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LG launches Prada II teaser site, matching Bluetooth watch

by Darren Murph, posted Nov 18th 2008 at 6:14PM


Not that it wasn't official already or anything, but nothing demonstrates dedication to a product like an exclusive home on the web. Yep, LG has just launched a standalone microsite for the altogether sexy Prada II, and while you already know about the specs -- HSDPA, WiFi, 5-megapixel camera, 3-inch 400 x 240 pixel capacitive multi-touch display and quad-band GSM connectivity -- you probably weren't aware of the matching Prada Link Bluetooth watch. As you'd expect, the timepiece syncs with your Prada II and shows your incoming calls / texts, and we'll go out on a limb and presume that it tells time, too. Sadly, the tidbits we're most interested in (a release date and pricing) aren't clearly available on the site, but we'll be refreshing like madmen hoping for that to change.

[Via UnwiredView]

MMS-capabilities coming soon to a Swedish iPhone?

by Laura June, posted Nov 18th 2008 at 5:18PM

The oft-bemoaned lack of certain, um... capabilities of the the iPhone is forcing individual companies to take desperate measures, it seems. It's not entirely clear, but MacWorld says it's confirmed with Telia that the Swedish-Finnish carrier's developing an MMS-enabling app for the iPhone. MacWorld says the app will hit the market in the next two months, which is great news for everyone in Sweden. If you live anywhere else in the world, however, you'll just have to continue on, rueing the day you ever encountered Apple's MMS-spurning, copy and paste-hating handset.

Update: Though the source is Swedish, it's entirely reasonable to believe that this'll spread across all of Telia's markets (and the world?). Thanks, commenters!

[Thanks, Martin]

LG Incite for AT&T, now with more official

by Chris Ziegler, posted Nov 18th 2008 at 1:33PM


We noticed this on AT&T's web store in the wee hours this morning, and sure enough, they've gone ahead and announced the LG Incite in all its official glory today (normally the announcement comes before the web store stuff, but whatever). It's got WiFi, a 3-megapixel camera, a 3-inch touchscreen equipped with haptics and 400 x 240 resolution, AT&T Navigator, microSD support up to 16GB, triband HSDPA, and Windows Mobile 6.1 -- in other words, LG's produced a nice QWERTY-less foil to the Fuze here. It's available straight away in stores, too, as long as you're willing to shell out the $199.99 on contract after rebates.

Motorola adds another 5-megapixel phone to the mix with VE66

by Chris Ziegler, posted Nov 18th 2008 at 11:59AM


If you like what the ZN5 brings to the table but roundish sliders are more your cup of tea (and when the alternative is a drab gray candybar with purple accents, we can't say we blame you), Moto's got the solution to the pollution this morning with the official announcement of the VE66. You've got that 5-megapixel autofocus cam with LED flash (as opposed to the ZN5's xenon) and image stabilization, WiFi, FM radio, Motorola's CrystalTalk noise reduction, and a navigation wheel for flying through song tracks. Interestingly, there's no mention of Moto's partnership with Kodak anywhere on the phone or the announcement -- but something tells us that won't have an effect on picture quality. Look for it to launch some time this quarter.

WinMo-powered iCEphone comes to life, looks scary

by Darren Murph, posted Nov 18th 2008 at 10:28AM


Edinburgh's own The Medical Phone is just about set to unleash the mobile for the true argonaut in the iCEphone. The Windows Mobile-powered "Swiss Army knife of mobiles" is dubbed a micro-notebook by its manufacturer, and while we're hesitant to go along with that, we can't deny the utility here. Sporting a Jacob's Ladder-style hinge and a full QWERTY keyboard, the unit features three independent panels, a 3-inch 400 x 240 resolution touchscreen, a mouse / tracker pad, dual SIM card slots, HSDPA support, quad-band GSM connectivity, GPS, a 3.1-megapixel camera, WiFi and a 532MHz Freescale iMX31 CPU. We're told that the phone is just weeks / months away from a release in Thailand, and it should be hitting the UK sometime in the March - April time frame for around $1,000. Bonus video coverage after the break.

Continue reading WinMo-powered iCEphone comes to life, looks scary

Android-powered Sciphone Dream G2 is neither dreamy nor the G1's successor

by Chris Ziegler, posted Nov 18th 2008 at 8:49AM


The G1's taken some flak for being just a little less fashion-forward than the hottest handsets on the market, but as retail Android handsets go, it's the most beautiful thing going -- and we think that illustrious title's safe for the time being. Meet the "Dream G2" (groan) from China's Sciphone, a brick of an Android-powered handset promised for a November 28 release featuring EDGE data, WiFi, 4-megapixel cam with autofocus, 50MB of internal memory, microSD expansion to 16GB, FM radio, a QVGA display, and "the most advanced software ever engineered." Without a physical keyboard (as far as we can see, anyhow) and no software support in Android promised for a few months at minimum, it's unclear how you'll input text, but hey, the release is still a good ten days away -- maybe these guys are good at thinking on their feet.

[Via ModMyGphone, thanks neerhaj]

No, the iPhone will not accidentally email photos of your nekkid husband

by Thomas Ricker, posted Nov 18th 2008 at 6:31AM


Men, be careful with the lies your tell your wives. See, there's this thing called the Internet which is... uh, like a series of tubes connecting everybody. On The Internets you'll find services like Google and places to discuss just about anything imaginable, even the iPhone. So when you tell your wife that there's a bug in the iPhone that causes photos of your naughty bits to "sometimes automatically attach themselves to an e-mail address and appear in the sent folder, even though no e-mail was ever sent," well, it won't take long before she's on the Apple Discussion forums asking if this is true. Buddy, we hope you get what you deserve.

[Via The Inquirer]

Toshiba's unusual G450 cellphone / MP3 player / HSDPA USB modem reviewed, liked

by Thomas Ricker, posted Nov 18th 2008 at 3:42AM


After a flurry of leaks and announcements caught our attention last year, we've heard nary a peep from Toshiba about its multi-faceted device since. Suffice to say that's it's out in parts of Europe and countries with a penchant for the backward "R" and "N." Great, but what is it and how well does it do what it does; that's the convoluted question. Fortunately, IntoMobile went hands on with the USB memory stick / alarm clock with snooze / MP3 player / 7.2Mbps HSDPA USB modem / tri-band GSM cellphone and came away with the opinion that "the device is excellent." It pulled a respectable 2.7Mbps off O2's UK network and performed reasonably well as a "backup phone." The 160MB of storage for MP3 / AAC music playback was disappointing but it served its purpose in a pinch. Still, that's a lot of device for £140.

[Via IntoMobile]

Incase Power Slider for iPhone 3G doubles the juice, lets you sync

by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Nov 17th 2008 at 5:27PM


Been cursing your iPhone 3G's disappointing battery life? Don't have the heart to saddle the thing with that big ol' Juice Pack? The Power Slider by Incase promises to double your phone's power for up to 5 hours talk time on the 3G network (10 hours on 2G), increase your audio playback time to 26 hours, and increase your video playback time to 7 hours. If that wasn't enough, the iPhone can be left in the case while you sync it -- saving wear and tear on the case and on your phone. While the Slider isn't as svelte as your raw, naked iPhone, at the very least it manages to keep roughly the same shape (even if it does fatten it up quite a bit). No pricing yet, should be available starting November 28.

Finally, proper banner ads for Android: Flash demoed on a G1

by Chris Ziegler, posted Nov 17th 2008 at 3:32PM


At Adobe's MAX event this morning, none other than Andy Rubin himself helped to demo Flash running on a G1, proving that it's possible (in case years of Nokias with S60 browsers haven't already done a sufficient job of showing that) and that Apple's running out of excuses. It wasn't mentioned exactly when we'd see it pushed out in an over-the-air update (or available from the Market, possibly, we suppose), but at least Rubin confirmed that Adobe and Google are pooling their collective noggins to make it happen. Ads for life insurance just aren't the same without an animated dancing dude or flying pig, so we're delighted to hear that some balance is going to be restored to the world.

Motorola and SE pinpointed, may face tough time "weathering the storm"

by Darren Murph, posted Nov 17th 2008 at 9:24AM

No, not that Storm silly -- that storm. As cellphone users around the globe put off that once imminent upgrade purchase in order to make the mortgage and feed the family, (most) handset makers are obviously feeling the pinch. A fresh report from The Wall Street Journal pretty much reiterates much of what we've already heard, but still dives deeper into which companies are best positioned to escape the madness. As predicted, HTC, Apple and Nokia were all pinpointed as being able to make it through tough economic times without losing their proverbial hats, but both Motorola and Sony Ericsson could be facing insurmountable odds. Granted, it's not like either firm has really been killing it of late, but it's a pretty bad time to be struggling, regardless. The takeaway? Don't be shocked to see some wild stuff go down in the mobile space -- all bets are off at this point.

[Image courtesy of DayLife, thanks JagsLive]

The bacon iPhone sleeve: for discerning eyes only

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Nov 17th 2008 at 1:11AM


Are you a classy sort of lady or gent? Looking for something understated and sophisticated to adorn your iPhone that says, 'Hey world, I've got refinement to spare'? You're in luck then, as German artist and rising accessories star Antje has created the bacon iPhone sleeve with which to adorn your precious, high-society gadget. It's the perfect thing to go with your meat iPod case, and your actual meat cellphone. Get them while they last for only €25 (or around $31), you foppish bon vivants!

[Thanks, Jesse]

800MHz CPU-packing P565 handset appears on ASUS site

by Laura June, posted Nov 16th 2008 at 11:03PM


ASUS' P565 has been pretty much unofficial until now, though we did see some alleged photos and specs of the device not terribly long ago. The phone has just been officially listed on the ASUS site, however, and we've got a quick rundown of its stats (which are pretty much exactly what we'd seen before). The Glide UI-sporting, HSDPA smartphone -- which ASUS claims is the "fastest business PDA phone" in the world -- runs Windows Mobile 6.1, has an 800MHz Marvell CPU, a 2.8-inch VGA touchscreen, 256MB flash memory and 128MB of DDR SDRAM, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, and a microSD slot with SDHC support. Like we said, none of this is a big surprise, but it's the first official look we've had at the handset, though we're still waiting on word about pricing and availability.

[Via wmpoweruser]

Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X1a available for pre-order at Best Buy

by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Nov 15th 2008 at 2:06PM


As one astute tipster's pointed out, the XPERIA X1a is now available for pre-order on the Best Buy site. Now that the phone's really, finally, almost here are you totally psyched? Or have you been too busy playing with your G1 to notice? Like we saw last week, the phone will retail for $799.99 in its unlocked form, and there's no word yet on pricing with a plan. Order now and they claim you'll receive the phone as soon as November 28th. So... what are you waiting for?

[Thanks, Ian]

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic now listed at €429 for Spain, up from €279

by Donald Melanson, posted Nov 14th 2008 at 4:58PM


Well, it looks like folks in Europe (or Spain, at least) already sold on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic could be in for a bit more than they bargained for, as the phone is now listed on Nokia.es for €429 (or just under $550) which, even given the now weaker Euro, is quite a leap from the €279 price for Europe that Nokia first announced just over a month ago. That still gets you an unlocked phone, however, and your choice of red, blue, or black colors, though it'll no doubt give some folks cause to reconsider the increasingly plentiful touchscreen phone options out there these days.

[Thanks, Radek]
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