LG just presented in Korea the SB190, their latest phone. This small phone offers DMB, GPS, an MP3 player, a 1.3Mpix camera and many other features. It will be soon available at SK Telecom and maybe some time after in Europe.
"Something old with something new" is the latest selling mantra. An ideal ingenious fusion of modernism with traditionalism can lead to a charismatic evolution! Toshiba Drape cell phone with analog clock testifies it. Toshiba 's mobile phone has been named Drape because it has a curtain-like appearance when closed. Available in three different colors, black, white or bronze, the clamshell will greet you with a traditional analog clock that can be switched with the standard cell phone interface for those who aren't very interested in using a mobile phone just for knowing what time it is. The main display can swap over to the usual cell phone interface, and you can take advantage of its 2.6-inch QVGA in more resourceful ways.
Also known as the W46T, the Drape is destined for Japanese service provider au. Other than the analog clock, it also rocks 1xEV-DO Rev.A, microSD expansion, EZ channel plus, EZ news flash, LISMO, 3 mega pixel camera, and Sony-branded earphones. There is no information regarding the mobile phone's price but it's almost a sure thing that this phone will only be available in Japan.
Telcos such as AT&T and Verizon heard rejoicing
The Federal Communications Commission voted by a 3-2 margin to speed the entry of new competitors into the cable television market by streamlining the local franchising process through which companies gain approvals to offer subscription television services.
Commission concluded that the current operation of the franchising process constitutes an unreasonable barrier to entry that impedes the cable competition and broadband deployment.
The order by the FCC addresses several ways by which local franchising authorities are unreasonably refusing to allow the entry of competitive franchises. These include drawn-out local negotiations with no time limits; unreasonable build-out requirements; unreasonable requests for “in-kind” payments that attempt to subvert the five percent cap on franchise fees; and unreasonable demands with respect to public, educational and government access.
To eliminate the unreasonable barriers to entry into the cable market, and to encourage investment in broadband facilities, the FCC will limit the time of negotiation to no more than 90 days and eliminate many of the deterrents that new entrants are forced to face. Companies breaking into the market will no longer have to abide by any build-out requirements, such as providing service to every part of town.
“Today's action will fast-forward the delivery of new choices, lower prices and better services to consumers. The FCC is standing up for consumers who are tired of skyrocketing cable bills and want greater choice in service providers and programming,” said Susanne Guyer, Verizon senior vice president for federal regulatory affairs. “Verizon has an aggressive schedule to deploy FiOS TV. This order will enable us to reach agreements with local franchise authorities more quickly so we can deliver the benefits of competition to consumers faster. The FCC has taken strong steps to increase consumer choice and spur investment in broadband and video deployment.”
By Jennifer LeClaire
Samsung on Tuesday released a new cell phone, the SCH-V960, touting its unique "optical joystick," which is used for navigating menus, as a "world's first." The phone also has a 2 megapixel camera, GPS and Bluetooth functionality, and a screen that automatically adjusts its brightness based on ambient light levels to conserve battery life.
Samsung Electronics' latest mobile phone sports a gaming element -- a joystick. The company on Tuesday released the SCH-V960, which features a unique "optical joystick" to help users navigate the wireless device's menu and user interface.
Unlike most cellular devices -- which depend on the use of a scroll bar on the side of the phone or a series of clickable buttons to navigate the on-screen menus -- Samsung's joystick is reminiscent of a PC mouse.
Like an iPod
Unlike most cellular devices -- which depend on the use of a scroll bar on the side of the phone or clicking a series of buttons to navigate the on-screen menus -- Samsung's joystick is reminiscent of a PC mouse.
Users can operate the optical joystick by placing one finger on it and moving a cursor to navigate through the menu. At a high level, the process is similar to navigating an iPod, though it uses different technology.
Optical sensors read and react to finger movements, breaking down the traditional four-way menu navigation.
Users can point the cursor and click directly on icons in order to gain direct access to frequently used menus, such as the photo album, messaging and music functions. They can also use the optical joystick to scroll through play lists while listening to music.
Like a BlackBerry
With this joystick, Samsung can claim a unique innovation in the cell phone market, according to M:Metrics Senior Analyst John Jackson.
The concept echoes the trackball functionality of the new Pearl smartphone from BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) , he said.
"Samsung's optical joystick is certainly innovative. It's a good example of progress toward solving some of the usability conundrums that have always characterized handsets. Navigation and user interface advances are something that will continue to be a key area of focus and investment and innovation," Jackson added.
Although Samsung called its optical joystick "revolutionary," Jackson won't go that far. However, he did say that consumers will appreciate the innovation.
As advanced mobile applications become easier to use, and as their menus become easier to navigate, consumers will be more drawn to value-added services. "That means more money going through the wireless channel," Jackson said.
Smart Lighting
The V960's illumination sensor enables "smart lighting" -- a feature that automatically controls the brightness of the LCD screen and keypad, designed to protect users from eyestrain and minimize the device's power consumption.
In addition, the V960 supports a 2 megapixel camera, as well as global positioning system and Bluetooth functionality. The device will be launched in the Korean market at the end of December.
The Mobile Phone Telescope Lens adds a 6 x zoom lens to your humble phonecam handset which is pretty amazing. Apparently these new lenses offer much improved image quality too (check the example on the site), which makes it doubly interesting as higher resolution camera phones come on to the market. Sell those point and shoot camera company shares now. $19.00 and available for a number of different handset brands.
Cingular Wireless today introduced the new Jawbone headset for Bluetooth mobile phones. Jawbone is the first adaptive Bluetooth headset with Noise Shield technology, which virtually eliminates background noise so calls are clearer. Ambient noise is often an 
issue with many headsets and can make conversations difficult in noisier environments. Noise Shield technology uses an advanced, military-grade system that continuously adapts to user's changing environments to deliver unparalleled audio quality.
Ever wished you could harness the power of kinetic energy to power the horde of devices that are in your possession? The YoYo is a practical solution that is worn around the neck, making full use of solar and kinetic energy that keeps it recharged at all times. Those in power suits will appreciate the U-Turn - an ergonomical, user-friendly device that comes with an integrated keypad that simplifies the e-mail process as it converts kinetic energy from the opening and closing of the keypad to recharge itself. Finally, the Runaway targets athletes who attach it to their wrist or equipment, making it a self-sufficient device thanks to the athlete's movements. Bear in mind that all three cellphones are just a concept and will not see production anytime soon.
Everyone is keeping pretty tight-lipped about this apparently new budgetphone from Sony Ericsson, but we manage to snag a pic of the W200a in the nude. As the document is housed on the FCC website, we have reason to believe that it has already been approved (they seem to be discussing where to place the approval sticker, I think).
Unfortunately, the provided photograph doesn't show the front of the phone, but based on the model number alone, we can venture a guess on a several fronts. For starters, it's a W-series phone, meaning that it'll rock some form of the Walkman software for mobile music junkies, and by association, it's got to have some kind of memory stick slot. As it is the W200a, we've got to assume that it's a lower-end model, much like the W300, and the "a" has typically stood for "America" in SE's books, so it's either North America-friendly triband GSM (850/1800/1900) or world-friendly quadband GSM (850/900/1800/1900). It's also clearly got a camera going on in the back and comes draped in their signature orange paint.
I'm pretty sure it's a candybar. More as it develops.
At Samsung's press event today, I asked Samsung Telecommunications America president Dale Sohn whether they would follow Nokia's lead and start selling their coolest, high-end phones direct -- the phones so cool that US carriers refuse to pick them up. (At left, you'll see the Samsung SGH-P320 card phone, which you can buy on Dynamism.com but not through Samsung or a US carrier.) He looked visibly uncomfortable. Dale, if someone's touching you and they make you feel squirmy and wrong, that's bad touching.
Samsung recently made a stab towards consumer freedom by selling their high-end Black Carbon phone directly, unlocked -- it's an awesome black slider that Cingular and T-Mobile are ignoring. I'm still waiting for my review model. Sohn didn't give a "yes" or "no" to whether Samsung was expanding their direct-sales effort, but said that they looked forward to trying it further with more exciting design concepts and high-end phones appealing to niche markets, which sounded a lot like a "yes" to me. More thoughts after the jump.
Samsung's entire response to the question, though, had echoes of the kinds of answers you get from people in abusive relationships. They didn't want to suggest that the carriers' policies of keeping a stranglehold on sales and offering limited product lines was anything less than perfect, while at the same time they shyly admitted that, yes, they maybe do make a few phones that Americans would want to buy direct.
Earlier in the day, Samsung in-house mobile analyst Philip Garrison was a bit more direct. "Carriers - that's a love-hate relationship," he said. While some carrier execs thrill at cool fashion phones and high-end designs, carrier purchasing departments complain, "too many SKUs, too hard to handle, all those colors, we don't want to do it."
Hey Samsung, I've got a solution. Just like you did with the Black Carbon, pass your phones by the carriers to make sure they won't set towers on fire -- and then sell them direct. Wireless freedom!
[Thanks goes to www.gearlog.com for this article]
Yes, it's the moment we've all been waiting for - not. Linksys launched a product called the "iPhone" today, a family of voice-over-internet (VOIP) handsets (not cell phones.) One of them does sound pretty cool - the Wireless-G Phone for Skype connects directly to Skype through Wi-Fi hotspots, with no PC required. Linksys' amusing product naming raises two questions in the overheated Apple phone debate. First of all, if Apple can't call it the iPhone, what will they call it? Secondly, how the heck did Linksys get the trademark on that name?
[Thanks goes to www.gearlog.com for this article]
LG KE850 is one of the product that won iF Product Design Award 2007. There wasn't any information on the mobile phone but mobilport releases few pictures of it today.
The slim LG KE850 is rather a simple design with a display screen took up most of the space of front body. The size of the display screen is unknown, but the resolution is as high as 240 x 400 pixels. The phone do not has a keypad or slide keypad, the touch screen will do all the task needed. Send, End and Confirm button are available below of the screen to let you pick up call easily. We can see Media, Office shortcut menu on the menu screen shot, you will be probably able to open/edit office documents on the large screen. The black body reminds us that it could be one of the chocolate phone series, we will just have to wait for the official announcement. Enjoy a couple more photos at next page for now.
[original post: www.slashphone.com]
These supposed photos of the Sony Ericsson AI W880 are different to what we were told was that next-gen handset back in November, but they’re a lot clearer and do look a little more like a cellphone than a pocket calculator. Otherwise the rumoured specs are the same: 9.4mm thick, 3G UMTS with dual cameras (front, for video calling; back, 2.0-megapixel for photography), HSDPA and 1.9-inch screen.
Slated for a February-ish release next year, and to be available in silver and black (photo after the cut). Those keys look a bit small for my liking, but we’ll have to wait and see.
[original post: www.slashgear.com]
Motorola today launched a special edition of its increasingly widespread KRZR cellphone. Dubbed the KRZR Fire, the new model replaces the conservative black and blue color schemes of the versions available in Europe and North America with a bright, metallic red. The red theme continues on the inside of the phone as well, Motorola says, as the blue keypad backlighting has turned red as well. Functionality is the same as the existing KRZR with a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0, and a microSD slot for music and video storage. The color is currently available solely in Korea, but may find its way to other regions in the near future.
[original post: www.electronista.com]
CIPA, the Japanese Camera & Imaging Products Association is made up of all major Japanese camera manufacturers including Canon, Casio, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Ricoh, Sigma and Sony. Every month they publish statistics on the production an export of digital cameras, film cameras and photo printers. As we head towards the end of the year we thought it would be interesting to look at the Shipment figures for the first three quarters of this year and how they compare to the same period last year.
CIPA Shipment of Digital Still Cameras
January - September 2006: Units shipped by region
North America and Europe account for two thirds of all Japanese digital cameras produced, it's also interesting to note that Europe has now slightly stolen a lead over North America. In total 54.5 million Japanese digital cameras shipped in the first three quarters of this year (a total value of $10.6 billion). 
January - September 2006: Units shipped by region / type
The uptake of digital SLRs appears to be fairly equal in Japan, Europe and North America, at around 7% of units shipped with uptake in Asia and other countries lagging behind a little. In total digital SLRs account for 6% of units shipped but a much more significant 19% of value. The compact 'built-in lens' value for the first three quarters was $8.6 billion, for digital SLRs this was $2.0 billion. 
| Region | Built-in lens | Digital SLR | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | 6,247,996 | 92% | 513,176 | 8% |
| Europe | 17,496,291 | 93% | 1,293,092 | 7% |
| North America | 15,268,960 | 93% | 1,167,305 | 7% |
| Asia | 8,545,116 | 95% | 438,021 | 5% |
| Others | 3,456,362 | 98% | 64,319 | 2% |
Compared to the same period last year
Compared to the first three quarters of 2005 overall units shipped are up 24% for built-in lens compact cameras and 26% for digital SLRs. The strongest digital SLR growth being the European market which grew 37% followed by North America with a 24% growth.
Source: Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA)
Motorola has a spanking new PDA phone in town, and the Motorokr E6 is set to rock your world with its slew of functions and capabilities. How does a large 2.4" QVGA 262k color touchscreen display sound to you? Other noteworthy features include Bluetooth and USB 2.0 connectivity, an SD/MMC memory card slot, and a 2 megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom. Not forgetting music and video playback, a built-in MP3 player with dedicated music keys, an integrated FM radio, QVGA recording, as well as a 3.5mm stereo jack. The Motorokr E6 is currently up for sale in China and will be available in India in Q2 2007, but all is silent on when it will arrive Stateside and how much damage will be done to your wallet.
[original post: www.ubergizmo.com]
