Phones

We mentioned earlier this month that Cingular/AT&T was going to update its 3.5G HSDPA phone lineup with the much-awaited Motorola Razr V3xx. Well the time has come because the carrier just launched the Razr V3xx today, and even more details of the phone have been released. The most notable of which is that the Razr V3xx will be Cingular's first 3.6 Mbps HSDPA handset. Previous HSDPA phones from Cingular (like the LG CU500) were capped out at 1.8 Mbps due to network limitations, but the company is planning to increase the network's … Read more

We know the HSDPA Motorola Razr V3xx is coming to AT&T/Cingular but we still haven't heard anything regarding U.S. carrier availability on the equally powerful Motorola Razr Maxx. And that's too bad as the Razr Maxx promises to be the most appealing Razr to date.

But now it appears we may get our wish, just in a different form. Howard Forums has published marketing photos of a promised EV-DO variant of the phone, the Maxx Ve for Verizon Wireless. Details are sketchy at this point but it's rumored the Maxx Ve will offer … Read more

If you ride your bike to and from work every day anyway, why not charge your phone at the same time? That's the premise behind this cell phone docking station from Motorola that mounts on top of a bicycle. Let your pedals power up your phone battery phone as you swerve around dodging cars and pedestrians. Not only will you save time, you'll help the environment too. Too bad we can't figure out if this will be available here and at what price, but it's a neat concept all the same. Just don't take any … Read more

Sometimes we have our issues with, well, fitting in. No, this is not a statement about the confidence levels of gadget freaks, gamers, or nerds--everyone has their junior-high moments. Artist Alice Wang has a new project entitled "Peer Pressure," which consists of a set of gadgets that have been modified to make make cute, humorous, and even provocative statements about how we're all overly concerned about what others think of us (some of us more than others).

Wang's project, which I read about on design blog Notcot, consists of a set of tweaked tech tools that … Read more

There's really not much to say about these phones. Just look at the picture--it's too depressing to spend much time discussing them. What we will say is that, according to Gearfuse, these are Samsung 707SC handsets slathered rather disgustingly with colored stones made by Swarovski. (What a surprise!) They were just released in Asia, made for Softbank Japan. As far as we're concerned, Samsung had a better idea with its Simpsons models.

Every once in awhile, a product comes along that makes us sad because it reflects some form of societal decay. Case in point: Even though we were initially interested in the Tianyu B832 for its attractive black-lacquer design, it turns out that the phone's most distinguishing feature may be its crime-fighting capabilities.

If the handset is stolen and the thief tries to make calls using a different SIM card, for example, it will automatically send a text message to your old number (which you'll presumably want to keep with your new phone). Mobile Magazine says the message will … Read more

No, no, it's not what you think. This isn't an OS war, but rather a nice collaboration between Palm and Microsoft that will benefit Treo 700p and Treo 680 owners. Today Palm announced the availability of a Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync Update that brings Microsoft's Direct Push technology to the Palm-based Treos and allows for wireless synchronization of your e-mail, calendar, and contacts. Woo-hoo. The update will be available starting Monday, at which point you can download it from www.palm.com/easdownload.

Good 'ol HTC recently launched another innovative device (in Europe, of course--guh), but it's not a smart phone. The HTC Athena is a UMPC of sorts, and it's jam-packed with features. It is powered by a 624MHz Intel processor, runs Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC Phone Edition, has an 8GB hard drive and 128MB of RAM and 256MB of flash ROM. You want wireless options? Oh, it's got your wireless options--Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi, GSM/GPRS/EDGE, UMTS/HSDPA, and GPS. On top of all that, the gadget boasts a 5-inch, 640x480 resolution touch screen; a detachable … Read more

Here in the CNET editorial cube farm, we're usually not too fond of receiving random, unannounced packages from tech vendors. Not that I'm afraid of anthrax or suspiciously ticking boxes. No, it's more that I prefer to be aware of the products I'm receiving to ensure that they're not being sent to me in vain--there's not a lot this San Francisco-based MP3 editor can do with a digital camera accessory except ship it to the camera editors in New York. But every once in a while, I receive an unexpected package that contains something … Read more