Posts in Mobile Phones
Panasonic models phone after Viera TV line
Mike Yamamoto | Feb 27, 2008
It's always seemed a bit odd that a company would model a phone after a successful line of TVs, but that appears to be a trend of sorts in Japan. Sony, for example, did this by coming out with a Bravia phone based on its high-end TVs by the same name. And now Panasonic appears to be taking the same route.
Sporting a 3.5-inch VGA widescreen, the seductively named P905iTV slider is supposed to reflect the design of Panasonic's Viera plasma TVs. The specs listed on Electronista may indicate that the phone is almost more concerned with its video delivery than communications features, including a 4,000:1 contrast ratio, 854 x 480 resolution, and something called "LCD Artificial Intelligence" that automatically adjusts brightness levels.
Oh right, the phone part. Offered by Japan's DoCoMo, it's a 3G handset with a 2-megapixel camera and microSD slot that claims to have 230 minutes of talk time and 660 hours on standby. But given its mission, it's probably just as important to note that it supposedly gets 160 minutes of video playback per charge.
Via CNET Crave
Apple releases new iPhone firmware
Tom Krazit | Feb 27, 2008
It's not a software development kit, but there is something new today for iPhone owners.
Apple released OS X firmware update 1.1.4 Tuesday for the iPhone, saying little about the new features. The last update, 1.1.3, introduced a few new capabilities such as the ability to customize the home page, but the only thing noted as new in 1.1.4 are "bug fixes," which are probably welcome.
It's not clear at this early juncture whether the new update does anything to the legions of jailbroken and unlocked iPhones out in the world, but if you're one of those users living outside Apple's user agreement, you might want to hold off installing the update until more details are uncovered. We'll update if we hear more.
In addition, so far on Tuesday we've learned nothing new about Apple's iPhone software development kit, expected to arrive sometime this week before the end of February. It was a busy day for the company, though, with new MacBooks and MacBook Pros making an appearance in Apple stores.
Via CNET Crave
Nokia unveils futuristic Morph concept device
Reuben Lee | Feb 26, 2008
We really have to hand it to Nokia for constantly coming up with these super-cool concept designs for mobile devices. Although these aren't likely to make it to stores anytime soon, they do nonetheless offer a sneak peek at what to expect in the years to come.
The latest of its futuristic devices come in the form of Morph, a joint project between the Nokia Research Center and the University of Cambridge. As its name suggests, Morph is a nanotechnology concept that shows how mobile devices in the future will be made of flexible materials which can be stretched and flexed to any shape the user desires. It is also used to demonstrate how nanotechnology can ultimately deliver "transparent electronics and self-cleaning surfaces".
According to the joint press release, the various technologies developed in the Morph project are expected to be integrated into handheld devices within seven years. The Morph concepts are currently showcased at the "Design and the Elestic Mind" exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.
The joint research partnership between Nokia and the University of Cambridge was first announced about a year ago.
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Hands-on with the odd Toshiba G450
Rory Reid | Feb 25, 2008
The G450 is a quirky-looking device. Its keys are spread across two separate button clusters and the screen is only big enough to accommodate three lines of text--so it's pretty difficult to use at first. That's if you use it at all--it lacks many modern phone features, such as a camera, MMS, or email, but it has plenty of other tricks that make it worthwhile.
Firstly, it's small and highly portable. It comes with 160MB of free storage to dump MP3 music on. It'll even work as a high-speed broadband modem if you connect it to your laptop--for speeds of up to 3.6mbps. Plus it'll happily send and receive calls while you're connected to the Internet.
OK, so it's not the most feature-rich handset in the world, but we reckon its quirkiness works in its favor. It's easy to imagine everyone from youngsters to fashion-conscious WAG wannabes trying to get hold of one, and come the end of March, it can be yours SIM-free for 100 of our English pounds.
Via Crave UK
Things you don't read: The fine print
Damian Koh | Feb 25, 2008
If you haven't already heard, several online forums were abuzz last week regarding a Small Claims Tribunal's ruling against Nokia in Singapore. After a tussle that lasted about three months, the court ruled in favor of Ms Tan who goes by the moniker of "xiaoyun", for a sum of S$778, due to a faulty phone she purchased last year. Although that's just the condensed version of the whole fiasco, it raised important issues about the terms and conditions of limited warranties which most people hardly ever read.
According to Nokia, the replacement of faulty products due to defective materials, design and workmanship isn't obligatory and is viewed on a case-by-case basis. Samsung and Sony Ericsson, on the other hand, will replace a product covered under its limited warranty if the said device is found to be irreparable.
For Nokia and Samsung, the warranty period is valid for 12 months at the time of purchase by the first end-user of the mobile device, and six months for accessories and consumables such as the battery and charger. Likewise for Sony Ericsson, although it said that the accessories which come with the purchase of a new handset are covered for one year.
Although Ms Tan's encounter was an unfortunate case, it makes us wonder if phone-makers should enforce one-to-one exchanges if a product is found to be faulty (due to manufacturing defects) within a certain period of time after purchase. What say you?
Picture credit: Nokia
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