Garmin has taken the wraps off the nuvifone, a phone with a strong emphasis on GPS and personal navigation. Because it will offer a constant connection to the Internet, this device will offer features not available in this company’s earlier models. Garmin once made a line of GPS-enabled Palm OS and Pocket PC handhelds, but its upcoming device won’t be a smartphone. Instead, it will be a feature phone with its primary feature being, obviously, mapping and routing. Nevertheless, this all touchscreen device will still offer 3G data access, a web...

Last fall, Sprint  promised a system software update for the HTC Mogul with new features. This has not yet been officially released, but a beta version has leaked out. In November, a member of the Sprint Product Development group said that new system software in development will upgrade this device to EV-DO Rev. A. The Mogul can already connect to Sprint’s EV-DO network for high-speed wireless access, but Rev. A is faster than the version of EV-DO currently offered by this model. In addition, this upgrade will fix an odd limitation in this smartphone....

Information has surfaced showing that Verizon is soon to become the third U.S. carrier to offer a version of the increasingly popular HTC Touch smartphone. Photos have been circulating online depicting one of the Touch models wearing a Verizon logo on its casing, and now anonymous sources have provided at least two web sites a detailed PR image of the device. To be marketed as the XV6900, the Verizon version of the Touch will sport a white casing instead of the dark grey offered by others. It will also add an internal GPS receiver to the device’s features....

Another set of rumors are circulating about Palm’s next high-end Windows Mobile smartphone. According to a forum member on the Windows Mobile enthusiast site WMExperts, the Treo 800w will include EV-DO Revision A, Bluetooth 2.0, GPS, and 802.11g Wi-Fi, as well as several minor hardware revisions. The device will supposedly use a combination mini-USB and audio plug for sync/charge and headsets, in the style of HTC’s newer Pocket PC phones. A hardware on/off switch for Wi-Fi has also been added. The device will use a microSD card slot, feature a...

Everyone knows how well Apple is doing with  iPhone sales, but it far from the only company with a successful  smartphone. HTC has announced that sales of its Touch line have passed the 2 million mark. Still, this figure isn’t high as the iPhone’s, which recently reached the 4 million mark in slightly less time. HTC’s series of devices is made up of two models. The original Touch launched in Europe and Asia last summer, while it had its American debut this fall. The second model, the HTC Touch Dual, came on the market more recently, but...

AT&T is now offering a variety of data service plans for customers who are using Apple’s iPhone. These cost less than the plans for consumers, at least until the end of this year. Prices for business plans start at $45 a month, verses $60 a month for consumers. However, this is a result of a promotion AT&T is offering, and the monthly cost of a business plan will jump up to $60 in 2009. All the iPhone enterprise service plans include unlimited wireless data access in the U.S. and the “visual voice mail” service.  The $45 a month...

By all reports, the Asus Eee PC is selling well, but nevertheless there have been a few who have passed on this device because it lacks a touchscreen. These people should be pleased to hear that one of this mini laptop’s second generation models will reportedly have what they want. According to DigiTimes, Asus will launch versions of the Eee PC later this year with 8-, 9-, and 10-inch displays. Only one of these, the 9-inch version, will be a touchscreen. Currently, this device is available only with a 7-inch display. Exactly when the new Eee PC models...

When Nokia announced the N81 and the N81 8GB some months ago, all I could think was that it was in some way Nokia’s way of trying to let the world know that, despite the rousing success of the iPhone, it was still in the game, and would continue to make compelling mobile devices. Hardware The N81 8GB is a near top-of-the line model from Nokia. Almost matching the N95 8GB feature for feature, this smartphone is featured as the music and gaming device du jour from Nokia, and comes loaded to the gills with 8 GB of internal space, GPS, a 2 megapixel digital...

HP has begun shipping the iPAQ 210 Enterprise Handheld to retailers, which means this traditional handheld should go on sale any day now. This news –  which comes from Mike Hockey, Hewlett-Packard’s Worldwide Public Relations Manager — apparently means the end a long delay in the release of this model, which was originally scheduled to launch last fall. The suggested price for this Windows Mobile device is $450; whether any retailers will offer discounts is not yet known. HP is taking orders for the iPAQ 210 now on its web site, but the...

The FlipStart 1.0 is a Windows laptop small enough warrant interest from those who want something much less bulky than a typical one. When it was launched this device was outside of the price range of the average consumer: $2,000. Now, however, its manufacturer has significantly dropped the cost to $700. According to rumor, FlipStart Labs is close to releasing version 2.0 of this mini notebook. If true, this almost certainly is the reason for the price cut of the original. An Overview of the FlipStart 1.0 This device has the typical clamshell shape of a laptop,...

A new photo of an upcoming smartphone from Palm Inc. — code-named Drucker but likely to be marketed as the Treo 800w — has now been seen for the first time. The revelation ocurred during the CES keynote speech of Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, when a slide featuring the device was shown during a discussion of Palm, Inc.’s Windows Mobile device line. Palm has not yet officially announced the Drucker, but the specifications were previously revealed by a Vodafone roadmap, which showed the device will feature Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G/HSDPA, and Windows Mobile...

The Palm Centro has been a hot seller for Palm and Sprint, with users siting the ease of use and size of the device as the main points of interest. And to capitalize on the looks department, Palm has announced the availability of a pink version of this smartphone that is now available for Sprint customers. The Palm Centro is available from the Palm web site and Sprint retail outlets. Pocket Informant 8 Released for Windows Mobile Pocket Informant has long been a popular PIM replacement application for Windows Mobile users. Version 8 has been recently released...

Sony has taken the wraps off an updated version of its mobile Internet device (MID), called the mylo COM-2.  Like its predecessor, this  can access the web and make Skype calls over Wi-Fi, and it also includes some additional features, like a built-in camera. The new mylo will be focused on teens who have to share a home computer. That’s why it will include a web browser with support for sites like YouTube and Facebook, as well as Instant Messaging clients. The new device will be somewhat larger than the original (5.2 in. by 2.5 in. by by 0.8 in),...

I recently was able to spend some time with the Redfly Mobile Companion, a laptop-shaped device that greatly extends the capabilities of some smartphones. Of course, representatives of Celio Corp were there to answer my questions. Making Something Good Even Better Today’s high-end smartphones aren’t toys. My current mobile device has all the processing power of a laptop made just a few years ago. But they have a limitation: because phones have to be small enough to easily fit in your pocket, their displays and keyboards must be tiny when compared...

Alltel has launched the CDMA version of the popular HTC Touch Windows Mobile 6 smartphone. Like other versions of this device, the Alltel Touch incorporates a specialty interface designed by HTC called TouchFLO, which allows the user to more easily control the device and launch applications with a fingertip, rather than a stylus. Also like the model carried by Sprint, this Touch lacks Wi-Fi, but include a 400 MHz processor. It doesn’t include a built-in keyboard, but it does have Bluetooth, a 2.0 megapixel camera, and a microSDHC slot.