Fanfare? What’s that?
Out of the blue, AT&T stores have started receiving shipments of newly renovated Motorola Q9h. Sure, it’s just a new chrome & silver body wrapped around the same hardware, pre-flashed with WinMo 6.1. But man, does it look better in silver or what?
Word is that they’re just demo units for now, so don’t hike over to your local AT&T spot just yet. You’ll know about pricing and availability as soon as we do.
[Via BGR]
Jeez - after hearing about the Bold for over 3 months, it’s hard to believe this thing still hasn’t touched down in North America.
Only 2 more days to wait, according to Canada’s Rogers Wireless. Those of us south of Saskatchewan are still on hold until AT&T pushes it out the door, but everyone on the other side of the border will be able to pick one up on August 21st. No price has been officially outed yet, but all rumors are pointing at $399 on a 3 year contract.
You’ve set the bar high for yourselves, Samsung. If a parade of tiny exploding people doesn’t rain out while I unbox my Omnia, I will be sorely disappointed.
(Thanks, David!)
We mentioned last week that the MobileMe blog had been awfully silent lately, which lead us to wonder if it had been nixed.
Sure enough, ol’ David G. updated the blog one final time to let everyone know that, after just three posts, they’d be flipping the switch. They’re not killing communications all together, however - they’re just making the jump from bloggers to hard hitting news, replacing the Status blog with a MobileMe News page. In other words, it’s the same thing with less word fluff and no name at the bottom of each post.
Apple is opening the News page on a good note, announcing an extra 60 days of credit for anybody who dealt with MobileMe in its broken fledgling state. That brings the total amount of free time up to 90 days. Seems like early adopters are getting the love they deserve for once.
Good bye, David G. We hardly didn’t know you.
Addicted to the Wall Street Journal, but the BlackBerry browser just isn’t doing it for you? They hear you. To help satiate your needs, WSJ has just released a native BlackBerry application purposed for perusing their offerings.
The Features:
Plus, the most important feature: It’s free! Check it out here.
[Via Crackberry]
Palringo, a free multi-protocol (MSN, Yahoo IM, AIM, Google Talk, Gadu Gadu, and Jabber) IM application not unlike Pidgin on Windows or Adium on OS X, has added a Push-to-Talk solution to their iPhone client.
It’s pretty simple, as Push-to-Talk should be - select the contact, record the message, and it’s on its way. If the recipient is also on Palringo, the message can be played back (automatically or manually) right within the client. If they’re on a client that doesn’t support Palringo’s voice messaging system, they’ll be sent a link to an audio file which they can listen to within their browser.
While I can’t imagine this dethroning the bulky iDEN handset from your local contractor’s fannypack, it’s certainly an awesome bonus feature to this already useful (and free!) application.
MobileCrunch reported yesterday that complaints from around the world are reporting that the iPhone 
3G is having connection troubles. Dropped calls and inconsistent Internet speeds are plaguing some iPhone users. Being quick to the draw, Apple has released a software update which may be meant to fix the problems.
T-Mobile, which has exclusive iPhone rights in some European countries, announced today that the software is available for users to download. It isn’t known if the upgrade will fix all the connection problems.
“We have had complaints about connectivity in the Netherlands but have not had more complaints than usual for a 3G phone in Germany. Our technicians said today Apple has issued a software update but it is too early to tell if the problems are solved,” a T-Mobile spokesman said.
The U.S. iPhone provider AT&T confirmed that Apple has provided a software update but hasn’t given any details about the nature of the update.
Richard Windsor, an analyst at Nomura, speculates that the dropped calls problem may be due to faulty software on an Infineon Technologies chip used in the iPhone. Infineon isn’t commenting on the iPhone’s troubles but was quick to say that its 3G chips work fine in other cell phones.
The NPD Group, a market research firm which specializes in the wireless industry, is reporting that handset sales in the United States has totaled 28 million units in this year’s second quarter, down 13% 
over last year’s numbers. This is the third quarter in a row in which sales have declined in the U.S. and marks the lowest number of phones sold since NPD began counting sales numbers in 2005.
There is some good news despite slumping sales. American consumers are buying more expensive handsets. This has helped to boost sales value, which is down only 2% from a year ago. Also, NPD numbers don’t take into account institutional buyers. Government and business entities are helping to makeup sales numbers lost from a slowdown of individuals purchasing cell phones.
The average cell phone in NPD’s survey cost $84, up 14% from a year ago. The sale of smart phones has nearly doubled. Cell phones with a full-alphabet keyboard saw the biggest increase. At the same time, sales of cell phones that can only make calls have dropped.
Here is a quick walk-through of the Android OS. Put on some headphones - the voiceover is a little low - but this gives you a fairly clear look at what’s going on inside the new OS.
Update: Audio should be a lot better now.
Hurray! It’s bug fix Easter egg time! Apple has pushed a minor software update (2.0.2) to the iPhone, citing only “bug fixes” in the release notes. If you’ve got an inquisitive itch, go pop open iTunes and get’cho update on. Let us know if you spot anything. Personally, I’ll be waiting until word comes ’round that jailbreaking is working unless Apple warms up to video recording apps in the App Store.
