Wireless and Mobile News

International CTIA WIRELESS 2010 announced the E-Tech Awards finalists in 15 categories in the areas of mobile CE, applications, enterprise, green solutions, luxury mobile and network infrastructure. Winners will be announced at International CTIA WIRELESS in Las Vegas.

CTIA is offering companies two additional opportunities to win an award. Web visitors may vote for the Best Online Pick at www.ctiashow.com/awards. International CTIA WIRELESS show attendees will also have the chance to vote via text message onsite for products in the E-Tech Awards display to win Best in Show.

BOLT a favorite of our readers for PC-Like browsing on any cell phone was nominated. Other interesting nominations include an HTC embargoed product which we suspect may be the HTC Incredible or something else and an app embargoed from Xnobi, maker of email searching apps. The Android Saygus Vphone allows for video to video calling. There is an iPhone/IPad baby monitor and all kinds of new ways to charge cell phones and smartphones.

We’re still trying to figure out the $199 Moshi Moshi o4i. Featuring a dedicated iPhone charging dock, it supports Bluetooth 2.1 multipoint technology, which lets you pair and answer calls on two different Bluetooth devices. This means you can quickly and easily connect the Moshi Moshi 04i to two phones, such as a Smartphone and a personal phone, or a phone and a Bluetooth-enabled device, such as a laptop that you use to make VOIP Internet calls that works for conference calls—- super-edgy VoIP speaker phone.

Designed to suit the needs of seniors seeking a mobile phone that feels safe and easy-to-use, the Doro PhoneEasy 410gsm also offers a large color display, lighted keys, amplified sound, and several other eagerly awaited features.

According to a recent survey from research firm Synovate, 74% of people over 65 years of age in the United States have access to a mobile phone, but 29% still feel intimidated and hesitant of new technology. Doro of Sweden offers stylish phones with award winning ergonomic designs that will have more seniors talking.

Research also shows that a flip phone offers assurance and convenience by eliminating the worry of making calls unintentionally and the hassle of locking and unlocking key pads. Working with design specialists at Egononomidesign in Stockholm, Doro created the award-winning Doro PhoneEasy 410gsm to meet the demand for phones that adapt to senior users, rather than expecting seniors to adapt to tricky phones.

The Doro PhoneEasy 410gsm has more functions than previous mobiles from Doro, but is just as easy to use:

• Send and receives text messages.
• Connect hands-free with Bluetooth.
• Hear every word with amplified sound.
• Enjoy peace-of-mind from the nifty emergency button that calls and texts a designated family member or friend with one simple push.
• Relax with FM radio as your mobile entertainment, something senior citizens asked for in Doro's research.

The HTC Incredible is supposed to be the secret next super Android phone from Verizon.  Secrets in the smartphone biz are hard to keep mainly because people take photos of the new smartphones then send them to reviewers and bloggers, who see their value and then post them on the Internet.

Recently, it has been suggested that the HTC Incredible may be incredible and launch from Verizon in the next two weeks.  In the CTIA Wireless E-Tech Awards winners there is an "embargoed" HTC  product, as well as an exhibitor listing stating that HTC will announce a new product.

Here are the specs we've been able to round up for your review.

The HTC Incredible has similar specs to the Nexus One with a slight size difference, except the HTC Incredible has an 8 megapixel camera (Nexus One has 5 MP.) The Nexus One has a trackball and the HTC Incredible has a trackpad. The Incredible has been seen to also come in bright red with a molded shaped back, while the Nexus One is silver Teflon color with a smooth back.

Verizon Wireless has deployed a temporary cell site, or Cell on Light Truck (COLT), at Centennial Elementary School in South Fargo to enhance coverage and capacity of its wireless voice and data network in this area. The school is a staging area for first responders to the flooding Red River which is predicted to crest this weekend. 

In addition to deploying the COLT, the Verizon Wireless network team has added capacity to cell sites in the Fargo area and is monitoring the network 24/7 to add additional capacity as needed. All cell sites have remained on the air in rising flood areas in North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.

Google has released the Google Buzz widget for Android phones that lets you post text and photos with a single tap from an Android home screen widget. It

The Google Buzz widget lets you choose to tag your post with the location or place from which it was posted. You can post buzz about a great meal you had and share photos of the new restaurant. To save time, your posts will upload in the background, letting you get back to your scrumptious dessert without a wait.

The widget is initially available in English for Android phones running v1.6 and later.

Search for 'Google Buzz' in the Android Market to download it now. Once installed, you can add it to your home screen: tap "Menu" while on the home screen and select "Add > Widgets > Google Buzz".

If you like real estate information, Zillow data on 95 million properties is now available for Android an Droid smartphones.

The Zillow Android app is handy for home buyers and sellers and gives Zestimates, searches for homes for sale/rent, shows maps, and gives curbside view of homes. Voice search makes it easy to find information.

It comes as no surprise that smartphones are ruling the marketplace. RIM’s BlackBerry retains it lead over the iPhone while Android smartphones like the Droid are moving into the smartphone market place.

Smartphone shipments in North America totalled 47.2 million units in 2009, an increase of 27% over the volume seen in 2008, helped by a strong fourth quarter. This healthy growth is forecast to accelerate to 38% in 2010, bringing total shipments in the region to 65.1 million units reports Canlysis.

Verizon Motorola Droid users are awaiting an update to Android 2.1 for their Droid smartphones. The Droid update 2.1 has been tested and will be rolled out eventually, but no date has been set, confirmed Verizon.

Tom Pica, a Verizon Wireless spokesman, said. that there was no delay, previously rumored, "The Android 2.1 upgrade for the Droid by Motorola was deployed to a small number of Verizon Wireless test users as scheduled this past week...We will keep you posted. We will issue no upgrade before it's time."

A full rollout of the update to all Verizon  Droid by Motorola users will take place, but not just yet.  No date is scheduled.

Verizon usually sends out updates starting on a Friday, and then progressively extends the update over time. Verizon first tests the updates to make sure there are no glitches an sometimes takes longer than other carriers.  The testing is important to OTA updates, T-Mobile pushed out  OTA recently with an update to the the Motorola CLIQ, causing problems and a date error with loss of data.

The update will be to the promised Android 2.1 operating system which packs the Droid with all the super features of the Nexus One that came with Android 21.

OTA updates roll out over time. You will get a notification that there is an update. Tap on the update wait for it to install, the Droid may then reboot. Make sure that your phone is at least 40% charged.

The Android 2.1 system update for the Motorola Droid by Verizon offers a lot of perks to users:

• Voice to Text filling in of all fields on the Droid, by tapping the microphone and speaking the text.
• Pinch-to-zoom with your fingers in the browser, Gallery, and Google Maps.
• New Photo Gallery app with 3D layout and Picasa sharing.
• Live Wallpapers animated wallpaper.
• Yahoo! mail support.
• Google Maps update synchronized desktop maps.google.com and memorized locations.
• New night mode in Google Maps Navigation automatically changes the screen at night for easier viewing.
• Email accounts no longer need to be re-entered after an over-the-air update.

Verizon likes to find new and fun apps for DROID by Motorola smartphones. For March, they suggest some new routines.  Whether customers are thawing out of winter in the Northeast, craving some fun in the sun, or looking for an Ethiopian restaurant in San Diego to stimulate their taste buds,

We have similar tastes because often their highlighted  have appeared our favorite lists of top Droid apps.

This month's highlighted apps in the Verizon Channel offer five ways to enjoy March for FREE:  

• Customers can search for new restaurants to open their senses to foods with exotic spices with OpenTable.  This free GPS-enabled app allows customers to find close OpenTable restaurants refined by cuisine, price and availability in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Mexico.

• What's a tourist without a video camera?  Customers can rediscover the city they live in and share their encounters with Qik Video Camera.  This free app gives customers a way to record and share videos with friends, family and the world via Facebook®, Twitter and YouTube™.

• With the woes of winter winding down for many, customers can take their morning coffee and trade their traditional newspaper for AP Mobile to stay connected to events going on anywhere in the world.  Customers can sit on a park bench and read news from more than 1,200 trusted local sources and national and international coverage for free.

HTC disagrees with Apple's legal actions, especially in the touchscreen department. Apple contends that  HTC's phones infringe on 20 of its patented technologies such as iPhone two-finger screen recognition.

Peter Chou, chief executive officer, HTC Corporation said "From day one, HTC has focused on creating cutting-edge innovations that deliver unique value for people looking for a smartphone. In 1999 we started designing the XDA and T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition, our first touchscreen smartphones, and they both shipped in 2002 with more than 50 additional HTC smartphone models shipping since then."

Millennial has released their latest S.M.A.R.T. report and the mobile web increased by approximately 4%, to 69.6M users in January,

Mobile behavior trends increased time-wise. January's average user session time of 4:57 (min:sec), increased to 5:14 (min:sec) in February, the longest session time we have seen since the June '09 S.M.A.R.T.

The iPhone remains the top smartphone, followed by the BlackBerry Curve, and Samsung Instinct.

Android impressions increased 25.3%; the largest month over month increase the OS has had on our network.   Apple increased once again and remained the number one device manufacturer with approximately 39% share of impressions. Following Apple's impression share lead, the Touchscreen category increased 17% month over month within the Device Input Method mix and led with a 54% share of impressions.Wi-Fi also retained the largest impression share of the U.S. Carrier Mix in February and held 26% share of impressions. 

AT&T has deployed Network Disaster Recovery (NDR) resources to Chile as a preventive measure to ensure business continuity of the AT&T node in Santiago. The is in response to a series of natural disasters and devastating earthquake of February 27, which was followed by tsunamis and various aftershocks.

Paid downloaded apps are expected to reach $11 billion by 2014 notes a new Yankee Group report. Yankee Group attributes it to increased smartphone shipments, more app stores and more expensive apps--combining to nearly double forecasted mobile app revenue, from $537 million to $1.6 billion in 2010 alone. 

Here's what they found:

• Paid apps are on the rise. Nearly a third of all apps downloaded today are purchased, compared with just 18 percent a year ago.
• Average price per app is up. The overall average paid app costs $2.85, up from $1.99 a year ago.
• AT&T and iPhone users download the most. Apple iPhone users download 60 apps per year, three times the average, while AT&T users download 27 apps annually, or 42 percent more than average.
• T-Mobile and Android are a close second. T-Mobile, the closest thing to an Android pure play, comes in second for all carriers, with its users downloading more than 18 apps per year on average.
• Verizon has the most paid apps. Two-thirds of apps downloaded by Verizon users are paid, the most of any carrier.

Sprint is really going for a PR sprint this week.  The latest report from the Wall Street Journal, revealed that Sprint CEO Dan Hesse during a press conference next Tuesday in Las Vegas will unveil a new WiMAX device, the HTC Supersonic.

The HTC Supersonic is expected to run Google's Android 2.1 platform with HTC Sense UI, a 4.3-inch touchscreen display, a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor and a 5-megapixel camera. The Android 2.1 offers pinch-to-zoom browsing, voice-to-text form filling and turn-by-turn voiced navigation. 

Sprint will offer the Nexus One via the Google Nexus One webstore, pricing has not been announced. Yesterday, Google started selling an unlocked version of the Nexus One for AT&T priced at $529.

"While a pricing plan has not yet been determined for Nexus One, we are confident that it will be consistent with Sprint's commitment to deliver more value than our competitors and keep pricing simple," Fared Adib, Sprint vice president of product development.

Verizon Motorola Droid owners were supposedly going to receive an Over-the-Air Update (OTA) to their Droid smartphones starting on March 18, suggested leaked-documents, incorrectly.

Editor's Update 3/19 : Verizon confirmed that the Droid update 2.1 recently leaked was a test of the Android 2.1 for Droid.  There is no date set yet for the full update for the Droid by Verizon to be rolled out over the air in the future

The Droid update will be to the promised Android 2.1 operating system.

OTA updates roll out over time. You will get a notification that there is an update. Tap on the update wait for it to install, the Droid may then reboot. Make sure that your phone is at least 40% charged.

The Android 2.1 system update for the Motorola Droid by Verizon offers a lot of perks to users:

• Voice to Text filling in of all fields on the Droid, by tapping the microphone and speaking the text.
• Pinch-to-zoom with your fingers in the browser, Gallery, and Google Maps.
• New Photo Gallery app with 3D layout and Picasa sharing.
• Live Wallpapers animated wallpaper.
• Yahoo! mail support.
• Google Maps update synchronized desktop maps.google.com and memorized locations.
• New night mode in Google Maps Navigation automatically changes the screen at night for easier viewing.
• Email accounts no longer need to be re-entered after an over-the-air update.
  

BlackBerry developers can now push information to BlackBerry users.The BlackBerry Push Service allows the application to process information in the background and alert users.

The BlackBerry Push Service developer website suggests that developers use the BlackBerry Push Service to incorporate the characteristics smartphone customers love into your applications, including improved battery life, applications that run in the background and the ability to get instant information.

The BlackBerry Tour2, documented to be now named BlackBerry Bold 9650 may be coming to carriers in May.

At first it was rumored that the BlackBerry 9650 Tour2, later called the new BlackBerry Bold 9650 would be coming in February.  RIM even hinted that the BlackBerry Tour2 9650 was coming soon on their Facebook page. 

An unnamed source noted that the would be called BlackBerry Bold 9650. Uniits were sent back from Sprint for Wi-Fi issues and from Verizon to update the OS to BlackBerry 5.0.

New reports suggest a May release with a "don't really know for sure," caveat while web reports suggest it's ready for prime time.

Al Sacco at CIO wrote "May sounds like a likely release-date for Research In Motion's (RIM) successor to it BlackBerry Tour 9630, which will reportedly be named the BlackBerry "Bold" 9650, because pictures, technical specifications and even leaked operating systems."

Sacco suggests that RIM's really big show the WES is  April 27-29 and good time for revealing the BlackBerry Bold 9650 Tour2. The BlackBerry Bold 9000 was revealed at WES.

Features of the BlackBerry Bold 9650 include a trackpad that works well and a faster processor, the same as the BlackBerry Storm2, which makes it run faster. It's about the same size as the original BlackBerry Tour, while the bottom row of keys is slightly shorter than the original BlackBerry Tour. The BlackBerry Bold 9650 has a better camera possibly 5 megabytes.  It may have the new improved BlackBerry Webkit browser.

Sprint now offers DeviceAnywhere's DemoAnywhere web-based virtual mobile phones. It allows customers to test drive features of a phone-- as if they're holding it in their hand-- before deciding on a purchase.

Sprint is also using DemoAnywhere to help teach consumers how to use the full-range of the phone's functionality.