Late last week, Sprint, Samsung, and Captain Planet announced a plan to save the world, very slowly: the Samsung Reclaim. Made primarily of corn and renewable resources, the Reclaim is a green phone – both figuratively and literally. Peter Ha, who is known (outside of his CrunchGear writings) primarily for planting trees and installing solar farms in Africa, was having none of it.

Mr. DeliveryMan just showed up with our Reclaim review unit. We’re just tearing it apart now, but we figured we’d get some pics up for those at home interested in this thing. As a side note, it should be mentioned that this phone, made at least partially of corn, does not taste like corn. Yes, Yes; I licked the phone. Purely in the interest of science, of curse. It tastes like a phone — or more accurately, like a combination of bear mace and lysol. If I drop dead mysteriously in the next 48 hours, blame Samsung.

Whether or not the whole “Green” thing is much more than a gimmick, I remain undecided – but for $50 bucks on a 2 year-contract, this feature phone really isn’t too shabby. We’ll have our hands on impressions up in a few hours.

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Unboxing (and licking) the Samsung Reclaim

We drooled over the N97 for months before release. The hardware looked pocket-perfect, the keyboard oh-so-friendly with our thumbs. But when it finally launched, it.. well, it wasn’t our favorite phone ever, to put it kindly. Of all the flaws, the most glaring was the OS; it just seemed muddled and ancient, and weighed down the phone.

The guys over at The Symbian Blog have figured out a way to make the OS seem slightly less dated. It’s a bit like sprinkling glitter onto a pile of vomit, but a quick tweak and a small options toggle will enable a fancy screen transition animation. It’s not very useful nor completely stable – but if you want to pretty things up a bit, it’s a nice trick.

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Hidden setting enables flashy transitions on the N97

Like Palm before the Pre, Motorola is on its last leg and the adoption of Google’s Android OS could make or break the handset division of the company. We’ve seen numerous images and industrial sketches of the forthcoming Morrison, but hardware specs have been absent until now. Android and Me has been tipped off on the purported specs for the QWERTY slider.

Moto has gone with a Qualcomm MSM 7201A 528MHz processor, which is the same series (MSM 72XX) chip that the G1 and myTouch 3G are powered with. RAM and ROM are the same as the myTouch at 256MB and 512MB, respectively. Screen resolution is HVGA (320

When was the last time you read your AT&T contract? If you answered “never,” then may I suggest you take two minutes to look this over. That’s right, unbeknownst to you, you just lost the ability to enter into a class action lawsuit against the mobile phone carrier. High five!

Right, so the language in question is:

Any arbitration under this Agreement will take place on an individual basis; class arbitrations and class actions are not permitted.

In other words, thanks to the new wording of the AT&T contract, if you feel like entering into a class action lawsuit against AT&T, well, you can’t. It’s all there in black and white.

The thing is—and this is based on like 10 minutes of research—any change to a contract that benefits one part over the other represents a chance for the other party to cancel the contract without facing any penalties or fees. So, if you don’t like the fact that you now cannot join a class action lawsuit against AT&T, ring ‘em up and say, “Yes, I’d like to cancel my contract, please. Here’s your rubbish iPhone back.”

This is not a good summer for AT&T. First the upgrade fiasco, then a mass nerd defection due to outages, and now this.

via Slashdot

Quoth AT&T:

AT&T has not recently made any changes in its terms of service regarding our arbitration clause. This approach has been in effect since Jan. 2001. We have made minor changes to our arbitration clause – most recently in Jan. 2009 – but those changes have been to the benefit of the consumer.

· It is worth noting that this approach – an arbitration clause with a class action waiver — is standard for the wireless industry.

*We continue to believe that a consumer is better off pursuing a claim under our arbitration clause, rather than pursuing a class action. Arbitration is typically a fast, cost-effective, and pro-consumer way to address disputes, and AT&T’s arbitration agreement is among the most consumer-friendly in the nation.
*A federal judge in West Virginia, even before recent improvements to AT&T’s arbitration policy, praised it as “unusually consumer-centered.”
*Our current arbitration clause calls for the company — if it does not settle a consumer complaint and the consumer receives an award that is greater than the company’s settlement offer — to pay the greater amount of either the arbitration, or $10,000. This is what changed in Jan. 2009; previously the amount was $5,000.
*Likewise, if the consumer has used a lawyer in winning an arbitration case and is awarded more than the company’s settlement offer, the company would pay two times the lawyers’ fees. Finally, we pay the entire cost of the arbitration, except if a customer is claiming $75,000 or more.

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Get angry: AT&T changes contract to prevent class action lawsuits UPDATE FROM AT&T

A Japanese company called Sanwa is selling a waterproof case [JP] (or a bag as they call it) that protects your iPhone from nasty stuff like scratches, water and sand. Sanwa says their 200-PDA016 is ideal for all users who can’t go hiking, to the beach or skiing without their iPhone.

The case looks pretty robust, but the company promises that users will be able to do everything with the iPhone in it: using the touchscreen, taking pictures and even listening to music (it’s equipped with a special jack for use with waterproof headphones). But be careful, the case is IPX7-certified, meaning it can withstand immersion in one meter of water for up to 30 minutes.

For $35, buyers will also get a neck strap, earphones and an armband. This sound like a very good price to me, but the problem is the case is only in Sanwa’s Japanese online store. You might want to contact the export specialists from the Japan Trend Shop or Geek Stuff 4 U if you want to get one shipped outside Japan.

Via Gizmodo

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New case protects your iPhone from scratches, water and sand