The Nokia E75 features a complete set of tools for desktop email, with a sliding QWERTY keyboard and simple three-step email setup. This is the first mobile phone to ship with Nokia Messaging, which is a service with connectivity to the most popular mail servers in the world, including Yahoo!, Gmail and Hotmail.
Cell phones keep you connected, always, to best friends and the latest news. Cell phone providers vary as much as your cell phones, offering everything from unlimited minutes to video calls to Internet access plans.
Let's face it: cell phones are just about a necessity in today's busy world. Whether you use your cell phone to ask your spouse what to get at the grocery store or to conduct international business, these handy devices have become an integral part of mainstream society.
While there's no doubt that cell phones are useful, figuring out the best service provider and plan can be a nightmare. Cell phone providers compete for your business using jargon, and it's sometimes difficult to compare rates. They offer different phones and services, so figuring out which will best suit your needs can be a hassle, especially since most providers want you to sign a one or two-year contract, which often eliminates the ability to test out the service.
In this site, we cut through the jargon and give you simple-to-understand reviews of top cell phone providers. You'll also find articles about choosing a cell phone and how to deal with authorized resellers and recent new stories on cell phone providers to help you make an informed decision on which cell phone provider is right for you. At TopTenREVIEWS — We do the research so you don't have to.™
You need a cell phone provider who offers the widest selection of features and avoids hidden charges and costs. Excellent customer service is also necessary.
Even though each cell phone provider offers many different plans—ranging in price and plan availability—we found a nationwide plan that was as close to a $39.00 monthly price tag as possible (some of the providers don't actually offer nationwide coverage). In addition to this base price, most cell phone providers offer premium features that only add a few dollars to your monthly bill.
Below are the criteria that TopTenREVIEWS used to evaluate cell phone providers:
Whether your needs are purely personal or business-related, the right phone and plan from the right service provider will make a world of difference, so you can stay in touch!
We have some cool upcoming Verizon phones 2009.
The HTC Touch Diamond is one of the most anticipated Verizon phones in 2009. This exciting new touchscreen phone is a truly beautiful device loaded with high-end features such as Windows Mobile 6.1, large VGA display, 3-MP auto-focus camera, WiFi, and high-speed EVDO data. If you can’t wait, it’s available now through Sprint for only $199.
HTC Touch Pro, also called HTC Fuze when it was released for AT&T in November last year. It combines the power of Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro with the convenience of a slide–out QWERTY keyboard and a 5–way navigation key. Take advantage of WiFi, Stereo Bluetooth and the Touch Pro’s 3.2 MP camera w/flash and video capture. The Touch Pro is the ultimate no–nonsense mobile productivity tool for the busy professional.
Looking for these new upcoming Verizon Wireless cell phones in 2009, they will be available soon online and at incredibly low prices that you won’t find in Verizon Wireless stores. Or you can shop for the best Verizon Wireless deals now and simply upgrade to the new phones later.
Update: LG VX8500, Nokia 2236, and Nokia Mirage 2605 are coming soon.
Update: HTC Touch Pro has been released. We are still waiting for HTC Touch Diamond, LG 9600 Versa, Nokia 7205 Intrigue, and Blackberry Pearl Flip to come out sometime in March.
As the tech world is rocked once again by the CES 2009 event happening in Las Vegas almost all major technology companies are beating each out in releasing new product announcements here and about. While its major rivals are seemingly quite, Motorola is takes the lead with the launch of its new “green” phone called the MOTO W233 Renew. And when we say green, we mean both literally and otherwise. Read more
Aside from the environment-friendly phone, W233 which Motorola is launching at CES 2009, the company also announced the new ruggedized Tundra VA76r. This new Motorola phone is a 3G clamshell device featuring a form factor and design which can withstand any environmental conditions. Geared for the mobile phone users who have active lifestyles, the Motorola Tundra VA76r provides fast access to the Internet either through 3G network or AT&T’s Mobility Push to Talk service. Read more
Sony joins the CES product launches with the announcement of its new Cybershot mobile phone - the C510 which was previously nicknamed “Kate”. What makes this new mobile phone in Sony Ericsson’s Cybershot series is the fact that it is the company’s first mobile phone to have the Smile Shutter technology, an intelligent technology which detects a person’s smile first before taking a shot. Read more
For quite some time now, Palm, Inc. has been pretty quiet and one can’t help but wonder when it is going to join the well and alive smartphone market. After all, it use to be one of the major players in the industry. Well, that question is answered, and the answer was - CES 2009. Palm, Inc. has announced it’s latest PDA phone - the Palm Pre backed by Palm’s new webOS platform. this new mobile platform was designed to flawlessly synchronize your phone, your PC, and you files on the web. But let’s leave Palm’s webOS aside and discuss what the Palm Pre has to offer us. Read more
The CES 2009 just ended and for the past couple of days we’ve seen many announcements regarding new gadget announcements coming up in 2009. Although most of the coverage that we’ve seen our mostly on new netbooks, notebooks and other electronic devices, there were also some big announcements for new mobile phones that we all should watch out for in the coming days. We’ve scoured through the various CES coverage from some of the most famous tech blogs and came out with this list of new cellphones that were announced during the just concluded CES 2009. Read more
At the CES 2009, Sony Ericsson has also unveiled a new Walkman phone dubbed W508. Featuring 8 changeable style-up covers, the Sony Ericsson W508 offers various nifty features including Shake and Gesture control, SenseMe and TrackID. This phone will surely please mobile phone users who are fond of matching their phone’s appearance with what they are wearing. SenseMe and TrackID are features which are both aimed at providing ease of use when using the Walkman functions of the W508. Read more
The last mobile phone that Motorola launched during the recently concluded CES 2009 was perhaps the company’s answer to the growing touchscreen-enabled mobile phone market - the MOTOSURF A3100. This mobile device boasts of a touch-enabled home screen on featuring applications that can be accessed using a tip of the finger, stylus or the usual omni-directional trackball. This homescreen can also be customized to feature live feeds on weather, personal and work-email, messaging, calendar event and news. Read more
At the recently concluded CES, Nokia has also made some official announcements about its upcoming new mobile devices for the U.S. market. Two of these mobile phones were the Nokia E63 and the previously named Supernova which is now known as the Nokia 7510. Another new phone, which we haven’t heard about since CES is the basic phone 1006. The Nokia 1006 is designed for mobile phone users who are always on the go, and need a dependable mobile device with bright color display. Read more
Recently, Samsung has released a new CDMA phone called the Samsung TwoStep, also known as the Samsung SCH-R470. The Samsung TwoStep doesn’t only looks good with its fun and stylish design, but also boasts of great features good enough for a mid-range phone. The phone is not only great for utilizing its basic mobile phone functions but can also serve as a good and realiable music player with its 8GB of microSD storage capacity, stereo speakers, and stereo Bluetooh Wireless Technology. But of course, these are just some addition to its other nifty features. Read more
NTT DOCOMO of Japan and Authentec, fingerprint sensors and solutions provider have announced the new Fujitsu F01A cell phone offering full fingerprint sensor and a waterproof compact form factor made possible by Authentec’s two revolutionary technology. The TrueNav technology for the phone’s touchpad-like navigational control using Authentec’s AES1711 fingerprint sensor and Touchstone packaging which makes the phone resistant to water. Read more
U.S. Cellular has just added a new LG mobile phones to its line-up of clamshell phones - the LG UX280 Wine. Fittingly available in Red and Silver design, the LG UX280 is a basic mobile phone with easy-to-use features. It boasts of a decent 1.3 megapixel camera, voice command, one-touch speakerphone and Bluetooth. The LG UX 280 is available under U.S. Cellular for$29.95 after mail-rebate and comes with a two-year service agreement under the cellular provider. Read more
T-Mobile has just made available the new Sony Ericsson TM506 Scarlet mobile phone. Available for $49.99 after mail-in rebate and with 2-year service contract, the Sony Ericsson TM506 Scarlet boasts of a 2.0 megapixel camera, stylish form factor and design plus a slew of other nifty mobile phone features. Read more
HTC has just updated their old HTC Touch Cruise devised released last year with a new mobile device which shall have the same name with an additional new feature called Footprints. The HTC Touch Cruise with Footprints features a new and more compact design, the same GPS feature, and other mobile functionality that makes the phone worth of using the same HTC Touch Cruise name. But what makes this new HTC Touch Cruis different from its predecessor is a new feature called Footprints which can be used for capturing special moments in a digital postcard using the phone. Read more
AT&T and LG has just added a new sleek-looking multimedia device to the already saturated mobile phone market. The new LG CF360 is available now at AT&T for $29.00 after mail-in-rebate, and comes with the usual 2-year service agreement. If you are tired of the too complicated mobile phone devices that have recently come out of the market, the LG CF360 offer a simpler and yet powerful alternative. Read more
T-Mobile has just made available the new T-Mobile Shadow all-in-one mobile device. The T-Mobile Shadow boasts of compact form factor and great features including support for T-Mobile Unlimited HotSpot Calling, fast processing power, Windows Mobile 6.1 OS, and more. Available now under T-Mobile for $199.99 with 2-year service agreement, the T-Mobile Shadow will be available in White Mint and Black Burgundy. Read more
Nokia has just released a new classic phone, the Nokia 6700 classic which the company press release say is a follow up to one of Nokia’s highly successful and bestselling phone, the Nokia 6300. Raising the bar in terms of design and materials, the Nokia 6700 sports a beautiful and compact form factor characterized by smooth surfaces, rich materials, and well crafted parts including a full metal keymat. These are in addition to the slew of nifty features that phone offers which believes will make Nokia 6700 a runaway hit when it gets released sometime in the 2nd quarter.
For you who has waiting Nokia 5800 now you can buy this phone but unfortunately only in several countries available at the moment such as Russia, Spain, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan or Finland.Nokia 5800 is a music phone and using touchscreen tehnology.For the price i do not have any information right now..so keep stay with me 
.
Nokia Released three new machines in CES2009: This is a good news from nokia, local time in the United States on January 8 at the opening of CES2009, Nokia and T-Mobile announced three models for the U.S. market, including the 7510s, E63 and Nokia 1006.
New Nokia Cell Phone - New Nokia Cell Phone in CES 2009 Picture
Nokia 7510S fuselage size 92 * 46 * 17mm, weighs 124 grams, equipped with 2.2-inch 16.7 million color QVGA TFT display, built a two million-pixel camera, based on the S40 platform, support for audio and video file playback, built-in FM radio, 27MB memory and supports the body’s largest 8GB of microSD card expansion, support GPRS / EDGE / WiFi
E63 configuration of 2.4-inch QVGA resolution 16 million color TFT display, the size measurements in about 114 × 59 × 13 mm, with Symbina 9.2 operating system and software platform for S60 V3.1, Business function is still relatively complete, and the newly added a 3.5mm standard headphone jack.
Nokia 1006 is a low-end CDMA mobile phones, used simple straight design, using 128 × 160 pixel 65K color CSTN screen, built-in FM radio function and provide two kinds of blue and silver color design options, is expected in this year’s listing of a quarter in the United States.
Nokia is expecting cell phone sales will increase this year, due to large inventories build up by phone sellers at the end of last year and reluctance for consumers to buy new gadgets in the middle of economic recession.
The 6700 is the Nokia’s successor to its popular model Nokia 6300, which was one of the most top sales for many quarters. This model will have 5-megapixel camera, GPS navigation with Nokia Maps, metal keypad, and high-speed data access, priced at 235 Euros ($307.4).
On the other end is Nokia 2700, which is integrated with music player, expandable memory, and a 2.0-megapixel camera, which is priced at 65 Euros.
Nokia also unveiled the 6303 classic model, which is priced at 135 Euros. 6303 features a 302-megapixel camera, 2.2” screen, and comes with preloaded with Nokia Maps.
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Do you want to stop a prank caller, locate a long lost high school friend or catch a cheating spouse? Running a reverse cell phone lookup, could be the solution you are looking for. You can use many different ways to trace the identity of the person who called you. Some of these ways are free and some require you to pay a small fee.
The free method:
One way is to use Google or Yahoo. Simply type the number into the search box. It would be better to put quotes around the number to narrow down the results. You could also try to use major social networking sites, such as Facebook or MySpace.
Maybe the owner of the cell phone number has included it in their profile. What about free directories? These "free" services are a waste of time because they usually end up redirecting you to a paid site, or the information they provide you with is either inaccurate or outdated.
If the free method doesn't work, you might want to consider using a professional service.
There are companies that can give you access to information, such as:
These websites allow you to do a free preliminary search to find out whether they have the number you are looking for in their database or not. After you make sure that the number is listed, you can decide if you want to register.
These directories have purchased the records from the cell phone companies, so they have to ask you for a small fee in order to cover their costs. Your searches will be completely confidential and secure and you will get accurate and up-to-date information in no time.
Find out exactly how to Trace Any Cell Phone Number within minutes.
Visit Free Reverse Cell Phone Lookup to learn more!
Do you wish to find out more information about the owner of a cell phone number for free?
Here are 3 simple ways to running your own reverse cell phone number search:
1) Look up the number on your favorite search engine:
Surprisingly, many people willingly give this private information over to various sites like when they make online purchases, join user discussion groups or place online classified ads. Any major search engine like Google or Yahoo can help you trace a number. Make sure to try out all possible variations. For example, some people may have used this format [ 555-555-5555 ], others may have put it down as [ 555.555.5555 ]. Using quotation marks will also help you narrow down the results. So, simply go to the search engine of your choice and enter the number and see what comes up. Many people are lucky enough to find what they are looking for.
2) Visit popular networking sites:
Social networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook have millions of users, so hopefully you can use them to trace the number you are searching for.
3) Try classified websites:
UsFreeAds and Graigslist have a huge number of users who list their personal information. Don't forget to try newspapers with an online version. Maybe the caller has posted the cell phone number in a classified ad in their local newspaper.
These free methods may work, but unfortunately there is no guarantee. The single most effective way to discover the identity of the caller is to turn to a legitimate paid directory. There are many services online that can give you access to private information for a very small one - time fee.
These directories buy access to such details from various cell phone companies, so the must charge money to cover their costs.
Find out exactly how to Trace Any Cell Phone Number within minutes.
Visit Free Reverse Cell Phone Lookup to learn more!
Nokia has the knack of redefining its own art and the E71 is a classic example of it. It is a phone that can give heavyweights like Blackberry and the iPhone good competition. With slick design and lots of features that E71 is a phone that is ideal for business. It is not only just a phone but can be your office on the move and also a mode of entertainment.
To further compliment the E-Series range a new black colour variant of the E71 Nokia phone has been launched as a network exclusive mobile phone on the Orange network operator, this means that this particluar model with only be available connected to one of the networks pay monthly tariffs.
The black Nokia E71 offers exactly the same specifications, design and features as the existing Graphite Grey and White models, this new edition simply exchanges the exterior casing colour for a new all black gloss finish in keeping with many of Orange's top smartphone releases.
Specifications
The E71 is Nokia's maiden QWERTY phone that is also enabled with 3G. While concentrating on making the phone attractive, Nokia also made sure that it fulfils the demands of the user. The E71 also comes loaded with A-GPS, WiFi, A2DP Bluetooth, 110MB of built-in memory and a microSD slot. It also has a 3.2 megapixel camera and lots of software, which are supported by the S60 platform. The phone runs on the 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1.
Since it is a business phone, it has office and ready to access email. It has two separate screens; one for business and the other is for entertainment. A button on top of the menu key helps to switch between both the screens. The business screen is loaded with Microsoft office while the entertainment screen has programs for music, video and gaming.
Added Features and Benefits
Pod casts and music playback: Pod casting on the black E71 is an experience in itself. The phone can help us to subscribe and download pod casts smoothly. We can do it simultaneously even while sending and getting mails.
Gmail experience: Gmail is easily recognized the phone and Java client can be downloaded in no time. So receiving mails through Gmail on the E71 is an easy and a simple affair.
Office tools: Since it is an office on the move, the phone has the latest version of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel. It has also Voice Aid software that will read out anything that flashes on the screen and also a Barcode Reader. The browser is fast and can be easily navigated with the up and down keys in it.
Multitasking: It is indeed the age of multitasking and the Nokia E71 Black helps you to do more than one thing at a time. While pod casting one can send and receive emails, one can also browse PDF files with the help of Adobe Reader while creating World or Excel files.
It is the thinnest phone from the company and they claim that it is also the slimmest QWERTY phone in the market. The phone is distinctly different from Nokia's other model with its chrome finish and a glossy screen. It has a 2.36 inch screen (320 x 240 QVGA display), which is in no comparison with the iPhone, but the E71 is brilliant for watching You Tube on it.
At the end of the day it all depends on the user what he or she wants. For the user if entertainment is of prime importance than the screen might be a challenge while for a business user the cramped keyboard will make more typo errors. But the phone as an overall is a good value for money and most important user friendly.
The Nokia E71 Black and original Graphite Grey Nokia E71 are two of many new smartphone releases this year, for further information on both of these models please refer to our online mobile phones shop.
Ring, Ring. Ring, Ring. That's the sound I keep hearing all day along. Actually it's the music to the song "Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting" but you get my meaning. I keep getting these calls from several numbers that I have no idea who those phone numbers belong too. The few times I've answered the phone to see who it was, the person on the other end just hangs up, starts breathing really heavy, or starts talking in such a deep accent that I have no way of understanding what they are saying.
I tried searching online to see who that phone number belongs too. I found a few free phone directories but none of them contain information about the cell phone that is calling me. Oh, I know it's a cell phone because the only thing that is displayed on my phone is "Cellular Caller". There was one site that at least was able to tell me the city the person was in, but no more information than that.
I have seen some of these paid sites that say that you can do a reverse cell lookup and get all the personal information on the cell phone that I would need, which includes the person or companies name, the address and maybe the length of time this cell phone number has been assigned to that person/company. I'm just a little hesitant to pay the money to find out who it is. I mean I can get a six pack of beer for that! I know, I'm being cheap, but seriously if these phone calls don't stop soon, I will have to break down and trace the cell phone number by paying for a service.
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A world renowned mobile brand Sony Ericsson is popular with the masses and especially so with the classes. Sony Ericsson is an innovator in the trend of mobile phones with adaptable features and technological services. The Sony Ericsson mobile phone may witness competition in the world market of the mobile industry today but is always a class apart even if its prices are higher than most brands. High quality and durable, this instrument allows its users to enjoy the latest features with a phone that can be upgraded.
The exclusives of Sony Ericsson Mobile Phone
* Use the Sony Ericsson Mobile Phone as your personal digital walkman.
* Use polyphonic ring tones, music tones, mega bass, Media Player and Radio features on your Sony Ericsson Mobile Phone.
* Workouts are easy when you listen to music with the stereo headset and the armband attachment.
* Check calorie counter and the all-day step counter to clock speed and running distance.
* The inbuilt digital camera video records your precious moments.
* The Sony Ericsson Mobile Phone instant email service delivers your personal and official mails and brings you the latest news.
* View material from chosen websites and blogs. Create your own blog and have fun interacting with your loved ones.
* Track down a favorite song with your Sony Ericsson Mobile Phone.
* The Sony Ericsson Mobile Phone can be used on the plane for entertainment and info.
* The Bluetooth technology assists in synchronizing devices and sharing files.
* Multitask functions are part of the technological services of a Sony Ericsson Mobile Phone.
Sony Ericsson Mobile Phone & Networks Relationships
The Internet has amazing deals and offers from Sony dealers around the world. The deals include a popular model of the Sony Ericsson Mobile Phone in collaboration with leading networks such as Hutch, Vodafone, Orange and the 3 Network among others to give its customers free rentals for one year, free connections and yes, free mobile accessories from the world of Sony.
Sony Ericsson K810i is the latest mobile phone in the category of Sony Ericsson Mobiles which are available in UK Mobile Phone Market. The Auther Angel Faith is Sem Consultant for Best Mobile Phone Shop UK.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Angel_Faith
Cellular: A type of wireless communication that is most familiar to mobile phones users. It's called 'cellular' because the system uses many base stations to divide a service area into multiple 'cells'. Cellular calls are transferred from base station to base station as a user travels from cell to cell. - definition from the Wireless Advisor Glossary.
The basic concept of cellular phones began in 1947, when researchers looked at crude mobile (car) phones and realized that by using small cells (range of service area) with frequency reuse they could increase the traffic capacity of mobile phones substantially. However at that time, the technology to do so was nonexistent.
Anything to do with broadcasting and sending a radio or television message out over the airwaves comes under Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation. A cell phone is a type of two-way radio. In 1947, AT&T proposed that the FCC allocate a large number of radio-spectrum frequencies so that widespread mobile telephone service would become feasible and AT&T would have a incentive to research the new technology. We can partially blame the FCC for the gap between the initial concept of cellular service and its availability to the public. The FCC decided to limit the amount of frequencies available in 1947, the limits made only twenty-three phone conversations possible simultaneously in the same service area - not a market incentive for research.
The FCC reconsidered its position in 1968, stating "if the technology to build a better mobile service works, we will increase the frequencies allocation, freeing the airwaves for more mobile phones." AT&T and Bell Labs proposed a cellular system to the FCC of many small, low-powered, broadcast towers, each covering a 'cell' a few miles in radius and collectively covering a larger area. Each tower would use only a few of the total frequencies allocated to the system. As the phones traveled across the area, calls would be passed from tower to tower.
Individual Inventors & Mobile Phone Patents
Radio telephone system
Inventors: Martin Cooper, Richard W. Dronsuth, ; Albert J. Mikulski, Charles N. Lynk Jr., James J. Mikulski, John F. Mitchell, Roy A. Richardson, John H. Sangster
Dr Martin Cooper, a former general manager for the systems division at Motorola, is considered the inventor of the first modern portable handset. Cooper made the first call on a portable cell phone in April 1973. He made the call to his rival, Joel Engel, Bell Labs head of research. Bell Laboratories introduced the idea of cellular communications in 1947 with the police car technology. However, Motorola was the first to incorporate the technology into portable device that was designed for outside of a automobile use. Cooper and his co-inventors are listed above.
By 1977, AT&T and Bell Labs had constructed a prototype cellular system. A year later, public trials of the new system were started in Chicago with over 2000 trial customers. In 1979, in a separate venture, the first commercial cellular telephone system began operation in Tokyo. In 1981, Motorola and American Radio telephone started a second U.S. cellular radio-telephone system test in the Washington/Baltimore area. By 1982, the slow-moving FCC finally authorized commercial cellular service for the USA. A year later, the first American commercial analog cellular service or AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Service) was made available in Chicago by Ameritech.
Despite the incredible demand, it took cellular phone service 37 years to become commercially available in the United States. Consumer demand quickly outstripped the 1982 system standards. By 1987, cellular telephone subscribers exceeded one million and the airways were crowded.
Three ways of improving services existed:
Editor's Note: African American Inventor Henry Sampson did not invent the cell phone. Sampson is a brilliant and accomplished inventor who invented a Gamma-Electrical Cell and not a phone cell. Sampson's patent (US 3,591,860) can be viewed online or in person at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Continue with>>> Selling The Cell Phone - Wireless Cellular Technology
Get the right answer whenever you need it with Yahoo!® oneSearch™, a search engine designed specifically for mobile users. You can search for anything – from share quotes to celebrity news, sport scores or movie reviews, and get up-to-date and relevant answers every time you search. oneSearch understands what you're after and, where you have enabled this functionality, remembers your location, giving you results tailored to wherever you are. Your results will appear on one page – conveniently grouped into key categories – so finding what you need becomes child's play.
oneSearch gives you the Internet plus Mobile Web content – delivering a wealth of information in the way that best suits you. From Yahoo! features like Finance, Flickr® and Answers to Wikipedia® and the latest news headlines – you'll get information that is current, comprehensive, accurate and easy to navigate. Your results will appear on one page, conveniently grouped into key categories. oneSearch means you can now use your phone to locate anything you would have previously searched for on your PC.
You've got the world in the palm of your hand with oneSearch. You get the best of Yahoo! Local – local listings, arranged according to user ratings – available at-a-glance on your phone. Addresses, click-to-call numbers, maps – all the information you need to get there. Have trouble choosing? Let Yahoo! help – we've got a huge range of community-generated reviews. Whether you’re in your hometown or finding your way around the city, Yahoo! oneSearch tells you what you need to know and keeps you up to date.
You can use text messaging to get the same great results from Yahoo! oneSearch when you're on the go. Just text your search query to 58242 and you'll get a message back with the answer. Or if you prefer, you can get your response as a link to the Web pages you need to view – local listings, weather, directions and more – all tailored to your current location.
BARCELONA--After I've spent years scrounging through drawers looking for the right charger and kicking myself every time I forgot my charger while traveling, the mobile industry has finally decided to make one device that can juice up any cell phone.
The Micro-USB connector used on this Motorola cell phone charger will soon be the standard for all chargers.
(Credit: Motorola)On Tuesday, the GSMA trade association announced at its 2009 Mobile World Congress here that it has brokered a deal with the world's leading handset makers to come up with a standard for charging cell phones.
All the major handset makers, including, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson, have agreed to use the Micro-USB technology as the common universal charging interface, Rob Conway, GSMA CEO, said during the opening keynote speech Tuesday. By 2012, the GSMA promises, most cell phones will use the same kind of connector to charge their batteries.
Seventeen mobile operators, including Vodafone, Orange, and Telofonic, announced they are committed to implementing the standard for the universal mobile phone charger.
The GSMA said that going to this single standard will not only make life easier for the more than 3 billion mobile phone users in the world today, but it will also help the environment.
Conway said that the GSMA will push cell phone manufacturers to develop chargers that consume about 50 percent less power. The organization also believes that eliminating the need for people to replace lost chargers will significantly reduce greenhouse gases emitted in the manufacturing and transporting of these extra chargers. It will also mean less waste in landfills because people won't simply throw away chargers when they stop using their old phones.
All in all, it's huge win for the planet and for me--the consumer. It's such a no-brainer. It makes you wonder why no one thought of this sooner.
UPDATE: One mobile phone maker is conspicuously missing from the GSMA's list of partners: Apple, maker of the popular iPhone. It shouldn't come as a shock that Apple isn't following the rest of the industry on this one, considering that the company has been marching to the beat of its own drummer in mobile from the beginning.
The good news for iPhone users has always been that the connector that's used to recharge the device is the same one used for some Apple iPods. But annoyingly many iPod docking stations and accessories made by third parties for previous generations of iPods don't work with the iPhone
First announced last week, live video streaming service UStream.tv's iPhone app is finally out and free for downloading. It lets you view live and pre-recorded UStream content from the comfort of your phone. I was using it to watch some of the inauguration coverage earlier this morning, however for most it will simply be a way to get at pre-recorded content from their device.
The app lets you both search and browse through UStream content, and will begin playing shows almost immediately. Included is live user chat, which is displayed below or to the side of the video, depending on how you're holding your device. You'll need to be logged in to see and leave comments, otherwise the space simply stays grayed out.
Watching shows on UStream on the iPhone is a breeze, the connection drops and Wi-Fi requirement might kill some of the fun though.
(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET Networks)The one big caveat with this app is that you need to be connected to Wi-Fi to use it, as the app does not yet work over 3G or slower EDGE networks. Attempting to use it without being connected to Wi-Fi simply kicks you back to your phone's home screen. The same thing happens if you go too far out of range of that Wi-Fi network. I see this as the one big deal killer, since you may not always be near a Wi-Fi connection when wanting to access UStream programming.
Besides video, the standout feature is the audio quality, which is comparable to what you'd get on your computer. This is no doubt due to requiring Wi-Fi. The audio I was getting from CNN's inauguration feed came in loud and clear.
Not so hot were the frequent stutters and dropped connections that made me miss several chunks of live footage while watching a buffering screen. If UStream can iron out some of these kinks and let users get a more lightweight stream over 3G, this app would be a real keeper.
Fring's Last.fm add-on will play out first on Symbian S60 phones.
(Credit: Fring)Although Fring has long let you chat with friends over Skype, IM, Facebook, and Twitter, the recent introduction of a Last.fm add-on is the start-up's first foray into streaming content.
Starting this week, Symbian Series 60 users with the latest version of Fring (for Symbian 9.1 | 9.2) can sign on to their Last.fm accounts from the Fring add-on's screen.
From there, you can play custom- and public-streaming stations, with the familiar controls to stop, skip, save, and ban a song. There's album art on the mini player interface, and basic details about the song title, album name, and artist name.
There's a social aspect, too. Pressing the "friends" button takes you a screen that shows you what your friends on Last.fm are listening to, and lets you chat with them using you other IM and social networking add-ons, without leaving the Last.fm module.
Although support for Twitter was not available for the initial release, Fring promises on its Web site that the implementation is coming soon.
Sorry, Windows Mobile and iPhone users. Fring almost always test-runs on Symbian first before the fun stuff (first file transferring, now music streaming) trickles down to other platforms. But it could be worse--Fring doesn't develop for BlackBerrys at all.
(Credit: Pageonce)If you're already using Pageonce on your BlackBerry, get ready for version 2.0.
On Wednesday, the Silicon Valley company is releasing an upgrade to its productivity application.
Instead of getting a fresh lick of paint or a slew of new features, Pageonce 2.0--which lets you view status feeds for your social networks, e-mail, flights, and finances from a centralized app--will simply, importantly, give you full managerial control over the app's basic functions. Starting Wednesday, you'll be able to register, add accounts, and delete them from the phone.
While the new functionality is more a win for first-time users than for those who have been around since the early beta, being able to join up and build your feed from the phone is critical if Pageonce is to virally succeed. It also seems prudent, I should add, to let people delete accounts on a mobile application with your bank balance, stock portfolio, and credit card charges.
We'll post Pageonce 2.0 for BlackBerry here when it goes live Wednesday. It will also be available over the air at m.pageonce.com for many BlackBerry phones, including the touch-screen Storm.
Zeroing in on that important missed call is YouMail's number-one feature.
(Credit: YouMail)Since its inception, YouMail, a visual voicemail service for mobile phones, has had one big problem. You could view and play your mobile phone's voicemail messages online, or--beginning lat June--by pointing the mobile browser to YouMail.com, but messages weren't stored on the device itself.
Starting Wednesday, YouMail has begun to change that with a native YouMail in-box for BlackBerry phones. Visual Voicemail Plus is a free downloadable app that stores your incoming voice messages along with the caller's name, number, and time of call.
In addition to viewing and playing messages in any order you'd like, those who have signed up for the free or premium transcription service will be able to read the message content.
Other online features have carried over as well, including interacting with the voice files by downloading, saving, and forwarding them, or posting them to social networks.
The latter has always been the creepiest application, and in my opinion, a misguided attempt to tap into social networking trends. It's true that replaying calls for amusement, blackmail, or punitive action has been a common fate of cell phone messages for much longer than actor Alec Baldwin's damning outburst back in 2007, but why make it so easy to push a private call to the public domain? Let's just hope I'm the only Debbie Downer here envisioning embarrassing abuses of an innocent call.
But back to the app at hand.
YouMail's free and prmeium transcription services carry over to the mobile in-box.
(Credit: YouMail)While I'll certainly be the first to welcome this native app with open arms, I will point out that it's a bit basic in the design department. We're sure to see more style come to the download in future releases.
The opening of YouMail's API, now in limited beta, means we're sure to see a proliferation of development, including YouMail's porting to other mobile platforms, and to other apps and widgets as a plug-in.
For now YouMail's Visual Voicemail Plus application will work on the BlackBerry Pearl, Curve, Bold, and Storm running version 4.3 or higher of the operating system, and only if you're with Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile carriers. New users can sign up for a free account from the Visual Voicemail Plus interface or online.
Google Latitude shows your friends on a map--as long as they've agreed to share their location.
(Credit: Google)Just because the Internet has broken down geographic barriers, don't assume that Google doesn't care about geography.
The company plans to launch software called Latitude on Wednesday that lets mobile phone users share their location with close contacts. Google hopes it will help people find each other while out and about and to keep track of loved ones.
"What Google Latitude does is allow you to share that location with friends and family members, and likewise be able to see friends and family members' locations," said Steve Lee, product manager for Google Latitude. For example, a girlfriend could use it to see if her boyfriend has arrived at a restaurant and, if not, how far away he is.
To protect privacy, Google specifically requires people to sign up for the service. People can share their precise location, the city they're in, or nothing at all.
"What we found in testing is that the most common scenario is a symmetrical arrangement, where both people are sharing with each other," Lee said.
The software spotlights Google's fixation with mapping and location technology. Location is an important part of navigating the real world, and Google clearly sees its geographic services as a way to establish a more personal connection with customers who today use Google chiefly for the virtual realm of the Internet. And of course money is involved, too: Google hopes its mapping technology will lead to location-based advertising revenue.
Google's power is firmly lodged in search and search advertising, but the company is trying to expand to broader online services, too. That includes online documents and various aspects of social networking, which are much more personal services and ones that put Google into more direct competition with rivals such as Microsoft, Facebook, and Yahoo. Like using Google profiles to contact information with select contacts, using Google Latitude tells Google who's who in your social graph.
Latitude lets you contact somebody who's close by.
(Credit: Google) How it works
Latitude is part of Google Maps for Mobile, the company's mapping software for mobile phones, but also can be used through a gadget loaded onto its iGoogle customized home page. It'll work in 27 countries at launch, Google said.
Initially, it will work on most color-screen BlackBerry phones, most phones with Windows Mobile 5.0 or later, and most Symbian-based devices such as Nokia smartphones. An update to the Google Android operating system now being distributed to the T-Mobile G1 phone also enables it, and iPhone and iPod Touch users will get the option "very soon," Lee said.
Latitude uses Google's technology to judge a user's location not just by GPS satellite, but also by proximity to mobile phone towers and wireless networks.
That's a much more automated approach than the manual "check-in" process used by Dodgeball, a service that Google decided in January to shut down.
Other competitors exist, though. BrightKite and Loopt offer mechanisms for people to find each other by mobile phone, for example. Then there's MobiFriends, Tripit, and Dopplr.
And Google's clearest competitor, Yahoo, offers some competition with Fire Eagle. That service doesn't provide location information, but it does provide a mechanism to centralize people's geographic privacy choices, in effect taking care of some of the social graph management when it comes to location information.
To use the service, you need a Google account to record who has permission to see your location. For choosing who gets to see your location, you can use contacts stored with Gmail or Picasa, Google said.
The white lie
With the service, you can hide from specific people or disappear altogether. And you can manually set a specific location if, for example, your phone can't show it with sufficient precision or if you wish to tell someone a white lie about whether you really aren't going to go to the candy store.
People must agree to share their location before Latitude will work.
(Credit: Google)Google envisions two broad classes of people with whom you might want to share location information. First is a small, close-knit circle of friends and family with whom you're willing to share your exact spot. Second is a larger group with whom you're happy to share city-level detail, convenient for finding out when somebody's in town but not much more.
When somebody is close, the software lets you contact the person various ways--by calling or sending an e-mail or text message, for example. It also lets you hide from that specific person.
Privacy is of course a significant concern when it comes to sharing this sort of information. If you want to use Latitude, you must specifically enable the service.
Meeting your pals at a bar is an obvious example of the software's possibilities, but there are softer cases I see as useful, too.
Lee pointed to a case where a friend's girlfriend, though far away in Seattle, will "virtually place herself next to him." That sounds a little sappy for my tastes, but I can still relate. My wife is on the other side of the country right now, and it would be heart-warming to see just where. There are a lot of occasions where technology is better for maintaining relationships than it is for establishing them, and this looks like one to me
(Credit: Slacker Radio)When Slacker Radio first introduced its streaming Internet radio app for the BlackBerry, it only worked on standard BlackBerrys running version 4.3 and above. Starting Wednesday, the free app gets touchy-feely with a brand new version for the BlackBerry's touch-screen Storm.
Slacker Radio for the Storm brings with it everything we loved on the Curve and Bold, including its best feature ever, caching a song to play offline later. It also throws in some touch-screen specials, like support for landscape mode.
The app still serves U.S. customers only on the BlackBerry and iPhone.
To get it, go to www.Slacker.com from the BlackBerry browser.
On Monday mobile phone users, including those with Apple's iPhone, got a new way to sync and access information from the cloud. Called Google Sync, the new service lets you sync up both calendars and contacts from a specified Google account and will send changes over the air--both ways.
The service uses Microsoft Exchange's ActiveSync protocol to get the job done, and because of this can actively push changes as soon as they're made. Previously the only way to get this kind of near-instantaneous change was to sync up an existing Exchange account with Outlook using Google's other synchronization utility, Google Calendar Sync. However, that system did not sync contacts and required users to actively run a software client on a machine that had Outlook running.
Setting up your phone to sync up with Google's servers does not require any special software, however it's worth noting that if you have an iPhone or Windows mobile handset the process will wipe out any existing contacts and calendars from your device. This data loss does not occur on Nokia, BlackBerry, Sony Ericsson, or Motorola devices. Also, users who haven't already begun using Google's contact manager are encouraged to do so, as after syncing it becomes the one place where all of your contacts are stored.
Another small caveat is that the service only currently supports up to five user calendars. Users of Google Calendar who may be used to more than that number may have problems with this solution.
One thing that's missing from the equation is Google's Gmail service, which does not offer a push service. Future versions of Google Sync may add that to the equation. Competitor Yahoo has offered a free (although sometimes flaky) push service for its Web mail since the iPhone's introduction in early 2007.
(Credit: Yahoo Inc.)Yahoo on Monday released an update to its voice-activated mobile search app, Yahoo OneSearch, that gets a handful of new capabilities for both its full-fledged app and OneSearch shortcut, plus new support for the Windows Mobile operating system. The OneSearch shortcut is a plug-in that lets you search by typing or speaking search terms into a search bar located on the home screen of your mobile phone.
After releasing a voice-enabled version of its OneSearch plug-in to a few Nokia phones last August, Yahoo has been slowly expanding the application's capabilities, as well as expanding the application itself, to the remaining mobile platforms. Considering the California company's latest string of woes, its slower rate of production compared to competing mobile search apps, namely Google, isn't too surprising.
What the OneSearch update offers is essentially good, but it isn't anything new to the field of voice search, either. Among the additions is a location feature that uses cell tower signal to mark your approximate whereabouts. After placing you, your search results will list local businesses by default. It's a necessary feature to win mindshare among mobile searchers, but Yahoo is playing catch-up among its peers. Microsoft integrated its version of location triangulation into Windows Live Search for mobile last month, and location awareness has been a big part of Google's mobile map client for well over a year.
Yahoo's OneSearch application and shortcut also receive some nice enhancements in the suggested search department. As you type a query, Yahoo's search app breaks its predictive offerings into two. The first block of suggestions is populated with a list of your previous search terms. The second block pulls in matches from an internal dictionary that include the first letters you've already typed. Although assisted search is by now a comfortably worn theme in browser and mobile search, it's welcome in Yahoo OneSearch as a timesaver all the same.
Yahoo's final feature is brand-new support for its voice search plug-in for Windows Mobile phones--but only in the U.S. Yahoo's OneSearch apps, however, have expanded onto some cell phone models in Australia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Mozilla has shaken up the desktop browser market with its innovative approach to add-ons and superior performance, earning itself 21.53 percent of the desktop browser market in the process.
While Mozilla has long lagged in mobile browsing, that seems set to change, if this video demonstrating gestures and other features of Mozilla's rapidly developing mobile Fennec browser is any indication:
Mozilla seems set to embrace and extend its own desktop experience with Fennec, giving even Apple a run for its money in mobile (and seemingly shuttering Microsoft's Windows Mobile efforts completely).
(Credit: TuneWiki)Back in October, we took a look at close look at TuneWiki, a media enhancement application for Google Android that scrolls through a song's lyrics as you play a song or YouTube music video. The company announced this week an update to its free Android application that will let you also stream Internet radio on your phone. The update, which will be submitted to the Android Market this Saturday, will give streaming songs TuneWiki's lyrical capabilities, as well as its social networking enhancements. As a moral perk, many of the lyrics will be legally licensed. We'll lay out the program's highs and lows, general availability, and some legal particulars.
We mostly liked TuneWiki when it first came out--certainly the idea of it, and in general the application's performance. It is also the first application of this type that I've seen for mobile phones. (The free-to-try application MiniLyrics has been around for a while on the desktop.) TuneWiki wasn't always as stable as we'd have liked, and syncing wasn't always on-point. We looked forward to the media application's next steps. Lyrics precision and a few stability issues were still present in our preview version of TuneWiki; hopefully the latter will be addressed by the time TuneWiki 1.0 reaches the Android Market.
Streaming Internet radio
Providing Internet lyrics, and legal ones at that, are the two biggest points of interest in this update. First let's tackle the streaming Internet feature. Like Pandora, Last.FM, and Slacker Radio, TuneWiki's Internet radio feature (designated by a microphone icon on the application's navigation menu) lets you choose stations by genre and popularity, and save favorite stations. In addition, TuneWiki can display a music map showing you where else the song is playing at that moment, and can stream lyrics that users have uploaded into TuneWiki's database from its Web site--the 'wiki' element of TuneWiki's service.
TuneWiki's streaming lyrics component only works for some stations, and then the lyrics are only as good as the user-generated database itself. If you're lucky enough to get a station compatible with TuneWiki's lyrics software, making them sync with the streaming song is your next challenge.
TuneWiki tasks you with finding your place and then tapping on it, after which the software takes over and highlights the lines for you. This TuneWiki did, but on a song with a quick tempo, the feature didn't kick in until two more lines had played. This is by far the application's biggest drawback. In addition, artist credits were only present on stations that could stream TuneWiki's lyrics. For many stations, we were left in the dark.
Of legalities and lyrics
In addition to streaming Internet radio, TuneWiki is announcing a partnership with a major music publishers association that grants TuneWiki the rights to stream lyrics for almost 2 million songs. Music law is complicated stuff, but as TuneWiki's President, Amnon Sarig, explains it, the licenses let TuneWiki legitimately give the green light to many user-submitted lyrics. Those that fall outside the licensing scope are protected under the 'safe harbor' provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (Wikipedia). TuneWiki isn't breaking any laws--for now--by streaming any unlicensed lyrics its users upload, unless the rights-owner asks for a take-down. (Sarig told CNET in an interview that his company complies with publishers' requests to block song lyrics.) This is interesting stuff, especially in light of Warner Music Group's lawsuit against Seeqpod for its role in corralling copyrighted MP3s for users to play. Perhaps TuneWiki's show of good faith and latest licensing gains will shield it from similar lawsuits.
Availability
TuneWiki plans to submit the free version 1.0 of its lyrics application to Google's Android Market. By March or April, the company expects to release TuneWiki for BlackBerry, J2ME, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. These versions are currently being tested in a closed beta program. It is also possible to download TuneWiki onto jailbroken iPhones and iPod Touches, though there is currently no listing in the iTunes App Store.
