Samsung Cell Phones
Samsung pushes its market share to 16%
Apr 25th
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. shipped over 46 million phones in Q1 to solidify itself as the world’s second best mobile phone manufacturer. The 33% increase in sales over Q1 2007, has pushed its market share to 16%.
All this while Motorola tumbled to a 9.4% share in the No. 3 spot. Motorola has yet to come up with an encore to its original RAZR and has just announced that losses have reached a shocking $194m as sales fell to a 4 year low. Now consider that the industry is expected to have at least 14% growth and the fact that LG is looking at solid gains and is now at 8.6% share and Motorola might want to start making large screen devices and realize the thin phone fad is over…..so really really over.
Samsung SGH-i900
Apr 16th
Samsung has seemingly leaked the info on a new smart phone called the SGH-i900 that will run Windows Mobile 6.1. Its seems to be the real deal with some serious specs but only time will tell if all of the rumors are true. No one is sure what this thing even looks like and Samsung doesn’t seem willing to confirm that they even make mobile phones so I guess the waiting game has begun. This looks to be a big year for Samsung and this will only help their rising stature in the mobile world.
The specs that may or may not be true:
GSM/GPRS/EDGE
UMTS/HSDPA
TV Out
Micro SDHC
Dimensions: 112 x 56 x 12.5mm
Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and
WiFi
GPS
FM radio
The 3.5″ screen
240×400 display
5 megapixel camera
8 GB of memory
Windows Mobile 6.1
Apr 14th
Windows newest version of their mobile operating system is coming out of the gates charging with both AT&T’s Tilt and the Samsung Blackjack II as the first handhelds available with Windows Mobile 6.1. The Motorola Q9c, HTC Touch, HTC Mogul and the Samsung Ace are soon to follow. This continues the trend of always having a vast amount of devices to choose from, something that has set it apart from its rivals.
The ease of installation in both networking and Outlook Exchange alone make it a solid performer. If not for a somewhat sluggish interface and at times confusing layouts, this would have been a noticeable step forward but alas it isn’t perfect or even close. The next gen iPhone and the Android might be bringing some serious game so time will tell if the big boys in Renton left their guard down just a tad too long.
Full review
Mobile 6.1 page
News from CTIA 2008
Apr 7th
CTIA ‘08 introduced a plethora of devices, accessories, and theories about its future but what had most interested was the 2 Mbps Mobile WiMax demo given by Intel, Motorola, and Clearwire. This as well as Sprint’s Xohm WiMax network, scheduled for launch later this year, are being looked at closely to see if mobile broadband is the future money maker that some think. Analysts are surprised to see how far ahead of the mobile broadband game Sprint is considering their recent struggles.
Nokia and their 810 internet tablet are already to go the WiMax route and were commended for the device with a 1st place finish in the Fashion and Lifestyle category. Samsung also scored big at CTIA with both the Instinct and the ACE. The won 1st and 3rd place respectively, in the Smartphone category.
The following awards were given:
Consumer Applications - Messaging (SMS/MMS)/Mobile Marketing
1st place - Cellfire 3.0
2nd place - Reply with Jott for BlackBerry
3rd place - SnapNow Mobile Visual Search
Consumer Applications - Mobile Entertainment/Social Networking
1st place - Ontela’s PicDeckâ„¢
2nd place - WidSets
3rd place - Yahoo! Go 3.0
Mobile CE - Accessory
1st place -Clear Harmonyâ„¢ Wireless Ear Buds
2nd place - CradlePoint PHS300 Portable Hotspot
3rd place - Motorola WiMAX CPEi 750 Desktop CPE
Mobile CE - Fashion & Lifestyle Products
1st place - Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition
2nd place - Wilson SignalBoostâ„¢ Pro Amplifier Kit (801242)
3rd place - ARCHOS 705 WiFi Portable Media Player
Mobile CE - Phone/Smartphone
1st place - Instinct by Samsung, exclusively from Sprint
2nd place - Nokia N96
3rd place - Samsung ACE (SPH-i325)
Mobile Widgets - Consumer
1st place - Zumobi
2nd place - Fusion Voicemail Plus by PhoneFusion
3rd place - JACKED Mobile SportsTop
The race for the 1st Android Mobile
Mar 21st
The HTC Dream has been confirmed as the likely flagship of Google’s Mobile OS Android. Details are much the same as before, a hidden qwerty keyboard along with a touch screen interface. The Dream will likely hit the market near the end of this year advised ‘the source’ which spoke to InfoWorld most likely after a few single malts.
As is standard in these type of breakthrough products, the companies involved wont even confirm if any mobile phones actually exist.”We cannot comment on this product,” said HTC’s Maggie Cheng. This product? Sounds like she just confirmed it. But my guess is that she and the rest of HTC’s spokesman are restricted due to Googles lawyers jaws being securely clamped down on their proverbial balls.
This is the render that has been passed around for months but is probably just a placebo.
Top 5 Fugliest Cell Phones
Feb 8th
I’m a fan of great design and only recently has this become a priority for cell phone manufactures, luckily the launch of the iPhone changed all that and the boring rectangle phone with no character is soon becoming a thing of the past. However that doesn’t mean that everyone’s tastes are the same and a quick look at what passes as a mobile phone nowadays sure reinforces that theory. So without further ado here are my choices as the Fugliest Cell Phones on the market today.
5. The Nokia 5300 XpressMusic -
The First indication of the fugliness are the color options available to the consumer that include only Lilac and Black. This phone is advertised as the perfect marriage of music and style. I am not sure if it plays music all that well but I beg differ on that next part, I thought they passed a truth in advertisement law that disallowed such blatant misinformation. I mean this looks like someone trying to fit a square peg in a round whole. It looks like to phones stuck together…two ugly phones at that.
4. Samsung T639 aka the stinky phone - Not sure what Samsung was thinking when they decided to make a cell phone that looks like a skunk. Maybe the designer is from France and has a Peppy la Pew cartoon fetish but here in the states we associate skunks with an offensive odor. Maybe I am looking at this the wrong way, perhaps what they were trying for is more of a skid mark stripe down the middle, not sure if that makes it any better or worse…ok probably worse but hey I didn’t design it Samsung did.
3. SideKick Diane von Furstensburg Edition - The scariest part of this model is the fact they paid a designer to make this one look better. I don’t know if she was going for the look of a blown up Kermit the Frog but that was the end result. Hey I am sure this appeals to quite a few people out there, like the Blind!! To be honest I hadn’t heard of Mrs. Von Furstenburg so I had to Google her and what I found out is that she makes dresses, well I for one am encouraging her to stick to that and stay away from anything that someone will actually use more than once.
2. Nokia Vertu aka The Cobra Phone - In what is the most expensive phone on the list and in the world, the $300,000 (not a misprint) cell phone just might be the definition of whats wrong with the world of excess. With one pear cut diamond, one round diamond, two emeralds eyes and 439 rubies one might think this phone is elegant, that is unless you’ve seen that large purple and gold cobra seemingly super glued right on top of the face. With that price tag the possibilities were endless and unfortunately all this phone needs is a swift end to its existence.
1. Nokia 7500 aka The Prism Phone - This is the problem with geometric shapes, some designers tend to get obsessed with them and before long you have something that looks more like a math problem than a mobile phone. I wonder if this was the same guy that was really into triangles on Seinfeld and ended up with a Junior Mint somewhere near his spleen courtesy of Kramer. I think it looks like the middle of a operation gone horribly wrong. The only person that bought this phone lives in Germany is names Klaus and wears rubber pants far too often.
Samsung G810
Feb 6th
Samsung has locked its sights on Nokia with its new foray into the Smartphone market with the G810 and judging by the specs Nokia better be paying attention.
* GSM/UMTS/3.6 Mbps HSDPA
* 5 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom
* GPS
* Wi-FI b/g
* 262K Color QVGA TFT display
* Bluetooth 2.0
* Symbian 9.2 OS with S60 3.1 UI
It looks to launching in the European market at first but should gain a North American model before summer of ‘08. Hopefully by then the ridiculous price tag of $860 will have been laughed at by our friends in the U.K. for long enough that it becomes affordable to the point where won’t need to hock a kidney. Seriously, $360 more than the iPhone? Heck its even more than the Dell Vostro 1400 Laptop by some $280.
The Next Generation of Mobile Phones
Feb 1st
With the rapid advancements of mobile phone technology in the past few years, some wonder what is in store for us in the immediate future. I for one don’t want to wait and certainly don’t want to hear about vaporware, like the flying cars we were all promised as kids. So lets take a rational look at what the Nokia’s, Samsung’s, and Motorola’s have in store for us in the relatively short time frame of the next 2 years.
Nokia is developing user experiences based on a multi-sensory level that can detect, transmit and emit smell. It can also radiate colors, light and temperature from a caller’s environment. The practicality of this is unclear, perhaps a sensory text message that smells like your mom baking cookies or the smell of your first true love. Other options are too unseemly to discuss here.
The look and feel of the next generation of phones will have screens better than even the finest TV’s. OLED (Organic light-emitting diode) will become standard as the line of living room TV will be blurred by what will essentially be mobile entertainment centers that slip into a shirt pocket. CES recently displayed the first OLED Sony TV and those that saw it still have sore jaws because they literally dropped to the floor. To give you an idea of how pretty and bright the picture was, the bleeding edge Panasonic’s have a contrast ratio of 25,000:1, the Sony had a 1,000,000:1. Yeah that wasn’t a misprint, a million to one ratio!! It is essentially as bright as the sun but far cooler to stare at.
Luckily for us the OLED screens are starting to make their way into mobile phones found in Japan on NTT DoCoMo’s advanced network and elsewhere. The Samsung 920 SC and the Nokia 8800 Arte are prime examples of phones with displays so gorgeous you will find yourself staring at them like you might a womans sexy curves. The 920 SC website is M.I.A. but the Nokia 8800 has a website so seductive I wasn’t sure if it was trying to promote the phone or wanted me for a one night stand, perhaps both.
The Motorola U9 might give us the greatest indication of what is in store, it sports a transparent screen that blends in so well to the rest of the phone that it is hard to tell where the screen starts and finishes.
So without knowing what the next killer app is going to be, we have to look at what we have seen lately, that the next gen of the mobile industry will focus on beautiful and well thought out design. We can look to the films of the 70’s, the architecture of the 50’s and 60’s, and the technology of the 21st century for the inspiration we need to create not a form over function but a form and function approach. And who knows we might even see that infamous Google phone before the end of the decade…maybe.
Microsoft Windows Mobile 6
Jan 28th
This week we will be focusing on the software that runs your mobile phone. This is an often overlooked aspect of the mobile industry and has just recently been brought to light to the average consumer with the new iPhone, its software updates and all their implications, both good and bad.
Today lets take a look at Microsoft Windows Mobile Software. Mobile 6 is latest version of this software and its list of phone models that it runs is very impressive as seen below:
Psion Teklogix Ikn, Psion Teklogix Workabout Pro G2, Verizon SMT5800, Verizon Wireless XV6800, iPAQ 510 Voice Messenger, Samsung SCH-i760, Pantech DuoT-Mobile Wing, Moto Q Global, T-Mobile Shadow, Samsung BlackJack I & II, T-Mobile Dash, HTC Touch, AT&T Tilt, Palm Treo 750, and The Sprint Mogul Smartphone by HTC.
Windows Mobile 6 includes many programs that people are familiar with including mobile versions of Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Windows Media Player, and Internet Explorer. This provides a broad appeal as these office programs are the norm in the corporate world. But the one thing that really makes this software shine is the ability of the end user to personalize their mobile device. Customized themes, wallpapers, and ringtones. The main difference between this and other mobile software is that all of this is free.
Its refreshing that Microsoft isn’t trying to make money off every aspect of the mobile phone that virtually all other companies do. This is why you see tremendous brand loyalty when it comes to Window Mobile users. The average customer has a high end phone that is essentially a pocket sized computer and having the ability to add the latest software programs is essential to their day to day tasks. Being able to add Skype and GPS programs as soon as they became available is a huge advantage and is something iPhone users can only dream about.
One advantage is the power of Microsoft and all that it brings to this platform, case in point, software add-ons are continually added to its website, all benefiting the consumer. A recent case in point is Viigo, a RSS aggregator that delivers your favorite mobile content quickly and conveniently and yes its free as well. There is also a great resource called the Windows Mobile Newsletter and its a highly recommended for anyone that has or is thinking about getting a Windows Mobile powered device.
Microsoft has quietly built a mobile industry powerhouse with its Windows Mobile Software that is running on over 140 devices worldwide. There are thousands of different software titles for the platform ranging from applications to games to productivity and much much more. They are becoming the dominating force in the mobile industry and with Windows Mobile 7 right around the corner they look to be cementing themselves as the leader in the mobile software marketplace.
Free software upgrade for Samsung Black Jack
Jan 25th
In what could become a trend in the smart phone world AT&T and Samsung are offering a free upgrade to Windows Mobile 6 which brings the older Black Jack up to speed with version 2.0. This might sound familiar as this is the same thing that Microsoft did for its Zune users and was roundly applauded for its customer oriented approach. Rewarding customers for taking a chance with the first version of a smart phone can only pay dividends in the long run, this breeds brand loyalty.
All info and updates via the Samsung website here

















