Here at Engdaget we completely support laws that make the roads a safer place for everyone, but this is a little ridiculous. Legislators in New Jersey are trying to pass a law where it would be illegal to talk on your cellphone and ride your bike. No, not a motorcycle, a bicycle. (Yeah, we know what you're thinking.) The rider would get a ticket for doing such and the fine would range from $100 to $250. We guess it could be worse -- we could live somewhere like Lawrence, Kansas or Honolulu, Hawaii where your cell phone can get you a all all types of trouble with the law.
Have you ever heard the saying, "You can't have too much of a good thing?" We wholeheartedly believe that was well and find it as our duty to bring you more photos of the S710, aka the HTC Vox. Striking a close resemblance to the HTC Libra, the Vox has been updated to sport a 4-way directional key and the space bar was pushed closer to the center for what should be a better user experience. Still no word on whether or not this will have any UMTS loving for us yanks, but we have to keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.
It looks like LG's on the slider train again, adding a dime to its SH100 and calling it the SH110. This pocket-friendly phone sports a basic array of buttons on the front face, but is primarily dominated by the QVGA display. Other features on the well-styled handset is a two-megapixel camera, MP3 playback, included headphones, Bluetooth, HSDPA, and a music sharing function to stream tunes to two nearby individuals. Furthermore, this mobile supports video telephony via the VGA camera, letting you get your video chat on without having to locate a webcam. Per usual, there's no word yet on pricing or availability outside of Korea, but a little wishful thinking just might get this thing outside of its comfort zone.
Mmm, launch dates. We can't help but thank our lucky stars a bit for this one, but we'll admit, knowing that we'll have to wait around two extra months to see Nokia's N95 make its way into retail distribution channels is a bit tough to stomach. After finally seeing this mobile get legit, get reviewed, get set back, and get picked up by Doctor Z himself, we're delighted that the blokes (and gals) across the pond won't be waiting too much longer for their own turn. According to MobileToday, the forthcoming Nokia will hit UK users "in the second week of March," and after a fortnight of exclusivity in the UK, it'll then be loosed onto other parts of Europe. Of course, Nokia is mum on the whole deal, so we're not hearing any more juicy details just yet, but hey, knowing how long you've got to save up is reason enough to celebrate, right?
It's been a short time since the ASUS Pegasus was first shown to us and at that time, details were few and far between. Since then, more intel has been uncovered for the Nokia 6600 lookalike. It turns out that the device runs Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC, sports a 2 megapixel shooter, and has GPS. It's possible that it may come stateside as there is no 3G radio on this badboy. Still no word on whether or not it will have expandable memory or just how much onboard memory will be available, but we'll assume there's going to be something to differentiate it in the growing sea of Pocket PC devices.
There's something about a carrier pricing sheet showing unreleased models that just gets the hair on the backs of our necks standing on end. Some of these are well, well scooped at this point -- the black and gold Motorola V3xx, Nokia N75, and the Samsung SYNC all gussied up in blue -- but what's new to us are the Samsung "Cardinal" and Nokia "Ram." We haven't the foggiest what these might be, but we can tell you that the Cardinal will go for $230 commitment free or $80 after signing away a couple years of your life, while the Ram will run $210 and $60, respectively. Could it be that Nokia's threat to start naming its phones has some teeth?
Ahh, another day, another ban -- David Hill, Director of Championships for The R & A, has recently announced that for this year's British Open cellphones will not be permitted. After numerous complaints by the players regarding last year's event, no spectator will be allowed to have a phone on the course and to make sure that happens, security checks will be done at the pay gates. We're glad to see that the British Open is now in line with all the other major golf championships, as we were tired of listening to people chatting it up with their friends at home wondering if they could be seen on TV or not. So, can we get a round of golf claps for the ban -- anyone?
We didn't think it would be too long after CES that the dual-hinged Sammy U740 would make its way to Verizon Wireless, and we were right. Looks like the Samsung will launch February 6th and will be priced at $149.99 on a (gulp) two year contract, $219.99 on a one year contract, and $269.99 full retail. It sports a 262,000 color display, a 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and expandable memory. Lets cross our fingers and hope they don't pull a PN-820-style wait on us.
Whether ECHELON is true or not is debatable, but for now we know that Integrated Media Measurement, Inc. is, in fact, real. The IMMI has developed special cellphones that can eavesdrop on conversations, so it can find out what you are watching or listening to. The devices work by randomly recording 10 seconds of "room audio" every 30 seconds, and then comparing it to digital signatures on IMMI servers. The signatures, which can be determined up to two weeks later to accommodate for TiVo users, are then matched and grouped with your demographic data for marketers' consumption. However -- before you run for your Reynolds Wrap -- like Neilsen ratings, this is an opt-in program, so unless your already enlisted we're pretty sure your phone won't judge you for enjoying Beauty and the Geek.
The QWERTY device market is perhaps hotter now than it's ever been before (and that's saying a lot); far be it from Nokia to let good ol' Symbian get left out of the party. The E61i -- which we've now seen plenty of ahead of its official unveiling -- has cleared the FCC, and while we're certainly not taking that to mean it'll bring any 3G bands us yanks can use (what a novel concept!), we take this to be a good sign that we'll all be able to head down to our friendly local Nokia flagship store and pick one up for quadband GSM / EDGE use. As a refresher, the E61i picks up where the E61 and E62 left off, adding a cam and microSD expansion (so we hear) -- but let's be honest, in the year 2007, it's probably gonna take some UMTS to catch much love.
Never mind announcements, we want RIM's Pearlescent (sorry, we can't help ourselves) 8800 series in our grubby paws. Alas, we'll take what we can get, and rumors are brewing that we might see a formal announcement at 3GSM next month in Barcelona. We're a little bummed that the latest gossip has this thing shipping without a camera -- not to mention the knowledge that a 3G version is in the works -- but if this thing drops post haste on Cingular and/or T-Mobile after the announcement, we know a few folks that should be game.
Seems as though the attack of the cellphones has escaped our hospitals and entered our homes. According to research done research by UK retailer Dial-a-Phone, our mobile devices contain more bacteria than the bottom of our shoes and even the ol' porcelain throne. Apparently, between coming in constant contact with our hands and face, and being tucked away in our dark pockets and purses all day -- the perfect breeding ground for germs -- cellphones build up an astonishing amount of skin bacteria. So unless having your immune system fight off diseases caused by staphylococcus aureus is your thing, take heed and wipe your phone with an antibacterial wipe once in a while. Or, do like us and just invest in a phone cleaner.
Think Napster isn't serious about being big in Japan? Well check this from the former P2P darling. No, it's not tradeshow shwag -- it's microSD storage (and USB cable, a couple of adapters, and Napster logo stickers) that will cost ya a big fat ¥10,000 (about $82) premium for the privilege of advertising their service on Hagiwara Sys-Com's 1GB card, or ¥5,000 ($41) for the 512MB model. Apparently, Napster won't be pulling punches in support of their recently launched direct-to-mobile download service with NTT DoCoMo. The new cards and adapters allow select handsets from the FOMA 902i and new 903i series of devices to get in on Napster to Go which requires a microSD card for syncing. Of course, any microSD card will work but why cloud the issue with facts? Still, having recently boosted revenue guidance for the quarter, perhaps Napster just like Big in Japan has to exit their home turf to get super... once again.
In this day and age, having someone steal your purse or wallet is a common occurrence especially in larger cities. It's not that common, though, to have someone steal your bag filled with credit cards, lots of cash, and your cellphone, only to have all of it returned it to you. That's what happened to Pan Aiying, a school teacher from the province of Shandong in China. Her bag was stolen from her while she was riding a bicycle home from work. She borrowed a friends phone to call her own only to have the call unanswered. In a desperate situation, she decided to text the thief thinking she might appeal to his morals. The text read, "Keep the 4,900 yuan ($630) if you really need it, but please return the other things to me." 21 text messages later and still no response from him until the next day when the bag appeared in her courtyard. Everything was still in the bag when she opened it. OK everyone, all at the same time now: "Awwwww!"
Same deal as the MOTORIZR Z8 on this new MOTOKRZR K3; there isn't a lot of info to delve into besides the fact that it has a 2 megapixel external camera, but the front-facing cam is a dead giveaway that this will be the 3G capable version of the RAZR followup that still hasn't taken off.
Here at Engdaget we completely support laws that make the roads a safer place for everyone, but this is a little ridiculous. Legislators in New Jersey are trying to pass a law where it would be illegal to talk on your cellphone and ride your bike. No, not a motorcycle, a bicycle. (Yeah, we know what you're thinking.) The rider would get a ticket for doing such and the fine would range from $100 to $250. We guess it could be worse -- we could live somewhere like Lawrence, Kansas or Honolulu, Hawaii where your cell phone can get you a all all types of trouble with the law. 
We didn't think it would be too long after 
