BenQ's CL71 "Cupid" slider phone

BenQ's CL71 "Cupid" slider phone: "Filed under: Handsets, BenQ-Siemens, GSM, GPRS

Some more info has surfaced on one of BenQ-Siemens' Greek phones announced last month, this time for the Cupid slider. The real name of this business oriented slider is the CL71, and it includes a 2-inch 200x176 LCD, 1.3 megapixel camera, and Bluetooth 1.2. We're not sure why BenQ-Siemens is targeting this at business users, since along with that camera they've also included FM radio and a TransFlash slot, but it all looks pretty good to us. Sadly, no 3G data here, just GSM/GPRS, so maybe we will leave this one to the suits after all.

Samsung's new 3G swivel phone for China

Samsung's new 3G swivel phone for China

With China's proprietary 3G TD-SCDMA network on the way, Samsung has teamed up with Philips and T3G to get in on the action early. Their new video-centric phone will be available as soon as operator licenses are granted to 3G networks, which should happen around Q2 of this year. The phone is mainly a reference design, with EDGE and TD-SCDMA crammed in by Philips and T3G, and we're sure to see plenty more along these lines if China's current demand for phones is any indication.

Orange signs Sony Ericsson, Christina Aguilera

Orange signs Sony Ericsson, Christina Aguilera: "Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Ringtones, Sony Ericsson, Orange, GSM, EDGE
Sultry songstress Christina Aguilera has signed on to shill for Orange Europe as part of their campaign to market Sony Ericsson's candybar W810i and clamshell W300i Walkman phones. The deal with SE gives Orange exclusive rights to a European rollout of these handsets -- both quad-band GSM/EDGE models -- with the W810i's 2.0 megapixel camera giving it the edge in terms of feature sets. Aguilera, who like the Walkman mobiles is part of the Sony family (she records for Sony BMG), will provide Orange and its customers with exclusive content such as ringtones, song downloads, remixes, and videos, available on the Orange World site. No word yet on when the SE mediaphones will be available, how many euros they will set you back, or the level of nudity we can expect in Aguilera's Orange commercials.

Bluetooth watch puts your phone on your wrist

Forget those fossilized SPOT watches. If you want to go all Dick Tracy, check out Seiko's CPC TR-006, a Bluetooth watch that communicates with your cellphone. Currently just a prototype, the watch can receive text messages from your phone, capture Caller ID data so you know who's calling, and adjust ringtones. Pair it with a Bluetooth headset, stick your phone in your bag, and you've got a complete hands-free interface that still gives you access to your phone's main functions.

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Verizon

Verizon's decision to cripple the Wi-Fi and the absence of a modem plan sour this otherwise attractive, powerful Pocket PC phone.

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Moto touts salmon SLVR

The public's passion for all things pink has found a new outlet: a salmon-hued version of Motorola's SLVR phone. A sibling of the better-known L7, the rose-tinted release - to be offered exclusively through UK retail chain Carphone Warehouse, it seems - is the L6.

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AXIA launches A308: "world's smallest" Windows Mobile phone

Malaysian manufacturer AXIA is claiming to have the "world’s smallest PDA Phone on Microsoft Windows Mobile 5 featuring WiFi connectivity," in their new A308 device. At 0.8x1.9x4.5-inch the phone is a tad larger than the HTC Tornado Smartphone, but the A308 goes for full PDA functionality with its 2.2-inch QVGA LCD. Along with the WiFi, AXIA has crammed in Bluetooth, EDGE, miniSD, a 1.3 megapixel camera, and a pleasantly fast 416MHz Intel CPU. Looks good to us, world's smallest or not.

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who has this much time??

Ne'er-do-wells have created a Trojan that can infect mobiles phones running Java applications. RedBrowser-A infects not only smart phones, but any mobile phone capable of running Java (J2ME) applications, according to Russian anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab.

The mobile malware poses as a program called RedBrowser that supposedly allows surfers to visit WAP sites without using a WAP connection. According to the blurb, this access is possible by sending and receiving free SMS messages. In reality, the Trojan sends text messages to premium rate numbers, costing users between $5 and $6 per SMS.

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Samsung SPH-B3100 DMB Mobile TV Phone

Samsung has announced yet another DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) handset, this time the new Samsung SPH-B3100 DMB Mobile TV phone. Now, what happened to all the competing DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting for Handheld) standard phones? Let's go DVB-H handset...

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Sony Ericsson's Wilma / K800 / K790 Cyber-shot phone gets official

Sony Ericsson takes digital imaging in camera phones to new heights today with the launch of the K800 and K790 phones, the first handsets to carry the Cyber-shot™ brand, a true mark of imaging quality. Both are highly capable mobile phones with integrated 3.2 Megapixel digital cameras with Autofocus, Xenon flash and BestPic™ - Sony Ericsson’s unique imaging technology that allows you to capture exactly the moment you desire. K800 and K790 combine advanced image capture capabilities with high speed data transfer, making them perfect tools for shooting and sharing high quality pictures and videos. K800 is a dual-mode UMTS/GPRS phone and the K790 is a Tri Band EDGE phone. Both are available from Q2 2006.

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Sony Ericsson W300i quad-band Walkman with EDGE

Sony Ericsson today expanded its growing line-up of Walkman® phones with the W300, a quad band EDGE clamshell which aims to bring the mobile phone Walkman® experience to an even greater market. With the same great Walkman® music quality experience as high-end models, a compact and eye catching design plus integrated camera, the W300 allows new users to enjoy the Sony Ericsson mobile music experience.

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Sharp debuts 904SH, first with VGA display

We've been hearing rumblings of a Sharp VGA phone since before 3GSM, but Vodafone has finally announced the 904SH, a 3G phone sporting four times the fun of QVGA at a 480x640 resolution. There's also a 3.2 megapixel camera with 2x optical zoom and autofocus, a 3D motion sensor, Bluetooth, GPS, miniSD storage, and WCDMA (UMTS) data. The phone should be available in Japan late April, let's hope for some swift imports.
[Warning: PDF link!]


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New Samsung DMB TV Phone: SPH-B3100

Samsung announces in Korea a new DMB TV mobile phone dubbed SPH-B3100.
Besides digital TV the SPH-B3100 features an MP3 player and a 2MP digital camera. The SPH-B3100 has better looks than the bulky Samsung SGH-P900 DMB Phone.
The Samsung SPH-B3100 features similar folding design as the Nokia N92 DVB-H TV Phone.

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Motorola promises 3G Q PDA phone for Q4

Motorola's would-be BlackBerry-beater, the Q, will ship by the end of the first quarter, the company promised yesterday, before going on to announce a 3G version of the QWERTY keyboard-equipped PDA phone. The wait for the UMTS model will be longer: even the networks won't get their hands on it until "late Q4".

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Mobile tracking devices on trial

Tracking someone's movements via their mobile phone is easier than you might think

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