Author: Marc Flores

Camera phone pictures could get a whole lot prettier with Samsung’s newest image sensors. The Korean manufacturer has just announced two new CMOS sensors for mobile phones with improved image quality over greater depth of field ranges and HD video. Does it sound a little too good to be true?

I’m glad to see that this isn’t just another megapixel pissing contest and that Samsung is actually making strides in improving image quality. The first sensor is the S5K4E2, a 5 megapixel sensor that uses Samsung Enhanced Energy Steering, or SEES technology. It has better noise reduction than most camera phone sensors, if not all, and HD video capabilities. Unfortunately, it’s a choppingly slow 15 frames-per-second at full resolution. With the ability to fit inside a 6.5mm x 6.5mm x 4.5mm module, everything can stay thin and pretty.

The S5K5CA is a 3 megapixel sensor that has has 720p HD capabilities. This sensor is already in mass production, with the S5k4E2 going into mass production late in the first quarter. I’d imagine that coupling sensors like these on capable cameras, especially with the new Bada platform feature phones, would be big hits for Samsung.

[via Unwired]

I’ll admit that I love me some Skype. I get to call and video chat with all my buddies from overseas without hefty fees, except I was accustomed to doing it only where Wi-Fi was available. While AT&T and Apple have made some recent policy changes to allow VoIP over 3G, it looks like Verizon and Skype are partnering up do to a little of the same.

Verizon and Skype are going to hold a joint news conference at Mobile World Congress next week, but they didn’t reveal any details about the event. The only thing that could possibly be gleaned from this announcement is that the two are working to make the nation’s biggest 3G network that much sweeter. It’s what I’m holding my breath for when John Stratton, executive VP and chief marketing officer at Verizon Wireless, and Josh Silverman, CEO of Skype, take the stage. Although seeing them do a rendition of “Cruisin’” would be pretty interesting, too.

[via Verizon Wireless]

Suspense and anticipation are sometimes far more satisfying than the actual reward, but I’m hoping that’s not the case for T-Mobile. From its official Twitter account, T-Mobile USA taunts us and pokes at what little we apparently know about the HTC HD2. Then it makes us wait a whole week before we find out what the hype is all about.

Of course, we already know that the HD2 is coming to T-Mobile, so that offers us slight reprieve if nothing else. If you’ve been drooling over video footage and galleries of the HD2, or you’ve been lucky enough to somehow manage to temporarily get your hands on one, I can feel your pain. Just remember, patience is a virtue. Or something like that.

[T-Mobile Twitter page via Engadget]

It’s finally happening. Maybe. According to sources close to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is going to make a pretty big announcement at Mobile World Congress on February 15. After acknowledging that Windows Mobile isn’t exactly where it should be in terms of development and platform progression, Microsoft appears to be ready to announce and unveil Windows Mobile 7. But what happened to WinMo 6.5.3?

Microsoft’s bridge between WinMo 6.5 and WinMo 7 is 6.5.3, but if 7 will be announced and ready to go soon, I doubt anyone will be sore about missing an inconsequential update to the latest version of the OS. After all, according to WSJ, Windows Mobile 7 is a slick operating system that “sports a revamped user interface that resembles the look of Microsoft’s Zune HD music player.” If you’re the impatient type who needs time frames, Windows 7 devices are slated to be released later this year.

Windows Mobile 7 isn’t all Microsoft has up its sleeve. Although we’ve been hearing about project Pink for months now, to the point where I’ve personally given up hope, MWC just might be the venue for another surprise. Apparently, Pink is going to be announced as a youth-oriented device geared toward the Sidekick crowd. Let’s just hope that it doesn’t suffer the same fate that Sidekick users did a few months ago.

Be sure to stay tuned for our coverage of Mobile World Congress 2010!

Who could have guessed that simple gestures like pinch-to-zoom would make or break a phone experience for some people? With Android 2.1 slowly rolling out to most Android handsets out there, HTC decided to step up its game and bring that multitouch action into its own UI. But before you start getting uppity about when it’s coming, do not that this video is coming from Japan on a unit that may or may not have been hacked. In my eyes, it looks too good not to be real; call it wishful thinking. Hit the break for a video demo of the UI.

[via Know Your Cell]

Nexus One owners have been griping about the device’s 3G connectivity issue since its release, and Google felt your pain and came to the rescue (even though they did sorta blame T-Mobile’s small 3G footprint for this). Or so we thought. After releasing an over-the-air update which was intended to resolve this problem, users are still reporting bugs.

One Nexus One owner reported that simply placing his hand on the lower-left side of the phone would cause his device to switch from 3G to EDGE. It screams “hardware issue” to us, but let’s hope that another software fix will take care of this. Otherwise, it could turn into a sticky situation for Google, and maybe even HTC, the phone’s manufacturer. Check out the video below and see for yourself.

[Engadget via BGR]

Earlier this week we reported that Motorola would be gearing up for an Android 2.1 update for the DROID. Oops! It turns out that it might not be coming that soon after all. And here we were etching notches into the wall as we counted down the days.

Even after announcing that the update would be available this week on its Facebook page, Motorola won’t be dishing out the much-anticipated Android 2.1. this week as Motorola said it was a bit premature on their part (no kidding?!) but it will be coming soon. Sorry to disappoint, DROID owners! In an e-mail to PhoneScoop, Verizon said, “The Droid over-the-air software upgrade is expected to rollout soon. It will automatically be pushed to phones when ready and Verizon Wireless customers will only have to accept the free download for continued use and enjoyment of this feature packed device.”

Any day now, kids. Any day now.

Over the past few years, Sprint has definitely given itself a facelift and now has excellent pricing plans and some decent handsets. Sadly, things aren’t turning around as quickly as Sprint would like since it has been showing some tremendous losses the past few quarters. The fourth quarter, however, shows that Sprint is slowly but surely easing its way to where it wants to be.

Sprint lost a net 148,000 subscribers during the fourth quarter 2009; hefty, but a big improvement over its 545,000 losses from the previous quarter. Pre-paid numbers are still up thanks to Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile where Sprint picked up 435,000 new customers, but post-paid is where it’s at.

While it’s not the biggest chunk of progress, Sprint lost $980 million in the fourth quarter which is slightly better than $1.6 billion YoY. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse is keeping a close eye on costs and keeping things tight while looking ahead to the future. “The fourth quarter completion of the Virgin Mobile USA, Inc. and iPCS, Inc., acquisitions, as well as our additional large investment in Clearwire, are important to our future,” says Hesse.

For a company that actually has great coverage, excellent data speeds, great plans and nice handsets, I’m pulling for Sprint to do well, or at least a lot better, in 2010.

[via eWeek]

Are you as excited as I am about LTE and the blazing fast data speeds it promises? Sure you are. And while you’re undoubtedly holding your breath waiting for 4G service and handsets, AT&T is moving forward with field trials after announcing that Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson will be providing its equipment. What’s in store for AT&T in the near future?

One step at a time for AT&T. First, it is going to upgrade to HSPA 7.2Mbps to whet our appetites for LTE. Some time later this year, we can expect field trials of LTE before AT&T starts launching it in commercial markets next year. Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson, who both provide AT&T’s current 3G equipment, will be working with the telco once again for its LTE efforts – the former saying that its current 3G equipment can be upgraded to LTE.

This is great news and all, but I’d like to see AT&T speed up on reinforcing its 3G network where needed, like New York City and San Francisco. With Verizon starting its LTE upgrades this year, it’s the least AT&T can do to make sure its customers stay happy.

[via ZDNet]

Android updates appear to be getting thrown left and right recently, so it doesn’t surprise me that the Motorola CLIQ may be due for a tune-up. According to Boy Genius Report, the CLIQ will be getting Android 2.1 OS sometime in March. Perhaps it’s not soon enough for those CLIQ owners who are turning a little green watching as DROID and Nexus One owners enjoy the latest and greatest. But before you know it, March will be here and the additional features that Android 2.1 brings will make your phone feel like new again. Almost.

Over-sharing the minutiae of your life is already difficult, so why complicate things with Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare when you only need one service to rule them all? That’s where Google Buzz comes in and makes annoying your friends with news about your snacking habits that much easier.

Google Buzz is rolling out today, and over the next few days it should appear in everyone’s Gmail accounts. With Buzz, you can share status updates, images and videos like you can on social networking sites like Facebook, but it’s more streamlined in Buzz. Videos play within status messages and images pop open into a gallery for quick stalking browsing.

It might seem overwhelming and unnecessary when you’re already using so many other social networking services, but Buzz allows you to integrate Picasa, Flickr, Twitter and your Google Reader so you can be as transparent as ever right in one place. And, of course, I’d imagine that the bulk of our sharing takes place while on the go, so there is a mobile version, too. For now, let me step aside and have Google explain the new service along with how the mobile version works.

[via Google Buzz]

No one likes early termination fees, but for one reason or another they can sometimes become a necessary evil. When Google introduced a new channel for buying the Nexus One, I was excited at the thought of grabbing a phone without being hassled by a retail sales rep. The only downside was that if I bought it at the subsidized price and wanted to cancel within 120 days, Google would charge a $350 device recovery fee… on top of the carrier’s cancelation fees!

Luckily, Google has decided to drop that price down to $150. Not bad, but it’s still not appealing when added to T-Mobile’s $200 early termination fee. Owning a Nexus One could get expensive if you decide to cancel your contract! At the very least, if you cancel and it’s all said and done, you’ll end up paying exactly what you would have if you purchased the device unlocked and contract free.

[via Nexus One Terms of Sale]

When the Nexus One was announced, many folks were questioning Google’s game plan and why it would release such an amazing device shortly after the Motorola DROID’s release. If that wasn’t enough to make some DROID owners envious, the Nexus One received a multitouch update last week which allowed pinch-to-zoom gestures within Google Maps, the Android browser and photo gallery. What could possibly quell all this Nexus One envy?

If getting multitouch for Google Maps wasn’t enough for DROID owners last week, they’ll be thrilled to know that their handsets are going to be graced with Android 2.1 in the future. Best of all, it’s coming with all the bells and whistles that can currently be found only on the Nexus One. Here is a run-down of what’s included according to Engadget:

• It’s based on Android 2.1. The build currently being circulated is identified as 2.1 version 1, mirroring the update just pushed to the Nexus One last week.
• Google Goggles is now pre-installed (no matter how unhelpful it may be).
• The browser’s now multitouch enabled, just like Google Maps 3.4. Huzzah! No Flash, but then again, we weren’t really expecting that.
• Interestingly, the home screen’s still got the same look as 2.0.1, meaning it doesn’t adopt the Nexus One’s rotating 3D grid of app icons — it’s still got the pull-up drawer tab at the bottom.
• No active wallpapers. Bummer!
• The news and weather widgets introduced on the Nexus One are included. Maybe certain capabilities of 2.1 are going to be restricted to devices with minimum performance benchmarks?

Sadly, you’ll have to exercise some patience because there is no time frame for this update’s release. In the meantime, don’t look at your DROID with disdain and resentment. Instead, appreciate it and constantly remind yourself that when the Android 2.1 update comes out, you can one-up the Nexus One by saying, “Well, at least mine has a physical keyboard.”

[via Engadget]

Update: Motorola announced on its Facebook page that the Android 2.1 update will begin rolling out this week! Keep your eyes peeled for the update.

There isn’t much to be said about a few in-the-flesh images leaked about a device we’ve all heard of other than the confirmation of a few things. To start, it looks identical to renders seen in the past, and the images depicted in HTC’s handset line-up which was leaked back in early December.

The form factor looks exactly the same and we can even see the clickable, optical trackpad that replaces the trackball typically seen on HTC Android devices. The back of the device tells us this is going to be a solid, aluminum device. Not sure what’s going on at the top where the camera and flash are located, and all the dots indicating a speaker and perhaps something else. One thing to keep in mind is that this is likely a pre-production device. Lastly, I’m glad to see Sense UI on what looks to be the successor to the Hero as it is an absolutely gorgeous interface over Android’s plain, bare-bones look.

[via EngadgetMobile]

For me, the best part of the Super Bowl is the commercials. And after you see this one, you may have to agree. Just note that you’ll have to play the video several times over before you realize there’s a phone there – the Motorola DEVOUR with MOTOBLUR, to be exact. So, what happens when Megan Fox uses her DEVOUR to send out a hot, wet image via a social network?

Since we all know that Android runs a modified version of Linux, you’d think that the creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds, would absolutely love Android handsets. Nope. As a matter of fact, the man hates cell phones. Torvalds says that he got the G1 when it came out but rarely used it because of his distaste for the distracting gadget. So why does he call the Nexus One a winner?

Unlike us phone geeks, Linus Torvalds doesn’t rush out to buy the latest and greatest when it hits the market. The Nexus One has been available for over a month and he has waited until now to take the plunge. Why? The Nexus One finally received a pinch-to-zoom or multitouch update last week. Torvalds says:

What a difference! I no longer feel like I’m dragging a phone with me “just in case” I would need to get in touch with somebody – now I’m having a useful (and admittedly pretty good-looking) gadget instead.

It appears that the addition of pinch-to-zoom, especially in Google Maps, helped Torvalds get over his hatred of cell phones. So there you have it. If you were on the fence about purchasing the Nexus One, the man who made Linux has given it his seal of approval.

[Via Linus’ blog]

Here are two totally unrelated things I like to do: order gadgets and smartphones online, and travel with loads of spare batteries. Well, perhaps they’re not all that unrelated. Both offer a lot of convenience and save a good amount of cash, but with a new proposal from the U.S. Department of Transportation, that could all soon change.

We’ve all seen exploding iPods, cell phones and laptops thanks to faulty Lithium-Ion batteries and connectors, so the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration wants to make air travel much safer by changing the policies on shipping and transporting these dangerous goods. Ultimately, vendors and shipping companies would be forced to use stronger and safer packaging for LiIon batteries or gadgets which contain them. These costs would undoubtedly be passed onto us, the consumers.

But wait, there’s more! Tightening down on these battery rules would make it much more difficult, if not impossible, to carry spare batteries in your check-in luggage. It’s not just LiIon batteries in question as NiMH and alkaline batteries would be prohibited from checked luggage, too. I’m all about safety when traveling, but if these proposals pass, traveling could easily become a pain – more so than it is now.

Just the other day, AT&T announced that it was able to work with Sling Media in order to optimize Sling player for AT&T’s 3G network. That’s good news for consumers and all, but it appears as though AT&T might have been doing a little posturing to make itself look like the good guy. After all, Sling users were disappointed about the lack of a Sling player on the iPhone when the application had been avaiable on BlackBerry for some time – and on AT&T’s network, no less.

AT&T CEO Ralph De La Vega said:

Sling Media was willing to work with us to revise the app to make it more bandwidth sensitive. They made important changes to more efficiently use 3G network bandwidth and conserve wireless spectrum so that we were able to support the app on our 3G mobile broadband network.

Sounds like a happy ending for all, right? Everyone working together to make things happen for you and me. Unfortunately, it’s not all butterflies and rainbows because Sling replied Media’s John Santoro replied: “We didn’t change anything. AT&T never discussed any specific requirements with us.” Uh oh. Either there was some miscommunication or AT&T decided to accept Sling player for the iPhone and had to come up with a reason why it didn’t allow the application sooner.

Apparently, Sling player was always able to adjust to network conditions so that it delivered the same streaming experience regardless of signal strength. After being lambasted for its shoddy 3G network, AT&T may have been reluctant to allow Sling for the iPhone due to the heavy strain it would cause. AT&T did mention recently that it is taking steps toward beefing up its network after admitting that some cities were experiencing sub-par service. Now we just have to wait for Apple to approve the Sling application.

[Via Ars Technica]

After so many years of hoping and wishing, developers can start getting excited about coding for the Symbian platform. Sure, it’s taken a while and some might be looking forward to Maemo 6 later this year far more than a newer version of Symbian, but opening up the source code to the world’s largest operating system is nothing to sneeze at. The Symbian operating system is aging and hasn’t changed dramatically over the last several years and this is exactly what the platform needs for a major facelift.

The Symbian Foundation has already set up a page full of resources for developers who want to build apps for the platform. There are videos, code examples, books, tutorials and forums to foster a strong development community. So if you’re a developer looking to jump into making mobile apps, or expanding on what you might have done for Android, iPhone OS or webOS, you may feel right at home with Symbian.

We’re sure it’s not going to take a lot of convincing if you’re familiar with the platform, but here are some fun facts that Symbian decided to put up:

1. As of February 2010, the number of cumulative shipments of Symbian devices equates to one for every person living in the United States (with some to spare).
2. As of February 2010, if every Symbian device shipped was laid end to end, the chain of phones would stretch around the circumference of the earth.
3. If all the Symbian devices shipped up to February 2010 were laid flat on an average UK Premiership football pitch, it would be filled to a depth of 3.5 metres.

Now you really can’t say that there won’t be much exposure for your apps!

[Symbian via PhoneScoop]

It seems like only yesterday that T-Mobile BlackBerry users were being treated to the Curve 8900 when they were feeling Bold 9000 envy. But alas, the glory would be short lived as it has reached the end of its life cycle. We’re sad to see it go, but we won’t miss it too much. After all, the trackpad equipped Curve 8520 and Bold 9700 are so attractively priced right now that the 8900 was relegated to being the small fish in a big pond. So farewell! Thou art too dear for our possessing.

[Via T-Mobile]