Most expensive cellphones unveiled in 2008

After jewelry and modern gadgets, cellphones festooned with gold, platinum and diamonds are turning out to be the best assets to flaunt lavishness. The ubiquitous trend of encrusting crystals on gadgets has made it pretty clear that men love bling as much as women. If your wish list for this holiday season includes a luxurious, bejeweled phone, take a look at this list of the best luxury phones launched this year.

Tag Heuer Meridiist

With leather and metal embellishments complementing its angular design, the Tag Heuer Meridiist is an example of precision craftsmanship in the mobile space. The Meridiist boasts a Sapphire crystal display glass, 2 megapixel camera, 1.9-inch QVGA display, mp3 player and bluetooth wireless technology. Priced between $5300 and $6100. More here.

Apple iPhone 24ct Gold Edition by Goldstriker

Goldstriker has always been famous for its gold plated handsets. Their latest addition is the Apple iphone 3G 24ct Gold edition. Parts adorned are front bezel and all outer command buttons. Priced at £1,195. More here.

Mobiado Professional 105 ZAF

Claimed to be the thinnest luxury phone in the world, the 105 ZAF measures a mere 10.6mm thin. The entire front and back of the phone has been fabricated from large pieces of sapphire crystal, providing a modern minimalist look with a wear resistance second only to diamond. More here.

Motorola Aura

Boasting of outstanding craftsmanship, inspired by high-end watches, the AURA breaks convention and marks the return of artistry in the design of mobile phones. The luxury handset comes with a 1.55-inch circular LCD screen, and a 2-megapixel camera. Priced at £1400. More here.

Vertu Ascent Ti collection

The Vertu Ascent Ti collection is targeted straight at the affluent Ferrari fans. The three new models include the limited edition Nero (Black) and some special editions called the Rosso (Red) and Gaillo (Yellow). All three phones will bear a Ferrari logo on their back. More here.

Mobiado 105GMT Gold with dual mechanical Swiss watch

The 105GMT Gold will be limited to 50 masterpieces, with the limited edition number being machine engraved into the back of each phone. The entire front and back of the 105GMT Gold Luxury Mechanical Watch mobile phone has been crafted from large pieces of sapphire crystal. The 105GMT Gold incorporates a unique dual mechanical watch movement. More here.

Continental 3G iPhone with emeralds

This is the world’s first iPhone set with emeralds and VS1 quality diamonds. This masterpiece, with vivid green emeralds, is one of the most iconic and coveted phones ever conceived. Blending seamlessly with the 3G iPhone’s sleek curves, the handcrafted case emanates a sensual allure that is almost impossible to resist. Priced at £2999 and £3099 8GB and the 16GB version respectively. More here.

Solid gold Vertu Boucheron 150

With lots of planes and angles, the phone case has been crafted from a single piece of gold, and it took 1,000 hours to cut into shape, 700 hours to hand polish, and more than 500 hours to build. The phone is expected to sell for $30,000. More here.

Nokia 8800 Arte Pink

The Nokia 8800 Arte Pink by Peter Aloisson is the epitome of luxury. The handset touts 680 white and pink glistening diamonds in addition to coating the entire handset in gold. Priced at €85,000. More here.

Gresso White Diamonds Collection

The Gresso White Diamonds Collection features inherit hand-assembled body panels made out of 200-year old African blackwood, keyboards with base plate made of titanium and stainless steel battery cover with a magnetic lock plus leather and gold decoration. Priced at 9000 Euros. More here.

Knalihs Athem’s Nokia 8800 Sapphire

Only 20 units of the Knalihs Athem Diamond encrusted Nokia 8800 Saphire Arte were put into production. There are 1000 diamonds that weigh 6.75 carats placed on the Nokia 8800. Pricing starts from $20,000. More here.

Softbank 823SH Tiffany phone

The Softbank 823SH Tiffany phone comes encrusted with 537 (18.34 carat) diamonds. The glittering phone will retail for 12.98 million yen, which comes out to approximately US $132,140. More here.

Diamond-studded Nokia E90

The Nokia E90 by Peter Aloisson has been festooned with 408 diamonds and an 18 carat white gold shell. Moreover, a total of 9.86 carats of VVSI–IF (LC) diamonds have been used to beautify the rim of the phone. Youirs for 52,000 Euros. More here.

Peter Aloisson’s Princess Plus

The custom iPhone, called Princess Plus, has half of its 318 diamonds in the bedazzling square princess cut while the total weight of the stones came down to 17.75. There is an 18K white gold lining around the edge of the phone. Yours for a cool $176,400. More here.

Amosu Ultimo Diamond

Perfectly set with 1179 dazzling 16.18 carat diamonds, the Amosu Ultimo Diamond iPhone is handcrafted by skilled craftsmen using only the most exceptional materials. This exclusive Ultimo Diamond iPhone features 458 diamonds caked around the flat-front face. While the rear bottom case is made of 18 carat solid white gold encrusted with 660 diamonds. Priced at £89,000. More here.

[via CellPhoneBeat]

Samsung and LG launch solar-powered cellphones!

Samsung and LG seem all set to unveil two solar-powered handsets next week. Samsung takes the initiative in launching Blue-Earth, powered by solar panels, placed on the back of the phone. Made from recycled plastic, this phone runs on energy-efficient Eco-Mode and flaunts an en-suite pedometer, dubbed Eco-Walk.

LG too has announced a new solar-powered phone, that’s a probable version of KF750 Secret. This handset will allow you to talk for 3 minutes for every 10 minutes of solar charge time. It will also be a bio-plastic-made cellphone.

No words on suggested pricing and availability as yet. So, stay tuned!

Via: Ecofriend

Vertu Signature Dragon to spit fire on your pockets

Back in 2006, Vertu unveiled its limited edition Signature Cobra handset and exactly after two years, the luxury mobile phone maker wants to impress us with the Signature Dragon. As far as design is concerned, there looks to be nothing new except that this time, the cobra on the phone has been replaced with a dragon done in precious stones. This dazzling phone is on display at the Vertu store in the Wynn hotel, Las Vegas. Similar to the Vertu Signature Cobra, the Signature Dragon hasn’t been listed on the company’s website. Considering the fact that the Signature Cobra was priced at $310,000, we must expect the new Vertu Signature Dragon luxury phone to come with a real hefty price tag. Is someone talking about the credit crunch?

Cellphone hacked for testing blood and detecting diseases

Cellphone hacking is nothing new but this hack for medical purposes is simply imposing. Scientists at the UCLA have transformed a Sony Ericsson phone into a blood testing unit, which can detect HIV, malaria and several other illnesses. This portable blood tester was created by just using an LED, a plastic light filter and some wires. The hacked device analyzes the blood cells that are placed on an integrated off-the-shelf camera sensor and lit up with a filtered light source. Pictured above is an off-the-shelf Sony Ericsson cellphone that has been modded into a LUCAS imager. LUCAS stands for Lensfree Ultrawide-field Cell-monitoring Array platform based on Shadow imaging.

[via cellphonebeat]

Nokia 1680 Classic Candybar Cell Phone

The fourth among the phones released by Nokia in the Growing Together 2008 conference along with the Nokia 5000, Nokia 2680 Slide, and Nokia 7070 Prism is Nokia 1680 Classic. This phone is recognized as Nokia's most affordable camera phone as of the moment. It capitalizes on having very basic phone functionalities with the added benefit of a camera despite its low price.

Aside from the VGA camera, it also has video recording capability, and even a one touch access for your photos and videos. Other features include easy access to email and phone sharing functionality. The Nokia 1680 Classic will ship on the second quarter of 2008 with a MSRP of $78-80.

[via MobileWhack]

Review: Nokia's Thousand-Dollar E90 Communicator Cell Phone

By Jamie Lendino

If you're looking for the Grand Poobah of smartphones, look no further than Nokia's new $1,099 E90 Communicator.

As opposed to Nokia's multimedia-focused N-series, the E-series focuses on messaging. In Nokia-speak, that basically means these devices have QWERTY keyboards.

The reality is that this unit is quite capable as a multimedia device, just as the company's N-series phones are also excellent e-mail handlers, despite their numeric-only keypads.

The unlocked E90 is a much-improved follow-up to the clumsy 9300 and 9500 Communicators.

Along with stellar voice quality, the E90 includes dual screens, dual keyboards, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 and GPS, plus an entire suite of applications that would cost significantly more with other smartphones.

Any way you slice it, this is a precision-engineered instrument for those who can spare more than a grand and have extra-large pockets.

The E90's sturdy matte aluminum-and-plastic enclosure feels great in the hand. At 5.2 by 2.2 by 0.8 inches (HWD) and a hefty 7.4 ounces, you certainly won't mistake this beast for a slim RAZR2.

The E90 may be a big phone, but all that bulk is put to good use. On the outside, there's a 2-inch QVGA screen with 320-by-240-pixel resolution. Its backlit numeric keypad sports large, clearly labeled keys with just the right amount of resistance.

The horizontal flip-style handset opens to reveal a lovely 4-inch, 800-by-352-pixel widescreen and a luxurious, five-row QWERTY keyboard. There's also an extra row of shortcut keys across the top for contacts, messaging, the Web, and other tasks.

The E90 uses a smooth two-position hinge mechanism so you can flip the device open 90 degrees like a miniature laptop, or lock it at 180 degrees for easy handheld use.

Unlike the numeric keypad, the QWERTY keyboard isn't backlit — but that's its only flaw.

With its excellent feel, dedicated symbol buttons, large space bar and Enter keys, plus dedicated numbers across the top, I was able to type very easily on the E90, though it's a little too wide to hold comfortably for long periods.

Unlike the AT&T Tilt, the device lets you type (with two fingers) while it's sitting on a flat surface, as if it's a mini-laptop. Neither of the E90's screen supports touch, but the five-way navigation pad is accurate and has a crisp feel for moving the display cursor.

The E90 is a quad-band GSM phone (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), making it useful for world travelers, although it supports only the 2100-MHz band for 3G data speeds overseas.

Here in the U.S., we're still stuck with EDGE, the same network used by Nokia's two-year-old 9500 Communicator. That's forgivable on the $449 Nokia E61i, our current Editors' Choice for unlocked handsets, but not so easy to pardon on a $1,099 smartphone.

Its built-in Wi-Fi radio works with WPA and WPA2 networks, and I had no trouble connecting to my own protected WPA network. The E90 practically flew over Wi-Fi, with test speeds ranging from 1750 to 1825 Kbps.

The E90 is one of the best-sounding cell phones I've reviewed: I could hear perfectly clearly and folks on the other end thought I sounded great. Two separate callers even thought I was using a landline.

The device's excellent noise rejection meant that I could walk outside on a windy day — or even right past a road construction crew with a jackhammer, in one case — and continue a conversation.

Reception was also top-notch, and calls were loud and clear through an Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth headset.

The E90's speakerphone is loud enough for outdoor use. It can make VoIP calls in a Wi-Fi hot spot, but my review unit wasn't activated for that purpose, so I wasn't able to test this function. The handset also includes push-to-talk capabilities for those who enable it.

Since the E90 is a Symbian Series 60 3rd edition phone, it will work with thousands of third-party applications. My testing software, JBenchmark ACE, detected an ARM9 processor running at 244 MHz; in use, the E90 felt a bit sluggish compared with a BlackBerry or Palm OS device.

The included Nokia PC Suite software lets you back up data, use the E90 as a slow EDGE modem for your laptop and move files back and forth from your computer.

You can also do the latter with microSD cards up to 4GB in size. Keep in mind, though, that the E90 doesn't support higher-capacity microSDHC cards.

The E90 also sports a built-in GPS radio along with Nokia Maps and Landmarks applications.
The built-in music player had no problem with a variety of MP3, WMA, AAC and even iTunes Plus AAC files, which were a problem on earlier Nokia smart devices like the E61i.

Nokia bundles a set of earphones that sounded poor with music tracks. The E90's volume control also lacks range, and with the included earphones, files recorded at lower levels played back too quietly even at the maximum setting.

Paired with a set of stereo Etymotic Ety8s, I heard clear sound with decent bass and none of the usual swirling audio artifacts I usually hear over stereo Bluetooth. A built-in FM radio and voice recorder round out the unit's audio capabilities.

For video, there's a built-in RealPlayer client that supports MPEG-4 and 3GP in addition to RealPlayer video files. Test video files — including full-length movies — played perfectly smoothly, even when expanded to fill the internal screen.

The E90 employs two cameras. The main camera is a 3.2-megapixel sensor with an LED flash and Nokia's software autofocus. My test unit took colorful, detailed images with low contrast. Unfortunately, the adjustable LED flash had virtually no effect.

I was able to record fuzzy but well-lit 640-by-480-pixel video files at a smooth 30 frames per second. There's also a VGA QCIF camera on the front of the device for video calls and self-portraits.

Many Nokia smartphones feature sophisticated e-mail handling, and the E90 is no exception. You get support for POP, IMAP and Nokia's free Intellisync application, which synchronizes messages, calendar and contact information with Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino and also adds push e-mail.

There's a text-to-speech message reader app, along with a PDF reader and Zip Manager for handling e-mail attachments.

The built-in IM client is far from user-friendly. Instead of including profiles for AIM, MSN and other popular services, it speaks in terms of servers, access points and Web addresses, and is unnecessarily difficult to configure.

Nokia bundles in a copy of Quickoffice, which lets you create, edit and save Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, a boon given the E90's incredibly comfortable input features. Its widescreen makes editing spreadsheets a cinch.

Test worksheets, Word documents, presentation files and PDFs all looked accurate, although the built-in Quickword can't deal with Track Changes mode. You'll need to upgrade to Quickoffice Premier 4 to gain that ability.

There's also no video-out for giving presentations or watching movies.

Nokia's enterprise support for the E90 is robust. Along with the aforementioned e-mail capability, the device includes a bar-code reader that uses the built-in camera as a scanner. You can also secure memory cards with passwords, and lock the handset remotely by sending a text message to the unit.

With a T-Mobile SIM card, the E90 lasted a solid 11 hours 23 minutes in a talk-time rundown test, which is plenty of time for long flights and days of endless meetings.

At an eye-popping $1,099, the E90 certainly isn't for everyone. It's a bit larger and heavier than just about any other smartphone on the market, but given the device's extensive capabilities, I didn't mind that so much.

At 7.4 ounces it's still significantly lighter than hybrid devices such as the 12.6-ounce HTC Advantage, which falls somewhere between a laptop and cell phone.

That makes the E90 infinitely more suitable as your only phone, and one that could also suffice in lieu of a laptop for short trips, as long as you don't need it for writing long documents or giving presentations.

Nokia should have added HSDPA 3.6 support for the E90 in the U.S., not only because of the device's stratospheric price, but also because its long battery life would likely fare better than the Nokia N95 (U.S.) did on our 3G-enabled endurance test.

Still, the E90 is a jewel of a gadget. There are plenty of less-expensive handsets with dual keyboards, including the powerful AT&T Tilt and nonsmart models like the LG Voyager.

But globetrotting corporate mavens of means can buy this smartphone with confidence — and know it will pretty much do it all.

Editor's rating: Three and a half out of five stars.

[via FOXNews]

Samsung SCH-B750 Cell Phone Pushes User Created Content

Web 2.0 isn't coming. It's already here. And now it's storming the world of the mobile phones in the form of the Samsung SCH-B750 swiveling clamshell. Taking on a form factor vaguely reminiscent of the Nokia N93, the Samsung B750 comes equipped with a beefy 3MP digital camera, Bluetooth connectivity, and a built-in DMB receiver, not to mention that 2.2-inch display that can rotate around to provide a "how do you do" kind of orientation.

Rounding out the featres are things like the ubiquitous integrated media player -- tackling both audio and video -- as well as TV-out and microSD expansion. Samsung seriously has all the basics covered with this multimedia-geared handset, but there's no mention of built-in WiFi or 3G connectivity, so you might not want to be uploading your random videos to YouTube just yet.

And no, the cute girl does not come with the phone.

Nokia speeds up cell phone GPS

By Reuters

Nokia launched on Thursday a service that it said will cut the time a GPS-enabled cell phone takes to pinpoint its whereabouts, opening new opportunities for location-based online services.

Nokia hopes the service, available for people who own its flagship N95 smart phones, will cut the start-up time to one minute, from up to three minutes currently. The slowness has so far hampered interest in cell phone navigation.

"It will be reliably under one minute in most countries," said Ralph Eric Kunz, head of Nokia's navigation and mapping operations.

Handset makers see GPS (Global Positioning System) as one of the next big "value-adds."
Analysis firm Berg Insight has forecast annual shipments of handset-based personal navigation devices in Europe and the United States to reach 12 million units by 2009, compared with 1 million in 2005.

While most assisted-GPS technologies use mobile carriers cell sites to find locations faster, Nokia's new service bypasses operator networks, using data from a SIM card and new software that helps the phone to catch satellite signals.


GPS chips use satellites orbiting the earth to determine the exact position of a person. They are found in car navigation systems, which have surged in popularity in recent years, and the technology is now making the jump to mobile phones.

Nokia's N95, with a $967 (700 euro) price tag, is not within reach of the wider market, but the Finnish company aims to bring GPS chips to a wide array of its phones. All of Nokia's GPS-enabled phones will have the new service, Kunz said.

Nokia bought into the navigation industry last year through its acquisition of German firm Gate5 and started to offer free maps and routing data in February, while charging extra fees for navigation.

While a few years ago personal navigation device makers like TomTom shrugged off possible rivalry from the handset industry, they have now acknowledged the potential risk to their business.

Story Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

Time For A New Cell Phone

Posted by Brian Hoover



I recently got a new cell phone. What phone would a "techie" such as myself decide upon and how would I ultimately make my decision? Read on to find out...
I use Verizon Wireless as my cell provider. Because of this, and due to the fact that I've been a customer for a number of years now, I qualify for their "New Every Two Program". Basically, with this program, every two years you receive $100 credit towards a new phone and you can use this credit sixty days before your contract expires.
On the Verizon Wireless website, they have a "New Every Two Meter" which shows you how much longer you need to wait before you can take advantage of this credit. Since I had been having issues with my cell phone, I was counting down the days until I was eligible to use my $100 credit. Well, my New Every Two Meter was up on February 21st. That night and the following morning, I checked out the options on Verizon Wireless's website and I picked out two phones that I was interested in. These two phones were the LG VX8600 (a clamshell version of the "Chocolate" phone) and the Pantech PN-820 (a clamshell Smartphone which runs Windows Mobile).
Noticably absent from my list is a Motorola RAZR. I just think that everyone has a RAZR these days and it's just not as cool as they were when they first came out. I'm also sure that since my boss and another teammate have RAZRs now, that helped reduce the attractiveness of those phones.
So on the 22nd (the first day I was eligible for my $100 credit), I stopped by the Verizon Wireless kiosk in the mall to check out the phones. While there, the one sales guy who was assisting me showed me a new phone that they had just gotten in - the Samsung SCH-u740. This phone is pretty unique. It opens two different ways. One way is like a normal cell phone, but it also opens up like a Sidekick. Thanks to this sales guy, the number of phones I was considering increased to three.
That evening, I went online and did some research on each of the phones. All of them received good ratings and reviews, so I really didn't make much progress in my attempt to select one of them. I did, however, eliminate one of the phones - the Pantech PN-820. While the phone seemed pretty cool and I liked the idea of having a phone which runs Windows Mobile, there were two things I didn't like about it. One, the phone has an antenna! The antenna is a remnant of the older analog type of phones. Digital-only phones do not require these antiquated eye-sores. Second, in order to use some of the features such as being able to browse the Internet and synching the device, you must have a data plan in addition to your voice plan and this will cost an additional $29.99 or more per month (if not more).
With my choices narrowed down to two phones once again, I decided to take my daughter with me to help pick out my new phone.
That Friday afternoon, my daughter came to visit and we went to the mall. When we arrived at the Verizon Wireless kiosk, I showed my daughter the LG phone first and then the Samsung phone. As soon as she saw the way that the Samsung phone opened, she blurted out "DUDE!!! GET THAT ONE!!"
I have to admit, I'm not really into texting on my cell phone. I get text messages for work to notify me when people have an issue with their computers, but I rarely send any messages. The Samsung phone is designed to make texting convenient by having a "QWERTY" keyboard so you don't need to tap out your text messages the usual way where you press the "2" key once for "a", twice for "b", etc. The keys on the phone's"QWERTY" keyboard are obviously rather small.
Still... I thought the phone was really unique, so I took my daughter's suggestion and I went with the Samsung phone.
I've had the phone for a week and a half now and I am happy to report that I really like it.
The Samsung SCH-u740 opened as a regular phone.
One feature that has taken the most getting used to is the keys. I mentioned there are a lot of them due to the full "QWERTY" keyboard. When you open the phone as a regular phone, the standard "1" through "0" keys are gray so they stand out.
The Samsung SCH-u740 in "rotated mode".
When you rotate the phone and open it up like a Sidekick, typing messages is actually quite easy using the keyboard. (You just need to watch and make sure that the NUM LOCK isn't on.) Also, some features such as browsing the Internet and playing MP3s are only available in rotated mode.
Speaking of playing MP3s, the phone has two built-in speakers beside the display so you can listen to your favorite songs without the need for headphones. Also, although you need to be in rotated mode to begin playing MP3s, you can then close the phone and use touch controls beneath the external display to control playback.
The phone is very similar in size to the RAZR V3. For example, the RAZR V3 is 3.86"H x 2.08"W x 0.57"D and weighs 3.49 ounces while the SCH-u740 is 3.84"H x 2.04"W x 0.58"D and weighs 3.6 ounces. Their features are similar too, although the Samsung has some additional features such as the music player. Of course, the Samsung phone is a bit more expensive than the RAZR, but that is mainly due to the phone being newer.
The battery life of the Samsung is pretty good. The last time I charged it was on Friday afternoon and I had approximately 1/2 of a charge left this evening when I checked it. I drained the battery the day after I got the phone, however. I was playing with it basically non-stop that day as I was figuring out the features and changing the settings. I also downloaded some ringtones and I loaded up my Micro-SD card with some MP3s so I could test out the playback function.
One feature that I haven't had the opportunity to check out yet is Wireless E-Mail Synchronization. I went into the option for this on the phone today and I saw that Verizon Wireless charges $19.99 a month for this feature. I'm seriously considering this. I would like to be able to get my work and personal e-mails on my phone, so when I'm travelling I don't need to worry about missing an important message. (I don't qualify for a Blackberry at work.) I just think that's a little expensive since they offer data plans for only $10.00 more than that per month if I remember correctly.
So, this is a pretty cool phone. I've had Motorola phones for the past few years and this one is much nicer than Motorola's current offerings (in my opinion).
Now don't you all go running out and buying the same phone for yourself or your kids. I like having a cool, unique phone. I don't want to have the same phone as everybody else! :)