Omio News Blog

HTC Flyer available to order

HTC’s first ever tablet is now around to order from Expansys.com, with the Flyer costing just £479.99 for the 16GB WIFI model and £599.99 for the 32GB 3G version – both SIM free and unlocked.

The HTC Flyer made is first public appearance at Mobile World Congress this year, along with 5 other new handsets from the Taiwanese mobile phone maker.

HTC’s Flyer runs from Android ‘Gingerbread’ 2.3, although the more recent spate of tablets all run the Android Android ‘Honeycomb’ 2.3 OS that has been designed solely for these products.

The Flyer comes with a 7-inch 1024×600 LCD capacitive touch screen, with a 1.5GHz processor, a 5MP camera and HTC Sense v2.1.

This tablet is just one of the plethora of large touch screen devices to arrive this year to take on the Apple iPad 2; with the Xoom from Motorola, another two Galaxy Tabs from Samsung and the TouchPad from HP – to name but a few.

Check out all of the HTC Flyer deals at OMIO here.

Samsung’s First Windows 7 Phone Gets Named, Cetus Packs A Punch

Thanks to a tell-tale Bluetooth SIG entry, Samsung have indirectly confirmed the name of their forthcoming handset, the Samsung SGH-i917 which is to be North America’s first WP7 device. Precious few people have been able to get their hands on the prototypes that have been floating about, which led to much speculation as to a release date, but the roadmap we leaked earlier this month has the Cetus named and scheduled for a UK release in November.

Specs-wise, the Samsung Cetus is worth the fuss: it’s got a 4-inch capacitive touchscreen, 800 x 400 AMOLED display, 5 megapixel camera, a VGA front-facing camera, an FM radio tuner, inbuilt GPS, 02.11b/g/n Wifi, USB 2.0 and of course, Bluetooth. Whether the new Windows Phone 7 operating system is something to boast about is another story – intitial reports have been a real mixed bag, but we’d prefer to reserve judgment until we’ve seen the finished copy.

Still, no idea on pricing, but our fingers are crossed for that November release date!

Motorola Droid 2 Pics Leaked!

Droid Life have managed to get their hands on the Android based Motorola Droid 2.

Admittedly, the handset looks very similar to the Droid 1 and it appears that the only major difference between the two handsets is the keyboard, which looks more similar to that on the Nokia N900 and has lost the d-pad from the original Droid.

The technical specifications show that the Droid 2 will run on Android 2.1 (FroYo), while the screen measures a large 3.7″. Under the hood the Motorola packs a 750Mhz OMPA processor and in terns of storage the Droid 2 has got 8MB internal, plus a bundled 8MB SD Card, making 16GB all in all.

On the back of the device there’s a 5 megapixel camera although there’s no front facing camera for video calls like on the iPhone, or HDMI cable like on the soon to be released Motorola XT720.

At present, no release dates are available for the Motorola Droid 2, although we’ve heard that US staff will receive training on the handset on June 22nd in preparation for the launch.

More information as it becomes available!

Nokia C7 Leaked: 3.5″ Touchscreen, 8MP Camera & Dual LED Flash

Thanks to some members of the Daily Mobile forum, we have sneak peeks of the upcoming Nokia C7. All we know at present is that it runs on Symbian ^3, has an 8 million pixel camera, stereo speakers, face recognition software and a 3.5 inch capacitive touchscreen that supports multi-touch. Leak aficionado Eldar Murtazin claims the leak is bonafide and expects the price to be around 270 Euros / £250 on its release.

The C7 sports similar glossy curves to the Samsung Genio, but is stylistically in line with the rest of the C series handset. We’re guessing that the C7 will be the top of the C series, with numbers 8 and 9 reserved for the N series.

At this stage we’ve only got one one gripe however: Why is Nokia still using proprietary chargers?!

Via Nokia Blog

Papillon – The World’s First Mechanical Mobile

Behold – The Celsius X VI II Papillon – the world’s first entirely mechanical mobile phone.

The handset, which takes its design inspiration from the visible automatic movements of top-end wrist-watches, is due to be unveiled next week at the BaselWorld watch fair in Switzerland.

Constructed from 547 components — the majority of which are hand-finished — the Papillon (French for “butterfly”) is arguably one of the most exquisite mobiles made yet.

Like all good Swiss watches the clam shell handset is self-powering, relying on the kinetic energy created by the movements of the human body.

At present the Papillon is just a concept, but if you’re feeling flush the asking price for this is a stately €200,000 (£180,000) .

Don’t expect to see any Celsius X VI II Papillon deals anytime soon at Omio then!
Source: WIRED

Spotted: Blackberry With Slider Form Factor – Storm 3?

Sneaky snaps at BBLeaks.com have unveiled a previously unseen Blackberry with a slider form factor.

A slider handset is quite a departure for RIM, whose BlackBerry range is overwhelming made up of fixed-QWERTY handsets (the only exceptions are the Pearl Flip and the touchscreen Storm).

BBLeaks speculate that this could be the Storm 3, a device which has been rumoured since 2008, while Crackberry suggest this could be an old prototype model not destined for the shelves.

We think it looks like a Storm (pretty bulky) with a tacked on Bold 9700 keyboard.

Aside from the novelty factor, we think it looks pretty unwieldy. Let us know what you think!

First Windows Phone 7 Series Partner Unveiled

Well, that was quick! Less than two weeks since Microsoft’s announcement of Windows Phone 7 and now we get the first glimpse of a partner device:

On Saturday’s Engadget Show, Microsoft’s Aaron Woodman pulled out LG’s Windows Phone 7 Series pre-production prototype – a QWERTY slider, and the first branded Windows Phone 7 Series device the world has ever seen.

As a prototype, it’s too early to call the specs, but apparently it’s just a shade thicker than an iPhone or Nexus One.

Although details of LG’s first Windows Phone 7 Series handset have not yet been finalised, LG is aiming to release its first device to market in the fourth quarter of 2010.

It’s quite a wait but when it does land expect to see the best deals at Omio.com!

Windows Phone 7 Locked Down to 3 Chassis Designs?

Sharp ears over at ZDNET have picked up on an podcast in which Microsoft Developers start talking about Microsoft’s decision to cut back the unwieldy number of supported Windows Phone chassis to just three with Windows Phone 7.

Apparently, Microsoft will only be supporting Windows Phone 7 on three different chassis:

Chassis 1: First ones out of the gate will be arge touchscreens with at least a 1 GHz processor such as Snapdragon, requiring its own dedicated graphics processor.

Chassis 2: Slide-out keyboards will be added on alongside touchscreens.We’re guessing the processor specs will be roughly similar to that of Chassis 1.

Chassis 3: There are no certain details on 3, though they are suspected to be candybar devices. No word on when 2 or 3 will be ready.

If true, it looks as if Microsoft are finally getting a handle on their product. To date the reputation of Windows Mobile OS not been great – with patchy and unimpressive performance a common feature.But firmer integration of Windows OS and hardware woulds go some way in resolving this.

Source: Unwired Review via ZDNet

The Orb: Bluetooth Headset That Doubles As Fine Jewellery

Yes, this might be one to file in the drawer marked ‘vapourware’, but the problem of making a visually inoffensive Bluetooth headset is still a disease without a cure!

The Orb is a crossover creation from imagineers Hybra Technology and Absolutely New, and is a cool and discreet Bluetooth headset that instantly turns into stylish ring and back again.

When worn as a ring, a flexible display shows caller information, items on your calendar or to-do list and and voice-to-text alerts (though maybe not using SpinVox).

Answering a call is as easy as rotating it and clipping it on your ear. The audio transmission is handled through bone conduction, Aliph Jawbone headset-style, avoiding the need for sticking fiddly bits into your ears and looking like a twonk.

The price of fashion? Only $129 for the standard and $175 for the deluxe OLED screen equipped model. Only problem is that we have to wait until 2010 for the Orb to become more than a flight of fancy…

Vision of the future or another ‘next big thing’ that never arrives like virtual reality or pre-heated pants?

Source: DVICE

Sony ‘Black Tribute’: Sexier Than The iPhone?

Whilst the iPhone has been eclipsed in the specs stakes (let’s face it, even the 5800 XpressMusic makes it look like a Speak & Spell on paper), there is no handset that even comes close in terms of looks.

Designer Jaren Goh and his Sony ‘Black Tribute’ handset is the most impressive contender we have ever seen, matching the iconic device in having a huge touchscreen, a distinct lack of buttons and gorgeous styling.

The chunky aluminum body with satin black accenting screams high-end Sony device, whilst the interface looks to be clean and minimalist, offering easy functionality whilst exuding luxury.

With a lack of other specifications, the only shortcoming was a 3.2 megapixel Carl Zeiss camera, but it is just a concept.

Any chance we could rip out the Idou’s 12.1 MP camera and cutting edge innards? We seem to have found a willing body double…

More pics follow!

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