LG previews the T375 and T385 feature phones

This year’s Mobile World Congress for LG has been all about their recently announced Android smartphones; the most notable mentions being their LG Optimus Vu, which features a massive 5-inch display, the Optimus 4X HD with a quad-core processor, the Optimus 3D Max, which is a successor to the Optimus 3D and their L-Style smartphones. However, LG have also previewed two other handsets, but these do not fall in the smartphone category, rather in the feature phone category of mobiles. The handsets that were previewed at the MWC event in Barcelona were the T375, a dual-SIM handset and the T385, a Wi-Fi handset.

Dual-SIM capabilities found here

A report by GSMArena states that these handsets are basically the same phone, but with a slightly different range of specifications. The website notes, “Both the T375 and T385 feature a 3.2-inch QVGA touchscreen and run LG's widget-enabled touch interface for feature phones. The phones offer GSM/EDGE connectivity along with Wi-Fi. You also get Facebook and Twitter integration along with push email to put that Internet connectivity to good use.” The other similarities in the features, include factors like - both handsets have a 2 megapixel camera, MicroSD card support, along with a 3.5mm audio jack.

Apart from the promotional video, which shows off the features of these two phones, there is no word on their pricing, but they are expected to launch sometime this month. There is no word on the exact date of availability or in which countries these handsets will be available too. But in due time all will be known.




For those who may not know, feature phones are basically mobile phones by manufacturers that are not considered to be smartphones. They may possess various features and capabilities that are not found in general mobile phones, but additional features put them slightly above basic mobile phones. They usually have a JAVA-based operating system, as opposed to Android or Windows Phone and are generally cheaper than most smartphones. 

Brands can launch these phones at a lower price point making their audience increase by quite a large margin. Let us know your thoughts on these latest feature phones by LG in the comments below.

Apple’s thinner MacBook Pros still en route for April

Despite recent reports that Intel’s next-gen Ivy Bridge chips may see an 8- to 10-week delay, which pushes the release back to June, insider sources say that Apple may still be launching the much rumored MacBook Pro refresh as early as April. Intel has staggered its shipments before and may give Apple a head start with about 900,000 units, according to DigiTimes’ sources in Apple’s upstream supply chain.


It’s been rumored that Apple will be launching a thinner, redesigned Air-like MacBook Pro starting off with the more popular 15-inch model in April and then introducing the revamped 17-inch model later. The next-gen lineup is expected to feature Intel’s Ivy Bridge chips and rumored to sport a Retina Display-like screen with 2,880 x 1,800 pixels, twice the current resolution found on the 15-inch MacBook Pro displays.
The updated MacBook Pros and new MacBook Airs along with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion will pose a significant threat to Ultrabook manufacturers that may have to wait for Intel to release its mass supply of Ivy Bridge chips in June, giving Apple a much greater head start. Ultrabooks are set on competing with Apple’s MacBook Airs, featuring ultra slim designs of 21mm or thinner and weighing no more than 3.1 pounds. However, initial Ultrabooks are still having a difficult time competing on price due to Apple’s advantage on component costs.

Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus

Really, Samsung? The Ace 2, Mini 2, S Advance and now, the Ace Plus? It's a wonder anyone at the company can still keep track. Unfortunately, this particular Android offshoot is a bit of a stinker, saddled with a pitiful 3.65-inch 480 x 320 display that does the opposite of the usual, saturated OLED-impress, offering no other spec distraction from its lower pixel density. Like its aforementioned cousins, the device runs a TouchWiz skin atop Android Gingerbread 2.3.6, powered by a single 1GHz processor that does an acceptable job moving things along without that essential dual-core briskness. And while Sammy's plastic builds are normally balanced out by superior software performance, here the chintzy look and feel of the unit and its overgrown silver trim further confirm its place as a budget entry. For now, the phone appears to be an overseas-only affair, as it's already hit global markets this past January. Follow on past the break for a video tour of this forgettable pint-sizer.

Toshiba Excite tablet to launch March 6 for $530

Toshiba has announced that its Excite 10 LE tablet, formerly called the Excite X10, will be arriving in stores March 6, coincidentally just one day ahead of the iPad 3 event. Perhaps due to the extreme bulkiness of the Toshiba Thrive, the company has taken a 180 with the Excite 10 LE, designing it to be the world’s thinnest and lightest tablet. Toshiba had originally said the tablet would launch sometime in February, but perhaps waited for more iPad 3 speculation to be confirmed.


The Excite 10 LE boasts a 7.7mm thin chassis and weighs just 535 grams or about 1.18lbs. It features a 10.1-inch IPS touchscreen display with a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution, a 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMPA 4430 processor, 1GB of RAM, and options for 16GB or 32GB storage, expandable with microSD card slot. It also has a front-facing 2-megapixel camera and a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera capable of 1080p video recording.
Other features include GPS, Bluetooth, stereo speakers, micro USB, and HDMI. The tablet, however, will only offer WiFi, there’s no 3G or 4G cellular radio. The 16GB model is priced at $529, while the 32GB model is priced at $599. The tablet will ship with Android 3.2 Honeycomb, but Toshiba promises an Android 4.0 update in the spring.

Apple’s market value reaches $500 billion

Apple’s market value peaked today, reaching $500 billion, a place not many have gone nor managed to stay for long. The company is already the most valuable in the world and the gap between it and second place Exxon continues to widen as investors jump on the bandwagon of Apple’s recent holiday success and enticed by the possibility of Apple instituting a dividend. Today’s milestone makes Apple only the sixth US corporation to have reached the $500 billion mark.


Individual Apple shares had just surpassed the $500 mark two weeks ago and they continue to rise, reaching $542.41 per share late this morning with the company’s market capitalization near $506 billion. This stock jump comes just a day after Apple sent out invitations for its iPad 3 event scheduled to take place next Wednesday, March 7.
Apple was going neck and neck with Exxon for much of last year, but had blown past the oil company last month by nearly $100 billion. Exxon is now worth about $407 billion and had reached the $500 billion mark for two brief periods in 2007. Microsoft had hit the $500 billion mark briefly in 1999 and again in early 2000, but is now worth $267 billion. Cisco, Intel, and GE had also hit the $500 billion mark in early 2000 with Cisco and Intel now worth a little over $100 billion each, while GE is worth about $200 billion.

Sharp AQUOS SH-06D arrives from Japan

Sharp's AQUOS SH-06D will most probably never leave the Land of The Rising Sun. That doesn't stop us, however, from lusting after its 4.5-inch. This 720p display also manages 3D, spread across a slinky 10mm frame that houses NTT DoCoMo's recently launched NOTTV streaming broadcast system. The device arrives in pink, white and blue options -- all provided with a matching dock and built-in aerial. Like several eastern phones with the ability to tune into live TV broadcasts, the AQUOS SH-06D has its own extendable antenna built into the side. The device, despite its largely plastic build felt solid in our hand, although the minuscule power and volume buttons proved difficult to manipulate at times. The screen technology is still a closely guarded secret, but it aims to bring both 3D functionality alongside a crisp HD display performance during two-dimensional antics. Viewing angles are great -- a welcome trend we've seen on plenty of handsets at this year's MWC -- but the heavily customized Android 2.3 skin took away some of that sheen. Applications are stowed away into several drop-down menus that took some getting used to -- regardless of any language barrier. Sharp hasn't revealed any plans to join its Japanese competitors in the frenzied global smartphone market, but some import options wouldn't go amiss. See why in our hands-on right after the break.

MLB at Bat 2012 app out for iDevices and Android, brings in-app monthly subscriptions to iOS

It's that time of year when the hot stove league gives way to spring training, and people start talking less about things like El Hombre's move to LA and more about batting averages and home runs. Thus, MLB has unleashed the MLB At Bat 2012 app to keep you up to date on your favorite squads and stars, and unlike previous iOS iterations, this time it's free. That gratis version gives users limited info (scores, standings, news, and team content), but those willing to drop $14.99 get full access for the year, which includes audio game casts, live game video look-ins and the game of the day. Additionally, there's a $2.99 monthly subscription option if you find forking over for the full season distasteful. Unlike the iOS version, Android users currently only have the $14.99 option, though the same interface is present in both apps to provide a consistent UX. Subscribers of MLB.tv get all of what At Bat 2012 has to offer for free, with Android users gaining access through the existing At Bat Lite app. Sound good? Head on down to the source and get your download on.

Samsung flexible OLED gadgets incoming this year

Samsung is mass producing flexible OLED displays for products still on track for release in 2012, the company has confirmed, though the exact extent to which they actually bend will depend on more than just the panels themselves. Samsung Mobile Display’s assistant president confirmed the sales plans this week, Asia Economy Park News reports, insisting that “flexible displays will be commercialized within a year.” The initial implementations are expected to include smartphones and tablets.


According to the SMD exec, exactly how flexible the displays end up being will be a matter of the substrate selected, among other things. Although the dream of bendable screens has been a pull-out panel that can offer both a large viewing area and a small gadget size, there are also potential implementations in devices that have wraparound panels or touchscreens that contort to suit the shape of a device.
In fact, Samsung has already experimented with curved screens, with its so-called Contour Display technology as seen on the Galaxy Nexus. That has a slight bend to the lower portion of the screen, intending it to be more easily used with a single hand.
However, what we’d really like to see is something like Nokia’s GEM concept, a phone clad entirely in touch-sensitive display panels, or indeed a production version of Samsung’s own folding MID concept from earlier last year. The company has been pushing the envelope with AMOLED screen sizes in recent months, such as the huge Galaxy Note, and is expected to use another large panel for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S III.

iRobot reorganizes, forms new unit focused on Ava and other emerging technologies

iRobot has been branching out from its traditional household and military robots for quite a while, and it looks like it's now officially embracing those activities as a core part of its business. The company announced a reorganization (or "strategic realignment") today that will see it comprised of three different business units: Home Robots, Military Robots and Emerging Technologies. That last group includes things like the Ava mobile robotics platform, which iRobot hopes will eventually be used in everything from healthcare to retail to security applications. Alongside that news, the company also announced a bit of an exec shakeup, with Home Robots President Jeffrey Beck being named Chief Operating Officer, and former COO Joseph Dyer switching roles to become Chief Strategy Officer. The company's official announcement can be found after the break.

AMD buys SeaMicro to enter cloud server business

Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices has announced today that it is buying server startup SeaMicro for $334 million in a bold and surprising move to bolster its server business against long-time rival Intel. AMD has failed to secure a spot in the mobile space and now hopes to double down on its server business with SeaMicro, which specializes in highly dense and power-efficient servers for large-scale cloud computing.


AMD is interested in SeaMicro’s core IP, which has to do with a customized chip that can handle the networking demands of more than 500 chips, all packed into a very tight space. SeaMicro was able to eliminate all but three of the chips on a standard server motherboard, which yielded servers that consumed only a quarter of the power and one sixth of the space of traditional x86 servers. AMD hopes to license the technology to other server vendors.
The acquisition will be a blow to Intel, which had a close partnership with SeaMicro and even developed a special version of its Atom processor for the SeaMicro servers. AMD expects to close the deal in March and will be paying $281 million in cash with the remainder paid in stock.

Samsung Galaxy Beam set for summer 2012 release in the UK

If you found Samsung’s combination of a pico projector and Android smartphone interesting (if not overly utilitarian), you weren’t alone. And sooner than later, you’ll be able to pick one up if you live in the UK. Samsung has announced that it intends to sell the Galaxy Beam starting in July for £385 unlocked, which is just over $600 USD. The company says that it will partner with multiple British cellular carriers to subsidize the phone, but wouldn’t say which ones.

The Galaxy Beam combines a mid-range Android smartphone with a tiny projector recessed into its top side. The lamp is 15 lumens – low by projector standards, but plenty bright enough to see in even moderate indoor light. The 640×480 image can be projected up to 50 inches, with a focus function built into the volume buttons on the side of the phone. The screen on the front is a 4-inch TFT – not huge by Android standards, but big enough. Speaking of Android, the now-outdated Gingerbread runs with TouchWiz on top and a 1.0Ghz dual-core processor underneath. The rear camera is five megapixels with a 1.4 front-megapixel front camera to boot.
The 2000mAh battery is massive by mid-range standards – the better to power the projector. Samsung claims that the lamp inside will last 20,000 hours, much longer than the standard two-year contract. This isn’t the first cell phone to cram a micro-projector into its case (not even the first Samsung cell phone to do so) but it is the first to bring Android along for the ride. And even with a lamp, lens and battery, the profile is still an impressive 12.5mm thin, about the same same size as the original Motorola DROID. Interested? Check out our hands-on look at the Galaxy Beam from Mobile World Congress.

Withings Baby Monitor makes its official, expensive US debut

The Withings Baby Monitor has already been available in the UK for sometime now and recently made a splash over at the FCC. Now the iOS accessory is finally for sale here in the good ol' US-of-A, for the rather staggering price of $299. That's right, this sensor-packed web cam probably costs more than your handset. Then again, that $20 set of audio-only monitors you picked up at Walmart can't keep you abreast of the temperature and humidity in your child's sleeping quarters or let you watch your newborn sleep with the aid of a night vision mode. You can get the associated WithBaby app for free in the iTunes App Store now. The only question is, whether or not you love your baby enough to spend $300 on an iPhone accessory. We won't judge you either way. Check out the PR after the break.