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Cingular's Nokia N75 gets FCC approval
Those among us impatiently waiting for the Nokia N75, Cingular's S60 3rd Edition clamshell with UMTS, might bide their time perusing the just-published docs over at the FCC's site. Among the goodies are internal photos (which should hopefully prevent an overly-curious buyer or two from tearing their newly-purchased phones apart) and external photos clearly showing the Cingular logo emblazoned across the back of the flip. Most importantly, though, a draft user's manual gives us all some desperately-needed reading material to hold us over for the few weeks until we can all march up to a Cingular kiosk and get the goods ourselves.Update: The user's manuals (yes, there are two of them; it is a smartphone, after all) reveal that the N75 rocks support for purchasing music and music videos over the air. In fact, the music may come from multiple sources, as the phone has provisions for entering addresses and usernames for multiple "shops." Loudeye, anyone? [Thanks, Eric]
Cingular teaming with Napster and Yahoo to roll its own music service?
According to The Wall Street Journal, those in the know are predicting Cingular to announce a music service for its cellphone network as early as tomorrow. It seems that despite rampant rumoring of an iPhone and related wireless iTunes service, Cingular is taking things into its own hands -- with a little help from Napster, Yahoo and eMusic. Initially the service will just involve rolling out PlaysForSure functionality to handsets so that they can play subscription tracks from the major non-Apple music services, but Cingular is also planning a wireless music store with pay-per-track and all-you-can-eat offerings. The phones will also purportedly feature Cingular's "Music ID" tech that will allow a user to hold the phone up to a speaker and have the song playing automatically matched with the Napster database and available for purchase. Of course, there's enough room in the world for more than one music service, and right now it appears Cingular is fine with squeezing both Apple and the PFS onto its network. The word is that (as rumored) Apple and Cingular have signed a deal to co-develop an iPhone, and the same article predicts a January launch at the Macworld Expo. Apple also has recently been awarded a phone-related speech recognition system that adds even more fuel to the fire. Being the seasoned iPhone rumor-mongers we are, we'll take all of these reports with a few grains of salt and sit back to see what actually happens.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]Read - Cingular to announce music service [Thanks, Maurice]Read - Apple and Cingular forge iPhone deal [Thanks, Ben]
Cingular launches 3G-enabled 8525, sort of
It's still forwarding us back to the old-skool 8125's product page at the moment, but a tipster has managed to coax Cingular's site into giving up the goods on the 8525 -- Buy Now link and all. We're guessing it has something to do with region or Premier account status, we're not sure, but the point is that a select few are able to place their orders for Cingular's first HSDPA smartphone as we speak. Breaking out the wallet might be hard to justify for folks in 2G areas coming from an 8125, but if speed and power are top priorities, lick your chops as you read the full specs (highlights include a 400MHz Samsung core, 2-megapixel cam, and that fabulous 3G radio) after the break.[Thanks, John]Update: Judging from commenters' experiences, it's sounding like there's some buffoonery going on behind the scenes over at Cingular HQ -- the phone may not be shipping to anyone yet after all. In the meanwhile, enjoy the literature and imagery we've scooped, and we'll let you know what's going on as soon as we do.
Hands-on with the Nokia E62 for Cingular
Nokia isn't stupid. Holding nothing more than a sliver of the huge pie that is the US smartphone market, it only took a few BlackBerrys (with the occasional Treo or Q thrown in here and there) for the world's largest cellphone manufacturer to realize that a QWERTY-style device might just be S60's key to acceptance among fickle American consumers. Of course, it took a good long while for it to get here in an official capacity -- and along the way we've had to sit back and watch a slightly more capable sibling drop in S60-friendly Europe -- but the E62 is finally real for any average Joe willing to head down to their local Cingular shop and plunk down a reasonable amount of cash. WiFi or no, that's a refreshing change of pace for those of us used to getting our Symbian fix by paying through the nose for an import that may or may not work well on our carrier of choice. In practice, how does the business-oriented E62 fare in today's smartphone landscape? Are Americans ready for S60? For that matter, is S60 ready for Americans? Read on for our initial impressions.
Motorola L2 turns pink on Cingular
It may not bear the same altruistic intent of its red cousins, but with the fresh coat of paint, the pink L2 will still manage to stand out a bit in a sea of silver and black SLVRs. As a refresher, the L2 is the low-end variant of Motorola's SLVR L7, trading a few metal bits for plastic ones but otherwise keeping a strong resemblance to its pricier counterpart. How "low-end," you ask? The L2 can presently be had on Cingular in your choice of silver or the aforementioned pink for $0 or $10 on contract, respectively.[Via Mobile Magazine]
Cingular hooks up with TeleNav for LBS
Following its CDMA and iDEN competitors headlong into the hot location-based services game, Cingular is finally poised mark their first wide-scale LBS deployment by hooking up with TeleNav to offer turn-by-turn navigation to its customers. Though the service will be marketed mainly toward the carrier's business users, pretty much anyone with a lousy sense of direction stands to benefit, with both auto and pedestrian modes included in the box. It'll be offered starting at $5.99 a month for 10 uses or $9.99 for unlimited use on the HP hw6920, Treo 650, Cingular 8125, and the just-'round-the-corner 8525, though handsets without GPS receivers (that is, pretty much anything but the HP) will need to hook up to an external Bluetooth unit to make it all happen.
HP's iPaq hw6920 / hw6925 finally hitting Cingular next week
It's been almost a full year since we first spotted the Swiss Army Phone better known as the iPaq hw6900, and after endless teasing and false starts, Cingular will finally start selling this highly-anticipated jack-of-all-trades starting on October 31st. We have to admit that we're not quite as excited about the hw6920 / hw6925 (with / without camera) as we were, like, nine months ago, but its release is still notable due to the fact that it'll be one of the first mass-market US smartphones to include integrated GPS hardware and software (in the form of TeleNav's GPS Navigator). As you're probably well aware from both the official and leaked spec sheets we've covered, this 416MHz, Windows Mobile 5.0 AKU2-powered handset also features Bluetooth with A2DP, 802.11g, a 1.3 megapixel camera, miniSD slot, reportedly-loud keyboard, and frustrating 240 x 240 pixel screen. The only other major downside here is the lack of a 3G radio, although the GPRS / EDGE capabilities should offer decent connectivity while you search for the nearest hotspot. Obviously having your cake and (almost) eating it too doesn't come cheap, as the hw6920 will start at $360 with a two-year contract and continue to climb skyward.[Via Mobility Site, thanks Ronald D.]
Cingular-branded Nokia N75 in the wild
Being the only scheduled-for-release Nokia device with UMTS 850 / 1900 on board, it didn't take an industry insider to venture a guess that the N75 was on the fast track to US release. Neither, then, did it take a lot of brainpower to take a stab at the carrier, seeing how we've only got one around here with the right kind of bandwidth. Sure enough, a HowardForums member has managed to score a couple shots of an N75 emblazoned with that orange... uh, thing of a logo we all love (or love to hate, as the case may be). Rumor has it the S60 3rd Edition clamshell is on a fast track for release some time in November; as always, we'll remain skeptical until a Cingular-branded N75 rests in our outstretched paws, but it certainly seems things are looking up for Symbian fans on Cingular.[Thanks, Louis]
Cingular 8525 spotted (again)
Thar she blows. We're not going to pretend like there's any surprise left here -- it's the 8525 in all its tri-band UMTS / HSDPA glory, it was on Cingular's page, and it looks like they're about ready to go. Yep, all we're waiting for is a price and release date. Yep, just gonna keep on waiting. Cingular?[Thanks, JeShUa, Matt, and jetfxr]
What is this Cingular phone?
Cingular tends to be pretty good about keeping their release schedule on lockdown, save for the occasional slip up, of course -- so could it possibly be that they've accidentally leaked a picuture of a yet-to-be-released music clamshell on their home page, of all places? We're not sure how much longer it'll be up, but we grabbed a screen shot of the phone you see above; we haven't the foggiest idea what it is, but make what you will of these facts: 1) it's white, 2) it's a musicphone, and 3) the woman's enjoying her (i?)tunes via what appear to be iPod buds. Granted, the shiny bits aren't particularly Apple-esque, but you know what we're thinking -- could this be the phone whose name we dare not speak?Update: Mystery solved, it's a Siemens SF65. Now the question is, when can Cingular customers get their hands on it? [Thanks, Jamma]
Cingular's MOTOKRZR launching first week of November?
The latest word on the street has Cingular launching their version of the Motorola MOTOKRZR -- alias K1 -- some time in the first week of November, possibly on or around the 4th. This would line up nicely with what we'd been hearing before regarding a September / October launch window when you factor in the typical date slippage, application of Murphy's Law, forces of nature, and whatnot. Of course, this all sorta fubars the continuity of Cingular's RAZR pipeline, considering that they just managed to finally get the V3i out the door a few weeks ago -- but far be it from us to suggest that it should prompt them to hold a new release.[Thanks, anonymous tipster]
Treo 680 headed to Cingular
Big surprise everybody, the Palm Treo 680 is coming to... wait for it... Cingular. Right, we know, we all figured it was coming to Cingular anyway, but we snagged an internal Treo 680 PowerPoint doc and now we know for sure. It'll have everything we've been expecting: Palm OS 5.4.9 with that new five-tabbed quick access (dial pad, favorites, home screen, contacts, call log), quad-band GSP / GPRS / EDGE, 312MHz XScale processor, 2.2-inch 320 x 320 display, SDIO, Bluetooth 1.2, IR, PocketTunes, 1200mAh battery, and a 4.41 x 2.36 x 0.88-inch body weighing in at 5.28 ounces. Oddly, Cingular also made mention of a few things in their "confidential and proprietary" document that we found a little puzzling: listed with their compatible email clients, it mentions XpressMail, Good, BlackBerry Connect and... "Microsoft Direct Push (Q1,'07)"? Huh? Ok, so maybe the Cingularian who threw this document together didn't know his biz as well as s/he might have, but either way at least now we know for sure orange customers can expect theirs soon.
Cingular and Symbian hook up for dev program
Europe's favorite smartphone platform mixed in with a little American GSM love: strange bedfellows, or a match made in heaven? We'll all find out in the coming months, now that Cingular has partnered up with Symbian by joining its "Platinum Partner" program, giving it access to Symbian's tech team, pre-release materials, joint marketing, and (woohoo!) use of the Symbian Partner logo. More importantly, though, Cingular's development partners will now be offered "Symbian Affiliate" status and will have a variety of development materials available directly on Cingular's devCentral site, hopefully calling the relatively quiet American S60 dev scene to action. Of course, none of this stuff means much of anything to us without a beefed-up S60 lineup from Cingular, but with the E62 in the wild and the N75 waiting in the wings, things might just be looking up for Symbian fans this side of the Atlantic.[Via Geekzone]
Apple trademarks "iPhone," two models coming?
In a perfect world, we'd be at the point now where we could stop writing about the iPhone and start playing with it, but in the meantime, we're getting to the point where no week is truly complete without a smattering of iPhone rumors du jour. Actually, the first tidbit is less of a rumor and more of a fact: Apple's been taking the liberty of trademarking the word "iPhone" in a variety of countries across the world as of late. While that really comes as no surprise to anyone -- after all, as AppleInsider points out, iphone.org has redirected to apple.com for years -- it'll be interesting to see if Apple actually sticks with the name, seeing how it's become a bit... shall we say, overheated across the 'nets and it seems like it might be to Apple's advantage to take everyone by surprise with a creative new marque (iChat? iCall, perhaps? We know we're going out on a limb here). Next up is the (more interesting) news that the boys and girls in Cupertino appear to be working on not one, but two iPhones: a slim, music-oriented handset, and a full fledged smartphone with integrated keyboard and WiFi, both of which we'll probably have to wait until January's MacWorld Conference to get confirmed. Did someone say, "spiritual Newton successor?"[Thanks, Woody F. and Brian]Read - AppleInsiderRead - Red Herring
Palm announces Treo 680
Per protocol, Palm was scooped well ahead of today's announcement, but it's always good to see official details get laid out nonetheless. Following hot on the heels of its elder Windows Mobile sibling, the 750v, the Treo 680 comes into the light today for GSM networks -- a good sign for carriers worldwide after a year of CDMA equipment out of the company. Cast as an entry-level model (read: no WiFi support), the 680 brings it strong with a redesigned phone UI and software bundle, quad-band GSM (what, no quint-band HSDPA?), 64MB of RAM, and a VGA cam, all sitting atop Palm OS in the buyer's choice of Graphite, Copper, Arctic, or Crimson colors. No pricing or launch carriers were announced today, but given the branding we've seen on some of the shots thus far, we've got our guesses.
Palm picks October 12 to announce new Treo
It looks like attendees of this week's DigitalLife conference in New York City (our own Paul and Peter included) will be treated to the announcement of a brand spankin' new Treo model. Well, "new" might be a strong term here -- the 680 is probably considered the odds-on favorite to get official, and we sort of already scooped that on account of Palm's own blunder -- but nevertheless, we know a diehard Palm OS fan or two that'd like nothing more than to hear Palm confirm that the 680 is real and shipping on Cingular post haste. Of course, they've always got the Cingular version of the 750 as a backup if they decide to keep the 680 under wraps for a while longer, but if they do decide to pass that off as the "new Treo" they're unveiling, our guys on the scene will have boos and rotten vegetables at the ready.
Cingular to sell 3G phones in 2G areas again?
We noticed a little gem in Cingular's press release triumphantly announcing completion of their GSM network integration: "Unlike some competitive services, all 3G services and features, such as Cingular Video, are also available on the company's EDGE network." Really now, is that so? This after customer complaints prompted the company to pull its 3G handsets off the market in EDGE regions just a few short months ago? The verbage of the press release certainly seems to line up nicely with intelligence we're getting, which suggests that the carrier's had a change of heart and intends to once again stock store shelves nationwide with its high-speed devices, possibly on or around November 1. Among those devices should be the lustworthy Hermes-based 8525 -- that is, if the stars are aligned correctly and Cingular's execs wake up on the right sides of their beds that morning.[Thanks, Jason H.]Update: Some readers are reporting that 3G handsets have already come to their HSDPA-unfriendly areas; from what we gather, rumors indicate that those sales will go nationwide on November 1 (give or take).
Cingular claims GSM network integration complete
Just two short years after digesting AT&T Wireless to the tune of $41 billion, Cingular has triumphantly announced that the two company's networks are now one. Of course, they'd promised all along that the integration process would take two years, so whether the announcement has basis in reality or is nothing more than a dog-and-pony show to keep the investor types happy is anybody's guess. For their part, Cingular says the "completion" (their phrasing, not ours) will allow them to devote more attention to building out their fledgling HSDPA network, presumably in an effort to narrow the coverage gap with its EV-DO competitors -- but we suspect we know a few people that would like to see a little more elbow grease put into that integration stuff first.[Via Mobile Gadget News]
FCC approves Samsung SGH-i607, Cingular launch imminent?
Ahh, so that's what happened to the Q3 launch of Samsung's i607, eh Cingular? With FCC approval now out of the way let's hope the long wait is nearly over for this quad-band GSM and dual-band UMTS/HSDPA Smartphone. As you might recall, the i607 Blackjack runs Windows Mobile Smartphone up on that QVGA display and features a 1.3 megapixel camera around back, Bluetooth, microSD slot for expansion, and a slim, albeit rather unappealing 1/2-inch thick shell. So what's keeping ya Cingular, go ahead and launch already... pretty please, with sugar. [Via PhoneArena]
Pantech C120 heads to Cingular prepaid
In case you haven't heard, Cingular has an official corporate policy of not talking to us (no, seriously) so forgive us in taking a few days to gather all the requisite details of Pantech's new C120 for Cingular's GoPhone prepaid service. The diminutive candybar serves as Pantech's followup to the crazy-small C300 clamshell; like the C300, it's initially available exclusively through GoPhone, but we wouldn't be surprised to see it head over to postpaid before terribly long. Considering the handset moves for $140 contract-free, the C120 holds its own with a 128 x 128 color display, speakerphone, and VGA cam, but with a mere 2.5MB of memory on board, don't expect to fill 'er up with your favorite tunes.[Via Slashphone]
