Motorola Mobility on Thursday released its second quarter 2011 earnings and despite recent analyst downgrades, the company recorded a strong quarter. Motorola posted net revenues of $3.3 billion, up 28% from the same time period last year. In addition, mobile device revenues were $2.4 billion, up 41% from the second quarter of 2010. Motorola Mobility shipped a total of 11 million devices, including 4.4 million smartphones and 440,000 units of its XOOM Android tablet. That’s a large improvement over the 8.3 million mobile devices the firm shipped during the year-ago quarter. CEO Sanjay Jha also told CNET in a recent interview that the Verizon Wireless DROID BIONIC will finally launch in September. In addition, Motorola Mobility will introduce two new tablets and two 4G LTE smartphones. One of the tablets will have a 10-inch screen while the other will have a smaller display. “You’ll like the look of the tablet,” Jha said. “The consumer and carrier feedback has been positive. We want to compete. We think we have competitive products in the marketplace, and we’ve got good design wins in the U.S.” Read on for the full press release.

Motorola Mobility Announces Second-Quarter Financial Results

Second Quarter Financial Highlights

Net revenues of $3.3 billion, up 28 percent from second quarter 2010
GAAP net loss of $0.19 per share compared to net earnings of $0.27 per share in second quarter 2010
Non-GAAP earnings of $0.09 per share compared to $0.30 loss in second quarter 2010
Mobile Devices revenues of $2.4 billion, up 41 percent from second quarter 2010; GAAP operating loss of $85 million; non-GAAP operating loss of $31 million
Shipped 11.0 million mobile devices, including 4.4 million smartphones and 440,000 tablets
Home revenues of $907 million, up 2 percent from second quarter 2010; GAAP operating earnings of $62 million; non-GAAP operating earnings of $90 million
Click here for printable press release and financial tables.

LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. – July 28, 2011 – Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) today reported net revenues of $3.3 billion in the second quarter of 2011, up 28 percent from the second quarter of 2010. The GAAP net loss in the second quarter of 2011 was $56 million, or $0.19 per share, compared to net earnings of $80 million, or $0.27 per share, in the second quarter of 2010. On a non-GAAP basis, the net earnings in the second quarter of 2011 were $26 million, or $0.09 per share, compared to a loss of $87 million, or $0.30 per share, in the second quarter of 2010.

Total cash at the end of the quarter was $3.2 billion and includes cash, cash equivalents and cash deposits, and operating cash flow was breakeven for the quarter.

Details on non-GAAP adjustments and the use of non-GAAP measures are included later in this press release and in the financial tables.

“In the second quarter, Mobile Devices launched several new smartphones in the U.S. and markets around the world. Revenues grew over 40 percent driven largely by Latin America and China where sales more than doubled year over year. Our Home business delivered another strong performance, and we introduced several innovative products and services for next generation multi-screen video solutions,” said Sanjay Jha, chairman and chief executive officer, Motorola Mobility. “With a focus on profitable growth and delivering differentiated LTE smartphones and tablets, we expect to achieve profitability in Mobile Devices in the fourth quarter and for the full year 2011.”

Operating Results

Mobile Devices net revenues in the second quarter were $2.4 billion, up 41 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. The GAAP operating loss was $85 million compared to operating earnings of $87 million in the year-ago quarter. The non-GAAP operating loss was $31 million compared to an operating loss of $109 million in the year-ago quarter. The Company shipped a total of 11.0 million mobile devices, including 4.4 million smartphones and 440,000 Motorola XOOM™ tablets. In the second quarter of 2010, the company shipped 8.3 million mobile devices, including 2.7 million smartphones.

Mobile Devices highlights:

Expanded Motorola DROID family at Verizon Wireless with the introduction of DROID X2 and DROID 3 by Motorola both featuring a dual-core 1GHz processor, providing better gaming experiences, web browsing, multi-tasking, and Adobe® Flash® video performance.

Launched 4 new smartphones in China, including the Motorola XT883 with China Telecom, the newest and most advanced member of the powerful Milestone™ product family, and the XT316, Motorola’s first value priced smartphone for emerging market consumers.

Announced plans to launch 10 devices in 2011 with Sprint, including Motorola Photon™ 4G, Sprint’s first international smartphone, the ready-for business Motorola XPRT™ smartphone, the Motorola TITANIUM™ smartphone featuring iDEN technology, and Motorola TRIUMPH™, a value priced smartphone for prepaid customers on Virgin Mobile USA Expanded distribution of the ATRIX™ 4G smartphone and Motorola XOOM tablets into Latin America, China, Korea, and Europe.

Named exclusive U.S. launch marketing partner for mobile devices and tablets by Spotify. Spotify is an award-winning digital music service that gives users on-demand access to one of the world’s largest music libraries.

Home segment net revenues in the second quarter were $907 million, up 2 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. GAAP operating earnings were $62 million, compared to $29 million in the year-ago quarter. Non-GAAP operating earnings increased to $90 million from $58 million in the year-ago quarter. The Company maintained its leadership in key markets with set-top shipments up more than 10 percent as compared to the year-ago quarter.

Home highlights:

Introduced Motorola Televation™, a broadband video device enabling consumers to watch live TV on a connected IP device anywhere around the home.
Launched the Medios Xperience platform which enables operators to merge video content with social networking, games and web-based content, and deliver more interactive functionality with broadcast television and video-on-demand services.
Selected by Time Warner Cable to develop a video gateway platform capable of delivering an advanced in-home entertainment experience and announced the DCX3600M, Motorola’s first video gateway device.
Selected by ESPN to transition all programming for ESPN and ESPN-2 networks to an MPEG-4 HD format using Motorola’s video distribution solution.
Third-Quarter and 2011 Outlook

The Company’s outlook for the third quarter and full year 2011 is the following:

Third-quarter net earnings per share of $0.00 to $0.10
2011 net earnings per share of $0.48 to $0.60
Excludes charges associated with items of the variety typically highlighted by the Company in its quarterly earnings results, stock-based compensation expense and intangible assets amortization expense
Consolidated GAAP Results
Conference Call and Webcast

Motorola Mobility will host its quarterly conference call beginning at 5:00 p.m. (U.S. Eastern Time) on Thursday, July 28. The conference call will be webcast live with audio and slides at http://investors.motorola.com.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information

In addition to the GAAP results included in this presentation, Motorola Mobility also has included non-GAAP measurements of results. Motorola Mobility has provided these non-GAAP measurements to help investors better understand Motorola Mobility’s core operating performance, enhance comparisons of Motorola Mobility’s core operating performance from period to period, and allow better comparisons of Motorola Mobility’s operating performance to that of its competitors. Among other things, the Company’s management uses these operating results, excluding the identified items, to evaluate the performance of its businesses and to evaluate results relative to certain incentive compensation targets. Management uses operating results, excluding these items, because it believes this measurement enables it to make better period-to-period evaluations of the financial performance of its core business operations. The non-GAAP measurements are intended only as a supplement to the comparable GAAP measurements and the Company compensates for the limitations inherent in the use of non-GAAP measurements by using GAAP measures in conjunction with the non-GAAP measurements. As a result, investors should consider these non-GAAP measurements in addition to, and not in substitution for or as superior to, measurements of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Highlighted items: The Company has excluded the effects of highlighted items (and any material reversals of highlighted items recorded in prior periods) from its non-GAAP operating expenses and net income measurements because the Company believes that these historical items do not reflect expected future operating earnings or expenses and do not contribute to a meaningful evaluation of the Company’s current operating performance or comparisons to the Company’s past operating performance.

Stock-based compensation expense: The Company has excluded stock-based compensation expense from its non-GAAP operating expenses and net income measurements. Although stock-based compensation is a key incentive offered to our employees and the Company believes such compensation contributed to the revenue earned during the periods presented and also believes it will contribute to the generation of future period revenues – the Company continues to evaluate its performance excluding stock-based compensation expense primarily because it represents a significant non-cash expense. Stock-based compensation expense will recur in future periods.

Intangible assets amortization expense: The Company has excluded intangible assets amortization expense from its non-GAAP operating expenses and net income measurements, primarily because it represents a significant non-cash expense and because the Company evaluates its performance excluding intangible assets amortization expense. Amortization of intangible assets is consistent in amount and frequency but is significantly affected by the timing and size of the Company’s acquisitions. Investors should note that the use of intangible assets contributed to the Company’s revenues earned during the periods presented and will contribute to the Company’s future period revenues as well. Intangible assets amortization expense will recur in future periods. Details of the above items and reconciliations of the non-GAAP measurements to the corresponding GAAP measurements can be found at the end of this press release.

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Late yesterday, Nokia announced the availability of a public beta for its new software synchronization suite, Ovi 3.0. The new Ovi has been in private testing for the past several months and Nokia is promising improved “stability, syncing and the experience with downloading maps.”

“We have been working hard to improve the quality of Nokia Ovi Suite,” reads the press release. “We have also introduced a new Home view, and integrated our music experience with the millions of tracks available on Ovi Music even more closely to Nokia Ovi Suite.”

The company is looking for users to download the new bits onto their computers and provide feedback. If you’re a Symbian user, why don’t you just go right ahead and oblige them. The full list of improvements and a short video detailing some of the new goodies is waiting for you after the break.

What’s new in Nokia Ovi Suite 3.0

A new Home view

• Get quick access to your content and to sync
• View recommended apps and games from Ovi Store
• View recommended music from Ovi Music *
• Receive notifications to update your phone software and to back up your phone
• Connect to the internet without a fixed connection or WLAN

Introducing Ovi Music

• Get full control of playback
• Discover and download your favourites from the millions of tracks available on Ovi*
• Drag music to and from your phone
• Have access to your Ovi Music Unlimited account *
• Get all the features you need in Nokia Ovi Suite – no need for a separate player

Other improvements

• Experience the faster and simpler installation
• Delete individual maps from your phone, download maps with greater reliability
• Enjoy improvements to syncing and stability

For this week’s Throwback Thursday we’re going to rewind time all the way back to 1993 (did you see what we did just there… try and keep up). Let’s take a trip down memory lane to try and get you into the proper frame of mind. In 1993: Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States, the band Ace of Base had a hot new single called The Sign, and Macaulay Culkin was regarded as an up-and-coming young actor… and still sane. In fact, you have a young Mr. Culkin and 20th Century Fox’s Home Alone franchise to thank for this product’s existence. Hit the jump to read more about… the Tiger Talkboy.

Originally, the Talkboy was designed as a non-working movie prop for the 1992 Home Alone sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. The device was made into an actual product in 1993 by toy company Tiger after hordes of young fans wrote letters wanting to know where to acquire the device. If Talkboy isn’t ringing any bells, perhaps you are more of a visual learner. Here was the commercial spot that ran advertising the device — compete with a mischievous, pre-pubescent, Macaulay-Culkin-wannabe:

The device, which was a glorified tape recorder, had the ability to slow down or speed up voices and featured a retractable microphone thing. Mr. Culkin’s movie-character — Kevin — made the device look oh-so-cool as he used it to outsmart the film’s dim-witted antagonists, Marv and Harry. How about it? Anyone ever own a Tiger Talkboy?

We’d like to thank Michael Bettiol for this week’s Throwback Thursday suggestion.

BGR Throwback Thursday is a weekly series covering our (and your) favorite gadgets, games, and software of yesterday and yesteryear.

Sony thinks their Google TV-enabled Internet TV product is the future of home television. We covered the announcement and played with the product a little bit at the press event, but there isn’t anything like getting up close and personal with something in your own environment. Your TV, your sofa, your own install and set up. Read on for our thoughts on Sony’s Internet TV Blu-ray player, and whether or not we think the future is here!

Set Up

Once we furiously ripped open the packaging that Sony lovingly messengered over to our apartment, we got to work. The Blu-ray player came with a power brick, power cord, remote, AA batteries, HDMI cable (looks to be 3 ft), and dual IR blaster cable. The way the video chain should work is, you’re effectively putting the Internet TV in the middle. That way, it can take the incoming video, do its dirty work and overlay menus, applications and more on top of the video content. So, video out of the DVR or cable box into the Internet TV, and then simply out of the Internet TV into the TV directly, or into your receiver if you have one.

Once that is done, you’ll most likely want to hook up the IR blaster so that the Internet TV remote will be able to control your DVR / cable box in addition to the Internet TV itself. If you’re in the advanced segment of the population and would like to make use of a custom remote set up (Crestron, Control4, Philips Pronto), it looks like it’s going to be a pretty challenging task for the time being.

After physically plugging in the unit, you’re ready for the software side of things.

During the set up, we were asked to define the size of our TV by pushing a black overlay to the edges of the screen. We were then asked to identify our cable provider, verify channel lineups, verify the IR blaster commands were working properly, and configure our Internet connection (we chose Wi-Fi). After we went through that process, our unit alerted us to a software update that would take around 10-15 minutes to download and install. Being the adventurous bunch we are, we decided to go ahead. After the software update was downloaded and installed, our unit rebooted. Unfortunately, our setup settings — that we had just went through which took around 10 minutes — were not saved. Kind of a bummer, and not exactly the best first impression. It’s also not the end of the world, though.

Usage

There are a couple main buttons to help you navigate Google TV. You have the home button, back button, and a 5-way directional pad. This is grossly, grossly oversimplifying the included Sony remote, but we’ll get into that a little bit later. After pressing the home button, you’re presented a cleanly-organized home menu. You have main categories on the left like Bookmarks, Applications, Most Visited, Queue, and more. After highlighting one of those, you are presented with either a thumbnail or a list view of the contents on the right.

But, you don’t have to visit the home menu much to be honest. This is Google we’re talking about… just search! Hitting the dedicated search button on the keyboard brings up a familiar search box. Just type whatever you’re looking for, local to the device or not, and you’ll get back search results almost instantly. Populated search results include upcoming TV programs matching the entered text, local items like apps, search results from YouTube and of course Google search. This lets you bounce around pretty quickly and it works very, very well.

In addition to the search bar, there is a window icon to the right. This holds all the open windows (pages, apps, whatever) and you can flip through all of them pretty effortlessly. Yes, this is a form of multitasking. What’s very cool is that you’re able to stream a song from your favorite station on Pandora while checking out a recipe on Foodnetwork.com while watching TV in Dual view mode (think Picture-in-picture for you oldies). It’s definitely intense, but it’s definitely up our alley.

Something that’s very frustrating about this first generation product though, is that unless you’re a DISH TV subscriber, Google TV doesn’t integrate fully with your DVR. For instance, we have a Verizon FIOS DVR, and Google TV can’t communicate with the box besides sending simple IR commands. This means that when we search for something in Google TV and find the program listing (which very slyly displays the upcoming time and date) we can’t set it to record. We have to manually set that up on the DVR. No season guides, no recording of current or future programs — nada. It’s a very half baked approach and makes the two different video devices feel very separate in this regard.

Browser

The browser is good enough to justify being here, but in all honesty, it’s just not fast enough to be useful for us. That’s not to say family or friends of ours wouldn’t enjoy using it, but it definitely lacks the polish and speed that we were hoping to see. Scrolling is choppy instead of being fluid, as it should be. And then, Hulu is blocked. Online content from ABC, NBC, as well as CBS is blocked as well. Scrolling the on-screen cursor below the cut off the display should scroll the page down with it in our opinion, but you have to use the physical down key to “scroll” (more like push pages around), and like we said, it’s not fluid. There’s no kinetic scrolling , and again, it’s just usable enough at this point to make it worth using. We’re not sure if it’s a hardware or software issue (we’d guess a bit of both, though hardware would make more sense).

Remote

The remote is oddly usable, but also annoying and complicated. There are 102 buttons on this thing and half of them don’t even need to be there. Seriously, it’s uber-confusing to use at first, and even once you get used to it, you still aren’t friends with the remote. Sony said they took inspiration from the Dual Shock PS3 controller, and while it shows, the simple fact is that the Dual Shock controller is infinitely more comfortable to hold and use.

The optical joystick on the right of the remote performs decently, though it’s not as sensitive or as quick as we’d like. It always feels like the system is processing the mouse’s movements and then catching up. It doesn’t feel slow per se — it just doesn’t feel very natural, quick, or what we’d expect in a 2010 device. Once you configure the keyboard settings, things get a little better though. But, what’s a little confusing is adjusting the keyboard settings adjusts the entire button settings for the remote, not just the keyboard or letters. For instance, key repeat delay and repeat rate. Normally things for just a keyboard right? Not in this case. After playing with some settings we found the directional arrows completely flipping out on us when we were controlling the program guide on FIOS. Paging through channels was erratic, and worse, would duplicate or even triplicate our commands. We dialed back the repeat rate and upped the delay a bit and things were fixed, but it’s just something you shouldn’t necessarily have to muck with or worry about.

There are even two triggers on the right and left of the remote to be used by your index fingers. Zoom and scroll. You hold them down while scrolling with the optical joystick and they perform the intended functions.

Some of the Blu-ray buttons on here really could have been sub-buttons to clean up the clutter, and the remote is really intimidating for people just wanting to lay back and watch some World Series while browsing www.mlbtraderumors.com.

All in all, if you have an Android handset, using the upcoming remote app will probably turn out to be a much more enjoyable and relaxing experience.

Conclusion

It’s hard to justify a $399 TV enhancement device in almost any scenario. Unfortunately, while most of the time we loved using Google TV on Sony’s Internet TV Blu-ray player, we can’t at this point think of much of a reason you’d want this. Again, it’s definitely cool and it definitely does help transform the TV viewing experience, but we’d be much more open to a Sony Internet TV with built-in Google TV. That’s a no-brainer and a separate device is pretty hard to swallow. Making matters worse, we already had a 3D Sony Blu-ray player and it is kind of disappointing that this box doesn’t play back 3D Blu-ray films. There is no way to justify having two Blu-ray players in the same room, and it’s a choice we had hoped we wouldn’t have to make. (Spoiler: we decided on the Internet TV Blu-ray player)

Our new Sony TV has most of what Google TV offers minus a browser. It has Netflix built in, Hulu Plus, Internet widgets like Twitter, stocks, news, and Wi-Fi out of the box.  Most new TVs have a lot of this functionality already, and a separate item at $399 isn’t that appealing. Would we prefer the Google TV experience to what Sony offers natively? Absolutely. And that’s a very, very good thing.

Another thing Google TV has against it is the target market for the product. For instance, we’re sitting here watching our TV with Google TV while typing this review on our MacBook Air with our iPhone 4 sitting next to us on the left, our BlackBerry 9700 to our right and our Motorola DROID X in our laptop bag. Are we the norm in this case? We’d like to think so, but sadly no. However, we do think many, many people will either have a laptop, smartphone, or iPad-like device with them all, most, or some of the time while watching TV. It’s these usage scenarios that complicate the usefulness of Google’s initiative in our mind. It’s great that there is a browser on my TV, but it’s kind of slow to scroll, a little slow to load, and well, I’m still not sure why we need it.

Once Google TV matures (typical Google, right), we have no doubt that this will be a major step forward for the Television industry and consumers. It will be second nature to have a browser everywhere you turn and the cost will be absorbed by the TV you purchase since it will be built in. You will get access to the entire world, all your information at your fingertips without lifting your lazy butt off of the sofa — and we think that’s magical.

Click on over to our Sony Internet TV Blu-ray player gallery!

Blog Pocket-lint managed to bird-dog a jacketed-gentlemen at a New York City press event carrying a white iPhone 4. The albino iPhone was promised way back in June, but has yet to actually be released by iMaker Apple, Inc. The publication queried said iPhone user as to how he came to acquire the seemingly un-acquirable and his responses were quite candid. According to the anonymous man in the suede jacket, Apple has hordes of white iPhone 4s in their Cupertino headquarters; the iPhone-owner has a friend who works for Apple who managed to pick one up for him. The person went on to say that the reason the iPhone 4 is so back-logged is due to the fact that the white paint used on the “home” button and the white paint used on the case of the iPhone 4 do not match. Apple will not release the product as is. Sad for all those iPeople that love white phones. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment and will update the article if they respond.

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Today, AT&T announced the launch of the AT&T Voicemail Viewer application for U-verse smartphones users. As AT&T explains, “Much like an email inbox, the Voicemail Viewer app lists your home voicemail messages and allows you to choose the order in which you wish to listen to them. The app also provides a notification when a new voicemail arrives on your home phone, plus the ability to delete voicemails remotely.” The press release does not specify which smartphone platforms will be supported; navigating to att.com/vmviewer and entering a phone number — as instructed in the press release — results in a 404 error. Pristine. Anyway, it sounds like pretty a cool service for residential U-verse subscribers, thoughts?

UPDATE: AT&T has provided an alternate link for those interested in looking at the service: https://www.um.att.com/vmviewer. The application currently supports BlackBerry and iOS devices.

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We checked out Sonos’ Controller app for the iPad a little while ago before it was in final form, but last night, dear music lovers, the highly-thought out remote went live in Apple’s App Store. Pricing is set to free in typical Sonos fashion. Well, what do we think about the app? It is an incredibly rich remote experience that in some ways even performs better than the regular desktop application. The larger screen of the iPad means more information, more control, and makes using the music player and service incredibly easy and rewarding. Video of the app after the break!

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The people behind the nation’s first WiMax, 4G network, Clear, have sent a new home-router to the FCC for approval. The device, which — judging by the user manual — will be called the “Clear Modem with Wi-Fi,” will corral that sweet, sweet 4G signal (if available) and make it available to all your home devices via the 802.11 wireless standard. The router also appears to have an RJ11 phone jack on its posterior; indicating that their VoIP service could also be utilized on the device. Perhaps a little taste of the future of home broadband?

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Plex, for those not familiar, is a software company whose former creed was to: “bridge the gap between your Mac and your home theater, doing so with a visually appealing user interface that provides instant access to your media.” Today, the company has announced that it will be partnering with electronics maker LG to “integrate the Plex platform into their 2011 lineup of Netcast connected TVs and Blu-ray devices.” In the company’s announcement, they quip that when it comes to connecting devices to your television, a Mac Mini is “too large,” a Boxee box is “too pointy,” and the new Apple TV is “too tiny.” The company is betting on this free, integrated software model to be the future of connected televisions. The announcement continues: “Early next year, when you buy an LG Netcast TV or Blu-ray player, you will have Plex functionality built-in. Specifically, it will connect to a cloud version of the Plex platform for online content, and, if you happen to have a Plex Media Server running anywhere in your house (after all, who doesn’t have a computer in their house?), you can access your local and online content, in a rich interface, with full metadata.” The concept of integrating mature, intuitive media software into a TV really does sound like a great idea; especially for LG, as TV manufacturers are always trying to differentiate themselves from the competition.

“There will be more content providers investing in writing Plex plug-ins, so your online content choices will grow. And next year, if you’re upgrading your TV, or or buying an LG Blu-ray player, you’ll have the ability to get Plex, built in, at no additional cost. Fully integrated into killer consumer electronics gear, exactly as it should be.”

Yes, that is the way it should be. Hit the read link for more info on Plex and their recently inked LG deal.

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The folks over at Verizon have just dropped a press release to boast about a very impressive feat. The company has just “completed a field trial in which it delivered approximately 1 gigabit-per-second bandwidth to a customer on the currently deployed gigabit passive optical network in a live production FiOS network setting.” Now that is some speed! The press release goes on to say: “Verizon’s GPON platform supports a total throughput of 2.4 Gbps downstream and 1.2 Gbps upstream to customers connected to the PON. This test successfully demonstrated the ability to serve customers on the FiOS network with Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) service.” The actual speeds recorded were 925 Mbps to a local server and 800 Mbps to a regional server 400 miles away; Verizon also said the increased speeds did not cause any kind of degradation in FiOS TV or residential FiOS phone services. The company said that this test proves that its current FiOS network has the ability to scale to meet the growing data demands of its customers. How many of you out there have FiOS? Is it available in your area? We’ve got the full press release after the break.

Verizon Demonstrates Near Gigabit-per-Second Throughput on Its Existing FiOS GPON Platform

Test Shows Current FiOS Network Offers Bandwidth Headroom to Meet Emerging Business and Consumer Needs

WALTHAM, Mass., Aug. 16 /PRNewswire/ – Verizon has completed a field trial in which it delivered approximately 1 gigabit-per-second bandwidth to a customer on the currently deployed gigabit passive optical network in a live production FiOS network setting. This kind of capacity and versatility will enable Verizon to accommodate a wide array of new and emerging consumer and business services such as 3DTV, desktop virtualization and remote storage, as well as wireless backhaul for the next generation of wireless technologies.

Verizon’s GPON platform supports a total throughput of 2.4 Gbps downstream and 1.2 Gbps upstream to customers connected to the PON. This test successfully demonstrated the ability to serve customers on the FiOS network with Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) service.

The latest field trial was conducted in June in Taunton, using an existing GPON system developed by Motorola, a current supplier to Verizon of both BPON (broadband passive optical network) and GPON equipment. The trial, conducted at an existing FiOS business customer location, was intended to demonstrate in a live network setting that currently deployed FiOS equipment can support higher bandwidth services and can deliver 1 Gbps without major change to the network.

“This kind of bandwidth capacity will provide Verizon the ability to continue to meet FiOS customers’ needs by offering more bandwidth to support services such as 3DTV, ultra HDTV, multiplayer gaming and HD video conferencing,” said Brian Whitton, executive director of Verizon’s technology group.

The test involved bringing a new fiber connection from an existing operating GPON system at the company’s Taunton call-switching office to a second optical network terminal (ONT) located at the business customer’s facility. The second ONT was provisioned for the new 1 Gbps service tier, and the speed was tested to a local speed test server over an optimized route, as well as across the public Internet to a regional speed test server located more than 400 miles away.

The throughput speeds were measured at 925 Mbps (megabits per second) to a local server and more than 800 Mbps to the regional test speed servers. The customer’s existing FiOS service was left in place, and showed no degradation in the voice, data or video services during this trial.

“This trial demonstrated that the current architecture has sufficient headroom to allow for a progressive increase in capacity as needed by our residential and business customers on our current GPON platform, and validates our decision to support both residential and business services on the same platform,” said Vincent O’Byrne, director of Verizon’s technology organization, who managed the trial.

About a month ago, one of our tipsters hit us up to let us know that T-Mobile was probably in the process of shutting down their @Home service. The @Home service allowed T-Mobile customers to make home phone calls via a T-Mobile router connected to the internet. The @Home service was an available add-on to most wireless service plans offered by T-Mobile for a modest $10/month. Bad news for future @Home customers, though, because another circulating rumor confirms what we reported a month ago — T-Mobile has supposedly halted future investment in the @Home service. Current customers can continue to use the service and T-Mobile will continue to support it for the time being. Once the current inventory of @Home routers has been sold, T-Mobile will no longer offer this service to new customers, though. Any T-Mobile customers interested in jumping on board, should do so tout de suite.

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Cradlepoint, long-time manufacturer of cellular routers, is set to unveil two new 3G/4G combo routers at CES 2010 next week including a pocket-sized portable router and a larger home and office router. The portable router allows you to share a single 4G WiMAX connection with multiple devices via Wi-Fi and will even feature Wi-Fi 802.11n with VPN, WPA, and WEP for security. Better yet? It will support 16 simultaneous Wi-Fi-connected devices, a USB port for “legacy” 3G modems, and a run time of 4 hours. The home and office router is similarly spec’d and will include a single WAN port, four LAN ports, a USB port for 3G modems, Wi-Fi with VPN, WPA, and WEP for security, support for 16 simultaneous users/devices, and a backup wired connection if a wireless connection is no longer available. Cradlepoint also announced the immediate availability of  the CBA750, an enterprise wireless broadband adapter that will bring a 3G/4G connection into any enterprise environment. The broadband adapter will support 3G/4G USB and ExpressCard modems and will utilize existing CAT5 cabling to deliver wireless broadband internet connectivity to an entire company. The CBA750 is available now from Cradlepoint with a MSRP of $249. Both press releases are after the jump, too.

CradlePoint Technology Previews New 4G Products for Home, Office and On The Go
4G Routers Showcased to Media and Partners at CES, Public Release in 1st Quarter

Boise, Idaho – CradlePoint Technology, a global leader in 3G and 4G networking solutions, will preview two new 4G
embedded routers at the upcoming International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas January 7-10. The
routers – a portable unit for people on the go, and one for home and office – are still in pre-release and will be demon-
strated for media at the event.

Designed for the mobile worker, this portable router is a pocket-sized gateway to the speed of 4G. The portable 4G em-
bedded, personal hotspot comes with a USB port to support 3G modems, 802.11n Wi-Fi radio for exceptional range,
simultaneous access for as many as 16 people or devices, includes VPN, WPA and WEP for security, remote manage-
ment through CradlePoint’s WiPipe Central and an internal battery with up to four hours of continuous use. An optional
docking cradle for enhanced in-building 4G coverage, charging and an 10/100 WAN/LAN Ethernet port, will also be
available at launch.

For the small office environment, is a stationary version of the 4G embedded router designed to increase in-building 4G
coverage bringing the advantages of 4G and WiMAX into homes and offices for true wireless broadband Internet access.
It includes, 1 WAN port, four LAN ports, USB port for 3G modem support, access for up to 16 people or devices, with
VPN, WPA and WEP for security and failover from wired to wireless redundancy.

“By the end of 2010, over 120 million U.S. residents are expected to have access to high-speed 4G wireless networks.”
said Ken Hosac, Director of Product Management for CradlePoint. “This new family of CradlePoint products is strate-
gically positioned to lead the market for fixed and mobile routers, similar to our leadership in creating a market for 3G
networking solutions.”

CradlePoint will be showing these new routers and other new products during the CES at a hosted event in their
private suite in the Wynn on Thursday, January 7 from 4:30 – 6:00 p.m.

CradlePoint Technology Releases Enterprise Wireless Broadband Adapter
Device Enables Quick Wireless Broadband to Any Ethernet Connection for Best 3G/4G Signal

BOISE, Idaho–(BUSINESS WIRE)–CradlePoint Technology, a global leader in 3G/4G networking solutions, has announced another product in its “All-Connected” business series of routers. The CBA750 Mobile Broadband Adapter gives businesses and branch offices the ability to add a secure wireless 3G/4G broadband connection virtually anywhere for redundant or primary Internet access.

The CradlePoint CBA750 is an easy solution to bring the strongest 3G/4G wireless broadband signal back to the server room for true wireless broadband connection or redundancy. Place the CBA750 anywhere in the building for best signal and with the CBA750 Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) feature take advantage of existing CAT5 cabling to bring the connection back to the equipment room.

“Trying to get a good wireless broadband signal in the server room is always difficult. This solution opens a whole new way to provide wireless broadband to companies,” said Ken Hosac, Director of Product Marketing for CradlePoint.

Providing IP pass-through capability, the CBA750 is a solid option for LAN devices requiring wireless broadband access. For most applications, the CBA750 is truly a “drop-in” solution. Simply connect the CBA750, turn the unit on, and it’s ready to go – handling the connection without configuration and providing enhanced network connectivity with support for USB and ExpressCard modems running on 3G/4G networks.

Available immediately, the CradlePoint CBA750 has an MSRP of $249.99.

About CradlePoint Technology
CradlePoint engineers and manufactures cellular routers and software platforms that facilitate secure mobile computing via the 3G and 4G mobile broadband networks. CradlePoint’s unique WiPipe™ technology provides access and traffic management to improve the security and quality of the online mobile experience. CradlePoint is a privately held company with headquarters in Boise, Idaho. Learn more about CradlePoint products at www.cradlepoint.com.

[via Slashgear]

After the long and arduous wait for the most hardcore Shadow fans, your day has come. Just like we promised, it is now available for your calling and messaging pleasure. This new iteration of the popular HTC device sports a faster processor and also supports T-Mobile HotSpot@Home, which makes it the first Windows Mobile phone to have that feature, and also means it has Wi-Fi (great news since it’s lacking in the HSDPA department). For $149.99 with a two-year contract and qualifying data plan, this is a pretty good deal if you’re up for renewal or looking for a mid-level smartphone. If black and burgundy isn’t your thing, the phone also comes in white mint. Hit the jump for more info and details on the newly available Nokia 7510.

Next up in T-Mobile’s new line of phones is the Nokia 7510 Supernova. It’s a nice entry-level phone if you don’t need constant email access, web browsing and a million songs to cram into your phone. Here are the specs for the device:

• Weight: 124 g
• Dimensions: 92 x 46 x 17 mm
• Display: Main QVGA 16 million color display/External monochrome 128×160 display (hidden when not in use)
• Network: Quad-band GSM / EDGE
• Memory: 27MB onboard memory; microSD support
• Operating System: Symbian S40 (with active themes)
• Camera: 2-mega pixel (no autofocus) camera with LED flash and 4x digital zoom; QCIF video recording at 15 FPS
• Talktime: – 3 day standby and 300 hours of talktime
• Internet: OSS internet browser
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0
• FM radio with RDS
• 2.5 mm jack
• Xpress on covers

Pretty basic, but at least the low-end market has some options, right? The phone also has changeable faceplates which come in espresso brown, fatal red and emerald green. Those colors sound pretty intense and will keep things fresh if you’re in the mood for something different every day. The 7510 also has Wi-Fi and supports T-Mobile HotSpot@Home calling, which is good for those of you who rack up minutes like crazy every month. It’s nice to see T-Mobile integrating this into their high and low-end phones. The Nokia 7510 will set you back a mere $49.99 with a two-year contract.

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The holidays are almost over and a new year is upon us. For many, this time feels a little dreary since a lot of excitement subsides in place of new beginnings and resolutions. To make settling into a new year more exciting, T-Mobile has announced some new deals for the new year. Starting today, T-Mobile is doing a three-day promotion for some of its phones and services:

• Blackberry Pearl 8100 for $49.99 (12/26 – 12/28)
• T-Mobile Shadow for $29.99 (12/26 – 12/28)
• Sign up for T-Mobile @Home and get the first month free (12/26 – 12/28)
• Free Companion Flight extended to January 5, 2009
• 50% off selected accessories

Not such a bad bunch of deals, right? If you’re looking to save a few bucks on a new phone or service after draining your wallet for the holidays, keep those dates in mind because these are limited time offers. Do note that those prices, obviously, will come with a two-year contract as most deals do these days. If you aren’t familiar with the Free Companion Flight, you and a friend (and sometimes up to five friends) get to fly free to anywhere in the continental United States if you sign or upgrade to a new two-year contract. So, are you warming up your car yet?

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