Apple would do well to bring back the cult/niche-classic PDA from years-past. The Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) Newton in modern form would be a great mobile computer indeed. With widespread rumors that Apple is working to bring back the Apple Newton, we’re hearing whispers that the new Newton will essentially be a much bigger iPhone. Ok, this isn’t really a mobile phone, but it is within the realm of mobile.

The new Apple Newton may likely sport a 5.2 inch (presumably multi-touch) display that is designed to be “gripped with one hand on each side similar to a Sony PSP.” Apparently, Apple’s shown interest in a 5.2-inch, 800 x 480 resolution, display from Balda (rumored to be the iPhone’s muti-touch display supplier). The device is reportedly slated to ship in 2H 2008.

We already know that Apple is working to use Intel’s Silverthorne processor in it’s next-gen device for 2008. If the next-gen Apple Newton shows up with Intel’s Silverthorne chip, a 5.2 inch multi-touch display, and Mac OSX Leopard, we’ll be jumping on that bandwagon in no time flat. Stay tuned, we may have more on this at MacWorld Expo.

[Via: Computerworld]

Here we go again with the ridiculous mobile phone charges. This one comes from the UK. The Mirror reports that Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) customer Ian Simpson apparently started using his mobile phone as a wireless modem, after realizing that his Vodafone handset could be tethered to his computer for faster download speeds. Well, Mr. Simpsons started downloading TV shows and music albums over his mobile phone’s data connection. After something like 20-30 TV shows and four albums, Vodafone pulled the plug on Ian’s mobile data connection.

Now, here’s the kicker. Ian called up Vodafone to question why his £7.50 data plan had been cut off. Vodafone informed Mr. Simpson that he had charged up £27,322 (!) in mostly data-related charges. It seems his data plan wasn’t unlimited, as he had assumed (where have we heard that before?). Vodafone said that they limit this particular data package to 120MB per month, and Mr. Simpson’s data usage legitimately exceeded that limit.

Here’s Vodafone’s take:

“Our advice would be to never use a mobile as a modem. We will try to come to some sympathetic arrangement. And we hope he won’t make the same mistake again.”

Right. We’re sure Vodafone hope he won’t make that mistake again. Not that Mr. Simpson should have known better, or that he’s not playing with a full deck of cards. But, carriers should really reconsider their data-billing practices. Afterall, this isn’t an isolated incident, by any means.

[Via: textually]

Earlier this year we learned that Warner decided to revoke their collection from Nokia’s Music Store due to the fact that users of MOSH, Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s weird attempt at centralized mobile P2P, were exchanging copywritten [sic] content. Now Amazon publishes a press release today (Gizmodo) that states Warner is going to be selling their music without DRM to Amazon customers. Am I the only one watching this from my little piracy heaven known as Northern Europe and laughing myself asleep after one too many glasses of Glögi?

Is the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N95 8GB going to get the USA treatment? Looks like Mobile City Online is offering the 8GB for preorder with a ship date of February 15, 2008. I strongly recommend American’s buy the current N95-3 and an 8GB microSD card instead of this model, but who am I kidding, the 8GB is going to sell like hot cakes. The larger screen is nice and at times I do regret the day I had to send my review unit back. I’m definitley not watching as much video on the go as I used to. Anyway, thanks for the tip Mr. X.

Yes I know 3GSM is now called Mobile World Congress, but I hate the new name.

Pantech’s bringing a bit of romantic flair to its SKY lineup of mobile phones. While the Pantech SKY IM-S300 doesn’t tout the technological “whizz-bangery” of the Pantech SKY IM-R200, the SKY IM-S300 does turn up the notch on the fashion side of things. With a set of curvy navigational buttons, the Pantech SKY IM-S300 is essentially a cosmetically tweaked Pantech SKY IM-S200k – and Pantech’s pushing this thing as the “Romantic Wave” (a fitting name, given those “wavy” nav-buttons on the front face).

Of course, no handset with a name like the “Romantic Wave” would be complete without a touch of Pink – the Pantech SKY IM-S300 features Pink-accents to complement the 2.2-inch display, 1.3 megapixel camera, and music player.  South Koreans can expect to pay about $430 to ride the “Romantic Wave.”

[Via: JustAMP]

When you have so developed telecommunications industry like South Korea does, it’s only logical to allow your citizens to roam between landline, mobile and VoIP phones. That being said, the Korean government is preparing to introduce a new rule that will allow landline phone users to switch to Internet-based telephone carriers without changing their phone numbers!

The “number portability” rule will be introduced during the first half of next year and will certainly hurt traditional telephone companies such as KT Corp. On the other hand, end users will benefit from substantially lower monthly phone bills…

[Via: textually.org]

File this under “we’re so not sure about it,” but the word on the street is that the search giant has reserved two stands at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It’s important to understand the Mobile World Congress is the place to be for all major mobile industry players and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) may only the floor space to showcase its mobile applications and services (GMail, Maps, mobile search). We’ll certainly drop by their booth and hopefully catch a glimpse of the upcoming Android device. Yeah, I’m speculating, or maybe even hoping… We’ll see…

[Via: uberphones]

Kudos to Wired! Yeah, their selection of the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone as one of the top 10 gadgets of the year — and the only mobile phone on the list — will certainly spur some controversy around the Web, but that’s not the point here. Instead of picking the regular, out-of-box iPhone, they went for the hacked, jailbroken version which works on all GSM networks and can be additionally enhanced with third-party application. This made me think – if Wired would pick a person of the year, that would an iPhone hacker.

Even though I personally don’t like how this device looks, I’m glad to report it’s an original Chinese design — or at least I’m not aware of any similar handset. As you can see from the image above, the device seems to be designed for kids, or at least for someone who really likes butterflies and/or flowers, and is comfortable enough to use the themed phone.

Anyway, the phone comes in a black/lime combo, and among other things sports 2.6″ 16 million color QVGA touchscreen, 1.3 MP camera, media player, and the microSD expansion slot. As for the size of the phone, it measures 101×46x15 mm and weighs 86 grams… More photos after the jump.

Read the full article »

We know India is the fastest growing mobile phones market on the planet, but… This November mobile operators attracted an additional 8.3 million wireless users. In total, there are now 264.8 million mobile and fixed-line users in the country and that number is expected to hit the half-billion mark by 2010. Now imaging every 100th user buys a ringtone, wallpaper or some other mobile content. No wonder why so many companies want to enter the mobile content business…

[Via: textually.org]