Archive for: Cell Phones
If one thing could ever help cell phone accessory sales, it would be marketing said accessories behind a super model. Yes, it is true that in the U.S., one of the best ways to sell something is having an extremely attractive woman behind it. Something about that method causes men to practically throw their wallets at whatever company is selling the product. The product in question today is custom designed backplates for the LG Rumor 2 designed by none other than Heidi Klum herself. The backplates, so far 5 in total, she says are “designed after her own expressions of style”. While celebrities aren’t always the greatest book of knowledge when it comes to celebrities, as in knowing all the ins and outs of certain brands and policies and choosing a gadget/electronic simply because it’s cool, this particular match up is one that should please many regardless of their position on the issue. The backplates can be picked up at any Spring U.S. retail store for $9.99. Is some thin plastic and Heidi Klum’s expression enough to open your wallet to the tune of $9.99?
Source: Pocket-Lint
If you are a current Nokia 5800 owner and have a certain beef with the current resistive touchscreen your fortunes may be on the up and up. It is being reported that the next iteration of the popular Nokia handset will sport a more accurate and easily navigated capacitive touchscreen. According to sources at a Taiwan handset component supplier, Nokia is ordering up two million touchpanels for their new 5800 handsets that are set to ship between May and June. Some purists and golden oldies still have a thing for the resistive screens of years yore, but with the popularity of Apple’s iPhone, Google’s G1, and I’m sure even Nokia’s N97, capacitive touchscreens are becoming more and more common (a good thing) as they are all around better for the majority and are more suited for finger tappin’. Perspective Nokia handset buyers, is this enough to woo you over the fence? If all goes well, look for Nokia to incorporate capacitive panels in an increasing percentage of their line up.
Source: Digi Times, *Source Image: PI Seth*
LG’s Viewty was a pretty successful phone. The Viewty II is looking to be even better. The LG GC900 which was on display at the LG Dealer show today was a welcome surprise that hints at release very soon. Who wouldn’t love a media rich, feature packed phone with specs such as:
- 3″ WVGA (800 x 400) touchscreen
- 3D S-Class User Interface
- 8 megapixel camera with: Xeon flash, geo-tagging, image stabilization, face detection, burst mode, manual/automatic focus, and ISO 1600
- Record slow-motion and high speed video
- support for Divx and Xvid files
- quad-band GSM/UMTS/HSDPA 7.2 and HSUPA 1.4 Mbit
- WiFi/GPS
- accelerometer
Sadly, pictures weren’t yet allowed to be taken so for now you’ll have to make due with the little info card above and an account by GSM Help Desk describing the GC900 as “black at the front, silver at the back and having three regular keys underneath the display.” Horrible I know. All good things take time…
Source: GSM Help Desk, Into Mobile
While geeks tend to gravitate towards the most expensive and feature packed phones, the slightly more frugal and sometimes financially minded will forgo these techie gizmos for more average packed phones. You know ones that handle the basics such as calling and….um…calling. Alcatel’s latest entry level offerings won’t do anything for the spec sheet connoisseur in your life, however little Johnny sure will have one of the cooler looking phones in school. The QT-707 and QT-800 are geared for the less technically inclined in your life with a feature set that is sure to *yawn* excite no one. Step inside for some pictures of the rather sleek looking headsets sadly with an emptiness that makes us wish these little QT’s were actually packing some muscle as well as a spec list that will surely disappoint.
- February 19, 2009 4:26 pm
Have you ever been out and about around town and have your phone die on you. You might have had a charger but it doesn’t do you much good if you’re not near a power source. All is not lost. Digicel and ZTE have come together and come up with a solution to this ancient dilema: the Coral-200 will truly allow you to cut the cord as it comes with a solar panel built in to the back of the phone allowing you to constantly charge your phone just by having it in sunlight! Sadly, any details and specs aren’t currently available. However, judging by the diminutive size of the screen, I don’t think video playback will make the cut.
Source: Slashphone
- February 17, 2009 4:15 pm
And we’re not talking flanel panels either. These are high quality all digital panels. Woo hoo! Complete and utter ridiculous non-sense aside, the 4 new panels will consist of: CNN, Skype, Mytopia, and “On-the-road”. Of course with the CNN panel you will be getting the latest in news coverage including everything form sports to weather. The popular “civillian journalism tool” i-Report will also be included so little ‘ol you can be the big journalist you’ve always wanted to be. The Skype panel will make identifying which of your Skype friends are online as well as access to them only one click away. The Mytopia panel will allow the gamers of the crowd who need to kill some time or just simply like to play games the option of doing so. Bingo and Poker were two of the options mentioned although there are many more to choose from. And last but certainly not least is the oddly named “On-the-road” panel. This panel is responsible for brining HUGE icons to your screen which in turn will allow you to control such tasks as music playback, UI navigation, and call handling. Beyond these 4 panels mentioned above, Sony has many more available at Sony Fun. Stop by and see if they have they have that special app to make you go ga ga for the X1!
Source: Slashphone
- February 16, 2009 10:30 pm
I know in the economic hardships, gadgets and electronics aren’t on the top of many peoples’ priority lists. The LG Globus is a prime example of frugality at its finest. While not the feature beast set to decimate the feature phone world, at least it does bring some features to the table. A 1.3 megapixel camera, GPS, and stereo bluetooth round out a rather dull feature set. However, one saving grace is the price, a rather bottom end price of $19.99 means even Mr. Frugal McFrugster will eye this fine yet uninspiring piece of currently Canadian bound tech. In order to get that ultra cool price you must agree to give your soul to the devil for 3 long years. If Rogers is your carrier and basic is all that you need and makes you happy, the TU330 is worth a look. So far Rogers is the soul carrier however expect the budget minded phone to spread elsewhere.
Source: Into Mobile, Mobile Syrup
- February 16, 2009 6:43 pm
Accelerometers are quickly becoming a standard feature on many smartphones and even making their way to a few feature phones. As accelerometer adoption increases, mobile apps and services will surely take advantage of the ability to sense motion. However people with accelerometerless handsets will be left out in the cold, thinking only of what could have been. Not if Oberthur Technologies has their way. OT announced today SIMSense, a motion sensing SIM card. What? It is designed to allow cell phones without accelerometers built in to take advnatage of motion sensing apps and services. With this technology, (depending on how well it works), accelerometers would become worthless in GSM phones. Definitely a cool feature. The possibilities are virtually limitless with such technology allowing your to tilt/lean your way through SMS’s/call logs/emails and whatever else your little heart desires. It is most certainly only a matter of time before we start seeing SIMSense SIM cards popping up in handsets. Motion detection just got a little less exclusive.
Source: Engadget
- February 16, 2009 6:10 pm
The previously mentioned LG GD900 gets another mention today as it is just plain cool. Except this time a much better stance is shown. For those of you who don’t remember, the LG GD900 is a sleek handset sporting a completely transparent keypad! As is yesterday, other information is still unknown so all you have is but the picture above to dream up limitless possibilities.
Source: Boy Genius
