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It won't win any awards in the originality department, but the Samsung Messager II marks yet another entry into the text-centric dumbphone arena. Billed by its creator as "much cooler" than the original, the Messager II offers a 2-megapixel camera, sliding QWERTY keyboard, MP3 player, stereo Bluetooth, 3G, and up to four hours of talk time. It is available through MetroPCS and Cricket for $149 and $200, respectively.
So, if you're in a MetroPCS or Cricket area, pick one up, give it a go, and let us know what you think!
I never thought I would see the day. BlackBerry users, you and I rock some of the most advanced handsets on the planet, yet we've always been missing something so useful - something that other platforms have seamlessly integrated into their various user interfaces while we've sat on the sidelines, patiently waiting. That something is threaded text messaging. BlackBerry addicts across the world have undoubtedly shaken their heads each time a new OS version launches without such a simple tool.
OS 5.0.0.190, which was leaked for the Bold and Curve 8900 late last night by Crackberry user TimBuk2, offers threaded messaging. Yes, you read it right. It offers threaded text messaging. With looks quite similar to the BlackBerry Messenger interface, it also appears to inform you (in the bottom part of the screen) when you receive a message from someone else - much like BlackBerry Messenger does. Tour users, you aren't completely left in the dark; 5.0.0.140 is available for you. Sure, it's a bit older (and has a few bugs, according to Crackberry), but at least it's available. And of course, we can't forget the Storm owners out there, with OS 5.0.0.154.
The beta OS versions can be downloaded below. Keep in mind that these are beta OS releases, and as a result, are not guaranteed by PhoneDog, BlackBerry, or your wireless carrier. Should you choose to download them, you do so at your own risk. That being said, those that are hesitant to download, worry not - I plan on downloading this as soon as I can, and I will report back with initial findings and first impressions. It's a great day to be a BlackBerry user!
(Ed. Note: These must be downloaded and installed through the BlackBerry Desktop Manager)
Andrei Melnikov didn’t turn it on. He knew he didn’t turn it on. It wasn't a ghost, and he didn’t think it was a figment of his imagination; he had the melted meat thermometer as proof. So the super and a handyman were called in to help him figure out what happened. After some tinkering and testing, they discovered the issue: Melnikov’s cell turns on his Magic Chef Maytag oven when it rings. In fact, three other units in the Brooklyn apartment building have the same appliance (Maytag Model CGR1425ADW), and his phone activated all of them.
Experts pin this on electromagnetic interference. Kitchen electronics are susceptible to it, just like other gadgets, including baby monitors, radios and heart pacemakers. (People with pacemakers are even urged not to pocket mobile phones near their implants.) I think it's like that annoying thing that happens when your cell’s too close to your speakers. But instead of irritating staticky beeps piercing the air, the oven switches on without your knowledge.
The fluke doesn’t appear to affect all electronically controlled ovens, though. Melnikov’s phone worked on other Magic Chefs, but it didn’t do a thing to GE ovens.
Well, that’s just great. When the bizarre sitch occurs, this brand of oven seemingly loves the broiler and goes straight to the highest setting. Yikes. (I have a pal whose aversion to cooking resulted in hers becoming extra apartment storage. All that stuff would be toast… J: if you’re reading this, take the shoes out of the oven — NOW.)
Chalk it up to a side effect of today’s modern lifestyle. As time goes on, and technology integrates itself into more products, there may be even more reports of weird, random things happening. So if your oven turns on all of a sudden or your vacuum magically starts running itself, check to see if your cell phone is around before calling Jay and Grant from Ghost Hunters.
Want to see this in action? Click here to go straight to the vid of The New York Times duplicating this with Melnikov.
By the way, if you’re curious to know what happened, city fire marshals visited the home to see a demo, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission is requesting more info from Melnikov on the issue. As for Maytag, the company states that its appliances meet safety standards from the Underwriters Laboratory and the American National Standards Institute. Even so, it’s offered to replace the unit with a new one and is taking the problem oven back to the labs for testing.
First, the Sprint Touch Pro2, and now these - September 8th seems to be the day to launch new devices, and according to BGR, the Samsung Rogue and Intensity will be hitting Big Red just in time for the fall shopping season.
As the replacement to the Glyde, the Samsung Rogue will offer a sliding QWERTY keyboard, complete with a touchscreen, 3-megapixel camera, GPS, and 3G. Expect to spend $99.99 out the door after a $100 mail-in rebate. Up next is the Samsung Intensity, which for all intensive purposes (no pun intended) is nothing but a relatively boring entry-level device - save for the dual keypads, 1.3-megapixel camera, and Bluetooth. Should rumors pan out, it will be $29.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate.
For $199.99 before rebate, the Rogue is a bit steep in regards to pricing - is anyone going to drop the cash for it when they can get a BlackBerry Storm, iPhone, or Palm Pre for around the same price? Source: BGR
I admit it: I have serious overload issues about navigating the App Store. (I even blogged about it way back in February, ) At this point, there are more than 65,000 entries in there. And that's just for the iPhone/iPod Touch. Factor BlackBerries, Android phones, and soon Pres, etc., and that's just a mountain of mobile phone software getting churned out.
When it comes to the iPhone, ReadWriteWeb says 46% of users rely on app recommendations from friends. That seems like a big proportion, given how many news outlets and blogs cover this (including ours, occasionally). But despite all those reviews, nearly half of iPhone users still depend on "word-of-mouth" from pals.
Now, there's a new program that's designed to make this referral process easier (or at least more fun).
AppsFire This program lets you share your favorite apps in just a few clicks. The service provides a link to a custom webpage that can be shared easily via email on the handset or a desktop browser, or from the web page itself via email or social networks.
When visitors hit any of the icons on the webpage's huge iPhone graphic, it launches iTunes and takes them to the product page in the App Store. (Hmm. I wonder how long it will be before having the coolest apps becomes a status symbol?) The service also has several top app lists to browse, in case you need other suggestions.
AppVee This one may not be a new app (it launched last year), but it's still handy for checking out video reviews of other apps on the go. AppVee lets users search vids by category or keyword, or browse the Top 20 list. And it seems especially useful when an AppsFire link arrives from a friend.
Say I'm away from home while checking out a pal's favorite apps. If there's one I'm interested in, but want more info before buying, I can search AppVee for the hands-on demo before downloading it to my phone. Sure, I can wait until I get home, but chances are, I'll forget by then. I'd rather just do it when I have a few minutes to kill (and, hopefully, public Wifi access).
Good stuff, both of them. But they're not quite perfect. AppsFire requires a desktop download (Mac 10.5+ or Windows) and hasn't yet managed to catalog all the apps on my phone. As for AppVee, the videos are a little dry, and the selection doesn't cover everything I'm interested in. But for iPhone apps designed to help you discover... well, other iPhone apps, these aren't bad, despite these nitpicky issues. And they're both free, which is always a plus.
To check out the iTunes pages for these, click here for AppsFire and here for AppVee.
Nokia just announced the new 5230, a touchscreen phone that looks similar to a 5800 XpressMusic, but strips away some features to put it in an affordable price range.
Known simply as "5230" without the XpressMusic moniker, the phone also shows some other important differences from the 5800, including a downgraded camera (2MP instead of 3) and no Wifi. But Nokia still plugs it as a social networking and music device, capable of location-aware services and 33 hours of playback time.
Other specs include a 3.2-inch (360×640) display, aGPS, full-screen QWERTY keyboard, 3.5mm jack, 70MB of internal memory and microSD support up to 16GB. It's also 3G-ready with full HSDPA support — dual-band 3.6Mbps UMTS/HSDPA (850/1900, 850/2100 and 900/2100).
The 5230 also comes in a choice of back-cover colors: red, pink, blue, yellow, silver and dark silver. It's slated to launch this Q4 2009 (TechTree guesses it will arrive around October) for 149 Euros, or $213 USD.
We won’t know for sure until Nokia finally give in and announce the thing, but this shot of the N97 Mini does look suitably convincing. The French website who initially published the picture claim the phone will run S60 5th edition and feature a 3″ screen, 8 or 16GB of internal memory and be drastically cheaper than the pricey N97.
It was back at the end of July the rumoured N97 Mini took on a life of its own, thanks to a picture showing it next to the full-size N97. With this new photo and an extensive write-up over at Mobile Review, we are all having to wait until Nokia World 09 taking place on the 2nd and 3rd of September, where presumably Nokia will make it official.
However, any interest in the N97 Mini could be lost in the excitement if Nokia go ahead and debut their N900 phone/tablet, which will be running the Maemo 5 OS - no more Symbian here - and have the 5 megapixel camera from the N97, a sliding QWERTY keyboard and 32GB storage. This is set to be one of the biggest mobile stories of the year, so stay tuned for news as soon as we get it!
Post from Dial-a-Phone, UK's no. 1 for Mobile Phones.
Mini USA haven taken technology one step closer to “press a button and fix all problems”, with a new iPhone app able to call assistance for any automobile incident. You might say that someone with a phone doesn’t actually need help calling for help, but the clever app connects with the phone’s GPS and automatically uploads your location and allows you to identify your problem from a menu.
No more calling, waiting on response, attempting to describe “sort of thirty miles past Manchester going north near a bridge” - just an instant distress call and help is on the way. Alas, the application is only in the US for now but it’s inconceivable that such a convenient program will remain unadapted for long.
Post from Dial-a-Phone, UK's no. 1 for Mobile Phones.
We won’t know for sure until Nokia finally give in and announce the thing, but this 
Mini USA haven taken technology one step closer to “press a button and fix all problems”, with 
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