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New Autodesk SketchBook Ink App Delivers Stunning Creative Tools for iPad
24 May 2012 12:59 PM | No Commentsvar AdBrite_Title_Color = '0000FF'; var AdBrite_Text_Color = '000000'; var AdBrite_Background_Color = 'FFFFFF'; var AdBrite_Border_Color = 'CCCCCC'; var AdBrite_URL_Color = '008000'; try{var AdBrite_Iframe=window.top!=window.self?2:1;var AdBrite_Referrer=document.referrer==''?document.location:document.referrer;AdBrite_Referrer=encodeURIComponent(AdBrite_Referrer);}catch(e){var AdBrite_Iframe='';var AdBrite_Referrer='';} document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,83,67,82,73,80,84));document.write(' src="http://ads.adbrite.com/mb/text_group.php?sid=2053203&zs=3436385f3630&ifr='+AdBrite_Iframe+'&ref='+AdBrite_Referrer+'" type="text/javascript">');document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,47,83,67,82,73,80,84,62)); SAN RAFAEL, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) launched Autodesk SketchBook Ink...
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Vegas Tech Start Up Questionable LLC Launches Questionable Friends iPhone App
23 May 2012 4:53 PM | No CommentsLAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Questionable™ today introduced Questionable Friends™ for iPhone®. Questionable Friends lets you send questions to your contacts and provides instant feedback as questions are answered. Answers can be ...
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Sidecar Revolutionizes Phone Calls by Bringing “Smart Calling” to Smartphones
22 May 2012 12:00 PM | No CommentsSAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Launching today, Sidecar (www.sidecar.me) is a new mobile app that brings Smart Calling to smartphones. Smart Calling allows people to share live See What I See video, brilliant ...
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TransCore Launches Mobile iPad App for TransSuite Traffic Management System
21 May 2012 12:00 PM | No CommentsWASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Intelligent Transportation Society of America Annual Meeting – TransCore brings the ease of mobile computing to its TransSuite® advanced traffic management system (ATMS), launching its iPad® ...
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Cellfish Marvel’s The Avengers Live Wallpaper Android App Reaches 1.3 Million Downloads
16 May 2012 2:05 PM | No CommentsNEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Marvel’s The Avengers Live Wallpaper Android personalization app, created by Cellfish, has been downloaded 1.3 million times, driven by the massive success of Marvel Studios’ blockbuster movie. ...
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Ctia Archive
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Cellphone radiation law to help, confuse San Francisco consumers
Posted on June 16, 2010 | No CommentsOh San Francisco, you and your progressive ways. The city just passed a law -- a first in the US -- requiring retailers to post the Specific Absorption Rates (aka SAR, the rate at which at which energy is absorbed by the body) in no less than 11-point font right next to any cellphone being sold. Sounds good as far as consumer education goes, right? And a functioning democracy demands an educated and informed elecorate. But here's the thing: the jury's still out (just pick your favorite dangerous / not dangerous study to fit your belief) on the effect of radiation at levels less than the 1.6 watts per kilogram threshold set by the FCC. As such, CTIA spokesman John Walls has a point when he says that highlighting the SAR levels might confuse consumers into thinking that some cellphones are safer than others. In other words, consumer education needs to go much further than any retail-shelf placard could possibly communicate. Well, at least the law will keep us safe long enough to walk out the door and trip over a hippie.
P.S. The image above is from the "Get a Safer Phone" (note the wording) rankings provided by the Environmental Working Group.Cellphone radiation law to help, confuse San Francisco consumers originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Cellphones purportedly used more now for data, Gossip Girl blasts than calls
Posted on May 14, 2010 | No CommentsEver notice how easy it is to find mobile plans with unlimited minutes these days? Yeah, it's because they're about as valuable as pea coats in the dead of summer. With more and more consumers disconnecting their landlines in favor of using their cellie for everything, the art of communicating via voice is also becoming lost. According to "government and industry data" cited in a New York Times report, the growth in voice minutes used by consumers has "stagnated," with 2009 being the first year ever in which the "amount of data in text, email messages, streaming video, music and other services on mobile devices [in the US] surpassed the amount of voice data in cellphone calls." Dan Hesse, Sprint's head honcho, even chimed in with this nugget: "Originally, talking was the only cellphone application; now it's less than half of the traffic on mobile networks." We also learned that the average length of a mobile call was just 1.81 minutes in 2009, a drop from the 2.27 minutes per call seen in 2008, with many individuals feeling that other communication methods (email, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) were far less invasive of someone's time, being that they could respond to those messages at their convenience. Of course, on the Upper East Side (where all the richies use Verizon dumbphones, apparently), we get the impression that yakking away about a cornucopia of drama is still the hotness.
Cellphones purportedly used more now for data, Gossip Girl blasts than calls originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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ITU approves standard for universal phone charger
Posted on October 26, 2009 | No CommentsThe International Telecommunication Union (ITU), aka the telecomm branch of the United Nations, has recently approved a standard for a universal phone charger. The standard is based on the GSM Association’s earlier suggestion for a Micro-USB-based universal mobile phone charger. This is really good news for anyone who has been following the ‘universal phone charger‘ story. [...] -
CTIA jumps on the micro-USB bandwagon
Posted on October 12, 2009 | No CommentsFiled under: Peripherals, Announcements, Accessories
Think the CTIA is only good for swank trade shows? Think again! It's actually a trade group created to fight for your interests -- or at least those interests of your duly elected wireless providers -- and apparently top among those lists of interests is plug standardization. Yes, we're not the only ones sick of still having a sprawling mess of a gadget charging station, so CTIA is saying that micro-USB will be the power standard for all handsets and mobile devices. Likewise, the 3.5mm audio plug will be the standard for audio output on those same gadgets. It's shocking, we know, if only because we thought the entire gadget universe was already on board, with everyone and their mommas signing up for micro-USB and even HTC finally making room for a 3.5mm hole in the bottom of their handsets. These standards are set to go into effect in January of 2012, meaning we should get a good 11 months or so of dongle-free gadget harmony before the apocalypse.CTIA jumps on the micro-USB bandwagon originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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CTIA supports Micro-USB and 3.5mm for (future) industry-wide adoption
Posted on October 9, 2009 | No CommentsAs anyone who follows the mobile space knows, the CTIA, aka the International Association for the Wireless Telecommunications Industry, is holding its annual conference this week in San Diego. Besides serving as a stage for new wireless products and services, the CTIA Board has convened to discuss a variety of issues that affect the industry [...] -
Samsung Behold II handled with less battery than we’d like
Posted on October 8, 2009 | 1 CommentFiled under: Handsets, Features, Samsung, T-Mobile, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS, Android
Yesterday we showed you this bad boy behind a thick, hand-stopping sheet of glass, and today, we're taking you just a little closer to the action. The emphasis has to be on "just a little," unfortunately, because neither T-Mobile nor Samsung were willing to slip a battery in the phone and let us play around with it, a surefire indication that the firmware isn't baked to a golden brown yet -- and when you consider that they're promising the Behold II in time for the holidays, the clock's definitely ticking. Would we pick this over a myTouch 3G? Probably, yeah -- especially with the better cam -- but let's be real, the Fender Limited Edition is another story altogether.
Samsung Behold II handled with less battery than we'd like originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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K: Y’all sent 740 billion text messages in the first half of 2009
Posted on October 8, 2009 | No CommentsSo CTIA does this little survey twice a year just to measure how well (or poor) the wireless industry is doing. The result of its latest survey just hit the wires, and what immediately jumped out at me was this stat: around 4.1 billion (yes, billion with a “b”) text messages per day (!) were sent in the first half of 2009. I wonder how many of those are the always useful “k” message.
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RIM goes pale, shows white Curve 8520 for T-Mobile and Bold for AT&T
Posted on October 8, 2009 | No CommentsFiled under: Handsets, RIM, ATT, T-Mobile, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS
We know it's after Labor Day, but that doesn't seem to be stopping RIM from rolling out a couple BlackBerrys in bright white this season -- and who are we to accuse Waterloo of a fashion faux-pas? First up, the Curve 8520 on T-Mobile is now available, complementing the black and "frost" versions that have already landed; perhaps more interesting, though, is direct confirmation from RIM that there'll be a white version Bold hitting AT&T in mid-October. With the Bold 2 seemingly around the corner, recoloring the current model seems like an odd move -- but if they can continue to sell the Bold at a moderate discount a la iPhone 3G / 3GS, there might yet be a strategy there. The version RIM had on hand wasn't AT&T-branded, but... you know, just imagine the silkscreened logo and customized wallpaper, and you'll get the idea.
RIM goes pale, shows white Curve 8520 for T-Mobile and Bold for AT&T originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Pantech Reveal and Impact revealed with impact
Posted on October 8, 2009 | No CommentsFiled under: Handsets, Features, Pantech, ATT, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS
We've just checked out Pantech's new pair of messaging-friendly phones for AT&T, the Reveal and Impact; one of them left an "impact" on us, and we'll let you guess which one (hint: it's the one that would result in a pun occurring). Yeah, the Reveal was a pretty cheap-looking set -- and we're not sure we understand the value of eating of screen real estate with a dedicated numeric pad just so you don't have to slide the phone open to dial -- but the Impact (pictured above) was a genuinely intriguing phone. Up front you've got a glossy black surface that lights up to reveal a basic monochrome display and a numeric pad; pressing buttons on the pad triggers haptics so you can sorta feel your way around. Opening the phone up produces a full QWERTY keyboard with dedicated buttons for key functions (messaging, for example) and a color display with stereo speakers on either side. It's not a huge widescreen like you might find on something like an enV Touch, but it's still pretty big, plenty vibrant, and serviceable for the full HTML browser that AT&T's touting in these new devices. Pantech tells us that the Impact will go for "under $80" when it ships next month, so we'd argue that makes it a heck of a bargain in light of the unusual, slick design and the dual displays.
Pantech Reveal and Impact revealed with impact originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Verizon’s Razzle does the twist for us
Posted on October 7, 2009 | No CommentsFiled under: Handsets, Features, Others, Verizon Wireless, CDMA
We checked out Verizon's most unusual Razzle sourced from PCD at CTIA this week, and put simply, we're pretty sure there's a reason that this form factor is among the rarest. Twisting the bottom half of the phone to choose between QWERTY and a speaker with music controls just doesn't make a lot of sense unless you're constantly using the phone to play music that you want everyone around you to be able to hear -- and that's assuming you're okay with the sound quality and volume compromises you've got to make with a loudspeaker of this size. What really caught us off guard was the fact that the phone is bent about 15 degrees in the middle only in QWERTY mode; when you switch over to the speaker, it straightens out, though we're not sure what the use case logic behind that is. Anyhow, if you're just looking to own the weirdest phone on the block, the Razzle might just fit the bill -- and at least it won't break the bank.
Verizon's Razzle does the twist for us originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Video: Nokia’s product testing labs in 3 minutes, 42 seconds
Posted on October 7, 2009 | No CommentsFiled under: Nokia
We had a chance to take a tour of Nokia's research and development facility in San Diego this week -- and while we're afraid to say we didn't see any Maemo 6-powered devices or Symbian^4 emulators lying around, we did see some pretty cool stuff, particularly in the product testing laboratories where engineering samples and final products are put through pure hell. The idea is to simulate years' worth of real-life product use in just a few days -- individual tests last anywhere from a few hours to three weeks or longer -- by pressing buttons, sliding sliders, actuating hinges, heating, cooling, wetting, drying, dropping, whacking, shaking, rubbing, bending, and generally defacing the phones in every way imaginable. Once a phone finally breaks, they look for obvious reasons -- cracked plastic, broken springs, and the like -- but if that initial analysis fails, they've got a well-equipped lab on site complete with a scanning electron microscope and CT scanner for taking microscopic looks at failed components in both two and three dimensions; from here, they can find broken connections on chips, incorrectly-fabricated materials, and the occasional ant eye magnified a couple thousand times (it's posted on the wall in the lab, and yes, it's scary). Follow the break for a cheerful montage of a few Nokia phones getting mercilessly beaten beyond recognition.
Continue reading Video: Nokia's product testing labs in 3 minutes, 42 seconds
Video: Nokia's product testing labs in 3 minutes, 42 seconds originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Samsung Behold II caught behind glass
Posted on October 7, 2009 | No CommentsFiled under: Handsets, Features, Samsung, T-Mobile, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS, Android
Whoa, Android overload! Moment isn't the only Google-rife device out of Samsung that's on display at the show -- to get the whole picture you've got to turn your attention over to the Behold II, which is more or less a Galaxy done up in T-Mobile-specific clothes and makeup, right down to the all-important AMOLED display. Unfortunately, Sammy's been stingy with access to this one so far -- and it's apparently a non-working model, which might explain it -- but at least we can get a pretty good sense of the size of the device here. It looks plenty thin, and at a glance, it's got a higher-end appeal to it than the Moment; suffice it to say, the myTouch 3G's reign atop T-Mobile's full-touch Android lineup isn't long for this world. Check out a few shots below.
Samsung Behold II caught behind glass originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Samsung Omnia II for Verizon in the flesh, Windows Mobile 6.1 on board
Posted on October 7, 2009 | No CommentsFiled under: Handsets, Features, Samsung, Verizon Wireless, Windows Mobile, EV-DO, CDMA
We finally got a good, hard look at the Verizon-customized version of Samsung's Omnia II, and we've got good news and bad news: the good news is that the phone's a darker, more reasonable shade in person than it was in that press shot we'd seen before, but the bad news is that we've confirmed it's running 6.1. Anyone daring to release a 6.1 phone at this point is at serious risk of getting laughed out of the room unless they offer an upgrade path mere minutes afterwards, so we're hoping that by the time this is on shelves, it'll either be running 6.5 out of the box or there'll be an update program announced in conjunction with the release. Otherwise, the display's absolutely phenomenal (indoors, anyhow) and TouchWiz seems to work as well as it did on the original model, though scrolling through menus got a bit laggy at times -- isn't it kinda weird that a years-old platform can practically max out a circa-2009 device? Check out a quick gallery below.
Samsung Omnia II for Verizon in the flesh, Windows Mobile 6.1 on board originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Kempler & Strauss’ Billionair B6 and B7 pose alongside the W watchphone
Posted on October 7, 2009 | No CommentsFiled under: Handsets, Features, Others, Windows Mobile, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS
Kempler & Strauss -- which pretty much came out of nowhere this week to announce a pair of 3G WinMo devices and a watchphone -- is pulling out all the stops here at CTIA to get its new products noticed, so everything they've got is on display and ready to use (or in some cases, wear). First up are the Billionair B6 and B7, full touch and portrait QWERTY WinMo devices respectively that currently run 6.1 -- but we're told that 6.5 upgrades will be available by the end of the year. Neither phone looks that awesome and feel generally cheap; the B6 borrows styling cues from the original HTC Touch, to boot, so there's an overal KIRFy feel to the thing. The skin they've dropped atop the operating system is pretty uninspiring, too -- though many WinMo skins look uninspiring when they're up against something thoroughly modern like a recent build of TouchFLO 3D. The phones' saving grace might be the fact that they're cheap -- sub-$300 -- and in the case of the B7, the combo portrait keyboard / QVGA touchscreen is still a nice, sadly too-rare combo.
Turning our attention to the more interesting device of the trio, the W is a watchphone that employs a pretty standard GUI we've seen on similar models, but this one employs perhaps the most livable styling that we've seen this side of an LG GD910, and it all comes at a small fraction of the price. The touchscreen doesn't come with a traditional stylus, per se, but instead you get a "communicator" accessory that functions as a combination stylus / Bluetooth handsfree / remote control -- pretty cool, although we'd feel pretty silly (and sad) if we misplaced it. At $200, we could almost justify buying one of these just for the sheer novelty of it -- just don't expect desktop-class browsing on that display, and you should be a happy camper.
Kempler & Strauss' Billionair B6 and B7 pose alongside the W watchphone originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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FCC says there’s a ‘looming spectrum crisis’
Posted on October 7, 2009 | No Comments"What happens when every wireless user has an iPhone, a Palm Pre, or a BlackBerry Tour?" Speaking at CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment in San Diego today, FCC head Julius Genachowski has said that he wants to "close the spectrum gap" -- the difference between the spectrum it's making available for wireless data versus enormous usage projections (400 petabytes a month by 2013, he says) that'll be brought about by smarter, easier-to-use devices and ubiquitous high-speed data through a handful of initiatives including the promotion of the smart use of existing spectrum through the use of femotcells, WiFi, and smart antennas, and -- more importantly -- reallocation of existing spectrum. Genachowski says there are "no easy pickings" for reallocation, but the Commission is aggressively pursuing additional airspace that can help keep 4G rollouts on track. He's gone on to say that they'll be adopting the widely-discussed "shot clock" policy for placement of new towers, giving locales a limited window to protest placement of cell sites that'll help spread 4G services over wider footprints. The guy seems genuinely concerned about keeping 4G rollouts rolling, so let's see just how far the guys in Washington are willing to go to do that.
FCC says there's a 'looming spectrum crisis' originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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