Mobiles

Mobile.Gadgets has pictures of a new Nokia phone they are calling the Nokia Neo. It reportedly has no harddisk, but merely a not-hot-swappable SD/MMC slot; it's "special feature" is an iPod-like interface. We think that the wheel is horrendous for a mobile phone. Even though mobile.gadgets notes that "entering a phone number is alright", the fact is that it will be harder, and even a perfect fascimile of the ipod interface is virtually *uselesss* for a device which only has an SD/MMC. You simply don't need that level of control. This is the second Nokia (and probably the second phone, ever) with a touchpad like device, the first being the Nokia 7280, but at least that one is tiny. Anyhow, have a look at the pictures.

F-secure is reporting that there is a new symbian trojan, called Skulls Trojan, which replaces all system applications with non-functional versions thereby disabling phone functionality. Icons will appear as the image on your left. To avoid it, do not install the Extended Theme Manager" by "Tee-222."

Their recommended fix is to use their product, and this seems like the best bet. If, however, you do not have web access from your phone, you cannot connect your phone to a computer, and the information on your phone is not vital, you can probably get away with reformatting it.

I wonder how long it takes before the number of Symbian trojans/viruses overtakes the number of Macintosh viruses; and if that is a good or bad thing...

Updated:
The Nokia USA Site is reporting that the Nokia 7610b is now available for purchase from Cingular Wireless. The phone is definitely available from Amazon.com with (USD 449.99) and without (USD 519.99) a contract from Cingular.

The 7610b is substantially similar to the 7610 ( our review here), with the same form factor & features, except that it works in the 850Mhz band. It also uses RH-52 firmware instead of RH-51 for the 7610. After you get it; remember to look at our Nokia 7610 User Guide!

You can contact Teravit if you have specific questions; they claim that actual prices have not been confirmed.