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Hands-on with T-Mobile's revised Shadow

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jan 7th 2009 at 11:23PM Featured Story


Windows Mobile Standard devices -- you know, those pre-touchscreen relics -- are getting to be tougher sales by the day. Touch is perceived as a "premium" experience (we're not entirely sold on that) and with boatloads of price pressure in that category, these little guys are liable to get squeezed clean out of the market. The new Shadow, even moreso than the original Shadow before it, definitely belies its Windows Mobile underpinnings with a funky shell that's fit for average consumers who just want a decent looking slider -- never mind a smartphone. The red-to-black gradient rear was totally bangin', but as is all too often the case these days, the glossy top was a brutal canvas for grease, fingerprints, and other unsavory stains that you probably don't want to press against your face. It's a tradeoff, we suppose.

Gallery: Hands-on with T-Mobile's revised Shadow

T-Mobile gets official with Shadow -- yep, just Shadow

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jan 7th 2009 at 10:58PM Breaking News


T-Mobile doesn't seem too concerned about the fact that there already is a Shadow -- it's the very phone they're trying to replace here, actually -- but whatever, it's Windows Mobile, it's HTC, and it's finally here. The new model thankfully features WiFi and full support for T-Mobile's UMA-based HotSpot calling service, but spec-wise, it's kinda the same as the outgoing piece (which possibly explains the carried-over name). On-board you'll find a 2 megapixel cam with video capture, microSD support up to 8GB, spin wheel navigation, Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard (read: no touch), a QVGA display, and all the myFaves you can handle. It'll be available in Black Burgundy and White Mint in "the coming weeks."

Hands-on with T-Mobile's Nokia 7510

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jan 7th 2009 at 10:53PM Featured Story

Color us impressed (literally). If T-Mobile can manage to subsidize the 7510 down to, say, $50, they're dealing with a serious winner; it's attractive, different from your run-of-the-mill midrange Samsung, and offers that all-important UMA for crazy cheap calling. The phone can be best described as fashion-conscious with a Finnish sensibility, and for us, the formula works. 3G would've sealed the deal, but there's no such thing as the perfect phone, is there?

Gallery: Hands-on with the Nokia 7510 for T-Mobile

T-Mobile announces Nokia 7510 sans Supernova branding

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jan 7th 2009 at 10:42PM Breaking News


As expected, the Nokia 7510 has gone official on T-Mobile -- albeit with less "Supernova" branding than we would've figured on. We're not sure why T-Mob decided to drop the naming convention, because it sorta relegates an otherwise-interesting phone to anonymous number-dom, but that's why there are well-compensated marketing folks making these critical decisions, right? It's got WiFi, making it one of the hotter HotSpot-compatible phones currently offered, and features a translucent cover over a fancy OLED display that serves up interesting effects for your entertainment. It's QVGA, it has Bluetooth, a 2-megapixel camera, myFaves support, and three included changeable faceplates -- Espresso Brown, Fatal Red, and Emerald Green. Look for it in stores in "the coming weeks."

Impossible-to-use Hello Kitty phone taunts you with feigned cuteness

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jan 7th 2009 at 6:33PM


We can't picture this thing up against a head, and frankly, we don't want to. The monstrosity you're looking at here is somehow a phone, but in an overzealous attempt to completely destroy it with Hello Kitty branding, it's been formed into that fricking cat head -- a shape that makes absolutely no sense for a phone whatsoever, may we add. We're pretty sure you could make little kids cry on command by pulling this out of a pocket, so even if you can't imagine actually talking into this thing (we certainly can't), maybe it's worth the buy anyway. Just saying.

[Via PMP Today, thanks Daisy and Brian]

Logic Wireless' Logic Bolt makes luminous appearance at CES

by Sean Cooper, posted Jan 7th 2009 at 4:45PM


Logic Wireless, a new startup has jumped right into the CES mobile fray with this, the mini projecting Logic Bolt. Logic Wireless assumed all rights to this device from ChinaKing -- which we saw early in the summer of 2008 -- and have tuned it up and have it here at the show. Featuring a quad-band GSM chipset, 3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, projected display size of 36 to 64 inches, and a rated talk time of 2 to 3 hours. Video can apparently blast on for two hours or more using content on the phone or VGA input from other devices. Logic Wireless aims to ship a dual-mode GSM / CDMA set with live video conferencing, four times brighter projector, and Windows Mobile supplanting the current Java OS sometime in the future. For a suggested $100 on-contract price or $600 off, we're thinking if they can make this happen, we're definitely going to be picking one up.

[Via Gearlog]

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic comes to the UK on January 23

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jan 7th 2009 at 2:26PM


Half of the would-be buyers are probably holding out for the N97 at this point, but for what it's worth, the first S60 5th Edition device is ready to rock in the UK this month. Starting January 23, 5800 XpressMusics will be shipping for £249 (about $377) -- while Moscow residents are already totally over with it and onto the next great thing, by the way, and North Americans can keep right on lusting for a few more months. Love that launch stagger.

[Via All About Symbian]

LG's CTO flaunts GD910, we get it on video

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jan 7th 2009 at 12:34PM


LG finally figured out how to do a watch phone that doesn't make us physically ill, and fortunately, the company's CTO happened to be sporting one at the press conference today. Head on over to Engadget to check out the very device that -- let's face it -- will probably be on your wrist later this year.

LG shows off GD910 Watch Phone, production later this year

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jan 7th 2009 at 11:28AM Breaking News


Now that we have serious buy-in from a major phone manufacturer to bring watch phones to market, we're just going to go ahead and say it: the Dick Tracy era has begun. LG's just announced that the GD910 will start production later in 2009, featuring 7.2Mbps HSDPA, Bluetooth, speakerphone, video calling, voice recognition, an integrated music player, and a touchscreen in case those three side-mounted buttons don't cut it. We hope to have a hands-on shortly!

Verizon to embrace Kindle rivals, third party devices

by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Jan 7th 2009 at 11:12AM

Looks like Amazon may soon be getting some competition for the hearts of the Kindle-loving literati over at the Algonquin. In a pre-CES interview with Reuters, Verizon's Tony Lewis -- the man in charge of their Open Development program -- doesn't see the current state of the economy as halting production of e-readers or other nonessential consumer electronics. "Competitors to the Kindle are out there and ready," the man said. "In 2009 I'd expect them to come to the market." To date, the company's certified 29 third party devices to run on the carrier, a new attitude that seems to have come about when they realized the bucketfuls of cash they could be raking in if they were a little more... well, open to these sorts of things. If you're a vendor, feel free to peep their booth this week at CES. We're sure you'll be more than welcome.

[Via Moco News]

Pantech's SKY IM-S390 "Cupid" doesn't inspire a lot of love

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jan 7th 2009 at 9:20AM


We're not sure why Pantech would bother attaching such a lofty, lovely name to such a positively pedestrian handset, but let's be straight: any manufacturer with a phone named "Duke" probably works in ways we don't fully understand. Like just about every domestic Korean handset you can find, this one features a T-DMB tuner -- which is cool, we guess -- and it's just 12.5mm thick on the slim battery. Thing is, the QVGA display and lousy 1.3-megapixel cam aren't going to turn any heads, so we s'pose they'll be leaning on the cute name and the three-pack of cute colors to do that, eh?

[Via Unwired View]

Best Buy now selling refurbed iPhone 3Gs

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jan 7th 2009 at 8:08AM


You know what's awesome about used phones? They're usually cheaper than new ones. Like that time AT&T started selling refurbished iPhone 3Gs for $50 off (even $100 off), fr'instance. Best Buy's getting on the action now, too, hawking the reconditioned 8 giggers for $149 and the 16GB models for $249 on contract at 350 of its Best Buy Mobile locations nationwide. Since AT&T's pushing these for the same price directly, wouldn't Equivalent Buy be a better name for this joint?

T-Mobile bringing the BlackBerry Curve 8900 in February

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jan 7th 2009 at 12:25AM Breaking News


Sprint's now officially holding up the tail end of the BlackBerry train in the States (though hopefully not for long) now that T-Mobile has announced that the thoroughly modern Curve 8900 is hitting the lineup. Like the 8320 before it, the 8900 does WiFi for UMA-based HotSpot calling service and a 3.5mm headphone jack, but the similarities end there; besides arguably becoming the hottest BlackBerry in RIM's stable, the 8900 features a 3.2-megapixel cam with image stabilization and a glorious 480 x 360 display that'll put anything shy of a Storm to shame. Look for it next month -- T-Mobile hasn't committed to a date, though we have no reason to doubt the 11th rumor at this point.

BlackBerry Curve 8900 caught on the lam in some T-Mobile store

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jan 6th 2009 at 9:15PM


The good news: odds are decent your local T-Mobile store has a Curve 8900 locked away somewhere. The bad news: you can't have it. Word on the street is that T-Mob staff are under strict orders to keep the 8900 out of shopping bags until February 11, the last rumored launch date we'd heard, so keep saving your pennies... to, you know, bribe a store this week.

HTC Iolite gets pictured, actually pretty blah

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jan 6th 2009 at 8:04PM

If you took a Touch Diamond and put it one of those tumblers you had when you were a kid that you use to polish cool-looking rocks you found in your backyard, you'd probably get something like this. The Iolite -- not "Lolite" as we'd previously thought -- appears to rip the Touch Diamond's basic form factor from this tiny lil' image that's been leaked on Expansys, but steps down to a WQVGA display from VGA. On the upside, Europeans still get their 7.2Mbps HSDPA fix, TouchFLO 3D and AGPS make it through unscathed, and the 3.2-megapixel cam carries over. No official announcement on this one, but seeing how the radio is Euro-focused, we'd expect it at MWC next month.

[Via Cellpassion]




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