Menu
Features

A glut of new handsets, iPhone news aplenty and the ugliest gadget holder ever made

It's the Pocket Picks round-up

A glut of new handsets, iPhone news aplenty and the ugliest gadget holder ever made
|

The week in mobile coverage over on our sister site Pocket Picks began with two back-to-back accidental reveals for two new handsets.

First of all, the new QWERTY keyboard-packing Sony Ericsson W999i slider showed its face earlier than officially expected. It was followed closely by the new Nokia 8600, which made its second early appearance on the Carphone Warehouse web page despite the lack of an official Nokia announcement.

The official 8600 announcement did arrive later in the week, but although a video of the new device being fondled by the folks at T3 seemed to suggest that the 8600 will include 1GB of onboard storage, Nokia is still mum on that aspect of its hotly anticipated new handset.

Handset news in general flowed freely this week, with a fair few sexy phones having us contemplating a potentially expensive phone swap (especially pricey given that some of the Pocket Picks staff would have to up sticks to the Far East in order to actually buy them).

The first was the new LG SIMPURE L2 (LG's caps, not ours), a stylish looking device with a handy GPS powered global-roaming service called World Wing thrown into the mix. Next up was the Korean LG SV280, or the banana phone as it is otherwise know owing to its curved body (although why it is green and not yellow remains a mystery wrapped in some hard to swallow press speak about 'individuality'). Hot on its heels was the new Samsung-designed Softbank 805SC, which improves upon its predecessor with a more rounded design and the inclusion of slightly faster 3G tech.

Last of the Eastern bunch of new handsets was the Samsung SCH-C220, better know by its much snappier nickname, The Mini-skirt. Packing GPS, a touchscreen, Bluetooth and a 2MP camera, the device isn't as diminutive as its nickname suggests, and neither is its price tag.

Back to handsets that us Brits will be able to get our hands on, the Sony Ericsson W660i, the Motorola Z8 and the Samsung U700 were all announced as hitting shop shelves in good old Blighty come June.

This week's iPhone news kicked off with an interesting hint dropped by AT&T's Glen Lurie about the possibility of Google bringing more than just Google maps to the device. Later in the week, Apple's head honcho, Steve Jobs, ended speculation over whether third-parties will be allowed to develop for the device, stating categorically that there will be non-Apple iPhone software made available. Perhaps the juiciest iPhone gossip though was the rumour that Apple has placed an order for five million second-generation iPhones, giving us cause to speculate about whether there is already another version of the hardware that we've not yet seen.

Palm appeared on Pocket Picks for the first time in a while by unveiling an intriguing-looking patent for a folding computing device and announcing that a new product would be revealed soon. Unfortunately that product turned out to be the overpriced and underwhelming Foleo Smartphone companion, which basically amounts to a detachable monitor and keyboard for use with Palm Smartphones.

As far as software goes, Nokia had some big news, announcing that a new PC version of its Download! software will be available soon, with Handango, Jamba, EA Games, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros and Iguana Mobile all jumping on board to offer content via the service. With so many applications of this sort now making their presence felt, it is little wonder that figures released this week revealed that the revenue generated from mobile content downloads is apparently greater than that generated from internet content downloads.

Lastly, quirkier news bits came courtesy of a mobile phone that thinks it's a watch, the fugliest gadget carrying solution ever made, and news that the Japanese are using their phones to send photos of their meals to dieticians in order to get feedback on their nutritional value. Remember, you read it on Pocket Picks first!

One week from today, the iPhone will be mere days away from launch. Click 'Track It!' to make sure you catch Pocket Picks' update on what will no doubt be the media blitzkrieg that accompanies it.