Did you miss CTIA Wireless 2011? We've got you covered
The second really big wireless tradeshow of the year concluded yesterday. Although, for all practical matters it was over a day earlier. My colleague Tim Conneally told me about Day 3: "You should see it down here, it's a ghost town compared to Day 1." Like I said yesterday, there was something missing from this years CTIA Wireless. That's not to say there was no news or no worthy gadgets coming out of the show. I've collected our coverage here into a single post for quick reference.
1. AT&T and T-Mobile USA merger. On March 20, a Sunday and two days before CTIA Wireless, Deutsche Telekom agreed to sell T-Mobile USA to AT&T for a whopping $39 -- $25 million in cash. In an analysis, we looked at how the merger will affect you. In a follow-up post, you expressed your reaction to the proposed merger. Today, we returned back to topic. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission may resist the major merger.
2. Amazon appstore for Android. Two days before the show and major Amazon launch, we asked "What if Amazon released a Kindle tablet?" There was none (we're still waiting), but the Amazon appstore for Android did launch as expected.
"Attention Amazon shoppers, we've got blue light specials in aisle 10 and 412. Get Angry Birds Rio or Shazam Encore free for a limited time." Amazon is applying the same retail techniques used for selling music and other goods to Android apps: Select promotional discounting.
By the way, Amazon launched with "appstore" name despite a trademark infringement lawsuit from Apple.
3. Google Voice and Nexus S 4G. Sprint will soon offer Google Voice to all its customers and the Google-branded Nexus S 4G. Sprint customers can use one number for its service and Google Voice. The Nexus S 4G will sell for $199.99, with two-year contractual commitment.
4. iPhone radiation app. Tawkon released a mobile application that measures cellular radiation through Cydia jailbreak, after Apple rejected the app. The app was rejected by none other than Apple CEO Steve Jobs himself.
5. HTC EVO 3D and View 4G tablet. Sprint announced the tablet and smartphone, respectively, but not right away. The tablets won't ship until summer. We asked: "Will HTC EVO 3D and EVO View 4G be worth the wait?" Or will they be seemingly obsolete?
6. 3D-ready LG Thrill, HTC HD7S. AT&T expanded its smartphone lineup with the Android-based LG Thrill and HD7S running Windows Phone 7. The Thrill features a dual-core processor. Both handsets have 4.3-inch screens.
7. Hands on: HTC HD7S. You'll want this smartphone after watching our video. The HD7S performs very much like the other Windows Phones. In other words, it's quick and responsive while still managing to be easy on the eyes.
8. BlackBerry Playbook. After countless promises of "soon," Research in Motion finally launched the BlackBerry Playbook. The 7-inch tablet is available for preorder and is priced like iPad 2: 16GB ($499); 32GB ($599); 64GB ($699).
9. Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1. Well, the good news is that Samsung broadened its Galaxy Tab line with a new 8.9-inch model. The bad news: The 10.1-inch Tab won't ship until summer. Hurry up and wait should be Samsung's new motto.
10. T-Mobile 4G. The carrier will up the speed of its HSPA+ network to 42Mbps in two dozen markets. You can close your mouth and clean up the drool now. T-Mobile will deliver nearly twice the bandwidth of my home DSL. See our comparison between T-Mobile's 3G and 4G networks. Technically, T-Mobile's network is really super-fast 3G. But do you really care?
11. Hands on: T-Mobile G2x. Two-and-a-half years after launching the first Android handset, the G1, T-Mobile is back for its second encore with the G2x. The 4-inch smartphone takes advantage of T-Mobile's HSPA+ network. Did we say it's fast? Wicked.
12. Honeycomb and open source. Yesterday, Google revealed it would delay release of Android 3.0 as open source. The software isn't ready it, which raises question: Why is Motorola XOOM shipping with it?
13: Hands on: Acer Iconia A501. Tim Conneally expressed surprise seeing this exciting Android tablet running v2.3 "Gingerbread." Hehe, maybe Honeycomb really isn't ready. Still, the Iconia A501 impresses without it.
14. Android in-app billing. Google is finally catching up with Apple. In-app billing is coming to Android Market next week. Meanwhile, developers can begin testing their mobile applications.
15. CTIA Wireless MIA. We initially found three things missing from the tradeshow, and added a fourth as an update. See photo top for No. 4. It's a heart stopper.