cells

A Motorola in-car radio? You cannot be Sirius

Motorola's designers have been busy creating products that appeal to drivers. First we reported on the Moto T605 music and hands-free system that lets drivers stream audio files wirelessly from their Bluetooth 2.0-enabled cell phones and MP3 players. And now, Motorola is launching iRadio--its own music subscription service that looks like a cross between iTunes and satellite radio.

iRadio enables owners of select Motorola devices equipped with the stereo Bluetooth profile (such as the Motorola Q) to compile their own commercial-free playlists of songs from an online database and then use their mobile devices to stream the music … Read more

Nokia's augmented reality

PALO ALTO, Calif.--While it sounds like a traveling magic show, Mobile Augmented Reality is actually the future of how we'll access information on our wireless phones.

Though researchers around the world have been developing the technology for a decade, Nokia gave us a peek at its foray into the field Thursday when it opened its Nokia Research Center (NRC) in Palo Alto, Calif. And yes, it is a little bit magical.

Combining mobile cameras, GPS, orientation sensors and wireless devices, mobile augmented reality lets a device capture an image of a location, like San Francisco's Union Square, … Read more

Google Mail on mobile just got easier

Google is very smart about mobile devices. On a PDA or cell phone, the Google search experience has been, for quite awhile, very different than it is on a full-size screen. Google even parses Web pages it links to and tries to repackage them in a mobile-friendly way. (To force the Google mobile version, go to www.google.com/m.)

Gmail, though, has not been a great experience on mobile devices. But on Thursday Google released a mobile Java Gmail application for cell phones that makes using your Gmail account much easier (news story). The new app--which will be preloaded … Read more

Verizon gets new Nokia dance partner

Nokia's CDMA dance became a little more erratic yesterday when Verizon introduced the Nokia 2366i. The GSM-loving manufacturer had charged into the CDMA sector a year or so ago, but then pulled back earlier in 2006 when it charged Pantech with producing its CDMA handsets, such as Verizon's Nokia 6215i. Yet we hear the new 2366i is made by Nokia itself. Available exclusively through the carrier's InPulse prepaid service, the handset comes in a basic flip phone design with an external antenna. Features include a 65,000-color display, text and multimedia messaging, basic organizer functions, Bluetooth, a … Read more

Behind Cingular's music strategy

Cingular Wireless finally jumped on the music train today with its launch of Cingular Music, a music subscription application that partners with several popular online services, including Napster. Cingular is the largest U.S. wireless carrier, but it has lagged behind Sprint and Verizon Wireless in term of offering a music service, though has offered several music-friendly mobile phones, such as the LG CU500.

Instead of operating its own store, as Sprint and Verizon do, Cingular hopes it set itself apart by partnering with independent music services such as Napster to Go, Yahoo Music, and eMusic. Cingular Music subscribers can … Read more

RFID phones are in the works

We'll let you in on a secret: RFID technology is taking over the world. Yes, it's true. How do we know? One word--Wal-Mart.

And it's not just for clothes, groceries, or passports either. ZDNet Korea, for example, is reporting the first 900MHz RFID cell phone. The technology is limited at present to specific business uses, such as the communication of product and traffic information to "reader" RFID handsets, as pictured here. But South Korean companies are working to expand the technology for consumer use as well.

We hope they'll also figure out a … Read more

Chocolate Platinum, yet another flavor

No sooner did we learn of the white Chocolate do we hear that LG is already upgrading to a Chocolate Platinum. In addition to yet another new look, according to PhoneArena, this sliding bar has double the memory (256MB) and almost double the camera resolution (2 megapixels) as its just-released predecessor. As much as we lust after the new design, we might as well wait--at this pace, the whole line may be obsolete by Friday.

(Photo: PhoneArena)

Cingular unveils the Motorola V365

A new Motorola phone appeared on Cingular's Web site today without a formal peep from either company. The Motorola V365 is a triband (GSM 850/900/1900) handset that also supports EDGE data speeds and Cingular's push-to-talk network.

Other features are midlevel and based largely on the phone's predecessor, the Motorola V360. Inside is a speakerphone, a VGA camera with video, Bluetooth, a digital music player, text and multimedia messaging, support for POP3 e-mail, voice dialing, and a wireless Web browser. The V365's flip phone design looks rather ordinary as Moto handsets go, but it offers … Read more

Slim Samsung cell swivels and scrolls

Question: What's slim, shiny, has a scroll wheel, and is both a phone and a digital audio player?

Answer: No, not the iPhone. It's the Samsung SGH-X830, which was released in Korea Wednesday, according to Akihabara News.

It's an itty-bitty MP3 player with (gasp!) a scroll wheel that also swivels open to reveal a two-column keypad. It also has Bluetooth capability and takes pictures and video.

The phone/camera/music player comes in standard black, white and a variety of lovely Easter egg shades. While pink gadgets in general are beyond passe, how much do I want … Read more

'Glofiish': World's slimmest phone?

E-Ten has released an update to its pocket PC phone line, which some blogs are calling the slimmest handset of its kind in the world.

The X500 Glofiish--yes, it's really called the Glofiish--combines both Bluetooth 2.0 video and audio capabilities, 802.11b/g WiFi and an EDGE radio. The .6-inch thin phone, which operates on the Windows Mobile 5.0 platform, contains a 2-megapixel camera, a 400MHz Samsung processor, 128MB ROM and 64MB RAM of storage, and a slot for a microSD card.

While the E-Ten announced the X500 a few weeks ago, Mobility Site pointed out today'… Read more