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Everyone loves a music festival: the mud, the cold, the inevitable rain, the ludicrously priced drinks and of course the music. However going to live in a field for a weekend does mean you have to survive without mains for a couple of days, so portable gadget recharges are becoming increasingly popular. This leads nicely onto the ‘Dance Charge’ prototype that has recently been released by Orange, which essentially converts the kinetic energy from your dancing into juice for your phone.

Using a system of weights and magnets you can convert ‘The Monkey’, ‘The Robot’ and ‘The Worm’ into electricity which can recharge your phone, and this is all contained in a strap that goes on your arm and closely resembles those worn by joggers for their MP3 players, which looks fairly discreet and not a bit ‘uncool’. However for those who don’t feel confident either dancing or wearing what looks like a doormat, Orange has also lined-up the Dance Charging Man which we can only guess is a small (and probably interactive) man which will dance an do the work for you.

So far Orange has only made a few prototypes (which will be scattered around Glastonbury) so we do not know how popular it will be, but it does show some promise.

Via [Register Hardware]

Plants are more versatile than we give them credit for, you can make clothes with them, build with them, use them as ornaments and if your really radical you can eat them. However up until know you would have even thought of making phones with them, and its all thanks to Samsung who have unveiled their new “initiative to be more nature friendly” which means they will making some of their new handsets (the W510 is the first) out of corn.

Admittedly it is not just corn as that would be incredibly impractical, rather it is a corn based plastic that makes the casing. This technology is not new, it has been used in things like plastic bags on-and-off since the mid 1990s, but it is not till now that it has been used in such a high profile and relatively high cost product. This is due to the fact that is has been strengthened, so in the future we could see things like corn PCs and Laptops, and this could spell the end for some of the heavy metals such as lead or mercury which have not been needed in this handset.
This, coupled with their attempts to irradiate BFRs and PVC from charges and other accessories, will make Samsung a lot greener in the future.

Via [InfoWorld]

A recent survey has been done on the radiation emitted by phones and a brief insight as to whether that is really a biological problem. For those that don’t know the answer is pretty much no, but there are serious social problems that are caused by mobiles, shown very vividly in a recent case in Spain.

Two children, aged 12 and 13, have been admitted into a mental health institution to help fight their addiction to their mobiles, having been sent by their parents who felt that the children couldn’t carry out normal activities without their phone. They are now trying to cope for three months without their phones, after they were doing badly at school and were even lying to relatives to get money so they could fund their addiction. Dr Maite Utges, who runs the Child and Youth Mental Health Centre in Lleida said;

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One of the worst fears that people had when cell phones first became widespread was the radiation that they emitted and what damage it would do to the users, and although the general advice is that you shouldn’t put mobiles near young babies heads, we currently have no evidence that the radiation that is emitted from phones is dangerous.

Nevertheless CNET has compiled a list of which American phones have the most (pictured above), and least (pictured below), radiation and although this doesn’t imply that there is an actual risk, it is interesting to say the least, especially if your phone is at the top. 

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Samsung has just formalized its entry into the touchscreen mobile phone arena with the release of the SGH-F480, aka TouchWiz. This was the same phone that Samsung touted during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona not too long ago. And according to Samsung, the SGH-F480 is just the first in a series of touchscreen mobile phones that it plans to introduce in the market. But before we get all too excited about the SGH-F480, we ought to know that the phone will be available only to the European market upon release. Although Samsung promises to bring this as well to other countries.

Anyway, what does the SGH-F480 have in store for us aside from its touchscreen features? Design-wise, one can easily see from the press photo alone that this is very similar in design as the iPhone, except for the control buttons at the lower portion of its screen. Ignoring its iPhone-like external features, the SGH-F480 might be a good mobile phone after all. It features a 2.8-inch TFT LCD, 5-megapixel camera with auto focus, CMOS video lens, 250MB of internal memory with memory card slot for storage expansion of up to 8GB, 3G for high-speed internet connectivity, and an FM radio.

Via [Akihabara News]

In a move to diminish the digital divide between urban and rural America, the Rural Cellular Association recently petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to “investigate and adopt rules that would prohibit exclusivity arrangements between wireless carriers and cell phone manufacturers”. 

The RCA is a group of more than 80 small and rural wireless providers.  The group maintained that exclusive arrangements between manufacturers and network carriers were unfair and stifled customer choice.  The agreements were also called into question as “decreasing competition” and violating the 1996 Telecommunications Act.

The most popular among these agreements is AT&T and Apple’s exclusive contract for the iPhone.  Verizon Wireless also has an exclusive deal to sell the LG Voyager, another prominent smartphone.  For people who live in areas outside of AT&T or Verizon’s coverage, they are automatically left out with these trendy products.

David Nace, counsel to RCA, said in a statement, “It is important that all Americans have equal access to the latest technology, including wireless devices, regardless of where they live or which carrier provides the service.  RCA is standing up for consumers’ rights and putting an end to exclusivity arrangements that create another ‘digital divide’ between urban and rural America.”

Read [CNET]

The much-anticipated Nokia 5310 XpressMusic phone is slated to arrive on all T-Mobile outlets on May 28. Bringing its music features such as an easy-to-use external music controls, stereo Bluetooth connectivity, wired stereo headsets, a USB cable for side-loading music and memory card. T-Mobile is treating its US-based customers by bringing the 5310 at a very affordable price.

Actually, right after users get hold of the 5310, they can immediately enjoy its music features since the phone will be preloaded with two music tracks from Panic at the Disco and Phantom Planet. The phone will even come with Panic at the Disco’s latest video, “That Green Gentleman,” complete with an exclusive making-of-video feature.

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Here we have a great little YouTube video showing off just how far we have come in the world of mobile phones. Without having to watch the video, I am sure you already know just how much they have advanced, but its still an interesting watch as they point out some interesting tidbits and facts along the way. For example, did you know that the Motorola StarTAC in 1996 was not only the first to offer a clamshell design but the first to also include a vibrate feature or that the Nokia 3210 in 2000 was the first with both an internal antenna and also T9 predictive text.

You can also do like we did, and try to count the number of phones that were featured that you also owned, personally I gave up and lost count. Continue reading to check out the video for yourself.

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We first laid our eyes on the F400 back at MWC this year amidst the F490 and Soul. Now, this music-oriented phone is all set to invade France later this month.

The Samsung F400 has all the makings of a good music phone including a very significant inclusion, a 3.5mm headphone jack. All the major manufacturers tend to ignore this vital feature on their “musicphones,” although there are a few exceptions. Along with the jack, the phone appears packed pretty good for the music lovers with Bang & Olufsen amplifier technology and DNSe 2.0 to enhance listening experience, which should be good either on a pair of headphones or its dual speakers. 

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LG Korea has officially announced the LG KF600 aka “Bikini” phone with touchscreen features. This new phone will come in either the HSDPA model (LG-SH640/KH6400) or the Revision A model (LH6400). Now, before we get really excited as to what this new phone has got in its arsenal, you may notice its resemblance to the previously released LG Venus, that’s because this new phone is just an upgraded version.

Basically, the LG KF600 pretty much carries the same features as the Venus. It has the InteractPad which replaces the physical navigation keys with context-specific virtual keys. Plus a 3-megapixel camera with video recording, MP3 player, FM radio and Bluetooth.

Currently there is no information on whether the LG KF600 will be released internationally, and possibly to replace the current LG Venus. The Bikini retails between $478-$574 in the Korean market.

Via [Aving USA]