Don’t you wish Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) would make a flip phone? An iPhone with a keypad and a flip form-factor. No? We thought not. But, for the 12 people out there that actually want an Apple clamshell phone, you’ll be glad to hear that some no-name Chinese phone maker has crafted a dumbphone that looks a lot like a mini MacBook, it even sports the backlit Apple logo. Make no mistake, though, the handset is as fake as they come – even with a name like the “Apple Q300 Ultra.”

The Apple Q300 Ultra and its glossy-white exterior can be yours for $70-$80. It doesn’t support any apps, it doesn’t even run a smartphone operating system, and it sports a 2.2-inch display. It will, however, get you some attention (don’t blame us for any ridicule you bring unto yourself).

[Via: Gizmodo]

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• Apple working on iPhone flip? Patent application details flip-phone with dual-sided multi-touch.
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• Apple rumored to allow limited iPhone multi-tasking with iPhone OS 3.0
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Turkey Day is fast approaching, and you know what that means. Burned, dry and otherwise barely edible birds will be hitting American dinner tables in a few days’ time! Admit it, you’re secretly hoping you don’t make a mess of Thanksgiving by cooking the turkey too long. It’s okay, we feel your pain. That’s where TurkeyTimer for iPhone comes in. The new iPhone app keeps track of your turkey’s cooking progress, reminds you when it’s time to baste the bird, and even alerts you to take your sizable bird out of the oven. The TurkeyTimer app even adjusts cooking time to accommodate your taste for moister or dryer turkey. In other words, it does for your cooking skills what your mother never could.

TurkeyTimer takes into account your turkey’s weight and uses algorithms based on cookbook instructions to determine cooking time. The app tracks the brownness of the turkey, the approximate internal temperature (which will determine how moist your turkey turns out), how long it needs to cook, and even how long you have to wait before tearing into the oversized bird.

Grab TurkeyTimer from the iPhone AppStore for $2.99. We think the price is worth not having to face your family with a too-dry turkey… again.

TurkeyTimer [iTunes link]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• iPhone 3G Comes to Brazil, South Africa and Turkey
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• Taito brings Space Invaders, Cooking Mama to the iPhone, iPod Touch
• Turkey Day Tribute: Turkey Hunt for iPhone

Gameloft had previously been very excited about Android, jumping into the market with twenty titles last February, but they have since changed their tune, and are pulling away from Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s mobile platform. Gameloft’s director of finance, Alexandre de Rochefort, had this to say about their performance on Android at a recent investor’s meeting:

“We have significantly cut our investment in Android platform, just like … many others … It is not as neatly done as on the iPhone. Google has not been very good to entice customers to actually buy products. On Android nobody is making significant revenue … We are selling 400 times more games on iPhone than on Android.”

Ouch. The iPhone has definitely made a name for itself in mobile gaming, and combined with mass consumer demand for the handset itself, it’s easy to see why a big name publisher would side with Apple (NSDQ: AAPL). Motorola (NYSE: MOT)’s droid is certainly pushing hard with its marketing and preliminary sales have been decent, but odds are slim that it will put a significant dent in iPhone’s numbers. The bigger question raised here is “is this attitude prevalent across application segments other than gaming?” Gameloft is a pretty big deal; I can only imagine how many other major app developers are openly neglecting other mobile platforms as a result of the iPhone’s massive gravitational pull. With resources shrinking for a lot of companies, devs have to be especially picky about which camp they chose.

[via Reuters]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Droid Does… pretty damn well in it’s first week
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• Gameloft: We’ll release over 15 iPhone games this year

This holiday shopping season is dominated by Android. Smartphones running Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s mobile operating system are flooding the market, and we really couldn’t be happier. The latest Android smartphone to find its way into our eager hands is the Samsung Behold II. Just in time for the holidays, T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) is offering the Samsung Behold II for $229.99 when purchased with new 2-year contract. It’s slightly pricier than the iPhone and the Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid, but with a sleek design and a quirky new 3D Cube UI, you might not mind shelling out the extra bucks for the Behold 2.

Unlike the original Samsung Behold, the Behold II sports Android 1.5 OS. It sports an impressive 5-megapixel camera (with LED-flash), 3G data, WiFi, GPS and microSD card slot. But, the one feature that outshines them all is the Behold 2’s 3.2-inch capacitive AMOLED touchscreen. The display doesn’t need a backlight, so it draws less power than traditional LCD displays, but manages to deliver a brighter, crisper, more color-rich picture.

The camera is a bit laggy, but serves up some impressively crisp and well-balanced pictures. The 3D Cube UI is quirky, to say the least. We’re sure some people will find it useful, but we just don’t see ourselves using it for more than just showing off to our friends. But, with a speedy browser and an incredible OLED display, the Behold II will more than make up for its confusing UI.

Enjoy the hands-on/unboxing gallery and video!

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Samsung Behold II Custom TouchWiz UI Caught on Camera
• Samsung Behold 2 Now For Sale on T-Mobile
• Samsung and T-Mobile unveiling the Behold II on Nov. 12
• T-Mobile Set to Launch Samsung Behold II on November 18th
• Samsung Behold II is smarter than its predecessor thanks to Android; Coming to T-Mobile USA just in time for holidays

Good news for those who have been following the rumors about the Samsung Omnia II i920: Verizon (NYSE: VZ) has set a pricetag and release date! Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface built on top of Windows Mobile 6.5, a 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus and dual-LED flash, GPS, and Wi-Fi all round out the Omnia II. Initially, we thought it would be launching with Windows Mobile 6.1, but it’s possible that originally-planned release dates were pushed back to include 6.5. You can expect to pay $199.99 on contract after mail-in rebates to pick up the i920 from Verizon stores on December 2.

[via Verizon]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Samsung Omnia HD rumored to run Windows Mobile
• Verizon to drop Samsung Omnia II i920 on November 1?
• Samsung confirms Omnia II headed to Verizon Wireless soon
• Verizon’s Samsung i900 Omnia launch date and pricing information leaked!
• AT&T’s Samsung Omnia II almost here!

The upcoming Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) Kurara, which got a brief glimpse of last week, just got an extensive review. This is clearly Sony Ericsson’s competitor to Samsung’s OmniaHD i8910, and meets the challenge on a few levels, such as processor (Cortex A8) and camera (8 megapixels), but the display loses a few points for not being AMOLED. The Symbian-based OS is similar to the Satio, complete with Facebook and Twitter integration, but the reviewer’s final conclusion is that this handset’s success will depend entirely on the price point – there’s not a lot of innovation going on, but a 300 Euro price point would likely be enough to win over a few folks. Even with the pricetag taken into account, I’m not sure why anyone would pick up the U5 over the X10…

[via Mobile-Review]

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• P990, M600 and W950: UIQ 3 compatibility and Symbian Signing special offer
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• Sony Ericsson Satio goes live with 12.1-megapixel camera in UK!
• 12 Megapixel Sony Ericsson Satio Gets Lengthy Video Review

Looks like my bud Jake over at Nuclear Nova Software has been hard at work on one of my favorite golf games for the iPhone and iPod Touch… GL Golf. He’s updated GL Golf (along with GL Golf Deluxe and ‘Lite’), bringing all versions up to 1.09. In the latest edition you’ll get 12 new courses (awesome), four new clubs, a 50% increase in performance and many, many, many bug fixes and tweaks.

To celebrate the update, Jake is offering GL Golf for $0.99 (regular $4.99) and GL Golf Deluxe for $5.99 (regular $7.99). The discounts are good for a week, so I’d recommend trying before you buy with the ‘Lite’ version… If you like, pick up the standard or deluxe version before next Monday to save a few bucks.

Other notable improvements in 1.09 include:

• New course available through in-app purchasing (GL Golf Deluxe)
• Fast forward and slow motion buttons when the ball is in flight
• Improved ball trail effect
• Wind arrow is no longer covered by trees
• Fixed resume game submitting scores on the Old Andrews course
• Improved in game scorecard
• Added version information to the main menu
• Added a link to the support FAQ
• Perfect “ding” shots now show a visual confirmation
• Resume button now shows information about the current course and hole
• Fixed a bug where scores <10 wouldn’t post on the LE National course (GL Golf Lite)

Tee it up, and let ‘er rip. FORE!!!

[Via: PRMac]

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• GL Golf Gets an Update… Standard Version Now Only $0.99
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• ‘Rocket Golf’ Brings Side-Scrolling Golf Action to the iPhone

Ah, good ‘ol Black Friday is coming up at the end of this week… and frankly, I can’t wait. ‘The Shack’ was among the first to let their Black Friday plans be known, with the Motorola CLIQ on for $79. Not bad. Not great, but not bad if you’re wanting a CLIQ anyway…

Now it’s Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s turn to tease us with a little Apple Online Store promo action. I wonder what they could have in store for us on Black Friday? A free iPhone 3GS with Apple Tablet purchase, perhaps? (joking, but blarg, I wish it were true) At any rate, here’s what the latest teaser promo entails:

Come back to the Apple Online Store the day after Thanksgiving for a special one-day-only holiday shopping event. You’ll find dozens of great iPod, iPhone, and Mac gift ideas — all with free shipping.

Mark your calendar now. And until then, start your research by browsing the Apple Online Store to find iPod, iPhone, and Mac gifts for everyone on your list.

Black Friday is the one magical time of the year the Apple Online Store actually has a ’sale’, so I can’t wait to see what they have up their sleeves this year. I’m actually kinda/sorta in need of a new MacBook Pro, so I’m going to be keeping my eyes open for the discount details.

Get your wallets, purses and helmets ready for this Friday. It’s going to be a good one.

[Via: TiPB]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• ‘The Shack’ to Sell the Motorola CLIQ for $79 on Black Friday
• AT&T selling iPhone 3G online
• AT&T to challenge other carriers on Black Friday; Prepares amazing offers
• Apple offering free shipping for online iPhone orders!
• Walmart Dishing Out $100 Gift Cards With BlackBerry Purchase (November 14th through 21st)

My bud David at TMoNews has managed to get his hands on what looks to be a holiday pricing guide. Please note I’ve filed this under ‘rumors’ for now. I’ve heard mixed reports of these deals actually becoming available… so lets let this ’shake down’ until we get to the bottom of it.

Take a gander at the list above for all of the rumored goodness. Moto CLIQ for $50? I’ll take 2. BlackBerry Bold 9700 for $50? I would have taken 3, but it looks like I missed the sale by a day. How about the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Curve 8520 for $25 following Christmas? Yessir! Looks like the ‘biggie’ for the holidays is going to be the Motorola CLIQ, which goes back on sale December 21st through 24th for $50. Awesome.

Note: Apparently these prices are available on all rate plans. New 2-year activations qualify as well, but the customer must be eligible for the discounted rate.

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Motorola CLIQ Off-Contract Price? $449.99 Says T-Mo
• ‘The Shack’ to Sell the Motorola CLIQ for $79 on Black Friday
• Motorola CLIQ Now Available for Pre-Order!
• FutureShop BlackBerry Storm Demo Days, Holiday Pricing… and More!
• Motorola CLIQ Pre-Sale Countdown Starts at T-Mobile

Not sure when this popped up, but I’m thinking it was sometime over the weekend. Adobe has launched a new Acrobat.com Mobile app for the iPhone and BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM). Developed by the folks at scanR, the app allows you to view or fax documents from an acrobat account, plus a lot more. The official description:

The Acrobat.com mobile application by scanR® allows you to view or fax your documents from your Acrobat.com account on supported mobile devices. Or upload document images from your mobile phone and have them automatically stored as searchable PDF files in your Acrobat.com account. Note, your account includes sending two outbound faxes and up to five document uploads from your mobile phone. You can upgrade your account at anytime if you need to upload or fax more documents.

For the moment it looks like the app is available in the US, France, Germany and the UK. Hit up mobile.acrobat.com, select your country, enter your email, and punch in your mobile number. From there you’ll receive an SMS with download and installation instructions.

[Via: BerryReview]

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HTC has released an updated version of its HTC Sync software, which allows the Android-powered smartphones to connect with Outlook data (to put it simply). Version 2.0.8 is a minor update, packing only few things such as:

• Media enhancements – allows syncing of contacts pictures along with contact information.
• The process now also syncs HTC phone’s time with PC’s time and vice versa.

And that’s it. As far as I see, if you’re satisfied with the current version of the HTC Sync, there’s no need to rush, except if you really want to sync those photos and are really that time sensitive.

Check out the details at HTC Support pages.

[Via: the::unwired]

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• The Missing Sync for BlackBerry Now Supports the Tour 9630
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• Nokia N800 modding

File this under “we hope so,” as it’s clear that the version of Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE)’s first Android smartphone that can sing along AT&T (NYSE: T)’s 3G bands will be available. The official X10 page has been updated to reflect that, clearly showing a U.S. centric model that works on UMTS HSPA 800/850/1900 MHz frequencies. Yap, those are the ones that work on AT&T (and Canada’s Rogers (NYSE: RCI) Wireless for that matter). Here’s what it says:

UMTS HSPA 800/850/1900 only available for phones sold in Americas (except Brazil) and Australia. UMTS HSPA 900/1700 not available for phones sold in Americas. UMTS HSPA 1900/2100 available worldwide.

Nothing is confirmed at this stage, but it’s not like AT&T doesn’t offer any Sony Ericsson’s phones, already — i.e. the channel is somewhat open. And getting such a high-end device in the U.S. market is also of interest to the now struggling Swedish-Japanese handset maker. The only problem I see is how this reflects on the exclusivity of the AT&T-Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) releations. AT&T certainly can’t afford to miss the Android bandwagon, but Apple has the negotiating power more than any other company at the moment. We’ll certainly watch this carefully and let you know as soon as we hear something new. Stay tuned…

[Via: phandroid]

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• Sony Ericsson planning first Android smartphone for Summer 2009 – Android XPERIA?
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• Sony Ericsson denies reports that it is ending partnershp with DoCoMo

The Chinese mobile market is ever interesting. Now that all carriers have rolled out 3G, it’s time to build a differentiating portfolios. China Unicom is known to carry the iPhone, China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) is betting big on their flavor of Android – OPhone, and China Telecom… well, they seem to work to get some Palm (NSDQ: PALM) and BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) devices ’till the end of this year or early 2010, according to a Reuters source.

RIM already sells some of its devices in the world’s fastest growing economy, whereas Palm is a virgin when it comes to China. For them [Palm], unveiling the Pre and Pixi would certainly be beneficial and would help the once proud Treo maker get some decent numbers its shareholders desperately want. Moreover, if Palm does get in, it should establish a developer portal to spur webOS app development. There’s a plan!

[Via: Engadget]

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• The $30 Palm Pixi should make you seriously consider webOS
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• Amazon offers Palm Pixi for $25
• Airtel brings Palm Treo 750 to India

If you’re a network administrator then brace yourself for this video. What you’re about to see is the HTC HD2 running a modified version of the Remote Desktop application for Windows Mobile. This tweaked version takes advantage of the capacitive touch screen that the HD2 has to enable multi touch zooming. On the 4.3 inch, with 800 x 480 pixels of resolution, it looks absolutely stunning. Check out Will’s review of the Touch HD2 if you’re interested in more details about the device. It’s expected to launch in America during the first quarter of 2010.

For those of you unfamiliar with Remote Desktop, it allows you to take over another computer. On your display you see the screen of another machine, and whatever you type on your keyboard will be sent to that remote machine. As a former network administrator I can’t emphasize enough how important Remote Desktop is as a tool when troubleshooting computers and settings things up when deploying new machines.

[Via: Pocket Now]

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• HTC Confirms Touch Pro2 Coming to Major Markets… via Twitter Updates
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• Apple gets real with iPhone “Remote” application

Provider of IP multimedia processing solutions, Global IP Solutions (GIPS), announced its Android offering, allowing developers to build VoIP-enabled clients with GIPS VoiceEngine Mobile. And they already have the first customer — the folks behind the popular mobile social messaging app – Nimbuzz.

I’m not sure whether this will drive the explosion of VoIP-powered apps in the Android Market, and I’m don’t know whether that makes much sense, but having a choice is always a good thing in my eyes.

Commenting on the announcement, GIPS’ CTO Roar Hagen said: “GIPS VoiceEngine allows Android developers to build VoIP-enabled applications that offer HD voice, while tackling all the typical IP network issues – such as delay, jitter, packet loss, bandwidth constraints, noise and echo. Today, mobile users desire a smartphone that offers a unique experience, which includes the ability to have great quality communication. With GIPS engineering expertise, developers can quickly and effectively build their applications enabling them to concentrate on their core business.”

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Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Money, which was announced in August, and is expected to launch in Q1 2010, is being shown off in the video below by Waltteri Karhusari at the Nokia “Way We Live Next” conference in Finland. The UI is fairly basic, but that’s do to the demo being done on a fairly low end device. Nokia Money’s target audience is emerging economies after all. It’s safe to say that Visa’s stuff is much more impressive, but sadly their solutions are due to hit the market at an even later point in time. Mobile Payments will be the next killer application, much like GPS was the killer application for smartphones in 2007/2008, but the question on everyone’s mind is when will Mobile Payments take off? Juniper Research predicts that in 2012 there will be $30 billion worth of transactions taking place, while ABI Research predicts that by 2011, only 2 years from now, there will be 170 million people taking advantage of mobile payments.

[Via: Nokia Conversations]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Juniper Research: People WILL adopt mobile payments, it just takes time
• Juniper Research: NFC mobile payments to exceed $30 billion by 2012
• Juniper Research: Mobile coupons to increase by 30% during the next two years
• Juniper Research: Smartphones to account for 23% of all new mobile phones by 2013
• Juniper Research: 700 million users to have NFC-enabled phones within 5 years

By now I would expect that every single bank in the western hemisphere has a mobile banking option. Not so, as I just caught the press release from Frost Bank, which has launched Frost Mobile “just in time for the holidays.”

Frost Mobile allows users to view account balances, account activity, pay bills, and transfer funds between Frost accounts and between financial institutions.

It’s not a mobile application, but a mobile website, which works from (almost) any phone’s web browser. The service is free to all Frost customers who are registered for My Frost Online Banking, exclusive of any fees that mobile carriers charge for data services.

Finally, before I wrap this up, Frost wants us to know they’ll add an SMS service next year, “making mobile banking even more accessible.”

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Bank of America launches mobile banking service
• Wealth management goes mobile
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• Obopay partners with Yodlee; Adds instant bank account verification for mobile payments

AT&T (NYSE: T) has added a new netbook in its offering – HP Mini 110, which the carrier is offering for $199 with a two-year contract, after mail-in rebate; and which BTW is also available on Verizon.

Specs wise, the HP Mini 110 comes with a 10.1-inch screen, 1GB of RAM, Intel Atom CPU, 160GB hard drive, WiFi… whereas Windows 7 is running the show.

As I said, a mobile broadband (AT&T DataConnect) plan is needed, which starts at $35 per month and includes 200MB of data…

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Verizon Wireless adds two HP netbooks – Mini 311-1037NR and Mini 110-1046NR
• Cellular South joins the netbook craze
• AT&T announces new netbooks and a new ConnecTech service
• Sprint offers Dell Inspiron Mini 10, too
• Dell Inspiron Mini 9 now available with built-in AT&T 3G!

U.S. Cellular has introduced the Overage Protection service, which includes sending users an SMS when they’ve used 75% of available minutes or text messages, and another when they reach 100%. The idea is, of course, to inform customers how they’re managing their pre-paid accounts.

In order to sign-up for the free services, customers should visit the carrier’s retail store, contact customer service or access their account at uscellular.com. Then they decide who will receive the alerts. The service runs nightly, calculating the usage. If a predefined threshold is reached, a text alert will be sent the next day during normal business hours.

We like the idea and I can see virtually every U.S. Cellular customer signing up for Overage Protection…

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• Cellfire to provide its mobile coupon service to U.S. Cellular customers
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• UK: Lloyds TSB to do mobile banking!
• O2 Signs Deal with Twitter to Offer Text Alerts

A company called gridMob is bringing what they say is the “first true karaoke experience for iPhone and iPod Touch” to the AppStore. The application is called iOKi and in addition to putting a karaoke machine in your pocket, it also allows users to browse and purchase tracks from a vast catalog of songs – they’ve signed contracts with all major labels.

And the news doesn’t stop that. In addition to the “generic” version of the application (which is still not available in the AppStore), gridMob has also announced a special, Lady Gaga-branded application, who [Lady Gaga] I’m not sure I like. But considering just how popular Lady Gaga seems to be these days, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the app becoming a bestseller. It comes with four Lady Gaga karaoke tracks featuring her master recordings, plus the newly released “Bad Romance” from her soon to be released album “Fame Monster.” All this could be yours for $4.99 (a dollar per song). Moreover, gridMob prepares to release other versions of iOKi app, branded by other artists later in the year…

Lady Gaga iOKi [iTunes link]

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• TELUS and Universal Music Canada Team up to Launch ‘Summer of Music with TELUS’ Contest
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• Samsung A517 coming to AT&T and T539 to T-Mobile