This an exciting announcement from Bell, and hopefully they will deliver on this!

Full Bell news release after the jump!

MONTREAL, Quebec, Oct. 10 /CNW Telbec/ - Bell today announced a
significant strategic investment in its Third Generation (3G) wireless network
capabilities to ensure it offers Canadians the complete range of high-speed
mobile data coverage, services and handset options. The investment also
confirms the company's migration path to the global Fourth Generation (4G)
Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard.
    "Investing in broadband networks and services and accelerating wireless
are strategic imperatives for the Bell team, and they are key to achieving our
goal - to be recognized by customers as Canada's leading communications
company," said George Cope, President and Chief Executive Officer of BCE and
Bell Canada.
    "This investment initiative builds on our industry-leading wireless
service - which already offers access to the largest and fastest network
across North America- to deliver Canadians the broadest choice in high-speed
wireless service, while confirming our path forward to LTE, the global 4G
wireless broadband standard."

    Maximizing choice in wireless

    As it continues to expand and enhance its national 3G CDMA/EVDO service,
Bell will also overlay this industry-leading network with HSPA technology,
maximizing the latest-generation wireless options the company can offer
customers across Canada.
    Bell wireless customers will be able to choose between EVDO - already the
dominant 3G standard in Canada and across North America - and HSPA, which is
rapidly becoming the main platform with carriers outside North America. At the
same time, overlaying HSPA on its national network will offer Bell the most
efficient upgrade path to the 4G LTE broadband standard in coming years.
    "This network initiative is proof positive of Bell's new 'better' brand
promise - in this case, 'Wireless just got better.' We fully anticipate that
our expanded national 3G networks will continue to offer Canadian consumers
and business clients the best and broadest coverage and now with an unbeatable
range of high-speed handsets and service options," said Wade Oosterman,
President of Bell Mobility and Chief Brand Officer for Bell. "As the exclusive
telecommunications partner to the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, we look
forward to delivering these enhanced capabilities before Canada hosts the
world in 2010."

    Fourth Generation LTE

    LTE is the 4G wireless broadband standard that will be rolled out
globally post-2010, delivering extremely fast broadband mobile data speeds and
a wide range of new mobile multimedia and personalized data services.
    "Bell's transition to the global 4G LTE standard with a combined EVDO and
HSPA network path aligns us with more than 30 major carriers worldwide
planning a similar move to LTE," said Stephen Howe, Senior Vice President,
Wireless Network and Chief Technology Officer for Bell Mobility. "This broad
global technology ecosystem will mean a fast, efficient and cost-effective
network transition to 4G LTE, and access to the broadest possible range of
next-generation phones and data services."
    Bell will greatly reduce time to market for its network overlay by
leveraging its existing national network-sharing agreement with TELUS
Corporation. The agreement was originally established in 2001 to ensure the
fast delivery of and increased competition in national mobile data services,
especially in rural and remote areas.
    Following a comprehensive vendor evaluation process, Bell has chosen
Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei as infrastructure providers for its national
network overlay.

I hope you’ve all had a nice weekend, and for those of you that were waiting in line to get an iPhone for yourselves; we hope you got one!

NerdyBlog.com has managed to get its hands on one, and is thoroughly testing every aspect of this sexy little handset to bring you the most comprehensive video review of the iPhone 3G in Canada!

Look for this in the coming days right here on NerdyBlog.com!

This new data plan will be applicable to any smart phone and provides 6GB of data for the low monthly fee of $30. Rogers is finally starting to listen to consumers who are sick of their high data rates!

This is an awesome addition to their lineup of data plans, but it is not expected to be offered any longer than the end of August so get it now while you can!

As promised, here are some photos of the Canadian iPhone 3G our source is confidential.

This is one of the most important factors in determining if the HTC Shift is right for you. Pricing is starting at around $1500 to $2000, though that will probably to come down shortly after supply increases. That is a lot of “hard-earned” money to pay for something which can’t replace your main computer and when you can get wi-fi laptops at half the price its a difficult dicision to make in purchasing a Shift unit. However, I am happy to say if you’re in the market to get an UMPC, the Shift is worth a long, hard look. It’s pretty much the only game in town with a real keyboard and 3G connectivity.

The Pros:

• The speakers excellent.
• The GSM/3G reception is probably a little better than HTC’s Windows Mobile devices.
• It’s good and HSDPA  I speed tested at around 1500kbps
• The screen is pretty good but not perfect.
• It looks good and is very responsive when using it as a touch screen or tablet While the specs might look pretty poor on paper, that shouldn’t be an automatic turn off. Try it before you buy it. More than likely you’ll be impressed.
• The keyboard itself is good to use.
• The fingerprint reader works well. The included software called VitaKey serves it purpose
• The design and button layout is super friendly and clean. You can’t get confused even if it’s the first time you’ve picked one up, and there is a nice tactile feel to them.

The Cons:

• There’s no back-light on the keyboard. While this might not be a huge issue for some people, it really is incredibly difficult to see the keyboard in low-light conditions
• On the SnapVue (Windows Mobile-ish) side, email works great. But, you can’t open any attachments! Nothing! No Word, PowerPoint, MP3s, pictures, etc.
• Random quirks…for instance, all of sudden, they’ll be a pop-up in Vista saying that you just plugged something into the audio jack. Eh?!?!
• Battery life is fair. Needs to be worked on.
• The touch pointer mouse square thingy works alright but is a little awkward to use when the keyboard is out.

Having said all that, over the last few days this serial review has been running, I believe this device is still a little bit ahead of the network it is supposed to run on.  The HTC Shift is crying out for a more reliable fast network than (at the moment) Rogers has to offer.  I can see this unit working well in Europe where 3.5G is starting to become the norm, however, for us unfortunate North Americans who are stuck for cash and want everything now, now, NOW, a laptop with wi-fi is the better option…..for the time being!

SnapVue is basically the Windows Mobile side of things. On the SnapVue homescreen, you get a nice Today plugin. It shows the time, date, weather, emails, contacts, SMSs, calendar and settings. The issue is that since HTC has not provided us with the full Windows Mobile experience, you are limited in what you can do.

Let’s take the email program, for example. You have your server all set up, your emails are being pushed to the device, and everything is all well with the world. However, what happens when you get an email with an important attachment. No problem, just click the attachment and it will download, however, try opening it. You can’t open any attachment in an email in SnapVue, you are forced to switch over to Vista. I don’t think most people are asking for document editing, though that would be nice, but we should at least have the ability to open simple attachments on the platform!

That brings us to another issue…phone calling.

HTC has not included the ability to make phone calls from the device. The closest thing to using the system for calling is using the likes of Skype via the Vista platform.  If I had this system I would be a little cheated that I would have to have two SIM cards, one for data on the HTC and the other for my business phone.  I thought the idea of the future was convergence (putting all mobile devices into one).  Not that I am saying you should  be able to use the unit like a normal cell phone, it would look kinda stupid holding the unit to your head!!  I was thinking more of using a Bluetooth headset instead, after all, with 3G, you could be talking while browsing the web. That’s a real must for me and other people who would want to multi-task.  You can use SMS texting but not call people!!!

The email application, calendar, contacts are programs you would find on a normal Windows Mobile device, it’s just the whole attachment and no phone calling that “does-my-head-in”!  If you really need to get something done your best bet is to flip the switch to Vista and get on with it!!.

SCREEN

The screen is good, however, its not the best.  The default resolution of 800×480 is fine for most applications and you have the option of changing to 1024×600 which is always a bonus.  You’ll have to adjust the brightness if you’re outside, but I am happy to report the screen is perfectly viewable even in direct sunlight. The screen is also, of course, a touchscreen. It’s a passive touch screen, so you’re free to use your fingers to tap and select items. The included stylus works fine for navigating, handwriting or anything else you’d like to do with it, I just had a hell of a time getting the stylus out from the unit!

KEYBOARD

The keyboard is a tricky subject for any user. And the point of a portable device is that it should be able to function for all your needs when you’re not at the office or at home on your main computer. After all, if you can’t even manage to enter a web address, you can forget about answering those emails in Outlook, and editing those Word attachments that you cannot open in SnapVue. The Shift keyboard is to be used in more of a traditional setup using your fingers to type, no using your thumbs with this beauty!  The setup is a little strange. The numbers on the top row of the keyboard are aligned more to the right than the traditional QWERTY keyboard. This means the “1″ key is over the “W” key instead of the “Q” key, this threw me off a little when typing but I got used to it.

PERFORMANCE

To give you the hard specs: 800MHz A110 Intel CPU, 1GB RAM, 40GB 4200rpm hard drive, which is the bare minimum in terms of today’s advanced specifications for a mobile computer.  However, even in Vista (and I HATE Vista) there were no lock-ups, slow downs, or any kind of issues related to the speed of the device, Internet Explorer gave me no troubles, and AIM worked well, too. Playing videos and music also didn’t cause the computer to hiccup.  I am quite pleased with how usable it is, even with below-standard hardware.

BATTERY
This could be one of the biggest problems the Shift unit has to face. To be fair, the specs are exactly as HTC specified: 2 hours of battery life in Windows Vista.   I asked the business community what they would expect from length of battery time and most were wanting at least 3 hours.  You might be able to squeeze out a couple extra minutes, but do not try kidding yourself, you are notn going to be able to settle down and watch a 3 hour movie epic using the battery alone! On the upside, SnapVue lasts for a hell of a long time, even with the 3G connection on, I had it one for over 36 hours!!  This is absolutely great for anyone who is constantly away from the office and need to keep in touch with emails etc.  Please HTC, lets see a better high-capacity battery soon!!!

The Shift specs include:

HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100

Excellent dual stereo speakers

30GB HDD drive

USB 2.0

Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g

Bluetooth 2.0

VGA, 640×480 pixels, front facing video conferencing camera

Microsoft Vista Business platform

VitaKey Fingerprint Solution

Full Review and Pictures After the Jump!

You’d be hard-pressed to find a UMPC that is more neatly designed than HTC Shift. Taking into account the mechanics with the tilt and slide mechanism, the design is a benchmark that all other UMPC’s must perform to. There’s not a huge amount of ports or buttons or switches on it, and that’s a good thing. On the right side, you have the HTC Communications Manager button, the screen resolution adjustment button, the trackpad, right speaker, and finally fingerprint reader. Moving to the left side, you have the right and left mouse click buttons, left speaker, and below that is the SnapVue/Vista button to switch between the two operating systems.

As I move around the unit, there is a Power/Hold switch, USB port, and charging port. On the back, the only thing is a VGA out port which is perfectly placed. All there is on the left side is the 3.5mm headset jack and nothing on the front side of the unit.

The unit is encased around a magnetic brown leather case which makes the unit look more like an expensive hardback book than the usual UMPC, very nice!

]]> http://nerdyblog.com/2008/07/day-one-introduction-the-htc-shift/feed/ http://nerdyblog.com/2008/07/sony-ericssons-z750i-personality-disorder/ http://nerdyblog.com/2008/07/sony-ericssons-z750i-personality-disorder/#comments Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:20:26 +0000 Da Limey http://nerdyblog.com/?p=471

The first impression of the Sony Ericsson Z750i is confusion! I do believe this phone has a personality disorder, is it a clam shell or is it a flip phone? Then again is it a cheap pay-as-you-go phone or a middle-of-the-road 3G phone??

Hit the Jump for the Full Story!

The cost of the phone, on Fido, ranges from $100 with a 3 year contract to $400 without a contract……400 BUCKS…..damm!!!! If I saw this phone on Fido for $100 as a pay-as-you-go deal then maybe it would be a nice Christmas present for those young “teenie-boppers”!!!

So, as first impressions slide away, I start to “warm-up” to the product. Could it be that it’s “super-duper” shiny surface is like a mirror that I can see myself in or the fact the design of a OLED lights up when a call comes in, which is kind of nice!

Overall though, the phone is kinda chunky and heavy, Sony Ericsson should of looked at the design before mass-producing the cell phone. If it wasn’t for the shiny surface people would probably not look twice at it!!!

With this “negativity” out of the way I must press on…..after all it’s a 3G phone and its one of the features that keeps me interested in it. The phone’s screen is a good size, 2.2 inches and the layout of the keypad is good especially when texting. As the phone is both 3G and HSDPA compatible means the Z750i allows 3G video calling, and you can also browse the web via HSDPA which is the fastest browsing solution offered on the Fido and Rogers cell networks.

There are two disappointments (sorry for the negative stuff again!) the fact there is only a 2 megapixel camera and the fact there is no Walkman music application. The Walkman application has been taken out and the “horrid” Rogers music player has been added, I guess Rogers has to make as much money as possible!!!

Features on the device include:

Two integrated cameras for video calling

Quad-band for global roaming

3G for faster browsing and video calling

Bluetooth

MP3 player and FM radio

Hands free speaker

Overall, I have mixed feelings regarding this device. Maybe I am just getting old and the fact the Z750i is being marketed to “teenie-boppers” (hence the shiny clam shell design etc). If this is the case then I can see a lot of 13+ age group having one. The fact the phone is not on pay-as-you-go, due to the cost of running the damm thing is going to be more than just calling and texting your friends, leads me to conclude this model isn’t going to last for long, sorry Sony Ericsson!!!

]]> http://nerdyblog.com/2008/07/sony-ericssons-z750i-personality-disorder/feed/ http://nerdyblog.com/2008/07/rogers-iphone-ruinediphonecom/ http://nerdyblog.com/2008/07/rogers-iphone-ruinediphonecom/#comments Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:35:21 +0000 Andrew Goldenberg http://nerdyblog.com/2008/07/02/rogers-iphone-ruinediphonecom/  

As you all may or may not know, the iPhone is set to debut on the Rogers Wireless, and Fido networks here in Canada on Friday, July 11th.

RuinediPhone.com is Canada’s response to the recent price gouging brought on by the sleek new device offering from Apple.

The website was started as a way of showing the utter displeasure of Canadians everywhere. Rogers wireless has absolutely ruined the iPhone for people in Canada with price plan offerings that come nowhere close to those of our neighbours the United States of America.

RuinediPhone.com has gained momentum with its recent media exposure. RuinediPhone.com also offers up to the minute information regarding the iPhone’s release in Canada, as well as a petition to be sent to Rogers head office on Friday.

Should you feel outraged about the priceplans offered by Rogers in Canada, add your name to the petition, and donate whatever you can to help the cause.

We here at NerdyBlog.com support RuinediPhone.com, and hope that the collective efforts of everyone involved with the site are heard!

Addicts and fanboys rejoice! Blackberry technology is now available in the Iphone!

After cases and cases of American companies trying to get money from the 51st state, Research in Motion, affectionately know as RIM and “the Crackberry pusher”, finally put it’s foot down and now on the offensive end!

After a small scuffle over patent disputes in push email, Visto Corp has thrown it’s hands up and admit they are in the wrong, and they stole their idea from RIM. Visto Corp, in fact, makes the push email app for the Apple Iphone.

After settling the case, the lawyers from RIM are quoted in saying “There is no settlement…. they threw in the towel.”

It’s nice to see RIM actually win these cases, and personally, I think it’s absolutely hilarious that the Apple fanboys will always have this heel in their minds. The Iphone may be original, but honestly, this isn’t new technology.

Courtesy of CBC.ca

“And not just for cell phones – voice and data packages with unclear provisions, changing terms of service, and sky-high rates are simply unfair to consumers.”

McGuinty is really taking a step forward with this new bill C-555 and we hope to hear more discussion on this bill when Parliament resumes in October. Sign the petition for the “Get Connected Fairly Act” HERE

So is this just to win votes or do you think they will actually help?