The Android G1 was a cool phone, but you and I both knew that I wouldn’t stick with it very long. What can I say, I get bored easily. So, this week I’m going to be trying out the Nokia N85 smartphone. It’s been awhile since I’ve had a newer Symbian phone, so I’m excited to see if it will keep me interested enough to stick around after the week is done.

Day 0

This first post, otherwise known as Day 0, will provide a short tour of the physical features of this phone. The rest of the series will delve into more detailed usage of the these features.

The company, which is owned by eBay, announced a partnership with Nokia, the largest cell phone maker in the world, to put the Skype Internet calling software onto its phones. Nokia will initially offer Skype on its high-end smartphones, the N-series. The N97, Nokia's flagship device that goes on sale in June, will be the first to have Skype embedded. The Skype feature will start shipping on the device in the third quarter of 2009.

Skype will be integrated into the N97 address book, enabling users to see when Skype contacts are online. It will also let people use Skype's instant-messaging client. Most importantly, N97 users will be able to make free and low-cost phone calls over the Internet whether they are on a 3G cellular network or a Wi-Fi network. The Skype-to-Skype voice calls are free. And the SkypeOut service, which allows calls from Skype to landlines and mobile devices, offers low rates.

Nokia's not the only handset maker to announce a deal with Skype at Mobile World Congress. On Monday, Sony Ericsson announced it would be offering a Skype "panel" on the Windows Mobile Xperia1 device.

Adding Skype to smartphones is a great benefit for consumers, especially people who travel internationally or have friends and family overseas. While pricing on domestic voice services has been dropping like a brick from a third-story window, international rates have remained high.

As a consumer who likes to travel and who happens to be traveling internationally right now for this trade show, I am annoyed and almost angered at the outrageous prices mobile operators charge when customers roam in other countries or make international calls from the U.S. They all try to sell "international" plans to help defray the cost, but the plans themselves cost consumers an extra fee every month regardless of whether they're traveling that month or not.

Skype and other VoIP services offer users a more cost-effective alternative. And Skype on a mobile phone, when accessed on a low-cost data network, could help people who travel frequently or make lots of international calls save tons of money.

Of course, the two smartphone makers Skype has announced as partners here are manufacturers that are already struggling to get their high-end devices on American mobile networks. And my guess is that adding Skype won't do much to convince these operators to offer these phones and subsidize them so that American consumers will buy them.

The reason is pretty simple. AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile USA know that a wide-scale deployment of Skype on their phones could cannibalize their international voice services and potentially hurt their domestic voice service.

So if by chance, Nokia or Sony Ericsson manages to win approval from a U.S. operator to get these phones on their networks, I wouldn't be surprised if the Skype feature is stripped from the device in the U.S. version.

LG is reportedly planning to come out with its first Android based handset later this year. The first amongst these might be the all-roundish KS 630 that is already in existence -sans the Android OS. The phone is likely to be re-launched with Android powering it, most probably, later this year. The KS 630 features a two-mega pixel camera and a QWERTY keyboard as well. The specification, at least the hardware part of it, will remain the same and it is only the OS that will change. A senior LG official has revealed at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) that LG would be releasing two other Android phones this year. No, there are no leaked images or details as of now. Although we'd love to have a sneak peek.

Samsung and Fido are having a wee bit of a party today and have released the SGH-F266 to help us join in the new handset fun. The F266 is the first in a series of sets listed in the questionable raodmapp (that's intentional, so don't yell at us) we saw appear yesterday. Apparently priced at $25 on two-years, or $150 outright, it is loaded with a 2 megapixel camera, 37MB of internal memory (upgradeable to 8GB), a 2.1-inch display, and rounds out with a bit of Bluetooth, an FM radio, and only weighs 99 grams. Oh, and Fido? Your site still makes us feel queasy / stings our eyes, seriously.

Sure, we pretty much figured that the V-Book (which is actually not a book at all) would be the final nail in the coffin of what was once known as "literature," but it looks like both Google and Amazon have other plans. Not only have their been rumblings of a new Kindle, but Amazon has announced that it'll soon be making the popular e-reader's some 230,000 titles available for your cellphone. The company hasn't said when the titles will be available or exactly what phones would be supported -- but we're guessing that we'll be seeing handsets with nice, big screens like the G1 and the iPhone on the list. If that weren't enough, Google's Book Search holdings -- about 1.5 million public domain works -- will soon be available for cellphone-based e-readers like Stanza. This is good news for people who need access to data on the go -- and really good news for anyone who would like to curl up next to the fire with a nice glass of wine and their Curve 8900.

Europe just dropped a new smartphone that might make me forgive the OS. This is the TG01, a new touch-screen handset that Toshiba is apparently aiming at the iPhone. And it runs on the Snapdragon CPU at 1GHz.

The speedy proc is nice, and the other features are as high-tech, such as the HSUPA/HSDPA data modem for 3G connectivity, the 4.1-inch hi-res WVGA display, Wi-Fi, GPS, and built-in support for DivX.

Toshiba also has a TouchFlo-like UI layer over the ugliness of Windows Mobile 6.1 that appears fairly slick. And the form factor is very nice indeed. But until it's sporting WinMo 6.5, it's not really an iPhone replacement yet.

Europe just dropped a new smartphone that might make me forgive the OS. This is the TG01, a new touch-screen handset that Toshiba is apparently aiming at the iPhone. And it runs on the Snapdragon CPU at 1GHz.

The speedy proc is nice, and the other features are as high-tech, such as the HSUPA/HSDPA data modem for 3G connectivity, the 4.1-inch hi-res WVGA display, Wi-Fi, GPS, and built-in support for DivX.

Toshiba also has a TouchFlo-like UI layer over the ugliness of Windows Mobile 6.1 that appears fairly slick. And the form factor is very nice indeed. But until it's sporting WinMo 6.5, it's not really an iPhone replacement yet.

Palm Pre, one of the most anticipated smartphones of the year, could be available as early as mid-March on the Sprint network. Sprint could be targeting to get the Palm Pre into its warehouses by then though that's no guarantee that the device will be available in retail stores immediately.
More likely, Sprint could release the device in May giving it enough time to stock up and clear out inventory of older Palm phones, says the Boy Genius Report citing an internal document from Sprint.
Palm showed off the Pre at the Consumer Electronics Show last month to cheers from the audience. The struggling phone maker needs a hit desperately and even skeptics concede the Pre, if priced right, could be a blockbuster for Palm.
The sleek black Pre has a 3.1-inch touchscreen, a QWERTY keyboard and a powerful interface. The phone pulls together information, photos and current online status data from sites such as Facebook, Gmail and Exchange to seamlessly integrate them into the address book and contacts list.
Palm has said it wants to see the Pre on Sprint in the first half of the year. The company hasn't announced any details related to pricing for the phone.

In typical Samsung go-big-or-go-home style, the world's number two phone manufacturer is now expected to announce no fewer than nine new models at this month's Mobile World Congress -- and that's just from the EDGE-powered middle of the range on down. Starting with the most interesting of the school (if we want to go with a fish analogy here), the pictured S5050 brings high style, a 3.2 megapixel cam, 2.2-inch QVGA AMOLED display, and most interestingly, dual SIM slots -- an indication that this will very likely see duty in the Far East. Heading on downrange, the B5702 is almost as awesome but trades the high-tech display for a 2.4-inch TFT. Of course, there's more than just sliders in the mix; you've also got bars like the S3310, which supports microSD expansion, a 2.1-inch QVGA display, and FM radio (an almost ubiquitous feature in developing market phones). The E2210 holds down the clamshell fort -- but to get it, you'll have to be cool with a meager 160 x 128 display and a weak VGA cam. Heading down to the very, very bottom of the range, you get into a couple candybars designed to be accessible to the world's poorest: the E1125 and E1100, which rock 128 x 128 displays, a data-less GSM radio, and 300 / 200-contact phone books, respectively. That E1100 sounds suspiciously like the legendary Nokia 1100, doesn't it? Anyhoo, expect this all to break at MWC, along with the usual array of moderately more droolworthy high-end fodder.

In typical Samsung go-big-or-go-home style, the world's number two phone manufacturer is now expected to announce no fewer than nine new models at this month's Mobile World Congress -- and that's just from the EDGE-powered middle of the range on down. Starting with the most interesting of the school (if we want to go with a fish analogy here), the pictured S5050 brings high style, a 3.2 megapixel cam, 2.2-inch QVGA AMOLED display, and most interestingly, dual SIM slots -- an indication that this will very likely see duty in the Far East. Heading on downrange, the B5702 is almost as awesome but trades the high-tech display for a 2.4-inch TFT. Of course, there's more than just sliders in the mix; you've also got bars like the S3310, which supports microSD expansion, a 2.1-inch QVGA display, and FM radio (an almost ubiquitous feature in developing market phones). The E2210 holds down the clamshell fort -- but to get it, you'll have to be cool with a meager 160 x 128 display and a weak VGA cam. Heading down to the very, very bottom of the range, you get into a couple candybars designed to be accessible to the world's poorest: the E1125 and E1100, which rock 128 x 128 displays, a data-less GSM radio, and 300 / 200-contact phone books, respectively. That E1100 sounds suspiciously like the legendary Nokia 1100, doesn't it? Anyhoo, expect this all to break at MWC, along with the usual array of moderately more droolworthy high-end fodder.

While DigiTimes tends to nail rumors focused on Taiwanese companies like Acer and ASUS, its component supplying sources can be hit or miss across other geographies. So take it with the usual lump of NaCl when talkative sources say that Nokia is increasing orders in March as it prepares to "launch several 3G and 3.5G products with multi-touch and multimedia functions in 2009" -- Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and Synaptics being the chief beneficiaries. Of course, Nokia has been perfectly clear that its 5800 was the just the initial salvo in an onslaught of touchscreen devices to come and led by its flagship N97. Nevertheless, with profits down and the economy mired in the suck, it's nice to have confirmation (as tenuous as it is) that things are on track in Espoo.

Here's one more reason to stay away from those spurious batteries.


A 20 year-old Chinese youngster died when a battery inside the phone he was carrying in his pocket exploded, severing his arteries leading to massive blood loss and eventual death. According to some reports, the person had recently changed his phone battery and had charged the same moments before the fatal accident. The accident occurred in front of a Lenovo store in Guangzhou, China.


Exploding phone batteries are not a new phenomenon. However, fatalities from such occurrences are rare and this one just might be the worst ever recorded. The incident also makes us wonder if it is really worth saving money when it comes to batteries. While we still do not have details regarding the phone or the kind of battery that was involved in the incident, it is likely that this might be one of those cheap duplicate batteries.


We hope your plans to invest in a "cheaper" option might have been thwarted by this unfortunate incident

While Australia's NV might not win awards for website with fewest flashing stars and streaking comets, they seem to have a pretty feature-packed handset in the Lifestyle. This flip's screen rotates for the built-in digital free-to-air TV receiver, can record said programming -- though we've no idea about quality or limits -- triple-band GSM, FM stereo radio, 3.1 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and a host of software apps. The Lifestyle also touts itself as 3G / Next Gcompatible, while we've no clue if that means it does, can, or will support 3G, we do see it's ringing in at $549 (roughly $350) and are almost willing to throw caution to the wind to find out. That's right, almost.

We knew the name, but when it comes to phones, it's not really the name we care about, now is it? (Is it?) Looks like we now have the first totally unofficial shot of Motorola's upcoming ZN300 slider, said to feature a QVGA display and 3 megapixel cam around back.

Unless this puppy runs Android through some comical error in communication between Moto's executive and engineering teams, the glossy front, generous bezel, and rockin' offset "M" logo aren't enough to do it for us -- but we're sure they'll manage to sell a few for a song on contract when it's finally announced. Go, sk8r boi, go!

If you can get past the hot pink, Sony Ericsson's Premier 3 Walkman phone has a really cool look. Plus it has some interesting features—including the ability to rip music directly from a CD.

The Premier 3 is part of Japanese phone company KDDI's Spring 2009 line-up and it features a beautiful 3" (480×854l) display, 3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, GPS, Infrared and a dedicated remote control. If you want to rip music from a CD, all you need to do is plug the player into the remote via a 3.5mm plug and you are good to go.

With such a large screen and MP3 capability, you would think that the Premier 3 has the potential to be an awesome portable media player—but Sony Ericsson inexplicably shot themselves in the foot with a MicroSD slot that can only handle 2GB cards (there is only 50MB onboard). What a waste. Pricing and release information have not been announced.

Skype gets ahold of Asus's re-branded videophone, which can handle audio and video Skype calls, and can connect to the Internet via Ethernet or 802.11g Wi-Fi.


VoIP service Skype has millions (and millions!) of subscribers worldwide because it enables users to engage in free computer-to-computer voice and video calling via the Internet—and, of course, users with paid accounts can connect to landlines and mobile phones. But Skype still has a few barriers to entry for the non-tech-savvy crowd who are intimidated by setting up microphones, Web cams, and software applications. So, now Skype has gotten ahold of Asus's Eee Videophone, re-christened it the Asus AiGuru SV1, and is touting it as a standalone videophone solution for folks like grandparents who might want to engage in VoIP voice and video calls, but don't want to be fussing with a computer to do it.

The Asus AiGuru SV1 features a 7-inch 800 by 480 pixel LCD display, an integrated VGA-resolution Web cam, and integrated Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity to hitching on to a household's existing Internet connection. The unit also sports microphone and headphone jacks, and its software can be updated from a PC via a USB connection—other than that, no computer is needed. Users don't have to have a Skype account to use the device—they can create one right from its interface—and both Skype and Asus tout the AiGuru SV1 as being simple to set up and use. The device also has a rechargeable battery, so (if users are using Wi-Fi) the unit can be picked up and moved around while in use.

The Asus AiGuru SV1 is priced at $299.995.