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It’s safe to assume this new LG beauty will be officially announced at the Mobile World Congress, but in the mean time we have been treated to a picture and a heads-up on the specification of this impressive new touchscreen handset from the Korean manufacturer. Luckily for us we also have some insider info that will make you drool even more.

Named the KM900 Arena (and previously dubbed the Opera) it’s a considerable step forward for LG as it features a brand-new 3D user-interface named S-Class, which in the (more…)

Post from Dial-a-Phone, UK's no. 1 for Mobile Phones.

Toshiba may not be a name which springs to mind when considering high-end smartphones, but if it wasn’t before it will be now!  At an event in London this week, they unveiled the TG01, a stunning new touchscreen smartphone running Windows Mobile 6.1 and boasting a heavenly display!

It may be specced more like a pocket computer than mobile phone, but the Toshiba TG01 has been made with portability in mind as it has a slightly larger footprint than an iPhone 3G and measures a lithe 9.9mm thick!  The screen is a huge 4.1″ and has a resolution of 480×800 - that’s WVGA - and it’s surrounded by a very sleek casing pictured in both a gunmetal-grey and white.

Examining the TG01’s specification is fascinating.  It’s the first to use (more…)

Post from Dial-a-Phone, UK's no. 1 for Mobile Phones.

Motorola lost two and a half billion pounds last quarter.  That’s 2.5 GIGApounds.  When your loss figures need scientific notation to represent how much money you no longer have, you may be doing something wrong.  Or put another way, CEO Sanjay Jha could have toured England in a rocketship powered by burning three hundred pound notes a second and still not lost as much money.

Said CEO remains committed to the mobile market, saying “We are completely committed to making (more…)

Post from Dial-a-Phone, UK's no. 1 for Mobile Phones.

Most people today do at least a portion of their banking online. They pay their monthly bills automatically through online bill pay systems or check the status of their bank and credit card accounts online. If you’re not doing this yet then you’re behind the times. And if you’re really ready to catch up with the times, you probably need to go a step further and begin doing your banking from your mobile phone.

Mobile banking (also known as M-Banking and SMS-banking) is already popular in the Far East and it is rapidly beginning to take hold in both North America and Western Europe. It is predicted that these three markets of the world will make up seventy percent of the mobile banking user base within the next two years, a user base that is anticipated to be 150 million customers strong. It is further believed that 35% of (more…)

Post from Dial-a-Phone, UK's no. 1 for Mobile Phones.

When is the last time you lusted after a Toshiba? Their laptops are nice enough, but they're not drool-inducing, and they're not really known for sexy in the mobile phone arena, either.  Until now.

Early this morning Toshiba launched the TG01, what could be the first viable salvo across the iPhone's bow. Toshiba reps, in fact, went so far as to call the TG01, "faster, slimmer and better than the iPhone." When it launches this summer, the TG01 will be the first smartphone built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform.

Snapdragon has some awe inspiring specs, and should be more than enough to run Windows Mobile 6.1 ... or WM 6.5 should it launch by then:

• 1GHz CPU
• 600MHz DSP
•  Support for Linux® and Windows Mobile®
• WWAN, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity
• Seventh-generation gpsOne® engine for Standalone-GPS and Assisted-GPS modes, as well as gpsOneXTRATM Assistance
•  High definition video decode (720P)
•  3D graphics with up to 22M triangles/sec and 133M 3D pixels/sec
• High resolution XGA display support
• 12-megapixel camera
• Support for multiple video codecs
• Audio codecs: (AAC+, eAAC+, AMR, FR, EFR, HR, WB-AMR, G.729a, G.711 , AAC stereo encode)
• Support for Broadcast TV (MediaFLOTM , DVB-H and ISDB-T)

A 1GHz CPU? Are we talking about a phone or a netbook here?  One of Snapdragon's other benefits is that it allows for phones to be super-slim: The TG01 is 9.9-mm thin, to be exact.

As is all the rage these days, Toshiba created a custom skin to run on top of WindowsMobile - I'm going to call it "Stripes." With its huge 4.1 inch screen & the custom Stripes GUI, the TG01 looks downright touchable - not a claim most Win-Mo handsets can make.

The TG01 launches this summer on a yet unknown carrier.

Uh oh, this is not good for AT&T Mobility customers.  Benefits and compensation are two very important things to anyone in the work force, and if the latest news coming through the wire comes to fruition, AT&T's wireless sales representatives are set to strike on February 8th after what is described as the 'Mobility "Orange" contract' expires.  CWA's website is gearing up for the potential activity on the 8th, with the announcement that "picket signs are being sent out to every CWA Local with Mobility members as the February 7th expiration date approaches. With little progress at the bargaining table, every Local must be ready to walk, if necessary, to get some RESPECT from AT&T Mobility." 

Those are fightin' words.  We assume that indirect locations and national retailers will still provide AT&T sales, but should the strike occur, it will certainly place a nice dent in AT&T's wireless sales in a quarter that is already known to be a slow one.  More information on the strike can be found at CWA's website.

 

If you read this site regularly, you may have seen a post of mine referring to Astrid or Remember the Milk. I'm not going to rehash anything that's already been said - just follow the links if you're interested. But I thought it might be helpful to make a list of the available to-do lists, or personal task managers, and point out some of their strengths and weaknesses - as well as the changes they've seen since I last wrote about them.

Astrid is Google's official personal task manager for Android, and it shows. This app won me over with its rich features and navigable design a few weeks ago. It is the highest rated in the Market of all such apps, with 4.5 stars.

TooDo is a powerful organizer that has read/write synchronization with Remember the Milk and ToodleDo. My primary complaint with the program the last time I looked at it was unnecessary weight - I only wanted the RTM functionality. While there isn't an RTM-only functionality, significant changes have been made. The app now has a "lite mode" - where categories and context are disabled. It makes for a simple, light checklist. However, the "non-light" mode has become even more robust. With notification bar and color-coded LED integration, TooDo is looking better than ever. There's a bit of a learning curve, but if you are looking for an all-in-one solution, this is one is worth some of your time. TooDo has 3 stars in the market.

Tasks, by VNSN has 3 stars in the Market. The app's description points out its small size as a selling point (Tasks is free). It uses a two-level hierarchical system: lists and notes. You create a list, say "Homework," and you put notes within that list. It is simple, solid, and conforms to the user; rather than the other way around. I like this program.

Tag ToDo List by Teo stands out in the market. Not only can you tag your tasks as the name implies, you can record voice notes to your SD Card, draw graphical notes, and look at statistics. This is also a good one for people who love keyboard shortcuts. It comes with a task list for learning how to use the app, and has a polished, clean interface. Tag ToDo has 3 stars in the Market, but probably deserves more.

RTM ToDo Viewer has 2.5 stars in the Market, which would normally cause me to pass it by. But I am a supporter of Remember the Milk on all platforms and am happy to see someone is working on a dedicated Android client. It is currently read-only. The programmer, Marcel, started it for fun and learning. He did say he hopes to implement write functionality in the future. That would increase the ratings, for sure. RTM clients are available for your computer, and having them all sync up is great.

Doogle is another exception to my 3-stars-and-above-only rule, with 2.5. Here's why. Tasks include contact integration and hardware functions, like making a call at a certain time. It needs some time to mature, but I like the idea. I'll be looking for updates. Maybe we'll take a look back at this one later.

ToDo List Free is a demo with shoddy graphics and 3 stars. I wouldn't recommend this program. It is the only one on this list (that I know of) with a price. It is also the least deserving of your cash. Sorry, creators. I'm not sure what you're up to here.

So it seems that a couple of weeks ago, President Obama got his wish. No, I'm not talking about the inauguration. Shortly after that, the newly seated commander-in-chief got the green light to bring a smartphone into the Oval Office. The president joked that negotiations over this handset was "some of the toughest diplomacy of my life. And that was just to keep my BlackBerry."



As far as presidential addictions go, compared to sex or lying, I think CrackBerry habits aren't too shabby. Too bad that less than a week after the Big O won the fight over his handheld, a technical snafu crashed the whole White House email system. So much for a tech-savvy administration.

Since then, you may have seen the Obama/BlackBerry topic beaten into the ground, but here's an interesting take: Computerworld, of all places, ran a commentary called, "How President Obama's BlackBerry Threatens History."

In the article, author Mark Everett Hall worries about the president's electronic communications going undocumented for posterity, and how this would rob future generations of valuable insights during this historical presidency. When a commenter said this argument would then extend to all electronic communication, Hall affirmed that "my critique would entail all electronic media." (Seriously? Why is this running in Computerworld? Seems like a strange platform for these concerns.)

Take it easy, Mr. Hall. The Associated Press and others already reported that the Presidential Records Act, for which the National Archives must preserve presidential records, would cover this technology. In fact, this act also covers Michelle Obama's BlackBerry. (In the past, other presidents checked their email and mobile phones at the White House door because those messages were subject to court or Congressional subpoenas, as well as public records laws.)  

Recently, the New York Times covered the topic like a trendy accessory. Here's why: As part of the compromise to allay security concerns, President Obama must restrict communication to an extremely small list of contacts, including some senior staffers and a few personal friends. So, says the paper, having his email address has become the hot, new status symbol for Washington insiders. Controversial Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi doesn't have it, poor thing. And neither does Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. What about Biden? Well, yes of course. Otherwise, that would be like telling Robin he couldn't use the batphone.

If I had Obama's email address, I think my first message would be: "Sorry to hear about Daschle and Killefer :-(  Keep trying. The uninsured among us are rooting for you!" After all, even the leader of the free world could use a pep talk now and then, right? (Actually, I wonder if that isn't one of the reasons he fought so hard to keep it.)

By the way — If you're curious about the presidential pick for smartphone-in-chief, CIO tagged it as the BlackBerry 8830.



Photos via CIO

Go green. Reduce, recycle, reuse. Here comes the first (?) carbon neutral cell phone ever from Motorola and T-Mobile: the w233 MOTO RENEW. Check its green self out with Noah