smartphone

Cell phones and smartphones CES 2008 wrap-up

Another CES is in the bag, and we've successfully fled Las Vegas for San Francisco. Though fewer new cell phones debuted at the show than in the past couple years, we can say that the 2008 show was all about quality over quantity. Also, when compared with the last couple of years, we had some serious competition for the Best of CES award in the cell phones and smartphones category. But after it was said and done, the Motorola Rokr E8 took that prize. Its innovative morphing keyboard gave it the needed mojo to lap the Sony Ericsson W760 … Read more

Pink and red BlackBerry Pearl 8130s spotted

Catching Verizon Wireless and Sprint off-guard, Research in Motion showed off some upcoming colored models of the RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8130 for the respective carriers at CES 2008. The red version will go to Verizon, joining the silver Pearl 8130, while the powder-pink model will land at Sprint along with the purple Pearl. No specific release dates were given, but I'd guess the launch dates aren't too far away--February at the latest.

The gadget that really powers CES

As I get ready to leave CES and Las Vegas, I wanted to give a shout-out to the device that truly powers the convention: the smartphone. Doesn't really matter whether it's Treo or Blackberry, everyone was calling, texting and emailing all day long. At such a techie summit you could talk in any public space with impunity. I would have been lost from my CNET compatriots without it. [Side note, my iPhone had "no service" within the convention center but my Blackberry was fine, both on AT&T.]

So at the end of they day, … Read more

Alltel scores the HTC Touch

Alltel Wireless has just announced the immediate availability of the HTC Touch smartphone with pricing starting at $199.99 with a two-year contract and after rebates and discounts. The Alltel HTC Touch has a number of the same features as the other versions of the phone (unlocked and Sprint's), such as the TouchFlo interface, Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition, and a 2-megapixel camera. They've also added a fourth "cube" to the menu interface where you can access some of the carrier's exclusive applications such as Voice2TXT (converts voice mails into text), Games from Magmic, Sharpcast … Read more

GPS-enabled Asus P527 smartphone fit for travelers

Asus introduced several smartphones for the North American market at CES 2008, including the GPS-enabled Asus P527. In addition to the built-in SiRFIII GPS chip, the device has a preloaded application called Travelog that lets you record and share your travel pictures, routes, and more with your friends and family. There's also a program called Location Carrier that can send your position to others via text message.

Aside from the GPS capabilities, the quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE/GPRS) phone runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition and features a 2-megapixel camera, 128MB Flash/64MB SDRAM, a microSD … Read more

Nokia N95 8GB coming to America

If you've got any of that holiday gift money left, you might want to hold onto it for this sucker. Nokia announced at CES 2008 that it will be bringing a North American version of the Nokia N95 8GB this quarter, all for the bargain price of $749 unlocked (zoiks!). The good news is that the Symbian smartphone supports our 850/1900MHz HSPDA bands, so you can just pop in a AT&T SIM card to enjoy those 3.5G speeds. Of course, there's also the 8GB of onboard memory but be aware there's no microSD … Read more

Verizon Wireless SMT5800 debuts

Today, Verizon Wireless added a new smartphone to its lineup, and it looks to be a goody. Manufactured by HTC, the Verizon Wireless SMT5800 takes after the HTC Vox in design and boasts a compact cell-phone-like form factor yet manages to pack in a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard. There's also an alphanumerical dialpad on the exterior of the device.

The features are pretty much standard fare. It runs Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition and has a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0 (with support for the A2DP profile), and EV-DO. Onboard memory is 128MB Flash/64MB RAM and comes equipped … Read more

Talk cheap with Samsung BlackJack II smartphone, free with activation

It's a new year, so why not start it with a new phone? Buy.com has the Samsung BlackJack II smartphone for free, zilch, zip, nada with a two-year AT&T activation. Free shipping, even.

Like its popular predecessor, the BlackJack II runs the Windows Mobile OS (version 6, in this case). I'm not a fan, but if you can live with the abysmal navigation and sluggish performance, you'll find a lot of power under the BlackJack's slim hood. It features GPS, a 2-megapixel camera, and HSDPA support (which helps make up for the lack … Read more

CES 2008: Cell phones and smartphones

We expect that CES will be a lot different from what it was last year, mainly because Macworld isn't happening at the same time. So instead of racing to cover a possible update to the iPhone, we'll be able to spend all of our time covering what's going on in Las Vegas.

As in recent years, we know that CES will be a busy few days for the mobile world. Though cell phones have to fight with every other gadget to get the world's attention, we still expect to find a lot of news on the … Read more

Put a keyboard in your pocket, $29.99 shipped

Smartphone keyboards are fine for composing short e-mails and maybe tweaking the occasional Word document. But if you want to get any serious work done on your device, fuhgeddaboudit. Your thumbs don't deserve that kind of punishment. Instead, reach for the iGo Stowaway Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard, which serves up a full-size set of QWERTY keys and then folds up slim enough to slip into your pocket.

The Stowaway normally lists for $149.99 (ouch!), but Amazon has it on sale for just $29.99--which qualifies it for the store's free Super Saver Shipping. Just make sure you … Read more