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Mobile Phone
The RAZR2 - how the next generation RAZR shapes up
By Mike Hanlon
May 18, 2007 Motorola’s iconic RAZR, the most distinctive single mobile phone design in the industry’s short history, is about to move into its next generation. RAZR2 evolves the critically important brand into a next-generation device with a host of cutting-edge features such as CrystalTalk technology which automatically adjusts audio to ensure clear calls even in a noisy environment. The RAZR2 has 2GB of on-board memory, Web browsing, real-time point-to-point video and a new ultra-fast menu navigation system, all packed into a slimmer, stronger, sleeker design. Available July 2007 in several markets, the RAZR2 family’s three new handsets – V9 (3G HSDPA), V9m (EVDO CDMA) and V8 (GSM) - will be available to users of all three major technology networks. Read More
Nokia becomes the first phone maker to add energy saving alerts to mobiles
By Mike Hanlon
May 14, 2007 The growing awareness of mankind’s mistreatment of its environment is leading to some interesting realisations. As remarkable as it might seem, around two-thirds of the energy used by a mobile phone is lost when it is unplugged after charging but the charger is left in a live socket. A recent agreement between all mobile phone manufacturers to focus on the environmental impact and energy usage of their wares will see many environmental initiatives roll out over the next few months. The first to implement changes resultant from the pact is market leader Nokia which will add alerts to its phone range encouraging people to unplug the charger once the battery is full. Starting with the new Nokia 1200, 1208 and 1650 models, the alerts will be rolled out across the Nokia product range. Read More
Pantech dual-LCD sliding phone with OLED touch screen keypad offering tactile feedback
By Mike Hanlon
May 9, 2007 Korean handset manufacturer Pantech will launch its new IM-R200 dual-LCD sliding phone onto the Korean market this month. The IM-R200 comes equipped with two screens – a 2 inch 260K QVGA TFT main display and a 1.6 inch 260K OLED touch-sensitive screen which replaces the standard keypad. When the phone is opened, the virtual keypad shows up on the touch-sensitive 1.6” 260K OLED LCD, allowing users to dial numbers and view contacts with the stroke of a finger. The advantage is that the touch screen keypad offers a fun and easy way to use its multimedia applications with separate and virtual interfaces for each function. For example, the touch sensitive LCD displays various lists of songs when the phone is used as a music player, while it shows camera functions when used as a camera. The capacitive touch screen vibrates when pressed, offering tactile feedback to give the feel of real buttons. Read More
Turn your mobile phone into a video controller with an advanced video pack from Swann
By Kate Seamer
April 25, 2007 The Advanced Video Pack from Swann enables you to stream video live from a camera to your mobile phone. It will even alert you via SMS when its cameras detect motion. While many would use this system for home or business security, it may also be used as a baby monitor, or even just for a bit of fun. Read More
Flip it good: Samsung’s dual screen UpStage music phone
By Mike Hanlon
April 10, 2007 You can literally flip between music and calls with the new UpStage phone by Samsung. The US$149 phone features two screens – one for calling, and one dedicated entirely to music. Users can navigate between the two by pushing the “flip” button on the phone’s spine. A video demonstration of the phone’s capabilities can be viewed on youtube. Read More
Bellperre exclusive mobile phones to be made of 0% plastic
By Mike Hanlon
March 13, 2007 A new brand of luxury mobile phone is set to hit the market with the promise its phones will be ‘0% Plastic.’ mobile phones - made of leather, steel, gold, hardwood, sapphire and other fine material. The aim of the new Bellperre brand is to “design masterpieces without compromising on the technology.” The fact that there are no plastic components does not negatively influence the weight of the handset. Read More
Hospital Equipment Unaffected By Cell Phone Use, Study Finds
By Mike Hanlon
March 12, 2007 Although cellular telephone use has been prohibited in hospitals because of concerns of interference with medical devices, a new study by Mayo Clinic researchers shows that calls made on cellular phones have no negative impact on hospital medical devices, dispelling the long-held notion that they are unsafe to use in health care facilities. Three hundred tests were performed over a five-month period in 2006 using two cellular phones, which used different technologies from different carriers and 192 medical devices. Not a single problem was found. The study's authors say the findings should prompt hospitals to alter or abandon their bans on cell phone use. Read More
The first universal mobile phone charger
By Mike Hanlon
March 12, 2007 March 12, 2007 The world’s first universal mobile phone charger is being introduced at CEBIT this week. Designed by Professor Luigi Colani, a nearly 80-year-old legend in the field of industrial design, the Anyfix can recharge more than 80% of mobile phones on the market in Europe, and certainly recharges all of the major brand products. It is also terribly exclusive, in purest Colani style, which makes it as much of an object of art as it is a basic commodity! Read More
Mayo Clinic Health software for mobile phones
By Mike Hanlon
February 23, 2007 Mayo Clinic and Digital Cyclone (a subsidiary of Garmin) have collaborated to develop a software application that delivers an array of health information and tools directly to cellular phones. The Mayo Clinic InTouch wireless health program will be available next week offering wireless phone subscribers a rich health resource directly on their phone with immediate access to step-by-step first aid tips, a symptom checker that provides self-care guidelines or advises emergency care for more than 45 common symptoms in adults and children, health news videos, health alerts and drug watches. Read More
Apple cleared to use iPhone Trademark
By Mike Hanlon
February 23, 2007 All those people who feared that Apple’s iPhone might be delayed due to the fact it didn’t have the rights to use the name, need fret no longer. Cisco and Apple have announced that they have resolved their dispute involving the "iPhone" trademark. Under the agreement, both companies are free to use the "iPhone" trademark on their products throughout the world. Both companies acknowledge the trademark ownership rights that have been granted, and each side will dismiss any pending actions regarding the trademark. In addition, Cisco and Apple will explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communications. Other terms of the agreement are confidential. Read More
NFC morphs the wallet and the mobile phone
By Mike Hanlon
The mobile phone is taking society by storm. Currently, one third of all the people on the planet carry a mobile phone, just a quarter century after its introduction. In just over three years time, we’ll pass the half way mark, and we expect the world will be a very different place a decade from now as the mobile phone takes on ever more remarkable qualities and function. And with sales of mobiles heading for the one billion a year, mobile phones are heading for ubiquity. Although more and more features are packed in every year, the mobile phone is still a long way from achieving its full potential. In tomorrow’s world, things we do every day, like paying at the till, buying a ticket for the bus or entering competitions, will all go through your mobile phone…using NFC technology. NFC stands for ‘near field communication’, a short-range wireless connectivity technology that enables two peripheral devices to exchange data via radiofrequency 13.56 MHz @ 424 Kbps) – i.e. without physical contact – over short distances of up to 5m. NFC technology has been approved as an ISO, ECMA and ETSI standard.Sagem is already trialing this exciting technology in Europe and would like to keep you abreast of the possibilities. NFC is not a new technology, and certain underground rail systems have already implemented it via contactless rail passes to offer seamless walk-through travel rather than turnstiles, making the system quicker and more convenient. However, when NFC is built into mobile phones, it adds the humble wallet to the convergence mix, and at the rate we're going, our personal identities might become incomplete if we're not "carrying" Read More
PRADA and LG launch touch screen mobile phone
By Mike Hanlon
January 20, 2007 LG and PRADA have unveiled a mobile phone controlled entirely by a touch-screen which is sure to draw comparisons with Apple’s recently announced iPhone. LG and PRADA have apparently worked closely together on every aspect of the product, from handset development to marketing, first announcing their intentions in December, but no doubt sensing the opportunity presented by the worldwide iPhone publicity and the possibilities of an iPhone delay given that Cisco is in litigation with Apple over the name. The PRADA Phone by LG (KE850) has a touch interface which eliminates the conventional keypad making the overall usage experience a highly tactile one. An extra wide LCD screen maximizes visual impact, allowing the user to benefit from several key features of the phone, including the 2 megapixel camera featuring Schneider-Kreuznach lens, video player and document viewer capacity. The PRADA Phone will be available with prices starting from 600 Euros in mobile dealerships and PRADA stores in the UK, France, Germany and Italy as of late February, 2007, followed by countries in Asia such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore from late March, 2007. The Korean version of the phone is scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2007. Read More
Samsung SCH-W559 Mobile Phone with Immersion’s VibeTonz System for Tactile Touchscreen Feedback
By Mike Hanlon
January 18, 2007 Relevant feedback from an intelligent device is very important to the feel of that device, how you relate to it and how efficiently you use it. Immersion Corporation is the company that has enabled touch feedback technology to dominate video game interfaces and now we warrant, it’s set to do the same for mobile phones. The new Samsung SCH-W559 phone is the first to use Immersion's VibeTonz System to provide tactile feedback in response to touchscreen presses. VibeTonz offers a broad range of touch feedback effects to make user interface features, applications, and multimedia content more intuitive and engaging. For example, virtual onscreen buttons feel more like mechanical keys, and the phone’s full-fidelity, vibe-enhanced ringtones are help identify callers in noisy environments. So compelling and useful is the vibration feedback system that global research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics believes that “market conditions are almost ripe for an explosion in touchscreen phones”, and “by 2012, 40% of mobile phones could be using some form of touch sensitive technology. Read More
Samsung Ultra Music and Ultra Video Mobile Phones
By Mike Hanlon
January 9, 2007 Samsung Electronics debuted two new entertainment phones at CES yesterday – the Ultra Music and Ultra Video exemplify the convergence of basic devices, such as PMP, MP3 and radio, with mobile phones. Both combine the features of a camera phone with 2 MPX images, with their particular entertainment bents, all facilited by an LCD on each side. On one side there is a smaller LCD screen and the dialing keypad for making phone calls, contact entry and cell phone menu functions. The reverse side has a large LCD screen and a dedicated touch sensitive pad to cater to the multimedia functions. Read More
ScanBuy - barcode software on your camera phone creates the Physical World Hyperlink
By Mike Hanlon
January 8, 2007 From time-to-time, we see a potentially disruptive technology of such magnitude we ponder its ability to shake the foundations - Scanbuy rates in that category. The irony of the ingenious system is that it leverages the humble barcode – a sixty year old far-from-vogue technology under threat from RFID. Last week, the U.S. Patent Office issued a patent to Scanbuy for a "System and method for decoding and analyzing barcodes using a mobile device". The software works on any handheld device (download here) with a camera and internet connection and uses the camera to read the barcode, then connects the device’s web browser to the corresponding web site. What this enables, which we think is very significant - is the connection of physical objects to the internet - a Physical World Hyperlink. Camera phones have only been available in most countriesfor four years yet they are fast approaching ubiquity– in 2005, 45 percent of all mobile phones sold in the U.S. were camera phones, with 64 percent in Western Europe and 90% plus in the logical Asian hotspots. Global sales of camera phones is expected to approach a billion a year by the end of this decade – accordingly, Scanbuy’s free software and a mobile phone means that a consumer can connect with a poster, billboard, magazine, newspaper, food packaging, businesscard, city guide, map or merchandising display – it’s a no-brainer to make a dead-as-a-doornail product interactive to the majority of people. 2D barcodes are already the preferred way for Japanese and Korean consumers to access mobile content but the beauty of the Scanbuy system is that it works on any camera phone and doesn’t require a special attachment or built-in bar code reader. The first application of this technology is fairly logical - being able to walk through any physical store and snap the barcode of any onbject and immediately have your phone tell you where else you can buy it and price comparison shop for you. We think that represents significant seismic activity under the foundations of bricks and mortar businesses, but it’s just one aspect of what can happen when you connect the real world to the internet. If you have an idea for how it can work for you, there’s even a software developers kit. Read More
Avatar technology comes to mobile phones
By Mike Hanlon
December 12, 2006 8, 2006: The news of the coming of the first avatar-based mobile game from CBS Interactive and Hong Kong-based Artificial Life (a regular subject of our stories such as the Virtual Girlfriend V1.0 and V2.0, and the development of the first Massive Multi Player 3G Game) is exciting indeed. CBS Interactive will launch the first avatar-based mobile game tied to a major TV show for The CW's America's Next Top Model. The mobile game which enables avatars (virtual characters ) to live on user's cell phones is the first of many mainstream uses for Avatars which many futurists feel will ultimately represent the real time embodiment of people in cyberspace and lead to meaningful on-line community – for people of any common pursuit, regardless of whether it’s business or personal. These are the first fledgling steps of a future three dimensional superstar – YOU in zeroes and ones, and the first inhabitants of cyberspace. Avatars are already widely used in Internet chat rooms, allowing people to be represented by an image, that masks their actual character, behaviour and even gender. Read More
Breakthrough Linux-based MOTOFONE with electronic paper display
By Mike Hanlon
November 29, 2006 Motorola has finally rolled out the highly anticipated MOTOFONE at an event held in New Delhi, India. The MOTOFONE looks set to strengthen Motorola's drive to connect the next billion mobile phone users, with the Indian launch to be followed by a rapid international rollout. Is the first model of the company’s SCPL design platform Linux-based phones designed to replace the Razr and is aimed at low-end users with its very easy-to-read electronic paper display and outstanding battery life. It is the first of a new breed of handsets designed to disrupt today's communications landscape by cutting across price tiers, product segments and international markets. We’ve written lots previously ( Sony Reader, READIUS Rollable Display, Iliad electronic reader, Plastic flexible e-paper Display, clocks, watches) about E Ink’s electronic paper displays, which are the basis of the MOTOFONE's ClearVision display. The changeable electronic ink display is easy to read in bright sunlight or dimly lit environments from virtually any angle -- just like paper. Additionally, the display is plastic, lightweight and ultra-low power, making it ideal for mobile and power sensitive applications by eliminating the weight and breakability of glass used in LCD displays. Read More
Another elite mobile phone contender – the Gresso
By Mike Hanlon
November 28, 2006 As we head towards the tipping point – the point where half of all the people in the world has a mobile phone – it’s becoming quite an entertainment to watch the development of the world’s expensive mobile apparatus for the very elite. We’ve previously written about the Vertu Collection, and JSC Ancort’s solid platinum Brilliant Crypto smart phone, and now there’s another contender at the very expensive end of proceedings. It is the Gresso phone. The case of the phone is made from Gold and 200-year-old African Blackwood, with every Gresso phone handcrafted and unique. Whatsmore, the phone is just 10mm thick. Sapphire anti-glare crystal glass frames the surface of the screen. We’re assured that the phone is well equipped technically, but we don’t have the specs other than it allows travel worldwide. Designed by an un-named Italian designer, the phones will be on sale only in Russia. The company has not yet unveiled its web site. Read More
Sony Ericsson ranks highest in mobile phone customer satisfaction
By Mike Hanlon
November 20, 2006 Sony Ericsson ranks highest in satisfying customers who have owned their current mobile phone for less than two years, according to a J.D. Power and Associates 2006 U.S. Wireless Mobile Phone Evaluation Study released this week. The study measures customers' satisfaction with their wireless handsets based on five key performance factors. In order of importance, these are: physical design (24%); operation (22%); features (20%); handset durability (19%); and battery function (15%). Sony Ericsson received the highest ratings from customers in handset durability, and also performs particularly well in features and battery functionality. LG and Sanyo took out second and third place in the overall rankings, with global market leader Nokia, Samsung and Kyocera performing below the industry average. Read More
LG FUSIC – why isn’t this phone more popular?
By Mike Hanlon
October 24, 2006 The LG FUSIC mobile phone has a distinctly musical bent – it delivers entertainment services at broadband-like speeds and looks, feels, and plays like a portable music player with the added ability of downloading full songs over-the-air, an FM transmitter for playing music through a radio or car stereo, Bluetooth Stereo support, and changeable faceplates for personalization of the phone. The bit that we can’t understand is why this phone isn’t more popular. The inbuilt Customers FM Transmitter offers stereo sound from MP3s stored on a microSD card through a radio or car stereo – the only mobile phone we’re aware of that does this without an accessory. Brilliant stuff! Read More
MOTOKRZR takes a good thing and runs with it
By Tim Hanlon
October 21, 2006 We're seeing more and more phones using the clamshell form factor, and considering the success of Motorola's most recent offering, the MOTORAZR, it's no surprise to see them release the MOTOKRZR - an update with plenty of functionality and the classic format crammed into a sleek 16mm x 42mm x 103mm shell that weighs 3.6 ounces. Read More
Cell Phones to monitor the air and alert users to harmful chemicals and gases
By Mike Hanlon
October 2, 2006 One wonders what super powers our mobile phones might have a decade from now given the plethora of sensing technologies, miniaturisation and functionality being planned by various companies. Cell-phone-sensor technologies specialist Gentag’s latest patent (7,109,859) for a "Method and Apparatus for Wide Area Surveillance of a Terrorist or Personal Threat" certainly indicates that it won’t be long before our cell phones will be monitoring the air we breathe and alerting us if there’s something we should know regarding allergens, contaminants or harmful bacteria. Gentag also holds patents for the use of RFID readers incorporated into cell phones, which will provide consumers with innovations like smart skin patches to detect health conditions and smart food labels to help consumers to determine the freshness of produce and meat. Gentag also a cell phone with a UV sensor built-in (pictured). Read More
Sony Ericsson's Z610 shimmering mirror clamshell
By Mike Hanlon
August 24, 2006 - Sony Ericsson has announced the Z610, a 3G phone with gorgeous looks and a sleek mirror finish on the front cover that gives it a jewel-like quality that is complemented by a hidden ‘magic mirror’ display which can only be seen when in use. This striking phone delivers an advanced feature set including a 2.0 Megapixel camera and broadband-speed 3G connectivity. With such a distinctive design and a choice of three eye-catching colours – Luster Black, Rose Pink & Airy Blue – the Z610 looks a winner to us. Read More
Next Generation Mobile Phone Concept
By Mike Hanlon
August 22, 2006 Answer your phone with the touch of a cheek! Synaptics and Pilotfish have utilised Synaptics' ClearPad touch screen to enable a new mobile user interface in its Onyx next-generation mobile phone concept. The new concept phone uses ClearPad, an optically clear, capacitive touch screen solution, to create a fully adaptive user interface (UI). The ClearPad input system eliminates the traditional mechanical keys found on phones today and dramatically adapts to present the information and controls a user needs at any given moment. Claimed to be more intelligent than conventional touch screens, the ClearPad accurately recognizes not only points and taps, but also shapes, complex gestures, and proximity to the user's finger or cheek. This creates new possibilities such as assigning functions to two-finger taps, closing tasks by swiping an "X" over them, sending messages by swiping them off the screen, or answering a phone by holding it up to your cheek. The prototype phone uses a dynamic UI, where applications are layered and opened simultaneously, allowing a seamless flow of information between applications. Read More
The world's most expensive mobile phone
By Mike Hanlon
July 16, 2006 Russian company JSC Ancort has teamed with celebrity jeweller Peter Aloisson to create a very upmarket version of Swiss Crypto Telecommunication Security’s Crypto Smart telephone which will sell for US$1.3 million and in so doing, become the world’s most expensive mobile telephone. Designed to attract attention to the issues of mobile phone privacy, the solid platinum Brilliant Crypto Smartphone uses a symmetric 256 bit cryptographic algorithm and Windows CE operating system. In addition to the platinum body, the Ancort logo and the navigation key are made of 18 carat rose gold, as is the navigation key which also carries 28 round cut diamonds. Aloissen is well known for his personalisation and bejewelling of popular mobile phones such as the Nokia 8210 and Sony Ericsson T68, increasing their sale price to more than EU32,000. The phone can also be ordered with the platinum treated with a black rhodium process to give it a black, shiny look. Read More
rob yates
- November 26, 2009 @ 12:49 UTC
