Smartphone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

"What's your most memorable Mobile Moment? Let us know! Upload a photo with a short description of your Moment—whatever mobile device you happen to use—so everyone can view and vote for their favourites. If you get the most votes by June 15, 2009, you could win $10,000! Plus, each vote automatically enters the voter into a draw to win 1 of 3 Samsung OMNIA™ devices."

Good news, Bad news time! Good news - Microsoft is currently holding a contest entitled Mobile Moments. As the description above states, you participate in the contest by pointing your browser to Microsoft's website and upload a photo of your favorite “mobile moment” and then give said photo a description. Users vote on your precious moment in time and after Jun 15th, 2009 one lucky person is chosen to win $10,000! Bad news time - This contest is only available to Canadian residents it appears, which is pretty lame... unless you're in Canada that is.

"Rogers' Samsung Jack, which is Canada-speak for BlackJack II, has been officially blessed with Windows Mobile 6.1. It's a few weeks behind the BlackJack II's own upgrade, true, but... you know, Canada-izing this stuff takes time. Or something. Grab the update from Samsung's site while the gettin's good."

This is great news for all of our Canadian readers out there! If you are the owner of one of Rogers Samsung Jack handsets you should head on over to the Samsung website and grab the latest update. As always, please make sure to back up all over your important data that you would like to keep as this update will completely wipe your device. Hopefully with the release of Windows Mobile 7, we will not have to deal with this inconvenience anymore... hopefully.

"Bell Canada seem to have decided that cool, tricked out mobiles are what the customers are clamoring for, and we'd bet they're right. The Samsung Ace (on left) and LG Vantage are set to spill onto shelves in the very near term. The Ace is a dual-mode phone featuring both EV-DO connectivity and dual-band GSM -- No 3G in sight, sadly -- Windows Mobile 6 Standard, 1.3 megapixel camera -- seriously, why bother? -- microSD, and that lovely Blackjack look and feel. The Ace is set to launch May 12, though no word on pricing just yet."



Some new good for our readers in Canada. If you have been waiting for the Samsung Ace to be released, keep your eyes locked on Bell.

"Bell Canada (BCE) has just published one to communicate of press which announces that Telus Corporation began from the discussions to discuss a future fusion the 2 giant�s telecommunications in Canada. ECBS and Telus signed a mutual agreement of not-disclosure of the offers suggested. A fusion of the 2 groups would be nevertheless surprising since Telus had already announced that a fusion would be not very probable since Telus should probably demolish its cellular division, which was not possible a few months ago. It should however be said that a fusion would be also possible since Bell cannot pass to more than 50% in the hands of a foreign company and Telus was founded in Quebec."

Parsing through the broken English above, it seems that Canada's two biggest CDMA carriers (Bell and Telus) are going to work together...somehow. No real specifics are given, but I can't help but think this is nothing but bad news for Canadians. Why? Because when companies cozy up to each other there tends to be more cooperation and less competition, and Canada's wireless market is in dire need of competition. When the two big GSM providers in Western Canada (Fido and Rogers) merged, it was nothing but ugly for customers: Fido stopped offering the flat-rate GPRS plan, and prices went up until both companies were essentially offering the same plans. I heard it said that Rogers bought Fido because it was cheaper to buy them than to compete with them. That disgusts me. We're held hostage by a lack of competition in the wireless industry in Canada, and things look to be getting worse.

"It's slim, stylish and a mobile entertainment powerhouse. Includes 2 GB memory card, stereo headset, and $25 Sympatico / MSN Music Store gift card. Get the Motorola Q Music Edition by Bell for $129.95* when you subscribe to an Email, Internet and Voice plan."



Take one Motorola Q add a 2GB memory card and a $25 gift card to MSN Music store and you've got one of the new Bell Canada Motorola Q Music Edition devices. Anyone willing to sign up for a 3 year contract to save $25 on music?

"The S621 from HTC is now available all official-like through Canada's Rogers Wireless, offering the same glorious QWERTY experience (and somewhat controversial "JOGGR" touch strip experience) that T-Mobile customers have been enjoying for a little while now. Grab it now for a cool $250 CDN (about $213) on three-year agreement."



While it's true that it's listed on their website and you can view it right now. I can't seem to be able to browse to it. I'm thinking the official launch is still a couple days away. Regardless, it's nice to see Rogers pick up a new hot device like the Excalibur and get it out on their network inside of 6 months from the actual device release date. Unfortuantely, it's listed as a Windows Mobile 5 device. I sure hope that they plan to release an upgrade for it - but I wouldn't count on it. If anyone manages to buy this, please let us know!

"Canadian cellphone users can now change their wireless services without losing their existing phone numbers, as wireless number portability comes into effect in metropolitan areas across the country. The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association announced the introduction of the wireless number portability (WNP) program after an 18-month implementation process. The service allows Canadian customers to change wireless service providers within the same local calling area and keep their existing phone number. Customers can also transfer a phone number for a wireline phone to a wireless phone and vice versa."

Well, it's about time! So all you Canucks that have been hanging on to your overpriced or poor service carrier can now pack up and move to another overpriced and poor service carrier of your choice - without loosing your number. It's a step in the right direction. ;)

"Motorola Canada Ltd. has announced that the latest Moto Q, finished in black matte, is now available exclusively through Bell Mobility. Measuring less than 1.15 cm thin, the Moto Q boasts voice, data, and multimedia functionality. The Moto Q smartphone operates on Microsoft Windows Mobile software, offering features like Outlook Mobile, Media Player 10 Mobile, Internet Explorer Mobile, and the ability to view Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Adobe Acrobat files. The black version of the phone comes equipped with ehnaced security features and push e-mail."



It all starts with the change of color. What's next Moto? I'm interested to see what you've got planned for your flagship Q device now that Samsung has released the i607 and HTC has their Excalibur floating around. These are some pretty sweet devices that offer some hardcore competition to the Q.

One month ago today, we told you about Bell Canada's listing of the Motorola Q as Coming Soon on their web site. Well, all that has now changed. Bell Canada has just launched the Motorola Q Smartphone. (For those of you who are not familiar with Canadian operators, Bell is a CDMA operator. So this Q would be a CDMA based Q. ;) ) The Q can be had for $449 without contract, or $249 on a 3 year contract combined with a minimum $60 data plan. It would be interesting to find out what differences this device has, if any, over the Telus or Verizon versions of the Q. Hopefully this ships with MSFP already in ROM.

Well, well, well. Look at what Bell Canada has added to their website - the Motorola Q. I guess Telus didn't have an exclusivity contract with Motorola. No word on when it will actually be available or how much this device will cost after discounts, or if Bell has added any tweaks to it. If anyone knows the answer to these questions, please share with us. Bell Canada operates a CDMA network - so this isn't a GSM version. That's still about 6 months off, in my estimation. 8)

"Canadian mobile phone companies have agreed to let customers who change service providers to keep their phone numbers, an industry group said Thursday. But the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association said a start date has not yet been set for number portability, a feature long demanded by consumer advocates. As it now stands, customers who change mobile phone companies are forced to change numbers, discouraging many from shopping around. But under the proposed changes, customers will be allowed to keep the same phone number when changing service providers within the same local service area. Consumers also will be able to keep the same phone number when transferring their landline phone service to wireless service and vice versa."

:clap:

"Canada's Rogers Communinications Inc. said it will offer live TV broadcasts to wireless phones. The Toronto-based cable and wireless provider said it is teaming with a service called MobiTV, which specializes in wireless TV transmission. The service was developed by Idetic Inc. (Berkeley, Calif.). The wireless TV offering, the first of its kind in Canada, will be unveiled on Thursday (April 14). Details were unavailable, but Paul Godfrey, president and CEO of Major League Baseball's Toronto Blue Jays, was also scheduled to attend the announcement."

The carriers want you to start getting TV on your mobile phone. The question is, do you want it? Smartphones have bigger screens that most normal phones, so it's more plausible, but I have my doubts as to how popular this would be. If someone really wants mobile video, won't get they get a device with a bigger screen? Weigh in with your opinion!

It looks like the Voq rumour Jason posted about last week is true. So if you're in Canada this is about your only choice, right now. You can pickup the Voq at Cellcom Wireless and Uptown Communication House, however there will not be any carrier subsidies offered.

"Sierra Wireless today announced that the Voq Professional Phone(TM), a tri-band Smartphone developed by Sierra Wireless, is now available in Canada for use on GSM/GPRS networks. Canadian customers can purchase the Voq Professional Phone and Rogers Wireless airtime bundles through Cellcom Wireless and Uptown Communication House, Inc. The Voq Professional Phone offers the best features of a mobile phone, a messaging device and a PDA (personal digital assistant). Designed for mobile professionals, the Voq Professional Phone features a unique, flip-open QWERTY thumbpad for quick text entry and easy-to-use software solutions, including VoqMail(TM), a secure, "Always There"(TM) e-mail application that requires no additional enterprise server or desktop redirector software to purchase, install and maintain. The unique, easy, and powerful myVoq(TM) software enables predictive search, storage, and sending of information."

An anonymous source has tipped us off to some interesting news about Smartphones being released in Canada. This is a big deal for us Canadians, because to date none of our carriers have released any devices.First up, we have the Voq - apparently it will be available in Canada in the next two to four weeks. It won't be released by a carrier though, so we're probably talking about non-SIM locked versions with no carrier subsidies, which means an expensive phone. Still, for those of you wanting a Smartphone with a keyboard, this is the only game in town. I wish it had a different design though - I'm not a big fan (I haven't seen a shipping production model though).Next, the Motorola MPx220 will make it's way to our sparsely populated country sometime in the first half of 2005, likely under the Rogers Wireless brand. This is big news, because it means they'll be the first Canadian carrier to release a Smartphone. One would hope though that by the time they release it, all the nasty bugs in the MPx220 will be ironed out.Rejoice my fellow Canadians, the Smartphones cometh! 8)

Canada has a new wireless provider to pick up where Fido left off. Primus Canada is now offering wireless services. Overall their packages are pretty reasonable, especially their long distances rates. However the data rate is one of the worst I've seen. You have 2 choices, 1MB, or 2MB, and they cost $6, and $10 respectively. Currently they have 3 phones listed, and none of them are Windows Mobile-based. :( The network doesn't appear to have the best coverage around, but they are starting out. We'll have to keep an eye on Primus and see how things go.

It's great to see new companies entering the wireless market in Canada. I wish Primus would have done this before the Fido takeover. Regardless, it's good to know that Canadians will still have a choice.