Men Free Blog

Considering that Motorola has been yearning to duplicate the monumental success of the RAZR with, well, anything, we can’t quite decide what to make of the firm’s desperate / throw back attempt to conjure sales with an all new StarTac. Sure, the Moto mainstay holds a dear place in many of our hearts, and even the short-lived 2004 edition was appreciated for its nostalgic flair, but the 3.2-ounce StarTac III MS900 just seems a bit too vintage to actually enjoy in this millennium. Aside from such glaring omissions as a basic camera and external LCD, it does sport a very pocket-friendly design, simplistic style, MP3 playback, an electronic dictionary, questionable e-book functionality, GPS, and 128MB of built-in memory. Additionally, you’ll find a two-inch QVGA display, mobile banking abilities, 160 minutes of talk time (300 hours in standby), and a mysterious “biorhythm” function to boot. As expected, there’s no set price or release date for this blast from the past just yet, but with such niceties looming just around the corner, we’ve serious doubts about folks diving back into yesteryear with their new handsets.

[Via UnwiredView]

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QWERTY fans need not apply — your phone hasn’t quite hit yet — but folks in search of a slick-lookin’ little slider on Helio have another solid choice. Just like its big sib, the Drift, the Heat comes to Helio courtesy of Samsung, but gains touch-sensitive controls and a lower price point. The new model serves up Bluetooth, 136MB of internal memory (though no external — advantage Drift), 1.3 megapixel cam, Helio Music compatibility, and the full suite of GPS goodies including Google Maps and Helio’s “Buddy Beacon” service atop a 2-inch QVGA display.

 Look for the Heat to go on sale today for $150 in your choice of Gold and the always-fashionable “Onyx” (alias “black”). Follow the break for a shot of the Heat doing its slide thing in both shades!

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This Heat showed up at our doorstep today (that’d be the phone, not the post-punk band), and we have to say, we’re swooning. We’re a little bummed the Heat doesn’t have a memory card slot, but that excepted, this is by far our favorite Helio phone to date. It’s strange that this is positioned as lower end than the Drift, but that’s cool, you can save a little cash and get a nicer phone that’s even a little smaller. Enjoy the eye candy in our hands-on gallery.

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We’re noticing a trend — anyone think this thing looks like a healthy portion of the sliders Samsung has loosed in recent history? Sure, 13.8 millimeters is nice for a slider and all, but it’s by no means groundbreaking; same goes for the 2 megapixel primary and VGA front-facing cameras, microSD slot, and media support. That being said, we’re hard-pressed to dis any 3G phone that’s managed to make it all the way to the FCC’s hallowed halls, so we’re going to cut the criticism right here and cross our fingers for an expedient arrival on US shores.

Between Vertu and the 8800, Nokia gives the world plenty of ways to flaunt its surplus cash — but not enough for Japan’s members-only CELUX department store, apparently. The ultra-exclusive “shopping club” will be offering unique versions of the Nokia 7360 — a member of the chic L’Amour Collection — for just a couple weeks this month. The new variants come in pink (a slightly different scheme than the regular version for us common folk) and black. No word on pricing, but c’mon, it’s just a color change… it’d better not be much more than the standard-issue piece.

[Via Hypebeast, thanks Eric]

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End users are still in for a bit of a wait, but tinkerers, devs, and 1337 hax0rz should soon be able to get their hands on FIC’s Linux-based Neo1973 handset. The device, getting thrown together courtesy of the OpenMoko project with the goal of open-sourcing both the phone and the platform, will drop first in $200 “Hacker’s Lunchbox” trim (for the aforementioned hackers) late this month featuring a seemingly bombproof plastic box to hold your GPLed bundle of joy and its dev tools. This fall — September, if OpenMoko’s prediction holds up — the retail version will follow on for $350 with a variety of bundled accessories (though not the pictured car mount, which’ll run an extra $75), faster processor, and possibly a cam or integrated WiFi. Why not both, FIC? Go crazy!

[Via LinuxDevices.com]

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This reminds us a little bit of voice-to-SMS — it’s a feature that’s been perverted in such a way that the original intent has been somehow lost in translation. Don’t get us wrong; with HSDPA, 2 megapixel cam, and A2DP, the EV-W100 from KTF is nice and all (it is, after all, a Korean handset), but the draw here seems to be special software that’ll replace the outgoing video on video calls with an animated avatar as a “security” measure. Now if we’re not mistaken, it takes two to tango when it comes to video calling, so why not just not hold a video call if you’re concerned about the peeps on the other end seeing what’s going on? No bother; we guess it’s pretty cool that a talking pig is one of the avatar choices.

[Via textually.org]

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Never mind 3GSM — for Taiwan’s E-TEN, the big news is happening at CeBIT this month in Hannover. Despite being pretty active in the Windows Mobile arena as of late, there are two big things E-TEN has failed to do thus far: 3G data and Windows Mobile 6, and they intend to rectify both of those grave injustices with a new “glofiish”-branded handset to be introduced at Europe’s largest consumer electronics tradeshow. That’s all we have at the moment, but we’re guessing that anonymizing mosaic on the left of the CeBIT invite here is the device in question.

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We don’t know where the information came from and (as ever) we can’t be absolutely certain that it’s genuine, but over the last few days a range of specific details on some previously rumored HTC mobiles have turned up in data sheet and picture form over at PDAdb.net. First up is the HTC P6500 Sirius: a quad band, WiFi and EDGE device that runs Windows Mobile 6, has a 400MHz Samsung processor, a 3.5-inch QVGA display, and also comes with 256MB and 64MB of RAM and ROM respectively. Next up is the HTC S420 Erato flip smartphone, which could potentially be the successor to the Star Trek. This 99 gram, 2.4-inch screen flipper should come with the same 400MHz CPU and Windows Mobile 6 operating system as the Sirius, but adds features like UMTS and HSDPA connectivity, an FM radio receiver, SiRF Star III GPS, and a 2 megapixel shooter. Finally there’s the touchscreen featured (but stylus lacking) HTC S730 Wings which shares the same CPU, operating system, connectivity, screen, camera, GPS, and storage as the Sirius. In fact, the only difference we can tell between the two is the addition of WiFi, the exclusion of FM, and a different form factor to accommodate a slide-out QWERTY keypad. PDAdb quotes possible release dates for these unannounced and currently rumored devices as August for the Sirius, April for the Erato, and July for the Wings. You can’t get a more detailed “rumor” than that.

[Via GSMArena]

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Sure, the details vary a little bit from jeweler to jeweler, but the result is always the same: a standard-issue phone that’s been taken to excessively opulent extremes thanks to an excess of gems and rare earth elements. This time around, the phone is Nokia’s already expensive 8800, and the culprit is ISSE of Russia. The handset is naturally covered in gold or silver, while optional heated enamel can add a shade of color to the phone that takes away any resemblance of precious metal. Tack on a few carats of diamonds, rubies, garnets, or whatever, slap it in a box made of “rare timber,” and call it good. In our opinion, any self-respecting individual with too much cash for their own good would seek out the newer Sirocco Edition of the 8800, but that’s just us.

[Via Unwired View]