Phones

Nokia confirms N-Gage sequel

Nokia has confirmed that a successor to the N-Gage is due by early 2008. The company's FutureWatch blog indicates that developers EA and Gameloft are on board to develop for the updated N-Gage, and that other "leading publishers" will be making games as well.

Perhaps the bigger news is that the next N-Gage won't be a single device, but rather a gaming platform available on certain of its advanced Series 60 models. (Whether a future Series 60 phone will look like the Nokia concept pictured here, however, is anybody's guess.) Instead of buying games on … Read more

Samsung SCH-u340 added to Verizon

In addition to the red Motorola Krzr K1m Fire and the LG Strawberry Chocolate, Verizon released a non-Valentine cell phone to their lineup, the Samsung SCH-u340. Verizon has been a popular choice for those who want basic cell phones, and the new Samsung SCH-u340 is no exception. Featuring pared-down basics like a VGA camera and a speakerphone, the SCH-u340 still has text and multimedia messaging, instant messaging, and more. But the best feature of all is its price: Free with a two-year contract.

LG Chocolate now in Strawberry

Yeah, we mentioned the LG Strawberry Chocolate last week in our list of Valentine-themed cell phones, but we had no photo to clue us in to the look of the Strawberry Chocolate. Well, it turns out that the Strawberry Chocolate is not red like we thought it would be--it is in fact a very pastel pink (which isn't really the color that pops to mind when I think of chocolate strawberries, but I'll go with the flow). Specs are the same as the regular LG Chocolate, and it's available for $99.99 after a two-year commitment and … Read more

Verizon PN-820 launches; first decent-looking clamshell smart phone

I like flip phones. I like smart phones. But I have yet to see a cell phone manufacturer successfully combine the two into a nice-looking package. Motorola came out with the i930, but there's no way I was going to carry that big honkin' phone around, and it was definitely catered toward the Nextel bunch. Then, HTC had a go at it with the Cingular 3125, but I don't know, I still find the design just ... weird. Now, Verizon Wireless has picked up the clamshell Pantech PN-820 (aka Verizon Wireless PN-820) smart phone, and it actually looks decent. … Read more

Jamming with 3jam: 'reply-all' for phones

The presenters at the AlwaysOn conference earlier this week might have primarily consisted of companies that are marketing toward the advertising and media communities, but there were still plenty of consumer-oriented start-ups. So many, in fact, that we still aren't finished writing about them. Here's another one you all might find interesting--3jam, which allows you to send reply-all text messages to a group of your friends.

There are a bunch of different ways to use 3jam. On a basic level, you can start reply-all groups by simply texting 3jam's number, or you can use a downloadable … Read more

T-Mobile feels the (Miami) Heat: Limited Edition D-Wade Sidekick 3

"Hey Flash. I'm in Miami. What r u up 2?" "Oh, hey Paris. Just chillin' with my new Sidekick." It's no secret that the T-Mobile Sidekick 3 is a hit with Hollywood's young celebs and athletes alike. Of the latter group, it seems that Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade is such a fan that he has teamed up with T-Mobile and Danger Inc. to create a Limited Edition D-Wade Sidekick 3. It's been reported that the all-star guard personally had a hand in designing the special Sidekick, taking style hints from the … Read more

Teleflip makes stupid phones smart

Most mobile phones are not BlackBerrys. Or Treos. If you have a "dumb" phone, you can go a long way toward making it a better e-mail appliance by "flipping" it at Teleflip.com (starting in March). The free service uses SMS to make any phone into a nice e-mail-reading machine.

Sending e-mails to phones via SMS is not a new idea. Teleflip's pitch is its ease of setup: go to the site, enter your phone number, e-mail address, and password, and from then on you'll be able to see your e-mails on your phone. … Read more

Total Immersion demos new augmented reality tech [video]

Total Immersion, which wowed the Demo crowd two years ago, has technology that lets you merge computer-generated objects into live video. At Demo 07, the company showed off how a small PC with a camera could add a little dancing cartoon character to a live video of a newspaper. In other words: the newspaper was flat, but the live video of it on the PC's screen had real-time characters dancing around on it. And when the camera moved, they moved, so they almost appeared to be connected to the paper.

This technology will be great for navigation apps, and … Read more

Sony Ericsson goes on a diet

Sony Ericsson has always blazed its own path when it comes to cell phone design, but now it appears the company finally is joining the slim-phone party. Gizmodo posted images of the new Sony Ericsson W880 Ai, a razor-thin (pun intended) candy bar model that should have its formal debut this month. Expected features on the triband (GSM 900/1800/1900) phone include a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, 3G (UMTS) support, and a digital music player. Of course, our friends in Europe will be the first to get the W880 Ai, and we have no idea if it will skip across … Read more

Samsung Stripe coming to T-Mobile?

Someone tipped Gizmodo off to the possibility of a new Samsung clamshell making its way to the T-Mobile lineup in the near future. Dubbed the Samsung Stripe for the vertical gray stripe down the middle, it will sport a low-end set of features such as a speakerphone, instant messaging, a VGA camera, Bluetooth, and T-Mobile's MyFaves support. Actual pricing is still unknown to us, but we're guessing it won't be terribly costly.