Posts filed under Coming Soon

Samsung have announced that their first Google Android powered mobile phone will be released later in 2009. Samsung were one of the first members of Google’s Open Handset Alliance, and have been rumoured to be working on an Android-based handset for some time.

Today sees official confirmation of the development of such a handset, with a Samsung spokesperson saying “We are accelerating the development process for Google phone in order to meet the specific need of local carriers.” The new Android phone will be sold through T-Mobile and Sprint, and will feature a touchscreen (naturally) and the usual plethora of Google apps (Maps, G-Talk messenger, GMail, search and calendar).

Graphics company NVIDIA have been shouting about a stunning mobile graphics processor for over a year now, but with little success. Despite stunning demos that have consistently put every mobile phone interface to shame (and yup, that does include the iPhone), they haven’t had even so much as a nibble from a mobile phone manufacturer – until now.

In news that will delight mobile phone fans, HTC has adopted NVIDIA’s new Tegra processor to power some of its new handsets for 2009. Which handsets will get the new Tegra processor are as yet unconfirmed, but given that HTC have several new Android handsets in development, there’s every chance we could see a stunning new NVIDIA-powered HTC Android phone ship later in the year.

More details after the jump.

HTC had the unfortunate mishap the other day of having their entire 2009 line-up of phones leaked for the whole world to see. Among these gems were a number of new Android phones that acted as little teasers for what’s to come in the months ahead.

One of the phones is rumoured to be the new T-MobileG2, the second Android phone for the mobile operator that should be an improvement over the already well-received G1. Unfortunately, although we have pics, we have no specs.

There were two other Android phones in the range as well, though.

Seems everyone and his dog is working on a Google Android handset at the moment! The latest news is of a new Android phone being developed by Chinese laptop and PC manufacturer Lenovo.

As you can see from the pic, it certainly looks more like a phone than a Photoshop fake, so Lenovo are clearly working on something.

Where would we be without leaked pictures?! This time, we have some leaked pics from none other than Nokia themselves, seemingly showing a new touchscreen user interface for an as yet unnamed mobile phone. The pictures come from a slide presented at Nokia’s Capital Markets Day 2008, so as it comes from the company itself, the pic itself is genuine. Quite whether the phone it depicts is real or just a Photoshop teaser is another matter, though.

If nothing else, though, it shows the direction Nokia are working towards. Full touchscreen phone, context and presence, integrated services, multiple homescreens. Seems that direction has “iPhone” written on it in super-huge letters!

[Source: Engadget]

Leaked pictures have emerged of a new camera phone from Samsung. Currently called the Samsung Memoir, the new phone will feature an 8 megapixel camera, Omnia-style touchscreen, and the TouchWiz user interface found in the Omnia and the Samsung Tocco.

Other details are scarce, unfortunately, but apparently it’s destined for the US, among other places, although on T-Mobile – sorry about that!

[Source: TMONews, via Engadget]

Nokia are making a huge announcement tomorrow that they’re hyping like mad, leading some to believe that Nokia’s iPhone-killer is finally on its way. Nokia’s 2008 line-up of phones disappointed some, as its flagship, the N96, was only a minor improvement on the N95. Although a great phone in its own right, the N96 was no competition for the iPhone, leaving some to wonder just what Nokia’s response would be to Apple’s market-changing phone.

Given that the iPhone was released in 2007, that response has been a long time coming, but we should know tomorrow, as Nokia are definitely announcing NSeries phones for 2009 – and we’ve also got our hands on some rumoured specs. If you can’t wait for Nokia’s announcement, check out the specs after the jump, and come back here tomorrow morning for full details of Nokia big new announcement.

News reaches of a new Sony Ericsson CyberShot phone being worked on for 2009. Currently codenamed the Kokura, it will apparently feature a whopping 12 megapixel camera, come complete with a touchscreen and iPhone-like interface, and will be based on the TI3240 chipset with the Symbian OS version 9.4 and S60 interface.

Also from the same source comes news of another Sony Ericsson CyberShot phone currently codenamed the Yurika. Apparently, this will be a message-based phone designed for the “yoof” market, and so will feature on easy access to Facebook, Yahoo!, YouTube, etc. As it’s based aroud messaging, the Yurika will come with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard as well as a touchscreen and similar iPhone-like interface (again, based on S60) to the Kokura.

Interestingly, it’ll move away from Memory Sticks towards the more universal SD card storage format, which represents a departure from Sony Ericsson’s existing strategy of sticking with Sony’s proprietary storage technology.

That said, neither phone will come with mini USB socket or 3.5mm headphone jack, relying instead on Sony Ericsson’s usual proprietary connector, so they’ve not exactly rushed to embrace more open technology.

You may have noticed a growing trend in camera phones this year, with the number of megapixels slowly rising. At the start of the year, 5 megapixels was the upper limit and only available in top-end phones. As the year has progressed, 5 megapixels have made their way down to more mid-market phones, while the high-end phones have upgraded to 8 megapixels.

Apparently, this trend reflects the race for megapixels in the dedicated digital camera market, which has seen a steady rise up to a massive 14 megapixels. According to LG, this same trend has now moved over to the camera phone market, with mobile manufacturers racing to cram more megapixels in the mobile phones and so claim the title of the best camera phone.

The world’s first Google Android phone, expected to be called the T-Mobile G1, will be officially launched tomorrow, and the blogosphere is buzzing with expectation. In anticipation of tomorrow’s announcement, here’s a list of 21 things we expect from the new Google Android phone…