Japanese "Buddha phone" launches, plays Nirvana

MP3 playback? Check. Two cameras? Check. Built-in mobile Buddhist altar? Che... Wait, WTF?!

You read correctly. The Odin 99 was discovered by our colleagues in Japan, and a single tap of the phone's dedicated lotus-leaf button will load a private, customizable, animated altar. (Editors' note: The phone is available in China, not Japan.)

The idea is to allow Buddhists to perform their dedications and rituals conveniently when away from home. You can simulate incense burning, purification rites and play music to help you meditate wherever you happen to be.
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First commercial 4G base station being tested in Sweden

The world's first radio base station in a commercial 4G network has been deployed in Stockholm, Sweden. Or at least that's what the Swedish national incumbent telecommunications operator Telia has announced.

Telia is among a handful of mobile operators worldwide building next-generation networks for mobile broadband with 4G or LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology. The largest is Verizon, identified as a world leader by Ericsson CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg.

"The US is back in the driver's seat and Verizon has taken the lead in rolling out LTE," Svanberg said in an interview recently.

Though Telia says it has connected the 4G base station to its IP network and to a test network belonging to Swedish telecom vendor Ericsson, commercial launch of the network is not expected until 2010, when modems will be available. Verizon has announced the same time frame.
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Sonic the Hedgehog spins on to iPhone

Get ready to buy Sonic the Hedgehog for the umpteenth time--the original Sega classic is now available on your iPhone, and for the measly price of 3.49 pounds (about US$5.57).
The complete first adventure of Hirokazu Yasuhara's blue-haired speedfreak plays surprisingly well on the iPhone and iPod touch. You only ever needed left, right and jump controls, so that's all you're getting on the iPhone. And they come in the form of virtual onscreen buttons.
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Samsung goes square with US Cellular

Square phones like the LG Lotus may look rather peculiar, but it isn't new. Samsung tried it with the calculator-like SGH-P300, but it appears the trend is beginning to catch on. On Tuesday, the Korean chaebol launched its own square phone, the Gloss, for US Cellular. No word on whether this will ever make its way to Asia.

Like the Lotus, the Gloss (a.k.a. the SCH-u440) flip phone has a square shape and a full QWERTY keyboard for texting. It comes in gray and pink and each color has a unique design on the front face.

Features include a 1.3-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, a music player, a personal organizer, a wireless Web browser, GPS with navigation services, voice recognition, a speakerphone, and a microSD card slot.

We're checking on pricing, but the Gloss should be available immediately in the US.

Via Crave CNET

HTC plans Android-based "OPhone" for China

For a holiday, it's been an eventful day in the world of HTC-Android-phone news. First came those leaked internal AT&T documents that showed, among other things, a new HTC Android device called the Lancaster that's supposedly targeted for an August US launch. Now comes word of HTC's plans, starting next month, to sell an Android-powered smartphone in China, the world's largest wireless market.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the new China-bound Android phone will be a version of HTC's Magic, the successor to the T-Mobile G1 (formerly known as the HTC Dream) that launched in February.
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