Acer Aspire One Mini-Laptop Spotted in the Wild

And let the competition begin. The market is about to get flooded with all sorts of alternatives to the Asus Eee PC and it seems like one of the latest entries comes from our friends at Acer. To be named the Acer Aspire One, this mini notebook shares much of its appeal with the other subnotebooks out there.
Details are really slim at this point, but we do hear the the Acer Aspire One gets equipped with an 8.9-inch display. That happens to be right in line with the MSI Wind and the Eee PC 901. The rumored resolution of the display is 1024x768, but since it looks more like a widescreen, it could be 1024x600 instead.
The Acer Aspire One will be powered by Windows XP SP3, though the provided shot seems to depict a different interface. Perhaps there are other OS options or maybe this is a media center overlay. The Aspire One is being built by Quanta, the same notebook ODM as that used by HP, Dell, and Apple. Look for more information (and possible European availability) to come in a few weeks.

Samsung Soul Cell Phone Gets Barred For Release

The Samsung Soul is the flagship handset for Samsung and now the Korean manufacturer is ready to expand on that segment of its lineup. Not everyone likes the slider form factor found on the original Samsung Soul, so they've decided to announce a bar phone called the Soulb. No, that's not a typo.
The Soulb, or "Spirit Of ULtra Bar" (get it?), boasts the same metallic body as its slider counterpart. The brushed metal certainly gives this phone an air of elegance and exclusivity. Because it's a bar phone, the Samsung Soulb is remarkably slim with just a 9.9mm profile too.
Going down the specs, you'll find tri-band GSM, HSDPA 3.6Mbps, 2-inch QVGA display, 3 megapixel camera with power LED, HTML browser, RDS FM radio, Bluetooth, 3.5mm audio jack, 1GB internal memory, microSD expansion, and an office document editor. Look for the Samsung Soulb to launch in Germany in early June.

Emergency Power from IOGEAR GearJuice Rescue Charger

Oh no! My cell phone is running low on power and there isn't a wall outlet in sight. I don't want to miss that all important phone call. This could be a matter of life or death!

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you are desperately in need of some extra power for your portable electronic device, be sure to bring along the GearJuice Rescue Charger from IOGEAR. The tubular device can give your cell phone up to 15 minutes of additional talk time and it is able to provide some extra power to just about anything that uses a mini-USB connection.

Nokia N96 Superphone Shipping in July, Priced at $1200

Announced at the 2008 Mobile World Congress (formally known as 3GSM) earlier this year, the Nokia N96 is supposed to be one crazy smartphone. As it turns out, this handset has a price tag to match.
The Nokia N96 is currently available for pre-order from Play.com and they have the Symbian smartphone listed at 599.99 GBP. That works out roughly to $1,200. For the same amount of money, you can buy two N95 smartphones instead. I guess that's the price you pay to stay on top of technology.
Among the features found on this flagship Nseries are a 5 megapixel camera, quad-band GSM, WCDMA, WiFi, GPS, and DVB-H mobile television. There are less expensive phones with similar features, I'm sure, but there is definitely something alluring about the N96. Play.com says the phone should ship by July 31st

Comparison: HTC Touch Diamond vs. Apple iPhone vs. Sony Xperia X1

We've seen blurry pictures of all three handsets. We've seen reasonably clear photos of all three devices. Never before have we been able to gather all three smartphones into one convenient location. That is, until now.
CNET Asia has snapped a series of photographs that directly compare the HTC Touch Diamond, the (non-3G) Apple iPhone, and the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1. The photo shoot gives you a good indication as to the relative proportions of the three devices as well as the distinct differences in their user interfaces. Interestingly, two of the three devices depicted are made by HTC.
The three most talked about touchscreen phones share a lot of elements, like having a large touchscreen, but they've got plenty of differences too. The XPERIA X1 is the only one with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, but it is also the bulkiest as a result. The smallest and thinnest of the trio is the Touch Diamond.

The mobile phone

The mobile phone (also called a mobile, wireless, cellular phone, cell phone, or hand phone(hp))[1] is a short-range, portable electronic device used for mobile voice or data communication over a network of specialized base stations known as cell sites. In November 2007, the total number of mobile phone subscriptions in the world reached 3.3 billion, or half of the human population, which also makes the mobile phone the most widely spread technology and the most common gadget in the world. In addition to the standard voice function of a telephone, current mobile phones may support many additional services, and accessories, such as SMS for text messaging, email, packet switching for access to the Internet, java gaming, bluetooth, infrared, camera with video recorder and MMS for sending and receiving photos and video. Most current mobile phones connect to a cellular network of base stations (cell sites), which is in turn interconnected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) (the exception is satellite phones). Since the mid-2000s, an increasing number of cellphones can connect to the Internet, a portion of which can be navigated using cellphones.

Smartphones

AT&T BlackJack™ II
Sleeker, smarter, and even simpler to use than its predecessor, the BlackJack II by Samsung is the only mobile device you’ll ever need. The new version of this stylish smartphone takes the BlackJack to a new level of functionality with:
Built-In GPS support.
Windows Mobile 6 operating system
Faster 3G downloads
Larger 2.4-inch display.
The BlackJackII smartphone also features:
A full QWERTY keyboard
Front jog wheel for easier scrolling
World roaming capability with tri-band HSDPA
2.0MP camera
The BlackJack™ II is available in two colors — black and wine red.
The Windows Mobile 6.1 update will be available this year. Your mobile operator will announce the update availability.

Nokia launches two new XpressMusic handsets

Nokia today unveiled two new XpressMusic devices, the 5320 and the 5220.

Both devices include the usual dedicated music keys, and they also support 24 hours of music playback and a 3.5mm audio jack for headphones and speakers to be plugged into.

The 5320 is a 3G handset that features a voice-controlled ‘Say and Play’ feature, so users can say the name of a favorite artist or song to automatically play it. It also has extendable memory up to 8GB, HS-USB for fast music transfer and HSDPA for access to data.

With no 3G capability, the 5220 (pictured) appears to be aimed at emerging markets. The device has an asymmetrical design with a built-in lanyard to make it easy to carry.

Nokia unveils updated versions of high selling 6500 range

Nokia has announced three new devices, the Nokia 6600 fold, 6600 Slide and the Nokia 3600 slide.

The manufacturer says all three handsets ‘present a smooth, minimalist design and have an appealing array of easy-to-use features.’ The devices will range in price from 175 - 275 EUR before taxes and subsidies and are expected to start shipping during the third quarter of 2008.

The handsets appear to be intended to take over the baton from the Nokia 6500 Slide and 6500 Classic, which have consistently been two of this year’s best selling handsets.

Mikkel Drucker, connect devices director at Nokia, said: ‘There is a strong consumer demand for mobile handsets that blend elegant looks with modern features. We believe the three devices are both beautiful to use and beautiful to behold – and offer a range of choice.’

The Nokia 6600 fold has a 2.13’’ OLED screen which displays up to 16 million colours and can be turned off standby mode with a double tap of the screen. The same motion can also silence or reject incoming calls. The 3G device has a 2 megapixel camera and will be available at around 275 EUR excluding taxes.

Meanwhile the 6600 Slide is one of its ‘smallest sliders to date’ according to Nokia and will be available at around 250 EUR before taxes. It offers the same double tap options as the 6600 fold, but has a better camera than its contemporary, with 3.2 megapixels. However, unlike the ‘fold’ it appears not to have 3G capability.

The third release, the Nokia 3600 slide, offers a 3.2 megapixel camera and has a built in music player that holds up to 3000 songs. It will cost around 175 EUR before tax.