Apple Orders 12M iPhones

iPhone
Apple is creating the iPhone and has awarded Foxconn the contract to built 12M of them. The iPhone is a much anticipated device from Apple. The news came from a Chinese language news paper called Commercial Times. The phone is set to be launched in the first quarter of 2007 and hopefully Steve Jobs will be showing off the handset at the Macworld Expo.

Apple have stated that next year will be a big year in terms of new products being release by them. Items such as the iPod Tablet and various new laptops it should be a great year if you can afford it all 🙂

Via: RegHardware

Wireless Power

Wireless power has been on my “want” list for a long time. I imagined just being able to put something in a room and it some how gets power. This is now becoming a reality. When you look behind the TV you always see a mass of electrical cables, ariel’s and other cables. Networking is becoming wireless, so these wires have been removed almost. However, there is a mass supply of power leads ranging from yout TV, DVD player, VCR, Cable box, Networking and sometimes others too. Over the last year or so we have seen mobile phone chargers that work by placing the phone on it. This new system takes it a step further by being able to charge devices over a distance away of many metres.

The system is just theory now and has not been built yet. With the help of computing power they believe it will work. It works using resonance which causes an object to vibrate when a certain frequency is applied. What this means is that anything compatible in a room will automatically charge such as a laptop you are working on can be kept powered by this resonance.

It seems like we truly can become wireless eventually.

Via: BBC News

Pantech PT-S280

Pantech PT-S280
Pantech have launched the PT-S280 which is a slider phone. It has a 2 inch QVGA display, a 1.3 megapixel camera with other goodies packed in such as a media player. It is available in Korea for 320 dollars. We are not sure if it will hit this side of the world.

Via: TechEBlog

Personal Robot from NEC – The R100

R100 Robot
Robots are becoming more popular more and more often. The R100 Personal Robot is the latest on the scene and it comes from NEC. It’s different, as you can see it does not look like the average robot that you see. Thats not a bad thing. The NEC R100 comes with 2 cameras in it which can recognise faces. The R100 has 100 phrases in it’s database and can use it’s microphone to catch the commands your voice gives it. What makes it handy also is that it can deliver email on your behalf.

Via: UberGizmo

Linksys CIT310

Linksys CIT310
The Linksys CIT310 is a VoIP phone which doubles up as a landline type phone also. Many phones that hit the market are commonly associated with Skype. The Linksys is different as it works with Yahoo’s messenger VoIP service. The built in software runs Microsoft Messenger and you can select a contact from on the phone which works over wi-fi.

Other features that the phone has is a colour LCD screen which displays contacts as well as weather reports and other services. The Linksys is a nice step forward for those who use Yahoo Messenger to talk. The cost of the handset is 79.99 dollars.

Via: Coolest-Gadgets

MTI Fuel Cell Prototypes Delivered – Mobion

Fuel Cell Mobion Mobion Fuel Cells
MTI have been working hard on Fuel Cell power. Fuel Cells can power portable devices for longer and do not require plugging in to recharge. To power a laptop for example, you just fill the cell with methanol and you are good to go for 2 to 10 times longer then the current rechargable batteries. The new prototypes were recently shipped to Samsung to integrate with small electronic devices such as mobile phones and other portable electronic devices.

Mobion power packs are based on direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) technology which they expect about 22% of portable devices will be using bu 2011.

What are the benefits?
As mentioned already, power can be supplied via a fuel cell for 2 – 10 times longer then current rechargeable batteries. Also there is no waiting time to charge the fuel cell. You just top it up and away you go. This will allow the frequent traveller to not have to worry about power cords and battery life on a plane for example.

Mobeon has a number of patents from recent research (85 to be exact) which have helped it acheive a mile stone in this technology.

“At the core of Mobion® technology is its unique approach to managing water that is produced by the chemical reaction at the cathode, and required for the chemical reaction at the anode. Traditional DMFCs rely on complex water management micro-plumbing, whereby water that is produced at the cathode is collected, re-routed and mixed with incoming methanol at the anode. The Mobion® technology architecture uses a proprietary approach which manages the water flow internal to the fuel cell without the need for this complex micro-plumbing.”

Samsung will be utilising mobion technology for feature rich mobile video and audio can be added. This will also include more powerful 3D, mobile satellite TV streaming video which will consume more power.

It seems like Fuel Cell technology has come a fair way since just a few months back when Toshiba unvelied their plans to work with it for powering laptops. Hopefully we will be seeing fuel cell technology hitting the market and powering our more powerful devices for even longer.

Via: MTI

Small Satellite Phone

GSP 1700
The GSP 1700 arrives as the worlds smallest satellite phone to hit the market. It is built by a company called Qualcomm and can operate in more then 120 countries and 6 continents. The battery can provide 4 hours of talk time with 36 hours of standby time.

The antenna is on the large side, but is detachable and can be attached when needed.

Via: OhGizmo

Helio Drift Phone with GPS and more

Helio Drift Phone
Helio Drift is a new phone which has just gone official. The phone looks cool and has some great features such as built in GPS and Google Maps also. The GPS and Google maps when used together can do a cool thing. You can set your phone to be a beacon via the Buddy Beacon and if a friend has the same phone you will be able to see each other on the map. This kind of reminds me of Sony’s GPS sat nav system where you could see all other Sony sat nav users on the road with you. The main problem is that not many will have this phone to start with. For this concept.. or idea to go anywhere then this technology will need to be taken onboard by other mobile phone creators.

The phone has a 2.12 inch screen, Bluetooth, 128Mb of memory, a MicroSD slow and the camera is 2 megapixel. Out of contract it will set you back 225 dollars which is not a bad price point at all.

Via: Gizmodo

Linux Smartphone

FIC Linux Phone
A new Linux Smartphone is on it’s way called the FIC-GTA001. The phone is going to be released along with an SDK which will then allow users to create their own programs and functions for the phone.

The FIC-GTA001 has a 2.8 inch VGA screen, USB file sharing, multi touch sensor recognition, GSM, GPS, 128Mb RAM which a Samsung ARM9 processor. It will also play MP3’s.

Multi Touch
Multi touch technology gives the user the option of touching the screen with 2 fingers which will help with a bunch of tasks.

Giving the SDK along with the phone makes this an interesting step. I can see a lot of developers jumping on this concept to create their own software to power their new phone and then share it with the world.

Via: Gizmodo

Oki Electric Iris Recognition For Cellphones

Iris Recognition
Iris recognition will be hitting your mobile phone soon. Oki Electric have announced that they are releasing Iris Recognition which will be a software app which can install on to compatible phones. The phone can then not be used unless the correct eye is captured by the camera on the phone. With living in an age of carrying important information in our pocket, it stands to reason that we want a quick, yet secure way of securing our data. Iris scanning is reliable and can help combat the problems posed if information is lost on your phone.

Via: OhGizmo

Samsung SPH-P9000

SPH-P9000
Samsung have launched an interesting phone/pda/umpc. The SPH-P9000 aims to be all 3 in one with a unique unfolding keyboard and screen as can be seen above. It has a 1 Ghz CPU, 256 Mb RAM and a nice sized 5″ TFT screen.

Along with the nice specs it has CDMA EVDO, WiMAX and a 1.3 megapixel camera. Multi functional devices are needed more and more. With needs such as a cell phone, PDA, GPS, MP3 player and moving on to using devices to pay for hotel’s etc… there is going to be a HUGE demand to throw everything in to 1. The Samsung shows one way that this can be done and they have done it with some style too. More pics are over at akihabaranews

SPH-P9000

Via: TechEBlog

Sony PSP Clone Phone

Sony PSP Phone Clone
The PSP has been cloned. The new V191 mobile handset is a Sony PSP look a like. Well, it almost is a PSP look a like. To the untrained eye it might get confused. The phone will play games and the phone can be held like a PSP. However, the games play a Nintendo emulator. The phone has a micro SD slot, 1.3 megapixel camera and can play music and video.

The price tag is rather healthy at 650 USD in Hong Kong. I think I will give this one a miss.

Via: UberGizmo