Posts filed under Other

Blackberry has just announced the new Blackberry Storm, a smartphone that it’s hoping will be seen as the true challenger to the Apple iPhone. Blackberry used to be a niche player in the smartphones market, focusing solely on business users and therefore eschewing the kinds of features that are typical in your average smartphone.

Not any more. The rise of the iPhone, the introduction of new Google Android phones and the increasing move towards smarter phones in general has seen a an increasing number of new entrants encroaching on Blackberry’s market. To fend off these new pretenders to the enterprise throne, Blackberry had to produce something special – and with the Storm, it looks like it might just have succeeded.

A million and one Chinese companies cloned Apple’s iPod, using the same form factor in competing MP3 players and mobile phones. It was inevitable, therefore, that a raft of iPhone clones would emerge shortly after the real iPhone’s announcement, but I don’t think anyone was expecting them to come out quite so soon!

Asus have announced the new Asus Z801, a super cool looking mobile phone with chess-board styled phone keys and Sapphire Quartz mirrored surface. The Z801, although sounding like an old ’80s home computer, looks glorious, and comes with 2 megapixel camera, 260k colour QVGA screen, MP3 player, tri-band connectivity, A2DP, and, er, “wisdom voice control” (at least, that’s what the translation tells me!) Presumably only the wise can control a phone as good looking as this!

More pics and details of the Asus Z801 mobile phone after the jump.

Seems there’s a new mobile phone manufacturer in town, and they’re gunning for those designer phones that are currently all the rage. Called Neo, the company is showing off its brand new Neo 808i, which is kind of funky looking, featuring a more horizontal approach to mobile phone design, with the keys placed to the right of the screen. I guess this is the innovation now obligatory in all new phones, no matter how unergonomic!

More pictures of new Neo phones after the jump.

GoldVish, a Swiss company with a name seemingly inspired from Dracula’s love for his aquarium (“look at my GoldVish, and my lovely SvordVish!”), has gone into the Guiness Book of Records as makers of the world’s most expensive sock mobile phone. Costing 1 million EUROs, this jewel-encrusted solid gold mobile phone has been inexplicably shaped like two socks welded together.

KTFT have launched a new mobile TV phone that’s not only tiny, but also can split the screen in two, with the TV shown in the top half, and the standard user interface shown in the bottom. The purpose of this nifty technological feat, is to let you use the phone’s user interface whithout missing your favourite TV programme.

OKWAP have released the new OKWAP A323 mobile phone featuring none other than Astro Boy. For those not in the know, Astro Boy is an enduring and extremely popular manga character who was first created in 1952.

The link between an OKWAP A323 and Astro Boy may at first seem tenuous – the A323 is a low-end slider phone with MP3 player, 1.3 megapixel camera and not much else, whereas Astro Boy is a powerful robot who can fly, comes with 100,000 horsepower, and bum-mounted lasers (yes, that’s not a typo – he has lasers mounted on his bum!) But the end result is glorious, and will undoubtedly become extremely collectable.

More info on the OKWAP A323 Astro Boy phone after the jump.

VK Mobile, who recently filed for bankruptcy, have released the VK-X200, a tiny mobile phone, which could very well be their last

The Sony Ericsson Black Diamond was just a concept back in March, when pictures of Jaren Goh’s concept phone began circulating on the web. Now, though, comes news that this stunning looking mobile phone will actually be made…well, five of them anyway!

Sharp have demonstrated the 905SH mobile TV phone at Expo Comm Wireless Japan 2006. Headed for Vodafone in Japan, the 905SH exploits Sharp’s world-leading screen technology to the full. With a 2.6inch screen that swivels horizontally for better TV viewing, the screen features a 16:9 aspect ratio and 160 degree viewing angle, enabling many people to view the screen’s display.

More details and pictures of the Sharp 905SH after the jump.