Phones News
Sprint Introduces the Palm Pre
Palm has release their all new Pre on the Sprint mobile network. This is really the last chance for Palm who has failed to capitalize on the original explosive popularity of the Palm Pilot in the 90’s
Google Android Cupcake Update Coming In April
Cupcake will mark the first major update to the T-Mobile G1 since it hit the market in October, marking the first smartphone based on the open-source Google Android handset available.
The cupcake update, originally hinted at in December, is expected to add video recording and playback, features the G1 has lacked. It will also add an on-screen virtual QWERTY keyboard, so users don’t have to rely solely on the physical keyboard and can use the touch-screen to type. Other new capabilities expected from cupcake include Bluetooth stereo support; browser updates like copy, paste and quick search; and the ability to save MMS attachments.
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Lithium breakthrough could charge batteries in 10 seconds – Ars Technica
via Lithium breakthrough could charge batteries in 10 seconds – Ars Technica
A new version of lithium battery technology can either provide a higher storage density than current batteries, or can charge and discharge as fast as a supercapacitor, emptying its entire charge in under 10 seconds.
It’s getting difficult to overstate the importance of battery technology. Compact, high-capacity batteries are an essential part of portable electronics already, but improved batteries are likely to play a key role in the auto industry, and may eventually appear throughout the electric grid, smoothing over interruptions in renewable power sources. Unfortunately, battery technology often involves a series of tradeoffs among factors like capacity, charging time, and usable cycles. Today’s issue of Nature reports on a new version of lithium battery technology that may just be a game-changer.
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Bellperre Phone: Can You Say A Bit Over The Top??
Ok, seriously. Anyone who owns or is thinking about purchasing one of these is obviously not feeling the economic impact that the rest of us are! If you don’t want cheap materials, but wood isn’t your bag, there’s always the Bellperre. Best described as a petite box of privilege and , the Bellperre handset has absolutely no plastic anywhere on its outtards. Aluminium, titanium, stainless steel and ‘luxury’ leather are the Bellperre’s building blocks, gifting it a nice weighty sense of self-importance or lack there of if you need to purchase one of these to make yourself feel important. They offer a ridiculous amount of options and colors for the leather.
Price: £8,800
Lego, Alcatel, and Digital Blue Make Lego Phone
Earlier this year Lego and Digital Blue announced combined efforts that would yield a variety of Lego-centric electronics aimed at kids. Slated to be released by this Summer, the announcement included details on a digital camera, a walkie talkie and an MP3 player – nothing too crazy. These functional toys would appear as though they had been built from lego bricks and would all fall into an affordable $20 – $60 price range. Cool. An anonymous tipster may have just shined some light on a yet-to-be-announced element of this partnership however, that might bump the endeavor’s interest-factor from a 1.1 to an even 2. As you can see from the image above, Alcatel is apparently jumping into the mix and the trio is planning to make their best effort at putting cell phones in the hands of children at an even more inappropriately young age. Woo! From the looks of things, the Lego phone will consist of a base structure containing the body and display of the handset, while a series of modular attachments can be snapped on – likely just for color variation as opposed to changing the functionality of the handset to some extent. Little else is know at this point but we’ll be sure to update you as soon as possible so you don’t lose too much sleep over it. Hit the jump for a bigger shot showing off more modular pieces.
Garmin-Asus to Release Low-cost Eee Phone This Year
The Eee Phone, a smartphone that takes its name from popular computer products by Asustek Computer (Asus) including the Eee PC netbook line, will be among the early handsets released by the new Garmin-Asus mobile phone business the two companies announced last week.
GPS (global positioning system) device maker Garmin and Asus said the first Garmin-Asus handset will be revealed in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress next week.
But it will not be the Eee Phone.
The Eee Phone will be a low-cost smartphone and will be announced later this year, an Asustek representative said Thursday.
Sprint Palm Treo Pro
A CDMA version of Palm’s Treo Pro briefly appeared for sale on Sprint’s web site today. The phone appears mostly identical to the GSM version already announced, including support for WiFi, GPS, and a memory card. It supports most Sprint services, including Sprint TV, Music Store, Mobile Sync, and picture messaging. Other features include a QWERTY keyboard, 320×320-pixel display, Windows Mobile Pro 6.1, speaker-independent voice dialing, and 2-megapixel camera with video capture. Sprint has since pulled the Web page with details regarding the Treo Pro. Sprint will sell the Treo Pro at some undetermined date in the future for $249 after rebate and instant savings, with 2-year contract, or $549 full price.
LG KS360 Phone
LG KS360 is a mid-ranger that will easily catch your eye with bold colors and quirky controls. LG have managed to create a handset that’s cunningly full of character, though it’s kinda hard to think of it in the hands of a grown-up. It does seem like a toy at first glance and those color combos are to die for if you are of certain age and attitude.
Yet quite unexpectedly, LG KS360 is quick to serve a bunch of nice features such as a large and vivid 2.4-inch display, full QWERTY keyboard, a 2 megapixel snapper and… believe it or not… a wee tot of touchscreen.
This midrange phone isn’t exactly hard to keep your cool about and the flashy paintjobs don’t help much either. But we were pleasantly surprised by the ergonomics and performance of the KS360. So while we gear up to put the LG KS360 through its paces, you better get yourself ready to be surprised too.
Slacker Radio app for iPhone goes live
Now you can listen to, rate, and tweak your custom Slacker music stations on your iPhone, provided you’re in range of a data connection.
Word of the free streaming music app (available today on iTunes) leaked last week during CES, and so far, I’m pretty impressed with the finished product—indeed, Slacker Radio for the iPhone makes for a worthy competitor to the wildly popular (and newly updated) Pandora Radio and Last.fm apps.
Creating new Slacker stations on the iPhone is similar to the Pandora and Last.fm tracks—just search for and select a song, album, or artist, and you’ve got a new station. What I like about the Slacker iPhone app, though, is that you can drill down and tweak the settings on your stations; for example, you can add more familiar or fringe songs into the mix, stay with artists you know or find new ones, stick to current tracks or dip into oldies, or even add commentary from a pre-recorded Slacker DJ.