Back in circa ‘98 I rememeber HP releasing its toughest PDA, the HP Journada which could survive a car running over it. Today, Land Rover (OMG they make phones??) shows off the new S1, the toughest phone ever made. It can be run over by a Land Rover, stepped on by an elephant, dunked in gunk and lager beer, microwaved and finally gave in when a forklift truck crushed it.

[photo and source]

The All About Symbian blog has a listing of the most popular QWERTY keypad phones in the market today. Note that this isn’t confined to Nokia phones only — as Symbian is an open platform allowing other phone manufacturers a hand in developing around it. Which is why, in this list, we have a player from LG. I’m sure we’re going to get more QWERTY devices from other manufacturers running S60 as the future comes to present.

So the verdict? In descending order, it seems that the best would be the Nokia E90, a fantastic phone that spelled the “last” of the Communicator line — or is it?? Heh.

Bottom of the list? Surprisingly, Nokia’s new N97! Interesting.

[image c/o author]

Several months ago, I raffled off a Mophie Juice Pack. This May, I’m raffling off the “air” version of the Juice Pack from Mophie, which is a crapload thinner and also the most elegant external battery solution to the iPhone 3G. No wires. No extenders. Nada. It’s so good, the product is sold out! But we still can give away one, to a single lucky reader!

• The world’s thinnest Apple certified “Works With iPhone” external battery for iPhone 3G!
• Rechargeable 1200mAh lithium polymer battery virtually doubles your time to rock, talk, surf and send.
• Pass-through USB charging and sync with iTunes
• Extended smart battery and full case protection
• On/Off switch offers choice of battery or case
• Integrated 4 LED charge status indicator

NOTE WELL // This contest is only open to residents in the USA and Canada //

Contest Rules
1. Leave a comment answering the question “what is lighter that air?” You can leave as many replies as you want provided that you give a different answer per comment.

2. Please leave a valid email address and name so that I may contact you afterwards

3. The contest will run from today till 11:59 PM of May 20 2009, blog time. Only residents of the USA and Canada are eligible to join the contest.

[image c/o Mophie]

So they at technogra.ph are giving away an LG Cookie touch screen phone. For those of you who have it bad at raffle draws, well this contest requires a little bit of design skills. You will need to download a special template which you can edit to show off your most creative thumb print. They’re giving away two phones — one for the lucky guy and another for the lady who can get those mad design skills to work.

You don’t need to be very good at Photoshop to win — your friends need to vote for your design to win. Whoever gets the most votes, wins the phones!

One of the trends for 2009 is the shift of manufacturing companies from hardware centricity to software. One of those big names is Nokia. They’ve made huge waves with Share on Ovi and now are launching the Sports Tracker Beta that comes with the repackaged Nokia N79.

It works more or less like how Nokia+ works - you run with your phone. Phone calculates distance and it uploads this data online. Data can now be synced and shared with friends to compare runs.

Nokia Sports Tracker is a GPS-based activity tracker that runs on Nokia smartphones. Information such as speed, distance and time are automatically stored in your training diary, and on this site you can store and share your workouts and routes.

Almost all Series 60 phones from Nokia are supported. Check it out for the download.

[Photo c/o Nokia Press]

Four dollars seems to be the price of a camera upgrade. You see, I tried selling one of these brand new but low end LG phones to some guy at a flea market. I had won the phone in a raffle about 3 months ago and didn’t quite know what to do with it. It boasted a 1.3MP camera and perhaps that was all it had. So the guy in the stall had to inspect the device - no dents or smudges even. It was brand new. And then he turned it on, plugged the charger and began … to take a photo.

The camera sucked apparently. It really was an el cheapo despite the 1.3MP label. So he sold it to me for $4.00 less. I didn’t really care less as I had won this one at a raffle and any money is good money.

The point of all this? I know these stores. Everything is computed. From a small dent to the quality of the camera, to whether it is locked or unlocked by default, to the type of battery it uses. And each “trait” has its corresponding value in money. So wow, $4.00. I know that these phones are bought for much less by these “sole proprietors” and they sell it twice as much. So maybe, just maybe, upgrading a camera phone would really have to cost $8.00?

I attended a press conference a few days ago for a high end smartphone brand. Among us were some tech bloggers, IT journalists and a number of lifestyle editors from the glossies. The product manager enjoyed talking about his new baby - one of the top of the line smartphones that recently hit the market. What was rather peculiar was how he made mention of the Apple iPhone and it sounded more like he was trying to justify why his product X had features Y and Z which the iPhone didn’t have.

Raised eyebrows from a number of tech journalists.

After the conference, I approached him and asked him why the comparison has to be made to the iPhone all the time. I interjected that mentioning a competitor’s product during your own press conference made it sound more like a fit of desperation on your end. The truth is, the iPhone and his product are two different things. He answered me quickly and said that apparently, consumers don’t think that way. Because of the commercial hype it generated, the iPhone is being compared to everything in the market.

I told him that well, we’re IT journalists and technology bloggers — and you don’t need to justify with us how different these two products are. We know. We did our research. We’re well informed.

It is good that product managers are very aware of the competition. But marketing is marketing - they should only mention the “other phone that begins with an i” if a journalist asks a question pertaining to that during a press conference. Otherwise, I don’t see a need to passively promote your competitor’s products.

Do you agree with me? Or do you think that product managers should really just address this question during a product presentation? C’mon guys, be honest!

Fujitsu recently unveiled the F906i, with built in AuthenTec and TrueNav features which allow for seamless finger scrolling and touchpad functions. This basically emulates the iPhone in many respects.

“Fujitsu continues to build on its market leadership with the addition of the F906i to its world phone lineup, and we’re pleased to support the Fujitsu and NTT DOCOMO teams on the launch of this innovative smart phone,” said Kengo Kobayashi, president of AuthenTec KK - Japan. “AuthenTec helps further enhance the F906i by enabling full touchpad emulation via our AES1710 sensor, thus providing highly intuitive and accurate on-screen menu navigation. Our integrated TrueNav feature gives users a full range of device navigation by moving their finger across the surface of the sensor to control a full-featured browser, manipulate documents, stored files, contact lists and to control a variety of phone functions….

AuthenTec’s AES1710 fingerprint sensor is based on the Company’s patented TruePrint technology, which reads below the surface of the skin to the live layer where a person’s true fingerprint resides. This unique subsurface approach enables AuthenTec sensors to read virtually every fingerprint, every time — a critical requirement in any fingerprint-enabled device. Other device features include TrueNav menu navigation, TrueFinger anti-spoofing security, and TrueMatch pattern matching to ensure the industry’s highest level of security, usability and convenience. [RELEASE]“

The F906i comes with 3G, GPS maps, mobile TV with support for DOCOMO’s 100 channel broadcasts, mobile credit card payment system and full widescreen VGA LCD. The phone has two cameras - a 3.2MP and a secondary camera for 3G calls.

Yup it’s the AT&T guy again but this time he’s in the car. Check out how the iPhone 3G fares on the road with its built in GPS navigation. This makes use of the GPS Maps feature and the search function for commercial establishments. I still think that using the iPhone inside a car is a deadly combination as it really isn’t text-friendly while driving (oops, don’t text while you drive!!). I also noticed that there was no voice overs giving directions on where to turn.

Indonesian-based telco company Raztel has released the M880 a phone specifically meant to target the needs of Moslems around the globe.

What made Raztel M880 will become so special for Moslems is not only it supports Koran but it will also gives users the Tafsir of Koran and Hadith. However, users should learn to get accustomed with its 2,6 inch screen, which I think still too small to enjoy the ayahs of Koran.

Beside those features, Raztel M880 also has other Islamic built-in features such as Qibla indicator and world prayer times.

In terms of features, the M880 is highlighted by its dual SIM capability, 1.3MP camera, music and video playback.

We got this tip and image c/o 3GWeek.