The Google Phone is Coming, We Now Have the Android Market

Google has unveiled the Android Market, an iTunes-like mobile content service being prepped up for the imminent launch of the highly-anticipated Google-powered mobile phone to be released by HTC. HTC announced a couple of days ago, that the GPhone will most likely be out in time for the holidays and was even showing initial photos of the device. Although some got excited to see the prototype Google phone, initial reactions were not that impressive though as the Google Phone lacks the “omph” factor which was in the iPhone during its initial launch. So, to ignite excitement over the Google Phone, the Adroid Market was unveiled. The Android Market as explained by the Android Developers Blog is an open content distribution system that will help end users find, purchase, download and install various types of content on their Android-powered devices. It aims to leverage Google’s expertise in infrastructure, search and relevance to connect users with content created by developers. In addition, developers can make their content available on an open service that also features feedback and rating system similar to YouTube. Google also promised to make the first Google Phone to have the Adroid Market enabled. Like iTunes, there would be free and paid applications to be featured in the Adroid Market. As the Android Market is currently in beta mode, and with the absence of a legitimate Google phone, we may just have to contend ourselves with a screenshot of how the Android Market looks like. It looks pretty robust if we may have to say so.

Nokia Unwraps the N95 Successor - the N96

The last of the three new N-series smartphone announced by Nokia a couple of days ago is none other than the successor to its N95 phone - the Nokia N96. Touting high-speed 3G HSDPA network support,  the N96 features a 2.8-inch screen, a 16 GB internal memory, and compatibility with various video formats. With the N96’s support for various media formats, users can easily explore, purchase and download movies, TV shows and other video content stored in their PCs and sideload these contents into their N96. User’s viewing please is made pleasurable by the N96’s “kickstand.”  Other features of the N96 includes a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, integrated Wi-Fi support and assisted-GPS navigation and integration with Ovi services.With the N96’s support for Ovi services, the N96 features easy navigation across town and country with Nokia Maps 2.0 and N-Gage games tournament. The N96 is preloaded with N-Gage application. To test the N96 aGPS feature, every N96 unit package comes with 3 months of navigation service for Nokia Maps 2.0 which enable the Nokia N96 to deliver detailed turn-by-turn directions for both automotive and pedestrian navigation. The Nokia N96 will be available in Q4 2008 with an SRP of $895.

Nokia Unveils the N79

Aside from the N85, Nokia has also announced the N85 mobile phone featuring customizable design and a load of multimedia features. The N85 offers up a full range of multimedia features such as aGPS, built-in FM transmitter, high-speed 3.5G HDSPA connectivity, web browser, 10 pre-loaded N-Gage games and a whooping 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss Optics. The N79 also features Xpress-on covers to enable users to mix-and-match the mobile phone’s appearance with their clothing style. The mobile package comes with 5 Xpress-on cover colors - Light Sea Blue, Espresso Brown, Olive Green, White and Coral Red. In addition to these features, users can also log on to their online profiles including Friendster, Flickr and YouTube. They can also access Nokia services including the Nokia Music Store, N-Gage, Nokia Maps and Share on Ovi, which is a Nokia service which allows Nokia users to share personal pictures and videos from their Nokia phones.  The Nokia N79 also brags of its Carl Zeiss Optics-powered camera with dual LED flash and video light capture feature. Images that users take using the N79’s camera phone can be geotagged easilty. The N79 also comes packed with a 4GB microSD memory card. For its navigation features, the N79 is equipped with a built-in A-GPS which provides turn-by-turn navigation for walking or driving. Nokia also promises to release a Friendster widget which will allow N79 users to browse their Friendster accounts and view their friends’ profiles, view and post shoutouts plus other Friendster functions. And what good is a Nokia phone if it doesn’t have a customization feature for adding ringtones and entertainment content, mobile gaming and dynamic applications for personalizing the mobile phone. Luckily, the N79 have all those features and even more. The Nokia N79 will be released in October 2008 with an SRP of around $514.

Nokia Kicks out the N85 mobile phone

The Nokia N85 is the latest Nseries multimedia phone announced by Nokia today. It is a fully packed mobile phone that boasts of new set of standards for mobile entertainment, gaming and mobile sharing. One outstanding feature of the N85 is its 2.6-inch AMOLED display screen that provides high-resolution display. This is complemented by the N85’s sleek and classic form factor. Among the major highlights of the Nokia N85 mobile phone include; N-Gage gaming support music player with built-in FM Transmitter, a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, geotagging, GPS navigation with a three month integrated license for turn-by-turn voice navigation, and high-speed connectivity through HSDPA networks. According to the director of the Nokia Nseries, “”The Nokia N85 was created to be more than the sum of its parts, offering a complete mobile entertainment package designed for connecting, sharing and discovering. The iconic Nokia Nseries dual slider design has evolved to become smaller and sleeker while integrating the newest features and services to deliver the best mobile experience to date.” Among the N85’s multimedia features, worth noting are its gaming features, photos, navigation and music player with FM tuner. This in addition to the phone’s support for Ovi and third party services via 3.5G HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity. The Nokia N85 is pre-loaded with around 10 made-for-mobile N-Gage games. It’s got a dedicated gaming keys, which more than makes up for an easy-to-use mobile gaming device. This game key lights up when the N85 is in landscape gaming mode for a more action-packed gaming pleasure. In addition, the N85 also features a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and bright dual LED flash, video capture at 30fps, A-GPS with geotagging capabilities. The N85 comes with an 8GB microSD card which provides for 30 hours of great music playback experience. You can also build your personal music collection and listen to the FM radio. The Nokia N85 will be released sometimein October 2008 with an estimated retail price of EUR 450, before taxes and subsidies.

Verizon Wireless Offers Up the Blitz

Verizon Wireless’ latest mobile phone offering called Blitz, is a simple and basic text messaging phone with slide-out QWERTY keyboard. This candy bar-looking mobile phone is geared for mobile phone users who are both voracious texters and also those who simply want to stay in touch with their friends and family. The VW Blitz offers up an easy-way to do your mobile blogging, web browsing and SMS sending through its My Messaging Key. It features a bright, high-resolution screen with 1.3 megapixel camera, a speakerphone and a Stereo Bluetooth for hands-free calling. Here’s the complete details and specs of the Verizon Wireless Blitz mobile phone: 2.2-inch screen with up to 220×176 pixel display, music player capability for MP3 and WMA music formats, a dedicated music key, playlist manager, music sync from PC to phone, microSD memory port with up to 4GB support, a self-timer for the 1.3-megapixel camera, color effects such as normal, antique, black&white and negative. The Blitz phone also features Verizon Wireless’ V CAST Music with Rhapsody, Media Center for downloading games, ringtones and more, mobile web 2.0, mobile email, mobile web mail, mobile IM and chat facility, text-picture-voice messaging, VZ Navigator-capable, Chaperon Child feature and voice mail. It is also packed with the general mobile phone features such as various mobile tools (calculator, calendar, alarm clock), phonebook with up to 1000 entries, speed dialing and TTY/TDD capability.The Verizon Wireless Blitz will set you back around $69.99 with a two-year service contract if you order online.

AT&T Releases the LG Invision, 3G Phone with Mobile TV

AT&T has released a new LG mobile handset featuring AT&T’s Mobile TV service - the LG Invision. The Invision phone is the smallest Mobile TV-capable phone measuring only 4-inches tall, 2-inches wide and less than one-half an inch thick. The phone features a crystal-clear screen to provide pure watching pleasure for TV fanatics. AT&T’s Mobile TV Service provides programming features such as ESPN Mobile TV, FOX Mobile, NBC2GO and the major college football league on CBS Mobile. It also provides Video Share calling as well as a 1.3 megapixel camera. With AT&T as its network, LG Invision’s 3G capability can be fully maxed out that enables users to download music from eMusic, sideloading support for Napster to GO and unrestricted MP3 audio files and streaming digital radio by XM Radio Mobile. The LG Invision also features Bluetooth capabilities for wireless music access, listening to AT&T Mobile TV and hands-free call anytime. AT&T’s can provide as fast as 1.4mpbs internet connectivity to the LG Invision. The LG Invision is now available at all AT&T outlest and goes out for an SRP of $99.99 with a two-year service contract agreement.

Sony Ericsson Teams Up with T-Mobile, Launches TM506 Handset

Sony Ericsson has officially teamed up with T-Mobile USA and to kick off their partnership, SE is releasing the TM506 mobile handset sometime in September. And so Sony Ericsson’s TM506 becomes the first SE phone that supports T-Mobile’s AWS spectrum (1700/2100). The TM506 is a stylish clamshell phone sporting a sleek and stylish design.The TM506 clamshell phone boasts of four major features namely, a compact design that is packed with rich mobile features that can easily fit into your pocket or briefcase. It comes with an outer display that lets users to take a look at caller ID when somebody is trying to call without the need to open the phone. The TM506 is also packed with 3G connectivity that allows for fast mobile internet access. It also comes with the standard Sony Ericsson Memory Stick Micro as well as customizable web feeds tailored for mobile phone browsing.The TM506 also features a 2.0 megapixel camera and a photo-sharing feature for creating slideshow and video blogging capability.In addition it also boasts of Bluetooth and a built-in GPS navigation feature. And since it is released through T-Mobile, users would also have access to MyFaves service of T-Mobile. Now, here’s a quick run down of the TM506’s specs; 9.5 hours talk time on GSM and 3.5 hours on UMTS, 250 hours standby time (GSM) and 250 hours for UMTS, 2.0 megapixel camera, Media Center, aGPS, TeleNav Navigator, RSS feeds, Audio postcard, Quicksend, Mobile backup, Bluetooth 2.0, A2DP, stereo streaming. The TM506 is a Triband GSM (850/1800/1900), Dual-Band UMTS (1700/2100/2100) GSM/GRPS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA. The TM506 will be available in September.

Mobiado Launches the Lucido Luxury Phone

 

Luxury phone manufacturer Mobiado has come up with yet again another luxury phone which for its price would make you display the phone rather than use it. The new Mobiado Lucido luxury phone sports the same elegance, craftmanship and sophistication of other Mobiado phones.The Lucido boasts of superb engineering craftmanship which includes a CNC machined, anodized aluminum body, aluminum front with one piece sapphire, stainless steel buttons, Sapphire crystal camera window, machine engraved keypad and battery cover. It took a lot to engineer such kind of luxury phone hence Mobiado has only only 200 unitsof this mobile phone. For its technical specifications, the Lucido mobile phone features; 3G connectivity, WCDMA 2100 and tri-band GSM coverage (GSM/EDGE 900/1800/1900), a 2MP camera with 8x smooth digital zoom and dedicated stainless steel key, large QVGA display, up to 2GB expandable memory through a microSD card, surround sound stereo speakers, push-to-talk features, Bluetooth, USB ports, music player which supports MP3, MP4, eAAC+ and AAC. The Lucido runs on Series 40 mobile OS, integrated video player, video and music caller ID features, interactive 3D games with multi-player support, pre-loaded polyphonic midi/mp3/eAAC+ ring tones and message alert tones, FM radio, internet browsing through WAP 2.0, XHTML, HSCSD/CSD and 3GPP video streaming and many more. The Lucido gives out up to 4 hours talk time and up to 340 hours stand-by time. As for its price, Mobiado must have spent too much in making this phone that it hasn’t publish the phone’s SRP yet.

Nokia intros the 8800 Carbon Arte

Out of the blue Nokia has introduced the 8800 Carbon Arte premium mobile phone. The Nokia 8800 sports the design of the Nokia 8800 Arte range which was engineered from carbon fibre, titanium, polished glass and stainless steel.  The Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte features an ultra-light and strong materials with woven pattern that emits both high-technology sensous design. This mobile phone’s design features 3D patterns which emits performance and at the same time elegance. Feature-wise, the 8800 Carbon Arte features a unique tap-for-time feature which lets users to tap the steel surface below the display area of the phone twice to display a digital clock on the screen. Another innovative feature of the 8800 Carbon Arte is its ability to automatically change the phone’s theme to adapt to the lighting condition of the environment.It also features turn-to-mute silencing mechanism which allows users to silence the incoming calls. Other features of the Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte include’ 3G connectivity, a 3.2-inch megapixel OLED display, 4GB internal memory, anti-fingerprint coating which eliminates smudges on metal and glass.The Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte also includes a Bluetooth touch-sensitive volume control headset. Said mobile phone will be available in the 3rd quarter  of 2008 with an SRP of around $1600.

Top 15 Free iPhone Apps - Install Them All Now!

 

Still couldn’t get enough of those iPhone apps? Or have you burnt out your wallet buying those 10 paid apps we told you about a few weeks ago? Well, if budget is the problem, why not install these free apps instead? Most of them are free games, some are free utilities, but one thing is for sure, your iPhone is gonna get cramped up with these top 20 free apps. Enjoy them babies!

Cannon (Games) - When Cannon’s developer say that this game is addicting, they were not joking. Right after I downloaded it into my iPod Touch, I couldn’t stop playing for one hour. But then I realized I have to write this article, so I needed to stop. The game lets you take charge of your own Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon. You need to destroy enemies positioned on the right part of the screen with different elevations blocking your Cannon’s trajectory. Good luck and have fun!

Tris (Games) - Yes folks, that old-addicting game of falling blocks known as Tetris has made its way into the iPhone and iPod Touch. This time around, the game looks much elegant and attractive. And you can save your game then reply to an SMS first before going to where you left off in the game.

Brain Tuner (Games) - Our brain needs a good exercise everyday. A simple Mathematical problems a day would make our brain fit. And that’s what Brain Tuner aims to do. Many people say this game is pretty addicting, and I will have to prove that after writing this post.

Chimps Ahoy! Lite (Games) - Brick breaking games are always addicting, and this Lite version of Chimps Ahoy is not an exception. Using the iPhone’s multi-touch display to bounce coconuts back and forth between the Chimps, breaking bricks, collecting treasures, picking up power-ups and taking out enemies along the way. You would certainly waste too many precious hours playing this game on your iPhone.

Hangman (Games) - Yup, everybody’s favorite word-guessing game also gets its iPhone/Ipod version. Get ready to spend countless hours guessing the words or else get hanged most of the time.

Baloonacy (Games) - Your task is to guide your cutesy balloons through various mazes avoiding walls or else your balloon will bursts. You can use keys to open walls and gains extra lives for your balloons. The colorful mazes would certainly live you in awe when you play this game.

Pop Quiz (Games) - Pop Quizz hot shot! Test your knowledge on pop culture trivia categorized into movie, music, celebrities, movie quotes and fill in the ___. You can post your final score as well in the Pop Quiz community leader board.

reMovem (Games) - It’s a pretty simple game with lots and lots of colorful balls. All you need to do is tap your screen to select two or more balls of the same color, tap again to remove the balls, and remove bigger blocks of balls to get more points. Easy?

Units (Utilities) - The first non-game apps that hit the top ten free iPhone apps is actually a units conversion tool. Yeah, many people still needs kind of tools, for quick conversion of units of measurements.

TiltSnake (Games) - Time for the classic snake game to get its iPhone version. Well the classic arcade game, TiltSnake for the iPhone lets you guide your snake into reaching its longest size by guiding it to the food that appears on the screen. This game features, retro style graphics, accelerometer based gameplay, increasingly difficult levels, high score list, and sensitivity settings

SimplifyMedia (Music) - Our eleventh iPhone apps is also a non-game apps. Its a music utility that lets you listen to your music collection from your home computer on your iPhone or iPod Touch. It also allows you to stream music for up to 30 friends and view lyrics and artists bios as well.

Sol Free Solitaire (Games) - A free and simple solitaire game for the iPhone and iPod touch. Features easy to read screens, unlimited undo, foundation and auto-play, statistics, timer, scoring, moves tracking, in-game rules, tap card movement, and no interferenece with iPod audio.

myLighter (Utilities) - Next, we have another non-game apps for the iPhone. This apps is a simple one with a very useful feature. It turns your iPhone into high-luminating Lighter which makes it perfect during rock concerts, emergency power black outs.

OmNomNom (Classic) - It’s another version of the old classic snake arcade game. This time the developers created it with a touch of old-phone interface for the classic feel. It would certainly remind you of the good-old-non-colored Nokia days. The game includes 3 difficulty levels and 3 playing fields among other features as well.

TanzenLite (Games) - An adaptation of the classic Tangrams puzzle game which have been challenging minds for centuries. Features large intuitive controls, solve puzzles in any order, excellent replay value, variety of puzzle difficulty, puzzle memory.

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