Sunday, October 11, 2009

Kohjinsha Netbook Boasts Dual 10.1-inch Screens


I remember when I went to visit Japan a couple of years ago, the whole netbook thing hadn’t really caught on in North America yet. Even so, there were tons of ultraportables on sale in Akihabara, including some crazy compact tablet PCs from Kohjinsha. Well, they’ve done it again.
Now that everyone and their mother wants a netbook, it takes a lot more to differentiate yourself from the competition. Instead of increasing the horsepower or tossing in an integrated Wacom tablet, Kohjinsha has produced a netbook with twin displays. That’s right. You get dual displays in a netbook.
Interestingly, I’m not really sure if you can even call this thing a netbook in the traditional sense. Instead of a single screen, this Kohjinsha has a pair of 10.1-inch LCDs that pump out resolutions of up to 1366 x 768 pixels each. Instead of Intel Atom, it gets an AMD Athlon MV-40.
Going further, you can also expect a full four gigs of DDR2 RAM, a SATA hard drive, and Windows 7. The dual display thing happens with a sliding mechanism to hide the second screen when it’s time to hit the road.
As with all other Kohjinsha products, I don’t expect to see this in Canada or the US any time soon. If you must have it, I suggest you book a flight over to Tokyo (or find an importer).

Samsung Moment Android Smartphone Invades Sprint

Maybe the HTC Hero isn’t your cup of tea, but you still want to get in on some Google Android action with Sprint. Maybe you’d prefer to have a slide-out QWERTY keyboard for busting out those emails and text messages. If that’s the case, you may want to take a minute to consider the newly revealed Samsung Moment.
We once knew about this upcoming phone as the Samsung InstinctQ, but it seems that the Korean electronics giant has decided to drop that branding. The Samsung Moment, as you can imagine, comes equipped with Google Android, giving you access to the Android Market and more.
You like nice displays? You’ve got one here in the form of a 3.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen. That should be great for online videos, web surfing, and maybe even a game or three. Other highlights include the 800MHz processor, full QWERTY keyboard, and 3.2 megapixel camera.

Go Global with Samsung i350 Intrepid from Sprint


Clearly going after the same market currently occupied by all sorts of BlackBerry devices is the newly announced Samsung SPH-i350 Intrepid. This QWERTY-packing smartphone gets powered by Windows Mobile 6.5 and it’s being destined for the shelves of Sprint, sitting right alongside the Samsung Moment and HTC Hero.
Helping to attract the corporate market is the inclusion of quad-band GSM support for use on international networks. This way, you can take your Sprint phone and use it everywhere from London to Hong Kong. Naturally, the Samsung Intrepid also handles the 3G EV-DO Rev.A thing while at home with Sprint.
That may look like any old 2.5-inch QVGA display, but that’s actually a touchscreen in there. You also get the aforementioned QWERTY keyboard, as well as a 3.2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, Mobile Office, WiFi, Internet Explorer 6, and Adobe Flash Support. Access to the Windows Marketplace for Mobile rounds out the package.

Charge All Your Gadgets, Keep Them Organized


Trying to keep your gadgets organized when you are on the road can be quite the challenge, especially since you have so many chargers to go along with so many gadgets. The super-handy Charge4All Charge Folio seems to address this very concern perfectly, fitting everything into a package no bigger than a paperback book. You know, those things that came before the Kindle.
The Charge4All Charge Folio looks like one of those CD wallets or perhaps the folio that you got with your car’s user manual and maintenance schedule. Inside, you get a power strip down the spine that can then be used to charge all sorts of doo-dahs.
There are five ports in all: iPhone/iPod, mini-USB, micro-USB, Samsung, and LG. I don’t know how much mileage you’ll get out of those last two unless you happen to have a Korean cell phone, but this is still quite the handy little solution. Slip it into your messenger bag and keep everything in one place.
The Charge4All Charge Folio retails for a touch under $50, so it’s not the most expensive cell phone charger on the block either.

Around the same time that the first Apple iPhone hit the scene, we were also treated to the HTC Touch. Powered by Windows Mobile, it looked like a via


Around the same time that the first Apple iPhone hit the scene, we were also treated to the HTC Touch. Powered by Windows Mobile, it looked like a viable alternative to the handset coming out of Cupertino, but it ultimately ended up playing second or even third fiddle. Well, it seems like it’s back again.
I don’t see any official confirmation one way or the other, but I’d say that the “new” T-Mobile Tap looks a heck of a lot like the original HTC Touch. You get a very similar touchscreen display and the hardware-based buttons underneath look very similar as well.
It’s possible that this is truly a new phone, more or less, since I do not think that this phone is running on Windows Mobile 5. Instead, it seems to be loaded with a regular “dumbphone” or “feature phone” operating system instead.
Specs include a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, web browser, media player, GPS, and that large touchscreen. The T-Mobile Tap will be made available in berry and midnight blue in time for the holiday shopping season.

Fido Reaches Back to 2005 to Find Nokia 6682

You know that legislation that was passed requiring wireless carriers in Canada to provide at least one phone in their lineup that is well-suited for the visually impaired? Whereas big brother Rogers gets the Nokia E71 for this purpose, it seems that the poor visually-impaired dog is getting something much, much older.
To satisfy the requirements laid out by the government, Fido has decided to launch the “all new” Nokia 6682. Does this phone look familiar to you? It should, because the Nokia 6682 was initially released way back in 2005 and has since been discontinued. I guess Fido found some old stock, because it is back.
Just like the modified Nokia E71 for Rogers, the Nokia 6682 for Fido will come preloaded with TALKS, an application that changes text messages and other on-screen content into speech. This is supposed to help people who have trouble seeing

AT&T Garmin nuvifone G60 Gets Reviewed

This phone has taken far too long to reach the market and it’s already lost some of that initial shine even before it hit store shelves. Even so, it seems that the Garmin nuvifone G60 was worth the wait, because Mobileburn is saying that it could offer the best navigation experience on a cell phone today.
You get all the usual bells and whistles associated with most touchscreen smartphones these days, so you can expect to get a camera, mobile web access, a virtual QWERTY keyboard with predictive text, and so on. But what about the navigation?
Since we are coming from GPS-centric Garmin, we should expect the best turn-by-turn GPS navigation experience on a cell phone and it seems that Garmin has delivered on that front. Just as the iPhone was originally seen as a cool iPod and not so big on the “phone” side, the Garmin nuvifone suffers a similar fate.
Mobileburn concludes that it is a great GPS device, but only an “OK” phone. The rest of the features and specs run par for the course, for the most part, and that makes it hard to justify the higher price point. The browsing speeds are slow, the battery life is short, and there’s no car charger included.
Hope on over through the source link below to read the full review.

Samsung Giorgio Armani with Windows Mobile 6.5


What do you get when you borrow some styling inspiration from the Nokia N97 mini and a little more inspiration for the HTC Touch Pro 2? What if you were to add in a huge dash of prestigious class and slap on a clothing label? It seems you end up with the new Giorgio Armani phone from Samsung.
This isn’t the first time that Samsung and Armani have teamed up to produce a premium handset, so the naming scheme could prove to be a little confusing. The design style of the smartphone will also make you do a double-take too.
Powered by Windows Mobile 6.5, the Samsung Giorgio Armani smartphone gets a large 3.56-inch OLED display, a powerful 5-megapixel camera, a full QWERTY keyboard, 8GB of internal memory, WiFi, and GPS. You’ll also notice that the display goes on a tilt, just like the AT&T Tilt 2 and Nokia N97.
Naturally, there’s a premium to go with that Armani branding. On the bright side, there are no Swarovski crystals to jack up the price even further, but do expect to drop over $1000 to get your hands on this Beverly Hills-worthy handset.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Palm US announces Pixi while UK waits for Pre


The second Palm webOS device has been announced Stateside, while we still wait for O2 to get the Pre into stores. The Pixi is a more traditional 'candybar' style phone with QWERTY keyboard.
The second webOS device is mostly a redesigned form factor, but Palm has added some new features, such as integration of LinkedIn and Yahoo! to complement existing services like Facebook.
The rubberized, scratch resistant, back cover is changeable - and a range of limited-edition covers will be available following the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York from the 10-17th September.
Palm has made it clear that they're not giving any indication of a release in Europe yet, but they do plan to do so and will announce more details later.

T-Mobile plan huge non-EU roaming price hikes

At the same time as everyone was talking about the proposed merger/joint venture between T-Mobile and Orange, news was coming out about a series of eye-watering price hikes for users roaming outside the EU, taking effect in late October.
With the EU introducing price capping on voice, text and data charges when roaming within member states, What Mobile has become used to the fact that roaming costs outside the EU are usually increased to compensate.
T-Mobile has now jumped on the price-increase bandwagon, with new costs that take effect from the 26th of October.
Calls made or received in Andorra, Faroe Islands or Switzerland will rise from 55p to £1 per minute.
USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand will rise from between 55-75p per minute to a new cost of £1.20 per minute.
Other countries, with charges ranging from £1.30-£1.40 per minute will rise to £1.50 per minute.

Motorola launches DEXT Android phone with MOTOBLUR



Motorola is back - and it's Android that is likely to save the day। The first handset (of four, if all the rumours on the Internet are true) also sees the launch of MOTOBLUR - a service that will collect content from a range of online services, including Facebook and Twitter, seamlessly and instantly।


This is it - the DEXT (released in the USA tonight as the Cliq). It's the first Android handset from Motorola, and could well get the handset manufacturer out of the wilderness. No, scratch that, WILL get them out of the wilderness.
The stylish looking device has an impressive spec, from the integrated QWERTY keyboard to the 5-megapixel autofocus camera first seen on the ZN5 cameraphone. There's also the usual array of features, like GPS, Wi-Fi and 3G.
But the most interesting aspect, and one that wasn't widely reported before the launch, is MOTOBLUR. The concept is simple enough, and isn't totally unique, but the video below shows how easy it is to collect content from a range of online services and social networking sites - without having to worry about who used what.
Like the INQ Mobile handsets, the DEXT will also keep contacts updated with status updates and profile pictures, and collect details from a range of sources - including your personal and private emails. Naturally, the DEXT is geared up to work with any, or all, of the Google services on offer; mail, maps, chat etc.
The DEXT will be launching exclusively in the UK on Orange, with exact details on availability and pricing to be revealed at Motorola's UK event on the 15th September. We will be there and you'll be able to read more on the website then - and in the next issue of the magazine on sale 1st October.

LG announces first Android phone; LG GW620


LG has announced its first Android device, an upgraded handset based on the design of the, non-Android, LG GW520. It will be released in Q4 of 2009.
Like the GW520, the GW620 is aimed primarily at first-time smartphone customers. It is one of many Android powered devices LG intends to bring to market throughout 2010.
The phone has a 3-inch touchscreen with slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The rest of the specs are due to be announced soon - but we suspect that they will match, or improve upon, the specs of the non-smartphone GW520 on which it is based

Basic4ppc Celebrates 1 Million Downloads!!

Erel Uziel founder and CEO of Basic4ppc said: We are glad the hard work is finally paying off. Now that Microsoft is due to launch the mobile market place this autumn. Basic4ppc will be an ideal tool for developers and small businesses who want to sell their original application online. Uziel also mentioned that this is due to the fact that the distribution of applications developed in Basic4ppc environment is royalty free without any restrictions."

Ruggedized Windows Mobile devices

One of the major advantages of Windows Mobile as a technology platform is the large amount of choice it affords in terms of both software and hardware options. Microsoft has actively fostered a lively ecosystem of developers, system integrators, chip manufacturers, device manufacturers, mobile operators, and others to meet the specific goals of end-users.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Mobile 4 Dev.


There are nearly four billion mobile subscribers, more than half the world's population. New phones cost as little as USD$20 and require very little education or technical literacy to operate. And with users in developing countries now outnumbering those in the developed countries, development practitioners and social entrepreneurs are beginning to leverage the power of mobile technology to reach development objectives. Sophisticated devices and data services remain most accessible in the wealthiest countries, but usage in the developing world is significantly altering business and social behaviors around the world.

Nokia challenges RIM..


Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop told reporters that Nokia is currently the world's largest smartphone manufacturer with 200 million global customers.

"Today's announcement will enable us to expand Microsoft Office Mobile to Nokia smartphone owners worldwide and allow them to collaborate on Office documents from anywhere, as part of our strategy to provide the best productivity experience across the PC, phone and browser," said Elop.

Panasonic, NEC unveil 9 Linux phoness


The focus of the cellphone market has been shifting to software development since Google Inc and Apple Inc entered the mobile market in the past two years, with phone vendors and operators increasingly looking for open source alternatives such as LiMo to cut costs.

The market for software platforms on cellphones is led by Nokia's Symbian operating system, but it has lost much ground over the last year to Apple and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Skype to hit mobile phones this year

At the Voice On the Net (VON) conference in Toronto, Skype Technologies co-founder and CEO Niklas Zennstrom reported that a mobile version of Skype will be available this year.

Skype is a free global telephony application that allows for VoIP communications, it currently runs on Mac OSX, Windows and Pocket PC, Skype plans to release a version for Embedded Linux, Symbian or Windows Mobile devices later this year.

“We will encourage hardware manufacturers to deploy Skype on their devices.” said Zennstrom. SkypeMobile for mobile devices (our unofficial name for the new Skype) will be targeted to hardware manufacturers for integration into new dual-mode (GPRS + WiFi) mobile devices once made available to carriers. Our guess is that whichever manufacturer will adopt Skype first is the platform SkypeMobile will be released for.

AT&T Getting Touch Pro2 as HTC Tilt 2

It seems like everyone wants an invite to this party, because just about everyone is picking up some variation on this possibly popular smartphone. You may already know about this Windows Mobile handset as the HTC Touch Pro2 and how it follows up on the HTC Touch Pro.

Vodafone Selling BlackBerry Curve 8520 for Free

Want to get your hands on the hottest new smartphone coming out of Waterloo, Ontario? Want to try your hand at that new trackpad that replaces the iconic trackball? Want to do it for free? Vodafone sure thinks so and that’s why it’s ready to give you the BlackBerry 8520 for the whopping price of free.

We had already known that Vodafone UK would be picking up this new BlackBerry, but we didn’t know too much about pricing. Over the weekend, the BlackBerry 8520 hit the retail channels for Vodafone and it came with a very pleasant surprised for cash-strapped smartphone enthusiasts.

There is a catch, of course, because it’s not like they’re just throwing boxes of these things into the crowd and hoping that the recipients sign up for a plan with them. Instead, you’ll need to waltz over to a Vodafone UK location and sign up for a monthly plan of at least 25 GBP.