Oh! Gizmo

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.

By Evan Ackerman

Back at CES, we told you that Microsoft Surface would be showing up in retail locations sometime this spring. We were told that it would be Las Vegas at first, but instead, we’re going to see it in five AT&T retail stores on April 17th, where (if you’re lucky and live near one of the stores) YOU can try it out for yourself. Here’s what you’ll be able to do:

• Learn. Customers can review features of a particular mobile device by simply placing it on the display. Surface will recognize the device and provide a graphical overview of its capabilities. Customers will be able to place two devices side by side on the unit and easily compare their features.

• Explore. Customers view interactive coverage maps at the national, state, local or street level, using simple touch and hand movement to scale and move the maps, determining their coverage area.

• Customize. In the future, customers will be able to drag and drop ring tones, graphics, video and more by “grabbing” content with their hands from a menu on the display and “dropping” it into the phone.

At first, you’ll be able to test Surface with the store’s (not your personal) Samsung BlackJack II, LG Shine, BlackBerry Curve 310, Samsung a737, Sony Ericsson w580i, Sony Ericsson z750, Pantech Duo, or Motorola v3xx. After the jump, see where the first units will be located. Read the rest of this entry »

By Andrew Liszewski

Kyocera has never really been a brand I’ve paid attention to, but with their new printhead technology I wrote about yesterday, and this slick CDMA flip phone they announced at CTIA, I guess I better start to. At just 0.66 inches when closed, the Neo E1100 has a minimalistic black design on the outside with a glowing blue ‘lightpipe’ running down the center. At one end the ‘lightpipe’ circles the lens for the 1.3 megapixel camera (yawn) and on the other end you’ll find a small hidden display running alongside it. While the display only shows basic info like battery life, signal strength and caller ID, it matches the overall clean design of the phone’s exterior.

Inside you’ll find a 262,000 pixel color display and a set of flush keys similar to what the Moto Razr uses. As for features, there’s nothing really cutting edge, but it does include the essentials like bluetooth 2.0, speakerphone, voice recognition, MP3 ringtones and a micro USB port for charging and syncing. On the downside, it uses the 2.5mm headphone jacks which I hate with a passion, but since it’s not trying to be an MP3 player phone, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. Pricing and availability for the Neo E1100 have yet to be announced.

[ Crave - Kyocera's Neo E1100 shows some style ]

By Evan Ackerman

Remember this tiny little Bluetooth headset? Compared to the Bluetooth toothset (?) it’s ginormous. Now, I should point out that I’m writing about this on the March 31, but until told otherwise, I’m going to assume it’s legit… It is, after all, from China. The Dentacom Bluetooth “dental insert” includes a tiny microphone, tiny transmitter (10m range), tiny battery, and tiny solar panel (!) to run it all. It supposedly transmits very clear sound, although you’ll have to use a regular earpiece to hear anything. The kit comes with “installation tools,” and I should point out that this is not something you put in your mouth, it’s something you install in your tooth, permanently. And when I say you, I mean your dentist, whether or not the installation tools are included. Pricing info not yet available.

Oh, and Bluetooth? It’s named after Harald Bluetooth, a 10th century king of Jutland (Denmark+Germany). The Bluetooth logo are the merged Germanic runes for H and B, Harald’s initials. Now you know.

[ Chinavision ] VIA [ Geek Alerts ]

By Luke Anderson

I used to have a Helio Ocean, and honestly it’s one of the best phones mobile devices that I’ve ever used. That’s not to say that I don’t love my Mysto, I just miss that wonderful slide-out QWERTY keyboard. That, and I was able to run a hacked version of Opera on it. I always wondered why Helio wouldn’t just offer it as an alternative browser, but apparently they were already thinking along the same lines.

Opera and Helio have teamed up to release a custom-tailored version of the Opera Mini browser to the Helio Ocean, which I must say is a brilliant move. “We’re always looking to give our members their choice of great applications so we’re excited to be the first service provider in the U.S. to make Opera Mini an on-deck option,” said Doug Britt, Vice President of Service Management at Helio. “Opera Mini is a tremendous mobile browser. Optimized for Ocean and running on a nationwide 3G network, its a combination that’s tough to match.”

As I said before, I’ve used the hacked version of Opera Mini that was released by the Opera team in August of last year, and it ran wonderfully. I can only imagine how much better it will run now that they’ve had the opportunity to work with the guys at Helio.

What’s awesome is that this is the direct result of Helio listening to the desires of the community. After Opera released their own version of the browser last year, people have been crying out for Helio to work with them to make things official. Also very awesome is the fact that Helio is the first US service provider to officially offer Opera Mini as a browser on a handset.

This looks like it will be the beginning of a wonderful relationship between the two organizations. I can only hope that this will lead to more such handsets that work with the browser.

By Evan Ackerman

The difference between these renderings and every other iPhone 2.0 photochop is that these are based on a patent filled by Apple for a “dual sided trackpad.” What is a “dual sided trackpad” and why do some people think it might be included in the next (or some future) incarnation of the iPhone? Well, take a look at the actual patent:

So, in addition to a touch sensitive surface on the phone, the transparent clamshell flip-out screen is also a touch sensitive surface, on both sides. That gives the user three touchpads to play around with, depending on what the phone is being used for. The clamshell design allows the entire phone to be shrunk without sacrificing any functionality, although you will loose some screen space. Perfect for an iPhone Nano, perhaps? Your guess is as good as mine, but whatever this technology ends up it, it’s probably going to be something cool, and we may see it fairly soon, as the patent was filed in September of 2006, while the patent for the original iPhone was filed only four months earlier. ‘Course, that may not mean anything, but feel free to get excited anyway.

VIA [ Unwired View ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Most bluetooth car kits are designed to let you operate your cellphone without having to use your hands, but the BLUETOUCH also provides the option of using a large touch screen instead. While it might seem a bit redundant, the touch screen buttons on the BLUETOUCH display are considerably larger than what you’ll find on a phone, including the iPhone. So finding and hitting the correct one while behind the wheel is a bit easier.

And even though it includes a touch screen, the BLUETOUCH also has full voice control when it comes to the telephone functionality, whether you speak English, German or French. But that’s not all. Besides making calls, the BLUETOUCH also allows you to stream MP3s from your phone or iPod (with the appropriate accessory) to your car’s stereo including track info and playback control. However if your phone only has enough memory to hold a handful of MP3s, the device can also load music from an SD/MMC card or a USB flash drive.

At $399 it’s definitely not the cheapest option if you’re only looking for a hands-free calling solution, but if you want to add MP3 support to your car it’s somewhat reasonable given the large touch screen.

[ BLUETOUCH ] VIA [ Chip Chick ]