IntoMobile got the scoop that HP has released the iPAQ 210 to a public that has been waiting, perhaps, a little too long.
The 210 has seen delay after delay so it’s good to see it finally released. The Windows Mobile-based smartphone features 128 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth with EDR, a 4″ screen, and a Marvell PXA310 624 MHz processor. All in all, a sweet little machine.
You can view all the details on HP’s product page.
Our friends at BlackBerry Cool reported that an outage on AT&T’s EDGE and 3G services occurred today from around 8AM until at least 6PM EST for some areas. A forum user at PDAStreet claims to have spoken to an AT&T representative who said that the outage should be repaired tonight but might last until February 5th.
There’s not a whole lot of data yet, but BB Cool will be speaking tomorrow with folks from Zenprise about the outage, and we’ll post any new information as it comes in.
BerryReview recently posted about Michael Smalls, a BlackBerry theme designer who has released over a hundred BlackBerry 8100, 8300, and 8800 themes for free. The design of the website leaves quite a lot to be desired, but the themes themselves are well done and there is a lot of variety. If none of the themes are entirely to your liking, you can even contact Smalls to have one personally designed for a $3-$10 fee depending on complexity. Fair warning: the site absolutely requires Internet Explorer on a PC to download the themes. There’s always Gemblock, who also does a lot of free themes.
We reported last week that Palm would be closing all of their retail stores, but PDAStreet has discovered that things are slightly different.
Palm will, in fact, be closing only the 7 stores that were opened in malls. The other 26 stores, all of which are in airports, are owned by a quite different company called Airport Wireless which has chosen to remain open. The company has decided, however, to remove the Palm branding from their stores and greatly expand stock to include products from companies like Nokia, RIM, and Motorola.
A new hack has been released that allows you to jailbreak your jailbroken iPhone running firmware 1.1.2 into a jailbroken iPhone running 1.1.3, reports PDAStreet.
The new jailbreak is called, confusingly enough, Official 1.1.3 Updater, and it works by cracking Apple’s application-signing system. This has the side-effect of possibly breaking future official Apple upgrades or applications, so proceed with caution. All you need is a jailbroken iPhone running 1.1.2 and, if possible, a power outlet to make sure you don’t lose power in the middle and turn your iPhone into a worthless brick.
You can check out a full directions at iPhone Atlas.
A new report on Business Wire suggests that smartphones will capture 22% of the mobile market in Asia by the end of this year.
A company named Research and Markets compiled the report, which lists 5 “hot topics” for mobile operators and manufacturers this year. Beyond the predicted rise to 22% in the Asian market, the author says that competition in the OS sector will increase and Mobile Linux will be on the rise; that UI innovation will increase dramatically, and even that smartphone companies will merge with UI companies to get an edge on the competition; that touch screens will be used on more and more phones; and that GPS and and Location Based Services based GPS will be the next “killer app” for the mobile market.
The Financial Post has uncovered evidence that Research in Motion will be unveiling a new music accessory called the BlackBerry Remote Stereo Gateway. The Gateway attaches to a stereo and then streams music files from a BlackBerry via Bluetooth. The information is available through an FCC filing, which has both the user manual and a photo of the Gateway. The device was filed by Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co., Ltd. out of Taiwan, but the BlackBerry brand is all over the place. This is obviously a big push into the consumer space for RIM, especially given the fact that, unlike iPod docks, it’s wireless. Between this and the increasing sizes of microSDHC cards, BlackBerry is becoming more and more viable as a media player.
A user on the Pinstack forums noted that the city guide software Zagat To Go has been updated to version 6.0. The software allows you to find over 30,000 restaurants, golf courses, hotels, and other locations for the BlackBerry user on the move. You can also use Zagat to Go to automatically dial the number for the spot you’ve chosen, read reviews, get directions, and quite a lot more. Version 6.0 adds a redesigned interface as well as favorites, wish lists and the ability to browse an alphabetical list of all locations in an area. A 14-day free trial is available or you can purchase a one year subscription for $29.95. They offered a 1500 free subscriptions to BlackBerry users last July, so we’ll keep any eye out for anything similar to celebrate this new release.
Continental Airlines has announced that they will be offering Wi-Fi service to customers as part of their new LiveTV service, pending testing. LiveTV offers a wide variety of TV channels free to first class passengers or to economy class for a $6 fee. They are testing Wi-Fi access as part of the service and if all goes well, smartphone and laptop users will able to access BlackBerry email and instant messaging as well as Yahoo! equivalents. This isn’t the first time the BlackBerry has taken to the skies, but it seems a little more restrictive than other services.
cellular-news has posted an article that suggests Apple may lose up to $400 million from users buying iPhones with intention of unlocking them to work on networks other than AT&T.
According to Apple’s earnings reports they sold 3.7 million iPhones in 2007, while AT&T said they added only around 2 million iPhone subscribers. Wall Street analysts believe around 300,000-400,000 iPhones were sold in Europe, and of course some purchased phones simply haven’t yet been activated, but that still leaves a gap of around a million phones. Toni Sacconaghi, a researcher at Bernstein Research, suggested that Apple forgoes future profits of between $300 and $400 million for each 1 million unlocked phones.
There a lot of speculation but few cold, hard numbers, so take this with a grain of salt. It is, however, a slightly broader perspective about unlocking your iPhone.