[source via gmp3]

Sony Ericsson is about to bust out a new Walkman phone and it’s what has been floating around then net, the Rika. It’s now been given a more recognizable Sony Ericsson model name, the Walkman W705 phone, and it looks to be you average slider phone albeit a little more stylish with the brushed metal finish. It’s got a 2.4-inch display, 3.2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0 (A2DP), WiFi, and aGPS. It’s scheduled to be announced later in the month, but will go on sale in February 2009. I guess Sony Ericsson hasn’t gotten over their habit announcing products months ahead of its release, and considering that the W705 isn’t exactly what you would consider a stellar device, I reckon people will eventually forget about this one after it’s announced. At least Sony Ericsson fanboys has something definite to look foward to next year. Congratulations to them.

[semc blog via bgr]

The netbook industry is showing no signs of slowing down despite these trying economic times. Joining the likes of Asus, Dell and Lenovo, Sasmung is releasing their own netbook, the NC10. It features an Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor, 10-2inch display, WiFi, Bluetooth, and Windows XP. While everything looks to be standard fare, it does come with an anti-bacterial keyboard for the obssessive compulsive by heart, and based on the initial benchmarks, it seems that it performs better than the Eee albeit by a small margin only.

[eeepcnews via engadget]

More pics after the break.

Design wise, it looks pretty solid, and they’ve taken the extra effort to add some bling to it by adding a chrome accent to the whole chasis. Will it make much of a difference? For $480, I have doubts that the minor physical enhancements will get the job done as far as luring customers to their side is concerned.

Based on some of the specs found on the internet, it comes with a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, 128MB RAM, 1GB on board memory, Bluetooth, GPS, 3.5mm jack, speaker phone, proximity sensor, accelerometer, 1400 mAh battery equivalent to 15 days of standby and 5.5 hours of talk time, and of course, a very reasonably sized 3.26-inch touch sensitive 360×480 184ppi display to work your fingers on. It likewise supports SMS, MMS, microSD cards, MS Word and PowerPoint files, and cut/copy & paste which the other more popular touchscreen phone sorely lacks. As far as connectivity goes, you won’t have a problem with its dual-band 800/1900MHz CDMA/EV-DO Rev A, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, and 2100MHz HSDPA compatible. No WiFi support here, but I guess these bevy of features is reason enough to forgo that missing option though I personally believe it would have made the Storm a killer device if RIM had included it. Anyway, with or without it, the Storm still looks like impressive.

Sound pretty enticing and can’t wait for it to be released? We feel the same way, but with Vodafone, Verizon, Telus and Bell all making their respective announcements, it probably won’t be too long now before it hits the market.

[blackberry storm]

After unveiling the Bandi MP3 player, SAFA has another MP3 player in store for us. We’ve all been busy covering screen-dominated PMPs, the SAFA Xing is their exact opposite: a player dominated by tactile buttons. It measures 50 × 22 × 13mm and weighs only 12.2 grams, coming with a 1GB on board storage. The battery plays 5 hours of audio, which is OK for a player this small. No pricing yet and SAFA isn’t exactly Chinese cheap. I’m thinking the SAFA Xingcould be make a good keychain. Unfortunately, a USB and audio connectors are all it has. pricing to be announced.

[via zol]

Even though the successor to the Viewty has already been launched, that’s not stopping LG from releasing a new white version of the 5-megapixel Viewty. Unfortunately, it’s only available in Korea, but I’m sure your local importer will be queuing up pretty soon for this baby as the white Viewty sure looks sweet. So I guess this means that we won’t be seeing the demise of the Viewty anytime soon even if the Renoir, its successor, has already been revealed to the public.

[unwiredview via bgr]

More after the break.

Similarly, HTC has also released new colored variations of their Touch Diamond phone. They’ve already recently revelaed a white version, but now, they’ve decided to include the rest of the remaining colors in the color wheel. You can now chalk up blue, red, yellow, orange, violet, purple, and brown to the list of HTC Touch Diamond colors to choose from aside from the original black and new white version. No word though on where these colorful Touch Diamonds will become available, but with the huge market base and following of HTC, I won’t be surprised if it’ll be released worldwide.

Though the iPhone may have the edge in design and aesthetics, the BlackBerry Storm does have something that iPhone owners have been craving for for years; cut, copy & paste functionality. So, how does one go about performing such a task on the Storm? It’s simple. Just place one finger at the beginning of the area where you to copy and then slide over the text with another finger to highlight the entry. After that, go to Menu, select Copy, and all you have left to do is to just Paste it. I’m not too sure if this function is available in Nokia’s 5800 XpressMusic phone, and if it’s not, then this is the first time cut, copy and paste has been incorporated into a full-touchscreen device other than Windows Mobile-based phone. Maybe this will serve as an example for Apple on how they can likewise implement the whole cut, copy & paste feature on their iPhone. Unless, of course, they really have no intentions of integrating such a function on their mobile phone, then that would just be a crying shame.

[via bgr]

It looks like Asus has finally decided to take a different route in expanding their netbook line, and personally, I think it’s a good thing. Instead of focusing just on the Eee PC line, they’re now introducing a new line in the form of the Asus S101. Targeted at those who love ultra-thin ultra-portables; the Asus S101 measures in at a ridiculous 18mm thin which is just a bit thicker than the anorexic Macbook Air. Looking beyond its aesthetics, you’ll find an Intel Atom processor, 1GB RAM, 10.2-inch wide LED-backlit 1024×600 252K display, WiFi 802.11n compatible, Bluetooth, 3x USB ports, multi-touch touchpad, mulit-card reader, non-removable 2450 mAh battery, and a variety of SSD storage options to choose from. The 16GB SSD will come with Windows XP and will cost $699, while the Linux-based 32GB SSD and 64 GB SSD variants will fetch for $699 and $799 respectively. It may not be as cheap as the regular netbooks, but as gadgets go, the thinner they are, the more expensive they are as well. Besides, its still a lot cheaper than the Macbook Air so its still a decent buy in the end.

[gizmodo via bgr]

It’s not the most interesting news but we’ve had a few SAFA PMPs that have impressed us by their elegant design. The 1.5-inch SAFA Bandi is not out there to impress but to steal the hearts of those who have a soft spot for pretty devices. The MP3 player will be available this month and according to Aving will feature  “touch scroll, sound quality and distinctive GUI like a lightning bug.” Price is 60,000 won ($49) for the 2GB model and 80,000 won ($65) for the 4GB model.

[via aving]

Since the release of the iPhone, it’s been raining touchscreen phones all of a sudden, and it looks like we won’t be seeing any slowdown anytime soon as LG is set to release the KP500. It’s their alternative to the more expensive touchscreen-enabled devices out in the market today though they have yet to disclose its exact amount. It features a 3-inch display, 3-megapixel camera, motion sensor and black, brown, gold and silver variants to choose from. If even has its own TouchFLO-like UI spruce things up a bit.

[unwired view via engadgetmobile]

Video after the break.

It actually looks like a re-designed LG Renoir, and though its full specs have yet to be known, LG might have found a way to carve its own niche in the whole touchscreen phone segment of the market. If you can’t beat them, then offer a low-cost alternative that doesn’t cut back too much on features and functionality. I guess we’ll know soon enough if it is indeed worth your money and attention as it goes on sale in Europe in a month’s time.