By David Ponce

This is decidedly not new, but some of you may not have heard of it and we think it’s definitely worth mentioning. Liquipel is a company that can coat your mobile device is an invisible layer of water repellent material, making it completely waterproof, even submersible. The way it works is you send them the phone, they treat it, and then send it back to you. The treatment consists of gas deposition procedure that will coat every single part of the device that is exposed to air, so that even the innards are protected. We saw many of these companies at CES and there were more than a few fully functioning iPhones submerged in an aquarium. Perhaps one day this will come as standard equipment, but for now, you have to pay $60 to $80 for the privilege. The prices go up as you start adding options, such as faster turnaround and protective films (from scratches, for example). And there seems to be up to 11 products eligible for the treatment, including the iPhone 4/4S, the HTC EVO 4G and Samsung Galaxy II S.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ The Fancy ]

By David Ponce

RIM, makers of the Blackberry phones, are slowly dying. We hope they find a way out, but the decline might have something to do with them pinning so much of their hopes on keeping the physical keyboard on their handsets. Sure, we’re going to get some flak for coming out so strongly in the anti-buttons camp, but life is the way it is and they’re going to go away eventually. Still, tons of people still like them and stay away from all-touch devices just for that reason. The Elecom alphabet-soup-name TK-MBD041 is a very small keyboard that’ll pair through Bluetooth to iPhones and Android devices and try to give you the best of both worlds. What’s more, you can use it to take calls!

It’s smallish, measuring 13.0mm X 141mm X 53.0mm. But you will never buy it, and here’s why: it’s $230!

[ Press Release ] VIA [ CultOfMac ]

By David Ponce

Of course, you’ll have to go to Nigeria to get your hands on one. It’s called the Nokia 103 and is the Finnish giant’s cheapest ever. And it’s also probably one of the simplest looking to come out of their labs in recent memory. And yet, given the price and it’s appearance, it’s got some decent features:

Apart from its fresh look, durable anti-scratch cover and anti-dust keyboard, the Nokia 103 is designed with long lasting battery life – 27 days standby time and up to 11 hours of talk time. Other features include built-in flashlight, FM radio, speaking clock and MP3 grade ringtones.

Of course this is a good strategy for Nokia, seeing as the higher end of the market is so crowded and margins so thin. There’s a huge segment of the world’s population that still doesn’t own a mobile phone for simple economic reasons and this market already represents a good chunk of the company’s business.

VIA [ NewLaunches ]

By David Ponce

We can’t really understand why it’s taken so long, but there are talk that the big four US carriers will being implementing a plan to thwart phone theft by blocking their use on their combined networks. The reasoning behind this of course is that a phone that can no longer be used is of no value to anyone, thus less likely to be stolen in the first place. We’re surprised it’s taken this long simply because a similar plan has already been in place in the UK for several years, with a very high success rate.

And while this is good news, we’re also saddened that the effort is likely to take quite some time to implement.

“We are working toward an industry wide solution to address the complexity of blocking stolen devices from being activated on ours or another network with a new SIM card,” said a T-Mobile spokesperson, “This is not a simple problem to solve.”

Not simple indeed. Word is that the central database will be ready within 18 months, and that regional carriers will then come in 6 months after that for a complete rollout within two years.

VIA [ Engadget ]

By David Ponce

I remember sending my first SMSs on my old Nokia using multitap. Not T9, but turtle-slow multitap. I was too lazy to learn how T9 worked and would make do with the slow method. Then one day a friend told me “type your word, and don’t look at the screen until you’re done.” Holy crap! It was like going from dialup to broadband: T9 was awesome! And that’s the way things stayed until I got an iPhone and never looked back. But there are those still nostalgic for that T9 feel and this application, MultiTap, wants to cash in on that. The app lets you use T9 as well as “Abc, ABC and 123.”

It’s $1.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ UberGizmo ]

By David Ponce

There are certainly some of you reading who have no idea what a rotary phone is. We’re looking at you, 90′s born kids… But for the rest of us, the above iRetroPhone docking station/cradle will either make us cringe or lust. Or leave us indifferent… Really, we’ve no idea how it’ll make anyone react so lets just cover all the bases. The iRetroPhone cradles your iPhone, charges it, lets you sync if you want, plugs into the 3.5mm jack and lets you make phone calls old school style. You can even download an application that will replicate the rotary dialler for an even better simulation.

As a matter of fact, there’s a bunch of features on this thing, much too many to list here. It works with iPods, old iPhones, iPads, even Android devices. There’s a noise reduction system, a radiation absorber… Just hit the link below to see all the features. Out here you get to find out that if this floats your boat, you’re looking at a wallet ding of $100.

[ Product Page ]

By David Ponce

This phone’s specs are boring. Lame. So lets get that part out of the way first: “1GHz dual-core processor, 3.7-inch Reality Display, Android 2.3 (upgradable to 4.0 ICS) and NFC.” I’m getting goosebumps. But there is one saving grace, and it’s a decent one: this phone doesn’t require you to actually touch the screen for you to be able to use it. You simply hover your fingertip and a cursor will move about until you’ve placed it over the link you wish to select. Then it’s a simple matter of tapping once. Calum MacDougall, Head of XperiaMarketing for Sony Mobile Communications, commented; “Xperia sola
comes with the power of Sony and a sense of magic with floating touch, giving consumers a fun new way to browse the web.”

The company expects that as the feature matures, applications will be developed to take advantage of the new functionality.

VIA [ DVice ]

By David Ponce

Very few of you reading this website right now are blind. It’s hard to imagine how hard life can be for the visually impaired and as a tech writer, I can affirm that tech made specifically with them in mind is rather rare. Especially when it comes to smartphones, there really isn’t much. The DrawBraille Mobile Phone concept that Shikun Sun envisions can only be used by the blind, or anyone that would have taught themselves to read Braille. Almost any piece of computing tech requires inputs, which are then manipulated by the software and output in a manner that the user can interpret. In this case, the flatter section is the input area of the phone, where a braille user can form letters and digits. And the other half is obviously the output, where a matrix of six-dotted regions can physically change to produce words the user can touch and read.

But sadly, the above is nothing more than a concept. We hope that some manufacturer could one day make this, although we’re doubtful as making a cellphone is a costly enterprise and the visually impaired are a demographic unlikely to make a good ROI.

Still, hit the jump for a series of renderings and a video.

Read the rest of this entry »

By David Ponce

Scosche has a product out that disables your cell phone while the wheels on your vehicle are spinning. It relies on a trigger adapter that connects to any car’s OBD-II port and detects when you’re in motion. Once the app is installed on the phone, the system activated and the trigger installed, anything but handsfree calling is disabled. No texting, emailing or watching YouTube videos while driving.

Now, you might say “What’s the point when you can just unplug the trigger?” And you’d have a point if this system was destined for you. But it’s destined for mostly young drivers and fleet drivers. See, if you remove the trigger, the application sends an email of a text to the administrator of the system. That can be a concerned dad or a responsible fleet manager. And just like that, letting the kids drive the car became a little safer for everyone.

Here’s the only problem: it doesn’t appear to work on iPhones! The website lists “All Android 2.1 and above, all BlackBerry 4.5 and above, all Windows Mobile 5 & 6, all Symbian S60 (3rd Edition) and select Brew and BREWMP systems.” And “RIM, HTC, Samsung, Sanyo, Motorola, Nokia, Pantech, LG, Palm, Sony Ericsson and more.” There’s no mention of Apple or iOS anywhere. Still, lots of people don’t own iPhones.

It’s $129.

[ Product Page ]