FreshPhoneNews.com

Getting your hopes up ain’t a wise thing to do when it comes to HTC Dream or Magic from Rogers Wireless. Both these gadgets won’t be receiving an official OS update past Android 1.5, according to HTC’s website (Rogers Wireless has confirmed this as well). Android 1.6 upgrades for Rogers HTC Dream or Magic haven’t been planned as it was made only for “Google”- branded devices such as the G1. It isn’t available for the above two HTC-branded handsets that run Android 1.5, being considered a stable and reliable platform delivering an outstanding user experience. Bragging about the device, calling it an open-sourced “Revolution” and then turning down the customers is just plain sad. Did we mention that rival carriers offering Google supported devices have managed to tweak it up with some software upgrades?

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Good news for BlackBerry Internet Service users in the North American region, BIS 2.8 has totally landed. BIS 2.8 will give non-enterprise users functionality they’ve longing for ages. Key improvements include;

• Two-way wireless synchronization [every four hours] with Google Mail Contacts and the Address Book on the BlackBerry smart phone:
  • Synchronize Google Mail contacts quickly and easily to the BlackBerry smart phone.
  • Add or edit Contacts and the Contacts are automatically updated, whether they are updated on the computer or BlackBerry smart phone.
  • Note: Two-way wireless Contact synchronization with Google Mail Contacts requires BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0 and configuration through email settings on the BlackBerry smart phone.  Additional requirements and constraints may be found within the BlackBerry Internet Service 2.8 Documentation Kit. This feature is not supported on BlackBerry smart phones with BlackBerry® Connect™ software.

• Enhancements to email setup and settings:
  • Automatic Login now supports most billing identifiers, which allows new subscribers with wireless service providers that use PIN, IMEI, or ESN as a billing identifier to create BlackBerry Internet Service accounts from the BlackBerry smart phone, without having to create a login user name and password
  • Note: This feature will be available approximately one week after the BlackBerry Internet Service upgrade.

• Windows Live Hotmail revalidation:
  • With BlackBerry Internet Service 2.8, new Windows Live Hotmail mail integrations will be defaulted to a protocol that is designed so as not to require 90 day reauthorization.
  • Note: Existing BlackBerry smart phone users accessing Windows Live Hotmail using Microsoft MSP will still be required to revalidate their Windows Live Hotmail account every 90 days.

Pretty decent, RIM can definitely pat itself on the back for this one.

Much to the anger of many Verizon Wireless customers, Big Red has confirmed that the BlackBerry Tour is not available for pre-order if you’re upgrading your current line. Initially speculation had it that it was an ordering glitch or something gone wrong with Verizon’s website, but the company has obstinately placed on the ordering page a clear decision; “Pre–orders not available for upgrade orders at this time.” So does this mean that the BlackBerry Tour is primarily being used to grab new customers first, before the current Verizon crowd can get a piece of the action? Of course not ALL CS reps know what Verizon has planned, so if you can sweet talk your way through most storms, you can get some nice rep to hook you up.

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Good news for BlackBerry owners, SlackerRadio just came out with an upgrade for your ‘Berry. This version 2.0.2 fixes a good number of bugs that users have complained about and improvements include faster performance / app response and much shorter gaps between songs. The transition gaps were among the most annoying problems that Slakcer users faced (great as the app is) but now since the upgrade has come, users can move through that 4 million-track library with almost no interruption. The BlackBerry version is available immediately via direct download (uninstall the current version, reboot and visit www.slacker.com from your BlackBerry browser) and is also up and running on BlackBerry App World.  As for the iPhone, your upgrade is also ready and waiting for approval from Cupertino.