Wireless News

The problem with buying complex devices like mobile phones on the Internet is that consumers often have lots of questions about what the device will and won’t do. The problem with online shopping is that getting the answers to those questions can be very difficult.

Virgin Mobile USA has announced that it has integrated a new customer service feature into its website to make shopping for a new phone easier. The service is called Bazaarvoice Ask & Answer. To use the service the shopper clicks the Got Questions link on any product page of the site.

The link takes shoppers directly to relevant questions and the most helpful answers from customers who have direct experience with the product. The service is rather like a Virgin Mobile wiki or social network. The questions and answers can also be searched by keyword.

When Apple announced the iPhone 3G S fans of the iPhone around the world were ecstatic. As is typical for many product launches, some of the hard specs that we wanted weren’t offered when the device was unveiled.

Apple said that the iPhone 3G S was up to twice as fast for some tasks as the iPhone 3G, but it didn’t give specifications on processor and RAM. T-Mobile Netherlands has posted all the specifications of the new 3G S iPhone for us to peruse.

The new phone has a 600MHz ARM processor and 256MB of RAM. The iPhone 3G by comparison has a 400MHz CPU and 128MB of RAM. The significantly increased specs should make for a significantly better performing device. Information on the European rollout of the iPhone 3G S is unknown, but we will get the handset here on the 19th.

When smartphones first started to hit the market I thought I could get along with my then trusty PDA and my plain mobile phone. It didn’t take long for me to realize it was a pain to carry two devices and then when mobile internet started to become common I switched to a smartphone.

A new report from research firm Yankee Group claims that 41% of consumers will buy a smartphone for their next mobile device purchase. I can certainly see that number being accurate with the glut of smartphones on the market. The Pre just launched and we have the iPhone 3G S coming soon. The iPhone 3G is downright affordable now at $99 so the smartphone market is set for a boom.

The survey showed that 41% of consumers would buy an advanced OS phone for their next mobile purchase. Smartphone volumes are expected to grow to 38% of all handset sales by 2013. Many consumers are also looking to their mobile phones to do more than just make calls. The smartphone answers the needs for many consumers today.

[via Yankee Group]

Privus Mobile has announced that its caller ID service is now available on Nokia smartphones running Symbian S60. Any Symbian S60 device can now use the enhanced caller ID service. The service accesses live telephone number databases, the same ones used by popular landline carriers.

Using the information the service is able to provide detailed caller ID information like you would get on a wired phone line. The service even works on a cell-to-cell phone call over 85% of the time according to the company. Registering for the caller ID service costs about $5 per month.

Pre-paid phone plans are very popular thanks to the no contract or credit check required to get phones on the plan. The big drawback is that you have to pay full price for the phones, making them more expensive than simply signing a contract.

Boost Mobile has announced a new red Motorola Stature i9 handset. The handset is the top-of-the line phone offered by boost and fits in the line alongside the black i9 launched previously. The handset sells for $299.99 and is designed to work on the $50 per month Boost Unlimited plan.

The device features a 3.1-megapixel camera with 8x zoom and flash, a video camera, music player and high-resolution external display with touch controls. Stereo Bluetooth is also integrated into the device for wireless music streaming to headphones.