Hands On Skyfire Windows Mobile Browser: It Definitely Doesn't Suck

During our brief hands on with the Skyfire mobile browser at CTIA, it actually lived up to most of its claims, and we walked away fairly impressed. We saw it on two different devices, though most of our time was on a Sprint HTC Mogul. Besides rendering media-heavy Giz with surprising snap (a feat that made the Instinct's browser cry), it churned out YouTube and Hulu videos like a champ. Zooming isn't quite as intuitive as Safari—you touch, a box pops up which you can drag around, then you touch again—but I was told they're working on making it more natural. Overall, it's definitely one for Windows Mobile users to watch, and we'll be getting some more time with it soon.[Giz @ CTIA]

Sprint to Revive Nextel With Wi-Fi BlackBerry and CDMA Phones

According to a Gearlog report from CTIA, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse is promising an unnamed new iDEN BlackBerry with both push-to-talk and Wi-Fi, a full-featured smartphone to put some juice into the abysmal Nextel network. He also pledged new phones from Sanyo, Samsung, Motorola and LG that run on the CDMA network most Sprint customers use, but will have Nextel's push-to-talk and other "chirp" services. This sounds to me like waffling: if iDEN can't attract handset makers and has no high-bandwidth roadmap, why encourage the format? I'm all for moving in the CDMA direction and easing customers in with familiar services, but hasn't that been the plan all along? And hasn't it been failing? [Gearlog via Electronista]

Meshcentric H_T: Waterproof Wi-Fi Cellular Anti-Stalker GPS Game Handheld With LED Lightshow... Say What?

Our friend Stuart at PocketGamer UK just shared with us his encounter with Meshcentric CEO Scott Fry, who is in Vegas at CTIA telling everyone about the H_T, a cellular gaming 1-mile-range-Wi-Fi hot spot with over-clocked CPU, fluorescent LEDs and GPS. The suspiciously PSP-shaped new multifunction device is apparently the second product to come from Fry's brain trust after the Air Sniper weapons system, also currently in prototype form. H_T's killer app is the game VR Warrior, set to launch Christmas 2008 and, according to Fry, is supposed to "get the gamers off their a** and start moving as a team or as an Army of one": More »

WiMax Competitor LTE Runs Wii Online Multiplayer So Fast It Seems Local

WiMax isn't the only the live 4G game in town. Alcatel-Lucent is running an arguably much sexier demo of LTE (long-term evolution), the high-speed 4G network that Verizon and AT&T are going to deploy. Besides streaming video to a wall of TVs with over 100Mbps of throughput, they have two Wiis hooked up, one on Wi-Fi and one on LTE, battling each other in an online Mario Strikers Charged match. It's totally lag-free, as frenzied and butter smooth as Striker gets. Full-fledged online gaming anywhere is so close it hurts.

AT&T Could Release a Customized 'AT&T' Android Phone

When we spoke to AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph De La Vega a few months ago, he said AT&T was open to the possibility of Google's Android phones being on their network. Today, at CTIA, he followed up on this and said that he's already met with Google executives and is "encouraged by the idea that an Android phone could host AT&T branded apps." More »

AT&T Mobility CEO: $299 Vu, $15 Mobile TV and Sprint Sucks

Even though AT&T they played coy on pricing for the LG Vu with its original announcement, AT&T Mobility's CEO just revealed that the LG Vu is going to run $299—same as Sprint's Instinct. Its mobile TV service which impressed us with its slick interface and high quality streams, is gonna run $15 a month. More »

Hands On HTC Shift EV-DO

HTC had their Shift UMPC on display here at CTIA, which packs Sprint EV-DO, an 800 MHz Celeron processor, 1 GB RAM and a 40 GB SSD into a tidy $1500 package. After getting touchy feely with it for a few minutes, I found it wasn't half bad. I was especially impressed by the proprietary HTC SnapView interface that runs on top of Windows Vista, and provides quick access to weather, calendars and emails (similar to the Windows Mobile 6.1 homescreen that it's based around). More »

Sprint Xohm WiMax Test Drive: Just Like Cable

Sprint's got a bunch of devices huddled in a booth running off its Xohm WiMax network: some Nokia N810 tablets and a smattering of notebooks from different makers (like a Windows XP Asus Eee PC, but it was acting a bit wonky, so I had to move on to a more generic laptop). Basically, the internet experience is just like cable, except wireless—the buildout is aimed at 2-4Mbps downspeed bandwidth and about 1.5-2 up, which is exactly what I was pulling here, according to a stealthy speedtest.net check. More »

Cloudbook Max Features Built-In WiMAX for Sprint's XOHM Network

Straight from CTIA 2008, Everex has unveiled their new Cloudbook Max featuring built-in support for Sprint's XOHM WiMAX network. Users can also expect a 8.9" WVGA (1024 x 600) display, a 1.6GHz VIA C7-M ULV processor with the VIA VX800 digital media IGP chipset, up to 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, a 80GB hard disk drive, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, an integrated GPS receiver, dual built-in 2-megapixel webcams, an S-Video port, audio in/out and the Microsoft Vista OS. No pricing info has been announced, but you can expect it to hit store shelves within a year. Press release after the break. More »

Life-Size Iron Man Guards LG Booth: Tony Stark Loves LG?

Maybe it's to keep us from groping the Vu just a little bit too hard or to beat off press fiends eager for swag bags, but a life-size Iron Man is hanging out at LG's booth looking badass in his Mark 3 suit. Whatever the reason, it probably means Tony Stark will be rocking gear from LG in the flick to match his Dell servers. Guess he's not an Apple fanboy. Update: Check out the special Iron Man edition Shine decked out in solid 18-karat gold, which you can win here after Apr. 15. [Giz @ CTIA]

HTC Touch Dual Set to Make Its Debut in the U.S.

The HTC Touch Dual has been available in Europe for some time now, but a recent announcement has revealed that it will be sliding its way to the states sometime during this quarter. No pricing has been announced, but if you want to get your hands on one, Best Buy or Best Buy Mobile is where its at. Full details available in the press release after the jump. More »

LG enV2 Hands On and Sizemodo With Its Fattie Older Brother

Whatever diet LG put the enV to whip it into the enV2 is fan-freakin-tastical. It's significantly slimmer, sharper and lighter. What's sweet about the midget dust magic is that it isn't smaller and sexed up just to be smaller, it actually feels much better in your hand than the blubbery original. But the keys are a smidge bigger, so it's easier to type on than the original enV to boot. [Giz @ CTIA]

ClarityLife Phone: Good For Me and My Momma

If you're like me, you worry about your momma, even if you're just runnin' out to the grocery store. I used to like the Jitterbug, but ClarityLife phone might be what I should get her. It's got a big screen cuz her eyes aren't so good anymore, and it's got an amplifier that brings incoming voices up by 20 dB, cuz her ears aren't like they used to be either. There's a one-touch button on the back that will call and send text messages to five pre-programmed names, so if she takes a spill she can call for help. Best of all, no contract. What is my momma gonna do with 800 minutes of talktime? She'll talk for 800 minutes, but she doesn't need a phone to do it. Even if you don't buy her some fancy new old-person's phone, remember, treat your mother right. [Clarity Products]

Van-Tastic: VZ Navigator Gets Traffic Avoidance, Gas Finder, 3D View

Verizon's latest VZ Navigator update adds popular features already found in other mobile navi software like Telenav. The big one is traffic avoidance: in 75 cities, routes will be plotted using reliable historical traffic data along with realtime reports from Navteq Traffic. VZW doesn't say how frequently the realtime reports are updated. Also coming to the update are movie-and-event local search—no word on info provider—and a gas finder, with not just locations but up-to-date pricing at many stations as well. Normally, my instinct is to say, "Don't tell me how to drive, fool!" but traffic avoidance, that's some jibba jabbrin' T could actually put up with. Press release and list of cities after the jump. More »

LG Vu for AT&T Finally Gets All Official

LG's touchscreen Vu hasn't exactly been a well-kept secret by any means. But now it officially exists for AT&T, in two flavors: one with mobile TV support, one without. It's got HSDPA 3G goodness and a full HTML web browser, which is hopefully snappier than the last time we saw it. As is popular these days, the touchscreen has haptic feedback, plus three navigation keys. We'll be putting this head-to-head against any other iPhone-throne pretenders we find at CTIA, if there are any. Vu will be out in May, but perhaps as some kind of April Fool's Joke, AT&T is not revealing prices, making this almost, but not quite, a complete non-announcement. [AT&T; Beauty Shot (sans T) from Akihabara News]

Up Close and Personal With the AT&T Motorola Z9

A lucky Laptop Mag writer recently got a close up view of the upcoming Motorola Z9 at CTIA and came away notably impressed by the 2.4-inch screen, smooth sliding action and tactile feedback of the keypad. Features like AT&T Navigator support, CrystalTalk noise suppression, and video sharing were also noted. On the negative side, the quality of streaming video on the device was less than stellar—although that could have been a reception issue. All in all, not bad for a first impression, although pricing and a release date remain elusive. Hit the link for the full details. [Laptop Mag]

Sony Ericsson's First 3G Phone for US, the Cheap Z750a, Finally Arrives

Sony Ericsson may not be good at delivering promised goods in a timely manner, but when it does finally deliver something—say, its first HSDPA phone for the US market—it does it with style and a shockingly low price. The Z750a is hitting AT&T for just $50 (after a $100 mail-in rebate that you damn well better fill out). The clamshell with the signature-Sony OLED see-through exterior will come in three colors: Mysterious Purple, Phantom Grey and Rose Pink. US availability details and bonus pic after the jump.

Verizon's CTIA Phone Lineup: Remakes and Sequels

CTIA comes but twice a year, and it gives the telecoms and phone makers a chance to show off their coolest stuff. Verizon Wireless apparently has its hands full with the whole open-network thing, because instead of unveiling something potentially sweet like the LG VX9700 or VX8560, its lineup of CTIA phones looks pretty ho-hum. Yes, there's a new BlackBerry Curve 8330 and a slimmer enV, but even those and the other handsets from HTC, Motorola and Samsung suffer from a re-heated leftover vibe: More »

WiMAX-Enabled Nokia N810 Internet Tablet Launching Soon at CTIA?

Those of you who didn't win our inappropriate Gizmodo browsing contest for a Nokia N810 internet tablet are probably patting yourselves on the back now, since it seems like Nokia will introduce a WiMAX-enabled version on April 1 at CTIA. So claims Boy Genius and his tipsters. [Boy Genius Report]