150 Ampere

Third quarter results are in on cell phone sales, and Nokia remains firmly on top of the pile. Its sales increased as expected. In the number two spot is Samsung. Sammy’s done alright for itself and is now in second place, knocking Motorola down to third.

In the past year, Moto’s sales have dropped like a rock, despite introduction of the RAZR2. The company also introduced two new versions of the Q9 smartphone, but got them on the shelves too late to make a meaningful difference in the company’s sales figures.

The increase in Sammy’s sales, despite recent news of scandal within the company, is attributed to a highly diverse line of products, many of which were introduced in the second and third quarters.

Moto’s main man, Ed Zander, said in a recent interview that the handset division was concentrating on a return to profitability, not volume sales. I’m not a business major, but it seems to me that volume sales would be one way to return to profitability, whereas “returning to profitability” without worrying too much about sales volume isn’t going to get you anywhere you want to go. (I guess that’s why I’m not the CEO.)

If you want to check out handset lineups from Nokia, Sammy or Moto, visit Test Freaks to see what’s up.

Sammy’s come up with a new gizmo for your next mobile phone: an RFID reader. Why, you ask, would you want an RFID reader, when there are so many other more worthy gadgets to stuff into such a small patch of real estate?

Phones equipped with RFID readers aren’t 100-percent new, but a mass-produced, widely available reader in a device like a mobile phone will change the way we use our phones, yet again. (What happened to just making phone calls?)

If products, movie posters, books, advertisements, etc. were equipped with embedded RFID tags, you could use your mobile phone to read the tags. Instantly, you’d be supplied with additional information about the product/movie/book, etc.

Something like this could turn a simple trip to the store into a whole new adventure. You could be scooting down the vegetable aisle and receive information about the relative nutritional value of canned peas versus frozen or fresh ones. Likewise, if you’re in a store and find a “good deal” on a shirt, you could check online to see if other nearby merchants have a better price, simply by identifying the shirt you want via its RFID tag.

Think that no one would want to do that? Think again. Growth in mobile RFID is expected to explode at a compound annual rate of nearly 200 percent between now and 2010.

Check out your next mobile at Test Freaks.

If you plan to be traveling in Japan anytime soon, NTT DoCoMo has a couple of clever phone tricks you should know about! DoCoMo will begin offering Area Mail, a new feature that delivers emergency information to mobile phones in a specific area. So you’re not tempted to ignore your phones, the emergency alerts come with a distinctive ringtone. The fact that the emergency alert can be limited to those subscribers most likely to be affected shows real promise over less intelligent mobile warning systems.

The other little trick DoCoMo is offering allows users to take advantage of Hon-yaku, a Japanese-English automated translator. If you speak into the phone in either Japanese or English, the phone will speak back in the other language. The translation takes place on a server, so you don’t need to worry about overtaxing your mobile handset. It also means that the handset needs no special technology and doesn’t require any upgrades to provide the service.

If you’ve ever secretly wanted to be a comic book hero and you happen to live in the USA, now’s your chance. Subscribers to Cingular/AT&T or T-Mobile can pop the SIM out of their existing handset, put it into the Touchscreen Cell Phone/PDA Wristwatch and find themselves with a two-way wrist radio á la Dick Tracy. The wrist phone is a tri-band GSM device. You can also purchase a pre-paid SIM card from either carrier.

If you’re not hot on the idea of wearing a cell phone on your wrist, you can always wear it as a pendant, but frankly, that comes with its own set of issues. The kit can do just about anything your regular handset does, and sends SMS and MMS messages; plays back MP3 files; displays movie files; provides basic handwriting recognition; supports Bluetooth headsets; and offers some additional organizer-type applications, like a calendar, calculator, unit and currency converter and an alarm clock.

You can pick up this gadget for USD$250. (Go on. You know you want it…) Now, if we could just find a shoe-phone, we’d be all set.

Sony Ericcson introduced two new Walkman phones, the W890 and the W380. The 3G phones are not yet on the market, but will debut sometime in Q1 2008.

The W890 is a candy-bar phone that’s super slim (think CD-case slim) and boasts a 2 GB storage capacity for music, which amounts to about 1,800 tracks. Sony ups the ante ever-so-slightly with a 3.2 mega-pixel camera that offers one-touch controls and super-fast uploads to your favorite Internet sites. The company hasn’t forgotten about style, either. The W890 comes in two colours: Mocha Brown and Sparkling Silver. With colour-matched stereo headphones and built-in stereo speakers, you’ll be lookin’ good. I’ve never been a big fan of brown, but I have to admit that the press photos of the Mocha Brown model look pretty good.

The W890 offers SensMe music selection technology, which automatically selects music based on tempo and mood, and allows you to organise your music by artist, album or artwork. The W890 also has a built-in FM tuner for those times when you don’t want to be your own DJ.

Under the cover, the W890 is a good, old-fashioned HSDPA quad-band GSM phone. Rest assured that with the W890, you can download music and surf the Internet on a super-fast connection.

Next time, I’ll cover the W380.

Vodafone has finally produced the child its been talking about for months: an all-you-can-download music subscription service for £1.99 per week. Vodafone is working with Omnifone to deliver 1.2 million tracks for the flat rate through MusicStation. If you’re into music downloading, the service will allow you to create and share playlists with friends through MusicStation. Vodafone has a list of compatible phones that can use the service right now, including models by LG, Nokia, Sony and Sammy and will add other handsets and devices on an ongoing basis. Subscribers can also transfer music tracks and whole playlists when they change up their phones. Vodafone is offering a free 1-week trial, if you just want to see the service.

If you cancel your MusicStation subscription, however, the music stays behind. If you cancel your MusicStation subscription and change your mind, your music playlists will be waiting for you when you re-subscribe.

LG has shipped the first KS20’s in Europe. The colour, TFT touchscreen HSDPA candy-bar goes to France and Germany first. The rest of Europe will be let in on the party soon. The KS20 has a slightly-less-than 13-mm profile and runs Windows Mobile 6. With its HSDPA capabilities, it has a max data rate of 3.6 Mbps, does 802.11b Wi-Fi and 2.0 Bluetooth, the standard 2.0 MP camera, and four hours of talk time and 17 days of standby time. The KS20 is a triband GSM unit (900/1800/1900 MHz) with UMTS/3G (2100 MHz) support and can do 262K colours. The unit weighs 3.4g.

If your fingers are fat (like mine) you can navigate the KS20’s touchscreen with the included stylus. The KS20 offers a 240 x 320 screen with a full 2.8″ of touchscreen real estate. It has the standard complement of MP3 codecs, a USB port, a microSD memory slot, and a second VGA camera for video calling.

In the tradition of the LG Prada, the KS20 is more stylish and high-tech than it is corporate, but if you want it, go for it. It sells in the US for around USD$200.