Cell phone news and reviews - Exomobile

T-Mobile G1 with Google Android officially announced

2009-02-27T14:23:00.001-08:00

T-Mobile USA has officially confirmed what unofficially has been the talk of the town--the debut of the first Google Android based mobile phone. The T-Mobile G1 is made by HTC (the device was code named the HTC Dream) and was introduced this morning at a press conference in NYC. While this is the first Android device to be announced there should be many more following. The G1 is a T-Mobile exclusive (both USA and Europe).

Specs and features of the G1 include:
Quad-band GSM / Dual band 3G / EDGE / Wifi
Touch screen with iPhone like dragging
Slide out QWERTY keyboard
3 megapixel camera with auto-focus
Amazon MP3 store app to download DRM-free songs over WiFi
Multi-tasking
IM (Yahoo/MSN/AIM/Google Talk)
Google Maps with street view
HTML email client (POP3 and IMAP) plus contact and calendar syncing for Gmail users
Web browser using WebKit

The G1 will retail for $179 with a 2-year contract when it starts shipping on October 22nd. Current customers can order online and the G1 will be delivered when it's launched. Like the iPhone, the G1's service agreement requires a data plan. Unlimited data with 400 messages runs $25 monthly while unlimited data and unlimited messaging will cost $35 monthly. Since it's a 3G device the phone will only be made available in T-Mobile's current 3G markets. You can use T-Mobile USA's coverage search tool to find out if your area is 3G or not, though the number of markets should be expanding rapidly. The G1 will not be available without a contract or via pre-paid service.

Sprint launches Novatel Wireless S720 EV-DO Rev A card

2009-02-27T14:21:00.001-08:00

Sprint Nextel has launched the country's first EV-DO Rev A mobile broadband card, the Novatel Wireless S720. While it conforms to the new speedy Rev A technology, don't expect faster speeds quite yet. Sprint doesn't expect to activate its Rev A network until later in the year. However the card will work fine on the Rev 0 network, so buying the S720 today is basically a way to future-proof. Earlier this month Sprint announced an accelerated launch of EV-DO Rev A. Verizon Wireless is also working on an upgrade, but Sprint should be first.

The card operates on the current Sprint Power Vision Network and will support faster average download and upload speeds (450 -850 kbps and 300 - 400 kbps, respectively) of Sprint's upgraded network when it becomes available. Sprint plans to begin its roll out of EV-DO Revision A during the fourth quarter of 2006 with coverage expected to reach more than 40 million people by year end.

The Novatel S720 card is selling for $249.99 at retail and as low as $99 with a 2-year contract. Sprint has also adjusted service pricing, customers signing a 2-year contract can get unlimited service for $59.99 (no voice plan required).

AWS auction ends with $13.7B in total bids

2009-01-24T14:51:00.000-08:00

The US government sponsored Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) auction has ended and raised a total of $13.7 billion. The auction started on August 9th and fell within expected proceeds. There were 161 rounds of bidding and only 35 of the 1,122 licenses received no bids.

T-Mobile USA came out as the top bidder, winning 102 licenses for a cool $4.2b. Verizon and Sprint kept up strong with $2.8b and $2.4b respectively. The new spectrum should help the wireless companies expand (or in T-Mobile's case, start) 3G networks. However we won't know their exact plans because of an FCC rule that requires the winners to stay mum until the ink dries.

Helio announces Hybrid data card

2009-01-24T14:50:00.000-08:00

Fledgling mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Helio has announced a data card called the Hybrid. With the Hybrid, Helio becomes the first MVNO to offer a data card. The card itself is based off the Sierra AirCard 580. Despite the name, Helio's Hybrid card only offers EV-DO Rev 0 connectivity. Bundled software allows a seamless connection between WiFi and the data card for Windows notebooks that have built-in WiFi.

Pricing for unlimited data access with the Hybrid is $85 monthly. The card is provided for free with a 2-year activation. Access to Boingo's 45,000 WiFi hotspots is included in the monthly fee.

Helio is a joint partnership between SK Telecom and Earthlink that began reselling mobile service earlier this year. It was founded with $440 million in venture capital.

T-Mobile USA announces 3G strategy

2009-01-24T14:48:00.002-08:00

T-Mobile USA has finally announced its 3G strategy, well after all of the company's national competitors have launched 3G service. Parent Deutsche Telekom will spend $2.7 billion to build out the network which is thought to be based on UMTS/HSDPA. Work is scheduled to begin in this quarter and finish up in 2009, though with most of the upgrade being complete in 2008.

The $2.7b figure is on top of the $4.2b T-Mobile spent at the AWS spectrum auction (some of that spectrum will be used in the build out), so the total upgrade cost is quite significant. Executives are hoping to be able to increase subscribers by 50% over the next 9 years and 3G is thought to be a big part of that effort.

Sprint launches EV-DO Rev A

2009-01-24T14:48:00.001-08:00

Sprint Nextel has launched its EV-DO Rev A network in San Diego, becoming the first US carrier to launch the technology anywhere. The upgrade has gone significantly faster than first thought, it originally wasn't supposed to launch until next year. First generation EV-DO is called Rev 0 and was launched by Sprint last year. Rev A slightly increases the downlink speeds and greatly increases the uplink speeds. Here is the speed breakdown: Revision 0 Revision A
Max download 2Mbps 3.1Mpbs
Avg download 400-700kbps 450-800kbps
Max upload 144kbps 1.8Mbps
Avg upload 70-144kbbs 300-400kbbs

In recent weeks Sprint has launched Rev A compatible data cards which will immediately benefit from the launch (the technology is backwards compatible). Owners of Rev 0 only equipment will have to upgrade before receiving a speed boost. Read on for a list of markets set to go Rev A before the end of the year.

Baltimore
Boston
Buffalo, N.Y.
Denver
Detroit
Hartford, Conn.
Kansas City, Mo.
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Milwaukee
New York City
Newark/Trenton, N.J.
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Providence, R.I.
Sacramento, Calif
Salt Lake City
San Francisco
Seattle
Washington, D.C.

Samsung BlackJack announced by Cingular

2009-01-24T14:46:00.002-08:00

As expected, Cingular has announced availability of the Samsung BlackJack, a thin QWERTY smartphone set to compete with the Motorola Q and T-Mobile Dash. The BlackJack, also known as the SGH-i607, is a Cingular exclusive and is also one of only a few HSDPA compatible handsets in their lineup. Size wise it's comparable to the Q and Dash, though it's relatively light compared to either.

Features of the Samsung BlackJack include:
Quad-band GSM plus HSDPA and EDGE data
Just 12mm thick
QVGA display
Windows Mobile 5.0
1.3 megapixel camera
Stereo Bluetooth
microSD card slot

Cingular will begin selling the BlackJack this week for as low as $199 after rebate with a 2-year contract including unlimited data. That matches the price point of the Q and Dash (though their contract requirements are not as expensive).

More photos of the BlackJack are available below.

Qualcomm and Motorola to team up on UMTS phones

2009-01-24T14:46:00.001-08:00

Qualcomm and Motorola have announced an agreement to collaborate on UMTS handset development. This comes the same day as Qualcomm's president noted that talks with Nokia over patent licensing were not going well. Motorola was already working with Qualcomm for its CDMA handsets. The first outcome of this relationship is that Qualcomm's Mobile Station Mobile chipset has been approved by Motorola for future handsets.

In related news, Qualcomm today announced a single-chip family for UMTS handsets. The chip can support European or American frequency 3G in addition to quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE. Other higher-end features like a 3 megapixel camera, USB 2.0 and modern video codecs are also supported. This technology should help bring 3G to lower cost devices.

Report: 500m mobile broadband users by 2010

2009-01-24T14:45:00.000-08:00

A new report from Strategy Analytics says that the global market for mobile broadband will reach 500 million users by 2010. Next generation technologies like WiMAX and UMTS TDD will help fuel the growth but not dominate it. The report notes that most of the market will be taken up by technology such as EV-DO Rev A and HSDPA.

"We're not likely to see technologies like mobile WiMAX or indeed, anything else, really take off until the next decade," comments Sara Harris, Senior Industry Analyst at Strategy Analytics and author of this report. "However, HSPA and EV-DO will be more than acceptable for most users, giving them the speed and flexibility they want to use their fixed internet applications on the move"

Nokia N75 coming to Cingular this month

2009-01-24T14:44:00.001-08:00

According to a tipster we trust, the Nokia N75 is set to launch on Cingular in December. While the N-Series has proven quite popular globally, the N75 will be the first N-Series device available directly from a US carrier. The N-Series phones are quite powerful, Nokia doesn't even call them phones, relying instead on the awkward "mobile computer" buzzphrase.

The Nokia N75 has a laundry list of features, but disappointingly only supports UMTS instead of the faster HSDPA 3G standard:
S60 3rd Edition (Symbian OS)
Quad-band GSM + EDGE + UMTS (3G)
QVGA screen with 16 million colors
2-megapixel camera
Smallish size: 95 × 52 × 20mm
Music player with external music control keys
microSD card slot
Bluetooth 2.0

No reliable pricing information has been obtained yet. If you have more information on Cingular's launch of the N75, let us know. We're expecting it in the first half of December. Two more photos of the phone are available below.

Sprint activates EV-DO Rev A in 10 more markets

2009-01-24T14:43:00.002-08:00

Sprint has upgraded its data network to EV-DO Revision A in 10 more markets around the country. Rev A adds significantly faster upload speeds compared to the older Rev 0 technology. The latest batch of upgrades includes many of the countries biggest markets: New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Detroit, Denver, Baltimore, Providence and New Jersey.

Sprint claims that their Rev A network now covers over 60 million people which exceeds their original year-end goal of 40 million. The upgrades started in October with San Diego.

The speed increase in uploading with EV-DO Rev A are dramatic: Revision 0 Revision A
Max download 2Mbps 3.1Mpbs
Avg download 400-700kbps 450-800kbps
Max upload 144kbps 1.8Mbps
Avg upload 70-144kbbs 300-400kbbs

Sprint also announced some new Rev A capable hardware today, the USB equipped Novatel Wireless Ovation U720.

Verizon Wireless quietly rolling out EV-DO Rev A

2009-01-24T14:43:00.001-08:00

Sprint Nextel has been busy announcing anything new about its EV-DO Revision A rollout while Verizon Wireless has stayed quiet on the topic. To the casual bystander it appeared that Sprint Nextel was pulling away with a huge lead, but Verizon Wireless has been holding its own in the upgrade race:

We’ve had a number of communities lit up with Rev. A for a few months, and expect to introduce a first PC card in the coming weeks. We won’t be announcing a launch of Rev. A until we hit a significant number of markets up and running, though. — Verizon Wireless, Jeffrey Nelson

Cingular to demo one-way video calling

2009-01-24T14:41:00.000-08:00

Cingular will demo a one-way video calling service next week at CES. Video calling is currently supported in many countries but this will be a first for the US market.

The service allows users to send a live video stream to a recipient during a standard voice call. Beginning with a normal phone call, customers can hit one button to add a live video stream, allowing the called party to see what the caller is seeing while they're talking. The service also allows customers to switch the direction of the video stream during the same phone call.

The yet unnamed service will launch for 3G customers some time later this year. Further details, including pricing, were not revealed. MobileTracker will catch the demo at CES, check back next week for a full report.

Palm Treo 750 launches on Cingular

2009-01-22T08:40:00.000-08:00

CES 2007 -- Cingular Wireless has officially announced the Palm Treo 750. The long awaited device is the first Treo from Cingular to have either 3G or Windows Mobile. The 750 has been shipping in Europe for quite some time but faced delays getting the device certified in the US.

While the Treo 750 is a 3G device (in both the US and Europe) it does not yet use HSDPA, the most advanced standard. Palm noted to MobileTracker that a software update will make the Treo 750 compatible with HSDPA and that the company hopes to be able to push that update to Cingular customers at a future date.

Features of the Treo 750 include:
Quad-band GSM/EDGE plus UMTS 850/1900/2100
Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC phone edition
240×240 pixel touch screen
1.3 megapixel camera
60MB of user-available storage plus a miniSD card slot
Bluetooth with A2DP support

Cingular will begin selling the Palm Treo 750 tomorrow. It will retail for $399.99 after a 2-year service contract. Cingular also carries the Treo 680 which is a paired down version that is being marketed more towards consumers.

Sprint adds Mac compatibility for EV-DO Rev A card

2009-01-22T08:39:00.000-08:00

CES 2007 -- Sprint Nextel has announced officially supported Mac OS X compatibility with one of its EV-DO Rev A cards. Previously the easiest way to get EV-DO on a Mac was to go with Verizon (Mac OS X offers built-in support for a couple of the Verizon cards). Compatibility is for the AirCard 595 hardware only. Users can simply download a free application (Watcher Lite) from Sierra Wireless to get the device working.

Because the supported card is a PCMCIA type it will not work in the latest generation of Mac laptops. Those computers feature an ExpressCard slot which is an up and coming form factor that's incompatible with the wider PCMCIA connector.

Samsung a727 HSDPA thin phone

2009-01-22T08:38:00.002-08:00

CES 2007 -- When HSDPA is added to the Trace you get the Samsung a727, a new 3G handset announced today at CES. The razor thin handset still manages to pack in the latest 3G technology and should be the thinnest HSDPA handset when it begins to ship.

Features of the Samsung a727 include:
Quad-band GSM plus HSDPA/UMTS and EDGE
Compact size: 114.5 × 50 x 8.9mm
Bluetooth with stereo A2DP support
microSD card slot
220×176 pixel display with 262k colors
1.3 megapixel camera

Sprint updates on WiMAX buildout

2009-01-22T08:38:00.001-08:00

Sprint Nextel has updated investors on its plan to build a 4G WiMAX mobile data network. The first coverage areas will be Chicago and Washington D.C. and the network should reach over 100 million people by the end of 2008. Nokia is a key supplier for network hardware. Motorola, Samsung and LG have all agreed to build compatible devices.

Sprint Nextel intends to launch Mobile WiMAX broadband services in initial markets by year-end 2007 with a larger roll-out encompassing at least 100 million people by year-end 2008. "We enter 2007, the year of our history-making WiMAX service launch, as the broadband mobility leader," remarked Barry West, president, 4G Mobile Broadband. "Our next generation network plans have catalyzed the industry, and momentum behind our mobility vision grows with increasing technology adoption."

Speed wise the WiMAX network should be comparable to DSL and cable modems. Sprint has previously hinted at trying to market the technology as a replacement for in-home internet access.

Upcoming Motorola phones revealed by executive

2009-01-22T08:37:00.001-08:00

Motorola's Ron Garriques, president of mobile devices, recently gave anxious investors a sneak peek at the company's upcoming handsets. The presentation has been posted online [PDF]. Look for these announcements soon.

As expected, many of Motorola's upcoming announcements will be 3G handsets. The phones revealed in Garriques' presentation are 3G versions of previously announced handsets:
KRZR K3 - Existing KRZR with 3G and second camera for video calling
RIZR Z8 - Tweaked design of the RIZR with UMTS or HSDPA (not noted)
Q EDGE - GSM version of the original Q
Q2 - Updated Q in both HSDPA and EV-DO versions, expected at 3GSM

Garriques also mentioned the upcoming SCPL (Scalpel) line of handsets. The presentation notes that these devices will be broadband capable, but does not hint at a launch date. Motorola has been talking about SCPL for over a year and it was originally believed to be the successor to the RAZR (which the KRZR ended up doing instead).

Motorola Q q9 with HSDPA

2009-01-22T08:35:00.000-08:00

3GSM World Congress -- 3GSM's flurry of handset announcements is in full force this morning with most major manufacturers showing off several new models. The latest is the Motorola Moto Q q9 which is the next generation Q which is the second handset out of the SCPL platform (the first was FONE). The original Q was also announced in a GSM configuration today. Like the Q gsm, the Q q9 runs Windows Mobile 6.

Features of the MOTOQ q9 include:
Quad-band GSM plus 3.6 megabit HSDPA
QVGA display
Just 11.8mm thick
2 megapixel camera
Stereo Bluetooth
microSD card slot

Motorola expects to begin shipping the Q q9 in the second quarter. Because of the quad-band radio it's possible that we'll see a US launch. The HSDPA frequencies weren't announced.

Nokia E90 Communicator announced

2009-01-22T08:34:00.000-08:00

3GSM World Congress -- The new Nokia E90 Communicator takes on where the 9300i Communicator left off. It keeps the familiar laptop-esque form factor but makes a lot of upgrades under the hood. One big change is that the device is now on the S60 platform instead of Series 90.

Features of the E90 Communicator include:
Quad band GSM plus HSDPA and WiFi
3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus and a VGA camera for video calls
FM Radio
Integrated GPS with Nokia Maps

Another photo of the E90 is available below. More information coming soon.

Sony Ericsson Z750 HSDPA handset

2009-01-22T08:31:00.001-08:00

CTIA 2007 -- The Sony Ericsson Z750 is a new HSDPA handset targeted at North America. What that really means, though not technically announced, is it's destined for AT&T (Cingular). While the 3G connectivity is surely big news (it's Sony Ericsson's first HSDPA phone for North America), the Z750 is also one of only a few consumer focused handsets to support Exchange ActiveSync push email. In addition, the Z750 is Sony Ericsson's first handset based on the Java Platform 8. That should make it easier for developers to create innovative applications.

Features of the Sony Ericsson Z750 include:
Quad-band GSM/EDGE plus tri-band HSDPA (850/1900/2100)
2 megapixel camera
Memory Stick Micro M2 card slot
Bluetooth 2.0 EDR + with A2DP stereo support
QVGA screen with 262k colors
POP3/IMAP4/Exchange email support
Full HTML browser with RSS

The Z750 should begin shipping in the third quarter. It's available in two color schemes, rose pink (shown right) and phantom grey (shown below).

T-Mobile G1 with Google Android officially announced

2009-01-22T08:22:00.001-08:00

The G1 will retail for $179 with a 2-year contract when it starts shipping on October 22nd. Current customers can order online and the G1 will be delivered when it's launched. Like the iPhone, the G1's service agreement requires a data plan. Unlimited data with 400 messages runs $25 monthly while unlimited data and unlimited messaging will cost $35 monthly. Since it's a 3G device the phone will only be made available in T-Mobile's current 3G markets. You can use T-Mobile USA's coverage search tool to find out if your area is 3G or not, though the number of markets should be expanding rapidly. The G1 will not be available without a contract or via pre-paid service.

The European launch of the T-Mobile G1 will be mostly in the first quarter of 2009. The UK will get a jump and get the handset in November.

More about Android

Android is an open source mobile OS powered by Linux that was pioneered by Google but is backed by a consortium of 34 industry companies called the Open Handset Alliance. Applications for Android are written in Java.