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MobiTV breaks the 4 million subscriber mark
MobiTV has been around for quite awhile, and although it has seen its fair share of ups and downs, today's a day for celebration in the offices that remain. After hitting the 3 million mark in February, the company is now claiming that its benefiting from some 4 million subscriptions. Charlie Nooney, MobiTV's CEO, was quoted as saying that the firm was "thrilled to be on the cusp of mass market acceptance for mobile entertainment in North America." We don't know if we'd go that far just yet, but here's a tip of the hat to you anyway.[Via RCRWireless, image courtesy of PDAsNews]
Bell, Telus getting ready to pull GSM trigger?
The rumors are certainly nothing new, but rumblings over official announcements from both Bell and Telus regarding their newfound love for all things GSM have reached a rolling boil in the past few days. The latest little tidbit comes from UBS, whose fortune tellers say that both Canadian carriers should be outing some transition plans in the near future in the hope of better positioning themselves to compete with rival Rogers, get cooler handsets on board, and realize some synergy with the overwhelming majority of carriers around the world. Bell and Telus are both staying completely tightlipped for the moment, but one remaining question is whether they'll be going with HSPA or moving straight to LTE -- a distinct possibility, considering that the 4G tech should be ramping up right around the time that the carriers could realistically put the gears in motion. You ready to cry uncle yet over there, UMB?[Thanks, Mario and Jay]
Telus, Bell start charging for incoming texts, government takes offense
Though it's a common practice in the US, charging customers for incoming text messages isn't terribly common up in Canada. Don't worry though, Canadians -- your days of being chronically undercharged are drawing to a close thanks to suspiciously closely-timed announcements from Bell and Telus that they'll start chalking up 15 cents per inbound message for anyone not on a messaging plan starting in August. The country's industry minister is none too pleased about the change (the dude must get like a thousand texts a day, after all), sending out letters to Bell and Telus' head honchos requesting meetings before the new charges take effect. We'll see where this goes, but we certainly wouldn't get our hopes up.Read - Bell, Telus customers to pay for incoming text messagesRead - Ottawa moves to forestall texting revolt [Via Smart Mobs]
Telus announces HTC Touch Diamond for a summer release
Though the Sprint version is the most well-scooped CDMA variant thus far, Telus is actually becoming the first carrier 'round these parts to announce the Touch Diamond imbued with a little EV-DO for your data-consumption pleasure. The phone will run $149.99 CAD (which is just about a wash in US dollars) on a three-year contract, accompanied by data plans ranging from $15 for email and instant messaging to $30 for email, IM, and web browsing. Sprint, Verizon, we anxiously await your press releases.
Telus getting enV2 as "KEYBO" -- seriously?
We're hearing that Telus will be ushering in a whole new age of Texter's Thumb before too long with the launch of the curiously-named "KEYBO," a rebrand of the enV2 found on Verizon in the States. EV-DO data, a media player, and a 2 megapixel camera make this a solid choice for SMS maniacs who want something just a little sexier and fancier than the Rumour (itself a rebrand of Sprint's Rumor). We understand where the name comes from -- sort of -- but that doesn't mean it's right.
Telus launches Samsung SPH-A523, is way late to the party
Need slim, svelte, cool, and pretty outdated? Telus has you sorted with its new -- to them, anyway -- Samsung A523, also known as the Mysto from Helio, and the Samsung Ultra 10.9 in the GSM world. Features are tight with a 2 megapixel cam, QVGA display, weighing a measly 84 grams, with a standby time of about 577 hours. Pricing is decent at $99 on three years, $149 on 2, $299 if one year's your thing, and outright purchase for $349. The A523 is sitting pretty on the Telus site as we speak, so if you're in the mood for an upgrade, swing on by.[Via MobileSyrup]
Telus launches Motorola's Mike i877 flip phone
Just days after Telus picked up the attractive LG Venus, the carrier has officially started offering up the Motorola Mike i877. The half-rugged, half-sleek looking flip phone was designed by Pininfarina and features integrated Bluetooth, a multimedia player (MP3, AAC, WMA), microSD expansion slot, miniUSB port, 1.3-megapixel camera, VibraCall, a digital voice recorder and the obligatory push-to-talk support. If it floats your boat, you can snag it now sans contract for $349.99, or anywhere between $149.99 to $299.99 if you're cool with signing the dotted line for varying lengths of time.[Via MobileInCanada]
Telus picks up the LG Venus
Strong work, Telus! First you guys are pretty much on the ball with your release of the BlackBerry 8330 Curve and the Motorola Q9c, and now you've become the first Canadian carrier to offer the LG Venus -- and you're clearly reveling in it, too, since you point out on your product page that this is actually LG's first touchscreen phone in all of Canada. $99.99 CAD (about $100) of your customer's hard-earned savings is going to net them a 2 megapixel camera, QVGA primary display, microSD slot, GPS, EV-DO, and stereo Bluetooth, so we'd say you've done good -- for the moment, anyway. Keep up the strong work.[Thanks, Jesse]
Telus adds BlackBerry Curve, Motorola Q9c
There are certain phones that seem to have the uncanny ability to unite a fabulous cross section of carriers across North America, and these two are clearly headed in that direction. Telus way up there in Canada has launched the Motorola Q9c and announced the eventual availability of the BlackBerry Curve 8330, giving it a power pack of smartphones embraced by a good number of CDMA cousins to the south. Both devices offer EV-DO data and Bluetooth; the Curve offers up GPS and a 2 megapixel camera, while the Windows Mobile 6-based Q9c makes do with a 1.3 megapixel sensor -- but offers the key bonus of being available immediately for $149.99 CAD on a three-year deal. No release date or pricing for the Curve has been announced.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]Read - Motorola Q9cRead - BlackBerry Curve
Canada's Koodo Mobile lights up
As expected, Telus has rolled out its young, fresh, "fat-free" (their words, not ours) Koodo Mobile brand this week, targeting Canadians looking for a no-frills way to get wireless on the cheap. In light of all the unlimited action we've seen stateside as of late, we're not necessarily blown away by the offerings -- but $65 CAD for 1000 minutes plus unlimited incoming calls, 50 text messages, and per-second billing is alright... we guess. The phone selection is positively barebones, too, reflecting the mantra of the company itself; buyers can choose from a Samsung U410 for $75, a Motorola KRZR for $200, and a W385 -- also from Moto -- for $125. Any Canadians want to chime in here? Is this a blessing, or a Telus-backed fleece?[Via Howard Chui]
Telus launching new low-cost brand Koodo Mobile today?
It looks like our friends to the north are getting hooked up with another wireless choice later today -- sorta. Just like Fido is little more than a discount outlet for daddy Rogers, it seems that "Koodo Mobile" will be launching under the Telus umbrella offering plans as low as $15 CAD per month, per-second billing, and at least some contract-free offerings. Oh, and Koodo's catchy tagline? "Good call." How creative!
That pretty much settles it: Telus hiring LTE engineers
We still don't know whether Telus will be so hasty as to decommission its existing CDMA network in favor of UMTS / HSPA ahead of the long road to 4G, but it any rate, it looks like the Canadian carrier's next-gen technology of choice is darn near locked up. A job listing for a Senior Switch Engineer details CDMA and EV-DO experience as part of its requirements, naturally -- but here's where it gets interesting: they want "knowledge on UMTS, IMS, and LTE evolution" as well, without any mention of UMB or WiMAX to be found. In other words, if we wait around long enough, we'll be able to call Telus a GSM carrier, which should make the Rogers monolith just a little uneasy.[Thanks, Justin Y.]
Hack enables gpsOne on CDMA HTC Titan variants
The clever souls at PhoneNews seem to have cobbled together info from dcd's posts at XDA-Developers and other places on how to get gpsOne -- this technology uses both satellite and your provider's network to determine location -- up and running on CDMA HTC Titan sets. Once your handset -- including PPC-6800, XV6800, Mogul, P4000, and likely others -- is tweaked, applications like TomTom, Google Maps, and other GPS tools will be available for your navigational enjoyment. This hack will require that you unlock your handset, update the device's software, and then update the baseband radio firmware to get at the goods. Instructions and all the files you'll need -- software updates are listed for Alltel, Sprint, Verizon, Bell, and Telus -- are available by hitting the read link. Of course, this'll likely blow your warranty away, so fiddlers beware and if you're even a little concerned, it may be patience will pay off as a provider update could bring this in the future.Update: Fixed credit for the work, thanks everybody for clarifying
CDMA provider contemplating move to GSM: The Telus edition
Ah yes, ye olde we're-going-to-switch-our-network-technology story surfaces again, seems we can't have a quarter without this type of story raising it's head. We heard this same tale back when Bell Canada was involved in all that sale / merger / rumor business, but this time Telus is the center of the fun. It seems that Telus may be set to abandon its 'Betamax" network and is now ogling the hundreds of millions of dollars in roaming revenue that the GSM carriers enjoy by considering a move to tap into it. Of course, this is merely speculation, but the story does seem to be gaining traction and Rogers shares actually suffered a 2.6 percent drop on this news yesterday. The Olympics are in Vancouver in 2010, we're thinking if Telus really was going to go for it -- and shell out an estimated half billion dollars -- that would be a prime time to roll out a hybrid EV-DO / HSDPA network.
T-Mobile gets in Telus' face over use of "My Faves"
T-Mobile launched its myFaves service back in October of 2006, a service that's proven popular with customers -- and apparently, it's gaining popularity with other carriers 'round the world, too. In Canada, Telus unveiled a program whereby five numbers of your choosing get unlimited calling and texting in May of this year; sounds familiar, right? Yeah, it is -- same deal as myFaves, actually -- and that probably wouldn't have riled up T-Mobile. The Deutsche Telekom division doesn't deal much with Canada, after all, and a little international copycatting never hurt anyone, right? Indeed, we figure Telus probably would've gotten away with the promotion had they not decided to call it... wait for it... "My Faves." Now yes, we understand that the "M" is capitalized and they've used two words instead of melding them into one, but come on. Needless to say, T-Mob is less than pleased with the branding and has filed a trademark infringement suit in federal court up in the Great White North with the intention of getting Telus to go with something a little less familiar (say, "Fy Maves," for example). For what it's worth, Telus jumped on the Canadian trademark for its service a month before T-Mobile did, but we're pretty sure the whole prior art concept might apply here.
40MHz of Canadian spectrum auction set aside for newcomers
Although America's upcoming 700MHz spectrum auction could see a newcomer or two join the fold, Canada's auction is actually calling for it. Reportedly, Industry Minister Jim Prentice made known that 40MHz of the 105MHz of spectrum available for bidding would be "set aside for newcomers to the industry," hinting that more competition could eventually lead to lower cellphone rates across the nation. He went on to say that the "introduction of new service providers would help to make Canada's wireless market more dynamic, more competitive, and more innovative," and moreover, only companies that hold less than 10-percent of revenues in that market would be allowed to bid for the luscious 40MHz segment. As expected, big boys in the biz are none too pleased about the announcement, with Telus executive vice-president Janet Yale even going so far as to say that it believed the move "wouldn't be in the best interest of consumers or telecom industry overall." Right.[Thanks, Andy]
Hands-on with the Telus HTC S640, aka HTC Iris
Telus was kind enough to zip over another handset for our viewing enjoyment, the pretty fab -- though somewhat homely -- HTC S640. This little rubber-finished handset packs EV-DO, Windows Mobile 6 standard, 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, WiFi, and a pretty well planned QWERTY effort for mobile messaging speed demons. So what do we think in a few lines or less? We like the handset's form factor, the finish -- which is really nice as your hands do stick quite well to the material -- and we love the two rocker style "soft keys," they're hands down the best thing about the device's design. Sure, the keypad is a wee bit cramped, but without growing the S640's chin in a big way (Canadians, think Brian Mulroney), we think they've done well with the layout. The S640 can be grabbed right now for about $150 on a 3 year contract. Read on for a pile of pics -- including a few nice comparisons with Telus' HTC Touch.%Gallery-9924%
Hands-on with the Telus HTC Touch
Telus launched the HTC P3050 Touch amid cheers from CDMA fans of HTC's fantastic little touchable handheld. While nothing much has changed under the hood -- well, except for double the RAM, ROM on the GSM variant and a 400 MHz CPU -- we thought it only proper to do up a gallery and present it to you. As a quick reminder if you're pondering picking one up, these are sitting comfortably chez Telus at $99 on a three year bit or $499 free and clear. Hit the pics below to see the gallery.%Gallery-9925%
BlackBerry 8130 makes its way to Telus
It seems only fitting that RIM would launch its BlackBerry Pearl 2 in the motherland, doesn't it? Available immediately, the 8130 is on sale with the carrier for a penny under $200 CAD on a three-year contract, $400 on a two-year, and $450 on a one-year, and a whopping $500 without a contract. Just in case the features slipped your mind, we'll run 'em past you again: EV-DO radio, 2 megapixel camera with video recording, Bluetooth with A2DP, media player, and expandable memory via microSD. If anyone up there has a pocketbook brave enough to bear such pricing, sound off in comments and let us know what you think of the latest 'Berry. [Thanks, Don C.]
Telus gets the Motorola RAZR 2, too
Seriously, are there any North American carriers left at this point that don't carry the RAZR 2? Yeah, we know there are a few that still don't, but wow, we've gotta admit we're impressed with Motorola's ability to seal the deal here. Telus' version of the V9m appears identical to Alltel's, featuring a dark blue shell, GPS, EV-DO, microSD expansion, and a 2 megapixel cam. Telus naturally bundles its full suite of ARPU-enhancing goodies like Telus Mobile Radio and Mobile TV -- so if you think the $249.99 CAD (about $265) you're paying upfront on a three-year contract is the only way Telus is going to make some coin off of ya, you're dead wrong.[Via Mobile In Canada]