Samsung Epix - Worth Looking At

If you are lusting for a new device and you are an AT&T user then check out the new slim touchscreen Samsung Epix with a full QWERTY keyboard!

The Samsung Epix features Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 and for those of you that travel a lot, it has global coverage and blazing fast 3G capabilities. It has decent memory capacity (

Internal Memory Storage - 256MB ROM / 150MB RAM and  Expandable Memory Storage of 32 GB) , Stereo Bluetooth as well as Wi-Fi.

 

Check out the Samsung Epix here

Rising Text Message rates

In my uninformed opinion, I’d call some of this an excuse to “assist” users into buying unlimited plans and to offset users preferring to send SMS messages instead of using more expensive voice minutes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A key member of the Senate Judiciary Committee is asking the nation’s top four wireless carriers to justify the “sharply rising rates” they charge people to send and receive text messages.

In letters to top executives at Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile, Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl said Tuesday that he is concerned that rising text messaging rates reflect decreasing competition in the wireless business.

Kohl chairs the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights. His inquiry comes as European Commission regulators are threatening to impose a cap on roaming fees for text messages sent by Europeans traveling outside of their home nations, in an effort to force prices down by as much as 70 percent.

Kohl said he was concerned that consumers are paying more than 20 cents per message, up from 10 cents in 2005. This increase, he said, “does not appear to be justified by rising costs in delivering text messages,” which are small data files that are inexpensive for carriers to transmit.

Kohl said he is particularly concerned that all four of the companies appear to have adopted identical price increases at nearly the same time. “This conduct is hardly consistent with the vigorous price competition we hope to see in a competitive marketplace,” he wrote.

Kohl also noted that these rate hikes have occurred during the industry’s recent consolidation, which has reduced the number of national wireless carriers in the U.S. to four from six. That consolidation continues, he said, as the large national wireless carriers buy out smaller, regional competitors _ as evidenced most recently by Verizon Wireless’ planned acquisition of Alltel Corp. for $5.9 billion plus the assumption of $22.2 billion in debt.

Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, said it will respond to Kohl’s letter once it has had a chance to review it. And Sprint said “we look forward to responding to the Senator’s inquiry about the text messaging options we offer our customers and we will fully cooperate with his request.”

T-Mobile, which is owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, and AT&T did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Link

AT&T Refurb for only $149.99

Get em while they are hot, or recently repaired one… Chris Spera over at Gear Diary shares that AT&T is unloading refurbished AT&T Tilts for $149.99 with a contract. He forgot to provide a link, but here is one.

 

Right now, AT&T has refurbished AT&T Tilts for $149.99, when you sign up for a 2 year contract, or are eligible for a device upgrade. That’s about 63% off the full retail price of $399.99. I picked one up last week and got the holiday weekend to play with it.  The device is pretty cool; and offers a great deal, tilt novelty aside (though as Clinton put it, its pretty cool when you’re trying to get rid of glare outside…).

Update, they seem to be out of Stock now… The good news is that there are quite a few other nice phones in the refurb bin. They have the BlackJack II for $49.99. They have the Blackberry Pearl for $79.99. Check it out.

HP iPAQ 510 Voice Messenger SmartPhone Review

For years I’ve been searching for the ideal converged handheld device.  While the commercial offerings keep getting better and satisfying more of my wants, I’ve learned that my wants keep changing.  Hence, the search is never ending.

As I’ve previously written, I’ve been having an annoying and impossible to resolve problem with my T-Mobile Dash–constant rebooting.  Recently, after returning  to the US from an international trip, I was unable to turn on the phone at all.  I was therefore unable to call and and make contact with the driver for my pre-arranged ride home.  Having a “geek” reputation and trying to explain why my phone didn’t work was nothing short of embarrassing!

I needed to do something.  When I got a little less emotional I concluded that it was time for a new phone.

[Read more]

Meet the AT&T TILT

It’s that time, it’s time to get excited about a new phone on the at&t network. Not that a lot of you, including myself, was not already excited! I have a couple videos being uploaded right now ( I should have pre-uploaded them ) and Doug Smith is finishing up his review. This is a hot device and I am very excited about it!

The Tilt is probaly the most advanced phone to hit the US Market. It has nothing missing. Bluetooth, WiFi, 3G, keyboard, GPS… it has it all. The Tilt can be purchased, full substidised at $299.99 at AT&T stores Friday, October 5th.

Update: Videos are online here : AT&T Tilt Unboxed and Explored
Update: Doug’s Review is online here: AT&T Tilt (8925) Review - Mobilitysite
Update: Matt Miller’s Thoughts, Judie Lipsett’s Pictures and Opinions, and a good video from Eric Lin.

Read the Press Release after the jump!

[Read more]

Consilient Releases Push Email For BlackJack Free!

Consilient today released a Push Email Application for all you BlackJack owners out there. And here is the best part! IT’S FREE! Check out some the features listed below and check out Consilient’s website for more information!

Push Features include:
*       Push-based technology: no polling or configuring required
*       Yahoo!(r), Hotmail(r), AOL Email(r) & Gmail ™ - Plus POP3 and IMAP4 access
*       Easy-to-use Account Management Profile
*       Photo attaching, saving, sending, receiving
*       Device email “wipe clean” - if lost or stolen
*       Attachment support for all file types
*       Easy to set up: download sent via SMS
*       Secure - 128 bit encryption

 

http://www.consilient.com/

AT&T customers seeing sudden boost in EDGE speeds?

 

AT&T is shutting down their older cellular systems and launching the EDGE iPhone at about the same time… Coincidence or marketing??

 

My testing is limited, but I have observed some of this apparent increase, but not perhaps as is being reported

 

 

Anyone else noticing this?  Test at http://www.dslreports.com/mspeed?jisok=1

 

Link:  http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/28/atandt-customers-seeing-sudden-boost-in-edge-speeds/

Mobility Site Quick Tip!

Did you know pressing and holding a button on the QWERTY keyboard on  a Samsung/ Cingular BlackJack will yield the same result as pressing the function button first? So you can avoid extra keypad entries!

If you have a Tip that has helped you with your mobile device, let us know! We’ll tag your name for a slice of Mobility Site Glory!

Video, Not Voice, Takes Starring Role For Phone Carriers

After  spending billions to upgrade their infrastructure for broadband communications, telecom firms are fast filling their wireless and fiber networks with video traffic. The video trend is pictured clearly at the NTXcomm conference in Chicago. At the four-day show that ends Thursday, telecom and tech companies are displaying a host of video services, such as:

• AT&T and Verizon Communications showed their progress rolling out Internet protocol TV systems to compete with cable TV. AT&T also debuted a service called Video Share that lets mobile phone users share live video between cell phones while having a voice call.
• Cisco Systems touted its ele-Presence virtual meeting system and other video services.
• Microsoft launched the latest ersion of its IPTV software platform, Microsoft Mediaroom.

[Read more]

AT&T/Cingular blocks cellular customers from free conference call services

Looks to be the latest in phone "scams", but this one seems to be aimed at the telcos instead of the individual user. In either case, the services will be unavailable to the enduser

Source Arstechnica

AT&T/Cingular has begun blocking access to a free conference calling service last week, claiming that such services are costing the wireless giant millions in rerouting and "termination fees." AT&T/Cingular users have been reporting that they no longer can dial into some free conference calling services, and Cingular spokesperson Mark Siegel told Ars that the reason the company has decided to start blocking these services is because high volumes of calls to similar services are costly, and the cost for those calls aren’t passed on to the customer. "We have to pay terminating access for every minute the person is on the line," Siegel explained. "Typically these companies run them through local exchange companies that charge high access rates, so we end up paying high access charges."

Cingular Unlocks Blackjack for Free

Crunch Gear’s Wayne Ma has done all the research for you, so if you want to get your BlackJack unlocked for free, call Cingular. Apparently, we are starting to see some doors opening up from the recent ruling making it legal in the US to unlock the phone you paid for. It’s only right, eh?

I called Cingular’s International Care Center at (916) 843-4685 Tuesday morning and spoke with a customer service representative, who confirmed that I could unlock all my Cingular phones for international travel. To unlock my Blackjack, I read him my International Mobile Equipment Identity, or IMEI, number, which can be found on the product box or by entering the code *#06# on the Blackjack’s keypad.

After I read him the IMEI, he processed it through the computer and gave me an unlock code specific to my phone. He then instructed me to power down my phone, take out the Subscriber Identification Module, or SIM, card and power it back up. Once the phone rebooted, I entered in the code ########## (blanked out since this code will only work for Wayne), which brought up the prompt: Enter Network Control Key. I put in my unlock code, and the phone returned the message: Successfully Disable Locking Status.

I don’t see why anyone would leave Cingular, but if you want to… Good news is that you can keep your wonderful BlackJack. (Well, as long as you go to another GSM carrier) Also note that it may be deemed deceptive to use this method unless you do plan international travel.

 

Crunch Gear via Slashgear

Alabama Fans, get your Crimson Palm Treo!

I am an Alabama Fan, so these colors are super cool to me, but I don’t want a Palm Powered Treo or a Blackberry, so I am out of this one.

The BlackBerry Pearl and Palm Treo 680 smart device officially are red hot as AT&T today introduced an eye-catching, dark ruby-colored version of the BlackBerry Pearl and a striking crimson iteration of the Treo 680. The red BlackBerry Pearl is the first wireless handset to be branded for the new AT&T.

Both new, colorful models are available immediately and exclusively to AT&T customers at Cingular Wireless retail stores — the Treo 680 initially at select outlets and the BlackBerry Pearl at all stores nationwide — and through http://www.cingular.com, AT&T’s wireless business-to-business sales organization, authorized dealers and select national retailers.

 
Click the image to see a larger version, this is beautiful!

“The new, red BlackBerry Pearl and crimson Palm Treo 680 are the next ‘gotta have it’ wireless handsets from AT&T,” said Michael Woodward, executive director, mobile professional solutions, for AT&T. “The additional choices of color offer panache and style, and these world-class products boast all of the features that made the original versions very popular among AT&T customers.” Although the Palm Treo 680 and BlackBerry Pearl from AT&T now come in a choice of colors — AT&T continues to offer the attractive original models — the compelling looks, features and functionality that have given them a broad following remain the same.

For more information, please go to http://www.cingular.com/blackberrypearl or http://www.cingular.com/treo680.

Source : Press Release

Live shot of RIM’s 8100 Red/Cranberry Pearl

I am not much of a Blackberry Fan, but this one is cool looking and sports the at&t logo. 

There are a couple more shots of this device over there too so visit Pinstack.com

Win a Cingular BlackJack!!!

I have conceded victory to the Smartphone, but the Pocket PC Phone has made a comeback recently. In my review of the Cingular BlackJack, I talk about my ongoing struggle on what is better for me, a Smartphone or Pocket PC Phone.

“Is this the Perfect Windows Mobile Phone? No, not yet, but it’s close. As with other “Smartphone” reviews I have written, I preface the entire review with the fact that I am more of a “Pocket PC Phone” guy than a “Smartphone” guy. Not this time, I am officially designating myself as a “Smartphone” guy. I guess I have adjusted to not having a touch screen. While reviewing the Blackjack, something happened that I normally do not let happen during a review. I fell in love. I ordered my own Blackjack to replace the review unit I have been using these past few weeks. Now that we have established that I have been converted, on with the review. “

With the Palm Treo 750 taking over my daily driver position, there is no need for this great device, the Cingular BlackJack, to collect dust on my desk. I am giving it away to a lucky member of the Mobility Site Community.

The Prize
(1) Cingular BlackJack (aka Samsung BlackJack sgh-i607) and (1) Case of your choice for the BlackJack at Cases.com

How do I win?
Go here to find out…

Missing Sync for BlackBerry Preview Released

Before you jump in feet 1st, read a little here, then download.

The Missing Sync for BlackBerry is currently only available in an unfinished public preview release. Please review the following known issues carefully before proceeding with the download below.

Synchronizing between the Mac and a BlackBerry device is a complex process. There are some known issues and limitations, depending on what BlackBerry device you synchronize with or what plugin settings options you have chosen.

Source: TUAW