Samsung Pixon: Quick Video

For those craving more news on the Samsung Pixon - the camera phone that seems more like a phone camera - you’re in luck. ElectricPig must have got their hands on the device long enough to post a quick YouTube video of the phone in action:

It doesn’t reveal too much, but we know what its like to want more, More, MORE of a device and the Pixon seems like it could garner that type of interest. Stay tuned for more!

Motorola Krave: $149 on October 14th

The Motorola Krave is a pretty slick phone with a unique concept, coming to Verizon Wireless on October 14th for $149 with a 2-year contract. Its a flip phone whose cover is CLEAR - flipping it open reveals a touch screen - remniscient of Moto’s Ming series available only overseas.

Other features include:

For folks who HATE leaving touch screens in their pocket because (1) their phone inadvertently dials random numbers despite any locking mechanism and (2) they hate their touch interface getting scratched up, the Krave looks right for you, so long as you’re not looking for a Smart Phone.

[Via PhoneArena]

Nokia Tube 5800 XpressMusic Finally Unveiled

The Nokia Tube, now donning the less cool XpressMusic 5800 name, has been spotted for the first time with the blessing of Nokia at an event today in London. It’s Nokia’s first ever foray into the touchscreen market and most are complaining that the 5800 enters with a fizzle.

To its credit, the phone looks pretty attractive:

So what’s under the hood? Here are some of the key features:

The latter 4 features listed illustrated why the device is called the XpressMusic and not The Tube… its meant to be a music phone. It will also come with Nokia’s “Comes With Music” service which is shaping up to have a solid library of songs/bands for unlimited download.







Don’t expect TOO much from this phone. The touch screen is supposedly a little less accurate/sensitive than the top dogs out there but thankfully, it comes with a stylus for help in that area. It isn’t designed to be one of the elite phones on the market, but rather one of the most feature packed, touchscreen phones for an affordable price for mid-level handsets. It will succeed at that and Nokia has a knack for doing volume… probably their goal here.

With GSM technology you can bet that it will come to AT&T or T-Mobile in the United States - unfortunately not until 2009. Meanwhile, it will rollout across other parts of the world for the equivalent of $385 US dollars. Not too shabby once you calculate in the rebate for a 2 year contract.

You have to think that Nokia is working on an N-Series touchscreen phone or even better - a completely new line of touchscreen devices. Until then, you’ll likely be seeing a heckuva lot of teenagers running around with “The Tube”. If you’re thinking about one yourself, don’t expect to be doing a ton of emailing and whatnot… it is what it is… a multimedia/music touch phone.

Sources:
Yahoo! Tech
Gizmodo
T3

Samsung EPIX for AT&T

Samsung keeps bringing the heat and the lastest wave is an AT&T device named EPIX. It’s the Samsung i780 that we’ve seen in the past and it looks like an October 23rd event is planned to show off the device to lucky invites.

Not too shabby!Based on the “Breakout Sessions” it seems like the event is an internal sales event to help AT&T Employees promote the phone to customers.

Some of the specs include:

Looks like we’ll see this drop with the AT&T Fuze sometime in October. Man, Halloween month looks to have a lot of treats this year…

[Via BGR]

Samsung Pixon: The Phone Camera

You’re used to the word “Camera Phone”, right? Because “Camera” is used as an adjetive that further describes the main device in question - a phone. The Samsung Pixon could be considered a Phone Camera because its an awesome camera that also happens to function as a phone.

Zach Epstien from BGR pointed this out with a pretty cool little article that breaks down the Camera Specs and Phone Specs separately. Lets take a look:

Camera Specs

Wow… impressive! And how about those phone specs? Not quite as top notch.

Phone Specs

Props to Zach for his interesting take on re-wording the phrase “camera phone”. Its interesting little insights that make his articles fun to read!

[Via BGR]

LG Set To Launch Cheapest Touch Screen Phone

The LG KP500 is set to bring touch screen phones to the masses this month as the company has reportedly declared the device the most affordable touch screen phone. However, they have fail to tell us the price. I hope they pull a Price Is Right…. $1!

It will be interesting to see how low LG can go with a phone that is packing a pretty nice feature set.

We’re hearing October 2008 for a realease so we won’t have to wait long to learn of LG’s margin of touchscreen limbo victory.

[Via MobileBurn]

Samsung Sway, Motorola Rapture: October 6th on Verizon

Don’t get TOO excited. Two phones with semi-cool names are dropping on VZW on October 6th and while both look like they’ll get the job done, they’re not blowing anything out of the water - ocean, lake, pond or bathtub.

The Samsung Sway is a slider (go figure) equipped with a 2MP camera, Bluetooth stereo, Built-In Music Player and VCast Music capabilities: “Introducing the Samsung Sway: the fashionable phone with good looks and smart features. With an ultra-slim 0.47″ profile and a super sharp screen, the Sway is designed to fit beautifully into your life.”

Don’t really appreciate the “smart” reference but all-in-all, it is a pretty nice looking device. And up next is the Motorola Rapture which has incredibly similar specs, including the 2 megapixel camera. Apparently it has a touch sensitive external display that Verizon calls “vanishing” which justifies the higher price ($179 vs $119, both with 2 year contract).

I don’t see how this device justifies a $179 price tag but hey - to each their own.

[Via EngadgetMobile]

BestBuy Has Been Busy

When BestBuy secured exclusive rights to the Samsung Instinct for over a month it was a bit of a surprise. And since then, BestBuy has been hard at work making even more mobile moves that are sure to help the 4Q balance sheet.

In the coming weeks, BestBuy is picking up 4 pretty hot phones that you probably won’t be able to find at other retailers:

This is, of course, if you believe the screen shots of the BestBuy Spy are authentic. They seem to be - and we have no reason to believe BestBuy wouldn’t be working on a deal like this:



Props to BestBuy. About 6 months ago they mentioned that Mobile would be more of a focus for them in the future and they’ve done a brilliant job retailing exclusives. It HAS to be bringing in a ton of revenue. Although, whenever I’m at BestBuy I never really see folks perousing phones?

I suppose thats the perception they’re trying to change… and they’re off to a pretty good start.

[Via BGR]

Samsung Pixon Gets Nick Turpin’ed

Creating mini-sites based on fictionally invented characters used to promote the hottest new gadget is all the rage these days and Samsung continues the trend with the Samsung Pixon. They’ve got a mini-site claiming to share “The Photographic Adventures of Nick Turpin” on October 2nd.

Whatever genius over there is doing the domain name selection needs to either read a tutorial or be moved to a different department. You read for this? You can check out the mini-site for yourself at: http://www.thephotographicadventuresofnickturpin.com/

Wow… try to type that into your URL bar and there is a 85.76 percent chance you’ll fall asleep midway through the word “adventures”. Thats just sad. The phone itself, however, seems pretty beastly.

Alright, Samsung… you got us. We’ll be back October 2nd!

Nokia Tube in 2009 with New Name

In a slide at the Evans Data Developer Relations Conference in Redwood City, California, Nokia either purposely or accidentally leaked information about the much rumored Nokia Tube. Teo from Symbian-Freak was cautious in reporting the information but did give us a bunch of new information for you to feast on.

First of all, it will NOT be called “The Tube” - that is nearly a codename. It won’t be an Nseries device or even a flagship model. It will come out in Q1 2009 and Nokia’s REAL iPhone killer will be released shortly after. But “The Tube” will hold its own ground, too.

Here are some features/specs that we’ve learned:

We’ll keep you posted as details emerge. Its a little disappointing that this won’t come out until Q1 2009 based on how long the rumors have been circulating. Lets see how long it takes for the officialness to pick up steam.

[Via Symbian-Freak]

Samsung Pixon Has Tea with INNOV8

The Samsung INNOV8 is no longer alone as Samsung’s only 8MP camera phone. The formerly rumored Samsung M8800 Bresson is actually the Samsung Pixon and is sporting the following specs:

Perhaps best of all is the way this thing looks:

Pretty beautiful if you ask me. Unfortunately, it appears as if GPS and WiFi may be missing. If thats the case, consider the Pixon the cheap version of the INNOV8. For people that want an 8MP camera phone, why not offer a high end and lower end? I like that they give the consumer the option.

It appears this thing already has a promotional video floating around, too. Take a look for yourself:

Whaddaya think?

[Via MobileCrunch]

Unlimited Music Downloads with Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson is set to unleash its Play Now Plus service which will allow subscribers unlimited downloads from the largest music collection allowing “unlimited” amounts. It will first be available in Sweden with other markets following in coming months.

This is a pretty big deal for Sony Ericsson who have struggled to regain the value of their Walkman brand. The Walkman, remember, once held the same type of status that the iPod does today. Whether or not it can regain its former prestige remains to be seen, but it doesn’t seem likely. However, Play Now Plus does a lot to increase the value of SE phones.

SE Phones with Play Now Plus will come preloaded with 1,000 of the most popular songs and promise to offer access to millions more. They promise that even AFTER your subscription ends, you’ll be able to keep your most played and favorite songs on use with ANY device for the rest of your life. Meaning you own them. Exactly how many that means was not identified.

[Via Sony Ericsson]

Nokia Tube Unveiled October 2nd?

Reuters is reporting that the Nokia Tube, Nokia’s XpressMusic Touch Screen Device once thought to rival the iPhone, will be unveiled on October 2nd at an event in London, England. Nokia officials declined to comment and its unseen whether or not the phone will actually be named “Tube” - or whether the phone will even be unveiled.

Nokia has always stuck to traditional screens and has yet to release a touch screen phone. They have a broad reach that covers low to mid range phones in a dominant manner and the Nokia Tube is seen as their “response” to the new age of mobile devices.

We’ll have our eyes focused on London on October 2nd… so keep yours right here!

[Via Reuters]

T-Mobile G1 Update Galore

If you’re wondering why MobileRoar coverage has been a little relaxed this week its because we’ve been SOOO busy covering T-Mobile G1 news with sister site, phandroid.com. We’ve got a ton of great information over there but we’ve summarized it for all our MobileRoar brethren (and uh, brethra?) below:

First off, take a look at this T-Mobile G1 overview video that highlights some of the coolest features and capabilities of Android on the new device:

Here are some first impressions of the G1 and the T-Mobile G1 User Guide was just leaked as well, which can’t really give you a better text/picture based overview of the device.

Its tough to explain to non tech enthusiasts what the heck Android is and actually means for the mobile industry and consumers. To illustrate that, I usually explain what the application Shop Savvy for Android does and below is a video of Rylan Barnes - a member of their team - demonstrating the application in action:

That’s one of the COOLEST applications for Android not to mention the most useful, but Android will have just as many applications that are fun and pointless, just to help you kill time. One of them is called Krystle 2 and all it does is make your screen look like a furry pet and it shakes/vibrates when you pet it. Dumb? Yes… but things like these could also become very popular.

There have been a ton of complaints about the G1, mostly from iFanboys, but some of them hold water. Here is a list of some of the more common concerns that have surfaced:

Those concerns are already being alleviated.

My only concern was whether or not the Black G1 and Brown G1 were actually different colors. Although I sounded like a complete, sarcastic jerk when questioning the color I was… simply… puzzled. I explain more about the T-Mobile G1 Colors on Phandroid but here is the video:

I’m guessing there will be a TON of Android news rolling in over the next couple days, it will die down by Monday and then we’ll go through the craziness all over again when October 22nd comes. We’ll update you here but if Android in specific is your thing, check out phandroid.com and AndroidForums.com!

BlackBerry Storm/Thunder Updates

With all the latest T-Mobile G1 slash Android news we’ve seem to let some juicy BlackBerry Storm/Thunder updates fall through the cracks. So, we’ve got a bunch of info to chew on:

BlackBerry Storm Internal Doc/Specs

Engadget got their hands on an internal document that shows off some of the BB Storm’s cool features and it also gives us more solid information about the specs. There is a 12 page PowerPoint document that includes much more… you can leaf through it at EngadgetMobile.

AT&T Disses BlackBerry Storm

At least they were courteous enough to say it behind the Storm’s back and not in front of her face. AT&T has sent out an internal info sheet that drops bombs on the Storm and explaining why the iPhone is a billion times better. Below are the reasons (from BGR) and the document in all its jpeg glory:

GSM Only & GSM/CDMA Versions

Apparently the Storm will have two variants - a GSM Only model and a GSM/CDMA version that will likely be split between Verizon/Bell in the States and Vodafone in Europe. These were captured by tipsters over at BlackBerryNews

Nokia Tube Pictured and (Launch) Dated

The Nokia Tube - aka XpressMusic 5800 - has LONG been rumored. We heard about a Touch Screen Nokia and the “Tube” name was often discussed at one point. Well, Tube talk had died down and rumor has it that Nokia is now looking to both Announce AND Launch the device on October 2nd in London to reinvigorate the once highly awaited device.

If you don’t remember, this is the phone people were saying was pictured in the Batman movie, Dark Knight. In addition to that rumored October 2nd announcement/launch date, Mobil.cz were able to get their hands on an actual press picture of the Tube, pictured here to the left.

We don’t have too long to wait before we find out whether or not this is true. If Nokia shoots for the low end touch screen market with this device they have a good chance at making a device. Low end touch screen market? Yeah, we know… there really isn’t one right now.

Sounds like an opportunity to me!

[Via UnwiredView]

LG Xenon & KC780 Leaked

LG has a few more tricks up their sleeves but it looks like the cats out of the bag, the cards are on the table, and the cliches officially butchered. The Xenon for AT&T and the KC780 have been leaked in what looks like 2 more strong handsets from LG.

LG Xenon

That looks pretty hot, right? Its a side sliding QWERTY with a 3MPcamera, A-GPS, Wi-Fi, an accelerometer, proximity sensor, Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, 240×480 2.8″ LCD Screen, WiFi and More. It should be ready in time for the holidays! Its looks are drawing comparisons to a slider version of the LG Dare. If THAT is the case you can consider this phone a LOCK to ring up the register.

LG KC780

There doesn’t seem to be a ton of information on the KC780 but we do know that its camera focused. This phone should have an 8mp camera with autofocus, red eye reduction, face recognition, and 30 FPS video capture. Remember, the LG Renoir is coming out and is also an 8 megapixel device. I would expect that the Renoir has all the bells and whistles while the KC780 keeps the camera and drops most of the other luxuries. Its a pretty good strategy… we’ll see if it holds up.

[BGR, UnwiredView, via MobileCrunch]

Android, LIVE from NYC!

On Tuesday,9/23 at 10:30AM a little bit of mobile history will be made as T-Mobile, HTC and Google announce and unveil the first ever Android enabled phone… the T-Mobile G1 slash HTC Dream. Want to follow the coverage live? Our friends at phandroid.com will be at the event, live blogging DURING the event and bringing you coverage throughout the day.

Find the LIVE blog here:
http://phandroid.com/live

What are you all hoping for? Catious for? What do you want to know? What questions do you have about Android that you hope the 9/23 event will finally answer?

Treo Pro: AT&T in December?

Palm has announced that their Treo Pro WILL be available on a US Carrier sometime in the near future and all signs are pointing to AT&T in December or soon after. The phone is currently being sold unlocked, but the benefits of carrier subsidy will bode well for consumers AND Palm sales figures.

The US Carrier announcement was made in Palm’s Quarterly Conference Call and they excused themselves in advance for a poor November, citing an “extended carrier verification processes”. That would lead us to believe in a December launch and since T-Mobile and Palm aren’t exactly cozy, AT&T seems like the natural fit.

Keep your eyes and ears open and we’ll keep you posted!

[Via WMExperts]

HTC Touch HD Frenchified on Video

That’s Frenchified, not “french fried”… meaning, the video is in French. We can’t understand a darn thing but seeing the HTC Touch HD in action and next to the iPhone 3G and Samsung Omnia sure is a treat. Take a look at the video and - if you speak French - feel free to translate everything for us. We’re dying to know what they’re saying!

Actually, we lied. At about 5 minutes in we can hear a distinct “fruhn payjjj buh-tone” which, with our advanced linguistic skills, have translated to “front page button”. Take THAT high school French teacher!

[Via BGR]

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