Month: August 2006

“The KG920 is one funny looking device, reminding me of a 1960s impression of a future walkie-talkie. The design is one of a kind, and you either like it or hate it. It is ironic that neither the front nor the back looks too much like a phone. The front looks like a lab machine full of buttons, and the back looks like a digital camera, with a manual lens cover, LED lamp, and Xenon flash. The device is definitely not the smallest around, but at the same time, it might not be as big as you think. In fact, it is just about the same size as the Nokia N73, and as heavy as a Sharp 903. The exact measurements are shown in the table to the right.The KG920 consists of two parts joined by a rotating hinge. The top part includes the screen on the front and the battery on the back, and the lower part houses the keypad on the front and camera module on the back. As opposed to the rotating Nikon cameras and the Nokia 3250, the lens is directly behind the keypad, instead of on the edge of the device. If you wish to take self-portraits, you can simply rotate the camera around 180 degrees. The screen and the camera will now be on the same face. If you are a keen photographer, the rotating mechanism also allows you to take pictures from a very low angle. I am happy to report that the hinge feels extremely solid, just like the rest of the phone. With the included Xenon flash, the KG920 is also great for party pictures. ” Read this interesting review here:

“Sony Ericsson today announces the Z610; a stylish 3G phone that blends performance with stand-out design. The sleek mirror finish on the front cover gives the phone a jewel-like quality that is complimented by a hidden ‘magic mirror’ display which can only be seen when in use.Its advanced feature set includes a 2.0 Megapixel camera and broadband-speed 3G connectivity. With such a unique design and a choice of three eye-catching colours – Luster Black, Rose Pink & Airy Blue – Z610 is the clamshell to be seen with.The magic of the Z610 is revealed when a call comes in or the user receives an SMS or MMS. The hidden external display illuminates, giving the effect that the caller-ID information is floating on the face of the phone itself. The distinctive design of the Z610 is matched by a feature set that lets the user get the most from their mobile phone. The Picture Blog application allows the user to share photographs with friends and family, via an online ‘blogsite’, within just a few clicks. Simply take a shot with the Z610?s 2.0 Megapixel camera and upload (or blog) the images directly to the site.The Z610’s 3G capability, coupled with its large 2.0 inch screen, makes video calling and accessing the Internet a pleasure; and with support for Push Email and RSS feeds that deliver the latest news updates direct to your mobile, it’s so much more than a pretty face. Z610 is available in selected markets from Q3 2006.” More photos at slashphone.com

“Samsung announced to release its 8GB super music phone ‘SCH-B570′ through SK Telecom, which can store up to 1600 songs (4MB song), 16 PMP movies (400MB), or 20,000 pictures (300K picture).It features professional audio functions like 5.1 channel virtual stereo and 3D stereo sound.’5.1-channel virtual stereo’ means that users can choose stereo sound by controlling the location of five speakers on the screen.‘Morning-call motion recognition snooze function’ is another noticeable feature; when the phone makes an alarm in the morning and if you shake it a few times, it starts to make sound automatically after a few minutes.The SCH-B570 enables users to enjoy S-DMB or other downloadable PMP movies with PIP feature as well as various multimedia content such as psychology test, Chinese character dictionary, and motion recognition games.” More photos of this great phone here:

“Being a standalone personal media player just doesn’t cut it anymore; you’ve got to have plenty of extra functionality in there before you’ll get anyone’s attention. Just as a cell phone isn’t complete without a camera anymore, it seems that GPS units aren’t complete without video these days (at least in Korea). The XPIN MX-430 from DK EMD is the latest in this line of thought.Under the hood, you’ll discover a SiRF-III chipset to keep you going in the right direction, but as soon as you’re sure you’re taking the right route, it doesn’t take much to switch on over to the DMB watching capability of this puppy. You can even check out your own DivX collection.There’s a 4.3-inch touchscreen LCD on board to accompany the 2GB of flash memory found within. For expansion, they’ve turned to the postage stamp-sized SD cards, and it actually boasts twin antennas: one for GPS, the other for DMB.Look for the XPIN in Korea by the end of the month, with an asking price of 548,000 KRW (~US$568).” via mobilemag.com

” From the makers of ‘PaintBall -Palm OS’, a new, fun & extra addicting puzzle game that will also sucks you in and won’t let you go until you’ve wasted all of your time! ‘Frutakia’ uses the ‘casino slots idea’ and turns it into an original puzzle game.• Game Objective: You must make groups of 3 or more same fruits/items at any direction! There are 5 different fruits and 2 different items. ‘Blanks’ can also appear.The ‘bell’ scores more points than the fruits and the ‘super item’ scores the most!FEATURES:* VGA, 480×640 & 640×480 support!* Horizontal resolutions supported (320×240 & 640×480)* Support for 240×240 and 480×480. (Treo 700w)* 16bit crystal clear graphics!* Full screen graphics!* Frame by frame smooth animation* Speed control * 5 way navigator support* Export Hi-Scores to internet —21/Aug/2006 UPDATE (1.6) —* 320×240 Horizontal resolution now supported.* 640×480 Horizontal resolution now supported.* Bugs fixed” Check it here:

“David Beers was in attendance at LinuxWorld San Francisco where PalmSource was exhibiting the Access Linux Platform. PalmSource also held a full day of hands-on tutorials in which they built and debugged native applications for mobile Linux. In this article David brings us up to date on ALP, its progress and other details on and what was being presented about ALP at LinuxWorld.PalmSource and parent company ACCESS were a major presence at LinuxWorld in San Francisco this past week. While other mobile Linux vendors like TrollTech and a la Mobile had announcements about upcoming reference handsets for developers or new Linux phone platforms, PalmSource was the only one to demonstrate their new operating system on real handsets. They were also the only one to give developers a full day of hands-on tutorials in which they built and debugged native applications for mobile Linux. The three PalmSource Developer Day sessions were well attended with standing room only at times, and the demos phones, reference board, and developer tools all showing the ACCESS Linux Platform (ALP) drew crowds on the expo hall floor of the conference.” Find out more at palminfocenter.com

” Out of the HTC roadmap leaked, i-Mate get their own taste of HTC smartphone, the JAQ.With the usual re-brand practise where i-Mate deploy HTC phone with a slighlty different design, they are now working on the new QWERTY smartphone called JAQ. The JAQ is slightly different than the HTC Excalibur , it has a white body, with a longer, thinner keypad, and it has more buttons at the middle row. The JAQ should have a joystick at the center of the D-pad, making navigation easier. While everything is still in rumor, the following specifications is just for your reference,
operating system: Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0
processor: TI OMAP850 200Mhz
RAM / ROM [MB]: 64/128
display: 2.8 inch 320×240 (QVGA) TFT LCD 64K colors
weight: 160g (with battery)
size: 122 x 71 x 22 mm
card slot: mini SD
wireless: IrDA, Bluetooth v1.2
battery: 1440 mAh Li-Ion” via slashphone.com

“PaintBall has returned with more addictive, faster and richer gameplay!HiRes plus graphics with millions of colors, stereo sound, 5 different modes of gaming and Bluetooth multiplayer where you can play against your friends wirelessly.PaintBall 2 is the successor of our best seller, original, ball-sucking game, developed in a way that we can guarantee it will keep you hours and hours on your PDA. FEATURES: * VGA, 480×640 & 640×480 support! * Horizontal resolutions supported. * Support for 240×240 and 480×480. (Square) * 16bit crystal clear graphics! * Stereo Sound * Full screen graphics! * Frame by frame smooth animation * Speed control * 5 way navigator support * Export Hi-Scores to internet * 3 different ball styles—19/Aug/2006 UPDATE (1.4) —* 320×240 Horizontal resolution now supported.* 640×480 Horizontal resolution now supported.* Bugs fixed” Check this grerat game here:

” To use the Sony PSP as GPS navigation device is one of the most thought after non-gaming features of the portable console. Sony has announced a GPS accessory for the PSP back in March dubbed PSP-290 that is supposed to come in October on the market. Sony already released map viewer software for the PSP in Japan. Play-Asia sells ‘Minna no Map’ for $42.90. It only has maps for Japan, so not useful for the rest of the world. Until Sony is going to offer the GPS accessory and/or global map software we have to rely on the Sony PSP homebrew community. The first hack dates back already to 2005, where the homebrew program called GPSP was able to read data from a GPS mouse. The most advanced homebrew GPS and map viewer software today is the Deniska Map This PSP Map viewer. Here is a pretty impressive video demoing the PSP navigation hack driving around in a car. In this post Deniska explains how to hook up a Holux GPSlim236 GPS receiver to a Sony PSP. Deniska’s latest public release GPS/Map viewer software is available here.” via i4u.com

” LONDON, Aug 18 (Reuters) – Handheld computer and phone maker Palm Inc. (PALM.O: Quote, Profile, Research) is to unveil the latest version of its Treo smart phone next month as it attempts to revive sales hit by tough competition and problems with previous models.”The announcement is going to be made in the UK on September 12, and we will give all the details then but at the moment all we are saying is that it will be out before the end of the year,” said a Palm spokeswoman.A September or October release is seen by analysts as vital for any firm hoping to cash in on the all-important Christmas period as they vie for shelf space with rivals’ products.Any later than that and stores and Web sites are likely to have already made decisions about what to stock their shelves with ahead of the key trading period.The Californian-based firm said in July the new version will operate on Vodafone’s (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research) high-speed third generation (3G) network and be powered by Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) Windows Mobile operating system, however details about the handset’s functionality remain sketchy.The current 700p version of the latest Treo has a slot for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth cards, but with the latest Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research), Sony Ericsson (ERICb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research) (6758.T: Quote, NEWS, Research) and O2 offerings all boasting the technology in-built, Palm knows it can not afford to fall further behind as the competition heats up.Palm is to launch the new handset to Vodafone customers in a number of European countries including the U.K., Germany, Spain, Italy and Netherlands as it attempts to win back the confidence of a market it once dominated with its Palm Pilot device.The company is hoping the move to the Windows Mobile will help alleviate the concerns of Treo users who have long complained of Palm’s own operating system crashing the handsets on a regular basis.In June, the company stopped shipping its Treo 650 model in Europe because it was not compatible with a newly introduced phone technology standard.” via yahoo.reuters.com