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Sonim brings a trio of rugged devices to CTIA E&A 2011, we go hands-on (video)
Sonim doesn't crank out smartphones. It's too busy flooding the earth with uber-rugged featurephones that would most likely withstand an actual flood, and it's darn proud of that fact. That's the impression we got, at least, after visiting the company's booth at this week's CTIA Enterprise & Applications. We had the opportunity to play around with Sonim's three new devices: the XP1301 Core NFC, XP3340 Sentinel and XP1330 Core PTT. Announced on Monday, the first two phones are already available in the US while the third is targeted squarely at Latin America over the next two months. Quite frankly, the new GSM / EDGE lineup looks so similar that it'd be incredibly easy to forget which one was which -- aside from having an appearance not unlike a tank, all three devices seem to come from the same mold. As similar as they are, each one has its own specialty: the XP1301 offers a Near-Field Communication tag reader, the XP1330 takes advantage of Push to Talk and the XP3340 Sentinel throws in a customizable man-down sensor that triggers an emergency alarm when something is awry. But we'll tell you what won't require emergency assistance -- viewing the galleries and videos below. %Gallery-136315% %Gallery-136316% %Gallery-136328% Zachary Lutz contributed to this report.
Sonim introduces trio of rugged phones, including one with NFC support
Sonim's established a rather solid reputation in the rugged phone genre, with its XP3300 Force claiming the Guinness World Record for surviving the longest freefall this past February. Now it's branching out by announcing three more mil-spec devices at this week's CTIA, two of which will be available in the US starting today. First at bat is the XP1301 Core NFC, a device that lives up to its name by supporting a tag reader optimized for the workforce. It was announced for European availability last month, and is now ready to be sold in the US. Next up is the XP1330 Core PTT, a Push-to-Talk device shipping to select areas in Latin America over the next two months. Finally, the XP3340 Sentinel offers an emergency panic button and a man-down sensor capable of monitoring your phone for any freefalls or impacts, and can make an emergency call in your behalf. All of the above devices include quadband GSM / EDGE radios -- don't expect to use them for hyperspeed browsing -- and have been drop-tested at least 24 times from over six feet. They may not do your laundry, but at least you won't freak out when it drops a story or two. Head to the press release for more specifics.
Motorola Admiral spied in the wild, waiting patiently for its turn to sail out of harbor
We can't imagine this Admiral wants to stick around in the docks for much longer, yet its date of departure from port is still unclear. Fortunately, the Motorola Admiral -- the device that we presume will become the fearless leader of the Direct Connect fleet -- is one nautical mile closer to the sea of finished products, now that we've been handed some pics of the skipper itself in the wild. It's exactly as we've expected, as it looks rather close to the version we saw in the now-pulled "official" video. According to the image snapper, the Admiral is "awkward to hold due to the bottom being so thin and the phone being very top heavy." It's also known as the XT603, and unsurprisingly runs on Moto's proprietary UI (formerly called MotoBlur). We didn't hear of any change in the specs, so for now we're still expecting to see the military-certified handset come with a 1.2GHz single-core Qualcomm MSM8655 CPU, Android 2.3, 3.1-inch VGA display, a 5MP rear camera with 720p HD video capture and a 1,860mAh battery. One more pic of the sides below. Sound off, loose cannons -- is this Admiral going to command your next two-year contract? [Thanks, anonymous]
Sprint details Q4 CDMA Direct Connect launch plans and handsets, quietly waves goodbye to iDEN
We're guessing that this isn't the riveting Q4 announcement that Dan Hesse promised us last week at Sprint's Kansas headquarters, but it's a shock to the system nonetheless. The outfit's legacy iDEN network is still kicking around (and in turn, eating up valuable resources to run it), and while we're told that those push-to-talk users are some of the most loyal, it looks as if 2012 will be the year they're forced to try something new. The company's CDMA-based Direct Connect alternative is officially slated to launch this winter, with those who buy in treated to triple the square miles of the company's current push-to-talk coverage area, broadband capabilities and a smattering of new devices. The Kyocera DuraMax and DuraCore will be joined by an unannounced Motorola smartphone, all of which should be rugged enough to handle the expected field work. Furthermore, Sprint will be adding international push-to-talk (alongside "additional capabilities") in early 2012, and users should see a marked improvement in in-building coverage. Finally, we're told that voice and data capacity is expected to increase significantly as Sprint leverages its spectrum holdings in 800MHz, 1.9GHz, and -- through its relationship with Clearwire -- 2.5GHz. And with that, we'd say your iDEN handset stash just became quite the collector's item. Full details are tucked away in the PR just past the break.
Sprint inks another three years' worth of iDEN infrastructure support with Motorola, 'several' new phones coming in Q1
Even as Sprint starts to dream up ways to sunset its aging (but still popular) iDEN network, reclaim the spectrum, and migrate its push-to-talk customer base to something CDMA-based, there's still a network to maintain in the short term -- and to that end, the company has re-upped its contract with Motorola to keep the system in tip-top shape for at least another three years. Amazingly, this will mean that the network is some twenty years old by the time the agreement is up in 2013, after which they'll either need to be ready with their CDMA replacement (bearing in mind that QChat already failed) -- or we imagine they'll need another contract renewal. Oh, and this won't just be a run-out-the-clock situation, either: there'll be at least some new hardware, with Sprint saying that "several" handsets are on tap for the first quarter of 2011 including the i886 ("stylish," rugged, and landscape QWERTY) and the i686, an update of the i680 with improved waterproofing. Follow the break for the full press release.
Motorola's rugged i1 coming to Sprint: July 25 for $150 on contract
A solid four months after first seeing thing plastered across half of Las Vegas, Motorola's i1 finally has a date with Sprint. The planet's first Android-equipped smartphone with Nextel Direct Connect will go nationwide on July 25th (via telesales and websites; all other Sprint channels will see it on August 8th), bringing military spec ruggedness, push-to-talk capabilities and a certain ability to withstand all sorts of death grips. Unfortunately, Android 1.5 is a bit of a dinosaur at this point, but it's still a heck of a lot better than that G'zOne Rock you're currently toting. Get ready -- you've got just under a week to scrounge up $149.99 and the nerve to sign another two-year contract.
BlackBerry Tour goes to OS 5.0 on Verizon, right on time
Actually, saying that this update happened "right on time" might be a bit of a stretch considering the wide variety of BlackBerrys across multiple carriers that have already been boosted to OS 5.0, but this does match up with previous rumors that we'd be seeing an upgrade for Verizon's Tour today, especially considering the announcement that users would have access to push-to-talk services this week. Indeed, Tour owners across the land are now being pushed BlackBerry OS 5.0.0.591 with improvements to Bluetooth, messaging, calling, and camera features, so even if you're not into PTT, it seems like a decent download, especially considering that it's painlessly available over the air. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Verizon's BlackBerry Tour getting push-to-talk capability tomorrow
When you think push-to-talk in the US, Sprint's Direct Connect service is still the very first thing that comes to mind -- but Verizon and AT&T both continue to soldier on with their own significantly less popular solutions to meet the needs of niche markets that might otherwise bail for iDEN. Big Red's stable is getting a little bigger this week on news that the BlackBerry Tour 9630 will magically be made PTT-compliant through the availability of a new app tomorrow that'll work with Verizon's existing PTT plans. As soon as the app's installed, the Tour's so-called convenience button on the side will be instantly transferred into a PTT button, at which point you'll be chirping it up with the best of 'em -- and even better, the service will be free for anyone activating both a "qualifying" voice plan and BlackBerry data plan, so odds are good you won't actually pay a dime for the new functionality. Separately, we're hearing that Verizon's Tour will be upgraded to BlackBerry OS 5.0 this evening, and push-to-talk is prominently listed as one of the new features added in the upgrade according to a GizmoFusion leak -- so odds are very good these two pieces of news are related. In other words, even if you're not interested in PTT capability in the slightest, you should stand to benefit a bit from it as the spoils of 5.0 filter down to you; now let's just add in a WebKit-based browser and we'll be good to go, right?
Motorola makes i1 official, melds Android and push-to-talk this summer on Sprint
Right on cue, just after the aptly-timed teaser poster, Motorola signs on just the right dotted lines to make its i1 push-to-talk Android handset official. Let's run through the specs quickly, shall we? A 3.1-inch HVGA (320 x 480) touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and 4x zoom, WiFi, and microSD expansion -- no mention of the processor, so we'll have to find out on our own later. The OS version is 1.5 and, while there's oddly not a single mention in either the press release of fact sheet, given the official images and unofficial leaks, it's definitely got Motoblur. The browser of choice is Opera Mini 5 with support for Flash 8, and if you're worried about Mother Nature's wrath, the i1 meets Military 810F standards for handling averse weather conditions. iDEN lovers can pick up the call sometime this summer on Sprint, with price yet to be named. Update: Motorola's just sent word that the i1 does not have Motoblur, despite the presence of the traditional green call / blue contacts buttons. That begs the question, then, of what exactly defines Motoblur here (is just the Happenings widget missing?), and what Android skin is on the i1 -- the press images here are definitely not showing vanilla 1.5. We're still awaiting a response to that, stay tuned. %Gallery-88737%
Sprint bails on QChat, goes back to iDEN for all its PTT needs
We saw the writing on the wall here for a while, but Sprint's now gone ahead and made it official that it'll be phasing out its push-to-talk offerings based on Qualcomm's QChat technology in favor of -- what else? -- good ol' iDEN. For Sprint, the move makes sense; when the EV-DO Rev. A-powered QChat system was introduced last year, a Sprint / Nextel schism was a very real possibility -- but since, the company has ended up pouring money into its Direct Connect network, sprucing it up, and placing a renewed emphasis on its prepaid Boost Mobile brand which shares Nextel's airwaves. There really isn't much use for two incompatible PTT systems on any network, so one had to go -- and yes, QChat is getting the boot. Existing customers will continue to be supported, but Sprint says that it won't be offering new models; good thing iDEN phones just got pretty for the first time.
Sprint launches push-to-talk BlackBerry Curve 8350i
Verizon may have been bangin' on Sprint's iDEN network, but that's not stopping the yellow-faced carrier from introducing the "first ever" (wait, really?) push-to-talk BlackBerry on those very waves. Sprint is hailing the Curve 8350i as the "most advanced push-to-talk BlackBerry smartphone ever," and given the options in the past, it's hard to disagree. Thankfully, there's also integrated WiFi / GPS as well as support for Group Connect, international direct connect and Talkgroup; you'll also spot a 2-megapixel camera, multimedia player, speakerphone, video recorder, a microSDHC card slot, Bluetooth 2.0, a stereo headset jack and a removable 1,400mAh battery. It's available now in a rather stocky 4.4- x 2.4- x 0.7-inch frame for as low as $149.99 (after all applicable rebates) on a two-year plan.%Gallery-39336%
BlackBerry 8350i hitting Sprint on December 1?
We've had a hard time nailing down a date for RIM's latest (last?) iDEN-powered BlackBerry, the 8350i, outside a general belief that we'd see it before the year was out. For push-to-talkers sick and tired of staring at the truly prehistoric 7100i in Sprint's current lineup, we're sure that the new release couldn't come soon enough -- and while December 1 might not qualify as "soon enough" for some of y'all, it could be worse. The latest intel we're getting suggests that the Curve-alike will be ready to order as we enter the final month of 2008, so get your plastic ready (or, more realistically, let your company's purchasing department know what's up).[Thanks, Brian]
BlackBerry 8350i chirps its way through the FCC
FCC labs must just love testing iDEN devices, since you're basically guaranteeing yourself several days of super-annoying "beep beeps" emanating from phones placed in proximity to bizarre, gelatinous objects designed to simulate human flesh. Of course, RIM owns its own testing facility (no conflict of interest there or anything), so they've no one to blame but themselves for producing the 8350i -- a Curve-alike designed to keep the push-to-talkers of the world calm and happy. We still don't have an exact release date, but we've previously heard that it's on track for the current quarter; if FCC certification was the only thing they were holding on, we imagine could see it pretty shortly.
Verizon cans ads that batter Sprint's push-to-talk network
Man, what's up with Verizon and its ad department? Just a few months back, the carrier was thrashed by PETA for running a controversial spot involving two pit bulls chained up in a junkyard, and now it's being fingered for making questionable remarks toward Sprint's push-to-talk network. For those unaware, the spots (one hosted after the break) included lines such as "We all upgraded to Verizon Wireless. Got push to talk and the reliability of the network. That old service is useless now." Sprint argued that the subtle drops could wrongfully influence people to believe that Sprint's PTT network was non-functional or that it would soon be discontinued, and eventually, NAD (an ad watchdog agency) recommended that VZW nix the ads. As it stands, the commercials in question have indeed been dropped, but Verizon asserts that it did so as a normal part of business. Ah well, it's the end result that matters, right Sprint?
Sprint's steampunk Motorola i776 now in the mix for push-to-talkin' fun
Motorola's iDEN-powered i776 flip is now available through Sprint's website, capping off a round of high-visibility launches with a black sheep in every sense of the word. Well, every sense except one -- the i776 is actually a bizarre combo of brushed metal and brown, an acquired taste to say the least (not unlike the network on which the i776 runs). There's nothing but a VGA cam here, but it packs GPS, Bluetooth, speakerphone, and that retro-fabulous stub antenna that'll make all your friends wonder why they've been unceremoniously obsoleted on virtually every other phone sold today. Get it now -- if you dare -- for $79.99 on contract.
AT&T drops push-to-talk pricing to $5, Sprint now odd man out
In conjunction with the release of the rugged Rugby from Samsung, AT&T's celebrating its good fortunes by dropping pricing of its push-to-talk option from $10 to $5 (a 50 percent cut, for the mathematically challenged). That puts its rate in line with Verizon's, while Sprint stays the lone ranger up in the clouds at $10 a month. So, you know, if your conundrum comes down to Rugby versus Boulder -- just make sure monthly PTT pricing doesn't come into play in your decision.Update: Sprint points out to us that most of their plans actually include Direct Connect bundled in with the pricing. The simply-named "Talk" plans do not, and a $10 bump beyond those bring you to the "Talk/Message/Direct Connect" plans which, as their names imply, include both unlimited messaging and PTT.
Samsung a837 "Rugby" bows on AT&T, looking for a fight
It's not every day that AT&T launches a phone that meets military specifications for dust, water, and shock resistance -- in fact, AT&T claims it's the first time ever, despite the Motorola V365's street reputation as a tough piece -- so take note, especially if you've got butterfingers or a job that involves rolling around in a mud pit. The Samsung a837 Rugby won't win any hearts with its charming good looks, but it's got 3G data, push-to-talk support, and a 1.3-megapixel camera to take quick and dirty shots of your dangerous endeavors that'd make your average flip beg for mercy. Grab it now for a shade under $130 on a two-year activation.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Qualcomm slapped with fine for violating Broadcom injunction
Ooh, Qualcomm you been naughty. You might remember that last year Qualcomm was banned from selling various 3G chips that infringed on Broadcom's patents, but the big Q apparently believes that being in trouble is a fake idea, because it kept right on doing it -- to the point where a judge yesterday found the company in contempt for violating the injunction and ordered it to pay up gross profits from sales of its QChat push-to-talk tech to Broadcom. The court gave Qualcom 30 days to figure out how much it owes -- Sprint's paid over $93M to use the tech since last December, so it's not going to be peanuts. Qualcomm says it'll immediately comply, but is planning on appealing the order, so we'll how this all goes down.
Motorola releases push-to-talk over EV-DO Rev. A solution
Tired of abysmal sound quality when yapping via PTT? Are your chirps not leading to responses in a timely fashion? Never fear, as Motorola is all over it. For better or worse (though probably better), Moto has released its next-generation push-to-talk over cellular (PoC) solution, which is optimized for CDMA 1x networks with EV-DO Rev. A data capability. According to the official verbiage, the new solution leverages the zippy protocol to provide "low call set-up time latency and improved quality of service (QoS)." Rev. A chirping -- who woulda thunk it?
Motorola i365 is rugged, unapologetically ugly
Some phones just don't have to be cute; not even remotely so. They're too busy getting slung with mud, drenched with water, and baked in the sun to really put a priority on good looks -- and if any class of handsets can really get away with that sort of philosophy, it'd have to be Motorola's iDEN workhorses. The lineup has historically been a favorite of construction crews whose phones have a tendency to take a constant beating, and this should be another hot seller in that vein (for as long as iDEN lasts, anyway): meet the i365, a push-to-talk candybar without a single pretty bone in its entire body. It manages to pack both Bluetooth and GPS, so it's not a total slouch in the feature department -- but rest assured, it dispenses of luxuries like a camera, an intenna, or an expansive display. No word on when it'll launch or where it'll be available, but odds are good you'll never hear about it again unless your boss sets one on your desk.[Via Phone Scoop]
