Opera Mobile 10.1 for Symbian turns to a brilliant shade of gold
Opera has done a pretty commendable job of keeping its latest, greatest wares up to date on most of the major mobile platforms, and here's another checkbox they can tick: Opera Mobile 10.1 has now gone final for Symbian. Of course, this isn't to be confused with the lighter-weight Opera Mini product that went into beta for Symbian last month -- this is the full package that's capable of operating without a proxy. What's new?
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: available-now, Checkbox, commendable, date-on-most, engadget-mobile, entry, mobile, opera, opera-mini, operamini, result, services, symbian, times
Qualcomm talking to AT&T, other carriers over MediaFLO spectrum sale?
Seems Qualcomm wasn't kidding when it said selling off MediaFLO's spectrum was a possibility now that it's cutting off direct-to-consumer mobile TV services. BusinessWeek is reporting that the company has sat down recently with "several carriers" -- though only AT&T is being called out by name -- presumably with the goal of fleshing out just how much dinero it could land for offing the spectrum MediaFLO uses to deliver programming. Qualcomm paid close to $700 million for the spectrum over the course of the last decade, and it lies in the 700MHz block -- a block both AT&T and Verizon will be using extensively as they build out their next-gen networks -- so it stands to reason they'd both love to buy in, likely at a healthy premium over what Qualcomm originally paid.
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: att, businessweek, carriers, flo tv, healthy-premium, mediaflo, other-carriers, services, spectrum, spectrum-over
Sprint’s Hesse commits to phasing out iDEN
Echoing sentiments of Sprint's senior VP of networks from last month, CEO Dan Hesse has said that the company will be saying goodnight to its aging push-to-talk network -- iDEN -- that it inherited from its Nextel acquisition several years ago, "just like 1G was shut down." Of course, the difference between 1G cellular and iDEN is that iDEN still holds a very unique position in the wireless marketplace: even though it sucks for data, it's really the only popular, successful way to route push-to-talk over a cell network of any kind. To that end, the company is actively soliciting bids to build out CDMA 1X Advanced right now, which may allow the company to have another go at moving its PTT services over to a CDMA-based technology (the first attempt, QChat , already failed).
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: acquisition, already-failed, ceo, efforts, engadget, entry, hesse, marketplace, ptt, result, sentiments, services
In-flight calling and texting coming to Singapore Airlines in 2011
So, OnAir is still hanging around, huh? It's been quite a while since we've heard anything from the in-flight telephony company, with outfits like Row44 and Aircell dominating the space with their near-constant rollout of in-flight WiFi services here in the States.
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: airbus-a380, aircell, airlines, engadget, fashion, flights, in-flight calling, laptops, patrons, rollout, services, smartphones
Lowell McAdam tapped to succeed Verizon head Ivan Seidenberg
This quirky, fun lovin' gent is Lowell McAdam , who becomes the president and COO of Verizon Wireless beginning October 1. According to the company press release: "The appointment of McAdam by the Verizon board of directors is an important step in the succession process for when Seidenberg retires from the company." McAdam will be in charge of Verizon Wireless, Verizon Telecom and Business, Verizon Services Operations, and -- presumably -- begging for the iPhone . PR after the break
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: after-the-break, business, gent, industry, iphone, lowell, lowellmcadam, operations, release, seidenberg, services, succession, vzw
HTC Sense’s new map pre-caching demoed on video
If you were paying attention during HTC's keynote earlier this morning, you'll have noted Peter Chou dropped a big old promise on us all: no more waiting for maps to load when zooming or scrolling.
Categories: htc, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: aggravating, attention, demo, demoed, digital, digital-compass, digitalcompass, entry, htcdesirez, responsiveness, roadmap, rotate-the-map, sense, services, video
QuickPay announces ROAMpay credit card swiper for Android, BlackBerry, iOS
We've seen our fair share iPhone-based credit card payment systems , but we both know that those aren't the only handsets people do business with. ROAMpay from QuickPay Merchant Services is a device agnostic card swiper with apps available for iOS, Android, and BlackBerry. Actually, it seems to be a virtual cash register as well, letting you log cash transactions (and generate receipts for 'em) as well as offering real-time authorization for Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express (as long as you have a QuickPay account, of course).
Categories: Android, BlackBerry, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: black, card, cellphone, credit card reader, creditcards, creditcardswiper, Express, ios, payment-system, quickpay, quickpaymerchantservices, services, source, virtual-cash
Vlingo bows to Google Voice Actions, makes Android version free of charge
When Google Navigation hit the scene, it sounded the death knell for paid GPS on Android, so you can imagine the doom and gloom at Vlingo HQ last week when Google released the similar Voice Actions for free. As it turns out, however, Vlingo's not going to give up that easily; Vlingo for Android, once a $10 download, is now free as well. In a surprisingly gracious blog post that genuinely congratulates Google on the accomplishment, CEO Dave Grannan explains that he wants Android users to be able to freely compare the services as Vlingo adds features further down the road, and makes one valid point in his firm's favor -- you can try Vlingo now if you've got Android 2.0 or above, but Google's service only runs on Froyo
Categories: Android, BlackBerry, Mobile Phone Tags: accomplishment, apps, down-the-road, eclair, google voice search, knell, nokia, result, services, vlingo, voice, voicecontrol, windows
Saudi Arabia pleased by RIM’s concession, says BlackBerry messaging can stay for now
The forty-eight hour deadline came and went, but Saudi Arabia didn't pull the plug -- citing a "positive development" in RIM's efforts to appease Saudi regulators, the country has allowed BlackBerry messaging services to continue for the time being.
Categories: BlackBerry, Mobile Phone Tags: anonymous, communications, deadline, entry, reuters, security concerns, services, sources, time, united, united-arab
Qik two-way video calling on the Sprint EVO 4G is free, premium service is not
Qik has lived up to its name in clarifying some leaks indicating that future EVO 4G owners on Sprint will be charged $5 a month to make use of its video chat services. As it turns out, that subscription fee will be for a new range of "advanced premium features," which will be elucidated on June 4 alongside the EVO's retail launch.
Categories: htc, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: clarifying-some, entry, evo4g, leaks, left-guessing, party, premium, qik, services, sprintevo4g, video, videochat, videostreaming, wording