Nokia N97 Cloned Year(s) Before Its Launch

We still don’t know that will Nokia ever launch the N97 or not, we still have no idea about its specifications or its features, we still have a doubt about weather it will have a 8MP camera or not? But there is one thing we know - The Chinese market have already launched a clone of the Nokia N97 year(s) before it will ever get in existence.

Its had hardly been a few days N96 have touched the world markets and here is the N97 clone from these Chinese markets. The rumored specifications of this non-existing phone are as follows:

• A WQVGA screen which still lacks the touch.
• A 8MP revolving camera.
• A VGA front camera.
• A DVD quality video recorder.
• Stereo Sound recorder.
• Carl Zeiss Optic with 3x Optical Zoom.
• Mini-USB 3.0/2.0
• Dedicated Music Keys.
• A Memory Card Slot.

The phone looks like hybrid of its predecessors N90 & N95. We don’t know anything about its price or its specifications but we have some pictures of the cloned phone.

The cloned phone nowhere matches the above rumored specifications of the original phone. So the Chinese model is not for us, hope Nokia doesn’t drop this good project. We will love to see the N97 with a Nokia badge when it finally comes out.

LG Dynamite KP199 Low Cost Phone Launched

Even though we may be seeing mobile phones with 8MP camera and very advanced features right now, there are people who still prefer simple phones. LG have made an addition to there Dynamite series with the launch of KP199. It is a low cost entry level handset especially made for the Indian audience, especially for those who are looking for a phone with less fancy features and more powerful battery.

This low cost handset still has a lot of nice features to impress the audience. The screen is 1.8 inch TFT with 128 X 160 pixels and 65k colors. It also comes with a simple VGA camera that can also record video. For entertainment purpose, it also has a music player along with FM Radio. Other features include Bluetooth, tri band GSM connectivity, Web Browser, SMS/MMS, USB etc. One unique feature of this phone is that it comes with Anti-theft Mobile Tracker. If anyone steals your phone and inserts a new Sim inside it, the phone will automatically send out messages to two prestored number mentioning the location and phone number of the Sim card. This will be repeated whenever the phone is used. The phone has an inbuilt memory of 60 MB which is also good considering the latest phones have memory of around 50 MB.

The LG KP199 is available at the price of Rs 4,390. Not a bad price to pay for simple phone with a lot of features.

N78 FM Transmitter Banned in many Regions

Nokia’s N78 is well known for its built-in FM Transmitter. The FM Transmitter is used for broadcasting Music on the go to your nearby FM Devices. This feature is surely loved by many people around the world but as far it comes to legal rules and regulations, Nokia has to disable this feature just because in some parts of World, Government does not allow FM Transmission without a license.

Nokia has not removed the hardware (FM Transmitter) from the device but it has been disabled in the firmware of the particular regions were it needs a licence. So either you have to buy these phone from outside of your region or go for gray market or you may go for NSS hack which means hacking your firmware thus voiding your warranty. So be careful about it and better go for hacks after your warranty.

I think its ridiculous and there is no point in banning these devices as their transmission range is very small which will hardly effect anything. So if you are planning to buy a N78, get yourself confirmed that FM Transmitter works in your region then get the weight out of your pocket. Those regions where it is blocked can get handset from their relatives from other region or may opt for the the gray market. If still nothing works for you check out the other options. Till now it is confirmed that FM transmitter is excluded in France, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Ireland and Italy!

Sony Ericsson G705 Slider Phone now Officially announced

A month ago, some information and photos of the Sony Ericsson G705 was leaked on the net. Now Sony Ericsson has made the news official about the G705 slider phone. The phone has everything one needs to keep track of daily activities, ranging from taking pictures, browsing the Internet.

It features a 2.4 inch screen, a full HTML browser and turbo 3G capabilities. It allows RSS feeds to be delivers directly to the phone’s desktop thus allowing someone to be directly updated on the news from around the world. It also a 3.2 MP camera with video capture. A built in FM radio and a 1 GB memory card allows users to listen to music and stay entertained. WiFi support allows users to easily share data and a full HTML browser with turbo 3G makes Internet browsing a pleasant activity. It also has integrated YouTube support allowing users to upload and download videos from video sharing site.

The phone will be available in selected markets from Q4 in Silky Gold and Majestic Black color. American market will get this from Q1 2009. Pricing is not yet announced.

Asus P552w Touch PDA Phone with Glide UI Launched

Asus is well known for there cheap Eee netbooks but this time they have launched Asus P552w PDA phone which comes with Glide - a new touch User Interface that has been developed by Asus which contains Asus Today, Anytime Launcher, EziPhoto and EziMusic. The phone is aimed towards tech professionals and has lots of good features.

First of all, its processor is very powerful and is one of the most powerful CPU on the market today with 624 MHz. For fast Internet browsing, file sharing, it comes with 3.5G HSDPA connectivity. Other connectivity options are Bluetooth, WLAN 802.11b/g, GPS and USB. It has a 2.8” inch TFT display with a 65k color screen. It comes with a with a set of applications which enables much easy entertainment experience. The EziPhoto enables users to Flip through there photos with a fingertip. The Calender options organizes and displays the thumbnail of photos users have taken according to the date.

Other than that, it has a 2 MP fixed focus camera and is powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 professional. The phone has a talk time of 3 hrs with 3G and 5 hrs with 2G and stand by time is of 300 hours. The pricing of the phone is yet to be released .

LG Launches Lotus Clamshell Fashionable Handset

LG has launched there new Lotus phone which is very stylish and has got a fashionable look. And why shouldn’t it be, it has been made in partnership with fashion designer Christian Siriano so it would be definitely make a style statement. The design is very unique and it looks like the phone may be targeted towards the ladies.

It is a flip phone and it opens up to a full QWERTY keyboard with a square design which seems a bit strange at first sight. It has a highly customizable user interface called One Click which makes sending SMS, accessing Internet, email etc much easier. Other than that, it has all the basic features such as a 2MP camera with video recording, external keys for music control, FM Radio, integrated GPS, stereo Bluetooth and microSD card support. It has a wireless backup feature for safekeeping the contact list in case it gets stolen. It has a pixel resolution of 176 X 220 and an internal display of 240 X 320 pixel resolution.

The phone will be launched in US exclusively with Sprint and it is highly unlikely that we are going to see it here in India. But who knows ?

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Coming in September

The highly anticipated slider from Sony Ericsson, Xperia X1 will be out come September 30th. Few days ago, there were rumours regarding the delay in shipment but everything is now clear and the phone will be released on September 30th. Now there is no reason to get happy immediately, the phone will initially be launched in UK, Sweden and Germany and by Q4 2008, it will be shipped to Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Since the phone is not going to have separate hardware versions, i guess the UK model will work anywhere. Looking at the features, it is powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system, has a 3 inch screen which also slides to reveal the keypad. The 3.2 MP camera comes with auto-focus, video recording and photo light capabilities. It will also come bundled with applications such as Microsoft Outlook Mobile, Microsoft Office Mobile, Internet Explorer Mobile etc. Other features include Windows Media Player, FM radio, support for 3d games etc.

The pricing of the Xperia X1 is not yet known. But atleast, the wait for its release is finally over. We may see it in India by the end of the year atmost.