Described as the most rugged and toughest phone in the world, the Sonim XP1 sure failed my tests. With one solid drop on our offices cement floor, the screen has shattered, making it both unreadable and inoperable. I didn’t even get long enough to put in my SIM card and make a call. The test and destroy site they have setup seemed convincing, and for $499 it better be.

Did I get a dud? Sonim CEO Bob Plaschke left a letter in the box telling me I’ve officially got one less thing to think about. Bob, buddy, you left me hanging here. Good thing these things come with a 3 year guarantee, I’m out of pocket and off the grid inside 3 minutes.

Update:  We’re trying a new one. Letter from their PR agency after the jump.  
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It’s true, I have one here in the US of A working on T-Mobile. After a very successful acquisition of the coveted Blackberry BOLD from my favorite auction website, I unlocked it with some Google Kung Fu (it was a Rogers version) and began playing. I plan on doing a more in-depth review after I’ve spent some time on it traveling around the globe, but here’s a quick break down.

Why I Splurged

I’m headed on a trip around the world and wanted a phone that would work in Europe, the USA and Japan. GSM service doesn’t work anywhere in Tokyo, so I had to find a Quad-band phone that had WCDMA 3G for Japan, as well as standard GSM for China, Europe, and the US.

The Blackberry BOLD boasts the most number of bands, service offerings, and coverage of any phone I’ve ever seen. In fact, the Quad Band nature makes that Blackberry World Edition look like a kids toy.

Why T-Mobile, You Ask?

One simple reason:

As far as I can tell, it’s the only service provider that offers a real unlimited international data plan. Everyone I know who has ever left the country on AT&T was sucker punched with a data bill that put them in tears. On top of that, what an unlimited international data plan really means is unlimited e-mail, web data, and Blackberry Messenger service from anywhere in the world for that same monthly flat fee. Sure, if you use the phone it will cost an arm and a leg, but I can retrieve voicemails as MP3’s through Simulscribe for free, as downloads.

What About The Phone?

• Although the screen isn’t nearly as large as the iPhone, it’s still gorgeous. The resolution is twice as much as the current Curve model– very sharp.

• The keyboard is noticeably different, a little bit wider. It will get take some getting used to but so far I like it.

• The back of the phone is some kind of faux-leather, very sexy and makes the utilitarian Blackberry seem a bit more fashion and design friendly.

• The User Interface has changed a ton, and it’s dead sexy. There are plenty of videos floating around the web with walk through, but they really went to town with the transitions, icons, and applications as a whole. Great improvement.

More soon… If you can’t wait, check out what my pals from Gizmodo had to say.

Do you love gold? No, really love gold. Like an 1840s miner loves gold? Like an unfunny Mike Myers character loves gooooold? U.K.-based Continental Mobiles want to turn your cellular device (or iPod) into a gold plated piece of precious hardware. And not just gold. You want a diamond bezel around that sucker? Sure, why not! How about a bit of platinum for the connoisseur? You don’t even have to ask twice. Besides, what’s a few thousand pounds for a truly unique, bespoke gift? Now if only there was someone we could pay to stop us from losing it.

I’ve heard that “green is the new black” a lot recently–but it looks like for Porsche Design, white is the new black. A technical, clean look for summer seems to be Porsche Design’s story this spring. Their new White Collection will hit stores in May, and is comprised of a pretty diverse smattering of products, all clad in clean white costume. All of the ‘anti-color’ will be accompanied by both shiny and brushed aspects of aluminum, titanium, and stainless steel (pictured here, from left: P’9521 Cell Phone, P’1140 Jacket, P’3140 Shakepen, and P’3635 Lighter). A bold look for the summer season — I must say — the White Collection isn’t all about aesthetics; the PD’s black version of the mobile phone, for instance, has already won a bunch of design awards, employing a fingerprint sensor for user identification, and the Shakepen is activated by a nifty ’shake of the wrist’ mechanism. I’d also like to see what kind of white flame that lighter produces–think they’ve nailed down that white fire technology yet?

Hulger — the London-based old skool phone masters (and MOMA exhibitors) who take your basic clunky ’70s handset and connect it to your sleek ‘08 mobile phone — have not stopped retrofitting our lives. Behold! The spankin’ new DJ adapter. Now you can take your P*, PIP*, or Penelope*Phone handsets to the club in lieu of headphones (seriously, you’re only using one ear anyway.) Hello? Yes. It’s for you. Something about a kick-ass DJ set that going to burn this mofo down? Pretty sweet.

If you’re one of the thousands of folk who has forsaken the plain ‘ol cellular phone for the multifaceted, talented piece of equipment known as the iPhone, there’s a minute chance that you haven’t changed the wallpaper to something to your liking. Even if you have, it’s probably a picture of your dog or your baby’s mama. While we don’t claim those to be aesthetically unpleasant, we think you can do better and so do the people behind Poolga. The site pools together impressive images created by designers, artists and illustrators from all across this great planet of ours, that would make your iPhone look helluva a lot better if they were on the display screen. Think about it. Anyone can have man’s best friend as their wallpaper; it’s up to you to differentiate yourself from the bland electronics-owning crowd with some sick designs.

Josh Spear fave Matt Pyke, founder of Universal Everything, is continuing his stunning video and branding work with Nokia but this time wants us to all join in too.

To help create a new animation for Nokia stores, Universal Everything is throwing a collaborative animation competition. To enter, all you need to do is take pictures of you, or anyone you know, holding a blank piece of paper. Upload the pics to the contest’s Flickr site and the design wizards at Universal Everything will draw cell animation onto each blank frame. The aim is to engage thousands of people around the world and create a truly global animation project that keeps growing and growing.

The contributor who gets the most frames into the final animation wins a Nokia N95 8GB. That’s good, but the real prize would be getting to see your shot in one of Universal Everything’s industry-leading animations.

We figured the boys at Saint Augustine Academy would want some rockstar stuff to match their party pants, and Alvin and Adrian didn’t disappoint. Cars, world travel, and a little bit of supercalifragilisticexpialidociousness compose the wishlist of two of our favorite fashionistos.

Alvin: A vintage, wood-set record player
A ‘67 T-bird convertible/’67 Mustang Fastback (in mustard yellow)
A ticket to V Festival to see Jesus and Mary Chain.

Adrian: A new Blackberry, because mine got stolen! (Carmel says: Karma’s gonna get you, you dirty pirate.)
A trip to New York (Heather says: Oooh, do it! I need more fellow Aussies to get into trouble with.)
Mary Poppins on DVD, so I can listen to my favourite song over and over.

When Alexander Graham Bell invented a simple device called the telephone, he would have never thunk it that combined with modern technology the phone has since become a necessary part of life that these days extends further than a convenient tool for returning your mom’s calls. It’s a life-capture machine, a music player, a learning device…add your preferred method of use here. The second-ever Mobilefest, which started today in Sao Paulo and was the first to accept entries over SMS, MMS or WAP, gets a roster of academicians, artists, environmentalists and more — most notably among them editor of The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog Howard Rheingold and famous hacker Gabe Sawhney — rubbing shoulders for three busy days of lectures, roundtables and exhibits that seek to explore how mobile technology influences “democracy, culture, art, ecology, peace, education, health and the third sector.” Exhibits include a public-based interactive text exercise called SMS Graffiti and international short films made and produced on a cell phone. Check out the trailer for Mobilefest on the homepage to see what you’re missing out on.

When Altavista, Yahoo!, and Google introduced us to the modern search engine, saving us countless hours, we were thankful but not completely satisfied. There has been an increasing number of small apps, or shortcuts, developed that speeds up even the simple task of searching. Dave’s Quick Search Toolbar and Firefox’s built-in keywords are two perfect examples. Recently, Heather turned me on to Boopsie, a free downloadable thin client that sits between your mobile device and dozens of useful sites (or channels). It is compatible with Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Blackberry, the iPhone, and Symbian so as long as your phone is a little more advanced than a flip phone, you should be able to use it. I used my Samsung Blackjack to download and install client direct from the website and within minutes I was up and running. Once you have it loaded, it makes a data connection and from there you can choose any number of channels and search quicker than ever. I like using it in the mornings to check forecasts on Weather Underground; all I have to do is enter in my zip code and a mobile version of the site loads and I get to skip all the needless graphics and text of the front page. Though I have 3G on my phone, my area does not support it yet so anything that can help me be more productive on the run is a plus and Boopsie does exactly that.

Whoa. It’s happened. A purely youth-oriented, ad-supported mobile brand is launching in Britain under the name Blyk. It’s pretty simple really: you sign up for Blyk, via invite, and they send you a SIM card for your phone that gives you 217 text messages (hey, you big texter, you!) and 43 minutes of talk time. Or, simply put, Blyk goes out and finds brands that want to talk to 16-24 year olds. It charges these brands for sending them messages, and gives them money back in the form of free texts and minutes. The network is limited to 16-24 year olds and is currently only available in mainland Britain.

In an effort to create interest among the youth market, Blyk has also created a series of branded animations. They’re available for viewing on YouTube, and I assume will be sent out as media messages directly to Blyk users as well. Have a look; some of them are pretty slick.

Must you wear one? I’m not personally a huge fan of the bluetooth headset craze. Yeah, they’re convenient, but I just can’t get used to seeing people walking down the street talking to themselves, er…someone. It’s weird. New York has enough crazy people on the streets, now we’ve got them looking mostly normal, other than the wild gesticulations.

But, if you must, you must. And if you must, then you must have a look at Jabra’s newest addition to its bluetooth line. The BT3010 allows you to choose from a variety of designs on their website, including 8 submitted by users, so at least you can add a little flair to your technological insanity. Of course, it’s probably only a matter of time before someone figures out how to change out the image on the earpiece making it fully user-changeable. They guys over at Complex are partial to a Space Invaders theme. What’s your poison? If you could slap any design on your bluetooth thingamawidget, what would it be?

Related: Jawbone Archive

Gothamist reported yesterday that the MTA (the body that oversees the subways & buses here in NYC) has inked a $46M deal to wire the subway platforms throughout the city for cell phone use. Just the platforms, not the lines themselves. For those of you who haven’t been to NYC, the subway platforms aren’t the most comfortable places in the world. They’re dark, dank, dingy, and dirty. During the summer, the only thing you want to do down there is stand as still as possible and pray for a breeze. Of course, I’m told this is all a step up from 20 years ago.

But the deal begs a question: just how connected is TOO connected? Does anyone really need to be talking on their cell phone while they’re waiting for the train, only to have to hang up as soon as it gets there? Is there a point when we’re just too plugged in and a break becomes a good thing — even if it is waiting around on a hot, stinky subway platform? Oh, and I should clarify, the MTA is being paid $46M for this “convenience,” in case anyone was questioning their crystal-clear motives.

Photo Via

Scandinavia has come to our eyeball-rescue once again with the Ericsson Tower Tube, a radio base station concept that is a cost-efficient, environmentally-friendly, and a minimally phallic alternative to nasty cell phone masts. The concrete towers, designed by Sweden’s well-loved Thomas Sandell, encapsulate all the equipment (including antennas) known for making masts such fugly beasts, and promise to release 20% less CO2 during production and transportation than traditional steel structures. Tower Tubes also take around 60% less space than classic masts, granting this “essential piece of community architecture” the same perks one generally nabs for being skinny and good-looking. I definitely like these better than those creepy trees, so I say…let’s make some!

Via Just AMP