Recent Cellular Launch Roundup

By Joseph Palenchar On May 23 2011 - 4:01am

NEW YORK — To keep the smartphone momentum going, the following suppliers unveiled new products in recent weeks:

Samsung: AT&T is positioning the Samsung Infuse 4G as a “supermodel of superphones,” thanks to a large 4.5-inch display, shallow depth of 8.99mm, 1.2GHz processor, and a bright Super AMOLED Plus display viewable outdoors.

The Android 2.2 device, available exclusively on the AT&T network, went on sale May 15 at $199.

The phone is promoted as the thinnest 4G phone in the U.S. and the 4G phone with the largest display at 4.5 inches. The only smartphone with a larger screen in the U.S. is the 3G HSDPA Dell Streak with 5-inch screen.

The Infuse is also the first 4G phone in AT&T’s portfolio to incorporate the fastest versions (category 14) of 4G HSPA+ technology to deliver maximum theoretical data rates of 21.1Mbps.

Hewlett Packard: AT&T expanded its selection of phones based on Palm’s WebOS operating system with the launch of the diminutive Veer 4G, the industry’s first 4G WebOS phone.

The touchscreen slider, available May 15 at $99.99, is the smallest WebOS phone to date. The 3.63-ounce phone features credit-card length and width when closed and the depth of a pack of cards, AT&T said.

The Veer 4G, available exclusively on AT&T’s network, is AT&T’s first WebOS phone with WebOS version 2.1. The phone uses 4G HSPA+ technology in AT&T’s 850/1900MHz bands and the foreign 2.1GHz band.

Research In Motion: RIM plans worldwide summertime shipments of its latest two touchscreen smartphones, both promoted as the company’s fastest and thinnest smartphones to date.

The smartphones feature RIM’s new BlackBerry 7 OS and 1.2GHz processor, and both are the company’s first 4G phones. Both also combine hard QWERTY keyboard with 2.8-inch touchscreen.

The 0.41-inch BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones features 1.2GHz processor and 4G HSPA+ technology. The 9930 operates on 3G CDMA Rev. A networks in the U.S. 850/1900MHz bands but in 4G HSPA+ mode in two foreign bands, including 2.1GHz.

The 9900 operates on 4G HSPA+ networks in U.S. and international 4G bands. One version will operate on T-Mobile’s 1700/2100MHz 4G network with international 4G roaming on the 900MHz and 2.1GHz bands. T-Mobile said it would offer the device later this year as its first 4G BlackBerry.

A second 9900 version will operate in 4G HSPA+ mode on AT&T’s 850/1900MHz bands and the foreign 2.1GHz band.

SonyEricsson: The company is upgrading its Xperia mini and Xperia mini pro smartphones to offer the latest Android OS (Gingerbread 2.3), faster processor at 1GHz, larger multitouch screen at 3 inches, and other improvements.

One model, the touchscreen-only Xperia mini, is promoted as the world’s smallest smartphone with HD (720p) video recording.

The Xperia mini and Xperia mini pro will be available globally in select markets in the third quarter. U.S. availability wasn’t specified, but versions were announced with 850/1900MHz 3G HSPA technology, optimizing them for the AT&T network. Those versions also incorporate 2.1GHz HSPA for global 3G roaming.

Compared to the mini, the mini pro adds slide-out keyboard, handwriting recognition, front-facing VGA videocamera for videochats, and preloaded Office Suite.

Motorola: The Droid X2 for Verizon and two new businessoriented 3G Android smartphones for Sprint are hitting the market.

The Droid X2, a secondgeneration version of Verizon’s Droid X, has been upgraded to include include dualcore 1GHz processor, qHD 960x540 display, and HDMI Mirror Mode, enabling consumers to display games, web pages, downloaded Blockbuster videos and other content on an HDMI-equipped TV.

The Android 2.2-based 3G smartphone, which is Verizon’s first phone with dual-core 1GHz processor, became available to consumers on May 19 at Verizon’s online store and will be available May 26 through Verizon-owned stores and other channels at $199.99 with a new two-year customer agreement. It’s upgradable to Android 2.3.

The phone’s predecessor, the Droid X, featured 1GHz single-core processor, WVGA touchscreen, and HDMI output that permitted smartphone videos lacking digital rights management restrictions to be displayed on a TV.

Like its predecessor, the Droid X2 features 4.3- inch touchscreen with virtual QWERTY keyboard, Swype quick-typing technology, 850/1900MHz operation, Adobe Flash Player, 720p HD video capture, 8-megapixel camera, mobile hot spot to connect five Wi-Fi devices simultaneously to the Internet, and Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) certification.

For Sprint, one of two new business-oriented 3G Android smartphones is Sprint’s first Android phone with enterprise-grade security, and the other is the carrier’s latest Nextel-network Android phone, which delivers Nextel’s sub-second push-to-talk setup time.

Both are bar-style phones with touchscreen and physical QWERTY keyboard.

The enterprise-grade phone is the Motorola XPRT, which is also the carrier’s first Android phone with international roaming, thanks to the inclusion of 2G GSM/EDGE and 3G W-CDMA/ HSDPA technology.

The Nextel phone is the ruggedized Motorola Titanium, which is the first Nextel Direct Connect smartphone built on Android 2.1. It replaces the Motorola i1 launched last year by Sprint with an earlier Android OS.

The XPRT will be available June 5 at $129.99. Pricing and availability for the Titanium wasn’t announced.