March 2008 Archives

Along with the BlackBerry Curve 8330 and the LG enV2, Verizon is also releasing the new Samsung Alias. The Samsung Alias phone has a dual hinge design similar to that of its predecessor, the SCH-u740. The Samsung Alias, however, has a silver finish and a full QWERTY keyboard. The phone comes with Verizon's Wireless Sync which allows users to synchronize their phones with their PCs at home or at work. The phone is equipped with a 1.3-megapixel camera with flash and Bluetooth connectivity. Samsung Alias will be available starting mid-April with a price tag of $129.99 after a $50 rebate that comes with a 2-year contract.

The new BlackBerry Curve 8330 will be available in Verizon Wireless starting May of 2008. The phone has a silver finish with a full QWERTY keyboard, 320 x 240 display, and will work with Verizon's EV-DO network. The BlackBerry Curve 8330 smartphone comes with 2 megapixel camera, microSD memory card slot expandable of up to 8GB, and features such as Voice Recognition technology, and Voice Activated Dialing. The BlackBerry Curve 8330 phone will be available in Verizon stores and Verizon online for US$269.99 after a mail-in rebate worth $50.

Check out the product page.

Aside from the Samsung Access, the other phone which gets the AT&T Mobile TV with FLO is the LG Vu. The folks at Phone Arena were able to get their hands on exlusive press photos of the cell phone. Apparently, there will be two LG Vu versions available. The first one called the CU915 will not have a mobile TV antenna, while model CU920 will have. I guess we all know which one is meant for AT&T's mobile TV. LG Vu is equipped with a 3" WQVGA touchscreen display, 3G connection, 2megapixel camera with auto-focus, 120MB memory, expandable microSD memory of up to 4GB, and a USB mass storage mode.

If you remember, Samsung Access is one of the two phones wherein the AT&T Mobile TV with FLO will first be available. The Samsung Access features 2.3" landscape DVD quality display, 3G connection, 1.3 megapixel camera, microSD card slot, Bluetooth, and of course, a one-touch access to AT&T Mobile TV with FLO. The service would be available starting May of 2008 and would feature several mobile channels.

Get ready for Motorola’s upcoming summer collection. The U.S. division of Motorola recently announced two exciting models MOTO QTM 9c in licorice and MOTO QTM 9c lime as a part of the summer collection. Both the handsets help the users both in their personal and professional arenas. Users can now choose the color of the smartphone matching their personality.

"Motorola is equipping the mobile multi-tasker with a device that represents a seamless union of design and high-performance wireless," said Juergen Stark, corporate vice president of Productivity, Mobile Devices, Motorola, Inc. "MOTO 9c and Q 9c lime deliver the tools to help keep U.S. Cellular customers connected, informed and entertained."

Sporting 1.3 megapixel camera with flash and fixed focus, a 2.4 inch color display these mobile phones offer up to 128 MB of memory for storage. These mobiles support 32GB of external memory. MOTO Q 9c and Q 9c lime are equipped with QWERTY keyboard for quick and accurate typing.

MobileWhack was at the New York International Auto Show 2008 (last day is today!) that happened at the Javits Convention Center in New York. There were a host of new/concept cars on display including the Honda FCX Clarity - a fuel cell car. The fuel-cell stack in Clarity converts hydrogen fuel and oxygen into electricity that is then used to drive the engine. The end result is, you guessed it, water vapor, making it a truly zero-emission alternative.

As you can see, the current FC stack from Honday is much more compact compared to one they had in 1999. The FCX Clarity motor's rotor shaft has a hollow construction where the driveshaft passes through the center in a coax configuration, allowing the motor and gearbox to be combined into a single unit.

The Clarity is currently in limited availability in Southern California.

Honda FCX Clarity

For some reason, LG seems to think it's cool to keep naming their phones after sweets. The recently unveiled LG LH5000 is also known as the Ice Cream Phone. The pastel-colored clamshell comes in strawberry, vanilla, and pistachio hues. It measures 13.6 mm and has LED lighting. Other specs include 2.2" QVGA display, 2 megapixel camera, and 3G connection. LG LH5000's MSRP is between US$400 to $500 in Korea.

Samsung Telecommunications America has just announced two new camera phones designed to operate on the new AWS spectrum and created for the MetroPCS market. The two new phones are the Samsung MyShot SCH-r430 and Samsung Spex SCH-r210.

These two phones are the first MetroPCS phones that can operate on the 1.7/2.1GHz CDMA Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum. The AWS spectrum band allows current and future service providers the opportunity to provide wireless broadband services to millions of users, resulting in increased productivity, efficiency, mobility and security through larger bandwidth allocation.

The MyShot features a sleek, black and silver finish. It features functions such as a 1.3 megapixel camera, access to games, ringtones and wallpapers through downloadable content, as well as Bluetooth technology, advanced voice recognition and speakerphone for easy, hands-free communication.

On the other hand, the Spex has a classic look and feel. It has an easy to use interface and sports messaging capabilities, a speakerphone and Bluetooth technology. Additionally, the Spex offers users easy access to downloadable content such as ringtones and graphics.

Consumers can still purchase an Inspiron 1525 with the basic specs, but now, they have an option to include a Blu-ray disc playback starting at $879.

The award-winning Inspiron 1525 laptop still features the same specs, particularly a 15.4-inch high definition wide aspect display, a 720p resolution, an HDMI port for easy connectivity to high resolution displays. Basically, the only upgrade at this time is the Blu-ray player disc drive which is fully backwards compatible.

The Blu-ray drive still functions like your old CD/DVD drive but with the capability to play Blu-ray format media. But that's not all, consumers can also chose a Blu-ray burner drive, which is great for backing up and storing important files like digital photos, videos, financial records, etc. A Blu-ray disc will hold up to 50 GB of data, which is bigger than the 8.5 GB available on the typical DVD disc.

Dell Inspiron 1525 laptops with Blu-ray disc drives incorporate Broadcom Media PC technology that allows PCs with integrated graphics to play high definition video. The high-definition video playback is enabled through a built-in dedicated accelerator located in a mini-card slot.

The Nokia N95 8GB has re-appeared at the FCC. This appears to be a minor update to the hugely popular smartphone. While the FCC documents filed by Nokia are cryptic at best, we managed to find some photographs of a battered N95. While the associated user manual does not have any information on what update the N95 has undergone, you can still go through it if you've misplaced your copy.

The Nokia N95 8GB costs US $779, and currently seems to be out of stock.

Source: FCC

When news of the new generation of Asus Eee PC broke out, we thought it would have touch screen. For those wishing for one, it looks like it won't be happening. Don't despair though, because it appears that instead of a touch screen, the Asus Eee PC 900 is getting a multi-touch trackpad. Yep, the one that's on MacBook Air. You can then fancy yourself using the wafer-thin spawn of Cupertino while actually on an Eee PC. The price of the Asus Eee PC 900 varies depending upon the location, with a May or June release date.

Since the iPhone depends on its touch screen display completely for its keyboard, there are times when it becomes frustrating. Speed texters on normal cell phones would find it hard to adapt, while those used to the QWERTY keyboard still get a lot of typos due to the keyboard's nature. My Touch Keys is a simple iPhone overlay which clings to your phone using static, acts as a screen protector, and has depressions on its surface so you can actually "feel" the letters on the touch screen keypad. My Touch Keys is totally transparent and doesn't interfere with the other functionalities of your iPhone. This is perfect for those who use the iPhone primarily for sending messages and emails. You can get My Touch Keys on its official web site for US$7.99.

Last February, Motorola sent feelers that the company's going to split into two. A month later, due to Carl Icahn's agitation over Motorola's slow sales, the company decided to split into two -- the Mobile Devices unit and the Broadband & Mobility Solutions unit. If you remember, Motorola fell into a slump after people's interest on the erstwhile immensely popular RAZR phones waned. As expected, reactions on what transpired varied. There are those who said that splitting the company was necessary so Motorola could save itself by partnering with foreign companies, while there are those who foresee a disaster since the mobile unit, according to them, needs a solid business attached to its name. How stocks would be divided and if there would be a renaming of the company is not yet known, but I reckon we'll find out in the coming months.

The infamous Mickey Mouse ears MP3 player -- iRiver MPlayer -- is going to be released in camouflage colors in Japan. The MPlayer has undergone many versions before. It used to be a simple silver-colored basic MP3 players which can fit at the palm of your hand, and seemed to be perfect for kids. But then came the Swarovski-studded MPlayers released for Valentine's and White Day some time ago. This time around, iRiver wants to give the MPlayer a military make-over. The 1GB camouflage iRiver MPlayer will sell in Japan for approximately US$140.

And the saga of low-cost laptops after the Eee PC continues. One of the newest ones is the Intel 2go PC, which is initially meant for the classroom. It runs on Intel Celeron M CPU with a 915GMS chipset. Intel 2go PC is a nine-incher with 800 x 480 pixels resolution with 512 MB RAM upgradeable to 1GB, and a 40GB storage. It also features 802.11b/g and SD card readers as well as numerous ports and jacks for your peripherals. It comes preinstalled with Windows XP, but you could change to Linux if you prefer. The Intel 2go PC is said to cost $400 and will be available within 2 months.

LG Chem, the second largest battery maker in South Korea, recently suffered from a devastating fire in its Ochang plant. Due to this, the world saw a shortage in laptop batteries. Dell and HP are only two of the companies struggling to maintain their battery supplies. Dell says that the price of its batteries meant to be sold separately for those who want an extra pack have gone up due to this incident. Not so much as to affect the industry, but enough for a customer to shell out a few more bucks. Companies are now currently sourcing for other companies from which they could buy batteries. Let's hope they find an alternative source, or battery prices may remain a bit high for quite some time.

Finally. AT&T and MediaFLO announced that AT&T Mobile TV with FLO will go live on May 2008. The program is, of course, TV on mobile phone with live programming. Some of the included channels are ESPN Mobile TV, CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, NBC 2GO, MTV, OX Mobile, and NBC News2Go. This service would only be available to a couple of handsets though--the LG Vu and Samsung Access. Both phones are yet to be released by AT&T. AT&T Mobile TV with FLO rolls out on May, 2008.

"AT&T Mobile TV is a powerful new mobile entertainment offering, which will give our customers a formidable lineup of sports, news and primetime shows, including two channels exclusive available to AT&T customers," said Mark Collins, vice president of Consumer Data for AT&T's wireless unit. "We are thrilled to team with MediaFLO USA to offer our customers an unmatched mobile entertainment experience that is changing the way we all look at TV."

The Nokia 6300i, of course, is nothing more than a modified version of the Nokia 6300. The Nokia 6300i which Nokia has just announced integrates a mobile VoIP capability on the old affordable candybar phone. With the mobile VoIP capability, you can connect to wireless networks for some mobile internet browsing. The Nokia 6300i also has capacity to store 2,000 VoIP, home and cell phone numbers. And if you suffer from short-term memory loss, its dedicated VoIP and WLAN icons tell you whether you're using GSM or VoIP network.

The LG KF300 clamshell cell phone also known as "Wine," which is the international version of the LG Wine for Korea. The LG KF300 appears to have basic specs such as a 1.3-inch screen with 2 megapixel camera and Bluetooth connectivity. Here are the dull specs for this phone:

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

More pics after the jump.

A new brand of ebook reader came out recently -- the jetBook e-book reader. Released by ECTACO, this ebook reader has a built-in MP3 player for some audiobook listening if you don't want to or can't scroll through the digital pages of an ebook. Equipped with a 5-inch screen, jetBook comes preloaded with translating dictionaries so you can look up foreign words on the go. Moreover, you can also load it with pics. Although jetBook is packed with features, I believe it's facing tough competition. At US$349.95, I think jetBook will find it a bit hard to convince buyers to purchase one of its product rather than the Amazon Kindle, but then again, it all depends on one's tastes.

Nikon tapped into the "appeal" of PUNK'D host Ashton Kutcher to promote its COOLPIX camera line. The endorsement deal with Nikon would cover both print and TV advertisements, as well as interactive online component. Nikon's ad campaign has a theme which centers around fashionable colors, great performance, simplicity, and exquisite styling. Nikon chose trendy and upscale boutiques and shopping destinations for the backdrop of the ads, hoping to superimpose yet blend the COOLPIX cameras with their surroundings.