ctia

Lime-green Motorola Q9c adds twist to Alltel and U.S. Cellular

CTIA 2008 is still one day away from its official start, but the news is already starting to trickle in. Motorola got a jump-start as it, as well as Alltel and U.S. Cellular, announced the addition of the Motorola Q9c to the carriers' line-ups, including a new lime-green version. Both providers will also offer a more traditional black version if you don't feel like getting too wild and crazy with your phone colors. (And how in the world did Moto settle on lime green?)

Looks aside, the Q9c for Alltel and U.S. Cellular is much like the … Read more

LiMo Foundation ready with mobile Linux OS

Google's Android may get all the attention, but there's more than one industry consortium working to unify Linux development for mobile phones.

The nonprofit LiMo Foundation plans to announce the launch of LiMo Platform Release 1 at the CTIA show in Las Vegas Monday. Release 1 gives handset makers and carriers the basic operating system software needed to run a phone, leaving it up to them to put a crowd-pleasing user inferface and applications on top of that phone software.

"This is a significant achievement for LiMo in that we now have a complete fully released version … Read more

Nokia N810 Internet Tablet WiMax Edition outed

Well, well, what do we have here? Engadget Mobile (via Internet Tablet Talk) caught wind of a WiMax-enabled Nokia N810 Internet Tablet after it was posted on Nokia Europe's Web site. Unfortunately, the link to the product page isn't working at the moment, but you can pretty much figure out that it's like the Nokia N810 we reviewed earlier this year but with WiMax support. Rumor has it that we'll see the debut of this device at CTIA 2008, so check back next week when our show coverage begins to see if this puppy shows its … Read more

Verizon Wireless adds friend-finding service

Friend-finding cell phone service Loopt is now available on some Verizon Wireless phones.

Loopt is a service that uses GPS (Global Positioning System) chips in phones to pinpoint a subscriber's location; then users can broadcast that location information to friends or family, who can track them on a tiny map. Subscribers can sign up for alerts to find out when other Loopt friends are near. They're also able to tag photos and send them to friends with location information attached.

The company has been offering the service on some Sprint and Boost Mobile phones for more than a … Read more

CTIA: A platform for changing the subject

It's that time of year again when U.S. cell phone executives gather at the semi-annual CTIA Wireless trade show to show off new products and hobnob with each other. But this year it seems like some companies are working extra hard to clear the air before they hit the Las Vegas show floor.

Trade shows are typically where companies make new product announcements. And while I'm sure there will be some new handsets and services announced at CTIA, my feeling is that some of the more troubled companies like Sprint Nextel and Motorola, will use the conference … Read more

AT&T to offer live mobile TV in May

AT&T said Thursday that it will start offering live mobile TV service from MediaFlo in May, but will anyone be watching?

AT&T first announced its partnership with MediaFlo in February 2007. Back then it said it expected the service to begin by the end of 2007. AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel told Reuters the company waited until May to offer the service because it was "a brand new service on a brand new network, and two brand new devices."

The new service will operate on two new handsets, the LG Vu and the Samsung Access. … Read more

Samsung Access to support AT&T Mobile TV

We once thought the LG Vu would be the first device to carry AT&T's MediaFLO-powered mobile TV service, but as it turns out, it's not the only one to share the limelight. Following the news of AT&T's May launch of AT&T Mobile TV, Samsung put out a press release about the Samsung Access, which will be one of two devices to launch with the service. Check out our Samsung Access slide show to see it in all its glory.

The candy-bar-style phone is a lot slimmer than the Vu, plus it … Read more

A photo frame with a SIM card

At CTIA next week, Parrot is showing a digital photo frame that can receive pictures sent from a cell phone in a multimedia message. The Parrot DF7700 is the first digital photo frame (as least that we know of) with an integrated SIM card and dedicated phone number. The phone number will allow you to send photos directly from your camera phone to the DF7700. And in case you don't want to send a multimedia message, you also can add photos to the frame using its mini-USB port or its multiformat memory card slot. The DF7700 does not offer … Read more

Report: Next Windows Mobile version arriving next week

Microsoft is getting ready to take the wraps off the latest version of Windows Mobile, according to a report out Tuesday.

Pocket Lint is claiming that Microsoft will release Windows Mobile 6.1 next Tuesday, which happens to be the day that Microsoft's Robbie Bach, head of the Windows Mobile team, is planning to give a keynote address at the CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas. Purely a coincidence, I'm sure, although it will be April Fool's Day.

Windows Mobile 6.1 will be the first major update to ship since version 6.0 made its debut … Read more

Trade show fatigue?

While working in the press room at CTIA 2007, I had an interesting conversation with one of my media colleagues. While talking about the lack of high-profile news in Orlando, he theorized that CTIA is just at the wrong time of year. He argued that since it follows both CES and the GSMA World Congress, CTIA ends up getting eclipsed by the earlier shows. So by the time CTIA rolls around, manufacturers are spent from trade show fatigue. As a remedy, he advocated switching the schedule of the two CTIA shows so that the bigger event comes in the autumn, … Read more