As of today, you can purchase a Samsung Galaxy S4 from Rogers for $699.99. The exact same Galaxy S4 smartphone from AT&T can be had for $639.99 . With today’s conversion rate of $1USD = $1.01861 CAD (thanks to xe.com), the AT&T S4 will end up costing you $651.903. There’s still a nice gap of $47 between these identical phones.

There is a volume of scan difference between these carriers. Rogers has roughly 9 million subscribers and AT&T has about 55 million subscribers. That volume difference is going to get AT&T a better price on the Galaxy S4. This volume difference can easily explain the $47 price difference between devices.

Both AT&T and Rogers are offering the phone at a subsidized price of $199.99. That means AT&T is subsidizing your purchase by $440 and Rogers is subsidizing $500. The big difference is that AT&T is covering that $440 over 2 years, which means $18.33 a month. Whereas Rogers is covering the $500 over 3 years, which is $13.89 a month. If Rogers drops keeps the subsidy at $500 and drops it to 2 years, the monthly cost becomes $20.83 – roughly $7 more a month.

And this is where Rogers (and the other Canadian carriers) are saying you will have to pay more for that same phone – to make up that extra $7 a month they are going to “lose”.

But are they really losing money here? According to the 2012 Annual Report (page 35) from Rogers, they are getting an Average Revenue per User (ARPU) of $69.30 a month. This is down 1.4% from the previous year’s value of $70.26. Even with the small decline, it’s still significantly more than AT&T who are reporting (page 34) an ARPU of $47. That means Rogers is making a little more than $22 more per customer each month than AT&T.

So, Rogers is making more per customer each month. Maybe that’s not all profit? Surely there are expenses involved in running a cellular network. No surprise that operating expenses for Rogers is significantly smaller than AT&T – $4,217 vs $50,169 (both values are in millions).

The end result here is that we are already paying more for our phones and our service. When adjusting the subsidy from 36 to 24 months, there will be a hit of $7 per month. If Rogers wants to keep their current profit levels, then they need to increase your bill by $7 a month, or reduce the subsidy amount so the price of the phone goes from $199 to $367. This would make up the extra cost of that phone. However, the reality is they aren’t about to lose money and the actual cost of the phone will go unchanged. It’s more about how that cost is recouped. Rogers profit is sitting at about 42% compared to AT&T at 25% (profit as a percent of total revenue). I can’t see any carrier willing to take a hit to their profit margins – especially if they are already nice and juicy. The new 2 year contract timeframe will translate into a reduced subsidy (paying more upfront for a phones) or a higher monthly bill. Your carrier isn’t about to take a hit on their profit margins. Perhaps the worst part is, if you already own a phone outright, or your contract has run the course of time and you’ve repaid the phone, your monthly bill doesn’t decrease to reflect this and your carrier makes even more off you each month. Your best option is to get a phone as soon as your contract expires every time because you’re paying for it even if you don’t take it.

And to be fair, this applies to all carriers, and not just Rogers. You can look up ARPU, revenue and operating expenses for other carriers from their respective websites. Rogers currently has the largest ARPU in Canada, but I expect you will find that every carrier is sitting in and around the same numbers.

There are numerous changes in the code and they are categorized under 10 different sections including Clarity, Contracts, Bill Management, and Mobile Devices. While there are a lot of changes, the highlights are: – Customers can terminate their wireless contracts after 2 years without any cancellation fees, even if they have signed a contract for a longer period of time. Many carriers have done away with the 2 year contract and force customers into a 3 year agreement. This is only happening here in Canada, so it’s great to see the CRTC step up and put an end to this.

• Carriers are now limited to a maximum of $50 charge for extra data usage above and beyond the amount defined by their plan. Long overdue in my opinion. Carriers should have been more proactive in protecting their customers from excessive bills. It’s not hard for them to notify customers are they are approaching their limit or have exceeded it.
• Carriers are now limited to a maximum of $100 charge for international data roaming a month. Another example of something that is long overdue.
• Mobile Devices are now to be unlocked after 90 days, or immediately if the customer paid in full for the device. Unlocked devices is a great way to allow customers to travel internationally without having to pay roaming fees from their Canadian carrier. With an unlocked phone they can purchase a SIM abroad and use that for the duration of their stay. The carrier still has the ability to charge for this unlocking, and the CRTC didn’t set any sort of guidelines around the price for this.
• Carriers are now required to accept returns within 15 days and specific usage limits if they are not happy with their service. Many carriers already do this, but very few people know that they can return and cancel their contract.
• Carriers are now limited to what they can charge for early cancellation fees when a customer wants to terminate contract early. These limits vary depending on a subsidized phone or not, but overall it’s good to see limits placed on this. I’ve seen some pretty crazy early cancellation fees over the years. For someone like me that has not taken a subsidized phone, it’s the lesser of $50 or 10% of my monthly bill for the remainder of my contract.
• Unlimited services will become truly unlimited. Carriers are not allowed to charge overage fees on services that are listed as “unlimited”. Further, a carrier cannot limit the usage of a “unlimited” service unless these limitations are clearly explained.

There is a lot more packed into this new wireless code. You can read it over here on the CRTC’s website. Some of the things outlined were are already implemented by some carriers. And that’s a good thing. But there is a lot more that is forcing the carriers to adjust their way of doing business, and that is a welcome change.

There has been a lot of hype surrunding the succesor to Samsungs Galaxy S3, the Galaxy S4. Today we will crack into the Telus version, i337M, of the S4, and give it the unboxing and first boot treatment.

I will of course have a full review coming soon as well. Probably in the next couple weeks, so stick around for that as well.

I will of course have a full review coming soon as well. Probably in the next couple weeks, so stick around for that as well.

Watch this video on YouTube.

Besides this amazing price, what else does the 620 offer that makes it so good? Let’s start out with the features: 3.8 inch screen, SnapDragon S4 1Ghz processor, 5 megapixel camera, 115.4 x 61.1 x 11.0mm, 130 grams, 512MB of memory with 8GB of storage and a MicroSD slot for memory expansion up to 64GB, Bluetooth, WiFi, NFC, and a 1300mAh battery. The Telus web site shows the 620 as having “4G Speeds”, and says it’s capable of 21Mbps download, but then says the expected average is 4-6Mbps, which is pretty respectable given the price point. Nokia has gone the extra step to produce packaging that is environmentally friendly. The box is made from recycled paper, and the packaging is fully recyclable.

The Lumia 620 is significantly smaller than the Lumia 920 and 820. And compared to the 710, it’s only a hair shorter. Size may not be important to everyone, but I’m finding more people saying that phones are just too big these days. You won’t be saying that about the 620. It’s a great size for any pocket or purse. It fits nicely in everyone’s hands and it’s very lightweight too.

The side effect of a smaller phone is twofold – you have a smaller screen, and thus better battery life. The 620 is amazing for battery life. I have 1 push email with light traffic in terms of email volume, combined with WiFi and Bluetooth always enabled but never connecting to anything, and of course, cellular data was turned on. The results were spectacular battery life. The phone would easily last days and days without having to plug it in. Battery life is highly objective as everyone’s usage pattern is different, so of course, your mileage may vary. Even still, I think you’ll be impressed with the battery life of this little device and it’s 1300mAh battery.

The Lumia 620 comes with 8GB of storage, which isn’t that much. I tend to fill that space pretty quickly once I load my music and start taking pictures and videos. In fact, both of my kids have managed to fill their 8GB phones with pictures and video’s on numerous occasions. Thankfully, the 620 has something the bigger more expensive models are missing – expandable memory. There’s a MicroSD card under the battery door that supports up to a 64GB MicroSD card. Once you insert a card, you can tell Windows Phone to use it as the primary spot for storing new music, video’s, and pictures. 64GB cards are hard to come by, but I have routinely found 32GB cards for less than $30. So it’s very affordable to expand the memory to something a little more useful. This is the one spot I would like to see changed on new phones. The cost difference between 8 and 16GB is pretty small. Can’t we just get ride of 8GB phones? With the youth of today running mad with video’s, pictures (including Instagram) and music, there’s no love in small memory footprints. It just frustrates the user when space runs low. If a user can pickup a 32GB card for less than $30, surely Nokia could up the memory from 8 to 16, or even 32GB for a lot less than $30. Until this happens, at least you can do it yourself with this phone, by adding a MicroSD card. I strongly recommend doing this right from the start.

The camera on the Lumia 620 is as good as many of the point and shoot camera’s I have used over the years. Color saturation seemed a little high and this was especially noticeable on bright sunny days. You can see the red in the picture below is a little overpowering in the image. Of course, this was also a extreme close up on a windy day. So it could also be related to the flowers movement in the wind. But as you can see, the pictures are still crisp and clear. The camera is very responsive, there’s no lag that I noticed when you push the shutter button. This has been a bigger issue with the competitors devices in the past. Certainly not an issue on this phone.

The phones overall construction is very good. There is no noticeable flex when holding or using the phone. While the battery door is a little tricky to remove, it never felt like it was going to break or bend like so many of the other phones on the market today.  I never dropped the phone, so I can’t comment on how durable it might or might not be. But given Nokia’s track record in this department, I would be fairly confident that this is a sturdy phone. As well, replacing the battery door with the more water/dust proof cover will improve the lifespan of the device, especially in the hands of a teenager.

Overall, I find the 620 to be a great phone for the price, and one that just might end up in my collection. If you’re looking for an affordable replacement, or you are looking for something small and pocketable, or if you’re looking for a phone you can give your child, the Lumia 620 is definitely something you should look at.

After the latest OS update that came down a few weeks ago, there’s a new item called ”Storage Check” under settings. As well, you will find the older “Phone Storage” item. Both apps let you see where the space on your device is being used. This can be extremely helpful with lower capacity devices, or for people that like to store a lot on their phones and have run low on available space.

With Phone Storage, Microsoft’s app you get a clear indication of total usage, and you can set where Windows Phone should store and new Music and Video’s, and of course Pictures. When you tap on the line showing total usage, a new screen will pop up that breaks down the files based on 6 categories – music + videos, pictures, apps, other, system, and free space. This clearly shows that the majority of my storage is used by music and videos. But it doesn’t help me figure out what apps are taking up the most space.

Storage Check from Nokia starts by showing you all the same information that Phone Storage does, except it doesn’t give you the ability to select where new music, videos, and pictures should be stored. Right from the start, you’re looking at a much nicer design that better illustrates what category is using the most amount of data. But if you wanted to know more about what is using that space, simply swipe over to details and you get a better breakdown along with the option to clear temporary files from your device. A quick tap on the details button under Apps, and you get a full breakdown of every app including the ability to see how much space it used for the physical app versus the apps data. I have a few apps that are more than a little large. Thankfully, Storage Check lets me know and I can remove them if space became a concern.

Storage Check is a great example of the extras that Nokia is bringing to Windows Phone. It provides a significantly deeper look into the overall storage usage on your device. The two apps that have similar functionality, but until Phone Storage shows app specific data, or Storage Check allows you to set the location for where new content should be store, both will be required.

By using a Kinect sensor and a projector sitting on a coffee table and aimed at your TV, IllumiRoom can extend what you see on the screen to bring the game to life. The rumors are swirling that IllumiRoom will be included in the next generation of the Xbox console, due to be announced later this month. Watch the video and share your thoughts with us – Will IllumiRoom change the world?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2w-XqW7bF4″

Check out the full press release over here. Or simply head down to your local Rogers, Koodo, or Telus store to see what it’s like for real. The device will only ship with a black back cover, but you can pick up red, yellow, or white available from any retail location. Powerful, affordable, and pocketable. A great combination.

Microsoft has turned over a new leaf for their Windows Phone ads. The latest ad takes a wedding theme where half of the attendees are using Apple devices, and the other half are using Android. In quick order things escalate beyond hurling insults back and forth, and a full on fight ensues. Through all of the fighting, the camera focuses in on 2 staff using their red and yellow Lumia 920′s to capture the mayhem. As the commercial fades out you see the tag line “Don’t fight. Switch” followed by the a picture of the Nokia Lumia 920′s and a reminder that it was voted as “Reader choice: Smartphone of the year” by Engadget.

The video premiered on YouTube on April 29th, and at the time of this post, it has just under 3 million views. Pretty impressive for just a few days old. It’s a very entertaining ad, and a refreshing change from Microsoft. If you liked it, there’s even a quick little behind the scenes video that’s worth checking out.

Check out this video and let us know your thoughts. Personally, I would have used a Dremel or a router to carve out the bottom side of the table as it would be much easier and faster. Of course, if you don’t have either of those tools it would make for a pretty expensive addition to the cost of this project. I’m not sure my boss would like me doing this to my desk at work. So I guess that means buying a nightstand and doing this at home.