
Nokia continues to sell more smartphones than any of its rivals, but has lost ground as competition grows.
"We see ... really fierce competition certainly in the high end, but we also see it in the mid to low end of smartphones increasing," Jo Harlow, the new chief of Nokia's smartphone unit, said in a webcast on Thursday.
"We will defend our position, but we believe we also have tools to play offense as well as defense," said Harlow."
Labels: nokia, smartphone
• As we have noted in previous reports, iPhone and Android continue to gain share at the expense of the legacy platforms like Symbian and Windows Mobile.
• Although its share of usage has been declining, Nokia handsets still dominate the top smartphones lists in all regions outside North America. Nokia’s new touchscreen devices – the N97 and XpressMusic – are both gaining traction and were the number 4 and 5 smartphones in Western Europe.
• Android continues its strong growth in both North America and Europe. Ad requests from Android devices grew 17% month over month in August, following a 50% increase in July. Given the new devices launching in Q4, it could be a huge holiday season for the Android platform.
• Phone represented 50 percent of US smartphone usage in AdMob’s network in August 2009, followed by RIM and Android devices at 14 and 13 percent, respectively.
Labels: iphone, smartphone
Labels: apple, iphone3gs, palm, pre, smartphone
"Sprint is embracing WiFi in all its major devices going forward," said Jeff Clemow, the carrier's director of business product marketing.
Sprint is launching the BlackBerry Tour smartphone Sunday for $199.99. The device features support for both CDMA and GSM networks. Verizon Wireless also is offering the device Sunday, for the same price.
A major complaint among Tour reviewers is that the device does not support WiFi connections--a conspicuous situation considering many of RIM's devices for GSM carriers, such as the BlackBerry Bold for AT&T Mobility, do feature WiFi functions. To rectify the situation, Sprint's Clemow said the carrier will offer a version of the BlackBerry Tour starting next year that will include WiFi. He declined to provide a launch date for the device, other than to say that it will launch sometime after the first of the year."
Sprint is obviously listening to customers and realizes that while a high speed network is fast, WiFi is an important feature that smartphone users are starting to expect on their device. Hopefully this will send a direct message to Verizon, and AT&T. Good job Sprint!
Labels: smartphone, sprint
Labels: blackberry, g1, iphone 3G, smartphone
This BusinessWeek article is a great read showing the many wise decisions Palm made leading up to the announcement of the Pre. Check it out!
Labels: palm, palm webos, pre, smartphone, software
BARCELONA, Spain — Feb. 16, 2009 — Today at Mobile World Congress 2009, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer along with key mobile partners, HTC, LG and Orange, unveiled new Windows® phones featuring new user-friendly software and services. The next generation of Windows® phones will be based on Windows Mobile 6.5 and feature a new user interface and a richer browsing experience. In addition, Windows® phones will feature two new services: My Phone, to sync text messages, photos, video, contacts and more to the Web; and Windows® Marketplace for Mobile, a new marketplace that will provide direct-to-phone mobile applications and can be accessed from both the phone and the Web.
“Windows® phones bring together the best of the Web, the PC and the phone so you can connect instantly to the experiences you care about, no matter where you are,” Ballmer said. “We’re working with partners across the industry to deliver a new generation of Windows® phones that break down the barriers between people, information and applications and provide great end-to-end experiences that span your entire life, at work and at home.”
Windows Mobile 6.5 Delivers New User Experience
The new Windows Mobile 6.5 home screen keeps people up-to-date on important information by providing a dashboard-like experience to items such as new e-mails, texts, missed calls and calendar appointments. It also includes an improved touch-screen interface, making it easy to take action with a finger, and an updated version of the latest Internet Explorer Mobile browser, which in a third-party research study sponsored by Microsoft supported execution of up to 48 percent more assigned tasks than the other browsers and phones studied.
My Phone Service Connects the Phone to the Web
The free My Phone service will enable people to access, manage and back up their personal information on their device to a password-protected Web-based service, making it easier to upgrade phones without the worry of losing important information. With automatic syncing and backup, users can count on their contacts, appointments, text messages and other information being kept up to date and easily restored should they lose or upgrade their phone. Consumers also will be able to automatically upload photos and video from their Windows® phone directly to the My Phone service, making it simple to preserve content that, in the past, would have lived and died on the phone. The My Phone service is currently available in a limited invitation-only beta.
Rich and Integrated Marketplace Service Will Offer Easy Access to Mobile Applications
The new operating system features Windows® Marketplace for Mobile, a rich and integrated marketplace for searching, browsing and purchasing mobile applications from Windows® phones or from a PC by simply using a Windows Live ID. The new marketplace will be included with all Windows phones based on Windows Mobile 6.5, which will help consumers to easily find, install and experience those applications that fit their needs and make the phone truly personal. Developers, who have already built over 20,000 applications for Windows® phones, will be able to offer applications to customers through the marketplace via a simple security and compatibility check from Microsoft.
Labels: microsoft, smartphone, windows mobile
My source says that the new device falls under the codename "Pink" and that it will combine the company's Zune and technology from Microsoft's purchase of Danger Inc., the company that brought us the Sidekick flip phone available on T-Mobile.
As an aside, Danger's co-founder, Andy Rubin, took a job at Google and he was the driving force behind that company's Android mobile operating system, now powering that new G1 phone from T-Mobile. took Andy Rubin, developed a phone for T-Mobile, whose corporate color is pink, and that Microsoft would code-name its smart phone project "Pink.")
I'm hearing that a prototype of the new Pink could be unveiled as soon as the Consumer Electronics Show in January, but that it could be pushed back into a February release. Some reports suggest the phone could be released at the 3GSM conference and that a wide shipment release could be a year away. The idea, my source says, is to develop a product that offers true competition to Apple's iPhone which continues to enjoy huge market momentum. Via CNBC
Labels: microsoft, smartphone
The study, now in its second year, measures business customer satisfaction with wireless smartphones—defined as mobile phones offering advanced capabilities and personal computer-like functionality—such as a BlackBerry or Treo. Overall satisfaction is measured across five key factors. In order of importance, they are: ease of operation (27%); operating system (24%); physical design (21%); handset features (18%); and battery aspects (10%).
Apple ranks highest in overall smartphone customer satisfaction with a score of 778 on a 1,000-point scale, performing particularly well in the ease of operation, physical design and handset feature factors. BlackBerry manufacturer RIM (703) and Samsung (701) follow Apple in the rankings.
“With the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, Apple has clearly differentiated itself from the competition in areas that are most important to business smartphone users,” said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services for J.D. Power and Associates. “By making basic applications and features easy to use and providing functionality in a thin, lightweight device, Apple has performed well in exceeding customer expectations.”
Labels: apple, iphone, iphone 3G, smartphone
"According to DigiTimes in China, Copal Communications has received ODM orders for "several models of smartphones from Palm" with order volumes likely to top 5 million units. The report also points to Palm's order volume being a significant growth driver for the company in 2009. While there have been rumors of a Treo 850, numbers like this suggest a combination of a new Centro device and possibly a new Palm OS 2.0 smartphone."
Labels: centro, palm, smartphone, treo
Sony Ericcson has just announced their 1st Windows Mobile phone, it's called XPERIA. The specs are pretty impressive.
Windows Mobile 6 Professional
3-inch wide VGA (800 x 480) touchscreen display
full arc-sliding QWERTY keyboard
3.2 megapixel camera
A2DP Bluetooth
GPS
WiFi
quad-band GSM/EDGE, and 900/1700/1900/2100MHz UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (or 850/1700/1900/2100MHz)
microSD
400MB on board memory
New panel interface
The XPERIA will ship in the second half of 2008. Via Engadget .
Labels: smartphone, sony, windows mobile
Canalys estimates that Apple took 28% share of the fast growing US converged device market in Q4 2007, behind RIM’s 41%, but a long way ahead of third placed Palm on 9%. This was also enough to put Apple ahead of all Windows Mobile device vendors combined, whose share was 21% in the quarter according to Canalys figures. In EMEA, where the iPhone officially launched part way through the quarter in only three countries, Apple took fifth spot behind Nokia, RIM, HTC and Motorola, but ahead of several established smart phone providers such as Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Palm."
Labels: iphone, smartphone, windows mobile
It seems like every carrier is rolling out their answer to the iPhone. Sprint will beging selling the Samsung M800. While the M800 is no iPhone, its specs are pretty impressive. The M800 will sport a large touch-screen display, run on Sprint's 3G EV-DO network, on board GPS, 2-megapixel camera, and stereo Bluetooth.
Labels: smartphone, sprint
"Canalys has produced a report showing the iPhone has grown massively in North America. The study looked specifically at smartphone market share statistics in Q3, and the iPhone, in a surprisingly short time span, has managed to grab second position. A 27% market share is nothing to scoff at; what Apple has done in a few months, others have failed to do in years.
Smartphones running Symbian, Linux and Palm OS all fall behind Apple's iPhone. This is ever more stunning because the iPhone is only available via one carrier, in contrast, the other platforms can be procured from various cellular networks. This dramatically increases their market penetration. From the perspective of a business model, these figures are simply astronomical." Via Gizmodo .
Labels: blackberry, iphone, palm os, smartphone, symbian, windows mobile
Google is committed to providing users with quick and easy access to the information they need, no matter when or where they need it. Location information makes mobile mapping and search faster and more convenient, but the most common source of location information to date -- GPS technology -- is supported on fewer than 15 percent of the mobile phones expected to be sold in 2007. With Google's new My Location technology, users who don't have GPS-enabled mobile phones will now be able to take advantage of the added speed and convenience afforded by location information. The My Location technology also complements GPS-enabled devices, as it delivers a location estimate faster than GPS, provides coverage inside buildings (where GPS signals can be unreliable), and doesn't drain phone batteries as quickly as GPS. Whether users are trying to locate a restaurant in an unfamiliar neighborhood, get directions to the nearest hotel while traveling, or just find a place to grab some coffee while shopping for the holidays, Google Maps for mobile with My Location can help them get what they need quickly and easily.
The My Location technology takes information broadcast from cell towers and sifts it through Google-developed algorithms to approximate a user's current location on the map. This approximation is anonymous, as Google does not gather any personally identifiable information or associate any location data with personally identifiable information as part of the My Location feature. The feature can also be easily disabled by anyone who prefers not to use it. The My Location technology is available on most smartphones, including all color BlackBerry devices, all Symbian Series 60 3rd Edition devices, most Windows Mobile devices, newer Sony Ericsson devices, and some Motorola devices.
To download Google Maps for mobile with My Location, point your mobile or desktop web browser to www.google.com/mobile/gmm/index.html .
Labels: google, smartphone, software
Verizon is now making the LG Voyager available for pre-order. The Voager will retail for $299 with a new 2 year contract. The LG Voyager is Verizon's response to the iPhone.
"If sublime style and profound performance are part of your mobile destiny, the new Verizon Wireless Voyager™ by LG is just what you've been waiting for. The first handset with both interactive touch screen and a full QWERTY keyboard, this one−of−a−kind wonder can also tune you in and turn you on to V CAST Mobile TV and full HTML Internet browsing. The VOYAGER will take you where you want to go with a music player, dual speakers for stereo sound, Bluetooth®, and a 2.0 megapixel camera & camcorder. For the ultimate mobile excursion, there is nothing like the VOYAGER."
Labels: smartphone, verizon
Jennifer Chappell, Editor of TreoCentral starts out the Round Robin with "A Treo User's take on the iPhone" .
It'll be great to read about their experiences, and if the grass really is greener on the "other side".
Labels: culture, smartphone
ASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Verizon Wireless is heading into the holidays with a roster of new personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smartphones that give customers exciting options for both business and personal connectivity. The first of the line-up, the SCH-i760 from Samsung, is available online October 19 and in stores November 2. Also joining the portfolio of robust wireless business tools built to handle the speed of Verizon Wireless' broadband network, are the Verizon Wireless XV6800, the Palm Treo 755p and the SMT5800 smartphone.
Labels: smartphone, treo, verizon, windows mobile
Labels: iphone, smartphone
Palm's European website has a teaser page up about a new smartphone coming from Palm. The strange thing is the post doesn't refer to a Treo, but refers to it as " The new Palm smartphone". Could this be the Palm Centro or a device we haven't seen yet? Palm will make the announcement on September 12th, stay tuned.
Labels: palm, smartphone
LG has announced the LG KS20 smartphone, here's a list of the specs:
Windows Mobile 6 Professional
12.8 mm thich
2.8-inch touch screen display
Full browsing capability
HSDPA-supporting
3.6Mbps download speed
Push email service
2 megapixel camera
MP3 playback
Bluetooth 2.0
Cursive script recognition
Video call.
Labels: smartphone, windows mobile
Labels: iphone, smartphone
The Economic Daily News, a Chinese-language newspaper in Taiwan, reported that Quanta is already slated to become an iPhone assembler, the second Taiwanese company behind Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., to build the handsets for Apple. Quanta is also working on a new smartphone for Dell, the newspaper reported, without citing a source for the information.
Quanta does not discuss customer orders, a spokeswoman said, but noted that this year, the company is focused on building its smartphone and PDA (personal digital assistant) business." Via Yahoo News .
Labels: iphone, rumors, smartphone
The iPhone is about to do for smartphones what the iPod did for digital music players: put one in everyone's pocket. That's the message Warren East, CEO of ARM Holdings, brought to Computex Wednesday in a talk about the future of mobile computing.
The idea of putting computing power into a small device has been around for years. Apple put out the Newton personal digital assistant (PDA) in the early 1990s, followed by U.S. Robotics with its Pilot (which later became the Palm). Adding computing functions to mobile phones, to create smartphones, happened soon after. Now, demand for Internet access while on the move is making small computing devices even more popular. Even the computer industry has taken up the challenge, with its ultramobile PC.
"This has been an emerging market for a long time," East said in an interview. And the hype surrounding the iPhone will put smartphones in the lead as demand for Internet access at all times takes off, he said." In fact, he believes that smartphone sales could double this year if the iPhone proves to be the hit that some people expect. Sales will end up close to 200 million units, or double last year's figure, if the iPhone is a hit, East said, because smartphone demand overall will take off. "Within the next few years, smartphones will make up half the mobile phone market," he said."Via InfoWorld .
Labels: iphone, smartphone
Or at least, that's what they claim. Nevertheless, it's an interesting (and surely a sorely-needed) mobile service that let's you schedule texts or calls to give your weaseling out plausibility. It also provides pictures of your "boyfriend" or "girlfriend" as proof.
But that's not all. MobileFaker gives you access to a trend database, so you can talk about the latest things without coming off as stupid. And if you need to reject or attract someone, MobileFaker's database also includes pick-up lines and creative ways of saying no.
There's a lot more under the hood apparently. So go check out mobilefaker.com." Via The Smart PDA .
Labels: culture, smartphone
Gizmodo has posted pictures of Sony Ericsson's recent patent showing what looks to be the PSP phone.
Labels: gaming, smartphone
Brando has released the Brando Dual SIM, TV Phone V10 .
Dual SIM, TV Phone V10
Bulit-in TV Tuner, Radio, Dual SIM, multi media phone.
Specification:
Network: GSM 900/1800 GPRS
Dimensions: 118mm x 60mm x 17mm
Weight: 120g
Display: 2.6", TFT touchscreen, 256K colors, QVGA 240x320 pixels, handwriting recognition
Standby Time: 210-290mins
Talk Time: 150-280mins
Functions:
Built-in TV Tuner, Radio
Dual Card (Choose SIM to active. Only 1 SIM active at a time.)
1.3 MEGA Pixels Camera
2.8" QVGA 26K Touch Screen
Dual-Band: GSM 900 / DCS 1800
E-book, WAP
64 polyphonic, MP3 Ringtone
GPRS, SMS, MMS, Voice Mail, Cell Broadcast
Music and Video: MP3, MP4, 3GP
Languages: English, Tradition Chinese
Support upto 2GB T-Flash
Labels: smartphone
Labels: smartphone
Labels: smartphone
PDA Live is reporting that HP has listed the iPaq 510 Voice Messenger as coming soon.
"The HP iPAQ 510 Voice Messenger has its own page listed at $319 with availability listed as coming soon.
It's an odd little smartphone. It has a candy bar form factor only a numerical keypad but it as wi-fi and WinMob Smartphone 6.
other features:
2.0" Micro-reflective TFT,176x220 pixel color with LED backlight
Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Pocket versions of Microsoft software are included (Outlook Mobile, Office Mobile and Internet Explorer for Smartphone)
Integrated Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE wireless radio with automatic band transition, Integrated WiFi, 802.11 b/g with WPA2 security , Integrated Bluetooth, v1.2 wireless technology"
Labels: smartphone, windows mobile
The Boy Genius had this phone back in January, it was called the Cavalier back then and had been postponed indefinitely. It looks like the Cavalier is ready to come out of hiding and will get a name change. It is now called the Dopod C730, who comes up with these names?? The good news is it will be a nice upgrade from the current Dash.
"According to CNET Asia, the HTC Cavalier will be released with Windows Mobile 6 Standard and is expected to be powered by a 400 MHz CPU with 64 MB of RAM and 128 of MB ROM which can be extended through microSD memory cards. The quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE also features UMTS, HSDPA as well as Bluetooth 2.0 and WiFi b/g and a 2 megapixel camera for photos and videos."
Labels: smartphone, windows mobile
There aren't many details to be found, but "sources" claim that it's codenamed "Fly" and will have Windows Mobile 6, HSDPA, and possibly a QWERTY." Via Gizmodo .
Labels: rumors, smartphone
Modaco has posted a review complete with pictures and video of the upcoming HTC S710 Vox Smartphone.
Labels: smartphone, windows mobile
Gizmodo has the first shots of of the upcoming Maroon Treo 755p from Sprint. I know Palm is trying to offer more colors of their Treos, but maroon?? C'mon Palm release a Black Treo 755p, it's a much more desired color, and I can guarantee you'd sell a whole lot more than maroon.
Labels: palm, smartphone, sprint, treo
"I got rid of my old PDA (Dell Axim Pocket PC) almost 2 years ago because I hadn’t been using it much. I found myself over the last year missing it and I made an attempt to use a Blackberry 7100g after the OGO (cellular text messenger) was discontinued on Cingular and was quite disappointed that the Blackberry wasn’t easy to use and didn’t show appointments on the home screen. I eventually eBay’d the Blackberry and switched back to a normal phone (Motorola L6 … a very good phone by the way).
I had been keeping an eye out for an affordable smartphone. A couple weeks ago Cingular the New ATT had their BlackJack made by Samsung make an appearance on their website in the form of refurbished units. I had read all the different reviews floating around that painted the BlackJack as a high quality device with one exception. It’s battery life is only so so. Then I read a little farther. Cingular/Samsung ship the unit with a second battery and a little charging unit that doubles as a carrying case. I thought “… hmm … I have pockets … it wouldn’t bother me to have an extra battery kicking around.”
I also thought: “hmm … do I really want to commit to a 2 year contract for my new data device?” I decided worst case scenario I hate the BlackJack I could always get an unlocked something or other to stick the SIM card in and use." Read the full review over @ PDA Live .
Labels: cingular, smartphone, windows mobile
"Isabel Aguilera, the company's Managing Director in Spain and Portugal, told the Spanish web site Noticias that Google engineers are in the process of creating a phone that can access its mobile services, such as its search engine, gMail, and Google Maps.
According to Aguilera, the goal of the project is to make these services available to people in developing countries, where PCs are rare but phones are relatively common."
Labels: google, smartphone
Motorola KRZR K1 Holster Clip
T-Mobile Sidekick 3 Holster Clip
If you've got a cellphone, I can almost guarantee Boxwave will have accessories for it. They're one of my favorite places to get accessories for all my gadgets.
Labels: smartphone

Labels: smartphone
Alan Grassia has written a new Editorial over @ 1src titled "Smartphones: The Time for Change is Now" .
"Ten years ago, when I got my first cell phone, I avoided making calls for fear of running up a huge bill. Back then; there were no plans with minutes. You simply paid per minute for each call you made or received. Today standard voice cell phone plans are finally affordable. There is a plan for everyone, even the chatterboxes among us. Two years ago, I was very cautious about using my Treo 600 because I was only allowed 5MB of data usage a month. Today, with my Treo 700p, I am finally free to use my device the way I want to. I have a plan with enough minutes (I don’t talk on the phone all that much) and my unlimited data plan is affordable." To read more click here .
Labels: smartphone
"The LG Prada phone will be launched on 22 March.
The joint venture handset from LG and Prada, model number KE850, comes with a touch-screen, a 2 megapixel camera and an MP3 player."
If you can't wait for the iPhone this might be something nice to hold you over.
Labels: smartphone
Gizmodo is reporting that Meizu, makers of the above iPhone clone have released pricing details.
"The 4GB model with built-in camera will go for $310 while the 8GB version will go for $400. The entry-level model (with no camera) will go for only $195 at 4GB and $285 at 8GB. Compare that to the iPhone's $499/$599 price and suddenly Meizu's option doesn't look so bad."
These are great prices for a smartphone with tons of storage and it's iPhone looks only make it sweeter.
Labels: smartphone
The study also found that users of Blackberry and other smartphone devices work longer hours but earn more money. According to the study, "BlackBerry and other devices owners do, however, have a higher average income and education level--54 percent completed college and have an average income of $94,000, about 50 percent higher than the national U.S. average."
Labels: blackberry, culture, smartphone
"The secret's out at Helio. The Pantech PN-810, a three-layer-cake slider phone that has a regular dial pad and a keyboard has been seen on the FCC site sporting Helio branding. Despite being unusually thick—c'mon, those three layers have to add some heft—the phone does have EV-DO, a 2.1-megapixel camera, 260k TFT LCD, and Bluetooth." Via Gizmodo .Labels: smartphone
I want to thank all the readers that visit GOTG, you've helped us reach another major milestone. Gadgets on the Go is now ranked as one of the “100 Best Blogs for Gadget Lovers”.
Thank you for your continued support.