adonismobile

BGR Reveals LG Prada 2?

2008-08-21T00:08:00.004+01:00

The Boy Genius has revealed what could be the new LG Prada v2! With a slide out QWERTY keyboard for more ease of text input, it should solve one of the problems with the old Prada phone, which I personally found to be a waste of time and money.

Let's hope this can improve on the features and usability in general, which most LG's seem to lack. No they ain't no Apple, but at least try.

via [BGR]

Nokia to Grow Software & Services Side

2008-08-21T00:00:00.004+01:00

Nokia in the last few year or so has made no secret it wants to become more of an internet company rather than just a handset manufacturer and with this press release it seems finally the clogs are in action.
Nokia aims to expand their Services and Software divisions to give more attention in delivering er... more Service and Software to the consumer.

This year we plan to hire more people into the Services & Software unit than the number of affected employees, so we expect that many employees will be able to transition to new jobs within Nokia," said Niklas Savander, Executive Vice President, Services & Software. "We have made great progress with the initial offering this year and I see great potential going forward as we bring context aware Internet services to people's pockets. These changes will strengthen our offerings and enable us to accelerate the delivery of new Internet experiences to market.

So there you go, Nokia isn't just a handset manufacturer any more, it is becoming an internet company. Let's see what they can bring out - hopefully start with a UI facelift for the S60?

Sony Ericsson Xperia X5?

2008-08-19T13:45:00.004+01:00

A picture of the alleged next Xperia handset has found it's way onto the internet. Looking at the picture it seems to be a concept of some sort mocked up by a SE fanboy.

Rumours are saying it will have an 8 Mega Pixel camera, 3.2 inch touch-screen, Wi-Fi and 3.5G connectivity. Seeing the Xperia X1 is about to be released very soon and that was announced a very long time ago and in a very secretive way, I wouldn't be surprised if this is a concept design in the end.
Let's hope it is true for the Sake Of Sony Ericsson itself, things aren't looking too bright or interesting in their corner currently.

via [TechRadar]

Mobiado Lucido Luminiso

2008-08-19T13:24:00.004+01:00

If you are looking for something to show off your riches and don't mind saying Mobiado Lucido Luminiso in public, then you could be the lucky 200 that can get their hands on this ridiculously designed handset.

Made from sapphire crystal, stainless steel, and aircraft aluminium it keeps in sync with handsets made from luxurious and rare materials just to justify the price and taste of it's owners. As mentioned earlier there will only be 200 available and there is no price stated so you will have to contact Mobiado.

Being a bit of a fatty, it has features to make it practical too (to an extent), running on triband GSM and WCDMA 2100 network it boasts support for MP3, MP4, eAAC+ and AAC multimedia file formats, a 2 Mega Pixel camera and 2GB of memory - the bare minimum of specs expected it seems. If you are worried about the features then obviously you can't afford this baby! :D

via [UnwiredView]

Upcoming Nokia N79 Pictures Leaked

2008-08-19T13:13:00.006+01:00

Maximus on the Just Another Mobile Phone Blog has posted live pictures of the upcoming Nokia N79 (rumoured to be released next week).

Looking at the pictures it's a candy-bar design with a 2.4 QVGA screen and looks pretty distinguished to say the least.
The Nokia N79 is expected to have a 5 Mega Pixel camera, 3G, S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 and your usual features found on similar N Series devices.

via [JAMPB]

EDIT: Turns out these pictures are most likely fake. It seems to be a Chinese replica (of something that's not even announced yet!), but knowing the Chinese, they sure do have some real similar looking fakes, so you can expect the N79 to be something like that pictured fake.

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte

2008-08-19T12:57:00.003+01:00

Nokia announces yet another version of their 8800. We've already had at least three version of the 8800 - 8800 S40 2nd Edition, 8800 Arte S40 5th Edition and 8800 Arte Sirocco Edition S40 3rd Edition and now we also have the Carbon version. All of the mentioned have small differences in features and build material as does the latest Carbon Edition.

Obviously the 8800 Arte Carbon is made from Carbon Fibre but also titanium, polished glass and stainless steel. Featuring an OLED display and a unique all-in-one microUSB connector it aims to marry functionality and design. Not to be reminded, this is one for those that have a big wallet and require something that distinguishes them form the rest.

Combining timeless style with superb functionality, the Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte offers the unique tap-for-time feature - consumers can tap the steel surface below the display twice and a clock appears on the screen. Background images organically change during the day, giving a unique appearance to the display. The turn-to-mute silencing mechanism allows individuals to silence incoming calls in a discrete manner by turning the phone over, screen-side down.

The Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte will be available in the 3rd quarter of 2008 with an estimated retail price of EUR 1,100 exclusive of subsidies and taxes.

Is SIMable Unlocking Safe and Legal?

2008-08-15T12:34:00.006+01:00

We saw the live video (see below) of the SIMable unlocking on the Mobile Industry Review video podcast by Dan Lane - he used it to unlock his iPhone 3G and use it on the 3 network. The issue of unlocking your handset is varied between countries, some countries insist on handsets being unlocked where others have the opposite and most just don't have any sort of legal stance on the subject.

Mobile Industry Review - SIMable spot from Ewan MacLeod on Vimeo.

Obviously the most simple method is to ask your Operator to give you the unlock code, in the UK most will albeit with a charge, and thus it's trouble free legal and safe 100%.

The question here is, is SIMable (and similar others) breaking the law by sending fake signals to the operator? This could be classified as tampering with an operators network and thus considered hacking - which in itself is usually illegal on most countries. In Germany you could face up to 3 years in prison, and we all know in the US you probably will be classified as a terrorist and sent to Camp Cuba.

SIMable stated:

Whilst mobile phone unlocking is not illegal, it will in most cases invalidate the handset’s warranty. SIMable requires no handset interference and thus the full manufacturer’s guarantee remains intact.

The company are keen to stress that unlike any other similar application on the market, SIMable enables 100% functionality on all phones, including full 3G operation.

So is it really worth the hassle of spending £17 (unless you are unlocking many handsets) and risking doing something which could be illegal and end up facing a hefty fine, imprisonment or other forms of punishment? Obviously you will not be able to unlock the iPhone (unless you are in France, where it is unlocked and in Belgium where it's the same story too), but on any other handset?

I'd personally pay £20-25 and get my handset unlocked properly - it gives you a piece of mind.

Anyone that can clarify this situation from a technical or legal point of view feel free to send me an e-mail (found at the bottom of the blog).

via [iPhoneAlley]

Nokia E71 vs Blackberry Bold

2008-08-13T01:38:00.004+01:00

If you are looking for a handset that can handle your e-mail on the go and look pretty decent and must have a QWERTY keypad then you'd better look at this. Boy Genius compares Nokia's latest flagship E-Series the E71 against the Blackberry Bold!

While both are totally different breeds of devices, they do share a number of similarities and are targeted to the same demographic. You’ve got two enterprise handsets with QWERTY keyboards, cameras, Wi-Fi, 3G, corporate email, great battery life, etc. Click on through to see which device wins out in this epic showdown of QWERTY gone violent.

I've been reviewing the E71 over at SiMo and think it is one of the best handsets Nokia has ever made, but how does it compare to a Blackberry, a enterprise device, which the E-Series in theory should be aiming to be. Now without the support of Blackberry Connect, how does it fair in the corporate e-mail solution? Head on over to the BGR website to check the full review out now.

Share on Ovi Mobile

2008-08-13T01:24:00.005+01:00

If you use Nokia's Media sharing service Share on Ovi, you probably use their mobile site when on the go. If you don't here's a great reason to start using it now. The team have been busy and have made many enhancements to the mobile site, making it more appealing and generally jazzing it up.

Most of the new features will allow you to check on what's happening with your account whilst on the go and more:

View your contact’s latest uploads immediately from the new mobile homepage
View your latest uploads from the mobile homepage
Upload and Share media directly from the mobile site
Create new channels and organize your media

Another cool new feature is the ability to sign up using SMS if you don't have an e-mail address - if you don't have an e-mail address, where have you been!? There is also a Facebook application which you can add if you have a Facebook account.

To go to the Mobile site just enter http://share.ovi.com/mobile on your handset's browser.

As this is still in Alpha stage, you can head on over to their forums and leave them feedback on your experiences.

via [NokiaAddict]

4 Simple Steps to Better Photos [Guide]

2008-08-11T12:42:00.006+01:00

Looking at the pictures I took with the N95 recently and then the difference some tweaks made the results significantly more vivid and rich in colour, I decided (on some requests) to do a quick tutorial on how to achieve the results.
In very simple 4 steps you can make your Mobile snaps from looking slightly colourless and under-saturated to something much more vivid and colourful.

You will need to have some experience in using any sort of graphics editor or photo manipulating software. I use Adobe Photoshop, you can use GIMP, Paint Shop Pro etc... to do the same things, but they may not have similar menu structures. Photoshop and GIMP do, and as GIMP is freeware I would recommend it for those that may need some software.

Step One
Getting the balance right. Using some of the auto presets you can allow the software to adjust the levels and contrast using:

Image > Adjustments > Auto Levels
Image > Adjustments > Auto Contrast

The results should be slightly darker and more defined around the edges, this may not be easily noticeable, but I assure you the picture has changed. See below:

Step Two:
Now we will adjust the intensity of the colour. This can be tricky with pictures with varying colour tones, but as my picture was predominantly green based it was a simple process of adjusting the intensity of the greens. You can adjust all the values - shadow, midtones and highlights to your desire by going to:

Image > Adjustments > Colour Balance

You will have to use your own judgement on this as there is no one simple solution as all pictures are different. Use your own judgement to adjust them as desired. I decided to not have it too intense at this point as the next step will make it more vivid. Results below:

Step Three:
In this penultimate step you will use an appropriate filter to get the final look of the picture. Firstly create a new duplicate layer of the current image (the quickest way is to use Ctrl + J), but you can also go to:

Layer > Duplicate Layer make sure to add it into your current project.

Now making sure you have the copy layer selected you need to go into layer style (simply double click on the layer) or go to:

Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options

This should bring up the following screen:

Using the Blending Mode drop down menu you can use the various filters for adjusting the final look of the picture. I'd recommend using some of the more subtle layer effects, for this particular picture I've used Soft Light, which enhances the picture slightly, not making it too vivid and overwhelming. See Below:

Step Four:
This is a final step just to enhance the image focus by adding a border and glowing edge. You can skip this if you like, but I find adding a border enhances the picture slightly and gives it an edge (literally).
The process is simple, just add a new blank layer on top:

Layer > New Layer > Layer... Name it Border for organisation sake.

You can decide how big you want the border to be. To get a perfectly balanced border I usually mark one side and move the selection across to fill the area, repeating this for all 4 sides. I've found this to be most easiest and painless way.

After this is done, you need to go back into the Layer Style Menu (simply double click on the layer) or go to:

Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options

Once there, we will adjust the opacity of the border as desired, I usually opt for 75-80%. Then select the Stroke option on the left and use the following settings to achieve a nice glow near the border edges:
Size: 1
Position: Outside
Blend Mode: Overlay
Opacity: 100
Fill Type: Colour
Colour: White (ffffff)

You should have your final results now!

You can always play with the settings and adjust them to your liking, sometimes it's necessary! This guide is not written in stone, it's aimed to use as a guide to get you tweaking your own pictures.

Mobbler Updated 0.2.2. [Update]

2008-08-09T20:50:00.005+01:00

Hot on the heels of the latest update a few days ago, Mobbler has been updated once again! This latest updates fixes many bugs and adds to the functionality of the application. There are also some more enhancements added.
The full change log below:

0.2.2 - Some more bug fixes and enhancements.

Changed the priority of the audio output stream so that it doesn't 'hiccup' so much when mobbler is playing radio in the background
Stopped mobbler from disconnecting when a http transaction fails (this means that failing to download the album art, etc, will not stop you from listening to the radio)
Now URL decodes the radio station name so it doesn't have +'s and %xx's
Radio station name should also appear in the language of the phone, where that is one of the languages that last.fm provide translations for
Now switches between portrait and landscape modes correctly on N82 and N95
The error dialogs are now information dialogs so that they don't interrupt the playback of the music player
The about dialog no longer clicks the buy button when dismissed
The buy button now links to the Mobbler Amazon aStore and searches for the current artist and album name
Added Greek and Arabic translations (Arabic had been added to the source before, but due to a clerical error it was accidentally not included in mobbler until now)

You can get the update from the Mobbler Google Code Page.

Mobile Projector Phone

2008-08-09T18:55:00.004+01:00

There's no secret projector phones may be the next big innovation for the mobile handset, mainly because the projector would replace one feature found on some handsets these days - TV-Out.
Remove the hassle of cables and connectivity issues, it could become a great tool for mobile presentations. Less baggage more end product. But the main problems with having a projector on a mobile handset is the power needed and the problem of heat - anyone with a home projector would tell you it gets hot quickly - mainly due to the plain fact it's projecting light.

This new concept phone aims to solve these issues by using more efficient material to utilise their strengths in each and actually make a projector phone worthwhile.

Made of polycarbonate that is highly durable, insulating and energy saving with a graphite sheet to increase heat conductivity to dissipate heat. The edge is made of aluminium to enhance heat radiation away from the projector module and function keys. In another words, this thing would get hot!

Designer: Min-Sun Kim

via [Yanko Design]

X-1 Coming to Spice Up Gaming

2008-08-08T13:00:00.003+01:00

Spice Mobile are aiming to launch the Spice X-1 mobile handset, which is predominantly a mobile handset with specific gaming features. It compromises of a dedicate gaming console and with pre-loaded games, Yamaha amplified 3D surround sound to make gaming more pleasant. It also boasts a 2 Mega Pixel camera and a 2.4 inch auto-rotate screen.

The Spice X-1 comes pre-loaded with an Opera mini-web browser and WAP/MMS/GPRS features and costs Rs. 8,899.

via [Tech2]

Bend Phone [Concept]

2008-08-08T12:33:00.002+01:00

The Bend Phone by Andy Kurovets is not only bendy (curvy) but also chunky and comes with a dual screen design aimed at utilising both to give a better use of space. With these it will evidently become bigger and with the slide out camera it gets bigger.
Honestly speaking the concept is a good one using dual screens, much like the Plica Concept Phone, but some consideration has to be given into reducing the size of the device, it's basically too chunky!

The touch screen and dual slide is a good idea, chunky design and slide out camera is just not my cup of tea.

via [Yanko Design]

Mobbler Updated to 0.2.1

2008-08-06T20:25:00.001+01:00

Great news! Just stumbled on the Mobbler Google Code Page and discovered that they have updated the application to version 0.2.1. Nothing much interesting in this release just a few bug fixes for the N73 and N80.

What's exciting is the update on the previous version 0.2.0 - The first radio player version of mobbler.

Yes it now streams music from Last.fm and scrobbles tracks played on your handset to your Last.fm profile! I've just been playing with it for a few minutes now, there is a new interface with some extra controls and menu options, and you have the option of streaming via Wi-Fi or 3G as desired. The usual options found on the desktop clients are there!

Now this is truly a solution for streaming music for all S60 users.

via [SiMo]

Siemens Eco Friendly Concept Phones

2008-08-06T12:49:00.005+01:00

As is the current trend in trying to reduce green house gases, fuel emissions and all things Eco-friendly, Siemens has asked design firm Formwelt to come up with some Eco-friendly handsets, which would minimise power consumption, use and be made of less harmful material.

We have two designs that have come from this project, Leaf and Solar, both which look and do what their names say. The leaf is designed in the shape of a leaf with subtle white and pleasant green colours and a very nice curvy design. The handset consists mostly of plastic with an OLED screen embedded in a translucent case making it look invisible and futuristic.

Solar is a great device which uses solar powered cells to charge itself using the sun's rays, this would solve the hassle of having to charge it and battery life. Made out of metal, eco-plastic and glass it also includes an OLED screen and touch-pad, the display is transparent and the cell's that charge the handset can be seen behind the display.

I'm impressed with the design ad functionality of these devices, not only are they E-co-friendly but also practical and appealing. The future is looking bright, except it's not Orange it's green!

via [Yanko Design]

N95 + Photoshop Pt2

2008-08-06T00:51:00.003+01:00

It's been a long time since my post on the N95 + Photoshop and the results which can be achieved by combining them both. Well since my latest Photography Focus post, I started to play around with some of the snaps I took with the N95. Tweaking some colours and filters and they have been improved slightly! See the results below.

Pre Photoshop:

Post Photoshop:

Samsung i7110 Leaked

2008-08-05T20:24:00.005+01:00

Pictures of this unannounced Samsung i7110 has surfaced from Korean website King Mobile. Obviously the details are sketchy and there isn't much to go on, but you can spot the design and the 5 Mega Pixel camera on the back.

The i-series is aimed at the business eccentric user so don't expect high end features like the iNNOV8 i8150 but you can expect some decent features from this.
One thing is apparent and that this handset does have sex appeal, the silver and black mix and smooth lines make it appealing. The design is definitely a sophisticated and subtle one.

Some features which it may include are:

Samsung’s optical mouse in the middle of the phone
QVGA display with 262k colors
5 megapixel camera with flash
microSD card expansion
Bluetooth
Stereo FM radio
3G

Keep your eyes peeled, more information on this device as soon as it emerges.

via [gsmhelpdesk]

Photography Focus

2008-08-05T13:15:00.005+01:00

Wow it's been a while since the last Photography Focus post, I think it's been mainly down to me being busy with both blogging and getting myself together. But moving on...

It's been pretty sunny in London for the last few weeks, while this may have been idle conditions to go out and take some pictures with my N95, strangely I've done exactly that when it rained today! Looking at it now, it's probably a better situation as it's great to take pictures when things are wet, you can get some great reflections with the water and the light bouncing off objects.

As soon as it had stopped raining I went out around my garden to capture some shots with my trusty old war horse - the N95. Even now after 2 years this old dog can still take some decent pictures. It just goes to show again how good this handset is overall - something even Nokia struggle to beat now. The N95 is a true legend in my eyes and will go down in my history as a defining moment in mobile handset history.

Well enough with the sentimental yapping and on with the show. Below are some of the pictures taken with the N95 using the close-up mode and everything else left to default. The pictures are untouched. (Look out for the wannabe famous Bee that flew in)

Tag Heuer Meridiist Unboxed

2008-08-05T12:20:00.004+01:00

We all know Tag Heuer make watches and some pretty good ones at that! Well like many other companies trying to dip their toes into the mobile handset market they've also made their own phone. Stuff get their hands on this Tag Heuer Meridiist handset and from the initial look it is one chunky customer!

Retailing at £2,650 you won't be rushing to get your hands on it. Despite being on the wrong side of slender it does have some cool features; like the main screen which is made out of un-scratch-able sapphire crystal! All 60.5 carats of it! The handset is also built to a degree of quality you expect from their watches - solid!

It also has another OLED screen, an MP3 player, many time related features (as you'd expect) and a 2 Mega Pixel camera.

We were also excited to see the presence of a dedicated Tag Heuer button on the side. Could this rival Vertu's dedicated 'concierge' button, or even the 'Regatta' button from Tag's own watches that counts down to the start of your boat race? Erm, not quite – in fact, all we've managed to get it to do so far is flip the clock on the second OLED display round. Hopefully, it has a secret power we're yet to discover.

via [Stuff]

iPhone 2.0.1 Software Update Released [Update]

2008-08-05T01:51:00.005+01:00

Apple has released the latest software update for the iPhone, aimed at mainly fixing bugs with the current 2.0 release. The update is 249.2MB and can be obtained by connecting your iPhone to your desktop PC / MAC and checking for new updates through iTunes.

Some changes

Apple does not always specify the changes it makes in minor software updates. As such, the company leaves users guessing and trying to decipher those changes on their own. Some user-discovered changes in iPhone 2.0.1 include:

You can now drag an app icon across multiple pages in one motion, rather than having to drag it, drop it, pick it up again and drag it over to next page, and repeat.
Contacts are now more responsive.
After installing 2.0.1, each successive backup is much faster.
Apple may have changed the calibration of the iPhone's reception "bars" while connected to a 3G network to reflect a stronger signal than before.
Keypad loads quicker.
Some apps may ask to be updated after the firmware upgrade.

via [AppleInsider]

Flowberry Theme for Blackberry

2008-08-04T11:09:00.007+01:00

There is no doubt the Mac look is sexy, and now you can get that look on your Blackberry. Bplay brings you Flowberry, which turns your Blackberry into a Mac. Using the Leopard wallpaper and Mac icons it transforms your device into looking just like the Mac desktop.

The theme is compatible with all devices but animation will perform optimally on devices running 4.3 or higher.

Note: The homescreen icons cannot be customized in this theme
Homescreen icons are:
- Messages
- Calendar
- Address Book
- Media
- SMS/MMS*
- BlackBerry Messenger
- MemoPad
- Keyboard Lock
*Inboxes must be set to Separate in Messages -> Options

The Flowberry theme is a Premium theme and will cost $6, you can purchase it from Bplay's webite.

via [Crackberry]

HTC to Release Android Phone Q4 08

2008-08-02T17:40:00.003+01:00

Digitimes has confirmed the first HTC Phone running on Google's Android OS will be shipping in 4Q 2008. This has been confirmed by HTC CEO Hui-ming Cheng.
According to the report HTC will also be releasing the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 in 3Q 2008, something I reported on earlier.

via [Slashphone]

iPhone 3G is Burning Hot! Literally!

2008-08-02T17:16:00.004+01:00

We knew the iPhone 3G was pretty hot, we knew people had burning desires to get one but this little iPhone 3G was so hot, it burnt it's owner! The user fell asleep with the handset in his pocket only to be burnt by the overheating iPhone 3G!
Whether this was a defective handset or is a design problem on a larger scale is yet to be confirmed. Can we see a lawsuit coming Apple's way? We shall see, but one thing's for sure, he won't be forgetting this incident anytime soon, it's left a burn the size of the iPhone on his leg.

Beware kids, don't sleep with your iPhones, we know you love them to bits, but it's just not right. Be safe!

See the pictures below. That's one hot iPhone 3G!!

via [IntoMobile]

WinPwn 2.5 Pre-Release Screens

2008-08-02T16:48:00.005+01:00

Those looking to jailbreak their iPhones or iPod Touchs will be waiting for this application to be released, while we wait for WinPwn 2.5 you can look at these pre-release screenshots of how the application will look.

WinPwn 2.5 will aim to make it easier for those who are afraid of jail breaking because o some technical knowledge required. There have been hints of a Wizard to make it much easier and simpler, but there is no word of that yet, just the look of the GUI.

via [AppleiPhoneApps]