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01MarNoah gets AT&T's first Android phone out of the box. The Motorola Backflip has a unique design and features Android 1.6 along with MotoBlur for your social networking needs.
Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile
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01Mar
Starting this week you're going to see some new faces around these parts. I'm all kinds of excited about our bringing on a few new people to entertain, inform, and delight you with their opinions and insights.
You may already have watched Jon Quach's first installment of the "Weekly Bone," his roundup of the Week in PhoneDog. Jon's a YouTube fixture with his videos for Tehkseven.net, and his style, personality and sense of humor make him a natural fit to try some videos for PhoneDog. Also, he's Canadian, which is always nice.
Starting tomorrow you'll see the first of our new weekly columnists. We're going to try four new columns on for size, once a week scheduled on regular days so you can tune in like a TV show ... well, like TV shows were before DVRs and iTunes downloads, anyway.
Tuesdays:
Andy will be bringing his years of industry insider experience to bear on his weekly take on what's going on in mobile tech.
Kristi will bring us "New York Minute," tales of a single gal and her iPhone as they galavant through the glam and seedyness that is New York City.
Wednesdays:
Nate brings a lawyer's - and geek's - perspective to life with Android.
Thursdays:
Julia "The Rotary Dialer" dives headfirst into her first experience with a cell phone, Verizon's new Palm Pixi Plus.
I'm excited to bring some fresh perspectives to our pages, along with more and more from Aaron, Adriana, John, Sydney and yours truly. We're not going anywhere. Instead, we're bringing in a few new voices to lend even more perspective to mobile technology. Let's face it: Smartphones are bigger than ever, and netbooks, smartbooks and tablet computers are only gaining in popularity, as well. With so many devices to cover from so many angles, it's good to mix it up a bit from time to time.
So check out all of our new columnists - and Jon's weekly videos - and let us know what you think. As always, when you like it we try to give you more. And in the meantime, we'll be cooking up even more new things to throw your way in the months to come.
Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile
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01Mar
So what do you do when the Big Two gang up on you and launch unlimited plans for $69.99? Tout the features that your $69.99 plan offers, of course. Though you receive unlimited minutes with the Verizon and AT&T options, Sprint offers Any Mobile, Anytime, unlimited text messaging, unlimited data, and 450 minutes.
Dan Hesse will return to the airwaves later in the month to promote the company's Everything plans. Claiming that "our $69.99 is worth more than their $69.99," he will position their offerings as a better value than the options from Verizon and AT&T.
Sounds like a challenge to me, so let's do some math. It's time for PhoneDog Skool! The breakdown and plan benefits are as follows:
Verizon & AT&T ($69.99):
-Unlimited minutes
Sprint ($69.99):-450 minutes
-Any Mobile, Anytime (call any mobile number in the United States for free)
-Unlimited text messaging
-Unlimited data
-Sprint TV, Sprint NavigationComparable Verizon and AT&T plan: At least $99.98 (450 minutes for $39.99, unlimited data for $30, unlimited text messaging for $20, Navigation for $9.99)
In short, looks can be rather deceiving. On a lighter note, will Hesse walk down yet another deserted street wearing a coat that's mildly familiar? Time will tell.Via PhoneArena
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Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile
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01Mar
AT&T's first Android device, the Motorola Backflip, showed up at my doorstep this morning thanks to FedEx. The unboxing video is uploading, so in the meantime I've got a few out of the box first impressions for you.
Everyone's asking about the design: Gimmick? Useful? Well, it's kind of both. I'm not so sure that "keyboard on the outside" will be the next big thing in smartphone design, but it's kind of interesting and it kind of works.
Design Pros:
- Big, roomy QWERTY board
- Trackpad on the back of the display is responsive and fairly intuitive to use
- Camera mounted on the flippable QWERTY board means the camera can face in (self-portraits) or out (normal photos)
Design Cons:
- QWERTY and touchscreen both remain exposed when phone is "closed up" and out of use
- When the phone is folded open, I keep accidentally tapping the trackpad when I reach to tap the touchscreen
- I wish the display was larger. The QWERTY board is so nice and wide that it actually makes the display feel smallish.
Otherwise:
- The design definitely allows for a larger QWERTY board, and the QWERTY is pretty good. Nicer action than Droid, if not quite as good as the best HTCs and LGs, but plenty wide and roomy.
- The phone itself is kind of laggy. Imagine using a Motorola CLIQ on T-Mobile, and you'll know what it's like to use this device. They're basically the same in terms of what MotoBlur and Android feel like.
- For some reason the touchscreen on Backflip feels a bit "grippier" and less smooth to flick and scroll on than the Devour's display.
- While Backflip is silver colored, the body is plastic and not aluminum like Devour. On the one hand, that means Backflip isn't as luxurious feeling. On the other hand, that also means it's lighter.
- This phone begs for some kind of video chat app. As I mentioned above, the camera is mounted on the QWERTY board and the QWERTY board flips from front to back, making self-portraits super easy (and addictive).
Unboxing video coming soon!
Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile
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01Mar
Huge news for anyone that has a device with Sprint and wants to insure it. Typically, carriers offer a 14-30 day grace period for ordering insurance, but the nation's third largest wireless carrier has opened up their Total Equipment Protection (TEP) plan to all subscribers through March 31st. Sprint's TEP plan costs $7 per month, and offers protection in case your device is lost, stolen, or suffers any physical damage (sure, you didn't throw it in the toilet because you were mad at it, it "accidentally slipped…").
Interestingly enough, there's nothing being said about whether you need to go to a store to have the device checked prior to adding the insurance (because there are always people with broken phones that would attempt to add the feature). Anyone going to take Sprint up on the offer? I certainly would.
Via IntoMobile
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Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile
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01Mar
Good news for Palm users! In addition to Sprint subscribers that were able to download the update this weekend (seriously Palm/Verizon, what was up with that?), Verizon users are now able to download webOS 1.4 onto their Palm handsets. We knew it was coming by the end of the month (February) thanks to the Palm presentation at CES in January, so it was nice to see them stick to their word (though they were a few hours away from lying - to Verizon customers, at least).
I downloaded it onto my demo unit, and I've been very pleased with the changes. Obviously, the notable improvement here is recording video, but there are some nifty new features, and some other issues that I hope have been improved upon...
Improvements/changes that I've noted so far:
-The "Ev" icon has been replaced by a "3G" icon
-Camera icon is different
-Video recording is now an option
-Overall system performance; seems to be a bit snappier
-When opening programs, there's a slightly different graphic prior to the application launching (versus dead space while the phone lags). Program opens in "card" form, and then magnifies to fill the screen when ready to go.
-Improvement in dial pad; calls list in a normal fashion.What I'm hoping has improved, but haven't been able to test just yet:
-Battery life
-Battery life
-Battery lifeA couple of people at PhoneDog East (our corporate office) carry the Palm Pre, and I've asked them for their official responses:
Tom, President
"Best upgrade by far...lots of useful changes. Video capture is a welcome feature! New options within dial-pad are very helpful; you no longer have to call-back the number only, can now SMS or change the callback number. Quicker reaction time when an app is loading - it now shows a pending window opening in progress, instead of just waiting for an app to open and wondering if you actually selected the app or not."Rebecca, Business Manager
I upgraded to WebOS 1.4 on my Palm Pre this past Saturday. One of my previous complaints can be removed, as video capture was added to the device. I tested it out and was able to record, view, and then delete with no problems. It also seems to have some editing features that I can't wait to try out. Another improvement that I am really enjoying is the access to my contacts from the dialer. Changes include being able to re-dial a missed call much easier, the ability to dial a different phone number for that person directly from the dialer, and to directly send someone a text message. Before the upgrade I was always opening my phone to see if I had new messages or e-mail. Now the button on the gesture pad flashes if something new is there. Very handy.
Overall I am enjoying the improvements that webOS 1.4 brought to my Palm Pre. One complaint for me that still remains is the fact I cannot lean the phone on my shoulder and talk. During a test call to my Mom today she said it sounded like "I had a cold in my nose". When I moved it around and tried again she couldn't understand me at all. Not the end of the world but it really does make me have to stop what I am doing and actually hold onto the phone to talk. I'm sure additional improvements will come from Palm as time goes on, so I will keep my fingers crossed.
Check out the full changelog here. Palm users, what are you waiting for? Go get your download on!
Powered by Sprint 4G
Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile
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01Mar
It's Jon from Tehkseven! On PhoneDog! Huh? Check out his new weekly roundup of PhoneDog news! Jon Q., a new member of the PhoneDog team has put together a weekly roundup video. During his fast paced delivery he highlights everything that was big in the cellular industry during the week of February 21-27, 2010.
Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile
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01Mar
A Winner has been randomly selected for our Sony Ericsson Vivaz competition. Thanks to all of you who entered, we will be contacting the lucky new owner of the Vivaz handset via email later today so check your inbox to see if it’s you!
Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile
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01Mar
Last week we reported that LG might be the first company to launch a Windows Phone 7 Series phone, sometime before the holidays (vague, I know). It didn't take long for photos and video of the very phone we spoke of to materialize, thanks to Aaron Woodman, Director of Consumer Experiences for Microsoft's mobile division. Woodman appeared on The Engadget Show this weekend and brought the pre-release LG prototype with him.
According to Engadget, the WP7S prototype is "just a hair thicker than an iPhone or Nexus One, there are dedicated hardware camera, volume, and power buttons in addition to the back, home, and search buttons dictated by Windows Phone 7 Series, and we noticed a five megapixel camera with a flash on the back, along with a headphone jack."If you'll notice in the picture above, there's something about the prototype that doesn't quite match what we would have expected. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? The phone seems to be more aligned with the specs of Chassis 2, due to the full QWERTY sliding keyboard. Here's a recap of what was said about Chassis 1 and 2 by the guys at Microsoft Australia:
"There's going to be one available at launch, which is big touch screen, gigahertz processor, dedicated graphics chip. And only touch, no keyboard entry. Chassis two is going to be slide with a keyboard, so looking more like the Palm Treo, touch screen plus a Qwerty keyboard."
This brings to light an important question. Why would a Chassis 2 device be the first to launch with WP7S, when our Australian friends would have us believe that Chassis 1 would be the only form factor available at launch, with Chassis 2 and 3 unaccounted for in terms of a release time-frame? I can't say that I know what's coming next, but you can be sure I'm very curious.
Hit the link below for video and pictures of the prototype. If you think you know what Microsoft and LG are up to, sound off in the comments!
Via Engadget, Arstechnica
Video and Pictures
Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile
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01Mar
Not long after news of the HTC Incredible surfaced, more exciting Verizon/Android news comes in the CDMA Nexus One getting FCC approval. That's right folks, if you're a Verizon customer or looking to become one, you may just have a difficult decision to make.
What's more, multiple sources are reporting that the N1 for Verizon will be announced on March 23rd, the first day of CTIA 2010. This information lines up with what we have known for a while, that the N1 would be coming to both Verizon and Vodafone in the Spring of this year. Pricing is not yet known, however, I'll venture a guess that the price off contract is the same $529 as the GSM (read: T-Mobile) version, while the cost for a N1 with a two-year contract is likely to be competitive.
Verizon is known for its stellar network. It isn't the number one carrier in the U.S. for nothing, so the question that's keeping me awake at night is: will the CDMA version of the Nexus One have the same connectivity issues as its GSM brother? What say you?
Via Gizmodo, Phandroid
Tags: blog, cell phone news, discussion, mobile
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