At CTIA, smaller phone vendors take center stage

• Kyocera shows off two new waterproof Android models
• Chinese maker Coolpad unveils Quattro II 4G on C Spire
• Zact will let customers pick their own combination plan

LAS VEGAS — A celebrity got more coverage than any wireless carrier or phone manufacturer at the wireless industry's trade show.

Verizon Wireless's welcoming Jennifer Lopez on stage Wednesday to announce a marketing deal with the singer, actress and businesswoman's new Viva Móvil phone retail chain came after two days of little to no news at CTIA 2013 from it, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile and the companies that make most of their phones: Apple, Samsung, LG, HTC and so on.

Apple doesn't exhibit at other people's conventions, but the other companies scaled back their presence to near-invisibility at the final spring CTIA show — starting next year, the Washington trade association of the same name will run one big show in the fall instead of two a year.

In other words, the giants left the field to the midgets.

And some of them had news as interesting as Lopez's venture into phone retail, through which Verizon hopes to win the business of more Latino customers.

For instance, while the big-name phone vendors introduced this season's crop of phones at February's Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona or in smaller events since, some smaller ones elected to unveil noteworthy, cheaper models here.

Kyocera Wireless, which has been trying to revive itself after a few years of decline with ruggedized phones, showed up with two new waterproof Android models: the Hydro Edge and the Hydro XTRM (pronounced "Extreme"); the latter goes on sale at US Cellular on Thursday.

Coolpad, a Chinese manufacturer trying to get into the U.S. market, had the Quattro II 4G, an Android phone due to arrive at the pre-paid carrier C Spire. The sales pitch here is a larger screen, at 4.5 inches, at about the same price as lesser phones.

Why worry about the cost of a phone when most major carriers subsidize the price? Beyond T-Mobile's switch to unsubsidized pricing, most of the even-cheaper services reselling the big four expect you to bring your own phone or pay a price they didn't chip in for.

The most interesting reseller here — in industry-speak, a Mobile Virtual Network Operator or "MNVO" — is Zact. This Redwood City, Calif., Sprint reseller will let customers pick their own combinations of voice, text messaging and data — then change those allocations from their phones.

Others aim to make keeping in touch with family abroad cheaper. The just-launched Expo Mobile, another Sprint reseller, offers free international calling to dozens of countries and an unusual marketing abbreviation: "BYOSD," or "Bring Your Own Sprint Device"; another, RedPocket provides a smaller allotment of free international calls on some plans.

An earlier wave of MVNOs tried to bank on the popularity of brands like Disney and ESPN and cratered. These don't have the high-end marketing budgets of those prior attempts, and they also benefit from the moves some carriers — Sprint in particular — have made to welcome firms looking to resell their networks.

Finally, there were all the companies looking to help you make better use of the phone you already own — or at least keep it intact. Beyond an uncountable number of cases, cables, add-on batteries and screen protectors, a couple stuck out:

— Liquipel aims to make waterproofing your phone with a nanotech coating a two-hour procedure at a phone store. (Update: the actual water-resistant treatment could take as little as 20 to 30 minutes, the company said after this story was posted.)

— UniKey has a Bluetooth-controlled deadbolt that the Kwikset lock company will sell later this summer; walk up to it with your iPhone (Android support waits for an upcoming software update from Google), and the door will unlock for you.

Then again, having one of those locks would make losing your phone even more awful. And that's a problem that can't readily be prevented by any new gadget, app or service introduced at an event like this.

—

Rob Pegoraro is a tech writer based out of Washington, D.C. To submit a tech question, e-mail Rob at rob@robpegoraro.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/robpegoraro.