Nov 30 2006 - 06:36 PM ET | Nokia
Nokia has expanded its partnership with Yahoo to cover its more popular mainstream "feature phone" handsets. Previously the agreement only covered advanced smartphone devices like the N-Series. Nokia will start to bundle Yahoo branded content on many of its Series...
Nov 30 2006 - 06:28 PM ET | Backpage
Free 411 (1-800-FREE411) has surpassed the 100 million use milestone. The relatively new service has still only captured a small percentage of the US directory assistance market, but is rapidly gaining ground. According to the company this means US callers...
Nov 30 2006 - 03:09 PM ET | Backpage, Data
Opera Software has announced the availability of Opera Mini 3.0, the second major update to the package this year. The free application is a web browser designed to work on the vast majority of mobile phones sold. This differs from...
Nov 30 2006 - 02:44 AM ET | Cingular
Cingular has officially announced the BlackBerry Pearl, ending both the rumors of an imminent launch and T-Mobile's exclusive period with the sleekly designed device. The Pearl is the first BlackBerry to sport a camera and is also the first to...
Nov 29 2006 - 02:44 PM ET | Cingular
Cingular has launched the Pantech C3, a minor update to the C300 that was launched last Spring. The C3 keeps the small size of the C300 and according to Pantech still qualifies as the "smallest camera flip phone". Features of...
Riding YouTube's coat tails, video sharing website Revver announced today that it has also made a distribution deal with Verizon Wireless. Revver is most well known for sharing its revenue with its content creators. In this case Verizon Wireless will...
Nov 28 2006 - 05:18 PM ET | Palm
Shares of Palm [PALM] traded down more than 7% Tuesday after the company announced lowered projections for the upcoming quarter and revealed that the Treo 750 was behind schedule. Palm blamed a certification delay (likely the FCC) for its inability...
Nov 28 2006 - 04:02 PM ET | Nokia
The Nokia 6290 is a new clamshell S60 smartphone. Nokia doesn't make a whole lot of flip phones and of those very few are in the S60 platform. Features of the Nokia 6290 include: S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1...
Nov 28 2006 - 03:55 PM ET | Backpage, Nokia
The Nokia 2626 is a colorful new feature phone designed for emerging markets. The handset comes in several color schemes in addition to the pink shown at right. The feature list is shorter than the other handsets Nokia introduced today,...
The Nokia 6086 is a new UMA capable handset announced at Nokia's annual Capital Market Days event. Unlicensed Mobile Access, UMA, is technology that routes voice calls over WiFi (WLAN) when possible to save on airtime fees. T-Mobile USA is...
Nov 28 2006 - 03:36 PM ET | Nokia
Nokia has made good on its promise to launch thinner phones with the introduction of the Nokia 6300. At just 13.1mm thick, the 6300 is considerably thinner than typical handsets from the leading manufacturer. Analysts have been hard on Nokia's...
Nov 28 2006 - 03:16 PM ET | Motorola
Motorola has started shipments of the MOTOFONE F3, an extremely simple handset aimed at emerging markets. Motorola says the MOTOFONE is designed for, "the next billion users" and has already announced large volume orders for the device. Its most unique...
Confirming rumors from earlier in the month, Verizon Wireless has inked a deal with YouTube for mobile delivery of the popular site's video content. The deal will take effect next month for V Cast subscribers at no additional cost. The...
Nov 27 2006 - 10:38 PM ET | Data, T-Mobile
T-Mobile USA joins both Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel in MediaFLO trials. Verizon Wireless will be the first carrier to launch with the mobile TV service and is the only company committed to FLO. Just last month Sprint announced it...
Nov 27 2006 - 05:22 PM ET | In The News
The Library of Congress has approved a copyright exemption that will allow consumers to legally unlock their mobile phone to change to a competing carrier. The LoC decided that locked handsets don't qualify under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)....
Sprint Nextel has launched the Samsung M610 , a razor thin flip phone that is being marketed as the country's thinnest. Motorola may have started the thin trend, but Samsung has taken it to a new level. The M610 comes...
Verizon Wireless has launched the Kyocera K323, an entry-level feature phone. This is just the latest of several line up adjustments that Verizon Wireless has made in time for the busy holiday shopping season. Features of the K323 include: Bluetooth...
Cingular has launched the LG CU400, a relatively low-end handset that also features 3G connectivity. Previously Cingular has kept 3G for more expensive handsets. Even with the limited feature set, the CU400 is still compatible with Cingular Video and MobiTV....
Verizon Wireless has officially launched the highly anticipated LG enV (or depending on who you're talking to, the more arcane LG VX9900). The handset has been rumored for months, with everything from photos to spec sheets being leaked. It's an...
Verizon Wireless has debuted two more colors of the popular LG Chocolate VX8500 phone. The colors are officially named cherry and mint, but we're betting most people with simply stick with red and green. They join the previously available...
Nov 22 2006 - 03:36 PM ET | Cingular, Palm
Cingular has announced that it will begin selling the Palm Treo 680. The consumer priced handheld will launch on black Friday (November 24th). The day after Thanksgiving is a huge shopping day and there should be a lot of great...
Nov 21 2006 - 06:00 PM ET | 3G, Backpage, Data
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...
Nov 21 2006 - 05:39 PM ET | Camera
Popular online photo sharing community Flickr has put together an interesting feature to check out the most popular cameras. The data is pulled only from images uploaded to the service that still have the embedded EXIF data, so there are...
Nov 21 2006 - 05:06 PM ET | In The News
Despite all the assuring commercials, OnStar might not be there once the US wireless operators pull the plug on their legacy analog networks. The FCC has ruled that carriers will be allowed to do so starting in January 2008 and...
Nov 21 2006 - 04:49 PM ET | Apple, Rumor
Shares of Apple have hit an all-time high [AAPL] with the latest surge related to speculation about the long-rumored "iPhone". While there have been rumors of an Apple branded mobile phone for years, the buzz has hit an all time...
Nov 17 2006 - 05:34 PM ET | Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson owners were the happiest with their phones according to a new study released by J.D. Power and Associates. The study used data from more than 21,000 wireless phone users who have had their phones less than two years....
Sprint has launched the LG LX-150, an entry-level clamshell handset. One unique element of the phone is that it sports a dedicated text messaging key. Pressing it takes you right to the SMS section of the interface. Other features of...
Nov 17 2006 - 04:59 PM ET | Backpage
Symbian Limited announced yesterday that the company has shipped over 100m Symbian powered smartphones. The phones are in use on over 250 carriers and have been on sale since the Ericsson R380 launched in 2000. Sales have picked up recently...
The thin-is-in bug has bitten Sony Ericsson according to a report from Reuters. The handset manufacturer is reportedly putting the finishing touches on a 9.4mm thick handset code named Ai. That's significantly thinner than Motorola's best offerings and would rival...
Nov 15 2006 - 11:03 PM ET | Sprint Nextel
Sprint has inked a deal with Microsoft that will make Windows Live the default search engine on Sprint's deck. Starting Thursday there will be a search bar on top of the home page of Vision. Yahoo and Google have both...
Nov 15 2006 - 04:20 PM ET | Motorola
The Motorola KRZR (shown at right) is a brisk seller, outpacing the RAZR out of the gate. Ron Garriques, president of Motorola's handset business, noted that last month was the busiest ever in terms of handset orders. Garriques noted that...
Nov 15 2006 - 03:55 PM ET | T-Mobile
T-Mobile USA has been hit with a class action lawsuit over its early termination fee policy. T-Mobile charges customers $200 if they leave before the end of their service contract. Service contracts are typically 2-years, though until recently T-Mobile used...
Verizon Wireless has launched its second LG Chocolate handset, the VX8600. The launch comes at no surprise because LG accidently let the press release (with images!) get out back in September. The Candybar style LG Chocolate VX8500 was advertised heavily,...
Nov 15 2006 - 01:00 AM ET | Backpage
New York City's ban of cell phones in schools is not going over well with parents. The ban has actually been in effect for years, but has only been loosely enforced (more of a don't act don't tell policy). When...
Nov 15 2006 - 12:47 AM ET | Cingular
Cingular Wireless is in negotiations to launch a mobile banking service next year. The application would allow Cingular customers to perform basic banking operations such as check balances and make bill payments right from a mobile phone. Mobile banking has...
Nov 14 2006 - 04:04 PM ET | 3G, Motorola
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...
Verizon Wireless has launched the Motorola V325i, a slightly updated version of the V325. The V325i is identical to the V325 with the addition of Bluetooth. The handset remains at the low-end of the Verizon lineup. Features of the V325i...
Nov 14 2006 - 03:13 PM ET | Data, MVNO
Boost loopt is a new location aware social network service from Boost Mobile and loopt. Using the phone's built-in GPS, Boost loopt automatically updates your location for a private list of friends. Users can update their status and geo-tag locations...
Nov 14 2006 - 03:04 PM ET | Bluetooth
Bluetooth has now topped 1 billion device shipments according to a release from the Bluetooth SIG. Weekly shipments are pacing at 12 million with cellular handsets topping the charts in terms of volume. Other popular Bluetooth enabled devices include stereo...
Nov 14 2006 - 02:57 PM ET | Backpage, Nokia
Qualcomm's president is not optimistic [WSJ, subscription req.] that his company can come to terms with Nokia before their existing agreement lapses in April. If a deal cannot be made in time, both companies will have to stop selling components...
As expected, Sprint Nextel has launched the Samsung M500, which is a continuation on the popular A900. The thin and light feature phone is a bit thicker than the A900, but beats it in all other measurements (weight, width and...
Sprint Nextel has launched its first dual mode (CDMA and iDEN) handset, the Motorola ic502. We first heard of this handset when it was approved by the FCC this summer. Ever since Sprint's take over of Nextel the combined company...
Nov 14 2006 - 01:12 PM ET | In The News
Google's CEO recently said that mobile phones should be free and monetized by advertising. This sounds exactly like the business plan of Xero Mobile, a pre-launch MVNO that has attracted attention because of a connection to some former Gizmondo executives....
Nov 14 2006 - 01:05 PM ET | Data
Traffic.com has launched a WAP site containing its live traffic information for 50 metropolitan areas in the US. Traffic.com powers a lot of the other traffic services, but this marks the first time they have released the information directly to...
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...
Nov 10 2006 - 03:57 PM ET | Motorola
Motorola has signed an agreement to acquire push-email purveyor Good Technology. Numbers weren't tossed around, but Good has raised over $200 million in venture capital which means any buyout offer would be significant. About a year ago Nokia announced a...
Nov 09 2006 - 12:00 AM ET | MVNO, Samsung
Upstart mobile virtual network operator Helio has launched the Samsung Drift, it's first new handset since the company's launch six months ago. The Drift is Helio's first handset from a manufacturer well known in the USA, the other two were...
Nov 08 2006 - 04:05 PM ET | In The News
Leading online mobile phone dealer Inphonic has settled a lawsuit from the Attorney General for the District of Columbia concerning complaints about the company's rebate practices. The lawsuit was made on behalf of consumers who had filed more than 2,000...
Sprint Nextel has launched the Motorola i880 on its iDEN Nextel network. The i880 has been rumored for quite a while and comes in at the high-end for existing iDEN handsets. It's also an update to the popular Motorola i870,...
Nov 07 2006 - 05:53 PM ET | In The News
Yahoo has increased its mobile monetization efforts with the introduction of graphical ads designed for mobile devices. The search company just launched mobile text ads last month. Yahoo expects the first ads in the new program to go live later...
Nov 07 2006 - 05:47 PM ET | Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson has signed an agreement to buy UIQ Technology from its parent Symbian. Sony Ericsson currently licensees UIQ for its several of its smartphone. It's also the only major mobile phone manufacturer currently using UIQ. UIQ is an interface...
According [subscription req.] to the Wall Street Journal, Verizon is currently in negotiations with YouTube concerning mobile delivery of the popular video sharing site's content. YouTube currently has no mobile viewing platform but does make it easy to submit videos...
Nov 06 2006 - 05:14 PM ET | Palm
NTP already won a $612.5 million settlement earlier this year from Research In Motion (maker of the BlackBerry), but is not done litigating yet. The tiny patent holding firm has filed suit against Palm, maker of the popular Treo series...
Nov 06 2006 - 03:58 PM ET | T-Mobile
T-Mobile has announced its Dash-A-Day promotion. From today until December 25th, one person per day will win a T-Mobile Dash. The Dash is a new smartphone made by HTC and is currently an exclusive to T-Mobile. The winning handsets will...
Nov 06 2006 - 03:43 PM ET | Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile has become the first carrier to include a recycling envelope in the box with every phone it sells (online or retail). The postage paid envelopes make it easy to recycle the handset with ReCellular, a leading mobile phone...
The long-rumored Cingular 8525 has finally gotten an official announcement. Built by HTC (codename Hermes) and branded for Cingular, the 8525 is an update to the popular Cingular 8125. The update adds 3G connectivity and boosts several of the other...
As expected, Sprint Nextel has launched the Motorola KRZR K1m. The handset launched in late September from Verizon Wirelss. Sprint's edition of the KRZR comes in jet black with yellow background on the external screen to match the colors of...
Nov 02 2006 - 02:06 PM ET | Data
Google has further expanded its mobile offerings with the introduction of a Java Gmail client. The previously available WAP version of Gmail is still supported, but the application will give a more consistent experience across phones. Google is making the...
Cingular has launched the Motorola V365, a minor update to the popular V360 (which Cingular skipped, it was the replacement to the V330 which did ship from Cingular). The mid-range clamshell phone is fairly well equipped besides having only a...
Nov 01 2006 - 03:11 PM ET | Cingular, Rumor
The Wall Street Journal has confirmed widespread speculation that Cingular Wireless will soon debut a music service. Cingular remains the only national carrier with 3G to not have a music offering (Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless have both had their...
