Category: Mobile Tech

T-Mobile Drops 5GB Data Cap…But There’s a Catch

In a sign of where mobile broadband is headed, T-Mobile has dropped the 5GB cap for it’s “unlimited” data plans. Consumers that use devices like the T-Mobile webConnect Rocket will no longer have to live in fear of data overage charges, but they will have to live in fear of something else. According to GigaOm:

There’s a catch: go past that limit, and download speeds will slow. T-Mobile tries to play down such a caveat, however, saying: “When used as a mobile broadband solution in conjunction with an existing home broadband service, only a very small number of customers use more than 5GB per month.”

For the consumer market, this isn’t a big deal. For people using T-Mobile mobile broadband for small-office or a home-office settings, it’s kind of crap. Some people would prefer paying overage charges over crippled service. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a nice move on T-Mobile’s part, but it could have been better.

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Don’t Call it a Comeback? Nokia Announces N8 Flagship Phone

Nokia has announced its latest flagship phone — the Nokia N8 — and released numerous videos to hype the product. In addition to compatibility with both AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s 3G bands, the N8 has several features that are new to its phones. On the plus side, it has a capacitive touchscreen. Curiously, the battery isn’t user replaceable; while this helps the N8’s anodized aluminum body keep its sleek looks, not being able to replace the battery will surely piss off some users. The big addition is Symbian ^3, which is the first attempt at modernizing the aging Symbian platform. One tidbit that isn’t on the officials specs page is the CPU, which is purported to be an older ARM processor clocked at 680MHz.

International travelers will be interested in the phone’s use of Ovi Maps. Unlike most GPS systems on smartphones, Ovi Maps works — for free — in more than 70 countries and doesn’t require a mobile signal for use, as long as the maps for a specific country have been downloaded to the phone. As someone that travels (and sometimes gets lost), this feature is extremely attractive.

The phone will be out in Q3 2010 for around $500. Here are more specs and a slew of videos. Check ’em out and let me know what you think. Will the N8 help Nokia win back some ground in America? Or will it be like its other recent smartphones — popular everywhere in the world…except America.

  • Symbian^3 operating system
  • 3.5-inch capacitive OLED touchscreen (640×360)
  • 12 megapixel camera (with Carl Zeiss optics and a Xenon flash)
  • 802.11 b/g/n
  • HDMI output
  • 16GB of internal storage
  • microSD expansion slot
  • HD video recording
  • Free Ovi Maps walk and drive navigation

Coffee Talk #132: Who Is Your Mobile Phone Provider and Why?

Today’s Coffee Talk is pretty simple. I want to know which company you use for your mobile service. I know that some of you are iPhone users, so I expect AT&T to be a popular choice. I also know that AT&T blows in several parts of America, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see lots of Sprint and Verizon users. If you can get good coverage where you work, play, and live, I think T-Mobile offers the best value of the “big four”. Even T-Mobile’s values can be beaten by regional or pre-paid providers.

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, your Mosley/Mayweather prediction, who will be the 2010 NBA champions, or your favorite Filipino-American in entertainment, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Today’s Coffee Talk is pretty simple. I want to know which company you use for your mobile service. I know that some of you are iPhone users, so I expect AT&T to be a popular choice. I also know that AT&T blows in several parts of America, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see lots of Sprint and Verizon customers. If you can get good coverage where you work, play, and live, I think T-Mobile offers the best value of the “big four”. That said, even T-Mobile’s value can be beaten by regional or pre-paid providers.

Anyway, kindly take this poll and let me know why you went with your current provider. Also, let me know if you’re happy with them or considering jumping ship.

[poll id=”38″]

RIM Shows Off BlackBerry OS 6 with “Boom Boom Pow”

RIM has released a sizzle reel of its upcoming BlackBerry OS 6 using the Black Eyed Peas’ hit song “Boom Boom Pow”. Normally, I’d make fun of any company that uses an annoying song to promote its goods, but I have to support BEP for having one of the most prominent Filipino-Americans in entertainment today (go Apl!!!).

Seriously though, some of the features look interesting and some of them scream, “Johnny Come Lately”. As I mentioned yesterday, BlackBerry OS 6 is due out in Q3 2010. At a glance, it does not look more intuitive, interesting, or functional than Android, iPhone OS, or WebOS. The initial screens and videos of Windows Phone 7 are also more impressive. For the sake of competition, I’m hoping RIM will have more cool and exciting features to show off. If it doesn’t, it will become the North American version of Symbian (at least in the consumer market).

BlackBerry OS 6 Coming in Q3 2010

According to Engadget, RIM will be releasing BlackBerry OS 6 in Q3 2010. Although RIM’s BlackBerry phones are still the kings of the business world, they’ve been losing market share in the consumer smartphone space, where Apple’s iPhone and various Google Android devices are dominating. One of the biggest deficiencies in BlackBerry OS is its web browser, which is primitive and clunky compared to the WebKit browsers on Android and iPhone. OS 6 will address the browser issue and more. Here’s more from RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis courtesy of Engadget:

Lazaridis said that the company’s all-new WebKit-based browser is part and parcel with 6, pointing out that the rendering engine will have implications throughout the platform and the apps that run on it, not just on the browser alone; in other words, we wouldn’t expect a release of a WebKit browser from these guys for OS 5.0-based devices. Speaking of OS 5.0, the intention is that every device in RIM’s portfolio will eventually run 6, but not everything in the market today will necessarily be upgradeable — Lazaridis says that they’ll “do [their] best,” but he’s not making any guarantees.

If the site’s release date is accurate then RIM will still be in trouble in the consumer market. The company’s OS updates have been rolled out at a glacial pace, while Apple and Google have been rapidly improving their respective operating systems. I still expect RIM to dominate the enterprise market for a few years, but I doubt it can take market share back in the consumer space.

Any thoughts on the release of BlackBerry OS 6?

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PadCast: EEDAR’s Jesse Divnich Talks iPad, DLC, E3, and More

EEDAR vice president of analyst services Jesse Divnich is the latest RPad.tv PadCast guest. My favorite analyst in the business discusses all sorts of videogame topics, answers reader questions, and reveals the super power he covets in this clip. Here’s the laundry list of talking points:

  • The Nintendo 3DS
  • Whether the PSPgo is a dead system
  • How awesome Sony’s E3 press conference would be if it were hosted by Kevin Butler
  • How the Apple iPad impacts the gaming market
  • Whether investors and venture capatilist have cooled on the console market in light of the hotness of mobile and social gaming
  • Whether Sega, as we once knew and loved it, is gone forever
  • DLC trends
  • E3 2010 predictions
  • What’s coming on 10/10/10
  • What super power he would chose and why

Give it a look, give it a listen, and leave any comments you have below.

Win an HTC Evo 4G From Sprint

Sprint Premier customers have a chance to win an HTC Evo 4G before it comes out. If you’re a loyal Sprint customer and lusting for some Android-WiMax action then check out this contest. Ten lucky winners will take home an Evo 4G, while four finalists will win a trip to a city that has Sprint 4G service (Chicago, Houston, Las Vegas, or Maui).

Are any of you Sprint Premier customers? If so, are you going to enter the contest? I used to be Sprint Premier, but left the company for T-Mobile…and am totally pleased with my decision. I love underdogs (T-Mobile), but can’t back a loser (Sprint).

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BlackBerry 9670 Spotted: OS 6 CDMA Flip Phone (?!?)

Boy Genius Report has posted pictures of the BlackBerry 9670 — a CDMA clamshell phone running BlackBerry OS 6.0. Using CDMA tech means it will be headed to Sprint or Verizon in America. Here are more details from the site:

The BlackBerry 9670 is a CDMA device packed to the brim with a full QWERTY keyboard, 5 megapixel camera (a first!), Wi-Fi, a 360×480 internal display, huge external display, trackpad, OS 6.0, microUSB port, microSD internal storage slot, Bluetooth, and a metallic finish casing.

I really have to roll my eyes at RIM on this one. A flip phone? Really?!? I’d quote the Black Eyed Peas and say that the company is “so 2000-and-late”…but it would be more accurate to say that it’s stuck in 2002. The smartphone market is currently dominated by candy-bar and slider phones. I don’t hear anyone clamoring for the return of clamshell phones. Perhaps RIM thinks the Motorola RAZR is still cutting edge. *sigh*

Perhaps I’m wrong about this one. What do you think of the design? Do flip phones have a place in 2010?

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BlackBerry 6.0 Screens Unearthed: Too Little, Too Late?

Boy Genius Report has posted a bunch of screens of an early version of RIM’s BlackBerry 6.0 software. The site claims to have seen the OS in action. BlackBerry fans will want to check it out, as the OS looks like a much-needed advancement. While RIM is still king in the business world, its OS is laughably crude compared to modern, consumer-oriented operating systems iPhone OS, Android, and WebOS. Meanwhile, RIM’s competitors have made significant strides in the enterprise space.

BlackBerry 6.0 is expected to launch on a new phone this summer.

If you get a chance to check out the screens, I’d love to know what you think. Will BlackBerry 6.0 be enough for RIM to stay competitive in the consumer space? Or will the company continue to get trounced in the consumer market while slowly losing ground in the business space?

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The Ethics of Gizmodo’s iPhone 4G Scoop

First off, I want to make it clear that I really enjoyed Gizmodo’s coverage of the next Apple iPhone. For those of you not familiar with how it went down, the site acquired an iPhone prototype that was lost at a Bay Area bar. It pounced on the opportunity to write a story and produce videos on the biggest Apple scoop of the year. That all seems normal, right? Where it gets murky is the fact that Gizmodo paid money for the iPhone prototype.

According to Edible Apple:

Gawker editor Nick Denton said that the company paid $5,000 for the device, with some reports claiming that additional fees were to be paid if certain traffic goals were met.

That’s a pretty hefty sum, but considering the tremendous amount of traffic the story has generated, it’s probably worth it…until California law is considered. The Guardian noted this tidbit of California civil code that can be applied to the situation (the iPhone situation, not Jersey Shore‘s The Situation):

Any person or any public or private entity that finds and takes possession of any money, goods, things in action, or other personal property, or saves any domestic animal from harm, neglect, drowning, or starvation, shall, within a reasonable time, inform the owner, if known, and make restitution without compensation, except a reasonable charge for saving and taking care of the property.

Obviously the person that “found” the iPhone prototype is in the wrong, but is Gizmodo also in the wrong for buying the device? The Guardian cited California Penal Code 496 PC:

This means that even if you weren’t aware at the time that you received the property that it was stolen (but later learned or suspected that fact), you must immediately contact the owner of the property or the police to avoid prosecution.

The bad news (for Gizmodo) is that the law seems to be against them. The good news is that Apple has had a tough time suing bloggers in the past.

I want to know what you think about the whole deal. Was Gizmodo merely doing its job? Or did the site cross a line?

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