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Samsung's SCH-B510: enough with the "world's thinnest" DMB phones already
Ok, this slim thing is just outta control. As if you needed proof, Samsung went and launched the 8.4-mm thin SCH-B510 calling it the "world's slimmest DMB phone" just days after LG launched its contender, and a mere three weeks after Sammy loosed their previous title holder, the SCH-B590. Sharing that top-end bulge with the true thin-champ, the X820, the B510 packs in an MP3 player, MicroSD expansion, and 2 megapixel camera into a package weighing only 72-grams. Thing is, this is a freakin' DMB phone for watching mobile TV, yet the screen has been shrunk to an impossibly small, unspecified dimension in order to reduce the bulk. At least they won't be seen outside of Korea's KTF network any time soon. Hey Sammy, how 'bout trying to coax LG into using one of their fancy new slim displays and bring this madness to an end? K, thanks.
dotMobi is more than just a top level domain name
Although the experience of browsing the web on a mobile phone has improved greatly over the last couple of days five years or so, there are still sites out there that refuse to load or function as smoothly as they would on a personal computer. A possible solution to this problem comes in the form of yesterday's launch of dotMobi: or if you prefer it cold and impersonal, the new .mobi top level domain name. Yeah, so you're thinking "how's another domain name gonna improve things?" Well, unlike other domain names, dotMobi has a relatively stringent style guide for anyone wishing to register a .mobi domain: mandatory rules for registrants include the requirement that the site can be loaded without typing "www." (a pain on a numerical keypad), and a complete ban on cellphone-browser busting frames. Time will tell whether or not the bar of entry has been set high enough, as all of the tips in the "Highly Recommended" section of the style guide are optional: for example, registrants don't even have to test their website on a mobile device. A giant leap for cellular mankind this is not, but it's certainly a step in the right direction.
Nokia's XpressMusic 5300 and 5200 announced, 3250 gets makeover
If the hoard of N-series Nokias raining down from Espoo yesterday was a bit too much on say, the fuddy-duddy side of the generational slope, then check these new XpressMusic cellphones kiddies. Well "new" only if you missed the 5300 and 5200 peeped before. Still official is official so let's run 'er down again. The 5300 slider is the biggest news here, going tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900MHz with GPRS/EDGE support and 262k color TFT LCD, QVGA (240x320) resolution. It features up to 2GB of microSD storage, dedicated music keys, an adapter for 3.5-mm headphones, built-in IM software, FM radio (with Visual Radio), 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and an expected retail of €250 pre-tax, or $317. The 5200 shares the looks of the 5300 but features an even lower rez camera and display for a pre-tax price of €200 or $254. Meanwhile, the original XpressMusic 3250 twister sports a new look with added support for 2GB microSD cards. Expect the 3250 to pull a pre-tax €400 or $507. All phones, according to Nokia today in New York, will "begin shipments in select markets within weeks." MobileBurn however claims that a US variant of the mix will hit Q1, so who knows. Click-on for a snap of the updated 3250.[Via MobileBurn]
LG's VX9900 caught in the wild?
Ok, you know the drill by now. HowardForums has a purported shot (on left) of the thinner, sexier successor to the VX9800 communicator, the LG VX9900 we first trolled from the FCC (pic on the right) back in May. We're still hoping for this QWERTY clam to roll on Verizon sometime this month as reported by our own Boy Genius or sometime between September 29th and October 13th according to the rumor jockeys ridin' the HoFo. Hell, let's just say any day now and leave it at that mkay?[Thanks, Scott and Sunny]
Samsung's Ultra Edition 9.9, 12.9, 6.9: World's slimmest cellphones launched
Get ready Guinness 'cause Samsung just launched an entire series of "World's slimmest" handsets. Sure, we've seen the D830 clam, X820 candybar, and FCC approved D900 slider before, only now they've been turned-out onto that mean global scene official, spec'd, and rebadged with their ultra-slim, millimeter measurements right in the name: the Ultra Edition 9.9 (D830), 12.9 (D900), and 6.9 (X820) pictured left-to-right. The UE 9.9 brings tri-band (900/1800/1900MHz) GPRS/EDGE, a 2 megapixel cam with auto-focus and flash, a 2.3-inch 240x320 262k TFT main display (0.8-inch 92x16 grayscale external), Bluetooth, 80MB embedded memory with MicroSD expansion, MP3/AAC media player, and even an MPEG4 recorder with TV-out jack slammed into this world's slimmest flip. The UE 6.9 brings pretty much the same network coverage, cam, Bluetooth, media capabilities, and on-board memory as the 9.9 but had to forgo the microSD card and flash while dropping down to a 1.9-inch 176x220 262k TFT display in order to slip into that world's slimmest, 6.9-mm, 2.33-ounce dress. The relatively plump UE 12.9 takes advantage of all that, uh, roominess to squeeze in quad-band GPRS/EDGE, a 3.13 megapixel shooter, 2.1-inch 240x320 262k TFT, that good media lovin' we've already seen, Bluetooth with A2DP stereo audio support, and 80MB with microsSD expansion. Yeah, that makes it the world's slimmest slider, er, with 3 megapixel camera -- kind of a stretch, but that's how Sammy likes to roll. They didn't bother with drop dates, countries, or prices but the fact that the press release hit their English site gives us hope for this Samsung triptych to drop in the US sometime this year. [Via AVING]
Mobile MMOs in Carmack's future?
After recent mobile efforts including Doom and Orcs and Elves, John Carmack may have a new trick up his sleeve. Speaking to CNN Money, Carmack outlines his fears for the industry -- the unexpected cost of episodic gaming, along with security problems, make up his main concerns.With id's recent move to the mobile phone platform, Carmack's got plans. By trying out franchises on cell phones before risking a big-budget console or PC title, games become a safer bet; Carmack's also "really into the idea of a massively multiplayer cell phone title". While some MMOs have made forays into the mobile world, an exclusive massively multiplayer mobile game is a fairly novel idea -- it may even help the flagging mobile market.[Via Gamesindustry.biz]
Nokia 6126 wins FCC approval
Nokia has been gaining a bit of a reputation for being on the chubby side of the thin phone wars. So the 14-mm slim, 6126 flip which the FCC just approved, still passes for thin these days in the Nokia camp of plumpsters. Other than the 32MB flash and 16MB RAM we now know this thing packs, the filing doesn't tell us more than we already knew: quad-band GSM/EDGE, a 2.2-inch, 320 x 240 internal display, 1.3 megapixel cam, and microSD slot for storage expansion. Worth the wait we guess, if you're a Series 40 fan.
Hands-on with the KG800 (Chocolate) and Dopod S300 (Star Trek)
Good times can be had over at our sister site, Engadget Chinese, which has managed some alone time with two recent releases, the LG KG800 Chocolate and Dopod S300 HTC Star Trek. Both phones are plenty sexy in their own way, with the KG800's obvious aesthetics leading the charge, but the S300's ability to pack in all that Windows Mobile goodness in such a small package earning it plenty of kudos as well. Decisions, decisions.Read: LG KG800Read: Dopod S300
Orange launches SPV M5000 (HTC Universal) in UK, France, and Switzerland
Our lust-affair with the not-available-in-the-US HTC Universal is no secret. Now our friends in the UK, France, and Switzerland can get their sweaty anticipatory hands on it with Orange's official launch of the SPV M5000 - you know, that UMTS (3G) brick packing Windows Mobile 5.0, WiFi (now confirmed although curiously not listed on the Orange website), Bluetooth, 1.3 megapixel camera, QWERTY keyboard, 640x480 touch screen, 520MHz processor, 128MB of ROM, and an SD memory card slot. It will sell for about £400 (€600) and begin shipping in the UK, France and Switzerland in October - available to the network's other territories by the end of this year.
Hands-on with the HTC Universal
As promised, a gallery of HTC Universal pics to accompany our question and answer session from earlier today. If you'd like pics of something specific that we may have missed, let us know and we'll try our best to accomodate you.
You've got HTC Universal questions, we've got HTC Universal answers
It took a few days, but we're finally answering your questions about the HTC Universal. We didn't have time to answer every single question that was posted, but we hit as many as we could and we'll do our damnedest to answer more of your questions over the next few days - just post them up in the comments below and we'll try and add them to the post. We'll have also have full gallery of pics going up later this afternoon, but for now, on to the Q&A:
HTC Universal/MDA Pro hits Germany later this week
We're still fairly certain that the HTC Universal isn't going to be sold over here in the States (at least not the UMTS version), but we have some good news for any of our German readers who have been lusting after this monster of a Pocket PC Phone: starting on Thursday you'll be able to pick up the new phone, which as being sold as the "MDA Pro", from T-Mobile Germany. Retail price will be a hefty €749.95 without a contract, or between €430 and €500 depending on what kind of two year service agreement you sign up for.
The HTC Universal: What do you want to know?
Man, if there was ever one gadget we were definitely not expecting to have fall into our laps this week, it's the HTC Universal. It's definitely big for something you're supposed to use to make phone calls, but with great size comes great power, right? (There's a good chance you have the spec sheet for this one memorized: this baby has Windows Mobile 5.0, WiFi, Bluetooth, a one megapixel camera, QWERTY keyboard, a VGA touch screen, a 520MHz processor, 96MB of ROM, 128MB of RAM, and an SD memory card slot.) Normally we'd take a week or whatever and pump out a review, but we thought it'd be more fun to just ask you guys what you want to know about. Post your questions in the comments below and we'll do our best to answer as many of them as we can in a future post. UPDATE: Yikes, that's a lot of questions! In fact, a lot more than we'd anticipated, can't guarantee that we'll be able to answer all, or even most, of them, but we promise we'll do our best. Now just give us a few days, ok?
HTC Universal review
Jason Langridge has a rather glowing review of the HTC Universal - apparently its largitude can be forgiven by its action-packed feature set. The device gets high marks for a gorgeous swivel screen (handy for preserving battery life while playing music), solid build, responsive QWERTY keyboard (using thumb-style is apparently a go, not just typing against a surface), battery life, improved Windows Mobile 5.0 phone application, easy Bluetooth pairing, and enhanced WiFi connectivity. Bonus points are awarded for the ability to place a voice call while simultaneously using the 3G data modem. Not a lot in the negative column here, kids, other than that size factor - if you can live with that, you could be about to fall in love. [Thanks, Barry]
The SPV M5000 makes an appearance on Orange's site
This one slipped by us the other day, but a bunch of people wrote in to remind us that the SPV M5000, aka the HTC Universal, finally showed up on Orange's website (something which typically, but not always, means that a launch is not too far off). Probably not going to see this one over here in the States since it rocks the UMTS and not the HSDPA, but this brick really packs it all in: the M5000 runs on Windows Mobile 5.0 and has WiFi, Bluetooth, a one megapixel camera, a QWERTY keyboard, a VGA touch screen, a 520MHz processor, 96MB of ROM, 128MB of RAM, and an SD memory card slot. [Thanks to everyone who sent this one in]
