Japanese carrier KDDI is launching a visual search application on its Spring 2008 range of “au” handsets. The app, called ER Search, was developed by Evolution Robotics and is operated by Bandai networks, who have already installed it on more than a million handsets in the past twelve months. Described as “hyperlinking the physical world”, [...]
Nokia’s latest advert for its 6500 cellphone is already prompting split opinions online; the work of London agency Wieden + Kennedy, it shows hundreds of the handsets suspended roughly in the shape of a top lip. Called ‘Harmony’, the ad is already in rotation on UK TV, together with Nokia’s slogan “design for everyone”. Each [...]
French satnav lovers too impatient to wait for Garmin’s nuvifone will soon have a Windows Mobile alternative from Airis, when the company’s T482 GPS smartphone goes on sale. While the device is a quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE device with Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi and a 3.2-inch QVGA touchscreen, the real draw is the SiRFStar III GPS receiver and [...]
Samsung has been wowing Dutch telecoms press with a number of previously unannounced handsets at the recent Televisie 2008 exhibition, with three UMTS devices garnering particular attention. Curiously, one – here labelled the i900 – appears to be a European version of the US handset of the same name, only running Windows Mobile 6.1 rather [...]
China is often described as the next big market for cellular technology, but consumers there will likely have to wait a while longer before they can get 3G service on their handsets. According to Jonathan Dharmapalan, a partner at Ernst & Young and head of the company’s global telecommunications centre in Beijing, the rollout and [...]
The thought of a disposable cellphone is enough to strike fear into the hearts of even the most casual environmentalists, but US manufacturer Hop-on would like you to know that their basic $20 handset, while marketed as “disposable”, is really more intended to be an emergency option living, say, in your car’s glove compartment. Someone [...]
After Samsung’s dual-SIM D780 the other day, I thought it’d be a while before we saw another new handset capable of operating two cellular accounts simultaneously, but HKC (not a typo) have surprised me with what they’re calling the world’s first dual-SIM Windows Mobile smartphones. The design of the W1000 and G1000 (the former being [...]
If you’ve been thinking about picking up an HTC Touch but have held off because the design is just too sober, think again: the company has collaborated with Nicholas designer Nic Wong to create four limited editions of the smartphone. Ranging from the subtle (a powder-blue Anaglypta-style design) to the strident (crazed red and white triangles), [...]
Router and gateway specialists Billion have launched their 3G broadband router, the BiPAC 7402GX, which features compatibility not only with ADSL2+ for wired broadband but a USB port for external 3G HSDPA modems. Moreover, the 7402GX is capable of managing both connections simultaneously, using the cellular link as a backup should the landline connection fail; alternatively, [...]
NTT DoCoMo are beginning a trial of ‘fragrance playlists’ that can be shared between cellphones and used to trigger different smells from an infrared-linked fragrance emitter. While it might look like an April fools joke, the system first appeared in Japanese homes in 2005, but with this new version of the hardware NTT are synchronizing media [...]
