TouchScreenPhone
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Digits conductive pins won't make a fool of you in the cold
Ever tried writing a text message or an urgent work e-mail with gloves on? Chances are what you planned to type and what came out couldn't look more different...if anything came out at all. Digits are a $14 set of four conductive pins that, like the Dots iPhone gloves, were designed to make cold weather touchscreen use easy, and hopefully error free. Unlike Dots and other pre-made touchscreen products, however, Digits allow you to use your own gloves, provided they're knit (unfortunately, they're not leather-friendly). Each pin comes in two parts: one piece sticks through from inside your glove, and the other, which sports silicone caps, attaches from outside, using the same concept as this DIY set. Digits should keep your touchscreen free of scratches and your texts and e-mails free of error, even when it's freezing out. Hopefully now you won't end up firing when you should be filing.
Telstra's landlocked T-Hub tablet phone launches in Australia (update)
A few years back, Telstra -- synonymous in Australia with "communication" -- told Apple it had no business making a cellphone. Look how that turned out. To make a long story short, the company has since repented, and is on the verge of releasing an app-filled touchscreen phone of their own, the Telstra T-Hub, on April 20th. Thing is, this tablet stays plugged into your wall. Marketed as a "family organizer," the T-Hub stores contacts, surfs Facebook, plays YouTube, displays photos, accesses personal bank accounts and even sends text messages like a smartphone, but does it all while connected to a landline telephone jack. While existing Telstra customers can get the device for $300 AUD, the company would of course prefer you get it for $35 with a 24-month service agreement... for a minimum total cost of about $1980 AUD with 2GB data per month. We're not Australian, but compared to US iPhone pricing, that doesn't sound terribly fair. Update: Telstra spokesman Craig Middleton tells us the T-Hub isn't permanently tethered to your wall. While the phone's base station does connect to a landline telephone jack, the tablet assembly itself is a portable cordless phone with WiFi for web-connected apps. He also adds that the aforementioned 2GB data plan isn't just for the T-Hub, but rather your entire home internet connection.
Samsung's Solstice touchscreen phone bounds onto AT&T
The age of the touchscreen dumbphone is definitely upon us, is it not? Today AT&T and Samsung announced the availability of the Solstice, a phone featuring a 3-inch (presumably resistive) touchscreen, TouchWiz, and lots of funky social networking tie-ins. Still, one gets the overwhelming impression that phones of this ilk are simply trying to cash in on the buzz of like-minded devices, while not bringing anything particularly notable to the table. This 3G-equipped number comes loaded with a 2 megapixel camera, microSD support up to 16GB, and... not much else. The phone will be available August 2nd for $99.99 with a two-year contract. Call us crazy, but for that kind of money, aren't there superior touchscreen devices on this network?
LG touchscreen UI contest ends... in a racecar?
We're not sure how LG managed to hold a touchscreen UI design contest with a $14K prize without telling anyone, but it certainly did -- and keeping things on the DL probably explains why "Driving," pictured above, was the winning entry. The "Art in Mobile" contest started last December in Korea, and the 10 winning entries will see their creations actually turned into functional phone interfaces. There's not much info on the other nine winners, but apparently one is called "Sixty Seconds" and is designed to stall for a minute before connecting a call so you can browse photos and check messages. Uh, yeah -- if our phones were taking a minute to connect calls, we'd have a bigger problem than the UI. Seriously, LG, next time you want some consumer input on phone interfaces, we think we might know some people with ideas.[Via Unwired View]Read - Telecoms Korea story on the contestRead - Translated LG press release
Android-based E28 touchscreen phone gets demoed on video
Just in case you haven't had your Android fill from this year's Mobile World Congress, the folks from PhoneMag have now let loose a video that shows the much-anticipated OS in action on a working touchscreen phone from E28. As you can see for yourself in the video after the break, the OS is a tad sluggish but not unreasonably so, which is all the more impressive given that it's apparently running without any modifications on some pretty lackluster hardware (a 200MHz OMAP TI 730 chipset and just 64MB RAM and 64MB ROM). Of course, this is just a demo in the truest sense of the word, so there's no indication that you'll actually be able to get your hands on the phone anytime soon.[Via SlashGear]
Be safe, have two carriers on the go
Since Apple's iPhone announcement a little over a month ago, touch screen handsets have been popping up all over our radar screen. As touch screens bet more attention in 2007, the Eliya is a new entrant with an actual distinguishing feature apart from a touch screen and a smartphone operating system -- dual SIM support. There are little and unremarkable tricks to get two SIMs into most phones (yeah, we know many are kinda low-tech), but how about OEM support for two cards? If you're into having two GSM carriers -- maybe one for voice and one for data -- the Eliya will hook you up from the start. No carving into your previous SIMs so you can stick them somewhere in a single SIM slot. Ok, we saved the kicker for last -- this Eliya unit can support both SIMs at once -- and you can be registered on two separate systems as once as well. No switching between SIMs in your phone's menu. Dual registration on two GSM systems at the same time -- and it's only 2007.
