Nokia’s bicycle cellphone charger now €30 in Europe

Posted in Nokia by Conner Flynn on February 2nd, 2011

Nokia’s bike-powered cellphone charger was supposed to arrive by the end of 2010 for about €15. Now the company is ready and is charging €30 to European bicyclists, which is twice as expensive as anticipated. The kit comes with a Nokia charger, phone holder, and bottle dynamo.

The charger also sports a 2-mm charger interface and provides 28 minutes of talk time for every 10 minutes spent riding between 6kph (4mph) and 50kph (31mph). Europeans can pick one up from Nokia’s online store. The rest of us will have to wait.

San Francisco passes cellphone radiation law

Posted in News by Conner Flynn on June 16th, 2010

We know what happens when a radioactive spider bites you. You become spiderman. But what happens when you get too much cell phone radiation? Nothing good, that’s for sure. And so the people of San Francisco will soon have a new cellphone radiation law to help.

The law requires retailers to post notices on how much radiation is emitted by the cellphones they sell. This is the first law of it’s kind in the United States. The cellphone industry claims that this law could hurt sales and make consumers believe that some phones are safer than others. No one can agree on just how harmful cell radiation is.

Fake painting blocks cellphone signals

Posted in Mobile Accessories by Conner Flynn on May 17th, 2010

We aren’t sure why you would want to block all cell signals in your home. Maybe if you are a super villain or a spy this would come in handy. Maybe you just want people to stay off the phone and focus.

Anyway, this cell phone jammer is disguised to look like a generic painting of some boats. People will just think you buy crap art and they will stop visiting you because you live in a dead zone. It will cost you $150. Hey, art uglier than this costs a lot more.

Callo and Cally cellphone robots are cute, creepy

Posted in Robots by Conner Flynn on May 7th, 2010

These cellphone bots were developed by PhD student Ji-Dong Yim and Prof Chris D. Shaw at the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University, Canada. They are capable of displaying facial expressions to let you know of their moods, while also performing gestures and dancing when you get an incoming call.

It uses the Nokia N82′s camera to detect human faces and will mimic arm gestures using hand tracking. These bots are pretty cute. Almost too cute. Like they will get up to no good when you turn your back.

Citizen releases new Bluetooth-enabled watches

Posted in Bluetooth by Conner Flynn on May 1st, 2010

Citizen Japan has introduced the I:Virt M series TM84-0351V and TM84-0352V Bluetooth-enabled watches in the Japanese market. With these watches, you can read e-mails up to 210 characters directly on the watch, as well as control your cell phone’s volume, accept or reject calls, display your cell phone’s battery level and be notified of incoming calls.

Both watches are capable of magnifying the text up to 14pt from its original size. The Citizen TM84-0351V sports a leather band, while the Citizen TM84-0352V sports a stainless steel band.

Cellphone encased in marble

Posted in Concepts by Conner Flynn on April 8th, 2010

A cellphone made of marble is bound to be heavy. It’s what your rich caveman dude would be making deals on if cavemen had such devices. There are some advantages to stone cellphones. It can be used as a weapon should you be attacked, it will survive drops from super high and you can carve pretty primitive pictures on it even.

Sadly this is just a concept. The Mobiado CPT001 is not available. The shipments would weigh too much for trucks to haul anyway. Sorry Fred and Barney.

Nokia releases purple E72 for the ladies

Posted in Nokia by Conner Flynn on March 22nd, 2010

Normally Nokia keeps things pretty uni-sex, but now they have gone and launched a new version of the popular E72 in Purple, trying to appeal to those businesswomen who want something to match their nail polish.

The color is Amethyst Purple to be exact. The E72 Amethyst Purple comes after the black, grey and brown versions that have been available since the Nokia E72′s launch. It surfaced in Lebanon and will apparently start selling there soon.

Disney DM005SH Diamond cellphone

Posted in Disney by Conner Flynn on March 15th, 2010

Disney fans will want to check out this new phone from Himfr, the DM005SH. The phone features 22 diamonds in several sizes, all arranged to make the Disney logo. Aside from diamonds, the DM005SH has an 8-megapixel camera and a 3.4-inch FWGA display.

It’s branded with the Disney name engraved on the phone’s keyboard and comes with pre-loaded Disney themes. No word on price, but rest assured, it won’t be cheap thanks to all those diamonds.

Energy 888D cellphone is curvy

Posted in Mobile Phones by Conner Flynn on March 4th, 2010

Here’s an unusual phone design. It has curves in all the wrong places. It has a fully curved display, which is kind of cool, but not very practical. The Energy 888D is unusual for sure.

We don’t know very much about it, but whats to know? It has curves and a pink finish. That should be enough incentive to stay away. The clip on the back will make sure that it is always with you, since it’s not pocket-friendly.

Pong anti-radiation cellphone case

Posted in Mobile Accessories by Conner Flynn on February 10th, 2010

From the fine folks at Pong Research(They haven’t done much since testing Pong consoles in the late seventies apparently) come these anti-radiation cases for the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and Blackberry Curve… Despite the fact that radiation from cellphones has not yet been proven to harm people.

The Pong anti-radiation cases are mostly made of silicone, with a “Pong gold PCB module” embedded in the case. Apparently the module has been proven to reduce the radiation from an iPhone into a user’s head to “a third of what it would be without the case.”

ITG xpPhone pricing

Posted in Mobile Phones by Conner Flynn on January 18th, 2010

The ITG xpPhone is an unusual handset that runs Windows XP. We’ve been following this one for awhile and now we have word on its official pricing. The handset will retail from $439 to $659, depending on which operator you go with.

Yes, those are absurd prices, but then we are guessing that this isn’t aimed at those of us who like our gadgets to be cutting edge. Having said that, there’s some real interest in this thing. Go figure. Those prices are after conversion from Chinese, so if it hits the states, pricing may be different.

Lenovo Lephone looks Lesexy

Posted in Lenovo by Conner Flynn on January 11th, 2010

Lenovo announced the Lephone at CES 2010 last week and just look at that sexy curvy layout. Ergonomically, we’ll see if it works well, but we have a feeling it will be just fine. The high-polish chrome finish and angles certainly make it stand out from the crowd, which is a real achievement.

Some specs include a 3.7-inch 480 x 800 touchscreen with a touch-control panel underneath, a WCDMA radio, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS, along with two cameras: a 3MP shooter on the back and a VGA in front for video calls.

Underwater cellphone

Posted in Mobile Phones by Conner Flynn on November 4th, 2009

Underwater cellphoneYou nicely dressed dudes in your fancy cars have to stay connected at all times right? Even when diving? The underwater cellphone should come in handy then. It comes with a built-in speaker and microphone on the Neptune Space full face mask.

You also get a 40-meter cable which can be modified to accommodate just about any request. A quick release waterproof rubber connection lets the diver separate from the cable anytime they want.

LG cellphone transforms from handset to headphones

Posted in LG by Conner Flynn on August 2nd, 2009

LG cellphone transforms from handset to headphonesLG has announced its Design the Future competition winners, one of which was this Hi-Fi cellphone that also doubles as headphones. Supposedly when it’s folded up, it can fit into a slot in a laptop or your pocket. Unfold it and you have a fancy pair of stereo headphones.

Pretty nice. If this design concept ever finds its way to the real world, it could be a winner. LG could do itself a huge favor by thinking outside of the box and actually offering up some items like this one.

Samsung Crest E1107 Solar Cellphone only $59

Posted in Samsung by Conner Flynn on June 11th, 2009

Samsung Crest E1107 Solar Cellphone only $59Samsung has announced it’s first solar powered GSM cellphone, the Crest E1107. It’s for eco-friendly, budget conscious types who want to harness the power of the sun. Supposedly, the Crest can generate enough power for 5-10 minutes of talk time with one hour of sun exposure.

I don’t know about you, but I associate the name Crest with toothpaste, so I’m a tad disappointed that this thing can’t power your spin-brush too. It has some basic additional features like an FM radio, MP3 ringers, fake call feature to avoid unwanted calls. Even a flashlight. Yet nothing to brush your teeth.