Looks like jeans legend Levi Strauss will be attempting to enter the oversaturated cellphone market by releasing a handset of their own this September at a yet undisclosed price. What we do know is this Levi’s cellphone will come with a microSD memory card slot, a 2 megapixel camera, a built-in MP3 player, Bluetooth connectivity, and an 1.8″ color display. Release date has tentatively been set at sometime this September, although pricing details have yet to be disclosed. I wonder whether this handset will come in a special denim case just like certain Levi’s glasses.

http://www.uberphones.com/2007/06/from_jeans_to_phones/

Samsung intros “miniskirt” C220 slider phone

Samsung continued its drive towards slimmer phones on Thursday morning with the C220. Nicknamed the “miniskirt” in part for the hint of the sliding keypad underneath, the handset is one of the Korean designer’s slimmer fashion phones at 10.9mm (0.43 inches) thick in an iPod-like white color. Form is also backed up by function, Samsung claims. Incorporating a 2-megapixel camera and MP3 playback, the C220 also shares features often left out of its class, such as GPS navigation and a dictionary. Bluetooth with A2DP audio and mobile broadband access are also part of the package.

The phone is available today as the C220 through Korea’s SK Telecom for slightly under $540 without discounts and should reach other national providers KTF as the C2200 and LG Telecom as the C2250. A release of the phone outside of its Korean home is possible, but currently unlikely.

http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/05/31/samsung.c220/ 

Whispers abound that Playboy is about to launch itself into the mobile phone market, with LG, Motorola and Siemens (well, whaddaya know?) most likely front-runners to carry the iconic bunny badge on their mobiles. Anyone have any questions? I know I do…

1. Is the Playboy phone aimed at anyone else apart from tweenagers and 25-year-old male virgins?
2. Will it come in pink?
3. Will it have a larger-than-normal earset?
4. Just how seismic will the vibrate mode be?
5. Are you going to have “ringmoans” instead of ringtones?
6. How about free calls to sexy chat line operators?
7. Why didn’t you just stick a keyboard on a dildo and have done with it?

Gizmodo.com

With all eyes on the Apple iPhone it seems Google is about to pull a nice publicity stunt with the launch of a Google Phone from LG.

To be available in Europe the Google phone is pretty much an LG Chocolate with Google apps integrated.

Google’s strong search services are just one click away with our phone as we put a hot key that directs users to Google services in a fraction of a second,” LG official Choi Je-wook said.

“In addition, the phone provides other Google services such as e-mail (G-Mail) and map-viewing (Google Earth). We hope this will be a grand slam,” Choi said.

Features:

• Simlar to the LG Chocolate
• Price £200
• Google search hot key
• 3 Google major applications, search, email and maps, incorporated into phone
• MP3 player
• 2 megapixel camera
• Video phone
• Bluetooth

The device sports a red-on-black color scheme not unlike LG’s popular Chocolate phone, but it’s larger, sporting a 2in widescreen LCD, the better to view Google’s web properties, accessed through a fast 3G connection.

The KU-580 has an FM radio and an MP3 player - controlled with dedicated playback keys - along with Bluetooth stereo and 3D sound enhancement. LG even said it has a song-writing app for budding musos. There’s a two-megapixel camera on the back and a smaller snapper on the front for video calls.

http://www.mad4mobilephones.com/news/901/

Wow! Just when we thought Nokia was never going to get around to supporting the Mac, our Finnish friends have proved us wrong by announcing the public beta of Nokia Media Transfer. This new application ties-into some of the Mac’s major features, including iPhoto and iTunes, and operates over both Bluetooth and USB (dependent on your phone model, we guess). Supported handsets include pretty much all the Nseries but nothing else at the moment — and you need Mac OS X 10.4.9 to run the app.Some of Media Transfer’s features seem pretty cool: Mac owners are now able to transfer photos and music from their iPhoto and iTunes libraries onto their phones, and import into iPhoto back from their handset. There’s also a feature to auto-load your iTunes library onto your phone. Moreover, there is (finally!) a device browser for the Mac, something that’s been a long time coming, allowing you to delve through folders on your phone via the Mac application.

pocketpicks.co.uk