Cell Bytes

When is the last time you purposefully dumped water on your phone? Probably never. You’re more likely protecting it from the lightest of rain drizzles and babying it every time you place it in your pocket. But we’re not you, so we’re going to pour water on a phone:

Of the 7 phones Motorola announced on Tuesday, the Motorola DEFY for T-Mobile is one of my three favorites (along with Droid Pro for its BlackBerryishness and Flipout for it’s awkward teen attraction). These might not be high end Android’s but they are a vital part of not only Motorola’s strategy, but also the Android ecosystem, and it represents what Android is and can be.

More and more users are flocking to Android, and Motorola is thinking about those that haven’t yet switched to Android, asking themselves why not, and then catering to these users with unique offerings that fit their needs. The Motorola DEFY is clearly geared to the youthful, everyday phone user who wants the benefits of a smartphone but not all the baggage of caring for a tender piece of love and technology.

The DEFY claims to be Life Proof, which when it comes down to non-marketing speak, means you can get it a little wet, drop it and rough it up a little bit on accident and you won’t break the darn thing. It’s durable, and it comes with one of my favorite pieces of smartphone technology that I hope to see in all phones at some point – Gorilla glass.

The Motorola Droid, a phone I picked up the day it came out, was the first phone to popularize Gorilla Glass. Put it in your pocket along with keys, coins, and other goodies that would normally scratch your screen and the Gorilla Glass (for the most part) keeps your screen looking brand new. Now the body of your phone might get a little banged up, but it’s the precious screen that we care most about since it’s the keeper (and relayer) of the content that makes a phone what it is.

Talking specs, the Motorola DEFY rocks a capable but not overwhelming list:

• 3.7-inch screen
• 5MP camera
• 3.5mm headset jack
• FM Radio
• Android 2.1
• MOTOBLUR
• 800MHz processor

That’s MORE than enough multimedia power to make moving from a feature phone to a smartphone well worth the money, even if you happen to splash some water on it or drop it down a flight of stairs or five. Because let’s face it, after watching the video above, at some point or another we all wish we had a phone that could defy the elements. Or our own clumsiness.

Look what the fox dragged in…

I just got an e-mail from Mozilla announcing the launch of Firefox 4 for Android Beta 1 is now available for download. In the browser wars, everyone has their preference and the desktop is no longer the only battleground. While IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and others fight for marketshare on desktops and laptops, there are many different breeds of mobile browsers. Where will the almighty Mozilla Firefox fit in?

You can download the beta here and check out there just post press release here.

Firefox for Android is built using the same technology as the desktop version, just optimized for mobile. Some key things to look out for include:

• Firefox Sync
• Add-ons
• Awesome Bar
• Awesome Screen
• Pinch-to-zoom

I think one of the most powerful features will be the ability for developers to build 3rd party add-ons to the mobile browser. Apps serve one purpose, but I can see mobile browser add-ons serving significant alternate purposes as well, and Firefox enables devs to HTML5, CSS, and Javascript to create their add-ons.

Head on over to the Mozilla Blog and download the Android Beta of Firefox 4 for Mobile now!

PS: we covered the name change from Fennec to Firefox for Mobile previously- just want to remind you the new branding is permanent.

I’ve gotten bored with concept phones, but this one caught my eye. The Nokia E-Cu by Patrick Hyland let’s you recharge in your pocket.

[via Inhabitat]

The World Bank Group today kicked off the “Apps for Development” competition, the first global contest of its kind.

The competition challenges developers to create software applications, tools, data visualizations or “mash-ups”- whether web-based, mobile, through SMS, smart phone, desktop, or tablet. There are only two requirements for entries: use the World Bank Data Catalog and address one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The eight MDGs are:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

2. Achieve universal primary education

3. Promote gender equality and empower women

4. Reduce child mortality

5. Improve maternal health

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

7. Ensure environmental sustainability

8. Develop a global partnership for development

Read full press release.

Around the world, people are increasingly conversing using SMS, and making fewer and fewer voice calls, particularly in the youth market. A recent Washington Post article looks at how the “texting generation doesn’t share boomers’ taste for talk”. Increasingly consumers are having interactive and effective asynchronous conversations, even though they are not in real time, via SMS. By: Dr Pieter Streicher, MD at BulkSMS.com.

So why, wonders Dr. Pieter Streicher, managing director of BulkSMS.com, are so few companies really engaging with their customers via this channel.

Read full article.

It doesn’t surprise me to learn that Samsung’s gone with Gorilla Glass for the Galaxy Tab as we saw them do the same for their Galaxy S phones. It’s even more so important for the tab as a 7-inch screen can be quiet easy to scratched up compared to the 4-inch on the Galaxy S. We all know what Gorilla Glass is and what it does, so there’s not much to detail here. Just know that your Tab’s probably safe in your pocket with your keys and coins (that’s if you can even fit it in there.)

We’ve also gotten pricing of the device for its launch on O2 in Germany. You’ll be able to get the device up front for 99 euros, but you’ll still have to pay for the full price of the device using O2’s My Handy Payment Plan scheme over a 24-month period (think T-Mobile’s Even More+.) I guess they said if we’re going to be charging our users an arm and a leg for this thing with on subsidy, we might as well make it easy.

[via AC]

The Samsung Transform might try to be chameleon-like but it isn’t any T-1000 as it couldn’t prevent the interwebz from spotting it prematurely on Sprint’s website.

This is the phone that was first leaked last week alongside the Sanyo Zio, but learning that the User Guide of the Transform was found smack dab on the Sprint website pretty much ends the speculation.

It looks like Sprint customers itching for a slide-out QWERTY but unable to afford the EPIC 4G might have a new option within reach. And if the User Guide is already ready… you can bet that reach is within inches.

If this doesn’t turn out to be the most unusual partnership, then I don’t know what can be considered above it. According to sources of BGR’s, Verizon’s going to be teaming up with ZTE to bring out a high-end Android handset that actually doesn’t sound too bad. In fact, it sounds “damned good” more than it sounds “not too bad.”

The only spec they could mum out was “1.3GHz CPU,” but if this turns out to be true, I’m sure the rest of the specs won’t fail to impress. I guess we’ll find out before too long if ZTE is ready to step out of the shadows of being known as a rebranding factory.