Sony Mylo - A Worthy Sidekick Competitor

Sony announced a mobile gadget today dubbed Mylo (My Life Online), that allows you to surf the Internet anywhere and place Skype calls with the built-in 802.11b wifi support.

The Sony Mylo device measures 4.8″x2.5″x0.96″ and is a tad thicker than T-Mobile’s Sidekick 3. Nevertheless, it oozes the cool flavour of the Sony PSP, features a 2.4″ QVGA LCD display and is available in 2 colors - black and white.

Apart from Skype, the device also supports Google Talk and Yahoo! Messenger. Surfing the Internet and checking emails is courtesy of the installed Opera browser. In addition, the Sony Mylo plays MP3, ATRAC and WMA audio files, and also MP4 videos. If the 940MB of on-board memory is insufficient, you can expand it further with a memory stick.

The Sony Mylo is expected to be released in September for $350 at SonyStyle.com

Palm Foleo Mobile Companion

alm has announced the availability of the $499 Palm Foleo, touted as “the mobile companion for your smartphone”. Boasting a 10.4″ screen, full-sized keyboard and a featherlight 1.13kg, the Palm Foleo is meant to:
- sync with the smartphone, e.g. for reading emails.
- provide light Office document editing and mobile Powerpoint presentations.
- give a better surfing experience courtesy of the larger screen, wifi and bluetooth.

Information is scant at the moment, but the device is believed to be compatible with Windows Mobile devices, RIM’s Blackberry and Apple’s iPhone apart from Palm’s own Treo smartphones. Some of its other strengths are instant-ON and a 5-hour battery life, although Palm founder Jeff Hawkins has warned that while the Foleo’s processing power is sufficient for light work, it might not be able to run some websites like Youtube’s video sharing website.

Asus S6F Ultraportable Notebook Review

Every once in a while, a new notebook is launched with an innovative feature that will set a new trend for the entire industry. This time around, Asus has “infused” fashion into the usually bland machine to produce a leather-clad notebook!

Available in luxurious bright orangy-brown and contemporary grey genuine leather, the tiny Asus S6F ultraportable weights a measly 1.6kg and sports an Intel Core Duo 1.66GHz Centrino, 80GB PATA HDD, 1GB DDR2 memory and a glossy 11.1″ wide-screen (1366×768) display.

Despite it’s diminutive size, the Asus S6F still manages to pack 3 USB 2.0 ports, an ExpressCard slot, Bluetooth, 802.11 a/b/g wifi, a multi-format card reader and an integrated DVD-writer.

The only weakness of the Asus S6F notebook is the Intel 945GM graphic card (shared), which is expected of an ultraportable because they were not designed for graphic-intensive PC games in the first place. That aside and if you have $2,400 to spare, there probably isn’t another ultraportable notebook that is more stylish and feature-packed than the Asus S6F.

ASUS U2

The ASUS U1f was a classy number which combined a stainless steel frame and leather on the palm rest to offer a luxurious design. The latest upgrade, the ASUS U2, goes a step further by boosting performance in two key areas.

Though the 11.1-inch notebook still does not include an integrated optical drive, the new Core 2 Duo ULV processor will likely give the U2 a much faster computing experience than the older U1f. Another factor to consider is the replacement of the standard harddisk with a 32GB SSD, which has no moving parts and offers a speedier read/write access than the former. Other features such as a fingerprint scanner, integrated Webcam and an LED-backlit display are passed down to the U2 as well. No news on the price and availability of this unit--though with its 32GB SSD, we expect the price to be significantly higher than the S$3,988 (US$2,623.68) one has to fork out for the U1f.

Helio Brightens its YouTube offering

To use the worst of bad plays on words, YouTube has thrown itself into the Ocean: Youth-oriented mobile carrier Helio announced Wednesday that it has souped up the YouTube video offerings for its Ocean handset.

Owners of the double-keyboard smartphone are now able to upload videos to the Google-owned service more easily, fill in various criteria for them (privacy settings, tags, descriptions, categories) and "geotag" them thanks to the handset's GPS capability. Additionally, the Ocean YouTube application facilitates access to some of the social-networking features previously unavailable to most mobile versions of YouTube--rating, commenting, and access to personal videos through a full log-in.

The enhanced mobile YouTube is available free of charge on the Ocean, which has a 3G mobile Web connection. It's not the first time that a handset manufacturer has touted YouTube integration--Apple's iPhone prominently features a player for the wildly popular video-sharing service, and LG makes a "YouTube phone," the KU990 Viewty.

But Helio considers its YouTube interface to be a step above the fray, and apparently YouTube's honchos agree. "Helio has taken the mobile YouTube experience to the next level," Chad Hurley, YouTube co-founder and CEO, said in a statement from Helio. "This innovative application offers people even more customization and provides them with instant access to interact with the YouTube community whenev

Motorola H500 Bluetooth Black

Streamlined and sophisticated, the Motorola Bluetooth Headset H500 provides wireless connectivity and convenience. Combining an ergonomic design and versatile ear hook, this sleek headset can be worn on either ear.

Features: -Compatible with Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones that support headset and hands-free profiles2 -Ergonomic earhook with improved back housing design to form fit to your ear -Enhanced audio performance -Up to 8 hours of talk time** and 130 hours of standby time -Multi-function button to control 3-way calling, call start and end, hold, mute -Removable earhook to allow the headset to be worn on either ear -Advanced volume controls include orientation technology to assure that volume controls will always be upright -Blue LED light to notify when the headset is in use, or turn off this feature if you choose -Bluetooth* 1.2 provides quicker pairing, better audio with less dropped calls and reduced interference from other devices

LG Venus and Voyager

Though Verizon Wireless isn't announcing the LG Venus and Voyager at CTIA, the cell phones are making guest appearances. I got a few minutes to play with both handsets, the first time I've seen them in the flesh, and I all I can say is, "wow." Both the Venus and Voyager sport throughly lovely designs that will do a lot to bring more style to the formerly stodgy Verizon. Yes, they're a bit on the hefty side, but they back up their bulk with sleek and shiny profiles.

As an update the the LG enV, the Voyager features the same folding design that hides the full QWERTY keyboard. They keyboard itself is about the same as on the enV with a similar set of shortcut options. We noticed, however, that the keyboard feels a tad more spacious, and the redesigned toggle is somewhat easier to use. The internal screen doesn't show a lot of changes either, but its landscape orientation will lend itself well to displaying V Cast Mobile TV. The Voyager also has the same twin speakers on both sides of the display.

But it's the Voyager's exterior that holds the most changes. While the enV's exterior keypad and tiny external display were less than stellar, the Voyager's has an expansive touch screen.

CDMA2000

Although it looks cumbersome to me, this $529 CDMA2000 1x "phone" includes a 330,000 pixel plug-in digital camera, speakerphone, voice recording and recognition, and a "finger ring" earpiece that communicates with the phone via infrared (don't wear long sleeves!) It even boasts "photo caller ID" so that the caller's picture pops up on the display when the phone rings. Allegedly, the phone's battery will power it for 150 hours of standby time, or 100 minutes of talk time. Overall, its specs. are impressive, indeed.

TELSON TWC 1150

Reliance IndiaMobile has launched Telson TWC 1150, a wristwatch designer phone with plug-in camera from Telson Electronics, for the first time in India. A next-generation mobile phone with 'cybertic' design, Telson 1150 can be worn on the wrist and is the world's lightest CDMA2000 1x phone. Telson TWC 1150 is a RUIM enabled phone.

The Watch Phone, ergonomically designed for the young generation, weighs only 98 gms. Telson TWC 1150 packs in a lot of features including loudspeaker, voice recording and voice recognition capability, infrared earpiece and polyphonic ring tones. It also has a speakerphone facility along with infrared "Finger-Ring" type earpiece. The high performance battery of the phone enables talk time up to 100 minutes and standby time up to 150 hour.

Telson TWC 1150 is equipped with a plug-in high-resolution 330,000 pixel digital camera that is included in the handset kit. It has a capacity to save upto 80 pictures which can be attached to the unique phone book. The Phone Book has a facility to store up to 200 entries with 4 numbers, email id and URL and Photo caller id so that whenever you receive calls the photo of the caller will be displayed on the screen. One can even set up to seven blinking colours depending on the caller's group.

The Telson TWC 1150 phone with external attachable camera is priced attractively at Rs 23,900. It will be offered to customers on outright sale basis. It is initially being launched at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad and will be available at the Reliance WebWorlds and retail ouitlets at these cities.

Some of the other features Telson TWC 1150 include:

16Poly (76 Embedded, No Downloadable), facility to assign specific ring tones to individual numbers stored in the phone book. Vibrate and silent alert

Voice Dial, Voice Memo, Answering Machine, Call Recording

English for User Interface and Text input, Type, send and receive SMS, store Phone Book entries and Schedules in English

Scheduler, Calculator, Alarm, World Clock,Unit Exchange, Stopwatch, Embedded Game, 3 way calling (conference), call waiting, call forwarding, call mute, incoming call ringer mute

Internal Phone Book to store 200 entries with 4 numbers, email id and URL per entry; Photo caller id - View the photo of the caller

Predictive Text input available in English for SMS

M300 Watch Phone

Yes, I too spoke into a plastic watch strapped to my wrist, pretending to be Action Man and James Bond, thwarting the evil world domination plans of my six-year old brother. I was a kid of course, but there is something inherently spy-like and cool about being able to communicate via your wrist. Stick that in your iPhone.

We have covered the M300 Watch Phone in the past but the fantasy is set to be come a reality next month. Australian makers, SMS Technology, showed it off at the 3GSM show this week and announced that first shipments will start in March to South Africa. It added:

“We are currently finalizing agreements in Australia, UK, Denmark, Russia, Canada, Spain, Italy, USA and South America and will announce the release dates in due course over the coming week.”

It will come over 80 hours standby time, full SMS functionality, Bluetooth, dial-up networking, games, MP3 player, 64 MB of internal memory, USB connectivity, 99-number memory storage and 40 embedded real tones. It will cost around [currency conversion warning!] £300.

Full specs and another pic after the jump.-Martin Lynch

All New Apple iPod Nano

September 2007 - Apple® introduced the all new iPod® nano to the world, bringing video playback and a new design to the world’s most popular music player. The new iPod nano has a larger two-inch display that lets users watch their favorite films, TV shows and music videos in the same resolution they currently enjoy on the video iPod. iPod nano delivers up to 24 hours of audio playback or five hours of video playback on a single charge, and is encased in a beautiful new all-metal design made with anodized aluminum and polished stainless steel and comes in five new colors; silver, black, blue, green and a red special edition. Want One?

The new iPod Nano features a 320 x 240 pixel screen with 24 hours of audio playback. Its a really beautiful looking iPod and in my view takes this iconic device to the next level but without leaving its heritage behind. The company have also recently released the sleek iPod Touch.

Since its launch in November 2001, Apple have sold more than 110 million iPods. iPod sales account for about 30 per cent of Apple’s revenues and along with its world leading iTunes store makes for a huge success story.

Panasonic Releases L10 Firmware Update

Panasonic has released a firmware update for its latest DSLR, the L10.

The update addresses autofocusing problems with certain Panasonic lenses, as well Auto Exposure accuracy using the Night Scene mode and a general improvement for when using the Auto White Balance.
A further update is said to improve the minimum shooting interval time between shots taken on a single shot mode.

XP1 built for life, no not that XP

When a company is brave enough to back its phone with an unconditional three-year guarantee and commission a "torture test" in Europe, you know that's no ordinary handset. The military-spec Sonim XP1 eats daily abuse like a piece of cake and, according to the company Sonim Technologies, is certified to withstand shock, water, wind, dust, dirt and extreme temperatures. Wait till you see it get run over by a digging machine. The XP1 is currently on tour in Europe and you can follow its trail of abuse here.

It's time for Prada to leave teddy at home

Here's how to ruin a thing of beauty. Find a Prada phone, one of the most gorgeous handsets we've seen, and attach a scruffy miniature teddy bear to it. Worse yet, dress the little sap in some tiny Prada label too, then charge nearly US$100 for it.

That pretty much sums up this line of phone straps marketed by the design house, as seen on Chip Chick. And believe it or not, the teddy pictured here actually isn't nearly as hideous as some of the others in the "Mobile Trick Quirinos" line, such as those clad in pink, red, and white.

Why Prada chose to do this, especially after coming out with some lust-worthy accessories immediately after launching its phone, is beyond us. Then again, we've never understood high-end designer labels; the closest we've ever gotten to them is the new arrivals at Ross.

"Mini Mob" phone brings back the brick

Why anyone would want to bring back the cell-phone brick look is beyond us. Yet that's what the "Mini Mob" would like to do by stuffing modern technologies into its chunky, Flock of Seagulls-era frame.

It's really not as unwieldy as the originals, however--it's more of a scale model that's a little more than 4 inches long, according to Gadget Lab. Inside it sports an MP3 player, camera, and GSM technology (it's offered by a UK distributor).

We're not really into the '80s look, having destroyed all our Members Only jackets in a ritual burning long ago. But for those young enough to regard this period as retro chic, we can recommend a few boomboxes that would complement this phone nicely.

Android phone prototype photographed

Gizmodo got a picture of a real mobile phone running the Android software initiative spearheaded by Google. Though we know that there is no Google phone, there are real devices out there used by the search giant to demonstrate the Android software, and here’s one of them.

This prototype bears a passing resemblance to some smart phones and we won't be surprised if it's just a slightly-modified Treo. According to the Gizmodo reader who sent in the photo, the OS is fast--faster than the desktop SDK emulator. Without a doubt, it's going to be an exciting year ahead for mobile phones with Google in the fray.

Samsung i450 in the works

Somehow spy shots of a product seem to be both a blessing and a curse - after all, you can't really tell what the final product looks like, just as how the Samsung i450 is featured here. A Czech mobile site has some images of this upcoming slider from Korea, and with it come a whole slew of speculative specifications. Rumor has it that the Samsung i450 will feature tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900, UMTS and 3.6Mbps HSDPA connectivity, a 2.3" 262k color QVGA display, a 2 megapixel camera behind and a VGA camera up front for video calls, Bluetooth 2.0 and USB 2.0 connectivity, 1GB of internal memory, and a microSD memory card slot. IFA 2007, will thou reveal the Samsung i450 then?

Pharos 600 Series GPS Phone

The Pharos 600 and 600e are the new smartphones that comes with GPS maps of the US and Canada.
These GPS phones comes with a color touch screen, which can easily be turned into a full QWERTY keyboard, mobile versions of Windows Media Player, Microsoft Office Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint, 2 megapixel camera, Windows Mobile 5.0, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, WiFi 802.11b/g, tri-band FM radio, and a voice recorder. For a new T-Mobile contract you will be able to get the 600 for $500 and 600e for $400 approximately.

Nokia 6500 FCC’s approval

The FCC has just approved the Nokia 6500 slider handset, which means you can start saving up for one today. It will come with an impressive 3.2 megapixel camera featuring Carl Zeiss optics (just like the N73), with the addition of a TV-out jack (video calls on your TV are now possible!), a microSD memory card slot, Push-to-Talk, and a USB interface for data synchronization (and simultaneous charging when plugged in at last). The 2.2" QVGA display is nothing much to write home about, but TV-out would be the main attraction of this slider. Heck, you can even check your email on-the-go with this baby thanks to the full fledged email client and IM application on the 6500. No idea on which carrier it will be available from though, but it will make an appearance this Q3 for €370...

Samsung Ultra Smart F700

Samsung Ultra Smart F700 is a touchscreen mobile gadget and currently available in Germany and the UK. This phone comes with a sliding out QWERTY keypad which I like better than iPhone screen keys and will soon be available in Asia Pacific but no confirmed exact date yet.

Samsung SPH-M4650 SmartPhone

The SPH-M4650 is new smartphone from Samsung running on Windows mobile 6 OS. It features a 2-megapixel camera, a DMB TV Tuner, Bluetooth and an electronic dictionary packed in a frame that is only 16mm thick. It boasts of a 2.8” screen that exudes a slight vibration when you touch an icon on the screen.

LG KS20: LG Finally Announcing Prada Phone with Windows Mobile

First spotted in 3GSM event early this year, LG will soon announce the LG KS20 3G Windows Smartphone with a 2.8-inch touch screen display.

To be introduced during the IFA 2007 event (From 31 August), LG-KS20 is a 3G smartphone powered by Windows Mobile 6.0. It supports HSDPA network, with up to 3.6 Mbps data connection speed. With a 12.8 thickness, the smartphone will not have a keypad design, but comes with a 2.8-inch touch screen. Other than the usual Windows Mobile UI, LG will also adding a customize shortcut menu at the bottom for quick access to applications, contacts and number dialer.

2 megapixel camera will be used on the phone, it is not sure if it has integrated flash module. The LG KS20 will be available in Europe in Q4 this year.

Below is a list of unconfirmed specifications
LG KS20 Smartphone

• Windows Mobile 6 Professional
• Size: 99.5 x 58 x 12.9 mm
• Weight: 99 g
• Memory: 128 MB ROM
• ARM1136EJS MSM7200
• 2.8", 240x320 pixel, 18-bit (262.144) colour touchscreen
• GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA
• 800 mAh Li-Polymer battery, 3/180 hours talk/standby time
• 2.0 megapixel camera with auto-focus and flash, second video calling camera
• Bluetooth, WiFi, TV-out, FM radio
• microSD card slot