Gadgets Base

While we have already seen the blackberry Bold announced as a soon-to-be AT&T and Rogers handset, up till now we just knew that the Bold would be available “beginning this summer.” It seems the answer to the release date as well as some other interesting tidbits have just been leaked.

While the Rogers release date is still unclear, we can tell you that AT&T will make it available in July for $300. However, in a little more interesting news it seems that the Bold is also headed for T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint just a few months later. They are all set to offer up the Bold beginning in September. Verizon and Sprint customers will have to shell out the same $300 as AT&T customers, however T-Mobile seems to be a slight bit higher coming in at $350.

Of course, these have not been confirmed by any of the carriers, so these dates and prices are still subject to change. Lets at least hope that the T-Mobile price drops just a little, otherwise that seems quite unfair.

Read [InfoSync] Via [EngadgetMobile]

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Rollout still won’t happen until later this year, which really means late this year if not next, as no dates have been announced. Anyway, Sprint who has been working with Samsung on this say it’s ready.

There’s a collection of companies (Clearwire, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks) that will bear the brunt of the cost of getting WiMax out to over 120 million customers by the end of 2010. That’s just a year and a half. I can’t wait.

Posted in Miscellaneous

by Chris Ziegler, posted May 16th 2008 at 4:54PM
Rumor has it that E-TEN will be unveiling a new Windows Mobile set at Taiwan’s Computex next month that sports — count ‘em, one, two SIMs. The so-called DX900 (pictured) in the glofiish series should be quite a powerhouse, too, with triband HSDPA, quadband GSM, 3 megapixel autofocus cam, FM radio, 256MB of ROM with microSDHC expansion, GPS, motion sensor, and that all-important VGA display that’s probably (hopefully) going to come to define high-end WinMo devices from here on out. We don’t see any particular reason why this one wouldn’t come to fruition; dual-SIM phones are pretty commonplace in Asia, though the presence of triband HSDPA is a pretty rare feat in that bunch. Anyone feeling an itch to import one of these stateside?

[Via the::unwired]

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Filed under: cellphones, Handhelds

Finally here’s something that actually does what it advertises. Ubanana’s uCan - a waterproof mp3 player that you can actually wear in up to 10 feet deep water. But the best thing about this uber-cool looking gadget is the fact that all the essential parts that you normally get from a normal MP3 player are actually integrated within the gadget itself. Yes folks, that means no dangling wires that connect the earphones to the body of the MP3 player, its all integrated into the player itself.

The uCan has 1GB of memory which can store around 250 MP3 or 500 WMA files and gives out up to 15 hours of battery life. But we wouldn’t advise you to go diving into the open sea and stay under water for 15 hours just to enjoy using the uCan MP3 player, your supply of oxygen might not last that long. You can snag the uCan for $150 once it hits the stores sometime in July 2008.

Product [Ubanana] Via [Switched]

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by Darren Murph, posted May 16th 2008 at 3:40PM
See how easy it is everyone? All that’s required to snag a BlackBerry Bold well before its public release is to become a Grammy award-winning artist, sell out shows worldwide, date a smattering of superstars and convince Fender to create and sell your own branded guitar. While you’re off working on step one, John Mayer is living it up with his brand new blackberry Bold. Granted, he can’t claim to be the very first with said handset, but it’s likely the first completely legitimate edition let loose. Of course, once you’ve landed the Curve and macbook air before everyone else on the planet, snagging a Bold is just child’s play.

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by Darren Murph, posted May 16th 2008 at 7:46PM
Like pretty much every other Digital ELPH preceding it, Canon’s flagship SD1100 IS garnered nothing but the utmost praise in a recent Imaging-Resource review. Okay, so maybe critics did kvetch about slight noise at ISO 800, a somewhat confusing interface, and a not-particularly-useful digital zoom, but this point-and-shoot managed to get it right in the areas that matter most. Build quality and design were both smiled upon, the image stabilization performed as advertised and the image quality was deemed “excellent.” Of note, they did find very minor chromatic aberration in the wide angle shots, but considering the size of this shooter, results were seen as fantastic. Overall, it looks like Canon has produced yet another winner in the pocket-friendly camera department, but feel free to take a gander at the in-depth review waiting in the read link below.

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

Whoa.  Hold it right there.  Is everyone drinking fouled cool aid or just gone straight to the rock?  What happened to our little cottage industry this week?  Let’s play “Who’s on Crack” shall we:

Microsoft. Says they hope to earn a 40% marketshare by 2012.  They were at 13% in ‘07.  Verdict?  Crack.

Amazon.  Analyst says the Kindle will sell like hotcakes, er iPods and be a $750 Million business by 2010.  Um, the same Kindle I’ve been making fun of for a while now?  Sorry.  Crack.

CBS buys C|Net. Even forgetting the premium they paid for it, C|Net (contrary to what Om thinks) is a dead brand.  Dead.  Sure they have a big audience but who still goes there for real product info?  I did back in the 90s.  Not since.  Dead.  And yes, Crack.

Icahn to Yahoo: you’re fired. Kudos to Mr. Icahn for standing up what he believes in.  Yangs personal battle with Microsoft seemed to figure into the play and did so at the expense of the talented folks at Yahoo.  I give Jerry Yang the crack here.  Icahn stays on the wagon.  For now.

Apple rumor mill. Kicking into overdrive this week, you’ll see strung out bloggers right and left in the coming weeks ahead. Crazy Intel rumors, retracted or better yet: oh, that never happened…wha?  Intel let the cat out of the bag, crackers.

Touch screen blackberry.  Ah Boy Genius, your photoshopping skills are fantabulous.  If only the real deal looked half as good as your rendering.  I am not sure who, but there is crack involved.

Note for the kids: Gadgetell does not endorse crack.  As far as I know, we endorse nothing.  Except maybe Unicorns.  Doug, Adam, Robert: can I get a ruling on endorsing Unicorns?

Anything to add to this illustrious list?

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Contrary to popular belief, the first laser wasn’t really reverse-engineered from Megatron of the Transformers. It was actually created by a guy named Theodore Maiman by shining a high-power flash lamp on a ruby rod with silver-coated surfaces. And if he hadn’t made the first laser work on May 16, 1960 at the Hughes Research Laboratory in California, there wouldn’t be laser etched Nokia Prism phones, laser printers, or convenience in the laser-powered supermarket check-out counter. Just think how much we would have lost if not for that one great innovation. Today’s the day to be thankful for it, because it’s the laser’s 48th year anniversary. Here’s to many more years, and I hope they finish my laser death rays in time for the 50th anniversary!

Via [Google]

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Dish Network recently won enough licenses to cover the entire US, except for New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Boston – and the industry has been abuzz with speculation as to what the satellite TV company plans to do with it. Now, Dish has disclosed that it would use the licenses to build a mobile TV service – but they’re in no hurry.  Picking the right technology, the right business model, and the right partner will be critical in Dish Network’s plans. Building a mobile TV network would be no joke – the company would likely spend between $500 million to $2 billion. Major decisions would take time and deliberation.

Vice Chairman Carl Vogel confirmed:

“We’re a long, long, long way from building anything out. We’re a long, long, long way from deciding who our partners will be and when, but we do think it is a valuable piece of spectrum that gives us an opportunity to have numerous strategic discussions that will provide an asset that’s additive to the business we already have.”

While a “long, long” time is certainly not what consumers want to hear, its still nice to know that it is in the works.

Via [mocoNews]

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by Chris Ziegler, posted May 15th 2008 at 10:37PM
This little bundle of plain-vanilla familiarity is seemingly the first live picture of Palm’s upcoming Treo 800w for CDMA networks, known internally as the Zeppelin — you know, the obsolete airships that had a tendency to spontaneously combust. Specs on this one are starting to shore up, with Windows Mobile 6.1, EV-DO Rev. A, GPS, a 320 x 320 touchscreen (still novel by classic WinMo standards) and a typical Treo look and feel that doesn’t diverge terribly much from Palm’s tried, true, and well-worn formula. Sprint’s looking solid to pick it up come late July, but with those HTCs around the corner, just how much love at the register is this thing gonna get?

[Via PHONE Magazine]

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Filed under: cellphones, Handhelds