Reviews of Philips' new X800 touchscreen phone are starting to hit the wires ahead of its release, and while it's a plenty attractive phone with a lovely 2.9-inch WQVGA display, the relic of a GPRS radio -- you know, the same kind your great grandparents used during the Crimean War -- makes it very difficult to care, unless you happen to be in an area without EDGE or 3G, nor the hope of either technology making an appearance in the forseeable future. On the plus side, that very same black mark on the X800's record should lead to a pretty aggressive pricing strategy for a form factor typically associated with the highest of the high end, and we suppose that's a good thing.

[Via GSM Arena]

We already knew that Philips had plans to release the low-end touchscreen X800, but now we know just how low it was willing to go with this thing. Confirmed are the lack of 3G, EDGE (which still shocks us), and WiFi. Meanwhile, the 2.9-inch, 240x400 screen, only supports 256K colors, and the phone's browser is your basic WAP 2.0/xHTML. It does support Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, though, so that's a plus. Other bits: it will allow for expansion via microSD, support MP3 ringtones, and packs a USB port. In short, not a whole lot to see here. Follow the read link for a full spec list.

[Via BoyGeniusReport]

A far cry from the Samsung Souls and Nokia N96s of the world lie two unassuming new models from Philips. Wow crowds, they won't, but there's a certain elegancy to simplicity that's hard to ignore here. Both the 198 and 199 candybars share 128 x 128 color displays, a miniUSB port, 20 days' worth of standby time, a handful of games to pass the time, GPRS data, and that's about it; the 199 adds an FM radio for those times when the games get a little tiresome. The GSM 900 / 1800 radio isn't going to do much for you stateside, but both should be available in China, Russia, and parts of Europe shortly for 1,000 Czech koruna and 1,100 koruna respectively -- about $63 and $70.

[Via Unwired View and Softpedia]

Not one to string us along endlessly, Philips has 'fessed up to its pair of touchscreen phones, the X800 and the Xenium X-Connect. The X800 does it low-end with a 2.9-inch 240 x 400 screen, 2G GSM for data (no EDGE or WiFi!), a 2 megapixel camera, microSD slot and Bluetooth. Interestingly, the phone offers a documents reader and handwriting recognition, but this hardly seems to be that next do-it-all handheld you've been dreaming of, though the battery life is laudable. The Xenium X-Connect steps things up considerably, however, with Windows Mobile 6, UMTS and HSDPA, and a 3-inch display -- which hopefully sports a few more pixels. Still no WiFi, though, and other details like launch price and date are still slim.

[Via Just AMP]

A couple things you should know about this purported Philips Xenium X-Connect before churning your gadget juices through the emotional Osterizer. First, it's clearly a product rendering. Second, Philips Xenium cellphones are primarily found in Asia Pacific region -- as such, a European or North American launch is likely out of the question. If the X-Connect is the real-deal, however, here's what we'll be missing: Windows Mobile 6, 3G UMTS/HSDPA radios, GPS receiver, AA/AAA battery backup, microSD slot, and Bluetooth 2.0 all powered by a 624MHz Intel processor beneath a 3.0-inch (presumably touchscreen) display. Still, as a broadly positioned "communication device," maybe we'll see Philips reach out to different geographies this time around.

Update: Oh snap, this thing sure looks like the Xenium 800.

[Via ToTouch, Thanks Giovanni]

If you had a creeping suspicion that the iPhone-esque phone market wasn't crowded enough yet -- you're right. Apparently, Philips is about to throw its hat in the ring with a device called the Xenium X800. The familiar looking unit will sport WiFi, a WQVGA "e2e" (or "edge to edge") touchscreen, and appears to be running a proprietary OS which looks considerably better than most phones in this class. Sure, it's heavily knocking off Sony's XMB and that new BlackBerry OS 4.6, but there are worse offenses that could be made. No word on more detailed specs, but you'll know more when we do. In the meantime, take a look at a few more pics after the break.

[Via Unwired View]

Not that we haven't ever seen a mobile get that mildly interesting SRS WOW badge slapped on it before, but Philips is becoming the next to do so with its M600. This oh-so-sleek candybar makes a play for the music lovers heart -- well, so long as said adorer is in China, anyway. Aside from providing one click access to your stored tunes (not to mention easy access to volume / track controls), the handset packs a 2-inch 220 x 176 resolution display, 1.3-megapixel camera, microSD expansion slot, Bluetooth, a very welcome 3.5-millimeter headphone jack, support for MIDI / MP3 / WMA / AMR files, USB 1.1 connectivity, dual-band GSM / GPRS connectivity and a number of preset equalizer settings to boot. Best of all, Philips keeps its tradition of providing ultra-longevous phones alive by giving users up to 40-hours of music playback on a single charge. 'Tis a shame there's no information on pricing just yet.

Philips handsets have melted away in Europe in recent years and while the Chinese owners of the brand -- with market rights until 2011 -- have carried on with Xenium in Asia, Euro types have seen nothing. All that is changing with the release of the Philips 192, a completely lackluster dual-band GSM effort with a 65k color display, 10-day standby life, and an expected retail price of €40 -- roughly $60 -- when it lands in Portugal. Way to go Philips, nothing like blowing the barn doors off with mad tech to get people excited.

Philips's claim that its new SHB9000 headset offers the best-ever music and conversation quality from a Bluetooth headset might be a bit optimistic, but it's their PR, so we'll let 'em say what they want. The over-the-ear headphones offer native MP3 decoding for loss-less streaming, 40mm neodymium speakers and can automatically switch between calls and music. There's a digital signal processor to filter out background noise and echo when on the phone, and you can connect to your phone wirelessly or via a provided cord. We're not quite sure what the difference in SKUs is, but Philips is offering this one in the Spring for $99 and $129 "respectively."

We're still not entirely clear if Philips' Xenium 9@9k, you know, actually exists, but according to iDNES, this handset can last a whopping two months without needing a recharge. Granted, the Xenium line has traditionally boasted impressive battery life, but this particular iteration will purportedly last up to 1,440-hours in standby and 17-hours while yapping. Additionally, the tri-band GSM mobile sports an FM tuner, Bluetooth, a VGA camera and a microSD expansion slot. Beyond that, everything else gets lost in translation, but here's to hoping a few more manufacturers step up their game in the longevity department.

[Via UnwiredView]

LG.Philips is far from being a newcomer to the cellphone display realm, and while it claimed to have cranked out the "world's slimmest" LCD for mobiles around this time last year, it's now boasting about one with an uber-thin bezel. Reportedly, the outfit has conjured up a 2.4-inch a-Si TFT-LCD, which touts a 320 x 240 resolution and possesses borders of just one-millimeter. The display is based on its Narrow Bezel Technology, and it should start mass production of the panels sometime next year. Notably, no price was mentioned, but the firm did state that it planned on applying the same technology to "other models to expand its lineup of slim border products."

[Via AkihabaraNews]

It's hard not to love the promise of the White Space Coalition, which includes players like Google, Microsoft, Dell, Earthlink, HP, Intel and Philips. Those crazy kids want to bring us wireless internet over the "white space" bandwidth in between TV broadcast channels, and we say let 'em. One little problem though, FCC says the concept doesn't work. The prototype that the Coalition submitted for review was designed to sense existing TV signals and transmit around them, but the FCC found it inconsistent in this aim, and won't be giving its stamp approval to a device that interferes with existing broadcasts. The FCC does say that it's open to looking at the next generation of the technology, since better performance is certainly possible, and the White Space Coalition wasn't too downhearted: the group is "encouraged that FCC engineers did not find fault with our operating parameters and remain confident that unlicensed television spectrum can be used without interference." Between this fledgling technology and that upcoming 700MHz auction, things are really looking up for WiFi-jilted mobile internet users across the States.

Here's a novel idea: take a standard clamshell mobile and add in a media player so you can rock out to tunes right on your phone. But wait, we're not done! Give it some gold accents, too, to make it a sort of fashion accessory. Think it'll fly? Alright, we're just having a little fun here; the new 598 from Philips really isn't anything special, although the black / gold color combo is a little unique. Features include a microSD slot to facilitate the aforementioned rocking out, 220 x 176 internal and 64 x 64 external displays (with the latter being of the monochrome OLED variety), 128MB of internal storage, and a 1.3 megapixel cam. As we'd expect with a Philips piece, this one makes do without GSM 850, so we wouldn't count on a US launch.

[Via Slashphone]