Hasta La Gadget!

The holy matrimony between smartphone and personal navigation device just keeps getting stronger, scorning dedicated GPS units like forgotten flings and leaving navigation-free handsets wandering lost and alone. Garmin-Asus has been flirting with the perfect bond with its Nuvifone series for some time now, but rather tragically from a branding perspective its strongest attempt yet comes without the nuvi moniker. It’s the T-Mobile Garminfone, and its Android underpinnings go a long way toward making the best mix of PND and smartphone to date.

Continue reading Garmin-Asus Garminfone review

Garmin-Asus Garminfone review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 May 2010 11:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We did ponder how you can rename the Orange and T-Mobile coalition (topical word, eh Britain?) without offending either party, and the strategy seems to have been to just go for a name so bombastic that it overshadows all other concerns. Say hello to Everything Everywhere. Such is the strident new moniker attached to the joint venture between the French and German telecoms, with the justification being that the resultant “super-network” will be the biggest in the UK and therefore capable of providing both universal coverage and limitless services. We’ll see how that works out, but for now it’s important to note that the high street brands won’t be changing. T-Mobile and Orange will retain their separate identities (and eye-searing color schemes), while offering you all the synergistic benefits resulting from the scale of the new company. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Orange and T-Mobile become Everything Everywhere (in the UK)

Orange and T-Mobile become Everything Everywhere (in the UK) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 May 2010 08:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First, the good news: T-Mobile’s HD2 is in stock online and apparently at many corporate-owned retail locations. Now, the bad: the carrier seems to be putting these things on lockdown right now, only offering them to new customers signing up for a fresh contract. This is a tactic T-Mobile has applied in the past, so we’re not terribly surprised to see them do it here, too — but it’s still a disappointment, especially considering that the phone has been out for a few weeks now. Just goes to show you that a net add is worth considerably more than a loyal customer is (particularly one who’s still under contract), but in the meantime, might we recommend the iHTC HD2?

Update: We’ve received an official statement from T-Mobile on the matter, and it sounds like they’re “giving priority to existing customers” with new inventory coming in. Sweet! Here’s the full verbiage:

“T-Mobile understands the inventory challenges for the HTC HD2 and continues to work diligently in order to supply our customers with this highly popular product. As we receive additional inventory of the HTC HD2, we are giving priority to our existing customers. However, the demand for the device is still exceeding our supply.

Depending on the location, some T-Mobile retail stores may still have some HTC HD2 inventory available. We suggest that interested customers contact their local T-Mobile store via phone before visiting to see if they have the HTC HD2 available. If they do not have the HTC HD2 available, some stores are taking names and contact information, and will be able to notify customers once that location has product available.”

Current T-Mobile customers having hard time upgrading to HTC HD2 (updated with statement) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 May 2010 14:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Clearwire isn’t the only American company building a carrier-independent (if you can call majority ownership by Sprint “carrier-independent”) 4G network, you see — and it would certainly behoove T-Mobile to investigate options that let it stay on a more GSM-aligned path for its next-gen network than WiMAX would, right? That might be where Harbinger Capital Partners comes into play, a group that recently bought up a bunch of satellite and terrestrial spectrum with the intention of creating a wholesale LTE network into which companies — companies like T-Mobile, for instance — could buy. Indeed, Financial Times is saying that T-Mobile USA chief Robert Dotson chatted with Harbinger recently about partnership opportunities, seemingly right around the same time that he talked to Clearwire. Clearly, it’d seem that T-Mobile’s US division needs to decide very, very quickly how it’s going to handle the 4G transition, lest it get caught behind the very same 8-ball it found itself battling in the 3G race; then again, pushing 21Mbps HSPA+ as aggressively as it has been the last few months might just keep it going for another few years. Fast data is fast data, after all.

4G shocker! T-Mobile USA boss talked to LTE wholesaler earlier this year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 May 2010 01:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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