September 2003 articles

3G causes headaches

Sep 30 2003 - 07:11 PM ET | 3G
According to a study out of Amsterdam, 3G waves can cause headaches and nausea in humans. 3G is the "third-generation" cellular service, and is mostly known for its impressive speeds (video calls can even be placed). Another striking find in...

Sanyo SCP 5300 review

Sep 30 2003 - 08:50 AM ET | Camera, Review, Sanyo
Howard Chui has posted a very in depth reviewof the Sanyo SCP 5300. It's a power user level camera phone that has been around for a while, but the review is still worth a read. It got knocked for being...

Nokia launches 3588i

Sep 30 2003 - 08:42 AM ET | Nokia, Sprint Nextel
Nokia has taken the wraps off its latest PCS phone, the 3588i. It will available exclusively on Sprint PCS in the US and boasts a nice list of features: * Color screen * Xpress-On faceplates * E911 (built in GPS...

Nokia 3650 replacement approved

Sep 29 2003 - 05:04 PM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, Nokia, Rumor
The rumors were true--Nokia is prepping a replacement to the popular 3650 dubbed the 3660 (World) or the 3620 (US), it sports the same unique shape that the 3650 has, but has a semi-normal keypad (the abnormal keypad was a...

Sprint / Nextel get friendly on portability

Sep 29 2003 - 02:40 PM ET | Number portability
Sprint and Nextel have teamed up for number portability in lieu of the impeding November 24th deadline. Some other carriers have been busy spreading doom and gloom, but it seems Sprint and Nextel have figured out how to put a...

Panasonic G50 review

Sep 29 2003 - 02:32 PM ET | Panasonic, Review
MobileBurn has posted a review of the Panasonic G50--an updated version of the popular GD55: bq. "The major lackings of the GD55 were its display and sound system. To fix that, the G50 was given a 4096 color display with...

Cam phones hot, Motorola out of luck

Sep 29 2003 - 02:25 PM ET | Camera, Motorola
Camera phones are going to outsell conventional digital cameras this year according to the latest reports out last week. At the same time, it looks like Motorola will not have its upcoming camera phones out by Christmas (a big season...

2 megabits in your hand

Sep 29 2003 - 02:14 PM ET | 3G, Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless has launched 1xEV-DO networks in D.C. and San Diego according to a news release by the company. Normal speeds range from 300-500 kilobits per second, but bursts can get as speedy as 2 megabits per second (faster than...

Cingular GSM dead in water

Sep 28 2003 - 08:58 AM ET | Cingular
Sashdot is reporting with others that the Cingular GSM network is having major problems (AKA there is no service for many parts of the country). If you are a Cingular subscriber and have a GSM phone, let us know what...

Nokia 7600 offers radical new design

Sep 25 2003 - 07:42 AM ET | 3G, Bluetooth, Camera, Nokia, Staff Picks
Nokia has introduced a radical new phone dubbed the Nokia 7600. It sports a very unconventional design which can be seen at right (click to zoom). The feature set is quite impressive too: * 3G + GSM 900/1800 * 65K...

Cingular has an enemy

Sep 24 2003 - 01:37 PM ET | Cingular
MobileTracker reader Philip Ibbitson sent in a photo he recently captured while driving. The car in front of him had (in quite large type), "Cingular Wireless Sucks" painted onto its rear. There wasn't any explanation, but it made for...

T-Mobile to push N-Gage

Sep 23 2003 - 09:24 PM ET | Nokia, T-Mobile
According to WirelessWeek, T-Mobile will be pushing sales of the Nokia N-Gage with a free 30-day trial (something they do for no other model). The free month will include $50 of service (voice and text). In typical T-Mobile style, customers...

Screens into speakers

Sep 22 2003 - 11:25 PM ET | Unique
Authentic Ltd, a subsidiary of NEC, is working on turning mobile phone screens into a speaker. The technology works by vibrating the front panel of an LCD. The best part is that because screens tend to be large (compared to...

Mobiles 1, Nature 0

Sep 22 2003 - 01:53 PM ET | In The News
Cellular service fared much better during Isabel than during the '03 outage last month. Unlike the power outage, call volume on the East Coast during Isabel was below average (thanks to the evacuation) which allowed a smaller number of towers...

Sharp GX-20 review

Sep 22 2003 - 08:39 AM ET | Review, Sharp
Mobile Burn has posted a review of the Sharp GX-20. Although the phone has gotten markedly little press, it's a quite impressive device. It won major points for the quality of its screen (240x320) and camera. Here's a run down...

Texting behind the wheel

Sep 22 2003 - 08:33 AM ET | SMS
A study out of the UK suggests that 25% of people have text messaged while driving. Of that 25%, 10% said they had actually written (not just read) messages while driving. Last week a man who was writing a text...

BlackBerry 7230 reviewed

Sep 19 2003 - 09:07 PM ET | Research In Motion, Review
Research in Motion's BlackBerry 7230 (its first world compatible color BlackBerry) is reviewed in October's issue of PC Magazine. It scored 4/5 and was praised for its 64K color screen. It got knocked for slow web browsing speeds (what can...

DealTracker - the best deals of the week

Sep 19 2003 - 01:40 PM ET | Bargain
We're kicking off a new semi-weekly feature here at MobileTracker--DealTracker. Readers often send in low prices they find, but often it's not worth a whole post. Now we'll save them up and post on Friday. Here are the best deals...

Popular V60 goes color

Sep 18 2003 - 03:51 PM ET | Motorola
Motorola has released a color version of the popular V60 dubbed the V60t Color. It boasts the same compact form factor of its little brother, but improves in a few areas: * 2-line external display (upgraded from a 1-line) *...

P800 successor surfaces

Sep 18 2003 - 03:40 PM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, Rumor, Smartphone, Sony Ericsson
We first mentioned the Sony Ericsson P810 back in June, but more details have surfaced. Sony Ericsson accidently uploaded a Flash movie containing several promotional slides featuring the yet-to-be-announced phone. If you haven't had a look at this device yet,...

Treo 600 thoughts roll in

Sep 18 2003 - 03:31 PM ET | Handspring, PDA Phone, Review
After yesterday's news, we've found a few reviews/first thoughts of the Handspring Treo 600. Look for it in stores within the next week or two in Europe, and in November if you're in the US. Walter Mossberg @ The Wall...

AT&T Wireless pushes SMS across globe

Sep 17 2003 - 08:14 PM ET | AT&T Wireless, SMS
AT&T Wireless has taken the first step to allow its subscribers to text message friends half a world away. As of today, you can send an SMS to: Chile, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Germany, Mexico, Philippines, Panama,...

Samsung intros TV phone

Sep 17 2003 - 08:06 PM ET | Samsung, Unique
PhoneScoop noted that Samsung has released the first GSM phone with a built in TV tuner. The company first hinted it was moving in this direction back in June. Here are the details: SGH-P705 * NTSC TV tuner + video...

Orange first to launch Treo 600

Sep 17 2003 - 08:29 AM ET | Handspring, Smartphone
Orange has become the first carrier to launch the Treo 600. The highly anticipated device should roll along in the US come November. It's still unclear if the device is worth all the hype (we have not yet gotten a...

Cingular + AOL bed

Sep 16 2003 - 10:21 PM ET | Cingular, SMS
Cingular has announced that it has partnered with AOL to provide AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) on its mobile phones. The service should be completely integrated by the end of the year. Although there are similar partnerships with other carriers, Cingular...

TechXNY coverage

Sep 16 2003 - 10:14 PM ET | In The News
PhoneScoop has put together a page for TechXNY coverage. Right now the hot items are pictures of the Sony Ericsson Z600 and the Motorola MPx200. It should fill up with more content in the next few days....

More 6850 pics surface

Sep 16 2003 - 10:10 PM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, Nokia, Rumor
MobileBurn has published more pictures of the upcoming Nokia 6850 (replacement for the popular Nokia 6800). It looks to be a pretty decent phone....

Cell gaming moves up a notch

Sep 15 2003 - 03:15 PM ET | Miscellaneous
Wired News has posted an article on the future of mobile gaming. It used to just be Snake (followed shortly after by a little improved "Snake II"), but it has gotten a lot better--look for full-color, three-dimensional, multiplayer games in...

In-flight SMS coming soon

Sep 15 2003 - 08:39 AM ET | SMS, Unique
Airline technology provider SITA recently launched technology for commercial two-way SMS service. The company said its working closely with several airlines, and hopes to announce the first customer soon. We've covered phones in planes before [1, 2, 3], but this...

Microsoft / Motorola team up

Sep 15 2003 - 08:27 AM ET | Motorola, Smartphone
As expected, Motorola has announced the MPx200, a smartphone that makes use of Microsoft's Mobile OS. Motorola also said there are plans for future devices. The MPx200 will be available via Orange starting next month, and from AT&T Wireless before...

Nokia 6560: smallest color TDMA

Sep 12 2003 - 11:47 AM ET | Nokia
Nokia today announced its newest TDMA phone, the Nokia 6560. Coming in at a scant 3 ounces, it's the smallest color screen dual band TDMA phone on the market. It still manages to pack in Java, IR, and an XHTML...

HipTops get updated

Sep 12 2003 - 10:48 AM ET | T-Mobile
T-Mobile has started the processing of updating HipTop's on its network. The update takes place over-the-air, and when you get sent the update depends only on your luck of the draw (random seeding). There are a bunch of new features,...

Roll your own phone cover

Sep 12 2003 - 09:33 AM ET | Camera, Nokia, Unique
Nokia recently showed off the 3200 at an event in Spain and at another in Thailand. It's got all the specs you would expect from a high end phone, but its also got one twist--cut-out covers. It comes with 10...

Cam blocking the new hype

Sep 12 2003 - 01:17 AM ET | In The News
A new company out of Britain says it found a way to block camera phones from taking pictures... This is different from typical "scramblers" because all of the other functions of the phone continue to work. As with seemingly all...

Posting suspended for the day

Sep 10 2003 - 10:28 PM ET | Site News
In honor of those who died and served on 9/11/01 in the attacks against America, MobileTracker is taking the day off from publishing. Compared to peace, mobile news is trivial to say the least. May this day be nothing...

CompUSA flirts with Virgin

Sep 10 2003 - 05:31 PM ET | Sprint Nextel, Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile is on a hot streak. First it was locking down sales at 550 Sprint PCS stores, and now it is 220 CompUSA's. Virgin's phones and accessories will be sold throughout the CompUSA chain starting at an unknown date...

Nokia sales up, profit down

Sep 09 2003 - 01:48 PM ET | Nokia
Nokia announced that sales of handsets are up about 10%, but due to depreciation of the US dollar revenue will be down. As you may know, Nokia is based out of Finland....

CTIA pushes "Consumer Code"

Sep 09 2003 - 01:36 PM ET | In The News
CTIA has finalized a code of conduct for cellular companies. It has already been adopted by many carriers, and even has a prominent spot on Cingular.com. Here's the gist of what carriers must do if they want to be able...

Cingular FastForward's to landlines

Sep 09 2003 - 01:31 PM ET | Accessories, Cingular
Cingular introduced a new device today dubbed FastForward that lets you forward your wireless calls to a landline without having to mess with phone options. It's basically a charging cradle, but it has some brains to it--when your phone is...

Sanyo catches Euro fever

Sep 08 2003 - 08:46 PM ET | 3G, Sanyo
Japanese phone maker Sanyo has made it clear that it will be moving into the European market by 2004. Sanyo has quite a bit of 3G experience, so this should be a welcomed move (at least by consumers). Vodafone will...

Danger nets Java for HipTop

Sep 08 2003 - 03:38 PM ET | Danger
Phonescoop noted that Danger has added Java to its ranks. One of the big knocks on its popular HipTop (AKA T-Mobile Sidekick) is the lack of 3rd-party apps. This may help. But then again, Danger released a SDK for the...

Nokia intros frisky SIM's

Sep 08 2003 - 08:31 AM ET | Bluetooth, Nokia
Nokia has taken a big step forward for Bluetooth by introducing a new technology dubbed "SIM Access Profile". Basically it's a technology that lets a car use the SIM card in your phone (via Bluetooth) without having to remove it....

6850 puts cam + more on 6800

Sep 05 2003 - 05:09 PM ET | Nokia, Rumor, Unique
Some rogue pictures of a yet-to-be-announced Nokia which is being passed off as the 6850, show the now familiar "6800 feel" but with a camera and Bluetooth! For unfamiliar readers, the Nokia 6800 looks like a typical flip phone, but...

Cell recording old hat?

Sep 04 2003 - 08:25 AM ET | Unique
According to C|Net, DoCoMo is working with Texas Instruments to produce a phone with the built-in ability to record phone calls. Not mentioned in the story is that this is old news--Sony Ericsson T68i's have the same functionality although it's...

3 Clamps down on A920

Sep 03 2003 - 03:38 PM ET | In The News, Motorola, Smartphone
Last week we mentioned that Motorola's new A920 was going to be launched by 3... It just came out now that the phone is going to be locked to specific applications approved by 3. This really takes the "smart" out...

Sony Ericsson pumps two more clamshells

Sep 03 2003 - 01:27 PM ET | Camera, Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson announced two new higher-end phones at an event in Paris (yes, a third phone was announced but it does not meet MobileTracker's tough standard). Both are tri-band GMS and sport the clamshell form factor: Z600: Camera phone with...

Salling Clicker gets Palm, T616 support

Sep 03 2003 - 07:58 AM ET | In The News
Salling Clicker 2.0 has been up released today by Salling Software. The new version adds support for Bluetooth enabled Palms and the Sony Ericsson T616. Also added to version 2.0 is advanced iTunes support (see progress of songs, and some...

DoCoMo to launch mova F672i

Sep 02 2003 - 03:33 PM ET | DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo announced that it is going to begin selling the mova F672i on September 5th. The new phone is supposed to be "easy-to-use", but it still packs in some interesting features like a pedometer and voice output. Here are...

NY cell embargo ineffective

Sep 02 2003 - 08:52 AM ET | In The News
NYC's cell phone ban for drivers has been ineffective for the most part. Thanks to cops not ticketing and people not caring, just as many people are talking behind the wheel as before. For those unfamiliar with the law, it...