The Cect HiPhone is the most popular iPhone clone brand right now but a pretender has just arrived that might be able to successfully challenge its dominance. For one thing, the SciPhone model i68 is pretty damn close hardware-wise to what the iPhone looks like. The photo you see above is no ordinary rendering; that is actually what the phone looks like. For a more realistic view, you can watch the video after the break.
Specs of the Sciphone (pronounced Sky Phone) include a quadband GSM connectivity, 3.2-inch touch screen with both finger and stylus input, 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth (!!), Fm tuner and a G-Sensor for flick navigation. The demo video below shows only a changing of wallpapers when the Sciphone is flicked but it should also be able to change track by flicking.
Virgin’s $79.99 Totally Unlimited no-credit-card-no-contract-no-roaming-charges calling plan may be a genuine iPhone killer without requiring fancy hardware or operating system. The $79.99 is pay-as-you-go, which means there is no way you could not at least test what Virgin Mobile has to offer for a month. If you’re on a trip to Europe, $79.99 spending eighty bucks on cellphone calls is highway robbery but this time it’s the consumers that will be doing it. And I wonder if AT&T competitors in the U.S. adopted such a plan iPhone 3G’s record-setting release may not be put into jeopardy. Sure Virgin Mobile’s Totally Unlimited offering does not cover texting and data, so it’s strictly Totally Unlimited Voice, but, still, it’s time a cellphone become a cellphone once again. Virgin Mobile Totatally Unlimited launches July 1.
Our friends at GMP3 has received a test unit of the DivX-playing Samsung Omnia, now known as the Samsung Player Addict. Besides the DivX support, 5 megapixel camera and GPS, the Opera browser seems to be iPhone’s Safari’s closes competitor. What we have not mentioned is that it is WiFi-enabled and a 3G phone. Other specs include Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR and an FM RDS tuner. The 8GB and 16GB are priced at 599 euros and 649 euros respectively, of course unlocked.
Samsung Omnia is the best Windows Mobile 6.1 phone. The user interface looks competitive - I will even hazard to say the WinMo 6.1 TouchWIZ drag-and-drop will be the more appeal to many potential users compared to the iPhone UI. What it has onboard is definitely iPhone-killing type features: 5 megapixel camera and GPS with video-tagging, though it would need 3G and HSDPA to be truly menacing presence for Apple and of course it should come at a very competitive pricing as well, which we certainly doubt it would because it will not be a Sprint phone but an AT&T exclusive (?).
A survey conducted by J.D. Power and Associates seems to have hit a nerve in the mobile world. What they found out was that a quarter of Apple iPhone customers were former customers of Motorola. On everybody’s mind it’s RAZR fans ditching RAZR and switching to iPhone. It’s not exactly switching from Mac to PC but some people like to think about it that way. The exact estimated figure is 1.3 million users and the exact Motorola phone model was the RAZR. Just to remind you folks, RAZR is the phone that iPhone wishes to emulate. Now that’s information.
The Samsung Instinct is out today, but while Sprint will be focusing on the Haptic-enhanced touchscreen experience the Instinct will bring its customers, handset maker Samsung has a new model in mind. Dubbed, Omnia, the touchscreen SGH-i900 is the first Windows Mobile phone to have DivX certification. We know a lot of DivX-playing portable devices but this is certainly the first on Windows Mobile platform and the Omnia is one of the few portables I know of that does not only play encode DivX but decode it as well. The screen is a decent 3.2 inches. It has a 5 megapixel camera and GPS with geotagging. The phone is equipped with TV out and comes in 8GB and 16GB versions.
Out of nowhere, this dark horse of a phone came and conquered territories in one fell swoop no one expected to be conquered so easily The phone has a 5 MP camera built-in and 7.2Mbps HSDPA connected in lieu of WiFi. It took the iPhone, officially, 74 days to reach a million, so what’s so special about the Soul? Is it the HSDPA? The dynamic homescreen? The sleeks metallic looks. Anyway, the Samsung U900 sold well all over Europe. The phone is set to be released in Korea by SK Telecom and KTF. Yes, that’s right. It’s not even available at home court yet.
What would bring LG to make this video to promote the Secret (KF750) is beyond me. The video is supposed to highlight the 5 megapixel with autofocus built-in, 120fps video-shooting capabilities and the DivX-playing capabilities. The Neon Touch buttons look good below the porny happening on the screen - yet another good point for this phone. The brown-haired sleeper is beautiful as well. But since you will never see her tossing and turning on the phone screen on real high-def, you will be forced to conclude that after the 3G Apple Phone this is going to be another one of those beautiful things you my never have time or money for.
The Samsung Instinct, a CDMA touchscreen phone with GPS, just became a little more tempting to customers. Now at $129.99 after rebate with data plans that start at only $69.99, the Sprint Instinct just presented mobile customers with a better reason to avoid AT&T.
Customers will be able to purchase Instinct through Sprint retail stores, Web (www.sprint.com) and telesales (1-800-SPRINT1.) Best Buy is Sprint’s exclusive retail partner for Instinct from June 20 – August 28.
With 3G, GPS and a good touch screen interface, the Instinct is currently the closes competitor of the iPhone. Additional features like Speech to Action, and common phone features like a removable battery and microSD memory expansion supporting up to 8GB, Sprint’s Instinct is a realistic threat to Apple’s phone after it launches this Friday, June 20.
Not sure if Garmin did decide to make a white Nuvifone (photo below). At any rate, I’d prefer this phone in black. A better picture comes to us by way of Laptop Magazine via Gizmodo. As expected, the 3.5-inch touch screen is crisp and UI a refreshing departure from iPhone’s sophisticated icon-based home screen. The Nuvifone is kinda pricey, which makes us sad to note it may never see much actual usage by the public. At $500 and a 2-year AT&T contract is a tough sell when you have a better phone from the same provider at a third of the price. The added HSDPA of the NuviPhone, I’m afraid, just ain’t worth the extra 300 bucks.
Watch the tempting video demo. We know it’s overpriced based on the current pricing paradigm (read: “$199 iPhone”), but the UI just takes you away.
