phones

Since Samsung made such a big statement at CTIA with the debut of its dual-sided UpStage for Sprint we think the least the company could do is bring us a U.S. version of its Ultra Video as well. The Ultra Video looks like the Upstage, but it features a unique and sexy swivel design that allows you to balance the phone on a table for easy viewing. Also called the F500, the GSM Ultra Video made its debut last December at an electronics show in Hong Kong. We like its slick styling and are eager to see if it'… Read more

We sat in with Sky Dayton, CEO of Helio, earlier today, and he gave us the full rundown of the Helio Ocean. We even had the chance to play with it a little, and so far, we're very impressed.

As we mentioned in Crave yesterday, the Helio Ocean is a triple-deckered phone with a number keypad layer that slides down, and a QWERTY keyboard layer that slides sideways. It's rather bulky as a result, but not as bad as I initially thought. The 2.4-inch QVGA screen is great for watching video, the keyboard is nice and spacious, … Read more

At a trade show like CTIA, you can always count on the Samsung booth to feature a special room with a selection of pretty, powerful phones that you'll never see in the United States. Typically the "Samsung Gallery" features slick floors, black walls, and rows of glass cases holding the special handsets. Photos are strictly prohibited (except if you're press) and a gaggle of black-clad women will rush to stick their hands in front of your camera if you're not authorized to capture the phones on film. This year, we again spy 10-megapixel camera phones, … Read more

Well, good on ya, Palm. Today, the company announced that it will offer Treo 750 owners an update to Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition. Not only does this bring the new e-mail search functionality, Calendar Ribbon, and Windows Live for Mobile integration, but for Cingular/AT&T customers, it also adds support for the carrier's UMTS/HSDPA 3G network. Sweet. Palm said it will release the upgrade later this year, but we're trying to get a hard date--or at least a more specific time frame from the company, so check back for more details.

Start saving your pennies, Cravers: the much-coveted Nokia N95 is coming to the United States. That's right, baby. Scheduled for a late spring release, the N95 brings an innovative two-way slider design, integrated GPS, Wi-Fi, and a 5-megapixel camera, just to name a few of the phone's goodies. Unfortunately, it looks like the HSDPA support will be stripped out of the U.S. version though. What the? Booooo! For now, the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE) N95 won't be released with any carrier, so the good news is it's not tied down to one … Read more

Symbian chose CTIA 2007 as its stage to unveil the latest version of its smart phone operating system, Symbian OS v9.5. The revamped OS brings a number of improvements to e-mail, multimedia, and performance. Notable enhancements include Exchange ActiveSync integration, automatic RAM defragmentation, 35 new camera features, and more support for GPS and location-based services. Symbian also claims that v9.5 will reduce battery, processor, and memory consumption, making it a more affordable solution and allowing more handset manufacturers to use the OS in midrange devices and not just high-end smart phones. Version 9.5 won't be available … Read more

We stopped by Motorola's booth today at CTIA 2007 and among other things, got an update on the whereabouts of the Motorola Q GSM and Motorola Q q9. Apparently, the GSM Moto Q won't be coming to the States because there isn't much interest. Ohhhh, really? I would have thought otherwise based on the number of reader e-mails I get about this device. Then again, we can understand how interest for the GSM Q would wane in the shadow of the faster, more powerful Motorola Q q9, which, by the way, has been renamed the Motorola Q … Read more

I know it's only the first day, but so far CTIA 2007 has been a bit of a snoozer. Beyond the announcement of Samsung's UpStage, most carrier announcements have been few. Even Samsung hasn't given us much beyond Sprint's new dualsided music phone. Nokia didn't show us anything new and concentrated only on phones it had already announced earlier this year at 3GSM. Sony Ericsson only gave us a couple models as did LG and (so far) UT Starcom. Pantech and Kyocera made respectable showings with five new phones each, but it's still not … Read more

It's an all new Kyocera at CTIA, as the company commonly known (at least in the United States) for simple, reliable phones does everything it can to show it's not resting on its laurels. Of the company's five new phones, only the S1000 rests on the simple, functional end of the product scale. The other phones, however, feature sleek profiles, stylized keypads and fashion-friendly design. Take the E5000, for example. It's not only thin but it also supports a stainless steel body and an S-shaped hinge.

Kyocera isn't shy about admitting its new direction. Its … Read more