Gartner: Apple may have ordered 10mil 3G iPhones

The key word here is may. You know how such things get around. Someone hears something and it gets circulated on the Web. That's exactly what Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney told iPod Observer in a recent phone interview: Apple may have ordered 10 million 3G-enabled iPhones and he went on to speculate that it would come with an OLED display which reduces power consumption and makes the handset thinner.

Our take? We're not sure how much weight the analyst's words carry since what he said is based on rumors in Asia, but it does tie in nicely with the recent rumors that SingTel will be launching the iPhone in Singapore come September.

Via iPod Observer

A photo frame with a SIM card

At CTIA next week, Parrot is showing a digital photo frame that can receive pictures sent from a cell phone in a multimedia message. The Parrot DF7700 is the first digital photo frame (as least that we know of) with an integrated SIM card and dedicated phone number. The phone number will allow you to send photos directly from your camera phone to the DF7700. And in case you don't want to send a multimedia message, you also can add photos to the frame using its mini-USB port or its multiformat memory card slot. The DF7700 does not offer Bluetooth.

Set into a black leather frame, the DF7700 features a 7-inch display (720 x 480 pixels) that supports 262,000 colors. It comes with a variety of features including adjustable backlighting and brightness settings. Also, it will adjust the orientation of photos automatically when you change the position of the frame from landscape to portrait. Its internal memory capacity is 500 images in JPEG or GIF format.

We don't have pricing information or a release date just yet, but we do know the DF7700 will be available in North America. We'll be sure to check it out in Las Vegas.

Via CNET Crave

Microsoft sets Windows Mobile event for Asia journos on April 2

Despite the sniggers abounding over a rumored April 1 launch for Microsoft's new Windows Mobile upgrade, it's no joking matter after all. An official invite arrived in our inbox from the Redmond giant, extending an invitation to local press to attend a launch event at a Singapore venue on April 2. While the invite did not elaborate further on what would actually be announced at the event, it did indicate a "DOT" theme which we are inclined to assume is the dot in Windows Mobile 6.1. So an April 2 launch for us in Asia, April 1 for the western countries, as hinted (spot on, we might add) by Pocket-lint.

In fact, rumors and supposed screenshots of the new handheld OS update started appearing on the Web as early as December last year, followed by talk of an upgraded OS for several upcoming devices at the Mobile World Congress in February, which my CNET Asia colleague John Chan was at. The first concrete piece of news, however, came earlier this month when Asus announced that its Lamborghini ZX1 PDA-phone would run on Windows Mobile 6.1.

If our guess is right (come on, who's Microsoft hoodwinking with the vague press invite?), you can expect to see more related announcements on Windows Mobile 6.1 OS, and possibly new handheld releases in the coming week as well as OS upgrades for current Windows Mobile 6 devices. So stay tuned for more updates.

My Touch Keys brings tactility to your iPhone keyboard

Just this afternoon I was ranting to a friend that it's hard to get up to speed using the onscreen QWERTY keyboard on the iPhone. That's because even though my friend has had the iPhone for quite some time now, he's still using one hand to type. Beats me how the man-in-black in Apple's video tour of the iPhone managed to type two-thumbed with superhuman speed.

Enter My Touch Keys.

My Touch Keys is a transparent screen protector with cutouts that match the keys on the iPhone's onscreen QWERTY keyboard. This lets you feel where each letter is on the textured surface so you will commit less typo errors. Obviously, this is something you'll have to try out for yourself and, at just US$7.99 for a pair, I think it's something worth investing in. Even if it turns out to be crap, you can just wave it off or use it as a face mask.

Unfortunately, shipping is free only in the US, so you'll probably have to fork out a bit more for third-party courier services.

The picture you see above is only an illustration as the actual product is transparent and the company claims you won't notice the cutouts, plus it won't affect the iPhone's multi-touch interface.

Via iPhone Buzz

Samsung's GPS phones priced right

Samsung is a big brand with a focus on mid- to high-end mobile phones. So when it announced the SGH-i780 and SGH-i550W GPS-enabled devices, we didn't think much about the prices, expecting it to be comparable to others from big brands like HTC and Nokia. That's why it came as a surprise to hear that these two will be priced at S$828 and S$738, respectively--incredible prices for their feature set. What's more, the company has bundled quite a few items with them, so you won't be getting just a bare handset and charger combo in the box. More details after the jump.
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