June 29 - 2:25pm EDT   Wireless provider Sprint on Monday announced it will offer the Motorola Clutch i465 later this summer. First offered by Sprint subsidiary Boost Mobile, the Clutch is a rugged device that meets the US military's 810F specifcations and is rated to withstand temperature and altitude extremes, as well as exposure to dust, shock, vibration and solar radiation. The device is also the first device with a full QWERTY keyboard to run on Sprint's iDEN push-to-talk network. [full story]

June 29 - 9:30am EDT   Several major cellphone makers today agreed to support a European Union push for a universal charger standard. Apple, LG, Motorola, Nokia, RIM, Samsung and Sony Ericsson have signed a deal with the European Commission that will see micro USB become the default connector for powering cellphones in the continent. Chipset producers like NEC, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments have also agreed to the deal. [full story]

June 24 - 1:55pm EDT   Verizon chief Ivan Seidenberg last evening told late night show host Charlie Rose that his company didn't have control over the prospect of a 4G iPhone for its upcoming Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. The executive said it was "Apple's decision" as to whether or not it built a phone for the faster network and didn't comment on any possible agreements. Talks have been rumored underway for several months but, even if accurate, are potentially part of a pressure tactic to earn concessions from AT&T. [full story]

June 23 - 10:00am EDT   AT&T today jumped at Motorola's messaging phone lines with the addition of the Karma QA1. Like the Hint, it has an unusual, squat design with a QWERTY keyboard that slides out vertically instead of horizontally; the form factor is supported by front-end links to Facebook and MySpace as well as IM chat on multiple networks. In an unusual turn for this class of phone, the Karma also has a native 3.5mm headset jack and microSDHC for music listening. [full story]

June 22 - 3:45pm EDT   Rumors circulating about Motorola's first Android phones received support today through a leak of plans for their launches later in this year. The Wall Street Journal cites its usual sources "familiar with the matter" as saying that T-Mobile USA will get one of the first devices and that it will be a touchscreen device with a slide-out keyboard and an emphasis on Facebook and Twitter. Most other sources already know this as the Morrison (pictured) and expect it towards the end of the year. [full story]

June 19 - 12:35pm EDT   Verizon today officially expanded its V CAST Mobile TV network to include key larger California cities. The FLO TV-based digital broadcasts are now available in San Francisco as well as Fresno and Sacramento further south. Channel selection should remain the same and provides a mix of both live and pre-recorded content from both kids' channels like NickToons and more mature content from CBS, Fox, NBC and others. [full story]

June 19 - 9:40am EDT   Despite shipping 7.8 million BlackBerries and forecasting stronger sales, serious doubts exist about the BlackBerry's future, according to Needham analyst Charlie Wolf. Issuing a "hold" call on Research in Motion's stock, Wolf is concerned that the company's heavy dependence on home users for new subscribers -- 80 percent of the 3.8 million last quarter -- will leave it vulnerable to multiple new competitors, including the iPhone 3G S, the Palm Pre and multiple Android phones from HTC, Motorola, Samsung and others. He also worries that BlackBerry App World won't catch on and that greater choices with Apple's and Google's platforms will lead customers elsewhere. [full story]

June 16 - 1:15pm EDT   Clearwire on Tuesday officially released its 4G WiMAX wireless broadband network in Atlanta, making it the largest city in the US to offer the service. The service, CLEAR, is available to about three million people in a 1,200-square mile area, offering users DSL-like cable speeds wherever they are, wirelessly. Running on a WiMAX radio system from Motorola, the service is said to deliver realistic download speeds between 4 and 6Mbps, with burst speeds greater than 15Mbps. In comparison, existing 3G networks provide download speeds between 1 and 1.7Mbps. [full story]

June 10 - 10:30am EDT   In addition to the Exilim, wireless provider Verizon Wireless announced on Wednesday it has added the Motorola Rival messaging handset to its lineup. First spotted at the start of May, the Rival sports a touch-dial pad and a face that slides open horizontally to reveal a backlit QWERTY keyboard. The handset is meant for users who use text-messaging, IM programs and e-mail heavily, as evidenced by the keyboard's dedicated emoticon and symbols keys as well as a shortcut to text messages, IM programs and e-mails. [full story]

June 3 - 11:20am EDT   Nokia's lead in appeal to a younger audience is quickly giving way to newer companies, a study by online community Habbo has revealed today. A study of more than 112,000 teens in 30 countries has seen just 21 percent declare Nokia as their favorite phone brand. The tally is enough to give it the lead but is a major drop from 29 percent a year ago. Sony Ericsson, normally sixth place in actual market share, garnered second place but itself dropped from 21 percent to 18 percent. [full story]

May 28 - 5:15pm EDT   Boost Mobile is now offering the Motorola Clutch i465 handset, which is the hardware maker's first device on the push-to-talk iDEN network with a QWERTY keyboard. It is rated for military-grade specifications for resistance to dust, shock, vibration, dust and solar radiation, while more pedestrian features include its 1.8-inch screen with a 128x160 resolution, a GPS sensor and a VGA camera that can record videos. [full story]

May 25 - 9:05am EDT   The Bluetooth Special Interest Group's (SIG) website has revealed that the high-end Motorola Alexander may soon be released in various markets as the Somerset. The sliding QWERTY handset was first spotted in August of last year, and is expected to have a 5- or 8-megapixel camera. Considering the source, the only specs confirmed include Bluetooth hands-free profile 1.5, object push profile and a dial up networking profile support, among others. [full story]

May 22 - 2:20pm EDT   Cricket gained one of its highest-end phones yet today with the addition of the Motorola QA4 Evoke to its roster. It becomes the unlimited-only carrier's first capacitive touchscreen phone and, like the stock model, has a gesture-driven interface that lets users swipe between home screens that control apps, calling, music and other features. A 2-megapixel camera, GPS and a microSDHC slot round out the device. [full story]

May 20 - 4:20pm EDT   Motorola's first wave of Android phones this year could include a late entry for T-Mobile, a roadmap leak shows. Further expanding on previous details of the schedule, TmoToday now says a device codenamed "Morrison" is due sometime between early November and the end of the year. No details are given about the phone itself, though a small graphic implies it will have a horizontal slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen. [full story]

May 20 - 10:35am EDT   Apple has managed to more than double its smartphone market share from year to year in the first quarter of 2009, according to Gartner data. iPhones jumped from 5.3 percent of the industry in early 2008 to 10.8 percent a year later. The jump has made Apple the third-largest smartphone maker in the world and gives it twice as much share as HTC, which had just 5.4 percent of the market and grew slowly even with the launch of Android phones. [full story]