The SLVR, refined: Motorola's L7e

With all the facelifting, refinement, and replacement Motorola's RAZR lineup has gotten as of late, one might think the poor, overlooked SLVR series was in danger of going the way of the dinosaurs (or, perhaps more appropriately, the MPx). Actually, readers following The Boy Genius Report have known that Moto has been slaving over a hot stove chock full o' the thin candybars in a variety of flavors for a little while now, and it just so happens that the updated L7 we'd scooped -- identified back then as the L7i -- has gone on to officially become the SLVR L7e. Visually, the re-upped model is nearly a dead ringer for its pappy, save for the keypad which has taken on a decidedly RIZR-esque appearance and a "shimmering blue" hue. The microSD slot is a carryover from the L7, but virtually every other major spec has been tweaked: the cam goes from VGA to 1.3-megapixel, A2DP is now supported for wireless stereo, and the GSM radio mercifully adds EDGE for decent 2.5G data.

Nokia unveils 6600 replacement

In spite of its pug ugly design and dull grey finish Nokia's 6600 has gone on to become one of the most successful smartphones so far.

Well the good news is that its replacement - the 6670 - has all its functionality of the 6600, plus a few extra features yet is wrapped in a casing that's a slightly smaller and thicker version of the gorgeous 7610.

Like the 6600 the 6670 is aimed ostensibly at the corporate market - but just like its predecessor there ought to be plenty of consumers takers too.

The 6670 runs the Symbian operating system with the Series 60 interface. It has a comprehensive selection of e-mail facilities including the ability to read most attachments. It also offers personal information management apps and its web browser is compatible with PDF files.

Now it is file swapping via mobile phones

Nokia has announced its has developed a peer to peer system for phones that enable users swap image, video and even music files with other people's mobiles.

Apparently Nokia's research centre in Budapest has developed a system that works on the company's 6600 handsets. At present it only works with image and text files, but the company is optimistic that soon large files such as MP3 music and video could be added.

I might be missing something here, but personally I can't see networks welcoming this move. They already have a system for swapping image files between phones called Multimedia messaging. Can't see the networks also ceding the potentially lucrative music download market to peer to peer technology at this stage without a huge fight either.

The key for consumers anyway is not about swapping images between handsets but getting those pictures off the phone and on to a PC or printing them out.

PHOTOVIEW: Samsung SGH-i600 Windows Mobile UMTS Smartphone

Samsung recently announced the Samsung SGH-i600 which will be released in Europe and Asia later this year and also the the Samsung SGH-i607 was recently approved by the FCC for the U.S. American market. Both devices are based on Samsung's BlackJack II concept, a UMTS-enabled Windows Mobile Smartphone with thumb-keyboard, and therefore the i600/i607 is the UMTS/HSDPA follower of Samsung's 2.5G Windows Mobile Smartphone, the SGH-i320 (see my previous review here).
This week I had the chance to play a little bit with a prerelease version of the SGH-i600 and I took the chance to make some high resolution photos of Samsung's next and its first UMTS- and HSDPA-enabled Windows Mobile Smartphone. Since it is a prerelease device only - without any accessories, etc - I can not write a full review about it at all but I will publish a preview later this week.