phones

The Samsung YP-P2 has landed, and we have the photos to prove it. With its 3-inch touch screen, and a 480x272 video resolution capable of DVD-quality and 30 frames per second, the Samsung YP-P2 is a tough contender for the holiday's Flash-based PVP battle royale. Obviously, the P2 is aimed at the iPod Touch audience, but with recent video-worthy releases from SanDisk, Creative, and Microsoft--it's still anybody's game.

We'll have a full review done next week. Until then, you can ogle our Samsung YP-P2 photo gallery. The Samsung YP-P2 is available for $199 (4GB) and $… Read more

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google will make a big announcement on Monday that will detail the company's partnerships with various handset makers and carriers for its much-ballyhooed "open" mobile OS. Apparently U.S. carriers T-Mobile and Sprint are slated to be in on it, while Taiwan's HTC is a safe bet for a handset manufacturer.

Other manufacturers are also possible (Samsung, LG , and Sony Ericsson, to name a few), but we won't know until Monday. As we've previously theorized, these Google-powered phones could have a Linux-based OS, along with a few Google-branded … Read more

As I said yesterday, a recent study predicted that by next year half of the world's population will own cell phones. And that got me thinking about exactly where in the world all the phones currently in use are located. Obviously, they're not spread evenly throughout the world's population but are concentrated in a few countries. So when the 2008 edition of The Economist's World Pocket in Figures arrived in my mailbox the same day (talk about your good timing), I took the opportunity to look it up (talk about geeky).

Though I expected that Nokia-crazed … Read more

At first glance, you'd think the Haier Sterling is a joke--at less than 4 inches from end to end, it looks like a child's toy. But you'd be wrong. It not only turns heads, but it delivers too. You realize that when you turn it on and hear the loud, clear sound of glass breaking.

It features a 1.8-inch color screen, 1.3-megapixel camera, integrated headphone jack, FM radio, room for 500 contacts, Bluetooth and a microSD slot. Talk time is 3 hours; standby time is up to 200 hours. But what really distinguishes it is … Read more

As mobile phones continue their evolution as uber-devices for music and everything else, they've struggled with such things as external speakers--with some particularly strange ideas surfacing along the way. But here's an interesting twist: Why not make a pair that resembles the speaking end of an old Ma Bell analog receiver?

That's our impression, anyway, of these new portable Philips speakers made for Nokia handsets. Gadgetizer says the mini-system, which comes in black or white, also has an FM radio built into the dock. All it needs is an old-fashioned dial for navigation. Of course, if … Read more

You might have heard by new that Time named the Apple iPhone the "Invention of the Year." I'm not going to dissect the magazine's reasons for choosing the iPhone--News.com's Tom Krazit already did that--rather, I'm more confused as to whether the iPhone should even count as an invention. As some CNET readers have contended, Apple didn't invent the cell phone, it just built its own version. And even if everyone agrees that Apple improved on the concept, should that count as an invention? What do you think?

Japan wireless carrier NTT DoComo just made life way more confusing for the indecisive consumer.

The company and its eight regional subsidiaries on Thursday announced 23 new handsets in the 905i and 705i series--and they're available in an astounding total of 75 colors. Sheesh, and I had a tough time deciding whether to go with brown boots or black boots this morning.

The 10 handsets in the 905i series are variously equipped with support for HSDPA-based networks, international roaming capabilities through built-in 3G/GSM, voice-activated Japanese-English translation, GPS location information, interactive maps, one-segment mobile TV, and support for credit … Read more

And lo, it was foretold in the fall of 2007, that a mobile telephone would lead humanity out of the New Dark Ages and into a better future free from roaming charges and buttons.

Time, which likes to anoint things, has named Apple's iPhone the "Invention of the Year," following such recent IotYs like YouTube and SpaceShipOne. The number one reason why the iPhone is Time's Invention of the Year? "It's pretty." Further: "An example: look at what happens when you put the iPhone into 'airplane' mode (i.e., no cell service, … Read more

Who needs gold and diamonds on a phone anyway? Don Corleone would have said such excesses were something for Tattaglia and his ilk--pimps.

Someone with true taste would opt for something much more classic, such as a black iPhone. This modified handset from Charles & Marie, called the "ccPhone," is one of only 50 limited-edition models finished in black matte and accompanied by an exclusive collection of music, videos, wallpaper and other software, according to Luxist.

But the privilege of owning this beauty--the phone's equivalent of a designer's little black dress--will cost $2,000. No one … Read more