Phones

The sharp guys at Phone Scoop have confirmed what we predicted at CES: Sprint will be the first U.S. carrier to land the new Samsung Ultra Music. Phone Scoop found the FCC approval forms, which indicate that the Ultra Music's model number will be the SPH-M620. This will be the first CDMA version of the phone since a GSM model made its first debut last month in Hong Kong. We hear Sprint will have it for sale by March.

You'll remember that the Ultra Music is the phone with two personalities that Samsung unveiled last week in … Read more

With cell phones being blamed for everything from bad driving to lower sperm counts these days, you might almost feel sorry for them, particularly after investigators blamed a cell phone for starting a fire earlier this week that seriously injured a California man. But now it appears the gadgets aren't all bad. Fire officials in Vallejo, Calif., reversed course and ruled out the man's Nokia 2125i as the cause of the blaze.

Today's announcement came three days after 59-year-old Luis Picaso received second- and third-degree burns from a fire that started in his residential hotel room while … Read more

I've never gotten along with the SureType keyboards on some of RIM's BlackBerry devices. You input a couple of letters, get a list of possible words, scroll over to the correct one, then select it--yeah, no thanks. I know it gets easier to use over time, but it really shouldn't be so much work. It's a shame, too, because they're found on some of the company's best smart phones, including the sexy BlackBerry Pearl. I really like the design and functionality of the Pearl, but much prefer to have a full QWERTY keyboard. What'… Read more

LG blew it. Weeks ago, we showed you some leaked photos of its Prada touch-screen phone, which appeared to have some groundbreaking features, but the company remained mum. Now, as the obsession with the iPhone continues to dwarf any other product in the entire communications industry, LG has decided to make it official with a relative whimper.

The Prada phone will also debut in Europe and Asia long before it hits U.S. shores--like so many of the fashion house's clothing lines. (At least it's being consistent.) Engadget says it has a 3-inch display and a 2-megapixel camera … Read more

It may not be one of the big four cell phone carriers, but Alltel continues to surprise us. Today the company launched a new product called Celltop that will allow Alltel customers a new way to organize content on their phone. Celltop puts interactive, changeable windows or "cells" on your phone's display that provide shortcuts to a variety of features, including your call log and message in-box. The idea is to let you scan such information without having to press several buttons. It looks sort of cool, as we tend to like anything that makes a gadget … Read more

The AT&T acquisition of BellSouth and Cingular is final, and even though we haven't seen signs of it on Cingular's front page yet, AT&T will slowly roll out an ad campaign to phase out the Cingular brand. It won't be an overnight change, but much like the AT&T Wireless change to Cingular a few years back, subscribers will definitely see a change on their wireless bills within the next few months.

All this changing of hands from AT&T to the various Baby Bells to BellSouth and SBC and all … Read more

And here you're worried about a little silly radiation. The San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday that a man's cell phone burst into flame while he was carrying it in his pocket. Luis Picaso of Vallejo, California, received second- and third-degree burns to his body, back, right arm, and right leg after the fire spread to his clothes and ignited a nearby chair. Fire officials refused to disclose the phone's make and model but insisted the handset was the source of the blaze.

Though the story may sound too odd to be true, other instances of cell phones … Read more

Now that the iPhone is a reality, there's sure to be rampant speculation on what inspired the unique, all-display design. Since it looks like no other cell phone, it's not outrageous to suggest that, as is the case with most Apple products, Steve Jobs and company went beyond the existing gadget world for inspiration. But while attending CES in Las Vegas, we couldn't help notice an "ancient" Egyptian hieroglyphic on the wall of the Cleopatra-themed bar at Caesar's Palace. Perhaps the Apple design team spent an evening here and found their muse for the … Read more

Lamborghini and Ferrari aren't the only sports cars lending their names to electronics and computing gear. Vodafone, which is sponsoring the McLaren Formula One racing team, has debuted three mobile phones inspired by the McLaren Mercedes, according to Pocket-lint.

Sharp and Samsung are manufacturing different models for Vodafone but all three bear designs that reflect the McLaren theme, with chrome cases and "rocket red" accents of the team's colors. The menu and ring tones are also consistent with the sport, as well as as a racing game. The handsets, which include 1.3- and 3.1-megapixel … Read more