Solar Powered Cell Phones

Imagine a cell phone that would power itself by the use of a few tiny solar panels. No more low battery beep, or guilt for forgetting to unplug your charger from the outlet. As long as it sees the light of day long enough to catch a few rays, you're in business. While they aren't on the market just yet, a few companies are experimenting with prototypes that could ultimately revolutionize the mobile phone industry.
CNET just featured Konarka Technologies, a company that makes flexible solar panels out of organic materials. The cool thing about these little solar cells is that they would work in sunlight AND under interior lights (not unlike your solar powered calculator).
Other solar mobiles in the works include researchers at Fraunhofer Institute in Germany. TreeHugger featured this phone last year that uses high efficiency solar cells, which need at least 2 hours of sunlight a day (without the sun it can be powered by the good old fashioned plug in charger.)
Japanese company, NTT DoCoMo, has a prototype of a small solar powered phone featured last fall in Gadget magazine, T3.
I don't know about you, but I think I've developed a mild case of mobile technology envy...

Sony Bravia Mobile Phone

Coming in June from Sony is the first cell phone to carry the Bravia brand name that is used on Sony's LCD television sets. The SO903i has a tuner for receiving digital mobile TV broadcasts and employs technology from the company's LCD TV line to produce a better picture, according to NTT DoCoMo, the carrier through which the device will be offered (in Japan only). Pricing was not announced.

Via PcWorld

Samsung Ultra 100 Mobile Phone

A phone so thin you can't see it? That's the silly claim Samsung made this month: "The Ultra Edition 5.9 (U100) is thin enough to disappear if turned on its side." Of course that's not true, but it does give you an idea of how thin the U100 is. At just 0.2 inches, it's the thinnest cell phone yet developed. It has a 3-megapixel camera and is compatible with the GSM standard, but don't expect a 3G model. The candy-bar-style phone will be joined by three other new handsets in the Ultra series: the Ultra 9.6 tri-band GSM clamshell model, the Ultra 10.9 quad-band GSM slider, and the Ultra 12.9 tri-band GSM and WCDMA 3G slider with HSDPA. The phones are all due to go on sale in Europe during the current quarter. Pricing, as well as launch details for other markets, were not disclosed.

Via Pcworld

Samsung F700 Mobile Phone

Packing both GSM and WCDMA (see the end of the article for a spelling-out of these and some other acronyms), Samsung's touch-screen F700 handset will have people talking all over the world. In addition to its good looks, the phone boasts a 5-megapixel camera and can play back video in a number of formats, including MPEG4, H.263, H.264, and Real Video, as well as the audio formats MP3, AACplus, eAACplus, and Real. There's also a surprise for people who can't get enough of mobile e-mail: a QWERTY keyboard that slides out from behind the display. With such a rich feature set, some are already talking about Samsung's F700 as an iPhone-killer, but perhaps we should leave the iPhone-killing until both are on the market. No launch or pricing details have yet been announced for the F700.

Via PcWorld

Blackberry 8800 now on Cingular

Straighten your ties and button your suit jackets, RIM's promiscuous debutante -- the Blackberry 8800 -- is up and dancin' on on Cingular's website. $500 list, or $300 after $50 mail-in rebate and 2-year contract, the 8800 brings everything we expected: quad-band EDGE, GPS, microSD expansion, Bluetooth 2.0, push-to-talk suport, and 5-hours talk / 24-days standby in a 0.55-inch device weighing just 4.73-ounces. 3G data? No. WiFi? Not this time. For that we'll have to hold tight for the anticipated mid-year launch of the 8820.


Via Engadgetmobile

Asus Aura PDA Phone that attacks Iphone

Steve Jobs claimed that iPhone technology is a few years ahead of the technology of other cellular phone makers. That isn’t true as Asus has a secret project - Asus Aura cellular phone, that comes with 3.9 inches touch screen (bigger than iPhone’s 3.5), WiFI, Bluetooth 2.0, and microSD expansion slot (iPhone doesn’t have expansion slot).

The most amazing part about the Asus Aura phone is it only measures 6.0 mm which is 0.1mm “fatter” than Samsung SGH-U100, the World’s slimmest cell phone.
Below are the leaked photos of Asus Aura cell phone that shocks Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs.

Read more at Handcellphone

i-mate Ultimate Form Factors Spotted

i-mate made pictures of all five Ultimate form factors available for the first time today. Pictured top to bottom are the:
Ultimate 5150 Slider: With 2.8-inch screen at 19.5 mm thick Ultimate 6150 Super Screen: Also with 2.8-inch screen at 15.7 mm thick Ultimate 7150 PC Tablet: With 3.8-inch internal display (2.2-inch OLED external) at 18 mm thick Ultimate 8150 Super Thin: With 2.6-inch screen at 11 mm thick, and Ultimate 9150 Flip: With 2.6-inch primary screen (1.2-inch OLED external). The Ultimates all come with Windows Mobile 6, quad-band GSM/EDGE and tri-band UMTS/HSDPA radios, 262k VGA LCD touchscreens, Wi-Fi, FM and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR.

Via Phonescoop

Samsung SCH-U740 Released for Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless today announced the availability of the Samsung SCH-U740 from - a slim and sleek messaging device with a dual-hinge. The handset's unique design allows for communications options both vertically and horizontally with its full QWERTY keyboard.
Text enthusiasts can open the phone horizontally to find a full QWERTY keyboard at their fingertips for ease of use in text messaging and email using Wireless Sync, Verizon Wireless' proprietary email solution. With Wireless Sync, customers can synchronize the SCH-U740 with a home or office PC for easy access to their new email, calendar, contacts and task information.

Via Mobiledia