World / Mobile Phones
Cricket adds unlimited video clip package for $5 per month
02.09.2008 22:16
engadgetmobile.com
Filed under: Multimedia, MVNOsWhile the world still tries to decide if its really into mobile TV or not, Cricket is moving forward with plans assuming that she is. The wholly-owned subsidiary of Leap Wireless has just announced a flat-rate unlimited mobile video service that will enable users with "select handsets" to view one-to-four-minute-long video clips for $5 per month. Watching the clips won't tack on any additional data charges, and as for content, customers can look for clips from FUEL TV, Hollywood Insider and an array of other sources. Nah, there's no live TV (yet), but the pricing sure is admirable.[Via phonescoop]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Cellphone charger blamed for blaze in Delaware
02.09.2008 20:17
engadgetmobile.com
Filed under: Peripherals, Misc Details on this one are remarkably skimpy, but here are the facts as we know them. A fire caused around $30,000 worth of damage to a mobile home in Delaware this past week, but thankfully, the Millsboro and Indian River firefighters found no one home at the time of the incident. The culprit? A "malfunctioning cellphone charger that ignited the wall covering in a bedroom." That's it, folks -- no manufacturer, no brand name, nothing. In other words, unplug your chargers when you leave the house... or store your home in a fireproof safe, either one.[Thanks, Carl]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Mobile Phones
New Verizon rebate forms uncover fresh Motos, Samsungs, LGs
02.09.2008 18:19
engadgetmobile.com
Filed under: Handsets, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Verizon Wireless, EV-DO, CDMA Krave? Knack? New phones listed on Verizon's latest rebate forms has us believing that we may be approaching the product marketing End Times where naming conventions reach a level of silliness never before fathomed. Take, for example, the ZN4 Krave from Motorola -- a phone previously known as the Blaze -- or the Sway and Knack from Samsung, the former being the u650 slider with a 2-megapixel camera. Why can't we just call that one "u650," Verizon? We'd be totally cool with that. Returning momentarily to the land of sanity, LG nabs the VX8360 and VX5500 on the lower end, a market segment where neither real nor made-up words bother finding their way onto the labels. Kind of refreshing, we think -- especially if the alternative is "Knack."Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Mobile Phones
Sonim LM801 isn't a Sonim at all, XP1 still in the mix
02.09.2008 16:16
engadgetmobile.com
Filed under: Handsets, Others, GSM It's still a rugged little bastard -- and yes, it still has a laser pointer -- but there's one thing the LM801 cellphone is not: a Sonim. The CEO of Sonim, maker of the purposefully overbuilt XP1, wrote in on our LM801 piece to let us know that they don't actually have any association with Condurro, the company advertising it. If anything, the LM801 is actually a direct competitor for Sonim's wares -- and at £149.99 (about $270) at retail, it's bringing the heat. Assuming it actually lives up to its tough look, anyway.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Mobile Phones
O2 announces iPhone 3G Pay & Go pricing / launch date
02.09.2008 14:15
engadgetmobile.com
Filed under: Handsets, O2, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, Apple, OS XWe've known that a pay-as-you-go iPhone 3G plan was in the works at O2 since June, but the carrier has at long last fessed up and provided the formal introduction. The iPhone 3G Pay & Go plan will be live on September 16th, enabling users in the UK to purchase the handset sans contract for £349.99 (8GB) or £399.99 (16GB). Yeah, it's quite a bit more than free on contract, but those prices do include unlimited browsing and WiFi for the first 12 months after the phone is activated. Once that honeymoon ends, you're looking at £10 per month to keep browsing. Also of note, Visual Voicemail is conveniently omitted from Pay & Go phones, but if you're cool with that, you can get going in a fortnight by heading to your local O2, Apple or Carphone Warehouse store.[Via Stuff, thanks to everyone who sent this in]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Mobile Phones
Colorware expectedly busts out the paint buckets for RIM's BlackBerry Bold
02.09.2008 14:15
engadgetmobile.com
Filed under: Handsets, RIM, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA Colorware is at it again -- stealing taking money from folks who just can't be satisfied with the stock color option(s). RIM's BlackBerry Bold is the next major handset to get the colorific treatment, with a fully customized unit running just $174 over the handset's base price. We'd typically encourage any and all of you to order up the above pictured combination in support of the Wolfpack, but given the recent performance on the field, feel free to just back your own alma mater.[Via The Boy Genius Report]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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UK First For Nokia's 'Comes With Music' Service
02.09.2008 14:11
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Shure introduces $99 SE102MPA stereo headset
02.09.2008 12:15
engadgetmobile.com
Filed under: Peripherals Shure slipped under the $100 mark with its regular earphones some time ago, and it's now brought its stereo headsets into the more budget-friendly territory as well, with its new SE102MPA sound isolating headset boasting the magic price tag of $99.99. This set is actually a bundle of Shure's new SE102 earphones and its standard Music Phone Adapter (or MPA), which used to cost a hefty $40 on its own, making the set quite the bargain as far as Shure products go. As you'd expect, the phones also come with three interchangeable sleeves to ensure a proper fit, and a handy carrying pouch to keep everything neat and tidy. If the low-end's not your thing, you'll also be glad to know that Shure has a slew of other earphone / MPA bundles available as well, with them ranging in price from $130 to $470 for the top-end SE530MPA set. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Mobile Phones
AT&T serves up Samsung a237
02.09.2008 10:20
engadgetmobile.com
Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, ATT, GSM, EDGE The spec sheet isn't going to widen any eyeballs this morning, but as low-end flips go, Samsung's new a237 for AT&T really doesn't look half bad; then again, maybe we're only saying that because its rounded case and bold lines are a welcome change from the typical anonymity these phones usually suffer. True to its target market, the a237 tops out with EDGE data and a VGA cam, features a passable 160 x 128 main display, and sticks with grayscale for the secondary. It launches today in your choice of black, red, or blue, and rest assured, it's not going to break the bank. Scout's honor. [Warning: PDF link]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Mobile Phones
Keepin' it real fake, part CXXXIX: who cloned who?
02.09.2008 10:20
engadgetmobile.com
Filed under: Handsets, Nokia, Others Well, this is new and fresh, as while we're used to seeing cloned handsets wandering our way from China, this time they've maybe beaten Nokia to the punch pre prototype-style. At first glance, this handset appears to be a pretty decent knockoff of the 6 or 8 megapixel N85 -- or something -- we mentioned some months back. But the fun twist here -- see what we just did there? -- is that the CECT K898 was spotted a year ago, and Nokia's prototype only in the last few months. We're not strangers to the good folks at CECT's cloning shenanigans, but we'll admit that they're likely a little chuffed at the prospect of beating somebody, anybody, to the punch in the design department. Sadly, like a year ago, we still kind find even a hint of what the specs may be, but we're ok to simply sit back and watch the lawsuits fly, and this time maybe in the opposite direction.[Via Unwired View] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Sprint outs Motorola i365 and V950 with Samsung M220, M320 -- no Touch Diamond yet
02.09.2008 08:27
engadgetmobile.com
Filed under: Handsets, Motorola, Samsung, Sprint, EV-DO, CDMA Even though all signs are pointing to a release later this month, we'll admit -- we were still secretly hoping that the rumored September 2 date would somehow magically hold for Sprint's release of the Touch Diamond. Even so, the carrier is reeling in some decent -- if not totally expected -- booty today in the form of the Motorola i365 and Renegade V950 alongside Samsung's M220 and M320 flips. The i365 becomes the baddest-ass phone in Sprint's iDEN arsenal, sporting what they call a "monolith form factor" (badass speak for "candybar," we think), mil-spec everything, and GPS. As Direct Connect goes, the V950 is pretty much everything the i365 is not, eschewing iDEN for QChat and offering all the creature comforts of a modern featurephone -- music player, camera, external controls, and a pair of decent displays for starters -- and although Sprint calls this one "ultra-rugged" as well, we don't think we could heave it against a wall quite as many times as we could the i365. From Samsung, the M220 and M320 are simple 1xRTT flips with essentially the same specs as one another, though the M320 tacks on a VGA camera (so in other words, it really may as well not have a camera, either). All four handsets are available now.Read - Samsung M220, M320Read - Motorola i365Read - Motorola Renegade V950Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Avidyne's MLX770 provides pilots with two-way text messaging support
02.09.2008 06:21
engadgetmobile.com
Filed under: Messaging, Misc It's not that texting from planes is currently impossible, it's just not terribly reliable. Thanks to Avidyne's Q4-bound MLX770, however, all that is about to change. The two-way datalink receiver will not only enable pilots to have access to the radar mosaic for most of the world along with weather conditions, but it will add support for text messaging right from the MFD. And we're not talking about CPLDC -- we're talking bona fide SMS. To keep pilots from chatting away too much unnecessarily, the system will limit messages to 32 characters, and beyond that, each message sent will run between $1 and $2. And to think, we actually have the nerve to gripe about $0.20 texts...[Via FlightGlobal]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Nokia's North American E66 shows up in flagship stores
02.09.2008 06:21
engadgetmobile.com
Filed under: Handsets, Nokia, Symbian, GSM, EDGE, HSDPABarely a month after Nokia's North American E71 went on sale at the Chicago / New York flagship stores, we've received word that the QWERTY-less sibling (that'd be the E66) has now arrived at the same locales. The quad-band slider boasts support for AT&T's 3G network, and there's also a 3.2-megapixel camera, GPS, WiFi and all the other goodies you'd expect from another solid S60 contender. Snap it up now in Grey Steel for $540.[Via IntoMobile]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Mobile Phones
Conceptual teddy bear phone shown off in Japan, could totally sell for $199 on contract
02.09.2008 02:16
engadgetmobile.com
Filed under: Handsets, Others, GSM, Willcom We've seen some bizarre -- bizarre -- handsets in our day, but this one is just too darn cute to call weird. The conceptual Kuma Phone was recently shown off in Japan by Willcom, and according to local reports, the audience in attendance absolutely adored it. The GSM teddy bear, er, mobile can hold up to four speed dial numbers, boasts a built-in vibration function and allows users to answer / terminate calls by "pressing the tail." An accompanying pamphlet suggested that it would run around $500 should it ever hit mass production, which leads us to wonder if they plan on using Boyds / Vermont Teddies or something.[Via textually]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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MegaFon confirms butch iPhone deal for Russia
02.09.2008 02:16
engadgetmobile.com
Filed under: Handsets, Apple While "market sources" had already spoken of a deal with MTS to bring the iPhone 3G to Russia, local carrier MegaFon has stepped-to, ex-KGB-like and confirmed its own deal. In a terse, presumably shirt-less announcement made while fishing, Russia's third largest carrier said, "The sales of iPhone in Russia will start this year." The spokesman then shot and wrestled this endangered Tiger to the ground as proof of MegaFon's superior 3G network. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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