Samsung announced that starting July 22, OMNIA will launch on the Italian market. This is the first European country to get the all-in-one multimedia-friendly smartphone, but others will follow and it will be available through major carriers as well as in open markets before the end of August.

Italians now can already pre-order the OMNIA, taking advantage of a promotion, giving them a free Xbox 360 Arcade. The unsubsidized 8GB variant will cost 499 EUR ($793), which is a pretty good price for a high-end phone, and a bargain for the same phone AND a console. Prices in other countries will vary.

by phone arena team 16th July 2008

16th June 2008, 3:38 PM   by Eric M. Zeman

The Samsung a227 recently appeared on AT&T's business web site. This basic clamshell has quad-band GSM/EDGE radios and a full HTML web browser. It offers mobile email, an MP3 player, and SMS and MMS messaging capabilities, but not Bluetooth, nor a camera. It will cost $10 with contract.

16th June 2008, 10:04 AM   by Eric M. Zeman

Today Ericsson and 3 Italia announced successful trials of enhanced HSPA technology that boosts upload speeds to 5.8Mbps, under optimal conditions. The improvement also reduces latency dramatically, which speeds up interacting with mobile web-based content. The two companies were able to reach those speeds using 3 Italia's commercial network. Increasing the uplink capabilities of cellular data networks will allow users to send content from their phones, such as email or MMS files, faster.

more at Mobile Tech News »

16th June 2008, 9:47 AM   by Eric M. Zeman

Researchers at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and the University of Tokyo in Japan have created new Flash memory technology that would allow Flash memory chips to have a lifetime that would span hundreds of years. Current Flash chips have a life expectancy of about 10 years, depending on how much they are written to. More reading/writing can cause the cells within Flash memory chips to expire sooner, rendering the chip useless after less than 10 years of life. The new ferroelectric Nand Flash memory cell developed by the Japanese scientists can be written to 100 million times, scaled down to 10 nanometers, and uses only 6 volts of electricity, less than one-third of today's chips' 20-volt draw. MicroSD cards, which are widely used in cell phones to expand file storage, rely on Flash memory chips.

... Read more »

16th June 2008, 9:33 AM   by Eric M. Zeman   updated Yesterday, 12:57 PM

A class action lawsuit has been brought against AT&T and Nokia. They are being sued by a group that claims AT&T retailer CommClub sold reconditioned, used, and refurbished Nokia phones as brand new products. The lawsuit originally named all three parties and was filed in Los Angeles, but was recently moved to the federal level. Neither AT&T nor Nokia commented.

more at RCR News »

16th June 2008, 9:26 AM   by Eric M. Zeman

Today, Thrrum announced that its MMS search product is now available to subscribers of T-Mobile's and Verizon Wireless's networks. If you see something that you'd like more information about, take a picture of any sort of text that is associated with it (such as a product name). Send the picture as an MMS to Thrrum, and it will return search results based on what you send. You can then click on the hyperlinks and get more information without typing anything. The service is free.

more at 23half » / Thrrum »