Mobile Phone News

Filed under: Handsets, Nokia, CDMA

There’s a market for low-end handsets in any country — and in a country where CDMA still has as very big of a presence as it does in the US, you’d think Nokia would want to roll out all the artillery in its meager CDMA arsenal. Alas, Espoo makes it crystal clear that there aren’t any American aspirations in the cards for the new 2608, a simple flip (or “fold” in Nokia parlance) available in fuscia, white, or black with pink, green, or blue stripes, respectively. It can be tethered to a PC, features a voice recorder and speakerphone, and packs an integrated LED flashlight — but bes. of all, it’ll be the lowest cost CDMA device Nokia offers when it goes on sale in the second quarter of next year. Just don’t get your hopes up for an external display, alright?

Nokia 2608: simple CDMA, denied US citizenship originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Software, Samsung

So Samsung just put out a press release this morning, buttering up a hungry American market for a promised onslaught of TouchWiz-enabled devices — you know, that widget-based touchscreen interface that’s been sweeping Samsung’s international lineup by storm this year starting with the F480. The actual verbiage there is that Sammy expects to launch “several full touchscreen devices with TouchWiz technology in lat. 2008 and early 2009,” and we’re pretty sure we can nail at least three of those right off the bat: the a867 for AT&T, the T919 for T-Mobile, and the Omnia for Verizon. How’d we do, guys? Close? We were hoping all three of those would launch before the end of the year, but maybe — just maybe — there’s something in the cards for Sprint, too.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, Nokia, Symbian, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

While it may not be Nokia’s first touchscreen phone (anyone out there remember the 7710?), the 5800 XpressMusic is certainly the first to come out of Finland with a mainstream appeal. What we’ve alternately known as the “Tube” throughout much of its development cycle is the first production device to run S60 5th Edition — the fourth major overhaul of Nokia’s ubiquitous smartphone platform since 2002 and the first to support fingers, styli, and high-res displays. Speaking of high-res displays, the 5800 comes equipped with an impressive 3.2-inch 640 x 360 resistive touchscreen to go along with its 3.2-megapixel autofocus cam, Carl Zeiss optics, dual LED flash, GPS, WiFi, 3.5mm jack, and a microSD slot with support for 16GB cards. It’ll be available in three versions — European HSDPA, North American HSDPA, and GSM only — and ships this quarter in black, red, and blue for €279 (about $392) unlocked with an 8GB card thrown in for good measure. Music fans with voracious appetites for new tunes might want to hold out, though, for the Comes With Music-equipped version that follows on “early next year” at a to-be-declare price.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments