Well this isn’t really big news to anyone, but we have something a little bit official now…
This is a landing page on Samsung’s website that has the Verizon logo and yes… that’s a WinMo logo in there guys. <3 WinMo. If you are interested in getting alerted as soon as it’s available, head over to this landing page and get on the mailing list. Thanks to Zach @ BGR for posting this. This further confirms the rumors we had already been hearing.
With the release of the Zune HD just around the corner, stories about Microsoft’s efforts in the MP3 market are showing up all over the mainstream press, just as they did when the Zune 80 and 120 were released last year. This time however, along with the conventional wisdom mocking the Zune, there is a strange undercurrent of admiration for Microsoft.
Of course every story harps on the standard script that there are 450 trillion iPods sold every day and that the Zune has no chance of even being a shadow of an irritation for Steve Jobs and mighty Apple in the digital music market. In addition to that, many of the stories have been trotting out the same unnamed “Third Party iPod Application Developer” to say the equivalent of “Whoa, dude, like this guy from Microsoft asked me like to port my stuff for the Zune and offered me like a kajillion dollars, but Dude I said NO WAY! Can I meet Steve Jobs now?”
However, under all that is a new tone that makes it seem that people are beginning to admire Microsoft’s somewhat quixotic battle to make a dent in the MP3 player market, and the Zune technology is even finally getting the positive reviews it deserves, building on the successes of the Zune 3.0 update. For example, take a look at this from a Business Week piece published today…
Microsoft’s dogged pursuit of success with Zune is a classic example of the company’s willingness to keep investing in markets it sees as strategically important, even if early attempts to capture share fall short. Microsoft kept improving its Windows operating system for servers, SQL Server database, and Web search engine for years before having respectable products in those markets. Same goes for Zune, according to Microsoft. "When Zune was born, it was looked at as at least a seven-year project," says Seitz.
The project may pay dividends beyond the actual device. Microsoft considers Zune important to its foray into handheld computer games and other mobile software. It envisions an Internet-based Zune service that can deliver entertainment content to a wide range of devices, including those that don’t bear Microsoft’s logo.
Reading that, it sounds like the author feels that Microsoft’s persistence with the Zune is actually admirable. Perhaps people are beginning to notice that as Apple makes their iTunes system more and more closed and proprietary, Microsoft is talking about opening up the Zune system to a variety of devices and vendors. By this time next year, not only will we have the Zune HD but hopefully Zune software running on other devices as well as a key part of Windows 7 and Windows Phone.
Aiming a cameraphone at a computer monitor conveniently displaying names, dates, and prices of upcoming products always seems to end in sweet, sweet leakage, doesn’t it? New shots over at SprintUsers are showing some low-end noise in the mix like an orange Rumor 2 and a pair of Sammies apparently too lowly to get actual names, but the real news has to be that the long-awaited Touch Pro2 (Sprint should know better than to question HTC’s wisdom in nixing the space between “Pro” and “2″ here) looks finalized for a September 8 launch. We wouldn’t freak out at the $599.99 retail price, necessarily — bear in mind that’s a totally unsubsidized, rebate-free price that few customers will actually be paying.
Interestingly, the screencap is accompanied by a PDF identified as an internal “Quick Reference Brief” for the Touch Pro2; part of the doc includes a comparison chart that pits the phone against AT&T’s LG Monaco and HTC Warhawk along with Verizon’s Omnia II, all phones that have yet to be released. Wondering where they’d get the lowdown on unannounced competitive hardware? Us, it turns out — zoom in on the chart for a good look at a super low-res Engadget logo watermarked across the Warhawk. You’re most welcome, Sprint — buy us a drink sometime and we’re square.
There was really never any question that Telus’ shiny new HSPA network was launching this fall, but the carrier’s generally been tightlipped on specifics; fortunately, standards bodies and industry associations have a funny tendency to unintentionally help fill in some of those blanks, and this time around it’s the GSM Association doing the honors. The GSMA is now reporting that HSPA (well, HSDPA, anyway) will be live next month, and customers apparently can expect to be treated to the opportunity to buy some world-class devices like the Hero and BL40 to celebrate the launch. It’s hard to tell what Rogers is really thinking through the poker face — but if you look closely, we think you can see a few beads of sweat forming.
A healthy percentage of Nokia’s revenue comes from emerging markets, and the company goes to great lengths to fill out the very bottom rungs of its lineup with devices to satisfy seemingly every need of every demographic — built-in flashlights, segmented contact lists for phones shared among family members, the list goes on — and now the company’s tackling another need by offering rudimentary banking and money transfer services by way of the handset. Noting that of the four billion cellphones in the world there are only 1.6 billion bank accounts, Nokia’s so-called Nokia Money service will bring electronic money management to some areas of the world for the first time — a customer need only know the phone number of the intended recipient to send a payment. Powered by mobile money transfer specialist Obopay, Nokia Money’s going to be shown at Nokia World next week on its way to a rollout in select markets early next year.
The Pocket Pain Doctor is an iPhone app “guaranteed to invigorate your mind” and rid you of such pesky things as fatique, drowsiness and acne. Of course, it also has all the telltale signs of a swindle: fake trademark claims on the terms Bluwave and Redwave (which belong to Starkey Labs (for hearing aids) and American Banknote (RFID tags), respectively), “clinical proof” that has nothing to do with the product, and the faux sophistication of using “exacting nanometers” to adjust the, uh, brightness. Cherry on the cake? It’s made by the same creepy one-man clown show responsible for the Pocket Cemetery app.
Read – Pocket Pain Doctor website Read – US Patent and Trademark Office
As Sirius XM fanboys are well aware, the company is expected to debut its XM SkyDock satellite radio controller for iPhone / iPod touch at a press event this week. Now, along with spy shots dug up by the satellite radio hounds at Orbitcast, we have some press photos (below) and some PR for you (after the break) with the official details. Compatible with the first and second gen iPod touch as well as iPhone / iPhone 3G / iPhone 3GS with OS 3.0, this guy is hitting the shelves this fall for an MSRP of $119.99.
Read – Pics: New XM SkyDock satellite radio controller for iPhone Read – Stern Fans Rejoice: Sirius XM SkyDock for iPhone
German site NokiaPort has rounded up a nice little cache of juicy Nokia details that it says is culled from “official information from Nokia, confirmed rumors and reputable sources of information,” and while we can’t personally vouch for most of what we’re seeing here, it’s all sounding reasonable enough — and with Nokia World right around the corner, we figured this would be a grand opportunity to lay it out and see how the chips fall. First up, Cseries and Xseries are said to be presented at the show, with the first Xseries model being an upgraded version of the just-launched 5530 XpressMusic with 3G thrown in, probably spelling doom for the 5800 — in other words, Xseries is very likely a wholesale rebranding of the XpressMusic line, which totally makes sense. Speaking of touchscreens and Nokia branding, the site says that we’ll see another touchscreen Nseries model to keep the N97 company before the year’s out, followed by Eseries’ first S60 5th Edition model in 2010. Coincidentally, they’ve got a part of a supposed new touch model pictured on the site (see above), though we’re not clear on what we’re seeing. In the Maemo department, the N900 is likely to be the only Maemo 5 device for the better part of the year, though there’s apparently a mysterious N920 already making the rounds in the Espoo campus.
As technologies go, xenon flashes are apparently on the outs with Nokia — better hang onto your phones, N82 owners — while capacitive screens should start to take hold. Samsung has already proven that S60 works just fine and dandy with a capacitive display on the i8910, so we’re stoked to see where Nokia takes it. Finally, OMAP3 cores are said to be working their way into the lineup following a Cortex A8-based introduction in the N900; Nokia has historically lagged its competition as processing power goes, so it’ll be great to see them start to match up with the Pres and the iPhones of the world — at least as far as raw computational might goes, anyhow.
Ovi Contacts features are making the rounds on newish Nokia firmwares as of late, and the N85’s latest is no exception. Version 30.019 is starting to circulate around the world, bringing with it realtime contact location and status updates — the big news here, obviously — along with vaguely-stated “improvements in USB charging.” If only it’d pull another 3 megapixels out of thin air, we could forgo the outlay for the N86 then, eh?
With names like “Rogue” and “Intensity,” we’re totally picturing these phones breaking out of their tethers in Verizon stores, wreaking havoc, pickpocketing customers, and stealing identities during credit checks — but in reality, we’ve just got a couple of unassuming QWERTY sliders in the mix here. Starting with the lower of the two, the Intensity keeps things simple by leaving out 3G and sticking with a 1.3 megapixel camera, so we’re thinking this slots in right underneath the Rival as far as Big Red’s text-heavy wares go. Moving up, the Rogue is looking to put the Glyde out to pasture with a 3.1-inch WVGA AMOLED display, 3 megapixel cam with autofocus, HTML browser, and naturally, TouchWiz. Both units hit streets on September 8; you’ll pay $199.99 with a $100 rebate on a new two-year agreement for the pricey Rogue, while the more pocketbook-friendly Intensity runs $79.99 on contract with a $50 rebate.
