A tough, useful little flip has been announced on Verizon (NYSE: VZ) called the Casio G’zOne Rock. It had been previously spotted on a leaked roadmap, but few specifics were available.This phone looks like it would be a hikers dream, complete with compass, walking counter, thermometer, astro calendar, sunrise/sunset and tides apps to keep you oriented in the wild. It also features push-to-talk over EV-DO rev. A, a 2 megapixel camera, and meets MIL-STD-810F-grade ruggedization for impact, vibration, water, dust, extreme temperatures and just about anything else you could throw at it. The Rock joins the Boulder and Type-S in the G’zOne family of rugged handsets, but it’s tough to draw any real differentiation between them. The Casio Rock will run you $199.99 on contract after rebates starting tomorrow – just keep an eye out on the VZ store to pick it up.

[via Verizon]

Could it be that the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre and Pixi are coming to TELUS (NYSE: TU) for Canadian consumption? That’s what I’ve been hearing recently.

As we all know, the Palm Pixi is due to hit Sprint for our American friends on November 15th… the date is really sneaking up on us, it’s less than a week away now… the Palm Pre has been available for some time now in the US, and Bell has been toting the Pre up in Canada for a little while now too. Those that have the Pre generally love the device, but I know there are some that would like to see the Pre hit more than one carrier… and that’s what we’re going to see in Canada in 2010.

With TELUS rumored to pick up the Pixi and Pre in early 2010, TELUS has, in a nutshell, upped their game. Just check out the list of devices TELUS is currently offering, a list which must have Rogers (NYSE: RCI) shaking just a little bit in their shiny red boots:

• iPhone 3G and 3GS
• HTC Hero
• Nokia E71
• BlackBerry Bold 9700
• BlackBerry Tour 9630

Put these devices together with a solid new HSPA+ network and a dash of extra Android love with the Motorola Milestone (coming soon too), the Palm Pre and Pixi are going to make TELUS the favorite for my recently fabricated ‘Most Awesome Canadian Carrier’ in 2010.

TELUS, all the stuff you’ve been doing recently… yeah, just keep doing it.

Clearwire finally looks poised to go nationwide with their 4G WiMAX network. The company announced today that it has secured an additional $1.5 billion in funding from its partners to help build out the Clearwire network. Clearwire has been pushing to get their 4G WiMAX network up and running throughout the US, but it’s been a slow process. It takes a lot (seriously, a LOT) of money to build out wireless network infrastructure, money that Clearwire doesn’t necessarily have on tap. Sprint (NYSE: S), somehow, does have the money.

Most of the $1.5 billion comes from Sprint Nextel, which is putting up $1.176 billion in additional funds. Despite quarterly losses that just keep adding up, Sprint is fully invested in the Clearwire network. Sprint has majority interest in Clearwire. The carrier donated its own WiMAX assets to Clearwire as part of a deal that would allow Sprint to use Clearwire’s WiMAX network for its own 4G wireless broadband service. And, with their wireless voice business hurting, Sprint really needs WiMAX to be a success.

In comparison, big-name backers like Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Intel will be giving Clearwire $196 million, $103 million and $50 million, respectively. In that light, it’s clear that Sprint is committed to pushing WiMAX to every corner of the US. Let’s just hope it works out.

[Via: paidcontent]

Some very interesting coverage maps have leaked out from Bell… They clearly show Bell’s new HSPA+ coverage areas in all of its ‘blue’ glory. While not really coast-to-coast (c’mon Bell, what about Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northern Ontario, and the territories???), check out the dominance Bell appears to have over Rogers (NYSE: RCI). I’d love to attest to the fact that these maps are correct, and while I have little doubt that they are, I’d love to hear from folks in the areas shown here to confirm these claims.

By the looks of things Bell is slapping Rogers in the face continually. It is no contest at the moment.

Rogers I’m looking at you…what’s your next move? Have a Rebuttal?

Note: If you’re looking at these maps and are thinking ‘jeez, there sure are a lot of white areas with zero coverage’… you’re right. Canada is a freakin’ HUGE country, and there are a lot of ‘bald spots’ with little to no population… only beautiful Canadian wilderness. That’s the deal.

[Via: MobileSyrup]

Gotta love it when carriers update their networks for a faster and better mobile experience. Case-in-point today comes Hong Kong’s SmarTone-Vodafone (NYSE: VOD). They’ve announced the launch of their HSPA+ network upgrade. The upgrade (in theory) brings peak network speeds of 21 Mbps.

Douglas Li, CEO of SmarTone-Vodafone commented on the upgrade:

“SmarTone-Vodafone will continue upgrading network speeds to 28 Mbps and 42 Mbps next year, paving the way for 80 Mbps and even higher speeds with implementation of LTE…We are firmly committed to delivering best-in-market broadband services and customers will love the difference.”

Besides the groovy network upgrade, SmarTone-Vodafone has introduced 3 new mobile broadband price plans as well. The new plans are designed to meet customers’ different needs. The new ‘Power 3′ plan provides usable speeds of 2.3 Mbps, the ‘Power 7′ offers 2.6 Mbps, and the ‘Power 21′ plan brings speeds of 2-14 Mbps. Depending on your requirements and needs, it looks like SmarTone-Vodafone has a plan tailored for folks in Hong Kong.

[Via: Cellular-News]

Bell has today gone ahead and flipped the switch on their brand new HSPA network. Coupled with telus (NYSE: TU) launching their own tomorrow, Rogers (NYSE: RCI) will no longer have a lockdown on hot GSM handsets like the iPhone, and Canadians will get some much-needed choice in service providers. The only devices Bell was forthcoming about before today’s announcement were an HSPA+ internet stick, and MiFi mobile hotspot, but they have really opened up both barrels with their full HSPA family. Earlier today, you might have heard about the Bell BlackBerry Bold 9700, but there’s also the original Bold 9000 for $249.95 on contract, the LG Xenon (simple, full-QWERTY slider; $89.95 on contract), the Nokia 2730 (standard candybar; $29.95 on contract), the Samsung omnia II (touchscreen slate running Windows Mobile with TouchWiz 2.0; $199.95 on contract), Samsung Impact (A.K.A Highlight, touchscreen slate with voice and motion-controlled UI; $79.95 on contract), and of course, the beloved iPhone 3GS.

On top of devices, Bell is also announcing a new HSPA video calling service available on the omnia II and Xenon that not only works with other capable phones, but also through a Facebook app. Overall, this is a huge step for Bell and Canadian wireless overall, and it’s not over yet – we’ll be hearing more about telus‘ HSPA  grand opening tomorrow. For a closer look at Bell’s full lineup, check their online store, or their HSPA landing page for more info on the new network.

[via Bell]

Regular flyers will be familiar with Boingo for their airport Wi-Fi service, but if you’ve seen as many BlackBerrys around the terminals as I have, you’ll know laptops aren’t the only thing Wi-Fi is handy for. Boingo now has a free application that lets you log in to Boingo hotspots (which exist outside the airport too, for the record) on BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM). Supported devices include the Curve 8900, 8320 and Bold 9000, although I have a feeling other Wi-Fi-enabled BlackBerrys with an up-to-date OS will be able to use the app. By the looks of it, BlackBerry was the last one in line for treatment from Boingo – Android, iPhone, S60, and Windows Mobile already have apps ready to go. Wi-Fi service, as usual, costs $7.95 per month for mobile. If you’re a regular user, get downloading the BlackBerry app from mobile.boingo.com.

[via Boingo]

telus (NYSE: TU) announced yesterday a flurry of handsets (including the iPhone 3GS) to launch alongside their brand spanking new HSPA network, leaving a lot of people wondering what Bell will have to offer. Today, they’re only announcing the Novatel MiFi portable hotspot and an HSPA+ capable U998 Turbo Stick, though we have an inkling they’ll also end up getting the iPhone, among other things. If you haven’t seen our review of the MiFi, check it out – it’s essentially a portable Wi-Fi hotspot that shares a 3G cellular connection with 5 other devices. The U998 is an exclusive with Bell, and should rock the 7.2 Mbps wireless internet connection that HSPA+ has to offer. Keep an eye out for both of these, and presumably a batch of new phones, from Bell in November.

[via Bell]

Broadcom (NSDQ: BRCM) has a potentially revolutionary (or that’s just evolutionary) new chip marked as BCM2074, which promises to make Bluetooth headsets better than ever before.

Here are the key features of the BCM2074:

• A significant upgrade to Broadcom’s SmartAudio technology for identifying and filtering out bothersome wind noise, while improving audio quality and clarity through integrated audio processing at the same time.
• Twice as much talk time than headsets currently on the market – BCM2074 uses 50% less power than current technologies!
• “Fast-charge” capability that powers up a headset battery 5 times faster than existing products!
• Integrated Voice Prompt function – enabling the headset to speak to users in multiple languages to inform when the battery charge is running low.

Sounds cool? There’s more – a video demonstration (link) and a full press release after the jump.

Read the full article »

Last week we caught wind of Allerta’s inPulse Bluetooth watch, that would receive notifications of text, e-mail, and phone messages, as well as alarm and calendar alerts from your smartphone. While I was hopeful that it would work with Android and Symbian as hinted at in early demos, they’ve announced the accessory, and for now it’s BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM)-exclusive.

Sure, the watch only works with BlackBerry, but since there’s a handheld-side application, it might simply a matter of creating new apps in order to get the watch to work with different smartphones. I would think such a port would have been much more seamless if they used native, universal Bluetooth profiles like OPP rather than requiring something proprietary running in the background to gobble up memory and even more battery life, but to be fair, I really don’t know the extent of functions that existing profiles provide; maybe a dedicated app will open up the watch to fresh functions more quickly than waiting on the Bluetooth SIG to provide new profiles. Judging from the graphics, it looks like Allerta is hoping to include twitter, weather, RSS and IM into the mix in the future.

As promising as inPulse is, I really hope RIM can man up and make their own – the Prada Link shows that there’s a lot of branding synergy with accessories like this, and that making something with universal connectivity is entirely possible. RIM already has the watch-side software down pat with the external display on the Pearl Flip, it’s just a matter of cramming it into a new form factor and dropping the finished product into their continually-growing accessory lineup.

In any case, if you’re already sold on the inPulse, you can get your preorder on with $149 in hand, and sit by your mailbox for it this February. You can also check out their blog for regular updates.