Nokia 6131
With so many phones saturating the market, youve got to have the X-factor to stand out. Does the Nokia 6131 possess the flair to thrive?
Nokia and the clamshell have always endured an uneasy relationship. The Finnish giant has never really flourished with the flip phone approach, instead gaining considerably more success with the candybar and slider forms. With perhaps the exception of the furry fashionista, the 7200, past clamshell efforts like the ergonomically challenged 6260 and the staid but functional 6101 havent really set the world alight. So were always intrigued, and also a little wary, when Nokia marches out another flip phone. Thankfully, its latest flame, the mid-range 6131, sees the manufacturer getting it right at last.
The 6131 sports some curious design features that makes for an attractive phone.
Motorola E398 on sale now
Motorola's E398 music phone is available now for 199.99 on T-Mobile pay as you go. The mobile's major selling point is its built-in MP3 and MPEG4 player and the stereo speakers that's supposed to endow the handset with superior music playback.
The Motorola E398 has become one of the key handsets in T-Mobile's music download service (more about that here) which allows users to download a few tracks to their mobile handset. The E398 also includes a stereo headset so you don't have to advertise your Britney obsession to the world.
The E398 has 5MB of internal memory and uses the new smaller-than-SD TransFlash removable storage card, available in up 128MB capacity. This will store around 34 MP3 tracks. It's also got Bluetooth and a camera with flash.
Nov 9 trial for cellphone cops
Constables Errol Bonner and Kumar Bailey, who are each facing a charge of breaching the Corruption Prevention Act, in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate's Court, will be tried on November 9 for allegedly accepting two cell phones to overlook a traffic violation.
Appearing before presiding Magistrate Judith Pusey Friday, both men were ordered to return to court on November 9 when they will face trial. The two were also denied bail and remanded in custody until that time. Bonner and Bailey, who were assigned to the Mobile Reserve Division of the police force, are alleged to have accepted a Motorola Razr cellular phone and a Motorola V60 cellular phone from two men travelling in a motorcar on September 22. They had the car driven in the oppositie direction on the one-way road from the roundabout to the departure station at the Norman Manley International Airport.
Dealzmodo: Amazon Pays You to Take Their Cellphones, Service Plans
Amazon is having one hell of a Wireless Inventory Blowout Sale. You can get paid up to $150 to take one of their cellphones and service plan. T-Mobile and Cingular service are available on these phones. Here are some examples of the better deals, rounded up by the frugalhounds at Dealhack:• Samsung t309 Phone and T-Mobile service for $150 - $150 instant savings - $100 rebate = $100 paid to you. • Nokia 6030 Phone and Cingular service for $150 - $150 instant savings - $100 rebate = $100 paid to you. • BlackBerry 7105t Phone and T-Mobile service for $300 - $300 instant savings - $150 rebate = $150 paid to you. • Nokia 6102i Phone and Cingular service for $150 - $150 instant savings - $100 rebate = $100 paid to you. • LG C1500 Phone and Cingular service for $200 - $200 instant savings - $100 rebate = $100 paid to you.
UNVEILED: O2 Xda Zinc by AsusTek received FCC approval
Three FCC approvals for AsusTek within less than one week, not too bad. Looks like AsusTek finally takes the Windows Mobile business serious and - for AsusTek even more important - the Taiwanese ODM got some interesting customers, namely Vodafone and O2.
After Vodafone's VDA IV and O2's Xda Graphite, now the O2 Xda Zinc received the FCC approval. The Xda Zinc is the Pocket PC Phone Edition, we've seen before already under the code name "Mars II".
Basically, the Xda Zinc seems to compete with HTC's Hermes (which is also available from O2 as Xda trion but from O2 Germany only) but the Zinc's specs are are slightly different with strengths and weaknesses. For instance it's a single band UMTS (without HSDPA) and triband GSM/GPRS device only but sporting W-LAN b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 as well.
Sony Ericsson Announces Touch Screen Z558
Sony Ericsson quietly announced a revision to its Z550 mid-range clamshell handset this week, the Z558, and while most specifications remain the same, the company has notably introduced a touch screen interface for the handset, simplifying text input in foreign languages.
The touch screen, which is designed to be used with a pen-like stylus that is tethered to the handset, is aimed at easing text input for Chinese characters, which have traditionally been difficult to input with a phone's keypad. The Sony Ericsson Z558 marks the first non-smartphone device out of the Sony Ericsson stable to sport a touch screen.
Size, weight, and specifications of the Sony Ericsson Z558 remain identical to the Z550, and include a 1.3 megapixel camera, 20MB of on board memory with Memory Stick Micro (M2) expansion, Bluetooth, and FM radio.
Sony Ericsson Z558i and Z558c
The Sony Ericsson Z558i / Z558c is a very close relative of the existing Z550 handset, but with one unusual change - the Z558 supports handwriting recognition and comes with a touch-sensitive display.
Of course, handwriting recognition is nothing new, but this is the first time that Sony Ericsson have included it in a non-Symbian phone (i.e. a smartphone). As far as we can tell, this Z558 is simply a slight software and hardware revision of an existing run-of-the-mill handset. The Sony Ericsson Z558 can recognise Chinese, Thai and English characters - and as usual with Sony Ericsson, the "c" variant is for China, with the Z558i aimed at other markets. Other than the handwriting recognition, this is a pretty standard midrange clamshell with a 176x220 pixel display, 1.3 megapixel camera, Memory Stick Micro expandable memory, an FM radio, MP3 player and Bluetooth.
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