By Aldo Panessidi

Before October, the casual smart phone consumer was likely blissfully unaware of the existence of a company by the name of Carrier IQ. Thanks to researcher Trevor Eckhart, it has come to light that the stealth software company is recording keystrokes, SMS messages and other information and possibly reporting the data back to their servers. Carrier IQ’s response? Issuing a cease and desist letter to the whistleblower, Eckhart, and releasing a media alert dismissing the accusations saying that they are “not recording keystrokes or providing tracking tools.” Enjoy the freedom brought about by unlocked phones… which allow you to choose not only the service provider but the plan that best meets your lifestyle needs.
The potential privacy contagion is rumored to be limited to certain smart phone OS’s, so be an informed consumer and review all your mobile device options. The best part is the great offerings and releases of new phones and from Apple, Blackberry, Samsung, Motorola, HTC and everything in between during the holiday season! This Holiday Season – protective accessories solutions make excellent and greatly appreciated stocking stuffers.

And to end on a high note, legislation may be in the works to bring greater data equality and accessibility to all Canadians. Christian Paradis, the Minister of Industry, recently made significant remarks at the International Institute of Communications Canada Conference in Ottawa that rolled out “an update on measure taken to support the digital economy in Canada […] Canadians should receive the same services wherever they live.” The implications of this could be huge, ending regional monopolies by carrier based on tower service areas. Putting the power of choice back into the hands of the consumer who could better take advantage of unlocked mobile devices creates a competitive environment to drive technology and affordable, customizable plans. Music to all Canadians’ ears!

The brand new Unlocked Blackberry Curve 9300 3G, which is capable of running the OS 6, have already been marketed by Rogers and Bell. Now it is time for Telus, a national telecommunication company in Canada, to launch the Blackberry 9300. Telus is famous of providing a vast range of communication products which includes voice, Internet protocol, entertainment, data, video etc. The features of this phone are not, at least, extraordinary. It includes display of QVGA along with 3G, Wi-Fi, a photo snapper of 2 megapixels, and a memory slot of 256 MB. These were also the features of the last Blackberry product, Curve 8530. But there lays a difference from the Curve 8530, which is it can run the OS 6. Pearl 9100, Bold 9650, and Unlocked Bold 9700 – these three models also are capable of running the OS 6.

Torch 9800 from Blackberry introduced the OS 6 in the market and no doubt, it is technologically much more advanced than the new  Unlocked Curve 3G 9300. It takes us by surprise that Telus decided the market value of this model to be 199USD on a contract of three years. In comparison with the Blackberry 6, it is too high a market price for the Curve 3G. The HPSA roaming, introduced by Blackberry 6, received a good response from the audience. It is difficult to understand why Telus sets 199USD for Curve 3G while the Blackberry 3G costs 175USD. Moreover Bold 9700 which is much more admirable than the Curve 3G costs $100 only. Moving on to the prices set by Rogers and Bell, Bell sets the market price of 49.95USD and Roger is offering it for 79.99USD.

If you are already convinced to have a Curve 3G 9300, you will have to go to the online store of Telus.

Google Android is finally here! Well it actually arrived a good time back when Google officially launched it. However, sales figures now have actually proved that the Android is indeed here. Brace yourselves ladies and gentlemen. The Android sales figures have outpaced figures posted by Apple for it’s unlocked iPhone4 in the global market. Another jolt awaits in the next sentence. The Android sales figures have also overcome sales figures posted by RIM for its BlackBerry Unlocked  cell phone, though this case is only related to the United States. Well and truly The Androids have invaded us successfully! The numbers to be honest are not at all that surprising, considering that several different research firms have confirmed that Android sets have a strong market hold already. Android devices as per Gartner have managed a total shipping of 10.6 million sets into the market in this quarter itself, just edging out the Apple iOS to be reach third place overall, which translates to around 17.2% of the general cell phone market share. Awe inspiring is the growth report which for a fact says that there has been in fact a overall growth of 850% in roughly a year.

Further reports say that Apple managed sales of around 9 million sets of iPhones in this quarter that translates to around 14.2% share of immediate market. The iPhone 4 unlocked handset accounts for a cool three million handsets from this figure, which was sold in a matter of 21 days. Apple may not be the bigger market shareholder yet they still post a high profit from their sales because they book a higher profit margin per device sold. For all the excitement we show for Google Android or for Apple iPhone, fact of the matter is that RIM and Nokia still on boast higher market share. However, both Apple and Google are threatening to eat away at that!

India is now threatening a complete shutdown of the BlackBerry cell phone Service by August 31st, if RIM fails to comply with the security demands put forward by the Government of India. The last round of negotiations, between the two parties, was shaky to say the least. A similar situation had threatened similar consequences with the United Arab Emirates echoing calls for a complete shutdown of services from RIM, however the situation has been temporarily pacified since RIM started the set up of local servers. Even then a ban may well be a possibility with the UAE giving RIM some more time to meet their security demands. Despite this air of uncertainty, an Indian official who did not wish to be named said that RIM has “assured” that they will “come up with some solution” In the meantime a proposal by RIM to share message metadata as opposed to sharing their encryption keys found itself rejected.

Privacy issues aside, governments are keen and concerned for national security rather than security for communication systems and as an organization waiting to profit from a huge market, RIM’s priorities must align with the governments’ requirements at least if they intend to access this market. India’s population is the perfect market for an inexpensive model of BlackBerry like the BlackBerry’s  Unlocked Curve 8520 is able to thrive. However for this idea to reach any semblance of reality, RIM must comply with the regulations the government has set up. While RIM may pride itself when it comes to security, with assurances to customers about the privacy of their information, it’s beginning to seem like a potential domino effect is on it’s way, where BlackBerry might find message security being subjected to government prying, particularly in countries like  Indonesia, Lebanon, Algeria and Tunisia. The question is if BlackBerry is being questioned for its promise of information privacy, how unsecure are the other smartphone platforms? They’ve never been questioned at all.

In case you are still not very sure, the all new product from RIM, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 is now available for a lowly price of $199. However, this comes bundled together with a 2 year agreement  from Rogers. on par with the Unlocked Motorola DROID (2), with this new BlackBerry device, you can expect a 5 MP camera that allows you to click stunning visuals. At the same time, you would also be provided with a HVGA display and a slide out keyboard that is  well fitted into the overall compactness of the phone. Apart from this, you would also be provided with 512MB of RAM, although the processing power of the phone is only 624MHz.

As a user of this phone, you would also be able to use a totally new OS featuring Webkit browser, and a number of improvements to the user interface and even a pinch-to-zoom feature. Although there are many types of videos that are available for the BlackBerry’s Unlocked  Torch 9800, what is really important is that you have all the needed and necessary information that is required to ensure that you will be making the right choice in taking up the right phone.

You can go ahead and choose to watch such videos from YouTube and Metacafé to understand the complete working of this phone. In fact, the entire internet is completely flooded with such videos that you can find. Through such videos you will come to know the various capabilities and features as well as get to have a new look at the BlackBerry 6 Operating System which is platform to the ever so recently-launched BlackBerry Torch 9800.

Therefore, if you plan on going ahead and purchase a BlackBerry Torch 9800 unlocked handset, the best thing that you can do is to ensure that you have the best knowledge from such videos.

It seems like there is a newer sheriff in the town of Motorola, as the famous billionaire invest called Carl Icahn made a purchase of the biggest of the stakes of the company.

Associated Press puts the statement that,

Along with his group Icahn purchased common shares amounting to 10.2 millions from Motorola in this week which rates at $7.62 per share, which boosts his stake from 8.75 percent to a percentage of 9.99 in the month of May. And now the total of his holdings even exceed last reported stake of ownership of Dodge & Cox which was of a percentage of 9.99, as the statement of March proxy reveals. Icahn is the owner of shares of a number of 232.2 million in comparison with the shares of Dodge & Cox’s which amounts to 228.7 million.

Icahn has had enough influence already in the way of Motorola being run, as proxy fight by him gave two seats to his reps on the honorary board of the directors. He is famous also for pressuring the company so that they spin off their struggling division of cell phone into a public company own by itself.

The famous split of Motorola is still all set for quarter of the initial half of the year 2011 and the Company of Enterprise Mobility will be focusing on certain things such as point-of-sales machines, scanners of barcode as well as police radios. It is not supposed to make equipment for networking, just because this division has recently been sold to Siemens of Nokia in exchange of the amount of near $1.2 billion.

So, the question is expected to arise what is Icahn looking forward to having the Motorola cell phone which is independent along with him? Well, there is still a strong endeavor on the part of the company as to recapture the ultimate magic it would use with the unlocked  Razr, now the handset CEO named Sanjay Jha cleaned the house and basically put the focus of this company on the device called Android.

The newly launched LG Unlocked (Ally) will really benefit if the Android 2.2 Froyo is added as one of its significant applications, which will make it a product that you’ll hate to not have. The Verizon Android phone, without even the honor of the customary ‘Droid’ prefix in its name will be receiving the Android 2.2 Froyo in the near future.

However, it might be very sleek and smooth but as of now, you can only call it decent. It performs all its functions quite well and it is easy to stay positive with the phone in the future because all the minor flaws and glitches will be addressed by updating the phone time and again. When the Froyo would actually be added, it will make the phone feel like a separate entity altogether as the Android 2.2 is capable of taking a decent product into one that can only be termed as a superlative.

It was only recently confirmed by LG that Ally would indeed have the Android 2.2, however, when the new product will be launched was not confirmed by the company. The keyboard is not easy to use at first but loosens up on usage, and there are a few other minor glitches, but still Ally would be the phone to buy if you want a phone that slides out on one side to reveal a QWERTY keypad.

Just a few minor customizations are needed and the phone will be a super hit when Android is installed and it will make a good phone even better. The current year promises to deliver around 20 Android phones and with so much competition all around, it will be very exciting to see what ace LG has hidden up its sleeve as its plan to blow the competition away come the year end.

As the unlocked iPhone4 from Apple and Android by Google are having a gain of traction in the enterprise market, we should look out at research from data got in Good Technology accordingly.

During a release, this company has commented that since it has begun supporting iOS4 and the Android, businesses are being more eager so that employees put these devices in some use. Good deployed solutions of 1500 in number in the initial half of the year, to support the products in business. It is said by the company that 43% of total deployments of it includes an iPhone from Apple now or Android device from Google.

The chief executive Brain Bogosian in charge of good technology said in a already prepared statement that consumers more strongly than ever are influencing the decision makers of IT on the basis of personal mobility option of themselves. He added to it that devices such as the iPhone or Unlocked Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 android phone are now available with high capability in business as well as personal grounds and it caters to the need of IT for a cross-platform solution which is for security of mobility and management and this is greater need than ever.

It is just the other mark that RIM might have had a hard challenge at its hands with the market of enterprise, just as the Commission of Europe has also passed recently in favour of the iPhone from Apple regarding the Blackberry issue as well as the Android devices from Google, HTC. If we combine that thing with the recent potential bans all on the units of BlackBerry and there could be bleak things for RIM.

People of course have been telling that RIM is all ripe now for the yearlong taking to know and continuously it dominated the market of enterprise just for the reason of the security as well as integrated services of it.

A screen shot of the BlackBerry version of Bold 9650 which is apparently running the recently full updated new operating system introduced by RIM has somehow bubbled up in the last week itself. But for those non-believers who strongly need further more effective convincing that it had an existence and by all means it was not propaganda but something very much real, here we present a satisfactory picture of that very device that is running live the OS 6. While they announced all the facts about BlackBerry’s Unlocked Torch 9800, RIM commented on it that the newly launched OS 6 has every possible chance to be coming to the market to 9650, and of course with out every doubt it can also come along with that  Bold version of 9700 as well as the Pearl version of 9100. If there is a noticeable lacking of even a mere mention of the name of any other desirable phone set it all supposed to imply that any other older handsets will not be getting any update.

Although it seems to be a bit cramped on the smaller screen of Blackberry version of 9650, this further confirms that it will be just fine to be worked by OS 6 all without a touchscreen. There were even some more concerns that the devices are likely to need a RAM of 512 MB just to run the newly introduced operating system, still if it is all coming to 9700 as well as  Unlocked Pearl 9100, 256 MB would be all clearly fine. Until and unless there are other bottleneck hardware, back to this Tour everything should be able in theory to handle OS 6. A wealth of newer traits are in BlackBerry 6, such as universal search, icons that are categorized, tighter integration of social network, a new browser of Web kit, and all general improvements of UI. To get more of the official pitch please do check out walkthrough by us for all of those main improvements, or announcement made by RIM.

Recently Cricket has collaborated with Sprint’s new 3G Network. Even before this, cricket had offered good 3G network but they were very much limited in scope. But the new improved Sprint’s 3G Network has worked towards the betterment for their customers and also provides a better connection for its customers. It is true that Sprint gets some kind of financial support from cricket because minimum amount of the revenue goes to Sprint. It is basically a five year wholesale contract that cricket has signed with Sprint. The main aim of this project will be to impart information about various cricket products to the United States customers through this fast growing network. Although no such financial details have been fixed yet, it is being speculated that this new concept might work very well. This new contract is expected to create some new hybrid wholesale facilities which are known in the industry.

This contract is also expected to strengthen Cricket’s relationship in the retail market. Sprint now boasts around 48 metropolitan areas with its new phone broadband service whose speed is super fast. All the customers around United States experience this connection with phone downloads, turbo charged web browsing with incredible speed. With this connection the customers are able to do video chat on their HTC phones. Sprint even offers saving and simplicity to those competitors with Everything Data Plan that includes phone calls, unlimited web, texting etc, while on Sprint all this can be done in an incredibly low price. Sprint has therefore enabled cricket to reach to a wider audience and with this new 3G network it has become easier for cricket to pass on information about its service and its product to a large number customers effectively.