Microsoft's secret 'pink phone' unveiled by Gizmodo

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Over at Gizmodo there are pictures of what it claims are two of Microsoft’s ‘Pink’ phones. No that’s not the colour of the phone, it’s the secret code name. Well, not so secret anymore – but we wonder how long the pictures will remain there before someone at Microsoft asks them, and now us, to remove them.

The fact that Microsoft has been working on a phone to rival the iPhone has been widely reported for the last few months. The idea is that the handset would be based on the Zune and would have its own app store. How very original.

Pictured are two of Microsoft’s ‘pink’ phones, codenamed “Turtle” and “Pure”.
One of the pictured devices (The Turtle) resembles the chubby, ovoid, Palm Pre while the Pure – which looks more like an HTC device – comes with a keyboard and a decent-looking screen.

Via Gizmodo

SHINY VIDEO REVIEW: Nokia N97 – part 1

So, here we are. The Nokia N97 review. Can’t say I was waiting too anxiously for this one what with the Pre and the Jobs 3.0 on the horizon but, as it turns out, well, watch the vid first, eh…

So, very impressed. Big, big grower the N97. It’s a little unfair in some ways because, on the surface, it doesn’t have the sex appeal of the other mega handsets of the summer, largely because of the OS. The Palm OS is new, Android’s still fledgling, iPhone 3.0 plugs all the holes we’ve been waiting to be filled but S60 is, well, S60. It’s been around for bloody years. It’s even on a whole bunch of very average phones out there.

Once you get over that, the N97’s a bit of a dream though. It’s not a simple phone to get to grips with. It’s straight forward in its design and lay out but there’s a lot to it. It’s not a small piece of kit either at 150g but I really feel like it could become the kind of indispensable pocket computer I’ve been waiting for. Just a question of downloading your own browser, maps and other software of choice.

As I say, though, it’s the apps that this thing needs to be a real iPhone killer and, sadly, so far, Ovi has been choking worse than when I accidentally breathe beer. I’ll give it another week but the second half of the review will come out then, whether you’re ready or not Nokia.

£499 SIM free

Toshiba lays the smackdown with Snapdragon-powered TG01 smartphone

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Who cares about MWC 09 around the corner when when Toshiba goes and blows us all away with an announcement like they did not one hour ago? The Toshiba GT01 is the smartphone that’s going to be on everyone’s lips, hands, ears, mouths and just about every other fleshy part you can stick it.

Why? Well, because it’s essentially taken a look at the iPhone, filled all of the gaps and added a few Tosh twists all of it’s own. The lowdown starts here. First up is the obvious one and that’s the 4.1-inch WVGA LCD that just happens to use the same technology as the high end Toshiba Regza TVs…