SmartPhones

As Samsung comes out with its Android-based Galaxy Spica smartphone (aka the i5700) and then announces that it's not going to be available yet to U.S. consumers, and as Dell announces its entry into the smartphone market, but in China and Brazil, not the U.S., one of the world's premiere smarthone makers, Nokia, is finally bringing one of its most revered devices, the Nokia E72, to U.S. shores.

The Nokia E72, arguably Nokia's greatest stab at the Blackberry Curve, is now being sold to U.S. customers on Amazon.com for around $469 (a welcome step down in price from its price in Euros, equating to $525 U.S.). The E72 is primarily a messaging and email phone, with a built-in desktop email client and chat, and is being targeted at the business community.

Meanwhile, as Palm rolls out its Palm Pixi, analysts and prognosticators are buzzing about the rumors coming out late last week that Nokia might purchase the faltering Palm.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Amazon, Android, Blackberry, Brazil, China, Curve, Dell, E72, Galaxy Spica, i5700, Nokia, Palm, Pixi, Samsung, U.S.

CLICK HERE, ENTER AN EMAIL ADDRESS AND YOU ARE ELIGIBLE FOR A CHANCE TO WIN AN IPHONE 4

Research In Motion and Verizon Wireless just announced the impending release of the Blackberry Storm 2. A clear candidate for de-seating the title-wielding iPhone, this 3.25" touchscreen smartphone has a scant 4 buttons on the face, the rest of the controls left up to a cutting-edge touch screen technology called SurePress that gives the screen the same clickable functionality as a standard keypad.

Other nifty new bells & whistles promised are spin boxes, inertial scrolling, greater use of animation, and gradient shading on the buttons.

Eschewing the Storm's old chrome backing for a flashy new stainless steel one, the Storm 2 will have - its exclusive carrier Verizon promises us - data access in 185 countries and call in over 220.

Running for around $180, and running on the latest BB OS 5.0, the Blackberry 9550 (aka Storm2) will hit the shelves (and eShelves) this Wednesday, October 28.

In the meantime, users of the original Blackberry Storm can upgrade their OS to 5.0 for free.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Blackberry, RIM, Storm, Storm 2, verizon

While the mainstream press is focused on the new Microsoft-Yahoo deal, we'd like to talk about the Microsoft-Nokia deal: in particular, what will it do for smartphones?

For one, it will bring a Microsoft Office enterprise version to Symbian smartphones. Plus new Nokia devices will ship with Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile built in. Also, the new team-up plans to use Exchange ActiveSync to optimize corporate customers' data access.

But in the live teleconference call yesterday in which the partnership was announced, a Microsoft exec professed that this was by no means all there was to the arrangement.

In a much larger context, Microsoft hopes to dislodge RIM and its Blackberry from its domination of the mobile enterprise market. Plus, Microsoft is eager to benefit from Nokia's 200 million subscriber base while Nokia is eager to benefit from Microsoft's U.S. presence.

Strange, though, is that Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS and Nokia's Symbian mobile OS will still compete with one another in the platform wars.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: ActiveSync, Blackberry, enterprise, Exchange, Microsoft, Nokia, Office, RIM, Symbian, Windows Mobile

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.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: AT&T, Blackberry, Curve, HTC, iphone, iphone 3g, Omnia, Saga, Samsung, Storm, Storm 2, Touch Diamond, TouchPro, TouchPro 2, verizon

There's a new Blackberry Curve on its way, and it's coming courtesy of T-Mobile. The announcement came just yesterday, Monday July 27, that the T-Mobile Blackberry Curve 8520 will hit stores on August 5 and retail of $129.

One of the niftiest features (for some people, at least) of the new BB Curve is that it is Mac compatible straight out of the box! This will also be RIMs first Blackberry smartphone with dedicated media keys located along the handset's top.

Other changes with the new Blackberry Curve 8520 are an optical trackpad, replacing the trackball of old.

As for its general specs: it's a quad band phone, it's got WiFi, 2 megapiixel digital camera, Facebook and MySpace integration, and of course, support for the Blackberry Apps Store, as well as T-Mobile's Unlimited HotSpot Calling service support.

What it doesn't have however...is 3G! What good is that??

Besides T-Mobile Stores you'll also be able to pick up this little beaut at Walmart.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: 8520, Blackberry, Blackberry Curve, RIM, T-Mobile

Last week was the 2009 GSMA Mobile World Congress, and here's the lowdown on its high points:

HTC Magic: The second Google Android powered smartphone from HTC and the first from Vodafone, the Magic is smaller than the inaugural Google Phone, the HTC T-Mobile G1 and will first be distributed into hands overseas (U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain). Downsides? It doesn't have a physical keyboard, nor does the touchscreen keyboard operate in landscape mode.

Also unveiled from HTC, the HTC Touch Diamond2, HTC Touch Pro2, and the T-Mobile G2.

Acer M900: The business set will like this latest Windows Mobile smartphone, with its large 3.8" touchscreen, vast messaging capabilities, and--get this!--fingerprint scanner for cutting-edge security.

LG Arena: It was only a matter of time before we saw a 3D interface, and here it is, looking like the onscreen Rubiks Cube of menus.

Nokia E55: With its own take-off of the BlackBerry Sure-Type keypad.

A common thread for a lot of the devices unveiled this year is the built-in 5-megapixel camera--though the ones in the new Nokia N86 and Samsung Omnia HD sport 8 megapixels, and the Sony Ericsson Idou, with its enhanced touchscreen, has 12.1 and a sliding lens cover. So there!

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Acer, Acer M900, Android, Blackberry, Google Android, Google Phone, GSMA, HTC, HTC Magic, LG, LG Arena, Mobile World Congress, Nokia, Nokia E55, Nokia N86, Samsung, Samsung Omnia HD, Sony Ericsson, Sony Ericsson Idou, Sure Type, T-Mobile, T-Mobile G1, T-Mobile G2, Touch Diamond2, Touch Pro2, Vodafone

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.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: AT&T, Best of CES Award, Blackberry, Blackberry Curve 8900, CES, CNET, Consumer Electronics Show, green smartphone, HTC S743, iphone, iPhone-killer, LG, Moto, Motorola, Nokia E63, Nokia N97, Palm Pre, People's Voice Award, recycled water bottles, Renew W233, RIM, Samsung, SGH-T119, Shadow, Surf A3100, T-Mobile, Tundra A76r, Watch Phone

While corporate favorite BlackBerry continues to reach out to the general consumer market, with its MySpace app receiving 400,000 downloads since its launch less than two weeks ago, general consumer fave Nokia continues to reach out to the corporate enterprise, with its latest facility: support for IBM Lotus Notes.

First the BlackBerry: The Washington Post was stunned to find that more than 15 million MySpace messages had been sent over the BlackBerry mobile app, and more than 2 million moods and statuses had been updated.

Next Nokia: As of December, most Nokia S60 series handsets, including the S60 3rd Edition and the N96 Bruce Lee Special Edition, will be able to access their corporate email accounts through a new mobile app called Lotus Notes Traveler, catering to a market base IBM reports at 140 million plus licensed users.

Who will have more success cross-marketing their products in "the other guy's court"? Only time will tell.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Blackberry, IBM, Lotus Notes, Lotus Notus Traveler, MySpace, N96, N96 Bruce Lee Special Edition, Nokia, Nokia S60, S60 3rd Edition, Washington Post

RIM is finally putting out its first flip phone model Blackberry with the soon-to-be-released Blackberry Pearl Flip 8220. The new Pearl Flip promises all the same features and conveniences of the traditional candybar Blackberry in a more compact flip phone style. This in response, no doubt, to the statistics showing that 70% of smartphone users own flip phones, originally made popular by the industry-changing Motorola RAZR.

If the new Blackberry Bold is designed for the business customer, the Blackberry Pearl Flip (as with the original Pearl) is geared more towards the gadget-hungry consumer set. Also as with the original Pearl, the new Blackberry Pearl Flip 8220 will feature the deft and dexterous SureType keypad.

On another note: RIM has also announced a partnership with AOL to incorporate AOL Instant Messenger, AOL Mail, and ICQ Services to future BlackBerry handheld devices, flip phone and candybar style alike.

Though the release date for the device is still under wraps, the price point looks to be $150 with a 3-year contract.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: AOL, AOL Instant Messenger, AOL Mail, Blackberry, BlackBerry Pearl, Blackberry Pearl Flip, Blackberry Pearl Flip 8220, candy bar, candybar, flip phone, ICQ, Motorola, Motorola RAZR, RAZR, RIM, Sure Type, SureType

Last week we reviewed the new Palm Treo 800w and already, just a few days later, we catch wind of Palm's next Treo, not yet released but on the horizon. The Palm Treo Pro is its name - aka the Palm Treo 850w - and as its name implies, this upcoming Palm will be geared towards the business customer.

With a sleeker, slimmer, flashier, and more professional looking design than its predecessors (and consumer counterparts), the leaked photos and Flash vidoe demos show a Treo that may take Palm to the next level, on par with the BlackBerry Bold, Samsung Instinct, and - yes - the Apple iPhone.

But the latest Treo for enterprise customers has as many similarities to the Palm Treo 800w as it does differences, with:

• a touchscreen
• 320 x 320 resolution
• a microSD expansion slot
• a QWERTY keyboard
• Wi-Fi
• a 3.5 mm headphone jack
• etc.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: apple, Apple iPhone, Blackberry, BlackBerry Bold, Bold, Instinct, iphone, microSD, Palm, Palm Treo, Palm Treo 800w, Palm Treo 850w, Palm Treo Pro, QWERTY, Samsung, Samsung Instinct, touchscreen, Treo 800w, Treo 850w, Wi-Fi