Mobiles

AT&T and Pantech Wireless today announced the Pantech Breeze from AT&T. Available beginning May 27, the Pantech Breeze is an ideal device for first-time mobile phone owners or customers looking to simplify the overall user experience. From its clean and uncluttered design to its simplified menus, oversized display with large keypad and quick-call keys, the Pantech Breeze includes a host of convenient features in a comfortable, modern design.

The Pantech Breeze is the direct result of AT&T and Pantech’s collaboration to build a device on the principles of Universal Design - the practice of designing products and applications that are usable by the most customers possible. AT&T recently published the company’s approach to Universal Design to encourage application developers and handset manufacturers to consider the needs of seniors or customers who have disabilities when creating products and services.

The Pantech Breeze takes into account many of the design principles set forth in AT&T’s approach to Universal Design:

• 1-2-3 Quick-Call Keys - Three preprogrammable quick-call buttons are located below the screen - users can easily select one of the three quick-call contacts and press the send button to start a call.
• Simplified Menu - Navigating the phone’s features is trouble-free with the simplified “breeze menu,” which prioritizes the features that customers want to access most.
• Large Font - Menu screens on the Pantech Breeze use a highly visible large font. Additionally, the font of SMS messages is enlarged and the date and time of messages sent is at the beginning rather than at the end of a message.
• Easy-to-Use Buttons - The oversized buttons on the device respond with a tactile click when pressed, and the amount of time the keys remain illuminated after use is extended.
• Clear and Loud Speakerphone - A large, dedicated button starts and stops speakerphone use.
• Camera - A dedicated hard key for the camera brings up camera options “take a picture” and “photo album” to give users easy access to useable camera functions.
• Audible Keys - An option to have audio accompany numeric keystrokes makes it easy to know which buttons have been pressed, resulting in mistake-free dialing for those with limited sight.

The Pantech Breeze is a GSM quad-band world device, able to make voice calls in more than 200 countries and access data and send messages in more than 145. The Pantech Breeze features a talk time of up to three hours and up to 10 hours of standby time. Full messaging, camera and video capabilities, Bluetooth compatibility and tools such as an alarm clock, notepad, calendar and calculator are included.

The Pantech Breeze is $39.99 after a two-year service agreement and a $30 mail-in rebate or $124.99 after a $30 mail-in rebate for customers who prefer to use AT&T’s Pick Your Plan or Pay As You Go GoPhone prepaid plans.

Verizon Wireless and Motorola announced that the MOTO W755 is now available exclusively online at Verizon Wireless. The MOTO W755 is a slim, new clamshell that supports all of the features and capabilities that Verizon Wireless customers have come to expect in their wireless phones. The 0.68-inch thick phone is available in two distinct color options - Black Slate and Purple.

The MOTO W755 has easy access to Verizon Wireless’ V CAST Music service with external touch-sensitive controls on the phone to allow customers to quickly search for song tracks by artist, album, track title and genre. These external controls also let users activate Bluetooth and adjust ring volume or mute calls without ever opening the phone. V CAST Music offers more than 3 million songs from both well-known and independent artists and uses the most advanced technology to give customers their music over-the-air and direct to their wireless phones. The MOTO W755 also includes the following features for music lovers:

• Music player for formats AAC, AMR NB, MIDI, MP3 and WMA V9
• Create and manage playlists with Windows Media Player 11
• Stereo Bluetooth wireless technology
• 2.5 mm headset jack
• 1.3 megapixel camera
• 1.9-inch internal display
• Mobile IM and chat capabilities
• microSD card slot
• Phonebook with up to 1,000 contacts

The MOTO W755 handset is available for $69.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a new two-year customer agreement.

If you're in Seattle this Thursday and are currently in a start-up or are thinking about a start-up, you should join Jason Goldberg, founder of socialmedian, and other founders for a discussion on the issues, challenges, and big decisions facing founders.

Founders talking to founders about founding strategies. Should be interesting. Unfortunately, the Movaya team won't be in attendance (we will be at the WTIA event tomorrow night) but for those of you who are interested, click here to get more info.

Vodafone has announced that Arun Sarin, the company's CEO since July 2003, will be retiring in July 2008, to be replaced by Vittorio Colao. Vodafone also posted results for the year ended March 31st, with increases across the board.
Read the full story here.

If you're looking for an easy to use and basic mobile phone, you might want to check out a new device launched today from AT&T and Pantech - the Pantech Breeze.

Available in all AT&T company-owned stores and online beginning today, the Pantech Breeze is an ideal device for a wide range of users, from novice or first-time mobile phone owners to customers looking to simplify the overall user experience.

According to the press release, the mobile phone is specifically designed for people needing an easy way to stay in touch with friends, caregivers and loved ones. From its clean and uncluttered design to its simplified menus, oversized display with large keypad and quick-call keys, the Pantech Breeze includes a host of convenient features in a comfortable, modern design.

The Pantech Breeze is $49.99 after a two-year service agreement and a $30 mail-in rebate or $124.99 after a $30 mail-in rebate for customers who prefer to use AT&T's Pick Your Plan or Pay As You Go GoPhone prepaid plans.

OmniVision Technologies today launched its OmniBSI architecture, a sensor design that adopts a radically different approach to traditional CMOS image sensor technology. Using backside illumination (BSI), OmniBSI enables OmniVision to continue offering improved image quality while extending its pixel roadmap down to 0.9 micron pixels

OmniBSI technology involves turning the image sensor upside down and applying the color filters and micro lenses to the backside of the pixels so that the sensor can collect light through the backside. This approach differs from conventional front side illumination (FSI) pixel architectures, where light travels to the photo-sensitive area (the silicon substrate) through the front side of the pixel.

According to the company, the OmniBSI architecture delivers a number of performance improvements over FSI, including increased sensitivity per unit area, improved quantum efficiency and reduced cross talk and photo response non-uniformity. A much higher chief ray angle enables shorter lens heights which in turn allows for thinner camera modules, which are ideal for use in the next generation of ultra-thin mobile phones. Finally, BSI technology affords a much larger aperture size, which allows for lower f stops facilitating the development of better performing camera modules with superior camera performance. 

“Although backside illumination concepts have been studied for over 20 years, up until now nobody has been able to successfully develop the process for commercial, high volume CMOS sensor manufacturing,” said Dr. Ken Chen, Senior Director, Mainstream Technology Marketing, TSMC. “Combining OmniVision’s imaging expertise with TSMC’s experience in process development, we have delivered a truly advanced technology that defines the future of digital imaging.”

OmniVision is currently demonstrating an 8 MegaPixel, OmniBSI CameraChip sensor, and expects to start sampling first products before the end of June.

Monsoon Multimedia today announced HAVA Mobile Player for S60, a TV place-shifting video-streaming solution for S60 3rd edition on Symbian OS. The HAVA Mobile Player gives HAVA owners the ability to watch and control all of their home television channels and services from anywhere in the world on a mobile device - whether it be cable or satellite, receiver or DVR, standard or high definition. Monsoon Multimedia will be showcasing the new software at the S60 Summit 2008, held in Barcelona, Spain, May 28-29, 2008.

The HAVA Mobile Player for S60 was designed for seamless integration with Nokia’s unique two-way slider multimedia devices allowing viewers to toggle between portrait and full-screen landscape mode at the slide of the screen. Control of the TV viewing experience comes from both channel entries and volume control via the device’s physical keys and all other set-top box functions via the application’s elegant and intuitive onscreen UI. This way, users can watch live TV, pause, rewind, skip, schedule at-home DVR recordings and control their home TV watching from a world away, just as if they were in front of their TV in their own living room.

The HAVA Mobile Player for S60 is a Symbian S60 optimized version of the HAVA Player software that Monsoon also provides for PCs and other mobile devices. The HAVA’s unique capabilities enable users to view their home TV simultaneously on multiple PCs in the home network and on network connected mobile devices, including S60 smartphones and Nokia Internet tablets, at home or anywhere in the world.

The HAVA Mobile Player for S60 beta will be available by the end of June 2008. HAVA users interested in participating in Monsoon’s S60 beta program can email Monsoon Multimedia at hava-s60@monsoonmultimedia.com. The HAVA Mobile Player for S60 official release will be available next quarter as a free direct download.

via [fortythreepr.com]

Samsung has begun using Infineon chipsets in its mobile handsets in an effort to cut costs and reduce dependence on Qualcomm. Samsung is one of the world's largest handset manufacturers, and this move could have big repercussions in the industry.
Read the full story here.

Microsoft has announced that it expects continued growth in the mobile sector, predicting 50% growth in both 2008 and 2009 for Windows Mobile. Microsoft recently started shipping version 6.1 of is smartphone operating system.
Read the full story here.

Motorola's Z9 is like a Motorola V9 RAZR2 that has been given the slider treatment. It has the same good looks, solid construction, and overall appeal of the RAZR2, but lets people carry something slightly different.
Read the full story here.