Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...
With all the counterfeit mobile phones coming out of China, you’d think we’d be desensitized to tasteless cellphones by now. We wish that were true. Unfortunately, atrocities like this here Michael Jackson phone are hard to ignore. It’s decked out in fake gold, fake diamonds, and enough decorative homages to “The King of Pop” to offend the even tackiest gold-chain wearing rappers. To top it all off, the phone comes with a DVD of one of Michael Jackson’s live performances. We’ll leave it to you to decide if the DVD is legit or pirated.
If you’re thinking of picking up one of these Michael Jackson phones as a joke (we can’t imagine anyone wanting one for daily use), you’re going to have to find a way to import one from China. We have to admit, the phone would get some good laughs in our circle of friends.
There’s more to the Droid than its high-end spec-sheet and Android 2.0 OS. Turns out, Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless is going to let Droid owners use their new smartphone as a 3G modem. But, it’ll cost ‘ya.
In return for allowing you to connect your laptop to your Droid and use its 3G data connection to hop online (tethering), Verizon will ask that you hand over an additional $30 per month – that’s on top of the $30/month data plan that gives you 5GB of data per monthly billing cycle. The tethering option basically doubles the cost ($60) of the Droid data plan, which gives you a total 10GB of data allowance.
The cost might be a bit prohibitive, but at least it’s an option on the Droid. Unlike some other smartphones that we won’t mention by name.
The Motorola Droid is live on Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless! Following weeks of hype and impressive TV ads, the highly anticipated Android phone from Motorola (NYSE: MOT) has landed on US shores. Verizon Wireless stores across the country opened for business bright and early this morning to accommodate the masses of Droid hopefuls yearning to be the first of their friends with Verizon’s new smartphone. The midnight launch in Manhattan saw something like 100 people waiting in line for a Droid. The store in Palo Alto, California, said they had a line of about 10 people when they swung their doors open at 7am, and has since been seeing a steady flow of customers coming in with Droid on the brain.
The crowds aren’t bad right now. VZW stores are staffed and ready to serve. It’s not clear how Verizon Wireless will keep up with Droid demand over the weekend, but if it were us, we wouldn’t risk not getting into a store ASAP.
[Update]
Just a quick reminder for all you in NYC considering a Droid purchase today: Verizon Wireless is celebrating its Droid launch with a secret Yeah Yeah Yeahs concert in Manhattan. Droid customers get free tickets today!
The public eye might be focused on headlining smartphones with bang-whiz features and sleek designs, but Samsung proves yet again that the low- to mid-level handset market is nothing to laugh at. Samsung has announced that it has sold 10 million Samsung Star touchscreen handset since its launch just six months ago, as expected. That’s a lot of handsets, sure, but it’s impressive to see Samsung moving that much volume in such a short time.
Increased consumer interest in touchscreen handsets helped drive sales of the Star. “We’ve entered an era where full touch-screen mobiles are mainstream devices, and we are very pleased with the broad popularity of the Samsung Star,” said Young-hee Lee, Vice President of Marketing, Mobile Communications Division, Samsung Electronics. “Samsung is aiming to take the lead in the global touch-screen mobile market with our diverse product line up and customized, unique marketing approach.”
The entry-level handset isn’t going to make headlines for their features or style, but we’re sure Samsung could care less.
The competition in the US wireless market is getting fierce. Just ask T-Mobile (NYSE: DT). Citing increased pressure from other carriers offering innovative handsets, T-Mobile USA today reported a net loss of 77,000 customers in Q3 2009. The loss is striking, compared to the same quarter last year, when T-Mobile reported a net addition of 670,000 customers. Still, T-mobile USA’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT), reported a 7.2% bump in quarterly profit, increased to $1.4 billion for the quarter.
T-Mobile USA’s average revenue per user (ARPU) dropped in the third quarter, causing operating revenues to decline to $5.38 billion from $5.51 billion in the same period in 2008. As it stands, T-Mobile USA boasts 33.4 million subscribers, which is still an increase from last year. Even with a customer loss, T-Mobile USA is closing the gap with No. 3 US wireless carrier Sprint (NYSE: S).
We’ll have to wait and see how the upcoming Samsung Behold II and BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Bold 9700 launches affect T-Mobile’s bottom line.
Mobile road warriors can attest to the usefulness of 3G modems. It’s empowering to know that you can hop online at anytime, no matter where you are. It gets even better if you can use your 3G modem with a prepaid data plan, like the Broadband2Go plan from Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM). And, it looks like Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless understands the need for prepaid data plans. The No. 1 US wireless carrier (by subscriber count) has just announced a trio of new prepaid data plans for use with the Novatel USB760 3G modem. The plans range from $15 to $50 per month, but don’t expect to get what you pay for.
For $15, customers will get 75MB of data for a single day of service. For $30, Verizon will offer 250MB of data, which can be used over the course of a week. The highest prepaid plan offers 500MB of data for a month, but costs a whopping $50. Compare those prices to the $60 post-paid (contract required) data plan from Verizon, and it’s clear that the prepaid plans are disproportionately expensive. If you compare those prices to Virgin Mobile’s Broadband2Go plans, which offer 100MB for $10, 250MB for $20, 600MB for $40, or 1GB for $60, and Verizon’s new plans look like downright rip-offs.
What justifies the extra cost of Verizon’s prepaid data plans? As far as we can tell, you’re paying more just for the brand-name. Verizon apparently thinks people shop for 3G modems like they shop for designer jeans.
Verizon Wireless will launch the prepaid plans and the Novatel USB760 modem on November 15th via Verizon retail stores. The Novatel USB760 will cost $129.99, and it’s up to you to fill it up with prepaid data.
Since Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps for iPhone doesn’t support (so far) turn-by-turn GPS navigation directions, iPhone users are left having to pay for GPS navigation apps from the AppStore. But, getting navigation on your iPhone doesn’t have to be expensive. Today, Networks In Motion has announced a new update to its Gokivo iPhone app [iTunes link] that offers users two relatively cheap options for GPS navigation. Users can download the Gokivo app for $4.99 from the AppStore and enjoy 30 days of voice-guided navigation, or, for $39.99, Gokivo will serve up iPhone navigation for a full year. And, to celebrate, NIM is giving iPhone users a chance to download their Gokivo for iPhone navigation app for FREE!
The Gokivo app supports voice-guided directions, including spoken street names. It also serves up real-time traffic alerts to help you avoid any delays. And, with iPod integration, you can listen to your favorite tunes from within the Gokivo iPhone app.
To get Gokivo for free today, you’ll first need to download the Gokivo iPhone app and pay $4.99. Then, simply email Gokivo with you riTunes receipt to nim@sutherlandgold.com and you’ll be reimbursed via PayPal or gift card, whatever you prefer.
If you’ve had your eye on the Android-powered HTC Hero and its customized Sense UI, but just couldn’t bear to leave Verizon (NYSE: VZ)’s warm embrace for Sprint (NYSE: S)’s network, you’re in luck! Verizon went official this morning with the Hero-esque HTC Droid Eris. The Eris is a lot like the Hero, just for the Verizon Wireless network. And, at just $99, the Droid Eris is the more affordable alternative to both the upcoming Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid and the Sprint HTC Hero. The Eris even sports the same Sense UI that we’ve come to love on the HTC Hero.
The Motorola Droid might be hogging all the hype this week, but the Eris deserves some time in the limelight. So, without further ado, here’s a hands-on look at HTC Droid Eris for Verizon Wireless.
Here’s a quick spec-sheet rundown on the HTC Droid Eris:
If the social-networked iPhone app discovery app Chorus isn’t your cup of tea, your best bet is to hit Twitter to see which iPhone apps are trending hot. AppStoreHQ makes it easy to keep tabs on the Twittersphere and breaks down which apps tweeple around the world are tweeting about. It’s a points based system, so the more times a certain app gets tweeted, the higher it ranks in the “Most Popular iPhone Apps on Twitter” list.
Coincidentally, Chorus is the hottest iPhone app on Twitter right now – beating out Waveboard, the Google Wave iPhone app, by a huge margin. If you haven’t yet checked out Chorus, download the free app and give it a go.
Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Wave on the iPhone, in theory, would be a great way to use Google’s new collaborative chat service. So, when we first heard that Waveboard for iPhone launched as the first Google Wave iPhone app, we were excited to try it out. Then, we realized that the Waveboard app is nothing more than a Google Wave viewer. Waveboard basically does what Google’s Google Wave mobile website does – it simply lets you view “waves.” And it costs $1. Color us unimpressed.
To be fair, Waveboard includes an integrated browser and a “shake” feature for reloading waves. Push notifications are working through a workaround, but Waveboard’s developers say that proper push notifications are on the way.
We’d rather bookmark Google Wave’s mobile website on our iPhone and save the buck for an iPhone fart machine. But, if you’re curious, and feeling a little wasteful, give Waveboard a download [iTunes link]. Let us know what you think!
The public eye might be focused on headlining smartphones with bang-whiz features and sleek designs, but Samsung proves 
The competition in the US wireless market is getting fierce. Just ask T-Mobile (
Mobile road warriors can attest to the usefulness of 3G modems. It’s empowering to know that you can hop online at anytime, no matter where you are. It gets even better if you can use your 3G modem with a prepaid data plan, like the 
Since Google (
If the social-networked iPhone app 
