Cell Phone Reviews, News and Blog

HTC P6500 Sedna Officially Released

2007-11-11T22:05:00.000-08:00

HTC P6500 Sedna has just been unveiled and proves not to be the average smartphone right from the start. The handset targets especially the business market, people that rely on their PDA phone for handling their work when out of the office.

HTC Sedna shows some impressive specifications that make this one of the most powerful such devices out there. The 3.5 inch screen is not something you see in every smartphone out there and should prove to be extremely handy for viewing large images. The fact that it is an anti-glare touchscreen makes it even more special and in line with the current trend that finds this feature to be an extremely important one.

This is a Quadband GSM phone and also packs tri-band WCDMA technology, which should make it compatible to several networks. The handset also includes several solutions for data management, with HSDPA connectivity being the most important one. It would have been a real shame not to have this capability, as fast data transfer speeds are quite important for strong mobile devices. To make the package complete, HTC Sedna also includes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity.

The 3 megapixel camera that this PDA phone has included should be able to take high quality captures, especially as it also includes auto-focus. Another impressive aspect about it is that it also brings GPS technology, a feature that is rapidly spreading among mobile phones.

HTC Sedna runs on a Qualcomm 400MHz processor, which makes it a powerful device. It has 256MB internal memory with the option to add up to 1GB in addition to two external SD card slots. It works on Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 Professional operating system, which proves the fact that it is one of the most powerful such devices out there.

HTC P6500 Sedna will be available in stores starting this November, although the producer did not mention anything about its price.

via softpedia

Sony Ericsson K660 Finally Unveiled

2007-11-11T21:58:00.000-08:00

Just as expected, Sony Ericsson made a major release yesterday, unveiling the K660 handset. The device brings some of the most evolved features, all wrapped in a fresh and appealing design. Sony Ericsson K660 is a 3G enabled handset, which means that it will manage to provide fast data transfer speeds for its user.

It will allow him to handle blogs and surf the web at high rates, after going past the small screen issue. For this, the user can even zoom in for a closer look at text or images. Moreover, the K660 also includes a Bookmark function, a single click button that takes the user back to the Home Page and an ‘Enter Address’ shortcut, highly similar to PC based internet. The phone’s design is one of its strongest points, as it looks both sporty and stylish in two color combination of lime green with white and black with red. It also packs the Google Mapsfor Mobile, a software which manages to replace the functions of the regular GPS.

The 2 megapixel camera will manage to bring only average quality pictures and nothing impressive. There’s no harm in that, as the phone targets especially those people who need a mobile device for surfing the web rather than one for shooting pictures. “This Web-optimised phone is a clear step along that journey and will appeal to individuals who are managing their busy lives and social networks online, whether its arranging to meet up for a football match or booking concert tickets”, said Martin Winkler, Head of Web Marketing at Sony Ericsson.

This proves to be only part of “Sony Ericsson’s vision to offer ‘Generation Web’ a mobile internet experience that’s rich, user-friendly and satisfying”, he further added.

There is still a lot of time left to wait until seeing this phone in stores, as Sony Ericsson K660 will be available starting with the first quarter of year 2008.

via softpedia

SOS Tracker Function For Nokia GPS Phone

2007-11-11T21:41:00.000-08:00

PhantomEye has announced the launch of MySpot, a personal security tracking software designed to give users a one click SOS “Panic Button” on their Nokia 6110 Navigator.

The MySpot allows a user to leave behind a personal location trail of “electronic breadcrumbs” - and notify multiple people by email, SMS, voice call, etc. when in an emergency situation, the company says.

PhantomEye Chairman, Ken W. Stokes said, “Before MySpot, users had to carry a special device to indicate an emergency situation and using conventional mobile phones, call up several numbers. The new MySpot solution from phantomEye solves all that complexity with a single SOS ‘Panic Button’ slide and click which can then call up to 20 pre-configured phones, send endless e-mail, SMS, IM and twitter messages (leaving a trail of so called cascading electronic breadcrumbs) - all with the current or last location of the user – and without further action needed on behalf of the sender. As a backup one phone number is also automatically dialled from the phone and this can be 000, back to base for security operatives, or in the case of teenage children – the parents!”

“While many mobile phones use GPS navigation for a variety of functions, most often to give location information and directions to the person using the phone. MySpot works in reverse – it allows a pre determined group of recipients to keep track of, and locate, the user. I believe phantomEye can now claim the GPS leading edge by exploiting this niche technology software and turning mobile phones into a “location documenting” device, sending/recording serial “electronic breadcrumbs” and offering high priority alert forwarding capability” Stokes added.

RRP: $30 one-time fee activation

See: www.phantomeye.com

The top 10 selling PDAs/Smart phones in October 2007 from Krusell

2007-11-11T20:56:00.000-08:00

Krusell’s top 10 for October shows Apple iphone further will strengthen its position on the market. In United Kingdom and Germany it is already official that iPhone will exclusively be launched with the operator O2, and T-mobile. With the debut in Europe we will most likely see a boost in sales just in time for Christmas. Thus we have made an extra effort to launch model specific cases within this segment, and we will see an exiting coming months of cases in line with Apples assortment from Krusell, says Ulf Sandberg, Managing Director at Krusell.
1. (2) Nokia 6300
2. (1) Sony Ericsson K810i
3. (3) Nokia N95
4. (5) Nokia N73
5. (7) Apple iphone
6. (8) Nokia 3109/3110
7. (4) Sony Ericsson P1
8. (-) Sony Ericsson K850i
9. (6) Sony Ericsson W880i
10. (-) Sony Ericsson K530i
() = Last month’s position.
The Swedish manufacturer of carrying cases for portable electronics, Krusell, has released their ‘Top 10′ list for October 2007. The list is based upon the number of pieces of model specific mobile and smart phone cases that have been ordered from Krusell during October 2007. Krusell’s list is unique due to the fact that it reflects the sales of phones on six continents and in more than 50 countries around the globe.

via pdasnews

[Video] Hacker clones Sony Ericsson W580i shake function to Nokia N95

2007-11-08T20:37:00.000-08:00

The Sony Ericsson W580i has a gimmicky feature that enables you to shake the device to change track. Someone, and I’m trying to score more details on the guy, copied that functionality to the Nokia N95 which we just found out recently has a full blown accelerometer inside.

via intoMobile

[Video] Nokia N95 vs N95 8GB

2007-11-08T20:34:00.000-08:00

Look what we’ve found this morning on YouTube. It’s the iGadgetLife’s video that compares two Nokia’s high-end smartphones - N95 and its successor N95 8GB. There’s no doubt the latter is a more powerful device. It has a larger screen, more RAM, better battery, boots faster and let’s not forget that sexy multimedia menu. That doesn’t mean the N95 is bad at all, it’s just that if you want a new Nokia smartphone, save a little and get yourself the eight gig version… Enjoy the 9-minute long video.

via IntoMobile

[Video] Comparison on Windows Mobile and iPhone!

2007-11-08T20:31:00.000-08:00

So much of what needs comparing between these two devices is software experience, so it had to be a video. And it turned into a more general “Windows Mobile vs. iPhone” sort of deal, so we bring you a long (25 minutes, too long for YouTube!) one. So grab a cuppa joe and witness the (low-key) smackdownery. If you don’t have time just now, here’s the short version:

iPhone: Absolutely rocks the universe with its media capabilities and its browser.

Windows Mobile: Still the king of productivity. …with plenty of “check out this native 3rd party app” cheap shots thrown in at the end.

Basically we’re looking at a situation that matches with everybody’s expectations surprisingly well - the Apple product is hip, flashy, and surprisingly easy to use. The Windows product actually lets you, you know, work. Now in the desktop world, I find that the Mac lets me do the work I need to as well (if not better) than Windows. But in the mobile space, well, the cloying commercials fit pretty well.

via pdasnews

Opera Mini 4 final release now available

2007-11-08T20:29:00.000-08:00

Opera, the only company that puts the Web on any device, today released Opera Mini 4, the newest version of Opera’s worldwide mobile browsing sensation. Opera Mini 4 inspires the senses with its stunning desktop overview mode, so users see the page exactly as it appears on their computers. People can then use the intuitive Opera Zoom to fly into the page and access the content you want. Or they can select Opera’s Small Screen Rendering to eliminate horizontal scrolling.Opera Mini 4 is a free download, over the air, to your phone from http://www.operamini.com/

KISS60 enables Flash Lite screensavers on Symbian S60 3rd devices!

2007-10-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

Ever wanted to have an animated screensaver on your Nokia smartphone (or any other Symbian S60 3rd edition based device)? Well, now you can thanks to KISS60, the application which “enables users to collect, manage, share and enjoy” Adobe Flash Lite screensavers on their S60 smartphones.

KISS60 is work of Finland-based mobile design and development company, Kuneri, and has been created using the company’s KuneriLite Rapid Application Development toolkit for Adobe Flash Lite. It (KISS60) has an easy to use interface, allowing users to seamlessly create their own screensaver collections, download new screensavers and share them using SMS or Bluetooth. The application is in public beta, and you can grab it free of charge from here.

via pdasnews

3 launches new Skype mobile phone

2007-10-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

Mobile phone provider 3 has launched a new handset that will allow users to make free calls over the internet via telephony service Skype. Users will also be able to use Skype's instant messaging service, 3 said. But while people using Skype on their computers are able to make cheap global calls to any phone number, this will not be possible via the new 3 handset. Skype has about 246 million registered users worldwide and is one of the firms reshaping the global phone industry.
To date, mobile phone companies have been unwilling to let users freely access Skype via their handsets for fear that it would hurt their business. While it is possible to access Skype from a number of handsets, this has involved downloading third-party software, something that has put off the majority of users.

The Skype-phone will be the first instance of a phone operator launching a mass market device that is designed to allow free calling over the internet from a mobile, 3 said. "It takes an innovative operator... to challenge traditional thinking and offer the kind of product other operators are still shying away from," said Skype's acting chief executive, Michael van Swaaij. "It's is now truly mobile. Skype has now taken a giant step forward in the mobile arena. And chief executive of 3 UK, Kevin Russell, said the firm wanted to make mobile internet more accessible. "Services need to be simple to access and affordable," he said. "Mobile has the potential to massively increase access to internet calling."

The service, launching on 2 November, will be accessed by a button on the handset. As well as the UK, the 3 Skype-phone will be launched in countries including Australia, Denmark, Italy and Hong Kong. Pay as you go customers will have to top up their account with at least 10P each month to qualify for the free Skype-to-Skype calls, 3 said.

via pdasnews

Dumb iPhone Commercial Of The Week

2007-10-28T02:53:00.000-07:00

So now the iPhone helps a pilot bust his plane out of a 3-hour tarmac delay by enabling him to surf to Weather.com? That’s the preposterous story line of Apple’s latest commercial, which was inescapable on Sunday whether you were watching football during the day on FOX and CBS, or game seven of the American League Championship Season in the evening.

At least for new “fatty” iPod Nanos, Apple took the soft sell approach, enlisting the charming Feist ditty 1234 in a meta-music-video.

No such luck with the latest iPhone commercial. This one has some guy who’s supposed to be a pilot, telling us his iPhone got him to a weather report which said the storm was breaking, so he “called the tower,” and within a half hour, he was on his way.

Even if that scenario were believable, who is it aimed at? The subgroup of the potential iPhone buying public who has commercial aviation licenses? I much preferred the original iPhone ads, which pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes by grossing inflating the Web-surfing speed of the EDGE network, and let it at that.

Here’s the iPhone “Fly Me” commercial, courtesy of YouTube:

What’s next? Steve Jobs friend Larry Ellison enlisting the iPhone to help him steer around a squall during the America’s Cup?

via InformationWeek

WiMAX is 3G!

2007-10-28T02:52:00.000-07:00

Call it a major victory for WiMAX as a technology and industry. For the first time, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has approved a non-cellular telecommunications technology as part of the union’s 3G standards.

The decision, made at the ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector’s (ITU-R) general meeting in Geneva , Switzerland, means operators with 3G spectrum in the 2.5 GHz bands globally can use WiMAX to build out a network. Although each country’s regulators ultimately decide, the ITU decision usually has a strong influence.

“This is a very special and unique milestone for WiMAX technology,” Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum, said in a statement. “This is the first time that a new air interface has been added to the IMT-2000 set of standards since the original technologies were selected nearly a decade ago. WiMAX technology currently has the potential to reach 2.7 billion people. And today’s announcement expands the reach to a significantly larger global population.”

IMT-2000 (International Mobile Telecommunications-2000) was approved in 1999 with five cellular standards, including W-CDMA, cdma2000, TD-CDMA, EDGE, and DECT. It essentially meant that one of those technologies had to be used in 3G spectrum. WiMAX, which the ITU calls ODDAM TDD WMAN, had been locked out until the ITU-R decision. A working group approved WiMAX in June.

The ITU’s approval likely won’t resolve the debate over which is the best technology to use in the 2.57 GHz -2.69 GHz spectrum bands. The GSM community has plans to use orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) in its future, with a proposed standard called Long Term Evolution (LTE). The GSM Association had opposed the inclusion of WiMAX in IMT-2000.

WiMAX, although it uses OFDMA, in its current form is a TDD (time division duplex) technology that separates signals by time slots. W-CDMA is a FDD (frequency division duplex) technology that separates signals by frequency. Engineers and companies argue over which is best.

Intel Vice President Sriram Viswanathan, who also is general manager of Intel’s WiMAX business unit, says the ITU’s decision means operators in emerging countries like India and Brazil that already have 2.5 GHz spectrum can use WiMAX for their network buildouts.

It also means that WiMAX could be used for the so-called IMT-2000 Extension Band allocations in some developed European countries later this year or next year. And it also makes WiMAX a possible inclusion in the ITU’s 4G (IMT-Advanced) decisions expected in 2009.

Ironically, the ITU decision also labels WiMAX as a 3G technology although Sprint Nextel is calling it 4G for its planned network launch this year and next.

via wirelessweek

Apple to Release Unlocked iPhone in France

2007-10-28T02:51:00.000-07:00

Apple is releasing an unlocked version of the iPhone that will allow users to run it on various cellular networks. But you have to live in France to get it.

Under a just-announced deal, the European mobile carrier Orange will be the exclusive source for the iPhone in the French market. The unlocked phone is concession to a French law that forbids companies to bundle a cell phone to a specific mobile operator.

According to a report in the International Herald Tribune, Orange will offer both a locked version for its French net for about $560 and an unlocked version for a higher, but undisclosed price. Both are expected to be unveiled in November.

Apple recently signed exclusive deals, similar to the one with U.S.-based AT&T, with Britain’s O2, the wireless division of Spain’s Telefonica, and with Germany’s T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom.

According to the Tribune report, Orange wouldn’t say whether it had agreed to give Apple a share of the service revenues generated by iPhone users. This is one of the most striking features of Apple’s move into the mobile phone market. The Tribune quoted a Nortel executive on how revolutionary this change is: ‘For operators, having an handset maker suddenly demand a slice of their revenues is like being asked to change your religion,’ said Gerry Collins, the director of strategic marketing at Nortel Networks, a Canadian company that makes wireless phone networks. “This is really a significant change for the industry.

From the outset, Apple’s decision has come under concerted attack by hackers trying to unlock the phone’s SIM card, thereby allowing the phone to run on a network other than AT&T. Apple has made a just-as-concerted counter-attack to undo those hacks.

via PCWorld

Nokia N810 gets official!

2007-10-28T02:50:00.000-07:00

Stay in touch and on the right track with the new pocket-sized Nokia N810 Internet Tablet

Nokia today introduced the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, signifying a new phase in portable internet communication. You have ability to connect this pocket-sized device to the nearest Wi-Fi hotspot or over your Bluetooth mobile phone. The Nokia N810 allows you to make internet calls; check your Google Mail or Facebook Account; watch the latest videos on YouTube or update your blog using the device’s slide-out keyboard along with its stunning touch screen. Its built-in maps and satellite navigation helps you to find your way. It is expected to start shipping mid November with an estimated retail price of 479 USD (excluding local taxes).

Bringing you closer to communities
Whether you are at home, in the park or in a coffee shop, with the Nokia N810 you will never be far away. With the ability to check emails, read the latest gossip online or IM to your friends, share your moods on your favorite social sites; call via Skype, or get closer by the Gizmo video chat - with the integrated VGA camera - you’ll never be far away from those you want to keep in contact with..

Keeping you on the right track
You may feel lost without it, but with the Nokia N810, you’ll never lose your way. The Nokia N810 has an integrated GPS receiver which allows you to pinpoint your position and find a wide variety of points-of-interests using the pre-loaded maps. Upgrade to Wayfinder’s voice-guided navigation for turn-by-turn directions and explore the world on foot or in the car.

Never be bored again
Whether you’re traveling on the trip of a lifetime or on your daily commute to work, the Nokia N810 is the perfect traveling companion. No Wi-Fi connection on your journey? No need, the Nokia N810 offers up to 45 hours of music playback and memory to store up to 7,500 songs on an optional 10GB memory card*. Its large (4.13″), sharp (800×480 resolution) wide screen makes for a magical experience right in the palm of your hand.
“The Nokia N810 packs the power of a traditional computer into a pocket-sized format. Its open standard technology accelerates the convergence of multiple functionalities and services into a single device”, said Ari Virtanen, Vice President, Convergence Products, Multimedia, Nokia. “Our new Nokia N810 offers users a true Web 2.0 experience in a compact, stylish, yet affordable package - it connects people to what matters to them.”
The Nokia N810 is powered by maemo Linux based OS2008, updatable also on the Nokia N800, the previous internet tablet generation hardware. The Nokia N810 features a highly customizable user interface and contains various novelties such as a Mozilla based browser with Ajax and Adobe flash 9, Bluetooth headset support as well as enhanced video and audio features. The refreshed Video Gizmo, Skype and Rhapsody highlight some most popular downloads available while Boingo Wireless, Earthlink and The Cloud enable Wi-Fi connectivity, across thousands of different locations globally.
Today, Forum Nokia also announced the launch of maemo platform support services for software developers and companies around the world via forum.nokia.com. Currently, Forum Nokia has more than 3.4 million registered users, developing leading mobile applications on Symbian Series 40 and Series 60 platforms. This professional support service complements the developer offering with maemo.org, an open source community sponsored by Nokia.
*Capacity based on 3:45 per song and 128 kbps MP3 encoding.

via PdasNews

Samsung SGH-i560 GPS-smartphone introduced at Symbian Smartphone Show

2007-10-28T02:48:00.000-07:00

Samsung has announced a new smartphone SGH-i560 powered by S60 3rd Edition at Symbian Smartphone Show in London. Samsung SGH-i560 works in GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz and UMTS/HSDPA 2100 MHz networks. The smartphone holds a GPS-receiver. In addition it comes with a 2.4” 262K colors QVGA display with mirror surface, a 3.2-megapixel camera and Bluetooth (A2DP) interface. The i560 carries 150 MB of memory onboard expandable with microSD cards. The device measures 130×51x16 mm.The shipments of Samsung SGH-i560 are set for the end of this year. I’d remind you that the company had announced the release of the GPS-smartphone late in September, and now it is preparing another navigation-enabled device – the SGH-i780 communicator based on Windows Mobile 6 Professional.

via PdasNews

StyleTap CrossPlatform Brings Thousands of Mobile Applications to Symbian

2007-10-28T02:45:00.000-07:00

StyleTap Inc. today announced StyleTap CrossPlatform for Symbian OS which will allow over 20,000 existing applications to run on current and future Symbian smartphones.StyleTap CrossPlatform for Symbian OS brings the largest library of smartphone applications to the largest community of smartphone users, with over 145m Symbian smartphones shipped to date, to over 250 major network operators worldwide.StyleTap CrossPlatform is compatible with most applications written for Palm OS® devices, and enables them to now run on Symbian smartphones. This gives consumers unprecedented freedom to choose the smartphone that meets their needs without losing their investment in mobile applications and accumulated data.
StyleTap CrossPlatform also gives application developers a compelling solution which can help leverage their existing mobile assets to target more devices. Instead of their applications running on a set proportion of mobile devices because they cannot afford to re-engineer their applications for each new device brought to market, StyleTap CrossPlatform offers developers access to millions more potential customers with no re-engineering required.
“By enabling thousands more mobile applications to be used by millions more users, StyleTap CrossPlatform creates enormous value for consumers, application developers and smartphone vendors,” said Gregory Sokoloff, CEO of StyleTap Inc., “By bringing StyleTap CrossPlatform to Symbian OS, the global market-leading smartphone OS, we are fulfilling our commitment to support the smartphone industry to the fullest possible extent.”
StyleTap CrossPlatform for Symbian OS is the newest member of the StyleTap CrossPlatform family of products which will continue to grow to include additional smartphone operating systems. StyleTap is demonstrating CrossPlatform at the Symbian Smartphone Show in London, and expects to ship the product in the first quarter of 2008. Pricing has not yet been finalized. StyleTap CrossPlatform will support Symbian smartphones based on UIQ 3 and S60 3rd Edition. Companies or individuals interested in receiving information about the release of StyleTap CrossPlatform for Symbian should visit http://www.styletap.com/ and subscribe to the StyleTap blog.
“Symbian OS has established itself as the leading OS for smartphones in the world today,” said David Wood, EVP of Research, Symbian Ltd., “As smartphones play an ever increasing role in people’s lives, application software will grow more and more important. We welcome the rich library of applications that StyleTap brings to the Symbian ecosystem and encourage their developers to take advantage of the Symbian marketplace.”
“StyleTap CrossPlatform will bring great value to users of mobile phones based on UIQ. They will now be able to access an extensive set of new applications for their UIQ phones from Sony Ericsson and Motorola. We are very pleased to see this innovation come to market”, said Elisabet Melin, VP Marketing, UIQ Technology AB.
About StyleTap Inc.
StyleTap Inc. is a privately-held Canadian software company founded in 2000 whose mission is to provide the essential software ingredient that enables mobile applications to run on any smartphone. StyleTap Inc. is the developer of StyleTap CrossPlatform for Symbian and StyleTap CrossPlatform for Windows Mobile which are robust, high performance software platforms that enable Symbian OS and Windows Mobile devices to run thousands of software applications that are also compatible with Palm OS devices. StyleTap continues to expand the capabilities of its existing products and extend its unique technology to run on additional devices and operating systems.

via PdasNews

Sony Ericsson announces K630 camera phone

2007-10-28T02:44:00.000-07:00

Sony Ericsson has announced the K630, a stylish camera phone providing music, email and broadband speed data transfers with HSDPA.

The phone comes with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync preloaded, which allows a computer’s inbox to be mirrored on the phone’s display. This means that urgent emails can be answered while on the move.

A Media Manager function allows media, such as music or videos, to be transferred between the phone and a computer by simply dragging and dropping.

Quick access to often-used websites is provided with just one click, via animated widgets displayed on the phone’s desktop.

The K630 features a 2.0 megapixel camera for stills and moving images. The phone makes sharing photos easy, via MMS, email or postcard. They can also be uploaded to an online gallery, or blogsite.

With its HSDPA functionality, the phone can download a full-length music track in around 14 seconds.

A 256MB Memory Stick Micro (M2) is including for storing up to 3600 full-length tracks. A dedicated music key on the phone makes it easy to navigate tracks.

The K630 comes in two colours – Havana Gold and Quick Black. It weighs just 97 grams and measures 103 x 47 x 15.5 mm.

The Sony Ericsson K630 will be available in selected markets this year.

via Camera-Core

Viruses, Trojans and Remote Snooping: Hackers Release Their Own iPhone SDK

2007-10-28T02:38:00.000-07:00

Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced Wednesday that his company will release a software-development kit for the iPhone in February, to allow programmers to produce third-party applications for the device. But hackers have already come up with their own software-development kit. It allows them to deliver any code they want to the iPhone, including viruses, Trojan horses and the ability to snoop on audio and video.

Developer H.D. Moore has added support for iPhone attacks to the Metasploit Framework. Metasploit is an open source hacking tool used by computer-security administrators and black hats alike to create security applications and exploits.

Moore posted sample exploits and detailed instructions this week on how to write and deliver code that can take complete control of an iPhone.

The move takes hackers one step closer to being able to remotely and surreptitiously take control of an iPhone and turn it into a surveillance device.

But it also makes it easier for white hats to develop and install custom software for their own iPhones.

Moore’s tool and exploits take advantage of a vulnerability in the TIFF image-rendering library that’s used by the iPhone’s browser, mail and music software.

It’s the same vulnerability that has allowed numerous Apple customers to unlock and customize their iPhones. But Moore’s Metasploit Framework does much more, giving hackers remote shell access to iPhones that will allow them to run any code on the device.

“All you have to do is get somebody to open a TIFF image with an exploit in it ,and you’ve owned the phone,” says Rik Farrow, a security consultant and corporate speaker who delivered a security talk to Apple employees last year.

Attackers could conceivably write code to hijack the contacts in an iPhone address book, access the list of received and sent calls and messages, turn the phone into a listening device, track the user’s location, or instruct the phone to snap photos of the user’s surroundings — including any companions who may be in view of the camera lens.

Moore wrote on his blog that the iPhone is more vulnerable than other phones, because every application on the phone runs as “root.” That means a bug in the calculator application, for example, could lead to full access privileges on the device.

Simply patching the TIFF vulnerability in the iPhone won’t solve Apple’s problem. The Metasploit Framework allows hackers to easily mix and match exploits and payloads. That means hackers can develop code for the iPhone independent of any particular security hole, then deliver by means of whatever vulnerability in the phones is known and still unpatched at the time.

Jobs said in his announcement that the company is moving slowly on releasing the official SDK because it wants to provide broad access to developers, while also protecting users from hackers and others who might have ill designs on cracking the phones. That suggests the company recognizes it made a blunder by allowing full system privileges for every application.

“Apple is savvy enough to realize that this is really terrible,” says Farrow. “And it’s going to take them until February to actually be able to release the SDK, because they’re going to have to do basic things to the cellphone operating system itself to make it secure. So we’re not just talking about a software-development kit, we’re talking about fixing something that has major flaws in the security of it as it exists.”

But Moore and Farrow say to fix the problem, the company will need to do more, such as create precise rules in the system to limit what a malicious application can do on the phone. 

“From what I’ve seen of the design of the phone, it doesn’t look like an easy task,” Moore says.

So why didn’t Apple do this before releasing the phone?

“Apple wants to sell really fancy, glitzy appliances that have great consumer appeal,” Farrow says. “And security has never been one of those things that has great consumer appeal. So Apple is totally correct to ship out an insecure product, because people snap them up. But at the same time I’m sure that there were engineers at Apple saying, ‘This is totally insane. We are going to get so hammered for this.’”

“There are some very clue-ful people there. But my impression is that they have to work very hard to make security a priority.”

Apple did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

via Wired

Apple asserts iPhone meets eco standards

2007-10-17T00:35:00.000-07:00

Facing a lawsuit for allegedly using toxic substances in the iPhone, Apple today told MacWorld that the device "meets the restrictions placed on hazardous substances."

"Like all Apple products worldwide, iPhone complies with RoHS [Restriction of Hazardous Substances], the world's toughest restrictions on toxic substances in electronics," an Apple spokesperson told Macworld. "As we have said, Apple will voluntarily eliminate the use of PVC and BFRs by the end of 2008."

The declaration comes in the wake of a report from Greenpeace accusing Apple is using phthalates in the plastic earphone wiring. Phthalates is considered a reproductive toxin.

Although the iPhone may meet ROHS standards, the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) is asserting the Apple has violated California law, which says that products that can expose consumers to phthaltes or other such chemicals must carry a warning label.

The CEH has given Apple 60-days legal notice, which is the first required by California law before a lawsuit is launched.

via infoworld

Palm Treo 500v Launched in Singapore

2007-10-15T03:09:00.000-07:00

Palm announced the availability of the Treo 500v smartphone in Singapore on the MobileOne network. The Palm Treo 500v runs on the Windows Mobile 6 standard platform and includes high speed 3G/UMTS Internet access.

The Treo 500v, is the first device in Asia to carry the new Vodafone user interface on Windows Mobile 6 Standard edition (formerly WM Smartphone edition). The new device delivers enhanced usability and ease of navigation to customers who want to keep on top of their work and social lives while on the go.

"The Treo 500v's sleek design and social-centric functionality, combined with M1's high-speed 3G/UMTS network, deliver a compelling solution to a new generation of customers that enhances their mobile experience," said P. Subramaniam, director of Enterprise and Alliances, M1. "The Treo 500v on the M1 network will appeal to a growing number of customers who are using their mobile devices to keep them in touch on the go, and helps balance work and leisure." "The new Treo 500v adds a third internet ready Vodafone live! and Microsoft Windows Mobile device to our recently announced Global Handset range," said Jens Schulte-Bockum, Global Terminals Director, Vodafone Group.

"When combined with our high-speed 3G/UMTS network and fast access to the internet, along with great browsing and messaging support, we are confident the Palm Treo 500v will appeal to the growing group of consumers looking for the same functionality and ease of use our business customers continue to enjoy from this type of premium device."

The Treo 500 comes with a full qwerty keyboard and a 240x320 Transflective display with support for 65k colours. It has a tri-band GSM radio supporting the 900/1800/1900 bands and UTMS 2100. It includes 256MB memory with 150MB available for user storage and a microSD expansion slot. It also features a 2 megapixel digital camera and a Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and stereo headset support. A mini USB port is provides for charging and connectivity as well as a 2.5mm headset jack. A removable 1200mAh battery is present for a claimed 10 day stand-by rating with 4.5 hours of talk time. It has dimensions of 16.5mm (D) x 61.5mm (W) x 110mm (H) (.65" x 2.4" x 4.3" inches) and weighs 120 grams (4.23 ounces).

The Palm Treo 500v smartphone is available now from M1 shops and selected M1 dealers for S$498 (on a two-year plan, inclusive of GST). For a limited period, customers also will receive 6 months of free subscription to M1's 3G SunSurf 10 Plan/VAS (Value Added Service) which is bundled with 5MB of free local data monthly and valued at S$10.70 per month. The Treo 500v also will be available from major retail outlets in Singapore.

via pdasnews

Vertu Signature 18K ripoff

2007-10-15T03:01:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest Vertu ripoff direct from China. Like all previous Vertu ripoffs/clone…they just don't look good and expensive like the real deal. They look cheap, tacky and even ugly. This one is marketed as a mini Vertu since it has smaller dimensions than the real one. It tries to look premium since it is constructed with metal and is 18K gold plated (it also has leather on the back) . Anyways, here are some specs.

- 1.8 inch 260K 176×220 touchscreen
- VGA camera
- microSD support
- A2DP
- measures 100×40×15 mm
- weighs 75 grams
- comes in two color versions
- metal construction with 18K gold

via mphonefrenzy

Fake Nokia N82 (CECT N82) spotted

2007-10-15T02:46:00.000-07:00

Even though we still wait to see Nokia N82 released, China-based CECT has already made their “version” of the device. To be fair, there’s no Nokia branding on this phone — it’s just the name “Nxx” ala Nokia that bother us.

Anyway, the CECT N82 comes with a 2.6″ QVGA touchscreen, 1.3 MP camera, stereo speakers, stereo Bluetooth support, and the standard microSD memory slot. It measures 110×50x17 mm, weighs 80 grams and no, we don’t know how much it costs, though I would expect it to be quite cheap.

Check out two more photos after the jump.

via IntoMobile

Nokia N95 8GB pre-loaded with Spider-man 3 Movie

2007-10-15T02:43:00.000-07:00

Nokia started to ship the Nokia N95 8GB smartphone pre-loaded with the full-length Spider-man 3 movie loaded on the phone.

Boasting up to 8GB of built-in memory, the Nokia N95 8GB has all the key features of its predecessor, including a 5MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics, built-in A-GPS, WLAN, HSDPA and an 2-way slide mechanism.

You can watch Spider-man 3 on the 2.8" (240 x 320) QVGA display of the N95.
The Nokia N95 8GB started to ship from Nokia globally today and should be hitting a store near you soon. The Spider-man 3 movie is pre-loaded on the N95 *GB in Europe and selected countries in Middle East and Africa region.

The N95 8GB multimedia computer has an estimated retail price of EUR 560 (~$800) before taxes or subsidies.

via i4u

"Ship Me!" Says the Nokia N95 8GB

2007-10-15T02:41:00.000-07:00

The stunning Nokia N95 8GB made its debut global shipments today, and will be hitting a store near you soon. The Nokia N95 8GB is the memory-packed big brother of the Nokia N95 multimedia computer.

"Our Nokia Nseries family has expanded with added pizzazz and performance with the Nokia N95 8GB, a device as personal as it is powerful," said Jonas Geust, vice president, Multimedia, at Nokia. "We've reached a pinnacle with the Nokia N95 and now with the addition of one of the largest ever displays, built-in Assisted-GPS and improved battery power, the Nokia N95 8GB takes entertainment enjoyment to another level."

Boasting up to eight gigabytes of built-in memory, the Nokia N95 8GB has all the key features of its predecessor, including a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, built-in A-GPS, WLAN, HSDPA and an innovative 2-way slide. The sleek black N95 8GB also boasts a luminous 2.8" (240 x 320) QVGA display, so watching videos, browsing the Internet or viewing maps is a real pleasure. With its expanded memory, the N95 8GB offers up to 20 hours of video or up to 6000 songs(i).

Entertaining yourself has taken on a whole new meaning with this multimedia computer, optimized for enjoying videos, playing games, or even locating your favorite destinations with A-GPS.

The ideal companion for any lull in your day, the Nokia N95 8GB supports services like Nokia Music Store and N-Gage Games(ii), so you can delve into a world of leisure. Access millions of music tracks from the Nokia Music Store or get a sneak-peak at N-Gage gaming - live later this year. Test out games like FIFA 2007 and Asphalt 3: Street Rules(iii). Once N-Gage goes live, you'll be able to try games for free before deciding on your purchase.

Now with A-GPS, Nokia N95 8GB connoisseurs can whiz to their locations on Nokia Maps faster and enjoy maps for over 150 countries. Explore the world, find specific routes or locate services such as restaurants and hotels, covering more than 15 million points of interest. Purchase additional features, such as city guides and voice guided navigation, is an option too.

The N95 8GB multimedia computer has an estimated retail price of EUR 560 before taxes or subsidies.

(i)Capacity based on 3:45 mins per song and 48kbps eAAC+ encoding. Capacity with 128kbps AAC encoding is up to 2000 songs.

(ii)The Nokia Music Store and the N-Gage Games Service are expected to be available during the fourth quarter 2007

(iii)Games will vary according to the region

For full technical specifications, visit http://www.nseries.com/n958gb
For more information about Nokia Maps, visit http://www.nokia.maps.com

via cnn

Greenpeace: iPhone Not Good For The Environment

2007-10-15T02:33:00.000-07:00

International environmental group Greenpeace has launched an attack on Steve Jobs’ claims that Apple is a company with green credentials by releasing an analysis of the iPhone that finds toxic chemicals that have or are in the process of being eliminated by other mobile phone manufacturers.

According to Greenpeace, the iPhone contains toxic brominated compounds (indicating the prescence of brominated flame retardants (BFRs)) and hazardous PVCs.

Two of the “phthalate plasticisers” found at high levels in the iPhone headphone cable are classified in Europe as ‘toxic to reproduction, category 2′ and are banned from use in all toys or childcare articles sold in Europe.The report noted that Nokia is totally PVC free and that Motorola and Sony Ericsson already have products on the market with BFR free components.

Greenpeace called upon Apple to truly revolutionize the mobile phone by producing an environmentally friendly handset for the iPhone’s European launch.

via techcrunch

What a Future IPhone With WiMax Might Look Like

2007-10-04T22:08:00.000-07:00

Imagine an iPhone from Apple that makes VOIP calls, gets faster-than-Wi-Fi internet access, and boasts weeks of battery life. Best of all, it's not tied to a pokey Edge network.

Taiwan's DigiTimes reports the rumor that Apple will base future iPhone versions on Intel's upcoming Moorestown processors -- low-power, high-performance systems-on-a-chip aimed at smartphones and mobile handsets.

The rumors sparked a lot of excitement on Mac gossip sites and forums about better battery life and increased software compatibility with Apple's Macs.

What many ignored, however, is the fact that Intel's Moorestown processors will also be an integrated WiMax platform. Intel has already announced that its Moorestown platform will feature a CPU, fast 3-D graphics, HD video decoding, Wi-Fi and WiMax on a single chip.

"The iPhone is the perfect device for (Moorestown)," says analyst Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies. "I mean, (the iPhone) is really a mobile internet device with a phone tacked on for good measure."

WiMax is an emerging standard for 4-G wireless data networks that promises maximum download speeds of 70 mbps -- more than six times the speed of 802.11b Wi-Fi's 11 mbps. In practice though, WiMax speeds will likely not reach the theoretical maximum, but will probably match that of Wi-Fi.

After years in the lab, WiMax is about to go mainstream, according to Intel. In 2008, the first devices from the likes of Nokia, Lenovo, Toshiba and others will debut. At the same time, Sprint Nextel and Clearwire are working on nationwide WiMax networks, which should be completed by 2010. Intel is on task to begin Moorestown production in 2009.

The Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker has been a strong proponent of WiMax over the years. WiMax will theoretically compete with Wi-Fi and let service providers build ultra-fast networks using radio antennas. A WiMax-enabled iPhone could even signal the end of the traditional carrier-pricing models, because high-speed internet network connectivity would become virtually ubiquitous.

Intel is a powerful ally of the WiMax technology. After all, Intel's Centrino chip set is a major reason Wi-Fi is now nearly universal, and the company is hoping Moorestown will do the same for WiMax.

Apple's adoption of Moorestown could also provide a big boost. The research firm iSuppli predicts Apple will sell close to 22 million iPhones in 2009.

Whether Apple uses Moorestown processors for the iPhone, iSuppli says WiMax will find its way into devices like the Blackberry and other smartphones.

"You have to remember Apple isn't the only device maker that could be implementing WiMax," says Kay. "Everybody's seen this timeline. It's certainly no secret that a lot of companies are going down this road."

However, Apple’s position on WiMax remains unknown. Apple did not respond to requests for comment.

Tina Teng, iSuppli's mobile communications analyst, says Intel is a force to be reckoned with, but there could be stiff competition from other 4-G wireless technologies. Other semiconductor vendors are supporting a technology known as LTE, an ongoing project to improve the existing 3-G UMTS mobile phone standard.

Which brings up another potential problem: As Chris Hazelton, senior analyst for mobile devices at IDC, notes, there might also be sticky exclusivity deals with AT&T that could hamper Apple's WiMax iPhone ambitions -- if indeed it has any.

AT&T itself is currently working on building out its own 3-G high-speed downlink packet access, HSDPA, network and has already said it's not interested in joining the likes of Sprint and Clearwire in WiMax build-outs.

In that sense, the real key to Apple's WiMax decision may come down to whether there's a decent infrastructure for iPhone customers to use in the first place.

via Wired

Korean Mobile Makers Step Up iPhone Attack

2007-10-04T22:04:00.000-07:00

LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics will confront Apple in a Christmas battle to take down the iPhone, the "blue chip" phone in the U.S. Verizon, one of the leading U.S. mobile operators, on Wednesday unveiled three new mobile phones to compete with the iPhone, which is available only through Verizon's rival AT&T.

Verizon has the biggest subscriber base in the eastern U.S. Among Verizon's new products, the Voyager from LG Electronics has a touchscreen display as wide as that of the iPhone. And the Voyager uses a wireless Internet service that is faster than the one available for the iPhone. Beside the touchscreen, it also has a flip-open keypad, which is expected to attract iPhone admirers who want a traditional keypad, experts say.

Another LG Electronics phone, the black and pink Venus, also has a touchscreen display with a keypad that slides beneath it. Both Venus and Voyager have 2-megapixel cameras and allow high-speed mobile Internet access for speedy music and movie downloads. Verizon will release the two phones next month.

Verizon's third iPhone competitor is the Juke from Samsung Electronics, an ultra-slim phone that looks like a bar-type but has a swivel keypad. In fact it's among the shortest swivel phones ever launched in the U.S. It doesn't support high-speed wireless Internet, but its high-tech design should appeal to young early adopters. The Juke will go on sale Oct. 19.

Verizon's new phones cost from US$100 to $400, less expensive than the iPhone ($399). It will kill the iPhone," promised Mike Lanman, Verizon's chief marketing officer.

via Chosun

Sony Ericsson and Vodafone present the Havana collection.

2007-09-29T00:39:00.000-07:00

It's amazing what some decent marketing can do. These phones were presented to me as 'the Havana collection' and I immediately fell in love with them. A more objective person might liken the colour pallet to something else altogether, which would have a decidedly less exotic connotations.

All the phones are exclusive to Vodafone. The W880i walkman phone comes in plain old Havana, whilst the W910i is Havana Bronze and the V640i is Havana Gold. Whilst the W880i is an old favourite, the other two are new phones.

source ShinyShiny

Orange and Apple still arguing iPhone details

2007-09-29T00:35:00.000-07:00

Orange's exclusive deal to distribute the iPhone in France may not be as solid as claimed, with the handset strangely absent at the Apple Expo in Paris, and a French newspaper reporting that the revenue share details are still under discussion.

The Challenges website reports (in French) that Orange's exclusive is far from a done deal, with the companies still in discussions over how large Apple's pound of flesh will be.
Click here to find out more!

It's certainly hard to explain why there were no iPhones at the Apple Expo otherwise, which could mean the French deal is still on the table, or perhaps Orange will successfully hold out for a more operator-friendly split. That could really annoy T-Mobile and O2, in Germany and the UK respectively, with their deals already inked and announced.

Just when we thought all the secret launches and quiet network-building were done, Apple still manages to keep us guessing... or perhaps that's the idea.

source TheRegister

iPhone's Bluetooth Bug Under Hackers' Microscope

2007-09-29T00:29:00.000-07:00

Almost lost in the hubbub over the latest iPhone firmware update and whether it would "brick" unlocked phones was the fact that Apple patched 10 vulnerabilities.

Almost lost in the hubbub over Thursday's iPhone firmware update and whether it would "brick" unlocked phones was the fact that Apple Inc. patched 10 vulnerabilities -- twice the number of fixes issued since the phone's June debut.

The iPhone 1.1.1 update, which like previous upgrades is delivered through Apple's iTunes software, fixes seven flaws in the built-in Safari browser, two in the smart phone's Mail application and one in its use of Bluetooth, the short-range wireless technology.

The seven Safari vulnerabilities include several cross-site scripting (XSS) flaws, one that can disclose the URL of other viewed pages -- an online banking site, say -- and another that lets attackers execute malicious JavaScript in pages delivered by the SSL-encrypted HTTPS protocol. One of the Safari flaws, and an associated vulnerability in Mail, involve "tel:" links, which can be exploited by hackers to dial a number without the user confirming the call.

But it was the Bluetooth bug that got the attention of security researchers. Symantec's DeepSight threat network team pointed out the vulnerability in an advisory to customers Friday. "Reportedly, the Bluetooth flaw occurs when malicious Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) packets are handled; any attacker that is within Bluetooth range can exploit it remotely," wrote DeepSight analyst Anthony Roe in the alert. "Successful exploits are reported to allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code."

According to Apple's security advisory, the Bluetooth bug was discovered and reported by Kevin Mahaffey and John Hering of Flexillis Inc., a Los Angeles-based company that specializes in mobile security development and consulting. Flexillis may be best known for its reverse engineering of the exploit used to hack into several celebrities' T-Mobile cell phone accounts in 2005, include Paris Hilton and Vin Diesel.

The Bluetooth bug may prove to be dangerous to iPhones, Roe speculated, since the potential range of the technology is much greater than most people think. While Bluetooth's potential range -- and thus the maximum distance between attacker and victim -- is about 400 feet, "Several proof-of-concept Bluetooth antennas have intercepted Bluetooth signals at almost a mile," he said.

Roe also pointed out that HD Moore, the driving force behind the Metasploit penetration framework, had recently demonstrated that shellcode could be run on an iPhone. Moore, said Roe, proved that "exploiting security vulnerabilities affecting the iPhone is by no means out of reach."

In a post to his blog -- and to the Metasploit site -- on Wednesday, Moore said that because every process on the iPhone runs as root, and so has full privileges to the operating system, any exploit of an iPhone application vulnerability, such as Safari or Mail or Bluetooth, would result in a complete hijack of the device. Moore also announced that he would add iPhone support to Metasploit, which would make it much easier for hackers to access a vulnerable phone.

Moore acknowledged that he's looking at the Bluetooth vulnerability. "The Bluetooth SDP vulnerability is the only issue I am focusing on," he said in an e-mail Friday.

He also hinted that locating vulnerable iPhones wouldn't be a problem. "The Bluetooth MAC [media address control] address is always one less than the Wi-Fi interface's MAC address," he said. "Since the iPhone is always probing for or connected to its list of known access points, the presence of the iPhone and its Bluetooth MAC address can be determining by using a standard Wi-Fi sniffer.

"Once the Bluetooth MAC address is obtained, the SDP issue can be exploited by anyone within range of the Bluetooth chip, or within range of the attacker's antenna, which can be up to a mile away in some cases," he said.

If Moore manages to craft an exploit and add it to Metasploit, it's probable that criminal hackers will quickly follow. "Once we see something in Metasploit, we know it's likely we'll see it used in attacks," Alfred Huger, vice president of engineering with Symantec's security response group, said in a July interview.

Jarno Neimela, a senior researcher with F-Secure Corp., a Helsinki-based security vendor, also hit the alarm button, but for a different reason. In a posting to his company's blog Friday, Neimela pointed out that there's no security software available for the iPhone, thanks to Apple's decision to keep the device's inner workings a secret.

"The amount of technical information [available about the iPhone] makes it likely that sooner or later someone will create a worm or some other malware," Neimela said. "This will create an interesting problem for the security field as the iPhone is currently a closed system and it's not feasible to provide anti-virus or other third-party security solutions for it.

"So if someone were able to create a rapidly spreading worm on the iPhone, protecting users against it would be problematic."

Although iPhone owners will be automatically notified in the next week that the new patches are ready to download and install, a large number of those who have modified or unlocked their phones will probably forgo the fixes, since the 1.1.1 update apparently also disables unlocked phones and wipes unauthorized third-party applications that have been added with various hacks.

soource PCWorld

iPhone firmware 1.1.1 released; breaks everything

2007-09-27T20:44:00.000-07:00

Today Apple released iPhone firmware version 1.1.1 via iTunes and it appears to be pretty nasty toward unlocked and otherwise hacked iPhones. According to Gizmodo and Engadget the update re-locks unlocked phones and renders the brilliant AppTapp installer and other third-party applications useless.

Features of the 1.1.1 update include:

• iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store
• Louder speakerphone and receiver volume
• Home Button double-click shortcut to phone favorites of music controls
• Space bar double-tap shortcut to intelligently insert period and space
• Mail attachments are viewable in portrait and landscape
• Stocks and cities in Stocks and Weather can be re-ordered
• Apple Bluetooth Headset battery status in the Status Bar
• Support for TV Out
• Preference to turn off EDGE/GPRS when roaming internationally
• New Passcode lock time intervals
• Adjustable alert volume

I’d rather have AppTapp installer over the iTunes WiFi Store any day. I’m going to stick with firmware v.1.0.2, thanks.

source ZDNet by Jason D. O'Grady

Unauthorized iPhone Apps Market Flourishes

2007-09-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

There is a vibrant community of developers writing apps to install directly on the iPhone, contrary to Apple's wishes.

Software developer Dylan Schiemann used Steve Jobs' own words against him in a presentation on developing third-party software applications for Apple's iPhone.

"You can write amazing Web 2.0 and Ajax apps that look and behave exactly like apps on the iPhone," CEO Jobs said at an Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in June in San Francisco.

"It depends on your meaning of the word 'exactly,'" Schiemann said Monday at the AjaxWorld 2007 Conference & Expo in nearby Santa Clara.

Jobs says Apple will allow third-party software developers to write applications to run on an iPhone, but not be installed on it. Instead, the apps can only be delivered through the device's Safari Web browser. While an endorsement of Ajax from Steve Jobs is welcome, Schiemann and others at the Ajax conference say there are limitations on how their apps can run on Safari, and there is a vibrant community of developers writing apps to install directly on iPhone, contrary to Apple's wishes.

Schiemann's iPhone has 40 applications running on it, including the ones Apple ships from the factory, but also some unauthorized apps installed directly on the device. Christopher Allen, another AjaxWorld presenter who runs the Web site iPhoneWebDev.com, has 50 apps on his iPhone, including several unauthorized ones.

The Ajax conference, held Sept. 23 to 26 and drawing about 900 people, devoted five breakout sessions to developing iPhone apps using Ajax, a development tool for writing Web-based applications.

Schiemann, CEO of Web-based applications developer SitePen, promoted the Dojo Foundation's open source Dojo Toolkit for writing iPhone applications but says even it can't overcome all the limitations in trying to work with the current iPhone version of mobile Safari. Notably, he said, Web-based apps can't react to the iPhone's signature feature, which is the ability of a person to use finger-touch commands, such as the "pinch" to zoom in on a Web page.

Allen adds: "When the user pinches, the Web-based application is not notified that the end user is doing that . . . because the Web browser does not tell them."

Allen makes a distinction between hackers who add software apps and those who break into the iPhone to avoid using AT&T's wireless service. Jobs says Apple will take action to prevent unlocking.

Asked for comment for this story, an Apple spokeswoman e-mailed a company statement that seems to make no such distinction: "Apple strongly discourages users from installing unauthorized unlocking programs on their iPhones. Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software . . . violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty."

Apple did not reply to attempts to clarify the statement.

Schiemann argues that his adding apps to his iPhone does not constitute "unlocking" it, so he doesn't consider that a violation of the terms of service. "It is, after all, still my iPhone."

The developers hope that Apple improves support for developers and fixes other glitches when it introduces an updated version of Safari, expected in October, and when its long-delayed Leopard operating system is released.

Still, Schiemann and Allen understand why Apple is being protective of its platform. If someone installs an unauthorized application and it breaks some other part of the iPhone, a customer will blame Apple, not the developer. If an iPhone software upgrade somehow disables an unauthorized app, Apple can't have to worry about apps it doesn't support in the first place.

Despite the frustrations, the iPhone app market is worth pursuing, both men say. Given the robustness of the iPhone experience, its expansion into markets abroad and Apple's sales forecast of 10 million units, it is a significant opportunity.

"This is a gold rush, but we're basically in the alchemy stage where we're trying to turn lead into gold," Schiemann says. "We're trying to do all these things with the device because it's so freaking fun to use."

source PCWorld

Nokia, Intel, NSN in sync for WiMax interoperability

2007-09-27T20:37:00.000-07:00

In an effort to ensure that mobile WiMAX wireless products work well together and with other products globally, Intel Corporation, Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks today announced that they are testing interoperability across Intel’s forthcoming WiMAX silicon for laptops and mobile Internet devices, Nokia WiMAX devices and Nokia Siemens Networks WiMAX infrastructure equipment.

Nokia also said it will use Intel’s WiMAX silicon product, which is codenamed "Baxter Peak" and designed specifically for mobile Internet and consumer electronic devices, in its forthcoming Nokia Nseries Internet Tablets. The Internet tablets will be among the very first WiMAX-enabled open Internet devices expected to ship in 2008.

Mobile WiMAX is a broadband wireless technology that provides multi-megabit speed, high throughput for accessing large amounts of such data as movies and multi-media content, and wide range to access the data over long distances. WiMAX devices and equipment that have been tested for compatibility with each other will help make it easier for consumers to roam from network to network with their Internet devices wherever they go for an always-connected, mobile experience.

Raviv Melamed, general manager of Intel’s Mobile Wireless Group said, "WiMAX enables the mobile Internet and makes it possible to get content on a variety of new mobile devices at broadband speed."

Early interoperability testing between multiple industry partners will help to reduce the amount of time required for their respective products to successfully pass through the technical requirements from the WiMAX Forum thus accelerating time-to-market.

Intel, Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks have already started testing their equipment and devices with dozens of other equipment vendors’ products for interoperability and conformance with industry standards in Sprint’s Herndon, Va. testing labs.

Intel and Nokia will continue to champion efforts with 500 other Forum members to deliver end-to-end specifications for global interoperability of WiMAX devices and infrastructure.

source business-standard

Researcher: iPhone has potential security problems

2007-09-21T08:11:00.000-07:00

Apple's iPhone is a tough target for hackers, but a security researcher warned Friday that there are ways the sleek device could potentially be compromised.

The iPhone has no security software, but Apple doesn't let people load third-party programs on the device, reducing the risk of infection from malicious software. But when the iPhone is connected to the Web, possibilities emerge, said Marius van Oers, a security researcher with McAfee's AVERT Labs in Amsterdam.

He doesn't claim to have uncovered a specific security hole in the device, but listed several ways that determined hackers could use the Web to try to find a way in.

Apple is relying on developers to create rich Web-based applications that will be accessed through the mobile version of the company's Safari Web browser. Browser flaws are a proven way for hackers to get unauthorized code running on a system, van Oers said.

"It's fairly easy to send someone an SMS (Short Messaging Service) or an e-mail with a Web link," he said. "And once you go to the Web link, then that server can inject code into the iPhone, and if that happens, [a hacker] can have full control."

That's what happened with a Safari flaw found by Independent Security Evaluators, a company that detailed its findings at the Black Hat security conference in August. By constructing a malicious Web site, the researchers injected code into the iPhone and pilfered recent text messages, phone numbers and e-mail. Apple has since patched the flaw.

"Once you get access to the system, it's all over," van Oers said.

He presented his view of iPhone security Friday at the Virus Bulletin security conference in Vienna. Although he is based in Europe, he examined an iPhone purchased in the U.S. His view of the iPhone's security is more cautionary and speculative, but rooted in the well-known ways that hackers work.

Apple also allows the use of JavaScript when the iPhone interacts with Web pages, a programming language that has been used to exploit software problems, van Oers said.

Further, Apple's multimedia application QuickTime has been prone to trouble, and there are several proof-of-concept exploits circulating the Web now for version 7, van Oers said. How that proof-of-concept code could affect QuickTime on the iPhone remains to be seen.

Nonetheless, with the iPhone already popular in the U.S. and due to go on sale in Europe in about six weeks, Apple can expect more aggressive attempts by malicious hackers to meddle with it.

Hacking mobile devices is less prevalent than hacking desktop computers. But interesting malicious programs have been written for mobiles, including some that repeatedly autodial or send text messages to a premium number. The number is owned by the hackers, who collect the revenue.

The chance of those kinds of malicious software affecting the iPhone today is probably low, but "that's the future. Let's hope it will not come to that," van Oers said.

source InfoWorld

BlackBerry 8820

2007-09-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

The first Wi-Fi-enabled BlackBerry offers moderately faster data speeds along with GPS navigation and improved multimedia features.

For many BlackBerry fans (and haters), the lack of Wi-Fi has been at the top of the proverbial pet peeve list for years. Well, the wait is over. The BlackBerry 8820 is the first cellular device in the company's stable to offer 802.11 connectivity. While the Wi-Fi was simple to set up, it wasn't exactly blazing, and we wish you could do more with it (like VoIP). This world phone/organizer/media player/GPS navigator has more than enough going for it to warrant the $299 price tag but not enough for current 8800 owners to upgrade.

Design
With the exception of a Wi-Fi logo in the top-right corner of the 2.4-inch display, the 8820 looks and feels pretty much identical to its predecessor. And that's mostly a good thing. Sure, it's heavier and larger than the 3.9-ounce Curve, but the black-and-silver 8820 retains the relatively light (4.7 ounces) and slim profile (0.6 inches) of the 8800. You also get the same tightly packed but speedy keyboard and slick trackball for navigating menus.

Simple Wi-Fi Setup
RIM did a nice job integrating 802.11a/b/g without making it complicated. You simply click on the Manage Connections icon on the bottom of the main menu, which brings up a list of options that includes Mobile Network (AT&T/EDGE), Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. A built-in wizard steps you through scanning for and connecting to available networks, whether the phone is in the office, at home, or near a public hotspot. Should the network you're trying to connect to be encrypted, you can easily type in the encryption key (WEP, WPA, etc.)

We appreciated that the 8820 automatically connected to networks saved as profiles. Once we set up our office profile, the 8820 took only five seconds to latch onto our wireless network after turning Wi-Fi on. The device's range could be better, however. When we walked about 30 feet away from the router, our 8820 showed only one bar of Wi-Fi coverage (out of five), compared with the iPhone's two bars (out of three). Plus, you can't tell how strong your Wi-Fi coverage is on the 8820 while you're surfing the Web; you have to be in the Manage Connections utility.

How Fast Is It?
On our side-by-side tests, the 8820 downloaded pages over Wi-Fi noticeably faster than the BlackBerry Curve did via EDGE, but the margin wasn't very wide. On average, the 8820 started loading CNN.com and other sites a few seconds faster than the Curve, and it loaded pages completely two to seven seconds faster. The reason for these less-than-dramatic results is that no BlackBerry has a direct connection to the Internet; Wi-Fi simply queries RIM's own servers a bit faster, and those servers have always done a superb job delivering compressed Web pages in a hurry. (We downloaded Opera Mini, which offers a more desktop-like surfing experience, but it wouldn't work over Wi-Fi.)

Having integrated Wi-Fi is less of an advantage in terms of e-mail, mostly because RIM nailed that eons ago with its push delivery. We noticed a mere one-second speed advantage when downloading a Word attachment over Wi-Fi versus EDGE. You can use the 8820 at nearly 10,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots in the U.S. ($7.99 per day, $29.99 per month) and at thousands of other hotspots worldwide with which AT&T has roaming agreements. Connecting to those hotspots costs $39.99 per month.

Sorry, No VoIP Here
Unfortunately, you can't use the 8820's Wi-Fi connection for making VoIP calls. For now, at least, it's for Web surfing and e-mail only. We did get Shape Services' IM+ for Skype to work on the 8820, but it worked only when we had the device's EDGE connection turned on. We're hoping the company will add Wi-Fi support in an update to the client.

GPS Still Good, Improved Multimedia
In most other respects, the 8820 is just as good as or better than the 8800. Like its predecessor, this BlackBerry can provide turn-by-turn directions when you purchase the TeleNav GPS Navigator software ($9.99 per month unlimited). We noticed much improved route-calculation times and appreciated how close to real time our location was displayed on the device. The 8820 incorrectly identified an illegal left turn as part of one route, but in general we were impressed with the accuracy of the results and the robust local search functionality.

The 8820 has also improved on the multimedia front. It's compatible with AT&T's music offerings, including XM Radio ($8.99 per month). That service delivered decent reception, but it works only over EDGE; we'd like to see Wi-Fi support added. As with the Curve, the 8820 ships with a media player that synchronizes with supplied software from Roxio, making it a cinch to drag and drop music, photos, and videos onto the device. You also get the same great multitasking capabilities as you get with the Curve, so you can surf the Web while listening to tunes through stereo Bluetooth headphones. (You can also use the 2.5mm jack.)

Solid Phone and Battery Life
Call quality was good on our tests. We noticed a little background fuzz on our end of the line, but conversations sounded pretty clear and loud overall. Other callers said we sounded very clear and almost too loud. The speaker provided more than enough volume for calls, music, and navigation. Our only nitpick is that calls sometimes took a while to connect, a complaint we also had about the Curve.

The 8820 is rated for 5 hours of talk time and 22 days of standby time. Not surprisingly, having Wi-Fi on and being connected to a network reduces this smart phone's endurance, but as usual, RIM does a nice job with power management. Even though the 8820 uses the same 1400-mAh battery as the 8800, the device lasted nearly three days with intermittent use.

Verdict
Mobile workers who consider Wi-Fi a check-off item when shopping for a smart phone won't be disappointed by RIM's implementation, but they won't be blown away, either. We consider the 802.11 connection a good backup plan for EDGE, especially when you can't get a strong cellular signal indoors. So long as you don't need a built-in camera, the 8820's snappy overall performance, GPS navigation, and multimedia features make it a solid choice for AT&T customers. Others may want to wait and see what RIM cooks up for T-Mobile.

source laptopmag

The iPhone Goes Orange

2007-09-20T20:35:00.001-07:00

The iPhone's latest move is to France.

France Telecom will start marketing Apple Inc.'s million-selling iPhone in France through its wireless arm Orange.

Thursday's announcement came days after Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs visited Britain and Germany to unveil similar deals with mobile operator O2 and Deutsche Telekom AG.
The iPhone, a combined cell phone-iPod media player that also can wirelessly access the Internet, will go on sale in all three countries in November -- in time for the holiday season.

The latest deal was announced by France Telecom CEO Didier Lombard during a conference in Hanoi. Apple said last week that it had sold 1 million iPhones in the United States in the first 74 days it was on sale, shortly after slashing the price by a third. The iPhone debuted in the United States on June 29, with service exclusively through AT&T Inc.

France Telecom will be counting on the popular iPhone to raise sales, boosting its share of the cell phone market. Jobs said Tuesday his goal was to sell 10 million iPhones in 2008, representing 1 percent of the global handset market.

Officials with Orange would not say how much the phone will cost in France.
Consumers in Britain will pay 269 pounds ($536) for the 8-gigabyte model -- or about $139 more than what Apple charges in the United States.

In Germany the phone will cost 399 euros ($553). Both European price tags include value-added tax.

The company cut the 8-gigabyte iPhone to $399, from $599, and discontinued the $499 4-gigabyte version. It apologized to those who had paid full price and offered $100 credits to early buyers.

via AP www.ctv.ca

Nokia Unleashes First Unlicensed Mobile Access Cell Phone.

2007-09-20T20:27:00.000-07:00

Nokia, the world’s largest maker of mobile phones, on Thursday unveiled the world’s first phone that can provide voice calls both over conventional GSM networks as well as via wireless local area networks (WLANs). While the Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology deserves applauds, its wide adoption is under question as it does not has obvious benefits to end-users.

The new Nokia 6301 cell phone can boast with stainless steel frame, 2” 320x240 pixels screen, 30MB of internal memory, built-in MP3 player, FM radio, microSD card slot, support for GSM 900, 1800 and 1900 networks and other peculiarities of a business-oriented cell phone. The Nokia 6301 weighs 93 grams and measures less than 13.1mm thin. The Nokia 6301 comes with an attractive desk stand, the Nokia Desk Stand DT-23, to hold the phone and keep its battery charged while connected to WLAN. The main feature of the device is support for the so-called Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology.

UMA technology makes it possible for users to seamlessly roam and handover between wireless local area networks (Wi-Fi) and wide area networks (such as GSM) using the same dual-mode device. Instead of constantly communicating with a base station, UMA allows the phone to also make calls through WLAN internet networks, provided that those networks are capable of establishing secure IP connection through a gateway to a server called a general access network controller (GANC) on the carrier’s network.

Nokia claims that with UMA technology ensures excellent indoor coverage both at office and home as WLAN/UMA provides excellent coverage and sound quality even in areas where mobile phone reception has previously been poor. Besides, UMA benefits operators as well, allowing them to deliver voice and data services to subscribers over WLAN, substantially increasing mobile service availability while decreasing the costs related to network deployment.

Orange will be one of the first operators to offer the Nokia 6301, as part of its Unik/Unique portfolio.

“The Nokia 6301 is a stylish new addition to our Unik range of converged fixed and mobile phones. Orange’s Unik offer brings together the convenience of a single phone and tariff at home and on the move and the widest range of UMA handsets. The Nokia 6301, with its sleek candy bar design and attractive stainless steel exterior adds to the appeal of Unik for Orange customers,” said Yves Maitre, senior vice president of devices, Orange.

The Nokia 6301 is expected to begin shipping to select markets in Europe during the fourth quarter of 2007 with an estimated retail price of €230 before subsidies or taxes.

The clean lines and recessed buttons of the Nokia 6301 are highlighted by a stainless steel frame with hand-hugging curves. In addition, the Nokia 6301 includes:

2-inch QVGA screen
USB/PC Synchronization
Internal user memory of 30MB and 128MB in-box microSD card, with support for up to 4GB microSD cards
Voice dialing, voice commands and voice recording
MP3 player, FM radio
Integrated hands-free speaker
talk-time of up to 3.5 hours and a standby time of up to 14 days

source xbitlabs mobile88

Konan - New Concept Phone from Sony Ericsson

2007-09-18T22:25:00.000-07:00

There is a new concept phone in the works from Sony Ericsson. Rumors have emerged that Sony is developing a concept phone that will change the way we use our mobile phones. According to reports, the new phone will be called Konan: Beauty Renaissance 2.0.

As for its functionalities and capabilities, not much has been revealed. Pictures above however shows that it is indeed an eye candy for mobile users. Well, we all just have to wait.

» via mobilewhack | esato

Sony Ericsson Unveils 5 MP Cyber-shot K850i Handset in India

2007-09-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

Sony Ericsson has launched the 5 MP Cyber-shot K850i mobile phone in India. The K850i was unveiled by the two International WTA players Mario Kirilenko and Marto Domachowska.

The K850i 5 MP Cyber-shot phone with a 16X digital zoom packs state-of-the-art digital camera features into a slim-design mobile phone. The K850i allows a user to click life-like images with features like BestPic that allows clicking as many as nine images in one click and choose the best one amongst all. The Photofix feature automatically adjusts the combination of light, contrast and brightness to give to the best images.

The K850i is a capable multimedia phone. The new media browser puts all of your photos, video, music or podcasts, in one place offering users a unique Sony Ericsson media experience. Users can scroll, sort and access their media from a single point in the menu.

The phone also allows users to carry out an intelligent search to see photos by the month they were taken, view thumbnail images or scroll through in full-picture mode on its 2.2" crystal bright display. The auto rotate feature displays it in the correct aspect, portrait or landscape, irrespective of the orientation it was taken in.

The K850i Cyber-shot handset at a glance:
Camera Features: 5 MP camera, Auto focus, 16X Digital zoom, Xenon Flash, PictBridge, BestPic, Photo fix, Automatic postcard creation, Slideshow with music, Pocket album - thumbnail, Fast scroll, Intelligent photo
Display: 2.2" QVGA 262K TFT scratch resistant crystal bright display
Phone memory: Up to 40 MB
Memory card support: Memory Stick Micro (M2) and SanDisk micro SD/Transflash, 512 MB M2 in box
Phone Functions: Video call, Music tones, Polyphonic ringtones, Speakerphone, Vibrating alert, Picture messaging (MMS), Text messaging (SMS), Predictive text input
Talk time GSM/UMTS: Up to 9 hrs/3 hrs 30 min
Standby time GSM/UMTS: Up to 400 hrs/350 hrs
Video call time (K850i): Up to 3 hrs 20 min
Internet: WAP 2.0 XHTML, Push email, Web browser
Entertainment: Video recording, FM radio, Streaming audio/video, PlayNow 4.0 Media browser, Podcasting (Access NetFront)
Other Features: Navigation key, Picture wallpaper, Java support, Sound recorder, Alarm clock, Calculator, Calendar
Networks: (UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900/2100-GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900)
Size: 102 x 48 x 17 mm
Weight: 118 grams
Colors: Luminous Green / Velvet Blue

» via ITNewsOnline

More: Nokia E51, Smarter Than It Looks

2007-09-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

Nokia has said it's latest addition to the eSeries business oriented smartphones will be available globally from next Quarter. The E51 might look like a consumer device, but it's packed with business smarts that you will thank your boss for.

Slim and elegant, Nokia has taken time to make sure the Nokia E51 looks good yet has all the business features you need for working on the go. The company says it has also taken time to make sure this device is easy to use with features such as set-up wizards for email and VoIP, dedicated keys and a home screen that is user configurable.

"Business users increasingly need one device that they can count on to work productively and which offers them the level of efficiency that brings more freedom and balance to their personal lives," said Antti Vasara, senior vice president, Mobile Devices Unit, Enterprise Solutions, Nokia. "With the new Nokia E51 device, we are responding to this need with a business smartphone that combines the latest advances in business mobility and a classic, stainless steel design, at a price that makes it perfect for company-wide deployments."

That price - without carrier subsidies - is EUR350.

Nokia E51 is a real corporate phone, though with support for corporate telephony systems through and supports Nokia Intellisync Call Connect for Cisco and Nokia Intellisync Call Connect for Alcatel. These solutions deliver desk phone calling features - such as extension dialing, hold, transfer and conferencing - to a single, mobile device. Companies can also reduce their international call charges by routing the call over the corporate IP networks. Those without the big corporate IP Telephony systems can, of course access VoIP with the Gizmo application which is available to Nokia Eseries customers through the Nokia Download!

The E51 is only 12mm thick with its other dimensions 114mm x 46mm and a nice light weight at 100 grams. Nokia has packed enough business smarts into the phone to make it acorporate buy, but have a few features to make this phone your own. It has an FM radio and of course music and multimedia players, a 2 megapixel camera with 4x zoom and among its business features like Outlook and Lotus Notes integration, the phone will let you runYahoo Go! WidSets, and a number of travel, personal productivity and entertainment applications.

Connecting via 3G, HSDPA, or WLAN connection you can quickly get access to Windows Live services including Hotmail, Messenger and Spaces. The phone integrates with a wide range of business email solutions, including Nokia Intellisync Wireless Email and Mail for Exchange to communicate with Microsoft Exchange Server, but you can also use consumer mail solutions as well.

Other features mentioned include One Touch keys to get at key functionalities like email, contacts, calendar and the home screen, while the s set-up wizards offering step-by-step guidance for setting up email accounts, configuring Internet calling and accessing wireless local area networks

Nokia says it has also streamlined the email reading experience with easy access to attachments and has included an email indicator light so you know when you got mail.

For all the technical specs it's probably easiest to go to NokiaforBusiness

» via mobilised

Nokia Unveils Dual-Mode E51

2007-09-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

A revamped interface joins GSM and Wi-Fi functions in Nokia's newest business model.

Nokia Corp. released on Tuesday the newest addition to its E-series lineup of mobile phones for businesses, revamping the user interface for easier navigation, executives said during a London product launch.

The E51 is a dual-mode model, working with GSM networks and Wi-Fi hotspots for businesses eyeing or already using so-called "converged" services -- VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) technology alongside traditional phone networks.

Nokia is hoping to spur businesses to adopt its E-series phones by convincing IT managers they'll save money over the long term by using the mobiles in combination with VOIP software. The unsubsidized price of the E51 will be ,350 (US$485) and should be available in the last three months of the year.

Cost savings through converged fixed line and mobile networks are a "door opener" for IT managers, said Mary McDowell, executive vice president and general manager of Nokia's Enterprise Solutions division.

Expensive data plans -- which increase the total bill for companies every time employees read e-mail -- remain a barrier, although Nokia has brought the issue up with operators, McDowell said.

Still, Nokia sees big opportunities, as 44 percent of businesses still lack plans for mobile usage by their employees, said Antti Vasara, senior vice president for the mobile devices unit of Enterprise Solutions.

Nokia simplified the E51's main navigation window and added setup wizards for functions such as e-mail to make it easier during the initial set-up, Vasara said.

Those improvements came to address user complaints that those functions were "more difficult" than on other models, Vasara said. Another improvement lets users access frequently used features, such as e-mail or their calendar, with the push of only one button, he said.

The E51, which runs the S60 series operating system, may be built for business, but it's shiny, slim and attractive, forgoing a fattening QWERTY keypad to keep its figure. It has a 2-megapixel camera and an FM radio.

The device will perhaps fill the void caused by Nokia's E70 mobile. Despite the full, fold-out keyboard that extended to the left and the right of the main screen, the E70 has not been very popular despite doing well in initial user trials, McDowell said.

The E51 is compatible with Nokia's Intellisync Call Connect software for businesses using equipment and software from Cisco Systems Inc. and Alcatel-Lucent SA. The Intellisync software enables desktop phone functions -- such as call forwarding, extension dialing, hold and conferences, among others -- for mobiles.

BT Group PLC will test a client version of its BT Corporate Fusion software next month on the E51, with expanded trials by the end of the year, said Rakesh Mahaja, global director of mobility for BT Global Services.

BT's Corporate Fusion software uses Wi-Fi to let mobile devices communicate with the fixed network, and runs applications and other calling management functions through an IP network.

» via PCWorld

New 3G iPhone due in early ‘08 will have “assisted GPS chips”

2007-09-18T21:32:00.000-07:00

Scott Moritz of financial news site TheStreet.com reports that a second-generation, 3G iPhone will be released early next year.

Their sources report that the upgraded phone will offer GPS from as yet-unspecified navigation services.

The new 3G iPhone is expected to include features like global positioning for navigation services.

This functionality, apparently, will be actualized via chips from Broadcom, optimized to work with capabilities already offered by a new (July of this year) Broadcom acquisition called Global Locate. Global Locate manufactures “assisted GPS chips” that use both satellite and cell antenna signals to pinpoint locations. Now part of Broadcom’s portfolio, Global Locate’s solution set is said to make the long-elusive dream of GPS indoor functionality a high-performance reality. The assisted GPS chips also are said to boost GPS fuctionality at points on the globe where a direct satellite read isn’t possible.

TheStreet also reports that chipmaker TriQuint will also be part of the next generation of iPhones. TriQuint’s specialty of interest to Apple: power amplifiers for the iPhone.

» via ZDNet

Jobs Says Apple Will Fight iPhone Unlocking Hacks

2007-09-18T21:26:00.000-07:00

Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs said Tuesday that it's his company's job to stymie hackers who try to unlock the iPhone -- the first time the company has officially said it would fight attempts to use the popular device on unauthorized networks.

At a London Apple retail store where he announced the iPhone's Nov. 9 U.K. debut, Jobs responded to a question about whether Apple would put a stop to the unlocking hacks that have mushroomed recently. "It's a cat-and-mouse game," said Jobs. "We try to stay ahead. People will try to break in, and it's our job to stop them breaking in."

In last few weeks, people have unveiled several unlock hacks that let users swap the iPhone's included SIM card with one from another cellular service provider so the phone can make calls on that carrier's network. With the iPhone limited to domestic sales until November, unlocking is the only way consumers living outside the U.S. have been able to use their phones.

Last week, the iPhone Dev Team posted a free unlocking hack, then followed it Monday with anySIM, an unlocking tool tucked into a graphical interface. Just a day before the iPhone Dev Team released its free hack, a group called iPhoneSIMFree began selling an unlocking tool of its own through a network of online resellers at prices ranging from US$45 to $99.

Carolina Milanesi, a Gartner Inc. analyst who was at the London presentation, said she wondered if it matters much in the long run whether Apple stays a step ahead of hackers, as Jobs said it must do. "At the moment, as a consumer, you need to be very careful about unlocking the iPhone, and know how you want to use it," she said. "If you unlock it, you are not going to have a flat rate, and you will not have access to the 7,500 hot spots."

O2 Ltd., the iPhone's sole carrier in the U.K., will offer three flat-rate plans -- dubbed "tariffs" in Britain -- that range in price from $70 to $110 per month. Flat-rate plans are relatively rare in the U.K., said Milanesi. "If you unlock and then use the Internet and e-mail, you may be surprised by your first bill," she added, referring to the pay-as-you-go data rates charged by most carriers in the country and elsewhere in Europe.

O2 has struck a deal with a Wi-Fi provider called The Cloud that will give iPhone users unlimited wireless access to some 7,500 hot spots in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

"There's a difference here, too, compared to the United States," said Milanesi. Because Apple plans to release its iPod Touch, an iPod-cum-Internet device, in the U.K. by the end of the month, consumers will have a choice between that and the iPhone when the latter launches five weeks later.

"Now with the Touch, you have an alternative," she said. People who might have been drawn to the iPhone for its music capabilities, interface and/or its Web browsing features -- and might have used an unlocking hack so they could avoid paying a penalty when they ditched their current carrier -- could instead opt for the iPod Touch.

Jobs did not go into details on how Apple would bar hacks, but the process would presumably involve firmware updates to the iPhone, delivered via the iTunes software. Both of the firmware updates issued since the iPhone's U.S. debut in late June have either broken other, non-unlocking hacks, or forced users to restore the device from scratch. IPhoneSIMFree, for instance, does not guarantee that its unlocking tool will work after future firmware updates.

Keeping unlocking hacks completely at bay, though, will probably be impossible, something Jobs tacitly acknowledged when he said that while it was a cat-and-mouse game between Apple and hackers, "I'm not sure if we are the cat or the mouse."

"Jobs said that they would stay a step ahead," said Milanesi, "but that will be easier said than done."

» via PCWorld

Google's gPhone draws a crowd

2007-09-13T22:06:00.000-07:00

Mention the name Google in cell-phone software circles these days and you're likely to get a lot of blank stares and awkward silence.

It's not that these Silicon Valley startups have nothing to say about the world's largest Web search engine. The problem is, they can't. Many mobile-software developers in the Bay Area and beyond are hard at work cobbling together services and tools they hope will be packaged with a wireless operating system under wraps at Googleplex--and they've been sworn to secrecy.

Word's getting out. Among the companies jockeying for a place on Google's platform, BusinessWeek.com has learned, are Plusmo, a Santa Clara (California) company that pulls together blogs and news items and sends them to cell phones, and Nuance Communications, a Burlington (Massachusetts) maker of speech-recognition software used in mobile directory assistance services. Plusmo is owned by Reify Software, and its services are already available on phones made by Motorola, Research In Motion, and devices that use the Microsoft mobile operating system. Nuance technology, on devices such as Palm's Treo 755p, lets users dial, dictate, and search using voice commands. Neither company would comment for this story.

Code Unlocked
Another startup said to be working with Google is 3Jam, a software maker in Menlo Park, Calif., that lets users send text messages to groups of friends. Representatives of 3Jam declined to comment.

Google also is mum on its plans, but the ongoing work with developers may give further evidence the company is moving ahead with a platform, possibly named gPhone, that brings together a range of services--from news to instant messaging to social-networking features to Web browsing--for mobile phones. "If they are evangelizing to mobile developers, they probably have a product coming soon," says Toni Schneider, chief executive of Web publisher Automattic, who created Yahoo!'s developer program. For developers, the Google platform could open a wide range of opportunities, including changing the way programmers use and build Google applications for mobile devices. And the interplay between Google and software developers is likely to leave an indelible mark on how wireless services are built and distributed--and who gets to share in the spoils.

Google's platform is expected to consist of an operating system, mobile versions of Google's existing software, and built-in tools that make it easier for developers to dive in. Google is expected to open up much of its gPhone programming code, known in industry parlance as the application programming interface (API), enabling mobile developers to easily integrate Google's applications with their own software and to distribute those applications to all users of the gPhone platform, whatever phone model or carrier they happen to use.

Cooler Apps
The idea of unlocking software code to outside developers is gathering currency across the tech landscape. Case in point: Thousands of companies have embedded Google Maps into their Web sites to help customers and clients find offices. At the same time, Google offers a range of third-party applications, such as the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, on its customizable home page iGoogle.

Still, that same cross-pollination has yet to take off in wireless circles, where carriers and handset makers control which applications are available to users. Earlier this year, Google had to strike a special agreement with handset manufacturer LG to get its YouTube video application onto an upcoming mobile device. Carrier AT&T and handset maker Apple handpicked the Google applications--Google Maps, search, and YouTube--that would be available on the iPhone, introduced in June.

The relatively closed system gives service providers and cell-phone manufacturers tight control over what users get--and pay for--on their handsets, but it keeps the makers of cool applications on the sidelines. On a typical smartphone running the Symbian operating system, fewer than 40 percent of the applications came from third-party developers, according to Symbian data.

Not only would the Google model mean more cool new apps and open sales avenues for developers, but it's also likely to influence how the industry deals with other mobile operating systems. Says Thomas Howe, head of communications software consultancy the Thomas Howe Co.: "The world will break open."

» via ZDNetAsia

Nokia 6555 3G mobile phone available from AT&T

2007-09-13T21:27:00.000-07:00

AT&T and Nokia has announced the availability of the Nokia 6555 mobile phone, a new handset that has been engineered to take advantage of AT&T's high speed 3G network and innovative wireless services.

A unique "smoothback" design, which eliminates the sharp edge found at the hinge of most conventional folding phones, makes the Nokia 6555 phone both remarkably comfortable to hold and strikingly beautiful to behold.

Exclusively available in the U.S. from AT&T, the Nokia 6555 makes it easier than ever to quickly access powerful AT&T services via dedicated function keys. By pressing the CV key, Nokia 6555 users can immediately access AT&T's streaming video content service, which includes local weather forecasts, the latest in sports and entertainment and broadcasts from leading cable news outlets - all displayed on a crisp 16 million color QVGA screen. The dedicated AT&T MEdia Net key provides an immediate connection to the best Internet content, ranging from financial news and sports scores to movie times and reviews or the latest ringtones and mobile games.

"The Nokia 6555 represents a stylish and simple way for our customers to access and enjoy video, messaging, music and more," said Carlton Hill, vice president of Voice Products and Devices for AT&T's wireless unit. "We are pleased to have worked with Nokia to launch yet another great product on AT&T's 3G network."

Music fans will have access to the AT&T Mobile Music portfolio of services, including subscription services from Napster and eMusic, music videos, MusicID song recognition, "The Buzz" music news portal, XM Radio Mobile and more. The included music player and MicroSD card slot lets owners store and enjoy thousands of digital music tracks on an optional 2GB MicroSD memory card.

"The unique smoothback design of the Nokia 6555 will appeal to the design-conscious consumer while the high speed 3G capability will satisfy the needs of those looking for powerful wireless technology," said Ian Laing, vice president of Sales for Nokia. "The Nokia 6555 is a direct result of our collaboration with AT&T to develop a compelling product specifically for their customers. It marks the latest chapter in our long history of working together to bring innovation and quality to customers."

Staying in contact with friends and family through voice calls, text and photo messages is made easy with included push-to-talk functionality, an integrated instant message client and a built-in 1.3 megapixel camera and video recorder to capture and share special moments. Bluetooth technology makes it convenient to connect to PCs, wireless headsets and speakers, as well as an increasing number of vehicles that come with built-in wireless hands-free capability. The analog clock standby mode adds an additional touch of elegance to the Nokia 6555 phone's design.

The Nokia 6555 will be available in select AT&T retail stores and online beginning September 12 for $49.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year service agreement.

» via Physorg

Double Your Cell Phone Battery Life With New Display

2007-09-13T21:20:00.000-07:00

Cell phones are more than just cell phones these days. As we push toward thinner and thinner devices that have become proverbial Swiss Army knives, battery life is severely suffering. Between taking pictures, listening to music, and surfing the web, you can barely make it through the day without tethering yourself to the wall. What is the multitasking user on the bleeding edge of technology to do?

Unipixel is aiming to create a new display for mobile phones that will effectively double the battery life. And there are no sacrifices on your part. You see, with current displays, only 5% of the light generated by the backlight ever makes it to the screen. This is due to a series of filters and light polarizers. The Unipixel solution aims to attack this inefficiency, creating a display that is illuminated by LED lights on the sides. No filters, more brightness.

A working prototype is expected by the end of the year. Until then, Unipixel's revolutionary display is just vaporware.

» via MobileMag

Cell Phone Use Not Linked To Brain Cancer, Study Suggests

2007-09-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

Mobile phones have not been found to be associated with any biological or adverse health effects, according to the UK's largest investigation into the possible health risks from mobile telephone technology.

The Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research (MTHR) Programme published its conclusions on September 12 as part of its 2007 Report.

The six-year research programme, chaired by Professor Lawrie Challis, Emeritus Professor of Physics at The University of Nottingham, has found no association between short term mobile phone use and brain cancer. Studies on volunteers also showed no evidence that brain function was affected by mobile phone signals or the signals used by the emergency services (TETRA).

The MTHR programme management committee believes there is no need to support further work in this area.

The research programme also included the largest and most robust studies of electrical hypersensitivity undertaken anywhere in the world. These studies have found no evidence that the unpleasant symptoms experienced by sufferers are the result of exposure to signals from mobile phones or base stations.

The situation for longer-term exposure is less clear as studies have so far only included a limited number of participants who have used their phones for ten years or more. The committee recommends more research be conducted in this area.

The MTHR programme also investigated whether mobile phones might affect cells and tissue beyond simply heating them. The results so far show no evidence for this and the committee believes there is no need to support further work in this area.

Professor Lawrie Challis, Chairman of MTHR, said: “This is a very substantial report from a large research programme. The work reported today has all been published in respected peer-reviewed scientific or medical journals.

“The results are so far reassuring but there is still a need for more research, especially to check that no effects emerge from longer-term phone use from adults and from use by children.”

The research programme has also funded some basic measurements of radio signals from microcell and picocell base stations such as those found in airports, railway stations and shopping malls. These have shown that exposures are well below international guidelines.

Additional studies also confirmed that the use of a mobile phone while driving, whether hand-held or hands-free, causes impairment to performance comparable to that from other in-car distractions. There are however indications that the demand on cognitive resources from mobile phones may be greater.

» via ScienceDaily

Cell Phone Use Banned for Teen Drivers

2007-09-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

A law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday will require those teens to put down all cell phones and other electronic devices while driving. Older drivers will be able to use hands-free devices but minors won't enjoy that luxury - in part because of the popularity of text-messaging among teens.

"The simple fact is that teenage drivers are more easily distracted. They are young, inexperienced and have a slower reaction time,'' Schwarzenegger said in a statement after he signed the legislation into law. "We want to eliminate any extra distractions so they can focus on paying attention to the road and being good drivers.''

The law barring cell phone use by drivers under 18 will take effect July 1, as will the law restricting cell phone use among older drivers, which the governor signed last year.

Violators will be fined $20 for the first offense and $50 for subsequent offenses. Both laws include exceptions for drivers who need to make emergency calls.

Schwarzenegger's signature means California joins 15 states and the District of Columbia in banning the use of wireless communication devices for teenage drivers. Nearly a dozen other states are considering similar action, according to the American Automobile Association.

The governor cited statistics by the California Highway Patrol that cell phone use is a primary cause of accidents caused by distracted drivers. He also referred to a Ford Motor Co. study saying teens are four times more likely to be distracted than adults by cell phone use.

A 2001 report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 16-year-old drivers have a crash rate three times higher than that of 17-year-olds, five times greater than 18-year-olds and almost 10 times greater than drivers ages 30-59.

» via guardian.co.uk

LG Debuts Prada Phone

2007-09-09T23:34:00.000-07:00

LG Electronics and Prada has unveiled the Prada Phone (KE850) - a touch
screen mobile phone that the company touts to be unique, sophisticated and
elegant.

The two companies have worked closely together on every aspect of the product - from handset development, attention to detail, to design and technological innovation.

President and CEO of LG Electronics, Dr. Scott Ahn said, "We at LG are exceptionally proud of the Prada Phone by LG. The two companies have worked together seamlessly towards a truly shared vision, to develop one of the most beautifully stylish handsets the market has ever seen."

President and CEO of Prada, Mr. Patrizio Bertelli said, "As we do with ready-to-wear and accessories, we were looking at a break-through. Consistent with our approach, we are not branding an existing product; rather, Miuccia and I have been working with LG to give this new phone a very strong character and unique style, both in its contents and in its design. We, just like our partners at LG, are known for the attention to detail and uncompromising quality of our products. And we find these characteristics in the new mobile phone."

The company claims that its PRADA Phone introduces the world's first advanced 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. Above all, these features contribute to the phone's beautifully sleek and simplistic appearance.

Glowing icons on the face of the phone disappear when not in use to reveal a black exterior. The phone is ultra thin (just 12 mm), and hosts an array of additional multimedia functions, including an MP3 player and a music multitasking function for messaging. It also boasts an external memory slot, allowing the user to increase memory capacity for images, music and film clips.

The PRADA Phone by LG - Technical Specifications

Design

Candy Bar (card type)
Slim and simple design
Wide LCD & Touch Screen, No Keypad & Navi-key
Unique design: Black, simple and sleek with no buttons
Capacitive Touch Screen
Touch keypad: Touch keypad becomes ‘invisible' when not in use, keeping the handset's features simple and unique.
Dimensions: 98.8 × 54 × 12 mm

Music

MP3 Player quality sound
Multi Codec support: MP3, ACC, ACC+, WMA, RA
External Memory Slot (Micro SD)
Music Multitasking (Messaging)
Macromedia Flash UI
FM radio
5 EQ effects (Normal, Classic, Jazz, Pop, Rock)

Camera / Video Camera

2 megapixels camera for clear shots
Up to 6 Frame Multi Shots
3 filter special effects (Sepia/Grey/Negative)
Digital Zoom up to 2X as well as set timer function
High resolution LCD for clearer and sharper pictures and videos
8 MB Internal Mass Storage Memory and External 256MB MicroSD

Video

Up to WQVGA (400x240) 30fps movie playback
Video can be filmed endlessly according to memory capacity
Video Player (MPEG4, H.263, H.264)
Video playback

Connectability

Internet
USB Ver. 2.0 (full speed)
EDGE Tri-Band (900/1800/1900)
Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, USB Mass storage
GPRS
Document Viewer (ppt, doc, xls, pdf, txt )

The PRADA Phone by LG is available from Vodafone and Optus retailers across Australia from mid September at a recommended retail price of $999

» Via SmartHouse.com.au

Motorola Q9m

2007-09-09T23:21:00.000-07:00

The Motorola Q9m has a slightly different shape than the Q9h. The edges are a bit more rounded, but the keyboard is the same. That's a good thing since the Q9's keyboard is really well designed. In terms of hardware buttons, the layout on the Q9m is similar, but lacks the Internet and Email buttons.

On the left side there are some major differences. There's a regular MiniUSB jack for sync/charging where as the Q9h has a proprietary connector. There's also a flap that covers the MiniSD slot as opposed to the MicroSD slot on the Q9h.

On the top, there's a flap covering a standard 2.5mm audio jack. This is completely missing from the Q9h and is a very welcome addition to the Q9m.

On the right side, there's an actual jog wheel instead of the up/down buttons on the Q9h. Again, this is a superior interface. Spinning the jog wheels lets you scroll, pressing it selects the item (though a small ridge makes this a bit difficult), and there's an unlabeled button below which acts as the "back" button.

On the back is a slightly different arrangement of the camera lens and flash LED as well as a bit of a RAZR like ridge on the battery cover surrounding the stereo speakers.

Also note the extremely good looking red and black paint job on the Q9m. This is much better looking than the Q9h.

» via PocketNow

Google may try pitching a free iPhone alternative

2007-09-09T23:17:00.000-07:00

If you weren't the first geek on your block with an iPhone, don't despair. There's still time to get in line for the GPhone.

That's G, as in Google.

Still warm from this summer's rollout of the stylish Apple iPhone, the Internet hype machine is whipping itself into a new frenzy over a mobile device that Google may -- or may not -- have up its sleeve.

Stealing a page from Apple's playbook, the search engine king is mum -- fueling the kind of rabid speculation that money can't buy.

Over at Engadget, a Web site for gadgeteers, they've been saying a Google announcement is imminent. Citing "inside sources" at Google, podcaster Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins claims the new phone is conceived more as a cheap wireless computer than as a threat to traditional cellular providers.

Some accounts suggest the GPhone will run a modified version of the Linux operating system, with a new Web browser and GPS location technology married to Google Maps and search applications.

And unlike the pricey iPhone, Google's device or its phone service may be free -- with a bombardment of ads.

"Google doesn't comment on rumor or speculation," is all Google spokesperson Erin Fors will say about any of this.

Here's what is known for sure: Google, which reaped $10.6 billion in revenues last year selling search-related ads online, sees mobile phones as the next frontier.

And with good reason: Research firm Frost & Sullivan predicts the U.S. market for mobile ads will jump from $301 million in 2006 to more than $2 billion in 2011. Another research firm, Gartner Inc., expects the figure will approach $4 billion in North America and nearly $15 billion globally.

Mobile versions of Google Maps, Gmail and Google's YouTube video-sharing site already are available.

Meanwhile, Google has lobbied the Federal Communications Commission to set aside a valuable swath of broadcast frequencies for "open access," freeing consumers to use any device or software they choose for interactive services.

That's the opposite of the iPhone business model, which restricts users to AT&T services. Google is poised to bid billions of dollars for these frequencies, indicating a desire to offer wireless services or partner with others.

Late last month, Google filed for a patent on a mobile phone payment method. Dubbed "GPay," it would enable consumers to buy items from vending machines and retailers using text messages.

Google's acquisitions include Android, a mobile software startup co-founded by an inventor of T-Mobile's flashy Sidekick cell phone.

"Simpler" and less flashy than the iPhone, the GPhone sports a small BlackBerry-style keyboard instead of iPhone's touch-screen, according to unnamed entrepreneurs quoted by The Boston Globe. The paper said a wireless expert from Google's Cambridge lab has shown a prototype to Boston venture capitalists.

Famed for its "Don't Be Evil" credo, Google has legions of fans drawn to such free innovations as Google Earth, offering fly-bys of the earth and sky.

But "cool" alone won't cut it in the fiercely competitive world of wireless, analysts say.

"Unless they show some key differentiation points -- like really strong distribution -- I would not advise going into this market," says Tole Hart, Gartner's research director.

Greg Blonder, a partner at Morgenthaler Ventures in Summit and former chief technical adviser at AT&T, says Google's challenge is cracking the vast local ad market -- the countless pizzerias and nail salons that together rival national advertisers in size, but are harder to serve in a cost-effective way.

Blonder says Google must generate $25 a month per subscriber from advertisers to eke profits from GPhone if there is no charge for the phone or service. He calculates that means subjecting subscribers to 2,500 ads per month -- nearly 100 per day.

"The key is to engage the customer on the phone for at least two hours a day," with a Web browser, games or music player, Blonder says via e-mail.

He says the tricky part is converting free calls into paid calls, when users fail to view enough ads.

Despite the sketchy details, Blonder feels sure Google will take the plunge.

"Google will not cede half the advertising market to a competitor. Period. Since they cannot broker acceptable deals with carriers, they believe they have no other solution than to create their own physical presence with hardware and spectrum."

» via NJ
» author: Kevin Coughlin may be reached at kcoughlin@starledger.com or (973) 392-1763.

T-Mobile Germany leaks 16GB iPhone with 3G HSDPA - may launch November 12

2007-09-09T21:19:00.000-07:00

Right, this is technically still in the realm of rumor and hearsay, but, seeing as how T-Mobile Germany has pretty much been confirmed as Germany’s iPhone carrier, we can’t help but think that this one’s got some credibility.

The T-Mobile Germany website had previously leaked an iPhone-specific page, and now it seems they may have let an iPhone advertisement slip through the cracks. Interestingly, the ad seems to confirm he existence and eventual release of a 3G iPhone - with a hefty 16GB of storage to boot. If the specs on the advertisement pan out, the 3G European iPhone will be capable of pulling down 3.6Mbps data on US wireless frequencies with HSDPA support.

According to the alleged ad, the 3G iPhone will be bringing the same 2 megapixel camera and Visual Voicemail goodies that we all know and love - with a launch date set for November 12.

Germans can expect a 499 Euros ($687) price tag and will get to choose from 3 different wireless plans - all including unlimited data. The “L” plan will offer 200 wireless minutes and 100 SMS text messages for 50 Euros ($69), “XL” gets you 300 minutes and 150 text messages for 60 Euros ($83), and “XXL” offers 400 minutes and 200 texts for 70 Euros ($96).

We gotta admit, the prospect of a 16GB-packin’ 3G iPhone in Europe has us turning a slight shade of green. Those Europeans get all the good stuff. But, at least we pay a lot less for our iPhone rate plans and get a boat-load of minutes. Yeah, that makes us feel a little better (barely).

» via IntoMobile

Nokia To Launch WiMAX Handsets

2007-09-06T20:06:00.000-07:00

The next generation of Nokia’s Internet Tablet will feature the long-range wireless broadband technology known as WiMAX, the latest push by the Finnish cell phone maker to develop an all-in-one handset.

The company, which controls about one-third of the worldwide mobile phone market, said it had already signed a deal with U.S. carrier Sprint to make the new tablets available to subscribers in the first half of 2008.

“We are preparing for the day when people are carrying computers in their pockets and not phones,” said Nokia vice president Ari Virtanen.

Nokia did not rule out the possibility of also incorporating a cellular radio to the series at some stage in the future but said it would not be with the next product release. That would be a commercial decision not a technical one, said Mr. Virtanen.

Nokia’s tablets are pocket computers that feature short-range WiFi technology and high resolution screens that allow users to surf the web, make Internet Protocol phone calls, and send and receive email and text messages.

Helping to bridge the divide have been Nokia’s most recent mobile phones, such as the N95 and E90, which also sport WiFi and Bluetooth technologies. This means that users can browse the Internet or make phone calls by-passing their cellular carriers’ networks.

Internet tablet sales are steadily increasing although they are still not at mobile phone sales levels, said Mr. Virtanen.

Convergence between mobile phones and computers will continue and Nokia will lead the trend by approaching it both from the mobile phone and computer ends, he said.

“Today’s phones with computer capabilities are still phones at the heart,” he said. “We are making devices with computers at the heart and phone functionality on top.”

Nokia last week announced a corporate strategy shift that moves the company away from being a mobile phone maker and closer to that of an internet services company. This has in fact been a long-held ambition of the company but one which it now acknowledges publicly.

Computer maker Apple’s entry into the phone market may have hastened Nokia’s decision to go public, as may have reports of similar plans by other computer related companies such as Google and Microsoft.

Source: Redherring

Apple faces possible lawsuit with HTC

2007-09-06T20:04:00.000-07:00

After yesterday’s Apple Event it seemed nothing could go wrong, they had successfully unveiled many exciting gadgets and news. However, there is much speculation over the name iPod Touch being very similar to the HTC Touch.

Cellphone company HTC, had created their own music player called the HTC Touch. A trademark lawyer said that the name alone is not enough to convict Apple of stealing the name, but there are similiarities between to two devices such as music and video playback, the touchscreen, and Wi-Fi capabilities. These may be enough of a reason to create a trademark argument. Additionally, the iPod Touch was unveiled three months after Taiwan’s HTC Touch was launched.

HTC head chief Peter Chou said he feels that the name is a “compliment” to the HTC Touch, however, he declined to comment on whether he would pursue action to force a name change or file a lawsuit. Furthermore, if anything happens between these two companies, it would mark the second time this year Apple has faced naming issues, the first being with CISCO.

Source: Gadgetell

Apple's Jobs Sorry for iPhone Price Cut

2007-09-06T19:57:00.000-07:00

Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs apologized and offered $100 credits Thursday to customers who shelled out $599 for the most advanced model of the iPhone this summer, only to have the company unexpectedly slash the price $200 in a push to boost holiday sales.

In a letter on the company's Web site, Jobs acknowledged that Apple disappointed some of its customers by cutting the price of the iPhone's 8-gigabyte model and said he has received hundreds of e-mails complaining about the price cut.

Jobs added that "the technology road is bumpy," and there will always be people who pay top dollar for the latest electronics but get angry later when the price drops.

"This is life in the technology lane," Jobs said.

And for many of the iPhone's early adopters, money is not and never was an issue. They were after the gratification of knowing they were among the first owners of something that was cool, even revolutionary.

"If they told me at the outset the iPhone would be $200 cheaper the next day, I would have thought about it for a second — and still bought it," said Andrew Brin, a 47-year-old addiction therapist in Los Angeles. "It was $600 and that was the price I was willing to pay for it."

Jobs said Apple will hand out $100 credits for Apple's retail and online stores to any iPhone owners who aren't eligible for a rebate under the company's refund policy. The policy covers those who bought their phones within 14 days of the price cut.

An Apple spokeswoman said the company did not have an estimate of how much the credits would cost Apple.

Enjoying that period of being among the first — before the price drops and the product reaches the masses — is part of the pleasure, Brin and others say. And in much of the tech world, the usual expectation is that six months will pass before there's a major price cut and a year before a next generation of the product — usually an improved version — appears.

The looks of envy and attraction are an elixir.

"It's better than a dog, if you want to meet people," Brin said of his iPhone.

Jack Shamama of San Francisco, who was among the thousands nationwide who lined up for iPhones on the day they first went on sale, said he got some smug text messages and phone calls from friends on Wednesday after Apple announced the price cut.

But Shamama is taking the price cut in stride, saying such cuts are the wages of being an early adopter.

Gadgets — and food — are the 33-year-old online marketing consultant's splurges.

"It's the equivalent of having that season's handbag," said Shamama, who goes through cell phones as quickly as some people do shoes, comfortably shelling out hundreds of dollars per handset every six to eight months.

He's got a collector's item in one of the first Palm Pilots. And, even though he didn't even want one at first, he felt compelled to buy a Nintendo Wii game system last November — paying a friend of a friend $400 to get the $250 machine — after he heard how scarce they were.

Shamama bought the BlackBerry Pearl — another trendy smart phone — only months before the iPhone was unveiled.

"My biggest fear with any product is that it's going to become obsolete, and that isn't what happened this time," Shamama said.

Jobs was talking the same way immediately after the iPhone price cut was announced Wednesday. In an interview with USA Today, Jobs tartly rebuffed criticism about whether Apple's most die-hard fans would be miffed.

IPhone owners who bought their device that morning "should go back to where they bought it and talk to them," he said. "If they bought it a month ago, well, that's what happens in technology."

Jobs apparently had a change of heart. The company is making the right decision by lowering the iPhone price, he said in his letter Thursday, but needs to "do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers."

"(W)e need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price," he said. "Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these."

Analysts said Thursday that Jobs erred by initially dismissing the gripes of people who bought iPhones early, many of whom are Apple loyalists who felt insulted they were being overlooked in the company's zeal to sell to a broader audience.

"In the course of a day, he probably got an earful and a better sense of the extent of the discontent on the part of these very, very loyal customers," said Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research. "On second and third thought, he realized these were probably the customers you most want to make sure are satisfied and retain a very positive impression about Apple overall, not just the iPhone."

Under Apple's refund policy, customers who bought an iPhone within 14 days of the price cut can get a refund of the price difference if they have the original receipt. Those who haven't opened the phones can return them for a full refund.

The price cut — and the phaseout of the 4-gigabyte iPhone, which retailed for $499 — came less than 10 weeks after the two products hit the market June 29 and angered some iPhone users.

Investors were also rattled by the news, sending Apple's shares down a total of more than 6 percent over the past two days, a drop that has wiped out about $8 billion in shareholder wealth. Apple's stock closed Thursday at $135.01.

Some worry that Apple is cutting the price to make up for waning demand, a concern Apple countered by saying the device is now affordable to more people and has the potential to be a blowout seller this holiday season.

Apple has said it's on track to sell 1 million iPhones by the end of the current quarter.

Source: AP

New Sony Ericsson Cybershot?

2007-09-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

Looks like the folks at Sony Ericsson are working towards an iPhone clone in this yet unidentified handset. While certain quarters are sure that this won't be the Japan-bound SO905i Cybershot phone, that would only mean it will be available worldwide to everyone else which is always a good thing. While the iPhone hasn't exactly done too well after the initial euphoria, it cannot be denied that Apple's offering has certainly influenced the design cues for other handsets.

Source: UberPhones

Exploding batteries are fake, says Nokia

2007-09-05T02:09:00.000-07:00

Nokia, the world’s largest maker of mobile handsets, on Monday blamed fake batteries and tampered cell phones for explosion in its mobiles, while advising customers to use original components.

“Our investigation shows that either the batteries were fake or tampered with,” D Shivakumar, managing director, Nokia India, said, while addressing a press conference in the National Capital.

The Finnish company also mustered support from the Cellular Operators Association (COAI) and Indian Cellular Association (ICA).
According to ICA President Anand Mahendroo, there is a large market of counterfeit batteries in India, all imported mostly from China. “Seventy to 75 per cent of the 4-4.5 crore replacement battery market is dominated by counterfeit batteries,” Mahendroo said. A fake battery is available in the market for Rs 10 only, compared with Rs 200 for an original, due to duty difference, he added.

“Fake product is being used by people who contribute 150 to 180 average revenue per user per month, and these are the people who do not have any knowledge about these batteries,” COAI Director-General TV Ramachandran said. People who generally use fake batteries are ignorant consumers, he added.

A fake battery fails to cut of the charging when fully charged and can cause short circuit as well. It also underperforms. While the original battery would last for 4 hours of talk time, the fake battery would offer only one-one-and- a-half-hour of talk time.

Source: HindustanTimes

AT&T offers parental controls to iPhone users

2007-09-05T02:06:00.000-07:00

Parents looking to for a way to to curtail pricey cell phone bills incurred by their children have a new weapon in their arsenal if they use service from AT&T Wireless. The cellular provider announced a new system Tuesday that allows parents to set limits on their children’s cell phone usage, including voice, texting, and web browsing.

AT&T’s Smart Limits for Wireless service is a web-based interface that lets parents control detailed aspects of their children’s cell phone plans, including service for Apple’s iPhone. The service costs $4.99 a month per line; besides the iPhone, it’s compatible with any AT&T GSM or 3G handset as well as any non-prepaid AT&T cell phone plan.

Users can set limits on how many minutes children can use and what time of day and days of the week the phone can be used, as well as blocking calls and text messages from specific telephone numbers. Callers covered by the service will get warnings when they approach the limits; service will be restricted once those limits are hit. Certain numbers can be set as Allowed Numbers, which exempts them from those restrictions and emergency numbers can be dialed, regardless of limits.

The service isn’t without its own limitations, however—including an iPhone-specific limitation. iPhone users cannot use Smart Limits’ Internet-filtering features because that capability won’t work with the iPhone’s Safari browser.

Other limitations to the service involve call blocking—that feature relies on on Caller ID, which is not always available, so some valid calls may not get through, and some calls which should be blocked won’t be. Also, the system cannot restrict Wi-Fi access, and while text messaging is controllable, sending and receiving picture and video messages is not.

The Smart Limits for Wireless system is part of a larger Smart Limits initiative that AT&T is deploying on all of its services, including landlines and broadband Internet.

Source: MacWorld

Microsoft Pondering iPhone Killer?

2007-09-05T02:04:00.000-07:00

Reports from Citi's Global Technology Conference in New York today indicate that Microsoft may be readying its own rival to Apple's iPhone. In light of the iPhone's success as the biggest-selling smartphone in July, this news comes as no surprise. In fact, given how we've all known about the iPhone since the beginning of the year, I'm surprised that Microsoft isn't further along in the process.

The aforementioned report says that Microsoft wouldn't confirm rumors that it would have another iteration of its Zune media player in time for this year's holiday buying season. But a true hybrid phone/media player sounds like it's a ways off--which, if true, could be a detriment to such a device gaining traction.

Still, there could be some advantages to Microsoft getting in the game. Up until now, the company's strategy has been one of partnership: Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system has proliferated to the point that handsets using the OS have a strong foothold in the smartphone market. But integrating hardware design with software design can have benefits. The iPhone's elegance reflects that: There, Apple had the benefit of controlling the design of both the operating system with the hardware, and that marriage made the sublime operation iPhone a possibility.

Microsoft could have a similar advantage if it designs its multimedia handheld environment in tandem with the hardware that will run that environment. In fact, the Zune's beautiful interface was one of its assets. I'm sure Redmond can come up with ways to integrate a phone and messaging interface within that environment--and a way to handle all of those JPEG files and Word documents, and more, too.

The company is no stranger to creating consumer hardware: Already, Xbox 360 is well-established, and the Zune player shipped last year. However, if Microsoft were to take the step to do its own handset, the company would end up competing with the same handset makers that already use its Windows Mobile OS--a tricky position for any company that supplies enabling technology to third-party customers, and then gets into that business under its own brand. In the end, though, I imagine we consumers are the ones who'd benefit most from such a rivalry.

The question that stands is whether Microsoft wants to get into the cell phone handset business itself--or will it instead expand on existing relationships with handset makers like HTC, which already produce touchscreen-enabled, Windows Mobile-based handsets. We'll find out soon enough, I'm sure; until then, let the speculation begin.

Source: PCWorld

Palm offers free Treo 750 Windows Mobile 6 upgrade

2007-08-30T21:45:00.000-07:00

Palm has posted a free Windows Mobile 6 Pro upgrade for its Vodafone-branded Windows Mobile 5-based smartphone, the Treo 750v. The update also brings HSPDA high-speed download technology to the 3G phone.

While the 750v update is available to UK and Dutch users immediately, consumers in other European countries will have to wait until the end of September. So too will owners of the network-unlocked Treo 750.

The 750 already supports HSDPA, but it will get the full Windows Mobile 6 treatment and Palm's improved utility for connecting the Treo to a laptop as a wireless modem.

Palm said the update also includes improved calendar functionality, email enhancements, live links to Microsoft SharePoint documents, and the ability to set an out-of-office message and flag emails for follow-up from the device itself.

The Treo 750v WM6 update can be downloaded here.

Source: TheRegister

Nokia Brings N95 Super-Phone to US

2007-08-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

Nokia will start selling a fully US-compatible version of the Editors' Choice N95 super-phone next month, the company announced at an event in London on Wednesday. Nokia also announced four other new phones, including a sleek black-and-red music phone almost certainly destined for T-Mobile, a new gaming service under the old N-Gage brand, and several improvements to Nokia's music phone experiences.

The biggest news for US consumers is the US N95. The European version of the N95 has been sold direct through Nokia here in the US for a few months now, and was amazing enough to get our Editors' Choice award. Its five-megapixel camera, high-res screen, Wi-Fi, multimedia, and GPS make it a true handheld computer. But the Euro N95 was missing one key element: American high-speed cellular networks. The new, $699 US version adds in support for AT&T Wireless' HSDPA network, letting people browse the Web at speeds of around 1 megabit per second. It also pumps up the battery, increases RAM, and improves GPS performance over the earlier model. The unlocked US N95 is also packed with the kind of software and flexibility that US carriers typically strip out of phones sold here, including links to Yahoo!, Amazon, and Flickr.

While the US N95 is better than the European model for American buyers, US buyers will lose something: the US N95 doesn't work on European high-speed networks, instead dropping to EDGE speeds. Apparently, Nokia will only let you run at high speed on one side of the pond. We'll have a full review of the US N95 next week.

Nokia also announced four other phones today, all of which will be available through the company's flagship stores in the US by the end of the year.

An 8GB version of the European N95 with an even larger screen will run $750—here, you're trading in the US N95's network speed for the bigger screen and more storage.

The N81, a sliding music smart phone that comes in both flash-memory-ready and 8GB-built-in models, will sell for $500 to $600.

The 5610 XpressMusic music phone has an unusual slider key to flip it into music mode; that one will run $400.

But the most interesting for US consumers, because of its likelihood of being picked up by T-Mobile, is the 5310 XpressMusic. The Nokia 5310 is a slim candybar with an aluminum body, only 0.4 inches thick and weighing 2.5 ounces. Yet it has a 2MP camera and a high-res 320-by-240, 16-million-color screen. It's a combination of style and power we rarely see here in the US. The 5310 is expected to sell for $306 unlocked, but if T-Mobile picks up this EDGE phone, they'll subsidize it and lower the price.

The 5310 will work with both Windows Media Player and the new Nokia Music PC client, a very necessary refresh of Nokia's PC software. The Music PC client will enable two-way synchronization of playlists to and from the phone.

Finally, Nokia announced the revival of the N-Gage gaming brand—but this time it isn't an embarrassing, half-moon-shaped phone, it's an online service offering games for sale and multiplayer gaming potential on several Nokia Series 60 Version 3 phones. (Of the phones we've reviewed recently at PC Mag, that includes the N95 and N73, but oddly not the N75 or N76.) The new service, coming in November, will let you download a free client, try games for free, and buy them with a credit card. EA, Capcom, and Vivendi are all developing games for the new N-Gage platform.

Nokia also announced a music store, but it's irrelevant to US consumers; the company only plans to offer the online store in Europe and Asia, according to the press release. Ditto with Ovi, Nokia's Internet services brand, which pulls together "web communities" and various services at ovi.com; we're unlikely to be able to access it on our handsets here.

Here in the US, it's still up in the air whether wireless carriers will choose to block the service, as it may compete with their own attempts to sell games over the air.

Source: PCMag

Nokia gets official with the Nokia N81 N-Gage gaming phone

2007-08-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

The Nokia N81 has hit the market as a revamped 3G N-Gage mobile gaming platform and packs a 2 megapixel camera, front-facing video calling camera, integrated speakers, and HSDPA to make online gaming a little smoother. Games can be downloaded for 10 Euros a piece, and will be integrated with the Nokia Ovi service that was just launched. And, the Nokia N81 has a really trick UI going on. The different window panes will be arranged in a rotating carousel, and will serve up different Ovi services as they become available.

The best part? There’s an 8GB model that will be going on sale Q4 2007. But, as high-end phones with massive flash memory capacity tend to do, the 8GB N81 will lighten your back pocket by €431 ($585), while the 2GB microSD unit will command a €360 ($490) price tag.

Source: intomobile

Samsung F520: smart looking phone has many essentials

2007-08-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

This smart looking cell phone has a lot of the essentials that are required. The dual slider fuction enables great accessability to all of the functions within the Samsung F520.

By sliding the phone vertically you are able to dial number and by sliding is horizontally you are able to access the qwerty keyboard which is great for IM, SMS and email. The keypad does not require a stylus as it is sensative to human touch.

Features:

Bluetooth - Yes
GPRS - Class 10, 32 - 48 kbps
Video recording - Yes
3G - HDSPA
Camera - 3MP
Colour display - 256k colour, TFT touchscreen
Ringtones - Polyphonic, MP3

Source: product-reviews.net

The HTC Touch II (Nike) TouchFLO smartphone

2007-08-30T21:16:00.000-07:00

HTC has finally gone official with their HTC P5500 Touch II (codenamed “Nike”) Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional smartphone. Unfortunately for those residing within US borders, the HTC Nike is making its debut on Japan’s DoCoMo network, renamed (just like carriers love to do) as the HTC HT1100.

How could HTC possibly improve on the original HTC Touch smartphone - enough to justify an HTC Touch II? Well, we’re glad you asked. The new HTC P5500 Nike Touch II (whew, that’s a lot of names) is actually HTC’s first foray into the world of vertical sliders. With a numeric keypad hidden under that vertically slidingtouchscreen, we can say that this is one sweet, sweet piece of kit. And the HTC Nike P5500 lives up to its “Touch II” namesake by rocking the TouchFLO interface that was debuted on the HTC Touch not long ago.

But it doesn’t stop there. On top of that snazzy vertical slide, the DoCoMo HT1100 Touch II rocks both HSDPA (for use on Japan’s FOMA network) and GSM radios (for international roaming), making this thing a bona fide 3G handset. What else? Well, how about a 2.6 inch touchscreen, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, SIP support, Bluetooth, 2 megapixel camera with a 1 megapixel front-facing shooter, and microSD card slot - all wrapped up in a 112 x 51 x 16.9mm, 130g package, powered by Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional.

We’re glad HTC decided to do away with the awkward, square shape of the original HTC P5500 Nike that we saw in that leaked product roadmap. Now, we just need it to come Stateside in September, that would be nice.

Source: intomobile

Nokia N81 and N82 come to light

2007-08-29T23:52:00.000-07:00

Symbian-Guru has the scoop on not one, but two unannounced new high-end Nokia handsets, the N81 (pictured on the left) and the N82 (pictured on the right).

The slider-style N81 looks it'll be the successor to their N91 musicphone (except less, uh, busted-looking) and sport a full 8GB of memory, a 2.4-inch QVGA display, quad-band EDGE and 2100MHz HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The N82 has a more traditional candybar form-factor and'll have a five megapixel camera with Xenon flash and auto-focus Carl Zeiss lens, quad-band GSM (doesn't say whether it'll be GRPS or EDGE, but we're guessing EDGE), 2100MHz HSDPA, a 2.4-inch QVGA display, Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi, integrated GPS, FM tuner, and a microSD memory card slot.

Doesn't sound like either will be out until Q4 of this year.

Source: engadget

Sony Ericsson to build PlayStation phone

2007-08-29T23:41:00.000-07:00

Sony Ericsson games boss Peter Ahnegard has said the company has recently decided to move forward with plans to launch a PlayStation-branded mobile phone. The gaming phone will join the likes of Sony Ericsson's Cyber-shot range of camera phones, and the Walkman range of music phones.

Speaking to Pocket Gamer, Ahnegard said that the final decision to move ahead with the project was made at Games Convention in Leipzig last week.

"Up until today we haven't felt we could launch a PlayStation phone because it wouldn't be recognised as a true continuation of that brand of products", he said.

"To explain our position I need to look at the brands we've developed so far, in particular the Cyber-shot and Walkman phones. When we looked at all the assets we could muster for music and imaging, the services, downloads and overall proposition, we felt that we could create something that really lived up to the values of the brand and fill all the required boxes.

"We're not launching a brand of handset simply because we can, but because we can lead [sic] up to the expectations of the consumer."

Sony Ericsson PSP phone coming

However, Ahnegard would not give any details on when the Sony Ericsson PlayStation phone will go on sale.

"It's obviously something that we're looking at but right now I can't really comment. Before Christmas, certainly... but exactly which Christmas I can't confirm!"

In June, Sony Ericsson moved to quell speculation about the PlayStation phone, saying that it was not in production and would not be for some time.

Sony Ericsson is also said to be toying with the idea of a Bravia-branded phone in the UK. Such phones already exist in Japan where the Bravia brand is strong.

Source: tech.co.uk

LG Unveils iPhone-Like 3G Handset

2007-08-29T23:31:00.001-07:00

LG Electronics Inc.'s battle to beat the iPhone is far from over. The South Korean electronics company has unveiled its second iPhone-like handset and this one packs several important features the iPhone doesn't: 3G and high-speed cellular data networking.

The LG-KS20 bears a strong resemblance to the iPhone thanks to a shiny front-face that is devoid of almost all buttons.

The phone is compatible with 3G WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) networks, the 3G standard being deployed by most operators around the world. That means it will work in countries like Japan and South Korea, where the iPhone won't at present.

It also means faster data networking. WCDMA supports speeds of around 384k bps (bits per second) in its basic version and the LG phone will also work on networks that have been upgraded with HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) data networking at speeds up to 3.6M bps. That's significantly faster than the EDGE (enhanced data rates for GSM evolution) data network on which the iPhone operates.

Like the iPhone the LG handset also packs Wi-Fi.

Other features include a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0 and an MP3 music player. It's 12.6 millimeters thick, which makes it about a millimeter thicker than the iPhone.

However the LG handset is missing one feature that some customers will consider of utmost importance: Apple's OS X operating system. The LG handset runs on Windows Mobile 6.0 and despite advances from previous editions the software is still often criticized for being harder to use and clunkier than the Apple operating system.

The LG-KS20 is getting its unveiling at the IFA electronics show in Germany this week.

Earlier this year LG unveiled its first iPhone-like cell phone. The handset was developed with fashion house Prada and went on sale in Europe and Asia earlier this year at a premium price. The company hasn't revealed the price of the LG-KS20 but it should hit Europe in the fourth quarter of this year.

Source: PC World

The HTC Kaiser is finally here - HTC TyTN II laucnhes in Europe!

2007-08-29T00:08:00.000-07:00

The day has finally arrives, ladies and gents! The long-awaited 3.5G uber-smartphone from HTC has finally launched in Europe - the HTC TyTN II. We’ve been squirming in our seats for this Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional-powered monster of a smartphone to launch, and now that it has, it’s a bit surreal.

A quick recap. The HTC TyTN II (codenamed: HTC Kaiser) is the baddest SOB on the smartphone block. It’s packing integrated GPS, quad-band GSM with tri-band UMTS (HSDPA makes this thing 3.5G), 3 megapixel autofocus camera, Bluetooth 2.0, 256MB ROM/128MB RAM, WiFi b/g, 2.8 inch display, Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional, and of course, that trick tilt-up keyboard. The HTC Kaiser’s feature-set reads like a gadget geek’s Christmas wishlist (read: like our wishlist).

Keep reading for the juicy deets and more pics than you can throw an obsolete smartphone at.
HTC’s Kaiser will be sold under the Taiwan handset manufacturer’s own brand as the HTC TyTN II - no doubt all those European carriers are going to rename this thing as they see fit. Starting in September, HTC will be selling the HTC TyTN II direct to consumers in unlocked form. Orange, T-Mobile, Telefonica Group, and Vodafone will follow shortly afterwards. Orange plans to launch the HTC TyTN II in the UK, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands by the end of September; followed by Spain, Poland, Romania and Slovakia in October.

Here’s the full feature list:

Adjustable screen angle and slide-out QWERTY keyboard

2.8-inch 240 x 320 QVGA touch screen

Tri-band UMTS & Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE

3.5G high speed internet

Live HTC Home screen

Windows Mobile 6 Professional with Direct Push Email

Internal GPS antenna, TomTom Navigator 6 Taster Edition

Business Card Scanner

3 mega-pixel auto focus camera

Wireless LAN - WiFi 802.11b/g

Bluetooth 2.0

ROM 256MB and RAM 128MB

Easy scrolling with touch scrolling or jog wheel

microSD card slot

Dimensions - 112mm (L) x 59mm (W) x 19mm (T)

Weight - 190g with battery

Battery: 1,350 mAh rechargeable Li-polymer battery

Standby time: Up to 350 hours for UMTS, Up to 365 hours for GSM

Talk time: Up to 264 minutes for UMTS, Up to 420 minutes for GSM, Up to 120 minutes for video call

The iPhone Unlocking Video

2007-08-28T23:39:00.000-07:00

A video showing a handset-unlocking vendor unlocking the iPhone with
software has appeared on the Web.

A video showing the founder of a Belfast, Northern Ireland company unlocking the iPhone hit the Web early Wednesday U.K. time as proof that software exists that can unlock Apple's device for use with carriers other than AT&T Inc.

In the six-minute video, posted on the iphoneunlocking.com blog, John McLaughlin, founder of Uniquephones, is seen with a PC and an iPhone unlocking the device using software from his company.

In the video, McLaughlin takes the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card out of a Vodafone Blackberry device and puts it into the iPhone. He then makes two phone calls using the device. The video was shot at his house in Northern Ireland, he said.
The video, which was shot at McLaughlin's house in Northern Ireland, is of poor quality, as noted in his blog entry. "Sorry about the focus, it was done late night using a Nokia N95, but you'll see the process," he wrote.

Uniquephones already unlocks phones from many manufacturers, including Nokia and Motorola, and about 60 percent of its customers are in the U.S.

Eager to Unlock
The video is the second time someone has tried to prove a software-only method exists to unlock the iPhone. AT&T has a long-term contract with Apple to be the exclusive U.S. wireless carrier for the phone, a fact that has irked iPhone users who want to have the option of using another carrier's service. The iPhone isn't yet available officially outside the U.S.

The race to unlock the iPhone began as soon as the device hit stores June 29. Beginning last Friday, reports began to surface that a teenager in New Jersey had won. Seventeen-year-old George Hotz, who has since traded his unlocked iPhone for a new car, unlocked the phone via software and hardware modifications, the latter of which required soldering. However, most observers agreed that not many users would want to tinker with such an expensive device this way.

On the same day, a company called iPhoneSimFree.com and McLaughlin both claimed to have the first software-only unlocking method, but iPhoneSimFree.com was the first to show it to a credible third party, an editor of Engadget.com.

Warned by AT&T
McLaughlin had planned to post his company's method for unlocking the iPhone to the Web site iphoneunlocking.com last Saturday, but it didn't go up. He said he feared legal action by AT&T Wireless if he posted the software because of a phone call he received at 3 a.m. in Belfast from a representative of O'Melveny & Myers LLP, an international law firm calling on AT&T's behalf. McLaughlin claimed the caller said Uniquephones.com would be distributing and infringing upon the copyright of Apple's intellectual property if he began selling the software to iPhone subscribers.

As of Tuesday, McLaughlin said he is still undecided whether he will distribute the software, but that the video at least proves to naysayers that his company has unlocked the iPhone.

Source: PcWorld

Here Comes The iPhone Unlocking Video

Nokia: Microphone problem hampers E90 roll-out

2007-08-28T23:36:00.000-07:00

Nokia (NOK1V.HE) said a defective component in microphones, coupled with high demand, have hampered the availability of its flagship business phone, the E90 Communicator.

Background noise during phone calls, which raised customer complaints, was caused by a defective component in the microphone, spokeswoman Theresa Parenteau for Nokia Enterprise Solutions unit told Reuters on Tuesday.

"Although the issue is now rectified it has resulted in more limited availability than originally anticipated in some markets," she said.

When Nokia unveiled the phone in February 2007 it said it would start selling it in the second quarter in selected markets, with volume shipments coming in the July-September quarter.

Customers have also reported scratches on the phone screen caused by some keyboard keys touching the screen. Nokia said it has now added a strengthening layer on the screens and modified the keyboard, so the keys will not touch the screen.

The HSDPA and WLAN-enabled E90 Communicator, which features a full keyboard, retails for around 750-800 euros ($1,025-$1,093) before taxes and subsidies.

How To: Adding Subway Maps To Your IPhone

2007-08-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

One of the first truly useful hacks for the iPod was adding maps to the photo and video capable models, and of course, since the iPhone is no different than an iPod when it comes to photos, you can easily do the same with your phone.

If you're an iPhone user living in New York, head over to Khoi Vinh’s Subtraction blog and grab his pre-compiled zip file of New York Subway map images to stash on your iPhone. Using the tile feature of the thumbnail view in Photo Albums you can re-create the whole map and then zoom on individual sections. A flick of the finger moves to the next “quadrant.”

As Vinh explains: “This makes the map much more navigable, because if you have a mental understanding of how the city’s boroughs are laid out, you intuitively know which tile to jump to in order to find your stop.”

Vinh’s maps are based on the MTA’s subway maps and we suspect at some point he’ll get a cease and desist letter from the MTA so grab them while they’re available.

And if you know of similar packages for other cities throw the links in the comments.

Photo from Subtraction
Source: Wired

Teen who hacked iPhone gets car for his efforts

2007-08-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

The New Jersey teen who hacked the iPhone is going to get his wish - well, at least one of them.

George Hotz, who last week found a way to manipulate Apple's new cell phone so that it will work on other networks besides AT&T's, is trading one of the two phones he hacked for a new car. And, as Hotz would put it, it's a "sweet" one at that, a Nissan 350Z.

"This has been a great end to a great summer," Hotz wrote on his blog.

The teen said he is trading the iPhone to Terry Daidone, co-founder of CertiCell, a Louisville, Ky-based mobile phone repair company. In exchange, Daidone is going to buy him the car and will give him three brand new iPhones, which Hotz plans to hand out to members of his informal team that helped crack the iPhone.

As part of the deal, Hotz will have a paid consulting job for CertiCell. He plans to visit the company's Kentucky offices later this week to demonstrate his iPhone hack in person.

George Hotz, a 17-year-old hacker, is shown in his bedroom workspace... ( Carmine Galasso )

Daidone and other CertiCell officials did not return calls seeking comment, but the company's Web site confirmed the consulting deal.

Hotz initially tried to sell the iPhone on eBay, but said he ended the auction after it received multiple bogus bids.

Instead, he solicited a deal through his blog, which is how he hooked up with Daidone. And now he's eagerly awaiting his new car.

"I have it in writing," he said. "It's all signed and good."

Now if only he could line up that Google internship he's gunning for

Source: MercuryNews

Is Unlocking Apple's iPhone Legal?

2007-08-27T19:54:00.000-07:00

The battle of the iPhone hackers erupted over the weekend, after teenager George Holz released a YouTube video showing his iPhone connecting to the T-Mobile network. Apple's iPhones come locked so they only operate with AT&T's network.

Holz, who is a freshman at the Rochester Institute of Technology, said his method involves a substantial amount of soldering and risks making the phone entirely inoperable.

Following Holz's announcement on Friday, several other groups announced software hacks, with iPhoneSimFree advertising "the worlds first (and only) software driven SIM unlocking service for the iPhone."

Software Hack Verified

The Engadget blog posted a story Friday confirming that the iPhoneSimFree hack works. Ryan Block wrote that "we can confirm with 100 percent certainty that iPhoneSIMfree.com's software solution completely SIM unlocks the iPhone, is restore-resistant, and should make the iPhone fully functional for users outside of the U.S."

Block said that while it's still possible that Apple might be able to disable the hack with an upgrade, he was able to do a restore on the unit and then replace an inactive AT&T SIM card with one from another carrier.

On Saturday, a shadowy group called iPhoneUnlocking issued a statement on its blog, stating that although its "remote software unlocking services" for iPhone is ready, a lawyer claiming to represent AT&T threatened the group with legal action. Until an assessment is made of the potential of legal action, the company said, it is unable to release the unlocking software for sale.

Monday, the group posted a message on its blog requesting the "OMM lawyer" to call back. The reference appears to be to the international law firm of O'Melveny & Meyers, which has offices in Menlo Park; the firm's Web site is omm.com. The firm did not return a call requesting comment.

But Is It Legal?

The legal status of unlocking an iPhone is somewhat murky. The main law in this area is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which forbids the circumvention of copy-protection technology. Last year, however, the Copyright Office created an exemption "for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network."

That clearly protects people like Holz, who has said his sole interest in the hacking project was to be able to use his iPhone on his family's T-Mobile service.

But the DMCA might not protect groups such as iPhoneSimFree and iPhoneUnlocking, which are planning to sell their hack software for profit. Writing on the Engadget blog, copyright attorney Nilay Patel said that AT&T or Apple might opt to sue on other grounds.

"It's most likely not legal to unlock iPhones and sell them on eBay, because your 'sole purpose' wouldn't be to connect to a cell network -- it would be to profit from the sale of unlocked phones," he wrote. Case in point: TracFone has been getting settlements from resellers who have been unlocking their phones and reselling them, Patel said.

TracFone Settlements

Intellectual property attorney Denise Howell agreed with Patel, noting in an e-mail, "There's a reason the TracFone cases have been settling: Namely, an unlocking business arguably goes beyond the 'sole purpose' language of the exemption."

Another sticking point is that the Copyright Office exemptions are only effective for a few years. Thus, even if the software sales were deemed to fall within the exemption, "it might only be legal for the term of the exemption," Howell noted.

Holz himself had listed his hacked iPhone on eBay and finally found -- among dozens of fake bids -- an offer he wanted to take. Terry Daidone, founder of cell phone refurbishing company CertiCell, offered Holz a Nissan 350Z Roadster in exchange for the phone. "It's the car the bad guy in the movie 'Fast and Furious 3' drives," Holz told the New York Daily News.

Source: Yahoo!

iPhone Interface Experience Now Available on Java Phones

2007-08-27T02:27:00.000-07:00

A new milestone has been reached in the mobile industry with the release of a
new technology called "CM3" that allows publishers to easily produce iPhone
style rich media mobile applications for everyday Java cell phones. While menus
swish and slide across the screen of the smaller java phones, it's hard not to
be blown away by the the smoothness of the experience and the fact we're talking
about any 99 dollar cell phone that can run basic java.

A new milestone has been reached in the mobile industry with the release of a new technology called "CM3" that allows publishers to easily produce iPhone style rich media mobile applications for everyday Java cell phones. While menus swish and slide across the screen of the smaller java phones, it's hard not to be blown away by the the smoothness of the experience and the fact we're talking about any 99 dollar cell phone that can run basic java.

With the Uber successful launch of Apples iPhone, companies, design houses and indie developers have been scrambling to find a way to keep up with the direction Apple iPhone has pushed the mobile industry, which is towards rich media end-user experiences. Till now, mobile applications were good if they had some graphics and a midi player. Even phones like the blackberry and the treo have survived without giving very much in terms of bells and whistles for the in-hand experience. Now with the over the top response to iPhone, mobile publishers are looking to offer some fun on the handset making the simple use of the application an activity to enjoy along with the experience of the actual service.

"This reality of giving the small business and sub prime consumer the ability to have what is now so often even called an "iPhone Experience" to use, sell, market and promote themselves is a triumph for small business in America. The idea is to be innovative enough to make it more and more difficult for 800 pound gorillas like Apple, Adobe and Many others to control the timeline of innovation and commerce in America. Demystifying the "iPhone Experience" this quickly and placing the technology within reach of hungry developers and in the hands of everyday people (end-users), is our way of aggressively pushing innovation forward. and maybe faster than some big wigs would like." Says Moses Johnson, Lead Architect and Creator of CM3. "I think that's what is making CM3 so successful."

What is CM3?
CM3 is an affordable way to create animated rich media mobile applications for Java Mobile Phones. It is the fastest way to get to market with a mobile application that harnesses the design-driven user experience that makes the iPhone so popular: Swooshing Menus, attractive motion graphics: A sense of style for your custom Java Applications.

CM3 hosts a developer community for CM3 users where members can share code, ideas and resources in a "Closed Source" environment. Create your own original program from CM3 source code such as mobile storefronts, mobile media manager, mobile TV, video on demand, media search applications, chat, etc. Then get resources, development assistance, hints and hook-ups from the CM3 Developer network. The CM3 Developer Group promotes an environment where innovation can flourish and companies and independent developers can safely participate and develop applications together while keeping all intellectual property proprietary.

Key features

Data-enabled channels of engaging content
Multi-platform support across open and closed operating system platforms
On-device catalog for easy discovery and management of content and services
Support for rich media, including inline video, and native codecs
Over-the-air updates of branded user interfaces
Powerful mobile authoring capabilitiesCornerSpace is a growing New York and

Philadelphia based technology company specializing in advanced software engineering and design.

Report: iPhone system hacked, made usable in Israel

2007-08-26T22:36:00.000-07:00

The new iPhone is seen inside the Apple Store in New York, June 29, 2007. Hundreds lined up on Friday outside the Apple store hours before the iPhone, a combination widescreen iPod, cellphone and pocket Internet device, went on sale at Apple's 164 stores and nearly 1,800 AT&T stores. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Three Israeli computer engineers have managed to hack Apple's iPhone system, and made it available for use through Israeli carriers, local daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on its website on Sunday.

According to the report, the three were also able to lend the iPhone a Hebrew interface, thus breaking Apple's restriction on using the phone only through the AT&T company in the United States.

The report said that Dubbi, Ofir and Eli, the three Israeli hackers, bought their iPhones abroad, long before the thought of hacking its systems entered their minds.

Ofir was quoted by the report as saying that he knew at the beginning that the iPhone would be just a nice gadget and not an active phone if it was used in Israel, but he didn't mind and still purchased it.

Another hacker Eli revealed that breaking into the system of iPhone didn't cost anything, but did take a long time.

The three are not ready to share how they got the iPhone to work, but did say that practically anyone could do it, said the report.

The iPhone is a multimedia and Internet-enabled mobile phone designed and sold by Apple Inc.

Its functions include those of a camera phone and a multimedia player, in addition to text messaging and visual voicemail. It also offers Internet services including e-mail, web browsing, and local Wi-Fi connectivity.

Apple launched the iPhone in June, granting AT&T and a few European carriers an exclusive two-year distribution deal.

Source: xinhuanet.com

First Real Nokia N-95 8Gb Photos

2007-08-26T22:33:00.000-07:00

Not long ago on Internet were found first real Nokia N-95 8Gb smartphone photos

It is expected that in the interior this device could be also changed in comparison with the previous build.In particular, the display resolution could be 320х427.

AT&T puts iPhone bills on a diet

2007-08-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

Apple iPhone subscribers still tallying their lengthy first phone bills, take heart: AT&T understands your pain (and the potential for paper cuts and lower back injury).

The San Antonio-based carrier began sending text messages to iPhone users Wednesday, telling them that from now on they would receive pithy summary bills instead of detailed listings of every call, text message and bit of Internet of data. While customers can still view unabridged bills online or get them in paper form for $1.99, the Big Bill will no longer be the default option.

“Given the fact that some of our iPhone customers are going to be heavy data users - and we like that - we also don’t want them to be burdened by getting tons and tons of paper in the mail, figuratively,” AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said.
The billing changes also will be true for all new AT&T wireless customers and existing ones who make account changes starting Sept. 28.

AT&T’s news comes about a week after blogs, message boards and video-sharing sites began filling with reports of consumers receiving iPhone bills dozens or even hundreds of pages long. AT&T says the billing changes have been in the works for months and are unrelated to the online chatter.

“We just decided to get going right away on the iPhone customers,” Siegel said. “It’s going to be in a decidedly thinner envelope.”

Source: statesman

Sony Ericsson W960i to launch in October?

2007-08-22T04:13:00.000-07:00

Remember that tri-band W960i Walkman Phone announced last month by Sony Ericsson? It looks like the Symbian OS based handset will launch earlier rather than later.

According to a poster on the SE-NSE forums, the company's newest smartphone will roll out in October and not in December as some people thought. The poster first talked to a Carphone Warehouse employee then to a Sony Ericsson representative that confirmed the launch date.

We remind you that the W960i will feature a a 2.6", 262k color TFT touchscreen (240 x 320 pixels), a 3.2 megapixel camera with 3x digital zoom, Walkman Touch Player, an 8GB hard drive and Wi-Fi.

MobileGuerilla

T-Mobile, Orange and O2 land Europe iPhone deal

2007-08-22T03:39:00.000-07:00

T-Mobile, Orange and O2 are to sell the iPhone in Germany, France, and the UK respectively, according to the Financial Times. The paper also reports that the operators have agreed to give Apple 10 per cent of all revenue generated from iPhone users.

The companies concerned have dismissed the story as speculation and rumour, though the FT quotes "people familiar with the situation".

Sharing 10 per cent of revenue is a remarkable development. While manufacturers such as Nokia have been embedding applications into their phones to bypass the operator, this marks a real shift in power to the handset manufacturer - a development other manufacturers are unlikely to ignore.

Part of the attraction of the iPhone, to operators, is Apple's insistence that operators do not subsidise the device. This makes the launch low-risk as consumers pay the full price, but puts the iPhone on the shelf beside a free Nokia N95.

The FT is predicting a UK launch this autumn, with Germany and France following next spring, but remains silent on the matter of 3G capabilities.

O2 paid £4,030 million for its 3G license, so launching a data-centric device which makes no use of that investment would be politically difficult.

If Apple really has convinced the operators to pass on 10 per cent of all revenue, it will open the doors to other manufacturers to demand the same. Nokia would already like to be seen as a service provider, and Apple may give it the opportunity to have a go.

Source: theRegister

SIM-free iPhone unlock achieved?

2007-08-22T00:50:00.000-07:00

According to an online group that's involved in searching for access controls to the Apple iPhone, it's possible to unlock the device without the help of SIM cards or software solutions.
While previous versions of unlocking solutions have required a convoluted procedure of using special SIM cards and software to unlock the iPhone, the new method that was made public by this group involves a secretive method that has yet to be announced.

The new method allegedly involves soldering circuit board connections within the iPhone itself, but little else is known about the procedure.

The online group that discovered this method has already stated that the procedure is risky and could render the iPhone completely useless if not followed properly. But if successful, the procedure allows any SIM card from a GSM-based carrier to send and receive calls. Interestingly, the hack also allows iPhone users to continue using the software as if nothing was touched.

Further details about the hack are being withheld until one week from Tuesday when the group claims it will publish detailed instructions on how to repeat the procedure.

Source: tech.co.uk

Apple updates iPhone software

2007-08-21T21:06:00.000-07:00

Apple on Tuesday updated the software for its iPhone, bringing the most current version to 1.0.2. Notes accompanying the software update only say that the new version fixes bugs, but does not provide any details on what has been fixed.

The update is available when the iPhone is connected to your computer. After iTunes launches the update can be downloaded and installed.

Similar to the first iPhone update, 1.0.2 validates the current iPhone software — if hacks are installed, a complete restore will be necessary. If you have not hacked your iPhone, the update process only takes a minute or two to complete the process.

The 10 most ridiculous iPhone stories so far

2007-08-20T04:17:00.000-07:00

Two months after its release in the US, and the hype surrounding Apple's iPhone - sometimes generating enthusiasm bordering on insanity – has already produced some of the wackiest, news stories ever witnessed in the history of technology.

So prepare to be amazed, ladies and gentlemen! Step right up and take a front-row seat for Steve Jobs' unintended sideshow attractions.

The Lobster-Thumb Boy
The North Denver News published a story on August 8 that reported that 28-year-old Thomas Martel, of Bonnie Brae, had his thumbs "surgically narrowed with a revolutionary new surgical technique known as 'whittling'," in order to save time while typing on his iPhone. Hundreds of bloggers believed it and reported it as true - but there was more to this 'story' than meets the eye – click here for more.

World's Fattest Phone Bill
It turns out that AT&T itemises every instance of iPhone internet access. That means every text message, every web connection - everything - even though those instances generally don't cost extra. As a result, Pittsburgh graphic designer and blogger Justine Ezarik received her first iPhone bill in a box - 300 pages worth. Page after page listed items called 'Data Transfer', each costing '$0.00'. Naturally, Ezarik posted a video of the 'unboxing' on her blog.

Although Ezarik's bill was the world's fattest, the total came to just $275 (£140). Another iPhone customer and blogger, Adam Aronson, received the world's largest bill so far: $5,086.66 (£2,550). He blogged about it and in the post said the high cost came from roaming charges incurred when he brought his iPhone to England. He didn't make any calls; he just used the internet.

The Elastic iPhone
Everyone wants an iPhone these days - even Gumby! One overzealous enthusiast built a life-size replica of an iPhone out of clay, including icons, ports, buttons, cradle - even the box!

The Missing Link
Quick! When you think of what sort of person owns an iPhone, what comes to mind? Gadget freaks? High school and college kids? Celebrity types? How about unemployed Republicans? US Presidential adviser Karl Rove, who recently announced his resignation, was spotted in Minneapolis pecking away at his iPhone. The sighting explains why Rove retired: to spend more quality time with his iPhone, obviously! Bizarre!

World's Fastest iPhone
No, I'm not talking about compute performance or data access. I'm talking about revolutions per minute. Blender vendor Blendtec posted an inspired series of online publicity stunt videos titled 'Will It Blend? 'in which it grinds up all kinds of random objects to show how strong its blenders are. Guess what it blended. Here comes the video.

Freaky iPhone Does Magic
A magician named Marco Tempest centres his act around the iPhone. He's written or commissioned applications that run video and play sounds to coincide with his illusions. For example, he makes it appear that his iPhone is brewing coffee, which he then 'drinks'. When he shakes his iPhone, the icons get jumbled, and you can see Mac OS X for a second. His iPhone even dispenses money!

Least Valuable iPhone Ever
A man recently attended a Weird Al Yankovic performance and managed to get an autograph. He asked the comic to sign the back of his iPhone, thereby reducing its resale value instantly.

The iPhone of Doom
First-person shooter game enthusiasts are foaming at the mouth about news that one of the original significant games in the genre, Doom from ID Software, will soon work on the iPhone. A clever developer who goes by the name 'Stepwhite' has ported Doom to the iPhone. He hasn't got the controllers working yet, but demo games play from native 'WAD' files. (If he gets this thing fully working on the iPhone, heck, I might even buy one.) Awesome!

The Amazing Hall of Mirrors iPhone
The iPhone's great screen, built-in microphone and camera provide all the tools you need for videoconferencing. Trouble is, the screen points one way, and the camera points the other. But the same clever lads who are getting close to building a fully functional videoconferencing software application for the iPhone have also built a contraption that uses mirrors to direct the image of your face to the camera in back. Spectacular!

Fabulous Phoney iPhones
A Japanese man built an exact replica of the Apple iPhone - almost indistinguishable from the real thing - except for one minor problem: It doesn't work. It just sits there, looking exactly like the iPhone.
Who can top that? China, of course! There are several mobile phones reportedly being manufactured in China that clearly violate Apple's intellectual property, but none has gotten more press than the Made-in-China Meizu MiniOne. The phone not only looks like an iPhone from both a software and hardware perspective, but improves upon it - on paper, at least. The MiniOne has a whopping 3Mp autofocusing camera (compared with iPhone's puny 2Mp camera). And it's smaller and lighter than the iPhone.

Strange Case of the Dangerous iPhone
The iPhone is all fun and games until somebody gets hurt. Which somebody did. Atlanta resident Travis Gohr says the big gash on his back, which he generously posted pictures of on Flickr (a post dramatically titled, 'How my iPhone almost killed me'), is the first-ever documented iPhone injury. It happened when Gohr was using a treadmill and his iPhone slipped off, hit the treadmill surface and was launched backward. Gohr's injury resulted from him following the phone's 'trajectory' with his head, losing his balance and falling on the moving treadmill. Scary!

Source: PCAdvisor

Where Are The iPhone YouTube Ads?

2007-08-20T03:14:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed there are no Ads displayed when you visit YouTube on the iPhone through the built in Application. Odd isn’t it?
Especially more so when you consider that the AppleTV and iPhone are the only Apple products to take advantage of the H.264 converted YouTube clips. So in addition to potentially lost revenue, Google also went through the trouble of converting their entire video base just for two products.

Two products which make no profit whatsoever for Google or at least publicly. You have to consider, how does one actually integrate Ads in an Application without hampering the design interface?

This is a very tough call but I can only speculate why Google is so in bed with Apple on the iPhone. It could come down to Google receiving a cut of Apple’s monthly revenue. It is the only logical explanation to compensate Google for providing YouTube Ad free.

Source: iphonematters

Vodafone tweaking iPhone?

2007-08-20T03:03:00.000-07:00

Rumours suggest Voda's making Apple tart up the already spiffing iPhone before it'll carry it in the UK.
Apple's well known for its control freakery, especially when it comes to the iPhone, but the latest rumours suggest Jobs' money-making mobile might be tweaked before release in the UK, and at the behest of Vodafone no less.

The well-informed guys at Engadget say their insider has a list of improvements demanded by the big V before it'll even consider stocking the touchscreen handset.
Top of that list is a simpler YouTube application. Apparently, the network wants it to "work much more like the Internet version."

There're also calls for improvements to Outlook and Exchange support as well as boosted security, Wi-Fi refinements and the much demanded ability to cut and paste.

If the rumours are true it'll be a boon for UK iPhoners, although there's still no mention of whether Apple will crank out a 3G version for our shores, for that nugget of cellular joy, we'll just have to wait for word from Apple.

Source: T3

Hong Kong iPhone Unlock has 22x markup

2007-08-20T02:16:00.000-07:00

Never ones to let a potential scam go uninvestigated, the Gizmodo boys released their Hong Kong wolfhounds to check out the 100% Unlocked iPhone! offer seen last week.

The store, G-World in Mong Kok, has priced the 100 handsets it has in stock at a whopping HK$13,800 ($1,765) each, and claims that until it has sold them all it won’t be offering an unlock service to customer’s own iPhones. Still, that might not actually be much of a hardship, since it plans on selling a basic unlock for $767.

Source: myitablet

More iPhone MultiTouch Issues: handset goes haywire

2007-08-20T02:13:00.000-07:00

The random spate of iPhone touchscreen problems continues, with Shannon McMahon experiencing some particularly erratic behaviour from his handset.
Unlike previous issues - mainly taking the form of bands or patches of screen with reduced or no responsiveness - Shannon’s iPhone decided to take a tour of its features by itself, activating its own virtual buttons and generally flying about the interface as if manipulated by an ADHD ghost-ferret.

It’s good to hear that Shannon’s experience of Apple aftercare was everything you’d hope it would be, but on a broader scale you have to wonder how closely this ongoing MultiTouch saga relates to the stability problems experienced by the technology’s original developers. If you recall, they too had issues with the chemical-based heat-reactive touchscreen process, and it’s this same technology that has been so-far blamed for the certain iPhones’ patchy responsiveness.

Nokia N-Gage to get I-play Casual Games in 2008

2007-08-20T01:50:00.000-07:00

Today, Nokia revealed that mobile entertainment company I-play will be launching a line-up of casual games for Nokia’s N-Gage platform.

The first two casual game titles to be introduced for the Nokia N-Gage phone are “World Rally Championship” and “Super Mah Jong”.

Interestingly the game “World Rally Championship” has acquired the official license of the FIA WRC. “Super Mah Jong” will need no introduction to most people, but incase you aren’t a fan then you must know that the game revolves around an epic tale based on eth ancient spiritual game Mah Jong. Also, “Super Mah Jong” has been created by the makers of the highly addictive casual game “Jewel Quest”.

According to Gregg Sauter, Director, 3rd Part Publishing, Nokia, “I-Play brings a diverse games portfolio to N-Gage, and we’re excited to have them on board. The N-Gage toolset provides the opportunity to deliver new features and richer experiences to consumers through I-play’s strong portfolio of content. We look forward to this cooperation.

Now that I-Play has struck the deal, the company will be providing a big line-up of casual games for Nokia’s N-gage mobile phone. In fact, they will concentrate on casual, ‘one-thumb’ games for the mass market.

I-play’s “World rally Championship” and “Super Mah Jong” for the Nokia N-Gage mobile phone will be introduced in 2008.

Source: TechShout

Nokia turns up legal heat on Qualcomm

2007-08-20T01:45:00.000-07:00

Nokia has moved to take advantage of Qualcomm's legal woes by applying for a US import ban on devices containing Qualcomm chips.
Nokia has asked the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to prohibit Qualcomm chipsets from landing in the US, alleging that five of its CDMA and W-CDMA/GSM patents have been infringed.

Nokia's application comes after a series of legal setbacks for Qualcomm, which is already under an ITC ban on the import of some chips after losing a case against Broadcom. The case is now being appealed.

Nokia said in a statement that the patents related to technologies critical to the performance of mobile devices. "These technologies are important to Nokia's success as they allow its products to have competitive advantages over those of competitors," Nokia said.

The dispute between the two mobile industry technology leaders has sharpened since a 15-year-old patent licensing agreement expired in April. Under the agreement, Nokia had been paying Qualcomm a reported $500 million in license fees. It is seeking to substantially lower the amount it pays to the US firm.

Each vendor has filed suits against the other, claiming patent infringement in GSM, CDMA and W-CDMA standards.

An application by Qualcomm to the ITC to ban the import of Nokia GSM phones will be heard next month.

Source : AmericasNetwork

Introducing The New and Improved iPhone -- by Hackers

2007-08-19T00:26:00.000-07:00

Well, that was quick. The hacker community has taken over the iPhone. Heck, in some cases, hackers are already releasing updated versions of their underground software.

Apple's new flashy and pricey smartphone, released to much fanfare at the end of June, has a nice array of features straight out of the box. But do a little unauthorized tinkering on the thing, and it can do a few more tricks, ranging from the frivolous to the useful.

Last month, for example, Silicon Valley-based software consultant Stephen White posted software that lets people play classic Nintendo games, such as the Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros., on the device."I was sitting in a pub with a friend one night musing about what the iPhone needed," he said. "I decided that every device I own needs to have Mario on it."
After investing about a dozen hours of work, White made his results available online.

Now, for his second iPhone project, he's fine-tuning the controls on a version of the classic shooter game Doom for Apple's new phone. When I talked to him last week, he had just found out how to access the phone's "vibrate" function, which he hopes to incorporate into this or future iPhone applications.

This is White's idea of a good time. Before the iPhone came along, he spent his time tinkering away at iTunes and his TiVo. He says the day he bought his new smartphone was the happiest of his life -- though that's partly because he was sick of his Treo.

White is just one member of a new and very active community of iPhone hackers. Another group of programmers worked up a Web-based video-conferencing tool that uses the iPhone's built-in camera lens. One programmer, who is already working on a book on how to push the iPhone to its limits, has developed a program to make the device record voice memos.
Hackers based in Europe claim to have already figured out how to make the device work there. Apple isn't scheduled to make the iPhone available there until later this year.

Since you're probably wondering: No, Apple has not given this community its blessing, and the company did not open this device up for the software tinkerers of the world. The Apple smartphone is on what techies call a "closed" system -- meaning that users are supposed to be able to install only software that has been approved and distributed by Apple.

The work that Mac programmers and hobbyists are doing here relies on a new class of underground applications designed for the iPhone called "jailbreak" programs. These unlock the file system and give brave users access to parts of the phone's inner workings that Apple went through some trouble to rope off.

Let the tinkerer beware, though: It's not an area for the squeamish. The risk involved in this kind of activity generally includes voiding your gadget's warranty and turning the device into a useless chunk of metal, silicon and scratch-resistant glass.

If the history of consumer electronics is any guide, this will probably turn into a cat-and-mouse game between Apple and the hackers.That seems to be what's happened with Apple's recently released update to iTunes; if the update software detected anything strange about an iPhone's file system, it reformatted the iPhone and made the hackers reinstall their home-brewed applications from scratch. Apple wouldn't say last week whether the update was a reaction to the hacks and declined to make any comment about the iPhone's home-brew hacking scene.
Regardless of the risks, new underground applications keep hitting the Web at a steady pace. There's one that lets people take control of their hacked Xboxes in order to, for instance, watch movies stashed on the game console's hard drive. Other programs, like one called iFuntastic -- already in version 2.5 -- make it possible for iPhone users to pick iTunes songs as custom ringtones.

Last week, an unauthorized game, called Lights Off, was released for the iPhone's operating system."Apple didn't give people the tools they needed to do this in the first place, so they're making their own," said Mike Schramm, who has followed the iPhone hacking community for the Unofficial Apple Weblog ( http://www.tuaw.com).

Hardware manufacturers are usually not happy about such user-created innovations because they can lead to piracy. Why buy a game or a software application if you can download one free?
That's why just about every time somebody figures out how to hack Sony's mobile gaming device, the PlayStation Portable, the company releases a new version of the operating system that you have to install if you want to play the latest games. Each new version of the software blocks off vulnerabilities exploited by hackers in previous versions.

It's impossible to know how many people are hacking into their PSPs or their iPhones, but it looks as if there's an audience out there. Earlier this summer, an old and relatively obscure PSP game called Lumines suddenly shot up the sales charts at Amazon. The sales spike happened just after hackers discovered a way to exploit the game's coding in order to play home-brew software on the device. At eBay, sellers unloading their copies of the game are touting it as the one that lets users hack their PSPs.

Funny thing, though. As much as corporations officially disapprove of this sort of work, the people who are fanatical enough about their technology to pull these tricks off are sometimes the ones who end up getting the cool jobs.

In some forums at the Guitar Hero fan site ScoreHero, fans figured out how to hack into the game's software and insert their own music selections into the popular guitar game. At last count, three of the programmers from that scene have been hired to develop the next version of the game, due out this holiday season.

source: washingtonpost

iPhone completely unlocked via Turbo SIM?

2007-08-15T03:09:00.000-07:00

Australian iPhone fan ozbimmer, already known for several attempts that have come close to unlocking the iPhone, has publicised a method that uses a small third-party device called Turbo SIM, which is a tiny SIM card "sleeve" that fits between the phone and the regular SIM card, made by an obscure Czech firm.
Unlike alternative methods of unlocking the iPhone, the Turbo SIM does not require any complicated hardware or card readers.

An Australian iPhone hacker claims to be the first person to have successfully
unlocked Apple's mobile phone so it can be used on any network.

To unlock the iPhone, users have to copy a utility called AppleSaft on to the Turbo SIM -- using another mobile phone. Users then attach the Turbo SIM to the AT&T SIM card that is supplied with the iPhone and activate it. Once activated, the AT&T SIM should be replaced with the SIM card from the user's preferred mobile phone carrier and inserted into the iPhone with the Turbo SIM. According to ozbimmer, the iPhone should now be fully operational.

Ozbimmer claims to have carried out this process to get an iPhone to work on the Telstra network, while another Australian user named linc reported success with the same method using Vodafone. While only Telstra uses EDGE networking in Australia (central to the iPhone's e- mail and Web functions), other users have reported success with those functions under GPRS.

It is clear that while this crack requires no complicated hardware or SIM reprogramming, it still requires users to be very experienced and familiar with some relatively difficult shell commands. Also, users will have to cut off a small piece of the plastic from their chosen carrier's SIM card to allow Turbo SIM to function.

Another risk is that Apple could invalidate this hack with a firmware update.
The Turbo SIM is manufactured by a company called Bladox, which has sold the device since 1998. While it's had many legitimate uses in phone applications, this new discovery has already caused a run on the company's supplies. Bladox has temporarily shut down the manufacture and sale of all their other devices in order to concentrate solely on the Turbo SIM.

Gold Coast-based distributor Votech has been reselling the Turbo SIM in Australia but the company has already run out of supplies. A message on the company’s Web site informs customers:
NOTE TO Apple iPhone owners: We are currently out of stock and awaiting a new shipment. Please e-mail us to be added to the waiting list and we will inform you the second the new stock arrives. Alternatively, you can place an order now that will get priority shipment when the stock arrives.

With the Turbo SIM device being the key to this new iPhone hack, any kind of delay in the manufacture and distribution of the product directly affects international users wishing to unlock their iPhones.

This is the latest in a long chain of attempts to hack the iPhone since its US release on 29 June. Within two weeks of its launch, hackers had already worked out how to activate the iPhone without an AT&T account, then ozbimmer came close to a full hack when he was able to make calls but not receive calls or send SMSs with his Telstra SIM card.

A US teenager interviewed by ZDNet Australia sister site Builder AU boasted of being able to hack the iPhone within two weeks, but that prediction was clearly too confident, though possibly not by a great deal.

source:builderau

Enriching art via cell phone

2007-08-15T01:26:00.000-07:00

With a cell phone pressed to her ear, Carolyn Henly seemed torn between looking at Mark Di Suvero's massive steel sculpture in the Baltimore Museum of Art's leafy outdoor sculpture garden and listening to the voice on the other end of the line.
The voice wasn't a nagging relative or a flustered co-worker, but that of Di Suvero himself, talking about his sister Lu, the inspiration for the piece, which he calls an "ideogram" of her spirit.

Call it the latest wrinkle in a technology that has reshaped everyday life and now bids to transform art museums and galleries: the packaged audio tour that lets anyone with a cell phone hear about the artworks they are seeing on the same device that keeps them in touch with the rest of the world.

New audio tours explain works, transform museum experience

Cellular technology enables teens to swap text messages between classes, sports fans to track Orioles scores and tourists to find directions on the road. But it's also giving museum visitors like Henly a chance to hear the BMA's curators, conservators and artists talk about the artworks on display, deepening their understanding and enjoyment of what they see.
At some museums, cell phone technology lets visitors share their impressions of the art with other viewers, at the same time allowing the institutions to promote a wide range of related events - lectures, concerts, discussions - as part of the audio package.

"I love it," said Henly, a Richmond, Va., resident who was visiting the BMA on Saturday with her husband, Tim. "It doesn't cost anything, and you don't have to see anything in a particular order. It's a really clever use of technology."

A decade ago, when lightweight digital audio players replaced the old tape recorder and headphone sets that museums had been using for tours, the switch was hailed as a major advance: Just press a button to hear exactly what you want, when you want. No more wading through stuff you'd rather skip or rewinding to catch up on things you'd missed.
Now cell phones are replacing the once-revolutionary audio handsets in museums around the country - including the BMA and the Walters Art Museum, which will use the technology for the first time in a coming show - because they offer significant advantages over the older equipment for museums and visitors.

Cell phones are cheaper to use, easier to maintain, more hygienic and far more versatile in terms of the type and quantity of information they can convey. Most people use up only a few of their cell plan minutes on a phone tour, so the cost is pennies rather than the $10 or $12 paid to rent audio handsets.

"It's becoming the primary way museums will deliver interpretation," said Dave Asheim, founder and president of Guide By Cell, the nation's largest provider of cell phone and podcasting technology for cultural institutions, which include museums, parks and botanical gardens.

"That's because 90 percent of visitors already have a phone, already know how to use it, and they're comfortable with it," he added. "It's an a la carte way of getting information that's great for visitors, because it gives them more information and a deeper experience of the art whenever they want."

Asheim said museums and other institutions typically pay $200 to $300 a month for a cell phone server that lets them record unlimited amounts of information. By contrast, audio phone units cost $500 to $1,000 apiece, museums are responsible for keeping them charged and showing visitors how to use them, and once a program is recorded it can't be easily changed.
The BMA's first sculpture garden cell phone audio tour ran for two months last fall. Since it resumed in June, nearly 300 callers have accessed the number, said museum communications director Anne Mannix. The system operates exactly like a conventional audio phone after you key in the museum's access number: Each stop on the tour has a two-digit code that you punch to get information about particular artworks.

Mannix said that, for now, the BMA's cell phone tour just covers the artworks in the sculpture garden, and it doesn't yet allow visitors to respond directly to what they're hearing. But that could change as the museum develops new strategies to interpret its collection.
The Walters Art Museum, by contrast, has committed to an ambitious cell phone tour that will accompany its fall show, Deja Vu? Revealing Repetition in French Masterpieces. The exhibition, which opens Oct. 7, explores the changing significance of repetition and copying in the French painting tradition.

"What I like about the cell phone is that it's very agile and nimble and opens the door to a closer connection between the museum and the people who use it," said Walters director Gary Vikan.
"It's a first step forward in trying to engage with younger [visitors] through the communications technologies that are their own," Vikan added. "We're moving toward something more like a conversation between people who've spent their lives studying the art and visitors who will have their own ideas."
Vikan said cell phone technology encourages dialog on many levels - emotional, aesthetic and intellectual as well as art historical.

"We want to have a spontaneous feeling to the conversation, so that you feel you're getting sort of the inside scoop on what you're looking at," said Deja Vu exhibition curator Eik Kahng. "We'll be adding things to the menu as we go along, and we want it to be casual rather than stuffy in order to encourage people who are nonspecialists to respond."

The Walters cell phone tour will allow visitors to "talk back" to the curators and experts who put the show together, and their comments could be added to the tour over time.
"It'll be a spontaneous dialog in front of the art," said Amanda Kodek, the Walters' manager of school programs, who is coordinating the tour. "We're hoping it will attract a diverse audience, because we're using people at all levels - art experts, a composer, a teen-ager, maybe even a local celebrity. It'll be a much more personal experience that we hope people will enjoy."
Asheim, who founded Guide By Cell three years ago, said museums are signing up for cell phone tour technology at the rate of 20 a month, and that 150 museums, parks, gardens and festivals are using the service, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Phillips Collection in Washington, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Brooklyn Art Museum.

At the BMA, Henly and her husband were still in the sculpture garden when Jill Minsky of Baltimore and Moriah Tinkham, her niece from Boston, arrived.
After taking in the artworks, Minsky raved about the cell phone audio tour.
"It's great because you're independent, and besides, I hate headphones," she said. "Who wants to wear something 500 other people have already put on their heads?
"This is the first time I've ever ventured so far into the sculpture garden, and the tour is definitely the draw," Minsky added. "It gives you a lot of facts, you can do it at your leisure and it's great for a beautiful day like today because you also get to be outside."

Still, not everyone took to the tour with such enthusiasm. Henly's husband relaxed on one of the garden benches while his wife wandered among the artworks.
Asked why he wasn't accompanying her on the tour, he seemed momentarily nonplussed as a chagrined look passed over his face.

"I still don't even own a cell phone," he finally confessed.

source: BaltimoreSun

Police Say Boys' Murder Tied to Cell Phone Theft

2007-08-15T01:21:00.000-07:00

Police in the Moscow region have detained three young men suspected of beating two 15-year-old boys to death in order to steal their cell phones, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The suspects, aged 15 to 22, were detained over the weekend in connection with the beating deaths of Kirill Khromushkin and Dmitry Timofeyev, whose bodies were discovered Thursday night in a forest outside the village of Vorovskogo, 30 kilometers northeast of Moscow, regional prosecutor's office spokeswoman Yelena Rossokhina said.

Khromushkin and Timofeyev died of injuries to the head and face inflicted by a dull object not long before their bodies were discovered at around 10 p.m., Rossokhina said.
A fight broke out between the victims and the suspected assailants over Khromushkin's and Timofeyev's cell phones, prosecutors said. The suspects punched and beat the victims over the head with sticks, Rossokhina said.

"According to preliminary information, murder was committed in order to obtain
the victims' cell phones," Rossokhina said.

Moskovsky Komsomolets reported Tuesday that the victims had been hanging out with a group of girls who left them alone in the forest shortly before the suspected assailants arrived.
When they girls returned, they discovered the bodies of Khromushkin and Timofeyev and notified police, the newspaper reported.

The Interior Ministry has noted a wave of violent crimes against minors this year, including several in the Moscow region. Most of these crimes, however, are believed to have been committed by adults.

Instead, the deadly attack appears to fall into the trend of cell phone-related crimes. Police and prosecutors have registered numerous violent crimes -- including arson and homicide -- in recent years that they say were committed in order to obtain cell phones.

source: TheMoscowTimes

New HTC Shift Released

2007-08-14T03:00:00.000-07:00

HTC has finally released its upcoming PDA/UMPC entitled the shift. Well, they have at least released it in Korea.

The HTC shift is quite revolutionary, whereas up until now, if you wanted to do even the most basic of functions on your UMPC you had to fully power it on and begin sucking away at that battery, with the Shift, this is not the case. There are separate OS and processors for use at your disposal.

There is the 400MHz Qualcomm processor and Windows Mobile 6.0 for PDA types of use, and you can use it without recharging running solely on this set of hardware/software. Then you simply push a button and you are using the Intel A110 800MHz processor and Windows Vista Business which only lasts about 3 hours.

Other specs include a 1.3MP webcam, fingerprint scanner, 1GB DDR2, 40GB HDD, WLAN, HSDPA, and the latest revision of Bluetooth. There isn’t a price listed, but it should be available now (once again, at least in Korea). One note of caution, HTC’s latest press release containing info on the Shift says it should be released in US and European markets by Q3 of this year, so, it may be available in Korea, but probably won’t be available here for at least another month.

Sony Ericsson K770 Cyber-shot

2007-08-14T02:43:00.000-07:00

Today in London, Sony Ericsson announced the latest addition to its Cyber-shot family of cameraphones, the new K770. Like the other Cyber-shot cameraphones, the K770 makes use of an auto-focus lens system to make sure that photos come out crisp and clean. In fact, the company claims that prints of up to A4 (roughly 8.5" x 11") in size can be made from the K770's photos. Considering its auto-focus lens system, the K770 is still reasonably thin in profile, measuring about 14.5mm (.57").

One of the more user friendly aspects of K770's camera is how it makes use of a set of backlighted icons on the numeric keypad to show users which keys work as shortcuts to which functions, saving users the hassle of navigating through the camera's menu system. Activating the camera itself is also easy: just slide the lens' protective cover out of the way.

In addition to its photo and video capabilities, the K770 also offers something to music lovers. Bluetooth stereo support means that music can be enjoyed without wires, and a built-in RDS capable FM radio means that you don't always have to rely on tracks stored on the phones Memory Stick Micro (M2) card, even though a 256MB card ships with the device.

Other features of note include a 262k color, 1.9" QVGA display, a bright LED photo assist light, a USB mass storage mode, and tri-band GSM as well as 2100MHz UMTS 3G support for Europe.

The Sony Ericsson K770 will be available in select markets in Q4 of this year. No information on pricing was provided.

Sony Ericsson W660i Walkman phone

2007-08-14T02:38:00.000-07:00

Has the latest W660i 3G Walkman music phone got anything new in its locker to make you sit up and dance?

Mobile Choice is incredibly fond of Sony Ericsson’s Walkman phone range and we’re always thrilled to get our mitts on the manufacturer’s latest music handset. But just lately, the excitement has gone a tad flat. If you exclude the higher end 8GB-packing W960i and the HSDPA shake control W910i slider, the recent editions to the Walkman clan have just been refreshes of the previous handsets. We recently reviewed the W610i, a phone we very much liked but essentially was just a tweaked and slightly souped up W810i. Similarly the phone gracing our pockets right now, the 3G-enabled W660i is the W850i slider melted into candybar form or even a pumped-up W880i. With 25-30 million Walkman phones sold worldwide Perhaps we can’t blame Sony Ericsson for not want to stray from a successful formula for its mid range music handset.

To put a spin on an otherwise familiar looking handset, Sony Ericsson is billing the W660i as a designer Walkman phone. Where as the W880i broke the mould with its incredibly gossamer 9.4mm profile, the W660i sadly returns to the well-worn signature candybar format. It’s still quite trim at 14.5mm thick and well constructed and Sony Ericsson has introduced two coloured models to appeal to a male and female audience. The Record Black model rocks up with bling bling gold trim and a subtle circular pattern that mimics the grooves on a vinyl record. The ladies model breaks Walkman black/white/silver tradition and comes sprayed in a Rose Red veneer with an etched floral motif on the rear. These flourishes are obviously what give the W660i its designer tag.

Sony Ericsson has abandoned the tiny lozenge tab buttons recently introduce on the W880i and W610i and returned to a standard button keypad arrangement. The buttons are nicely sized with a soft rubber texture and primed for speed texting. The navigation pad and soft keys follow the same design as the like of the W610i, W810i and W880i, with the pad doubling as the music players controls when in music mode, plus a dedicated Walkman player button and an Activity Menu button to easily access shortcuts, the internet, running apps and your appointments.
Walkman phones, and Sony Ericsson handsets in general, are always incredibly approachable and lucid to use and the W660i doesn’t differ on jot in the user-friendly stakes from past Walkman phone. One disappointment is the resolution of the display. We assumed its would be QVGA quality (320x240 pixels) like the W850i and W880i but it only stretches to 176x220 pixels. It’s not a massive but to the keener eye you can tell it lacks crisp detail.

As always the case with Sony Ericsson Walkman phones first impressions are positive. The W660i has a little bit more sparkle in terms of its design from its fellow tunemiesters but perhaps not really enough to really stand out in a Walkman line-up. Still, the Walkman series reputation is based on its built-in music player and we’re expecting the W660i to play out like its other band members. But to see if does cut the music mustard look out for our next instalment of the W660i review.

Nokia Warns Of Potential Overheating On 46 Million Batteries

2007-08-14T02:33:00.000-07:00

Finnish mobile handset giant Nokia Corp (NOK) Tuesday said it would replace a number of customers' phone batteries, after receiving reports of around 100 incidents of overheating from a batch of 46 million.

No serious injuries or property damage has occurred from the defective batteries, according to Nokia, but the company said that the batteries, produced by Japanese manufacturer Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (MC), had overheated and caused short-circuiting on certain phones.
Matsushita, which manufactures hundreds of different electronics goods under the Panasonic brand, made 46 million of the BL-5C batteries for Nokia between December 2005 and November 2006.

Nokia Chief Financial Officer Rick Simonson told Dow Jones Newswires that there will be some direct costs resulting from replacing batteries, but that " it's too early to add up what that cost will be."

Simonson added that he expected some of this cost to be taken by Matsushita. " In supplier relationships they bare the responsibility to deliver quality. There will be some costs and some of that will be borne by the manufacturer," he said.

Nokia added that the product advisory doesn't apply to any other Nokia branded batteries, just those produced by Matsushita between December 2005 and November 2006.
"There's only been one hundred incidents out of 46 million batteries that were produced and there's no material injury or damage to property," said Simonson.

"Statistically it's insignificant," said Simonson, who said the recall was precautionary.
Other electronics equipment manufacturers have also been hit by battery recalls in the previous year. In July, Toshiba Corp (6502.TO) had to recall 10, 000 Sony Corp (6758.TO) batteries used in its laptops, due to fire risks.

That followed a previous recall by Sony of 9.6 million different personal computer batteries in October 2006, which were used by computer makers including Apple Inc (AAPL), Dell Inc (DELL) and Lenovo Group Ltd (0992.HK). The recall is expected to cost Sony around 51 billion yen ($418 million).

"People may ask: 'is this similar to the laptop cases over the last year?' and the answer is 'no.' Those batteries were significantly bigger in terms of the energy they stored," said Simonson.

source: CNN

Nokia offers replacements for Nokia-BL-C5 batteries manufactured by Matsushita

2007-08-14T02:27:00.000-07:00

Nokia said it will offer a free-of-charge replacements for its Nokia BL-5C batteries, manufactured by Japan's Matsushita Battery Industrial Co., Ltd between December 2005 and November 2006.

The handset maker issued a product advisory for these particular batteries after around 100 incidents of over-heating were reported globally.

'In very rare cases the Nokia (nyse: NOK - news - people )-branded BL-5C batteries subject to the product advisory could potentially experience overheating initiated by a short circuit while charging, causing the battery to dislodge,' Nokia said.

The advisory applies to 46 mln batteries of the total 300 mln batteries produced by Matsushita and used in Nokia's devices.

Nokia said it understands the issue does not affect any other use of the mobile device.

source: forbes

Meizu's iPhone Clone

2007-08-14T02:21:00.000-07:00

If you were wondering where Meizu's lawyer-bait M8 had got to, some supposedly genuine photos have turned up on Meizu's forum pages. While not brand new (the forum post looks to have been made back in April), the pictures show an even more iPhone like case and an in depth list of specs.
Expect 667MHz ARM CPU, 128MB RAM, GSM and EDGE Radios (no 3G?), a 3.4 inch touch screen, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, light sensitive screen dimming, USB and TV out and S-Video recording. You also get sensors to rotate the screen when you turn the phone, iPhone style, and a 3MP autofocus camera. The whole lot will run on Windows CE 6.0.
The optimistic shipping date is this December, priced at 2380 and 2880 Yuan ($315 and $380). The site doesn't mention it, but we think there will be both 4GB and 8GB models.
source: wired.com

Skype comes to iPhone via IM+

2007-08-14T01:45:00.000-07:00

Shape Services on Monday announced IM+ for Skype for iPhone, a Web application that enables iPhone users to access the Skype messaging and Voice over IP (VoIP) network.

IM+ for Skype for iPhone follows the release of similar software for other mobile platforms like BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Symbian and J2ME devices. The software taps in to your Skype account, enabling you to make voice calls using SkypeOut credits.

The application works on any network, according to Shape, and doesn’t specifically require Wi-Fi.
Source : MacWorld

Nokia N800 Internet Tablet PC

2007-08-13T04:01:00.000-07:00

The sleek Nokia N800 Internet Tablet combines a truly personal Internet experience with easy wireless connections, high resolution display and support for a wide variety of Internet applications. Built to be constantly in use, you easily stay in touch with business associates, friends, and family thanks to its Internet calling, instant messaging and email connectivity. And with stereo audio, multimedia support and a new ergonomic design, the Nokia N800 morphs into a portable Internet entertainment device, enabling playback of streamed and downloaded content wherever you roam.

Stay connected to your world via the Web, streaming Internet radio, and the latest RSS news feeds. The main form of connectivity is Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), and hooking up to a network is as simple as connecting with a laptop. You can also use the integrated Bluetooth wireless connectivity to hook up with a cell phone that is compatible with online data services. When connected to either a WLAN network or to a cell phone, you can make calls using the built-in Internet telephony application as well as conduct video conferencing with the built-in Web cam.
The N800 provides 256 MB of onboard flash memory and 128 MB of RAM.

It also offers two expansion slots that are compatible with Secure Digital (SD), MultiMedia, miniSD, and microSD memory cards with a size limit of 2 GB. (Adapter required for miniSD and microSD.) You can also connect the N800 to a PC using the included USB cable to update software and transfer files from the PC to the a memory card. For multimedia playback, the N800 is compatible with MP3 and WMA digital audio files (as well as AAC, M3U, and WAV), Real Audio streams, and video files encoded as AVI or MPEG4. Additionally, with the UPnP media server functionality, you can share your music, video, and photos with others on the same Wi-Fi network. The N800 has two integrated speakers as well as a headphone jack for personal listening.

Access the web using the N800's Opera web browser, which provides Flash 7 multimedia support. Other applications include an RSS feed reader (for accessing all your favorite news sources), a PDF reader, image viewer, Internet radio player, and instant messenger with voice and video conferencing capabilities (using the Jabber and Google Talk services).
Chat with friends and business associates using built-in chat programs and easy-to-use onscreen keyboard. The 4.1-inch touchscreen has an 800 x 400-pixel resolution with up to 65,536 colors. You can access controls with your fingers or use the included stylus, and the N800 provides intuitive handwriting recognition and a full-screen finger keyboard. The rechargable battery provides up to 10 days of standby time and up to 3 hours of continuous Web browsing or media playback.

Other features include:

Integrated desk stand for on-table use

Zooming, full-screen and panning display functionality

Auto connection to saved Wi-Fi hotspots or through Bluetooth compatible phones

More applications: Clock, Sketch, Notes, Backup

Dimensions: 5.7 x 2.95 x 0.5 inches (WxHxD)

Weight: 7.27 ounces

What's in the Box

Nokia N800 Internet Tablet, stylus, battery (BP-5L), 128 MB miniSD memory card (with adapter), earphones, carrying case, travel charger, USB cable, Quick Start guide.

Product Description

Nokia N800 is designed to stay online so you can enjoy the benefits of the Internet, whether you're at home or on the go. Browse your favorite sites. Stay in touch with the people you love with Internet calling. Chat with your friends. Check your email. Relax with your favorite songs and videos.