The Japanese Fujitsu company introduces the F705i, a 3G mobile phone that is said to be the world’s thinnest with its impressive 13.7mm in thickness. The phone is also waterproof and can take a 30 minute dip at 1 meters depth without being damaged. It features a 1.3 megapixel camera with “Quick Zoom” and can be used as a videophone.

More photos of the Fujitsu F705i at Akihabara News.

Source: Geeky Gadgets

The Samsung F490 has been launched a wek ago, but not at CES. As expected, the touch-based phone from Samsung looks pretty. The cellphone has a 3.2-inch 262,000 color touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera and supports HSDPA at 3.6Mbps. No release date yet for the US, but it looks like it will reach Europe first for a whopping $734 without contract.

Tri band GSM (900/1800/1900), UMTS 2100, HSDPA 3.6 Mbps 3.2&Prime 262K Color 16:9 Wide Full Touch Display with Haptics feedback Croix interface 5 mpx camera, video recording (MPEG4, QVGA at 15 fps) Front camera for video calls Video playback at 30 fps 130 MB of Internal memory Built-in mobile Google apps microSD card slot standard 3.5 mm headphone jack Bluetooth 2.0 (A2DP+AVRCP), USB 2.0 Dimensions: 115 x53.5 x11.8 mm Weight: 102g

[Gizmodo]

 

This is probably one of the better looking Skype mouse combos we’ve seen so far. It’s also equipped with a 2.5mm earphone jack for “extra privacy”.

This Skype Phone doubles as an 800 DPI optical mouse making this an excellent idea for managing the area around your desk. It also has a built speaker for handsfree skype communication or listening to music.

Features:

• 128×64 pixel LCD screen with backlight
• Hi-Fi Speaker
• Connect with USB to your computer
• 800 DPI optical sensor
• Crystal clear audio with 16bit 48 KHz sampling rate
• Also compatible with Internercalls, SparVoip, NetAppel, poivY
• VoipDiscount, VoipCheap and WebCallDirect, VoipStunt, VoipBuster
• Multi-Language Support
• Supplied Earpones for privacy

The Mouse Skype Phone with 2.5mm Earphone Jack retails for $22.26 (Sample 1+) from the Chinavasion website.

Via geekalerts 

Not matter you are iPhone owner or not, you may probably know its camera cannot record motion video. iPhone’s 2.0 Mega Pixel can only capture still images. But, iPhone’s native applications power seems can go for no limit. Monster and Friends develop a very amazing program that adds video recording function to iPhone. Right now you can capture 5 seconds video at 10 frames per second. The developer said the final version should be able to record 30+ frames per second with unlimited length.

The beta is available here, here or here. The first link is from winandmac.com  which does not require any registration. The other 2 is from the source website which provides you more detail.

[via ModMyiFone and WinAndMac]

On the surface, the mobile Web is a happening place. There’s the iPhone in all its glory. More than 30 companies have signed up for the Open Handset Alliance from Google, which aims to bring the wide-open development environment of the Internet to mobile devices. Nokia, which owns nearly 40 percent of the world market for cell phones, is snapping up Web technology companies and has made an eye-popping $8.1 billion bid for Navteq, a digital mapping service. There are also the requisite start-ups chasing the market.

In 2000, the wireless application protocol was supposed to bring the Internet to the cell phone. Our hero turned out to be a flash in the pan. That was attributed to a lack of high-speed cellular data networks, so a frenzied and costly effort to build third-generation, or 3G, networks ensued. But at a recent conference, 3G was called “a failure” by Caroline Gabriel, an analyst at Rethink Research. She said data would make up only 12 percent of average revenue per user in 2007, far below the expected 50 percent. (The 12 percent figure does not include text messaging, but you don’t need a 3G network to send a text message.)

Similarly, surveys by Yankee Group, a Boston research firm, show that only 13 percent of cell phone users in North America use their phones to surf the Web more than once a month, while 70 percent of computer users view Web sites every day.

“The user experience has been a disaster,” says Tony Davis, managing partner of Brightspark, a Toronto venture capital firm that has invested in two mobile Web companies.

While many phones have some form of Web access, most are hard to use–just finding a place to type in a Web address can be a challenge. And once you find it, most Web content doesn’t look very good on cell phone screens.

Even the iPhone’s browser can disappoint. It has a version of the Apple Safari browser that doesn’t support Flash, a programming language widely used on Web sites, so users are limited in what they can see on the Web. And, you pay a lot to experience the pain of surfing the mobile Web. Lewis Ward, an analyst at the International Data Corporation, compares the mobile Web today to AOL before it went with flat-rate pricing in the early 1990s. Most people surf on a pay-per-kilobyte model, which encourages them to surf as fast as they can, he says.

The carriers, however, seem to be having a change of heart about the mobile Web. AT&T has allowed Apple unusual control over the network in the iPhone, and Sprint and T-Mobile have signed on to the Android development platform of the Open Handset Alliance.

Industry watchers think that having started, the mobile Web will inexorably open over the next five years, solving many current problems.

For instance, there’s the challenge of finding things on the Web from a mobile phone. John SanGiovanni, founder and vice president for products and services at Zumobi (formerly ZenZui), which was spun out of Microsoft Research, says his company hopes to make it easier for phone users to find phone-ready versions of sites they want. On December 14, it plans to introduce the beta, or test, version of its slick-looking software. It will include colorful “tiles” that phone users can “zoom” into and out of quickly as they move from site to site. (The tiles resemble the iPhone’s widgets, or icons on a desktop computer.)

Zumobi hopes that cell phone users will adopt tiles as their entry point to the Web; the company offers a scrolling interface of 16 such tiles that provide information with mass appeal, but users can set their own preferences. Software developers will be able to build a tile–in fact, Amazon.com has 12 ready to go–and put it on Zumobi’s platform. Tiles can carry ads as well, creating revenue potential for carriers and developers.

The chairman of Zumobi’s board is Tom Huseby, a longtime entrepreneur and investor in the mobile business and now managing partner at SeaPoint Ventures. Mr. Huseby says the mobile Web is going through a predictable cycle involving the development of handsets, networks, and markets. Now it is in the last phase of innovation: figuring out how customers want to see the Web from their phones. He says the answer will be to give people what they want, when they want it.

“You got to have open systems, to allow the vast creativity of people to take place,” he says. Zumobi, Android, and other developments, he says, will help create such openness.

Other approaches to solving this problem include Yahoo Go, a mobile Internet product certified to display Web pages correctly on more than 300 handsets, and another from InfoGIN, an Israeli company whose product automatically adapts Web pages to work on cell phones.

The plot has plenty of time to twist yet again. Nathan Eagle an M.I.T. researcher, is working on mobile phone programming in Kenya, where he’s teaching computer science students how to build mobile Web applications that don’t use a browser. Instead, they rely on voice commands and speech-to-text translation to surf the Web

“People talk about the mobile Web, and it’s just assumed that it’ll be a replica of the desktop experience,” Eagle said. “But they’re fundamentally different devices.” He says he thinks that the basic Web experience for most of the world’s three billion cell phones will never involve trying to thumb-type Web addresses or squint at e-mail messages. Instead, he says, it will be voice-driven. “People want to use their phone as a phone,” he says.

For now, widespread use of the mobile Web remains both far off and inevitable.

Source: The New York Times

According to reports, HTC has received ODM orders for a Windows Mobile smartphone from Sony Ericsson, which is expected to ship sometime in the second half of 2008.

So far, there isn’t too much news on the topic and no specs have been announced, but definitely look for more information as it becomes available.

Akihabara news

This camera is a 12,24Mpix DSLS receive both the EXMOR Image censor and BIONZ image procession technology, a magnesium alloy body, HDMI output, 3″ Extra Fine LCD, AF 11 points, a 5Fps setting (Thanks to the BIONZ Technology), Dual Memory Slot (CF and Memory Stick). 

Picture gallery of α700 is available here

Source: Akihabara news

While Nokia will be launching the N81 in London tomorrow, here are some images of what the future looks like. The N81 certainly looks extremely sweet, bringing 8GB of flash memory to truly make this a portable entertainment device in addition to voice call capabilities. Word on the street has it that the 8GB N95 along with a slew of XpressMusic handsets will also be paraded at the London event.

More at Ubergizmo

IT Administrator Kevin Miller has decided not to support the iPhone on his company’s network. Find out why and what Apple could do to change his mind.

Dear Apple,

I know you’re a consumer-oriented company, but when you make products so cool my users just can’t help themselves, you make problems for me. My users love the look, the features and of course the bragging rights that come with an iPhone, so it was inevitable that they were going to come to IT and ask the dreaded question, “Can I use this at work?”

Well Apple, you’ve made me do something I don’t like to do — I said no. It didn’t have to be this way; I could have said yes to your iPhone if only you’d done a few simple things:

1. We don’t use IMAP or POP3, so users have no way to check their corporate e-mail through Exchange. IMAP would leave out some of the best functions of Exchange in regard to calendaring and contacts, which users now rely on to sync when they’re on the road. You’ve got all the components set up with Mail and Address Book—now we just need to get them to sync directly to our Exchange server.

2. What happens when a user’s pretty new toy gets lost or stolen — along with heaps of sensitive corporate data? What do you think the incidence of iPhone theft is going to be like? I need to know I can remotely wipe or kill the device to keep it out of the hands of evildoers.

3. What’s up with the aging wireless technology? Today when every smartphone is EVDO and 3G, why is the iPhone is stuck with 2.5G? Downloading attachments over 1MB shouldn’t be a hassle anymore. You’re missing out on a huge market by cutting out critical business features every other smartphone has already.

While we’re at it, I’ve got some other issues too, of a less technical nature.

Read full article at bMighty

APC magazine published this 15 issues and we just can’t go by ignoring them:

1. EDGE is too slow for the iPhone.

There are still lots of phones that ship with only 2G GPRS or 2.5G EDGE data support, but it’s really not a big deal on those phones because their Internet capabilities are so watered down as to be almost useless.

On most phones, the web browser mangles pages into something that’s mostly text-only and WAP-like. Even on Nokia phones with the Safari rendering core, the user interface for panning and scanning the full size web page is still too cumbersome to be useful for regular web browsing on the go.

With the iPhone it’s different. Safari is really usable, and when it’s purring on WiFi, it’s an absolute pleasure to use. But stick it on an EDGE mobile network and the frustration builds quickly. On many web pages the load times are intolerable for regular browsing.

On Windows Mobile, the browsing is experience is slow to render and the user interface is so generally awful you probably wouldn’t notice the difference between WiFi and 2G/2.5G anyway.

2. Mobile Safari is great, but not for all websites.

Try going to theage.com.au or smh.com.au on your iPhone and you’ll soon see why Mobile Safari isn’t 100% compatible with all sites on the net.

Digg is another example of a website that doesn’t render quickly on Mobile Safari, which is curious considering its lightweight layout.

On Windows Mobile, the browsing is experience is still so awful there’s no comparison. It might be called “Internet Explorer” on Windows Mobile, but it’s a pale comparison in terms of ability to render pages compared with IE for Windows.

3. Inputting information into web fields can be slow and painful.

For some reason inputting text into fields on a website can be awfully slow. Sometimes iPhone just freezes up and won’t accept inputs at all. I’ve noticed different performance on different sites so your mileage may vary.

Like #1 and #2, on Windows Mobile, the browsing is experience is still so abjectly dreadful you wouldn’t notice if there were problems with text entry fields.

4. Deleting multiple emails is way too hard.

If you’ve got more than a page full of emails (and you will when you first set up Gmail on your phone) it can be a nightmare to delete them all. Plus, once you start deleting them, more come in. It took me two days of solid deleting to finally clear my inbox.

This is a user interface flaw that should have been picked up by Apple if it wants to be taken seriously in the email-phone space. Blackberries have had simple menu commands like “delete previous emails” for years.

You can’t easily delete emails on some versions of Windows Mobile either, though. (The version that runs on the BlackJack, for example).

5. The virtual keyboard is good, but not great.

I still miss my Blackberry keyboard. I’ve spent over ten days on the iPhone now and while I can type quickly I still find it less comfortable to hold with two hands. Also, there’s no way to edit the custom dictionary but there needs to be.

You could be on any different Windows smart phone. Some have great keyboards (like the BlackJack) and some have only on-screen keyboards.

The ones with only on-screen keyboards suck eggs and shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same sentence as the iPhone’s virtual keyboard — they often require stylus input, and have none of the iPhone’s smarts like a popup character that appears above your fingertip so you can be sure you’re pressing the right on-screen key.

6. The camera doesn’t work if your subject is moving.

It’s too slow. It is however as good as the best camera phone if your subject is still and the light is good. Also, while the interface is simple it’s very quick to view the photos you’ve taken.

Same goes for Windows phones. And most phones in general, in fact. Despite what the bus-shelter advertising from Nokia tells you, phone cameras are universally awful (mostly because of their slow response time — it’s common for a phone to take 10-15 seconds to switch to camera mode), and user interfaces just as bad.

7. Ringer is too soft

Even at its highest setting the ringer is still too low. This is strange given the folk law that suggests that Steve Jobs has bad hearing and purposefully designed the iPod to deliver louder-than-average volume. I wonder if Steve ever misses calls?

With Window phones it depends on the phones. I’d guess that most are better than the iPhone in this regard.

8. The Stocks application only supports US stocks.

I didn’t realise other markets existed. Did you?

Windows is an open market and I’m sure there are many third-party applications that give you this information.

Hopefully Apple will open up the iPhone to third party developers soon.

9. Using the jog control in iPod mode isn’t accurate enough.

I haven’t been able to accurately control the play-head position in iPod mode. At least not to the same extent as on a regular scroll wheel iPod.

And, it must be said, using a touch screen, with no tactile buttons when you’re jogging (or otherwise not looking at your iPhone) makes it considerably harder to change tracks than on a traditional iPod.

To be honest I’ve never actually used the media playback functionality on a Windows Mobile phone… memories of Windows Media Player for Windows put me off.

10. The default setting for the Timer is always “Marimba”

Sometimes, it’s the little things that are so irritating… and I refuse to forgive Apple for it, since Apple’s whole raison d’etre is perfection of the fine points of user interface. Windows is the OS for people who don’t mind irritating default settings.

I like to fall asleep listening to music. Changing the setting once should set it for next time. It doesn’t and it sucks.

Again, not sure about Windows but I presume it’s equally complicated, if not more so. Happy to hear from Windows Mobile users on their real-life experience here.

11. Out-of-order lists for no obvious reason

Keeping lists in alphabetical order is a good practice, if there’s no other logical way of sorting the items, so why then, are ring-tones in the iPhone out of order? The top ring-tone the top selection is always ‘Marimba’. Why the hell isn’t ‘Marimba’ above ‘Motorcycle’? What makes it special? Is it simply Steve Jobs’ favourite ringtone that has been foisted on all the rest of us unilaterally?

Since this is a specific iPhone software problem, I’m going to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt and assume there is no problem with list ordering on Windows Mobile (though nothing would surprise me.)

12. WiFi reception seems weaker than other devices

When scanning for WiFi networks, unless you’re standing in the same room as a base station, the WiFi reception level on the iPhone seems consistently low. Other devices tested in the same locations get strong reception. I can only assume it’s an antenna design issue in the iPhone, but I hope it’s something Apple can improve on with a software update.

On Windows Mobile phones? Well, it’s a hardware design issue more than a software one. I’d be interested in hearing from owners of WiFi enabled phones — Windows Mobile or other — on how their WiFi reception measures up to other devices like laptops.

13. 8GB is spread thin in the iPhone

If you had dreams of an iPod phone that could store all your email, your iPhoto library, a nice chunk of videos and your music, be prepared to spend a lot of time paring back the stuff you sync with your iPhone. 8GB doesn’t go very far at all when you look at all the different type of media that can be stored on it.

Then again, show me the Windows Mobile phone that can store more than 8GB… and if you do happen to pull one out of your hat, is it in a desirable, class-leading slim form factor?

14. No instant messaging. Full stop.

Apple has uncharacteristically accommodated AT&T by not including any sort of instant messaging on the iPhone. The closest you can get is a kind of instant messaging view for SMSes you send and receive. Of course, the reason for this is that AT&T differentiates its iPhone plans on two factors: call value and the number of SMSes included.

But seriously, the iPhone is a computer — it runs OS X, a high-res screen and it a TCP/IP pipe available to it. Not including an instant messaging application — even one to access the iChat network (AIM/OSCAR) — is simply an inconvenience to customers who will have to get by with web-based IM systems.

Most phones that come with Windows Mobile come with some form of MSN/Windows Live Messenger at least.

15. Battery is not user replaceable

When — not if — the battery in your iPhone loses most of its recharge capacity, you have to send your iPhone back to Apple. And for the privilege of that incredibly inconvenient service Apple wants $US79 plus $7 shipping.

Apple will also erase everything on your iPhone in the process.

Oh, and if you want a loan phone while your main unit is being serviced, it’ll cost another $US29.

So, basically, to replicate the experience that every other mobile user gets by walking into a mobile phone shop, buying a new battery and swapping it out on the spot, it’s going to cost you $US115.

‘Fraid to say, the Windows Mobile phones kick ass in this department: a genuine Samsung Blackjack extended life battery goes for between $US20 - $US40.

So, the verdict overall

Well, clearly, the iPhone has a bunch of problems — some significant, and some less so — but Microsoft’s Windows Mobile has many of the same problems in greater magnitudes.

In fact, if you look at the overall fit and finish and stability of the iPhone OS, it’s very impressive compared to the average Windows Mobile Phone.

These 15 points are problems that are tremendously outweighed by the number of good points in the iPhone.

There are some corkers in there that Apple really needs to make right for current iPhone customers, and in future evolutions of the iPhone, but given the choice between an iPhone and a Windows Mobile phone, which one would I buy? Still the iPhone. By a large margin.

Source: APC magazine