Maybe we'll finally see a Zing now. [WSJ]

I was at a fraternity house hanging out one night. One of my friends had his iPhone plugged into the speakers so we could have music. We had the usual speaker system, a receiver and some speakers. I was standing near the receiver when All the sudden the iphone cut off and started to smoke. The room filled up with what must have been hazardous smoke. After picking up the iPhone that was still extremely hot, the entire battery had been ejected from the phone and was sitting on the floor. The house smelled like burning electronics for the rest of the night and the iPhone left a square-ish burn mark on the table it was sitting on.

Fortunately, it sounds like the cloud of acrid, poisonous fumes proved to be only a minor inconvenience for the partygoers. Who knows? It might have even enhanced some of their experiences. [Thanks Bobby!]

It's currently most optimized for WebKit browsers—iPhone, Android, webOS and Symbian—but BlackBerrys work too. It's built entirely using Twitter's own APIs, hence the announcement post's title, "Takeout Dogfood." (Why not ice cream?) For now, you'll have to go to mobile.twitter.com to use it, but they'll eventually be transitioning m.twitter.com over to the new site as they work out all the kinks. And so far, it's pretty impressive, even if it does feel a tad slower than I'd like at the moment.

[Twitter, Twitter]

Promising 10 more Androids for the coming months, Motorola's La Jolla sounds like a cheap PAYG at most. Unearthed in source code of the Cliq, the existence of the Motus, Morrison and Zeppelin were confirmed, along with a new one to us—La Jolla. Specs appear to include a Qualcomm 7201A proessor, MAX7359 keyboard and Kionix accelerometer.

Thanks to the newly-released Android 2.0.1 SDK, manufacturers are now able to use differently-sized screens, like the 240 x 400 resolution WQVGA the La Jolla supposedly has. While it won't break any records or wow with its beauty, the La Jolla will help attract the lower-end of the market to Android, thus making it more popular. [AndroidAndMe via PhoneArena]

Our suspicions were raised three days ago when they stated they'd only be releasing one Maemo device in 2010, being a figurative bullet in the foot of the Finnish company, considering the N900 is the best thing they've released for years. Even with the rather odd advert.

Now, in a webcast yesterday, Nokia's Chief of Smartphones Jo Harlow claimed:

"We see ... really fierce competition certainly in the high end, but we also see it in the mid to low end of smartphones increasing"

This tactic of releasing dumbed-down handsets which look, feel and act exactly like the last 50 models to be sold was mentioned at Nokia Capital Markets Day earlier in the week by Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who wants to bring prices down to increase margins.

Cutting smartphone production in half for 2010, Nokia's claiming it launched around 20 high-end devices this year. 20? They obviously have a different opinion on what's considered a premium handset, if that's true. Antti Vasara, the Head of Smartphones R&D at Nokia, stated that:

"We have cut down unnecessary differentiation, so that we have a far more focused portfolio for next year"

Is releasing just one Maemo device (the far-superior platform to Symbian) considered "unnecessary differentiation"? We would've called it "offering punters what they want," keeping in mind the N900 has far outsold expectations, forcing Nokia to delay sales in both the US and Europe.

Even at Mobile World Congress, when Nokia first introduced the N900, you could see they didn't value the device as being a worthy of flagship status, devoting just a couple of minutes at the end of the presentation to it, calling it a "niche" product. Even the lack of exclusive carrier support suggests that Nokia wasn't pushing it hard enough, instead focusing its energies on the pitiful N97.

Sorry Nokia, but if you do indeed release more "dumbphones" than smartphones in 2010, you're going to run into trouble, and even your impressive market share can't stop us scheduling an urgent intervention meeting. We're worried, Nokia. It's time to talk. [Reuters]

Each iPhone has been programmed to deliver a different sound when each function is used. The touchscreen, microphone, GPS, compass, wireless sensor and accelerometer have all been tinkered with, so Georg Essl, the lecturer/computer scientist/musician can turn the cacophony into something resembling music. We say "something" very loosely, as you can see from the video here. [Facebook via 9to5Mac]

Claiming it's a "little too tiny," fondler Salomondrin says it's still slightly bigger than previous Pearl models, keeping in mind it's been styled after the latest Bold. The camera has been updated to 3.2-megapixels with a flash, and has Wi-Fi along with that much-needed 3G. Running on BlackBerry OS 5.0.0.350 in the video below, you can see the trackball has been swapped for the optical trackpad seen on the Curve 8530 and Bold 9700, and it's also got the new multimedia buttons on the right side.

I'm far too attached to QWERTY to even consider this new Pearl 2, but if you're looking for something slimmer and more candybar-like, schedule April in for a potential launch date. [Salomondrin via PhoneArena and CrackBerry]

Nokia's device top dog, Kai Öistämö, reiterated that they don't see the Symbian OS as the problem—just the interface. Accordingly, they're planning two big interface milestones for 2010, the first of which will arrive by mid-year. They plan to:

"Use a new optimized graphic architecture with a focus on graphics and responsiveness, showcased beautifully on a large capacitive screen. Later in the year, a completely new visual architecture re-working of the UI will drastically reduce the complexity throughout and bring fresh appeal. We will execute here." Big screens hey? That concept tablet in the slides sure looks interesting...

Beyond reduced clutter, Nokia also plans to improve input methods (including multi-touch and single tap controls). "Two taps to get to music and video instead of 8, and email access in two steps instead of four….There will also be a significantly improved browser experience."

"The interface will be over three times faster than our current high-end devices in many areas…Scrolling will move up to over 60fps compared to 15fps on our current high-end devices."

If they deliver, it may help Symbian phones (both smartphone and dumb) level off out of their nosedive into irrelevance. And interestingly, Nokia also plans to release its first Maemo 6-powered "mobile computer" late next year, too. FYI: The screens are from yesterday's webcast of Nokia's Capital Market Day for investors: [Nokia]

I'm fascinated, but pretty skeptical of the VPC08. As you can see, the thing dwarfs the Nokia N97 Mini, and its design doesn't appeal to me as much as the even crazier xpPhone (which will also run Windows 7).

Other specs on ViewSonic's effort include 512MB RAM, 8GB SSD, Wi-Fi, 1200mAh battery, 3.5mm headphone jack, a mini USB port, 2-megapixel camera, and microSD storage expansion. There had been talk of a roughly $800 price, but that's all speculation until it actually arrives. Maybe we'll get to play with it at CES. [Shanzhaiben (translated) via Pocketables]

The Omnia II is frustrating from the second you pick it up to the moment you lay it back on your desk, defeated and distraught. There was so much potential here, so much obvious potential. Through a series of bizarre decisions and grating software design, Samsung has managed to squander it. Every. Last. Ounce.

The Hardware Is Decent

This handset is categorically impressive, shipping with a 480x800 AMOLED screen, an 800MHz processor, a 5MP camera with 720x480px video capture, 8GB of internal storage with room for microSD expansion, and FM radio, complementing the standard smartphone trio of GPS/Wi-Fi/3G connectivity.

The screen is beautifully sharp, though the whites—as seems to be common in Samsung's AMOLED screens—often render as slightly blue. It's not that distracting as long as you don't have a whiter screen for reference, and the screen's brightness, sharpness and general color reproduction are satisfying. It's a resistive display, which is still kind of a necessary evil on Windows Mobile; as much as I enjoyed the capacitive panel on the Touch HD2, Windows Mobile 6.5—and specifically, some of its app selection—isn't quite ready to kick the stylus. The screen is no more squishy than any other 3.7-inch layered plastic display.

The design could be described as clean and conservative, if not for two features: the chrome buttons on the front, and the ill-advised secret red accents on the back. It's a bit too tuner-car chic for my tastes, but neither detail is all that offensive. The sides of the phone, which are fairly narrow (the handset is only about 13mm thick—about as thin as a HTC Hero, and slightly thinner than a closed Pre) are littered with buttons and ports, including the 3.5mm headphone jack, the volume rockers, an "OK" button, a microUSB port for charging, and lock and camera shutter buttons, which are a bit close for comfort.

(sample shot)

The 5MP camera benefits from extensive settings options, and the sensor itself is good enough to replace an entry-level point-and-shoot in daytime. The video, though it suffers from motion distortion more than your average pocket camcorder, will suffice in most situations.

The conclusion here is unsurprising: Though it's no HD2, the Omnia II is an impressive piece of hardware. This, sadly, doesn't really matter.

The Software Is Terrible

The Omnia's got a veritable arsenal of software tricks behind that spongy little screen, from the ability to broadcast video over DLNA, to the newest version of Opera Mobile, to the semi-lauded Swype keyboard, which lets you type without lifting your finger, and which takes fairly bold—but generally effective—guesses at what you're gesturing toward. And the crowning achievement, the reason that the Omnia II is worthy of a review over the rest of the same-y Windows Phones that are flooding the market right now, is TouchWiz 2.0, Samsung's take on total interface conversion, which reaches far deeper than the original TouchWiz did on the first Omnia.

And it is a disaster.

It's flawed in the most basic ways a phone interface can be, violently convulsing from one interface paradigm to another through a series of inconsistent, layered, and most importantly slow animations. Seriously, what's going on here? How did all these images come from one phone?:

The widget menu feels like its always about to freeze, and the widgeting system as a whole is laggy and disorganized, more of a free canvas for thoughtlessly-sized shortcuts than an actual, interactive dashboard. The Cube—oh, that horrible fucking cube—is just a six-sided spinning shortcut menu for multimedia apps, which feels like an obstacle, not an interface. Ugh.

And stuff like this is everywhere on the Omnia II—you can't avoid it. Windows Mobile's new Start Menu has been replaced with an iPhone-style set of icon panels, which would be fine if they didn't register half my swipes as taps, opening applications, sometimes more than one at a time, instead of just cycling between screens. The new dialpad crunches the inbuilt recent calls list into a two-item-tall sliver. The SMS interface has been replaced, but only in bits and pieces. Closing an app with one "x" button reveals a second "x" button of a different color and size, attached to that bright green start menu. The Wi-Fi selector is a floating orb of icons, in which you drag one bubble—representing a network—into a larger bubble—representing your phone. The task switcher alternates between a set of panels and a Cover Flow-esque turnstile. The media player app looks like it was hastily ripped from one of Samsung's older PMPs, and the remaining Windows Mobile native elements have been doomed to wear a black and blue neon color scheme that harks back to Windows 98's High Contrast Mode. Haptic feedback accompanies almost all animations, which makes the lagging transitions feel like they're literally grinding.

I won't go on too long about how this interface looks. Let's just say it's oppressively ugly, and leave it at that. But the way it functions is inexplicable, and inexcusable. It's as if Samsung assigned each tiny piece of this phone's software to a different team, and ordered them not to speak to one another under any circumstances. This isn't design by committee. This is worse than design by committee. And the effect on user experience is crippling: Fiddling with this thing for a few minutes is akin to being yelled at by a panel of six men, none of whom speak languages you've ever heard before, and all of whom take pleasure in your cranial pain. You could conceivably get used to this with enough time, but it's an order of magnitude less usable than the regular Windows Mobile 6.5 interface, which hey, isn't that good. Perhaps more importantly, everyone I handed this to was visibly frustrated within seconds. You can't turn it off, either: With a little effort you can kill the homescreen, but the rest of the modifications are there to stay.

The most alarming thing about this interface is that it's Samsung's entire design philosophy now. Matt said of the Android Behold's UI:

TouchWiz is the first custom Android interface that's worse than the standard one, and shows what kind of horrible things emerge when Samsung's interface designers are left unchecked.

It only got more scatological from there. The Omnia II's UI is essentially the same concept, adapted for Android and intended to penetrate a little deeper. There are even some striking similarities between the Omnia II's interface and that of the Omnia HD, a Symbian-based phone from a few months ago. In short, TouchWiz is an epidemic at Samsung. And for all intents and purposes, the pathogen is fatal.

What To Buy Instead

At the $200 price point, it's hard to recommend anything else but the Droid on Verizon's network—it's their clear flagship, and it's an extremely capable phone. But even if you're specifically set on buying a Windows Mobile phone, there are better options, like the HTC Imagio, which benefits from HTC's vastly better TouchFlo or "Sense" UI overhaul, or even the Touch Pro2, which despite having Windows Mobile 6.1 (which you can probably just upgrade yourself) offers a much more pleasant experience. Because unless you replace the software entirely, a pleasant experience is miles from what you'll be having with an Omnia II in your pocket.

It's another in what I expect to be a long line of impressively spec'd Windows Mobile handsets

The camera is better than average, though it still suffers in low light

It's a Windows Mobile phone, which will be a dealbreaker for some, and a feature for others.

It's almost always laggy, despite a fast processor

It gives you a headache to use, like reading tiny text in the dark, or reciting the alphabet backwards when drunk

It's believed the Sholes will be part of the Droid line, and while the two devices look fairly similar, the Sholes "tablet," as it's being referred to despite its 3.7-inch touchscreen, apparently has a HDMI port. You know, for hooking up to your TV to watch films shot with the 8-megapixel camera. There's also a Xenon flash, and internally it's running on the same 550MHz OMAP TI 3430 processor as the Droid.

This is the keyboard-less Droid you were looking for. [Mobile Android China via BGR]

If you don't have any idea what I'm talking about, here's Mirror's Edge in a nutshell: Parkour, with bullets. Which is an unusually hearty mix! The few early screens show what looks like a 3D sidescroller/platformer, which means that the iPhone version is a sort of hybrid game, somewhere between the original and the fantastic 2D Flash version that EA posted for free. Either way: awesome.

Especially since this is one of the few types of games that could actually benefit from the iPhone's tilt-based controls, as opposed to most franchise translations, which see every last ounce of joy sucks from their essence by that cursed accelerometer, and that god-forsken panel of glass. [Kotaku]

The latest of Nokia's reliably rousing Capital Markets Day reports points to two goals, both of which sit decidedly forward from here:

In 2010, we will drive user experience improvements, and the progress we make will take the Symbian user interface to a new level...[Nokia will] deliver our first Maemo 6-powered mobile computer, with an iconic user experience, in the second half of 2010.

Forward in terms of time, obviously, but more importantly in terms of progress: Symbian is getting stale and needs this UI update badly, while Maemo, despite a generally positive reception, is still a little raw, with a slim device selection for at least another year. You can probably assume that Maemo 6 will be more polished and ready for the mainstream, but for now it's just words on paper.

That said, Nokia's self-help regimen will take time. Nokia expects their mobile device volume market share to stay flat for 2010, partly due to their conspicuous absence from the growing US smartphone scene, but mostly, I'm guessing, because even in their European strongholds, Symbian devices are starting to feel plain old.

So yeah, all eyes on Nokia, because things are just about to get exciting! In a year. [Nokia]

ILM Research Engineer Bhautik Joshi disassembled his iPhone only to stuff in part of his DVD player, the laser pickup, which houses three miniature magnifying lenses. These lenses are what made it possible for the iPhone to accept the light/images beaming through the 18-55mm lens, which was carefully positioned through PVC pipe, duct tape and cursing.

The results?
(iPhone left, modded version right)

The Phone-O-Scope doesn't take especially superb images, and it's a bit clumsy to handle. On the other hand, it's fun to shoot with and produces very analog (almost Holga-like) results.

We're just glad someone did it, finally, so we didn't need to duct tape our iPhone to our dSLR Flight of the Conchords style. [captin nod via MAKE via OhGizmo!]

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed an alloy antenna that can be bent a la pretzel before resuming its native shape. The feat is accomplished through the micro liquid metal chambers that form as the building blocks of the antenna, allowing the device to so receive RF like metal, but maintain flexibility, like liquid.

Of course, as with any promising technology, the military is slated to get it first. And after hundreds of thousands of our service men and women develop strange, liquid-metal-related tumors, the public will get to buy an ever so safer 2.0 version. [Gadget Lab]

Is it running Windows Mobile 6.5, Android, or another platform? Engadget is pointing at the lack of buttons as being a telltale sign it's running a "homegrown" OS, but we're rather interested in the addition of the ExtUSB port, considering HTC was meant to be pursuing the microUSB connection.

HTC, if this leaked Touch.B is running Android, we'll be very interested. WinMo 6.5? We'll give it a chance, sure. But we're slightly worried about these proprietary-platform stories we've been hearing. [MobiFrance via Engadget]

UPDATE: Word reaches us that it's running Qualcomm's BrewMP platform, and has a 2-megapixel camera (lame), 3G and Bluetooth, but no Wi-Fi.

Just don't send me one. I already know that my cellphone manners are lacking. [Murray the Nut]

Here is how it works: the wallet connects to your cellphone via Bluetooth. When the two objects are separated by more than 15-30 feet, the wallet will sound an alarm. So, in reality, it is really protecting you from losing two important items. The wallet also features a biometric fingerprint reader that will only open for its owner. On the other hand, if you leave both your cellphone and wallet behind, you are still screwed. Probably even more so since the wallet was so dammed expensive. The wallets are available for pre-order now in several colors, with shipments starting on December 11th. [iwallet via Gear Diary via OhGizmo via DVICE]

Yes, in 19 of the 26 cities surveyed, AT&T was ranked dead last in every category. Verizon was ranked the best, followed by T-Mobile, then Sprint and then, of course, bringing up the rear is our friend AT&T. You can compare their results to the results of our own nationwide 3G test here.

You've got to wonder if Apple can afford to stick this exclusivity contract out another year, what with decent competitors such as the Droid and the Pre now available. AT&T is as big a black mark on Apple's customer service reputation as they've ever had. And hell, for AT&T's sake it'd be nice to see some other carriers share the burden of iPhone data hogs. [9 to 5 Mac]

The Arena Max has just passed through the Wi-Fi certification tract, and while LG still hasn't officially introduced the world to its latest flagship Arena model, it's likely to happen soon. In addition to the rumored 12-megapixel camera, the Arena Max LU9400, to give it its full name, also apparently contains a 5-inch screen and super-fast download speeds.

And if LG defaults on any of the above, then this handset just isn't worthy of the "Max" accolade. LG Arena Mediocre, maybe. [CellPassion via TechRadar via Top10]

Reuters is claiming sources have tipped them off about Nokia's hesitation to go the whole hog with the Linux platform, despite rumors suggesting it would ditch Symbian for Maemo on all its upcoming N-Series devices. While we doubt they'll drop Symbian entirely, we've got to admit that Maemo 5 works a treat on the N900, and is certainly a lot more advanced than anything we've seen on Symbian S60. With Maemo 6 rearing its pretty little head, we would've thought Nokia would be throwing more weight behind this open source platform, especially given the early reviews that are crowing about how well it performs. [via Reuters]

Around 1,000 laptops and iPods are also lost in the depths of black cabs each month, with the VP of security company Credant Technologies, who carried out a survey on the matter, commenting that in ye olde London times, "It used to be small items like brollies and briefcases stuffed full of boring office papers. Now it's laptops, smartphones and thumb drives, all chock-full of valuable information to an identity thief." [Credant Technologies, via The Reg]

Image credit: Annie Mole

Creative and ZiiLabs are showing off a pile of Zii reference hardware to potential hardware licensors in China today, in hopes that someone will manufacture it. The Zii phone reference design, pictured for the first time above, is the only one we can see right now, and promises full 1080p video playback over HDMI, OpenGL 2.0 accelerated gaming, and support for both Android OS and ZiiLabs' Plaszma software. And that's just the phone—ZiiLabs also has a 360º full HD webcam, a PCI-E video coprocessor, a pocket synthesizer and, well, lots.

But before we get to the rest of the new stuff, a little timeline for you. Back in January, Creative announced, with of an offshoot company called ZiiLabs, "Zii StemCell Computing." There were not adjectives strong enough, no superlatives super enough, no words wordy enough to describe the wonders of this StemCell computing. Unlimited Flexibility! Incredible Scalability! High Energy Efficiency! ET! CET! ER! A!

But wait, what is this thing? The Zii StemCell processor is basically an extremely flexible system-on-a-chip, which is to say a multi-talented slab of hardware with an ARM Cortex chip at its core, intended to power all manner of multimedia devices, from PMPs to phones to settop boxes to, well, whatever. Creative promised low power consumption, high processing power, and plenty of uses. The platform would be licensed to hardware manufacturers, and eventually, we'd find these Zii-powered gadgets in our possession, under familiar brands. (But not necessarily Creative itself.)

Then we were shown the Zii Egg—pictured above—which is an Android-powered PMP with an alternate OS called Plaszma. This was actual hardware—that's more like it—and it looked compelling: media playback was strong, and the device itself was hot, and most importantly for Creative, new. But this, like anything else out of ZiiLabs, was reference hardware—unless someone picked it up for manufacture, it was strictly for developers.

Fast-forward to this month, and the project is finally springing some leaks. A smartbook shows up out of nowhere. Rumors about netbooks, which could leverage the Zii chip's power for 1080p video playback, real-time encoding, HD video conferencing, Flash acceleration and more, emerge. And finally, today, an announcement. ZiiLabs is pitching more reference designs, like the Zii Egg, to manufacturers:

The line-up of Zii Powered devices on display include a dual OS concept mobile phone which supports the Plaszma OS and Android OS, a desktop touch screen video conferencing device, a web-box, a 360° multi-view camera system, a PCI Express add-on card that instantly empowers notebooks with HD video encoding for high quality video conferencing, a pocket-sized synthesizer that can emulate the sound of some of the world's best pianos, as well as the world's smallest credit card-sized Blu-ray quality media player – based on the ZMS-08 chip.

The headliner here is obviously the Trinity phone, which can count itself among the first wave of 1GHz Android phones, and promises serious media and 3D support. The reference hardware, as you can see, is conservatively designed, though undeniably nice—and apparently iPhone skinny.

But the other Zii Wares are compelling in their own ways. The videoconferencing system can apparently process a distortion-free 360° view in full HD. The PCI Express add-on card will do video offload duties, a la Nvidia's GPGPU systems. And that little "Blu-ray quality" media player, well, I really don't know. All of the Zii hardware is propped up by the Plaszma-centric ZiiLife suite, which includes videoconferencing software with media sharing, educational software, and an app store.

As they are now, these gadgets will probably never see the light of day—it'll be up to hardware manufacturers to pick up the reference designs, after which they'll undoubtedly put their own spin on each concept. And as far as the associated software goes, it'll most likely remain under wraps until there are actual products to use it with. At any rate, over the next few months we can probably expect to see some of these Zii-powered gadgets show up as actual, buyable products, whatever forms they may take. And honestly, I'm eager to see them. [ZiiLabs]

Only 13,000 units will be made, which is a good sign that even the Japanese know this thing is too crazy to be put into full production. [Akihabara News]

At first glance the browser is a bit of a mess: its Android Market listing is subliterate, and its interface—the tabs, specifically—look kind of assy on the Droid's higher-resolution screen. Beyond the glitches, though, it's a capable browser, with gesture support, RSS integration and yes, multitouch.

Dolphin's multitouch implementation works on a number of handsets aside from the Droid, from the Hero, which supports multitouch out of the box, to Cyanogen-modded G1s and MyTouch 3Gs, which don't. It works much better on faster hardware though: where it's a bit laggy on a stock Hero, it's surprisingly smooth on Motorola's speedier terminator phone. At any rate, it's free, and available now in the Market, so, go. [Dolphin via Engadget Mobile]

And by "Google Phone" we don't simply mean another Android handset. We're talking about Google-branded hardware running a version of Android we haven't yet seen.

Over the next few weeks, Google Phones (most probably in early, prototype form) will flood the Mountain View campus. They'll don large LCDs while running a new version of Android—either Flan or the version of Android beyond it—which our source spotted running on Google's handset as well as a laptop. (Whatever the software was, it most certainly wasn't Chrome OS, we were assured.)

But maybe the most intriguing bit is what someone said to our source offhandedly, that the current Android, the we all know and love, is not the "real" Android. So what makes for a "real" version of Android?

Our best guess is an Android OS with Google Voice at its heart.

The 3,1 phone was spotted in an analytics report from November for the iPhone app iBART.

This isn't the first time something with that ID popped up on the rumor radar. In August, 3,1 was discovered hiding in iPhone firmware files. However, as MacRumors notes, this is the first time the marker's been "seen" gallivanting out in public.

Also noteworthy is the timing of the discovery: In October 2008, Apple starting testing the 3GS in and around the San Francisco area. [MacRumors]

The cherries (and various other icons) are part of Waze's new "Road Goodies" program, which essentially turns the navigation service—which has, by most counts, gotten a lot better over the past few months—into a simple point-gathering game. The point of these points? Well, the treasures are placed wherever there are gaps in Waze's map data:

For instance, if there's an area where we detect a disconnect in two streets on the map, we'll place a goodie over there in what we believe is the point of intersection. Then, when someone heads over to munch the 'goodie', it will solve the disconnect, telling the waze system that these two streets do indeed intersect.

The points don't get you anything outside of Waze, ahem, street cred, so this is basically just a big ploy by the company to extract free labor from their user base. Which is fine! Though I feel Waze should probably scatter a few di, for when people start driving into deadly ravines in the name of fake treasure.

The new version of Waze is live in the App Store and Android App Market right now. [iTunes]

Confusingly, the name of Else's first phone is actually "First Else". As we mentioned in October, the phone has a 3.5-inch (480 x 854-pixel) touchscreen display, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, and 5-megapixel camera (capable of 480p video at 30fps). It's also very likely to have a TI OMAP 3430 processor, a 1450mAh battery, up to 32GB internal memory, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Apparently, it may only support HSDPA 3G and EDGE (no Verizon).

As for the Linux-based OS, it uses a one-thumb wheel that avoids digging through menus, has GPS aware reminders, can record voice calls/messages and store them along with when the call was made, and straight-up looks sci-fi.

It seems that Linux-based mobile operating systems like Android and webOS will soon have a new competitor. [First Else via Pocket-Lint and SlashGear | Video via Engadget]

ELSE INTUITION™ is a complete mobile platform developed by ACCESS and Emblaze Mobile. Thanks to the combination of ACCESS Linux Platform v3.0 and an advanced user interface engine, jointly developed by Emblaze Mobile and ACCESS, ELSE INTUITION™ delivers a highly compelling and differentiated user experience, coupled with state-of-the-art hardware, accelerated 2D/3D graphics and elegant transition effects. ELSE INTUITION™ takes advantage of ACCESS Linux Platform v3.0 to provide advanced flexibility and configurability, enabling users to run multiple applications simultaneously, switching between them with ease. All data and content, including contacts, appointments, videos and photos can be rendered anywhere, not just within a single dedicated application, giving users faster, easier and more consistent access to their information

Two new studies have shown that pedestrians using cellphones are significantly more likely to get smacked by a car than anybody else. A simulation indicated that older people are especially likely to be distracted, even more so if they're unsteady on their feet to begin with (so maybe think about getting Grandma a nice large-print novel for Christmas instead of a Droid).

Interestingly, listening to music was found to have no effect on pedestrian safety, which I'd like to personally refute. I can say without a doubt that while listening to certain music (Spank Rock, I'm looking at you), I am noticeably more cocky and likely to get hit by a car while strutting across a busy street. But then, I'm not a scientist; thus, I trust the results of these studies and will continue to blare loud, filthy rap music while disregarding all pedestrian laws and guidelines. [LabSpaces]

It looks like the Palm Profile has been having issues with corrupted backups, leaving users trying to restore from a backup without their data. It's not everyone who's had this problem, just more people than can be called a fluke.

Here's Palm's statement on the matter:

We are seeing a small number of customers who have experienced issues transferring their Palm Profile information to another Palm webOS device. Palm and Sprint are working closely together to support these customers to successfully transfer their information to the new device.

Good to know, clumsy Pre owners. [PreCentral]