I couldn’t help but think of Ben Stiller’s hilariously tiny phone in Zoolander when I hit the sWaP (smart Watch and Phones) booth at IFA Berlin; getting no less than an eyefull of their wearable technology. Having already endowed the world with real-live Dick Tracy phone watches, they were showing off the new Nova, a matchbox-sized phone and timepiece that you can wear around your neck (lanyard included), which they say is “potentially” the smallest phone in the world. At that size, not to mention its PacMan-y graphics and mini stylus (!), it seems like something I’d use as a conversation piece rather than for having an actual conversation. So if i’m going get that frivolous, I’ll pass on the red-and-chrome and black-and-chrome versions and wait for the Nova Crystal they had on display to be released. That one’s pimped out in white leather and studded with Swarovsky crystals. Ring my bling, yo!

The sWaP Nova is due out late this year for around £199 ($302 USD).

[sWaP]

The post sWap Nova phone gets crystal coated at IFA appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Sampling the future of mobile technology at IFA Berlin has made me kaleidescopically dizzy, so by the time I get to fiddling with the touchscreen of the much talked about Nokia N8, it still feels, for all its graphic snazziness, a tad like a trip into, well, the present (hello, Symbian!). To be sure, its anodized aluminum case in silver-white, gray, orange, blue and, my favorite, a kind of retro sci-fi green, is a treat to hold and behold, but where you really find the wow is on the entertainment side of things. Turn it over and etched around the wide-angle lens are the words “Carl Zeiss” and behind that are 12 megapixels to capture what goes through it. That, and the suite of HD video editing functions and WebTV capacity, seems a bit like the tail wagging the mobile dog (will Nikon now add SIM cards to cameras?), so I’m wondering what could they possibly be thinking here. When I pan in camera mode across the convention hall, I gaze at the 16:9 nHD (640 x 360) AMOLED screen and the picture becomes a lot clearer.

The post Nokia N8 hands-on, loads of pics at IFA appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Nuu Mini-Key clamshell QWERTY flip case for the iPhone Photo: Mark Ehrman

Although the iZone at the IFA Berlin was chock full of interesting and attractive aftermarket enhancements for all things prefixed “i”.  My personal iPiphany didn’t occur until I ventured many halls away to the Nuu booth where I zoom in on the unassuming looking “Mini Key.” A protective case that also claims to resolve the iPhone 4 antenna issues sounds OK, but the real excitement here is the slide out adjustable hinge that turns your iPhone 4 into a flip phone, revealing, in all its tactile glory, a physical keyboard with raised letter keys and backlighting.

A potential game-changer for those who experience email and SMS frustrations with Apple touchscreens (it also makes video watching a hands-free experience). I don’t even wait to hear about the Bluetooth v2.0 class 2 and HID profile compliant Broadcom chip and the built-in rechargeable lithium-backlighting before reaching for my wallet. But, alas, this is a prototype and the real deal won’t hit the stores till around Christmas. The price, around $69. Santa, are you listening?

The post IFA: Mini Key keyboard from Nuu converts iPhone into a flipping clamshell appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

If there was one mobile-related pulse-quickener at the IFA Berlin show, it had to be the debut of the Samsung Galaxy tab, which pretty much sucked most of the oxygen out of the mobile electronics category. Due hit the shelves in Europe by early October, a few weeks later in Asia and shortly after in North America, this Android challenger to iPad dominance offeres every-which-way connectivity and weighs in at a feathery 380g. The 7.0” WSVGA (600×1024) TFT display is something anyone can wrap their fingers around (standby and volume buttons are mounted flush into the slim 11.98mm side), yet still leave room for even my sausage-like fingers to type a quick error-free email on the touch screen qwerty keyboard.

Sliding and pinching the screen made me feel like I was cheating on my iTouch, while navigating the Need for Speed course had me ready to file for divorce, since the tilt sensor mechanism made “steering my tab” as tight and responsive as a simulation can get (though here, I thought, an iPad-sized device would give you better torque). I keep a low social networking profile, so the Social Hub integrated calendar, email and social networking didn’t move me, but I could have spent hours browsing the virtual international newsstand by country, then city and tapping next to the thumbnail and watching, say, the Vancouver Sun burst open in crisp living color. Tethered to the table-charger (and a crush of people around me waiting their turn), there wasn’t much of chance to test what the LI_POL 4000MAH battery can deliver.

The specs promise 1000 minutes of 3g talk time or 1500 hours standby, which I found to be a pretty interesting metric since, thanks to Apple, I just about forgot these things could be used as a normal mobile phone.

The post Hands on with Samsung’s Galaxy Tab at IFA appeared first on Mobile Magazine.