As some of you might know, MWC happens every year around this time where pretty much all the big mobile phones vendors (except Apple) gets together in Barcelona and have a great nerd off.
This year, I was looking forward to it as I personally am looking to replace my HTC Surround (still like it a lot) with likely a Nokia Lumia 800 or 900.
Nokia
We already know when the 800 is launching in Canada. We found out that Rogers is going to release the 900 sometime *soon* in CES 2012 in January but there was no date, nothing.
Well, looks like we can now narrow it down the a month. April is the month and over at the Rogers website you can also sign up for launch information.
The promotional blurp also states "When you pre-order a Lumia 900, Nokia and Rogers have a surprise for you. Hint: there's a hero rising out of the darkness" Likely this thing (the video is a Video of the Lumia 800 but you get the idea).
It's either this or Christian Bale deliveries your phone to you personally and then follow by punching you in the face. (The second option does sound interesting for some reason)
Lumia 610
Also new and it is unlikely to see here in Canada is the Lumia 610
This is significant as this is the first "Tango" phone which runs on lower spec hardware which means that it is going to be unleash in emerging markets
The Tango spec supports 800Mhz CPU + 256MB RAM in case you are interested
Given the low low price of the 710 right now, I don't think we'll be seeing this phone in Canada anytime soon
HTC
- HTC has announced that the HTC Titan II will be expanding to markets outside the United States. This LTE device will likely finally see the light in Canada sometime. No timeframe is given
- HTC has also announced that they will make a bigger splash in the WP handset when Windows Phone "Apollo" is released (Windows Phone 8.0)
Samsung
- I personally think Samsung is gone off the bonkers lately with the releases of the Samsung Note (Android in case you are wondering) - 5.3 inches!!!!
- no news on Samsung WP75 coming to Canada.
$49.99 with data plan looks to be a pretty great price considering the 3 year price for the original launch prices HTC Surround + LG Optimus 7 was $99.99 and $149.99
Rest of the prices are complete BS.
Probably will have official numbers from Telus this coming Friday.
$399 outright
$99 on WINDtab+ (basically means that your monthly fee must be >= $40 for you to get $300 off the outright price).
$249 on regular WINDTab ($150 off the regular price for other monthly plans)
Even at $249 it looks like a good price as you can unlimited talk&text + unlimited data for a very reasonable price of $35/month or just $25/month with unlimited talk&text.
Some specs:
3G bands: UMTS 1700/1900/2100;
GSM Bands: 850/900/1800/1900
1Ghz Processor
Cameras - 5MP main camera, front facing camera VGA resolution (640x480)
*UPDATE* - Looks like Videotron is about to unleash the HTC Radar as well, no pricing just yet
*UPDATE 2* - If you are pondering going to WIND, MobileSyrup has obtain information on WIND monthly plan changes
Looks like there are some increases in WindTab and WindTab+ but rates are changing so you might want to weight your options. This new pricing is launching on March 1
By now, some of you might have heard of something called #smokedbywindowsphone.
For those of you who don't know what it is, it is a Microsoft Campaign that started small at this year's CES by @BenThePCGuy (who works for Microsoft of course).
The challenge is that his claim is that the Windows Phone can do things faster than your smartphone could on everyday tasks like tweeting, posting stuff on facebook, etc. If he cannot beat you with his HTC Titan, he will give the challenger $100 US for winning. The cost of losing to him? Say on camera that your phone was smoked by a windows phone.
Of course the chances of him coming up to Canada for any Windows Phone launch is very remote, but it is very fun to see these videos.
In a recent trip to california Microsoft store, his record was a stunning 37-0 (I think he was like 30-3 at CES - narrowly losing to couple of iPhone 4s and a Galaxy S II or something like that).
Also, Wpcentral has reported that this #SmokedbyWindowsPhone campaign has spread to Hong Kong where they are offering people $1000HKD (around $125 Cdn) should they beat WP7 and so far they have an 32-0 record.
Just for fun I took my HTC Surround up against my friend's Samsung Galaxy S and smoked it good with simply taking a picture and posting on facebook.
What was really surprising was that just for fun I tried opening a website (cached cleared of course) against the brand spanking new Galaxy Nexus. And was I surprised to see that on opening 10 different websites (full sites, not the mobile site), even my HTC Surround took 7 out of 10 websites opening away from the Galaxy Nexus.
So there you have it, try using your year old WP7 (Mango updated of course) to have some fun with your friends!
All is quiet on the LG front as far as Mango phones are concerned. There were blurry prototype photos of a LG mango phone in the past few months where you cannot really tell whether or not it was for real.
The LG Optimus 7 was one of the best gen 1 WP7 there was and yesterday I was checking out my friend's LG Optimus Quantum, I was surprised how many more LG OEM apps they have than the HTC OEM apps and the Samsung OEM apps. From first glance it seems like LG themselves have more OEM apps than HTC and Samsung OEM apps combined. Disheartening for myself as I have an HTC but at the same time good for you LG WP7 users.
Just when we thought LG has given up on the WP7 platform, there seems to be a little miracle for you LG WP7 fans. There is something called the LG Miracle on the horizon and Engadget (or gsmarena i guess because of the watermarks) has uncovered the first clearer pictures of this device.
The screen size is looks to be around 4.0" to 4.3"unless that finger belong to a massive person... front facing camera.. but not much else is known about this phone. The lack of a flash is kind of weird however.
With Telus getting the Lumia 800 and Rogers rumoured to get the Lumia 900 (they already have the Lumia 710), will Bell finally get in on some WP7 Mango action?
If you travel to the US a lot and want to see the wait times for the land border entry points, my new app have just been released in the WP7 marketplace and is ready for your enjoyment. As usual, it's FREE so go forth and click on those ads!!! (I am kidding).. but please do take time to rate it.
Shows US bound land border wait times from entry points from across Canada where information is available.
- includes vehicle wait time information for regular vehicle passengers, NEXUS lanes and Ready lanes
- available US bound border crossings information from:
BC (including Point Roberts!) - folks in the GVRD area can also download this if you are looking for traffic cams of places around GVRD
Alberta
Manitoba
Ontario
Quebec
New Brunswick
Use your Bing Vision to grab it here:
Or click here if you are already browsing in your awesome Wp7 phone
Looks like WIND is finally going to start selling their first ever WP7 handset.
Their first (hopefully of many) WP7 handset will be the HTC Radar - which interesting is the first gen 2 HTC WP7 handset that will be available in Canada.
No pricing information available yet.
You can sign up and be the first to know about the release date and pricing information.
Here are the specs in case you are wondering:
Processor: 1 Ghz Single Core CPU
Screen Size: 3.8", Super LCD
Camera: 5MP
Front Camera: Yes - VGA camera (that's 640x480 for you young kids)
Weight: 136g
Battery - 1520mAh (not replaceable, at least not without taking the phone apart)
Looks like the 8107 is finally getting rolled out to the Telus WP7 phones (at least the HTC Surround). Just plugged into Zune Desktop and down comes update 7740 and 8107
Update 2 patches within 30 minutes and rocking it now.
In case you need a reminder of what 8107 fixes, here's a link
I am testing out whether or not it fixes the Zune crash problem on the HTC devices (Problem remains - I'll keep poking Microsoft and HTC)
version 1.3 of the Vancouver Traffic has been approved and if you had installed it previously, the update will soon be available. Still FREE!
In version 1.3, I have improved the pivoting between pages performance (it's a lot faster now!).
I have also added border wait times for the US Bound traffic in BC,
For those of you living across Canada, I do have another US bound border traffic wait time app that I am about submit for certification. Should be available within this week (provided I didn't screw up something). I'll post it up as soon as it gets certificated and is release.. and of course it is going to be free!
I didn't have time to add the 'My favourites Cam' feature yet as I was hoping that I can get the border cameras in quickly and improved the performance before Christmas comes around to aid in your travels. But it is coming likely in the New Year.
* App Information *
It contains quite a few traffic cameras from around the Lower Mainland including:
*NEW in v1.3* - southbound border wait times
Border Cameras! US Bound and Canada Bound
Vancouver
Burnaby
Surrey
Delta
Richmond
Fraser Valley
New Westminster
Bridges/Tunnels - Iron Worker's Memorial, Lions Gate Bridge, Alex Fraser Bridge, Queensboro Bridge, Oak Street Bridge, George Massey Tunnel
I will be putting in another update soon with more cameras from around the region including border cameras. Future enhancements includes: better filtering, my favourite traffics cams, more cameras, and maybe even live tile.
If you live in other parts of BC, no worries, I am also working on a different traffic cam application for the rest of BC so stay tuned!
If you like to see more traffic cameras added to your city or whatever, send me a message from within the app and I'l see what I can do about it.
Looks like the official Nokia assault on Canada is on and the rebirth of Windows Phone 7 in Canada has started.
For those of you who are curious as to whether or not you can buy this outright and take it to WIND or Mobilicity? According the the specs on the Rogers website, looks like it is running the UMTS bands only (850/1900/2100) so according to these specs, the answer is a BIG NO.
I will however continue searching on the Intertubes (or if you guys happen to know someone that tried and succeeded/failed) as to whether or not Rogers is just hiding the the 1700 band.
Before you all go crazy and claim that it runs on T-mobile so it must, let me remind you of the Dell Venue Pro where the model number is exactly the same but they actually do sell different phones on different network. Confusing as heck but that's they way things are I guess.
Another juicy rumour running around is that Rogers will likely pick up the Lumia 900 as well (which would explain why they are leaving the Lumia 800 to Telus. If this is the case, it will be interesting to see what Bell is going to do with the WP7 platform.. HTC Titan II?... Have they just given up?
*UPDATE* - was talking to the Costco reps yesterday and they claim they should be getting stock sometime this week. From what I can tell is that they are very willing to sell them off contract so if you are having problems with at the Rogers stores selling you one outright
Do keep in mind that one of our readers have pointed out that this is a different version they are selling at Rogers than the one for TMobile. So you are out of luck if you want to unlock it and use it on WIND/Mobilicity
If you do want to take it to Bell or Telus, a reminder that it does use microSIM so you will need to order a new microSIM card as well from your carrier of choice
