PC maker Dell's first Google Android based smartphone for US customers will be arriving on American shores soon, courtesy of AT&T. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, which first broke the story, Dell's first U.S. Android smartphone will be a touchscreen device with a built-in digital camera.
The Chinese got the first taste of Dell's foray into smartphone's (and Google Phones in particular) with the Dell Mini 3i, also a touch screen device with a 3.2 megapixel camera (though it is only 2G). How much the first Dell Google phone for U.S. customers will resemble the Dell Mini 3i is still unknown, but hopefully Dell is at least aware that it's got to give us 3G for us to even be interested.
The first Dell Google phone could be out as early as 2010, they say. And we say, well we should hope so.
The deal with AT&T to carry the Dell Android based device now means that all 4 of the major United States wireless carriers will have Google phones on their airwaves.
Verizon is having a "fire sale" on its smartphones, slashing prices by as much as $100 and dropping prices on some of its devices to unbelievably lows in an obvious effort to push out old stocks before new holiday inventories come in (such as the HTC TouchPro 2 and the Blackberry Storm 2). This in an obvious effort to compete with AT&T's recently slashed prices on the iPhone and iPhone 3G.
Included in the bargains are several $99 deals (with 2-year contracts, of course) on smartphones like the HTC Touch Diamond, the Blackberry Storm, and the Samsung Omnia. The biggest price drop (also to $99.99) is for the HTC TouchPro which came down from a staggering $419.
The Blackberry Curve (recently revealed as the top selling smartphone of 2009 Q2) is getting a price cut down to an incredible $49.99.
Even the newer Verizon smartphone handsets are getting discounts (though not as heavy ones, of course) like the Blackberry Tour which will sell for $149, and the Samsung Saga, both carried by Verizon Wireless, are not discounted in this sale.
According to Boy Genius Report (which broke the story) the TouchPro2 should be out soon, while the Storm2 will probably not see the light of day until sometime in November. That gives smartphone users plenty of time to devour the good bargains available now.
Clearly whether they're doing it to compete with the iPhone's slash in prices (and particularly the $99 iPhone 3G 8 GB model) or in an effort to clear out TouchPro and Storm handsets to make way for their successors, one thing is for sure: Verizon Wireless is now deeply entrenched in the smartphone price wars.
HTC is finally getting rid of Windows Mobile in place of the new and improved Google Android mobile platform, Android 1.5 Cupcake, with its HTC Lancaster, billed as "The Consumer Social Messaging Device".
The Lancaster is not HTC's first Android smartphone, but it is its first to be carried by AT&T. To boot, the HTC Lancaster is AT&T's first Android device. It's got most of the usual features you would expect from a modern smartphone, plus a slide-out keyboard and HTC's own unique social messaging interface.
Other big releases coming out from HTC any day now include the HTC Warhawk (aka the Touch Diamond2) and the HTC Fortress (aka the Touch Pro2). And other big upcoming releases from AT&T include the Palm Eos (the WebOS-enabled successor to the Palm Centro), the touchscreen Samsung Infinity, and two from Motorola: the feature-filled Sawgrass with built-in blogging interface, and the Heron, as it turns out another premiere Android smartphone from AT&T.
This year's Consumer Electronics Show--not typically a place where mobile phones generally stand out--saw a smartphone, namely the new Palm Pre, win the CNET Best of CES Award.
And that was only 1 of 3 awards Palm's new iPhone-killer (the most promising looking contender for that position in 2009) which also won:
the Best of CES Award in the Cellphone category
the People's Voice Award
The LG Watch Phone, however, probably walked away with the Wow-Factor award of the year.
Meanwhile the Motorola Surf A3100 touchscreen smartphone earned itself a Best of CES nomination, at least. Motorola also rolled out its "Green" smartphone--in that it's built from recycled water bottles--the Renew W233 and it's rough-and-tumble AT&T Tundra A76r.
Other highlights of the introductions made at the 2009 CES include:
RIM and T-Mobile's BlackBerry Curve 8900
T-Mobile Shadow
HTC S743
as US version of the Nokia E63
and the eagerly-anticipated Nokia N97
The quietest voice on the CES smartphone stage this year was no doubt Samsung, who barely had a thing to show but for the T-Mobile SGH-T119.
Finally, the smartphone maker whose devices were previously only available to US customers through Verizon Wireless is launching its first handset catered to the U.S. market - and it won't be running on the Verizon network.
Instead, the LG Incite, a 3G touch screen smartphone running Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, will be carried by none other than AT&T.
Equipped with WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, and support for Microsoft Office documents, the Incite also includes support for AT&T Video Share, which allows people to share live videos over their wireless handsets while they’re on a voice phone call.
It also comes with AT&T’s Xpress Mail Service and AT&T Mobile Music service, adding heaps of value to the premiere AT&T LG that the Verizon LG can’t claim.
This has the Korean smartphone maker joining AT&Ts lineup (that already includes the best that Apple, Samsung, HTC, and BlackBerry have to offer) just in time for the holidays.
Targeting mobile professional users, AT&T rolled out the HTC Fuze, essentially the HTC Touch Pro with a few slight differences:
• Radio – both support basic EDGE connectivity, but for 3G:
o HTC Touch Pro uses HSDPA/WCDMA
o HTC Fuze uses UMTS/HSDPA
This simple difference means that, unlike TouchPro users, Fuze users can connect from nearly anywhere on the planet.
Also unlike the Touch Pro, the HTC Fuze lacks a TV out socket.
Just like the HTC Touch Pro, however, the HTC Fuze does include:
slide-out QWERTY keyboard
3.2 megapixel digital camera
GPS
WiFi
Streaming XM satelite radio
The HTC Fuze hits stores on December 1 but eager buyers can purcahse the device by telephone as early as November 24. Regardless of the purcahse date or method, the device will cost:
$500 with NO contract
$350 with a 2-year AT&T contract (the device is also supported by Sprint)
No doubt in an effort to compete with the likes of AT&T and its unlimited data plan for web access, Verizon Wireless released today, April 14, 2008, a new unlimited web data plan of its own.
Called "Verizon Wireless E-Mail and Web for Smartphone", the plan includes an array of attractive features:
Unlimited data allowance for internet browsing and email access
Support for up to 10 email accounts (including Yahoo!, AOL, and Windows Live)
Familiar branded email interfaces
And all directly from your smartphone.
The plan may look familiar to BlackBerry users on the Verizon network, as it's already been available for them. But now users of other Verizon smartphone can enjoy the convenience as well, starting with:
Verizon Wireless SMT5800
Verizon Wireless XV6800
MOTO Q9m
In line with the service's top competitor's rate, Verizon Wireless will be offering unlimited web and email access for smartphones for $29.99 per month (on top of any existing voice plan)
I wonder if this means Verizon will be changing its slogan to: "Can you read me now?"
The days of searching for the nearest Wi-Fi HotSpot are at an end. Now, thanks to a North Carolina company TapRoot Systems, you can turn your WiFi-enabled smartphone into a WiFi HotSpot capable of granting broadband internet access to any nearby WiFi-capable PC and laptop, as well as the iPod touch and other MP3 players.
The application, called WalkingHotSpot, currently supports 3G smartphones running the Symbian S60 or Windows Mobile operating systems, but that’s just the beginning. TapRoot promises support for other OS’s are on the way.
Currently, WalkingHotSpot is being marketted strictly to wireless carriers, but plans are in effect to market the software to consumers any day now.
The technology, promoted as being energy-efficient, user-friendly, and – above all – secure, is also poised to allow smartphone users to have WiFi service activated and make and receive voice phone calls simultaneously, though at the moment only devices on the AT&T HSDPA/UMTS service can do so.
At the WalkingHotSpot website, smartphone owners interested in the service can sign up to be notified as soon as a demo download is available for their system.
With smartphones rapidly overtaking cell phones in the mobile market, it's only logical that smartphone makers are looking ahead to what will keep consumers coming back for more. As such, Information Week recently published a stellar article on the subject, peeking into the innovations popular manufacturers of the devices already glued to our collective, cultural ears are planning for making their products even "stickier".
Technology advances fast, and that's why today's experts see many amazing advances in smartphone technology in store for us in just two years from now. A chief Motorola executive summarizes it this way, by pointing out the three key trends that will alter the very "role and nature" of mobile devices to come:
content digitization
ubiquitous, global broadband
PC miniaturization
This combination of elements will define what's to come in smartphone innovation in just a matter of 24 months or less, namely in the way of:
hardware
operating systems
the internet "ecosystem"
Already, in the way of global broadband, companies like Verizon and Sprint have spread their 3G networks across the whole of the United States, with T-Mobile and AT&T not far behind.
In terms of sheer processing power and the placing of the computing power of the PC into your pants pocket, industry leader Intel is readying the new Moorestown chip, promising smartphone users even greater access to the power these increasingly faster networks offer.
And as for the world of the worldwide web, already corporate giants in other areas of technology are seeing the value of getting into the smartphone game. Consider web search giant Google, whose upcoming mobile platform Andriod is poised to revolutionize the smartphone market, engendering the creation of whole new smartphone devices by all the major manufacturers.
There's much more ahead for smartphone users, and not very far ahead at that. Stay tuned, because it's all coming soon to a smartphone near you.
Which smartphone should you buy for 2008? Well, before you decide, take a look over on PCMag.com and read their latest roundup where the pros and cons of the following four leading smartphone operating systems out today are compared and contrasted:
According to this handy cheat sheet to the best of the best of smart phones operating systems on the market, the cream of the current crop of smartphones running each of the four OSs examined is also listed and described, such as:
the Palm Centro - a Palm Treo stuffed into a smaller and cheaper package
the Nokia E61i - PC Mag's Editor's Choice for the top unlocked keyboard smartphone
the AT&T Tilt/HTC 8925 - a combination of the some of the best mobile office and consumer entertainment features in one package
What was the winner? The BlackBerry OS. Find out why, and the good word on all the best of today's breed of smartphones and smartphone operating systems at PCMag.com
