Joe Kramer's latest articles

Cellular industry going "Green"?

With over 1 billion cell phones sold last year alone the impact on the environment has inspired some new ideas that are so simple it seems almost unbelievable that no one has thought of them before. First up we have a “Green Cell Battery” which has won third place in the “Greener Gadgets Competition” by offering a solution to the overwhelming problem of millions upon millions of old batteries ending up in landfills and leaching their...

Alltel offers 500 free minutes for a limited time

Riding on the heels of Ryan Newman’s recent win at this year’s Daytona 500, Alltel is offering 500 free minutes to new customers and existing customers who wish add-a-line of service. The offer applies to rate plans of $39.99 and higher for new service and $9.99 for secondary lines. All bonus minutes must be used within the first 30 days after activation. Stop by your local retail store, call 1-800-ALLTEL -1 or shop online starting February...

Go Unlimited for $99?

It all started with Helio’s announcement of a $99 unlimited plan and now somewhat surprisingly all of the major carriers have begun to offer similar plans albeit not as inclusive, but it’s a start. T-Mobile being the latest to join the unlimited calling rates war has decided to up the ante amongst the national carries by including text messaging as part of their $99 package. Verizon’s $99 plan does not include text messaging, but for another $40...

AOL to launch its own “Open Mobile Platform”

AOL recently announced they want to throw their hat in the mix by getting into the open source mobile arena with the rest of the big boys. AOL plans on having the platform ready for developers to start tinkering with new apps by this summer. The platform is an XML-based markup language, a mobile device and an application server. Developers will be able to monetize their applications through a number of different advertising methods; clickable...

Verizon updates family share plan account features

Verizon recently made it easier to stay connected by offering family share customers the ability to add friends, relatives and employees to their account regardless of where they live. No longer are customers required to have the same area code when participating in one of the family share plans. The new feature will allow both consumers and businesses to consolidate their billing and add more subscribers at a much lower cost. You could...

Helio lowers unlimited plan – Now just $99

This one comes as a pleasant surprise: Helio has lowered the cost of its unlimited plan from $145 to just $99/month. The plan includes unlimited voice, text/video messaging, GPS services with Google Maps, and 3G data speeds (no laptop tethering option) for surfing the net or checking your emails. With most carriers steering away from unlimited data plans, Helio's offer seems like a great alternative, but be sure you review chapter 10 of...

Roses, Chocolates and Cell phones this Valentines Day?

It’s that time of the year again when we all try to find that perfect gift for that special someone. With all of the major carriers offering either a new red or pink version of their most popular models a new cell phone may just be a good alternative (or addition) to the standard heart shaped chocolates and two dozen roses that we’ve all come to expect. Below is a list of the latest cell phone releases geared towards the Valentines Day...

T-Mobile heading to court over text messaging service

With the latest wave of marketing heading towards mobile advertising it was only a matter of time before customers would start receiving unsolicited text messages. As you can imagine not having the ability to stop these unwanted text messages can both be annoying and quite costly. The Plaintiffs in the case argue T-Mobile charges its customers for text messages they receive even if they don’t want the feature. There is no word on how much...

How to fix your iPhone SMS issues

Since the release of the latest firmware version 1.1.3 iPhone users have had to deal with their SMS messages being displayed out of order. This obviously is a major issue considering how many text messages are sent and received through out the day, but today Apple posted an easy fix to the problem – simply Choose General > Date & Time and turn Set Automatically to ON.  The website also states "(Note that in some locations,...

SkyFire web browser for Windows Mobile 6

SkyFire has announced the availability of a private beta version of their new web browser designed for WM6 compatible smartphones (Symbian OS to follow). SkyFire is the first mobile browser that provides a “real Web” experience and fully supports dynamic Flash, Java, Ajax and more all while doing it at speeds similar to a desktop PC. Users will also be able to bookmark certain areas of webpages for quicker access at a later time along with...

Nokia N82 first to support "Clear Synthetic Speech"

Raymond Kurzweil, author and inventor, in conjunction with the National Federation of the Blind has completed work on a camera based knfbReader Mobile system designed to help those individuals who have difficulty seeing or reading print. The system relies on the 5 megapixel camera of the Nokia N82 smartphone to capture the image of the desired text and even guides the user to an optimal framing point to ensure the greatest amount of text...

Verizon and AT&T to increase text messaging rates!

Yes sadly its true, both Verizon and AT&T will be raising their “per message” rates starting March 2nd and March 30th respectively. Verizon will be raising the SMS rate from $0.15 cents to send and receive up to $0.20, but surprisingly the picture messaging rate will remain unchanged at $0.25 cents/message. Unfortunately AT&T customers are going to be hit with a double whammy as both text/instant messaging and multimedia services...

AT&T MediaFlo launch next week?

After numerous delays it looks as though AT&T will be launching their mobile TV service as early as February 5th according to Matt Kapko of RCRNews. MediaFlo, a subsidiary of Qualcomm that provides a similar service for Verizon customers will also provide all of the multimedia content for AT&T subscribers. To keep the spirit of competition alive and well amongst the carriers AT&T will have 2 additional channels reserved...

AT&T offers no contract options?

According to the guys over at Gizmodo they received an internal memo from AT&T  that if true, depicts a significant policy shift that may affect the way many of their customers purchase cellular service.  Standard operating procedure has always been you must sign a 1 or 2 year contract to get a discount on a new phone and have access to the best rate plans. According to the memo customers can now choose a “No-Commitment”...

Nokia introduces three new handsets

Yesterday Nokia announced two new entry level phones the Nokia 2600 Classic and the Nokia 1209, both are targeted at emerging markets. At a fair retail price of $94, the 2600 classic includes a couple of extra features one wouldn’t expect to see on an entry level phone like an FM radio, VGA camera with video record capability and support for 80 languages along with a much needed expense manager. The 1209’s claim to fame is its cheap price of...

Poor night sleep caused by cell phone radiation

A new study performed by the Electromagnetic Academy at MIT has found mobile phone radiation can severely disrupt sleep patterns in humans. Researcher’s exposed 71 men and women between the ages of 18 and 45 to cell phone radiation prior to going to sleep and discovered exposure to the 884MHz frequency was found to affect the body’s ability to recover from daily wear and tear. What's more interesting is that participants who were exposed to...

AT&T offers a SIM-card only option

New AT&T customers are now able to purchase a SIM card only for $5.00 (after a $5.00 discount online). The aim is to let new customers use their existing "compatible" GSM phones on AT&T’s network, but here’s the catch – you still have to sign on for a two year contract! I know AT&T is trying to appear more open as of lately, but seriously who are they fooling with this option? It doesn’t take the savviest customer to figure...

Telescopic zoom for under $20

If you have an extra $19 and are looking to give your Motorola RAZR V3 or KRZR K1 a little optical boost you’re in luck. Although not the most subtle looking device the company claims the new design is good for up to 6x zoom with improved luminous flux capability. The telescope attaches to the phone by using a custom faceplate and battery cover. To use the device one must adjust the focus by eye before attaching the device to the phone...

“Photobucket Mobile” now live!

The popular photo and video sharing website Photobucket.com officially launched a mobile version of their site allowing its users to upload and share photos, graphics, and video all from a cell phone. Simply enter http://m.photobucket.com into your mobile web browser and from there you will able to search for photos and animated images, view your entire photo album, and share your photos with friends via email. In the future Photobucket...

QuickPlay Media offers free video streaming for Blackberry users

On Monday, QuickPlay Media announced a new service called “VideoStreams” that provides free video content for owners of BlackBerry smartphones in both the United States and Canada. BlackBerry owners will have a choice of music videos, comedy, horoscopes and extreme sports along with any new content as it becomes available. There is no word on how QuickPlay Media is able to offer such a service for free, but I would bet there is going...

Motorola introduces two new entry level phones

Recently Motorola announced two new entry level phones to be available in Q1 of this year. Both the W230 and W270 share basically identical specifications, but each comes in a different form factor. The W230 variation is a bar style phone with a fairly thin, somewhat compact design allowing the user to easily slip it into a shirt or pants pocket. Next we have the W270 a dual display (inner color, outer mono) clamshell design that sports a...

Nokia and LG’s big plans for 08

Nokia currently holds the number one spot globally, but only manages a 4th place ranking in the US market behind rivals Motorola, Samsung and LG. Nokia wants to increase its 11% market share in the U.S. by introducing between 6-12 new handsets this year alone. The fact we are seeing a few new CDMA Nokia phones showing up on the FCC’s website suggests that Nokia has put its squabble with chip maker Qualcomm behind them and are moving towards...

iPhone and Touch to get SlingPlayer?

It has been rumored for sometime that Sling Media was working on an iPhone/Touch version of their SlingPlayer and now it looks as though it may be a reality. The folks over at Electricpig.tv claim they spoke with a “senior source” at Sling who said “iPhone and iPod Touch are OS X devices and we can write OS X apps with our eyes closed. It’s coming.” Even though this is good news for iPhone customers the use of the application will be limited...

Samsung announces new phones at CES 2008

Samsung was flexing their mobile muscle at this years CES convention by introducing several new phones they deemed to be “Groundbreaking”. Now the term groundbreaking may be a little bit of stretch, but the phones are definitely interesting and worth a look. First on the list we have the SGH-i450, a dual slider design that utilizes an iPod like touch wheel for navigating through your media files and the powerful Symbian S60 3rd generation...

Sprint's WIMAX set to launch this Spring

Sprint customers should expect to see WIMAX up and running by April of this year. Unfortunately Sprint has decided not to subsidize WIMAX devices and in fact will charge extra for the service. Consumers will be offered several options when purchasing the service ranging from daily, monthly or longer term contract rates. It seems to be a questionable move considering Sprint has been losing ground to its rivals AT&T and Verizon for some...