Nokia today is announcing a partnership with the ARC Transistance, the European network of automobile clubs, to provide real time traffic alerts to their Maps 2.0 users. The new version of Nokia Maps supports this features and can be downloaded here. While it would be cool if every Nokia Maps 2.0 user became a traffic reporter (via the use of any phone GPS device), for the time being these traffic reports are available only for those in select European locations. Nokia maps cover 150 countries.

Link: Nokia Maps

Nokia is rolling out three new handsets that will start shipping in the third quarter of 2008 - the Nokia 6600 slide, Nokia 6600 fold and Nokia 3600 slide. Each of these releases looks to be sporting a 3.2 megapixel camera and 3G cellular technology. More pictures and info from Nokia on the next page.

Continue Reading

Jenneth has been busy over at the Web Worker Daily, this time finding out the best applications to turn your iPhone into a highly-capable business tool.

From the article:

Right now, the iPhone is mostly a consumer-oriented cellphone, but that’s set to change in June when the iPhone 2.0 firmware is released. This will likely add business-friendly features like support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, Cisco IPsec VPN and remote IT configuration and security capabilities. More importantly, it’s going to give iPhone users the ability to download third-party application through the new Apple-run App Store.

This follows her excellent look at turning a Windows Mobile device into a web warrior, capable of making sense of the diversity that is the World Wide Web.

Continue Reading

Q.: Judie,

Hope this note finds you well. I need some gadget advice, if you have the time.  I have a birthday coming up in two weeks, and my wife wants a suggestion from me for a present. I am thinking about a new phone.  I have a Samsung Blackjack for work which runs Mobile 5.0 and I like it a lot.  Works very well with our Outlook Exchange server.  I also have a Motorola RAZR2 for weekends, which I also like, but I’d like a weekend phone that has a little more functionality.

I have looked at the N95, but if I am going to put that kind of dent in my wallet, I wanted to see if you have a favorite fun phone that you like and would recommend for a GSM system (I am AT&T).  Anything that really makes you smile?

Thanks for your time!!

Bill

Continue Reading

I wasn’t going to post on this until in landed in my inbox, and lo and behold it was there this afternoon. Even though I have seen this bauble on other sites and thought for half a second about how cool it might be to have a wristwatch that was not only a phone, but was also a Windows Mobile device…reality set in. Do I think this is a cool idea? Oh, absolutely. Do I think it is necessarily a good one? Not so much. Can I imagine really trying to do anything serious that would take advantage of WM5 on a screen this tiny? Oh heck no. Would I like to try one? Heck ya!

Say hello to the EGP-98B, the new Wristwatch phone which also sports Windows Mobile 5. There is so much stuff supposedly contained in this wristwatch that I kept looking for the April Fool’s label at the end of the press release, but evidently it’s for real - and you can buy your own for just $629.95. No foolin’.

Continue Reading

I just got a quick note from E-TEN regarding the recent post on the announcement of the M810 and M750, and I wanted to pass it on to everyone. The M810 and M750 share identical body styles (which I really happen to like, BTW). There are just a couple subtle differences between the two devices:

The M810 has:

• HSDPA
• A Front Facing VGA Camera for Video Calls
• A Rear Facing 2MP Camera for Pictures

The M750 has

• EDGE
• A Rear Facing 2MP Camera for Pictures

The E-TEN M750 (no front camera)

It’s always fun to get news of new devices in my inbox, today we have a little somthin’ somethin’ from E-Ten, as they are now announcing their Glofiish M810 and M750.

According to E-Ten, their newest Pocket PC Phones “harness the latest mobile hardware technologies together with innovations in software to create a pair of sleekly portable, multi-connected devices, designed to help the new breed of bloggers, podcasters, video makers, and chatters, stay online and updated wherever they are.”

Read on for the full specs and a couple of (huge) high resolution pictures; as usual I have highlighted the specifications which I thought were interesting.

Continue Reading

It’s been a month since I unboxed and posted my first impressions of the Samsung SGH-i620. If you haven’t already peeked at that portion of this review, then go ahead…I’ll wait.

In that month, I have to admit that there have been a few times when I have wanted to toss the phone through my office window. Those of you who haven’t had the (dubious) pleasure of being around me as I trudge through a new product’s testing might not know that this is the phrase I use when I am repeatedly frustrated by a product that I really want to like. And I really did want to like the i620.

You see, I have been intrigued by this little fatty since last year, when Mike Temporale first posted about it on Smartphone Thoughts, and then Alison emailed to make sure I had seen it. I liked the idea of a smartphone with a full QWERTY keyboard that could slide down to give a form factor similar to the Samsung Blackjack, the Palm Treo, and other similarly styled devices. The sliding keyboard design meant that the i620 would perhaps be fatter than some of these other devices, but the minimized height looked attractive.

It’s almost as if the Samsung has a dual personality: part fashion phone, yet all smart. You’ll see what I mean in a moment…

Continue Reading

The much awaited initial shipment of QChat enabled phones (that’s Sprint’s long promised Direct Connect replacement) have popped up online at the Sprint site following this April 10 press release announcing availability for Kansas and Colorado subscribers. So far their debut is limited to a help section of the site and apparently all ordering has to be done via Sprint direct sales. Interestingly the Sprint site make no mention of QChat - instead referring to it as Direct Connect as show on the following screen shots. PS - Yes, these phones do connect to old style Nextel’s - check the video demo on the next page for proof.

Continue Reading

Various Blackberry forums are starting to spotlight screen shots of the soon to be released version 4.50 Blackberry operating system (including the photo above via Howardforums). Most of what’s being added is rather ordinary. But there are some nice additions like Documents to Go which will appear at no cost for devices like the Curve or 88xx series. More details on the next page.

Continue Reading