Cricket, a subsidiary of Leap Wireless International, has just added another phone to its lineup and it’s about as stereotypical a Samsung phone as it gets. After all, the SCH-r610 is a skinny slider phone with a healthy complement of multimedia functions. At first glance, the Samsung SCH-r610 looks almost the same as some older Samsung sliders like the D900 (Ultra Edition 12.1). It would have been nice if Cricket grabbed a more current-looking phone like the U600. Anyways, the Samsung SCH-r610 is equipped with all the usual doo-dahs that you’ve come to expect from an entertainment-minded handset.

The display is a standard 262k TFT number, and it gets backed up by a microSD expansion slot, MP3 player, 1.3 megapixel camera, WAP 2.0, and stereo Bluetooth. It can handle the whole mobile web and wireless download thing too, so you’ll never be without a hot new cell phone game.

Marvell, , a leader in storage, communications, and consumer silicon solutions, and Samsung, announced the availability of the Samsung SPH-M4650 PDA phone with the Marvell(R) PXA 300 application processor running on Korea’s LG Telecom network. The Marvell PXA 300 application processor enables high-end graphics, gaming, and multimedia capabilities for the Samsung SPH-M4650 as well as delivering optimal business applications while consuming ultra-low levels of power. The Samsung SPH-M4650 runs on the Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional operating system. The new Samsung SPH-M4650 is designed to offer outstanding multimedia capabilities as well as the advanced functions of a PDA phone.

The attractive slim design and full LCD screen makes it an attractive device for work or play,” said Hun Bae Kim, senior vice president, Samsung Mobile CDMA Team. “Marvell’s PXA 300 application processor is designed to allow gaming and multimedia functions, while enabling business functionality and PC synchronization.”The Samsung SPH-M4650 features terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting (T-DMB) for mobile television, a 2.0 megapixel camera, and Bluetooth technology housed in a thin form factor with an LCD touch screen.

“The Samsung SPH-M4650 is an exciting new device that will provide a robust mobile experience for business functionality as well as gaming and multimedia for consumers,” said David Young, vice president and general manager of Marvell’s Mobile Cellular Business Group. “We are pleased that Samsung has chosen our PXA 300 application processor to enhance the consumer experience by providing optimal performance and power savings, enhancing the overall multimedia capabilities.”

If LCD and Plasma HD televisions are the hottest items at CES this week (Toshiba unveiled no less than 20 new flat screens), GPS and mobile devices must rate a close second. We’ve already seen some groundbreaking new developments, including voice control and cellular-equipped GPS that will change the game for portable navigation when they arrive in Australia. Here are the highlights. There are two technologies we’re excited about, as they promise to help solve a longtime drawback of all GPS devices – losing the signal when you go into a tunnel, or between tall city buildings. Essentially, by combining extra sensors GPS makers hope to maintain a fix on your location, even if you lose satellite signal briefly. Mio’s Navsteadi technology is one example, which didn’t get a lot of CES coverage, but looks very interesting.

The system takes into account acceleration, heading data and closely coupled GPS to “improve positioning accuracy”. Mio’s local national sales manager Peter Farrigno told us the system should maintain a signal even in a tunnel. “It’s a form of dead reckoning, it’s especially of aid when you’re in canon-esque type environments where there’s an enormous amount of signal loss,” he said.

For companies in the CDMA market without expertise or experience in GSM, the Wavecom product affords the opportunity to slap this module into a handset, complete with IP indemnification licensing, carrier approval on the GSM network, and the necessary chips and other licensing, and offer up a GSM phone just like that. These companies would otherwise have to approach a dozen or more organizations for licensing of essential IP for GSM and get those licenses within the typical two-year time frame.

Wavecom offers a CDMA module as well. Everything is included in the price of the modules. Wavecom’s approach circumvents individual license negotiations for OEMs like Gateway, HP, and Handspring that are entering the wireless space without these relationships. With Wavecom’s MUSE Platform Open MMI (Man Machine Interface), customers can develop unique user interfaces. “Developing MMI used to take a huge team of resources, 20-30 people working on MMI development. We now offer that as part of our module package,” says David McCartney, vice president of marketing and business development, Wavecom.

Wavecom brings its own GPRS protocol stack, the Wavecom stack. “You don’t have to have half a million dollars up front and a dollar a unit included in the price [to get a GPRS stack or licensing],” says McCartney. Wavecom has a license from Sun to include J2ME in its WISMO chipset module’s software packaging. Wavecom has developed its own baseband to control new baseband features like AMR technology (Adaptive Multi-Rate) for U.S.-based GSM networks and EDGE phones.

Nova media has released version 5.1 of its iSync phone plug-ins. A free update for users who purchased the software within the past year, Nova’s iSync plug-ins cost 9.95 euros (US$14.65).

The plug-ins enable your Mac to exchange Address Book and iCal information with cell phones that Apple doesn’t support from the factory with Mac OS X v10.4 or v10.5. They extend the number of compatible phones to include 130 additional models from Ben, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. New to this release is support for Nokia’s 3500 Classic, 7900, E51, N82 and N95 8GB cell phones. The plug-ins require Mac OS X v10.4.9 or later, including Leopard.

T-Mobile and Yahoo! announce a strategic partnership which will see the first graphical advertising appear on T-Mobile’s pioneering Internet service. Inset shows how the mobile advertising could look on a Nokia handset. Web’n’walk, which was the UK’s first service to offer people unlimited access to the whole internet on a mobile phone, is set to carry a variety of innovative graphical ads exclusively sold and served by internet giant Yahoo! Mobile advertising is revolutionising the market by allowing advertisers to deliver more targeted messaging to consumers on their mobiles when on the move.

As pioneers of the Internet on your mobile, T-Mobile and Yahoo! will combine their expertise in the industry and knowledge of consumer habits, to enable advertisers to offer consumers targeted graphical ads when using the web’n’walk service. Mobile advertising is unique in allowing consumers the ability to interact and respond directly to the messages that advertisers try to deliver to them, when they are out of the office or home. T-Mobile and Yahoo! intend to roll out the first mobile advertisements on web’n’walk in the first half of 2008.

Phil Chapman, Director of Marketing at T-Mobile, said: Mobile advertising is a key area of development for T-Mobile in 2008 and this partnership with Yahoo! shows our commitment to making this strategy succeed. With conventional mobile marketing tools limiting the levels of interaction, banner advertising through the Internet on your mobile creates many opportunities for potential advertisers to adopt innovative marketing campaigns. We regard Yahoo! as a leader in display advertising, and with its deep understanding of the mobile space and the potential that mobile advertising can offer clients, we’re glad they are on board as our partners.

mSpot, a pioneer in mobile music and radio, and Alltel Wireless announced that mSpot Remix will power the carrier’s first over-the-air (OTA) mobile phone to PC music syncing service. Alltel’s Music powered by Celltop is the easiest way for consumers to access their entire non-DRM protected music libraries from their wireless phones. To use Music powered by Celltop, customers simply visit the Axcess Shop on their Alltel phone to subscribe. The mSpot Remix mobile player then connects with the customer’s PC over Alltel’s network, providing the consumer anywhere access to all of the stored songs and playlists. When a customer hits “play” from the mSpot Remix mobile player, Remix immediately starts playing the song while downloading the entire track in the background.

Remix then saves the songs to the phone’s memory card, so the customer has access to their songs in the future — even when not connected to the network.”We are extremely excited to work with Alltel Wireless and bring their customers an easy way to use their phones as music players,” said Daren Tsui, co-founder and CEO of mSpot. “With no cables and an incredibly easy-to-use wireless interface, Alltel’s Music powered by Celltop is the first service to leverage the power of their network to make music truly mobile.”Music powered by Celltop is currently available to Alltel customers with the new MOTOROKR Z6m for a monthly subscription of $3.99 or for a three month subscription of $9.99.

Alltel has plans to launch the service to other Celltop capable handsets in the first half of 2008.”Remix has allowed Alltel Wireless to deliver the most innovative and flexible wireless music solution in the industry,” said Scott Moody, director of multimedia services for Alltel Wireless. “Our customers love their music, and we’ve given them a way to take it with them anywhere.”

Today, the Tech lifted the curtain to unveil the new T-Mobile Samsung t819 cellular phone. Equipped with wireless, stereo Bluetooth technology, the t819 sings its own praises with features like a 1.3 megapixel camera with video capture capability, an MP3 player and a micro SD slot for a maximum of 2-gigabytes (GB) of removable memory. A slider phone that weighs in just shy of 3.5 ounces, the latest T-Mobile device has numerous messaging options, including AOL, SMS, MMS, ICQ, Windows Live and Yahoo. Furthermore, it is compatible with T-Mobile Address Book and offers the T-Mobile myFaves calling plan.

The cellular phone’s full moniker is the Samsung SGH-t819. It is available in a two-toned brown hue, with a frame that measures approximately 4″x 2″ x .5″, which makes it one of the smaller slider-phones out there. The phone should be available over the next few days and weeks at T-Mobile retail stores, as well as online at t-mobile.com. Check out the gallery below for images.

Dimming Wall Street hopes for a profit, Motorola Inc. said on Wednesday it will post an operating loss in the current quarter because its mobile phone business is taking longer to turn around than expected. The company, whose weak cell phone product line caused it to lose customers to rivals like Nokia and Samsung Electronics in 2007, warned of further market share losses this quarter and back pedaled off its forecast for its mobile devices division to return to profitability in 2008. Motorola forecast a first-quarter loss per share from continuing operations of 5 U.S. cents to 7 cents, before any reorganization charges. Analysts had expected a profit of 9 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates. “The figures had us scratching our heads, checking the date to see if we were looking at an earnings release from 2002,” JPMorgan analyst Ehud Gelblum said in a note to clients. Some analysts questioned if Motorola would stay intact after its outlook overshadowed quarterly results that were in line with expectations.

Activist shareholder Carl Icahn has called for a break-up of the company. He was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday. “They’re flirting with the handset death spiral. They’re losing share, which makes them smaller, which makes them less competitive on costs, which makes their phones less compelling, which loses more share,” said Charter Equity Research analyst Ed Snyder. Asked about the potential for a company break-up, Motorola Chief Executive Greg Brown would only say he was focused on cutting costs, getting mobile devices back to profit and expanding the set-top box and enterprise mobility units.

Samsung today gave owners of the original AT&T-branded BlackJack smartphone a window mobile. The patch brings the phone up to the same Windows Mobile 6 Standard base OS as the more recent black jack supplying it with an improved web browser, “push” Exchange e-mail with HTML support, and Office Mobile for basic editing on the road. The update also provides AT&T-specific features previously locked out of the device; one-way Video Share calls on the carrier’s 3G cell network are now possible.The update is free for any owners of the initial BlackJack on AT&T’s network and should go live as of 5PM today from Samsung’s website. Applying the upgrade currently demands a Windows 2000 or XP system with the latest version of ActiveSync and is said to wipe the phone’s data clean before its changes take effect.