News Blog

LG Vu

(Credit: CNET Networks)

AT&T Mobile TV will debut on Sunday, along with the LG Vu and the Samsung Access phones.

As reported a month or so ago, AT&T Mobile TV is the carrier's new live mobile TV service that will broadcast television shows to compatible phones via Qualcomm's MediaFlo network. At launch, the service will offer eight channels of programming--CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, Fox Mobile, MTV, NBC 2G0, NBC News 2GO, and Nickelodeon--as well as two AT&T-exclusive channels called PIX and CNN Mobile Live. PIX will have shows from Sony Pictures Television while CNN Mobile Live will feature 24-hour-a-day live streaming of CNN. As a special offer, AT&T is also offering CNCRT, a concert channel delivered by Control Room, for the next 60 days. It will air one of about 30 concerts from artists such as Sheryl Crow and Jay Z.

The service will launch in 58 markets, including New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, but not San Francisco. (We're a little miffed here at CNET HQ). Though data charges are nonexistent, you do have to pay monthly access fees. For only four channels--CBS Mobile, Fox Mobile, NBC 2Go, and NBC News 2Go--it's $13 a month, while the Basic package for $15 a month will allow you unlimited access to Mobile TV plus the CNCRT channel. For $30 a month, you get the Mobile TV access as well as unlimited mobile Web browsing and unlimited access to Cellular Video, AT&T's broadband video streaming service.

Of course, the other big news is that the LG Vu and the Samsung Access will launch on the same day. As you'll recall from CNET's CTIA coverage, the Samsung Access is a candy bar handset with a 2.3-inch landscape display, a 1.3-megapixel camera, quad-band GSM support, and of course 3G/HSDPA. As much as we think the Access is a cool phone though, the LG Vu is clearly the phone made for mobile TV thanks to its large 3-inch wide touch screen. The Vu is packed with a 2-megapixel camera, quad-band GSM support, a full HTML browser, stereo Bluetooth, and all of AT&T's 3G services, including AT&T Mobile Music and AT&T Video Share.

We had the opportunity to give the LG Vu a full review, so check out what we think of it and take a gander at our LG Vu slide show.

Editor's note: Tell us what you look for in a cell phone--vote in any or all of the four polls below, and elaborate in the TalkBack section at the end of this story.

Choosing a cell phone has become a lot like buying a car.

No matter what model or brand you buy, they all have some of the basic features and functionality. Cars come with a steering wheel, an engine, brakes, and four wheels. And all cell phones come with some mechanism for dialing and a small speaker and microphone for making calls. But beyond that, appearance, premium features, reliability, and cost become a huge part of what draw consumers to one phone--or car--or another.

Over the past few years it seems like the choice in cell phones has exploded. I know it may not feel like that in the carrier-subsidized phone market of the United States, but if you look globally and in the design centers of major cell phone manufacturers, you'll see hundreds of models of different phones that consumers can choose from.

And as cell phone penetration nears the saturation point in most developed markets, like the U.S., manufacturers are challenged now more than ever to come up with cool designs and features that consumers really want. All at prices that people can afford.

Cell phone manufacturers talk about turning cell phones into TVs and music players. They see phones as navigation devices and mini computers that can be used to surf the Internet or check e-mail. Phones today have cameras and video recorders that allow people to photograph and document their lives. Of course they also let you talk to your heart's content.

But what features do people really want on their phones? Which styles are they most attracted to? These are questions that phone manufacturers are increasingly asking themselves.

The New York Times published a story on Friday that said cell phone industry executives need to "understand the psyche of consumers and why they pick one phone over another." Their mission, the story pointed out, is to be a kind of Dr. Phil for cell phones.

Korean cell phone maker LG Electronics supposedly asks focus groups to keep a journal about how they feel about the design of certain cell phones, the article says. LG executives also regularly attend home and design shows "looking for broader trends in popular culture." Nokia's executives recently spent time on a retreat trying to figure out what consumers will want not just next year, but for the next three to seven years.

On some level, I think consumers are attracted to design and coolness whether they realize it or not. Motorola's Razr was a good example of this. The ultrathin phone came on the market in 2004 and was quickly deemed a hit. But it didn't really do anything different from all the other cell phones on the market. What made it unique was its slim, new design. Not only did it look cool, but it was also functional from a design perspective. As cell phones became an item no one left home without, people loved the idea of a carrying a device that could easily slip into a pocket or a small purse.

But the Razr became passe as the phone became ubiquitous and other companies copied its design.

Then along came the iPhone. I have to admit I had never before seen such a frenzy for any kind of consumer-electronics device. Even before the iPhone went on sale people were buzzing about it. Apple, which had hit home runs in terms of design and functionality with the iPod music player, was expected to come up with something cool. And it did. But unlike the Razr that simply packaged a standard cell phone into a different form, Apple combined both cool design with innovative features and functionality.

And now it's clear that Apple has set the bar in terms of what people expect in a cell phone. Cool design is a must, but functionality and services are also important.

This leads me back to the issue mentioned at the beginning of this blog post. Which features do people really want on a cell phone? Simply putting anything and everything an engineer can think of into a tiny device doesn't make much sense. But it seems that is what some manufacturers are trying to do. At the same time, devices that focus on a few high-end features to the exclusion of others make it difficult for consumers to choose a device that fits their needs and wants.

Take two of Nokia's latest phones. At the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last month, the company introduced the 6210 Navigator, a phone developed specifically for navigation, with a built-in compass and easy access to Nokia's map and navigation service. It also introduced the 6220 Classic that comes with a 5-megapixel camera with geotagging that links easily to Flikr.

I think each of these phones is great. They offer very cool features and functionality. But as a consumer, which one do I buy? To be honest, I thought the 6210 Navigator was a great phone for people who like to travel. You can use it to access maps and city guides for destinations around the world, making it the device to have on trips. It basically eliminates the need to carry around a Lonely Planet guide book and a map, two things I always travel with when I'm in a foreign city.

The 6220 Classic also is a very cool phone. It takes very good-quality pictures and, with a couple of quick clicks, will upload your photos to a Flickr account--features that might make it a good replacement for the small digital camera I often travel with.

My initial thought when I saw these phones was that it would be great if I could get this excellent camera with geotagging and an embedded Flickr link in the 6220 Classic combined with the full lineup of the cool navigation features of the 6210 Navigator. The reason is simple: I usually take pictures when I am on vacation in a place I don't know. That also happens to be when and where I need a map. And if there was a really good camera built into my phone, I wouldn't have to carry around my little digital camera too.

When I mentioned this to a Nokia marketing executive at the GSMA trade show, he cocked his head, squinted his eyes, and looked at me like I was from another planet. I tried to explain to him that it makes more sense to bundle certain features based on the type of consumer you are targeting. For example, a navigation phone with an awesome camera and a built-in link to Flickr appeals to me as a frequent traveler. But when those two main functions are put on two different phones, I might have a harder time deciding which one to get.

He argued that these phones were designed for two different kinds of consumers, one interested in navigation, the other in photography.

So yes, there's a degree of exasperation on both sides of this equation. I recognize that phone manufacturers may be faced with an impossible task. No two people are alike. Features that are important to me might not be important to someone else, and vice versa. So I don't expect perfection. But if cell phone makers could get as close to my dream as possible, I'd be happy.

I'm number one!

(Credit: Verizon Wireless)

It appears the the LG Voyager had a very good November. According to a study conducted by Compete, a Boston-based Internet analytics company, the Voyager was the most-shopped cell phone during the last month. While Compete's definition of "most shopped" is a tad loose--the number of unique visitors to a handset's detail page on a carrier Web site--it's still noteworthy that a model only launched in November would beat out even the super-hyped Apple iPhone, which won fourth place. The Voyager also did better than the most shopped handset from November 2006. According to Compete's blog, it attracted 131 percent more visitors than the Samsung SGH-T609 had. (Compete didn't release raw numbers).

After the Voyager, the other Top 10 shopped phones from November were a diverse lot. The Sidekick Slide took the No. 2 spot, followed by (in order) the Samsung SGH-T629, the iPhone, the Sidekick LX, the Sidekick ID, the LG Venus, the Sony Ericsson Z310a, the Sony Ericsson W580i, and the Pantech C150. And in case you're counting carriers, that's four AT&T phones, four T-Mobile handsets, and two Verizon Wireless models. Poor Sprint.

Complete also compiled a list of the most-shopped smartphones in November. The iPhone earned the top spot here, which makes much more sense than its number four position (though I'm not sure why Complete included it on both lists). The remaining top 10 in order where AT&T's Pantech Duo, the RIM BlackBerry Pearl, Verizon's Samsung SCH-i760, AT&T's Motorola Q9h, a refurbished RIM BlackBerry Pearl, the T-Mobile Dash, AT&T's RIM Blackberry Curve 8310, T-Mobile's RIM BlackBerry Curve 8320, and the AT&T 8525.

While research scientists are still grappling with the possibility of harmful effects from cellular handset use on the human body, a fatal accident involving a mobile phone occurred recently in South Korea. The TelecomsKorea News Service reported that a 33-year-old man was found dead, presumably killed by an explosion of a mobile phone battery identified to be from LG, though no specific model was cited.

It was reported that the man was found lying beside an electronic shovel at a quarry where he worked. A co-worker described him as bleeding from the nose and having a phone with a melted battery in his left shirt pocket. A professor from the Chungbuk National University examined the body and speculated that a phone battery explosion, which punctured his heart and lungs, was the main cause of death. He added that the victim's ribs and spine were broken.

This is the first time a cell phone battery explosion is believed to have taken a life in South Korea. Earlier this year, a man in China was reportedly killed by a mobile phone explosion.

(Source: Crave Asia)

We're No. 1!

Nokia remains the king of the cell phone world and it shows no signs of being pushed from its throne anytime soon. According to figures that IDC released yesterday, the Finnish mobile giant held a 38.6 percent worldwide market in the third quarter this year, an increase from 34.8 percent during the same period a year earlier. As for phone shipments, Nokia shipped 111.7 million devices in the third quarter. That's a big jump from 88.5 million devices in the third quarter of 2006, mostly because of increases in the entry-level market.

Samsung came in at a distant second with a 14.7 percent market share. That figure put it above Motorola, which held the No. 2 spot last year. IDC said Samsung benefited from high sales of its Ultra Edition handsets.

Meanwhile, Moto saw its market share drop from 21.1 percent last year to 12.9 percent this year. While the company was the only manufacturer to show a drop in shipments (53.7 million to 37.2 million), Moto was able to grow over the second quarter of this year in part because of its Razr2 line.

Though Sony Ericsson is a small player in North America, it held onto the No. 4 spot with a market share of 9 percent. IDC singled out the W580 and W200 as particularly successful models. LG also grew, from 6.5 percent to 7.6 percent, but it remained as the fifth-largest cell phone vendor. It shipped 21.9 million phones in the third quarter of this year, compared with 16.6 handsets in 2006.

(Credit: LG)

It's not often--if ever--that a TV maker brags about a smaller model these days, unless it's talking about some type of new technology. Yet that's just what LG is doing this week in announcing what it calls "the world's only 32-inch plasma."

There are a lot of reasons for this, one of them being that this size is the fastest-growing segment in the industry primarily for price but also for the "second TV" market, as noted by Slippery Brick. And LG and other plasma makers are responding as much to competition as they are opportunities, caught between growing pressure from LCDs and the rapid development of ultra-thin OLED screens.

No matter what, flat-screen manufacturers can't complain too much given the stratospheric growth they've experienced in such a short time. It's only been a couple of years since plasmas and LCDs have taken off among the masses, after all, and they're already talking about second sets. Maybe what the plasma makers really need to do is focus on the pirate market.

LG Rumor

(Credit: Sprint)

It hasn't been a rumor for a couple weeks now, but today the announcement came from Sprint on the release of the LG Rumor. (There's one name we really don't get).

Based vaguely on the earlier LG F9200, the Rumor has a slider design that hides a full QWERTY keyboard. You can get it in an eye-catching blue-and-black color scheme, pictured here, or a more pedestrian silver. The feature set isn't too shabby. It includes Bluetooth, a media player, a 1.3-megapixel camera, Sprint Navigation, integrated access to Facebook and Xanga, a 4GB capacity MicroSD card slot, and POP3 e-mail. Missing, however, is support for Sprint's 3G network; instead the Rumor's data speeds top out at 2.5G 1xRTT.

Sprint is positioning the Rumor as an "affordable" device--the EV-DO support does cost a few extra pennies--so we'll be curious to see how all those multimedia services will fare in a 2.5G world. The Rumor will be available for purchase for $79 with service.

The Supreme Court said Tuesday that it will consider a patent case between LG Electronics and a group of Taiwanese companies, including Quanta Computer, according to Reuters.

The case could have far-reaching implications on the computer industry because it would determine whether patent holders can receive royalties from various companies as the product moves its way through the manufacturing chain.

LG claimed that the companies infringed on its patents on microprocessor chips in its computers. But Quanta and the other Taiwanese companies said LG licensed its technology to Intel, which made microprocessor chips that it sold to the companies.

The U.S. District Court for Northern California had ruled in favor of the Taiwanese companies, but that ruling was overturned in July 2006 by a federal appeals court. The Taiwanese companies are asking the Supreme Court to overturn that decision.

Quanta's customers include Hewlett-Packard, Dell, IBM and Sony. It also makes the iPhone for Apple.

LG VX8350

(Credit: LG VX8350)

We just spotted the LG VX8350 on Verizon's Web site, which looks to be Verizon's latest V Cast Music device. Though it has a rather understated design, it appears to have external music player controls to go along with the phone's built-in music player. Aside from that, it has a pretty impressive multimedia feature set that includes a 1.3-megapixel camera, a microSD card slot, stereo Bluetooth, EV-DO support, plus access to Verizon's broadband services like V Cast Music and V Cast Video. The LG VX8350 is available now for $79.99 after a two-year service agreement.