Mobile Phones

Mobile Phones, cell phones

V CAST: Early Reviews See a Winner

February 1, 2006

Early results are in regarding Verizon Wireless' V CAST service and LG's VX8100 V CAST Music Phone -- it's a winner! An iPod cell phone! V CAST service is homage to iTunes and phone plays some great sounding music for a cell phone (plus does a lot of that phone stuff, too).

Will have more as we, the test team (meaning my daughter and myself), get more into it.

Anybody else want to ring in?

Posted in Mobile Phones

ZyXEL dual-mode GSM/WiFi phone

February 1, 2006

ZyXEL has a dual-mode GSM/WiFi handset phone coming out soon running Windows Mobile 5.0 and will feature a removable SIM card for use with any carrier that supports GSM. The real kicker is that it will also have Skype pre-installed on the ZyXEL dual-mode phone, which will enable this phone to bypass expensive cellphone minutes in favor of an inexpensive (or even free) Skype VoIP connection using WiFi.

I wonder if there is a specialized version of Skype or even a specialized dialer on the ZyXEL that will detect if you are in a WiFi zone and routes the call over Skype instead of over the cellular GSM connection. I actually learned about this phone at ITEXPO last week (another great reason to attend by the way) and have been trying to acquire photos of this new product. Stay tuned.

Posted in Gadgets, ITEXPO, Mobile Phones, Skype, VoIP

What Next? SuperBowl Ads on Your Cell Phone

January 30, 2006

Look for SuperBowl ads from advertises like Pepsico and Anheuser-Busch to be appearing on a cell phone or iPod near you. Check out the article in USA Today to read more about it. You can also catch a still from some of the spots -- now we have news about the ads before the ads run (oh boy!).

Posted in Mobile Phones

Razr Blade: Which Came First? Or Who's On First?

January 27, 2006

This reminds me of a combination of the old, very old "which came first joke" (aka chicken vs. egg) and the sales/marketing axiom of "giving away the razor to sell the blades."

This has really nothing to do with Samsung's new Sprint phone -- the SPH-a900, nicknamed the "Blade." It's almost a clone of Motorola's Razr, which established itself as the "it" phone last year. (That's where the earlier thoughts came in.)

It features Bluetooth wireless technology, a high-speed connection for web surfing at broadband-like speeds, a 1.3 megapixel camera to capture digital pictures, a stereo speakerphone for music or hands-free gabbing and advanced voice recognition to launch applications or dictate text messages.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Posted in Mobile Phones

(Not So) Trivial Pursuit

January 24, 2006

Cell phones have become indispensable -- can you imagine not having one?

But can you guess how many people around the world now use cell phones?� Do you want to even try?

Well, many more cell phones than jelly beans in that jar that we have� always been asked to guess at school math night -- 2 billion to be� exact,� according to The McKinsey Quarterly, the online journal of the business consulting firm. With the world population approaching 6.5 billion (according to world and U.S. population clocks), that 2 billion figure is truly remarkable.

Posted in Mobile Phones

Mobile DTV Alliance Wants You! (To Watch!)

January 23, 2006

Just the other day I wrote about how the small screens of mobile phones directly affects what viewers want to watch on it – short stuff!

Now, today, a bunch of companies that are household names -- including� Intel, Motorola and Texas Instruments – are teaming up in an alliance designed to foster the growth of mobile digital TV and accelerate something called Digital Video Broadcasting – Handheld (DVB-H), an open standard for broadcast digital TV reception on mobile devices.� The organization is called the Mobile DTV Alliance.

As mobile video entertainment gains increased awareness and achieves greater availability, the Alliance intends to focus on promoting the best practices and open standards that deliver premium-quality broadcast television to mobile devices for the North American market. The open, industry-supported standard is expected to foster growth throughout the wireless market with more choices and allow mobile DTV handsets and services to reach us faster and at a lower cost.
�
In their scheme, mobile devices capable of decoding DVB-H signals will enable us to receive live TV programming directly on our phones and other mobile devices.

Posted in Mobile Phones

Philips VP5500 WiFi VoIP phone launches

January 23, 2006

The Philips VP5500 WiFi VoIP phone was announced way back in September 2005 and it was finally launched today in the Netherlands of all places. No offense Netherlands, but how come you get first dibs on this cool phone? Anyway, the sleekly styled VP-5500 is powered by Linux and lets users enjoy live video calls using its built-in VGA camera (640x480 resolution) that rotates up to 240 degrees and supports 30 FPS. Video calls are displayed on a 2.2" color LCD supporting 64k colors. The VP5500 features a video out port that lets others watch the video on a TV.

Posted in Gadgets, Linux, Mobile Phones, Video Hardware & Software, VoIP, Wireless

Tello a near term solution?

January 23, 2006

Tello was launched today by Pulver with some help from Craig McCaw, telecom banker Michael Price and former Apple CEO John Sculley. What is Tello? Tello enables enterprise users to see the presence of the person they are trying to reach - whether the users is on a phone, cellphone, etc., regardless of which IM client service they use, i.e. MSN Messenger, AOL/AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, etc.

Posted in Asterisk, Avaya, Google, Linux, Microsoft, Mobile Phones, Skype, VoIP

More on Apple's iPod Phone

January 19, 2006

With Verizon recently announcing its own music store -- V CAST -- that will enable that service's users to download high-quality digital music on its cell phones, it's little wonder that Apple seems to be advancing in its own march toward an iPod phone.

Seems Apple recently submitted a bunch of trademark applications, but this a whole new world for Apple. Can they reinvent the cell phone? Will that be a Top 10 story of 2006?

We'll be taking an up close and personal look at V CAST in the next couple of weeks ... Stay tuned.

Posted in Mobile Phones

Apple Mobile Me iPod phone

January 13, 2006

According to Yahoo/Reuters, Apple is developing the oft-rumored iPod mobile phone with a recent trademark of the phrase "Mobile Me". Hey, if they are going to marry an MP3 player with a mobile phone, they may as well marry VoIP too, right? I wonder if Apple's Mobile Me will run Skype? That'd be cool.

And speaking of marrying, just came across a CNet article saying two people got married using VoIP and two webcams.

Posted in Gadgets, MP3 Players & Digital Audio, Mobile Phones, PDAs & Handhelds, Skype, VoIP

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