The Daily Dog for Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Hey, I know, let's hang out!

Our friends at Buzz Worthy are throwing a party and have invited PhoneDog to be a Media Sponsor. We're in!

Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Time: 6:30pm - 9:00pm

Location:  Thirsty Bear

Street: 661 Howard St

City/Town: San Francisco, CA

Should you happen to be - or plan to be - in San Francisco next Tuesday night, November 10, come by the Thirsty Bear on Howard Street and say Hi. I'll be there (that's Noah), as will the folks from Attack! Marketing and Nimbuzz, who are hosting the event and sponsoring the free drinks, software demos, and giveaways.

Whether you're a developer, industry professional, or ... better yet ... "just" a mobile fanatic, come on down next Tuesday night and say Hi. So long as you're of age, I'll buy you a free drink!  Get it, I'll buy you a free drink? Ha ha ha.

And, hey, Will's gonna be there, too.  He's way cooler than I am.

More info and RSVP link on the Facebook Event Page.

Or, if you don't do Facebook, hit the Eventbrite Page.

I just got an e-mail from the folks at Samsung, letting me know that Windows Mobile 6.5 is officially available for the Samsung Jack.  From the official Samsung upgrade page, new features include:

• Windows Marketplace for Mobile: Discover apps that unlock the power of your Windows phone, shop securely with confidence, and download instantly to your phone.
• Internet Explorer Mobile:  Internet Explorer Mobile 6 delivers the same high quality browsing and media viewing experience that you’ve come to expect on your desktop computer. If you can see it in Internet Explorer on your PC, you’ll be able to see it just as well on your Windows phone, whether the content you want is on YouTube, a game using Flash animation, or on a social site like Facebook or MySpace.
• AT&T Wi-Fi:  Automatic access to over 20,000 AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots nationwide is available on the Samsung Jack and is included in select smartphone data plans. This allows for fast and easy downloads of your favorite music, streaming videos, games, and more.
• Vlingo for Windows Phone: Instantly send a text or email message, call a friend, search the Web, open native applications and more, all by speaking into your Samsung Jack Windows phone.

The Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade can be downloaded at www.samsung.com/us/i637/windowsmobileupgrade6_5.  From the looks of it, there's a bit of time required to read through the necessary steps, so be sure to backup your information and grab a sandwich before proceeding.

None of the following pics, leaked courtesy of one of BoyGenius Report’s “connects,” shows the DROID Eris actually powered on, so take these as unofficial unboxing photos. Even so, it’s a good look at the form factor some of you will be holding soon.

With a rumored price tag (at $99) that beats Papa Droid by about a C-note, the unboxer adds that its slimmer and lighter than the Hero, “feels much better in the hand” and, aside from Papa itself, is generally the best Android handset he’s used yet. Take that with a grain of salt, since those are mostly subjective impressions, and look at the pretty pictures instead.

Via: BoyGenius Report

Every time AT&T has made the news rounds recently, it seemed to be about something negative. It’s suing LCD manufacturers. It’s freaked about possibly losing the iPhone. It’s in denial over weak 3G coverage. It’s suing Verizon for exposing its weak 3G coverage. It’s still the only major carrier to not offer any Android phones yet, etc, etc… The list goes on.

As an AT&T customer myself, this has been depressing, to say the least. Now, there’s finally some news that doesn’t make me want to jump out the window: The nation’s #2 carrier has three new service annoncements on tap for Sunday.

Here’s the round-up:

Voicemail to Text: This may only cover 60 seconds of recorded message, but even so, it’s a handy feature to have. I’m not hot on the price, though: $10 per month seems like a lot for limited transcriptions. But on the plus side, users can choose how to route messages (to SMS, email, or both). A word of caution, though: Switching to this from the standard phone mail will wipe out stored messages, so make sure there’s nothing crucial in there before activating this.

AT&T Nation with Canada: The inclusion of Canada means no long distance charges for calls to our northern neighbors, plus the 1,000 night/weekend minutes and rollover/anytime minutes work here as well as across the border. (It’s also eligible for A-List and early nights/weekends.)

Mobile TV gets new channels, coverage, and pricing: AT&T is adding three new channels into the MediaFLO-based Mobile TV. We don’t know precisely what they are yet, just that they will be a comedy station, a "national broadcaster," and a children’s channel. Also, in addition to seven areas that have gotten access to Mobile TV since September 25, there will be another three more markets added by December 11. But the best part is that this service is getting a price cut, from $15 to $10 per month. (Mobile TV plus unlimited data goes from $30 down to $24.99.) While it’s still not exactly cheap, any price reduction is better than nothing.

AT&T, are you feeling okay? Dropping prices is so not like you. (Not that I’m complaining…) 





Via: Engadget Mobile

In a keynote today at Open Mobile Summit in San Francisco, T-Mobile Chief Technology Office Cole Brodman reaffirmed the carrier's commitment to the Android platform, noting that the company plans to offer an official T-Mobile channel within the Android Market by Thanksgiving.  More importantly, Brodman went on to say that the carrier would offer direct billing from the Android Market, meaning that users will no longer have to pay using a credit card.  Though no ETA has been established for carrier billing, the T-Mobile channel will be live in the Android Market by Thanksgiving.

By simplifying the manner required to obtain new applications for your phone, I see this working out in T-Mobile's favor.  For me, the ability to charge things to my monthly bill (and forget about them for a month) makes it easy to spend more money.  What are your thoughts?

Via: PhoneScoop

There’s been some talk this week about how Droid users will have to pay an extra $15 for Exchange email on top of their data plans. In fact, a lot of sites picked up this story and ran it as fact. In the end, though, this was only sorta kinda true, but not really, at least for most customers. Confused? So was everyone else. Here’s the scoop:

Gearlog went straight to the source and asked Verizon Wireless. Turns out, the $15 difference isn’t dependent on whether you use Exchange Activesync or not; it depends on what kind of account you have in the carrier’s system. The stock plan for the typical personal/family subscriber (which includes Exchange support) is still $30, but corporate users incur $45 for the data plan. This goes for its WinMo phones and any other Android handsets that will come to the carrier.

In other words, only business or “corporate liable” accounts (which typically involve multiple lines purchased through business sales or IT departments) pay $45 per month. So this doesn’t affect Johnny Smith getting a Droid as a holiday present.

By the way, even if you are a business owner, you can still use a personal account — with Exchange — for the $30 monthly fee. Unless you have a fleet of people whose accounts you have to pay for and manage, there’s no need to sign up for the corporate account.

With only two more days to go until launch, I wonder how many other Droid rumors are going to surface at the last minute. For now, though, I hope this helps clear things up.

In other Droid news…
If you’re a New York City–based Droid fan or a follower of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, you might be interested in a special secret concert being put on in honor of Moto’s first Verizon Android phone. It’s taking place somewhere in the Lower East Side at an as-yet unpublicized location. NY customers who pick up the Droid this Friday will get free entrance, and followers of Verizon’s VCast Twitter feed will also have a chance to win tickets.

From the official press release for the concert:

    You can be one of the first to experience the brand new Droid by Motorola - the world's first smartphone with Android 2.0 - available exclusively on the Verizon Wireless network. Follow Verizon Wireless' New York Street Teams at Twitter.com/vcastmusic to find out where they will be so you can be one of the first to try the Droid out for yourself and win tickets to attend an exclusive celebration in Manhattan's Lower East Side featuring a performance by Yeah Yeah Yeahs and mingle with celebrity guests including Adrian Grenier, Kim Delaney, Katrina Bowden and more.

Via: Gearlog, Prefix Mag

UPDATE: Speaking of Droid in The Big Apple, MobileCrunch just reported that New Yorkers itching for an early fix on Verizon's Android phone won't have to wake up early to hit the 7 am opening time on November 6. One Verizon store on the west side will start selling the handset from midnight to 2am the night before. We don't know if there will be more, but this one — at 134 W 34TH St, in Manhattan — is certainly catering to its customer base. New Yorkers are not generally morning people, but staying up late is like a birthright, so this will be sure to thrill some of the urban technoratti. (Thanks, Greg!)

I am not a WinMo fan. If you’ve been reading PhoneDog for any period of time, you already know that. I’ve tried embracing this OS (which, for an Apple girl, isn’t an easy task), to no avail. But if there was ever a device that would make me give the Microsoft mobile platform another shot, the HD2 would be it.

I have to hand it to HTC — This highly anticipated follow-up to the Touch HD is one sexy handset. And today, the phone manufacturer (which is debuting the device for Europe and Taiwan) has officially confirmed that it’s arriving here early next year (Q1 2010), and that it will launch on a major carrier.

No confirmation yet on that other rumor, which predicts that the carrier in question will be T-Mobile. But the buzz on the Winmo-6.5-packin’, Sense UI-sportin’, Snapdragon phone landing on Magenta is pretty strong. If this turns out to be true, are you picking it up? (And if you’re not already on T-Mobile, would you switch to get this phone?) Inquiring minds want to know.

Click here to read the full press release.

Via: HTC, BoyGenius Report, TmoNews

After appearing on the website, complete with specs and a stock picture, US Cellular has gotten all official and launched the BlackBerry Tour 9630.  With a 2.4-inch display, EVDO Rev. A, and a 3.2-megapixel camera, it can be had for $199.95 after a $70 mail-in rebate and a new two-year agreement.  Because the Tour is a data device, US Cellular requires it to be on a $39.99 or higher monthly rate plan, as well as a $24.95 monthly data plan.

Several had asked me (via the tip line and Twitter) when the nation's sixth largest carrier was going to pick up the popular BlackBerry device.  Now that we have an official launch, who's planning on getting one?

Via: IntoMobile, US Cellular