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O2 Germany gets HTC Touch Diamond2 as the uncreatively-named Xda Diamond2
We can dig that the Xda brand carries some weight and some solid history on O2, but usually, the carrier puts at least a little effort into coming up with creative, unique names for its units -- even if they're just mild rebrands of globally-launched HTCs. This time, though, they're not even bothering with the formalities, simply tweaking the Touch Diamond2's name to "Xda Diamond2" for its German launch this week. Pleasantly, the device is SIM-unlocked and features a tasteful carrier tattoo on the lower back; you should be able to find it for €420 (about $568) contract-free, so we'll cut it some slack -- it is HSUPA-capable, after all.
Sharp's solar 936SH and 934SH with "memory LCD" headline latest SoftBank lineup
As you might expect, Japanese carrier SoftBank's summer 2009 lineup contains the usual science-fiction array of ridiculously well-equipped handsets -- plus 3G photo frames and a Lenovo IdeaPad S10 with embedded WWAN -- but the real news here might be a pair of lovelies from Sharp. The mirumo 934SH (pictured left) features a 3-inch external display that can display time, date, weather, news, and other information without consuming any power between changes; sounds like E-Ink, though Sharp describes it simply as a "memory LCD." You've also got an 8 megapixel camera, a waterproof shell, and a UV sensor that can help you determine just how quickly you need to slather on the SPF 30. Next up is the Solar Hybrid 936SH, a phone suspiciously similar in concept to the device Sharp is working on for SoftBank competitor KDDI au. Clearly the big draw here is the big solar array up front that'll give you one minute of call time or two hours of standby per 10 minutes of charging, but you've still got IPX7 water resistance, an 8 megapixel camera, and a full wide VGA display at your disposal. Look for the 934SH in June and the 936SH in August -- if you happen to be in Japan, anyhow.
Nokia Siemens completes first CSoHSPA call, promises better battery life
If you've never heard of CSoHSPA, we can't say we blame you, but the concept is surprisingly simple, the benefits are pretty clear, and odds are good the technology's coming to a network near you. Short for Circuit Switched over HSPA, the standard -- part of 3GPP Release 7 which covers HSPA+ -- seeks to improve handset battery life and significantly boost network capacity (something many carriers desperately need) by moving voice from the traditional circuit switched voice channel found on legacy GSM networks to packet data. This means that all forms of connectivity your phone exchanges with the network get treated as the same payloads of bytes -- the same concept employed by any VoIP system and the strategy employed by LTE, WiMAX, and some EV-DO networks -- so the old-school voice channel can be repurposed for pure data. Long story short, phones end up running longer on a charge, networks end up with more capacity, and everyone sleeps a little easier. Nokia Siemens and Finnish carrier Elisa have just completed the world's first CSoHSPA call, which is a nice landmark on the road to wide-scale HSPA+ deployment; the technology is essentially a software upgrade for a lot of existing infrastructure, so we'd expect this to get rolled out all over the place as long as handsets support it in kind.
Acer's DX900 and X960 WinMo smartphones now available
They're no F1, but Acer's rolling out a whole slew of Windows Mobile- and Android-powered smartphones this year -- and another gruesome twosome of the bunch is now hitting store shelves around the world. First up we've got the WinMo 6.1-based DX900, which really isn't much of a looker but packs the powerful punch of twin SIMs underneath its homely shell. Most dual-SIM devices top out at EDGE, but the DX900 takes it to the next level with triband HSDPA on top of quadband EDGE; you've also got a 2.8-inch VGA display, WiFi, 3 megapixel AF camera, and GPS, so if you're a two-line kind of individual, look for this one now around Europe and Asia. Next, the X960 ups the ante with HSUPA and 7.2Mbps maximum on the downlink, a revised 3D user interface, and a 3.2 megapixel cam -- it too should be populating Europe and Asia as we speak. Neither unit is going to be blowing minds, granted, but if it's any consolation, we're sure there are a few good hacked 6.5 and Android ROMs waiting for 'em. [Via Engadget Spanish] Read - DX900 Read - X960
Nokia E52 caught bumming around
"Numeric keypad" and "industrial-strength email capabilities" may not be phrases that most folks associate with one another, but the Nokia E52 has a few things going for it: it's thin, it's sexy, it's got a battery that should last forever and a day, and hey -- let's not forget that some people can really burn rubber on T9. The recently-announced E51 successor (and E55 stablemate) has been caught doing its thing in the wild in a couple exciting colors, and we've got to say -- the phone's utterly malnourished appearance is killer, especially if your pockets are of the unstretching, unforgiving sort. Nokia's been consistently proving lately that it knows how to make world-class hardware, and we're hopeful from these early shots that the E52 won't be an exception.[Thanks, Daniel]
Telus cuts employees, boosts spending on 3G network
In what has become an all-too-common theme across the telecom and wireless industries -- and just about every industry, for that matter -- Telus cut 1,160 employees from its payroll in the first quarter, a move that it says cost it roughly $28 million in restructuring fees. If it's any consolation, though, the reduction's being offset by capital investment in excess of CAD $2 billion this year to ramp up its 3G infrastructure buildout that'll ultimately see Rogers-fighting HSPA spectrum go live as an interim step on the way to LTE. With $700 million getting spent in Alberta, $500 million in British Columbia, and $300 million in Ontario, that work will undoubtedly create some jobs, so there's your silver lining right there. [Via MobileSyrup]
Telecom New Zealand, Vodafone kiss and make up; XT network to be delayed a bit
Looks like Telecom New Zealand was fully prepared to fold like a bad poker hand the moment Vodafone put on the pressure, because they've quickly agreed to delay the launch of their shiny new HSPA network with the thread of legal action looming. The so-called XT network will no longer be lighting up May 13 as promised; instead, they'll be looking to launch it toward the end of the month as Telecom resolves "technical issues" that are threatening to interfere with Voda's preexisting airwaves. At the end of the day, we think this probably works out best for Vodafone customers, Telecom customers, and those darling little kiwis (the birds, not the people) -- so hang tight; you'll all be blazing along on your Samsung F480s soon enough.[Thanks, Steve L. and Aarun]
Vodafone spat could delay launch of Telecom New Zealand's 3G network
For our money, good, juicy carrier drama is better than an Emmy-caliber telenovela -- and there's a doozy brewing in Kiwi country where operator Telecom New Zealand is planning to light up its shiny new 3G network come next Wednesday. Vodafone claims that Telecom's new cells are wreaking havoc with its own network thanks to spurious radiation interfering with Voda's allotted spectrum. It gets better, though: the carrier goes on to claim that Telecom knew this was going to be the problem -- the government had apparently warned them -- and rushed to move up the launch date so that its competitors wouldn't have a chance to complain until it was too late. According to Voda's altruistic filing, the main concern is that emergency responders are dropping calls, and because its network is used so heavily for emergency services, it's a major cause for concern. At any rate, it's not trying to can Telecom's network -- just force 'em to install filters that will put a stop to the rogue signals. Seems fair enough, but in the meantime, the planned May 13 launch is in limbo.
Japan, China talking about tie-up for 3G and LTE networks
China's still thrashing between selecting a global standard and its homegrown TD-SCDMA tech for 3G data, but new talks between China and Japan -- at the very highest levels of government, no less -- could help resolve that. A summit between the nations' prime ministers last week had the subject of network co-development on the docket, with both 3G and 3.9G (one of the many, many names used to describe NTT DoCoMo's early flavor of LTE) technologies up for discussion. Japan plays second fiddle to its European, South Korean, and American rivals when it comes to penetrating the gargantuan Chinese mobile market, and we've no doubt they'd like to make some inroads; getting the country to ultimately abandon TD-SCDMA altogether, though, might be a challenge.
Telecom New Zealand lighting up 3G network on May 13
It's not terribly often that a carrier beats a planned launch date for a major product -- let alone an entire new network -- so Telecom New Zealand's XT has already earned a special place in our hearts. Originally settling on a June go-live window, Telecom has now bumped up the date to May 13 midway through a NZ$574 million (about $325.5 million) investment to build out 3G services, which includes face time by Top Gear personality Richard Hammond (pictured) -- though they must be pretty far along in that investment effort, considering the CEO's claim that the entire country will be live on day one. Launch devices will include Samsung's venerable F480, paired up with planned July availability for the 8.1 megapixel W995 from Sony Ericsson. Look out, Vodafone -- these guys look like they mean business. [Thanks, Ray]
Move over, CS8: Sony Ericsson W995 gets FCC approval, too
With the CS8 and an AT&T-bound version of the C905 seemingly around the corner, we're not sure why you'd get too amped for this thing -- but alas, the Walkman-branded, 8.1 megapixel Sony Ericsson W995 has passed the FCC with flying marks. Interestingly, the version seen here isn't the HSPA 850 / 1800 / 1900 W995a that'll presumably see North American action; we know this because WCDMA wasn't even tested in the labs here. Instead, we're just seeing EDGE 850 / 1900 like we'd expect of any quadband set -- though there's mention in the report that the device is HSDPA / HSUPA capable, so we imagine it's rocking exclusively European bands. Talk about a buzzkill, eh, yankees?
AT&T likely skipping 14.4Mbps, moving straight to HSPA+
While it puts the finishing touches on its nascent 7.2Mbps upgrades and starts certifying devices to use it, AT&T has revealed a juicy tidbit: that's probably the end of the line for old-guard HSPA on the country's largest GSM network. Before LTE, though, AT&T plans on upgrading to HSPA+ which should bring 21Mbps speeds out of the gate; straight-up HSPA is theoretically capable of moving to 14.4Mbps, but AT&T says that it's had technical difficulties in maxing it out and HSPA+ equipment is now ready for implementation anyhow. Simultaneously, the company says it's adding additional carriers at cells on a case-by-case basis to help with white-hot demand and is upgrading its backhaul network to handle the blazing speeds promised by the newer standards. We'll see.[Via Phone Scoop]
Samsung OmniaHD scores FCC approval
If those brand ambassadors are going to get their devices any time soon -- and they happened to be located stateside -- they'll be needing a little something we like to call an "FCC approval." Good news is that milestone has now been met, but the bad news is that the OmniaHD's only been passed with 1900MHz 3G as North American bands go -- a fact that we knew well before now, yes, but were hoping beyond hope would end up being tweaked by Sammy prior to launch. Any chance yet for an unbranded, unlocked version of this in 850 / 1900 flavor, guys? Come on, Nokia's doing it -- surely you've got the moxie in you?
Ericsson squeezes out 56Mbps from HSPA+
And here we were envious of the 21Mbps HSPA+ service currently offered by Telstra in Australia. Now we hear that Ericsson will be demonstrating its 56Mbps HSPA multi-carrier MIMO technology at CTIA (using a router, not handset) later this week with scheduled deployment set for 2010. By the end of 2009, Ericsson claims that it will support 42Mbps commercial deployments. All this assumes that carriers hold steady with HSPA and don't jump straight to LTE or WiMax... ok, LTE.
HTC Magic (Sapphire) with T-Mobile USA logo hits the FCC
It's been just over a month since HTC's Magic / Sapphire first made its way through the FCC, although without any indication its destiny lied with T-Mobile. Well, it's back for Round Two, and this time the images clearly have the company's logo emblazoned at the top, just as it was at MWC when Google was showcasing its offline Gmail, and 7.2Mbps HSDPA. Yep, it's clearly heading to you-know-who's 3G network. No "G2" in sight, so for now we'll have to wait to see which of the three likely names -- or something else entirely -- T-Mo decides to run with. [Via Cellphone SIgnal]
Austria gets HSPA+ thanks to mobilkom and Ericsson
The Aussies are laughing all the way to 21Mbps, sure, but where's a denizen of the Old World supposed to get their fix? Austria's mobilkom has officially become the first European carrier to launch HSPA+ service, using Ericsson-sourced equipment to offer peak data rates up to the same 21Mbps offered by Telstra. What's more, Ericsson says they'll hit 28Mbps "in the course of the year," so the only challenge left on the table is getting a whole bunch of devices that can take advantage -- USB sticks and ExpressCards are a forgone conclusion, sure, but where are our blazing handsets with five-minute battery lives? [Via SlashPhone]
Ericsson's W3x Series HSPA Mobile Broadband Routers don't slouch on looks
3G routers aren't a new idea, and they still aren't for the everyman, but at least Ericsson has realized that they don't have to look hopelessly generic. The Ericsson W30 Data Router (left) and Ericsson W35 Data and Voice Router (right) just slipped past the FCC, and they seem to be near the pinnacle of their genre. They can nab HSPA / UMTS / GSM data and sling it out over WiFi and Ethernet, as well as share a USB printer, while the W35 adds in voice and fax capability. There's naturally no word on price or availability just yet, but we're mainly just excited to see this genre get the sort of aesthetic sensibility it deserves.
Telstra's Turbo 21 HSPA modem reviewed: not 21Mbps but still the world's fastest
Telstra loves to brag about being the "world's fastest national mobile broadband network." And they should after a recent 21Mbps (theoretical) upgrade to its Next G network in Australia's major cities. Of course real-world performance won't come close to that but the PC-only, Telstra Turbo 21 USB modem likely smokes any over the air setup you've been using. ZDNET tested the Turbo 21 in Sydney and found performance landing on "the right side of excellent." Performance peaked at about 6Mbps but this was variable at best. Still it was the fastest modem that ZDNET's seen in their testing. Yours, or more likely your company's, for AU$499 or AU$299 when bundled with a data pack. Read -- Turbo 21 press release Read -- Turbo 21 review
AT&T counting on new iPhone this summer; carrier apps to figure prominently?
Rumor has it that AT&T's gearing up for yet another door-busting, riot-inducing summer filled with new iPhone hardware, which would certainly jibe with everything we've heard in the past few months (never mind the fact that June is officially Apple's iPhone release cycle these days, and indeed, AT&T's apparently saying that the June cycle is becoming "a tradition"). That's not terribly interesting at this point -- what is interesting, though, is how AT&T plans to play it. Apparently, the carrier wants to ramp up its -- ah, how should we put this in a politically correct way -- "integration" with Apple's hardware, including a U-verse app that we're guessing will approximate the functionality to be offered by Verizon's FiOS. What really has us worried is not so much the U-verse app specifically, but the possibility that AT&T's sick and tired of having its crapware left out of its highest-profile device, leading to non-removable garbage like Cellular Video on a future iPhone's home screen. It's still a bit early to sound the alarm there, but you know, we're paranoid types around here. It's said the new device will be faster, though the exact meaning of that is a little unclear; the iPhone 3G's chipset is already 7.2Mbps-capable, so we're not sure if the carrier is simply referring to its ongoing infrastructure upgrades. Finally, it's said that a $99 netbook running something other than Windows (don't suppose that'd be Linux?) will be launching this summer, following on the 3G-enabled Aspire One that hit Radio Shack late last year. Heads up, though, AT&T: give us an iPhone with your Mobile Email app on the home screen, and let's just say we can't be held accountable for our actions afterwards. We know you wouldn't do that, but just sayin'.
Samsung's first Android handset revealed?
Mr. Blurrycam, meet your worst nightmare: Samsung's first Android handset. This marvelous conglomeration of vaguely-defined pixels unveiled at a Samsung dealer show in Amsterdam is about all we've got to go on so far, but it looks to be the real deal. Apparently the phone will have a capacitive touchscreen, rock a 528MHz processor, have some beefy (but as-yet-undefined) internal storage and microSD expansion. We're also happy to hear the phone will (supposedly) have quad-band GSM, and will come in UMTS 900 and UMTS 2100 flavors for the US and Europe, respectively. Since none of this is "official" as of yet, we'll take it all with a healthy dose of hard-earned skepticism, but it's looking like Samsung's just about ready to give this thing a formal welcome.
