IntomobileGoogle’s announcement of turn-by-turn GPS navigation this morning was big. Verizon ( NYSE: VZ )’s Motorola Droid announcement was bigger. Combine those two into an orgy of Android 2.0 and Droid goodness, and you’ve got the makings of a truly impressive smartphone
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Video: Google Maps Navigation – Voice guided GPS directions on Verizon’s Motorola Droid
A new App from Electric Pocket is promising to tag up your emails with personalised sounds – it’s name? – MailTones! Users can set a different email alert for each friend, family member or colleague in their Address Book. MailTones helps to distinguish high priority emails your boss or partner from lower priority emails from friends or group email lists.
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New iPhone App MailTones adds a Personal Touch to Incoming Email
Regular flyers will be familiar with Boingo for their airport Wi-Fi service, but if you’ve seen as many BlackBerrys around the terminals as I have, you’ll know laptops aren’t the only thing Wi-Fi is handy for. Boingo now has a free application that lets you log in to Boingo hotspots (which exist outside the airport too, for the record) on BlackBerry ( NSDQ: RIMM ). Supported devices include the Curve 8900, 8320 and Bold 9000, although I have a feeling other Wi-Fi-enabled BlackBerrys with an up-to-date OS will be able to use the app.
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Boingo App for BlackBerry Released
The Motorola ( NYSE: MOT ) Droid went live as Verizon ( NYSE: VZ )’s first Android phone earlier this morning. Then, Google ( NSDQ: GOOG ) announced that their Google Maps app for Android 2.0 now supports GPS turn-by-turn directions with voice guidance. The two announcements merged, like that those really big storms in that one movie involving a fishing boat of some sort, to form one of the biggest product launches of the year.
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Quick shot: Verizon Motorola Droid in the flesh!
ABI Research forecasts that ultra mobile devices (UMD) — which they say include Ultra Mobile PCs, netbooks, MIDs and some other mobile consumer electronics devices — will achieve a 385 million unit size in 2014. The research company’s senior analyst Jeff Orr says that as uptake continues, developing markets will become the larger opportunity leveraging ARM-based, Linux-powered devices.
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ABI Research: 385 million ultra mobile devices to ship in 2014
Reebok is out with a second title (as far as we know) in the AppStore. Released in conjunction with ustwo, Reebok iSprint is a neat little game that sees you running the 100 meters with your fingers to get the fastest time through four courses – indoor, outdoor, grass, and tarmac. That’s done by flicking your finger around — it’s super simple, hence the game is free with the point not only to entertain you, but also to keep the Reebok brand engraved in your brain.
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Reebok iSprint tests your finger flicking powers
The Wall Street Journal takes a stab at reviewing the Nokia Booklet 3G , the first laptop to come from the Finnish handset maker hellbent on becoming an “internet company”. Katherine Boehret loves the battery life, saying “after running it through a harsh test with its screen cranked up to the brightest setting, Wi-Fi on, music playing on a continuous loop and all power-saving features turned off, it ran for almost eight hours straight”
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Video: Wall Street Journal reviews the Nokia Booklet 3G: 8 hours of battery with harsh use
Verizon ( NYSE: VZ ) is set to unveil their new Android hotness tomorrow, and we’ll be there to witness history in the making. If you’re calendar isn’t already marked, remember to keep an eye out for out of Motorola ( NYSE: MOT ) Droid coverage from Verizon’s Android shin-dig! For those of you that haven’t yet caught wind of the Motorola Droid or Verizon’s Droid advertisement blasting across all forms of media , the Motorola Droid is the first ( of many ) Android phones from Verizon. And with the way things are shaping up, the Droid could very well turn out to be the baddest Android smartphone on the planet! In just a matter of hours, well be putting our crusty fingers all over the Droid’s 3.7-inch touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera outfitted with dual-LED flash and low-light shooting capabilities, and the Android OS 2.0
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Reminder: Verizon’s Motorola Droid event on Oct. 28th
Steve O’Hear is in London this week for the 2009 Symbian Exchange and Exposition and had a brief sit down with Anders Westin, Head of Software Relations, Sony Ericsson ( NYSE: SNE ). Several questions were asked, mainly concerning Sony Ericsson’s current portfolio which spans every single smartphone operating system under the sun, including, hopefully, Android 2.0 on the XPERIA X3 , but the kicker was Steve asking Anders why the Sony Ericsson Satio had such a piss poor battery
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Sony Ericsson Satio: Consumers get a 1000 mAh battery while employees get 1350 mAh
Verizon ( NYSE: VZ )’s Droid lineup will apparently be launching November 6, according to tipsters. Motorola ( NYSE: MOT )’s Droid (a.k.a Sholes) and HTC’s Eris (a.k.a Desire ) will be the first members to the family, with more on the way. The Droid has a 3.7-inch 480×854 touchscreen, 5-megapixel autofocus camera, GPS, Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi, 256MB RAM/512MB ROM and a microSDHC slot supporting up to 16GB memory cards. The only thing we really know about the Eris is that it’s packing HTC’s Sense user interface – we’re definitely looking forward to hearing more about the specs
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Verizon Launching HTC Eris and Motorola Droid November 6?
So, the iPhone and a bunch of other HSPA handsets are coming to telus ( NYSE: TU ) on November 5, but if that wasn’t enough, they’re revamping some of their plans with a little something called Clear and Simple , that will eliminate the much-loathed monthly System Access Fee and 911 fee, but raising overall rate plans by five dollars. This handy little chart shows how you’ll actually be saving two bucks on the old $25 plan, since it went well over $30 with SAF and 911 added
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TELUS Launches Clear and Simple Pricing, Axes System Access Fee
Rogers is gearing up for its imminent BlackBerry Bold 9700 launch with some promotional materials, as you can see. Both Bell and telus ( NYSE: TU ) will also be picking up the latest and greatest smartphone from RIM in November, so presumably we’ll be seeing the same kind of stuff in their stores shortly. Wi-Fi, GPS, a 480 x 360 display, 3.5mm headphone jack, 3.2 megapixel camera with flash, the fancy new optical trackpad and a slimmed-down form factor make the new Bold a prime candidate for older BlackBerry ( NSDQ: RIMM ) users looking for an upgrade.
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BlackBerry Bold 9700 Dummies Arriving at Rogers
It looks like the BlackBerry ( NSDQ: RIMM ) 8520 will be getting an update that includes 3G connectivity, according to an internal Verizon ( NYSE: VZ ) newsletter, but details are scarce, aside from what we already know about the 8500-series Curves having Wi-Fi. The Curve2 likely has something to do with the projects code-named Essex or Atlas , which were meant to be a companion to the Tour that would have Wi-Fi (and the Essex specifically having a trackpad).
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BlackBerry Curve2 Makes First Appearance in Verizon Newsletter
When you’re a company that makes revenues almost exclusively from the sale of mobile handsets, whoring of patents aside, then you take counterfeit hardware pretty seriously. In China it’s really easy to find a Nokia ( NYSE: NOK ) clone, powered by a MediaTek chipset, running some local operating system that most users in the region have no problem using.
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Nokia hates counterfeiting so much that they’re starting a new company just to fight it
Opera has released their monthly “State of the Mobile Web” report that highlights how Opera Mini users are as addicting to web surfing as teenage girls are to pop music with sexually suggestive lyrics. I’ve been a long time Opera Mini user, and have written a lengthy review of their latest beta of Opera Mini 5 , so with my fanboi credentials in hand, time to quote some statistics: “This month, we passed two major milestones: more than 500 million page-views per day, on average, and more than 2 petabytes of data processed by our servers every month.” – Opera CEO Jon S. von Tetzchner In September 2009, Opera Mini had over 35.6 million users, an 11.5% increase from August 2009 and more than 150% compared to September 2008
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Opera: State of the Mobile Web September 2009: Half a billion page views every day
Documents to Go, one of the big name mobile document apps for BlackBerry ( NSDQ: RIMM ), has updated to version 2.0 and has quite a few impressive new features. The biggest one is desktop file sync, meaning any Office documents you’re actively editing on your desktop computer will update the same files stored on your BlackBerry’s microSD memory card, formatting and all, when connected via USB.
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New Documents to Go for BlackBerry Features Desktop Sync
Toshiba ( OTCPK: TOSBF ), using pixels that are only 1.4 microns small, will be mass producing a 14.6 megapixel CMOS sensor that measures 1/2.3 inches starting in Q3 2010. The sensors will be made using Toshiba’s 65 nm process on 300 mm wafers, yielding about half a million sensors a month when production begins. They’ll support back-side illumination, see photo below, which can increase light absorption by 40% compared to the previous generation of Toshiba sensors.
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Toshiba: We’ll be mass producing a 14.6 megapixel CMOS sensor for fones in Q3 2010
Folks in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan have another new touchscreen device up for grabs. SaskTel has launched the LG Bliss , which features a 3″ touchscreen, 2MP camera (with video), microSD expansion to 16GB, Bluetooth, speakerphone, voice dialing and much more. The Bliss will set customers back $99.00 on a 3-year contract, $179.00 on a 2-year contract, $259.00 on a 1-year, and the prepaid/monthly option goes for $323.00
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SaskTel Launches LG Bliss for $99 on 3-Year Contract
telus ( NYSE: TU ) announced yesterday a flurry of handsets (including the iPhone 3GS) to launch alongside their brand spanking new HSPA network, leaving a lot of people wondering what Bell will have to offer. Today, they’re only announcing the Novatel MiFi portable hotspot and an HSPA+ capable U998 Turbo Stick, though we have an inkling they’ll also end up getting the iPhone, among other things . If you haven’t seen our review of the MiFi, check it out – it’s essentially a portable Wi-Fi hotspot that shares a 3G cellular connection with 5 other devices
It isn’t a secret that I think the Apple Tablet is one of the longest running bullshit rumours to come out of media companies looking to increase page views. This new one however from The Sydney Morning Herald takes the cake: Apple ( NSDQ: AAPL ) has sent specifications of the device to Australian media companies in an effort to sound out whether they would be interested in delivering their content to the tablet. Ummm what?
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Yet another Apple iTablet rumour full of BS, this time brought to you by Australia
We’ve already talked about SciPhone’s Android efforts . Now the company which seems to target the very low end of the smartphone market is out with two more devices, both “seemingly” resembling existing handsets. The first of the two is marked as N19 (pictured on the left), and as you can see for yourself, it looks too Storm-ish for my taste
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SciPhone N19, N21 Android smartphones are super cheap, super cloned
T-Mobile ( NYSE: DT ) is Sony Ericsson ( NYSE: SNE )’s main partner in the U.S. and now we have the two companies launching the mid-range clamshell, Equinox, on October 28th. Specs wise, there’s GPS on board, quad-band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) GSM and dual-band (2100/1700 MHz) HSDPA radio, 3.2-megapixel camera, 2.2-inch QVGA screen, Bluetooth, FM radio, YouTube client, and so on