All AT&T Smartphones to Be 3G-Enabled
Added on 2008-04-04 04:30:00
by Tanya Palta
 AT&T's 3G network will be launched in a few months and all its phones will run on the 3G network, including the much coveted iPhone, This was also confirmed by AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega at the CTIA.
[ Via Phone Scoop]
|
|
German iPhones subsidized down to $155
Added on 2008-04-03 15:39:00
by Mark Brezinski
 T-Mobile, who's selling iPhones over in Germany, has begun to offer subsidies on the popular device. They're selling the phones for the US equivalent of $155. The one catch is that users need to sign up with their "holy crap: minutes" plan which runs a hefty monthly fee of about $140.
Regardless, the very presence of a subsidy is an interesting turn of events: this is the first subsidy offered on the iPhone. This could perhaps indicate that Apple will be more flexible with their pricing and distribution model than they have been in the past. Also, this fire sale seems a very convenient way to clear out inventory before the rumored 3G iPhone gets officially announced.
[Via Engadget]
|
|
Dial 0 for Opinion: 3G Sucks
Added on 2008-03-26 09:17:00
by Alfredo Padilla
 Tech geeks, like us, always fawn over the newer and, ostensibly, better technologies that rapidly inundate us. The truth of the matter is, however, that newer doesn't necessarily mean better, and nothing is a better indication of this truism than 3G (third generation) cell phone technologies. Geeks love 3G technology because if there's anything that gets a geek's heart pounding it's the idea of fast data connections. 3G technologies on cell phones allow users to connect to the internet on their device at broadband speeds, and some newer implementations like AT&T's HSDPA network, offer speeds up to 3.6 Mbps, faster than most DSL connections. You can see the scorn piled on devices that lack this newer and "better" technology by looking at the heap of criticism the iPhone received for not supporting 3G. Well I've got something to say to all my fellow geeks that unabashedly worship at the alter of the new: 3G sucks.
|
|
Nokia N78 with US 3G revealed on FCC
Added on 2008-03-12 09:47:00
by Alfredo Padilla
 The FCC gods just gave us a nice little tidbit in the form of the Nokia N78 with U.S. 3G support. The N78 was announced at Mobile World Congress (blog post) in early February and is the successor to Nokia's wildly successful (overseas at least) N73 (read review) handset. It features a 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera, Xenon flash, GPS and sports a style that is now familiar in Nokia's new handsets as we've see in the Nokia N82 (read review) and Nokia N81 (read review). Whether you like this style is of course a personal matter, but frankly we've got concerns about the move to small fiddly keypads.
Of course the most interesting bit here is support for AT&T's 3G network bands. Nokia's move to start supporting North America 3G first started with their N75 (read review) for AT&T and they then released their flagship N95 with U.S. 3G (read review) late last year. It looks like this trend is continuing and we're sure that anyone who was lusting after the Nokia N78 is going to be extra excited about the inclusion of 3G support. Of course Nokia already announced they were going to do this, but it's nice to get confirmation. If you want links to all the FCC goodies you'll find them after the break.
|
|
AT&T Serious About 3G
Added on 2008-02-07 10:12:00
by Tanya Palta
AT&T in a press release announced their plans to expand their 3G Services in more than 80 US cities. The planned expansion is expected to deliver AT&T 3G services to nearly 350 leading U.S. markets by the end of 2008 and expect a roll out of more than 1,500 additional cell sites nationwide.
"We're also planning for the future by establishing a clear path to a 4G network that will meet the needs of our customers for years to come,". Said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO for AT&T's wireless unit.
|
|
Fujitsu F705i is 3G and Waterproof
Added on 2008-01-23 05:41:00
by Tanya Palta
 Meet the new Fujitsu F705i cellphone which has the distinction of being the “world's slimmest waterproof 3G cellphone”. Measuring 106x49x13.7mm, the handset is ideal for water-babies as its capable of 1-meter water submersion for upto 30 minutes without getting fried. Features include the usual, 1.3MP camera, music player, video calling and a talk time of 170 minutes. No word on price or availability.
[Via Gizmodo]
|
|
HTC S730 (Wing) coming to AT&T?
Added on 2008-01-18 21:44:00
by Alfredo Padilla
 Just dropping from the FCC was information about a version of HTC's S730 (aka Wing) Windows Mobile Standard handset. We've reported about some first looks at the S730, but one thing that it's missing is support for AT&T's 3G network. The version that just came down the FCC pipe, called the Wing200, has support for 3G on the 850 Mhz and 1900 Mhz bands, which AT&T uses.
This indicates that the handset might be coming to AT&T, giving customers another choice of Windows Mobile Standard device with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard apart from the Pantech Duo. In addition to the slide out keyboard the S730 from HTC sports a 2 megapixel camera, MicroSD expansion, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a 2.4 inch QVGA display. We'll see if the new Wing200 does better or worse than those specs.
FCC Documentation:
Request for confidentiality
ID Label
Test Report 1
Test Report 2
Emissions Compliance Report
|
|
The iRiver GSM Phone Announced at CES
Added on 2008-01-09 05:51:00
by Tanya Palta
 ASUS and iRiver announced the "iRiver GSM phone" at the CES whose sole rival would be you guessed it, the ubiquitous iPhone. Its quite apparent that iRiver wants to play their cards right and not fall in the trap of “contract phone”.
The "iRiver GSM phone" will be an unlocked GSM 3G phone and would feature a 3-inch, 480x272 touch screen and a Linux OS. Other features would include; a two-megapixel camera with camcorder, an Adobe Flash player, GPS and mobile TV.
"It would be ridiculous for the phone to be 2G or 2.5G at this time," said iRiver spokesman Owen Kwon. Kwon added that the phone will be "more affordable" than the iPhone.
[Via PC Mag]
|
|
Qualcomm has Limited Licence for infringed Broadcom Patents
Added on 2008-01-02 16:09:00
by Tanya Palta
 Qualcomm Inc has been ordered by a federal judge in California to stop selling 3G WCDMA cellular chips that infringe on the Broadcom Corp patents. Qualcomm will also pay royalties to Broadcom for the chips it will sell during the "sunset period" ending January 31, 2009.
In a statement, Broadcom General Counsel David Dull said the company was "pleased”.
"Broadcom should not have to compete against companies that use Broadcom's own patented technology against us, and this injunction puts a stop to Qualcomm doing just that," Dull said.
|
|
T-Mobile UK and 3 UK Merger
Added on 2008-01-02 09:03:00
by Tanya Palta
 British Mobile Giants, T-Mobile UK and 3 UK recently announced their plans to combine their 3G networks. With this partnership, T-Mobile UK and 3 UK will not only bring down operational costs considerably but will also become the largest Hsdpa network in Europe.
"Everybody in Europe will be watching to see if this works," said Steven Hartley, a senior analyst in London for Ovum, a consultancy whose clients include Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of T-Mobile. "If they can make this work as fast as they say they will, you'll see a flurry of these agreements in 2008 or the year after."
[Via IHT]
|
|
Asus M930W Communicator
Added on 2007-12-26 15:21:00
by Tanya Palta
 The Asus M930W Communicator may just be designated as the poor man’s Nokia E90. Running on a Marvel PXA270M 520 MHz processor and WM6 OS, the M930W will be released in January 2008.
The Triband GSM (900/1800/1900) handset includes support for GPRS, EDGE, UMTS (2100 MHz) and Wi-Fi b/g. Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR and a MicroSDHC memory card slot are some other features found on the M930W.
[Via Unwired View] [Image via GPS&Co]
|
|
The Samsung Anycall J758
Added on 2007-12-21 09:37:00
by Tanya Palta
 The Samsung Anycall J758 is the latest 3G-cell phone from the mobile giants. The UMTS handset includes a 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera, 1.8-inch 262K TFT color display and a dedicated music player. The Anycall J758 is now available in Hong Kong where it can be purchased for HK$1,780.
|
|
T-Mobile releases Nokia 6263 with 3G support
Added on 2007-12-05 13:28:00
by Alfredo Padilla
 Looks like T-Mobile is starting to build up its 3G line up as the Nokia 6263 is the latest handset to support their UMTS network on the 1700 and 2100 Mhz bands. There's no word on how wide-spread T-Mobile's 3G network is yet, but we're sure they're going to be working overtime to expand coverage as much as quickly as possible so they can compete with Verizon, Sprint and AT&T on a more equal footing. The 6263 is a pretty vanilla handset, just a basic flip phone with a 1.3 megapixel camera and support for SDHC Micro SD cards up to 4GB.
|
|
Judge keeps Qualcomm vs. Broadcom verdict
Added on 2007-11-24 18:43:00
by Tanya Palta
Two new interesting developments took place in the Qualcomm vs. Broadcom legal tussle. While the federal judge affirmed a jury verdict that Qualcomm Inc infringed Broadcom Corp patents however he also chose to overturn the award of double damages.The damages for infringement were reduced to $19.6 million and Broadcom accepted the reduce damages in order to avoid a new trial.
[Via Reuters]
|
|
T-Mobile Launching 3G Service by December?
Added on 2007-11-24 11:18:00
by Tanya Palta
|
Nokia & Vodafone To Launch Web 2.0 Services
Added on 2007-11-08 03:50:00
by Tanya Palta
 Looks like Nokia and Vodafone have pulled up their socks post Android. The two are collaborating to launch some new cutting-edge mobile phone features which would take advantage of Vodafone's mobile and Web 2.0 services and Nokia handsets.
"Web 2.0 is all about social networking and enabling people to connect with each other in new ways," said Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice president and general manager of Nokia Multimedia, in a statement. "Bringing location and context awareness to Web 2.0 services is the next stage in the web development and Nokia multimedia computers enable people to participate (in) their favorite Internet services on-the-go."
The companies said customers would be able to use Nokia handsets to access the Internet "at the click of a button." They will also be offered a full suite of communications, content and Internet services including browsing capability over Vodafone networks.
[Via Information Week]
|
|
Sony Ericsson K660i Unveiled
Added on 2007-11-07 03:15:00
by Tanya Palta
|
Sony-Ericsson W890i with US 3G?
Added on 2007-10-18 15:50:00
by Alfredo Padilla
 Is it possible that Sony-Ericsson might be prepping one of its popular Walkman branded handsets for AT&T's 3G network? The spec sheet at left (click for larger version) seems to indicate that it might, as it shows the W890i supporting the 850 Mhz band for 3G. We should be cautious though as there's no work about corresponding 1900 Mhz support, on which most of AT&T's 3G network is deployed. We should also note that Australia uses the 850 Mhz band for 3G, so this might just be about giving the Aussies some 3G action rather than Americans. Still, we can't say that we would mind if Sony-Ericsson does decide to send some 3G love our way. There's a lot to like about their Walkman lineup, as you can see in our W580i review.
[Unwired View via Engadget Mobile]
|
|
Sony Ericsson K630i
Added on 2007-10-11 05:40:00
by Tanya Palta
|
New Nokia N95 Battery Life Using EDGE: Over 9 hours
Added on 2007-10-10 09:13:00
by Richard Baguley
 We are continuing our investigations into the battery life of the new version of the Nokia N95 (the one that supports US 3G data), and the next test we have run is web browsing, but using the EDGE connection instead of the 3G one. In this test, the new N95 lasted an impressive 9 hours 14 minutes.
This contrasts with the 6 hours and 12 minutes that the same phone lasted browsing over a 3G data connection. This shows what a drain 3G data connections can be: they may be faster, but they have a huge impact on battery life. In this case, the battery life is extended by nearly 50 percent by using the slower (but less power hungry) EDGE connection. This is definitely worth remembering if you are only sending email or browsing very occasionally; both of these can be achieved on EDGE connections, and the battery will last longer.
How much longer depends on how much emailing and browsing you do, but there will definitely be a difference, and we would strongly recommend switching to EDGE if you are looking to extend the battery life. You do this by going to Tools>Settings>Phone>Network and selecting network mode. Setting this to GSM will restrict the N95 to using an EDGE connection only; putting it back to Dual Mode will set it to use the fastest network it can find (3G if available, EDGE if not).
This also underlines what a difference the bigger battery of the new N95 makes; the previous model lasted 7 hours and 15 minutes in the same test, so the bigger battery adds just under two more hours of browsing time. That's a significant improvement.
|
|
3G Samsung Phone Shipping With Broadcom Chips
Added on 2007-10-08 10:13:00
by Tanya Palta
 The new Samsung 3G phones, SGH-J750 and SGH-A401 will be shipping with Broadcom chips. The Broadcom 3G cellular solutions selected by Samsung for the SGH-J750 and SGH-A401 include the BCM2133 EDGE baseband processor, the BCM2141 WCDMA co-processor, the BCM2045 Bluetooth® transceiver and the BCM59001 power management unit (PMU).
"Broadcom is a capable and valued partner for Samsung and as the 3G market grows very rapidly, we expect that our relationship will become more successful in the future," said JK Shin, Executive Vice President of Samsung's Telecommunications Network Business. "These new handsets demonstrate the close collaboration of our companies in bringing affordable and exciting 3G mobile devices to market, and highlight our confidence in Broadcom cellular technology."
|
|
Nokia N95 with 3G Battery Tests: Talk Time
Added on 2007-10-05 09:16:00
by Alfredo Padilla
 As you know we got our hands on the new Nokia N95 with 3G a couple of days ago and we've been running it through our usual set of battery life tests to see how the combination of battery hungry 3G connectivity and a higher capacity battery are affecting the phone's performance. Yesterday we found that when browsing the web the N95 with 3G performed about an hour worse than the older N95 that lacks North American 3G and instead uses an EDGE connection. Last night we ran our call time test and found a similar effect. See all our results after the jump.
|
|
Hutchison 3G UK Working On Skype Phone
Added on 2007-10-05 03:35:00
by Tanya Palta
|
Nokia N95 with 3G Battery Tests: First Results
Added on 2007-10-04 09:07:00
by Richard Baguley
 We just got our first set of battery life test results for the N95 with US 3G support: in our Web browsing test, the new version of the N95 was able to keep browsing over a 3G network for 6 hours 12 minutes. Under exactly the same conditions, the old N95 (using an EDGE connection) was able to keep on browsin' for 7 hours 15 minutes. So, adding the 3G radio to the N95 has a penalty in terms of battery life, but it's not as bad as we thought it might be.
A browsing time of 6 hours and 12 minutes on a 3G network is very good: most of the other 3G phones we have tested run out of juice after 3 or 4 hours. The Treo 750, for instance, gave up the ghost after just 3 hours and 3 minutes, while the RAZR2 V9m on Verizon lasted 4 hours 45 minutes. So the N95-3 definitely looks like a strong candidate for having the longest 3G browsing battery life that we've seen so far. However, remember that this is just a first test: we run battery test several times to make sure that we are getting accurate results. We'll publish these results as the tests are done.
One thing to bear in mind; the N95 with US 3G support has a 1200mAh battery, which is significantly bigger than the 950mAh battery in the older, non-3G N95. So the 3G radio is definitely adversely affecting the battery life, but the bigger battery is doing a lot to compensate for that. And eagle-eyed readers may notice that the browsing time for the old N95 differs from the one in our original review; that's because Nokia has issued a firmware update since then that improves the Web browser.
UPDATE: Nokia asked us to clarify the naming of this phone; it is just (and somewhat confusingly) called the N95. So, to differentiate it from the previous N95, we've updated this post to call it the N95 with US 3G support. So if we just say N95, we are referrign to the older model, but if we say N95 with US 3G support, we're talking about the newer one.
|
|
First Call: Nokia N95-3
Added on 2007-10-03 13:46:00
by Alfredo Padilla
 Lookie what just came calling, so to speak, the updated version of the Nokia N95. The N95 of course has been one of the most widely admired smart phones out there, and did fairly well in our own review of it, but that doesn't mean it couldn't use some improvements. Thankfully Nokia thought so too and so has graced us with this slightly updated version that sports US 3G, 128 MB of RAM and a slightly thicker case that accommodates a larger battery. We have to say that we like what we've seen of the handset so far. More of our thoughts and some direct comparisons to the older N95 after the jump.
|
|
Motorola lleaves Qualcomm
Added on 2007-09-20 12:37:00
by Emily Price
|
 Motorola has announced plans to change its 3G chip provider from Qualcomm to a combination of Texas Instruments and Freescale. The move is designed to lower Motorola’s manufacturing costs and consequently increase margins for shareholders.
[via EngadgetMobile]
|
|
Samsung SGH-F700 On Vodafone This November
Added on 2007-09-14 05:25:00
by Tanya Palta
|
Import ban On Qualcomm On Hold
Added on 2007-09-13 05:30:00
by Tanya Palta
Qualcomm today announced that it was granted a stay by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. If you jog your memory cells you will remember that ITC had imposed an importation ban on request by Broadcom on June 7th.
In granting the stay, the Federal Circuit agreed that the third parties demonstrated “a substantial case on the merits and that the harm factors weigh in their favor.”
“We are pleased that the Court of Appeals recognized the undeserved harm to parties who were not named in the lawsuit, and that our customers will continue to be able to introduce new products into the U.S. marketplace during the appeals process,” said Alex H. Rogers, senior vice president and legal counsel, Qualcomm.
|
|
Apple's Deal With InterDigital Indicates 3G iPhone
Added on 2007-09-10 09:43:00
by Tanya Palta
 The iPhone continues to dominate the headlines. Wireless technology firm InterDigital Inc has confirmed that it has signed a seven-year licensing agreement to provide technology for Apple Inc's first cell phone, the iPhone. So does this mean that the iPhone may finally go 3G sooner than expected?
"The deal covers various 2G and 3G cellular technologies encompassing bandwidth allocation, roaming and power efficiency controls, and most likely also includes some type of packet data coding and delivery," " Boenning & Scattergood analyst Michael Ciarmoli said by phone.
[Via eWeek]
|
|
Nokia Prism to hit US
Added on 2007-08-24 10:21:00
by Mark Brezinski
|
 The FCC has just approved a US 3G version of Nokia's luxury phone, the Prism. It will support WCDMA 850 and 2100, GSM 850, 900,1800 and 1900 bands. As AT&T is the only carrier that supports the 850 band for 3G, we speculate you'll see them offer the Prism. The US Prism will be known as the 7900, and if you haven't seen its precursor yet, you're about to get an eyefull of some odd design.
Other tidbits include its 2 Megapixel camera and its 16 million color OLED display. Nokia also claims it includes "fascinating" light effects, and suggests you to "marvel at a living wallpaper that animates new, dazzling patterns unique to each phone."
The Prism 7900 has been added to the existing model's web site, which can be marveled here.
|
|
|
|
| << Prev | Next >> |
|
|
