Phones

Toshiba raising curtain on the 'Drape'

Crave always appreciates an attempt to do something different, especially when it involves design--whether it succeeds or not. We're not quite sure which of those two categories this phone falls into, but it certainly is taking a novel approach.

Toshiba has apparently decided to take a bit of dramatic license in designing a new handset destined for the Japanese market, with countours that evoke image of stage curtains--hence the name of the line, "Drape." The phone continues its opera-house theme inside the clamshell, where you'll find an analog clock with a Cartier-style face bearing traditional Roman … Read more

Huge sound on your fingertip

With gadgets and their components getting smaller all the time, it makes sense that amplifiers should join the trend. But this is ridiculous.

Oki Electric Industry, according to Fareastgizmos, has debuted a chip that includes a "stereo-playback-capable DAC (Digital Audio Converter), 3D surround functionality and speaker amp"--and can easily fit on a fingertip with plenty of room to spare. The amplifier can improve sound quality on any number of portable devices, ranging from digital dictionaries to cell phones and GPS navigators.

All this is well and good, of course, but we ask you: Can it really compare … Read more

Helio collaborates with Obopay

Helio, that virtual carrier that doesn't call itself a phone company, has partnered with Obopay, a new mobile peer-to-peer payment system. With Obopay on your Helio device, you can get, send, and spend money directly from your cell phone via a prepaid account. You can also get an Obopay Prepaid MasterCard account that can be managed on your Helio phone. With Obopay in Helio's stable from the get-go, Helio is furthering its standing in the young-and-hip demographic. It'll be interesting to see how popular Obopay gets in such a niche market.

Belt it out on a karaoke phone

Asus should write a book on marketing. From gaming gear to Lamborghini laptops, it seems to consistently hit the sweet spots of hot trends. This time, it may have topped itself with its Karaoke phone.

The Z801 includes fairly standard fare such as a 2-megapixel camera and an MP3 player, but Mobilewhack says it stands apart with one unique feature: "Speak the lyrics to a song as it plays, and the Z801will not only record them, it'll interpret what you say and display the words back to you as you play your tune, letting you sing along." … Read more

A cell phone for an Egyptian queen

If Nefertiti had a cell phone, it would have been the Vertu "Signature Cobra." Not just because of its legendary asp, either. The Cobra, part of uber-luxury Vertu family, is by definition fit for a queen.

Slashphone says the Cobra's cobra is adorned with "one pear-cut diamond, one round white diamond, two emerald eyes and 439 rubies," which helps explain (if not justify) the $310,000 price tag. But you'd better hurry if you want to snatch up one of these before the rush begins: Only eight of them will be sold.

Real-time traffic phone released in Korea

Officer, I swear, I wasn't talking on my cell phone while driving; I was looking at the map...on my cell phone...while driving.

Samsung Electronics has released the SPH-B5800, a cell phone that offers real-time traffic maps as well as info on where to find places to eat. Technical Resource likes the fact that people can compare routes and decide which road is the one less traveled by.

The Samsung SPH-B5800 is available in Korea for about $600.

Instead of using GPS, the phone works by TPEG, a transportation broadcast service offered in Korea over its new Digital Media Broadcasting (… Read more

A video pyramid for the PSP

Nothing compares with the iPhone in the rumor department, but on slow days Sony's PSP can easily take second place. So it's nice to actually pass along something concrete once in awhile, such as a real-live product (albeit outside the States).

A new Onkyo media recorder is a video device that will work with the PSP as well as mobile phones, according to Akihabara News. That's important if Sony is really trying to peddle the PSP as a video platform, as reported recently, but is still months away from launching its own service.

Most important to us, … Read more

Leaked photos of Prada phone

Information about LG's next major phones seems to be coming from everywhere except the company itself.

A few days ago we posted an item on information purportedly coming from Germany that included a photo of a new touch screen "LG KE850" but little else. Then, we got word that the company's Prada-label phone was nearing completion. Now, Ministry of Tech reports that a blog called Dial-a-Phone has posted photos of the Prada LG handset coming out in the spring, based on the KE850.

With all this teasing, you'd think we were talking about the iPhone.… Read more

A telescope for your phone

As we've noted frequently in the past, ill-advised tampering can make some technological experiments go terribly awry. But sometimes, the need for certain functions supersedes all in the evolution of the handset.

That, at least, is how we view the mobile phone telescope from Brando. In fact, Shiny Shiny (a closet birder--who knew?) even admits to lusting after this gadget "possibly more than I've ever wanted anything in my life." Wow.

With such strong convictions, we find it difficult to fault this latest genetic permutation--even if it does make a perfectly decent phone look like the … Read more

Samsung phone grows a joystick

As we continue to monitor its evolutionary process in midstream, we observe that the mobile phone has taken another Darwinian step. A species of the Samsung family has just grown a joystick.

The "Optical Joystick" V960 model is being touted as the first mobile phone with said feature, according to Fareastgizmos. It actually behaves more like a laptop touchpad than a console joystick and is designed for menu navigation, not fragging. The phone, which includes a 2-megapixel camera, also features a new "Smart Lighting" sensor that automatically adjusts screen and keypad brightness.

We're not sure … Read more