Here’s a bit of early 2000 nostalgia. I’ve been re-reading Global Frequency, a series of graphic novels about ordinary human beings being called forth to do extraordinary things. There was a pilot movie adaptation from the comic books and one of the accessories that identified Global Frequency operatives was the mobile phone they carried - the pilot episode had a ring tone which became popular for some time.

So I downloaded it. You can find the Global Frequency MP3 ringtone download it.

[image taken from author's movie collection]

Not news in itself but the context IS news. North Korea is slowly opening up its borders by introducing limited mobile phone coverage with Internet. The purpose, as it looks like, is for the network to allow access to information about the republic and act as some sort of cash cow with handset plans costing more than $100.00

More than 20,000 people had signed up for the service by April, according to a report by Choson Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper published in Japan.

It said the network could provide voice and SMS services to as many as 126,000 customers in the Pyongyang area and along the highway between the capital and Hyangsan 120 km (75 miles) to the northeast.

It was unclear how many local people were being given access to the network but the phones would be outside the price range of many, at 110 euros (153 dollars) for a basic handset. [Yahoo News]

[image c/o Zuma Press]

I attended an intimate dinner with the guys from LG Mobile and she showed off their latest entry level device, the LG KS360. This device is positioned to be an entry level QWERTY keypad phone priced at P8,9xx.00 (roughly USD $200) making it the cheapest QWERTY enabled phone in the market today. The unit does not come with fast Internet connectivity or a really superb camera. For all intents and purposes, this is a messaging phone for the masses that need to transition to a numerical keypad.

I must note though that the unit comes with a pseudo touch screen which only activates when you turn on the dialer when the unit is closed. Interesting — a sparingly used touch screen feature!

[photo c/o author ]

Canadian AIM Autosport does a little hands on with the TELUS BlackBerry Curve 8350i. Obviously a promotional vid, but still pretty cool. Lots of Push to Talk action over there. You can check out more of this at No Ordinary Phone.

You know what sucks? We left BEFORE they unveiled this huge ass screen. The unveil was breathtaking. This is the video showing the 5800 Xpressmusic being officially unveiled at A Venue, in Makati, Philippines.

Here’s a little guide I made for hot spots using the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone. Do you have anything to add? Feel free to leave them in the comments!

Since there’s a pretty significant contingent of PH based readers, I’d like to share with you one really cool promo. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic was prelauched today and Nokia is reserving 58 units for a preorder price of P20,000 which is roughly equivalent to USD $400.00

Live in the Philippines? Have you been eyeing the Nokia 5800? All you need to do is sign up at the launch page and reserve your unit now! Now that’s a great Christmas deal!

I’ve just been handed a China made TORQUE C100, their entry level phone that has both Bluetooth and a VGA camera. But the most peculiar feature of the C100 is that the battery it uses is exactly the same as th BL-5C batts from Nokia. Interesting.

The logic behind this is simple. In the entry level market, spare parts are always in demand, and knowing that the TORQUE C100’s battery is compatible with the BL-5C makes finding accessories easier. I don’t think there’s any exclusive use clause for the battery, none I’m aware of. [source]

They’re not ashamed to show it off, but of course there’s no branding in their marketing material. This is interesting. With Nokia dominating the market with their famous BL-5C’s, why not enable some form of compatibility? This is, I believe, forward thinking! Nokia’s happy because they sell more, and TORQUE gets consumer reassurance for quality.

The TORQUE C100 targets the fast moving entry level market.

[photos and caps - author's own]

The Sanyo (Kyocera in other regions) S1 is frugal in specs. It doesn’t mean to compete with the world leaders in the mobile phone industry, and in its own right has a small - very small - piece of the pie. You can tell by the look of the product features page where “features” include such things as keypad lock - something that’s assumed to be in most mobile phones. Highlights of the Sanyo S1 include Bluetooth, Wireless Backup courtesy of Sprint, and a WAP 2.0 browser. Am I boring you yet? Oh sorry.

Well, I’m featuring the S1 for the sake of being featured as Sanyo does have some market dominance in certain parts of the world. Like it? Great!

[image source]

Nike’s latest campaign has Manny Pacquiao wallpapers available for the mobile phone. You can download them onto your preferred device. Screen resolutions are available up to 240 x 320 pixels. Above is a sample of the wallpapers.

[image courtesy of Nike ]