Archive for: feature phone
- December 20, 2010 6:45 am
Cricket Wireless doesn’t have the largest network, fastest data network, or latest phones. What they do have, however, is a new $55/month unlimited voice/text/data plan that comes complete with music — music subscription service that is. Somehow, this little carrier that could wooed the big four American music labels (EMI, Sony, Universal, and Warner) into giving Cricket Wireless users full access to millions of songs on the cheap. Debuting this new service come by way of the new Samsung Suede featurephone.
The phone itself isn’t anything to write home about. Though it does contain at least one unique feature — a “special” memory card. Said card is encrypted in an attempt to prevent people from copying music off of the card and then sharing it with the world. Such a feature isn’t surprising given major music labels are involved and was no doubt done to appease their over-controlling ways.
While we’re on the topic of memory cards and music, we’ll point out that the SD card is 4 GB in size and large enough for a claimed 3,000 songs. However, real-world storage will be far less. “Decent” quality digital music is typically encoded at 256Kbps. At that rate, you’re looking at `200-300 songs per gigabyte. So the company’s 3,000 claim isn’t very realistic.
Look for the Samsung Suede to debut at the upcoming 2011 Consumer Electronics Show.
- December 11, 2010 5:05 pm
Today, Verizon Wireless began sending out pamphlets to KIN users going over certain changes to their service, and most importantly highlighting that the KIN is really, really going to die on January 31st. That is the day in which the company will turn off support for KIN Studio, thereby rending most of the devices touted features useless. Specifically, the features that will no longer work once support is officially dropped include:
- Posting Pictures to Social Networks/websites
- Social Network Contacts Will Disappear
- Kin Spot Will Only Send to Email Addresses
- Social Network Access will be Limited to Web Browser
More or less, the KIN One and Two will be relegated to bare bones feature phone with an OK web browser. Why Verizon re-launched the devices recently is beyond us. Though clearing out inventory and making at least some money likely had a helping hand. Nevertheless, all is not lost. Verizon Wireless is giving KIN users until March 31st to trade in their near useless devices for another free 3G phone.
We can’t say we’re all that surprised. Given the massive flop the KIN was, it was certainly in Verizon’s best interests to wash their hands of Microsoft’s mess. KIN users may see things a tad differently though. On that note, do the KIN users of the group (1) want to admit to using a KIN and (2) share the feelings regarding the platform’s death?
The sales figures for Microsoft’s failure of all failures, the KIN I and II, have fluctuated from as high as ~10,000 all the way down to an outright joke of 503 units. Sources claiming the lower figurers proposed the idea that Microsoft may have shipped 10,000+ KIN devices to manufacturers, but when it came to actual customers, the bottom basement figures were much closer to reality.
A little digging (and not really all that deep actually) is all that was needed. Simply take a gander at the KIN Facebook app page. Look at the active users: 8,810 — the same as that’s highlighted in the image taken from PocketNow. Obviously, more than 503 devices were sold as I highly doubt the phones randomly sign into and auto-accept app permissions for Facebook. Then again, I have seen some pretty strange things.
Still, on a national level, 8,810 users is miserable. Though if you’ve given the full account of the KIN meltdown (multiple accounts available through Google) a thorough reading, you’ll see that it was a device that was doomed long before it ever saw the light of day. If I have to be completely honest, it was dead the minute Windows Phone 7 came into the foray. Remember when Microsoft criticized Google for multiple operating systems when Google announced Chrome OS? It appears that Microsoft ignored their own advice when they attempted the KIN and Windows Phone 7 platforms congruently.
Thoughts?
With all the talk over Apple’s App Store, BlackBerry’s App World, and Android’s App Market, sometimes the smaller guys get crowded out — Smaller guys such as LG and their newly redesigned App Store. Targeting feature phones and smartphones alike, LG’s store front will cater to handsets of all types and all platforms.
Initially, there are a little over 3,000 apps to choose from at launch, with most of those being designed for Windows Mobile. Though, as time goes on, look for more platform support and outright more apps. LG hopes to add another 1,000 or so apps by years end. On the topic of expansion — The current 23-country strong LG App Store will also seek out permanent dwelling in 10 more countries over the coming months.
At least on looks alone, the LG App Store is pretty slick. I’m impressed. Are you?
Fresh off their “Rule the World” campaign, Verizon (Wireless still?) is coming forward to let feature phone users know that they are still important regardless of the onslaught that smartphones are unleashing. At the same time, the sharing and social abilities of smartphones shouldn’t be ignored, even on feature phones. To combat this, Verizon is launching a new Twitter-sharing service called “TweetToGo”.
TweetToGo is a BREW-based Twitter app (developed by Pelago and TweetPhoto) that will allow users access to @mentions, picture sharing via TweetPhoto, direct messages, replying, and of course, tweeting. One other notable additions coming to TweetToGo are GPS support (allowing geo-tagged tweets and pictures), Twitter lists, trends, and access to saved searches. Overall, for a feature phone app, TweetToGo looks rather robust and complete.
Look for TweetToGo, available now and currently supporting 25 different VZW phones, in the “Get It Now” media center. Press release after the break…
Want to get your BlackBerry OS groove on but fly under the radar in a seemingly “dump” phone? Or you could just be bored and looking for a project. You know how it can be. It doesn’t really matter because “Selith” of Chinese site “maxpda” must have had plenty of time on his hands with his project — getting the BlackBerry 8220 4.6 OS to run on a feature phone Nokia 5700.
To quell naysayers, Selith followed up his original post with a video to debunk any claims that the phone was simply displaying images. Fair enough. The images look pretty legit and frankly, who would honestly waste hours of their lives photoshoping all of the necessary images to make it look so flawless. I’ve seen bigger wastes of time though. And let us not forget, with computers these days, even faking videos isn’t too hard. What do you think: real or fake?
Ubergizmo > Cloned In China > maxpda (Google Translate)
- January 19, 2010 11:07 pm
In the age of the smartphone, doing business with us consumers should be getting cheaper. That’s the way the capitalist economy generally works — as supply for increased demand increases, prices drop. So why Verizon felt it was necessary to jack up the ETF for “advanced devices” to a ridiculous $350 is still news to me. Even bigger news however was the inclusion of several dumb/feature phones on the “advanced devices” list — namely from the likes of LG and Motorola.
Whatever Verizon Wireless was smokin’ last month seems to have worn off (or they at least got something better) as the updated list of advanced devices is now void of any actual devices that aren’t smartphones or netbooks. A wise choice to say the least. But if you really want to get picky, we shouldn’t even be talking about $350 ETF’s…
Oh yeah, no official word from Verizon on this advanced devices list shake-up has been made known. Guess losing money isn’t that popular.
Wireless Week
[Image Source]
Remember that HTC Touch.B we talked about a couple days ago, eagerly anticipating the (as we hoped) Android goodness it was too bring? Well, sorry to break it to you but the shipping OS won’t be Android. Heck, it won’t even come with Windows Mobile either. Instead, MobiFrance says that it will be a BrewMP device (Mobile Platform). That’s all find and dandy seeing as how BrewMP is in fact a widely available and free mobile operating system, but it’s not doing much to get my geeky innards all twisted with excitement. On the other hand, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. What is disheartening however is that Brew is more of a low/mid-range OS that lacks some of the tools, services, and features of more advanced OS’s from the likes of Android, the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Palm.
So while Android and even WinMo fans are letting out a big, sadness filled sigh of disappointment, I’m sure the Brew faithful are jumping for joy. Oh ya, it doesn’t come with WiFi. Anyone still interested?
Phone Arena > HTC-Phones > MobieFrance (translated)
- December 1, 2009 12:35 pm
Don’t you love a classic rumor fresh from the mill? I know I do. I generally don’t like to get people too excited if there is little case for such emotion, but I’m sure T-Mobile customers and Android lovers won’t mind. LG hasn’t really had much of an impact here in the states as they have in other countries, say their home turf back in Seoul. Even then, just because you’re the favored incumbent doesn’t mean it’s a set and done deal. Telling signs of a cooling period for LG hardware can been seen when looking at the 2%+ dip their market share is currently experiencing. But there’s hope. As is common with any rumor, small grains of salt need to be accounted for. However, it doesn’t hurt to get ahead of the game in case it does turn out to be true. The truth?
According to Telecoms Korea T-Mo exec’s have been spending a lot of time “sight seeing” in their neck of the woods. Translation: T-Mobile and LG could be teaming up to release several Android handsets next year and beyond that would push the ailing South Korean handset makers U.S. presence more towards the front and center. I certainly wouldn’t mind. Looking at past LG handsets from abroad shows a company that can design and put together some pretty slick looking hardware. The software is just ok. Slapping Android inside is a good measure, even considering that they don’t skin the UI with their own personal tastes. I’m all for some LG/Android love. And so I ask, would you by into it?
Unwired View
