Tuesday, 24 March 2009

Nokia 7205 Intrigue Gets Official, Launches on Verizon.

Nokia yesterday announced the official release of their 7205 Intrigue clamshell-style cellphone, which features an attractive “hidden-until-lit” display on the front. The external 1.9-inch 176 x 32 PMOLED display is virtually invisible until lit by an incoming call or message alert.

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Tuesday, 3 February 2009

Toshiba TG01 4.1-Inch Touchscreen Smartphone Announced

Toshiba shocked the gadget world today with the surprise announcement of a stunning 4.1-inch touchscreen smartphone, called the TG01. The handset looks to go head-to-head with Apple’s iPhone and HTC’s Touch HD and is the first gadget to incorporate Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon QSD2850 processor.

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Thursday, 4 December 2008

Sanyo TEL-LAN Phone Warns Of Quakes, Turns Into A Torch.

A clever cordless phone by Sanyo called the TEL-LANW60, is able to relay earthquake announcements made by Japan’s Meteorological Agency, alerting you to serious imminent quakes and helping you through the aftermath by transforming into a flashlight.

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Thursday, 4 December 2008

Kogan Agora: The Next Google Android Smartphone

A new handset, the Kogan Agora, is set to be the second smartphone running Google’s open source Android OS. The Agora, manufactured by Australian company Kogan, was designed based on consumer feedback about what individuals are looking for in a phone. The result is a handset with no carrier obligation or contract, that will work around the world and start at just AU$299 (US$200 | £135) or AU$399 (US$267 | £180) for the Agora Pro plus delivery.

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Monday, 16 June 2008

Nokia E66 S60 Slider Is Now Official

Nokia has officially announced that the E66 S60 slider will be making its way to the U.S. around Q3 of this year.


The phone will be compatible with multiple networks including EDGE, GSM, HSDPA and WCDMA.


The handset is only 13.6mm thick and will feature not only a 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera on the rear, but also a camera on the front for making video calls.

It will include a 2.4-inch QVGA screen as well as A-GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth (with A2DP) and 3.6mbps web browsing.

You can switch to landscape mode by turning the handset on its side, much like the accelerometer feature on Apple’s iPhone, plus there is a new feature that allows you to easily switch between your personal and business profiles.

The battery will last for 14 days on standby and give you 3.5 hours of talk time on 3G or 7.5 hours on GSM.

The internal memory is limited, only 110MB, but that can be expanded with a microSD card up to 8GB.

The E66 uses the third edition of the S60 platform which runs on the Symbian OS.

The handset will cost “under $500″ according to Nokia and will be available in two colours, either white or grey with steel accents.

Sources:
CNET
Engadget

Thursday, 12 June 2008

Palm Centro For $99 On Verizon

Palm Inc has announced today it will sell its popular Centro smartphone through U.S. carrier Verizon for $99.


The report was made in the Wall Street Journal and will give Palm access to Verizon’s 67.2 million subscribers.

Palm has said that the Centro is “off to the strongest start of any smartphone in Palm’s history,” which is quite an achievement given the popularity of the company’s Treo line.


1 million Centros have already been sold through the likes of Sprint Nextel, AT&T and other international carriers. The Centro’s success has been crucial to Palm who has been struggling to keep its market share from competitors like RIM’s BlackBerry and Apple’s iPhone.

The $99 Palm Centro will be available from tomorrow on contract and will be eligible for Verizon’s “unlimited” email and web for smartphone plan at $29.99.

Apparently, Palm also have a brand new Facebook application that will launch with this phone and also be available on AT&T and Sprint models.

Sources:
Engadget
MSNBC

Related articles:
Apple iPhone Released At WWDC
New BlackBerry Bold To Compete With iPhone.

Friday, 6 June 2008

Microsoft To Disable Your Phone/Camera

Microsoft has filed a patent application that would see gadgets like mobile phones and digital cameras disabled in designated areas such as public transport, conference rooms, galleries, museums or movie theatres.


The idea is called Device Manners Policy (DMP) and could block certain features on gadgets that are not allowed in the user’s location.

According to Microsoft’s patent application, they are considering various methods of implementing their lock-down but are unsure of the best route.


The system would likely involve a Wi-Fi or RF link to your device. If you were in a gallery, for example, your gadget could be wirelessly linked to a local server that issues instructions about which functions are not allowed in the area and must be disabled.

The obstacle in this plan is in getting manufacturers to add the necessary software to their devices to make the system work. Microsoft can add the software to its own Windows Mobile platform but that would only cover a fraction of the mobile market and wouldn’t include digital cameras or other devices.

Sources:
RegisterHardware
Microsoft’s Patent Application

Photo Credit: Flickr’s Kai Hendry

Friday, 16 May 2008

VoIP Phreaking a concern

The cult 70’s activity of hacking telephone systems is seeing a revival through the new telephone technology, voice-over-IP (VoIP).

Back then, kids, including Steve Wozniac – who built the very first Apple computers – discovered that they could open lines for free calls when pitching tones at various frequencies.

They thought of phreaking as a victimless crime since no-one lost any money, but in this latest version, it leaves users out of pocket.


VoIP services are considerably cheaper than traditional copper wire networks (landlines), sometimes even free, utilising the Internet to route calls. If you use it to call landlines or mobiles however, it can cost more than on a regular phone service.

Dave Gladwin, vice-president of products at Newport Networks says that log-in details for VoIP accounts are up for sale on the web and they are going for more than credit-card details.

Harvesters target public hotspots as, according to Gladwin, nine out of ten providers of VoIP using the standard SIP protocol don’t support encryption.
Skype users need not worry. They encrypt traffic and use their own protocol.

Users tend to be careful to check they’re using a secure link when making purchases online, but they don’t think about it when making a VoIP call, Gladwin says.