Carriers

T-Mobile promises 3G by summer; Android phone, Austrian iPhone by end of year

Almost every U.S. T-Mobile customer wants to know when the carrier will be activating its 3G network. After all, it is the only major carrier in the United States not to offer 3G. Though it has slowly begun introducing 3G-capable handsets, the carrier has remained maddeningly vague on when the service will activate.

But a news conference at the GSMA World Congress, T-Mobile CEO Hamid Akhavan dropped a few hints. When I asked him when the magic day will come, he didn't give an exact date but he did promise it would happen by this summer. Akhavan said … Read more

Barcelona or bust: GSMA Mobile World Congress preview

On February 11, thousands from around the world will converge in Barcelona, Spain, for the annual GSMA Mobile World Congress (formerly known as the 3GSM Mobile World Congress). The four-day show brings together the cell phone industry to discuss and showcase the latest GSM technologies and developments. This year Senior Editor Kent German and I, along with CNET News.com's Maggie Reardon, CNET UK's Andrew Lim, and CNET TV's Ariel Nunez, have the fortune of traveling to Barcelona to cover the show so that we can bring you the latest news through blogs, pictures, and videos.

What … Read more

Still a long wait for V Cast TV in S.F.

Here in the Bay Area, we've been waiting a long time for Verizon Wireless to turn on its V Cast Mobile TV network. And why wouldn't we be excited to get it? The TV quality far surpasses the streaming video on Verizon's 3G network. But, more importantly, we wouldn't have to send the V Cast Mobile TV phones to Chicago or New York to get them reviewed. We realize that Verizon doesn't have enough spectrum here but if Wichita, Kan., gets service, shouldn't we?

Well, the good news is that the Bay Area will … Read more

GestureTek bestows Wiimote powers on cell phones. Just maybe not your phone.

GestureTek Mobile has bestowed the powers of movement-based navigation, popularized by the Nintendo Wii, upon cell phones. The one crucial difference: no Wii tennis elbow.

Since the technology in GestureTek Mobile's EyeMobile Engine is purely optic rather than hardware-based--unlike the accelerometer that tells iPhone when to jump into landscape mode--wrist motion is powerful and specific.

Here's an example from the demo: just click the soft key to zoom in on the map, and tilt the phone back and forth to zoom in and out. Do it again holding the scroll button to activate the motion detection, and tilt … Read more