LG AX310.
(Credit: LG)The LG AX310 is a new basic phone for Alltel. It has a simple clamshell shape and features voice calls, speakerphone, Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and text and multimedia messaging.
Available in either black or red, the LG AX310 is available for $29.99 after a $30 mail-in rebate with a one-year service agreement. This one-year contract option is only available to customers within the 91 cellular market areas that Verizon Wireless is required to divest.
(Credit:
Tritton Technologies)
Being among the last holdouts who don't own a Bluetooth headset, we've often wondered how well they stay lodged in one's aural canal. It's not that we're philosophically opposed them--well, maybe a little--but we've just had horrible luck with earphones that refuse to inhabit our apparently misshapen ears.
This is why Tritton's new "AX Micro" Bluetooth headset is of particular interest. In addition to the usual features, including 5 hours of talk time and 150 on standby, this tiny gadget claims to have a "comfort fit attachment" and "flexible finger grips" that latch onto the inner ear rim to keep the headset from falling out, according to Slippery Brick.
It also comes in basic black, which we appreciate for aesthetic reasons because it seems to be increasingly rare. If we want to make a fashion statement with our ears, we'll just get a hearing aid.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
Dell has stopped selling its Axim line of handhelds and is not planning a new product in the category.
"The Axim X51 family is no longer being offered, and we have no plans for a follow-on product at this time," Dell spokeswoman Anne Camden said in an e-mail. Camden noted that the company does sell handhelds from other makers on its Web site, including GPS devices and smart phones.
Dell introduced its first Axim Pocket PC in 2002, helping to bring lower prices to a market in which customers had grown used to spending several hundred dollars. Over time, Dell expanded its lineup, adding features such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless technologies. The company debuted its most recent model, the X51, in the fall of 2005.
However, the market for personal organizers has stagnated as many users have opted for smart phones that combine such calendar and contact functions with telephony.
The demise of the Axim was earlier noted by handheld enthusiast Web site MobilitySite.
LG AX8600 in marine blue
(Credit: LG)Alltel has just announced the latest addition to its lineup, a sexy music flip phone it has dubbed the LG AX8600. The phone is almost identical to its Verizon counterpart, the LG VX8600, except that the LG AX8600 comes in marine blue, shimmering gold, and apple green. Most of the features remain the same: a 1.3-megapixel camera and camcorder, a microSD card slot, EV-DO support, a music player with MP3 and AAC formats, a customizable equalizer, external music player controls, and stereo Bluetooth. Replacing Verizon's V Cast and V Cast Music is Alltel's own Axcess TV application with the ability to stream satellite radio via XM Radio Mobile. The AX8600 also features Alltel's innovative Celltop technology that consists of interactive "cells" on the phone's display that provide easy-to-access shortcuts (You can read more about the Celltop technology in our review of the Samsung SCH-u520.) The LG AX8600 is available from Alltel for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate.
The LG AX490 was the first commercial Fastap phone
(Credit: CNET Networks)At least that's what one Digit Wireless representative would have us believe. Fastap is a relatively new technology that incorporates raised and lowered keys into a single keypad to facilitate quicker text messaging without the need for a full QWERTY arrangement. The first commercial phone to offer this keypad was the LG AX490 from Alltel, which we reviewed late last year. We felt it required a bit of learning curve to pick up, and it is not as quick as one would expect.
The ZTE 90
That said, it's good to know that Fastap may be incorporated into new cell phones this year (hey, maybe the technology will improve). Our little birdie told us that a UTStarcom phone is expected as well as a phone manufactured in China called the ZTE 90. We didn't manage to grab pics of the device, but here are a couple of horrible pictures I managed to take of the ZTE 90's press release. (I'll try to get better pictures of it once I'm on the show floor.) Known specs are the expected text and multimedia messaging as well as a built-in music and video player.
The ZTE 90, opened
Word is that both the UTStarcom phone and the ZTE 90 will be released this year in the U.S. under the heading of a nationwide carrier, though we have no word on which carrier yet. No word on pricing yet either.
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