2008 May 20 | tech gadget update

May 20 2008

Garmin offers Blackberry owners a lifetime of navigation for a one-time price

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

After Garmin Mobile found its way onto one of my phones, my standalone GPS unit swiftly found itself gathering dust. I’m not one of those guys who likes to wear a utility belt and a bag of chargers just to carry a bunch of separate devices; just pack’em all into one, and I’m good to go. Unfortunately, the 10 dollar monthly fee associated with the service can really begin to wear on your wallet after a while — especially when you take into account that no matter how long you subscribe, you’ll never actually own the application.

Garmin announced recently that Blackberry owners can nab a lifetime subscription to Garmin Mobile for a one-time hit of 100 bucks. No more monthly fees, or having to ask yourself “Am I just sort of lost, or am I $10-dollars lost?” each time you wind up off course. In addition to the voice prompted turn-by-turn directions one might anticipate of the application, it also reports traffic info, fuel prices, and weather forecasts.

For Blackberry devices without embedded GPS, the 100 dollar price doesn’t cover the required Blackberry-compatible GPS add-on. Those come in at around another 100 bucks, bringing the price within range of stand-alone units.

[Via Engadget]

May 20 2008

T-mobile not looking to share iPhone distribution in Germany

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

At the Reuters Technology, Media and Telecoms summit today, T-Mobile CEO Hamid Akhavan said they expected their exclusive iPhone distribution in Germany “to remain as such.”

As the 3G iPhone tip toes closer everyday, more European carries are fightin’ to add it to their line-up. Just last week, T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom lost exclusivity in Austria after Orange announced that they would also be selling the iPhone in the region.

“If and when there is a 3G iPhone” added Akhavan, “we anticipate to have it exclusively in Germany as well.”

[Via Reuters]

May 20 2008

T-Mobile to launch 16 new devices by August?

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

According to TmoNews, T-Mobile is working to crank out an impressive 16 new devices by August 1st. As the information comes from an internal memo, the date is totally tentative - in fact, it’s more than likely to change. While they were able to conjure up a list of 13 possible devices, 3 are still unknown.

The list:

Motorola Rokr E8
Motorola W450
Blackberry Bold
Blackberry KickStart
Samsung T339
Samsung T229
Nokia 1208
Nokia 6301
Nokia 2760
Nokia 5310
Nokia 5610
Shadow II
Shadow III

The list raises an eyebrow, to state the least. AT&T reportedly has exclusivity on the Blackberry Bold until September, and the Shadow II barely exists outside of spyshots, much less as a predecessor to a Shadow III. Even with this bit of stretching, 3 go unnamed. We’ve been hearing a good amount about an upcoming Sidekick iD followup lately, the Sidekick Gekko; perhaps that will eat up one of the slots?

May 20 2008

Rural Cellular Association Files Petition with FCC

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

The Rural Cellular Association (RCA) filed a petition today with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate and adopt rules to prohibit exclusivity arrangements between wireless carriers and cell phone manufactures. The RCA is claiming that exclusive agreements between carriers and mobile phone manufactures restrict consumer choice, decreases completion and violates the Communications Act. This is aimed right at the type of agreement between AT&T and Apple for the privilege to buy an iPhone.

The RCA claims that due to exclusivity agreements, many Americans are unable to use some of the most popular cell phones. Those affected usually live in rural areas where service from some wireless carriers isn’t available.

“It is important that all Americans have equal access to the latest technology, including wireless devices, regardless of where they live or which carrier provides the service,” stated David Nace, counsel to RCA. “RCA is standing up for consumer’s rights and putting an end to exclusivity arrangements that create another ‘digital divide’ between urban and rural
America.”

The petition also claims that consumers who are able to buy and use phones like the iPhone are forced to pay a premium price for their handset and are forced to change carriers.

We’ve seen over the last few months that Apple is willing to wave exclusivity deals in certain countries to open new markets. I’m not sure how much weight, if any, the FCC will give this fact. But I doubt that the RCA’s petition will change much about how the mobile phone business is done in the United States. The recent auction of the 700 megahertz spectrum, and the coming of age for WiMax, promises to open new nationwide networks that might squeeze-out the small rural provider. It is unlikely that the FCC will want to force carriers and manufactures to retool their business plans.

Petition Copy
RCA

May 20 2008

Korea and Japan to get some iPhone love?

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

Cell phones have always been one of those things that people remain convinced are just omg-so-much-better in Japan. They never know exactly what is superior about them, of course - just that they’re in Japan, and that they do a bunch of ridiculous stuff US cell phones won’t be doing for years. While this held true throughout the 90s (and perhaps even the early 2000s), it’s more of a lingering notion at this point. Sure, Japan still has some neat stuff (especially their love for using RFID for everything) that hasn’t taken off stateside, but the differences are swiftly dwindling.

In fact, the popularity of the iPhone might be turning the tables a bit, with a rumor that Korean and Japanese carriers are looking to adopt the US made handset: According to AppleInsider, Korea Telecom Freetel and Japan’s NTT DoCoMo are working out the details to bring the iPhone to their respective countries.

If any crazy folk out there are still denying the impending release of a 3G iPhone, note that these countries use Wideband CDMA, a 3G technology.

May 20 2008

Sprint to hop on the 5GB cap bandwagon

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

With Verizon and AT&T restricting their wireless broadband packages to 5GB of bandwidth per month, it seems that Sprint feels they’re being a tiny too giving with their “Unlimited” plans. Starting in July, Sprint will be adding a matching limit to their Terms of Service.

From a memo leaked on Sprintusers:

“Sprint reserves the right to limit throughput speeds or amount of data transferred and to deny, terminate, alter, or suspend service if usage exceeds 5GB per month in total or 300MB/month while off-network roaming. Check your subscriber agreement rights on Sprint.com”

Not cool, when you consider that Sprint is currently toting packages they claim come with Unlimited data. Lets take a look at the word unlimited:

unlimited

not limited; unrestricted; unconfined
boundless; infinite; vast:
without any qualification or exception;

You know, by any of those definitions, a 5GB cap sure seems to cancel out the “Unlimited” bit.

Hopefully, Sprint will drop the “Unlimited” term from their vocabulary before the restrictions roll out. Otherwise, they’re just one of many carriers trying to redefine it. It’d be like if someone were to stand on the street with a sign that said “Free Candy”, but the back of the sign said “Oh, and by candy, we mean face punches.”

May 20 2008

Science Explosion Part Two

Posted by: admin in Video

cool