Motorola MING A1800 with dual-SIM, dual-network

The Motorola MING A1800 is a highly intriguing device that recently leaked online. It can work with two SIM cards, but what's even better it can work with two networks standards as well - CDMA and quad-band GSM.
Boy Genius Report recently got a hold of the otherwise officially unannounced Motorola MING A1800, which comes as an update of the Linux-based MING lineup. Having in mind the CDMA functionality, it's almost sure that the handset will be targeted at the American market, still it would be perfectly usable n Europe too.
The Motorola MING A1800 also sports a 3 megapixel autofocus camera and Bluetooth. Unfortunately, no other specifications are available, but you can enjoy some of the BGR photos.

Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_ming_a1800_is_dualsim_dualnetwork-news-467.php

AT & T To Bring Mobile TV In May

AT&T announced that the nation's largest wireless carrier will offer subscribers ten channels of live, mobile TV on at least two new phones starting in May.

AT&T Mobile TV uses Qualcomm's MediaFLO system, which we reviewed last year with two Verizon phones. The MediaFLO system allows for at least 14 channels. AT&T and Verizon will share eight: CBS, Comedy Central, ESPN , FOX, MTV, NBC, NBC News, and Nickelodeon. AT&T will get two exclusive channels of their own, which Verizon customers won't have access to.

Verizon, for its part, added two exclusive channels this week: ESPN Radio and a Latino-focused MTV spinoff, "MTV Tr3s".

MediaFLO channels aren't simulcasts of broadcast TV. Rather, they're rearrangements of the TV schedule to play popular programs several times a day. Late night talk shows pop up during morning commuting hours, for instance, and the NBC channel mixes in both NBC network programs and popular shows from NBC's Bravo cable channel.

Since AT&T uses the exact same mobile TV network as Verizon, we expect quality to be the same (excellent, just like 'regular' TV) and pricing plans to be the same (around $15/month.)

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Yahoo unveiled a new bookmarking tool for cell phones

The Internet company unveiled a new bookmarking tool for cell phones that lets people keep track of favorite Web content--news feeds, search results, Web sites--from one place on their handheld. The technology, called Yahoo OnePlace, will be available in the second quarter of 2008, according to Yahoo.

The tool builds on other new mobile applications from Yahoo. Those include OneConnect, a tool to update social-networking messaging on the phone (announced in February), and OneSearch, which aggregates news, weather, financial data, photos, and Web links based on search queries

Yahoo has heavy competition in mobile. Earlier Tuesday at Germany's annual CeBit conference, Google demonstrated Google Gears, an open-source browser extension for mobile phones that lets developers create Web applications that can run offline. For now, Google Gears supports Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile 5 and 6 phones, but not Apple's iPhone or other smart phones running Opera browsers.

Last month, Opera also switched out Yahoo and made Google the default search engine for its Opera Mobile and Opera Mini Web browsers designed for handheld devices.

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Sony Ericsson revealed T303

Sony Ericsson revealed T303, a new mid-end compact slider phone targeted to the mass market with its good looks and price. The Sony Ericsson T303 has been rumored throughout the past week and now it finally meets the bright light of day.


Sony Ericsson T303 has a nice appearance thanks to its metal housing and chrome finish, as well as a mirrored screen. The 65K TFT display itself is rather small with its 1.8" and 128 x 160 pixels resolution.




The phone is packed with decent set of features as FM Radio, TrackID, 1.3 megapixel camera and Bluetooth. A serious downside however is that the T303 doesn't have a memory card slot, while its internal memory is only 8MB.

Sony Ericsson T303 measures 83 x 47 x 14.7 mm and weighs 93 grams and will be available in Shimmering Silver and Shadow Black colors.

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Apple shares rose more than 4% on optimism over iPhone demand

Shares of Apple Inc (AAPL.O) rose more than 4 percent on Thursday amid optimism on Wall Street that the maker of consumer favorites such as the iPod media player and iPhone can weather economic troubles.
The shares rose $5.46 to $128.42 in early trade on Nasdaq, a bright contrast to slumping broader markets weighed down by mounting U.S. recession fears.

The gains come one day after Apple affirmed its iPhone sales goal for this year and promised to give details of how outside programmers can create software for the device. The move is expected to spur demand for the Web-browsing and media-playing mobile phone.

Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey, after a meeting with Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook on Wednesday, said he continues to believe that "Apple's industry-leading product cycles should help it overcome softer seasonality and sets the stock up for a strong second half."

Although the shares have risen over the past two trading sessions, they are still a long way from recouping a 30 percent decline over the past three months. Investors have soured somewhat on Apple amid concerns that a slowing economy could hit sales of its Mac computers, iPods and iPhones.

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Smuggled iphone return to china

The strange journey of Apple’s popular iPhone, to nearly every corner of the world, shows what happens when the world’s hottest consumer product defies a company’s attempt to slowly introduce it in new markets.

The iPhone has been swept up in a frenzy of global smuggling and word-of-mouth marketing that leads friends to ask friends, “While you’re in the U.S., would you mind picking up an iPhone for me?”

These unofficial distribution networks help explain a mystery that analysts who follow Apple have been pondering: why is there a large gap between the number of iPhones that Apple says it sold last year, about 3.7 million, and the 2.3 million that are actually registered on the networks of its wireless partners in the United States and Europe?

The answer now seems clear. For months, tourists, small entrepreneurs and smugglers of electronic goods have been buying iPhones in the United States and then shipping them overseas.


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Sony Ericsson W910 took Best Handset award for 2007

The Sony Ericsson W910 Walkman phone is the best handset for 2007. The high-end music handset won a tight group of nominees in the Best Mobile Handset or Device category.

It was a tight game with 3 Skypephone, LG KU990 Viewty, Nokia 6500 classic and Samsung G600 putting pressure on the Walkman W910
The judges believed Sony Ericsson W910 deserved the Best Mobile Handset or Device title for being "… a superb all-rounder. A compelling, easy to use design that has captured the imagination of consumers around the world in 2007." For what we made of it back in the day, please feel free to revisit our extended Sony Ericsson W910 review.

The Best Mobile Handset or Device category was the only one with a consolation prize. Hutchison 3 and Skype were given a good pat on the shoulder as their 3 Skypephone got highly commended. The judges appreciated that "… in addition to the headline Skype service, the phone offers extremely good value for money with a wide range of features not previously seen at this price point."

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Android: Google released a new version of the software development kit

Google released on Wednesday a new version of the software development kit for its open mobile platform called Android.

The new SDK has a new user interface, a geocoder that lets developers search for businesses as well as translate an address into a coordinate and vice versa, support for new media codecs, and code that lets developers create layout animations.

One thing missing is change to the telephony package, laments one developer on the Android Developer discussion on Google Groups.

"This is very disappointing, especially because we were told in the Android coding day in Israel that the telephony package will be updated soon," the developer wrote. "We still cannot detect the ingoing/outgoing call number or send DTMF tones properly." Prototypes of Android phones were shown at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

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RIM:The secret of the BlackBerry's success is security and social networking is its future

Speaking during a session on mobile services at the GSMA Mobile World Congress, Balsillie said having security validations worldwide, and features such as built-in firewalls and the ability to remotely lock and wipe devices, are key.

"If you don't address this, you don't get to be accepted by the organization," Balsillie warned.

Echoing Vodafone Group chief executive Arun Sarin's words from an earlier keynote, Balsillie said carriers have come to a fork in the road that will see them either become pipes or platforms. They must therefore provide a managed service to users, seamlessly integrating Web services and desktop applications onto handsets. "This is not a concept. This is a reality," he said.

And change is afoot elsewhere too, according to Balsillie, who said a business-to-business social-networking revolution is coming that will bring networking benefits to the enterprise and also help drive data usage. "Once social networking becomes a B2B phenomenon--not unlike IM and texting--I believe every single social-networking user will want a data plan," he told the GSMA audience.

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Nvidia unveiled a new applications processor industry`s first HD 720p vedio on mobile device

Cell phone makers aren't the only ones hoping to one-up the iPhone these days. Increasingly, it's the silicon wizards themselves that are scrambling to conjure up powerful (yet low-powered) processors and diminutive architectures that will serve as brains for this future generation of iPhone killers/imitators.

Following in the footsteps of Intel and others, graphics chip maker Nvidia unveiled a new applications processor at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona on Monday. According to the company, this new chip will let smartphone users shoot, watch and stream video in full 720p video, snap up to 12-megapixel pictures, and pave the way for a whole array of sophisticated 3-D mobile games thanks to a graphics core that delivers performance similar to Nvidia's own GeForce 6 desktop counterpart. Oh, and this chip's for Windows Mobile users only, in case you were wondering.

"If you give truth serum to the executive of any phone company -- and believe me, I've talked to them all -- they'll all tell you they want to make a better iPhone" says Michael Rayfield, the general manager of Nvidia's mobile business unit.

That's precisely what Nvidia is hoping its new APX 2500 processor will do for phones running Windows Mobile, which incidentally is already getting spanked by the iPhone in U.S. marketshare.

What the iPhone did for the mobile industry, Rayfield notes, was to "fundamentally changed what a phone architecture could be…it basically forced a PC architecture into a smartphone."

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Xperia X1 a Windows Mobile smartphone by sonyericsson

Sony Ericsson this week introduced several phones, each targeting a different group of users: mobile professionals, music lovers, photo enthusiasts, and prosumers that want a mix of functionality, advanced features, and small form factor.

The phone maker unveiled the new phones at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona.

The first and most notable device in Sony Ericsson's lineup is the Xperia X1, a Windows Mobile smartphone with a touch screen overlay and a full QWERTY keyboard. The phone comes with 3G technology called HSDPA and Wi-Fi for a high-speed mobile experience. It also has built-in GPS for personal navigation.

"Xperia represents the first brand that is truly borne from within Sony Ericsson. It represents our vision for a premium, energized communication experience," said Dee Dutta, head of marketing at Sony Ericsson, in a statement.

Like Apple's iPhone, the X1 has a large home screen with a variety of panels that can be selected with the tap of a finger to access the Web, multimedia, and applications. The panels can be configured, depending on a user's preference, which is an option that Apple also recently started offering on the iPhone. The panels, however, are larger than icons and look like snapshots of actual applications, which makes the home screen appear quite busy.

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Nokia N96 specifications

General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 850 / 2100
Announced 2008, February
Status Coming soon. Exp. release 2008, Q3
Size Dimensions 103 x 55 x 18 mm, 92 cc
Weight 125 g
Display Type TFT, 16M colors
Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.8 inches
Ringtones Type Polyphonic (64 channels), Monophonic, True Tones, MP3
Customization Download
Vibration Yes
Memory Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
Call records Detailed, max 30 days
Card slot microSD (TransFlash)
- 16 GB internal memory
- 128MB RAM, 256MB system memory
Data GPRS Class 32, 107 / 64.2 kbps
HSCSD Yes
EDGE Class 32, 296 kbps; DTM Class 11, 177 kbps
3G HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, UPnP technology
Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port Yes
USB Yes, v2.0 microUSB
Features OS Symbian OS, S60 rel. 3.2
Messaging SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, RSS reader
Games Downloadable
Colors Black
Camera 5 MP, 2592x1944 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, video(VGA 30fps), flash; secondary VGA videocall camera
- Built-in GPS receiver
- A-GPS function
- DVB-H TV broadcast receiver
- Dual slide design
- Java MIDP 2.0
- MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA player
- 3.5 mm audio output jack
- TV out
- Stereo FM Radio with RDS
- Organizer
- Office document viewer
- T9
- Push to talk
- Voice dial/memo
- Built-in handsfree
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion 950 mAh (BL-5F)
Stand-by Up to 220 h
Talk time Up to 3 h 40 min


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Samsung officially confirmed Samsung Soul

Samsung officially confirmed the style-driven Soul, a high-end handset to crown the Samsung Ultra lineup. The Soul (standing for Spirit Of Ultra) will debut at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Samsung Soul is a feature loaded full metal slider. The front is dominated by the 2.2-inches 16M QVGA display along with the magical touch navigation pad. The navigation indicators on it change icons and functions across applications. A similar navigation decision is implemented in the recently announced LG KF510.
Among the other innovations is the new customizable graphic user interface. Users are allowed to create their own skins with the on-handset User Created Skin setup. Additionally, display skins are customizable with fonts, colors and background images.

Samsung Soul is recognizable for its 5-megapixel autofocus camera with powerful LED flash, equipped with the latest camera tech goodies like face detection, image stabilizer and Wide Dynamic Range. On top of that, the camera is capable of video recording in QVGA resolution at 30fps.

The multimedia set includes FM radio with RDS, MP3/WAV/WMA player with Music library navigation. Sound quality with no distortion even at the highest volume is entrusted to the Bang & Olufsen-patented ICEpower technology.

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Apple chopdown the production of iPods, iPhones

Two research analysts have reported in recent days that Apple is aggressively cutting back production on iPods and iPhones, while increasing production on Mac computers.

Craig Berger, an analyst with FBR Research, told clients in a research note this week that Apple has reduced orders for iPhones and iPods for the second time in two months. Berger concludes that Apple is experiencing weak sell-through in the fourth calendar quarter of 2007 or in the early going this year.

"For both iPods and iPhones, we believe Apple was previously targeting a roughly 50 percent quarter-over-quarter decline for first quarter units, whereas we now think the firm is targeting a 60 percent quarter-over-quarter unit decline for first-quarter units," he wrote.

iPod Touch Weakness

It seems that the iPod Touch may have seen the weakest sales. Berger reported production orders for the Touch have fallen the most. The device may suffer from being less than an iPhone, since it has no phone capabilities but is substantially more expensive than Apple's music-playing iPhones. The touch relies on Wi-Fi for connectivity, so users who aren't in range of a Wi-Fi connection simply can't get online.

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Nokia N82 Black version released

The Finland giant Nokia silently released the highly expected and speculated Nokia N82 Black version. The phone appeared nowhere else but in the USA Nokia online store with an "Unlocked" status. The sleek Nokia N82 Black version is already available for purchase at a price of $629.00 with free shipping for USA.
Let's refresh your memory with the Nokia N82 main features, starting with the HSDPA with video calls and quad-band GSM support. The 100MB of integrated memory is complemented by the microSD memory slot. The 2.4" 16M color QVGA TFT display is among the other highlights.

Nokia N82, is pretty much identical in hardware to the N95. It has 5 megapixel autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss optics, capable of capturing 30fps MPEG4 videos at VGA resolution, and has a TV-out port to watch those on your TV set.

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BlackBerry "blackout" between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.

It may be wishful thinking, but a Canadian government ministry has sent out a directive to its employees urging them to relax and not use their BlackBerry smartphones at night or on weekends and holidays.
Trying to re-establish a proper balance between work and life, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, which manages immigration and resettlememt services for the government, is starting by trying to cut the chains to what some have called CrackBerrys.

The department's deputy minister, Richard Fadden, sent out a memo asking employees to implement a BlackBerry "blackout" between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. and on weekends and holidays.

"Work/life quality is a priority for me and this organization because achieving it benefits us both as individuals and as a department," Fadden wrote.

"When we can 'balance' our work and personal responsibilities, we, as a team, stand to not only serve and perform more effectively, but also to attract and keep employees to help us build a stronger Canada."

BlackBerrys, made by Canadian-based Research In Motion, are handheld communication devices that can be used to send e-mails and make phone calls--thus allowing people to bring the office to their homes, vehicles, or even the ski slopes.

They have become an essential workplace tool in politics, business, and the professions.

Fadden also asked employees not to use BlackBerrys during meetings and also not to schedule meetings over lunch

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1.4 million missing iPhones not Really Missing, Says Analyst

Calculations that claim Apple Inc. is "missing" 1.4 million iPhones may be missing the point, according to an analyst, who said Monday that talk of uncounted phones overlooks the fact that the mobile market is only a small part of Apple's overall business.

"Stock analysts have been paying lots of attention to the iPhone numbers," said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst at Technology Business Research Inc., "and clearly the revenue [mobile service] providers give back to Apple affect profitability. But if you look at Apple, it's solidly profitable without the iPhone. The iPhone just takes it up to another level."

Gottheil was responding to calculations by Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Bernstein Research, that were widely reported last week. Sacconaghi used the 3.7 million iPhones reported sold by Apple and the 2 million activations cited by AT&T Inc. to conclude that about 1.4 million of the devices are either in inventory or have been unlocked.

"Some unknown number of iPhones are being unlocked by purchasers and some, probably a larger number, are being unlocked for resale," said Gottheil. "Some are in inventory. Some will be returned. And some are being used for the non-phone features, as iPhone Touches, until the owners can change their wireless contracts.

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Garmin Nuvifone:cellphone GPS with

Garmin, one of the world’s leading GPS manufacturers announced their Garmin Nuvifone – their first attempt at mobile phone production.
The Garmin Nuvifone is entirely touch-controlled and offers some very nice features. The main focus is of course the built-in GPS and GPS navigation software. The software is the same as the one of the leading stand-alone GPS navigation systems on the market GPS Nuvi. According to Garmin the Google local search is also seamlessly implemented to allow quick searching of points of interest near your current location.

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Missing iphones?

Shortly after Apple and its iPhone partner announced their financial results, the analysts noticed that there could be a little bit of problem. It seems like there are few hundreds of thousands iPhones roaming unaccounted on the market. Let’s see what happened!

Earlier this week, Apple announced that is has sold 3,7 million iPhones until the end of 2007. On the other hand AT&T, the exclusive distributor of iPhone in the US, revealed during its earnings conference call that it has ended the last year with “just at or slightly under 2 million iPhone customers”.

As you can imagine, the analysts immediately noted the discrepancy and has started to search the missing iPhones and some explanations. iPhone is available also in Europe, but there are no precise estimations of how many mobile phones have been sold so far.


were sold in UK, Germany and France or in other European countries. Orange, France Telecom’s mobile division, confirmed that the French users have bought 70,000 iPhone during the first month of availability, instead of 100,000 forecasted. The iPhone was launched in France on November 29. In UK, Telefonica’s O2 said that on track to sell 200,000 iPhones by early January. There no estimations for the iPhone sales in Germany, except a statement made by an official back in November. He said Apple sold 10,000 iPhone in the fist day.

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Samsung introduces two new phones for ladies

Samsung announces two new hand sets for fashion-conscious ladies.

Samsung L310 is a black-and-gold clamshell. It has a rather uncommon S-shaped hinge that should be able to make it stand out in a crowd. The tri-band phone comes in the compact dimensions of 93.4 x 44 x 17.9 mm and has a number of Female applications - Shopping list, Fragrance type and Calories consumption. The phone sports a 1.8" TFT display with a resolution of 176 x 220 pixels. It has 20MB of internal memory that can be expanded through the built-in microSD card slot.


The second announced phone is Samsung L320, which offers rounded clamshell design and is supposed to come as a successor of the rather popular Samsung E570. It comes with a 1.9" TFT LCD main display with a 176 x 220 resolution and an external OLED 176 x 16 pixel one. The 2 megapixel camera should take care of the user's photography needs, while USB v1.1 and Bluetooth v2.0 are to assure connectivity.

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