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It must be Spring in the air, as Microsoft, Nokia and HTC are all getting their latest offspring ready for the big, wide world!  Over the past few days, we’ve been treated to the following release dates for some of 2009’s most exciting new products and as these are straight from the manufacturers, they’re as close to fact as they will get.

First up is Microsoft, who have given the official release date of the 11th May for Windows Mobile 6.5.  This date is significant as it’s also the first day of the TechEd conference held in Los Angeles, a Microsoft event where IT professionals get together to talk tech, so expect plenty of information to filter through between the 11th and 15th.

Next is Nokia, whose N97 has popped up on the Vodafone website with an ‘Expected July‘ tag, which seems to coincide with the rumoured end of June general release date to give that more weight too.  This is one phone we cannot wait for!  Finally, the delayed HTC Magic, the second mobile phone to be released running Google’s Android operating system, has also had its 5th May release date confirmed by Vodafone , so it look like we have a very exciting few months ahead of us!

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

No, that title’s not a genital joke, it’s the exact opposite: something good.  The Spring Hong Kong Electronics Fair displayed several mobile phones equipped with ultrasmall projector abilities.  Here at Dial a Phone we pride our selves in objective, impartial reporting of recent advances, which is why we feel secure in saying: Holy hell wow!  POCKET PROJECTORS!

Of course everything isn’t entirely awesome, as anyone who’s ever bought the first generation of anything, ever, will tell you (rumor has it the first model of the wheel still had corners).  The available models (JP77, WE8626, and the LitPhone - and no, none of them are by companies you’ve heard of) make you choose between wall projection of documents and files, or displaying moving files - specifically, moving files designed for mobile phone resolutions.  Which you may recognise as barely good enough when two inches across, never mind spread over an entire wall with pixels the size of wallets.

Even so, this advance guard of electronics does promise something great: the generation of phones that comes after them and starts to get it right.

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

Mobile phones are the new sneakers. Remember back when all of the newspapers were reporting headlines about kids being beaten up or even murdered by others for their shoes? Well it appears that cell phones are the new shoes today. Scan through the local news headlines for stories related to mobile phones and you’ll see that a large percentage of these stories are about criminals who are attacking individuals on the street and stealing their phones. Are mobile phones the hot new commodity on the streets? And does this mean that we have to be worried about violence if we’re using our cell phones in public?

Let’s take a closer look at some of the stories that have shown up in the headlines recently to gain a better understanding of what type of risks we’re facing when we carry mobile phones and how to better protect ourselves against these types of criminals:

Mobile Phone Robberies

The most common type of mobile phone crime seems to be the straightforward robbery in which the criminal approaches the victim and takes his or her mobile phone away. One example of this happened recently in Ohio where a woman was in her car when she was approached by (more…)

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

One of the biggest news stories this week in the mobile phone industry was the announcement of a new EOS concept phone by Kyocera that brings an innovative new design style to the table and could inspire future handset makers in a myriad of ways. The unique design and the advanced features of this phone could make it the kind of thing that we’re likely to see a lot more of in the future assuming that the designers can work out some of the kinks associated with it. Although phones based on this original concept in the future will likely differ greatly from this one, the basic idea of the phone could definitely serve as a launching point for the handset designers of tomorrow. The three key features of note on this new phone are its flexible OLED display, its smart shape memory buttons and its use of kinetic energy power to self-charge.

Flexible OLED Display

The main design feature of interest with the new Kyocera EOS phone is the fact that it is flexible and can therefore be folded into different shapes. This is possible because the material that the phone is made from is a soft but semi-rigid polymer screen. This allows the phone to be converted into different shapes and yet to hold those shapes during use. In the case of this particular phone, the phone is folded up to approximately the shape of (more…)

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

It has been delayed time and time again, however it appears that the Nokia E71x may finally be arriving on AT&T store shelves.  According to recent AT&T service manuals, the launch date is targeted for May 4th for $99.99 on a two-year agreement after a mail-in rebate.



The guys over at Nokia Experts have obtained several leaked documents, including a Datasheet, Getting Started Guide, User Guide, FAQ, Tips and Tricks, and a Job Aid for AT&T employees.  Now will it actually stay on the shelves this time?  That's anyone's guess.

In their attempt to prepare for what is likely a new iPhone this summer, AT&T is offering refurbished 16GB Apple iPhone 3G's in black and white for $149.00 online.  Of course, a two-year agreement is required, while we're not sure whether the new customer clause applies, the offering is limited to one per household.  Factory refurbished or not, the offering is quite a deal. 

Now, the real game will be predicting what comes in June...



Source: BGR

More silly stuff to start the week: A carrier pigeon nabbed at a high-security prison in Bogota, Colombia had — get this — a little suitcase with cell phone parts attached to its back.



The local police think this and other winged smugglers are probably being raised inside the facility, so they can go fetch device components on the outside and bring them home. As for this little contraband carrier, it has become a real jailbird in custody at an animal shelter. Meanwhile, according to statements from local authorities, officials don't hold out much hope that they can prevent the problem in the future.

They may not be the only ones who wish they could stuff these birds. Apparently, two other pigeons were plucked a few weeks ago doing the same thing in Brazil. (One was discovered with cell phone parts in a small bag tied around its leg. The next day, another pigeon was caught with the cell's charger.)

Didn't I see this on a Saturday morning cartoon once? That it's real life just boggles the mind. But the question I have is, if cons are brilliant enough to devise and implement such a crazy scheme, how in the heck did they get caught and end up prison?



[CNN.com and Switched.com via Engadget]