Hasta La Gadget!

And it’s out. The BlackBerry Storm2 just made its first official carrier appearance with Vodafone. The promising followup to the much maligned BlackBerry Storm will be free on pay-monthly contracts from £35 on up. Specs include a 3.25-inch 360 x 480 pixel capacitive SurePress (new and improved) touchscreen display, 802.11b/g WiFi and 2100MHz UMTS/HSPA data, 256MB of flash memory (double that of the original Storm), 2GB of onboard memory with microSDHC expansion, 3.5-mm standard headset jack, 3.2 megapixel camera with video recording, built-in GPS, Bluetooth 2.1, and 1400mAh battery giving about 6 hours of 3G talk. BlackBerry OS 5 too, of course, when it lands on October 15th in the UK, Ireland, Germany, The Netherlands, and Spain — France, Italy, and South Africa in time for Christmas.

Update: Now on official RIM page too with a detailed comparison against the original Storm.

[Thanks, James]

Read — Press Release
Read — Pre-order

Filed under: Cellphones

Vodafone puts BlackBerry Storm2 up for 26 October preorder originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We knew it was coming, and here it is — the glorious first showing of the Palm Pre in its GSM garb. From today, our Deutsch comrades can grab a Pre and do whatever they want to do to it, courtesy of O2, its exclusive German supplier. The device will set you back €481 without contract, with the O2 My Handy option letting you finance it via 24 monthly payments of €20. Check out the online store link below for full details and available calling plans. Pre Thinking have also noted the arrival of two new free apps in the Pre catalog — ran and VZ-Netzwerke, both in German — and the likely prospect of even more coming along as the Pre starts its long-awaited rollout across Europe over the next few days.

[Via Engadget German]

Read – O2 Germany online store
Read – Pre Thinking

Filed under: Cellphones

First GSM Palm Pre now on sale in Germany, with new Euro-specific apps in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 05:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It might be about four months late, but the UK is finally getting its slice of the tasty new Palm pie. There’ll be no shortage of outlets to buy this from, with the Carphone Warehouse, Phones4U and O2’s online shop all stocked up, but the carrier options are limited to just one. You’ll find tables of UK and Ireland pricing after the break, and you’ll be happy to know that the Pre can be had for free on two-year contracts charging £34.26 per month, which come with “unlimited” mobile data and free access to the BT OpenZone WiFi service.

[Thanks, Andrew]

Update: Good news for our Teutonic brethren, as O2 Germany has also let slip news of the Pre hitting Deutschland Continue reading Palm Pre coming to the UK and Ireland October 16, Germany October 13, all O2 exclusives

Filed under: Cellphones

Palm Pre coming to the UK and Ireland October 16, Germany October 13, all O2 exclusives originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eerily mirroring the situation with T-Mobile in the UK, disgruntled Deutsche Telekom shareholders are apparently now turning their attention to the company’s US outpost, now that the British woes are on the fast track to resolution thanks to a tie-up with Orange. The Financial Times is reporting that the bell isn’t tolling quite yet for T-Mobile USA — key players are still on board with the company’s plan to get back into the game with an accelerated 3G rollout, which means that alternative strategies aren’t actively being considered right this second. Word has it that the clock has been set for mid-2010, though, at which point red ink on the balance sheet is going to mean a more drastic change in direction — something like a merger with Sprint or a move to transform the carrier into an ultra-value brand concentrating on prepaid service with a possible MetroPCS or Leap / Cricket buy. What color do you get when you combine magenta and yellow, anyway?

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Sprint buy apparently not on the table for Deutsche Telekom — yet originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like smartbooks really are the new netbooks, after all. Aptly exemplifying déjà vu, German company Smartbook AG has issued a cease-and-desist to Netbooknews.de, claiming it owns the trademark and copyright on the term “smartbook” and that its use on the news site is damaging to the company’s reputation and credibility. The letter demands that within two weeks all instances of the word be stricken from both the German and English-language versions, despite the latter being hosted in the US, outside of German jurisdiction. Of course, the logical thing would be to go after a company like Qualcomm who’s been using the designation all along, and not the outlets who report on it, but why let a little common sense get in the way of some good ol’ fashioned internet drama, eh Smartbook? By our count, it was almost exactly six months between Psion sending out its first cease-and-desist on “netbook” to media outlets and its eventual acquiescence and settlement with Intel, so consider the clock here officially ticking.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

Filed under: Laptops

Smartbook AG (the company) follows in Psion’s footsteps, issues cease and desist letter to website using the term ‘smartbook’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Aug 2009 14:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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