Battery life to get a whole lot better in 2008

Researchers from Stanford University have made a breakthrough in the design of Li-ion batteries which looks set to drastically increase the period between charges for a typical mobile device from a week to up to two months!
The breakthrough comes from nano technology that allows the battery to store ten times more power than previously possible through the use of expandable nanotechnology wires one-thousandth the thickness of a paper sheet.

Sounds incredible to us, read more about the battery technology here

Ferrari branded Motorola Z8

After a previous joint branding effort on the MOTORAZR MAXX V6, Ferrari and Motorola are coming together again to offer a rosso corsa and black coloured MOTORIZR Z8. It features exclusive Ferrari media and promises to be a hit with everyone who can't afford to buy a Ferrari I expect! Discerning owners being more likely to take one of these.

The Motorola Z8 Ferrari limited edition will be available from the Ferrari Store and through Moto's European retail channels starting in the first quarter of 2008.

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Video recording on the Apple iPhone

If it has been one of the irritating omissions that make you think twice about buying the much revered wonder gadget then help looks like its on the way.

We have found reports that suggest a third party application is under development to allow the camera built in to the Apple iPhone to record video at up to 2 megapixel resolution. Clips in testing have been limited to 5-10 seconds and at a low 10fps rating but up to 30fps is promised, along with unlimited file length.

Lets hope the coders get this app finished before the second generation iPhone comes along next year.

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Microsoft buys Multimap

Microsoft has bought UK mapping company Multimap in a bid to expand the web services it offers to its users. Multimap is a top 10 site in UK search terms and receives around 10 million visits a month. It's no coincidence that rival Google provides its own in-house mapping service and Microsoft will look to expand on Multimap's current presence in 48 countries. Will it be long before a Microsoft Multimap navigation solution is supplied with its Windows Mobile and Pocket PC devices?

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Playstation game emulator for iPhone

The PSX4iPhone application allows owners of the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch to play Playstation PSOne titles. The homebrew application is credited to a coder called zodttd and should allow screen scaling, screen placement and game save options, but we wouldn't like to comment on the grey area of how you aquire the emulator ROMs!

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Free wireless access to Nokia music with The Cloud

Nokia and wireless broadband provider The Cloud have signed an agreement to allow customers access to the Nokia Music Store for free at any of the 7500 Wi-Fi hotspots The Cloud operate around the UK. Many of these can be found in popular locations and include Coffee Republic, McDonalds and even BAA airports.
The non-exclusive agreement gives users free access to the Nokia Music Store through laptops or optimized Nokia devices. But customers must pay 80p to download an individual track or £8 per album.

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LG-LB3300 Rhapsody in Music phone

LG have just announced another luxury brand partnership, this time with high end audio company Mark Levinson. The LB3300 is a music orientated slider with LED lit touch wheel and 1GB of internal memory. This can be expanded by another 4GB as required. It contains a 2 megapixel camera and A2DP Bluetooth.
Tagged "The Rhapsody in Music Phone" it seems destined for the Korean market.
A neat feature of the A2DP profile on this device is its ability to stream to two listeners in parallel so you and a friend can share the high quality music experience together!

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Worlds smallest Bluetooth headset by Nextlink

The INVISIO G5 is claimed to be the worlds smallest Bluetooth headset by its makers Nextlink. Weighing less than 6g, the INVISIO G5 is 3.3cm long and 1.6cm wide and manages an impressive 4 hours talktime and up to 150 hours of standby. This is further boosted by a charging case to 20 hours talktime and up to 30 days standby.

Apparently this headset has been used by SWAT teams and special forces around the world and is designed to "meet needs in extreme conditions". It costs £79.99 and is available now.

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Which 5 megapixel camera phone?

If you're pondering the same question and want to compare the image quality of the current crop of hot camera phones then help is at hand.

GSM Arena have a review comparing shots taken with the Sony Ericsson K850i, Nokia N95 8GB, LG KU990 Viewty and Samsung G600. Users are also being encouraged to vote for the best in order to find an overall winner.

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Facebook tracking online purchases

Facebook has been in the news again after its recently launched Beacon tracking system caused alarm by reporting users online purchases to their friends. After much criticism they changed the display preferences so users have to opt-in for their purchases to appear on a news feed.
Now it seems further information has come to light that allegedly shows Beacon reporting online purchases and activity back to Facebook HQ, whether you're logged in or not and that no warning of cross site communication is evident.
Something to bear in mind while gathering your Christmas gifts this month!

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Nokia slide concept points to N93 successor

GSM Arena have scooped details of a patent application made by Nokia showing a new slide design incorporating possibly a 6 or even 8 megapixel camera. The camera housing can be pulled up and rotated allowing the display to be used as a view finder and doing this also reveals the xenon flash.

The styling is very reminiscent of the N93 and shows Nokia is continuing to push the imaging capabilities of its handsets. There are no indications of the name or other specifications of this handset as yet.

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