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KDDI au outs Winter 2010 and Spring 2011 collections at the same time
A few of these handsets were already public knowledge, but by and large, KDDI's mind-numbing torrent of phones announced as members of its new Winter 2010 and Spring 2011 collections will leave you once again asking why you haven't sold your four-bedroom suburban home and relocated your entire family to a 125 square foot flat in the heart of Tokyo. We've already talked about the X-Ray, a member of KDDI's fashion-forward iida line, and the 16.4 megapixel Sony Ericsson S006 -- but other highlights include the IS04, IS05, and IS06, Android smartphones from Toshiba, Sharp, and Pantech, respectively (which doesn't even include Sharp's IS03 announced at CEATEC a few days ago). Of the three, none matches the IS03's 960 x 640 display nor its low-power secondary LCD, but the Toshiba Regza IS04 notably features a 12.1 megapixel cam. As the iida line goes, the X-Ray will be joined by the G11, a follow-on to 2009's G9 model -- and from what we can discern, it'll be a GSM / CDMA dual mode slider for international roaming with a touch-sensitive area below the 854 x 480 display in place of the G9's physical keys. Highlights among the other models include an upgraded Sharp Aquos Shot SH010 combining a 14.1 megapixel sensor with a waterproof shell, a Bravia-branded Sony Ericsson S005 with a 1GHz processor, and "simple" phones from Kyocera and Pantech -- the K008 and PT002, respectively -- that are designed for the occasional shopper that actually doesn't want ridiculous specs designed to make every phone outside Japan look like a DynaTAC. There's also a new e-reader, the E Ink-equipped Biblio Leaf SP02, featuring integrated solar recharging -- a smart feature for a device designed to sip power in the first place -- and a new mobile WiFi hotspot from Pantech, the WiFi Walker Data05. If you need to know more, follow the source link, but we've got to warn you: it might be hours before you're done.
Samsung Transform pictured in Sprint document, alongside Kyocera... err, Sanyo Zio?
Well, dear reader, we've got a pair of minor revelations for you, assuming this picture is real. First, that mid-range Android slatephone the Kyocera Zio is headed to Sprint, with the familiar Sanyo branding. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the elusive Samsung Transform has finally shown its face. Since that mug looks just like the Epic 4G, however, you can color us a bit confused -- Sprint's the only carrier without a keyboard-less Galaxy S, so that might make sense, but then why would they call it the Transform? As far as we can tell, it hasn't been tested for WiMAX, so perhaps it's an Epic without the 4G, plus a new form factor of some sort? Odds are we'll find out soon, given the company it's keeping: that BlackBerry Curve 3G 9330 got shipped off to Sprint just this last week.
Sanyo Innuendo announced for Sprint, if you catch our drift
If it looks (and sounds) vaguely familiar, well, it should -- Sanyo's new Innuendo clamshell replaces the similarly-named Incognito launched earlier this year. Specs have been bumped and warmed over all the way around, moving from 2 to 3.2 megapixels on the camera and adding an extra 0.2 inches of real estate on the WQVGA internal display, which compliments a "hidden" 1.3-inch OLED display out front paired with a full set of touch-sensitive buttons for those times when QWERTY isn't a priority. It's available now for $49.99 on a new two-year deal after $50 rebate.
Cricket starts offering Android-powered Zio for $230
As we discovered back at its CTIA intro earlier this year, Kyocera's (and Sanyo's) Zio isn't the neatest Android phone you've ever seen -- nor the most technically impressive -- but at $230 without a contract after $20 discount, it's pretty hard to argue that you're not getting what you pay for. Regional carrier Cricket had been promising the Zio for some time, and now it's here, just the latest in the company's newfound push into the smartphone space -- a space it's traditionally avoided in the past -- with the recent launch of the Curve 8530 (for the same price as the Zio, coincidentally). Trackballs are officially passé at this point, but considering the budget monthly outlay that Cricket offers, we've no doubt they'll find some takers.
Cricket launches Sanyo Zio by Kyocera
A new device launch never fails to warm the cockles of our hearts, and today's treat comes in the form of the Sanyo Zio by Kyocera on Cricket. We'd heard earlier this year that Cricket was prepping to launch this set in July for 'round about $300 -- and yes they missed that date but they've exchanged tardiness for better pricing, gotta love 'em, right? The Zio ships with a 1GB microSD, features a 3.4-inch touchscreen, 3.2 megapixel cam, WiFi, Bluetooth, and all that running in the land of Android 1.6. Pricing is set at $249 with a $20 online rebate thrown in and of course a bit of fine print requiring you grab the $55 a month Android plan. Sadly, the Zio is listed as backordered on the site so getting one today might be a stretch, but estimated ship date is August 26th, and what's five days between you and your new cell pal? We had a chance to play with the Zio back in March and came away feeling a little underwhelmed, so why not give it a quick read before you dive in? Follow the read link to see the rest of the goodies.
Cricket launches BlackBerry Curve 8530, says Kyocera Zio is in the cards
We'd wondered what had happened to Kyocera's low-end Zio with Android after its March announce at CTIA... and lo, here it is. Cricket announced today that the phone is indeed in the pipe for 2010 -- a little later than earlier rumors that we'd see it in July -- marking just their second smartphone after their branded version of the BlackBerry Curve 8530, which ships later this week. Pricing for the Zio hasn't been announced, but the Curve 8530 will run $279.99 after discount -- pricey, yes, until you consider that you're getting that devoid of a pesky contract. Cricket's excited to trumpet that its unlimited BlackBerry plan runs just $60 a month in total, which means that voice, text, and data are all off the meter. Not bad -- but considering Cricket's positioning as a regional value brand, we'd expect no less.
NTT DoCoMo, KDDI launch their endless Summer 2010 collections
Surprise: Japanese carriers are announcing literally dozens of phones at once. Okay, look, that's not a surprise at all, but bear with us, because there are a few shining jewels in here amongst the seemingly endless array of WVGA displays and one-seg tuners from NTT DoCoMo and KDDI au, both of whom have announced their Summer 2010 collections of handsets this week. Of note, two of the models from DoCoMo -- the Fujitsu F-06B and Sharp SH-07B are capable of shooting 1080p video, while KDDI's SH008 from Sharp, S003 from Sony Ericsson, and CA005 from Casio all feature sensors of 12 megapixels or larger. Several of the devices can also be used as WiFi hotspots, and Hitachi's trick Beskey for KDDI has interchangeable keypads that change the shape of the keys, not the layout -- a bit superficial, perhaps, but we're all about choice. DoCoMo is also launching a handful of smartphones: the Lynx SH-10B from Sharp (not to be confused with the old Atari handheld of the same name) that features Android atop a 5-inch touchscreen, Toshiba's 4.1-inch T-01B Dynapocket with WinMo, and RIM's plain old BlackBerry Bold 9700. Don't get us wrong, it's still quite a haul, but we can't help but feel that the gap between Japan's wireless scene and the rest of the world is closing fast.
Sanyo Juno lands on Boost Mobile, channels Sprint's SCP-2700
If Boost Mobile's latest from Sanyo -- the so-called Juno -- looks familiar, it damn well better: it's nothing more than a rebranded SCP-2700. We're still having a hard time getting used to the fact that Boost is back into the CDMA game yet again (in a big way) with Sprint's acquisition of Virgin Mobile, and needless to say, the Juno doesn't have a trace of iDEN compatibility coursing through its electronic veins. The fairly light spec sheet includes a 1.3 megapixel camera, QVGA display, GPS, Bluetooth, speakerphone, and an address book capable of swallowing up to 600 contacts; it's available today for $99.99 contract-free in your choice of pink or blue.
Kyocera Zio coming to Cricket in July for $300?
Kyocera's North American offerings are decidedly lower-end, so we were a bit surprised to see 'em bring a full touchscreen Android device to the party at CTIA this year -- until we touched it, at which point we instantly realized that the so-called Zio still well inside low-end territory. It makes sense then that the Zio would be coming to some of Kyocera's traditional carrier partners like Cricket, and indeed, PhoneArena appears to have scored an internal slide deck showing a projected 2010 lineup that includes the Zio front and center. Cricket apparently likes July as a launch target, and they're looking to retail it for $299.99 -- pricey, yes, until you remember that these guys don't do contracts. We certainly wouldn't take this sucker over, say, a Nexus One -- but as a contract-free offering on a value carrier, you might just have a deal.
Kyocera Zio M6000 hands-on: you get what pay for
It's totally unfair to Kyocera that we played with its new Zio M6000 mid-tier Android smartphone mere hours after our first look at the HTC EVO 4G, but while we were excited to see a cheaper phone with an 800 x 480 screen, the end result is pretty disappointing. The device crams that resolution into a 3.5-inch screen, which wouldn't be so bad if the capacitive touchscreen element wasn't so low-end. It seemed both unresponsive and lacking in accuracy -- at times we had trouble even dragging open the notification tray. We were told that we were looking at a prototype of the device, but the crumminess seemed pretty uniform across multiple Zios we tested. The device also seemed just generally sluggish -- we'd think the 600MHz Qualcomm processor could handle Android 1.6 just fine, but perhaps there's some optimization left to do. Kyocera told us that the phone is easily upgraded to 2.0 or 2.1, based on carrier wishes, and that they don't have any plans for skinning it. Ironically, running 1.6 on this high res display actually ends up looking worse than a regular low-res screen, due to the blurry icons and UI elements. The cheap looking capacitive touch buttons aren't much out of the norm for Android, but interesting the phone doesn't have any haptics to let you know if you've clicked one. Meanwhile, the haptic feedback for touchscreen typing is cranked to 11 and significantly unhelpful. In one final negative note, the phone takes one of the worst pages out of the Palm book and put plastic doors over not only the USB plug but the microSD slot and side-mounted headphone jack as well. On the plus side: this is an incredibly thin and light phone, and we doubt the price (less than $200 or so unsubsidized) probably will be beat in the US for a while. Expect to see it on a low-end CDMA carrier (like Virgin Mobile or Cricket) near the middle of the year. Check out a video after the break! %Gallery-88858%
Kyocera Zio M6000 joins burgeoning Android ranks with high-res affordability
You know your mobile OS is going places when people start resurrecting their smartphone divisions just to throw out their own spin on it. Kyocera's approach with the new Zio M6000 has been to marry an 800 x 480 display to some rather middle of the road components and to sell that package at a significantly lower price point (between $169 and $216 unsubsidized) than most Android-infused communicators on the market. You know, for the people that like to have a handsome high-res phone, but don't need it to have the firepower to run Quake. It's still not a terrible slouch, coming with a 600MHz MSM7227 CPU from Qualcomm, 512MB of onboard app memory, and 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. Look out for its US arrival in the second quarter of this year. %Gallery-88799%
Boost gets back into CDMA game in a big way
In the "press releases we missed while going out of our gourds on the show floor at CES" department, Sprint's Boost Mobile is getting back into CDMA in a big way this month. It wasn't long ago that Boost swore off its CDMA tendencies as iDEN started to heat up again against all odds -- thanks largely to the release of hot (well, hot by iDEN standards, anyway) devices like the Stature -- but CDMA makes a lot more sense now that the parent company has scooped up Virgin and smartly has no interest in running two separate, unrelated prepaid divisions. Anyhow, the gist of the announcement is that Boost will be reinvesting heavily in its $50 monthly unlimited plan for CDMA devices and has brought on three inaugural handsets to help kick it off: the Mirro and Incognito (pictured) from Sanyo alongside the venerable BlackBerry Curve 8330. The Mirro features a slick, mirrored finish (hence the name, we suspect) along with a 1.3 megapixel cam; it clocks in at $99.99. The Incognito steps up to $149.99 with a hidden set of external controls, a 2 megapixel cam, a full QWERTY keyboard inside -- it's got social network integration, to boot, and users can add 3G data to their plan for another $10 a month. Same goes for the 8330, which retails for $249.99; all three prices seem high until you remember that Boost doesn't do contracts. All three handsets are available now.
HTC Hero coming October 11th to Sprint?
Let's go through the steps together, shall we? A "senior member" forum poster on the xda-developers forums has posted the above pic as proof that the HTC Hero is coming to the US on October 11th -- a claim he's been making as far back as April, but this is the first time he's brought a picture with him. The poster says he works for a wireless developer firm, and while this picture can easily be faked, we don't think it's necessarily that much of a stretch. Let's look at some of the other phones listed. There's "Samsung Q (Android)," which could provide a missing link between the InstinctQ and the company's mysterious Android phone that was supposed to be out on Sprint and T-Mobile by now. BlackBerry Aries is the CDMA version the Curve 8520, and traditionally RIM's CDMA devices wind up on both Sprint and Verizon. The LG LX610 / Lotus 2 is a new one to us, but Lotus seems to have been well-received for Sprint. So to pull all that data together, if this list is the real deal, we'd say it came from Now Network company. This is the sort of phone Dan Hesse would be glad to have waited for, isn't it? Read - HTC Hero (Android) Release Date: 10/11/2009 Read - Initial release date claim
KDDI au unveils summer '09 lineup: e-books, solar power, and 720p recording
Japanese carrier KDDI au has now followed Softbank and NTT DoCoMo in pulling the red velvet cover off its summer 2009 devices, and as always, there are some neat tricks in here. From Toshiba, the Biblio is billed as an e-book reader; granted, it's using an LCD instead of an E-Ink display, but it's a doozy at 3.5 inches at 960 x 480. It features 7GB of user-accessible storage on board for books, and also has a slide-out dynamic keyboard that can display a numeric pad in the portrait orientation or full QWERTY in landscape. Moving on, the Sharp Sportio Water Beat -- as its name suggests -- is a waterproof sports-oriented set with advanced calorie and distance tracking (a la Nike+), but you're still never too far from your true destiny as a couch potato thanks to the phone's one-seg reception. Next, the Hitachi Mobile Hi-Vision Cam Wooo is the latest in the multimedia-centric Wooo series, becoming KDDI's first phone capable of 720p video recording at 30fps -- and there's HDMI-out on board for when the time comes to enjoy your footage. Finally, the SH002 is the realization of Sharp's solar phone concept from earlier this year, delivering one minute of talk time for every 10 minutes of charge time. There are other announcements in the mix here -- eight new phones in total -- but those were the killers of the bunch, and as always, this post is about as close as most North Americans will ever get to them. [Via Engadget Japanese]
Antenna developer sues boatloads of manufacturers
Modern phones deeply rely on the ability to efficiently switch between two, three, or even more bands, a sad reality of the patchwork map of available spectrum the nations of the world have imposed on themselves. That kind of multiband tech requires really awesome miniaturized antenna tech, and a Spanish company, Fractus, says that a whole bunch of the world's top-tier manufacturers are blatantly violating its IP in the field. It's suing Samsung, LG, RIM, Pantech, Kyocera, Palm, HTC, Sharp, UTStarcom, and Sanyo for allegedly infringing on a total of nine patents it holds; the company doesn't specify what kinds of damages it's seeking, but something tells us it's a huge-ish number. Considering that we're pretty big fans of reception, this is a suit we can kinda get behind -- assuming Fractus' claims are legit, of course. [Via Phone Scoop]
Kyocera shows off preposterous, beautiful EOS folding OLED phone concept
We're big fans of reality and feasibility, we swear, but something like this "EOS" concept phone Kyocera was showing off at CTIA is just too good to pass up. The handset folds up into what could roughly be described as a wallet shape, but folds out into two configurations: portrait QWERTY mode (pictured), and full-on widescreen OLED display (after the break). Samsung was showing similar screen-folding folding abilities, but a much less impressive handset, at CES. Things get even wilder, tough, with Kyocera envisioning shape memory keys that can morph flat when not in use, and a kinetic charging method based on piezoelectric generators and Mary Poppins. Sure, our great grandkids are going to have a good laugh at us for thinking this is lovable, but they always were a bunch of theoretical brats. Kyocera plans on implementing some of the concept ideas into its "near future" lineup of devices. We'll see how that pans out.[Via Inhabitat, photo courtesy of Jeffrey Sass]
Kyocera G2GO and Laylo hands-on
To Americans, the full-QWERTY G2GO will end up being known better as the X-tc on Virgin Mobile when it launches next week; the Laylo numeric slider hasn't been announced for launch on any carrier just yet, but Kyocera assured us that they're in talks to bring it to market (likely also with Virgin Mobile, if we had to muster a guess). Neither device is going to blow anyone away with sheer, unadulterated functionality or beauty, but they make perfect sense for Virgin's value-conscious audience, and the G2GO / X-tc might be Virgin's best-looking QWERTY device to date. We struggled a bit with the Laylo's send and end keys -- they're not tactile, but the slide mechanism's loose enough to make you wonder about the build quality every time your fingertip touches the icon. Pre-production jitters, perhaps?
Kyocera intros G2GO M2000 and Laylo M1400 handsets at CTIA
As the handset news begins to flow at CTIA, we've got a new duo from Kyocera splashing down in CDMA land. Up first is the G2GO M2000 (a follow to the Lingo M1000), which sports a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth, 1.3 megapixel camera, 2.4-inch QVGA display, MP3 player, an accelerometer and a microSD expansion slot. Next, we're looking at the Laylo M1400 slider (shown after the break), which features Bluetooth 2.0, a calculator, scheduler, stopwatch, timer, tip calculator and little else. Not a peep on pricing, availability or what carriers will be picking this up, but we'll keep an ear to the ground for more.[Via MobileBurn]
Sanyo's QWERTY-packin' SCP-2700 lands on Sprint
Not that we're blindsided by its official introduction or anything, but it's still good to see Sanyo's SCP-2700 in one clear, crisp, cohesive press photo. Available exclusively on Sprint, the QWERTY-equipped handset boasts a 1.3 megapixel camera, Sprint Navigation, threaded text messaging support and Bluetooth. Prospective buyers will need to choose between Impulsive Pink (with a subtle floral overlay) and Deep Blue (which has a tactile square designer pattern on its back), but considering that you've got until May 10th to decide, we'd say there's no real hurry. Oh, and pricing? $29.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and signing away your cellular soul for two long, painful years.
ITT sues Verizon, phone makers aplenty over GPS patent
This one's pretty light on specifics at the moment, but it looks like manufacturing giant ITT Corp is none too happy with Verizon and a whole host of cellphone manufacturers including the likes of Motorola, Nokia, LG, and Kyocera, and it's now gone so far as to sue the whole lot over alleged patent infringement. Apparently, ITT thinks that the group of companies all violated one of its GPS patents that relates to position information being transmitted in urban areas with line-of-sight obstructions. As a result of that alleged wrong doing, ITT says it has been "irreparably harmed," and that it "has suffered, and will continue to suffer substantial damages." To remedy that situation, ITT is asking for a jury trial, unspecified royalties, and a permanent injunction against all of the defendants, although it is being kind enough to allow for an exemption for any activities necessary to support 911 emergency functions.[Thanks, Joel]
