Are you ready for ads on your mobile? Well they’re here!

40 out of 50 brand name companies surveryed by Airwide Solutions said that they plan on advertising on cell phones starting in 2008, and in five years more than half of all the companies worldwide will be advertising on cell phones.

Sprint has been one of the first to say that they will begin running banner ads on mobile screens. Amp’d Mobile also stated that they plan to place ads for Herbal Essence shampoo on it’s video demand service.

Another survey said that 58% of Americans stated that mobile ads are a nuisance and that they should be prohibited. (So does that really mean 42% don’t think that? I don’t know who could like ads period!)
Just think of the way advertising will soon be: You’ll be driving by the ice cream shop and you’ll get a text messaging say, “Large cone $1.99. Today only!” Of course you’ll want to stop in and grab one, but think of where else mobile adverting could go.

[More from SJ-R.com]

Are your mobile phone records being sold?

Well there may not be a clear answer to this question, but if you’ve been receiving text messages from advertisers and/or phone calls then the answer could be yes.

There are many websites on the internet that are selling peoples phone records for a pretty penny, charging anywhere from $10 to $99.99. The information they are selling is anywhere from your location and phone number to genealogical research. There are also services out there that you can pay a fee to get a person mobile number, but before receiving the information you have to sign a disclaimer saying you have a legitimate reason for wanting the number.

Don’t jump the gun however, the police, FBI and mobile carriers are taking action. Verizon has filed lawsuits with at least three website, and Sprint has done the same. Verizon also filters up to 50,000 text messages that are considered spam every day.

More…

Sprint’s Palm Treo 700wx with GPS - Vodafone/Cingular Treo 750 on the way?

Sprint are expected to release the new Palm Treo 700wx next week with a host of great new features included double the RAM from the 700w and built-in GPS. sprintusers.com has what looks to be an official specs sheet. This new PDA will operate on the Sprint EV-DO Mobile Broadband network and have access to Sprints Power Vision network services.

The 700wx is expected to be released to business customers from 27 August with an offering at retail sales outlets from 3 September.

Treo 750…

In other Treo news, the Treo 750 is expected to be released in just two weeks time 12 September for the European market on Vodafone’s 3G network. As expected, the 750 will run Windows Mobile 5.0. While no official details have been released, it is hoped that the 750 will be an antenna-less design and have built-in wifi - something that has been lacking from all Treo handsets to date.

Reuters reports:

Palm is to launch the new handset to Vodafone customers in a number of European countries including the U.K., Germany, Spain, Italy and Netherlands as it attempts to win back the confidence of a market it once dominated with its Palm Pilot device.

PDAStreet is speculating that shortly after it’s release, Cingular users should expect a US version…

Phone Friday! News & reviews on some phones

HTC release the Excalibur, better than the Q?

The Excalibur is HTC’s version of the Q, but appears to blow the Q out of the water. This thin smart phone comes with Windows Mobile and a full QWERTY keybaord. It also will have Mi-FI and Bluetooth, and like the Q it will have a method for one handed navigation. The Excalibur will have a touch sensitive scroll pad including home and back keys as well.
The Excalibur is rumored to launch with Sprint in the US by the end of the year, but no word on an exact date or price.

[Thanks for Geek.com for the pictures, and check out HTC’s website for more of their sleek phones.]

LG releases some white chocolate

Although this may not be the Chocolate, the LF1300 certianly has some flavor. The LF1300 comes with a 2-inch QVGA display, 1.3 megapixel camer, SD expansion, Bluetooth, and of course, an MP3 Player.

This slider measures 98 x 48 x 16.9mm and will be available through CYON. The LF1300 is said to be released only in Korea, and no word on pricing as of now.

[Picture and story from I4U.com]

Milk chocolate from Sony Ericsson?

Well this also isn’t the Chocolate, but Sony Ericsson has released a milk chocolate colored phone, calling it the K800i. It comes with a brilliant 3.2 megapixel camera, UMTS high-speed data, and and MP3/MPEG4 player.

The K800i will be released in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

[Picture from Gizmodo.com]

How does your provider and brand score?

Forrester Research released a recent survey asking how much they trust their provider, and their handset brand. Forrester Research asked 4,700 consumers across the USA and compiled all of the information and gave the major providers and brands grades.

Lets get right to the report cards, first the providers:

• Verizon: C
• Cingular: C-
• Sprint: D-

Now for the mobile brands:

• Palm: B+
• Motorola: B
• LG Electronics: C-
• Samsung: D-

[To read more, check out Yahoo!]

Sprint to announce building of a WiMax network

Sprint is scheduled to announce later today that it is choosing the WiMax technology to build a brand new wireless internet network. Although this will not be available until 2008, this is definitely something to look forward to. Sprint will be working with Motorola and Samsung using Intel chips to make headsets that are compatible. The service is said to be available nationwide (in the United States), and could even replace cable and DSL.

[To read more, check out dailywireless.org]

Franklin helps fill the gap with new CDU-550 USB EV-DO Modem

Wireless broadband manufacturer, Franklin Wireless, anounced on Friday the launch of their new USB 1x EV-DO modem, the CDU-550, a first for the industry.

This new modem released under a partnership with Sprint, who now have the largest mobile network in the US (Sprint Power Vision Network), offers high speed wireless internet access to laptops that do not have PCMCIA card slots, offering instead a USB interface. The card will have immediate benefit for those with new MacBook Pro laptops where a PCMCIA slot was dropped in favour of the incoming ExpressCard/34 format interface.

The Sprint Power Vision Network now covers 153 million people and services customers in 220 major metropolitan areas as well as 470 airports across the nation, the most of any carrier.

[Press release from Franklin-Wireless]

Big day for Sprint!

Today Sprint has released two things that every cell phone fan wants to hear.

Sprints COO Len Lauer said today they will be adding two popular lines from Motorola, the Q and the SLVR. Some analysts commented that Sprints poor quarter was due to them not selling phones from Motorola, although Sprint does have a entry level Motorola phone in their lineup. Well I think everyone can agree that it is about time Sprint adds some popular phones to their unpopular lineup.

Sprint hopes to have these phones in their lineup sometime in the fourth quarter, but an exact date or month wasn’t stated.

The other big news item is that Sprint has decided to push out is EV-DO Revision A, an upgrade to the EV-DO 3G network. This was originally not going to be launched intil January of 2007, but Sprint is more than confident about releases this sometime in the fourth quarter of 2006.

• So what does this mean for you? Faster downloads, faster uploads; and not just 3-4% faster. Sprint claims Revision A to be 50% faster for downloads, and 400% uploads than EV-DO 3G, topping off around DSL speeds.

• So you may ask next, will this reach me? Sprint plans to reach 220 major metropolitan areas and 908 airports across the United States, and hoping to reach 220 million people by then end of 2006. By the end of 2007 they hope the network will be competely updated to EV-DO Revision A.

Sprint also has released its quarter two revenues. To check that out in further detail, head over to PhoneNewz.com.

To read more about EV-DO Revision A, check out Sprint’s news release.

And finally, a little about the Q.

Recharge your phone anywhere with a battery

Energizer has released a cell phone compatible charger that is operated by batteries only. The “Energi To Go” claims to recharge your phone to near 80% in just 30 seconds, and not only will it recharge your phone, but also some gaming devices and mp3 players.

Sprint has released the charger as a package for $24.99 USD. The package includes the Energi To Go reuseable charger, an Energizer e2 Lithium AA battery and three tips. Don’t have a Sprint or Nextel phone? No worries, the Energizer product chargers or has plan to charge the RAZR, SLVR, BlackBerry, PSP, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and possibily the iPod as well.

[Check out more with these links: Sprint, Energi To Go]