While primarily a stomping ground for carriers and content developers to meet and deal, this year’s CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment show, held last week in San Francisco, also provided a platform for the launch of several new wireless handsets.
Audiovox Communications Corp. led the pack, launching an EV-DO device, two 1.3-megapixel camera phones, a phone for the “budget conscious” and a Sprint PCS smart phone.
“Introducing our first EV-DO handset expands Audiovox’s comprehensive product offerings and commitment to wireless technology,” Philip Christopher, chief executive officer of Audiovox, said of the CDM-8940, the vendor’s first EV-DO handset.
Audiovox said the dual-band CDMA phone can transmit data at rates up to 2.4 megabits per second. It has two color displays, a built-in 1.3-megapixel camera and an SD card slot for more memory. The handset also is Java/BREW capable and comes with two-way messaging capabilities and the MSM6500 chipset with GPSOne capability for E911 Phase 2.
Audiovox said it is in negotiations with carriers interested in offering the device.
Audiovox also released its CDM-8930 1.3-megapixel camera phone.
The handset, featuring a swivel clamshell body, has a 1.3-megapixel digital camera with a built-in flash that can store up to 20 photos. The device also includes a camcorder capable of recording up to 10 minutes of video.
The phone also features a 2-inch LCD display, a two-way speakerphone, voice-activated dialing capability, polyphonic ringers and stereo sound. The tri-mode CDMA2000 1x-enabled phone is Java/BREW capable and includes the GPSOne-capable MSM6100 chipset for E911 Phase 2 support.
“The 8930 gives users the same look and feel of a camcorder, camera and phone device rolled into one,” said Christopher. “Users will find its swiveling head beneficial for recording video and taking photos. The 8930 is truly a definition of what a converged device means.”
Audiovox also launched the Sharp TM 150, a tri-band phone with a built-in SD slot and a 1.3-megapixel camera. The phone is available through T-Mobile USA Inc.
Finally, Audiovox launched the “budget conscious” CDM-8615 handset. The tri-mode CDMA2000 1x-capable phone is Java enabled and has a WAP 2.0 Web browser. The phone features a clamshell design with a color LCD screen, along with a two-way speakerphone, two-way SMS and polyphonic ringers.
Meanwhile, Sprint Corp. launched the PPC-6601 Sprint PCS Vision Smart Device from Audiovox. The phone, which features Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 software and embedded Bluetooth technology, will be available in November through Sprint business channels for $630.
The PPC-6601 features the Intel XScale 400 MHz processor, 128 megabytes of memory, capabilities for viewing, creating and editing documents, e-mail and text-messaging features, a Web browser, portrait and landscape viewing modes, a Qwerty keyboard and a removable lithium-ion battery.
Later this year, Sprint plans to offer the PPC-6600 version of the device, to include an embedded VGA-quality camera with flash and video capability.
Furthering its smart-phone lineup, Sprint also announced it will be the first carrier to offer palmOne Inc.’s Treo 650 smart phone.
The device, which will retail for $600, includes phone, e-mail, Web, organizer, MP3 player, digital camera and camcorder capabilities. Sprint said it will also offer a non-camera version of the phone later this year.
Sprint’s launch of the Treo 650 device will also include a Palm OS version of content provider Handango’s InHand device-resident download client. The client, re-branded as the Sprint PCS Software Store for the device, will offer customers immediate access to mobile content including games, business applications, productivity titles and ring tones.
Meanwhile, SEVEN will power Sprint PCS Business Connection enterprise e-mail on the Treo 650, as its default enterprise mobile e-mail client.
SEVEN’s e-mail service, accessible via an e-mail hot-key or by selecting “Get BC” from the phone’s screen, provides real-time, secure access to Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange, IMAP and POP3 e-mail, calendar, personal contacts, corporate directories, network drives and desktop documents.
Also available for the Treo 650 is JP Mobile’s SureWave Mobile Office push e-mail/PIM and on-device security solution so users can access corporate e-mail, calendar, contacts and other productivity applications securely. Visto Corp. also announced support for the new device with the Visto Mobile wireless e-mail platform.
NEC America Inc. introduced its first mid-tier phone, the NEC 232 GSM/EDGE handset, featuring a built-in VGA digital camera with a personal light for illuminating darker shots, as well as a camera timer for hands-free picture taking. The phone is priced at about $249 without carrier subsidies.
NEC also showed its 535M GSM/GPRS phone, which Triton PCS Holdings Inc. will sell. The handset features a 1.3-megapixel SXGA quality digital camera with four times zoom, a personal light and a macro mode for shaper, close up shots. The camera also has an MPEG 4 video recorder.
Meanwhile, Asian manufacturers launched devices at the Expo Comm China 2004 show in Beijing, also held last week.
UTStarcom Inc. released the UT228 handset, which it said is the first Personal Access System (PAS) handset model with PIM technology. UTStarcom is set to buy Audiovox.
UTStarcom’s PAS network technology and handsets combine wireless technology with fixed-line networks to enable cost-effective citywide wireless service. The vendor also said it hopes the addition of PIM card technology will increase PAS handset replacements, currently only estimated at 2 percent.
Also at Expo Comm, ZTE Corp. launched the F808, which it said is the smallest, lightest and most compact 3G handset to date.
The phone measures 88.5-mm X 44.6 mm X 22.5 mm and weighs 104 grams. It includes voice and multimedia messaging capability, a rotatable camera, videophone capability and high-speed data download. ZTE said the phone is still undergoing development.
