Engadget pre-reviewed the soon-to-come-out Blackberry Curve 8520. The highlights are that the trackball works well, but is overall not as nice as the Blackberry Curve 8900. It has EDGE and is probably designed to be for prepaid minute use.
8900 OS sneak Release
An unofficial leak of an OS upgrade for the Blackberry Curve 8900 is stirring up the blogs in the cell phone world. This is an unofficial upgrade for the Curve, BlackBerry OS 4.6.1.231, that is not supported but I guess some people are willing to risk problems to have the latest version.
Endgadget announced today that the Blackberry Curve 8300 beat IPhone in sales today. The 3g iPhone is second place and two other Blackberry phones come in at 3rd and 4th, Storm and Pearl.
Other Blackberry news is that the new Blackberry Curve 8900 will finally be coming to AT&T stores. I guess they had them at T-Mobile first.
reasonable price of $100
black steel finish
3G
Wi-Fi connectivity
3.2 megapixel camera
A-GPS
Symbian S60 platform.
2. Samsung Impression
2-inch screen
full Web browser
accelerometer
assisted GPS
slide-out QWERTY keyboard
3-megapixel camera
$100 with a two-year agreement
3. LG Xenon
touchscreen/QWERTY keyboard
2-megapixel camera
GPS integration
Bluetooth 2.0
Wi-Fi connectivity
$100 with a two-year contract
4. Samsung Propel Pro
Windows Mobile 6.1
slide-out full-QWERTY keyboard
Wi-Fi connectivity
a 3-megapixel camera
optical joystick
expandable memory up to 32 GB
$150 with a two-year agreement
An announcement in the Wall Street Journal let eager cell phone users know that a rival to the Apple
IPhone is under wraps between the well liked cell phone service, Verizon, and Apple rival Microsoft. Microsoft plans to work on the hardware and software for the phone while having a third party business manufacture the actual device. The phone is set to be released in early 2010 and is being called a code name project “Pink”.
I personally love both Microsoft and Verizon so would consider buying the combo device. The inertia of changing cell phone providers is great too and I already have a plan set up for a Verizon cell phone.
Recipes in the palm of your hand are now easier than ever. A new iPhone app by Epicurious lets you use your 3G iPhone or other iPhone as an electronic cookbook. This app is available at iTunes for sale and it has around 25,000 recipes from various notable cooking sources such as Bon Appétit, Gourmet, SELF, Cookie, and Parade.
Yes, there are other cooking apps available besides this one, but this one has a functionality that is highly rated. It creates a checklist of ingredients that you can check off as you cook. And the transfer between calls and cookbook is very seamless.
The app also has pictures of what the recipe should look like when you are done…always helpful.
Iphone stays up to the minute with an iPhone app by Intuaps that tracks the Swine Flu epidemic. It is still waiting for Apple to approve it so it may be too late if the H1N1 virus does not cooperate (let’s hope). This Iphone app shows the current WHO Threat Level for the flu, a map showing confirmed and suspected cases, a subarea that shows what symptoms of flu to look for, and an alert page that displays breaking news on the Swine Flu.
If the flu really does get as bad as the 1912 Spanish flu, this ap could be useful in showing where to avoid going, especially for travellers. The application for the 3G iPhone will be free so anyone can use it; call it a public health ap.
Here are some preview photos of the T Mobile G one from the NY Times article
The estimated sale price will be $179, according to the article. It is scheduled to be released on Oct. 21st. The HTC Google Phone will be powered by Google’s Android operating software, the same software used by the iPhone.
From a usage stand point, it looks like the phone will have a real keypad not the touch screen pad which some people object to on the iPhone. It looks like the Google T Mobile G1 will be a slider phone so that it will look like the slick iPhone when closed but will slide open for more functionality.
The main advantage of the G phone will be that you can get free internet access with your phone that is supported by Google ads at any free wifi hotspot. The data plan to get the web will still be an extra $20 a month though. Wifi is much faster than the regular cell phone web services, although you can still use Tmobile’s web service with it.
Another article states that the phone will be available for sale at T Mobile stores in only 21 major cities, but you can buy the google phone online if you live elsewhere or don’t want the hassle of going to the store.
The phone has a high resolution screen that makes it easier to view regular, non-phone optimized sites like this one.
Google is hoping that a team of software developers will create new and useful programs for it’s open Android software.
I found this great video review of the Nokia 6300 Unlocked GSM Cell Phone:
The video talks about the advantages of the triband GSM in that you can use it all over Europe when travelling. It has a great camera for photos and camera. It has 2G removable storage for photos so you can actually use the photos that you take somewhere else besides your phone.
You just need a SIM card from your cell phone provider, other than Sprint, Nextel, & Verizon, but you can pick one up that works when traveling.
It has a music player, email features, video player in one, blue tooth, web….
It is also thin and has a great long life battery. This is a popular cell phone!
The Google phone, which has been called the HTC Dream and the T-Mobile G1, has a touch screen that slides out to expose a five-row keyboard. It offers easy access to Google’s services and to a range of third-party applications.
The article also mentioned that one in 6 smartphone users had HTC phones already, but may not know it since other HTC often makes phones for other companies. HTC is located in Taiwan and has just recently started to make it’s own brand phones. Google will bring HTC out of the shadows.
The article also says the chairwoman of HTC, Cher Wang, went to Cal the same time I did! Go Bears!
