Posts in Mobile Phones
Nokia shows us the door
John Chan | Aug 29, 2007
Mobile phone giant Nokia has announced Ovi, a platform for its trio of Internet services. Ovi means door in Finnish, representing its purpose as a gateway to Nokia's new music store, maps and N-Gage services.
Ovi will go live during the fourth quarter of 2007 in English, and Nokia expects to launch it in other languages in the first half of 2008. Of the three services that will be available, the Nokia Music Store is the only completely new item. The other two, N-Gage and Nokia Maps, have existed in other forms within the company's portfolio previously, though they will now come with an online element.
According to Nokia, there will be tracks for sale at its music store from Universal Music Group which represents many popular artists like Def Leppard, Luciano Pavarotti and U2. Other yet unnamed labels have also signed on, and the company said there will be millions of tracks available for sale after its launch.
Currently, the dominant force in online music sales is Apple's iTunes Music Store. The iTunes application sells music, videos and games for iPods. Nokia's range of services with Ovi is very similar, though its N-Gage service seems to be a much more important part of Ovi than iPod games are to iTunes. An important aspect of Nokia's Music Store is that it can be accessed from a mobile phone. Tracks can be bought over the cellular network, which is still something that can't be done using Apple's iPhone for iTunes purchase.
The N-Gage was Nokia's range of gaming phones which discontinued in late 2005. The name is now used for its new gaming service which will serve up games for various Nokia Series 60 handsets. The N81, also announced today, is one such mobile phone designed to improve the gaming experience with its button orientation. More on the new N-Gage here.
eGear portable power saves lives
Damian Koh | Aug 29, 2007
Okay, we're kidding. We haven't heard of actual cases although it may be fully capable of saving lives in distress. Think about it, a hapless chap trapped in the wilderness with a lifeless phone and, strangely, a portable charger as well. You never know, shit happens and times like these you'll appreciate having a portable battery pack to juice up your mobile. And if carrying a USB-powered rechargeable isn't your cup of tea, the S-220 solar battery pack might. Now all you need is the sky to clear.
Three models are available: The UB-180, UB-181 and S-220. The UB-series cost S$89 each, while the S-220 goes for a hefty S$199. For that price, you get a USB/DC cable, camera connectors and mobile phone connectors compatible with most of the major phone brands.
Porsche's phone ready for starting flag
Mike Yamamoto | Aug 28, 2007
Considering how much publicity is given to high-profile phones these days, it's surprising that more hasn't been said about Porsche's entry into the handset race. That all could change soon, however, as the phone's launch apparently isn't too far off.
Pocket-lint says the 3G mobile handset will make its UK debut in November, sporting a touch screen, a 3.2-megapixel camera, an MP3 player and, as we reported earlier, fingerprint-recognition security. Perhaps most impressive, Porsche's "concierge service" will handle any issues to arise with the handset.
Of course, all this comes at the premium price of 800 pounds, or just under US$1,600. For that kind of money, they should at least throw in a free oil change.
Via CNET Crave
HTC handhelds get European colors
John Chan | Aug 27, 2007
When the HTC Touch was launched in Europe, it came in two shades--black and green. When it arrived in our region, the company decided to make it available only in black. Its reason given was to concentrate on production volume before anything else, and that the green would be made available at a later date. Well, it seems the Taiwan-based company has made good on that promise, and the "Wasabi green" Touch will soon arrive. It will cost the same as the black Touch (S$848), and go on sale first in Singapore at the end of this week during the computer fair COMEX. It will then be available elsewhere in the region, though no specific dates for these have been given.Also getting another shade is the Dopod U1000. This feature-packed handheld was released in silver here, but has been sold as the HTC Advantage in black all this time elsewhere. The black version will start to go on sale here as well at the same time as the green Touch. It will still retain the Dopod brand, and the silver version will remain in stores, too. Its retail price remains the same at S$1,998.
Is this the new Treo?
John Chan | Aug 27, 2007
Gadget blog Gizmodo got its hands on some leaked press images of the Palm Centro. The image shows that the shape of the new device looks very much like the previous blurry pictures. The color and perspective make all the difference though, and this new photo portrays the Centro to be much more attractive than the earlier leak suggested.The Sprint logo is in line with the report that it will have EVDO capabilities. This works only in a CDMA environment, which means the Asia-Pacific region won't see it here until Palm releases a GSM version. Supposedly just US$99 with a Sprint contract, it is targeted at the low-end market, for those who want the simplicity of Palm OS in their first PDA-phone.
When contacted, Palm told CNET Asia that it does not comment on future product line-ups.
Credit: UNEASYsilence (via Gizmodo)
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