AskGSM – Mobile Phone News

No one likes early termination fees, but for one reason or another they can sometimes become a necessary evil. When Google introduced a new channel for buying the Nexus One, I was excited at the thought of grabbing a phone without being hassled by a retail sales rep. The only downside was that if I bought it at the subsidized price and wanted to cancel within 120 days, Google would charge a $350 device recovery fee… on top of the carrier’s cancelation fees!

Luckily, Google has decided to drop that price down to $150. Not bad, but it’s still not appealing when added to T-Mobile’s $200 early termination fee. Owning a Nexus One could get expensive if you decide to cancel your contract! At the very least, if you cancel and it’s all said and done, you’ll end up paying exactly what you would have if you purchased the device unlocked and contract free.

[via Nexus One Terms of Sale]

This isn’t official or anything, just a concept that happens to use some Microsoft assets, but what it Windows Mobile 7 looked like this? I think we all know it will not, but until the hammer actually falls at MWC, hope springs eternal. The “location-based desktops” idea is a good one for a MID or powerful smartphone that acts alternately as your email client, GPS device, and TV.

Remember when we learned that Google’s Nexus One ETF (technically Equipment Recovery Fee) was not only a whopping $350 but also was imposed in ADDITION to T-Mobile’s ETF – and then we threw a hissy fit? Well the FCC promptly started an investigation and it looks like Google is either admitting they overdid it or doing some pre-emptive cost maneuvering – the WSJ is reporting they lowered the ETF from $350 to $150.

It’s true, it’s true… check out the new deets at “Terms of Sale for Nexus Device“:

I thought the $350 pricetag was outrageous but that wasn’t even my main complaint. I don’t understand why both T-Mobile AND Google are forcing these fees for cancellation/return. They’re systems/inventory/shipping is obviously integrated in some way if you’re able to purchase a T-Mobile contract through Google’s website, right? Do the customer a favor and condense those 2 separate ETF fees into one and choose either T-Mobile or Google to institute it.

The $150 is much more reasonable and I can appreciate the reason for its existence… but I think we’ve got a long way to go in terms of transparency and consumer education with these fees. At least this is a start.

Earlier today we told you the Motorola Droid’s update to Android 2.1 was coming very soon and now, thanks to an Official update on Motorola’s Facebook page, we know that very soon = this week!

Have your Droid’s charged and at your fingertips so when that “Do you want to update” question pops up, you’re ready to happily press Yes and get the Droid goodness  you’ve been waiting for.

While pundits were arguing about whether Doom was damaging to us kids, we were busy having our sensibilities shocked by the phenomenally violent Rise of the Triad. While it wasn’t as flashy as Doom (it was Wolf3D-based), it had crazy weapons, fire, and enemies that would beg for their lives. So ahead of its time! At any rate, it was a fun game and I played through the demo a million times. And it’s coming to iPhone (yes, and iPad).

1up reports that it’s coming “soon” and will be a full port with all the levels of the commercial game. I’m not really a big fan of iPhone shooters like this, but the old, simple ones fare pretty well with the new control schemes. It might be that an iPad will be a great old school game platform — can you imagine playing X-COM on one? I got goosebumps!

They’re back at it again. The iPhone dev-team has released an update to their popular jailbreaking software, PwnageTool, for Mac OS X. The new PwnageTool — version 3.1.5 — boasts the ability to properly jailbreak Apple’s recently released 3.1.3 iPhone/iPod Touch firmware. Before you get too excited, the dev-team does offer up this proclamation, “Unless you’ve personally observed a problem with the reporting of your battery percentage, there’s no reason to update to 3.1.3.” For those that feel the need for a jailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch with the 3.1.3 firmware follow the read link; let us know how it goes in the comments.

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Dataviz makes an application called Documents To Go that allows you to view, edit and interact with Microsoft Office documents like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF – right from your Android Phone. There is a free version of the app that provides limited access (view only) for Word and Excel, but the FULL version will set you back $29.99 – unless you buy it now.

Dataviz is having a sale on Documents To Go for Android, selling it for only $9.99 until the 50,000th app has been sold. The bottom of their Android Market listing says:

HURRY SALE ENDS WHEN WE HIT 50,000 ORDERS & WE’RE CLOSE! (Reg: $29.99)

I’m not sure exactly how close they are but if you’re considering this app, I suggest you buy it now and if necessary, return it within 24 hours. Those who refuse to make an impulse buy will be happy to know the company currently has a special on their Android app that sets the price at $14.99 until February 28th, 2010 0 so even if the $9.99 special runs out you’ll still be able to get the app for half price until the end of the month.

[Via Dataviz & Android Market]

Market research firm IDC has just released their quarterly report on the top selling smartphones (or “converged mobile devices”, as they call them) in the US for the fourth quarter of 2009. RIM and Apple dominate the list in an almost absurd manner, but a few welcome surprises managed to sneak their way in.

Want to test your mobile expertise? Make a mental list of what you’d wager were the best selling phones at the end of 2009, and then click through to see how many you got right.

Top 10 Best Selling Phones of Q4 2009:

1. RIM – BlackBerry Curve
2. Apple – iPhone 3G S
3. Motorola – DROID
4. Apple – iPhone 3G
5. RIM – BlackBerry Pearl
6. RIM – BlackBerry Bold
7. RIM – BlackBerry Storm
8. Palm – Pre
9. RIM – BlackBerry Tour
10. T-Mobile – myTouch 3G

RIM absolutely dominates the list, snatching up more than half of the slots for themselves. Apple follows close behind on two counts: they’ve got the second best selling handset, and they’re the only other manufacturer with more than one handset in the top 10. The Motorola Droid continues to pave the way for Android in the mainstream, securing a higher spot on the list (#3) than any other Android handset has in the past.

It’s important to note that this list only represents vendor sales, and not consumer sales. In other words: if a third party vendor ordered 500,000 units but only actually managed to sell 400,000 to end-users, it’s still counted as 500,000 sales. It’s an inevitable weakness of studies like this, considering how secretive carriers tend to be with their handset numbers.

What better way to start the day, than with Megan Fox in a bath tub, shown as a Superb Bowl ad for Motorola Devour. That’s certainly enough to distract a couple of working men from their tasks, as you can see below:

This MOTOBLUR-based Android handset packs a 3.1 inch touchscreen display at 320 x 480 pixels, a 3 megapixel camera and a horizontal sliding QWERTY keyboard. The device supports EVDO Rev. A, WiFi b/g, Bluetooth with A2DP and aGPS, plus it comes with a speakerphone and a battery that should last for about 340 minutes of talk time.

A microSD slot is also included, as well as a webKit browser and support for Verizon’s services (like VCAST Music).

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Tags: Megan Fox commercial, Motorola Devour, Motorola Devour Megan Fox ad, Super Bowl commercial 2010

Philips has just announced the launch of the X100 dual SIM handset in Russia, retailing for about EUR 47. We’re dealing with a handset famous for its long battery life and also packing a flashlight, an MP3 player, FM radio and WAP browser.

Removable memory cards are also supported, as well as GSM and GPRS connectivity. There’s also a 1.8 inch TFT display on board, with a 128 x 160 pixel resolution, built in games, a scheduler, alarm clock, calendar and calculator.

[via mobile review]

We’ve seen renders and concepts of HTC Legend, but never till now a batch of images so clearly portraying the device. They’ve just been made available via Engadget and you can check them out below, in order to realize the design direction in which HTC is heading.

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Tags: HTC design, HTC Legend, HTC Legend images, HTC Legend launch date, HTC Legend specifications

Motorola has been going toe and toe with RIM over alleged patent infringement both here in the US and across the pond in the UK. Motorola’s UK case focused on BIS and BES technologies, claiming that the two messaging systems infringe upon patents that Motorola holds for an RF-based message communication system. In ruling against Motorola, the judge noted that messages from BES servers were not suitable for RF transmission and that RIM’s BIS servers are physically located in Canada and are out of the court’s jurisdiction. In a further blow to Motorola, the court held that there was no inventive step and the patent itself was declared invalid. Sorry Motorola, better luck next time, we guess.

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Vertu, French for “virtue,” has a pink phone just in time for Valentine’s Day. It’s the Constellation Ayxt, only it’s pink. Fascinating.

There’s really not too much to say about the phone. It originally launched late last year, and it’s Vertu’s first “fold phone,” which surely must impress those of you living in the year 2006.

I’m going to venture a guess: if you buy your lady friend a pink phone for Valentine’s Day, you’re probably a jerk.

Engadget is having their 2009 Engadget Awards and Android is making a case in many categories. Unfortunately, for bothh Gadget of The Year and Smartphone Of The Year the Motorola Droid is 2nd to the iPhone 3GS – BLEH! Time to rally the troops!

Head on over to Engadget 2009 Awards and VOTE FOR THE DROID wherever you see it present. Show your Android love and lets see if we can move the needle at all. Interesting sidenote: the Droid is DOMINATING for GPS Device of the year – pretty awesome considering its a phone!

I don’t usually make these types of posts but hey – Jason mailed me and requested we pool together the Android love and I couldn’t resist the idea. Thanks Jason!

There have been a BUNCH of Motorola Milestone updates over the past several days/weeks and the phone is definitely getting some nice… mileage. It’s launched in new places, gotten updates and much more. We wanted to keep you up to pace with the Motorola Droid’s twin brother so here goes nothing.

Milestone Launching On TELUS February 18th
It looks like TELUS customers only have a couple short weeks until the Motorola Milestone lands in their part of town! TELUS themselves didn’t “tell us” (see what I did there?) but BestBuy had no problem blurting something out on their website:

This also means that folks with AT&T could unlock the device and essentially get a 3G capable Droid on their carrier of choice. (Via BestBuy)

Manitoba And Sasketchawan Get SasketchaScrewed
Aren’t you happy that the Milestone is coming to Canada? If you live in Manitoba or Sasketchawan you can SHUT UP! Just like happened with the iPhone, TELUS network can’t support these areas with good enough coverage, or something. Bottom line – you can’t get the Milestone if you live in either of these places. BOOOOOOO! [Via IntoMobile]

European Milestone’s Get Android 2.0.1
Users in at least Germany, France and Italy are now able to update their Motorola Milestone to Android version 2.0.1 and if you don’t have it through an OTA update yet, can do so manually through the Motorola website. For instructions, see the unwired article with details and a walkthrough!

Milestone Lands In Taiwan
If you live in Taiwan you can rejoice – the first ever Android 2.0 phone is now available in your country and as you probably didn’t have to guess, it is the Motorola Milestone! The carrier for this one is Taiwan Mobile – enjoy! [Via Digitimes]

Anything Else?
All you phandroids with your ears to the streets and hands on your Stones for Miles (get your mind out of the gutter, I was playing with words), any Milestone updates you have either big or small?