Hasta La Gadget!

Let’s try to untangle this Facebook mobile phone mess, shall we? Mark Zuckerberg has recently sat down with Michael Arrington of TechCrunch — the source of the original rumor — to try and dispel some of the confusion that has arisen as a result. The first thing the Zuckmeister says is that Facebook isn’t looking to build its own OS or hardware and is absolutely opposed to competing with the likes of the iPhone and Android. What Zuckerberg wants is deeper social integration, positing the question, “What could we do if we also started hacking at a deeper level?” While there’ll be no single answer or solution for all phones, Mark firmly believes that social elements have to be designed in from the start:

On phones we can actually do something better. We can do a single sign-on if we do a good integration with a phone, rather than just doing something where you go to an app and it’s automatically social or having to sign into each app individually. Those are the two options on the web. Why not for mobile? Just make it so that you log into your phone once, and then everything that you do on your phone is social.

Notably, he fails to deny rumors of such deeply integrated devices being in the pipeline, and Bloomberg has trotted out a trio of insider sources who claim INQ Mobile has been engaged to produce two smartphones with just that purpose in mind — you know the same INQ that already makes Facebook-heavy handsets, so this could very well be little more than a rebrand. One is said to feature a QWERTY keypad and a touchscreen while the other is an all touch affair, and both are reputedly headed for an early 2011 launch in Europe, followed by a late 2011 arrival in the USA. AT&T is the carrier that’s closest to picking them up, we’re told, though deals haven’t been finalized on what could be sub-$100 phones after subsidies are distributed. So, whatever happens, we’re staring down the barrel of a couple of glorified featurephones with deep social integration. Kin 2.0, anyone? Anyone?

Facebook phone rumors resurface, Mark Zuckerberg fails to deny them originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Sep 2010 05:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been just shy of a year since TerreStar’s Windows Mobile-based Genus was announced for AT&T, offering a unique combination of GSM / HSPA backed up with satellite capability for those times when you find yourself in the middle of nowhere; in fact, you may have assumed that it had already been released by now. After all, this isn’t the phone for 97 percent of the population — it runs Windows Mobile and still works in places where us soft city folk would never dream of going — so odds are good you never bothered to follow up on it. Fact is, though, it’s just now available for the first time today, so as long as you’ve got a line of sight to TerreStar’s bird and a willingness to tolerate WinMo 6.5.3, you’ll be able to make and receive calls throughout the US, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and in the surrounding waters — and it’s all on one telephone number. Of course, having a single number eliminates the cool factor of being able to say “if you can’t reach me, try my sat phone,” but let’s be honest: convenience wins here. Right now, the phone’s only available to business and government users… and with $799 upfront for the phone and satellite service running $25 a month plus per-minute, per-message, and per-megabyte charges of 65 cents, 40 cents, and 5 dollars, respectively, that’s probably for the best. Follow the break for AT&T’s full press release.

Continue reading TerreStar Genus hybrid satellite phone hits AT&T at long last for $799

TerreStar Genus hybrid satellite phone hits AT&T at long last for $799 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Sep 2010 00:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, damn — Verizon told us earlier that it wouldn’t be carrying Windows Phone 7 devices until 2011, and now Microsoft’s twisting the knife by confirming that its new platform will be GSM-only until the first half of 2011. So much for our dreams of a 4G Windows Phone 7 device on Sprint, we suppose. Product manager Greg Sullivan told CNET that trade-offs had to be made in order to meet the schedule and GSM was prioritized since it’s used worldwide, but that CDMA devices would be available early next year. Of course, we’ve also heard that the failed Kin project soured the Verizon / Microsoft relationship and that’s why AT&T is the “premier carrier” for WP7, but either way, it’s down to Ma Bell and T-Mobile to get this thing off the ground now — and we’ll say right now that launching CDMA devices with the current Windows Phone 7 spec list later into 2011 isn’t going to do anyone any favors.

Microsoft: Windows Phone 7 to be GSM-only until first half of 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 21:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Uh, oh, looks like Verizon has indeed distanced itself from Microsoft after the Kin debacle: the carrier confirmed to Bloomberg Businessweek today that it won’t offer any Windows Phone 7 devices at launch this year, instead waiting until 2011 to support the new OS. That certainly ties right in with AT&T’s claims that it’ll be the “premier carrier” for Windows Phone 7 and the flood of Blue-tinted device leaks we’ve seen, but it also leaves Microsoft in a seemingly tough spot to start — we haven’t heard more than the slightest whisper about WP7 devices on Sprint or T-Mobile yet, and until we do it’s going to be the iPhone and WP7 head-to-head on Ma Bell while Android continues to dig in everywhere else. We’ll see — this launch can’t come quickly enough.

Verizon won’t sell Windows Phone 7 until 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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America is divided! One faction is powerful and entrenched. The other is respected by the rest of the world, but can’t seem to seize power here. I’m talking, obviously, about our cellphones. More »