Filed under: Handhelds

It looks like France’s SFR will be getting some tweaked variant of Aigo’s familiar P8860 Intel-based MID… with 3G on-board. The device features an 800 x 480 touchscreen display, an 800MHz Atom CPU, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of flash memory, Bluetooth, WiFi, a VGA webcam, 3 megapixel camera, and a full slide-out AZERTY keyboard (as well as some odd, circular navigation wheel). Obviously the big bonus here is the 3G connectivity, which sounds like it will be offered at €19.90 (about $26) or €24.90 ($32) per month, depending on plan. By appearances, those plans include unlimited data — though the machine translated article seems to suggest there could be some capping. The Linux-powered device will sell for €249 / $310 (€349 with a €100 rebate) — no word on release date.

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Filed under: Transportation

While outfits like Lightning and Tesla are attempting to make eco-friendly cars sexy, MDI is taking things in a completely different direction. The recently-made-official Airpod looks practically nothing like anything seen on American roadways today, which is probably why it’s apt to hit the streets of France and New Zealand first. The oddly shaped automobile will reportedly reach a top speed of 70kmh (44mph) and cruise 100-kilometers (62 miles) on just $2. The secret? A minuscule compressed air-powered engine on each of the rear wheels, both of which get instructed by the car’s joystick (Atari fans, rejoice!). We’re told that reloading the engine with hot air takes less than two minutes, and if all goes well, the first of the urban vehicles will hit the cobblestones in the spring of 2009. Is that the sound of Tata’s NANO feeling threatened, or what?

[Via EcoGeek]

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Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays

Remember that Andrée Putman-designed digital photo frame that was showcased in the UK earlier this year? Even if not, Parrot would like to remind you of this apparently exquisite device, which features commonplace luxuries like a 7-inch 720 x 480 resolution display, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, an SD / MMC card slot, an undisclosed amount of internal memory and USB connectivity. Oh, and did we mention the $449.99 price? Yeah, there’s that, too. Heard enough, haven’t you? (Psst… it ships on July 28th in the US.)

[Via Digital Picture Frame Review]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Not even a week after hearing that Air France was forging ahead with an in-flight calling trial, the European Commission has now voiced its approval of using mobiles on planes in European airspace. After six months of deliberating, the decision was finally made to give airlines the choice of offering up services in order for guests to dial loved ones at 3,000-meters or more. The EU telecoms commissioner, Viviane Reding, went on to warn operators to “keep the cost of calls made on planes at a reasonable level,” and of course, not all is clear just yet. For starters, the European Aviation Safety Agency still needs to green-light the whole ordeal by approving any hardware that would be used, and we won’t be seeing any 3G action up high just yet. Still, at least one less hurdle stands in the way of you phoning home from over Europe (and simultaneously making enemies out of all your neighbors trying to get a few decent minutes of shuteye).

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Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation

Not even half a year after Air France enabled passengers on its single OnAir-equipped Airbus A318 to send / receive messages and e-mail, the airline has went live with the second phase of the in-flight experiment. As of this week, guests who find themselves aboard the aforesaid aircraft can make / receive calls on their mobile at 30,000 feet. Reportedly, a dozen simultaneous calls are possible “per picocell network, as well as unlimited text messages and e-mails,” and while pricing details weren’t disclosed, you can rest assured it won’t be a bargain. Nevertheless, the voice aspect of the trial is scheduled to carry on for three months, and we’re assuming the results (read: whether annoyed passengers start assaulting chronic yappers) will determine if it gets rolled out to more of the fleet or quietly buried.

[Via WiFi Net News]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

According to a recent report, the French head of stun-gun maker Taser has plans to create a “mini-flying saucer like drone which could also fire Taser stun rounds on criminal suspects or rioting crowds.” Antoine di Zazzo, fervent proselytizer of the electroshock weapon, is cutting through the is / isn’t torture noise of recent UN reports with the news that the non-lethal device is about to make a serious splash in France, with president Nicolas Sarkozy promising to hand one to every policeman and gendarme. Of course, once di Zazzo’s army of tiny, hovering stun machines take to the air — sometime next year — the police probably won’t have to worry about brandishing their weapons.

[Thanks, Craig B.]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video

France Telecom just announced that the iPhone will go on sale tonight at 6:30pm (18.30) at a dozen of its Orange stores across France. It will charge between €49 ($72) and €119 ($175) per month in addition to the €399 cost of the iPhone itself. After 6 months, Orange customers can unlock their iPhone for another €100 euro. The iPhone will also be sold unlocked for €649 ($957) without an Orange contract or €549 ($809) with an Orange plan, but not one of the four “Orange for iPhone” plans. Got it? Yeah, we’re a bit confused too, but then again, it’s definitely cheaper than the unlocked German iPhone.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video

France Telecom just announced that the iPhone will go on sale tonight at 6:30pm (18.30) at a dozen of its Orange stores across France. It will charge between €49 ($72) and €119 ($175) per month in addition to the €399 cost of the iPhone itself. Orange customers can unlock their iPhone for another €100 on the spot or free after 6 months — though they’re still locked into an Orange contract of 1 or 2 years. The iPhone will also be sold unlocked contract free for €649 ($957) or €549 ($809) with an Orange plan without a time commitment. Got it? Yeah, we’re a bit confused too, but then again, it’s definitely cheaper than the unlocked German iPhone.

Update: Ah, clarity: AFP reports that an unlocked iPhone will cost €749 — €649 for phone and €100 for unlocking. See, that wasn’t so hard.

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Filed under: Cellphones

While Orange seems to be holding out until the last minute to announce exactly how much its unlocked iPhone will cost, France Telecom CEO Didier Lombard has apparently dropped a few less-than-specific details on the matter in a recent interview, saying that it’ll cost “over 500 euros, but well below 1,000 euros.” Or, in US dollars, roughly somewhere between $740 and $1,500, but apparently closer to the former. A bit pricey to be sure, but it would certainly be cheaper than the €999 unlocked iPhone that T-Mobile is selling in Germany. As previously announced, a locked iPhone on Orange (complete with a two-year contract) will set you back €399. Look for things to get fleshed out further when Orange gets official with its iPhone offerings on Thursday.

[Thanks, Holger]

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video, Wireless

There’s not a whole lot to go on here, but according to France’s Challenges magazine, Archos is set to further expand its linup-up of players next year with some new SIM card-equipped models. While there’s no indication that the devices will actually double as a phone, you will apparently be able to at least get in some 3G-enhanced web browsing, which would certainly be more convenient (albeit pricier) than tracking down WiFi hotspots each time you’re out and about. Also according to Challenges, it seems that both France’s SFR and Neuf-Cegetel are “starting to look very closely” at Archos’ gear, although that’s obviously still as up in the air as the rumored device itself.

[Via Archos Lounge, thanks JohnBe]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Announced in August, LG’s HSDPA-totin’ touchscreen KS20 was just released for retail in Europe — France and Germany to be specific with more countries coming on the quick. Nothing new to report, same business minded, 12.8-mm thick Windows Mobile 6 handset with 3.6Mbps data, WiFi, Bluetooth, 2 megapixel camera (VGA up front), up to 4-hours talk, and built-in stylus for navigating with precision on that busy, 240 x 320 pixel, 2.8-inch WinMo interface. No prices given but we’re sure your carrier will happily oblige.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones

Europeans are pretty used to paying through the nose for usage charges, whether it be by-the-minute charges for local calls in the landline days of yore, or per-KB charges for wireless data. The up side is that there are usually some pretty sweet prices on phones, since wireless companies know they can make it up on the back end, but for heavy users things can get expensive fast. And unfortunately, the glorious promises of “unlimited” data usage tacked onto iPhone plans offered by T-Mobile, O2 and Orange in their respective iPhone-exclusive markets aren’t quite the revolution we might’ve hoped for. T-Mobile just posted its rate plans for the November 9th iPhone launch, though it quickly pulled them from the site. Eagle-eyed observers grabbed a screenshot of the rates (pictured), but what’s notable is the fine print: depending on which plan you select — M, L or XL — you’re limited to 200MB, 1GB or 5GB of data, after which your data speeds are limited to 64Kbps, instead of EDGE’s traditional 220Kbps max. O2, whose rates have been up since day one, has a slightly vaguer “fair usage policy” that gives O2 the right to slap you with extra charges or change your rate plan if you exceed 200MB of use, though they claim this rarely happens. Details on Orange’s rate plans for the iPhone haven’t emerged yet, but Orange France has historically some of the priciest unlimited data rates, and has a standing policy to just go ahead and slap per-KB charges once the limit is crossed. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

[Thanks, Patrick]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Well, well… looks like Apple has been backed into a corner by French law and will be releasing an unlocked iPhone in France after all. While no one will say precisely how much the unlocked iPhone will cost (the locked Orange-network iPhone will cost €399) those details are expected to be announced sometime before the November 29 launch. Of course, laws forbidding the exclusive bundling of cellphones to carriers are not unique to France. As such, we can expect a glut of unlocked iPhones in the coming months as deals are struck throughout Europe and Asia. Hear that AT&T, O2 and T-Mobile haters? Your nefarious unlocking efforts are about to get a whole lot easier (and more expensive).

[Via Orange]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

After months of basically pulling each other’s hair on the playground, Apple and Orange have finally admitted that they like-like each other and have signed a deal to get the iPhone out in France. No word on how those unlocking laws will affect the deal, but something tells us people in iPhone-less countries who want to get their multi-touch on might want to brush up on their French.

[Image courtesy of TechCruch France]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones

We’re not exactly up on our French, let alone our French telecommunications law, but we’re hearing that Apple’s supposed launch of the iPhone in that country is being held up by two different regulations that prevent the iPhone from being the locked-down revenue-generating machine Apple wants it to be. The first, a law passed in 1998, requires that carriers unlock any phone upon customer request — for a fee during the first six months of a contract and for free after that. Notably, all three major French carriers — including Orange, which was supposed to get the iPhone — have lost lawsuits challenging this law. The second, which we’re slightly less clear on, apparently requires carriers to sell both locked and unlocked phones. Tensions over the regulations have apparently strained the relationship between the companies to the point where Orange spokespeople are saying things like “the risk we’re evaluating this week is that Apple crosses France off,” but really, who expected Apples and Oranges to mix without someone getting a little bruised?

Read — French unlocking law with unlocking provision at end of Article II
Read — Les Echoes report on Apple / Orange tension

[Via The Unlock iPhone Blog]

Disclaimer: Although this post was written by an attorney, the attorney in question only met his university’s foreign language graduation requirement by reciting an Eddie Izzard routine verbatim, so this post should not be considered legal advice or analysis of any kind.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!