CES - Cell phones and smartphones

Samsung adds Wi-Fi-only Galaxy Tab, drops TV bezel

Adopting the style of a fast-moving Demo conference, Samsung busily showed off a few dozen new products over about 40 minutes at its CES 2011 press conference today, starting with a Wi-Fi-only version of its Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet that will be available early this year (nope, no price yet).

The specs? Nothing unexpected. The Galaxy Tab runs on Android 2.2 (Froyo) and features a 7-inch TFT display with 1,024x600 WSVGA resolution. It weighs 13 ounces and is less than half an inch thick for tossing in a pocket or purse. The Galaxy Tab includes 16GB of internal storage and has microSD expansion for up to 32GB of additional storage. It also has a rear-facing 3-megapixel camera for taking pictures on the go, and a front-facing 1.3-megapixel shooter and camcorder for video chat.

Also getting time on the big stage was the Samsung Infuse 4G, which will be one of the first smartphones in the U.S. to tout Samsung's next-generation Super AMOLED Plus touch screen. That screen claims 50 percent more sub-pixels for better contrast and outdoor visibility. The screen on the Infuse also measures 4.5 inches diagonally, making it one of the largest displays on a smartphone today. The phone will be available through AT&T.

Samsung seems bent on bucking design trends this year, unveiling a number of products with unique style flourishes. John Revie, Samsung senior vice president, took the stage to talk 3D TVs and essentially declared the bezel dead.

The company showed two large HDTVs surrounded by a border that's just two-tenths of an inch wide--practically invisible. The TVs--available in the first half of this year for an as yet unannounced price--will have what's being called a "1-foot connection," meaning any device in range of your TV or computer that's previously registered will automatically connect. A new "search all" feature on smart TVs will make it easier to find content and apps.

Also on the borderless front, Samung execs tried on a pair of superlight 3D glasses that look like rimless sunglasses ("Matrix 3D glasses," as one CNET commenter said during the live blog).

Other Samsung announcements from the press conference and earlier:… Read more

Triple-speed SD card standard finalized

The SD Association announced a new interface for flash memory cards today that triples data transfer speeds.

The faster SD card specification was expected since the group started previewing it in September. But more unusually for the consortium, the SD Association also announced an e-book specification at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

"Our new e-Book application...opens broad consumer access to e-book content, and turns billions of existing SD mobile phones and devices into e-readers," Norm Frentz, chairman of the SD Association, said in a statement. "SD continues to evolve its capabilities to support voracious consumer demand for portable movies, television broadcasts, high-definition home videos, and now full-color books."

It's not yet clear who among e-book reader makers, publishers, or other companies are on board with the new specification, but two partners showing eBook support at CES are Toshiba and Sharp, the association said. Such partnerships will be important to its success, though, and there already are other e-book formats, such as ePub.

But eBook won't live in isolation. "The association plans to support popular external formats like ePublish, CPS, XMDF and ".book" formats in the near future," said SD Association communications director Kevin Schader. And to keep content publishers happy, it's free to use and supports copy protection. … Read more

Samsung debuts Wi-Fi-only Galaxy Tab

LAS VEGAS--Samsung revealed this week that its Galaxy Tab recently passed a 1.5 million global shipment milestone and the company isn't content to rest on the laurels of the tablet's initial success.

Today the company announced that a Wi-Fi-only version of the Galaxy Tab will be available in the United States in early 2011.

Other than that detail, the new Galaxy Tab looks to be identical (spec-wise) to the one already released, but let's list its specs anyway, for good measure.

Rear-facing 3-megapixel camera Front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera and camcorder Flash 10.1 support 16GB of … Read more

BlueAnt and Vlingo join forces with new smartphone app

LAS VEGAS -- BlueAnt has partnered with Vlingo to come up with a new BlueAnt app that will let BlueAnt owners use their headset or speakerphone for voice commands like voice search, voice dialing, replying to texts and emails, updating Facebook or Twitter, and even leaving yourself "note to self" messages via voice to text. You can launch certain apps with your voice as well. Feature availability depends on the platform, as the app will be available for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry. The app will support English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian at launch in Q1 2011.

AT&T reveals 4G handsets, LTE launch plans

LAS VEGAS--AT&T announced at its Developer's Summit at CES this morning that it will launch its 4G LTE network by the middle of this year. Details of initial markets, pricing, and exact rollout plans are still few at this point, but the carrier says the network will be complete by 2013.

The news, which comes in the middle of a flurry of 4G announcements here, finally puts AT&T on the road to a high-speed data network. Though rivals like Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, and MetroPCS have operated commercially available 4G networks for several months, AT&… Read more

SkyCross antennas outfit devices for Verizon 4G

LAS VEGAS--Wireless antenna maker SkyCross announced today at CES a partnership with Verizon Wireless that brings wireless connectivity to certain devices running on the carrier's 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) network.

SkyCross antennas are being used in tablets from Acer and Cisco, a home automation control system from Ionics, and other devices being demonstrated this week at Verizon Wireless's Innovation Center CES booth. Acer's tablet is using an LTE MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) antenna, the Cisco Cius tablet uses an iMAT (isolated mode antenna technology) LTE antenna, and the Ionics product is incorporating an iMAT antenna.

MIMO … Read more

Acer unveils 10-inch Iconis A500 tablet

LAS VEGAS--Tablet news just keeps a rolling in this week at CES and the tablet crew here at CNET remains focused on delivering as much as current U.S. labor laws allow.

On Wednesday Acer and Verizon Wireless announced the Iconis Tab A500. The tablet will use the latest version of Android and the Nvidia Tegra 2 dual core 1GHz processor to power its 10-inch capacitive touch screen.

The Iconis will also make use of Verizon Wireless's 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network and use Acer's UI 4.5 in tandem with Android as its interface of choice.

Other … Read more

Casio's Bluetooth watch will talk to your smartphone

LAS VEGAS--It's no LG Watch Phone, but Casio does stroll down that path with a networked watch it's revealing--in prototype form--at CES.

Embedded Bluetooth capabilities act as a second screen to let you view smartphone notifications like incoming calls and e-mails while your phone is elsewhere--deep in a bag or lost in your house, for instance. If you do misplace your device, there's a phone-finding feature that can ring your handset.

One handy-looking feature for travelers is a time sync that will reset your watch to local time once your smartphone picks that up from the local … Read more

CES: AT&T announces Motorola Atrix 4G with dual-core processor

LAS VEGAS--If you love your smartphones big and powerful, then the Motorola Atrix 4G is right up your alley.

During AT&T's Developer Summit at CES 2011, Motorola and AT&T introduced the Motorola Atrix 4G with a dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM. In addition, it will have 16GB of onboard memory and a 1,920mAh lithium-ion battery. Specs that certainly back up its claim as "the world's most powerful smartphone."

The companies did not expand on availability date or pricing but more details are expected to be revealed at Motorola's press … Read more