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Rogers pumps out its own Blackberry Pearl -- in white
Just like T-Mobile USA here in the states, Canada's Rogers Wireless is set to release a white version of the RIM Blackberry Pearl sometime on February 1st (like yesterday). We've loved how the "Pearl" sports its name due to the pearl-like navigation...thingy, but now Rogers can join T-Mobile with a more apt-pearl moniker of being offered in white this time through. It'll set you back $250 in royal-mounted Canadian greenbacks with a 3 year commitment -- to a voice and data plan. Is it really just GPRS as spec'd on Roger's website page? Man, we hope not, for the speed sanity of all those who'll be forking over decent pocket change for this unit. Perhaps Rogers just forgot that "E" in front of the "GPRS," eh? We like to at least live on the EDGE.[Thanks, Ashleigh]
BlackBerry 8800 coming to Rogers
What would Canada's patron saint of GSM be without RIM? Two peas in a pod, we say -- inseparable by virtue of their shared nationality. The fact that Rogers would offer the upcoming BlackBerry 8800 seemed like a foregone conclusion, and now we've got some proof in the form of a Rogers-branded spec label. Nothing unexpected here: 64MB of internal (expandable) storage, quadband GPRS / EDGE, GPS, and an MP3 player, with no mention of a camera. No word on a release date, but seeing how the packaging seems to be already prepared, it probably won't be much after the presumed 3GSM announcement next month that these things start filtering into stores.[Thanks, FeRbS and BroG]
Rogers set to carry the iPhone in Canada?
The rumors are flying, but so far it's looking good for our Rogers / Apple / poutine fanboy friends up north. Will Pate, after hearing a rumor of the iPhone being headed for Rogers Wireless sometime in 2007, dug into the matter a little bit, and got this response from Rogers: "You were wondering about iPhone..Lots of speculation out there. Beyond the fact that Rogers is the only GSM carrier in Canada, we have not issued any statements as to whether or when the iPhone would be available at Rogers." And there you have it, completely vague, but near tacit assurance that Rogers will indeed be carrying the iPhone, since it happens to be the only GSM gig in town. At least that's what our iPhone-addled brains are reading into the situation, we suggest you draw your own conclusions on the matter.
Rogers gets Treo 680
Hey, Canada: it looks like Cingular was just the first stop on a comprehensive North American tour for Palm's new entry-level Treo 680, and your own Rogers is next. In fact, if you head on over to Rogers' website as we speak, you'll find it listed for $300 CDN on a three-year contract after rebates. Yes, that's right, we said "three-year contract," so we'd like to caution would-be owners that there's very little chance they're going to want the same phone a full 36 months from now -- especially seeing how Rogers is only offering the plain-vanilla Graphite variety.[Thanks, Darien]
Rogers gearing up to offer Motorola K1 KRZR
Their buy page appears to be pretty much fubar'd at the moment, but if you scroll all the way to the bottom, you'll see that the $349.99 CDN you're shelling out is going to net you a MOTOKRZR. For the record, that's the K1 we're talking about here -- not the K1m -- on account of Rogers being a GSM provider. On the plus side, that gives you world compatibility with four bands of GSM reception at your disposal, but on the minus side, you can kiss 3G data goodbye (the K1 tops out with EDGE). No word on whether this offering is official yet since we can't find any other links to it, but if you can't buy it now, you'll certainly be able to before too long.[Thanks, Shaun C.]
Rogers unwraps some Chocolate
Ah, the Chocolate puns never get old, do they? Canada's Rogers is next up to experience the joys of LG's glamorous slider, this time in TG800 trim -- a model that looks entirely more like the original (and, in our humblest of opinions, most attractive) KG800 variant than the most well-known North American Chocolate, Verizon's VX8500. We can't tell for certain from the crappy photo on Rogers' site, but on top of retaining the KG800's d-pad layout, it appears that it also carries over the nifty checkerboard pattern on the numeric keypad that was conspicuously missing from the VX8500. Best of all, having been picked up by Rogers, this thing almost certainly packs a quad-band GSM radio. Our Canadian readers can go grab one now for $150 CAD after rebates on a three-year indentured servitude agreement.[Thanks, Shaun C.]
Rogers brings HSDPA to Canada
Canadian speed freaks, rejoice; your network is here. Rogers Wireless has announced that it's begun to light up its glorious HSDPA network and has started doling out Sierra Wireless Aircard 860s to match. For the record, the 860 is the same PC Card that Cingular launched with, topping out at 1.8Mbps -- whether Rogers will eventually migrate to 3.6Mbps, we're not sure, but we suggest that our Canadian friends not bite the hand that feeds them. At least, not for the first few weeks. Look for the Aircard at Rogers retailers for $50 CAD on a three-year contract (yowza) or $350 on a one- or two-year agreement.[Thanks, Branden]
Canada on verge of number portability
Americans have been enjoying number portability for a while now (though not without its fair share of hiccups), but some surprising names make the list of countries that haven't yet taken the plunge; Japan, for example, just flipped the switch for fickle customers this month. It appears that next up will be our neighbors to the North, with Fido noting on their website that all major Canadian carriers will be allowing number transfers in "all metropolitan areas" no later than March 14 of next year. Regional carriers will still be on the hook to allow outbound transfers by the same date, but are given a reprieve until next September to get the inbound side working. Any Canadian readers out there anxious to make the switch? Tell us all those heart-wrenching stories in comments![Thanks, Frank]
Rogers brings Nokia E62 to Canadians first
Cingular's plans to add the Nokia E62 to its offerings may still be a bit iffy, but Rogers customers in Canada can now rest easy knowing their the first in North America able to get their hands on the QWERTY-fied handset. Those bragging rights will cost you $249.99 Canadian if you sign a three-year contract, $399.99 for a two-year deal, or $449.99 if you just want to be tied down for one. Push email on the device comes in the form of Rogers MyMail system, which is powered by Visto. The handset itself is, of course, otherwise the same as what'll be available stateside sooner or later, with a 2.8-inch QVGA display, Bluetooth, 240 minutes promised talk time, 14 days standby time, 90MB built-in memory, a microSD slot for expansion, and USB mass storage support, among other goodies, which unfortunately doesn't include WiFi.[Via MobileMag]
Sona's video player for BlackBerry powers "bbTV"
Last time we checked in with SonaMobile, their video player was in beta and it was looking a bit, well, beta-like -- download times were hurting, video quality left a lot to be desired, and content selection was limited at best. Well, times are a-changin', and it looks like these guys are just about ready to flip the switch for Canadian BlackBerry users on Rogers, Bell, and Telus. So what's changed? For starters, Sona's claiming faster download times and reduced storage requirements thanks to an improved compression scheme, though you're still looking at a 3-5 minute download for a 1-2 minute clip. The commercial launch has also been renamed "bbTV," offering news, sports, and financial content from Canada's Global National, and they've added an archive feature for reminiscing about last week's... uh, news, sports, and finances. No word on launch plans outside Canada, though users are claiming it's easy enough to fool Sona's site into letting anyone download the goods; the only question is whether you want to put up with some pretty painful download times to watch exclusively Canadian content.
Rogers Wireless offers caller name display
Canada's Rogers Wireless has made the lives of prank callers and shy or paranoid individuals a bit harder (and the rest of ours a bit more convenient) with the launch of Name Display, a new service that'll show a caller's name even if it's not stored in the phone's memory. They're apparently the first company to offer such a service in North America. Concerned individuals will be pleased to know, however, that they can have their name blocked from showing up on other people's phones, either by punching in #31# each time before they dial, or by phoning up Rogers to have their name permanently blocked (at no charge). In addition to showing the names of other wireless customers, it'll also display the names of landline callers from in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland -- and, conversely, wireless customers will now show up on landline users' caller IDs. The service is available now from both Rogers and Fido (which is wholly owned by Rogers) customers combined with the standard call display service for for $8 a month.[Via textually.org]
