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Archive for the 'Mobile Phones' Category


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Aromatic Cell Phones by Sony Ericcson

Posted by Mitesh Ashar on 17th October 2007

The Sony Ericsson DoCoMo SO703i - The Phone that smells

How about this one?

Someone acknowledges you for the good scent you are wearing and you can uniquely answer that it is the phone that is responsible for it!!!

Yes! Boasting some hi-end features, the DoCoMo SO703i by Sony Ericsson does exactly that, launched only in Japan though.
It offers 11 fragrances to choose from and the smell is guaranteed to persist for 3 full months, following which you may choose to replace the strip that emits the scent. So you even have the option to change your fragrance every 3 months.

Some of the tech-specs that the SO703i can boast of are a built-in TV,GPS Navigation System and a Music Player. The phone is available in 9 colors.

Alike other DoCoMo handsets launched by Sony Ericsson, it is expected to be exclusive to Japan.

Posted in Mobile Phones | 2 Comments »

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Law delays iPhones in France

Posted by Mitesh Ashar on 7th October 2007

iPhone - The most sought after accesoryWe’re not exactly up on our French, let alone our French telecommunications law, but we’re hearing that Apple’s supposed launch of the iPhone in that country is being held up by two different regulations that prevent the iPhone from being the locked-down revenue-generating machine Apple wants it to be. The first, a law passed in 1998, requires that carriers unlock any phone upon customer request — for a fee during the first six months of a contract and for free after that. Notably, all three major French carriers — including Orange, which was supposed to get the iPhone — have lost lawsuits challenging this law. The second, which we’re slightly less clear on, apparently requires carriers to sell both locked and unlocked phones. Tensions over the regulations have apparently strained the relationship between the companies to the point where Orange spokespeople are saying things like “the risk we’re evaluating this week is that Apple crosses France off,” but really, who expected Apples and Oranges to mix without someone getting a little bruised?

Read — French unlocking law with unlocking provision at end of Article II
Read — Les Echoes report on Apple / Orange tension

Disclaimer: Although this post was written by an attorney, the attorney in question only met his university’s foreign language graduation requirement by reciting an Eddie Izzard routine verbatim, so this post should not be considered legal advice or analysis of any kind.

via engadget.com [Original post]

Posted in Apple, Mobile Phones | 1 Comment »

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A great place to explore iPhone

Posted by Mitesh Ashar on 8th September 2007

iPhone - The most sought after accesoryWhet all your appetite for the iPhone on www.iPhoneGold.org.

The website consistently publishes stuff about the software, accessories, ringtones, games & news about the most sought after accessory that has been launched lately.

They recently published a full ONE HUNDRED links to free iPhone games.

So, if you already got the iPhone, explore the possibilities of tweaking, ‘mod’ding and enjoying your coolest gizmo or if you don’t, but are hungry about the amazing wonder by Apple, get on and check out more about it.

Posted in Apple, Mobile Phones | No Comments »

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Nokia adds new device to N-Series, N81.

Posted by Atish Ajgekar on 4th September 2007

Nokia N81 and Nokia N81 8GB: Entertainment made simple

Nokia N81Nokia N81Nokia N81

With dedicated music and gaming keys, 3.5 mm headphone connector and 3G and WLAN connectivity, the Nokia N81 multimedia computer is a true mobile entertainment powerhouse. With a sleek, polished surface and keys that light up when you activate them, accessing content on the 3D multimedia menu is fast and intuitive. Equally impressive, the Nokia N81 is configured to find, buy, manage and play music and games purchased from the Nokia Music Store and N-Gage games service. The estimated retail price of the Nokia N81 is 360 EUR before subsidies or taxes. The Nokia N81 8GB is expected to retail for 430 EUR before subsidies or taxes. Both versions are expected to begin shipping in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Posted in Mobile Phones | No Comments »

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Asus P535 (PDA)

Posted by Atish Ajgekar on 16th August 2007

The ASUS P535Asus is one of the top-rated motherboard and graphic card manufacturers in the world. They manufacture and distribute various computer peripherals, which includes a decent range of phones that they have recently launched in India. The first handset that we received from them is P535, a PDA with GPS, and a full touch screen interface. Let’s see how it compares to the likes of O2s and i-mates that are widely available and accepted by the public.

Bundle

Asus P535


Accessories

ASUS P535 AccesoriesASUS P535 Chargers

Magnetic Pouch

Stereo Headset

USB Cable

Standard Charger

Car Charger

Car Holder
Desk Stand

Manuals & CDs

ASUS P535 Manuals & CDs

User Manual

Quick Start Guide

Microsoft Windows Mobile v5.0

Skype for Pocket PC

P535 Bonus Software CD

Specifications

Band: GSM 900/ 1800/ 1900 MHz

Dimension: 109mm x 59mm x 19mm

Weight: 145 grams

Operating System: Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0

Processor: Intel XScale 520 MHz

Battery: 1300 mAhDesign

Asus P535 looks like an elegant rectangular metal-block. Available in two colors - white and silver, the phone has a large 65K 2.8-inch screen that supports resolution up to 320 x 240 pixels.

The ASUS P535 Bundle

There is a 5-way D-pad below the screen, and menu keys are placed on its either side. The calling buttons are large and easy to access. Just above the screen towards the left side, there is a small LED which blinks green most of the time. In case of a missed call, SMS, or Wi-Fi disconnection, it blinks red. While when Bluetooth or WLAN is connected, it blinks blue. The phone has a standard set of buttons on the sides, except for one.

ASUS P535

On the left side of the phone are the Volume Control and the Camera hotkey. There is also a Reset fissure which requires a pin for access, just one hit and the phone will go back to defaults.

ASUS P535

The right side has the Voice Recording button and a hold switch. The Hold switch is something similar to what we see in MP3 players. This is the default way to lock the phone. This neat option makes it easy to lock the keypad, instead of a couple of taps on the touch screen.

ASUS P535

At the top of the phone is the power button; the space is also shared with a miniSD memory card slot that doesn’t have a dust cover (it comes with a dummy card in the slot).

ASUS P535

The bottom of the phone consists of 3 ports - a stereo jack, a miniUSB, and a Mic. The miniUSB port also doubles as a charging port. The back of the phone has a 2.0 MP camera and the phone speaker. Also, there is a neatly covered GPS port in the corner. The remaining space in the back is used up by the phone’s battery.

Camera

The Asus P535 has a 2 MP camera with auto-focus. It is one of the best I’ve seen in a PDA. The auto-focus camera does a neat job of capturing images, where the maximum image resolution can be set to 1600 x 1200 pixels. It has a single LED flash which works well at night. The flash isn’t very powerful and doesn’t reach long distance, so it is recommended to click images at a closer range. The video recorder of the phone plays videos at 30 fps. Standard set of image and flash options such as red-eye elimination are also provided. This camera does a more than satisfactory job to fulfill basic photo skills.

ASUS P535 Camera

Interface

The Asus P535 comes loaded with Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0. It was quite stable almost all the time that I used it. The phone hung only a few times while starting (probably you can expect a BSOD on Windows Mobile as well?). An Intel Xscale processor 520MHz takes care of crunching the numbers in the background. The processor is supported by 64 MB of RAM and has 256 MB of NAND memory. From the 256 MB, only around 180 MB is usable for storing data. The miniSD card slot arranges for additional storage capacity. The Windows mobile interface isn’t any tougher than the desktop version, anyone can figure his way out and accomplish the tasks easily.

ASUS P535 running Windows Mobile

Under business tasks, the phone has a couple of extras to help out. There is a Business Card Recognition feature similar to the one seen in the Motorola ROKR E6. Also, the Remote Presenter for Powerpoint presentations via Bluetooth is possible. The PocketOffice pack also comes preloaded; therefore you can work with Word and Excel documents when on the move.
The standout feature of the Asus P535 is the GPS receiver with SiRF Star III chipset. You can connect it to the car adaptor and use it for directions, though we don’t have full fledged GPS service in India yet. For media playback, you have the evergreen Windows Media player v10. The provided stereo headset is decent enough but if you are looking for more then you can always connect your own headphones via the 3.5mm jack.

ASUS P535

The phone has Java J2ME loaded, so you can install loads of Java applications that you download from the net on to this phone. Also, the phone has advanced contacts with support for photo-call. It has other features like Notes, Calendar, Alarm, Calculator, File Manager, IE for browsing, MSN, Skype clients for chatting, and VoIP calls are the standard tools as seen in most phones. Asus has its own set of tools called the Asus Status which gives information about the running applications, system, battery, etc. There is an Spb Backup to maintain backup of the system and other trial software that comes bundled in the phone.

Connectivity

Asus P535 has most of the connectivity options, except for EDGE and 3G. List of connectivity options include GPRS Class 10, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, and USB 1.1. The missing 3G support will call for concern in the international markets, while no EDGE would create sales troubles for it in India. The phone has USB 1.1 and file transfers happen through Microsoft’s ActiveSync.

Battery Life

The Asus P535 has a decent battery life. Its 1300 mAh battery provided backup of over 2 days. The phone did well for 2 days with a lot of WLAN usage. I did put the phone into power-save mode for the two days. The screen brightness and the back light on time were kept dropped to the minimum. Even then the display was readable, though not under sunlight. Even if you keep it at the defaults of power-save, it will still give you two days of backup.

ASUS P535 Batteries

Conclusion

The Asus P535 sells in the market for around Rs. 32,500 with a one year warranty. The contents of the package are a lot more than what other phones in this price range come bundled with. To add to that, Asus is now offering a 1 GB card as well as a free upgrade to Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 which makes the package complete. It’s got all going for it - a good package, good looks, power, and also GPS. All in all, Compared to the likes of the O2s and the i-mates, this phone is really good.

Posted in Mobile Phones, PDAs | 3 Comments »