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May 31, 2007
Rumor: Palm's Secret Weapon is a Smartphone
If this rumor is true (and we're still debating its validity), then Palm's new handheld, dubbed the Palm Foleo, is a "smartphone companion." What the hell does that mean? Well, based on the leak its neither a new Treo nor is it a UMPC. Instead it's a device with a large screen and full-size keyboard designed to let you read and edit Office documents. Once you're done tapping away on the Foleo, you can sync your files from the Foleo to your smartphone. Not what I'd call revolutionary. Battery-wise, you can expect up to 5 hours and the device will debut this summer for around $499. Essentially, it's an extra gadget Palm wants us to lug around. If that's the case (and we're hoping this rumor is false), we'll have to pass. '" Louis Ramirez Palm RSS Feed Reveals Foleo Press Release [TreoCentral via Slashphone]
From Rumor: Palm's Secret Weapon is a Smartphone
Posted by Joe at 04:38 PM
Living Color: LG SV280 Banana Phone Sprouts Two Asian Babes, Turns
LG's SV280 "Banana Phone" is getting closer to the true banana color, now available in green instead of that white color with the orange trim we showed you last month. Aside from its verdant hue, it's the same slider as its relatively colorless brother, with a 1.3-megapixel camera, an MP3 player and 142MB of onboard memory. Although this SV280 is a bit fat for our taste, we do like its curved shape, which feels much more natural than many other cellphones that either resemble a pack of gum or a bar of soap. But this odd metallic color is not exactly making us green with envy. Why didn't LG just make them yellow? A banana that green would take a week to get ripe. '" Charlie White LG SV280 "Banana phone" turns green [Unwired View]
From Living Color: LG SV280 Banana Phone Sprouts Two Asian Babes, Turns
Posted by Tom at 09:21 AM
Memory Boost: Samsung Intros Cell-Phone Chip With 4GB of On-Board
It's a sad day for the cell-phone carriers, and anyone else who profiteers by selling overpriced and easy-to-lose MicroSD cards for your phone, because Samsung just announced moviMCP. No relation to the evil Master Control Program, it is rather an entertainment chipset for mobile phones. It includes 128MB of RAM and 256MB of flash memory for the main phone operations, plus 4GB of bonus flash memory for multimedia files, such as porn home movies and legally obtained musical tracks. The memory resembles the MMC format used by SD cards, so developers don't have to worry about writing in extra support. And, you ask, what does this mean for the iPhone? Potentially, an even trimmer figure in years to come. '" Wilson Rothman Samsung Develops High-Density Memory that Greatly Simplifies Handset Design [Samsung via Electronista]
From Memory Boost: Samsung Intros Cell-Phone Chip With 4GB of On-Board
Posted by Ken at 08:46 AM
May 30, 2007
Chalk Sniffing: Chalkboard, Chalk and Eraser Cellphone
The reason why we're so into cellphone straps here is for their ability make otherwise boring cellphones slightly more interesting'"or great cellphones a little greater. Case in point? This chalkboard cellphone strap. It's a miniature chalkboard complete with chalk and eraser so you can doodle or write little notes to yourself while you're out. Need to take down a number? Write it on the chalkboard. Just be careful when you put it into your pants or you'll have a pocketful of chalk and no date for the weekend. Sounds like all four years of high school and parts of college for us. '" Jason Chen Product Page [Rakuten via Tokyo Mango]
From Chalk Sniffing: Chalkboard, Chalk and Eraser Cellphone
Posted by Russell at 04:27 PM
Delicious: Avocado Phone Smells Your Food, Tells You to Eat More
There are a few things weird about this phone. First, if we were to design a cellphone to smell foods and keep track of your diet, we probably wouldn't design it like an avocado. Second, on the off chance that we were to design it like an avocado, we probably wouldn't make it an avocado with a bite taken out of it. But that's just us. The idea itself'"keeping track of what types of foods you've eaten by its chemical signature and telling you what foods you're lacking'"is pretty sound. Why not just integrate it into a regular-looking phone? '" Jason Chen Health Conscious Tracking Phone [Yanko Design via Sci Fi]
From Delicious: Avocado Phone Smells Your Food, Tells You to Eat More
Posted by Lorren at 03:28 PM
Apple Rumor: iPhone Data Plan at
Today, much of the tech press is interested in speculating on the iPhone's data plan. Here's something new to add to the conversation. Last week, when a Cingular business sales rep told me that the date for release was June 11th, she also told me that the data plan would be $30 bucks. I have less reason to believe the date, but the pricing seems like something she knew as a fact. $30. Such an exact number. I told her that I thought it was a bit high, since the phone doesn't have 3G. She said that they had the best data network in the country, so the phone would download fast, so again, take this with a grain of salt. This is a sales person, not an engineer. Maybe it includes Wi-Fi. Maybe you can't just get the EDGE access. That would make me a bit upset if you couldn't split the two up. Because I can stomach the monthly fee for minutes and txt, and I can stomach the iPhone's $599 price tag, but I'm not sure I want to pay another $30 for EDGE data plus Wi-Fi. That's maybe more than I can swallow. This is all speculation, of course. '" Brian Lam
From Apple Rumor: iPhone Data Plan at
Posted by Greg at 01:28 PM
May 29, 2007
Living Googly: Google Cal on
Jacqui Cheng over at Ars Technica is pretty excited about Google Calendar for mobile phones, a service you can get to with a standard Gmail account by visiting calendar.google.com from your phone or PDA. What did she like? ' Events are displayed in a "small-screen friendly list format" 'Clicking on event shows details, and even has map links, which she finds "helpful when I'm out and about" ' Main calendar page displays next 10 events "no matter when they occur...over a period of two days or three weeks" ' Users add entries via phone by typing simple text: "1pm brunch Sunday" is smartly interpreted and entered into both mobile cal and online Google cal "more or less instantly" Cheng did complain about the lack of alerts, but according to Google, you can set up SMS notification for your calendar entries regardless of whether or not you're running the mobile software. She did not mention what phone she used for the test, or even which phones are or are not supported. Is it as sweet as Cheng says, or is she just drinking the Google-Aid? If you've already tried it, please fill us in. '" Wilson Rothman Hands-on with Google's new calendar interface for mobile phones [Ars Technica]
From Living Googly: Google Cal on
Posted by Guido at 04:57 PM
NYT Pulpbite: Pogue on Email For Dumb
Pogue's video tells us how to read our email on Dumb Phones. (You like that? That's my name for every handset not a Treo, Windows Mobile, or BlackBerry.) He checks out GMail and Yahoo's apps, but faults them for being unavailable on many of the locked-down phones that carriers sell us. He much prefers the teleflip service, which forwards email messages from preselected senders as multiple txt messages. I see where he's coming from, since most any phone capable of txt messages can work with teleflip, but man, I definitely don't want the flood of my inbox hitting my cellphone like a rain of twittter. Especially when each email gets broken down into 4-5 emails. *Shudder* Hey, anyone catch his new show last Friday? He's got a schedule up.'" Brian Lam How to Make Your Cellphone Act Like a BlackBerry [NYTimes]
From NYT Pulpbite: Pogue on Email For Dumb
Posted by Sean at 02:09 PM
