Gearfuse

Landline phones are so 1992. And if we had a choice between a cigarette-themed mobile phone or a similar landline device, we’d no doubt choose the mobile version. This particular landline phones attempts to disguise itself as a pack of Camel Filters.

The $49 touchtone landline phone doesn’t even allow the luxury of actually holding cigarettes, but it could be a good way to hide the fact that you even use a landline anymore. For extra fun, count how many subliminal penises you can find. — Andrew Dobrow

Link [via]

They’ve been talking about it for over a year, but finally Philips has delivered on their AAA-powered mobile phone. The phone comes with the standard lithium ion battery, but also gives you the option of shoving in a battery to keep the phone on life support for an extra three hours. (more…)

Indian handset manufacturer Spice recently revealed at the Mobile World Conference, their new mobile phone which features a built-in optical disc drive. Each optical disc can hold up to two-and-a-half hours of video, or enough to rewatch half of The Return Of The King.

So far only 40 titles are available, most being Bollywood films, but who knows whether this idea will take off or not. One thing’s for damn sure. It looks like the shit to pop in a disc to your cellphone with no downloading required. (more…)

Ya know, Koreans get all the luck when it comes to cool mobile phone launches. Almost ALL of the cool designs get released over their first. The recently revealed RAZR 2 is no different. The iconic Motorola designed cell will make a Korean launch in June.

The RAZR 2 will feature a 2-inch external screen and a 2.2-inch internal screen, 512 MB of memory, a 2 MP camera, and a multimedia player. Ya know, Koreans get all the luck. (more…)

Hi-Tech Wealth, a China-based company, is displaying this solar powered cellphone at CeBIT, called the Light-Energy Mobile Phone. The clamshell design offers a solar panel taking up one of the sides of the flip phone which is constantly sucking in power to be used for the phone.

When the phone is on standby the charge stores itself “forever” claims the company, although keep advised that blabbermouth teenagers will have to plug it in from time to time to keep a full charge. As of now, the Light-Energy phone is merely a concept and no information has been released regarding release or shipping information. — Andrew Dobrow

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Here’s a little piece straight off of the rumor mill. A source is saying that the Apple iPhone will be enabled to play the number one PC game of the last few years, World of Warcraft. The iPhone, which is poised to be a revolutionary handheld, would be the first mobile phone of its kind. The source says “Steve goes big and WoW is as big as they come when it comes to on-line games”. While this is clearly just a rumor as of now, if this were to pan out it would be an explosive addition to the iPhone and its sales. And even if it’s not true, a phone even being rumored to play a PC game such as WoW has got to mean something for the marvel to come. — Andrew Dobrow

Rumour: iPhone to play World of Warcraft [Which-Product]

With most mobile companies working their hardest to improve battery life and charge time, there are other options popping up as well. This patent for Kinetic power phones would make recharging as easy as shaking the phone, an idea explored in the past only as a concept by ModeLabs. The kinetic energy to electric energy technology is not new in the world of science. You might of seen those flashlights that recharge when you shake them. These phones would use a similar technology. The patent focuses on other kinetic possibilities as well, but the mobile phone idea is the most intriguing. — Andrew Dobrow

Read the Patent [US Patent & Trademark Office, via Mad4MobilePhones]

Concept phones aren’t a new phenomenon, but GMEA seems to be trying its best to make them one. The GMEA concept phone takes the idea of mobile phone gaming and turns it very literately into a “game phone” where the real fun beings with the phones keypad.

GMEA takes the classic sliding-puzzle game, which we must admit has worn pretty thin over the last few decades, and has revitalized both mobile design and a dying breed of mind games. Yes, very cool indeed.

The GMEA doesn’t add much more for design then the crazy keypad, and we can imagine owning a phone like this to be very annoying. Imagine everyday having another friend mess up the order of your keys as a practical joke. Eventually someone would have to die. The idea is a very good one though and should be given an ‘A’ for effort if not a award in conceptual design.

For a moving preview check out the link below. Let us know what you think. — Andrew Dobrow

GMEA: the first ever real game phone [via Tech Digest]

No one can deny that camera phone quality leaves something to be desired. There’s nothing more embarrassing then having a photo-op taken with a 1.5 MP camera. People have been beat up for less. For the relatively inexpensive price of $19, you can get this Telephoto lens which adds a 6x zoom to your camera’s quality. Sure, it might be bulky and ugly. And of course most DSLR’s released today would probably take up the same amount of space. But you gotta give them an A+ for effort. At least for a minimal price you can have pictures that at least equal the quality of the lowest line of digital cameras. — Andrew Dobrow

Mobile Phone Telescope [via Popgadget]

More CES rumors are flooding in and it seems like it’s going to be a great year for gearheads. LG is planning on introducing it’s LG-K970 at CES 2007, which seems to be the same phone that was featured in T3 magazine, then called the 3G Shine. With its signature mirror display and the 2 megapixel camera, the K970 is shaping up to be a very, very cool piece of gear. The LG Shine line of phones are designed just for people like us, who love their phones like they love their woman. Productive, modern, and pretty. — Andrew Dobrow

LG introduces LG-K970 Shine Mobile Phone at CES 2007 [I4U News]