handsets

Phone designers are still experimenting with ways to make handsets with built-in speakers--Sony Ericsson being the latest among them--but others are going the external route for now. Namely, Motorola.

The "EQ5 Portable Wireless Speaker" has a more traditional design than some of the alternatives we've seen (thankfully), making it versatile enough to be used as a Bluetooth speakerphone as well as for music. It claims to have significant noise reduction and "echo-cancellation" technologies, according to Newlaunches, while measuring just 4.6 inches long, 2.6 inches tall, and barely half an inch thick.

Like other … Read more

Maybe goth isn't the gadget trend of 2008 after all. The theme of choice this year might well be the flask.

Last week Iomega tipped its hand, perhaps literally, with a new hard drive that was suspiciously flask-like in appearance. Now, only a few days later, we get word of the "NEC Flask," apparently a mobile phone of some kind that is said to be powered by liquid fuel as seen through its tinted but transparent casing.

The handset will also supposedly sport touch-sensitive navigation and possibly a touch screen as well, though Chip Chick says no … Read more

This is one of those products that would probably appeal to the same crowd who waxes nostalgic for old brick cell phones. The handset attached to this Buffalo keyboard looks to be around the same vintage, albeit an updated version that uses Skype.

It's beyond us why people would insist on a corded handset like this, when there are so many other alternatives available out there--including phone-mouse combos. It also appears Lilliputian in size, as Dvice points out. Then again, it's destined for Japan, where there aren't too many Shaq wannabes wandering around.

Once the second-largest handset maker in the world, Motorola has fallen from grace in what is looking more and more like a death spiral.

On Wednesday, the company's stock dropped more than 22 percent, to $9.55, in midday trading, after the company reported an 84 percent decline in fourth-quarter profit, due mostly to sharp declines in its handset business. The company's newly appointed CEO, Greg Brown, further spooked investors by saying during the conference call with analysts and investors that a turnaround of the handset division "will take longer than expected." Motorola had been counting … Read more

It will take more than the iPhone for Europeans to give up on Prada. Even with a price tag approaching $900, more than 700,000 of the touch-screen designer handsets have reportedly been sold.

It was only a matter of time, therefore, that LG followed the traditional path taken by all luxury phone makers: put out a special edition. Slated for 18 continental countries, the "Silver Edition" will come with a QWERTY keyboard and a bevy of accoutrements, including a matching pair of earphones and a leather case, acccording to MobileWhack.

It just goes to show that, once … Read more

Here's how to ruin a thing of beauty. Find a Prada phone, one of the most gorgeous handsets we've seen, and attach a scruffy miniature teddy bear to it. Worse yet, dress the little sap in some tiny Prada label too, then charge nearly $100 for it.

That pretty much sums up this line of phone straps marketed by the design house, as seen on Chip Chick. And believe it or not, the teddy pictured here actually isn't nearly as hideous as some of the others in the "Mobile Trick Quirinos" line, such as those … Read more

A Samsung representative told us that the Ultra Edition III series of the slim and trendy HSDPA phone may be on the way, apparently a case of natural progression. Unfortunately, that's about all we know at the moment as the Korean chaebol is keeping a tight lid on the upcoming lineup. We're placing our bets on the upcoming annual Consumer Electronics Show in January and 3GSM in February for some related news. (The photo here depicts Samsung's Ultra Edition 12.1, or U700.)

(Source: Crave Asia)

There's been a flurry of excitement about open source in the mobile world in the past few weeks, what with Google's Open Handset Alliance and its associated Android software platform. In all the hype (some deserved, some not), people seem to have forgotten one Very Big Problem in mobile:

There is a huge array of different hardware and software specifications.

Google's Android solves the software specification problem (at least, for those phones that end up using it), but it does nothing to resolve the wider compatibility problem for mobile developers. Developing for the Android platform may make sense five years from now, but it's a losing (market) proposition until it gains widespread adoption.

Which is why Volantis' decision to open source its framework is such a positive thing for the mobile world:… Read more

After a week or so of rumors about an exciting new "Google Phone," the Web software giant confirmed Monday the details about its venture into the mobile platform, i.e. your cell phone.

Rather than release one model of a phone, Google is teaming with 33 other participants, including carriers T-Mobile and Sprint, in the Open Handset Alliance to create a unified platform, currently named Google Android, for running software applications on mobile devices.… Read more