CTIA show

I'm looking at a cell phone screen and four faces are looking back. It's CTIA 2008, the biggest wireless and cell phone trade show of the year, and the CEO of iVisit, a multiparty video conferencing app for PCs, Macs, and mobile phones, is demoing the product, iVisit Teleport. I must say, the slick, feature-rich app looks pretty cool on Orang Diamaleh's large-screen smartphone.

iVisit Teleport's feature-rich app manages to avoid distraction.

The simplest way to think about iVisit Teleport is as a P2P social network that lets you call, chat, video conference, and transfer multimedia for up to 8 contacts at a time. You sign up for an account and can start adding any contact who has also registered with the service. Conferencing starts when you enter a room, after which you have an array of controls to launch multimedia sharing functions with a one-button click; that is, tap or click the interface to chat, start a video conference using the phone's camera as the lens, send a file, and see a buddy's GPS location on a map.

I like the glossy black interface, which packs in a lot of features without making the app feel overcrowded. The video quality wasn't too shabby either, and definitely an improvement over other video software I've seen, but a lot of that input will depend on the capabilities of the phone itself. On mobile phones, iVisit Teleport supports 120x160, 320x240 video. It will be interesting to see how iVisit Teleport plays out on an actual conference call when the app's beta release goes live in April on Windows Mobile phones, and if the pricing will appeal more to consumers or small businesses. In the meantime, anyone can pre-register for the iVisit Teleport private beta or iVisit desktop for Windows and Mac.

Quite a few services on the market offer some variation on the theme of making inexpensive international calls. Fring and EQO dress it up with IM and a social networking aspect that grants free international calls between registered friends and cheap calls to everyone else. Likewise, there's Skype to Go and Talkster, which both require you to punch in local access numbers to get cheap rates. However, Packet8's MobileTalk has risen above them all as a mass market solution that sheds the extra messaging frills, money-making ads, and prep time to make the call. (Note: Give yourself a few minutes for the initial account set-up, including finding the phone's IMEI number.)

The premise is dead simple. You download the MobileTalk app, then make calls as usual. When your fingers dial out an international number, MobileTalk springs to life, delaying the call by a few seconds to connect you to a local number (that's what gets you the cheaper rates,) then pushes the call through to your destination.

Payment is pretty easy too; it arrives as a separate credit card charge on your statement when you set up your account. The costs are comparable to other phone card and VoIP-out services--that's about 2-3 cents per minute to most of Europe and 3-5 cents to most of Asia. Doubting Thomases can track call costs from their online account as they speak.

Because Packet8 MobileTalk requires the user to do absolutely nothing to connect an international call, it's the kind of set-up I want to have for calling my London-dwelling sister on my morning commute, and the kind of app I would recommend to any smartphone owner who prefers to set and forget. Packet8 MobileTalk is currently available for Windows Mobile, Symbian, and BlackBerry phones, and is expected for Java phones in 4-to-6 weeks.

Now that's splurging.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

You know you're in an expensive shopping mall when even at the cell phone store you can't afford anything. While walking through the posh Wynn Hotel at CTIA, I stopped by the Vertu store to gawk with the other tourists. Of course, Vertu is Nokia's ultraluxury handset line with design accents such as gold plating, leather skins, and real diamonds. They can run in the five-digit range, but in all seriousness, if you have to ask how much they cost, you probably can't afford them. The store's formidable staff discouraged extended browsing, but I recommend a stop at a Vertu store for any serious cell phone nut. Personally, I'd never spend several months salary on a cell phone, but it just goes to show that whatever you're into, there's a market.

Juice for your cell phone at the Las Vegas airport.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

While waiting at Las Vegas' McCarran airport for my flight home to San Francisco, I spotted one of the most interesting things I've seen during my CTIA trip. Sitting between a water fountain and the restrooms was a nifty cell phone charging stand. For $3, it delivers 30 minutes of charging time, which can be just enough juice if your phone is dying but you left your charger in your checked luggage. The machine included connectors for 12 types cell phones, including Kyocera, Samsung, Nokia, Palm Treo, RIM BlackBerry, LG, and Nokia. It also had connectors for iPods and the iPhone. Though I didn't test the charging station, there was one thing about it that struck me as troublesome. Unless you want to risk your phone being stolen, you'd have to stay next to the machine while it's charging your phone. Who wants to sit outside the bathroom for a half hour?

Smart Rider combines the features of a phone and portable GPS device.

(Credit: Motorola)

Motorola broke a few molds when it announced the Smart Rider at CTIA this week. Smart Rider is a cross between a phone and a portable GPS device, using a 2.8-inch high-resolution screen for map display and turn-by-turn directions. It also has voice command and Bluetooth hands-free calling features. Although the news release is a little short on details, it seems to say that you can pair your phone with the Smart Rider, and transfer contact information. However, Smart Rider also has its own GSM connection, so presumably it would have its own phone number, and its cellular connection would be used to download maps. It also has live traffic and local search, services that would also come over a cellular connection. Smart Rider is scheduled to be available in June 2008.

(Source: Jalopnik)

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Kyocera's NFC demo

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

There was more going on at Kyocera's CTIA booth then its new cell phones. The company also showed an interesting demo of NFC technology. In case you're not familiar, NFC allow users to store and access business cards in their cell phones, which they can then use to make purchases. In essence, your cell phone becomes your wallet, as it can be all you need to buy everything from a pack of gum to movie tickets.

In the demo I had a choice between a bottled water, a candle, or a pack of gum. I chose the gum since I had just guzzled my morning coffee. After the "cashier" rang up my purchase, he waved the NFC-enabled phone in front of a scanner to complete the transaction. If the demo handset was my phone, the purchase would show up on my normal credit card bill.

The technology is hardly new and though it's common in Asia, it's relatively rare in the United States. Just how it works is fairly simple. The NFC phone is embedded with a chip that stores your credit card information. When making a purchase, a scanner will read the chip and detect your preferred payment method.

The Kyocera E2000's fingerprint scanner

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

Naturally, this does bring up security concerns. No one would relish the idea of some nefarious person taking your stolen phone on a shopping spree. Yet Kyocera showed how to avoid that. Its demo handset, a Kyocera E2000, had a fingerprint scanner for identifying the phone's owner. Without the necessary finger touch, the handset would not allow NFC purchases. What's more, a Kyocera spokeswoman said you can train the phone to use different credit cards depending on how you swipe the scanner. That sounds very cool indeed.

Traditionally focused on securing mobile devices for corporations and even the U.S. Government, Bluefire Security plans to enter the consumer market with Mobile Defender.

Bluefire's bid joins them to the ranks of other security vendors who have created mobile versions of their desktop apps. I got a chance to preview Mobile Defender at CTIA 2008 in Las Vegas. The app, currently available in private beta for Windows Mobile phones, has a simple four-button interface, with each button corresponding to an element of protection--firewall, SMS and MMS spam-blocking, an application protection shield that guards against auto-installing malware, and a feature to remotely wipe the contents of the handheld should it get stolen or irreversably corrupted.

Mobile Defender is of the "set and forget" variety, which means that after you install it, it pretty much runs on its own. Bluefire intentionally withheld tweaking options, which Mark Kominsky, Bluefire's CEO, explained as a big usability win to keep users from worrying if a lack of configuration knowledge is somehow crippling their coverage. Pro users who enjoy customizing their settings would disagree.

While security compromises from mobile phones have been small in scale, and mostly isolated incidents, Komisnky believes that cell phones dangle attractive lures for hackers along three vectors--As mobile messaging becomes ubiquitous and malware authors propagate poisonous code in links; as mobile phone commerce takes off, and as the mobile Web becomes easier to surf from devices like the iPhone.

Dashwire, a small Seattle start-up eleven employees strong, continues to impress with its growing service for managing and interacting with the contents of your cell phone online. To recap an earlier review, Dashwire synchronizes your cell phone to an online account, displaying on a flexible dashboard your call history, images, profile, texting history, photos, ring tones, videos, and contacts. You can roll up your sleeves and muck around with your phone from Dashwire, a much happier experience than crouching over your two-inch cell phone screen and tapping or clicking away through on-device management programs, particularly if you're not on the go and are sitting comfortably in front of a computer, thank you very much.

Since Dashwire is linked to your phone via a downloadable client, everything you do online also occurs on your phone, and vice versa. Therefore, you can view, tag, and share media, send text messages, listen to voice mail, and add bookmarks from the comfort of your online dashboard. It's cool. But in the last month, it's gotten cooler.

(Credit: Dashwire)

There have been quiet roll-outs of tweaks, even a few big changes. For a start, Dashwire has drastically improved its search tool. Users can now push photos to friends' phones, e-mail addresses, and Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and Bebo. (In Twitter, most photos are converted to a TinyURL.com link. It doesn't work 100 percent of the time, and Dashwire's working on that.)

The service also now supports data transferring when users switch phones, which was the top request among private beta testers, and a great new feature for quickly assigning speed dial settings.

The big thing, though, is integration with CallWave, a service that transcribes voice messages to text. This is a smart move, and it makes perfect sense for Dashwire, which is all visual management, to provide visual voice mail.

Coming up
Dashwire will be introducing a few more additions in stages over the next six months. Starting Friday, text messages will be threaded by contact, in a manner much like the iPhone. In about four to six weeks, a new, dynamic phone client will replace the current app, which is currently limited to a few syncing options. The new, richer Dashwire client will peform all sorts of party tricks, like pulling in media when you switch to a new handset, push status updates to Facebook and Twitter, and pull in content from the Web.

The final announcement in this cascade of upgrades is that Symbian S60 users will be able to get their hands on Dashwire if they can hold their horses until late August or early September.

Dashwire runs equally well from your phone memory and storage card, and it's now in public beta for Windows Mobile users. Get out there and try it.

>>See all the latest news in cell phones and mobile software coming out of CTIA Wireless 2008.

Share photos via SMS, e-mail, or post online.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Verizon Wireless G'zOne Type-S

(Credit: Verizon Wireless)

Casio showed off its new G'zOne Type-S for Verizon Wireless in black and silver at the UTStarcom booth here at CTIA. It's almost exactly the same as the original rugged clamshell, but it now supports push-to-talk capabilities. The rest of the Type-S Casios will have this feature as well, it's just that the black and silver version is the first out the gate with it. It's saddled with only a VGA camera, but a rugged phone like this doesn't need a lot of bells and whistles. Verizon is offering it now for $99.99 after a discount and a two year contract.

LAS VEGAS--AT&T's top wireless man told the Wall Street Journal at the CTIA tradeshow here this week that the company is considering using Google's Android handsets.

Ralph de la Vega, head of AT&T's wireless unit, told the Journal he has reviewed the technology closely and is "confident it is something we are going to want in our portfolio."

This is good news for Google, which benefits greatly from having as many carriers and handset makers as possible using its new operating system.

When Google announced it was developing the open-source, Linux-based Android platform last year, the company also announced the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of handset makers, carriers and chip designers that will work to implement Android.

Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile signed on as part of the consortium, but AT&T and Verizon Wireless, the No. 1 and No. 2 operators in the country, had not committed to using Android.

That said, it's not surprising that AT&T has expressed interest in Android. Verizon executives have also said they are looking at Android for their consumer branded phones but, like AT&T, they are not willing to commit to Android. Still, Verizon's newly launched open device program would allow device makers to use Android. My guess is that if a handset maker comes up with a compelling phone that uses Android, Verizon and AT&T will surely offer them on their networks. But for now, it's hard to say what those phones will look like since no manufacturer is actually selling Android handsets yet.

While there's been a lot of hype surrounding Android, the reality is that Android is simply an operating system just like Windows Mobile and Symbian, which are operating systems designed for smartphones. Operators also use dozens of other operating systems on their regular phones. This has turned into a bit of a problem for operators because it's difficult for developers to come up with new applications and services quickly. Arun Sarin, CEO of Vodafone, the biggest cell phone company in the world, addressed this issue during his keynote at the CTIA show. And he urged the industry to work with fewer operating systems.

Google's Android is one of many Linux-based operating systems designed for mobile phones. But because the software is backed by Google, it might actually have more legs than other versions of the software. Ultimately, Android's success will be determined by what phone manufacturers and application developers do with the software. After all, consumers don't buy operating systems. They buy cool devices that can do really cool things.