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US Bank kicks off 'Go Mobile' payment trials with NFC-equipped iPhone case
The iPhone may not come with built-in NFC, but that hasn't stopped it from finding itself at the center of plenty of NFC-based payment projects. The latest comes courtesy of US Bank, which is now kicking off trials of its new Go Mobile service in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Portland, Oregon. As with similar efforts from RBS and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (among others), this service relies on an iPhone case equipped with an NFC chip (iPhone 4 and 4S only), which lets customers pay by swiping their phone over an NFC reader at participating retailers -- in this case, anyone that accepts Visa payWave. Unfortunately, US Bank isn't offering many details about its plans beyond this initial trial, saying only that it's looking to introduce it "more broadly in 2013."
ZTE Tania arrives in the UK: a budget phone for budget buyers
ZTE's showing off its new global ambitions, the OEM-smartphone maker brought a party bus to London and asked Professor Green (everyone's favorite nasally-challenged Grime MC) to spread the word about the Tania. It's a modestly-kitted 4.3-inch WVGA (800 x 480) Windows Phone, erm, phone, that's running Mango on a single-core 1GHz chip, 512MB of RAM and 4GB internal storage. 'Round back there's a five megapixel camera, but sadly nothing up top for impromptu video calling. It'll be available on contract on second-tier operators like Virgin Mobile, Brightpoint and Go Mobile for "around" the £10 - £20 per-month price range, but word on the street is that it'll be available to purchase for a none-too-painful £250 ($390).
Froyo-based LG Thrive becomes AT&T's first prepaid smartphone, ships April 17th alongside Phoenix
A G2x they ain't, but AT&T's newest duo from LG should certainly satisfy the cravings of less-demanding Android loyalists. Along with every other carrier in the world, Ma Bell has decided to pick up a couple of Optimus One variants, with the LG Thrive being christened as the operator's first prepaid (GoPhone) smartphone. Aside from a tweak in hue, the postpaid Phoenix is the exact same handset, with both offering a totally familiar 600MHz processor, 3.2-inch (480 x 320) touchpanel, Android 2.2, a 3.2 megapixel camera and unlimited WiFi usage on the entire national AT&T WiFi Hot Spot network. Those opting for a contract-free affair can select the Thrive for $179.99, while the dark blue Phoenix will run $49.99 and demand two years of your cellular soul. In related news, AT&T is introducing a new prepaid data package with the LG Thrive, offering 500 MB of data for $25, with the fully skinny detailed just after the break.
U.S. Army ignores our advice, outfits troops with REDFLY terminals
Ah, the REDFLY Mobile Companion. We've had some laughs at its expense, sure, but never doubted that someone out there would find a use for the thing. And what do we have here? It looks like our favorite Foleo doppelgänger is among a number of portable gadgets providing the backbone of the U.S. Army's "Go Mobile" system. Based around a WinMo phone that soldiers can use to connect to the Army Knowledge Online (AKO) service for all their mission critical e-mail, calendar, contacts, tasks, and documents, the kit includes a wireless smart card reader for authenticating onto Army networks, a printer, a charging kit (including various solar options), a pico projector, VR goggles simulating a 50-inch display, and an unspecified "dumb terminal" which -- as the picture above suggest -- could only be our old friend from Celio. Which is fine, sure -- but what ever happened to those bad-ass exoskeletons we were promised all those years ago?
Yahoo Go for Mobile spreads to Windows Mobile
It seems Yahoo was happy enough with their exploits in S60 land to bring their ragtag group of applets to another demographic. This time around, Windows Mobile gets the honors, offering the typical set of Yahoo-themed channels: Search, Mail, Calendar, News, and so on; strangely, Messenger seems to be left out of the equation. Compatibility is apparently fairly wide on this one, so if you can tolerate the lack of text messenger du jour, pull out that Q / 2125 / UBiQUio 501 of yours and get your Yahoo on, eh?Update: As you can clearly see from the screen shot, Messenger's included -- it looks like you won't have to do without text messenger du jour after all. Sorry, Yahoo!
Motorola to bundle Yahoo Go for Mobile
If you're anxiously awaiting Motorola's upcoming lineup, get ready for a little more Yahoo than you may have expected. The two have announced a love-fest that will ultimately result in Yahoo's "Go" bundle of garden-variety tools and apps being "prominently featured" on some of Moto's handsets starting in the first half of '07. You might recall Go making a cameo on Cingular's Nokia 6682; from the press release, we've no reason to expect anything wildly different when it shows up on the Capris of the world. As long as we don't find a dedicated "Y!" button etched into the keypad of our RAZR K1, we dig.[Via Phone Scoop]
