HTC beats Apple to the white phone punch

With all the talk when it comes to white phone handsets firmly focused on the iPhone 4 white edition, or rather the lack of the iPhone 4 white edition, the news that HTC is rolling out a white HTC Desire may be seen as a bit of a kick in the teeth for the Cupertino collective.

The white version of the popular Android handset will be hitting the shops from this month, and will be available alongside a new colour variant of the HTC Legend.

Rather than a white version, the HTC Legend is getting a "phantom black finish".

"We are always looking for ways to broaden the customer’s mobile experience", said Florian Seiche, president of HTC Europe, Middle East and Africa.

"We understand that our customers love to express themselves, whether it is through their music, fashion or their mobile phone. We work hard to provide a strong portfolio of mobile phones, to give our customers the variety and choice in terms of experience, look and feel, that they crave".

"There has been a real passion for these phones since they launched. The phantom black HTC Legend and brilliant white Desire cap a quality mobile experience with an exclusive and premium finish".

As mentioned, the new colour versions of the Desire and the Legend will become available in October.

Via : pocket-lint

Sharp IS03: Japanese Android smartphone with same display as the iPhone 4, 9.6 megapixel camera

Sharp has just announced the IS03, an Android smartphone for the Japanese market that we’re desperately hoping to see on European and American shores. It’s got the same 3.5 inch 640 x 960 pixel resolution display that’s found in the iPhone 4, and also features a 9.6 megapixel camera. Sure, it’s only running Android 2.1, but with a display like that do you really care? I’ve had an iPhone 4 for a little over 4 days now, and I miss Android like Bambi misses her dead mother, but even I have to admit that using such a pixel dense screen is one of, if not the best, things Apple has done in recent memory to make smartphones even more attractive to consumers.

You’ve also got the standard set of features seen on high end Japanese smartphones: GPS, the ability to watch television, and to pay for things with built in NFC. How much longer until Europe and the USA catches up to our raw fish eating, tentacle rape watching, whale hunting friends on the other side of the world? We’re counting down the days. Note that Mobile World Congress is due to take place in 5 months, and rumor has it that the next version of Android will be revealed by the end of this year. Supposedly it’s going to support high resolution displays and have a new whiz bang bling saturated interface, which sounds horrible, but without screenshots it’s difficult to speculate on the actual outcome.

Expect Samsung to announce one of the first mobile phones for Americans and Europeans with the same type of display because one of their side businesses, actually a pretty big part of their business, is the manufacturing of LCDs and OLEDs for other manufactuers. It’s only inevitable that we’ll see the iPhone’s retina display on devices running Android, Windows Phone 7, and maybe, if Nokia fanbois are lucky, on Symbian and MeeGo too.

Via : intomobile

Altek Leo 3.5G 14MP Android smartphone

We have been seeing the slick and seriously photography oriented Altek Leo 3.5G Android smartphone turn up for a while now with bits of information. The official PR has now been offered up that provides a ship date for the smartphone.

The Leo 3.5G will ship in Q1 2011. It will be the world’s first Android smartphone that has a 14MP digital camera with a 3x optical zoom. Optical zoom is very rare on a smartphone of any type, you usually only get digital zoom. The smartphone has some nice features, some of which we already know.

The device will have a 3.2-inch WVGA multi-touch capable display and will run Android 2.1. Other features will include WiFi, Bluetooth, and support for 3.5G HSPA/WCDMA wireless networks. Storage on the phone can be expanded with microSD cards up to 32GB in capacity. The device also has GPS and more. This should be one seriously good camera phone.

Via : slashgear

BlackBerry Torch 9800 in focus‏

Canadian manufacturer RIM has a lot of faith in the new BlackBerry Torch 9800 and there is a lot of reasons why this is obvious. This is the first smartphone to be armed with both touchscreen capabilities as well as the standard QWERTY keyboard.

The Torch is also the first BlackBerry handset to come with App World as well as the BlackBerry 6 OS. The Canadian manufacturer can now cultivate a new image for the BlackBerry 6 as not just a secured operating system but a sleek one as well.

The Torch was released on the American market in August but British consumers can now have access to the smartphone on both Vodafone and Orange. Vodafone consumers can get access to the Torch at absolutely no cost if they sign up for a £35-a-month business plan. British consumers didn’t get quick access to the smartphone due to a couple of problems with the device’s camera autofocus. With the issues solved, the Torch is now available as one of the best BlackBerry devices ever.

The Torch weighs at 161 g which means it’s quite heavy when compared with some late versions of the Bold. It’s however quite light compared with the first Bold version that was released on the market. It also has the same high quality keyboard with a back light just like the Bold 9700. It’s also easy to type messages on the Torch due to the slide out keypad which means your fingers won’t interfere with the touchscreen. The keypad balance also means that you can use one hand to type on the keypad effectively.

The ability of the keypad to slide from bottom means that you can effectively type messages without having to change the resolution unlike most Android and Windows Mobile devices on the market currently.

The Torch is the best BlackBerry device on the market at the moment in terms of camera quality at 5MPS. The GPS also gives you the ability to categorize images according to the city you took them. The camera is also easy to use due to the simple interface.

The phone also gives you the ability to capture videos at 24fps which gives very quality videos. Other features include a 624 MHZ just like the Bold 9700, 3.2 inch screen with a resolution of 360x 480 pixels, etc.

Via : ifreshnews

T-Mobile announces the new myTouch with HSPA+, front-facing camera, and Android 2.2

Just a few weeks after the announcement of their first HSPA+ phone, the G2, T-Mobile has just announced their second: the myTouch by HTC.

“But wait,” you say, “hasn’t the myTouch existed forever?”

Yes, yes it has. But that was the myTouch 3G – this one’s just the “myTouch”. Hurray for confusing names!

Anyway, HSPA+ isn’t the only thing justifying the new model. See that little circle on the front? Yep: that’s a front facing camera. The screen has been bumped from 3.2″ (at 320×480) up to 3.8″ (at 800×480), the rear camera has jumped from 3.2 megapixels up to 5 — and last but not least, it’s got a 1Ghz Snapdragon CPU inside (as compared to the 600Mhz CPU in the myTouch 3G).

Besides the big ol’ spec refresh, the new myTouch also brings a pretty hefty facelift — if you look a bit closer, you’ll notice that this guy’s pretty much identical to the myTouch Slide, minus the keyboard. On the software end of things, it’ll come preloaded with Qik, Swype, Rock Band, Asphalt 5, and Monopoly.

T-Mobile really ought to have tacked something on to the end of “myTouch” here. As is, it’s like they’re trying to confuse the hell out of everyone. Original rumors pegged this thing as the “myTouch HD”, which really would have worked pretty well.

Via : mobilecrunch

Toshiba extends Satellite range with C660 models

Toshiba has announced the arrival of two new notebooks for the Satellite range - the Toshiba Satellite C660 and the Toshiba Satellite Pro C660.

Basically, they are the same machine but with Windows 7 Professional loaded onto the Pro model - see what they did there?

These aren't the most exciting notebooks that you're likely to come across, but Toshiba makes solid machines, that often tend to fare well in Pocket-lint's reviews.

On board the C660s, which are 15.6-inch laptops with TruBrite LED HD displays (1366 x 768), you're looking at a choice of the latest Intel or AMD chips, with integrated GPUs.

There is up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and a maximum HDD of 500GB (at 5,400rpm). Connectivity is via Wi-Fi, two USBs and a multi-card reader. There's also a webcam and a built-in microphone.

There's no Blu-ray on board, but you will get a DVD burner along with plenty of relevant software bundled in, including Nero 9 Essentials.

Looks wise the machines have a textured matt black finish that Toshiba states will help to reduce scuffs and smears and there's a large keyboard with an integrated 10-digit numeric keypad.

The Toshiba Satellite C660 and it's Pro big brother are out in October, with prices yet to be confirmed.

Via : pocket-lint

Toshiba joins 3D TV push with LED, widgets, Wi-Fi

Until now the only quasi-real Toshiba 3D TV we'd heard about was the ridiculously expensive, "ultrapremium," mainframe-equivalent-in-a-flat-panel Cell TV. Today the company announced that the first 3D model to actually go on sale in the U.S. would be the slightly less ridiculous, but still expensive, WX800 series.

When the WX800 arrives in late September Toshiba will be the sixth TV maker, after Samsung, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Sony and LG, to allow its 2010 TV viewers the ability to see into the third dimension.

Like those makers Toshiba will require you to buy a pair of its glasses (model FTP-AG01U, $169 list) for each viewer who wants to see the 3D effect--nope, this isn't the company's rumored glasses-free 3D TV.

The WX800 comes in two sizes: the 46-inch 46WX800 ($2,599 list) and the 55-inch 55WX800 ($3,299). Both LCDs sport an edge-lit LED backlight, not our favorite kind, that lacks the dimming found on some competitors. They're superthin at 1.2 inches deep, however, and have a look as sleek as we expect from a modern high-end TV.

Toshiba does attempt to differentiate itself from the pack by including its "3D Resolution+" processing, said to improve 3D picture quality by reducing crosstalk, a common artifact we've seen on other 3D models, in particular LCDs (although our past experiences with 2D Resolution+ have not been life-changing). Unlike the Cell TV, as well as select models from Samsung, Sony, Panasonic and LG, the WX800 does not have 2D-to-3D conversion.

Read More @ news.cnet.com

Acer Aspire One D255 with dual-core Atom hits at $330

It was only a matter of time before Acer let out the pricing / availability details on its dual-core Atom netbook, and as we could have predicted, the Taiwanese company's smacked an extremely enticing pricetag on this one. Ringing up at an aggressive $329.99, the 2.2-pound D255 looks almost identical to the D260 -- yes, even those with the worst of cataracts could tell it's an Aspire One from afar -- but in terms of specs it's got that notable difference of a brand new dual-core Atom N550 processor.

But not to worry, even though it's now the cheapest dual-core netbook around, it's still got the netbook standards -- including 1GB of RAM, 250GB hard drive and six-cell battery. The single-core version will go for $269.99, but we do have to say that shelling out that additional $50 for that extra core does buy you slightly faster performance (see our HP Mini 5103 review for some Atom N550 performance results). Sounds mighty tempting to us, but it still doesn't make us forget about that Chrome OS netbook Acer's been promising.

Via : engadget

T-Mobile myTouch announced: Android 2.2, video calling, and HSPA+

Looking a bit like a myTouch 3G Slide sans slide, the newly-announced myTouch -- yes, just "myTouch" -- is the latest addition to the consumer-centric side of T-Mobile's Android lineup, featuring a 3.8-inch WVGA display, 5 megapixel primary camera with 720p capture, and a next-gen MSM8255 Snapdragon core running at 1GHz. Notice how we said "primary camera"? Yep, it's true: the myTouch features a second, front-facing cam as well, becoming just the second phone from T-Mobile (and one of the first in the States, of course) to offer video calling. Looks like it'll be supported over both WiFi and 3G using Qik and Yahoo Messenger, so you'll be able to see the beautiful faces of your EVO-sporting friends from afar. Like the G2, it's got full support for T-Mobile's up-and-coming HSPA+ network along with 802.11n and Android 2.2 out of the box. We don't have pricing or a launch date yet, but we're told it'll be available "in time for the holidays" in your choice of four scintillating colors: white, black, plum, and red. Follow the break for the full press release.

Via : engadget, T-Mobile

Toshiba Regza GL1 wants you to put down the glasses, enjoy the 3D

Toshiba might have abandoned OLED, but that doesn't mean the company is lacking ambition in the display-making field. Today it's using CEATEC 2010, Japan's biggest electronics expo, to make official that 21-inch glasses-free 3D prototype we've been hearing about. It's lost an inch in becoming a retail product, with the 20GL1 offering a 20-inch diagonal, but the important multi-parallax picture transmission (employing a lenticular lens setup as used in Philips' Dimenco) remains the same. The new set, accompanied by a smaller 12GL1 model, will be shipping in Japan this December, and if it really does what it promises, the rest of the world should not be far behind.

Via : engadget

Spotify is out!!

As the only site on the web, winMobile.se could tell you readers that Spotify would come for Windows Mobile/Phone.

Now its finally out!!

Now, I wrote “within a month” back then, because that was the latest news I got from my source. However, why it was delayed had to do with several things, one being that it was summer vacation in Sweden, and just there, approx 1-2 months are “lost”. Secondly, from a marketing perspective, its better if the product is presented near the Windows Phone 7 launch! So for those of you who doubted, and whined, and thought we weren’t a reliable site; “Told ya”

So, today when Steve Ballmer was in Stockholm, the CEO of Spotify was up on stage and gave the good news!

Via : winmobile

Spotify launches on Windows Mobile, coming soon for Windows Phone 7

That feels better, doesn't it? Windows Mobile loyalists (yeah, all eight of you) who have been holding off on switching for inexplicable reasons now have a reason to celebrate: Spotify's live on Windows Mobile 6.x. That sweet, sweet music streaming action that other mobile platforms have been enjoying for months is finally on Microsoft's now-ancient smartphone OS, but the real news is that the team already has a build ready to go for the forthcoming Windows Phone 7. As you'd expect, these versions will allow users to search, browse and play back millions of tracks, stream over WiFi / 3G / 2.5G, play music sans an internet connection (offline playlists) and wirelessly sync between a local computer and a mobile. Windows Phone users should point their browser to m.spotify.com to get their download on (or hold off for it to hit the Windows Marketplace),

Via : engadget, WinMobile, Spotify