Archive for August, 2009
Verizon offers Blackberry Storm for $50
by admin on Aug.31, 2009, under BlackBerry
If you read the reviews and still find yourself wanting a Storm, this is the time to buy. We have heard the rumors that the Storm 2 is coming and to clear out stocks of the original Storm, Verizon has hacked the price of the Storm to $50 with a 2-year contract.
The rub is that the Storm 2 is apparently coming soon and is expected to be much better than the original. Still, those of us who don’t really consider ourselves Blackberry connoisseurs may find the original Storm to be just fine.
[via BGR]
Samsung unveils app store plans for Europe
by admin on Aug.31, 2009, under Carriers
Samsung has unveiled its plans to offer an application store, like the Apple Store, for its handsets starting in Europe.
Samsung will launch the app store in the UK, France, and Italy to start with. The store will eventually be offered in 30 countries including Germany and Spain. Initially there will be at least 300 apps available on the store.
Samsung expects that number to grow to 2,000 by the end of 2009. Apps are very popular with smartphone and feature phone users, Nokia, and LG both have announced their own app stores this year already.
[via Reuters]
In-Stat predicts most smartphones will have mobile CPU by 2013
by admin on Aug.31, 2009, under Mobile Phones
In-Stat reports that the mobile market is the largest growth segment in the semiconductor industry. By 2013, the research firm predicts that 87% of smartphones will have integrated baseband functionality. The company also found that the estimated value of the processing, graphics, and baseband functions would increase by double digits over the next few years.
The growth rate for processing solutions in the mobile and smartphone markets will be 22.3% through 2013 with the bulk of the growth in smartphones and MIDs. The market for processors in these segments will be 775 million units by 2013.
[via In-Stat]
Wi-Fi phone shipments double every two years
by admin on Aug.31, 2009, under Mobile Phones
According to new information from ABI Research, phones featuring Wi-Fi are doubling the number shipped every two years. The research firm expects 144 million Wi-Fi handsets to ship in 2009.
That number could grow to as high as 300 million by 2011. The big push for Wi-Fi handsets is thanks to the consumer’s desire for connectivity. This is a good thing for mobile providers as well who can offer Wi-Fi as a way to relieve some of the workload from their 3G networks.
[via ABI Research]
Nokia N900 with Maemo gets official
by admin on Aug.31, 2009, under Nokia
There has been lots of leaked information with regards to the N900 and Nokia has gone official with the specifications for the device. The N900 will run an ARM Cortex A8 CPU at 600MHz. The device will have 1GB of application memory and 32GB of internal storage expandable to 48GB with a microSD card.
The OS supports 3D graphics with OpenGL ES 2.0 and the N900 will operate on Quad band GSM with GPRS. Flash 9.4 is supported and the touchscreen device has a full-screen Mozilla web browser. The camera on the phone has Carl Zeiss optics and a sliding QWERTY keyboard is featured. The screen has a resolution of 800 x 480 and it will sell for EUR 500 in select areas this fall.
[via Nokia]
