BlackBerry Storm gets a freshly leaked upgrade to OS 5.0
September 30, 2009
Filed under: Software, RIM, BlackBerry OS
Will Verizon release an official update to 5.0 for the current generation of the Storm? Maybe — it’s a total crap shoot — but even if they do, your children’s kids could be having midlife crises before it’s actually released considering the glacial pace that Verizon typically gets new hardware and software to market. Of course, that’s partly thanks to an infamously back-breaking testing regimen that helps Verizon consistently earn high marks for network quality and generally keeps customers off the support lines, but for those of us who want nothing more than to live on the edge, it’s good to see that another packaged 5.0 update for the 9530 has hit the wires — this one versioned 5.0.0.230. We imagine this one’s leaps and bounds more stable than the nearly unusable stuff from earlier this summer, and initial reports from users seems to indicate as much — the camera works (always a good thing) and there seem to be countless minor tweaks and repairs that folks are describing as “promising.” As always, your average BlackBerry user who relies on the phone day in and day out might want to wait for something a little less leaky — but like we said, it could be a bit of a wait.
BlackBerry Storm gets a freshly leaked upgrade to OS 5.0 originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple Genius says 30 percent iPhone call drop rate is average in New York
September 30, 2009
Filed under: Handsets, ATT, Apple
[Thanks, Canis]
Apple Genius says 30 percent iPhone call drop rate is average in New York originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Video: Android 1.6 Donut gets jazzy walkthrough, performance and Market tweaks o
September 30, 2009
Filed under: Software, HTC, T-Mobile, Android
Android 1.6 was just released to dev phones, and while you may not have a suitably configured handset to run it, YouTuber arsenito84 does. He’s installed the latest version on his T-Mobile myTouch 3G and was kind enough to create this nine minute video showing each tiny little tweak made to the OS. There’s not much in the way of presentation updates, most changes going on behind the scenes, particularly when it comes to performance. Those improvements are definitely noticeable when it comes to scrolling through apps, but the new Android Market is also on display, and the photo and video capturing has been improved. Why, the phone even does a fine job of loading up this very website, though scrolling is less than smooth. Still no firm word on when your average user will be able to get their Donut on, but if earlier reports are to believed it could be within a month.
Video: Android 1.6 Donut gets jazzy walkthrough, performance and Market tweaks on display originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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New Zealand making drivers with cellphone navigation criminals, hugs ok for now
September 29, 2009
Filed under: Handsets
Starting in November, use of your cellphone’s GPS navigation capabilities will be illegal for drivers on New Zealand roadways while dedicated SatNav devices without voice capability are still ok. In fact, use of your modern cellphone as an in-vehicle MP3 player, compass, etc. will all be illegal under Road User Amendment Rule 2009. Here’s how it reads currently:
“A driver mustn’t, while driving a vehicle, create, send, or read a text message on a mobile phone or make, receive, or terminate a telephone call on a mobile phone or use a mobile phone in any other way.”
A law this broad would also make your car’s integrated cellphone entertainment system illegal. There are exceptions of course, one of which grants drivers to use a mobile phone to make, receive, or terminate a telephone call if the phone is mounted in the vehicle and the driver “manipulates the phone infrequently and briefly,” although studies have already concluded that hands-free solutions are still distracting and thus, hazardous. Yeah, the whole thing sounds arbitrary, over-reaching, and completely unenforceable to us as well.
Update: Put down the pitchforks and torches, it looks like the law is already en route for amendment to allow cellphone “satellite navigation or music functions.”
[Via Stuff, image courtesy of joannapapa5100]
New Zealand making drivers with cellphone navigation criminals, hugs ok for now (updated) originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 05:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Motorola prepping new low-end WX series?
September 28, 2009
Filed under: Handsets, Motorola, GSM
Motorola’s already got a low-end series whose members are identified with the letter W at the start of the model name (take T-Mobile’s W233 Renew, for instance), so we’re not sure if they’ll be going away or if Moto wants to slot in another ultra-low-end range below it — but one way or another, mobil.cz seems to have the inside line on a new WX series that’s on its way to market. We’re speaking about seriously basic stuff here: tiny cameras, tiny to no internal storage, small displays, and in the case of the one model mobil.cz supposedly has full details on — the WX395 — just dual-band GPRS data on board. Who knew component vendors still made EDGE-less 2G chipsets? No word on availability for these, but we don’t think these are the kinds of phones you cross off days on a calendar for anyhow.
Motorola prepping new low-end WX series? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Ballmer: Windows Mobile 7 should have been out, like, yesterday
September 28, 2009
Filed under: Handsets, Software, Windows Mobile, Misc
[Via MobileTechWorld]
Ballmer: Windows Mobile 7 should have been out, like, yesterday originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Samsung Trill and Caliber coming to US Cellular
September 28, 2009
Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, EV-DO, CDMA, US Cellular
US Cellular’s just huge enough of a carrier to command a few exclusive handsets of its own — especially from a company like Samsung that somehow manages to announce about fifteen new models a day, 365 days a year (not really, but it’d be simple to think that they did if you didn’t pay attention). Take these two puppies, for example; first up is the music-oriented r520 Trill slider (pictured left), which counts Bang & Olufsen’s ICEpower signal processing and 1GB of onboard memory expandable to a total of 33GB as its headline features. To the right we’ve got the r850 Caliber, a full-touch piece with a 3.2-inch WQVGA display, TouchWiz, a 3 megapixel camera with video capture, and full HTML browsing — not shabby, assuming the price is right. We don’t have pricing or availability on either of these bad boys just yet, but we’ll keep you in the loop.
[Thanks, Doug]
Samsung Trill and Caliber coming to US Cellular originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 02:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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AT&T, Google trade barbs over Google Voice while FCC listens in
September 28, 2009
AT&T filed a scathing letter with the FCC earlier this day complaining that Google’s exhibiting a blatant double standard with Google Voice by blocking customers’ access to numbers hosted by carriers that charge higher interconnect fees — something that’s specifically forbidden for traditional telephone carriers under so-called common carrier laws. The argument essentially revolves around the fact that Google’s move helps it compete unfairly against AT&T and others by arbitrarily blocking calls to numbers that’d cost it too much to connect, which AT&T says puts Google in an “intellectual contradiction” given its “noisome trumpeting” (ouch!) of support for net neutrality.
It is pretty interesting that Google wants a free, open internet with the left hand while it’s blocking certain telephone calls with the other, but Mountain View wasted no time in responding to the communication, posting an swift blog piece where it states there are “many significant differences” that should exempt it from common carrier legislation (some sound reasonable, though the argument that “Google Voice is currently invitation-only, serving a limited number of users” makes us think they’re digging pretty deep to come up with reasons they shouldn’t have to pony up the cash to get these calls connected).
If there’s a bright side to the bickering, it’s that both AT&T and Google can agree on one thing: rural carriers’ continued ability to charge high connection fees hurts everyone — it’s a “badly flawed” system, in Google’s words, and it’d be great if the FCC would do something about it. Whether this whole spat ultimately influenced the outcome of the Google Voice iPhone app debacle is unclear, but it’s obvious that AT&T’s been stewing about this for a while — so let it all out, guys, mommy FCC’s here for you, and one way or another we suspect GV’s going to have to end up going legit if it wants to grow its user base by any significant measure. Check out the gallery for AT&T’s letter and follow the read link for Google’s shorter, slightly less aggressive response.
AT&T, Google trade barbs over Google Voice while FCC listens in originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Pre drops to $79.99 at Walmart
September 28, 2009
Filed under: Handsets
Hey, thought that $99.99 Amazon deal for a Palm Pre was really snazzy? Well this day, Walmart appears to go one superior by cutting the smartphone’s price down to a staggering $79.99 (on contract and with mail-in rebate). If prices keep going this low, you can probably expect the Pixi to show up for about nothing (zero, zip, zilch) sooner rather than later. If you’ve been looking for a deal to get into the Pre, this is it… but too bad if you dropped $200 a few months ago.
[Via everythingpre]
Pre drops to $79.99 at Walmart originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Vodafone debuts 360 online platform, H1 and M1 LiMo-based handsets
September 27, 2009
Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, Vodafone, Linux, HSDPA
This time last year, you might have thought that LiMo was waning in the shadow of Android’s eminence, but we’re witnessing the vanguard of a new resurgence in the form of the Vodafone 360 H1 and M1 handsets by Samsung. Being the first LiMo Release 2 devices, they’ll come with a bagful of fancy 3D UI visualizations to splash atop 3.5- and 3.2-inch touchscreen displays, with the bigger H1 (pictured) getting the AMOLED treatment, WiFi, HSDPA and 16GB of internal memory, and the M1 receiving HSDPA and 1GB of expandable memory, but no WiFi. They are making their debut alongside Vodafone’s new 360 on the internet platform, which takes over from the former Live service. You can anticipate it to bring Facebook, Twitter, Windows Live Messenger and Google Speak integration, as well as an app store to compete with the other heavy hitters. The M1’s three color options are pictured after the break.
Read - Vodafone 360 press release
Read - Vodafone 360 H1 product page
Read - Vodafone 360 H1 hands-on
Read - Vodafone 360 M1 product page
Continue reading Vodafone debuts 360 on the internet platform, H1 and M1 LiMo-based handsets
Vodafone debuts 360 online platform, H1 and M1 LiMo-based handsets originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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