As promised, the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N86 is now available at Rogers (NYSE: RCI) for $99.99 on a three-year contract after rebates. That price point is a sweet spot for a handset with an impressive 8 megapixel camera, full-bodied smartphone OS, and a form factor that still appeals to the feature phone crowd. Rogers is really going to have to bring it with their holiday lineup if they’re hoping to compete with the impressive selection Bell and telus are offering thanks to their shiny new HSPA networks. If Rogers’ “webphones” campaign pimping out the Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) X1, LG Eve, BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Bold 9000, and the HTC Magic is their big holiday push, it’s clear they’re more interested in beating competitors on pricing rather than highest-end hardware. Interesting strategy – we’ll see if it pays off. You can pick up the Rogers N86 online right now, or check out our review before taking the plunge.
That ain’t a knife… that’s a BlackBerry 9700! That’s exactly what Paul Hogan will say, the moment he walks into a Telstra store in Australia. At least that’s the event playing out in my head at the moment. Oh, that’d be awesome.
Why all the Crocodile Dundee nonsense? Because the Australian carrier Telstra has launched the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Bold 9700 of course! Australians can now get their hands on the latest edition of the Bold, for a whopping $999 Australian dollars. Just a tad expensive, for sure… However keep in mind that Telstra allows repayment over a period of two years.
To all of my Australian friends out there… Are you really going to pick up the new Bold for $999? Too expensive for your blood, or is this just the way things roll down under?
Mobile Radio lovers with a BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) on their hip will want to take note of a Pandora Radio update. A new and very incremental version has been released for BlackBerry, moving the app to version 1.1.2.1. If you’ve never used Pandora before, it’s quite the powerful radio app. Check ‘er out.
As per usual, no changelog was made available with this incremental update… But I’d have to suspect the usual bevy of tweaks and bug fixes have been addressed to help make your experience that much better.
You can grab the latest version from your BlackBerry via Pandora.com.
Along with the Nokia 6700 Slide that was announced today, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) also unveiled the 7230. This 100 EUR ($150) dumb phone has a 2.4 inch screen with 240 x 320 pixels of resolution and 262,000 colours, a 3.2 megapixel camera, 860 mAh battery, quadband GSM/EDGE, and triband WCDMA. There will be a WCDMA 850/1900/2100 MHz version for North America, and a WCDMA 900/1900/2100 MHz version for the rest of the world. You also get a 3.5 mm headphone jack, perfect for listening to your music on the go. Other than that … nothing else is really exciting about this device. Expect it to hit the market in the first quarter of 2010.
Yesterday I told you about some rumored T-Mobile holiday deals… and wouldn’t you know it, not long after that one of the fine folks at T-Mo shot me a message to let me know the skinny for Black Friday. So, without further adieu, here is what T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) will have up for offer this Friday:
Motorola (NYSE: MOT) CLIQ with MOTOBLUR – $149.99 with a two-year service agreement (after $50 off)
BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Bold 9700 with Wi-Fi Calling – $149.99 with a two-year service agreement (after $50 off)
Samsung Highlight – $49.99 with a two-year service agreement (after $50 off)
So there you have it… straight from the horses mouth… or something. These deals will be available to both new and existing T-Mobile customers.
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has just announced the 6700 Slide, a Symbian powered smartphone coming to market in the first quarter of 2010 for 160 EUR ($240) before taxes and subsidies. For that amount of money you get a 5 megapixel camera, 2.2 inch screen with 240 x 320 pixels of resolution, 860 mAh (tiny!) battery, quadband GSM/EDGE support, and triband WCDMA (3.5G) support. There will be a WCDMA 900/1900/2100 MHz version, presumably for Europe, and a 850/1900/2100 MHz version, perfect for the USA. There is no GPS, nor is there WiFi. Let me repeat that: no GPS, no WiFi. It’s only 110 grams, 15.9 mm thick, 95.2 mm long (in the closed position), and 46 mm wide. It has support for FM radio, 16 GB microSD cards, Bluetooth 2.1, and microUSB (unspecified whether or not this can be used to charge the device). There is no 3.5 mm headphone jack so forget about using this thing to replace your MP3 player.
And speaking about MP3 players, let’s be honest, doesn’t this thing look like a Microsoft Zune?
ZTE is working on the MTV-branded handset, or at least the FCC filing suggests so. It’s marked as the F870E, and it boasts a touchscreen along with a sliding QWERTY keyboard.
From the phone’s user manual, we see that it’s heading to Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), as it provides access to Vodafone’s MTV Music and the Vodafone Pass MTV websites. That makes me wonder – if it’s a Vodafone device, why on Earth does it need to get an FCC approval? Go figure.
Anyway, rest of the specs include a 3-megapixel camera, FM radio, Bluetooth, email client and so on.
We don’t know the release date nor how much will the F870E cost once it’s released. We do, however, think it will also be launched in China by China Unicom, as some screenshots indicate. As soon as we hear something new, you’ll be the first to know…
Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is acquiring iDEN business from RadioFrame Networks, which is known as a provider of lower cost, power efficient iDEN technology. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but we do know RadioFrame Networks’ stuff will be integrated into Motorola’s Home & Networks Mobility business.
According to the official press release, RadioFrame’s iDEN products will “further enhance Motorola’s portfolio for multi-channel base stations optimized to support non-contiguous spectrum allocations in the special mobile radio (SMR) business that are especially common outside North America.”
Moreover, Motorola says that with this acquisition, it can further enhance its push-to-talk technology roadmap plans for “strengthened operational capability, end-user functionality and cost-effective expansion.”
I’m not sure I agree with Moto’s strategy to invest in iDEN technology with LTE rollouts already being planned around the world. Any thoughts?
The Verizon Samsung Omnia II’s launch isn’t going to be exciting just for Windows Mobile fans, it’s going to be exciting for anyone that’s been to Swype’s continuous finger-motion typing interface. That’s because Verizon (NYSE: VZ)’s Samsung Omnia II will be the first production device to support the innovative Swype typing interface, which Samsung has dubbed “Genius Texting.” Rather than having you tap our individual letters on an on-screen keyboard to form words, Swype allows the user to trace paths between those letters. The software analyzes your finger’s path to determine your desired word, increasing accuracy and increasing your typing speed.
The Swype-powered “Genius Texting” feature will be built into the Omnia II when it launches next month. The innovative keyboard still allows you to tap out words like you’re probably used to doing on a touchscreen smartphone. Should you feel so inclined, you can start tracing your word with a single continuous “swipe” motion. Gestures are also supported for tasks like capitalizing a letter – just swipe an upside down “V” motion onto the keyboard and off you go!
Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional might not be enough to get you to buy the Omnia II, but Swype’s new keyboard sure makes a strong case for putting an Omnia II in your pocket. Or, if Android’s more your style, we’re hearing that Swype will soon make its way to your favorite Google (NSDQ: GOOG) mobile OS. Word on the street has Swype hitting the Android platform in the first quarter of 2010.
Say good-bye to the decades-old typing paradigm and make room for the new wave of Swype-powered keyboards!
The growing popularity of the iPhone platform can only mean one thing. Nope, it has nothing to do with the flakiness of AT&T (NYSE: T)’s 3G network in San Francisco. It means that we’ll be seeing more iPhone security threats rearing their ugly heads. A new variant of the original “Ikee” iPhone worm, dubbed “Ikee-B,” targets jailbroken iPhones with unsecured SSH passwords. The new Ikee-B worm infects susceptible iPhones and lies hidden until the user visits Dutch bank ING’s website. Once logged in, Ikee-B steals passwords and financial information.
To be clear, only jailbroken iPhones with default SSH passwords are vulnerable to the Ikee-B worm. Previous iPhone attacks demonstrated the need for jailbroken iPhone users to change the default password, but it’s apparently still a big enough security hole to inspire this new bit of malware. Even worse, this version of the worm isn’t just going to “Rick Roll” your homescreen, it has the potential to drain your bank account.
Now, before you panic, keep in mind that Ikee-B is only being reported in The Netherlands. It’s possible that the worm could make its way to other European countries and Australia. More importantly, you can close your jailbroken iPhone’s vulnerability by changing your default SSH password. We have instructions on how to do that here.
As promised, the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N86 is now available at Rogers (NYSE: RCI) for $99.99 on a three-year contract after rebates. That price point is a sweet spot for a handset with an impressive 8 megapixel camera, full-bodied smartphone OS, and a form factor that still appeals to the feature phone crowd. Rogers is really going to have to bring it with their holiday lineup if they’re hoping to compete with the impressive selection Bell and telus are offering thanks to their shiny new HSPA networks. If Rogers’ “webphones” campaign pimping out the Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) X1, LG Eve, BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Bold 9000, and the HTC Magic is their big holiday push, it’s clear they’re more interested in beating competitors on pricing rather than highest-end hardware. Interesting strategy – we’ll see if it pays off. You can pick up the Rogers N86 online right now, or check out our review before taking the plunge.
Mobile Radio lovers with a BlackBerry (
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The growing popularity of the iPhone platform can only mean one thing. Nope, it has nothing to do with the flakiness of AT&T (
