Cell phones

LG and Sprint announced the LG LX400 Hero today, and it's a rarity amongst LG phones--it supports Nextel's Direct Connect push-to-talk network, meaning the phone is almost entirely targeted to the business and enterprise market. It supports mobile business application suites, as well as data services like mobile e-mail and GPS navigation. Other features include Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and picture messaging. It's otherwise not much of a looker, but that's what you get for a midrange phone like this.

Chinese manufacturer ZTE is making further headway in the U.S. market with two new simple phones, the ZTE C78 and the ZTE C79. The ZTE C88 for MetroPCS was its first ever handset offered in North America, and these two handsets are part upgrade, part downgrade. They're both among the first in the country to operate via AWS frequency bands, which theoretically let users have access to data and multimedia applications if the carriers allow. The C79 is the more advanced model; it's a flip phone with a MP3 player, a 1.3-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, and … Read more

Last year in Orlando, Samsung's UpStage was one of the biggest announcements of the CTIA show. And this year in Las Vegas, Samsung may have done it again. Today the company announced the Samsung Instinct SPH-M800, which will land at Sprint this summer. The Instinct looks a lot like a certain cell phone from Apple, but Sprint (thankfully) isn't positioning it as an iPhone killer. Rather, a Sprint spokeswoman called it just an iPhone competitor. We're not quite sure what to make of that, either.

But whatever you call it, the Instinct is undeniably eye-catching. (See our … Read more

Though Motorola announced today that its Z9 slider phone was going to AT&T, we got the opportunity to examine the Z9 last night before CTIA began. Our initial impressions are a bit mixed (check out our Z9 slide show for more images). The Z9 is certainly an attractive handset with a slim profile and a solid feel, but it doesn't break very much new design ground. For the past two years Moto has been under enormous pressure from many camps (us included) to come up with something completely new, but the Z9 doesn't stray very far … Read more

Motorola announced during the first day of CTIA that its Z9 slide phone is landing at AT&T. The Z9 is the first Motorola handset to support AT&T's Video Share service and is the first cell phone ever to offer AT&T Navigator GPS service. Other features on the quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) handset include dualband (HSDPA (850/1900) 3G, voice dialing, Windows Media Player 11 with support for AT&T Music, stereo Bluetooth, a speakerphone, a microSD card slot, an Opera 8 Web browser, and a 2-megapixel camera.

Though Motorola has … Read more

Cell phones may be ubiquitous, but not every cell phone is appropriate for every person. That's why over the last couple of years, a small but growing market has begun to address the cell phones needs of senior citizens. These handsets ditch fancy and unnecessary features in favor of simple designs and basic communication functionality. Previously we've seen it in the Samsung Jitterbug and the UTStarcom Coupe, and today we see it in the new ClarityLife. Unveiled in as Vegas on the first day of CTIA, the ClarityLife has all the hallmarks of a senior-friendly cell phone. It'… Read more

Kyocera kicked off CTIA this morning by unveiling three new cell phones. The Kyocera Neo E1100 is the most high end mode trip. It offers a sleek flip phones design with a few unique touches on its front face. The feature set isn't terribly advanced but you will find Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, a 262,000-color display and a speakerphone. The Kyocera Mako S4000 is a trim flip phone with a VGA camera, voice dialing and a speakerphone. It won't wow high-maintenance users but it does more than just make calls. Finally, there's the Adreno S2400. … Read more

Kyocera chose CTIA to unveil is new Adreno S2400, a low-end flip phone that offers a simple design and functional features. Be advised there's not a lot of whizbang functionality here; rather, the Adreno is all about making calls. That's hardly a bad thing, though, and we like that the S2400 offers Bluetooth 1.2 and voice dialing. You'll also find text and multimedia messaging, basic organizer features, a speakerphone, a WAP Internet browser, voice memos, a vibrate mode, and a 500-contact phone book.

On the outside the Adreno won't win any design awards, but that'… Read more

During the last two CTIA shows, Kyocera has demonstrated a talent for unveiling new cell phone with a bit of design pizzazz. Last year it was the Kyocera E5000, and this year it is the Neo E1100. Sporting an extremely minimalist design in basic black, the E1100 is a thin (0.66 inche) flip phone with a glowing blue "lightpipe" down the center of its front face. Though you may think there's no external display, there is a hidden screen that runs vertically to the left of the lightpipe. Typically we're not big fans of hidden … Read more