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I wasn't happy to post about the death of the GTA-03 last month. It was hoped to be the hardware vehicle that would finally signal a consumer-ready combination of soft and hardware from the Openmoko team - a group whose work inspired me from the first time I read about them. I saw photos of the Neo1973 (below) in 2006 and eagerly awaited release, for a while. Learning of the company's recent downsize and redirection was a bit saddening, but not a surprise.

Openmoko, while presenting some promising concepts and demonstration videos, was plagued with perpetually pushed release windows, the encroaching obsolescence of each new device they embraced, and in a way, the enormous shadow cast by Apple. More specifically, the break-neck pace dictated by Jobs & Co's breathtaking strides in the cell phone market. Keeping up with the constantly changing standards put Openmoko off balance, and our current economic situation seemed to have finally tipped them over.

Fortunately, the company and the idea live on. Sean Moss-Pultz, CEO of Openmoko, reached out to everyone on the Openmoko mailing list on June 2nd; addressing the layoffs of May 25th and the future of the Openmoko software and the Freerunner (GTA-02):

"We've always said that the talent and creativity of those outside the
company is superior to that inside the company. We have stuck to these
principles. We've have opened up more than any other phone, from any
other company, in the history of this industry. Every time we chose
openness over internal control, we have been rewarded."

You can read the message in its entirety here. The nut of it is that the FreeRunner A7, along with the use of the Openmoko name, has been turned over to the community with Openmoko as a sponsor. It turns out that the little company that could has their collective eyes set on "an altogether different type of device." Will it run Openmoko? (Probably.) Maemo? Android? is it a MID? I don't have the answers to any of these questions, but I hope this means the company will rise from the ashes in a big way.

It's official. Early Summer is when we can expect the next US Android device from T-Mo. The US Sapphire/Magic, MyTouch 3G, whatever you want to call it - it is arriving soon. I got my paws on an Ion very recently. And even though most of you have seen it already, I thought I'd share some snaps. I had to take them very quickly with a Kodak Zi6 so you'll have to excuse the focus.

More info on why I was sitting in Starbucks with two G1s, an Ion, a Portlander in PR and a Chile-based entrepreneur will be posted soon.

Noah pits Apple's iPhone OS 2.2.1 vs Google's Android OS 1.5 in a QWERTY dogfight. Both platforms now offer virtual keyboards with auto-correct spelling. Which is the best to use? Find out what Noah thinks.

As if the announcement of the exciting M8910 Pixon12 wasn’t enough, Samsung have something else up their proverbial sleeve and due to the lengths they’re going to with promotion, it’s something special!  When visiting the Samsung Unpacked website, you’re greeted with a countdown - with just over 12 days on it at the time of writing - indicating how long we have to wait for all to be revealed!

To prolong the agony, Samsung are packing their latest creation into five boxes, and each box will be removed by a winner of their competition, until the phone is revealed.  If you’re in London, Singapore or Dubai, just fill in your details to be in with a chance of being one of these unboxers.  Oh, and there’s a $5000 prize plus the new phone to sweeten the deal even further.

So what is it, you may ask?  Samsung have put an x-ray style picture on the site, which gives away nothing, and on Friday the spec will be published, but until then this is a mystery.   Speculation about it being an Android phone is to be expected, while others are predicting the event will launch a series of new phones, rather than just one.

We’ll update you with the spec when they’re released, and would love to hear from anyone who gets to join this Samsung version of the YouTube unboxing video!  Until then, watch that countdown!

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

Though it looks kind of funny without the actual Palm Pre attached to it, it's nice to see that the accessories are being sold ahead of the official launch day.  Apparently, an associate at the Sprint store in Matthews, NC decided to sell the Touchstone charger and included back ahead of schedule - and for $50, to boot ($20 off of its regular price).  According to reports, the customer was given an incorrect price, and upon visiting the store, a price adjustment was made. 

The countdown to Saturday may still be on, but it's good to know that some accessories are able to be purchased early.

Source: Engadget Mobile

Ever since the pointed stick mankind’s mastery of technology has made things better for everyone: global communications networks, lifesaving medicines, yadda-bloody-yadda. Never mind all that garbage - where are our Death Rays?

1. The HumVee Laser Avenger

In awesome evidence that the US Army is now taking its cues directly from GI Joe, we present the HumVee* Laser Avenger.

The Laser Avenger, and that is such an awesome phrase that we’re banning use of the phrase “it” for the rest of the paragraph just so we can say Laser Avenger more, is an infrared laser weapon which burns targets with sustained blasts. The Laser Avenger can target smaller and trickier targets than conventional Surface-To-Air technologies designed back in the days planes had to hold pilots. Even better, the Laser Avenger isn’t a standalone system: Laser Goddamn Avenger replaces one of the missile pods on an existing twin-Stinger missile/heavy machine gun setup. After that, just remember to pick up the 4x score multiplier and aim for the glowing red weak point!

2. XASER

The Army might be good at blowing things up, which they should be since the entire definition of an army is basically “Colour-co-ordinated thing-blowing-up organisation”, but if you want some real Death Ray goodness you need a good solid mad scientist. Step forward SLAC (formerly the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) and the XASER, which sounds like something Skeletor would save up for a special crossover with Cobra Commander. How do we know SLAC is mad? They actually renamed themselves as just an acronym - that’s Evil Organisation Warning Sign #1 right there.

Yes, the XASER is an X-ray laser, or to put it another way: you know how you have to cover your privates in lead to avoid giving birth to (more…)

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

Nokia are ambitiously planning a simultaneous seventy-five country launch for their new N97.  It comes armed with a touch-screen, QWERTY keyboard, online store and it’s intentions couldn’t be clearer if it came with “We want this to beat the iPhone” laser-etched into the case.

What we don’t know is if Nokia have gotten any better at worldwide launches: the recent Ovi embarrassment, an attempt to launch their online store simultaneously across all territories (which did end up with all regions getting the same service - none, as the store crashed like a blind Formula One racer), is still fresh.  Those out to nab an N75, or just watching out for the potential fireball as the Ovi store is inundated with new users, will be able to fulfil their desires later this month.

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

Do you hear that fizzing sound?  That’s the sound of Samsung extinguishing Sony Ericsson’s fire, as scarcely had they taken the official wraps off the highly anticipated Satio camera phone when Samsung jumped in with the announcement of the Pixon12, their own 12 megapixel touchscreen monster.  But that’s not all, the Samsung offering will be out this month, while the Satio must hold on until the end of the year!

As the name suggests, the Pixon12 is the successor to the M8800 Pixon, but with a few surprises.  The Pixon is still a great phone, but its lack of Wi-Fi was a deal-breaker for some, however the Pixon12 will have no such problems as Samsung have included Wi-Fi this time, and added GPS to sweeten the package even further.  Once more, the phone will be a 3G handset with HSDPA, MicroSD card memory expansion and the now familiar TouchWiz user interface.

But it’s the camera which will be stealing hearts.  In addition to being 12 megapixels, it has a 28mm wide-angle lens, a xenon (yay!) and a power LED flash, geo-tagging, face detection and 30fps video recording.  Thanks to the Wi-Fi connection, uploading your snaps to your favourite social networking sites will be a breeze.  We have high expectations for the Pixon12’s performance as a camera, and can’t wait to try it out!  Finally, the screen on which all this goodness is displayed is a 3.1″ AMOLED touchscreen with a reported 10000:1 contrast!

Price has yet to be made public, but seeing as the Samsung M8910 Pixon12 is officially the first 12 megapixel camera phone on the market, we expect it to fly off the shelves almost regardless of its cost.

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

It's unlocked. It's sexy. And its media functions are perhaps more central to the identity of this phone than telephony. The Sony Ericsson W955a packs an 8.1 MP camera with stabilization for video and still images. Not only that, but it can actually detect smiles. The software is intuitive and snappy - despite all of the animations, which I found very cool. I'll be following up soon with some sort of written content to cover any details I might have missed in this hands on. I need a reason to post some pictures taken with this phone anyway.

Noah met with the Boost Mobile people and they sent him off with their new Motorola i465 Clutch. The Clutch is a small messaging phone with a full QWERTY board and a low, contract-free price. Is low cost worth low tech? Check it out for yourself.