Motorola U9

Motorola's mobile phones division is in a bit of trouble at the moment having been hived off as a separate business and suffered the indignity of a very public lambasting. The company can only remain a serious player if it produces handsets that people want to buy. With that in mind, what do we make of the U9?

This is a quad-band clamshell phone and it comes in pink and purple. I feel duty bound to explain that Moto suggests this is a handset for the ladies and offers an inane quiz to help you decide which colour suits you.



The phone is Christmas-decoration shiny all over the front and rubbery on the back. The visual design is distinctly PEBL making it two years old in concept.

Despite the design's age I can't really fault Motorola on the rounded ‘bar of soap' style shape. It means the U9 feels as comfy in the hand as the PEBL ever did. And dimensions-wise you are looking at a pocket-friendly 90mm x 49mm x 16mm that weighs a reasonable 87g.


And there is something very new to this mobile - its outer OLED display. Now, OLED displays should not be new to regular readers, but Motorola has done something rather clever with its implementation. The front OLED sits under the outer shell and you'd never know there was a front screen at all when it's not active. When it is, its 128 x 160 pixels provide information in a way that dominates the front of the phone. Moreover there is a touch-responsive element.

When playing music, for example, the screen displays track info for a few seconds and then turns itself off. You can reactivate it by touching the front screen, and this could be handy because there are touch controls for forward, back and pause/play.

When a call comes in the OLED pops up and tells you who is making contact. When nothing much is going on you can tap the volume rocker and change profiles.

When someone sends you an SMS the OLED alerts you. It can display the message and you can send a quick reply using a combination of the left side volume rocker and select key. There are various predefined texts and you can add more. It is a bit of a fiddly system, especially as you need to unlock the side keys before using them, but it could come in handy.

 -trustedreview, Sandra Vogel

Panasonic plasma screen cellphones ‘pre-emptive�� strike against OLED

Panasonic AbleComm plasma screen cellphones




In the regular world, plasma TVs are large and cellphones are small; in Panasonic’s world, however, a cellphone is just another opportunity to squeeze in a tiny, plasma-based display.  The new, low-voltage screens - developed with AbleComm, Inc. - have apparently been a decade in the making, and rival OLED displays for brightness, contrast, thinness and, most importantly of all, cost less to produce.  They’ve already found interest from AT&T, using the screens with the carrier’s new Mobile TV service.

Cellphones aren’t the only devices Panasonic envisages getting a tiny plasma injection:

    “Our plasma expertise and our large-scale, efficient manufacturing will allow these new small Panasonic plasma screens to replace LCDs in many applications — gasoline pumps, automated teller machines, camera viewfinders, MP3 players, vending machines, automotive displays, digital photo frames, appliance touch screens and even the little pop-up screens on printers. In fact, I am pleased to announce that we will be supplying mini plasma screens to HP for an exclusive two-year period for use in their printers. We view our thin low-voltage PDP technology as a pre-emptive strike against OLED technology” Robert A. Perry, Senior Vice President of Panasonic Consumer Electronics

-phonemag

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1

Sony Ericsson has unveiled the new XPERIA X1 at the Mobile Asia 2008, India's largest consumer exhibition on mobile phones and accessories. The XPERIA X1 will address the growing needs of consumers demand for mobile web communication and multimedia entertainment and also position the company at the forefront of mobile convergence.

The XPERIA X1 combines a 3-inch clear wide VGA display and a full QWERTY keyboard within a quality metal-finish body. Powered by Windows Mobile 6, the new Windows Mobile software from Microsoft, the XPERIA X1 allows users to choose from a dynamic range of activities such as enjoying their favourite entertainment content or working efficiently on the move, anytime and anywhere.

The OLED optical touch screen allows users to access a world of experiences simply by touching the XPERIA� panel on the screen. Other features include a unique arc slider, a wide pitch easy-to-use QWERTY keyboard, 3.2 megapixel camera (with photo light), A2DP Bluetooth, aGPS, and WiFi support.

-domain-b

LG unveils first AMOLED display device

LG has launched its first active matrix OLED handset in its native Korea, the Cyon SH150A.

AMOLED display technology is a hybrid between the new organic LED display type and TFT LCD, which has been common on phones for years. Manufacturers like OLED, which does not require a backlight to operate (each pixel generates its own light), because of its power efficiency.

However, OLED displays often suffer from ghosting and similar effects when fast moving animations are displayed.

LG says the display in its SH150A handset is 1000 times faster than conventional OLED displays when it comes to response time.

LG’s close competitor Samsung will follow soon with its own AMOLED phone, the SPH-W2400.

-Mobile Entertainment