Chris Ziegler
Chicago, IL - http://zpower.zieglerc.net
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 5th 2009 at 6:39PM
This phone vaguely reminds us of the
Samsung Memoir for some reason, but rest assured, it's
Pantech through and through and it's being sold thousands of miles away. The SKY IM-U460K "Love Actually" will see action on South Korean carrier KTF, rife with global roaming capability, HSDPA, an integrated DMB tuner (par for the course with domestic Korean handsets), a 3 megapixel primary cam, and microSD expansion. The big feature here, though, has to be the 3-inch QVGA display that shocks and delights onlookers with a biggie-sized dot matrix display that's just low-res enough to be more retro chic than annoying. As with all of Pantech's SKY-branded goodies, we'd expect to see this one outside Korea... oh, right around the same day that Apple licenses iPhone OS to third party manufacturers.
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 4th 2009 at 6:23PM
You won't find the mega-slim (9.9mm, to be exact)
E52 in the hands of any businessfolk just yet, but as usual, some FCC lab has the guilty pleasure of putting this one through the RF wringer well ahead of release. The version tested here is a Band I / VIII piece, which means it'll do full HSPA on the 900 and 2100MHz bands -- not exactly what your average North American
S60 geek is looking for, but with the crazy precedent the
N97 has set for launching in NAM flavor first, who knows what'll happen?
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 3rd 2009 at 11:46PM 
We here at Engadget Mobile tend to spend
a lot of way too much time poring over the latest FCC filings, be it on the net or directly on the ol' Federal Communications Commission's site. Since we couldn't possibly (want to) cover all the stuff that goes down there, we've gathered up all the raw info you may want (but probably don't need). Enjoy!
PhonesRead - Samsung SCH-B119
Read - Samsung SGH-T469
Read - Samsung SCH-F699
Read - Samsung E1085L
Read - Samsung E1107L
Read - Samsung B7620
Read - Samsung SCH-W820
Read - Samsung S5600T
Read - Samsung S5603T
Read - Kyocera M1400
Read - Sharp 832SH
Read - ZTE R232
Read - ZTE CORAL200 FM
Read - LG GW300
PeripheralsRead - Alcatel One Touch X060
Read - Huawei E182E
Read - MobiFren GBH-S100plus
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 3rd 2009 at 6:29PM
We haven't heard a solitary peep out of IXI Mobile in a hot minute, even though its
Ogo line -- once a member of Cingular's lineup -- had found some niche popularity among teens and the deaf community. We'd even thought they'd gone into R&D hibernation, actually, but apparently not -- they're innovating. They're innovating so much, in fact, that they've innovated themselves right out of the landscape clamshell form factor that made the Ogo famous. This Inventec-sourced CC-10 we just spotted in the FCC looks more
Centro than Ogo, though all of the original's features -- notably strong IM and social networking support -- carry on through to the new model. At any rate, we can say that IXI doesn't intend to break back into the North American market -- at least not with this exact unit, anyway -- since GSM 1900 and Bluetooth are the only features it bothered testing.
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 3rd 2009 at 3:07PM
A site channeling 480 million subscribers into a single mobile app and content store would seem like one of the world's most lucrative properties, so naturally, there are a lot of eyes focused on China Mobile right now as it gets ready to launch its Mobile Market venture. The store's site is sort of live now, though it appears to be in a pre-release testing phase with broken links all over the place; the carrier officially says that the service will be available in September, so we'd look to that date before the full force of half a billion individuals gets unleashed on the site. Combine this with an Android-based
OPhone or two, and we're totally in.
[Via
PC World]
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 3rd 2009 at 11:23AM
If you're ready, willing, and able to sign up for a new three-year agreement on Rogers, HTC's two inaugural Android sets just got a good deal cheaper for you.
Originally priced at $149.99 on contract, both phones are now down to $99.99 -- a stellar deal, we think, considering you're getting 7.2Mbps HSDPA, capacitive touch, 3.2 megapixel autofocus cameras with video capture, and HTC-customized Android ROMs. Maybe Rogers is discounting so quickly because they figure the phones aren't quite as appealing in light of the recent
Hero announcement -- or, more intriguingly, maybe they're prepping for an actual Hero launch of their own now that we know
there's an 850 / 1900 3G version in the mix.
[Via
Boy Genius Report]
Read - Dream (Black)
Read - Dream (White)
Read - Magic
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 3rd 2009 at 9:54AM
Details are scarce, but it seems that this blurry, partial photo of an unknown QWERTY Samsung might be the "Link," a smartphone destined for
Bell -- allegedly as soon as July 15. Seeing that it's being described as a smartphone, that virtually guarantees that it'll be running Windows Mobile, and from the look of it, we'd probably have to expect WinMo 6.1 Standard. Technically,
S60 is a remote possibility -- Samsung
is an S60 licensee, after all -- but the company has yet to release S60 gear on North American soil, so why start now?
[Via
Unwired View]
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 3rd 2009 at 8:18AM
HTC's a bit of a sieve when it comes to
leaking new builds of really awesome things, and the trend continues with
TouchFLO 3D 2.5 seemingly out in the wild and running on some
Touch HDs. Rumor has it this is the build that'll premiere on the company's upcoming
Firestone superphone, bringing some of its
Sense concepts to the WinMo platform -- most notably including widget support. You've got new assignable shortcuts on the home screen, a revamped messaging experience (presumably to better fit in with HTC's contact-centric mantra), and a new
Footprints screen. That's all well and good that Firestone buyers will likely see this, but here's the million-dollar question: what current devices will get official upgrades, if any?
[VIa
wmpoweruser.com]
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 2nd 2009 at 10:59PM
They say "there's no such thing as a free lunch." They also say "there's no such thing as an unlimited contract-free $45 monthly unlimited plan that offers awesome phones," so we're not terribly surprised to see that TracFone's new blowout offering -- dubbed Straight Talk -- is rife with ancient Motorolas (with a
RAZR V3a thrown in for good measure, of course) and an LG flip that we're pretty sure we saw McClane use in the first Die Hard. Then again, the plan becomes the one of the cheapest for unlimited voice and text anywhere -- and if you're less heavy on the minutes you can even step down to 1,000 minutes and 1,000 texts for $30 -- so we'll let it slide. But seriously, TracFone, we expect a
V9 by 2012.
[Via
Phone Scoop]
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 2nd 2009 at 7:19PM
If you want data service on your phone positively, absolutely anywhere you happen to be in the US or Canada, this one's for you:
TerreStar just successfully launched its aptly-named TerreStar-1 satellite, which just happens to be the largest commercial satellite ever deployed. This dovetails perfectly with news that the upstart satphone provider is
partnering with AT&T to offer service later this year, presumably with a variant of that sweet little
Elektrobit WinMo piece we had a chance to check out a few months back. Cost could be a concern, but it should be cheaper than the problem-plagued Iridium back when it launched -- and hybrid HSPA capability is a major win, too.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 2nd 2009 at 10:54AM
No mention was made of a
Hero with 3G that'd work on Rogers or AT&T back at its announcement a few days ago, but HTC has been getting awfully good at making phones that work properly around these parts -- so we can't say we're entirely surprised to see a Hero approved for WCDMA on Bands II and V gracing the FCC today. For the record, Bands II and V are 1900 and 850MHz, respectively, which is exactly the combo AT&T subscribers would need to flip the switch on high-speed data. We're not sure if this negates rumors that the Hero would be coming to Sprint, but if we can just get this version released and in our hands, you know... maybe our minds would be operating with a little more clarity.
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 2nd 2009 at 10:20AM
Following a beta kickoff late last year, Ovi Maps -- the latest iteration of Nokia Maps -- is now final and ready for download. It's a pretty big upgrade from the product it replaces, bringing 3D landmarks, higher-resolution satellite imagery available in both 2D and 3D modes, a wider variety of point-of-interest information for destinations, integrated weather forecasts, enhanced pedestrian and automotive turn-by-turn navigation modes, and -- a biggie for yankees -- real-time traffic information for the US. It's a big, worthwhile spec bump, and by our count, it's currently compatible with 26 S60-based Nokia devices; owners of some recent phones (the
E51, for example) will be disappointed to see that they're being left behind in the old Nokia Maps realm, but who knows -- maybe some sweet-talking (or fit-throwing) would help the situation.
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 2nd 2009 at 8:31AM
Celebrity tie-ins are always a surefire way to put a little more oomph behind the launch of an otherwise bland handset, and in Mexico, carrier
Telcel is doing exactly that to celebrate the launch of its latest
Pantech piece. The C570 is a pretty basic GSM phone with some stylish color accents, FM radio with RDS, and dedicated music controls, but what immediately turns up the interest knob by a notch or two is that they've hooked up with local star Paty Cantu to preload the phone with artist content. Further helping the handset's street cred as a music phone is the fact that it's also got a 3.5mm jack, a remote with yet another set of music controls, and microSD expansion up to 8GB -- but with the brooding expression on Paty's face here, we can't rightfully say we're sure whether she's delighted, horrified, ambivalent, or utterly unaware of the offering.
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 2nd 2009 at 2:57AM
Samsung's already committed to offering
Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrades to
Omnia IIs released with 6.1, but just how necessary is that commitment going to end up being in practice? Microsoft's Austrian outpost has announced that the Korean company's latest WinMo superphone will be launching in the domestic market in September with 6.5 already installed -- suggesting that at least some of these handsets in other markets around the world could be coming out of the gate in the same configuration. It also raises new questions about the market launch for 6.5 on a broader scale; we've always known it'd be hitting toward the end of 2009, but we've never gotten an exact date out of anyone for retail availability -- presumably because it has as much to do with manufacturer partners' plans as it does Microsoft's. We're not saying the Austrian Omnia II will be the first WinMo 6.5 retail device anywhere, but at this point, it's looking likely that this'll be in the first wave.
[Via
WMExperts,
TamsPPC, and
wmpoweruser, thanks Daniel M.]
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 1st 2009 at 7:51PM
Upstart
Zer01 has been touting its so-called "Veritable Mobile Convergence" technology since early in the year, promising to attach to all sorts of carriers with which it has agreements around the world to bring unlimited data and calling to the masses, and now they've launched -- sort of. It turns out that the company is actually looking for partners that'll resell the service, which focuses on data and uses VoIP to deliver on its promises; what that means to anyone navigating to the site right now to sign up for a new line is that... well, you can't. You'll need to buy service through a distributor, and since Zer01 doesn't have a distributor network yet, that's a little hard to do -- so for all practical purposes, the wait for cheap wireless data nirvana continues.
