Virgin Group announced a deal to brings its service to Canada. Like Virgin Mobile USA, Virgin Mobile Canada will operate as a prepaid MVNO (buy bulk time on another carrier's network). The partnership is with Bell Mobility. We'll post more...
Mar 31 2004 - 07:58 PM ET | Data, DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo's FOMA service has passed the 3 million subscribers mark. With a fixed-rate unlimited data plan coming soon, it's likely that this number will grow even fast than its already blistering pace. Two months ago the total was 2...
Mar 31 2004 - 07:51 PM ET | Palm
PalmOne has announced a Java runtime for the popular Treo 600. The software which is made by IBM can be purchased for $5.99 through the Software Connection. More information is available from TreoCentral. Moreover, Sprint PCS has teamed up to...
Mar 30 2004 - 03:36 PM ET | In The News
Breaking news from French mega-carrier Orange: CEO Solomon Trujillo has stepped down after only 15 months on the job. The new CEO will be current COO Sanjiv Ahuja. More from the BBC....
The Motorola V300 is now shipping from Amazon.com. For quite some time it was backordered. It is still free after rebate. Moreover, the V300 has fallen down one notch from its #1 perch on the sales sheet. The Sony Ericsson...
Mar 30 2004 - 01:43 PM ET | Unique
Opera Software says your mobile phone will soon be able to control a video recorder. Recorders such as TiVo are quite popular, and are expected to take a large jump in market share in the next several years. The company...
Mar 30 2004 - 01:30 PM ET | Samsung
Samsung announced that it is now mass producing 2 inch SLS-LCD displays meant for mobile devices. It has a high resolution of 200 pixels per inch and delivers a resolution of at least 250:1. SLS stands for Single Crystal-Like Silicon,...
Qualcom announced that LG will make mobile phones that use its "BREWChat" push-to-talk technology. The technology uses voice-over IP (VoIP) to accomplish PTT. Few details are known....
Swedish 3G carrier '3' will offer free in-network calls and data transfer. The move is an attempt to gain market share bq. "The offer is available for existing and future subscribers who sign up for services starting at 99 Swedish...
Mar 29 2004 - 08:50 PM ET | Site News
Regular readers might have noticed that MobileTracker wasn't around this morning. The reason for this was beyond our control, but was not acceptable. Despite the host saying it was not their fault, we are currently in the process of finding...
Mar 29 2004 - 08:36 PM ET | AT&T Wireless
The wait is finally over--AT&T Wireless is now shipping the Motorola V600. The phone retails for $299 with a 2-year contract. There are no known rebates to bring the price down. Here's a quick run-down of the Motorola V600's features:...
Mar 26 2004 - 06:19 PM ET | SMS
While goverments being strapped for cash is nothing new, looking to text messages to help ease the pain is. The Philippine goverment is considering putting a tax on text messages that would bring in an estimated 500 million pesos per...
T-Mobile USA yesterday announced that it will begin to carry Research In Motion's BlackBerry 7730 at the end of April. The device is currently only available in Europe, and was announced in November 2003. The features are pretty standard for...
AT&T Wireless has started to ship the Nokia 6820. The phone was announced back in October 2003, but is an AT&T Wireless exclusive. It is an updated version of the Nokia 6800. The biggest feature of the Nokia 6820 its...
Mar 26 2004 - 10:15 AM ET | In The News
Alcatel, a French telecommunications equipment maker, and US based sillicon giant Intel announced an agreement to try and make WiMAX compete with GSM and 3G. The two companies hope to have something out to market in the second half of...
Mar 26 2004 - 10:06 AM ET | In The News
According to a new study by Gartner, 90% of mobile devices lack protection from hackers. This was most recently shwon by the "bluejacking" phenomenon, though that was largely harmless. bq. The most commonplace scenario occurs when a user accidentally loses...
Mar 25 2004 - 01:43 PM ET | Nokia
John Romero was the first to leak details of the N-Gage 2, but the report wasn't the most credible (besides not working for Nokia, the interview was translated from Russian). However, another leak, this time from a Nokia employee, confirms...
Mar 25 2004 - 10:14 AM ET | Smartphone
Microsft announced the Second Edition of its mobile Windows Mobile 2003. Increased display flexibility was added, which should help keep all MS powered smartphones from looking similar. Look for it first on the Motorola MPx....
Research In Motion (RIM) has announced a color BlackBerry for Verizon Wireless. Previous color models of the popular mobile data device have been GSM only. The BlackBerry 7750 is expected to ship from Verizon Wireless next month. * 65,000 color...
Mar 25 2004 - 10:02 AM ET | Nokia
Reuters is reporting that Nokia plans to launch about 40 mobile devices this year. While that sounds like a lot, Nokia did about that in 2003....
Mar 24 2004 - 12:30 PM ET | In The News
Japan's six major television networks announced an agreement that could bring high-quality digital signals to mobile phones in 2006. The networks are: * Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) * TBS * NTV * TV Asahi * Fuji TV * TV Tokyo...
Mar 24 2004 - 11:51 AM ET | Unique
Yahoo! Autos has a new billboard in Times Square that lets you control a game being displayed on a video monitor. How do you control it? You're phone: bq. "The game works by dialing an 800 number. You find out...
Mar 23 2004 - 01:34 PM ET | Sprint Nextel
In what may very well be a sign of times to come, Sony Pictures inked a deal with Sprint PCS to distribute games and other materials based on the upcoming Spiderman 2 movie. The first Spiderman was one of the...
AT&T Wireless today announced that its customers can now send and receive text messages (SMS) with over 263 million mobile phone users in Europe. Back in September 2003, the company added many South American countries to its SMS list. The...
AT&T Wireless will roll out 3G service in 4 major cities this year: San Francisco, Seattle and two still un-named cities. AT&T Wireless is rolling out 3G thanks to an investment by Japan's NTT DoCoMo....
Mar 22 2004 - 11:09 AM ET | In The News
SplashData announced that its popular SplashID program is now available for Symbian devices like the Sony Ericsson P900 and Nokia's Series 60 devices. SplashID is very popular on the PalmOS. bq. "[SplashID] securely maintains personal identification information on both the...
Mar 22 2004 - 11:03 AM ET | In The News
Last month chip maker Texas Instruments announced that it would announce later in the year a process to make its chips used in cell phones smaller. Well, now is that time: TI plans to move to a new manufacturing process...
Mar 22 2004 - 10:57 AM ET | Nokia
Sun Microsystems and Nokia are banding together to bring real-time multiplayer games to mobiles. Sun is the company behind Java, the platform most mobile games are written on. The solution is dubbed SNAP, and should be released in Q3 2004....
AT&T Wireless has signed a deal with MapQuest to provide maps to its customers through its mMode service. bq. "Mobile users can quickly find their way with full-color, interactive maps that pan and zoom. Step-by-step driving directions are available and...
Mar 22 2004 - 10:45 AM ET | Nokia
Nokia today announced the Nokia 6255--a CDMA2000 1X handset. It's a flip-phone, which is quite rare for Nokia. Here are a few of the features: * Dual color screens * MMC memory card support * VGA camera with flash and...
Mar 22 2004 - 10:39 AM ET | In The News
Sierra Wireless has announced plans to ship a PC Card and GPS Modem for EDGE Network. AT&T Wireless currently runs the only US Nationwide EDGE network. Sony Ericsson has the corner on the market for PC cards. Look for the...
Mar 22 2004 - 10:19 AM ET | Sprint Nextel
Sprint PCS today announced at CTIA that it has begun to ship the Nokia PM-6225. It can be bought today at Sprint PCS stores nationwide. The retail price is $229.99. Here's a quite rundown of the features: * Camera (VGA...
Digit Wireless, consumer electronics giant LG Electronics and Canadian wireless carrier TELUS Mobility announced an agreement to produce the world's first Fastap enabled mobile phone. What's Fastap? Little buttons between the normal buttons on a cell phone that negate the...
Mar 22 2004 - 10:00 AM ET | Motorola
Motorola today announced 3 new phones at CTIA. All are very advanced: * A845 - First WCDMA/UMTS 1900 phone. Live video calls, Bluetooth, MP3 player, 64MB of memory. Look for it in Q2/Q3 from AT&T Wireless. * A840 - Dual...
At a press conference tomorrow, Verizon Wireless is expected to spill the beans on its BroadbandAccess service. While already available in Washington D.C. and San Diego, the speedy wireless internet access should be in several other major US cities by...
Mar 21 2004 - 04:46 PM ET | Ringtones
Richard Huntingford, a British business man, is creating a system that will allow consumers to purchase music they hear on the radio through their mobile phones. While we've covered music for sale on mobiles before, this is the first we've...
Mar 21 2004 - 04:33 PM ET | In The News
While geeks are looking forward to CTIA to bring new phones, it should also bring more simple devices. Reuters has a piece that states poweruser phones will be overshadowed by, "More pedestrian concerns like on-the-go convenience and fewer dropped calls."...
Mar 19 2004 - 07:41 PM ET | Kyocera
While CTIA isn't until next week, the rumors are already flying. Kyocera is expected to release its first megapixel camera phone, the Kyocera Koi. It's a tri-mode CDMA handset with a nice rap sheet: * 262K color display * BREW...
Mar 18 2004 - 03:56 PM ET | T-Mobile
ZDNet UK is reporting that an unlimited data plan that spawns all its network tech is coming to T-Mobile Europe. T-Mobile USA announced a similar plan earlier this month. bq. "Mobile-phone operator T-Mobile will be launching a wireless communication package...
Mar 18 2004 - 02:50 PM ET | 3G, T-Mobile
T-Mobile Europe announced today that it will begin 3G service in May. 3G has been slow to catch on in Europe thus far. T-Mobile hopes to ship 10,000+ phones in the first quarter after launch....
Motorola has announced a device for your car that uses both your stereo and your phone to allow hands-free calls. That may sound pretty complicated, but it may mean we'll see more phones with Bluetooth. Here's a quick description from...
Mar 18 2004 - 02:38 PM ET | 3G, DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo will start shipping the SH900i on March 20th 2004. It's the fourth 3G FOMA 900i series. Like the others in the series, the SH900i is jam-packed with features: * Macromedia Flash equipped browser * HTML e-mail * Avatar-capable...
Mar 17 2004 - 11:37 AM ET | In The News
NEC today announced plans to bring out a new phone dubbed the n400i. It will be Europe's first fully compatible i-mode handset that will allow users to shoot and send video clips. Here are the notables: * Two 65,536 color...
Mar 17 2004 - 11:33 AM ET | Samsung
Our friends at Phone Scoop note that Samsung announced their first megapixel phone at CeBit. The SGH-P730 is one of three megapixel camera phones announced today, but can still hold its own: * Twisting clamshell design * Video recording at...
Mar 17 2004 - 11:23 AM ET | Nokia
Nokia today announced its first handset with a built-in megapixel digital camera, the Nokia 7610. Here's a quick wrap-up: * Bluetooth * Megapixel (1152 X 864) with 4x digital zoom * Series 60 device * Lifeblog application * 65,000-color display...
Mar 17 2004 - 11:18 AM ET | 3G, Samsung
Samsung Electronics announced a new 3G handset, the SGH-Z105. While a 3G phone, it still works on GSM/GPRS networks, so users will still be able to roam. Here's a quick run-down of the features: * Rotating digital camera (with video...
Mar 17 2004 - 11:12 AM ET | Siemens
As expected, Siemens has released new camera phones at CeBit. They are all classic Siemens "candy bar" style, but vary in power: * S65 - This phone was leaked, so many details were known before today. It includes MPEG-4 recording,...
Mar 16 2004 - 10:34 PM ET | Sprint Nextel
Just in time for the NCAA basketball tournament, Sprint PCS has launched a special section in its Vision service loaded with content: * 1KTV - scores and highlights from each round. $2.95 per month. * ESPN Tourney Pick'em - a...
Mar 16 2004 - 10:25 PM ET | Camera
Forbes is running a piece on the profitability of sending pictures across multiple carriers (normally done via a MMS). Not only do the cellular providers profit, but the middleman companies that make it all happen get another piece of the...
Mar 16 2004 - 10:18 PM ET | Data, DoCoMo
Reuters is reporting that Japan's NTT DoCoMo will introduce a flat-rate unlimited data plan aimed to compete with rival KDDI Corp. bq. "The rate will be set at 3,900 yen ($35.84) a month and will be available starting in June...
Mar 16 2004 - 08:49 PM ET | Push-to-talk
Three big players in handsets agreed to run joint interoperability tests for push-to-talk over cellular (PoC). Ericsson, Motorola, and Siemens all hope to have the new products out in the second quarter of 2004. Nokia is using its own "pre-standard",...
Verizon Wireless' high-speed data service, dubbed EV-DO, was reviewed in the Washington Post. The network is currently in the process of going nationwide. bq. "What's clear is this: After years of false promises of fast wireless Internet access in our...
Mar 15 2004 - 12:45 PM ET | In The News
A California based law firm is bringing a class action lawsuit against most US cell phone carriers for over charging customers for night and weekend use. The carriers being investigated are: AT&T Wireless, Verizon, Cingular, NEXTEL, Cellular one, Sprint, T...
Mar 12 2004 - 09:56 PM ET | In The News
Officials believe that yesterday's terrorist attack in Madrid was activated by multiple mobile phones. 10 bombs were stashed in sportsbags aboard various commuter trains, causing the death of nearly 200 people and injury of over a 1000. It was one...
Mar 12 2004 - 04:12 PM ET | Camera
Research out today predicts that 25% of phones sold in 2004 will include a built in camera. That means 150 million camera phones will move off store shelves this year. bq. "The firm said that the camera phone market will...
Mar 12 2004 - 04:10 PM ET | Camera
Treo Central is reporting that Sprint PCS will ship a version of the Treo 600 that does not include a built in camera. The ship date is listed as April 21st, but not much else is known. The Treo 610...
Mar 12 2004 - 04:06 PM ET | SMS
We have mentioned mobile spam several times in the past, but it's mostly a non-American thing. However, the FCC has announced plans to keep spam off US handsets. Since email spam is out of control (no rules will stop it...
Mar 11 2004 - 05:47 PM ET | Nokia
Nokia has announced a "multimedia diary" tool dubbed Lifeblog. Despite the name, the app shouldn't be called a blogging tool--it doesn't publish to the web. However, the word on the street says that web publishing is coming. bq. "The Lifeblog...
Mar 11 2004 - 02:04 PM ET | In The News
Microsoft today announced that it is launching a mobile video platform called MobileVision. Microsoft said it is teaming up with both digital content and applications makers. bq. "The software, called MobileVision, is meant to provide a complete streaming-video services framework...
Mar 11 2004 - 11:09 AM ET | Nextel
USA Today is reporting that the FCC is leaning towards letting Nextel switch spectrum in a move to help the emergency system. We reported back in August that the FCC was looking for a solution for radio interference that is...
Mar 11 2004 - 11:03 AM ET | In The News
A top-level domain (TLD) dedicated to content for mobile devices has been talked about for a long time. However, yesterday that talk got a whole lot more serious-- Microsoft, Nokia, Vodafone, 3, GSM Association, HP, Orange, Samsung and Sun Microsystems...
Mar 11 2004 - 10:57 AM ET | In The News
While not full of new stuff, CeBit should still be some fun this year. It starts next week. Here's a preview, via Computer Weekly. * Vodafone is likely to launch the Sharp's GX30. Besides sporting a 262K color screen, Bluetooth...
Mar 10 2004 - 10:49 AM ET | T-Mobile
T-Mobile USA announced that its 4th quarter revenue's were up 37.8% from the same quarter a year before. The increase was due to increased subscriber growth. However, the company spent more than ever to sign up each new customer--an average...
Besides launching 5 new camera phones, Sony Ericcson pulled the covers off of new accessories. Quite a few of them too: * Bluetooth Media Viewer MMV-100 * HBH-600 headset * HPS-20 handsfree * IAC-25 Active Case...
Mar 09 2004 - 01:28 PM ET | Cingular
WiFi Networking News has a report on users getting faster speeds on Cingular's GPRS network. Speeds that should only be possible on an EDGE network. Currently, AT&T Wireless is the only nationwide EDGE provider. bq. "Cingular’s CTO told me last...
Verizon Wireless has launched the Kyocera SE47, a fashion phone with a "slide-to-open faceplate" that sounds impressive. The specs aren't impressive, but they don't slack: * Speakerphone * Voice-activated dialing * Polyphonic ringtones * 3.39 ounces and measures 3.48" x...
Mar 09 2004 - 12:39 PM ET | Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson, maker of the popular T610/T630, has announced its 2004 line up. All five of the phones include cameras, and three are just for the Americas (normally the other way around with GSM handsets these days). S700 - 1.3...
Mar 09 2004 - 12:08 AM ET | Site News
For over a year, MobileTracker has been reporting the daily what's-what of mobile phone news. Now, CarbWire will do the same for low-carb diets and their accompanying products. So if you're on a low-carb diet, come join us. -Jon Gales,...
Motorola today introduced three new bar-style mobile phones. All are called "music phones" and include content made by MTV. C650 bq. MP3 ringtones, integrated VGA 4X zoom camera, 65K color display, MPEG4 video playback, downloadable Java games and multimedia messaging....
Mar 07 2004 - 06:33 PM ET | In The News
China based dotcom companies are looking at multimedia messaging services (MMS) as the next big thing. MMS messages meld graphics, text, sound and even video into short messages that can be sent to most any modern cell phone. The firms...
Mar 06 2004 - 02:02 PM ET | In The News
A Southern California legislator is pushing for a ban on cell phones for drivers under 18. While it attempts to make the roads safer, this law sounds amazingly difficult to enforce. The first time someone gets pulled over and they...
Mar 05 2004 - 09:02 PM ET | Motorola
According to RCR News, AT&T Wireless has delayed the US launch of the Motorola V600. Motorola announced the phone would ship from AT&T Wireless in February. AT&T Wireless is said to be having software problems. The V600 is shipping without...
Mar 05 2004 - 10:19 AM ET | In The News
India's wireless industry added a record 1.63 million customers last month. There are now 31.4 million customers in the world's second largest country. India is the fastest growing wireless market. Estimates put India at 100+ million users by 2005....
Mar 05 2004 - 10:15 AM ET | Smartphone
A minority stake share holder of Psion will be voting against the sale of the company's sale of its share of Symbian. The deal, valued at over $200 million, will make Nokia the majority partner in Symbian....
Mar 04 2004 - 07:38 PM ET | Camera
The city of Chicago is contemplating a $500 fine for the abuse of a camera phone. What constitutes as abuse? Bathrooms and locker rooms are only one half the equation, store check-out lines are the other: bq. "Hairston wants to...
Mar 04 2004 - 01:19 PM ET | Camera
Philips announced new lens technology that aims to work like the human eye. Designed to be in camera phones, the lens uses fluid in a tiny transparent tube to focus. bq. "By charging the sides of the tube with an...
Mar 04 2004 - 01:13 PM ET | DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo has suspended the sale of its F900i handset until it can fix a bug dealing with, "automatically receiving incoming e-mail under certain circumstances." The F900i was shipped in early February. Owners of the phone will be able to...
Mar 04 2004 - 01:08 PM ET | Nokia
Talk of the N-Gage 2 debuting at E3 this May has started. The Nokia handset hasn't sold nearly as well as expected and has even spawned some rather entertaining websites [example]. One of the developers of Doom, John Romero, spilled...
Mar 03 2004 - 10:51 AM ET | Data, DoCoMo
CBS Marketwatch reports on NTT DoCoMo's research on "4G" technology. The company spends over a billion dollars US each year on research and development. It's also very rare to get a glimpse inside the labs. bq. "It's all about speed....
Mar 02 2004 - 01:46 PM ET | Samsung
Specs of the Samsung SGH-i530 have leaked on onto an Italian website. The Palm OS powered smartphone is claimed to have: * Palm OS Garnet 5.2 * 32 MB of RAM plus an SD/MMC slot which can be used to...
Mar 02 2004 - 10:27 AM ET | Camera
Back in December 2003 we mentioned that a movement to ban camera phones in Scotland was forming. According to the BBC, it succeeded....
Verizon Wireless today announced low-cost in-flight calling. By itself this is nothing revolutionary, but with Verizon's new program you get to keep your number. bq. "Beginning today, Verizon Wireless frequent flyers can stay connected while in flight for just 10...
Mar 02 2004 - 10:15 AM ET | Camera
While the red carpet is usually reserved for photographers, camera phones are not welcome. Emmanuelle Richard, a freelance journalist, was using a camera phone to "moblog" (taking pictures and posting them to the internet wirelessly) and was asked to stop...
Mar 01 2004 - 11:40 AM ET | Motorola, Review
Jonathan Schreiber, CEO of Xingtone and member of Unwired, has come aboard to bring you a short review of the white-hot Motorola V300. Jonathan is a mobile power user who averages 5,000 minutes a month on his cell. This should...
