Nokia has announced a bright new addition to their CDMA portfolio, the Nokia 2608. Nokia 2608 fold phone has been designed for style enthusiasts and consumers who want convenient functionality when they’re on the go.

Nokia 2608 has high-gloss exterior, racy stripe down the middle is available in three colorful options, fuchsia with pink stripe, silver with green stripe or black with blue stripe.

Nokia 2608 offers easy to use functions such as quick touch access to one’s PC, using the phone as a modem; a voice recorder for capturing those key thoughts and an integrated speakerphone for conference calls on the run. It features a quick-press flashlight, FM radio, LED indicator light that blinks when there is an incoming call or message waiting. There is also an option to send a business card or calendar appointment via SMS.

Nokia says the phone is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2009, in select CDMA markets outside the US. There is no word on price yet.

Link: Nokia

Asus has introduced the ASUS P565, powered by an 800 MHz processor, making it the fastest business PDA phone in the world.

This is a Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional phone, featuring ASUS’ latest touch-driven user interface Glide, that Asus claims delivers ‘graphics and system performance beyond anything else on the market at present’. The fast processor renders the P565 particularly amenable to multitasking, while Glide enables users to switch between tasks rapidly with their fingertips.

The 2.8" touchscreen offering a resolution of 480 x 640 pixels, delivers clarity for both personal photographs and spreadsheets. It also offers 3 MP camera, 256MB flash memory and 128MB of DDR SDRAM, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, and a microSD slot with SDHC support.

The P565 also comes with a potent suite of business-oriented features and software, including push mail, business card recognition and Microsoft Office Mobile. Other useful applications such as Anytime Launcher and Multi-Home enable users to view their calendars, the times of local and visiting cities, weather reports, online news and much more. The talk time is 3 hrs with 3G and 4 hrs with 2G.

There is no word on availability or pricing yet.

Link: Asus

Nokia has announced the latest addition to its Eseries range with the new Nokia E63. Nokia says it has been designed for people who need to manage their business and personal lives equally well. Build on the foundation of the successful E71, the Nokia E63 brings the QWERTY keyboard form factor to a broader audience at a great price.

"The amazing response we have seen to the Nokia E71, which has very quickly become the best selling model in its category, let us know that we are heading in the right direction. People want a rich experience when using messaging, social networks and the Internet. With the Nokia E63 you can enjoy the web, update your status and work meaningfully with multiple email accounts," says Soren Petersen, Senior Vice President, Nokia.

With a single key press, users can switch from a view of corporate mail, appointments and intranet data, to a personal mode with a picture of friends, personal email and shortcuts to favorite hobby blogs or websites.

Nokia E63 includes Wi-Fi connectivity, easy access to Mail for Exchange and dedicated key access to contacts, calendar and email. Users can record and view images and videos on bright landscape display. They can listen to music downloaded from the Nokia Music Store, or other sources, via the standard 3.5 mm audio jack.

The Nokia E63 users also get free access to 1GB of online file storage on Ovi. It allows them to get remote access to their PC files even when their computer is offline.

Available in ruby red or ultramarine blue options, the Nokia E63 is expected to start shipping in the next few weeks for EUR 199, excluding taxes and subsidies.

Link: Nokia

The world just got a little bit smaller. Google Earth is now available for the iPhone and iPod touch, allowing you to fly to the far reaches of the world from the palm of your hand.

The touch interface of iPhone is a very natural way to interact with the Earth. Just swipe your finger across the screen and you fly to the other side of the globe; tilt your phone and your view tilts as well. You can pinch to zoom in or out, or just double tap with one finger to zoom in and two fingers to zoom out.

You can use the 'Location' feature to fly to your current location and also search for places, businesses, and landmarks around the globe with Google Local Search. You can even browse millions of geo-located photos from around the world or read Wikipedia articles.

The software is now available for download in 18 languages and 22 countries via iTunes App Store.

Link: Google Blog

Samsung has announced the I7110, the latest slim and sleek bar type smartphone based on S60 and Symbian OS.

The I7110 offers a 2.6” AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) screen, to deliver outstanding experiences in navigation, multimedia, and connectivity. The AMOLED screen provides sharp images even under intense sunlight.

It also offers 5 megapixel camera featuring auto focus and LED flash, offers advanced video recording and play features and supports multi-codec formats including DivX. 50MB of internal memory and a SDHC-supported micro SD slot allows users to store digital contents up to 16GB.

It also boasts geo-tagging and navigation capabilities in pedestrian and driving modes. The FM transmitter enables drivers to receive the voice navigation guide via car speakers. The I7110 comes equipped with HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity. The smartphone’s 1,200 mAh battery can facilitate up to 11 hours of talk time and extended multimedia experience.

While the price has not been revealed, Samsung is planning to release their new Symbian based i7110 smartphone in Russia from November 2008.

Link: Samsung Mobile

Motorola has introduced the Aura, a handset inspired by luxury watches and fine handcrafted design.

It offers world’s first 16 million color, circular display with 300 dpi resolution. It has Swiss-made main bearing, which serves as the foundation, while the 62 Carat Lens is created from Grade 1 62-carat sapphire crystal - one of the most scratch-resistant materials on earth.

The Stainless steel housing has chemically etched textures and patterns. Its custom-engineered rotating mechanism is composed of more than 200 high-precision individual parts.

It comes with Motorola’s CrystalTalk technology that takes AURA to the highest level of audio clarity on every call.

“AURA is Motorola’s latest endeavor into the high-tier mobile device space and is the result of our continued inspiration to innovate in design, imagination and state-of-the-art handcraftsmanship,” said Jim Wicks, corporate vice president and director of Consumer Experience Design, Mobile Devices, Motorola. “From the moment AURA owners hold their phones, they elevate their own experience in luxury and unmatched quality.”

AURA is expected to be available around the globe beginning in Q4 2008.

Link: Motorola
 

LG has introduced a new Prada phone with slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

The new Prada phone by LG is almost identical to the original Prada phone, which first brought Prada together with LG. Its elegant good looks combined with a digitally sophisticated interface made it instantly appealing.

The unique QWERTY keyboard available only with the new telephone is designed for maximum ease of use. The metallic feel makes it a pleasure to touch and type, complimenting the slick design aesthetic.

The new LG Prada offers 3G compatibility with video calling, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, full HTML browser, the 5 mega pixel camera with Schneider-Kreuznach certified lens, and Wi-Fi accessibility.

The new Prada mobile will be available in the 4Q of 2008 in Italy, UK, France, Germany and Spain with a starting price of 600 Euros.

Link: LG

Research In Motion (RIM) has announced that the world’s First ‘clickable’ touch-screen Smartphone BlackBerry Storm will be available later this fall.

The revolutionary touch-screen technology in the BlackBerry Storm smartphone dramatically enhances the touch interface and enables easy and precise typing. The world's first “clickable” touch-screen responds much like a physical keyboard and also supports single-touch, multi-touch and gestures for intuitive and efficient application navigation.

The BlackBerry Storm allows its touch-screen to automatically switch between landscape mode and portrait mode as the user rotates the handset. It also adds support for multi-touches, taps, slides and other touch-screen gestures, so customers can easily highlight, scroll, pan and zoom for smooth navigation. Navigating Web sites is fast and easy with the touch-screen interface that lets users double tap to zoom in and slide their fingers to scroll and pan.

BlackBerry Storm will be available exclusively to Verizon Wireless customers in the U.S. and Vodafone customers in Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand.

Link: BlackBerry

Nokia has unveiled its touch-screen smartphone, new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. It offers all the music essentials, including a graphic equalizer, 8GB memory for up to 6000 tracks and support for all main digital music formats, and a 3.5mm jack. Built-in surround sound stereo speakers offer the industry's most powerful sound.

Taking advantage of touch screen technology, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic offers 'Media Bar', a handy drop down menu that provides direct access to music and entertainment, including favourite tracks, videos and photos.

The innovative 'Contacts Bar' lets consumers highlight four favorite contacts on their home-screen and, through a single touch, track a digital history of recent text messages, emails, phone logs, photos and blog updates.

It sports a 3.2" widescreen display, a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and, with a single touch, images or videos can be shared via a favorite online community, such as Share on Ovi, Flickr, or Facebook.

"The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic gives people the freedom to experience music they love in the way they prefer", said Jo Harlow, Vice President, Nokia.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic will be available worldwide beginning in the fourth quarter of 2008 for an estimated retail price of 279 EUR.

Link: Nokia

Sony Ericsson has launched PlayNow plus, offering users the ultimate mobile music experience. Users will be able to discover, download, play and recommend unlimited amounts of music wherever they are and whenever they like, directly over the mobile data network.

PlayNow plus will offer high-quality audio and access to the largest music catalogue of any unlimited download service. Sony Ericsson’s PlayNow plus music service guarantees ‘all-you-can-eat’ unlimited access to millions of music tracks.

Sony Ericsson will launch this service with a special edition of the W902 Walkman phone. Each Sony Ericsson W902 Walkman with PlayNow plus will be having 1000 of the recent most popular digital songs. Pre-loaded music offers are also planned for subsequent PlayNow plus-enabled phones.

The service is due to launch commercially with operator Telenor in Sweden in the fourth quarter of this year, with further roll-outs around the world beginning in 2009.

Link: Sony Ericsson