One of the new touchscreen devices slated for release on Rogers (NYSE: RCI) has arrived. The LG Pop is now available on big red, and is available starting at $19.99 on a 3-year contract. The LG Pop (GD510) is somewhat small in size when it comes to touchscreen devices these days. The overall dimensions are roughly 9.5cm by 5cm by 1cm… and it packs a 3″ WQVGA 240×400 display. You’ll also find a 3MP camera with 2x zoom and video, microSD expansion to 16GB, Bluetooth and more.

If the 3-year contract doesn’t tickle your fancy you can also pick the Pop up for $69.99 on a 2-year, $134.99 on a 1-year or contract-free for $174.99.

Should be interesting to see when other touchscreen devices like the Sony XPERIA X10, Samsung CorbyPRO and LG KM555 arrive on Rogers. Any bets?

All the details are over at Rogers.

[Via: MobileSyrup]

As expected, the Samsung Flight has been cleared for landing on Rogers (NYSE: RCI). Translation: it’s hit the runway and is now available. The Samsung Flight features a portrait-slide full QWERTY keyboard, 2MP camera, 2.8″ touchscreen display, Bluetooth, expansion to 16GB via microSD and much more.

Oh yeah and the pricing? Try $69.99 on a 3-year contract, $119.99 on a 2-year, $219.99 on a 1-year, or $274.99 contract-free. The Flight is available in red only. For more details, head on over to Rogers.

[Via: MobileSyrup]

While these aren’t the touchscreen beauties we’ve heard about, it’s always worth noting when a carrier has something new to offer. In this case, it looks like we have some proof (via a FutureShop flyer) of the Samsung Flight and the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) (NYSE: MOT) W388, coming to Rogers (NYSE: RCI) (NYSE: RCI) and Fido respectively.

The Samsung Flight features a look and form-factor strikingly similar to another popular device out on the market these days. I won’t mention the name, but if you know what webOS is, I think you can figure it out. The Flight packs a slide out QWERTY keyboard, 2.8″ touchscreen, 2MP camera with video, expansion to 16GB via microSD, and a bunch more. The cost? $99.99 on a 3-year term with Rogers.

The Motorola W388 is a basic candybar complete with 2.5mm headset jack, 1.8″ display, expansion to 2GB via microSD, 0.3MB VGA camera and more. The price tag will apparently be set at $15 on a 2-year contract with Fido.

[Via: MobileSyrup]

I have to ask this question to Rogers (NYSE: RCI) HTC Dream users… Have you completed your OS update yet?

Rogers has dubbed the most recent OS update mandatory, due to a 911 call glitch that needed urgent attention. The update came out (thanks to the folks at HTC), and now Rogers is laying down the heavy hand on all Dream users. If you haven’t updated your OS as of yet, your next outgoing call may be routed to Rogers’ customer service where you will be asked to start the update. Also, all data to the device has been turned off until the new OS is loaded up. To get back on track, users need to start the update process by either talking to a Rogers’ representative, or by hitting up http://www.rogers.com/dreamsoftwareupdate from their device.

Once this critical OS update is completed, voice service should be good to go, but data may take up to 24 hours to ‘kick in’. My advice? Run the OS update already. If you don’t, Rogers may set your device to self-destruct in 10, 9, 8…

[Via: MobileSyrup]

The Olympics are coming fast and furious. Before you know it, the games will be underway (opening ceremonies are on the 12th). Rogers (NYSE: RCI) Wireless is looking to help out the throngs of people heading to the Vancouver area via a new SIM card ‘Visitor Pack’. Available in Vancouver only, the new pack runs $29.99 and contains one GSM SIM card and a $20 prepaid ‘Pay As You Go’ voucher. The voucher can only be activated on any current Pay As You Go plans. So, if you have an unlocked GSM device, you can pick up the Visitor Pack and activate it for use while you’re at the games!

[Via: MobileSyrup]

The next few months are going to see quite a few new touchscreen devices appearing on Rogers (NYSE: RCI). Among them are the Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) XPERIA X10, the LG Pop, Samsung CorbyPRO and LG KM555.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 boasts a 4″ capacitive touchscreen display, 1Ghz Snapdragon processor, 8MP camera, GPS, WiFi, micro SD and more. The last I heard, a custom Sony Ericsson Timescape UI was integrated into Android, and I have no reason to believe this won’t be on the Rogers model.

The LG Pop features a 3″ WQVGA touchscreen (240×400), a 3MP camera with video, and holds up to 16GB via microSD expansion.

Next is the Samsung CorbyPRO, which features a 2.8″ WVGA touchscreen, side-slider QWERTY keyboard, 3MP camera with video, 3.5mm headset jack, WiFi, and expansion to 16GB via microSD.

Finally, the LG KM555 is the last touchscreen slated to hit Rogers over the next little while, and this one comes complete with a 3″ touchscreen (at 240×400), 3MP camera with video, FM Radio, Bluetooth, WiFi, HSDPA support, and expansion to 16GB via microSD.

No pricing or release dates have been made available for any of these devices, but expect to hear more real soon.

Note: Check our hands-on (pics and video) of the Sony XPERIA X10 shot at CES 2010 >

[Via: MobileSyrup]

Rogers (NYSE: RCI) (NYSE: RCI) HTC Dream and Magic owners fret no more, HTC has completed required fixes to the OS, bringing users up to Android version 1.5 (and Magic users get Sense UI as part of the upgrade!).

For those that haven’t been following the saga, Rogers had recently pulled both the HTC Dream AND Magic from the shelves (in-store and online) due to an urgent fix that needed to be addressed to enable full 911 call functionality. This was much like salt-in-the-wound for Dream owners, as Rogers had let them know earlier that any Android updates past OS 1.5 would not be supported going forward. Looks like this is the last update Dream owners will get… It may be time to take advantage of the free upgrade to the Magic, especially if you’d like to take advantage of Sense UI (is pretty good).

At any rate, below is the official word via Rogers… Check it out for full update instructions and more.

“A mandatory software update is now available for Rogers HTC Dream and Magic customers to ensure 911 calls can be completed on these devices. These customers need to go immediately to http://www.rogers.com/dreamsoftwareupdate or http://www.rogers.com/magicsoftwareupdate on a PC to download the update. Users of Windows 7 or Macintosh will need to call 1-888-Rogers1 for update instructions. Customers will need to backup any personal items before the update process.

Customers who have not downloaded this software update could have problems accessing 911. As a result, we are taking the precautionary measure of temporarily disabling internet access for Dream and Magic users on Sunday January 24 at 6:00AM (EST). Voice and text messaging will not be impacted. By disabling internet access, we can ensure that 911 calls are completed for all our Dream and Magic customers. Once a customer completes the software update, his/her internet access will be re-enabled within 24 hours.

Temporarily disabling internet access is the only decision we could make to ensure all customers can make 911 calls. We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience. Dream and Magic customers on data plans will automatically be credited for one month of data fees (excluding roaming). This credit will show up on invoices within 60 days. We take this matter very seriously and continue to investigate the way this issue was addressed to determine how we can improve our internal and external processes.”

Note: Last I checked both the Dream and Magic are still unavailable on the Rogers website… I expect them to make a re-emergence soon (well, at least the Magic… not so sure about the Dream!)

[Via: MobileSyrup]

Rogers (NYSE: RCI) had released the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Curve 8520 in the fall in black and lavendar colour options, but now the fashion-conscious can now consider a white version, as well. Personally, I prefer the classic black, but white has already been making the rounds on the Bold 9000, and I’ve seen more than a few in the wild up here in Canada. T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) has already been offering the 8520 in white for a few months – it would be nice if we could get some exclusive colours on Rogers, like the red that telus (NYSE: TU) managed to snag for the 8530. If you’re wondering about more than the paint job, I’d suggest you check out our review. As for actually picking up this snazzy new Curve, it’s not showing up on the Rogers online store yet, but it might be worth visiting your local store to see if they’ve got any.

[via BBCool]

Anyone on Rogers (NYSE: RCI) who has been enjoying free tethering with a data plan 1 GB or over may be in for a rude shock come May 3rd. Apparently Rogers is “examining options that are in line with how customers use tethering on their devices”, so don’t be surprised if all of a sudden you’ll need to pay out another $15-$30 for the luxury of mobile internet access via smartphone. All the carriers have a wide variety of internet sticks that are purpose-built for mobile broadband, and (more importantly) have separate plans. While it’s awfully convenient for end-users to be able to use the same plan for both regular smartphone data and mobile internet for a laptop or netbook, Rogers stands to make more by either pinging occasional users for an extra fee on their cellular bill, or push an additional plan, device, and contract for heavy-duty users. If either of these added charges turns off subscribers from tethering at all, Rogers benefits from fewer data junkies clogging up their network – win-win-win. In these instances, applications like Tether provide a viable (if sneaky) workaround for those who still want some mobile internet and have a desire to stick it to The Man.

[via Globe and Mail]

The cosmic ballet continues. That’s exactly what Leonard Nimoy would say regarding the issues Rogers (NYSE: RCI) has been having with the HTC Dream and Magic. The situation is far from perfect.

You may recall Rogers’ first move to piss off Dream users was to announce they would not be on-board to upgrade Android past version 1.5. In the end, it is a hardware issue at work here, so you can hardly blame Rogers… But still, many a customer was upset, and with good reason. In response to that, Rogers quickly offered a free upgrade to the HTC Magic, as long as a new 3-year contract was signed. OK, cool, good effort… But still… I would have preferred a hot-swap on a current contract to the more current hardware. Just the other day, Rogers pulled the HTC Dream off the shelves, and online, due to a fix needed for 911 calls to be completed.

Now, are you ready for this? Rogers has pulled the HTC Magic off the shelves (in-store and online) for the very same reason. Amazing.

Rogers issued the following statement:

We are in the process of contacting all of our Magic customers by text message asking them to disable GPS location on their Rogers HTC Magic device to ensure all 911 calls complete.

The same issue was identified on the Rogers HTC Dream, as communicated on January 15. At the time, our testing indicated that the Rogers HTC Magic was not impacted. However, through continued precautionary testing of the devices, we discovered the issue is replicated intermittently on the Magic device as well. HTC is working on a software fix that we will make available as soon as possible.

Insane. So, if you’ve already upgraded to the Magic, good on you. If you haven’t, you’ll have to wait a little while before you can get your hands on one. I’m sure the folks at HTC are working feverishly on the fix, but until then… Hold tight.

Note: Current Rogers Dream and Magic owners can follow these steps to disable GPS (needed to ensure 911 call functionality). First, select ‘Menu. Next, select ‘Settings’. Select ‘Location’, and then uncheck ‘Enable GPS Satellite’.

[Via: MobileSyrup]