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While we expected that Dell’s offer to make smartphones for U.S. carriers would be nicely lapped up, it turned out that no U.S. carrier was interested and China Mobile got the Dell Mini 3i. The Wall Street Journal on the other hand has come out with a news piece claiming that AT&T has put Dell to work designing an Android handset for the carrier. Specifications about the handset are not known as yet, but it’s going to have a touchscreen in place of a keypad and a tiny little camera, just like the Mini 3i. Now let’s see how soon this baby materializes.

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Word has it that the second WebOS handset from Palm, the Palm Pixi is going to be in the spotlight come October 20th. Sprint is going to be the carrier doing all the showing off, of course the real question is, with the Palm Pre out and about, does anyone really want this tiny thing? We do have the iPhone 3GS already here and the Storm 2 on its way, so our attention is…diverted.

The latest ‘Berry rumor has it that the BlackBerry Tour is getting an OS update, and soon.  The update will be OS 4.7.1.42 with both Sprint and Verizon getting in on the action. While the rumored update won’t make you Tour fit for space travel, it will hopefully fix a number of glitches (slow boot up, trackball type-lag, etc). That’s all folks.

Ok more info on Dell and its smartphones; rumor has it that Dell is getting ready to bring out a for-China-only ‘mini 3i’ smartphone. The smartphone will purportedly be announced to the Chinese market through China Mobile. The mini 3i smartphone is said to be part of the Android-driven Ophone Open Mobile Systems (OMS) platform. The Dell mini 3i is slated (so far) for an August/September release along with two other Ophones, the Lenovo O1 and the Dopod A6188. The Lenovo O1 on the other hand is allegedly the only 3G enabled phone in the lineup that will have support for the TD-SCDMA network. The other Dell and Dopod offerings will only rock the 2G GSM network. Now this may all turn out to be one of those Chinese rumors, but since TechCrunch has reported it we’ll give it credibility.

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And it’s now official, the iPhone 3GS is definitely available in an 8GB version and Rogers will be getting it. The iPhone 3GS and 3G comparison chart that is currently up on Rogers’ website puts a very distinct blue check mark against the iPhone 3GS 8GB model. There isn’t any detail about possible release dates for the 8GB version, and it certainly would not do to find out this was a clumsy mistake by some sleepy marketing dude.

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More good things are coming for Sprint users this year, good things in the league of the HTC Hero and BlackBerry Curve 8530. The Hero is said to becoming around October 11th, when the Fall session of CTIA kicks off. This is all based on some leaked information posted by an anonymous tipster but hey, if it pans out we have no problem with crumpled up sheets of paper that list release dates for Sprint handsets. It doesn’t have to be a fancy slide deck every time. Anyway, getting back to Sprint, tip offs from the leaked list also suggest that the BlackBerry Curve 8530 (CDMA version of the 8520) is heading for Sprint for a November 1st release. There are also some handsets from Kyocera such as the Pro 410, Pro 910 and perhaps the 3810 to look forward to. LG is also getting its business on with Sprint with the LG Lotus 2 (LX610) dropping some time in 2010. Of course all anyone wants to hear about is the Hero.

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Here’s more from Apple; seems that the company is pairing up with Verizon Wireless to launch an Internet Tablet. The Internet Tablet will be subsidized by Verizon, and will be your iPod Touch on steroids, possibly with a keyboard of its own. The rumor has its basis from and article in The Street written by Jim Cramer. If you’ve been into hedge funds, you’ll know that Cramer was the guy who at one time encouraged hedge funds to spread blatantly false rumors about Apple in an effort to manipulate its stock, so just tread on this rumor with extra caution. An Apple-Verizon partnership for an Internet Tablet is entirely possible but is now the timing is what we’re going to be cautious about.

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It’s hardly a state secret that LG has been cooking up a few Android sets and the GW620 may be the first to run the Android OS. This is truly exiting because it means, you guessed it, Unveilings, handset unveilings! Official or otherwise new phone get us all giddy. And what’s backing this adrenaline rush is a handset profile which cites the Android browser. Specs are shady at best but are likely to include an HVGA touchscreen display, full-QWERTY keypad, Wi-Fi and UMTS/HSDPA connectivity. So to LG releasing its first Android handset, “you are unique just like everyone else”.

 

 

 

Globalive, aka Global Wireless, has just been the on the receiving end of a former employee’s wrath…or so it would seem. The employee in question was sacked for “poor performance in marketing” and decided to get back at the company that’s gearing to roll out UMTS / HSPA network with service planned for all provinces and territories excluding Québec that will make it one of the biggest carriers in Canada. How so? He hit up the HoFo forums and shared everything about the carrier’s future plans…except maybe the CEO’s favorite coffee. The tons of slides that he’s shared at the forum are not the best camera job on the planet, but thankfully they have been deciphered. Here’s what you can all expect from Globalive (hell hath no fury greater than an employee scorned?)

14 Handsets:

1.      Sony Ericsson TM506: 7.2Mbps HSDPA clamshell. $29.99 on 24-month, $99.99 on 12-month and $199.99  monthly / pre-paid. Available in green, silver and red.

2.      Nokia 5330 XpressMusic: 384Kbps UMTS candybar. $59.99 on 24-month, $109.99 on 12-month and $207.79 monthly / pre-paid. Available in black and red.

3.      Nokia 5730 XpressMusic: 3.6Mbps HSDPA candybar. $49.99 on 24-month, $99.99 on 12-month and $179.99 monthly / pre-paid. Available in black, pink, blue and red.

4.      Nokia 6070 Classic: 10Mbps HSDPA candybar with 5 megapixel camera. Pricing is unknown. Available in silver and black.

5.      Sidekick LX 2009: Radio information is unknown, though we’d wager 3.6Mbps HSDPA. Pricing is unknown and you can have it in any color you like so long as it’s black.

6.      Sony Ericsson Xperia X1: 7.2Mbps HSDPA Window Mobile 6.1-powered slider to be billed as the flagship device of globalWireless. $149.99 on 24-month, $249.99 on 12-month and $449.99 monthly / pre-paid. Look for it in black.

7.      Global (HTC) G1: Identical to the HTC Dream and the T-Mobile G1 including the 7.2Mbps HSDPA radio. $129.9 on 24-month, $229.99 on 12-month and $429.99 monthly / pre-paid. Black only.

8.      Global (HTC) M1: identical to the HTC Magic aka T-Mobile G2. Pricing is unknown, though we do know it will feature 7.2Mbps HSDPA and will be offered in white only.

Airtime Rates

1.      $29.99 – 350 minutes, unlimited e/w, unlimited incoming

2.      $39.99 – 650 minutes, unlimited e/w, unlimited incoming

3.      $59.99 – Unlimited minutes and incoming.

 

Voice Add-Ons

 

1.      $5 – Unlimited nights at 5PM

2.      $8 – Unlimited mornings until 9am

3.      $15 – Unlimited calls to the US

Included Services for Monthly Plans

 Unlimited SMS (Canada and USA), Voice Mail, Caller ID, Name Display, MissedCall, Call Waiting, Call Conferencing and Call Forwarding

Optional Services

·        $4 – 500 international SMS

·        $7 – Unlimited international SMS

·        $5 – Video Mail

International Calling

·        $5 – 100 minutes to Asia

·        $10 – 250 minutes to Asia

·        $5 – 100 minutes to Philippines

·        $10 – 300 minutes to Philippines

·        $5 – 200 minutes to Eastern Europe

·        $10 – 350 minutes to Eastern Europe

US Roaming (T-Mobile)

·        $0.19 per minute without plan

·        $0.05 per SMS without plan

·        $0.40 per MB of data without plan

US Roaming Plans (T-Mobile)

·        $15 – 75 minutes

·        $25 – 200 minutes

·        $40 – 650 minutes

·        $10 – 250 SMS

·        $19.99 – 50MB of data

·        $29.99 – 250MB of data

·        $59.99 – 1.5GB of data

 

Data Access Rates

·        $10 – Unlimited email (20MB in reality), IM and “communities” (social media sites?)

·        $23 – 2.5GB data and unlimited email

·        $40 – Unlimited, plain and simple

Data Add-Ons

·        $8 – Unlimited browsing

·        $5 – Enables tethering

·        $10 – “100MB of global remote mobile storage”

SIM Cards

·        $0 on 12 and 24-month plan

·        $19.99 on 1-month contract

·        $29.99 outright

·        Will only work on a globalWireless handset

If you still want to get a first hand look at the slides, HoFo forums are up and alive with the vengeance.

 

 

Top of the rumor list is the word that Samsung is preparing to introduce another handset in the Omnia line, called the Omnia Pro. Sure the name sounds fishy, but according to the rumors this Omina will have a full touchscreen placed stylishly on top of a slide out QWERTY, just like HTC’s Touch Pro and Touch Pro2. Other specs of the Omnia Pro (reportedly) include a 3.5-inch 800 x 480 AMOLED touchscreen display, Windows Mobile 6.1 (which will be upgradable to 6.5 upon release) and a 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus, a flash and video recording capabilities. Now since this is still in rumorsville, those of you who a want a QWERTY on their OmniaHD better get to praying this one pans out. The handset you see in the image is a mock up of the device from the source of the rumor.

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