Author Archive: John McKenzie

LG GM310, GM210 and GM205 Music Phones

Yesterday in Korea LG announced plans to roll out 3 new music phones namely the LG GM310, GM210 and GM205. The plans are for release this year and the handsets will feature Dolby Mobile and the new LG Sound Engine for sound output enhancements. Regions like Mexico, Asia, Brazil and Latin America will be among the first countries that getting the phones.

Left to Right GM310, GM210 and GM205

All 3 music handsets will come with convenient music buttons for quick access to music player control and USB connector for easy file transfer. The LG GM310 (middle in picture above) has a 3 megapixel camera, microSD card slot (up to 32GB) and touch sensor buttons. Both the LG GM210 and GM205 will feature a 2 megapixel camera and microSD card slot (up to 4GB).

Posted by: John

T-Mobile USA Working on Two Android Devices

T-Mobile USA are working on two Android-based non-smartphone devices, the first being a data-enabled home phone to be followed by a 7-inch touchscreen tablet.  According to documents obtained by the NYT, the two devices will launch early in 2010 and be intended for in home use rather than mobile use.

Details on both devices are very sparse at present. 

The home phone is said to have a recharging dock, together with a separate base station that would handle data synchronization.  It sounds similar to the Verizon Hub or perhaps iriver’s WAVE HOME.

As for the tablet, that’s described as a small laptop without a keyboard, using a 7-inch touchscreen for control.  As well as basic internet access – the NYT suggest checking the weather – it could be used as a touchscreen remote for other devices in the home.  No specific availability details have been revealed, but the home phone is expected to launch in early 2010, with the tablet following “soon after”.

Posted by: John

Huawei’s first Android phone

Huawei’s first Android phone has been confirmed as due for launch on T-Mobile later this year.

Showcased at the Mobile World Congress event earlier this year, the OEM offering had been scheduled for a third quarter launch, but with whom was not known.

Huawei’s Android Phone

Now a Huawei spokesperson has confirmed the device will join the G1 in T-Mobile’s Android-based line-up: "I can confirm that Huawei will be releasing the third Google phone on T-Mobile this year".

The handset, said to be "low-cost", will boast a 5-megapixel camera, a 3.5mm headphone jack and Wi-Fi connectivity.

So far the T-Mobile G1 is the only Android phone available in the UK, although Vodafone and HTC are to offer the rival "Magic" from May.

Posted by: John

T-Mobile Handset Release Schedule Leaked

It looks like another one of those moments that company’s dread and try so hard to cover up.

T-Mobiles handset release schedule looks to have been leaked on the net seemingly confirming that the carrier will launch the Sidekick 2009 “Blade” on May 13th and the HTC Touch Pro 2 will arrive on July 22nd which we reported earlier today.

The full list of release dates are as follows:

• “Blade” (Sidekick 2009) – May 13
• HTC “Maple”/”Snap” – July 1st (contrary to earlier speculation, this seems to confirm a T-Mobile variant)
• HTC “Rhodium”/Wing II – July 22nd (also known as the Touch Pro 2)
• HTC “Sapphire”/”Magic” – TBD (aka G2)
• Sony Ericsson “CS8? – June 24th (8mp camera? Is this the Android device they’ve been talking about?)
• Nokia 1661 (prepaid) – April 29th (a week later than previously mentioned)
• Samsung T349 (prepaid) – May 6th
• Samsung T239 (prepaid) – May 13th
• Samsung T559 – July 15th
• Samsung T469 – July 15th (just a simple two-tone gray, apparently)
• Samsung T749 – July 22nd (2 colors for this one: red/orange and two-tone gray)
• Samsung T659 – August 19th

The other interesting piece of news in this is the fact that the HTC Magic (Vodafone announced) will be going to T-Mobile as the G2.

Posted by: John

Samsung M2710 and M2310 leak

Photos of two yet unannounced Samsung phones leaked online today. Looking like trimmed-down versions of the M7610 Beat DISC the Samsung M2710 and Samsung M2310 are obviously all about music.

Samsung M2710

Even though the two newbie’s don’t have the feature pack of their bigger brother they still managed to catch our eye with their sleek design.

Samsung M2710 is a slider, sporting a standard 3.5 mm audio output jack, Bluetooth and a 2-megapixel snapper. A must for every music phone, there will also be a memory card slot aboard.

Samsung M2710

Samsung S2710 will feature FM radio and accelerometer sensor. Most probably the latter will be used for some kind of shake control, like the Samsung M3200 Beat.

Samsung M2310

The flip – Samsung M2310, has media control buttons on the front panel packs EDGE and Bluetooth support, FM radio and memory card slot. A camera is also available but its pixel count is yet unknown.

Samsung M2310

Both new members of the Beat family are destined for the Brazilian market but there is no information about their pricing yet.

Posted by: John

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LG GD900 Crystal Details

Today LG unveiled some more details about the LG GD900 Crystal. The unique transparent keypad doubles as a touchpad and the handset will also support multi-touch.

It has also become clear that the keypad is made of glass, rather than plastic which in my view is a big mistake given that the form factor is slide (I wonder how much replacement slides will be).

The LG GD900 Crystal will run on LG’s S-Class UI with a lot of touch related goodies including multi-touch input as well as gesture support. This means that features like the two-finger zoom we saw on the Arena will be available for the Crystal users too.

Oooh Fancy

There will also be some new stuff on the LG Crystal, for example writing an ‘M’ would launch the MP3 player and drawing a circle controls the volume.

We know that the GD900 will have haptic feedback which is a more than welcomed feature and that it will also have handwriting recognition, which isn’t too frequent on phones with capacitive screens but improvement has been done in the web browsing department too which is more than needed.

The GD900 will offer ‘mouse mode’ for a more convenient browsing experience which basically means that you will be able to control a virtual mouse with your touch keypad, much like you would do on a laptop.

The LG GD900 Crystal will hit the European and Asian shelves in May but its pricing is yet unknown.

Posted by: John

AT&T Announce 6 New QWERTY Handsets

AT&T announced 6 new entries to its mobile phones portfolio yesterday. The emphasis is quite obviously on texting with all 6 of their new offerings featuring full QWERTY keyboard. The leader of the pack is Nokia E71x, followed by three Samsung handsets – Propel Pro, Impression and Magnet and two LG devices – Neon and Xenon.

The Nokia E71x isn’t really any different from its European sibling, save for the new paintjob. The bar is the slimmest smartphone to date and sports a 2.36" 16M color QVGA display.

Nokia E71x

It will also feature a GPS receiver a 3 megapixel auto focus camera and of course – HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity. A built-in microSD card slot will allow expanding the internal memory with up to 16GB worth of additional storage.

Nokia E71x

The Nokia E71x will be available in the following weeks across AT&T stores for 150 US dollars on a 2 year contract.

The Samsung Propel Pro comes as a direct successor of the Samsung A767 Propel, extending its functionality quite extensively. Running on the Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard it packs Wi-Fi, GPS and a 2.55" square display with a resolution of 320 x 320 pixels.

Samsung Propel Pro

The Samsung Propel Pro has a 528 MHz CPU and 128 MB of RAM. Its other important features include 3G with HSDPA support, microSD card slot, Bluetooth, USB and a 3 megapixel autofocus camera.

Samsung Propel Pro

You can find the Propel Pro in the AT&T stores starting from April 14. In order to walk out with it you will have to part with 150 US dollars and sign a two-year contract.

Next in line is the side-slider Samsung Impression. Its highlight feature is the 3.2" AMOLED touchscreen of WQVGA resolution, which according to AT&T is a first for the US. In addition to it the handset comes with quad-band GSM and dual-band UMTS with HSDPA support.

Samsung Impression

The other key features of Samsung Impression are Bluetooth with A2DP, microSD card slot and a 3 megapixel camera with video recording capabilities.

Samsung Impression

The Samsung Impression will be available from April 7 for 200 US dollars on a two-year contract.

Samsung Impression

The Samsung Magnet is a simple offering, targeted at the younger audience. Sporting great messaging capabilities thanks to the full QWERTY keyboard it will be the most affordable of the bunch. However AT&T haven’t yet published the full specifications of the device so all we can tell you is that it will be an entry-level offering.

The Samsung Magnet will hit the shelves in the coming weeks.

LG Neon is an exact replica of the LG KS360, which we reviewed not too long ago. It is a mid-ranger that catches the eye with bold colours and quirky controls. Its main features include a 2.4" display, a 2 megapixel snapper and Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support.

Samsung Impression

FM radio is also onboard and so are stereo Bluetooth, microSD card slot and FM radio.

Samsung Impression

The Neon will be available quite shortly for 100 US dollars on a two-year contract.

The LG Xenon comes with haptic feedback for improving the touchscreen experience. The quad-band GSM and dual-band UMTS (with HSDPA support) handset sports a 2.8" 65K colour WQVGA display.

Samsung Impression

Its other features include 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, USB and a microSD card slot.

Samsung Impression

The LG Xenon will be available shortly across AT&T stores but its pricing still remains to be disclosed.

Posted by: John

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Samsung C6625 Slips Past Us Quietly

Expansys has started accepting pre-orders for the Samsung C6625 even though the South Korean company have yet to officially announce the new Windows Mobile 6.1-powered smartphone.

Samsung C6625

At £249.99 this QWERTY keyboard equipped smartphone will be Triband GSM and have WCDMA and HSDPA connectivity.

Samsung C6625 Specifications:

• 113.6 x 63 x 11.6 mm
• 107.7g
• Battery: Talk Time: 420 mins – Standby Time: 300 hrs – Capacity: 1300 mAh
• 320 x 240 pixels/2.6 inch
• GSM: 900/1800/1900 (Tri-Band)
• WCDMA: 2100 (Single-Band)
• HSDPA (3.6Mbps)
• 2 mega-pixels – 4 x Digital Zoom
• 25fps Video Recording (QVGA)
• Supported formats: MP4, 3GP, H.264 & WMV
• Video Streaming
• Supported formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ & WMA
• FM Stereo Radio (RDS)
• Windows Media Player Sync
• SMS
• MMS (with video)
• E-mail (POP3, SMTP, IMAP4, MS Exchange)
• Instant Messaging (MSN)
• Memory: 100MB (internal) – microSDHC (external)
• Bluetooth (2.0)
• GPRS Class 32
• HSDPA (3.6 Mbits)
• AGPS
• Remote Lock
• Device and memory card encryption
• Remote Wipe

Admittedly not the best looking or best spec phone on the market but the price will definitely grab the attention of some people.