Hasta La Gadget!

If you didn’t get enough in mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we’ve opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This past week, Samsung confirmed its Canadian release date for the Galaxy Note II, Alcatel took the wraps off of its first Windows Phone and it was revealed that T-Mobile will no longer openly market the iPhone in conjunction with its BYOD value plans. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the “best of the rest” for this week of October 8th, 2012.

Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of October 8th, 2012

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Apple, Samsung, RIM, T-Mobile

Mobile Miscellany: week of October 8th, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Oct 2012 21:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After the hammering Huawei received from the US Congress, it was probably hoping to catch a break north of the border. Unfortunately for Huawei, Canada’s government has obtusely hinted that it, too, would block the company from bidding to build its new secure network. Spokesman Andrew MacDougall said it would use national security provisions to avoid international trade laws, and when asked directly about the Chinese company, was quoted as saying “I’ll leave it to you if you think… Huawei should be a part of a Canadian government security system.” The telecoms business may think it can get around the any obstacles because it has a locally incorporated subsidiary — but given the clout of those lobbying against it, it probably shouldn’t get its hopes up.

[Original image credit: The Canadian Press / Sean Kilpatrick]

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Networking

Canada vaguely hints it’ll block Huawei from government projects, cites security concerns originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Oct 2012 12:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you want to get your hands on RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook, you might be running out of time. It seems that the QNX-based device is no longer available in the US from retailers like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, RadioShack and Staples, with Amazon and RIM’s own online store being the exceptions. We’re wondering if this means newer PlayBooks are in the works — we’ve already seen updated 4G LTE models out in the open and recent OS updates indicate the company hasn’t given up on the much-maligned PlayBook. Potential upgrades include the upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS, and hardware improvements wouldn’t be a bad idea (Perhaps a flip-out keyboard addition a la Microsoft Surface?). In any case, RIM might want to move fast if it wants any chance of competing in the increasingly crowded tablet space.

Filed under: Tablets, Mobile, RIM

RIM’s PlayBook disappearing from online retailers in the US originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 04:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you didn’t get enough in mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we’ve opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This past week, FCC Chairman Genachowski weighed in on what must be done to keep the spectrum crunch from becoming a crisis, pricing leaked for the Motorola RAZR HD LTE at Rogers and Japan got a version of the Xperia V to call its own. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the “best of the rest” for this week of October 1st, 2012.

Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of October 1st, 2012

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Samsung, Sony

Mobile Miscellany: week of October 1st, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Oct 2012 21:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rogers promised that October 1st would be a grand day for its LTE expansion plans, and we’re now learning that it might have been underpromising to overdeliver later. The carrier just flicked the 4G switch for 18 cities and regions, or eight more territories than it had promised just two weeks ago. Most of the coverage still focuses on the southern tip of Ontario, including London, the Oshawa area and RIM’s hometown of Waterloo, but there’s a much more trans-Canada bent to the official deployment. Western cities like Saskatoon and Victoria now fit into Rogers’ LTE map beyond a previously announced Edmonton, while the Quebec rollout is going past Quebec City to include Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières. All told, the one day of growth is enough to supply Rogers LTE to almost 60 percent of Canada’s population — a convenient figure when one of the year’s more important LTE smartphones just became available less than two weeks prior.

[Thanks, Jon]

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, RIM

Rogers LTE hits 18 new regions, delivers speedy data in Saskatoon originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 02:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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