Unwired View

Red iPhone Coming for the Holidays?

Brad Molen — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:59:35 +0000

The Mac blogs have been all abuzz today about a rumor that Apple will release a red version of the iPhone 3G this holiday season in support of (PRODUCT) RED.

This program donates part of the profits to help fight AIDS in Africa, and the addition of the iPhone to the program would certainly help raise a significant amount of cash for them.

However this rumor has come from an unconfirmed source and there is no way of knowing how true it is. But, we all thrive on rumors around here so let’s keep hoping!

Besides, Apple would only boost sales by introducing more colors for its phone. Who knows how many people are not buying the iPhone because it’s not red? Time to catch that demographic, Apple.

via MacBlogz

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Sprint to Sell its Towers, Considering Sale of Nextel

Brad Molen — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:36:48 +0000

Today Sprint-Nextel announced plans to sell nearly all of its cellphone towers to a firm called TowerCo. Such a move will help generate extra cash that may help Sprint recover from its recent financial struggles.

The number of towers is near 3300 and will leave Sprint owning a rather small number of towers. This deal will generate around $670 million in cash.

Sprint will still be using the towers, as TowerCo will lease out use of these towers to carriers.

It is a nice attempt for Sprint to work toward paying off debt, however the debt in question is around $24 billion. Sure, $700 million or so will start them on the right path, but Sprint has a long way to go.

But, according to the WSJ article, Sprint is mulling a potential sale or spinoff of its Nextel unit. The carrier has begun to look around for would-be buyers. A sale of Nextel may be a great way to get out of debt and get a large monkey off Sprint’s back.

via WSJ

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What’s cooking in Samsung R&D labs?

Staska — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:17:11 +0000

If you look at the number of form factors, phone control elements and variety of mobile handsets themselves, Samsung is probably the most active experimenter in these areas.

At least it seems to have the biggest amount of different handsets, in different shapes, form factors and control elements such as optical joystics, touchpads, touchscreens, etc;

I don’t know if it’s good or bad for the user, who sometimes may feel overwhelmed by too many choices. But Samsung ain’t gonna stop.

I just sifted through a number of patent applications that Samsung has produced recently, and found quite a few more interesting approaches to cellphone design, that might make it into a live handsets in a few years.

Let’s start with a patent simply named “Mobile phone“:

As you can see, it describes a slider handset with a twist.

It can be a simple full touch screen phone just like Samsung Omnia i900 or F490, but it has many more goodies beneath the screen. A numeric keypad can slide out from when you need to dial a number. Then there’s another key layer beneath that, which, with a little twisting and turning can transform your phone into a full fledged communicator or gaming console.

Another interesting handset design describes a clamshell phone with dual display/touch screens:

Instead of the numeric keypad, the bottom part of the clamshell contains secondary display with touchscreen functionality. All the control buttons are made into a softkeys and can change depending on the mode the device is currently in. I think, that with some little haptics magic it can be made to work pretty well.

Of course, not everyone is awed by the recent iPhone induced craze to use the touchscreens to do everything on your mobile phone. Don’t worry, Samsung has a solution for you too:

Samsung has borrowed the idea from Art Lebedev’s Optimus Maximus, and transformed the keys on the phone keypad into a small OLED displays. This way you can have the best of the both worlds - soft keys changing their functionality and displayed info at need, while still retaining a full tactile feel of the physical keypad.

And the last interesting device I wanted to talk about is a mobile phone with flexible display:

Whenever flexible displays become available and reach acceptable quality, this approach might allow you to have a mobile phone and a mighty multimedia device with a really big screen in your pocket. The picture above is more or less self explanatory. In a closed position - it’s a normal mobile phone. But when you open it - the flexible display stretches out, and you can have as much screen real estate as you like.

I have no idea how many of these ideas will make it out of Samsung’s R&D labs. But quite a few of them look feasible and could be implemented real quick.

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Samsung INNOV8 (a.k.a. 8510) announced, gets release date

bogdan — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:52:31 +0000

It appears that Samsung’s 8 megapixel phone - Samung i8510 we told you about couple of weeks ago, will beat Sony Ericsson’s C905, at least in terms of release date.

It has been unveiled today during World Cyber Game (WCG) 2008 held in China and from now on will be known as Samsung INNOV8 8510. (Samsung “Innoveit”, as I guess it will be pronounced, sounds much cooler then generic 8510i)

8 megapixel Samsung Innov8, running on Symbian S60 OS will be released in Europe next month, with worldwide sales starting in September.

Samsung Innov8 specs include:

Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz), dual-band WCDMA (900/2100MHz)
Symbian 9.3 S60 3rd Edition FP2
2.8″ 16m color QVGA TFT display
Built-in GPS receiver and accelerometer
WiFi
8 megapixel autofocus camera with image stabilization and face, smile, and blink detection
Video recording QVGA @ 120 fps or VGA @ 30fps with full editing suite onboard
16GB internal storage with microSD card slot for further expansion
Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
106.5 x 53.9 x 17.2 mm (3.9? x 1.9? x 0.6?)
1200mAh battery

No word on the Samsung Innov8 price yet, but it is rumored to be around 780 euro. Quality and tons of features come at a price, don’t they?

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S60-powered Samsung i8510 Innov8 makes an appearance in NYC

Dax — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:30:05 +0000

The last time we heard about it, the Samsung i8510 had been somewhere between vaporware and an unbelievably powerful device, but now this sleek slider looks to give Nokia and all its S60 devices a run for their money under the clever name of Innov8. The 8-megapixel shooter was shown off recently at an event in New York City and has all that was rumored and much more.

MobileBurn was lucky enough to spend some quality time with this powerful cell phone and judging by their mini-review, they sure walked away pretty impressed. While the 8-megapixel lens may be the highlight of the device, other camera-centric features like smile, face, and blink detection, panorama mode, and image stabilization coupled with 120fps QVGA or 30fps VGA quality recording should put this right on top of the other cameraphones in the market.

The Samsung Innov8 is designed to work on quad-band GSM (850/1800 and 900/1900 MHz) and dual-band WCDMA (900/2100 MHz) networks. Sadly missing is US 3G support, but the device is still a long way from release, so we might see one having just that in the future. Samsung has made a wise decision by including a powerful 1200 mAh battery, which should be more than enough to watch your favorite DivX videos on its big 2.8-inch QVGA display or connect to any DLNA-certified device. Here is the complete spec sheet for you to drool over:

Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz), dual-band WCDMA (900/2100MHz)
Symbian 9.3 S60 3rd Edition FP2
2.8? 16m color QVGA TFT display
Built-in GPS receiver and accelerometer
WiFi
8 megapixel autofocus camera with image stabilization and face, smile, and blink detection
Video recording QVGA @ 120 fps or VGA @ 30fps with full editing suite onboard
16GB internal storage with microSD card slot for further expansion
Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
106.5 x 53.9 x 17.2 mm (3.9? x 1.9? x 0.6?)
1200mAh battery

There are no details on a release date or pricing yet, but if you want to ogle at some pictures and a hands-on video, click on over to MobileBurn.

UPDATE: 8megapixel Samsung Innov8 i8510 is official now and will become available in August. The price is still a mystery though but with a release date this close, we will know soon enough.

Read [Symbian Guru]

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Sony Ericsson Walkman W902, W595 and W302 video preview and live pictures

Staska — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:45:55 +0000

As you probably already know, Sony Ericsson announced 3 new Walkman phones yesterday - SE W902, W595 and W302.

And they also held a number of launch events around the world for the new handsets.

Well, we managed to sneak into one of them and play a little with all three new Walkman phones.

Not much, but enough for a short video preview of Sony Ericsson W902, W595 and W302 walkmans, and some good quality live pics of them.

So, here we go:

Sony Ericsson W902 video preview

Live pics of Sony Ericsson W902:

Sony Ericsson W595 video preview

Sony Ericsson W595 live pictures:

Sony Ericsson W302 video preview:

Sony Ericsson W302 live pics:

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LG KF300 Wine phone launched in Japan and Europe

David Gonzales — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:47:10 +0000

Mobile phone users who frequently squint at the screens of their phones will be glad to learn that LG has just launched the LG-KF300 (a.k.a. Wine Phone) to serve exactly what they need.

It comes with relatively large screen displays that allow for better viewing of users from its target market, which is individuals aged 30-40 years old.

The full spec sheet of the LG-KF300 reads:

Tri-Band GSM/GPRS/ EDGE
Main display (inside): 2.2? TFT, 240×320 px, 262K color
External display: 1.3?, TFT, 128×160px, 262K color
2Mpx camera with autofocus
10 Mb internal memory,
microSD memory card slot
Bluetooth: 2.0, USB: v1.1 (Mass Storage)
Audio: MP3/AAC/AAC+/AAC++/WMA
Video: MPEG4/H.263
Internet: WAP 2.0 / xHTML
Battery: Li-Ion 800 ??/?
Flash UI, Vector Font, FM Radio
Dimensions 98.8 x 49.5 x 16.2 mm

Launched in Japan and Europe simultaneously, the LG KF-300 comes in a clamshell form factor with features that are typical for any current-gen mobile phones: camera with image capture and video recording technology, frequently used application hotkeys and basic PIM functionalities.

Via AVING

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Motorola Ischia EM330 for China approved by FCC

David Gonzales — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:43:14 +0000

It appears that Motorola either doesn’t have the strength or the resources to pump out great phones like the Motorola ZN5 every month for the rest of their life as a company, so they work on “small stuff” every once in a while.

The upcoming Motorola EM330, a.k.a. Ischia, is an example of this, as its highlights include a VGA camera, FM radio, and Bluetooth connectivity.

Also included in the EM330’s punitive spec sheet are Push-to-talk technology, microSD card support up to 2GB and an external display.

No info on pricing for this one yet.

Via Cellphone Signal

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Trio of new Sony Ericsson Walkmans - W902, W595 and W302- announced

Brad Molen — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:37:50 +0000

Today’s the big day for Sony Ericsson. We announced not long ago they were planning on a big July 22 extravaganza related to their Walkman series of phones and we theorized which rumored phones could be leaked. We now have the official information for you!

Sony Ericsson today made the W902 “Patti”, W595 “Linda”, and W302 “Feng” Walkmans official, celebrating three years since the first Walkman phone came into being. Definitely a fitting way of celebrating, by adding more to the lineup!

Check out the stats after the pics.

Walkman W902 (pictured middle)

5 MP Camera with video recording and autofocus
Quad-band GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSDPA 2100
25 MB internal memory, includes 8 GB M2 memory stick
Exchange ActiveSync support
Scratch-resistant 2.2″ QVGA screen made with mineral glass
FM Radio
Shake control

Walkman W302 (pictured left)

Entry-level candybar
2 MP camera with video record
Quad-band GSM/EDGE, no 3G
Compact metal finish and slim 10.5 mm width

Walkman W595 (pictured right)

3.2 mp camera
Quadband GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSDPA 2100
Includes 2 gb M2 card
Shake control
Video calling in certain markets

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Samsung i740 officially launched

Staska — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:29:44 +0000

Few weeks ago we told you that Samsung i740 Windows Mobile 6.1 GPS enabled 2.5G smartphone is coming soon.

Well, it didn’t take long for it to get official. At least in Ukraine.

Except for the lack of 3G connectivity, Samsung i740 is a pretty cool smartphone.

It comes with 3.2 megapixel camera, big 2.8″ QVGA display, built-in GPS sensor, FM radio, optical joystick and other goodies.

And Samsung i740 has the looks too:

Full Samsung i740 specs include:

Tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 connectivity
Windows Mobile 6.1 OS
3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus
2.8″ 320×240 QVGA, 262K color TFT display
FM Radio
GPS Navigation
USB 2. and Bluetooth A2DP
150 MB of user memory
microSD memory card slot
1500 mAh battery
Dimensions: 107×59x13.9 mm

Samsung i740 will price will be somewhere around 285 Euro

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Japanese iPhone 3G takes photos loudly to deter vouyeurs

David Gonzales — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:24:30 +0000

Apple is being a responsible mobile phone maker as it leaves the camera shutter sound enabled in the iPhone 3G even when in silent mode. This is to stop vouyeurs from taking upskirts and downblouses with spy-like aptitude and further prevent the spread of dirty photos on the Internet.

The camera shutter sound on the first-gen iPhone is turned off when in silent mode, but Apple took matters into their own hands with the release of the iPhone 3G. This is a feature that’s available only in Japanese iPhones. So anyone with a bad idea can wreak havoc elsewhere in the world.

However the iPhone only has a punitive 2 megapixel camera. It does not have an autofocus feature and not even a flash. So even if naughty users tried to score some upskirts with the iPhone, they’d have to be in a compromising position to snap some “good enough” pictures.

But you know what they say, if there’s a will, there’s a way, so even though Apple has done what it can on its part, this type of behavious doesn’t look like it’ll stop any time soon.

Nobilog Via Cult of Mac

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Motorola ZN5 coming to T-Mobile in Q4 2008

David Gonzales — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:12:40 +0000

The 5-megapixel Kodak camera supplemented Motorola ZN5 will be coming to T-Mobile in Q4 2008. The ZN5 is only one of a few new phones to be added to T-Mobile’s handset lineup.

As mentioned in earlier reports, the Motorola ZN5 will have features like Wi-Fi, 3.5mm headphone jack, TV-out feature and UMA support. Other than that it runs on the Montavista Linux 2.6.1 operating system, and has a 500MHz processor to take care of your computing needs.

It’s lack of 3G is definitely a deal-breaker for some, but if you care more about how sharp your cameraphone photos come out, then this is quite the right phone for your. And since the Motorola ZN5 is only the first to come out in Motorola’s new Zine multimedia lineup, you can expect to see much better models to be released in the future.

Via Cellphone Signal

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First screenshots of Nokia’s upcoming S60 Touch UI leaked ui

David Gonzales — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:04:11 +0000

Care to see how the VGA screens of future touch-based Nokia devices would look like. Here are a few screenshots.

While the screenshots don’t really provide more details about the S60 Touch UI, one thing that’s certain is that there will only be minor changes to the existing one. The options look very familiar and exactly like what you would expect to see from any Nokia device. In fact most people would probably take this as a custom theme for current S60 devices, or something.

In this screenshot of the settings menu in portrait mode, we see three prominent buttons that link to widely used commands on current S60 devices. The first one is a button for the menu, the second one for the home screen, and the third looks like it’s designated for the keypad.

In this screenshot of the home screen, meanwhile, a fourth hotkey is added, and it looks like a button for manual UI rotation. This could mean that the first touchscreen Nokia (Nokia 5800 Tube) could come without an accelerometer, but then again we aren’t exactly sure.

It’s hard to say when the first touchscreen Nokia is going to come out, anyway, so I guess we’ll all still just have to wait.

Mobile Royale Via Symbian Freak

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How to tether the iPhone 3G and browse the web on your laptop

David Gonzales — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:58:23 +0000

It may be against your carrier’s terms of use, but tethering the iPhone 3G is a great way to hit the Web while on the road. It was great for the first-gen iPhone with EDGE, but it’s even better now with 3G connectivity.

First, you’re going to need an iPhone 3G that’s been jailbroken, and two things called 3Proxy and Terminal, plus a laptop of course.

To jailbreak your iPhone use the recently released PwnageTool for Macs. Then when you’re finished with the jailbreak, dig through Cydia to install 3Proxy and Terminal on the iPhone.

There’s a very detailed step-by-step how-to written on Nate True’s blog, so I won’t serve any spoilers and advise you to check that out instead.

Via Cre.ations

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Intego releases first iPhone 2.0 antivirus software

David Gonzales — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:53:47 +0000

Now that the iPhone is officially open to third-party applications, it’s more vulnerable than ever to virus, malware and spyware attacks. Apple does not seem to take the issue very seriously (yet), but a company named Intego does. They say they have released the very first anti-virus application for the iPhone.

A new version of Intego’s existing anti-virus application for Mac OS X, called Virus Barrier X5 10.5.3, is said to be capable of scanning the iPhone’s files for viruses as well. The only downside to this is that Intego’s anti-virus app must run on a user’s Mac, and not his iPhone.

The way it works is that the iPhone’s files are copied over to the Mac and it is there that it gets scanned.

That might seem inefficient to some, but it is still a good way to keep your iPhone safe from unwelcome viruses. And besides, the iPhone hasn’t experienced any prominent virus attacks yet, so until that day all iPhone owners can feel safe.

Via Silicon

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8 megapixel X908 cameraphone from China so good it doesn’t need a brand

David Gonzales — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:26:56 +0000

The Chinese have come such a long way in their practice of borrowing ideas from other inventors that they now probably consider it an art. They’re so much improved, in fact, that they can now churn out similar and very competitive, albeit clunkily designed products faster than they used to.

Take the currently unbranded X908 mobile phone, for example. It features no less than a 3-inch QVGA touchscreen, built-in analog TV tuner, FM radio, dual-SIM card support, stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) and a dual microSD card slot design.

And that’s not all. The dual-camera setup on the X908 beats every other phone out on the market today. It has an 2 megapixel camera… at the front for video calls! And at the back you’ll find an 8 megapixel cam sitting nicely with a retractable 3x optical zoom lens. Quite tasty, if you indulge in mobile photography, no?

With all it’s features, I’m surprised it doesn’t support 3G and lacks a brand. It’s hard to say when this will be coming out of China to other markets, though, so there’s probably not too many people hurt by knowing that.

Via GSM Arena

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Nokia endorses graffiti art, launches Fusion Challenge for N78 in Saudi Arabia

David Gonzales — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:24:31 +0000

Here’s a little something Marc Ecko would enjoy. Fully knowing that graffiti art has been quite popular with the youngn’s in Saudi Arabia nowadays, Nokia has launched a new program called “Fusion Challenge: Nokia N78 maphotograffiti.”

This new program aims to encourage young people to benefit from their leisure time especially during the summer season, according to Nokia International Oy General Manager, Mohammed Hassan. “We hope to help integrate modern technologies with various aspects of our lives in the Kingdom, and to stimulate the competitive spirit among the youth to promote important values in our society,” he adds.

Basically this is a graffiti puzzle contest where contestants race to be the first to complete the puzzle.

Riyadh and Jeddah in K.S.A. are the two venues for the event. The mechanics? Three teams will be located in each city where there are graffiti puzzle pieces that need to get pieced together.

Participants will have to find the exact location of the graffiti puzzle pieces, take a picture of it using the Nokia N78, and upload it to http://www.nokia.com.sa/graffiti.

The winners will get a trip to Rabigh North of Jeddah for two days, and a chance to play around Saudi Arabian streets with the Nokia N78 during the duration of the competition.

Via Albawba

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Samsung donates 1,000 G618 Olympic handsets to Chinese Olympic team

David Gonzales — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:17:39 +0000

Feeling generous today? Samsung is. That’s why they donated a total of 1,000 handsets to 600 athletes and 400 coaches and staff for the Chinese Olympic team.

This sponsorship is recorded as Samsung’s largest ever marketing donation to a particular nation’s Olympic team, and was celebrated last Friday during a donation ceremony in Beijing, China.

The handset itself isn’t just your ordinary giveaway phone. Samsung specifically gave out the G618 “Olympic phone” with Olympic-releted ringtones and photos preloaded on the internal memory.

In exchange for scoring the China Olympic team’s official mobile phone, Samsung will get to use athlete photos for their future ads, as well as preferred contractor programs. Don’t be surprised if you see an Olympian in one of Samsung’s commercials soon, then.

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Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 to be launched by 3 on November for £30/month?

David Gonzales — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:09:16 +0000

Sony Ericsson’s might’ve been a bit off lately at protecting its top-secret, upcoming mobile phones, but there hasn’t been much news about the much-awaited Xperia X1 for quite a while now.

It could be that SE is trying very very hard to keep insider info about the Xperia X1 (and other phones models of its kind), well, on the inside, but word on the street is that it will be launched by the wireless carrier “3″ some time in November. That would be nearly two months after the device’s official launch, if current rumors hold true.

There’s not much detail about the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 launch on “3″, but it is said that the phone will be made available with a contract that goes for only £30/month. Considering the Xperia X1’s features, that could be an attractive price point to some.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 is a PDA with Windows Mobile as its operating system instead of the usual Symbian UIQ currently being used on other SE smartphones, but it’s surprisingly adept at multimedia and has matching good looks to boot.

So if you demand a 3-inch stylus-based WVGA touchscreen, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 3G with HSDPA and Wi-Fi on your handheld computer, then the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 should brighten your day.

Via Tech Digest

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