With all of the Google Android-based phones we see every day, it’s quite the change of pace when a company launches a smartphone running on its own OS, especially when that company is Samsung and has quite an impressive Android portfolio in the Galaxy line. The last time somebody tried to develop a smartphone with their own OS, they died almost instantly (looking at HP). Then again, this is Samsung, which contributes to about 20-percent of GDP for South Korea’s export, so the money’s there and that’s a different story.

Samsung just unveiled three new phones based on its Bada OS, the Wave 3, the Wave M and the Wave Y. The most notable of the three is definitely the Wave 3 (above). Boasting a 4-inch Super AMOLED display, a 1.4GHz processor, and a 5-megapixel camera capable of shooting video at 720p, the Wave 3′s spec-sheet is in line with some of the most powerful phones on sale today. The phone also comes with Samsung’s ChatOn, which is similar to BBM, and the Bada 2.0 OS supports NFC, Wi-Fi Direct and multitasking.

The other two phones, the Wave M and Wave Y (above, top and bottom, respectively), are also Bada 2.0 phones. The Wave M is geared towards the social crowd with Samsung pushing the ChatOn functionality of this 3.7-inch device along with streamlined messaging feeds, enhanced on-the-go web browsing, WiFi Direct and NFC. As far as specs are concerned, the Wave M boasts 832MHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera, a front-facing camera for video-calling, and Bluetooth 3.0. The Wave Y is designed as sort of a starter smartphone for those just leaving their dumbphones behind. It boasts a 3.2-inch display, an 832MHz processor, a 2-megapixel camera with flash, Bluetooth 3.0, ChatOn, a Social Hub, and a Music Hub.

SOURCE via Samsung

It’s the world’s smallest PC that fits into the palm of your hand, and it runs Windows 7. Not Windows Phone 7, but the actual 32-bit Japanese version of Windows 7 Home Premium (with SP1)…. at least, that’s what Fujitsu claims.

Thursday the company announced that its new F-07C mobile phone is slated to land in Japan from NTT DOCOMO beginning July 23, 2011. According to the company, the device comes equipped with basic PC functionality: an Intel Atom processor, the Windows 7 OS, a two-year Microsoft Office Personal 2010 license, and the latest version of Internet Explorer 9, all these on a smartphone. Users simply switch from mobile mode to Windows 7 mode with the touch of a button.

The actual specs claim the device sports a 4-inch SVGA touchscreen (1024 x 600), a 5.1MP camera, a 1.2 GHz Intel Atom Z600 CPU, 1 GB of LPDDR400 memory, a 32 GB SSD and IEEE802.11b/g/n connectivity with speeds up to 65 Mbps. There’s also a USB port for connecting a keyboard or mouse, and an HDMI output jack for connecting to an HDTV. There’s even a slide-out QWERTY keyboard for typing on-the-go.

“By combining both PC and mobile phone functionality, F-07C opens the door to a range of new uses,” the company said Thursday. “With support for Osaifu-Keitai, i-mode mail, i-concier, and other services from Docomo, as well as security features like Omakase Lock, the new mobile phone allows owners to take advantage of features that they are accustomed to using.”

SOURCE via Fujitsu

The WebOS nuts at PreCentral have received an anonymous tip-off that HP’s imminent slate won’t be able to edit Office docs out of the box. As much as we’d like to dismiss this as a retaliatory rumor put out by BlackBerry, it emits an unfortunate whiff of truth.

While HP has previously made a big deal of the TouchPad’s inclusion of the Quickoffice app, it has only said it’s “working with Quickoffice” to include document editing, and it has never demoed editing in action. The company has recently been trying to boost its app count, but perhaps it should have put more effort into securing core functionality instead.

A glimmer of hope, though: the same tip-off also suggested that at least some editing capabilities will be introduced “via a downloadable update in Q3 2011″.

SOURCE via Pre Central

Not much is known for WebOS after HP took over. How it feels, how it integrates, how it interacts. But now one thing we know is that Skype will be integrated into webOS. Similar to Google Voice on Android, you’ll be able to either route all international calls through Skype or force to ask every time you press that precious dial button.

We also know that it will be able to handle video calls and, at least on the O2 network in Germany, both voice and video chat will be available over WiFi and 3G. You’ll also be able to initiate sessions from either contacts or the messaging menu, so there’s no need to fire up a separate app.

SOURCE via WebOS blog

Hate to be among the zillions of iPhone zombies, or the nerdy Android tards? Don’t want to get caught using a dying Symbian? How about changing to something slightly refreshing? Yes, we’re talking about WebOS! Amazon Germany has added the webOS 2.2 QWERTY slider from HP, the Pre 3 smartphone, into their inventory list, and it’s up for pre-order. That’s €449 ($640) please!

This is the 3.6-inch smartphone announced in February, which comes with a WVGA (800 x 480) resolution, a 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8x55 processor, 512MB of RAM, and a pair of cameras, the rear of which can record 720p video and 5 megapixel stills.

Though Amazon has listed it for pre-order, there’s no mention when it’ll actually be shipped.

SOURCE via Amazon Germany

While Google works hard to have their Chrome OS overthrow Microsoft’s Windows domination, HP is also working hard to ditch Windows from their products. It started with their Palm products and tablets running on WebOS, and now HP is trying hard to have this half-baked operating system stuffed into more products or their own.

A webOS dev spotted a pair unnamed devices in his log files — one sporting a 1024 x 768 screen and a non-sliding keyboard, and the other a smartphone with no physical QWERTY input. Of course, this is nothing big of a surprise, as HP has already openly announce that they’re striving hard to bring desktops and laptops into their WebOS realms, and already have a few netbooks prototyping the system.

So HP is now playing around with a device that’s bigger than a smartphone, and with physical keyboards, and the product is running a version of the WebOS called Nova Dartfish. The second product would be a mid-end or low-end smartphone with a resolution of merely 480 x 320 and is running WebOS 3.0. The logs also reveal that neither is packing a removable battery, which isn’t good news actually.

SOURCE via PalmPre-France

Fancy a smartphone powered by Intel? Well, Intel did showoff a smartphone powered by their prototype SOC, which is a 32nm Medfield chip, quite some time ago, but it never bear any fruits. Intel blamed the delay onto its partner at that time, which is Nokia.

CEO Paul Otellini mentioned about this Medfield-powered smartphone yet again at their annual investor meeting, saying that “you’ll see the first Intel-based phones in the first part of next year,” and that “phones shipping in the market from major players” at that time. He mentioned that the company is currently shopping around for a co-developer for reference design.

This is what Mr. Otellini had to say about Nokia: “Nokia was the wrong partner to have picked, but the time both companies spent working together won’t be wasted entirely.”

Poor Nokia, being shot in the face.

SOURCE via Engadget

We know that Nokia is working hard to bring Windows Phone 7 into their new range of smartphones, but Stephen Elop, Nokia’s new CEO, also mentioned that they won’t be coming at least until 2012. So Nokia will still be spilling out Symbian phones through the rest of 2011, and it seemed yet another one will be coming. Wireless Goodness spotted that RM-680 in the always-helpful government database, where it claims support for six cellular frequencies as well as Bluetooth and 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, which should be able to work on almost all GSM carriers in this world. Will this new Nokia N9 be running MeeGo, MaeMo, or Symbian? I don’t think WinMo will be arriving that early.

Read more…

HP announced their tiny phone the HP Veer some time ago when they announced their WebOS tablets too, and since then it’s been rather quiet. Now US carrier AT&T has finally announced the availability of the phone. There are also a few extra information that we get to know from them.

First off, the phone is now called the Veer 4G because of support of HSPA+, something HP and AT&T officially confirmed. The tiny Veer 4G will be available on May 15^th in your choice of black or white for $99.99 on a two-year contract.

AT&T affirmed that “the Veer has HSDPA Cat 10, which is HSPA+,” while Palm said, “the Veer supports HSDPA Cat 10 and HSUPA Cat 6. For reference, this is the same for the Motorola Atrix 4G and HTC Inspire 4G both currently available from AT&T.”

Specs are still the same. The tiny 2.6-inch phone with 320 x 400 display, will have an 800MHz Snapdragon processor, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 5-Megapixel camera, 8GB of internal storage, and the all-important webOS 2.1.

SOURCE via HP Palm

Apple might have denied a smaller and cheaper iPhone being developed, but that does not mean that there are none out there. This is a smaller version of the iPhone, and it is bloody hell cheaper than your iPhone 4. Of course, being too cheaply priced also makes it look and feel cheap. This is the imitation version iPhone made in China with a China brand, though we’re not sure whether it’s made by Foxconn too. Probably not. Then again, who knows right? Anything can happen. This is a Shanzhai-crafted shrunken iPhone 4 running an iOS rip-off based on Java, garnished with a 1.3 megapixel camera. All it takes is a measly ¥380 (approximately $58) to be the odd one out.

SOURCE via Giz China