Rumors are circulating that Sony is planning to develop a combo gaming and cell phone device. Japanese Business daily Nikkei reported that Sony is putting together skunkworks team to develop this gadget that will marry the PlayStation Portable gaming consoles with the Sony-Ericsson mobile phone handsets.

O RLY? Can Sony take on the iPhone? Neither their Walkman or Sony Ericsson phones do that well at all in the US market. Personally, I’d like to see more Ericsson phones in the US market, I’ve had an Ericsson phone and I was really happy with it. But the general attitude towards Ericssons are “meh” at best. What could help this phone is if it gets the same all access to the PlayStation gaming network like their other handheld gaming systems. They also have to go up against the big wall of iTunes.

However, this isn’t the first time that Sony’s had designs on this kind of hybrid device. From Businessweek:

“Rumors that Sony was working on a PlayStation cell phone first cropped up two years ago when Sony’s engineers filed a patent describing such a gizmo. The Internet rumor mill went into overdrive again in April, after Kazuo Hirai, who had led Sony’s video game division, was named as the head of a broader portfolio of networked products and services. The PlayStation Network is Sony’s biggest success story in online services. Under Hirai, the PlayStation group has rolled out online downloads of music, movies, TV shows, games and created a content platform for developers to create applications and games, sell videos, and post trailers and sneak previews. It’s clearly the model that Sony wants other divisions to emulate.”

With some phones such as the LG Versa trying to capture the gamers with it’s gamepad module, we see that companies are hoping to catch gamers’ attention.

[via businessweek]

Me and my friends talk tech about the iPhone 3GS. Ok, we talk a little smack too.

via TechCrunch

Well, you don’t really lose. You just have to wait a couple more weeks before you can get your new iPhone 3GS. If you put in your order now, your new baby will be delivered to you and you won’t have to go to the Apple Store to pick it up.

If you have put in your pre-order order, you are ate least guaranteed a slot at the Apple Store in the 7am power hour to get your new baby. The rest of the masses will have to gear up and be ready to throw down to fight for the remaining stock when the Apple Store opens at 8am or go to your local ATT store.

So, gear up. Either for your camp out at the Apple Store, or for your battle to get your hands on the remaining stock. Good Luck all!

[from Endgadget]

While everyone is weighing in on what the Palm Pre will bring to the mobile landscape, Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg makes a straight up reference to “a new iPhone to be introduced next week” wha-? O Rly?

Full Quote:

“I’d note that the new iPhone to be unveiled next week will have lots of added features that could alter those calculations.”

Hey, what has he got that we don’t? It sounds like he’s got the new iPhone and must. hold. back. comparisons. And he can’t, because Apple’s World Wide Delveoper’s Conference kicks off next week. There is a keynote scheduled Monday morning, 10am PST, that can only mean exciting new announcements. With the huge iPhone 3.0 update coming out, that is very huge, of course we are all leaning towards the idea that there will be a new iPhone coming out and announced, but who knows what they will really throw down.

There is much anticipation in the air.

via Information Week

My favorite detail about about the Palm Pre- it’s got a mirror on the back of it!
Ok, it’s not super techy, and it’s bordering on super girly, but back in the day, I had a neat little sticker on the back of my first gen LG V that was a mirror. Since I always had my phone either in hand or out on whatever flat surface was in front of me, this detail was super convenient. One of those things that you never realized was a great feature until you didn’t have it anymore. My pout was always properly glossed without ever having to rummage through my bag for a compact or a purse mirror (which I never had on me anyway, as I am of the tiny purse persuasion) and I could always check my teeth for food or peep what’s goin on behind me if needed.
Since then, I’ve gone through 2 more incarnations of the LG V, which is now the enV and the one thing I miss is that little mirror sticker.

Back when the Palm Pre was announced and swept CES, it really seemed like it was going to be a phone to be reckoned with. Since CES, they’ve been teasing us with vague news about pricing, release dates, and even trying to conjure up feelings of shortage (Nintendo Wii strategy?) Then this little byte came out today – the Pre has a mirror on the back of it. It’s got a slider phone design, and when you slide the keyboard out, the back of the top houses the mirror. Oooh. That’s some clever design. Usually that space goes unused. Some feel that this is a marketing ploy to draw women, but I feel it’s a nice little design bonus.
Blogger Joanna Stern got to check out the mirror, hands on, and sums it up nicely: “Whether the integrated rear-view mirror was
intended or not for women, it is a welcome feature and adds some pizazz
to the backside of the phone. And let’s be honest, there is no app for
that.”
Full article and pics here: Hands-On with the Palm Pre’s Mirror

Well this is good news. Amongst all the rumors swirling around the Palm Pre, it’s predicted shortages, it being dissed even before it comes out, Reuters reports that it was announced today that Verizon will be carrying the Palm Pre in about six months. Great news, because this phone is touted to be Palm’s saving grace and deserves to be on a better carrier than Sprint.

Also in the works is a new version of the Blackberry Storm. Perhaps a head-to-head release? Oooh Fight!

via Reuters

Well. Amongst all the rumors swirling around the Palm Pre, this one came out of the blue. Announced today by the top exec for Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, they will be carrying the Palm Pre! This is really good news because really, this killer phone deserves to be on a better network than Sprint.
Slated to be available in about 6 months, the Palm Pre will also be acccompanied by a new Blackberry Storm.
Oooh, Fight.

“Over the next six months or so you will see devices like Palm Pre and a second generation Storm,” on the Verizon Wireless networks Lowell McAdam said.

via Reuters

In the spirit of the upcoming Earth Day, let’s peep the Motorola Renew, available from TMo.
A cute little bar phone, in green and white of course. Can’t have a “green” phone without it being colored green, can you?
The hook is that it has ecologically responsible retail packaging, includes a postage paid recycling envelope. The phone itself is made from recycled water bottles, and the plastic housing is 100% recyclable. Also, the battery life is upwards of 9hrs, so there is less charging time needed for this phone. This phone also claims to be certified carbonfree through carbonfund.org. Through this Alliance, they will be used to offset the energy to manufacture, distribute and operate the phone by investing in renewable energy sources and reforestation.

The Deets? Meh. Very basic, no camera, no headset jack, but um, it’s green and it’s cute.

image from www.phonedog.com

Motorola, eco-friendly, carbon footprint, carbonfund.org, tmobile, tmo, t-mobile, mobile, green, earth day, recycle, reuse,

Ok, we all know that I’m the biggest cheerleader for Google’s Android and I’m always in wait for news and updates about it. Well, the world’s cutest OS update build, Cupcake is almost done.

The Android Developers Blog announced today the availability of an “early look” Android 1.5 SDK. This release seems like a mostly complete version of the final release, though Google warns that some of the APIs are bound to change.

Beyond the features that v1.5 brings to the end user (see below), the new SDK carries a few key changes:

* The SDK now supports multiple versions of the platform, so developers can continue to work on applications for the current release (v1.1) while preparing their apps for the next one.
* Developers can now install SDK add-ons. This allows carriers, OEMs, and other third-parties to easily expand the SDK for their needs.

The Deets:
* On-screen keyboard support, with support for auto-correct, text prediction, user dictionaries, and third-party keyboard layouts
* Live folders (Auto-updating folder shortcuts for things such as YouTube favorites, Starred Contacts, and, with the API now available, whatever else developers conjure up)
* Video Recording
* MPEG4 and 3GP Video Playback
* Stereo Bluetooth
* Browser enhancements: New ultrafast “Squirrelfish” javascript engine, search within a page, copy and paste, UI changes
* New Linux Kernel
* Google Application enhancements: View Google Talk friend statuses in contacts, SMS, MMS, Gmail, and Email
* New frameworks for developers to build upon: Widget creation, Live Folder creation, Raw audio recording/playback, Video recording, Speech recognition
* Faster GPS, Faster camera startup, faster Gmail scrolling, and smoother browser scrolling

Peep the whole list here at mobilecrunch.

google, android, cupcake, G1, T-mobile, update