We’re familiar with kinetic watches, but who wears those old relics anymore? A kinetic smartphone is much more suitable for the 21st century, and Ulysse Nardin has the answer. The “Chairman,” whose technology is actually borrowed from Ulysse Nardin’s kinetic watches, has a revolving rotor on the back that provides supplemental battery power. It also looks damn sexy, and the other features are pretty cool as well. There’s a 2.8-inch multi-touch screen, a 5-megapixel camera, biometric fingerprint unlocking and an e-mail browser with Wi-Fi. The Chairman is on display at the Baselworld watch and jewelry expo, but there’s no word on pricing or availability. We’re guessing the answer is “soon” and “not cheap.” [Uncells via Gizmodo]
I mean honestly, who uses a shoe? In Australia, IT expert Paul Gardner-Stephen created a footwear phone as a prop for a local theatre production of Get Smart, the classic spy spoof that coined the idea. Sliding back the heel reveals a power button and a Bluetooth headset, and the phone itself is embedded in the sole. Turns out, the concept is so novel that Gardner-Stephen is thinking of marketing it online. Some of the quotes from this guy are pure gold, because you can’t tell if he’s kidding around or completely serious. “Your first thought is, ‘It’s completely impractical.’ But it’s actually not that bad,” he said. Gardner-Stephen even used the phone around Adelaide University for a few days, and claimed that “after a couple of bemused looks … no one really paid much attention.” [Telegraph via Dvice]
Eat this, iPhone: the Blackberry Curve was the most popular handset in retail stores during the month of December. It had already accomplished the same feat in November, so RIM can feel pretty good about making a hot holiday item. AvianResearch’s Monthly Retail Store Survey gathers data from 100 service representatives and store managers at the four major carriers’ stores. It’s not clear whether Apple stores are included in the survey, so maybe this is a little skewed? In any case, Blackberry Storm came in third, followed by LG’s Voyager and Dare to round out the top five. Then came the Blackberry Bold, Samsung’s Rant, Behold and Instinct and, finally, the LG Env2 — envious of those other phones, no doubt. Burn! [RCR Wireless via Electronista]
This morning at the MWC 2009 event, HTC has officially revealed its latest phone for Google Android, the HTC Magic. The HTC Magic features a 3.2″ touchscreen, a 3.2 MP digital camera, GPS, HDSPA, and a bottom-center trackball. The HTC magic will be available for Vodaphone contracts and priced between 99 and 199 Euro in Spain, Germany, UK, France and Italy. The hard stats are available after the jump! More to come… [via engadget]
Continue Reading
Among the many handsets introduced at Mobile World Congress yesterday were two touch screen smartphones from HTC. The Touch Diamond2 is your basic iPhone clone, with a 3.2-inch WVGA screen, HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, built-in GPS and a 5-megapixel camera with auto focus, measuring 4.25 x 2.1 x 0.54 inches. It plays audio and video in a variety of formats and runs on Qualcomm’s MSM7200A processor. The Touch Pro2 uses the same CPU and connectivity standards as the Touch Diamond2 but adds a full keyboard. It has a 3.2-megapixel camera and 3.6-inch WVGA screen and measures 4.6 x 2.3 x 0.7 inches. Both phones come with Windows Mobile 6.1, but Microsoft says they’ll be upgradable to the new 6.5 operating system. Click the gallery pics below to see both phones in glorious detail. [via Akihabara News]
Jumping in on the slim touch screen smartphone market, Sony Ericsson has unveiled the Idou, which it notes is just a concept name until the handset becomes a reality. It sports all the usual trimmings, like a 3.5-inch, 16:9 display for video, music and applications with Turbo 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity. Photographers can look forward to a 12.1-megapixel camera with “touch focus” and Xenon flash. The Idou will get its new name and go on sale some time in the second half of this year. Pricing is still unknown. [Sony Ericsson]
Garmin has announced two new additions to its nuviphone line, the G60 and M20. The G60 will be running a customer version of Linux and will come pre-loaded with maps, as well as some new location area software from Garmin called Ciao! The phone will have a 3.5-inch touchscreen, 3MP geo-tagging camera, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The M20 is a Windows Mobile handset has an accelerometer, 3-megapixel geo-tagging camera, microSD expansion, and a 2.8-inch touchscreen. No pricing or availability information has been released about the phones. We should hear more about both devices however at Mobile World Congress next week. [via CrunchGear]
We can see the commercial in our heads now: “But Toshiba makes laptops,” Man on the Street says. Cue techno music and flashing image of the TG01, with tagline, “At 9.9 mm thin, it’s cooler than your iPhone.” The touchscreen measures 4.1 inches with WVGA resolution, and there’s a 1Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor inside running Windows 6.1 Mobile. Other features include HSDPA Internet, HSUPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, a microSD card slot, built-in GPS and DivX support. Also, you can shake the phone to answer and end calls. Perhaps the tagline should read, “Don’t get too irate on the phone or you’ll accidentally hang up.” [T3 via MobileCrunch]
On the rare occasions when federal authorities use cell phone signal jammers, it’s to prevent remote control bombs and other coordinated attacks at high security events — like Barack Obama’s inauguration, for example. It’s also a privilege only the feds enjoy, and only after seeking a legal waiver. Now, state and local authorities want some of that action. State prisons say their inmates are using contraband cell phones to conduct shady business from the inside, and local cops, including New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, say they need the ability to jam in the event of a random terrorist attack. Counterarguments abound, like the need for civilians to use their own phones in an emergency and the danger of “friendly fire,” in which one agency inadvertently blocks the signal of another. Still, there’s movement in the legislative branch. Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) have introduced respective bills to let local authorities and prisons jam. Pretty soon, Telecoms may not be the only ones to blame for dropped calls… [WaPo via CrunchGear]
