Now I’m not saying the next iPhone due to come out this year will have an Intel chip inside, but the one after that, think summer 2009, is looking like a strong candidate for Intel’s upcoming Moorestown chip. This slide from my friend Charlie over at TheINQ pretty much says it all:

At this year’s CeBIT in Germany, Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) is showing its latest super-baby XPERIA X1. What struck us down is the AT&T (NYSE: T)’s logo located at the center of menu. What could that possibly mean? Is Swedish-Japanese handset maker trying to indirectly pitch the U.S. based carrier through media? Or the deal is already done and they’re just waiting for X1’s release? Guess we’ll have to wait and see. Still, it’s worth mentioned that AT&T keeps adding various Sony Ericsson devices to its offering and somehow we wouldn’t be surprised to see them carrying one of the coolest Windows Mobile smartphones ever built as well. I’m sure many AT&T users would love that, wouldn’t ya?

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

Asus is covering all their bases with their latest lineup of Windows Mobile smartphones. We’ve got the Asus M930W Communicator slated to do all the heavy lifting, the Asus Lamborghini ZX1 should cater to the high-end, and now the Asus Galaxi Mini will be holding down the mid-range as the Asus P320. At CeBIT 2008, Asus launched the Asus Galaxi Mini as the Asus P320.

As an mid-level handset, the slim(ish) and light Asus P320 (Galaxi Mini) maxes out its data connectivity with EDGE, but the quad-band (850/900/1800/1900Mhz) GSM radio should make sure that this Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional smartphone will be good to go anywhere on the globe. And, it’s good to see the mid-range Asus P320 Galaxi Mini rocking a SiRF III GPS receiver, 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen, 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0, and microSD card slot. Even if the TI OMAP 850 CPU tops out at 200Mhz with 128MB ROM and 64 RAM backing it up.

And, don’t forget that this bad-boy is powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional (touchscreen, remember?), complete with manufacturer-made tweaks and add-ons to the UI. It’s probably safe to say that this lower-priced offering from Asus won’t be sporting that Multi-Home 3D Cube interface that we saw on the Lamborghini ZX1, but then again, the Asus P320 is in a completey different class than the Lamborghini ZX1.

Price should be 300 Euros and we’re expecting a European launch in Q2 2008.

[Via: Unwired View]

Following on the Dutch automaker’s lackluster, branded handset offerings from last year, Spyker is set to roll out two new mobile phones at CeBIT 2008. Known for their highly-styled and intricately detailed supercars, Spyker’s initial handset portfolio was slighty disappointing. The latest lineup looks like a decent improvement.

Spyker’s new LaTurby is basically a re-branded Haier Sterling and as such will be sporting a 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and 1GB internal storage. We have to admit, that shiny metallic casing is real easy on the eyes - even if it looks like a fingerprint/smudge-magnet.

Next up on Spyker’s new menu is the Spyker MonteCarlo slider. To keep in line with the Spyker LaTurby’s shiny casing, the MonteCarlo sider is an all-metal beauty with a spec-sheet that should read much like the LaTurby.

Pricing and availability are not yet available. But, if you really want a Spyker LaTurby, you might want to check out the Haier Sterling.

[Via: PortableGear]

Meizu’s (as well as a few other booths) booth at CeBIT 2008 in Germany was raided by police and required to leave the showroom floor and remove almost all of their booth display materials. According to local newspaper Heise, cops announced Wednesday morning that the Meizu booth was shutdown over copyright issues regarding part of its product portfolio.

Now, we all know that Meizu and their Meizu M8 miniOne has been a major draw for copyright/trademark wit, so many assumed that the booth raid and subsequent shutdown was the result of copyright issues regarding the Meizu M8 miniOne and the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone. Well, it turns out that the Meizu M8 miniOne was not the copyright offender, rather, licensing issues surrounding one of Meizu’s portable music players (which also looks a lot like Apple’s offerings in that market) was the reason for the booth raid.

So, Meizu is now back on the CeBIT showroom floor and has their booth back in order - including a display model of the Meizu M8 miniOne. However, the music player has been taken down from the booth’s displays.

Is this a win for Meizu? The company’s seeming legal right to carry on with their Meizu M8 miniOne is interesting indeed. Perhaps that Chinese patent carries some weight.

[Via: Electronista]

Semantic searches are the future. Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is always working to figure out just what we’re looking for with those obscure search string - in essence, trying to read between the lines. Figuring out the meaning behind the search is a critical next step in web-search, and the next step after that is semantic image-based searches. We haven’t mentioned semantic visual search technology is quite some time, but the idea is certainly the next step in semantic search.

Nokia was working on the technology last year, and Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) has apparently been working to release their own image-based search technology. At CeBIT 2008, Vodafone announced that they’ll be trialling their Otello image-based search technology in Germany. The trial will allow Vodafone subscribers to find out more about certain articles in the German news-rag Bild - “find out more about specially-marked articles by photographing them with their mobile’s camera and sending the image to [the aforementioned paper].”

The technology could one day be used to search for more information on famous places, DVDs, toys, consumer electronics, etc. by simply taking a picture with your handset and searching for related information.

Bring on the semantic image-based searches! I’m done typing in a search string to find out the lowest online price of particular electro-gizmos.

[Via: Pocket-lint]

Ahh, the almost mythical Chinese rip-off of the iPhone. We’ve been seeing prototype mock-ups and renderings of the Meizu M8 miniOne ever since the iPhone launched, but we’ve yet to get our hands on one. The problem? There just isn’t a finished version of the Meizu M8 iPhone clone in the wild.

The closest we’ve come to actually seeing the Meizu M8 in the wild is Engadget Mobile’s recent coverage from CeBIT 2008. We missed Meizu at CES 2008 in Las Vegas, but Engadget Mobile spotted a Meizu M8 prototype hanging out at Meizu’s booth and had to good sense to recordify the barely working demo unit. The trademark-flouting Meizu team was passing around a prototype handset that did little more than splash a few interface screens - a strictly “for show” prototype with decidedly “no go.”

Meizu did manage to demonstrate some of the Meizu M8 interface, but it was only up and running on an engineering reference board. These guys have had a lot of time to bring their handset into reality, you’d think they’d be past the reference board stage.

Now, we just wait for Meizu to get their affairs in order and bring the Meizu M8 miniOne to market. And then we wait for Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s legal team to have a field-day.

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

Samsung seems confident the Soul is ready for prime time, hence it wants to extend the brand to new model(s). For people who prefer clamshell over slider form factor, the Korean giant announced the G400 Soul, the similar looking device with same silver-black color combo.

Instead of sporting the interactive haptic touchpad, the G400 Soul has a full interactive 2.22″ touchscreen on front. Through it user can operate built-in FM Radio, music player, camera and photo album — or look at calendar appointments, clock and caller/SMS notifications when phone is in idle mode. In addition, there’s the HSDPA support on board as well as the 5 megapixel camera with face detection, image stabilizer and Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) capabilities.

All in all, it’s as stylish as a clamshell can be and somehow I’ve no doubts Samsung will sell these like hot cupcakes.

[Via: Unwired View]

During this year’s CeBIT, T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) Germany announced the MDA compact IV Windows Mobile smartphone. Apparently, the new device is based on a new, yet unknown HTC smartphone which most likely runs Windows Mobile 6.1, and which will start selling from May 2008 for 111 EUR with T-Mobile’s 24 months Relax 100 plan.

Other specs include HSDPA support, 3 megapixel camera with auto-focus, 4GB of internal memory, VGA (640×480) touchscreen, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0. We’re not sure whether the MDA compact IV is further expandable with microSD memory cards nor whether it sports a GPS receiver. If both happen to be on board, we may have the new Windows Mobile champion. I’ve always considered Advantage to be more of a UMPC than a mobile phone…

[Via: the::unwired]

We’ve already posted the specs, now it’s time for the real world photos. Ladies and gents it is my pleasure to introduce you the first photos of the Lamborghini-branded smartphone - ASUS ZX1 Lamborghini. The picture above — and more after the jump — were taken during the CeBIT which is currently taking place in Hanover, Germany. Now I can only hope this baby runs as fast as some Symbian phones do. Yeah, I love Symbian more than I do Windows Mobile, but the raging bull can make anyone switch platforms.

More photos follow after the jump.

Read the full article »