Samsung SCH-W599, With Many A Feature!

Well, seems like Samsung has decided to grab a cellphone and to increase what I like to call its 'fun output'! The phone carries the interesting twin-SIM card option, for double the action, and also supports microSD cards! It also brings you a CDMA network support, 2.4 inch QVGA Touch Screen, 2 MP camera, 34MBs of onboard memory, blutooth and Mp3 playback. There is no WLan support, which would have been a very nice option to have too, but I guess the FM radio makes up a bit for that lack. Source: Slashphone

Scratch-proof "Diamond" Coating For Cell Phones

It's well known that one of the problems with hand-held gadgets such as phones, Laptops and mp3 players is that they easily get scratched, sticky and grimy. While bulky covers can be used for protection, Nokia has been experimenting with plastic casings coated with a diamond-like material made from coal. The material has many advantages; it is more protective and filth resistant, cheaper and bio-degradable! To synthesize the material, an electric current passed through coal graphite creates a sort of plasma, which is directed towards a plastic casing by high-voltage electrodes. The coal ions then penetrate the surface and bond to form a diamond-like coating less than 100 nanometres thick, which is very tough but also smooth. It is also conductive and therefore antistatic, so does not attract dirt as readily as normal plastics. Furthermore, the reflective surface diffuses light like shiny metal, and tests show that the coating doesn't affect the phone's reception! Source: Cell Phone News

Projector phones are coming!

We already talked about Iljin small laser Projector Module last April, a very interesting idea for cellphones! In fact, if we take a close look at the concept of a high-end cellphone, we can see that one of the big "discomforts" is the small size of the screen, where viewing high-res images and videos is not practical. The solution to this problem was the invention of the TV-Out option, allowing users to use their television as an altenative to the small screen of the phone - but you need a TV around and the special cables to use that option. One can also upload the multimedia on a PC to view more leisurely - but it's a hassle to get the damn software going, and cables untangled. Well now, thanks to Microvision, a third option exists; a built-in projector in mobile phones that projects an extremely sharp and vivid image, whether being projected to be viewed the size of a laptop screen or further away as an image the size of a big screen plasma TV! Source: Cellular News

Release of Symbian v9.3 may result in cheaper mobile phones

The current version of Symbian (9.1), on which many handsets are currrently based doesn't even include a support for WiFi, even though the phones HAD the technologies; the support had to be added by cellphone makers themselves, which was below what one would expect from a platform. No worry, v9.3 will be coming soon, and will bring forward quite some changes; -Built-in support for WiFi -Improved start-up time -Quicker responsiveness to applications -Over The Air firmware upgrade -Supports the latest cellular data technology HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) Push-to-talk services -Voice Over IP calls via WiFi The fact that the phones might come out cheaper with this version is that the upgrade also makes it easier for developers to remove features they might not want to include in lower-priced phones. Developers could have removed some features before but the process could be challenging because the features had greater dependences on each other, meaning that removing one might have ended disrupting the whole system. Overall, cell phones which are basic entry level may only need to pay licensing fees for technlogies they use, resulting in a decrease in price. The reason Symbian have had to release a better functioning version seems to be that Windows Mobile are steadily growing and gulping a good part of the cellphone market (they didn't just remain with PDAs). Symbian has reason to be worried, after all there are already some Samsung handsets running on Windows Mobile, and more customers are shifting because of compatibility and ease of operation. Source: PhoneyWorld

iGO Pitch Duo Projector

Compatible with the Palm Treos, this device works wirelessly using Bluetooth technology. The idea is to be able to give presentations directly from your handheld device without having to rely on your bulky laptop's presense, and apparently even with no laptop or annoying cables, you'll still get a notebook-quality display of the live screen of your handheld or smartphone! It runs on a Pentium-class processor, so there shouldn't be much trouble in the sense of slow slide transitions. You can also connect up via you handhled's USB synchronisation cable. Text input can be done through the two PS/2 ports with a keyboard & mouse, and the device requires a monitor, projector, or any other display device with a standard VGA input to work. Product Page VIA Gizmodo

Flipper Phone: New Form Factor?

I'm sure everybody's open to innovation: after all, we went from candybars to clamshell, to twisting, etc... I love these new designs that are brought forward, always good to change what's seen all the time! The image pretty much says it all, the Sony Ericsson "phone" opens up like a clamshell, but the screen can be rotated in it's "Frame", then the phone is closed again to be used like a PDA. One main advantage we can already note is that it can be used in two styles; Clamshell mode and normal Candybar mode. The LG P7200 has certain similarities to this flipper factor as it's screen can be rotated in such a way that the screen in pointing up when the phone is closed, but there's still a big difference: here, the screen is properly supported, allowing heavier and more sensitive items like high-res cameras and touch screens (and judging by the design there will be) to be mounted on with less risk of breakages. Source: Mobile Scraper

Spy Phone? Siemens SL-65 Interceptor!

The Siemens SL-65 looks just like any ordinary cellphone you can come across, but it has one sweet feature other cellphones envy! No one would think that it is a special spy phone. That's when the Spy part of the phone comes into game: you call the phone using the phone's special number, it automatically answers without letting the owner being aware that you are connected to their phone, thus allowing you listen discreetly to what is going on up to 5 meters away from the phone. When anyone is calling or recieving a phone call with the phone, you will get an SMS message letting you know what the phone is up to. Then you call the phone and listen on the conversation. Since all modifications to the phones are made very carefully, neither Spy-phone user nor a technician of any skill can find out it is a special spyphone. The Siemens SL-65 costs Eur 1,699.00 and the kit includes: -GSM phone with concealed Spy phone Interceptor functionality -Battery -Power Supply & cables -Special Function Programming instructions Source: Spy Phones

Ten Commandments of Cellphone Etiquette

Well, seems like Dan Briody has had it with cellphones! He claims that the feeling he has towards them is hate (oh really?) and takes it so far that he's actually made up ten commandments people have to respect when in possession of one of these technological devils! All of his points make absolute sense, some are funny, and some are too true to be good, like the fact some crazy sods watch their cellphone displays while driving- I know someone who was actually Messaging while driving: I got out of his car very fast and caught a bus back home! Read the Ten Cellphone Commandments

Triple Watch Cellphone

Seems to me like this phone is nifty compared to the other Cellphone Watch announced. The design of this phone/watch is really cool; folded up it's a watch providing you the time and other watch-type functionalities, then if you need to make a phone call, just open it up (that one litterally unravels under your eyes!) and you have a fully-fledged cellphone! "You can slide the unit out of the wristwatch band, and with a triple-flip technique, extend it to use it as a normal cell phone," Maneenawa said. "As a wrist watch, it has a speaker phone button that allows the user to answer the phone and hang up while driving. Or the user can combine the Triple Watch with a Bluetooth headset and carry on a wireless conversation that way." Source: Yanko Design

Telephoto lens for Cellphones

The quality of cellphones cameras are always rising; the higher resolutions allow for clearer picturs to be taken. Problem is that even though your phone has an integrated high resolution camera of 1.3 MegaPixels, the phone companies haven't been able to provide a telephoto lens so you can spy on your neighbours! Well, Brando from Hong Kong is offering a telephoto lens for mobile/camera phones. The lens is a whopping 6X telescope one, allowing the sights which are far far away, to suddenly become close and clear. The use of this telescope is extremely easy; just remove the old battery cover of the cellphone, replace it with the one included, and hook the telscope on! Alas, this accessory is only compatible with the Nokia 6230,6230i,6600,6630,6680,6681,6682 and 7610 phones for the moment. The package also comes with a neckstrap and costs US$19 at Brando's. Source: Mobile Geek

The return of the rumor Nokia N83/N95

Well well, we first heard of the Nokia N83, the 5MP rumor cameraphone about 2 months ago and now more pictures are available from the 'rumorers'! They're discussing about it at the Mobile review forum, pulling conclusions from the pictures discovered, click here to take a look at them. The features are updated; first of all, the phone is more likely to be called the N95 not N83 (though the phone definitely looks like a N80-line Phone!). -The cam is a 5MP with Carl Zeiss optics And -DVD Video recording like the Nokia N93 -3.5 mm Audio jack for your audio -microSD card support -Symbian S60 3rd edt. -2,4" QVGA (240 x 320) display -WLAN, HSDPA, FM Radio -2 way slide factor, BT2.0 (whatever that is...) -UPnP, USB2.0 and Podcasting support. -Screw the N93, I'll be waiting for you sweet, sweet N95/N83! More Info: Mobile Geek

The Tiny KTF EV-K130 slide phone

What is technology nowadays? I'll tell you: making gadgets smaller and smaller but also making them pack quite some sweet features! This baby phone, as you see in the picture, is as tall as the lipstick and barely wider, measuring 82x37x16.9mm! Marked as one of the smallest phones on the market, the phone includes a 1.3MP camera, polyphonic (and probably MP3) ringtones, PictBridge support, built-in music player with selectable EVER remix functions and 3D equalizer! Cool features for a tiny slider phone like that! Source: Mobile Mag

Samsung Pocket PC Phone SGH-i770

About a month ago, the Samsung SGH-i770 phone which was listed on FCC approved list. Limited info was available at the time, but there's more now! Those who thought of it as a smartphone are wrong, as the flip phone is a Pocket PC with a touch screen, Windows Mobile and everything. According to the draft manual, it comes with EDGE, GPRS, Wi-Fi and bluetooth connectivity, like most other smartphones released nowadays. The integrated 2 Megapixels camera and the LED flash is mounted on some kind of roller allowing you to optimize the direction to which it is pointed. Funnily enough, there's no official announcement made by Samsung yet but it's expected for soon! Source: SlashPhone

The NEC E908 Credit Card Sized Cellphone

NEC introduced their credit card sized mobile phone today in Hong Kong. Not a normal phone, the E908 doesn't have a keypad; instead, you'll have to rely on the 2.2-Inch touch-sensitive display for data input. This cellphone has an impressively slim figure of 12.8mm; with that size no wonder there's no keypad! NEC may have cut down on size, but definitely not on the features; the phone can play MP3/AAC/AAC+/3GP/MPEG4 music and video files, the Internal memory and microSD card slot will keep you satified, a 1.3MP camera is present, Bluetooth Wireless connection, USB connection, and you even get dual stereo speakers. No keypad but you still get access buttons for camera activation, volume control, power and keylock. The NEC N908 will be available to the Asian market during Q3 this year. Source: Slash Phone

Pissed Nokia sues Chinese Phone copiers

Shenzhen Telsda Mobile Communication Industry Developing Co. Ltd. and Song Xun Da Zhong Ke Electronic (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd. are being sued in Beijing by a mighty pissed-off Nokia for having made their own replicas of the stylish Nokia 7260. The phone was apparently unveiled in shanghai by Nokia as part of a collection inspired by the 1920s style. If Nokia wins the lawsuit, the companies will have to pay damages and cease making and selling the phones. Hopefully if Nokia wins, there might be an reduction on the amount of cheap knock-offs of non-chinese products!

F88 Cellphone Watch

Well, that's my literally dream come true, a cool cellphone watch with a 3MP camera, microphone, speakerphone and a 26K colour screen! CEC Corp in China came up with this great cellphone with voice dialing, 4 minutes of voice recording, IrDA connectivity and organization tools such as schedule, alarm clock and reminder note. As seen in the picture, the keypad is located along the strap of the watch, and the sweet 3 Megapixel Camera can rotate up to 180 degrees for video conferencing! This really amazing phone barely weighs 100g, though the price is a steep $1100! Source: Mobile Whack

The Samsung SGH-E900

Sleek, slim and sliding, the Samsung SGH-E900 is a real cool phone. The User interface is the new 'Black UI' (goes well with the phone), and the velvet touchpad makes navigating around the menus so much easier, with less typing mistakes! It's a tri-band phone with EDGE, Bluetooth and USB connectivity. MP3/AAC/AAC+/AAC+(e)/WMA Audio support and MPEG4 video recording makes it a good multimedia phone too, and if you use up the 80MB of Internal memory, you can always expand using the microSD card slot. No word yet on when it'll be available but it'll probably be priced for around Eur. 350.

Cellphone Designers at Work with 'Nokia Open'

Ever wonder what the cellphones in the future will look like? Well, Nokia's giving us quite an idea with their 'Nokia Open' Design concept! This "phone" would be one which opens up like a kind of fan to reveal a "scrollable touch screen", though we'll have to wait for the flexible LCD to be invented in the first place! To get the phone up and going, one just has to give a little push on that big button in the middle so that the phone opens up to a spacious screen, on which you can then manipulate buttons and access other options using your fingers (you can also just use it to fan yourself on a hot day). The design was submitted by the 'Nokia 4G Design Competition' winner, Hugo Danti. As ridiculous as the design may sound, the fact remains that the technology isn't that far away since Epson have already managed to create Flexible Electronic Paper, so don't be too surprised if they manage to come out with one of theses phones within the next decade! Source: Yanko Design via SCI FI Tech

Nokia 6151 3G Phone and Nokia 6080 Features

Pictures above on the left is the most affordable 3G handset to date, the Nokia 6151, and on the right the Nokia 6080, the 'attractively priced cameraphone'. Nokia seems to be going strong into "as affordable as possible" phones, not a bad idea to keep away from the luxury and high-end cellphones for a little while! The Nokia 6151 sports a 262K 128x160 px colour display, a 1.3MP camera with 4X Digital zoom and QCIF (176x144) camcorder, 30MB internal memory, MicroSD slot for up to 2GB additional storage, FM radio, IrDA an Blutooth 2.0. The 6080 also has a 128x160px colour display, though only 65k colours. The camera is a VGA one, FM radio is also present, Infrared port (no bluetooth here), GPRS and EDGE OTA connectivity, a Video player and 16MB of internal memory with NO expansion slot whatsoever. The Nokia 6151 should be available around the 3Q of 2006 for about EUR240, the 6080'll be shipping during the 4Q of 2006 for close to EUR180. Press release Nokia 6151 Full Features Nokia 6151 Press photos Nokia 6080 Full Features Nokia 6080 Press Photos

The Two New Nokia CDMA Cameraphones

On the left the Nokia 6275i, on the right the Nokia 2875i, the two new CDMA phones of Nokia! The 6275i: The display is the usual 262,144 color QVGA screen, Bluetooth is of course present together with a 2 megapixel camera with flash and video. There's also a built-in digital music player and support for up to a microSD Card Slot. It does integrate a FM radio, support for streaming audio and video content and with all this, measures just about 4.3 inches long, 1.7 inches wide and 0.7 inches thick (109 x 42.8 x 17.2 mm) and weighs 3.7 ounces (105 g). The 2875i: The Nokia 2875/2875i phone has a 1.3 megapixel camera, boasts Bluetooth 2.0 wireless technology and a confortable 128 x 160 pixel 262k colour screen. The phone supports Video ring tones and true tones including MP3, AAC, eAAC+ and more! This device includes a state-of-art Internet browser and a FM radio. The measuring tape says 4.2 inches long, 1.7 inches wide and 0.75 inches thick (105.5 x 42.5 x 19 mm) and the balance claims 3.5 ounces (94g)! Press Release Nokia 6275i Press photos Nokia 2875i Press Photos