By Will Park on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 5:50 PM PST
In Announcements, Apple, Applications, iPhone, iPhone OS
Ever since Flixwagon posted their video demonstrating their application running on a jailbroken iPhone last month, iPhoners around the world have been eagerly awaiting the day Flixwagon finally goes live with their iPhone application. That day… is today!
Flixwagon beat Qik to the iPhone-punch in their announcement that they’ve gone live with their Flixwagon iPhone application. The application is still in alpha-stage testing, so don’t expect everything to run smoothly. But, without a native video recording option on the iPhone, we’re sure Flixwagon will be seeing hordes of iPhone users looking to get in on the public alpha program.
But, it’s not all roses and fairy-tales – there’s a bit of bad news. iPhone 3G owners and those that have upgraded original iPhones to the iPhone 2.0 OS won’t be streaming live vid-casts just yet. Only jailbroken iPhones running iPhone 1.1.3 or 1.1.4 OS are currently supported. Flixwagon hasn’t gotten their application up on the AppStore as of yet, so the only way to get your hands on the
video-streaming application is to jailbreak an earlier firmware, and find the Flixwagon application through Installer.app (more on that below).
Flixwagon for iPhone currently allows users to sign up for Flixwagon on their iPhone (no computer needed),edit video details on the fly, set sharing preferences directly from the device, edit video details and sharing preferences on the fly, and choose video quality settings.
Flixwagon is working on adapting the current Flixwagon iPhone application for iPhone 3G and first-generation iPhones running the iPhone 2.0 OS. They’ll announce the final product once it’s done. For now, enjoy all that sweet, sweet vid-casting from your iPhone. We’ll be stuck using our BlackJack II with Flixwagon as we wait
for them to announce a solution for the iPhone 3G. Woe is us.
For those of you with jailbroken iPhones running v1.1.4 or v1.1.3 firmwares, simply add Flixwagon’s application repository to your “Sources” list. You’ll need to add the following to your “Sources” list: m.flixwagon.com/iphone.
If you don’t know how to add application repositories to your sources, hit up our tutorial here.
If, you’re still running an older iPhone OS (firmware) and haven’t yet gotten your jailbreak on, hit up our iPhone v1.1.4 jailbreak tutorial here. Then add Flixwagon’s application repository to your Source list, as described above.
Flixwagon
By Will Park on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 3:12 PM PST
In Announcements, Applications
Opera Mobile 9.5 is off to a healthy start, but like all beta software, Opera Mobile 9.5 beta has its fair share of bugs that still need to be worked out.
So, to keep up with their beta-users, Opera has released their first update for Opera Mobile 9.5 beta. The beta 1 update fixes an audio bug that turns off the notifications sounds. This particular update was apparently easy enough to roll out quick and dirty style, but more significant updates are going to take a bit more time.
We have updated the beta1 with a fix for the (very annoying) bug that turned off the notification sounds. The notification bugfix was relatively trivial and had a low risk. We are aware of the other bugs and issues, but these aren’t addressed in this update.
For anyone experiencing OOM (out of memory) errors, Opera suggests using WMExperts’ cache-file relocation workaround until an official bug-fix can be issued. Find the cache-file workaround here.
Find the Opera Mobile 9.5 beta 1 here.
Opera Mobile
By Will Park on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 2:31 PM PST
In Devices, Sharp, T-Mobile
Wondering just what kind of official Sidekick 2008 shells will be available from T-Mobile (NYSE: DT)? Well, here you go! Cellphonesignal, ever the T-Mobile enthusiasts, have posted pictures of the official Sidekick 2008 shells.
Of course, you can always customize your own shells to better match your Sidekick 2008 with your personality. But, if you’d like to go the simpler route, peeps these here shells that should be available once the Sidekick 2008 launches on T-Mobile.

[Via: Cellphonesignal]
By Will Park on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 2:17 PM PST
In Nokia, Symbian
The respected enterprise-class handset from Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is finally available to US residents with about $500 to spare. As expected, the Nokia E71 has been released with full quad-band (850/900/1800/1900Mhz) GSM support as well as US 3G/HSDPA (850/1900Mhz) capabilities.
Following on the Nokia E71’s launch in Nokia’s flagship store in Chicago, Nokia has made the heralded businessphone available to the general public. But, just because the QWERTY-keyboard toting E71 is tailored to businessmen (and women, to be clear), doesn’t mean the Symbian-powered Nokia E71 skimps on multimedia features.

There’s a 3.2 megapixel camera mounted on the backside of the .39-inch thick handset, Nokia Maps 2.0 pairs with aGPS to deliver pinpoint-accurate location data, WiFi complements the 3G data connection, and the E71’s sleek styling ensures the Nokia E71 isn’t going to be confused for any other Palm (NSDQ: PALM) or RIM BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) handset.
Various electronics retailers around the country and online are now offering the Nokia E71 for $500 free and clear of any contract-obligations.
Now, we just wait for Nokia to make good on their promise to release their Nokia N96 in the US.
Press release
By Will Park on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 1:57 PM PST
In Accessories, Announcements
When was the last time you used your mobile phone for more than just making calls through your car’s integrated Bluetooth system? Same here.
But, the days where our cellphones are relegated to mere in-transport chit-chat may be drawing to a close. Future automobiles could very well be outfitted with anti-theft systems controlled by your mobile phone. At least that’s the way a Mombasa teenager sees things.
The 18-year old from the Indian Ocean coastal town of Mombasa rigged his “Block & Track” so that he could use his cellphone to control when and who starts his car. The system allows for a driver to ring the owner to gain permission to start the car – perfect for those times when you need your intern to run downtown and grab your dry-cleaning.
Morris Mbetsa even built in a remote disabling feature in to his mobile phone-controlled car, just in case the thief managed to get by his permission-based ignition system. And, “Block & Track” allows the user to listen to conversations going on inside the car, in realtime – so if the car-thief is talking about stopping off at a Starbucks on the way home, you’ll know about it.
Mbetsa is looking for investors to take his cellphone-based car-control system to commercial scale. So, if you’ve got the funds, this kid’s got the stuff.
[Via: Engadget Mobile]
By Will Park on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 1:23 PM PST
In Devices, Hottest Hardware, New Hardware, Photos, Sharp, T-Mobile
By now it’s clear that T-Mobile (NYSE: DT)’s newest HipTop, the Sidekick 2008, will be launching sooner rather than later. Good thing, considering T-Mobile will probably want to release a handset named for the year 2008 with as much time left on the 2008-clock as possible.
So, with the Sidekick 2008 (Gekko) headed to a T-Mobile store near you (and possibly Best Buy), it’s time to go live with actual photos of the device in the wild! Cellphonesignal has the pictures that you’ve been waiting for.
Notice the glossy shells and
multiple color choices. The user-swappable, customizable shells don’t add any significant mass to the Sidekick 2008 (Gekko) either. These in-hand shots confirm that the Sidekick 2008 is a bit more svelte and compact than T-Mobile’s more up-range Sidekick offerings.
Head on over to Cellphonesignal for more pictures.

[Via: Cellphonesignal]
By Will Park on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 1:04 PM PST
In Announcements, Financial/Corporate News, Sprint
The ubiquitous early termination fee. It’s a fact of life in the US wireless world. In return for significant handset subsidies, carriers levy ETFs against customers that terminate their contract early in order to guarantee that costs can be recouped. But, just because ETFs help keep handset prices down in the US, doesn’t mean people are any more receptive to paying
upwards of $175 (or more) to get out from under that 2-year contract before it expires.
To that end, a California court has found Sprint (NYSE: S)’s early termination fees unlawful. The judge ordered Sprint refund $75 million to its contract-canceling former customers.
The ruling requires Sprint to pay $18.2 million in cash to those customers that actually paid off Sprint on their ETF fees, the remaining $54.7 million will be credited to customers who were charged the ETF but did not yet pay.
“This ruling sounds the death knell for the industry’s petition seeking a preemption ruling from the FCC – a ruling the industry has never been able to win in court,” said Scott Bursor, an attorney representing the plaintiffs.
Still, Sprint isn’t ceding the lawsuit to the plaintiffs just yet. The No. 3 US wireless carrier has two weeks to respond to the ruling. “We’re reviewing the ruling,” said
Matthew Sullivan, a spokesman for Sprint. ” We will have an opportunity to respond.”
Fellow ETF lawsuit defendant, Verizon (NYSE: VZ), decided to avoid the kinds of hefty reimbursement fines that Sprint is now facing by agreeing to settle the case early on.
[Via: AP]
By Dusan Belic on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 8:34 AM PST
In Devices, Rumors, Sony Ericsson

What we have here is the still unannounced Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) G705. From what we can tell, it’s a mid-range slider running a A2 (A200) platform and also boasting a 3.2 megapixel camera. And that’s about all we know at this stage. However, it’s fair to add it will also come with Bluetooth support, some media player, as well as Memory Stick Micro (M2) expansion slot. We’ll report more as soon as we get some additional info. In the meantime, check out more photos after the jump.
Read the full article »
By Dusan Belic on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 8:11 AM PST
In Accessories, Announcements, Samsung

Samsung has unveiled a trio of of mono Bluetooth headsets in Russia. As always, the Korean giant’s headsets look stylish and offer quite solid value for money. Let’s briefly go through each one of the headsets announced:
- WEP250 – based on the popular WEP200 model, the WEP250 is a budget headset that weighs only 11 grams. Battery provides up to 7 hours of talk and up to 100 hours of standby time.
- WEP350 – with a total thickness of 5.9 mm, this is the “world’s most thinnest headset.” The “surprisingly compact” headset sports a removable zaushnik that make its use more comfortable. Three color options are available: “glossy black”, “romantic red” and “metallic silver”. It also comes with a desktop docking station charger that allows receiving of the calls even while charging. WEP350’s battery provides up to 5 hours of talk and up to 80 hours of standby time.
- WEP700 – stylish comfortable headset which is “designed for businessmen leading active lives”. The device sports some noise suppression system and provide clear sound echoes even in the noisy environment. WEP700’s battery promises to deliver up to 6 hours of talk and up to 200 hours of standby time. It weighs only 10 grams.
Samsung WEP250, WEP350 and WEP700 will hit the market of Russia in August and will be sold for 890 ($38), 1350 ($58) and 2100 ($90) rubles, respectively. At this stage, we’ve no idea whether Samsung plans to introduce the trio to other countries, as well.
[Via: JampBLOG]
By Dusan Belic on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 7:52 AM PST
In Devices, Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) has released more demo clips for the phones announced on June 17th. We’ve already seen the Sony Ericsson C905 demo video and now it’s time for the rest of the pack. Namely, we’re talking about the Sony Ericsson F305, J132, K330 and S302 model. We have demo clips for every one of them. First comes the F305 and others follow after the jump. Enjoy!
Sony Ericsson F305
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