So… we’ve just got word from a really trusted source, dropping bombs all around on the BlackBerry “Niagara”. First off, the model number we’re told is the BlackBerry 9630, not 8930 or 9030, or anything like that. Second, the phone will definitely be a Verizon World Edition with support for CDMA 1x, EV-DO Rev. A, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, and UMTS, though we’d bet the UMTS band is going to be 2100MHz only. The last of the big news won’t surprise any Verizon-haters, but this bad beast is not going to have Wi-Fi. Oh man, they never learn, do they? To recap everything for you slow pokes:
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We’ve got a lot of tips on this over the course of the morning but wanted to double check them to be safe. In short, we’re told that many, many new Nokia 5800 NAM owners are returning their units to the Flapship points of purchase, due to an issue with the handset not properly connecting to the internet. Now, our unit got 3G/3.5G signal fine in NYC over AT&T’s network, but we’re told many other units don’t pick up signal at all in a lot of locations. Literally another Nokia next to it will have 5 bars and the 5800 won’t have any. And yes, they’ve all confirmed they have NAM units and the boxes say “850MHz/1900MHz UMTS”. I’d turn my unit on again to check this out but it’s honestly not worth it. Stay in the box, 5800. You’re at peace.
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Surprise, surprise Canadian readers. Bell just became the first carrier to make the CDMA variant of RIM’s BlackBerry Pearl Flip a reality, and at a killer price no less. Bell’s Pearl Flip 8230 is available right now on the company’s site for a mere $29.95 with a 3-year contract. Don’t feel like signing three years of your life away? The 8230 will run you a ridiculous $349.95 with a 2-year contract, a whopping $449.95 with a 1-year deal or an unfathomable $499.95 with no contract. Seriously guys? As you well know, the 8230 packs 1xEV-DO, GPS, TV, radio and a SureType keypad into a slightly oversized clam shell form factor. It’s not the most solid piece of kit RIM has ever churned out but it’s definitely a great phone at a great price… As long as you choose the 3-year deal, that is. Good show Bell — now let’s hope Telus and Verizon aren’t too far behind.
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It looks like four bands of HSPA is too much for a BlackBerry to handle as Japanese carrier DoCoMo has suspended all sales of the Bold due to overheating issues. Since its February 20th launch, DoCoMo has sold approximately 4,000 Bolds but after receiving more than 30 complaints about overheating keypads while charging, DoCoMo decided it was best to halt sales while RIM investigates the matter. RIM is being quite tight-lipped on the matter and would only comment with, “This issue appears to be specifically limited to the BlackBerry Bold devices sold in Japan since last week and sales of BlackBerry Bold devices in other countries are unaffected by this matter.” RIM went on to clarify that faulty batteries are not to blame. For those of you scoring at home, this brings the number of carriers that have suspended sales of the Bold up to two thus far. Anyone taking bets on who might be the third?
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According to mobile maniac Eldar Murtazin of Mobile-Review, Nokia is in for a world of hurt as more than one million 5800 XpressMusic handsets currently in the hands of users may be defective. Ouch. Long story short: Muratzin bought 10 5800XMs a while back and the speakers died within a few months — on all of them! He began to investigate the matter and, in the process, got Nokia Eurasia’s head of PR to fess up to the issue. Apparently Nokia’s original speaker supplier turned out to be a dud. Nokia switched as soon as it could but 5800XM handsets made before February likely have the defective speakers in them. So in other words, the 5800 NAM is finally here but you might want to think twice before purchasing one until Nokia Europe and Nokia US have an official statement on this, which will hopefully be ASAP. If you already have a 5800, your local Nokia customer care line should be able to tell you if your handset is affected based on your IMEI. Hit the jump for the purported statement from Vitoria Eremena, head of Nokia PR for Eurasia courtesy of Mobile-Review.
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We’ve known what the upcoming Motorola i465 iDEN has looked like for at least a month but upon seeing this leaked press release photo, it looks Motorola has succeeded in doing something we think is has secretly been trying to do for years — create a full-QWERTY phone that is uglier than Jocelyn Wildenstein. Specific specs are sparse but we think we’re going to see a VGA camera, Bluetooth 2.0 and that crazy iDEN PTT that so many love. Of course we suppose those bad specs aren’t too big of a deal considering that the main selling point is iDEN connectivity with a QWERTY keypad thrown in for messaging fiends. We can definitely see the i465 being somewhat popular for Boost which still doesn’t have a QWERTY phone in its bag, so we hope Sprint goes that route as opposed to having it compete with the BlackBerry 8350i. Because honestly…
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Remember that whole Nokia flagship POS issue? Well, it looks like they’ve finally cleared that up. Ever since around 7PM ET they started selling the Nokia 5800 NAM edition handsets. What, you didn’t expect us to bum rush the store and purchase one already? We’ve taken some pictures of the phone for you, and here’s some quick impressions on what we think of it:
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Remember the Motorola Napoleon we hipped you to oh, maybe, 8 months ago? Well, the little bugger has started to hit the streets, prompting rumors and questions about its impending arrival on your local neighborhood carrier’s shelves. Sadly (or perhaps not-so-sadly depending on how you look at it), the Napoleon won’t be hitting the consumer channels any time soon. Moto has decided to make this one available only through exclusive government distribution channels, though the phone itself is running on Verizon’s network. No justification has been given for this rather odd move, but we can only imagine that the company was worried about cannibalizing its already spotty Q9 sales….or perhaps it has an even more impressive phone coming down the pipeline? Either way, we’re told the over zealous amongst us can probably find one of these suckers on eBay, so let us know if you decide to hunt one down.
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As rumors of Snow Leopard continue to swirl, it looks like Apple will be stringing Leopard along for quite a while longer before the next iteration of OS X debuts. According to reports, Apple has seeded a new OS X build to developers and testing is currently under way. The new build, 10.5.7, is said to focus on maintenance, security and synchronization. Apparently the seventh variant of Leopard is a pretty substantial improvement even in its current form — specific areas Apple is targeting with the update include graphics drivers, Time Machine, printing services, screen sharing services, MobileMe syncing, Mail and AddressBook syncing, AirPort services, text services and iCal. Beyond that, about 70 code corrections are said to have already been identified in the build. Needless to say if this rumor turns out to be true, we’re certainly looking forward to seeing an update that will resolve a healthy amount of the issues currently plaguing OS X. Of course we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves; we likely still have a few months before 10.5.7 sees the light of day considering testing has just begun.
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The iPhone 3G might be selling like hotcakes here in the US but it looks like other countries may be a bit reluctant to hand over standard functionality such as MMS and copy/paste in exchange for the smooth touchscreen ride the iPhone affords. According to a press release issued by SoftBank Mobile early this morning, the Japanese carrier is preparing to introduce some unheard-of pricing for the iPhone 3G — free. And you thought $99 was a good deal… Starting Friday and extending though the end of May, SoftBank’s “iPhone for everybody Campaign” will offer the iPhone 3G 8GB for free or the iPhone 3G 16GB for $117 to new subscribers. There is a mandatory 2-year contract involved of course, and but the iPhone data plan will run $44.75 per month as opposed to the standard $60. So basically, new SoftBank subscribers are looking at an instant savings of around $230 on either iPhone 3G model — standard pricing is $230 for the 8GB and $350 for the 16GB — and they’re saving over $15 each month on data. Ok AT&T, what’s up?
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