Reuters reports that Cartoon Network has filed a patent for a technology that will be the first to respond in real time to the state of the phone and the behavior of the user. The company aims to eventually license the technology to other media outlets.
“We’re personifying the normal alerts and displays on the phone,” said Ross Cox, a senior product director.
The network, which is working with Ericsson on the technology, aims to have CallToons available for consumers through U.S. wireless service providers in the fourth quarter. The company has not disclosed pricing plans.
According to Jupiter Research analyst David Card, this type of juiced up ringtones are going to stimulate some more growth in the entire ringtone industry, currently a $600 million market in 2006.
February 14th, 2007
RIM unveiled its thinnest BlackBerry device, the BlackBerry 8800 for mobile professionals at the 2007 3GSM conference.
Just like the BlackBerry 8700, the 8800 has a full Qwerty keyboard. Cingluar wirelss will be the first carrier to market this quad-band GSM/GPRS and EDGE-enabled smartphone.
In addition, the BlackBerry 8800 also added more multimedia functionalities that are found on the its Pearl 8100 device. Capabilities such as GPS, media player, a microSD expandable memory slot, bluetooth are now standard on the 8800.
The BlackBerry 8800 will be a great addition to the busy mobile professional’s tools of trade.
February 13th, 2007
Sony Ericsson, broke a record, by debuting a slim stunner — its sleekest Walkman phone ever. The new W880 is just 0.37 inches thick — thinner than both Motorola’s Razr and Apple’s iPhone.
The new Sony Ericsson W880 doesn’t operate in the 850-MHz band, which means U.S. carriers most likely won’t be selling the exact model.
Both the W880 and the W610 boast a 2.0-megapixel camera, the ability to store music tracks, and the option of connecting to PCs and headsets by way of Bluetooth.
The W880 comes with a 1-GB memory stick — which can hold up to 900 music tracks — and music-management software to transfer music from a PC. Meanwhile, the W610 can store up to 470 full-length music tracks on its included 512-MB memory stick.
Both phones sport music-recognition applications that allow users to record clips from the radio and receive information about the song title, artist, and album.
The W880 will be available in silver or black, while the W610 will come in orange or black. Both phones are scheduled to hit store shelves later this month and will be featured at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona next week.
February 6th, 2007
Nokia N76 multimedia computer: This portable multimedia computer is based on S60 3rd Edition software on Symbian OS and is expected to start shipping in volumes during the first quarter of 2007 with features including a 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0 API, Java MIDP 2.0 support, and MicroSD memory card support.
Nokia N800 Internet Tablet: This next-generation widescreen Nokia Nseries multimedia computer is based on Nokia’s desktop Linux-based operating system, Maemo. Building on the success of the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, the Nokia N800 introduces faster performance, continuous connections through Wi-Fi or via Bluetooth phone, VGA-resolution Web cam, and two internal memory card slots supporting compatible SD, miniSD, microSD, MMC, and RS-MMC.
Nokia N93i: The Nokia N93i is an S60 3rd Edition phone featuring a 3.2 megapixel camera and digital video stabilization, TV out connectivity and wireless LAN and UPnP technology. The device provides a Symbian OS v9.1 platform for multimedia applications that utilize the digital stereo microphone, music player and FM stereo radio, dual mode WCDMA/GSM, and triband GSM coverage on up to five continents (EDGE/GSM 900/1800/1900 + WCDMA 2,100 MHz networks).
Nokia 6131 NFC: This Series 40 3rd Edition device runs on the Nokia OS to provide multi-purpose smart card features. The Nokia 6131 NFC flip phone supports JSR 257 for third-party Near Field Communications (NFC) application developers and features MIDP 2.0, WAP 2.0, and HTML over TCP/IP browsers.
January 15th, 2007
Wireless Week compiled a list of top-selling music phones.
Sony Ericsson Z525a video phone.
Motorola ROKR iTunes phone.
T-Mobile Samsung T809 or Cingular D807
Cingular 2125 or T-Mobile MDA
Samsung MM-A980
Interestingly enough, none of the Nokia music phones made the list.
November 14th, 2006
