Cell Phone News

Motorola W205 announced

Feb 23 - 08:20 PM ET | 3GSM, Motorola

3GSM World Congress -- The Motorola W205 is a new consumer focused handset with only basic features. It's not as low-end as the FONE, but the feature list reads more like 2003 than the current day.

• Quad band GSM
• 128×128 65k color CSTN screen
• Speakerphone
• Memory for 750 SMS messages

Motorola will begin shipping the W205 phone in the first quarter. Pricing was not announced but should be low. Also announced in the W series were the W510 and W215.

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Motorola W510 announced

Feb 23 - 08:12 PM ET | 3GSM, Motorola

3GSM World Congress -- The Motorola W510 builds on styling cues from the KRZR, but offers a slightly tweaked feature set.

Features of the handset include:

• Quad band GSM plus EDGE
• 1.3 megapixel camera
• microSD card slot
• Stereo Bluetooth
• peaker independent voice recognition

Motorola expects to begin shipping the W510 later in the first quarter. Carriers were not announced. The W205 and W215 are two more new models in the W series. All should come in at a competitive price point.

Nokia E61i announced

Feb 23 - 08:02 PM ET | Nokia

3GSM World Congress -- The Nokia E61i was the third new E-Series handset announced at 3GSM this year (see Nokia E65 and Nokia E90 Communicator for more info on the other handsets). The E-Series is Nokia's business targeted handset vertical and the phones ship with more mobile email and productivity apps than the multimedia-centric N-Series. The E61i is an update to the E61, a"BlackBerry Killer" that was announced back in October 2005.

Features of the E61i include:

• Quad band GSM, WCDMA 2100 and WiFi (WLAN)
• Updated keyboard with One Touch key
• Advanced attachment handling with on-device editing
• Corporate email support for Intellisync, Good, Exchange, Seven and BlackBerry Connect
• 2 megapixel camera
• Music and video player

Nokia will begin shipping the E61i in the second quarter of 2007. Without a subsidy it will run around 400 euro.

[MORE]

Nokia E65 announced

Feb 23 - 07:48 PM ET | Nokia

3GSM World Congress -- The Nokia E65 is a new model in the business oriented Nokia E-Series. The E65 packs business features into a slim 15mm package. The slide-style handset

• Quad band GSM plus WCDMA 2100
• WiFi, Bluetooth and IR
• QVGA screen with 16m colors
• 2 megapixel camera
• microSD card slot
• One Touch key for easy access to business apps

The Nokia E65 is already shipping in select markets and will expand globally later in the quarter. The unsubsidized price is 400 euro.

YouTube videos coming to Nokia N-Series handsets

Feb 12 - 06:03 AM ET | 3GSM, Nokia

3GSM World Congress -- Nokia has inked a deal with YouTube to bring the popular video sharing website's videos to users of Nokia's N-Series handsets. The videos will be accessible through Nokia Mini Map Browser and a soon-to-launch mobilized version of YouTube. YouTube's main site uses Flash video but the new mobile site will utilize H.264/AVC.

"We are thrilled to be giving users easy access to entertaining YouTube videos anytime and anywhere. By partnering with an industry leader like Nokia, we're able to bring YouTube videos to mobile phone users worldwide," said Steve Chen, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer for YouTube.

Interestingly enough, Adobe announced earlier today that the next version of Flash Lite will support Flash Video.

Nokia E90 Communicator announced

Feb 12 - 05:51 AM ET | 3G, 3GSM, Nokia

3GSM World Congress -- The new Nokia E90 Communicator takes on where the 9300i Communicator left off. It keeps the familiar laptop-esque form factor but makes a lot of upgrades under the hood. One big change is that the device is now on the S60 platform instead of Series 90.

Features of the E90 Communicator include:

• Quad band GSM plus HSDPA and WiFi
• 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus and a VGA camera for video calls
• FM Radio
• Integrated GPS with Nokia Maps

Another photo of the E90 is available below. More information coming soon.

[MORE]

Nokia N77 TV phone

Feb 12 - 05:28 AM ET | 3GSM, Nokia

3GSM World Congress -- The Nokia N77 is a pocketable DVB-H compatible mobile TV phone. The N77's more conventional (and fairly compact) form factor is in contrast to N92 which is the only other DVB-H N-Series handset.

Features of the Nokia N77 include:

• Live DVB-H TV viewing with a dedicated TV key
• Music player with support for MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ and WMA
• 2 megapixel camera plus VGA camera for video calls
• Tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900) plus WCDMA 2100 and EDGE
• QVGA screen with 16 million colors
• Bluetooth

Nokia will begin shipping the N77 in the second quarter for an estimated 370 euros. It will be marketed in countries with DVB-H service. The N77 was Nokia main consumer introduction at the 3GSM show. Other key announcements included new models in the business targeted E-Series.

[MORE]

Motorola Q q9 with HSDPA

Feb 12 - 05:17 AM ET | 3G, 3GSM, Motorola, Smartphone

3GSM World Congress -- 3GSM's flurry of handset announcements is in full force this morning with most major manufacturers showing off several new models. The latest is the Motorola Moto Q q9 which is the next generation Q which is the second handset out of the SCPL platform (the first was FONE). The original Q was also announced in a GSM configuration today. Like the Q gsm, the Q q9 runs Windows Mobile 6.

Features of the MOTOQ q9 include:

• Quad-band GSM plus 3.6 megabit HSDPA
• QVGA display
• Just 11.8mm thick
• 2 megapixel camera
• Stereo Bluetooth
• microSD card slot

Motorola expects to begin shipping the Q q9 in the second quarter. Because of the quad-band radio it's possible that we'll see a US launch. The HSDPA frequencies weren't announced.

[MORE]

Motorola KRZR K3 with HSPDA

Feb 12 - 04:35 AM ET | 3GSM, Motorola

3GSM World Congress -- The Motorola KRZR K3 takes the KRZR platform into HSDPA markets across Europe. Its announcement comes a little more than six months after the KRZR K1's introduction. The biggest design difference with the K3 compared to the K1 is the addition of a second camera for video calling.

Features of the Motorola KRZR K3 include:

• QVGA display with 260k colors
• HSDPA and UMTS
• Stereo Bluetooth
• 50MB end user memory plus microSD memory card slot
• 2 megapixel camera for imaging plus VGA camera for video calling

Motorola will begin shipping the KRZR K3 later in the first quarter. More photos of the device are available below.

[MORE]

Motorola Q gsm announced

Feb 12 - 03:44 AM ET | 3GSM, Motorola

3GSM World Congress -- From day one Motorola said that the Q would come out supporting different network standards. Today the Chicago based company made good on that promise, enter Motorola Q gsm. For users that want 3G Motorola also announced the Q q9 today. It's a next generation Q with HSDPA. Besides supporting GSM, the Q gsm is also one of the first phones to feature Windows Mobile 6.

Features of the Motorola Q gsm

• Quad-band GSM plus Class 10 EDGE
• miniSD memory card slot (miniSDIO supported for things such as WiFi)
• Windows Mobile 6
• 1.3 megapixel camera
• Bluetooth with A2DP stereo support

The Motorola Q gsm will begin shipping in the second quarter. Pricing and carrier availability were not announced.

Motorola RIZR Z8

Feb 12 - 03:27 AM ET | 3GSM, Motorola

3GSM World Congress -- Motorola has expanded the RIZR family with the introduction of the RIZR Z8. Like the recently announced RIZR Z6, the Z8 does away with Motorola's conventional (and heavily criticized) operating system. But instead of the Java/Linux OS that the Z6 got, the RIZR Z8 is actually powered by Symbian. A new UI sits on top of the Symbian software, so it doesn't look like a Nokia S60.

More interesting than the OS is that the Z8 is Motorola's first "kick slider". That means instead of sliding straight up, the Z8 actually curves to better contour to a face. There's a photo of this in action below.

Other features of the MOTORIZR Z8 include:

• QVGA display with 16 million colors
• 3.6 megabit HSDPA
• 2-megapixel camera
• microSD card slot
• Bluetooth with A2DP stereo support

Motorola expects to launch the RIZR Z8 in April. Since Motorola was talking up a partnership with Sky, we're betting on a European launch for the device.

[MORE]

Motorola SLVR L9

Feb 12 - 03:12 AM ET | 3GSM, Motorola

3GSM World Congress -- Motorola has introduced the SLVR L9, a new music handset in the SLVR family. Design wise there have been few changes... A few visual elements have been modified to fit more into the KRZR style. Inside many features have been upgraded to aide music playback

• 2.0 megapixel camera
• Bluetooth with A2DP stereo support
• Mirror finish like the KRZR
• CrystalTalk (eases conversations in noisy environments)
• Music player with support for MP3/AAC/AAC+/AAC+ enhanced/ AMR/ WAV
• microSD memory card slot
• FM radio

Motorola expects to begin shipping the SLVR L9 in the second quarter. Regional availability was not announced. GSM frequencies were not announced (though it does have class 10 EDGE) so it's not known if the US market will get a chance.

Dwyane Wade Sidekick 3 from T-Mobile USA

Feb 12 - 02:40 AM ET | Danger, T-Mobile

T-Mobile has introduced the Sidekick 3 D-Wade Edition, a souped up version of the venerable Sidekick 3 designed by NBA phenom Dwyane Wade. Wade has been a Sidekick user for a couple of years and says he is excited to be able to put his own twist on the device:

“My T-Mobile Sidekick is a part of me. I don’t go anywhere without it because it keeps me in touch with the most important people in my life,” said Wade. “I really wanted to design a Sidekick that meant something special to me – one that reflects my own personal style and inspiration. I’m excited that it will soon be in the hands of people who want a great device that looks smooth.”

Feature wise the special edition handset mirrors the original. However the case has been retooled in a new gold and white color scheme. The back also features a basketball-texture for extra grip (we hope it's modeled after the classic leather ball and not the ill-fated synthetic that thankfully has been phased out).

The D-Wade Edition Sidekick goes on sale February 21st. It should be available at all corporate T-Mobile stores in addition to online. T-Mobile previously announced two other special editions of the Sidekick 3.

[MORE]

HP iPAQ 500 series Voice Communicator announced

Feb 12 - 02:26 AM ET | 3GSM, Smartphone

3GSM World Congress -- The HP iPAQ 500 series Voice Messenger is the first of what is expected to be a number of Windows Mobile 6 smartphones to be announced at 3GSM. The small (for an iPAQ) device looks more like a phone than past smartphones from HP.

Features of the HP iPAQ 500 include:

• Quad band GSM plus EDGE
• WiFi (802.11b/g) with support for VoIP
• Bluetooth
• 64MB user available memory plus microSD memory card slot
• 176×220 pixel screen
• Extensive voice support for hands free use
• 107mm x 48.6mm x 16.3mm
• Talk time of 6.5 hours

The iPAQ 500 Voice Messenger will be available this Spring in the US. International availability will follow shortly. Pricing for the device was not announced.

Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 announced

Feb 12 - 01:46 AM ET | 3GSM, Smartphone

3GSM World Congress -- As expected, Microsoft has taken the wraps off of Windows Mobile 6, the next major version of its mobile operating system. The biggest addition to Windows Mobile 6 is increased support for Office and other Microsoft services like Windows Live.

Major new features of Windows Mobile 6:

• More desktop like email. Messages now retain formatting and can contain photos inline.
• Office documents look more like their originals and can be edited without deleting desktop formatting
• Windows Live for Windows Mobile searches all the Live services (Hotmail, Messenger, web search, Spaces)
• Call history is now contained in contacts to give some context
• Tethering (using the phone as a modem from a computer) is now "one-click" easy
• Improved sync support with Windows Vista

Devices using Windows Mobile 6 will begin shipping in the second quarter. The T-Mobile Dash will be the first US-based device to contain the new software. In an uncharacteristic move, current owners of the device (which is still shipping with Windows Mobile 5.0) will be able to upgrade to version 6.

Adobe announces video support for Flash Lite

Feb 12 - 01:17 AM ET | 3GSM

3GSM World Congress -- Adobe Systems has announced that video will be supported in Flash Lite 3. The updated software is expected to begin shipping in the first half of the year. Flash Video saw a huge boost in market share thanks to the emergence of YouTube. With Flash Lite 3 it will be possible for mobile phone users to browse sites like YouTube without any help from a carrier deck (though that probably isn't welcome news to carriers).

Adobe also announced at the show that it has reached 200 million Flash Lite embedded device shipments. The software is bundled with over 300 devices. Verizon Wireless is the biggest user of Flash Lite among the US carriers. It's being used to power the UI of phones like the LG Chocolate in addition to a number of widget like applications.

RIM BlackBerry 8800 announced

Feb 12 - 12:19 AM ET | 3GSM, Research In Motion

3GSM World Congress -- Research In Motion has announced the BlackBerry 8800. The 8800 combines styling first seen on the popular BlackBerry Pearl with the more conventional designs of previous business-targeted QWERTY BlackBerry handsets.

• Quad-band GSM/EDGE
• Bluetooth
• QVGA display
• microSD memory card slot
• Built-in GPS
• BlackBerry push email support
• Trackball navigation (like the Pearl)

RIM hopes to begin shipping the BlackBerry 8800 to various carriers later this month. In the US it will debut first with AT&T/Cingular. AT&T will begin selling the 8800 on February 21st for $299.99 with a 2-year contract.

Samsung Ultra Smart F700 announced

Feb 12 - 12:00 AM ET | 3GSM, Samsung

The Samsung Ultra Smart F700 is a new feature-laden handset that some analysts are saying will pose competition to the Apple iPhone. Much like the iPhone, the F700 features a new Flash user interface and a large touch screen. Most of the other features on the F700 are more advanced than Apple's offering however.

Features of the Ultra Smart F700 include:

• GSM 900/1800/1900 plus 7.2 megabit HSPDA
• 5.0 megapixel camera
• Slide out QWERTY keyboard
• Bluetooth
• microSD
• 2.78" touch screen with VibeTonz for tactile feedback

Samsung will show off the Ultra Smart F700 at 3GSM World Congress. The company did not announce when the handset will begin shipping or estimates of pricing. Because it lacks GSM 850 it will not launch in its current form in the US.

[via Akihabara News]

[MORE]

Sony Ericsson W880i announced

Feb 11 - 11:40 PM ET | 3GSM, Sony Ericsson

The Sony Ericsson W880i has finally been formally announced. The device was previously dubbed Ai in rumors and was even featured in a few "spy shots" officially released by Sony Ericsson back in January. All the commotion was for good reason, at just 9.4mm thick the W880i is the thinnest phone [by a fair margin] Sony Ericsson has produced. As a Walkman branded handset, the W880i features a sophisticated music player and playback keys.

The smaller stature doesn't take away from features though, the W880i is well equipped:

• GSM 900/1800/1900 + UMTS 2100
• Bluetooth with A2DP stereo support
• Memory Stick Micro M2 slot (1GB card included)
• QVGA screen with 262k colors
• 2-megapixel camera

Sony Ericsson expects to begin shipping to select markets the W880i in the current quarter. It will come in both silver/black and black/orange color schemes. There will also be a version without 3G called the W888c designed for the Chinese market. Because it lacks GSM 850 the W880i will not ship in the US.

[MORE]

Sony Ericsson W610i announced

Feb 11 - 11:23 PM ET | 3GSM, Sony Ericsson

In advance of the 2007 3GSM World Congress, the Sony Ericsson W610i has been announced. The W610i is another model in the popular Walkman branded line of music phones. With Apple's recent announcement of the upcoming iPhone there has never been more buzz about music phones. Apple may be getting a lot of ink, but Sony Ericsson has been the most successful manufacturer actually selling music phones.

Features of the Sony Ericsson W610i include:

• Quad band GSM plus EDGE
• Memory Stick Micro M2 card slot (512MB card included)
• Bluetooth with A2DP stereo support
• 2.0 megapixel camera with auto focus
• 14mm thick

The W610i will begin shipping in the second quarter of this year. It will be available in both black and white color schemes. Pricing was not announced but should be competitive. More photos of the handset, including one of the white version, are available below.

[MORE]

Motorola KRZR K1m Fire launches from Verizon Wireless

Feb 09 - 06:50 PM ET | Motorola, Verizon Wireless

The recent trend of releasing existing handsets in new color schemes has continued with the launch of the Motorola KRZR K1m Fire. The red handset is identical in features to the original black and newer white models. Verizon Wireless also added a new color of Chocolate to its line up, making itself one of the most colorful carriers.

Features of the Motorola KRZR K1m Fire include:

• Bluetooth
• EV-DO data (V Cast compatible)
• Music player with playback keys on exterior
• 1.3 megapixel camera
• microSD memory card slot
• VZNagivator compatible (GPS navigation)

The KRZR K1m in all colors is available for $99 after a new 2-year service contract and $50 in instant savings.

[MORE]

Pink LG Chocolate launches on Verizon Wireless

Feb 09 - 06:24 PM ET | LG Mobile Phone, Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless has gotten into the Valentine's day spirit by launching the Pink LG Chocolate. Technically the shade is called Strawberry, but we've never seen strawberries quite this shade. The Chocolate is also available in black, white, red and green. Color is the only differences among the models, much like with Motorola's various shades of RAZRs.

Features of the Chocolate include:

• MP3 player
• EV-DO data (V Cast compatible)
• 1.3 megapixel camera
• Bluetooth
• microSD card slot
• QVGA screen with 262k colors

The pink LG Chocolate is available for $99.99 after a $50 online rebate and new 2-year service contract. That's $29.99 cheaper than all the other color schemes. The phone is available now and is not a limited time offer for the holiday.

Icahn wants seat on Motorola's board

Jan 30 - 04:55 PM ET | Motorola

Famous investor Carl Icahn is a large shareholder in Motorola and spoke with CNBC this afternoon, noting that he is running for a seat on the board. Icahn owns approximately 1.4% of Motorola's outstanding shares and was outspoken about the $12 billion in cash Moto is keeping around for a rainy day.

"If they want to be money managers, they can go to Wall Street," Icahn said in a telephone conversation with [CNBC's David ] Faber. "Why sit on $12 billion, earning 3%?"

Icahn believes Motorola should buy back nearly 1/3 of its outstanding shares to boost the price. He is also hoping for a board seat though no date has been set for the shareholders meeting. All 13 directors are elected annually. Shares of Motorola [MOT] spiked nearly 7% after news of Icahn's board seat wish hit the wires.

Verizon offers new bundles, battles AT&T

Jan 30 - 04:36 PM ET | AT&T, Cingular, Verizon Wireless

Verizon has introduced new callings plans that bundle wireline and wireless phone service. This comes just two weeks after AT&T Unity was introduced. Like Unity, Verizon's new Freedom plans bundle all the available services from the telecom juggernaut. Verizon's partnership with DirecTV is also included in the deal so it's possible to combine landline, internet, wireless and TV all on one bill.

There are three new plans: Double Freedom, Triple Freedom and Unlimited Freedom. They feature two, three and four of the services respectively. Prices range from $64.99 to $144.99 monthly.

While Verizon and AT&T continue to duke it out, Sprint and T-Mobile are left out. Sprint spun-off its wireline business last year and T-Mobile never had a play in that market. Some cable companies have tried to offer bundles featuring internet, TV, VoIP phone service and wireless service (through a MVNO).

Cingular accidently bills senior $31,000

Jan 29 - 04:04 PM ET | Cingular, In The News

Cingular has been catching some bad press after it came out the company billed a senior citizen $31,000 for international calls that would have been impossible to make. Oliver DeSofi was shocked to see his monthly bill (normally $150) listed at $21,420. After calling to clarify, Mr. DeSofi was notified that more calls had been made and his outstanding balance now stood at over $31,000.

The bill detailed 4,500 calls made from Nicaragua, a rate of about 165 per day. DeSofi says he has never been to Nicaragua and hasn't even been out of the country for three years. Cingular's internal fraud investigation department took a look at the case and initially decided there was no fraud and the bill was legitimate. Many of the numbers called from Central America no longer exist and some were invalid entries such as 000-000-0000.

After being contacted by the Herald-Tribune Cingular gave DeSofi the "benefit of the doubt" and cleared his bill. DeSofi is relieved but is also planning on porting his number to another carrier.

Motorola hooks up with TI for 3G / 4G phones

Jan 29 - 03:56 PM ET | Motorola

Motorola has signed an agreement with Texas Instruments for chips to power future mobile phones. Previously Motorola has relied on silicon from Freescale, a company that Motorola spun off in 2003. Motorola has been slow to get advanced 3G phones to the market and has made that task a major goal for 2007. However this agreement won't help out for this year's financials--Motorola handsets based on the new Texas Instruments chips will begin shipping in 2008.

TI's chips will help provide both 3G and WiMAX (802.16e) data connectivity. Motorola is one of the early adopters of WiMAX and expects to begin shipping a new line of 802.16e mobile devices next year.

Verizon Wireless reports strong Q4 2006

Jan 29 - 03:45 PM ET | Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless has announced its fourth quarter 2006 earnings statement. The results are strong and while Verizon remains the second largest carrier in terms of subscribers, the company posted leading revenue during the fourth quarter. Interesting metrics from the release include:

• 2.3 million net new customers for a total of 59.1m
• Monthly data revenue per user hit $7.91
• Record revenue of $10.1 billion, up 16.3% versus a year ago
• Record messaging usage: 17.7 billion text messages and 353 million picture messages

COO Denny Strigl didn't seem worried about the new Apple iPhone (a Cingular/ATT exclusive) on a conference call today with analysts:

"Quite frankly, we're happy we're not the first to market with the iPhone," Verizon COO Denny Strigl said on a conference call with analysts Monday. He cited terms that would have had Verizon sharing a cut of the monthly subscriber fees and letting Apple handle customer disputes.

T-Mobile USA surpasses 25 million subscribers

Jan 28 - 08:04 PM ET | T-Mobile

T-Mobile USA has announced hitting the 25 million subscriber milestone. The carrier is still the smallest of the four nationals by a long shot, but is adding customers at a fast clip. Cingular, the nation's largest carrier, recently announced surpassing 60 million subscribers.

T-Mobile made the customer announcement along with its Q4 2006 earnings statement. Several interesting metrics were included:

• 900k net new customers in Q4; nearly 800k of those were post paid
• 1.6 million "converged device" users (BlackBerry and Sidekick)
• Churn remained the same versus the year ago period

Upcoming Motorola phones revealed by executive

Jan 24 - 08:14 PM ET | 3G, 3GSM, Motorola, Rumor

Motorola's Ron Garriques, president of mobile devices, recently gave anxious investors a sneak peek at the company's upcoming handsets. The presentation has been posted online [PDF]. Look for these announcements soon.

As expected, many of Motorola's upcoming announcements will be 3G handsets. The phones revealed in Garriques' presentation are 3G versions of previously announced handsets:

• KRZR K3 - Existing KRZR with 3G and second camera for video calling
• RIZR Z8 - Tweaked design of the RIZR with UMTS or HSDPA (not noted)
• Q EDGE - GSM version of the original Q
• Q² - Updated Q in both HSDPA and EV-DO versions, expected at 3GSM

Garriques also mentioned the upcoming SCPL (Scalpel) line of handsets. The presentation notes that these devices will be broadband capable, but does not hint at a launch date. Motorola has been talking about SCPL for over a year and it was originally believed to be the successor to the RAZR (which the KRZR ended up doing instead).

[via PhoneScoop]