Xperia X1 Still Headed to the U.S. Soon, Despite Component Shortage
Sony Ericsson says production problems it’s having with the Xperia X1 won’t delay its release of the in the U.S., which is scheduled to happen in the next few weeks.
Verizon’s Acquisition of Alltel Passes Final Hurdle
The FCC has approved Verizon’s proposed acquisition of Alltel, which will create the largest mobile phone provider in the United States.
OtterBox Impact Case Now Available for BlackBerry Bold
Otter Products, has released a case from its Impact Series for the new BlackBerry Bold. This skin-style case combines durable silicone with impact absorbing features.
HTC Touch Pro Expected to Debut on AT&T in Three Weeks
Exactly when the AT&T Fuze, this carrier’s version of the HTC Touch Pro, is going to launch is unknown, but a new source gives an approximate date.
Spb’s Travel/Itinerary Software Updated
Spb Traveler 2.0 has been released, adding several features and a new user interface to this travel/itinerary application.
Verizon Considering Phone with Detachable Accessories
Verizon may offer a smartphone with a clip-on keyboard, game-pad, and speakers. It will apparently also have a 3-inch touchscreen and EV-DO.
Apple Appoints New Head of iPhone/iPod Engineering
Apple has just named a former IBM vice president as the new head of its iPhone and iPod hardware engineering teams.
BlackBerry Bold Now Available from AT&T
The long-awaited U.S. release date for the BlackBerry Bold has arrived at last. This smartphone is now available from AT&T. Updated
Redfly $200 Special Offer Extended to Mid-November
For the past month or so, the Celio Redfly has been available at half price. This offer was going to expire at the end of October, but has instead been extended for two more weeks.
LG and Microsoft Will Continue to Work Together
Microsoft and LG have signed an agreement that will keep the two companies collaborating on smartphones.
AT&T Fuze demo units make their way to AT&T retail spots
Busting at the seams with excitement over the HTC Touch Pro AT&T Fuze? We can’t blame you - it’s a pretty little piece. Fortunately, it doesn’t look like you have too much longer to wait. Tucked inside the latest batch of shipments to AT&T corporate stores is a nice little treat: Fuze demo units.
While this doesn’t necessarily mean a launch is looming around the corner, it’d be surprising if it didn’t go down within the next few weeks. If you’re dying for some QWERTY-enabled TouchFLO but just can’t see yourself with Sprint, start planning a trip to AT&T near the end of November.
[Via BGR]
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Sony Ericsson announcing new stuff tomorrow, W705 expected
Much like you can always expect new iPods in September, you can always expect new Sony Ericsson announcements in November. Right on schedule, Sony Ericsson is expected to make an announcement tomorrow. A few details from the announcement have already leaked out and, from what we know so far, this one’s looking to be all about the Walkman series.
First up is the W705 (”Rika”), which looks to be a remodeled G705 doppelganger. It seems like they’ve polished up the body’s aesthetics a bit, so it wouldn’t be too surprising to see a few spec changes as well.
Also expected is the MBS-900 portable wireless speaker, which looks a whole lot like a Sony Ericsson branded smoke detector. (Pic after the jump)
[Via SEMCBlog]
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FCC clears the Xohm/ClearWire merger
Jeez - busy enough day, FCC? Hot on the tails of the “white space” decision and approving Verizon’s buyout of Alltel, the FCC has cleared the merger of Sprint’s Xohm WiMax service with ClearWire - no doubt coming as a disappoint for some other carriers.
To recap the details announced back in May, Sprint will own 51% of the new company, which will take on the ClearWire name. ClearWire will have 27% ownership, while Google, Time Warner Cable, Brighthouse, Comcast, and Intel Capital will own the remaining 22%.
This is fairly huge news for 4G mobile broadband fans, as this merger essentially lays the necessary foundation for nationwide WiMax. If all goes well, ClearWire should be offering WiMax to half of the US’ population by 2010 - just as AT&T and Verizon are lighting up their competing 4G technology, LTE. When the battle for 4G technology king comes to a head, who will walk away the winner? The consumer, hopefully.
With the new company carrying on the ClearWire name, is the “Xohm” brand dead? I doubt it. When asked about the fate of the name, Xohm representatives have stated that “new management will be given the opportunity regarding how to position the Xohm name in the market”. While it’s not a household name by any means, Sprint has already done a fair amount of work establishing the brand and associating it with WiMax. I’d imagine that they’ll make use of it in the future, if only as a branding for WiMax dongles and other accessories.
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FCC gives Verizon/Alltel buyout the greenlight
It’s been nearly five months since Verizon announced their plans to buy out Alltel, but they’ve finally leaped the last hurdle. Just minutes ago, the FCC signed off on the $28.1 billion dollar deal (Verizon is paying $5.9 billion, and assuming $22.2 billion of Alltel’s debt.)
The FCC’s stamp of approval doesn’t come without strings attached, however. Amongst other conditions, Verizon will be required to maintain any roaming agreements Alltel has with other carriers for at least four years. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin originally requested that roaming agreements would be honored for two years, and Verizon responded with the offer to honor them for four. This still wasn’t quite enough for some; though the vote passed 5-0, 2 of those who voted yes dissented, feeling that the roaming agreements should be required for at least seven years.
Before the merger, Verizon had roughly 70.8 million subscribers. With Alltel bringing around 13 million new subscribers to their door, this brings Verizon’s total up to approximately 83.8 million, dethroning AT&T (with 74.8 million) from the number one spot.
What does this mean to Verizon/Alltel customers? Well, “the network” just got a whole lot bigger - Alltel customers will soon have an additional 71 million people or so they can call without gobbling up their minutes. Beyond that, both groups gain access to the other’s device lineup, with Alltel customers now able to take advantage of Verizon’s bring-your-own-handset “Open Development” program.
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USB tethering now possible with the T-Mobile G1
We should probably stress that that the keyword in the headline up above is “possible”. While some crafty gents over at the Tmo News Forums have cranked out a way to let you use the T-Mobile G1 as a USB modem, it’s not exactly the simplest tethering solution we’ve ever seen. Flip some options, install the SDK, install an application on the device, move stuff around, change proxy settings, make brownies, fight crime, play Beethoven’s 9th backwards; it’s pretty deep.
That said, mobile broadband is the best thing ever made, ever. (Ever.) While the first solution for squeezing some broadband juice out of the G1 may not be optimal, everything has to start somewhere. If you’ve got a G1, are in a 3G zone (though it reportedly works with EDGE, if you’re a masochist), and have some time to tinker, give it a shot and let us know how it works.
[Via jkOnTheRun]
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HTC to sell Touch 3G and Touch HD in Taiwan, G1 to land in China in the first half of 2009?
While it’s all still hearsay at this point, Digitimes is reporting that China’s Commercial Times newspaper has sources indicating that HTC might begin pushing the G1 in China within the first 6 months of next year.
HTC is also giving their home country of Taiwan a bit of handset love, albeit not in the form of an Android phone. The Touch 3G was just launched there yesterday, and a report out of the Economic Daily News indicates that the drool-worthy Touch HD is on the way by the end of 2008. So, to recap the Touch HD’s global status: Taiwan’s getting it by the end of the year, Europe’s getting it by the end of the week, and the US is getting it by the end of never.
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Review: BlackBerry Bold for AT&T
How can I put into words how I feel about the BlackBerry Bold? In short: I love it and never ever want to let it go, ever. For any BlackBerry user/fan the Bold is everything you’ve wanted and expected from RIM. Sure, it took a little longer than we all expected, but it’s definitely worth the wait. It’s far superior in every respect from anything that RIM has put out on the market. Of course, those of you with a hankering for a touch-screen need not apply. The Bold is for the hardcore CrackBerry addict or is it?
Let’s begin.
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Review: IM+ for Android
IM+ is an application created by ShapeServices, which aims to replace the instant messaging application that comes out of the box with Android. Hoping that there were some differences between the 7-day trial and the paid version, we bit the bullet and plopped down the 20 dollars (well, $19.95) on this app to see how it really is, so you wouldn’t have to. The verdict? Save your cash.
Let’s start off with what IM protocols IM+ supports: AOL, MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk, Jabber, ICQ, and Myspace IM. While that’s not too shabby, we were disappointed to find out you can only have one account per protocol. The IM client provided by Google already supports AIM, Google Talk, MSN, and Yahoo, so you’re really only getting Jabber, ICQ, and Myspace. Is that worth twenty-dollars? Meh.
Sending and receiving messages is easy enough. It’s just how you would expect it, although I strongly dislike how it throws all of your contact lists on one screen. I’d prefer to see them separated by service rather than one hefty list of buddy groups, or at least, let me make it that way through an option. Oh well - Some folks love the big collective list. That’s kinda worth twenty-dollars, right? No? Anyone?
With any new application, you’re likely to come across a bug or two. IM+ is no exception. The most notable issue we noticed is that if you switch screens or change the device orientation then go back to a conversation window, it occasionally doubles the text as seen in the picture above.
Are you one of those people who prefers to sign in and out of their IM client rather than just going away for a few minutes? Then you’re in luck. Otherwise, not so much. After many, many days of testing and trying, it just wouldn’t maintain the connection if the application wasn’t in the foreground. We were hoping that perhaps this was a limitation of the trial, with background connectivity saved for the full application. Again, nope. That’s totally not worth twenty-dollars. Once a nice background service has been developed for this app, then maybe, just maybe it will be worth it.
Unless Jabber, ICQ, or Myspace IM are crucial for your communication needs, skip out on IM+ - it just doesn’t bring anything to the table to make it worth the entry fee. Hopefully it won’t be too long before someone from the Pidgin or Adium camps grabs an Android handset and pushes out something worthwhile.
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19% of mobile consumers in U.S. now using smartphones, according to study
As the entry fee for smartphones drops lower and lower, the wallet friendly price point found with most feature phones (or, as some might say, “dumbphones”) is beginning to lose its luster. In a day when obtaining a smartphone requires little more than 50 bucks and a 2-year promise, what’s the point of going for anything less?
According to the “Mobile Market View” study released today by The Kelsey Group, 18.9% of mobile consumers in the United States are now toting smartphones, with 49.2% planning to pick one up within the next two years.
Mobile search activity is also up across the board. When they surveyed mobile consumers on how they’d been using their handsets, they found the following:
- Downloaded or looked at maps or directions: 17.6 percent, up from 10.8 percent in 2007
- Searched the Internet for products or services in their local area: 15.6 percent, up from 9.8 percent in 2007
- Searched the Internet for products or services outside their local area: 14.3 percent, up from 6.4 percent in 2007
- Obtained information about movies or other entertainment: 13.7 percent, up from 8.2 percent in 2007
- Connected with a social network, such as MySpace or Facebook: 9.6 percent, up from 3.4 percent in 2007
To state the obvious, it’s quite apparent that consumers are more ready than ever to embrace mobile devices into their daily lives. What isn’t as apparent, however, is the responsibility the mobile industry has to get their act together and make use of this. Unless they’re damn sure they can come up with something worthwhile, it’s time to adopt open and royalty-free platforms. Drop the horribly misguided efforts to create new, proprietary platforms which do nothing but increase segmentation and confuse users. With only 19% of US mobile users owning smartphones and nearly 50% looking to jump on board, we’re going to see a whole lot of new smartphone owners soon - so lets make it as easy as possible for them to enjoy it.
(Image via Jacob Bøtter)
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The Samsung T*Omnia: It’s the Omnia, but with more T!
When Korean telecoms giant SK Telecom calls saying they want your handset, what do you do? If you’re Samsung, you take said handset and give it the upgrade treatment. Such is the case with the T*Omnia, a bigger, better version of the Omnia headed for Korea sometime in the coming weeks.
The most obvious change is in its display - they’ve taken the 400×240 screen and replaced it with the 800×480 (WVGA) Samsung-made screen we’ve seen hit a few other handsets as of late. A bit less obvious, albeit still a nice touch, is the addition of a DMB TV tuner for satellite-based channel surfing. Of course, it hasn’t lost the WiFi, GPS, 7.2 mbps HSDPA, or any of the other stuff which made the original Omnia such a nice piece.
Oh, and no - we have no idea what the “T*” bit in T*Omnia represents, either. We’re guessing T stands for something special (Tasty? Tubular? Ooh! Ooh! Tyrannosaurus!), and they just put the * there to keep it from being the “Tomnia”.
[Via MobileBurn]
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