zcallingcard.com

This past week was almost as busy as the week when Google acquired Motorola Mobility. An incredible amount happened in mobile, everything from new device announcements, new OS (specifically Android 4.0), manufacturer apologies and historic sales numbers. The next few weeks will even get busier as the carriers will unload their new phones for the holiday season. Here’s a rundown of the top stories from this past week:

- Samsung and Google announce the Galaxy Nexus – yes, it’s coming to Canada! [more here]
- Android OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is demoed [more here]
- Motorola’s Android Motorola RAZR announced, pictured above & Rogers launching in November [more here]
- iPhone 4S sales pass 4 million [more here]
- RIM decides to give 0 worth of free app to customers for recent service outage [more here]
- Bell will release the LG Optimus LTE as the LG Eye [more here]
- Rogers releases the HTC Jetstream, Canada’s first LTE tablet [more here]
- Samsung confirms the Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE is coming to Canada [more here]
- 1 week with Siri, our iPhone 4S review [more here]
- Steve Jobs bio available Monday, he says that “I’m going to destroy Android” [more here]
- TELUS will release the Samsung Galaxy S II X on October 28th [more here]
- Our latest poll, “Which device are you most excited to get your hands on?”, currently has 60% saying the Galaxy Nexus [more here]

Related posts:

1. Forum Highlights from this past week
2. Samsung to announce an LTE-enabled Galaxy SII next week?
3. Samsung rumoured to have sold over 6 million Galaxy S II devices in under 3 months

MobileSyrup.com

The rumour is that the new iPhone 4S received its name, the “S” portion, to remember the late Steve Jobs. Others believe it’s simply continues the tradition of a previous iPhone and symbolizes “Speed” due to the A5 dual core processor. In addition, it’s also heavily rumoured that this was the last iPhone that Jobs had a part in creating, making millions of customers flock to purchase it simply to remember him… but according some analysts it’s the next iPhone that will feature the Jobs golden touch.

The “iPhone 5″ is expected to be a be announced during their WWDC next Summer and will be a “complete redesign”, most likely with the bigger display, thinner and be LTE-capable. CNET is reporting their source says the “iPhone 5 was the “very large project that Steve dedicated all of his time to. He was not that involved in the 4S because his time was limited”. Finally, analyst Ashok Kumar from Rodman & Renshaw echos similar thoughts with a note to his clients that the iPhone 5 will be a “cult classic” because it “was the last project that Steve Jobs was intimately involved with from concept to final design. For that reason…this product will establish the high water mark for iPhone volumes”.

As for the new iPhone 4S, Apple should be coming out tomorrow with opening weekend sales results. Some are expecting the numbers to hit 4 million.

Source: CNET

Related posts:

1. Steve Jobs photographed… and rumoured to be the keynote for CES 2010
2. Steve Jobs alive, but Bloomberg posts obituary?
3. Steve Jobs steps down as Apple CEO

MobileSyrup.com

RIM purchased QNX Software Systems back in 2010 for 0 million. At the time the company was solely focused on bringing the web to the automotive market. Over the past few months we’ve seen RIM expand the OS into their PlayBook, and also acknowledge that future BlackBerry smartphones will be powered by QNX.

During the recent Q2 financial results Mike Lazaridis, RIM co-CEO, said “Development efforts on the first QNX-based smartphone products are going extremely well. We plan to ensure that when we launch the product will have the features, industrial design and content and app ecosystem it needs to deliver a dynamic and industry leading customer experience. The development platform for QNX phones will be presented in more detail at DevCon in October, and prototype phones featuring the QNX operating system and development platform will be available in the not to distant future.”

Now a slide from the recent QNX Auto Summit in Japan shows the letters “BBX”, this is the abbreviation that RIM is expected to rename the OS, letting go of the familiar BlackBerry OS and possibly bringing the company under one unified brand.

So it’s certainly a time of transition for RIM, but an exciting transition. It’ll be interesting to see what these new BBX/QNX-based prototype smartphones will be like, both in looks and raw power. Over the past few months rumours surfaced of a touchscreen device with a dual-core processor that goes by the code name of “Colt”.

The BlackBerry DevCon is happening on October 18th in San Fransisco.

Source: CrackBerry

Related posts:

1. Audio: Lazaridis says BlackBerry QNX-based smartphones “will be available in the not to distant future”
2. Live from the BlackBerry World 2011 Keynote presentation
3. CNET: “Priceless” iPhone 5 prototype lost in a bar, possibly sold on Craigslist for 0

MobileSyrup.com

You want to know the tablet that will compete with all the Android tablets and takeover top spot from Apple’s iPad… it’s the Pyramid. This tablet will soon be “unleashed” by Dunder Mifflin-Sabre and is awkward looking, heavy, has low memory and a poor battery life.

Source: AllThingsD

Related posts:

1. Sony Tablet (Sony S1) launching in Canada, possibly September 14th
2. Sony Tablet S launching in Canada this September, 16GB for 0 and 32GB for 0
3. Toshiba Thrive Android 3.1 tablet now available to pre-order, estimated release date is August 12th

MobileSyrup.com

Samsung has just announced that the Android-powered Galaxy S II has sold 10 million handsets worldwide, blowing past their previous record. Samsung stated in a press release that over the past 8 weeks they have doubled their sales from 5 million to 10 million. To put this into perspective, the original Galaxy S reached the 10 million mark in 7 months, the Galaxy S II has surpassed this milestone in just short 5 months. There’s no specific numbers for Canada, but other country sales are the following: South Korea has sold 3.6 million, 3.4 million in Europe and over 10 countries (probably including Canada) made up over 3 million.

JK Shin of Samsung said “Since its launch in late April 2011, the GALAXY S II has seen continued sales success, demonstrating Samsung’s industry-leading capabilities in – and commitment to – the smartphone market… In just five months the GALAXY S II has seen tremendous growth, reflecting its tremendous popularity with customers around the world, who in selecting the GALAXY S II as their device of choice have driven the device’s strong market position globally.”

In Canada, Bell, Virgin and SaskTel all sell the Galaxy S II. Rogers will be hopping on board soon with the LTE-enabled Galaxy S II, meanwhile TELUS is launching the powerful Galaxy S II X (Hercules) soon.

Source: SammyHub
Via: AndroidPolice

Related posts:

1. Samsung rumoured to have sold over 6 million Galaxy S II devices in under 3 months
2. Samsung sells 10 million Galaxy S devices
3. Samsung sells 3 million Galaxy S II devices in 55 days, breaks previous record

MobileSyrup.com

Terry Fox is deep into the hearts of Canadians and the annual Terry Fox Run is back on this year for the 31st time. Like always the goal is to generation donation to help fight Cancer but this time they are embracing mobile. The app is currently only available on iPhone and Android devices and there’s no word on a BlackBerry or Windows Phone 7 app in the future. Features include the ability to make mobile donations via PayPal, see your donation progress and share via Twitter and Facebook. The Terry Fox run is happening on September 18th.

Get the iPhone App here
Get the Android App here

Related posts:

1. PC Mobile releases the Android Samsung Galaxy 550, fruit not included
2. Canada Post releases BlackBerry app… Android app coming within a couple months
3. TELUS releases the Android 2.2 LG Optimus 3G

MobileSyrup.com

The Android 3.1 Honeycomb powered Sony S1 tablet was just announced last week and will be coming to Canada. At the recent press event Sony informed us that the release date was set for September 16th, however taking a look at both Best Buy and Future Shop sites it shows the “Estimated release date: 09/23/2011″, which is 1-week later. The price points are the same at 9.99 for the 16GB version and 9.99 for the 32GB version. In addition, if you’re the eager type you can go forth and pre-order this 9.4-inch tablet at both big box retailers.

We’ll have our full S1 review up shortly but you can check out this quick hands-on video here.

Source: Best Buy and Future Shop

Related posts:

1. Sony Tablet (Sony S1) launching in Canada, possibly September 14th
2. Sony Tablet S launching in Canada this September, 16GB for 0 and 32GB for 0
3. Toshiba Thrive Android 3.1 tablet now available to pre-order, estimated release date is August 12th

MobileSyrup.com

The focus on back-to-school is on again, keeping kids safe is top of mind. Results of a recent survey conducted by Safe Kids Canada/FedEx Express Canada of 1,018 Canadian parents who have children aged between 5 to 14 shows that only 28% have “discussed the risks of cell phone use while crossing the street”. Interesting perspective, considering the Police are ticketing distracted drivers who disobey the law and decide to use their handheld device while driving.

The survey also revealed that 34% of parents use their cellphone while crossing the street, but 97% of parents believe it’s not safe for their child to use their cell phone or send texts while crossing the street. 51% of parents admitted that sometimes they exceed the speed limit while driving.

Pamela Fuselli, executive director, Safe Kids Canada said “While we are pleased that parents are taking the time to discuss safe pedestrian habits with their children, additional emphasis needs to be placed on reducing distractions while walking, such as cell phone use… With the school season set to begin, it’s a good time for parents to review with their children their route to school and discuss safe cell phone use.”

Source: CNW

Related posts:

1. Norton survey: Toronto/Mississauga has the highest rate of cell phone loss or theft
2. Windows Phone Marketplace on the verge of crossing the 30,000 app mark
3. In Surrey, BC the city may turn street lights and intersections into mini cell towers. A 1-year pilot project has been proposed that will allow Bell Mobility to install cellular transmission equipment on street lights and signal poles for a fee – earning the city ,000 a year per pole.

MobileSyrup.com

In 2010 the total number of text messages that Canadians sent climbed to 56.4 billion. From the first 3 month stats that of 2011 seems that we’ll blow right past that number this year. The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) has announced that in Q1 2011 (January, February and March) there was 18 billion text messages sent by Canadians, an increase of over 10% from Q4 2010. The CWTA said that March stats had 6.2 billion text messages sent, representing an average of 199 million messages per day.

Source: txt

Related posts:

1. CWTA: Canadians sent 56.4 billion text messages in 2010
2. Canadians sent over 35 billion text messages in 2009
3. Canadians sent over 5.2 billion text messages in Q3

MobileSyrup.com

Of course there are always slight possibilities of shipping delays, inventory etc… but this is the second time that the August 15th release date for the upcoming TELUS BlackBerry Torch 9810 and Torch 9860 has shown up. Still no word on what price points TELUS will be launching these new OS 7 devices for, probably expect the no-contract prices to be around the same as Rogers… just 1-week away now!

More soon!
(Thanks tipster!)

Related posts:

1. TELUS launching BlackBerry Bold 9900, Torch 9810 and Torch 9860 August 15th
2. Update: TELUS says the BlackBerry Bold 9900, Torch 9810 and 9860 are “coming soon”
3. Bell to release the BlackBerry Torch 9810, Bold 9900, Torch 9860 and Curve 9360

MobileSyrup.com