- Motorola Grasp QWERTY phone available now at US Cellular
- LG Rumour Plus is now available in Canada from Bell
- Motorola Devour is now free on Verizon
- Nokia C7 pre-orders start in Germany and Spain
- BlackBerry Bold 9780 will be available in Canada on October 21st
- HTC Android 3.0 tablet to come in the first quarter of 2011?
- Low-end Android-running Alcatel OT-980 announced, available in the UK in October for £99
- Sprint announces the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9330, 4G App Challenge
- HTC Desire HD hands-on preview video
- Android-filled HTC Desire HD and Desire Z officially announced
| Motorola Grasp QWERTY phone available now at US Cellular Posted: 15 Sep 2010 03:57 PM PDT Announced by Motorola back in July, the Moto Grasp is now available in the US – not via MetroPCS, as I initially thought it would be, but via US Cellular. The Motorola Grasp is a QWERTY feature phone with a 2.2 inch display, “advanced contact search”, threaded messaging, sGPS, stereo Bluetooth, 3.5mm headset jack, 1.3MP camera, and MicroSD card support. The Grasp unveiled by Moto in July was eco-friendly, coming in a housing that’s 100% recyclable at end of life, and being BFR and PVC free. I’m not sure if this applies to US Cellular’s version, too, because Motorola doesn’t say too much in the press release announcing the handset’s availability.
US Cellular sells the Motorola Grasp for $39.95 with a 2-yr contract agreement, or $179.95 free of any agreement. You can buy the phone online at the carrier’s website. Via Motorola 
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| LG Rumour Plus is now available in Canada from Bell Posted: 15 Sep 2010 02:37 PM PDT The LG Rumour Plus should have joined its relative, the Rumour 2, in Bell’s lineup on August 11th. That was the original plan, however it seems that some manufacturing delays have kept that from happening until today. So now, the Rumour Plus is finally available in Canada from Bell. It will set you back $39.95 if you opt for a 3-year contract, $79.95 on a 2-year contract, $109.95 with a 1-year contract and $159.95 without a contract.
The main highlight of this featurephone has to be its side-sliding full QWERTY keyboard, which is also a very good indicator of this device’s target market: those who’d use that keyboard a lot. Other features include a 2.4″ 240×320 display, 2 megapixel camera, touch dialing, GPS, microSD card slot (cards up to 16 GB supported). It weighs only 119 g. Definitely a decent device for folks who haven’t yet gotten into the whole smartphone craze. You can buy it from Bell here. Via MobileSyrup 
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| Motorola Devour is now free on Verizon Posted: 15 Sep 2010 02:19 PM PDT The Motorola Devour is no high end device, that’s for sure. But it is the only Motoblur enhanced Android smartphone on offer from Verizon right now, believe it or not. So if you like Motoblur (I guess there must be people around who do), and hate that it may be dying, this one’s for you. But act fast, since the Devour is also fast approaching End of Life status with Verizon.
And you can now get it for free. This obviously still requires a 2-year service agreement, and one that has to include a $29.99 per month data plan, no less. But, if you’d like a decent midrange Android smartphone on Big Red for yourself or another family member, this may be worth looking into. Since, you know, free is free after all. Spec highlights include a 3.1-inch touchscreen, a 3 megapixel camera, and that Motoblur-y social network integration. 
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| Nokia C7 pre-orders start in Germany and Spain Posted: 15 Sep 2010 12:49 PM PDT The Nokia C7 has been unveiled yesterday during Nokia World, and it looks like pre-orders for this stylish midrange Symbian^3 device have already started in some markets. Germany was the first country to have the C7 up for pre-order, followed shortly thereafter by Spain. In both cases, the price being asked is €429. This, as is usually the case with pre-orders, is rather far from the officially announced price of €335, though that did not include taxes. VAT may account for some of the difference, but certainly not all of it.
So the price may go down once the phone is actually released. And speaking of that, the Spanish Nokia Shop has the C7 shipping by the end of October. Let’s hope that’s right, since during the announcement of the C7, Nokia were as vague as they always are about this, only stating “Q4″ – which, as you may know, consists of three very long months if you’re the type that craves the latest gadgets. Via GSMArena 
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| BlackBerry Bold 9780 will be available in Canada on October 21st Posted: 15 Sep 2010 11:57 AM PDT The BlackBerry Bold 9780 may not have been officially announced yet, but that didn’t stop it from leaking over the past few months. Two different videos showcasing this device have surfaced in the past, but no word on when it will be released. Until now. A tipster informed MobileSyrup that this new smartphone from RIM will be available in Canada from Telus on October 21st. And it makes sense, since its predecessor, the Bold 9700, has reached End-Of-Life status with the Canadian carrier. Such events generally mean one thing, and one thing only: that a newer device is coming to replace the EOL’d one.
The new BlackBerry Bold 9780 comes with a 624 MHz processor, 512 MB of RAM (double the amount in the old model), 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, 2.4-inch 480×360 screen, WiFi and GPS. As previously thought, running the show here will be BlackBerry OS 6, RIM’s newest version of their smartphone operating system, first seen on the BlackBerry Torch 9800. Sadly, there’s no word yet on how much Telus will charge for this classic BlackBerry form factor device, but those details will probably leak before October 21st too, so stay tuned. 
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| HTC Android 3.0 tablet to come in the first quarter of 2011? Posted: 15 Sep 2010 11:07 AM PDT While HTC hasn’t announced any tablets during today’s event in London (the Desire HD and Desire Z were unveiled there instead), the Taiwanese company surely has one in the making. According to DigiTimes (which, as usual, quotes “Taiwan-based component makers”), HTC’s first Android tablet might be launched in the first quarter of next year. The HTC tablet may run Android 3.0 (Gingerbread?). And that’s about all we know at the moment.
Samsung has already announced its Android tablet (the Samsung Galaxy Tab), while LG, Motorola and Acer should also unveil their tablets pretty soon. 2011 will bring us quite many tablets, most of them running Android. Should Apple be concerned about this? I say it should, but… let’s see what happens. 
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| Low-end Android-running Alcatel OT-980 announced, available in the UK in October for £99 Posted: 15 Sep 2010 10:58 AM PDT More and more low-end Android phones are being released each day. If just a few months ago you were hard pressed to find any Android device retail for under £250, now you just can’t say you’re out of options. And sure, they may all be similar in specs, but that’s to be expected if very low prices are to be reached. Today’s entry into this space is Alcatel’s OT-980, a phone that has been rumored and pictured for about 7 months now. And after this amazingly long time, Alcatel decided to finally officially announce it.
The key feature to differentiate the OT-980 from its competition is undoubtedly the vertical slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a design reminiscent of the Palm Pre. The OT-980′s screen is 2.8″, pretty much standard for this price level. There’s also WiFi, HSPA, a 2 MP camera, a compass. Running the show is sadly Android 2.1. I wish Google would simply not let companies launch new Android smartphones with versions of the operating system that are not the newest. But hey, at least it isn’t Android 1.6. Perhaps the most interesting bit about this phone is its price. It will be available in October in the UK at Carphone Warehouse for £99.95 on pay as you go. Which makes it excellent value for the money, especially for someone addicted to texting/emailing/social networking on the go who’d also like a taste of a smartphone OS. Via TechRadar 
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| Sprint announces the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9330, 4G App Challenge Posted: 15 Sep 2010 09:35 AM PDT Just like Verizon yesterday, today Sprint has announced the upcoming availability of the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9330. Sprint will sell the 3G Curve starting September 26 online, through Telesales, and Business Sales. Weird enough, Sprint’s version of the new Curve is more expensive than Verizon’s (the devices are identical specs-wise): it’ll cost you $49.99 with a 2-yr contract agreement and after a $100 mail-in rebate. The BlackBerry Curve 9330 will run BB OS 5 at launch, but users will be able to update it to OS 6 sometime later.
(photos via Engadget) Apart from announcing the Curve 3G today, Sprint has also unveiled the “Sprint 4G App Challenge” – in partnership with WIRED, Ars Technica and Reddit. Naturally, the Challenge asks developers to give their best in making an application for Sprint’s 4G handsets (the aaaa |
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