Mobiles

Meebo has made a post on their blog that the company has just released an instant Messaging software for the new T-Mobile G1. The software is free and can be downloaded from Android Market directly from your T-Mobile G1.

The meebo for Android stay active in the background. What’s good is when you are doing something else in other window, any incoming message or alert will be displayed on the system tray so that you will not miss any text message. Check out a demonstration video below.

Click here to view the embedded video. 

[via Android Community]

MetroPCS today announces MetroPCS Unlimited Nationwide with coverage available in more than 300 cities in the contiguous United States. This expanded network will be included at no additional charge in MetroPCS’ current $45 and $50 service plans and can be added for $5 per month on other qualified service plans.

MetroPCS plans to begin providing this expanded coverage November 10. MetroPCS’ plans range from $30 to $50 per month and allow subscribers to talk all they want.

Palm today announced the Treo Pro smartphone on the Vodafone New Zealand network. Powered by Windows Mobile 6.1, Palm Treo Pro comes with built in Wi-Fi, GPS and UMTS/HSDPA network capabilities. 

 

Treo Pro’s thin design blends a flush, high-resolution color touch screen and a full QWERTY keyboard with a removable battery that packs up to five hours of talk time and enough strength for the business user’s needs.

The Treo Pro smartphone features including:

• One-touch Wi-Fi button
• Today screen enhancements, Web search directly from the Today screen
• Ringer switch — Silences the device immediately
• Screen saver — Lets users know at a glance — without turning on the device — what time it is and whether they’ve missed a call or have a new SMS/MMS message.
• New voicemail indicator — The center button flashes to let users know that a voicemail is waiting.
• Dedicated email and calendar buttons
• World phone — With high-speed UMTS/HSDPA network capabilities
• Integrated GPS — Users can access maps, turn-by-turn directions and point-of-interest (POI) searches.

 

AT&T announced today that it has agreed, through one of its subsidiaries, to acquire privately-held Wayport, a Wi-Fi services provider in the United States, for approximately $275 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close as early as the fourth quarter of 2008.

The acquisition expands the AT&T Wi-Fi footprint to nearly 20,000 domestic hotspots, takes the company’s global Wi-Fi presence to more than 80,000 locations. Wayport hotspots are in key locations, including select Wyndham, Marriott Vacation Club and Four Seasons hotels; HealthSouth and Sun Healthcare locations; plus McDonald’s restaurants. As Wayport currently provides back-office management for AT&T’s Wi-Fi Hot Spots, the acquisition expands such capabilities and brings management of Wi-Fi infrastructure completely under AT&T management.

“This provides a way for AT&T to expand aggressively into the hospitality, retail, and healthcare industries where Wayport is very strong,” comments Stan Schatt, Vice President at ABI Research. 

“Equally important, Wayport has moved beyond simply providing Wi-Fi service to actively supporting key enterprise applications. The bottom line is that AT&T Mobility’s growth on the business side will come from being so deeply tied to customers’ business applications that companies won’t easily be able to extract themselves and embrace a competitor such as Verizon. On the consumer side, the exponential increase in AT&T hotspots to around 20,000 domestically and 80,000 globally, coupled with AT&T’s recent announcement of free Wi-Fi hotspot service for its wireless customers means that consumers will assess the ubiquity of AT&T’s Wi-Fi hotspot service as a tremendous value-add to their monthly wireless subscriptions, resulting in reduced churn,” Schatt adds.

iPhone manufacturer Apple ranks highest in overall customer satisfaction among business wireless smartphone users, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Business Wireless Smartphone Customer Satisfaction StudySM released today.

The study, now in its second year, measures business customer satisfaction with wireless smartphones-defined as mobile phones offering advanced capabilities and personal computer-like functionality-such as a BlackBerry or Treo. Overall satisfaction is measured across five key factors. In order of importance, they are: ease of operation (27%); operating system (24%); physical design (21%); handset features (18%); and battery aspects (10%).

Apple ranks highest in overall smartphone customer satisfaction with a score of 778 on a 1,000-point scale, performing particularly well in the ease of operation, physical design and handset feature factors. BlackBerry manufacturer RIM (703) and Samsung (701) follow Apple in the rankings.

“With the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, Apple has clearly differentiated itself from the competition in areas that are most important to business smartphone users,” said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services for J.D. Power and Associates. “By making basic applications and features easy to use and providing functionality in a thin, lightweight device, Apple has performed well in exceeding customer expectations.”

The study finds that one-fourth of users report experiencing at least one software-related issue or problem with their current smartphone device. The software-related issues reported most often include the need to reboot the phone, application malfunction/freeze and issues related to touch screen malfunction. Among those owners who have experienced a software problem, 44 percent report having to reboot their device at least once on a weekly basis during the past 12 months, while 34 percent report experiencing either an application malfunction or application freeze at least once per week.

The study also finds the following key smartphone business wireless usage patterns:

• Sixty-nine percent of business smartphone users own a hands-free headset, and 74 percent of those owners use a wireless headset device. Motorola owners report a higher incidence of using wireless headsets (86%), while only 60 percent of Apple iPhone owners report using a wireless headset device.
• Among smartphone users, 37 percent would like GPS (global positioning system) capabilities on their device, 25 percent would like Wi-Fi capabilities, 23 percent want touch screen and 15 percent would like to have voice recognition command for automatic dialing.
• The average reported purchase price of a smartphone device is $216, compared with an average reported purchase price of $261 in 2007. Apple owners report the highest average purchase price at $337, while Motorola owners report the lowest device pricing at $169.
• The top five reasons given for choosing a smartphone brand are: Internet capability (45%), ability to use e-mail account (41%), overall design/style (39%), Bluetooth capabilities (37%) and keyboard style (e.g., QWERTY) (37%).
• Thirty-four percent of smartphone owners say they download third-party software. Popular software downloads among business users include games (49%), business applications such as Microsoft Word and Excel (43%) and travel-related programs (36%).

The 2008 Business Wireless Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 1,388 business wireless customers who currently own a smartphone device. The study was fielded between August and September 2008.

As media called the presidential race on Tuesday, Americans fired off text messages at a record pace. AT&T today reported that in the hour following the announcement, text messaging traffic across its network surged about 44 percent - the highest spike in company history.

Tuesday night’s jump in text messaging volume smashed previous spikes in text messaging reported by AT&T. For example, the peak transactions per second following Tuesday’s announcement was significantly higher than the peak transactions per second logged for the most recent New Year’s Eve, a day that consistently ranks among the busiest texting days for AT&T.

“The spike on Tuesday night rang true for us,” said Mark Collins, vice president of Voice and Data Services, AT&T Mobility & Consumer Markets. “Texting has become so valuable a communication tool that it is how people are sharing thoughts and information and connecting with each other in even the most important moments.”

A recent Nielsen study reported that U.S. consumers now use their cell phones for text messaging more often than for talking. In third quarter 2008 earnings, AT&T reported that more than 64 billion text messages crossed its network.

The highly anticipated Blackberry Storm 9500, the first ever touch-screen BlackBerry smartphone, will be available to buy from 14th November. Verizon Wireless, Vodafone Group and Research In Motion (RIM) has announced in October that the BlackBerry Storm will be available exclusively to Verizon Wireless customers in the U.S. and Vodafone customers in Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand.

Customers who want to be the first in the UK to have a BlackBerry Storm can pre-order in Vodafone stores, online at www.vodafone.co.uk/storm and telesales, and account managers for our business customers from November 14. It will also be available for sale through Vodafone’s retail partner Phones 4U in store and online.

The BlackBerry Storm pricing starts from free on a two year contract at £35 per month on a Best for Text plan that will include 600 minutes and unlimited texts.

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone includes the following features and functions:

• BlackBerry Internet Service, BlackBerry Unite!, BlackBerry Professional Software and BlackBerry Enterprise Server support
• Preloaded DataViz Documents to Go allows users to edit Microsoft® Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the handset
• 3.2 megapixel camera with variable zoom, auto focus and a powerful flash that also provides continuous lighting when recording video
• Built-in GPS supports location-based applications and services, as well as geotagging of photos
• 1 GB of onboard memory storage and a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 16 GB of additional storage
• Media player that can play movies smoothly in full-screen mode, display pictures and slideshows quickly and manage an entire music collection; playlists can be created directly on the handset and there’s an equalizer with 11 preset filters - including “Lounge,” “Jazz” and “Hip Hop”
• A 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, support for Bluetooth® stereo audio profile (A2DP/AVRCP) and dedicated volume controls
• Sleek, elegant design with contoured corners, stainless steel back and chrome accents surrounding its large (3.25″) glass lens; its exceptional 480 x 360 resolution at 184 ppi is crisp and bright with eye-pleasing clarity
• An ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts backlighting for ideal screen viewing and an accelerometer that allows customers to view applications in either portrait or landscape mode by simply rotating the handset
• Removable and rechargeable 1400 mAhr battery that provides approximately six hours of talk time on 3G networks and 15 days of standby time

J.D. Power and Associates has released its 2008 Business Wireless Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study, revealing that Apple ranks highest in customer satisfaction.
Read the full story here.

Samsung and T-Mobile today announced the Samsung Gravity, a new candybar cell phone with a convenient slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
Read the full story here.

Today Samsung and T-Mobile announced the pending availability of the Samsung T919 Behold, an affordable full touch phone with a 5 megapixel autofocus camera.
Read the full story here.