Sprint Cell Phones

Anticipating a selection of QWERTY-less handsets to run the platform in the near future, the next version of Android will have an onscreen keyboard, among other things. Here's what it'll look like.

The two most notable aspects of the keyboard are its style and its method of feedback, which are both slightly derivative. You may recognize the keyboard styling from HTC's TouchFlo 3D handsets, which are skinned very similarly, albeit with an inverted color scheme. It diverges, however, in its visual feedback; instead of simply magnifying the key around your finger, Cupcake displays a disembodied duplicate at a fixed distance above the original key, for an effect not unlike the iPhone's onscreen keyboard.

Not shown in the video are some of Cupcake's meatier features, namely the video recording and browser find functions. The robust, if unrefined, preview of this keyboard serves to show that developers are taking Android dev seriously, and that the platform could well turn out to be the evolving OS that we originally hoped for. [MomentaryLapseofReason via ModMyGphone—Thanks, Neerhaj]

A new company is offering parents another tool to prevent their teenage drivers from sending text messages while driving. Textecution sits quietly in the background and allows the user to use their phone as normal. Once Textecution recognizes that ...
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Nokia's USA-specific Web site has listed the 7510 Supernova with T-Mobile branding on it. The 7510 was first announced in June 2008 and is a flip phone with a push-to-open design, quad-band GSM/EDGE and FM radios, and 2 megapixel ...
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In today's Q3 Conference Call, Verizon stated that the Blackberry Storm has been their top seller over the last month, attracting new BB converts in droves.

RIM wouldn't release specific numbers, according to Alley Insider, but did say that the Storm launch brought in the highest number of new RIM subscribers for a single day. Following that trend, over 75% of Storm buyers have been new Blackberry users, as opposed to former Pearl/Curve/8800 users (they're all buying the Bold).

And either they had low expectations or sales are actually great, but Verizon is having trouble meeting demands at the moment. Take THAT, David Pogue! [Alley Insider]

Despite its blurry focus and dodgy reflections, this video of the Kogan Agora—following yesterday's requisite in-the-wild fuzzy photos—is an official release. Poor production values aside, the Agora is looking puhhhrreeetyyy good.

Response is snappy, which could be down to the Agora's hardware or the as-of-yet uncertain scalability of Android. The interface seems to work fine on this differently shaped screen, and the hybrid touch/keyboard navigation, partially explored with the G1 but more fully realized here, is a natural fit for the OS.

In fact, this whole form factor looks like it suits Android quite well, so a certain other manufacturer who builds touchscreen/QWERTY phones and is planning a new non-Android OS should probably watch closely, and pray that companies like Kogan don't come out with a less-clunky variant of the Agora. The Agora's formal debutant party is at CES, so look out for more sightings and even a hands-on. [Giz AU]

Just days after preliminary data gathered in the largest cellphone cancer study thoroughly depressed us, a new study claims that exposure causes red blood cells to leak hemoglobin—leading to kidney stones and heart disease.

During the study, scientists exposed samples of blood to varying degrees of microwave radiation (including levels well below those emitted by cellphones) for periods between ten to 60 hours. No matter how you cut it, the result was hemoglobin leakage (which just sounds nasty). Obviously, heart disease is the most serious condition of the two, but I can tell you from experience that you don't want any part of a kidney stone either. Those things could make even Chuck Norris cry like a little girl.

I wouldn't say that this test was the most thorough ever conducted, but I think deep down we all know that when all is said and done, the final verdict about cellphone use is going to be grim. [MINA via textually]

Just days before its CES debut, the Kogan Agora Pro Android phone has been captured in the wild for the first time with a standard array of blurry photographs.

To refresh your memory, the Kogan Agora Pro is available now for international pre-order at $399 with a 2.5-inch touchscreen, 3G, a 624 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, a 2 MP camera and a 400 minutes of talk time. A second model comes without the Wi-Fi, GPS and camera for $299. Both are slated for release on January 29th. [Kogan and modmygphone]

SanDisk has revealed the ship dates and price points of its 16GB memory cards. The 16GB SanDisk Mobile Ultra microSDHC and Memory Stick Micro (M2) have MSRP's of $119.99 and $129.99, respectively. They will begin shipping by the end ...
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While many non-imminent Apple patents can edge into the realm of wishful thinking, this one is pretty doable: useful little gestures for the iPhone, which are received over the phone's onscreen keyboard.

According to the patent application, simple input commands like delete and space would be controlled with simple back and forward-swipe motions. While remapping something that is already readily available through a screen key is of minor value, this technique could also be used to introduce completely new functions, and augment the iPhone's somewhat gimped text manipulation.

To this end, the patent describes customizable functions, which could lead to multitouch gestures that trigger the deletion of entire words, switching of keyboards, or quick input of specific characters. While many users would never take to a gesture system like this, it wouldn't get in anyone's way and could be silently slotted into the next firmware update without much effort or controversy, providing a nice little feature-add for iPhone and iPod Touch users. [MacRumors]

I hope you guys learned as much reading Giz Explains this year as I did writing them. Here are the best, the ones explaining stuff you absolutely must know.

• Every Video Format You Need to Know: Do you download video from the internets? Read this! It also has delicious pancakes.

• Why HD Video Downloads Aren't Very High Def: You're downloading and watching more video than ever online, so you should know the dirty secrets about the video quality that services like Apple TV call HD.

• How to Buy an HDTV Like a Pro: Combine this super-servicey edition of Giz Explains with our complete how-to-buy-an-HDTV follow-up, and you'll hear Best Buy employees' knees knock every time you pull into the parking lot.

An Illustrated Guide to Every Stupid Cable You Need: Our first illustrated guide to something with an infinitely stupid number of permutations, our picto-guide to cables and ports covers essentially every major kind you'll come across in today's tangly, not-quite-wireless world—except Apple's Mini DisplayPort, but, uh, screw that.

• Everything You Wanted to Know About DRM: An extensive catalog of every major type of DRM known to man, and just how each one makes watching movies, listening to music or playing games more of a pain in the ass than it should be, including hits like "Why can't you play music from the iTunes Store on a Zune?" and "Did my rental download just go away?"

• Everything You Need to Know About Hard Drives: From every stupid connector to why they die and you're left cursing and pulling your hair out to its rhythmic, mocking clicking, this covers it all.

• An Illustrated Guide to Smartphone OSes: A basic rundown of every smartphone OS, from the iPhone to Windows Mobile, with pictures, because we love pictures.

• An Illustrated Guide to Every Stupid Memory Card You Need: You could try to actually keep up with every stupid spin on plastic cards with memory jammed inside of them, or you could bookmark our sweet guide.

There is, of course, more where all that came from. If there's something we didn't get around to explaining this year that you're dying to know, hit us up with your pressing query at tips@gizmodo.com with "Giz Explains" in the subject line.