UTStarcom's Knick gets renamed AT&T Quickfire for launch

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 9th 2008 at 1:01PM

Well, that mystery didn't take very long to solve. Remember that UTStarcom / PCD-sourced Knick that was getting shown around at some Radio Shack shindig not long ago? It's still very real and very much on the launch docket for AT&T -- but it's now the carrier-branded "Quickfire". Of course, PCD has never been a company to slap its own name on a handset being offered by a network, so the move makes a ton of sense. Right now it's tentatively scheduled to hit stores late this month for $99.99 on a two-year deal in silver, orange, and green, and it looks like it'll support AGPS for those rare instances when you're, say, driving instead of texting.

[Thanks, Kal]

Filed under: Handsets, UTStarcom, ATT, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

Tags: att, knick, pcd, quickfire, qwerty, utstarcom

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

carcomptoy @ Oct 9th 2008 1:08PM

Sidekick Slide reincarnated? Sidekick for grownups?

Although the white one I must say seems a little "Fisher Price" to me.

Neutral

mercurysunblast @ Oct 9th 2008 1:23PM

I would like to see the green and orange versions. Those have Got to be interesting looking. But anyways, sidekicks on at&t now? Why does at&t get Everything?

Neutral

niftydl @ Oct 9th 2008 1:41PM

Because being big is good. Too bad the devices always end up being "castrated". Thats ok though, because we always have the unlocked route.. oh the beauty of GSM.

Oh I see this device being popular for sure. T-mobile better hope G1 is as great as everyone wants it to be.

Neutral

Daniel @ Oct 21st 2008 10:05PM

AT&T gets NOOOTTTHHHIIINNGGG....all we have is the iphone...but that's not really my style. if at&t got anything comparable to the voyager, i'd be happy.

Neutral

bernardino @ Oct 9th 2008 1:59PM

Why don't the screen rotate when the keyboard is being used?

Highest Ranked

bernardino @ Oct 9th 2008 1:59PM

er... doesn't, why doesn't the screen rotate.

Neutral

Spoke @ Oct 9th 2008 3:01PM

Why does it need to? its a fake picture.. someone goofed!

PS... the sidekick itself is starting to look pretty bland these days. I mean, the sidekicks arent even this cheap, nor do they have AGPS.. sad. Sad...

Highly Ranked

Ray Von Sixx @ Nov 6th 2008 12:04AM

because its not a sidekick

Neutral

Unk P @ Nov 8th 2008 6:25PM

It does rotateas soon as you slide it open it goes from vertical to horizontal

Neutral

RCC2k8 @ Oct 9th 2008 2:44PM

Those are simulated screen images on a press picture. I'm guessing the real device will rotate to landscape mode when the keyboard is open.

Neutral

Erik aka truejee @ Oct 9th 2008 4:30PM

this looks nothing like a sidekick.
@ carcomptoy...sidekick for grownups?? i dont think so. This looks more like a kid phone rather than an adult phone. Maybe if they made this phone in a nice glossy black finish it would look better. and made the qwerty keyboard look a bit better? cause to me the keyboard is what makes this seem like a kid phone or as 'carcomptoy' said a bit "fisher price"

Neutral

john @ Oct 9th 2008 5:25PM

Which OS?

Specs?

Neutral

Celz @ Oct 9th 2008 6:47PM

Trust and believe android is everything people are hoping and more.. I have an early build on my htc mogul and a version of touch flo 3d from europe.. makes that iphone that doesnt even have a today screen seem kinda borin... huh?

Neutral

Celz @ Oct 9th 2008 6:50PM

can we get some specs.. Im guessing its touch screen.. It looks ok but there are no soft keys and that keyboard looks terrible.

Neutral

oakie @ Oct 9th 2008 10:35PM

they should paint it black, redo the keyboard, and release it as the "Blackberry BOLDER".

Neutral

carcomptoy @ Oct 10th 2008 1:31AM

Except only a Blackberry's a Blackberry.

Neutral

pheer6224 @ Oct 10th 2008 11:38AM

And people call the G1 ugly.

Neutral

Teh Lup @ Oct 13th 2008 8:22AM

I for one am very impressed by this phone. I've held it, played with it... So impressed I'd prolly cop it if I had GSM service.

Neutral

Roberto @ Oct 14th 2008 8:21PM

I was just about to buy a sidekick lx this week and unlock it for use with a ATT chip (for the wifey) she likes sidekicks. I saw this on engadget and guess ill just wait, she likes it too. Touchscreen is what did it for me, its a sidekick with a touchscreen. But whoever said they need to make it in glossy black is right, that will really look good. Guess ill have to buy a can of glossy waterproof spary paint...lol.

Neutral

SKY @ Oct 15th 2008 11:32AM

Damn, I like the concept. But it seriously does look like Fisher Price.

Neutral

NY jetsnrangers @ Oct 15th 2008 3:45PM

Yeah... Release Date is in November now...

Quite depressing, but it should be worth the wait...

Neutral

al @ Oct 26th 2008 10:50PM

What is the release date??

Neutral

Mikey @ Oct 29th 2008 10:18PM

Can someone please email me when they find out more about this phone???

I'm wondering: Will I have to purchase the PDA Bundle with this phone??? I was going to purchase the AT&T Tilt, and also thought about the Pantech Duo, but with both of those phones... I have to drop my Media Max Package, and add a PDA Bundle!!! Something I don't want to do because the PDA package I need is $50.00 It comes with unlimited messaging and data. I have that now with Media Max, but for most Smartphones; AT&T makes you drop that and purchase a PDA package!!!

My email address is: mikeypugs0134@live.com

Please don't SPAM me.... I don't offer my address anywhere, but I really would like to know more about this phone.

Thanks so Much
Mikey

Neutral

Nick4612 @ Nov 3rd 2008 10:26PM

I, for one, think is phone is incredibly attractive. (Warning: fragment) Much better than buying a Samsung Epix just for the QWERTY. I'm completely on board with AT&T's QWERTY dumb phones.

Neutral

Kay @ Nov 9th 2008 12:07PM

okay. so i have my heart set on this phone. its a touch screen with a QWERTY keyboard. and it is only $99.99 so yeah don't complain about the colors or the keyboard because it actually looks like a nice phone for the price your paying. I'd rather get this then pay more money for a phone that wouldn't be worth it. I think its worth it (:

Neutral

Breanne @ Nov 10th 2008 11:47AM

When is the quickfire released?

Neutral

Broggy @ Nov 11th 2008 4:12PM

No you don't need a PDA bundle b/c this isn't a true smart phone, which the Duo and Tilt are. You do however have to have an unlimited text or data plan to qualify for the 50 dollar rebate. I just got this phone yesterday and have mixed feelings, although I mostly just frieking love it. It's a little largish (mostly the thickness) and the touchscreen is not all that great. I played with an iPhone in the store and it was WAY more responsive, although it has no physical keyboard so it's totally useless to me. I sometimes find myself having to press the same button 3 and 4 times before getting it to work, especially near the corners of the screen. Scrolling using a swiping motion is equally frustrating and unpredictable. I've already gotten a lot better at it, but it's still a definite con. You can use the directional keys to navigate but you have to slide the keyboard open to get to them. And you can't cheat with a stylus or your fingernail, the screen doesn't sense them. The hotmail client works fine but there is no support for gmail, nor is there any way to manually configure unsupported POP3 accounts. There is no brightness adjustment for the screen, which I actually find a bit too bright for my taste. When the screen is locked, you can't see if you have any missed calls, texts, or check the time. You actually have to unlock the screen to see any of that information.

The pros of the phone are the highly usable keyboard, large screen, and price. Also, the operating system is VERY snappy especially compared to my old RAZR. Switching from landscape to portrait mode is nearly instantaneous as well. It also has a kind of neat voice recognition button on the side which you can press, say "Call", wait for the prompt, then say the name of the person you want to call. I found it to be very good at figuring out whose name I was saying. I doubt I'll actually use that feature though. The camera is fairly crappy at 1.3MP but I couldn't care less. It at least has white balance and brightness adjustments and sepia, B/W, and negative effects. The ringtones and speakerphone are very loud and clear. It's 3G so I can send and recieve picture messages almost instantly now, compared to 5 minutes per pic with an EDGE connection. Can't say much about the reception because I live in a metropolitan area. I haven't lost my 3G or GPS signal once so far though. I haven't loaded any tunes onto it yet (there is no usb cable included) but I used the audio player to listen to the preloaded ringtones and it's very intuitive to use. I also haven't paired my bluetooth headset with it yet but the bluetooth menu is quite comprehensive and supports stereo sound.

In the end the touchscreen is the biggest flaw on the phone, and probably the only one I'd consider significant at all. I highly advise trying one out in the store to see if you can deal with it. I'm going to continue using it and we'll see if I return it before the 30 day return period is up. I really want to keep it but we'll see if I can master the touchscreen.

Neutral

Broggy @ Dec 15th 2008 10:42AM

Retraction: I was mistaken about not being able to see the time, battery life, missed calls, etc. when the screen is locked. There is a small display bar at the top of the screen with that information. Unfortunately, I'm still not loving the touchscreen, although I continue to get better and better with it. Let's hope it's just a bad algorithm for sensing touches and not a hardware problem. Could be fixed in a future update. Maybe I'm reaching here.