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More pictures have emerged of the new Motorola ROKR E3. Latest in the line of seemingly doomed ROKR phones (the original ROKR E1 was the heavily-criticised iTunes phone, while the ROKR E2 still hasn’t been released yet!), the new ROKR E3 adds 3G support for US and European networks (UMTS 1900 and WCDMA 2100), as well as tri-band GSM, GPRS and EDGE.

More pictures and details of the new Motorola ROKR E3 after the jump.

[Source: GSMArena]

CTIA 2006 will be showing the latest mobile devices from companies such as Samsung, Inclosia and Kodak using top models at an event called Fashion in Motion. The event will feature a couture-style runway show, which may make actually seeing the devices a little tricky! Still, generates lots of publicity.

Details of the new mobile devices being featured at the Fashion in Motion event after the jump.

[Source: Yahoo]

NTL has finally agreed terms with Virgin Mobile, and will buy the company for £962.4m ($1.62bn). The new company will be completely branded under the Virgin name, which makes sense, as NTL’s brand is renowned for appalling service, whereas the Virgin brand is the complete opposite.

In fact, although NTL are pitching this as their bid to create a new quadruple play media company (Internet, cable TV, telecoms and mobile phone), you could look at it as a billion pound customer service solution. Let’s just hope the new company retains Virgin’s legendary customer service, and doesn’t become mired in NTL’s customer-last approach to business.

[Source: BBC News]

CTIA 2006 begins tomorrow, running from April 5 – 7. CTIA Wireless 2006, as it’s more properly called, is the last great mobile phone conference of the spring season, following hot on the heels of CES, 3GSM and CeBIT. CTIA 2006 is similar to 3GSM, in that it’s another mobile phone industry event, as opposed to CES and CeBIT, which are aimed more at the home consumer, and showcase every type of gadget. Expect some big news from the major players, some of whom have been keeping quiet over previous events.

Already we’ve had news from Motorola and Sony Ericsson of new handsets. Check back here regularly as more news from the other players is released.

Want to know what’s coming soon on your mobile phone? If it has a TI OMAP 3 chip inside it, your new handset will play HD (High Definition) videos both on the handset’s screen and on a HD monitor, and will also offer DVD-quality camcorder capability. All of this has been squeezed onto TI’s new chip, which they’ve designed especially for mobile phones.

No mobile phone features this chip yet, as it’s only just been released, but you can expect to appear in handsets soon, along with other chips offering similar functionality. So if your mobile phone has already made you throw away your digital camera and MP3 player, be prepared to throw out your camcorder too!

[Source: Wireless Design and Development]

Motorola have announced a new RAZR just in time for CTIA 2006 – the Motorola RAZR V3m. Apparently, the ‘m’ stands for music, making this RAZR a mobile music phone.

The V3m also comes with the usual RAZR features (1.3 megapixel camera, EVDO, up to 1GB of memory), and is destined for CDMA networks. Motorola are making a big fuss about the V3m’s ‘integrated music player’, but in my book, that just means an MP3 player! And how does this differ from the RAZR V3i? There are too many Motorola RAZR variants now – my head hurts!

Full details and spec of the Motorola RAZR V3m after the jump.

[Source: Motorola]

Motorola have made a big announcement in preparation for CTIA 2006: they’re going to paint the Motorola RAZR V3i in different colours! Following on from Motorola’s recent tradition of paiting its other mobile phones, the RAZR V3i will soon be available in dark blue, maroon and violet.

The newly-coloured RAZRs still offer the same features, which you can read about in our RAZR V3i review, and so Motorola’s latest change is purely cosmetic. Still, it is a fashion phone, so makes sense to change the way it looks rather than its features, I guess.

See more of the Motorola RAZR V3i in colour after the jump.

Sony Ericsson have announced the release of another new Walkman phone, the Sony Ericsson W700. Designed to supersede last year’s W800i, the W700 is the 8th Walkman phone from Sony Ericsson, and comes in a fetching titanium finish. The release date of the Sony Ericsson W700 is the second quarter of 2006.

The W700 comes with 2 megapixel camera, and can store up to 2GB (or 47 CD’s worth) of tunes using a Memory Stick PRO Duo. It seems to be a very well-specified phone, with a good range of features, each of which will doubtless be up to Sony Ericsson’s very high standard. It’s difficult to see what this phone offers over the old W800i though.

Full details and more pics of the Sony Ericsson W700 after the jump, and you can compare its features with its older brother with our Sony Ericsson W800i review.

[Source: Sony Ercisson]

This year is meant to be the year of mobile TV, but with so many conflicting standards, no-one’s sure exactly what form it will take in US and European markets.

That doesn’t bother the Koreans, though. In a further sign that South Korea is now roughly two centuries ahead of the rest of us, Korean commuters can now watch free (yes, free!) mobile TV on underground subway lines and stations. And you thought you were lucky if you could send a text message on the subway!

[Source: Korea Times]

Samsung have announced the launch of the new Samsung SCH-V850 mobile phone. Being a Samsung phone, the SCH-V850 obviously has to have a few tricks up its sleeve. It’s not the 262k colour 2″ QVGA TFT display. Or the rather lowly 1.3 megapixel camera. Not even the MP3 playback, video recording and playback, EVDO data transfer, or IrDA connectivity. Nope, what really sets the Samsung SCH-V850 apart is its A-GPS navigation, real-time traffic information, and emergency assistance. What else would you need on a mobile phone?!

Destined for Korea only, unfortunately, the Samsung SCH-V850 measures 92 x 46 x22.5mm and is expected to be available through SK Telecom for around ?500,000 KRW (~ $512 USD).

[Source: SamsungHQ]