Are you looking for your cell phone tips?

Moonsider Mobile has evolved over the years, and I decided to split the blog in two parts. Each of these parts focuses on its own topic.

• First: The cell phone tips have been moved over to Cellutips, so you should check out the new web site. There are a lot of interesting tips coming up and you may want to subscribe to the feed.

• Second: The older articles and cell phone reviews are still here and they will be moved to a brand new domain name in due time. The new website will focus on just that: cell phone reviews. But for now, they remain available here.

Don’t worry: all your old links still work, and all the articles are available from their original location. You will be redirected to the proper websites as needed.

Thanks, and sorry for the mess :)

~Phil

If you need great-looking wallpapers for your cell phone, look no further. Start Mobile offers a great selection of wallpapers from independent artists at only $1.99 each.

Picture by Elisa Sassi.

From the ‘really really cute’ category to the ’sexy sexy’ category, you are sure to find something you like. The pictures are sent directly to your phone. The sad part: you’ll need a data plan to receive the pictures, and you also need a compatible handset.

Sorry Canadian folks, the service is only offered on AT&T, Cingular, Sprint and T-Mobile at the moment.

Via: ChipChick

You thought camera phones had an advantage over digital cameras because with them you could send pictures over cellular networks? Think again: the Samsung VLUU i70 digital camera will let you do just that.

Front view

The digital camera has built-in HSDPA support, meaning you can upload pictures to your computer from any locations and send text messages the same way you would with a cell phone. The Samsung VLUU i70 will also allow you to listen to digital music directly from the memory card.

Back view

As a digital camera, the Samsung VLUU i70 features a 7.2mp sensor supporting up to ISO 1600, a 3x digital zoom and built-in image stabilization. There is no word on pricing and availability outside Korea yet, but you can expect the 3G enabled camera to be a big hit.

Source: Electronista

We often hear people say how they want a cell phone to make phone calls. Not play games, take pictures and listen to music. Just make calls. Well, Samsung had a thought for these people: the Samsung SGH-C140.

This cellular phone is just that: a phone. No high tech gadget or other features you don’t want to pay for. The Samsung SGH-C140 is pretty cheap: about $57. Some of its features include a 128×128 color display, 3 hours of talk time and JAVA support. Sadly, it’s not yet available in North America.

Photo credit: Unwired View

I can see a lot of people who have basic needs for a cell phone buying this one. The Samsung SGH-C140 looks like a great entry-level phone, it is cheap and it fulfills all our basic cellular communication needs: SMS, EMS, MMS and… touch tone.

Source: Unwired View, via: Gizmodo

Jim Mendenhall of Starry Hope lists 10 reasons why he would pick a Nokia N800 instead of an Apple iPhone. It looks like he’s not believing the hype at all: the extra cost and lack of freedom of the iPhone is just not worth the small advantages it has over the N800.

From my point of view, his two most important points are:

The price: The Nokia N800 retails for $399 and it is currently available. The iPhone will be $599 with a 2-year contract from Cingular.

Software: The iPhone will most likely not be allowed to run third party applications. The N800 however is open source and Nokia encourages developers to write software for it.

On the negative side though, the N800 internet tablet requires a bluetooth connection to an actual cell phone with a data transfer plan if you want to browse the net away from a Wifi spot. It looks like a very affordable, full-featured internet tablet though.

Via: Darla Mack

Steve Jobs announced the iPhone today during his keynote at MacWorld 2007.

The iPhone features three devices into one

The iPhone combines three devices into one: a 2 megapixel camera phone, a widescreen iPod able to play music and video files, and a cutting edge internet communication device. The iPhone features a touch-screen 3.5 inch display that will even let your read ebooks! The iPhone is very thin, even thinner than the Motorola RAZR.

The iPhone is more than just a phone

There is no doubt that the iPhone will be a great piece of technology: it will even run a version of Apple’s operating system OS X. Wifi ready, the iPhone will let you access the internet anywhere with the Safari browser. Coming standard with Google and Yahoo search, you’ll be able to synchronize your bookmarks between your PC and the iPhone. Full multitasking is also supported.

The iPhone has huge memory capacity

What’s more – the iPhone will come with a huge flash memory capacity. We’re talking 4GB and 8GB. That’s enough memory to hold about 1 full DVD movie or 1600 songs!

Before it was even announced, the iPhone was already a legend. Apple will score big with the release of the iPhone, which is due in June 2007.

Sony has announced the Sony Ericsson Z610 cell phone this week. The Z610 is a small cell phone that has both style and a unique design.

The Sony Ericsson Z610 has a sleek mirror finish and comes in a clamshell form. The unique design features an outside OLED display that blends perfectly well with the rest of the phone, so much that it is invisible when turned off. When the user receives an event such as a phone call or a SMS message, the outside display turns on and shows information that seem to be floating on the surface of the phone.

It’s not all about the design; the Sony Ericsson Z610 has a lot of technology under the hood. The 2.0 megapixel camera has a 2.5x digital zoom and allows the user to take pictures and upload them directly to the internet on a blog using the Picture Blog application that comes with the phone. Furthermore, the Z610 supports both music and video playback along with 3D games and 3G capabilities. As if it weren’t enough, the cell phone is also compatible with Bluetooth Stereo and it comes with a 64mb Memory Stick Micro that is upgradeable.

The Sony Ericsson Z610 is a fine piece of technology and it looks very promising. It will be available this fall in Europe.

Sony Ericsson Z610 News Release

Sony Ericsson today announces the Z610; a stylish 3G phone that blends performance with stand-out design. The sleek mirror finish on the front cover gives the phone a jewel-like quality that is complimented by a hidden ‘magic mirror’ display which can only be seen when in use. This striking phone delivers on its good looks: its advanced feature set includes a 2.0 Megapixel camera and broadband-speed 3G connectivity. With such a unique design and a choice of three eye-catching colours – Luster Black, Rose Pink & Airy Blue – Z610 is the clamshell to be seen with.

“The unique design of the Z610 is inspired by nature. We have applied a mirror finish and used a hidden display for the first time to achieve the feel of a calm ocean surface” says Eiji Shintani, Art Director, Creative Design Centre, Sony Ericsson. “OLED technology has enabled us to build in a display that doesn’t interrupt the seductive, reflective qualities on the front of the phone. And given that Z610 is also a highly-specified device, it appeals to the design conscious that need a phone for every day use.”

The magic of the Z610 is revealed when a call comes in or the user receives an SMS or MMS. The hidden external display illuminates, giving the effect that the caller-ID information is floating on the face of the phone itself.

The distinctive design of the Z610 is matched by a feature set that lets the user get the most from their mobile phone. The Picture Blog application allows the user to share photographs with friends and family, via an online ‘blogsite’, within just a few clicks. Simply take a shot with the Z610’s 2.0 Megapixel camera and upload (or blog) the images directly to the site.

The Z610’s 3G capability, coupled with its large 2.0 inch screen, makes video calling and accessing the Internet a pleasure; and with support for Push Email and RSS feeds that deliver the latest news updates direct to your mobile, it’s so much more than a pretty face.

And when its time to reflect, support for Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) allows for generous storage of photos, video clips and MP3 files. This popular and portable storage format is available in memory sizes up to 1GB – that equates to around 2,800 pictures of 2.0 Megapixel quality.

Z610 is available in selected markets from Q3 2006.

Z610 – Features at a glance:

* Imaging & Messaging
o Main screen: 2.0”, 262k colour TFD, 220×176 pixel
o External screen: OLED, 128×36 pixel
o 2.0 Megapixel Integrated Camera
o 2.5 x Digital Zoom for still imaging
o Picture Blog
o Picture Wallpaper
o SVG Tiny 1.1
o Video telephony
o QCIF Video recording and streaming
o VideoDJ™ & PhotoDJ™
o Wallpaper animation
o SMS, MMS (Photo Messaging)
o Predictive text input
o Push e-mail
o Sound recorder

* Music & Entertainment
o 3D games
o Flight mode
o Embedded games
o Java MIDP 2.0
o Music player with support for MP3, AAC, AAC+ and eAAC+
o MusicDJ™
o PlayNow™
o Polyphonic ringtones (72 voices)

* Connectivity
o UMTS 2100
o GPRS 900/1800/1900
o Bluetooth™
o Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP) support
o USB 2.0 mass storage
o USB charging
o 64MB Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) in kit. Support of up to 1 GB
o Fast port connector
o Flight mode
o HTML full browser with RSS
o PC Tools and software

* Accessories

CORE ACCESSORIES
o Desk Stand CDS-60
o Travel Charger CMT-60
o Bluetooth Headset HBH-PV705
o Bluetooth Headset HBH-GV435
o Bluetooth Car Speakerphone HCB-100
OTHER ACCESSORIES
o Bluetooth™ Headset HBH- IV835
o Music Desk Stand MDS-60
o Portable Speakers MPS-60
o Bluetooth™ Car Handsfree HCB-700

* Availability

Available: Within Q3 2006
o Available colours:
o Luster Black
o Rose Pink
o Airy Blue

Sony Ericsson Z610 Reviews

GSM Arena reviews the Sony Ericsson Z610 and writes – “Sony Ericsson Z610 will provide you with 3G support, a standard 2 megapixel camera, a music player, and a Memory Stick Micro card slot. Not a bad offer, don’t you think? I am just a bit reluctant about the absence of EDGE and Infrared port. The dust-covered camera lens (a consequence of the lack of protection) and the rather unnecessary state diode in one of the phone’s corners won’t probably excite users either.”

Pocket-lint reviews the Sony Ericsson Z610 and says – “In the flesh though and it’s seems to have been a disappointment all round. Sony Ericsson should be applauded for not skimping on features just because they have made a phone that looks good, and for this the Z610 clearly out-performs any competition in the fashion genre, but as a fashion phone it is as shallow as a catwalk model.”

[tags]Sony Ericsson Z610, Z610, Cellphone, Cell Phone, Cellular Phone, Mobile[/tags]

If you’re looking for a futuristic cellphone that still maintains a nice elegant look, the Samsung A930 might be just for you. The A930 is currently available from Verizon in the United States.

The Samsung A930 is black with an external display that makes it look like a digital music player. The blue LCD screen on the outside of the A930 is large enough to display the titles of the song currently playing, along with additional information such as battery level and signal strength. The Samsung A930 has a clamshell form and it has multimedia buttons on its cover to provide easy access to the music playback capabilities. While the exterior of the A930 is quite appealing, the interior looks a bit dated in my opinion.

From a technological standpoint, the Samsung A930 offers the standard features usually available to mid-range cellphones. The A930 features dual speakers for stereo sound and can play back music and video from the V CAST service. The integrated 1.3 megapixel digital camera and cam recorder has a rotating lens and even a built-in flash! The A930 has also built-in GPS capabilities and is compatible with software applications that make use of this feature.

The Samsung A930 is a nice looking clamshell cellphone with a lot to offer in terms of multimedia capabilities, and a notable technological feature is the built-in flash that most cellphones in this category lack.

Samsung A930 Specifications

• Form: Clamshell
• Dimensions: 3.59″ x 1.89″ x .98″
• Weight: 3.98 oz.
• Networks: CDMA 800MHz / 1.9GHz
• Display: 176×220 pixels, 262000 colors, TFT
• External Display: 176×16 pixels, 4 shades of blue OLED
• Digital Camera: 1.3 megapixels, integrated flash
• Internal memory: Unknown
• Expandable memory: microSD
• Battery: 3.5 hours talk-time, 8 days standby
• Other: Bluetooth, GPS, Customizable fonts

Samsung A930 Reviews

CNET reviews the Samsung A930 and writes – “The Samsung SCH-A930 has decent call quality and an attractive feature set that includes Bluetooth, EV-DO support, an external memory slot, a speakerphone, a megapixel camera, and a digital music player. The Samsung SCH-A930 has an uninspiring design, and the external display is not suitable for such a full-featured phone. Plus, it suffers from spotty EV-DO reception. The Samsung SCH-A930 makes a mostly good showing, but there are better choices in Verizon’s EV-DO lineup.”

infoSync World reviews the Samsung A930 and writes – “While this jet-black, nearly four-ounce 3G clamshell is a little bulkier than we’d like, it makes up plenty of ground with its rock-solid music capabilities, ability to sync tunes with a PC, vivid display, Bluetooth and built-in GPS. Meanwhile, road warriors will appreciate the phone’s speedy data and dial-up networking abilities.”

PC Magazine reviews the Samsung A930 and writes – “The Samsung SCH-a930 isn’t a bad phone, especially if all you want to do is make voice calls. But if you’re interested primarily in that, the Motorola V325 cuts a sharper figure. Among multimedia phones, Samsung’s own a950 has superior data performance and very good voice quality, and the LG Chocolate VX8500 has far better music capabilities. I’d recommend one of those models instead.”

LAPTOP Magazine reviews the Samsung A930 and writes – “All of these extras wouldn’t mean much if the SCH-a930 stumbled in its intended purpose: communication. The phone maintained a strong signal in our tests, and we experienced hiccup-free calls, with good sound quality on both ends of the conversation. This clamshell features 3.8 hours of talk time.”

Samsung A930 Phone (Verizon Wireless)

Source: Verizon Wireless Announces Slick Black Samsung SCH-A930

[tags]A930, SCH-A930, Cell Phone, Cellphone, Cellular Phone, Mobile[/tags]

The LG VX8500 cell phone, also known as the LG Chocolate, is now available from Verizon in the United States. The LG Chocolate has a very nice look which bears resemblance to Apple’s iPod, except it’s in black and it slides open to reveal the keypad. The phone itself is a combination of a media player and a cellphone and it has a great look, but the design is a bit flaky.

From a technological point of view, the LG Chocolate offers a 1.3 megapixels digital camera and cam recorder, a microSD memory expansion slot, and of course music and video playback. The digital camera supports a 2x digital zoom, which is a pretty small zoom, and the 1.3MP resolution is nothing new in the world of digital convergence. The phone has 64 megabytes of internal memory and the lithium-ion battery is enough to power it for 16 days of standby time or 3.5 hours of talk time. The technological features are pretty standard nowadays, but the design is what makes the cell phone stand out.

At first glance, the LG Chocolate phone looks just like a black iPod with a 262k colors, 240 x 320 pixel display. It has its main media controls on its front navigation wheel and it features additional media buttons on the left side. It is small and lightweight, and the dialing keypad is revealed by sliding down the bottom part of the phone. Sadly, the touch-sensitive navigation wheel is hard to use – it’s either too sensitive or too hard to press, depending on the settings you give it. The ‘End’ button used to turn the phone on and off and to terminate calls is also small and in a counterintuitive location. The cell phone is also reported having trouble reading ID3 tags from MP3 files, and the music software is not as good as it should be.

Overall, the LG Chocolate phone is still a very handsome phone with all the technological features you would expect in today’s cellphone. If you can get around the somewhat flawed design and software, it is a very good mid-range cellphone for the portable music enthusiast.

LG Chocolate Specifications

• Form: Slider
• Dimensions: 3.80″ (H) x 1.88″ (W) x 0.69″ (D)
• Weight: 3.53 oz.
• Networks: CDMA 800MHz / 1.9GHz
• Display: 240×320 pixels, 262000 colors
• External Display: None
• Digital Camera: 1.3 megapixels
• Internal memory: 64mb
• Expandable memory: microSD
• Battery: 3.5 hours talk-time, 16 days standby
• Other: Bluetooth Stereo, Multimedia player

LG Chocolate Reviews

CNET reviews the LG Chocolate and gives it a 7.0 rating – “The LG Chocolate has a sharp design; satisfying overall performance; and a multimedia-rich feature set that includes Bluetooth, a digital music player, and a megapixel camera with admirable photo quality. The LG Chocolate’s unique touch pad and controls entail a steep learning curve, and the phone suffers from poor streaming video quality and low talk-time battery life. The lack of a speakerphone is disappointing. Though the LG Chocolate is beautifully designed and offers a respectable mix of features and performance, it doesn’t quite live up to the hype.”

PC Magazine has a review of the LG Chocolate and writes – “That said, if you’re looking for a music-phone on Verizon, learning the Chocolate is worth the effort. This is Verizon’s best music-phone by a long shot. It supports stereo Bluetooth, playing music easily through our wireless Plantronics Pulsar 590 headphones. It has a roomy 68 MB of on-board memory, accepts MicroSD memory cards up to 2 GB, and – finally – can play both WMA and MP3 files natively in Verizon’s V CAST Music player. You can put music on the phone by dumping it into a MicroSD card, or syncing it via USB cable with Windows Media Player.”

Phone Scoop reviews the LG Chocolate – “ Many people will buy the Chocolate based on its looks alone, and for those people, it’s probably a perfectly good phone. It is an excellent performer in many regards – battery life, Bluetooth usage for calls and music, and messaging.”

LG VX8500 Chocolate Phone (Verizon Wireless)
LG VX8500 Cherry Chocolate Phone (Verizon Wireless)

[tags]LG Chocolate, LG8500, LG VX8500, Cellphone, Cell Phone, Cellular Phone, Mobile[/tags]

The Toshiba TS30, known as the Toshiba TS608 in the European market, is a very slim cell phone that weights only 81 grams.

Because of its candy bar shape, the Toshiba TS608 (or Toshiba TS30) does not need an external display and it is a nice phone for people who dislike flip phones and want a slim phone that can easily fit in a pocket. The design of the TS30 is quite simple and features four media buttons on the top of the phone to control music playback.

Taking the form of a ‘candy bar’ phone, the TS608 has all the standard features you can expect for a midrange cellular phone. The 1.9″ 176×220 pixels 262000 colors display is useful when combined to the 1.3 megapixel digital camera to take pictures or browse photos. The TS608 also features an email client and of course a web browser.

The multimedia capabilities of the TS30 are interesting, because not only does the TS30 play back MP3 music files, but it can also play FM radio and has a microSD memory slot to allow for up to 512mb of additional memory.

Toshiba TS30 / Toshiba TS608 Specifications

• Form: Candybar
• Dimensions: 111 x 47 x 10 mm
• Weight: 81g
• Networks: GSM900 / GSM1800
• Display: 1.9″ 176×220 pixels, 262000 colors
• External Display: None
• Digital Camera: 1.3 megapixels
• Internal memory: 8mb
• Expandable memory: microSD (up to 512mb)
• Battery: 2.5 hours talk-time, 6 days standby
• Other: Java, Bluetooth, accessible media buttons

More resources

MobileBurn – Toshiba’s 9.9mm TS30/TS608 – Live from Hong Kong
NewMobile – New Toshiba TS608 & TS808 on Cebit 2006
Mobile Gazette – Toshiba TS608 / Toshiba TS30
Gizmodo – Toshiba TS30 Cellphone

[tags]Toshiba, TS30, TS608, Cell Phone, Cellular Phone, Mobile Phone, Mobile[/tags]