The tried-and-true Hamburger phone is still our fav (what, there a problem with that?), but Marc Schömann's baton-styled concept phone is very worthy of a look. Laden with LEDs and ready to be turned, users can dial up friends and family in painstakingly long procedures that involve all sorts of inefficient rotating maneuvers. Still, we can't help but adore the hat tip to yesteryear's rotary phones, though we have no doubts that this will never, ever see a retail shelf. Please, someone, prove us wrong.

[Via PhoneMag]

AT&T (well, Cingular at the time) and Apple entered into a very peculiar marriage of convenience to bring the original iPhone to American airwaves whereby AT&T shelled out cash to Cupertino each and every month for iPhone subscribers on its network (the exact terms were never publicized). Very simply, Apple had something good; they knew it and leveraged it to the very maximum of their ability, dangling the tantalizing prospect of endless publicity and droves of new customers in exchange for the deal. That same logic left Apple struggling to find partners in Europe, though, ultimately deploying the 2.5G model in just five markets there under AT&T-like terms.

Fast forward to July 2008 and the iPhone 3G, and the picture has changed just a bit. At least 70 countries will see the updated version before the year's out, but why the sudden change of heart by the world's carriers? Turns out the answer might lie in a revamped sales model that more closely mirrors the deals carriers set up with other manufacturers. AT&T has gone on the record saying that it'll take a huge revenue hit -- 10 to 12 cents per share both this year and next before finally planning on profitability in 2010 -- in order to deeply subsidize the phone on its own accord, taking Apple and its precious monthly kickbacks out of the picture. This is presumably the same kind of setup Apple is offering to carriers around the globe, a setup that they're already well acquainted with that provides a clear path to black ink (or so they would hope, anyway).

What does this mean for Apple, then? There's some chatter that the move away from a monthly revenue model will "force" Apple into charging for firmware updates much the way it does for the iPod touch, but that's not really a valid train of thought. We already know that Apple's committed to updating iPhones at no charge, something it can do by virtue of its accounting model where it recognizes revenue from the sales of devices over time. That accounting model was chosen precisely because it looked best on paper while Apple was continuing to churn out fee-free upgrades, not because of the original revenue model in place with AT&T. For what it's worth, they're still going to be rolling in the dough; carriers, on the other hand, are going to be waiting a while to dig out of that deep subsidy hole.

From the same e-tailer that brought you the CECT Wrist comes a not-exactly-Disney-approved handset that looks strangely similar to that really famous rodent. Yes friends, the Mouse Phone makes exactly zero mention of Disney in the description (yet slaps a logo on the inside), undoubtedly plans on playing $0.00 in royalties and even tries to dodge that ever-vigilant legal team by slanting the eyes and throwing on a Mii-style schnoz. The flip-open mobile features GSM connectivity, a 1.3-inch 160 x 128 resolution display, FM tuner, a built-in multimedia player and a 1.3-megapixel camera. Oh, and a wickedly exotic lanyard, too. All that for just £115.74 ($229) -- get one while they're still on sale!

[Via Gizmodiva]

We hit the show floor excitedly looking for iriver's GSM phone which they showed off earlier in the week, but when we got to their booth, the little guy was nowhere to be found. We managed to wrangle a chat out of some of the company's product designers and marketing people, and they explained their hesitation at continuing to show the W7-cum-GSM-phone due to the similarities of the phones UI to an all-too-familiar device. According to the iriver people, the iPhone-like interface which was showcased originally was only meant to demonstrate what the phone was capable of, not a finalized version of the OS. Of course, it's little consolation to us, having seen a brief snippet of the phone, though we're assured that some new hotness -- or hot newness -- is on the way from the cats in Korea.

Iriver's been pushing out all sorts of product at this year's CES, but this is the biggest surprise from the company yet. The "iriver GSM phone" is an iPhone-esque handset featuring a 3-inch 480 x 272 touchscreen, and a Linux-based UI that is practically mimics the iPhone feature for feature. The actual hardware is quite similar to iriver's own W7. According to PC Mag, the phone has 4GB of flash storage, Rhapsody and other media support, a two megapixel camera (with video, take that Apple), Adobe Flash support, GPS and mobile TV (it's unclear what type). While we're not sure what sort of wireless options this has, like WiFi or 3G, and what carriers will support it, iriver has committed to bring this to the States. Iriver's Owen Kwon promises the phone will be "more affordable" than the iPhone, but otherwise there's no other info on release. There's video of the phone after the break.

Anyone looking to fight the Android machine is likely going to need to roll in the heavy artillery, and that's exactly the kind of momentum the LiMo Foundation is looking to build with an announcement today that they've added five -- count 'em, five new members to their merry band. Most notable of the bunch are Huawei, the Chinese hardware firm just now making inroads into the American market, and Trolltech, the company possibly best known for its now-discontinued Greenphone Linux candybar that develops and maintains the Qtopia platform. Existing members include NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic, Motorola, NEC, Samsung, and Vodafone, giving these guys some serious firepower in founder NTT's ongoing effort to establish a consistent Linux-based platform across its handsets. Of course, the Japanese megacarrier is a member of the Open Handset Alliance, too, so maybe everyone can end up playing nice in the name of open source success after all.

Let's be honest, Bluetooth headsets can garner awkward stares when used in public, but it's understandable if you're not keen on flashing that new iPhone whilst creeping home in the wee hours of the morning. Blazing to the rescue is the Bluetooth Mini Phone, which pairs up to your handset and goes nicely around your neck. Essentially, you can answer your phone calls with this wee, retro-influenced gizmo rather than whipping your mobile out, and while the utility here is certainly debatable, those sold on the idea can snap one up (when it returns to stock) for £24.99 ($50).

[Via Textually]

With Nintendo's staunch resistance to anything outside the narrow focus of gaming -- though it looks like they're loosening up on that standard quite a bit with the Wii -- it's quite surprising they ever even gave a phone a second thought, but even more surprising they have a patent for just such a device dated November 2001. For some reason, it took the USPTO until June 2006 to issue this thing, so there's no telling if Nintendo still has any interest in its "Electronic apparatus having game and telephone functions," but that doesn't mean we can't ogle the mockup screenshots all the same. Peep 'em after the break.

[Thanks, Steve P]

Any of us blessed (or cursed) to spend the majority of our waking hours theoretically locked in a corporate boardroom know very well the form and function of a desktop speakerphone, but Panasonic and Willcom and teaming up to deliver a rendition that relies on cellular technology rather than landlines. Oddly enough, it appears the forthcoming Conference Speakerphone will actually pack a SIM card, speaker, several built-in microphones, a mobile microphone, and even an SD slot for users to easily record conversations. Actually, if someone utilized a third-party battery pack, this entire unit could be taken on the go and used as what would quite possibly be the world's largest cellphone of the decade. The appeal is that Willcom will reportedly be offering a "flat-rate talk plan" that allows companies to equip their employees with these machines and then communicate gratis, similar to many mobile networks with free in-network calling. Although the Conference Speakerphone is slated to ship this Spring, the value here is definitely questionable, as picking up a numerous ¥100,000 ($828) devices can seriously squash that meager IT budget.

[Via DigitalWorldTokyo]

Not a whole lot more info than we had last time around -- in fact, zero more info for anyone keeping track -- but we haven't managed to get close to the E61i before now. No real surprises here, and this is just a dummy unit, so we don't even have any screen brightness to assess, but hey, beggers can't be choosers, and those additional smart buttons and spiced up d-pad look promising, even if the phone for the most part seems relatively unchanged. Peep the back of the phone (including camera hawterness) after the break.

[Via Ring Nokia]

Mobiado's been kicking around for a while now, serving up luxo-phones to the world's elite; while they aren't Vertus, they still hang onto a certain Nokia flair thanks to Series 40 guts. The newly-christened "Luminoso" is no exception, packing tri-band GSM (no 850) and UMTS 2100 atop S40 3rd Edition -- which should look pretty hot thanks to a QVGA display. Other features in its stainless steel body include Push To Talk, Bluetooth, a 2 megapixel shooter, and a microSD slot to supplement the forgettable 6MB of internal storage. No word on pricing, but we suspect this is one of those "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" deals. Shipments should start going out mid-January.

[Via phoneArena]

We just sorta figured that there was some unwritten rule among cellphone manufacturers that loosely said something to the effect of "don't make a phone much smaller than a Pantech C300." Don't get us wrong, we never doubted that the wonders of modern electronic miniaturization could produce a phone the size of a Bluetooth headset, but we're figuring you're likely to mistake it for a variety of other, far more disposable objects in your pocket -- coins, lighters, and the like -- not to mention the obvious usability concerns. Nevertheless, the Xun Chi 138 forges ahead with the submicronic form factor, trading a traditional keypad for a touch sensitive display with handwriting recognition while still managing to pack in USB connectivity, an MP3 player with 121MB of storage, and what we think is a VGA cam (despite the clever "1.3 MEGA PLIXS" label). On the downside, the handset tops out with lowly GPRS, but then again, we can't imagine consuming terribly much data with a display the size of our thumbnail.

[Via The Raw Feed]

What's better than a Skype client for Palm? A VoIP client compatible with any SIP provider, that's what. Hampton Software has released Articulation, which appears to be the first true provider-independent client for any Palm 5.x device with a mic and speaker (though rumor has it the 700p doesn't quite make the grade yet due to sound issues). The app may not have superstar looks, but the feature list is nothing to sneeze at with support for the GSM codec on low-bandwidth connections, echo cancellation for speakerphone use, touch tones for automated menus, and pretty much anything you could expect from a lightweight VoIP setup. If anyone gives this a whirl on their 650, be sure to hit us all up with the rundown in comments!

[Via VoIP & Gadgets Blog]