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Republic Wireless now unlimited--for real!

Earlier this month I took the Republic Wireless smartphone and service for a test-drive.

Quick refresher: You pay $199 for an LG Optimus S (a small but sweet Android 2.3 phone), then $19 per month for "unlimited" voice, texting, and data.

Why the quotation marks? Republic tweaked the Optimus to use Wi-Fi whenever possible for calls and data, thereby keeping 3G usage to a minimum. It was still available, of course, but users who tapped the network too often could be subject to warnings and, with continued excessive usage, termination of service.

In other words, you could … Read more

T-Mobile's Nokia 7510 goes on sale

It's a busy day for T-Mobile. In addition to announcing the availability of the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900 and the new T-Mobile Shadow, the carrier also started shipping another CES phone, the Nokia 7510.

Though T-Mobile isn't using the "Supernova" label as part of the 7510's name, the phone offers everything we saw in Las Vegas. Its most prominent design features are the replaceable front covers in brown, red, and espresso and the hidden external display that flashes nifty animation intermittently.

Features include a 2-megapixel camera, a music and video player, support for T-Mobile myFaves, … Read more

Moto's Z6w offers Wi-Fi

At the GSMA World Congress, Motorola has shown you can't judge a company by the size of its trade show booth. Though Moto had a sizable booth--and a swanky, two-story meeting area (complete with a bar)--the company's ho-hum announcements were barely audible above the din of the show floor.

Moto's biggest news, which, trust me, isn't saying much, is the Motorola Z6w. Identical to the Z6tv, and Z6c, the Z6w sports the slider design that was started by the Motorola Rizr Z3. Curiously, Motorola said it is dropping the Rizr name from its lineup, so … Read more

Landline or Skype? Netgear lets you have both.

Netgear announced today a dual-mode cordless Wi-Fi phone that supports both traditional landlines and Skype VoIP calling. The Netgear SPH200D Dual-Mode DECT Cordless Phone With Skype has a base unit that plugs into both your network router and a phone jack, allowing you to switch between Skype calls and traditional calls. It uses the 1.9GHz band, which should keep it clear of interference from your (or your neighbor's) wireless network. You can view your regular contacts and your Skype contacts, on the handset's screen, and when making a call to a non-Skype user, you can choose whether … Read more

The iPhone is here!

It's true: the iPhone is here--but not the one everyone's been talking about. Linksys announced today its family of Voice over IP and Wi-Fi phones, called iPhone.

The purveyor of home networking equipment has been shipping several flavors of VoIP and Wi-Fi phones since 2004 and announced two new products today, but branding them under the iPhone moniker is a new move. The two new members of the family are the iPhone Dual-Mode Internet Telephony Kit for Skype (CIT400) and the iPhone Wireless-G Phone for Skype (WIP320). The former is targeted for the home: it includes a cordless … Read more