Cerulean Windows Phone - What's Happening?

[markgrif]

I was looking forward to the release of the new Cerulean Windows Phone. Haven't seen any news since the cancellation of the press event in September.

Does anyone know anything about the delay? Is it still coming out?

 

[libra89]

As far as we know, it's still coming out, but we haven't heard much news lately.

You can follow their twitter www.twitter.com/ceruleanmobile and our forum for updates here.

 

[rollindice]

Grab the Lumia 950, it's working great

 

[RumoredNow]

Near as we can tell it is delayed while they test and get approval for an expanded cellular radio to cover more carriers and countries. Check here: http://forums.windowscentral.com/cerulean-mobile/444991-just-*cough-cough*-dusting-off-thread.html

 

[nate0]

What do you all think? We know we have no choice but to wait... I bet Cerulean makes a little noise after CES concludes. What do you think?

We also know Microsoft has more time in the pipeline before any big news on their new device(s), HP has no date set if/when a consumer device comes, and Alcatel is still stuck on T-Mobile with the 4s. Maybe Cerulean could use the next several months and sell some cheap decent phones to get people started. I for one (belonging to AT&T) would only buy one if it's certified on AT&T...I'm getting spoiled by the call quality/mms/LTE enhancements from an AT&T 950. Any other thoughts?

Sent from mTalk

 

[patcherd]

I hope that Cerulean will be available internationally and carrier wide.



No more of this exclusive nonsense with devices...especially when there are windows phone users on other carriers who can't get the Alcatel. We are too small of a user group to have one carrier get the only new worthwhile device out there.


If Cerulean does become a reality, I hope they make their devices available to all carriers. Here is hoping these phones become a reality.

 

[RumoredNow]

Maybe not CES, but hopefully MWC...

 

[SlideWRX]

March would put it Six months or more behind it's original launch - That is a pretty long time in phone world. If it isn't a high/top end device, that's not as bad. Some companies introduced their phones 6 months before they actually were available to purchase, while others pretty much introduce the phone at the same time they launch sales. Let's hope this thing is ready to sell as soon as they reveal it.

 

[nate0]

March would put it Six months or more behind it's original launch - That is a pretty long time in phone world. If it isn't a high/top end device, that's not as bad. Some companies introduced their phones 6 months before they actually were available to purchase, while others pretty much introduce the phone at the same time they launch sales. Let's hope this thing is ready to sell as soon as they reveal it.

Yes..The idol 4s with Windows 10 seemed to take ages...

 

[ILOVEMSFT]

don't you think this company is not real? doesn't make sense why there is radio silence from them.
thoughts?

 

[RumoredNow]

don't you think this company is not real? doesn't make sense why there is radio silence from them.
thoughts?

Oh, I believe they are very real. It's a small start up with less than 10 people working on it.

Strong evidence suggests their first release will be a rebranded Coship Moly PCphone. Seems Coship has ceded the US market to them (Cerulean). Now it appears they have expanded the mission and are waiting for more radio certifications beyond what Coship had originally procured for the device.

Based on initial information about PCphone from Coship (last spring), the radio would have been narrowly tuned/certified for the NA market along the lines of the Moly W5. See my analysis of Moly W5 here. I wrote, in part:

The Moly W5 is Factory Unlocked for GSM networks. I used it on an AT&T mvno with the same no issues results as any other compatible device. The radio is tuned as follows:

• 2G GSM Quad Band - B2 (1900) / B3 (1800) / B5 (850) / B8 (900)
• 3G WDCMA – B1 (2100) / B2 (1900) / B5 (850)
• 4G LTE (FDD) – B2 (1900) / B4 (1700/2100) / B5 (850) / B17 (700)

Overall this is pretty good US coverage, but it could use a bit more roaming capability and Coship could also have extended their market with better Canadian, Caribbean and Latin American support by only adding a few bands. Band 4 (1700/2100) and Band 8 (900) should have been included in the WCDMA frequencies. For LTE it would have been nice to see Band 12 (700) instead of, or alongside, the narrower Band 17. Band 12 is useful on T-Mobile and even AT&T is moving to Band 12 with interoperability for legacy Band 17. LTE should also have included Band 3 (1800), Band 7 (2600) and Band 28 (700) to help round out the Americas Regional support.

Fast forward to today and the Moly PCphone has an expanded radio, but it shows less NA/LTA capability and more EURO and APAC support due to it being released in Europe as a rebranded Funker and in Japan as a rebranded Mouse Computer.

2G GSM: Band 2/3/5/8
3G WCDMA: Band 1/6/8/9/19
4G FDD-LTE:
Band 1/2/3/4/7/8/9/19/26/28B
4G TDD-LTE: Band 38/40/41

I personally heard from someone who should know that:

...We are working in 3 countries in the Americas – it is to be proving challenging for our target timeline. We are also trying to change the bands on the phones to include 13. We have had to rethink this a few times. Our engineers have been testing phones to make sure we can be carrier friendly in several countries and keep Verizon in scope...

...We also had to pause the podcast because details were changing so fast and we did not want to put out false information. We want to tell the play by play story, however we learned that some websites, well one website, was accusing us of trying to deceive people. This was not Windows Central. Microsoft advised us to pause until we launch. (emphasis mine)...

...In short, we are still working very hard to launch our continuum capable phone that is accessible to everyone on as many carriers as possible...

This new enabling and certification of expanded frequencies takes time and money. I'm still very hopefully and waiting patiently for this project to reach fruition.

YMMV

 

[nate0]

Oh, I believe they are.......

Thanks for this well informed update!

Sent from mTalk

 

[JaimitoFrog]

Their test devices arrived. I wonder if it is one model or two.

https://twitter.com/ceruleanmobile/status/823019627240443904

 

[RumoredNow]

Their test devices arrived. I wonder if it is one model or two.

https://twitter.com/ceruleanmobile/status/823019627240443904

The tweet says they shipped from China 01/21... Looks like 2 of the same to me.

 

[nate0]

I just read this. So, I am curious because the test device arrived and that is the picture we see. In the article before they were waiting for the shipment to test multiple sim cards.
Now the tweet says waiting on final shipment to send to the testing labs. Does that mean the sim cards worked now they wait again to move the next batch to SW testing?

 

[nate0]

Their test devices arrived. I wonder if it is one model or two.

https://twitter.com/ceruleanmobile/status/823019627240443904

Ya. He mentioned should we name them. Them in the sense of the batch or them in the sense of the two in the picture...? So I'm trying to interpret what he meant. Maybe next week we'll get to see some concrete time lines.

EDIT: Sorry for my grammar/spelling errors lately guys...☺

 

[Tim-ANC]

Maybe one of the models is built for CDMA. Did say they would test on all US carrier sims.

 

[nate0]

Maybe one of the models is built for CDMA. Did say they would test on all US carrier sims.

The word quoted that I read was "several".

 

[to_be_announced]

If the phone looks like the Coship Moly PCphone like "RumoredNow" mentioned, that's a pretty good looking phone. As long as the specs weren't garbage and it was on my carrier, I'd definitely be in line to pick one up.

 

[RumoredNow]

Maybe one of the models is built for CDMA. Did say they would test on all US carrier sims.

Check this post and below: http://forums.windowscentral.com/ce...gh-cough*-dusting-off-thread.html#post3603139

In November they tweeted CDMA and later there is an indication that LTE Band 13 might be included. Now there is the question of whether the costly and lengthy process of certifying for Vzw is being done.

However, if the FCC certifies a device Band 13 capable/compliant they also have a ruling that Vzw cannot bar that device from their network. If there is no official Vzw inclusion for such a device I believe that leaves the door open for a workaround or two.

One would be for the individual consumer to lobby Vzw to add their ESN/IMEI to their database (likely a herculean task).

Another I have heard is that if a Vzw SIM is active (or activated) in a Vzw branded device you can simply move t over to a capable device and it will work.

YMMV. I will say this all academic to me as I've never used Verizon as a carrier.