I was getting all excited today after reading the rumors that T-Mobile was going to start rolling out its 3G network in New York tomorrow. I contacted my T-Mobile PR person to try to get some confirmation, but never heard anything back except for the continued party line that T-Mobile plans to start rolling out 3G this Summer. The Boy Genius Report posted the depressing news that only voice may be rolled out on T-Mobile's 3G network tomorrow.
I recently took a trip to Singapore and I figured the easiest way to accept and make calls from my mobile phone was to use a MAXroam SIM card because I could forward my mobile phone directly to my MAXroam number before leaving the States. You can also buy a pre-paid SIM, but you have no idea what that number is going to be and you can't control/determine/bill the rates easily like you can with the MAXroam SIM. I will most likely be heading back to Singapore again in the next month or two and was very pleased to hear about the latest MAXroam version 2 launch made at TechCrunch50 yesterday.
My neighbor was quite proud to show me his Sprint Touch a few months ago and I have some great news to tell him now as Sprint announced major updates for the Sprint Touch and Mogul earlier today. The update brings Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 and EV-DO Rev. A to the devices (the Mogul already had an EV-DO Rev. A upgrade). Verizon also released a Windows Mobile 6.1 upgrade for the Samsung SGH-i760.
I've had my ups and downs with the early GSM version of the HTC Touch Diamond, but the current ROM is rocking along and performing well. However, it doesn't yet support 3G in the U.S. and is not carried by any carrier. Sprint just announced that the HTC Touch Diamond will be coming later in September with the Touch Pro in October. I was sent an evaluation unit for a couple of weeks and shot a short video to show off some aspects of this newest version of the HTC Touch Diamond. I'll follow up within 2 weeks with some further thoughts and an image gallery of the device.
Back in February Sprint announced their new Unlimited Everything plan for just under US$100. However, if you wanted to use this with a family plan the cost was significant at US$90, then US$80, etc. for additional lines. In most cases not all phones on the family plan lines need the unlimited minutes and I know from my experiences it would really only be my wife who would need that many minutes. Sprint recognized that some more options were needed at today announced some new very attractive options for family/shared plan consumers.
I have now spent 2 full days using the HTC Touch Diamond and the more I use it the more impressed I am with what HTC was able to do with this device. It is amazing to hold it in my hand and think of all that they were able to pack into such a small package, especially when I think of the Windows Mobile devices I was using just a couple years ago. I shot some videos of the TouchFLO 3D interface, Opera Mobile 9.5, FM radio, phone functionality, and available text input methods in three videos embedded below.
I just received an email from Pat announcing the launch of Twitterfone. Twitterfone is a voice-to-text service that lets you make a call to a number that then posts to your Twitter account. So the next time you are on the road you can place a call and post to Twitter. Now we need a way to have our Twitter feed read to us on the go as well.
Roku just announced a content partnership with Hulu Plus and it looks like I can finally cut the cable TV service and enjoy the latest shows on my TV.
The new Sprint 4G Series kicks off today with an introduction to the Overdrive and the plan of attack for the next month or so. If you are considering the Overdrive on Sprint, stay tuned for in depth coverage of different areas of using the device in my life.
Readers here know that I have used tons of mobile phones over my history in the mobile space. I can always be found with at least one smartphone with me and am still ROTFL after reading the Dilbert comic that popped up in my RSS feeds this morning.