Rawr! Puma Phone set to maul your face off....with sheer awesomeness

Smartphones aren’t exactly known as being sporty and/or fun, but Puma is set to change that with the launch of its titular Puma Phone.  Developed in collaboration with French company Sagem, the lightweight smartphone features a built-in solar charger on the back to keep you juiced during those daylight strolls as well as a 2.8 inch, 240×320 pixel resolution capacitive touch screen and a 3.2 megapixel camera with LED flash and 6x zoom.  It’s also got a bunch of other modern smartphone features, like 3G, A-GPS, Bluetooth, a compass, and geotagging, social network integration, and video calling, but it’s the unusual (for a smartphone) user interface and distinctive Puma-ness that make this phone really stand out.  Unlike other phones that feature boring black backgrounds with equally boring, tiny icons layered on top of them, the Puma phone features a retina searing red background with huge white icons that leap off the screen.  Puma’s sporty heritage and sense of style has also infiltrated the phone in other ways.  You can track your runs and bike rids with the included tracker (that works with the GPS unit), interact with Dylan, the pet puma that’s chillin’ on the phone, get teased by the phones built in calculator for doing trivial math problems on it, or use the turntable built into the audio player to scratch along to your music.

Unfortunately the phone is only being released for our snooty European neighbors for the time being, but if it does well over there then there’s hope that it’ll find itself across the pond before the end of the year.

Check out this more detailed hands on video from Reombu.

M.I.S.S. Techcessories: Sony Ericcson Aspen Is Not A Mobile Ski Resort

Sony Ericsson’s Aspen is notable for a couple of reasons.  First, it’s the latest phone in the GreenHeart line of eco-friendly phones introduced last year.  Second, it’s one of the first phones to come out rocking Mictosoft’s updated Windows Mobile 6.5.3.  Now you can finally accomplish that dream you’ve always had of multitasking while helping the environment.

A business-friendly candy bar style phone in the same vein as any number of Blackberry’s or Samsung Jack’s of the world, the Aspen features a thin, sleek, and angular design, an integrated  QWERTY keyboard, a crystal clear 2.4-inch QVGA TFT touchscreen LCD, 3.2 megapixel camera, A-GPS with Google Maps, 3.5-mm audio jack, Wi-Fi, and a microSD expansion slot.  Under the hood, Windows Mobile 6.5.3 (say that three times fast) provides for a more touch friendly Windows experience, Support for multitouch can now be enabled, and gestural actions like flicking and panning are now a lot more responsive.  It really comes in handy when you need to dig through menu’s trying to check your email, surf the web, keep up with all your social networking sites or listen to music.

You’ll be able to pick one up in Iconic Black or White Silver sometime in the next few months.  Price and exactly where these will be dropping has yet to be determined.

The Samsung Omnia II is coming Dec. 2nd...shield your retinas

Verizon might be showing Android a lot of love lately, but that hasn’t stopped them from adding some new Win-Mo 6.5  phones to the stable.  The latest to drop is Samsung’s Omnia II, a resistive touchscreen phone featuring  the world’s largest 3.7-inch AMOLED display with crystal-clear WVGA resolution,  The enormous, beautiful screen makes it easier to enjoy the new, innovative TouchWiz 2.0 User Interface and its 3D effects as well as the Omnia II’s DVD-like(480p) video recording/playback, Opera Mobile 9.5  internet browser, and interactive 3D games.  There’s a 5 megapixel camera and Wi-Fi thrown in for good measure and, this being a Win-Mo phone and all, you can rest assured you’ll be able to stay connected connected with your favorite social networking sites as well as all your corporate and personal e-mail accounts.

Might want to save some of that Black Friday money.  The phone goes on sale December 2nd for $200 after a mail in rebate and on a two year contract.

Motorola's DROID has its sights set firmly on the iPhone

When I think of droids, my thoughts always turn to those amusing robots in the Star Wars movies, but Motorola has usurped the name for their latest and most definitely greatest Android powered smartphone.  Breaking Motorola’s tradition of phones with four letter names (notice how it still keeps the all caps spelling, though…old habits die hard), the DROID, like many recent smartphones before it, is being positioned by Verizon as the most killingest of the iPhone killers around.  It’s hard to argue with the facts.  The DROID sports a deliciously sexy, pseudo retro design that bucks the current trend of smooth, rounded phones by emphasizing its boxy look and harsh angles; and has a stunning, high resolution 3.7 inch screen that makes viewing text and pictures a joy rather than an exercise in eye strain.  There’s a responsive and tactile slide out QWERTY keyboard for those who still can’t understand the iPhone’s lack of phsyical buttons, a 5 megapixel camera with dual LED flashes, Visual Voicemail and support for 3G and Wi-Fi.  But the biggest news here is what’s under the hood.  The DROID will be the first phone to run the new and improved Android 2.0 software that includes an updated a more refined interface, a new contacts app, multi-resolution support, a better camera app, and voice activated search, a bevy of social networking apps, over the air Amazon MP3 downloads and integrated G-Mail.  More importantly, the DROID will also the first phone with Google Maps Navigation, providing turn-by-turn voice guidance as a free feature of Google Maps.

The DROID will be available on Friday, November 6th, for $200 on a two year contract after a mail in rebate (naturally).

M.I.S.S. Techcessories: Motorola CLIQ Coming Soon to T-Mobile

Let’s be honest with ourselves here.  You probably haven’t thought about copping a Motorola phone since the RAZR dropped ten billion years ago.  If you’re a T-Mobile subscriber, though, that all might be set to change with the release of the CLIQ.  Motorola’s first Android phone (but the latest in a long line of phones with capitalized, four letter names), the CLIQ features all the usual Android goodness we’ve come to know and love but adds Motorola’s new, social networking centric software interface on top of all that: Motoblur.  Motoblur automatically logs into all your different social networks and email accounts (Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Hi5, etc…) and delivers all the content in a single feed viewable on the phone’s home screen.  Widgets pop up allowing you to respond to messages and updates with a single cliqclick.

M.I.S.S. Techcessories: Motorola CLIQ Coming Soon to T-Mobile

As for the phone itself, the CLIQ has a 320×480 pixel 3.1 inch screen and a slide out QWERTY keyboard with a d-pad for playing games.  There’s also a 5MP camera with autofocus that can record video at 24 or 30 frames per second .  Listening to music is a snap with the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, and GPS with turn by turn instructions has been thrown in as well for those with no sense of direction (or for those who like to hear soothing computer voices while they navigate cities).  Oddly enough, while the phone does support 3G networks, Wi-Fi has been left on the cutting room floor.

The CLIQ will be available in winter white and titanium when it drops on November 2 for $200 on a two year contract.

The HTC Hero: Not guranteed to save cats from trees

Someone get on the phone and tell Bonnie Tyler she can stop holding out for a hero.  Sprint and Taiwanese mobile phone maker HTC have just announced  that the HTC Hero, Sprint’s first Google Android -based smartphone, will be available starting October 11th.  Despite sporting a slightly redesigned look from that of its  Jay Leno chin having European cousin, Sprint’s Hero keeps the same key features that make it even better than T-Mobile’s G1 and MyTouch 3G: a 5-megapixel camera, 3.5 mm headphone jack (crucial for those who want to use their phone as an mp3 player), stereo Bluetooth, a MicroSD slot, a huge 3.2-inch capacitive multitouch screen with a fingerprint resistant coating, Wi-Fi, a full featured web-browser, and GPS.  There’s also the new user interface to consider.  Unlike T-Mobile’s Android offerings, the HTC Hero features HTC Sense, which offers a multi-panel customizable home screen with Internet based widgets, HTC Scenes, which lets you set up different home screens for different environments (work, home, etc…), and HTC Footprints, a GPS-based diary app which lets you associate photos, audio and notes about places you’ve been with a GPS location to form “digital postcards”.  Of course, being an Android phone, you’ll also have access to the Android Market and  its tens of thousands of apps (and yet, absolutely zero androids…).  All this can be yours for a mere $179.99 with a two-year contract and after $150 in rebates.

M.I.S.S. Techcessories: New Blackberry Curve 8520 Set to Drop on T-Mobile Next Week

T-Mobile subscribers that looked on in horror and disgust as Verizon and Sprint users got the delightful Blackberry Tour earlier this month can now squeal with glee, as soon you’ll have a brand spanking new version of the Blackberry Curve to call all your own.  The beautiful Blackberry Curve 8520 will be RIM’s first model with dedicated media keys integrated along the top of the phone, and features a new touch-sensitive optical trackpad in place of the familiar trackball navigator.  There’s also a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0 support, support for Black Berry World, Facebook and MySpace mobile apps included on the device, and a micro-SD expansion slot.  Beyond that you get a bunch of things common to every other Blackberry by now, including built in Wi-Fi, with support for T-Mobile’s Unlimited HotSpot Calling Service.   One glaring omission though: the Curve isn’t 3G compatible.

The Curve 8520 is set to drop on August 5th at various T-Mobile and Walmart (!) retail stores for $129.99 with a two-year contract in either frost (white) or black.

...it's really what's on the inside that counts.

It’s true what they say: you can’t judge a book by its cover.  The same applies to iPhones.  While the newly announced iPhone 3GS looks suspiciously like a run of the mill iPhone 3G, it’s really what’s on the inside that counts.  The phone now features 256MB of RAM (double that of the original iPhone) and a 600 MHz processor (up from the 412 MHz of the original and 3G models), putting the S (speed) in the iPhone’s new name.  Other hardware improvements include a new 3MP autofocus camera that also shoots video at 30 fps (which you can edit on the phone and send on it’s merry way), HSDPA support, a compass that comes with its own compass application, and voice control.  Like any other phone, the voice control on the iPhone lets you quickly dial up your contacts. But that’s not all: you can use voice commands to also control your music (like on the iPod Shuffle).  People already think you’re crazy now for talking on that bluetooth headset of yours, but they’re really think you’ve lost it when they see you standing in the street yelling at your iPod to play “Hit Me Baby One More Time” again.

The new 'Find my iPhone' feature finds your lost iPhone and displays the location on a Google map.

Software wise, the iPhone 3Gs will come equipped with the third version of the iPhone OS, which allows for spotlight search (as seen on Macs) and allows for a revolutionary new feature known as copying and pasting (really!).  Also notable is the new Find my iPhone feature, which as it says, finds your lost iPhone and displays the location on a Google map.  When activated, you can message your iPhone with a number to call and it will sound a ton whether the phone is on silent or not.  You can even remotely erase all the data on the phone.  Perfect for foiling your archrival (or a nosy boyfriend) who’s run off with your goods.

Best of all, if you’re a non-AT&T subscriber looking to make the switch from your current provider, you can pick up a 16GB iPhone 3GS for $199 on contract or a 32GB for $299.  Current AT&T customers  looking to upgrade from the 3G will have to shell out an extra $200 (sucks to be you!).   Available June 19th in your two favorite colors (assuming they’re black and white) at an Apple store near you!

M.I.S.S. Techcessories: Palm Pre for Sprint

Sprint users rejoice!  You actually have something to be excited about.  The Palm Pre, possibly the most hyped phone since the iPhone (and yes, I know I’m adding to the hype by writing this post), is dropping exclusively on Sprint tomorrow, June 6th.  Designed by a handful of former Apple engineers now working at Palm (including Jon Rubinstein, the man who lead development on the original iPod) the Pre is yet another entry in a growing list of supposed iPhone killers.  Will it actually succeed?  Probably not, because you can’t kill inanimate objects.  But the phone does come pretty close in besting what Apple and others have to offer.

M.I.S.S. Techcessories: Palm Pre for Sprint

What exactly does the Pre have to offer Sprint users and/or potential iPhone converts?  Well, besides sporting a beautiful, curved slider design with a touchscreen and a physical QWERTY keyboard, the phone also features a 3.0 megapixel camera (with flash), EV-DO Rev. A, 802.11b/g WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth with A2DP, an accelerometer so you can put the phone in landscape mode during web browsing, and 8GB of built-in storage.  The Pre supports numerous email service and performs Blackberry-like push email as well.  Users can also do some things on the Pre that the iPhone is currently incapable of, including copying and pasting, MMS, and a universal search function that looks up terms not only on the phone, but also on the internet.  However, for most people the major draw of the Pre is its brand-spanking-new operating system called webOS and it’s dead simple yet elegant multitouch user interface.  Each program in use appears as a virtual card on screen, and you can flip through them and zoom in to use one, or simply dismiss a program by flicking it up off the screen.  Best of all, unlike the iPhone the Pre can run different apps simultaneously.

M.I.S.S. Techcessories: Palm Pre for Sprint

Their are a few downsides to the Pre, though.  For one thing, battery life is weaker compared to the competition.  While the battery does just fine when surfing the web or just talking on the phone, it drains significantly faster when listening to music or watching videos.  Thankfully the battery is user replaceable.  The bigger concern, however, is the app store, the App Catalog.  Right now the App Catalog only has a dozen apps compared to the over 40,000 on Apple’s service and the thousands available for Blackberry users.  Things will undoubtedly improve over the coming months, but if you buy a Pre thinking you’ll have access to a wide variety of games or programs off the bat you’ll be severely disappointed.

Production of the Pre will be limited initially, so don’t even think about lollygagging if  you’re trying to scoop one up.  Sprint stores will be selling the Pre on contract for $200 after a $100 mail-in rebate.  However, Best Buy is offering the phone for $200 sans rebate.