Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery… At least that’s what they say. If that’s true, Ruslan Kogan should feel honored. Looks like a clone of the delayed and troubled Kogan Agora has appeared. The cloned Kogan appeared for sale on Alibaba.com for $240 per device with a minimum purchase of 100 devices (check it out here). There are some distinct differences in design elements, and Mr. Kogan himself insists it isn’t one of his own:

“I am not aware of this manufacturer and I have doubts that it runs Android OS. It is certainly not what the Agora was going to be or in anyway related to it.”

I believe him. Would be a shame if he put a stop to production, only to move forward by selling his entire stockpile of devices to someone else. Kogan does have strong ties to Chinese industry, as he made his money outsourcing the production of his wares to Chinese companies. I’m sure it would be easy to strike a deal?

Whatever the case may be, I’d still love to see the Kogan Agora and Agora Pro surface at some point this year. I know it’s not looking good… But Ruslan… C’mon buddy, a lot of folks are pulling for ya.

[Via: Phandroid]

Fans of Skype will be pleased to hear that a new mobile beta is available. The new version supports 30 new handsets including:

• Motorola (NYSE: MOT) v6maxx, L9, Razr2 V9
• Nokia (NYSE: NOK) 5310, 5610, 6300, E61, N70, N72, N73, N76, N78, N81, N82
• Samsung G600, G800, U600, U900
• Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) c702, c902, k660, k770, k850i, w580, w660i, w760, w890, w910, w980, z770…

…and of course there’s the usual batch of improvements and bug fixes. The mobile beta is totally free to get, and easy to download, however you should be aware that there are charges associated with calling features and data usage from your carrier.

To get the Skype Mobile Beta, simply click here and provide your mobile number. Their system will send you a text message with OTA download links and instructions.

[Via: PhoneArea]

Motorola’s only got a few more product cycles to get it right or fold their cards and declare their handset business defunct. Time is running out, and the pressure is on for CEO Greg Brown to get things into high gear.

Moto’s last stand in the handset business has been talked about as being an 8 megapixel cameraphone worthy of high-end smartphone praise. While we may not see a monstrous 8 megapixel shooter from the ailing handset manufacturer, there’s little doubt that Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is looking to get a high-end feature-set to market before it’s too late to make a difference. The Motorola ZN5 isn’t going to cut it without a 3G radio on board. But, the MotoZINE ZN5 does prove that Motorola can hang with the imaging giants like the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N95 (soon to be N96) and Samsung G800.

In that light, we bring you the first live pics of the Motorola Alexander – the smartphone that Motorola hopes will help bring their mobile phone manufacturing arm back in to the black. The interesting form-factor aside, the Motorola Alexander could do well with the list of features that have reportedly been confirmed. It’s destined to be released later this year and will be a member of the Windows Mobile camp.

We’re expecting the Motorola Alexander (aka Motorola’s last stand) to sport a 5-8 megapixel camera, NVIDIA 3D graphics hardware, aGPS and Windows Mobile 6.1! Look for the Motorola Alexander to go live in Q4 2008.

Will you be picking up a Motorola handset that looks like this? Sound off in the comments.

Note: The more we look at the Motorola Alexander, the more attractive it looks. With the slider closed, it looks like it could give the iPhone a run for its money. Anyone else find this thing pretty?

Of course, we’ll have to reserve final judgment until we can see the handset in person, or at least in pictures with more detail and depth. 

[Via: BGR]

My favourite independent Mobile kit retailer, Expansys, mailed me the other day to let me know about this cheeky new bit of kit from NDrive. In a neat development, the G800 is a Sat Nav unit that is able to utilise Sat imaging, rather than the crude vector graphics we are used to normally.

Apparently 29 major cities are mapped currently, and I’m sure this will improve over time – and from the looks of things, you can decide your perspective on the viewing angle, much as you can zoom in/out with most Sat Nav units.

There are some neat other features too, highlights below:

• Choose between 4 diagonal perspectives, plus a vertical perspective to navigate in photo mapping
• Voice prompts/Dynamic Routing/Auto re-routing
• Routing Options – Shortest/Fastest/Car Mode/Pedestrian Mode/Tolls/Speed
• Multimedia features – plays music, videos, watch photos and read e-books
• FM transmitter – put your favorite songs in the G800 memory and listen to them on your car audio
• Bluetooth receiver – turn your NDrive G800 into a loudspeaker of your phone calls
• Games
• Calculator

If this whets your appetite, then I’d invite you to mosey on over to the Expansys site and take a look.

Phone Arena did a brilliant comparison of all the major 5 megapixel cameras out on the market right now (Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N82, Nokia N95 8GB, Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) K850i, Samsung G600, Samsung G800, LG Viewty) and posted a ton of image samples so that you can form your own opinion at the end of the day.

Judging by the pictures they took I’m going to have to agree that the Samsung G600 is the best camera during the day, but the N82 is the best camera over all as it is absolutely fantastic in low light and also provides the best macro mode out of the bunch.

One small request, next time you do this kind of comparison take a picture of people as the number one thing people take pictures of is their loved ones and drunken mates at the local pub.

If you happen to visit CES in Las Vegas, make sure you drop by Samsung’s booth. That’s booth number 11033, where you’ll see the best phones Korean giant has to offer. Among the devices you’ll find there are:

• SGH-i450 – arguably the best Symbian S60 music phone
• SGH-i620 – Windows Mobile slider smartphone, the successor of the popular i600 phone
• SGH-i780 – one of the best QWERTY keyboard equipped Windows Mobile based smartphones
• SGH-G800 – the world’s first 5 MP camera phone with 3x optical zoom
• Giorgio Armani-Samsung phone – all-touchscreen fashion phone
• Bang & Olufsen Serenata – music phone which was designed in partnership with the famous designers
• B’Phone – Beyonce phone, which available through Sprint (NYSE: S)

And in case you want to know more about Samsung’s CES offering check out these two releases.

Lucky Susi from Shiny Shiny had a chance to get her hands on the upcoming Samsung G800. As you’re probably aware — as we’ve already wrote about it for a couple of times — the G800 is Samsung’s answer to Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s N95, N95 8GB and N82, and to Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) K850i. But the Korean giant went one step further by integrating the optical zoom in this slider handset… Now I could go on and on, but that’s not the point here – the video will tell you more about it. Enjoy!

We’ve already wrote about the Samsung G800 couple of times. The beautiful slider is best known for its 5 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom and Xenon flash — something that even Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s N95 and Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE)’s K850i lack. Actually both devices lack optical zoom, but the K850i has a Xenon flash light.

Anyway, the G800 is now official announced in Europe and will go on sale somewhere next month. We don’t know the exact date, nor the price. However, we DO know that if you jump-in, you’ll get the solid 3G device (HSDPA) that among other things packs the 2.4″ 262K color QVGA screen, Bluetooth 2.0, media player and the microSD slot. As for the camera software, Samsung said their algorithms provide digital image stabilization, red-eye reduction, wide dynamic range and face recognition capability. Nice!

[Via: Unwired View]

Samsung seems to prepare a whole array of 5 megapixel camera phones. Previously, we saw the G600 and G800 models and now we’re presenting you with their latest clamshell – W380. Although it’s kinda thick and bulky (it measures 46.6×95.4×20.2 mm), the W380 isn’t the simple clamshell device. It features a swivel screen which is somewhat similar to the one used on Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N90 and N93(i) models. In addition, it has the 2.2″ QVGA internal screen, an external display, as well as the standard microSD memory expansion slot… Few more photos after the jump.

Read the full article »

When I say better than an N95 I’m strictly talking in terms of image quality. A lot of people will buy the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N95 just for the camera alone so it is important to talk about that devices’ competitors: Samsung’s G600 and G800 and Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE)’s K850i. Take a look at some of these image samples and tell me if I’m smoking dope or if I’m actually on to something.

There is one problem, well not really a problem for some people, but this entire review is in Czech.

Pictures are worth a thousand words however, scroll down down to the very bottom and you will see 12 image samples.