Mobile

HTC Hero Android phone announced

At a press event in London on Wednesday, HTC unveiled its latest Google Android device, the HTC Hero, featuring a new user interface called HTC Sense.

The HTC Hero will be available in Europe starting in July and in Asia later this summer, while a "distinct" North American version will ship later in 2009. However, pricing was not announced at this time.

Like the T-Mobile G1 and Google Ion/HTC Magic, the HTC Hero has the signature curve at the bottom, but it's a bit more svelte at 4.4 inches tall by 2.2 inches wide … Read more

What does Intel-Nokia deal mean for Symbian?

One element was striking in Tuesday's joint press release from Intel and Nokia: Symbian was not mentioned.

Symbian is the dominant operating system for smartphones with a 50 percent market share. Nokia has been using it for 10 years.

Instead, Nokia and Intel declared that they will "develop common technologies for use in the Moblin and Maemo platform projects."

Both are Linux-based platforms: Moblin is supported by Intel and Maemo is used by Nokia in its Internet Tablets such as N810 (the only modern touch-screen devices that Nokia made until it finally launched its touch-screen 5800 Xpress … Read more

AT&T's 3G upgrades to improve iPhone service

AT&T is upgrading its network and using 850MHz spectrum to beef up its 3G wireless network, which should help alleviate dropped calls and slow network connections for iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S users.

Apple said this week that it sold more than a million of the iPhone 3G S model worldwide this past weekend after the phone went on sale Friday. Exactly how many of those phones were activated on AT&T's network in the U.S. isn't yet known, but the addition of more data intensive iPhones is likely to put a strain … Read more

What Intel, Nokia gain in mobile reboot

Intel and Nokia have more than a few holes in their respective collections of mobile technologies. How far will the collaboration announced Tuesday go to plug the holes and take them to the next technology plane?

A platitude easily missed in the announcement may be the most revealing statement. Simply, that the two companies create the opportunity to take advantage of each other's expertise.

Nokia makes mobile phones. Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, can't get its chips into mobile phones. On the other hand, Intel makes the silicon that powers the world's PCs. Nokia doesn't have a clue about PCs.

The announcement won't necessarily inspire confidence with its lack of product particulars, but that's not what it's about. "Today is a relationship announcement," said Jeff Orr, senior analyst for mobile devices at ABI Research.

Intel and Nokia are simply agreeing at this stage to collaborate rather than be direct competitors, according to Orr.

Nokia was clear--in a cryptic sort of way--on one point, however: "Today's collaboration is not about smartphones but creating a new class of devices," Kai Oistamo, executive vice president for devices at Nokia, said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Beyond those future devices--presumably powered by Intel silicon--what does Intel get? Initially, the most concrete thing is 3G. "This is a gap for Intel, which has focused on Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and WiMax," Orr said. "As a result, when future architectures like an Atom platform are developed for MIDs (mobile Internet devices), Netbooks, smartphones, that means vendors will have more flexibility for connectivity."

In short, Intel can build 3G into its chipsets and Intel can compete more effectively in the future with products like the iPhone and Palm Pre that include 3G as standard. Intel-based notebooks and Netbooks, until recently, were rarely offered with 3G as a standard option.

"We're not talking about specific products today but certainly we would not have taken a license (from Nokia) if we didn't have the intention to build a product," Anand Chandrasekher, Intel senior vice president and general manager at the Ultra Mobility Group, said in a phone interview Tuesday, referring to Intel's licensing of Nokia's HSPA/3G modem technology.

And it may be too soon for 4G technologies like WiMax. There are many countries (ABI Research's Orr counts about 100) where 3G is just emerging, so talking about WiMax (a 4G technology) is "very premature for most countries," he said. … Read more

Report: Verizon, T-Mobile to offer Motorola Android smartphones

Verizon and T-Mobile USA plan to offer Motorola smartphones running Google's Android operating system by the end of the year, according to a report in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal.

Citing "people familiar with the matter," the Journal said the new phones stem from efforts by Motorola Co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha to revive the company's sluggish handset division. Motorola is hoping Android will help it win a greater slice of the cell phone market.

A Motorola representative declined to comment to the Journal. However, the report said a person familiar with the proposed T-Mobile smartphone described … Read more

T-Mobile announces second Google phone

Competition in the smartphone market is heating up this summer as one new hot smartphone after another hits the street. The latest is T-Mobile's next Google Android device, called the MyTouch 3G.

T-Mobile will announce the new smartphone Monday. It is the second smartphone the carrier has introduced that uses Google's open-source mobile operating system, Android. T-Mobile introduced the world's first Google Android phone, called the G1, last fall. And so far the company claims it has sold over 1 million devices.

The MyTouch 3G is manufactured by HTC and is essentially the same hardware design as the Google Ion, which is also known as the HTC Magic. The device was introduced at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February and is now being sold by Vodafone in various markets around the world.

The Google Ion/HTC Magic has been described as thinner than the G1 and slightly smaller than Apple's iPhone.… Read more

Gasping for air, Nortel to sell off wireless tech

Nokia Siemens Networks will buy Nortel Networks' wireless technology business for $650 million.

Struggling Nortel, a one-time giant in telecommunications equipment, had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January in hopes of reorganizing. But that is unlikely now.

Nokia Siemens said Friday that it will use Nortel's CDMA and LTE technology to expand its presence in North America. CDMA, or code division multiple access, is one of the two major networks operating in the U.S. and is used by Verizon Wireless and Sprint. LTE, or Long Term Evolution, is 4G wireless technology that will potentially replace today's … Read more

WebOS 1.0.3 update available now for Palm Pre

Hey Palm Pre owners, if you haven't heard by now, there's a little present waiting for you on your smartphone. Palm has pushed out an over-the-air update for your downloading pleasure that brings a number of feature enhancements to the Pre.

The company has posted a full feature list of WebOS 1.0.3 on its support site, but some highlights include:

Non-SSL Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) mail servers are now supported. Events created in your Google calendar (either in Calendar on your phone or in Google online) that contain a symbol or accented character in the event name … Read more

Scattered activation problems during iPhone launch

While it would certainly be wrong to call the issue widespread, some iPhone users have reported delays while trying to activate their new iPhone 3G S.

CNET's own David Martin tried to activate his iPhone today and had to call AT&T customer support. AT&T customer service reps couldn't explain what the problem was, but it surely has to do with the number of people trying to activate their phones all at once.

For some users, iTunes is reporting that it could take up to 48 hours to complete the activation process. From experience, I … Read more