Hasta La Gadget!

Look out Angry Birds, there may soon be another suite of addictive smartphone games battling for gamers’ attention. Global electronics giant Sony is said to be planning its own game-playing smartphone release, to be debuted at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona come February.

It’s only been about two months since Sony CFO Masaru Kato hinted at the company’s continued push into mobile gaming, but according to Bloomberg mobile development sources, that push will bring the gaming phone as well as an updated version of the company’s previous mobile gaming product, the PSP (Playstation Portable).

“The PSP being a proprietary platform was more concentrated I’d say on the core gaming segment than the light game,” Kato said in last November’s earnings call, “but now we are addressing that market as well.”

Also on Wednesday, Nintendo announced the upcoming March 27 launch of a 3-D mobile gaming device, the Nintendo 3DS. Like Sony’s PSPgo, the 3DS will cost $250.

Although we dug Sony’s PSP and PSPgo in terms of gadgetry, sales have been lackluster compared to that of Nintendo’s mobile gaming platform, the Nintendo DS. Research group NPD says Sony trails Nintendo in U.S. sales by tens of millions of units.

Sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sony’s original PSP used games launched on a proprietary storage system developed by Sony, the universal media disc. Like Sony’s previous attempt at proprietary storage cartridges with the MiniDisc of the 1990’s, widespread adoption of the UMD failed due to the format’s proprietary nature as well as the lack of read/write devices available. Sony’s follow-up device, the PSPgo, tried to improve upon this system with an on-board hard drive on which gamers could store media, and no optical disc. Instead, Sony distributes all games digitally, and customers download them over Wi-Fi connections.

Stronger emphasis on Sony’s push into the smartphone gaming space signals the company’s willingness to take on competitors like Apple and Android OS-based manufacturers. Still, the cheap prices for games in Apple’s App Store or the Android Market may be difficult to beat. And if Sony were to launch its own app store with the device, differentiation might prove to be an issue as well. Who the hell can keep up with all the app stores out there today anyway?

Photo: The Sony PSPgo/Sony Corp.

See Also:

• Sony Draws Ire With PSP Graffiti
• Sony PSP Go Leaked on Video, Official Photos Emerge
• Game Over For Sony PSP Phone?
• Rumor: Sony Ericsson Plans Android 3 PlayStation Phone
• Leaked Photo: Is This the Sony Ericsson PlayStation Phone …

Bad news for all of you Sprint-subscribing, bandwidth-hogging data gluttons out there: The company will soon implement a new $10 monthly data-plan fee for smartphones activated after Jan. 30. And it applies to all Sprint smartphones, including those capable only of using Sprint’s 3G network.

Sprint announced the upcoming change in a press release Tuesday. But in a leaked memo sent to third-party retailers, the company more narrowly defined the types of phones and customers affected by the new fee. It includes “all smartphones operating on the CDMA, iDEN and 4G networks,” where a smartphone is defined as “a device that supports a robust operating system including: Android, BlackBerry, Instinct, Palm and Windows Mobile.”

The $10 premium-data charge currently applies to all HTC EVO 4G, EVO Shift 4G and Samsung Epic 4G smartphones in the Sprint network, so now 3G smartphone users will feel the same financial burn as 4G users, but without being able to access the 4G networks’ faster speeds.

For those of you that already have 3G phones on the Sprint network, fret not (or at least not yet), as you won’t be dinged with the new charge unless you either upgrade your existing smartphone or activate a new smartphone on your existing account. If and when you do decide to upgrade or change your plan, however, even those of you that aren’t packing the latest 4G phones will still have to pony up another $10 bucks a month.

Sprint claims a “wireless data explosion” in smartphone user growth and network popularity have necessitated the company’s fee expansion. Complaints about fees first circulated in June, when Sprint debuted the HTC EVO 4G with a mandatory $10 data fee for 4G. The company’s initial statements made the fee seem a necessary counterpart to 4G access.

Before griping, we should remember that giving Sprint that extra 10 bucks a month gets you unlimited 4G data with no tiered pricing structures for different monthly caps. (Sprint does cap its 3G data plan at 5 GB monthly, however.) That means there are no overage fees for exceeding your monthly data-plan limits, either. AT&T currently offers a tiered system, with a $15 fee for a 200-MB monthly limit, or a $25 fee for a 2-GB monthly cap. AT&T ceased offering an unlimited data plan in June 2010.

Verizon may follow AT&T, but for the time being maintains a $30 monthly unlimited-data-plan option. We may see that change, however, with the company’s recent iPhone 4 deal. Verizon also offers a $15 monthly plan for 150 MB of data.

So, after looking at other pricing models, the $10 monthly option from Sprint doesn’t look half bad. But with Gartner’s report that smartphone sales in the fall of 2010 were up 96 percent over the same period in 2009, we’ll wait and see if Sprint’s pricing model is sustainable.

Photo: Samsung Epic 4G/Samsung

See Also:

• AT&T’s Data Limits Rein In Cloud-Based Media Services
• Verizon to End Unlimited-Data Party
• Samsung Launches 4G Phone on Sprint

Edited at 8:33 a.m. for a clarification on iPhone network capability

Over the past year or so it’s become clear that there is a cure for the CrackBerry addict. For many it’s called the iPhone, for others it’s Android, while still others are getting their kicks from other platforms. IT departments worldwide are relaxing their rules and getting a little smartphone agnostic and now it sounds like RIM is thinking about finding a way to reel those newly straight-edged users back into their former habits. RIM Vice President Pete Devenyi had this to say on the subject:

BlackBerry is and will continue to be dominant in most corporations, [but] it’s not going to be the only device given the fact that consumers have the choice to bring in their own devices and IT departments are often letting them in. So there’s a question there. Do those corporations have to manage those devices differently or is there the possibility that RIM might extend capabilities to make it easier for those corporations to manage those devices as well? … If the right thing to do is to extend a subset of those [BlackBerry] capabilities to be able to manage other devices, it’s worthy of a conversation

Right now he’s just talking about device management, but if this goes forward it could be a sign of a willingness for RIM to move some of its proprietary services to other devices. BBM on Android and iPhone? We know a few people getting positively giddy at that (highly speculative) prospect.

RIM extending tools to other smartphone platforms, going cross-platform? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 09:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Electronista  | Email this | Comments

Is AT&T seriously gearing up to sell a subsidized Nokia smartphone once again in the US of A? Given the company’s long absence from being included in any US carrier’s smartphone section, it still feels more like a dream than an impending reality, but that image above is certainly hard to ignore. According to Pocketnow‘s sources, the first press images of the Nokia X7 are legitimate, and the AT&T branding isn’t by accident. Purportedly, the Symbian^3-based phone will be hitting Ma Bell’s shops as early as this month, bringing along an eight megapixel camera (with dual-flash), four speaker grilles (two of which have drivers underneath) and a ClearBlack display. Hit the source link for a look at the rear.

Nokia X7 press shot emerges with AT&T branding, subsidized hopes and dreams originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 Jan 2011 10:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Pocket-lint  |  Pocketnow  | Email this | Comments

The BlackBerry seems like the smartphone of yesteryear, but leaked info on two new devices suggests that BlackBerry parent company Research in Motion isn’t giving up without a fight.

Pictures of the next generation of BlackBerry Curve codenamed “Apollo,” and another device named the “Dakota,” have been making the rounds this morning, first reported by Boy Genius Report.

The two new devices tout an impressive lineup of specs, many of which contend with the latest Android-based hardware to recently hit the market. Both have 5-megapixel cameras and NFC capability (just like Samsung’s Nexus S), Bluetooth 2.1 and Wi-Fi, and both will run BlackBerry OS version 6.1.

The new BlackBerry Curve, codenamed "Apollo," by Research in Motion. Photo by Boy Genius Report.

From here, says Boy Genius Report, the phones deviate. The Apollo (above) will be running on a Tavor MG-1 800-MHz processor with 512 MB of RAM. Its 480×360 HVGA display will sit just above its QWERTY keyboard. It’s a nice update to RIM’s middle-of-the-road smartphone offerings.

A leaked photo of the BlackBerry Dakota by RIM. Photo by Boy Genius Report.

The Dakota, however, is aimed at the higher end of the smartphone market, and it’s got the specs to back it up. HD video recording capability, 4GB of built-in storage with 768MB of RAM, a 2.8-inch capacitive touch screen and an accelerometer all make the Dakota a force to be reckoned with. And yes, it does have 3G mobile hotspot capability.

The spec lists on the devices signal RIM’s willingness to change up their existing device configurations in order to compete with current smartphone market options. As iPhones and Android-based devices have lured away BlackBerry customers over the recent past, RIM has tried to fight for its once-burgeoning customer base. Last year, the company decided to overhaul the BlackBerry’s clunky OS and browser, and has also made efforts to woo developers by supporting Flash-based content on BlackBerry devices.

No price points or release information have been made available yet.

Photo: (top)Seany/Flickr and Boy Genius Report