Samsung SGH-T749 Highlight available for 149.99 USD

To watch SGH-T749 video, click SOURCE

T-Mobile and Samsung have announced the SGH-T749 Highlight, an attractive touchscreen feature phone with high-speed HSDPA 3G data connectivity. The Highlight features a 3.0 megapixel camera, Bluetooth support, an on-screen virtual landscape keyboard, and more.

Like most T-Mobile phones available now, users have access to myFaves so that they can easily connect with their best friends and family. With an on-screen virtual landscape QWERTY keyboard, users can type out email and instant messages to their friends quickly and accurately.

On the multimedia end of things, pictures and video shot with the Highlight's 3.0 megapixel camera should appear vivid on the device's 240 x 400 pixel, 16 million color TFT display. Music can be stored on removable microSDHC^(INFO) cards and the device can even play music in the background while users complete other tasks.

The T749 uses a proprietary Samsung operating system called TouchWiz that offers a lot for a feature phone. Users can drag their favorite widgets onto the home screen for easy access to quick, real-time information. They can also use a 'magnifier' to quickly scroll through letters of the alphabet in their contact list.
The SGH-T749 Highlight is available today for $149.99, after a $50 mail-in rebate, with a new two year agreement and qualifying data plan.

To watch SGH-T749 video, click SOURCE

Blackberry Tour

Good news to all Blackberry fans! This good news is from cnet.com; have fun reading.

Unlike its smartphone competitors, the BlackBerry Tour is not offered exclusively on a single carrier network. Instead it will be available on two carrier networks: Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless. Each carrier is set to launch the device on Sunday. Making its phone available on multiple carrier networks is not unusual for RIM, which sells its products on all four major carrier networks. But typically carriers don't make the devices available on the same day. In some ways, the non-exclusive arrangement could help RIM sell more devices because it greatly increases the potential sales base. But it might also hurt, if carriers focus more marketing attention and budget on promoting their exclusive phones.

 

It's yet to be seen how popular the new BlackBerry Tour will be. But at this point any new device from BlackBerry is likely better than none.

"Sales of the Tour are key in our opinion, as our checks indicated RIM may need strong July and August sales to meet its guidance," Walkley said in his research note.

The new phone, which sports Bluetooth, GPS, a 3.2-megapixel camera, a full QWERTY keypad, and a high-resolution screen offers everything that BlackBerry lovers have come to expect. And it also comes equipped with a Quad-band radio that allows the phone to be used internationally on both CDMA and GSM networks. The addition of the 800MHz and 1900MHz radio for CDMA is particularly important for users traveling to Latin America and parts of Asia where CDMA is available on these frequencies.

The device is likely to appeal mostly to business customers, particularly those who travel, and existing BlackBerry users. While Sprint Nextel also plans to market the phone to consumers, the carrier plans to target these customers first.

"Clearly there is already a strong base of BlackBerry customers, and many of them are business users," said Tim Donahue, vice president of business marketing for Sprint. "And we want to make sure they have access to the latest and greatest BlackBerry device out there."

To read more on this, click here.

DELL's FastTrack service

I got this from Dell's website:

"The FastTrack program offers select systems that ship out from the factory the next business day and include some of our most popular upgrades. Note that customization options are limited on these systems. Limited time offer. Limited quantities available. Credit card, PayPal, and Dell Preferred Account orders only."

Check out DELL FastTrack! This service makes Dell's most popular laptops delivered to the consumers in a day or two.

To know what items are offered, click here.

Meet Sony's New Lifestyle PC

"Practically every netbook uses a 1,024 X 600 resolution; the Lifestyle PC's native resolution is 1,600 X 768. 

Such a resolution can fill up the screen, for instance, with three file Explorer windows without any overlap. There's even a Windows Arrangement button (next to the mouse buttons) that will neatly tile your application windows together. Increasing the resolution of such a small screen could cause problems with text, but text and icon sizes were tolerable and the potential of watching a video while Microsoft Word and Powerpoint are fully opened on each side is very compelling.

The target audience is primarily women, but Sony plans to extend its reach to college students and young professionals. According to Sony, women aren't too concerned about what's inside the system; how it looks is more important. The Lifestyle PC's polished exterior and different color options, including green, white, and red, aren't any different than what other netbooks are offering."

To read more on this, click here.

Leak: Sony Ericsson RACHEL and KIKI

"The Sony Ericsson XPERIA Rachael phone is based on the Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon platform, that provides a 1GHz CPU and dedicated graphics acceleration. The connectivity options of the chipset are also top-notch with Wi-Fi, GPS and 3G with HSDPA all onboard.

The fully-touch operated phone comes complete with an 8-megapixel autofocus camera, a 3.5 mm jack and a standard miniUSB jack. Probably the best part of the Sony Ericsson Rachael is its 4" touchscreen that will to come with the exciting WVGA resolution (800 x 480 pixels)."

Along with the Rachael, leaked another Sony Ericsson handset, nicknamed Kiki. It packs a really extraordinary design that is nothing like we've previously seen from Sony Ericsson. According to the source, the Kiki packs some innovative display technology, where the image gets projected on the glass surface on the screen, making it possible to create a 3D screen image.

To see read more on this, click here. 

Greenpeace: Guide to Greener Electronics

The ranking criteria reflect the demands of the Toxic Tech campaign to the electronics companies. Our three demands are that companies should:

    * Clean up their products by eliminating hazardous substances.

    * Takeback and recycle their products responsibly once they become obsolete.

    * Reduce the climate impacts of their operations and products.

The use of harmful chemicals in electronics prevents their safe recycling when the products are discarded. Companies scored marks out of 51 this has then been calculated to a mark out of 10 for simplicity.

Each score is based solely on public information on the companies website. Companies found not to be following their published policies will be deducted penalty point in future versions of the guide.

The guide is updated every 3 months. The current edition was published on July 1, 2009.

To read more on this, click here.

New Karma sedan from Fisker Automotive

Among the different alternative-fuel strategies playing out, Henrik Fisker is betting big on plug-in hybrids. At a recent dinner speech, he said plug-in hybrids, or PHEVs, will be the dominant type of car for the next 10 to 15 years. And he has reason to hope that will be the case as his start-up company, Fisker Automotive, launches the Karma sedan, with its PHEV power train, in June of next year. 

This hybrid system, called Q-Drive, uses two rear-drive motors, a lithium ion battery pack that runs longitudinally down the center of the car, and a gasoline engine as a range extender under the hood. The Q-Drive produces 400 horsepower and has already undergone significant testing by Quantum Technologies.

 

The Karma is supposed to go 50 miles on electric power only, after which the engine will kick in to power the electric motor. The driver will be able to choose between stealth and sport modes, as Fisker calls them, with the latter relying on more electricity generated by the gas engine to go from 0 to 60 mph in under 6 seconds. Fisker pointed out that the power train is currently being tested around the company's Irvine, California headquarters in pick-up truck mules.

A solar roof will come standard in the vehicle, which, in a sunny climate, adds 7 to 8 miles per week of drive time. Cabin technology in the Karma is controlled with a 10.5-inch touch screen with haptic feedback.
The Karma will be offered in three trims, dubbed Eco Standard, Eco Sport, and Eco Chic, ranging from $80,400 to $98,900, after a $7,500 PHEV tax credit. The Eco Chic model does away with leather seats standard in the other models in favor of vegetarian-friendly materials and salvaged wood.

To read more on this, click here.

Mozilla's fastest: Firefox 3.5

 
Mozilla has released Firefox 3.5, the latest edition of its open source browser, one year after its release of Firefox 3.

The update went through four betas, incorporating JavaScript fine-tuning and other improvements, resulting in the fastest version yet, according to Mozilla.

Mozilla was unable to provide an interview for this story in time for publication.

Five Times as Fast

Firefox 3.5 includes support for a new private browsing mode, native support for open video and audio, and location aware browsing.

However, it is the performance upgrades -- particularly the new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine -- that Mozilla is touting the most: On complex Web sites, Firefox 3.5 is more than twice as fast as Firefox 3, and it's 10 times faster than Firefox 2.

Support for open video and audio is now native to Firefox 3.5, available to users without the need to install plug-ins.

There are also new privacy controls in Firefox 3.5; the new private browsing mode, for example, does not store anything from a surfing session online. Also new is the forget-this-site feature, which can remove all traces of a site from the browser. Another feature, clear recent history, removes all activity from the past few hours.

To read more on this, click here.

Apple iPhone 3GS unlocked

George Hotz, the 20-year old hacker who originally unlocked the iPhone, has released a jailbreaking application for the iPhone 3GS codenamed “purplera1n.” It’s currently Windows-only (Windows 7 not supported), and requires the latest iTunes installed, and an iPhone 3GS with the 3.0 firmware.

Hotz mentions in a blog post that the jailbreak for Mac is “coming soon.” The iPhone Dev Team did release a unlock for 3.0 which did not work on the iPhone 3GS, but Hotz’s version does (although it doesn’t free you from your current carrier).

Hotz goes over the process of the jailbreaking on his blog:

    Connect your iPhone normally. Click “make it ra1n”. Wait. On bootup, run Freeze, the purplera1n installer app.

To read more on thi, click here.

Is it true that Apple iPhone 3GS easily overheats?

 

"It's not yet clear how badly, if at all, some iPhone 3GS devices are overheating. Also unclear is the number of handsets affected. Assuming that number is greater than zero, the cause of the sizzling phones remains a mystery. Some users are blaming GPS, while others are blaming game playing. Some are speculating it's a battery issue, while others suspect faulty power management in the iPhone 3.0 software.

 ...there are accounts percolating in the Applesphere that suggest 3GS batteries are quick to overheat. A French Web site -- Le Journal du Geek -- included a photo of what appears to be a 3GS that overheated to the point of scorching."

To read more on this, click here.

Compare: Apple iPhone 3GS VS Nokia's N97

Why is Asus Eee a good buy?

 

Superlight at less than three pounds, the Eee looks to be handsomely tapered, with a 10-inch LED-backlit LCD and a prospective price of $429. Methinks that price could drop in view of Dell setting a strong $299 price point.

CNET UK recently reviewed the 1008HA, and said the netbook was “a small, light, and sexy device aimed at the fashion-conscious netbook fan who puts portability slightly above performance…The glossy black finish, the gently tapering lid, and the wedge-shaped profile all contribute to an overall design that’s more aesthetically pleasing than that of rivals.”

The Seashell incorporates a nonuser-replaceable lithium-polymer battery pack. One advantage is that it can be molded into shape for slenderizing machines like the Asus.

To read more on this, click here.

No Apple iPhone porn apps for now

 

"The Hottest Girls app is temporarily sold out. The server usage is extremely high because of the popularity of this app. Thus, by not distributing the app, we can prevent our servers from crashing. Customer satisfaction is more important to us than profits. Those who already have the app will still be able to use our app. To answer the question on everyone's mind: Yes, the topless images will still be there when it is sold again."

To read more on this, click here.

Wanna see how an iPhone 3GS is cracked open?

 

"There are three cables holding the LCD and digitizer to the rest of the logic board. Disconnecting them is as easy as 1-2-3.
• 1: LCD panel
• 2: Digitizer
• 3: Ear speaker  "

If you wanna know more about what's inside your iPhone 3GS, click here.

The Philippines welcomes Toyota Prius!

Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation (TMP) announces the introduction of the country’s first ever hybrid vehicle available in the market, the Toyota Prius. The Prius remains worthy of its name which means “to precede” in Latin, as it is the global pioneer of hybrid technology and many are following its lead.

The Prius makes use of Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD), which is celebrated as a breakthrough in vehicle technology, being able to run on its gasoline engine, electric motor or both, as directed by the intelligent energy-management system.

It takes pride in having one of the world’s highest fuel efficiency, having achieved a consumption record of 38km/l , while providing power similar to a larger 2.4-liter engine. Aside from high fuel efficiency, the flexibility of the hybrid system delivers cleaner emissions and cabin quietness but also provides powerful acceleration when needed.

Since its debut in 1997, the world’s first mass-produced hybrid vehicle was sold in over 40 countries and regions around the world. Its cumulative sales exceeded 1.25 million units as of March 31, 2009. The 2009 Prius, is the third-generation model, which will be launched in over 80 countries worldwide to further promote hybrid technology.

To know more on this, click here.

Need help making decisions? Try Hunch.com!

"The site Hunch.com is designed to help you make decisions. Ask it a question -- "What kind of shoes should I buy?" -- and it will ask you a few questions about yourself, then come up with an answer. That answer, of course, isn't always a stroke of genius, and nobody should rely solely on Hunch's advice for big, life-altering decisions. However, the site can be fun when it comes to trivial matters."

To read more on this, click here.

Would all phones be unlocked soon?

"President Barack Obama's choice to head the Federal Communications Commission plans to review the exclusive arrangements between wireless carriers and cell phone makers.


The issue of exclusive agreements among some of the biggest companies like Apple Inc's iPhone and service provider AT&T Inc is at the center of some lawmakers' concerns about whether such practices hinder competition and innovation."

"...The path to innovation is paved by openness, and unlocking devices is a good start, said Ben Scott, policy director at Free Press, a consumer watchdog."

To read the full article, click here.

My personal comment on this: God bless America! Cheers to unlocking of all cell phones!

What's in a Nokia 5530 XpressMusic?

The EDGE Nokia 5530 XpressMusic, like the aforementioned 5800, comes with a touchscreen display with tactile feedback sporting Contacts Bar (allowing quick access to people you keep in contact the most) as well as 3.2 megapixel camera with LED flash, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and microSD card slot (a 4GB microSD card being bundled with the phone).

Nokia 5530 XpressMusic Specifications:

• Dimensions: 104 x 49 x 13 mm

• Weight: 107 g

• Display: 2.9 inch widescreen (640 x 360 pixels) with up to 16 million colors

• Camera: 3.2 megapixels with autofocus and LED flash

• Video capture: widescreen 640x 360 px up to 30 frames-per-second

• Memory: Up to 70Mb phone memory with 4GB in-box MicroSD card, supports up to 16GB MicroSD memory

• Connectivity: High speed MicroUSB connector, 3.5mm stereo headphone jack, Bluetooth 2.0

• Data connectivity: GPRS/EDGE, WLAN (IEEE 802.11 b/g)

• Talk time: Up to 4.9 hours

• Standby time: Up to 14 days

• Music playback: Up to 27 hours

• Video playback: Up to 7.3 hours

Nokia 5530 XpressMusic Key Features:

• Touch-screen responsiveness gives tactile feedback and the fastest, most intuitive access to all the phone, web and multimedia features crammed inside - including music, video, gaming, social networking and messaging.

• Contacts carousel - one-touch access to 20 favorite contacts, each displaying their most recent emails, calls or social media updates and a thumbnail pic chosen by you.

• Media Bar pops-up to give quick access to instant messaging like Windows Live Messenger, on-board videos or YouTube, access to other sharing sites like Ovi Share, Flickr, Facebook, MySpace, VOX - or just to browse the web.

• Music features include a world-class quality music player for excellent audio quality, FM radio, stereo speakers with surround sound, dedicated full touch music keys, 4GB built-in storage expandable to 16GB for up to 12,000 songs with album art.

• Listen to music - plug in the superb Nokia Stereo Headset WH-205 that comes in the box, and features a great tangle-free lead, or plug your choice of headphones into the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, or listen over Bluetooth stereo audio.

• Synchronize and manage music with Nokia Music Store, upload and download tracks via WLAN, Bluetooth or MicroUSB. Manage playlists on the go, or via PC with Nokia Ovi Suite

• 2.9-inch brilliant widescreen with up 16 million colors brings videos, album art, photos and phone menus vividly to life.

• Accelerometer automatically switches between landscape and portrait format whether you want use the phone, browse the web, watch a video or play games.

• 3.2 megapixel camera with flash and autofocus for snapping good quality photos and videos.

To read more on this, click here.

What's in a Samsung Omnia II?

 

Samsung Omnia II Specs:

• Network: HSDPA 7.2 Mbps/HSUPA 5.76Mbps; EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900MHz; UMTS 900/1900/2100MHz

• 65K WVGA AMOLED Display (3.7-inch, 480 x 800--largest AMOLED display yet in a phone)

•  Advanced R-type Touch Screen

• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional (upgradeable to WM 6.5)

• 5-megapixel CMOS camera with autofocus and face-detection, plus geotagging and a photo editor 

• Video recording at 30fps@720x480, plus video editor (trim video, audio dubbing, live dubbing, add subtitle)

• Audio supported: MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WMDRM, OMA DRM 2.1, plus FM radio

• Video supported: DivX, XviD, H.263, H.264, WMV9, MPEG4

• A-GPS with Navigation (3D Map)/LBS

• TouchWiz 2.0 UI with Mobile Widget/3D Media Gate

• Multitask manager/3D Interactive Games

• Bluetooth Stereo Headset (A2DP)

• WiFi

• 2GB/8GB/16GB of internal memory (3 different models)

• microSDHC expansion slot (up to 32GB)

• Up to 10 hours (3G) talk time

• Up to 430 hours (3G) standby time

• Dimensions: 4.65 x 2.36 x 0.47 inches (HWD)

Source

Meet Samsung's newest smartphones: OmniaPRO B7610--- OmniaPRO B7320 --- Omnia II --- OmniaLITE B7300

 

"Samsung has released details on the new line of Omnia phones it will show off at the CommunicAsia show in Singapore, including new OmniaPRO models that feature the standard candy bar form factor and the slide-out QWERTY design. The OmniaII has a large AMOLED screen, and the OmniaLITE sports Samsung's own TouchWiz 2.0 interface."

 The OmniaPRO comes in two form factors: a standard keypad/screen arrangement on the B7320 and a touchscreen design with slide-out QWERTY keypad on the 7610.

OmniaII

The OmniaII's features include video recording/playback capabilities and a 7.7-inch active matrix OLED display.

Samsung will likely market the OmniaPRO line first in Asia.

 To read more on this, click here.