Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Sprint-Nextel, Verizon Wireless, Palm OS, EV-DO, CDMA

As much as we'd like to blame other parties for the long wait for Palm's Treo 700p (and we will, we will), there's one source for at least some of the wait: the FCC. According to public filings, the smartphone just cleared the government agency, paving the way for its impending rollout. Of course, Palm did file a confidentiality request with the FCC, so we're not entirely clear exactly when this baby got the thumbs up, but the important thing is that it did, which means nothing (short of mobs at Sprint and Verizon's stores) should stand in your way if you're planning on picking one up very soon.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Gaming

Okay, Engadget readers. You managed to get to the bottom of the Sony Blu-ray demo mystery. Now, we’re counting on you to solve another one. What you see pictured here is Maxell’s Picochet RFID card reader. It’s been out in Japan for a couple of years, and has been marketed for such mundane tasks as reading time cards for beleaguered salarymen and storing healthcare records in hospitals. However, the card has just cleared the FCC, and according to Sega’s documentation (yes, that Sega, they filed on this), the version sent in for testing is going to be Sega-branded, and is planned for use with ” devices prepared by Sega.” Now, last time we checked, Sega isn’t exactly making a whole lot of devices anymore. So, what are they planning to do with this thing? Is it for a PC version of the company’s popular Sangokushi Japanese arcade game, which uses RFID readers as part of the gameplay (possibly, given that there are console and PC versions of the game for platforms from the PC to the DS)? Is it a Wii or PS3 peripheral? Or is Sega going into the industrial RFID business? It’s a mystery, dear readers; one we’re confident you can help us solve.

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Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Samsung

In the E3 fury that was last week, we managed to overlook that Samsung dropped a pretty major update into their 8GB i310 music phone – some of that sweet T-DMB mobile teevee sugar. That change bumps the model to an obscure SCH-B570. Other than some additional, unspecified multimedia capabilities, that's about all we know sure though it's likely to carry the same specs as the i310: WinMo 5.0, microSD expansion, 2 megapixel shooter, Bluetooth with A2DP stereo audio support, TV-out, and integrated dual-speakers. Normally at this point, we'd tell you there's no chance in Hades we'll be seeing this phone in these United States. However, with the FCC approving T-DMB phones of late, well... you just never know.

Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, Windows Mobile, EDGE, UMTS

Here's a neat one from our friends at the FCC. Looks like Samsung has a new Windows Mobile device in the works. The i770 is quite the mix of flip, QWERTY, and swivel action. At least we think it's swivel, it could be just some dual facing camera. The GSM phone has EDGE and probably UMTS, along with Bluetooth connectivity. If this phone isn't as bulky as it looks, Samsung could really be on to something here, but the FCC is supposed to keep the rest of its documentation confidential (right) for another 6 months, so it might be a little while until we find out more.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

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Filed under: Handsets, RIM, Cingular, T-Mobile, GSM, EDGE

Thank you for once again making our lives interesting, oh gracious FCC. Your freshly unearthed filings from Research in Motion have divined us a small bounty of BlackBerry 7130s, which turned out to be where those other pics of the Cingular 7130 popped up from. Including the already launched 7130e, we've got four models on our hands now with the 7130c, 7130g, and 7130v. Each of the GSM devices should have quad-band EDGE as per the filing, as well as Bluetooth 2.0, 64MB flash and 16MB RAM, and the usual mini USB port. We'll let you know more as these things get prices and launch dates -- we're assuming it won't be too long now that the cat's out of the very holey FCC bag.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Filed under: Handsets, Pantech, Verizon Wireless, CDMA

Forgoing the traditional methods of actually announcing their products, Pantech is content to let the FCC do their PR for them, with the latest example being the PN-320 clamshell. It's not going for the world record or anything, but the 0.9-inch thick PN-320 is still fairly slim for a flip phone, and it's not too hard on the eyes neither. Otherwise, the CDMA phone is pretty lame, with a mere VGA camera and 262k color LCD, ala its PN-315 sibling. There's no branding visible, but the phone looks to be headed for Verizon like the PN-315, thanks to some Verizon-specific wording in the manual. We just hope Verizon users can contain themselves for joy, and the FCC is getting reimbursed somehow.

[Via phoneArena]

Filed under: Handsets

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We here at Engadget Mobile tend to spend a lot of way too much time poring over the
latest FCC filings, be it on the net or directly on the ol’ Federal Communications Commission’s site. Since we couldn’t
possibly (want to) cover all the stuff that goes down there, we’ve gathered up all the raw info you may want (but
probably don’t need). Enjoy!

Phones
Samsung ZV40 – href="http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=479469&fcc_id=">Read />VK Mobile VK3100 – href="http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=820211&fcc_id=">Read />Samsung X630 – href="http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=746636&fcc_id=">Read />Toshiba Vodafone 705T – Read />Samsung D300 – href="http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=143724&fcc_id=">Read />VK Mobile VK4000 – href="http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=813189&fcc_id=">Read />Nokia 6126 – href="http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=802867&fcc_id=">Read />NEC e949 / L1 – href="http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=998748&fcc_id=">Read />Samsung X688 – href="http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=594822&fcc_id=">Read />BenQ-Siemens EL71 – Read

Peripherals
Nokia Field Force NFC Shell for 5140 / 5140i -
href="http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=435727&fcc_id=">Read />MSI stereo Bluetooth dongle – href="http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=644301&fcc_id=">Read

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Filed under: Handsets, Nokia

Nokia has been gaining a bit of a reputation for being on the chubby side of the thin phone wars. So the 14-mm slim, 6126 flip which the FCC just approved, still passes for thin these days in the Nokia camp of plumpsters. Other than the 32MB flash and 16MB RAM we now know this thing packs, the filing doesn't tell us more than we already knew: quad-band GSM/EDGE, a 2.2-inch, 320 x 240 external display, 1.3 megapixel cam, and microSD slot for storage expansion. Worth the wait we guess, if you're a Symbian Series 40 fan.

Filed under: Cingular, Sprint-Nextel, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless

/>Major wireless carriers planning to partner with smaller providers in order to get discounts on the upcoming wireless
spectrum landrush have just been delivered a major blow by the FCC, with the agency announcing a tighter set of rules
and penalties on a practice that had been popular in past auctions. According to the new rules, smaller carriers only
qualify for discounts if they lease less than 50% of their licensed spectrum to other operators, and those discounts
will be "further examined" for carriers sub-leasing as little as a quarter of their spectrum. Furthermore, if
a carrier goes ahead and leases too much spectrum within the first five years after they’ve obtained a license, they
must repay the entire amount of the discount plus interest. What does this all mean for the consumer? We’re not
completely sure about all the specifics, but we wouldn’t be at all surprised if the increased costs to the major
carriers happen to trickle down to our bills.

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Filed under: Culture

There was quite a bit of rejoicing at the FCC's decision in 2003 to limit telemarketers and debt collectors in their auto-dialing methods of contacting mobile users. Now there's a chance that decision could be reversed, at least for debt collectors who are currently petitioning the FCC through their trade association ACA International. Debt collectors are arguing that they were unfairly lumped in with telemarketers in the auto-dialing ban, since all of their numbers are collected through legitimate means. The National Consumer Law Center argues that it's unfair to mobile users to have to pay for peak usage minutes to receive calls from debt collectors, and that giving an agency your mobile number doesn't necessarily mean you wish to be contacted. The FCC has agreed to review ACA International's request, and is currently seeking public comments on the subject. We're thinking about going dark for a bit, after which we'll reemerge from Switzerland with a new face, a new SSN and, of course, a new mobile phone number.

[Via textually.org]

Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, Verizon Wireless, EV-DO, CDMA

We were thinking of sending the FCC some flowers for Valentine's day last February for gifting us year-round with juicy scoops like Samsung's new SCH-A990 (well, kind of new -- see their SCH-Z710, pictured after the break), an EV-DO handset likely to feature a rotating QVGA display, 3.2 megapixel autofocusing camera, Bluetooth, and MicroSD slot. No knowing when this phone will hit the streets, but it'll be on Verizon, and we can assume it'll set you back some bank.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Filed under: Handsets

We here at Engadget Mobile tend to spend a lot of way too much time poring over the latest FCC filings, be it on the net or directly on the ol' Federal Communications Commission's site. Since we couldn't possibly (want to) cover all the stuff that goes down there, we've gathered up all the raw info you may want (but probably don't need). Enjoy!

Phones
Samsung A640 - Read
LG AX490 - Read
Samsung T709 - Read
Samsung T719 - Read
Motorola ROKR E2 - Read
Samsung X461 - Read
Samsung X481 - Read
Samsung S109 - Read

Computers
Sony PCG-6J1L - Read
Motorola Mobile Laptop 900 - Read

Filed under: Handsets, Others, Windows Mobile, GSM

No word as to a date or even the possibility of a US release for E-Ten's G500, but at least the FCC thinks everything is looking good with the unit, so we've got that going for us. Announced in Europe this January, the quad-band GSM phone features Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC, GPS, Bluetooth, and a QVGA display. Its lack of WiFi makes us think the unit would be a good fit for those WiFi haters over at Cingular, but your guess is as good as ours.

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Wireless

We're not entirely sure of the purpose here, but Kodak filed with the FCC for a Bluetooth camera module that "is to be installed only by the professionals and used only with any product produced by Kodak." Yes, this thing's internal -- normally they'd just file for a camera with the radio, but this isn't the camera, this is the component. See why we're a little confused? So unless Kodak's going to start offering Bluetooth upgrades for their point-and-shoot cameras (which would arguably cost in parts and labor more than the camera itself), it's dubious this is anything more than a proof-of-concept for future, yet unearthed-in-the-FCC cameras, like the one in which the device appears to be implanted (that dual-lenser that sure as hell aint a V570, that much we can tell you).

[Via MobileWhack]

Filed under: Features

We here at Engadget Mobile tend to spend a lot of way too much time poring over the latest FCC filings, be it on the net or directly on the ol’ Federal Communications Commission’s site. Since we couldn’t possibly (want to) cover all the stuff that goes down there, we’ve gathered up all the raw info you may want (but probably don’t need). Enjoy!

Phones
Read – I-Care Telecom G3300 (odd pendant phone)
Read – LG MX800
Read – LG CU400
Read – Samsung SGH-I600
Read – Samsung SGH-E690
Read – Nokia 1315
Read – E28 R2821

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Filed under: Handsets, ASUS, Windows Mobile, GSM, GPRS

We know durn well that an FCC nod means absolutely nothing for a handset’s chances of stateside release, but doesn’t this seem like a no-brainer for ASUS? The quad-band P525 fills a niche that no other manufacturer has in the States, offering the versatility advantage of Pocket PC Phone Edition with the usability advantage of a traditional keypad. Granted, the device lacks EDGE or any form of 3G, but built-in WiFi makes the situation (arguably) bearable. Ah well, wishful thinking; we’re sure we’ll this thing’ll ultimately be destined for import shops at prices that leave only ASUS fanboys’ mouths salivating.

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Filed under: Handsets, Sony Ericsson, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

Hot off the FCC press are these here W712a and Z712a clamshells from Sony Ericsson; astute readers may notice a striking similarity to the W710 and Z710 models announced a couple months back, save for a couple of odd changes. First, and perhaps most depressing, you’ll notice that the 712s feature brutally unattractive black stub antennas, whereas the 710s do not. Secondly, the draft manuals and test reports published for these new pieces list them as dual-band GSM 850 / 1900 (read: North American) handsets. So the obvious question is: what the heck? If your W710i and Z710i are already quad-band and lack the ugly-ass external antennas, why reinvent the wheel? Are we missing something here, folks?

Update: Several folks have pointed out the “HAC” sticker, indicating that these handsets are hearing aid-compliant. What exactly that has to do with the external antennas and the removal of two perfectly good GSM bands, however, remains a mystery.

Read – W712a
Read – Z712a

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Filed under: Features

We here at Engadget Mobile tend to spend a lot of way too much time poring over the latest FCC filings, be it on the net or directly on the ol’ Federal Communications Commission’s site. Since we couldn’t possibly (want to) cover all the stuff that goes down there, we’ve gathered up all the raw info you may want (but probably don’t need). Enjoy!

Phones
Read – RIM BlackBerry 8705
Read – Nokia 6088
Read – Ezze EZ700D
Read – Motorola W220
Read – Samsung SGH-Z620 (a.k.a. Ultra Edition 11.8)
Read – Kyocera K325

Peripherals
Read – Cal-Comp BC3200
Read – LG HBS-200
Read – LG HBM-710
Read – Jabra BT125

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Filed under: Features

We here at Engadget Mobile tend to spend a lot of way too much time poring over the latest FCC filings, be it on the net or directly on the ol’ Federal Communications Commission’s site. Since we couldn’t possibly (want to) cover all the stuff that goes down there, we’ve gathered up all the raw info you may want (but probably don’t need). Enjoy!

Phones
Read – Samsung SGH-Z370
Read – Sagem my700X
Read – Nokia 5200b
Read – Nokia 1112
Read – BenQ-Siemens E81
Read – Huawei C506

Peripherals
Read – FOMA M2501 (Motorola)
Read – Touch Technology iota BTH 738
Read – Sony Ericsson HCB-100

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Filed under: Handsets, Motorola, Sprint-Nextel, CDMA

They wouldn’t give us the much anticipated early peek at Motorola’s i880 that we would have liked, but the FCC definitely did pass the phone through with a thumbs up. That, of course, indicates as always that the phone isn’t long for the general market, even though by this point the original market that Sprint-Nextel envisaged a year ago that might be interested in a hybrid CDMA / iDEN device have probably moved on to a regular old CDMA (or — gasp — EV-DO) Sprint handset. Still, we know our place: they make ‘em, we write about ‘em.

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Filed under: Features

We here at Engadget Mobile tend to spend a lot of way too much time poring over the latest FCC filings, be it on the net or directly on the ol’ Federal Communications Commission’s site. Since we couldn’t possibly (want to) cover all the stuff that goes down there, we’ve gathered up all the raw info you may want (but probably don’t need). Enjoy!

Phones
Read – Nokia 6126H / 6133H
Read – Sony Ericsson W958c
Read – Sony Ericsson W950i

Peripherals
Read – Nokia HS-61
Read – Nokia HF-33W

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Filed under: Cingular, Sprint-Nextel, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Misc

It’s no secret that rural and regional carriers don’t enjoy the most amiable relationship with the Big Four here in the States; there’s a plethora of reasons why the two groups don’t always get along, but whether they like it or not, they’re sorta stuck in the same boat. In terms of infrastructure, the national carriers obviously own (or hold exclusive leases to) far more property, leaving them holding nearly all the cards in the roaming game. That leaves the regionals in a bit of a pickle, and once again, they’re turning to the FCC for help. This time around, the main complaint circles around the regionals’ desire for the national carriers to be required to offer automatic roaming; that is, any carrier of the same technology (GSM or CDMA, that is) should be allowed to roam on their network at a “reasonable” price. Furthermore, they’re asking the FCC to to require that any service offered by the nationals be offered to regional carriers’ customers as well — we’re not really sure we’re following that part of the argument, since it’s the big guys that end up footing the bill for the technology build-outs (albeit by charging their own customers in kind) — but then again, we’re all about choice. Predictably, the nationals aren’t happy; both T-Mobile and Cingular have come out against the proposal, and we’re guessing Sprint and Verizon share the sentiment. It’s not known when (or if) the FCC will make a ruling, but the outcome could ultimately determine the fate of some rural carriers relying heavily on third-party infrastructure to provide their user base with service.

[Via The Wireless Report]

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