Microsoft and Qualcomm enter smartphone agreement

Microsoft and Qualcomm have entered a deal to have Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system work more closely with Qualcomm latest wireless chipset. Qualcomm's 7000 series Mobile Station Modem (MSM) chipset combines a radio modem and applications processor on one chip. This allows a resulting phone to maintain better battery life and have a smaller physical size.

The new software should be ready sometime in the second half the year and will allow phone manufacturers to more easily create their devices.

Symbian 9.3 released

Symbian announced version 9.3 of its flagship smartphone OS. It adds several important high-end features, but also includes the ability for vendors to strip the system down to make it useful in lower-end handsets. In terms of volume shipments, Nokia still remains the leader in Symbian handsets. The OS is used in all of the company's S60 handsets.

New features in 9.3 include:
Improved memory management and general speed boosts because of that
Native support for WiFi
Support for firmware OTA (FOTA), HSDPA, IPSec for UMA and push-to-talk over cellular (PoC)

HTC Excalibur approved by FCC

The featured packed HTC Excalibur has been approved by the FCC (ID NM8EXCA). The handset is being positioned to compete with the Motorola Q, but since it's GSM the competition will be limited until Motorola introduces new variants of the Q.

Features of the HTC Excalibur include:
Quadband GSM
QVGA screen
WiFi/Bluetooth
Windows Mobile Smartphone OS
Unique touch-sensitive scroll pad on side

No carrier deals for the Excalibur have been announced, but there have been rumors pointing to both Cingular and T-Mobile. The phone is expected to ship before the end of the year, likely before the holidays. Despite not being officially announced, Geek.com posted some medium resolution shots of the phone.

Palm Treo 700wx launches on Sprint

The Palm Treo 700wx has officially launched on Sprint. While this was the first time it has been officially talked about, like most past Treos there wasn't much about the 700wx that didn't leak. The handset is almost identical to the Treo 700w that Verizon has exclusively carried since early this year. The only difference is an increase in RAM (well, and Sprint branding).

Features of the Treo 700wx:
Windows Mobile 5.0
EV-DO data
Bluetooth and IR
1.3 megapixel camera
128MB NVRAM (60MB for the user) plus SDIO slot
240×240 touch-sensitive screen with 65k colors
Speakerphone

Sprint is selling the 700wx for $499.99 after a 2-year service agreement and $150 in instant savings. In contrast, Verizon is selling the 700w for $399 after promotional savings.

HTC shows off Q4 2006 lineup

High Tech Computer has officially announced their holiday lineup. While leaks have shared info on all of these handsets, the official announcement clears the way for these devices to actually ship. Additionally we have actual model names, the trendy codenames like Excalibur and Trinity won't actually make it into production.

All of the devices run Windows Mobile. Descriptions follow the photo from left to right.

P3300 (Artemis) - First "navigation PDA" from HTC. Software from TomTom provides navigation, complete with 3D maps.
Built-in GPS
Trackball and track wheel
2.8" screen

P3600 (Trinity) - PDA form factor, extends on the HTC Prophet and Magician.
HSDPA-ready 3G connectivity
2 megapixel camera

S620 (Excalibur) - Flagship model, super thin and is HTC's answer to the Motorola Q. It's already approved by the FCC.
QWERTY keyboard
Just 12.8mm thick, weighs 130g with battery
JOGGR touch sensitive navigation bar
Quadband GSM plus EDGE, WiFi and Bluetooth

S310 (Oxygen) - Candy bar style handset, relatively rare for Windows Mobile
Quadband GSM
Comes in three colors: Black, white and grey

HTC will begin shipping these cell phones in Europe under their own brand starting in September and continuing through October. US carriers may launch one or more of the phones under their own brand, per HTC's OEM strategy in the US. T-Mobile will be shipping a customized version of the HTC P3300 as the MDA Compact III in several of its European markets. We've heard Cingular is picking up a few of these models as well.

Samsung ships new PocketPC phone

Samsung's SCH-i700 has started shipping. The PocketPC OS powered phone looks pretty spiffy on the outside, but still packs some punch on the inside. It's got an integrated digital camera, 64MB of ram (we assume that you can store photos on this memory unlike the name RAM connotates). PocketPC Thoughts has a review unit and a nice write-up about it.

BenQ's New Smartphone

BenQ has announced the P30, a new Symbian powered smart phone. The name is awful close to Sony Ericsson's P800, and they even both run the same OS. Despite the rip-off quality's, the P30 has a decent feature set:
16-bit TFT display
Integrated digital camera with 16-bit color depth
Bluetooth

Look for it soon... No prices have been released yet.

Symbian 7.0 Released

Symbian has released the 7th version of their popular mobile operating system. The new release add multi-tasking (surf the net AND download a file at the same time), an updated Java implementation, boosted multimedia capabilities and Arabic/Hebrew language support.

It's not clear if you can update your mobile device but our guess is not. You'll have to wait until your phone manufacturer/carrier gets their customized version of 7.0 done.

O'Grady Reviews P800

Mobile mogul Jason O'Grady has posted a very detailed review of his latest gadget--the Sony Ericsson P800 (seen at right). It's unique looks make it easily recognizable to most people, but it's amazing feature set makes it stick in the heads of geeks.
"The phone is more than a successor to the wonderful Sony Ericsson T68i - it is a complete departure. Where the T68i was a tiny powerful color Bluetooth phone, the P800 is more akin to a small computer that makes phone calls and take pictures."

The Neonode N1 Is Coming...

Gizmodo notes that the rumored Neonode N1 is indeed coming. The phone is one of the smallest we've seen, and since it packs smartphone functions (runs a Microsoft OS) it's even more amazing.

Details are still sketchy and direct URL's aren't possible thanks to Neonode's Flash site, but near as we can tell 1,000 units have shipped and the rest are on their way.

Handspring and Orange Partner

The well-known PDA maker Handspring has partnered with European mega company Orange SA to develop new smart phones. The phones will be used exclusively in Europe on Orange's network. At this time there is no word on a time frame or feature set.

The Register has a little on this move--but no firm details.

Update: We've gotten word that the phone will be an updated Treo. Should be available in September '03 under the Orange brand name.

Siemens' New Offerings Coming to USA

According to InfoSync World, US readers won't have to be jealous of Europeans who can purchase the new offering from Siemens (at CeBIT). Look for Siemens to make a lot of ground in the US market over the next 18 months--it's designs are sexy and feature rich.

The SX1 (shown at right) will be available late this year. It's another one of the seemingly endless supply of new phones with crazy button schemes, but other than that seems solid. It's got a 16 bit color screen, PIM applications, video recording and more.

The SL56 is coming as well and packs quite a punch. It's not pinned as a smartphone like the SX1 but still boasts a sliding keypad, POP and IMAP email, and Bluetooth.

The M56 isn't as advanced as its counterparts, but it still sports a color screen and GSM connectivity.

BlackBerry To Mesh With Smartphones

Research In Motion, most well known for their popular BlackBerry devices, is in talks with two major players in the smartphone arena--Symbian and Microsoft. According to Wireless NewsFactor RIM wants makers of smartphones BlackBerry savvy. Obviously the best way to get into the phones is to get into the OS. It looks like good times ahead for consumers itching to do more with their phones.

It's worth a mention that the widely publicized Sony Ericsson P800 is powered by Symbian.

AT&T Smartphones

Gizmodo notes that AT&T Wireless will be offering smartphones powered by Microsoft. No word yet if people like getting the "Blue Screen of Death" on their phones.

MiTAC Announces Smart Phone

MiTAC has announced the first clam-shell style smart phone, the MiTAC 8380. We're not quite sure what's so smart about it--but it's got good specs:
Runs Microsoft's Windows Powered Smartphone platform
Powered by Intel's new XScale processor
The screen is a TFT transflective color display
Inludes an integrated digital camera
MPEG-4 encoder for sending video

The Microsoft part may be its weakpoint--for the most part it's an untested operating system. Also, who wants the blue screen of death when making a call? Otherwise, this phone looks solid.

Lenovo working on smartphone?

A chinese language website posted details about a new Windows Mobile smartphone said to be in the works from Lenovo. The Chinese owned Lenovo is most well known for purchasing the ThinkPad series of notebooks from PC stalwart IBM.

The Lenovo smartphone is said to include:
Windows Mobile 5.0
MiniSD card slot
Up to a 4 megapixel camera
312MHz CPU

Look for the Lenovo phone starting in March 2006, most likely in Asian markets.

Symbian 9.3 released

Symbian announced version 9.3 of its flagship smartphone OS. It adds several important high-end features, but also includes the ability for vendors to strip the system down to make it useful in lower-end handsets. In terms of volume shipments, Nokia still remains the leader in Symbian handsets. The OS is used in all of the company's S60 handsets.

New features in 9.3 include:
Improved memory management and general speed boosts because of that
Native support for WiFi
Support for firmware OTA (FOTA), HSDPA, IPSec for UMA and push-to-talk over cellular (PoC)

Motorola Q q9 with HSDPA

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.

Sony Ericsson Z750 HSDPA handset

CTIA 2007 -- The Sony Ericsson Z750 is a new HSDPA handset targeted at North America. What that really means, though not technically announced, is it's destined for AT&T (Cingular). While the 3G connectivity is surely big news (it's Sony Ericsson's first HSDPA phone for North America), the Z750 is also one of only a few consumer focused handsets to support Exchange ActiveSync push email. In addition, the Z750 is Sony Ericsson's first handset based on the Java Platform 8. That should make it easier for developers to create innovative applications.

Features of the Sony Ericsson Z750 include:
Quad-band GSM/EDGE plus tri-band HSDPA (850/1900/2100)
2 megapixel camera
Memory Stick Micro M2 card slot
Bluetooth 2.0 EDR + with A2DP stereo support
QVGA screen with 262k colors
POP3/IMAP4/Exchange email support
Full HTML browser with RSS

AT&T to give away unlimited Napster To Go

CTIA 2007 -- The music phone battle is heating up, AT&T (formally Cingular) has announced it will be giving away 1 year of unlimited Napster To Go service ($180 value) with the purchase of a SYNC or BlackJack. The subscription covers unlimited playback of the over 3 million tracks in Napster's catalog.

AT&T will begin this deal on April 1st. It's also available to existing AT&T customers if they sign up for one of the bundled service packages (covering home phone and broadband). The SYNC is currently priced at $49.99 after rebate while the BlackJack rings in for a more hefty $199.99 after rebate.

In a related move that also occurred this afternoon, Sprint Nextel announced lower pricing for its wireless music store.

Sprint lowers price of music downloads to 99 cents

CTIA 2007 -- Sprint Nextel has taken a page out of Apple's playbook and lowered the price of music downloads on its wireless Sprint Music Store to 99 cents (matching the price set by digital music leader Apple). Downloads were previously priced at $2.50. This move comes in tandem with Sprint's announcement of the Samsung UpStage. It also happened the same day as AT&T's announcement of free Napster To Go on select handsets. Like before, the price is consistent across the entire catalog of 1.4 million songs and includes another copy of the song to download to a Windows PC. Customers should expect to see the new pricing kick in during the first week of April.

To date Sprint customers have downloaded over 15 million songs.

Samsung UpStage announced by Sprint

CTIA 2007 -- The Samsung UpStage is Sprint Nextel's latest effort in the expanding music phone niche. We first saw this handset at CES when it was called the Samsung Ultra Music F300, but since that was a GSM device there have been a few changes. The UpStage keeps the unique 2-face styling in an iPod nano-esque shape. Executives for Sprint joked that the name UpStage comes from Sprint's desire to steal Apple's iPhone thunder. Though the spec sheet shows the UpStage is not made to compete with a high-end product like the iPhone.

Features of the Samsung UpStage include:
EV-DO 3G data
Stereo Bluetooth 2.0 with spoken caller ID
1.3 megapixel camera
45MB built-in memory plus microSD card slot, 64MB card included
Petite size, 4.07" × 1.73" × 0.37"
Sprint Music Store for OTA downloads, new lower priced $.99 downloads
Sprint Music Manager application to load music onto device

Sprint expects to begin selling the Upstage in the first week of April. It will be priced at $149.99 with a new 2-year contract. Sprint looks to be betting big on the Upstage and will be aggressively marketing it.

SanDisk announces 4GB microSDHC card

CTIA 2007 -- SanDisk, in conjunction with Verizon Wireless, has announced a 4GB microSDHC card. microSDHC is the new High Capacity (HC) version of microSD, more information on that is available below. Two Verizon Wireless V Cast handsets are already compatible with the new standard, the LG VX9400 and LG VX8700. According to SanDisk, 4GB is enough for 4,000 photos or 16 hours of video. It also matches, in storage terms, one of the iPod nano configurations.

Verizon Wireless will launch the new 4GB card exclusively on May 1st. The retail price is just $129.99. It's not known when the card will hit other channels.



SDHC is the new designation for any microSD or SD-based card that is larger than 2GB and adheres to the new SD 2.00 specification that is required for cards and hosts to support 4GB to 32GB capacities. The specification was developed by the SD Association, an industry standards board, which also defined three speed classes for speed and performance capabilities. These cards adhere to the SD Speed Class 2 Rating specification which defines a minimum sustained transfer speed for SDHC cards.(3)

iPhone attracts 1 million interested customers

CTIA 2007 -- During a keynote speech at CTIA, an AT&T executive noted announced that it has collected information from a million people who want to be contacted when the Apple iPhone begins shipping in June. The company isn't taking pre-orders, so it's hard to tell if the demand is from probable (and able) buyers or not, but AT&T seemed pretty pleased at the number. Apple hopes to sell up to 10 million of the advanced devices.

The same keynote presentation included the only appearance of the iPhone at CTIA. It was only for a few seconds, but attracted more photos and attention than any other part of the presentation. Apple's secretive approach to marketing is at least successful in terms of producing buzz.

Samsung UbiCell CDMA Base Station for Sprint

CTIA 2007 -- One of the more interesting new devices at CTIA is the Samsung UbiCell base station. A small white box that looks like a WiFi access point, the UbiCell is actually mini cell tower designed for CDMA 1x networks. The device connects to a mobile network through a broadband connection and is designed to provide enhanced cell coverage for the home. Unlike UMA technology, nothing special is needed for mobile handsets to take advantage of the base station. Samsung will be distributing the UbiCell through Sprint, though other versions (such as GSM) may appear on other carriers.

Sprint should begin selling the UbiCell in the Summer. Pricing is unknown but will be geared towards consumers.

LG VX9400 TV phone launches on Verizon Wireless

CTIA 2007 -- Verizon Wireless has launched its second MediaFLO mobile TV handset, the LG VX9400. Mobile TV has been a major talking point at the CTIA conference and LG has been showing off the VX9400 proudly. Sporting a unique form factor (the screen swivels into landscape orientation) and MediaFLO, the device is designed to work with V Cast TV.

Features of the LG VX9400 include:
QVGA screen with 262k colors
EV-DO 3G data
Bluetooth with A2DP stereo support
1.3 megapixel camera
microSD card slot

Because of the TV technology, Verizon Wireless will keep an exclusive on this handset. It's available now for $199.99 with a 2-year contract. Note: V Cast TV is only available in select markets, but the list is expanding.