SMobile Systems and Sybase iAnywhere partnered to “deliver advanced mobile security solutions for Information Anywhere Suite’s Afaria mobile device management and security platform.” The two companies will work to secure a broad range of smartphones from the latest intrusions and threats, leveraging SMobile’s antivirus, firewall and mobile spam protection.

Commenting on the announcement, Sybase iAnywhere’s Joe Owen said: “After a competitive review we selected the SMobile Security Shield as offering the highest degree of security available for handheld devices. In addition, the company’s multi-device strategy aligns well with our commitment to provide broad, multi-platform mobile device support.”

To date, the SMobile Threat Center has identified more than 400 viruses that target mobile devices and networks.

Two of the existing Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) phones are getting new colors. The first one, recently announced K330, will be available in white, and the W890 Walkman in gold. The latter looks really good and certainly remind us on its gold predecessor, W880, although only the backside is golden.

Other than the new color, both devices remain the same specs wise and again we’re not sure why Sony Ericsson doesn’t issue some release about it. Without it we’ve no clue where you can get these, nor how much they cost, though I guess price remains the same… More photos follow after the jump.

Read the full article »

JGUI, the same folks who prepared that ultra-cool Vista theme for Windows Mobile, have recently released a new application called GPS.Friend. The idea behind the app is simple – to allow users to find their friend, child or whoever from their mobile phone. Sure, you can use a service/app like Loopt for the purpose, but I guess this is the easier way. The only downside is that a person whom you’re trying to locate also needs to have GPS.Friend installed on its Windows Mobile smartphone (other platforms are not supported at the moment).

Here’s how it works:

GPS.Friend reads your current GPS location and asks your friend’s phone for his/her coordinates to match both locations. Once both locations are determined, the application will display them on a map (downloaded from Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps) and calculate the distance between the two. And that’s it, you can take it from there…

GPS.Friend is easy to use and with only few taps, you are ready to go. It works on both Windows Mobile Professional and Standard edition smartphones and supports all screen resolutions.

Free version of GPS.Friend allows you to get your own current location or ask someone’s only one time a day. The full version with unlimited location requests is available for 17.25 EUR. Additional licenses (after one is purchased), cost 9.95 EUR.

[Via: the::unwired]

It was at the end of March when we reported about Palm’s success to sell one million Centros. Now, they are reporting another million has been sold in the meantime!

This is a huge success for the struggling Treo maker and I honestly hope they’ll release the long-awaited successor to the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) OS pretty soon.

Palm is offering Centro in more than 25 countries in North America, South America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Just when we’ve started wondering what happened to the FCC-approved UTStarcom TXT8010, we have a new tidbit of information that suggests Verizon (NYSE: VZ) will be offering the Pantech-made device as Blitz.

Apparently, the CDMA carrier will start selling the full slide-out QWERTY keyboard equipped phone on August 8th through Wal-Mart, followed by Best Buy on September 28th. That by itself should mean you won’t have to rob the bank to own one. Still, the Verizon Blitz manages to pack VCAST Music support, VZ Navigator, 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and of course a microSD slot…

And that’s about all we know at this stage. We’ll certainly have more to add on the subject as August 8th approaches. Stay tuned, in the meantime.

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

Pantech’s dual-faced C810 Duo is coming to Mexico. Telcel is the carrier which will offer the Windows Mobile smartphone, which boasts both a full QWERTY keyboard and a standard numeric keypad.

There were some confusions in the blogosphere. This isn’t the Pantech Duo 2 model, or the C820 which we saw slipping through FCC. Rather, it’s the “first generation product” that is already available in the U.S. through AT&T (NYSE: T).

Specs wise, the Pantech C810 Duo runs Windows Mobile 6, has EDGE/UMTS (HSDPA) radio on board, Bluetooth, 1.3 megapixel camera, microSD card slot, and more. We’re not aware how much Telcel is charging for the C810. If anyone of you guys/gals is from Mexico, please use the comments to drop us a line about pricing.

[Via: JampBLOG]

Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) will be launching more accessories in the near future. Not surprisingly most of them are designed for the upcoming Xperia X1 superphone, which because of its specs and importance, deserves special attention. Here’s what’s coming up:

• BST-41 – Standard Battery for X1
• CMU-20 – Mini-USB Charger for J132 and X1
• DMU-70 – Mini-USB Cable for J132 and X1
• ISP-90 – Stylus Pack for X1
• CLA-70 – Cigarette Lighter Adapter for J132 and X1
• IPC-50 – A splash proof case for outdoor activities

And that’s it. Nothing too exciting at the moment, but then again it confirms the Swedish-Japanese handset maker is moving toward Xperia launch, which is a good thing by itself.

[Via: SEMC Blog]

LG and Dolby Laboratories announced that LG would be the first handset maker to incorporate Dolby Mobile technology into its handsets.

Announced during this year’s Mobile World Congress, Dolby Mobile is an optimized-for-mobile audio processing technology platform designed to “deliver rich, vibrant audio and dramatically improve listening enjoyment.”

Some of the Dolby Mobile features that LG plans to incorporate into its phones include:

• Mobile Surround, which delivers a realistic surround sound experience using headphones
• Sound Space Expander – creates a wide, rich and spacious soundstage experience especially suited to music playback
• Natural Bass – adds powerful boost and bass extension
• High Frequency Enhancer – enhances music and other content by restoring high-frequency effects
• Graphic EQ – helps tune the audio experience for different content types
• Sound Level Control – helps level out audio for a more consistent playback volume
• Mono-to-Stereo Converter, which improves the playback experience of user-generated content

LG will be launching high-end multimedia phones that incorporate Dolby Mobile technology starting from Q4 2008.

Folks of TmoNews caught the poster above which shows T-Mobile (NYSE: DT)’s 3G network will start working on October 1st — the “10.1.08 3G is Coming” sign clearly suggests so — just as we initially reported. However, the Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT) mobile operator is still quiet about all things 3G, and until we hear something official from them, we’ll keep posting this kind of news into our rumors category.

In the meantime, here’s the list of 27 markets that will be amongst the first ones to benefit from the long-awaited 3G network: Atlanta, Austin, Birmingham, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Kansas city, Las Vagas, Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, Minneapolis, New England (?), New York City, NJ and Long Island, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, Washington DC.

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

That’s it. Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s had enough of RIM’s encroachment on their business-phone segment. Rather than allowing Nokia E-series customers to eat from both sides of the pond, to butcher a few metaphors, Nokia has announced that they’ll no longer support BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Connect support on their business-oriented Eseries handsets. RIM is apparently doing well enough for themselves in the smartphone market that Nokia feels the two need to part ways and offer customers more options in email connectivity.

RIM are a competitor and have done a reasonable job in a space that is traditionally ours, so it’s no great surprise that we see this as an opportunity to give consumers a proper choice on what email solution they want.

Of course, the recently launched Nokia E71 is the latest smartphone to lack the BlackBerry Connect feature – leaving Nokia E71 owners left with only Nokia’s awkward and unrefined email client to do their email bidding. So, what is Nokia thinking in forcing their customers to choose either RIM’s superior BlackBerry email solution or the Finns’ email client? Nokia is likely preparing to push hard with their Nokia Email platform.

Nokia Email is still in beta, but Espoo is probably betting that they can polish the up-and-coming email solution to go head-to-head with RIM’s email solution. We’ll see. If things don’t go as planned, Nokia can always just run back to RIM.

[Via: Symbian-Guru]