By David Ponce

Well this is one of those use-at-your-own-risk sort of devices. The Yapper Zapper is a cell phone jammer that blocks GSM, CDMA, DCS, PHS and 3G signals up to 10 meters (30 feet). It works continuously on a single charge for up to 2 hours and is about the size of a chunky cell phone itself. Put it in your pocket during a movie screening and… well, you get what this does. Or a commute to work. Or a meal. The places where something like this would be a godsend are almost endless.

Sadly a device like this is illegal in most jurisdictions we can think of, while incessant yammering in inappropriate places is not. We’re not even certain you’d be able to get this shipped to you. But it will cost you $109 to try.

[ Yapper Zapper ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By David Ponce

Let’s face it, Vertu phones are for the rich. They’re a status symbol, like a Ferrari or a Rolex. And now the company is launching its first touchscreen with a capacitive AMOLED touch display and an upgraded 8 Megapixel camera, which is a first of its kind in this high-end range. Also, 32GB of data storage on the phone. But in the end, it doesn’t matter. Specs don’t really matter on these phones; they could be steam powered and they’d still sell. We don’t even know what OS it’s going to be running. It might be Symbian for all we know as that was a staple Virtu OS previously. What does matter for a Virtu owner is the other stuff that comes with its purchase. Top notch concierge service for instance.

Vertu Concierge can arrange bespoke gifts for a loved one, or suggest the best restaurant in town for a business meeting, all thanks to their staff of global experts based in all the major cities that will advise you either via voice call or email.

Vertu Concierge can even get you past the lines and security and night clubs and country clubs, partnering with many members around the world to offer a once-yearly admission for you and a friend.

Hear that? VIP service at clubs? There’s even access to a sommelier to help you pick good wines. And here are the prices: “Brown ($6,070), polished black or pink ($6,760), black alligator ($8,967), black or white alligator leather with diamonds ($10,900), and red gold with precious metals ($15,034).”

Oh and Rosie Huntington-Whitely was at the launch party. She’s the girl that replaced Meagan Fox on the new Transformers movie. Just sayin…

[ Vertu Website ] VIA [ Just Luxe ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Whipping your smartphone out every time it vibrates at an incoming email, text message or app notification is not always considered proper etiquette, particularly when you’re with a group of people. But the fear of missing even one hilarious tweet, or being out of the loop on the next internet meme, keeps us compelled to keep checking our phones at every opportunity. One solution to this so-called ‘problem’ is to simply realize that somehow life went on before the advent of social media and wireless communications, and to just leave our phones hidden away. But the more realistic solution, at least according to Sony Ericsson, is to find a more subtle way to stay on top of things.

Their LiveView is like having a secondary display for your Android-based smartphone, but one that’s considerably smaller, subtler, and easier to pass off as a high-tech wristwatch. What looks to friends or family like you’re checking the time, is actually you staying on top of calls, RSS feeds, tweets and a seemingly never ending list of info you can probably survive an evening without knowing. But you know you can’t. So does the LiveView serve as an adequate alternative to keeping your smartphone in hand all hours of the day? For that answer and more check out our full review after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Andrew Liszewski

The thought of even having to dial a public payphone sends shivers down my spine, let along picking up the receiver and holding it against my face. But it’s not always safe to assume your smartphone is clean just because you’re the only one using it. Most of you will diligently wash your hands before a meal, but don’t forget you probably spend all day swiping those same fingers across your phone’s screen. So what makes you think it’s any cleaner than a payphone? Because you clean it with your sleeve every once in a while?

I’m not implying everyone needs to be paranoid about germs or anything, but every once in a while giving your phone a good cleaning is probably not a bad idea, and these UV-based sanitizers seem like the easiest and least messy approach. The CellBlaster looks like a miniature tanning bed for your phone, but it blasts it with short-wave ultraviolet light which “kills or eliminates 99.9% of germs, viruses and bacteria…” And while the CellBlaster does its thing in just 30 seconds, it also features a small gap for multi-taskers who want to sanitize their phone while it’s being charged. ‘Coming Soon!’ for a yet to be disclosed price.

[ CellBlaster UV Cellphone Sanitizer ]

By Andrew Liszewski

This is just a reminder that there are only a couple days left to win yourself a fancy HTC Inspire 4G Android smartphone from the good people at AT&T. All you have to do is enter is visit our original contest post and leave a comment. We’re even happy if you leave a new comment every day to better your chances, we just request that you limit it to one a day. The contest ends Friday evening at midnight, so if you haven’t entered yet, what are you waiting for?

So, um, go leave a comment already! -> Contest Time Again: Win An HTC Inspire 4G From AT&T

By Andrew Liszewski

For a while a lot of people thought that Sony had kind of given up on the PSP as a gaming platform, and were going to simply roll it into one of their Android-powered smartphones in the form of a PSP phone. Well thankfully the surprise reveal of their NGP (aka the PSP2) put those rumors to rest, but it was clear that Sony still had something in development, and it turns out that something is called the Xperia Play.

As Android smartphones go it’s pretty robust, with a 854×480 pixel capacitive multi-touch TFT LCD display, 5 1/2 hours of gaming time on a single charge, a 5.1MP flash assisted digital camera and a 1 GHz Scorpion ARMv7 CPU powering the lot. And in lieu of a physical keyboard the Xperia Play’s sliding design reveals a ‘PlayStation Certified’ controller with digital and presumably touch-sensitive analog controls. At launch, which is slated to be on Verizon in the early Spring, Sony is promising some 50 available titles including a handful shipping with the phone, but don’t expect anything too amazing since the popular PlayStation One title they were boasting about turned out to be Crash Bandicoot. (Maybe that will sound more exciting if you say it to yourself like Riiiiiiiiidge Raaaaaaaacer!!!)

As dedicated gaming phones go it looks like it sits near the top of the heap, but that’s not saying much when the only thing underneath you is a mountain of unsold Nokia N-Gages.

[ Gizmodo - Xperia Play Arrives In March with 50 Games, "Legendary" PSOne Title Pre-Installed ]

By Andrew Liszewski

*Update: Thanks to everyone who entered. Once we’ve determined who the winner is, and successfully contacted them, we’ll announce it in the very near future.

Bundling up in layers of sweaters, coats, gloves, mitts and scarves is only so effective when it comes to battling the frigid temperatures that have descended upon many parts of the country. The best way to deal with the cold is to simply not deal with it by staying inside and waiting for Spring’s arrival. But then you run the risk of going stir-crazy, unless you have something to occupy your mind… like a new toy! So we’re teaming up with AT&T to provide one of our lucky readers with a brand new HTC Inspire 4G. If all this isn’t enough to distract you until warmer temperatures arrive, then I’m afraid nothing will:

- Enjoy the speed of the robust 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, and store the documents, pictures, music, and video you need using the 4GB internal memory and included 8GB microSD card.
- The 4.3″ super LCD capacitive touchscreen has a resolution of 480×800 for beautifully sharp images.
- Running on Android 2.2, the Inspire 4G can be customized with thousands of applications from Android Market.
- You can capture important moments with the powerful 8 MP camera equipped with autofocus, dual LED flash, and HD video recording.
- The HTC Hi-Fi Experience enriches your multimedia with dual mics for noise cancellation, Dolby®, and SRS® WOW HD surround-sound effects.
- HTC Sense 2.0 provides a custom user interface for enhanced social networking, navigation, and integration with connected services from HTCsense.com.
- The Inspire 4G includes Mobile Hotspot** support when used with a DataPro with Tethering plan, allowing you to share your connection with up to five devices.

But what’s inspired AT&T to be so generous to one of our lucky readers? Well that’s a good question. As you’re probably already aware, a certain Cupertino-designed phone has recently become available from another carrier in the United States. And while there are some advantages to using the iPhone on Verizon’s CDMA network, the siren’s call isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

If you’ve been using an iPhone on AT&T for a number of years now you’ve probably grown accustomed to talking to people while surfing the web at the same time. Well unfortunately that luxury is only available on AT&T’s network with the iPhone, and if you think that’s something you can’t live without, AT&T would like you to head on over to their Talk and Surf Challenge on their Facebook page and let your voice be heard. So not only are we giving you the chance to win an HTC Inspire 4G, but there’s also the chance of you garnering a little web publicity from AT&T’s million+ Facebook fans.

You’ll find the contest specifics after the jump, including how to enter, but those of you who’ve participated in our giveaways before should already be familiar with what it entails. Read the rest of this entry »

By Andrew Liszewski

Even if you’re not an investigative reporter, private eye or just plain creepy, there are a lot of times when being able to record a telephone conversation could save your butt. In the past, wires and microphones were an essential part of documenting a call, but now all you need is this compact Mynah handset. Named after a bird that’s capable of mimicking humans, the handset connects to your cellphone via Bluetooth and has enough storage to record 340+ hours of calls on its lengthiest setting. Obviously if you want higher quality, you’ll be able to record less.

It has a host of features for documenting the date, time, number and duration of a call, and you can set it to record everything carte blanche, or only when you specifically tell it to. And like with a TiVo if you get halfway through a call and realize you probably should have recorded it, the Mynah actually records it all along and will simply save the entire call when you tell it to. The recordings can then be uploaded to your PC via a miniUSB connection, and on a single charge the handset is good for about 8 hours of record time. The Mynah won’t be officially shipping until December 28, but you can order one now from their site for $249.

[ Mynah Bluetooth Cellphone Recorder ] VIA [ The Gadgeteer ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It might share the same loud, Swatch-esque styling and colors of the recent glut of iPod Nano watch bands, but this sWaP Rebel is another one of those far more capable watch phones that I wouldn’t mind strapping to my wrist. It doesn’t look overly monstrous either, even though it’s packed to the gills with technology. Where to begin?

First and foremost it’s a GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz phone with Bluetooth for receiving/making calls with a headset, but there’s a built-in mic too if you want to use it like Dick Tracy’s wrist communicator. The 1.46-inch touchscreen LCD is probably a bit cramped to use with your finger, but the on-screen icons look big enough that most people won’t require a special dialing wand. There’s also a built-in camera that’s photo and video capable, and while file transfers can be done over Bluetooth, the watch’s strap features a USB port for connecting it directly to a PC. Not surprisingly, that’s how you charge it too. You can expect to get about 130-160 minutes of talk time on a full charge, with 85 hours of standby, presuming you don’t play with the watch too much between calls. ~$300 (£189) unless you can maybe find one subsidized by a carrier.

[ sWaP Rebel Smart Watch And Phone ] VIA [ SlashGear ]