phone

Investors at Sanyo Electric may be revising their line of questioning.

Rather than ask which business unit is up for sale, Wall Street watchers may be wondering which business unit is "not" for sale.

Sanyo Electric reportedly is entertaining buyout bids from a number of players for its semiconductor business, according to a report Monday in the Wall Street Journal, which cited sources as pegging the deal beyond $859 million.

Two private equity firms--along with MKS Partners, a Japanese private equity firm--are bidding on the chip unit, the Journal reported.

Reuters, however, noted that Francisco Partners dropped out … Read more

So this week a lot happened in iPhone-land--unlocked by a Jersey boy that allows anyone to use the iPhone, on T-Mobile...right! But for would-be iPhone owners in GSM-enabled countries, this could mark a watershed. Apparently, I'm told that the menus for selecting which network you want to connect to (provided they're GSM) are already embedded in the software/OS. How interesting.

As for streaming music, Seeqpod How long this site will be around I remain unsure, but it's still pretty cool over a Wi-Fi network, but with the EDGE? This has to be tested, so … Read more

This simple app for iPhone offers up a daily quote for your entertainment. Famous philosophers, celebrities, and others are quoted each day. Flip back through previous days for more interesting quotes and use Quip's interface to send particularly interesting quotes to friends.

iPhone Link: http://onetrip.org/quip/?pass&go

Web site link http://onetrip.org/apps/?pass

SurveyGizmo for iPhone lets you create and participate in polls about anything under the sun. Match up your votes with other users about the next president of the U.S., where we go when we die, whether you're a dog or a cat person, and other funny and interesting poll questions. Results turn up in a pie graph for easy viewing.

iPhone Link: http://mobile.surveygizmo.com/

Web site link http://www.surveygizmo.com/

One of the more obvious features lacking from the iPhone has been voice recognition, especially since the iPhone is sans an actual keypad. Well the folks over at VoiceSignal have apparently developed a couple of "proof-of-concept" voice command applications and managed to transfer them over to the iPhone. VSearch lets you search for certain keywords, and VTunes lets you bring up your favorite band/artist on the music player just by saying the name. Thankfully, VoiceSignal has recorded a couple of YouTube videos demonstrating the applications, as seen here. We're curious to see if this takes off … Read more

Note: This post comes by way of Crave UK. Some links have been changed to reflect their CNET U.S. counterparts. The original post can be found here.

LG isn't renowned for high-end camera phones, but that doesn't mean that the company behind the fashion-centric Chocolate phone can't make one. It can--and it has--and no, we're not talking about the LG KG920. The LG KU990 Viewty, formerly known as the NYX, might have an awful name, but it features a whopping 5-megapixel camera with a nifty touchscreen interface and YouTube functionality.

Similar to the LG Prada phone, … Read more

A few days before Apple started selling the iPhone, I decided I wasn't going to buy one, and I said… Read more

Talk of a possible Google phone kicked up again Friday with new rumors coming out of India that the phone could be launched within two weeks.

Rediff.com reported that Google is in talks with two of the three top mobile providers in India, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, to offer the new "Gphone." The article cites unnamed sources who say the phone will also be launched simultaneously in the U.S. and Europe. The only remaining hurdle in the U.S., the story said, is approval from the Federal Communications Commission, which must certify any wireless device … Read more

One of the biggest gripes we've heard about Apple's iPhone has nothing to do with the headset itself; rather it's over the AT&Tcarrier exclusivity. While phone locking (and unlocking for that matter) is nothing new in the cell phone world, the iPhone is a special case considering how much hype still surrounds it.

That's why it was inevitable that someone would figure out how to unlock the iPhone and free it from its AT&T shackles. Though we've heard a lot of promises, mostly unfulfilled, a real, workable solution now seems to … Read more