Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Household

Telemarketers-turned-inventors from the United Kingdom have started shipping TrueCall (£99.99), a device that acts as an automated secretary on your land line, either forwarding trusted numbers to your phone or answering untrusted numbers with an automated message and shooing them away. When an unrecognized number dials in, TrueCall asks them who they are and then rings you asking whether or not you want to take it. Sure, it’s not the most fun way to automatically ditch unscrupulous callers, but we’d like to listen in on the conversation when a robocall reaches this baby — it’d be like one wall talking to another wall.

[Via Slashdot]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Displays, Wireless

After personally trying out Sprint’s AIRAVE, we’re confident that femtocells have a place in this world. Thankfully, Motorola’s already trying to make them less of an eyesore by integrating a CDMA femtocell into something we wouldn’t mind showing off in the den: an inconspicuous digital photo frame. The “3-in-1″ concept also includes a VoIP soft phone that would theoretically enable calls to be made right from the frame. Of course, Moto’s not handing out any sort of release time frame, but let us be the first to say that this thing needs to hit store shelves on the double — just make sure it’s not carrier specific, and toss in a GSM version while you’re at it, okay Moto? Check out the demonstration vid after the break.

[Thanks, Dave]

Continue reading Motorola shows off femtocell-in-a-digiframe concept

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Filed under: Peripherals

At first glance, we figured this heap was a dead-ringer for the next episode of Crapgadget, but after a few delicate moments of gazing at this amazing piece of retro-styled kit, we just had to let it pass. The $15 USB Telephone 4-Port Hub explains itself pretty well — it’s a non-functioning phone that doubles as a 4-port USB 2.0 hub. And it’s really cute. And awesome.

[Via Pocket-lint]

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Filed under: Cellphones

Samsung’s P960 handset has a built-in DVR, while Lenovo’s P960 includes a fingerprint scanner. Pointless trivia aside, the latter is also Lenovo’s first commercial mobile phone to incorporate fingerprint biometrics. Atrua Technologies has provided a fingerprint scanner that resides on the handset’s edge in order to provide additional security for folks (read: cheaters, FBI agents and Segway users) who simply cannot afford to let their contact list be known. Even dodgier, the phone has a VIP recording feature which “automatically records calls from designated numbers” — something that’s sure to provide hours upon hours of merriment. We’d bemoan the fact that pricing information isn’t readily available, but we just can’t get over that whole automatic recording thing.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Not quite sure why, but we get this whole Get Smart vibe from this thing. IOCELL’s contents phone would probably be more suited for a highly covert spy agency rather than your grandmother’s home, but we suppose even granny could appreciate the built-in hard drive that logs conversations, plays ‘em back and makes remembering things that much easier. Furthermore, the firm asserts that this thing can send completed calls out on the internet should you want to pass along the audio to someone else, and there also appears to be a USB port for possibly offloading those onto flash drives. Heck, it even syncs caller ID information with calls and provides background music during conversations (uh, okay?). Take a wild guess on the price, chances are you’ll be fairly close.

[Via The Red Ferret Journal]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We can only hope that the makers of this beer bottle phone actually got Budweiser’s permission before slapping its logo on there, but regardless of all that, who can deny the awesomeness here? Okay, so you’ve got to be “that guy” for it to take your breath away, but we know you’re out there somewhere, that guy. Aside from looking like a cold one, it pretty much handles everything else a hamburger phone (or similar) would, but at least this one doesn’t require prior knowledge of Juno to be appreciated by your tipsy pals. Get your inebriated dialing on now for just $16.99 delivered.

[Via CrunchGear]

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Filed under: Cellphones

Fired up to capitalize on some of the hype Sprint has managed to drum up for the Instinct down in the States, Samsung’s taking its iPhone fighter north of the border for a promised intro later this summer. Bell Mobility is the lucky partner (seriously, Telus, you probably should’ve hustled Samsung a little harder for this one), launching at price points ranging from $149.95 up to $449.95 for a three-year contract all the way down to zero commitment. Features and software look like they’re all carrying over from their stateside cousin, although the UI’s looking just a little bit less Sprint-ified (read: no yellow tinge). Nice.

[Via MobileSyrup]

Update: There are rumors that Telus is slated to pick it up, too, but we haven’t seen anything solid just yet. We’ll let you know.

Update 2: Yep, Telus is down with it — exclusivity be damned! Thanks, howi!

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

The question on quite literally every WinMo fanatic’s mind as we go into the second half of the year here is, “Touch Pro or X1?” It’s not an easy question to answer, and anyone hoping to sink some cash on either one of these models in a few months is going to want to do so with a crap-ton of research and anecdotal information under their belts lest the buyer’s remorse set in particularly quickly. MobileBurn scored an early look at the Touch Pro — which won’t be available at retail for a month or three yet — and came away impressed with the all-important keyboard, saying that it was “much more” usable than the QWERTY found on Sony Ericsson’s rival superphone. Closed, it’s said to be virtually indistingushable from the Touch Diamond (which we’d say is a good thing) other than being a bit thicker to accomodate they keyboard and picking up a matte-finish rear cover. Unfortunately, HTC refused to show off the Touch Pro’s interface — apparently on account of some new tricks up TouchFLO 3D’s sleeve that haven’t already made their way into the Touch Diamond — but they did share that the new model will handle landscape mode with particular aplomb. So this one might have the X1 beat in the keyboard department, but the X1’s WVGA display takes the crown for sheer pixel count. Decisions!

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Filed under: Cellphones

Though they’ve already been well documented (heck, they’re already on sale in some parts of the world), Nokia’s just now getting around to making its foursome of Supernovas official. The new line reps mid-range fashion (think L’Amour, but not over the top) and comes in your choice of two candybars, a flip, or a slider as the 7210, 7310, 7510, or 7610, respectively. The 7210 features a tri-band GSM radio plus EDGE, a 2 megapixel camera, and an FM radio; look for it to launch in the third quarter for €120 (about $189). The 7310 apes the 7210’s look but adds support for changeable Xpress-On faceplates, TV-out, and support for GSM 850, and while all that extra kit adds €35 (about $55) to the price over the lesser model, it’s available now. The 7510 goes for the flip form factor but carries over most of the 7310’s spec sheet, waiting it out until the fourth quarter for a €180 (about $283) launch in scary colors like “Fatal Red”. Finally, the 7610 (no, not that one) moves up to a beefier 3.2 megapixel camera and hits next quarter for €225 (about $354).

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Who would’ve thought that rumored iControl app would not only turn out to be real, but survive the inevitable internal politics, delays, and feature cutbacks to make it all the way through to a summer release? Sure enough, iTunes 7.7 has been pushed out to developers in the past several hours, and the installer encourages iPhone and iPod touch owners to “use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home — a free download from the App Store.” No further details are given — and it’s not clear whether the “iControl” name seen earlier has been scrapped altogether — but we can guess that it’ll use WiFi to hook up with your mainframe, which really makes the idea of an AirPort Express appealing all over again.

On another note, Apple has released Beta 8 of the iPhone SDK and is using the occasion to kick off acceptances of applications to the real, live App Store in preparation for its July 11 launch. It appears that Beta 8 is actually required to complete the process, so don’t go jumping the gun now — goodness knows the rest of the iPhone-toting world doesn’t want your half-baked apps in a couple weeks, you shady developer, you.

Read - iPhone / iTunes Remote app
Read - Applications to App Store now being accepted

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Filed under: Cellphones

As expected, T-Mobile has taken the wraps off its very own version of Motorola’s ROKR E8, a glossy black candybar offering a 2 megapixel camera, 2GB of internal storage (plus a microSD slot that’ll swallow up to 8GB more), stereo Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack, FM radio, and that so-called “morphing” keypad that selectively renders keys invisible depending on the mode you’re using. It’s missing 3G, but that’s one feature T-Mobile customers are all too well acquainted to missing out on — and considering that the just-announced flagship ZN5 doesn’t even do any WCDMA, it shouldn’t come as any surprise. Subscribers and would-be subscribers will be able to nab the E8 come July 7 for $199.99 on contract.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Cellphones

Hints of Motorola’s new MOTOZINE series of devices have gone back as far as last year, but today marks the first time that Moto’s officially spilled any beans on the goods. The headlining feature on the first model, the ZN5 candybar, lies on the backside: a 5-megapixel sensor courtesy of a partnership with Kodak, featuring autofocus, a xenon flash, image stitching, and on-device integration with Kodak Gallery. Otherwise, you get WiFi (score), Motorola’s so-called “ModeShift” technology for morphing the keypad depending on device mode (a la the E8), and a run-of-the-mill quadband GSM radio with EDGE. China’s the first country to get the hookup starting next month, but Moto expects to take the ZN5 on a world tour over the course of the remainder of the year.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Unless you’re very, very special, you haven’t yet had an opportunity to run your hands over Openmoko’s latest open-source creation, the FreeRunner, which was announced several months back with the hope of a spring release. Unlike the Neo1973 before it, the FreeRunner’s said to be chock full of enough spit and polish to take on an audience larger than the original’s hardcore developer base, and while a springtime date with destiny is now out of reach, it looks like they’ll only miss the mark by a few days. A recent message from Openmoko’s VP of marketing on the community listserv said that the retail phones should be packed and shipped by tomorrow and — if all goes well, of course — should clear customs by the first of July, meaning buyers should be able to get them delivered in the first week or two of the month. If they’d been able to squeeze in 3G, we’d hardly be able to contain ourselves, but even as it is, we suspect there’s enough buzz to get units sold; let’s just hope they’re already hard at work on version three.

[Via The Inquirer Spanish]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

RIM hasn’t even had the opportunity to announce the Kickstart 9100 — much less release it — but it looks like we might already have some intel leaking out on the first BlackBerry flip’s successor. In RIM parlance, a “10″ tacked on to a model number is often a sign that a GPS receiver lurks within; sure enough, metadata obtained by Boy Genius Report lists GPS support in the 9110 “Seawolf.” There’s also mention of an “Aurora,” indicated to be a member of the 8100 (Pearl) series, though its device ID curiously matches that of the Thunder / Storm so it’s possible that the two projects were merged at some point. Are we crazy for missing the days of yore when RIM’s model names were nothing more than four solid, reliable, old-fashioned digits?

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Filed under: Cellphones

If the idea of a sub-$200 3G touchscreen fashion phone sounds vaguely familiar, trust us, it’s not just your noggin playing tricks on you. Sprint is apparently circulating documentation internally revealing that the Samsung Instinct will run $199.99 on contract after rebates, a move that doesn’t really come as surprise; Sprint itself has worked overtime trying to play up the Instinct versus iPhone angle, after all, and it’s entirely plausible that the carrier was holding out for Apple’s announcement before settling on a price. Sprint will also be requiring that users sign up for an “Everything” plan when taking delivery of their Instinct, a move that smacks of AT&T’s marriage of the iPhone to specific plans. The Instinct gets the jump on Apple’s hardware by a few days thanks to a June 20 launch, so it’ll be interesting to see just how much Cupertino thunder Samsung can steal here.

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Filed under: Cellphones

Paris who? Sony Ericsson’s let yet another one slip out of its fingers before the official announcement, this time around a killer slider said to be the Cyber-shot C905, codenamed “Shiho.” If the rumors pan out, it’s got one heck of a rap sheet, too, starting off with an 8.1 — yes, eight point flippin’ one — megapixel camera with both xenon and LED flashes (for still and video capture, respectively), GPS, TV out, DLNA certification, and HSDPA in your choice of European and American flavors. The screen’s apparently just QVGA, but in light of everything else we’re hearing, we might just be willing to let that slide. It’ll apparently be announced on the 17th of the month in gold, silver, and black for a fourth quarter release. Wowza!

[Thanks, Adrian]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Random flickr feeds aren’t the typical way for hot new Nokias to be discovered out in the environs, but hey, who are we to question a good thing when we see it? Pictures of one totally unknown Nseries have emerged — alleged to be the N79 — showing a sublime S60 candybar in a pair of colors. Next, we have more of the just-scooped N85, including some of a white version, so we’re definitely feeling more confident by the minute that it’s the real deal and not some ridiculously sophisticated fake. Last but certainly not least, we have some shots of the XpressMedia 5800 affectionately known as the “Tube,” a device that’ll likely come to be Nokia’s first to use S60 Touch. This one is Vodafone branded (doesn’t really surprise us, we guess) and features a 3.2 megapixel sensor with Carl Zeiss optics, a stylus, and the key to our hearts. How much longer do we have to wait for these, Nokia?

[Via Talk About Nseries]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

AT&T (well, Cingular at the time) and Apple entered into a very peculiar marriage of convenience to bring the original iPhone to American airwaves whereby AT&T shelled out cash to Cupertino each and every month for iPhone subscribers on its network (the exact terms were never publicized). Very simply, Apple had something good; they knew it and leveraged it to the very maximum of their ability, dangling the tantalizing prospect of endless publicity and droves of new customers in exchange for the deal. That same logic left Apple struggling to find partners in Europe, though, ultimately deploying the 2.5G model in just five markets there under AT&T-like terms.

Fast forward to July 2008 and the iPhone 3G, and the picture has changed just a bit. At least 70 countries will see the updated version before the year’s out, but why the sudden change of heart by the world’s carriers? Turns out the answer might lie in a revamped sales model that more closely mirrors the deals carriers set up with other manufacturers. AT&T has gone on the record saying that it’ll take a huge revenue hit — 10 to 12 cents per share both this year and next before finally planning on profitability in 2010 — in order to deeply subsidize the phone on its own accord, taking Apple and its precious monthly kickbacks out of the picture. This is presumably the same kind of setup Apple is offering to carriers around the globe, a setup that they’re already well acquainted with that provides a clear path to black ink (or so they would hope, anyway).

What does this mean for Apple, then? There’s some chatter that the move away from a monthly revenue model will “force” Apple into charging for firmware updates much the way it does for the iPod touch, but that’s not really a valid train of thought. We already know that Apple’s committed to updating iPhones at no charge, something it can do by virtue of its accounting model where it recognizes revenue from the sales of devices over time. That accounting model was chosen precisely because it looked best on paper while Apple was continuing to churn out fee-free upgrades, not because of the original revenue model in place with AT&T. For what it’s worth, they’re still going to be rolling in the dough; carriers, on the other hand, are going to be waiting a while to dig out of that deep subsidy hole.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

We hate gratuitous iPhone comparisons as much as the next guy, but let’s be straight with each other here: Sprint has its sights squarely focused on Cupertino’s darling with the Instinct. From beginning to end, the carrier has pulled no punches about the model’s target audience and its competition. Make no mistake, though, the Instinct is no iPhone ripoff or clone — it’s distinctly its own beast that just happens to share a form factor and a few common UI paradigms, and depending on your perspective and the specific feature you happen to be using, that can be a good or a bad thing. So is it better than a chocolate cupcake with sprinkles? Head on over to Engadget Mobile for the full rundown!

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Filed under: Cellphones

Sit back, relax, grab the popcorn, and check this out, because there’s this really awesome battle going on between LG and Samsung for the hearts and minds of the touchscreen-loving public on Sprint and Verizon right now (and AT&T, too, if you count the LG Vu). The Glyde and Voyager are fighting the good fight as we speak, while the Instinct will be tagging in shortly — and right behind it will be this puppy, the VX9700 Dare from LG, which is just now getting some of its first shots out in the environs. Like Sprint’s Instinct, the Dare goes QWERTY keyboard-free in favor of a virtual pad; specs include a 3.2 megapixel camera, 3.5mm headphone jack, microSDHC support, and a wide QVGA display. Rumors have it landing in July, at which point we can drop the chain-link octagon cage and let it go toe-to-toe with the Instinct for dominance. Remember, guys, no biting or hair pulling, and may the best fashionable Korean touchphone win.

[Via phoneArena]

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