Nokia and Vodafone announce the 6730 classic

Nokia and Vodafone today announced the exclusive launch of the new Nokia 6730 classic. This mid-level S60 3rd edition handset features quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, dual-band UMTS/HSPA, 2.2-inch QVGA display, 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera, GPS/aGPS, FM radio, Bluetooth 2.0, 48MB of internal memory and microSD expansion. Vodafone will be the exclusive carrier and will start offering the 6730 classic across all markets in June. Pricing is yet to be determined but we highly doubt this handset will break anybody’s piggy bank — this little guy is destined to be a freebie on most contracts.

(Via The Boy Genius Report.)

Motorola breathes fresh life into original MING with A1200R

Despite the A1600 and A1800, Motorola’s soldiering on with variants of the original circa-2006 MING — for reasons only known to the company’s most senior, jaded product managers, we’d imagine — and the A1200R’s the latest fruit of those efforts. The QVGA touchscreen, 2 megapixel camera, translucent lid, and Linux core all carry over from the original, but the A1200R ups the ante with a new widget platform that lets the user customize little tidbits of information (news, weather, and so on) to be shown on the home screen. Also new to the model is an Office document viewer, but what isn’t new is the fact that the US will almost certainly never get it; it’s been announced in Argentina, which makes it a likely target for a variety of South American countries over the next few months.

(Via Engadget Mobile.)

LG GW520 ‘Calisto’ Coming to UK Carriers in June

LG has unveiled the new LG GW520 (I’ve heard this one being referred to as ‘Calisto‘), a full QWERTY slider that puts an emphasis on social networking by providing a unique ‘push’ service.

The device comes with 3G HSDPA connectivity, 3MP camera and a large 2.8? touchscreen display. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the device is the aforementioned ‘push’ feature for social networking applications. The GW520 pushes updates from your favorite social networking sites straight to your homescreen… which allows you to stay on top of the latest and greatest going on within your social networks.

No details on a North American launch, but the LG GW520 should hit must UK networks sometime in June.

[Via: MobileBurn]

(Via IntoMobile.)

Let me just start this off classily and say: holy crap, I want one!

The new Polaroid PoGo will give you all the instant picture goodness of a Polaroid with all the lovely previewing (and editing, apparently) capability of a digital camera. It features a 3” screen, a 5MP sensor, and the packs of film are 30 for $13 according to OhGizmo!. The whole camera kit and kaboodle runs you $200 and should be available on Amazon.com soon enough.

The post on OhGizmo! got me curious, so I went directly to the Polaroid webpage. Apparently, they’re also releasing a mobile printer that can hook up via bluetooth or mini-USB via something called PictBridge. I’ve never heard of PictBridge before, but now I’m going to have to look up whether or not my Canon camera supports it.

I’ve gotta say, this is one of those pieces of consumer tech that really makes me giggle with glee at technology. Whether it’s appropriate for me to giggle like that is debatable, but the idea of printing pictures out when I want to – or right after taking them – is awesome. There are so many times you’d love to share a picture with a friend, but you know you’ll never really take the time to e-mail them along later. The PoGo should solve that problem, especially if you can keep a copy of what you print on the memory card.

According to CNET, due to U.S. sanctions, Microsoft had to deny service to Windows Live Messenger users in Sudan, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, and Iran. Microsoft did not have a choice but to submit to the U.S. government on this issue. I find it amazing that something like this can happen. While we are at disabling communications, perhaps we should go the extra mile and deny access to services such as Google Earth and maps which could certainly be used as well for planning terrorists activities. We are in the information age. What can we do to safeguard our digital services and assets? Is technology a right or a priviledge? What would stop users of these countries from using a proxy to gain access again to such services? These are questions that a global society needs to answer. Policies and guidelines need to be put into place. I see a future where biometrics will be used to validate identities and services are tied to the user. This will most likely happen with cloud computing. We won’t need personal computers anymore…we just need a terminal and the cloud and with a touch of a finger or a blink of an eye we will be surfing in the cloud.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Windows Live Messenger, Politics, Ethics, Tjchan, Just Another Mobile Monday, JAMM

Quick show of hands: how many of you have teenagers in your home.  My kids are too young for that.  But from what I have seen, the teenage years are an awkward time of growing pains and general surliness.  So, now you know what Ellen, Marc, Julie and the rest of the gang over at Ilium Software have to look forward to as Ilium prepares to enter its teenage years.

Of course, while they are all walking on eggshells, trying not to upset this delicate apple cart of a software company, they would all be remiss if they failed to celebrate this incredible occasion (and besides, this is one teenager who will throw a temper tantrum if you miss the BIG DAY!

So, come on and help Ilium celebrate.  You won’t want to miss this part…because there is plenty in it for you.  But I will let ilium’s own Julie tell you about the prizes:

A BIG five-day sale on all our software through our direct online store (for Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Palm OS, Windows PC). eWallet for the iPhone will also get discounted on the App Store. Just to leave you in suspense, I’m going to make you tune in next week to find out the specifics on the sale! On Monday, the full details will be available here: http://www.iliumsoft.com/twelveyears

Lots of fun on the blog too! We’ll be running contests during our anniversary week over at http://blog.iliumsoft.com with some really fantastic prizes. I could tell you more, but I don’t want to ruin the element of surprise – let’s just say I think everyone will have fun playing, and the winners will be treated very well indeed! And just so you know – you’re eligible to win the prizes too, so be sure to stop by next week and play along.

So, what are you waiting for?  Hurry over to Ilium and check out the deals and prizes.  Just…uhm…stay away from the first door on the left.  But you probably know better than to go into a teenager’s room.