smart phones

Man, does it feel like Christmas in August or what? Yeah, you know what I'm talking 'bout. In addition to several other product and service announcements today, Nokia introduced two new models of the coveted Nokia N95 smart phone: an 8GB version and a North America edition.

Starting with the latter, the U.S. version of the N95 looks much like the current model from the outside, but there's been some work done under the hood to make the mobile a little more powerful. It comes with twice as much RAM and will also ship with a 2GB … Read more

Remember back in May when we teased you with some enticing photos of the yet-to-be-confirmed Nokia N81 and Nokia N82? Well, my friends, we tease you no more. The company today officially unveiled the Nokia N81 multimedia computer, with expected availability in Q4. It's likely that the N81 will ship in certain European and Asian markets first--possibly in October--but Nokia said there shouldn't be too much of lag between those launches and the U.S. release. Thank gawd.

There will be two versions of the Nokia N81: an 8GB model and one with a microSD expansion slot that … Read more

We'll get straight to the point here. Nokia has an event scheduled for tomorrow in London, and several blog sites, including Gearfuse and Unwired View, are reporting that the Finnish cell phone manufacturer will unveil five new mobiles. Among the rumored models are the Nokia N81, an 8GB Nokia N95, and several XpressMusic phones. Got your attention, didn't we? Yeah, sleep on that, as we'll have to wait till tomorrow to see if this all true or just someone's horrible idea of a practical joke.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. For all of you who are dreaming sweet thoughts of the HTC Kaiser like I am, we're one step closer to seeing the vision come true. Today, the company announced the HTC TyTN II for Europe; hopefully signifying that the U.S. launch won't be too far behind.

Despite the different naming scheme, the TyTN II is the same smart phone as the Kaiser we've discussed before on Crave. The Windows Mobile 6 device features a 2.8-inch, QVGA touch screen that slides out and tilts up to give you a … Read more

Remember, folks: different does not inherently mean "bad."

I was surprised at the reaction to my article, published this morning, titled "Coming to grips with the iPhone's design." Specifically, with the way some people see a discussion of design tradeoffs as an attempt to tar and feather the nonconformist.

Yes, you can use your iPhone with one hand. But it's not as easy as some would suggest. Some reviewers didn't think it was that big a deal, some thought it was more of a problem. Whether or not you think it's easy … Read more

If you were planning to camp out this week for the launch of the Palm Foleo, pick up the tent and go home.

Barron's Tech Trader Daily blog spotted a research note from Deutsche Bank's Jonathan Goldberg saying that Palm has delayed the launch of the Foleo, a Linux-based "mobile companion" that looks like a laptop but doesn't deliver anything close to a laptop experience. The device is now expected to ship in late September or early October, according to Goldberg. When Palm founder Jeff Hawkins unveiled the device in May at the D: All … Read more

Well, I'll be darned. Wouldn't you know it? Verizon Wireless finally landed itself a new smart phone and a pretty exciting one to boot. Today, Verizon and Motorola announced the long-awaited successor to the Motorola Q and thy name is the Motorola Q9m.

The Q9m has added some notable improvements, including an excellent full QWERTY keyboard, a sexy red trim, and Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition. Motorola also decided to give the Q9m a heavy multimedia focus, given the Q's popularity with the younger crowd and consumers in general. (Did you know that 90 percent of the … Read more

The fellas at the freakin' FCC have given their blessing to Nokia's latest product, a 3G version of the N95 slider phone.

Before any wireless device can be sold in the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission has to test it to make sure its emissions won't cause brain damage or summon aliens from another planet. One nice side effect of that (other than the lack of brain damage) is that the FCC publishes the results of those tests on its Web site before the device is formally released, complete with photos and a user manual.

Wirelessinfo.com (… Read more

Palm's got a new smart phone in the works that could be its answer to the iPhone, the BlackBerry Curve and the Helio Ocean.

On Thursday, the company showed off a design called "Centro" at an event for media and analysts hosted by Sprint in Reston, Va., according to a Palm representative. At this point details are sketchy, and official photos are nonexistent, but Centro will be the smallest smart phone that Palm has released running Palm OS, the company said.

It will be targeted at the young'uns, which is probably appropriate, according to Gearlog. Gearlog's Sascha Segan, … Read more