July 13, 2007
Filed under: Motorola, Samsung
In the wake of a
Motorola profit free fall the past few quarters, Samsung has finally managed to nab Moto's spot to take the number two position in global handset market share behind the perennial
numero uno, Nokia. Though the victory comes by the slimmest of margins -- 37.4 million handsets shipped in Q2 compared to Moto's estimate of 35 to 36 million -- the two companies are clearly moving in opposite directions right now, with Samsung seeing a 4 percent boost in revenue over the same period last year. Samsung attributes its success to an ever-expanding
Ultra Edition line and increased volume in its entry-level lineup, something Motorola has been looking for (but apparently hasn't found) with its innovative
MOTOFONE. Find yourself looking over your shoulder, Nokia?
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Posted by Chris Ziegler under Mobile | Comments (0)
July 13, 2007
Filed under: Handsets, Nokia
Nah, these shots aren't real (so far as we can tell), but wouldn't it be nice if they were? A presumably bored and decently talented Photoshopper got to work on a trio of Nokia Eseries phones, and the end result is three of the cutest mobile renderings you'll ever have the pleasure of witnessing. Of course, this isn't the first time a
Hello Kitty fanatic gave a Nokia an unsuspecting
paint job (scroll down, it pops up in the final pic!), but we must say we're a tad partial to the pinked-E90. Hey, with the amount of
objects that her cuteness has
landed on these days, you never know how serious Nokia may consider it.
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Posted by Darren Murph under Mobile | Comments (0)
July 13, 2007
Filed under: Handsets, NTT DoCoMo, HSDPA, Studies, HSUPA
It's a bird, it's a plane, no, its just Japan's
NTT DoCoMo blowing the rest of the world away with yet more
steroid-loaded 3G action, or Super 3G in this case. Blending advanced HSDPA and HSUPA technologies, Super 3G is touted as having downlink speeds as quick as 300Mbps -- a fair bit quicker than
earlier reports -- to your handset. The indoor tests will begin with only one transmitting and receiving antenna, but switch up to the four Multiple Input Multiple Output (
MIMO) antenna system that would be used if deployed. Test are expected to wrap up in 2009, so in the interim we'll all just sit back and cry a little knowing we'll never see this type of tech on these shores.
[Via
Unwired View]
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Posted by Sean Cooper under Mobile | Comments (0)
July 13, 2007
Filed under: Handsets, LG, GSM, GPRS, EDGE
As if the original
Shine wasn't hot enough, LG is bringing a Titanium Black edition to those across the pond in hopes of wrangling a few more customers who have an eye for anything covered in metallic grey. A member of the coveted
Black Label series, this handset won't deviate feature-wise one iota from the original, but the classy all-metal exterior should catch quite a few eyes regardless. You'll still find the two-megapixel camera, scroll wheel control scheme, media player, Bluetooth, and compatibility with GPRS and EDGE networks, and while pricing details on this sexy handset are currently unavailable, those dwelling in the UK can expect it to land late this year, while those in France, Netherlands, and Austria should receive it sometime thereafter.
[Via
UnwiredView]
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Posted by Darren Murph under Mobile | Comments (0)
July 13, 2007
Filed under: Multimedia, Software
Sure, we've seen the local-news-on-your-handset card
pulled out before, but unlike similar alternatives, this one should work with any network and on any phone capable of handling the video. A group of ten
ABC-owned television stations have announced that they will be offering up "free video content" for cellphones, most of which will consist of ad-supported streaming news clips. The service will be powered by Local Wireless, and will be available to users near WABC-TV in New York, KABC-TV in Los Angeles, WLS-TV in Chicago, WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, KGO-TV in San Francisco, KTRK-TV in Houston, WTVD in
Raleigh-Durham, NC, KFSN-TV in Fresno, California, WJRT-TV in Flint, Michigan, and WTVG in Toledo, Ohio. You know the drill: give it a go, and post your adoration / gripes below.
[Via
Textually]
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Posted by Darren Murph under Mobile | Comments (0)
July 13, 2007
Filed under: Misc
We don't like paying a couple bills to slide out from under a bunk two-year contract any more than the next guy, but at least we're cognizant of the tradeoff: subsidized hardware. Congress this week appears to have taken a special session to discuss state regulation of the wireless industry and turned it into a rant session, with several reps chiming in that termination fees and exclusivity deals (you can probably guess
the device in question here) suck. We don't disagree, folks -- really, we don't -- but we hope these lawmakers (mostly rich people, we might add) realize the tradeoff of enforcing any sort of anti-contract, anti-exclusivity legislation will be higher prices on handsets. Naturally, carriers were quick to chime in that they're plenty competitive with one another and there's absolutely no need for any sort of government meddling. Let's start with significantly expanded carrier-subsidized lineups and greater manufacturer-direct unlocked presence before we start worrying about getting rid of contracts, shall we?
[Via
AppleInsider, thanks Warren J.]
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Posted by Chris Ziegler under Mobile | Comments (0)
July 13, 2007
Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, GSM
You know that SGH-G600 that slid into our
FCC findings a few days back? Turns out this simply-styled slider got pictured somewhere along the way, and while not a great deal of new details have emerged, here's what we've got so far. This black / silver
slider should sport a five-megapixel camera, built-in FM tuner,
Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, a microSD expansion slot, and GSM connectivity. No word on price, carrier, or availability, but all those tidbits should be unearthed in the near future.
[Via
Slashphone]
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Posted by Darren Murph under Mobile | Comments (0)
July 13, 2007
Filed under: Multimedia
A visit to the "mixed signals" department reveals this little gem: just weeks after locking up DVB-H
as the mobile TV standard of choice in Europe, the European Union has hooked up with China to push -- wait for it -- DMB. The two standards are, of course, heated rivals in the push for global domination so it's clear as mud why this partnership makes sense -- but sure enough, the newly-formed MOBIDEC project is riding on two years' worth of EU funding to push mobile TV cooperation between Chinese and European firms, and WorldDMB (DMB's marketing machine) is deeply involved. Of course, neither DVB-H nor MediaFLO have been approved for use in China, so maybe the EU's thinking here is that a multinational standard is better than a proprietary format. Still, though, it's a little weird.
[Via
mocoNews]
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Posted by Chris Ziegler under Mobile | Comments (0)
July 12, 2007
Filed under: Handsets, Apple
If you can't wait for the
eventual Apple update, then by all means have at it weekend hackers: custom
iPhone ringtones can now be yours. Disparate hacks have been cobbled together into a step-by-step guide over at the appropriately named
hacktheiphone site. The instructions make use of both the
iPhoneInterface and
jailbreak hacks which opened up full access to the iPhone's UI and filesystem. Unfortunately, the former only works on the Intel-based Macs at the moment. For those of you a bit wary of screwing the $600 pooch somewhere along the 23 steps, take heed: "everyone [they] know has been able to restore their iPhone fully by using iTunes." So go ahead, we double-dog dare ya. Just report back in the comments how it went, mkay?
[Thanks, HaJo and Richard]
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Posted by Thomas Ricker under Mobile | Comments (0)
July 12, 2007
Filed under: Vodafone, Misc
In 2005, Greek authorities discovered a plot hatched and executed by unknown sources which allowed the tapping of wireless phones on the Vodaphone network belonging to the country's Prime Minister and other top officials, making it one of the furthest reaching covert infiltrations of a government in history. A recent report from IEEE Spectrum shows that the tap was made possible by a 6,500 line piece of code called a rootkit, the first-ever to be embedded in a phone switch's OS. The complex hack took advantage of aging phone systems by disabling transaction logs on calls and allowing call monitoring on four switches within the teleco's computers, thus sending the call to another phone for monitoring (similar to a legal wiretap). The spies covered their tracks by creating patches on the system which routed the calls around logging software which would have alerted admins, and were only discovered when they tried to update their software. The case clearly exposes holes in call security amongst providers (due largely in part to outdated systems), and suggests the possibility that this kind of thing could easily happen again... to you!
[Via
textually]
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Posted by Joshua Topolsky under Mobile | Comments (0)
