Phones Review

• BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 available with SaskTel
• Skyfire Mobile Browser moves to Skyfire v1.0
• Vodafone Qatar to go live in June
• Snapplife Service goes Exclusive in UK with Carphone Warehouse
• Nokia 5900 XpressMusic is actually Low-end 5530 Kenzo
• No Telephony Functionality for Nintendo
• Google Ion receives unboxing and hands-on treatment
• Palm Pre Camera Picture Shared on Twitter
• T-Mobile HTC Dash 3G gets Pictured
• General Mobile DSTL1 Dual SIM Price and Release Date
• Could the Nokia N97 be a challenge to the Palm Pre?
• Palm Pre has Push Gmail?
• iPhone 2009 Speculation Roundup as WWDC Nears
• BT Boss Barrault Fails and gets £2.8 million
• iPhone App Ideas Made into Apps by MEDL Mobile

BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 available with SaskTel Posted: 28 May 2009 06:13 AM PDT BlackBerry fans over in Canada can now grab the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 from SaskTel as they now have the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 up for grabs in either black or pink says mobilesyrup. SaskTel is offering the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 for just $49.99 on a 3 year agreement, $373.00 on a 2 year agreement and $473.00 on a 1 year agreement. Quick spec reminder… Flip form factor with a 2.4 inch internal screen, 1.6 inch external display, SureType QWERTY keyboard, 2 megapixel camera, microSD expansion up to 16GB.

Skyfire Mobile Browser moves to Skyfire v1.0 Posted: 28 May 2009 05:55 AM PDT According to an article over on Intomobile, the fastest growing mobile phone browser, Skyfire has now left beta and is now Skyfire v1.0. Skyfire v1.0 is the only mobile browser in the world which brings the full PC web to mobile phones, which means what you see on your PC at home is what you see on your mobile phone screen. Skyfire v1.0 also features improved Superbar search whereby web URLs and searches can be typed into the Superbar before Skyfire has completed loading and once loaded the user will be taken direct to their destination.

Vodafone Qatar to go live in June Posted: 28 May 2009 05:38 AM PDT The word is Vodafone wants to launch their operation in Qatar sometime in June reports itp.net. Vodafone customers will be able to sign up on the Vodafone website as of next month right after the launch and roll out should take place in September if all goes according to plan. Currently Vodafone has trials with a limited number of customers going on to establish the effectiveness of their network, and Vodafone is also eyeing other opportunities in the Middle East. The joint venture between Vodafone Group PLC and Qatar Foundation raised $1 billion in its initial public offering to Qatari nationals.

Snapplife Service goes Exclusive in UK with Carphone Warehouse Posted: 28 May 2009 05:00 AM PDT Carphone Warehouse is launching a new rich media application in the United Kingdom as the exclusive European Distributor of Snapplife states 3g.co.uk. The Snapplife is an always-on application and will be available on Series 60 and Windows Mobile handsets and will combine such content feeds as Twitter, Sky News, Facebook, Google Maps and others and will also be able to link to other native applications. Developers can also develop applications for the Snapplife after which it will be made ready for purchase. Interested developers can begin building their apps by visiting http://www.hiplogic.com/.

Nokia 5900 XpressMusic is actually Low-end 5530 Kenzo Posted: 28 May 2009 04:43 AM PDT A couple of weeks ago an alleged Nokia 5900 XpressMusic was leaked with a vie to Nokia wanting to upgrade the looks of their plain mid-range 5800 so it held a more premium feel. Well according to cellpassion, they say they can “confidently say” that the 5900 XpressMusic is in fact a downgrade from the 5800 XpressMusic. In fact it is a model 5530 called "Kenzo". The rumoured specs for the "Kenzo" are 2.9 inch QVGA display, 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus; the real biggie is a lack of WiFi and 3G, but there is 150MB of onboard storage, and that it would retail at $200.

No Telephony Functionality for Nintendo Posted: 28 May 2009 04:26 AM PDT Credible rivals to the Nintendo DSi is often been the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, but moconews reports that Nintendo has ruled out adding mobile phone functionality to their gaming devices. Apparently back in April, Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo stated that Nintendo would offer a phone if it could avoid monthly subscriptions. However the chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, Reggie Fils-Aime told Nytimes.com…"Telephony is not in our wheelhouse. It's not something I anticipate us getting into." However, apparently Nintendo is considering offering always-on connectivity which is something similar to that of the Kindle e-reader.

Google Ion receives unboxing and hands-on treatment Posted: 28 May 2009 04:11 AM PDT The guys over at engadget mobile have managed to get hold of a Google Ion mobile handset and have given it the hands-on and unboxing treatment including several clear images. They say the Google Ion is virtually the spitting image of the HTC Magic including 30 days T-Mobile service on a SIM card. The Google Ion also sports Android Cupcake although they did find the portrait keyboard a little cramped but found the landscape keyboard quite comfortable to use. The other thing they noticed was the Google Ion is a real fingerprint magnet.

Palm Pre Camera Picture Shared on Twitter Posted: 28 May 2009 04:00 AM PDT It looks like Palm wishes to share images taken by their Palm Pre smartphone as engadget mobile reports Palm's official Twitter account has tweeted about testing out the image and video sharing website, yfrog. The image posted was apparently taken with a Palm Pre smartphone and is presumed to be the 1st snap posted taken by the Palm Pre 3 megapixel camera. Surprisingly the image does have great clarity considering it was taken with only a 3 megapixel camera, still it is nice to see what the Palm Pre camera can produce.

T-Mobile HTC Dash 3G gets Pictured Posted: 28 May 2009 03:40 AM PDT The T-Mobile Dash replacement had gone and got itself pictured by the guys over at tmonews. The HTC Maple/Dash 3G has popped up sporting the T-Mobile branding lending confirmation as to its carrier. Originally it was believed that the HTC Dash 3G wouldn't be coming to T-Mobile but this image proves otherwise. Then it was rumoured the Dash 3G would be with T-Mobile with a tentative release date of the 1st of July. The other area that is still somewhat vague with the T-Mobile branded HTC Dash 3G is just what Windows Mobile software it uses, still no doubt that will be found out soon enough.

General Mobile DSTL1 Dual SIM Price and Release Date Posted: 28 May 2009 03:26 AM PDT According to a post over on mobileburn, General Mobile has announced the availability of their DSTL1 Android based dual SIM smartphone in the United States and Turkey by the end of June. Spec wise the General Mobile DSTL1 spots Android 1.5 Cupcake OS, dual EDGE only SIMs, WiFi, 3 inch WQVGA LCD resistive touch screen, 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus, and microSD expansion up to 16GB. The General Mobile DSTL1 will command a price tag of somewhere between $550 and $750 and will ship with a 4GB microSD card in the box.

Could the Nokia N97 be a challenge to the Palm Pre? Posted: 28 May 2009 03:11 AM PDT That is a question raised by Cnet although they say Palm is fortunate Nokia does not yet have any US carrier partners for the Nokia N97. The new Nokia could well challenge the Palm Pre if they were on the same level price wise, but due to the Nokia N97 being unsubsidised by a carrier it will cost $699 whereas the Palm Pre will cost $199. If it wasn't for that price subsidy the Nokia N97 could put a dampener on early sales of the Palm Pre which is due release on June the 6th, but unfortunately that big price differential makes the N97 challenging the Pre a bit of a non-starter.

Palm Pre has Push Gmail? Posted: 28 May 2009 02:53 AM PDT According to My Pre, a tipster with a webOS emulator has discovered that the Palm Pre smartphone will have IMAP IDLE which will enable Gmail users to gain instant reception of new email, in other words push email. Currently only the Android packing T-Mobile G1 supports Google's push Gmail, and soon it will be available on other Android based smartphones such as the HTC Magic. Thus it appears Palm's close relationship with Google is working out nicely for potential Palm Pre users who will now get a taste of Push Gmail synced through Synergy.

iPhone 2009 Speculation Roundup as WWDC Nears Posted: 28 May 2009 02:39 AM PDT Apple's WWDC event is nearly upon us, and it is widely expected Apple will unveil the new iPhone 2009, although nothing has been confirmed, speculation is wide on what can be expected. According to a roundup of rumours on smartphones.about.com, the most detailed reports on the new iPhone came via a Chinese website which posted new iPhone features such as a 3.2MP camera, 32GB storage, FM receiver, 256MB of RAM and a 600 MHz processor. Further rumour has it that a new iPhone will sport an OLED screen, video chat and there was even a posted release date of July the 17th after an official announcement during WWDC. The big question is though is whether any or all of these rumours will materialise as true at WWDC.

BT Boss Barrault Fails and gets £2.8 million Posted: 28 May 2009 02:23 AM PDT Despite massive write-downs at BT last year, Frenchman Francois Barrault, who led BT's global services business, was paid £2.85 million. Barrault quit BT at the end of October as it became clear some of his division's contracts were much less profitable than the company had anticipated. Failure to deliver on cost savings which BT had promised the City resulted in 2 profit warnings which contributed in a large part to BT's loss of £134 million in the year to the 31st of March according to a report on thescotsman. An annual report from BT has revealed that on top of Barrault's £1.25 million salary he was given a severance payment of £1.6 million, and BT has stated that the payment was in “strict accordance with his contract” and no bonus was given.

iPhone App Ideas Made into Apps by MEDL Mobile Posted: 28 May 2009 02:08 AM PDT The Apple iTunes App Store is one of the fastest growing enterprises in recent history, and is known as a developer's goldmine due to success stories like iShoot which earned developer Ethan Nicholas some $900,000. MEDL Mobile is a company which aims to make it possible to get peoples ideas into the iPhone App Store without financial outlay or technical knowledge reports The Guardian. MEDL Mobile's principal, Dave Swartz has said…”The runaway success of the App Store has created the legend of the iPhone millionaire.” Therefore Swartz and partner Andrew Maltin have launched App Incubator which is a service that offers to turn your great ideas into applications for a share of the profits. The company has thus far received some 12000 idea submissions from 5000 applicants of which roughly a 3rd are flagged for consideration.