phones

T-Mobile is never one to shy away from new colors for its cell phones. Already it has introduced Moto's Razr in a variety of colors and designs, including magenta and dragon tattoo. But now the carrier turns its attention to one of its most recent offerings, the Motorola Rizr Z3. In addition to its existing blue model, T-Mobile soon will offer the Rizr Rose. To the rest of you, that means red, but we admit that "rose" is a little catchier.

The feature set on the new Rizr is unchanged, and though we couldn't get pricing … Read more

It seems that the Google phone rumors just will not die. This time, a Taiwanese publication has reported that HTC (well-known for its Windows Mobile devices like the T-Mobile Dash and the Cingular 3125) is building the phone and may have it ready by the end of the year. Reported features include EDGE and integration with GMail and Google Maps, but no GPS strangely enough. Of course, this is all vaporware and we don't know any solid details yet, but it's interesting enough that we'll keep an eye out for more news on the subject.

Brace yourself, dear Crave readers, as Motorola has given us a Razr in yet another hue.

This time, however, we're paying a bit more attention because the phone in question is the Motorola Razr V3xx from Cingular/ATST. Already available in charcoal and gold, the V3xx now comes in a platinum color as well. Features are the same; you still get such offerings as HSDPA support, Bluetooth, a music player, and the disappointing 1.3-megapixel camera. With a service contract, you can get it for an affordable $99.

Sling Media CEO Blake Krikorian says he has spoken to Apple about his company's ambition to stream iTunes music and video to the upcoming iPhone. It's unclear, however, what Apple thinks of the plan.

Krikorian made the comments after participating in a panel discussion at the National Association of Broadcasters conference yesterday but declined to offer details about the talks or say whether Apple welcomed such a plan. He did say Sling Media "would love to support" the iPhone.

"I think the question for them is going to be how are they going to phase … Read more

Inflight cell phone use may still be a no-no in the United States, but flyers Down Under will soon get the chance to use their phones while in the air. The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that Australia's largest airline is launching a test program that will allow passengers to text from 35,000 feet. Qantas is one of the first airlines to have such a program, although Ryanair and Emirates plan similar tests later this year. The three-month trial will determine if cell phone use aboard an aircraft is a "good idea." (Here's a hint: … Read more

Oh boy, we've got a BlackBerry down, many BlackBerrys down, in fact. Last night, Research In Motion experienced a widespread system failure that interrupted e-mail delivery to all BlackBerrys in North America. According to the company, the root cause of the meltdown is still under review, but the network is back up and running. Unfortunately, message delivery seems to be due to the backlog of e-mail in the system.

Check out CNET News.com's story for more details, and please feel free to exercise your BlackBerry thumbs to share your stories and gripes with us.

Of all the brands on the fashion world's A-list, Bulgari has always seemed to stand apart. You've got to admire a company that insists on using the Latin spelling of its name (BVLGARI) hundreds of years after the language was pronounced dead .

So we think it's noteworthy that the storied Italian purveyor of luxury goods has joined the hypercompetitive fray of designer phone straps. Bulgari's version is detachable, turning into a cube pendant of palladium when the handset is separated from the black calf leather strap, according to Sybarites. (Who says luxury accessories aren't practical?)… Read more

Toshiba announced today that it has created a 16GB flash memory chip intended for consumer products such as cell phones and MP3 players. This is the highest capacity NAND flash memory chip to date, doubling the existing ceiling of 8GB. The 16GB chip is set to ship in the fall, just in time to make Apple's flash memory-based 8GB iPhone seem cramped.

The chip is designed around eight 2GB elements and boasts a copy speed of 6MB per second, with a 15MB per second read speed. Expect a wave of tiny 16GB flash MP3 players for the holidays.

Via … Read more

Well, well, isn't this interesting? There's a report out of DigiTimes that Quanta Computer, a Taiwanese-based laptop and hardware manufacturer, is working on a "PDA handset" for Dell with an expected launch date of Q4 2007. Code named Fly, the project is reported to be a Windows Mobile 6 smart phone that will feature a QWERTY keyboard and HSDPA support. The news comes a week after Dell announced it would be discontinuing its Axim line of PDAs. The move would make sense; smart phone sales continue to climb and overshadow standalone PDAs. Plus, let's not … Read more