FIDO will be launching two new monthly prepaid plans March 28th in order to remain competitive in the changing Canadian Wireless Industry. The existing City Fido prepaid plan will remain unchanged. The addition of these new price points allow FIDO to cover all monthly price points with both prepaid and post paid.
$19
50 daytime minutes (local)
300 evening/weekend minutes (local)
50 outgoing text messages (Canada-wide)
unlimited incoming text messages
$29
100 daytime minutes (local)
1000 evening/weekend minutes (local)
100 outgoing text messages (Canada-wide)
unlimited incoming text message
both plans will include
call display
voicemail
call waiting
call forward
billing by the minute
activation bonus
$10 activation credit
$15 bonus credit if activation is done online or e-mail address is registered with account
requires purchase of new FIDO handset
Here’s the LG Shine Touch. It’s a touch screen device with a 3″ 400×240 display, 3 megapixel camera and WiFi. The back has a metalic finish which reminds me of the original LG Shine.
It’s available on Rogers now.
You can visit LG’s website to download a song from Jason Derulo plus be entered for a chance to win a $5,000 shopping spree in Los Angeles at LG.ca/shinetouch
The Samsung Galaxy Spica (it’s pronounced speak-ah (I hope Samsung doesn’t try to sell this one in Mexico)).
It’s similar to the Samsung Galaxy I reviewed a while back but it adds a 800Mhz Samsung processor (up from a 528Mhz Qualcomm) plus if I remember correctly the Spica will get a Android 2.1 upgrade eventually. The Spica lacks the original Galaxy’s 5 megapixel camera and has 2GB instead of 8GB of built in memory.
The BACKFLIP comes with Motorola’s Android customization called MOTOBLUR.
It’s got Android 1.5, a 5 MP camera with LED flash, QWERTY keyboard, 480×320 touch screen plus Gmail, Google Maps, Google Talk, AIM, Live Messenger, Yahoo Instant messenger support. The keyboard is located on the back of the device and the screen flips around. You can also leave the keyboard facing down and only partially flip the screen so you can use it like a picture frame.
The Motorola Brute i680 is now available on TELUS Mike. It’s a ruggedized phone with rubberized grips, Push to talk, a 2 megapixel camera, GPS and stereo bluetooth.
Rogers now offers the following plans for those who roam to the US:
$20 Personal Email on BB CDN/US
$35 Consumer/Small business BB (BIS) 500MB CDN/US Plan
$35 Consumer/Small business 500MB CDN & US Data Plan
$40 Consumer/Small business BB (BIS) 1GB CDN & US Plan
$40 Consumer/Small business 1GB CDN & US Data Plan
$45 500MB CDN & US Mobile Internet Flex Rate Plan
$50 DAP (for MSD customers) 1.5GB CDN & US Data Plan
$55 Corporate BB (BES) 1GB CDN & US Plan
$55 Corporate BB (BES) 500 MB CDN & US Flex Rate Plan
Overage is $0.25 per MB. These do not include the Gov’t Regulatory Recovery Fee.
Last year Android wise Canadians got to choose from the HTC Dream, Magic and Samsung Galaxy. This year we’re got/are getting the Motorola Milestone, Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 and now the Acer Liquid.
The Acer Liquid has a 3.5″ WVGA (800×480) display, Snapdragon process that runs at 768Mhz (as opposed to 1Ghz on the X10 and Nexus One), 5 megapixel camera with no flash and runs Android 2.1.
Look for it Q1 this year. Pricing has yet to be announced.
For those Windows Mobile users who haven’t already switched to Android, iPhone or Blackberry or stopped using smartphones altogether, Microsoft has just announced Windows Phone 7 Series.
Here’s the press release:
Microsoft Unveils Windows Phone 7 Series
New phones designed for life in motion to debut at holiday 2010.
BARCELONA, Spain – Feb. 15, 2010 – Today at Mobile World Congress 2010, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the next generation of Windows® Phones, Windows Phone 7 Series. With this new platform, Microsoft offers a fresh approach to phone software, distinguished by smart design and truly integrated experiences that bring to the surface the content people care about from the Web and applications. For the first time ever, Microsoft will bring together Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music and video experience on a mobile phone, exclusively on Windows Phone 7 Series. Partners have already started building phones; customers will be able to purchase the first phones in stores by holiday 2010.
“Today, I’m proud to introduce Windows Phone 7 Series, the next generation of Windows Phones,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience. We believe Windows Phone 7 Series is a phone that truly reflects the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people.”
Designed for Life in Motion
With Windows Phone 7 Series, Microsoft takes a fundamentally different approach to phone software. Smart design begins with a new, holistic design system that informs every aspect of the phone, from its visually appealing layout and motion to its function and hardware integration. On the Start screen, dynamically updated “live tiles” show users real-time content directly, breaking the mold of static icons that serve as an intermediate step on the way to an application. Create a tile of a friend, and the user gains a readable, up-to-date view of a friend’s latest pictures and posts, just by glancing at Start.
Every Windows Phone 7 Series phone will come with a dedicated hardware button for Bing, providing one-click access to search from anywhere on the phone, while a special implementation of Bing search provides intent-specific results, delivering the most relevant Web or local results, depending on the type of query.
Windows Phone 7 Series creates an unrivaled set of integrated experiences on a phone through Windows Phone hubs. Hubs bring together related content from the Web, applications and services into a single view to simplify common tasks. Windows Phone 7 Series includes six hubs built on specific themes reflecting activities that matter most to people:
* People. This hub delivers an engaging social experience by bringing together relevant content based on the person, including his or her live feeds from social networks and photos. It also provides a central place from which to post updates to Facebook and Windows Live in one step.
*
Pictures. This hub makes it easy to share pictures and video to a social network in one step. Windows Phone 7 Series also brings together a user’s photos by integrating with the Web and PC, making the phone the ideal place to view a person’s entire picture and video collection.
* Games. This hub delivers the first and only official Xbox LIVE experience on a phone, including Xbox LIVE games, Spotlight feed and the ability to see a gamer’s avatar, Achievements and gamer profile. With more than 23 million active members around the world, Xbox LIVE unlocks a world of friends, games and entertainment on Xbox 360, and now also on Windows Phone 7 Series.
* Music + Video. This hub creates an incredible media experience that brings the best of Zune, including content from a user’s PC, online music services and even a built-in FM radio into one simple place that is all about music and video. Users can turn their media experience into a social one with Zune Social on a PC and share their media recommendations with like-minded music lovers. The playback experience is rich and easy to navigate, and immerses the listener in the content.
* Marketplace. This hub allows the user to easily discover and load the phone with certified applications and games.
* Office. This hub brings the familiar experience of the world’s leading productivity software to the Windows Phone. With access to Office, OneNote and SharePoint Workspace all in one place, users can easily read, edit and share documents. With the additional power of Outlook Mobile, users stay productive and up to date while on the go.
Availability
Partners from around the world have committed to include Windows Phone 7 Series in their portfolio plans. They include mobile operators AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone, and manufacturers Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC Corp., HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm Inc. The first phones will be available by holiday 2010. Customers who would like to receive additional information about Windows Phone 7 Series and be notified when it is available can register at http://www.windowsphone7series.com<http://www.windowsphone7series.com/>.
To watch the full replay of Steve Ballmer’s press conference at Mobile World Congress, and to experience Windows Phone 7 Series through an online product demo, readers can visit http://www.microsoft.com/news/windowsphone.
