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Mobile Phones

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Portable Rotary Phone

Unfortunately it won't fit in my pocket but imagine the looks if you were using this at your favourite Café. Good fun!

This is the ever popular Portable Rotary Phone, now in Red! Phone comes fully assembled and tested. All you have to do is open the phone, insert your SIM card, and turn the unit on! The unit will utilize your phone number and account minutes. Phone dials out like normal through the rotary. Incoming calls ring the original, loud, gong style metal bells. This phone even has a dial tone! The internal cellular module works within any country that has one of the 900MHz, 1800MHz, or 1900MHz cellular bands (90% of the world). The Port-O-Rotary is truly international with up to 15-digit dialing, auto-frequency selection, '+' characters, and PIN # entry for pre-paid cards.

Link.

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The Retro R306

Looking like a high tech screen smacked into an analogue radio, SE has designed a radio with a built-in phone. Placed horizontally on a table, the R306 not only looks like a radio - it sounds the part too. It has a 5MB built-in memory, 1.3MP camera, WAP2 XHTML and bluetooth. I love the look of the phone but can't imagine any use for a radio. With Podcasts and iTunes who listens to the radio anymore? Link

Continue reading »

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MOTOPURE H12 Universal Bluetooth Headset

Love the 'old radio' design inspiration.

Motorola's first headset to use CrystalTalk™ 2-microphone technology to cancel outside noise. Breakthrough speaker design with multiple ear cushion options for a personal fit and seal.

MOTOPURE H12 Universal Bluetooth Headset - Motorola

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Shure Music Phone Adapter

The Shure Music Phone Adapter "converts your Shure earphones into a stereo mobile headset for music phones, allowing you to switch easily between music and calls.Low-profile VoicePort microphone. Tuned to enhance intelligibility regardless of background noise ... uses VoicePort technology to provide superior sound quality and ensure that you hear conversations clearly even in noisy environments. Control button that offers enhanced functionality and convenience by enabling you to easily send and end calls--without touching your phone". Works with Apple iPhone and Motorola RAZR V3i. Link.

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Sony Ericsson’s K850i Cyber-shot

And pundits complained about the cost of the iPhone - the K850i is ~$600US. Cost aside this phone will mean the end of carrying around an extra camera. Features an automatic lens cover, xenon flash, auto-focus, 3G HSDPA and EDGE internet access, expandable storage via Memory Stick Micro (M2) or microSD, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, and much more. Link.

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Pantone Mobile Phone

Softbank in Japan has released a Sharp mobile phone which is available in 20 Pantone colours. It's an interesting idea. As most mobiles try to create appeal via more of the same features (of debatable value) teaming up with Pantone an expert in colour can help build interest and value in devices of these class. What better way to express yourself than your choice in colour? Otherwise the phone features the standard Bluetooth, 2-megapixel camera, and browser. The sub-display is capable of up to three lines of text, allowing quick confirmation of newly arrived email. It's too bad that the phone UI is so poor.

Do Nokia phones still allow for faceplate customizations? That spawned a whole cottage industry.

Softbank 812SH

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HTC Touch Smartphone

HTC unveiled on June 5th its latest project and some are already calling it the "Microsoft-based iPhone rival". But knowing HTC this has likely been in the works for quite some time. The HTC Touch is a svelte 99.9mm (L) x 58mm (W) x 13.9mm (T) and weighs just 112g with battery. It features a soft-touch finish and is available in black or green. As you might expect from htc, this smartphone comes loaded with all kinds of tech.. It runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition, has support for push e-mail, 2.0 mega-pixel CMOS colour camera, integrated Bluetooth 2.0 (A2DP supported) and Wi-Fi, a microSD slot, touch screen, and 128MB ROM/64MB RAM. Unfortunately running Windows mobile means this will never fully integrate with your Mac which is too bad as this smartphone will be far easier to acquire than the iPhone.

Press release.

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Asus Aura mobile concept

Asus Aura, a beautiful concept for a mobile produced by Hungarian design company Egy Studio for Taiwan's Asus.

More here.

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Samsung’s SGH-X830 mobile phone

Samsung’s stylish SGH-X830 mobile phone comes with a 1.3 megapixel camera, 1GB of memory, video and music players, and Bluetooth. It's tiny; the dimensions are 84 x 30 x 19.9mm and it weighs a scant 72g. Many people look for devices which claim to revolutionize mobile communications. This certainly isn't a claim Samsung would make with this product - it's screen size limit any but the most basic uses. But it has an array of great colours which I think make this a great choice. I'll take the powderblue.

Samsung

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Nokia's 6110 GPS Navigator

T3, the magazine with the 'sexiest' covers takes us through the Nokia's 6110 GPS Navigator - looks to come with one-touch navigation, a zooming feature, and a special pedestrian mode for the car-less crowd like moi. It's going to be expensive.

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Silent Ringtone

Funny and no doubt appreciated by many. An interesting commentary on technology by an artist who wisely doesn't own a cell phone. Conceptual artist Jonathon Keats has created the world's first silent ringtone - an homage to Cage's 4'33", performed live before an audience in 1952.

A remastering, "My Cage" is also a remix, introducing serendipity into the equation, delivering performances unpredictably, whenever calls come unexpectedly. The silence may take place without the listener being aware of it. Or the listener may hear a call - phantom silence - when there's no one on the line. "My Cage" all-encompassing: Even those who don't use it as a ringtone have the potential to experience it, in the silence of an unanswered call. Note: To fully enjoy this work, and to give callers the opportunity to enjoy the complete silence as well, it is recommended that you turn off your voicemail.

While noting that Mr. Keats doesn't have a cellphone of his own, and may be less-than-qualified to make global pronouncements about them, Start Mobile CEO John Doffing believes that "My Cage" may be a platinum hit. "People want a respite," he says, "and not everybody has the time or money to go to a spa. The virtues of silence are unsung.

My Cage. Via Wired.

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'Flip Phone' - Mobile phone layout

You take a risk in changing a persons mental model of how an interface works. Nokia discovered this with some their interface experiments. This is an interesting idea though I wonder if the benefits would be enough for people to want to deal with learning a new behaviour.

The conventional mobile phone design has the keypad positioned below the LCD display screen. This orientation provides the user a clear view of the screen while a text message is being typed by using the thumb of the hand holding the mobile.

This design for a mobile phone comprises a single housing where the operating face is configured with the buttons of the keypad positioned above the LCD screen. This layout ensures that most of the handset rests in the palm of the hand for improved support and control.

More at IOL. Via Textually.

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iPhone Copy

The appetite to produce copies of other companies products continues unabated in Mainland China it seems. A new phone called M8 reportedly designed by Chinese firm Meizu features many of the much touted features found in Apple's recently announced iPhone. Likely it's just a visceral connection at best but it's been produced just in time to capitalise on all the marketing love that will surround the Apple product.

Via MacNN.

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Apple Inc.'s Bluetooth Headset

I'm sure we will learn more about this Apple bluetooth headset in the near future - perhaps with some better photos - but I'm happy to see that someone is taking a minimalist approach to one of the geekiest looking extensions to your mobile 'phone'. I still haven't gotten used to the fact that it seems like you are talking to yourself but at least this won't make you look as silly as you sound.

via Engadget.

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