CES was busy with plenty of news, so Will and I take ten minutes to run through some of the more interesting items at the show, including new devices, apps, and technologies. Yeah, it’s a little short (especially for CES when so much was going on), and the lighting’s not so hot, and the audio could have been a bit clearer, but damnit, we were determined to do our first video podcast from that awesome view of The Strip. We’re playing with the idea of doing a vidcast regularly as part of The Signal, but for the first go, we didn’t want to make you sit in front of our ugly mugs for a full half-hour. Let us know what you think of the format, and if it’s something you dig, we’ll take another stab at it soon. Would you show up to a livestream?
Surely you’ll want the full low-down on CES 2010, so hit the jump for all of the big mobile news from the show.
Hope you’ve all recovered from New Years festivities, because CES is next week…
Alright everybody, holidays are over – big mobile news is coming from all directions next week, and we’ve got to shake off the eggnog and keep our heads straight. Will joins us for the first post-holiday podcast, and we talk about a lot of what’s coming at the Consumer Electronics show, namely the new Nexus One from Google (NSDQ: GOOG), T-Mobile (NYSE: DT), and HTC. iTablet rumours have persisted throughout December, and we talk a bit about their repercussions and solidity. Verizon (NYSE: VZ) has been having a bit of a squabble with the FCC regarding increased ETF rates, so Will and I talk about consumer rights, and commercial imperative.
Of course, nobody walks away from The Signal without having a chance at some free loot. This go-around, we have a free subscription to NBA’s League Pass Mobile service, which lets you watch games (both live and replay) and catch scores from your iPhone or Android device. For your chance to win a season pass, just retweet this post using that little button at the bottom.
AT&T (NYSE: T) is reworking their data pricing to fix network congestion – how will subscribers react?
Updated: Sorry for the technical difficulties, if you were trying to download – we were having some hosting issues. Everything should be good to go again now.
Will’s back this week to talk about AT&T’s plan to “incentivize” lower data usage so their wireless network doesn’t suck so hard. While it’s not as direct a solution as, say, fixing the network itself, a tiered system might just give AT&T that extra bit of wriggle room it needs to get its crap together. The iPhone is supposedly to blame for the congestion, and given the rumours of a new iPhone beginning production, that pressure isn’t going to let up. A massive HTC leak also hit this week, featuring a pretty even mix of Android and Windows Mobile devices, and we also touch briefly on Samsung’s announcement of their new Bada operating system (though we don’t have much to run on).
Giveaways, you ask? Well, we’ve got that big honkin’ Holiday Giveaway Blowout, if you haven’t noticed. Handsets, cases, speakers, and accessories of every description are on the table, and they’re all going to find a home somewhere in the U.S. for the holidays. We already have a ton of entrants, but with so many prizes to give away, your odds of winning something are pretty dang good. Hit up our entry post for the full details. We’re adding stuff intermittently, so be sure to check the list regularly, and if you happen to be with an app developer, accessory or cell phone manufacturer, we can always use more stuff for the pile – ping us through the contact form to set something up.
Stefan and I run down a whole lot of mobile banking news in this week’s podcast. The new startup Square and their 3.5mm-based peripheral take up the bulk of our interest, but we explore SMS, NFC, QR, and straight-up application-based solutions and which works where. We also talk a bit about the HTC Touch.b, and how snazzy BREW looks on there.
As for giveaways, Super Monkey Ball 2 for the iPhone just came out, and we have an iTunes coupon code for one lucky U.S. listener. It’s got four-way multiplayer over Wi-Fi, along with the classic accelerometer-based puzzle gaming – just retweet using that button at the bottom, and you’ll be entered to win.
Put down the drumstick, put on your headphones, and pick up the drumstick again.
Since Will is off enjoying delicious mountains of mashed potatoes, gravy and turkey this week, Stefan and I handle the week’s wireless news. There’s not too much going on, but it’s mostly Android related. Analysts dig up GPhone rumours once more, so we go over why it’s a terrible idea, and there’s also concern about Gameloft’s involvement with Android, and whether or not the iPhone is too big for developers to ignore. Stefan also gives us his take on the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) X6 that’s now shipping, which is ample opportunity to rip into Comes with Music a little more.
In terms of giveaways, we have a grand total of fifteen iSkins for BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) to hand out. iSkins offer stylish protection for your phone, U.S. readers who have a Bold 9000, Curve 8900, or Storm 9530/9500, just have to hit that retweet button at the bottom of the post and they’re entered to win. Don’t retweet it any ol’ way, though – we gotta keep track of who’s entered using the same URL.
Between the opening of the Marketplace for Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1, and some leaks about the upcoming version 7, it sounds like Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) is getting ready for a big push. Will is out judging Under the Radar, but we tap Windows Mobile blogger and Microsoft MVP Darren Humphries from MobileJaw for his take on the platform in the face of fresh competition on the smartphone circuit. We also talk about legal squabbles between carriers over “misleading” ads.
Of course, we never want to leave our listeners empty-handed – this week we’re giving out a Scosche reCOIL to one commenter in the U.S. It’s handy, simple car charger for the iPhone whose cable is retractable for easy stowing when not in use. Normally it retails for $29.99, but you can nab it for free just by leaving a comment.
BBDC was unexpectedly busy – hear how the devs feel about it all!
If you haven’t been following, the 2009 BlackBerry Developer Conference was the source of a lot of big announcements, like OpenGL support enabling some rich 3D graphics, an Adobe partnership that cements Flash on BlackBerry, and a long-overdue LinkedIn app. This episode of The Signal focuses a lot on themes, as we have the fine folks from BlackBerry Theme Park and themes4bb giving us our take on the new Theme Builder Studio. The winner of the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) (NSDQ: RIMM) Partner’s Fund challenge, James Shannon from DevelopIQ, gives us some feedback from the app developer side, and how all of the various announcements impact the 7digital music store. No conference is complete without hooking up with some fellow bloggers – Ronen Halevy from BerryReview and Kevin Michaluk from CrackBerry weigh in on the show overall, and what RIM’s future with developers is looking like.
At points it’s a little technical, but if you’re into BlackBerry, development, or user interface stuff, this is the podcast for you. Hit the jump!
Sorry about the audio quality, it was tricky finding a quiet spot to record.
Two more Canadian HSPA networks = a whole lot more devices
Bell and telus (NYSE: TU) both kicked off their HSPA networks this week, with a lot of new phones to take advantage. Of course, in the U.S., droid mania has kicked in, and we give some thoughts and impressions of the HTC Eris.
On the giveaway chopping block, we’ve got the smooth, simple Motorola H790 Bluetooth headset for one lucky U.S. commenter in this very post.
Motorola (NYSE: MOT)’s back in the game with droid.
Motorola’s droid launch captures all of our attention this week, spanning from hands-on impressions of the hardware, Android 2.0 and what the freshly-included turn-by-turn navigation system means for traditional PNDs. So far, the Motorola’s will be the Android handset to beat, but Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE)’s X10 may very quickly grab that claim.
As usual, we’ve got some toys to giveaway: two Tenqa stereo Bluetooth speakers, so you can stream your tunes from your phone out to whatever room suits your fancy. Entry criteria are a little bit different, this round, though; instead of leaving a comment, you’re going to have to listen to the podcast for our secret password, then e-mail it to podcast contest@intomobile.com. Odds of winning are good, since we have both the SP-109 and the SP-99 to hand out. So, get listening and keep your ears open.
Sorry for the delay, y’all – between recovering from CTIA, and some technical difficulties, the podcast fell to the wayside for a few weeks, but we’re back on track now.
San Diego had a few treats in store for us, like the Samsung Moment and the Behold II, but there was a lot happening with T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) both before and after CTIA: the details of Project Dark came to light, so Will and I hashed out what hardware financing means for American wireless (mostly good things). On the downside, T-Mobile Sidekick data outage was a big blow to the brand’s credibility, and we wonder if cloud computing really is all it’s cracked up to be.
Of course we have more toys to give away – this time two pairs of in-ear headphones from Ifroz, specifically the EarPollution Timbres, with in-line microphone. Wooden gadgets are pretty sweet in terms of style alone, but in terms of sound quality, reviewers have been largely happy with ‘em. They normally retail for $49.99, but you can get two chances to win by A) dropping a comment in this podcast post, and B) tweeting using the hastag #intomobile. U.S. readers only please, international shipping will cost as much as the headphones themselves.
Alright everybody, holidays are over – big mobile news is coming from all directions next week, and we’ve got to shake off the eggnog and keep our heads straight. Will joins us for the first post-holiday podcast, and we talk about a lot of what’s coming at the Consumer Electronics show, namely the new Nexus One from Google (
Since Will is off enjoying delicious mountains of mashed potatoes, gravy and turkey this week, Stefan and I handle the week’s wireless news. There’s not too much going on, but it’s mostly Android related. Analysts dig up GPhone rumours once more, so we go over why it’s a terrible idea, and there’s also concern about Gameloft’s involvement with Android, and whether or not the iPhone is too big for developers to ignore. Stefan also gives us his take on the Nokia (
Between the opening of the Marketplace for Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1, and some leaks about the upcoming version 7, it sounds like Microsoft (
Two more Canadian HSPA networks = a whole lot more devices
Motorola’s 
