After trying to “Quench” Hong Kong mobile enthusiasts thirst for anything Android last month with their 1.5 and 1.6 Android Quench mobiles, Motorola has decided to make drop another “Milestone” into the local market.

The new Milestone XT720 features Android 2.1 OS, a 3.7 inch, WVGA (480X854) display with a capacitive touch sensor, a8 megapixel camera with a professional xenon flash, digital zoom, and a 720p HD camcorder. Also don’t forget the thousands of free apps available for download.

While this all sounds impressive what about the price tag? The Milestone XT720 which is available now has a recommended retail price of HK$3,980.

Key features include:

• 8 megapixel camera with Xenon flash light and mechanical open
• 720×480 HD camcorder with DVD-quality video recording (24fps)
• 3.7” widescreen display with 854 pixel width and more than 400,000 total pixels
• Capacitive pinch to zoom display
• Google Maps: Provides search results based on your location and directions, and supports Google Maps with Street View or satellite imagery to view route
• Motorola Media Link and Motorola Phone Portal to manage and share media content across desktop, phone and the Web
• Stereo Bluetooth
• 3.5mm headset jack
• CrystalTalk for superior talk quality
• Your choice of Chinese input methods: BoPoMoFo, Cangjie, PinYin and Stroke

Additional features and apps include:

• A suite of Google applications: Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps with Google Latitude and Google Talk
• Navigation: GPS, Google Maps
• Email Support: IMAP and POP, Push Gmail, Push Exchange
• IM Support: Google Talk
• Calendar: syncs with Google Calendar
• The screen with proximity sensor locks automatically when it gets near to your face while you are calling

Back in the Eighties we all wished we had K.I.T.T. the talking car from the TV series Knight Rider.

So should it be any surprise that some of our digital gadgets can talk now? Plantronics HK recently launched a new hi-tech Bluetooth headset that will tell you “Whatz Up” with the new M100i which is so clever that it will tell you when its low on power, if it’s on mute and how much talk time is left.

On hand to help launch the new headset was local rap celebrity MC Jin who received a special one of a kind edition of the M100i, and to show his appreciation the rapper freestyled the virtues of the new headset. While we gazed into the eyes of  the beauty above…it was magic we tell you.

M100i Bluetooth Headset is the latest ultra-slim lightweight hands free device from Plantronics that features advanced technology to deliver clear and natural audio. The M100i combines dual-microphones, wind-noise reduction and Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technology for an enhanced communication

It includes convenient status voice alerts for remaining talk-time, low-battery, mute and connection status. iPhone users can monitor headset battery levels with an on-screen battery meter. In addition, the M100i automatically adjusts sound levels while moving in and out of noisy environments, so users are always hands-free and able to focus on the task in front of them.

Other features include:

• Multipoint technology pairs one headset to two Bluetooth devices.
• Battery that provides up to six hours of talk-time and 10 days of stand-by life.
• At only 9 grams, the Plantronics M100i is lightweight and comfortable for extended wearing.
• Soft gel ear tips, in three different sizes, together with an optional ear loop provide multiple wearing options for a perfect fit.

Availability & Suggested Retail Price

The Plantronics M100i is currently available from all major retail stores at a suggested retail price of HK$698.

After releasing the Android 1.5 Backflip mobile phone only just a month ago Motorola Hong Kong continues its gambit with the Google operating system. Motorola releases two new mobile phones the Quench (Android 1.5) and Quench XT3 (Android 1.6).

Both Quench and Quench XT3 have full touch-screens that support pinch to zoom capabilities and come with 3.5G speed, Wi-Fi, aGPS, stereo Bluetooth and supports up 32GB MicroSD of storage.

Key features include:

QUENCH

Special Feature: Front touch navigation pad lets you touch, swipe and click much like the pad on a laptop, for precise, discrete navigation

• Dual microphone noise cancellation technology for superior talk quality
• 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and auto focus
• Size: 108 x 53 x 15.3 mm
• Android 1.5 platform
• 3.1” HVGA screen, 320 x 480
• Capacitive pinch to zoom display
• Video: Capture/Playback/Streaming, H.263, H.264, MPEG-4
• Stereo Bluetooth
• MP3 Player
• Internal memory: 512 MB flash, 256 MB RAM
• Memory card: 2GB microSD card (maximum up to 32GB)
• Chinese input methods: BoPoMoFo, Handwriting, Cangjie, PinYin and Stroke

QUENCH XT3

Special Feature: The trackball allows you to browse through menus and web pages without obstructing your screen

• 3 megapixel camera with LED flash
• Size: 116 x 56.8 x 12.4mmAndroid 1.6 platform
• 3.2” HVGA screen, 320 x 480
• Capacitive pinch to zoom display
• Video: Capture/Playback/Streaming, H.263, H.264, MPEG-4
• Stereo Bluetooth
• MP3 Player
• Internal memory: 512 MB flash, 256 MB RAM
• Memory card: 2GB microSD card (maximum up to 32GB)
• Your choice of Chinese input methods: BoPoMoFo, Handwriting, PinYin and Stroke

Additional features and apps include:

• A suite of Google applications: Google Maps with Latitude, Google Talk, Gmail, YouTube
• Navigation: GPS, Google Maps
• Email Support: IMAP and POP, Push Gmail
• IM Support: Google Talk
• Calendar: syncs with Google Calendar

Retail Availability:

QUENCH – HK$2,580
QUENCH XT3 – HK$2,380

No song or dance for the HTC Aria but considering this is there 100th phone release this year we shouldn’t be surprised that one of their launch events would eventually be somewhat lacking in the “Pomp and Circumstance” department.

The launch event had 2 TVB actors who Neonpunch and several of our IT journo peers couldn’t even identify. Thankfully we did have some nice eye candy in the form of two bodacious (yes, we still use that word) and very leggy models, Elva and Cara G.

And oh yeah there was an HTC phone there as well…

So is there anything new or special about the Aria…? Well to put it simply it’s just a less expensive and smaller version of the HTC HD Mini that has all the functionality of the recently released HTC Desire and Wildfire.

The compact size of the Aria makes it a perfect fit for ladies who like to carry clutch bags or those who don’t want to carry a big bulky mobile phone. So the “Plain Jane” look and utterly non-sexy design makes us wonder what’s going on? A phone that is obviously perfect for the female market comes in a standard no frills black shell. Ah well… who cares, owners will inevitably pick up a cool case or get it skinned in Mong Kok anyway.

The Aria comes with a five megapixel camera, a 3.2 inch HVGA display and the Android 2.1 operating system. It comes loaded with these “seen before features” HTC Sense and Friend Stream, which delivers Facebook, Twitter and Flickr updates in a single consolidated view.

Availability and Suggested Retail Price
SmarTone-Vodafone is the exclusive Hong Kong mobile operator partner of the HTC Aria and SiS International Limited is the Hong Kong exclusive distributor of the new phone. The new HTC Aria will be available today at all authorized resellers at a suggested retail price of HK$3,598.

The iPhone 4 camera is pretty amazing, but wouldn’t it be even more amazing with a few lenses? And that goes the same for your Blackberry and Android camera phones as well.

PhotoJoJo has come out with 3 magnetic lenses that easily attach to your smartphone camera and give you 3 new ways to snap pictures with a wide angle, fisheye and macro view.

The bundle of 3 lenses costs HK$320 (US$40) or you can buy just the Wide/Angle and Fisheye separately. And they ship to Hong Kong.

From the PhotoJojo site:

Our high-clarity glass cell phone lenses are like pro lenses for your camera-phone, giving you crisp and clear shots every time.

These two small yet powerful and finely constructed lenses, one fisheye and one combo wide-angle/macro, attach to your cell phone transforming your standard flat phone photos into wide and up-close wonders.

They work with any camera phone and attaching them is easy breezy! A detachable magnetic ring sticks to your cell, providing a sturdy, shake-free hold between the lens and your phone.

Go with the combo wide-angle/macro lens for capturing sweet crowd shots at concerts or that awesome ally-way mural. When the same lens is set as a macro, you can really get in there to shoot a super-close-up detail! Meanwhile, the fisheye creates fun-tastic curved edges with its 180 degree angle whilst making everyone look like they live in a plastic bubble!

Facebook camera-phone album, get ready for pics like you’ve never seen before.

Don’t believe us? Have a look at the gallery on their site and for what you normally spend on magazines with Chrissie Chau on the cover you can start making your Facebook photos look a little bit better.

You have to wonder what’s going on at Sony. They make phones and they make handheld music devices and they make portable game devices and we’re sure they’ve seen the iPhone by now – but only rumors and shushed sounds on a potential PS game/phone device. But look who’s beaten then to the table?

This Fall when Windows Phone 7 ships from Microsoft its going to have a whole integration with its Xbox platform and now you can see what its going to look like.

Engadget broke the story today on the launch games: Castlevania, Halo: Waypoint, Star Wars, Crackdown, and Guitar Hero, alongside a handful of newer properties like the ultra-cute ilomilo, produced in-house by Microsoft Game Studios.

Head over to Engadget to see tons of photos and tons of videos of the offline phone giving you a pretty nice look at the experience.

We played with an early build of Windows Phone 7 about 2 months ago and it was running on an LG phone. All we’ll say for now is that it looks like Microsoft, ironically, put too much into the aesthetic and not enough into practicality of the phone (not to mention it lacks everything the first gen iPhone lacked) but we’re still hoping that by the time it comes out that some of kinks will be worked out and if it really does integrate seamlessly with say Microsoft Office then it could get some marketshare in the business world.

So to cover the other side – the fun side – adding in this Xbox gaming side is pitch perfect. While Asia is more Playstation than Xbox. the 360 has a very serious hold on the worldwide gaming community, but will they gravitate to this new device.

Tell us what you think in today’s poll:

No, that’s not a typo on the model number.

While North America was going crazy for the Blackberry Torch yesterday, Blackberry in Hong Kong launched a white 9700.

Yes, it seems RIM wanted to make it known that they have a hipper and cooler Katy Perry-loving, daisy dukes wearing, bikinis on top Blackberry to buy in Hong Kong but if you have an internet connection you’ll probably want to have a look at the Torch first.

While we pushed for more info on the Torch – because it does look pretty sweet – and info on the new OS6 of the Blackberry operating system RIM was focused on this phone and that the Torch would be out soon with a big launch event in the next “few months.”

We tweeted live from the event and you can see a couple of short videos of the models showing off the 9700:

The white BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone offers top-of-the-line performance, functionality and features, including support for 3G (HSDPA) networks around the world, a next-generation (624 MHz) processor, built-in GPS and Wi-Fi, a 3.2MP camera and a sharp, dazzling display. The smartphone also features long battery life with music playback of up to 38 hours.

The white BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone will be available from authorized retail channels at a recommended retail price of HK$5,188 starting this Friday and customers will be able to purchase the white BlackBerry Bold 9700 without a service contract.

If you are a 3HK customer then you will want to check out the iPad MicroSIM deal which is competing mostly with Smartone-Vodafone and PCCW as we’ve already announced.

If you are a limited user you can get a 50MB data plan for HK$98 or go on contract for unlimited for $188 – or go unlimited and NO contract for $200.

So now it seems like its a battle between 3HK and Smartone-Vodafone – or is it? SMV’s price is cheaper and many people say the quality is better – but some say the same of 3HK. We’ll have to do a test but if price is the most important thing to you it looks like SMV is the winner.

And oh yeah, with a contract you can get the 8GB iPhone 3GS from 3HK now if you want.

Just in time for the iPad launch tomorrow Smartone-Vodafone braves the Black Rain warning to send us their price plans for the iPad.

Smartone-Vodafone is so confident of the service they are offering, that its coming to you contract free so you can cancel anytime and move to another operator.

Simply put, this is the simplest price plan we’ve seen yet:

• 250MB transfer every 30 days will cost you $98
• Unlimited transfer every 30 days will cost you HK$168

No contract – just walk in and pay for your MicroSIM and plug into your iPad and you are off and running. AND you can access the SMV WiFi network anytime at no extra cost.

Depending on how much you will use it at home, you can probably get away with the 250MB plan. If you plan to use it for work then you’re better off with the amazingly low price of HK$168.

We expect massive lines tomorrow at all the Apple resellers and then equally long queues at the operators so get ready for an insane Apple day starting at 10am. We will be there blogging live!

One of the biggest things for us with the addition of multitasking in the iPhone by way of the new iOS4 was that we could leave Skype (or as Hong Kong people like to call it: Sky-Pee) open even if we were doing something else – even when its locked.

And today friends, Skype has released that update into the App Store. And how lovely, a week before the iPhone 4 is released in Hong Kong too.

What does this mean:

• You do not need to launch Skype everytime you want to use it to make free PC-to-PC calls.
• You can be contacted via Skype’s instant messaging service anytime.
• And with 3G you can make those great free long distance calls even when not on WiFi.
• People can call you via Skype even if your phone is locked (not off though, that would be really magical)

While Skype was going to give out free 3G calls till the end of 2010, it seems they have decided NOT to charge at all. So that means you can make free VoiP calls anywhere in Hong Kong – WiFi or 3G – as long as both sides have Skype either on a desktop or on iPhone.

In light of that, we no longer have plans to charge a supplement to make calls over 3G. We’re delighted to make it easier for you to talk for even longer and do even more together using Skype.

Wonder if this will change Hutchinson and Smartone-Vodafone’s data plans?

Download it here now from the App Store.

Do you think we can live in a society with no phone numbers? Everyone is now a username and not a phone number that you can screen before letting into your call list?