Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

If you’re a cellphone nut who demands all the latest features and advancements in their handset, you’re probably going to pass on the LG Secret. But if you’re a photographer or amateur videographer, the Secret might have one feature that would be hard to pass up. The 5 megapixel camera can record video directly to the Divx format at speeds of up to 120 frames per second. So it’s the perfect phone if you’re walking home and happen to encounter a Michael Bay-esque action sequence or giant tanker truck explosion.

Other features of the LG secret include a carbon fiber case which is not only strong, but also looks really cool. 100MB of internal memory that can be expanded with a microSD card, Bluetooth, a sliding keypad, FM radio, support for Microsoft Office documents and a Google package for surfing the web, accessing Gmail or watching YouTube videos. It will be available in May starting with a European launch, followed by Asia, South America and then the rest of the world.

[ LG Secret ] VIA [ PhotographyBLOG ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Looking to keep an eye on your property, employees or baby sitter? While the ConnectVu Cam 3G is not exactly the most subtle solution to the problem (unless you can stuff it in a large teddy bear) it does allow you to monitor the video signal from a 3G cellphone. The camera itself features a 352×288 pixel CCD with viewing angles of 58° diagonal, 46° horizontal and 38° vertical. It’s actually designed to be tied into an existing alarm system, and when the alarm goes off, the camera will automatically call your cellphone (up to 5 numbers can be programmed) allowing you to monitor the situation in real time.

The camera also features infrared LEDs for use at night, and a small microphone for hearing what’s going on around it. The camera’s settings can be adjusted by simply sending it an SMS text message, and it features a USB connection for software updates. The internal battery is good for about 250 hours of standby time and about 4 hours for a continuous video call. The camera can also be connected to an external power source if you intend to use it for longer than that.

[ ConnectVu Cam 3G ] VIA [ MobileWhack ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It’s hard to say if having your phone strapped to your wrist will one day be the norm, but when it comes to features the Epoq EGP-WP98B can give a lot of larger cellphones a run for their money. Besides running Windows Mobile 5.0, the watchphone has a 1.4 inch OLED touch screen display and features a quad-band GSM radio with GPRS. It includes support for WMV, AVI, 3GP, MP4 and MP3 media files with full screen playback and while the 128MB of internal memory is limited, it can be expanded with a trans-flash memory card. (It includes a 1GB t-flash card.)

The phone also features a WAP and web browser, and if you don’t feel like paying GPRS fees, it even has wifi b & g. Other software includes calendar functions, a voice recorder, e-book reader, handwriting input, MMS, calculator, memo and world clock. Since it’s running Windows Mobile you can probably install other apps as well, but you’ll want to make sure they’re compatible with a 1.4 inch display. As for battery life, it’s claimed the Epoq EGP-WP98B has 100-180 minutes of talk time per charge, with 80-100 hours of standby. Unfortunately I have no details on pricing, availability or whether or not this is an April Fool’s prank that slipped under the radar.

[ Epoq EGP-WP98B Watchphone ]

By Evan Ackerman

I really, really want a watch phone. I use my cellphone for two things: making phone calls, and checking the time, so if someone can stuff all that into a wrist-sized gadget and then actually produce and sell the thing, it would make me very happy. LG is working on one, and Epoq had something about a month ago (that is still not available, BTW), but this watchphone from Van Der Led has the distinction of being in physical existence and supposedly for sale right now (although their website isn’t working for me). The phone itself has average specs (quad band GSM, stereo Bluetooth, 260k color touchscreen display, 1gb storage, and 240 hours / 300 mins of standby / talk time), but I really like the numberpad on the wristband. Sure, it’s a little bit ugly and bulky, but not so much of either that I wouldn’t wear one.

The Van Der Led WM2 should be about $475 if you can find it somewhere.

[ Van Der Led ] VIA [ Engadget ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While it was announced back in October at their “The Way We Live Next” event in Finland, Nokia was actually showing off their Shoot-to-Translate mobile phone application at CTIA this year. The program is able to translate Chinese to English by simply taking a photo of the text to be converted. Unfortunately there’s not much else known about the app, including how it works and if it will support other languages, if and when it’s ever released. In fact it could just be a technology demo for all we know, so hopefully Nokia will release some more substantial info about it.

And I wasn’t aware that ’soup’ can actually be considered an ingredient. Maybe the example text used in that photo is a recipe on how to make a boring dinner.

VIA [ Gizmag ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I think I’ve only ever seen one of Nokia’s Prism phones in the wild, and given their unique design, you’d think they’d be easy to spot. So I’m kind of surprised to see the company introducing new models in the Prism line. I guess somewhere the phones must be popular. The Nokia 7070 clamshell has the distinctive diamond-cut angles that gives the Prism phones their name, and while it’s not exactly cutting edge in terms of technology, the $80 price tag is sure to appeal to plenty of consumers.

It features a 1.8 inch 128×160 pixel TFT display, colored accent lighting on the outside, MP3 and polyphonic ringtones, a whopping 11MB of storage for downloads, 3D animated menus running on the Symbian Series 40 UI, quad band GSM, a 2.5mm headphone jack and even a voice recorder. If you run with a gadget-minded crowd it’s not going to impress anyone, but if your friends are all about style, it could turn a few heads.

[ Nokia 7070 Prism ] VIA [ Mobilewhack ]

By Luke Anderson

The second phone I saw at the LG booth was definitely my favorite by far. The Vu caught my eye at first because I’m a sucker for touchscreens. However, it’s plethora of features are what kept me coming back.

This new phone will be debuting sometime later this year on AT&T’s network and will be offered in two different flavors: with TV and without. The TV playback functionality was incredible, after clicking on the icon it took maybe a second for the playback to begin. Changing channels was just as quick. The picture quality was excellent, and was totally watchable.

TV isn’t the only thing to love here, the touchscreen has haptic feedback, which basically means that when you touch the screen, the device vibrates slightly to let you know. This makes navigating the menus and sending text messages a breeze.

For internet options you’ll have their full HTML browser and a host of chatting options including AIM, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo Messenger. This is definitely a phone I would carry around.

By Luke Anderson

I would have to say that LG had one of the more exciting booths at the show this year. I’m not necessarily basing that judgment on what they were offering in terms of phones (though they were good as well), but rather the soft blue lighting, sexy mannequins and music from either a live band or DJ. I ended up spending a good deal of time just hanging out listening to tunes. Of course there was work to be done (if you call playing with phones work, that is) so I eventually got busy with that.

There were two new phones at the LG booth that really caught my attention. First was the enV2, which is an update to the enV. At first glance the phone may seem a bit strange with its over sized keypad and small screen. However, all becomes clear when you open it up to reveal the full QWERTY keyboard and larger LCD on the inside. I actually enjoyed the presence of the larger keys, as they would make dialing a bit easier, and the bright screens made the phone an all-around winner.

By Luke Anderson

Have you ever had a brilliant idea while driving down the road? I actually do some of my best thinking when driving through the country (you do that a lot in the Midwest). Unfortunately since you’re driving, there’s no good way to write anything down. As it turns out, your phone is all you need in order to take down notes on whatever comes to mind.

No, I don’t mean typing it out on your numberpad, that’s what causes accidents. Dial2Do is a free service (currently in beta, but the basic services listed will likely always be free) that takes care of virtually anything you need, just by talking into your phone.

Once you’ve set up an account, you only need to dial the number given to you, then say what you want to do. Currently the services include email, text messaging and reminders. If you want you can even listen to your RSS feeds. Check out the picture above for the full list of current options. I should be getting my beta invite soon, so I’ll keep you posted on how I like it.