Hasta La Gadget!

The timing is right for Dell to make a stab at the smartphone market – the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona starts in a couple of weeks – and the Wall Street Journal reports that Dell may be about to just that.

Or not. The leak from which the WSJ gleaned this information says that Dell may just give up and abandon the launch. To me, this is hardly a proper rumor — you or I could have come up with it: "Rumor — Dell may or not release smartphones next month."

Still it is the WSJ, and there are some more details. There may be two handsets, an iPhone clone (natch) and a Pre clone. Both will be offered with a choice of Windows Mobile or Google’s Android OS.

It certainly makes sense for Dell to get into the smartphone game. With PC sales dropping through the floor in favor of cheap netbooks, the computer giant needs to make some money somewhere. In fact, I know a local bar which needs a waiter. Are you interested, Dell?

Dell Prepares To Dial Into Smartphone Marketplace [WSJ via the Reg]

Your smartphone is ready to morph into your next computer — with a little help from Microsoft.

Microsoft has applied for a "smart interface system" patent for smartphones. The patent shows a dock that would include an output for an external display, an ethernet jack and a USB hub, among other things.

But why would you want an ethernet connection and an external display for your smartphone when you’ve already got a computer on your desk? Clearly, Microsoft is looking forward to a future when smartphones have enough power to rival the capabilities of desktops for at least some tasks.

"The idea is not unreasonable," says Charles Golvin, principal
analyst with Forrester Research. "Smartphones have enough power and you
could use it as a primary computing device but the question is will
consumers go down that road."

With more powerful processors, smartphones currently have almost the
same processing capability as computers from a few years ago. Consumers
now use their phones for everything from web surfing to chat, simple
productivity applications, e-mail and photos. But the inability to connect the phone to peripheral devices such as a
keyboard or a display has prevented the smartphone from truly becoming
a computing system. A dock could help alleviate that, says the patent.
Smartphone docks today offer little more than the ability to charge the
phone itself or offer audio and video output.

The move would help smartphone users, especially in emerging markets, ride the computing wave, says the patent. 

"The cost of cellphones is significantly less than computing systems at many levels," says the patent. "However, the cellphone is rapidly evolving into a smart communications device that can provide sufficient computing power and functionality."

According to Microsoft’s patent, the dock system would have a a network interface and a USB hub to attach peripherals, a communications component, a processor and memory, an OS and a few applications and a configuration component to sense the mobile device and establish interoperability.

The dock could significantly help extend the functionality of the smartphone, believes Microsoft.

Users can store profiles such as home or office that would allow its usage in different environments, says the patent. "By detecting one or more of the externals systems the smart system can automatically select the user profile to employ," it says. For instance, if a keyboard, mouse and TV are detected as connected, it is likely the user is at home.

All this points to the fact that for Microsoft this would ultimately be a software play, says Golvin. "The intelligence seems to be in the software," he says. "So Microsoft can offer that intelligence or software and let other hardware makers build out the device itself."

Microsoft has not indicated any production plans that would take the idea beyond just a drawing on a patent application.

Coming on like a piece of spam, an email invite from Acer just dropped into my inbox:

Good day,

Are you ready to join Acer’s launch into the world of mobile communications?

The event? A February 9th launch at Barcelona’s crazy Gaudí-designed Casa Batllò, featuring Acer head honcho Gianfranco Lanci. The product? A smartphone launch.

This invitation is certainly a teaser — there appear to be no leaks so far to give us any clues as to just what Acer has planned. Digging a little into last year’s news, though, turns up Acer’s purchase of E-Ten, makers of Glofish phones, including the old (2006) QWERTY slider M-700. That phone ran Windows mobile 5, and a newer Windows Mobile handset is certainly possible. But given that Acer has dallied with Linpus, the (almost) instant-on Linux, in its Aspire one, we’d hope for some Linux action in the smartphone, too. Android? Pretty please.

The best part? "Buffet Dinner and Open Bar". I’m already signed up.

Acer has smartphone on deck [CNET]

See Also:

• The Next Netbook Trend: Cellphone-Like Contract Deals

Smile, say cheese and hold that pose till you hear the ‘click’. A new bill introduced in the Congress by New York Republican Rep. Peter King requires mobile phones with digital cameras "to make a sound" when a photograph is taken.

The move is part of the ‘Camera Phone Predator Alert Act‘ and the idea is to ensure privacy and safety of the public, especially children, claims the bill.

"Congress finds that children and adolescents have been exploited by
photographs taken in dressing rooms and public places with the use of a
camera phone," says the draft of the bill, which was introduced earlier this month.

If enacted the bill would require any mobile phone in the US to make a sound "audible within a
reasonable radius of the phone whenever a photograph is taken with the
camera in such phone." A mobile phone manufactured after the date the bill is enacted will have no way of disabling or silencing the sound.

The idea is not as astounding as it seems.Japan already requires all cameraphones including the iPhone to make an audible noise when taking a photograph.

But chances this bill will pass in the U.S. in its current form? Near zero. It has no co-sponsors and hasn’t seen much traction. But if it does, be prepared for clicktones to be the next big thing after ringtones.

Photo: (curiousyellow/Flickr)

Unlike with the upstart HTC G1 or the Apple 3G iPhone, news that Nokia has sold a million of one of its latest phones shouldn’t surprise industry watchers.

But the 5800 XpressMusic device from Nokia is no ordinary phone. The phone is the company’s first "mass-market" touchscreen device, says Nokia.

Nicknamed the Nokia Tube it is also bundled with the company’s ‘Comes With Music’ subscription service that offers one year of
unlimited access to the company’s music store catalog.

The 5800 XpressMusic has been closely watched because of its potential to rival Apple’s iTunes in popularity, especially in Europe.

The phone, which sports a 3.2-inch screen, a 3.2 megapixel camera and supports
Flash-based browsing for the web went on sale in October 2008 in just a few countries including Russia and Hong Kong. The 5800 XpressMusic is went on sale in UK a few days ago and is available in the US only as an unsubsidized and unlocked phone.

Maybe this could spur a US telecom carrier to pick up this device for its network.

See also:
Nokia’s Upcoming Music Phone Takes Shot At Apple