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Welcome to CTIA
(Credit: Kent German/CNET)The best place at any trade show is your departure gate at the airport. While events like CTIA certainly can be interesting, and even fun, they're also a lot of work. What's more, I don't enjoy being away from my family, my friends, and my own couch. Yet, even with those caveats I can always count on CTIA, CES, and the GSMA World Congress to teach me lessons about what's happening in the cell phone world. Even when the show is relatively quiet, as CES 2009 was, I wind up learning something.
Times are tough
Even before the CNET crew arrived in Las Vegas we knew that CTIA wouldn't be too lively. Such was the case at both CES and GSMA, so we couldn't imagine that CTIA would be different. As I said in my CTIA wrap-up, the economy is a likely factor, but CTIA also has the unfortunate position of following two events with worldwide profiles.
About as busy as it got
(Credit: Kent German/CNET)As expected, attendance was down by a noticeable amount. I don't have figures to back me up right now, but there were plenty of telling signs that fewer people made the trip to Vegas. For instance, I didn't have to wait in line to get lunch and at times you could go bowling down the convention floor aisles. More importantly, while horrendous taxi lines are very common at McCarran Airport, I waited only a few minutes. I seriously think that the length of the Vegas airport cab line should be a new economic indicator.
News at the show was also pretty light. In its usual fashion, Samsung made the strongest showing with LG and Kyocera following closely behind. Yet, the total numbers of new phones introduced was far smaller than in previous years, and we didn't hear any hot tidbits around high-profile items like the Palm Pre or the Google Android OS. Moto, Nokia, and HTC had just one major announcement each, and Sony Ericsson had none. Sony Ericsson even shared a booth with parent company Ericsson, a sure sign that it the company is laying low.... Read more
Check out the sights from the CTIA show floor.
(Credit: Kent German/CNET)As CTIA 2009 closes, so does the busy cell phone trade show season that began three months ago at CES. And now that the CNET crew has left Las Vegas for San Francisco and New York City, we've had a chance to reflect on what CTIA gave us. I'll describe the highlights in detail below, but be sure to check out our CTIA videos and CTIA photo galleries. We also picked our favorite products for the Best of CTIA.
A snoozer of a show
Though there were plenty of new phones to handle, CTIA was rather quiet. Sure, the torpid economy is a likely culprit, but CTIA has a bigger strike against it. Since it follows the two much bigger blowouts of CES and the GSMA World Congress, CTIA just can't offer the same level of news.
It's not really CTIA's fault--after all, a U.S.-focused show can't be expected to compete with global events--but I'm not the first to suggest that CTIA should switch its schedule to later in the year. But as I said, there was plenty to report.
Samsung left a good impression.
(Credit: Kent German/CNET)
Getting the message
If there was one theme at CTIA 2009, it was the messaging phone. A total of five new models made their first appearance in Las Vegas, with Samsung and AT&T leading the way.
On the Monday before the show, Sammy and AT&T unveiled the Samsung Impression and the Samsung Magnet. Both offer full QWERTY keyboards on a different theme. While the Magnet offers minimal features and a simple design, the Impression has a comfortable slider design, a brilliant display, and mid-range multimedia. It made such an impression on us that we picked it as our top phone of the show.
... Read more
LG Wine at CTIA 2009
(Credit: Nicole Lee/CNET)Even though the LG Wine was released back in January, we weren't able to have a hands-on with the device until CTIA 2009. The Wine comes in this nice burgundy color to go along with the wine theme, and is a simple mid-tier flip phone from U.S. Cellular. There's also a white version.
The most unique thing about the Wine is that it has four dedicated hot keys underneath the display. They correspond to the messaging interface, the alarm clock, the images folder, and the U.S. Cellular's easyedge Web portal. It also has a very roomy and tactile keypad with huge numbers on the keys for easier legibility.
The LG Wine has four dedicated hot keys
(Credit: Nicole Lee/CNET)It has fairly simple features like a 1.3-megapixel camera, a speakerphone, Bluetooth, and voice command. It's available from U.S. Cellular for $29.95 with a two-year agreement, though you can get it without a contract for $179.95.
The U.S. Cellular LG Banter is on the far left, followed by the Alltel LG Banter in the middle, and the LG Rumor 2 is on the far right.
(Credit: Nicole Lee/CNET)As you might recall, the LG Banter is Alltel's version of the LG Rumor 2. Well, U.S. Cellular will also offer the phone, and we managed to take a slightly closer look at the LG Banter at CTIA 2009.
The LG Banter's keyboard is slightly different from the LG Rumor 2's.
(Credit: Nicole Lee/CNET)Indeed, it looks a lot like the LG Rumor 2, but it has a slightly more rectangular design, plus it has interchangeable faceplates. The faceplates are pretty easy to take on and off--just slip your finger nail in around the edge to pry it off. So far, the Banter has silver and green face plates. The Banter's keyboard is noticeably different; the two soft keys for landscape mode are now incorporated into the keyboard itself (The Rumor 2's soft keys for landscape mode are on the right side of the display) and the emoticon key on the Rumor 2 is not present on the Banter.
Features, which include a 1.3-megapixel camera, a music player, Bluetooth, a microSD card slot, and lots of messaging options like support for work email, are the same as the Rumor 2's. It's only $20 with an Alltel two-year service agreement. It's available from U.S. Cellular, as well, but for $50.
BlueAnt S1
(Credit: Nicole Lee/CNET)
Buttons on the BlueAnt S1
(Credit: Nicole Lee/CNET)BlueAnt introduced a new visor-mount speakerphone at CTIA 2009, called the BlueAnt S1. Designed to work in the car, it has pretty much the same features as the Supertooth 3, except it has support for A2DP. That means you can stream music wirelessly to it from a device that has stereo Bluetooth. It's not really meant as a stereo speaker system though, so don't expect it to replace your expensive car stereo.
Like the other BlueAnt devices, the S1 lets you use your voice to make and answer calls. It also has multipoint, which means it can connect with up to two different devices at the same time, and it has background noise reduction too. However, unlike the Supertooth 3, it doesn't have a text-to-speech feature that will read out incoming caller ID. The BlueAnt S1 will be available later this year around June or July for $79 each.
LG Prada 2 with slide-out QWERTY keyboard
(Credit: Nicole Lee/CNET)
The LG Prada 2 isn't new, of course, and our European and Asian cousins have had the chance to get their hands on it months ago. In fact, our friends over at CNET UK have given their own hands-on impressions of the device. However, I finally had a chance to get my hands on it at CTIA 2009, and I was excited to try it out.
The LG Prada 2 is definitely designed for the fashion-conscious, with its smooth glossy black surface and slim profile. The touch-screen display is a 3-inch capacitive multitouch interface with active Flash user interface and is very easy to use. The menu interface is clearly an upgrade over the original LG Prada; much smoother and sleeker than before. The multitouch interface meant we could zoom in and out of Web pages by just pinching our fingers, like on the iPhone. If texting was a chore on the original Prada, it shouldn't be on the Prada 2, thanks to the great slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The four-line QWERTY keyboard is roomy and the keys feel good to type on.
The Prada 2 comes with a host of features that puts the original Prada to shame. They include dual-band HSDPA and quad-band GSM (which means you can get an unlocked version and use it on a U.S. GSM carrier), Wi-Fi, a full HTML browser, stereo Bluetooth, TV-out, FM radio, a document viewer, 60MB of internal memory, a microSD card slot, and a 5-megapixel camera. The camera has similar editing features to the Viewty, like the ability to record slow-motion video.
Of course, if you want to really bling it up, you can get the Prada Link Bluetooth watch to go along with your new Prada 2. You can't really make calls with it like a watch phone, but you can see incoming caller ID and read text messages with it.
The LG Prada 2 by itself will cost around $549 unlocked since it isn't available from any U.S. carrier. We'll attempt to get a review unit of our own to test out, but you should also check out the reviews on CNET UK and CNET Asia.
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As CTIA comes to a close, we pause to select the best products from the show. The scene in Las Vegas was much quieter than in past years, and it lacked any high-profile announcements like the Palm Pre. But, there were a few products that deserve recognition as the Cream of the Crop from CTIA 2009.
Best phone: Samsung Impression
(Credit:
Kent German/CNET)
For the third year in a row, Samsung takes the title of the best phone in CTIA. While the Samsung Impression can't quite compete with the hype of last year's Instinct or 2007's Upstage, it is the most practical of the three. And in a year where messaging phones were all the rage, it stands out in a crowded field as the one of the best-designed messaging phones we've seen in a while.
The keyboard is spacious and tactile, and while the handset isn't quite sexy, it has a pleasant, minimalist shape that feels nice in the hand. Yet the Impression's biggest draw is its gorgeous active-matrix organic light-emitting diode display. As Samsung promised, the display is positively brilliant with bright colors and vibrant graphics. Features are decent, even if they're not groundbreaking.
Inside you'll find a 3-megapixel camera, a full HTML browser, Bluetooth, Samsung's TouchWiz interface, 3G support with access to Cellular Video and AT&T Music, a personal organizer, AT&T Navigator, and a speakerphone. No, that won't knock your socks off; in fact, you might even see it as somewhat boring. But as we said before, the Impression's story is more about functional features and an intuitive design rather than flash and glam. And at a very quiet show, it deserves its prize. The Impression will be out soon with AT&T; we should have a review shortly.
For more on the Impression, see our photo gallery and video.
Best smartphone: HTC Snap
(Credit:
Bonnie Cha/CNET)
Aside from rising importance of applications, the other theme of CTIA 2009 was messaging. We saw a slew of new messaging devices debut at the show, and it extended to smartphones. While the Nokia E71x and Samsung Propel Pro were nice additions to AT&T's lineup, the HTC Snap stood out for its Inner Circle feature.
With a simple press of a button, Inner Circle brings e-mails from a preselected group of people to the top of your in-box so you can read and reply to them immediately. The capability isn't the wave of the future, but it does help prioritize your e-mails based on your preferences.
In addition, HTC, once again did a nice job on the design. The Snap is a beautifully constructed and sleek smartphone. The QWERTY keyboard also features good-size buttons for easy messaging. Finally, don't be fooled by its diminutive size, as it's packed with features, including Windows Mobile 6.1, push e-mail, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G, and a 2-megapixel camera. We look forward to checking out the U.S. version of the Snap, the HTC S522, when it's released in the summer.
... Read moreThursday I told you about the launch of Zer01, a new VoIP carrier. At the time, however, information was slim since the carrier's Web site was out of service, which isn't a great sign. But it's back up and running now, and I got a chance to meet with CEO Benjamin Piilani at CTIA.
First on my list was to ask how the carrier isn't a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), even though it depends on major wireless carriers to operate its services. As Piilani explained it, while MVNOs buy capacity from a carrier and resell it later, Zer01 has its own IP backbone and only uses carrier networks to interconnect or roam.
As I mentioned in my previous post, starting July 1 Zer01 will offer unlimited voice, data and messaging for $69.95. According to Piilani, unlimited will mean just that--you'll even be able to use Zer01 devices for laptop tethering. The price includes all takes and fees less a $30 activation fee. Zer01 will not require a contract or credit check.
Use the HTC Touch Diamond with Zer01.
If it foes live, the $69 price would be cheaper than major carriers. Only T-Mobile charges a bit less with an unlimited plan of $85 per month. The service will be nationwide, though Piilani acknowledged that like a standard wireless carrier, coverage will not be perfect everywhere.
All Zer01 services operate as data, which means that you won't be interacting with a standard cellular network. Also, each Zer01 device gets a fixed IP address and it opens a separate VPN session to the company's servers when placing calls or using data.
Partner carriers will get a share of Zer01's revenues, though Piilani declined to give details on the carriers and the revenue split. Zer01's services will work across the entire GSM spectrum including GPRS, EDGE, UMTS and HSDPA.
At present, Zer01 supports only Windows Mobile smartphones, but it promises to support more operating systems in the future. Also, while it has just five devices in its lineup for now--the Pharos Traveler 117, the Pharos Traveler 127, the HTV TyTN II (aka the HTC Kaiser), the HTC Touch, and the HTC Touch Diamond, you can use your own unlocked smartphone if you wish. All that's needed is a Zer01 SIM card.
After a second pass, I have to admit that Zer01 certainly sounds intriguing. I still wonder how exactly they're going to pull it off, so we'll have to wait and see what happens.
There was no hardware on hand in the booth, but this poster of the TXT8026 from PCD shows the goods.
(Credit: Nicole Lee/CNET)
Another new phone that's been announced by PCD, the TXT8030, was also here only in poster form.
(Credit: Nicole Lee/CNET)PCD didn't have any major announcements at CTIA, but it did give us a brief sneak peek at what we can expect from them this year. All of the offerings appear to be messaging phones, with full QWERTY keyboards for easier texting. I apologize in advance for just taking photos of posters; they didn't have any real hardware on hand at the booth.
The first handset we saw was codenamed the TXT8026, which has a 2.2-inch color screen with a 1.3-megapixel camera, a microSD card slot, Bluetooth 2.0, an MP3 player, and measures around 3.8 inches long by 2.7 inches wide by 0.7 inch thick. This was one of the only new devices on display at the PCD booth, and I think it looks a lot like the Verizon Wireless Blitz.
A giant poster displayed both the TXT8021 and the TXT8020.
(Credit: Nicole Lee/CNET)The other handset, which I think looks a bit more interesting, is currently called the TXT8030. The TXT8030 has a rotating angled keypad, with external music player keys and a speaker on one side, and a full QWERTY keyboard on the other. The TXT8030 also has a 2.2-inch display, a microSD card slot, a 1.3-megapixel camera, a music player, and it measures around 4.5 inches long by 2.4 inches wide by 0.5 inch thick.
There's still no sight of the actual TXT8020 here at CTIA, the swiveling messaging phone that we saw at CES, nor have we seen the TXT8021, which also looks a little like the Blitz. We did see a giant poster of the two phones at the PCD booth.
Of course, no word on pricing or availability on any of these devices, but we hope they'll come out some time this year. And considering they're all CDMA phones, we can at least narrow down the prospective carriers.
Nokia Messaging comes to the Nokia 5800 in May
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)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 worldwide, including the Nokia E71, Nokia E65, and Nokia N79, and will work on the upcoming Nokia E55, Nokia N97, and Nokia N86 8MP.
