a blog about Nokia phones, S60, and the wireless industry

Archive for June, 2007

Siemens Bluetooth Car Kit HKW-700 $24.99

Saturday, June 30th, 2007

Master of the one-day-one-deal sites, Woot.com, is selling this Siemens HKW-700 Bluetooth Car Kit for $19.99 + $4.99 shipping.

The HKW-700 plugs into your car’s cigarette lighter and once it’s paired for the very first time, it’ll automatically connect to it as soon as you enter your car. The power of Bluetooth, baby.

Siemens HKW-700 Bluetooth Car Kit thumbnail

Get the Siemens HKW-700 Bluetooth Car Kit for $24.99 shipped.

Read More  Read More

T-Mobile: The @Home Service

Friday, June 29th, 2007

I can’t remember the last time I heard the term “@Home” for Comcast’s cable internet service, but it appears that a new agreement between Comcast and T-Mobile could be the start of something big. iPhone big.

T-Mobile's new @Home service provides a fake landline for $10 bucks a month.

T-Mobile’s new @Home service provides a fake landline for $10 bucks a month.

Read More  Read More

Deja Vu All Over Again (iPhone release)

Thursday, June 28th, 2007

Seriously. In scenes reminiscent of last November’s Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii launch, thousands took to the pavements in anticipation of Apple’s iPhone launch.

Outside the Apple Store in New York City, eager iPhone-ists have waited since Monday. On the opposite side of the country, fans started lining up as late as Thursday.

The iPhone will be released on Friday at 6 pm in each time zone, and will be available at Apple Stores and AT&T retail stores in two different configurations: one with a 4 gigabyte hard drive, and another with double the capacity.

Annoyingly coy as usual, Apple did not release any information as to how many iPhone units would be available.

Quote of the Day regarding the iPhone:

“Steve Jobs has delivered the hardware and now Hugh Hefner has delivered the software.”
-Playboy, on the new iPlayboy downloadable content pack that includes wallpapers, photo albums, and videos.

The iPhone, hot on the trail of the Wii.

The iPhone, hot on the trail of the Wii.

The Future of Palm (again)

Thursday, June 28th, 2007

Quote from Motley Fool article: “I’m really starting to feel bad for Palm.”

After reporting lower earnings today which were mainly due to crappier sales of Palm’s palmtop computers, one just has to wonder: is this company ever going to mount a comeback?

The company also lowered expectations for the next quarter, pinning some of the blame on the iPhone launch. According to CEO Ed Colligan, “They will have 30 days to return (iPhone) so we hope we’ll benefit from that, if that happens.” Right. Like anyone would want to return their iPhone for a Treo!

Meanwhile, the Motley Fool also passed along a rumor that said many of the engineers responsible for putting wi-fi in the next Treo are now gone – and when competitors such as Nokia (and possibly Research in Motion) have started integrated wi-fi as standard in many higher-end products – the timing couldn’t be worse.

And did we mention the Foleo?

Source: “Treo Tries, Wi-Fi Dies” – Motley Fool

The future of Palm looks bleak.

The future of Palm looks bleak.

Nokia’s High-End Cell Phone Strategy

Wednesday, June 27th, 2007

After a reorganization that shifted priorities from crappier, low-end “emerging market” phones to multimedia smartphones, Nokia is back and ready to mess with the US market, among others.

Nokia logo

Nokia’s shift to high-end phones and the US market should put the hurt into some “other” phone manufacturers.

Read More  Read More

A Long-Awaited Nokia USA Web Site Update

Wednesday, June 27th, 2007

That’s right: Nokia finally got off its lazy butt and revamped the Nokia USA site to look more like the Euro sites. I’m still not a fan of those funky green tabs, but it’s a heck of a lot better than the previous incarnation which could’ve handily won the Most Boring Web Site Competition.

More randomness inside.

The Nokia 6310i: an iconic breakthrough of a cell phone.

The Nokia 6310i: an iconic breakthrough of a cell phone. Okay, yeah, I owned one.

Read More  Read More

Lol: It’s the…iClone!

Tuesday, June 26th, 2007

What luck! I managed to stumble on a site selling some of our favorite fakes, but this one takes the cake! Meet the iClone. (actually, it doesn’t even have an official name)

The iClone.

You can wait 3 days for the iPhone, or you can buy the iClone right now.

Read More  Read More

Nokia BH-803 “Premium” Bluetooth Headset

Tuesday, June 26th, 2007

This lipstick-shaped device is the BH-803, which I believe officially clocks in as Nokia’s Most Expensive Headset. Not counting Vertu, of course.

Nokia BH-803 Bluetooth Headset

The Nokia BH-803 Bluetooth Headset.

Read More  Read More

Score One for Nokia’s DVB-H

Monday, June 25th, 2007

The European Union will be recommending the DVB-H as the mobile TV standard in, well, Europe, when it publishes its findings in July.

Currently there are three competing mobile TV “standards” in Europe: Nokia’s DVB-H, Qualcomm’s MediaFLO, and South Korea’s T-DMB. However, DVB-H has been more widely accepted by EU member countries – not to mention that Nokia is the only European country on that short list.

So just how important is this decision? Pretty big or pretty small, depending on how much of a future you think there is in mobile TV. The EU’s influence is potentially enormous: thanks to the European Commission (part of the EU), Europe went whole-hog GSM and never looked back – and look where GSM is now. According to the commission, mobile TV will generate 4-5 billion Euros ($5.36-6.70 billion USD) in global sales in the next 2 years.

In the United States, MediaFLO is the de facto standard and will probably retain its head start on the competition, at least until DVB-H actually goes live. (it’s in a trial period right now in certain regions)

What I find funny and just a tad bit ridiculous at the same time, is the fact that the European Union “contributed $54 million to developing the DVB-H standard.” Of course they’re not going to recommend MedioFLO or T-DMB! Honestly, the whole thing reeks of fishiness, but then again, Qualcomm isn’t exactly on my list of favorite companies.

So I think I’ll just go with the flow. (not MediaFLO)

Source: “EU Suggests Nokia’s Mobile-TV Standard” – Forbes

The Nokia N77, one of many DVB-H enabled handsets.

The Nokia N77, one of many DVB-H enabled handsets.

No Phone Ban for Sprint Nextel?

Monday, June 25th, 2007

With a new software patch from Qualcomm, it looks like Sprint Nextel won’t be affected by the ITC phone ban on all wireless phones that carry Qualcomm’s infringing chips. Both Sprint and Verizon Wireless are two of Qualcomm’s biggest customers due to their use of EV-DO chips, but it seems that only Sprint got the workaround. Then again, maybe that’s because Verizon is spending more time trying to most recent ITC ruling “>convince President Bush to veto the phone ban.

You’d think that this would be good enough news to raise Sprint’s depressed stock price, but no – Sprint fell .13 cents (mostly due to after hours trading) to $21.89.

Source: “Sprint using Qualcomm patch to workaround ITC ban” – Reuters

Sprint Nextel narrowly avoided an ugly phone ban with a software patch.

Sprint Nextel narrowly avoided an ugly phone ban with a software patch.