Hutchinson’s 3 has recently announced the second generation of the Skypephone. The new device goes a little beyond Skype calls, bringing such Internet services as Facebook, RSS feeds, Google and Windows Live Messenger to the mix.

Specs wise, the new Skypephone is also better than its predecessor. For one thing, there’s a 3.2 megapixel camera on board, and so is microSD memory card slot. The handset measures 102.7×45x14 mm and has a weight of 95 grams.

Commenting on the announcement, 3 UK’s Kevin Russell said: “The first 3 Skypephone was about building one of the most popular Internet services, Skype, into the heart of the device. The 3 Skypephone S2 builds on this approach and brings a host of other popular Internet services to the front of the device.”

[Via: slashphone]

In a news that seems more important to ZTE than to MetroPCS (and the rest of us), the China-based company and the U.S. carrier have announced a new phone - ZTE C79. The device in question is a simple-looking clamshell with CDMA support on the AWS frequency band. Other specs include so-last-year 1.3 megapixel camera, 220×176 pixel screen, dedicated external music control, 69MB of internal memory that is further expandable with microSD cards. Lack of 3G may be a dealbreaker for many, but then again, who enjoy surfing the web on a low-res screen?

MetroPCS is selling the ZTE C79 for $169 sans any contracts involved. Here’s the link with more information.

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

We’re not sure whether we should believe the image above or not, but it certainly looks appealing — at least where I stand. The apparent successor of the LG Prada phone may come with a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard. That would certainly be a good addition, as I’ve never liked typing on the original device. The full keyboard makes the device look more like the HTC Touch Pro, although I doubt it will be as powerful as HTC’s smartphone.

Don’t get me wrong - I don’t want to put LG’s plans down. As a matter of fact I can’t wait to give the LG Prada 2 a try. Hopefully, it will come with a 3G radio and a WiFi on board. And yes, I would love to see it run some smartphone OS, even though I doubt that will happen. Stay tuned…

[Via: Boy Genius Report]

What good is a new iPhone OS update if you can’t make use of most of the installed applications on your iPhone or iPhone 3G? Not much good.

The iPhone 2.0.2 OS update has been reported to be causing application-related headaches for some iPhone users. The iPhone app-problems range from third-party applications simply not starting up to applications starting up and immediately crashing out. In either case, the iPhone application problem is bound to be annoying for some users.

Incidentally, it seems that too many third-party iPhone applications on your iPhone can cause many of the applications to start going wonky.

Here are a couple potential ways to fix your iPhone application woes after updating your iPhone or iPhone 3G to iPhone 2.0.2 OS:

• Delete as many third-party iPhone application as you can bear to part with. If you can get your homescreen down to 3-pages worth of applications, you’ll likely start to see a huge improvement in iPhone application performance. Hopefully, deleting all but a couple dozen iPhone applications will fix application crash and non-start problems.
• If that doesn’t work, re-install all your iPhone applications (it would be wise to only re-install up to 3 pages of apps). To do this:

1. Turn on your iPhone and navigate to Settings > General > Reset and hit the “Erase All Content and Settings” button.
2. Delete all iPhone applications through iTunes (fire up iTunes, hit the “Applications” category on the left-hand navigation bar, and delete all apps).
3. Deselect any music, video, and pictures for synchronization (we want to remove all music and video from the iPhone)
4. Connect iPhone to computer and sync iPhone
5. Re-install those iPhone applications (again, try to keep it under 3 pages worth)
6. Sync your music and other media.

• Failing that, you can try a full restore of the iPhone. You will want to “Restore” your iPhone and then “Setup as new iPhone.” This will erase all text messages, stored passwords, and any personal customizations you’ve made to your iPhone.
• You may also want to downgrade your iTunes installation to iTunes 7.7.0 for Windows or iTunes 7.6.2 for Mac. Here’s how:

1. Delete your iTunes installation (remove the application from Windows).
2. Download the previous version of iTunes.
   • iTunes 7.7.0 (Windows)
   • iTunes 7.6.2 (Mac)
3. Install the older iTunes package.
4. Setup your iPhone as a new iPhone.
5. Sync your apps.

Happy iPhoning!

Well, we’ve waited for this to happen. Starting from today, you can grab the BlackBerry Bold from Rogers Wireless in Canada for $399.99 with activation on any combination of 3 year voice plan and three year BlackBerry data plan totalling more than $45 per month from Rogers.

Let’s recap the specs, shell we. From the official release, the Bold features are:

• An elegant design measuring 114mm x 66mm x 15mm and weighing approximately 136 grams
• Tri-band HSDPA and quad-band EDGE support for global roaming
• Stunning half-VGA (480×320 resolution at 217 ppi) colour display with integrated lens for eye-popping definition and clarity
• Enhanced HTML browser delivers high performance with desktop-style depiction
• Enterprise-grade Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g)
• Built-in GPS with support for location based applications and services including geotagging; comes with BlackBerry Maps preinstalled
• 1 GB on-board storage memory, as well as an externally accessible microSD/SDHC memory card slot for additional storage
• A removable/rechargeable 1500 mAhr battery
• DataViz Documents To Go preinstalled, enabling customers to edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on the smartphone
• 2 megapixel camera with digital zoom, built-in flash and video recording
• Advanced media player for viewing pictures, listening to music and watching videos
• Support for High Speed USB 2.0 enables quick file transfers between a PC and the smartphone
• BlackBerry Desktop Manager software, which includes Roxio Media Manager for BlackBerry, a powerful media manager application that allows users to easily manage media files on their computer and transfer them to the smartphone; the BlackBerry Bold also comes with the new BlackBerry Media Sync application for customers that want a simple way to sync their iTunes digital music collections with the smartphone
• Support for downloading music directly from Rogers MusicStore
• The Rogers Do More portal enabling access to a variety of mobile applications for business and personal use
• Instant messaging with BlackBerry Messenger, Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger
• Support for the Facebook for BlackBerry Smartphones application, which enables fast, streamlined and optimized mobile access to the popular Facebook social utility
• Premium phone features including voice activated dialing, enhanced noise cancellation to offset background noise, a low-distortion speakerphone, and Bluetooth (2.0) support for hands-free use with headsets, car kits, stereo headsets and other Bluetooth peripherals
• BlackBerry Internet Service support that allows access to up to 10 supported personal and corporate email accounts, including most popular ISP email accounts
• BlackBerry Enterprise Server support for enterprise deployments with advanced security and IT controls

In the box, BlackBerry Bold buyers will also find a variety of accessories including a stereo headset, travel charger, carrying case and USB cable.

T-Mobile USA is all about their nascent 3G network recently. They’ve lit-up their 1700Mhz spectrum of 3G goodness in a smattering of cities across the US, but the US wireless carrier has been tight-lipped as to whether or not its 3G-compatible handsets are indeed 3G capable on T-Mobile’s AWS 1700Mhz 3G network. Today we’re getting more details on T-Mobile’s latest 3G handset - the Sony Ericsson TM506 Bella.

Last we heard, the Sony Ericsson TM506 was headed to T-Mobile in your choice of two color schemes. The Bella, as it’s known internally, was expected to  land on T-Mobile’s network with a 2 megapixel camera, aGPS, Bluetooth 2.0, and myFaves support - with a tri-band (850/1800/1900Mhz) GSM/EDGE radio. We speculated that the Sony Ericsson TM506 Bella would hit T-Mobile with a dual-band 3G radio in tow, but previous promotional materials left us wondering if T-Mobile was ever going to take the 3G-wraps off the SE Bella.

Well, T-Mobile has confirmed that their upcoming Sony Ericsson TM506 Bella will indeed be launching with a a dual-band (1700/2100Mhz) 3G radio to pull down wireless data at near-broadband speeds. The slim and stylish clamshell is expected to deliver 9.5 hours worth of talk time on GSM networks, with 3G calling good for 3.5 hours.

As expected, T-Mobile should launch the Sony Ericsson TM506 in early September. Pricing information is still not available.

Press release 

RCRWireless has compiled a list of the Top Ten US Wireless Carriers for 2Q 2008. There’s no big surprise here, with AT&T still leading Verizon as the top two US wireless carriers. But, the data is still interesting to look at.

We see that AT&T is still No. 1 in the rankings, but only just. Verizon added 200,000 more wireless subscribers in Q2 2008 than did AT&T. And, Verizon’s recent acquisition of Rural Cellular wasn’t factored in to Verizon’s customer-base because the deal was finalized after the close of Q2 2008.  Of course, once Alltel is wholly absorbed into Verizon, we will see AT&T dropping down to the No. 2 spot as AT&T takes the lead.

Sprint saw its customer churn slowing in Q2 2008, with just 900,000 customers jumping ship, compared to the previous quarter’s loss of 1 million customers.

And, T-Mobile saw its customer churn jump from 2.6% to 2.7%, which they attribute to the expiration of the recently-introduced 2-year contracts.

[Via: RCR]

And you thought you paid a lot for your launch-day iPhone 8GB? Think again. As expected, Apple is bringing the iPhone 3G to India, through Vodafone and Airtel, with an ginormous price-tag of approximately $700 for the 8GB iPhone 3G or about $825 for the 16GB iPhone 3G. The iPhone 3G will launch in India on August 22 through Vodafone.

Without any carrier subsidies, Vodafone and Airtel will be requiring their customers to pony up Rs 31,000 and Rs 36,100, respectively, for the 8GB and 16GB iPhone 3G handset. In a country where 3G isn’t even a legitimate option, and most of the population can’t even fathom spending that much on anything a cellphone, we aren’t too sure that the iPhone 3G will see as dramatic a sales run as we’ve seen in the US, Europe, and Japan.

Still, it’s good to see the iPhone 3G coming to India.

Vodafone India iPhone 3G
Airtel iPhone 3G

[Via: cellpassion]

AT&T and LG today announced a new multimedia device for users who want the “best in video on their mobile phone” - LG Invision. The fairly ugly clamshell is the third device that is compatible with the mobile operator’s mobile TV offering. At the same time, at just a little more than 4 inches tall, 2 inches wide and less than one-half an inch thick, the Invision is the smallest mobile TV-capable phone in the U.S.

Aside from sporting a mobile TV receiver, it also comes with a 1.3 megapixel camera, 3G radio, Bluetooth, and more. The phone will sing along AT&T Mobile Music, allowing users to access music from eMusic, Napster To Go, as well as listen to the streaming digital radio by XM Radio Mobile.

The Invision is available in all company-owned AT&T stores and online at for $99.99 with a new two-year agreement and $50 mail-in rebate.

By now it’s evident that there is a good sampling of the iPhone 3G fleet that is experiencing 3G-network woes. From slow data connections to signal-strength flakiness, the iPhone 3G isn’t performing as promised for those affected by the 3G reception issues.

The problem has gotten so bad that Apple released their iPhone 2.0.2 OS shortly after releasing the iPhone 2.0.1 OS in an attempt to fix some of the iPhone 3G’s connectivity bugs. But, in their haste to release another iPhone OS update to fix bugs, Apple’s latest iPhone 2.0.2 OS has reportedly started causing more problematic network issues - most prominently, the inability to make voice calls on the 3G network.

So, in that vein, an Alabama woman has filed a lawsuit against Apple, saying that her “Defective iPhone 3G” has failed to deliver on Apple’s performance and reliability claims. In addition to slower-than-expected data speeds, the plaintiff, Jessica Alena Smith, says that she is only able to connect to the AT&T 3G network about a quarter of the time and has experienced an “inordinate amount of dropped calls.” The lack of 3G connectivity is puzzling given her Birmingham, Alabama hometown’s extensive 3G coverage.

Smith is pushing to have the lawsuit approved as a class-action lawsuit, claiming that the potential class could include tens of thousands of plaintiffs. The lawsuit seeks to have Apple replace or repair all defective iPhone 3G handsets and that Apple pay unspecified damages and attorney’s fees.

With the iPhone 3G continuing to have problems for some (although, to be fair, none of IntoMobile’s iPhone 3G handsets are exhibiting problems), and Apple failing to fix the problem with the iPhone 2.0.2 OS update, we could see this latest lawsuit get class-action approval. And, if Apple doesn’t find a solution right quick, they might be in for a one helluva legal ride.

[Via: ABCNews]