New Gadgets Guru » Mobile Phones

Sony Ericsson’s Aspen is a comeback for QWERTY phones

newgadgetsguru — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:17:07 +0000

While many mobile phone manufacturers are rushing to the market with iPhone lookalikes, Sony Ericsson seems to have headed in the opposite direction with a Blackberry look alike. Yes, the Sony Ericsson Aspen is definitely a Blackberry lookalike with both a QWERTY keyboard as well as a touchscreen. It looks pretty decent too. Of course, Sony Ericsson has always made sure that their phones look aesthetically pleasing if not why would James Bond want one?

Here’s what Macworld has to say:

The phone has a 2.4-inch touchscreen, a 3.2-megapixel camera and support for A-GPS (Assisted-GPS). It surfs the Internet using Wi-Fi or HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access), and is part of the GreenHeart range, Sony Ericsson’s label for its more environmentally friendly products.

It is one of the first phones to use version 6.5.3 of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system. That version features improved web performance with faster web page load times, according to Peter Wissinger, business group leader for Windows Mobile in the Nordic countries.

But there is one big drawback with this phone – it has a resistive touchscreen. Which means that there will not be any multi touch capabilities that is so popular in other smartphones right now. Not that Apple will give a rest to its legal team if Sony Ericsson embarks on developing a phone with a capacitive touchscreen anyway.

The actual release date hasn’t been announced but it is widely expected to go on sale during the second quarter. Watch out for more news on this beauty during the Mobile World Congress.

Thanks to Macworld.

Samsung I7500 – First Android phone among the big three!

newgadgetsguru — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:59:05 +0000

Samsung has become the first of the top three mobile phone manufacturers to unveil an Android powered phone – the I7500. This definitely shows that the top mobile players are taking the Android platform quite seriously to counter Apple’s super successful iPhone.

Here’s what JK SHin, Executive Vice president at Samsung had to say:

“Samsung is among the earliest members of the Open Handset Alliance and has been actively moving forward to introduce the most innovative Android mobile phone”

It is yet to be seen if this IS the most innovative Android phone considering the fact there are just two major manufacturers introducing handsets so far. The I7500 does have some neat features like a 3.2” AMOLED full touch screen and 7.2Mbps HSDPA and WiFi connectivity, giving users access to Google™ Mobile services and full web browsing 3.5G speed wherever there is coverage available.

The Samsung I7500 offers users access to the full suite of Google services, including Google Search™, Google Maps™, Gmail™, YouTube™, Google Calendar™, and Google Talk™. The integrated GPS receiver enables the comprehensive use of Google Maps features, such as My Location, Google Latitude, Street View, local search and detailed route description. Hundreds of other applications are available in Android Market. For example, the application Wikitude, a mobile travel guide, allows consumers to access details of unknown sights via location-based Wikipedia articles.

Based on Samsung’s proven product leadership, Samsung I7500 comes with latest multimedia features. The large and vivid 3.2“AMOLED display ensures the brilliant representation of multimedia content and enjoyable full touch mobile experience. Along with supporting a 5-megapixel camera and various multimedia codec formats, the I7500 also provides a long enough battery life (1500mAh) and generous memory capacity up to 40GB (Internal memory: 8GB, External memory: Up to 32GB) to enjoy all the applications and multimedia content. The phone also boasts its slim and compact design with mere 11.9mm thickness.

The I7500 is expected to be available in all major European countries beginning June 2009. It will be interesting to see how it performs as it might be the time when a new iPhone might be introduced as well. Not to mention firmware update 3.0! Going to be an exciting 2009 this!

The TAG Heuer mobile phone is almost here!

newgadgetsguru — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:31:11 +0000

Did you know that TAG Heuer is planning to introduce mobile phones too? No, not phones which look like watches but the real deal! Although we’re not exactly sure when it will be launched we can at least see the official site is up and running.

The first model is going to be called the Meridiist and you’ll be forgiven if you think that’s a watch’s name. It is being branded as a luxury mobile phone and we can expect the price to be comparable to their watches as well. Only problem might be that TAG could actually be launching this luxury phone at the wrong time!
[Via Ubergizmo]

How about an oPhone to replace your iPhone?

newgadgetsguru — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:04:27 +0000

Here’s a trivia quiz for you – Which country leads the world in intellectual property theft? If you said China, you’re right on target. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out anyway. Major electronics manufacturers have been targeted in the past and it looks like Apple is no exception. Enter the oPhone.

Although it is pretty normal to see small companies ripping off their western counterparts, we certainly did not expect someone as big as Lenovo to jump into this bandwagon as well. The company is developing a new Android handset called the oPhone. Not only the name, but everything else minus the chinese characters remind us of its more illustrious counterpart from Cupertino!

How about a razor (not RAZR) phone which can shave?

newgadgetsguru — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 05:37:49 +0000

Remember those witty posts about a certain motorola phone? Looks like one manufacturer has taken a hint from it and actually come up with a phone that can shave as well. Enter the all new Cool758 Razor Phone!

You will actually be able to get rid of that stubble on your face by popping the cap off the bottom. Might actually come in handy after you woke up late for work and didn’t have time to shave before a big presentation to your clients. The device also sports phone-like features like a touch screen display and a 2 megapixel camera. It also comes with dual sim capability as well.

Here’s a watch that can make phone calls, take pictures and even video

newgadgetsguru — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:10:23 +0000

A lot was reported about the LG watch phone that was recently launched at CES earlier this year. In fact there was even a lot of interest shown in it. One particular company Neutrano has obviously paid a lot of attention to this and developed their own similar watch recently.

This retro styled watch is able to make phone calls, take pictures or even videos. You could turn yourself into a secret agent wearing one of these. The Neutrano Nutec WristFone is not tied to any Telco and will work on any GSM network. Simply slide your SIM at the back of the watch and you are ready to go!

But not just this, there are quite a few cool features that are available on this watch phone. Some of them are:

- 2 Mega Pixel Camera on top of the watch’s face
- Supports bluetooth accessories
- FM radio
- Play music files
- Audio recording

Only problem is that the watch is to be operated with a stylus. This will definitely be an issue keeping in mind the small size of the watch’s face which will display the phone menu when not in watch mode. The watch phone can last 3-4 hours of talk time and a standby time of 3 days. This watch phone is currently retailing for $400. Will you buy one?
[Via Wired]

LG Cookie 2 just became Cooky?

newgadgetsguru — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:53:32 +0000

No, there are no typo errors in that headline! LG just has decided that their follow up model to the LG Cookie is going to be named Cooky instead of LG Cookie 2!!! Talk about innovation (or rather the lack of it). Was it too hard to spell Cookie for the folks at LG or did it just make “too much sense” to name it so. Either way we’re certainly not fans of the new name for this follow up model anyway.

So what’s new with the LG Cooky? Looks like the highlight of the phone is the S-Class 3D interface that they have developed. We’re guessing that this will be pretty much similar to the interface that we saw in the LG Arena. If you haven’t seen how the interface looks like, take a look at the video below:

Apparently the multimedia chip and interface took more than 100 man years to develop so lets hope that it is a success for their sake. The LG Cooky will also come with a 3D accelerator, 7.2 Mbs HSDPA connectivity, built-in accelerometer, T-DMB TV Tuner and TV-Out port. Too bad that LG has decided to price it at around $380 in comparison with the previous model which was priced at $230.

Cell Phone Signal Booster – Improve your cell phone coverage

newgadgetsguru — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:11:05 +0000

Do you have limited or no cell phone coverage in certain parts of your home or office? Are you experiencing dropped calls while taking important business calls? In that case you might want to take a look at how you can improve your cell phone signal coverage by using a cell phone signal booster.

What is a cell phone signal booster?

A cell phone signal booster is a device that you could attach to your phone to improve the signal reception and prevent dropped calls. Some signal boosters can infact improve your signal coverage by up to 500%. There are quite a number of cell phone signal boosters available in the market and there are some mixed reviews about these, so you might want to proceed with caution. We would suggest going for a cell phone signal booster only if there are certain pockets in your building that are experiencing poor coverage. Cell phone boosters do help to increase coverage to a larger area than before.

These tiny gadgets work by increasing the power levels of your cell phone from the normal 250mW to about 3000mW. This was the power level of the cell phones some years ago and hence it is a time tested technique. Due to FCC regulations the current power levels have dropped to 250mW but it should be no issue if you are going to use this only at the comforts of your home.

DIY cell phone signal boosters:

If you are feeling a little adventurous and would like to try to make your own cell phone signal boosters, here are some video tips that are available:

#1 – The curled wired for the glove box.

Boost Your Cellular Signal – video powered by Metacafe

#2 – Major boost using empty cans

How to Make a Cell Phone Antenna Under 5 Minutes.. – video powered by Metacafe

#3 – The paper clip booster

Paperclip Antenna – video powered by Metacafe

#4 – The Tesla coil effect

Cell Phone Trick – video powered by Metacafe

#5 – An old radio antenna

If you think a cell phone signal booster is not the right solution for you, then you could try to use a cell phone signal extender. A cell phone signal extender is not connected to your cell phone but is used to extend the coverage of your signal by placing it at an appropriate place which has better reception. For example, you could place it in your attic if you think that’s the best area for signal coverage. It extends the coverage to the rest of your home once put in place. There are quite a number of cell phone extenders available and we would recommend the cell phone extender from Amazon which has received quite a number of positive reviews.

A Zune phone could be on the way!

newgadgetsguru — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 03:33:37 +0000

If Apple can leverage the success of its iPods into an iPhone, why can’t Microsoft leverage its success (at least thats what we’d like to think) into a Zune phone? It could actually become a reality soon. Apparently there is a possibility of Zune phones being launched in the near future but not by Microsoft!

Microsoft will be attempting reproduce the success of its PC business by providing devices makers with reference designs to use to build their own devices. This definitely will fit into their business model and to a certain degree protect Microsoft from the risks that are so imminent in the cell phone industry. We don’t have much information on who will be the first partner to produce a Zune phone but it definitely will be interesting to see how they ride the iPhone juggernaut!
[Via Technologizer]

Garmin Asus Nuviphones New-y phones!

newgadgetsguru — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 10:23:52 +0000

Garmin and Asus have entered into a strategic alliance to offer a new range of mobile phones called the Garmin-Asus Nuviphones. Apparently these will be “location-centric” mobile phones which will leverage on the strengths offered by a company such as Garmin and expertise from Asus. The two companies have announced that a series of phones will be launched during 2009.

It is widely expected that the first model will be announced at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain, February 16-19, 2009. Their website has information about the nuviphone G60 which certainly looks like the first model from this partnership. We wonder whether these phones will be more of a GPS device or more of a phone? What do you think?