A New, and Probably Expensive, Way to Increase Viewing Area!

Sick of viewing your precious photos and movies on a tiny 2" screen? South Korea developer Seo Kwon Hong might have what you need. He recently announced a new cell phone concept design which he has given the name "Brix." In addition to good looks, features, and functionality, the most impressive and unique thing about this phone is it's "screen stacking" capability, allowing you to add on as many additional LCD screens to the phone as desired. This gives you the opportunity to build an LCD screen attachment to your phone to be as large as you, or your wallet, allows it to be. Seems like a very interesting concept, that can help people enjoy their media in a more comfortable manner. However, these things look expensive. Not only that, but if I want to view my media on a large screen, how portable do you think this phone will be since I'll have to carry so many screens around?

Google Phone Confirmed

Supposedly an insider from HTC has confirmed a long-time rumor to be true. Google is currently in talks with HTC and possibly Samsung (although this is not confirmed) for their release of a new Google branded cell phone. Google is currently choosing between 20 different cell phone designs by HTC. Not too much has been released about the phone itself, but we can expect much of Google's software to be modified to work seamlessly on a mobile device. Google maps, as well as a GPS system is expected to be on the phone, along with Gmail, Google Talk and calender integration. Even more interesting, there are rumors that the Google phone will also feature VoIP technology as well. There have also been speculation about the phone's OS being a version of Windows Mobile, but new rumors suggest the OS may be Linux based. Hopefully, if all goes as planned, we should be seeing this phone hit the market in early 2008.

In my opinion, knowing Google's business plan/strategy, it may be safe to guess that the phone will be cheaper than the iPhone. Assuming Google sticks to their advertising based business model, they may even take a loss with the release of the hardware. By obtaining a large customer base quickly, they can then expect to make back their investment largely through advertising revenue.

Cell Phone Projectors - the next big thing?

Recently at CES 2007, a company called Microvision announced a new technology that can very well be seeing its way into cell phones in the future. The technology they announced was a miniature digital projector, designed to be implemented into a cell phone. With the increasing popularity and improving quality of cameras on cell phones, this kind of feature on a cell phone could make sense. Who really wants to watch a movie or browse through pictures on a tiny, smudged up 2" screen? Instead, blowing it up and projecting it onto a surface would make it easier to share, as well as provide for a much higher quality multimedia experience!

iPhone Heading to Europe

Following the American June release of Apple's new iPhone, Apple has now begun to finalize deals with European carriers that will bring the phone to the European market. Apple has currently finalized three deals in Europe; in the UK, France, and Germany. The carriers they have negotiated with are O2 in the UK, Orange in France, and T-Mobile in Germany, so these countries can expect iPhone service soon.

The unique thing about these negotiations, however, are the terms of the agreement. Similarly to the American-Apple/AT&T relationship, Apple had the upper-hand in the negotiations. As a result, they have created a deal with these European carriers where they are actually receiving 10% of revenues from data and voice transfers. This type of agreement is new to the industry, and people are expecting more of these kinds of deals for the future.