Microsoft to launch social networking phone

Software giant Microsoft is to launch its own mobile phones in the US later this year as it aims to challenge the growing smartphone dominance of its main rivals Apple and Google.

The phones will be made available in July exclusively on Verizon, the largest cellphone carrier in the US, and will be aimed at heavy users of social networks. It is reported that initially Microsoft will launch two phones. The two phones are codenamed 'Pink' and 'Pure', and will be manufactured for the software giant by Sharp.

Last month Microsoft unveiled a new mobile operating system that was widely praised by technology pundits.

Microsoft used to enjoy a leading position in the smartphone arena but has seen its position severely eroded by Apple's iPhone, by the Blackberry and by numerous devices running Google's Android operating system.

Nokia develops self-charging cellphone

Experts have come up with a cellphone that can recharge its own battery by harvesting energy from the owner's motion.

The self-charging handset by Nokia, who has already filed for a US patent, was predicted to work with heavier components, such as the radio transmitter circuit and battery, supported on a sturdy frame.

According to a report by New Scientist, “The frame apparently could shift along two sets of rails, allowing it travel up and down and side to side”.

Each rail apparently hosted strips of piezoelectric crystals at its end, capable of generating a current when compressed by the frame such that motion, by the user or the movement of the phone, generates electricity.

That in turn charged a capacitor and subsequently the battery, boosting the charge.