HP Adds iPAQ Smartphone, Joining Brand PDA Phones

Unlike HP's PDA phones, the new device adds voice commands to allow for hands-free operation. A "voice reply" feature lets users reply to e-mail by dictating a message and sending a voice response. Users also can listen to e-mail and text messages.

The Voice Messenger is the first iPAQ to offer the over-the-air device-management capabilities that let businesses remotely manage and support the device's performance, security and access to applications, data and networks. IT managers, for example, can remotely erase data on lost or misplaced devices, configure and repair units, and provide updates and security applications.

Digital entertainment features include music and video playback, games and a digital camera.

Last year at this time, HP introduced the quadband GSM/EDGEhw6900 PDA phone, then the industry's first to combine cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS navigation technology in one device, the company said.

Nokia 7373 Review

After the disappointing 7360, we managed to get our hands on the Nokia 7373, another device in Nokia's new L'Amour 2 collection. Featuring the latest S40 UI, this swiveling member of the collection is a slight upgrade over its predecessor, the 7370. Armed with a 2-megapixel camera and an expandable memory card slot, the 7373 is a triband (GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz) phone and, like the 7370 before it, has support for EDGE data networks.

Physical Aspects

The 7373 has a spring loaded swiveling mechanism that makes it really easy to push open. With just a slight nudge, the phone will swivel open automatically. This makes things pretty easy when answering calls or trying to reply messages. Our review unit came in a black and dark brown colour scheme with bronze highlights in a few areas.

Yahoo Bound For LG Cell Phones

Yahoo's "Go" mobile platform will appear on the screens of tens of millions of LG cell phone handsets shipped later this year, as part of a licensing agreement the two companies announced Monday.

Under the deal LG will pre-load Yahoo services, including Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0, Yahoo Mail, and Yahoo Messenger, on phones sold worldwide. The announcement that was timed to coincide with the start of the 3GSM exhibition in Barcelona, Spain, notes our colleague Martyn Williams, a correspondent for the IDG News Service.

LG was the fifth largest manufacturer of cell phones in 2006, according to figures from market research company IDC. It shipped 64.4 million phones during the year, which is 17.3 percent higher than the previous year and amounted to a 6.6 percent market share.

Death Blamed on No Cell Phone Service

One of the victims of this week's storm didn't get help from an ambulance until 90 minutes after her first collapsed. That's because the accident happened on a deserted part of the Northway where there is no cell phone service. A local State Senator who has been pushing for improved cellular reception along that road says she's distressed to learn of another death that may have been preventable. Republican Elizabeth Little tells FOX23, "We've had one accident after another where even the responders come and they can't use their cell phones to call in other people." The Queensbury legislator is continuing her campaign to add cell towers along the Northway's more desolate stretches. New York State Police say 60-year-old Stewart Crookes died from a heart attack on Wednesday. The Canadian truck driver was on his way to Montreal with his wife when his truck got stuck in the snow-filled highway median in Elizabethtown.

Ford Teams Up With Microsoft to Deliver Sync; In-Car Digital System Exclusive to Ford

* Ford Sync(TM), powered by Microsoft Auto software, is Ford's new fully integrated, voice-activated in-car communications and entertainment system for mobile phones and digital music players.

* Sync will be available in 12 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury products beginning this calendar year.

* Sync is the newest technology to emerge from the Ford-Microsoft relationship.

* Users can access their mobile phone or digital music player - including genre, album, artist and song title - via voice commands.

* Names and numbers in a mobile phone's address book are wirelessly and automatically transferred to the vehicle.

* Sync can host nearly any digital media player, including the Apple iPod(R), Microsoft Zune, PlaysForSure players and most USB storage devices.