Special Edition Pink OtterBox Defender Case for iPhone

Topic: Mobile Phones

If your mom or wife is a fan of the Apple iPhone and you haven’t picked up that Mother’s Day gift yet, OtterBox has you covered. OtterBox announced a new special edition pink Defender iPhone case. Not only is the pink color very girly, but the case is helping to raise money and awareness for breast cancer.

OtterBox says that it will donate 10% of the proceeds from the sell of the special edition cases to the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade to support research for a cure and awareness of the disease. Other than the pink color the case is the same as the other Defender for iPhone cases. Read more

Posted on Fri, 9 May 2008 08:14:26 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Moto Q 9c Now Available on Verizon Wireless

Topic: Mobile Phones

Motorola announced its new Moto Q 9c smartphone at CTIA 2008 and today Verizon Wireless announced the phone is now available for purchase. The phone is being offered to Verizon customers starting today for $249.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a new 2-year agreement.

The phone runs Windows Mobile 6 Standard providing access to Documents To Go with Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The phone can also access POP3 and IMAP4 email accounts and has a full QWERTY keyboard for fast emails and messaging. Read more

Posted on Fri, 9 May 2008 07:29:10 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

AT&T removes free iPhone Wi-Fi Hotspots Statement

Topic: Mobile Phones

Yesterday we reported that AT&T updated their iPhone product page with the information that iPhone users get free access to 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots across the United States. Now AT&T removed that information again.

It looks like the marketing department is not getting through at AT&T to coordinate a smooth announcement and roll-out of this new offering. Read more

Posted on Fri, 9 May 2008 01:53:10 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Watch live TV on Apple iPhone with OrbLive

Topic: Mobile Phones

Orb Networks announced OrbLive that enables to stream live TV to Apple iPhones.

Orb enabled live streaming of TV from users' homes to almost any mobile phone with a streaming player and a web browser already. To get around the iPhone's extreme limitations on supported video formats, Orb created a special application, OrbLive, to enable the streaming of any video format to iPhones. Read more

Posted on Fri, 9 May 2008 00:21:48 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Sharp 922SH 3G Internet Machine dissected

Topic: Mobile Phones

In March Sharp introduced the Sharp 922SH 3G Internet Machine smartphone in Japan. The Nikkei Electronics Teardown Squad has taken this Sharp smartphone apart and tells us what is inside.

The Sharp 922SH features identical parts to those found in the FULLFACE SoftBank 921SH and other models developed by Sharp. The Teardown squad finds the angular velocity sensor and Sensor Key especially interesting. Read more

Posted on Thu, 8 May 2008 09:33:55 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

When Should Your Kid Get a Cell Phone?

Topic: Mobile Phones

When is your child old enough to get a cell phone? This is something I have considered a lot recently. We live in a neighborhood with lots of kids in a small area that doesn’t have much traffic. Because of this my 7-year-old son spends lots of time riding his bike or playing at a friend’s house.

The problem was that he is too shy to ask to use a friends phone to call us when he wants to go to a different house and would ride home to tell us he was going to the house next door to where he was playing rather than calling. To fix this problem, we got him his own cell phone. We had a talk about the rules of a phone mostly not answering it unless the caller ID said mom or dad on it and not letting friends use it. I remember my brother’s first cell phone when he was 17 and the $600 bill that my mother received shortly thereafter. I didn’t want that to happen here.

The plan has worked very well for us and since my son started carrying a phone many of the kids in the neighborhood now have them, not only because they want to have the same things their friends do, but because it is undeniably convenient to be able to reach your kids whenever and wherever they are. Read more

Posted on Thu, 8 May 2008 09:20:03 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Verizon Updates VZ Navigator Software

Topic: Mobile Phones

Verizon Wireless has announced a new update to its VZ Navigator software bringing it up to version 4. The new version adds some significant new features to customers in 75 major cities around the country. Customers in covered cities can get access to information about traffic accidents on major roads.

The new version also provides traffic updates and allows users to find detours around traffic and accidents. Verizon says more cities will be added to the service in the coming year. The software can also help users find movies and events, weather reports and forecasts. Read more

Posted on Thu, 8 May 2008 08:49:32 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Verizon Wireless Gets Samsung Glyde

Topic: Mobile Phones

Verizon Wireless announced today that starting tomorrow customers will be able to purchase the new Samsung Glyde mobile phone online and in stores. The Glyde is called a sleek multimedia and messaging phone.

The Glyde uses a 2.8-inch touchscreen and has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard as well. The device also features Verizon applications including V Cast Music and Video, a 2MP camera and a microSD card slot supporting up to 8GB. Read more

Posted on Thu, 8 May 2008 08:19:09 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

T-Mobile USA breaks 30 Million Customer Milestone

Topic: Mobile Phones

T-Mobile USA announces that they have now over 30 million subscribers. AT&T still leads of course with over 71 million subscribers.

In the first quarter of 2008, T-Mobile USA added 981,000 net new customers, up from 951,000 in the fourth quarter of 2007, and 980,000 in the first quarter of 2007.
During the quarter, T-Mobile USA’s acquisition of SunCom Wireless (SunCom) closed, adding 1.1 million customers and networks in the Southeastern United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Read more

Posted on Thu, 8 May 2008 01:27:17 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

AT&T iPhone gets access to 17,000 Wi-Fi Hotspots

Topic: Mobile Phones

AT&T has not officially announced that it will give access to 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots to iPhone users, but the descriptions of the iPhone plans have been updated with this information on their site.

AT&T recently struck a deal with Starbucks to provide hotspots at their coffee houses. The iPhone plans still have the same pricing starting at $59.99. Read more

Posted on Wed, 7 May 2008 23:36:09 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

New iPhone SDK Beta 5 released

Topic: Mobile Phones

Apple has yet released another beta release of the iPhone SDK and 2.0 firmware.

It is not known yet from iPhone developers what is new in the new beta release. The download is smaller than before, possibly indicating that Apple removed debug code. Read more

Posted on Wed, 7 May 2008 01:38:34 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr