MP camera
* Talk time: up to 7 hours
* Stand by time: up to 7 days
* 2.1 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
* 5.3 ounces
You can get yourself a T-Mobile Shadow right away and you have the option to choose between two color versions: black burgundy and white mint.
Also on sale starting today is Nokia 7510, which is offered by T-Mobile for only $49.99 when bought with a contract for two years. You can check out the features of Nokia 7510
Sony Ericsson’s latest phone, the Sony Ericsson F305, is a phone that delivers a world class handheld gaming experience in a sleek and stylish mobile phone. Gone are the days when dedicated gaming phones were awkward and cumbersome, the F305 is a classy slide phone that comes in a subtle silver case. Taking some of the Sony experience on board with their Playstation heritage and with more than just a nod to the Nintendo Wii, the F305 features full motion sensitive gaming for hours of fun. Swing, shake and swipe your way through a host of different games with Bowling, Fishing and Horse riding all pre-installed on the F305 and further titles set to be available for download
Away from gaming, the F305 features everything you would expect from a new mobile phone including an impressive 2.0 Megapixel camera with video recording capabilities and an MP3 player with Sony Ericsson’s popular TrackID application which finds artist and album information from a short music clip that you record. Hear a song you like, simply open TrackID, record a few seconds and the phone will find out who it’s buy and take you to the music store to download it. Elsewhere this cool compact slider has an FM radio to boost its music potential and despite only having 10 MB of internal memory, is complimented with a memory card slot supporting up to 4GB for storage of extra games and music, not to mention video.
Set for launch in the next couple of months, the F305 sets to be the start of an interesting new twist for mobile gaming. Whether the F series will develop into a gaming range similar to the Walkman W range and Camera C series is unconfirmed but, if the upcoming F305 is anything to go by, it would definitely be an exciting proposition.
Sick of tying yourself in knots trying to charge your phone? Feel like ripping the charger out of its socket when the tangled mess won’t reach? Or just want to show off and impress your mates? If you answered yes to any of the above then Palm have the answer for you: the Palm Pre Touchstone. The Palm Pre is the phone on everyone’s mind at the moment following a breathtaking debut at the recent CES show in Las Vegas. And now Palm have turned the cool factor up a notch with the announcement of the
Touchstone wireless charging dock, a super stylish accessory that will be available at the launch of the Palm Pre.
The Touchstone works in combination with a special magnetic battery cover that replaces the standard case. Once all kitted up, simply placing the Palm Pre on top of the wireless charging station will charge the phone. Watch in amazement as your phone charges with absolutely no wires. Amaze and astound your friends with the seemingly over the air charging that is taking place. Ok, maybe I’m getting a bit carried away but you have to admit that simply laying your phone on top of a charging station is effortlessly cooler than physically plugging in a charger.
As if the Palm Pre didn’t need to be any cooler with looks that rival the iPhone 3G and a brand new operating system (WebOS) that plans to simplify all your daily tasks so you never miss a beat, the new Touchstone Wireless charging station pushes it to the very limit of cool. The Touchstone wireless charging dock and magnetic battery cover will no doubt be an optional (and chargeable) extra. With pricing and launch details of both the Touchstone and the Palm Pre itself to be confirmed,
With the dust finally settled from last years T-Mobile G1 launch, the first phone to run on the Google Android operating system, the question on everyone’s mind is “what’s next for Android?” The Android platform has built up a healthy fan base thanks to a user friendly interface, relative ease of development and customisation plus healthy 3rd party support through the Android market (which, for the first few months, offered content absolutely free). So what does
he future hold for this exciting new platform?
The big Android news for 2009 will be all new mobile phones running the OS. Though the HTC developed G1 is a good solid phone, when compared with its stable mate the HTC Touch HD, there’s only one winner. HTC have confirmed that they are planning a “portfolio” of Android based phones in mid 2009. Fingers crossed for an Android Touch HD to materialise as the much rumoured T-Mobile G2. And what of the other mobile phone manufacturers? A Motorola (the top dog of yesteryear) spokesperson made the following statement “We’re excited about the innovation possibilities on Android, and [we] look forward to delivering great products in partnership with Google and the Open Handset Alliance (OHA),” confirming their intent to support the Android platform. Let’s just hope we don’t get an Android rehash of the Motorola V3.
On the more speculative side of things, Sony Ericsson and Samsung have both been tipped to launch Google phones at some point in 2009. Samsung are a member of the Open Handset Alliance (a group of organisations dedicated to developing open standards in mobile devices) and, according to sources, have upped the headcount in their Linux task force team. Android is derived from the Linux operating system together so putting 2 and 2 together would put a Samsung Android phone firmly on the cards. Here’s hoping they take inspiration from the fantastic Omnia. The Sony Ericsson news is more hear say and speculation than anything else but insider sources (I sound like a tabloid newspaper!) suggest a high end handset could be ready by summer 2009.
Away from the phone side of things, what’s new for the Android operating system itself? We previously reported that the Android Market would begin to feature chargeable applications which should entice key developers into developing for the Google Platform. What about the Smartphone market as a whole? Is there room for all these different operating systems? The departure of the Symbian UIQ OS (previously used in several Sony Ericsson smartphones) would suggest not. And with Palm set to join the game with their highly anticipated WebOS, it seems that there will be several different companies all going after the same slice of pie. Symbian is still the top tog but with Apple’s OS X, Windows Mobile and now Google Android all vying for your attention, 2009 promises to be a thriller in the smart phone market!
In an effort to bring more durable phones into its lineup, AT&T has released the Motorola Tundra VA76r. The military-spec Tundra was announced to be coming out on AT&T’s network around a month ago, and adds some extra variety by joining forces with the Samsung Rugby.
As a military-spec phone, Motorola has designed the Tundra to withstand a lot of harsh conditions and crazy situations. In order to live up to military specifications, the Tundra had to be rigorously tested to handle the extremes such as temperature, shock, vibration, dripping rain, dust, and humidity.
We have to admit, we didn’t have the opportunity to kick the living snot out of the Tundra, so our review will be more about the phone’s other outlying features. However, there is a video showing the military-spec Rugby holding up under every type of harsh condition possible. Check it out here.
Design of the AT&T Tundra
The Tundra essentially looks like a cross between an updated V365 and a Motorola iDEN phone, which shouldn’t be much of a surprise; after all, this phone is built for durability as well as functionality, but it’s not designed to be stylish. Just from casual observation, the outside of the Tundra feels like it’s made of Kevlar.
Motorola opted for an external antenna with the Tundra. This wasn’t something I was glad to see, considering the rest of AT&T’s lineup has begun using internal antennae for several months now. At least it was a very short one.
In my hands the Tundra felt great. It’s not a very thin phone compared to the RAZR or others like it, but it’s thicker because it’s made to last. On the right side of the phone you will find the camera shortcut; the traditional Mini-USB port is on the bottom.
On the left side there are two buttons: volume, and an unusually large Push-to-Talk button. I understand these phones are designed with the Push-to-Talk customer in mind, but let’s be honest — if you’re not using that feature, it’s incredibly annoying to have a huge button on the side that can’t be used for any other purpose. Dedicated PTT buttons are getting a bit old, AT&T.
There isn’t much to the back side, but it definitely has a classy look.
The buttons inside are also typical AT&T style — in addition to the obligatory green/red call buttons and numerical keys, AT&T has also thrown in its Media Net and Cellular Video shortcuts. All of the buttons are easy to press, however, because each one is raised slightly.
Overall, I found the design of the Tundra to be typical of a military-spec phone; it felt very similar to a Motorola phone found on Nextel, but with the usual features of AT&T’s newest lineup. This, I feel, can be very beneficial. The Tundra is easy enough to handle, while convincing the user that it truly can go through anything you throw at it.
Features of the AT&T Tundra
As mentioned earlier, the Tundra offers many of the same features as AT&T’s latest phones; GPS with AT&T Navigator, 2.0 MP camera, 3G support, and Bluetooth. It also throws in Push-to-Talk and a louder speakerphone.
One unique feature Motorola brings to the table in the Tundra is its new CrystalTalk 2 Technology. Many of Motorola’s phones, such as the V8/V9 series, offers CrystalTalk to help improve overall sound quality when making calls. CrystalTalk 2 adds a second microphone that works to filter out the background noise, thus giving the customer a hassle-free conversation without even needing a Bluetooth to get it.
The Tundra also sports a MicroSD card port, but will only support cards with up to 4 GB of total memory. Sure it can be used as a music player, but realistically, don’t expect to be using this phone as your next MP3 player replacement. And the 100 MB internal memory is good, just not enough for music.
All other features in the phone are standard for any phone made after 2007, so they won’t be mentioned. But I do enjoy the screen on the Tundra; the menus are reminiscent of the V8/V9 series in terms of a crisp look and large font size.
Performance of the AT&T Tundra
The AT&T Tundra weighs in at 4.94 ounces (140g) and has a rated battery life of 4 hrs talk time on 3G and 6 hrs on GSM; talk time is 20 days and 14 days, respectfully. The phone’s dimensions are at 2.1 x 3.85 x .96.
Overall I have been satisfied with the Tundra. I didn’t hear a huge difference in sound quality with CrystalTalk 2, but that may have been due to placing calls in a quieter environment. If any readers have used the new CrystalTalk on any of Motorola’s newest phones, please let us know your experiences in the comments!
The latest smartphone said to be launched with Android on board doesn’t come from Samsung, Sony Ericsson, HTC, Motorola or any other major manufacturer, but from General Mobile – a rather unknown company.
The smartphone is called General Mobile DSTL1 Imaginary, and it will apparently be presented at MWC 2009 (16 – 19 February).
GSM Arena says that the DSTL1 runs on Android, although, on General Mobile’s website, Android is not mentioned at all.
Anyway, until the Android part is clarified, let’s see what the new handset has to offer.
Design-wise, the DSTL1 Imaginary kind of reminds me of the way HTC builds its devices - especially if we look at its navigation wheel:
The handset is a dual-SIM one, but, unfortunately, it seems to be lacking 3G connectivity. Other than that, its features and specs are quite impressive, including:
* A 3 inch TFT display (made by Sharp) with 240 x 400 pixels
Wi-Fi
A 5 MP camera with autofocus (also made by Sharp)
Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP and EDR
FM radio with RDS
Document viewer
624MH Marvell processor
4GB of internal memory
MicroSD card support
Talk time: up to 240 minutes
Stand by time: up to 150 hours
It all looks really nice, but until the DSTL1 is officially released, I wouldn’t put my hopes in it. Remember the Kogan Agora and its “indefinite delay”?
Samsung Show W7900, one of the world’s first projector phones that was actually build and not just sketched as a concept, has recently been caught on video by PopSci.
Also, some of the handset’s features were unveiled, so we can make a pretty solid idea about what it’s capable of.
One of the main attractions of Samsung Show is, of course, the built-in DLP projector. Manufactured by Texas Instruments, the projector is capable of rendering 480 x 320 pixels images with up to 50 inches in diagonal.
The rest of the specs include:
* A 3.2 inch OLED touchscreen display with 240 x 400-pixels
Tri-band GSM connectivity and HSDPA 7.2 Mbps connectivity
5 MP camera
VGA front-facing camera for video calls
4.4 x 2.2 x 0.7 inches
Samsung Show W7900 will be released in Korea sometime later this year. For the moment, there’s no word about its availability in other markets.
I’m not sure why but lately I’ve becoming acutely annoyed at people who drive with one hand while holding their phone in the other – particularly when one of these people happens to be my girlfriend… At first I tried to convince her to go handsfree with a Bluetooth Headset such as my favourite Jabra BT530 (see my review) but she didn’t seem to warm to this idea so instead I went out and got her the new Parrot Minikit Slim Bluetooth Speakerphone which I thought would be an ideal solution to get her to swith to handsfree talking while driving.
Leaving aside any specifications for now, the primary reason that I chose the Parrot Minikit Slim is that it is without a doubt the most beautiful Bluetooth speakerphone available on the market today – one that she would not dismiss with the words “I’m not putting that ugly thing in _my_ car!”. Thankfully upon opening the box I knew that I had found a winner.
Parrot-Minikit-Slim-Profile
The Parrot Minikit Slim is not only rather gorgeous thanks to its rubberized black coating and silver accents, elegant curves, simple buttons (only three are required to operate the device) but also its small size (only 110 x 60 x 29mm), very slim profile and ultralight body (only 83 grams).
Parrot-Minikit-Slim-Detail1
The fact that the Parrot Minikit Slim is beautiful on the outside is naturally only part of the equation and you’ll be glad to hear that the specifications are also quite stunning. For starters, the unit benefits from a full Flat Panel HiFi Speaker (basically the entire rubberized black front is a speaker) which offers great volume and does not have any ribs or openings of any kind – further enhancing its elegant design.
Virtually the only things that I’m not too happy about are the backlighting (Green & Red) of the two main buttons which are extremely hard to distinguish in plain daylight plus also the fact that the drum sounds when turning the unit On or Off are a bit confusing (it would be much better if the unit could just use its text to speech to say “Power On” or “Power Off”).
Parrot-Minikit-Slim-Detail2
Then there’s also the automatic synchronization with your smartphone phonebook, a multi-user (up to 5 paired devices) independent voice recognition, vocal synthesis of your phonebook (text to speech), voice tags (up to 150), announced caller ID (if contact or voice tag exists in Minikit phonebook), noise reduction and echo cancellation, high-sensitivity multi-directional built-in microphone, full duplex conversations and a high-capacity built-in battery that delivers up to 10 hours of talk time and 20 days standby.
Parrot-Minikit-Slim-Kit
Finally, the Parrot Minikit Slim also conveniently includes both a car charger and USB charger to ensure that the unit is always fully powered in the car, at home or at work.
Overall, if you don’t want or don’t like to use a Bluetooth Headset but still would prefer to have a handsfree solution when driving (or at the office for conference calling) then at the moment I cannot think of a better choice than this new Parrot Minikit Bluetooth Speakerphone – it’s gorgeous, delivers great sound and volume and has some absolutely terrific specifications.
AT&T and LG have just released the LG CF360, a mobile phone targeted at customers in need of some new affordable wireless equipment.
Presented as being a “sleek entertainment phone”, the CF360 is a slider that doesn’t look bad at all, but packs only entry-level features.
With a 2-yr contract agreement and after a mail-in rebate, the phone’s price is of only $29.99. Or, in case a new AT&T agreement is the last thing you desire, you can get the phone free of contract, for $229.99.
But enough about money. Here are the main specs and features of AT&T’s new LG:
* Quad band GSM connectivity (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz)
Dual band UMTS/HSDPA connectivity (850 / 1900 MHz)
A 2 inch TFT QVGA display
AT&T Navigator with Maps
AT&T Mobile Music
MEdia Net
Bluetooth 2.0
1.3 MP camera
microSD cards support, up to 16GB
Talk time: up to 3 hours
Standby time: Up to 10.4 days
3.97 x 1.89 x .66 inches
3.51 ounces
lg-cf360-red
LG CF360 is available in AT&T’s retails stores from across the US, as well as online: here in red, or here in blue.
With all the technological advancements made since the dawn of the mobile phone era, this one has been a long time coming. Finally British Airways, often seen as the pinnacle of air travel, have announced plans for in-flight mobile phone use for Business Class passengers traveling between London City airport and New York JFK airport in the states. Passengers traveling the twice-daily route, set to launch this Autumn, will be able to take advantage of text messaging, send and receive emails and access the internet. “We Believe the route and the new technology will offer an appealing package to business travellers” said a BA spokesperson.
Initially voice calls will still not be possible but pending a successful trial, could become a reality: “There are no plans for voice calls at the moment but we will listen to feedback from passengers. The customer is in charge”. Though undoubtedly a technological breakthrough, is this a positive move for frequent fliers? The benefits of internet access and staying in contact through out your journey is a plus but do you really want to be stuck next to a text or Blackberry addict and have to put up with the incessant beeping of keypads and message alerts for 7 hours straight? And if voice calls are made available, do you want to be stuck next to someone nattering away about their next business venture for an entire flight? No, me either.
Now I, like the vast majority, don’t have the luxury of travelling by business class when jet setting, so for the foreseeable future this is something most of us won’t have to consider the implications but pending a successful run, it only seems natural that this will eventually be rolled out to all passengers. Only time will tell whether this will be the technological breakthrough people think or just another irritating factor of air travel. I’ll just have to stock up on earplugs for my next visit to NY.
The Sprint Palm Treo Pro 850 cell phone is now on sale for $700 at BestBuy.com.
The Sprint Palm Treo Pro 850 Features:
Built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b network for Internet capability for connecting to your computer.
With 320 x 320 resolution makes navigation of features a breeze.
With 2x zoom lets you take still photos and short videos.
Supports viewing Microsoft Word, Excel, PDF and PowerPoint documents on the go.
Let you communicate by typing.
Rogers of Canada will launch two rugged handsets later this month. The Samsung Rugby A836 is already available via AT&T. Meanwhile, the ZTE Rock F165 is a candybar handset that offers an external antenna, GSM/HSDPA connectivity, a 176 x 220 resolution display and a 2MP shooter. The Samsung Rugby retails for $149.99 with a 3-year contract, while the ZTE Rock is priced at $79.99 with a similar agreement.
Here is a video showing the Motorola Aura at CES 2009 in Las Vegas. I can say that Aura is a unique mobile phone that combines superb craftsmanship and a distinctive interface. What do you think? Watch the video after the jump to get more details of this handset. [AVING]
With the Samsung Tobi, you can express yourself more than ever before as the Tobi is all about fun. A slider phone, the Samsung Tobi comes in two flavours; Pink or Blue so there's a colour to suit everyone. But it's not just choosing your favourite colour that lets you make a fashion statement. The unique feature of the Tobi (also known as the S3030) is a clear sleeve on the back case that lets you slip in your favourite photo, picture or whatever else you're into. Pop in a picture of your loved ones, your dog, your favourite football team or the man or woman of your dreams and really make the Tobi your own. And the customisation doesn't stop there. The Tobi also has three very different themes that gives you screensavers, animations and wallpapers as well as changing the style of the menu.
In terms of features, the Tobi doesn't disappoint here either. The on board 1.3 Megapixel camera is perfect for capturing those magic moments and for when a picture just isn't enough, the Tobi will even record video! The built in MP3 and MPEG4 player will support all your music and video playback needs and despite only having 15MB of onboard memory, you can pop in a memory card and expand the memory by up to 8GB using a MicroSD (Transflash) memory card. Bluetooth v2.0 adds another string to the Tobi's bow offering faster file transfer speeds and allowing for music to be streamed to a compatible bluetooth headset.
The Samsung Tobi also includes a range of safety features that have been touched on in previous Samsung phones but expanded with this latest model. SOS calling lets you assign an emergency contact to a designated button. Simply pressing and holding this button will autom
atically dialling the number saving precious seconds that could have been wasted dialing or trawling through your phone book. SOS messaging performs a similar function sending a preset emergency message to up to four contacts for when calling is not an option. Holding the fakecall will make it look as though someone is calling you; perfect for getting out of uncomfortable situations. And to cap it all off, the Samsung Tobi is made from eco friendly, non toxic materials meaning you'll be doing your bit for the environment too.
The Samsung Tobi is fun and funky phone that will make you feel safe and happy that you're doing your bit for the environment. Now in stock and available in Pink and Blue exclusive to Mobiles.co.uk, part of the Carphone Warehouse.
It's a well-known fact that multitouch is not supported on the T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) G1. HTC and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) no doubt have the smarts and ability to punch this out, yet it remains unavailable. Thanks to the Open Source community however, (and developer Luke Hutchison in particular) a proof of concept (at the very least) video has come to light. As you'll see in the video above, Luke has put together quite a nice multitouch hack for the G1. You can pinch and spread and flick to your hearts' content.
Great work Luke. For more details, full instructions, issues and more… take a few minutes and hit up Luke's blog. Thumbs up Luke!
Note: I love the 'Zoom, Zoom, Zoom' music used in those Mazda commercials. 
The design of the latest addition to the Sony Ericsson Walkman family, the W302, is nothing ground breaking but that doesn’t mean to say its not stylish. Beautifully put together and with an excellent build quality, the W302 definitely sticks to the high standards of its predecessors with a brushed black metal finish up front and on the slip free rear surface.
As stated the design concept is nothing new but the W302 leaves a very nice first impression. Its size I imagine is also a big factor in its appeal as it measures in at a sleek 100 x 46 x 10.5mm and weighs in at a mere 78 g making it a very pocket friendly little phone. Not that you’ll want to hide the phone away in your pocket as it’s minimalist design hits all the right notes.
As with similar phones in the Sony Ericsson Walkman range, the keypad is clearly cut and well spaced which makes using the relatively small keys far easier then you would first anticipate. On the left side there’s the standard dedicated walkman key which takes you directly into the music player and on the right are the volume controls and the camera key.
The W302 is equipped with the basic Sony Ericsson BST-33 Li-Polymer battery with a capacity of 950 mAh. It’s quoted at up to 300 hours of standby time and up to 7 hours of talk time which isn’t too shabby. It also comes with 20MB of internal memory but thanks to the Memory Stick Micro (M2) card slot there is the potential for up to 4GB, with a standard 512 card coming in the box with the phone.
Feature wise the quad-band W302 doesn’t have the high-tech goodies of the more advanced phones on today’s market however this is to be expected as it is a lower midrange device which focuses on combining exceptional music capabilities with a more than affordable price tag. This allows us at Mobiles.co.uk to be able to offer some amazing deals for example on either O2 or Orange at £35 a month, 600 mins, unlimited texts with 11 months free!! This tactic is very similar to previously launched phones by Sony such as the T303 which basically focussed on its design delivering a sleek and stylish phone in a range of colours. This does ultimately mean that the W302 is without 3G support, accelerometer or media manager however the W302 does offer an excellent music orientated performance with the latest version of the Sony Ericsson Walkman software, stereo Bluetooth and FM radio that supports RDS.
On a brighter note the phone does feature the unique TrackID music recognition service. If you want to get the name of a track that’s playing on the radio, you just fire it up, it records several seconds from it and gives back the name and artist after looking up the Gracenote servers (data charges apply if you are not on a flat rate data plan). You can also use the TrackID service to record a sample of a track through the handset microphone. The W302 also has a 2 megapixel camera, which lacks auto focus but has the Cyber-shot style interface that has been lacking on walkman handsets since the W910 which I thought was a nice touch.
Overall it has to be said hat the W302 is without a doubt a lovely looking phone and a very sound performer. In terms of features it seems that less is more with Sony Ericsson focusing on why people by Walkman phones to deliver an attractive phone with top of the range music abilities. The top music package, slim profile and very attractive price makes this a definite winner in my books.
Well lookey here. Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless has finally gotten around to releasing the almost irrelevant Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM update for customers using the Verizon XV6900 (Verizon's version of the HTC Touch). Of course, most HTC Touch owners unfortunate enough to find themselves under Verizon's thumb have likely already upgraded their Verizon XV6900 with the Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional ROM that was leaked a couple months ago.
The Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional ROM should enable EVDO Rev. A data speeds, threaded messaging, VZNavigator, and compatibility with 16GB microSDHC cards on your Verizon-branded HTC Touch. Unfortunately, support for VZNavigator means the GPS hardware within the XV6900 can only be used through the Verizon's premium navigation service. Although, a little hacking magic might allow you to free your XV6900's GPS receiver from Verizon's mis-guided grip.
In all reality, we really didn't expect Verizon to get their Windows Mobile 6.1 update out to XV6900 owners before Mobile World Congress in Frbruary. So, it's nice to see Verizon beating our expectations, regardless of how low we set the bar…
Grab your Verizon XV6900 Windows Mobile 6.1 update here.
As great as the iPhone is, we probably all know by now that it's not perfect. Apart from lacking cut/paste and flash support, it also doesn't feature Bluetooth file transfer options.
While Apple ponders on whether to offer that function or not, a developer called MeDevil has decided to take matters into his own hands and develop an app which will allow such a feature on the iPhone. The video below is just a demo, but taking into consideration how fast these guys work, we'll probably see it go live pretty soon.
It'll only work on jailbroken iPhones and will debut as part of the iSpazio repo. Unless Apple decides to finally equip the iPhone with standard features found on other phones in the marketplace, apps like this will always make jailbreak relevant.
The T-Mobile G1 may be a lot of things, but one thing it isn't is multi-touch capable. So, if you want to enable multi-touch on the first ever Android-based phone, you'll have resort to some firmware hacking.
The video below shows how the hack works fairly well in maps and the internet browser. Granted that it's still in its infancy, don't expect it to work on all of the Android apps just yet, but we are looking forward to further developments in this area down the road.
The full details on how to go about this procedure can be found here, but do exercise caution as this is hardly authorized by T-Mobile. With that being said, if you're brave enough to give this hack a go, do give us a shout out below in the comments if it is indeed a hack worth trying. We'd certainly love to hear your two cents on it.
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Well-done, Stanford students! Students from Stanford's Fall 1008 iPhone class CS193P (iPhone Application Programming) released a nice batch of apps that are now available or will be soon for the iPhone.
According to the the iPhone class students' site, all of these apps were final projects with the exception of Stress Bust, iDiscover, and Abodi, which were developed by CS193P students outside CS193P class.
Stress Bust
Stress Buster provides a video of soothing ocean waves, assisting the user in relaxing through a progressive muscle squeezing up through the body. [$0.99, pending App Store approval].
Qingwen
Qingwen is focused and streamlined Chinese-English and English-Chinese dictionary designed with the Chinese reader in mind. Lookup is meant to be fast and easy. [Free, get it on the App Store].
iDiscover
iDiscover lets you discover new articles, videos, and applications customized to your interests. You and your friends can also easily share contents. [Free, get it on the App Store].
Heydar
Heydar is a fun new way to meet people. Get started by taking your own headshot. Then view headshots of nearby Heydar users. [Free, pending App Store approval].
Site Saver
Site Saver allows you to save websites locally on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Save online references to train schedules, recipes, or product reviews to your device on the go. [$2.99, pending App Store approval].
HaveASec
This is the useful application to create a short survey or poll to send out to your friends. [Free, get it on the App Store].
Abodi
Abodi allows you to search listings on Craigslist and save your favorite results for viewing access on the go. [Free, to be submitted by 01/26/09].
Air Guitar
Air Guitar provides all the fun of rocking out with none of the talent required to play a real instrument. [$1.99, get it on the App Store].
At CES (the worlds largest consumer electronics tradeshow) 2009 which took place on Jan 12th, Nokia announced a new project cooked up by the Nokia Research Centre, the 'Nokia Locate Sensor'. A prototype service designed to help ensure you never lose anything. You simply attach a physical wireless location tag (the little green gizmo pictured to the right) to stuff such as your keys or wallet, 
and if you drop anything or it gets nicked from your pocket the accompanying Nokia Locate Sensor application on your phone points you in the direction of the item and even tells you how far away it is.
The tiny Locate Sensor tag can be attached and modified to be fixed to any sort of item you can think 
of and because of its size it can go pretty much unnoticed. The phone application itself will support up to 100 items so you would never be able to use the excuse "sorry I'm late, I couldn't find my…." ever again.
If you drop something the phone application is designed to automatically alert you and help you hone in on the object within a distance of up to 100 metres. So, how does it work? Well, It transmits a simple signal and doesn't use GPS to locate the misplaced items we know that much, so it can be used inside and isn't a battery killer. The actual technology Nokia use is still not mentioned but if we had to guess we'd have to bank on Bluetooth.
Another smart use for Nokia Locate Sensor is that it can be tweaked to work the opposite way round, so if you have a tag on your person you can set it so that if your phone is lost or goes further than say 3 metres away from you, it immediately disables the handset and re-enables it when it re-enters your selected vicinity.
Nokia say it can operate flawlessly up to 18 months before you need to recharge it, but if the tag is made bigger it could theoretically accommodate a bigger battery and longer life. It's such a simple idea, and innovative to the mobile market. The application looks as if it works brilliantly, if we can believe the news coming out of the tradeshow. It's definitely the smartest little gadget to make an a
ppearance so far this year… that's probably not giving it enough credit, as we haven't even made it to February, however I think you get the point… it's a great little device to start the year with.
There's no official word if Nokia Locate Sensor will leave Nokia Research Centre and become a real product, but judging how well it seemed to be running on a Nokia N95, i think it would make a great addition to the mobile world..
It's one of the oddest sounding phones that we know of: the HTC Touch Cruise 09. This is the second phone in HTC's line-up to feature the "Touch Cruise" name, the original version (perhaps it should be called the HTC Touch Cruise 07?) was a clunky looking device, but the Touch Cruise 09 is significantly sleeker and more elegant.
Mobile Gazette readers may recognise the Touch Cruise 09 as O2 announced it late last year under the name O2 XDA Guide. This particular phone is also known as the HTC Iolite, which was its codename during development.
What we have here is a compact Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone with a 2.8" 240 x 320 pixel touch-sensitive display, HSDPA and UMTS support with a maximum download speed of 7.2 Mbps, WiFi, built-in GPS, a 3.2 megapixel camera, microSD expandable memory and Bluetooth.
HTC Touch Cruise 09 The "Cruise" part of the name relates to the phone's A-GPS receiver. Although you can use the Touch Cruise 09 with your favourite personal navigation software, it also comes with something called "HTC Footprints". Footprints works by allowing users to take a "digital postcard" comprising of a photograph, audio clips and accompanying text which is then geo-tagged with the location. Not only does the geo-tagging include the GPS coordinates, but the Touch Cruise 09 also looks up the name of the location and stores it.
The GPS unit can then trace your way back to when the postcard was saved, which is something that seems to be unique to HTC Footprints. Another interesting feature is that the geo-tagging works indoors as well as outdoors, which other devices struggle to manage.
Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional comes with all the usual software that you would expect, plus HTC's TouchFLO interface which makes it a much nicer experience.
Considering how much technology is in the Touch Cruise 09, the phone itself it a relatively lightweight handset weighing just 103 grams. Inside is a 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM7225 processor with a useful 256 MB RAM. Talktime is a maximum of 6 hours with up to 14 days standby time.
HTC say that the Touch Cruise 09 should be available sometime during the Northern Hemisphere's spring. Bearing in mind that the O2 version of this is due in February, we suspect that the HTC version may be out in early March.
HTC Touch Cruise 09
Available:
Q1/Q2 2009
Network:
GSM + UMTS 900 / 2100
Data:
GPRS + UMTS (3G) + HSDPA + WiFi
Screen:
240 x 320 pixels
Camera:
3.2 megapixels
Size:
Medium PDA-style device
102 x 54 x 15mm / 103 grams
Bluetooth:
Yes
Memory card:
microSD
Infra-red:
No
Polyphonic:
Yes
Java:
Limited
GPS:
Yes (A-GPS)
Battery life:
6 hours talk / 14 days standby
HTC just went live with their GPS-loving HTC Touch Cruise this morning, giving the world a glimpse at their redundantly-named, photo geo-tagging powerhouse. The highlight of the new touchscreen smartphone is the handset's ability to automatically add GPS geo-tags (the "Footprints" feature) to every photo taken with the smartphone's 3.2 megapixel camera.
But, just how does this Footprints geo-tagging service actually work? Check out the vid below for details on how you can use the HTC Touch Cruise to add location data, audio clips, and even text notes to any photo.
Pretty slick, eh? Fingers crossed for Footprints being available for other HTC smartphones…
Don't know have you heard about Kwiry, but it's a neat service that allows you make Amazon.com wish lists and Netflix queues using nothing but an SMS. Now, the popular service is extending its offering to allow users to control their TiVo by sending a text message to a dedicated phone number.
Sure, if you own a more powerful mobile phone with a data plan, you could use TiVo's mobile website and do your "DVR thing" that way. Kwiry, on the other hand, will work with just about any mobile phone that can send and receive text messages.
In order to use Kwiry to program your TiVo, you'll have to link your Kwiry account with TiVo Series 2 or Series 3. Afterwards, all the TiVo programming is handled by sending an appropriate SMS to 59479 ("kwiry"). For instance, text message "tivo the office" should grab the next episode of the popular TV series.
So far the service is free, so there's no reason not to try it out…
Here's something for the older folks among our readers, who at the same time own a Symbian S60-powered smartphone. A new version of the Commodore C64 emulator, Frodo, for S60 3rd Edition has been released.
Frodo 1.5 is better than ever, and now includes support for accelerometers in selected phones like the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N95, N95 8GB, N82, N96 and others. As a result, when playing some C64 classic titles, you can move your phone around to simulate a joystick or steering wheel. In addition, there's also an on-screen keyboard and vibration support included in the mix.
Aside from the S60 3rd edition, Frodo is also available for other platforms — including S60 1st and 2nd edition, Series 80 and UIQ. A short demo video follows after the jump, and more information is available from the official website.
Is this what the App Store is coming to? Fart app after fart app, and now this… The 'Recital Organ'. A female orgasm instrument for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Check out the video above. For once I'm speechless.
I just checked out the App Store and this one hasn't been approved yet. And honestly, I'm thinking it won't make the cut. Fart apps = good. Orgasm apps = bad. Right, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)?
One thing that would be pretty cool in a little keyboard app (please do correct me if it's out there)… But if you could record your own sounds/voices and use them on the keyboard, now that would be kind of cool, wouldn't it!? Developers if you'd like to work on this idea please contact me, or at least give me partial credit 
Happy Thursday everyone!
Until technological innovations allow us to power our mobile devices with body heat, motion, and even our own voice, we're going to be tied to traditional battery charging-tech. We've seen all kinds of mobile charging solutions crop up in the past, but this is the first time we've come across a Bracelet Battery.
If we had to wear a bracelet, we'd choose to rock our beloved slap-bracelet from decades past. But, if we had to wear a bracelet with integrated battery packs, this Battery Bracelet would be high on our list.
The rubberized bracelet/wristband looks like a chain of battery packs, storing up to 1500mAh worth of juice - which should be good to fully charge just about any mobile device you might be carrying around.
The $25 Battery Bracelet comes with a miniUSB cable and seven charging tips to charge almost every handset on market. Unfortunately, that means you'll have to carry around an additional cable in your pockets.
Interested? Grab your own Battery Bracelet here.
Grains of salt, people. Take your grains of salt.
The just-announced Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre smartphone has been rumored to be launching well within the 1H 2009 launch window that Palm set for itself. In fact, word on the street is that the Palm Pre will be launching next month - possibly as soon as February 15.
The tip comes from a TreoCentral reader that claims to have been tipped off by the same source that leaked the Palm Treo 800w's launch date, but there's little other evidence to give this particular rumor any credence. The tipster also claims that an active data plan will be a prerequisite to owning the Palm Pre (makes sense to us!).
The Palm Pre has been churning up the hype-machine recently with talk about its slick finger-friendly Web OS and high-line feature set bringing Palm back from the brink of financial ruin. The Palm Pre's 3.1-inch capacitance touchscreen, 8GB of on-board storage, 3-megapixel camera, aGPS, and WiFi radio make the all-new handset one a serious contender in a crowded smartphone market. And, with the Web OS providing an intuitive, multi-tasking UI that can automatically pull in data from multiple online sources, the Palm Pre is likely to quickly rise through the smartphone-ranks.
It's just too bad we can't put too much faith in this latest rumor. As much as we'd like for this dubious speculation to pan out, there are just a couple facts that we can't get over. We've yet to hear a peep out of Palm in regards to the Palm Pre's complete spec-sheet (processor speed, battery life, etc.), and the FCC has yet to sign off on the Palm Pre's US aspirations. We would have expected Palm to put out a serious Palm Pre marketing-blitz prior to its launch, and we just don't see that happening in a month's time.
In all fairness, however, Palm does have about a month to get their Palm Pre sorted out on Sprint (NYSE: S)'s network (the Palm Pre's exclusive US carrier). But, that's assuming that the FCC approves the Palm Pre soon enough to give Palm enough time to launch the handset.
Remember those grains of salt? Go ahead and take them now.
A Canadian company called CANRUS Ventures has recently introduced a new product in the U.S. and Canada, Foton R15, which attaches to any electronic device and neutralizes their harmful effect on health.
As expected, mobile phones because of their frequent use harm us the most, hence the company is pitching the device primarily as a protection against mobile phone radiation. Here's what their release says about it:
Many cell phone users have concerns about the possible health effects of their use. Researchers have been studying and testing the effects of electromagnetic fields for decades, and recent test results on cell phones show a correlation between cell phone use and health consequences to users. However, researchers have assumed that these effects are directly related to the electromagnetic fields generated by cell phones, and they have not considered the possibility that cell phones also produce non-electromagnetic fields, which may be the real cause of these consequences to human health.
In new breakthrough research conducted by Dr. V. A. Nekrasov, he has demonstrated that non-electromagnetic fields are produced by cell phones, and indeed by all electronic devices which contain integrated circuits or microchips. Through independent testing, it has been shown that these fields have a measurable and direct impact on human health and well-being, including to the immune, cardiovascular, and endocrine systems; to metabolism, brain function (memory and concentration), and fetal development; and increase the risk of developing diseases such as cancer, pneumonia, and Crohn's disease.
So, how the Foton R15 works then? Apparently, it produces its own non-electromagnetic field which neutralizes the harmful emissions from electronic devices. As I'm not an expert, and I can't really tell you more about it. All I can say is that you should check out the dedicated website where you can get all the details. If someone has any thoughts on this, don't hesitate to drop us a comment. Thanks.
U.S. Cellular has just added a new LG mobile phones to its line-up of clamshell phones - the LG UX280 Wine. Fittingly available in Red and Silver design, the LG UX280 is a basic mobile phone with easy-to-use features. It boasts of a decent 1.3 megapixel camera, voice command, one-touch speakerphone and Bluetooth. The LG UX 280 is available under U.S. Cellular for$29.95 after mail-rebate and comes with a two-year service agreement under the cellular provider.
The LG UX280's 1.3 camera complements well on its 2-inch internal TFT LCD screen in 262K color. You can decently preview your camera phone shots with the said LCD screen. Aside from the internal LCD, the LG UX 280 also sports a 1.3-inch external LCD which displays a clock with date and time stamp.
The phone also boasts of a stylish and classic design in a clamshell form factor measuring only 3.89" (H) x 1.93" (W) x 0.66" (D) and weighing a mere 3.32 oz. The phone supports 1xRTT Voice and Data functionality and works on 1.9GHz CDMA PCS, and 800 MHz CDMA Digital Dual-Band.
You can use the phone's menus and commands for doing its basic functions or you can use voice commands as well as some dedicated keys for the different functions of the mobile phone. The phone also supports your basic text and picture messaging functions.
The LG UX280 Wind also features Bluetooth connectivity and gives out up to 4 hours of usage and 10 days of standby time.
Motorola has revealed two new windows mobile handset for the Asian market. The FR68 and FR6000 will be compatible with 3.5G. Both will come with a GPS, Bluetooth, IrDA, Wi-Fi, Marvell 624MHz processor, 320 x 240 QVGA screen and OCR capable camera of 3.2 megapixels. The good news is buyers of the FR68 or FR6000 will enjoy free maintenance services through the year by Motorola. The service will guarantee to keep your handset always in a good condition.
