Cerious Cell Phones

Nokia Announces Q1 2008 Results

2008-04-17T09:35:00.001-07:00

Nokia press released its financial results for Q1 2008 this morning and as expected, all is good for the Finnish giant. Almost, at least. As you can see from Nokia’s chart above, Nokia advanced significantly in every category with the exception of those relating to profit. It is important to understand however, that profit figures are skewed by several factors covered in detail in the release (hit the read link). To highlight two major ones, Nokia had to shell out €217 million due to Finnish pension liabilities and another €81 million as a result of the Bochum site closure. With regards to both core and ancillary business earnings however, profits were up significantly between Q1 2007 and Q1 2008. OPK’s note:

"Nokia had strong profitability in the first quarter, with both operating profit and EPS up significantly year on year. The overall device market developed as expected, with the greatest demand in emerging markets, where our position is very strong. The competitiveness of our product portfolio is reflected in our market share and we target market share gains in the second quarter. The portfolio is renewed on a continuous basis. While we will not have major new products shipping in the second quarter, we expect a number of new products to be shipping, and to have a positive impact on our results, in the second half of 2008."

All things considered, Nokia’s net sales were up 28% (35% at constant currency) to a cool €12.7 billion and operating margin was up 0.8%. Global market share did slip from Q4 2007 to Q1 2008 however, dropping 1% to 39%. A total of 115.5 million devices were shipped in Q1 of this year and 14.6 million of them were S60 smartphones. Quite interestingly, the biggest sales region for Nokia was Asia Pacific where 34.1 million handsets were sold, up 40% from Q1 2007! On the flip side of the coin, sales in the US continue to falter, dropping to 2.6 million handsets sold (almost a 50% decline from Q1 2007).

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Nokia's 6212 with Bluetooth NFC: Let the pairing revolution begin!

2008-04-15T05:31:00.001-07:00

This is the day we've been waiting for. While the 3G Nokia 6212 classic doesn't look like much, what it lacks in style is more than made up by the genius of Bluetooth-enabled Near Field Communication. If you remember the video we showed you way back in March of 2007, the combo makes device pairing and transferring content like photos, video, music, calendar data, contacts, etc. as easy a touching the phone to a NFC-enabled picture frame, cellphone, speaker, or headset like Nokia's own NFC-variant of the BH-210. It will also work with NFC payment systems. According to Jeremy Belostock, the Head of Near Field Communications at Nokia, "NFC-capable handsets such as the Nokia 6212 classic are set to change the way mobile phone users interact with devices and services in their surroundings." You said it Jeremy, you said it. Expected to start shipping in Europe and Asia in the Q3 for about €200.

HTC teams with designer to craft wild Touches for charity

2008-04-14T22:25:00.001-07:00

It seems like having designers gussy up your handsets and selling them to the highest bidder is a fairly successful way to turn a profit for your charity of choice, and HTC's the latest to get in on the action -- in Singapore, anyway. The company has hooked up with fashion guru Nic Wong to design four unique, one-of-a-kind Touches that are being auctioned on eBay's Singapore outpost, and while the spec sheet doesn't get any sort of a boost over the original, you definitely won't be seeing another Touch quite like yours as you travel around town. All proceeds go to the Children's Cancer Foundation -- a worthy cause, if we do say so ourselves -- and bidding ends on the 19th, so have a shot at winning your own piece of mobile art if you happen to be in the area.

[Via Slashphone and Pocket PC Thoughts]

Finally, the Buddha Phone

2008-04-14T22:24:00.001-07:00

We'll admit, there's something strangely intriguing about the over-the-top design put forth by this gilded, Buddha-themed candybar turning up in the streets of Shenzhen. The shell is alleged to be stainless steel with a 24 karat gold plating -- though we suspect that might only be true of the engraving on the back -- and not a single square inch of the thing has been left without some sort of intricate detail that you're not going to find on your average Nokia or Samsung. No proper Buddha phone would be complete without a microSD slot or a touchscreen, of course, and this example is no exception; it also seems that the phone has been blessed by a monk, so you shouldn't have much trouble with evil spirits taking residence in your decidedly materialistic purchase. Seriously, how can you go wrong with a keypad that fancy?

T-Mobile launches WiFi-laden BlackBerry Pearl 8120, we handle it

2008-04-14T09:51:00.001-07:00

The next episode of the ubiquitous Pearl is now available in T-Mobile stores across the land, bringing the spec sheet in line with the features Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T customers have been enjoying for a little while now -- a 2 megapixel camera, external microSD slot, and 3.5mm headphone jack, just to name a few. Unlike the 8130 for CDMA networks, the 8120 that T-Mobile and AT&T share adds a 802.11b/g radio, but the T-Mobile version packs yet a couple more tricks up its sleeve -- you know, the ones you'd probably expect of any modern T-Mobile phone with WiFi, namely support for myFaves and HotSpot@Home. That last bit about the WiFi calling is where it gets really interesting. Put simply, the experience we had setting up, using, and making calls with the new Pearl linked up to our router was the best we've had so far with any HotSpot@Home device; it definitely seems like T-Mobile and RIM are learning a thing or two about how to make this a truly seamless and painless process. A "UMA" indicator on the display lets you know that calls are being routed over the service, but if you're not paying attention to it, you might never know it's happening -- it's just that good. Grab it starting today for a shade under $150 on contract, or if you'd prefer to keep your money firmly in your pocket, you can still live vicariously through our gallery here!

Gallery: T-Mobile launches WiFi-laden BlackBerry Pearl 8120, we handle it

BenQ T60: 8.9 millimeters, 3.2 megapixels

2008-04-12T17:36:00.001-07:00

BenQ Unveils Super-Slim T60 Mobile Phone

2008-03-28

Taipei, Taiwan, March 28, 2008- BenQ today announces the launch of its latest mobile phone - the super-slim BenQ T60, targeted at the sophisticated, style-conscious consumers. Measuring a mere 8.9mm thin, the T60 sports a spacious 2.2-inch QVGA TFT LCD display, a rarity for a phone this slim, a built-in camera with 3.2 megapixel photo output, and a high-quality multimedia player. The sleek T60 recently received the internationally-renowned red dot Design Award, a highly coveted accolade vied for by the world’s top companies, for its innovative design, exceptional quality and high functionality.

BenQ’s T60 super-slim mobile phone with extra-large screen is distinguished by chic aesthetics and smart functionality. A glossy stainless steel back tapers to a smooth curved blade, making the phone visually svelte and easy to slide into pockets and purses. The 5-way key is diamond sliced to add further brilliance and shine to the phone’s metallic texture. Designed as a fashion accessory along the lines of pocket-sized luxury goods such as fountain pens, money clips and card cases, the T60 enhances today’s digital lifestyle with its multi-functionality at an affordable price point.

The BenQ T60 features an embedded handy caller black list function that is able to screen out unwanted calls. It comes with 24 MB of internal memory, integrated stereo FM radio with schedule recording function, and a micro SD card slot. For optimal multimedia experience, the T60 performs accordingly with a wide variety of music file formats including MPEG4, MP3, AMR, MIDI and SP-MIDI. It also features Bluetooth with stereo sound (A2DP), remote control (AVRCP) support, and USB connectivity and has a standby and talking time of 200 hours and 3 hours, respectively.

The BenQ T60 will be available in Taiwan, Bangladesh and Turkey in April.

For more information about the BenQ T60, please click here.

LocaModa lets cellphones interact with jukeboxes

2008-04-12T17:33:00.001-07:00

Trust us, this isn't the first time LocaModa's dabbled in the cellphone-controlled gadgetry game, but it's never been more friendly than it's being with the Social Jukebox. The aforesaid company has teamed up with TouchTunes in order to give patrons the ability to interact with flat-panels on TouchTunes jukeboxes. On-screen applications will include information about the song currently playing, elusive "user generated content" and even "patron photos" from their social networking profiles (scary?). For those completely absorbed in this stuff, you can even keep tabs on the interactions via data feeds from your favorite network. Twitter fights over which song ushers the drinking crowd out in a bar 1,500 miles away? What is the world coming to?

[Via textually, image courtesy of LocaModa]

iPhone 3G's baseband chip revealed?

2008-04-09T04:59:00.001-07:00

The folks at ZiPhone spotted some code in the brand new 2.0 beta iPhone firmware that could point to the chip to be used in the upcoming 3G iPhone. The code makes mention of "SGOLD3," which could very well refer to Infineon's followup chip to the S-GOLD2 which powers the current iPhone. Infineon's less fancy name for the S-GOLD3H chip is the PMB8878, a 7.2Mbps HSDPA chip with all the video acceleration and media playback features iPhone users have come to expect. Advantages over its predecessor include higher resolution camera support (5 megapixels instead of 2), a 2x speed MMC / SD interface and DVB-H module support, but that doesn't necessarily mean any of those specs will end up in the ensuing iPhone 3G -- S-GOLD2 has plenty of features the current iPhone doesn't take advantage of. The processor speed, however, remains the same.

Apple pushes new iPhone SDK, firmware builds

2008-04-09T04:57:00.001-07:00

his image, distributed to mailboxes across the globe this evening, pretty much says it all: a new cut of the official iPhone SDK beta is now available. That little morsel can be had by pretty much anyone that wants it; a new built of firmware 2.0 is available, too, but only to the Chosen Few. Let us know of any fascinating changes you stumble upon!

Nokia's touchscreen Tube out in the wilds?

2008-04-09T04:40:00.001-07:00

Like detective work? Good, this one's for you. That's the supposed first picture of Nokia's Tube which we've enhanced a bit to see all the detail. According to Symbian-Freak, the device code-named "Tube" will be Nokia's first touch S60 device but will not be a flagship phone. Another higher spec'd phone will ship "shortly after." The display is said to be between 3- and 3.5-inches with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a camera (with another up front based on the picture) which they say is "way better" than the iPhone's but not on par with the existing N-series shooters. The phone is said to ride atop quad-band GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSDPA radios with built-in Bluetooth, WiFi, uPnP support and a stylus. Something you'll apparently need judging by that skinny scroll bar. GPS? Yup, that too. No multi-touch on this model but it is said to provide haptic feedback in a package supposedly smaller (maybe a little bit wider) than the N73. We also notice an "XpressMedia" label on the phone which would indicate an affiliation with Nokia's XpressMusic class of media devices. You'll also notice that the icons have been slightly revised since we went hands on with the S60 Touch UI back in February. Real deal or not, it's a mystery worthy of your skills.