Carrier News

Wirefly and AT&T have teamed up to offer you a chance to win a trip for 2 to L.A. to see American Idol live on May 5 and May 6. There will be 6 winners total – 5 will win American Idol Family Viewing Packs & the grand prize gets the trip.

To enter head over to http://sweeps.wirefly.com and fill out the form – it only takes seconds to submit.

While no purchase is necessary, any customer purchasing a new AT&T phone through Wirefly by the deadline of April 23rd will be automatically entered. This sweepstakes runs from April 8, 2009 through April 23, 2009, winners will be notified on April 24th.

All the buzz right now comes down to the CES announcement of the first multi-touch Palm smartphone for Sprint. While this news blindsided me, I am happy that Sprint is standing beside Palm in the launch of this soon to be “hero phone”.

Meet the Palm Pre for Sprint:
802.11 b/g Wi-Fi
GPS with built-in navigation
EV-DO
Bluetooth
8 GB storage
3.1-inch display
320 x 490 touchscreen
Gesture area center button
Volume control
3-MP camera

“It is my pleasure to show you the new Palm Pre. The design was inspired by nature.”
-Ed Colligan, CEO, Palm

“Pre will be running on the most dependable network in the country. So it’s the best smartphone on the best platform.” Hesse claims that “independent testing shows downloads are fastest on Sprint’s network. Also, Sprint’s coverage area is four times larger than AT&T’s.”
-Dan Hesse CEO, Sprint.

From this post on Betanews, it is rumored that the Palm Pre will be available from Sprint in the first half of 2009. Colligan went ahead mentioning roughly 15 strategic partnerships including Facebook which now has over 150 million users.

What is your background as an inventor/designer?

Since I was a kid, I always enjoyed making stuff with my hands. After my A level, I did an art foundation in Paris (Atelier de Sèvres) and then went to London to start a BA in product design at Central Saint Martins. I’m in my final year now. The foundation really gave me the taste for making things, and studying product design was, I think, the right choice.

Tell us about the “Watts Maker” cell phone charger

The Watts Maker allows you to charge your cell phone while you’re cycling. You don’t spend a penny on it, only sweat. The Watts Maker is not a final product, there is no real design on it. I would call it more a DIY piece. An idea that has to be turned into a real product. It is something I did in my spare time without sketching or anything. I just used what I had at home.

How does it work?

I opened a bicycle dynamo and plugged my phone charger on it. The result is quite simple, as you cycle, instead of lighting the bike torch, it charges your phone. Luckily, the dynamo produces enough power for the phone to charge.

What inspired you to create the “Watts Maker” cell phone charger?

I think it happened one morning when I arrived at uni and realized I forgot to charge my phone, I couldn’t use it for the whole day. And the same day, when cycling home, I had to turn my dynamo on because it was dark. I just realized that if my legs could produce enough power to light a torch, could there be enough power to charge my phone?

What will the future hold for this idea?

Well, what I like about it and the reason it is on my website is that it shows that some eco problems can be solved quite easily. It would be fantastic to find a producer interested in it, and work along together to make it “real”.

For more information about Oscar Lhermitte or the “Watts Maker” bicycle cell phone charger – read this.

Holiday 2008 is gearing up to be the season of the Smartphone, touch screeen phone, music phone and other feature driven devices with converged technology, proving that being stylish is simply no longer enough. This holiday season’s real contenders fluidly merge form and function.

Boasting everything from 3G to MobileTV, streaming video, MP3 players, GPS, high-res cameras and beyond, get to know the 10 powerhouse cell phones that have already claimed their spots on Wirefly’s “Top 10 Hottest Selling Phones of the Holiday Season”… Read more…

I’m writing this post using Windows Mobile… on my 42” TV screen. It’s made possible by using the VGA output on the REDFLY mobile companion from Celio. What is it, you ask? The REDFLY device is like a miniature laptop without the hard drive or processor. Well, heck, it’s pretty much just an 8” screen with a keyboard, two USB ports, VGA output, and Bluetooth connectivity.

Although this device is only as powerful as your Windows Mobile phone, it will still impress mobile-heads who are content with the power of their devices. Think of the REDFLY mobile companion as something that could help make your next flight more enjoyable. Browsing the web and writing or replying to e-mails on an 8” screen makes a big difference. The bottom line is if your phone can do everything you need, a laptop is unnecessary and the REDFLY device should serve you well for only $199.

I enjoyed using REDFLY with Google maps while driving; I installed it on my HTC Mogul 6800 and it worked surprisingly well. With the device in my passenger seat, I was able to glance at it occasionally (without squinting at my phone this time) and navigate the infamous one-way streets of Washington D.C. without getting the bird! Thanks Celio.

Read more…

It’s finally here: the Google phone. As most observers know by now, the “Google” phone is actually just the first of a family of cell phones which will support Google’s new mobile operating system, Android. Since it’s the first, though, it’s certainly the most anticipated. We got our hands on a preview model over the weekend, and offer some thoughts:

Form/Design

The G1’s shape and form factor is… utilitarian. The iPhone proved that simplicity sells, and, in that sense, the G1 succeeds, with one large display, four small buttons, and a trackball on its face. It’s a very clean presentation. But it doesn’t quite grab you. It’s just a little too plain, lacking the glossy finish or unique tapered edges of other devices.

The spring-loaded slider mechanism, however, is excellent. The beautiful screen slips sideways to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard; when open, the display hangs off the body of the phone while still feeling solidly attached. It’s a nicely designed element that leaves the G1 feeling spacious while in use.

The G1 is relatively heavy, weighing in at 5.6 ounces. It’s also fairly thick, thanks to the QWERTY keyboard. Neither of these facts are a strike against it, though; the G1 isn’t intended as a super-slim phone that disappears in your pocket. I rather liked its heft, since this is such a high-functioning device. I’d rather handle a sturdy smartphone than a featherweight.

In the end, the physical look and feel of the G1 is solid, but not nearly as alluring as some of HTC’s other recent efforts, like the Touch Diamond. Read more…

Nokia announced recently the launch of its first touch-screen phone, the 5800 XpressMusic.

And apparently this is just the beginning.

Gadgetell is quoting Nokia’s marketing director as saying, “We will have lot of touchscreen phones coming up, including an N-series device very soon.”

The touch-screen revolution continues to roll on. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, all thanks to Apple for lighting a fire under the rest of the cell phone manufacturers.