Sony Ericsson W395 : new basic Walkman phone

Okay. Didn't I mention there are already too many Walkman models launched by Sony Ericsson? Now the Japan-Swedish duet throws again another so-so Walkman phone, the basic Sony Ericsson W395. It's basic because it is a no-3G phone, and with no-GPS.

Entitled with the sacred "W" title, the Sony Ericsson W395 offers high quality walkman engine, decent display, 2 megapixel camera, and sliding form. It ships with 1 GB memory stick micro card. Roughly it can contains about 400 mp3 songs. It comes up in two options of color, titanium or grey. The picture I think shows the titanium example.

It is a great looker, but beyond that there is nothing really special. But Sony Ericsson seems target youth and first time user with this Walkman. Not the hard core like you and me. If that is the case, then Sony Ericsson W395 can succeed with its great look and quite generous memory capacity.

If it is launched last December, Sony Ericsson W395 could have been a cool Xmas gift for your kid or nephew.

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T Mobile G1 with Moxier Mail now supports push email with Microsoft Exchange

Akibahara reports that G1 now supports Microsoft Exchange with Moxier Mail. This is so far the first solution I've ever heard for email syncing for Android OS. Push email is a very popular feature, this feature alone makes Blackberry got the nickname "Crackberry", since the ability to receive and reply emails in real time hooked so many people addicted. There are even stories people replying emails via Blackberry when they are in the toilet at their home (!). Even Barack Obama got addicted. Sure it's crack, hence Crackberry.

Now Nokia Communicator range, Sony Ericsson G series, and TMobile G1 all supports push email. Research In Motion, Blackberry manufacturer, should be very careful watching this trend, as it relies heavily on the popularity of push email to sell Blackberries handset.

Though we should wait and hear more hands-on reviews by users on Moxier Mail implementation, nevertheless this is a very welcome development. This will make RIM and Nokia work hard to figure out how they can excel above TMobile G1.

Source : Akibahara permalink Read More......

Pantech IM-S410 : Blow Recognition Phone

Okay, this may be the most unworthy post I ever written. But hey, this is something unique. Meet Pantech IM-S410, the phone with wind -or I'd rather say blow- recognition. So you blow the microphone, and it can recognize the wind from your holy mouth. It is marketed in Korea only for now by Pantech, and apparently come loaded with apps that make the blow recognition feature as an alternative way to control the apps.

As quoted from Akibahara website :

Apparently it can recognize the sensitivity and wind dynamics to later on be used on internal applications like games, photo galleries, video, and so on.

The girl is pretty, but is the phone? Personally I'd think this feature is quite useless. Perhaps Pantech should try to make a medic phone, the one with pulse sensor for instance, or blood pressure sensor. That is much more handy, then persuading us to blow and play games with our whistle. Come on, Pantech, you can do better than this!

Source : Akibahara permalink Read More......

LG Solar Powered Phone And The Solar Powered Trend

We already knew that Samsung created the gorgeous Blue Earth cellphone, and now Samsung's Korean counterpart, LG, also announced its own solar cell phone. This time, the deal is more concrete, LG promised to give you 3 minutes talk time for 10 minutes cellphone exposure to the sun.

While it seems novel and innovative, we should really question whether solar powered phone is really beneficial or only a fad. Actually, most common folks work in indoor environment. There are only a handful day jobs that require people to work outdoor under the sun. Police, Army, Pilots, Field Engineers, Extreme sports athletes, perhaps. But these kind of people may find military standard phones more suitable.

I have an idea here. Why not combine the ruggedness of military standard phones with solar cell? Wouldn't it be great? Because if I were a sergeant in a drill, and my cellphone gets low battery, I can't risk my career by running out of my training only to charge the phone. But may be I can ask my friend to just expose the phone to the sun. Still...this kind of scenario is too far fetched.

And let's get real, common folk like you and me will not have the time to fry our phone under the sun for 10 minutes to get 3 minutes talk. We are too busy with our emails and phones and fax that come to our desk. And come on, that electrical plug is always within reach either at home or in office, so plugging in charger is much more convenient, and much more make sense. So, there is really no practical need for these solar powered phones. It's just a fad that will be gone before you know it!

Moreover, who needs this solar powered charger, unless you are Lara Croft. Though, again, we never see Lara Croft use a cellphone during her adventures ! :)
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Sony Ericsson gets married with Facebook, The Child : Sony Ericsson C510

Sony Ericsson could not resist the temptation of Facebook, and it launches the new Sony Ericsson C510. At first I thought this would be another Cyber shot series from SE, but apparently, the handset is already optimized for messaging. Yep, one most notable feature is you can set your sms displayed as if it was chat session. So you can sms-chat, or even mms-chat, since you can insert pic or vid to your message on the fly.

But the story of Sony Ericsson C510 is it's heavily geared for accessing Facebook. Once your Facebook account is set up in the phone, the updates of your Facebook's friends status etc will appear in your phone. Sony Ericsson C510 also enables you to upload your pic directly to Facebook right after taken. There are not yet detail review on these features yet.

As Facebook has topped as the winner of social networking sites, quite likely other cellphone manufacturers begin to create device geared to Facebook just like Sony Ericsson did. Blackberry has also been providing Facebook for Blackberry to download.

So, have you updated your status, friend? :)

Source : Unwiredview.permalink Read More......

Archos Internet Media Tablet Phone To Use Android OS

Tablet phone is something of a fancy concept, but not anymore, as PCWorld reports that Archos has announced it is currently developing a 5 inch tablet phone with Android OS.

The Achos Internet Media Tablet will feature high resolution 5 inch touch screen display, GPRS, EDGE and HSDPA connectivity, full telephony function, TV Recording and HD Playback, Video storage up to 500 GB, 10mm casing, and Adobe Flash support.



The scary thing for cellphone manufacturers, is that the Archos is going to be a very serious threat since it has fully functional cellphone capability. As Prnewswire put it :

Providing new ways for consumers to access feature-rich content and connect with others, ARCHOS, an award-winning technology innovator and leader in the portable media player market, announced plans to extend its product line with a new ultra-thin Internet Media Tablet (IMT) combined with a mobile phone, by merging Google's Android telephony stack and the ARCHOS' multimedia framework. This new IMT will also incorporate the OMAP(TM) 3 platform from Texas Instruments, Incorporated (TI)
....
With the integration of voice, ARCHOS is looking to expand beyond portable media players to provide solutions for the converged space, where a foundation in high-quality video content delivery is a benefit.

This fact will make us realize two new trends in the world of gadgetry, first is that other gadgets are beginning to equip themselves with GSM slot card, practically make them cellphone, uber cellphone perhaps, owing to their exceptional ability in their respective gadget domain. With GSM slot card and HSDPA ability, netbooks will be "cellphones" with strong processor, 160 GB storage, and plenty memory to go around. GPS Devices will be super cellphone with strong GPS feature, as in Nuvifone G60. This has been done. AcerONE, and HP Mini for example, also equips themselves with GSM SIM card slot.

Second trend, is that Android OS starting to pop up in all kinds of devices, not only on cellphones as the Open Handset Alliance intends to be, but also starting to appear in portable av device (Archos). We can expect a few years down the road, Android OS will be used by other manufacturers in their gadgets..probably even your television. Nice insight from Venturebeat here.

Time to think whether Google is becoming a de-facto monopoly, with its domination of search engine, it is likely Android OS will also dominate gadgetry world, as every gadget will be connected to the Internet, and Internet, practically speaking, is ruled by Google.

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Garmin and Asus join their brands in the upcoming refrehsment of Nuviphone G60

Previously Asus had announced that it will launch its own Eee phone. Though it is quite doubtful, Asus seemed to hope it can capitalize the brand equity of its current Asus Eee notebook range.

However, according to PC World, just recently Garmin and Asus announced that they will release Garmin-Asus phone, which will refresh the current Nuvifone G60.



Already a powerful device, Nuvifone G60 is simply a GPS device with embedded HSDPA and GSM. Plus some more : Wifi, 4 GB On Board Memory, 128 MB RAM, Micro-SD (HC Capable) up to 16 GB support, Linux OS, document viewer, 3 Mp camera, huge 3"55 touch screen, and full email and Outlook support. Wow, quite awesome features for Garmin who never enter cellphone business before. With such features, actually Nuvifone G60 can easily beat Nokia Navigator series, but due to its weak marketing effort, we see Nuvifone not widely used nowadays.

It will be interesting to see what features will be added with the joint venture of Garmin-Asus. Asus is renowned for its ultra slim Eee notebook, so may be the Nuvifone G60 will have its body slimmed down?

Source : Unwiredview, Nuvifone
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Samsung announces Blue Earth, solar powered phone

Samsung has just announced today the Blue Earth, a solar powered touch screen phone. The Korean manufacturer claims that Blue Earth gets enough energy to make call anytime via solar panel in the back of the phone. If it does live up to its claim, it will be interesting to measure Blue Earth's battery life with regular use.

There are no more details however on specs. If only Samsung Blue Earth able to load micro-SD, play mp3/mp4, and HSDPA, this will be an amazing treat to all of us. Yet these features are energy hogs, so let's not give too much expectation that all of these features will be available in the Blue Earth.

From design perspective, Samsung Blue Earth is beautiful, with smooth rounded edges, and blue color that reminds us of a blue pebble. The phone body is made of PCM, a form of plastic which is extracted from water bottles.

The picture shows gorgeous screen, and a feature that enables you to count the step you've taken (pedometer), and how many equivalent trees you have saved from your walk. A cleverly implemented idea that match the whole theme of the phone.

According to Pocketlint, it will be available in second half of 2009 in UK.

Of course there are previous attempts by Nokia and NEC on this eco-friendly thingy phone. But apparently there are not enough economic motive (read : less profit) for them to keep this thing going. Let's see whether Blue Earth can sell well in UK, and the world, so we can talk with blue pebbles which glows and only need the sun to power it up. You've got the idea.

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