T-Mobile Sidekick 3 gets official (Unlocking Mobile)
T-Mobile Sidekick 3 gets official
Filed under: Cellphones No shocker here: T-Mobile and Danger are officially unveiling the new Sidekick 3 today. (Note that it’s not called the “Sidekick III”. T-Mob has requested that it only be written as “Sidekick 3″.) The specs are no surprise, either, since they’ve been rumbling around for weeks now, but we’ll run down the official details for ya: Size: 130 x 59 x 21.8mm Weight: 6.7 ounces 240 x 160 pixel, 65,000 color display Trackball (!) Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE Bluetooth 1.2 (limited to Hands-Free profile and vCard exchange) 1.3 megapixel digital camera w/LED flash miniSD memory card slot (supports up to 2GB cards) 64MB of SDRAM/64MB Flash memory Music player software Word has it that T-Mobile will be opening up pre-orders to current Sidekick owners first, with the rest of us getting a crack at it sometime around July 10th.Stay tuned for a slew of hands-on pics.Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Palm and RIM to merge? Meh.
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds Perhaps you’ve heard the buzz, but if not there’s a rumor going around right now that mobile communicator rivals Palm and Research In Motion are set to announce a merger of equals as early as this very Thursday. But before you get your panties in a twist about the seemingly possibilities of TreoBerries or BlackTreos (no, not those black Treos), you should trace the breadcrumb trail from the rumor’s prominent placement on CNET all the way back to an anonymous LiveJournal prominently featuring the slogan “Right now I am big on PALM stock, because the Treo is gonna be huge..” Of course, we’d never rule anything out only because it came from an anonymous source, but we’re definitely suspicious. The author of the LJ, titled Covert Stock Operations, points out that Palm would go through with the deal because RIM can offer them “a great investor relations department,” “acceleration of market dominance,” and a lot of other fluffy reasons; apparently it’s in RIM’s best interest to buy Palm because they’re a primary mobile communicator competitor who are beginning to support Microsoft’s entry into the push email space, and their hardware and software offerings would round one anothers’ out, complimenting and improving their total respective product portfolios. Honestly, we see RIM and Palm as two disparate, headstrong companies with a lot less incentive to merge with anyone — let alone with one another — given the goings on of the last few months. RIM’s emerged from the fog of the NTP case and Palm’s 2006 handset offerings are gaining in momentum; whereas there’s no way we can assure you the two won’t be merging, um, this week, we can definitely say Occam’s razor would dictate the anonymous Palm stock pimping blog might have more to gain from the rumor than either of these companies probably would in actually merging.[Via CNET]Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Motorola Capri, a.k.a. the RAZR slider, previewed
Filed under: Cellphones The guys over at PhoneScoop have sure made the site live up to its name today: not only did they get some serious hands-on time with Motorola’s upcoming RAZR slider — codenamed Capri — they also got to preview the next version of Moto’s much-maligned Synergy UI that will show up in such models as the Canary and the SCPL. At least on paper, the Capri seems to offer a very compelling feature set that will probably attract anyone into the RAZR lifestyle- you’re getting a model only slightly thicker and heavier than its clamshell counterpart, but which sports a 2.0 megapixel camera, A2DP-capable Bluetooth, and what sounds like a greatly improved user interface. Especially noteworthy in the overhauled Synergy is an address book that seems to work much more intuitively than past iterations (remember the one on the StarTAC?), allowing you to organize entries by name and search for contacts using multiple letters. Although Phone Scoop was only testing a pre-production model, they have identified some potential problems to watch out for on the final version, such as the unusually crappy quality of what should be a decent camera, and most importantly, a spring-assisted slider that’s difficult to activate due to the raised antenna bulge so familiar to RAZR owners. Click on if you want to peep a few more snaps, but you’re really doing yourself a disservice if you don’t head over to PhoneScoop for the full gallery and a very thorough write-up… Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Intel selling mobile chip unit to Marvell
Filed under: CellphonesThe rumors of Intel searching for a buyer were circulating, and it looks like they were true: Intel is selling off their mobile chip arm — responsible for the quite successful XScale group of processors — to Marvell Technology Group for $600 million. With chips making notable appearances in Treo, Blackberry and HTC devices, and pulling in a reported $250 million in revenue last year, we’re still scratching our heads as to why exactly Intel would want to get rid of such a successful portion of their business. We’d think powering smartphones would be a priority for Intel right now, but the word is that Intel will have an option to receive $100 million of the purchase price in Marvell stock, so they might not be out of the game entirely. The chip unit currently employs 1,400 people, and Marvell plans to retain the “vast majority” of them, so this move shouldn’t be too traumatic for most parties involved. We just hope they keep up with the R&D to get us smaller, faster, cooler and cheaper chips on the regular.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
“Black Tie Edition” Treo 650 is real, shipping in US
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds Well, color us a bit surprised. It turns out that the rumored “Black Tie Edition” Treo 650 for Asia-Pacific was not only real, it’s coming to this side of pond as well. The specs sadly haven’t changed from what we’ve reported before: you get the same old Treo 650 repackaged in black, a unique hard case, a dual-purpose stylus/pen, and that’s about it. The Black Tie Edition is shipping immediately for a whopping $599 unsubsidized; we’re not holding our breath for our 700p-toting readers to make the switch, but for folks on GSM carriers, this is now the snazziest Treo money can buy.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Hands-on with the Sidekick 3
Filed under: CellphonesEngadget Mobile has a bunch of hands-on shots with the new T-Mobile Sidekick 3.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Gartner sez: NAND flash memory shortage imminent
Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, GPS, Handhelds, Laptops, Portable Audio, Portable Video, Tablet PCs, StorageGartner analysts just released a study confirming (presumably with their usual 70% probability) what we and the Koreans already knew: NAND flash memory chips are in high demand and short supply. Showing up in everything from MP3 players, USB flash drives, digital cams, cellphones, and more recently, UMPCs, Laptops, and hard drives, it’s no wonder Gartner is claiming that by Q4 2006 the market will see a 5.8% shortage of NAND flash chips leveling off to 2.6% at the start of 2007. They caution, however, that the pending shortage will worsen if Apple and Samsung’s collusion partnership results in new, high-capacity 16GB or 32GB NAND-based iPod, which Gartner says “could launch” by the end of the year. Uh, Someone might want to consider a restraining order against Creative’s Sim Wong Hoo before then.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Verizon to get a piece of Chocolate?
Filed under: Cellphones Just as our Asian friends are likely starting to tire of their glossy black pearls of LG goodness, we’re now getting word that the Chocolate might make its first official US appearance in CDMA form as Verizon’s flagship phone. The VX8500, as it’ll likely be known, bears a strong resemblance to the original, but appears to lack the checkerboard keypad and trades a square d-pad for a circular, music-friendly design. There’s some rampant speculation that the VX8500 is slated for an October launch, but other than that, deets are sketchy. As always, we’ll be on the lookout for more solid information. Update: Like we said, we’re on the lookout for more solid information, and Phone Scoop has quickly delivered. Expect the VX8500 to sport a 1.3 megapixel shooter, MicroSD slot, and EV-DO data when it drops, plus an update version of Verizon’s much-maligned user interface that supports soft menus for the phone’s side keys.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Helio letting new subs trade in old gadgets
Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras, Gaming, Handhelds, Portable AudioIn one of the more innovative promotions we’ve seen lately, MVNO Helio has begun offering recent subscribers up to 30-days to send in their old gadgets in return for not a service credit, but cold, hard cash (in the form of a check mailed two to three months later). The so-called Trade-Up program, developed in conjunction with Market Velocity, lets new subs sign up online and get the trade-in value for some of the more popular cellphones, PDAs, digital cameras, and gaming consoles from yesterday and today — although since the quotes are based on your own unprofessional evaluation of your gear’s condition, the actual amount of loot you receive may vastly differ from what you were expecting. The prices Helio is willing to pay range from 10 to 20 bucks for older devices in disrepair to several hundred dollars for meticulously cared-for smartphones and high-end digital cameras — they’ll even give you $26 if you’ve somehow managed to keep your first-gen Gameboy maintained for all these years. The only real losers in this program are the proud few who’ve chosen to say “iDon’t,” because Helio will happily take your old iPod off your hands, but want nothing to do with players from SanDisk, Creative, and friends.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
California launches “mandatory” cellphone recycling program
Filed under: CellphonesThe Golden State has always been fairly legislation-happy when it comes to keeping things green, and now they’re trying to “Keep California Beautiful” with a new program to require cellphone recycling. Californians have been restricted from throwing phones into the trash since February 8, 2006, but as of July 1 all cellphone retailers in California will be required to establish a collection and recycling program. Recycling will be free, but if even that is too much of a hassle, you can visit the KCB website to get a postage paid box for sending your old phone to a happy resting place from the comfort of your own home. KCB will also provide postage-paid collection boxes to businesses for collecting from employees and customers, so the program shouldn’t cause much of an inconvenience. Unless, of course, you wanted to mix a bit of arsenic and beryllium into your water supply.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com