CES - Cell phones and smartphones

LG to have stronger smartphone offerings in 2010

LAS VEGAS--LG didn't reveal too much about its mobile phone strategy at Wednesday's 8 a.m. press conference at CES, but it did say it'll roll out even more smartphones in 2010 than in previous years, with a big shout-out to Windows Mobile 7 in the mix.

LG also proudly pointed out that it launched around 17 million messaging phones last year, so it's clearly not going to leave that category behind. In fact, it let slip that it'll be announcing two new feature phones tomorrow morning, so we'll definitely keep an eye out … Read more

Samsung Moment picked for Mobile Digital TV trials

LAS VEGAS--We think mobile digital TV is going to be a hot topic at CES 2010 and Samsung and Sprint are kicking things off by announcing that they will showcase this technology on the Samsung Moment in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore areas during the first quarter of 2010.

The trial handsets will be equipped with Samsung's Mobile DTV Chip, which will allow Moments to receive live TV programming from local broadcast stations, and, unlike MediaFlo, there is no additional cost to the user. That's right: it's free!

The Open Mobile Video Coalition is promoting Mobile … Read more

BlackBerry Presenter lets you leave the laptop at home

LAS VEGAS--On Wednesday, Research In Motion debuted a new accessory called the BlackBerry Presenter that allows you to make PowerPoint presentations right from your smartphone.

Designed for on-the-go professionals, the BlackBerry Presenter is a small (3.4 inches by 2.4 inches by 0.9 inch) hub that provides connections for hooking up your BlackBerry to a projector or monitor via VGA or S-Video (cables not included) port. It also supports 24 animation and 55 transition styles of PowerPoint 2003 and 2007, and you can even set the time between transitions.

The BlackBerry Presenter is not compatible with the BlackBerry … Read more

Existing T-Mobile customers won't get the $179 price for the Nexus One

If you're a T-Mobile customer and tried to buy a Nexus One today, you might be surprised that you don't qualify for the $180 contract price that was mentioned in today's press announcement. This is apparently the case even if you're out of contract with T-Mobile and just want to renew your plan. Here is the plan breakdown, according to Google:

Nexus One without service: $529 Nexus One with new, two-year T-Mobile U.S. service plan for new customers only: $179 Nexus One with new, two-year T-Mobile U.S. service plan for qualifying existing T-Mobile customers … Read more

Flash Player 10.1 coming to Nexus One

In addition to the features announced on Tuesday at the Google press conference, the Nexus One will be getting even more functionality down the road, specifically Flash Player 10.1. In the video above, Adrian Ludwig of Adobe shows off the some of the work the company has been doing to bring Flash player to mobile devices. He demos several sites with various Flash elements, such as games, video, advertisements--all smoothly running on the Nexus One.

Flash Player 10.1 is said to be coming to the Nexus One in the first half of 2010, but Ludwig said there's … Read more

AT&T speeds it up to 7.2, too

Hot on the heels of T-Mobile's announcement earlier that it is improving its entire 3G network to HSPA 7.2 comes the announcement from AT&T in an investor call that it, too, has done an HSPA 7.2 improvement of its own. AT&T says it has completed a software upgrade to all 3G cell sites nationwide that promises faster 3G speeds, plus it hopes to add capacity to the backbone network itself.

This doesn't mean AT&T customers will all get HSPA 7.2 right away, though; only six U.S. cities will … Read more

Mikey gets a makeover

Blue Microphones is gearing up to release an updated version of its Mikey iPod/iPhone recording accessory, due out in Spring of 2010 with an MSRP of $99. Frankly, we're still pretty head-over-heels about the original Mikey, but with the second-generation's capability to capture audio over a 3.5mm line-input, an upgrade is probably in order.

Blue is also blessing the Mikey with a USB pass-through port, which could potentially eliminate the limitation of your iPod's or iPhone's battery life when it comes to marathon recording sessions.

Like the original, the second-generation Mikey offers three gain … Read more

T-Mobile boosts its 3G to HSPA 7.2

T-Mobile officially announced today that it has boosted its entire 3G network to HSPA 7.2, which is nice timing for one of the first carriers to offer Google's Nexus One (and especially since the Nexus One currently only supports T-Mobile's 3G bands). HSPA 7.2 promises to deliver three to five times the speeds of current 3G networks, and, best of all, this will apply to all existing 3G smartphones as well. Nice one, T-Mo.

Google unveils Nexus One

We knew it was coming, but we had to wait for Google to spill the news before we could talk about it with authority. And the company did so Tuesday morning at a press conference at the Googleplex in Mountain View, Calif.

As expected, the Nexus One is a new Google Android phone that offers an inside designed by Google and an outside designed by HTC. According to Google's Mario Queiroz, the Nexus One is a "superphone" where the Web meets the cell phone. "It's an exemplar of what mobile phones can do with Android," he said. The handset will be available first for GSM carriers like T-Mobile, but a Verizon version will follow.… Read more

Helium HDBT-990 is no watch phone

We first drooled over the LG Watch Phone at CES 2009, but as we have yet to see signs of it in the U.S., we have to make do with gadgets like this Bluetooth Wristband Communicator from Helium Digital.

The HDBT-990 is not even a watch, but you can use it to receive calls with incoming caller ID, vibration alerts, and even A2DP audio streaming (though you'll probably risk annoying your neighbors). It has up to 4 hours of talk time and 160 hours of standby time, and promises noise-cancellation, as well. It'll be available in February … Read more