AU's Sanyo Neon is sure to become the envy of every teenage girl in Japan, and without even participating in the megapixel wars. One of the six EV-DO phones AU recently rolled out, the Neon's specs aren't too different from the current crop of midrange flip-phones: 2.4-inch QVGA screen, a 1.3 megapixel camera, 50MB internal memory, miniSD expansion slot, and EV-DO. The real magic is that a series of red LEDs make the plastic casing appear to be a large external screen. When the Neon is docked, the external screen functions as a clock or music player, and when it's not, it seems the Neon is capable of producing miniature simulations of the flux capacitor (or the Predator's wrist-bomb). Though the Japanese are keeping this one to themselves for the foreseeable future, we can only continue hoping, as usual, this design sensibility gets ripped off adopted by more manufacturers. (Samsung, you listening?) More pics of the Neon after break.

[Via Impress]

We already know all about Gigabyte's other WinMo smartphone, the gSmart, and the new gSmart i (which we've seen before) features Windows Mobile 5.0 AKU2, a 416MHz processor, analog TV and radio tuners, 802.11b, Bluetooth 1.2, a 2.1 megapixel camera, and GPRS (sorry, no EDGE). For those of you who live on the wild side (or just like candybars), the gSmart i leaves out the keypad ala the Prophet or Magician, and is a little less curvaceous than its sibling (Gigabyte calls this a "pure PDA look"). Though if you want a phone that stands out a little more, you can always add bunny-ears and rock out to some MacGyver reruns. More pics after the break (and a little size comparison with the O2 XDA Atom).

[Via the unwired]

Less than a year after the Nokia 7280 blazed a trail for fashionable, leather-clad tech in the US, Nokia's followup, the 7380, is getting some interesting reviews. How do you review a phone thats main purpose is looking pretty, not making phone calls? Well you focus on the fact that it has a 2 megapixel camera, a glowing orange button, Bluetooth, a scrollwheel, and no keypad. PC Mag seemed to dig the 7380's aesthetics and didn't mind the phone's obvious shortcomings (text messaging and dialing), noting that Bluetooth connections worked seamlessly and call quality was good. Phone Scoop was a little more adamant in their critique, though, calling out Nokia for creating a screen that sacrificed usability in sunlight for looks. Though, if you want to tell your friends that looking good with your cell phone is more important than actually using it to call them, the 7380 may be the perfect choice. 

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