CUin5 Concept: Five Sides to a Story

There are people who love monoblock/candybar phones because they find it inconvenient to open a clamshell. There are people who find it too tedious to slide up a slider phone with just a finger. And then, there are those who can't be bothered to even turn a phone to speak into the right side. For them there's someone else out there that can feel your pain.

This concept phone from CUin5 is a monoblock with six sides. Normal? Hardly. Five of the six sides has an independent keypad, a speaker and a microphone. The two, bigger surfaces have two keypads. That’s SEVEN fully-functional keypads in one phone. Seven different ways to interact with it.
Whenever any button of the phone is clicked, that keypad becomes the active one, glowing up, while the others lock up to prevent accidental entry. According to the creator, Branko Lukic, its easier to use in a hurry, for example, reaching out for the phone in your bag and quickly interacting with it, instead of flipping it and turning it to find the right side.


I’ve been thinking... how do you put on the keypad lock in a phone like this? Or better still, how do you unlock it?

Nokia N93i Launched in India

Nokia has introduced the N93i, with a digital camcorder and multimedia center that enables users to make short films on the device.

Optimized for mobile filmmaking, the Nokia N93i comes bundled with advanced features such as a 3.2 megapixel (2048 x 1536 pixels) camera with Carl Zeiss optics, 3x optical zoom, auto focus and close-up mode. The Nokia N93i can shoot DVD-like quality videos in MPEG-4 VGA at up to 30 frames per second, and allows stereo audio recording and digital stabilization. The device also comes with 1 GB MiniSD card that makes it possible to capture up to 45 minutes of DVD-like quality video or up to 1250 high-quality photos.
The N93 has a metallic finish keypad and a mirror effect cover. The 2.4" main display of up to 16 million colors has a 160° viewing angle, and there are dedicated camera keys to capture images, switch shooting mode and operate the flash. Also, integrated into the Nokia N93i is a new personal video and photo blogging service called Vox, with privacy features that let share stories and thoughts over the Internet. Based on S60 3rd Edition software on Symbian OS, N93i comes bundled with Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 software, enabling professional quality movies on a compatible PC.

Designed to work on WLAN, 3G (WCDMA 2100 MHz), EDGE and GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz) networks, the Nokia N93i provides mobile broadband internet access for browsing, uploading content, and sending and receiving emails. Users may also use other features such as MP3 music playback, podcasts, stereo FM radio or mobile TV video streaming.

With direct TV out functionality, it is possible to have a communal screening of the film or photos, by connecting the Nokia N93i to a compatible TV with the supplied video-out connectivity cable. Alternatively, users may use the integrated wireless LAN (WLAN) technology to connect to a compatible UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) enabled device.As a part of Nokia's strategy to provide consumers the ultimate mobile filmmaking experience, Nokia has recently announced the Nokia Nseries Mobile Film Awards, aimed at encouraging promising film-makers and enabling them to express their imagination.

The Nokia N93i is available at an MRP of Rs. 35,750.

Samsung Offers Entry Level Phones

The new Ultra Edition phones stole all the limelight at 3GSM, but Samsung had also launched a bunch of entry level phones here. The 'entry level' attribute is a bit loose, as some of these feature 2 and 3 megapixel cameras! Still, none of these do HSDPA or UMTS (all top out with tri-band GSM/EDGE), so that's the low-end bit for you!

Take the first one, the SGH-E590. It's a simple candy bar handset, about 13.5mm thick, that looks like something you can buy for about Rs. 4,000, but turn it around and you'll see the 3 megapixel auto-focus camera lens. It doesn't stop there — the phone also includes a 256k color, 1:1 aspect, 220x220 display (odd?), Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support, an FM radio tuner and a microSD card slot.

The next one is a shiny slider, the E830, which seems to be an upgrade to the just recently launched E250 (in India). This one is also around 14.9mm thick, it has the same 176x220 pixel 256k color display, which is low considering it has a 2 megapixel camera on the back. FM radio is retained and so is Bluetooth 2.0, but we're not sure about A2DP support, although it wouldn't make sense to remove that feature.

The E840 derives the design cue from the E900. Boxy, but slim at 10.6mm, this phone offers the same set of features as the other phones mentioned here: FM radio, Bluetooth 2.0, microSD card support a 2 megapixel camera, but the screen has been upgraded to 256k-color QVGA. Tri-band GSM/EDGE all the way.

The E740 is another avatar of the E820, but is thicker at around 16.8mm. Features list remains unchanged: 2 megapixel camera, 176x220, 256k QVGA screen, FM radio, Bluetooth 2.0, microSD, tri-band GSM/EDGE.

The P110 is the ugly duckling of the lot. It has a simple VGA snapper, an ordinary 65k-color, 176x220 screen, 25mb of memory with no mention of a microSD card and Bluetooth support. This is both a clamshell and a swivel-type phone. When slid open, it reveals a full QWERTY keypad available, which doubles up as a numeric keypad when the phone is flipped open.

Will Microsoft Launch the Zune Phone?

A recent FCC filing by Microsoft for a "consumer broadband access and networking device" has sparked off a new wave of speculation about the possibility of a Zune phone being launched sometime soon.

When the Zune was announced last year, Microsoft did mention that there could be such a device in the Zune family, but did not speak specifics.
Various features have been associated with the product, including the ability to connect to the Xbox Live Marketplace and the Xbox 360 console, the possibility of the phone not using the Windows Mobile operating system, instead operating on the Zune UI, and even WiMAX support.
The FCC filing doesn't directly indicate that it will be a Zune family product, however, Apple's recent iPhone announcement leads the thought that Microsoft might be looking at "being there too."
There are also rumors that the phone will be launched as early as March (gasp!) or at least by May or June, to compete with the iPhone before it becomes the iPod of mobile phones.

Sony Ericsson W51S Brings Style Back to the Clamshell

Sony Ericsson has been on a cell phone rampage these past few weeks, but for their latest mobile, the W51S, they decided to step back from all the glitz and glamor and go simple, and you know what—it worked. The W51S is one of the coolest clamshells I've seen in a long time. It has a nice grated look going for it with 3 LED lights on the front panel that flash with incoming calls or voicemail (kinda like the Z310). A 2-megapixel camera sits on the back (you can expand storage via Memory Sticks) and inside you'll find a large, 2.7-inch display. Other than that no other details are known, though as a clamshell fan, this one has my vote.