Sonim XP1 Blog

Bnet's Tony Sklar vs Sonim XP3

This video was shot at this year's Mobile Conference in Barcelona. Bnet TV's Tony Sklar just loves trying to break our rugged phones. Here he whacks the phone with a mallet. Watch the video to see whether Tony has finally managed to kill a Sonim phone, and also to get the inside scoop on how our latest phone, the ultra rugged Sonim XP3, was designed and is engineered as well as some info about our forthcoming Land Rover premium rugged phone.

Somim Technologies at Mobile World Congress 2009

Video: Sonim Land Rover XP3,2 Quest - Impressionen vom Mobile World Congress 2009 (3:22)

Golem.de, a German news site for IT professionals, has just posted a great video showcasing Sonim's newest phones from the Mobile World Congress 2009, along with a brief overview of our new Sonim XP3 Quest.

Some People Just Want a Phone That Works

David Pogue has an interesting article in the NY Times on the development of the T-Mobile Shadow mobile phone, created by T-Mobile executive Robert Dotson and an unnamed ex-Apple employee.

I know from personal experience that the most frustrating thing about mobile technology development in the US is having to deal with the big four wireless carriers. You can have the best product in the world but if these folks don't see how they can make money off of it, they won't sell it.

Open Skies, Wireless Freedom

The battle for open skies is really starting to heat up, as we creep every closer to the start of the Federal Communications Commission anticipated auction of the 700MHz band spectrum which is slated to happen in January.

Frontline Wireless has petitioned the FCC to lower the minimum prices set for the spectrum licenses, in order to allow smaller wireless companies to effectively compete in the auction.

Here's why this is more than a money issue: The FCC has set minimum prices for each of the five spectrum blocks up for bid. If those prices aren't met during the bidding the block will be re-auctioned -- but without the service conditions attached to it in the original auction. The key issue here is that the highly coveted C Block has a reserve price of $4.6 billion with open skies service conditions that require the spectrum winner to allow customers to use devices and software of their choice.

"The incumbent bidders who have both the most money with which to bid and the most to lose from open access platforms, namely Verizon and AT&T, will rationally act to defeat the conditions by refusing to bid or low-balling their bids," Frontline stated in its petition. "Because the incumbents have deep pockets and can afford to bid high for the spectrum in re-auction, they will have effectively been given the opportunity to buy their way out of the open access conditions."

Sounds pretty plausible to me.