July 2004 articles

Cingular kills Motorola V600 [updated]

Jul 31 2004 - 07:23 PM ET | Motorola
MobileTracker has been getting reader reports that Cingular is going to discontinue the Motorola V600. Cingular has been shipping the V600 since May. Once the current stock of units is sold no more will be re-ordered. As of this time...

Motorola MPx100 cancelled

Jul 31 2004 - 12:15 AM ET | Motorola
At the MotoSummer 2004 event in New York City, Motorola officially confirmed the MPx100 has been cancelled. We covered a rumor about this topic two weeks ago. The company cited demand for clamshell models as the reason for the MPx100's...

Motorola V710 now selling

Jul 30 2004 - 06:01 PM ET | Motorola
Our friends at Gizmodo are getting reader reports that the Motorola V710 is now in stock at Radio Shack. The V710 was highly anticipated due to it being one of the first CDMA phones with Bluetooth. For new customers who...

Motorola predicts top spot

Jul 30 2004 - 02:40 AM ET | Motorola, Nokia, Samsung
A Motorola executive is quoted in a Finnish business paper as saying that Motorola will once again be the world's largest mobile phone maker. Nokia has held the top position (which it took from Motorola) since 1998. Nokia's market share...

Sidekick 2 in Newsweek

Jul 29 2004 - 06:19 PM ET | Danger, Rumor, T-Mobile
Danger and T-Mobile's Sidekick 2 is featured the August 2nd edition of NewsWeek. The price quoted is $229 which is $20 cheaper than the suggest retail price of the still selling Sidekick. The NewsWeek feature is the first actual published...

Motorola iTunes deal hits snag

Jul 28 2004 - 11:58 PM ET | Apple, Motorola
Motorola's deal to get Apple's iTunes player onto its mobile phones may have hit a snag--data hungry carriers. Since songs would be placed on phones via USB or Bluetooth mobile carriers won't see any money. Forbes.com says analysts believe that...

FOMA Raku Raku phone released by DoComo

Jul 28 2004 - 02:44 AM ET | 3G, DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo today announced the release of the FOMA Raku Raku. It's a lower-end 3G camera phone capable of making video calls. Here are the specs: * .3 megapixel camera * 2.4-inch 65K color QVGA LCD * Read Aloud function...

Motorola V620 soon

Jul 27 2004 - 06:08 PM ET | Motorola
Motorola had a new phone blitz earlier today, but did not mention the Motorola V620, an update to the popular V600. PhoneScoop provides a few details about the phone: it's black and it has video recording. Other than that not...

Verizon launches EV-DO in Las Vegas

Jul 27 2004 - 06:02 PM ET | 3G, Data, Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless will tomorrow launch its EV-DO powered BroadbandAccess data service in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will provide users with internet speeds of 300-500 kilobits per second. San Diego and Washington D.C. are the other cities that have Verizon's BroadbandAccess....

T-Mobile ships Motorola V600

Jul 27 2004 - 05:48 PM ET | Motorola, T-Mobile
T-Mobile USA has finally started to ship the Motorola V600. MobileTracker reviewed an unbranded Motorola V600 in May. The phone is selling for $299 without rebates from T-Mobile, contract needed. You can purchase the V600 for as little as $49.99...

T-Mobile ends unlimited free WAP

Jul 27 2004 - 05:36 PM ET | Data, T-Mobile
T-Mobile USA has quitely ended an unpublicized program that gave all of its subscribers unlimited WAP access for free. According to the mobile phone discussion site Howard Forums, many T-Mobile subscribers that try and use the service now get a...

Treo 600 for $149

Jul 27 2004 - 05:17 PM ET | Bargain, Palm
In a sign that the Treo 610/ACE could be announced soon, Amazon.com is selling that AT&T Wireless version of the Treo 600 for $149.99 after rebate. This beats the last Treo 600 bargain we featured by a cool $200. [via...

Nokia N-Gage QD ships in US

Jul 27 2004 - 11:52 AM ET | Nokia
The Nokia N-Gage QD is now shipping in the US. It is being bundled with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and is selling for $99-$199 depending on whether you get a contract or not. At this time the N-Gage QD can...

Verizon Wireless Q2 revenue up 25%

Jul 27 2004 - 11:43 AM ET | Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless had an excellent second quarter: * Industry-record 1.5 million total net customer additions * 40.4 million total customers * 25.0 percent growth in total revenues * Company record-low churn (customer turnover) of 1.45% per month Verizon (VZ) is...

Motorola CN620 WiFi phone announced

Jul 27 2004 - 02:03 AM ET | Motorola
While not news to MobileTracker readers, Motorola has taken the covers off its first WiFi phone--the Motorola CN620. We noted that the CN620 got FCC approval on the first of this month. You should be able to purchase a CN620...

Motorola announces V975 and C975

Jul 27 2004 - 01:39 AM ET | Motorola
During a day filled with new phones, Motorola announced two new 3G handsets. The V975 and C975 both sport features like 2-way video conferencing and a VGA camera with 4x zoom. They should be available in the fourth quarter of...

Motorola V551 announced

Jul 27 2004 - 01:34 AM ET | Motorola
The Motorola V551 is a new handset from Motorola that sports EDGE and a thin case. It's also a quad-band phone so it will be available in North America, Europe and Asia. Other notables are: * 176 x 220 color...

Motorola A870 announced

Jul 27 2004 - 01:30 AM ET | Motorola
Motorola today announced the Motorola A870, a handset aimed at professional users. The standout difference with the A870 is that it runs the Linux operating system. Here are some other specs: * EDGE high-speed data * 240 x 320 color...

Motorola MPx220 officially announced

Jul 27 2004 - 01:27 AM ET | Motorola
While no secret, the Motorola MPx220 was officially announced today. A page on Motorola's website has been up since June that had details on the phone, but it had never been officially announced. Here are some specs (if you need...

Motorola RAZR V3 announced

Jul 27 2004 - 01:20 AM ET | Motorola
Motorola today announced the RAZR V3, a super-thin handset that still packs heat. It's just 14mm thick (about 1/2") and is made out of titanium. * Built-in camera * Bluetooth, * 2.2" 262K color main display, 4,096 color sub-display Look...

NEC 535 coming soon?

Jul 26 2004 - 11:43 PM ET | Rumor
The NEC 535 could be shipping soon on AT&T Wireless. This month's Wired magazine features it on page 78 and makes it sound like the device is shipping. A picture of an AT&T Wireless branded NEC 535 is given in...

iTunes on Motorola phones

Jul 26 2004 - 11:32 PM ET | Apple, Motorola
Motorola and Apple today announced that Apple's music jukebox software will be made available for all mass market Motorola music phones. The handsets include the V710, A630, C650 and E398. Users will be able to transfer songs from iTunes to...

Nokia 6820 review

Jul 26 2004 - 01:07 PM ET | Nokia, Review
By Jon Gales -- When the Nokia 6800 was first released, it sent mobile phone circles abuzz thanks to the built in QWERTY keyboard. It wasn't a bulky looking smartphone--it was a pretty average looking flip phone--but it had a...

HP iPAQ h6315 announced

Jul 26 2004 - 12:59 PM ET | PDA Phone
HP today announced its first iPAQ PDA with mobile phone service. The iPAQ h6315 also has the ability to switch seamlessly from WiFi to GPRS. The h6315 will be picked up by T-Mobile USA this summer. The cost will be...

Camera phone bill proposed

Jul 23 2004 - 05:31 PM ET | Camera
A bill before the US House of Representatives aims to make, "photographing or videotaping a naked person without his or her consent in any place where there can be "a reasonable expectation of privacy" illegal. The bill, the dubbed Video...

Nokia patches Bluetooth bug

Jul 23 2004 - 01:24 PM ET | Nokia
Silicon.com is running a piece that notes Nokia has developed a software patch for the "bluesnarfing" problem with its Bluetooth enabled phones. Bluesnarfing is a security flaw that allows attackers to read, modify and copy a phone's address book and...

Danger partners with Sharp (for Sidekick 2?)

Jul 23 2004 - 03:30 AM ET | Danger, Sharp
Danger has inked a deal with Sharp to, "produce a yet-to-be unveiled Danger device in time for the Christmas shopping season." Since the only device that Danger sells is the HipTop (marketed in the US as the T-Mobile Sidekick), it...

Sharp V402SH introduced by Vodafone K.K.

Jul 23 2004 - 02:17 AM ET | Sharp, Vodafone
Vodafone K.K. today announced that it will begin carrying the Sharp V402SH on July 24th. The standout feature of the V402SH is a built-in analog TV tuner. Here are some other features? * 180 degree reversible "Swivel Style" form factor...

Cingular Q2 2004 results

Jul 22 2004 - 01:56 PM ET | Cingular
Cingular has announced its second quarter financials for 2004: * Net subscriber additon of 428,000 to reach 25 million total * Revenue up 7.3 percent to $4.2 billion * Q2 operating income was $680 million, down 10.1% compared with $756...

Verizon Wireless sues SMS spammers

Jul 22 2004 - 12:29 PM ET | SMS, Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless has filed suit against 51 individuals suspected of sending spam SMS messages. Verizon Wireless claims that the defendants sent over 4.7 million unsolicited text messages to its subscribers. Verizon Wireless has spam blocking software that filters text messages,...

LexisNexis improves BlackBerry search

Jul 21 2004 - 01:04 PM ET | Research In Motion
Info database giant LexisNexis today announced that it has improved its support for BlackBerry users. Instead of just viewing information about pre-defined topics, customers can now proactively search, refine and edit results sets from more than 14,000 information sources. Contact...

DoCoMo intros SO506iC smart-card handset

Jul 21 2004 - 02:22 AM ET | DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo has announced that it will market its third smart-card powered handset--the SO506iC. The company just last week announced the SH506iC , its second smart-card phone. Here's a look at the features: * Automatic display snap to a full...

Nextel and Motorola admit GPS problems

Jul 20 2004 - 08:49 PM ET | Motorola, Nextel
Nextel and Motorola today made an announcement about a GPS-bug in Motorola i205, i305, i530, i710, i730, i733, i736 and i830 phones. The bug causes the phone to reboot when the GPS is activated While not normally a serious problem,...

Motorola V810 to ship this Fall

Jul 20 2004 - 02:42 PM ET | Motorola
Motorola today announced that the V810 will start shipping from US Cellular this September. While this will be the North American launch of the phone, it was originally announced back in March 2003. Rumor has it that Verizon Wireless may...

AT&T Wireless launches 3G

Jul 20 2004 - 01:58 PM ET | 3G, AT&T Wireless, Data
As expected, AT&T Wireless has launched 3G service in four major US cities: Detroit, Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle. Dallas and San Diego should come online before the end of the year. Data speeds average 220-320 Kbps. Unlimited mMode data...

Motorola V710 launch announced

Jul 20 2004 - 10:44 AM ET | Motorola
The highly anticipated Motorola V710 will launch in August Motorola has revealed. The V710 will be one of the first CDMA phones with Bluetooth. Here are some other specs: * 1.23 megapixel camera with 4x zoom and video capture *...

T-Mobile UK launches 3G data cards

Jul 19 2004 - 11:43 AM ET | 3G
T-Mobile has launched 3G data service in the UK. The cards also bundle WiFi and GPRS, switching between whatever is available and fastest. T-Mobile has over 500 WiFi hotspots in the UK. Unlimited data will cost you £70 a month....

Treo 600 shipping on Verizon Wireless

Jul 19 2004 - 11:39 AM ET | Verizon Wireless
We reported last week that the Treo 600 started to ship from Verizon Wireless for business customers, but as of today it is also shipping to consumers. However, it's a bit pricy--$449 with a two-year contract. It's only $349 from...

DoCoMo expands to Greece for Olympics

Jul 16 2004 - 02:23 PM ET | In The News
NTT DoCoMo has arranged to set up its 3G FOMA service in Athens for its customers that travel for the Olympics. This is the first we have heard of a carrier putting up a network in another country for a...

EDGE interests 100 carriers

Jul 16 2004 - 12:15 PM ET | Data
A 3G Americas press release from today states that there are over 100 carriers worldwide working on or already support EDGE. In the US, AT&T is the furthest along, followed by Cingular and T-Mobile. bq. EDGE customers can expect to...

AT&T Wireless to launch 3G next week

Jul 15 2004 - 05:04 PM ET | 3G, AT&T Wireless, Rumor
Rumors are flying that AT&T Wireless will launch its first round of 3G services next week. The next generation network is said to become available in four cities: San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix and Detroit. An unlimited data plan will cost...

Treo 600 $349 on Sprint PCS

Jul 15 2004 - 04:43 PM ET | Bargain, PDA Phone, Sprint Nextel
An ad in today's USA Today notes that you can purchase a Treo 600 from Sprint PCS for just $349. This is $100 cheaper than the price given online. The ad says, "Now for just $349 at Sprint PCS stores."...

Motorola MPx100 possibly cancelled

Jul 15 2004 - 03:03 PM ET | Motorola, Rumor
DigiTimes is reporting that Motorola has told Compal, the company it contracted to make the Motorola MPx100, to postpone its order of MPx100 smartphones. bq. Motorola originally placed orders for three smartphone models based on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 2003 OS...

Sony Ericsson expands Akono Bluetooth headset line

Jul 15 2004 - 02:38 PM ET | Accessories, Bluetooth, Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson today announced two new Akono Bluetooth headsets, the HBH-660 and HBH-300. Here's a little bit of information about each: HBH-660 bq. Has a mini screen, dubbed Info Display, to show who's calling. Talk time of up to five...

YellowPages.com on Sprint PCS

Jul 15 2004 - 02:32 PM ET | Data, Sprint Nextel
Sprint PCS today announced a deal that brings YellowPages.com content to select Sprint PCS Vision handsets. It's not clear if this is a paid service. bq. "Now Sprint PCS Vision customers can find businesses, get driving directions, and connect with...

Sony Ericsson earns $140M

Jul 15 2004 - 12:51 PM ET | Sony Ericsson
At one time Sony Ericsson's accounting department didn't even need to purchase black ink--they would never get to use it--but times have changed. During Q2 2004, the partnership between Sony and Ericsson earned $140 million on revenue of $1.9 billion....

Nokia Q2 04 earnings bleak

Jul 15 2004 - 12:44 PM ET | Nokia
It's earnings day today, and already embattled Nokia has seen its shares plunge once again. Nokia announced that not only was the last quarter bad, but that the rest of 2004 will continue to be bad. Investors replied by sending...

Siemens A65 introduced

Jul 15 2004 - 12:37 PM ET | Siemens
The Siemens A65 is a consumer level phone with optional clip on camera (includes a flash). It features a 4,000 color screen, Java and only weighs 76 grams. The phone will be available throughout Europe, Asia, Latin and North America...

Sony Ericsson S710a announced

Jul 15 2004 - 12:16 PM ET | Sony Ericsson
In yet another phone announcement from Sony Ericssson today, the company has announced the Sony Ericsson S710a. It's basically an updated S700 for the North American market. Here are the features: * Swivel-style design * EDGE high-speed data * 1.3...

Sony Ericsson K500i announced

Jul 15 2004 - 12:04 PM ET | Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson today announced the K500i. From the specs list it looks like the K500i is going to be a cheaper version of the K700 (which while was announced in March, still has not hit any US carrier). However, the...

Sony Ericsson P910 announced, Symbian powered

Jul 15 2004 - 11:49 AM ET | Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson has officially announced the very talked about Sony Ericsson P910. The P910 is the successor to the popular P900. It uses a Symbian OS and offers a lot of feature upgrades: * QWERTY mini-keyboard * 64 MB memory...

SH506iC i-mode Smart-Card handset

Jul 14 2004 - 02:23 AM ET | DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo today announced that it will market the SH506iC, its second FeliCa mobile wallet compatible handset. The technology has seen several high profile media reports lately. For those not familiar: bq. DoCoMo's revolutionary new service and smart-card handsets may...

Sanyo V401SA released on Vodafone K.K.

Jul 14 2004 - 02:16 AM ET | Sanyo, Vodafone
Vodafone K.K. has announced that it will start shipping the Sanyo V401SA tomorrow. The handset features among other things a stereo FM radio. Here's the feature list: * Built-in FM radio tuner, TV channels 1-3 * 12MB storage * Slide-type...

Virgin Mobile inks deal with Comedy Central

Jul 13 2004 - 01:06 PM ET | Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile today announced a partnership with Comedy Central that will bring exclusive content to Virgin Mobile customers. Comedy Central will have branded games, screen savers, wallpapers, news alerts, voice greetings and more. Virgin Mobile has had a similar deal...

LG L1150 introduced on AT&T Wireless

Jul 13 2004 - 01:02 PM ET | AT&T Wireless, LG Mobile Phone
AT&T Wireless has announced the LG L1150. It's one of the first GSM camera phones from LG (the L1200 has a camera and recently launched on Cingular Wireless). Here are the specs: * Integrated VGA camera with digital zoom *...

Verizon gives $5B contract to Lucent

Jul 13 2004 - 12:51 PM ET | Data, Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless has awarded a $5 billion contract to networking giant Lucent. The money will be spent on, "Next-generation network expansion." The company also noted that the upgrades from Lucent will allow its 1xEV-DO high-speed data network to expand. Lucent...

NEC FOMA N900iL announced

Jul 13 2004 - 12:45 PM ET | DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo has announced its newest FOMA compatible handset, the NEC N900iL. Besides the features of all 900i handsets, the N900iL has WiFi. bq. Under the PASSAGE DUPLE system, the N900iL may be used as a standard FOMA handset, as...

Samsung SPH-2300 announced

Jul 13 2004 - 12:40 PM ET | Samsung
Samsung has introduced the SPH-2300 for the Korean market. It's a 3 megapixel camera phone, with an optical zoom. Other features include a miniSD card slot and built in flash. Casio was the first company to make a 3 megapixel...

Cingular simplifies bills

Jul 12 2004 - 11:49 AM ET | Cingular
Cingular Wireless has announced a simplified bill that it hopes will lure more customers. There are lots of changes, but the one we like the most is the simulated first bill: no more suprises about all the taxes and charges...

A novel written in SMS

Jul 12 2004 - 11:37 AM ET | SMS
A chinese man has written a novel that is designed to be read via 60 SMS messages. Calling the work a novel might be a stretch considering it's only 4,000 words, but reading 4,000 words off a mobile phone is...

Verizon Treo 600 starting Monday [updated]

Jul 10 2004 - 04:04 PM ET | PDA Phone, Rumor, Verizon Wireless
TreoCentral is reporting that the Treo 600 will ship on Verizon Wireless starting Monday July 12th. For one week it will be available only to business channels. We published a screenshot that showed the Treo 600 on Verizon's website back...

T-mobile tops customer service ratings

Jul 09 2004 - 12:17 PM ET | T-Mobile
J.D Power and Associates today released their customer care ranking for US wireless carriers. T-Mobile earned the top position with an index score of 103 (translates to 5 out of 5 stars). Here's the full rankings: * ALLTEL - 3/5...

Verizon gobbles up NextWave spectrum

Jul 08 2004 - 04:57 PM ET | Verizon Wireless
Nextel's big deal going down isn't all the spectrum news of the day--another large was pushed through. Verizon Wireless has agreed to pay $930 million for a 10 megahertz slice of spectrum in the 1.9 gigahertz band from NextWave. The...

FCC approves Nextel spectrum swap

Jul 08 2004 - 12:30 PM ET | Nextel
The FCC has voted to approve a spectrum swap for Nextel to keep emergency radio spectrum clean from interference. We let you know that it was likely to be approved, as late as yesterday. bq. The decision by the Federal...

Motorola i710 released by Nextel

Jul 08 2004 - 12:24 PM ET | Motorola, Nextel
Nextel today announced the Motorola i710 is now available. It's a flip phone with push-to-talk, GPS, Java, a color screen and more. It will cost you $99.99 after a $25 rebate....

Sprint PM-8920 first 1.3MP cam phone for US

Jul 08 2004 - 12:25 AM ET | Sprint Nextel, UTStarcom (Audiovox)
Sprint PCS has announced the Audiovox PM-8920, the first megapixel camera phone for the US market. It should be a hot seller thanks to a breakthrough price point--$149.99 after rebates. Look for it starting today. Here are the highlights: *...

Keep track of your minutes

Jul 07 2004 - 01:31 PM ET | Staff Picks
Today's edition of The Wall Street Journal has an excellent piece on keeping track of your cell phone minutes. It's a battle almost all cell phone users admit to fighting, and the article gives some great information. bq. The wireless...

India next mobile frontier

Jul 07 2004 - 01:15 PM ET | Nokia
MobileTracker friend Om Malik notes that Nokia has realized that the mobile market in India will be huge (when there are a billion consumers, everything is huge). According to Om, Nokia is now customizing its 6220 model for Indian carrier...

Nextel spectrum swap vote nears end

Jul 07 2004 - 01:10 PM ET | Nextel
The Washington Post today reports that the FCC is closing in on a decision to the big Nextel spectrum swap vote. bq. Two of the five members of the Federal Communications Commission have voted in favor of a controversial proposal...

Survey: Americans don't like loud talkers

Jul 07 2004 - 12:47 PM ET | Sprint Nextel
Sprint PCS has announced the results of a survey about overhearing wireless conversations in public. Evidently Americans don't like it. The survey also found out that even though most agree that we're getting more rude as a whole, it's the...

Nokia will not be Symbian majority partner

Jul 07 2004 - 12:32 PM ET | Smartphone
Major partners in Symbian have agreed to not allow Nokia to own over 50% of Symbian. A deal back in February to buy out Psion's Symbian shares would have left Nokia with 63.3% of Symbian. Siemens, Sony Ericsson and Panasonic...

Nextel PitCommand announced

Jul 06 2004 - 02:21 PM ET | Data, Nextel
Nextel has announced a service called PitCommand that lets Nextel handsets tap into real-time information about NASCAR. PitCommand is a Java application that creates a single view of all the critical race elements - including speed, RPM, throttle/brake indicators, lap...

Samsung V450 announced

Jul 05 2004 - 12:22 PM ET | Samsung
Samsung has announced the SCH-V450, a game phone designed to compete with the N-Gage. It won't make it to the US, but Samsung has planned a GSM version called the SGH-X910 that will. Here are some specs, pictures follow below:...

Verizon Wireless to buy Qwest assets

Jul 01 2004 - 05:24 PM ET | Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless went on a $418 shopping spree and agreed to purchase rival Qwest's assets. Included in the deal are spectrum licenses in 62 markets in 14 western and mid-western states that cover a population of 30.8 million people. Other...

Motorola CN620 approved, Wi-Fi phone

Jul 01 2004 - 05:12 PM ET | Motorola
The FCC has approved the Motorola CN620, the first phone that can switch from VoIP to GSM via WiFi. VoIP is a technology that routes voice traffic over the internet, and has increasingly become popular in the business world. The...

Treo 600 update expanded

Jul 01 2004 - 04:12 PM ET | Palm
The latest update to the Treo 600 has been expanded to all carriers (it was originally available just for Sprint PCS users). You can download the update here. The update is said to improve reliability. However, audio quality, web browsing...

Motorola i285 launches on Boost Mobile

Jul 01 2004 - 01:05 PM ET | Motorola
Motorola is busy launching yet another phone (the A630 and MPx220 weren't enough!)--the Motorola i285. This phone is a Boost Mobile exclusive, and features somewhat of a uniuqe feature: a vanity mirror. You'll be able to snag the Motorola i285...

Verizon Wireless promos 'Mobile Web 2.0'

Jul 01 2004 - 12:44 PM ET | Data, Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless introduced a new data service today called Mobile Web 2.0. The technology ties in with Upoc Networks so customers can, "access the service for the latest news, sports, weather, entertainment, business and email." Furthermore, customers can participate in...

LG VX7000 released

Jul 01 2004 - 12:37 PM ET | LG Mobile Phone, Verizon Wireless
LG and Verizon Wireless have announced the immediate availability of the LG VX7000. The handset includes a camera and much more: * Camera with rotating lens and flash * Video messaging * Mobile Web 2.0 * 176 x 220 pixel...