Mobiles

This evening Dolby and LG have announced a partnership to develop LG phones with Dolby Mobile, a set of digital audio processing features designed to improve the audio performance and entertainment capabilities of multimedia phones.

With mobile entertainment, people want great phones, but they also want their favorite media files to look and sound as good as possible. Dolby and LG are well-positioned to deliver on the growing expectations of the market. LG plans to include Dolby Mobile in phones bound for the global market this year.

Some of the Dolby Mobile features that LG plans to incorporate into its phones include:

Mobile Surround, which delivers a realistic surround sound experience using headphones
Sound Space Expander, which creates a wide, rich, and spacious soundstage suited to music
Natural Bass, which adds powerful boost and bass extension
High-Frequency Enhancer, which enhances music and other content by restoring high-frequency effects
Graphic EQ, which helps tune the audio experience for different content types
Sound Level Control, which helps level out audio for a more consistent playback volume
Mono-to-Stereo Converter, which improves the playback experience of user-generated content

LG plans to begin launching high-end multimedia phones that incorporate Dolby Mobile technology from the fourth quarter of this calendar year. See full article.

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T-Mobile today launched the Sidekick Shells, the newest Sidekick with the opportunity to create shells for their Sidekick with the images, colors or designs they choose.

The new Sidekick will ship with two shells: Black and Metallic Green. Pre-designed shell patterns and colors also are readily available for consumers to purchase at T-Mobile retail stores or online. But for true individualization, customers can design a unique shell through www.sidekickshells.com .

Users upload a personal photo or graphic design, or select their own text, shapes, icons or logos. The final design is custom-printed onto the shell, then shipped. Once the design is complete, customers can share their work of art in a public gallery that will be hosted on www.sidekick.com .

"The new T-Mobile Sidekick, with its customizable shells, lets our customers easily express that unique style directly on their phone," says Sajal Sahay, Director of T-Mobile USA. "Providing our customers with options to stand out from the crowd and show a true expression of themselves is what makes this Sidekick such an intriguing, fun device."

In addition to personalization, the T-Mobile Sidekick Shells is slightly smaller, thinner and lighter than previous Sidekicks. It comes with Sidekick features such as video capture and playback.

The Sidekick Shells also has an integrated Spanish user interface - the first for a Sidekick device.

Other features include messaging with IM, text and email, stereo Bluetooth for photo and file transfers and a 2.0-megapixel camera. The Sidekick Shells is equipped with customizable web surfing and more internal memory for storage.

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• T-Mobile Gives Families a Break on Unlimited Plan
• Nokia 5310 XpressMusic Released for T-Mobile

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LG Electronics said today it will start adding Dolby Mobile to high-end phones later this year.

The two companies have reached a deal that will make South Korea's LG the first cell phone maker to incorporate the Mobile version of Dolby's system into its handsets. Dolby Mobile is an audio processing system designed to deliver vibrant audio, allowing users to tailor audio capabilities of cell phones. Some of the Dolby Mobile features LG plans to incorporate include:

- Mobile Surround to offer a realistic surround sound experience using headphones
- Sound Space Expander that creates a wide, rich and spacious soundstage experience especially suited to music playback
- Natural Bass for adding powerful boost and bass extension
- High Frequency Enhancer to enhance music by restoring high-frequency effects
- Graphic EQ to help tune the audio for different content types
- Sound Level Control which levels out audio for a more consistent playback volume
- Mono-to-Stereo Converter that improves the playback experience of user-generated content

"We believe this technology will raise the bar for audio quality on multimedia phones and expect Dolby Mobile to help us create a new trend in the mobile phone industry," said Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile. "LG is committed to providing our customers with the best features available and our new collaboration with Dolby helps us deliver on this pledge."

LG will launching high-end multimedia phones with Dolby Mobile technology starting the fourth quarter this year.

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• LG Chocolate 3 Music Clamshell Hits Verizon Stores in July
• LG Decoy Slider has Built-In Bluetooth Headset, from Verizon
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• LG, Samsung to Develop Mobile DTV Standard

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At 11:42 a.m. (PST) there was a 5.4 magnitude earthquake that shook all of Southern California, including the Mobile Edge Corporate Office located in Anahiem.  The epicenter was located in Chino Hills, Calif., approximately 10 miles from our office.  Although the staff and products were jolted around a bit, everyone and all products are fine.  All orders will ship on time without a hitch.

The shock waves felt more like waves traveling through the building rather than sharp jolts.  From several news organizations, rolling shock waves actually cause less damage than the sharp snaps as felt in the Northridge Earthquake back in 1994.

Below is a copy of a map of the Epicenter.

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At 11:42 a.m. (PST) there was a 5.4 magnitude earthquake that shook all of Southern California, including the Mobile Edge Corporate Office located in Anahiem.  The epicenter was located in Chino Hills, Calif., approximately 10 miles from our office.  Although the staff and products were jolted around a bit, everyone and all products are fine.  All orders will ship on time without a hitch.

The shock waves felt more like waves traveling through the building rather than sharp jolts.  From several news organizations, rolling shock waves actually cause less damage than the sharp snaps as felt in the Northridge Earthquake back in 1994.

Below is a copy of a map of the Epicenter.

ShareThis

Early termination fees that cell phone carriers charge customers who break service contracts took a big hit when a judge said charges by Sprint Nextel violate California state law.

In a tentative ruling issued today, the judge said Sprint will have to pay $18.3 million to customers who sued over the fees and credit $54.8 million to those who were charged but did not pay the fees.

The same judge is considering other lawsuits against telecommunications companies over their early termination fees, which can range from $150 to $225. This month Verizon Wireless agreed to pay $21 million to settle an identical lawsuit just as trial was starting.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Bonnie Sabraw rejected Sprint's argument that a state court had no business deciding an issue the company said should be left for federal authorities. And while her ruling isn't legally binding outside the state, it cut to the heart of an ongoing debate in other state courthouses and in Washington, D.C., over the fairness of the fees.

Wireless carriers say early termination fees are necessary so the companies can recover the cost of mobile phones, which they subsidize when customers sign long-term service contracts.

At a public hearing last month, the FCC sketched out a plan in which the cancellation fees would be reduced over the life of the contract. Three companies - T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon Wireless - already do that and Sprint said it would begin prorating its fees next year.

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• Sprint to Launch Advanced Push-To-Talk Phones
• Sprint's Loss Widens, Fewer Subscribers

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Children whose mothers used cell phones frequently during pregnancy are more likely to grow up with behavior problems, new research shows.

Dr. Leeka Kheifets and her team at the UCLA School of Public Health looked at a group of 13,159 children whose mothers had been recruited to participate in the Danish National Birth Cohort study early in their pregnancies. When the children reached age 7, mothers were asked to complete a questionnaire about their children's behavior and health.

After the researchers adjusted for factors such as a mother's psychiatric problems and socioeconomic factors, children with both prenatal and postnatal cell phone exposure were 80 percent more likely to have abnormal or borderline scores on tests evaluating emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity, or problems with peers.

Risks were higher for children exposed prenatally only, compared with those exposed only postnatally, but were lower than for children exposed at both time points.

Kheifets notes that a fetus's exposure to radiofrequency fields by a mother's cell phone use is likely very small. However, they add, research has shown that children using cell phones are exposed to more radiofrequency energy than adults, because their ears and brains are smaller.

Because cell phone use was so infrequent among children in the study - 30 percent of kids were using a cell phone, but just 1 percent used a cell phone for more than an hour a week - radiofrequency exposure seems unlikely to have caused any behavior problems, they say.

"Another possible explanation for the observed association might be the lack of attention given to a child by mothers who are frequent users of cell phones," the researchers suggest. They note that mothers who used cell phones frequently were of lower socio-occupational status, more likely to have mental health and psychiatric problems, and more likely to have smoked while they were pregnant.

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Verizon Wireless G'zOne Boulder More Photos - View Specs

Verizon Wireless today introduced the G'zOne Boulder, a rough and tough push-to-talk phone built to military specifications to withstand shock, water and dust environments.

The G'zOne Boulder has a rugged design that meets military specifications - 810F standards for water, shock and dust resistance; immersion; vibration, salt fog; humidity; solar radiation; altitude; and low and high temperature storage.

It comes with a built-in flashlight and electronic compass.

For fast two-way communication, consumers can use its push-to-talk service on Verizon's high-speed Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) Revision A (Rev. A) network.

With VZ Navigator, the G'zOne Boulder has audible maps, turn-by-turn directions and location information to over 14 million points of interest.

Field Force Manager lets businesses locate, monitor and communicate with mobile field workers.

Equipped with VCAST Music with Rhapsody, the G'zOne Boulder downloads music to the phone from a library of over 5 million songs. Users also get a master copy for the PC, free of digital rights management software. Music is stored on optional microSD cards up to 8GB in size (sold separately).

Packaged in two finishes, black and silver or orange, the G'zOne Boulder is available online now for $129.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a new two-year customer agreement. Customers may the G'zOne Boulder with or without a 1.3-megapixel camera. It will be available in stores in mid-August.

- Verizon Wireless G'zOne Boulder Specs

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• Verizon Wireless Gets Rhapsody Music Subscriptions

©2002-2008 Mobiledia Corp. A Cell Phone Resource Site. All Rights Reserved. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only.

Last week at the MobileBeat 2008 conference, Dan Shapiro, CEO of Ontela, was named mobile's 'Best CEO'. The panel of industry experts awarding the Tesla Prize stated that Ontela was notable for 'setting its sights on selling to carriers, pursuing them with single-minded focus, and succeeding.'

That is great to hear. I personally know Dan and had the opportunity to pitch against him in the past at the 2006 WSA Investment Forum.

Ontela provides technology infrastructure to wireless carriers that allows consumers to unlock the photos in their camera phones. Currently available on carrier networks including Cellular South, Alltel, Cincinnati Bell, and nTelos, PicDeck technology allows consumers to automatically save their photos to their PC, email address, and/or favorite imaging web sites.

We've written about Ontela before and they continue to make lots of progress. It is great to see the industry acknowledge one of Seattle's great start-up companies and entrepreneurs.

Last week at the MobileBeat 2008 conference, Dan Shapiro, CEO of Ontela, was named mobile's 'Best CEO'. The panel of industry experts awarding the Tesla Prize stated that Ontela was notable for 'setting its sights on selling to carriers, pursuing them with single-minded focus, and succeeding.'

That is great to hear. I personally know Dan and had the opportunity to pitch against him in the past at the 2006 WSA Investment Forum.

Ontela provides technology infrastructure to wireless carriers that allows consumers to unlock the photos in their camera phones. Currently available on carrier networks including Cellular South, Alltel, Cincinnati Bell, and nTelos, PicDeck technology allows consumers to automatically save their photos to their PC, email address, and/or favorite imaging web sites.

We've written about Ontela before and they continue to make lots of progress. It is great to see the industry acknowledge one of Seattle's great start-up companies and entrepreneurs.