Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Remember that Apple patent that we eyed back in early September? You know, the one that patented the merging of various electronic devices into a single gadget? Well, it’s back and better than ever before — it’s an update to U.S. patent application Serial No. 11/367,749, and is entitled “Multi-Functional Hand-Held Device.” So how’s this patent different from the last time? It’s not, really, but it provides a fair bit more detail written in that cryptic legalistic prose that we’ve come to know and love; it describes and displays the new interface, which may include various triggers along the edge of the bezel: “By way of example, the visual guides 180 in FIG. 4 include ‘Menu,’ ‘Power,’ ‘Left,’ ‘Select,’ ‘Right,’ etc. It will be appreciated that the visual guides 180 and their arrangement depicted in FIG. 4 are only exemplary. More or fewer visual guides 180 may be provided, and the size of the visual guides 180 can be larger or smaller than the scale depicted in FIG. 4.” Further, there’s a new portrait and landscape option described, handy for viewing photos or watching episodes of “Lost” while on the bus. But even the music-playing core of the iPod will get a makeover, coming in with an on-screen time slider, volume control, and other options that seem to be user-defined and customizable. We’ve still got questions as we did last time concerning prior art, but perhaps these newer details fill in the gaps. All in all, it would appear that the true video iPod (with possible cell phone or GPS add-ons) is still on the drawing board at this point, and it remains to be seen how these illustrations translate into reality. We’ve got some more patent diagrams of that portrait/landscape view and of the new “now playing” interface on the flip side, hot off the patent filing presses.

[Via MacNN]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc. Gadgets

If you’re the type who already has, say, a de-badged PSP-controlled Honda Civic in your driveway, you probably dig that clean, smooth look on all your gadgetry. We can’t say we blame you, and even Dell has admitted it doesn’t like those goofy stickers defacing your electronic property. The brave souls over at Instructables have successfully devised a method to remove the glued-on logos that grace the faceplate of your cellphone and PDA, and the main ingredient is sugar. Apparently all you have to do is tape around those critical parts where you don’t want sugar crystals meandering in (read: screens, keypads, etc.), and then get that wrist a moving. By using as many blocks of sugar cubes as necessary for removal, you simply scrub away the unwanted logos and replace any worn tape as needed — the secret lies in sugar’s ability to grind away the stick-ons, while lacking the abrasiveness required to scratch the casing of most mobile devices. If you can’t wait to wipe your devices clean of branding and model numbers (while potentially voiding the warranties), be sure to hit the read link for a full step by step guide, or check out the sweet (ahem) video of the defacing in progress.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Wearables, Wireless

Filed under: Handsets, Others

Alright, dear readers, you know the drill: proceed with caution. We have no confirmation here, but sometimes a tip is too juicy not to share, no matter how suspect it might be. A reader is reporting to us that a coworker’s tech-unsavvy friend, who is regularly hired by Apple to do marketing photo shoots, was recently brought on to take some shots of “the sleekest, sexiest damn phone he’s ever seen.” The launch date? “Some time in August.” Yeah, not a typo — August. Now, to be perfectly clear, we don’t know what the iPhone (if it exists) will be actually called, we’ve never seen a real pic of the elusive beast, and this doesn’t really jive with the time frame suggested by Peter Oppenheimer’s recent comments — but we want to believe, and we don’t have to wait very long for this one to get debunked or confirmed.

[Thanks, Frazer]

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Wearables, Wireless

Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Others

Apple’s been dogged with rumors of an iPod / phone hybrid (the real deal, not a rehash of a Moto E398 with iTunes support) for nearly as long as the iPod’s been kickin’ around. Apparently looking to beat the dead horse yet again, an analyst mentioned Sony’s success with their Walkman line of music-oriented phones during Apple’s Q3 earnings call, prompting CFO Peter Oppenheimer to respond with a fairly solid non-denial: “As regards cell phones, we don’t think that the phones that are available today make the best music players. We think the iPod is. But over time, that is likely to change. And we’re not sitting around doing nothing.” Knowing Apple, of course, this is about the biggest admission we’ll get until the iPhone actually drops, so relish in the moment, keep your eyes peeled in a year or so, and if you’re really hard up, you could fashion your own, like the pictured Nokia 6682 makeover.

[Via MacDailyNews]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation

We’ve heard the word that hands-free setups don’t make cellphone driving any safer, but this new study comparing phone use to driving under the influence seems like it’s taking things a bit far. Apparently some new research, using a driving simulation device as to not expose any real drivers to the dangers of those who talk, is showing cellphone users to be as bad or worse than the average drunk driver. Forty volunteers used the simulator, taking turns trying it undistracted, with a handheld phone, with a handsfree device and while blowing a 0.08 blood-alcohol level — the average level of impairment in the US. Three participants ended up rear-ending the car in front of them, and all three were talking on the phone, not drunk. The study noticed little difference between hands-free and handheld phone talkers, and found they were 9 percent slower to hit the breaks, and varied their speed more than normal drivers. Drunk drivers would drive slower, yet more aggressively, and all three groups were under the impression that they weren’t impaired. We’d still rather have a talker behind the wheel than a drunk, especially when the blood-alcohol level shoots past 0.08 — as it tends to do — but we’re guessing legislators will see otherwise and jump at the chance to clamp down on conversationalists.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, Peripherals

While mobile companies are doing their best to make cellphones as sleek and futuristic as possible, retro junkies keep taking them apart and turning them into ironic, yet functional, pieces of art like these. The first mod, from Grooveking.com, makes an old Motorolla DynaTAC 8000X or “Zack Morris phone” into a Bluetooth headset, that’ll get 8-times the juice of a normal battery. The second project, from DIYHappy.com, takes an old NES controller (which has already gotten the Bluetooth treatment in the past) and fills it with the guts of a Nokia 3200 – yes, the American Idol phone. You need a little technical know-how to make these for yourself, but after you get the hang of it, all of your gadgets might end up crammed into NES controllers. Sadly, the Nokia 3200 doesn’t have Bluetooth so you won’t be able to use these two devices together, but we look forward to the future when our Xbox 360 controllers and Treos are turned into seemlessly-integrated retro kitsch.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Culture, Handsets

Filed under: Cellphones

For anyone who puts much stock those reports of cellphone radiation causing cancer, we recommend you set down your Moto and back slowly away. Turns out Motorola managed to score the top eight spots in a list by CNET of phones with the highest radiation levels -- as tested by the FCC. The phones are rated by SAR level, which measures the quantity of radio frequency asbsorbed by the body. Of course, a lot of these phones are nearly a decade old, but the two-month-old C290 makes an appearance, and the list is headed by the SLVR L6 at a whopping SAR level of 1.58W/kg (1.6W/kg is the max allowed). This could have something to do with the light weight of a phone like the SLVR -- though Palm's much heftier 650 managed a 9 spot -- but we're cooking up a few conspiracy theories right now if that turns out not to be the case. In all fairness, the top ten lowest-radiation phone list had a couple Motorola appearances, with the Audiovox PPC66001 leading the group at a SAR level of 0.12. Now where did we put that aluminum foil hat...

[Via Healthbetold]

Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation

We’re not usually the crazy protester types who’d brave the cold and firehoses for something silly like woman’s suffrage, (Just kidding! We love you ladies!) but we’re all ready to get out tempera paint and signage for what seems like a pretty steep rights issue in Lawrence, Kansas. Seems they’re trying to best all those current cellphone laws on the books — most of which require a handsfree device to use your phone in the car — and want to ban phones while driving altogether. “If you pass a ban that just prohibits the hand-held devices, you’re sending a message that the hands-free devices are safe, and that is false,” said Paul Atchley of Kansas University, an proponent of the bill. Seems a little bit of shaky reasoning to us, but we’re no professor. T-Mobile has spoken out against the ban, stating: “We think there are distractions just as great. I suppose if you also want to ban McDonald’s coffee and kids in the back seat, then we wouldn’t oppose it.” We say amen to that, and just dare the Mayor of Lawrence to take our phone away from our cold dead fingers — after we roll our SUV during a particularly heated conversation, of course.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Cellphones

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Sony Ericsson, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

Sony Ericsson has yet another Walkman phone lined up for Q3 launch with the W710 clam for active types. As such, the W710 features a motion sensor and slew of fitness applications which can be managed from both the internal 176 x 220 TFT and 128 x 128 external STN displays to measure running speed, distance and time, or simply count steps back and forth to the Twinkie source. It ships with a 512MB Memory Stick Micro card (expandable up to 1GB) and features a standard 3.5mm jack, RDS FM radio, 2 megapixel shooter, MusicID service, Bluetooth (A2DP stereo audio not specified), and measure in at about 1-inch thick and 3.6-ounces. And just in case you'll be using it to make calls, it goes quad-band GSM with EDGE support meaning this device is also a US athletic supporter. More snaps after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Cellphones

Sony just announced their new W850 Walkman cellphone and this baby's hot. Available in black or white as designs tend to go these days, this tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 slider also delivers UMTS 2100. It comes pre-loaded with the latest Walkman 2.0 player 2.0 with TrackID allowing you to lookup and identify recorded music samples via the Gracenote Mobile MusicID service. Not only that, but it ships with a 1GB of Memory Strick PRO Duo'in storage (with up to 4GB supported) and features a horizontal mode 2 megapixel shooter with LED light. Rounding out the features are a 2-inch QVGA TFT 260k color display, RDS FM Stereo radio, and Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP stereo audio. No price but we can expect these to ship sometime Q3 2006... in Europe. More pics after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Sony Ericsson, GSM, GPRS, UMTS

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Cellphones

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Portable Audio, Wearables

The designers at Thomas Pink must get their iPods jacked on a regular basis, because they’ve followed up on their nano-concealing tie with the “Commuter Shirt” that hides your DAP, cellphone, or PDA under even more clothing, and includes a second secret spot under one cuff for storing your credit cards. We’re assuming that the demand for this shirt stems from the fact that today’s mugger regularly reads Engadget, and is easily able to identify and snatch that signature pink tie right off the necks of unsuspecting businessmen. The less-flashy blue or white “Commuter Shirt” should help alleviate this problem somewhat by tucking that ‘Pod into an inner pocket by the wearer’s stomach, with built-in channeling to ensure snag-free movement. Now, if they can only figure out a way to hide that crease and lump in your shirt which muggers will soon be looking for on everyone not wearing a pink tie.

[Via GigaOm and TUAW]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video

href="http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/apple_files_patent_for_wireless_ipod_with_ringtones_micro_browser"> vspace="4" hspace="4" border="0" align="right" alt="" src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/05/Apple-patent-phone.jpg"
/>Time for another peek into the Apple patent
catalog for some gool ol’ speculation into that mysterious product pipeline which Steve Jobs called the “ href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/27/apple-has-media-center-contender-in-the-works/">best I’ve ever seen in my
life.” This time, a patent titled “reservation of digital media items” filed waaay back in December
2004 (but only published this week on the USPTO website) has broken free. Like the filing for the href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/04/apple-patents-audio-user-interface/">audio interface seen yesterday, this
patent again describes a system relying on the relative computing strength and fast network access of a PC / Mac
working together with a second, portable wireless device. This time however, the “portable wireless device”
is used to browse and then tag an item of interest from an “online media store” with the PC / Mac then being
used to purchase or preview the tagged item at a later time. The patent specifically references eBooks and ring tones
as some of the items of interest for download by a cellphone or wireless PDA. Now, If you’re a believer then this is
just further confirmation of that oft rumored and href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/22/benq-confirms-iphone/">all but href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/19/morgan-stanley-analysts-claim-apple-is-at-work-on-iphone/">confirmed href="http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/30/did-zander-just-confirm-the-apple-iphone/">iPhone. Or perhaps it’s just
insight into an extension of that crippled Moto
partnership. We don’t know. However, these filings do give some insight into Apple’s views on the continued importance
of synchronization between future portable devices and the PC/Mac digital hub.

[Via href="http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-6068654.html?part=rss&tag=6068654&subj=news">c|net News]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Culture

In a decision being touted by prosecutors as a major victory in the war on inmate cellphone usage, jurors slapped Texan Michael Manor with a surprising 40-year sentence for what they considered the very serious crime of possessing a cellphone in prison. Manor, who was already serving 32 years on auto theft charges, was not even charged with using the phone for criminal purposes; rather, the long sentence comes as a result of a new zero-tolerance cellphone policy in the Texas prison system, where the offense was recently given third-degree felony status. Corrections offers are also a target of the crackdown, with prosecutors promising to bring offenders in front of juries instead of offering them probation, although there are concerns that the stricter penalties may actually make smuggling appear more lucrative.

[Via textually]

Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, T-Mobile, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/04/motorola_q_verizon.jpg" />

Alright Q fans, we’ve got some good news
for you. We’ve received word that Verizon and href="http://www.engadget.com/search/?q=motorola">Motorola are holding a joint news conference in New York this May
22nd — no, not May 22nd 2007, though we should qualify that — to announce the Q. We know, wipe the look of shock off
your face; we don’t really have much more info to give you than that, but really, what more do you need? By this point
you’re either completely sick of hearing about this thing, or have some insane pent up urge to get one, so for the
latter crowd: keep your eyes and ears tuned to May 22nd.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, Nokia

src="http://www.engadgetmobile.com/media/2006/04/l_os_n93-7.jpg" />

hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.engadgetmobile.com/media/2006/04/l_os_n93-5.jpg" />

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://www.engadgetmobile.com/media/2006/04/l_os_n93-4.jpg" />

hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.engadgetmobile.com/media/2006/04/l_os_n93-2.jpg" />

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://www.engadgetmobile.com/media/2006/04/l_os_n93-1.jpg" />

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, Nokia

Nokia has been gaining a bit of a reputation for being on the chubby side of the thin phone wars. So the 14-mm slim, 6126 flip which the FCC just approved, still passes for thin these days in the Nokia camp of plumpsters. Other than the 32MB flash and 16MB RAM we now know this thing packs, the filing doesn't tell us more than we already knew: quad-band GSM/EDGE, a 2.2-inch, 320 x 240 external display, 1.3 megapixel cam, and microSD slot for storage expansion. Worth the wait we guess, if you're a Symbian Series 40 fan.

Filed under: Studies

With most people unconvinced or just plain agnostic about conflicting reports regarding cellphone radiation leading to cancer, researchers have decided to turn their gaze to the important topic of... indecisiveness? Turns out an Australian study points to electromagnetic radiation from your mobile phone as an impairment to your ability to make snap decision, such as when driving a car. It seems quite obvious that talking on a phone can and does make people worse drivers, but these findings seem to come from study participants who were given straight up radiation, so they shouldn't have been distracted by a conversation during tests. Another interesting finding of the study was that the participants showed a slight improvement in working memory, such as remembering a phone number long enough to dial it. Other than a few scientific high fives, we can't imagine these findings making much of a societal impact, but it's always good to know.