Here it is, folks, the Sprint Instinct by Samsung in all its glory. This particular device is running on an older version of the OS so it’s a little wonky. The number its activated with is also sans data plan, sooooo yeah.
I want one! NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM.
Here we get a hands on with the Samsung Access on AT&T running MediaFLO. Music provided by Danger.
It’s old, but I wanted to take pics of it.
Bad lighting and a bad photographer equal less than perfect photos. I’ll grab some more time with the Instinct later on and will have video up as well.
Live from Las Vegas — Windows 6.1 in the flesh.
Hey, guess what? Remember all the rumors that were floating around about the WiMAX edition of the Nokia N810? Well, Nokia officially took the wraps off of it and I thought I’d tell you. The N810 is pretty much unchanged other than the addition of WiMAX. It comes with a Sprint XOHM account creation wizard to make the transition easy and fast. The N810 will seamlessly switch between Wi-Fi and WiMAX so you’re always connected.
The first WiMAX enabled device, the N810, will become available this summer for $449.
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Launching at CTIA is Velocity Mobile, a new smartphone player. The only downside is they run Windows Mobile. Heh. The company’s first two WinMo devices, the Velocity 103 and 111 will run on 3.5G, has built-in GPS, Wi-Fi and 2-megapixel cameras. We’ll get a hands-on shortly. The V103 will be available Q2 while the V111 comes out in Q3. Both will be unlocked.
Details on both devices after the jump.
The boys are reporting from CTIA that Verizon just announced they’re purchasing AT&T for $25 billion. The news came during the joint Verizon/AT&T luncheon at Piero’s (great pesto) and it means that the flagging CDMA company will now have a GSM presence internationally. The first phone on the new VerizonGSM branded network: the iPhone. More news as we have it.
The 3G Moto Z9 from Motorola actually looks like a nice phone unlike the others they’ve been releasing in recent months. It features a 2-megapixel camera with 8x zoom, GPS, stereo Bluetooth, full HTML browsing, microSD slot, talk time up to 4 hours and an MP3 player. A 2-year contract and $149.99 gets you this shiny new slider.
Doug Aamoth and Peter Ha here at the CTIA Keynote in beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada. I’ll be pounding the keys at Petey snaps photos. Hold on to your hats, it’s surely going to be a psycho-erotic thriller of magnanimous proportions.
Remember Ricky Martin? Absolutely, right? Well Kingston thinks so as well. They’re selling a microSD card containing music, wallpapers, and videos from Ricky’s upcoming Black & White tour. I know, right? Great, right? They’ll be selling it on Amazon.com. It’s a wee $10 for such a wonderful collection of music and video. Right? Right?
“I am very excited by the new avenues for sharing
music that technology continues to provide,” said
Ricky Martin. “I enthusiastically embrace these new
formats. They mean global growth for not only my
music — but for all music — and that’s why I’m very
happy to form this alliance with Kingston.”
David Zatz of Zatz Not Funny was kind enough to show me his AT&T BB 8820 running Slingplayer Mobile. There’s no launch date at the moment.
We’re thinking the Vu is the first real post-iPhone cellphone, using a haptic-feedback touchscreen, a fluid UI, and multimedia features in a phone that should cost less than the iPhone but still be cool enough to induce lust.
Laptop caught up with the phone on the floor of the CTIA Emerging Tech Awards pavilion, snapped a few shots, and did a pretty good hands-on. John Biggs here and I got to play with an early version of the phone at CES and it’s good to see Laptop has about the same impressions we did then.
We’re looking carefully at this phone as it supports AT&T’s MediaFLOW live TV service launching next month, and because it might siphon sales away from AT&T’s own iPhone. Is AT&T spoiling its own game? We’ll have to see how popular the TV application really is before we’ll know, but likely not.
As we quick approach zero hour for CTIA this year, let’s look at what we can expect from the big boys in the months to come. This week’s trade show, CTIA Wireless, is the “business” head of the CTIA hydra and where most of the big handset announcements for U.S. carriers happen. Notice I italicized U.S. Because of our backward and Soviet-style carrier system here in the U.S., we very rarely get cool phones. This is why, on the hole, every phone we have here pales in absolute comparison to even a nicely outfitted Nokia N95, let alone the iPhone.
That said, don’t expect any crazy NTT DoCoMo phones with a built-in robot dog. Instead, set your sights on something like a pink RAZR with a special Gwen Stefani charm hanging from it and you won’t be disappointed.
Here’s what else to expect from this show of shows.
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The first news is trickling out of CTIA and we’re actually quite impressed with this little bugger. It’s called the Cell Ranger and it’s a USB-powered cellular repeater that improves cell reception almost anywhere.
The Cell Ranger line includes two products: the Cell Ranger STIX is powered by a standard automotive 12 volt power supply; the Cell Ranger PORT is powered by a computer’s USB port and does not require software or drivers. Neither product requires physical connection or “pairing” with the phone. Users simply plug the Cell Ranger unit into the power source and properly place the magnetic antenna. Cell Ranger then automatically detects the closest handset. Cell Ranger can also be used by multiple handsets simultaneously for added convenience.
These little buggers should sell for about $149. We’ve done quite a few posts on cellular repeaters and I’ve found that they markedly improve most “dead zone” situations and even speed up EDGE in some cases.
Sony Ericsson’s HSDPA Z750a just dropped on AT&T. It will cost $50 after rebate and comes in purple, grey, and pink. It has a 2.0-megapixel camera and runs on AT&T’s 3G network. Sure it’s no X1 or even one their latest UIQ phones, but it’s nice that Sony Ericsson is launching phones in the U.S., right?
I’m actually quite upset. S-E used to be a giant and their phones used to change the game on a regular basis. Now they dump a 3G clamshell every year and call it a day. They’re like my lazy uncle who talks about his days playing college ball.
It’s only been a few months since MWC 2008 but that doesn’t mean US carriers can’t get in on the new cellphone act. Peter and Doug are winging their way to Las Vegas for CTIA Wireless 2008 as we speak, promising to cover a number of new “cellular telephones” including R.I.M’s new “Blueberry” electronic mail phones and Motorola’s hot RAZR phone that promises to replace the StarTAC. If you’d like to meet up with us on the show floor or at a floor show, drop us a line at tips @ crunchgear.com. You can read our coverage right here.
