Wireless and Mobile News

Sprint is really going for a PR sprint this week.  The latest report from the Wall Street Journal, revealed that Sprint CEO Dan Hesse during a press conference next Tuesday in Las Vegas will unveil a new WiMAX device, the HTC Supersonic.

The HTC Supersonic is expected to run Google's Android 2.1 platform with HTC Sense UI, a 4.3-inch touchscreen display, a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor and a 5-megapixel camera. The Android 2.1 offers pinch-to-zoom browsing, voice-to-text form filling and turn-by-turn voiced navigation. 

Sprint will offer the Nexus One via the Google Nexus One webstore, pricing has not been announced. Yesterday, Google started selling an unlocked version of the Nexus One for AT&T priced at $529.

"While a pricing plan has not yet been determined for Nexus One, we are confident that it will be consistent with Sprint's commitment to deliver more value than our competitors and keep pricing simple," Fared Adib, Sprint vice president of product development.

Verizon Motorola Droid owners should be receiving an Over-the-Air Update (OTA) to their Droid smartphones starting on March 18, suggests leaked-documents.  The update will be to the promised Android 2.1 operating system.

OTA updates roll out over time. You will get a notification that there is an update. Tap on the update wait for it to install, the Droid may then reboot. Make sure that your phone is at least 40% charged.

The Android 2.1 system update for the Motorola Droid by Verizon offers a lot of perks to users:

• Voice to Text filling in of all fields on the Droid, by tapping the microphone and speaking the text.
• Pinch-to-zoom with your fingers in the browser, Gallery, and Google Maps.
• New Photo Gallery appwith 3D layout and Picasa sharing.
• Live Wallpapers animated wallpaper.
• Yahoo! mail support.
• Google Maps update synchronized desktop maps.google.com and memorized locations.
• New night mode in Google Maps Navigation automatically changes the screen at night for easier viewing.
• Email accounts no longer need to be re-entered after an over-the-air update.
  

BlackBerry developers can now push information to BlackBerry users.The BlackBerry Push Service allows the application to process information in the background and alert users.

The BlackBerry Push Service developer website suggests that developers use the BlackBerry Push Service to incorporate the characteristics smartphone customers love into your applications, including improved battery life, applications that run in the background and the ability to get instant information.

The BlackBerry Tour2, documented to be now named BlackBerry Bold 9650 may be coming to carriers in May.

At first it was rumored that the BlackBerry 9650 Tour2, later called the new BlackBerry Bold 9650 would be coming in February.  RIM even hinted that the BlackBerry Tour2 9650 was coming soon on their Facebook page. 

An unnamed source noted that the would be called BlackBerry Bold 9650. Uniits were sent back from Sprint for Wi-Fi issues and from Verizon to update the OS to BlackBerry 5.0.

New reports suggest a May release with a "don't really know for sure," caveat while web reports suggest it's ready for prime time.

Al Sacco at CIO wrote "May sounds like a likely release-date for Research In Motion's (RIM) successor to it BlackBerry Tour 9630, which will reportedly be named the BlackBerry "Bold" 9650, because pictures, technical specifications and even leaked operating systems."

Sacco suggests that RIM's really big show the WES is  April 27-29 and good time for revealing the BlackBerry Bold 9650 Tour2. The BlackBerry Bold 9000 was revealed at WES.

Features of the BlackBerry Bold 9650 include a trackpad that works well and a faster processor, the same as the BlackBerry Storm2, which makes it run faster. It's about the same size as the original BlackBerry Tour, while the bottom row of keys is slightly shorter than the original BlackBerry Tour. The BlackBerry Bold 9650 has a better camera possibly 5 megabytes.  It may have the new improved BlackBerry Webkit browser.

Sprint now offers DeviceAnywhere's DemoAnywhere web-based virtual mobile phones. It allows customers to test drive features of a phone-- as if they're holding it in their hand-- before deciding on a purchase.

Sprint is also using DemoAnywhere to help teach consumers how to use the full-range of the phone's functionality.

If you are an Android fan and also want to access the AT&T network, it could be good news to you that you can now buy a Nexus One for AT&T and Rodgers Canada.

Google recently reduced their early termination fee for the Nexus One to $150.  Sales figures have not been as good as the launch of the Droid by Motorola or the iPhone 3G.

The Nexus One  received a high-powered update with new features including multi-touch in the browser and maps.  It has voice to text filling in fields as well as turn-by-turn navigation.

MOG on-demand music listening demoed MOG All Access mobile streaming music application for smartphones at SXSW. The app will be available initially on iPhone and Android platforms. The service, which will be available in early Q2, will cost $10 per month for unlimited listening and includes the desktop service as well.

With MOG All Access Mobile, users will be able to access MOG's full music catalog of seven million songs from a smartphone. Features include:

• On-demand listening: Users can listen to any artist, album, or song, on-demand, in unlimited amounts.
• MOG Radio: Users can hear an unending stream of music based on a track or artist, with full control over how many similar artists are mixed in. Because MOG Radio is built right into the play queue, the music never has to stop.
• Music discovery technology: With an innovative slider control, users can decide if they want to listen to true "artist only" radio, or allow for the introduction of similar artists into the playlist queue.
• Seamless integration between website and mobile: Users can access the playlists they make at MOG.com for on-the-go listening. They can also bookmark favorites while using the mobile app that are then integrated into their personal library.
• My Downloads: Users can, in unlimited fashion, download songs to their phone into a "local cache" so they can continue to listen to music even when out of cell or WiFi range.
• HQ Audio: Users can download songs at the standard rate of 64 kbps or turn on HQ downloads to save the song as a larger file with higher audio quality.

Analytics firm, Flurry can detect and count unique devices in the market such as Google Nexus One and Motorola Droids.

Flurry estimated both sales of Nexus One Sales compared to Motorola Droid and the first generation iPhone, among others.

The chart above compares the sales results through each of their respective first 74 days. The launch dates were: iPhone, June 29, 2007; Droid, November 5, 2009; and, Nexus One, January 5, 2010.  Please note that we forecasted the last few days of Nexus One's first 74 days sales based sales of the first 70 days they tracked.

Revenues for mobile access to Web 2.0 applications and services will hit $18.9 billion in 2014, notes a new report from Juniper Research.

Presence-enabled communities, such as mobile voice-over-IP (VoIP), will be the primary market driver, followed by rapid growth in the social Web - which encompasses social networking, user-generated content (UGC) and mobile dating, chat & professional applications. Geolocation will also be an important enabler, and is forming part of an increasing number of Web 2.0 mobile mash-up service offerings.

Analysts are estimating that about 152,000 people pre-ordered the iPad by midnight Sunday night. The first round of pre-orders were at 25,000 an hour which dropped off significantly.

The battery in the forthcoming iPad is not removable or replaceable by the owner.  Apple will offer an iPad battery replacement service costings $99, plus $6.95 shipping. The total cost is $105.95 per unit. All fees are in U.S. dollars and are subject to local tax.

Users will receive a replacement iPad and no data will be maintained.  Before users submit an iPad for service, it is important to sync the iPad with iTunes to back up contacts, calendars, email account settings, bookmarks, apps, etc.  Apple is not responsible for the loss of information when servicing the iPad which takes about a week.

AT MIX10, Microsoft showcased advancements in its developer platform technologies. The Windows 7 Phone development platform draws on Silverlight and XNA for game-like development.

Windows Phone 7 Series application development combines Silverlight features for rich application development and the XNA Framework for games.

They claim that the Windows Phone 7 Series empowers millions of developers and designers to build visually stunning and immersive applications and games -- one of the industry's most profitable mobile application categories -- while taking advantage of device-specific capabilities.

Developer can leverage the accelerometer, Microsoft Locations service, notifications, accelerated video, Internet streaming, multitouch, camera and  microphone capabilities.

AT&T announced a line-up of four new Quick Messaging Devices that will offer a new suite of  enhanced messaging, video and photo sharing, and contacts management. The service includes address book syncing with a web-based service, enhanced messaging, and photo/video sharing.

They claim that the cloud-based services give AT&T subscribers peace of mind, knowing that their contacts, and media have a cloud backup.

The quick messaging phones coming to AT&T include the Samsung Strive, Samsung Sunburst, Pantech Link and Pantech Pursuit. The Samsung phones are priced below $40 after a rebate.

An Acision study reveals that mobile phone users in North America would like to have .more control over mobile messaging. Users want to have control over the messages they receive, and parents would like to be able to blacklist numbers for a reasonable price.

While only a few respondents experienced mobile cyberbullying, 87 percent would like to have control over the messages they receive, opting for a preventative measure that can address cyberbullying threats immediately, rather than be caught off guard.

More than half questioned (62 percent) would like to be able to blacklist mobile numbers on their cell phone and would activate a blacklisting service for a reasonable price if it was available to them.

BlackBerry smartphone owners are thinking of switching to either iPhone or Android notes a new study from Crowd Science. Android users are almost as loyal as iPhone owners.

Nearly 40% of Blackberry users continue to prefer an iPhone as their next smartphone purchase, but a third of them would also switch to the Android operating system, according to the second smartphone brand loyalty survey conducted semi-annually via Crowd Science. The Crowd Scientists also found Android users rivaling iPhone users in loyalty, with about 90% of each user group planning to stick with their current brand when buying their next phone.

Asked specifically if they'd swap their present phone for the Nexus One, 32% of Blackberry users said "yes," compared with just 9% of iPhone users. This figure zoomed to 60% for users of smartphones not made by Blackberry or Apple.

Motorola Devour Rated 3.5 out 5 by Wireless and Mobile News' Review of Reviews

Reviewers of the Motorola Devour all like the solid  aluminum casing, nicely spaced slider keyboard, and MOTOBLUR social networking features. Every review that was reviewed commented that the touchscreen was responsive.

The Motorola Devour is often compared to the Motorola Droid which has the Android 2.1 operating system. The Devour comes with Android 1.6  that will be updated to OS 2.1 with voice to text form filling, Google map syncing, pinch-to-zoom browsing, and turn-by-turn navigation. The Devour's keyboard is seen as better than the Droid's, the display is lower resolution and the processor is slightly slower.

The 3.2 megapixel camera and media capabilities such as music playing are good.  For video it is suggested to download Motorola Media Link to sync media.

Reviewers didn't comment on the neat feature of the Motorola Devour is the wireless Motorola Phone Portal, that allows you to see what's on the Moto Devour from your computer and perform functions. One reviewer did like that the MOTOBLUR allows you to track via GPS a stolen Devour and keeps a backup of data.

Other features of the Motorola Devour are a slide-out QWERTY keypad, 3.1-inch, 320-by-480 pixel touchscreen, 3 megapixel camera, touchpad, Wi-Fi, GPS and pre-installed 8 Gigbyte microSD card. 

The Motorola Devour is sold from Verizon for $150 with contract after rebate. We don't know if it will qualify for  Verizon buy one get  a smartphone deal, yet. Don't forget you can avoid waiting for a rebate when you use the Wireless and Mobile News' online coupon-link Instant Phone Rebate Only Available with Online Purchase.

Wirefly is currently offering the Motorola Devour for $29.99 for new Verizon customers with a contract.

Motorola Backflip rated 3.25 out 5 by Wireless and Mobile News' Review of Reviews

Reviews of the Motorola Backflip range in adjectives from weird, to innovative and striking. The best-reviewed features of the Motorola Blackflip are the innovative back-flipping keyboard and trackpad on the back of the screen, a 5 megapixel camera (good enough for OCR functions) and the super-social networking combined unified messaging/updates of MOTOBLUR.

The Motorola Backflip runs Android 1.5 which will updated to the super-slick Android 2.1 with voice to text form filling andvoice navigation.  The processor was called sluggish by some reviewers.

The reviewers think that the Backflip will appeal to social-networkers who want all their information easily processed and need a keyboard for texting and Twitter/Facebook updates.

Features of the Motorola Backflip include, Bluetooth, 3.1" touchscreen display
camera with video capture, Wi-Fi and GPS.The Motorola Backflip is equipped with 2GB microSD that is upgradeable to 32GB.The voice search is a great asset to all Android smartphones.

The smartphone market is now more diverse than ever and this unique smartphone with flipping keyboard, may have the features you need to flip over the Motorola Backflip and fit all your needs for now.


The Motorola BACKFLIP is 99.99 after $100 mail-in rebate. (Pay
$199.99 and after mail-in rebate receive $100 AT&T Promotion Card. Two-year agreement and
smartphone data plan required.) If you are a new AT&T customer, don't forget to use the he Wireless and Mobile News' $50 off online only coupon-link with the purchase of a new phone with a plan. Free shipping is included with online activation.

We noticed that Wireflyis offering the Motorola Backflip for free for new and renewing AT&T customers with a contract with no activation fees (as of this writing).