Motorola's ZN5 gets handled, camera shows promise



The best cameraphone ever made? That's Motorola's boastful claim about the new ZN5, but Crave UK's quick initial impression of it suggests that it might not be a baseless, ridiculous claim after all -- not totally, anyway. The cam apparently fires up lickety-split after popping the lens cover into its open position, and the xenon flash seems to outperform anything with an LED (no surprise there). The lack of 3G is a bummer, but at least you've got WiFi there to upload your crisp, clean photographic work. Crave also sends a shout out to Moto for including a 3.5mm headphone jack, and also for delivering a design that clearly contains absolutely no roots in the RAZR. We'll second that motion -- and if Moto can either deliver this mega-cheaply when it launches in September or pop out a second version with 3G at a slightly loftier price point, we're thinking this could end up being one of the most highly-praised products to come out of Schaumburg in a long, long time.

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Samsung M3510 music candybar with shake control

In addition to recently leaked Samsung GT-B2700 rugged phone, Samsung is prepping another interesting GT handset to the market.

And this time it’s not about durability, but about cool innovative music features.

The new Samsung GT-M5310 is a ultra-thin music phone with the innovative music player that can be controlled via various movements.  Shaking in various directions, turning the phone upside down, etc’; brings up various functions.



Samsung M5310 specs include:

    * 2.5G GSM/GPRS/EDGE  connectivity
    * 2″ QVGA 262K color display
    * 2 megapixel camera
    * FM Radio with RDS
    * 20MB of user memory
    * microSD memory card slot
    * Built-in movement sensor
    * USB 2.0, Bluetooth, 3.5 mm headphone jack
    * Dimensions: 109×46x9.9 mm

Unsubsidized Samsung M3510 price is expected to be somewhere around 200-250 Eur

Of course, these days the movement/shake control is nothing really new. Sony Ericsson has been doing this for more then a year already.

Still, it’s good to see other cellphone vendors getting on board, and dedicated music/gaming phones look like a perfect gadget for us to get used to these new shaking features.

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Motorola launches MING A1600, A1800 and A810 in China



After selling more than eight million pen-based PDA phones in China, Motorola is launching three new devices in the world's fastest growing economy. Let's quickly go through each of the handsets announced, shall we.

MOTO A810 is an entry-level PDA and with reportedly "chic and stylish" look, even though we're not quite sure what's so special about it. Specs wise, it boasts a 2 megapixel camera, media player, FM radio, standard 3.5mm audio jack, and of course the microSD memory card slot. Available in either white or black, the device comes with such preinstalled apps as stock trading, dictionary and classic games.

Then comes the more powerful MING A1600 model. It boasts a built-in GPS receiver, 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus, panorama and scanning capabilities, 2.4-inch touchscreen, microSD slot, talking dictionary that scans characters, recognizes the words and even pronounces the translation for you.

Finally, MING A1800 is a CDMA/GSM dual-mode phone which also comes with a built-in GPS receiver. Rest of the specs include 3 megapixel camera with auto-focus, 2.4-inch touchscreen, microSD expansion slot, and preinstalled apps like email, Office document reader, business card reader, and Kingsoft translation software.

All three devices are already available across China at authorized Motorola retailers.

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Samsung i8510 8-megapixel Symbian S60 slider

Looks like Samsung is joining 8-megapixel camerophone fever with a new Samsung i8510 G850 Symbian S60 slider.

Sony Ericsson took the first bite with the new C905 Cybershot cell phone. If rumors are to be believed, LG has one in the works that should see daylight in October. And now, it’s Samsung’s turn.

The source of the photos below says that the phone will  be named Samsung i8510, my guess is that they’ve got the model number wrong. There already was Samsung i850 phone released way back in 2005. and seems to be built along the same lines as a current Samsung smartphone flagship -G810.



As you can see, if the picture above is genuine,  Samsung i8510 comes with 8 megapixel camera.

Known Samsung i8510 specs are:

    * 3G HSDPA 7.2 Mbps connectivity
    * Symban S60 9.3 OS
    * 2.8″ 16 million color display
    * 8 megapixel AF camera with xenon flash and 120 fps QVGA recording
    * Front camera for video calls
    * Ambient light sensor
    * Built-in  WiFi and A-GPS
    * FM Radio
    * Divx and Mpeg-4 playback
    * 3.5 mm headphone jack
    * built-in 3D accelerator chip
    * 2 Stereo speakers with Dolby 5.1 Surround support (?)
    * 128 MB of RAM
    * 16 GB built in storage
    * USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.0, TV-Out, DLNA certified
    * 1200 mAh capacity battery with 6hrs talk and 280 hrs stand-by time
    * Size: 106.5 x 53.9 x 16.9 mm



That 8 Mega label in the camera photos above may raise some doubts about whether this phone is real. But it looks good enough for early pre-production model.  And the history of previous high end Samsung leaks makes me think That these Samsung i8510i photos, coming apparently from Vietnam, are real too.



We are not sure when Samsug i8510 will hit the streets. But I’m sure, that now that it started,  there’s bound to be tons of new leaks about the new 8 megapixel Samsung handset. And we will keep you posted when that happens.

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VIDEO: BeiBei - UIQ 3.3 Menu Walkthrough

14 July 2008

BeiBei Prototype Video
UIQ 3.3 Menu Walkthrough



Obviously the creating of the Symbian Foundation means that UIQ platform is more or less dead now Sony Ericsson will continue with shipping UIQ based phones for quite some time, with the G700 and G900 have just been launched.

Also Motorola has officially said it will do the same so it seems that nothing will stop immediately but if we can believe to some information from trusted sources all new UIQ projects have been canceled and some of the recently rumored UIQ phones will newer be released!

So although all upcoming UIQ based phones have been cancelled there are still bunch of prototypes out there that running latest version of the UIQ platform and some folks managed to get their hands on the BeiBei and make the interesting walkthrough the latest version of the UIQ platform.

So even if you are not interesting in UIQ phone it is still suggestible to see how it looks like because the best parts of this platform will ported to S60 platform which will be pushed as the unique Symbian Foundation platform!

BeiBei UIQ 3.3 Prototype Menu Walkthrough (part 1)



UIQ 3.3 based on Symbian OS v 9.3 builds on the success of the UIQ 3 family, making it possible for mobile phone manufacturers to produce different kinds of phones on the same software platform, on a single code line.

UIQ 3.3 includes incremental enhancements in line with market requirements, including enhanced support for operator services and extensive customization for addressing different market segments.

BeiBei UIQ 3.3 Prototype Menu Walkthrough (part 2)



UIQ 3.3 for example includes:

    * Full web experience: Opera Mobile 9, with its fast page rendering and its Pan & Zoom functionalities, offers the web experience of a full-scale browser in a mobile environment
    * UIQ Dashboard:  UIQ 3.3 is prepared for mobile widgets and features a dashboard, accessible system wide by pushing the widget button
    * Opera Widgets: Opera widgets run on UIQ 3.3, offering the user direct access to content and opening up for new mobile services
    * Unified Messaging Platform: integrated communication experience
    * Java JSR 248 MSA Fullset: Developers can create and deploy a wide range of applications using the Mobile Services Architecture (MSA)

Izvor: Symbian Freak

Ocigledno je da je UIQ platforma bila prevelik zalogaj za Sony Ericsson, jer je propadanje UIQ pocelo kada ih je SE kupio... Steta. 

RIM's touchscreen BlackBerry Thunder caught in the wild



Can't stand the veritable flood of iPhone 3G news? Well, worry not, BlackBerry fanatics. RIM's touchscreen answer to the iPhone 3G is on its way to a smartphone market near you. And, to make sure the world isn't so caught up in iPhone hype that they forget about the rest of the smartphone industry's touchscreen offerings, it seems that RIM has let a few pictures of their highly anticipated BlackBerry Thunder handset.

What you see here are real-deal, live pics of the BlackBerry Thunder and its rumored buggy UI hanging out with its big 'ole touchscreen for all the world to see. The pics looks real enough, so we'll stop short of calling this a rumor outright.

A quick refresher - the BlackBerry Thunder will be toting RIM's new BlackBerry OS - BlackBerry OS 4.7 - and a localized haptic feedback system that vibrates a specific region of touch-input rather than vibrating the entirely device. As soon as RIM works out the bugs, we're sure the BlackBerry Thunder's haptic feedback system will boost the handset as a serious touchscreen competitor in a rapidly crowding smartphone segment.


The display features both vibration feedback and an audible "click" to announce that a virtual-key has been pressed. There's apparently a glass-overlay, a la the iPhone, that is said to allow multi-touch interaction. And, would you look at the size of that screen? It's almost as wide as it is tall - and it's not short by any measure. Bring on the touchscreen revolution, with gigantic multi-touch displays in tow!

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LG Chocolate 3 hands-on



"Chocolate" is a storied word in the phone industry. In terms of brand recognition, it's right up there with RAZR and iPhone thanks to well-executed marketing campaigns by both LG globally and Verizon in the US, but more recently, LG has moved on to other marques -- Shine and Secret, to name a couple -- leaving Chocolate to trickle downmarket. We wouldn't exactly call the Chocolate 3 "downmarket," but its launch is definitely not being played up to the same extent as, say, the original VX8500's was; these days, those honors seem go to iPhone fighters like the Dare.







So is the subdued launch justified? In our quick testing, we came away really impressed with our unit, which happened to be black (light blue is also available). Though the inside's nothing to write home about, the phone's exterior is really attractive in person thanks to a glossy (almost double-shot) finish, generous landscape external display, and a raised nav wheel that we found really easy to use. It actually spins -- imagine that!


Sound quality using the 3.5mm headphone jack was excellent with minimum background noise, though the loudspeaker was pretty tinny -- we wouldn't recommend using it to play music under any realistic circumstances. If the jack had been moved to the top or bottom edge, this would be a near-perfect music phone (which is what it's designed to be), but its location on the side makes it pretty awkward to shove into a pocket with headphones attached. Still, the 1GB of internal storage, microSD expansion, and FM transmitter make for a compelling, pretty package -- and another device worthy of the Chocolate brand.

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Samsung Instinct, LG Dare, iPhone 3G... fight!



Alright, you three are sworn enemies, so what are we waiting for? Let's get it on! Go ahead, seriously, exchange some blows. No better way to get the party started than with a little speed test; the Instinct's data services still seem to be jacked, but the Dare and iPhone 3G squared off with the LG model consistently besting Apple's by between 50-100kbps over Verizon's EV-DO network (see the gallery for the side-by-side). That's not to say the Dare is consistently the faster phone -- it has everything to do with the network in your area, the time of day, the circumstances, and which side of the bed you woke up on this morning -- but it's an interesting observation here nonetheless. We'll follow up with an Instinct speed test (and another round of testing on the Dare and iPhone) when we can.



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Goldstriker does the Nokia E71



Don't know about you but I love the Nokia E71. As a matter of fact I think it's the best Symbian S60 device. That QWERTY keyboard is ultra-useful and if you don't need a 5 megapixel camera on your mobile phone, the E71 is the way to go. Otherwise, if you need a better camera and still want to be in the realm of Nokia, you know where to go - the N82 or N95 8GB.

Anyway, I've just spotted that Goldstriker is offering the Nokia E71 24ct Gold Edition. Not many things are known at this stage, but the price is known. For 549.95 GBP (about $1100), you'll have the E71 shining as it never has. Here's the link to Goldstriker's website where you can grab the device.

Sadly, not much information is provided at the page. Guess they figured buyers of the E71 know what they want…

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