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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Any Storm hopeful in the colonies who’s taken a gander at Vodafone’s pricing scheme this week is probably strongly considering packing a couple duffel bags with the bare essentials they need to survive and moving to the UK to strike out on a new life — a life filled with cheap Storms. Not so fast, though — is it conceivable to think that Verizon could go the same route? At first glance, you might think that the Storm’s cachet as RIM’s flashiest, highest-end device to date would be enough to lure in customers by the droves at any price, but with the enormous price pressure placed on the industry by a $199 iPhone 3G in a heavily-overlapping target demo, rumor has it that Big Red’s looking at a severe subsidy to meet or beat its crosstown rival. Analysts are thinking (wishfully, we suspect) that a $99 Storm isn’t entirely out of the question if Verizon wants to sell an insane number of ‘em through the holidays, but just how long would it take to recoup that kind of loss?

Verizon considering crazy cheap Storm pricing? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

In the grand tradition of TMI, the G1’s gone through a teardown for your voyeuristic pleasure. Underneath that chubby matte shell there are all sorts of build-related details that you probably didn’t need to know, like the fact that Panasonic built the main board, the compass was built by Asahi Kasei (exciting, we know) and the keyboard element is thin. Some might say too thin. Perhaps of most note is the trackball, which is basically identical to what RIM uses — minus the fancy glowing effect. All riveting factoids, we assure you. One item of worry is that the engineers doing the teardown noted the particular thinness of the plastic bar connecting the sliding display to the phone, and raised the troubling possibility of breaking the display off from he handset. We certainly won’t be stress testing that element, we can assure you.

T-Mobile G1 ripped to shreds, uses same trackball as RIM’s — maybe they can be friends originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Cellphones

The suits at the Department of Justice just green-lighted Verizon’s planned acquisition of regional rival Alltel, moving the two CDMA giants closer to a marriage that would easily eclipse AT&T to become the largest wireless carrier in North America. There’s a catch, though, and a rather hefty one at that — Verizon has to agree to divest itself of some 100 local markets in 22 states to keep the competitive landscape in action; given that they’ve already indicated a willingness to shed some markets to seal the deal, it probably won’t be an issue. The next hurdle for Vertel (or Allzon, depending on how you roll) will come on November 4, when the FCC votes on whether it’ll bless the deal. As for the rumors that Verizon is now eligible to get Alltel at a 50 percent discount with a $1 billion mail-in rebate if it agrees to a two-year contract, we’re not hearing any comment from either side.

Department of Justice approves Verizon’s Alltel acquisition, requires more concessions originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Cellphones

Just when we thought the Touch HD really packed the pixels in, Softbank and Sharp have announced the Aquos Fulltouch 931SH slider, which sports a wild 1024 x 480 3.8-inch touchscreen. That’s almost the same res as most netbooks, for comparison — we’re not sure what all that pixel density is good for at this size, but we know we want it. Apart from the screen it’s also a pretty solid 3G Softbank featurephone: browser, Bluetooth with A2DP, 5.2 megapixel camera with image stabilizer, accelerometer, 1seg TV tuner, and a media player with microSD expansion. Sure, sure — but look at that screen, people. That’s the stuff dreams are made of. Anyone up for a trip to Japan?

[Thanks, Paul]

Softbank introduces Sharp Aquos Fulltouch slider with quasi-XGA resolution originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Cellphones

Continue reading Japanese iPhone gets official 1-Seg WiFi tuner and battery extender from SoftBank

Japanese iPhone gets official 1-Seg WiFi tuner and battery extender from SoftBank originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Oh, so you know what’s hot, huh AT&T? Is flipping the on / off lever back and forth a gazillion times on this finicky Starbucks iPhone WiFi plan hot? Because it feels downright cold over here. While we can only hope and pray that this is the signal to finally close the book on this ridiculous saga, AT&T users all over the US are receiving text messages from AT&T confirming that free Starbucks WiFi (for iPhone owners) is on. Reportedly, the message indicates that their iPhone purchase gives them access to two hours of gratis use per day, though we’d go in with the lowest possible expectations in order to not be let down (again). Good luck, mettlesome ones.

[Thanks, Boy Genius]

AT&T sending out SMS to confirm free iPhone WiFi at Starbucks originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Cellphones

Ugh, it looks like Thursday is shaping up to be another sad Moto day. The Wall Street Journal is reporting this morning that Sanjay Jha, former Qualcomm exec and Motorola co-CEO tasked with resurrecting Motorola’s mobile-devices division, is about to slash jobs in an effort to bring costs and production under control. Though obviously unwelcome news, it likely won’t come as a surprise to employees since Jha reportedly told them that Motorola has two to three times as many employees working on individual projects compared to its competitors. Cuts will likely number in the “thousands,” according to the WSJ’s sources, and could come as early as Thursday when Motorola announces earnings… or more likely, lack thereof. Motorola has already shed 10,000 jobs since the start of 2007. In addition to job cuts, Jha plans to “scrap dozens of phone designs” while scaling back its mobile-OS inventory from more than a half-dozen to just three: Android for multi-media and Internet showcase phones, Windows Mobile for ho-hum business devices, and its own P2K for low-end phones. Moto will likely outsource at least some of its WinMo phone production as well. As to his motivation: $100 million and 3 percent stock if Mr. Jha manages to spin-out the mobile devices division into an independent company by late 2010. $30 million if he fails. Win-win, eh Sanjay?

Motorola expected to cut more jobs as it simplifies around Android originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Cellphones

Well, now isn’t this something? Best Buy has its fancy little iPhone 3G, but it’ll be Wally World offering up the G1 outside of official T-Mobile outlets. As we’d heard yesterday, 550 Walmart stores across the country will begin selling the Android-powered handset beginning tomorrow, and folks who opt to pick one up here versus a traditional T-Mob store will save $31.11. Yep — according to company spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien, the new / upgrade-eligible customer price for a Walmart-sourced G1 will be just $148.88 with a 2-year agreement. Wait, what? You already purchased your G1 at the full price? They always said the early bird pays the premium… or something along those lines.

T-Mobile G1 coming to Walmart for $148.88 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Cellphones

While many of you are still waiting for T-Mobile’s RC28 update to hit your G1, at least one reader has trumped us all. KoSoVaR is sitting on fresh, over-the-air software after receiving an update notice a few minutes ago. The process rebooted his G1 “a few times” only to stabilize at RC29. Hard to say what’s new at this point but we’ll get back to you if we hear about anything more than bug fixes.

P.S. For what it’s worth, we’re still kicking it old skool back at RC19 — waiting… and waiting… for the automagic to begin.

Update: Another reader is up on RC29 now as well. Took 5 minutes start to finish and required a single reboot. Snap of the update screens after the break.

[Thanks, KoSoVaR and David]

Continue reading Mystery RC29 update hits T-Mobile’s G1

Mystery RC29 update hits T-Mobile’s G1 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Cellphones

We already knew RIM’s BlackBerry Bold would sell for a stiff $299.99 on contract with AT&T, but if you’re one of the many AT&T users who’d rather not sign a new agreement (or renew your current one), you’ve probably been patiently waiting to hear an unsubsidized price. Here is it, but we’re warning you, you might want to sit down. The contract-free Bold is listed at $679.99 at Best Buy, and fittingly enough, the product page offers a convenient link for seeking financing. At any rate, it also tells us that pre-orders will typically ship out within one to two weeks, though we’d be hesitant to bet the farm on that. After waiting for, like, ever, for this handset to finally hit shelves, are you still so anxious to drop nearly seven bills to claim one as your own?

[Thanks, Christen]

BlackBerry Bold up for pre-order at Best Buy: $680 smackers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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