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When it comes to mobile carriers in the US, most people would probably think of the big three that comprise of Verizon Wireless, Sprint and AT&T. These giants operate on a totally different scale compared to the smaller mobile carriers, but that doesn’t mean that those outside of the equation won’t get cool handsets from time to time although it can be pretty rare for that to happen. Cricker Communications will be offering the LG HELiX from LG Electronics, marking LG’s reintroduction into the Cricket handset lineup after a time of absence. The LG HELiX will come in the form factor of a clamshell and not a candybar, so if you’re the type who loves flipping phones open and closing them with a satisfying smack, this is the one for you.

The LG HELiX will come with a large 176 x 220 2.0″ TFT 262K internal color display alongside a lesser 96 x 64 TFT 262K external color display. Read the rest of this entry »

After releasing the Galaxy Spica in Russia, Samsung will release this handset in Finland. The Samsung Galaxy Spica is actually the smaller version of the Samsung I7500.

The phone features an 800MHz CPU, a 3.2-inch touchscreen display, a 3.2MP camera, Android 1.5 OS, a 128MB RAM, a 100MB of internal memory, a microSD card slot (up to 32GB), GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth and support HSDPA connectivity.

Here’s the latest firmware update ‘version 31.0.101′ for your Nokia 5800. This new update provides the following improvements: an advanced e-mail application, a better version of Ovi Maps 3.0, an easier navigation experience and a lot of bugs disappeared.

You’ll be able to download the update directly from Nokia’s Software Update website starting today. Sadly, it’s only available in Asia and Europe at the moment.

Nokia might be looking at its smart phoneshare in the US being eaten up like nobody’s business no thanks to its rivals from a variety of manufacturers who have come up with a much cleaner user interface and seamless ease-of-use. Still, that doesn’t mean this cell phone manufacturing giant is going to give up that easily elsewhere in the world. The Finnish company aims to strengthen its grip in the China market by announcing its first device for TD-SCDMA – China’s domestic 3G standard, simply known as the Nokia 6788. The Nokia 6788 is the result of close collaboration between Nokia and the world’s largest mobile phone operator, China Mobile. After all, in a country where there is more than a billion people will definitely offer an extremely lucrative potential market, no?

According to Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia: “Nokia sees TD-SCDMA as being central to the successful evolution of 3G in China, and so is fully committed to this 3G standard. Read the rest of this entry »

JVC Japan will launch new in-ear headphones namely the JVC Cool Buz HA-FX15. Available in White, Red, Purple, Green, Black and Blue, these headphones provide an output of 106dB/1mW at 16-Ohms on a 10Hz to 23kHz frequency.

The JVC Cool Buz HA-FX15 will be available in the US market very soon. Unfortunately, there is no word on pricing so far

Verizon will release the highly anticipated Motorola Droid on November 6th, 2009 for $199 with a new two-year customer agreement after a $100 mail-in rebate.

For your info, the smartphone features a Cortex A8 processor with a 16GB of memory, a 3.7-inch LCD display, a 5MP digicam, a slide out QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth, and Google Android 2.0 OS. The Motorola Droid is currently available for pre-order at the Verizon website.

iPhone Arider, a prototype of Japanese firm, Ubiquitous Entertainment, is a gadget that is able to pair with the iPhone 3GS to provide visual navigation to the driver via a screen right in front of the eyes.

The iPhone Arider is best to work with iPhone 3GS and the user needs to wear a retractable head-mounted display, which can be adjusted as per user’s convenience and this headset is able to display the navigation provided by the iPhone 3GS on the screen. iPhone 3GS is equipped with a compass and supports GPS, which can work well with the iPhone Arider for the needed navigation. And the images displayed by the headset are able to rotate according to the driver’s head movements. Read the rest of this entry »

Nokia have announced the Nokia Illuvia special edition phone range. The new series comprises of three phones that build on previous models which include the Nokia 5530 xPressMusic Illuvia, Nokia 6700 Illuvia and the Nokia 6303 Illuvia.All that the Illuvia name brings to the mentioned phones is that they have a casing that’s purple in colour and also have a few purple themed wallpapers. It is unknown at the moment if these phones will be launched anywhere else but the Netherlands as they were built for The Phone House over that way.

As there isn’t anything technically upgraded on the phones we can only assume it’s part of a rebrand to relaunch them over in the Netherlands or perhaps it’s part of some sort of awareness they are trying to promote.

The highly anticipated HTC HD2 has just been unboxed and uploaded to Youtube in the last day. Although the box used is just a temporary box, it’s still good to see the actual phone and what it looks like while booting up etc…

We are still waiting for a HD2 to arrive here and have been told that there are no review units around anywhere just yet… so someone must have a a secret stash of them somewhere… do tell if you are one of those who know.

Items included in the box are a charger, hands free kit along with inline controls as well as a USB cable for charging/syncing. On to the phone it’s self, the most striking feature of the HTC HD2 is the huge screen that the phone has. Read the rest of this entry »

More rumors are going around about the Apple Slate and an “imminent launch”. Information from Bill Keller also says that the New York Times are working on bringing content to the new slate.

About a week ago a speech was given by Bill Keller off record, but this speech was put online. About 8.5 minutes in to the video presentation the Apple Slate is mentioned as one of the platforms that the times are working on bringing content to.

“I’m hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate…”

Now, it’s not concrete evidence by any means as Keller could just be seeing rumors of an Apple Slate or Tablet and by coincidence saying that they are going to develop for it, but it is a good indication that we might be seeing an Apple Slate sooner rather than later.

BlackBerry phones that are capable of being updated to OS. The operating system is actually ready now for download. Alternatively the other option is to use the BlackBerry Desktop Manager Software to see if the update is ready and waiting for you.

The new operating system 5.0 for BlackBerry devices is numbered 5.0.0.328 and brings a number of changes to usability including new flick gestures along with greater stability from previous versions.

Palm and Sprint have announced that the new Palm Pixi will be made available for purchase on November 15. The phone will cost $99.99 after the usual rebates that require you to mail them in. You will also need to sign a 2 year contract to get the phone.The phone will be made available in various places including Sprint Stores, Online, Best Buy, and Radio Shack as well as Wal-Mart stores in some locations.A quick overview of technical specs only shows what we already know in that it has a multi-touch screen, a full QWERTY keyboard and is thin in form factor. The Pixi is Palm’s second WebOS device to hit the market after the Palm Pre that was released earlier this year.

Other features included in the webOS phone include easy movement between messaging, global searching, email, music in a multi-tasking environment. Palm describes it as being like flicking through a deck of cards. The Pixi obviously has a charger in the box, but the press release also points out that Touchstone can be used with the Palm Pixi. The Touchstone charger will set you backs another $79.99 along with $19.99 for a back cover to make the Pixi compatible with it.

The recent trend of combining every possible gadget into one pocket-sized super gadget has led the people at RKS to come up with the concept of this Gamer Phone, which according to them was “Created as a concept to inspire LG’s internal design teams”.

The futuristic phone has a slightly sunken touch screen, with one side of controls for gaming and the other side for the phone’s operation. As far as looks go, this gamer phone looks sleek and incredibly cool, and I’m sure it will be a big hit. It even appears to be ergonomically optimized, which is also a good thing. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find any dimensions for the Gamer; I think that is because it is still in the concept stage.

As of now, there is not much competition for the Nokia N Series Gage cell phone in terms of gaming phones, and other big companies like Sony and Samsung are still developing their gaming phones. The Gamer Phone therefore comes as some much needed competition for the N-Gage, and should be in great demand. My main concern about the Gamer Phone is how people will actually attend phone calls, but I’m assuming that when this concept becomes a reality, these things will get ironed out.

Palm Pixi was already one of the hottest handsets around, and now they’re further heating up the market by launching some sexy skins. It seems like Pixi is clearly trying to lure the female customers with the beautiful artistic touch given by designer LA Sherri Bodell. The skins are so designed with metal beading that they resemble a woman’s couture and sleek figure. Girls, the designer Pixi is sure to further enhance your elegance.