Samsung and MetroPCS beat Verizon, AT&T. Ship first CDMA/LTE dual-band phone.

Verizon is currently boasting of having LTE live in “30 NFL cities” by years end. AT&T is equally as proud, though admittingly behind Verizon, have stated that they will have some form of LTE network go live mid-way through 2011. However, both Verizon and AT&T have already mentioned that they won’t have any LTE phones in consumers’ hands until 2011 is several months old. With that said, a “little guy” is beating the big guys to market in one big way — LTE hardware.

SprintPCS currently has an operational LTE network in Las Vegas, while Samsung is finally getting around to releasing that RCH-r900 they showed off many months back. In case you missed it, the r900 is a mobile beast. It packs literally every wireless spec you can think of inside it’s tiny body — CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 EV-DO Rev. 0, LTE, AWS band 1700/2100MHz, WiFi, and GPS. The CDMA/LTE/T-Mo loving 1700MHz AWS band is a hot combination that I haven’t seen come on a US-bound phone yet. It should hint that the r900 will be a multi-carrier phone here in the States. (Well…we can hope.) Although, without LTE or any type of 4G tech dropping anytime soon on T-Mo, the luster is sort of lost as it’s “just another phone”…

Would you do it: Radio tower repairmen. 1,700ft. No safety gear. Best view in world.

You know, I never really gave much thought into radio towers and how they work. I mean, I know the basic principles of it all. But the actually nitty gritty details such as “How do you replace the light at the top?” never really sunk very deep into my brain. I can now consider that ship sunk after watching a video of a radio tower repairman scaling to the top to replace nothing more than a simple light bulb. If you think it’s a simple task, punch yourself in the face, turn around, and then punch your mother in the face. It’s not an easy job. If you’re afraid of heights you wouldn’t make it. Period.

In the movie (inside), we hear the guy mentioning that you take an elevator to around 1,600ft. before climbing out and spidermanning your way to the top — another 170ft. or so. At that height, you can easily see a solid 55 miles in any direction. Pretty awesome, right? 1,700 ft. may not sound like much, but it is. Further adding to the jaw dropping moment is the astonishing admission by the worker himself that most repairmen don’t take the time to harness up or tie themselves down simply because it “takes too much time” and is “too tiring”. Both of those little gripes are easily solved when falling 1,700+ft. back to earth because you didn’t use a simple piece of safety gear — you’ll sleep great and have all the time in the world…

Morbid jokes aside, I have a new found respect for these guys and gals because my ass is not going up there. The part that got me the most was the last 30ft. or so of climbing in which the dude is dangling on a piece of red metal tubing that’s at most 4″ thick. Yikes! Step inside to see the full show…

Nokia unveils the X5-01. Tech world vomits in angst.

Are candybar/slider phones getting a little long in the tooth for you? Over the last year, we’ve seen several manufacturers show off squarish style phones that as hard as they may try, still come out looking stubby and fat. Nokia thought they could change that negative image with the X5-01. Though after looking at the picture above for roughly 2.1 seconds, it looks like they failed — miserably.

I could be a little biased about this whole fat-bottomed, square design. Though from talking to other people (both tech nerds and casual commoners alike) the general consensus that I’ve gathered is that such designs as the X5-01 are indeed ugly as all get out. So who’s buying them?

Is it you? Let us know in the comments. Don’t worry, I won’t judge you…

2 Phones + 3 SIM cards = 1 Janus Phone.

Beyond all the usual hype surrounding Sony, HTC, Motorola, and a whole host of other well known smartphone manufacturers, what else is there really worth seeing at MWC? Sure there’s plenty of exciting things to see on the software front too, but I’m talking about something truly unique. Dual-SIM phones anyone?

Dual-SIM phones aren’t anything special these days as they’ve been around for quite some time around the world. Here in the US they’ve failed to catch on for a variety of reasons, the most notable being rather cold support from carriers. So why highlight them here as unique? Well, what if even “dual-SIM” support wasn’t enough, or you wanted two phones to quickly and easily become one? Think I’m spewing nonsense at this point? Nope. I’m talking about none other than the Janus Phone

From the picture above, it looks like two separate phones. But in fact, the Janus Phone is one phone that splits into two. (Or is that two phones that combine into one?) The smaller phone is actually small enough that it fits inside the battery compartment on the backside of the larger phone and acts as the larger phone’s battery, powering both units simultaneously. Further adding over-the-top value, the smaller phone has support for a single SIM while it’s larger sibling features a dual-SIM array bringing the grand total of “virtual phones” to (3).

It’s definitely a unique concept, though one that doesn’t seem like it would be too practical other than bragging to your friends about your “real” transformer phone. Does anyone find themselves wishing they could downsize their phone on the weekends and then upgrade every Monday morning to the larger screen? Likewise, does anyone have three separate phone numbers that they must have access to at all times? (Isn’t that what Google Voice and friends are for?)

Check out the vid below.

Video

CSS Insight

Cell toting 55″ REGZA LED TV is a beast. Displays 8 channels at once!

Think you have the biggest, baddest TV in town? Sit down because you don’t have anything against Toshiba’s latest beast waiting in the wings. The REGZA 55X1 LED TV has a host of specs that will make any videophile and sports junkie drool. So what about these specs?

• 240 Hz

• LED backlight

• Cell processor (same as PS3)

• 5,000,000 : 1 dynamic contrast ratio

• 1250cd/m²

• 7-speaker sound bar

• Opera-based HD web browser

• external 3TB hard drive for time-shifting up to 26 hours of TV from 8 different channels

Remember…this is a TV folks. I can’t really single out any one feature as being “the coolest” as it is all might fine by my standards. It’s worth mentioning the 3TB hard drive and Cell processor are stored in a separate box outside of the TV enclosure that is roughly the size of a first gen Blue-ray player. Even though a second box may put of some, the specs should quickly win them back. After looking further, I guess one certain feature does stand out. With that Cell processor understandably comes some muscle. Muscle that is capable of displaying 8 HD channels at the same time. Sports junkies, this is where you pick up your jaw. Now you can have the coolest party. 8 simultaneous channels at one time is insane. Come on folks, this TV is a beast.

The REGZA is set to go on sale in homeland Japan late this year with hopes of at least 1,000 sales before migrating across the deep blue to the land of the free. One particular “feature” I’m sure you’re all wondering about — the price. Such oozing of technological awesomeness doesn’t come cheap. The privilege for owning the coolest TV comes in at 1 Million Yen (~ $11,115 USD). Ouch. Yes it’s expensive. But, for many, they won’t even blink.

This isn’t Toshiba’s only experiment with injecting Cell processors into TV’s. Sources say a Cell powered 3D TV and even a “Super HD” 4k x 2k model that upconverts 1080p to 2160p (3840 x 2160). All I can say is Toshiba, bring it. Who’s feet are completely covered in drool? Anyone…anyone?

** A few more pictures yearn for your attention just after the click

56″ Cell-based 3,840 x 2,160p TV unveiled by Toshiba

You think that nice new 1080p TV you got for Christmas looks good?  Try sitting it next to the 3,840 x 2,160 resolution TV and watch your excitement from you old TV turn to shame.  The TV has a Cell-based processor on board that will automatically upconvert everything to said resolution through a technology called “Resolution +”  All I can say is how soon?  And how much?

Source: Engadget