The World’s Thinnest Watch-Phone from Samsung

Remember the watch phone released by LG earlier this year? Well we are pleased to announce that it won't be enjoying the spotlight anymore as Samsung has unveiled a watch phone of its own which is not only one of the 'only' watch-phones that we have seen but also the thinnest one of all.

Its only 11.98mm thick and has a 1.76-inch scratchless touchscreen display, which makes it considerably useful on a day-to-day basis.

As for the other usual features, it boasts of a 40Mb of memory, a speakerphone, music player, Bluetooth, voice recognition and Email with Outlook sync support making it one of the most tiny and useful accessories of today's age.

It will hitting the market at a price of 450 Euros.

LG Launches New Sprint Phone

LG has unveiled the LX290, a low-end slider with a 1.3-megapixel camera, a GPS radio with optional voice-enabled turn-by-turn directional capability, and Sprint Mobile E-mail for Web and work e-mail access.
It also includes a music player and a (sadly, non-standard) 2.5mm headphone jack. It supports Sprint's NFL Mobile Live audio and video broadcasts, and lets you send a voice message to up to 25 friends at once without making a call.
The LX290 measures 4.1 by1.9 by 0.6 inches and weighs 3.6 ounces. It features a 2.2-inch QVGA LCD with 240-by-320-pixel resolution. LG claims the handset offers up to 6 hours of continuous talk time on a single charge. The LX290 is now available from Sprint as of July 12th (Sunday) for $29.99 with a two-year contract and after a $50 mail-in. (story Link)

The 5 Most Interesting Mobile Failures of the Past 5 Years

In five years as PCMag.com's phone analyst, I've reviewed more than 500 products. Some have been excellent. Some have been awful. And some have been really interesting failures, the kinds of things that were just a twist or turn away from success. (Read my previous column for a list of true successes.)

Interesting failures are just as fun to review as fabulous successes, because they show ways the world didn't go. Maybe somewhere out there is an alternate reality where no parent would dare send her six-year-old to first grade without a phone to call Mom, or one where small startup companies can bring cool phones to the U.S. market, or one where geeks get a wireless carrier that fulfills all of their high-tech dreams.

None of those worlds are our world, though. That said, I found five products over the past five years that are peeking through from those alternate realities. Do you remember other fascinating failures? Tell me in Talkbacks below.

My top five failures:

Helio Kickflip. Helio was probably the biggest letdown of my five years in mobile. At first, it was supposed to be a new wireless carrier that brought super-powered Asian phones to geeks—hooray! Then they scrapped that whole idea in favor of bringing midrange Asian phones to some demographic they couldn't quite identify. Uh, yay. Its first phone, the Kickflip, didn't actually work. The Helio Ocean worked brilliantly, but by that point, the whole edifice was crumbling. To this day, no carrier has taken up the mantle of offering super-powered phones to geeks in the USA.

Curitel Identity. The first mass-market Linux phone, with fabulous personality-shifting technology and removable covers that actually contained software, the Identity was a perfect example getting slapped down by the way our market works. First, it took the inventors years to find a manufacturer that would build it. Then, when they sealed a deal with Korean manufacturer Curitel, the big wireless carriers wouldn't even look at their product. The Identity vanished, and nothing has ever been quite like it.

Sony Mylo (both the first and second versions). Sony's insane internal structure sometimes results in insane products. For instance: I assume Sony isn't allowed to make cell phones, because only Sony Ericsson can make cell phones. So Sony made the Mylo, which makes calls with Skype over Wi-Fi networks. The Mylo's complete failure shows that if you're selling a communications tool nowadays, it better connect everywhere—and that means having a cellular radio on board. (The iPod touch gets away with being Wi-Fi only, in my mind, by being an iPod and gaming device first.)

Motorola ROKR E1. The first iTunes phone was a hideous disaster and a warning to the rest of the industry that Apple doesn't play well with others. The ROKR started out late, with the launch so poorly managed that a bunch of press were shipped to Miami to see a phone that was yanked from the podium days before it was supposed to appear. When Apple actually launched the ROKR, it took away its thunder within minutes by introducing the iPod nano on its heels. The E1 itself was an uninspiring paste-job, slapping a crippled version of iTunes onto an existing midrange Motorola phone. It almost looked like Apple wanted this phone (and the whole idea of non-Apple products running iTunes) to fail.

LG Migo. For a brief moment in 2005, a bunch of manufacturers were selling cell phones to six year olds. This may sound crazy, but I think there are safety-related reasons for giving little kids simple devices with which they can call Mom or Dad. Apparently, I am the only person who thinks so, because the whole product category has basically vanished. Hysterical news reports from the UK about how cell phones will boil a small child's brain didn't help, even though these kiddy phones were meant to be used for only a few minutes at a time.  (story Link)

Sony BDP-S360 (Blu-ray)

Sony's BDP-S360 Blu-ray player ($299.99 list) is a fine example of getting more for less. It delivers even better picture quality than its predecessor, the excellent BDP-S350, yet the S360's price is $100 lower. A few sacrifices were made: You won't get the multimedia streaming features some other players in this price range offer, for example. But if you care about picture quality above all else, the S360 delivers.

Behind a fold-down door on the S360's glossy tinted face you'll find a centrally located tray mechanism, an information display, and basic playback controls. The player's forward-facing power and eject buttons in the upper corners of its face are much easier to operate than were the upward-angled buttons of the S350, especially when the unit is stacked under other components. The basic remote control is a step back from the S350's, which featured bigger buttons on a larger frame. Sony has also eliminated the eject button on the new remote, making it more likely you will smudge the player's glossy face with fingerprints when inserting and removing discs.

The S360 lacks the S-Video connection that was on the S350 but retains the HDMI and component video outputs that support HD video formats. Like the LG BD370, the S360 also features coaxial and optical digital audio outputs for greater flexibility when connecting to an amplifier that may not support HDMI audio. As with most Blu-ray players, the S360 settles for a composite video cable; manufacturers should include HDMI cables, instead, for superior picture quality and simplified setup.

An Ethernet port on the S360 allows simplified firmware updates over a broadband connection, and a USB port can be filled with 1GB or more of flash storage to enable support for BD-Live downloadable multimedia features. The cheap cost of flash memory nowadays should make this optional upgrade standard, but at least this player's USB port is hidden out of sight; the LG BD370 leaves the memory sticking out the front of the player.

Unlike other $300 players such as the Samsung BD-P1600 and Panasonic DMP-BD60, the S360 doesn't support Internet-based streaming of services such as Netflix's Watch Instantly (Samsung) or YouTube (Panasonic). The player supports JPEG and MP3 multimedia file playback, but only from a recorded disc (Blu-ray, CD, or DVD) and not also via USB like other players, including the aforementioned Panasonic and Samsung models.

At 41 seconds, the S360's Blu-ray load time is 2 seconds faster than the S350's. When the S360's Quick Start feature is enabled, it reduces the time the player needs to start up and eject its disc tray from 23 seconds to 7 seconds. The S360 is below average at quickly scrolling through long menus, however: It took 22 seconds, whereas the LG BD370 needed only 15 seconds.

The S360 is better at upconverting standard-definition DVDs than any other Blu-ray player I've tested. The challenging HQV Benchmark DVD showed that the S360 could minimize jagged-edge artifacts better than the Panasonic DMP-BD60. And the S360 nailed all of the benchmark's film cadence tests that check for preservation of detail when dealing with some of the more common frame rates used video production—including the rate of 24 frames per second (fps) in which most movies and prime-time TV shows are captured.

Most Blu-ray movies are stored in the 1080p24 format (1080p resolution, 24 fps), and the BDP-S360 can output this video format to a compatible display via HDMI. But unlike the Panasonic DMP-BD60, the S360 upconverts DVD movies not to 1080p24 but to the more commonly supported 1080p60 format that can introduce judder, which is noticeable in slow panning shots.

On my tests, the S360 displayed exceptionally detailed 1080p Blu-ray video, but it was slightly less capable with 1080i, the format commonly used for bonus material and some animated titles. The 1080i HD HQV Benchmark's video resolution test revealed some flicker that could result in a minor loss of detail; this has been a consistent issue with all Sony BD players that I've tested, including the PlayStation 3. (full Story)

Concept Mobiles That Should/n’t Become a Reality

We know the various kinds of mobile handset form factors from the Candy-bars to the Slide out QWERTY. We also know that the latest and possible future trend is of course, touch technology and the race is on to see which handset will take that technology to the next level. One of my favorite sites, Yanko Design, has a group of individuals who design concept technology and other things and they’ve come with ideas that could seriously rock the market… if they ever made it to production of course.

While researching for an article on my favorite concept phones, I did come across a few that should have stayed in their minds and never made it out. With all due respect to the designers (and there’s plenty of that) here are my choices for handsets that I’d love to see make it to production someday. While these futuristic buggers look like something we should and could see in the future there are those I hope, never make it past this concept stage. For your amusement I’ve listed some of those as well.
Top concept mobiles I’d like to see make it past this stage –
LG Synthesis –

Designed by Andrew Suenghyun Kim, LG’s Synthesis mobile was created for the LG design competition. The designer’s inspiration was nature itself, to be more precise, photosynthesis, hence the name. It’s a gorgeous handset complete with eco friendly solar panels to charge the BT headset and a charging cum speaker dock that looks like a tree branch. It also features a 3.5-inch AMOLED touchscreen, a 5mp camera and a 1.3MP secondary for video calling (very neatly hidden in front) and was also designed to house a whopping 32GB of space. Nature never looked hotter.
SE Ai –

Although this was something that was designed about 2 years ago and much of a fingerprint magnet it may seem like, I love the design concept of the Sony Ericsson Ai. The chocolate glossy finish and classy lighting for the keypad looks great with the front they’ve gone with. It featured a 3.2MP camera, 2GB of space and came in a slider form factor as well as a standard candy bar. Personally, I’d have gone with the slider.

Nokia Morph

Nokia’s Morph may be exactly what the future of mobile technology could be like. The idea is a joint nanotechnology concept, developed by Nokia Research Center (NRC) and the University of Cambridge (UK). Morph is a concept that demonstrates how future mobile devices might be stretchable and flexible, allowing the user to comfortably even wear the device stylishly on their person. Of course this is not something we can hope to see for a few more years, but wouldn’t you like to?
Motorola KRE-8 –

This may very well be one of the weirdest designs I’ve ever come across and I’ve come across some doozies while researching. But I still think the concept idea of this “handset” is brilliant and given the chance I’d love to test it for real. The designer Jose Tomas DeLuna’s whole inspiration when designing this handset was to thrill the audiophile who loves mixing and playing around with their music. The handset also manages to combine what can only be construed as Nintendo Wii style functionality with a mobile phone. It uses sensors and accelerometers to figure out the gestures like - Instrument Mode (guitar, drums, violin), Mix Mode and Record Mode which is a full circle for creating music. It even has a touchscreen display (of course) which makes it simpler to adjust and edit files. It supports GPS and music created on the KRE-8 can be tagged with co-ordinates as well. There are not too many words to describe this handset but Stupendous does come to mind first.
iPhone Concept -

I came across a bucket load of iPhone concept designs that were out there and I have to say most were absolutely fantastic and in my opinion, Apple would have done so much better had they gone with one of these. Of course it’s not like the iPhone isn’t good looking as is, but it is kind of ‘blah’ and generic even with the 3G’s sleeker design. But amongst all the cool designs I saw, the one I’ve include appealed to me the most. It was simple, sleek and seemed like it could offer the most amount of functionality. With an iPod Click Wheel for navigation and a QWERTY keypad for input, this concept is certainly an eye catcher. The genius behind this design is a CG artist named Olivier Demangel.

And then there were those that should remain - although technologically advanced as they may seem - on the drawing board. Here are my choices for the Top Concept Mobiles that shouldn’t make it past the drawing board -
Clamshell Glass Phone -

Image Source - Designer Mac Funamizu

This is purely my opinion of course, but a flip phone made of glass is nothing more than a fingerprint magnet and trust me those prints can get really annoying especially when they’re obstructing something on the display. Plus you’ll have to worry about scratches.

Lenovo Poison -

Image Source - Designer: Ryan Ma

The concept is rather too simplistic in it’s candybar form with a transparent display module. The keypad looks quite average and I guess it could be appealing in a ‘haute couture’ sort of way, but it did nothing for me.
Chinese Disney Phone

There’s really nothing I can say about this handset. Concept or reality is irrelevant. It should not have been thought of. But to each his own.
There’s a lot to be said about the future of mobile phone technology in terms of design and of course the kind of technology itself. I’m looking forward to what the manufacturers will come out with and itching to see what the next step will look and feel like. Perhaps you guys could share with us and the other readers what your favorite concept mobiles are, at least the ones you think should definitley make it to mass production and the ones that shouldn’t as well. So leave your comments or email me and I’ll write them up in the next feature. (link)

Global Mobile Awards 2009 Nominees Announced for MWC 09

In just over three weeks Mobile World Congress 2009 kicks off in Spain and the press releases are already starting to appear as companies get ready for big announcements and product showcases. One of the first releases concerns the nominees for the Global Mobile Awards. MWC is a mobile show focused on world markets so you will see many services that are provided outside the US in the list of nominees. I was pleased to see two of my personal favorite devices, the Nokia E71 and T-Mobile G1 appear in the Best Mobile Handset or Device category along with the INQ1, LG KS360, and BlackBerry Storm 9500.

I have to admit I am unfamiliar with a majority of the services nominated for these awards since I am heavily US focused in my coverage and experience. Some familiar faces in the crowd are Shazam for the iPhone (love it on my G1 too), Palringo IM client, and the BB Storm SurePress display. (story Link)

Windows 7 Puts it’s Finger on Enhanced Biometric Support

I’ve always found biometrics to be an interesting aspect to technology. And I was excited to discover that Windows 7 offers changes to the way Windows handles biometrics to enable better experiences. Windows 7 introduces the Windows Biometric Framework which makes integration easier and more consistent to help deliver enhanced reliability, compatibility and usability of fingerprint-based solutions. The Windows Biometric Framework also makes it easier for developers to include biometrics in their applications by providing a common API that can be added independently with each biometric fingerprint solution. For a more in-depth look at the Windows Biometric Framework check out this whitepaper from Windows Hardware Developer Central.

This week at CES 2009, we have several key partners announcing support for the Windows Biometric Framework in Windows 7.

With tens of millions of notebooks in the market with UPEK fingerprint sensors, UPEK has worked closely with us on the development of the Windows Biometric Framework and sees strong value in using applications that support fingerprint biometrics through the Windows Biometric Framework. If your laptop uses a UPEK fingerprint sensor, such as my Lenovo X300, you can download the pre-release Protector Suite software here which utilizes the Windows Biometric Framework in the Windows 7 Beta today. I’m currently testing it out myself and its pretty slick! Rob Blau, UPEK’s Vice President of Development, talks more about UPEK’s support for Windows 7 here in their press release (Word Document).

AuthenTec has also worked closely with us on the development of the Windows Biometric Framework. They are providing beta test participants with access to software that enable convenient logon for Windows 7-based PCs, thanks to AuthenTec fingerprint sensors integrated with the new Windows Biometric Framework. You can download their 32-bit software here and their 64-bit software here. AuthenTec fingerprint sensors can be seen in business and consumer notebooks from the world’s leading brands from ASUS, Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, Fujitsu Siemens, HP, Lenovo, LG, Samsung and Toshiba. Andy VanDamia, AuthenTec’s Director of PC Software, discusses working with us on the Windows Biometric Framework here.

And Validity believes the Windows Biometric Framework facilitates greater adoption of fingerprint security solutions by providing a flexible platform, enabling easy fingerprint sensor integration into PCs.

The early adoption and readiness by these companies has played a vital role in validating the suitability of the Windows Biometric Framework as a platform for fingerprint biometric devices in Windows 7. (story Link)

Major CE Makers Pledge to Support Yahoo Widgets

Samsung, LG, Sony and Vizio have all pledged to support the Yahoo Widget Channel technology originally launched last September. But only Toshiba will be using Intel's media processor inside its TVs.

Las Vegas (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc unveiled on Wednesday a list of partners to aid its push to bring the Internet and television together, hoping their joint effort will finally connect with consumers.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Yahoo said it has forged deals with companies including Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, LG Electronics Inc, Sony Corp and Vizio, which will make high-definition TVs that support Yahoo's online service.

Ever since the dawn of the Internet Age, tech companies have been promising to bring "convergence" of the online and TV universes, but those efforts have failed to take off with consumers who have found such products difficult to use.

The new TVs announced on Wednesday will be in the market as early as the spring and will support widgets—small Internet applications—that run alongside broadcast TV content, but not over it.

The applications can be used for a wide array of Web activities, like watching videos on Google Inc's YouTube.com, social networking on News Corp's MySpace.com, tracking stocks and sports teams, buying and selling on eBay, messaging friends using Twitter, or using Yahoo's own photo-sharing website Flickr.

The widgets will allow viewers more interaction with the programs they're watching, Yahoo said. There will also be applications based on Yahoo-branded services such as Yahoo Finance.

Yahoo, which has lagged behind larger rival Google in the Web search market, will use the technology as a new avenue to sell advertising.

In an interview ahead of CES, Patrick Barry, vice president of connected TV at Yahoo, said TV "is still top of mind for advertisers," the place where people spend the most time. (full Story)

Tips for Deleting Your Cell Phone Data

When the John McCain campaign didn't wipe out their BlackBerrys before they sold them, they unwittingly dumped a trove of confidential phone numbers into a reporter's hands. When you throw out or recycle a phone, you may be doing the same thing—letting the next person who grabs it see your old text messages, or your mom's number, or that "seductive" photo you took for your significant other.

Fortunately, there's an easy way to solve this problem: before you ditch, sell, recycle or donate your device, wipe it.

If you've just bought a new phone from your carrier, you can take your old and new phones to the carrier's store. They'll wipe out the old phone for you, and they'll probably be able to transfer your contacts to the new phone, too (though they may charge you about $10). Then you can give the old phone away, sell it on eBay or CellForCash.com or donate it to a charity by dropping it off at the carrier retail store.

Otherwise, here are some tips for deleting data on your own. These tips won't protect your phones against police-grade forensic software, but they'll protect you against casual poking around.

All Phones: Remember to remove any memory cards. Also, before you sell or give away a phone, either remove your SIM card (for AT&T and T-Mobile users) or call your carrier to get them to remove the phone from your account (for Verizon, Sprint, Alltel, Cricket and MetroPCS users).

BlackBerrys: From the home screen, select Options, then Security Options, then General Settings. Click the menu button. Select Wipe Handheld.

iPhones: Connect your iPhone to your Mac or PC, launch iTunes, and select the various iPhone tabs to turn off syncing. (Pay special attention to the "Info" tab.) Now disconnect your iPhone and turn it off. Hold down the Home button until the message "Please connect to iTunes" appears. Let go of the Home button. Plug the iPhone into your PC or Mac and run iTunes. Click OK, then Restore.

Palm OS Phones: Each device has slightly different instructions, but they're all collected on Palm.com.

Windows Mobile Phones: Irritatingly, it varies from device to device. On some phones, from the programs list, go to Settings, then System, then Clear Storage. Enter "1234" and press the Yes button (probably the left soft key). Clear Storage might also be in the Accessories or System Tools folder in your program list. Some Windows Mobile devices have a "Hard Reset" option instead of Clear Storage.

Windows Mobile Palm Treos: Remove the back cover of the phone. Hold down the power button. Remove the battery, then immediately replace it. Let go of the power button. Press Up.

Most Nokia Phones: Type *#7370# on the keypad. Enter 12345 as the security code.

Other phones: Go to the phone's "settings" menu. Look for an option marked "Security," "Master Reset," "Memory," "Initial Setup" or "Clear." You might open another menu; look for a Clear, Wipe or Master/Factory Reset option. If the phone asks you for a lock code, it's usually the last four digits of your phone number, but it could also be "1234" or "000000." If you can't find the right option, go to a carrier store; they'll wipe the phone for you. (story Link)

LG KF750 Secret New Version With No Secret

The LG KF750 is another famous phone in LG category. Even this blog, you may found a review about KF750. Now the improved KF750 secret is available.
One thing we know about the LG KF750 Secret is that it’s hard to resist. The handset seems to have it all - turn-head exterior, top-notch skill and a few exotic extras to spice things up. Looks have long been the defining feature of the Black Label series by LG. Now, the Secret brings some muscle to tip the form vs. content scale the other way. LG Secret packs a 5 megapixel camera, slow motion and fast video recording, carbon fiber battery cover and tempered glass over the display. The other highlights are the Neon Touch Navigation and Touch media navigation. So, there we go with keeping it a secret.
All features
• 2.4" 262K-color display of QVGA resolution
• Touch-screen functionality and auto screen rotation
• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with AF-assist light
• VGA video recording at 30 fps
• SloMo and Fast video recording
• Touchpad with haptic feedback
• Carbon fiber battery cover and tempered glass display
• 3G with HSDPA
• USB and Bluetooth connectivity
• Hot-swap microSD card slot
• Slim body and sleek looks
• Ambient light sensor
• Built-in accelerometer
• DivX player
• FM radio
(story Link)

LG Reveals 3G Wrist Watch Mobile Phone

Sure there have been a few ‘Dick Tracy’ style wrist watch mobiles making the scene from time to time, but nothing with a large enough branding that it would get your undivided attention. LG Korea has just announced their LG-GD910 wrist watch mobile phone.

It features –
1.43-inch color touch screen LCD display
3G HSDPA connectivity
Video capture form onboard camera
Video Conferencing capabilities

Those are the only features mentioned so far. The device is going to be revealed at CES 2009 and will be available initially in the Korean and European markets. No pricing is out yet so stay tuned. (story Link)