If you need another reminder of how far ahead Korea is in the cellphone space compared to us, here’s the LG KC1. It’s got WiBro support, which is 4G and lets the phone get Wi-Fi speeds pretty much anywhere. The fast speeds allow the phone to do stuff like remote PC control, streaming videos, video calls and other ridiculously high-bandwidth apps that you could only do over Wi-Fi before.
It’s one thing to peep studio shots of Motorola’s Zante, the next evolutionary and yet unannounced step of the TMO Sidekick family. It’s another to see it in the wild. This model is a bit beat up, so it’s likely a prototype that’s been around the block. As before, the specs are strikingly similar to the Sidekick 3’s, with a ~2.4-inch screen, EDGE, 1.3MP cam, but with a sliding top instead of the flip.
Google Phone Prototypes, Software, Project Costing Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
06 Aug
Posted by admin as Mobile
Valleywag realizes that Google will not likely do phone hardware themselves. Whatever. As long as it supports the software, hopefully some shiny Mobile Google OS, we’re interested. Either way, this is what the WSJ and Reuters said today:
•”Now it is drafting specifications for phones that can display all of Google’s mobile applications at their best, and it is developing new software to run on them. The company is conducting much of the development work at a facility in Boston, and is working on a sophisticated new Web browser for cellphones.”
•Google has invested hundreds of millions on the project.
•Google has also developed prototype phones, with partners like LG Electronics.
• “ads in the mobile phone is that they are twice as profitable or more than the nonmobile phone ads because they’re more personal” says Eric Schmidt (from AllthingsD)
•In Europe, T-Mobile and Orange are believed to be partners. Verizon rejected their plans in the US because they wanted to share ad revenue.
•Taiwan’s High Tech Computer Corp to design a Linux software-based phone for launch in the first quarter of 2008
Regardless of the reputations of both the WSJ and Reuters, take all of this with a grain of salt.
Man, this thing just gets uglier every time we see it. This here is apparently the very latest, piping hot batch of blurry shots of the Palm Gandolf, the multifaceted new platform that Palm appears to be readying in both Garnet and Windows Mobile flavors with the carrier’s choice of either GSM or CDMA under the hood. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to be getting any prettier as it gets closer to an official debut — quite the opposite, actually, and the keyboard is said to be a good deal smaller than its predecessors’, eliminating one of Palm’s few remaining talking points for the Treo line. The device is now rumored to be taking on the “800″ moniker, a move which appears to call this out as being the Treo line’s new king of the hill. Anyone else think this abomination of industrial design looks more like a “500″ at best?
A Gizmodo reader underwent a vasectomy to get an Apple iPhone, following his wife’s orders after a road trip with his kids to Boise, Idaho. But fear not, dear readers-with-your-manly-parts-still-intact, because his amazing tale of heroic Apple fandom doesn’t include any Bobbit-style genital violence. Keep reading to know why and the —strange— happy finish.
Mr. Johnson (no, I am not kidding) is a confessed Apple Fanboy. “To the extreme,” according to his own words. In January, after years of rumors and speculation, he watched in awe as Apple finally introduced the iPhone to the world, bringing Universal Peace, Health and Happiness to the Galaxy. Or maybe just a stiffy happiness to people like Sean Johnson. Like many others, he was bewildered by the device. “At last, the holy JesusPhone!” he must have thought at the time. He wanted it. Badly. And, as you probably guessed, here’s where our story turns awry.
The bad news was that he already had his budget spent. Yes, even before the iPhone was announced in January, he spent his whole budget for the whole year. The JesusPhone was arriving in six months and he wasn’t going to be able to get it. And that, my friends, was dramatic, to say the least.
He was so turned on by the device that his loving wife, God bless her in her infinite patience, told him that he could have an iPhone out of his budget. The only problem: He could only get it when his Sprint contract expired at the end of 2007. That was a whole year of waiting. That meant six months living in angst watching the whole world touching, manhandling, even licking his JesusPhone. Madness, I tell you. That was a completely preposterous proposition to any true Apple fan.
Now fast-forward to June 29th. Sean was on this road trip to Boise with his kids, wife left behind at home taking care of the baby. He arrived at the hotel at 10:50 p.m. and, probably leaving his kids biting Snickers bars and watching TV in his room, he recklessly drove to an AT&T store to check the Advent of the PhoneLord (ok, so maybe it wasn’t exactly reckless, but cut me some slack here, will you?) Lo and behold, he raised his holy hand cellphone upon high saying “O iPhone, Son of Steve Jobs, Defeater of the Saxons, Sovereign of All California, thou shall be mine!” And there he went, with a new iPhone 4GB in his hands, purchased without Wife Clearance.
Yes, in some parts of the world this probably means getting your genitals completely severed. But not in the good ole U.S. of A. Or maybe not in the case of Sean: He only had to return the iPhone to the store after the Commander in Chief told him that his behavior was absolutely unacceptable. You may have gotten a MessiahPhone, but you are very naughty boy —return it at once! she probably said.
Two days later, she joined him in Denver. He was sad, non-talkative, down, depressed. You know, putting the Bambi Eyes and sighing at the sight of any Apple logo on display. The whole treatment. Noticing it, she broke the question:
— Honey, how badly you want the iPhone?
— Badly —he said, puppy eyes again, no doubt— very badly.
“Would you be willing to finally make that appointment for a vasectomy?” she replied.
What happened then? In Sean’s own words:
“I absolutely love my new 8GB iPhone.”
Worrisome iPhone users, are you dreading the day when your battery inevitably fails and sticks you with an $85.95 bill after you send it in to Apple to have it replaced? If you’re not afraid to try something new, you can start saving a little less each month because ipodjuice.com is hocking a replacement battery for $45 ($65 after shipping). But will you get what you pay for?
Motorola is the first major cellphone maker to officially plan on putting Microvision’s Pico Projector technology in future gadgets. The laser-based display engine is being placed in a prototype for now, using a 854 x 450 image.
It looks like Apple’s iPhone Bluetooth Headset is starting to trickle out to stores — Flickr user Nomad found one in Marlton, NJ earlier today and documented the unboxing. No huge surprises — yep, it’s still a minimalist black stick — but there’s a couple nifty features: when both the iPhone and headset are connected to the dual-charging dock, the iPhone’s screen shows the headset’s charge in addition to its own, and the travel cable uses a MagSafe connector. We’re still not sure it’s worth $129, of course, but that dual dock does look convenient.
The Marco is Motorola’s first plain cellphone with Wi-Fi support. This GSM/EDGE slider runs on the JUIX operating system, comes with a 2 megapixel camera and feels just sightly thicker than the Z3. The Boy Geniuses were able to connect to their wireless router just fine, but apparently they couldn’t test the connection to a T-Mobile’s hotspot. Marco’s derriere is after the jump.
Bankrupt, outta luck Amp’d Mobile sent out a text message this evening — seemingly to its entire customer base — unceremoniously stating that service “may” dry up this coming Tuesday at 12:01am. Get those number ports fired up, folks.
Update: Make sure to hit the “Read” link for full details on how the shutdown will affect customers (i.e. can I keep my phone? my contacts? all that freakin’ digital schwag I switched carriers to buy?). Interestingly enough, the main Amp’d page is still buzzing along as if nothing was wrong, and it actually took us quite a few minutes to locate the tiny graphic linking to the FAQ.
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