cell

SAN JOSE, Calif.--The biggest battery hog in your mobile phone is the screen, especially if it's a thin-film transistor liquid crystal display. (That's TFT-LCD, for the acronym loyalists out there.) Many of the companies gathered for iSuppli's Flat Information Displays Conference 2006 here are looking for ways around this. Some say that means using a different technology for the screen; others say there's no need to do so.

A company called Clairvoyante has come up with a different way to render pixels to save power, increase brightness and resolution and be able to show video … Read more

By launching the Motorola i880 today, Sprint Nextel proves that all work and no play make a dull cell phone user. Offering a 2-megapixel camera, an MP3 player, and external music controls, the i880 has a bit more pizzazz than previous Nextel models, while still offering the same business-friendly accoutrements customers of the carrier have come to expect. The bulky design also is signature Nextel, while the eggplant-like color adds a bit of style. On the downside, the internal memory is small and music quality is so-so, but overall it's a quality addition to Nextel's lineup. You can … Read more

Is that a cell phone in your garter or you just happy to see us? Sorry, we couldn't resist.

Put on this black velvet cell phone garter and you'll feel ready for anything, says the blurb on A Little Lingerie Company, which sells the holder for $34. It's "ultra sexy with slit skirts or minis, or wear it over jeans," suggests the site. OK, the jeans look might be a little too Madonna in 1986 for our taste, but we can see some appeal in the whole accessorizing-like-Lara-Croft thing.

The elasticized band can hold most … Read more

You can use your cell phone to send funny pictures to your friends, watch preview clips of your favorite TV shows, and vote for "American Idol" contestants. And now, you can buy turkeys with your phone too.

It's actually much deeper than that; I just thought that saying "buy a turkey with your cell phone" sounded funny. In actuality, this is part of Text-a-Turkey, a collaboration between mobile food ordering company Mobo and New York anti-hunger activist organization City Harvest to provide Thanksgiving dinners to New York City's neediest families. If you're a … Read more

It's taken them a long time, but Sprint has finally decided that the still-popular Motorola Razr is a must-have. Today the carrier put on sale its signature versions of the Motorola Razr V3m and the Motorola Krzr K1m. Both handsets should share the same basic feature set and design as their Verizon counterparts, but Sprint promises that its exclusive Power Vision programming will be a strong differentiator. The Razr V3m is $49.99 with service, while the Krzr is a pricier $199 with service. Sprint already offers the special-edition red Razr V3m.

Though the Razr family is beginning to … Read more

Auto-roaming around the globe may finally be getting closer.

ZDNet Korea, one of our sister sites, says a new phone released by Samsung on the SK Telecom network can handle CDMA, European GSM and Japan's JCDMA standards. That means the SCH-V920 pretty much works in Asia, Australia, North America and South America. You'd be out of luck in Gabon, but for most business trips or vacations you wouldn't have to worry about renting a phone at the airport.

The $500 phone also comes with an MP3 player, a 1.3-megapixel camera and an electronic translator that can … Read more

Maybe it's the influence of the fall leaves turning, but we're apparently obsessed with color this weekend. In the world of Crave, however, hues are rarely autumnal. Unless you consider pink an earth tone.

This mobile phone does, at least, have a seasonal feel. Gadget Candy says O2 has added some distinct pigment to its phones with the "Cool Blue Ice" handset, which comes with the line's standard MP3 player and 1.3-megapixel camera. If you want a more traditional wintry look, you might opt for the original snow-white O2 Ice.

(Photo: Gadget Candy)

There are several very interesting location-recording Web sites right now, like Platial, 43 Places, Wayfaring and Flagr. They all record locations and let you tell a story about them. EveryTrail, a new site in early development, adds a wrinkle: It will record your path between waypoints, not just the stops you make.

Why would you want this? To record a favorite hike or bike ride, perhaps. This site lets you share your route with others, for those trips where the point is the traveling.

EveryTrail requires that you have a way to record your movements, of course. You'll need … Read more

Motorola's designers have been busy creating products that appeal to drivers. First we reported on the Moto T605 music and hands-free system that lets drivers stream audio files wirelessly from their Bluetooth 2.0-enabled cell phones and MP3 players. And now, Motorola is launching iRadio--its own music subscription service that looks like a cross between iTunes and satellite radio.

iRadio enables owners of select Motorola devices equipped with the stereo Bluetooth profile (such as the Motorola Q) to compile their own commercial-free playlists of songs from an online database and then use their mobile devices to stream the music … Read more