• pre,  rumors

    Rumor: Palm Pre Launch Date

    April 7, 2009 /

    ComputerWorld is reporting that an Everything Treo forum member has posted that Palm and Sprint could be launching the new Pre smartphone as early as April 15 or 16.

    “Reports circulated on a Palm Inc. user forum that the highly anticipated Palm Pre smartphone would be available on Tax Day, April 15, but a spokesman for the Pre’s wireless carrier would only say that the device would ship in the first half of the year.

    A posting by someone identified as “Inittowinit” on the Everything Treo forum claimed that a Sprint Nextel Corp. customer-service representative on Saturday said that the Pre would be available on April 15 or 16 and that it would cost $300 after discounts with a two-year agreement. However, the poster added that the April date seemed too early, given the absence of any Palm advertising for the new smartphone.”

    Read the full CW article…

    [Via GadgetsOnTheGo.net]

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  • pro,  treo,  windows mobile

    Palm Treo Pro comes to Telus in Canada

    April 7, 2009 /

    Earlier today Palm announced that its Treo Pro smartphone is now available at TELUS in Canada. With its smartly designed high-resolution color touch screen and full web-browsing capabilities layered on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, Treo Pro is the ideal smartphone for business users and consumers.

    Treo Pro offers TELUS clients simplicity and productivity – including TELUS mobile email, TELUS Navigator, Wi-Fi, web and 3G network capabilities – to meet the needs of businesses and consumers alike. Treo Pro’s thin design blends style and functionality with an LCD touch screen, one-touch buttons and a full QWERTY keyboard.

    Similar to the recently released Treo Pro for Sprint here in the United States, the Telus Treo Pro will also feature Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional.

    The Telus Treo Pro can be purchased for as low as $149.99 with a 3-year voice and data plan activation with a minimum $20 monthly service fee.

    For more information about Treo Pro at TELUS, visit the Palm website or www.telus.com.

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  • pre,  sprint

    Palm’s Pre Smartphone in Sprint’s New TV Ad

    April 7, 2009 /

    Jimmie over at GadgetsOnTheGo.net posted the new Sprint ad, in which the Palm Pre makes an appearance, posted to his website.

    I kind of like this ad. I don’t know why, it just strikes me as being funny. Not the laughing-so-hard-you-fall-out-of-your-chair funny, but funny none the less. Ok, enough of this money business. Just check out the commercial and let’s hope that we will be able to get our hands on the Pre before the end of May.

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  • blackberry,  rim,  sprint

    Sprint/Nextel Releases MR2 for BlackBerry 8350i

    April 6, 2009 /

    Late on Friday afternoon, Sprint/Nextel released Maintenance Release 2 (MR2) for the Nextel BlackBerry 8350i.

    Shortly after it’s initial release, issues where discovered with the long awaited Nextel phone. Sprint and RIM are finally showing 8350i customers some love with MR2. According to a post on Sprint’s discussion forums, MR2 addresses the following issues:

    • Echo Issue
    • MMS Improvements
    • 1.) Remove original message when replying*
    • 2.) Cursor now defaults to the message body when replying

    * Quiet and Vibrate Profiles will move Nextel Direct Connect calls to handset

    Customers that have already upgraded to the 4.6.1.128 (225) software version will be able to complete this upgrade over the air. The upgrade will take approximately 60 minutes.

    That’s good news. However, a few hours after releasing MR2, Sprint discovered that a service book update after the device software update was still required.

    “The one issue we said would be fixed with MR2 that was not immediately fixed was: Remove Original Message when replying to a text message. This fix requires the download of MR2 and a service book push to your device. Sprint conducted some additional testing on the service book push this week and today sent approval to RIM.

    When this fix is available RIM will push it to all devices and it will just require you to reset your device to see the change.

    We estimate this push to be out by April 10.”

    So it sounds like Sprint/Nextel customers who have the BlackBerry 8350i should hold off applying the update until at least this coming Friday, April 10th. If you are one of the brave readers who have forged ahead with this update, let us know how you made out by leaving a comment.

    BlackBerry Device Software 4.6.1.204 (316) [aka MR2] can be downloaded directly from the Sprint BlackBerry 8350i downloads page. You can also download the latest edition of the BlackBerry Desktop software 4.7 and the older BlackBerry Device Software 4.6.1.128 update [aka MR1] from the same page.

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  • blackberry,  rim,  rumors

    Rumor: New GSM BlackBerry Devices

    April 6, 2009 /


    In addition to yesterday’s Verizon HTC Touch Diamond news, BoyGeniusReport.com operatives also got some dirt on new RIM BlackBerry GMS devices that are under development.

    “[O]ne of our ninjas just hit us up with some really interesting BlackBerry info. While the specs of the following codenames are confirmed, releases are not, and as such, this should be used for information sake. Here’s what we got: BlackBerry Onyx, BlackBerry Driftwood, BlackBerry Magnum.

    Now, those are three different devices with practically the same rough specs. We’d wager than the BlackBerry Magnum and Driftwood are the same device just meant for different carriers. Possibly the Driftwood for T-Mobile let’s say, and the Magnum for AT&T (who doesn’t offer UMA). Is that the BlackBerry with touch screen and physical QWERTY? Probably.”

    Head over to BoyGeniusReport.com for the full article including the rumored device specs.

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  • windows mobile

    BGR: VZW’s HTC Touch Diamond Drops This Week

    April 6, 2009 /

    BoyGeniusReport.com has a new post up today stating that they have gotten word that Verizon’s custom HTC Touch Diamond will be launching later this week. If the report is correct, the Touch Diamond will go on sale this Friday, April 10. The initial launch will be limited to B2B/Telesales/Web customers.

    BGR goes on to state that the the Diamond can be had for as little as $199.99 with a qualifying two-year service agreement. Don’t want to extend your current contact? That’s fine, but Verizon will be asking you to hand over $469.99 for this unit.

    BGR’s operatives have listed the following items as having been changed from HTC’s stock mobile:

    • CPU: Qualcomm 7500A
    • Speed: 528 MHz
    • RAM size: 128MB
    • Flash size: 256MB
    • Display resolution: 480×640
    • 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus

    Also included is Windows Mobile 6.1 and an EVDO Rev. A cellular radio.

    For more details, check out the full BGR article including photos of the Verizon model.

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  • motionapps,  palm os,  pre,  web os

    More Details on Palm OS Emulation on webOS

    April 4, 2009 /

    Earlier this week Palm geeks everywhere where happy to learn that there would be third-party support for emulating Palm OS 5 on the new webOS platform thanks to the efforts of MotionApps.

    SlashGearTV.com has some footage from the CTIA Wireless show of the the Pre’s product manager showing off MotionApps’ Classic running on webOS.

    What I find really cool about this is that we can have our cake and eat it too. webOS is the much needed shot in the arm that is required to help reboot Palm and fling them back into the spotlight as an innovator in the mobile computing space. But who want’s to be out there in webOS with not of the great software that you have been using for the last decade? For me, old habbits die hard, and I want to be able to have my Handmark Astraware games and DataViz Passwords Plus.

    If you watch closely in the demo, you will learn that there is full 5-way nav support in Classic and Palm and Motion have worked together to ensure that the keyboard is fully integrated into the emulation environment. There was no word on whether or not you could continue to HotSync information and applications into Classic (my guess is no), but there was an icon called HotSync ID, which I’m guessing is a way to program your old Palm OS device’s HotSync ID into the Classic environment. When you mount the Pre in USB drive mode to your Mac or PC desktop computer, you will be able to copy Palm OS applications (.prc files) and databases (.pdb files) int the classic folder and they will become available in Classic.

    There was one other interesting morsel briefly mentioned in the demo. The person running the demo indicates that they worked with the developer of the popular medical package, epocrates, to come up with a new over the air (OTA) installer for the software. Holy smokes!! Sounds like MotionApps could be building in wireless support for Classic that might allow Classic to access the Pre’s cellular radio to get wireless Internet access for your old Palm OS applications. How cool is that?! Pretty cool, huh? MotionApps plans to release more details as we get closer to the release of webOS and the new Palm Pre. The Palm product manager for the Pre indicates that Palm wants to make sure that customers will have the ability to run all of their favorite Palm OS applications on day one when the Pre goes on sale for Sprint.

    For more details, keep checking the MotionApps website. Click the link below to watch the SlashGear video.

    http://vms.slashgear.tv/sgtv/sgtv_player.swf

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  • iphone,  pre,  web os

    Palm Working Hard to Position Pre As the Anti-iPhone

    April 4, 2009 /

    Palm and their Pre launch partner Sprint have been working to show the mobile phone industry, specifically, end users, that the new Palm Pre is everything that the Apple iPhone is and more when it comes to third-party applications.

    AppleInsider has an article of interest to Palm fans this morning.

    “While third-party apps are being trumpeted as the iPhone’s strength, key Palm Pre demos this week were designed to highlight their restrictions by taking advantage of those precise things that Apple won’t allow.

    At Sprint’s press lounge during the CTIA Wireless Association’s annual event, Palm stressed the advantages of the new webOS platform at the heart of the Pre by running presentations of carefully selected third-party software live on sample phones.

    Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Palm also underlined Apple’s refusal to permit interpreting code within third-party apps by showcasing an emulator that does just this. Mobile software developer MotionApps released an app known as Classic that, much as with Apple’s own Classic that was present in Mac OS X until Leopard, recreates the entire working environment for an older operating system. In the case of webOS, it lets Pre users run PalmOS apps near full speed and as just one of any other, native apps that can be running at the same time.”

    Palm really surprised us when they showed off the Palm Pre and it’s new mobile operating sytsem, webOS. webOS is the successor to the venerable Palm OS which has had a long service life over the last decade powering Palm’s original PDA product line and then making the jump to the company’s Treo and Centro smartphones.

    The Pre and webOS are considered a make or break product launch for Palm. The more I learn about this new hardware and software dymamic duo, the more excited I am to get my hands on the hardware and software.

    Read the full article on AppleInsider.com…

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  • blackberry,  rim

    BlackBerry App World Goes Live

    April 3, 2009 /

    Research In Motion has launched BlackBerry App World; their online vehicle for delivering new applications, both free and paid, directly to customer’s Berry.

    System Requirements

    Before you can use App World on your BlackBerry, you need to meet the following system requirements.

    To ensure that your BlackBerry smartphone will support BlackBerry App World, it must have the following system requirements:

    1. BlackBerry Device Software version 4.2 or higher
    2. BlackBerry smartphones with trackballs or SurePress touch screen
    3. BlackBerry App World is only available to customers in US, Canada and UK and may not be available on all networks
    4. To use BlackBerry App World, you require a service plan that includes access to the BlackBerry Browser

    You will also need to setup a PayPal account.

    Installing App World on Your Berry

    If you meet the requirements, use your Berry to surf over to www.blackberry.com/appworld/download to load up the new on-device application to get started. Want to learn more about App World? Check out this spiffy video or visit the App World support site.

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  • phatnotes,  windows mobile

    PhatWare Releases PhatNotes 5.4 for Windows Mobile

    April 3, 2009 /

    PhatWare Corporation, a leading provider of software products and professional services for mobile and desktop computers, announces today the release of PhatNotes 5.4, the new update of the company’s award-winning notes organizer software for Microsoft Windows-based desktop computers and Windows Mobile smartphones. PhatNotes 5.4 is available in two editions: PhatNotes and PhatNotes for Outlook.

    “PhatNotes provides powerful note-taking and organizing features for both Windows phones and Microsoft Office Outlook,” said Steve Hegenderfer, group product manager of the Developer Experience Team in the Mobile Communications Business at Microsoft Corp. “PhatWare’s application, built on the Windows Mobile platform, provides mobile professionals with added value and convenience while on the go.”

    PhatNotes for Outlook includes the simplified version of PhatNotes for both Windows Mobile Standard and Professional or Classic devices. It does not include the desktop software which is replaced with Outlook notes synchronization software that supports ActiveSync 4.5 or later on Windows XP and Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 on Windows Vista.

    PhatNotes Availability and Pricing
    PhatNotes 5.4 is available now at the list price of $39.95, while PhatNotes for Outlook 5.4 is priced at $19.95. Free 30-day trial versions of PhatNotes and PhatNotes for Outlook can be downloaded from the PhatWare web site at www.phatware.com/phatnotes. Existing users of the corresponding editions of PhatNotes 5.x can upgrade to the latest version free of charge.

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