Gadgety News

We all know that the iPhone’s camera is not its strongest selling point - although it does rank has the highest used cameraphone on Flickr!

There has been a few attempts of, shall we say, enhancing the 3Gesus phone’s snapper and some are better than others - but, to be honest, none are all that attractive.

How about a kit that allows you to swap between 3 different add-on lenses kinda like a grown-up camera all through the magic of magnets?

The kits come with either a wide-angle lens, a 2X telephoto lens or a fish-eye lens which are all made from actual glass and real alluminium.

It still wont alter the fact that the camera will still be pretty pants in poorly lit situations though.

If you fancy the look of the magnetic mount lens kit - they are available from USBFever for just $16.99.

OhGizmo

This is a glimpse into the mobile handset future through Sony Ericsson’s eyes - date: 2012.

Ignore todays cutbacks to R&D budgets and the global economy shuddering to a halt

Whilst LTE and fast CPUs are no real surprise and Japanese superphones are already not to far from that 1,024 x 768 XGA screen resolution.

What is most interesting is the embedded camera sensors: Between 12-20 megapixels and capable of recording Full HD video.

Stacking on the MPs is all very well as long the optics and image processing are there and up to the job of supporting this resolution.  I also think that we’ll be needing a hefty bit of built in memory as well!

Anyone else think that a lot of these projection will be seen before 2012?

There’s official word from my roots back in Canada.

RIM’s Canadian HQ have confirmed that their Storm touchscreen handset will be hitting the United Kingdom within the first 7 days of November.

No word on tariffs but I reckon it’s safe to say that they would be competitive with the likes of the iPhone and the G1 Android.

I’m thinking unlimited downloads and an 18-month contract - these seem to have become de rigueur in the clever phone world.

More news as I get it

T-Mobile has finally announced that the official U.K release date will be the 30th October.

Pre-orders for the Google G1 have already notched up 25,000 in the U.K already!

It seems a global buzz is defying the predictions of some analysts.

The HTC manufactured handset is expected to notch up 600,000 sales by the end of the year, which will give the iPhone some stiff competition for the expectant busy Christmas period.

In the words of Harry Hill……..

FIGHT!!!!!

There’s a new player in the crowded Smart Phone party.

Velocity Mobile has been formed as a joint venture with laptop manufacturer Inventec and is based right here in the UK.

Their formula is the straight forward combo of “Western design expertise with Eastern manufacturing efficiencies“.

Their 2 offerings, the 103 and 111 have a lot to live up to.

The Velocity Mobile 111 is the new company’s first QWERTY phone, and it will feature the updated Windows Mobile interface found on its touchscreen cousin, the Velocity Mobile 103.

The slim, black Velocity 103 lacks the QWERTY board but it throws in a full touch screen.

Velocity has borrowed a trick from HTC’s Touch, and extending the touch sensitivity just a bit off screen so those tiny menu buttons at the bottom are easier to hit.

The 103 has Smart Phone cred as it packs 3G HSDPA, Wi-Fi and GPS navigation, 256MB of internal memory, 128MG of RAM, Bluetooth 2.0, a 2 megapixel camera, Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, Wi-Fi, TV out, and a microSD card slot.

This is all very well but it’s the pricing that will be the main factor.

Expect to see it on store shelves by October 2008.

Cnet

As we here already new a week or so ago, the rest of the interblog community are catching up.

So to join in with the mob - yup; Nokia’s N96 will indeed be released on October 1st 2008.

Feels good to be a step ahead doesn’t it ;0,

For a full run down of specs, etc go here.

The long awaited arrival of the N96 (similar to the fabby N95 but one better) is almost coming to an end.

To remind us it now has its own special Flash-based web-tour.

You get all the dirt on things such as GPS, music playback, and Internet browsing.

Go on - indulge yourself and decide if you’re still going to get an iPhone.

Would you chose the N96 over the 3G Jesusblower?

I apologise for the headline but sometimes I just go with the first thing that falls into my little mind.

Back to the story.

Merc have been mulling over which direction to go with their eco-cars and, according to the news filtering through the media, Merc could be out with their electric Smart car in 2010.

During a recent interview, Daimler’s chief executive was quoted as saying that an

“electric Smart [was planned] for 2010,” and he also said that an electric Mercedes model would be arriving “the same year.”

As for the cost he said that it would depend greatly “on whether it sells the batteries or leases them.”

There was even a mention of a fuel cell car in 2010 - I just wonder if there’ll be an AMG or Brabus version >:)

Via Greenlaunches

It’s been a while since I’ve reported anything about the Xperia X1. Infact it was the Sony advert on YouTube.

But, those lucky little so-and-sos over at Boy Genius Report have managed to get their sticky mits all over Sony Ericsson’s wonder phone!!

The low-down is that it’s flaunting an 800 x 480 screen, optical joystick, HSDPA and these are all very groovy.

The keyboard, on the other-hand (which looks like it should be a joy to type on) leaves a lot to be desired apparently. Oddness.

The Panel interface is still queued up to feature but BG didn’t have any shots.

Here’s some that Engadget posted though: Panel Interface Pics

BoyGeniusReport | 

There’s a You Tube vid going around the interweb that is said to be showing 2 new Sony Ericsson mobiles.

Noone seems to be entirely certain which models these are, or whether they’re just prototypes.  Saying that though, there does seem to be a disctinct whiff of X1 or could it be the PSP Phone?

The theme for Sony does seem to be convergence on their new blowers.  They do point out plenty of multimedia, data sharing, and chat apps.

Check out the vid here:  You Tube SE 

via Engadget

Sony Ericsson have confirmed that their stand-out arc-slider phone thingy, the Xperia XI, will be having Windows Mobile 6.1 as its OS of choice.

With WinMob 6.1 and Sony Ericsson’s unique XPERIA panel user interface, owners will enjoy a highly user-focused experience with enhanced connectivity, messaging and multimedia features.

Users will be able to personalise their experiences through a distinctive touch screen, panel-based UI that will continually update the phones active dashboard as they want, to match their activity and information needs in the course of every day.

Service providers will also be able to custom build the touch panels that run on the X1 to provide the consumer with a “rich, aggregated offering of their applications and services”.

Still counting down the days til the release of the delectable Nokia N96?

Mobile-review apparently knows the right wheels to grease in order to get their mits on a prototype unit scarily early!

There’s a HUGE review of the new N Series which will give you intimate knowledge of the N96’s strengths and points for improvement.

Strangely, the vibe I came away with from their tome was that they were a bit non-plussed.

Problems for them included a penchant for picking up dirt and fingerprints (the price you pay for a beautiful glossy face - get a snazzy cover then?), a cramped nav key layout with the tricky touch-sensitive Navi Wheel front and center, audio performance that wasn’t bad but was expected to be far better in light of the dedicated DSP, and a “shovel” like feel in the hand - but then the N95 wasn’t voted slimmer of the year now was it?

I for one am still eagerly awaiting the chance to bet my hands on a REAL N96 and give it a thorough testing.

After the finger-waggling from Mobile Review the final version of the N96 might get improved even more if Nokia are listening to them.

I still can’t wait!!

Via Tech Digest and NokNok

Smartphones are becoming little handheld puters in their own right.

Meet the HDPC from MIU.  This little gadget has features that would shock some budget laptops. 

Let’s start with the touchscreen display (okay it’s a 4 incher at 800×400) which is revealed when opened, as well as a QWERTY thumbpad and mouse.  There’s also stereo speakers, a docking port, as well as two USBs.

As for internal capability, it has up to a 1GHz VIA C7M ULV processor and 4GB of DDR2 memory. It also has a maximum 1.3 inch 60 GB hard disk, or 4GB SSD.  You even get the option for using a miniSD/microSD expansion memory card.

Connectivity comes via 802.11b/g WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0.  It works on Dual Windows XP or Linux Qplus embedded OS. 

You also get DMB mobile television as well as an external GPS add-on.

Think you’re being spoilt?  They’re just the features that MIU have confirmed!  I’m still waiting to hear about the camera (which looks like it could be a 5mp jobby) and the rumoured radio. 

It should be released this July and cost in the region of $500US - yup, around £250 for us Brits - but that’s before all the taxes get slapped on it in this fair isle.

Engadget