Apple is selling refurbished versions of the 4GB and 8GB iPhone for $100 dollars less than the brand new version.

Some see the sale of refurbished phones 2 months after the release as a sign that a lot of people were disappointed with the phone and returned them, this has caused apple to recoup lost revenue by selling refurbished iPhones sooner rather than later.

To get a refurbished iPhone visit the store.apple.com.

If you are excited about the Razr2 you are probably excited about all the cool features, like replying to text messages on the external screen or even watching a video on the external screen.

I know at least 10 people excited about that. But if you really want to do this you better make sure your carrier allows it.

According to PCMagazine, Motorola allowed all the Major US carriers to modify the Razr2 to their liking, and in doing this a lot of features have been crippled.  Not all carriers will use the exact same Razr, Alltel, Sprint and Verizon will have the V9m model which is based on CDMA and EDVO, The V9 which is based on WCDMA and T-mobile will have the V8 model which is based on GSM. All the models have roughly the same specs, so we won’t go into details there.

So what features are crippled? It depends on your carrier. Well that huge screen on the front is utterly useless now, by default you can watch videos, take a picture, reply to a text message without even opening the phone. Well Sprint is the only provider that will let you watch Video on the external Screen, Alltel is the only provider that will let you Reply To Text Messages from the external screen, and only Sprint and Verizon will allow you to start up the camera from the external screen. The Alltel, Sprint and Verizon phones also lack the CrystalTalk feature which clears up your side of the conversation so that the person you are talking too can hear you, basically a fancy name for noise cancelation. The at&t and T-mobile models will have CrystalTalk. But don’t worry about the sound on your V9m models, supposedly the sound on those are already superb.
The only Model no one really has any info on is the T-Mobile V8, we really aren’t sure yet what features are and aren’t crippled. But knowing t-mobiles history probably no feature will be crippled.

If you are interested in the Motorola Razr2, we suggest that you wait for all the carriers to list what features their version will have and then make a decision.

I have a gut feeling t-mobile will be your best bet.

When I first heard about the Pantech C150 via a press release I knew the phone was small, but you don’t grasp how small it is until you actually hold one in your hand. It looks almost fragile in pictures but it isn’t I’ve already dropped it by accident and not a scratch on her.

I am pretty impressed with the Pantech C150, it’s super small, 4.1 inches tall and 1.7 inches wide and less than a third of an inch thick, it literally fits in the palm of my hand, it’s loaded with features such as a camera that does both stills and video and bluetooth. It also has a full color 1.8 inch LCD screen.

Aside from the small form factor and great looks of the phone, the first thing you notice is the user interface. It has to be one of the easiest and most straight forward UI I have ever seen. This is the first phone I can honestly say that I did not need the user manual to figure things out. Pantech did a great job developing the software for the phone.

The first thing I did with the phone was make a few calls, and purposely wasted the battery which took longer than I expected. I then charged the battery up which took less than an hour and I called my self and just let the phone sit to test battery life. I expected 4 hours 5 hours max before the battery was fully dead. Can anyone say 8 hours? It took a little over 8 hours of talk time to fully drain the battery. It took 2 hours to lower the battery power by 1 bar. I was stunned I thought maybe I did something wrong when testing, I looked at the call time for the last call when I plugged the phone in and it said the call lasted 8 hours 13 minutes.  I was really surprised by this because Pantech advertises the battery life at 3 hours of straight talk time. I then tested battery life with using data occasionally and that dropped down to 3 and a half hours, which is still pretty good better then my 400 dollar phone. (I ran the battery life a 2nd time and got just over 7 hours of straight talk time with the phones default settings)

Another thing I noticed right away when talking on the phone is the sound quality, I have the T-Mobile dash, and a Moto Razr and the sound quality on the Pantech C150 put both of those phones to shame, the speaker on the C150 is also much clearer than on my Dash and Razr.

I also did some web browsing on the phone and I am not sure if it’s the phone or not but the data transfer rate seemed faster on the C150 than it did on my Moto Razr on the same network.

The phone has a large screen for a phone of its size, and the screen is crystal clear and the number you dial appears large on the screen.  Texting is also easier for me because of how big everything appears on screen.

My mom who came over for dinner saw the phone and fell in love with it right away, the first words out of her mouth were and I quote “I love phones that are small like this one, but I can never read what’s on the screen” She has bad vision so she likes phones which display big numbers. I told her to dial a number and try it out just to get her reaction when she saw the numbers on the screen, she loved it even more. I think I will be getting her one for Christmas.

The C150 has a camera and while I was testing it out, I was a bit disappointed in the quality, but then I realized the lens was covered with a piece of protective plastic and when I removed it the pictures were a lot clearer, definitely not the best picture quality but it is good for a camera phone. To see a picture taken with the phone click here. The video quality is just as good.

Overall the Pantech C150 is a great phone, offers a lot features for a low price, and even though it doesn’t look like it can withstand a lot of wear and tear it can. So we here at CellRants.com award the C150 our 5 Start Must Have award. We don’t have any awards made out yet so we are using our sister site HardwareGeeks.com award in the mean time.

The C150 retails for $199, free with 2 year contract with wireless from at&t.

Full Phone Specs:
Weight: 2.57 ounces
Dimensions: 4.1 x 1.7 x .5 inches
Talk Time: Up to 3 hours according to Pantech (but I went 8 hours without the battery dyeing)
Standby Time: Up to 10 days
Tri-band world phone - 850/1800/1900 MHz
Address book stores up to 800 entries
260K TFT color screen with 128 x 160 pixels
Universal headset capable for hands free use
Warranty: One year on the phone and accessories
All talk, data, and standby times depend on network configuration

Virgin Mobile announced today it will sell the LG Aloha Phone in it stores starting this month. This will be the first LG phone Virgin has made available to its customers.

Virgin plans to market the phone heavily and hopes to promote the Aloha phone in stores of all of its major partners such as Target.

With its polished, modern look and array of features, the Aloha wraps a great deal into a sleek and affordable package.  It sports a metallic front and a durable, matte back finish, with an internal 65K-color display.  The phone has capabilities to play real music and animated ringtones, and comes equipped with key basics such as a speakerphone and voice-activated dialing.
Customers will love Aloha’s preloaded games, which include ZooZoo Club and Battle Reversi, and can choose from a wide array of other games, ringtones, screensavers and more.  The Aloha will also feature Virgin Mobile’s new dynamic and intuitive graphic user interface.

Virgin Mobile’s Aloha by LG is 3.5-inches long by 1.9-inches wide, with a thickness of 0.9-inches, and weighs in at 2.7-ounces.  It can hold up to 199 personal contacts, with five numbers, three email addresses and one URL slot available for each.  It also features up to 180 minutes of talk time and 150 hours of standby time.  The Aloha will be appearing on shelves and on the Web in September at a retail price point of $34.99.

“Adding LG Mobile Phones to our handset line-up is a win for consumers, given the company’s track record of developing affordable phones with great performance, striking looks and features our customers love,” said Dan Schulman, CEO of Virgin Mobile USA.  “The Aloha has all of that.  And we are impressed and gratified with LG’s dedication in joining our efforts to raise awareness about the national crisis surrounding youth homelessness.”

“Virgin Mobile USA is an innovative wireless provider that really understands its market,” said Ehtisham Rabbani, vice president, Product Strategy and Marketing for LG Electronics MobileComm, USA, Inc.  “It’s ideal to kick off our relationship with a handset that has the features and style Virgin Mobile customers demand at a price point that’s accessible to everyone. We’re equally excited to use the launch of Aloha as a way to further the good work Virgin Mobile and its charitable partners are doing through The RE*Generation to help young people at-risk and alone on the streets.”

Virgin Mobile offers no-annual-contract wireless phone services in the US and mainly targets teens.

With a few reports over the past two years of Nokia phones exploding, when an uncertified battery is used, many have begun to wonder if there will ever be a massive cellphone battery recall like there has been for notebook computers.

Well it would seem Nokia has issued such a recall. Nokia has warned that 46 million batteries are at risk of overheating, and have offered free replacements for the batteries.

The affected units are branded BL-5C, which were made by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd.between December 2005 and November 2006. Attached is a piture of where you can find the branding.

To find out more and to replace your battery visit: http://www.nokia.com/batteryreplacement

Today I recieved a press release in my inbox, and like always I read them and decided whether they warrant a post or not. Today I received one from a company called Yoober, and in the press release they promise free texting etc.

So I read the press release and visit their website to see what the catch is, and while there really is no catch you do need a data plan to use their supposed free text technology.

Basically you download their software and send messages to friends who are also using their software. They send the messages over the Internet. But you do not incur any texting charges. WOW Free texting!!! Yeah right.

The Yoober software uses your data plan to send the messages and data plans tend to cost just as much if not more than text plans.

The CEO of Yoober claims to be a texting addict who wants to make the Telco’s suffer by offering a free Texting alternative, but I think his software would just bring in more money to telco’s because it uses the more expensive data plans they offer.

Yoober does not offer free Texting, it just piggy backs on a more expensive service. 

Both are great Bluetooth headsets and we will be having individual reviews of both in the next week to two weeks.

Subscribe to our RSS feed so you know when they go live. Please click the link below for a picture. (Bad quality I know we save the good pics for the reviews)
http://www.cellrants.com/images/uploads/IMAGE_0821.jpg

Motorola Today debuted with U.S. wireless carriers the Motor Razr2, which is sleeker and more stylish than the original.

The Razr2 will be available within the next 14 days from the following carriers: from Alltel, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile USA, US Cellular, and Verizon Wireless

The Razr2 features Crystal talk a noise cancelation system similar to what some bluetooth headsets use to keep background noise out of your conversation. It will also feature a front touch screen which uses “haptic” key technology. This feature will allow you to open, read and reply to text messages by simply tapping on the screen never needing to open the phone.

For more info visit: http://motosweeps.2advanced.com/

For more pictures visit our forums.

Sprint today announced the availability of a Family Safety service that will map the locations of where Sex Offenders Live and where they work The service is available on some Sprint and Nextel Phones.

“Many parents rely on wireless phones to help them stay connected to their children wherever they go,” said Kevin McGinnis, director of wireless data product management for Sprint. “Sprint Family Locator is a valuable tool that many parents are using to get a better sense of their children’s whereabouts when they’re apart. With the launch of FamilyWatchdog Mobile and the sponsorship of the America’s Most Wanted Family Safety Center online, Sprint is helping to provide even more ways for parents to get information on keeping their families safe, just in time for the back-to-school season.”

FamilyWatchdog Mobile

The new FamilyWatchdog Mobile enables users to view maps of where registered sex offenders live and work from anywhere on the Sprint or Nextel networks on capable phones, when accessing a PC or laptop would be impractical. Users can search the areas surrounding specific addresses such as their homes or children’s schools and view offender photographs, descriptions and conviction details. They can also search individual names and view active AMBER alerts. Families can even sign up for free text alerts to be sent to their cell phone or email when registered sex offenders move near or away from any U.S. address the user enters.

The free FamilyWatchdog mobile service makes it convenient and easy for Sprint customers to stay aware of sex offenders in the community. To access the service on a data-enabled Sprint phone, Sprint customers should go to the mobile Web on their phone, type “family” in the search box and select FamilyWatchdog. Standard data charges apply. FamilyWatchdog is also available online at http://www.familywatchdog.us.

Sprint Family Locator

Sprint Family Locator is a location-based service that uses Sprint’s state-of-the-art GPS technology to enable a parent to use a phone or PC to locate a child on a map, without interrupting the child’s activities. The service also gives the address, surrounding landmarks and accuracy of the child’s location within a specified radius. Safety Checks automatically alert a parent of the child’s whereabouts at set times of the day, such as after school or at curfew. For just $9.99 per month in addition to your data subscription, parents can locate up to four family members.

With the launch of the latest Sprint phones, Sprint Family Locator is now available for locating more than 100 different phone models, including the popular UpStage by Samsung and the new MUZIQ by LG. With these new phones, parents can choose from an even wider range of locatable phones for their children, without sacrificing functionality or style. And with more than 30 locator phones, including the new Samsung M510, parents who wish to use Sprint Family Locator on their Sprint phone in addition to a PC can find a compatible model that meets their per

Today Nokia unveiled the new Prism Collection, phones for consumers who value their sense of style.

Nokia 7900 Prism
Opposite its sleek, liquorice-black front, the Nokia 7900 Prism comes with an anodized aluminium backcover, which is coin-stamped and laser-etched in Nokia Prism’s signature diamond-cut design. Its design is amongst the first to feature an Organic LED main display that supports up to 16 million colors and displays light-focused screensaver graphics. In addition, the Nokia 7900 Prism features a “living wallpaper”, which subtly changes throughout the day according to time as well as battery and signal strength, so that each screen is unique.

For greater personalization, the Nokia 7900 Prism offers a gallery choice of 49 illumination colors. Once selected, this color radiates from under the graphic key-mat as well as from the LED display. Lights are also emitted from the top of the phone to signal missed calls and messages.

The Nokia 7900 Prism features dual band 3G technology for fast and easy downloads and browsing, and quad band GSM capability for worldwide connectivity. In addition to a 2 Mpx camera, the Nokia 7900 Prism comes with 1GB of internal memory for lots of pictures, video, contacts and more.

Nokia 7500 Prism
The Nokia 7500 Prism is the Nokia 7900 Prism’s quirky sibling. The Nokia 7500 Prism’s slick black exterior is spliced with bright, interchangeable color accents. The Nokia 7500 Prism has a 2 Mpx camera and it can record high quality movies. The Nokia 7500 Prism can play music for nine hours and hold up to 1500 songs on an optional 2 GB microSD card.

Visit our forums for pictures of both phones. Phone pictured in this post is the 7900.