Loo-Lee.com

With the US economy still on the rebound, prepaid has experienced a surge in customer additions.  Postpaid wireless carriers realize it, and they're doing their best to catch on and/or purchase prepaid carriers - exemplified in Sprint's recent purchase of Virgin Mobile.  Wherever there's money to be made, Walmart seems to be all over it, and the telecom industry is no exception with the official launch of their StraightTalk wireless option.  Partnering with Tracfone, the nation's largest retailer is expanding the pilot program nationwide to its 3,200 locations.  StraightTalk offers two plans: for $30 per month, customers receive 1,000 minutes, 1,000 text messages, and 30 MB of web access; the $45 plan offers unlimited calls, text messages, and data.  Both plans are prepaid and are contract-free.

So, what say you?  The lineup isn't the most feature-rich one in history, but for the price, it's hard to beat.  With more and more prepaid providers (and possibly T-Mobile, if "Project Dark" rumors come to fruition) offering unlimited plans around the sub-$50 price point, will postpaid companies respond?

Source: Engadget Mobile

Until now, the rumors surrounding the BlackBerry Storm 2 have varied depending on the outlet, but a leaked internal screenshot clearly shows October 21st as the official launch date.  Dummy phones are beginning to arrive in Verizon Wireless retail stores, screen shots and accessories have been spotted at Best Buy, and demo units are beginning to pop up in the wild - all signs of an imminent release. 

Expected to support OS 5.0 at launch, the Storm 2 will offer a 3.2-megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, and GSM support for wireless service while overseas.  Most reviews point to a huge improvement over the original Storm; hopefully it will translate into more sales in the long-term.  Who's planning to pick one up at launch, and if you're coming from another smartphone, why?

Source: Crackberry



BlackBerry Storm 2 dummy unit - now arriving at Verizon stores

What better way to test the reception of a new device than to take it to a busy university?  After spending the last few weeks playing with the new BlackBerry Storm 2 (and probably longer than that, who knows), Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam took the phone on a trip to New York University and showed it to several individuals, and the response seemed to be positive - most remarking that "this is what they hoped the original Storm should be."  Of course, I doubt McAdam would go on record with negative comments if there were any, but nonetheless, more good news from the Storm 2 camp.

After the frustrations with the original model, expectations are high for the Storm 2.  Actual launch dates are still unconfirmed, but if rumors are correct, you could be toting the new device by the end of the month.  It can't be too much longer now!

Source: BGR

Here’s an interesting companion report to the AdMob figures we looked at last week regarding the favoured phone OS’s when browsing the mobile web.  Well-respected research analysts Gartner Inc. have given a sneak peak at their official figures projecting the market share of mobile operating systems in 2012, and while the majority of trends seen in the AdMob report play out here too, there are one or two surprises.

Here is their forecast in full:

1. Symbian: 37.4%.
2. Android: 18%
3. BlackBerry OS: 13.9%.
4. iPhone OS: 13.6%.
5. Windows Mobile: 9%.
6. Maemo: 4.5%.
7. Linux: 2.1%.
8. webOS:  1.4%.

The key aspect of Gartner’s prediction is where it places Android, indicating it as chasing down Symbian for the coveted number one spot.  Seeing as Android currently has a 2% market share, the promises made by many manufacturers to release multiple Android phones has obviously made a big impact.  The Android boost evident in the AdMob charts will only get larger if the sales pan out as expected too.

But what of webOS?  A 1.4% share is hardly the stuff of Palm’s dreams, especially with newcomer Maemo being placed significantly higher.  Gartner clearly don’t share Palm’s optimism concerning their latest OS, a feeling also evident in Windows Mobile not passing BlackBerry - Mobile 7 is going to have to be very special to change minds concerning Microsoft’s ability to produce a winner.

These figures are based around an estimate of 525 million smartphones being sold and Gartner is expected to present these figures formally at the forthcoming ITxpo in Orlando.

Post from Dial-a-Phone, UK's no. 1 for Mobile Phones.

Motorola’s comeback phone the Dext is already proving an early success, and it’s about to be given a boost with the launch of the T.V advertising campaign next week. Motorola’s first Android phone has served it’s purpose for now, generating that much needed hype for the manufacturer and drawing in a decent smartphone following.

 So what’s next for the Americans? Can the Motorola Sholes live up to expectations? It looks as though it will be following in the same vein as it’s predecessor, touch screen complete with full QWERTY, running Android OS. It might look good but there has got to be a bit more to it than that to create a lasting impression. It’s rumoured for release during Q4 of 2009, and will almost certainly be out well in time for Christmas a late November/ early December release seems the logical answer.

Post from Dial-a-Phone, UK's no. 1 for Mobile Phones.

The way that people use and abuse their mobile phones has been changing over the years. Many people in society are interested in learning more about what the specific changes are that are taking place. That’s why there have been a large number of studies and surveys conducted recently to gain insight into the habits of cell phone use. One of the most recent surveys to be conducted reveals some interesting information about the mobile phone habits of people who live in Australia.

One of the most interesting tidbits of information to be revealed through this study is that Australians absolutely hate to lose their mobile phones and yet they can’t seem to stop themselves from doing it on a regular basis. The problem is particularly annoying for young people. One third of survey respondents aged 16 to 20 would rather lose their keys or their wallet than lose their cell phones and yet one fifth of the females in this age group and one half of the males in this age group have lost their phones. Among the entire population, Australians say it’s at least twice as bad to lose their phones than to lose their house keys. Despite this, more than three quarters of respondents regularly have to dial their own phones to figure out where they’ve misplaced them and one quarter of respondents have lost or broken their mobile phones.

You would think that the fact that they so regularly break or misplace their mobile phones would make it likely that these people would back up the information that they store in their cell phones but that’s not the case. Two thirds of Australians don’t have important phone numbers stored anywhere other than in their cell phones. And three quarters of the women under thirty who answered the survey reported that they have important photos on their phones which aren’t saved anywhere else. Some of this failure to backup information is undoubtedly due to the fact that two thirds of Australians don’t even know how to back up (or sometimes even access) at least a portion of the information stored on their phones.

There is one thing that these people do know how to do well with their phones, though. They know how to store numbers inside of their phones in a way that keeps those numbers secret from someone in their lives. Only about ten percent of Australians intentionally hide numbers in their phones to prevent a loved one from seeing them. However, the number is a lot higher for men; approximately twenty five percent of Australian men store secret numbers to keep wives and girlfriends from seeing them. Now they just need to figure out how to hang on to their phones!

Post from Dial-a-Phone, UK's no. 1 for Mobile Phones.

Well it’s mostly bug fixing, so we will see, I actually experienced some bugs reported, so cross fingers now…

Official information about it:

“iPhone OS 3.1.2 Software Update

This update contains bug fixes and improvements, including the following:

• Resolves sporadic issue that may cause iPhone to not
wake from sleep
• Resolves intermittent issue that may interrupt cellular
network services until restart
• Fixes bug that could cause occasional crash during
video streaming

Products compatible with this software update:
• iPhone
• iPhone 3G
• iPhone 3GS

For feature descriptions and complete instructions, see the user guide for your iPhone at:
http://www.apple.com/support/manuals/iphone

For more information about iPhone, go to:
http://www.apple.com/iphone

To troubleshoot your iPhone, or to view additional support information go to:
http://www.apple.com/support/iphone

This update contains security content originally included in previous iPhone Software Updates. For more information, please visit this website:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222″

Post from Dial-a-Phone, UK's no. 1 for Mobile Phones.

Our series chronicling Zer01 Mobile and their company challenges continues with part two, documenting the company's strategy.

In our interview with company CEO Ben Pilani, several important questions are raised and deflected in traditional Zer01 style.  Referring to vague terms such as a "defragmentation engine," the question remains: with this proverbial "shadow" over the company's agreements, technology, and the like, will they be successful?

As a note, the voices heard in the video are Phillip Berne from infoSync World, Simon Sage from IntoMobile, and myself.

Few can argue that the original BlackBerry Storm launch was a success.  Shortly after the phone landed on retail shelves, a software update (4.7.0.75) was issued to quell the frustrations with response times, call quality issues, and poor battery life.  Over the months, the Storm quickly became a love/hate device, though it seemed to sell well in the long run.

Needless to say, the Storm 2 needs a relatively smooth launch, and should the leaked document pictured above come to fruition, it could be a smashing success.  BlackBerry Storm 2 and a BlackBerry Tour in one store visit...can't say I would complain!

Source: Mobile Crunch