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Leaked Telstra roadmap points to October Windows Phone 7 launch, HTC Mozart device
Microsoft still hasn't gotten any more specific than "holiday 2010" for a Windows Phone 7 launch date, but it looks like we may now have a bit more specificity courtesy of Australian carrier Telstra. According to a leaked snippet from a purportedly authentic Telstra roadmap, the hereto unheard of Windows Phone 7-based HTC Mozart will be launching sometime in October -- presumably coinciding with the launch of Windows Phone 7 itself. As you may be able to tell, however, the phone pictured is actually a poor mockup (grey copy and paste border around the phone, Sense UI behind the WP7 UI, etc.) of an HTC Desire, but none other than Conflipper says that the Mozart is indeed a real device and, incidentally, headed to T-Mobile US as well.
Australia to pay Telstra A$11 billion for entire copper network
The Australian government just found the infrastructure for its A$43 billion national broadband project and eliminated its largest competitor in one fell swoop -- pending shareholder and regulator approval, Telstra will receive A$11 billion of that money in exchange for its entire landline network. Telstra will decommission its monopoly of copper cables to make room for the government's fiber and migrate its customers to the resulting 100Mbps National Broadband Network (NBN) as those light-bearing threads roll out. While Telstra might become a smaller player in the internet and cable business without a land network of its own, it may get even larger in the wireless space -- the company says it's received "written confirmation from the Prime Minister" that it can bid on a chunk of precious LTE spectrum should the deal go through. Press release after the break.
Telstra's landlocked T-Hub tablet phone launches in Australia (update)
A few years back, Telstra -- synonymous in Australia with "communication" -- told Apple it had no business making a cellphone. Look how that turned out. To make a long story short, the company has since repented, and is on the verge of releasing an app-filled touchscreen phone of their own, the Telstra T-Hub, on April 20th. Thing is, this tablet stays plugged into your wall. Marketed as a "family organizer," the T-Hub stores contacts, surfs Facebook, plays YouTube, displays photos, accesses personal bank accounts and even sends text messages like a smartphone, but does it all while connected to a landline telephone jack. While existing Telstra customers can get the device for $300 AUD, the company would of course prefer you get it for $35 with a 24-month service agreement... for a minimum total cost of about $1980 AUD with 2GB data per month. We're not Australian, but compared to US iPhone pricing, that doesn't sound terribly fair. Update: Telstra spokesman Craig Middleton tells us the T-Hub isn't permanently tethered to your wall. While the phone's base station does connect to a landline telephone jack, the tablet assembly itself is a portable cordless phone with WiFi for web-connected apps. He also adds that the aforementioned 2GB data plan isn't just for the T-Hub, but rather your entire home internet connection.
Telstra boasts it's got the first live HSPA+ Dual Carrier network
It may not be the fastest live HSPA network today, but Telstra -- a carrier with a history of world's firsts -- is touting that it's now the first operator on the face planet to flip the switch on HSPA+ Dual Carrier, the very same tech that Ericsson has been demoing recently. That means that customers will be able to expect about double the peak 3G speeds they get today (so Telstra claims) once they latch onto Sierra Wireless' new modem, expected to be available "later this year." The fun doesn't end there, though: Telstra says this is just the first stop on a wild ride up to 84Mbps once MIMO is added into the mix with expected commercial availability in 2011, cutting deeply into the territory enjoyed by first-gen LTE networks. Any chance we could have the modem in something besides Smurf Blue? No worries if not, Sierra; just figured we'd ask.
Ericsson demos 42Mbps HSPA Evolution for the laypeople
Talk about making good on a promise... and then some. Back in March, Ericsson proudly proclaimed that it would be able to make 21Mbps look like child's play by reaching 28Mbps before the dawn of 2010, and now the company is tooting its horn once more after demonstrating 42Mbps equipment to common folk over in Stockholm, Sweden. Reportedly, it's the planet's first 42Mbps HSPA achievement on commercial products, and better still, it's now available for mass deployment. Unfortunately, details beyond that were few and far between -- we're guessing Ericsson just needed an avenue to gloat -- but we suspect carriers like Telstra will be pushing out their own releases once the upgrades start rolling out. Granted, we've seen mobile data rates tickle the 42Mbps mark before, but those showcases were hardly ready for public consumption. Meanwhile, Verizon and AT&T are spending bundles arguing about their comparatively glacial "3G networks." Way to go, America.
Telstra brings BlackBerry Bold 9700 into the fold
Waterloo's latest weapon of choice is continuing its ruthless quest to eradicate the original Bold around the world this week with an official announcement of availability on Australia's Telstra, where it'll be hitting shops on Tuesday the 24th. The Bold 9700 that you're getting here is the same you'll find elsewhere -- 3.2 megapixel camera, BlackBerry OS 5.0, and a 480 x 360 display -- and will be made available to non-business customers at a whopping AUD $999 (about $917), though that financial blow is softened a good deal by Telstra's Mobile Repayment Option which spreads the outlay over two years. You'd better really be pining for that optical pad, eh?
Telstra BigPond to shutter Second Life presence in December
Telstra BigPond (a major Australian Internet Service Provider, with an approximate 50% market-share) has had one of the most popular corporate presences in the virtual environment of Second Life, even including a customer service center staffed eleven hours per day, five days per week. In a nation with expensively metered bandwidth, BigPond even refrained from metering a portion of the data sent to its customers from Second Life. All of this for what has basically been an experiment. That, however, appears to be coming to a close. BigPond intends to shutter its Second Life presence on 16 December.
Australian government tells Telstra to split up... or else
Australian giant Telstra is being given the ol' Ma Bell treatment this week, getting slapped with a breakup order courtesy of the government with a steep penalty for failing to comply: blockage from future spectrum acquisitions and a forced sell-off of its cable television business and its 50 percent stake in satellite operator Foxtel. We're no MBAs around here, but that certainly seems like a strong-enough motivator to get moving on a logical breakup of Telstra's many businesses, including Australia's largest wireless provider (and largest everything, come to think of it). As a final warning, there's a threat of a AUD $10 million (about $8.6 million) fine for anti-competitive misbehavior, so all things considered, Optus and Vodafone should be feeling pretty good about the situation at the moment. [Thanks, John]
BlackBerry Bold gets Telstra's Blue Tick for having the signal strength of a champion
Say you're in the middle of nowhere -- in Australia, by the way -- and you have an urgent need to, say, download and view an Excel spreadsheet in your inbox. What's a fellow to do? Well, one option would be to take a gander at that Palm Treo Pro that has received Telstra's coveted Blue Tick certification for awesome reception in the boondocks, but the problem is that it's so hard to look at the Treo Pro with a straight face these days in light of the fact that the Pre's now an ever-constant presence in our psyche. No worries, though, there's another solid option: Telstra has now awarded the Blue Tick to the BlackBerry Bold, which means even the hardest-core road warriors should have no issue handling email from some of the harshest environs Australia's cell tower-equipped landscape has to offer.
Telstra rolling out seven Next G phones this month
Australian carrier Telstra's taking the "go big or go home" approach with its latest announcement, dropping no fewer than seven phones this month compatible with its Next G HSPA network -- table scraps for a Japanese carrier, granted, but a bounty by any other standard. Among the phones in the new lineup are the Xenon, Viewty Smart, and the Windows Mobile-powered GM730f from LG (the first version of the GM730 to launch anywhere, interestingly), the Touch Pro2 from HTC, and Sony Ericsson's W508 and W995. All will be available before the month of July draws to a close for prices ranging from AUD $30 (about $24) on contract for the W508 up to a mind-numbing AUD $1,499 (about $1,190) contract-free for the Touch Pro2.
Telstra keeps pushing, moves to 5.8Mbps on the uplink
Want to run a Miley Cyrus fansite over a data card? We might recommend you emigrate to Australia, where Telstra has just upgraded its already-impressive HSPA+ network to a whopping 5.8Mbps on the uplink, which it estimates means that customers could see speeds as high as 3Mbps in real-world use. In conjunction with the upgrade, the carrier's also letting customers know that its Turbo 21 USB modem can be updated to take advantage of the higher data rate, which refreshingly means you won't have to plunk down for any new hardware. Cheers to that.
Linden Lab reportedly seeking EU data center
Word has come down to us that Linden Lab is in negotiations with a number of hosting and colocation firms to set up a new Second Life data-center in the United Kingdom. Linden Lab's requirements for such a facility are quite steep, and the information comes from one firm who was contacted, but whose infrastructure was unable to accommodate the Lab's initial requirements. The implications of Linden Lab establishing a fourth data-center in the UK are interesting. It would be the first outside of the USA, and provide significantly faster access for EU residents to assets and simulators (aka regions) that were hosted at the facility. By the same token, grid stability tends to be compromised when any pair of the Lab's data-centers are unable to communicate with each-other, and an additional facility would seem to double the potential risk of such troubles.
Telstra's Turbo 21 HSPA modem reviewed: not 21Mbps but still the world's fastest
Telstra loves to brag about being the "world's fastest national mobile broadband network." And they should after a recent 21Mbps (theoretical) upgrade to its Next G network in Australia's major cities. Of course real-world performance won't come close to that but the PC-only, Telstra Turbo 21 USB modem likely smokes any over the air setup you've been using. ZDNET tested the Turbo 21 in Sydney and found performance landing on "the right side of excellent." Performance peaked at about 6Mbps but this was variable at best. Still it was the fastest modem that ZDNET's seen in their testing. Yours, or more likely your company's, for AU$499 or AU$299 when bundled with a data pack. Read -- Turbo 21 press release Read -- Turbo 21 review
Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo leaving, heading back to America on June 30th
Great job, thief. Just days after Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo had his HTC handset stolen at Mobile World Congress, the guy has decided that enough is enough. All kidding aside, Sol Trujillo has indeed announced his intentions to vacate his seat and return home to the United States. During his four years as head honcho, the Australian operator has managed to do quite well for itself, and as they say, there's no better time to leave than while on top. He has vowed to keep pressing on until June 30th, after which he'll hop a (presumably first class) flight back to the US of A and watch Telstra attempt to fill his shoes -- probably from a sweet shack in Key West, if we had to guess.
Telstra exec's stolen WinMo 6.5-equipped HTC phone remotely wiped?
Remember that Windows Mobile 6.5-equipped HTC phone that was stolen from the Telstra exec at MWC? Well it looks like you can forget about any hands-on videos popping up -- to quote the immortal words of Will Smith from Men in Black, the device has apparently been flashy thing'd, from afar. According to an anonymous Microsoft staffer speaking to APC, the company remotely wiped all traces of the operating system and user data from the mobile as soon as it was reported pickpocketed, so unless the thief was smart enough to immediately place it in a faraday cage, this phone's probably a bit too frazzled for the limelight right now.
Thievery at MWC! Telstra exec's HTC with WinMo 6.5 stolen
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/odd_stuff/Thievery_at_MWC_Telstra_exec_s_HTC_with_WinMo_6_5_stolen'; It's not clear if Telstra chief Sol Trujillo was sporting an HTC Touch Pro2 or a Touch Diamond2 at MWC this week, but one thing's for sure: he's doesn't have it anymore. A pickpocket apparently lifted the handset off another Teslsta exec who was checking it out today -- and making matters worse, it was running an early build of Windows Mobile 6.5. Oops. Of course, we doubt Microsoft is too concerned -- 6.5 ROMs are leaking all over the place anyway -- but it looks like Sol's picking up Ballmer's tab at the bar tonight.[Thanks, Boy Genius]
Ericsson promises 42Mbps HSPA demo using multi-carrier technology
Leave Ericsson alone for five seconds, and it goes and makes the technology it was just bragging about seem archaic. Just in case Telstra's 21Mbps Next G network seemed a bit -- how do you say, sluggish? -- Ericsson will be showcasing a new approach that enables peak downlink data rates of 42Mbps at Mobile World Congress. In order to achieve such tremendous speeds, it will rely on its so-called multi-carrier technology, which is the next (or is that next-next?) generation of HSPA. The secret? It allows users to "receive data simultaneously on two frequency channels," which doubles the data rate in the coverage area of an HSPA network and on the cell edge. The best part of all this isn't that you can one day look forward to crushing your cable modem with a wireless USB stick, it's that "one day" will be ready to happen before the dawn of 2010. Huzzah![Via phonescoop, image courtesy of TornadoChaser]
Telstra exec: new Android-based HTC phone 'better' than Pre
With Mobile World Congress a little over month away -- and Android essentially a no-show at CES -- suspense is building over what sort of action we'll see out of the Google camp at the show. Australia's Smarthouse cites a particularly cocky Telstra exec saying that he's got an upcoming HTC set that's "better and more functional" than the Pre -- and seeing how he enjoyed a Palm briefing this week, he'd have a pretty good idea. Rumor has it this Pre killer will run a version of Android with HTC tweaks and will have a huge display, which seems like a good combo if you're trying to impress a jaded smartphone buyer these days. The mystery device is expected in the second quarter of the year, which gets back to our hope that we'll see some Android heat at MWC next month; don't get us wrong, the G1 is great and all, but we're ready for some more.[Via wmpoweruser.com]
Telstra launches improved "Country Phone" for signal in the Outback
Tired of having to stand up (way, way up) on the brumby to pull down even a single bar of EDGE from the dusty ditches of the Great Central? We hear you, Aussies -- and so does Telstra. The carrier has retooled its 165i "Country Phone" from ZTE, making it better based on usability testing and customer feedback; in this case, "better" means it's gotten a little smaller, features a nicer screen, and has gained AGPS (probably not a bad thing to have when you're in the middle of nowhere). It's ruggedized and makes use of an oh-so-rare extendable antenna for insane reception that earns it Telstra's coveted Blue Tick certification, but you still get 3G, Bluetooth, FM radio, and a 2-megapixel camera -- all told, it's all set up to be a "big hit in the bush" to steal a bit of Telstra's verbiage. It goes for $529 AUD (about $346) when it drops on December 1.
Telstra lands Samsung's touchscreen-heavy F480T
Samsung's touchscreen-centric F480 isn't the freshest of the fresh right now, but it's still hot news for folks in Australia. Telstra has just added the F480T to its Next G lineup, and with it comes a 2.8-inch LCD, 5-megapixel camera, support for the outfit's 7.2Mbps data network, 200MB of onboard memory, an SD expansion slot, Bluetooth 2.0, haptic feedback and access to Mobile FOXTEL. Put it in your pocket right now for as low as free on a $60 plan for two years.
