Tag: phone
SHINY VIDEO REVIEW: LG KP500 "Cookie"
In the video above, Zara gets to grips with LG’s rather popular new KP500, or the “Cookie”, as I mocked here. There’s no 3G, or GPS, so I’m not sure how much I could recommend it, but it does have a lovely 3″ touchscreen and an accelerometer. It’s a decent low-end handset, and should come cheap on contracts.
LG KP500
Related posts: The LG KP500 is now the LG “Cookie” and wuvs you very much | LG-KP500: UK’s most affordable touchscreen mobile handset coming October
SHINY VIDEO REVIEW: Samsung M8800 Pixon
Check out the video above for Lucy’s thought’s on Samsung’s lovely 8-megapixel ‘Pixon’ cameraphone. It’s got a touchscreen, autofocus, ASR and WDR, and 16x zoom, along with an awesome slow-motion video mode. It’s almost like it’s a camera first and a phone second!
Samsung Mobile
Related posts: Shiny Video Preview: Samsung Pixon | Samsung Pixon specifications revealed, photographer Nick Turpin involved in launch
Skyfire is a very capable little mobile internet browser
Those among you who access the web on your mobile device will know the value of a good internet browsing application. Most standard phone browsers (iPhone excepted) are rubbish at rendering the web on a tiny screen. I’m secretly quite a fan of the bog-standard N95 browser, but if I wasn’t, then I’d try Skyfire, which launched today.
It’s simple enough – just an application which you download and install on your S60 phone, but then it offers a very ‘full’ browsing experience, which renders pages like they would on a PC and lets you zoom in and out of them. It’s powerful, though – it’ll happily render Flash, Silverlight, Ajax and Java.
UPDATED: New Zunephone Rumours
I know, I know, this one’s been round the block a few times, but given Microsoft’s dalliances with portable media players, and the fact that they own the most popular smartphone OS in Windows Mobile, it’s nearly a given that there’ll be some sort of Zunephone before long.
The rumours have resurfaced after the announcement that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will be delivering the keynote address – the spot which was previously filled by Bill Gates. Microsoft almost always unveils something at CES, and given that we know plenty about Windows 7 already, a Zunephone is on the cards.
O2 announces UK release for BlackBerry Curve 8900
O2 has announced that the curiously non-3G BlackBerry Curve 8900 (formerly known as the ‘Javelin’) will be released on January 5th 2009. It’s going to be available for pre-registration from tomorrow (Dec 10th), and for pre-order from Dec 22nd on the O2 website.
Maybe I’m missing something here, but is this phone eagerly awaited? I haven’t heard anyone getting excited about the release, but with all this pre-reg and pre-order shenanigans, it seems like people are dying to get their hands on the device.
More androids unveiled – the Kogan Agora
This is the Kogan Agora, a Google Android-based smartphone. Kogan is an online-only company that gets its products custom-made in Chinese factories. That means they’re able to sell for rock-bottom prices. Before I tell you about that, though, let’s talk specs.
The Agora has a 320 x 240, 2.5″ touchscreen, full QWERTY keyboard, microSD card slot, and 3G. A ‘Pro’ model, also offered, adds Wi-Fi, GPS, and a 2-megapixel camera. Neither will blow the N97 out of the water, but when you factor in the price, you’ll see why they’re so special.
The Agora will sell for AU$299 (£130) and the Pro model for AU$399 (£175). That’s unlocked, and with no contract. For comparison, the N97 will cost £465 before it gets subsidised by contracts. At those prices, these are going to be fantastic entry-level smartphones, especially as they’re Android-powered, with all the joy that comes with that.
Both are available for pre-order now, with those orders arriving on Jan 29th 2009.
Kogan (via Engadget)
Porsche Design P'9522 mobile phone launches
This is the Porsche P’9522 – a mobile phone designed by Porsche. I can hear you already thinking ‘it’s got an expensive name on it – the features are going to be practically non-existent’. Well, tell your thoughts that they’re wrong, and should shut up – it’s actually surprisingly high-specced.
The phone case is milled from a single solid aluminum block and a single sheet of scratchproof glass! It’s got a 2.8″ touchscreen OLED display! It’s got built-in Wi-Fi and GPS! It’s got a fingerprint scanner! A fingerprint scanner, for god’s sake!
The bad news? You’re not going to get this in the Carphone Warehouse or Phones 4 U. It’s being sold in Porsche shops and ‘exclusive specialist stores’ only. There’s no price quoted, but we’ll have to assume it’s going to be more than its predecessor, the fliptastic P’9521, which costs €1200 (just over £1000).
Related posts: Porsche Design launches P’9521 high-end handset | Eton launches Porsche Design P’9123 radio with iPod/iPhone dock
Nokia launches N97 – new touchscreen behemoth
Yesterday, Nokia execs teased the world’s tech bloggers by saying that they had a big announcement, and were surprised that it hadn’t leaked. I’m surprised too – the big announcement is the N97. It’s the followup to their brilliant, and ridiculously successful N95, and semi-upgrade the N96.
The specs on this baby promise a lot. It’ll have a 3.5″, 640 x 360 touchscreen display (16:9, not 16:10), a QWERTY keyboard, HSDPA and Wi-Fi, 32GB(!) of onboard memory, a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, “DVD-quality” video capture (eat that, iPhone), and a battery that promises to pump out a day and a half of continuous audio playback. No mention of GPS, but I’d be very surprised if it lacks it.
Best of all, Nokia promises an ‘always-open’ window to the internet and social networking sites. If that integration runs clearly through the phone, it could be very powerful indeed. This is Nokia’s answer to the iPhone. The specs certainly win the day, but can they crack the all-important interface? We’ll have to wait and see.
Nokia N97 (via N96 Bruce Lee edition – enter the handset | MWC 2008: Nokia N96 versus Nokia N95
Glasgow tube stations get O2 phone reception today
That nice gentleman up there has probably just fainted with delight, after discovering that today he’s able to use his O2 mobile on the tube in Glasgow. We’ve known about it for a while, but today, O2 has brought phone reception to the five busiest platforms on the Glasgow subway – Buchanan Street, St Enoch, Partick, Hillhead and Govan.
The move is just a trial, but if it goes well, then you can bet your bottom dollar, or pound, that it’ll show up in London, and any other subway systems around Britain. Get ready to ask loud people to shut up underground, as well as on buses and trains.
Are you in Glasgow and on O2? What’s the service like – perfect? Or a bit patchy? Let us know in the comments.
O2 Press release (via O2UKOfficial Twitter)
Related posts: O2 brings mobile reception to the UK underground | The other first mobile phone use in the UK underground?
Nokia developing Home Control Centre technology
Betting that within a few years every appliance we own will be hooked up to the internet, Nokia has announced plans for something called Home Control Centre. It’s basically software that will let you control everything in your home from your mobile device, from the heating to the toaster.
I know, we’ve all been there – gone out with some toast in the toaster, and forgotten that you actually wanted it on browning level three, rather than browning level five.
More seriously, though, this also has energy saving implications. You’ll be able to monitor energy usage from your mobile, and switch off anything that you don’t need remotely. Plus there’s a big convenience factor – preheat your oven 15 minutes before you arrive home, so you can just stick dinner straight in.
The only definite that Nokia has announced is some carbon footprint monitoring technology, from European energy firm RWE. That will use Wi-Fi enabled thermostats on each radiator. Nokia are promising to show this off in December at its annual Nokia World Conference. I wouldn’t be surprised if we heard a fair bit more about the broader too then, too.
(via Reg Hardware)
Related posts: How green is your kettle? | Ecobee – a Wi-Fi thermostat
