“With the introduction of GALAXY S II LTE and GALAXY Tab 8.9 LTE, we will take the capabilities of these devices to a whole new level,” said JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business, in a statement. ”LTE redefines the user experience made possible by these devices and opens entirely new possibilities in terms of content viewing, sharing, quality and connectivity.” Shin continued, “This is a milestone in our commitment to lead the charge in 4G mobile telephony around the world, both in terms of back-end network solutions for service providers and the development of powerful consumer handsets.” Expect plenty more from these devices later this week from the annual IFA trade show in Germany. Samsung’s full press release follows below.

Samsung speeds up the Smarter Life with LTE versions of the GALAXY S II and GALAXY Tab 8.9

SEOUL–(Korea Newswire) August 28, 2011 – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading mobile phone provider, today announced LTE editions of its GALAXY S II and GALAXY Tab 8.9. These stylish devices now offer high-speed 4G connectivity in addition to power, portability and second-to-none screen technology.

“With the introduction of GALAXY S II LTE and GALAXY Tab 8.9 LTE, we will take the capabilities of these devices to a whole new level. LTE redefines the user experience made possible by these devices and opens entirely new possibilities in terms of content viewing, sharing, quality and connectivity,” said JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business.

“This is a milestone in our commitment to lead the charge in 4G mobile telephony around the world, both in terms of back-end network solutions for service providers and the development of powerful consumer handsets,” added Shin.

When connected to a 4G network, LTE technology allows portable devices to download high-quality files at speeds of up to 100Mbps, and to upload at speeds of 50Mbps theoretically – five times faster than even the quickest HSPA+ connection. This means that a four-minute long MP3 track can be downloaded in 0.3 seconds, or an entire film file in less than two minutes.

The enhanced connectivity afforded by LTE technology opens up a range of possibilities for users: Features like social gaming, video conferencing and high-quality media streaming can all be enjoyed seamlessly, with vast improvements in download times and connectivity. 4G technology also enables the seamless and near-instant sharing of multimedia content with friends and family, ensuring that users can share the experiences they love whenever they want.

The addition of LTE to the Samsung GALAXY portfolio also opens further opportunities for mobile application and content developers creating a new generation of mobile services that take full advantage of increased bandwidth and improved connectivity.

GALAXY S II LTE

In addition to offering a high standard of connectivity, the GALAXY S II LTE delivers powerful performance due to its 1.5GHz dual core processor. Superior 3D graphic performance makes games and video consumption fast and smooth, while popular Web pages like Google, Yahoo and YouTube can load easily, giving customers instant access to the information they need.

A 4.5″ Super AMOLED Plus display provides stunning visual clarity, with HD video and images taken on the device’s 8MP camera displayed in full vivid color. The GALAXY S II LTE also offers a rich content experience, with Social, Game and Music hubs all included, while the Readers Hub will be available for download after launch. These are in addition to a number of enterprise solutions aimed at increasing productivity. Running on Android 2.3, the GALAXY S II LTE is easy and intuitive to use.

Additionally, the GALAXY S II LTE can also be connected to up to eight devices via WiFi, meaning that files can be quickly and seamlessly synchronized with laptops, tablets and other Smartphones.

GALAXY Tab 8.9 LTE

The LTE edition of the GALAXY Tab 8.9 is incredibly portable, measuring just 8.6mm thin while weighing only 455g. The boosted connectivity and genuine portability ensures that the GALAXY Tab 8.9 LTE is the ideal device for modern professionals, who need to stay productive and entertained while on the move. LTE capabilities enable video conferences to be held without need to worry about failing connections, while the 8.9″ screen enables easy rendering of business content such as presentations. The TouchWiz interface enables an intuitive user experience, enhanced by the space and freedom provided by the large display.

Whether writing emails on a trip or reading an eBook in bed, the GALAXY Tab 8.9 LTE provides the ultimate tablet experience without compromising mobility.

Source

At least one handset will be given away daily, but according to the information from Motorola, 96 units of the red hot PHOTON 4G will be awarded, valued at $549.99 each. Other prizes include $100 in Live Nation Concert Cash (480 will be given out), Motorola Roadster speakers (48 will be given away, valued at $99.99 each), and both the Motorola H17txt Bluetooth Headset and Motorola Oasis Bluetooth Headset (72 of each will be awarded  as a prize, valued at $99.99 and $79.99 respectively).

Announcements about the contest will be made from Motorola’s Twitter page (@Motorola) and Facebook page (Facebook.com/Motorola). Keep checking in and who knows? You might find yourself winning one of Sprint’s hot new Android Gingerbread powered Motorola phones.

If I had $3.2 million dollars to throw away on something like a phone, I’d much rather just build an army of robot carrier pigeons to deliver all my messages by hand. Some, I suppose, prefer a bit more rationale in their complete irrational purchases – thus the existence of this $3.2 million dollar iPhone.

The man behind the bedazzler was Stuart Hughes. First he covered it in 22 cts gold plating, then slapped on a total of 190 diamonds – 136 on the front, 53 flawless diamonds on the logo, and one big ol’ 7.1 cts diamond replacing the home button.

If only the“I Am Rich” application hadn’t been pulled off the app store, we could totally make a “There’s an App for that!” joke.

Today Nokia announced the 5330 Mobile TV Edition, a new phone that features DVB-H technology, allowing users to watch TV shows while on the go. The handset also comes with Nokia’s Electronic Program Guide (EPG), which lets you create personal channel lists.

The other specs of 5330 Mobile TV Edition are similar to the ones included in the Nokia 5330 XpressMusic: 2.4 inch QVGA display, 3G, 3.5mm headset jack, 3.2MP camera, access to Ovi Store, YouTube, Facebook and MySpace.

Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition will be available for €155 ($232). Nokia didn’t say when exactly the phone will hit the market.

Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks currently provide Mobile TV services in Austria, Finland, Netherland, Switzerland, Italy, India, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria and Philippines. Nokia expects to complete commercial launches in over 20 new countries in the next 12-18 months.

It’s estimated that more than 300 million people worldwide will watch TV on their mobile phones by 2012.

Bellperre announced the availability of a new luxury phone series, made out of “the very finest authentic materials”, including hand-crafted wood (Walnut, Elm, Zebrano or Wenge).

The new Finest Woods Bellperre phones weigh 120 grams and measure 100 x 44 x 15,3 mm each, and can be customized with hand-polished Steel, Yellow Gold, Rosé Gold or Platinum. 110 types of genuine exotic leathers can be added (shark, lizard, alligator or buffalo). Moreover, Bellperre can add “diamonds and gemstones or initials, logos or personal messages on request.”

Feature-wise, the Bellperre phones offer tri-band GSM connectivity 900/1800/1900, a 2 inch Sapphire Crystal scratch-resistant display, stereo Bluetooth, email and a version of Windows Mobile.

Bellperre says that its phones are handmade in Holland. No word on the price of the new luxury handsets, but interested customers should try and contact the manufacturer via its official website.

In the market for an over-priced luxury handset? Do you equate luxury with a brand name, snakeskin, perhaps even a feature phone with all but the barest of “features?” You’re in luck! Once again looking to give Vertu a run for its money, Tag Heuer has upped the ante with its newest, the Meridiist Automobili Lamborghini. In addition to that world famous 1.9-inch sapphire crystal display, 2 megapixel camera, media player, Bluetooth, and roughly seven hours of talk time, this guy throws the Lamborghini logo into the mix. Available in a limited edition of 1963 (the date that its namesake was first sold), look for it sometime this month at selected TAG Heuer and Lamborghini retailers — which we’re sure you frequent anyways. PR after the break.

Remember the Motorola Aura, the uber-expensive luxury phone announced by Moto last year and promoted by David Beckham? Well, Moto has announced an even more expensive Aura, called Motorola Aura Diamond Edition.

The new Aura is plated with 18 carat gold and has 34 diamonds, 30 of which are embedded above and bellow the phone’s circular display.

Specs-wise, the Aura offers quad-band GSM/EDGE connectivity, CrystalTalk technology, stereo Bluetooth, Music and video players, email, web browser, 2MP camera and 2GB of internal memory.

Motorola Aura Diamond Edition should be available starting October 26. As for the price, well, the phone costs no less than £3,500 (about €3,815 or $5,730).

If luxury phones aren’t your thing, you should know that Motorola is getting ready to launch the Motorola Droid (via Verizon), which should be the company’s flagship Android phone.

Christian Dior, the famous French fashion house, is getting ready to launch new luxury phones for the Holidays. Apparently, all these new handsets will be clamshells – just like the first model.

Two of the upcoming phones should be gold plated, black PVD coated and encrusted with sapphire crystals; they’ll cost $6,500 each.

Other two phones – a red one called Zelie and a white one called Zenaide – will be encrusted with diamonds. They should be priced at $7,900 and $13,400 respectively.

Finally, there will also be a Christian Dior Naicre phone, coming with a mother-of-pearl casing and costing $8,700.

The new Christian Dior phones should be available for purchase in December this year.

The Mobiado Grand 350 Pioneer is designed in honor of the Pioneer 10 probe, which became the first man-made object to pass the asteroid belt. Therefore, it’s natural to make the phone out of a real meteorite (the back cover anyway).

A meteorite surely tops all the mundane materials such as gold, leather and wood that we’ve seen on luxurious mobile phones – and we’ve seen our share of those.

Usually ultra expensive phones come with entry-level functionality. The Mobiado Grand 350 Pioneer however is actually very well equipped. It has a QWERTY keyboard, quad-band GSM, dual-band 3G with HSDPA, Wi-Fi and integrated GPS. The QVGA screen has a 2.36″ diagonal and displays up to 16M colors.

There’s also a 3.2 megapixel camera along with Bluetooth, microSD card slot, microUSB port and 2.5mm jack. These spec make the Mobiado Pioneer sound almost… uh, dare we say it – practical?

The weight of 217 grams might be a problem though. The dimensions, however, are quite reasonable – 114.1 mm x 57.4 mm x 12.1 mm. The materials used to manufacture the 350 Pioneer (besides the meteorite, of course) include lavish use of “spacecraft aluminum” and ruby and sapphire. There’s also a goatskin leather carrying pouch included in the retail package (somebody hear animal rights activists roar with disgust?).

The Mobiado Grand 350 Pioneer is dedicated to the Pioneer 10 probe, which launched 37 years ago. A total of 37 phones were made to celebrate each of those years. Buyers will find the limited edition number engraved the right side of the phone, while on the left side you can see the exact time of the launch of the probe from Cape Canaveral. The infamous Pioneer plaque is engraved on the back of the Grand 350, with a Mobiado twist.

And just to give you a little background on the meteorite used for the back panel – the Gibeon meteorite was discovered in Namibia by an English captain named J. E. Alexander in 1836. Herschel confirmed that the rocks were from outer space. Scientists even traced the meteorite’s origins to the Jupiter’s asteroid belt, making the choice quite fitting indeed.

You should also know that when entering the Earth’s atmosphere, the meteorite broke up into numerous pieces spread over hundreds of kilometers, so Mobiado didn’t rob a museum or anything to get a piece for their 37 Mobiado Grand 350 Pioneers.

The interesting part is that the meteorite composition (90% iron, 8% nickel and traces of cobalt and phosphorus) is the reason for the formation of a special pattern on its surface called Widmanstatten figures. The same figures are clearly visible on the back of the Mobiado Grand 350 Pioneer as well. And when you geeks, stop drooling over it, remember it’s only a simple luxurious phone we’re speaking about here, not some tech fare prize winning stuff – so get yourself together.

Today, LG officially announced the LG GD510 Pop … again. This time they gave green light to the in-depth explanation of the Pop’s eco-friendly nature.

So what is all this fuss about? According to the new info, the GD510 Pop is an environmentally conscious phone from the ground up – starting with the materials used, going through the production process and ending with the product disposal.

The LG GD510 Pop packaging is made from recycled paper with soy ink printing. The battery charger cuts off power supply once the phone is fully charged, while the phone alerts the user to unplug the charger.

Pre-installed applications like Eco-tree and Eco-calculator under the phone’s CO2 menu allow people to track how much they have reduced CO2 emissions just by taking the train instead the car, for instance.

The most important eco feature of the LG Pop however is its optional solar-powered battery cover that uses the power of the sun to charge the phone. According to the official information, it appears to be more efficient than the oneof its rival Samsung Blue Earth. Ten minutes of sunlight exposure should provide the LG Pop user with up to 2 minutes 15 seconds of talk time or up to 180 minutes of standby time – that’s impressively efficient.

But turning our attention aside from the eco nature of the Pop, the new LG touch phone is also impressive design-wise – with a thickness of only 11.2mm.

While we’re quite fascinated by the single receiver key design, we still can’t figure out how you’re supposed to reject an incoming call with it.

Specs-wise it has been confirmed that the phone will not have 3G support, but the rest of the specifications remain the same: 3″ WQVGA resistive TFT display, 3 MP camera with fixed focus and video recording, Bluetooth, microUSB slot, and FM radio – not much different than LG Cookie.

The LG GD510 will be available in Europe beginning in mid-October (which means right about now), with other markets following soon. The solar panel battery cover will be sold as an optional accessory and its price (much like the price of the LG Pop itself) will be market and region dependent.