PMG Telecom Coffee Talk

Cellphones spank Landlines for the first time ever

2007-12-18T13:57:00.000-08:00

The Buzz:
Cellphones Conquer Land Lines for First Time in 2007
According to a recent piece in the NYTimes, 2007 will be the first year in which the dollars spent on cellphone subscriptions trump traditional land lines. Among other points, they site that in 2006, households spend an average of $542 on residential lines while only spending $524 on wireless services. Add another year of cellphone growth to those figures, and it's hard to believe that land lines are still king.
What about your household? In mine, we definitely spend more on our cells than our obligatory, barebones land line. Of course, if you factored in all of our wired services (including internet and television), the phones lose by a small margin.

My Roast:
First, the death of the modern pay phone, and now Wireless has more subscribers than the Landline customers. Take that, Landlines! Us cool and hip Wireless freaks are going to take you down and spank you like we did to the payphone. It's on a matter of time before you go down too, and a whole land of cell phones unite and conquer the world! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

In Daniel R. Hesse we trust... at least pissed off Sprint shareholders!

2007-12-18T13:44:00.000-08:00

Boy, does this guy have his work cut out for him!

You're looking at the face of the new CEO of Sprint/Nextel. Here's a little list off the top of my head that this guy is going to have to solve:

1. Stop losing customers, and reverse the ghastly churn rate

2. Increase ARPU without the help of Nextel

3. Make some use of Xohm (4G Wimax) without financially crippling yourself

4. Increase profits enough to the point that people actually want to buy your stock again

5. Decrease your expenses and willingly terminate customers that roam so much that they COST THE COMPANY MONEY!

6. Continue the build out of 1900 mhz towers, so that people can actually get signal in BFE

7. Pimp your service of in-home cell antennas for people that actually live in BFE

8. Find more, and cooler, handsets

9. Stop wearing sily looking green and gold ties

WHEW, these changes are going to be a toughie, especially when you've got every shareholder's eye on your butt like stink on poopie (yes, I just said "poopie." Wanna fight about it?)

Heavens to Betsy, another iClone, but this one being Windows Mobile!?!

2007-12-18T13:33:00.000-08:00

The LG KS20 makes me like Korea.... a lot.

It's quite shiny, it's got Windows Mobile, and there is a camera on it. Um, I like it so far, but I still have no clue when this thing will come to the US shores, which GSM carrier will take it (most likely AT&T), how fast it is..... nothing! Also, if you look at the measurements, who the hell is going to keep a cell phone in their pocket that is 50 inches wide, and 100 inches tall?!? (That's a joke, you're supposed to laugh. I'm not NAIVE to the point where I don't know that outside of the red, white, and blue.... and possibly Iraquistan, that the world operates off of the metric system. Speaking of Iraquistan (and other George Bush jokes, when the hell is that idiot out of the office, and when can we get a democrat in that oval office? I've got a joke that illustrates my obvious poilitical opinions... "So a black man and a white woman enter the oval office..." Eh. I'm bored. I'll finish that joke later.

Like a Phoenix from the ashes, the blog is back BABY!

2007-12-18T13:04:00.000-08:00

After a brief hiatus (of almost 3 months), I have decided to let my blog rise from the ashes and become a living, breathing entity yet once more. I feel like Dr. Frankenstein, breathing life into my otherwise lifeless creature, and allowing it to roam the earth and attack shrubbery whilst "pissed" (as David would call it, I personally would just call it being F*&@%$D up!

So sit back, relax, and....... well, you know what to do!

A rather mean Gizmodo review of the Motorola Q9M

2007-09-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

First Moto Q9m Unbox and Grope (Mini-Review and Gallery)

I just got my hands on the first Moto Q9m, and after a couple of hours, I'm ready to send it right back. Seriously, if you buy this phone, you are dumb.

For starters, Windows Mobile 6 is a piece of crap. Case in point: I plug in my freakin' Hotmail account to set up email, and it tells me it can't do it, and refers me to a web link that I can't open. I am sure there's a product manager who will quickly explain to me what I did wrong, and the 17 steps I should memorize in order to do it correctly. But could this possibly be my fault?

Other examples of this:• When typing, I couldn't find the symbol options until I pressed a few buttons at random, but when I tried the same combo a second time, it didn't work.• I launched Solitaire, yet couldn't figure out how to play with the d-pad or jog dial, and gave up in anger. Again, my fault, right?• Lag lag lag lag lag. (No way that's my fault.)

The next party to blame is Verizon Wireless: While I admire the effort to modernize the antiquated and unhelpful Windows Mobile screen, the thing VZW put in its place is pretty scary. I could let that go—you know, different strokes, different folks—were it not for the fact that you can't customize it at all. You either get the V Cast Music, camera, media player and volume controls, or you get nothing. Why shouldn't you be able to program the screen as a launcher for your most appropriate apps? Yeah, that's probably just some crazy idea. You can switch to the assorted useless Windows Mobile screens, but they are, as I indicated, no improvement.

It does have V Cast Music—$1.99 for over-the-air songs you could get elsewhere cheaper—but no one has figured out how to provide the V Cast video service on a Windows Mobile device yet. If you ever wanted to demonstrate the value of Verizon's streaming video, it would be great to do it on the Q9m's attractive 2.5" screen.

I could lay into the pricing plans for this thing pretty hard, but I won't even bother. If you buy this for $200 (online, limited time), you deserve two years of paying $80 per month for service. In case you are curious, the starter plan includes 450 minutes of talk plus unlimited email and on-phone browsing. If you want to use it as a modem for your computer, you'll pay $15 extra per month.

Regarding the GPS question that some of you had, Verizon says that GPS is enabled for navigational use, but I have to tell you that I see no evidence of it when digging through various Windows menus. This could easily be the fault of the oblique operating system, however. As far as Verizon's own VZNavigator goes, there is no Windows Mobile version at this time. So GPS-wise, you're either SOL, or just totally on your own.

Last and least, Motorola is at fault for this trainwreck. It's not a bad looking phone, but the red-and-black motif and Verizon branding says it all, that Moto is willing to set aside all of its own quality priorities in order to sell a phone through a carrier. Spineless decisions out of Schaumburg, IL made the RAZR both ubiquitous and worthless, and it's apparently still happening.

Not a town in Alaska, and not a silly board game!

2007-09-20T16:30:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
HTC Juno Coming to AT&T?
The HTC Juno, a previously unheard of Windows Mobile smartphone, seems to be headed toward AT&T sometime soon. It's going to be like previous HTC phones we've seen with a dialpad on the front and a slide-out QWERTY on the side. There won't be a touchscreen, but it will have a 2-megapixel camera, microSD, QVGA display and 3G. No launch time or details yet. [Crunchgear]

GREAT GOOGLE-Y MOOGLY! A gPhone?

2007-09-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Google Phone Confirmed By HTC Insider

source: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/rumor/google-phone-confirmed-by-htc-insider-294277.php

JB over at Crunchgear has the exclusive on the "upcoming" Google Phone, supposedly set to launch in Q1 2008. His source is someone inside HTC, the company that Google's working with to pick one of 20 models to finalize their design.

On the software side, they're going to build a special version of Google Maps (complete with GPS), as well as have Gmail and Calendar compatibility. It's most likely going to have Google Docs compatibility too, but that wasn't specified. What's even cooler is that Google Talk, their free VoIP app, will be part of the suite. The OS could be Windows Mobile 6, or it could be a Linux-based OS, which would be even more interesting. [Crunchgear]

...it gets even more interesting!

Googlephone PR in the hands of CEO's girlfriend

source: http://valleywag.com/tech/marcy-simon/googlephone-pr-in-the-hands-of-ceos-girlfriend-296358.php

Marcy Simon, Valleywag has learned, doesn't just have a coveted desk and a phone line in Google's cramped New York offices. She also has a seemingly hot assignment: PR for the yet-to-be-launched Googlephone. All this, simply for serving as married Google CEO Eric Schmidt's piece on the side? Yes, that's right: Schmidt's girlfriend, despite having no experience in wireless or telecom, is handling the launch of one of Google's most-whispered-about initiatives. Why the Duchess of West Chelsea, as Valleywag has dubbed Simon, is handling this, and not say, David Krane, Google's telecom-savvy director of corporate communications, is telling about both Schmidt's character and the fate of the phone project.

I've written before that Google will not come out with its own phone model, as Apple has done. And indeed, the need for any Googlephone escapes me; Google should be building services that work on any phone, no matter who makes it or what OS it runs. At best, the Googlephone project, I believe, is a big stick Google will use to threaten phonemakers and wireless carriers into carrying its search engine and applications.

Which, of course, makes hiring a fancy New York PR person like Simon thoroughly pointless. If there's no Googlephone for Simon to launch, why waste office space on her? Because it's a plausible job that Schmidt can assign to his girlfriend with a minimum of fuss. Simon, ignorant of the wireless industry, won't know it's a waste of time; Schmidt may actually have duped her into thinking it's a plum job, almost as sparkly a bauble as the canary-yellow diamond ring Schmidt also gave her. Meanwhile, Schmidt can appease his internal critics by pointing out that he's only given Simon a space-filling job that no savvy staff member would ever want.

Sprint Roadmap leaked, and a slew of Palm Treo 500 goodies!

2007-09-20T15:40:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
Unconfirmed: Upcoming Sprint Roadmap Leaked? Palm Centro 10/14?

UPDATED: NOW CALLED THE TREO 500. READ BELOW!

source: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/rumor/unconfirmed-upcoming-sprint-roadmap-leaked-palm-centro-1014-291789.php

A poster on the phonenews forum seems to have come up with the Sprint lineup for the next several months, all the way into early 2008. To start, they have the Motorola V9M on 9/4, the USB EV-DO Novatel U727 modem on 9/30, Palm Gryphon (code name for Palm Centro) and Sanyo S1 2500 on 10/14, LG LX260, HTC Vogue, BlackBerry 8130 Pearl 2 and PX600 on 11/4, Motorola Q9C on 11/23 and Treo 800w and Samsung Blackjack International in Q1 2008.
Even if these dates are solid now (assuming these are actually real), providers are known to switch up dates for various reasons. Use the schedule as a guideline more than a definite calendar. [Phone News via Gadgets on the Go]

Treo 500 Early Impressions (Verict: Solid)

source: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/palm/treo-500-early-impressions-verict-solid-302060.php
Treonauts has some early hands-on impressions and unboxing of the much deliberated Treo 500. Aside from the lack of touchscreen, the review was overwhelmingly positive. Surprisingly, one of the best features is its solid construction.

In fact, they go so far as to say that
"There is also absolutely no 'plasticky' feel about it and in this respect it may be an entry level Treo but it certainly doesn't feel cheap at all - this is a smartphone that I would quite happily and proudly set on a table and show off."Now since this is a Treo site this review should be taken with some caution. But hey maybe we've been too hard on the 500. Just because it's not for us gadget freaks, doesn't mean it wouldn't be a good recommendation for a friend entering the smartphone world, right?[Treonauts]

Check out the magical flipping phone!

2007-09-20T15:28:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

WND Atom Duo Cellphone Has Dual Identities, Like Batman
The iPhone makes pretty decent use of its gravity sensor with Safari, but that's something of a kid's trick compared to the WND DUO Atom, which flips between two SIM cards as you flip it from top to bottom (or is it bottom to top?), making it easy to maintain two separate accounts. Like one for wife, one for your girlfriend—just don't turn it the wrong way. It's also a touchscreener, so the keypad and screen re-orient themselves accordingly. Hit the jump for the nitty-gritty and another glamour shot of this unlocked tri-band GSM trickster.
Tri-Band (GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz)Dimensions 109x48x14.5mmMemory 128x64Mbits PGM Memory + 128MBytes Storage MemoryDisplay 176x220 262K 1.8? OLED (x2) TBDCamera Built-in 3 Megapixels Auto Focus CameraWAP 2.0 AccessMP3 PlayerTV-OutConnectivity USB 2.0, Bluetooth 1.2 (A2DP:stereo profile support)External Memory MicroSD External Memory supportingApplications JAVA MIDP2.0/CLDC1.1No price or street date though, unfortunately, for this Bruce Wayne of mobiles beyond "coming soon," but we'll go out on a limb and guess "not cheap." [WND Atom DUO]

All work and no play makes Casey a busy, non-blogging boy

2007-09-20T15:26:00.000-07:00

My friends, I've been so buy lately (okay, the last month) that I've been unable to blog, hence the empty space between August 21st, and today. Yet, have no fear... you will still get your hot steamy cup of blogging joy. I am backlogged (no....really? You're kidding) So please don't shoot me if you see something that it just about a month old. I'll try to spare you if it's really obvious news, like the iPhone price drop.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy my blog gosh darn diddly arn it!

A geek race to end all geek races

2007-08-21T15:05:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Download Race Between Helio Fin, iPhone, Sidekick, and RAZR2

Our friends at Wired put a stopwatch to a four-way download race between the Helio Fin, iPhone, Sidekick, and RAZR2 with HSDPA. Of course, they wanted to see which one would load Wired.com the fastest in a straightforward race of phones that have different methods of downloading. Before going to the next page to see how they finished, see if you can accurately predict which one of the phones won this impromptu race. [Wired]

1st place: Moto RAZR2, 18 seconds (HSDPA)

2nd place: Helio Fin, 24 seconds (EV-DO, but loaded text-only version of the site)

3rd place: Sidekick II, 44 seconds, (GSM, but cached in Danger servers)

4th place: iPhone, 71 seconds (EDGE)
[Wired]

My Roast:

You may have not heard about the Helio FIN yet, but I will tell you all about it in a few posts. Basically, these results don't suprise me... except that I thought the iPhone and the Sidekick would've been closer than they ended up being. Again, who the hell decided to put EDGE on the iPhone?

Apparently Nokia DID have a good reason to replace 46 million batteries

2007-08-21T14:41:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Pics: Exploding Cellphone?

One of our loyal Gizmodian visitors sent us three pictures of what he says is an exploded Nokia 2115i cellphone. Reader Jonathan said that last night his phone's battery ran out of power so he plugged it into its charger as he usually does. Check the gallery below to see the result, and on the next page, read Jonathan's account of how it happened.

After 1.5 hours, suddenly, BOOM! It sounds like dynamite, or any explosive stuffs. It looks like there was a fire afterward, too. Good thing the guy's house didn't burn down. Anyone else have any experiences like this with a Nokia cellphone, or any other?

My Roast:

Wow, remember when I was ranting about how Nokia was wasting a ton of money by replacing 46 million batteries? Well, I was way wrong! This is proof that Nokia was right... it even looks like there is a crater in that poor guy's floor from the phone exploding. This just goes to show what happens if you don't design a battery properly.

Facebook brings bluetooth stalking to a totally new level

2007-08-21T14:32:00.001-07:00

The Buzz:
Bluetooth/Facebook Nodes Take Even More Human Interaction Out of Meeting People
Some scientists at Bath University in the UK have come up with an interesting albeit only marginally useful new way of making friends via Facebook. Rather than having to go through the process of, you know, meeting people and talking to them, it instead basically gathers the info of people who've been in the same place as you and tells you about it later.

It works by using a "node" that senses Bluetooth devices. If you walk by and your phone gets pinged, it'll record where you were. When you get home, you'll be able to see everyone else that was there when you were. Then you'll have the perfect first line for that girl you noticed across the park. You know, something like "So… you like parks? Me too." Or whatever. What am I, some sort of dating expert?

Anyhow, there are no plans to actually implement this anywhere, but who knows if that'll change in the future. [Boy Genius via DownloadSquad]

My Roast:

Nothing screams "Smooth Operator" more than going to facebook to pick up a girl that was within 30 feet of you at some point during the day. Geeks all around the world rejoice at finding a way to actually potentially have something relevant to talk about when talking to a potential mate. Gone are they days of cheesy geeky pick up lines, like "I'll be your zero, if you'll be my one." (that's programming talk about binary code, ie: 10110101110101010100011010... for those of you who actually have pick up lines, unlike me.)

I can destroy myself one slice at a time if I want to, right?

2007-08-21T14:26:00.001-07:00

The Buzz:
Domino's Launches Pizza by TXT in UK
If you needed another hint as to how much more reliant people are on SMS in other countries, Domino's Pizza by TXT feature should do the trick. All you have to do is just set up a "favorite meals" list and text the correct "meal" label to Domino's, and they'll bring one to your flat in no time. We say flat, because this is only available in the UK. [Dominos via Pocket Lint via Tech Digest]

My Roast:
Holy jeebers, what I would do to myself and my girlish figure if this service was offered in the US! This just goes to show that the US will eventually become so connected to their cell phones that the future of all communication will originate from our little electronic friends. Stuff like this will eventually come to the US... you just watch.

AT&T royally screws AT&T employees, while Apple employees laugh at them!

2007-08-21T14:19:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

AT&T Employees Get 10% Discount Off the iPhone

AT&T may be burning money and forests with their 300-page bills, but boy can they be generous when they want to: according to a reader whose wife works at the Death Star, employees are now getting a whole ten (TEN!) per cent discount on their iPhones! (And yes, I just wanted to get Vader with an iPhone. Sue me if you want.)
[Thanks Dag29]

My Roast:

Wow, I bet AT&T employees suddenly wish they were actually Apple employees. Hmmmm.... $60 off, or $600 off?

Sprint kick's T-mo's butt and takes their name in the home service box contest

2007-08-21T14:08:00.001-07:00

The Buzz:
Samsung Ubicell Instant Cell to WiFi Box Coming to Sprint
Samsung's Ubicell, first seen at CTIA, is finally finding a home on Sprint. It's a box that you plug into the wall, at which point the box blossoms into a femtocell-powered base station good for 5000 sq feet of fresh reception. Apparently rates would be unlimited, like Tmobile's @ Home WiFi UMA service. Good. But bad for TMobile.

Any Sprint cellphone will work on this hotspot, as it still uses a local CDMA channel to link to phones before sending that signal over the net. The repeater can support 3 phones or 1XRTT data sessions at once, routing calls using femtocell technology to Sprint's infrastructure over the internet. And you can filter phone access to 50 handsets/data cards of your choosing.[Gearlog]

My Roast:

Wow, this really sucks for T-mobile. You ask why? Well, T-mobile's service is limited to wi-fi only handsets, and only does voice. Whereas, the Sprint base unit is actually a small CDMA antenna, so you can use ANY sprint phone on this little box and you're not limited to wi-fi only handsets, like the T-mobile service. Not to mention, this also does data sessions, which means that you have unlimited voice, unlimited data, unlimited everything... and you can use any phone you want. Wow, T-mobile totally got PWNED on this one!

AT&T does away with the 300 page bills (Trees around the world suddenly stop biting nails)

2007-08-21T14:01:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

AT&T's Unofficial Response To 300-Page iPhone Bill
An AT&T call-center employee has taken it upon himself to answer the allegations of the infamous 300-page iPhone bill, apparently in lieu of an official response from the telco. While not "defending" AT&T, he did say this:

As of August 10, "summary billing" has been the default format for paper bills, doing away with specific call and data-usage details. Anyone signing up for service or switching rate plans will get a summary bill, and—in what appears to be a 180-degree shift—will have to pay $1.99 per month to get the 300-page edition.

Since summary billing is still paper that comes in the mail, call-center employees are asked to encourage paperless billing. This is also an option customers can set online, and apparently choose during activation.

Again, this isn't the official word, but it sounds like the furor may be dying down. For me, I hate mail of any kind, so paperless billing is always the way to go, right from the start. Now I have an email inbox full of billing emails I never open, but at least the trees don't mind. [Gadget Lab]

My Roast:

Wow, at least they caught this after only one month, rather than continuing the murder of trees. Let's hope that this person's unofficial response if the official reality.

Review on T-Mobile HotSpot service

2007-08-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

T-Mobile's Hotspot@Home Reviewed (Verdict: Great Call Quality, Glitchy Handoffs)
Wireless Info took the T-Mobile http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/hype-sheet/hype-sheet-welcome-to-jimmys-hotspot-home-277462.php service into their own Batcave (similar to ours when we played with it) and subjected it to all sorts of tests. The result? Equally good sound quality on both the cell network and Wi-Fi, but a slightly glitchy handoff when going from Wi-Fi to cell (cell to Wi-Fi is fine). It's nothing to really worry about as long as you're not going in and out of range all the time, so if you're one of those poor dudes who can't get a signal to save your life, this could be the plan for you. [Wireless Info]

My Roast:

Now T-mobile finally has a way to offer service for people who don't get regular T-mo service at home! You have no idea how many people wanted T-mobile, but didn't even have coverage at their own home. Now not only do they have coverage with wi-fi, but they don't even have to use their own minutes! Well done, T-mobile, well done!

Yay! HTC Touch got picked up by Sprint!

2007-08-21T12:12:00.001-07:00

The Buzz:

HTC Touch Upgraded, Coming to Sprint
WThe HTC Touch, with it's gesture based UI tweaks on top of a WM6 OS was a cute concept, but flawed. Sprint's picking it up, giving it CDMA/EVDO superpowers, doubling the processing speed from 200MHz to 400MHz to deal with Bill's Bloat, and eventual revision A. speed, and assisted GPS, once they software update it. The finger gesture menus invoke a set of commands for messaging, and one set for Sprint's multimedia functions, like TV and the music store. Sprint says this is likely coming in November. [GearLog]

My Roast:

This is really great news! The power of Sprint's network will empower the Touch and give it capabilities that wouldn't be found on other carrier's networks. This is going to be one heck of a device when it launches!

Don't wanna get knocked up? Here is the phone for you!

2007-08-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
Samsung Files Patent for Safe (ie Non-Baby) Sex Cell Phone
A cell phone that lets lay-deez know if they're running a higher-than-normal chance of getting pregnant is the latest idea from Samsung. The Korean electronics giant has filed a patent with the US Patent & Trademark Office for a "portable device for user's basal body temperature (BBT) and method for operating the device."

An ultrasonic or laser-based distance sensor, and an infrared ray temperature sensor installed around the speaker of the phone measures the distance of the phone to your ear and the temperature inside your eardrum. Then, software inside the phone processes the measurements and transforms them into BBT records, before recommending that, yes, you can have hot, crazy rumpo with no consequences, or yes, you've got a chance of making Junior if you get busy tonight.

It's not a bad idea, given that a lot of women would rather lose a leg than be separated from their mobile, but how are Samsung going to market this? Presumably not, as we have, as a safe-sex phone, as it's won't protect from STDs.

Here's a bit of the patent application, but be warned that the word menstruation is used repeatedly in it.
[0089] Referring to FIGS. 2 and 7, as shown in FIG. 7, the information control unit 218 may display the user's generated menstruation information, e.g. fertile period information, on the display unit 219 of the portable device, i.e. on a screen of the portable device in a form of a calendar. Also, the information control unit 218 may display a graph 720 in which the user's menstruation information is indicated in each color. In the graph 720, a black interval 711 indicates a menstruation period, a green interval 712 indicates an infertile period, a yellow interval 713 indicates a pregnancy possibility period, and a red interval 714 indicates a fertile period.

Also, when the menstruation starting day is not inputted by the user, the information control unit 218 may provide the user with an alarm to induce the user to check for pregnancy.
What I want to know is, if you use your girlfriend's cell to take a call, do you completely bork the calendar, or does it bust you as being in possession of a penis and shut down? [Unwiredview]

My Roast:

I've seen some bizarre phone patents before, but this just about takes the cake. While this is an interesting concept, I think it just goes too far. I think it'd be even funnier if you could customize your alerts, or if you could broadcast your fertility rating to people on your call list. So while you're taking to your boyfriend on the phone about your recent mani or pedi, all of a sudden he'll hear "User is most likely to get pregnant tonight," and you'll understand why he decided to play video games for the rest of the night, not shave, and fart in your presence a good 47 times. However, what if you accidentally switched "boyfriend" for "boss," and they heard "User is as dry as the Sahara tonight, live in as much sin as Paris Hilton does for tonight," then you'll understand why your boss gave you funny looks all day.

But what I think would be more useful would be a phone that detects in your blood stream if you have an STD, rather than the pregnancy thing. You could have someone put their number in your phone at the club, and if they touch it a huge alarm goes off any yells "PERSON HAS THE GONO-HERPE-SYPHI-CLAP! ABORT! ABORT!" and then the phone shocks the user. Why shock them you ask? Well, that should teach them a thing or two about being promiscous, that's why! Not to mention it would keep their warts far away from you!

Read an article by an RCR editor, talking about our mobile content rating

2007-08-21T11:49:00.001-07:00

Firefly growing with their audience?

2007-08-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

New Firefly Kids Cellphone Approved By The FCC
The Firefly flyPhone (OMG, IT RHYMES WITH iPHONE!) is a phone geared towards children with a fuller feature set than the original Firefly Phone. The new model has an actual keypad, a camera, memory expansion via MicroSD, and music/video playback. But this phone doesn't exactly strike us as kid-friendly. Not only will parents have to get their children glasses because they strained their eyes looking at the micro screen, but they'll have to save their young ones from choking on the MicroSD card. Pricing and release info not available. [Phone Scoop]

My Roast:

Whoa, is it me or did Firefly completely lose sight of their original purpose.... TO OFFER A HANDSET TO KIDS THAT DIDN'T ALLOW THE ABILITY TO CALL EVERYONE AND TEXT MSG THEIR FRIENDS? This thing takes SD cards, does Video, and has a full keypad! How is this any different from some Advanced RAZR's? I think the original Firefly had a unique market segment and adressed their needs effectively and appropriately, but now they've lost it and aren't any different from any other phone out there.

Adderton and cronies get rejected at Qualcomm, come crawling to Clearwire

2007-08-21T11:19:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Amp’d Mobile content team lands at Clearwire
By Matt Kapko
Story posted: August 10, 2007 - 1:45 pm EDT

Clearwire Corp. has reportedly reached a deal to bring Amp’d Mobile Inc’s. 50-plus member content team on board to lead a new content offering under the Clearwire brand. The move would likely give Clearwire a major boost in content offerings, as it has thus far focused on building up its business as a fixed-wireless broadband service provider. Through the partnership Clearwire would now be uniquely positioned as an entertainment-minded company steadfastly focused on its network and service, particularly thanks to its recent partnership with Sprint Nextel Corp. to build out a nationwide mobile WiMAX network. Clearwire declined to comment on the deal and the Amp’d Mobile content team is following those cues. “It’s certainly a big win for Clearwire because I think what Amp’d had there was clearly one of the most compelling data offerings out there,” said Roger Entner, senior vice president of the communications sector at IAG Research. “As good as the team is, it doesn’t have the track record of saving companies, of reversing the doom of the company, but Clearwire’s prospects have substantially improved with the deal they have with Sprint.” The Amp’d Mobile crew had been shopping themselves out as a cohesive unit to a variety of heavyweights in the wireless space. Considering what caused the demise of Amp’d Mobile’s mobile virtual network operator business, it makes sense that the team would look for a partner in a company that already has the back end of operations—billing, customer service, network coverage—up and running. Such a pairing would enable to team to focus on what it calls the “front end” of operations without worrying about other issues dragging it down.“It will clearly help them on the content side, it’s just that content is not one of the top two or three decision factors. It’s price, quality and service,” Entner added. Because Clearwire is rather bullish on the technology side, most obvious in its mobile WiMAX plans, the cross-platform opportunities inherent in the deal would also enable the Amp’d Mobile content team to extend what it started with Amp’d Live to a variety of new venues.As for the Amp’d Mobile team hedging its bets on WiMAX, Entner said, “I think it’s equally as proven or unproven as the Amp’d model. It’s virgin territory, but these guys are risk takers.“You have a really fast pipe. You’re biggest challenge as a WiMAX provider is how are you going to fill up that pipe,” he said. “People don’t typically pay a premium for faster download speeds. You know, what else is there? The biggest broadband hog where you can actually raise prices is television. We all bite the bullet and pay more every year for our cable TV.”

My Roast:

I knew it seemed unlikely that Qualcomm would take Adderton, since they have a ton of battles that they are facing against the ITC banning their 3G chips. So Adderton comes to Clearwire... an interesting move. So it appears that Clearwire will be developing some sort of content portion of their WiMax business, most likely a VOD service or something...

Regardless, I still despise Adderton for what he did to Amp'd. Go play in traffic while drinking anti-freeze, Pedro.

Can you smell the 4G goodness? Jah bless you Sprint!

2007-08-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
Sprint Planning to Pump $5 Billion into WiMax Network Over the Next 3 Years
Sprint is clearly not f'ng around when it comes to WiMax—sorry, Xohm—deployment, planning on spending up to $5 billion over the next three years to build the network's infrastructure. While $5 billion is a huge wad, if their efforts to get Intel and PC makers to embed WiMax support into new notebooks succeed, they'll have a massive built-in audience, making their target of $2-2.5 billion in revenue in 2010 definitely doable.
There'll be a "soft launch" by year's end in Chicago and Baltimore/Washington, D.C., with coverage of 100 million people (Sprint 70, Clearwire 30) by the end of 2008. Even though Sprint's putting a lot of eggs into one basket with a dumb name, it's one that promises a huge payoff if everything goes according to plan—and well, if we bite. [WSJ (login req'd) and Reuters]

My Roast:
Anyone who says that Sprint is done for and nearing doom, is clearly retarted. Not only are they the first to bring a 4G WiMax network to the US, but they were the first to bring 3G to the US in the form of EVDO, and also the first to bring out Rev. A before Sprint. WiMax, if you aren't already familiar, is basically like EVDO/UMTS on speed. It has the capability to sustain many users while maintaining blazing fast speeds, and has excellent signal penetration, meaning that you don't need as many towers to deploy WiMax... not to mention it's cheaper to deploy WiMax than burying wires everywhere. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX, WiMax is the following:

Compared to Wi-Fi:
"Possibly due to the fact both WiMAX and Wi-Fi begin with the same two letters, are based upon IEEE standards beginning with 802. and both have a connection to wireless connectivity and the Internet, comparisons and confusion between the two are frequent. Despite this, both standards are aimed at different applications.

WiMAX is a long range system, covering many kilometers, that uses licensed or unlicensed spectrum to deliver a point-to-point connection to the Internet from an ISP to an end user. Different 802.16 standards provide different types of access, from mobile (analogous to access via a cellphone) to fixed (an alternative to wired access, where the end user's wireless termination point is fixed in location.)

Wi-Fi is a shorter range system, typically hundreds of meters, that uses unlicensed spectrum to provide access to a network, typically covering only the network operator's own property. Typically Wi-Fi is used by an end user to access their own network, which may or may not be connected to the Internet. If WiMAX provides services analogous to a cellphone, Wi-Fi is more analogous to a cordless phone.

WiMAX has QoS (Quality of Service) whilst Wi-Fi is 'best effort', which makes the former a more robust telecom application: QoS allows preferential treatment of certain service flows (such as voice over data) and/or customers.

WiMAX is highly scalable from what are called 'femto' scale remote stations to multi-sector 'maxi' scale base that handle complex tasks of management and mobile handoff functions and include MIMO-AAS smart antenna subsystems.

Due to the ease and low cost with which Wi-Fi can be deployed, it is sometimes used to provide Internet access to third parties within a single room or building available to the provider, sometimes informally, and sometimes as part of a business relationship. For example, many coffee shops, hotels, and transportation hubs contain Wi-Fi access points providing access to the Internet for patrons."

If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you'll see that WiMax has capabilities of doing 70 MB/sec over a 30 mile radius, while HSPA networks (UMTS, or W-CDMA... more notably AT&T in some areas) only have an ideal lab speed of 14.4 MB/Sec, not to mention the signal doesn't travel as far as 802.16e does. Basically speaking, Sprint's WiMax network will bring HIGH SPEED internet to rural areas currently underserved, offer higher speed solutions for businesses, and offer faster speeds than Comcast or Qwest, at a much cheaper price (since it's cheaper to deploy WiMax than burying cable everywhere). This truly is the dawn of a new age...

Not to mention, Sprint will have WiMax chips in new laptops and phones, totalling 50 million by the end of 2010, as stated here: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/wi-to-the-max/-290740.php.

These new 4G networks being mentioned by Google and Sprint WILL cause a shift in technology, and offer greater wireless capability and flexibility. It's time to jump on the wave of the future...

Take a look at Gizmodo's RAZR2 Reviews

2007-08-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

The Buzz
Four of the Five RAZR2s Reviewed (Verdict: What a Difference a Carrier Makes)
Sascha Segan at PC Mag just worked his way through testing the AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless and Alltel RAZR2 models. Though all RAZR2s have similar specs—"luxurious metal-and-glass design," 240-MHz processor, roughly 100 MB of memory, a 2-megapixel camera and "the biggest, most beautiful external screen you've ever seen on a flip phone"—each carrier treated this differently. We gave you a nice run-down of feature differences, but here's how the actual user experience differs from carrier to carrier:

AT&T V9

• Best call quality thanks to CrystalTalk active sound-quality management during calls

• Best web experience because of Opera browser

• Free built-in e-mail

• Worst battery life

• No video sharing

• No Napster/Yahoo! DRM music

• A dedicated button for Cellular Video, a VOD service that "absolutely no one uses"

Sprint V9m

• Obigo HTML web browser works well

• Can view video on external screen

• Start camera from external screen

• No e-mail option

Verizon V9m

• Start camera from external screen

• Very good sound

• Best for basic Windows Media users

• WAP browsing (which sucks)

• E-mail for extra pay

Alltel V9m

• View text messages on external screen

• Best for experts and iTunes lovers

• WAP browsing (which sucks)

• No e-mail option

T-Mobile V8 (which Segan did not review)

• Linux-based OS

• CrystalTalk active sound-quality management during calls

Bottom line: All this variation represents carrier control, not freedom of choice. Says Segan: "We're stuck with the mediocre choices picked by our carrier overlords for us—and if you want something different, no soup for you!" I hate to say I told you so, but I freakin' told you so.[PC Mag summary and individual reviews of each carrier's RAZR2]

Another GPS Service...

2007-08-21T10:22:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
AAA Announces GPS-Enabled Turn by Turn Direction Software For Mobiles
The trusted name in changing a busted tire so you won't have to, AAA is releasing AAA Mobile, a software suite for mobile phones that allows turn-by-turn GPS directions on a pay-for-use basis. The cost will be $9.99 a month, and will work on the phones listed after the jump.

The benefits of using AAA is that you can have access to their Diamond Ratings (hotels, restaurants) and find points of interest in their TourBook guide. There's even options for finding AAA-approved auto repair facilities, which is useful if you're taking a cross country trip in that beater you own.

Sprint only:
Samsung M500, Samsung M510, Sanyo SCP-7050, Sanyo M1, Sanyo SCP-8400, Sanyo MM-9000, Sanyo SCP-3200 and LG 550 (Fusic).
[AAA via Crunchgear]

My Roast:
Does it seem like everyone does directions and GPS nowadays? I mean, Live search does directions, Google search does it, Yahoo does it, and there are others that do this like like Telmap, who charges $12-15 per month. I'm just not quite sure what the unique value add each of these companies claim to have?? I can see the AAA value to current AAA members, but it just seems to me like each of these companies need to do a better job at segmenting their markets, and positioning their product to the right audience.

Something smells like wi-fi....

2007-08-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Makayama Pocket Wi-Fi Radar Software Now Available for Pocket PC
Now Makayama Pocket Wi-Fi Radar software is available for the Pocket PC platform, showing you exactly where those free Wi-Fi networks are. Formerly available just for Windows XP, this $14.95 software download shows you an animated radar screen that not only indicates exactly where the hotspots are, but it automates your connection to that network with almost no effort at all. In fact, you can walk around with it running, and as soon as it finds a spot it will link up automatically. Cool.
The software works with a long list of Wi-Fi-capable devices, as well as any Pocket PC model with a wireless add-in card, or if you want to use it on Windows XP, that version is free. Looks like it could be useful, not only for legitimate users looking for a Wi-Fi hookup, but for those who drive around suburban neighborhoods looking for a wide-open Wi-Fi network so they might "borrow" a bit of bandwidth—or worse. Keep that in mind if you're one who's currently comfortable with leaving your Wi-Fi router wide open. [Makayama Software]

My Roast:

I really dig this product. It's only a one time fee to use it, it will show you how far away wi-fi networks are, and will connect you to the free ones automatically too! What's not to love?

A new twist on an old idea

2007-08-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
Laser Keyboard Getting USB Update, Still Hard to Use

Remember those old Bluetooth laser keyboards from a few years back that projected a laser image on the desk that you could type on? Celluon's releasing a new version of that old device, but this time it's connected over USB instead of Bluetooth. Still compatible with Windows Mobiles, Palm OS, BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows 2000/XP/Vista though. Of course, you're still typing onto a desk without any kind of "give," which means painful fingers just like the old version. [AVING via Gearlog]

My Roast:

So this is old technology combined with a mini-USB twist huh? Still not too impressed.

Nokia to replace 46 million batteries... for no apparent reason

2007-08-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
46 Million Nokia Cellphone Batteries May Overheat, Cook Your Genitals, Buttocks

Nokia has announced today that 46 million of their batteries are at risk of overheating, offering to replace them free of charge. There is a chance that a short circuit could occur during charging, and apparently 100 cases have already been reported. The batteries in question were all made by Matsushita between December 2005 and November 2006, and are all of model number BL-5C. [Reuters]

My Roast:

After doing some more digging, I found out that the article written by Reuters was slightly off. According to my research, the batteries would tend to get hot and pop off. Wait a minute, you mean to tell me Nokia is willing to replace 46 million batteries for 100 popping batteries? BTW, there are no reported injuries or fires. Wow, this seems to be an expensive OOPSIE... but I think the jumping batteries are more funny and amusing than life threatening. You want to hear the % of naughty batteries that started this whole fiasco? Are you ready? 0.0002% of the batteries were faulty.

Heavens to Betsy, there's a new RAZR coming to town?

2007-08-16T15:51:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
The Full List of RAZR2 Carriers; Almost Everybody Gets in on the Fun
We've got exclusive word that the full list of carriers for the Motorola RAZR2 will be AT&T, Alltel, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. Only Sprint and Verizon have announced it so far, but look for the others to follow suit shortly. Motorola isn't messing around with iPhone-style marriage to one carrier; they want anyone to be able to get on board with their new flagship, just like they did with the original. So if you're waiting to get a fancy new haptic-touchscreen-featuring RAZR2, don't go canceling your contract to get one; you don't need to. Which model [V9 (3G HSDPA), V9m (3G EVDO CDMA) and V8 (GSM)] each carrier will get hasn't been announced yet.

Here's what Sprint said about their RAZR2:
(http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/sprint-launches-motorola-razr-2-288282.php)

Sprint Launches RAZR2 press release:

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Aug. 10, 2007 - Bringing the "third screen" of mobile video to two screens instead of just one, Sprint (NYSE: S) today announced plans to launch the latest Motorola handset, RAZR2 V9m with key features that make it stand out from the crowd. Sprint's RAZR2 V9m provides the ability to watch video on the external screen with the flip closed - a first for the U.S. wireless market.

Harnessing the speed of Sprint's Power VisionSM EVDO network, the RAZR2 will deliver exclusive access to multimedia content1 including:

· NFL Mobile, a Sprint-exclusive wireless application that brings fans access to same-day audio and video highlights, a live stream of NFL Network's broadcast, real-time statistics and scores, customizable team and player alerts, injury reports and other information updated every two seconds.

· Sprint Music StoreSM, powered by Groove Mobile, which allows users to browse and wirelessly download full-length songs directly to their phone from a selection of more than 1.6 million songs.

· Sprint TVSM with more than 50 channels of live television and on-demand video and audio including a comprehensive portfolio of ABC news and entertainment video programming from ABC Entertainment, ABC News and Disney Channel such as on-demand, full-length episodes of ABC programs, including the hit shows "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy," "Lost" and "Ugly Betty."

· Sprint Power View, the industry's first made-for-mobile sports and entertainment video programming network.

· Sprint Navigation, powered by TeleNav, providing full-feature GPS navigation including voice and on screen turn-by-turn driving directions with real-time traffic alerts and more than 10 million business listings.

(Standard data charges apply to all downloads from Sprint.)
"We are excited to pair our advanced multimedia capabilities and network speeds with this beautifully designed wireless phone," said John Garcia, senior vice president of product management and development for Sprint. "Customers will find Sprint's version of RAZR2 to offer exclusive video content that is both enjoyable and relevant. They will also appreciate that this device is the first clamshell in the industry to provide the option of watching video on both the internal or external display."

The design of RAZR2 has a sleeker, more sophisticated look and feel than its predecessor. At the core of RAZR2 is a stainless steel internal frame to help provide strength and durability. The large exterior lens is made with chemically hardened glass to be more scratch resistant.
Both the internal and external screens on the RAZR2 are significantly larger than the original RAZR- external is 2.0" and internal is 2.2" - with twice the resolution. The external display incorporates Motorola's breakthrough haptics technology, which provides users with vibrating feedback in response to their finger taps. This allows the user to effortlessly control their music, video and camera without opening the flip.

Additional features available on RAZR2 V9m by MOTOROLA include a 2.0 megapixel camera with digital flash and zoom and advanced stereo Bluetooth® wireless technology.2 The device will also offer OnDemandSM with customizable up-to-date sports, weather and news information, Sprint PCS® Picture Mail for sharing and printing digital pictures and Wireless Backup to quickly restore contact information if the device is ever lost or stolen.
The RAZR2 V9m by MOTOROLA will be available at www.sprint.com and by calling 1-800-SPRINT1 on Aug. 22. It will be in all Sprint retail outlets by Sept. 4. The device will cost $249 with a 2 year agreement (without any required rebate).

Customers purchasing RAZR2 V9m by MOTOROLA as a replacement for an existing mobile phone are encouraged to recycle their current phone, battery and accessories through Sprint Project Connect. One hundred percent of the net proceeds from Sprint Project Connect are used to help keep kids safer online through Sprint's 4NetSafetyprogram with partners that include the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the NEA Health Information Network. More information, including a free postage-paid mailing label, can be found at www.sprint.com/projectconnect.

My Roast:
Is it just me, or is the RAZR2 stlye-wise not much different than the original RAZR? I still think it's way cool, but Motorola is going to have to do something better than this to bring up their profits (which has been going down for the last year, from a high of almost $26 a share last September, to a current $16.06 at end of market today...all info thanks to my iPhone ;).

I think Motorola is trying to raise their profits by not making their handsets for just one carrier, like they did originally with AT&T and their first RAZR. Now, virtually the entire US market is able to buy their handsets, which should provide a short boost in their stock value, and provide the shareholders a much needed reprieve from losing any more money.

HTC walks into the ring with the goal to knock the Q9h out cold!

2007-08-16T15:45:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
HTC Iris FCC Approved, Looks Like a Moto Q
The HTC Iris, a Motorola Q-like Windows Mobile smartphone with a front face keyboard, has just been approved by the FCC. The phone has CDMA850/CDMA1900/1x-EVDO connectivity, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth, a 2.4-inch screen with QVGA resolution, 2-megapixel camera, GPS and runs Windows Mobile 6. It doesn't look like it's the high end of the HTC phones, but it does look like a nice alternative to the Moto Q/Treos. [Unwired View via Mobility Site]

My Roast:

Uh oh, looks like the guys at HTC have given the Q9h a tad bit of healthy competition! If the price is right, I think there could be a huge market for this device. We'll have to see what price point this bad boy comes in at...

It's been one day with the iPhone, and here is my scoop...

2007-08-16T14:59:00.000-07:00

The only thing I like more than male bonding, is iPhone bonding!

I know that you're going to look at that picture on the left and ask yourself "WTF!" But I don't care what you think about me... you know why? Because I'm in love... with an iPhone. It's been one day so far, and I think I've found my soulmate. She's quite thin, she does exactly what I ask her to do, she's polite, and other people just can't take their eyes off of her. She keeps me organized, makes me better, tells me what the weather is going to be tomorrow, organizes my music for me (even plays it for me when I ask her too), and......::tear::, everytime I look at her, I thank god that she put her in my life.

However, we have had our fair share of arguments. Although she is just about as wonderful as can be, the shallow side in me has found some flaws in her otherwise perfect exterior.

1. I was amazed to see that she was able to work with my Monster Cable car adapter so I can listen to her over the radio, but it put her in airplane mode as well... which made it so I can't pick up phone calls while listening to her in the car.

2. I love the pictures she takes, but she refuses to take video! WTF! This is 2007... and you can't take video? That's grounds for divorce!

3. While other people complain about the device being EDGE only, I've found her to still be pretty fast nonetheless. I mean, she downloaded some youtube videos for me, and loaded everything I wanted her to, just about as fast as my 8525 did. However, youtube brings me to my next point...

4. ... Youtube won't load on her! I'm stuck with only a few videos, and I'm getting sick of watching the Singing Tesla Electric Coil over, and over again.

5. She seems to have her mind stuck in Cupertino all the friggin time! She wants to tell me all about Cupertino California all the time, rather than what's here in Vancouver! If she like Cupertino so much, she should just move there and stop annoying me with her consistent reminders of where her head REALLY is.

6. When she checks my mail for me, it seems that it shows my mail as being read in my outlook mailbox... even if I didn't read it on her.

7. To sync calendars and contacts you have to actually plug her into my laptop, instead of OTA like my ex, and ultra sexy 8525.

8. Just to get her to do what I want her to do when it comes to what's in her brain, I have to fight with her for hours! My ex never did this to me... I could load whatever I wanted to on her, and edit attachments, etc. Take this for example: before she let me put my SIM in her, I had to spend hours convincing her that she just needed to get over Richard's SIM, and then Brian's SIM. She gets around.... I know, but I still love her even though she's been with my friends. Finally, after some gentle programming she felt comfortable enough to let me put my SIM in her slowly, yet firmly... just to make sure she could handle it without falling asleep on me.

9. I love it when she plays music for me. She even saves all of the album covers for me, and will let me flick through the different covers whenever I want. She's much better than her older sister (who isn't as smart as she is), the 30 gig iPod.

Other than that, she is wonderful. If only I was another iPhone, we could have iNtercour.......ahem, LOL.

AT&T's Inconvenient Truth

2007-08-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Huge AT&T iPhone Bills Destroy Resources, Break Postmen's Backs

According to Ars Technica, the AT&T's iPhone bills are a complete waste of paper and resources. They just noticed now with the iPhone, but the fact is that it's the same with any of their smartphones: the bills can go up to 52 double-sided pages and beyond. So yes, it's a total waste. Apparently, AT&T itemizes everything in the most stupidly detailed way:

For instance, I know that on July 27 at 3:21 p.m. I had some data use that, under the To/From heading, AT&T has helpfully listed as "Data Transfer." The Type of file? "Data." My total charge? $0.00.

Personally, I think it's great that they give all the detail they possibly can, but here's a free tip for the guys running the Death Star: send the bill with the short summary and provide all those details on-line (they do completely paperless billing, but you have to turn it on online. By default you will get the snail mail 10-ton bills). And while you are at it, create a special billing page optimized for the iPhone screen. That way, people would be able to check their usage and spending anywhere.

Really, The Steve is not going to be a happy bunny whe he learns about this, Randall. [Ars Technica]

My Roast:

I wonder if Al Gore has an iPhone? How ironic would that be! But in all seriousness, this is a huge issue. I did the math, and found the following:

Based on the initial iPhone estimate of 500,000 current owners, and each owner having an average of 52 pages a month, I've found that:

- They print 26,000,000 pages a month for their CURRENT USERS

- Since one ream equals 500 pages, and 1 ream is also 6% of a tree (16.65 reams to one tree), each month AT&T will print out 52,000 reams of paper and cut down 3,123.12 trees per month...JUST FOR THEIR CURRENT IPHONE USERS! If they end up hitting their goal of 10,000,000 iPhones, they will cut down 62,462.46 trees per month at the current rate of consumption.

Now I am convinced that global annihilation will start with the iPhone, and we need to stop this before it gets out of hand! One girl even had a 300 page bill, which cost AT&T $7 just to ship to her. Check here story out here: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/junk-in-a-box/the-madness-begins-with-a-300+page-att-bill-for-iphone-288887.php

iPhone recieves TOTAL UNLOCKING ANNIHILATION (Eat my shorts, Steve Jobs)

2007-08-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

iPhone 100% Unlocked Using Turbo SIM Card

According to the usual suspects, now you can 100%-unlock the iPhone using a Turbo SIM card, without depending on the version of your current carrier card. Testers say it will give you full calling, SMS and GPRS data capabilities with any network. You won't need extra hardware, since it only requires you to modify the $80 blank SIM using your own iPhone.

The hackers are claiming that this method doesn't use card readers and it doesn't depend on your previous card version either, so it doesn't matter if it is a V1, V2 or V3. All of them will work fine.

While the Turbo SIM-based method is not software-only, it seems simple and cheap enough for anyone to follow.

However, to save you any potential pain we will test it here as soon as we get our Turbo SIM cards —which are about to arrive. We will give you a full report on our results as soon as we try it. [Bladox Forums]

My Roast:

Whoa! An $80 SIM card? What's thing made of? Gold, Uranium....sudden inflation?? Anyways, I'd like to get my hands on this SIM card and test it on the iPhone with a T-Mo SIM, but I don't have $80 to shell on a Turbo SIM. Oh, and did I mention.... IT SEEMS TO BE SOLD OUT EVERYWHERE! I wonder if Steve gets headaches at night because of these hooligans, aka "My Heroes." I guess I'll just wait until the software version comes out... because most likely the software version will unlock far more than just the SIM portion of the iPhone. Perhaps it may even, gasp, make the iPhone open-source? We can only hope...

Sprint's first 4G WiMax Device (Hint: It's a Nokia...::crowd boos::...)

2007-08-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Nokia's N800 Tablet Confirmed as First Sprint WiMAX Device
Nokia will support Sprint's WiMAX network with an N800 tablet. The information comes from head of Open Source Ops Dr. Ari Jaaksi. On top of WiMAX, it'll retain Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. This is the device, BTW, that has been hacked to get Apple-like scrolling UIs and virtual keyboards. Pretty cool, but by the time the Sprint Network goes national, the N800 is going to be long in the tooth. [Linux Devices]

My Roast:

::Laughs nervously::, um....ahem.... I know I just dissed Nokia in my post heading, but....um....Nokia/Sprint, could you please give me one of these devices? I promise to demo it and give it a good rating, then rant on about how Motorola sucks more than you do! Fair trade?

Signals where you never had them before!

2007-08-15T14:57:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Save Our Signal: zBoost YX-510 Cellular Repeater Hands-On

I'm a mile from the giant antenna in San Francisco, Sutro Tower. But my phones never really get good reception here. This repeater can create a stronger signal in your apartment's most vacant cellular airspaces. It's not bad, but maybe is a little expensive. Then again, it's a lot cheaper than finding another apartment where the wireless feng shui is naturally better.
galleryPost('zboostrepeater', 4, 'ZBoost YX-510 Cellular Repeater');
ZBoost YX-510 Cellular Repeater

It's a dual band, in the PCS 1900 MHz and Cellular 800 MHz bands, which covers signals of EVDO, HSDPA, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon flavors in the US. It grabs a decent signal inside or outside a window, or even better, on a roof, using a big antenna. The repeater connects to the antenna by a long piece of coax, and boosts a signal by up to 55DB. Doing a shitty install, I measured a real world gain of 10-15dB, using the iPhone's field test mode. That's good enough to clear up calls and reduce dropped connections in the ultra dead cellular zone I call my office. Not bad for $350, and now I don't have to leave my desk to take calls.
[RepeaterStore][Advice by Richard Baguley of WirelessInfo.com]

My Roast:
Where the hell was this product when I was slinging phones back in the day? This could've saved about a million sales, because it seemed all I got were people out in the boonies who were always on the edge of coverage, or had no credit. Now if there was only a way to automatically give people an 850 credit score.... I would've been rich (as long as no one caught on within 6 months, and shut them down).

AT&T is a shameful RED ORGANIZATION!!!!

2007-08-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
AT&T Censors Pearl Jam's Anti-Bush Lyrics During Live Webcast
AT&T did a live stream of Lollapalooza in their Blue Room broadband portal, and apparently, during Pearl Jam's set (Pearl Jam? Lollapalooza? What is this, 1992?), they censored some anti-Bush lyrics from their songs. Boy, that sure is great to see, isn't it? Thanks for deciding what we should and shouldn't see, AT&T. You're really trying to live up to that "worst company around" title, aren't you? Pearl Jam issued a really articulate statement on the subject via their website that we happen to agree with wholeheartedly. [Update: AT&T responds, stating that an outsourced company was the culprit. Statement included after Pearl Jam's.]

This, of course, troubles us as artists but also as citizens concerned with the issue of censorship and the increasingly consolidated control of the media.

AT&T's actions strike at the heart of the public's concerns over the power that corporations have when it comes to determining what the public sees and hears through communications media.

Aspects of censorship, consolidation, and preferential treatment of the internet are now being debated under the umbrella of "NetNeutrality." Check out The Future of Music or Save the Internet for more information on this issue.
Most telecommunications companies oppose "net neutrality" and argue that the public can trust them not to censor..

Even the ex-head of AT&T, CEO Edward Whitacre, whose company sponsored our troubled webcast, stated just last March that fears his company and other big network providers would block traffic on their networks are overblown..

"Any provider that blocks access to content is inviting customers to find another provider." (Marguerite Reardon, Staff Writer, CNET News.com Published: March 21, 2006, 2:23 PM PST).

But what if there is only one provider from which to choose?

If a company that is controlling a webcast is cutting out bits of our performance—not based on laws, but on their own preferences and interpretations —fans have little choice but to watch the censored version.

What happened to us this weekend was a wake-up call, and it's about something much bigger than the censorship of a rock band.Couldn't have said it better ourselves. AT&T responded, however, and claimed that it was the work of an outsourced company editing the feed for profanity and was a mistake. If that's the case, this is less of a big deal than initially reported.

"The editing of the Pearl Jam performance on Sunday night was not intended, but rather a mistake by a webcast vendor and contrary to our policy. We have policies in place with respect to editing excessive profanity, but AT&T does not edit or censor performances. We have that policy in place because the blue room is not age-restricted.

We regret the mistake and are trying to work with the band to post the song in its entirety." [Pearl Jam via Broadband Reports]

My Roast:

Why edit anti bush material? When you begin to censor what your subscribers will and will not see, what changes you from Communist China? We are a free nation, and our forefathers founded our country based on the beliefs of freedom, which includes religion, speech, and the ability to make money in any legal way we'd like. I know that AT&T is built upon the ideals of making money and satisying shareholders (Bush may be a shareholder of AT&T, or may have accepted campaign donations from AT&T), but because you own the pipeline does not mean that you have the right to block the content that people hear. Music is an art form, and what you just did was put pants on the statue of David, or finger painted a smily face on the Mona Lisa.... it's a travesty, and AT&T should be ashamed of themselves.

You might be saying "why is he ripping AT&T a new one when they claim that it was A VENDOR that edited the content?" Because AT&T is lying to you! Check out: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/agendas/att-may-have-censored-bands-political-speech-in-the-past-288236.php. They've also edited political content from The Flaming Lips, and John Butler! So don't trust the big blue orb. They're here to take your wallets, your identity, and your brain.

A phone that physically changes shape... why can't I do this to myself instead of work out?

2007-08-14T16:07:00.001-07:00

The Buzz:
Haptic Phone Design Has Physical Buttons Occasionally
The iPhone may have a dynamic UI that changes to suit whatever program's currently running, but it doesn't physically change. This All in One haptics phone designed by Lukas Koh does (on paper), and creates raised buttons depending on what mode you're currently in. Example: phone mode has the dial pad, and text entry mode presumably has a keyboard. Looks great, but impossible to make. [Yanko Design]

My Roast:

This is sooooo cool. Why try to design the phone around the functions you want, when you can design a phone that will focus on specific functions based on what you want it to do?!? It's a brilliant idea, but I agree that it would be nearly impossible to build this device, make it cheap enough to market to the general public, and make it small enough while having sufficient solenoids to push up specific buttons based on the function you want it to do. Back to the drawing board...

HTC Nike, like a Touch with some extra junk in the trunk

2007-08-14T15:50:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
HTC Nike Touchscreen Slider
This HTC Nike (P5500) Windows Mobile 6 smartphone found in HTC's roadmap looks almost exactly like the HTC Touch we reviewed before, except it has a slide-out numpad. Our thoughts? Genius. One of the big complaints about the Touch was the fact that you could only use the onscreen keyboard to dial. And as you know, the Windows Mobile on-screen keyboard isn't so great.

The preliminary specs for this are a 2-megapixel camera, GPS, HSDPA/UMTS and a touchscreen (obviously). That GPS does sound pretty great, and if they can cram all of that into something only slightly bigger than the HTC Touch, this could be a pretty great phone. [Unwired View]

My Roast:

Can you feel the synergy? I mean, c'mon, how can Nike NOT want to do some sort of a co-op marketing campaign with this phone? Not only is it uber rad, but it's stylish looking, and it's more than capable enough to handle any fitness related 3rd party apps Nike may want to create for this device. Will they do it though.... probably not. Nike is too far up Apple's behind to think about developing anything with Microsoft, because they're already heavily invested in iPod fitness software, and since Apple and Microsoft are mortal enemies, there is no chance in hell that Nike is willing to jeopardize their existing partnership with Apple for obvious strategic and political reasons. Oh well, if only we all got along.....

ITC Continues Ban on Qualcomm 3G Chips, Qualcomm continues to appeal

2007-08-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

Nokia Prism announced, and proves that Nokia Execs are smoking crack

2007-08-14T15:37:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
Nokia Prism Line Is Official, Still Goofy Looking

I don't know how carving a bunch of geometric lines in a phone helps a company "tap into the cultural zeitgeist," but that's what Nokia is claiming their now-official line of Prism phones does. The lower-end 7500 is your basic multimedia phone complete with music player

(MP3/AAC/WMA), 2-megapixel camera and Opera Mini for web browsing via EGPRS/GPRS. The 7900 improves on its predecessor by offering dual band 3G/quad band GSM, a 2-inch OLED screen with "living wallpaper" that morphs based on your usage pattern and 1GB of internal storage. If mounds of triangles do it for you, you should be able to snag a 7500 for about $290 or a 7900 for $550. [Nokia Prism Collection via CrunchGear]

My Roast:

Dude, what are they smoking? $550 for this thing? ::Shrugs::, I'd rather buy an iPhone nano for less!

Cellphone Politeness Software

2007-08-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Bastard Cellphones to be Taught a Thing or Two About Manners
Cellphones are impolite, whiny little bitches lurking in your pocket, lying in wait to interrupt you no matter what you're doing. That's why researchers at Intel Labs Seattle are trying to teach them some manners, creating software that turns the dumbass machines into politenessPhones that can avoid interrupting your real-world conversations with their obnoxious ring tones and insistent vibrations.

The phones get their politeness from actually listening to what you're saying. While this sounds like some sinister government eavesdropping scheme, the researchers are teaching the phones to recognize conversations while still being so dumb that they can't understand any of the words you say. Just like dogs, the phones will be able to determine the situation and your mood at any given moment. Then they'll be able to tell if a phone call would be intrusive or not.

The researchers plan to present the tech at a conference later this month. They're saying it'll be "fairly straightforward" to place this dumb eavesdropping software into a cellphone, finally injecting a healthy dose of situational awareness into those annoying little devices. It's about time. What remains to be seen is the public's willingness to carry around a device that's been trained to eavesdrop on their every conversation. [Technology Review]

My Roast:

I wonder if there is any way that we can secretly load this software on Brian's phone, and also if it can detect if Kim would be pissed at Brian's cellphone screaming something obnoxious like the "Hello Moto" Motorola ringtone? I just am trying to figure out how the software can detect your mood? Is it word driven... for example "I am so f@#$*%&g pissed right now," or sound driven... "I AM SO F@#$%^&G PISSED RIGHT NOW!!!!!" Either way, I think it's a brilliant idea that needs to be implemented globally.

An RCR New's writer's Analyst review on the 700 MHz auction

2007-08-09T15:59:00.000-07:00

Triple touchscreen phone with no buttons

2007-08-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
ActFace Concept Cell Has Looks, 3 Touchscreens
This is the ActFace Japanese cell phone concept from au by KDDI. It laughs in the face of the iPhone and its single touchscreen - with not one, not two, but three, and no visible traditional buttons. There's a video of the two front screens showing some impressive animation after the jump.

Although it may seem like an unlikely concept, if it's going to happen anywhere then it's going to happen in Japan. [Just Another Mobile Phone Blog]

My Roast:

After watching the video of this thing, my only reponse is......

MUST......HAVE.........THIS.......PHONE.........WILL......KILL........FOR.......THIS........PHONE........

...Whoa, what just happened? I need to stop mixing my coffee with PCP!

Want to know which carrier has the best coverage where you live? Now you know!

2007-08-09T13:02:00.000-07:00

SignalMap Compares Cellphone Reception Signal Where You Live
Signalmap is a neat webapp that lets you punch in your zip code and your cellphone provider and see how the reception is where you live. Not only can you use it to gauge where the best place is to make your call, you can compare the four big providers so you can see which one is best suited for you (based on your home and work location). Of course, the signals are all user-contributed, so there's no guarantee that providers themselves haven't gone and flooded the site with slightly higher than usual signal ratings. [Signalmap]

HTC Advantage....$1200......$849......sold!

2007-08-09T12:49:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
HTC Advantage Available Now For $899

The HTC Advantage, HTC's not a girl, not yet a woman smartphone/umpc hybrid is available now. You can pick one up on Amazon and CompUSA for $899, and take it wherever people don't stare at you funny for using a big phone with a keyboard. The specs, to refresh:

• Windows Mobile 6

• 5-inch VGA touchscreen display

• 8GB hard drive, 256MB ROM, 128MB RAM

• Quad-band GSM and HSDPA

• Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi

• MiniSD Slot

• HTC VueFLO navigation

• 3-megapixel camera• GPS

• 3.5mm audio jack

It's a weird no-man's land of a device since it's got a bunch of phone features and runs Windows Mobile 6, the smartphone OS, but has a big keyboard and doesn't fit well into your pocket. It's supposedly a laptop replacement if you don't have a laptop handy, but we'll have to try it out ourselves to see if we can replace ours.

It also won't be carried on either Cingular or T-Mobile, our two GSM carriers, officially. But that means you can take it to either one, since it comes to you unlocked. Grab it now for a reduced $849 on Amazon. Unless you're like 12% of the people who visited the page, then you'll buy Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. [Amazon]

My Roast:

I'm sorry, but I really like this device. It's ridiculously expensive, but it's still getting much better than the $1200 it started at when it launched on HTC's website. Unfortunately neither US GSM carrier is taking this device into their stores, but I still want one badly. One thing that shocked me, was that is comes with WM6 standard not professional.... at this price, why?

I may be slightly jaded because I have a love for garish, extremely complex devices that I have no use for. Regardless, all of you need to buy an iPhone and this bad boy at the same time. I know the # of the kidney selling location by heart if you need it...

Have you ever wanted to see the OpenMoko developer kit?

2007-08-09T12:30:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
OpenMoko Developer Preview Kit Unboxing: Wow, That's a Lot of Stuff
Someone got their OpenMoko Neo Advanced developer preview phone kit in the mail, so naturally the first thing they did was throw the Christmas-in-August pictures up on the net. That "Hi, I might contain a portable nuke" case is indeed packed to the gills. But for $450, it should be. [digg]

My Roast:

If you're not familiar with Open Moko, this is a revolutionary new phone that is Much like Windows Mobile in the fact that you have the ability write any sort of software application for your device. This little bad boy is completely unlocked, completely open to anything you throw at it, and won't restrict any of your software programs. The whole idea about this device, taken from the openmoko website, is that they want you to become so synonymous with your phone that you won't even realize how important it is to your lifestyle. They want it to seamlessly weave into the fabric of your existence, and basically become an extension of your mind and soul. Geebus, I don't want to see what happens to some unluckly OpenMoko customer that loses their device...

Another method of unlocking the iPhone without SIM abuse

2007-08-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Hackers Extract Main Key to iPhone Unlocking, Freedom Closer than Ever
After uncovering its communications core's secrets, today hackers have reached a big milestone towards freeing the iPhone from the AT&T network: they extracted the full content of the radio memory. In other words: now they have the plans for the f@#$%&g Death Star —"the main key to achieve true unlock." Want to help the iPhone Dev Team but you are no expert? Keep reading.

We hope you'll all enjoy this important step and we of course welcome any donations to encourage or to help us achieving the final goal. Please be assured that any donations are wisely spent, otherwise you can slap us.

iPhone Dev Team, we like. If you do too, please send them your donations using PayPal. I don't care if they spend mine on pizza as soon as they unlock the phone. Their PayPal address is iphone.donations(at)gmail.com.

If you are a programming expert you can also help them. They have released the tool to get your own NOR memory dump, called NORDumper.tar.bz2. Get it from here. And to to the iPhone IRC channel to learn more about it.

We are pleased to announce that another big milestone toward the unlocking has been reached.
Just a couple of days ago we managed to extract the full content of the NOR memory (from the S-Gold2), which is the main key to achieving a true unlock. Releasing this dump would be of course illegal and risky, as it contains personal information and copyrighted code. That said, we're going to release the NOR Dumper binary to enable everyone else to continue working on the iPhone's unlocking. We'll release the source code at a later date when we feel it is mature enough to do so.We hope you'll all enjoy this important step and we of course welcome any donations to encourage or to help us achieving the final goal. Please be assured that any donations are wisely spent, otherwise you can slap us :P

DOWNLOAD: http://www.deadbeef.cn/NORDumper.tar.bz2
To run this, copy it to /usr/bin and set the executable flag with chmod.add Disabled to /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.CommCenter.plist and reboot.run: NORDumper dump.bin
Stay tuned, -- the dev team

My Roast:

Apple.....AT&T.... give it up. The human spirit and the ability to not have a life will prevail and unlock your little silly phone.

Those silly Hackintoshers have found a way to REALLY unlock the iPhone

2007-08-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
iPhone Unlocked for $96 with Forged SIM, Tested in Europe
While the wizards are still working on a software-only complete unlock for the iPhone, hackers in Europe claim that they have completely unlocked the JesusPhone, allegedly using a SIM reader/writer and a blank SIM card to obtain full calling and SMS capabilities. Total cost: $96. Read on for the details.

While we haven't been able to test this ourselves—our SIM card reader and blank SIM cards are now on transit and should be here tomorrow— a Hackintosh forum member has been able to test the hack in the Orange UK network.

Just tested it - works fine with Orange UK - Call In/Out, SMS In/Out. Great job to everyone who made this possible (specially to the guy that edited the Hex file).
I used the subscriber ICCID, so maybe is best to edit the tutorial - activation shouldbe the last step.

My thoughts on safety of using this: If so called 'Total Unlock' is released, it will be probably patching of the baseband firmware to do a similar thing. So no worry about alerting the network, the trick seems to fool only the good/bad guy check in the baseband firmware.

While the other software-based solution will be free, if the SIM forgery works those $96 seems like a very low price to buy an iPhone and have it working in your network. Even more when the Infinity USB Unlimited only costs $88+shipping and its cost can be shared about many people. The blank SIM cards only cost $8.27+shipping.

We will publish our results as soon as we get our new gear. [Hackintosh Forums]

My Roast:

So it appears my plan of unlocking the iPhone has been foiled by the crazy Hackintosh people. Acter doing some more research into this, it turns out Gizmodo has actually attempted doing this already and had some issues with newer SIMs. So basically, you have to buy a SIM rewriter and rewrite your T-mobile, Vodaphone, etc. SIM onto a blank SIM and then it will work with the iPhone.

This makes sense for T-mobile customers, and Europeans. However, the iPhone is launching soon in Europe anyways... in which it will come in unlocked form since the EU has laws against locking phones. So it appears some intense Europeans need their iPhone fix a month sooner.

Why do the Koreans get to have all the fun?

2007-08-08T15:53:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
LG's KC1 Smartphone has 4G WiMax/WiBro, Mobile TV, Lots of A/V

If you need another reminder of how far ahead Korea is in the cellphone space compared to us, here's the LG KC1. It's got WiBro support, which is 4G and lets the phone get Wi-Fi speeds pretty much anywhere. The fast speeds allow the phone to do stuff like remote PC control, streaming videos, video calls and other ridiculously high-bandwidth apps that you could only do over Wi-Fi before.

As for features, it's got DMB for live TV, a 2-megapixel camera, 512MB flash, an audio/video player, microSD slot and the front camera for 3G video calling. Even though it's running Windows Mobile 5, this is still a phone we'd happily trade in most other phones for (provided we have the WiMAX/WiBro access to back it up). [Akihabaranews via Electronista]

My Roast:

Check this ish out.... it has WM5? WTF? So you go ahead and have it on the most advanced wireless network in the world..... 4G..... and you put an older OS on it? C'mon Korea, get with the program, WM6 is the new big deal. You're soooooooooooo 2006, LG. I mean, like, you know, like, what I'm, like, trying to say, like, right?

But seriously, once the US is done with 3G and on to 4G (which should be like in 3010...unless Google nabs the 700 mhz auction or you're on Sprint's network once they launch WiMax)), I really hope they bring this phone to the US. If so, it would most likely go to Sprint (since Korea is also CDMA), or Verizon.... most likely Sprint because they're the ones developing the WiMax network. Could this phone be to Sprint what the iPhone and the RAZR were to AT&T?

Whoa, check these new WM6 devices in development by Gresso!

2007-08-08T15:47:00.000-07:00

Gresso Ltd. Debuts Avantgarde Collection of Hoity-Toity Cellphones
At first we were wondering if the mysterious Russian company Gresso Ltd. even existed, but now those Russkis are showing off a line of fancy-schmancy Windows Mobile 6-packing cellphones it calls the Avantgarde Collection, all gussied up in African blackwood and titanium. The Avantgarde Sol, the pretty little bauble pictured above, has a sapphire crystal display up front, and looks to be a similar design to that luxury phone Gresso announced last November. And hey, looky there, the keyboard is made out of real gold. There's another model in this collection, too, called Luna.

Its design is almost the same as its Sol brother, but instead of that gold-spangled keypad, its numbers are of the less-exotic laser-etched variety, trying to impress those denizens of the latter-day Roman Empire with Roman numerals instead of those old-fashioned Arabic characters. Nobody's saying anything about pricing, but to give you an idea, the company was selling an 18-karat gold-encrusted MP3 player for around $6,500. Wonder if they also plan to ship zircon-encrusted tweezers. Available in the fourth quarter of this year, these Avantgarde phones should be some seriously expensive candy bars. [Sybarites]

Press Release:
New standard in Luxury.
Gresso is presenting a new collection - «Avantgarde», the intellectual mobile phone made of Gold and African Blackwood. The case of Gresso Avantgarde is manually manufactured and fastened with Gold screws.

The name of the new Gresso «Avantgarde» is derived from the French «avant-garde», which means «to be ahead of the time». This collection is an excellent illustration of the Gresso values: a quest always to push the limits further in pursuit of excellence, as well as the necessity to apply the latest technology.

It is this blend of innovative technologies, rare materials and exclusive design that makes Gresso Avantgarde truly unique.

Technology. New intelligent solutions.
Gresso Avantgarde is powered by the Gresso operating system based on the new Windows Mobile 6 Standard. It provides quick and easy access to the most frequently used applications.
TFT display of the phone supports up to 65? colors (320*240 pixels). Built-in 2 megapixel camera.

The mobile phone has all the functions that today's mobile consumers demand. It supports Outlook, Pocket MSN, EMS/MMS/SMS, Bluetooth, synchronization with the PC. The organizer will help to plan working day, there is a calculator, a MP3-player.
All these and many other opportunities are completed with ultraslim design. Thickness of the case executed of African Blackwood is only 14 mm.
Materials. Attention to detail.

The Avantgarde collection is made of African Blackwood, which age is more than 200 years. Two identical phones do not exist, as well as in the nature there are no two identical trees.
Gresso has paid particular attention to detail.
Sapphire crystal glass of 42 K frames the screen. A special feature is the keyboard with Roman numerals. This is also an innovation by Gresso. No phone had ever been designed this way.
Figures and letters of the keyboard are cut out by the laser. Moreover, the keyboard has special, scratch-resistant titanic covering, that has been developed and patented by Gresso company.

The back cover of the phone is executed of stainless steel with a titanic covering and hand polished to a mirror shine. This covering offers protection against scratches and is very durable.
Another technical feat of accomplishment is the magnetic lock of the battery cover, for the first time realized in mobile phone. This constitutes a double advantage, at once both an improvement in the reliability of fastening and in its ease of use.
The back panel of the device is decorated with Gresso logo executed of Gold.
World premiere.

The Avantgarde Collection will come in two models: Luna and Sol.
Gresso Avantgarde Luna. Flat keyboard. Navigation key is executed of Gold. The front panel is embellished by a triangle inset of Gold - one of the special aspects of all Gresso mobile phones.
Avantgarde Sol. Every function key is made of Gold using ultra-precision turning technology. This technology, unique for the jewellery industry, ensures a superlative degree of precision of each detail. A triangle inset of Gold on the front panel.

The Avantgarde Collection will be launched in the fourth quarter 2007.

Am I the only one that thinks these are uber rad?

2007-08-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Everyone Looks Cool in Sunglasses

ETS Motorola S71 Headphone Sunglasses
If you own a Bluetooth headset but aren't happy with how ridiculous you look wearing it, then these may be for you. The ETS Motorola S71 is a combination pair of sunglasses/headphones/Bluetooth headset/opposite sex repellent. The device, which is apparently also known as the O ROKR Pro, has buttons on the frame which let you control a music player. It can charge over an optional USB cable, and there is no word on price or launch date yet. I'm hoping for too much, and never. [Mobile Whack]

My Roast:

Ed, I finally am in favor of one of your new product offerings! Good job, way to go! But am I the only person in the world that likes these? I mean, they look a lot like the Ray Bans used in "Men in Black," or that one movie with Tom Cruise in it, in which he slides around in his undies, wrecks a Porsche, and hooks up with a hooke......... nevermind.

Anyways, I already love the idea of the stereo bluetooth headset in general, and I also thought the RAZRwires were cool too. I think the S7 headset is super cool, but you'd think that if you combine them with some sweet sunglasses then it'd be an instant hit. I could see Motorola partnering with Oakley, maybe combining with Oakley's MP3 glasses? One thing I know for sure, I could sure use some Bluetooth Aviators, fo sho. I need some stunna's, if you know what I'm sezz-ing.

Sidekick 4 gets by the FCC

2007-08-08T15:33:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Sidekick 4/LX/Shuriken Gets FCC'd
The rumored Sidekick LX, otherwise known as the Sidekick 4, has been as hidden and stealthy as a ninja, but now it's been outed by the FCC. There aren't more details or images, but supposedly is a Sharp device (like the 3), has Danger OS v4.4, a 400 x 208 pixel screen, EDGE, and a bigger battery.

But all that info comes by way of forums and leaked docs, so who knows what the final will look like. The FCC docs do mean it's real, however. And hiptop3.com believes the phone will come in October. [FCC via Hiptop3]

My Roast:

Did you know the Sidekick was made by Sharp?? I had no freaking idea! You know, thinking about this phone got me wondering when T-mobile is going to finally develop their national 3G network using the licenses they won in the frequency auction like a year ago. Perhaps the Sidekick 18 will finally have 3G!

Sweet o2 phone (figures it won't come to America)

2007-08-08T15:24:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
O2 Cocoon Designer Cellphone Unboxing

Swedish gadget blog Fosfor got their hands on the svelte O2 Cocoon phone, and were gracious enough to produce an unboxing gallery. Not only is the phone simple and elegant, but so is its packaging. We're big fans of this newcomer, from its clean lines to the incorporation of a hidden LED display. Hopefully this will spur some better design into the industry. [Fosfor]

My Roast:

I really dig this phone. I think perhaps Motorola should buy the rights to this phone and potentially sell this phone in the US... it looks like a thriller. Knock knock, Ed Zander! Nuff said.

A Windows Vista/Windows Mobile Pseudo iPhone??

2007-08-08T15:11:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Meizu M8 Phone Shipping 8GB First, Gets $70 Price Increase
Meizu's CEO let everyone know (via a forum posting, no less) that their first Meizu M8 MiniOne version will be the 8GB mode, and it will ship for about $400. That's a $70 increase from the previous price data, but is much better than the totally off figures we saw last month. Good news, other models with 3G/3.5G support will come in the second phase of releases.
Specs:
• ARM11 667MHz CPU

• 128MB DDR SDRAM

• GSM + EDGE• Windows CE 6.0

• 3.4-inch display (720x480 resolution)

• 1400mAH battery

• Wi-Fi

• TV Out

• USB 2.0

• USB Host mode

• H263/264 MPEG2 MPEG4 WMV RM RMVB code support
[Meizu via Meizume]

My Roast:

Perhaps my iPhone unlocking talent is no longer so cool. To be honest, I'd rather have this phone over the iPhone because:

a) it's hella cheaper

b) it runs off of windows mobile 6... a funny looking version though (but I'm already used to the windows mobile OS to this is far less a jump than the iPhone apple interface)

c) I dig the vista-like widgets

I reeeeeally hope this goes to the US. Will AT&T ever take it into their stores? Hell no, it would compete with the iPhone way too much. Thus, the only way us Windows Mobile/iPhone lovers will be able to combine our two favorite phones, it to buy it from a third party dealer... our of contract with no handset subsidies. :(

Texting while driving? Well.... I may be guilty.

2007-08-08T14:50:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

89% of Americans Want Texting While Driving Outlawed

According to a 2,049-person poll, demographically weighted proportionally to the US, 89% of adults think that text messenging while driving is "distracting, dangerous and should be outlawed." So how many of those polled text and drive anyway?
66%

So is this a situation of "we know it's for our own good," or, "those other people can't text while driving, but my super multitasking powers make it safe for me"?
I'm guilty of the non-crime. And yes, it's because I believe myself to have heightened (some may say spider-like) reflexes. Should it be banned? Probably. [prnews]

My Roast:

You know what, I think America finally has it right. Not only is texting while doing ANYTHING else very dangerous, but txting while driving should be punishable only by death. I thought it was funny that they claimed their poll was "demographically proportionate" to the rest of the US, yet they only polled 2,000 something people.

So do I text while driving? Guilty as charged. I know it's also not very safe either, but sometimes you gotta text immediately, and it just can't wait... like "I'm so hungry.", or "see u l8r, alligator!" Regardless, based on the amount of almost-accidents I've gotten into because of my horrible texting-while-driving skills, this is a great idea. I believe in the state of Washington they alreayd have something like this in place... with the law against driving without a handsfree set already being semi-enforced.

How I hacked, cracked, and smacked the iPhone

2007-08-08T13:28:00.000-07:00

It's been quite some time since the last time I posted (like 4 business days... forever in the blogging world), but there's been a lot of movement in the wireless scene since then. I will proceed with a good 18-20 posts (hopefully today), so grab some joe, buzz up, and stick with me until I'm done with my mindless rants and raves.

OK, first off I'd like to say that I HAVE SUCCESSFFULLY UNLOCKED THE IPHONE! Well, not in the conventional SIM unlock sense, but I was able to actually unlock it from the AT&T SIM that we activated it on, and moved it over to Brian's Cingular SIM. How did I do it? Well, I will try to tell you as much without giving away the secret (since I sell this information to those who are willing to pay towards the "Casey needs an iPhone fund.").

First off, I used software called "Jailbreak" to unlock the system registry on the iPhone so that I have the ability to load any program onto the iPhone. Then I deactivated the phone (that was scary) using another piece of software which I have conveniently forgotten ;). Finally I used software called iAsign to simulate an iPhone activation using a Cingular SIM, and the end result is that I SIM unlokced it from the AT&T SIM, and relocked it onto the Cingular SIM.

Any side effects? Well, visual voicemail won't work anymore- but besides that everything is still gravy. My suspicions are that it would still work if I unlocked it to another newer AT&T SIM... but I haven't tested that yet.

There are some hackintosh and iPhone dev team hackers trying to FULLY unlock the phone so you can use it on T-mobile, vodaphone, etc, so I will keep you posted on that. However, it looks like they will be able to work it out within the next few months, so keep your fingers crossed.

Now, all you have to do is go out and buy yourselves an iPhone so I can take your money... :)

The FCC votes one of the rules off the island in 700 mhz battle

2007-07-31T15:39:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

FCC Defines 700 MHz Rules
Today, 12:28 PM source: Associated Press (via http://www.phonescoop.com/)
The FCC today voted on rules for use of the 700 MHz spectrum which will come up for auction next year. Early reports from the meeting indicate Chairman Kevin Martin's proposal for open access will be a condition on about one-third of the lots - winners of those airwaves will have to allow any non-threatening devices and software to run on their networks. The FCC did not approve Google's request that winners be forced to sell access to their networks on a wholesale basis.

My Roast:

Honestly, this infuriates me. I am happy that they sanctioned 22 mhz of the 60 mhz they were auctioning off to be open networks for whoever wins, but the most crucial part to benefitting the consumer is the selling of network space at whoesale rates. Without this, if Google isn't the one that wins the auction then whoever does can basically build out the network and keep it to themselves for their own purposes, rather than sharing the "beachfront" spectrum. Already established networks have far more reasons to bid up to the house to buying this network, because they've already got the towers and infrastructure built up. So a new comer like Google will face much more opposition at the bidding table, and the incumbents may win this one. I predict that the winner of th 700 mhz auction will basically be the next and only major media controller in the next few decades.

Basically, this means that the price for the rights to the 700 mhz spectrum will go sky high (good for the government, but bad for Google). However, Google still does have a fighting chance, because if they win they can decide to sell at wholesale (rather than be forced by the FCC to sell at wholesale like Google wanted), which means that they can buy the rights and sell them off to other established networks at fair price (or even free provided that they force the end customer to be blasted by Google ads). This way they can control the spectrum and send out their message without having to build a single tower... which is what they will have to do if the bidding goes too high.

Let's just cross our fingers for Google, alright?

Got WM6 and Mac? I've got your fix here...

2007-07-31T15:33:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Missing Sync V4 Released, Supports Windows Mobile 6

Windows Mobile owners who own Macs will be familiar with Missing Sync, the app that lets you sync your smartphone to OS X's Calendar and iCal (among other things). The latest version is available, and brings support for newer phones and phones running Windows Mobile 6. Other new features are a video plug-in for video importing and call log/SMS log importing to grab the call list/SMS list from your phone onto your computer. If you've got a WM phone and a Mac, you need to get this. [MarkSpace via MacWorld]

Amp'd customers left Screw'd

2007-07-31T15:25:00.001-07:00

The Buzz:
Amp'd Handsets Die Tonight; Prexar Mobile Offers Questionable Shelter
Amp'd customers left with dead handsets after the company's death can take their handsets over at Prexar Mobile. GOOD IDEA: move from one relatively unstable carrier to an even more unknown one. At least they won't make you sign another contract. Lame Bonus: You get 100 text messages for free for the first month. [Prexar via IW]

My roast:

Darn Diddly-Arn you Amp'd mobile, and you too Prexar for buying the rights to those poor customers. I thought AT&T wireless rebranding to Cingular, rebranding back to AT&T was bad enough. But nowhere near as bad as losing your wireless company and then being bought out by some unknown company after you've already had to deal with trying to find a new carrier. So Peter Adderton, I hope you get an uncurable athlete's foot for the rest of your life, consistenly feeling the need to itch all day long with never fully satisying the itch for what you've do to these customers. And I also hope you get the gonoherpesyphiclap. That is all.

Now you can be one step closer to being Dick Tracy!

2007-07-31T15:15:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Cect Cellphone Watch From China Has Bluetooth, MP3, MP4 and FM Radio

The M500 GSM Watch from Australia isn't your only cellphone watch option now with the Cect Mobile watch from China. It's got a semi-decently large LCD, six hardware buttons, GSM support, Bluetooth, MP3, MP4, FM radio and a headset jack. No pricing yet, but it does come in all sorts of colors. [Phone Daily via Slashphone]

My Roast:
See, I must be in the minority being only 21, and loving to wear watches. I honestly feel naked without one. Now, I can wear a watch and talk inconspicuously into my wrist while trying to impress a young lady with my bulging guns. Either that, or I can talk into my watch while young ladies see me talking into my watch, wondering what crack I was smoking to think my watch actually makes phone calls. Unfortunately by the time I'd walk over to them and show them that I am an average guy with an uber exclusive watch, they'd already maced me and left me in a spicy and sweaty mess in a fetal position on the floor. So please Cect, don't ever send me one of these to test alright?

Hello Moto, you've got new phones!

2007-07-31T15:07:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
Launch Dates for Motorola RAZR 2 and Q9, More

Every once in a while the so-called Boy Genius actually nails a rumor or two, so we couldn't help but pass this one along: He's soothsaying now that the Motorola RAZR 2 V9 and Motorola Q9 will be rolling out on AT&T on August 24. He also has a bit of (possible) intelligence about some other phones, too.
Boy Genius also hears that the Pantech C810 will debut on September 9, while the Blackberry 8820 might be seen on August 13 or 14. He's also pegging the AT&T-branded SMT5700 QWERTY smartphone as seeing the light of day on either August 24 or August 28. Of course, these dates are all unconfirmed, speculative, rumor-esque, scuttlebutt. [Boy Genius Report]

My Roast:

Why doesn't Motorola actually focus money on new revolutionary phones much like with their RAZR line, instead of just making phones that are basically rebadged RAZR's. C'mon, look at this thing... is it just me or does it look almost identical to a RAZR 1? Face it Motorola, you're going to have to put more than just perfume on a pig to rid the stench from your lowering stock prices. You were the first to market when it came to a wireless phone, then the RAZR too. But now your overpaid engineers and designers aren't doing jack and you need some fresh phones to change it up. Honestly, what kind of a product lineup is the RAZR2, and Q2? It may have worked for the sidekick, but not for you.

When it comes to the talk of the SMT 5700 (or budget Amoi WM5 smartphone), now that is exciting! A new manufacturer in the US offering a great phone at a great value...

Get your Treo 750 WM6 updates here!

2007-07-30T14:31:00.001-07:00

AT&T Windows Mobile 6 ROM For Palm Treo 750

If you've been waiting to update your Palm Treo 750 to Windows Mobile 6 becuase you didn't want the possible instability of a third-party ROM, you're in luck. The official AT&T WM6 ROM has been leaked, and you can download it now. And since this is the "official" ROM, it probably means the "real" official ROM, direct from AT&T, should be available soon. [Rapidshare via XDA Devs via Crunchgear]

Update: Apparently text to speech isn't as cool as I originally thought

2007-07-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
Tell Your Car What to Play, Read With Ford Sync

Ford Sync is a new system developed by Ford and Microsoft that aims to fully integrate your MP3 player, cell phone and car computer with a speech recognition system. You will be able to climb into your SUV and say, 'Play artist Cliff Richards', and the annoying old timer will start blaring out of your speakers. It can even read out your text messages for you in an old-skool synthesised voice, which even understands lazy abbreviations like GR8. Jump to see it in action on a video featuring the action movie guy voice over.

I can imagine some problems if your passengers disagree with your music tastes though - it will be a competition to see who can shout their choice the loudest. It should be available in the fall. Jalopnik had a review of Ford Sync at the start of the year, see it here. [TrendHunter]

My Roast:

Remember back in the day when I said Text to Speech was revolutionary (or maybe more like one post ago?) Well, apparently the people at Microsoft already beat Apple to the punch and have already created a working model that is fit for production in a new Vehicle called the Ford Sync. Wow, this industry changes quickly!

Text to Speech?

2007-07-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Apple Patents Text-to-Speech Messaging

In a recent patent filing "Multimedia data transfer for a personal communication device," Apple is offering text messages without the GSM SMS protocol, or even the need to read.

While SMS requires an intermediary server between sender and receiver, Apple's patent has a sender's device convert text messages to an audio signal with this audio signal getting passed through standard audio communication channels (reminds me of faxing, really). This signal can then be translated to actual language on the receiver's end, with a speaker reading the message back. Potential listed uses include texting for the blind and for those with very small screens.
iPhone Nano, anyone? [macnn]

My Roast:

I hope that this thing can also do speech to text also, because if so, then it might be able to really help out the phone for the blind I posted a few days back. However, I do think this new technology is revolutionary regardless... making it so that you can listen to your text messages while on the road, rather than almost create a 10 car pileup on the freeway just to see your sweetie write "CU L8R. I LUV U!" What will those silly people at Apple come up with next?

User review of AT&T's new Video Share Service

2007-07-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Hands-On AT&T's Video Share
I played around with a few phones using AT&T's new Video Share service, which requires UMTS HSDPA, so it's not live everywhere. New York just got it this week, LA should have it by September. If you don't know what it is, it's a way for one person to show the other person streaming video during a call. Although one-way video streaming seems less logical than two-way, I can tell you that it's fun, and it seems like it would be surprisingly useful. The lag wasn't terrible, and you can carry on the conversation in speakerphone or on Bluetooth earpiece so that you can watch the action. But you have to have the right phone. (iPhone need not apply.)

Currently the handsets that work are the LG CU500v, Samsung a707, Samsung a717 and Samsung a727, with 9 to 11 compatible devices sold by AT&T by year's end. Also, like anything else, you need to pay extra for the service. It's $4.99 per month for 25 minutes (cumulative, not continuous) and $9.99 for 60 minutes. There's also an a la carte plan that's 35 cents per minute which actually sounds like the best deal of all. How many times a month are you going to be at the grocery going, "Hey, which variety of miniature eggplant do you want?" and really need the video. What's cool is that only the transmitting phone is charged for the service, though both need to be signed up one way or another.

It may occur to you to ask, as I did, whether or not you can save the video you transmit. The answer is, "Absolutely." The video you stream is cached to memory as you go. If you run out of memory, it stops saving the video, but keeps streaming it. I was a little bummed that the recipient can't save the video—AT&T says it's for privacy reasons. Hopefully we'll get some video of Video Share up so you can see it in action. I'll confess the reason I can't is because there's no AT&T HSDPA service in my densely populated NYC suburb. An issue that will have to be resolved before AT&T can become a tru playa in the Northeast. (Not just HSDPA. Even iPhones can only venture so far into our fair countryside before losing all connectivity, but that's another story. Or is it?) [AT&T Video Share]

Sweet HTC Kaiser coming soon!

2007-07-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

FCC Approves HTC's 3G Kaiser (www.phonescoop.com)

Date Posted: Thursday, 8:55 AM Source: FCC / Wireless Info
Three separate models of the forthcoming smartphone were approved yesterday by the FCC. All three versions come with GSM 850/1900 and HSDPA 850/1900 radios, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. The biggest difference between the three models is the camera. According to the FCC documents, the Kaiser 100 has a 3 megapixel camera on the back of the device, the Kaiser 110 has no camera, and the Kaiser 120 has the 3 megapixel, back-mounted camera, as well as a user-facing VGA camera. This could allow for applications such as video conferencing. Nothing in the documents notes which carrier the Kaiser is slated for, but given its HSDPA 850/1900 configuration, it is likely headed to AT&T.

My Roast:

Do I smell videoconferencing goodness coming shortly? Don't have much to say about this, except for the fact that I like the tilted screen, the 3 megapixel camera, the video conferencing camera, HSDPA, WM6.... okay, I think I just like the whole shebang.

Update (8/9/07)- It appears that this device will be roughly the same size as an 8525, so for those of you out there that thinks this device will be monstrous (ahem....KIM), it's really not that bad. Think about it, it's better than an Advantage in size! Also, it will launch on 9/3/07 at a $399.99 price point.

I bet real Egyptians designed this 3G router...

2007-07-30T10:58:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Phoebus MB6000 3G Wireless Router Provides Egyptian Hospitality

Sharing a 3G connection via a wireless router is nothing new, but in the past it has required a bland, sterile box built to look like a Wi-Fi access point. That certainly isn't the case with Top Global's Phoebus, which draws its engineering innovation from the greatest engineers of all, the ancient pharaohs. Though you won't find many precious goodies buried in this little Luxor, you will find an 802.11b/g router that will share your standard 3G card (EV-DO, EDGE, etc.) with your neighbors. If internet access is scarce and your crew needs to hit MySpace in a hurry, drop your pyramid on the table and have at it. $289 is a small price to pay for something inspired by real slave labor construction. [3G Phoebus Wireless Router via Technabob]

My Roast:

This is honestly a really cool gadget. Why buy DSL and be stuck with Comcast or Qwest, when you can buy an EVDO Rev A card from Sprint or Verizon, and couple it with this badboy? The nice thing about this, is that you can take your wireless card with you when you travel, or when you're at home you can also use it to power your computer(s), video games, VoIP, etc. I can't take my Qwest DSL with me on the go, so I'm quite jealous of those with this gadget...

Perhaps this would be even more useful if you have a Rev B card in about a year.

Screw fingerprint scanning, let's go to Iris scanning instead!

2007-07-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

Oki Japan Bring Iris Scanning to Existing Cellphones

Oki Japan has developed software that brings iris recognition security to existing cellphones. Before now, biometric security has meant either hugely expensive military systems or cheap, novelty peripherals. This new development is part of a growing number of practical and affordable solutions. The software can be used to add another layer of security on any device that has a camera of at least 1 megapixel and is claimed to only give one false positive for every 100,000 scans. [Digital World Tokyo]

My Roast:

Wow, not only can you be assured that your pesky brother will no longer go into your text messages and read about unmentionable texts with you and your boyfriend, but you can also keep your pictures and videos safe from being bluetoothed away to Youtube oblivion! Just kidding... none of us here are still in our awkward teenager phase (well, at least in the body aspect... not quite sure about spirit though).

I can see plenty of useful reasons why you'd need this nowadays, and all of it is security based. I know Randy Siegel would love something like this, because he deals with security biometrics sell through on a daily basis. But besides eye scanning, it's also quite helpful to have just so you can be sure that your phone isn't tampered with if you lose it... keeping your phone numbers safe from the world. Now if only Paris Hilton had this when she lost her Sidekick a few years back!

Wowsers, a 5 megapizel Samsung phone!!!

2007-07-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Samsung SGH-G800 is Top Banana 5MP Cameraphone

The SGH-G800 is the last rumored wondergadget from Samsung, a compact camera with 5-megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom and Xenon flash, which is better than LED-based ones. If confirmed, the G800 will also have one microSD slot, USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.0 and a 2.4" 320 x 240 pixel screen. Plus a 3G phone attached too. Shocking. Jump to see the camera on its back.
The G800 should be quite comfy to carry around: It measures 4 x 2 x 0.66 inches. [PhoneArena]

My Roast:

What can I say about this phone that doesn't include a wide eyed animalistic throaty grunt? I absolutely love this thing! Only a year ago a 3.2 megapixel phone was a huge deal, and now Samsung has upped the game (yet again) with a 5 megapizel camera with a dedicated side. All I can say is "I sure hope they decide to bring it to America, and that it's radio is powerful enough to be adopted on a US network."

This just again shows why Samsung sells so many phones, they make them dual purpose. Think about it, this is yet another phone in which it has two sides, and both sides are fully functional. Take my beloved Upstage for example... one side is a phone, the other is an MP3 player. Brilliant! Plus, it's just about the size of a regular digital camera too... so why even buy a digital camera when this can be a digital camera, video player, MP3 player, and phone? I rest my case.

Yahoo to go 2.0 for Windows Mobile phones

2007-07-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Yahoo

Fans of Yahoo and Windows Mobile can have both now that Yahoo! Go 2.0 has been released. Phones like the Sprint Mogul and AT&T 8525 can get in the action. [Yahoo Go].

My Roast:

If you click on the link for Yahoo 2.0, you'll see that its options are far more advanced than Windows Live Search. In fact, it's more like a full version of Yahoo on your phone, not a trimemd down version like Live Search and Google offer. To get it go to: http://us.get.go.yahoo.com

I know the link isn't as easy as http://wls.live.com, but it's far better than Live Search in the fact that it offers a generic search tool, a calendar, address book, city guide/street maps/directions, world news, sports, finance, celebrity news, weather (much better than google text's version), and Flickr image uploading.

Wow, I thought no one used Yahoo! before, but after seeing this I think both Microsoft and Google need to pick up their game and match this new tool, because it's about 10x better than anything they've brought out yet. I encourage all of you to download this, and compare it to Windows Live search so you can see for yourself.

Look out Rev. A, here comes Rev. B!

2007-07-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

Airvana numbers compare Rev. A speeds with Rev. B.
Rev. B gains steam

The Buzz:

Airvana gearing for operator tests of the CDMA upgrade (http://www.rcrnews.com/)
By Mike Dano
Story posted: July 27, 2007 - 1:44 pm EDT

The wireless industry’s incessant march toward faster and better networks appears to be showing no signs of slowing as industry players gear up for increasing interest in CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision B technology, a software upgrade to the Rev. A networks that Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless are in the midst of building out.

“We’re seeing a lot of interest in Rev. B,” said Dave Nowicki, VP of marketing and product management for infrastructure vendor Airvana.Indeed, Airvana recently announced it completed a successful test of Rev. B technology in its lab, which the company touted as a “major step towards commercialization.”

Airvana also said it will begin operator trials of Rev. B technology in the third quarter of this year, although the company did not name which carriers would be testing the technology. Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and Alltel Corp. are the three main CDMA carriers in the United States.

Nowicki said Rev. B is a software upgrade for CDMA networks, much like Rev. A. According to Airvana, Rev. B would initially support peak data speeds of 9.3 megabits per secon on the forward link and 5.4 Mbps on the reverse link using three 1.25 MHz-wide carriers. However, actual speeds for end users likely would be much slower.

It’s unclear whether Sprint Nextel or Verizon Wireless will upgrade their newly minted Rev. A networks to Rev. B; neither Sprint Nextel nor Verizon Wireless has yet introduced a Rev. A-capable handset. Thus, anther full-blown network upgrade may be on the back burner.

Nonetheless, the nation’s carriers struggle daily to outdo each other, and the allure of a faster network may well push them into action.

While there is apparently interest in Rev. B technology, it seems the next step on the CDMA evolution path—Revision C—is still in the far distance.

Perry LaForge of the CDMA Development Group said that, so far, there is little interest in Rev. C, which is also called Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB).“I don’t hear (interest in) it,” LaForge said.

My Roast:

The future of wireless is increasingly becoming more and more exciting. I remember back in the day (like only 2 years ago), when Sprint was just coming out with EVDO, Verizon was about to launch it, and T-mobile/Cingular were operating off of EDGE (well, T-mobile still is so I guess some things just never change...). There were talks about Rev A, but it seemed like more of a "network arms race" than anything else. You've got to admire Sprint's ability to always get the product out first, but never find a way to appropriately market it to the public so that everyone even knows they offer it.

Case in point, did you know Sprint was the first to come out with fully downloadable songs OTA? How about callback tones way before they became huge for Verizon? Or even features... their unlimited text messaging on a family plan is only $15 a month, with additional family lines going for only $7.50 a month for UNLIMITED TEXT MESSAGING! Do you know what Cingular was charging at the same time for 5,000 text messages? $40 a month, with no discounts for additional lines.

You've really got to applaud how innovative their engineers are, but at the same time give them horrible red marks in marketing and public awareness. Shoot, the other day when I wrote about the AT&T service that saves contact information for you, I wasn't even aware that Sprint offered that already!

It's a wonder to me that Sprint seems to be lagging behind all of the other Tier 1 in new net adds, while they are spending so many R&D dollars to build a national WiMAX network. WHERE ARE YOUR MARKETING DOLLARS GOING? Why are you going to allow Verizon to capitalize off of v-cast when you were the first to come out with such a similar service? Did you forget that ARPU is key, and while your high dollar Nextel iDen network always brought you big money, it's not going to be your cash cow in the future?

Let's just hope that the buzz of Google partnering with Sprint on the national WiMAX network will force their marketing people to wake up and smell the (appropriately titled) coffee?

If you'd like to read more about the partnership between Sprint and "The company that will soon buy the whole world and force us to be their robot slaves"....uh, I mean Google, check it out here: http://www2.sprint.com/mr/news_dtl.do?page=show&id=17560.

Anyways, back to Rev B.... um, I don't even know what to say anymore. They don't even have any Rev A capable phones yet but they're already thinking about Rev B, and even mentioning rev C? My only advice to Sprint (again) is to spend a good portion of money on your network technology, but also start spending more on marketing. T-Mobile offers WAAAAAAAAY less than you, but yet outgrew you. C'mon, that has to say something?!?

Brian's weekly cup of joe!

2007-07-26T16:17:00.001-07:00

From the desk of Brian Linver...

By now we’ve all heard that Amp’d Mobile has officially exited the mobile space. Amp’d entered the wireless market offering unique content and multimedia applications targeted towards youth. In the MVNO space, positioning is key. Amp’d developed such unique content that over 175,000 subscribers enthusiastically enrolled in their service. And everything I’ve read seems to point the finger at the 80,000 young subscribers who didn’t pay their bills. Yet what I’m not hearing is the other side. The majority of the fickle, irresponsible young subscribers didn’t even receive their first bill for two to three months. By the time their bills arrived, they owed hundreds of dollars. So is this really bad debt from fickle and irresponsible youth as the media would like us to believe, or is this a case of poor operations? Perhaps a little of both. I would agree that in general a sub twenty four year old demographic is not the most likely candidate to deliver a $100/month ARPU, but neither is a subscriber that does not receive their bill.

When an MVNO decides to enter the marketplace, the first priority is to define not only their target market and unique service offerings, but additionally define their operational strengths. Virgin Mobile entered the wireless space by providing a simplified prepaid offer. If you sold Virgin Mobile, you knew there were three service packages. Virgin was able to overcome the biggest MVNO hurdle, the operational wall. How did Amp’d Mobile attempt to move this wall? By pretending it wasn’t there. To give an example, of the Sales, Marketing and Operations staff, less than 10% were in sales and operations. When Amp’d first launched, their dealers didn’t even have dealer codes. The basic fundamentals of operations were an over-sight that eventually grew into a wall that could not be overcome.

I’ve noticed that the majority of successful MVNO’s come out with what I refer to as operational simplicity. They offer prepaid services first to ensure that the basic operational blocking-and-tackling is achieved. Once that’s accomplished, success follows. I can think of three MVNO MVP’s who have successfully maintained their position in the virtual space: Tracphone, Virgin Mobile and Boost. While I don’t believe that MVNO’s are going away, I don’t agree with Gartner’s prediction that [MVNOs] will provide services to approximately 25% of US subscribers in five years. Not unless Google gets its way and the 700 mHtz spectrum is mandated to offer wholesale service.

What this all really means is that the space is extremely competitive and the margins are very thin. It is increasingly important to focus MVNO efforts on building a strong operational defense in addition to unique service offerings offense. - cause let’s face it, what good is it to get all Amped up if you cant deliver.

IPhoney

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Will the Europeans dig the iPhone as much as us silly Americans?

2007-07-26T15:48:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
iPhone to launch in Europe by September
Apple testing wireless corporate e-mail
By Phil Carson
Story posted: July 26, 2007 - 5:59 am EDT

The iPhone will be launched in “a few major countries” in Europe before the end of September, Apple Inc. executives said this afternoon during a conference call to discuss the company’s earnings. By that time—the end of the company’s fiscal fourth quarter—Apple expects to sell one million units between sales in the United States and Europe. Company executives said that, in contrast, it took seven quarters to sell one million iPods.Apple expects to launch the device in Asian markets during 2008, according to the company. Apple executives clarified that the company’s oft-mentioned goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008 meant global sales that combine results from U.S., European and Asian markets. The company’s executives declined to give any market share goals for its foray into the global mobile-phone business.“Our primary focus is not on early sales,” one Apple executive said in response to an analyst’s question on current demand for the iPhone. “We’re looking for a third business (beyond Mac computers and iPods). It won’t be done overnight. Progress will be measured in years, not months. We’re confident we can succeed.”Apple executives said that more 8 GB models of the iPhone have been sold at $600 than the 4 GB models, priced at $500—possibly a reflection that American consumers indeed will pay top dollar for skillfully marketed converged devices, a question avidly contemplated by incumbent handset vendors. Apple declined to give an average selling price (ASP) for the iPhone. The company acknowledged that it would expand the iPhone product line, but would not give details. Apple executives said that the company would watch carefully for any evidence that the music-centric iPhone was “cannibalizing” iPod sales. Another potential drawback to the iPhone mentioned by analysts is whether it can or will support secure corporate e-mail. Apple executives said this afternoon that corporate customers were currently running trials of such an application. Apple said it sold 270,000 iPhones during the quarter, which included just a day and a half of retail availability, and that the device generated $5 million in revenues. Apple’s carrier partner AT&T Mobility said that it activated 146,000 iPhones during the same period. Apple executives apologized to customers who experienced activation problems, but added that AT&T had resolved those problems. As to whether the company was surprised by any aspects of its foray into the mobile phone market, one executive responded: “We’re beginners, so there’s something to learn everyday.” Apple’s company-wide profits surged 73% over the same quarter a year ago due to sales of its Macintosh computers and iPod music players, numbers that beat analyst expectations. The company’s stock was up around 10% on the news in volatile, after-hours trading.

My Roast:

My oh my has the iPhone been wildly successful ever since iDay. In just US sales they sold 416,000 iPhones in just a day and half of retail availability between AT&T and Apple stores. Now they plan on expanding to the European market, however, I have feelings that they may have several issues penetrating the European market unless they make some major changes to the iPhone:

1. The price point. European carriers are WAAAAAY ahead of the US, considering that they've already had 3G networks several years before we ever did. Since they already have a plethora of really interesting and capable phones, they will struggle unless they lower prices to be competitive with other similar phones.

2. Make it 3G capable. Since they all work on 3G already, EDGE would be a major step back to the already savvy European consumer. They will have to offer HSDPA capable iPhones to be successful.

If they don't device to make those two very critical decisions, then they will have to target an elite group of people that will mainly purchase the iPhone as a fashion accessory since it will be a step down to what they're already used to. However, if they make those two changes they may find that their sales will fly high. Although option one is much more likely than option two (having to rebuild hardware would plain suck and take a while, not to mention you wouldn't enjoy similar economies of scale that you already had with the US variant), I find it unlikely that they will make either change. Heck, if you're Apple you don't change your product, you change the market...

Have you ever lost your cellphone...I never did in NY or anything...

2007-07-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
Device Never Loses Your Cell, Though Maybe It Should(http://www.gizmodo.com/)

One Japanese company is developing a device to help with those moments (because you were drunk) that you might not remember (due to drunkeness) that you set down your phone (to hold another drink) and forgot to pick it up (surprisingly, just due to a general poor memory). The device fits in your pocket and communicates at all times with your phone. When you move outside of 5 meters, it beeps, shakes, and generally annoys you so you don't leave the phone behind.
It sounds like a drain on the battery, and were not certain exactly what technology is being used, but it might be better than having no phone at all. Of course, I usually remember my phone when I find myself unable to drunk-dial an address book of hot female "just friends." It's nature's way of keeping me with my phone. As for commercial device, we have no word on absolutely any production specifics yet, but we'll keep an eye out for more. [theinquirer]

My Roast:

Where were these people a few months ago when I could've used them in, gulp, Hartford Connecticut? Although I was not drunk at the time (at least I don't think so), something like this would've saved me a lot of headache and a potential beat down tag team from Shawna and Kim! Fortunately I was able to find that device, but it was sketchy and involved a great deal of follow up and a lot of luck from an airline attendant. Now, if I only had this device I could've saved myself the agony and stopped to see if it fell out of my pocket on the airplane.

I imagine this device uses some sort of bluetooth technology. The real question (well, maybe two questions) would be if this device uses bluetooth to power the buzzer, or if it uses some other strange sort of power, like devil power? Also, I'd like to know if the bluetooth functionality will still work even if you are out of reception, like...oh.....say you're on an airplane? Not that I have any experience with this or anything....?!?

So my thoughts are, yes, I hope they come out with this. I also hope it's powered by devil power because BT drains my batteries too fast. And finally, yes, I do enjoy long walks on the beach....

AT&T offers the ability to download contact info to server!

2007-07-25T15:59:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
AT&T Mobility offers contact-backup service
By Colin Gibbs

taken from http://www.rcrnews.com/

AT&T Mobility released a downloadable application that serves as a locker for contact information on mobile phones.The service, which is offered at $2 per month, allows users to add new contacts and edit information on an AT&T Mobility Web page, and includes an automatic backup option that can update data daily or weekly. AT&T Mobile Backup can import contacts from Microsoft Outlook, Yahoo and AOL, and send the information to the user’s phone.The offering is powered by Asurion and is supported by a half-dozen Motorola Inc. devices including the V365, SLVR L7, KRZR K1 and three RAZR models.“Most people have contact information on their wireless devices that they do not have stored anywhere else,” said Carlton Hill, vice president of voice products and devices for AT&T Mobility. “Because of this, we are excited to offer a secure backup option to protect this important information.”AT&T Mobility is the latest to offer a contact-backup service. Alltel Corp., Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C., Sprint Nextel Corp., Verizon Wireless and others already offer the service, for similar prices.

My Roast:
Am I the only one trying to figure out the point of this? As you can see at the bottom of the page, Alltell, Virgin Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon all have this current service. Can anyone tell me why? Take a wild guess, how are they all alike? I'll give you a hint... it involves a carved out watermelon, an arabian donkey, about 50 gallons of picked marmalade (if it didn't exist before it does now!), and 3 car batteries. Give up? Well, they are all CDMA!!!! See, AT&T is a GSM provider. As we all know, GSM phones have this little thing called a SIM card that allows you to save contacts and text messages on. Now, as a wireless sales rep I used to have people come in with waterlogged CDMA phones all the time, or my personal favorite, the I-think-it-used-to-be-a-phone-but-now-its-a-bunch-of-plastic-in-millions-of-pieces-in-a-bag-and-they-want-me-to-fix-it trick. I used to do nothing but give em a pat on the back and have a moment of silence for the numbers they will never see again. However, the same thing would've happened to GSM people and they were completely fine. You can slice and dice a GSM phone, hold it under water, throw it out the window of a moving car, hold it up to someone's ear for a good 40 years and give them brain cancer, and as long as the SIM card is still intact they can transfer all their contact info. So, I don't really see how this benefits their current service offers, unless this is primarily targeted towards people who consistenly have their phones stolen. If that's the case, I will put two and two together and figure that only Motorola phones are stolen... and that they create SIM's to explode, and thus Motorola now has a reason why their profits suck so much. OR, much like my reoccuring theme, this is another way Motorola is scrambling to find new ways of making money. I predict that we may see an attempt at "Motorola getting it's groove back" over the next couple of months, but I'm not sure if it will happen before or after the Motorola Microwave phone (if you don't know what I'm talking about, look about 2-3 posts down at the projector phone blog)...

Everything about the iPhone you've always wanted to know

2007-07-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

Think you know alot about the iPhone? Oh yeah? Think again. Gizmodo has it all, whether it's a way to hack, crack, or smack it. ANYTHING about this phone can be found here:
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/iphone?view=full.
Enjoy!

A phone for the blind, quite interesting

2007-07-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:
Cellphone for the Blind Has Angled Keys, No Screen
This cellphone concept design by Peter Lau allows blind users to easily dial numbers and make calls. It doesn't rely on Braille, but instead has differently angled keys that users can learn to recognize. So how do you send and receive an SMS then?
There are no details on this, but presumably it would be possible to have speech synthesis read out text messages. And I guess that the phone could also read your messages out loud as you compose them. There are no details however, like with most concepts, but it looks cool and it's probably invisible to radar with all those angled surfaces. [Sensory Impact]

My Roast:

Wait a minute, so instead of using Braille on the keypad, Peter Lau is going to give Blind people an additional thing to learn?? Why don't you stick with the UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE FOR BLIND PEOPLE? Honestly, is the form of your phone so rad that you're willing to sacrifice function? And you're going to try to offer the ability to text too? Nice try, but how is a blind person not only going to try to remember where the numbers on the angled keypad, but figure out which one has "abc" "def" "ghi"? It wouldn't make sense for a blind person to try to send a 5 word text for an hour instead of calling the person they want to talk to for 15 seconds.

It's not that I'm discriminating blind people, but I'd like to mention that they have certain physical limitations and SMS just doesn't make sense to them. It'd be like if you developed special football cleats for people that don't have legs, or really shiny and cool looking Bose headphones for deaf people... it just doesn't work! So Peter, go back to work and develop a slimmed down model that has braille and ditch the SMS idea. While you're at it, you may want to also add some sort of a retractable cord so people can also find their charger too!

Helio to offer exchange on their phones, like iPhone

2007-07-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

(Taken from http://www.phonescoop.com/)

Helio Ocean users can now add Microsoft Exchange accounts to the long list of email services the device is compatible with. The carrier announced Mail for Microsoft Exchange today, an application that adds synchronization of Exchange Mail, Contacts and Appointments to the Ocean. Helio is offering a free 60 beta period for the application, but it will cost $10 per month to all-in subscribers after the trial is over. Users of this new application will soon get access to a viewer application for Microsoft Office and PDF files as well.

My Roast:

I recall when Apple announced that the iPhone will have exchange type/activesync capabilities, and I was absolutely appalled until I did some digging and found out that Microsoft is licensing their exchange email to phones of all kind: iPhone, Ocean, several samsungs and motorolas. So after pondering about this for a bit (and realizing that Microsoft always has strategic reasons why they do the things they do), I've come to realize that exchange on a Helio Ocean won't cannibalize WM sales, even if they have the viewer for office products as well. Here's why: The helio ocean doesn't have the capabilities to load LOB applications onto the device (not to mention their marketing is targeting a much younger audience than your local CEO). I spoke with Randy Siegel, public sector EMSS, about this a while back, and he told me that the most important feature about the WM phone is that the user themselves can load any productivity enhancing software on their phone. Well..... WM does have some additional benefits (like encryption settings, remote wipe, advanced control for IT people, direct push, leverages existing exchange server infrastructure without an additional BES or NOC server, no additional licensing fees, ability to view and edit attachments...the list goes on).

I had the opportunity to try and attempt troubleshooting the email on the iPhone the other day with Richard (who was setting it up for Brian), and it seems to me like the iPhone exchange email grabbing method is nothing more than an imap4 setup(well, seems is a bit of a misnomer...I looked it up online becuause I'm into phones, not email server settings). You still have to input ingoing and outgoing servers, wheras the WM phone is MUCH easier to set up with activesync.

So am I worried that the generation Z'er down the street who thinks they are too cool to call their phone a "phone" will crumble the WM empire? Nah. Imagine a CEO with a Helio, or a kid with a WM6 PPC... obviously both are targeting different markets. However, this could be a brilliant strategic move on Microsoft's part by trying to get kids hooked on the WM6 "booger sugar, aka cocaine" by the time they are in the business world making decisions for large companies. In any case, now it's time to listen to a little bit of Eric Clapton...

Motorola to make a phone with a built in projector

2007-07-24T16:12:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

(taken from http://www.gizmodo.com/)

Motorola First to Commit To Mini Laser-Projector Tech
Motorola is the first major cellphone maker to officially plan on putting Microvision's Pico Projector technology in future gadgets. The laser-based display engine is being placed in a prototype for now, using a 854 x 450 image. [Microvision via Oh Gizmo!]. UPDATE! Here is what phonescoop says about it:

"Motorola will use technology from Microvision to build a prototype cell phone with a tiny projector on board. Called a pico projector, the technology uses a miniature laser-based DLP display engine to project a widescreen, 15-inch image onto a surface about 19 inches (half a meter) away. The image measures 854x480 pixels, which is superior to DVD quality. The projector can be used to share pictures, video content, web sites, and presentations with others. There is no word on when the prototype will be ready for demonstration, or whether the pico projector will be included in mass-market phones."

Let's Chat:

Do you remember back in the day when you could use the bluetooth functionality on your phone to control a projector during a presentation? Ooh, how about this one... do you remember when it was considered uber cool to use your phone as a remote for your TV, DVD, neighbor.... anything that read via iR? Now fastforward to today: did you ever think they'd cram a projector into a cell phone?

The industry is consistenly changing, bringing about new product innovation consistently. First they started with a bag phone, then it went to the brick phone, then it was the Nokia.... I mean, um, the smaller slightly more attractive brick phone, then it was the clamshell, the camera phone, the thin phone, the music phone, and now....the projector phone?

I can see how this may benefit the busy executive (why lug a whole projector around when you can bring your phone instead?), but why would a tween who texts because they have a crackly voice... ever find this to be beneficial? Imagine the teachers in class who would have to deal with kids shining pictures of their weekend party on whiteboard while they're teaching! Also, it's interesting that Motorola is developing this product: perhaps they're trying to think of interesting things to combine with a phone to bring back up the healthy profits they once enjoyed JUST A YEAR AGO! I can imagine Ed Zander sitting behind his desk, bellowing to a nervous assistant "Make me a phone that is 1 mm thick and microwaves popcorn!," or "Make me a phone that will Make Carl Icahn go away!" Poor Motorola, perhaps the public finally figured out that the RAZR is really just an anorexic version of a reeeeeeally cheap flip phone, with about half the reception quality. I just wonder when the public will realize the iPhone is just a reaaaaaaally expensive fashion accessory (my 8525 does more than your iPhone, just doesn't do it as sexily- if that is even a word). Despite my whining about the iPhone, um, I am still happily accepting donations for the "Casey needs an iPhone club," are there any people out there willing to donate to such an important cause?

The iPhone is making apple TONS OF CASH!

2007-07-24T15:25:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

(Taken from http://www.gizmodo.com/, who took it from http://www.valleywag.com/)

Steve Jobs nails a sweet, sweet iPhone deal
TheStreet.com is reporting that AT&T is paying unusually large fees to Apple in exchange for the right to sell the iPhone. The totals? $150 to $200 per phone, plus a $9 per user per month cut of the service fees. The upfront commission, which you can also think of as a discount on the true cost of the phone, is common in the industry and widely predicted; sharing service-fee revenue is something new. For Apple, which already plans to account for its iPhone hardware revenues evenly over the 24 months after a sale, this means that iPhone sales will juice revenues even more than expected. And for AT&T? It's getting a lot of high-tech, early adopter customers who wouldn't have gone to the carrier otherwise, but at the cost of setting a revenue-sharing precedent that will ruffle feathers in the wireless industry. Steve Jobs strikes a hard bargain.

My Roast:

So not only is apple NOT offering any cuts on the iphone.. selling it at retail value of $600 per phone, but they are also recieveing $200 per phone (meaning the true value of the iphone is $800), in addition to $9 a month of reoccuring fees?

That means in the opening weeks of the iPhone launch, they made the following from 500,000 subscribers:

$300,000,000 in iPhone sales (profits are about 100%, so $150,000,000 in profit)

$100,000,000 in money from AT&T for rights to the phone

$108,000,000 over the next two years FROM JUST THE FIRST 500,000 customers!

That's a grand total of $358,000,000 IN PROFITS FOR THE FIRST 500,000!!!

Imagine if they reach 5 million subscribers! Billions in pure profit from just one phone? Shame on the shareholders for complaining about him giving out iPhones to all of his employees when Steve Jobs is making anyone with a portion of apple stock filthy rich...

Behold, the future of cell phone gaming!

2007-07-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

Megaphone, Cellphone Gaming is Social

(taken from http://www.gizmodo.com/)

Without downloading any extra software or performing special networking, one design student came up with a viable social gaming concept for cellphones. A large screen projects a game in which people can join at any time by calling a number just above the screen. Then, using the standard touchpad (through key tones), users can control their avatar (assigned through caller ID'd phone number). It's an absolutely brilliant idea that could make cellphone gaming not only a whole lot more fun, but a whole lot easier to get some digits, if you know what I'm saying. [playmegaphone via ubergizmo]

Ex CEO of Ampd Mobile with new plans

2007-07-24T11:18:00.000-07:00

The Buzz: (Taken from http://www.gizmodo.com/)

Peter Adderton's Amp'd exit strategy
If you're an Amp'd Mobile subscriber, you're officially out of luck at midnight, when Amp'd stops providing customer service. Not that the bankrupt wireless carrier was providing much before. The Amp'd FAQ page, for example, tells customers that they can use their phones with Sprint and Verizon Wireless -- but those carriers are telling would-be subscribers that the models are incompatible. There's no graceful exit from Amp'd, in other words. Unless you're former CEO Peter Adderton. Here's how he's planning a comeback, according to a well-placed source.

Adderton, who left the troubled carrier last month, has returned to the States from Australia. And how does he plan to build on his business reputation after blowing through $350 million at the money-losing Amp'd? Why, by selling the content-distribution platform Amp'd built to Qualcomm, the San Diego-based wireless chipmaker, and then getting brought in by Qualcomm to run the business. Sounds like that decision would be up to a bankruptcy-court judge and Qualcomm, not Adderton, but that's what he's been telling people in the industry.

My Roast:
Go back to Australia, Peter. Also, learn how to manage your debts a little better. Qualcomm's already got enough problems with the ITC's ban on their EVDO chips to even think about bringing you onboard to develop a division at Qualcomm that never existed before. Also, "loose lips lucy," you may want to learn how to keep your future plans hush hush.

Get the Sprint WM6 Mogul at a BIG DISCOUNT!

2007-07-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

For those of us working with the MED team, this may help the partners we are working with. I got this from Gerardo Dada's blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/devmktg/, which he posted about a month ago.

Get your Windows Mobile 6 Mogul at a special discount!
We worked with Sprint again to negotiate a special price on the new HTC Mogul for developers, IT professionals and partners working with Microsoft.
The HTC Mogul is a fantastic device: Windows Mobile 6 with .NET CF and SQL Server CE in ROM, Voice Command, Windows Live Search, 416Mhz processor, CDMA EVDO 3G network capabilities, large screen, small profile, full QWERTY keyboard.
Standard price is $549 - you can get it for $299.99 with a new plan (see site for details). Click here to get it!

Ampd Mobile- Another MVNO Bites the Dust!- Friday 7/20

2007-07-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Ampd Mobile: We Hardly Knew Thee!

Amp'd Mobile's last effort to secure funding while in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection failed on Friday, forcing the company to close its doors after four years of operations. Since it filed for bankruptcy on June 1, Amp'd had been racking up $370,000 in charges a day with carrier partner Verizon Wireless. It was in negotiations with King's Road Investment, but the talks failed to result in any funding for Amp'd. Earlier this week, Verizon Wireless petitioned the ruling judge to allow it to halt Amp'd's services, as it was apparent Amp'd could not pay the more than $51 million owed to Verizon Wireless, nor even the $2.5 million bankruptcy figure mandated by the court. Beginning Monday, July 23rd, Amp'd will explore the option of selling off its assets in pieces. Amp'd has forged agreements with some of its subscribers, but no exact figures are available. Update: Amp'd has now posted an update for subscribers warning them that service will be suspended on July 24 and that customer service will be available until close of business Monday to help the port their number without an Early Termination Fee. Update 2: Amp'd is now saying that its service will remain in operation through July 31st. Subscribers have one more week before it is discontinued and they have to find another provider.

My Roast:

This really roasts my beans! How many MVNO's have the bite the dust before corporate america realizes that this is not an easy business to get into? The sad thing is that Ampd actually had a lot going for them, and all it took was a weak Q1 for Ampd (well, weak isn't the right word... how about "God/Jah hates them and wishes ill fortune upon their families.") They had just about 80,000 subscribers forget to pay their bills.

Here is how an MVNO works. A company with an interesting idea and ways of differentiating themselves from other wireless companies goes to a carrier and asks to purchase bulk airtime at wholesale prices. The company wishing to start up the MVNO still has to figure out distribution, billing, support, website, training... just about everything under the sun BUT the network building process. Now, you can ship off most of the logistical portion to an MVNE, like Inphonic or Brightpoint, so that you can concentrate your efforts on marketing and distribution. Ampd had extremely successful marketing (check out some of their commercials: http://youtube.com/watch?v=GgG-Dt3aPdM, http://youtube.com/watch?v=TUNKQhLIJZQ, and my personal favorite http://youtube.com/watch?v=bJwshQJ39Og), they had unique content that brought up their ARPU to a level much healthier than other MVNO's (think episodes of Lil Bush, South Park, and yes....porn), but they didn't have the foresight to collect deposits just in case they had a good portion of their subscribers became delinquent.

Now Ampd owes Verizon something in the range of $50,000,000 and is selling off their assets to try to pay off their debts (if anyone wants to buy content rights to Lil Bush I could hook a brotha/sista up!). Poor Verizon, their one major MVNO bites the dust while Sprint is practically hustling network space on every street corner... just goes to show how unpredictable this industry really is.

RIP Ampd Mobile. Go to MVNO heaven where you pretend you have service on the iPhone and eat lunch with ESPN Mobile's overpriced MVP phone. Don't worry, you'll undoubtedly have some friends coming shortly...

Google to bid up to $4.6 billion in 700mhz auction- Friday 7/20

2007-07-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

The Buzz:

Google Wireless a near reality??

On Friday, Google said that if the FCC allows the 700 MHz auction to proceed with open access requirements, it will join in the bidding. Google submitted a formal letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and implored that rules be put in place to ensure the auction benefits the general public. The four specific requests made by Google ask for open applications, open devices, open networks, and open services. AT&T voiced support for Martin's proposal yesterday. Google is prepared to spend at least $4.6 billion bidding in the auction.

My Roast:

The wireless industry was already quite huffy about the 700mhz auction being offered in the first place because it breaks the mold for most traditional Telecom business models. The Chairman of the FCC, Kevin Martin, is offering this spectrum on the grounds that any device from any network with any UI or applications will work on it. Is this goes through, then the iPhone may not be exclusive to AT&T, and the competitive advantage that carriers used to enjoy with exclusivity rights will be a thing of the past (think RAZR with it's original 1 year exclusivity rights... what would've happened to Cingular if they didn't utilize that device to take away customers from other carriers?) While this aligns with Google's business motto of "Dont Be Evil" for the consumer market, it may cause permanent scars to the big four tier 1 carriers and how they operate. I'm not familair with all of the details of the 700mhz spectrum and what its full capabilities are, but if Google is willing to bid AT LEAST $4.6 billion for this specific spectrum, then there must be something big in it for them.