Hi All,
Wishing each one of you a very happy and prosperous deepawali. May this year brings you lots and lots of happiness in life and fulfill all your dreams.

As the candlelight flame,
Ur life may always be happiness' claim;
As the mountain high,
U move without sigh;
like the white linen flair,
Purity is always an affair;
As sunshine creates morning glory,
fragrance fills years as flory;
with the immaculate eternal smile,
attached to u mile after mile;
All darkness is far away,
As light is on its way;
Wish all of u a very Happy Diwali and a Prosperous New Year.

Diwali Greetings

Diwali Graphics

Motorola RAZR2 V8 Luxusy Edition

The Motorola RAZR2 V8 is a pretty decent multimedia phone that has only just hit the market. Obviously, Motorola think that this isn't enough and have come up with the Motorola RAZR2 V8 Luxury Edition for those who want something a little more showy.
Yes - that yellow metal on the RAZR2 V8 Luxury Edition is real gold - well, 18 carat and 24 carat gold plate to be precise.

The back of this RAZR2 is embossed with a snakeskin effect, and the front has an unusual striped looked. The navigational control has been given "linear etching", the phone itself has complementary themes and Motorola include a gold-plated Bluetooth headset in the package.
Underneath is a very capable music phone with 2GB of internal memory (the standard V8 has 420MB), a large internal and external display, with touch-sensitive media controls on the exterior screen, a 2 megapixel camera and Bluetooth. It's the same size as the ordinary version of the V8, although we don't know how much this edition weighs.
Let's face it.. the Motorola RAZR2 V8 Luxury Edition is not for everybody. It's not so much a question of price - Motorola haven't said how much it will cost - but really a question of taste*. It's in the same sort of league as the Gold Nokia 8800 Sirocco or the old RAZR V3i Gold.. so if those phones appealed to you, then this one will too.
The design is in the details, so we have included some close-up shots of the RAZR2 V8 Luxury Edition below so you can see the design detail more closely.
Taste: OK.. we admit it. We think that the Motorola RAZR2 V8 Luxury Edition will probably appeal to you if you like Burberry baseball caps, Hackett polo shirts, sovereign rings and badly customised Vauxhall Corsas. It's truly hideous and if there's one good thing going for it, it's that the real gold might make it too expensive for your average Chav. Sorry, Motorola, but this is just truly hideous.

Motorola RAZR2 V8 Luxusy Edition at a glance
Available: Q4 2007
Network: GSM
Data: GPRS + EDGE
Screen: 240x320 pixels, 262k colours (main)240x320 pixels, 262k colours (sub)
Camera: 2 megapixels
Size: Slim clamshell103 x 53 x 12mm / approx 117 grams
Bluetooth: Yes
Memory card: No
Infra-red: No
Polyphonic: Yes
Java: Yes
Battery life: 8 hours talk / 10 days standby

ITT Easy Use Phone

I believe that technology should be accessible to everyone - and although we love our high-tech gadgets, we understand that there's also a place for handsets that are very easy to use.
Falling into this "easy-to-use" category is the ITT Easy Use Phone, a device that has several features that are designed to appeal to those who struggle with today's tiny and over-complicated mobile phones.
The first thing to notice is that this is a big phone - much larger than a conventional handset (it's almost the same size as the brick-like Nokia E90). This isn't a bad thing, because it means that the Easy Use Phone comes with a set of really large buttons on the front. The keypad consists of a standard numeric layout, plus "call" and "hang up" keys and then four quickdial memory keys, designed either for frequent calling or emergency use. Below is a size comparison between the Easy Use Phone and the Nokia 6300, so you can get a feel for just how large the buttons are.
We haven't seen the display, but we understand that it comes with white-on-black text and has been designed for clarity. Technically, it's a "transflective negative LCD" with a backlight, so it should be usable in most lighting conditions.
There's a 50 number phonebook, and a choice of nine polyphonic ringtones. There's no mention of text capabilities, and since the Easy Use Phone has no letters on the keypad, we assume that SMS messaging is not possible.
Accessibility isn't all about big buttons and simple displays - the Easy Use Phone also comes with a very loud speakerphone, strong vibrate mechanism and it's hearing aid compatible too. There's also a headset included in the standard sales package. The Easy Use Phone is available in black or silver colour schemes.
Despite the Easy Use Phone's considerable size and weight, the beefy 100mAh battery only gives about 6.5 days standby time and 2 hours 20 minutes talktime. For a phone of this type, we feel that the battery life should be much longer. Bear in mind that the ITT Easy Use Phone will be used by people who might not always remember to charge their phone, so twice the talktime and standby time would be very useful.
The ITT Easy Use Phone is available from selected retailers across Europe - in the UK it is available for around £138 SIM Free from Matamobile, in Germany Amazon.de stock it for €169.

ITT Easy Use Phone
Available: Now
Network: GSM 850 / 1900GSM 900 / 1800
Data: None
Screen: Monochrome
Camera: No
Size: Large monoblock135 x 38 x 16mm / 152 grams
Bluetooth: No
Memory card: No
Infra-red: No
Polyphonic: No
Java: No
Battery life: 2 hours talk / 6 days standby

i-mate Ultimate 9502

The flagship handset in i-mate's range of Windows Mobile devices, the i-mate Ultimate 9502 is pitched directly against high-end smartphones such as the Nokia E90. What's immediately obvious about the i-mate Ultimate 9502 is the sliding screen with the QWERTY keyboard underneath, reminiscent of the T-Mobile Sidekick range.. and it's roughtly the same size as the Sidekick too.
This is a highly sophisticated Windows Mobile 6 device. The most prominent features on the Ultimate 9502 is the large 2.8" 640 x 480 pixel (VGA resolution) touchscreen. There are not many devices on the market that can compete with that, especially when it comes to web browsing.. although the Nokia E90 is one of them.
Underneath, this is a quad-band GSM device with GPRS and EDGE, tri-band UMTS (3G) with HSDPA high-speed data plus WiFi. On the back is a 3 megapixel digital camera with autofocus and flash, and the i-mate Ultimate 9502 also has microSD expandable memory and Bluetooth.
One unusual feature with the Ultimate 9502 is the inclusion of GPS (global positioning system). There's no satellite navigation software included with the 9502 as far as we can tell, but there are several packages that will run on the Windows Mobile platform.
Another unusual touch is an XGA resolution video out port, which means that the Ultimate 9502 can drive a projector at up to 1024x768 pixels. Mobile versions of PowerPoint, Word and Excel are included, plus Windows Media Player.. so the i-mate Ultimate 9502 looks to be a good alternative to using a laptop for presentations.
It's quite a large device - the i-mate Ultimate 9502 weighs 200 grams and measures 116 x 60 x 18mm. That's slightly lighter than the E90 and a fair amount more compact. Talktime is quoted as a little over four hours with a maximum standby time of 7.5 days on UMTS.
It's certainly one of the most sophisticated phones ever made. Our main criticism is that it's a somewhat unappealing device to look at.
i-mate have quoted a US price of around $725 before tax and subsidy. It might seem expensive, but you could easily expect a smartphone of this type to cost $1000 or more. No European pricing is available at the time of going to press. The Ultimate 9502 should be available from November 2007 onwards.

i-mate Ultimate 9502 at a glance
Available: Q4 2007
Network:GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900UMTS 850 / 1900 / 2100
Data:GPRS + EDGE + UMTS (3G) + HSDPA + WiFI
Screen:640x480 pixels
Camera:3 megapixels (main)0.3 megapixels (sub)

Size:Large PDA/slider116 x 60 x 18mm / 200 grams
Bluetooth:Yes
Memory card:microSD
Infra-red:No
Polyphonic:Yes
Java:Limited
Battery life:4 hours talk / 7 days standby

3 Skypephone

We've not often seen such a media buzz accompanying the launch of a new handset, but the 3 Skypephone certainly seems to have generated So what is it about this unremarkable looking mobile phone that seems to have generated all the excitement? Yes, the name Skypephone and the large Skype button on the keypad are pretty obvious, but why should an inexpensive VOIP handset be of any interest to consumers? After all, we've seen plenty of VOIP devices before that have hardly set the market alight.
In fact, what really makes the 3 Skypephone work isn't the Skype component - because that's available on many other mobile phones, but it's a combination of 3's very inexpensive calling plans and a handset that has been designed to use Skype from the beginning - rather than as an afterthought. And as far as consumers are concerned, Skype is synonymous with internet-based telephony.
Before we look behind the scenes, let's have a quick look at the 3 Skypephone's hardware. Obviously, it's a 3G device as it runs on the Hutchison 3 network. It has a 2" 176x220 pixel display, a 2 megapixel camera, microSD expandable memory (with 256MB in the box) and Bluetooth. Software includes a multimedia player and web browser, and of course the built-in Skype application. It's a fairly modest hardware specification, but then the 3 Skypephone is very light at just 86 grams and it has a good 4.5 hours talktime and 13 days standby time - remember that this is a 3G phone, and mobiles of this type tend to be larger and more power hungry than GSM phones. There are three colours available - white/blue, white/pink and black.
Annoyingly, this is just a dual band 900/1800 MHz GSM and 2100 MHz UMTS phone, so it won't work in the US. There's also no video calling camera - although we suspect that people will miss that rather less.

As we said, Skype is built into the Skypephone's software as an integral component. The Skypephone isn't exactly a smartphone, but it is built on Qualcomm's BREW platform which is a sophisticated and well-regarded development environment. BREW is often seen as an alternative to Java, but the Skypephone will also support Java-based applications such as games.
The Skype integration appears to be pretty seamless - Skype details show in the Skypephone's contacts and can be selected and called using the Skype button.. if they're not a Skype user, then you can just click the standard call button. The Skypephone shows the status of each contact, so you know if they're logged onto Skype or not. You can also use the Skype IM (Instant Messaging) client, although remember that the Skypephone doesn't have a QWERTY keypad.
We said that the other component that made this work was 3's pricing structure - and 3 have certainly made it an attractive proposition. In the UK, all subscribers get 4,000 Skype minutes for talk and 10,000 Skype messages - that's 66 hours of talk per month. That's not just the deal for contract customers - prepay customers get exactly the same deal. Contract deal start at £12 per month with a free phone, and the Skypephone is £49.99 for pay-as-you-go customers. In other countries, the deal and pricing will vary somewhat. Other Skype and VOIP devices rely on WiFi for a low-cost internet connection, but 3's deal makes this unnecessary for most users. However, We don't know how much Skype will cost if you go over the limits.
One final twist is this - in the UK, the launch date for the 3 Skypephone is 2nd November, just a few days before O2's launch of the Apple iPhone. Although the Skypephone and iPhone are very different, we suspect that quite a few people may see the Skypephone as being more useful.
3 say that the Skypephone will also be available in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Macau and Sweden during the remainder of 2007.a lot of comment, even from the BBC.

3 Skypephone at a glance
Available: Q3 2004
Network:GSM 900 / 1800UMTS 2100
Data:GPRS + UMTS (3G)
Screen:176x220 pixels, 262k colours
Camera:2 megapixels

Size:Medium monoblock100 x 44 x 14mm / 86 grams

Bluetooth:Yes
Memory card:microSD
Infra-red:No
Polyphonic:Yes
Java:Yes
Battery life:4.5 hours talk / 13 days standby

Psion Teklogix iKôn / Psion Teklogix 7505

Imagine what would happen if you decided to design a mobile handset with absolutely every feature you could think of. Sure, it would be great.. but it would probably be huge and expensive. But what if size and cost werWell, you might well end up with a beast like the peculiarly named iKôn from Psion Teklogix (or rather more mundanely, the Psion Teklogix 7505). It might not look too large in the picture, but this 450 gram monster measures a sizable 115 x 80 x 40mm. The weight is at least partly due to the 5000 mAh battery pack, with around five times the capacity of a standard smartphone power cell - Psion Teklogix say that the iKôn's large battery "ensures full-day productivity for mobile workers".
Well, you might well end up with a beast like the peculiarly named iKôn from Psion Teklogix (or rather more mundanely, the Psion Teklogix 7505). It might not look too large in the picture, but this 450 gram monster measures a sizable 115 x 80 x 40mm. The weight is at least partly due to the 5000 mAh battery pack, with around five times the capacity of a standard smartphone power cell - Psion Teklogix say that the iKôn's large battery "ensures full-day productivity for mobile workers".
You might guess from the physical characteristics that the Psion Teklogix iKôn isn't really a consumer handset - this is aimed at corporate customers, especially those working in the fields of warehousing and distribution, healthcare, field service and any other application that potentially requires a very powerful handheld device.
The most striking feature on the iKôn is a huge 3.7" VGA resolution (480 x 640 pixel) touchscreen, which is easily one of the largest on the market and has four times the pixel count of a standard QVGA smartphone display.

Underneath the screen is a numeric keypad with large, easy-to-use buttons. If you're familiar with current Psion Teklogix they you'll notice a familiar set of function keys and softkeys, so adapting existing handheld applications should be relatively easy. Alternatively, you can specify a QWERTY option instead of a numeric one - and a close examination of the iKôn product photo shows a set of accessible screws in the front indicating that this swap-over might be quite easy to do.
On the back is a two megapixel camera, and on the top is a barcode scanner.. again, if you're familiar with Psion Teklogix handheld terminals, then you will have seen this before. This means that an operator can take reasonably good photographs of anything that they might need later, and also scan in product and packaging barcodes directly into the handheld.

Network connectivity is through GSM/GPRS/EDGE, UMTS (3G), WiFi or Bluetooth, so the iKôn is very flexible and it should always be possible to get a network connection. There's a USB connector, and usefully for this type of device, you can also plug in an old-style RS232/serial cable.
There's also a built-in GPS receiver, although you would need to add your own satellite navigation software to it. Inside the iKôn is a 624 Mhz XScale processor with 128MB RAM. The 7505 / iKôn also takes microSD memory cards and is SDHC compatible which should mean that you can fit a 4GB card in or even bigger.

When you order the iKôn, you can tell Psion Teklogix which operating system you would like it to come with - a choice of Microsoft Windows CE 5.0, Windows Mobile 6.0 Classic or Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional. This may seem like overkill, but this will help many corporate customers port their applications onto the iKôn.
The whole package is wrapped up in a rugged housing that can protect the iKôn from a 5 ft drop onto concrete. It's also highly dust and water resistant, can withstand shocks and vibrations and it is specified to work in a wide range of temperatures. Add to this a range of accessories such as vehicle mount kits, holsters, carrying straps and docking stations, and you can see that the iKôn is a well-rounded device for industrial applications. But then with the name Psion Teklogix on it, most customers would expect nothing else.
Of course, the what you get out of a device like the iKôn depend on what you put into it. For the maximum benefit, you'll need to write or adapt your own packages for it, but that can be as simple as a web-based application that can be used on the large 480 x 640 pixel display.

Psion Teklogix haven't confirmed how much the iKôn will cost - but in all honesty, if you're worried about the price then it's not for you. Our guess would be something roughly in the £1000 / €1500 / $2000 range, but in any case it will vary according to the exact specification you order. Psion Teklogix say that the iKôn should start to become available from December.
If we had to make a criticism of the iKôn / 7505 then it will be this: it's a shame that there's not a version of this for office users and consumers. It's also ironic that it's a Windows device, as Psion Teklogix is part of Psion who invented (and then sold on) the Symbian operating system. But perhaps we will one day again see the Psion name on a consumer device.. we certainly hope so!

Psion Teklogix iKôn / 7505 at a glance
Available: Q4 2007
Network:GSM + UMTS
Data:GPRS + EDGE + UMTS (3G) + WiFi
Screen:480x640 pixels
Camera:2 megapixels
Size:Hand-held terminal115 x 80 x 40mm / 450 grams
Bluetooth:Yes
Memory card:microSD (SDHC)
Infra-red:No
Polyphonic:Yes
Java:Limited
Battery life:Not specified

HTC Omni surfaces at Google as HTC "Dream"with Android OS

It’s been a while since we last heard about HTC Omni communicator, the info about which leaked last July together with HTC roadmap for 2007.
Now we may know why it was never mentioned again. Looks like HTC was persuaded to drop Windows mobile OS and made Omni into Google’s Android demo phone.Don’t believe me? How about this Forbes description of HTC “Dream” handset used in Google’s Android demonstrations:
The phone, code-named “Dream” inside Google, looks somewhat like Apple’s iPhone: It is thin, about 3 inches wide and 5 inches long, and features a touch-sensitive, rectangular screen… The bottom end of the handset, near the navigational controls, is slightly beveled so it nestles in the palm. The screen also swivels to one side, revealing a full keyboard beneath. (The screen display changes from a vertical portrait mode to a horizontal display when someone uses the keyboard.)
Let’s take a closer look:
It’s thin. Check
Length: 130 mm - 5.11″. Check
Width - 81 mm - 3.18″. Check
Touch-sensitive, rectangular screen. Check
bottom end … slightly beveled… Check
screen swivels to one side, revealing a full keyboard beneath. Check
HTC Dream looks very similar to HTC Omni for me. So what else is new about it?
Forbes tells us a few interesting things that will be in HTC Omni/Dream:
time-sensitive touch gestures: Hold down your finger longer, and the area you’re controlling expands
easy navigation with icons for e-mail, text documents and YouTube along the top of the screen
virtual machine for true multitasking. Applications can launch once during a session, then reside in the background
it should go into production soon and start shipping next summer
And from the former leaks we know HTC Omni/Dream specs that were planned few half year ago, so some of them could have changed to the better. And they already are really impressive:
32 bit Qualcomm MSM7200 Chipset, 384 MHZ CPU Clock
256 MB ROM
128 RAM
800 x 480 px TFT 262 color touchscreen
GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS850, UMTS1900, UMTS2100 connectivity
CSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSUPA data support
Built-in QWERTY-type keyboard, 65 keys
SDIO, microSD, TransFlash expansion slots
USB 2.0 client, 60Mbit/s , USB Series Mini-B (mini-USB) connector
Bluetooth 2.0
802.11b, 802.11g
NMEA 0183 , 20 channels built-in GPS
3.1 Mpx camera with LED flash
640×480 VGA secondary camera
Dimensions: 81 x 130 x 16 mm
Well if my ramblings above are at least half close to the truth, come next summer, with HTC Dream/Omni Google may have a real killer flagship to introduce it’s Android platform to masses.

Fly Mobile SLT100 (Fly Mobile SX210)

Marketed as the Fly Mobile SLT100 in the UK, and the SX210 in most other countries, this sliding phone is quite inexpensive and has a neat trick up its sleeve.Retailing at about £60 or so for a pay-as-you-go handset on Virgin Mobile or Vodafone, the Fly Mobile SLT100 surprisingly comes with a 320 x 240 pixel resolution touchscreen, which we think is almost definitely the cheapest touchscreen device on the UK market for prepay customers.
This is a stylus driven device with built-in handwriting recognition, but you can also use an on-screen keyboard. Of course, as it's a slider phone you can use the keypad if you prefer.
The other features on the Fly Mobile SLT100 are pretty good too - there's a 2 megapixel camera with a flash, microSD expandable memory, an MP3/AAC player, video player, FM radio, Bluetooth, web browser and a set of personal information management functions. In terms of size, the Fly SLT100 is pretty typical for a GSM device, coming in at 96 x 49 x 14.9mm and 101 grams in weight. The talktime is a pretty short 2.5 hours with 7.5 days standby time. The battery is only a 600mAh module, which we think is a little on the feeble side, although in all honesty the battery life is probably good enough for most people.
It's not exactly a stunning phone to look at, but it is a neatly laid out device with some quite classy looking metallic highlights. Standard colours are a grey-sliver, black and the almost inevitable pink, although these will vary from operator to operator.
The Fly Mobile SLT100 is certainly no iPhone killer, but it's incredibly good value for money and the touchscreen will appeal to many. At this sort of price range, the SLT100 is likely to find its way into many Christmas stockings.
The SLT100 is currently available in the UK from Argos, Currys, The Link and Woolworths.

Fly Mobile SLT100 (SX210) at a glance
Available: Now
Network:GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900
Data:GPRS
Screen:240x320 pixels, 262k colours
Camera:2 megapixels
Size:Medium slider96 x 49 x 15mm / 101 grams
Bluetooth:Yes
Memory card:microSD
Infra-red:No
Polyphonic:Yes
Java:Yes
Battery life:2.5 hours talk / 7.5 days standby

Sony Ericsson K660i

Sony Ericsson have had a buoyant 2007 - sales have been good, helped by strong brand recognition and quality products. So, Sony Ericsson probably have high hopes of this latest K-series camera phone, the Sony Ericsson K660i. Yes, we've seen K-series devices from Sony Ericsson lots of times before, and the K660i doesn't even qualify as a Cyber-shot phone, but it does have a few interesting tricks up its sleeve.
The most significant feature in the K660i is the inclusion of HSDPA high-speed data. This makes web browsing and multimedia downloads much quicker than standard 3G, and it also means that the K660i can be used as a broadband modem for a laptop. The other important feature is an improved web browser, designed to be much more like a PC browser, complete with a pointer and scroll bars, along with a screen that can be used for web browsing in either portrait (tall) or landscape (wide) modes.These two features aside, the Sony Ericsson K660i is otherwise pretty standard fare. It's a 3G phone with a 2" 240x320 pixel display, 2 megapixel digital camera, video calling, stereo Bluetooth, a multimedia player, FM radio, email client, web browser and R.S.S. feed reader. There's a mapping application too.
The K660i's memory is expandable using Memory Stick Micro (M2) cards with 256Mb included in the box. Underneath is a quad-band GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz phone with UMTS 2100 MHz, plus GPRS, EDGE and HSDPA data. The K660i measures 104 x 47 x 14.7 mm and weighs 95 grams, which is pretty light for a 3G phone.
This phone won't change your life, but it certainly has some nice features. Sony Ericsson say that the K660i should be available during Q1 2008 in Lime on Pink and Wine on Black colour combinations.

Sony Ericsson K660i at a glance
Available: Q1 2008
Network:GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900UMTS 2100
Data:GPRS + EDGE + UMTS (3G) + HSDPA
Screen:240x320 pixels, 262k colours
Camera:2 megapixels
Size:Medium monoblock104 x 47 x 15mm / 95 grams
Bluetooth:Yes
Memory card:Memory Stick Micro
Infra-red:No
Polyphonic:Yes
Java:Yes
Battery life:9 hours talk / 14 days standby (GSM)4.5 hours talk / 14 days standby (3G)

Motorola debuts the Motorola MOTOPURE H12 Universal Bluetooth headset

Following on their “TrueComfort” line of uber-comfortable Bluetooth headsets, Motorola has just announced their newest Bluetooth headset - the Motorola MOTOPURE H12 Universal Bluetooth headset. The sleek, silver, almost Mac-like design (notice the MacBook Pro-esque main button and perforated metallic bezel) adds a touch of style to the headset’s impressive feature set. And, the MOTOPURE H12 isn’t just a looker, it’s diminutive size makes it all but disappear on your ear.

The MOTOPURE H12 Universal Bluetooth headset rocks Motorola’s CrystalTalk audio-enhancing technology, previously only found on the company’s high-end mobile phones, to ensure that you can hear the conversation clearly, even in the noisiest of environments. But, it’s not all about hearing the conversation, Motorola wants to make sure that you can be heard clearly and accurately as well. The MOTOPURE H12’s noise-reduction technology works in tandem with a dual-microphone setup to isolate your voice and deliver sharp, natural sounding speech to the listener.
But, all the features in the world do nothing for the user experience if the headset is a pain to wear. So, Motorola has also designed the MOTOPURE H12 with the “TrueComfort” philosophy of headset design that we saw launched with the Motorola H680 and H375 Bluetooth headsets. As the new flagship of Motorola’s Bluetooth headset lineup, the MOTOPURE H12 Universal Bluetooth headset packs in all the features that Motorola has at its disposal. The feature-set reads like a rundown of Motorola’s Bluetooth headset know-how - high-fashion design, CrystalTalk technology, noise-reduction DSP with dual microphones, and TrueComfort wearability. Oh, and the MOTOPURE H12 Universal Bluetooth headset is good to go for 5.5 hours of talk-time with continuous noise-reduction.

What more could you ask for? What’s that you say? You want the price? Well, dear reader, the price is not yet known, but we can tell you that the MOTOPURE H12 Universal Bluetooth headset will be hitting the market in Q4 2007.