Cool toys and Gadgets

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile

Despite the fact that Verizon had only announced the Samsung Onmia availability just about a week ago, we are already seeing a nice price cut.  The Omnia was originally priced at $249.99, but has been lowered by $50.  With that price cut, the new price is now at $199.99.  Of course, it is important to point out that price does come after a $70 mail-in-rebate and along with the standard two-year agreement.  While it is hard to argue against a price cut, I am thinking that Verizon would have seen a more positive reaction if they somehow got rid of the mail-in-rebate, and opted for something instant. 

Product [Verizon]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile

Yesterday, Palm issued a warning that their sales fell far from the rosy estimate analysts were expecting.  Citing the usual slumping economy, increased competition, and the alignment of Jupiter and Mars, Palm is finding themselves in financial quicksand and their wriggling is pulling them downward quickly.  Palm’s warning: “we are off 41%.“  Ouch.

Palm announced a contraction of its staff, consolidation of its European unit and their Asian units will take ques from the US offices.  The refocused Palm that emerges will be working with the clock ticking as trading of the companies stock yesterday got interesting when it plummeted almost 10%.  What can turn this boat around?

If you are of a certain age, then you’ve been waiting for the “new OS” to save the company.  Unfortunately, delays in development have left the door open just enough for RIM and Apple to sneak inside.  The new OS, if it is to be believed that it is capable, will have to do two things to compete:

• Be available on a range of form factors, something Palm hasn’t done that well at.  BlackBerries come in seemingly thousands of varieties from flip to candybar to touch and are updating them at a blurring pace.  Palm hasn’t been good at this in the past; do we believe they can in the immediate future?
• Is the OS fun to use?  Apple has a lot going on, but the underlying factor driving sales is the software makes the experience fun.  The Palm OS, back in the day, was efficient, bordering on fun.  Can Palm put fun into the mix of their OS and capture some excitement?

That is a mighty tall order for an OS that has been delayed again and again.  I believe we are setting the new OS to be the Hail Mary to save Palm.  Is that fair?  Certainly when work was started on it, it wasn’t intended to save the company, only carry on a the Palm tradition.  Could we see Palm drop an Android phone?  Would anyone care?

Palm is in a tough spot.  I theorized last week that HTC might have some interest in picking them up on the cheap and that maybe the only thing that lies ahead: be bought or die.

Read: [cnet] and [wsj]

Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile

Nokia has unveiled a new flagship phone during the recent Nokia World 2008 event—the N97, and according to Nokia it is the “world’s most advanced mobile computer.“  So, just what is the N97 packing that will make it the most advanced?  Well, it seems that Nokia has packed the N97 about as full as they could.  To begin with, the N97 has a 3.5-inch touchscreen display with a (16:9) 640 x 360 resolution, a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard and an incredible 32GB of built-in memory with a microSD card slot for added expansion. 

Other features of the N97 will include HSDPA, Wi-Fi, A-GPS, Bluetooth, a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and video capture, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a TV-out.  The N97 will be running S60 5th Edition.  With a nice overall feature set, the N97 also has the power to back it up, it will offer up to 320 minutes of 3G talk time and up to 400 hours of standby.  Additionally it will also allow for up to 37 hours of music playback and 4.5 hours of video playback in an offline mode.

As for pricing and availability, the N97 is expected to retail for €550 (around $694 US) and will be shipping sometime in the first half of 2009.

Keep reading to check out a few more pics of the Nokia N97…

Read [Nokia]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile

We first saw the reports that the Nokia N85 would be heading to the US a few months back and now it looks like it has almost made an appearance.  Well, technically it is available for you to purchase.  However it is currently listed with a 2 to 4 week shipping time, so it will be a little while before you will have it in-hand.  The listed N85 comes in Copper and is unlocked for use in the US.  The one drawback here is the price—$555.59. 

Of course, while it sounds expensive, it really is not out of the normal price range for unlocked phones, it is also much nicer looking than the $1,200 list price.  Given that, it almost seems like you are getting a bargain.  Just as a refresher, the Nokia N85 features a 5-megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi and has a 2.6-inch AMOLED QVGA display.  It is also running S60 and has support for 3G.

Product [Amazon]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile

Beginning today, with new lines and a two year contract, Sprint is unleashing six devices into the wild free phone game.  From psuedo-smartphone capabilities like the Centro, to slide out QWERTY keyboards like that of the LG Rumor and lots more.  The Centro has been reducing in price for sometime, perhaps this is the warning shot of a Centro 2?

Here are the phones Sprint is offering:

• Palm Centro - A pseudo-smartphone in a nice small form factor.
• LG Rumor- the hip with slide out QWERTY keyboard.
• Moto i335 with push to talk.  Someone still loves Motorola!
• Compass 597 - the US’s smallest USB modem
• M300 by Samsung
• S1 by Sanyo which was loved by our Majorie Dorfman a while back.

These deals are available online only and the company is careful to say it starts today, meaning I believe we’ll see these deals through the holidays.  Anyone find it interesting the Instinct is shown no love here?  We’ve not heard too much from the Sprint camp about the Instinct lately, so you would figure they’d drop a bit and get things flowing again…we’ll see if they surprise us.

Sprint was kind enough to offer a CEO homage to our tough economic challenges:

“During these challenging economic times, it is more important than ever for us to make online holiday shopping effortless with the best overall value and the most options in affordable wireless phones,” said Dan Hesse, CEO of Sprint.

Also, points for bashing on AT&T in the press release:

Sprint has four times the coverage of AT&T’s current 3G network.

Take that, suckers.

Check out these deals: [Sprint]

Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Communications, Cellphones

When I say beast I do not mean in looks (like the iPhone), in functionality (like the G1) or low cost (like the Motorola Dyna 8000X).  I’m talking about the height of practicality, a phone designed to suffer the falls, scratches and splashes that your average Joe phone would break merely looking at.  This phone is not about looks, being small, or taking high resolution photos: it is the sort of phone you would expect to see on a building site, or on the top of a mountain.  Let me introduce the Sonim XP3.

It has a yellow and black color scheme: the yellow helping for visual purposes and the black being the substantial rubber edges that this phone boasts.  It has a reasonably large anti glare and shock resistant screen with large functional buttons, but only those that are necessary, with special care to make them durable and extra wide.

This phone is dust and micro-particle proof.  It will also operate under extreme thermal conditions, from -20 to +60 degrees centigrade which covers most of the temperatures that the world can throw at you.

Another major killer of phones is water, but the XP3 has no problems with water as it can withstand being submerged up to 1 meter in depth which eliminates the need for a cover on those mountain treks.  I think after water, the second biggest phone torment is drops and this phone can cope comfortably with drops onto concrete from up to 2 meters.

Other major practical features include the extra loud speakers designed to handle noisy environments (like waterfalls or nightclubs), an extra long battery life, and a 3 year unconditional guarantee, which is pretty long for a mobile phone.  Oh yeah, and it has an in built-in torch, making it the Swiss army knife of phones.

Regarding core functions, it still performs perfectly well.  It is Tri-band (so good for traveling) as well has having WAP and Bluetooth capabilities and the usual SMS/alarm/PC sync capabilities.  Optional extras include a secure looking belt clip, and an external antenna for when finding reception is really difficult.  All in all, this is quite an exceptional phone, and if you often find yourself hiking or mountaineering, then this is a must. 

It is the pinnacle of mountain technology combined with some (only slightly outdated) modern technology.  Yes, this won’t sell as well as any Nokia/BlackBerry/Apple phone, but it provides a real solution, and one that is valuable.

Product [Sonim]

Full Story » | Written by Christian Milsom for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Audio, Portable Audio, Video, HDTV, Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile

Ever since Microsoft acquired Danger, it was always rumored that Microsoft might, one day, come out with a phone based off of the Zune.  What makes this rumor different than previous ones is that CNBC claims that a good Microsoft source is reporting that their newest project, named the Pink, is actually a Zune phone. 

Danger, if you don’t know, was the manufacturer of the Sidekick, so they have some good experience in creating popular phones.  Not much is known about this purported phone yet, but the source claims that a prototype could be ready in time for CES 2009, or the phone might be on display at the 3GSM conference.  Either way, Microsoft wants to make this phone good enough so that it can attract potential iPhone buyers.  Ever since the iPhone was released into the public, it has been one of the most sought after phones on the market. 

It will definitely be interesting to see if Microsoft does come out to say anything about this rumor.  I would like to see a Zune phone, but whether it can be good enough to be a serious threat to the iPhone remains to be seen.

Via [CNBC]

Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Mobile

The Pantech Duo 2 has recently made its FCC appearance and despite not having an official announcement we can tell you that (when released) it is expected to be available with AT&T.  The Pantech Duo 2, which is also known as the C820, will be the successor to—you guessed it, the Pantech Duo.  The C820 is a dual slider handset with a numeric keypad as well as a full QWERTY keyboard.  The handset will feature dual-band 850/1900 GSM/EDGE/WCDMA radios, a 2-megapixel camera with video recording, Bluetooth and a microSD card slot for additional storage.  It will also be running Windows Mobile 6.1.  Currently there is no info on when this phone will ship, nor is there any price data.  When we find out, we’ll let you know.

Read [FCC]  Via [PhoneScoop]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Mobile

Looking for a great Black Friday phone deal?  If so, you may want to check out the Motorola ZN5 because T-Mobile will be dropping the price down to free.  The good news here is that you can still take care of all your Black Friday shopping and not worry about missing out because T-Mobile has turned this into a Black Friday weekend and this offer is valid from November 28 through November 30. 

The one catch, which may be a deal breaker for some is that you still have to pay $99 at the time of purchase because the free comes in the form of a mail-in-rebate.  Also, as you would expect, you will also be required the accept the standard two-year agreement. 

Just as a refresher, the ZN5 features a nice 5-megapixel Kodak camera with auto-focus and a Xenon flash, a 2.4-inch 240 x 320 display, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 350MB of internal memory, a memory card slot with support for up 4GB, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a built-in FM radio.

Via [Fierce Wireless]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Sprint is being sued by its own sales staff, over allegedly failing to pay them commission.  More than 19,000 current and former employees are affected by the case, which has been approved by a Kansas City judge this week, each of whom missed out on between $100 and $500 per month.  The legal team for the employees are predicting that Sprint could face total damages in excess of $5m.

The problem allegedly took place during the Sprint and Nextel merger, with issues experienced while the back-end systems were integrated leading to multiple sales going unreported.  Sprint has been ordered to produce a list of potentially affected employees by December 22nd, whereupon those people will be contacted and alerted to the class-action suit.

Sprint maintain that no commission is left owing, and that they have fulfilled any financial obligation to employees both current and previous.  The carrier is currently working with the court to produce more accurate figures as to what each affected individual may be owed.

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