Hasta La Gadget!

Samsung’s press kit at CTIA today had a little surprise in it: several photos of the Finesse, a new high-end, touch-screen phone for MetroPCS.

The Finesse is functionally similar to the Samsung Delve for Alltel and the Instinct for Sprint. Like the Delve, it has Samsung’s widget-based TouchWiz interface, though it isn’t a smart phone. The phone has a 3″, 240×400 touch screen and a 2-megapixel camera. It’s capable of running on 3G networks, though MetroPCS’s 3G rollout is spotty so far.

The Finesse is the first MetroPCS phone with a full Web browser, and it also comes with a GPS driving-directions application, mobile IM, an email program, and music and video players. The phone costs $349 from MetroPCS – that seems expensive, but Metro doesn’t require a contract, so they don’t subsidize phones the way the big carriers do.

Samsung today officially announced a touch-screen Windows Mobile handheld for Clear‘s WiMAX network, the Samsung Mondi. Since the Nokia N810 WiMAX went off the market, the Mondi looks like it’ll be the only phone-like device on Clear’s network any time soon.

The Mondi runs Windows Mobile 6.1, and it has a 4.3″ touch screen with a somewhat customized Windows Mobile interface that provides five home screen panels, including Web widget, favorite contact, program list and picture gallery screens.

The Mondi has a microphone and a headset jack, and it will work with Windows Mobile-based voice-over-IP programs like Fring. It doesn’t make calls over standard cellular networks, though.

I got to spend a few minutes with the Mondi. It’s made of a slick, black plastic, and closed, it just barely fit into my hand. When I slid it open, I needed to use two hands to type on it. The touch screen was big, and seemed responsive. The QWERTY keyboard, though, was trouble: the keys were very small, shiny, slippery and rectangular. Along with the touch screen, you can navigate with cursor keys placed to the left of the QWERTY keyboard.

Spoilers Ahead!

After long weeks of dancing his heart out, propped up on his busted up legs by only his resolve, courage and legions of SMS-voting geeks, Steve “ThunderToes” Wozniac is booted from Dancing With the Stars.

For some, he was hard to watch dancing. OK, maybe for most. But not to me.

To me he was a giant (but rapidly decreasing in weight, mind you) bundle of circuit board, segway riding, love bouncing around with the enthusiasm of a child on two barely-functioning legs. The man who could out design professional mainframe builders in his early teens found dancing impossible, but here he was trying, bucking what fate handed him (genius, riches) for what nearly everyone else took for granted (having fewer than two left feet). Woz is a deep geek—ours—with the accompanying social awkwardness. And he lost, and lost perhaps more badly than any contestant in the history of the show. But I don’t think anyone else faced such overwhelming odds. And who can resist cheering for the underdog?

Lets see if we can get Woz on Survivor or American Gladiators. [Newsday]

*Sorry for spoiling the ending, ladies and dudes. I figured it was not so much a “spoiler” as a “save-you-from-having-to-watch-bad-TV-ler”.

Ordinarily we’d take one look at Moixa’s Sphere interactive display ball around this time of year and immediately dismiss it as an April Fools joke, but something tells us not even the most dedicated would-be pranksters take the time and expense to patent their little diversions. That said, we’re definitely not so sure this thing will make its planned 2010 ship date, since it’s just a render right now, but if it does, we’ll be first in line — a folding multitouch display with an always-on net connection and gyroscopic interface elements that can also be used folded flat sounds pretty amazing to us. We want to believe.

Read – Sphere site
Read – Sphere patent

[Via Pocket-lint]

Filed under: Handhelds

Moixa Sphere multitouch orb bends minds, credulity originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LAS VEGAS — Samsung announced one of its worst kept secrets, the Mondi, in a press conference this afternoon at Steve Wynn’s kitschy lovely Encore hotel.

Most important thing to remember for this device? It’s got WiMax and Wi-Fi MID that work with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI along with the Opera 9.5 browser. OS? Surprise! It’s Win-Mo 6.1. The device also has a 4.3-inch touchscreen that’s accompanied by a slide out keyboard.

There’s also 4-gigs of storage, a
3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and HDMI out. Also expect support for various A/V codecs and several instant messenger clients.

Some have claimed the Mondi is trying to hang with Netbooks in terms of performance and feature sets. I don’t think that’s the case here. If anything, Samsung is making an attempt to ressurect the much maligned UMPC segment with the Mondi. Why I can’t say; there are other, better smart phones about to hit market (especially ones that are not anchored by Win-Mo) and in terms of performance, the Mondi can’t really hang with any netbook.   

Samsung’s marketing spiel comes after the jump.

Photo by Samsung.

LAS VEGAS – March 31, 2008 – Samsung Telecommunications America
(Samsung Mobile) today announced the upcoming availability of the
Samsung Mondi™, the most advanced mobile WiMAX enabled handheld device
in the U.S. The touch screen Mondi, which takes its name from the Latin
word for "world", is designed for use with the Clear™ mobile WiMAX
service from Clearwire.

The Mondi carries many of the powerful features and uses of a laptop
computer or netbook, but its compact slider form factor easily fits
into the hand or pocket. GPS Navigation provided by Route 66 adds to
the Mondi’s versatility. Available in a solid black finish, this device
extends horizontally to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard and optical
mouse. The Mondi™ is packed with multimedia features that offer instant
access to E-mail, Internet, video content and business applications.

Mondi packs a full -featured web browser, powered by Opera 9.5,
which takes full advantage of the device’s 4.3-inch touch screen. To
keep connected while on-the-go, Mondi offers best-in-class location
based services and instant access to social networking websites. It
also supports various services including Fring™, Gypsii™, and MS Live
Messenger.

The Mondi is completely customizable, thanks to a set of widgets
that can be dragged and dropped anywhere on the display screen for easy
viewing and use. Mondi is also an excellent device for work or for
play. WiFi connectivity offers the business user fast and simple
connections to Outlook Email / Calendars, Microsoft Office and many
other vertical business applications outside the Clear service area.
For the multimedia user, this device offers the ability to download and
watch movies, listen to music or play games.

The Samsung Mondi includes the following features:

Windows Mobile 6.1
Microsoft Outlook and Windows Mobile Office
WiMAX Mobile Internet Access
WiFi Access (BTv2.1+EDR)
GPS: Route 66 Navigation with Preloaded Maps
4GB of Internal Memory
Direct Push/Mobile Email (POP3, IMAP, SMTP)
Supports Instant Messaging and MMS
3.0 Megapixel Camera and Camcorder
Bluetooth ® 2.0
Opera 9.5 Web Browser
HDMI TV Out
Supports Multiple Video and Audio Player Formats

"The Samsung Mondi is an important step toward our goal of bringing
4G network speeds and connectivity to people across the U.S.," said
Bill Ogle, Chief Marketing Officer for Samsung Mobile. "The Mondi™ is a
great match for people who want immediate access to the Web without
having to sacrifice download speed and portability."

"The mobile broadband experience that the Mondi offers to Clear
customers places the power of the open Internet in the palm of the
hand," said Atish Gude, Chief Marketing Officer for Clearwire. "As our
network grows across the US, we will continue to work with innovative
device manufacturers to expand the mobile WiMAX device ecosystem and
leverage the value that a 4G wireless Internet connection delivers."

Samsung is the global leader in delivering mobile WiMAX technologies
and offers an end-to-end solution including chipsets, infrastructure,
mobile devices and consumer electronics, including devices capable of
accessing both mobile WiMAX and other wireless technologies. UQ
Communications in Japan and Scartel LLC., in Russia are examples of
other Mondi ™ing operators preparing for significant commercial
deployment of national-wide service using Samsung’s mobile WiMAX total
solution.

Clearwire currently provides mobile WiMAX service in Portland, Ore.
and Baltimore, MD.. The company expects to bring the service to more
than 80 markets by 2010. Some of the major markets expected to launch
Clear service this year include Atlanta, Las Vegas, Chicago, Charlotte,
Dallas/Ft. Worth, Honolulu, Philadelphia, and Seattle.