Mobile Phone - News & Reviews

It seems that it won't be too long before mobile phone carrier Verizon Wireless will come to the market with the next-generation BlackBerry Storm and with the already anticipated BlackBerry Tour, at least this is what Lowell McAdam, Verizon president/CEO, stated during a Barclays Capital conference. In addition, the operator is also preparing for the release of an Android-powered mobile phone, as well as that of the newly launched Palm Pre, all within the next six months.

“Over the next six months or so,” Lowell McAdam said, “you will see devices like the Palm Pre and the Cousin on our network from Palm. You will see a second-generation [BlackBerry] Storm. You will see a new device we call the Tour from BlackBerry as well. That is an upscale of any other QWERTY-based devices that we have from BlackBerry today.” According to Consumer Electronics Net, he also stated, “You'll see Motorola back into our portfolio. We feel very good about the progress that the Motorola team has made. And, yes, you're going to see Android devices as well.”

Although Verizon seems determined to start offering the Palm Pre on its airwaves during the next six months, Sprint has stated recently that the handset will be sold through its stores exclusively for a longer period of time. As many of you might already know, the handset is already available with the operator since June 6 at a price tag of $199.99 with a two-year contract. Verizon, as well as AT&T, have been reported before to also plan on launching the handset, though it seems that this might not happen before the end of the ongoing year.

As for the BlackBerries that should reach Verizon's offering in the near future, earlier reports showed that we might see the Tour launched somewhere in August (though there are some who expect it even earlier), while the second Storm device should come in the September-October time frame. Since both mobile phones have been already confirmed, both by their maker, Research in Motion, and Verizon, all that remains to be done from now on is wait for the official release dates to be unveiled.

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Korean handset maker Samsung Electronics unveiled the Pixon12, the first mobile phone with a 12-megapixel camera. The company said the Pixon12 will boast a resolution increase from the original 8-megapixel Pixon.

The handset will feature a 3.1-inch AMOLED screen with touch-based camera functions to let users tap the display to focus and track. It also includes a 28mm wide-angle lens and Xenon flash and records 720 x 480 px video at 30 frames per second.

With high-speed HSUPA and Wi-Fi access, users can upload photos to popular social networking sites like Facebook and Flickr. Samsung said the new Pixon12 model would go on sale at end of June in European countries and other regions in August.

Full specs just came in: 150MB of on-board storage (up to 16GB MicroSD expansion); quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, HSPA 900/2100MHz; Xenon + Power LED flash; 720 x 480 pixel videos at 30fps; internal GPS, and FM radio with RDS.

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The Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia has gone live with support pages for its Nokia N86 8MP mobile phone. The handset is a rather unique device coming from the company, as it includes an 8-megapixel photo snapper with Carl Zeiss optics, which
should enable users to take high-quality pictures using one of the most amazing camera phones on the market.

The Nokia N86 8MP might be officially announced in the near future, both due to the fact that the support pages are now live, and because it has been recently spotted at FCC. As many of you might remember, Nokia announced the worldwide availability of its N97 high-end device only a few weeks after the handset was spotted at FCC and its web page went live, so the same might happen with the Nokia N86 8MP as well.

In case the Finnish maker follows the same pattern as with the N97, we should see the N86 8MP become official (if not available) in the following few weeks. The new mobile phone should retail for about $530 when available, which does not seem too pricey after all. Compared to the N97, which sells for $700 in full retail, the N86 8MP should be accessible to more users out there. The mobile phone also comes to the market with a 2.6-inch OLED screen, a dual-sliding form factor, instant access to the movie player, music player or photo viewer aGPS, FM transmitter, and more.

The main focus is on the high-quality camera (as it happens with other similar devices, such as the 12-megapixel Samsung Pixon12), which includes enough technologies and features to leverage the user experience. Hopefully, the handset will indeed make it into the wild in the near future, and will also become available in a variety of markets, just as the N97 will.

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WWDC '09 was the time and place Apple chose to unveil “the fastest and most powerful iPhone yet,” the iPhone 3G S. According to the Cupertino-based company, the next-gen device sports improved speed and performance, with longer battery life, a 3-megapixel autofocus camera, easy-to-use video recording and hands-free voice control.

“iPhone 3G S is the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet and we think people will love the incredible new features including autofocus camera, video recording and the freedom of voice control,” Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, said. “And with a breakthrough price of $99, we are thrilled to get iPhone 3G into the hands of even more users who want them.”

During the official unveiling of the new iPhone 3G S at yesterday’s keynote address delivered by Phil Schiller, the company revealed that iPhone 3G S would ship with iPhone OS 3.0, which wasn’t at all surprising. Touted by Apple as “the world’s most advanced mobile operating system,” the Mac maker enumerates over 100 new features, such as Cut, Copy and Paste, MMS (available later this year), Spotlight Search, landscape keyboard, a built-in digital compass for instant navigation, as well as built-in Nike + iPod support. The new iPhone 3G S also supports 7.2 Mbps HSDPA “for faster networking speeds,” Apple claims.

Furthermore, iPhone 3G S includes the Mac OS X-specific VoiceOver capability, which provides new accessibility features. The function is described as a screen reader that speaks out on-screen text, “enabling visually impaired users to make calls, read email, browse web pages, play music and run applications,” Apple says. VoiceOver is also a feature introduced with the third-generation iPod shuffle.

Starting at $199, iPhone 3G S comes in a 16GB and 32GB form. With this announcement, Apple also dropped the price on the existing iPhone 3G to $99 for the 8GB model, calling the move “a huge milestone for the high-end smartphone market.”

Visit Apple here to learn more about iPhone 3G S.

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Nokia N97 flagship phone, an advanced smartphone with a 3.5-inch touch display and full QWERTY keyboard, providing an 'always open' window to favorite social networking sites.

The N97 introduces the concept of 'social location.' With built-in A-GPS sensors and an electronic compass, it can automatically update social networks with real-time information.

The 16:9 widescreen display can be personalized with frequently updated widgets, suited for browsing the web, streaming Flash videos or playing games. Both the physical QWERTY and virtual touch input ensure convenient blogging, chatting, posting, sending texts or emailing.

Nokia N97 supports up to 48GB of storage, including 32GB of on-board memory, expandable with a 16GB microSD card for music, media and more. It comes with excellent music capabilities, full support for the Nokia Music Store and continuous playback time of up to 1.5 days. The N97 also has a 5.0-megapixel camera with high-quality Carl Zeiss optics, 16:9 and DVD quality video capture, and support for services like Share on Ovi for immediate sharing over HSDPA and WLAN.

"From the desktop to the laptop and now to your pocket, the Nokia N97 is the most powerful, multi-sensory mobile computer in existence," said Jonas Geust, Vice President of Nokia. "With the Nokia N97, Nseries leads the charge in helping to transform the Internet into your Internet."

The Nokia N97 is expected to begin shipping in the first half of 2009 at an estimated retail price of $700 before taxes or subsidies.

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Running Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro, the MAX 4G includes HTC’s proprietary TouchFLO 3D user interface. This allows users to operate many of the features of this smartphone by touching the 3.8-inch, WVGA (800 by 480 pixel) display with their fingertips.

It's a tri-band GSM phone, but with WiMAX service naturally there's no need for 3G. The device does include Wi-Fi b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, though.

Unlike many other HTC models, the MAX 4G includes a a 3.5 mm headphone jack, which makes it easier to use this device with standard headsets.

Other features include a GPS receiver, front- and rear-facing cameras, and an accelerometer. Overall, this device is 114 mm by 63 mm by 14 mm. It weighs 151 grams with battery.

The HTC MAX 4G has a 1500 mAh battery. This should give it 420 minutes of talk-time over a GSM connection, or 230 minutes with a VoIP connection. Standby-time should be 350 hours with a GSM connection or 50 hours with a VoIP connection.

There is a 5 megapixel autofocus camera on the back and a secondary 0.3 megapixel video call camera on the front, and the HTC MAX 4G has an FM radio too.

The MAX 4G has 8 GB of memory, 256 MB of RAM and a 528 MHz processor ESM7206A Qualcomm. At this moment, the Price of this handset is 28,900 rubles (about € 840 / £ 670 / $ 1000).

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The Palm Pre is the new 3G smart phone which was announced today. This smart phone is completed with the multi-touch screen and full vertical slide-out QWERTY keyboard and accelerometer.

It has a 3.1-inch size display with 320-by-480 resolution and it is Wi-Fi enabled. The Pre is also completed with the GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 with stereo support, and 8GB of storage.

you can also find the 3.0-megapixel camera with LED flash and depth and field DSP software. That is not all. The Pre is also has high speed USB 2.0 support as well as a standard 3.5-mm headphone jack. So, what else you want to find in this great and excellent device?

The Pre is designed elegant and comfortable for you. It is also smaller than the iPhone and the other smart phones. It is only 4.8 ounces.

The Palm Pre is the most interesting phone since the iPhone and outshines Apple's product in many areas. It will take advantage of Apple's stubbornness of not using a physical keyboard, which probably will damage Apple in the long run. The Palm Pre is equally, although differently, beautiful than the iPhone. It has a great user interface, a better camera too! Rumors said it will be launched on next March 15!

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The new Helio Ocean 2 mobile phone, which just has been unboxed, is a dual-slider QWERTY phone with a 2.6-inch QVGA LCD display, a 2 Megpaixel camera, integrated media player, Bluetooth YouTube support, and GPS-enabled Google Maps.

The Ocean 2 supports 3G connectivity with a HTML browser. It offers one-click access to Facebook, MySpace, YouTube services.

You can also find a File Viewer for editing MicrosoftWorks, Excel and PowerPoint files. It supports microSD cards and has a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The phone will be priced at $149.

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Nokia 6700 Classic, an elegant handheld that follows-up the Nokia 6300, which was among Nokia's top sellers for many quarters.

The Nokia 6700 Classic is crafted with a stainless steel body and full metal keymat.

Upgrading its predecessor, the 6300, the 6700 integrates an improved 5.0-megapixel camera with LED flash, auto-focus and full-screen view finder.

Conversations can be heard loud and clear with Uplink Noise Cancellation (UNC) technology.

A built-in A-GPS receiver uses Nokia Maps to give turn-by-turn directions to find any destination.

The Nokia 6700 Classic will be released in the second quarter and have an estimated retail price of $310.

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Nokia 6303 Classic, a mid-level stainless steel successor to the slim hit Nokia 6300.

Nokia's 6303 has either a stainless steel or black matt cover. It features a large 2.2-inch screen and 3.2-megapixel auto-focus camera with dual LED flash and 8x zoom to capture photos and videos. Users can also listen to music with a built-in MP3 player or tune into the radio. The handset is pre-loaded Nokia Maps for turn-by-turn GPS navigation.

"Our new arrival shares the same 'DNA' as its predecessor and we believe that it will be one of our best selling devices in 2009," said Soren Petersen, Senior Vice President at Nokia.

* Capture special moments with the 3.2-megapixel auto-focus camera, dual LED flash, and 8x digital zoom
* Fast Internet access to check information, make bookings, and stay connected to friends and family while on the go
* Pre-loaded Nokia Maps help find the way around the corner and around the world
* LIsten to music on the built-in MP3 player, or tune in to the radio for the latest news and entertainment

The Nokia 6303 Classic will be released in the second quarter and have an estimated retail price of $178.

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The W715 is a compact slider with a metal finish. W715 is a GPS-enabled music phone with turn-by-turn pedestrian or driving navigation.

It features a TrackID application to recognize unknown music tracks, SensMe to match the music to the mood, and Shake Control to change songs with the flick of a wrist.

The W715 also has the same excellent sound quality as the W980, rated 'best audio experience' in independent tests.

It has a built-in 3.2-megapixel camera to capture photos and Wi-Fi connectivity to upload them to social networking sites.

Sony Ericsson W715 will be available in Galactic Black, and Luxury Silver. Country availability will be announced later.

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The Sony Ericsson C510a is an affordable camera phone with a focus on camera features. It has a built-in 3.2-megapixel camera with auto-focus that can detect a person's smile and immediately take the photo.

The C510a can also focus on up to three faces at once. Consumers can browse the photos in landscape and portrait view by simply rotating the handset, then adjust the light balance, brightness and contrast simultaneously via Photo Fix.

Users can upload videos and photos to the web or use Snapfish by HP, a preinstalled application that sends print orders from the phone to Snapfish. Quality photo prints are then delivered to the users' homes. This phone will be released on quarter 2 2009.

Sony Ericsson C510a camera Features

* Face detection focuses on people
* Smile Shutter waits for the smile to appear, and when it's there, automatically snaps the shot
* Photo light illuminates for a better picture when lighting is poor
* Rotating the phone in portrait or landscape mode and the picture follows due to the built-in accelerometer

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The new LG KP500 is a great new touch screen entertainment phone from LG which although lacks 3G, has a huge range of features which will keep you entertained for a long time. This phone is not only feature filled but it is great looking as well and offers users a stylish and sophisticated handset with fun and entertaining features. The phone is also available in several colours which mean you can enjoy a unique handset with a good range of high quality features from LG.

The phone has a great look to it and is slim line and sleek and also has a nice set of features to keep you entertained. The phone is equipped with a 3.2 mega pixel camera, media player and a whole host of other features which you can enjoy. The phone’s 3 inch touch screen display is easy to use and the phone comes with a stylus so you shouldn’t have any difficulty accessing any of the features. The phone is also equipped with 4 built in games and you can download more at your will so you’ll really get a good range of entertainment features from this phone.

The main selling point of this phone is probably the large display which is touch screen controlled and makes the phone look and feel super stylish and funky. Touch screen phones are the big thing this year so LG have rightly created a lot of phones which are controlled using a large touch screen display and this phone is one of them. The great thing is that it’s easy to use and you’re unlikely to become frustrated with any glitches because there aren’t any.

LG have always been good at creating entertainment phones which are great looking and the KP500 is no exception. Apart from the camera and media player the phone is also equipped with an FM radio as well as Bluetooth capabilities and a document viewer. The phone could be used as a business phone because of this and the email client allows you to send and receive emails with attachments which again, is a good business feature.

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Samsung has unveiled some new colors for its Omnia Windows Mobile (WM) PDA-phone, just in time for the upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations.

The device will sport the already known black and white versions, aside from which the company also announced a red model, expected to appeal to many Chinese as they associate the color with good luck for the New Year.

According to the news on the web, Samsung has also reduced the prices of its Omnia WM device. Thus, the 8GB version is now reported to go on sale for $828 instead of $928 as it did before.

Moreover, the 16GB is stated to cost only $928, down from the previous $1,098 price tag. As for the red model, it is expected to start selling at the end of this month, but those willing to acquire the device will only be offered an 8GB model.

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According to reliable sources a large screen iPod touch device will be released in the Fall of ‘09, with a 7 or 9 inch screen. Prototypes have been seen and handled by one of the sources, and Apple is talking to OEMs in Asia now about mass production.

Apple has been experimenting internally with large form tablet devices for years, one source says, but there was concern that users wouldn’t like the device. The difference now is the iTunes app store, which has thousands of games and other applications that are perfect for a touch screen device with an accelerometer. Apple says more than 300 million applications have been downloaded since the App Store launched in July 2008. Combine the App Store, iTunes and a browser and you have one heck of a device.

About the pricing, there is still no information, the current iPod touch, with a 3.5 inch screen, starts at $229. The 32 GB model is $399. We expect the price on the larger iPod touch to be significantly higher.

Apple rumors, particularly Apple tablet rumors, tend to come and go. so we are not sure that Apple is definitely launching a large form iPod Touch. But trusted sources are saying they are currently planning to, and one source has actually held the device.

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It seems that the Armani Night Effect mobile phone developed by Samsung and Armani will get a launch this month. According to the latest news on the Web, Vodafone users from U.K. will be able to lay their hands on one of these handsets at Vodafone and Phones4u shops. The Armani Night Effect stylish cell phone comes with a 3-megapixel camera, as well as with support for microSD memory cards for external storage space.

Samsung is reported to have announced launching the Armani Night Effect and that the phone is aiming at “young consumers with active and fashionable lifestyles where music is an essential part of everyday life.” The device comes with an AMOLED display for vibrant, robust colors, and is complemented by a series of dedicated music playback buttons, as it is a music-focused mobile phone.

The design of the handset also sports a signature illuminating LED around the edge of the phone, which is said to have been “inspired by the illuminating architecture of Tokyo's urban landscape.” Other features of the device include a 3.5mm jack, soft touch finish, and reinforced glass display, not to mention that the Emporio Armani logo “in metal is prominently adorned on the back with a hidden external speaker,” which will surely appeal to all those label-lovers out there.

“Those who love Emporio Armani also often love nightlife,” Giorgio Armani said. “They like going out in the city, after dark, when the bright lights of a modern metropolis illuminate the streets. For this young, cool, and social crowd, the ‘NIGHT EFFECT’ mobile is the perfect accessory. It allows them to keep in touch with their friends; it looks modern and chic, and glows when active; and it has been created specifically for easy management and use of music files.”

No price information on the Samsung Armani Night Effect has been unveiled up to this point in time.

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The slim BlackBerry Curve 8350i has a sleek black exterior, a full QWERTY keyboard, a convenient trackball and an internal antenna for a smooth, clean design. Built-in Wi-Fi lets users browse the Internet and send and receive emails quickly. It runs technology to provide International push-to-talk service for up to 20 participants.

It has BlackBerry "push" email for efficient corporate and personal email delivery. Robust messaging capabilities support popular instant messaging, multimedia messaging (MMS) and text messaging services.

Integrated GPS has step-by-step directions, navigation and local search as well as access to thousands of third-party applications for jobs such as dispatch operations and fleet and workforce management.

An advanced media player lets users listen to music, watching videos and viewing pictures. A 2.0-megapixel digital camera has digital zoom, flash and video recording.

Bluetooth 2.0 supports handsfree use with headsets, car kits, stereo headsets and other Bluetooth peripherals. For more storage, users can buy expandable microSD memory of up to 16GB.

"The BlackBerry Curve 8350i smartphone is designed for customers who require instant convenient push-to-talk services to communicate with friends and family as well as with employees, customers and suppliers," said Danny Bowman, President of Nextel Direct Connect. "The BlackBerry Curve 8350i is a premium smartphone that strikes a perfect balance between performance and usability." It will be available in retail stores on January 11, 2009.

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Sony Ericsson launch the W705, a Walkman phone with Clear Bass, Clear Stereo and premium headphones for audio clarity and rich and natural sound, and Wi-Fi connectivity to connect to hotspots.

Its metal finish combines with a large 2.4-inch screen in an elegant and compact slider. The 3.2-megapixel camera snaps photos and uploads them using Wi-Fi to social networking sites.

The W705 includes popular Walkman features such as the music recognition application TrackID, SensMe, for matching any mood to the music and Shake control to change tracks with the flick of a hand.

PlayNow arena provides unique themes and wallpapers, ringtones, free content and DRM-free music tracks and TrackID charts from around the world.

The Sony Ericsson W705 will be available in selected markets from Q1 2009 in the colors Luxury Silver and Passionate Red.

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