Nextel Cell Phones - Cell Phone Plans

January 09, 2008

FCC Chairman Kicking Cable and Wireless Ass in 2008

The initials F-C-C don't usually engender excitement, but at least according to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, it's ground zero for most of the broadcasting, wireless and high-bandwidth landline innovations we'll see in the next couple years. Martin spilled on everything from the 700MHz auction to a rumored DirecTV/Dish network merger. (Seriously.) They covered a lot of stuff, here's the Cliff's Notes: 700 MHz auction and analog-to-digital TV switchover ' Martin says the neat stuff he saw at CES last year led in part to the 700MHz auction open-access rules ' He thinks it's "possible" we'll see 700MHz devices within a year'"which is why the "hard" analog cutoff date of Feb. 19, 2009 is important ' Speaking of, the cutoff date is engraved in frickin' stone, people'"no extensions ' He has no interest in "any particular company winning," just wants someone to make the minimum bid that would enforce open access ' Regarding big bidder Verizon, Martin said it "may win" the auction (Freudian slip?) ' Since poor broadband penetration in rural areas is the main reason we're so far behind Asia, the 700MHz will serve as a good bridge, and might even become the new broadband platform Cable ' Neither Martin nor CEA chief Gary Shapiro have any love for cable'"no wonder the FCC's been reaming them ' "We've seen a signficant decrease in prices" in everything the FCC regulates except cable'"that's gonna change ' It is "critical" that consumer-electronic devices are able to attach to cable networks and do two-way communication without a set-top box (i.e., two-way CableCARD is mandatory) ' Proposed pay-per-channel cable is a "real market solution" to cable sucking balls and "I'm doing everything I can" to make it happen ' Independent content providers such as NFL Network need to be able to get their shows on cable Comcast's Alleged Blockage of BitTorrent ' He's going to investigate it (FCC investigates "all complaints") and make sure no one is being blocked from access in a "discriminatory way" ' If a company engaged in "reasonable network practice" for traffic management they should be honest about it Satellite Radio and TV ' The FCC will look at XM and Sirius merger proposal "soon," but "isn't sure" it'll clear all the hurdles'"awaiting on Department of Justice ' Regarding a potential, but by no means proposed, merger of DirecTV and Dish, he doesn't know whether the XM-Sirius thing would set a precedent; at the bare minimum they'd have to enforce the same price protection XM and Sirius are proposing Broadband Penetration ' "We've done some very significant steps over the last three years" toward increasing the options for broadband'"in particular letting telcos get into IPTV so they'd invest in fiber optic pipes; busting up cable apartment contracts, etc. ' Wants to redefine the term "broadband" to higher speeds'"200Kbps is not broadband and people are getting hosed DRM ' "We need to make sure that consumers have fair use, reasonable expectations" that they can "copy things and use them themselves" which is "not only fair but important, and we need to continue to protect that." ' "I do believe that fair use" and protecting what "consumers are able to do in their home on their devices" is the "guiding principle," and that's a "reasonable and fair" expectation In sum, more openness, more competition, more consumer protections'"in theory. It could be a great year for us across the board at the expense of closed industries, particularly cable and wireless. I actually feel like the government is working for us for a change.

From FCC Chairman Kicking Cable and Wireless Ass in 2008

Posted by Lorren at 02:49 PM

December 26, 2007

BlackBerry Patent Goes Angular With Its Keys

Just when businessmen and women were getting used to BlackBerry's SureType split-key keyboards, RIM has to go and patent yet another method of inputting text. As you can see in the drawing, this guy's horribly misshapen thumbs are hammering away on angular keys, which actually seems pretty brilliant to us. Remember Microsoft and their ergonomic split-key angular keyboards? This is that, but smaller. We like what we see, sir. [Cellpassion via MobileWhack]

From BlackBerry Patent Goes Angular With Its Keys

Posted by Matt at 08:41 AM

December 18, 2007

Samsung Year-End Report Card: A [Samsung Report

Samsung has grown to be such a household name that we rarely stop to think about exactly how freaking massive the company has become. Other Asian conglomerates can have their snowmobiles, trains and heavy industrial equipment, Samsung plays it straight up the consumer-electronics path. In fact, we defy you to name a CE category Samsung doesn't have at least some piece of. In order to judge ol' Sammy's performance this year, we have to look into a lot of key areas. Mobile Phones & Devices: A+ This year, Samsung socked it to Moto and took second place behind the Big N in worldwide phone marketshare. The BlackJack II smartphone met with sound critical acceptance in a tricky field, handsets such as the Armani phone gave Samsung some needed style cred, and mobile boundaries were stretched (as well they should) with devices like the Q1 Ultra. There were some beefs, like the fact that the original BlackJack hasn't yet seen an official Windows Mobile 6 update, and let-downs, like the 5-megapixel G800 "photographer's choice," but overall, Samsung is winning the device game.What impresses us most though is Samsung's aggressive pursuit of openness and network agnosticism. It's a founding member of Google's Open Handset Alliance, and has been the first company to openly promote "femtocell" devices to enhance cellular reception in your own home via a network-connected cellular access point. In Korea, Samsung is showing off its second-generation of WiMax phones, which will someday run on Sprint's Xohm network. Meanwhile, it just joined Nokia's 3GPP group to roll out the LTE protocol for super crazy fast wireless from a GSM-based network, one that both Verizon and AT&T plan to adopt. Cameras and Camcorders: C Samsung has been left totally in the dust in the camera business, and it's mainly because the camera division operates independently from both the mobile and consumer electronics businesses. I've played around with a few, but I have no interest because the traditional camera makers Nikon and Canon, along with the photo-savvier CE companies Sony and Panasonic, keep me plenty busy with the highest-quality shooters. Camcorders are a different thing, because they are part of Samsung Electronics. The trouble is, while Samsung is doing a decent job of developing cool-looking lower-priced cameras that use flash memory and get clips online in a hurry, the real video business has vanished into point-and-shoot cameras, which will all soon be HD capable. Samsung's real mistake is in not reorganizing its camera division closer to its other electronics. Storage of All Shapes and Sizes: A+ There's no way to make this business sexier than Samsung has this year, with the introduction of 2.5" 64GB flash SSDs to take your laptop to lightspeed, as well as super-small 1.3" HDDs that are on the horizon which may answer my personal yearning for an iPod touch with decent capacity. In addition to flash and HDDs, Samsung introduced a long overdue innovation in optical disc technology this year, a slot-loading drive that handles both full-size and 8cm discs. This is most helpful for people who use those little DVD camcorders, but with HD DVD and Blu-ray still on the rise, there's no telling how popular 8cm discs will be in the future, so it's wise of Sammy to plan ahead. MP3 Players: B Samsung is in the media player business mostly because it can be. As the supplier of a vast quantity of the world's flash memory, it can get the chips presumably at cost, while easily integrating developments for its booming cellphone business (OLEDs; touchscreens; Bluetooth chips) as well. The thing is, it feels like Samsung isn't aggressive in this business, because it makes money whether it sells a YP player or Apple sells an iPod. Samsung competitor SanDisk has been far more aggressive, forging partnerships with Real and Yahoo, and spinning its successful music-player business into an increasingly diverse portfolio of media players with content deals to back them up. Samsung's latest product, the P2 touchscreen music and video player was a good example of the deflated enthusiasm. One key selling point was that it had Bluetooth, so you could use it as a music-playing speakerphone for your cellphone. But when it launched, the software wasn't ready. In other words, reviewers couldn't test the single most unique attribute, so it fell back into a crowd of non-nanos. Blu-ray and HD DVD: B+ Promised software updates seemed to be a trend this year for Samsung. On one hand, this promotes the future-looking technology on hand, gadgets that can be upgraded after purchase. But it also allows Samsung to be slow with certain things. The P2's delayed Bluetooth update is not nearly as significant as the hotly anticipated and positively reviewed BD-UP5000 combo Blu-ray and HD DVD player. We've been stoked since the early buzz, but there's this nagging sensation that it's too good to be true. After all, its promised December arrival has been postponed to January, and even then, it will require an online update to be ready to play the "final standard" or "profile 1.1" Blu-ray discs slated to arrive starting in early 2008. That said, when the update does come, the BD-UP5000 will be one of only four players on the market to be able to read these discs. Sony's PlayStation 3 will probably get an update in the next few days, but neither Sony's electronics division and Blu-ray champion Pioneer will have such a compatible player.It's funny that Samsung is both exploring the world outside of Blu-ray while being a stalwart supporter of that format as well, with not only one of the first 1.1 players, but also in easing its BD-P1400 down in price to where a confused consumer base might actually buy a free-standing Blu-ray player, that is, down to the $299 level. [I just want to say that this letter grade, for the Blu-ray and HD DVD section, was written in pencil: as soon as the BD-UP5000 ships and gets updated to full Blu-ray 1.1 capability, I will happily change this to an A. Ditto if the BD-P1400 starts selling openly for under $200!] TVs: A- This year, Samsung saw its market share slip a little in the LCD business, as Sony took back some ground and smaller Chinese brands such as Vizio moved cheap product up into pole position. But what it lost in quantity, it's made up for in quality. Samsung LCDs are consistently the best-reviewed products around, especially the 81 series characterized by LED backlighting and 120Hz motion-blur reduction. In its first technical review, HDGuru Gary Merson said it had very high motion resolution, better than most 120Hz LCDs and even some plasmas.Samsung is pushing hard in all areas of TV technology. Its experiments in high-def wireless video streaming have led me to believe that we might actually take the concept of wireless TV seriously next year. It's also doing its best to play in the OLED sandbox: word on the street is that come CES, Samsung will show off a 40-inch OLED TV. It's a crazy technical feat, and one that other electronics makers seem to think is impossible. In a little over two weeks, we'll know for sure. Extra Credit: Keeping It Green Samsung deserves bonus points this year for coming out on top of Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics, neck and neck with Sony Ericsson. That's not to say it's Kermit-green, by hippy standards, but it is to say that, among the titans, it is the most granola. Overall Grade: A

From Samsung Year-End Report Card: A [Samsung Report

Posted by Lorren at 03:01 PM

SiRF Creating GPS For Android Phones

SiRF, the company that's responsible for the "GPS" portion of a good deal of GPS devices on the market, has just pledged support for the Google Android platform. What kind of support? The end-to-end kind, which will make "location awareness" a big part of Android. To us this means that not only can you use it to see where you are on Google Maps or get driving directions, you can even use it for geotagging pictures and videos you upload to the net. Or, perhaps even more creative (stalking) uses for applications that would (stalking) benefit from knowing where you are (stalking). [MercExtra]

From SiRF Creating GPS For Android Phones

Posted by Rob at 01:00 PM

November 30, 2007

Helio Mysto Gets Official in Picture Form, Will Cost $150?

While CrunchGear says they've got no specs to go with this picture of the "first official pic" of Helio's upcoming Mysto, its looks match up quite nicely with past mumblings that the Mysto is in fact Samsung's U600 slider. If it is, expect it to be tricked out a bit since the GSM model now available lacks 3G, though it comes with MP3, AAC and WMA support and FM radio out of the box, promising to be a decent little multimedia phone for $150 after some Helio tweaks. [CrunchGear]

From Helio Mysto Gets Official in Picture Form, Will Cost $150?

Posted by Mel at 10:25 AM

November 06, 2007

GPhone is Official - A Software Platform For Cellphones [Google

The Google Phone has been announced, and instead of a phone that's manufactured by just one company, it's an open software platform that's going to be loaded on phones made by HTC, LG, Motorola and Samsung. Those phones are going to be available in the US on Sprint and T-Mobile by the second half of 2008'"plus, it's going to be available in China, Japan, Germany, Italy, and Spain on their respective carriers. The 34 members of the Open Handset Alliance developing this gPhone will throw in their expertise (example, Nvidia with their graphical abilities, Skype with their VoIPing) and offer the collective goods under an open source licensing agreement. Hell, Google might not even put their logo on the phone itself'"they just want to sell advertisements to users through it. HTC's CEO, who makes lots of Windows Mobile phones for business users, says the resulting phone by Google and its 34 friends will be targeted toward consumers. The SDK for developers will be available by November 12, which will then enable people to hit that 2H 2008 launch date. The software's actually been in development for three years, starting from the Google acquisition of a company called Android Inc. The most important part of this is that the platform will be free for handset manufacturers to load onto their phones, beating out other operating systems like Windows Mobile, Palm, and Symbian in terms of price. [NYTimes - USA Today - CNN]

From GPhone is Official - A Software Platform For Cellphones [Google

Posted by Gary at 12:25 PM

November 03, 2007

WSJ: Google To Announce GPhone Plans on Monday...Finally [Google

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google will be announcing its phone plans on Monday, hopefully putting a stop to the endless rumors floating out there regarding the GPhone. The announcement is expected to reveal a series of alliances with multiple handset makers and cellphone operators that are open to the idea of pushing Google phone applications. WSJ notes that the timing of the announcement could always change, but at this point Monday is looking good. [WSJ]