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SK Telecom and LG U+ launch LTE in Seoul, fellow South Koreans seethe with envy
Frustrated by a lack of choice amongst LTE carriers? We sympathize, so join us while we ponder a relocation to Seoul where not one, but two major telcos -- SK Telecom and LG U+ -- have enabled access to the high speed protocol. Service began on July 1st for data devices (read: modems) while phones from Samsung and LG are scheduled to make an appearance this fall. While those in Seoul are already surfing at higher speeds, the LTE wave is slated to go nationwide by 2012 for U+ subscribers and in 2013 for those on SK. Still not enough 3GPP goodness for you? Add the nation's third major carrier KT and their Q3 LTE trials to the mix, and we'll know where to send you next time you're hankering for delectable download speeds with a side of spicy kimchi.
Korean carriers suspend iPad 2 online sales
Korean mobile carriers SK Telecom and KT Corp have suspended online sales of the iPad 2 only a week after the product was launched. According to a report this morning, tight supplies of the tablet were responsible for the suspension. Reuters noted that the SK Telecom website is showing an apologetic message stating that "our iPad 2 inventory has been depleted and we apologize for failing to provide enough supplies due to the product's global supply shortages." While Apple is still showing wait times of only 1-2 weeks for most of the Apple online stores (including the South Korean store), it's apparent that supplies of the iPad 2 are insufficient to meet the demand from Apple and the two telecom companies. Both of the carriers are counting on tablet and smartphone sales to make up for dismal growth in voice traffic revenues.
iPhone 4 officially coming to Korea's SK Telecom on March 16
SK Telecom has now set March 16 as the date for its launch of the iPhone 4 in Korea. After revealing earlier this year that it was to finally sell the iPhone 4 in addition to rival network KT corp, Korea's largest wireless carrier confirmed in a press release that pre-registrations opened March 9. "SK Telecom is proud to offer iPhone 4 on the nation's top network," said So Jin-Woo, President of Platform Business and co-CEO of SK Telecom. "Our customers will benefit from flexible tariff plans tailored to their unique usage needs along with a high level of customer care." Rival KT corp has thus far enjoyed exclusive sales of the iPhone, starting with the 3GS in late 2009 and selling more than a million units. SK Telecom hasn't yet confirmed whether it will be offering the CDMA or GSM version of the iPhone 4, although GSM seems most likely at the moment. [via AppleInsider]
South Korea's SK Telecom to offer Apple iPhone starting in March
SK Telecom has confirmed it intends to carry the iPhone 4, ending KT's exclusivity with the popular Apple smartphone. According to the statement, SK Telecom will announce launch and pricing details at a later date. Currently, the wireless carrier leads the pack in South Korea with slight over half of the cellular market. Its current smartphone profile is peppered with Android handsets from local manufacturers LG and Samsung. With the introduction of the iPhone 4, SK will soon compete directly with its smaller rival KT which has sold various models of the iPhone since November 2009. KT has seen a boost from the iPhone and recently announced it has sold over 2 million units during this time of exclusivity. Overall, this Asia-Pacific region is a hotbed for Apple products with sales of the iPhone and Mac more than doubling year over year, according to Apple's latest earnings report. This move to bring the iPhone to SK Telecom is part of a larger plan by Apple to expand its user base and boost it sales in the Asia-Pacific region.
Qualcomm's FlashLinq long-range peer-to-peer communications tech demoed at MWC (video)
Taken a look at our AllJoyn hands-on here at Mobile World Congress? You should, and then pick up here. Back? Good. Qualcomm's FlashLinq is a quasi-extension of AllJoyn, but unlike the latter, this is a proprietary solution that actually requires Qualcomm hardware to run (for now anyway; licensing deals could be in the works). Basically, this wireless technology allows FlashLinq-enabled devices to sense up to 4,000 other FlashLinq devices within a radius of up to 1km, which puts things like WiFi and Bluetooth to shame. Of course, that's under "ideal" circumstances, but even in subpar situations, the range should still beat out existing short-range alternatives. Why develop a solution like this? For one, businesses will be all over it; imagine a Yelp! instance that specifically hones in on businesses that have a FlashLinq-enabled device in their store, which is advertising deals for those who stop in and mention that FlashLinq sent 'em. Secondly, social networking / Latitude addicts will be head over heels for something like this. Once a connection is made, there's a steady 15Mbps beam available between the users -- that's more than enough for videochats, media streaming and multiplayer gaming. The major difference between this and WiFi (aside from the range) is that unlike WiFi -- which operates in unlicensed spectrum -- FlashLinq requires licensed 5MHz TDD spectrum. That enables control over interference, which in turns boosts range and device density. Moreover, this system uses dramatically less power than BT or WiFi to sense other devices -- you're only using power for discovery two percent of the time, we're told. Beyond that, a lot remains up in the air. The company is still hammering out which chips will ship with FlashLinq support, and it'll be waiting for results from its SK Telecom trial (which starts in April) before committing to a commercialization date. Sadly, none of this can be retrofitted into older devices, but the good news is that it's hardly limited to mobiles. FlashLinq-enabled televisions, laptops, in-car infotainment systems, etc. could all be used to create a discoverable network of interactive goodness, but of course, it's hard to say how much success Qualcomm will have in a world already loaded down with connectivity options. The technology itself is fairly fascinating, though, as is the social networking demonstration that's embedded just past the break. Hop on down and mash play, won't you? %Gallery-116870%
LG Optimus 2X goes on sale in Korea, teases white version for February
No big surprises here, unless you count that snowy white number up above. Yep, LG's not only stolen a march on Motorola in introducing the world's first dual-core smartphone, it's also about to beat Apple to the white handset punch as well. The 1080p-recording, Tegra 2-wielding Optimus 2X is now available in its home market of South Korea and, if LG stays true to its roadmap, should be filtering through into Europe before this month is out. We don't know if its white variant will ever escape the clutches of Korea (and we sure hope it does), but it should be making its bodacious debut over there in February.
SK Telecom's Android action figures as flexible as the OS itself (video)
Here you go: Androski, the skiing Android mascot. He certainly gets more exercise than you (at least he meets more snow bunnies), and he'll look great on your desk. Too bad he's only available from SK Telecom way off yonder in the Republic of Korea. Of course, this ain't the first Android toy we've seen in this space, but it's certainly the most athletic! See for yourself after the break. Update: It looks like there's actually a variety of places to get the figures, not just SK Telecom -- there's also KT, LG U+ and some other names at the bottom of the website that we're not terribly familiar with.
LG Optimus Z now available in South Korea
Announced back in April, LG has now launched its so-called Optimus Z Android handset on a pair of South Korea carriers -- SK Telecom and KT -- bearing model numbers SU950 and KU9500, respectively. You've got the usual range of features like a 3.5-inch WVGA display, 5 megapixel cam, DivX compatibility, and support for LG's neat Air Sync service, but what really sets these bad boys apart is something LG is aptly calling "On Screen Phone": using Bluetooth, you'll be able to see and interact with the Optimus Z's screen from your PC, which is awesome when you're too lazy to extract the thing from your pocket. It also offers something called "Drag & Shake," which will let you transfer files between devices with a mere shake of the phone -- something that conjures visions of Seoul residents meeting on the street and executing a series of odd gestures to exchange information. Paired with the announcement (which you can read after the break) is an affirmation of LG's plans to launch an Android tablet as part of the Optimus series in the fourth quarter, which should be an interesting foil for the so-called Galaxy Tab. We'll happily take one of each, of course.
SK Telecom planning commercial LTE network for next year
South Korean networks -- which have historically gone neck-and-neck with Japanese ones for deploying ridiculously advanced tech before anyone else -- are just a touch slow on the LTE uptake, though not by much. SKT is looking to deploy its first commercial LTE network sometime in 2011 in Seoul on its way to a nationwide rollout in 2013, which means they'll be trailing Verizon and TeliaSonera, just to name a couple (to be fair, archrival KT is apparently on track for a late 2010 launch, so this year's 4G hopes aren't entirely lost). In the meantime, SKT hopes to take some pressure off its 3G infrastructure by beefing up its WiFi footprint, a tactic similar to the one AT&T's been using stateside for a while now. Given the choice, we'd still take LTE over WiFi... but hey, a few hotspots never hurt anyone.
Samsung Galaxy Tab comes in three sizes, ships this fall?
In the left corner, the 4-inch Samsung Galaxy S smartphone. In the right, the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab. Not pictured: the tablets that will dwarf both. According to a South Korean newspaper, the Galaxy Tab is only one of three touchscreen tablet devices Sammy's got planned: while the 7-inch model is slated for August, 8-inch and 10-inch varieties are rumored to appear in November and December respectively. Though the "high-ranking industry official" who informed the publication sadly failed to mention a price, he or she did add that the devices will launch with SK Telecom -- the second time we've heard that -- meaning if any of this is true, they've almost certainly got cellular modems inside. All we need now is some official confirmation, and perhaps a nice, binding promise of OTA Froyo.
Nexus One, Nokia X6 coming to South Korea in June
Like Japan, South Korea has a wireless industry that's typically leaps and bounds ahead of just about everywhere else in the world -- but the country has never been a Symbian or Android stronghold, so it's actually not much of a surprise that two big recent releases are just now heading over there this Summer. From Nokia, the X6 will be hitting KT in June for 595,000 won, which works out to $495; Google, meanwhile, will be contributing the Nexus One by way of rival operator SKT toward the end of June for an undisclosed price. Don't say you weren't warned, MOTOROI.
Android goes Korean: Samsung debuts Galaxy A, LG intros LG-SU950
As Google quietly continues to take over the smartphone space, along with just about every other crevice in the technology realm, a trio of handsets have popped up over in Asia with its Android operating system loaded on. LG has seen fit to make official a pair of Snapdragon-based handsets -- the LG-LU2300 that we spotted earlier in the month, as well as a newfangled LG-SU950 -- the latter of which will go by KU9500 on KT. Both of these will sport a 3.5-inch WVGA display, DivX playback, 3.5mm headphone jack, DMB mobile TV, multimedia playback and a May / June release on Korean soil. Over in Samsung's court, it has just announced its first Android-powered smartphone for the Korean market: the Galaxy A. Otherwise known as the SHW-M100S, this bad Larry will ship with Android 2.1, a 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED display, 720MHz CPU, mobile TV onboard, DivX playback, a 5 megapixel camera, HD video recording, A-GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi, with availability on SK Telecom scheduled by the end of this month. Pricing seems to be absent for each of these, but plenty more details can be found in the links sitting just below.
SK Telecom shoves Android onto a SIM, we check it out
SK Telecom was showing off some interesting ideas about where it'd like to see SIM cards go in the future here at MWC this week, including a couple particularly juicy ones called Android SIM and the SIM Theme Package. Android SIM shoehorns a CPU, the Android OS, applications, user data, and 1GB of storage into the card pictured above. SK Telecom envisions it being used in dumbphones -- as the CPU is onboard, there wouldn't be a need for the device to have one -- letting consumers move between sets or perhaps to a tablet with even more ease than they already can. SKT's Theme SIMs use a similar smart card to take advantage of the storage space for theme elements, music, pictures, and any variety of apps that vendors or operators care to put in them. Follow on for a quick demo (and some minor failure -- typical demo time Murphy's Law) of moving the themed chips between two handsets.%Gallery-85914%
SK Telecom's Android SIM prototype combines CPU, storage and OS into one (video)
This is the future, we tell ya! Not the immediate future, mind you, as it's a humble prototype with no commercial intentions behind it, but it sure looks like the right direction for us to be moving in. SK Telecom has somehow fit a processing chip, memory, a gigabyte of flash storage and Google's Android OS onto the SIM you see above. The concept is pure genius -- you store your entire mobile environment on the SIM card, including your contacts, operating system and customizations, which should then allow you to switch up your handset hardware as often as you like without the need to set it up anew each and every time. We'll head to SK Telecom's booth at MWC later today for a closer look, but for now you should click past the break for a video.
Motorola takes Android to Korea with MOTOROI
That Korean-language version of the XT701 we saw recently is starting to make more sense now that we know exactly what was up Moto's sleeve: meet MOTOROI. The company's very first Android-powered phone for South Korea takes most (but not all) of its cues from its China Unicom-branded doppelganger, featuring a 3.7-inch WVGA display, 8 megapixel camera with 720p video capture, HDMI-out, and -- like most phones sold in and around Seoul -- support for T-DMB television tuning. Like the Droid, it's available with a home charging dock that'll turn it into a handy alarm clock; unlike the Droid, though, the MOTOROI features multitouch browsing out of the box similar to the Milestone in Europe. The oddly-named phone (is "ROI" acceptable for short?) launches early next month on SK Telecom.
Sprint finalizes Virgin Mobile USA acquisition, rushes out to snag some cranberry sauce
It's hard to say if these guys were just looking to get this whole thing finalized before the holiday break, but either way, all the requisite i's have been dotted and t's crossed. As of today, Sprint Nextel has acquired Virgin Mobile USA -- a process that began back in late July -- and frankly, there's nothing you can do about it. The move will obviously position Sprint as a bigger player in the prepaid space, but outside of that presumably true assumption, it's tough to say what else the newfound lovers will do together. So, will the Facebook statuses be updated soon as well? Hello?
SKY Dupont is the most expensive Pantech ever made
What exactly does the equivalent of roughly $830 buy you in Pantech's home market these days? Well, it'll apparently get you signed up for the priciest device South Korea's third-largest handset manufacturer has ever made, the Dupont from subsidiary SKY. As far as we can tell, this thing is more show than go, thanks largely to a weakling 3-inch WQVGA display and 3 megapixel camera -- but then again, it's hard to argue with designer tie-ins and questionably tasteful gold accents, isn't it? Look for this one on local carrier SKT, and for once, we're totally fine with the fact that Pantech is concentrating on low-end messaging devices over on AT&T. [Via Unwired View]
Samsung's B900 comes to South Korea with T-DMB, funny d-pad
The Jet ushered in a new era of highly stylized directional pads for Samsung, and its latest midrange full-touch handset for its domestic market is no exception. The B900 features a sort of shield design down below the screen that looks like it might not be so fun to use, but the specs aren't bad for a stylish midrange unit: EV-DO, 3-inch WQVGA display, a 3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and T-DMB mobile TV tuning (which you'll find on virtually all phones destined for South Korea). If you're feeling it, you'll have to be on (or willing to switch to) SKT -- otherwise, the odds of getting your hands on this one are very, very low indeed.
Samsung, LG, and SKT hook up for chip design
There's a lot of Kumbaya going around in South Korea this morning with the announcement that Samsung and LG -- normally the most bitter of archrivals -- will start working together to develop the next generation of chips for digital TVs and phones. Also being pulled into the love fest is domestic carrier SK Telecom, South Korea's largest, who will be working specifically on designing wireless systems-on-chip for use in handsets. Interestingly, it seems Sammy will be left out of the loop on actual design; that'll be left to LG and others, while Samsung will be responsible for manufacturing and testing the goods. For its part, the government seems to like what it sees here -- it's pumping some 19.5 billion won (about $15.7 million) into the project, though there's no word on when we'll see the fruits of the labor in a retail product.
BlackBerry Bold comes to South Korea at long last
It's taken a little longer than they'd hoped, but RIM and SK Telecom will finally begin offering a localized version of the venerable BlackBerry Bold to South Korean customers this week. The move follows last year's scrapping of policies that all but banned foreign handsets from being offered by local carriers, which could theoretically be a boon to manufacturers in one of the world's most advanced mobile markets -- assuming anyone's able to crash through the stranglehold that local favorites Samsung, LG, and Pantech have. It's unclear how big of a deal a device with an English QWERTY keyboard could really be in Seoul, but hey, options are always a good thing, right?
