Catch up on Nokia’s IFA 2019 event in under 10 minutes

Nokia hosted its IFA 2019 event yesterday in Berlin, where the Finnish brand revealed some new products for your smartphone-averse friends and family. The Nokia 110 and Nokia 800 Tough are modernized candybar dumbphones, while the Nokia 2720 Flip...

IDC Says More Smartphones Were Shipped than Feature Phones in Q1 2013


There has been a sea change in the market trends. For once in a lifetime, smart phone sales have overtaken feature phone shipments. This portrays the public’s acquired taste for new stuff. According...
    


Samsung GT-S3752 Duos gets snapped with dedicated ChatON button by Mr. Blurrycam

Samsung GT

If SammyHub's blurrycam tipster is to believed, Samsung will soon be swelling its Duos line of dual-sim handsets with the (purported) GT-S732 you see before you. Presumably, the feature phone will sit at the floor of any pricing table since it's packing a meager 2-megapixel camera, 2.4-inch display and a 1,000mAh battery. Notably the handset includes a WiFi radio, which puts us in mind of a messaging-centric handset -- which explains the presence of a dedicated ChatON button beneath the screen. We'll keep our ears to the ground to find out if it's likely to make an appearance on these shores -- but we won't get our hopes up.

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Samsung GT-S3752 Duos gets snapped with dedicated ChatON button by Mr. Blurrycam originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 19:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Micron first to market with phase-change memory modules for portable devices (video)

DNP Micron first to market with phasechange memory modules, NAND asks it to get off its lawn

Look out silicon and magnetic storage, here comes glass. Micron has announced production of the first commercial cellphone phase-change memory (PCM) modules, a type of flash RAM that works by changing a crystal solid to an amorphous state. The 1Gb chips will share a circuit board with 512Mb of standard volatile memory, just enough to go in feature phones for now -- but the company claims it will eventually offer larger modules for smartphone and tablet storage as well. PCM could scale to much faster speeds than conventional NAND flash, since it doesn't require a time-sapping erase before rewriting -- and with read speeds of 400MB/s, it's already into regular flash territory while still just a first generation product. Once the tech gets even quicker, PCM could even replace volatile RAM, allowing more secure storage in case of a power loss and reducing device costs and power usage. That means the glassy new kid could eventually bump silicon-based storage altogether -- ending its 40-year plus reign as king of the memory substrates. To see some of the ways it trumps NAND, check the video after the break.

Continue reading Micron first to market with phase-change memory modules for portable devices (video)

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Micron first to market with phase-change memory modules for portable devices (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GreatCall outs Samsung-made Jitterbug Plus, for folks who want a phone without all the smarts

GreatCall outs Samsungmade Jitterbug Plus, for folks who want a phone without all the smarts

Adding features to a senior-friendly phone kind of defeats the purpose, but a sleeker design, improved battery life and boosted speaker? Sure, we'll take it. That's what you'll get with the new Jitterbug Plus, a bare-bones mobile phone for users who really only need to make and receive calls, and perhaps check the occasional voicemail. Manufactured by Samsung, the no-frills r220 includes an incredibly straightforward interface, with clearly marked Yes and No button options and large, backlit keys, including a panic button that puts you in touch with a 5Star Urgent Response agent. This latest model also adds a very basic 1.3-megapixel camera, which lets you post photos to Facebook with the touch of a button (you'll need to forgo the Instagram filters, though). The Jitterbug Plus is available now in red or silver for $99 at retailers like Best Buy, Radio Shack and Fry's, along with the company's online store, however pricing is expected to jump to $119 shortly after launch. Overall, the device appears to be a great choice for seniors, though CNET called the phone "overpriced" in its review, which you'll find at the link below.

Continue reading GreatCall outs Samsung-made Jitterbug Plus, for folks who want a phone without all the smarts

GreatCall outs Samsung-made Jitterbug Plus, for folks who want a phone without all the smarts originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Jul 2012 01:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tonino Lamborghini launches ‘luxury’ phones for low-spec loving Russians with deep pockets

Lamborghini launches 'Luxury' phones for lowspec loving Russians with deep pockets

Much like Porsche Design before it, this isn't strictly the auto-maker (in this case it's the son of the famous sports car mogul) releasing a phone. However, these are devices (three phones and a tablet) which bear the family name. Russian site Hi-Tech Mail got a good look at two feature phones (which look remarkably familiar,) the TL688 and TL820, sporting 2- and 2.4-inch displays, along with 3- and 5-megapixel cameras and 4GB and 1GB (expandable) storage respectively. Their main selling point evidently being the hand made gold plate and leather finish. There is a TL700 smartphone, too, which runs on not-so-sporty Android Gingerbread, with an unspecified Qualcomm processor, 3.7-inch 800 x 480 display and 5-megapixel shooter. This one ups the flash-factor some, boasting diamond processed metal and "elements" of crocodile skin.

The tablet is known as the Lamborghini L2800 and has a 9.7-inch 1024 x 768 resolution screen, 1.2GHz Qualcomm processor, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB onboard storage (expandable). How much does all this sense-defying technology cost? Well, the feature phones start at 60,000 rubles, (about $1,829) or you can snap up the Android for 30,000 more (about $2,743) and treat yourself to the L2800 tablet for a reasonable 75,000 rubles (about $2,286). Of course, you'll have to drive to Russia to get your hands on them, sometime in late August, but we're guessing if you're in the market for one of these, that'll barely dent the plastic anyway.

Tonino Lamborghini launches 'luxury' phones for low-spec loving Russians with deep pockets originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Jun 2012 13:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Opera Mini 7 comes to feature phones and BlackBerry, upgrade notifications in tow

Opera Mini 7 comes to feature phones and BlackBerry, upgrade notifications in tow

Opera Mini 7 has been available via the Google Play market since the end of March, but if you're still milking a feature phone for all it's worth, you haven't been able to enjoy the latest version of the mobile browser. Opera Mini 7 is now available for basic phones and BlackBerry, allowing these devices to store an unlimited number of speed dials and access the new Smart Page feature for shortcuts to favorite sites. In addition to those new features, Opera Mini 7 includes several improvements and tweaks, including upgrade notifications and the ability to close tabs with one click on touchscreen phones. Of course, the browser still promises to cut down on your device's bandwidth usage, so your flip phone can keep on chugging.

Opera Mini 7 comes to feature phones and BlackBerry, upgrade notifications in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Jun 2012 17:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Virgin Mobile adds $40 payLo unlimited plan for talk and text types

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Virgin Mobile's feature phone arm just added a third tier, delivering unlimited talk and texting, along with 50 megs of web access for $40 per month. This offering joins Sprint's other payLo budget offerings, including an entry-level option that includes 400 minutes of talk time for $20 per month, and a $30 monthly plan that delivers 1,500 minutes, 1,500 texts and 30MB of data. Overage charges are quite hefty, at $0.10 per minute, $0.25 per message and $1.50 per MB (ouch!), with the option to reset the counter instead by starting a new month once you hit the threshold. Considering that the plans are designed for feature phones (which are seldom used for anything but basic web access), the tier limits do sound manageable -- perhaps even a deal, if you talk a lot and never browse the web. The payLo plan can be paired with any of Virgin's feature phones, which range in price from $15 (for a sold-out LG101) to $50 (for a QWERTY-equipped Kyocera S2300). Get the full scoop from Sprint in the PR after the break.

Continue reading Virgin Mobile adds $40 payLo unlimited plan for talk and text types

Virgin Mobile adds $40 payLo unlimited plan for talk and text types originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 May 2012 22:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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