SmartPhones

Verizon Wireless has just announced that they will now be carrying their own version of the much-loved Palm Centro.

Previously only available on Sprint and AT&T networks, the Palm Centro will now be available on the Verizon network, finally giving users the mobile high-speed internet access they’ve been craving. Unlike the AT&T version, the Verizon Palm Centro is compatible with the EV-DO network, giving the device previously unheard-of web and email speeds. And all this at an appealing $99 price point.

The Verizon Palm Centro comes in one color – dark blue. Otherwise it’s the same BlackBerry look-alike as all the other Palm Centros.

The Palm Centro for Verizon Wireless includes a full QWERTY keyboard and a pre-installed GoogleMaps application that can pull up and research data directly from users’ Contacts. And in addition to all the usual email apps that normally come with the Centro, the Centro for Verizon also includes Wireless Sync, Verizon’s own proprietary emailing solution.

Unfortunately, the device will not, however, include support Verizon’s favored V-Cast multimedia solution. (At least not yet.)

Palm says that thanks to this new arrangement with Verizon, it now plans to ship out 2 million units by the end of the year.

written by admin \\ tags: Palm Centro, V-Cast, verizon, Verizon Smart Phones, Verizon Wireless

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?"

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: AT&T, Blackberry, e-mail, email, MOTO Q9m, SMT5800, unlimited data plan, verizon, Verizon Wireless, Verizon Wireless E-Mail and Web for Smartphone, web access, XV6800

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.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: , Andriod, AT&T, broadband, Google, Information Week, InformationWeek, Intel, Sprint, T-Mobile, verizon

Demographics is big business in any industry and nowhere is that more apparent these days than in the smartphone market. The number of studies on what a person's choice of smartphone says about the person themselves is staggering.

A Verizon Wireless communications analyst released a report on what the type, style, preferred features, and common uses of smartphones says about the user, stating for example that a flip phone user likes being in control whereas a candy bar phone user likes to keep things simple.

Forbes, meanwhile, published a huge article on the personal significance of color choice in smartphones, noting that the most popular color for smartphones is blue, that red smartphones indicate outgoing, dramatic, and spontaneous personalities, whereas virtually nobody wants a yellow smartphone, though gold is another story altogether, suggesting a penchant for wealth, luxury, and prestige.

A story on MSNBC, meanwhile, looks at the correlation between brands of smartphone and personality types, noting for example that Blackberry users like staying in touch at all times, while Palm users enjoy multitasking, whereas iPhone users are avid multi-media hounds.

Pretty soon, it seems, a simple personality test will become the preferred method for shopping for one's next ideal smartphone. Ah progress!

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Blackberry, Forbes, iphone, MSNBC, Palm, Palm Treo, verizon, Verizon Wireless

We're all used to the typical promotion where you get a free cell phone in exchange for signing up for a set period of service. So it should come as no surprise that the same phenomenon has begun with the product representing the evolution of the cell phone - the smartphone.

CNET reported today on the Samsung BlackJack II being offered for free on Buy.com for anyone signing up for a two-year AT&T contract. While not the fastest or easiest phone to use, the Samsung BlackJack II nonetheless has some impressive qualities, including:

• a GPS
• a 2- megapixel camera
• and AT&T HSPDA network support

Researching this phenomenon further, I found that Buy.com actually offers several smart phones for free with activation, including:

• Palm Centro
• RIM BlackBerry Pearl
• Motorola RAZR

From here, I checked into how commonly this phenomenon occurred at competing cell phone and smart phone vendors and found that everybody's doing it. In addition to more of the aforementioned brand names, I also found all sorts of other smartphones (such as Sony Ericsson, Nextel, and Nokia) offered for free by all the major carriers:

• AT&T (and the former Cingular)
• Verizon
• T-Mobile
• and Sprint

Now there's a way that people on a limited budget can still afford to get a smartphone of their own (though maybe not the latest and greatest model), just by signing up for the wireless service they're going to need to get anyway.

To boot, most of the participating smartphone vendors will even throw in free shipping with the deal.

With such great deals flooding the net, and every phone manufacturer and wireless carrier competing for your hard-earned dollar, we may soon see the day when you never have to pay to obtain a smartphone again.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: , AT&T, Blackberry, BlackBerry Pearl, camera, cell phone, CNET, GPS, HSPDA, Motorola, Motorola RAZR, Palm, Palm Centro, Palm Treo, Research in Motion, RIM, Samsung, Samsung BlackJack II, smart phone, smartphone, Sony, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, T-Mobile, verizon