The age of T-Mobile’s 3G network is nigh! After months and months of delays and waiting on Uncle Sam to vacate his behind off T-Mobile (NYSE: DT)’s AWS 3G spectrum, it looks like the No. 4 US wireless carrier is poised to go live with their 3G network. Come tomorrow, May 1, T-Mobile USA will light off its 1700Mhz 3G network in New York.

While the initial 3G network rollout from T-Mobile will be limited to those lucky T-Mobile customers in New York, we should see some 20 other major US markets welcoming T-Mobile’s new UMTS spectrum quite soon. Expect T-Mobile’s 3G network in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, Houston, San Francisco, and New Jersey.

T-Mobile USA currently has 4 handsets in the wild capable of sucking down that sweet, sweet 3G data, so you won’t be left wanting for a T-Mobile 3G compatible handset once the network launches.

Keep reading for a full list of cities to be covered by T-Mo’s 3G network.

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In case you’re living in Japan, at which point this blog is meaningless to you since it is already the year 2012 in terms of mobile telecommunications, you’ll be happy to know that the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) 6124 Classic will be coming to your island nation with support for i-mode. QVGA resolution and a 2 megapixel camera may seem ancient to you, but you haven’t seen the amount of RAZRs still floating around.

[6124 Classic spec sheet]

[Via: Digitimes]

Back in November I had the pleasure of attending the Nokia N82 product launch with several other bloggers. We all got a chance to meet one of the Product Managers who worked on the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N82, Tomoharu Yazawa [23 minute video interview]. He was, without a doubt, one of the coolest cats in the room, answering all of our questions without any hesitation all while sounding highly enthusiastic, professional and down to earth. If I could have changed anything from that day I would wish he could have joined us for dinner and a few drinks.

I want to let you guys in on a little secret, well it isn’t really a secret, but many of you will be surprised to know that I never actually purchased an Nseries device, ever. The Nseries brand turned 3 years old on April 27, but for a majority of those 3 years I was a Series 40 fan. The devices not only looked better, my personal opinion, but they were vastly cheaper. For a college student with no job that made a huge difference.

During the summer of 2006, after selling off a few of the digital toys I had stopped playing with and doing a quick job here and there, I had enough money to spend on the first device that would introduce me to the world of S60, a Nokia E61. I liked it so much that I started blogging in the fall and the hard work I was pouring into Ring Nokia made WOM World notice; they started providing plenty of other devices for me to test, 2 weeks at a time of course.

Last year when I moved to Finland the Nseries Digital Marketing team couldn’t believe how crazy I was to actually pull a stunt like that, so they gave me a Nokia N95 as a present and it served me extraordinarily well. The GPS helped me navigate around a foreign land and the camera was brilliant for taking pictures to show my friends back home what this strange new country they couldn’t find on a map looked like. On November 14 2007 the Nokia N82 launched and I was one of the first people to get a review unit [N82 Review]. I remember telling Tomo (that’s what we called him) how awesome this device would look like in Black, he said he’ll take the idea into consideration, but made no promises. In December at Nokia World in Amsterdam and I bumped into Tomo again, this time with a new larger batch of bloggers at either side of me, and we all pounded the drum asking for a Black version, no promises were made, but he could tell how badly we wanted one.

Fast forward to today, Fedex woke me up at 9 in the morning to deliver a Black Nokia N82. This is the first Nseries device I have spent my own actual money on and it is just as beautiful as I was expecting it to be. Now I know someone is going to say “Ummm, you have a Silver Nokia N82, why did you buy a Black Nokia N82?”

The answer to that question is that there is no other way to show how much you enjoy a product than by paying for it, the same applies to music, art, anything really. This is my way of saying thank you to Tomo for not only listening to my suggestion, I’m positive I wasn’t the first to suggest Black, but for creating a mobile phone that I can actually tell people I love owning and using on a daily basis.

Domo arigato.

Picture of my baby after the jump.

Oh and since I know a lot of you will ask, differences between the Silver and Black: The soft keys (Left, Right, Symbian and C) are not mushy, but instead very clicky in a good way. The dpad is also higher (aka more raised) and not as mushy, but still not as clicky as the soft keys.

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Intel CEO Paul Otellini, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, said that they’re in talks with all the major handset manufactures about getting their chips inside future products. What does this mean for ARM? Not much in the short term, and by short I mean ~ 3 years, but what happens when Moorestown starts shipping and the product that will come after that?

WSJ:Do you expect to get your chips into new iPhones and such?

Otellini: All the major handset manufacturers have a family of products, and they’re all talking to us.

[Video above via Engadget]

Is Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) planning on a smaller variant to its iconic iPhone? According to Taiwan Economic News, sources in the supply chain are indicating that a lighter-weight and smaller variant of the iPhone is in the pipeline. Weighing in at 110-120g, compared to the current iPhone’s 158g weight, the smaller iPhone is said to forgo the aluminum-magnesium casing in favor of a lighter plastic casing. Helping to shave weight, the smaller iPhone is also rumored to sport a 2.8-inch multi-touch display in place of the current iPhone’s 3.5-inch multi-touch display.

The new report comes in contradiction to other rumors that Apple’s next-generation 3G iPhone would add heft and bulk to accommodate a built-in GPS receiver. But, that doesn’t mean both rumors can’t pan out. There are indications that Apple is planning to silence criticism about the company’s one-trick-pony iPhone offering by launching different iPhone variants to suit different needs. The highest-end iPhone would be the 3G iPhone sporting true GPS, with a possibility of the current generation iPhone (or something quite similar) locking down the mid-range, while a pared-down version of the iPhone would offer bare-bones iPhone goodness in the lower-end.

We’ll have to wait and see just how Apple plans to play this one out. Keep in mind, Apple likes to confuse speculators by commissioning purposely misleading hardware prototypes.

For me, I’d rather keep the bulk down by nixing the GPS hardware. If Apple offers 3G iPhone variants with GPS and without, I’ll probably be going for the GPS-less model.

Who am I kidding, it’s going to be hard to stop myself from going with the top-of-the-line model.  Anyone out there actually think that a 3G iPhone with GPS is unnecessary?

[Via: cens]

Sure, there are scattered reports of Verizon (NYSE: VZ) already offering the update to LG’s popular LG VX9900 enV, but the handset hasn’t yet gone officially official. For those of you eagerly awaiting Verizon’s launch of the updated enV handset – the LG VX9100 enV2 – you’re wait is almost over. The sleek and diminutive text-messaging powerhouse is slated to hit the No. 2 US carrier’s CDMA airwaves tomorrow.

The new LG enV2 will come to market with a 2 megapixel camera, stereo speakers, and of course a QWERTY keyboard in tow. And, with Bluetooth 2.0 and a microSD card slot, the LG enV2 should prove to be a competent successor to the original LG enV.

For those too lazy to actually read their own text messages, the LG enV2 features a text-to-speech capability that will read your SMS text messages to you. As expected, the LG VX9100 enV2 will be offered in your choice of Maroon or Black. You’ll have to pony up $129.99 and sign a 2-year contract, but if you’ve been waiting for this handset to finally drop, you probably already have the cash in hand.

The LG VX9100 enV2’s smaller size and redesigned external keypad and internal QWERTY keyboard owe to the device’s incredible in-hand feel. Check out our in-hand pictures from CTIA Las Vegas 2008 while you wait for Verizon to launch the LG enV2.

Like they say, “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” At least that’s what is seems like RIM is doing by looking to hire software developers for the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone. A new internal job listing suggests that RIM is looking to bring its BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) software to the iPhone – possibly even allowing the iPhone to access RIM’s popular push-email service.

“As part of a newly-created team, you’ll influence the development and design of BlackBerry software. This is a very confidential brand new team and a senior position within RIM so I can’t provide too many details. I guess you can figure out what it might be about though.”

Among the job requirements are Mac software development and familiarity with programming in Objective C and Cocoa as well as experience in designing user interfaces. Experience with Javascript and XML are essential.

The job listing and possible push to develop iPhone applications could be seen as conflicting with the firm’s push to pit the BlackBerry 9000, as well as the touchscreen “AK,” against the iPhone. But, if RIM is looking to compete with the iPhone, it might be in it’s best interest to seek alternative revenue channels by hopping on board the iPhone-train. It may not be a case of RIM not being able to beat Apple’s iPhone, but rather RIM may just be looking to cash in on the iPhone while pushing hard with their own iPhone killer.

“If you can’t beat ‘em down, at least make money on ‘em.”

[Via: AppleInsider]

Fancy a new iPhone from AT&T (NYSE: T) but hate the fact that you’ll have to pay for voice service that you just won’t use? Well, whether you’re hard of hearing or just plain averse to talking to other human beings, AT&T has a new text messaging-based for the iPhone. Dubbed the Text Messaging Accessibility Plan for the iPhone (TAP), the new plan allows iPhone hopefuls to do away with the unneeded voice-call portion of their plan in favor of unlimited SMS text messages and unlimited data.

For $40 a month, iPhone users with the TAP plan can expect to text and browse the web to their heart’s content, without having to worry about getting those annoying incoming voice calls. Voice calls can still be made, however, at $0.40 per minute – which means the voice calls will basically be limited to emergency use only. On the up-side, you can vote as many times as you like for your fav American Idol.

To get TAP on your iPhone, you’ll need to fill out an eligibility form that requires you to prove your disability with a Certification of Disability. So, if you just want to use that iPhone as a fancy text messaging and web browsing platform but find your sense of hearing more than acute, you’ll need to find some way to get that certification.

AT&T

Remember the lower-end-but-still-stylish Nokia 3606 and 1606 clamshells/fliphones that I showed you at CTIA Las Vegas 2008? Right, well it looks like Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s keeping up with its entry-level push with another eye-pleasing handset that’s easy on the wallet. Enter the Nokia 6205 flip for Verizon (NYSE: VZ)’s CDMA network.

Granted, the spec-sheet on the Nokia 6205 doesn’t exactly measure up as some of Espoo’s finest work, but with a sleek design, the Nokia 6205 is sure to find  following from cellphone users looking for a phone and little more. The Nokia 6205 isn’t as svelte and clean as the Nokia 1606 and 3606, but with more features to boast of, the Nokia 6205 strikes a good balance.

There’s an external display that seems to be on par with the Nokia 3606. The external music controls hint at the Nokia 6205’s ability to serve as a media-oriented handset. There’s a camera that’s most likely VGA resolution, and the internal display is just a bit larger than the external screen.

We’re looking for Verizon to pick up the Nokia 6205 in mid-June, just in time to get overshadowed by the 3G iPhone.

[Via: HoFo]

Just as expected, Sling Media has released updates to its SlingPlayer Mobile for all Windows Mobile (that includes both touchscreen and non-touchscreen; Professional and Standard) version as well as S60. Following on the announcement that SlingPlayer Mobile will be coming to UIQ, SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows Mobile gets upped to version 1.6, while S60 users can expect a fresh version 1.1 release of SlingPlayer Mobile.

And, Sling has added support for the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N95 8GB to the S60 SlingPlayer’s official feature-list.

The updates features some revised channel logos, improved video quality on some devices, and some code-tweaks. Grab your updated SlingPlayer here.

[Via: Engadget Mobile]