This is a test of the Crunch Network Public Service Announcement System. Before exiting a cab/taxi/limo/bus, be sure to account for all of your gadgets. This is only a test…
While maybe obvious, this is very sound advice, especially during the holiday season where many of us find ourselves traveling in distant lands, taking countless cabs here and there. Take London, for example. According to a new survey, Londoners lose an average of 10,000 mobile phones in the back of taxis every single month.
LG has announced a new Windows Mobile 6.5-based smartphone, the eXpo. But unlike other 6.5 smarties on the market, the newest member of the LG family is packing just about everything but the kitchen sink including a 1GHz processor, a built-in fingerprint sensor, and an optional Pico Projector. Maybe they should have named it the LG SwissArmy Knife Phone.
Turkey Day is just around the corner, which means that the annual American tradition season of losing one’s mind in exchange for slightly discounted goods will officially begin a week from today. Yes, I speak of the infamous day that is Black Friday. The very same day in which hundreds of thousands of Americans transform into penny-pinching-zombies who will do whatever it takes to score a cheap fix.
Got a buck? Own an iThing? Like to game and save money? Sweet! Then you’ll be really happy to hear that Konami’s entire collection of iPhone / iPod touch games are all on sale for $.99 until Saturday, November 21.
Virgin Mobile Canada has announced that it will begin to sell the iPhone 3G and 3GS in Virgin Mobile Retail Stores and online in Canada in the “coming months.” VMC joins fellow Canadian carriers Telus, Bell Canada, Fido, and Rogers in becoming an authorized iThing dealer.
Sprint has pushed out an over-the-air firmware update for its popular HTC Hero ‘droid handset. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with Android 2.0, but it does purportedly fix a pesky SMS bug which has been causing battery drain issues. Oh, and it also helps your favorite Hero play nice with daylight saving time. But apparently, that’s just about all the update does.
Really? Who could have guessed? I’m not an official big-shot analyst by any stretch, but I’m pretty sure that I could have made the same conclusion, as could anyone who knows anything about technology trends (like spoiled teenagers). But alas, an actual organization, Telecom Trends International (who?), has just released a report saying that smartphones will indeed overtake “regular” phones by 2015. Gotta love these glimpses into the future.
Hey SF Bay Area iPhonestas…good news! Your beloved carrier, the one and only AT&T, has big plans for major 3G network upgrades across the SF Bay Area come 2010.
Apparently, the lovely folks over at AT&T have pumped some $65 million “from 2008 through the 3rd quarter of 2009 to complete a substantial upgrade of its local 3G wireless network in the greater San Francisco Bay Area with the launch of additional wireless spectrum in the 850 MHz band.” Based on the endless complaints I hear from my iPhone carrying friends ’round these parts, this has got to be music to their ears.
Yay, rumors! Today’s fun rumor comes courtesy of one Mr. Shaw Wu, a Kaufman Bros. analyst, who believes (thanks to his sources in the supply chain) that a BlackBerry 9900 has not only hit the prototype phase, but also features an entirely new form factor for RIM – a touchscreen slider.
Data problems? What data problems? Oh right, thosedata problems. Well, its been about a month so, like with any sort of break up or troubled relationship, you’ve had your chance to grieve and be angry…now it’s time to move on, folks.
At least that seems to be T-Mobile’s position. Thus, Big T has resumed selling both its older Sidekick and the newer Sidekick LX, each for slightly less than the pre-data loss prices nonetheless.
Extra, extra! Read all about it. AT&T becomes exclusive carrier for the LG Shine II. Well, that was fun, wasn’t it – making a big deal about yet another handset being launched on AT&T? Yes. Yes it was. All jokes aside, LG is launching its next-gen Shine, the LG Shine II, on AT&T whether you like it or not.
Ah, BlackBerry Curve 8520. We’ve got pretty fond memories of your exclusive days over on T-Mobile. So what gives? Why the jump to AT&T all of a sudden? Oh right…increasing market share and giving consumers what they want – an inexpensive and relatively capable smartphone. Nice.
The nation’s “fastest” (and often most frustrating) 3G network (i.e. AT&T) is adding another netbook to its lineup of 3G portable devices, the Samsung Go. So what exactly is said Go? Well, according to Sammy, it’s “a compact and lightweight netbook with instant access to broadband speeds powered by the nation’s fastest 3G network and the Microsoft Windows 7 Starter Edition operating system.”
Attention Battlestar Galactica Android OS fans, Samsung has just taken the wraps off its newest Android-powered smartphone, the Galaxy Spica. By the sound of that name, it appears the Cylons have taken control of Samsung’s mobile division.
The newest soldier in the ever-growing ‘droid army features a 800MHz processor (just like its Moment sibling) and is the first Android smartphone to include native DivX support (so you won’t have to convert your downloaded collection of BSG to watch on the go!). Along with the improved codec support, the Galaxy Spica (GS) also touts other improved multimedia-centric features like the inclusion of DNSe 2.0 for “better sound quality” and 3.5 mm jack for use with your favorite headphones.
Qualcomm, one of the largest fabless mobile chip manufactures in the world, has announced the availability of samples of its next-gen dual-carrier HSPA+ and multi-mode 3G/LTE chipsets. Hello Future!
Wow. Nice work, Dell. Way to drag the Mini 3 launch out for what feels like an eternity. First, the early ‘09 rumors (here and here). Then, the August 2009 leak. Next, China Mobile unofficially outed the smartie. And now, finally, an official confirmation straight from the horse’s Dell’s mouth. Dude China / Brazil, you’re gettin a Dell!
I like to imagine that a special place exists somewhere on the Web where a bunch of unassuming “ordinary” folks get together to solve world technology issues. A brotherhood (that allows women too, of course) of sorts that uniformly scream, “HACK3RS UNITE!,” and then figure out how to stick it to the man. I’m not entirely sure anything that amazing exists, but there is something close – the XDA Developers Forum.
The latest philanthropic project taken on by these fine young men and women was to port Google’s new Navigation app (which comes pre-installed on the DROID) to the original Android Czar, T-Mobile’s G1. And low and behold…they’ve done it!
According to Web analytics company, Clicky, Motorola’s flagship DROID handset has already caused a major disturbance in the Force Android-based web traffic. The new hotness purportedly already accounts for more than 23 percent of all Android web traffic here in the States.
The lack of Flash support on the iThings (i.e. phone, touch) and all but one Android device has made it rather difficult for Flash-based video sites to penetrate the ever-expanding smartphone video-consuming market. While YouTube has implemented a workaround for this problem (by encoding each uploaded video in both Flash AND as .mp4 files), other sites (arguably with less resources) have been much slower to rollout a fix while waiting for Adobe and Co. to get this mess straightened out.
Sprint, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks (to name a few) continue to bet big on Clearwire’s WiMAX nationwide wireless network. The foursome have just pumped an additional $1.494 billion into Clearwire’s coffer, with another $50 million coming from Intel and $20 million from Eagle River Holdings. CHA-CHING.
As Sesame Street is currently celebrating its 40th anniversary now seems like as good a time as any for us to practice our counting…of mobile operating systems/platforms. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Darn, my hand ran out of fingers! Well, no matter, Samsung thinks there is plenty of room for more and has taken the wraps off its own, new open mobile platform, bada.
Today is the International Day of the DROID. Well, not really, but Verizon did follow through and officially announced its new flagship Motorola Android device – DROID.
Along with the official presser, Motorola was also kind enough to provide some glistening press shots of the DROID, “A no-compromise supergenius” as they like to call it, along with an official DROID by Motorola Fact Sheet (all after the jump).
Earlier today, Sony Ericsson announced the launch of its newest flip phone, the Equinox. The new clamshell that “encourage[s] individualism through unique pulsating night effects that enable users to never miss a call or text message” will be available exclusively from T-Mobile.
Among other things, the “unique” flipper features 3G and quad-band GSM/Edge radios, user-defined lighting “accents” for caller ID/messaging alerts, a 3.2MP camera, an integrated FM radio, and stereo Bluetooth. The Equinox begins drops on October 28. It’s not the most exciting phone ever, but… er, we don’t really have anything to finish that sentence.
There is cool and then there is cool. Alright, I guess this isn’t that cool — it seems sort of dangerous, after all — but it’s still neat. Neat is a good way to describe iDriver, an iPhone app that turns regular automobiles into full size remote control cars. Yup. Full. Size. Remote. Control. Cars.
LG has announced a new Windows Mobile 6.5-based smartphone, 
Hey SF Bay Area iPhonestas…good news! Your 
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