Hasta La Gadget!

Okay, so a recap is definitely in order here. Merely 11 days ago, a flurry of rumors about Samsung’s Mobile World Congress plans filtered out, which just so happened to include word of a 12 megapixel cameraphone. Then, the outfit itself leaked nine new models, giving just a wee bit of credence to the whispers we’d heard. Following that, we even saw a certain UK branch get ahold of one of its flagship models prior to the show, while it casually mentioned that no Android-based phones would be on display. Now, the other most awesome handset (er, rumored handset) is being squashed for a MWC debut, as Telecoms Korea has it that no dozen-megapixel phone is coming to Barcelona. No worries, though — you’ll have plenty to gawk at between the Blue Earth and the Ultra Touch S8300.

[Via Samsung Central, thanks David]

Samsung dashes hopes for 12 megapixel phone at MWC originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG has unveiled the KM900 Arena, an iPhone-like slab that will hopefully improve on the company’s mediocre LG Incite from last year. The KM900 touchscreen handset includes LG’s proprietary 3D S-Class User Interface, which features a cube-based layout with four customizable home screens for quick access to music, movies, pictures, and more using three-dimensional menus.

The company’s announcement includes a lot of flowery language and little on the way of specifics. But the KM900 appears to include a high-speed HSDPA 7.2 data radio, A-GPS, and Wi-F—three things that are fast-becoming requirements on today’s smartphones (at least on AT&T and T-Mobile; Verizon and Sprint use EV-DO-based 3G data radios instead). LG didn’t even specify an underlying OS for the thing, though. More next week when the company demos the Arena at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Nokia announced that the E63, the company’s newest, lower-cost unlocked smartphone, is now available in the U.S. The $279 handset features a full QWERTY keyboard, a 2-megapixel camera, 3G and Wi-Fi data radios, and a standard-size 3.5mm headphone jack; it’s basically a poor-man’s version of the stellar Nokia E71.

The E63 also comes with a free 12-month subscription to Files on Ovi and 1GB of online storage, which lets you access important documents, music, or photos from your home or work PC even when you’re out and about.

Nokia’s challenge, as usual for their otherwise-excellent unlocked smartphones: convince people in the U.S. accustomed to subsidized, low-cost-up-front handsets on AT&T or T-Mobile to pay extra for the freedom of an unlocked device. To date, it’s been a real slog. But the E63’s $279 price point could nab them some additional sales.

Oh, brother. Really, Samsung? Are we seriously going to have to juggle completely unrelated names based on geographic location yet again? Unless our deductive reasoning skills are just utterly shot, Sammy’s Ultra Touch S8300 — which got official earlier this week — will be known as the Tocco Ultra Edition in some corners of the globe. Nomenclature aside, what we’re really here to discuss is just how striking this piece is, and if you’re in disbelief, we’d invite you to give the read link a visit. Pocket-lint was able to score a pre-production sample over in the UK ahead of its “debut” at Mobile World Congress, and you know you don’t want to miss that.

Filed under: Cellphones

Samsung’s Ultra Touch S8300 handled ahead of MWC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ok Acer, you can let us in on the joke now. These “leaks” are just to throw us off the scent of your real smartphones right? After teasing with the announcement of your entry into the marketplace, you can’t expect us to believe that a Glofiish DX900 rebadge, and new DX650 (pictured above… twice) and X960 (after the break) makes up your A-game? The DX650 is a chubby dual-sided device: on one side we’ve got Windows Mobile pumping away beneath a 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen, on the other a 1.27-inch OLED with full numeric keypad — you know, because a software-based keypad and/or QWERTY is just crazy-talk. Inside you’ll find HSDPA, GPS, microSD, 802.11b/g WiFi, and Bluetooth. Next up, the X960 looking very much a continuation of the Glofiish product line. It brings a 2.8-inch 640 x 480 pixel display riding a 533MHz Samsung S3C 6410 processor, HSDPA data, WiFi, SiRF Star III GPS, microSD, and a 3.2 megapixel camera with flash. Look Acer, if this is all you’ve got for Mobile World Congress, fine… just don’t expect us to repeat the year 2007 along with you.

[Via Sohoa]

Read — DX650
Read — X960

Continue reading Acer’s DX650 and X960 smartphones leaked: we waited for this?

Filed under: Cellphones

Acer’s DX650 and X960 smartphones leaked: we waited for this? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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