Hasta La Gadget!

We’re just ten days away from whatever Microsoft has to announce at Mobile World Congress, and it looks like the company is trying to put a halt to the endless rumors that it’s developing a phone: WinMo director Scott Rockfield told CNET it’s not happening, and another Microsoft spokesman just denied it to the Wall Street Journal. That should be enough to shut people up, right? Of course not — no denials by anyone ever have been — but unless Stiv Ballmers actually pulls a Zunephone out of his pocket next week, we’re going to assume that Microsoft is on the level with us, persistent rumors of some crazy Tegra-powered superphone notwithstanding. We are willing to believe that the company is planning on rebranding Windows Mobile as “Windows Phone,” however — yeah, it’s a Digitimes rumor, but it makes a lot of sense to us, and it’s an easy way to capitalize on the launch of a new version. We’ll see what happens, we suppose — honestly, we just want a US launch of the Compulab Exeda.

P.S.- Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet says what’s more likely is that Microsoft is working on several Windows Mobile reference hardware designs — including one based on Tegra — which we find much more believable and lines up nicely with some other whispers we’ve heard.

[Via PhoneMag]

Read – WSJ, “Microsoft: Once Again, We’re Not Making a Smartphone”
Read – CNET, “Nvidia-based Microsoft smartphone coming?”
Read – Digitimes, “Windows Mobile phones to become just Windows phones, say sources”

Filed under: Cellphones

Microsoft insists it’s not making a phone, rumored to be rebranding WinMo to “Windows Phone” originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been a few years since Samsung unleashed its 10 megapixel cameraphone onto the world. Now we’re hearing that Samsung will push the limits of absurdity to a full 12 megapixels “this month,” likely at Mobile World Congress. The phone is expected to hit the production lines in February with a European debut shortly thereafter. No details are provided other than the picture above used (but not attributed) by Unwired View. If this is the unannounced phone then we can obviously expect GPS geotagging, DivX video capture, and WiFi with DLNA support. One thing is clear: Samsung thinks that Europeans are pixel braggarts with little concern for image quality.

Update: Nope, that image is just a Photoshop of an 8 megapixel Innov8 — still, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the same feature set and industrial design in a 12 megapixel handset.

[Thanks, Robin of Loxley]

Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras

Samsung to release 12 megapixels of cameraphone foolishness this month? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 05:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As anyone could have guessed, Android is going to be all over MWC in Barcelona this February, and it certainly looks like General Mobile, known for its dual-SIM handsets (at least in those parts of the world where that sort of thing gets any play) will be getting in on the action with a little something they like to call the DSTL1. Aside from the chilled out demeanor and all-around dual SIMiness, this device packs in a 3-inch TFT touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash (made by Sharp), 4GB storage, WiFi, and a 624MHz Marvell processor. Also worth noting is the hardware’s display, which, apparently at 400 x 240 could run into the same grief as Kogan‘s failed effort. Also missing — and rightly pointed out by Android Authority — are Android’s required 5 hardware keys, but, it is a render, right? Due out in Q3 of this year, there’s no price yet — but you’ll know as soon as we do. Promise.

[Via Android Authority]

Gallery: General Mobile Android-based dual SIM DSTL1

Filed under: Cellphones

General Mobile Android-based dual SIM DSTL1 to hit Barcelona originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So rumors of Dell doing a smartphone have been around forever, but they’ve started heating up again today — word on the street is that the company is planning a handset launch as early as next month at 3GSM or Mobile World Congress. That’s just chatter we’d ordinarily dismiss as nonsense, but we couldn’t help but notice most of the Dell people at the Adamo event were carrying G1s — and Dell’s director of consumer products was super-quick to pull out a Nokia E71 and gush over how well-built it was compared to other devices when we asked him where the Adamo line would be positioned. That jibes with long-standing rumors that Dell’s working on Android and/or S60 devices — rumors that Michael Dell himself refused to put to bed back in July. What does it all mean? Well, we have no idea, but we’d say that Dell’s new focus on consumer-oriented design suggests that WinMo isn’t really in the running if it is in fact planning a handset. We’ll see how it plays out over the next few months — we could be right, we could be wrong, but either way it should be interesting.

Filed under: Cellphones

Dell smartphone rumors flare up — Android or S60 phone in the works? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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