It's the hydrogen-powered phone

Oh, the humanity!

Fuel cell maker Angstrom Power and cell phone maker Motorola have teamed up to create a prototype mobile phone that runs on a hydrogen fuel cell. Hydrogen is produced--by cracking water molecules--with a desktop fueling station and then inserted into a metal hydride storage container on the phone, says Aron Levitz, manager of business development for Angstrom. When the hydrogen molecules pass through a membrane in the fuel cell, electrons are stripped away and get diverted to run the phone.

The two companies are trotting the phone to various tradeshows. Startup Angstrom has received investments from of Chrysalix Ventures.

A number of companies have been working on miniature fuel cells for portable electronics for a while, but nearly all of them run on methanol. Toshiba, for instance, last year at the Ceatec electronics show in Japan showed off a methanol fuel-cell powered portable TV. Using hydrogen has its advantages and disadvantages. For one thing, you have to harvest the hydrogen yourself. With methanol fuel cells, you just pour in the methanol.


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Coming soon: Nokia N82 in black

Well, there's not much news here except that if you've been holding out for a black variant of the Nokia N82, you now have an estimated date (or rather, month) to look forward to. According to the company, the black N82 is expected to be out end-March in the Asia-Pacific region. No word on pricing details though we are assuming at this point that the specs remain the same as the original N82.

Picture credit: IntoMobile

Battle of the diamond uber-phones

It's probably just coincidence, but the timing of this offering from luxury phone maker Vertu is interesting. Just yesterday we noted the resemblance between its handsets and those of rival Obsession, and today that perception was reinforced by Vertu's new "Signature Yellow & White Diamonds" model.

True to form, the company spared little expense in creating this handmade tart, embedding 2.4 carats of yellow diamonds another 4.4 carats of white diamonds in its 18k gold case, according to Sybarites. Even the battery cover is adorned with yellow diamond studs.

Not surprisingly, this is yet another limited edition, and Vertu isn't kidding--only 33 of them will be made. But it had better take notice of the competition: Until it slays a few reptiles to make cases of exotic skins, it may lose some street cred.

Via CNET Crave
Picture credit: Sybarites

Nokia E71 spied in Sydney

With the world's eyes on the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, it seems like we may have missed a particular enterprise handheld--the E71. Not for CNET Australia's Joseph Hanlon, though, as he was lucky enough to see a "secret" comparison picture of the E71 with the E61 at the Showcase Nokia event held in Sydney recently.

Information is usually scant at this stage although the handset is purported to come with HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microSD expansion card slot, QWERTY keyboard, 3.2-megapixel camera and onboard GPS.

I think one of the reasons we are excited about this upcoming device is because the E61 had been one of the best smart phones of its time. Even though its successor--the E61i--didn't bring much to the plate besides the inclusion of a camera module and better build quality, it offered users who wanted a camera on their handheld an alternative to choose from. And what better than to have it on an already successful device.

There hasn't been an official announcement of the E71 yet, but I'm sure we aren't too far away from seeing it. More details to follow once we have them.

Via CNET Australia

» Mobile World Congress 2008 show report

Update from source: The picture of the E71 is a photoshop mock-up of the E71 created by a Mobile Review user, which is very similar to the actual handset we saw in a photo at the Nokia showcase event.

Picture credit: AvWijk

Still no iPhone killer in sight?

Phew! After four days of intense handset coverage both on the showfloor and back in the office, and more than 35 phones later, the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is finally drawing to a close today. Of the new phones, several models looked very promising, including Sony Ericsson's slick Windows Mobile-based PDA-phone, Nokia's souped-up N96, HTC's feature-packed Advantage and Samsung's innovative Soul.

But as much as some of the phone features and designs are truly impressive, sadly, none of the new offerings made us go "wow" like the iPhone did with its revolutionary user interface back when it was announced in mid-2007. Which makes you wonder if this is all the mobile world can conjure up without Apple in the picture? And does this leave the marketplace wide open for the Cupertino company to dominate this space, like it has done with the iPod? Tell us what you think?

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