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• 20Oct

  ARTICLE: Leaked shots of WinMo 7 screens = good stuff to look forward to

  Industry, News No Comments

  I wasn’t a fan of Windows Mobile 6.1. I found the interface clunky, old-fashioned and hard to navigate. But part of my New Year’s resolutions for 2009 was to be more open-minded about Microsoft’s mobile OS (despite being an iPhone/Apple girl), and although the year is mostly over, I’m still trying to remain true to my word. So I had a brief, yet close up, look at 6.5 earlier this month, and you know what? I’m still not feeling it. An improvement, yes (especially the homescreen), but unless you’re well-versed with WinMo to begin with, it’s not an easy transition, especially if using a stylus is not your favorite thing.
  
  Maybe that’s why, at least when it comes to Windows Mobile 7, I’m still waiting to exhale. Details are scant, which always creates buzz in this business, but I’m hoping against all odds that something new is on the way. According to a leaked image of the enigmatic 7, there just might be.
  
  Thanks to WMExperts (and our friends at MobileCrunch), an image has surfaced showing the settings and calendar screens. The two shots on top are 6.5, and internal mockups of the same screens in WinMo 7 follow in the row directly below it.
  
  
  
  Niiiice. I mean, it’s just the settings and calendar screens, I know, but this bodes well for the rest of the UI, don’tcha think? I may be an Apple fan, but I sure can’t wait to see this version of WinMo in action.
  
  [via MobileCrunch, WMExperts]
  

  
  

  

  Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile

• 20Oct

  ARTICLE: B&N takes on Kindle with new 3G eReader, the Nook (AT&T)

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  If I could layer in some old 60s Batman-style audio of “Smashes,” “Booms” and “Blams” into these posts, I would. This would be a great place to use them.
  
  In a move that may frighten Amazon’s Kindle department, Barnes & Noble's debuted the $259 Nook today.
  
  
  
  The Nook is the first eReading device with both 3G (via AT&T) and Wifi for downloading content from B&N online. Most interestingly, it runs on Android, so the future could bring plenty of third-party app development. As for now, the device offers a full-color touch/scrollable navigation screen that displays book cover art underneath the standard grayscale E-Ink e-paper screen. The display, which shows content lists and a touch keypad, also goes dark to prevent distraction.
  
  Specs include 2GB of memory (for up to 1500 e-books), a microSD slot, MP3 player and picture viewer. Nooks can also share ebooks with other users, which makes the practice of lending titles to friends easy.
  
  With B&N behind this, Amazon may have something to worry about here. Users have access to more than a million titles (Amazon carries less than half as many), in addition to magazines and newspapers, from both its online store and Fictionwise.
   
  “BAM!” Take that, Kindle.

  
  

  

  Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile

• 20Oct

  ARTICLE: Musings from the Pound: Verizon’s assault against Apple and AT&T

  Industry, News No Comments

  

  If you're in any way entrenched in the wireless industry, be it as a fan or writer, you've seen the Verizon Wireless commercials and campaign surrounding their coverage and the Motorola Droid.  Once known for the "Test Man," Verizon has moved on (albeit temporarily) to a more agressive approach.  Known for dry, relatively boring commercials, the new "Verizon vs. AT&T," and more recently, the "iDon't, but DroidDoes" campaign are phenomenal attacks against AT&T and Apple.  And what's more, the Apple and AT&T camps have been notoriously silent with a rebuttal. 
  
  The fact is, AT&T's 3G coverage area is significantly less than Verizon's.  And, despite the technological advancements that the iPhone made when it came to market in 2007, it doesn't have a five megapixel camera.  Nor does it multitask.  Unlike most advertising campaigns that seek to derail competitors, Verizon isn't making any special promises.  They're simply showing what their network and upcoming devices can do. 
  
  Will AT&T and Apple respond?  I'm sure they will.  On AT&T's side, expect to see the recurring "the fastest 3G coverage in the nation" theme, and from the Apple camp, a lot of flashy Apple logos and reinforcement of the 85,000-strong App Store.  Besides that, I can't find any other entrances to which they can respond to Verizon's claims.  My professional opinion?  Unleash Android and webOS on your subscribers.  Shed the claim that you "only have the iPhone."   Build your smartphone arsenal.  And most importantly, improve your coverage.  Stop ignoring customer complaints about sub-par coverage. 
  
  What say you?  Is the campaign smart, or are they barking up the wrong tree by fighting with Apple and AT&T?  Can they keep up the battle, and from a monetary perspective (which seems to be the most important issue of all) is it going to successfully sway customers to Big Red?

  
  

  

  Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile

• 20Oct

  ARTICLE: Samsung and U.S. Cellular launch Trill and Caliber

  Industry, News No Comments

  

  If you're with U.S. Cellular and are seeking a new phone, the two Samsung devices launched today may be for you.  First up, the Samsung Trill (pictured) is much like Verizon's Samsung Trance, offering a 1.3-megapixel camera, 1 GB of internal memory, a music player, and easyedge.  The specs are below:

  Samsung Trill (SCH-r520)

  • Sound Technology by Bang & Olufsen ICEpower
  • Music Player with One-Touch Music Access
  • 1.3 Megapixel Camera with Camcorder
  • Stereo Bluetooth® Enabled
  • One-Touch Speakerphone
  • U.S. Cellular’s easyedgeSM  Service
  • Expandable Memory up to 32GB
  • 1GB of Phone Memory
  • Dimensions: 1.96”x 3.97” x .57”
  • 2.2” QCIF 262K TFT
  • Retail price - $219.95

  On the other hand, the Samsung Caliber takes it up a notch, offering a 3.0-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, a full HTML browser, and Samsung's TouchWiz user interface.  Specifications include:
  
  Samsung Caliber (SCH-r850)
  

  • Advanced touchscreen with Samsung’s TouchWiz™ user interface
  • Widget support for quick access to social networking applications, etc.
  • U.S. Cellular’s easyedgeSM services: Downloadable Ringtones, Wallpapers, Games and Business Applications
  • Full HTML Web browser
  • Stereo Bluetooth® Wireless Technology
  • Speakerphone
  • 3.0 Megapixel Camera and Camcorder
  • Built-In Video and Music Player
  • Dimensions: 4.55” x 2.23” x .47”; 3.59 ounces
  • Display: 262K, 240 x 400 pixels, 3.2”
  • Standard rechargeable Lithium Ion battery: up to 5 hours talk time
  • Retail price - $319.95

  It's two devices out of what is sure to be a busy holiday season.  Samsung fans, are you biting?

   

  
  

  

  Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile

• 20Oct

  ARTICLE: Verizon’s second Android device, the Motorola Calgary, shows up to the party

  Industry, News No Comments

  

  As of late, it seems to be raining Android at the nation's largest wireless carrier - first the Motorola Droid (as seen in the advertisements), and now the Motorola Calgary.  Targeted to the low-end users, the Calgary will offer MotoBLUR, while the Droid will be positioned as the high-end handset of the group.

  Expect to see three touch sensitive buttons on the display, along with an optical joystick, full QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, a microSD card slot, 3.5mm headphone jack, GPS, and a 3 megapixel camera.  According to the information obtained by BGR, the Android OS builds that it's running are a joy to use. 

  Now that Android is present at three of the four major carriers, how long will it be before we see an AT&T-branded device?

  Source: BGR

  
  

  

  Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile

• 20Oct

  ARTICLE: iPhone game: Rock Band for iPhone

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  If you’re a Rock Band virtuoso with an iPhone, you might be jazzed about Electronic Arts’ ambitious new app. While not a perfect game, Rock Band for iPhone does offer fans of the original the familiar graphics and popular rock songs they’d expect from the mobile version.
  
  
  
  As colored “notes” or rectangles zip down the screen in time to the music, players hit the corresponding colored inputs when they land at the bottom. This mixture of graphics and audio seems like a natural fit for the iPhone. (And it is — there have been a number of similar iPhone game apps, the most popular of which may be Tap Tap Revenge 3.) Rock Band takes advantage of the handset’s display with its colorful interface and animations, the tracks are MP3 quality tunes, and the in-app music store makes for easy buying of additional songs (2 for $1). BlueTooth multi-player capability also allows users to rock out with friends to earn unison points, and they can even save each other, just like the console version.
  
  The major difference is obviously the inputs. Instead of using plastic music instruments that mimic the rocker experience, mobile players obviously can only tap on the screen. And the gameplay is similar, regardless of band member — lead guitar, bass payer, drummer or even singer. So iPhone users take note: There won’t be any warbling into the handset’s mic.
  
  Unless you have great eyesight (I don’t), those skinny little on-screen rectangles are tough to distinguish against the background graphics. And playing measures that require multiple notes/chords feels way more awkward on a small display than on a big plastic stratocaster. But my difficulty didn’t really lie in the game levels, just the interface. The nimble-fingered with 20/20 vision could find themselves longing for harder challenges.
  
  
  
  
  
  But maybe it’s unfair to compare a mobile phone game to its full-featured predecessor. Comparing apples to apples, the Tap Tap Revenge 3 iPhone app has an easier interface (with glowing, hard-to-miss dots for notes) and features like chat, friending, and direct messages. TTR’s store offers a bigger, more diverse selection of songs for purchase, including rock, hip hop, dance music, as well as cover songs and other tunes that many have never heard of before. But current glitches make buying and downloading songs an almost painful experience.
  
  Rock Band’s store isn’t plagued by these difficulties, but its inventory is kind of meager (with something like 20 songs). Hopefully, that will improve over time, but for now, the catalog — which features music by original artists — skews to the rock and alt-rock crowd, including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, Blink-182 and more. So if you’re not a fan of this genre, you probably won’t love this selection. What I sorely missed in the mobile app is the ability to dress the musicians or give the band a cool name. But hopefully, if enough users request this, it could be added in a future revision.
  
  Even so, if you’re a Rock Band loyalist, there may be enough here for you to justify the initial $9.99 investment. Budget-conscious gamers, however, may want to wait for a later, more refined version with more social features, a fleshed-out store and more advanced/expert levels. 
  
  To learn more, hit up the info page on Electronic Arts’ site, or click here to go to the App Store.

  
  

  

  Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile

• 20Oct

  ARTICLE: Tidbit Tuesday: Tilt II sold out; new Motorola Droid marketing

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  Since we can’t actively cover every news article that breaks (as much as we would love to), PhoneDog compiles various news announcements and press releases that have been published throughout the week and places them in one easy to read article known as "Tidbit Tuesday."  Enjoy!

  
  

  AT&T sold out of HTC Tilt II?
  Considering the popularity of the Touch Pro2 (or Tilt II, if you're on AT&T), it's understandable that sales are high across the board.  But much like Verizon, it looks like AT&T has officially sold out of the coveted Windows Mobile 6.5 device.  Though the device is available online, most stores have sold out, with a rumored replenishment date of October 24th.  Via PhoneArena

  
  

  Acer seeks to ship 500,000 smartphones by the end of the year, 2 million in 2010
  Acer may be relatively new to the smartphone field, but they're planning to make waves as quickly as possible.  By the end of the year, the company hopes to ship between 400,000-500,000 devices, followed by 1.5 to 2 million in 2010.  With Android taking off, the numbers are certainly legitimate if they continue with planned devices like the A1.  Via IntoMobile, Digitimes

  
  
  Motorola using physical mailers for Droid campaign
  Looks like Motorola is going to snail mail to further promote the launch of the Motorola Droid on Verizon.  Marketed as the "next phone" after the next phone, the Droid offers a 5.0-megapixel camera, 3G, and Android 2.0.  Snazzy television spots promoting coverage, bashing Apple's iPhone, and snail mail promotions.  What's next?  Via PhoneArena

  
  

  

  Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile

• 20Oct

  Steel Screens Schools From Cellphones

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  In what may be the best accidental discovery for the species since penicillin, new high schools in East Lancashire have been found to utterly block the use of mobile phones.  It turns out that the heavy use of steel in the buildings’ construction, as well as the standard “holding the walls up” thing, acts to interfere with phone signals in all but a very few locations throughout the school.

  The new facilities were constructed under the new quarter-billion pound “Building Schools for the Future” (BSF), and while they insist that the electronic interference is accidental it is a brilliant way to adapt education for the next generation.  Also, we only have text of the BSF’s statements to go on, so we can’t tell if they winked and grinned while saying it.

  Since the use of phones during class time isn’t allowed anyway, despite scummy cellphone “studies” (funded by the manufacturers) lobbying to change that, people would have to be insane to complain about the effect.  So of course they will, but unless they’re offering to rebuild the schools, design new transceivers, or invent a new form of transmission which renders steel transparent there’s very little they can do.  And to do any of those, they’d have to pay attention in class anyway.

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

  Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile

• 20Oct

  Spotify Service With HTC Hero

  Industry, News No Comments
  In a sign of the software-centric future of smartphones, mobile operator 3 is upgrading their offerings to include subscriptions to streaming services with new hardware.  Even when that hardware is the new HTC Hero, which one would think was exciting enough without extras.  Starting November 3rd the new deal includes a subscription to Spotify along with the usual text and data plan options.

  Spotify allows paying users to listen to music on their computers and mobile phones.  There are two levels of membership, but since only the premium service allows smartphone use that’s what 3 are bundling.  It’s an unconventional idea, and one which could lead to trouble - forcing customers to choose one online service over others is the sort of thing the technologically aware often hate, and they’re the target audience for the Android-equipped phone.

  The service itself seems more like a streaming radio station than the old (and illegal) “Get all the music you want” internet services, and if it works this brand-coupling with mobile phone providers could be a huge boost - an automatic active market.  Though whether they appreciate the offer or resent being herded into a captive deal remains to be seen.

  

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

  Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile

• 20Oct

  Charging Choices, Eco-Powered Mobiles

  Industry, News No Comments
  

  Recently you may have noticed some mobile phone manufacturers ‘doing their bit’ for the environment. Samsung released the S7550 Blue Earth, an eco-friendly phone made out of recycled materials with low standby power, an energy efficient eco-mode and solar panelled back. Similarly, Sony Ericsson dipped their toe into the Green pool offering the Naite, a product that offers eco rewards for buying it and has a 5 star energy efficient charger. Both are trying to help the planet one phone at a time, but what about the users who see the eco alternatives as a necessity rather than a good deed?

  There are currently over 4 billion mobile connections in the world; 500 million of those people have a mobile contract, but no access to an electricity grid. Over the years this figure is bound to increase as more people at the “base of the economic pyramid” get a mobile phone. New solutions are emerging to charge mobiles, which are beneficial to both low-income consumers and the planet.  As part of it’s Green Power for Mobile programme, the GSMA Development Fund have conducted research into off-grid charging solutions for mobile phones.

  The survey was carried out over a three-month period, spanning from June to August 09 and involved in depth field research into vendors, products and users. It found there was significant interest in off-grid charging solutions from mobile operators, over half of those who were interviewed had already introduced or were looking for new charging methods. At the same time, there’s limited understanding into the solutions available to them and they’re looking for help and support from the mobile industry.

  Mobile manufacturers have already agreed on a worldwide ‘Universal charging solution’, where a set charging method, microUSB will run across all handsets by 2012. This is at least a start to cutting waste, it’s already estimated that the initiative will reduce standby energy consumption by 50%, and will eliminate potentially 51,000 tonnes of duplicate chargers for mobile phones. However, this still doesn’t help those users who are yet to get access to an electrical grid. Across developing nations mobile phone owners charge their handset on a pay-per-charge basis. But the cost to do this works out at the same price as the cheapest scratch card to put talktime onto the phone. Users have to choose between battery life and credit. (more…)

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

  Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile

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