Mobile Phones

Samsung has introduces its new HSDPA mobile phone SPH-W2500 for KTF in the Korean market. The W2500 is a slim slider design and is only 13.8mm thick. A few key features of the phone are a 2MP camera, Bluetooth, and MicroSD memory slot. With HSDPA, you can download at a fast rate of 1.8Mbps. The phone is available in silver and purple colors. The W2500 is available in the Korean market and is priced around $525.

Internet usage over mobile phones is growing, in the U.S. - But are the largest carriers Mobile Compliant?

The largest U.S. mobile carriers–Cingular Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless, Alltel—are currently seeing a huge growth in data usage and internet mobile browsing. Together the top 5 carriers generated more than $6.3 billion in wireless data revenues for the first half of 2006 according to Chetan Sharma, an independent mobile wireless consultant. Overall, wireless data service revenues, which also include several regional carriers, exceeded $7 billion in the first half of the year. Mobile carriers in the U.S. could generate more than $15 billion in data revenue for all of 2006. This is almost a 75 percent jump from 2005, when data services for the entire year accounted for $8.6 billion.

I am ranking the sites on 3 factors:

1. Speed of download
2. Correct mobile formatting
3. The extent that the site caters to mobile browsing

Now, lets take a look at those 5 Carriers, I’m curious, whether they have websites that are mobile friendly and mobile compliant.

Cingular Wireless / AT&T (61 million customers) - www.Cingular.com

Speed of download: 16 seconds
Correct mobile formatting: Not correctly reformatted for a mobile device
The extent that the site caters to mobile browsing: The site is the same as if accessed from a computer, Cingular should offer services that a mobile user would want to see, ringtones, news feeds, downloads, maps, directions.

Final Score: F
Verizon Wireless (59.1 million) – www.Verizon.com

Speed of download: 20 seconds
Correct mobile formatting: Not correctly reformatted for a mobile device
The extent that the site caters to mobile browsing: The site is the same as if accessed from a computer, Verizon should offer services that a mobile user would want to see, ringtones, news feeds, downloads, maps, directions.

Final Score: F- (if you can really get a “minus”!)

Sprint Nextel Corporation (53.1 million) – www.Sprint.com

Speed of download: 9 seconds
Correct mobile formatting: yes, this site was formatted much better than others, and the content was not pushed or bleeding over into areas of the site that it shouldn’t have been. It’s readable and navigatable.
The extent that the site caters to mobile browsing: Sprint actually has content on their site that a mobile browsing visitor would want and use. There are some application downloads and other cool features.

Final Score: C

T-Mobile USA (25 million) – www.Tmobile.com

Speed of download: 2 seconds (this is a redirected site for PDA users!)
Correct mobile formatting: Yes, clear and condensed formatting allows a user to actually see the full screen and browse effectively.
The extent that the site caters to mobile browsing: Browsers are met with a login screen, and that’s all. I’m not a T-mobile user so when I am met with a login screen, it makes me want to hit “Back” and move on.

Final Score: B+

Alltel (11.82 million) - www.Alltel.com

Speed of download: 17 seconds, this site took forever to download!
Correct mobile formatting: Yes, the site correctly displays without having to scroll left or right.
The extent that the site caters to mobile browsing: There is a nice image asking if you want to send a text message, and there are some other tools for a mobile user on the site. I don’t see much value to someone who goes to Alltel’s site via a mobile phone.

Final Score: C

Conclusion: With 4 of the 5 top US mobile phone carriers receiving a C or below rating, I have to say that there are some issues with mobile compliance, and by the very companies that are providing mobile phone services. The biggest issue is with the carrier’s sites not catering to a mobile browser, in download speed and in the size adjustment issues.

Listen up Mobile Phone companies! Get your act together!

Perhaps not as odd as the headline sounds, KTF have release a new 3G handset that includes lip synching technology to replace the user’s image with that of an avatar, either a generic male or female one, or one of a number of pre-made, ‘fun’ avatars such as gorilla’s and pigs.

Samsung SGH-T219 for T-Mobile. Though technically it’s an upgrade from the Samsung SGH-T209, the SGH-T219’s simple flip phone design actually looks more like the Samsung SGH-T619 (minus the camera lens), which also lives at T-Mobile. The phone is available in both red and chocolate, which unlike LG’s black Chocolate is just a basic brown. Features are soundly on the simple side with a speakerphone, messaging, and basic organizer options. Unfortunately, it only has tri-band support (GSM 850/1800/1900) so it’s not a true world phone. Yet, it is cheap at $19.99 with service.

Grundig have announced a new smartphone that runs Linux as the primary OS. The B700 (pictured left) has some respectable statistics, such as a 2 megapixel camera, a 2.4 inch QVGA screen, a full QWERTY keyboard, and is also a Quad-band GSM/Edge enabled device. The handset also supports bluetooth and USB connectivity.

This Smartphone features a 3.0-inch touchscreen display, 2.0-megapixel camera, a microSD card slot (256MB included), USB 2.0 connectivity, EDGE, and Bluetooth support.

Here’s yet another iPhone competitor, the Neonode N2. Weighing just 70g, this touchscreen handset boasts a 2-inch 176 x 220 display, miniSD card slot, and EDGE.

So the F700’s screen isn’t multi-touch or 3.5-inches, but it does have a full QWERTY keypad and 5.0-megapixel camera. That’s not all, you’ll also find EDGE, HSDPA, Bluetooth, VibeTonz, and a microSD card slot. Samsung even loaded the phone with its own custom OS.

The Nokia E65 is a new model in the business oriented Nokia E-Series. The E65 packs business features into a slim 15mm package. The slide-style handset

* Quad band GSM plus WCDMA 2100
* WiFi, Bluetooth and IR
* QVGA screen with 16m colors
* 2 megapixel camera
* microSD card slot
* One Touch key for easy access to business apps

The Nokia E65 is already shipping in select markets and will expand globally later in the quarter. The unsubsidized price is 400 euro.

The Nokia E61i was the third new E-Series handset announced at 3GSM this year (see Nokia E65 and Nokia E90 Communicator for more info on the other handsets). The E-Series is Nokia’s business targeted handset vertical and the phones ship with more mobile email and productivity apps than the multimedia-centric N-Series. The E61i is an update to the E61, a “BlackBerry Killer” that was announced back in October 2005.
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