CTIA show

The Motorola i365 is a beast of a phone.

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)

Last week, Motorola announced the new i365 for Sprint Nextel, and Wednesday at CTIA Fall 2008 Sprint showed the phone off to the world. We can only say that it's a Nextel phone through and through. It's big, bulky, and built to last. It even has the external antenna that so many other cell phones have ditched.

Features are about what you'd expect from an iDEN phone. Goodies include, support for the Direct Connect push-to-talk network, Nextel's second line feature, Bluetooth, and GPS. As we said before, iDEN is in no danger of disappearing. The i365 and the Motorola i576 are two of four new iDEN phones that Sprint Nextel is promising before the end of the year.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

If you didn't already know that football season was under way, you would after glancing at Yahoo's audacious purple booth at CTIA Wireless in San Francisco, where oversize posters and computer monitors advertise Yahoo's fantasy football leagues, and where complementary gelato is scooped into small, plastic football helmets. Across the convention center aisle, mobile widgets company Plusmo has also made a nod to the pigskin with a quiet demo of the beta iPhone app, Pro Football Live.

Released Monday to the iPhone App Store, Pro Football Live beta is a thicket of teams, schedules, seasonal stats, photos, and news. During live games, Plusmo cranks up the social networking features by adding chat, voting elements, play information, and the position of the ball in a virtual stadium. The free app has received mixed user reviews because of known stability issues that hang a screen or crash the app, but Plusmo's team hinted that it wanted to kick out Pro Live Football before the season really took off. Plusmo also expects its college football and pro baseball apps to hit the App Store within the following week, despite the baseball season drawing to a close.

At this stage, Plusmo's battle for sports tracking dominance on the iPhone will be against the free Sportacular, which houses its stats and news in a much neater interface. Sportacular, in Version 1.1, also efficiently shows stats for pro baseball, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, and pro soccer within one app, compared with Plusmo's multiple applications, each specific to its own sport. However, there are enough multimedia extras in Plusmo's football app to keep sports lovers checking back in for improvements. Golf fans can check out the free Plusmo Golf, which debuted in August, and cricket followers should keep an eye out for Cricinfo MobiCast, also forthcoming.

From left to right: the Motorola Rokr EM30, EM28, and EM25.

(Credit: Nicole Lee/CNET Networks)

Early last month, Motorola released three new Rokr phones, but it wasn't until a CTIA Fall 2008 media event when we had the chance to examine them for ourselves. They include the Rokr EM30, the Rokr EM28, and the Rokr EM25.

At the top of the food chain is the Rokr EM30. Like the Motorola Rokr E8 it offers a candy bar design and a ModeShift keypad. Features include a music player (of course), an FM radio, text-to-speech technology, Moto's CrystalTalk, a micorSD card slot, a 2-megapixel camera, an FM radio, a 3.5mm headset jack, and stereo Bluetooth.

The Rokr EM28 sports a standard flip phone design. It offers a music player, an FM radio, a 1.3-megapixel camera, Moto's CrystalTalk, external music controls, stereo Bluetooth, and a memory card slot.

On the low end is the Rokr EM25 slider phone. There's a music player, an FM radio, a 3.5mm headset jack, a microSD card slot, a 1.3-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, and Moto's CrystalTalk feature.

Founded in 1902, AAA has shown no signs of being stuck in the past with the launch of its fourth-generation mobile service, dubbed AAA Mobile. This service works on GPS-enabled phones to provide mapping and turn-by-turn directions along with a plethora of location-based services. We saw a short demonstration of the service on a Motorola phone at this week's CTIA show. Although the maps were small, and would be difficult to read while driving, they were useful. AAA Mobile includes points-of-interest and can guide you to motels and other locations that offer AAA discounts.

(Credit: AAA)

And similar to the new navigation system in the Lincoln MKS we previewed recently, AAA Mobile includes live traffic and weather reporting, gas prices, and movie times. These information services let you, for example, find the nearest, cheapest gas. Traffic is integrated with route guidance, and will alert you if there is bad congestion on your route, suggesting detours. For emergency services, AAA Mobile lets you send your precise location to AAA for roadside assistance requests. Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T offer phones capable of using the service.

In what is perhaps Slacker's first step in offering its music service on third-party devices, the company has partnered with RIM to bring a mobile Slacker application to RIM's line of BlackBerry smartphones. The app, which will be available in October for free, will essentially turn the mobile device into a Slacker Portable Player--it works in largely the same way as the firmware on the player. More details after the jump.

(Credit: RIM/Slacker)

The first step is to log onto the Slacker Personal Radio Web site and create a list of favorite stations from more than 100 professionally programmed options, which range from dance and hip-hop to gospel and comedy. You can also save any of the more than 10,000 artist-based stations as well as create your own custom stations using a blend of artists. You can then select up to 40 of your saved stations for transferring to the BlackBerry (the number of stations/songs depends on the device's memory card). Then, you'll need to connect the device to sync your favorites over USB. However, that could be the only time you ever need a hardwire connection to Slacker, depending on how often you want to swap out the actual channels.

Once your stations are saved on the device, getting new music is a completely wireless process. If you get sick of any channel's rotation, a few easy clicks will allow you to refresh the station over Wi-Fi or your cellular network. The new songs are then cached in the BlackBerry's memory so you can listen to the new music without keeping an open connection--and without having to reconnect to your computer. There is also an option to stream stations that are not saved on the device; again, either Wi-Fi or the cell network will suffice for this feature, though Wi-Fi will likely offer a more hiccup-free streaming experience.

As with the Slacker Web service and device, the BlackBerry app will feature Heart and Ban buttons (in the form of onscreen soft keys). Users will have the option to pause playback and skip tracks, but will not be able to reverse through the playlist. Best of all, the service continues to be completely free--paid for by a reasonably limited smattering of audio and visual ads--unless you elect to pay $7.50 for the Premium service, which does away with the ads and skip limits, and adds the ability to save songs in your library. Hopefully, this announcement is just a glimpse of things to come from Slacker.

GPS and cell phone integration is an increasing trend as more handsets come equipped with the technology and location-based services get more advanced. AT&T, it seems, is particularly committed to the idea.

AAA Mobile Navigator

(Credit: Networks in Motion)

At CTIA Fall 2008, the carrier announced that it has deployed assisted GPS technology (A-GPS) to its network to speed up the time it takes a GPS-enabled mobile to get a fix on a user's location by using cell tower triangulation.

In addition to the A-GPS network, AT&T also revealed that it will launch several new location-based services to give its customer a choice in navigation software. The carrier currently only offers AT&T Navigator (also known as TeleNav Navigator), but it will soon be joined by MaqQuest Navigator and AAA Mobile, which is powered by Networks in Motion, the brains behind Verizon's VZ Navigator. Both applications are expected to be available in the coming weeks.

The LG Lotus in purple.

(Credit: LG)

Remember not so long ago when almost every cell phone was black, gray, or silver? Then, thanks to the Motorola Razr V3, pink was suddenly an "it" color for cell phones. But gradually, red became the new pink, and now it seems that purple is the new red.

Though we don't agree just yet that a purple wave will sweep cell phone land, Sprint is pushing the line that purple is the new hot hue for cell phones. Indeed, two of its new cell phones introduced at CTIA Fall 2008 come in the color of the royals. The Samsung Rant is offered in purple, red, and black, and the LG Lotus comes in purple and black.

Previous purple phones includes the Sony Ericsson W380a and S500i, the Motorola W755, and the LG CU515. While those handsets appear to be laying the groundwork for a trend, time will tell if purple develops into a full-blown design fad. After all, that whole champagne thing never really caught on. Personally, I'm still hoping green handsets have their day.

What do you think? Is purple here to stay? What cell phone colors would you like to see?

Here at the CTIA Wireless conference in San Francisco, Quickoffice, historically a mobile documents viewer for Nokia phones, is showing off demos for four new iPhone and iPod Touch apps aimed at Apple's contingent of MobileMe users.

The first, called MobileFiles, will let you view e-mail attachments, including Google and Box.net documents from your iPhone, something that iPhones don't currently allow. Quickoffice is expected to launch MobileFiles as a free, view-only app in November.

Following that, Quickoffice plans to release three more applications for reading and editing spreadsheets, Microsoft Word documents, and PowerPoint presentations, respectively. Called Quicksheet, Quickpoint, and Quickword, the three editors will likely go for $10 apiece. On the performance end, Quicksheet and Quickword clearly displayed MobileMe attachments as multipage files and allowed users two ways to edit by tapping the screen. $30 seems like a hefty surcharge for the privilege of editing and saving all three document types back to the MobileMe account from the iPhone, especially when the viewing documents alone will be free. Not all users will need all three editors, but those who do should receive a markdown for purchasing the entire suite.

Unless a competitor steps up to challenge the pricing and app layout, by the time Quickoffice's premium applications launch in Q1, Quickoffice will have the market advantage. We haven't heard much from DataViz, the likeliest contender, about an iPhone play, though with the company fresh off releasing new versions of its flagship viewer, Documents To Go, for Windows Mobile Pocket PCs and BlackBerry, iPhone is their next logical platform to conquer.

Research in Motion is loading BlackBerry devices with what its co-CEO Jim Balsillie calls 'lifestyle' applications.

(Credit: Tom Krazit/CNET News)

SAN FRANCISCO--In what looks like an attempt to compete toe-to-toe with Apple's iPhone, Research in Motion announced a slew of new integrated application deals on Thursday to make its e-mail-optimized smartphone more appealing to consumers.

E-mail was the killer application that catapulted RIM's BlackBerry device into near cult status in the corporate world. And now the company is trying to win the hearts and minds of consumers, not only with new phones--like the flip-style Pearl 8220, which was announced on Wednesday, or the BlackBerry Bold, which recently launched in the North American market--but it's also loading BlackBerry devices with what its co-CEO Jim Balsillie called "lifestyle" applications.

On Thursday, here at the CTIA fall 2008 trade show, the company made a series of announcements about different applications it's customized for BlackBerry devices.

This is not the first time that RIM has announced special relationships with specific application developers. At last year's CTIA Fall trade show, it announced it had integrated the Facebook application into its platform. Balsillie said during a keynote address here Thursday that the Facebook for RIM application, which launched about a year ago, has been downloaded 2.5 million times.

"It's been the fastest take up of any application that we've ever had," he said.

But now RIM has upped the ante adding a slew of new customized applications for its smartphones including: a deal with Microsoft to integrate search, MySpace to provide quick access to another social-networking site, TiVo to offer remote scheduling and browsing to a DVR, Ticketmaster to buy concert and event tickets on-the-go, and Slacker to offer a music library for BlackBerry users.

Here's a closer look at the announcements.

Microsoft mobile search
RIM has integrated the Microsoft Live Search engine into the BlackBerry Browser making Microsoft the default search engine for BlackBerry devices. The mobile search platform will let BlackBerry users get contextual, location-based search results or look for nearby points of interest, such as restaurants or movie theaters, from inside BlackBerry Maps.

Availability: Microsoft Live Search for BlackBerry smartphones is expected to be available later this year with support for multiple languages.

Separately, Google announced earlier this week that it's launched Google Mobile App for BlackBerry, a free download that offers faster search and a slew of Google services for BlackBerry devices. The new mobile application gives Blackberry users Google Apps support, a search history, software update alerts, and easier access to Google programs like Gmail, Maps, and News.

TiVo
RIM is also working with TiVo to allow BlackBerry users to search recordings on their TiVos and schedule future recordings while on-the-go. In the future, Balsillie said that BlackBerry users will even be able to view recorded shows on their BlackBerrys.

Availability: The first software application from RIM and TiVo is expected to be available later this year.

MySpace
First it was Facebook, and now it's MySpace. RIM will now offer customized access to the popular social-networking site, including instant, push-based messaging to BlackBerry and MySpace users, real-time status and mood updates, camera integration, and optimized photo management. Also as part of this collaboration between the two companies, RIM has created a BlackBerry community page on MySpace for users to access BlackBerry smartphone, content, videos, games, ringtones, skins and other features.

Availability: MySpace for BlackBerry is expected to be available globally in October.

Ticketmaster
RIM has also teamed up with Ticketmaster making its BlackBerry phones the "Official Smartphone of Ticketmaster." What this means is that BlackBerry users will be able to browse, search, and purchase tickets to live concerts and events from their phones. BlackBerry users will also be able to browse music and sample cuts. And they'll be able to sign up for e-mail alerts to get information about upcoming music and sporting events.

Availability: The deal with Ticketmaster is exclusive to the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. And the application will be available by the end of the year.

Slacker music
BlackBerry isn't likely the first smartphone most people think of when they think music, but RIM is looking to change that. RIM has partnered with the streaming Internet radio music site called Slacker, which allows people to create and stream customized music channels, to offer a new music experience for BlackBerry users. The music can be streamed or users can store up to 1,000 tracks on their phones so that they can listen to music even when they're not connected to the network. Balsillie said that the device automatically syncs to the music site when users enter a Wi-Fi hot spot.

Availability: The Slacker-optimized application will be available sometime in October.

Yahoo has gotten into the curious habit of releasing a preview version of a mobile app every six months at the CTIA mobility conference. This time around, it's OneConnect for iPhone and iPod Touch, an application that Yahoo hopes will showcase what it's calling its open mobile strategy. In layman's terms, OneConnect is an application that integrates your Yahoo IM account with your social networking accounts and also your iPhone contacts and camera.

(Credit: Yahoo)

OneConnect is following the herd of any number of iPhone application developers offering to post status updates and messages to various social networks, including Flickr, MySpace, and Twitter. However, Yahoo's effort contains some useful features that, along with its established base of Messenger users, could gain it traction in the competitive world of popular iPhone applications.

I got a close look at OneConnect in a sit-down with Yahoo Mobile's communications crew that builds on my colleague Stephen Shankland's coverage of the keynote speech given by Yahoo's Marco Boerries, Executive Vice President of Connected Life.

In its preview form, the social application has three drives: updating photos and a status message to select social networks, sending free IM and SMS messages to contacts via an IP-based protocol, and souping up the device's address book to show the contact's Yahoo presence and stage interactions with them if they're online.

I'm reserving final judgment until OneConnect becomes available from the iTunes App Store, but based on the demo: so far, so good. Yahoo has rightly carried over from its PC-based Messenger and Yahoo Mail a communications feature that sends a text instead of an instant message when a contact is offline. The IM experience is richer than the SMS, of course, with emoticons and an area for quickly inserting URLs, but that's no detriment to the SMS capability. By hooking SMS to the Internet, Yahoo can offer its brand of texting free of charge to iPhone and iPod Touch users. That's a notable advantage to the latter group--since the iPod Touch is not a phone, those users wouldn't otherwise be able to send text messages at all.

Also promising is the favorites feature, a shortcut that lets you surface certain contact details in the application's contact list, like a buddy's cell phone number, so you can send a text or place a call with a tap. There are also a few cosmetic enhancements that add visual luster, but no functional advantage. When you turn to landscape mode from the messaging view, for instance, your avatar and your friends' avatar communicate via speech bubbles. You'll also be able to dress up a pal's avatar for use on your phone.

As a very early preview, Yahoo's OneConnect is off to a good start, and the iPhone platform has been a good choice for quickly and easily sharing Yahoo's vision of integration. While Yahoo's representatives dodged questions of a time line, it's likely we won't be seeing OneConnect in its full glory on other mobile platforms anytime soon.

We hope that we will see OneConnect add other instant messaging protocols, which would round it out as a full-featured social app. This is Yahoo's stated goal, but another dodge to the time line question and a lengthy explanation of Yahoo's difficulty in integrating Windows Live Messenger contacts into Yahoo's desktop messenger suggests that the addition of more networks could be a long time coming. If that's the case, Yahoo users may continue to use an all-in-one IM iPhone application such as Palringo to reach the sum of their friends, and use OneConnect for its other social updating features.