Friday, February 13, 2009

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!

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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 submit to reddit Digg! 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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Thursday, February 12, 2009

Five best Android apps for your G1

It's been a while since T-Mobile's G1 android device launched. And if you wonder what is so special about Android-powered cellphones such as G1, then just like any other OS, it is the applications that make the difference.

Here we will do a quick review of five most interesting Android application according to MobileChoiceUK.
This app is built on a simple idea, that you need assistant or mentor, or whatever you call it, when you cook. It combines video of cooking, shopping instruction, and cooking instruction. Though quite likely you need to have wide enough table or big enough pocket to keep your G1 safe while cooking :)

Never get lost again with Wikitude. This uber application stands out because it combines GPS power with map application and more.. it has interactive database, which I call, on-the-fly guide. So you can use your camera handset, and Wikitude will tell you what you see. This is awesome. As the official site says :
The truly compelling feature is the augmented reality cam view, users may hold the phone’s camera against a spectacular mountain range and see the names and heights displayed as overlay mapped with the mountains in the camera. Users may look out of an airplane window to see what is down there. Users may walk through a city like Seville, Spain, holding the phone’s camera against a building and Wikitude tells what it is.
To illustrate the point, let's check these pictures out :

An alley in Sevilla, where you can point your camera, and Wikitude tells you what building it is
City scenery, which you point G1's camera to it, and notifications from Wikitude depicts each building's name

As shoppers, we often compare prices before we buy something. Now in mobility era, you might ask how to compare prices on the go, with your cellphone. Well, one of the answer is using Shop Savvy. It is designed to scan a product barcode, then tell you the comparison of price across local stores and online stores. This is excellent because it saves your time and effort to gather prices online. Although does not work 100% as it is still in beta, and it is not always easy to scan the barcodes, you can download and try it here.

You scan the bar code until it beeps and green notification appears

then web price and local price appears on screen
If you hang out with your friends and dine out in a casual restaurant, of course you had ever experienced calculating and dividing the tip, which could be very awkward and uncomfortable. You have to calculate fast, and you then divide it to how many people dine together. This is where Tipper plays its role. Tipper looks very simple, but it does the job well.

You can input simple numbers, how many people pay the tips, the percentage of tip, and how many each diner pays. Straightforward and useful.


verybody loves Mario, and Mario kicks again aboard G1. The great thing is, you control Mario using the built-in motion sensor. Very fun as you move your G1, and Mario will jump. You move right, Mario walks. No wonder this simple application is very attractive.
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Gigabyte will introduce new Win-mo S1200 smartphone soon

The Taiwanese manufacturer, Gigabyte, will announce a new Win-mo smartphone, the S1200 . No further details except it will run Win-Mo 6.1 and powered by 528MHz Qualcomm 7200A CPU.



We can expect it must have HSDPA and full office editor and 8 MP camera, not to mention support to modern lifestyle features such as Facebook Mobile, Flickr, YouTube all installed inside. Otherwise it canoot become a device that Unwiredview says it will be, an "Iphone killer"

Let us hang on and see what Gigabyte has to offer us. In the meantime, Iphone and Nokia 5800 still rocks!

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A former Palm employee is uncertain about Pre's marketability

Following the news from Palm itself that there will be no more PalmOS used in Palm devices and that they will use the new WebOS in its Pre handsets, it is interesting to see what a former Palm employee thinks about Pre.

His name is Michael Mace, and he is one of the leading experts in the industry. As quoted from Precentral.net :
"Mobile devices that sell well usually have a well-defined market of people who look at them and say, "that one's perfect for me."... [The Pre is] apparently perfect for people who want a compromise between a Blackberry and an iPhone, but don't need the best of either. Who are those people? And are there enough of them to make a business for Palm? I honestly don't know."


WebOS is said to be a 'hybrid concept' of Blackberry OS and Iphone. But has Palm done their homework before launching it? It seemed that Pre did not have the pull factor required, or any other definitive killer features to make users switch.

The latest news quoted from Engadget shows that Pre can do bluetooth tethering, but the lack of MicroSD is almost unforgiven. How can Palm release microSD slot-less device while other established manufacturers, such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson and BlackBerry always provide one?

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i-mate 810F : the first Windows Mobile in military standard casing


Well, this smartphone may not be for everyone. While most of you who use smartphones do not work in dusty, outdoor environment, i-mate provides an option for you who do. Open that email, browse with your favorite mobile IE, and edit more Word documents, on the go, in the field, under the rain if necessary, with the new i-mate 810F.

It is a win-mo device, protected with military standard casing. An interesting offer. And no, you don't have to be a geologist or archaeologist to feel the benefit of the device protective feature. Sometimes we feel the urgent need to answer that call or send that sms under the rain. Or sometimes our phone fall to our bathtub during those lazy Saturday morning bath. Then, this i-mate fellow will do the trick to get out of those situations alive and kicking.

Dust resistant, shock resistant, water resistant, operating temperature from -10 C to 60 C. Military standard in short. Additional features include GPS, impact resistant touchscreen display (though undefined yet what kind of impacts it can go through), 2 MP camera, built-in digital compass, and quite quick 624 Mhz processor for present standard. Unclear how many RAM it will have, or whether external memory slot is present. But any serious Win-mo device should have the slot.

Source : Unwiredview, Mobilechoice
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