Hasta La Gadget!

Don’t get us wrong, the concept of a truly dynamic keypad on a phone is awesome, and we’re sure that the concept is going to be going places in the next few years — we just don’t think that a handset that looks like this is going to be the one to light the fire. Pictures of the Alias2 from Samsung have filtered in after yesterday’s user manual leak, giving us a better idea of what the phone looks like; we still can’t put our finger on what technology the keypad is using, but given that we’ve heard that it’ll retain its layout with the battery out, we’re starting to think that it might be segmented E Ink. Active matrix E Ink would’ve been ten times cooler, but we imagine it’s not quite at the price point yet where it makes sense for a product in this range. Keep on keepin’ on with the innovative stuff, though, guys — just make sure it spends a little more time in the design department next time.

Filed under: Cellphones

Samsung’s Alias2 in live shots, still not looking awesome originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know that the shindig Nokia’s putting on tomorrow has something to do with music, so it’s certainly within the realm of possibility that we’d see some new XpressMusic handsets there, and indeed, All About Phones seems to have scooped the goods. It looks like we’ll be treated to no fewer than three models — all Xpress-branded, naturally — starting on the low end with the 5030 candybar. This one eschews XpressMusic for the less audiophile-sounding “XpressRadio” name, pimping its in-built FM radio support and a large, squarish speaker around back at a crazy low price of €40 ($51) unsubsidized. Moving one rung up the range is the 5330 XpressMusic slider, packing a 3.5mm jack, some sort of special light effects for the ravers in the audience, and 24 hours of listening time; it’ll be available in the third quarter for €160 ($204). Finally, we have the rumored 5730 (pictured) — the only of the three to run S60 and lay claim to a genuine smartphone title. This one follows in the E75’s footsteps by packing both a numeric and a landscape QWERTY slide, WiFi, a 3.2 megapixel cam, HSDPA, and GPS, but the most interesting new feature here might be the “Xpress Home Screen” which exposes your loaded media right from the phone’s — you guessed it — home screen. This one should hit in the second quarter for €280 ($357) and will be offered in a Comes With Music version in some countries. How’s about killing off DRM while you’re at it, Nokia?

Update: iDNES.cz points out that the 5030 has already been on sale in Pakistan since November, so it’s conceivable that Nokia will be using the event to present the low-end phone to a broader audience — or that it won’t be shown at all.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio

Nokia introducing 5030, 5330, and 5730 XpressMusics at tomorrow’s event? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve stumbled across a… ahem, major national retailer’s stock sheet for the next few weeks, and things are looking up — particularly on AT&T, where we’ll have a couple of long-awaited releases. Let’s start with the unknown, though: there’s a “Jackfrost” due at the end of the month, and without even a manufacturer listed, it’s impossible to know what this thing could possibly be. More importantly, though, the long-rumored LG Zenon (which spikes the less-trademarkable “Xenon” spelling we’d seen before) is slated for mid-April, and the even longer-rumored E71x — which may simply be known as the E71 by the time it launches — should drop by at the beginning of next month. Moving over to Big Red, that Nokia 7205 Intrigue that’s been kicking around in spy shots since the early part of ’08 might finally launch in just a few days’ time. All told, we have a lot of emotional closure around the corner with these launches, don’t we?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Verizon’s Nokia Intrigue, AT&T’s E71, LG Zenon, and others expected shortly originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft’s mansion at Mobile World Congress contains — among other things — a playground of recent Windows Mobile-powered models designed to show off its licensees’ collective design and manufacturing prowess. By and large, the models were nothing we haven’t known about for days, months, or years, but one stood out for us: this here Samsung Valencia. We’ve heard of this sucker through Expansys as the C6625 with a $365 sticker price — but Samsung doesn’t seem to know anything about it and it’s only being shown by Microsoft, so we suppose they’ve opted against an unveiling here at the show. Microsoft’s spec sheet indicates that it’s got 3G (which jibes with Expansys’ details), GPS, 128MB each of RAM and ROM, a totally pedestrian QVGA display, and a 393MHz processor — slow for a Professional device, yes, but this sucker’s Standard with some minor UI mods. One thing that’s got us a little confused is the line item indicating 20GB of storage — something tells us that a phone with these kinds of specs wouldn’t be packing 20GB on board, so it might refer to a theoretical max of 20GB with the microSD maxed out. We’re not losing sleep over the missing announcement with this one, guys, so don’t sweat it or anything.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Samsung Valencia outed by Microsoft, not Samsung originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer has a flamenco-themed party in store for Mobile World Congress attendees, pledging to finally unveil its oft–delayed line of smartphone debutantes amidst a flurry of stomping feet and clapping hands. Unfortunately for the proud parent it seems one randy model just couldn’t keep quiet until then, caught in the wild by Mr. Blurrycam with its QWERTY showing. No details are known beyond its rather chunky look when the keyboard is positioned like this, but we’ll surely have all the details for you in about two weeks — after politely excusing ourselves from the dance floor, of course.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

One of Acer’s mystery smartphones exposed, doesn’t look so smart originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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