LG's Watch Phone

It's only a concept for now, but LG's phone-in-a-wristwatch prototype was drawing big crowds at CES on Monday.

Specifications were scarce for the watch phone; indeed, LG reps wouldn't even take it out of its glass case, and from what I understand, the watch on display can't even make calls (although building a GSM or CDMA radio into the wristwatch wouldn't be a problem, I'm told). The cool display isn't a touch screen; instead, a jog dial on the side of the casing lets you scan through the various menus. Bluetooth and SMS messaging would potentially be part of the package, along with voice commands for barking orders, Dick Tracy-style.

Cool concept, right? Although after pondering the reality of a watch phone for a bit, I'm not sure I'd want one; you'd pretty much need a Bluetooth headset for every call, unless you're fine with everyone in earshot hearing both ends of your conversations (assuming the watch has an external speaker, of course, which doesn't seem likely). Still, you can dream.

That said, the LG watch phone looks more like a really cool idea than a shipping product; indeed, the LG reps on hand wouldn't even speculate on pricing or a release date.

Hands On Review of Moto ROKR E8

The Unusual Motorola!!
The Motorola ROKR E8 has often been referred to as the "morphing phone," and why shouldn’t it? The keyboard actually changes based on what function of the phone you wish to use.When you’re making a call at the home screen, you’d obviously want the full keyboard there. When you’re about to snap a flick, you get zoom in and out keys, a playback key for viewing recently taken photos, and a video camera key for switching to video mode. In music mode, the keyboard displays next and previous keys, a play / pause key, a shuffle playback key, and a repeat key. The actual device is pretty sharp, too. The entire front is like one smooth surface with a huge touch-sensitive "ROKR" (scroll) wheel in the middle.What’s incredible, is that there is absolutely no tactile feedback on any of the keys when the phone is off. It’s just a flat surface with little dots to help guide your fingers. But when it’s on, haptics lends support when you’re pressing a button, but it actually makes the keys press. Hard to explain, but there is definitely tactile feedback on a key press and not just the normal haptics vibrate. As far as we can tell, the Motorola E8 features a 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth (with various profiles including A2DP), and is a quad-band GSM/EDGE device. You’ll also notice a 3.5mm headset jack at the top of the phone, which is a little awkwardly placed if you ask us. The Motorola E8 runs a newer version of the MOTOMAGX platform, so Motorola RAZR 2 V8 users will have no problem getting used to the new handset. We’re trying to track down a release date now, and we have no word on what carriers here in the U.S. will be jumping aboard to carry it at this point. All in all, it’s not going to take over the world, but with its thin and sleek profile complete with a unique keyboard and excellent call quality, we could see ourselves using this every day.

courtesy:modmymoto.com

Hands-on Review: Verizon's LG Voyager

THE iPhone Killer??

it's not targeted squarely at the iPhone, I don't know what is. At first glance, the two handsets look a lot alike. You'll find a big (2.8 inches diagonally), touch-sensitive LCD front and center, complete with a "touch here" unlocking mechanism, not unlike the iPhone. A single hardware button is used, again, as a "home" function, though you'll find send and end buttons on the Voyager as well. All the rest of the phone functions are accessed via the touchscreen.

But the Voyager has a secret weapon: It flips open, clamshell style, to reveal a spacious (and excellent) QWERTY keyboard and a landscape display, also 2.8 inches diagonally. The interior keyboard isn't touch-sensitive, but it would be difficult to use it with a fingertip anyway, as it's set back and at an angle, not unlike the AT&T Tilt. You can do anything you want on either screen (a fingertip keypad pops up on the exterior display when you need it), and you can swap between them on the fly

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What can you do with the Voyager? What can't you do? It's got a fairly good web browser that's plenty fast; unlike the iPhone, the Voyager has a 3G radio inside, so it's as zippy as it gets on a cell phone. No, you don't always get picture-perfect pages like you do with the iPhone, but the rendering is way better, at least, than Mobile IE. There's room for improvement: Scrolling around a busy screen really bogs down the handset, for example.

There's a 2-megapixel webcam and email, of course, but there's also integrated GPS (subscription fees are extra), complete with voice-assisted instructions. Plus, you get all of Verizon's usual VCast music and TV features. Video quality is impressive... and don't miss the cute, retractable antenna! A microSD card slot lets you add as many tunes as you want. iPhone can't touch Voyager on these features.

For a 3G phone, battery life isn't bad: 4 hours, 40 minutes of talk time in my tests. And call quality is outstanding, as good as any cell phone I've tested.
What's missing? The Voyager lacks the absolute stunning looks of the iPhone, but it's still handsome. Imagine LG's prior clamshell phones like the enV but on a diet. There's oddly no Wi-Fi on the Voyager, either, though the faster cell network at least makes up for some of that.
All this will set you back $300, or $100 less than the iPhone, with the same two-year contract (though you can add data or not, your choice). Whether it's all worth it is up to you, but I'll say that if I was shopping for a new Verizon handset today, this is definitely the one I'd snag. No question.

Nokia N95 8GB: 18 Carat Gold, 325 Diamonds

Who won’t love to buy mobile phones decked up with diamonds? Amosu Luxury Phones has lately featured much-in-demand Nokia N95 dipped in a diamond pot.

Alexander Amosu’s limited edition diamond Nokia N95 8GB is a matchless model ever produced. Counted 10 models would be produced; each one festooned with 18 carat white gold and 325 diamonds weighing 3.30 carats.

Each set maintains its exclusivity by using diamonds of different colors or usage of solid classic gold or white gold. The phone also offers the feature of limited edition number from 1-10 and can also be customized with your name. Since it comes under Nokia brand and is also decked up with diamond, so its price has to be shaking.

Price: $24,ooo(Approx 960000 INR!!)

Sony Unveils Walkman NW-A919 Touch Screen Player

The latest offering of a Walkman from Sony, “NW- A919″ holds up to 16GB of flash memory and a 2.4-inch, 320 x 240 pixel display. But you are an unfortunate if you aren’t residing in Japan. Measuring 86.8 × 48 × 12.3-mm, the gadget assists ATRAC together with non-DRMed WMA and AAC, MP3, and linear PCM audio playback with SonicStage doing the sync work back to your PC. The gadget is complemented with unique anti-noise headphones and a battery that offers it a life-span of 6 hours on TV and 36 hours of audio.

Vertu Ascent Ferrari 1947 Limited Edition Phone launched in India

Vertu has launched its all new Vertu Ascent Ferrari 1947 Limited Edition mobile phone in India. This phone was launched to commemorate Ferrari’s 60th Anniversary, and from the sound of the phone’s name, we feel it’s apt to celebrate 60 years of independence for India as well!

Classy phone maker Vertu worked closely with Ferrari’s design team to develop the Vertu Ascent Ferrari 1947 Limited Edition phone. In fact, just 1947 pieces of this particular model will ever be made. Each of the phones are numbered from 1 to 1947.

The Vertu Ascent Ferrari 19476 Limited Edition mobile phone has been handcrafted in the UK with the same precision and attention to detail given when assembling a Ferrari

The Vertu phone also features 4 hours of talk time, with up to 270 hours standby, Bluetooth support, large memory capacity that can store up to 1000 ocntacts, 900 calendar notes and 100 SMSes.

Review - Upgraded HTC Touch - Sprint Touch

The iPhone Killer

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HTC Touch and this upgraded version from Sprint do look sweet.

Processor-wise, it’s been upgraded from a TI’s OMAP™ 850, 201 MHz (HTC Touch) to a 400 MHz Qualcomm MSM7500 (Sprint Touch). Pretty much the same processor as the HTC Touch Dual which features a 400MHz Qualcomm MSM7200 processor. Memory-wise, it’s been upgraded from 64MB RAM and 128 MB ROM to 128MB RAM and 256MB ROM.

The TouchFLO UI been modified and now includes a 20-key and 12-key input options for the on-screen QWERTY keypad. Additional quick-access icons been added to the homepage as well. Other improvements includes bigger Close buttons and a bigger Start Menu.

My guess is we won’t see this upgrade version in Hong Kong as the upgraded specification is very close to the HTC Touch Dual, which is due to release in mid-November. A real bummer as I think that this upgraded version do have its market here given its small size, form-factor wise and the fairly big group of non-3G users here in town.

Moto PEBL vs RAZR

It's one of the sexiest, best-designed phones I've ever seen. It's actually one of the best designed anythings I've ever seen. The one-touch opening mechanism is engineering bliss, and the soft -touch plastic feels wonderful in your hand.

It got me thinking, though, about what I need in a cellphone. Most phones have the send/receive-calls bit pretty well nailed down by now, and that's good; I can check my Gmail with my phone, and because I don't actually want my work e-mail with me everywhere, I don't mind most handsets' lack of secure server compatibility. Most next-gen models support high-speed data transfer like 3G and EV-DO. Connectivity: check. Manufacturers are also taking steps to integrate cameras, MP3 players--even TV, in some cases--into their products. Multimedia: check. Battery life is only getting better, and very small phones are easy to find. The state of our cellphone union: strong.

Nokia Internet Tablet Upgrade Brings Keyboard, Memory, Better Software

Nokia just strutted out the N810 Internet Tablet ($480) at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. The most obvious upgrade to the earlier N800 is the addition of a huge QWERTY keyboard—revealed when you slide the wide LCD screen up. But other big changes are under the hood.

Nokia didn’t just happen to launch the new tablet at Web 2.0. They’re making the point that the 810 is fully equipped for the interactive Web with support for Adobe Flash (to support many online video sites, including YouTube) and AJAX (to support interactive Web sits that update info automatically, without reloading the page). Both are made possible by switching from the Opera Web browser to a new Mozilla-based browser. For more entertainment pleasure, the N810 also supports Microsoft’s Windows Media audio and video formats.

These are the biggest changes in the new Linux-based Maemo OS2008 operating software. (N800 owners don’t have to shell out for new software. They can download and install the new software on older devices.)

The 810 also gets built-in memory—two gigabytes, along with an SD card slot that can hold up to 10 gigabytes more. (The 800 has only SD card slots for memory.) Plus it adds a GPS receiver for location-based services, like local walking maps.

Like previous models, the N810 is not a phone, although it can hook into cell networks by being “tethered” through a Bluetooth connection to a cell phone. Its main connection, though, will be through Wi-Fi. In conjunction, the Boingo Wi-Fi network today announced that owners of the Nokia Internet Tablets, and its S60-based smartphones like the N95, can download an app that lets them connection to any Boingo hotspot for $7.95 per month.