IntoMobile - Cell Phone News, Information, and Analysis

HTC ROME surfaces as the HTC Touch.B with Android in tow

Will Park — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:59:30 +0000

Details are still sketchy right now, but it looks like the HTC ROME has just been spotted wearing its “HTC Touch.B” badge. What you see here are supposed to be the first photos of the ROME/Touch.B, another Android smartphone from the same people that launched the world’s first Android phone.

All we know about the Touch.B is that it will run some version of Android OS and bears a striking resemblance to the HTC Touch Pro2. If we had to bet, we’d put money on the Touch.B running Android 2.0 OS.

More details to come, stay tuned. Head over to MobiFrance for more pics.

[Via: MobiFrance]

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iPhone Gets Hand-Carved Wood

Simon Sage — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:27:06 +0000

Substrata has just released a fresh batch of hand-carved iPhone cases made from maple, walnut, fir, zebrawood, padauk and wenge wood. Although they look a little bulky, the added protection and huge boost in class is worth it. It’s also worth pointing out their limited edition (20-unit run) cases, made of lacewood, maple and walnut – very classy. Being rugged, outdoorsy, and tech savvy at the same time isn’t cheap, though… Prices start at $94.99. Check out the full lineup in Substrata’s store. There are a couple of alternatives out there if you want to shop around.

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Bon Voyage: Motorola Milestone Available in France

Simon Sage — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:42:53 +0000

Germany and the UK have been getting their taste of the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Milestone (better known as the droid on this side of the pond), and now France gets to join in the fun. Online retailer Rue du Commerce is offering it unlocked, SIM-free for 549 Euros, which is knocked down to 520 for their holiday sale going on right now. A lot of folks would prefer to hold out for a carrier-subsidized handset, but Rue du Commerce does offer payment plans that split up the cost into three or five chunks. If you’ve been out of the loop, the Milestone is Motorola’s promising new GSM slider, packed with the fresh Android 2.0, a 5 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, a 3.7″ WVGA touchscreen, and an impressively thin 60mm profile. To find out more, allons-y to the Motorola France Milestone site.

[RT @MotoMobile]

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Rogers Sues Bell Over Network Reliability Smack Talk

Simon Sage — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:52:11 +0000

Wow, it’s getting messy between the carriers in Canada. Not too long ago telus slapped Rogers with a lawsuit for claiming to be Canada’s most reliable network (for which Rogers (NYSE: RCI) is still waiting for their appeal to be heard). Now Rogers is wheeling around and nailing Bell with a suit in British Columbia for the exact same reason. Rogers is seeking an injunction against Bell advertisements that claim to have a network more reliable than theirs, based on the fact that Bell’s new HSPA service is entirely unproven in the real market (although Bell does have some very pretty coverage maps).

Be that as it may, all of these legal hissy fits are seeming just a tad ridiculous now. Consumers are used to having carriers tooting their own horn as “the best ____ in the country”, and we all take it with a grain of salt. AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) have had their own squabbles recently, but are they actually going to lead anywhere? I think the only real way for Rogers to respond is to fight fire with fire like AT&T did: insidiously worm their way into the hearts of consumers with prominent celebrity placement.

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Twitter Co-Founder Launches Mobile Payment Service

Simon Sage — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:44:57 +0000

Jack Dorsey, one of the co-founders of Twitter, has just launched a new project called Square. It’s a mobile payment service that seems to cover a lot of bases. A small square dongle using the 3.5mm jack (from which the company earns its name) allows for credit card swiping. Sellers can get receipts sent to their e-mail and SMS for approval if need be, and everything is stashed securely in the cloud for future viewing. Buyers can sign for purchaces on a touchscreen, and if the seller needs additional security, can get a verification popup asking “Does the person buying your doodad look like this?” if the buyer has a Square account. If that’s not enough, they also toss in some philanthropy: Square will donate a penny to a charity of the seller’s choice for every transaction they make. Neat stuff all around. No word on a release date (though beta is opening soon) or device compatibility, but Android and iPhone are shown off prominently.

[RT @jack]

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OTA Update for Motorola CLIQ On the Way

James Falconer — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:33:57 +0000

If you haven’t received it already, I’ve read numerous reports so far today noting that a much needed OTA update is on the way for the Motorola CLIQ. In the official update release notes from Motorola, it’s noted that the following features and enhancements have been addressed:

Longer Battery Life
Improved battery life while phone is idle or running applications.

New Battery Management Feature
A new “Battery Management” feature lets you customize battery settings, such as turning data off when phone is idle for 30 minutes. And with the 1.1.31 release installed on your phone, you now have the option to select battery consumption modes that optimize data performance while minimizing battery consumption. To enable Battery Manager, go to Settings, Battery Manager, Battery Profile.

Better Bluetooth
Improved pairings, audio and call connections with Bluetooth headsets, including: rewind/fast forward feature with S9 and HT820 headsets.

Touch Screen Accuracy
Improved touch screen accuracy and protection against inadvertent key presses and unintended phone calls.

TTY Option
Text Telephone option for the hearing/speech-impaired lets you converse with callers via “real time” text messaging instead of relying on the caller’s audio.

Better Business Connections
Improved connections to corporate email accounts.

Improved Caller Connectivity
1.1.31 repairs issues with lingering connections after hang-up.

Quick Office 2
Quick Office 2 supports additional file types and enhanced capabilities.

Accelerometer Enhancements
Improves overall accelerometer responsiveness and accuracy.

If you haven’t received an update notification yet, be sure to run a system update to check from your CLIQ. When updating, be sure your CLIQ is either fully charged, or plugged in to a power source. Oh yeah, and I suppose it would be helpful if your data connection was active too.

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iPhone going T-Mobile next year?

Will Park — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:45:23 +0000

Rumors of a Verizon (NYSE: VZ) iPhone have been cooking for a long time now, but Verizon’s recent Droid attack on the iPhone has some thinking a Verizon iPhone may not materialize next year, if at all. One analyst makes the case for the iPhone going to T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) USAs network in 2010, when ATT is expected to loosen its exclusive grip on Apples smartphone.

Its becoming apparent that Verizon is aligning itself with Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and pushing compelling new Android-powered phones like the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid as more powerful alternatives to Apples arrogant little iPhone. That puts Verizon at odds with Apples interests. Meanwhile, T-Mobile has been quietly waiting on the sidelines, watching the game unfold. Thomas Weisel analyst Doug Reid believes that T-Mobile is poised to pick up the iPhone next year, helping Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) give the finger to Verizon.

The move would make sense. Verizons CDMA network is incompatible with AT&Ts GSM-based network, and would require new iPhone hardware. Apple would have to make a custom batch of iPhones solely for Verizon Wireless. T-Mobile, on the other hand, has a compatible network (nevermind their wacky 1700Mhz 3G network), and would be a convenient fit for the iPhone.

Still, T-Mobile USA has only half of Verizon’s subscriber base, making it a less lucrative target for Apple. Reid expects Apple to cash in on the larger Verizon Wireless network by peddling future non-iPhone devices made for Verizon’s soon-to-launch 4G LTE network. Unfortunately, we may not see any Apple hardware offered by Verizon until sometime in 2011.

We’ll have to wait for Apple’s next iPhone announcement, hopefully in mid-2010, before we know for sure what’s going on with the iPhone in the US. We may not see the iPhone brand hitting Verizon, but an Apple device on Verizon is a definite possibility.

[Via: TheStreet]

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Motorola DROID Approaching 1 Million Sales

Simon Sage — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:43:49 +0000

Verizon is closing in on selling 1 million units of Motorola (NYSE: MOT)’s droid handset, according to Mark Sue, from RBC Capital Markets. They’ve been fighting tooth and nail to pry some market share from the iPhone with acerbic TV spots, shirts, and Black Friday deals, and they seem to be paying dividends. It’s awfully ballsy to be taking on Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) in the advertising world, but more power to Moto and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) for doing it, especially if they’re getting results. The current droid tally sits around 700,000 and 800,000, but once you take into the upcoming holiday rush and international sales, it’s easy to see that 1 million mark shattering. Analysts are expecting 1.5 million by the end of Q4, and while that’s not exactly beating iPhone’s initial numbers, it’s still pretty healthy progress for the Android platform as a whole.

[via GigaOm]

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NTT DoCoMo bringing self-healing phones to Japan, courtesy of Nissan

Will Park — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:56:54 +0000

What if your next cellphone could heal minor scratches and scuffs all by itself? Well, then you’re probably somewhere in Japan. NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) has announced that it will be using Nissan’s “Scratch Shield” paint, which was developed for cars, in future mobile phones. The high-tech coating apparently “self-heals fine scratches” when exposed to sunlight, repairing minor to moderate scratches on a handset’s exterior.

We bathe our cars in mineral-free water, slather them in exotic waxes and synthetic sealers and generally baby them throughout their lives. Our cellphones, however, take a beating every single day. They get tossed into a purses filled with keys and nail clippers, pushed into already crowded pant pockets, dropped on concrete – it’s no wonder people around the world spend billions a year to protect their devices. The “Scratch Shield” clear coat protects mobile phones from scratches by automatically repairing them. Depending on the severity of the scratch, healing time can range from overnight to several days. But, there’s a catch, if the scratch goes deeper than the clear coat, the scratch won’t heal on its own.

It’s good to see NTT DoCoMo bringing this technology to the mobile space. Unfortunately, there are no plan to ship handsets coated in “Scratch Shield” paint anywhere outside Japanese borders. That might be reason enough to move to the island nation.

[Via: core77]

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Foursquare Coming to BlackBerry

Simon Sage — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:15:27 +0000

A location-based social networking and points of interest app, Foursquare, is finding its way to BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) after getting settled into Android and iPhone. If you haven’t heard of it (I know I haven’t until now), it’s a neat system for users to check in at specific destinations, kind of like BrightKite, only you get points for doing it. The more points you get, the more badges you unlock. You can claim the title of Mayor at some of your favourite spots, and at participating locations, you can get freebies for being such a devout patron. Even if you’re just checking in, you can get stuff like two for one coupons, as shown here. Even if you can’t get your mitts on the official client, Foursquare has also opened up some APIs for developers to include the service, which Layar has already taken advantage of.

This screenshot was posted to the CEO’s Flickr account not too long ago, and though it apparently has some bugs, it’s well on its way and should be publicly available sometime in early December.

[via The Next Web]

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Service Pack 1 Released for BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0

James Falconer — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:34:01 +0000

The boys and girls in Waterloo (RIM) have released Service Pack 1 for BES 5.0 for Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Exchange and IBM Lotus Domino. I can hear the cheers and applause already (ok, not really). But seriously, Service Pack 1 has been somewhat anticipated by many out there… No doubt due to the number of fixes that are surely included.

New features you’ll with Service Pack 1 (via BBCool):

BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) device dashboard – Use the device dashboard to access the BlackBerry Monitoring Service which is now mobile friendly.
Enhancements to the BlackBerry Administration Service – You can better manage user accounts, navigate search results and you can view user account info when add and manage apps.
Enhancements to the BlackBerry Monitoring Service homepage – The homepage has been enhanced so you can view performance data and user statistics, graphs, messaging server mappings and overview info for BES components that are associated with all BES instances that the BMS monitors.
Enhancements to the calendar sync process – You can now run a calendar sync process on a BES instance to find and correct differences between the calendar entries on the device and the desktop.
More language support – BES is now available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese.
Support for importing WiFi profiles and VPN profiles from a .CSV file – You can add, delete, or update the WiFi profiles and VPN profiles that you assign to user accounts by importing a .csv file.
Support for Microsoft SQL Server 2008.

Release notes are also available for BES for Microsoft Exchange, and BES for IBM Lotus Domino. Happy Service Pack 1-ing!

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OS 5.0.0.371 Leaked for the BlackBerry Bold 9700

James Falconer — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:28:09 +0000

A quick OS leak here for BlackBerry Bold 9700 users today. Of course, this leak is highly unofficial, so please download and install at your own risk. To get started hit up this link and do your thing.

As always, be sure to backup your device and take all necessary precautions before you proceed. No details have been made available on this release, so be sure to let us know if you notice any major changes in this build.

[Via: @atraxis]

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Twitter 360 Offers Augmented Reality Tweeting for iPhone 3GS

Simon Sage — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:44:54 +0000

A promising new Twitter client for the iPhone has been released that is making a compelling pitch for augmented reality. As you can see from the video, it keeps tabs on geotagged tweets and lets you see them overlaid onto the image viewed from your iPhone’s camera. If the camera is facing the ground, it switches to a compass mode that points an arrow towards nearby tweets. For those a little farther away, you can see international tweets on a Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps layer, but of course you can also go to the traditional timeline to see everyone you’re following in a traditional chronological list. Twitter released official geolocation APIs a little over a month ago, so this AR interface should work with folks tweeting from any client that leverages them. Considering how few twitter users are yet to plug into geolocation right now, I would really like to have the option to see the public timeline in AR view just to see what random strangers in my area are talking about.

Personally, I’m a big fan of augmented reality, and based on other AR apps in recent memory, it seems like twitter will remain at the forefront of this new category of mobile software. If you’d like to give Twitter 360 a shot on your iPhone 3GS, you can download it from iTunes here for $2.99, or check out their page for a closer look at the app.

[via Presselite]

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Nokia releases Qt 4.6, works on Symbian, Windows 7, Mac OS X 10.6, Maemo 6

Stefan Constantinescu — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:37:06 +0000

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) purchased Qt almost 2 years ago and since then have been working tirelessly to bring the native C++ runtime, with bits of C and Webkit mixed in, to both Symbian and Maemo platforms. In a world less cruel than the one today, Nokia would write an application in Qt and it would run on both a Symbian and Maemo powered device with no porting required. In the perfect world however, everyone would implement Qt since it is licensed under the LGPL, and any application written in Qt would run on any Qt enabled device. Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is betting on the web and every application being built in HTML, while Nokia is betting on Qt. Who do you think will win?

Arguments about the future dominant mobile platform aside, what’s new in Qt 4.6? Support for Maemo 6, Symbian, Windows 7, Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6), a new animation framework that supports effects like opacity, drop shadows, glow, and filtering, multi touch support, and several parts of Qt have been rewritten to increase performance. Check out the video below.

For more information on Qt, check out this page. When will we see these kind of snazzy effects in mobile devices made by Nokia? Symbian^3 will have Qt built in, but isn’t going to really use it, it will be Symbian^4 that shows off Qt, and that’s due in 2011-2012. Maemo 6 will obviously support Qt, but with the Maemo 5 powered Nokia N900 barely just shipping now, it’s tough to say when a Maemo 6 device will hit the market. Some say 2010, but I’m thinking it will probably be delayed until 2011.

[Via: Press Release]

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Bell Samsung Galaxy Due to Arrive December 10th

James Falconer — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:16:53 +0000

The wave of Android devices is well and truly hitting Canadian consumers in the last quarter of 2009. I’ve been fortunate enough to have spent some quality time with the TELUS (NYSE: TU) HTC Hero over the past week or so, and at the very least, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. In fact, I think I’m crushing a bit on the Hero.

But that’s not what this post is about. The news here is about Bell, and the upcoming Samsung Galaxy. The Android-powered device is now rumored to hit Bell on Thursday, December 10th. The Galaxy will pack Android 1.5, a 5MP camera with auto focus and flash, 8GB of internal storage (expandable to 32GB with microSD), WiFi, GPS… plus, a beautiful 3.2″ AMOLED touchscreen display.

Stay tuned for more on the Bell Samsung Galaxy… it’s comin’ soon!

[Via: MobileSyrup]

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DROID Does Cotton-Poly Blend Long Sleeve T-Shirts Too

James Falconer — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:36:46 +0000

Rumor has it (via engadget) that certain Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Motorola DROID customers are receiving the above T-Shirts in the mail today. How cool is that? Moto DROID users, be sure to let us know if and when you receive a T-Shirt… I want to know if this is the real deal, or just a one-off ‘hoax’. Whatever the case, the shirt does look sweet… and I want one

If anyone at Verizon is reading this… Hit me up, my December will not be complete until I get a DROID T-Shirt

Welcome to December everyone… Let’s have a great month.

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Nokia 2720 ‘Fold’ Now Available at Fido

James Falconer — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:29:34 +0000

Yesterday you may recall me noting the Fido Nokia 2720 ‘Fold’ was available at Best Buy… As per usual, Best Buy had a device up for grabs before the carrier did… No surprise there. However, a little later in the day Fido went ahead and officially launched the device.

Canadians can pick it up now for free on a 2-year agreement, for $70 on an ongoing monthly plan, or $70 on the prepaid/outright option.

Key features include a 1.3MP camera with video, Bluetooth, 2.5mm audio jack, FM radio and more. For all of the details hit up Fido.

[Via: MobileSyrup]

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Nokia got in trouble with Nintendo for showing off SNES on the N900 [Maemo]

Stefan Constantinescu — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:31:28 +0000

Earlier this year, in September, Urho Konttori, Project Manager at Nokia (NYSE: NOK), showed off a Super Nintendo emulator called DrNokSnes on his Nokia N900. The first sentence of my article highlighting that demonstration was: “The amount of lawyers with dollar bills in their eyes right now is astronomically large.” It didn’t take long for Nintendo to spot Nokia’s mistake, and now they’re being investigated. Nintendo Senior Public Relations Manager for the UK, Robert Saunders, said: “We take rigorous steps to protect our IP and our legal team wille examine this to determine if any infringement has taken place.” Nokia has already taken down one video, but Urho’s is still up on YouTube. There will be people arguing against this, saying “ROMs are legal!”, but if we’re all honest with each other, we know you get ROM files from shady bit torrent sites or bulletin boards. At least I do.

[Via: The Independent, Slashdot]

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ZiiLabs Trinity: A new start for Creative? [Android, OLED, 5 megapixel, 1080p video]

Stefan Constantinescu — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:05:12 +0000

ZiiLabs, a company owned and operated by Creative, just announced Trinity. It isn’t a device that will be available to people like you and me, but instead something more akin to a kit car. Companies looking to get into the smartphone space get in touch with ZiiLabs, and then they’ll get delivery of all the parts and instructions needed to get their project off the ground. The Trinity is a smartphone that has quadband GSM/EDGE, triband WCDMA running at 7.2 Mbps, WiFi, GPS, 3.1 inch OLED screen with 800 x 480 pixels of resolution, mini HDMI port that can output 1080p video, 5 megapixel camera, and a 1130 mAh battery. It will be configurable with with either the ZiiLabs ZMS-05 processor, which is setup in a dual core ARM926 EJ-S configuration (meaning it isn’t going to be very fast), or the ZMS-08, which is an ARM Cortex A8 running at 1GHz. You can think of the ZMS-08 as an iPhone 3GS running 400 MHz faster and with far better graphics capabilities.

Companies who order the Trinity will also receive the complete design schematics, mechanical drawings, even the Gerber files, allowing an unprecedented amount of customization. What we’re talking about is a completely configurable phone, from the chips on the motherboard, to the design of the body. Future models will also be available that support either WiMAX or LTE. The question you may be asking yourself is why Creative, a company known for MP3 players doing this?

The mobile music market, and PC peripheral market is only so large. No one really buys dedicated music players anymore. The mobile phone space on the other hand is exploding, while at the same time consolidation is occurring in the chipset space. It used to be that you would pick and choose which Bluetooth chip you wanted, which WiFi chip, which application processor, all from multiple firms, and then you would slap those components on a high density motherboard and have yourself a mobile phone. All of this custom work was tedious, and costly. In the past year or two things have changed. Large chipset makers start merging with each other and the few that stand now offer entire platforms. You go to one company, like Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) for instance, and you get an application processor, WiFi, GPS, and 3G all built into one neat package.

Creative, I should say ZiiLabs, is taking the next step. They’ve realized that most of the innovation occurring from here on out in the mobile space will be in software, not in hardware. Offering a commodity hardware platform that many lazy Chinese and Taiwanese firms will simply purchase and resell with little to no tweaks, and many boutique mobile phone makers with a vision of a device they have in mind, may yield substantial sales. It’s a risky business to get into, but if it takes off then you’re going to be seeing a flood of powerful devices hitting the market in 2010 and 2011, all running on ZiiLabs hardware.

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Nokia 5132 XpressMusic candybar heading to China Mobile

Dusan Belic — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:53:52 +0000

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) will be shipping an XpressMusic device to the world’s largest mobile operator in terms of number of subscribers – China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) — or at least the carrier’s logo on the phone suggests so. It’s the Nokia 5132 XpressMusic, an entry-level candybar, which looks pretty much the same as Nokia’s other device – 5130 XpressMusic.

Expect a 2-inch QVGA screen, 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, “advanced music player,” and of course a microSD expansion slot (a 1GB card is included in the box).

Release date and pricing information are unknown at the moment, but as soon as we hear something new, we’ll certainly share. Stay tuned…

[Via: Unwired View]

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