Phones

The 3GB Cell Phone

Miscellaneous, Phones / By /

Samsung is going to sell a new handset with 3GB of storage. 3GB! The SPH-V7900 which will only be available in Korea, will be able to store a few high-def video clips and around 700 MP3 music files. Perhaps you may be thinking that 3GB is way too much. Heck, even the venerable Palm Treo only has 32MB of memory/storage. But I don’t think it’s going to be long before cell phone users are walking around with what passes for standard disk capacity in a laptop. It’s just progress and demand and convergence. Think One Ring to Rule Them All. In this case, it’ll be One Device to Replace Them All. No need for an MP3 player, cell phone, PDA or laptop. Just one device. I can’t wait. Can you?

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Linux on Cell Phones?

Miscellaneous, Phones, Software / By /

I can only dream at this point for the most part. But wouldn’t it be cool if my PDA/cell phone/media player all-in-one device ran Linux? I could hack it to my heart’s content. I could install my own digital decoder instead of having to live with the MP3 format. I could write & run small shell script apps on the PDA-part of the device to dictate how *I* interact with *my* data. And of course, I could totally customize the cell phone component to work the way I want. I know; I’m still dreaming. However, it turns out that the OSDL (Open Source Development Labs) is launching an initiative to push Linux onto cell phones. Thank you OSDL. I hope you’re incredibly successful.

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New Gizmo helps stop Cell Phone Theft

Phones / By /

According to this MSNBC article, Finnish scientists at VTT Technical Research Center of Finland have created a gizmo that detects changes in walking styles of whoever is holding the phone and if the walking style changes the phone will freeze to prevent unauthorized access.

If you want your phone to freeze to stop unauthorized access you could always just buy one of the Microsoft Windows-powered PDA phones… of course authorized access is also affected!

Seriously though, the technology sounds cool but what happens if you twist your ankle? Your phone will lock and you won’t be able to call for help!

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TicTalk Mobile Phone for Kids

Gizmo of the Day, Phones / By /

TicTalk Mobile Phone for Kids

So you’re a parent who sees the value in cell phones as a great way to keep in touch with your kids and for emergencies, but don’t really want to turn them into chatterbugs and spend a mini fortune on cell phone bills? Then take a look at the TicTalk. You get to control the hours when it can be used, what numbers can be called, who can call the phone and more. And since this is geared to kids as well, TicTalk has teamed with Leapfrog to provide a number of educational games on the phone. The rugged phone even has featured found in standard cell phones like calendaring, to do lists, custom ringtones, multimedia capability, stopwatch and even a speakerphone.

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ROKR is a Flopper

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Phones, Portable / By /

The long awaited iTunes phone, the Motorola ROKR, is a flop. In fact, according to this article, at a Engadget reader meet-up in San Francisco the device was booed when the Engadget editors held up the ROKR as a door prize!

While the ROKR apparently sounds great many of the features were poorly implemented such as needing to use a USB 1.0 cable to transfer music to the phone (at very un-whopping transfer speeds up to 12MB/s). Also, the phone should be able to connect to the iTunes server and download the music directly without needing a PC. Finally, why the hard limit of 100 songs?

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NTSB Recommends Ban on Novice Drivers Cell Phone Usage

Miscellaneous, Phones / By /

The NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) recently recommended that states issue a ban on novice drivers using any wireless communication devices. Hear, hear. This is a great move on the part of the federal government. Although the NTSB only has the power to make recommendations, its staff and board members personally lobby — often with success — for changes the board considers most important. It is certainly high time that more rigid laws are put in place to reign in the use of anything (especially cell phones) while driving. As it is, I don’t believe that most people really get out of the DMV with the necessary skills needed to drive safely & efficiently. Yep, I realize that may be a controversial view, but one that is easily held up by the statistics of auto accidents and fatalities.

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Palm, Microsoft Set to Announce Windows-based Treo

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Miscellaneous, Phones, Portable / By /

Bill Gates of Microsoft, Palm CEO Ed Colligan and Verizon Wireless President Denny Strigl are set for a press event in San Francisco on Monday. Although they’ve declined to say what they’re about to announce, most experts believe that they are going to announce the long-expected debut of a Palm Treo running Windows. The rumor on the Net is that the new Treo’s model # is the 700W.

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Wireless Extender – Repeater System

2 Comments / Gizmo of the Day, Phones / By /

Wireless Extender - Repeater System

Does your cell phone ever drop in your house or in your office? I know the second I enter my garage I lose my PCS connection and my connection inside the house is spotty at best. In fact, my neighbors call me “the cell phone guy” because I quite often get out of my car and walk around the yard or driveway to talk on the cell phone.

Well, I have found this great gizmo that acts as a repeater for PCS cell networks to give you covereage in a small area (part of an office building or an entire house). As long as you have a connection outside the house, this gizmo will give you access from inside the house!

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Apple, Motorola & Cingular Launch World’s First Mobile Phone with iTunes

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Phones, Portable / By /

In the latest step in convergence, iTunes has made it’s way to your mobile phone. Motorola, along with Apple and Cingular, have brought iTunes to your phone with the new Motorola ROKR for a retail price of $249.99 available earlier this week at Cingular retail stores.

With a color display to view album art and built-in dual-stereo speakers and the nifty feature of pausing what’s playing to take a call, the Motorola ROKR with iTunes pre-installed is sure to excite quite a few early adopters and regular consumers.

For me, the phone does not have a FM transceiver to easily play the tunes through my car speakers and that’s a bit of a turn-off. I’ll stick to my current convergence level with my Treo 600 and Mini iPod… for now!

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In the Pipe: iPod Cellphone

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Miscellaneous, Phones, Portable / By /

You knew it was just a matter of time – an iPod mated with a cell phone. In this case, it’s a Motorola product. Apparently, the phone will work on the Cingular network. Of course, at this point, it’s still vaporware, but we’ll see. It’s certainly in Apple’s best interest to do this as other cell phones are gaining the ability to store and play music and let’s face it – most folks want consolidation of their portable electronics.

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