Crave

Kyocera Laylo

(Credit: Kent German/CNET)

Apologies for missing this in the pre-Christmas rush, but MetroPCS added the Kyocera Laylo and Domino to its lineup last Wednesday.

The Laylo, aka the Kyocera M1400, launched last April at the CTIA 2009 show. The slider phone has a VGA camera, text and multimedia messaging, Bluetooth, a 500-contact phone book, a speakerphone, a personal organizer, a voice memo recorder, speaker-independent voice recognition, instant messaging, and a WAP browser. It is $99 for the carrier's no-contract service.

The Domino S1310 has a basic candy bar design. Inside you'll find Bluetooth 2.0, a WAP 2.0 browser, support for BREW, text and instant messaging, a personal organizer, and a speakerphone. It will cost you $69.

It's been a hot year for Netbooks, but not so much for the rest of the portable PC market.

Netbook sales are likely to hit $11.4 billion this year, a 72 percent rise from last year, thanks to a 103 percent leap in shipments, according to a new report from DisplaySearch. But notebook revenue overall will be down around 7 percent from last year.

The latest DisplaySearch Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report, released Tuesday, found that the surge in Netbook (mini-notebook) sales was not enough to offset declines for ultra-portables and larger laptops. Aside from Netbooks, annual revenue will likely be down in every portable PC category.

Though notebook shipments are expected to grow 5 percent for the year, average selling prices (ASPs) will show a 20 percent drop as vendors have slashed prices throughout the year, DisplaySearch has forecasted . Average prices for Netbooks and 13-inch to 16-inch notebooks will probably be down 15 percent for the year, a significant cut as these two categories make up 85 percent of the overall notebook market.

(Credit: DisplaySearch)

For 2010, notebook shipments will rise by 16 percent, predicts DisplaySearch, thanks to better than average gains in Netbooks and ultra-portables. The CULV (Consumer Ultra-Low Voltage) market will drive growth with an array of new 11.6-inch and 12-inch portables sporting prices under $500. However, sales next year will likely be flat or down for most portable segments, except desktop replacement, which should enjoy growth of 21 percent over 2009.

The popularity of Netbooks may start to fade next year, DisplaySearch said. Shipments could rise 20 percent, but sales will flatten, and then drop in 2011 as prices come down and performance goes up for ultra-portables and larger notebooks.

(Credit: DisplaySearch)

"Our long-term outlook is that the mini-note share of the notebook PC market has stabilized, and will remain at approximately 20 percent through 2011 before starting to erode," said John F. Jacobs, DisplaySearch director of Notebook Market Research, in a statement. "While mini-notes offer lower ASPs and are thinner and lighter than notebook PCs, the performance of larger notebook PCs continues to improve while prices continue to steadily decline, increasing the performance gap while narrowing the price gap."

Samsung Stunt

(Credit: Samsung)

MetroPCS and Samsung announced a new basic phone just in time for the holidays. The Samsung Stunt has a simple black-and-blue candy bar design, with features like text and multimedia messaging, Bluetooth, speakerphone, and voice commands. It measures approximately 4.2 inches long by 1.7 inches wide by 0.54 inch thick and weighs about 2.6 ounces. No word on pricing yet, but we'll let you know once we find out.

This "Eleven Commandments" bible mod came as something of a surprise--we always assumed God was an iMac user, given that he's such a creative chap. Click on the photo for more extreme case mods.

(Credit: Freezefreeks.de)

Before laptops, World War II, and dinosaurs, desktop PCs ruled the Earth. And they were dull. And they were beige. And nobody liked them.

Unsurprisingly, many users attempted to modify their desktop PCs in increasingly extreme ways. Some added stickers, others added flashing lights, while some--jobless students, mostly--pimped their rigs until they were utterly unrecognizable as PCs.

Today, we pay homage to those men and women of the modding scene by presenting to you the 20 most pimped-out case transmogrifications ever conceived. You will laugh, you will cry, and you will wonder why some of these people even bothered.

Above all, however, you will be thankful you bought a laptop.

Read more of "The 20 most extreme case mods of all time" at Crave UK.

Samsung Code for MetroPCS

(Credit: Samsung)

On Monday, MetroPCS introduced its first Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone, the Samsung Code. Though it's not running the latest , the Code does give MetroPCS customers another smartphone choice, which is a bit lacking to say the least (the carrier's only other smartphone is the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330).

The Code offers the standard WinMo features, including Outlook synchronization and the Microsoft Office Mobile Suite, as well as 3G support, stereo Bluetooth, and a 2-megapixel camera. It also has a full QWERTY keyboard, up to 32GB expandable memory, and an optional WizPro interface, which lets you customize the home screen with various shorcuts.

The Samsung Code (SCH-i220) is available now for $299.99 with a $50 prepaid monthly plan, which includes unlimited voice, text, and data.

Netbooks continue to soar in sales at the expense of the venerable notebook, according to a new report from DisplaySearch.

Revenues for Netbooks, or mini-notebooks, rose to $3 billion in the second quarter of the year, a leap of 264 percent over the second quarter of 2008, according to the new "Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report" released Thursday. With those gains, Netbooks now enjoy an 11.7 percent share of the portable PC market.

(Credit: DisplaySearch)

Though traditional notebooks still command an 89 percent slice of the market, their second quarter sales fell to $23.2 billion, a 14 percent decline from the second quarter of 2008.

Measuring 2009's second quarter against the prior year's quarter, sales fell in all subcategories of the portable PC market, including ultraportables and desktop replacements, the report noted. PCs in the 13-inch to 16-inch range managed to eke out a gain, but only measured against the first quarter of 2009.

The low prices of Netbooks appeal to consumers looking for a second PC and to those in emerging markets who don't need the rich and costly features of a large laptop. The market has also been buoyed by cable and telecommunications providers who have doled out Netbooks to customers who sign up for lengthy contracts.

Motorola VE440

(Credit: Motorola)

Motorola is no stranger to MetroPCS and Monday the manufacturer tightened the relationship even further with the new VE440. Positioned as a low-end music phone, the VE440's candy bar design and functional feature set won't amaze you, but it offers a few welcome goodies like stereo Bluetooth and a 3.5mm headset jack.

Besides the music player and the aforementioned features, the VE440 also has a micsoSD card slot (for cards up to 8GB), a 1.3-megapixel camera, a speakerphone, a personal organizer, messaging, a WAP browser, and support for GPS. The CDMA phone is priced at $129, which may seem expensive until you remember that MetroPCS doesn't require contracts.

A new touch-screen tablet PC with Windows 7 from Archos, a newcomer to the category.

(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET)

A lot of people are betting that 2010 will be the year of the tablet computer.

Of course, we've heard such predictions about tablets before. This time, the reasoning goes, is different, because the devices will have more sophisticated touch screens and consumers are more used to virtual keyboards. Most importantly, Apple just might be jumping into the fray.

Tablets, you may recall, are either laptops with a screen that twists and folds flat and uses a stylus or fingertip for input, or something more like an oversize iPod Touch that's used for tasks like checking e-mail, getting on the Web, and watching videos.

True, market researchers at DisplaySearch predict sales for all touch-screen devices will be growing from $3.5 billion this year to more than $6 billion by 2012. But if 2010 is going be the year of the tablet--meaning regular folks start buying these en masse--someone has to get it right.

So far, we're still waiting.

Toshiba, Archos, Fujitsu, and Lenovo have touch-screen tablets coming our way in the next few months, none of which should revolutionize our already established expectations of tablet PCs.... Read More

The Messager II offers a full keybaord.

(Credit: Samsung)

Update: On Wednesday, August 26, Cricket also announced that it would offer the Messager II for $199.

A product with one of the most head-scratching names in cell phone history got a boost this week when Samsung announced an update to one of its messaging phones. The Samsung Messager II (that's right, it's not a typo for messenger) is an update to the original Samsung Messager that we reviewed earlier this year. Also called the SCH-R560, it's now on sale at MetroPCS for $149 (MetroPCS doesn't require contracts).

Like its predecessor, the Messager II offers a full QWERTY keybaord in a slider, though slightly tweaked, design. Features are also upgraded. You'll get a 2-megapixel camera with video recording, organizer features, a speakerphone, messaging, stereo Bluetooth, and support for EV-DO networks.

(Source: MetroPCS via Phonescoop)