14 DAY TRIAL // One would have expected at least a little bit of new information regarding the smartphones UTStarcom was thought to launch on Verizon, the SMT5800 and the VX6800.
Although according to the usual rumors the phones should be released during this period, and a CES release would have been logical, UTSTarcom doesn't really agree with this and presents us with two clamshell phones for the CDMA networks, the CDM8935 and CDM8960, instead of the smartphones everyone expected, or any other type of smartphone for that matter.
They do mention the reason why the smartphones are missing from their line-up. According to UTStarcom, the HTC manufactured phones will be released directly to carriers. Moving on to the details of UTStarcom's new clamshells, both cell phones are mid-range phones, targeting a less pretentious user that doesn't expect to find any more advanced features in a mobile.
The CDM8935 is expected to be the second-smallest flip phone in the US after Pantech's tiny C3, measuring 3.3 x 1.7 x 0.7 inches and it comes with a pretty basic set of features including a 1.5 inch 262k color main screen with a 128 x 128 pixel resolution, a 1-inch 65k color secondary screen with a 96 x 64 pixel resolution, 16MB of internal memory, MP3 ringtone support and a VGA camera.
The CDM8960 brings a couple more features than its smaller brother, being equipped with a 1.3 megapixel camera, EV-DO Rev 0 high-speed data, Bluetooth for connectivity, a 1.1 inch 176 x 220 pixel 262k color main screen and a 65k color external screen, 64MB internal memory and a MiniSD memory card slot.
No official release dates or prices were set, and there is no info on which North American carriers will be offering these phones either.