Nokia is having its first ever “Design Event” in Central London today at their new Studio, pictured above. Several concepts were presented of projects currently being worked on, but are not going to see the light of day for another 3 to 5 years.

First up is this new “People First” concept that is simply a list of people you communicate with based on your last interaction with said person. Pretty cool stuff, but why should such an “advanced UI” be 3-5 years out? I don’t get it.

Next is the “Zero Waste Charger” which trys to tackle power consumption. Three ways to achieve this goal are currently under review:

1. Put a button on the charger so that it doesn’t suck power until you push said button. Built in timer turns the charger off after an hour.
2. As soon as a device is connected the charger starts charging, but then shuts itself off after an hour automatically.
3. The ultimate goal is to have the device talk to the charger and tell it to activate only when the device needs power.

All great ideas, number 2 is the most practical, number 1 will cause a lot of people to return their charger thinking it is broken. Number 3 is amazing, but the technology to do that isn’t cheap enough today and when it is cheap enough in half a decade it is still going to be an extra penny that is added to the BOM which adds up when you ship half a billion mobile phones a year.

Third and final concept called “Wears in, not out” is the most confusing since it is already happening today … anyway quote from the press bulletin:

“As more services become available on our mobile devices this concept explores how people could potentially upgrade their devices digitally rather than physically in the future, giving people an additional choice on how they use and update their mobile phones.”

[Via: Nokia]

Some Verizon (NYSE: VZ) dates have been leaked. We’re talking about three devices – the LG VX8610 which we saw earlier “in the wild,” the Prada-like VC9700 and the LG VX8560 Chocolate Flip phone. Apparently:

• The VX8610 Decoy, slider with a unique built-in removable Bluetooth headset, is reportedly scheduled to hit the online offering on May 30th and Verizon stores on June 9th.
• Then goes the LG VX8560 Chocolate Flip, an update to the VX8600 model with large external screen and music controls, which is set for an on-line release of June 24th and an in-store release early July.
• Finally, the all-touchscreen equipped LG VC9700 Dare is expected to have an on-line release of July 4th and an in-store release by mid-July. The device is basically the U.S. version of the Prada phone sans branding and among other things sports a large WQVGA touchscreen, 3.2 megapixel camera with Schneider Kreuznach lens, and on-screen QWERTY keypad.

None of the information above is confirmed by Verizon, though dates certainly make sense. We’ll keep our eyes wide open and get back to you as soon as we have a new tidbit of information.

[Via: PhoneArena]

We must be getting closer to the 3G iPhone’s launch. How do we know? Well, aside from the rumored June 9 launch at Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s WWDC, the blogosphere is lit up with frenzied rumors of new features in the 3G iPhone as well as speculation at new features to be enabled with the coming iPhone OS 2.0 firmware update.

From iPhone hardware to iPhone software features, Apple-fans can expect more functionality and ever more usability from the 3G iPhone and the current iPhone’s next OS update.

Read the full article »

When it comes to stylistic and sleek designs, design-house Pininfarina, of Ferrari fame, is as good as it gets. The Ferrari designer has put their design genius to bring a new flip phone for Motorola (NYSE: MOT). The Motorola Mike i877 has been launched on Telus (NYSE: TU) with Bluetooth, multimedia player, microSD card slot, miniUSB, 1.3-megapixel camera, and PTT (push-to-talk).

The spec sheet is a bit of a letdown for a handset designed by Pininfarina. But, with a price tag as low as $149.99 (on 3-year contract), the Motorola Mike i877 is an attractive deal for Telus subscribers looking for a stylish PTT handset.

Head on over to Telus’s website for more info.

Telus

[Via: MobileInCanada]

Codenamed “AK” (for Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) Killer), the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) maker from Canada is reported to be developing a super-secret competitor to the iPhone. While the BlackBerry 9000 made waves recently with a launch delay, certain speculation hinting that the BlackBerry 9000 would be equipped with a touchscreen has fallen through.

But, that doesn’t mean that RIM isn’t working on their own touchscreen handset to compete in the newly touchscreen-crazed smartphone market. Independent software developers say that the “AK” is under development at RIM.

Could the rumored BlackBerry 9100 turn out to be the BlackBerry “AK?” Time will tell, but it’s almost a lock for RIM to launch some sort of touchscreen device in the near future. After all, touchscreens are the new hotness. But, let’s hope that RIM doesn’t forget what LG already knows – the UI (User Interface) is the overwhelming deal-maker/deal-breaker.

Apple’s got the industry-leading iPhone UI, but RIM could come to market with better enterprise integration and higher-spec hardware. If so, the 3G iPhone could have a serious competitor to deal with.

[Via: NYT]

Sure, static wallpaper images help to gussy up the otherwise staid background image on the iPhone’s glorious 3.5-inch multi-touch display. But, if static images are starting to lose their luster, you’ll be glad to hear that you can now use videos as your iPhone’s wallpaper With the help of yet another useful third-party application, vWallpaper, iPhone users can turn any properly sized .mov movie file into a moving wallpaper. The video wallpaper is splashed behind the homescreen’s icons.

The result looks like this:

You’ll need to jailbreak your iPhone, and add the “i.danstaface.net” application repository to your “Source” list. Click here for jailbreak instructions, and here for the tutorial on how to add third-party repositories to your “Source” list.

After editing your videos to their proper format, you’ll need to SSH into your iPhone and add the videos to the correct directory. Here’s how:

• Connect to your local WiFi network.
• Find your iPhone’s IP address by navigating to Settings>WiFi and hitting the blue arrow next to your WiFi network.
• Fire up Cyberduck on your Mac or WinSCP on your Windows machine and log into “sftp://xxx.xxx.xx.x” with username “root” and password “alpine”
• Put videos into these directories:
  • /Applications/vWallpaper.app/Library/Skrew/Videos
  • /Library/Skrew/Videos

Head on over to modmyifone for some video examples.

Following hot on the heels of the hotly anticipated Sidekick LX and Sidekick Slide launch on T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) USA, new speculation points to the possibility that T-Mobile will be releasing two new Sidekick handsets this summer. References to Sidekick codenames “SK Gekko” and “Sidekick Aspen,” uncovered by TmoNews, lead us to believe that the “Gekko” Sidekick will go live on July 27 with the Sidekick “Aspen” launching on July 30.

Details on the new Sidekicks are slim, but there is a significant possibility that T-Mobile will be releasing a T-Mobile HotSpot @Home-compatible Sidekick. Another possibility could be the release of new Sidekicks bearing limited edition artwork. On the other hand, the new Sidekicks could just be new color-variants of the still-new Sidekick LX and Sidekick Slide. Anyone else totally digging the “Fire Red” Sidekick?

It’s unlikely that T-Mobile will be releasing a radically revised Sidekick lineup so shortly after the launch of the new Sidekick duo, but anything is possible.

[Via: TmoNews]

There are a lot of positives to living in Canada. Unfortunately, access to the newest and higher-end mobile phones is not one of the upsides to living North of the border. Rogers (NYSE: RCI) Canada is the country’s premier (read: only) GSM provider, and with a lack of any real competition, the cost of GSM data plans has been prohibitively high on Rogers’ network.

Well, things are looking up for Rogers customers. Word on the street has it that the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N95 is due to hit Rogers’ GSM network on May 2. The Canada-bound variant of the Nokia N95 should hit market sporting the same 5 megapixel camera,  GPS receiver, WiFi, TV-out, and 3G HSDPA data connection that the US enjoys. And, with the help of Rogers, the Nokia N95 should be able to make use of its video call camera.

Pricing for the Nokia N95 on Rogers is reported to hit $699 without contract.

And, all you Canadian iPhone hopefuls (those of you that haven’t already jumped across the border for an unlocked iPhone) may soon be able to get your hands on a Rogers-locked Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone in the near future. The Toronto Star cites industry sources as indicating that Rogers is gearing up to launch a touchscreen-based handset campaign with the release of the master of touchscreen handsets, the Apple iPhone. The iPhone’s entry into Canada has been speculated to as being held up by the country’s costly GSM data plans. But, with the  launch of the Rogers’ $20 unlimited data plan, the “Communicate Value Pack,” Rogers is believed to be preparing to receive the heralded iPhone.

The iPhone is said to hit Canada some time between May and July. The purported timing of the iPhone in Canada points to the release of the 3G iPhone ahead of RIM’s BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) 9000, giving Apple a head start in RIM’s home country.

[Via: Electronista]

While the rest of the world waits for Nokia (NYSE: NOK) to release solid pricing info on the WiMAX-enabled variant of the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, it seems that online retailer Buy.com is already offering a discount on the device. Marked down from a list price of $479, the sale price for the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition is being sold for just $456.

There’s no stock to speak of, so you can’t exactly buy one just yet. We’ll have to wait until this summer for Nokia to reveal launch-details for the Nokia N810 WiMAX Tablet. The launch should coincide with Sprint (NYSE: S)’s WiMAX-based XOHM network rollout.

[Via: TabletBlog]

You may or may not be aware of Sprint (NYSE: S)’s Voice Command service (and given Sprint’s recent subscriber exodus, you most likely don’t), but the No. 3 US wireless carrier has announced that it will be shutting down the server-based voice-dialing feature on July 1.

Sprint’s Voice Command offered Sprint Nextel customers the option to voice-dial contacts whose numbers were stored on a Voice Command server. Unfortunately, that means that all those contacts will be thrown into the ether when Sprint takes their Voice Command service offline on July 1, 2008. The carrier is advising current Voice Command customers to print out their contacts list for reference.

Of course, if you have a Sprint handset with voice-activated dialing already built-in, you’ll be good to go on your voice-dialing ways long after July 1. If not, just keep hitting that keypad.

Sprint

[Via: Engadget Mobile]