Fashion Mobile Phones

The Giorgio Armani Samsung

It`s reminiscent of the older Samsung credit card phones, like the P300, until you turn it on. Like the older phone, the Armani phone is a small, thin slab, though the Armani phone relies on a touch interface instead of buttons. The phone comes with a clip-on wallet for protection, but unfortunately this does not provide extra power, unlike the Samsung UpStage’s folder.
The Armani phone’s interface is similar to the menus on the Ultra Smart F700. A three by four grid, each column and row is lit by a band of color that highlights your choice, creating a cross effect. The phone uses haptic feedback, buzzing slightly to indicate it has accepted your input, and the screen seemed very receptive to our touch.
The small phone doesn’t skimp on features either. Besides the 2.6-inch touch screen, the phone features a 3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth and USB in 2.0 flavors, and A2DP for stereo music over Bluetooth headsets. EDGE will provide data networking, but at this size, that’s really all we could expect, for now.
Like the LG Prada phone, the Armani is strikingly thin, but a bit more appealing as it seems to take its diminutive size to a new lower limit. It is interesting that this paradigm seems to define what manufacturers are thinking in terms of co-branded designer phones.
Samsung has announced neither U.S. availability or carrier plans. Interestingly, the starting price for the Giorgio Armani Samsung phone will be 650 Euro, which is almost twice the current price of the Prada phone, though the latter was much more expensive when it was originally released.

armani samsung phone

The LG KE850 Prada

This phone may look like an iPhone clone. Clearly, the idea of a touch screen-only phone was brewing in quite a few kettles, and LG must have known it would appeal to a new class of fashionable technorati, because the phone is the being branded and sold by Prada.
When the phone turns on, a devilish chorus sounds and a soft gradient lights up the screen. When you get voice mail, an angelic choir announces its arrival. If the touch experience on the KE850 isn’t as responsive or polished as on the iPhone, it isn’t for lack of trying, as the Prada phone has plenty of nice icons and menus that take full advantage of the touch screen.
The Prada phone makes a decent attempt to improve the multimedia experience, but most of its improvements are more about the touch interface, than actual features or capabilities of the device.
It`s Macromedia Flash-based and opts for a minimalist, white-on-black display as opposed to the more, shall we say, OS Xish GUI we’ve already seen floated. Feature-wise, the KE850 comes with a video player supporting MPEG-4, H.264, and oddly, H.263 normally used for video conferencing; a document viewer supporting Microsoft’s PPT, DOC, XLS formats, PDF and TXT; an audio player with support for MP3/ACC/ACC+/WMA/RA formats; and a “music multitasking function for messaging,” whatever that is. How much? U$S440

LG KE850 Prada phone

Sony Ericsson S500

Sony Ericsson announced its latest fashionable handset, the S500, which is set to arrive on North American soil this fall. The sleek slider features a compact design at 3.9 by 1.9 by 0.6 inches and is rather lightweight at 3.3 ounces. The S500 will be shipping in two colors, “Mysterious Green” and “Spring Yellow,”
The more notable style feature is the handset’s lights that automatically glow to indicate different times of the day or the changing seasons. The S500 will also feature various menus that will constantly change as the day moves into night.
he S500 does include some substance with its style, and offers up EDGE connectivity, Bluetooth 2.0, USB support and a 2-inch QVGA display. The handset also has a robust multimedia feature set with a 2-megapixel camera and a music player with support for MP3, AAC, AAC+ and eAAC+ files. The S500 also supports stereo Bluetooth and has a Memory Stick Micro expansion slot.
The Sony Ericsson S500 cost U$S 300

Sony Ericsson S500 phone

Nokia 7900

The Nokia 7900 cannot be dismissed as a feature-less fashion phone. In fact, angled lines on the phone’s stamped shell to be much less interesting than the 16-million color OLED display, or the 1GB of internal storage space. For the style conscious, the phone offers pulsing lights in almost 50 shades, which change the color of LEDs under the keyboard and around the phone.
The Nokia 7500 tones things down a bit. Instead of 49 shades of LED to choose from, buyers can choose interchangeable color plates to decorate the phone. The phone retains the 2-megapixel camera on the 7900, but loses some of the etched styling accents. No internal storage, either, though the phone will accept 2GB microSD cards.
The Nokia 7900 cost U$S600

Nokia 7900

Motorola U9

Motorola is showing off the stylish side of music, with the introduction of the Moto U9. The U9 promises to make music a multi-sensory experience and lets consumers rock out and look good, with an elegant form factor, Stereo Bluetooth, CrystalTalk technology, external touch sensitive music controls and floating, animated screensavers that appear on the external display.
“MOTO U9 combines the surprising with the familiar, the latest in premium design and inventive controls with the next popular spin on Motorola’s classic clamshell design to deliver the most stylish and dynamic mobile music experience,” said Rob Shaddock, senior vice president of Feature and Mass Market Phones, Mobile Devices, Motorola.
Seamless, small and light weight, the curvaceous U9 has been designed to fit perfectly in the pocket or hand. Its metallic gloss finish comes to life with animated screen savers that appear to “float” across the borderless external display. The 1.45” external OLED display with a resolution of 128 x 160 pixels is not just for show, however, as touch sensitive, digital keys let users control their music player from the outside. In addition, the U9 offers a 262K 2” QVGA internal display.
The Motorola Moto U9 sports a 2-megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom, multi-shot feature, as well as video capture and playback. Furthermore, the phone offers an MP3 player which synchronizes with Windows Media Player 11. The U9 also incorporates a USB 2.0 slot and a memory slot for up to 4GB microSD cards.
Pricing details has yet to be announced.

Motorola U9

Samsung Olufsen Serenata

At their headquarters in Seoul, Korea, on an all-expenses paid trip, Samsung today gave us some hands on time with their new Serenata phone, which was designed with help from Bang & Olufsen.
The Serenata is a music phone with a high-quality built in speaker, but that doesn’t begin to tell the story. Like the Serene, it is held upside down, with the screen on the bottom, but the bulbous shape of the Serenata lends itself better to this grip than the previous, parenthetically shaped Serene. The speaker is excellent, perhaps the best speaker we’ve ever seen at this size. The phone easily filled a medium-sized conference room with smooth jazz, polishing brassy notes on the saxophone and delivering impressive bass.
The interface on the Serene is largely unchanged. The menu interface is embarrassingly dull. Having spent time with the gorgeous “cross” interface on the Ultra Smart F700. When you press the dedicated music key, the phone switches to its player mode, but the music player is as woefully unimpressive as the phone mode. The sound quality is obviously the most important feature, but for a phone this expensive, the interface could be much more elegant, if not dazzling.

Samsung Olufsen Serenata