Latest News
Latest Phone News by Jon Dychko
5 April, 2010, 10:20 am
T-Mobile has put in place a new trade-in program to complement the popularity of the HTC HD2. This trade in program allows owners of the Apple iPhone to take their devices to a retail store and exchange their iPhone for a credit ranging from $100 being the lowest, and $350 being the most depending upon the model of your iPhone (iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS). This credit can then be used for the newly released HD2 in conjunction with the contract discount (making this bad-boy very affordable). With the popularity this HTC smartphone has been seeing over the first couple weeks of the release this may aid it in continuing to march towards it’s success (hopefully conquering the 1 million mark long before the 74 day standard we’ve come to accept).
5 April, 2010, 8:51 am
The day has come and went, and 300,000 iPads were sold by Apple on its launch date of April 3rd. This number includes all of the units pre-ordered, and also the units sold in the stores on that date. Apple has done it again, and I’m sure their will still be haters and doubters saying the iPad won’t work however, this is an impressive feat for something that not a lot of people were convinced they needed or that consumers were ready to adopt.
2 April, 2010, 3:43 pm
Today Nokia and Intel released their code for a new operating system known as MeeGo. Nokia and Intel have teamed up to create and share MeeGo operating system code with the open source community, and developers. This is the latest stage in the full merger of Maemo and Moblin, and are excited to moving on and will open the repositories and move all the development work in the open. This new MeeGo operating system is created to work across different models that include netbooks, handhelds, in-vehicla, and connected TV.
2 April, 2010, 2:39 pm
Yes we all know tomorrow is the big day, and Apple did a great job hyping the April 3rd date. Before consumers even have the device in their hand, let alone had a chance to see the device, iSuppli has put out a report regarding iPad sales for 2010. They are pretty sure Apple will sell around 7 million iPad devices by the end of 2010, and that number should triple by 2012. The main sales driver iSuppli has named will be early adopters and others attracted to the iPad’s unique touch scree based user interface. After the initial release the iPad sales in 2011 and 2012 will be driven by a range of factors, including a flood of new applications, improved functionality and declining prices.
2 April, 2010, 2:25 pm
Skyfire announced today they will begin the alpha testing stage of its popular mobile browser for Android powered smartphones. They were looking for individuals that owned Android powered devices to participate in helping them test out the workings of the browser. If you are looking to participate you will have to first have an Android powered smartphone with version 1.5 or higher, and the email your name, device name, and country to alpha@skyfire.com.
2 April, 2010, 1:54 pm
Today Microsoft made an announcement about their new, highly anticipated mobile operating system known as “Windows Phone 7 Series”. This announcement had to do with the name, and how Microsoft is renaming the operating system to Windows Phone 7. I always wondered why Microsoft came up with the name with Series at the end of it, because it seemed out of place. With Microsoft having a successful release of their desktop operating system Windows 7, it would only make sense they would implement the the same kind of name, to try and pass on the success to the mobile OS.
2 April, 2010, 1:27 pm
I know comics haven’t been as popular as they use to be, but with all the success Marvel has been having with their movies, kids are being introduced to characters that were huge for the comic industry. With this new device being released by Apple named the iPad, this will allow for consumers to access the Marvel archive of comics and be able to use their iPad to read them all. Just think your favorite super hero from Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man, and Captain America they are all there just waiting to be read by readers of today.
2 April, 2010, 12:57 pm
Fresh from an editors in box to CellPhoneTrek’s main page. GameFly is releasing an update for their application called GameCenter. What this app actually does, it acts like a portal for mobile users to research game related information like, videos, cheats, reviews, and release dates and much more. Currently the GameCenter has over 5000 video game titles to choose from, and more on the way.
2 April, 2010, 11:09 am
Myplayit is an application or service provided by Facebook that allows users to dicover and share interesting new mobile apps. They released analysis on their latest mobile app findings showing more that one third of the users across all mobile platforms are interested in paid apps. This is against the conventional way of thinking according to Mplayit, saying users aren’t willing to pay for them.
2 April, 2010, 10:22 am
Yes the release of the iPad is just around the corner and it seems Apple has done everything needed to get ready for this big release. If you have already purchased apps for your iPhone, the sequence for purchasing an app for your iPad will be similar. Just because the iPad won’t be in consumers hands till tomorrow, you can still rack up a huge bill buying apps all day today. If you have bought the iPad you should look through just to get an idea of the apps that are out there, because they are different from the iPhone applications.
2 April, 2010, 9:54 am
With a lot of attention going to 3D these days, and with the manufacturers focusing on creating the next main stream TV featuring 3D. Now 3D has taken over the movies, and now televisions, manufacturers are setting their sites on cell phones. Today Sharp has begun to debut a 3-inch 3D cell phone displays. This new 3D screen, Sharp is hoping to mass produce during the first half of the fiscal 2010 year. There are some cool features on this screen, like when you turn the device on its side, you can then display the 3D images. Sharp is hoping to implement 3D into cell phones, digital cameras, and last but not least gaming device.
2 April, 2010, 8:50 am
Today in the world of cell phones, Nokia made an announcement regarding a distribution agreement dealing with two Chinese companies. The two companies that are supporting this deal are China PTAC and Telling Telecommunication Holding Co. Ltd. Both of these deals produced contracts said to be worth over $1 billion each. This is not the first time Nokia has been known to do business with the Chinese, actually Nokia has worked with China PTAC specifically in the past, developing a contract agreement that was said to product $1.76 billion.
1 April, 2010, 3:56 pm
LIke all good companies they have their strengths and their weaknesses. Yes Google is bond by these laws, and all though they have great minds from MIT and Harvard however they lack the common man’s touch, and that could have lead to the reason the Nexus One had no real buzz surrounding its release. Yes the Nexus One was released on a big carrier but not the biggest, and had no real marketing from the carriers perspective or the manufacturers.
1 April, 2010, 3:37 pm
Yes we have all read the blogs this week that posted the cell phone news concering the iPhone that is in the works being made to support Verizon’s network. I’m sure the great minds, and the highly paid individuals at At&t also read the posts and have already been planning on how win this battle before it even begins. As you may already know At&t has admitted to poor network issues in major metropolitan areas like San Fransico, and New York City, and they still don’t provide any confidence for long time iPhone users.
1 April, 2010, 3:16 pm
Thanks to a source of IntoMobile, and a leaked screen shot, all signs point to Verizon Wireless receiving and releasing the HTC Incredible soon. Soon is an extremely broad word, however that’s the best we have as of now. In the screen shot, you will see that some Verizon stores already have to device on order, and are just waiting for it to arrive at the shop. This gives us some insight into Verizon, and lets us know that the HTC handset are in the warehouse waiting to be sold, but for some reason Verizon can’t put them up for sale just yet.
1 April, 2010, 2:21 pm
If you remember to the beginning of the year, Apple came out and sleep HTC with patent infringement claims, saying HTC had violated Apple’s technology for their display, and other technologies HTC has been implementing on their mobile phones. Today the Apple claim on HTC continues, with the International Trade Commission or the ITC deciding to hold an evidentiary hearing within 45 days. Yes we will get more insight at this hearing but in no way does that mean the battle is nearly over, and a resolution is in sight.
1 April, 2010, 1:49 pm
Yes the mobile industry has become littered with Bluetooth headsets. But when a trend becomes as popular and as hot like the Bluetooths became business look at these as money making ventures. Everyone tries to jump in while the water is still hot to try and make some fast money before it cools down and starts becoming about specs and new features. With Bluetooths cooling down manufacturers like Jawbone, and Motorola have started to develop features to make their products stand out from the competition.
1 April, 2010, 1:21 pm
Today in the cell phone news world, cell phone maker Kyocera made an announcement regarding their company merging Kyocera Wireless corp, and Kyocera Communications into a single entity that will go by the name of Kyocera Communications, Inc. This new company will be a subsidiary of Kyocera International, Inc headed up by the President, Rodney Lanthorne. Merging together will new a whole new business model, and plan that should mean high efficiency rates, and hopefully high profit margin for the companies.
1 April, 2010, 1:06 pm
With all the success Apple has had in the industry with their products, accessory manufacturers see their newest product known as the Apple iPad as a gold mine. As the manufacturers compete to reach all the consumers possible, and try to further their market share and become a leader in their particular market share. With the new industry for Tablet devices just hitting mainstream, starting off with one of the more popular devices like the iPad could be a good start for these manufacturers. No matter the device, if its a feature phone, smartphone, or tablet, these manufacturers are always trying to provided high quality for affordable prices.
1 April, 2010, 10:36 am
New information today in regards to Palm making waves in the cell phone news arena. New information is just hitting the web on a new promotion starting at Verizon Wireless. This new promotion is being launched today, and is pertaining to the Pixi Plus and Pre Plus. Both of these devices will see a reduction in price, that brings the Pixi Plus down to $29.99, and puts the Pre Plus at $49.99. Not just the new prices are the bold items in this new promotion, but both the models are eligible for Verizon’s well known buy one get one sale.
1 April, 2010, 10:18 am
If you have been following cell phone news this past week you should know a lot of rumors have been surfacing about the new iPhone, or in this case iPhones that are said to hit the market this summer particularly in June. Today in a report published by AppleInsider confirmed a lot of the rumors that became popular surrounding the iPhone OS 4.0. In the new OS X, Expose which is a UI feature, shows users not only what applications are open by displaying thumbnail images the apps, and makes it easy and fast to navigate through your open programs.
1 April, 2010, 9:52 am
A new report out from J.D. Power and Associates showing that customers are more satisfied with smartphones as well as feature phones if they are sporting a touchscreen display. In the survey it was found that owners of smartphones that were equipped with touchscreens scored on average 771 on a 1000 point scale. This out come is 40 points higher that smartphones without touchscreens. The score for feature phones with touchscreen came in at 756 points on the 1000 point scale. This is 53 points high than feature phones that lacked touchscreen capabilities.
1 April, 2010, 9:12 am
On the front cover of the new USA Today is a women on it claiming to be an app-aholic, or addicted to apps. The article says if they take one look to see whats on her smartphone you will not questions that she is addicted. She really does have an app for everything, she is a developers dream. If an app is created for something in your life like counting the amounts of water you intake, how many steps a day you take, she has it, and of course she has the regular news app, bank account app, and etc.
31 March, 2010, 10:48 am
T-Mobile has a new promotion going on for Family Talk $5 add-a-line going on right now. This promotion will reduce the add-a-line price on Even More plans from $10 to $5. Yes you will have to sign a 2 year contracts on all the new lines opened on the account. If you are going to try and take advantage of this promotion, and you are already an existing customer, you will have to migrate all additional lines to the promotion price, and then agree to contracts for 2 years on all the lines. By acting on this promotion there will be no effect on upgrade eligibility, and this is because upgrades are tenured and not promotional based.
31 March, 2010, 10:32 am
Its funny how these things are so hard to find up until yesterday when a new shippment of devices hit the shelves. However it appears T-Mobile has decided to create a sweepstakes hat will give a chance for individuals to win a HD2, with no payment needed. To enter this little give away, got to Twitter and folow @T-Mobile_USA, and then you will have to retweet this message.
31 March, 2010, 10:12 am
Now when you walk up to order a beloved latte or coffee at your local Starbucks, and are a iPhone user paying for your favorite cup of tee has to become a lot easier. Thanks to an application found in the app store on your iPhone that offers the convenience factor. At the beginning when it was first released only 16 stores were using this payment method nationwide, however the Starbuck’s iPhone app can now be used in the over 1k branches located at Target retail stores.
31 March, 2010, 9:52 am
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past two weeks, you would have seen or heard something about CTIA 2010, the big event that went down last week in Las Vegas. At the conference Samsung revealed a new touchscreen device named the Galaxy S, which is a Android powered smartphone sporting a huge 4″ WVGA Super AMOLED capacitive display. The Samsung device received tons of press and created a lot of hype for its self at the show.
31 March, 2010, 9:32 am
Juniper Research has made there way into the spot light for cell phone news today. They are a research company that has just released a new forecast report on Mobile Web 2.0. The report forecasts that the value of presence based Mobile Web 2.0 services will increase to more than $6 billion by 2012. The factors found in the report, that are the reason for sparking the growth are, a increase of the number of smartphone devices hitting the market, and that they have become relatively affordable. The other growth sign was from an increase in usage of mobile instant messaging.
31 March, 2010, 8:57 am
Today in the world of cell phone news, Sprint is making moves with a new campaign known as the “Satisfaction Guaranteed or Money-Back”. This is an attempt to lure in new customer prospects, so Sprint can grow their customer base, and become more competitive amongst the other wireless carriers in the States. The new guarantee works likes this, if a new customer is not content with the Sprint service they are receiving in the first 30 days of the service, the customer will receive a full refund from Sprint for the device purchased, activation fees (if any), will waive the early termination fee and restocking fee, and will offer a full refund for service charges and taxes.
30 March, 2010, 3:01 pm
The new Nielsen report by Roger Entner, who is a senior vice president of research and insights, shows signs that smartphones will outsell features phones in 2011 in the U.S. market. Inside the report, they found 21 percent of the US subscribers were using a smartphone in the 4th quarter of 2009. This number is up from the 19 percent reported in the quarter ending before. A year before this point the smartphones saw 14 percent of all subscribers in 2008. Nielsen receives its info from the owners of the devices that participate in the Nielsen survey.
30 March, 2010, 2:15 pm
With games becoming more complex games, browsing, and watching movies is becoming just another thing you do with your mobile device. There is a survey just recently released by Compete showing hat 47% of all T-Mobile smartphone users use their phones to find local branches and ATMS, while 36% of Sprint users reported to be performing this same task. Also found in the survey was details on smartphone use and how many people use the devices to pay their bills.
30 March, 2010, 1:58 pm
Today in the world of cell phone news, Linkedln made an announcement of their first BlackBerry client, known as version 1.0. What this application lets the user do is view your network updates, search for, and manage all your connections, accept invitations, and send messages. The Linkedln software works with the original BlackBerry features on devices with OS 4.6 or newer. You can tie your Linkedln contacts with your address books as well as link your BlackBerry Messages folder with your Linkedln messages.
30 March, 2010, 1:30 pm
As you may have read in an earlier post here at CellPhoneTrek, two new iPhones are in the works. One of which is going to Verizon Wireless network, and the other could possibly be deemed the iPhone HD, and could be released as soon as June 22nd. Honestly to me it seems like these rumors will pan out to be untrue but you never know. In my opinion Apple likes to let the consumer drool over their newest device to hit the market, and show it off months before the release of the actual product. In this case, there has been no sight or official statement of an iPhone HD, therefore for them to debut it, and then release it to consumers in June seems to be a time table Apple is unfamiliar with.
30 March, 2010, 1:16 pm
Before this new purchasing plan for the Ovi Store, you would have to pay for any applications you would buy upfront. Now however, Ovi Store will allow its customers to purchase applications and be charged directly to their T-Mobile monthly bill. This is a great option for customers, and will allow them to browse the Ovi store in an attempt to find some content or applications and not worry about paying the bill until month ending. On your monthly statement these purchases will show up as “Premium Service”, and now customers will also have the option to use Self-Care tool on the My T-Mobile manage page to view their downloaded content.
30 March, 2010, 12:33 pm
If you are an iPhone owner, and aren’t lucky enough to have a vehicle with a navigation present inside, no worries any longer. Well I wouldn’t say today is the day that changes that considering TomTom and other popular navigation companies have already created and release apps of their own however, with the industry for apps becoming more competitive and crowded these companies are working endlessly to bring new features to their apps to make them stand out and offer a greater user experience. Today Mapquest added a new feature to their iPhone app known as MapQest 4 Mobile.
30 March, 2010, 12:13 pm
Rumors are surfacing in the cell phone world that the Verizon Wireless Motorola DROID owners will begin receiving their DROID Android update to version 2.1 today. This is exciting news I’m sure for you DROID users out there, considering all your Android users have been waiting for the update for some time now. If you recall about a month ago Google had released statement regarding their Android operating system, and saying they hope all devices receive updates to the latest version being 2.0/2.1.
30 March, 2010, 11:04 am
With the release of the newest product coming from Apple, the question now is if you didn’t pre-order the device will there be any available for the willing and able consumer? Some figures are surfacing showing that Apple has sold almost a quarter million of the iPads, the customers who ordered them before the 27th of March are promised to receive their gadget on the first day of release. However it seems that Apple will have a supply issue, and finding one could be out of the question.
30 March, 2010, 10:48 am
If you have been following the release of the new HTC cell phone device named HD2, you would have heard about the success of the release last week. The device sold out within hours of the debut, but now T-Mobile and HTC has worked endlessly to deliver more stock for all the consumers who wanted the device but could not purchase the device. With all the hype created by HTC and T-Mobile, the HD2 is selling like hotcakes, so now is your opportunity to purchase this beast of a phone.
30 March, 2010, 10:36 am
With the world becoming more green, or environment friendly, its good to see cell phone companies like Samsung putting in place a plan to recycle programs. Nearly 75 percent of all the obsolete phones, chargers, and batteries find there way into a stockpile that are never properly disposed of. Samsungs Mobile March, which was announced at CES 2010 is pledging to collect over a million mobile phones to recycle in 2010.
30 March, 2010, 10:21 am
Today in the cell phone world, Navigon made an announcement about their new version 1.5.0 of the MobileNavigator software now found in the Apple App store for all your iPhone users. The update brings Facebook and Twitter to the application, and allows the implementation of broadcasting your location. With location sharing becoming the next big thing, all the navigation apps are trying to get into the market by having this technology into their products.
30 March, 2010, 10:03 am
Sony Ericsson has created an extremely good looking product with the Xperia X10. It has a slim design, and a huge touch display to go along with the industry standard of cell phones. Sony Ericsson did a fine job creating hype for the Xperia, and had bloggers and the internet talking about the device every week. Once Sony Ericsson started releasing official statements in regards to the Xperia, consumers started to become more and more disappointed. With SE back in the news, with more disappointing info about the hardware of the smartphone device.
30 March, 2010, 9:20 am
Today Nuance made an announcement about their new software called TALKS 5.0 for Symbian S60 5th edition touchscreen smartphones. This new software will help the disabled, especially the blind and visually impaired. How the software works is the user would slide their finger across the screen to hear menu selections, applications, widgets, and text. Once inside a menu, you can use the volume keys by pressing up or down to browse the options within that particular menu. One of the more interesting features of TALK 5.0, is that the software will read aloud the letters on your virtual keyboard. This will help type messages and text for a user that can’t see real well.
30 March, 2010, 8:35 am
A source of The Wall Street Journal announced late last night Apple is planning to release two new iPhones. The release date is rumored to be as soon as this summer, when one of the two iPhones could be released to the market. The second of the two new Apple devices could be the first iPhone to land on another wireless carrier besides At&t, the lucky telecom company is Verizon Wireless. A Taiwanese manufacturer named Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, is rumored to be building one of the iPhones. This Taiwanese company has already done business with Apple before, being one of the manufacturers on the first iPhones to be created.
29 March, 2010, 10:42 am
AdMob released their February 2010 Mobile Metrics Report showing industry data on U.S. mobile OS traffic. According to the report the Android operating system holds 42 percent of mobile OS traffic in the U.S. market. On the other side of things, Apple’s iPhone fell 11 percent from 55 to 44 percent of the market share, in the time frame of 3 months. Around the Globe 24 percent of the market share goes to Android, while Apple still remains at the top owning 50 percent of the market, which is down again from its November 2009 high. An increase of 193 percent was made in smartphone web traffic increased over the past year.
29 March, 2010, 9:57 am
According to Sprint’s Facebook page, their first 4G WiMAX enabled mobile device call the HTC EVO is expected to be released on April 16th. Being manufactured by HTC, you will see a lot of similarities on the EVO that you see on the HD2. When the device is rolled it will be running the newest version of the Android operating system, which is version 2.1. The hardware of the device is pretty top notch, coming in with 1GHz Snapdragon making it ready and willing to run all apps to their fullest extent possible. It will be interesting to see if this 4G phone can have a better success than the Nexus One had when it was released to the market.
29 March, 2010, 8:51 am
Verizon Wireless made an announcement today regarding the push-to-talk function on a BlackBerry device that they carry. The particular BlackBerry that will receive this new ability in the Tour. The date that the push to talk will become available for the Tour is said to be on March 30th. To be able to use this service, contact a Verizon Wireless representative, or visit a retail store near by, and activate the feature on your BlackBerry.
29 March, 2010, 8:35 am
Today Sprint announced yet another city in the state of Texas that has the 4G WiMAX network up and running in Houston, Texas. This is just another city added in a long list of already available markets in Texas. Some of the cities already available are Austin, Forth Worth, Dallas, and San Antonio. With all these cities implementing the WiMAX network, and with the roll out of the 4G network in other cities, Sprint has deemed Texas the “Biggest 4G state”. With all the cities Sprint has already reached with this new technology, the 4G network is open for business in 28 markets in the U.S, and it plans to launch the network in more major markets by the end of this year.
26 March, 2010, 3:58 pm
AdMob, a company recently acquired by Google although the deal has not been finalized yet, goes over every little piece of mobile research data available. According to the stats being reviewed by AdMob, Google’s mobile operating system Android, has grown a gigantic amount over the past year coming it with a growth of 1100%. This number seems out of this world, and it would seem that way but with a company like Google, and a industry like the cell phone business, this number just seems extremely good! In February 2009 Google opened the doors on Android and started business having control over 2% of the market share for mobile units.
26 March, 2010, 3:27 pm
A blog site that follows the tablet industry like a hawk found some interesting findings on the Apple web site today. These findings indicate some App store apps that will be available come April 3rd for the iPad release, and be ready and compliant for the new Apple device. This list once Apple people started seeing the blogs removed the list from there webpage, but thanks to PadGadget here is the list.
26 March, 2010, 3:17 pm
If you remember almost a month ago rumors started being circulated that all the Android devices on the market were going to get an upgrade to version 2.0/2.1. Even though some of the handset could not run the newest version and use all the capabilities, at least they would have the bug fixes ect. Now there is talks surrounding the Android device at Sprint known as the HTC Hero. The company released a statement regarding the upgrade and said would be happening early 2nd quarter of this year. Now however there is a leaked document thanks to Phandroid, that reveals the smartphone will be receiving this upgrade earlier than expected, maybe as early as April 9th.
