Palm’s Treo Pro 850 has now officially gone on sale after a few weeks of pre order anticipation.
The device is noted for featuring Windows Mobile 6.1, GPS support, quadband GSM/EDGE/triband HSDPA, Wi-Fi radio, microSDHC expansion slot, speakerphone, Bluetooth with stereo audio support, 3.5mm headphone jack, microUSB port, and voice control.
The device is now available from Palm for $549.99 with free 2 business day shipping
According to a Reuters news piece that came across the wire, the news agency has been told by two sources that Nokia is poised on October 2 to unveil its first touchscreen equipped S60 smartphone, a device commonly referred to as the Tube, but more likely to be officially named the 5800 XpressMedia or 5800 XpressMusic. The 5800 will be the first device to run Nokia’s S60 Touch user interface that it first demonstrated at the 2008 Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona.
Nokia had said earlier in the summer that the first S60 Touch device would be unveiled this year.
The video below was shot at the Mobile World Congress show earlier this year and shows what S60 Touch looked like at that time.
Apple has listed the iPhone 3G in its Hong Kong online shop as unlocked, able to be activated on any of the local carriers. Although Hong Kong is technically part of China, it is still maintains mostly separate communication networks. China Mobile has revealed that its iPhone 3G would be lacking 3G and WiFi, but it appears as though those sold in Hong Kong will be fully equipped.
Pricing for the iPhone 3G in Hong Kong is HK$5500 (US$694) for the 8GB, or HK$6200 (about $797) for the 16GB version. The online shop states that you must insert your SIM card into the phone before connecting to iTunes for activation.
Sony Ericsson has taken the wraps off of its new unlimited download music service that is meant to compete with Nokia’s Comes With Music service. The new service is called PlayNow plus and it will be launched with Sweden’s Telenor in Q4 of this year with other carrier rollouts taking place in early 2009. The Sony Ericsson W902 Walkman phone will be the first special edition device to feature integrated support for the new service.
From the Sony Ericsson press release:
PlayNow(TM) plus is due to set a new standard for the unlimited mobile music experience, with unrivalled download speeds, high-quality audio and access to the largest music catalogue of any unlimited download service. The service draws from Sony Ericsson’s collaboration with Omnifone and licensing terms have been agreed with all major international music labels-including EMI, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music – as well as thousands of local music labels.
Unlike Nokia’s Comes With Music service, however, PlayNow plus will not allow users to keep all of the music files they have downloaded once their service contract expires. According to the press release, “at the end of their contract they will keep a number of tracks-DRM-free-from their most played favourites.”
According to a recently posted CNet story, Microsoft has informed several of its partners that the next version of its mobile operating system, Windows Mobile 7, will likely not be ready until the second half of 2009. Most partners had expected to see the new version of the operating system early in 2009, and are likely disappointed in the delay.
Windows Mobile 7 is believed to include quite a few usability and user experience updates, including advanced gesture support and improved speech recognition. Microsoft has not released an official statement on planned improvements, nor given an official release date for Windows Mobile 7.
Last week at CTIA in San Francisco, CA, Velocity Mobile quietly revealed a new model, the 83. Powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, the Velocity 83 is a slender smartphone with a built-in GPS receiver and a pair of microSD card slots. One card slot is available for storage, while the other one is designed to be used to store maps for your GPS navigation software.
The Velocity 83’s roomy 2.8″ QVGA touchscreen display is where you’ll experience the Velocity-developed Odyssey user interface, designed to make things more finger-friendly. A 2 megapixel camera is located on the back of this smartphone, and WiFi is on board for high-speed data. Cellular connectivity is handled by quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz) support, as well.
The Velocity 83 is currently planned to be available in November, priced around US$500. No word yet on which particular markets will see the device first, though.
Japan’s Thanko introduced their new earring phones, the Sounds Live Magnetic Earphone. Like earrings, they just have to be clipped to an earlobe to hear music.
They provide a frequency response of 20Hz-25,000Hz, an impedance of 32Ω, and a sensitivity of 100dB/mW.
Motorola announced the release of its new version of PEBL Navy Blue phone in Korea market, which features a hidden external display.
When buttons on the phone are pressed, the case appears to come to life with illumination. The hidden display is touch-sensitive and can display pictures and be used for navigation and control of the phone’s settings. Other features included high-speed 7.2M bps data transfer, Bluetooth, a 2M camera and MP3 player.
According to Reuters, the UK’s Carphone Warehouse is stating that the first of Nokia’s phones to include a year’s worth of free downloads from the Nokia Music Store, a program Nokia calls Comes With Music, will go on sale on October 17th.
The Nokia Comes With Music package, which will be available on certain Nokia handsets and will have an impact on their selling prices, lets users download as much music as they care to from the Nokia Music Store during the course of a year. After a user’s subscription expires, assuming they choose not to extend it, users still get to keep and use all of the music they had downloaded previously. Nokia currently has deals inked with Universal, Sony BMG, and Warner Music Group – three of the largest music publishing houses in the world.
Motorola unveiled its two newest noise suppressing headsets, the MOTOPURE H15 and the H780. The 14g H15 is a small headset that features not only CrystalTalk, Motorola’s industry topping noise suppression technology, but also features an active flip microphone boom that lets users power up the headset and answer a call in one quick flip. The H15 sports high quality wind suppression technology as well, which proved quite useful in our initial tests on the windy streets just outside of the train station.
The H780 features the same basic technology as the H15, but in a slightly larger package that lacks the wind noise prevention system. The H780’s extra bulk allows it to contain a battery that is good for a solid 7 hours of talk time rather than the 4.5 hours that the H15 is capable of. Even with that extra size, though, the H780 is still lighter than its brother, coming in at a feathery 11g. And while it lacks the folding boom of the H15, the H780 has a very easy to use sliding power switch that lets you see at a glance whether the device is powered up or not.
Motorola expects both headsets to be available in Q4 of this year. The MOTOPURE H15 will have a suggested retail price of US$129 and the H780 will come in at a less expensive $99.