Apple did what they wanted to do for a long time: they released a communication device and they had their moment. Apparently, Google is also working on such a project and we already had seen some "leaked photos" of what the product of their work will look like.

Given these facts and knowing how competitive Microsoft is, the next logical step for them is to release their own device with integrated wireless communication capabilities. If they succeed in doing that only time will tell.

But, for now, all we have are rumors because nothing related to such an enterprise hasn’t come from Microsoft. So, until the moment they will come clean about it (and if they actually have the intention of making such a device) the only thing we can do is try to figure out what they could come up with, and "leak" photos of an yet unborn and unseen handset, made by the ones with Photoshop skills living among us.

So, what will the ZunePhone be capable of if it will be launched on the mobile market to compete with its older brothers from Apple, LG and, supposedly, Google? For starters, if we were to
trust the common sense of Microsoft software engineers, the ZunePhone should be capable of sharing music wirelessly and socially as its music player sibling is.

If you don’t have the opportunity to be able to use a 3G enabled wireless carrier and you fear the dark future of a ZunePhone stripped of its music sharing capabilities, you shouldn’t because Microsoft has already thought about such a situation and has filed for two patents that would allow the transfer of media content from a handset by using other means of transport than the conventional ones.

Microsoft has conceived a system of transferring data with the help of the DTMF signals (Dual-tone multi-frequency signals used for signaling over voice channels on telephones). Wondering how this will be possible?

Let’s hear it from the inventor of this new technology: "the standard DTMF signals for numbers 0 through 7 can be mapped to the corresponding three-bit binary representations of those numbers. The arbitrary data can be placed in a container with meta-data indicating the start and end of the data, the type of data, the amount of data, error correction/detection information, etc. The receiver can prevent the DTMF signals from being converted to audio signals to spare any human listeners from hearing the DTMF signals".

What else would the ZunePhone feature? Most probably, it will use a very similar interface to the one that Zune uses at the moment and it will run a Windows Mobile operating system (I’m 99% sure it will be Crossbow or at least it will be based on the features the next Windows Mobile OS offers).

The rest of the spec sheet remains to be filled up by the Microsoft developing team and to be published so we can all find out what the ZunePhone is capable of.

Release date? No, no one knows when it will be launched but, again, rumors say it will end up on the shelves sometime during the 2007 holidays. Just in time for Santa to grab a couple of million units to make a bunch of cellphone geeks happy all across the world :D.

SOURCE: SOFTPEDIA NEWS

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Motorola continues its annual effort to combine style and innovative technology on Hollywood’s most glamorous night by debuting its not-yet-available MOTORIZR Z3 phone at the 79th Annual Academy Awards.

In recognition of their nominations, the top 25 nominees in the directing and four acting categories will receive a MOTORIZR – the first consumers in the U.S. to own Motorola’s brand-new form factor mobile phone.

In keeping with Motorola’s traditional Oscar phone efforts, each nominee’s
phone is packaged in a custom made, keepsake box. This year, the MOTORIZR will be presented in a package reminiscent of a classic Hollywood dressing room door, complete with a personalized star with the category and name of each nominee.

Merging an innovative slider design with an impressive feature set, the MOTORIZR delivers a dynamic mobile package for socially active, on-the-go consumers who demand style, fun and adventure. Uniquely crafted, the MOTORIZR features a thin, narrow slider form factor with familiar finishes, rich housing materials and a multi-modal design for using the phone in both the open and closed positions. The MOTORIZR also allows users to shoot photos both vertically and horizontally, capturing favorite moments at their best. Appealing to the senses, this sleek, new device boasts exceptional imaging, vivid color screen, enhanced music features and global connectivity.

Nominees will also receive two new compatible Bluetooth-enabled headsets for use with the MOTORIZR. The first, the H800 headset, merges fashion and technology with Motorola’s Rapid Connect technology. The lightweight H800 headset mirrors the phone’s design with its on/off slider functionality and offers an intuitive interface for easy-to-use connections via Bluetooth wireless technology. Next is the Motorola S9 headset that helps provide wireless access to music and voice calls – all on the go. Calls, volume and track controls are managed by simply pressing the headphone’s buttons.

Finally, each nominee’s phone is pre-loaded with a musical mix of 10 new songs from emerging artists that will certainly compliment any future playlist downloaded onto the phone.

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SOURCE: SOFTPEDIA NEWS

A few days ago, Philips has proven to everybody that cellphones shouldn’t be built just to get charged all the time. Of course, the handsets they have launched weren’t having spec sheets that would make a mobile user with experience fall down on his back and the spec sheets aren’t the reason I mention them here.

The only one that featured more than basic talk capabilities and a spec sheet worthy to be worn around the neck by any high-end handset was the Xenium 9@9t and this fact influenced the battery life making it plunge to 8.5 hours of continuous talking (the irony of it all ).

But, and this is the whole idea, the Dutch team showed
everyone what a cellphone manufacturer can do if it has the people to do it. The Xenium 9×9s handset I am writing about has the same huge battery life as its just released candy-bar siblings and a mid-level cellphone specification sheet.

However, if we combine the spec sheet with the extreme battery life we get the perfect mean machine living in the usability niche of the mobile market. If you are thinking as I do, you’re probably already making plans to save the money necessary to buy this phone.

The 9×9s clamshell is a tri-band GSM/GPRS handset, working on 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz networks, and its features are as follows: a bright 80cd/m2 1.8 inch 262k colors OLED display, an external 80×48 pixels display, AMR and MIDI polyphonic ringtones, a 1.3 megapixel digital camera, 18 MB of built-in memory and, the most important things, a 950 mAh battery offering 8.5 hours of talking time and a stand-by of 30 days. That is a whole month and most people will probably forget this cellphone actually needs to be charged :).

I know beauty sounds good, I know high-end features make everyone grin and empty their accounts in an instant, but if I were to choose between a high-end cellphone and one of the devices with never ending battery life Philips released on the market a few days ago, I would definitely go for one of Philips’ phones.

One more thing before ending: Go Philips go! When is the cellphone with a battery life of 6 months scheduled to be released?

SOURCE: NEWSPEDIA

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Anam Mobile and Amobee Media Systems announced a partnership to deliver a solution for ad-funding subscriber originated SMS messages. The service will be demonstrated live at the upcoming 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona from the 12th to the 15th of February 2007.

The solution, available for deployment in both GSM and CDMA networks, will allow operators to increase revenues through opt-in advertising, while end-users will benefit from subscribing to new ad-funded tariffs, lowering the cost of their SMS package.

"This
partnership with one of the world leaders in messaging infrastructure technologies signals the beginning of a new era in ad-funded mobile services," said Zohar Levkovitz, CEO of Amobee Media Systems. "Mobile is the last remaining medium in which the user bears the full weight of payment - a situation that will ultimately stifle growth. Ad-funding SMS has the potential to create new revenue streams for operators, deliver a new measurable advertising channel for brands and provide mobile users the ability to communicate more for less."

"As operators look for more ways to generate new revenue streams, it is critical to find a solution that reduces costs to subscribers without affecting their bottom line. Our solutions, in collaboration with the Amobee Media System, provide operators with an intelligent mobile advertising solution to address this need," said Gerry McKenna, CEO of Anam.

The combined platform incorporates Anam’s patent-pending Smart Services Technology and Amobee’s Mobile Media System, a purpose-built unified mobile ad-serving and campaign management solution which can ad-fund SMS, browsing, video, music and games. The service will be able to handle messages of any length and type, sent to and from subscribers on the same or different networks, without impacting on the subscriber’s privacy or security of their messages.

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–SOURCE: SOFTPEDIA NEWS