Hasta La Gadget!

Given that REDFLY can’t sell its Mobile Companion for free-after-rebate, we’re not at all shocked by this move. If you’ll remember, we actually heard that Celio was looking to dabble in software back at CES, and now the company has selected CTIA to showcase its REDFLY Mobile Viewer. Available as a free download today in beta form, the Windows-only program essentially turns any PC into a Mobile Companion by blowing up smartphone applications on a bigger screen. The software works with all current REDFLY-compatible handsets, and it gives users the ability to surf their WinMo desktop at 800 x 480, 800 x 600, 1,024 x 600 or 1,024 x 768 resolution. We’re struggling to see how Celio is going to monetize this, but who knows, maybe it’s just in it for the fame.

Filed under: Cellphones, Displays

REDFLY Mobile Viewer removes the need for Mobile Companion originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ah, so the rumors were true. As BlackBerry App World descends upon the masses today, a particularly unique service is launching alongside of it: QuickPlay Media’s PrimeTime2Go. Unlike options from Sprint and AT&T, this alternative delivers video only over WiFi, though this arrangement does enable it to work on all carriers. The app will bring full-length television shows to certain BlackBerry smartphones, and with deals inked with NBC, CBS and MTV, we’d say the selection should be pretty good. As for details, it’ll run users $7.99 per month, though it will only operate (initially, at least) on the BlackBerry Bold and Curve 8900, sold by AT&T and T-Mobile, respectively. So, is this the break that mobile TV has been waiting for? Or is this yet another option that better get used to being shunned?

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Video

PrimeTime2Go brings full-length TV episodes to BlackBerry Bold, Curve 8900 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We had a few minutes with Sprint’s Samsung Instinct S30 at CTIA this evening and while we couldn’t dive in to find its deepest darkest secrets, we did get in a quick tour. This handset is well balanced in hand, perhaps even a tad on the light and “plasticky” side for our taste, but hey, we only had scant minutes to tour before the mob descended. The touch screen seems up to Samsung’s “Please Touch” theme for this year’s CTIA, the haptic feedback adding nice, ah, feedback when in use by reassuring the lab mice in us that our input was doing something. Follow on for a gallery and a quick video tour of the UI and a 360 view of the set proper.

Continue reading Sprint’s Samsung Instinct S30 hands-on with video

Filed under: Cellphones

Sprint’s Samsung Instinct S30 hands-on with video originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s officially announcing the Instinct S30 for Sprint as we speak, but why wait for all that jazz? We spied a dummy unit in the flesh out and about in Samsung’s mobile charging center here at CTIA, and while we would’ve preferred it not be behind a thick plate of glare-tastic glass, we’ll take what we can get. Notice that little “Exclusively at Sprint” tagline at the bottom there? Coincidentally, the same phone is being shown alongside its Samsung-branded full touch siblings — the Memoir, Impression, and Verizon Omnia — on a big ol’ banner outside the show floor, so it really doesn’t take rocket science to gather what Sammy’s theme is going to be here at the show.

Filed under: Cellphones

Samsung Instinct S30 in the wild originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This isn’t exactly the sort of announcement one expects to come out of the CTIA conference. Among all the usual mobile-phone emails that landed in our mailbox this week was one that read “CTIA–The Wireless Association Announces the Death of Mark Desautels.”

The 56-year-old VP of the wireless association died of an apparent heart attack while attending the show on Monday afternoon in Las Vegas. Desautels had been with the CTIA since 1998, after serving as the president and CEO of the Wireless Data Forum and the assistant to the director at the Office of Intergovernmental Relations, Congressional Budget Office.

It’s sad and strange news, and no doubt a shock to most. Stranger still, however, is the wording on the release sent out to “announce” his death. I suppose it’s for the best that they didn’t save the announcement till tomorrow.