Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Verizon is coming way ahead of its competitors with several announcements on its line-up. A day before CTIA begins Verizon has announced the availability of the white XV6900 Touch from HTC.

Boasting a touch-screen interface for easy menu navigation, the XV6900 will be bringing with it several new features including support for Verizon Wireless’ network which makes internet and email connectivity faster and more efficient.  With just a flick of their fingers, users will have easy access to local weather report, internet navigation, flipping through photos and one-touch dialing.

The XV6900 belongs to the HTC family of Touch smarthphone models, and as such its major strength is its functionality and communication facilities. Users can run Windows Mobile 6 Professional with Outlook Mobile, as well as other third-party applications. As with other smarthphones, the XV6900 is compatible with various instant messaging clients – AIM, MSN and Yahoo. 

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You might recall my earlier post, the one that rather irked a Chumby employee about how I thought the device has yet to break stride.  I am still excited by the device and still cannot wait to see what they come up with next.  Turns out, we may not have to wait that long thanks to some substantial ($12.5 million) financing in Series B venture funding.

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Verizon has just given the Samsung u740 a new alias: the Alias. It’s the same clamshell phone with QWERTY keyboard sans the black and gold finish. However, the keyboard has been updated leaving its other features such as dual color displays, music player, memory card slot, Bluetooth connectivity, camera, voice dialing, and the EVDO hi-speed data as is. 

Verizon is hoping that the new name will attract more consumers. But didn’t they announce this already, and how come the $129.99 Alias is still yet to be officially available until the middle of April?

Via [CrunchGear]

Ofcom, the UK Office of Communications has confirmed plans that they aim to allow cellular communications on board UK aircraft. The plans will have to first go through the Civil Aviation Authority, and then the scheme may ‘take off’ in planes around Europe. Unfortunately, plans haven’t been confirmed for those of you the other side of the Atlantic.

The calling will work by using an onboard base station, a unit which connects to a satellite and will be turned on above 3,000 feet, as to avoid interference with ground networks. The service will be charged at the users standard network rate, which should mean business and personal users can enjoy increased productivity on flights. For the others that want some peace and quiet: unlucky.

Read [Ofcom]

Verizon has announced that the Slim enV(2) from LG will be officially available this April. The newest phone lives up to LG’s sophistication as with the first Slim phone. The enV(2) is packed with Bluetooth capabilities, V CAST Music and Video, 2-megapixel camera, dual speakers, and VZ Navigator which is usually found in Verizon’s LG phones.

Said to be a great companion while on the road, the enV(2) could become the ideal multimedia device for music and video lovers since the V CAST Music store, Verizon Wireless own music store presently has not just hundreds of thousands, but almost 3 million songs available for download. Now that’s a lot!

Other phone features include: Wireless Sync E-mail capability; Instant Messaging via Yahoo, WL, and AIM; more generous internal screen; Get It Now and Mobile Web 2.0(SM) capabilities for a more enhanced wireless access. The enV(2) by LG will retail for $129.99, which comes after a $50 rebate along with a two-year contract.

Read [Verizon Wireless]

A fantastic new portable media player has emerged today from Mpio which combines up to 8GB built in memory with a sleek, 15.4mm (0.6-inches) thick, 3.81-ounce shell. The V10 is running Windows CE 5.0 and can support an array of video formats such as H.264, DivX, MPEG and VOB. Of course this isn’t all the V10 has to offer, it comes with MP3 playback, an FM radio, e-book reader, photo viewer and it even has an electronic dictionary.

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Just recently, AT&T introduced AT&T Mobile TV with FLO, the phone service provider’s new mobile TV service that will be launched in May. And now, they have also partnered with Sony Pictures Television to officially launch a movie network for mobile phones.  Said to be the first to brave this direction, Sony and AT&T together with MediaFLO USA are expecting for this new movie network to click as mobile service industry is already successful in the Asia and Europe. 

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First glimpse of the Sony Rolly, I couldn’t identify what it is. Looks like a bomb or an egg so I thought it’s nothing to take seriously. Maybe another useless novelty item. If like me, you can’t figure out what the Rolly is, it’s a new MP3 player from Sony. Just that. No specs have leaked yet.

Set to launch this April 19 in Japan, the Rolly features a wing-like attachment at the sides which sill puzzles me. What’ s more surprising is that these colored wings will be sold separately at $15 apart from the $400 price of the Sony Rolly. No word yet has been given when the Sony Rolly with colored wings will officially be released in the US. Maybe, just maybe, only a few weeks after its Japan release. And that is, if the winged MP3 player catches the attention of the Japanese. Oh I think they will.

Read [Gizmodo]

If Apple, Microsoft, or Linux aren’t already shaking in their boots, somebody needs to tell them that they should. For don’t they know that a once fledgling little startup is slowly taking over the online world, one computer after another. And no, I’m not talking about another fast-spreading and destructive worm or virus. I’m talking about what is the most widely-used Web browser today, built around a community of loyal and fastidious volunteer workers, who are fans and devotees themselves. I’m talking about Mozilla’s Firefox.

I’ll spare you the details but to throw in just a few specifics, Firefox is currently the world’s most popular Web browser, outnumbering Safari and IE in users by more than 6% of the Internet’s population of users. And while Firefox version 3 currently finishes with flying colors when compared with other “leading” browsers, Mozilla doesn’t want to waste time in innovating and promises even a lot more better features to come in the package with Firefox 4. Could these upcoming features include an in-browser desktop? Well, what if the answer was yes?

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The new LG models were recently announced during CTIA 2008. This new sexy line up includes something for everyone, ranging from the folded open LG-VX9100 with full QWERTY keyboard to the LG-VX9900, LG-KF51, LG Glimmer (AX830), LG-CU920, and the LG-KF700. These, of course follow their current best-sellers, the Venus LG-VX8800 and the Voyager LG-VX10000. 

Among these new phones, the LG Vu with MediaFLO will be released by AT&T this May, the VX9100 before April ends in the US, while the LG Glimmer is already available through Alltel. Any more new phones LG? 

Read [I4U News]