LG Miracle breaks cover

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?  

Source: engadget

Canada Border Wait Times App is now available

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

HTC Radar coming soon to WIND!!!

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)
• User memory - 8GB

Source: WIND

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)

Vancouver Traffic Cam is updated

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.

Use your Bing Vision to start your download:

Or use this link: http://windowsphone.com/s?appid=fedf37ac-3cc7-496c-afce-31b6d5ace93b

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

Lumia 710 now available on Rogers

The Nokia Lumia 710 is now available for order from the Rogers website (and likely in store).

As previously rumoured, it is available for a dirt cheap out right price of $254.99.

3yr: $49.99
2yr: $99.99
1yr: $149.99
monthly: $229.99

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?

Here's a link to the Roger's website for getting the Lumia 710

*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