Cell phones

In conjunction with the Web 2.0 Expo and shown in action at CTIA 2009, Nokia announced that it has added Windows Live Hotmail support to Nokia Messaging.

Nokia Messaging is a free, downloadable application that lets you access up to 10 personal e-mail accounts on a Nokia device, all of which organized under a single icon. The app also supports Yahoo, Gmail, and AOL Mail, among others.

In addition, the Hotmail integration, the company also said it will add Nokia Messaging support to the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic starting in May. Currently, the app is available on 20 Nokia models … Read more

Aside from showing off its latest handsets, LG also took the opportunity at CTIA 2009 to demonstrate Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) mobile digital television on some of its phones. ATSC is the new digital television standard that is replacing NTSC, and LG has been helping to develop a mobile version of the standard in the form of embedded chips.

At the show, LG incorporated these chips in the LG Lotus and the LG Voyager, and showed off live local TV on both handsets. There is no real service fee involved, since it's basically receiving the television signal over … Read more

Bringing new meaning to the phrase "more than meets the eye," LG has partnered with Dreamworks to bring you a limited edition of the LG Versa with a Transformers theme to help promote the sequel to the 2007 summer blockbuster. In fact, Michael Bay himself will be on the scene at the LG booth in CTIA at 2 p.m. PDT Thursday to promote the phone and the movie, titled "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."

It's fitting that they chose to make the LG Versa their promotional phone, as the touch-screen handset is quite transformative … Read more

At its CTIA booth Nokia showed a new camera phone application that will allow users to get information about an object. Point & Find is a downloadable app that uses real-time image processing and recognition technologies to access information related to books, movies, DVDs and similar media content.

Though Nokia officially unveiled Point & Find back in San Francisco at the Web 2.0 conference, I got see a demonstration in Las Vegas. The Nokia rep pointed an N95 at a poster for the movie Ice Age 3. You don't actually have to take a photo--all you need to … Read more

The LG Xenon is clearly LG's premier announcement at CTIA this year, but the LG Neon deserves a closer look too. I had a brief hands-on with the device early yesterday, and it left a pretty good impression though I question some of the design choices.

Like the Xenon, the Neon has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and is meant to be a messaging device. It has a nice display and is slim and lightweight. The keyboard only has 3 rows instead of the 4 rows on the Xenon, so it's slightly more cramped. Still, the keys are well-spaced … Read more

My first stop this morning at CTIA was to the LG booth, particularly to take a closer look at the LG Xenon, which was announced earlier this week. The Xenon is quite svelte at 4.16 inches long by 2.11 inches wide by 0.62 inch thick, and it has a nice 262,000-color 2.8-inch QVGA touch-screen display. Underneath the display are three physical keys; the Send, task manager, and End/Power keys. The task manager key brings up a list of open applications that you can toggle through. The touch screen has vibrating feedback, and there's … Read more

Nokia may have a big booth at CTIA, but so far the company's news has been light. Besides the E71x for AT&T, Nokia's only other new cell phone in Las Vegas is the 1661 for T-Mobile's prepaid service. The low-end handset sports a simple candy bar design with basic features. The handset is dual-band (GSM 850/1900), which means it will only work in North America.

Inside you'll find an FM radio, messaging, a 250-contact phone book, a speakerphone, a calendar, and an alarm clock. Yet, there is one unique touch. On the 1661'… Read more

Helio's influence on Virgin Mobile continues to grow, as Virgin Mobile just announced the availability of the "Connect" social-networking dashboard and Opera Mini 4.2 to its prepaid customers. These features were previously available on post-paid devices only, like the Helio handsets. They will launch later this month on devices like the Shuttle, the Jax, and the X-tc. Do note that you'll have to sign up for a monthly or prepaid data pack plan. The price ranges from $5 for 5MB of data on prepaid plans, to $10 for 50MB on a monthly plan.

The "… Read more

ZTE announced today that it has partnered with regional carrier Pocket Communications to release the ZTE C78 and the ZTE C79. Previously, these handsets have only been with MetroPCS. The C78 is a candybar-style phone with a 2-inch backlit display, stereo Bluetooth, but not much else. The C79 is a flip phone with external music player keys, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and stereo Bluetooth as well. Both handsets will be available for Pocket Communications subscribers in Texas and in New England. No word as to pricing just yet.