Apr 30 2003 - 05:54 PM ET | Miscellaneous
Following up our story on Tuesday, we have found an airline that is going to allow passengers to use non-voice functions of their mobile phones while flying. Don't celebrate too much though--it's Scandinavian Airlines. Now, we're sure than Scandinavian Airlines...
Apr 30 2003 - 05:43 PM ET | In The News
Gizmodo notes that Dell and Good Technology are partnering to make a wireless device. Besides the new device that will be available next year, Dell is going to start selling the G100 email pager. The G100 looks and acts pretty...
Apr 29 2003 - 10:40 PM ET | Smartphone
Symbian has released the 7th version of their popular mobile operating system. The new release add multi-tasking (surf the net AND download a file at the same time), an updated Java implementation, boosted multimedia capabilities and Arabic/Hebrew language support. It's...
Apr 29 2003 - 08:11 PM ET | Sony Ericsson
Sprint has inked a deal with Sony Ericsson for exclusive distribution of the industry's first CDMA Bluetooth integrated phone. It's dubbed the Sony Ericsson T608 and is expected to ship in the second quarter of '03. As for the phone...
Apr 29 2003 - 06:21 PM ET | Unique
UK readers will be happy to note that The Register is reporting you'll soon be able to hail a cab in London via your mobile phone. The service will be available to customers of Vodafone, T-Mobile and O2 but there...
Apr 29 2003 - 06:18 PM ET | In The News
A study was released today that found US mobile phone subscribers spend more time gabbing on their mobile than on their land line. The Yankee Group said the average cellular subscriber knocked back 490 minutes which just betters landline averages...
Apr 29 2003 - 09:26 AM ET | Miscellaneous
Gizmodo linked to an article by Guy Kewney that asks if cell phone are really as dangerous on airliners as the airlines say. An interesting read, let's hope an aerospace nerd reads and can fill him in. "Can a mobile...
Word on the street is that Samsung and Nokia are joining forces to make 3G and 4G phones. Not much is even known about 4G, but two mega co's teaming up is never a bad thing (well, except Sony and...
Apr 28 2003 - 06:28 PM ET | SMS
McDonalds has dropped its use of SMS for marketing. It had an opt-in text club which must not have been either large or successful....
Apr 28 2003 - 10:39 AM ET | Kyocera
Kyocera today announced plans to become the first manufacturer to offer entry-tier, affordable BREW-enabled CDMA phones with enhanced color displays that use software to emulate 16-bit, 65,000-color performance. The new BREW-enabled versions of the phone are collectively known as Kyocera's...
Apr 26 2003 - 01:19 AM ET | 3G, Camera, Kyocera
Gizmodo points to a new phone from Kyocera that's got a unique swivel design. The Kyocera A5305K3G (try saying that 5 times fast) is a 3G phone and packs all the features you'd expect out of one (video for...
Apr 25 2003 - 02:19 AM ET | Sony Ericsson
One of the most popular pages we have is our collection of Sony Ericsson news--they are a hot company with savvy users (incidentally savvy users make up the bulk of our readers). Too bad they can't swing a profit though....
Apr 25 2003 - 02:11 AM ET | In The News
AOL Time Warner has struck up a deal with Symbian, makers of the popular mobile OS with the same name. In the past this would be a great thing, but lately AOL has been the kiss of death (biggest quarterly...
Apr 24 2003 - 05:15 PM ET | Site News
Today we're officially launching the latest section to MobileTracker--phones.mobiletracker.net. All the information we get on phones that we feature will be kept with care over at MobileTracker Phones. Every entry includes a large picture of the phone, our un-biased take,...
Sprint is now selling the new Sanyo 8100 camera phone for a mere $99 after a $100 rebate. The rebate makes the phone the cheapest integrated camera phone on the market--Sony Ericsson's T300's camera is an external attachment. Sprint has...
Apr 23 2003 - 11:31 PM ET | Miscellaneous
Silicon.com has posted a roundup of true stories about how mobile phones saved the day. Some are quite humorous: "I was researching my family tree by browsing through the burial records which are held at the local crematorium. I was...
Apr 23 2003 - 08:46 AM ET | In The News, SMS
It looks like people in the US have finally figured out how to text message via their mobile phones. American Idol, a popular show seen on Fox, has allowed its viewers to cast votes by sending text messages. To date...
Apr 22 2003 - 07:27 PM ET | Nokia
Nokia, the worlds largest mobile phone maker, has purchased Eizel--a small mobile software company. The swallow up cost $21 million US and should bring Nokia customers better email....
Throughout the day, several media outlets have been discussing the recent development of "push to talk" phones. They sound basically like audio instant messengers. Instead of a ring, the voice message just blurts out. Unlike traditional "walkie-talkies" the audio messages...
Apr 21 2003 - 01:07 PM ET | In The News
The Register is running a story about people in the US getting bored with the Internet and turning to their mobile phones. In Japan, mobile phones are taking over normal Internet usage: "Phones are used for shopping, for news, but...
Apr 21 2003 - 12:55 PM ET | SMS
A week ago we noted that Sunday Communications in Hong Kong started up a service to alert its customers about possible SARS cases in the area. Today, Xeni Jardin over at Wired takes a look at the impact of text...
Apr 21 2003 - 10:49 AM ET | In The News
During a game this past Saturday, Texas outfielder Carl Everett was smacked in the back of the head with a cellphone. It did no serious damage to the player--but the phone was cracked open. The fan who chucked it was...
Apr 21 2003 - 08:47 AM ET | Unique
MobileTracker reader Allen Smith wrote in to us with a link to his unique Java application for Motorola i88 phones (just $9.99 after rebate). The phone has a built in GPS which the application uses to post coordinates to a...
Apr 18 2003 - 11:37 PM ET | Samsung
Samsung's quarterly profits were down 41% according [free registration required] to the New York Times. Since they're a Korean company and are traded in Korea's exchange only, the verbiage is a little different but it looks like they still made...
Apr 18 2003 - 06:40 PM ET | In The News
Wired notes that after 12 years and a cool $200 million, New York City still doesn't have a system in place to pinpoint locations of 911 calls made with mobile phones. It's not clear why the city has to raise...
Apr 18 2003 - 03:56 PM ET | SMS, Unique
C|NET is running an article about the state of "interactive TV" by way of cellular phones. It sounds like a good idea, but it's hard to imagine a cell phone being more useful for interactive TV than the PC. Most...
Samsung has announced mass production of multimedia cards (MMCs) to be used in mobile phones, digital cameras, MP3 players, and other handheld products. The cards are 128MB which sounds like a good amount of storage for a mobile phone. What's...
Mobile mogul Jason O'Grady has posted a very detailed review of his latest gadget--the Sony Ericsson P800 (seen at right). It's unique looks make it easily recognizable to most people, but it's amazing feature set makes it stick in the...
Apr 18 2003 - 02:12 PM ET | Palm
If you're the owner of a Palm Tungsten T, you can now download the classic Sega games. There are only a few things wrong with this: 1) Only works on the Tungsten T 2) They are charging $19.95 a game...
Apr 17 2003 - 01:44 PM ET | Unique
Cisco Systems is bent on building a WiFi powered phone. It's meant to work inside enterprise (we assume on the corporate wireless network) and since it doesn't work on anything else but WiFi, companies won't have to worry about employees...
The New York Times has an article running that compares various camera phones available in the US. Free registration needed as always for NYTimes.com pieces. Among the phones featured is the sexy Nokia 3650 (seen at right) . "As cellcams...
MobileTracker's Jon Gales recently got a chance to ask Jonas Salling of Salling Software a few questions. If you aren't familiar with Salling Software, they make Sony Ericsson Clicker. It turns Sony Ericsson Bluetooth capable phones into remote controls for...
Apr 16 2003 - 09:39 PM ET | DoCoMo, Unique
NTT DoCoMo will launch its first GPS savvy handset dubbed the F661i on the 22nd of this month according to a release sent out earlier today. "The new, easy-to-operate mobile phone features a one-touch GPS button that lets users quickly...
Gizmodo notes that the rumored Neonode N1 is indeed coming. The phone is one of the smallest we've seen, and since it packs smartphone functions (runs a Microsoft OS) it's even more amazing. Details are still sketchy and direct URL's...
The well-known PDA maker Handspring has partnered with European mega company Orange SA to develop new smart phones. The phones will be used exclusively in Europe on Orange's network. At this time there is no word on a time frame...
Apr 16 2003 - 01:06 AM ET | Motorola
Motorola has announced its financials for Q1 '03. Earnings are up slightly with sales down 2%. If you're an accountant and want to geek out, feel free....
As reported earlier this month, Australia now has a 3G network. NEC introduced the e606 for use on the new network, which makes it the first mobile hone in the country that can handle video calling. The camera phone supports...
Sunday Communicatons Ltd is launching a service that allows its users to dial a number and get the low-down on possible SARS infections within a kilometer of her current location. Sounds like a hi-tech version of the leprosy bells from...
Apr 14 2003 - 02:15 PM ET | Apple, Rumor
We linked a story last week about the rumors that Apple is working on a mobile phone (normally thought of as the iPhone). The latest rumor is that they are indeed making a mobile device, but it won't be a...
Apr 14 2003 - 01:46 PM ET | Bargain
Our friends over at 1800Mobiles.com are selling Sony Ericsson's new T306 for just a penny with a new service contract from AT&T Wireless. The phone is quite new (came out at early '03) and has a big feature set: *...
Apr 14 2003 - 09:04 AM ET | In The News
It was inevitable for advertisers to want to get their hands on the millions of mobile device owners... Yahoo! News is running a story about how the ads will work and frankly it sounds annoying: " The promise is that...
One of the really cool applications of Bluetooth is wireless handsfree. There are only a few makers of the headsets now (Jabra, Sony Ericsson, Nokia) so the competition is stiff. MobileBurn got ahold of the popular Sony Ericsson model and...
Apr 13 2003 - 12:19 PM ET | Apple, Rumor
Apple's famously tight lipped business practices have made the company the target of intense speculation. There has been a rumor for over a year that Apple is trying to make a cell phone--no actual evidence but a lot of "chatter"....
Apr 11 2003 - 03:25 PM ET | Site News
We have a popular RSS feed that syndicates our content, but for some RSS is just too complicated. If you wish to put our headlines on your site and don't want to mess with installing a parser for XML, look...
Apr 11 2003 - 12:06 PM ET | Motorola, Unique
Motorola announced today that it will be selling two versions of its popular V60i phones decked out Harley style: "Based upon one of the most popular mobile phone models in North America, the phones are available in black with leather...
Apr 10 2003 - 06:36 PM ET | Bluetooth
MobileTechNews is reporting that the Russian Communications Ministry has OK'd the use of Bluetooth. "Jason Smolek, Senior Consultant of J'son & Partners Moscow was upbeat. "The ratification of Bluetooth in Russia comes at impeccable timing. While the rest of world...
Apr 10 2003 - 06:32 PM ET | In The News
ThinkMobile comments on a report (no link) on mobile phone games. They are expected to take in $7 billion by 2008 because of the recent developments of downloadable games (via Java and BREW). Who would have thought a 1" screen...
Apr 10 2003 - 04:29 PM ET | Nokia
Handsets are getting smaller and so is Nokia's workforce--by 1,800. The world's largest cellular phone company had earlier announced that this quarter would bring a huge loss so the move comes at little surprise to investors. "Like most of the...
Apr 10 2003 - 03:36 PM ET | Sony Ericsson
Apple has just released MacOS X 10.2.5... Not mobile phone news until you look at the release: "Includes Bluetooth support for Nokia 7650 and P800 phones." Since Nokia does not make a P800, this makes us believe they are talking...
Apr 10 2003 - 12:10 AM ET | Site News
In an attempt to serve you better, we're putting the site into the find hands of DreamHost. The switch will be complete whenever your ISP's DNS server updates its records (should be within 24-48 hours). Until that time expect no...
In today's Wallstreet Journal the front page of Personal Journal features a picture of the Kyocera 7135 (runs Palm OS and is dubbed as a smartphone). That kind of exposure would be great for Kyocera, except the article is dubbed...
Apr 09 2003 - 02:17 PM ET | In The News
Gizmodo points to an article at the Washington Post concerning the famed FCC move to make November 24th the date when mobile numbers must be portable (you can keep the number you had with Cingular when you move to T-Mobile...
Apr 09 2003 - 01:08 AM ET | Bluetooth
It's not just for geeks anymore--Bluetooth is getting plugged in Forbes. The story features the Sony Ericsson T68i which we earlier noted is on sale at Amazon.com for the low low price of -$30. "The program is called Sony Ericsson...
Apr 08 2003 - 06:04 PM ET | Miscellaneous
C|NET has posted an excellent Q&A with Martin Cooper--the inventor of the cell phone. You may remember Mr. Cooper from our story from last week when the cell phone turned 30. He's a pretty funny guy for being a scientist...
Apr 08 2003 - 10:57 AM ET | Camera, DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo has announced details on its latest phone, the D505i. The phone (pictured at right) boasts a very impressive feature set: Macromedia Flash browser for rich content, 200K Scratchpad (double the previous amount) and a megapixel camera. The Flash...
Apr 08 2003 - 10:34 AM ET | Camera, DoCoMo
We broke the story last week, and as promised details about megapixel camera phones from DoCoMo came out today. Within the next 3 months, the company will launch 3 handsets with at least 1 megapixel in resolution. Since the resolution...
Apr 07 2003 - 06:21 PM ET | Nokia
GSMBox.com has posted an excellent preview of the Nokia 3300. The breakout from the conventional design mold sets this phone out of the pack, but its focus on music really makes calling it a "cell phone" an insult. "The Nokia...
Apr 07 2003 - 06:05 PM ET | Miscellaneous
MobileBurn has posted some pictures and thoughts of Microsoft's Mobile Mobius event that just wrapped up. We weren't able to make it this year, but it looked like a great time....
Group Sense Limited (GSL) has announced a new PalmOS powered smartphone called the Zircon. It's going to be available in Asia and Europe with timing not known yet. Look for the European model in Q3 and the Asian model sometime...
Nokia and Lexus have announced the Lexus Integrated Phone System. It lets owners of some (higher end most likely) Lexus vehicles and a Nokia 6310i phone to integrate the phone's data and capibilities into the vehicle. "The phone transfers its...
Apr 07 2003 - 03:48 PM ET | Miscellaneous
3G.co.uk thinks that MMS will be a flop due to it not having content. Why won't it have any content? A lack of copyright protection or what's called Digital Rights Management in the biz. "Without some form of DRM, anybody...
The Handspring Treo 300 now has $200 worth of rebates on it directly from Sprint (up from $100) as noted by Gizmodo. The PDA which sports a color screen, keyboard, and PCS connectivity can be had for just $149.99 from...
Amazon.com is a cell phone buyer's utopia. The highly acclaimed Sony Ericsson T68i is on sale. You can snag the phone for $269.99 not including $300 of mail-in rebates. The net total is $30.01 in your pocket--along with a great...
Apr 05 2003 - 09:05 PM ET | Miscellaneous
If that headline didn't get your attention you must have misread it. Martin Cooper, the inventor of the cell phone (it recently turned 30) is dreaming about the day when hand sets are gone. "Cooper's dream telephone is so small...
Apr 05 2003 - 08:53 PM ET | SMS
The Economist (great mag but don't read it when you're sleepy) has an interesting article on SMS in the US. Americans only send 7 SMS messages per month compared to the global average of 30 (and as high as 200...
Snapfish Mobile is a wireless application that AT&T loads up on its mLife subscribers' phones that lets users share, print, and store photos. It's just recently been ported for three new handsets: * Panasonic GU87 * Nokia 3650 * Sony...
Apr 04 2003 - 11:48 AM ET | In The News
In a move that proves cities act like children, Boston is considering the passage of a ban on mobile phones that is almost exactly like the one in recently enacted NYC. If you aren't familiar with the rules, the NYC...
Apr 03 2003 - 01:41 PM ET | In The News
The cell phone has turned 30! "On April 3, 1973, Motorola vice presidents Marty Cooper and John Mitchell went to New York to show off a new type of phone, the likes of which had never been seen before. It...
J-Phone and DoCoMo are planning to team up and give Japanese consumers "high-resolution million-pixel camera-phones in May". Current camera phones are known for their low resolutions and rely on a "cool factor" to sell. A megapixel camera phone could actually...
Apr 02 2003 - 10:29 PM ET | Unique
Al Jazeera is starting up a service to send news updates in English and Arabic to people across the world via SMS. The service can be yours for $5.99 a month US. This is just another sign that SMS is...
Apr 02 2003 - 09:26 PM ET | 3G, In The News
Wireless companies are looking to put in 3G networks in Africa despite poverty. Less than 10% of the country has telephone access (yes, telephone not mobile phone) so if these networks take off it could be extremely profitable. It's going...
Apr 02 2003 - 09:22 PM ET | SMS
[via Unwired.cc]...
Apr 02 2003 - 09:10 AM ET | 3G, In The News
Hutchison Telecommunications announced that it's 3G network is ready for commercial use. If you live in Sydney, Melbourne, or Brisbane--look for it. The downside is that since it's a new technology you're going to have to buy a new phone....
Apr 01 2003 - 08:40 PM ET | Miscellaneous
Yesterday we linked to an obvious prank review of a phone from a decade ago. Here are a few more good April Fool's jokes in the wireless arena. PhoneScoop - There is no permanent URL, so hurry to get there....
