Cell Phones Zone

Verizon Wireless to Demo Home Monitoring and Control Service in CES 2011

Want to put your home switches control within your palm? Verizon Wireless will show case its upcoming Home Monitoring and Control Service during the CES 2011 event from January 6th to 9th. The service will include the control of your door security, remote monitoring with network camera, lighting control and get connected to other supported electronics. The company did not have a detail availability schedule though, it will start a pilot program in New Jersey next month.

[via SlashGear]

Press Release

New Verizon Home Monitoring and Control Service Will Make the Concept of the ‘Connected Home’ a Reality

Service Being Tested in New Jersey, Offers Home Owners Anytime, Anywhere Access to Lights, Thermostats, Appliances and Monitoring Systems, via Smartphones, Computers and FiOS TV

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – You’re miles from home when you realize that you’ve forgotten to lock the front door. With a new, fully integrated and customizable home monitoring and control service developed by Verizon, you won’t have to panic and frantically call a friend or neighbor. The service, now in the trial phase and expected to be available in the first half of 2011, will enable customers to lock doors remotely; see what’s going on at home via networked cameras; and set, adjust and control lights, smart thermostats and appliances — all by using a smartphone or a computer or through FiOS TV.

Verizon will showcase the new service, Home Monitoring and Control, and many other new technologies, at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, from Jan. 6-9. Verizon’s demo will be available in the press room and blogger lounge, located in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center and will be among the demonstrations in Verizon’s booth (LVCC, South Hall #35215) on the show floor.

Beginning in January, a pilot program for the new service will be conducted in New Jersey. The homes selected for the program will be outfitted with an energy reader, smart appliance switches and thermostats, a smart power strip, a smart door and window locks, motion sensors, an advanced pan-and-tilt camera, and a fixed indoor and outdoor camera.

“What we’ll be testing in these homes is just the beginning,” said Eric Bruno, vice president of product management for Verizon. “We’re giving customers a remote control for their homes that they can use to cut CO2 emissions and their energy bills and give them anytime, anywhere access and control of their homes. The concept of the connected home has been discussed for many years, and now Verizon’s high-IQ networks are making that concept a reality by converting customers’ homes into bandwidth-rich ecosystems that enable a wide variety of customizable options.”

High-IQ Networks Like FiOS Are Platforms for Innovation – Since launching FiOS, Verizon has pushed the boundaries of TV and broadband speed by introducing innovations that have spurred the industry’s evolution.

Verizon is the only major provider to offer ultra-high-speed symmetrical Internet service to customers, and earlier this year the company began offering 150/35 megabits per second Internet service, the fastest speeds available on a mass scale. Consumers can choose from various FiOS Internet downstream and upstream options including 15/5 Mbps, 25/25 Mbps, 35/35 Mbps and 50/20 Mbps.

Verizon also offers a Media Manager, available to all HD customers, that enables them to access PC-based personal photos, videos and music – as well as search and enjoy online videos from YouTube, blip.tv and Dailymotion. DVR customers can remotely access their DVRs from any broadband connection or Internet-enabled phone. And in November, Verizon launched Flex View, a new feature that allows customers to take their video content with them and purchase, rent or watch videos on TV, online and on select mobile devices.

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Sony Wants LG Smartphone Shipments Banned from US

Yep it’s yet another legal row over patent infringement, something that every smartphone maker in the mobile space seems to be doing these days rather than opting to go the amicable agreement route and this latest round of patent infringement shenanigans is between Sony and LG.

According to an article over on Engadget by Sean Hollister, and by way of Bloomberg, Sony has been crying to the ITC over LG’s alleged patent infringement and wants shipments of LG smartphone to the United States to be banned.

Apparently Sony claims that LG has infringed eight of their patents on their mobile handsets which include the LG Rumor 2, LG Fathom, LG Xenon, LG Lotus Elite, LG Neon, LG Remarq and others.

Furthermore, not just satisfied with asking the US International Trade Commission to ban LG devices, Sony has also filed with the federal court presumable to seek a substantial monetary payout. No doubt LG will counter-sue at some point as this always seems to be the way with this type of thing.

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Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays We’re going to take a few days off and enjoy some recreation with family and friends. See you next week.
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Motorola Cliq 2 Arrives On January 19th

Motorola Cliq 2 will be available on January 19th. So far, we are only able to identified several features that the device will obtained. It will have a 5 megapixel camera and Bluetooth 2.1. Also, as you can see on the pictures, it has a full-slide out QWERTY keyboard.

There’s not much to mention regarding the device. We are hoping that Wi-Fi calling will be provided for the device in the future. It is still uncertain which Android OS will the device get.

[via TmoNews]

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Google Nexus S Benchmarking Video

The title says it all really, what we have for your viewing consumption below is a video showing off some benchmark tests on the latest Samsung built smartphone out of the Google camp, the Google Nexus S.

The Google Nexus S benchmarking video comes our way courtesy of the guys over at Daily Mobile and by way of Android Central and delivers almost four and a half minutes of testing the Nexus S although they do stipulate that they don’t use Quadrant as it doesn’t work 100% with Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

In the video the benchmarking of the Google Nexus S is done by Linpack for Android which deliver around 14 MFLOPS, other tests are also done with Neocore, FPS2D and NenaMark.

So to check out just how well these benchmark tests run on the Google Nexus S all you need do is skip on down and mash the play button…enjoy.

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Navfree USA: Free Turn-by-Turn Navigation App

Navmii’s Navfree USA is a free alternative to the current selection of iPhone-based turn-by-turn GPS navigation apps. It’s also available for Android and Nokia phones. Because the maps are stored on-board, the device doesn’t need a constant connection. Navfree USA is compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, and takes advantage of the OpenStreetMap […]
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HTC EVO Shift 4G Showing on Best Buy’s System For $150

4G has been main things around communication industrial recently and many carrier try to push 4G into 2011. Now, the HTC EVO Shift 4G has made an appearance on Best Buy’s system for only $149.99.

The EVO Shift 4G, SKU 1768561, has still yet to be announced and it will be very similar with the EVO 4G except it has the full physical keyboard. Priced at $149.99 with commitment and $549.99 without it. Unfortunately, the old costumer who wants to upgrade will have to pay the same amount with those new costumer.

[via AndroidCommunity]

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CES 2011: Samsung Galaxy S 2 and Tab 2 to Debut?

First off it’s not official at this moment in time so is more of a rumour than fact, but word has it that old Sammy will be debuting their latest Android platform devices when CES 2011 comes round in Las Vegas to take on Motorola’s rumoured Honeycomb packing tablet.

According to an article over on Intomobile by Dusan Belic and by way of Android and Me, the Korean Times is reporting that Samsung will unveil their newest updated models of their Samsung Galaxy S smartphone and the Samsung Galaxy Tab at CES 2011.

According to the Korean Times article Samsung has also placed an order with chip maker NVIDIA for Tegra 2 dual-core chips which will apparently be used in the upcoming Sammy devices.

LG will be at CES as well who will apparently unveil their first tablet which will be an 8 to 9 in tablet, smaller than the Apple iPad but larger than the Samsung Galaxy Tab and will run the Android Honeycomb operating system.

So anyone looking forward to CES 2011 to start?

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ARM Getting Windows?

Microsoft will announce a version of its Windows that runs on ARM processors at CES this January, reports Bloomberg. The software would be tailored for battery-powered devices, such as tablet computers and other handhelds. The operating system is expected to give Microsoft another way to attack the market for tablets and phones, where it’s lost […]
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Nokia E7 Available Via Amazon For $679

Amazon US is now offering the Nokia E7 for 679. However, as you can see on the picture, the device is temporarily out of stock which mean you have to wait for several weeks until you will be able to received the product on your door.

The device that sales by Amazon is not from the third party pricing but rather directly from an official American version of the phone with a full manufacturer warranty. Its quite a price for most of us but we are hoping that the price will eventually drop by the time the device was ship.

[via Engadget]

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