iPhones over in Germany

T-Mobile just announced that it will sell iPhones over in Germany. The Apple iPhone has three features which are a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod, and mobile Internet device. iPhone users in Germany will have access to Apple's music offerings from iTunes. It has build in Wi-Fi, so users go to to iTune to download or purchase songs. End of 2007, T-Mobile will be the only Network that supports iPhone in Germany. It will operate with an EDGE network which has a transfer rate of over 220 kilobits per second. This is four times faster than ISDN. The price of the iPhone in Germany will be 399 euros.

A New, and Probably Expensive, Way to Increase Viewing Area!

Sick of viewing your precious photos and movies on a tiny 2" screen? South Korea developer Seo Kwon Hong might have what you need. He recently announced a new cell phone concept design which he has given the name "Brix." In addition to good looks, features, and functionality, the most impressive and unique thing about this phone is it's "screen stacking" capability, allowing you to add on as many additional LCD screens to the phone as desired. This gives you the opportunity to build an LCD screen attachment to your phone to be as large as you, or your wallet, allows it to be. Seems like a very interesting concept, that can help people enjoy their media in a more comfortable manner. However, these things look expensive. Not only that, but if I want to view my media on a large screen, how portable do you think this phone will be since I'll have to carry so many screens around?

Google Phone Confirmed

Supposedly an insider from HTC has confirmed a long-time rumor to be true. Google is currently in talks with HTC and possibly Samsung (although this is not confirmed) for their release of a new Google branded cell phone. Google is currently choosing between 20 different cell phone designs by HTC. Not too much has been released about the phone itself, but we can expect much of Google's software to be modified to work seamlessly on a mobile device. Google maps, as well as a GPS system is expected to be on the phone, along with Gmail, Google Talk and calender integration. Even more interesting, there are rumors that the Google phone will also feature VoIP technology as well. There have also been speculation about the phone's OS being a version of Windows Mobile, but new rumors suggest the OS may be Linux based. Hopefully, if all goes as planned, we should be seeing this phone hit the market in early 2008.

In my opinion, knowing Google's business plan/strategy, it may be safe to guess that the phone will be cheaper than the iPhone. Assuming Google sticks to their advertising based business model, they may even take a loss with the release of the hardware. By obtaining a large customer base quickly, they can then expect to make back their investment largely through advertising revenue.

Cell Phone Projectors - the next big thing?

Recently at CES 2007, a company called Microvision announced a new technology that can very well be seeing its way into cell phones in the future. The technology they announced was a miniature digital projector, designed to be implemented into a cell phone. With the increasing popularity and improving quality of cameras on cell phones, this kind of feature on a cell phone could make sense. Who really wants to watch a movie or browse through pictures on a tiny, smudged up 2" screen? Instead, blowing it up and projecting it onto a surface would make it easier to share, as well as provide for a much higher quality multimedia experience!

iPhone Heading to Europe

Following the American June release of Apple's new iPhone, Apple has now begun to finalize deals with European carriers that will bring the phone to the European market. Apple has currently finalized three deals in Europe; in the UK, France, and Germany. The carriers they have negotiated with are O2 in the UK, Orange in France, and T-Mobile in Germany, so these countries can expect iPhone service soon.

The unique thing about these negotiations, however, are the terms of the agreement. Similarly to the American-Apple/AT&T relationship, Apple had the upper-hand in the negotiations. As a result, they have created a deal with these European carriers where they are actually receiving 10% of revenues from data and voice transfers. This type of agreement is new to the industry, and people are expecting more of these kinds of deals for the future.

Apple iPhone released!

So the time has come when we all have the ability to walk down to our nearest Apple or Cingular store and purchase an iPhone. The Apple iPhone was released last Friday and boy did it receive red carpet attention with all the news coverage and T.V specials that were set aside for the iPhone. The phone did have its problems however, as it seems At&t thought that only a limited amount of people would actually try to activate the iPhone thus resulting in them not bulking up the system. The outcome of this mistake was an activation time of about 39 hours for some, about an hour or so what anyone who bought a $600 phone would want to wait. The reviews as expected were positive with the only bad review steaming from the activation issue that some had experienced. Overall I'm excited that the iPhone was released since it'll probably raise the bar on what is expected and will drive other phone carriers and manufacturers to up the bar in their production.

Cheers,

John

T-Mobile Launches HotSpot@home with Nokia 6086.

T-mobile has launced hotspot @ Home in an effort to promote Wifi/GSM handoffs. What this system basically does is allows users to utilize a Wifi network, via a router, in their own household while saving on voice minutes and actually only using data. This is a neat feature since some of us complain about the reception that T-Mobile offers at our homes or work, we now have a solution. The system works off of a WiFi router and while you're in the area of the router you'll be able to use data rather then voice and when you get out of the area it automatically changes over to GSM without actually charging you for the GSM use. This is the first time a company successfully launched such a service and I'm glad it's T-Mobile since I am one of the few that suffer from poor coverage in house. Great job T-Mobile and keep up the good work.

Cheers,

John

HTC Touch launced in Germany.

The much anticipated HTC Touch has been released in Germany and to everyone's surprise it's not carrier specific. It seems as though the top three European carriers ( Vodafone, O2, and T-Mobile) will all their shot at the HTC touch. The Touch is stated to be HTC's answer to the anticipated Apple iPhone and it seems as though it has a pretty solid chance given the fact that Apple is excluding some applications on their iPhone such as instant messaging. I'm really excited for this phone's release because I've always been a fan of all HTC products and I really do hope this phone is the iPhone "killer". The phone is available now for about $600 without a contract and about $65 dollars with a contract and we're not quite sure if the jump in price between the two is justified but we'll just have to wait and see if this phone lives up to expectations or not.

Cheers,

John

Wireless Motorola Razr V3 Chargers ?

So I've recently read somewhere that a company based out of Arizona has plans on releasing a wireless charger that will charge our phones without the hassles of using a cord. The product that WildCharge is planning on releasing is a small matt that will plug into the wall and when a phone is placed on top of it it'll charge. Now the only catch to this wonderful product is that your phone must have an adapter that will allow the charge to even take place. The pricing for the product hasn't been released but by looking at the pictures and reading more about the product I wouldn't mind to have one for my Motorola Razr V3 myself. Check AccessoryGeeks.com in the near future, as I'm sure they will stock this soon to be innovative device.
Cheers,
John

Thoughts on the iPHONE.

It's not a big surprise that everyone is anticipating the launch of the Apple iPhone for Cingular / At&t on June 29th. On this particular day, the mobile phone industry will be flipped on its head and we'll all bow down to a new age of cell phones. I'm anticipating the phone's release because I really want to see if it lives up to the hype that has surrounded the phone since its announcement or it bombs due to technical glitches that are almost always present when new innovative products are released to the market. The release of the iPhone is something the cell phone industry has been needing for a while since the only news we're offered is X company is buying out Y company and this and that. With this launch we can see a new age in phones as the bar will be raised and the new King will be Apple prompting other companies to step up their game or face elimination, similar to what happened when the Ipod was released. I can only hope and wait for the release of the much anticipated iPhone and I do hope it lives up to all of our expectations.

Cheers,

John

T-Mobile is Great!!

So being a Nextel customer for the past two years has really limited my views on the wireless industry. Till recently, I thought all phones were suppose to featureless and bulky, since I had become so use to Nextel's lineup of hideous and bland phones, I then switched my network over to T-Mobile and since then I haven't looked back. T-Mobile is way ahead of Nextel for many reasons and the fact that they actually care about how their phones look and function is a huge plus. The customer service on Nextel was "OK" if you liked being outsourced, but once on T-Mobile their customer service was at my disposal and proved far more superior to Nextel's. Another notable change for me was the fact that I now have a phone (T-Mobile Dash) that can do more than just make a phone call such as listening to music, watching video playback, and chatting on the instant messenger. So far so good with T-Mobile and I just had to share my experience with you all.

Cheers,

John

TDMA, remember anyone?

Remember TDMA? Formerly known as AT&T network? When AT&T and Pacific Bell joined to form Cingular back in the days, they moved to GSM and abandon TDMA. Canadian wireless provider, Rogers Wireless is going the same to its 200,000 former TDMA customers. As for May 31, TDMA service will cease in the Canada. They are urging their TDMA customers to switch to new GSM network asap. If you have Rogers wireless in Canada, go get your phone checked out. Before May 31.