We love a good underdog story, and this one is definitely a ‘David and Goliath’ battle. FuturePhone, one of the free conference calling services that recently got shut down by AT&T (NYSE: T), comes back to life for a legal showdown with the telecom monopoly giant. The company is preparing to file a formal complaint to the FCC to get its service back online. Apparently, the company went into hiding while it got legal advice and tried to figure out what to do.

In an effort to garner support for its service, FuturePhone is asking people to please contact their local government-types and complain about the service’s unfair demise.

Fight the good fight, FuturePhone! We’re behind you all the way!

Pantech’s recent financial woes are being reported as the reason for CEO Sung-Kyu Lee’s resignation as head honcho of the company - after a mere 14 month stint as Chief. Pantech busted onto the US scene under Lee’s reign, but releasing phones through Cingular and Helio might just have taken too much out of this executive. Chairman of Pantech’s board, Byeong-Yeop Park, will take sole control of the company as President and Chairman. Park, along with the rest of the board, was apparently opposed to Lee’s resignation. But it did nab him both top spots in the company’s executive lineup - so take that as you will.

Via: Telecoms Korea

Near Field Communications (NFC) technology has really been getting some push from developers recently. The new Bluetooth 2.1 EDR protocol made some provisions for NFC technology to make pairing your Bluetooth 2.1 devices as easy as bringing the two together. Now Kyocera (NYSE: KYO) is developing this tech to free us of our wallets. Kyocera showcased their NFC tech with the Visa mobile platform - giving you wallet-free purchasing power with the not-so-proverbial wave of the hand. Bringing the phone close to a ‘payment slot’ automatically debits or charges your account, completing the transaction.

But what happens when you lose track of your mobile phone (or, more seriously, have it stolen)? When you lose your wallet, you can just call your financial institutions and report the lose. But what if the wallet is now also your phone? You not only have no way to pay for the bus ride home, but you also have no way to call up your bank to prevent fraudulent charges. We’re going to let this tech go through some field testing before we jump on board.

Source

LG’s got a plethora of mobile phone offerings under its belt - fashion, TV, music, high-speed data, qwerty keyboard…you get the picture. So what else could this inspired company do to keep things fresh and poppin’? Well, those wacky folks at Akihabara News have dug up some pics on a new LG phone that takes design cues from a, well, a banana. The LG SV80’s curved body and yellow highlights help prevent arthritis from all that heavy and un-ergonomic phone lifting. Seriously, we think LG is almost out of ideas with this one. (want more pics? click on)

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Here in The States, the two Big Boys on the wireless network block are Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and Cingular. Verizon is representing the CDMA side of their neighborhood and Cingular is holding down its GSM territory. It’s been a rumble and tumble battle, but for the most part, it’s been an even war. But today, the marketing research gurus at IDC gave Verizon the lead. According to analyst Julien Blin, “Verizon became the new market leader in terms of total direct retail subscribers/customers, with a total of 56.8 million, against 56.3 million for Cingular.” And Verizon is the leader in ARPU (average revenue per user) data revenue and data use percentage.

Sprint (NYSE: S) Nextel, still trying to turn its Nextel acquisition into plus territory, got a boost to their ego - and bottom line - with IDC declaring them the ARPU leader in blended data (email, text, and other non-voice services) over Verizon.

… and posted one hell of a photo gallery!

He is amazed at all the features it has for it’s size and weight, but a bit concerned about the 950 mAh battery.

I agree with him when he says:

I do wish it was a bit higher resolution though (has 240×320 pixels), but it seems every device has a couple things you always want better.

People like me and you keep Nokia (NYSE: NOK) in business Matt. We always want the next best thing.

Nokia’s next N series flagship model will probably have VGA.

Nokia and Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) keep fighting like two schoolchildren who can’t share a ball. One pushes the other, the other pushes back, and soon a grown-up has to try to break up the fight. But, in this case the ball is a bevy of intellectual property patents and the grown-up is the legal system. And, in the most recent round of fighting, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) just payed up $20 million to push Qualcomm back, for now. The two are fighting over licensing terms regarding 3G technology - UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System).

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Location: UK

Start Date: May 2007

Speeds Achieved thus far: 2 - 8 Mbits/sec

I’ll be watching this trial like a hawk.

If Nokia (NYSE: NOK) needs a WiMax handset alpha/beta tester I’ll be happy to help! I live in Texas.

They seem to like the device overall, but had a few gripes:

• The slider sways to the left and right
• The screen had poor color reproduction outside
• The earpiece speaker wasn’t loud enough
• The vibrating alert isn’t strong enough (tell me about it; it stinks on my E61)
• 2.5 mm headphone jack
• 2.5 mm headphone jack
• 2.5 mm headphone jack

I want to point out something that means a lot to me: Calculator

Look at the feature rich capabilities of S40:

Why can’t we have this on S60?

Official press release if you want to glance over it. The $20 million is only for 2Q 2007.