CELLPHORNE

Palm Eos headed to Sprint as well?

Flin — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:33:42 +0000

Okay everyone — grain of salt goggles on? According to PhoneNews, not only is a GSM version of the Palm Eos (AKA Mini Pre, AKA Pixie, AKA Castle) coming to AT&T sometime in the near future, but Sprint will be getting its version of the Centro-like device come Q3 2009. The site claims that “sources within Sprint” have “confirmed” the launch window for a phone with specs similar to those on the device we hit yesterday, and that said device is actually in testing right now. Of course, just as we mentioned with the Eos news, this isn’t actually confirmed by anyone at Palm (or even close) right now… and you know how much the internet loves a rumor. Still, this would make a lot of sense as Sprint and Palm are all but joined at the hip, and it helps jibe some of the differing reports we / the blogosphere has heard about carriers. Obviously there’s much, much more to this story — you’ll know about it when we do.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Samsung Alias 2 launching on May 11, E Ink confirmed?

Flin — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:32:33 +0000

by Chris Ziegler, posted May 1st 2009 at 9:35AM

We’re hearing that the Alias 2 is on track for a release in less than two weeks from now — May 11, to be exact — which would mean that we’re just a few short days away from seeing the very first E Ink handset launch in the States. Yes, that’s right, we said it — after all the heated debate over the technology powering the Alias 2′s configurable keypad, our tipster tells us that new information floating down from corporate confirms that the device is using E Ink, which would explain why it’s able to maintain state even with the power off. We still think it’s one awfully ugly phone, but this might be one of those all-too-frequent cases where cool tech ends up winning our hearts anyway. As for pricing, the tipster thinks it may come in at $79, which seems improbable even with deep contract discounting and a big mail-in rebate — but if by some miracle it does end up being accurate, they’re going to be selling tons of these to text-heavy geeks like ourselves.

[Image via PhoneArena, thanks ehjun]

Palm Eos: super-thin, 3G, and headed to AT&T?

Flin — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:29:33 +0000

// Liked that blurry photo of a new Palm webOS phone we saw earlier? Well how about some specs, a name, and a better look at this thing? Enter the device above, apparently dubbed the Palm Eos (codenamed Castle… where have we seen that before?), which it seems will be the company’s proper follow-up to the Centro — a quadband GSM / HSDPA phone notably rocking the 850 / 1900 AT&T and Rogers-friendly frequencies. The phone will supposedly be an astounding 10.6mm thin, will measure just 55mm x 111mm (about 2.1 by 4.3-inches), weigh 100 grams, and will tout a 2.63-inch, 320 x 400 capacitive display. Of course, the info we’ve got right now can’t be verified, and since there are a couple of minor question marks here (like barely rounded corners in the OS), you should take it all with a grain of salt… as usual. Needless to say, we’re working on getting more details (and some confirmation), so stay tuned!

Nokia throws up “pre-order soon” logo on US N97, drives the kids crazy

Flin — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:28:31 +0000

Thanks to the always revealing FCC, we knew good and well Nokia’s painfully expensive N97 had Carolina (and probably the other states, to be fair) on its mind, but now we know the moment of truth is drawing near. As of right now, Nokia’s US website has a teaser block informing us Yanks that we’ll be able to pre-order this here smartphone “soon.” Hitting the link only directs us the European legalese that we’ve digested before, but surely it’ll lead to something meaningful in due time. Patience… it’s a virtue.

[Via phoneArena]

Samsung S5320 Tocco Lite reps the midrange in the UK

Flin — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:27:47 +0000

In case you needed any more evidence that the full touchscreen cellphone fad is in full swing, we’d present to you this little midrange number — Samsung’s just-announced Tocco Lite for the UK market. Just the latest member of the now well-established Tocco series, the Lite is actually little more than a specific branding of the S5320 that we saw back in March, offering EDGE data, a WQVGA display, 3 megapixel camera, TouchWiz interface, and integrated FM radio. Look for it to hit up British stores come mid-May.

[Via MobileBurn]

Palm launching smaller Pre-like device later this year says rumor-mill

Flin — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:26:53 +0000

As if we didn’t have enough Pre rumors to sort through, along comes TechCrunch and Mikey A. with some hard hitting stuff. According to the TC honcho, one of his “better sources” claims that Palm is “very far along” on a second webOS device which is smaller and slimmer than the Pre and may or may not have a physical keyboard. Apparently, this won’t be the iPhone 3G to the first-gen iPhone, rather a device which addresses “a different part of the market.” Details are still sketchy, but Arrington claims that the “Mini-Pre” (his name) will land sometime this year — possibly as soon as the Fall. This is all complete rumor right now, but Palm has previously said that there would be more than one webOS device, so the idea of another model in the oven doesn’t exactly come as a surprise. Stay tuned for further updates as we get them.

Nokia N97 specs fully revealed

Flin — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:25:48 +0000

The remainder of the N97′s juicy technical details have now been spilled on Nokia’s dev-oriented Forum Nokia site — previously, only cursory data had been posted here — and there are a couple notable bits that might be of concern to developers and would-be buyers alike. First off, the processor turns out to be a single-core ARM 11 putting along at 434MHz, just 65MHz faster than the 5800′s. It’s an improvement, yes, but when you consider that the competing i8910 from Samsung runs a higher-performance 600MHz ARM Cortex-A8, it throws a wet towel on the whole thing. Seeing how this is designed to be Nokia’s premier device for 2009, couldn’t they have gone for broke with the silicon? Secondly — this is something we already knew, but the spec sheet reminded (and delighted) us — the N97 supports charging via micro-USB, which the 5800 does not. Life’s about tradeoffs, isn’t it?

Vodafone UK selling HTC Magic on May 1

Flin — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:24:39 +0000

As Vodafone Spain goes, so goes Vodafone Germany, so goes… well, you see where we’re going with this. Voda’s UK branch has issued a press release trumpeting the fact that they’ll be next to sell HTC’s second Android device as of this Friday, May 1 — and as is all too often the case with these guys, you can get it for precisely zero pounds sterling depending on your plan (the lowest is a £35 deal with 600 minutes, unlimited texts, and unlimited data, though if you preorder before the 1st, you can get it for £30 instead). To commemorate the occasion, they’ll be giving away 20 Magics through the month of May, which is 20 more than T-Mobile USA is selling at the moment. We’re not bitter or anything.

[Via MobileBurn]

Motorola’s first Android phone(s) to have sliding QWERTY?

Flin — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:09:41 +0000

by Chris Ziegler, posted Apr 29th 2009 at 2:37PM

Motorola needed to release an Android set about six months ago, but we know these things take time — and if it’s any consolation, it sounds like the first fruits of the labor could be pretty awesome. Boy Genius Report now claims that the rumored landscape QWERTY slider Calgary will be the first Android-powered Moto device to go commercial, though it’s not clear when (or where) it’ll hit shelves; given the device’s seemingly unusual appearance and the possibility (foolish hope?) that they’ll be infusing some customizations into the UI, they might just have an angle to attack offerings from HTC and others. That’s not all for the Android department, though — it looks like there might also be a portrait QWERTY slider in the works for the third quarter codenamed “Ironman,” pictured, which will pack 3G, WiFi, and some sort of high-res camera. In other words, a solidly high-end device. Bring it on, guys.

Moving on, it seems the lovely full touchscreen Flash has been canned, along with the Krave’s successor, the Inferno — possibly further confirmation that Moto’s throwing virtually all its weight into the Android camp at this point. Finally, rumor has it that a device codenamed “Rolex” is in the labs — and as you might’ve guessed, it uses the Aura’s astonishingly awesome ultra-high-res circular display. Odds are this is another luxury phone given its aspirational name and the screen being used, but a poor guy can dream.

Acer already working on “several Android devices,” smartphone included

Flin — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:09:06 +0000

Okay, now we get it — the flood of Android phones we were expecting at MWC and CTIA this year are actually arriving a month or two late. Nice. Anywho, with Samsung just recently dishing out official dirt on its Google-fied I7500 and HTC pushing out its Magic overseas, Acer is making darn sure it’s not left out as the bandwagon cruises by. During the firm’s Q1 investor’s conference today, Gianfranco Lanci (President and CEO) noted that “the entire industry is looking at Android,” and that his company “is testing Android on a lot of different solutions.” Specifically, he stated that it was “working on an Android solution for the smartphone, but it’s too early to say if [Acer] is going to [put the OS] on a netbook in the near future.” ‘Course, he could be spitting out positive vibes to just make sure we don’t forget about ‘em, but here’s hoping Mr. Lanci takes him own quotes seriously. We’ll be watching — like Rockwell, minus the catchy chorus.