News

The FCC has revealed two new clamshells from LG and Samsung respectively, with the A837 having been shown off earlier last week.

The phone features dual displays, a VGA camera with video recorder, microSD expansion slot, Bluetooth with stereo audio support, and speakerphone. While the phone itself does not feature AT&T branding, the draft user manual submitted makes mention of AT&T services such as MEdia Net, IM services, and the AT&T Mall.

Neither AT&T nor LG have announced the phone at this time.

Nokia has announced the Comes With Music edition of the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic. Consumers who purchase this special edition will be allowed unlimited downloads in Nokia's Music Store for one year.

Nokia has not yet provided pricing or availability information on the new Comes With Music version of the 5310 XpressMusic.

Sprint and Motorola have announced the Motorola V950 Renegade. The phone comes in a black color scheme and features a 2 megapixel camera with video capture, a microSD card slot for extra storage and a built-in GPS receiver.

The V950 supports the Direct Connect walkie-talkie service for instant communication with friends and co-workers and also supports the Sprint Music Store, Sprint TV, and Sprint Mobile Sync.

The V950 Renegade is available today, priced at $129.99 with a 2-year commitment and a mail-in rebate.

Motorola and Sprint launched today the Motorola i365. The phone features an internal GPS receiver for easy navigation, a built-in Bluetooth and supports the Direct Connect walkie-talkie service.

The Motorola i365 uses Sprint's iDEN network and also supports Second Line Service, which allows you to use 2 phone numbers with one phone.

The Motorola i365 is available now from Sprint, priced at $89.99 with a 2-year commitment.

It seems that Sprint will announce the availability of the HTC Touch Diamond on its network.

There are only a few details about the features of the handset, such as its 4GB of internal storage, 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera, and its 2.8" VGA resolution touchscreen display.

The device will probably be available in September.

AT&T has released another version of the MOTO Q9h with the addition of Windows Mobile 6.1, and GPS support through AT&T Navigator in a striking silver pinstripe color.

The device is otherwise unchanged from the original Q9h which features a landscape QVGA display, QWERTY keyboard, microSDHC expansion slot, Bluetooth with stereo audio support, quadband GSM/EDGE and triband W-CDMA support with HSDPA high speed data, 2.0 megapixel camera, speakerphone, and Opera Mobile browser. Despite the branding, the device does not support the 2100Mhz band necessary for 3G roaming around the world and instead refers to the quadband GSM/EDGE radio.

The Q9 Global is now available from AT&T for $249.99 after a new 2 year agreement before an additional $100 mail-in rebate bringing the total to $199.99.

Palm has issued another update for owners of the Sprint Palm Treo 800w smart device.

At issue is the device failing to detect many of the packaged accessories when connected to the device as well as charging issues centered on incomplete charging and charging a completely drained battery. Palm regards this as a critical update and asks that all owners perform the update as soon as possible to prevent further issues.

Unlike other HTC Titan variants (on Sprint, Alltel, and other foreign carriers), the XV6800 refuses to provided an open GPS port. This is necessary for applications like Google Maps, TomTom, TeleNav, and any other GPS application to operate and access location data.

The update does, however, add EV-DO Rev A, and will allow for forthcoming support of the VZ Navigator application. PhoneNews.com has analyzed the update, and found that Verizon uses a secure GPS API, which allows VZ Navigator to work, but blocks any other application from functioning properly. Verizon has not set a release date for VZ Navigator on the XV6800.

Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney commented on the modifications, and reasons for limiting GPS access:

"We have not blocked other applications from our version of the xv6800. It is standard for third parties to have to make changes to their applications to be compatible with Verizon Wireless devices. Every carrier is different so what one does, doesn't necessarily mean every one else can or will accept the same product.

In an obvious tip of the hat towards carriers, Nokia has quietly begun removing the Internet Telephony application from its newer Nseries devices, which run the S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 user interface. While this will indeed make it more difficult to use VoIP services on your Nseries device, since it will now require 3rd party application support, it does not remove the VoIP abilities entirely.

The Internet Telephony application found on earlier Nseries devices made it simple for SIP providers to simply send a settings file that would use the built-in VoIP application. Newer handsets still have the ability to use VoIP, but providers will need to develop their own applications, rather than being able to simply send settings to the user's handset.

Nokia issued an official statement, saying that they're anxious to work with developers through the Forum Nokia site to create these new applications.

It seems that the BlackBerry 9530 Thunder is headed to Verizon Wireless in the USA with a different name: 9530 Storm. The phone comes with a 8GB microSD memory card as well as a wired pair of 3.5mm stereo headphones and features a SIM card slot and support for some GSM networks.

The handset is rumoured to ship in mid-October.