Brian White

Reviews

Reviews By Brian White

Four versions of Moto's RAZR 2 compared

With the Motorola RAZR 2 set to drop on Sprint next week as the V9m, the handset will then be released on Verizon Wireless in September. No solid word on AT&T's official release date with the V9, though. How about Alltel? You'll see the V9m with them too, apparently (not sure when). Until then, PC Magazine has reviewed the plethora of differences between the RAZR 2 when it comes to these four carriers (T-Mobile to come later with the EDGE-only V8, according to reports). The review breaks down the per-carrier deets, mentioning that T-Mobile's version will run Linux while the other versions will use Moto's Synergy software platform. The phone books and web browsers are different on the CDMA variants, as well as the overall UI being starkly different on each one. Want CrystalTalk background noise suppression? It's only on AT&T's model. There are so many intricate differences on each RAZR 2 that you just gotta hate carrier branding and custom software. Use the read link below for a full smattering of all the RAZR 2 differences so far.

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Mobile By Brian White

Cellphones failed again after Minnesota bridge collapse

When major disasters strike, cellphones have a bad habit of being about as useless as that morning piece of burnt toast. At least, that's what those working Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks found out, and those who were directly involved in the Minnesota bridge collapse more than a few weeks ago witnessed as well. Again, the culprit In Minnesota appeared to be overloaded cellular towers and switch traffic that apparently affected all carriers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area where the collapse happened. With cellular service being integral to everyday life, should there not be contingency plans in place for continuing service in the event of a disaster? A recent suggestion of cellular "peer-to-peer" service that bypasses towers and switches in an emergency sounds intriguing to us. Maybe in 2015 or so we'll see it happen.

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Mobile By Brian White

AT&T leans harder on TDMA customer base

We kinda knew that AT&T was ready to start throwing the switches on its aging TDMA national network, but now the carrier is taking it to the customer with increased fees on older calling plans. Make that stiffing the customer, as those AT&T subs still using tried-and-true TDMA digital handsets on older AT&T "Blue" plans (non-GSM) are apparently now being charged $9.99 per month for sticking with those grandfathered calling and feature plans. So, if you're an "old" AT&T Wireless customer (pre-Cingular merger) using that Nokia 6160, be warned. We know some of those older plans have hard-to-beat prices for features, but AT&T really wants you off them. That, or pony up another $10 a month.

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Mobile By Brian White

Sprint sees 54M customers, 40 percent spike in data revenue

Sprint's recent second quarter financial results showed an interesting mix of numbers: income dropped by 90 percent, wireless data revenue jumped by 40 percent and the carrier broke the 54 million-customer mark. Dropping from a $291 million profit in the year-ago quarter to a $19 million profit is, well, pretty huge. But, at least Sprint saw its average revenue per sub sit above $60 for its latest quarter, with $9.75 attributable to data revenue. Everyone break out some EV-DO data sessions in salute of this if you please. On a lighter note, Sprint CEO Gary Foresee said the iPhone "blip" has not significantly affected number ports to AT&T, although the level is up "slightly" from before the iPhone launch.[via mocoNews]

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Samsung

Samsung By Brian White

Samsung looks to patent two new gaming phone designs

Samsung looks to move forward into the realm of mobile gaming with two new U.S. patents involving gameplay-oriented handsets. For starters, patent #1 (pictured above) describes a "portable communication terminal for games." The display on this design involves a hinged "flip" that unveils a dual-row numeric keypad complete with phone navigational array when opened, and a gaming d-pad when closed (we hope that hinge is solid); the 'A' and 'B' buttons are near the earpiece and always visible. More info on the second patent application after the break. [via Unwired View]Read - Patent 1Read - Patent 2

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Smartphones By Brian White

Nokia E65 spotted dressed in purple and pink

And we were thinking the Nokia E65 would find its niche in the business segment, with all that UMTS and WiFi goodness on board. Regular folks need that daily wireless-everything fix too, so Nokia decided to dress up the proper E65 into something more casual, as in pink and purple shells. Word is that these two beauties will be landing somewhere in Europe soon, but no info on where or how much a color premium these two will carry once they're in the wild for real.

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Mobile By Brian White

Verizon backs limited open-access 700 MHz auctions

With Google about to possibly compete with established telcos for some precious radio space, Verizon Wireless has joined fellow telephone company AT&T in supporting "some" open access suggestions for the upcoming 700 MHz radio auctions. Verizon Wireless appears to be treading carefully here though, as it agreed to give a certain "portion" of the 700 MHz band up for wireless usage by any carrier's wireless device but did not elaborate on support for anything else open access-wise in the 700 MHz band (yet). Obviously, the carrier said that it would not give any quality assurance for wireless equipment and devices other than from itself.[via phonescoop]

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Big Tech

Big Tech By Brian White

Nokia acquires Twango, gets deeper into media sharing

Nokia is once again shouting that it wants to be a major player in the mobile media sharing arena by acquiring Twango. If you're big into sharing pictures, video and other digital garb, you may know Twango (founded by former Microsoft employees). And since Nokia sold over 140 million connected digicams (almost all cellphone-based) in 2006, it makes sense for the company to ensure customers are, you know, using all that mobile multimedia goodness as much as possible. Nokia's Multimedia division head puts it great: "the Twango acquisition is a concrete step towards our Internet services vision of providing seamless access to information, entertainment, and social networks - at anytime, anywhere, from any connected device, in any way that you choose."

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Smartphones By Brian White

Telstra iPhone SIM hack video

Although the voiceover on this YouTube video was almost too soothing to listen to, the demo being explained definitely got our excitable attention. We're not sure about this hack's details, but the user demonstrating his iPhone's non-AT&T outgoing call usage here gets two thumbs up from us. Apparently, his iPhone was modified to allow non-AT&T SIMs to make outgoing calls on the Telstra network, although no incoming calls were demo'ed in the video. From watching it, wethinks registration on any GSM network would probably be possible. And catch that authentic GSM radio noise interference that's clearly audible.[Thanks, Greg]

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Reviews

Reviews By Brian White

Sony Ericsson K850 gets reviewed

The decked-out Sony Ericsson K850 has been thoroughly sifted through the review grinder by our pals over at mobile-review.com. The K850 is so packed that there were two parts to the review, and this one focuses on then phone itself (instead of the exhaustive digital camera functions). Positives seen by Eldar and the crew include an easy-to-use and touch-sensitive 'blocky' keypad with a unique d-pad design (that green rectangle), GPRS / EDGE / UMTS, excellent (and cutting-edge) Java support, obligatory A2DP Bluetooth, that sweet 5 megapixel cam and an overall ergonomic delight to use. This thing is loaded to the hilt, to say the least. Use the read link to glean more deets available in the exhaustive review.[via Just Another Mobile Phone Blog]

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Apps

Apps By Brian White

Free GPS-enabled mobile nav app from amAze

Although it really is not the first "free" mobile navigation app designed for J2ME-enabled, GPS-containing handsets, LocatioNet Systems is billing its 'amAze' product as such. AmAze (that's not a typo, heh) is apparently the first mapping, navigation and local search product specifically tailored to the UK. The app features standard location fare like satellite images, route planning and even weather forecasts. Topping it off is voice guidance via external Bluetooth GPS device or from your J2ME handset's built-in GPS. LocatioNet is able to give this app away free using ads integrated into the software itself, even going as far as displaying location-based ads derived from your exact location. Yes, something, somewhere will know you're next to that pizza joint and will send you "free slice" coupon or something. Hit up www.amazegps.com to download it if you're so inclined.

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Apps

Apps By Brian White

Verizon Wireless intros 'Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved'

We love seeing console and even old-school arcade games being ported to cellphone screens, and Verizon Wireless has done us a solid in that respect. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved can now be landed on the screens of those with Verizon's 'Get It Now' service. Want some gameplay deets? The BREW-based Geometry Wars version serves up Untouchable, Survivor, Monster, Trenches, Speed, Multiplier, Feline, and Bomber modes. We call that mobile game playing paradise. Get it now for a one-time $6.49 fee or $3.49 for a month of use. It's now available on 25 Verizon handsets, including the MOTOKRZR K1m and the LG enV.

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Mobile By Brian White

British parliament members afraid of in-flight mobile use

With rude passengers and terrorist thoughts in the mind of airline officials and passengers, British parliament members (MPs) are holding steady against any airline policy that would allow in-flight mobile phone use. The real reason they are scared, from what we can glean, is related to the remote detonation of bombs on planes by terrorists. Outside of the Executive Decision movie scenario being painted here, the MPs referenced the 2004 Madrid bombings being set off by cellphones in explaining their support for the ban. As such, we don't see any mobile use coming on Britain-originated flights soon. Better catch a Qantas flight instead, heh.[via textually.org, image via arinc.com]

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Google

Google By Brian White

Google's iPhone-specific search website

It appears that Google has released a mobile-accessible search page just for iPhone users, which sent us scratching our heads a bit. Isn't the iPhone supposed to give customers "the real web?" If so, why has Google developed a bare-bones search page that appears to be just for iPhone customers? Perhaps this is a work in progress, but since the Safari browser on the iPhone has no problems going to the normal Google search website or Google's xHTML page, what's the point here? Unless you really (really) want a bare-bones Google search page on that new iPhone that doesn't even feature many of Google's search properties, we suggest hitting www.google.com. Sounds pretty easy to us.[via TUAW]

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Mobile By Brian White

Sprint links both its networks for walkie-talkie call

Although Sprint has decided to dump the Nextel name from all its marketing efforts, it is (of course) keeping that billion-dollar iDEN network operational. To drive that point home, the wireless carrier made the first walkie-talkie connection between two different phones (one on each network) recently. Yes, Nextel's "Direct Connect" talked to Sprint's upgraded EV-DO revision A network as the carrier prepares to make that newer EV-DO revision A network interoperable with the older iDEN network sometime next year when it comes to that chirping walkie talkie feature.

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Mobile By Brian White

Cell tower and GPS traces now standard fare in courtrooms

Although cellphone tower location registering has been used in courtrooms for some time, we just knew that the GPS capability and morewould be put forth for use in cases where even better location granularity is required. Well, what do ya know: it's here. For alleged murderer Darryl Littlejohn, he knows it all to well. While movement from tower to tower is not exactly a new strategy for attorneys to use when arguing cases, it's use as an alibi can go either way. Critics say that rush-hour wireless traffic can shunt signals to towers that cause accurate tracking to be obfuscated somewhat, while others say criminals can plant their handsets away from crime locations for later use as an alibi. Yeah, we love when lawyers begin grasping the technical ins and outs of wireless towers and advanced tracking methodologies.

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Smartphones By Brian White

Palm releases Treo 750 alert sound bug fix

If you're a Treo 750 owner and have almost thrown your precious QWERTY-board out the window a few times due to missing alert sounds, take a deep breath. The fix for the Palm edition of the Treo 750 appears to address the issue of lost sound alerts that notify you of calls and other notifications. Yeah, we consider that a top-priority fix like you. The root cause was identified by Palm to be related to multiple hooks into the audio driver(s) of the device, causing it to stop completely. The update is detailed using the read link below if you need to restore that loss of sanity caused by a silent 750.[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]

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Smartphones By Brian White

T-Mobile to trot out Nokia 2610 and Samsung t219s

T-Mobile's newly expunged Samsung t219s seems like an ordinary, low-end Sammy flip with nothing particularly striking about it. That is, until one discovers the "network address book" inside the menu system. Maybe that "s" suffix has some meaning, after all. Is this a new (yet unannounced) feature that allows contact sharing via SMS? If so, that would be hailed as a semi-masterpiece. We're still fond of Bluetoothing contacts across the room, but hey -- that's not always possible. Anyhoo, the Nokia 2610, which includes myFaves support like the t219s, cements Nokia's place as the entry-level candybar of choice and has the humdrum, standard feature set expected for en entry-level Nokia on T-Mobile. No prices on these yet, but we're figuring they'll be freebies with a contract.Update: Looks like the "network address book" feature is a standard phone book backup over the network, kinda like what AT&T already offers. According to Boy Genius, the network address book is "just an automatic backup for contacts, so in case you lose the phone, it will automatically download the contacts in your new phone" -- as long as the new phone also supports it, of course.

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Smartphones By Brian White

Toshiba set to release best-ever 3D chip for handsets

Wireless handsets are becoming better gaming machines, although we're not seeing PSP-level playability yet on that slim-n-fast handset just yet. Toshiba, though, may want to change that -- and it's announced that a new 3D LSI chip that can render 100 mega-polygons per second to take mobile gaming and realism to the next level. As such, Toshy's new "TC35711XBG" chip is slated to be available to OEMs and ODMs in October. With 38 times the performance of existing solutions, built-in shading and reflectivity and WVGA support, we're chomping at the bit to see what this brings to the handset gaming table soon.

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Smartphones By Brian White

First Chinese handset with WQVGA screen spotted

Although copies of the iPhone abound these days, we have not seen one with a widescreen QVGA screen that has originated out of China. Well, until now. While the sweet 3.2 inch 400 x 240 resolution screen is the must-have feature of this handset, other nifty specs include a now-standard 1.3 megapixel cam, obligatory microSD slot, stereo speakers and a svelte 90-game weight. It looks like that screen is set flush inside the housing a bit instead of being more prone to immediate scratches and blemishes, which we chalk up as a definite plus.

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Smartphones By Brian White

Nokia 6275i debuts at Leap Wireless

Cricket customers needing a non-EV-DO handset in Nokia's standard candybar shape needn't look any longer. Leap Wireless announced that the Nokia 6275i is now immediately available from its Cricket retail locations for $199.99. Although the lack of EV-DO disturbs us a bit, the 6275i still offers a 2 megapixel cam with flash, MP3 capability, microSD slot, infrared, Bluetooth, USB and of course, the staple FM radio that Nokia seems to be in love with. The 6275's physical size, at 4.29 x 1.68 x 0.677 inches, is a tad portly for 2007, although at 3.7 ounces it is still pretty light. But Cricket, come on -- $199.99 for this? We're thinking free out the door with a new contract, mkay?

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Mobile By Brian White

Texting while driving irks NY senator

First came a ban in New York against cellphone handset use while driving, but now texting behind the wheel may face the same fate. Yeah, we agree on this one -- after all, texting takes your eyes of the road unless you have some speech-to-text thing going on in that handset. Anyhoo, New York senator Carl Marcellino wants SMSing while driving banned due to the recent deaths of five young girls in auto accidents attributed to texting while driving. Washington state already has banned SMS use while driving, and with a recent Zogby Poll concluding that one-third of all people between 18 and 24 years old have sent texts while driving, we'll most likely see this kind of ban coming to more states.

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Mobile By Brian White

T-Mobile myFaves subs get unlimited SMS for $10

We're fans of cross-carrier calling plans like T-Mobile's myFaves calling feature, but we get even more excited when unlimited text messaging comes along for a bargain price. That's just what T-Mobile is now supplying, as subscribers of myFaves calling plans now have access to unlimited SMS and MMS for $9.99 per month. This is a $5 per month discount off T-Mo's $14.99 price for non-myFaves customers, so this discount is a very nice 33 percent decline. Word is that the promo will be available now until September 12th.[Via Boy Genius Report]

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Mobile By Brian White

Rogers Wireless banning MP3 ringtones on its handsets?

It's the situation most of us love to hate: we buy that new, shiny handset with full MP3 capability to supplant that fully-fledged, big-gig DAP only to find out that MP3 files -- as clips or songs -- can't be used as ringtones. Sure, there are sometimes workarounds and hacks, but should anyone really have to go through all that? Music-based handset crippling may be coming to Canada's Rogers Wireless, as word on the street is that phones sold by the carrier, like the Nokia 5300, won't allow non-DRMed MP3 files as ringtones. We find this ludicrous on music-centric handset, but reports are that the requirement was at the behest of the music industry (who else). If you're a Rogers subscriber and are locked out of using your own homebrew MP3 clips as ringtones, we'll take it that you're miffed, big time. We gotta go DRM those MP3 files of some barking dogs we have, so catch ya later.[Via mocoNews and BoingBoing]

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Mobile By Brian White

Sprint set to launch 'Friend Finder' location service

Sprint seems to be a huge fan of rolling out handset-based tracking and location services. It's latest, dubbed "Friend Finder," uses Loopt's technology to allow Sprint subscribers to get that social networking on while wireless. Like other LBS applications, the GPS chip inside that handset is used to update a customer's location every 15 minutes. Of course, all your friends must have Sprint phones as well as being Loopt customers, and friends have to grant access for you to track them. This is similar to Helio's Buddy Beacon service which launched in 2006. Cost? Sprint will make ya pony up $2.99 a month, and the service will initially work on 25 handset models from the carrier.[via mocoNews]

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