Samsung U600 - World’s slimmest slider mobile phone.

One of the most exciting launches at the 3GSM World Congress was that of the Samsung U600, surely one of the big phones of 2007.

It’s one of four mobile phones released as part of Samsung’s new Ultra Edition II range, which will be Samsung’s flagship range in 2007.

The phones all come in a stylish graphite grey and feature a new battery enhancing technology called the Optimized Power Usage Solution.

The music playback facilities are improved as well thanks to a partnership with Bang & Olufsen.

The U600, referred to as the Ultra Edition 10.9, is undoubtedly the highlight of the range and looks set to be Samsung’s premium mass market offering in competition with Sony Ericsson’s update on the K800i, the K810i, and Nokia’s new N95.

It’s a stylish slider phone with a 3.2 megapixel camera, 2.2″ QVGA display, and a microSD memory card slot.

It’s also incredibly thin for a slider with a width of just 10.9mm, a trick repeated by the other models in the Ultra Line II range with the U300 becoming the world slimmest clamsell phone and the U100 the world’s slimmest phone! The other phone in the range is the U700 slider.

Run on Nokia's mapping and navigation application smart2go

Nokia announced that its smart2go mapping and navigation platform has been downloaded around 30.000 times during the first two days of being made available.

The application is a free download that enables people to use the most comprehensive map coverage offered on a mobile device. The downloadable application was held back three days so that Nokia could make sure that the first experience with the application, even in its beta form, was a positive experience. Now the beta application can be downloaded from two locations; www.smart2go.com and http://www.nokia.com/maps.

"We regret that we had to disappoint even one person, but holding back the beta application a few days let us make sure that most people received a very good first impression of the application itself," said Ralph Eric Kunz, vice-president, Nokia, Multimedia. "We were very thrilled to see the demand for the product over the weekend, and after seeing the number of downloads for just the PC map loader, decided that we needed to put more capacity when we launched the actual mobile application."

The application allows people to view where they are on a map, search for points-of-interests (POI) around them and create routes to get them there free of charge. Smart2go allows for mapping and routing in over 150 countries and with an additional purchase has support for full turn-by-turn satellite navigation in over 30 countries. Nokia is offering the smart2go application for free for select Nokia S60 and Windows Mobile 5.0 devices initially and has plans to roll out support for most of the major mobile OS platforms including Nokia S60, Series 40, PocketPC, Linux and other Windows Mobile devices - Nokia.

Nokia may slash upto 700 jobs

Nokia announced on Thursday that it intends to make reductions in its global workforce over the next few months. According to the company's press release, the reason for the workforce reduction is to "improve the focus and efficiency of some of its R&D and related sales and marketing activities and internal IT operations." Up to 700 employees across the globe will be laid off, and 340 of those getting the axe will be in Finland, Nokia's country of origin.Some of the positions Nokia's thinking about eliminating are 360 employees in Enterprise Solutions, 30 in Customer and Market Operations, 130 in I.T., and 140 within the Technology Platforms unit.

Nokia hopes to offer affected employees other positions within the company, and to introduce voluntary opportunities for reduction (which usually means early retirement, generous severance packages, etc.)Nokia has been dominant in the mobile phone market, but clearly the company is not happy with the status quo. This is a pretty aggressive move for a company that seems to be on top--perhaps, Nokia's execs felt that this is what needs to be done to ensure it remains in that position.

Read more from the Nokia press release.

iPhone will raise the bar for "cumbersome" mobile music, says Warner Music chairman

So much for the mobile industry's attempts to persuade everyone to download music to their phones. According to Warner Music Group chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr, it's not working very well.
"It's expensive, it's complicated and it's slow," he told a panel audience at 3GSM this week. "It's amazing we've generated as much revenue as we have given how cumbersome the experience can be." He also pointed out that even buying a ringtone from your operator can often require up to 20 key-presses. The solution? iPhone. Well, kind of.

"Before it's even hit the market it has raised the bar in terms of what users expect with a user interface and what music phones should do," he said. "Now it's up to other mobile phone makers to meet users' expectations. "For those who invent with a similarly inspiring vision, the opportunity is immense."

AMD Says Imageon Chips Raise Bar for Mobile Media

By Lindsay Martell

AMD's new Imageon 2298, 2294, and 2192 processors are designed to help mobile phone manufacturers bring advanced video and audio capabilities to their mobile handsets. According to AMD, the new Imageon chips allow for the kind of advanced capabilities you'd see on consumer electronics gadgets rather than typical mobile phones.

Long gone are the days when it was enough for a mobile phone to simply be a phone. Ever since the technology began to emerge to transform handsets into handheld media players, phone manufacturers have been producing these multimedia marvels in droves.

To help the device makers pack the latest innovations into their handsets, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), one of the world's largest chipmakers and chief rival of Intel, has developed a next-generation version of its Imageon processors for mobile devices.

AMD says the new processors offer super-fast speeds and can handle everything from high-resolution photos to cinematic-quality video and audio for mobile phones.

Bill Targets Teens With Cell Phones

Reported By: Denis O'Hayer

A bill to take cell phones out of the hands of new teen drivers passed its first test at the State Capitol Monday. A House subcommittee approved the measure, which bans all 16- and 17-year-old drivers from using any cell phones while at the wheel.

The ban even covers hands-free devices. "They text each other. They utilize their BlackBerrys in addition to their cell phones so this is just trying to get to the learning drivers," said Bob Dallas of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

The subcommittee only passed the ban after sponsors promised it would not be extended to adult drivers. Some lawmakers doubted that it would really get teens to hang up and pay attention to the road."It's gonna be difficult to enforce. Surely, driving and talking on the phone can be a distraction for all of us, teenagers as well as adults," said Rep. Butch Parrish, R-Swainsboro.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Len Walker, countered, "Studies have clearly indicated that cell phone usage is a major distraction, especially for inexperienced drivers, and so we felt that it was appropriate to take some steps to prohibit these cell phones.

"If a teen driver is caught with a cell phone in hand, the bill calls for a minimal violation of just one point on a driver's license. The bill now goes to the full Motor Vehicles Committee.

If it passes there, it moves on to the full House.

Nokia's new 3G cell phones

Nokia, among the largest companies touting their wares this week at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, unveiled several phones designed to access to the Internet. The E61i, shown here, is one of three new handsets in Nokia's E series designed primarily for business users. The slim E61i is positioned as a BlackBerry competitor.

At the moment, however, the new phones are scheduled for release only in Europe and Asia.

Credit: Nokia