The Wirelessinfo Blog

Samsung is re-releasing their i550 in a new version, the i550w.  The i550w is the same as the previous model with one big addition- WiFi. You can pick up an i550w in stores now  for around $400.

RIM has added GPS or WiFi (carrier’s choice) to the BlackBerry 8300 Curve. T-Mobile went with the WiFi option, and Engadget got their hands on a model to test drive. They had an easy time setting up their wireless network with the Curve. Read about their experiences with the WiFi Curve and check out a photo gallery of the device here.

Boy Genius has gotten some pictures of Motorola’s first non-smartphone WiFi handset: the Morotola Marco. Boy Genius was able to connect the Marco to their wireless router but had trouble using it on T-Mobile’s network. The handset features a 2 megapixel camera, and quad-band GSM/EDGE connectivity. If you’re itching to check out this new handset Boy Genius has a photo gallery up for your viewing pleasure.

[via BoyGenius]

The FCC has given a thumbs up for a WiFi BlackBerry. An 88xx series handset was approved by the FCC for WiFi late last week. BlackBerry lovers rejoice!

Nabaztag the WiFi bunny is alive and well, after some server issues on Christmas cost him some negative publicity.   Now, he connects quickly and is truly an attention getting gadget for the folks who have everything.  He reads emails, plays MP3s, chimes when you have an email, and send messages back and forth to friend rabbits you set up online.  You can also subscribe to "Nabcasts" or create a "Nabcast", set him up as an alarm clock, and set his level of "quirkiness" - he will then talk to you at random times of the day.

On reviewing WiFi's answer to the pet rock, we found that he worked quickly right out of the box on an unencrypted WiFi network.  When we tried to move him to an encrypted network, we had issues until we entered "My Burrow" on the Nabaztag site, which gave directions for entering your WEP key.  He is fully connected when all three lights on his belly are green.

We had fun emailing him little messages from another PC, and really enjoyed the incoming message sound selection they have to play as a message notifier.  There are a quite a few Nab users now, however, most are from Europe.  Some of the downloadable Nabcasts were British humor at its finest.  We did experience a several minute delay between sending, and receiving, a spoken message or Nabcast.   

He reads any RSS feed you set up for him, and this comes in handy if you want to stay in the know while multitasking. It also occured to us that he would make a great gift for the visually impaired.   

His belly shows the weather forecast, and if you happen to live in Paris, you can also get a traffic forecast.  The team at Violet have plans to expand this service to other cities in the near future. 

If you have a Nabaztag, you MUST name it.  The site then has a login for "friends" of Nab users, who can type in any message which will then be read by the bunny through referring to its name. The applications here are endless.

One drawback is that he is not completely wireless, he does require a power plug.  All those lights and RF circuitry evidentially require a lot of power.  We are hoping for a battery powered version in the future, so our Bunny can come with us to the local WiFI hot spots. 

Seagate’s new hard drive made just for mobile phones is a great enabler for mobile content OEMs– who have been constrained by the limitations of mobile memory for years.   Now, your phone can store as much content as your PC – allowing content providers such as mobile gaming companies to add richer, more intense graphics and information than ever before.  D.A.V.E stands for digital audio video experience.

Dave is a 1.8 in HDD, and offers either 10G or 20G of disc drive storage – which means address books, calendars, MP3s, movies, and broadcast content are now all truly mobile.  The pricing is around $200, and it will be licensed to all major cell phone OEMs as well as service providers. It includes a built-in battery, with about 10 hours of battery life. 

Both Bluetooth and WiFi connections to your mobile phone from Dave are available. It can communicate with other Dave's via Bluetooth to share data as well. Small enough to fit in your shirt pocket, Dave is about to become a best friend to many!  

 Some WiFi hot spot companies are banking on the fact that many mobile customers use their wireless service mostly within a 100 mile radius of their homes, and don’t care about roaming or country-wide service. VoIP over WiFi is less expensive, and suits the needs of these customers well. 

The biggest issue these phones have traditionally faced is battery life and talk time – but Marvell has a new chipset that provides much more of both talk time and standby time – over 5 hours talk time and over 80 hours standby time. New generations of phones are in the works that will take advantage of this chipset – such as the one by ipDialog, Inc in Sunnyvale, CA.   Motorola was ahead of the game by announcing a nice clamshell phone in 2004, and we expect many more traditional phone OEMS to enter this market in the coming months. 

With better battery life, we bet this technology will take off – but dual mode phones will still require a traditional mobile service provider.  With the expansion of hot spots, traditional cellular carriers will definitely lose air time revenue unless they add new lucrative services to their bag of tricks - or move into mobile WiFi.