Verizon Wireless unveils MOTORAZR2 V9m

Today Verizon Wireless and Motorola officially announced that a new generation RAZR phone will be available next month. This is a CDMA clamshell called MOTORAZR² V9m. It offers slim shell, elegant design, high quality multimedia and operator’s functions.

MOTORAZR² V9m is equipped with a 2-megapixel camera, voice recognition function, external touch sensitive control buttons to operate music. The latter can be transferred by wireless means to stereo Bluetooth accessories.

The short technical specs of MOTORAZR² V9m:

• External display: 2” 320x240 pixels, 260K colors
• Main display: 2.2” 320x240 pixels, 260K colors
• External touch sensitive control buttons
• Built-in 2-megapixel camera
• Messages: SMS, MMS, E-Mail
• Music player capable to run music on stereo Bluetooth headsets
• Audio formats: AAC, AAC+, enhanced AAC+, MP3,WMA
• Video formats: H.263, H.264, MPEG4
• microSD cards (up to 2 GB)
• Video read/write, stream video
• Full HTML browser
• CDMA 800, 1900 MHz, 1X and EVDO
• Bluetooth v1.2 Class 2 (A2DP, AVRCP, DUN-GW, FTP-Server, GAP, GAVDP, Headset-AG, HFP (1.5) AG, OPP-Client, OPP-Server) micro USB 2.0 connector

MOTORAZR² V9m will be available from Verizon Wireless at some 300$ on a 2-year contract

10 million Linux smartphones in 2007

Experts estimated that Linux-based device shipments will reach 10 million in 2007. At the same time the Linux share of mobile platforms will amount to 10% - against 6% in 2006 according to Canalys (67% fell on Symbian, 14% - Windows Mobile and 7% - RIM smartphones.

Motorola has already sold 9 million of Linux-powered smartphones. It expects to pack its portfolio up to 60% with such devices during several years to come. In 2006 Motorola supplied 90% of all Linux-smartphones. The rest share fell on Panasonic, NEC and Samsung Electronics, says Canalys.

GSA: about 100 new EDGE networks over a year

According to the recent survey by Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), EDGE mobile services are currently provided by 316 operators in 149 countries. A year ago there were 213 suppliers, a 48% rise.

A total of 257 networks, i.e. 81% of all, have already launched commercial services, compared to 156 commercial networks registered by GSA last September. EDGE-based commercial services are currently available in 123 countries (others are on the deployment stage). At the same time, there are 101 networks in Europe, 64 – in America and the Caribbean, 46 – in Asia Pacific and 46 – in Mid East and Africa.

In addition GSA singles out 128 operators, which are offering or planning to do so soon both EDGE and 3G services. At the same time 93 WCDMA-EDGE networks has been already used on commercial basis.

Mio C230, C620 and C620t – new navigators

Mio Technology will unveil three new GPS-navigators at IFA 2007 show in Berlin: the C230, C620 and C620t. The C620 and C620t are equipped with a 4.3” touch sensitive display and will come with new software MioMap 2008, which contains latest 3D maps Tele Atlas. The C620t differs from the C620 in the support of TMC function (online traffic info).

Mio C230 is a successor of the C220, a simple low-end solution. It is supplied with MioMap 3 software, containing 22 Tele Atlas maps of Western Europe. The 3 navigators work on 400 MHz processors and 20-channel SiRFstarIII GPS chipsets.

LG-SH150: slider for 3G

LG Electronics has released its LG-SH150 phone on the Korean market. This is a slider supporting WCDMA/HSDPA networks (up to 7.2 Mbps data transfer speed). The device costs 500000 Won (approx. $540).

The specs of LG-SH150:

• Display – QVGA 260K colors
• 2-megapixel camera
• Frontal VGA-camera
• MP3-player
• Digital broadcasting - S-DMB
• 800 mAh battery
• Talk time – about 150 minutes
• Standby time – about 150 hours
• Dimensions – 100.5x50.8x15.6 mm
• Weight - 100 g

Samsung SGH-C506: cheap and nice

Samsung Electronics has prepared an inexpensive, but stylish GSM phone for the Latin American market. It’s a folding phone under the Index SGH-C506. It features original design, which somehow differs from company’s traditional solutions. As for the extra functionality, I’d mention a VGA-camera only.

The short technical specs of Samsung SGH-C506:

• Cell networks: GSM 850 / 1800 / 1900 MHz, GPRS Class 10
• Dimensions: 44x86.2x19.7 mm
• Weight: 76 g
• Display: TFT, 128x160 pixels, 65K colors
• Camera: VGA
• Messages: SMS, EMS, MMS, SOS
• WAP browser v1.2
• JAVA MIDP 2.0
• Misc: calendar, tasks, calculator, world time, alarm clock, timer, stopwatch

LG ME550D

LG Electronics has prepared a GSM slider ME550D for both North and South American markets. The device is very like the KE500 except for minor design changes and another range of GSM/EDGE band.

The specs of LG ME550D:

• Cell networks: GSM 850/1800/1900 MHz, EDGE
• Dimensions: 97x47x14.9 mm
• Weight: 90 g
• Memory: 60 MB extendable with microSD cards
• Camera: 2-megapixel
• Display: TFT, 176x220 pixels, 262K colors
• Messages: SMS, MMS
• Sound: 64-tones polyphony, MP3-player
• Connectivity: USB (mass storage support), Bluetooth
• Misc: world time, notes, tasks, calendar, alarm clock, measure converter, calculator, stopwatch