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eWallet category screen

In our push to converge all sorts of devices and daily activities into fewer and fewer gadgets, we seem to have overlooked the wallet. With memberships to all kinda of organizations, accounts at all manner of institutions, and multiple identification cards, our wallets are brimming with pieces of plastic and paper taking up space. Chalk another one up for the mobile revolution. An iPhone application makes it possible to clean out your wallet (or purse, for that matter) and put all you identification, membership, and account information in one safe place - your iPhone or iPhone 3G.

Enter eWallet. This slick little iPhone app uses virtual “cards” that organize any imaginable piece of personal information - be it bank account, credit card number, social security number, gym membership number, or even your car’s license plate number - in an easy to use interface. Using virtual “cards” represented by a variety of icons makes it easy to quickly find and access your information.

eWallet icons include a bag of money to represent your bank account, a credit card for, well, your

Different virtual

credit card, and so forth. Virtual “cards” can be created in customizable categories, allowing for an almost infinite number of virtual cards to be stored. And, since categories can be added, removed, and customized on a whim, you’ll never be left without an appropriate “card” to store your data.

Overall, eWallet is more than just a wallet for your iPhone. It’s more like a personal data organizer. From frequent online shoppers to obsessive card carriers, eWallet can store most, if not all, of your personal information.

eWallet will run you $4.99 from the iTunes AppStore.

Do download eWallet, simply search for the application in the AppStore, or you can hit this link (iTunes link) to be taken directly to eWallet.

Checking account card

Credit Card information

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic made its way around the various interwebs as the Nokia 5800 “Tube,” promising to bring with it Nokia’s answer to the current touchscreen revolution sparked by the iPhone and iPhone 3G. With S60 5th Edition, S60 Touch if you will, enabling complete touch functionality on Nokia’s 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen smartphone, Espoo is poised to to take on the likes of HTC, Sony Ericsson, T-Mobile, Samsung, and Apple in the touchscreen smartphone arena.

Unfortunately, it may take a bit longer than expected to get a Nokia XpressMusic 5800 smartphone into the hands of eager S60 fans in mature markets. We’re hearing that Nokia has dashed the dreams of so many XpressMusic 5800 hopefuls with their revelation that the ballyhooed handset would fail to hit most mature markets before the holiday shopping season.

While India, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Russia and Spain will be taking shipment of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen smartphone by year-end, the rest of Europe and North America will have to wait until 2009 before the Nokia XpressMusic 5800 becomes a reality. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic will run €279 ($387) in unlocked, unsubsidized form. With contracts and subsidies, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic could undercut the iPhone 3G’s price-point.

“The phone is competitively priced and Nokia’s competitive advantage is in emerging markets. When putting two and two together it’s logical they start the roll-out from emerging markets,” said analyst Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics.

Whether or not it makes sense to bring the Nokia 5800 to emerging market first, it sure does make it that much harder for the rest of the developed world to hop on board the S60 Touch-train. With a little luck, Nokia will launch the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and its S60 5th Edition OS in the US around the same time as it goes live in Europe.

This is the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

[Via: Reuters]

iPhone Auto-Correction toggle feature in iPhone 2.2 OS

When it comes to “openness” there are few tech companies (if any) more secretive than Apple. With their iPhone developer NDA recently lifted, however, Apple might be turning a new leaf - “might” being the operative word here. For now, things are business as usual for the locked-down iPhone maker.

The latest iPhone 2.2 OS that was seeded to iPhone developers has apparently unveiled a few hidden cards up its sleeve. Apple has officially listed only “compatibility testing” as the only change included in the iPhone 2.2 OS, but developers have uncovered some juicy features within the iPhone OS framework. In addition to the refreshed iPhone Safari UI, we’re hearing that iPhone 2.2 OS should include support for text auto-correction toggle, Emoji icons, and Google Maps Street View.

iPhone 2.2. OS with Emoji icon support

The iPhone OS’s underlying framework has apparently been tweaked to support the Google Maps Street View feature. “Street View” allows Google Maps users to zoom into the map at street level, allowing a “boots on the ground” view of a particular location’s surroundings. The inclusion of Street View in the T-Mobile G1’s Google Maps application was a highlight feature that gave Android an edge of the iPhone OS. With today’s confirmation of Street View support in iPhone 2.2 OS’s Google Maps application, it’s clear that the iPhone OS is keeping pace with Android.

Another discovery has confirmed that the iPhone 2.2 OS will also feature a toggle switch for the auto text-prediction feature. Auto-correction can be a useful tool for iPhone speed-typers looking to tap out longer emails, but the feature can sometimes get in the way. As such, an online petition garnering more than 20,000 signatures pleaded with Steve Jobs to release an auto-correction toggle switch. All the clamoring seems to have paid off, and Apple will likely release the text auto-correction feature in the next major release of the iPhone OS.

And, on a note that might be more attractive to our Japanese counterparts, the iPhone 2.2 OS apparently includes support for Japanese Emoji icons. The iPhone 3G’s lack of Emoji icons - little picture characters used to spice up messages - has been cited as a major oversight in the Japanese market. iPhone 2.2 OS includes 461 Emoji icons, enough to keep even the savviest users busy with icon-goodness.

Of course, until Apple goes on record with iPhone 2.2 OS features, this is just speculation. We have confidence that we’ll see Google Maps Street View, Emoji icon support, and auto-correction toggle in iPhone 2.2 OS, but don’t bet the farm on it.

[Via: MacRumors]

iPhone 3G Top US smartphone

In a move that takes a page straight out of Motorola’s RAZR playbook, Apple has rocketed to the top of the US sales-charts with their iPhone 3G. According to NPD, Apple has seen its iPhone 3G become the No. 2 best-selling handset in the US. Motorola’s RAZR V3 still takes top billing as the overall best-selling mobile phone in the US.

With massive iPhone 3G sales spurred by the iPhone 3G buy-up craze that defined the iconic cellphone’s US launch, the iPhone 3G is currently one of the hottest handset in the US.

What’s more, the iPhone 3G has also managed to clench a solid 17% of the US smartphone market. Thanks to the brisk sales numbers that helped the iPhone 3G become the No. 2 best-selling handset in the US, the iPhone 3G became the top-selling smartphone in the US since its launch. The top-dog smartphone, iPhone 3G, has outpaced the likes of the Blackberry Curve, Blackberry Pearl, and Palm Centro.

“The launch of the lower-priced iPhone 3G was a boon to overall consumer smartphone sales,” said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for The NPD Group. “While the original iPhone also helped win customers for AT&T, the faster network speeds of the iPhone 3G has proven more appealing to customers that already had access to a 3G network.”

It’s clear that the iPhone 3G has given AT&T a shot in the arm, boosting the carrier to higher highs.

So much so that 30% of iPhone 3G customers defected from other carriers for a chance to use the iPhone 3G on AT&T’s network. Of those carrier-defections, 47% came from AT&T’s top rival Verizon. A healthly 24% of defectors came from T-Mobile and 19% jumped the Sprint-ship for the good-ship AT&T.

The iPhone 3G is clearly selling well ahead of smartphone launches from Sony Ericsson (XPERIA X1), HTC (Touch HD), T-Mobile (G1), and Nokia (5800 XpressMusic Tube). As the top-dog in the US smartphone market, these new entrants are going to have a bit of a race to overtake the iPhone 3G. But, with more powerful features (like WVGA touchscreens and high megapixel cameras) and new mobile platforms (like Android and the Sony Ericsson Panel UI), the iPhone 3G could have some stiff competition. Apple is going to need to step up their game to keep the newcomers at bay. Could we see a price-drop on the iPhone 3G for this holiday shopping season?

Full press release after the jump.

Read the full article

Motorola Q11 - notice the indicator lights along the left-side of the display

While we’re not sure if the Motorola Q11 will help Motorola drag itself out of the hole that it’s dug for itself over the past couple years, the evolutionary successor to the Motorola Q9 is definitely worth a mention. The Motorola Q11 has been popping up here and there lately, and it’s finally been caught on video by our friends at Zumo!

With a 3 megapixel camera, GPS, WiFi, and quad-band GSM/EDGE radio, the Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard-powered Motorola Q11 is apparently being aimed at the younger demographic. We have confirmation that the Motorola Q11 rocks a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, making it that much easier to listen to your favorite tunes on-the-go. There’s also a microSDHC card slot that comes stuffed with a 1GB microSD card, courtesy Microsoft - the microSD card slot can support up to 32GB microSDHC cards for uber storage expandability. And, with an MSN Messenger client integrated into the Motorola Q11, we can definitely see the Motorola Q11 capturing a substantial market-base among its Q-loving constituents.

Notice that the Motorola Q11’s display is slightly offset from center. Aside from looking a bit awkward, the display’s rightward-bias makes room for some indicator lights adorning the left-most edge of the display bezel. If you look closely, you might be able to make out the GPS-lock and (presumably) the Bluetooth icon that seem to light up from beneath the display bezel.

The Motorola Q11 isn’t exactly the innovative leap forward that Motorola needed to bring to the table to save their struggling handset business. But, with a decent feature-set and a muted, yet attractive, design refresh, the Motorola Q11 will likely win over the hearts and minds of at least some customers when it launches sometime before the end of 2008.

[Update]
Video embedded

[Via: Zumo]

I just got wind of 12seconds.tv after hearing that they had recently launched their mobile site. This cute little site lets folks post 12 second videos not only from webcams on their computers, but e-mailed from your mobile phone as well. The setup has a distinctly Twitter-esque vibe to it, and in fact allows for automated video posting to existing Twitter accounts. I’d like to see some geotagging functionality to work with integrated GPS units to make it a little more like Spotjots, but that may entail some tailored applications on a per-handset basis - still, it’s something to look forward to. It’s is also incredibly tricky to know when your 12 seconds is up if you have the phone pointed at yourself.

12seconds is still in early testing phases, but definitely worth your while if you’re looking for something a little beefier than Twitpic to spruce up your feed. If you sign up, be sure to add me! If you’re looking for something more in a live streaming service, Qik is a fine mobile-centric alternative.

Samsung GT-S3600 is a newly announced low-end handset for those that look for a simple, yet stylish phone. The device clearly resembles one of the company’s flagship devices, Soul, and is hence trying to appeal to the masses who like the design, but don’t care that much about the features.

Specs wise, the low-end Soul flip is, as we just said, an entry level device, sporting GSM/EDGE connectivity support (no 3G), 1.3 megapixel camera, FM radio with recording capability, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR… and that’s about it. Pricing is not known at this stage, but I would be surprised if this baby crosses the 100 EUR mark, unlocked. In other words, expect to get it for next to nothing or free on a contract…

[Via: Unwired View]

Nokia Music PC client has recently left the beta stage, which it held since May when it was initially released. Naturally, version 1.0 of the Finnish giant’s free music management software brings a number of stability improvements and bug fixes, hence it’s finally ready for the prime time. From the app, you can manage your entire music collection as well as seamlessly sync your tunes with your Nokia phone. In addition, the app also allows easy ripping of the CDs, so you could take your physical music collection with you, wherever you happen to be. Not that you couldn’t do this with some other tool(s), it’s just, this way is kinda “more natural” for Nokia handset owners…

The official “Nokia Music PC client” page has more information and download instructions.

[Via: slashphone]

Eagle-eyed Arne from TheUnwired spotted a new, still unannounced LG smartphone, KS500, at FCC’s and GCF’s websites. Why do they think it’s a smartphone? Well, LG’s so-far-used naming scheme suggests that “KS” prefix has been used exclusively for smartphones. However, there’s no information available which mobile OS the Korean giant will use. All we know is that the upcoming device (if it ever gets released) will sport a QVGA screen (240×320 pixels), Bluetooth support, tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and single-band UMTS/HSDPA.

Let the speculations begin. Will LG opt for Symbian, Windows Mobile or Android? It’s hard to tell at this stage, but boy, do we want them to bring second Android phone to the market or what. They did sign-up for the Open Handset Alliance, after all. We’re watching closely…

[Via: the::unwired]

Back in August, we reported that Sprint’s flagship device, Samsung Instinct, received a firmware update. Now a new firmware is available to Instinct owners that aims to fix 249 tickets open since the previous public firmware release.

The most important improvement in the new software is the updated web browser, which reportedly brings a 10x improvement to rendering speed. Users should notice this in the areas of pan/zoom/resize functionality. In addition, it is now possible to show/hide browser controls and leave more space to webpage display…

In a nutshell, if you own the Samsung Instinct, you’ll want to upgrade. But before doing so, make sure you save/backup your bookmarks, as users report they’re all gone after the update.

[Via: Gizmodo, EverythingInstinct]