phonedeals

There’s talk that HTC, the maker of the T-Mobile G1, the first phone based on software developed by a consortium of companies lead by Google, is at it again: The company is within months of releasing a new version of its first device.

The G2 would, supposedly, will be much more iPhonish in its looks: It will feature a full-touch screen and have no Qwerty keyboard. What many Google fans hope for is that the new device will also offer better battery life than the G1, which runs out of juice fast. T-Mobile wouldn’t comment on these speculations.

To become available in the first half of 2009, the phone may be sold through T-Mobile as well as other carriers (whereas the G1 is exclusive to T-Mobile). That’s about the time when Samsung’s new phone, also based on the Google software, called Android, should hit the market. Motorola plans to roll out its Android device in the second half of 2009.

Motorola used to be a leader in the cellphone market, not anymore.  But it still has some interesting phones out there.  If you like what the ZN5 brings to the table but roundish sliders are more your cup of tea (and when the alternative is a drab gray candybar with purple accents, we can’t say we blame you), Moto’s got the solution to the pollution with the official announcement of the VE66. You’ve got that 5-megapixel autofocus cam with LED flash (as opposed to the ZN5’s xenon) and image stabilization, WiFi, FM radio, Motorola’s CrystalTalk noise reduction, and a navigation wheel for flying through song tracks. Interestingly, there’s no mention of Moto’s partnership with Kodak anywhere on the phone or the announcement — but something tells us that won’t have an effect on picture quality.

Only five months since Apple launched the App Store, and there are now over ten thousand apps. Don’t worry, we did the hard part, trying them out and picking the year’s best:

We already selected our 20 essential iPhone apps not too long ago—November 14, to be exact. That’s recent enough to still be fresh, but to those 20, we’re adding 10 more, several of which have debuted between then and now. As a package, they’re 30 apps every iPhone owner should take a close look at. They’re what we use every day, and many of them are free.

The complete selection of our previous 20 essentials plus the 10 new apps can be viewed in our special Bestmodo Phone App directory. If you’d like, you can peruse all of our first 20 here on one page, and also, see the new additions to the list separately here:

EasyWriter: It seems simple—you can type URLs in landscape mode with its larger, more luxuriously spaced keyboard. Why not emails? EasyWriter solved it. Free; $2.99 for Pro edition

Facebook: For Facebookers (um, everyone, right?) it’s essential—a beautifully designed, uber-functional implementation that’s always with you. Free

EverNote: Already a popular web service and found on other devices, Evernote does something that every location-aware cameraphone should be able to do: quickly take and store geotagged photos so you can remember stuff. Free

Google Mobile: Google Mobile was a solid app (but not particularly essential)—and then came voice search. Free

RjDj: A totally unique music application that processes sound from your environment and replays it according to a set program, creating a trippy, always-evolving soundscape. Free to try; $2.99 expanded version

VLC Remote: One of the first apps we loved was the iTunes Remote—now, the Swiss army knife of media players VLC has one of its very own. Free ad-supported simple version; $1.99 for more controls and no ads

Wikipedia Mobile: Finally, the definitive Wikipedia reader for the iPhone. $2.99

Night Camera: Thanks to its accelerometer, your iPhone knows when it’s being jiggled. Night Camera, simply and ingeniously, uses this data to make your low-light picture clearer. $0.99

Tweetie: Twitter apps: there are a lot of ‘em. Tweetie, though, is the closest you’ll get to the Twitter desktop experience, and therefore our best of. $2.99

Recorder: While not the sexiest apps, a good solid voice recorder can be incredibly handy—especially if you are a handsome FBI investigator in the town of Twin Peaks. $0.99

Kajeet, the pay-as-you-go operator targeted specifically at tweens, announced that it had inked a partnership with Amazon.com to sell its phones on the website, and had also been included in Amazon’s 2008 Holiday Toy List.

The MVNO, which has been in the commercial marketplace for about a year and a half, offers pay-as-you-go plans and a small portfolio of phones, primarily aimed at kids between ages 8 and 15. The company has no contracts, no activation fees or termination fees. Rate plans range in price from $4.99 per month to $30 per month. The service is run on Sprint Nextel’s network, and has the same digital footprint as Sprint’s service.

The company has found a niche catering specifically to kids and moms who want to have more direct control over how their children use phones before they enter into contract-based wireless service, Kajeet CEO Daniel Neal said in an interview with FierceWireless last week. He did not say how many customers the company had.

Kids “do not want to carry a device that says ‘I’m a kid.’ The truth is they all want an iPhone. The problem is that an iPhone is very expensive. Every 10-year-old boy wants a Ferrari, too,” Neal said.

Kajeet’s phones range in price from $30 to $160, and Neal said the LG rumor is one of the most popular phones. Neal also said that because parents can change options on the phone easily–all changes can be done online through a secure server–they can have a greater deal of control without having to deal with the handset directly.

Neal said as more powerful phones enter the market, and that trend trickles down to a younger generation of phone users, the need for companies like Kajeet is bound to increase.

“For a company like ours, it’s all about discipline and focus. It’s tempting to take our platform and modify it for some other use,” he said. “We’re decidedly a company focused on a large, homogeneous niche. We don’t need a lot of the market to be successful. In our world, the goliaths are gargantuan. For us, it’s not so much about trying lots of new things but staying true to what we’re best at.”

Choosing the best cellphone for foreign travel can be daunting. Is the iPhone the answer? Which BlackBerry — Bold or Storm? Reliable phones that can be used overseas start at about $80. But beware the add-ons. Also, be sure to consider an “unlocked” phone (that is, one in which the phone’s tiny ID card, its SIM card, can be switched out). Then, when traveling overseas, you can replace your U.S. SIM card with a cheaper local one. Here’s a list of some of the phones recommended for foreign travel:

BLACKBERRY CURVE

Provider: Model 8310 by AT&T

Provider: Model 8320 by T-Mobile

Price: $149.99

Pros: Smallest BlackBerry with full keyboard; can be tethered to a laptop for Internet access; calendar/organizer; lots of software. The 8310 has a Global Positioning System. The 8320 has Wi-Fi.

Cons: Many advanced BlackBerry functions won’t work on a Mac. The 8310 lacks Wi-Fi. The 8320 lacks GPS.

BLACKBERRY BOLD 9000

Provider: AT&T

Price: $299.99

Pros: Great display with all the features of the Curve, plus 3G and High-Speed Downlink Packet Access, or HSDPA (for higher data speeds); GPS with audible turn-by-turn directions; Wi-Fi; view and edit documents.

Cons: Slightly larger than the Curve.

BLACKBERRY 8830

WORLD EDITION

Provider: Verizon and Sprint

Prices: $149.99 (Verizon), $219.99 (Sprint)

Pros: User-friendly keyboard; GPS with audible directions; Sprint unlocks for overseas travel.

Cons: No camera; a locked SIM card in Verizon model; memory expandable to only 4 gigabytes.

BLACKBERRY STORM 9530

Provider: Verizon

Price: $199

Pros: Touch-screen keyboard; can view and edit documents; video streaming and messaging; visual voice mail (so you can see who called); GPS navigation with audible directions; removable rechargeable battery.

Cons: Locked SIM card; no Wi-Fi; no trackball.

G1 (GOOGLE PHONE)

Provider: T-Mobile

Price: $179

Pros: Touch-screen and slide-out keyboard; 3G (speedier network); one-touch access to Google maps.; GPS; rapid HTML browser; Android market for applications; Wi-Fi.

Cons: Fewer applications than iPhone; still camera only — no video; limited music player.

iPHONE 3G

Provider: AT&T

Price: $199 for 8 gigabytes, $299 for 16 gigabytes.

Pros: Intuitive touch screen; visual voice mail; improved voice quality; iPod with video; more than 1,000 applications, including 400 for travel and 60 for weather; Wi-Fi.

Cons: No audible GPS navigation; documents can be viewed but not edited; locked SIM card; no voice-activated dialing; no removable battery.

NOKIA E71

Providers: AT&T and T-Mobile

Price: $483

Pros: No two-year contract required; unlocked.

Cons: No discounts as the phone is not branded to a specific carrier.

SAMSUNG ACE

Provider: Sprint

Price: $99.99

Pros: Unlocked SIM card; modem compatible for Internet use (at additional cost).

Cons: No voice-activated dialing.

SAMSUNG BLACKJACK II

Provider: AT&T

Price: $79.99

Pros: Full keyboard; 3G; GPS.

Cons: No voice-activated dialing.

T-MOBILE SIDEKICK

Provider: T-Mobile

Price: $149.99

Pros: Customizable shells; video capture/playback; works in Spanish and English.

Cons: No Bluetooth; memory limited to built-in 16 megabyte flash.

Note: Prices reflect two-year contract discounts plus rebates (except for Nokia’s E71). Unless indicated, phones include voice-activated dialing and speakerphone, Bluetooth capability, text messaging, music and video, superior Web browsing. Except for the BlackBerry 8830, all phones have cameras.

AT&T is offering overnight shipping, so you can still make it in time for Christmas if you order right now. But, AT&T is also offering a $50 coupon for all phones (except for iPhone 3G). And, they’re giving us a coupon code to make it happen.

Here is what AT&T says - “Save up to $50 on select phones, devices or accessories with qualified service activation. Offer requires online activation via att.com/wireless on qualified rate plans $39.99 or more with a two-year agreement. Discount will be automatically applied to your shopping cart. Credit approval and other restrictions apply.”

You don’t need a coupon code, just use the special AT&T link below:

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-sales/promotion/50off.jsp?PROMO=promo1470017&partner=LinkShare&siteId=2SV.JEXMzFs-Uq55Zsf9ErQ9ZVeT8YCiIg

Behold, the new ePhone. An iPhone clone so perfect, so uncannily identical, so curvaceously exact, that it’s only one letter and a logo away from being the real McCoy. Until you turn it on.

Then you realize this is nothing more than yet another clone, even while it looks like a perfect, logo-less clone of the iPhone. The EPHONE M8 Dual Quad Band TV bar Phone Black is probably $160 too expensive:

EPHONE M8
Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
Languages: English,French,Portuguese ,Spanish,Deutsch ,Indonesia,Turkish , Russian ,Arabic,Persian
Display Size: 3.2 inch, 240×320 pixels
Screen: QVGA screen, 260K colors
Ringtones Type: Polyphonic (64 channels);Support mp3 ringtone: Music: Support MP3 background play,support equalizer;Built-in 3D stereo speaker
Video: 3GP / MP4, support to play in full screen, forward and pause
Camera: 1.3 Megapixel camera,support to shoot with sound
FM Radio: FM stereo,play outside without earphone
TV Function: TV supported (does this mean that I can put it on top of my TV or what?)
Internal Memory: Packed with 1GB TF card, support extend card
Data transfer: USB cable / Bluetooth
Connectivity: GPRS / WAP
Phonebook: Can store 500 phonebooks
Messaging: SMS, MMS

A new wave of mobile technology is bringing online shopping to a smaller, more portable screen.

This holiday season, many retailers are debuting new mobile-friendly Web sites and features that make it easier for cell users to browse online stores and make purchases from their phones.

While shopping on a mobile phone may seem novel, the concept could become more common as a new generation of touch-screen smart phones hits the market, each offering faster Internet connections and better Web surfing functions, industry analysts say.

Already, a slew of Web-savvy retailers have developed software targeted to the mobile shopper, unveiling them just in time for this year’s holiday gift-buying bonanza. Many of these new applications are intended to replace the fuller, but clunky, versions of the retailer’s Web site, which while great on a computer screen, don’t necessarily translate well to a palm-size mobile display.

Customers also are increasingly turning to their mobile phones to help make purchase decisions. And the retail industry is taking notice.

Amazon.com, the chieftain of online retailing, made its foray into the mobile shopping realm this month with a new application for Apple’s iPhone that allows users to browse the retailer’s Web site, as well as products sold by other stores, such as Target and Macy’s.

Sears Roebuck & Co., whose humble beginnings as a mail order business date back to the 19th century, also has gone digital. In November, it launched its Sears2Go Web site, which allows users to buy apparel, sporting equipment and other goods using their cell phones. Geared to work on more than 400 kinds of mobile devices, the site also allows users buy items through text messages.

Sometimes it’s the unsung workhorses that deserve the lion’s share of the praise, and that might just be the case with the aging Samsung BlackJack II — a phone that you probably wouldn’t expect to top Consumer Reports’ January 2009 ratings of popular smartphones.  Sure, it may not be the shiniest device on the market these days, but you’ve got to admit it’s just about as functional as you’d ever need a business-class handset to be with GPS, HSDPA, and WinMo 6.1, which gladly sucks up Exchange accounts until you’re blue in the face.  When you factor in the fact that it runs just $80 these days on an AT&T contract in a choice of four colors… okay, yeah, we can kinda see it.  The iPhone 3G and T-Mobile G1 don’t play second fiddle terribly often these days (they were way down in the middle of the Consumer Reports pack in this testing cycle, in fact), so let’s just let this old dog have one more moment in the spotlight, shall we?

T-Mobile has decided to eliminate its $18 upgrade fee for customers wishing to upgrade to a new handset on the carrier due to massive amounts of negative customer feedback on the issue.

T-Mobile was one of the last carriers to enact an upgrade fee after the second round of corporate policy changes made in 2006, which left many customers confused as to why a carrier would charge a seperate fee for changing devices, when the GSM standard allows one to do so without issue thanks to the SIM containing all pertinent information.

The reasoning given by T-Mobile USA at the time cited increased administrative costs for managing costs among other issues, but the prevailing sentiment from a majority of customers was that the carrier had no reason to charge an upgrade fee when it had operated without one fo so long, making it attractive to those that constantly buy new handsets or those that need to purchase frequent replacements.

For those customers that have upgraded within the past two weeks, T-Mobile recommends contacting either a corporate store or customer service in order to be credited the $18 fee.