The last Bang & Olufsen cell phone
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)Apparently even Bang & Olufsen is feeling the effects of the sour economy. The Danish company, which has a built a reputation as a purveyor of high-end electronics, is exiting the cell phone business. The Financial Times reported Wednesday that besides phones, Bang & Olufsen will also stop making DVD players and recorders in an effort to concentrate on televisions and audio equipment.
Granted, it's not a huge loss to the cell phone world. The Bang & Olufsen Serene, which the company designed two years ago with Samsung, certainly had an intriguing design. But the phone faltered in functionality and performance. It also didn't help that it cost $1,275.
(Credit:
Newlaunches)
When we saw pictures of the "Buddha phone," we didn't actually think we'd see it for real. So when one of my colleagues said he saw one at Sim Lim Square (the gadget bazaar of Singapore), I knew I had to see it with my own eyes.
Unlike the laughable Lillian Too Lucky Dragon handset, the Buddha phone drew a much more subdued reaction. Maybe because the shopowner got a little suspicious of my close scrutiny and fusillade of questions. I swear he had me in the corner of his eye even while attending to other customers.
Your friendly shopowner did reveal that there are only 999 of the Shenzhen-manufactured Buddha phones worldwide, an auspicious number given that 9 stands for longevity. When I inquired about the price, I was quoted S$380 (about $282)--already a discount from the original S$400-plus.
Given my experience dealing with such retailers, I could probably drive it down a couple more tens if I really wanted it. But since I made my intention clear that I wasn't in a buying way, the now-not-so-friendly chap was unwilling to show me the packaging that came with the phone. No photos either.
He did, however, allow me to handle the handset for a bit. The snappy response of the buttons was surprisingly pretty decent. There are two jade-like pieces on the face of the handset: One is used as the directional control, the second at the bottom of the numeric keypad to activate the Bluetooth connection. Elsewhere, the mini-USB port is found along the top edge of the phone and the microSD expansion card slot on the side.
In the hand, though, the Buddha phone felt more like a toy showpiece than an actual handset. For this scribe, the experience was anything but divine. Seriously, if you can put up with its hideous keypad design and tacky 24k-gold plating, you can put up with anything.
Thanks, but no thanks. We'll stick with the Dragon phone because this poor journo would rather get lucky than achieve enlightenment.
(Source: Crave Asia)
Conspiracy theories sure are fun.
A forum post Friday about a curious line of code in Apple's iPhone quickly grew into suspicions that the company was tracking all kinds of data after a blogger picked up the tin foil and ran Sunday night. Apparently when you check stocks or weather on the iPhone, the application sends a string of code back to an Apple Web server that appears to send the device's IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number along with the query.
After further review, your iPhone isn't sending your stock data to Apple.
(Credit: CNET Networks)This line of code: dgw?imei=%@&apptype=finance, was apparently enough to suggest to many people with access to the Internet that Apple knows how badly your portfolio is doing over the last two weeks. Cooler heads prevailed, however. Heise Security analyzed the code string and said the iPhone isn't sending that number, which is used to identify handsets on GSM networks. Most often, it's used to blacklist phones that have been reported stolen.
Heise said the iPhone is sending something back to Apple, but it's much more likely some type of general usage data (cookies, anyone?) that Apple and many companies track to detect usage patterns. Apple did not respond to a request for comment on the IMEI code.
That didn't prevent dozens of bloggers and writers from jumping onboard during a slow news day, and few appear to have gone back and updated their posts with the fact that the IMEI number isn't actually leaving the handset in the code outlined above. Digg at least threw up a message saying "Warning: The Content in this Article May be Inaccurate," but that's not exactly a repudiation, either.
(Credit:
Bang & Olufsen )
As promised by the annoying countdown clock on its teaser site for weeks, Bang & Olufsen and Samsung jointly unveiled their "Serenata" mobile phone today. And though it's been described as a successor to the much-discussed "Serene," you wouldn't know it by its design and features.
The Serenata is much more focused on music with built-in "hi-fi speakers," a docking station and 4GB of storage, far more than most other phones on the market. Particularly useful is a specific button that toggles back and forth from phone to music, which is then controlled by a navigation wheel and 2.4-inch color LCD. We're not sure about its claims to produce a quality bass through a "psycho-acoustic phenomenon" but if it starts to shatter your windows, a pair of ergonomic earphones are included.
Oh yeah, the phone part. The Serenata does away with traditional buttons and keypad, making calls with its "sensi-touch display" instead. In addition, its receiver speaker has been placed at the top of the phone to "make the sound of speech as authentic as possible," though we wonder if Samsung's designers just ran out of room after cramming in all the music features.
Finally, true to the serene theme of this line, the Serenata's "organic rounded shape alludes to pebbles shaped by ocean waves." We don't make this stuff up, honest.
(Credit:
SlashPhone)
Before iPhone fever erupted in full force, one of the more talked-about handsets was Bang & Olufsen's "Serene"--albeit in mixed reviews, to say the least. The bloom may be off that rose, but its successor may inspire renewed buzz in just a few weeks.
The "Serenata," the product of a collaboration between B&O and Samsung, has begun a countdown on a mysterious Web site, which says it's 17 days away as of this writing. SlashPhone says the handset is believed to be the SGH-F310 leaked last month and pictured here. Among the rumored details are a video and music player, 4GB of memory and 1.8-megapixel camera.
Mystery or not, next to B&O's new "Beo 5" remote, the Serenata looks downright tame.
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