Phones

Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Disappearing iPhone Ad

So, you may have heard the mysterious tale already: a massive iPhone advertisement was plastered on one side of the 24-hour Apple Store on 5th Avenue in midtown Manhattan, only to disappear less than a day later. (I went around noon today to check. It is, indeed, gone.) Makes us wonder...why? Is there foul play afoot? Is something rotten in the core of Apple? Hmm...

Here are Cravers' preferred explanations for this mysterious occurrence.

It looked too much like a Mooninite. Apple pulled it down early because they didn't want the negative press that would inevitably stem from … Read more

Cell phone made with no plastic

It's hard to imagine a cell phone these days made without any plastic, but that's what a new luxury phone maker promises to do. A European brand called Belleperre says it will craft handsets from such expensive materials as gold, sapphire, leather, hardwood and steel--"zero percent plastic"--with a broad choice of colors and styles including "classic calfskin, real reptiles, fashion prints or metallic leather," according to Gizmag.

Although Bellperre claims to use the largest piece of scratch-resistant sapphire crystal built into any mobile phone, its handsets supposedly are no heavier than those … Read more

LG's 'Shine' goes for the gold

LG's phone division appears to be going full-tilt into its metallic age, at least in South Korea. Two new models in its appropriately named "Shine" line have made appearances at the company's Digital Design Center in Seoul, according to Electronista.

The first version is a special gold edition of the slider handset destined for South Korea's CDMA networks. The second is the "Shine Folder," a clamshell alternative to the original that appears to resemble one we cited last month that some speculated was possibly headed for Verizon.

Unfortunately, neither of the models displayed … Read more

Apple owes Crave money

It's always been clear that Apple Inc.'s real genius lies not so much in its products but in the way it markets them. And what's genius about it is how Apple gets every tech media outlet (CNET included) to do the work for them. A Harvard Business School professor has theorized that Apple benefited from $400 million in free publicity from the media coverage of the iPhone launch. In a recent USA Today story by Jefferson Graham, professor David Yoffie said the media hype surrounding the iPhone launch was like nothing seen before. "No other company … Read more

Afroman gets high on the charts

Each week, Crave tracks the most popular ringtones.

You may not know who Afroman is, but you're sure to remember his only hit song "Because I Got High." The song, released back in the summer of 2000, is actually a cautionary tale about how marijuana can ruin someone's life. For some reason, I doubt the song cracked Billboard's top-five ringtone chart because of its antidrug message.

Afroman's song was the fourth-hottest ringtone, up two spots from last week. Chris Brown's "Poppin'" still holds the top spot, and is followed again by … Read more

Virgin Mobile finds its Marbls

Motorola's Razr did more than spark the thin-phone revolution; it also spawned a rather annoying naming convention that drops vowels from a cell phone's name. Moto took the charge with the Slvr, the Krzr, and the Rizr but even Virgin Mobile hopped on board last year when it introduced its Oystr from Kyocera. And now Virgin twists the knife a little more with the new Marbl. Made by Kyocera, the Marbl features a simple flip-phone design with a plain, black front. There's no external display but you can get it for a very reasonable $29.99. From … Read more

Oh yeah brother: AT&T and WWE tag team your mobile phone

Get ready for 24-inch pythons and Texas Death Matches on your 3G phone. AT&T/Cingular has signed an exclusive deal with World Wrestling Entertainment to bring wrestling video clips, ringtones, and wallpapers to your cell phone. If you already have Cingular's Media Max 200 Bundle, you can view video clips such as the Slam of the Week and WWE News for free. Otherwise ringtones are $2.49 each and wallpapers are $1.99 each.

If you're dying to hear Hulk Hogan ask, "What you gonna do?" when your phone rings, then you're in … Read more

A luxury headset without the phone

It's not often that a headset gets released before the phone it was made for, but that could end up being the case for Russia's Mago. Its Bluetooth headset has just been announced, according to Sybarites, though its luxury smart phone is several months past its initial release schedule.

The handset, by Russian designer Evgueni Maslov, is part of a wave of high-end telephony hardware to come from the former Soviet Union along with the likes of the Gresso phone. The Mago headset is reportedly made of specially treated titanium to match its phone and features noice-canceling technology … Read more

Phone rings in designer's new season

The phone may not be terribly new but, if you live in the U.K., you can certainly get it with a colorful new look.

Sony Ericsson's K510i has the same specs as always, but its exterior has gotten a major makeover from hot British designer Julien Macdonald that looks downright psychedelic compared with the original in basic black. And if you get one of these from Orange, you'll be right on time.

MacDonald himself was quoted on Tech Digest thusly: "The print was inspired by exotic flowers, orchids in particular, so thought it would be perfect … Read more