Bandai, the brand that was responsible for the Tamagochi crazy few years ago, has released the SmartBerry, a childish mobile phone dedicated to…well, children, mostly girls, as there are few “boys” which like pink.

The SmartBerry is a slider with a touchscreen, and will be available for US$100. The device has many features that children would want, such as email. Yeah, I can really see 6 year-old girls sending emails to their other 6 year-old friends. Seems that Japan is on the verge on technological takeover, that, if it hasn’t happened yet.

Besides email functionality, the following features are available:

• Profile - in form of business card, where you can enter your name, birthday date, and blood type. Yeah, blood type, this keeps on impressing me. It seems that the blood type is like a horoscope for the west.
• Friend notebook - to keep your friends profiles and their blood types.
• Picture email - Save up to ten drawn pictures, and send them by email.
• Chatroom - includes emotions. Now I don’t really feel very secure about this.
• Games - Four games included such as Picture Matching, Fortune Telling, Typing, and Nervous Breakdown (sounds really suitable for children).
• Character room - hang around with a digital friend.
• Tools - Calculators, alarm, etc. Kids should not be allowed to have alarms. They set them up for crazy hours, never wake up with them, and it’s us who have to wake up and turn them off at 4am.

Available at the Girls Channel.

Source: Wireless Watch Japan via Shiny Shiny

Nokia is set to open another one of its distinguised research and development centres for products and services, this time in Africa, and in a much smaller size.

As usual, the centre will collaborate with universities and non-governmental organizations to develop prototypes of devices that are suited to African market, as well as study the telecommunications services sector on the continent, said Jussi Impio, team leader of Nokia Research Africa. The office will comprise of a team of six people, further informed Impio.

The team leader explained that Nokia needs a more in-depth expertise to understand the African market, and the new research centre will allow it to understand the needs of African consumers, and develop needed devices, such as ones for health and education.

Source: Network World

Cyber Lotto has bought African Lotteries Limited, and partnered with Zain Malawi to operate online and mobile lottery games.

Zain Malawi has switched to GPRS which is essential to play the games. 3G isn’t widely available in African countries.

Cyber Lotto director of operations, Ivan Goh announced the company’s plan to introduce a new game called Match Two, where players will be picking numbers 1-22. “The game will be played daily through mobile phones and winners will walk away with 100 times their entries,” he said. After Match Two, the company will introduce another game, Match Six where players will cart home K1m in cash prizes.

The press release is available after the jump.

Source: BizCommunity

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Samsung has announced the availability of the Samsung Messager (not Messenger), or SCH-r450, as exclusive to MetroPCs consumers. MetroPC is a US company that offers mobile phone contracts and specializes in wireless unlimited call plans.

The Messager’s highlight is its landscape slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The phone features a 1.3 megapixel camera, a 2.1″ display with 176×220 pixels of resolution, which is really way to small for a full keyboard phone. There is also a MP3 player, Bluetooth, MMS, and microSD memory card support up to 2GB.

The R450 targets young users who send lots of text messages or make heavy use of Instant Messaging applications on their phone.

The device is selling at US$199 from MetroPCs with no contracts attached. The press release, and more pictures are available after the jump.

Source: Softpedia, Earthtimes

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South Africa’s Portuguese-chicken fast food restaurant chain Nando’s has began a mobile service with Digital Mobile to drive customer innovation with the use of mobile marketing.

The ‘MobiZone’ concept allows customers to find their nearest franchise, download menu’s and even enter and participate in competitions all via a mobile phone.

Users need to SMS the word ‘Nandos’ to 32141 and from here they are sent a website link that allows them to download relevant Nando’s information directly onto their mobile phones. This approach ensures that no matter where a customer is based, whether there is an Internet connection or not, they can access up-to-date information on the franchise.

The press release is available after the jump.

Picture: Londonderry NH net

Source: BizCommunity

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