Recently in Phones Category

The developer preview has only been out for a day or two but @MuscleNerd has already revealed a tethered jailbreak for iOS5.

Lets hope this doesn't get patched before iOS5 is released to the public, although with Apple taking every good iOS jailbreak app and building it into iOS we are running out of must have apps that make a jailbreak a becessity.

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Business Insider has come up with a list of what they think are the top 10 smartphones currently available on AT&T.

To summarize - iphone is better than android, android is better than windows phone 7, windows phone 7 is better than webos, and webos is better than crackberry.

full list at Business Insider

As usual Engadget gets all the cool toys as soon as they are released and they have just posted their review of the HTC Droid Incredible 2.

The Droid Incredible 2 looks to be an excellent Android smartphone that comes in at the higher end of the specs spectrum: 4" gorilla glass WVGA (800x400) display, 1 GHz snapdragon CPU, 768MB RAM, 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, and 16gb MicroSD flash card (but only 1.1Gb on board storage).

What was their conclusion? "the Droid Incredible 2 is the best 3G Android smartphone on Verizon today"

Full review at engadget

A leaked ROM has exposed some details of the HTC Holiday, a high end android phone coming to AT&T sometime this year.

The specs seem very impressive: a massive 4.5" screen boasting qHD resolution (540x960 pixels), 1.2 GHz dual core snapdragon CPU, 1 GB RAM, dual cameras, and Android Gingerbread 2.3.4.

If phones keep getting bigger and bigger will we see massive pockets and MC Hammer clown pants become fashionable again? I hope not!

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Pocketnow got the scoop on the specs of the HTC Doubleshot aka the T-Mobile MyTouch 4g Slide:

dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8660 processor
768MB RAM
3.7-inch WGA display
8-megapixel camera capable of (possibly) recording 1080p 3D video
a forward-facing VGA camera for video chat
FM radio

via BGR

While US cellphones are stuck with 3 megapixel or less cameras the Japanese keep getting bigger and bigger cameras on their phone. The latest mega phone-camera hybrid is the Sharp Aquos Shot 933SH which is the first cellphone to come with a 10 megapixel camera.

It will be available in Japan in a couple of weeks but like most Japanese super phones it won't be available in the US unless you import it yourself.

via engadget

Boy Genius Report is rarely wrong when they report rumors so I think we can accept the following as accurate information about the upcoming next iteration of the iPhone:

Release Date: July 17th
Storage: 16GB ($199) and 32GB ($299) versions available
Battery Life: 1.5 times as long
Processor: 2 times as fast
Camera: 3.2 Megapixel Camera

Plus a bunch of other minor stuff. Not a massive upgrade over the current 3g iPhones but when you have such a hit on your hands it makes sense to keep milking the cow as much as possible and not reinvent the wheel every year.

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A user on the Chinese forum Weiphone has leaked specs and a screenshot from what is claimed to be the next generation iPhone.

The image above was uploaded and seems to depict a new iPhone model number "MB717LL" with 32GB of Storage. If the original poster's claims are to be believed, the new iPhone will contain the following features:

- 600MHz CPU Speed (up from 400MHz)
- 256MB RAM (up from 128MB)
- Digital Compass and FM
- 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus
- 32GB size
- No major changes in battery, screen and external casing.

via macrumors

AT&T has confirmed what was first reported last month: they are in the process of upgrading the software on their HSDPA 3G network to double the theoretical speed to 7.2 Mbps.

Of course this is just a stopgap to help deal with the expected traffic increase when the next generation of iPhones go on sale and it will be at least 6 months and maybe as much as a year before the next big boost when the network is upgraded to HSPA+ (which in theory allows speeds of up to 42 Mbps but in real life applications is expected to give a 20% speed advantage over the upgraded HSDPA).

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Boy Genius Report scores another scoop with screenshots of new voicemail functionality coming to Blackberry Bolds.

Visual Voicemail is exactly what it sounds like: a visual representation of your voicemail box showing all your messages, the length, and who they're from.

This should make it a lot easier to bypass the tedious 5 minute messages from the guy in accounting or screen out voicemail from the psycho ex-girlfriend.

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The Palm Pre smartphone got a lot of positive coverage at CES and was awarded the Best in Show award.

What makes it different from a Windows Mobile phone or iPhone? well it is the first phone to use a Texas Instruments OMAP processor, it is the first phone to use the Linux based Palm WebOS operating system, and it doesn't need a desktop sync, instead it syncs with cloud based services.

Here's the full specs.

Sling Media has announced a player for their Slingbox TV streaming device that works on the iPhone.

No price has yet been determined and the software should be available in March.

Full press release follows.

Eye-Fi has announced an iPhone app that just makes us ask "why?".

The concept sounds good - the Eye-Fi application for the iPhone allows you to upload photos taken with your iPhone to your computer or to any of more than 20 online photo services.

So what's the catch? the catch is you need to own an Eye-Fi card to download the application.... the Eye-Fi card is a $100-$130 secure digital memory card with built in Wi-Fi, and the iPhone is a phone without a SD expansion slot and with Wi-Fi already. Major disconnect there.

Another drawback is that the camera on the iPhone is terrible and we rarely use it so why would be buy a $100 SD card just to get functionality similar to what we can already do (in a clunkier manner) with an email attachment?

Our suggestion to Eye-Fi is to offer the application for free and make money off the annual subscription to the webshare service and to use the application to let all iPhone users know about the Eye-Fi cards they can buy for their regular cameras.

full press release

According to Engadget and Boy Genius Report there will finally be a new blackberry for Sprint customers.

Engadget describes it as a CDMA version of the Bold and BGR goes into more detail saying it will be the Blackberry codenamed "Niagara" and featuring EV-DO, 3.2 megapixel camera, 4.7 OS and aGPS.

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Boy Genius Report has been playing with a Blackberry Bold for the past month and they have now posted their review. Here's what they thought:

"Remember all that talk about overheating and battery drain? It definitely wasn't crap -- we'll tell you that! Even still, the device gets a little warm, but nothing to get too concerned about. RIM has made strides in regards to updated software builds for the Bold. Let's bring you back to when we first got the device, ok? We thanked our very friendly FedEx Sameday delivery man (or delivery person since there's this cute female that sometimes brings us goodies... anyway) and proceeded immediately to remove the SIM card and microSD card from our BGR edition BlackBerry Curve 8310. After that, we took a bat to it, Office Space style. Once the battery was installed in the Bold, we patiently waited for the unit to turn on.".......

Click below for the rest of the review.

BlackBerry Bold review at BGR

Gene Munster from Piper Jaffray is estimating that shortages in the supply of iPhone 3G handsets will last until mid-August.

Munster said that he'd wager "we'll see problems for another two to four weeks," adding, "early demand has been more than [Apple] expected."

Apple's own supply-checking tool reports that a little over a quarter of Apple Stores had iPhone 3Gs to sell today. The hardest model to find is the black, 16GB version. It was available in only 18 stores worldwide.

AT&T stores are also "nearly out."
more at Macworld

Geardiary got some insider information on AT&T's release plans for the rest of 2008.

The news isn't too exciting for blackberry devices (the Curve 8320 and the Bold in Q3) but for Windows Mobile devices there are a couple of interesting updates coming: the Sansung Blackjack III, the HTC Tilt II, and a new Pantech Duo device.

Check the link below for more specs.

AT&T 2008 Roadmap at Geardiary

The rumors have been around for a while but now it's official: the iPhone 3G will cost half what the original iPhone cost but AT&T will more than make up the difference in higher monthly fees:

If you are a new customer or are eligible for an upgrade the iPhone 3G will cost $199 for 8GB or $299 for 16GB. Everyone else pays $200 more.

Here's the monthly fees:

AT&T Nation (unlimited data included)

• $69.99 - 450 anytime minutes, 45¢ each addtl minute, 5,000 night / weekend minutes
• $89.99 - 900 anytime minutes, 40¢ each addtl minute, unlimited night / weekend minutes
• $109.99 - 1,350 anytime minutes, 35¢ each addtl minute, unlimited night / weekend minutes
• $129.99 - Unlimited minutes

AT&T FamilyTalk (includes 2 lines, unlimited data & night / weekend minutes, $39.99 each additional line)

• $129.99 - 700 anytime minutes, 45¢ each addtl minute
• $149.99 - 1,400 anytime minutes, 40¢ each addtl minute
• $169.99 - 2,100 anytime minutes, 35¢ each addtl minute
• $209.99 - 3,000 anytime minutes, 25¢ each addtl minute
• $259.99 - 4,000 anytime minutes, 20¢ each addtl minute
• $359.99 - 6,000 anytime minutes, 20¢ each addtl minute
• $259.99 - Unlimited minutes ($129.99 each additional line)

Add Text Plan

• $5 - 200 messages per month (individual plan)
• $15 - 1,500 messages per month (individual plan)
• $20 - Unlimited messages (individual plan)
• $30 - Unlimited messages (FamilyTalk plan)
• 20¢ per message if no plan is selected

Official iPhone 3G pricing

Boy Genius Report has posted a review of the Sony Xperia X1 phone that has a lot of people excited at the moment.

The Xperia X1 has a 3" 800x480 pixel VGA screen, runs windows Mobile 6.1, had a 3.2 megapixel camera (plus a front facing camera for video calls), aGPS, bluetooth, 256MB RAM, 215MB flash, MicroSD slot, etc etc.

No conclusion to the review as such, but head over there and check out their thoughts.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 review at BGR

HP seems to be going nowhere in the pda phone arena and their latest offering isn't really that exciting compared to the kinds of devices RIM, Apple and HTC are creating.

The HP iPAQ 914 is their latest pda phone and it will be available in Europe in July for about $775.

• A-GPS compatible GPS receiver
• 2.5″ touchscreen with 320×240 pixels resolution QVGA
• Marvell PXA270 processor at 520 MHz
• Quadband GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), EDGE, 3G and triband HSDPA at 7.2 Mbps
• 3MP camera with autofocus on the back of the device - so no video conferincing
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• USB 2.0
• 256 MB ROM
• 128 MB RAM
• microSD port
• 1940 mAh replaceable lithiuom-ion battery
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• Google Maps Mobile

HP iPAQ 914 specs via navigadget