May 15, 2008
Blackberry Bold staves off business iPhone migration
Network World
Mitchell Ashley comments on the recently announced Blackberry Bold 9000 and what that could mean for the iPhone.
“If the Apple iPhone has done nothing else, it’s causing RIM to raise its game and bring out even better devices. The net-net on the Blackberry 9000 is a beautiful 480×320 display, 3.5G / Bluetooth / GPS network support, upgraded apps, better media / music apps, and iPhone-ish stylized case. An iPhone killer? No, but it’s feature and upgrades are rich enough to keep many existing or new Blackberry users happy, and possibly stave off running down to get the new iPhone 3G this summer… maybe.”
Philips X800 and X-Connect touchscreen phones go legit
Engadget
Paul Miller details features on Philips’ new touchscreen phones. Sadly though, there’s no further information on a launch date and price yet either.
“The X800 does it low-end with a 2.9-inch 240 x 400 screen, 2G GSM for data (no EDGE or WiFi!), a 2 megapixel camera, microSD slot and Bluetooth. Interestingly, the phone offers a documents reader and handwriting recognition, but this hardly seems to be that next do-it-all handheld you’ve been dreaming of, though the battery life is laudable. The Xenium X-Connect steps things up considerably, however, with Windows Mobile 6, UMTS and HSDPA, and a 3-inch display — which hopefully sports a few more pixels.”
3 in 10 get all or most calls on cell phones
Wired
Alan Fram releases figures around cell phone use versus landline phone usage in U.S. households.
“For nearly three in 10 households, don’t even bother trying to call them on a landline phone. They either only have a cell phone or seldom if ever take calls on their traditional phone. The federal figures, released Wednesday, showed that reliance on cells is continuing to rise at the expense of wired telephones. In the second half of last year, 16 per cent of households only had cell phones, while 13 per cent also had landlines but got all or nearly all their calls on their cells.”