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Following the tradition the Swedish carrying case maker Krusell has published its monthly ratings of cell phones, smartphones and PDA. It is based on the volumes of sold carrying cases for the models. It reflects real demand for mobile devices in more than 50 countries. Top 10 PDA and smartphones in January 2006: 1. PalmOne Treo 600/650 2. (3) Qtek 9100/ I-mate K-Jam 3. (-) HP hx2100/24×0/27×0 4. (2) Qtek 9000/SPV M5000/MDA PRO 5. (4) HP iPAQ HW 65xx/6700 6. (10) Blackberry RIM 62X0/72X0 7. (5) HP iPAQ hx4700/4705 8. (6) Qtek S100/I-mate JAM 9. (7) Qtek 9090/IMate PDA 2k 10. (8) Blackberry 7100iIn brackets you see the previous rank. PalmOne Treo 600/650 communicators keep their first place, new Palm Treo 700 joined them this month. They share the position, as they have similar cases. According to Krusell these communicators enjoy the success due to a 1-megapixel camera, the support of fast data transfer standard and Bluetooth interface. Top 10 cell phones in January 1. Sony Ericsson K750i/D750i/W800i 2. (3) Motorola RaZr V3/ V3i /V3c 3. (2) Nokia 6230/6230i 4. (-) Nokia N70 5. (5) PalmOne Treo 600/650/700 6. (-) Qtek 9100/ I-mate K-Jam 7. (7) Nokia 6680/6681/6682 8. (8) Nokia 5140/5140i 9. (-) Sony Ericsson K700i/K700c 10. (-) Sony Ericsson W900i/c/W850Sony Ericsson K750i/D750i/W800i are still the leaders. They are followed by slim clamshells Motorola RAZR V3/V3i/V3c, the third position is occupied by Nokia 6230/6230i. The top of the rating hasn’t been changed much, as there hadn’t been released many new models over recent months. However the situation might change with the release of Sony Ericsson W810 and Nokia E60.

Makayama Software has launched Palm Media Studio 1.0 today. The new software converts DVD movies, downloaded TV shows and other video clips to a mobile format for your handheld or smartphone. The software installs an encoding package on a Windows XP computer, users pick any video file from their harddrive, CD or DVD and with only two clicks, the Palm Media Studio turns it into a compressed movie file, which will play on the bundled mpeg4-mediaplayer on the Palm (or you can use TCPMP). The headset or the built-in speaker can be used to listen to sound. Subtitled and foreign language DVDs are also supported. According to the company a full movie can be transferred to the Palm in less than 45 minutes on an average PC. A memorycard as low as 128 mb is enough to fit a feature film with the software compression. The software captures content in numerous formats (AVI, MPEG1, DivX, XVID, VOB, ASF) and encodes it to the Palm. Palm Media Studio 1.0 is a Windows application that supports XP/2000/NT. The software costs USD $32.95 (EUR 29.95) to register. A free demo version is available that will convert 3 minutes of content. via palminfocenter.com

More Nokia goodness. The Nokia 3250 music phone has been approved by the FCC, paving its entry into the US. The affordable version of the Nokia N91, you can stuff as much as 1GB of music on a Trans Flash microSD memory card . It allows playback of MP3 and eAAC+ files. We previously covered the phone.Bluetooth capability allows you to swap even playlists with other users. Thanks to the standard stereo headphone jack, you don’t have to rely on Nokia’s wimpy earphones anymore; get yourself the latest Bluetooth headset and you’re good to go.Based on the S60 platform, you have access to a wide range of software and some great games. The 2-megapixel cam is another nice bundle that Nokia included in the Nokia 3250.Check out more features in the extended entry. For further details, access Nokia’s website via mobilewhack.com

“The shell is made of monotone dark grey plastic (a touch reveals that it is an average quality plastic). A silver buttons line stands out in the middle of the front panel. The overall assembly quality is high, only the battery compartment gives slight creaks, when you squeeze the device in hand pressing it. Design is implementing the idea of Palm Treo – a candy bar shell, a finger QWERTY-keyboard under the screen. We can compare the design with that of Palm Treo 650 and HP iPaq hw6515, however the P50 is taller because of its rectangular screen (not a square one). Have a look at the comparison photos with HTC Magician, almost the same dimensions, only the height is taller because of the QWERTY-keyboard. I had unusual sensation during talks, it felt like I was using a good quality handset, not the communicator. Good proportions play the main role here, they are close to that of ordinary phones (the model is taller against other communicators, 125x60x20 mm).” Read this review here:

Following the success of the hugely popular Cingular 2125, the mobile service provider is rolling out a couple more re-badged HTC smartphones to its lineup. Based on the HTC Wizard, the Cingular 8125 and 8100 do the quad-band worldphone dance, while at the same time shooting data your way via Wi-Fi (802.11b), Bluetooth, and EDGE. Emailing, word processing, and text messaging couldn’t be easier with the slide-out QWERTY keyboard. As expected, these latest PDA phones run on Windows Mobile 5.0, so you’ll have access to a full suite of Microsoft productivity tools, including Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and Excel, as well as Windows Media Player 10. If the 64MB SDRAM and 128MB of flash ROM isn’t enough to handle all your AAC, WMA, MP3, AMR, WAV and MPEG4 media, rest assured that there is a mini-SD expansion slot there for you.The only difference between the 8125 and 8100 is that the former sports a 1.3 megapixel camera, whereas the latter is camera-less. Look for prices to start at around $300 range.Learn more here: via mobilemag.com

I may be repeating myself but the display is just wonderful. If you manage to detach your eyes from it, you will discover a few more elements on the front panel, including two status indicators above the display (the left-hand one shines blue and indicates wireless activity, the other shines green to notify of system events), and four user-definable buttons and a miniature joystick below the display. The buttons can be assigned one action each. A mini-joystick and four buttons – what a gamer can wish for! Unfortunately, the solution is not ideal, on the contrary. Besides the fact that the joystick is not very sensitive, it does not support diagonal directions that are required in many games. You do not need to regret that considered the not very impressive graphics performance of the device but more on that later. The buttons are OK, though.” Read this review here:

From the makers of ‘PaintBall’, a new, fun & extra addicting puzzle game that will also sucks you in and won’t let you go until you’ve wasted all of your time! ‘Frutakia’ uses the ‘casino slots idea’ and turns it into an original & fun game.• Game Objective:You must make groups of 3 or more same fruits/items at any direction! There are 5 different fruits and 2 different items. ‘Blanks’ can also appear.The ‘bell’ scores more points than the fruits and the ‘super item’ scores the most! —08/Feb/2006 UPDATE (1.4) —* Windows Mobile 2005 tuned.* Treo 700w tuned.* Support for 480×480 resolutions.* Bug fixed in CAB installer. Check it here:

Motorola’s latest slim phone model ZMotorola, the world’s second-largest cell phone vendor, Wednesday took the wraps off a slim slider phone, which it claims is the ultimate evolution of its hot seller RAZR.The 14.8-millimeter-thick model, codenamed Z to show its concept _ the final version of the ultra-thin phone series, was designed and developed in Korea. As a result, the sleek model was first disclosed in Korea unlike its high-profile predecessor RAZR, a clamshell-type phone that hit the local shops last year only after a big success in the global arena.“This is the thinnest among many slider phones available here but it by no means lacks applications compared to other handsets,’’ Gill Hyun-chang, chief executive at Motorola Korea, said.Indeed, the model is outfitted with a 2.2-inch screen, a mega-pixel digital camera and an MP3 player on top of highly customized user interfaces provided on a metal keypad. Motorola plans to market the Z through SK Telecom, the country’s primary mobile carrier, this month with a price tag between 500,000 won and 600,000 won. Despite the upbeat expectation of Motorola, some raise suspicions whether or not it will repeat the notable success of RAZR, for which demands once outstripped its supplies. The first and foremost hitch they present is that the Z cannot savor the status of the pioneer because slim sliders are currently flooding the market. By contrast, the 14.5-millimeter-thick RAZR was the first wafer-thin handset in the market when it debuted last June and its popularity prompted other domestic producers to roll out copycat products. via times.hankooki.com

Korean mobile phones continue to feature DMB TV capabilities while portable media players haven’t really changed much, the inevitable has happend, Samsung has integrated DMB in their latest SMU-D110 PMP.The small handheld can receive DMB signals, but it can also work as a standard PMP. A 2.4 inch 320 x 240 display makes the TV look great, I’m sure. When not watching DMB, the SMU-D110 is just another PMP. Memory is flexible thanks to the TransFlash slot as well as Bluetooth to cut out the need for ugly wires. Of course, this device will only be available in Korea. It will be interesting, though, to see how it goes. On one hand, it seems like it could be difficult to break into the market when so many phones are offering DMB and Samsung and others are adding DMB to cameras and everything else with a screen. People may not want to add another device to the gear bag when they don’t need to. On the other hand, the screen is bigger than what you would get on a phone, so it might just tickle your viewing fancy a bit better. via mobilemag.com

Samsung proudly presents their new Micro Card, and they claim its the fastest on the market. They back that statement up by giving a comparison between this new card and a MicroSD, that offers a writing speed of 2.04MB/s, while this MMCMicro by Samsung offers 7.12MB/s.Samsung Electronics Develops Fastest GigaByte Micro Memory CardSeoul, Korea – February 9, 2005: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has developed the fastest micro memory card with a gigabyte of density, for use in small cell phones, digital cameras and MP3 players. High demand for the high-speed 1 GB MMCmicroTM card is expected from cell phone manufacturers because of its compelling combination of features: speed, capacity, size and reduced power consumption.The new 1 GB MMCmicro, at 7.12 MBs per second, writes 3.5 times as fast as other micro cards being sold today. It can store 20 five-megapixel pictures in 11 seconds, while other cards take up to 30 seconds, or even longer, to do the same.”The card is large enough to store 15 hours of mobile video and fast enough to download 90 minutes of it in under two minutes,” said Don Barnetson, Associate Director, Flash Marketing, Samsung Semiconductor., USA. Samsung’s new MMCmicro comes with a dual voltage of 1.8 volts and 3.3V. The lower voltage version reduces power consumption 82 percent over other micro-sized cards. An adapter allows the card to be plugged into any multimedia card slot.The card – the size of a fingernail (12mmx14mmx1.1mm) – houses four NAND flash memories and a controller.The Dataquest semiconductor research firm said that the global MMCmicro market will expand by 81 percent cumulative annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2005 and 2010, from 4 million units last year to 77 million units in 2010, while the overall MultiMediaCard market grows by about 9 percent CAGR from 65 to 100 million units.The 1 GB MMCmicro will be commercially available in the third quarter of 2006.