Posts filed under Coming Soon

Nokia may be working on an 8 megapixel Nokia N-series camera phone for 2008, if this new patent is anything to go by. Not that we should be surprised by this – 2007 has already seen 5 megapixel camera phones become the norm for high end phones, while 3.2 megapixel cameras have made their way down to the mid-range. As such, 8 megapixels is simply the next level in the progressions of pixellage.

More details after the jump.

Nokia are on a bit of a roll at the moment, having just released the excellent Nokia N82, and now comes news of a possible forthcoming model, the Nokia N96. As you can see from the pics, the new form factor is a little, er, interesting. Featuring a slide out QWERTY keyboard that doubles as a keypad when turned vertically, the N96 is bound to cause a bit of a stir…

…or at least it would if it wasn’t a fake!

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google will be announcing its plans for its long-rumoured Google gPhone in just two weeks’ time. In contrast to Apple, with its locked iPhone, Google is going totally open – Google will provide a reference model for the phone that any manufacturer can build, and the phone’s entire software will be open, including the Operating System itself, enabling anyone to develop any type of software for the device.

Even more interestingly, TechCrunch have been tipped of that Google will also be announcing its strategy for a huge new social network platform that will take on Facebook. Looking at the two rumours, and their timing, it seems that Google’s mobile plans might be a lot bigger than many people had realised.

Find out how big after the jump.

Sony Ericsson have given us all a sneak peak of its latest UIQ user interface, which will come to Sony Ericsson phones in 2008. Unsurprisingly, the new interface shares a certain, er, similarity with Apple’s iPhone. In fact, with a squint, it’s hard to tell the two apart!

All this comes on the back of Nokia’s latest user interface update for its S60 smartphones, the S60 Touch, which it announced a couple of weeks ago. The Touch also offers a similar user experience to the iPhone.

Rumours of Google’s GPhone have taken a low-tech turn, as analysts are now speculating whether the phone will either be a stripped down inexpensive device, or simply a button on other manufacturers’ handsets.

The speculation comes after Google’s recent purchase of Jaiku, a Finnish company that specialises in SMS applications. People such as Richard Doherty, research director at The Envisioneering Group, believe that Google are aiming to get people used to querying the search engine giant’s database via SMS, either through Google’s own phone, or a “GButton” on other manufacturers’ handsets that would let you communicate with Google instantly.

Nokia have been showing off the S60 Touch, a touch screen user interface for their N Series of mobile phones that will also become part of the S60 User Interface platform. As such, it’s not just Nokia who’ll benefit from this glorious iPhone-like user interface – it’s any other mobile manufacturer who’s currently using S60 in their phones (Samsung, for example).

You can see a video of the S60 Touch after the jump.

More Google gPhone rumours for you, this time apparently from an ultra reliable source. Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins has spoken to several people inside the mobile phone industry, and has the scoop on what we can expect from the new Google phone.

Full details of the new Google gPhone runours after the jump (and no, it won’t look like the pic!).

Apple’s iPhone really set the cat among the pigeons with its fantastic interface, causing virtually every other mobile phone manufacturer to release a new phone with touchscreen in effort to seem like thei’r phones aren’t out-dated. However, none of these touchscreens have been as innovative as the iPhone’s – until now.

What you see here is a new Nokia phone coming our way in 2008 that will feature a virtually identical user interface ot the Apple iPhone. Yes, it features a touchscreen, but check out the video after the jump, and you’ll think you’re looking at an iPhone with Nokia branding.

More iPhone rumours, this time about the features of iPhone 2.0. According to GPS Magazine, Apple will be releasing a new 3G version of the iPhone in 2008 that will also incorporate GPS Sat-Nav.

The current iPhone already has Google Maps built-into it, but has no GPS module, so you have to manually type in where you are and where you want to go.

Ah, those Sony Ericsson PlayStation phone rumours just won’t go away. After a variety of Sony Ericsson execs were quoted talking about the company possibly working on their own gaming phone, none other than outgoing CEO Miles Flint has told the Financial Times that applying the PlayStation brand to a Sony Ericsson phone is a “possible future activity.”

Now rumours can be a tad tenuous at times, but Miles Flint telling the Financial Times that it’s a possibility is certainly what you’d call an authoritative source!

Mind you, there may be a few hurdles along the way before we really do see a Sony Ericsson PlayStation phone…