Handset

Modern-day smartphones like those produced by Apple and Samsung have put a bunch of cool features into our pockets, turning the mere portable telephone into a computer, personal organizer, games console, and more besides. OwnFone, however, takes the opposite approach, offering an inexpensive, easy to use handset stripped down to the bare essentials.  Read More

Last year we told you about a product called the Phone x Phone, which is an iPhone dock that essentially turns your mobile into a desktop phone. Well, while it has a decidedly 70s retro appeal, the Phone x Phone now has some competition in the form of the sleek and modern-looking iClooly Handset and Sync Stand. You just lay your iPhone 4, 3GS, 3G, or Android phone with a 3.5 mm headphone jack into the stand, plug in the landline-style handset, and pretend that cell phones were never invented.  Read More

It's all about speed, speed, speed for Motorola in 2011. The new Droid Bionic, unveiled at CES, will be Motorola's new smartphone flagship, with fast dual-core processing and blistering download speeds over Verizon's LTE 4G network, billed as the fastest in America. And speed aside, the new big Daddy Droid packs quite a spec sheet.  Read More

Just as a successful TV show can yield spin-offs, apparently so it is with mobile phones. Looking to capitalize on the success of its HTC Desire, which launched earlier this year to positive reviews, HTC has unveiled the Desire HD and Desire Z. The Desire HD features a larger 4.3” display and is the first phone to be powered by the new 1GHz Qualcomm 8255 Snapdragon processor. Meanwhile, the Desire Z is a QWERTY slider and is the first to be powered by the 800MHz Qualcomm 7230 processor. In addition to the new hardware, HTC also announced an enhanced HTC Sense experience centered around a new HTCSense.com service that lets users backup, lock, locate and wipe data from their phone remotely.  Read More

The Samsung Epic 4G smartphone is on its way to Sprint networks in coming months... and it really looks the goods. Known on the rumor mill as the "Galaxy S Pro" before today's official announcement, the Epic 4G packs dual cameras with LED flash and (720p) video recording, a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, 4-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a six-axis motion sensor. Running on Android 2.1, the handset also features WiFi 802.11 b/g/n with hotspot capability for up to five devices and access to 4G data networks (WiMAX) which Sprint says can deliver peak download of more than 10 Mbps.  Read More

Microsoft says its new KIN Windows phone has been designed specifically for people who are actively navigating their social lives – and let’s face it, who isn’t? The software giant has partnered with Verizon Wireless, Vodafone and Sharp to deliver the product exclusively to the US (Verizon Wireless), Germany, Italy, Spain the UK (Vodafone). KIN melds a handset, online services and the PC with new experiences called the Loop, Spot and Studio. There are two models – KIN ONE and KINE TWO, both with touch screens and slide out keyboards.  Read More

Some people may find it hard to believe but yes, home phones do still exist. Sure they haven’t undergone the massive technological advances we've seen in mobile phones in the past decade but Motorola is looking to make up some ground with one of the first Android-powered home phones to hit the market - the Motorola HS1001. Running Android v1.6 the cordless handset features a 2.8-inch touchscreen with virtual keypad and allows users to surf the web and check email via a Wi-Fi connection to a home network.  Read More

Sony Ericsson has unveiled two new, compact versions of its Xperia X10 handset at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Both the Xperia X10 mini and X10 mini pro are smaller than a credit card and will combine the Android platform along with a version of the company’s UX platform specifically designed for smaller devices. The X10 mini pro also features a slide out QWERTY keyboard.  Read More

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has unveiled the Windows Phone 7 Series at Mobile World Congress 2010, saying it has been designed for "life in motion". The new phone will bring together Xbox LIVE games and access Zune music and video for the first time, with manufacturing partners already building handsets which should be available in stores by mid-2010.  Read More