Filed under: Handsets, Nokia, GSM, EDGE

Unless you’re talking about S60 5th Edition, the terms “Nokia” and “touch” don’t typically go together in the same sentence — but over in China, stylus-based touchscreens make a heck of a lot more sense for character input than they do in locales with with Latin character sets. Following the bizarre (by Nokia standards, anyway) 6208c, the company’s now rolled another China-only Series 40 model modified for on-screen character recognition in the form of the 3208c candybar. It’s got EDGE, a QVGA display, and a 2-megapixel cam — nothing to write home about there — but on the plus side it features a 3.5mm headphone jack, that aforementioned trick touchscreen, and if you squint hard enough, it sorta looks like an N79. Of course, the dilemma of whether to sink the cash for it will never enter most buyers’ minds; it’ll never see the light of day outside China’s domestic market, where it’ll be launching in the fourth quarter.

[Via GSMArena]

Nokia’s 3208c proves Series 40 can be touch-friendly, too originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Nokia, GSM, EDGE

Unless you’re talking about S60 5th Edition, the terms “Nokia” and “touch” don’t typically go together in the same sentence — but over in China, stylus-based touchscreens make a heck of a lot more sense for character input than they do in locales with with Latin character sets. Following the bizarre (by Nokia standards, anyway) 6208c, the company’s now rolled another China-only Series 40 model modified for on-screen character recognition in the form of the 3208c candybar. It’s got EDGE, a QVGA display, and a 2-megapixel cam — nothing to write home about there — but on the plus side it features a 3.5mm headphone jack, that aforementioned trick touchscreen, and if you squint hard enough, it sorta looks like an N79. Of course, the dilemma of whether to sink the cash for it will never enter most buyers’ minds; it’ll never see the light of day outside China’s domestic market, where it’ll be launching in the fourth quarter.

[Via GSMArena]

Nokia’s 3208c proves Series 40 can be touch-friendly, too originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Nokia

Nokia’s latest mystery device to hit the FCC, the RM-550 “Alvin,” holds itself in some good company given the known specs. Its 32GB internal memory is matched only by Espoo’s other flagship devices N97 and N900, and it’s also got the same BL-5J battery as the aforementioned pseudo-MID. Throw in quad-band GSM, tri-band WCDMA, Bluetooth, and WiFi, and you’ve got our interests piqued. The confidentiality agreement of the filing gives no indication of when we might hear more details, but we’re gonna go ahead and start preparing ourselves mentally for yet another resistive touchscreen.

[Via Unwired View; thanks, Me]

Nokia’s 32GB Alvin RM-559 hits FCC, Simon 561 and Theodore 563 nowhere to be found originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Nokia

Nokia’s latest mystery device to hit the FCC, the RM-550 “Alvin,” holds itself in some good company given the known specs. Its 32GB internal memory is matched only by Espoo’s other flagship devices N97 and N900, and it’s also got the same BL-5J battery as the aforementioned pseudo-MID. Throw in quad-band GSM, tri-band WCDMA, Bluetooth, and WiFi, and you’ve got our interests piqued. The confidentiality agreement of the filing gives no indication of when we might hear more details, but we’re gonna go ahead and start preparing ourselves mentally for yet another resistive touchscreen.

[Via Unwired View; thanks, Me]

Nokia’s 32GB Alvin RM-559 hits FCC, Simon 561 and Theodore 563 nowhere to be found originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, CDMA

Outside of the occasional heavy-handed bout of carrier locking and regional band incompatibilities, GSM customers around the world benefit from one huge technical advantage over CDMA: network independence. That’s the problem the CDMA Development Group has been trying to solve with the introduction of the Open Market Handset initiative, and Sammy is now the first manufacturer in the world to roll out OMH-compliant gear. The Mpower 699’s appearance and forgettable specs belie its ground-breaking guts, looking pretty much like any other low-end Samsung slider of the past few years — but inside is an R-UIM slot that allows the phone to be used on any CDMA carrier in India where it’s being launched for 7,100 rupees (about $145). If you’re not happy with what you see here, fret not — Sammy’s promising a total of five more OMH phones in India by early next year, so it looks like this is the wave of the CDMA future. LTE aside, don’t count these guys out — CDMA’s going to be around for a very long time to come.

[Via Unwired View]

Samsung’s Mpower 699 makes Open Market Handset initiative a reality in India originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, CDMA

Outside of the occasional heavy-handed bout of carrier locking and regional band incompatibilities, GSM customers around the world benefit from one huge technical advantage over CDMA: network independence. That’s the problem the CDMA Development Group has been trying to solve with the introduction of the Open Market Handset initiative, and Sammy is now the first manufacturer in the world to roll out OMH-compliant gear. The Mpower 699’s appearance and forgettable specs belie its ground-breaking guts, looking pretty much like any other low-end Samsung slider of the past few years — but inside is an R-UIM slot that allows the phone to be used on any CDMA carrier in India where it’s being launched for 7,100 rupees (about $145). If you’re not happy with what you see here, fret not — Sammy’s promising a total of five more OMH phones in India by early next year, so it looks like this is the wave of the CDMA future. LTE aside, don’t count these guys out — CDMA’s going to be around for a very long time to come.

[Via Unwired View]

Samsung’s Mpower 699 makes Open Market Handset initiative a reality in India originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, RIM

We’re starting to get the feeling they just didn’t know about WiFi in Waterloo until now, because almost every BlackBerry hardware rumor we’re hearing lately is all about how RIM’s adding the wireless networking spec and everyone’s oh-so-happy. Case in point: today we’ve got word of a new BlackBerry Essex, which is essentially… the Tour with WiFi. Seriously, that’s the whole rumor, and we’re guessing it has something to do with Sprint mandating WiFi on all of its future handsets, so it’s not even particularly wild. Don’t get us wrong here, we’re glad to have WiFi — it’s extremely nice on the Bold, and it certainly improves battery life — but considering the sorry state of the BlackBerry browser and the continued lack of real IMAP on the BlackBerry platform, we’re just wondering when BlackBerry fans will have some real changes to get excited about.

BlackBerry Essex to bring WiFi on Tour? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, RIM

We’re starting to get the feeling they just didn’t know about WiFi in Waterloo until now, because almost every BlackBerry hardware rumor we’re hearing lately is all about how RIM’s adding the wireless networking spec and everyone’s oh-so-happy. Case in point: today we’ve got word of a new BlackBerry Essex, which is essentially… the Tour with WiFi. Seriously, that’s the whole rumor, and we’re guessing it has something to do with Sprint mandating WiFi on all of its future handsets, so it’s not even particularly wild. Don’t get us wrong here, we’re glad to have WiFi — it’s extremely nice on the Bold, and it certainly improves battery life — but considering the sorry state of the BlackBerry browser and the continued lack of real IMAP on the BlackBerry platform, we’re just wondering when BlackBerry fans will have some real changes to get excited about.

BlackBerry Essex to bring WiFi on Tour? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, LG, China Mobile, Android

It’s sort of interesting that China is where all the Android action seems to be going down lately, but here we are, staring at the LG GW880 — essentially the company’s first Android phone. Of course, “Android” in this case means China Mobile’s custom WiFi-less OPhone platform, which means we’ll probably never see this guy outside of the Middle Kingdom, but it’s a fair look at what LG’s handset designers think an Android set should look like: 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen, 256MB RAM, GPS, and a five megapixel camera. Honestly? We’re hoping LG has grander plans for those other Android phones it has planned for this year — we’ll just have to wait and see. Hit the read link for a few more shots in the meantime.

[Via Slashphone]

LG GW880 leaks out, runs Android on China Mobile originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, LG, China Mobile, Android

It’s sort of interesting that China is where all the Android action seems to be going down lately, but here we are, staring at the LG GW880 — essentially the company’s first Android phone. Of course, “Android” in this case means China Mobile’s custom WiFi-less OPhone platform, which means we’ll probably never see this guy outside of the Middle Kingdom, but it’s a fair look at what LG’s handset designers think an Android set should look like: 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen, 256MB RAM, GPS, and a five megapixel camera. Honestly? We’re hoping LG has grander plans for those other Android phones it has planned for this year — we’ll just have to wait and see. Hit the read link for a few more shots in the meantime.

[Via Slashphone]

LG GW880 leaks out, runs Android on China Mobile originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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