Mobile Technology

Nokia N8
Penned as the “ultimate entertainment smartphone and world’s best cameraphone”, the N8′s flagship feature is its 12 megapixel camera, which is said to rival standalone digital cameras and is capable of shooting 720p HD video.
The device also has 16GB of built-in storage and an HDMI out so that it can be plugged into a HD television so that anything on the phone (not just video and photos) is mirrored on the TV.

Nokia C6
The small and stylish smartphone that Sports a 3.2-inch AMOLED display with full touch capabilities and Nokia ClearBlack technology for improved outdoor visibility, the latest Nokia C6 (C6-01) features the best of social networking and mobile entertainment in a stainless steel and glass design.
Stay connected to email, access millions of tracks through Ovi Music, and download apps and games from the Ovi Store.
Estimated retail price is Rs. 30,000, excluding taxes and subsidies.

Nokia X5 Square Slider launched in Singapore

Nokia has recently launched a smart looking device known as the X5 in the Singaporean market. It features a unique & attractive square shaped sliding form factor just like the Nokia X3 slider. It is a music, IM and social networking oriented phone targeted towards users who are not interested in high-end Smartphone features. The accelerometer on the X5 allows users to shake the device to reveal unread messages or spin the phone to randomly play tunes.

Here are the details known so far:

OS: Symbian S60 3rd Edition
Camera: 5 MP camera with 4X digital zoom and an LED flash
Memory: 200MB with microSD slotup to 32GB
Keyboard: QWERTY keyboard perfect for email, IM and social networking
Social Networking: Pre-installed Facebook, Twitter, MySpace & Hi5
Colors: Blue, Pink, Green, purple and Black

It will be available in Singapore and Indonesia in Q3 of 2010 for 165 Euros.

Posted by: Kevin      Read more     Source

November 23, 2009, 8:19 AM CT 

Smartphone app monitors power consumption

A new application for the Android smartphone shows users and software developers how much power their applications are consuming. PowerTutor was developed by doctoral students and professors at the University of Michigan.

Battery-powered cell phones serve as hand-held computers and more these days. We run power-hungry applications while we depend on the phones to be available in emergencies.

"Today, we expect our phones to realize more and more functions, and we also expect their batteries to last," said Lide Zhang, a doctoral student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and one of the application's developers. "PowerTutor will help make that possible".

PowerTutor will enable software developers to build more efficient products, said Birjodh Tiwana, a doctoral student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and another of the program's developers. Tiwana said PowerTutor will allow users to compare the power consumption of different applications and select the leanest version that performs the desired task. Users can also watch how their actions affect the phone's battery life.

PowerTutor shows in real time how four different phone components use power: the screen, the network interface, the processor, and the global positioning system receiver.........

Posted by: Ashley      Read more         Source

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:19:09 GMT 

The evolution of mobile phone

If you agree with the line of thinking that a picture can replace a thousand words, you would surely agree with the extension - that a model can replace a zillion pictures. So assuming that it would be boring to look at a chart, however well-done, to visualize the evolution of a device, give your eyes a treat by looking at this creation by UK-based designer Kyle Bean to demonstrate the evolution of the mobile phone.

The design captures the evolution of the mobile phone in Russian Babushka doll style - starting from the earliest Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the current Apple iPhone. A lesson or two for schools to make history more interesting.

Via Design Milk.

Posted by: Sarah      Read more     Source

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:24:39 GMT 

Android Powered Samsung Behold II

T-Mobile is soon going to launch a new Android Smartphone known as the Samsung Behold II. Samsung Behold was originally launched as a feature phone but now Samsung has decided to transform the Behold into a full featured Smartphone device.

It will come with Samsung TouchWiz UI featuring a Cube menu, 3.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen display, 5MP camera with Auto focus & Flash, up to 16GB external memory, A-GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, music player and Android market.

The Samsung Behold II will be launched into the market this holiday season.

Source: Samsung Hub

Posted by: Kevin      Read more     Source

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:48:38 GMT 

Samsung S3650 Corby coming soon

A new budget touchscreen handset known as the S3650 Corby will soon be launched in the US and European region. With its stylish design and decent features, it is bound to attract young mobile users.

Here are the details:

Dimensions: 103 x 57 x 13 mm
Weight: 92 grams
Network: Quad-band GSM
Display: 2.8 inch QVGA touchscreen display
UI: TouchWiz UI
Camera: 2MP camera
Memory: MicroSD card support
Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
Multimedia: MP3 Player, FM Radio
Social Networking: YouTube, MySpace and Facebook
Expected Price: €200 ($286)

Source: Unwired View

Posted by: Kevin      Read more     Source

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:42:22 GMT 

iPhone SMS Due September 25

© bogenfreund
If you remember way back to the iPhone 3Gs launch and the release of iPhone firmware 3.0, you will remember the announcement of tethering and SMS messaging. There were some carriers that had the technology already, some that had it coming soon, and then there was AT&T. They had announced SMS messaging would happen by the end of the Summer, and tethering would happen soon. Well AT&T, guess what.... you lied.

In an official announcement this week, AT&T has announced SMS texting plans would be available on September 25th. That is decidedly three-days after summer. Here is the kicker, they have announced that tethering would appear "eventually." So, if SMS text messaging was supposed to be by the end of Summer, and it is late, then Tethering should be released when? What is later than "eventually"? I am not a temporal expert, but three days after eventually might just be never.

I love my iPhone, but I really hate AT&T and their support for the device. Ultimately, they are just shooting themselves in the foot. As soon as the millions of iPhone users can switch carriers, they will. At&T will have no one to blame but themselves. They could have kept me forever if they had just did what they said they would do.

Press Release Via Engadget

Posted by: Jeff      Read more     Source

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:55:55 GMT 

Nokia E71x Smartphone

This recent update to the popular E71 rings in (pun intended) as the thinnest smartphone available. Featuring a slim, sleek, ergonomic design packed with advanced features, it"s got beauty and brains all in one!

The E71x, exclusive to AT&T, is perfect for the busy executive, socialite, or about-towner that wants powerful e-mail, contact, calendar, and multimedia features with the utility of a full keyboard but without the bulk or less-than-sexy lines of most smartphones. It"s the perfect non-BlackBerry.

The endless list of features includes: Symbian S60 3rd Edition FP2; 2.4" QVGA display with excellent readability / light sensor control; stellar battery life (13 days of standby and 5 hours of talk time); 3.2 MP still / video camera with flash; full media player functionality; Navi-key with kinda-creepy-but-ultimately-very-cool glowing status light that "beats" like a heart; handles up to 8GB microSD cards giving you lots of storage capacity for music, photos, and video; also includes Wi-Fi, voice-guided GPS, Quickoffice for working on-the-go, and, of course, HSDPA and Java-enabled browser to make internet surfing zippy.

The E71x is a power executive hiding inside a little black dress, and it"s price is hard to beat - just $99.99 with a two year contract on AT&T.

Posted by: Sarah      Read more     Source

June 3, 2009, 5:15 AM CT 

Cell phone ringtones can pose major distraction

Students exposed to a briefly ringing cell phone scored 25 percent worse on a test of material presented before the distraction.

A flurry of recent research has documented that talking on a cell phone poses a dangerous distraction for drivers and others whose attention should be focused elsewhere. Now, a newly released study in the Journal of Environmental Psychology finds that just the ring of a cell phone appears to be equally distracting, particularly when it comes in a classroom setting or includes a familiar song as a ringtone.

"In any setting where people are trying to acquire knowledge and trying to retain that information in some way, a distraction that may just seem like a common annoyance to people may have a really disruptive effect on their later retention of that information," said the study's main author, Jill Shelton, a postdoctoral psychology fellow in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

The study includes an experiment in which Shelton poses as a student seated in the middle of a crowded undergraduate psychology lecture and allows a cell phone in her handbag to continue ringing loudly for about 30 seconds.

Students tested later scored about 25 percent worse for recall of course content presented during the distraction, even though the same information was covered by the professor just previous to the phone ring and projected as text in a slide show shown throughout the distraction. Students scored even worse when Shelton added to the disturbance by frantically searching her handbag as if attempting to find and silence her ringing phone.........

Posted by: Ashley      Read more         Source

May 22, 2009, 5:21 AM CT 

Viral epidemics poised to go mobile

This image shows the different mechanisms of virus transmission between mobile phones.

Credit: Pu Wang, University of Notre Dame, Physics Marta C. González, Northeastern University, Physics Cesar A. Hidalgo, Harvard Kennedy School of Government Albert-Lászlo Barabási, Northeastern University, Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

If you own a computer, chances are you have experienced the aftermath of a nasty virus at some point. In contrast, there have been no major outbreaks of mobile phone viral infection, despite the fact that over 80 percent of Americans now use these devices. A team headed by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, director of the Center for Complex Network Research at Northeastern University, set out to explain why this is true.

The scientists used calling and mobility data from over six million anonymous mobile phone users to create a comprehensive picture of the threat mobile phone viruses pose to users. The results of this study, reported in the May 22 issue of Science,indicate that a highly fragmented market share has effectively hindered outbreaks thus far. Further, their work predicts that viruses will pose a serious threat once a single mobile operating system's market share grows sufficiently large. This event may not be far off, given the 150 percent annual growth rate of smart phones.

"We haven't had a problem so far because only phones with operating systems, so-called 'smart phones', are susceptible to viral infection," explained Marta Gonzalez, one of the authors of the publication. "Once a single operating system becomes common, we could potentially see outbreaks of epidemic proportion because a mobile phone virus can spread by two mechanisms: a Bluetooth virus can infect all Bluetooth-activated phones in a 10-30 meter radius, while Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) virus, like a number of computer viruses, spreads using the address book of the device. Not surprisingly, hybrid viruses, which can infect via both routes, pose the most significant danger".........

Posted by: Ashley      Read more         Source

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:06:14 GMT 

Samsung Impression available now

Samsung's new messaging phone known as the Samsung Impression is now available on AT&T network. It comes with some nice features including a 3.2 inch AMOLED touch screen display and a neat full QWERTY keyboard. AMOLED screens are renowned for providing better display quality and a longer battery life. It is available for $199.99 on a 2-year contract.

Here are the specs:

Networks: GSM 900/1800/1900/850, HSDPA 3G 850/1900
Weight: 150 g
Dimensions: 4.48 x 2.28 x .61 inches
Display: 3.2 inches 262K colors (240 x 400 pixels) AMOLED TFT touchscreen
Camera: 3 MP with 3x Digital Zoom
Memory: 190 MB with microSD support up to 16GB
Connectivity: 3.6 Mbps HSDPA, GPRS, EDGE, HSCSD, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, USB 2.0
GPS: GPS with A-GPS support
Multimedia: MP3/WAV/e-AAC+/WMA/AMR Audio player, MPEG4/3gp Video player
Keyboard: Full QWERTY
Browser: WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, RSS feed
Others: Email, IM, Photo/video editor, Geo-tagging
Battery:1000 mAh
Standby time: 250h
Talk time: 3h

Via: AT&T

Posted by: Umair Khalid      Read more     Source

April 22, 2009, 5:28 AM CT 

Ultrasound imaging with a smartphone

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo
William D. Richard (left) takes an ultrasound probe of colleague David Zar's carotid artery with a low-power imaging device he designed. 

Computer engineers at Washington University in St. Louis are bringing the minimalist approach to medical care and computing by coupling USB-based ultrasound probe technology with a smartphone, enabling a compact, mobile computational platform and a medical imaging device that fits in the palm of a hand.

William D. Richard, Ph.D., WUSTL associate professor of computer science and engineering, and David Zar, research associate in computer science and engineering, have made commercial USB ultrasound probes compatible with Microsoft Windows mobile-based smartphones, thanks to a $100,000 grant Microsoft awarded the two in 2008. In order to make commercial USB ultrasound probes work with smartphones, the scientists had to optimize every aspect of probe design and operation, from power consumption and data transfer rate to image formation algorithms. As a result, it is now possible to build smartphone-compatible USB ultrasound probes for imaging the kidney, liver, bladder and eyes, endocavity probes for prostate and uterine screenings and biopsies, and vascular probes for imaging veins and arteries for starting IVs and central lines. Both medicine and global computer use will never be the same.

"You can carry around a probe and cell phone and image on the fly now," said Richard. "Imagine having these smartphones in ambulances and emergency rooms. On a larger scale, this kind of cell phone is a complete computer that runs Windows. It could become the essential computer of the Developing World, where trained medical personnel are scarce, but most of the population, as much as 90 percent, have access to a cell phone tower."........

Posted by: Ashley      Read more         Source

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:19:53 GMT 

Google Docs enhanced for mobile users

Good news for mobile users as Google has updated its Google Docs online App. to support document viewing, editing, sorting, filtering and much more. Initially mobile users only had access to view their online documents but now they can play around with their documents using their mobile phones. It therefore enables users to record and keep track of important information without having to install any applications onto their mobile devices.

Currently this feature is supported for Symbian, iPhone and Android Smartphones. For more information visit theGoogle blog.

Posted by: Umair Khalid      Read more     Source

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:49:11 GMT 

T-Mobile G2 coming in April 2009?

There are rumours floating around that the T-Mobile G2 will be launching in February 2009. The T-Mobile G2 will be more like the iPhone 3G and it will feature a large sized touch screen display but no physical QWERTY keyboard. The T-Mobile G2 will also be launched by other operators other than T-Mobile with different names. Here are the rumoured specs:

OS: Android
Connectivity: 3G, EDGE, GPRS, WiFi, Bluetooth, USB
Camera: 5 MP, Secondary video call camera
Memory: microSD support upto 16G
Multimedia: Music and Video Player
Others: Enterprise Solution, Mobile Backup, Real web browsing, Video capture and playback

Source: BGR

Posted by: Umair Khalid      Read more     Source

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 20:32:54 GMT 

Twitter Relaunches People Search

You can now search for people on Twitter - again.

"The microblogging tool's re-launched people search.... lets you query the service by username or first/last name to find other users," according to Mashable's Adam Ostrow. Twitter had this feature in the past; but earlier this year it was taken down for technical reason.

From Twitter Blog:Twitter is much more valuable when you can find the accounts of the people or organizations you care about-whether they're friends, news organizations, or the airline that will be taking to see your family over the holidays. You'll notice that our new name search is much faster, more relevant, and it even has a phonetic similarity algorithm which is basically fancy talk for spell check on names.


© mil8

Posted by: Greg Cruey      Read more     Source

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 02:47:47 GMT 

The G1- The mythical Google Phone

For well over a year, the rumors of a Google phone have been running rampant. After the iPhone made its debut a year and a half ago, hopeful Google-lovers have been fantasizing that the Google phone would address all the shortcomings of the beautiful, but in some ways, limited, Apple smartphone.

I"ve been using the iPhone since it arrived in June 2007. Then I happily upgraded to the 3G model this past July. I love it and couldn"t live without it, but I too was eagerly anticipating the arrival of the first Google phone. After side by side usage for a while, I"ve decided that the iPhone and the Google G1 are very different, and made for very different users. The iPhone is beautiful, simple, and a great media player, but the Google phone is a super-fast, highly customizable extra-smart smartphone.