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Verizon's HD voice and video chat nearly ready to launch nationwide
LTE isn't just about getting incredibly fast data speeds on our smartphone or tablet. Sure, that's been what the technology's been primarily used for ever since it was introduced a few years ago, but it's capable of providing crystal-clear phone calls as well through a service known as Voice over LTE (VoLTE). The catch is that it's up to each carrier to provide the service. AT&T and T-Mobile have rolled out the capability already, and Verizon announced today that it's nearly ready to flip the switch on VoLTE nationwide, and it'll happen in a matter of weeks. Whether that means two or fourteen, Verizon won't say. But when it's ready, this functionality will be pre-loaded on new devices and pushed to existing phones in a downloadable update (provided the hardware is compatible, which many devices are).
Verizon launches its first ZTE handset: the Salute F350
Nice to see Verizon and ZTE making nice with the newly launched -- but not very surprising -- ZTE Salute. The Salute's launch marks ZTE's second foray into the arms of Big Red this month and the set maker's first top-tier carrier launch in the US. So what does ZTE's little slider bring to the table? A 2.4-inch display, 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, Bing search, a pile of messaging features, and social apps, of course. Unfortunately the phone only chugs along at 1xRTT speeds, but hey, for only $19.99 after rebate, we expect it'll find some fans. Follow the break for the full press release.
Kyocera introduces 5 new handsets at CTIA
Kyocera, the well-known CDMA handset specialist, has busted out a slew of new handsets today at CTIA. "Typical clamshell" and "variation on the theme" seem to be the orders of the day, with Kyocera only bringing one non-flip out to play. From left to right, at the top of the list is the E5000 (check that sweet-looking hinge) featuring a 1.3 megapixel cam, EV-DO, Bluetooth with A2DP support, and touch sensitive keys on the face to access your tunes. Next up, the M1000; this side flipper opens to reveal a QWERTY keypad, has dual displays, Bluetooth 1.2, and voice digit dialing. The E2000 brings the music-centric features with memory expansion to 2GB, front-mounted music controls for quick access, a 1.3 megapixel shooter, all packed in a styling piano-black enclosure. The E1000 brings most of the same features as its sibling, the E2000, but lacks the EV-DO love and the expandable memory slot. Rounding out this year's offering is the lowly S1000, this diminutive candy bar boasts 3 hour talk time, a straightforward keypad for texting, and weighs in at only 76 grams. Alright, we admit, we're suitably impressed with Kyocera's portfolio at a show where most of the heavy-hitters seem to have already emptied the bank of new releases for the year -- keep it coming, folks.[Via Phone Scoop]
Broadcom wants to ban all U.S. phones with Qualcomm chips
After we thought Qualcomm and Broadcom had at least kissed and made up a little, Broadcom dropped a bit of a bombshell this week: the wireless chipset company asked the International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban the import of Qualcomm-containing mobile phones to the U.S. The handsets in question feature certain Qualcomm processors involved in the long-running patent infringement lawsuit between the two wireless companies. Broadcom told the ITC that Qualcomm would be "rewarded for patent infringement" activities if all Qualcomm chip-containing handsets were not banned from being imported into the U.S. In other news, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and Alltel said they would immediately switch to GSM and give away free Nokia N73 handsets to all customers. Just kidding -- we can have fun too, you see?[Thanks, Wil]
Sierra Wireless to offer HSDPA, EV-DO Rev A via USB
Not a day's passed after we caught word of Sprint's launch of Novatel's S720 PC Card do we hear that Sierra Wireless has a proverbial one-two punch of WWAN modems up its sleeve, this time of the USB variety. First up in Q4 of this year will be the 595U, an EV-DO Revision A device topping out at a purely-theoretical 3.1Mbps downstream, followed by the quad-band GSM, tri-band HSDPA 875U humming along at 3.6Mbps in Q1 2007. Both USB modems look to be coming in sleek little packages with internal antennas and matching cradles, support location-based services, and have upgradeable firmware. If these things really look as slick as the press shots make them out to be, we may not be whining for a Rev A ExpressCard after all -- if the ship dates hold up, that is.[Via Macworld]
Pantech's WM5-powered PN-820 clamshell for Verizon
PhoneArena has once again and gotten the dirt on a new handset, and a pretty hot one at that: a Windows Mobile-powered Pantech flip phone that's supposedly heading straight to Verizon. Courtesy of extensive documentation from our friends at the FCC, the PhoneArena gang learned that the PN-820 clamshell runs on WM5 for Smartphones, sports a 1.3 megapixel camera and miniSD slot, and perhaps best of all, has all of your networking needs covered with both WiFi and Bluetooth (well, not all of them -- cellular data seems to max out at 1xRTT). While certainly not the hottest PocketPC clamshell we've seen (that honor goes to the HTC Star Trek), the PN-120 should still be one of the easiest ways to slide WM5 into your pocket once it hits stores.[Via PhoneArena]
