TELUS (NYSE: TU) and Motorola (NYSE: MOT) have tag-teamed up to announce the launch of the Motorola Brute i680 on the TELUS network. This is a ruggedized device, one that promises to stand up to almost anything you can throw at it.
Key features of the Motorola Brute i680 include:
Military Spec 810F certified for blowing rain, dust, shock, vibration, temperature, pressure, saltfog, humidity and solar radiation
Rubberized exterior finish makes for easy gripping in all climates
Push To Talk to keep in touch instantly with your team
Call Completion allows you to Convert Push To Talk calls to Voice Calls
Stereo Bluetooth
Built in GPS
Instant Message (IM) style texting
2 Mega pixel camera
Extended battery life
To coincide with the launch TELUS and Motorola have setup a new contest. All you have to do is head on over to noordinaryphone.com and tell them about your ‘tough day’. A weekly winner will receive a Motorola Brute i680, valued at $429.99. For a quick preview, check out the promo vid above.
A recent OTA from the big pink magenta gave some Cliq users issues after the install. The update has since been pulled, and is no longer being sent out to users. While there has been no official word from either T-Mobile (NYSE: DT), or Motorola (NYSE: MOT), if you are a Cliq owner, and receive the OTA, it may be in your best interest to not go through with it.
Now this is not the first time that an OTA update has F’ed, or just partially F’ed an Android device. The ‘update’ seemed to do the exact opposite of the name is bears. The ‘update’ backdated the phones to December 31st, 1969 –7PM to be exact. For those who don’t speak UNIX, the date is the equivalent to ‘zero’ in the language. Users were unable to change the time or the date on their devices, which caused syncing issues. Other problems reported were significant lag throughout the SMS application, virtual keyboard issues, and problems logging into their MotoBlur account.
The closest to thing to an ‘official’ statement we’ve got is from a moderator from the T-Mobile forums:
Hi Everybody! Thanks everyone for informing us on what the latest Motorola Cliq OTA update has brought to light. We want to let everyone know that we have been reading your comments, and we hear you. We have forwarded your concerns to the appropriate people and are working hard on them. As of now, we advise you not to Master Reset your phone if your OTA update did not download or if you are experiencing issues at this time. Thank you for using the T-Mobile forums and we will keep you updated as we gather more information.
Let this serve as a warning to those who see a notification to update their device. You best let your friend with the same phone do it first, just to make sure it’s ok. The worst part about the entire thing is that this update wasn’t even Android 2.1. That’s what I’d be mad about.
Well what do we have here? The Nexus One and Motorola Droid running the Mozilla Fennec mobile web browser? Really? Yep!
The folks at Mozilla have posted a few photos of the Droid and Nexus one running a new Android version of Fennec. So what does this mean for you? Absolutely nothing. No release dates have been detailed, all we know is that Fennec is indeed coming soon to Android. It’s always nice to see ’sneak peek’ shots like this, if nothing more than to keep us in the loop on the behind-the-scenes work that is going on. Don’t get too excited for the Android version of Fennec to come any time soon however… If you give the Firefox for Mobile Facebook page, you’ll clearly read that Fennec for Android is a ‘work in progress’ at the moment.
In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Motorola (NYSE: MOT)’s co-CEO Sanjay Jha said the company is open to the idea of making Windows Mobile 7 phones. No details were given, and I’m guessing they wait to see how things are shaping up.
If you remember, Motorola has focused all its attention to Android, effectively dumping Windows Mobile and Symbian UIQ
In the same interview, Sanjay Jha talks about the MOTOBLUR interface and plans to bring it beyond mobile to set-top boxes. The move will make this traditionally simple devices (though they were getting more complicated after the “TiVo revolution”) more complex with the introduction of social networking features. Such social networking-enabled set-top boxes could appear as early as this year, or eventually in 2011.
And if you don’t know, MOTOBLUR runs on top of Android OS on several Motorola smartphones such as CLIQ/DEXT, BACKFLIP, DEVOUR and CLIQ XT/QUENCH, allowing users to keep up with their social networking activities across services like Facebook and Twitter.
Even die-hard Android fans have to admit that the iPhone and iPod Touch blow it out of the water when it comes to gaming. During a podcast with the Motorola (NYSE: MOT)’s Developer blog, the folks at Bendroid had some interesting things to say about the challenges of creating complex games for Android, as well as the potential for Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s mobile platform.
Bendroid makes a series of games called Mystique and these are atmospheric mystery games. I downloaded the latest version (the trailer is embedded below) and was a bit surprised at how good it looked. I don’t do a ton of gaming on my Droid beyond my SNES emulator, but Mystique Chapter 3 was delivering PlayStation-like graphics at a smooth clip.
Vadim Melnov, Bendroid’s lead developer, said the problem with most Android games is that publishers just try and quickly port over a Web or iPhone game to get some additional money or recognition. The Mystique series was specifically crafted for Google’s platform, and it was built entirely with Java and the Android software development kit. This makes the graphics even more impressive because it doesn’t utilize the native development kit.
The Mystique games are becoming increasingly complex, Melnov said. The first game took about a week to build, the second took a month, and the latest chapter took about two months. Mystique 3 was originally about 15 MB but Melnov said this was shaved down to 7 MB in order to be more palatable for devices like the G1.
As Android grows in popularity with handset makers, developers will increasingly face fragmentation. Melnov described overcoming this as “painful” and that it’s “not unsolvable, but it’s hard.” The various developer forums were helpful and he was effusive in his praise for DeviceAnywhere, which provides app testing on a wide variety of handsets. Melnov also said Google offers multiple resources to help developers properly utilize OpenGL ES for 3D graphics.
While it is still way too early to consider Android a viable gaming alternative to the iPhone, it’s good to see that some competition is looming. The Game Developer Conference is coming up in a few weeks and I’ll be on the lookout for interesting Android games. The three Mystique games are available on the Android Market now, and range from free to $2.99.
T-Mobile USA gained 371,000 subscribers for the fourth quarter but the majority of these were the less-lucrative prepaid customers. The company is still squarely in fourth place with 33.8 million customers, while Verizon and AT&T (NYSE: T) remain the big dogs with 91.2 million and 85.1 million subscribers, respectively. Sprint (NYSE: S)’s customers have been leaving in droves over the last few years but it still has 48.1 million customers.
Overall, T-Mobile added 488,000 prepaid customers but lost 117,000 contract subscribers. This led to lower net income and revenue compared to the same period last year. The average revenue per user was $46 for the quarter, down from $50 for the fourth quarter of 2008.
On the positive side, the company has seen a considerable uptick in 3G devices like the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Cliq, BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Bold 9700 and myTouch 3G. I’ve been really impressed with the company’s 3G rollout – even if it can be inconsistent - because it has gone from essentially having no 3G network a few years ago to covering more than 205 million people. It also lit up the super-fast HSPA+ network in Philadelphia and this will eventually spread to other markets.
“This renewed competitive network strength coupled with the strong value of our new Even More value rate plans, which offer unsubsidized handset options and no contracts, puts T-Mobile in a new competitive position to drive increasing data usage and entice quality customers to T-Mobile,” said Robert Dotson, T-Mobile’s CEO, in a written statement.
T-Mobile is probably right to go after the prepaid markets because it should be a major area of growth with geeky smartphone enthusiasts and low-end users who just want to make calls without a contract. I’m not sure if this strategy can provide the type of long-term revenue needed to compete against the big boys though, and this may lead to more rumors of a spinoff from Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT).
I thought it would be prudent to do a proper introduction as I’m the new guy and you’ll be seeing my mug around here a lot. I’m a tech reporter who’s written about mobiles for InformationWeek, CNET, Androinica, Know Your Cell and various other sites.
I’ve spent a ton of time thinking about smartphones and how these can impact our daily lives and find it fascinating that what used to be far-out concepts are now in our pockets. I think the proliferation of these always-connected devices is leading to an incredibly innovative period that’s akin to the first Web boom. We’re just at the beginning too. Once the 4G networks get rolled out and smartphones go super mainstream, we’ll see some mind-blowing stuff and you can be damn sure I’ll do my best to cover it.
I rock a Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid, but have had Windows Mobile phones, BlackBerrys and I keep current with all the major platforms. I like to cover some of the bigger issue stories that let me be a blowhard about things like the national broadband plan, carrier developments and the platform wars. Don’t get me wrong though, I still get a giddy thrill out of a cool app and will not hesitate to describe a phone as sexy.
Outside of the tech sphere, I love talking about the NBA (go Lakers), nitpicking the finer points of local politics and checking out bands. If you ever want to drop me a line, send me a tip, or tell me I suck, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at marin@intomobile, tweet me @marinperez, message me on Facebook, or swing by my crummy site.
The FCC is looking to free up to 500 megahertz of spectrum for wireless broadband over the next ten years and it will try to buy the airwaves from broadcasters. The move would help avert what FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski calls a “spectrum crisis” that could leave data-hungry mobile devices like the iPhone, Droid, and 3G-enabled laptops starving for wireless data
AT&T (NYSE: T), for example, has seen a 5,000% increase in mobile data usage over the last three years thanks to the iPhone. Existing airwave holders like Fox, NBC, and ABC will be able to voluntarily give up spectrum for a cut of the auction proceeds. Genachowski is also looking to cut the regulatory red tape that is required for carriers to roll out these new services, which should make AT&T, Sprint (NYSE: S), T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) very happy.
“Spectrum – our airwaves – really is the oxygen of mobile broadband service,” Genachowski said in a prepared statement Wednesday. “Without sufficient spectrum, we will starve mobile broadband of the nourishment it needs to thrive as a platform for innovation, job creation and economic growth.”
It’s not going to be easy though because the broadcasters don’t appear eager to give up spectrum. In an official response to the FCC, the National Association of Broadcasters said its members are the most efficient spectrum users and that local TV stations just gave up about a quarter of spectrum in the digital TV transition.
I think the proliferation of mobile broadband is the next-generation highway system, that is, infrastructure that sets the nation up for long-term growth. I understand sheer land size is an issue but it’s embarrassing how far the United States lags behind other countries in broadband penetration and speeds. Opening up more spectrum will also mean a faster rollout of WiMax and LTE and then we’ll really start seeing some innovative developments in the mobile world. It’s going to be hard to pry away spectrum from the broadcasters, but it’s something that has to be done.
It looks like AT&T (NYSE: T)’s network upgrades are paying off, as the carrier’s 3G network bested Sprint (NYSE: S), T-Mobile (NYSE: DT), and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) in PCWorld’s 13-city mobile data test.
The report said AT&T’s download speeds were 67 percent faster on average than its competitors, with an average download speed of 1410 kbps and 773 kbps upload. This is a major turnaround for AT&T because it performed poorly in a similar test conducted last spring. Last spring, testers could only access AT&T’s 3G network 64 percent of the time, but that number increased to 94 percent in the latest go around.
There’s a lot of griping from iPhone users in San Francisco and New York but the test said the iPhone/AT&T combo outperformed any other combination on other carriers. “AT&T connected the iPhone at an average download speed of 1259 kbps, and an average upload speed of 215 kbps over the13 testing cities,” PCWorld said in its report.
On the opposite side, Verizon’s average download speeds decreased by 8 percent. Big Red’s reliability did improve though, but it appears to be struggling to keep up with the demand of data-hungry devices like the Droid. PCWorld said the Droid rarely delivered the promised upload speeds of 500 kbps and the average upload speed was a meager 116 kbps.
Sprint remains solid by providing 795 kbps down and 296 kbps up. T-Mobile seems to be doing a good job of growing its mobile broadband network, as testers even clocked average download speed of 3 mbps in New York. This was only for a one-minute test though, so don’t get your hopes up as T-Mobile averaged 868 kbps down and 311 kbps up. The test also found T-Mobile’s network to be a bit inconsistent, so it will be interesting to watch how the HSPA+ upgrade goes.
The report tested mobile data connection speeds of laptops and smartphones in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New Orleans, New York City, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle.
Motorola (NYSE: MOT) CEO Sanjay Jha has let slip that they’re open to the possibility of making a Windows Mobile 7 device. Last year, Motorola confirmed that they weren’t giving up on WinMo and analysts agreed that Android alone wouldn’t be enough to save Motorola, but it’s still surprising since every one of Motorola’s smartphones within recent memory have been Android-powered.
If you hadn’t had a chance, check out Windows Phone Series 7 – it’s considerably sexier than the WinMo of yore, and it makes sense that Motorola would want to pick up the platform and support it alongside their aggressive Android efforts. I’m concerned, though, that Motorola would be splitting their focus if they picked up WinMo again – Blur is generally solid, and unless they can faithfully recreate it on 7, future development on the custom service and interface could be slowed down. In any case, it sounds like Jha is simply entertaining the possibility for now – we’ll have to see if that actually amounts to anything in the next couple of months.
