Motorola Rapture VU30

Posted by Ed on Oct 17th, 2008

Carrier: Verizon
Retail Price:$269 or via Ebay
Contract Price:$99 or via Let’s Talk
Hot Feature:V CAST Music with Rhapsody   

   

The Motorola Rapture VU30 is a repacked VE20 in a raounded clamshell form factor. Key features include a 2.0 megapixel camera, external touch controls, Bluetooth, A-GPS, music player, voice memo, microSD slot, games and a WAP browser.  

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                              

UPDATED - Outage: My T-Mobile data is down this morning. Is yours?

Posted by Ed on Oct 17th, 2008

T-Mobile data seems to be down this morning here in the
Oakland/Emeryville/Berkeley part of the San Francisco Bay Area.  Voice
service is fine, but I can’t get data via EDGE or 3G on either my
unlocked iPhone or my G1.  I’ve been trying all morning in areas where
I usually get service without a problem.  Wi-Fi data works fine on both
devices, so that rules out device errors.

Am I just experiencing some bad luck (or welcomed “forced down
time”), or is anyone else having issues?  Maybe everyone’s G1
pre-orders showed up this morning and the network got hammered?  Maybe
it’s a glitch in the system?  Maybe Steve Jobs’ minions have been
cutting T-Mobile’s backbone cables in the wake of last night’s flood of
G1 reviews?

Speaking of which, I posted a full-length written review and the first five parts of my multi-video review of the G1 last night.  Check ‘em out! 

UPDATE:  My data came back up around lunchtime
here in Berkeley, CA.  Both EDGE and 3G are working.  John reports that
data is still down as of 1:30 PM in his part of Portland, OR … though
reader PDXMatt said earlier that his data was fine.  Possibly a rolling outage of some sort?  Hmm …

BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220

Posted by Ed on Oct 17th, 2008

Carrier: T-Mobile
Retail Price: $379.99 or via ebay
Contract Price: $149.99 or via Let’s Talk
Hot Feature: RIM’s 1st Flip Backberry

The Pearl 8220 Flip is Blackberry’s first smartphone to to sport a thin clamshell form factor. Key features include a 2.0 megapixel camera, SureType keypad, stereo Bluetooth, Wifi with support for UMA calling, puch email support, music player, microSD(up to 16GB) and a large 240 x 320 internal display.

 

  

 

Flash 10 shows love for Linux

Posted by Ed on Oct 17th, 2008

As I indicated in my post on Silverlight for Android, a phone that could run both Silverlight and Flash could steal the title of “most web-friendly phone.” Well, get a load of this. Adobe just released Flash 10, and it supports Linux from the get-go.

The previous version of Flash put Linux on the low-priority list; delivering support 6 months after Windows and Mac users were satisfied. Exciting stuff, considering the release of Android. When Firefox finally releases the mobile version of its browser, you can bet a river of other wonderful plugins will follow.

This release represents a possible overall warming-up to Linux in the commercial arena. That’s good for Android, and good for you, G1 lovers.

Krave: Motorola launches Verizon Krave ZN4 Touchscreen Flip Phone

Posted by Ed on Oct 17th, 2008

I’m “at” the Motorola Virtual Press Conference where they’re launching the Krave ZN4 for Verizon.  No surprise here, as this device was leaked far and wide.  But it still sounds pretty interesting - it’s a flip phone with a touchscreen and an “interactive flip.”  Apparently the clear plastic flip cover has touch controls so you can access frequently used functions without opening the device up.

Krave looks like it’s going to pack some punch in addition to that unique clear flip: VCAST TV, Visual Voicemail, 3.5mm headphone jack, virtual landscape QWERTY with haptic feedback, HTML browser, mobile Email and IM, and support for streaming Web videos (that’s what they said) … I’m actually kind of excited for this one. HELLOMOTO! 

Some specs for you to chew on:

  • 500 hours of standby time, 250 minutes talk time
  • 2.8″ display @ 240 x 400 resolution
  • Removable battery
  • Internal TV antenna
  • 2MP camera with digital zoom (fixed focus)
  • 130 MB onboard
  • microSD memory slot
  • EV-DO data
  • Video: Capture/Playback/Streaming, H.263, H.264, MPEG4, WMV v9
  • Stereo Bluetooth

MOTO Krave ZN4 

Specs for the Krave

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