Mobile Digest

BlackBerry 7100X released

Obviously BlackBerry decided to ignore those negative reviews of its redesigned QWERTY keypad (the TD team was split, with some of us hating it and some of us rather liking it) and plough on with another handset sporting the same doubled up key design. This time the company's 7100x will be released in partnership with O2, the company that usually specialises in the more businessy side of smartphone/emailer devices (like the Xdas and the chunkier BlackBerry handsets). This time, however, O2's in pursuit of a more consumery market (presumably in response to Orange's SPV c500 and Vodafone's 7100v BlackBerry). The 7100x looks similar to the 7100v, but comes in a 'piano black' chassis, with a slightly different styling to Vodafone's grey handset. It's got 32MB flash memory and 4MB SRAM. Like the Voda unit, the phone can be used without RIM's dedicated BlackBerry email server so it can be used straight out of the box, but business users can also get it set up with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server if they want immediate push email and all the other benefits that come with it. Out this month.

Disposable phone charger

Not entirely sure if they appeal to our environmentally-friendly side but a company called Cellboost is offering the first ever disposable battery recharger for mobile phones. As soon as your handset battery goes blink you plus the cigarette lighter style charger into the socket and you have power. Might be worth keeping a few handy in your bag for emergencies.

It has been on sale in the US for a while, but completely slipped under our radar. More here.

LG's new messaging phone

No news on whether it will be on sale in the UK but the just unveiled LG F9100 phone is likely to be a huge hit Stateside. It is basically a chunky candy bar style handset that sports a pull open full QWERTY keyboard.

LG is obviously aiming the phone at personal rather than corporate users as the handset features IM, Java and basic personal organiser features rather than the usual smartphone staples.

Nokia 6820 gets an upgrade

Nokia’s 6822 has just been announced. The company’s latest messaging phone comes with that full fold out keyboard the 6820 introduced that lets you type away in full QWERTY layout. The model also comes with a VGA camera and a 65K colour display (is it wrong of us to always expect a megapixel camera on new phones?). Designed as a kind of smartphone-lite, the 6822 lets you synch your PIM data with your PC. It’s only got 3.5MB of memory, so you won’t want to be ditching your PDA just yet. Bluetooth is present and correct, and there’s also support for BlackBerry push-email service. The handset should be out any day now all over EMEA and the Americas.

Motorola's V635 clamshell

Just like almost every Motorola phone, the V635 was all over the web a few weeks before its official announcement. Anyway at CES the company took the wraps off the handset which is likely to debut in the UK in the spring. Like all Moto’s 600 series mobis, the V635 is a clamshell model with a large-ish outer screen. Headline features include a 1.23 mega pixel camera with an 8x zoom and video capture, Bluetooth, MP3 playback, information manager facilities and Java.

More on Samsung's new phones

Here’s a little more information about Samsung's revolutionary phone which converts speech into text enabling users to dictate text messages emails etc. It is called the P207 and is scheduled for a spring launch in the US. As it is also GPRS, in theory it should be available in the UK at around the same time. It is clamshell model finished in black with a 262k colour inner screen and 65k colour outer one.

Other features include voice recognition for number and name dialling, email and Instant messaging support. Also due in spring is the a795, a clamshell business style phone that, almost uniquely is compatible with both GSM networks (Europe and part of the US) and CDMA ones (the US and the Far East). It too has a 262k colour screen and voice recognition facilities. There's a detailed description of the phone and plenty of pictures on Engadget.

Emergency pendant phone

Hopefully it’ll be a few years before we think about investing in one, but US pensioners will soon be able to make instant 911 emergency phone calls using a wearable mini phone. Designed to be worn as a pendant the 911 Guardian Phone has a range of around 400 feet, a battery life of a year on standby and is water resistant so it can be worn in the shower or the bath. Users simply press one button to connect to the emergency operator. It is coming to the US in May 2005, and we’ll bet a European launch isn't too far behind. More info here

Two mega pixel camera phone imminent

Well you haven’t got long to wait. The phone that is currently top of our shopping list – the Sharp V902sh two mega pixel 3G camera phone - has been launched in a few territories and should be winging its way to the UK next week. As well as being the highest resolution camera phone (though not for long if Samsung gets its way and hits us with a five mega phone snapper) the Vodafone exclusive is also among the first camera phones to sport an optical zoom and include an auto focus system. Other features include a rotating 262k colour screen, Java, MP3 playback via both earphones and an integrated stereo speaker, an AV out connector for displaying images on a TV and 24Mb of internal memory. Naturally the phone is also compatible with Vodafone’s Live! 3G applications.

Samsung’s 5-megapixel handset

Samsung’s American arm will be unveiling 25 to 30 phones to be launched on the US market in 2005, including a 5-megapixel handset with a 3X optical zoom. It’s unclear if the phones are going to have European equivalents as there’s no actual spec list at present. We’re hoping they will be heading our way, however, since there’s some exciting new features on offer, including the world’s first speech-to-text dictation phone. This allows you to speak your messages to your handset, which converts them into text for your automatically. Handy if you’re in the car – although it would be better if your phone then read your received texts out to you as well.

Grow your mobile's screen

As we know all too well the trouble with mobile phone screens is that they are too darned small to do anything useful like deliver readable internet pages or videos of footie goals. So we are dying to get our hands on a new solution from the brilliantly named US company Bart 1. It has developed a mini magnification screens for mobiles which it claims significantly increases the size of the on screen images. It apparently works with all phones, though we suspect that it is best with clamshells. It is also incredibly cheap to at just $8.99. You can check it for yourself here.