LowEnd
Latest
The LG CG225: Cingular gets another low-end flip
There are definitely LGs we'd rather see appear in Cingular's shipping lineup, but hey, the quad-band CG225 is free on contract after online rebate, has a VGA camera, dual color displays, and a speakerphone. The stub antenna is unfortunate, but all told the little clamshell doesn't look half bad -- and it's hard to complain about the price. Cheap backup phone, anyone?[Via MobileTracker]Update: Several readers have pointed out that the CG225's external display is not actually color, but rather black and white with a deceptive colored background. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Motorola launches Motomobile brand with low-enders
Looks like Moto's slipped us another couple of low end phones (and a new brand) this week at CommunicAsia, the W220 (which we've already seen), and the W210 -- the CDMA and GSM versions of the same device, so far as we can tell. Much like the W170, W208, and W375 we saw announced this week, these two should also have about two weeks of standby time and an FM radio. More interesting than the phones, however, is the new brand they're rolling out in conjunction with them: MOTOMOBILE (say, shouldn't that be MOTOMOBL?). Aimed at "connecting the next billion" -- referring, of course, to the 2 billion mark just reached by GSM phones -- we can surely expect to see hordes of cheapy, low-margin MOTOMOBL phones in the future.[Via RCR]
Motorola shows variety of entry-level phones
With the exception of the Q, it's been a while since we've had the good fortune of being able to talk about some genuinely new Moto handsets in the pipeline -- not counting the endless array of RAZR, SLVR, and PEBL variants, of course. That looks to have changed thanks to this week's CommunicAsia expo in Singapore, where Motorola's dropped a handful of clever-looking handsets for emerging markets (Nokia, pay attention here). First up is the W170, a roundish ultra low-end candybar sporting a 128 x 128 black and white display with blue backlight, 32 tone polyphony, speakerphone, and FM radio. Next up in the pecking order is the W208, which trades the black and white display for color at the same resolution and a slightly different case design. Finally, arguably the most interesting of the bunch, the W375 clamshell borrows design cues from its pricier cousins in the V3 line but eliminates the external display in favor of a series of status icons. Look for all of these to drop in Q3 and Q4, and if you ask politely, Moto might even drop some of 'em in the States thanks to GSM 850/1900 support.[Via Phone Scoop and Mobilewhack]
NEC e373 passes FCC muster
As we all know, FCC approval means virtually nothing for a phone's chances of seeing a US release, but we can dare to dream. The 900/1800/1900 tri-band NEC e373, just released on Italian carrier TIM, treads some moderately uncharted territory as a truly low-end UMTS clamshell, lacking an external display and expansion slot. To boot, the useless-for-anything-but-video-calling VGA camera and 32MB of internal memory make the phone all but useless as a multimedia device, but yeah, we have a soft spot in our hearts for hot-looking 3G clamshells, so we're going to give the e373 a mulligan this time.[Via Mobile Magazine]
Toshiba's Dynabook Satellite CW1 flies low
Toshiba just squeezed their new low-end Dynabook Satellite CW1 laptop onto the scene. A base model kitted out with a 1.6GHz Intel Celeron M420 processor, 14.1-inch WXGA display, 60GB disk, 512MB of RAM, ATI Radion Xpress 200M graphics, and dual-layer DVD burner will set you back, oh just $957 in Japan. Yeah, that kind of green will get you Core Duo power 'round these parts but that still constitutes affordable in the land of the rising sun. [Via Akihabara News]
Sprint launches four new handsets, one oldie
Sprint's launched four new low end handsets today; they'll run you less than a Benjamin with contract, so don't expect much. Clockwise from left: the free Sprint CDM-120 (aka UTStarcom CDM-7025) has a 1.5-inch 65k color display, speakerphone, and MP3 ringtones; the Samsung SPH-A580 has a 128 x 160 65k color internal display, grayscale external display, voice dialing, 1xRTT data, and should run you thirty after contract; the Sanyo SCP-3100 features a 1.8-inch 65k color internal display, VGA camera, and carries a $50-spot price tag; the highest end of the bunch is the multi-colored LG LX350, with Bluetooth, 1.3 megapixel camera, 65k color external OLED display and 262k color internal screen, which should run you $80. Not pictured, like George Martin, is the UTStarcom PM-8920, an oldie from 2004 brought back from the dead with 1.3 megapixel camera, and 262k color displays in tow -- now twenty bucks with a contract. Hey, you know what low end phones are great for? Mother's day. Just saying!
BenQ's E310 and C510 digicams
Looks like BenQ's got some new digital cameras today they were too ashamed to announce during the week. They ain't much to look at -- and probably aren't so hot to actually use -- but if you're one of the "fist adopters" BenQ claims to be going for here, you may want to avert your eyes. E310 is your basic 3.2 effective / 5.0 interpolated megapixel CMOS camera with a 1.5-inch LCD, and power source; the C510 is a 5 megapixel shooter with a 2-inch display and 16MB memory. Both use SD AAA and AA cells (respectively), and rock it old-school USB 1.1 style. Don't expect to pay too much for either, but don't expect to get too much out of your purchase, either.
