CTIA Fall 2005
The last UTStarcom phones made by Pantech & Curitel will be the CDM-180 and the CDM-8945.
The CDM-180 is a funky wide-screen phone that we covered at CES earlier this year.
The 8945 would sound like a replacement for the 8940 currently carried by Verizon - and at one point that was the intent - but as it progressed through development, it evolved into something designed to be more of an ultra-affordable VCast phone.
It has the basic features you'd expect, and EV-DO, but everything else about it is designed to keep the cost down. That means the camera is only VGA - not megapixel - and there is no memory card slot. Look for the 8945 to hit shelves in a few weeks.
Looking further down the road, UTStarcom was also showing off a potential EV-DO phone in the new 9000 series made by KTFT. The 9945 won't be out for about a year, and a lot can change in a year, so this is more of a concept than a real product. The specs have already changed since this mock-up was made - it now looks like the 9945 may have Bluetooth.
Features of the 9945 include dual color displays, a megapixel camera, and a microSD (TransFlash) memory card slot.
The 9945 is much closer to what you'd expect for a modern EV-DO phone, although a year from now when it actually comes out, the specs will probably seem every bit as basic as this year's 8945.
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