News Archive - Sep, 2001

Ericsson publishes model specs - 2:59pm 25-Sep-2001

Ericsson has finally publish complete information about their new models R380e, T66, and R600 on their website.

Ericsson R380e
Ericsson T66
Ericsson R600

Ericsson announces the T66 and R600 models - 10:35pm 24-Sep-2001

Ericsson in two new press releases announced the availability of two new models, the T66 and the R600. They will be made available in the fourth quarter of 2001.

The T66 would be Ericsson's smallest mobile weighing in a mere 59g and would be a tri-band (GSM 900/1800/1900) model.

At roughly the same length and width as a credit card, T66 is extremely small. It weighs only 59 grams and its streamlined design includes a built-in antenna. The T66 has a standby time up to 150 hours and many user-friendly features packed into a neat unit. The T66 has several enhanced messaging features and is compatible with GSM900/1800/1900 for international coverage.

The R600 on the other hand is a dual-band (GSM 900/1800) GPRS phone having the dimensions of the R520, 5-row, 4-gray, 3-color backlite screen, calender and the usual features expected out of an Ericsson released these days.

The R600 can be personalized in several ways. The display color can be set to green, red or orange and be used both as a constant background display color and for identifying a caller. Link a color to a contact in the phone book and you get a colorful hint on who is calling. The R600 also features a background picture in the display that is visible when the phone is in standby mode and gives the phone a personal touch.

Read the press release on the T66 here. and the
press release of the R600 here.

You can also visit the Press picture archives here.

Ericsson T39 info 24-Sep-2001

I have been told that if you are not happy with the language installed in your T39 (you are given two, English and local country language), you can go to an authorized Ericsson service center and they will be able to flash your phone with the language of your choice. This is provided the center has the new smartcard installed for flashing the latest generation of Ericsson mobiles.

Ericsson T66 rumours 24-Sep-2001

Another Ericsson only website called Talkman has pictures of an Ericsson T66 mobile. Not too sure about the phone specifications but from the picture, seems to suggest a T68 with a 4 gray scale screen. The picture shown on the right is the biege color model, click here for the other color. These pictures are directly linked to the Talkman site.

Update: 24-Sep-2001 - 2:12pm

The Ericsson T66 has "sort of" been announced. This was accidentally done by visiting http://mobile.ericsson.com and under the Mobile Phone Gallery you will see a section called Coming soon... which has an animated GIF with a series of Ericsson products flashing. On this .GIF file, you will see the T66 flashing in two seperate colors.

Ericsson introduces the new R380e 24-Sep-2001

The Ericsson R380e - the smartphone just got smarter. There is no news of the GPRS capabilities nor the ability to install your own software into this phone though. Anyway, here is part of their press release:

Compared to its predecessor, R380e has 25 percent more battery capacity, faster operational speed and improved SIM card management. It has a WAP 1.2.1 browser and supports WTLS Class 2 for full WAP security. R380e has improved software customization options including the possibility for operators and corporate customers to define WAP and e-mail icons. The user can also personalize start-up animations. To allow network operators the flexibility to update subscribers' SIM cards, alter existing services, and download new services over the air, R380e supports SIM AT. R380e can be connected to a PC using a USB cable, it has one additional game and a feature that allows the user to write short notes directly on the screen for later reference - Ink notes.

Read the Ericsson press release here.
You can also read GSMBOX's news story of the R380e here or TheRegister's preview here.

Europolitan Vodafone, Comverse test MMS using Ericsson T68 24-Sep-2001

InfoSync has written an article on MMS testings done in Sweden.

Select users of Europolitan Vodafone's network will soon be testing Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS), using Ericsson's first color GPRS phone featuring MMS support, the T68.

Read the complete story here.

Ericsson test mobile instant messaging successfully 21-Sep-2001

Ericsson with Motorola and Nokia successfully tested the Wireless Village initiative (aka IMPS).

They have successfully demonstrated in Kista, Sweden, the world's first interoperable mobile instant messaging and presence services showing how three different mobile phones were able to connect with two different mobile instant messaging and presence servers (remote mobile IMPS servers), to exchange presence information (e.g., availability and location characteristics); to send and receive instant messages.

Read about it here.

Study: Bluetooth Interest Growing Fast 21-Sep-2001

A new study done by Cahners In-Stat Group seems to suggest that the Bluetooth technology developed by Ericsson is catching on quickly in the consumer markets.

"Last year, there was still much evangelizing that needed to be done in order to educate consumers about Bluetooth technology," says Joyce Putscher, an In-Stat director. "The survey results show definite headway is being made."

The survey found that a majority of consumers are willing to pay as much as USD 25 to add Bluetooth to their products. This refutes the widely-held assumption that Bluetooth chipsets must cost manufacturers USD 5 or less before Bluetooth is widely adopted. Such a price would result, roughly, in a USD 10 premium to end users.

Read the complete story here.

Ericsson T39 - sexiest phone in the world 20-Sep-2001

GSMBOX reported that a WAP site did a servey on the sexiest phone in the world and the Ericsson T39 came in as No. 1!!!

Read the complete story here.

Pics of the Ericsson T65 19-Sep-2001

Cellularmania.com has a few pictures of the new T65, looks like a very small phone with a built-in battery.

Take a look here.

Updated the Channels Info 18-Sep-2001

Thanks to a reader Azmi (aka ZaZ), I now have a properly documented Channel Info page. If there are any corrections that need to be made, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Updated the Logos Page 13-Sep-2001

Updated the Logos page again...

Bluetooth not at war with 802.11b, Ericsson says 13-Sep-2001

Bluetooth technology is a year late to hit the market but is definitely not a loser to 802.11b wireless LANs, LM Ericsson Telephone Co. officials said Friday in Boston.

"We are complementary technologies," said Skip Bryan, global area manager for the Americas for Ericsson Technology Licensing, a division of Sweden-based Ericsson.

Read the complete news here.

Nokia suffers standards body rejection 13-Sep-2001

It's one of those times where you are glad Ericsson sticks to globally approved standards and not create something proprierty which gives them a headache later.

Nokia's GPRS service faces a further delay as the industry's standards body says no to its requests to have the standards of the service changed.

[SNIP]

However, the company needed the controversial software, called PBCCH, to help its handsets interoperate with its own network equipment.

Read the complete news here.

Sony and Ericsson Boards approve Joint Venture 12-Sep-2001

Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson and Sony Corporation announced today that their respective Boards have approved the Mobile Phone Joint Venture. During meetings in Stockholm, the Board of directors of both parent companies confirmed that the new company, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, will start operations on October 1, 2001, subject to necessary approvals from regulators.

Read more here.

Updated the Logos page 12-Sep-2001

Updated the Logos page to show users how to update their mobiles with startup/shutdown and background/operator pictures. Also show how this can be done on the newer T39 and R520 without using the MyPictures program.

I have also removed some of the older startup/shutdown pictures due to copyright reasons plus the fact that I do not have the time to personally update and maintain those pictures.

Updated the Software page 11-Sep-2001

Updated the Software page. Did a quick introduction on the Ericsson SMS PC Suite and gave my first impressions on it.

Smallest Bluetooth Headset 11-Sep-2001

There is a site called NEXTLINK which features a bluetooth headset which weights only 9.6g

Weight: 9.6 g
Dimensions 35mm(L)x22mm(W)x16mm(D)
Boom length: 60mm
Talk-time: >2 hour
Battery: 100 mAh (3,6V) Li-Ion polymer
Hardware: CSR (Bluecore 01 - Class 2)
Software: Headset Profile v1.1
Other features: High-end call-center microphone

Check it out here.

Review of T29 10-Sep-2001

Just completed my review of the Ericsson T29. Not you usual review, but I believe I tell you more than most other reviews. This is my first phone review, so it may seem a little ameturish, well.... it is!

FYI, I have to buy my own units to do the review, if anybody can arrange for me to have access to upcoming models, please don't hesitate to contact me. In case you didn't know, I do not work for Ericsson but am putting this site together with my own funds. So, if I have to buy every new model that Ericsson releases, I'll be a very poor man in no time. :(

GSMBOX does a preview of the T65 7-Sep-2001

The guys at GSMBOX have done a preview of the Ericsson T65, while Nokia is on track to releasing a GPRS phone, Ericsson has a product launch date for Q4, 2001.

Read the preview here.

Ericsson is concerned about mobile market growth 5-Sep-2001

The CEO of Ericsson, Kurt Hellstroem voiced concern about the mobile market. Below is a bit of what he said:

Ericsson, the world's number three handset maker, expects a 0-5% growth in the world mobile market this year and a flat market throughout 2002. To get more profits, the company aims to introduce cost-cutting measures and to overcome the downturn time it was going through.

Read the complete news here.

6-Sep-2001 Update

The magazine mbusiness has a report which can be found here.

Ericsson launches the T65 and T60 5-Sep-2001

Ericsson has announced two new models today. The T60 comes in two flavours, the T60c and T60d, one using CMDA and the other TDMA technology. They are of course targetted at the Americas region where these technologies are used.

For the rest of the world, Ericsson has offered the T65, a WAP, GPRS, dual-band phone. Below is a portion of it's press release.

The Ericsson T65 is a powerful WAP phone with a contemporary design built to offer young people a fast and easy connection with the Mobile Internet. It is also loaded with the latest features for new and powerful ways to socialise and access information. T65 will be available in GSM900/1800 markets in fourth quarter 2001.

Read the T65 press release here.

Read the T60 press release here.

To know more about the new phone, visit the links for Ericsson T60 and Ericsson T65

Ericsson must have made a boo-boo somewhere, attempts to visit the T60 page automatically redirects the browser to the T65 page.

Ericsson launches updated Bluetooth Headset 4-Sep-2001

With the aggressive launch of both the R520m and the T39m, it only made sense that Ericsson released an updated Bluetooth headset. Below is a bit of that press release.

Today Ericsson announced the launch of the Bluetooth Headset HBH-15, the latest version of Ericsson's already popular headset concept. Attractively designed and equipped with a new battery enabling extended talk and standby times, the new headset will reach the market in early fourth quarter 2001.

Read the complete press release here.

Updated the Links page 3-Sep-2001

Automatically configure your WAP settings via SMS.
Added an Ericsson service centre URL for Sweden.

Also in the links page, there is a URL which shows you the latest firmware revisions available for most Ericsson phones.

Thanks to Evert Meulie for the info.

Updated the Channels Info page 3-Sep-2001

Now the Channels Info page is quite complete, all I need is info for the older Ericssons (A1018, T1x, S8x8, etc).

Thanks to DaKillaBee who posted the info in the newsgroups.

Updated the reviews page 2-Sep-2001

Reviewed the Graphic Operator Logo v0.9 by Nuro, please check out the Reviews page.

Ericsson Accelerates Licensing of Mobile Phone Technology 2-Sep-2001

Looks like Ericsson will start licensing it's technology to other mobile manufacturers.

Ericsson will accelerate its licensing activities by creating a new company, Ericsson Mobile Platforms, that offers complete 2.5G and 3G technology platforms to manufacturers of mobile phones and other wireless devices. The technology is based on Ericsson's global standardization leadership and the world's strongest Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) portfolio for 2.5 and 3G mobile phone systems.

The GSM handset market is transforming to the highly complex GPRS, EDGE and WCDMA technologies. By establishing the new company, Ericsson accelerates the wireless industry by offering its leading technology to other manufacturers.

Read the complete news here.