Queer as it is, the LG SH240 has that human touch.

The LG SH240, which has been coined as the “skin phone” has its keypad made out of silicon to simulate the touch of human skin.

Creepy. Creepy. Creepy.

Features-wise there’s nothing much to write home about - 2MP camera, Bluetooth and HSDPA 3.5G are pretty much the usual standard in today’s market.

The engineers must have been high on you know what when they designed this phone.

[image credit The Register]

Then again, if the MacBook Air had HSDPA capabilities via built in SIM card slot, it might have cannibalized iPhone sales.

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Then again, if Apple could have convinced Intel to manufacture a really tiny chip for the MacBook Air, they should have bundled the technology to do HSDPA as well.

These two bold conclusions (literally) illustrate some of my thoughts resulting from the current “tech channel war” going on among a few of the channel bloggers over the ASUS eee versus the MacBook Air. You can actually follow the discussion thread here:
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The Sony Ericsson W760 is a head to head competitor to Nokia’s line of flagship phones. It comes with fast HSDPA connectivity, GPS and a 3.2MP camera. Announced at CES 2008, the W760 brings forth a sleek real estate without sacrificing screen size. Sony Ericsson has released a gaming component that allows you to play widescreen games by tilting the phone sideways.

[Read]

First it was Apple. And then Google announced their own. Now Skype is joining the bandwagon too. Yes, Skype is partnering with telcos to release their first cell phone.

Code-named the “white phone,” the Skype handset will be introduced by late October in Britain, Italy, Hong Kong, and Australia, and will reach 3’s other five markets later, BusinessWeek has learned. There are no immediate plans to bring the device to North America, though the companies may try to license it to other carriers or sell versions straight to consumers for them to use on other networks.[Full Article]

Two things:

First, unlike the iPhone, the Skype Phone will be available on a massive scale throughout the world. This shows the growing demand of international VoIP calls from everywhere else. Second, the seemingly nonchalance of telcos to not minding an exclusivity deal only shows that there is big business in data calls.

The Skype phone will feature multimedia capabilities, high speed browsing, and of course a huge Skype button that allows for easy data calls.

The Motorola RAZR2 V9 is Moto’s flagship product for the midyear. It’s got the perky improvements from the V8 including external music keys, video calling via HSDPA: the primary camera is utilized for video calls by closing the clamshell and the external display turns into the video feed. This is really smart!

Additional features include memory expansion up to 2GB with an internal memory count of 45MB.

• Sleek, slim iconic RAZR design with clamshell form factor, metal and glass housing, internal antenna, tandem 2.2” and 2.0” 240×320 QVGA 262K color displays
• Touch-sensitive external music keys
• Integrated 2.0 megapixel camera, with 8x digital zoom
• Connectivity featuring Micro USB, USB 2.0 Full Speed, USB mass storage and version 2.0 Bluetooth wireless technology with Enhanced Data Rate2
• 3G High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) 3.6 Mbps wireless broadband connection and EDGE/GPRS class 10 & 12
• 45MB of end user memory and support for up to 2GB of memory with an optional microSD card
• Stereo Bluetooth wireless technology supporting A2DP and AVRCP profiles2
• Video and audio streaming¹, capture and playback
• Video telephony and See What I See capable¹
• Messaging via MMS, email, SMS, MotoSync¹
• Independent Voice Recognition

The Dopod D810 packs all the features a mobile warrior could wish for a full keyboard. Nonetheless, the D810 has a lot to write home about as it comes multiple connection methods to stay online.

I was able to get my hands on the more fashionable pearly white model that resembles a bar of soap. For a more fashion oriented review of the D810, you can hop over to The Gadgenista.
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So its official. With the outpour of Nokia N95 models all over the world, the reviews give it a two thumbs up. There hasn’t been a phone that satisfies the jack of all trades reputation since the Treo, but that was quickly overtaken by the influx of new features such as Bluetooth 2, 3G and HSDPA, push email, integrated WiFi, GPS, mobile TV and other next generation technologies that we all feel the need to have. And its scary too, because we actually use these functions on a day to day basis.

The N95 is one of those gadgets that will help tip the point into a seamless mobile data accessibility, whether through HSDPA or WiFi or through simpler functions like push email. Truth be told, with consumers willing to shell out the same amount of money they would have spent for a laptop - for a mobile phone, it does say something about the value proposition of a smaller device.

Picture courtesy of The Register.

The HSDPA equipped phone from LG is set to be launched within the next few weeks worldwide, with Australia and Singapore being first. The Shine is LG’s “lessons learned” phone from the Chocolate, enhancing most of the good stuff into a sleek device with next generation features like HSDPA support.

Here is a review of the LG Shine from CNET.

Here is another more comprehensive review.

Had a chance to play with the Cavalier over the weekend. Thought it is set to run Windows Mobile 6, the device was still running Windows Mobile 5 and had its beta firmware - meaning no access to Blackberry push email. Here are some first impressions with the device.

• It reminds me of the Samsung Q with its sleek black exterior and ultra thin form factor
• The screen is not concaved which is a good thing because it makes the device feel more protected with a layer of clear plastic over it
• The browsing experience on Internet Explorer doesn’t feel constrained — HSDPA connect makes surfing a lot faster
• 2.0 megapixel camera is of good quality - thank god for this improvement for cameraphones on Windows Mobile devices
• Hardware buttons are wonderful and they beat the Blackberry’s “shared buttons” design. Each character has its own dedicated button

I’m not allowed to post pictures I took in respect for the confidentiality of the person who showed me a demo of the unit. So instead I’ll be posting a shot taken from The Unwired.net.

Announced at the 3GSM World Congress this February, the Nokia E90 promises to be the flagship smartphone integrating high speed HSDPA connectivity with the enterprise form factor of the Communicator series. This phone also abandons the old Communicator Operating System and opts for the more mainstream S60 platform. This allows consumers to maximize on the wide array of applications built for S60 phones.

Here is a summary of the technical specifications of the E90:

* Symbian OS v9.2, S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 1
* GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 / WCDMA 2100
* Network Data Support: HSDPA, WCDMA, EGPRS, GPRS, HSCSD, CSD
* Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR, Infrared, Mini USB 2.0,
* WLAN Support: 802.11b/g, WPA, WPA2 (AES/TKIP)
* GPS
* Dimensions: 132 x 57 x 20 mm
* Weight: 210g
* Primary Screen (internal) - 800 x 352 - 24 bit colour depth
* Secondary Screen (external) - 240 x 320 - 24 bit colour depth
* Primary camera - 3.2 megapixel camera, 20x digital zoom, Auto Focus, red-eye reduction, flash, self timer
* Secondary Camera - 320 x 240
* Memory Card: Micro SD - Hot Swappable
* Stereo Handsfree Speakers
* Visual Radio

[PRODUCT PAGE]