PMP Today

Philips is a dark horse in the handset industry. Their last significant outing was a clamshell phone (Xenium NRG) that can run on AAA batteries. Even more noteworthy is a series of Xenium phones (9@9) with a standby time of up to 40 days. Depending on your needs, Philips has been making dream handsets that have pretty much gone under the radar of most consumers and even industry watchers. We hope this isn’t the case with the Xenium 800, a touchscreen phone that boasts e2e or edge to edge screen real estate. Yep, this baby will be prettier than iPhone when it comes out. Whereas iPhone users have to bear with that half an inch of metal frame on both sides of the touchscreen, Xenium 800 users will get to enjoy a screen area as far as their phone casing goes. Resolution is WQVGA, which isn’t as good as HTC’s new dream phone but good enough. Honestly the 800 reminds me of the Nokia N98 - a product of an artist’s imagination - and Xenium takes the cake on sheer prettiness.

[via mobilewhack]

This is a video made by Sprint Instinct’s online marketing team showing how “tap for tap” Instinct’s built-in GPS is superior to getting you to your destination than iPhone’s built in Google Maps. But we all know that. What’s refreshing is seeing the slim Samsung Instinct beside the too-wide iPhone. Hm, I know karate is always popular among the tech crowd, but wouldn’t it be great if they showed Instinct getting us to a restaurant (faster and more accurately) that serves calamari?

First, let me just say this: the user interface is very impressive. You will not be able to take your eyes off the excellent VGA screen when you’re navigating. Dubbed TouchFLO 3D (which must be the HTC Manila leaked some months ago), it can seriously be considered as more appealing to consumers than iPhone’s user interface. The dashboard (see video after the break) is just awesome and HTC’s take on Coverflow is very impressive. Soon, Internet Explorer 6 will be included in the list of features of the Windows Mobile 6.1 OS of the Touch Diamond. We’ll get to judge how it stacks up against iPhone’s Safari.

It will soon be available in Europe in June through Orange and will host Orange’s mobile TV with 61 channels using its HSDPA 7.2Mbps. No price yet. More specs (from Engadget) after the break and a few videos that will sure impress.

[via cellphones, engadget, slashphone] Read the rest »

Still wondering why the Apple iPhone isn’t such a hot n the U.K? Here’s why. The Brits can get the best high-end force for free, with the iPhone as one of the very few exceptions. Given the choice of a WiFi, 3G, HSDPA 5MP camera Nokia N95 with 8GB of storage fully subsidized by the mobile operator Or how about the very popular LG Viewty, a phone sporting arguably the best lens in the cam-phone market. Available at O2, Orange, 3 and T-Mobile, you can shoot videos at 120fps and it’s a touchscreen phone just like the iPhone. Crackberries need not be tempted by the iPhone. They can get the BlackBerry 8120 Pearl from O2 for free with an O2 contract. Included in the free phone list is the new Samsung Soul and the Sony Ericsson K850i 5MP camphone.

[via techradar]

Sprint is betting big on the Samsung Instinct. I don’t blame them. When this touchscreen phone gets released in June, it will be the most fully featured CDMA phone with its Haptics enhanced touchscreen, Sprint TV, GPS, 3G and HSDPA. The Samsung Instinct will be backed by $100 million in marketing money and word is that it will feature a very cool TV Spot and viral marketing (with a $100 million to spend, expect a blockbuster-size campaign. Engadget got a hands-on of the device and found the Haptic feedback very useful.

Check out our first post on the Instinct.

[via engadget]

Garmin’s GPS touchscreen phone (Nuviphone) will be available very soon and before it officially comes out, tech-savvy readers were surveyed regarding the phone’s pricing and data plan. An Engadget reader was one of the lucky few who got surveyed and too a snapshot from the survey.

The question: “Now, how likely would you be to buy the Garmin nüvifone (for yourself or as a gift) if offered by AT&T for $499.99 with a two year contract? You would be required to have both a data plan that would include unlimited Internet browsing and unlimited Navigation for $19.99 per month and one of the standard voice rate plans for a monthly fee.”

[via engadget]

Mapping on Nokia phones has just improved with the introduction of Real Time Traffic or RTT to the Nokia Maps service. This is a premium add-on to Nokia Maps 2.0. With the increasing convergence of mobile devices, especially in devices under the Nokia branding, the new development puts personal navigation devices or PNDs at risk of being obsolete in the near future.

“By adding RTTI, Nokia can save precious time for drivers by alerting them of traffic, construction or other road hazards that could affect their journey. When Nokia Maps receives the road updates from ARC Transistance, the application can dynamicly re-route during navigation and provide a faster route.”

The service will be available in 16 countries and Nokia will be partnering with ARC Transistance.

Nokia Maps 2.0 is still in beta, available on this link.

[via techradar]

So what is LG doing partnering with Italian designer label Prada again? LG Prada I could’ve been a major hit but its high MSRP (twice the price of an AT&T iPhone) and lack of 3G connectivity. Prada II, if the unofficial press release, is to be believed, is going to add 3G, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, Wi-Fi and slide-out QWERTY. The LG Viewty is quite nice, but lacking Wi-Fi and a QWERTY, the Prada II (if rumor be correct) will be the hands-down LG’s flagship phone. Read the rest »

It’s not official yet and thank God for that. Imagine Nokia designing a phone that actually has more than a passing resemblance than this group from China, and in fact it can definitely pose as big brother to this slim guy or this guy or just about every Chinese gadget with a prominent touchscreen and a stylus. Nokia Tube should be available in the first quarter of 2009, which frankly is a long way to go for non-Apple products. I don’t see the Tube getting a lot of legs from this first leak to launch date. The “Tube” (real name to ne announced” has nothing knew to offer, least of all in design. It’s a 5th-gen S60 smartphone a large 3.0-inch-plus touchscreen, high-resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio and goodies like Bluetooth, uPnP, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, WLAN and built-in GPS with geotagging.

If you ask me, Nokia is being too careful about launching a direct iPhone competitor. There is a camera, probably higher than 2 megapixel and tactile feedback (probably the Haptics technology they have been developing for the S60 phones). Frankly we’re not too excited about this phone being an iPhone Killer and we’re disappointed of it being an iPhone clone.

[via symbian-freak]

Nokia’s N-Gage software is now available for download. If you own a N81, N81 8GB, N82, N95, or N95 8GB, point your browser to n-gage.mobi/d. I take N-Gage will be official on Monday and eventually other phones will be added, particularly the N73, N93, and N93i models. Other Nokia phones will follow.

[n-gage via cellphones]