Nokia officially announced its first touchscreen handsetthe Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is the first mobile device running the 5th Edition of Nokia’s Series 60 OS. And with it comes two new features that Nokia’s trying to promote as the handset’s strengths.

New Features

First, there’s the Media Bar, which Nokia calls “a handy drop down menu that provides direct access to music and entertainment, including favourite tracks, videos and photos.” It also offers a direct link to the Internet and online sharing sites. Then there’s the Contacts Bar, which again according to Nokia, “lets consumers highlight four favorite contacts on their home-screen and, through a single touch, track a digital history of recent text messages, emails, phone logs, photos and blog updates.”

Music and Multimedia

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic comes with all the basics you’d expect to find in a multimedia-oriented handset: graphic equalizer, 8GB memory, support for all main digital music formats, and a 3.5mm jack. Nokia also claims that it will have built-in surround sound stereo speakers that offer the industry’s most powerful sound.

Touchscreen Display, Camera and Connectivity

The touchscreen display on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic measures 3.2-inches and has a 16:9 aspect ratio, which makes it widescreen and capable of 30 FPS video playback and recording. Recording can be done, of course, via the built-in 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash. It comes with one-touch sharing to Ovi, Flickr, or Facebook. Input is done via its virtual alphanumeric keypad, virtual QWERTY keyboard, a pen stylus, or plectrum (otherwise known as a flatpick, for “true music enthusiasts”). GPS, as well as Bluetooth, 3G, and Wi-Fi will be found on board.

Release Date and Pricing

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic will be released some time in Q4 2008, and will retail for 279 EUR (about $385 USD) before taxes and subsidies. The version with “Comes With Music,” meanwhile, won’t be available until next year, for a still to be determined price. And as an XpressMusic device, it will be available in Blue and Red variants.

Emoze is a free secure push email service for mobile users all over the world.Emoze has recently announced the latest version 2.0 that supports multiple mobile email accounts, optimized battery performance and even better user experience.

Emoze supports Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Exchange, Lotus notes and POP3 email services such as Yahoo and Gmail. It is available for a range of popular devices including iPhone, Nokia N95, HTC Touch Diamond and other Symbian, Java and Windows Mobile devices. It is network independent and works with any network connection such as WCDMA/UMTS, WiFi, WiMax, GPRS (2.5G), 3G, EDGE and CDMA.

Visit Emoze and downlord.

LG Electronics (LG), a worldwide technology and design leader in mobile communications, announced the official launch of itsLG Renoir (LG KC910), a slim yet feature-packed full touchscreen 8 megapixel multimedia phone.LG KC910 is finally available in Europe. Asia and Latin America will follow in November. Africa and the Middle East are next in December while China will get it in January.

Here are the official features of the Renoir:

• Wi-Fi
• A-GPS
• 3G via HSDPA
• 8 megapixel camera
• DivX video and Dolby sound
• 3 inch, 240 x 400 touchscreen display
• 3.95 mm thick

LG will also launch another 8 megapixel handset in October, its super slim 13.70 mm slider, the LG-KC780. This phone will have a number of built-in features that make it a great on-the-go companion for taking portraits.

Via LG

Leap Wireless, owner of Cricket, announced today the introduction of Cricket PAYGo presented as a non-stop and unlimited prepaid wireless service.

With this daily pay-as-you-go offering, Cricket’s users can enjoy the benefits of traditional pre-paid services at a convenient price. For the moment, there are only three mobile phones that can be bought together with Cricket PAYGo: the Cricket EZ candybar, Samsung MyShot and UTStarcom CDM7126 (the last two being clamshells). None of the three phones are high-end, but Cricket was never the carrier to offer these kinds of devices.

Cricket PAYGo comes with the choice of three rate plans: $1 per day, $2 per day or $3 per day. The cheapest rate plan includes unlimited local calling plus “voicemail, caller ID and three-way calling”, while the expensive one (if we can call $3 expensive) adds unlimited text / picture messaging as well as unlimited US long distance calls, international text to more than 100 countries, and mobile Web and directory assistance. Consumers will be charged only for the days they make use of the service, of course.

Cricket PAYGo phones can be found in about 1,600 locations from across the US. By the end of this week, the handsets should also be sold via Cricket stores and dealers from Cincinnati/Dayton, Houston and Savannah/Hilton Head.

SocialLife is a new application from Verizon Wireless which acts as a mobile gateway that connects users to popular social networking sites. Like any other service, this is quite an affordable application. For $1.49 per month you will be able to go to any of the following social networking sites:Myspace,Photobucket,Livejournal,AsianAve,BlackPlanet,FaithBase, GLEE,MiGente,Rabble and MTV Tr3s.Users can also easily upload their photos directly from the application, without connecting their phone to a PC.

But where’s the support for Facebook,Twitter,and other sites people actually use?

It was only a couple of weeks ago that iPhone OS 2.1 officially launched. The next version iPhone 2.2 and there’s a beta 1 available for developers. What are we going to get from the new version? We don’t exactly know, but since Apple is moving so fast we should expect some decent changes to emerge.

via BGR

Today Sony Ericsson announced the launch of PlayNow plus, a super fast, high quality music download service for Sony Ericsson users, available for use on both phones and PCs.
PlayNow  plus is due to set a new standard for the unlimited mobile music experience, with unrivalled download speeds, high-quality audio and access to the largest music catalogue of any unlimited download service. The service draws from Sony Ericsson’s collaboration with Omnifone and licensing terms have been agreed with all major international music labels-including EMI, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music - as well as thousands of local music labels.

PlayNow plus will guarantee truly unlimited, ‘all-you-can-eat’ access to millions of music tracks. While in the service, subscribers will be able to recommend their music tastes to others in the PlayNow plus community, and at the end of their contract they will keep a number of tracks-DRM-free-from their most played favourites.

PlayNowc plus is designed as the world’s easiest unlimited music service to manage as whatever you do on either your phone or your PC may be reflected on the other device. To add to the discovery and community aspects of PlayNow  plus, TrackID  charts, generated by Sony Ericsson consumers around the world, are also included. To kick-start the PlayNow  plus experience right out of the box, Sony Ericsson plans to include, as part of the service, up to 1000 of recent popular tracks, both locally and globally, with each PlayNow plus phone.

The service is due to launch commercially with operator Telenor in Sweden in the fourth quarter of this year, with further roll-outs around the world beginning in early 2009. A special edition of the Sony Ericsson W902 Walkman  phone will be the first product released with an integrated PlayNow  plus service.