Nokia Lumia 610 is now available also at Telus!

After the launch of the 610 at Koodo Mobile, Telus is also carrying this budget WP7 phone.  Only black is available so far and it can be yours for $29.99 over 3 years on any plan or $229.99 outright.

Still, if I am in the market for a budget WP7 phone, my choice is still the Nokia Lumia 710 for a mere $25 more outright from Rogers as it packs a way bettter processor, and more RAM.

Doubt that Koodo or Telus are getting any budget takers at these prices in comparison to Lumia 710 over at Rogers,Wind, Mobilicity.

Source: Telus

At least Canadian Carriers aren't AT&T

If you thought your Canadian Wireless Carriers hates you, you are not along, from the endless 3 yr contracts to the one of the highest mobile phone rates in the world, that crosses my mind everyday (especially if you have been to Hong Kong where $40 HKD - around $5.50 or so Cdn) gets you around 1000 minutes in airtime on a temporary SIM card you can buy from 7-Eleven on any network.

At least Robellus (and some say WIND) are not AT&T.

Besides the crappy coverage, AT&T just announced that they will not push out the Mango 8107 update to any of their current WP7 handsets (guess Lumia is pre-shipped with it) where it fixes the sometime disappear keyboard problem.  Yes the same firmware updates we Canadians have been enjoying the last month and a bit (if you haven't got it yet, remember to plug your phone into Zune or the Windows Phone Connector on your Mac)

Good thing Americans only have to sign their life away 2 years at a time.  Bring on the Lumia 900!

Nokia Lumia 800 on sale at Telus + Good Reviews!

Wow, that was fast, less than a week after official release, the Lumia 800 can now be had at Telus for $24.99 (3 yr term or $50 per month or more plan)

It's part of a smartphone sale at Telus that will last until March 31

Looks like quite a few people have picked up the phone judging from the number of customer reviews in less than a week's time.  The average scores for the reviews so far is a excellent 4.7/5 stars from 22 reviews I saw this morning.  The "low" scores mostly come from the battery life but Nokia is in the middle of rolling out the battery fix which some websites have been significant battery life improvement due to the battery drain improvement while the phone is idle

So head on over to Telus and check out this sale and the reviews!

Nokia Lumia 800 now available at Telus

The Nokia Lumia 800 is now available over at Telus.

From the telus specs, looks like this will not work on WIND/Mobilicity.

Pricing:

$529.99 - no term
$479.99 - 1 year
$429.99 - 2 years
$49.99 - 3 years (so called promotional pricing as you will need a min $50 monthly plan)

Black, Cyan, and Magenta are the available colours over at TELUS.  I would imagine that sometime in the future, the glossy white one could become available.

Enjoy!

Link

Nokia Lumia 800 Launching on March 2nd - On Telus

Well, looks like we finally have a date for the Telus launch of the Nokia Lumia 800.

On the Telus website, it reads "Coming March 2nd".  Available colours are Cyan, Black and Magenta (PINK!)

The 800 not your cup of tea?  The Lumia 900 is set to be released on Rogers (no date yet)

No pricing just yet.

Source: Telus

*Update* - From MobileSyrup brings us the rumoured price for the Nokia Lumia 800

No Contract: $529.99
1 year: $479.99
2 year: $429.99
3 year: $249.99

Promotional (minimium $50/month on plan): $49.99

$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.

8107 Update on Telus finally rolling out

 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)

Decent Deal on Telus LG Optimus 7

Was just browsing the TELUS website and I noticed this pretty good deal on a decent gen 1 WP7 phone.

$0.00 on a 3yr term (on any plan)
$0.00 on a 2yr term (but likely you have to sign up a $50+ monthly plan) for this period to get this deal.

The more interesting price is the 1 yr term one.  $199.99 for 1 yr on any plan.

If you are looking for a good wp7 phone and just want to use WiFi for data, the 1 yr term seems like a pretty decent deal.

Source: Telus

Nokia Lumia 710 and 800 confirmed for Canada

Looks like at CES 2012, it is confirmed that both the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 will be making its way here.

At the CES 2012 Microsoft keynote log from engadget, if you search for 9:53, you will see the little line mentioning both the 800 and 710 will be coming to Rogers and Telus.

That's the good news, now prepare for some bad news.  Looks like Robbers will be getting the Lumia 710 exclusively (likely the Fido brand will see it), and the Lumia 800 will be exclusive to Smelus (from engadget)

Yes, our dreams of WIND or Mobiliticity getting some sweet WP7 love is once again crushed.

On the other hand, no word whether or not the Lumia 900 (with dual camera lenses!!!) will be making its way up North.

There's always the unlocked route I guess.

More on the new WP7 handsets later on from CES.

*UPDATE* - There's a price going around for the Lumia 710.  $49.99 on a 2 year term, no off contract pricing yet.  The 2 year term likely means that Fido will be getting it.

LG Optimus 7 Holiday Offer!

The LG Optimus 7 is generally regarded as one of the better WP7 generation 1 phones.  If you are tired of waiting for the 2nd gen wp7 devices to make it slow craw into the Canadian market, you might want to consider getting the LG Optimus 7.

Microsoft has now sweeten the deal by including a 12 month XBOX Live Gold subscription ($59.99 regular price - but often you can get it for around $40 to $50 range)

It is currently available at Telus for $0 with the usual chain and ball 3 yr term.

The offer is valid if you purchase the LG Optimus 7 between December 15th, 2011 to January 31, 2012, offer valid in Canada only.

If you are still unsure, here's a pretty detailed review from the good folks at Engadget.com

Mango is here!

The Windows where is my update page have be updated with the where about of Windows 7.5 (or Mango) for carriers across the globe.

I have also put the information for the Canadian carriers down below.  Telus is claiming on their website that they are rolling out the update for LG Optimus 7

Just tried connecting in my HTC Surround to my Zune Desktop... nothing... still nothing...

Post a comment if your device manage to get you a update notification or you have installed/updated your phone and just want to rub it in.  Try to be patient if you haven't got your notification yet.  From the Nodo update experience, most of you should know how to this is going to work.

For those who don't, Microsoft staggers their update over several weeks to different carriers, different devices, if you came from the Android camp, you will get the update within the next few weeks (rather than a year later), if you came from the iPhone camp, well, at least you will know that it is unlikely to brick your phone.

Good luck!

I'll be posting information on new mango handsets as they become available in Canada.  I would like to get the HTC Radar on Wind so I can tell Fido to shove it :)

via MobileSyrup

Blast from the Past - brought to you by Telus

To do battle with Chat-r, for those of you who remembers it, Telus has brought back the name "ClearNet" from the late 1990s when Telus bought them out.  Currently ClearNet appears to be doing battle with Chat-r.

It is appear to be servicing Alberta and BC at this moment but from the specs of the phones (2 at the moment, another android phone coming soon), it appears to be a 3G network.  If you click through the site, there is a check for for "notify me when data add-on becomes available".

Rates starts at $45/month for province wide unlimited talk in BC and unlimited talk and text plans starts at $55/month

Hopefully they can bring along some reasonably priced data plans. 

WP7 Nodo update chart... errr.. updated...

Fresh off the WP7 blog site.  All Canadian carriers are now in the process of delivering the Nodo update.

For our International readers, go here for your update status.  Looks like the majority of the global carriers are rolling out the update

For our U.S readers here is your status.  Some T-Mo customers has already seen the update.  Looks like AT&T would get the updates sometime in April

Telus NoDo Available Now!

The future is indeed friendly.  One of my HTC Surround wielding wp7 friends has informed me that the Nodo update is rolling out from Telus.

I will have to wait till I head home tonight and check whether or not I am one of the lucky (or unlucky guinea pigs) for the update.

Either way, if you are brave enough to upgrade, plug your phone into Zune Desktop as soon as you can.  Otherwise, you can wait for my analysis after I do my update tonight.

It is possible that the update is also out for your LG Optimus 7 users.

I'll try to dig up more information for you Bell and Rogers handset users.  If you happen to be one and have received an update or have installed the update, drop a comment here so we can spread the goodness.

*Update 1* - No Nodo yet for me.  My friend however has successfully updated his HTC Surround.  Smooth process, no problems what-so-ever.  He was copying and pasting in front of me as if to taunt me, and showing off his MAC address (damn guy). App startup seems to be faster, game starts are waaaaaaayyy faster.  Browser speed is about the same.

The Canadian map search problem, remains as I was playing with his updated phone.

When are you getting your Nodo Update?

So when are you getting your Nodo updates?  The Telus phones are getting the Pre-NoDo and there is a date for Nodo.  What about the rest of us Canucks?

Unlike the Android way of you will get it when you get it and the iPhone way of everbody gets it on the same date (and good luck if you ran into problems) way, Microsoft is using a more controlled way to rolling the updates out.  But it does get a bit confusing as us WP7 users do not actually know when an update is suppose to be release.

Some of folks from other carriers been asking when they are getting their update.

Fortunately, Microsoft has provided a list for us.  The release is still going to be staggered but at least we know it is coming.

Just updated my SIM Unlocked HTC Surround to Pre-NoDo

Wow, that was fast.  If you have an unlocked Telus HTC Surround and was worried about the loading to Pre-NoDo update, here's my experience (my co-worker ran it and same result) with this Pre-NoDo update.

Phone: Unlocked HTC Surround from Telus
Space left on my device: around 4GB (my co-worker had around 8GB remaining on his)

As soon as I plug in my Surround into my PC, Zune Desktop startup.  Waited for a bit as I want to see if the WP7 updater starts right away or do I have to manually do it. 

After 30 seconds or so, the WP7 updater starts up on your Zune Desktop and it actually tells you how long the update is going to take.  So no manual "force sync" here.  For me, it claim it was 20 minutes.

Finally, A Date For Telus Customers For Nodo Update

Finally, a date.

March 29, 2011 is the big date for you using unlocked Telus WP7 handsets and Telus WP7 customers.

Browsing through the Telus phone pages this morning yield this information

"The earliest date that a TELUS customer can receive the Windows Phone 7 software update is Tuesday March 29th, 2011. Microsoft is releasing the software update in a phased approach and it may take up to four weeks for all TELUS customers to have the option to receive the update and upgrade their device software.

Keep your smartphone running efficiently by using the latest available software.

The release of OS software 7.0.7389.0, provides the following benefits and enhancements for your smartphone."

Still combing through the Intertubes to find information for you Rogers, and Bells customers.

Source: Telus HTC Surround

AT&T NoDo to drop today + other Rumours

One of the hottest rumours last month was the rumoured released date of NoDo is sometime this week (March 8th to be precise).  Some of you have seen the Pre-NoDo update on your Samsung Focus on Rogers while others, (including myself) weren't so lucky.

Rumours also has it that the AT&T Samsung Focus is getting the NoDo update sometime today.  I'll keep an eye on this keep you all updated. 

Update #1 (March 7, 10:30 PST) - All is quiet.. a little too quiet - no rumours, nothing... strange..

Other hot rumours from the pass week: