Dec 04

Dell creates communications division for push into handheld market

Posted in: breaking news, BreakingNews, business, industry, Mini, phone, smartphone, Today's Chili

Turns out Mini 3i is only the beginning. Dell has announced plans to create a new Communications Group with a focus on mobile phones and similar portable devices. Current consumer division head and former Motorola exec Ron Garriques will take the helm. Not much else to say at this point, but make no mistake, Dell is now officially in the phone business for the long haul.

Dell creates communications division for push into handheld market originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 03

Zii Trinity smartphone concept handled on video

Posted in: concept, media player, MediaPlayer, phone, prototype, smartphone, Today's Chili

It’s an all too brief look, but it’s infinitely more than we’ve seen so far. CNET Asia has managed some hands-on time the Zii Trinity concept smartphone. Quite a looker, and here we also get a glimpse of it next to the good ol’ Zii Egg. As noted by the narrator, the bottom proprietary slot can be swapped for microUSB or mini-HDMI, there’s a notably-sized 5 megapixel camera on the back, as well as one on the front for video conferencing. Enough talk, take a gander for yourself after the break.

[Thanks, kumar]

Continue reading Zii Trinity smartphone concept handled on video

Zii Trinity smartphone concept handled on video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 02

ViewSonic VCP08 seen clearly, largely in the wild

Posted in: phone, Today's Chili, viewsonic, Windows, Windows XP

Last we saw of ViewSonic‘s VCP08 Windows XP phone was just a handful of renders. New images have surfaced of the real deal, physical model, and two things become immediately clear. First off, the company managed to stay true to the initial pictures. Secondly, this thing is huge. So huge it towers over the N97 Mini, which itself isn’t really much smaller than the N97. Make no mistake, though, that in no way stops us from wanting to play with it. In the meantime, hit up the source link for a cavalcade of images.

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ViewSonic VCP08 seen clearly, largely in the wild originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 01

ZiiLabs Enters Smartphone Market, Kind Of

Posted in: phone, Today's Chili

Zii EGG Angle (slanted angle).jpgZiiLabs – the combination of 3DLabs and the digital entertainment group of Creative Technology – has entered the smartphone market. Sort of, anyway.

On Tuesday, ZiiLabs announced the Zii Trinity, what the company calls a “3.5G/4G” smartphone platform that can be licensed by other OEMs. On paper, the Trinity looks quite impressive, but without an announced partner, will it ever come to market?

The Trinity seems predicated on the same business model as the Egg (pictured to the left), an iPod-touch like device that debuted mid-year, also for licensing. To date, the company has yet to announce any customers.

What sets the ZiiLabs products apart is that they use the company’s own application processor; in this case, the older ZMS-05 processor, with two ARM9 cores onboard. That, in turn, allows 720p decoding and encoding, and a 1080p encoder for televisions.

The Trinity also serves as a dual-boot phone, capable of running either an “optimized” Android OS or ZiiLabs’ native Linux-based Plaszma OS.

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Nov 30

LG’s pico projector-packing WinMo eXpo outed for AT&T

Posted in: cellphone, cellphones, LG, phone, Phones, qwerty, slider, Today's Chili

Hey — what’s that? Oh right, it’s the LG eXpo, the slider with a pico projector jammed inside. Among other things, the full QWERTY slider’s packing a 1GHz CPU, a 3.2-inch touchscreen, a 5 megapixel camera, a microSD slot, and of course that removable Texas Instruments projector. The just-announced handset bears quite a strong resemblance to the Monaco we heard about way back in May — though from the looks of it, its lost all of the brassiness we were so fond of. The eXpo runs Windows Mobile 6.5, and it will hit AT&T on December 7th for $199 after a mail in rebate with a two year contract — plus an additional $179 should you choose to opt in on that projector.

Continue reading LG’s pico projector-packing WinMo eXpo outed for AT&T

LG’s pico projector-packing WinMo eXpo outed for AT&T originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 30

LEAK: The Google Phone “Is a Certainty”

Posted in: Android, cellphones, Google, leak, leaks, phone, rumor, rumors, Smartphones, Today's Chili, top

According to a trusted source who’s seen it with their own eyes, the Google Phone “is a certainty.”

And by “Google Phone” we don’t simply mean another Android handset. We’re talking about Google-branded hardware running a version of Android we haven’t yet seen.

Over the next few weeks, Google Phones (most probably in early, prototype form) will flood the Mountain View campus. They’ll don large LCDs while running a new version of Android—either Flan or the version of Android beyond it—which our source spotted running on Google’s handset as well as a laptop. (Whatever the software was, it most certainly wasn’t Chrome OS, we were assured.)

But maybe the most intriguing bit is what someone said to our source offhandedly, that the current Android, the we all know and love, is not the “real” Android. So what makes for a “real” version of Android?

Our best guess is an Android OS with Google Voice at its heart.

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Nov 24

Smartphone Technology Created for Diabetics

Posted in: phone, Today's Chili

smartphone_diabetics.jpgDiabetes is a major cause of disability in the aging Chinese population, and many of them located in rural areas don’t have immediate access to health care. A team of researchers in China have developed a smartphone technology that they believe could help diabetics.

Called the Chinese Aged Diabetic Assistant or CADA, the technology aims to provide assistance to patients and doctors alike. The program can monitor the patient’s blood pressure, weight, diet, exercise routine, mood and blood glucose levels. It is also designed to be interactive so that the patients will learn self-management that’s right for their condition. When the project started, the developers were not aiming for program that’s centered on gaming. But further studies on the target population revealed that gaming “was a persuasive way to engage patients in managing their personal health.” According to ScienceDaily, one of the games in the program is a food pyramid game that’s designed to encourage patients to eat healthy. There’s also a trivia game and a tile-matching game that aims to educate the patients on what’s needed to live a healthy lifestyle.

The program was designed for the smartphone since the researchers found that many of the patients are already in possession of mobile phones and smartphones, making the devices a logic choice for the patients to be interested in the technology. Moreover, smartphones are mobile, giving the developers more options for the technology’s improvement. In the future, developers aim to improve the technology so that patients will be able to send their information to health care providers.

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Nov 24

Dell Ships Mini 3i Phone to China Mobile, Tips Specs

Posted in: phone, Today's Chili

Dell Mini 3i phone.JPGDell said Monday that it has begun shipping its Mini 3i phone to China Mobile, and released some of the specs of the new smartphone. While they’re not too impressive, it’s also possible that a possible U.S. release of the phone may be priced accordingly.

Here are the specs:

  • Display: 3.5″ 640×360 widescreen display
  • Bands/Modes: Quadband GSM/EDGE
  • Bluetooth
  • Built-in GPS
  • Camera: 3 megapixel camera with zoom, auto-focus, flash, video capture and photo-editing capabilities.
  • Micro SD (up to 32GB)
  • Connector: MiniUSB
  • Dimensions: 58.35 x 122 x 11.7
  • Weight: <105g grams

“The Mini 3i runs on China Mobile’s flexible OPhone open source
platform that can handle things like e-mail, messaging via IM, MMS and
SMS, photo, video and music playback and more,” Lionel Menchaca, Dell’;s chief blogger, wrote in a blog post. “The Mini 3i is also built to take advantage of China Mobile’s Mobile
Market. Through it customers can access games and entertainment,
customization options like wallpapers, ringtones and widgets or
productivity tools for those more interested in business use.”

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Nov 19

Ooma Telo Handset now available, attempts to lure your booze money

Posted in: phone, Today's Chili, VoIP
While some of us weren’t totally digging the skin of the Ooma Telo VoIP hub, it’s only fair to say that the company has somewhat made up with the release of the seductive Telo Handset. This DECT device will run you $49.99 and will work with up to three other handsets on each Telo (although originally they promised up to six in total). Sure, most of the features can be found on ordinary DECT handsets, but the online phonebook which can be downloaded to the Telo Handset sounds awesome. Oh, and there are a few more handy functions like “Instant Second Line” and a “Do Not Disturb” mode which redirects calls to voicemail, but you’ll have to give up $9.99 per month or $119.99 per year for this Ooma Premier service. Yeah, totally not worth it.

Ooma Telo Handset now available, attempts to lure your booze money originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 18

Samsung Bada phone to be announced first half of next year

Posted in: mobile os, MobileOs, phone, samsung, Today's Chili

We’re still not entirely sure why Samsung feels the need to launch its own mobile operating system while still cranking out Android and Windows Mobile devices, but it seems like things are going full steam ahead: a spokesperson told CNET Asia today that a Bada phone would arrive in the first half of 2010. Sure, that sounds like a long time off, but really it’s just six months after the big Bada SDK reveal in December, so we’ll have to see if that’s enough time for developers to sort things out and release any apps.

[Thanks, Siobhan]

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Samsung Bada phone to be announced first half of next year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceCNET Asia  | Email this | Comments

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