Everyone’s probably heard of the Nokia Tube and its spanking brand-new touch interface, but is the Symbian OS up to the task? That’s the question raised by Techradar, and the words of research director Ian Fogg more or less answers that inquiry:

“Nokia phones have had step-by-step improvements but no radical breakthroughs for several years. S60 is fairly simple graphically, and they’ll be looking to change that.”

He also points out how the move to open licensing could prove to be detrimental as compatibility issues might arise in the long run due to the lack of an over-all monitoring system such as the App Store. Add the fact that there are other devices that use the S60 OS aside from Nokia, its hard to deliver the same quality of experience across a variety of devices that have different hardware specs.

Both points raised are legitimate issues that really need to be addressed for the Tube to be successful. Of course, initially, the S60 Touch UI will be raw and unexciting, but the groundwork has already been laid down for users to easily get and install the latest software updates. So, basically, what I see being released in the next couple of months will be a work-in-progress rather than the final product. Will it be the iPhone-killer everyone’s talking about? No, not now, but eventually, it will be especially with the more reasonable price of Nokia phones.

[via techradar]

Touch screen devices are all the rage these days, but Plica is taking it a bit further than anyone else. Literally translated as a folding body part, the Plica concept phone is a foldable mobile phone that features dual touch screen displays that provide users with a wide array of functionality as well as versatility. One half can function as the main screen while the other is the keyboard or use both screens as one whole display when viewing large images. The USB and headphone ports are cleverly located on the hinge for seamless integration into the design. Too bad that this is just a concept as it looks well poised to take on the iPhone. More images can be found at the source.

[via Newlaunches]

The Chuwi DIY Design Competition top placer is  a 4.3-inch screen, a resolution of 960 × 544 pixel player, which won’t take being called a mere MP4 player lightly. It plays RM, RMVB, AVI with additionaly DivX, Xvid support and STR subtitles. The judges like the cool ultra-thin metal body and the integrated Bluetooth and WiFi. Pretty good. Personally though, I like the third place winner. The SPINN-like 8th place winner looks great as well. Read on and judge for yourself.

Gaming touchscreen PMP concept photo after the break.

[via imp3]

3rd placer is a gamer and slider.

8th place DIY Design winner would’ve been better with a rollable flexible OLED screen.

CKing’s innovative phone may clone the iPhone’s startup screen, but it’s a complete original. Sunview may be the first company to come out with a viable projector solution in the portable media player industry, but for devices with calling function, China King takes first place. Motorola’s phone will have to take second spot.

It is a product from a partnership with Shing Tai telecommunications, capable of projecting a 30-inch 640 x 480 image for two hours. The projector is LCoS, a technology you’d expect the Chinese to take full advantage of (read: simple and cheap). Not much info on paper, but the CKing phone is stealing the show at the 2008 Tianjin International Mobile Phone Industry Exhibition.

More photos after the break.

[via engadget]

[via engadget]

Apple is taking more steps to be greener. The patent application, found by Engadget, specifies “solar power for portable devices.” This could also mean MacBooks but we’re betting that Apple will be focusing on iPod and iPhone-friendly solar cells to cut down on power coming from batteries. Reducing complaints on iPod battery replacements is a big enough motivation for Apple to develop a backup power source. Apple’s application is quite groundbreaking. Their solar panels could double as displays - “Solar cells are typically stacked with other layers made of transparent or semi-transparent materials… Some of these layers may be used for display or input purposes, and some layers may be coated with various materials or they may be etched with product logos or other patterns.” - which not only saves space on a small device will also improve their aesthetic makeup.

[via engadget]

They’re calling this a breakthrough device, a PMP with WiFi and supports mobile TV. But that’s not the breakthrough yet for this HD (up to 160GB) MP5 Player (a PMP in China that supports RealMedia). The MV5920, due to its dual-core technology no doubt, also supports video playback at HD 720p (1280 x 720 pixels), although I am not sure that 60fps is supported as well, but wouldn’t it be awesome if it did? Of course we want nothing more than to review or have some do a review of the HDTV playback on this new Patriot MP5, but for now we’ll take Aigo’s word for it. One can be yours for 2,999 yuan or about $429.

Check out the sometimes funnily written specs after the break.

[via sanhaostreet]

MV5920 MP5 specs (from zx):

Two-nuclear detonation true high-definition era

MP5 with the first dual-core driving force, and create a true high-definition era

Multimedia codec, DSP chips and RM11 number of high-performance computing chip????

MP5 greatly enhance the computing speed / video analytic capabilities

Really high-definition video playback 720 P (1280 * 720) of the Habitat, bringing a new visual shock

All full-stream format, include real, the various image format interpret January 1, unobstructed and unhindered access

Super hard drive recorders, easily direct D1 quality, it is worth your small taste

2-megapixel camera, recording great moments, stay-sharp memory of Movable

MP5 2.0 unlimited expansion platform, the follow-up can be extended mobile TV / WIFI / unlimited life, and other functions

The future will give you more surprises, dual-core high-definition era, the curtain has been opened, such as what you

A technical

Dual-core processors

DSP: multimedia decoder chip

RM11: the number of high-performance computing chips

Features:

720 P high-definition video player (1280 * 720)

The whole format of the whole stream (rm / rmvb / vob / dat……)

DVR (D1 picture)

Integrated video recording machine

MP5 2.0 unlimited expansion platform

Mobile TV

WIFI

Unlimited life

Product specifications

Display: 4.3-inch 16:9, Resolution: 480 x 272 pixels, 16.7 million color

Video: MPEG-1 (DAT, MPG), MPEG-2 (VOB), MPEG-4 (AVI, Divx3-5.x, Xvid), ASF, WMV9, RM / RMVB

Audio: MP3, WMA, WAV, AC3, OGG

Image: JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG format

Video: AVI format

Audio: WAV format

E-book: TXT format

Interface type: USB 2.0 HOST, A / V IN, A / V OUT, 3.5 headphone output

Power: Enter AC100V-240V, Output DC 5V-2A

Battery: Built-in 2300 mAh lithium batteries

Size: 156 mm x 82mm x 20 (28) mm

Sunlink International Holdings has just made my dream come true of a portable media player that can also function as a media projector. The only other manufacturer interested in having a projector built into a portable device is Motorola and it’s in deep trouble. The Sunview PMPP (portable media player projector) was announced in Hong Kong and it’s using the pico projector (PicoP) from Microvision. The PMP itself has a 3.5-inch screen and runs on Windows CE 5.0. It’s not a slim PMP by no means but with a projector built-in it’s good for the entire family during vacations and long-haul traveling. The iView IPL630 LCOS is capable of projecting at VGA quality (640×480 pixels). No word on price yet.

[source via gmp3]

Samsung has announced the most powerful phone camera yet, and it’s super thin, able to fit better in a phone than current 5 megapixel lenses. The sensor has “up to ISO 1600 light sensitivity, anti-blur and noise correction, and both face and smile detection for portraits.” Other features include flexible optics with 30mm wide-angle capture and close-up shooting of up to .4 inches. Samsung will have samples of the phone camera on a phone by May and shipping will be in Q3 or Q4.

[via newlaunches]

The Eco-Media Player is available in Planete Green Europe for 199.95 euros. If you have forgotten about this player, it’s a PMP that you can wind up for power. Yep, this baby will play videos (asv/mp4, wmv, avi, mpegs) and music (MP3, WMA, ASF, WAV, OGG) via old school cranking. The Eco-Media Player plays 40 minutes of music on a minute of cranking, to give you an idea on how cool this gadget is.

[via gmp3]