Author Archive: Gareth

Editorial: iPhone is bad for cellphone users … if only one carrier has it

In Germany the best coverage according to the independent measurements of “connect” magazine is provided by Vodafone network. The cheapest prices are offered by E-Plus operator. Yet iPhone is exclusively sold only by T-Mobile Germany. Similarly in USA only AT&T Wireless is selling iPhone although everybody knows that in USA the best coverage is provided by Verizon Wireless and the cheapest prices are offered by T-Mobile USA. Shortly speaking: operators instead of competing on prices, coverage, transfer speeds, are focusing instead on one strategy for the success only: selling iPhone exclusively. It is bad for all cellphone users. Very bad.

Let’s take another example: Switzerland, where both Swisscom and Orange CH were offering iPhone right from the beginning. In this case such negative effect could not be observed:

HTC HD2 on O2

We have heard numerous blogs and reports today that the HTC HD2 has been published ahead of its launch date by O2.

We therefore went into an O2 shop in Bournemouth this afternoon and can confirm that the HTC HD2 appears in full colour pictures on page 9 of their October catalogue!

Their headline is

“Watch, play and surf in style with the new HTC HD2, featuring the largest screen yet on a mobile”

They promote the HTC HD2 as running windows mobile 6.5  with a 4.3inch WVGA screen and a 5mp camera with twin LED flash.

The blogs go on to mention it offering a 1ghz processor making it one of the fastest devices on the market.

We will have full details on this product on our website on the official launch date which is due to be the 6th October so make sure you visit here on Tuesday

[Source Clove]

Acer devices named

We have become aware today that the names of the new Acer Smartphones will have changed at launch.

The previous names for the devices were apparently always supposed to be internal code names, but rumours suggest the F1 name was the subject on some dispute as to whether it could be used given its association with Formula 1, interesting when Acer already have close ties to F1 and Ferrari in particular!

The new names are as follows

Acer F1 will be called the Acer neoTouch
Acer C1 will be called the beTouch E100
Acer E1 will be called the beTouch E101
Acer L1 will be called the beTouch E200

First stock of these new devices should arrive next week. Further information on all these devices can be found here

Acer neoTouch
Acer beTouch E100
Acer beTouch E101
Acer beTouch E200

[Source Clove]

O2 begins LTE network trials

O2 parent Telefónica begins trials of new fourth generation Long Term Evolution network technology in UK, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Brazil and Argentina

O2 parent Telefónica is trialling LTE technology with six providers, to launch test projects in the UK, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic, Brazil and Argentina with a view to a full rollout.

The suppliers Telefónica has chosen so far – Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, NEC, Nokia Siemens Network and ZTE – will start rolling out the equipment necessary for testing the technology during the coming months. The project is also open to other suppliers and will take place over six months.

The trial will help Telefónica determine its fourth generation mobile network strategy.

Sony Ericsson Satio on vodafone

The Sony Ericsson Satio has hit Vodafone to Pre-order today. This Symbian based multi-media phone ticks many boxes and looks to be a fun device.

Windows Mobile Marketplace coming to 6.1 in November?

There’s been some speculation on when Marketplace will come to older phones (namely anything running 6.1 and 6.0). Today Microsoft tried to clear up the issue and provided some other tidbits:

As we’ve been discussing since July, our plan is to deliver the full Marketplace experience in two phases. First, we’ll launch Windows Marketplace for Mobile with Windows phones on October 6th. We’ve also discussed following this launch with an update that will include support for Windows Mobile 6 and 6.1 by the end of the year. More specifically, we’re targeting November for phase two. In addition, this second phase will bring the PC based catalog and shopping experience, user generated app reviews, advanced key-based anti-piracy protection and other enhancements that expand your business opportunity and make it easier for a larger number of customers to find and buy your application.

Well November is better than January so we’ll take it.

[Source Tilt Mobility]

O2 May See Up to 30,000 iPhones Returned as Price War Begins

UK wireless carrier O2 is bracing itself for what may be up to 30,000 returned iPhones as recent customers send back their iPhones to wait for better deals from rivals Orange and Vodafone. Per The Telegraph, the 30,000 customers that bought the iPhone from O2 within the last two weeks are therefore entitled to end their contracts. O2 has stated the company is not planning to offer such users a better deal in order to convince them not to cancel their contract.
O2 customers with iPhone 3G handsets are already waiting out the end of their long contracts, and will join the others in a search for the cheapest iPhone 3GS deals.

Paid apps hitting Palm Pre today

The release of webOS 1.2 got all of the stars aligned for a barrage (or, at the very least, a trickle) of paid applications to start hitting the Pre, and the word on the street is that the first of those will be dropping tomorrow, October 2 — for users in the US, anyhow (Canadians apparently need to wait a while longer, a problem that Android users up there are all too acquainted with). The company will smartly be tying purchases to users’ Palm Profiles, meaning you’ll be able to redownload previously bought apps on any device you choose as long as your account is currently tied to it. Of course, the big question is what apps will be available to blow some cash on in the first round of Catalog approvals — what’s everyone hoping for?

[Source Engadget]

Nero Mediasync to work with Motorola Cliq

Are you familiar with NERO? They are the company made famous by their butt-kicking software that burned mix CDs. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on who you are and how old you feel, that was a full decade ago. So what is the company up to now? Creating software for the Motorola CLIQ that helps you sync all your media and other goodies to your PC of course!

In an article I spotted on ArsTechnica they reveal that NERO makes a product for handset manufacturers called MediaSync that allows users to connect their phones to their computers and enjoy an awesome syncing experience. But is it true? Where are their sources? What is this “MediaSync” you speak of? Knowing you would ask me these questions if I just reposted the same stuff, I went straight into the Dragon’s layer (Nero.com).

If you check out the section called “Business Solutions” and drill down to the “OEM” section of that page and scroll alllllllll the way to the bottom you’ll find the following blurb about MediaSync on the Nero website (scroll to the bottom):

iPhone customer satisfaction high, Android lagging behind

It’s hard to gauge customer satisfaction with mobile phones with any real accuracy. There will be lemons among the devices that hit the market and how well the user knows how to use the device will also affect the satisfaction. A new survey from the CFI Group has ranked mobile phones by customer satisfaction.

According the survey the iPhone has the most customer satisfaction at 83% and Android is tied for second with the Palm Pre at 77% satisfaction. The Blackberry sits in third with 73% satisfaction.

Rounding out the list is Palm Treo with only 70% satisfaction and other smartphones OS’ with 66% satisfaction. It’s worth noting that AT&T score lowest in customer satisfaction among the major wireless carriers.

[Original Story: Android Community]

Kind of odd that Windows Mobile must be resigned to the ‘Other’ section unless it’s counted under Palm Treo.