Verizon to Issue Samsung i770 and Palm 800w in Q3; More
Any Verizon customers out there getting close to an upgrade and curious as to what smartphones might be coming to the carrier this Summer? Look no further as Engadget Mobile has gotten their hands on some internal slides that contain info you may find of interest. Hit the read link and dig through the slides for all the VZW info you can sink your teeth into, some of interest and some not. We took particular note of the following: Q3 will bring with it two new smartphones that some will love and some will hate. Either way, you can only work with what they give you in CDMA land. The appetizer is the Treo 800w, a WiFi-bearing Palm smartphone that should be making its way to Sprint as well. Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, VZ Navigator and a craptastic 1.3 megapixel camera are among the notable specs. As a main course, the GSM-bearing Samsung i770 qwerty smartphone running Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 is sure to please those who get their declining-dollar on out of the country and hate having to leave their CDMA unit behind. The i770 also packs a less craptastic 2 megapixel camera, WiFi, bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP and some more goodies. Other info that can be had in the slides includes Windows Mobile 6.1 upgrade details for the XV6800 and Samsung i760, PTT details, specs and images of the upcoming Motorola V750 and Casio G’zOne C711 and more.
So does this mean no new Blackberry for the Fall/Winter 2008? Thoughts??
ZZZZZZzzzzzz. Verizon is a bore, that’s why I moved my company from them and into AT&T. Although the service is not as good, overall it was a success and all my mobile users are much happier with their choice of phones. I’m getting all my friends and family to do the same. Even if Verizon finally gets an exciting new phone like the iPhone II, the HTC Diamond Touch, or new Backberry, you know they will lock those phones down to the ground.
bobbyafra –
I don’t buy the whole “Verizon completely locks down their phones” argument. Why don’t you explain exactly what you want to do on your phone. I have a vzw blackberry and it let’s me do everything, including have mp3’s as ringtones, run different navigation software, install 3rd party apps, customize the gui and more. I wish all you vzw haters would stop complaining about “locked” phones.
Lefty, they’re not talking about smartphones, they’re talking about dumbphones.
More specifically, they’re talking about the fact that all dumbphones in Verizon’s stable have the exact same UI. There’s also the distinct possibility of removed features (Bluetooth file transfers, anyone?) as a direct result of this. It’s not a lock down of every single feature worth having, but I’d rather have the manufacturer’s UI any day. Unless we’re talking about Motorola, of course.
Didn’t they lock your GPS on your blackberry?
They do lock down the devices. For you to use GPS you have to use their services instead AT&T doesn’t remove the already built in GPS that comes with the units. VZ Nagitor which is extra $$$.
Bobbyafra, I do not completely understand your statement. “The service is not as good but everyone is happy with their phones”, did you want your employees to have shiny bricks with no signal rather than actually conduct business?
Not trying to start a war but it doesn’t make sense to me as a business owner. I could care less if they like the FREE phones I give them, the point is they answer when myself or a client calls.
It doesn’t matter – I will never purchase another Treo after my nightmare with the 755p.
I just wish Verizon would carry the Nokia E70 E90s
I just spoke to my local Verizon store and one of the employees had spoken to her district manager about the samsung i770. She said they are not going to release it on Verizon. I’m not sure if this lady is just saying that so i upgrade to a different phone or what, but thats what i heard.
Blackberry storm will be out this fall, both the storm and thunder are the same device except one supports both CDMA and GSM while the other only supports CDMA. Also the “Dumbphones” which you refer to are called BREW devices which the UI along with most of the content on these devices are controlled by Qualcomm (they make all chip sets for Verizon) so thats why the UI is locked down. Also if you are someone who wants to seriously modify your device (not just the basic ringtones, wallpaper, etc) than you have to have an advanced device that’s either a Smart Phone or PPC and its endless what you can do. There are no BREW devices worth editing because at the end of the day they are not multi thread like advanced devices (e.g. has the ability to run multiple tasks or processes in the background and foreground).
If you want more information on this or want to question it please feel free to comment, I’m an engineer for VzW so I can answer a lot of the unknowns.
Forgot to add that Verizon will release the Samsung i770 in the next couple weeks and its a sweet device since you have the advantage of both the physical QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen instead of having to chose one or the other. Because as cool as the iPhone its still touchscreen and to write a lengthy email is a pain . So for me as someone more on corporate and using my phone as a utility rather than a source of fun the Samsung wins hands down compared to the iphone because.
Also FYI please don’t ever listen to what the representatives at local VzW stores have to say , they have no idea what’s going on. They are not on development, they are there to sell and fix retail devices. Do a google search and the read forums for anwsers.
Jackcrackers, thanks for the info. Anxiously waiting on the i770 at vzw. I, like most other professionals, need a device that works not just a “shiny brick”. Looks like this device may work great and also be a bit “shinier” than my old BB 7290!
I just hope that the I770 is better than my I760 boat anchor. It takes everthing in me on a daily basis not to launch the thing out my car window. I’ve heard that some of the early phones were “glitchy”. Kinda makes you wonder why VZW discontinued it after less than a year.
I heard the I770 is delayed until December due to moretesting. any updates
OK, I have an I760, and it is a great phone, and if you know the back end of the OS and what you are doing with it, it does everything, and way more than an iPhone. In order to accomplish this, you need to know your stuff. If you are not a Computer Wiz, I recommend a Blackberry Curve, or a Dare, something fun. For those of us who really need a Computer anywhere they go, the I760 is an ideal solution. The new Skyfire browser is amazing, true PC web with full Java and Flash Support, and not to mention Office Mobile, direct PDF email support, need I go on? The key is to maintain the programs with the Task Manager to keep it running properly, and just like a PC, a restart once a day. As for Carriers, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, it is useless to argue about service, because it depends where you live, so save that one for the coffee house with local people. As for the I770, looks nice, but I like the dual keypad setup on the I760, easier to email and text with one hand on the front keypad, and switch to the QWERTY for longer emails and web. So not that my opinion matters, but I’ll throw it in the mix anyway~
Also, if you have an I760, and haven’t upgraded to 6.1 yet, that is a must in my opinion, was great before, with 6.1, it is even better. No back end tweaks needed to use larger memory cards either, supports up to 8GB I think, but I am running a 4GB with out tweaking at all. Just a follow up~
And one more thing, I have a Bluetooth GPS receiver, and it runs everything. Windows Live Search, Google Maps, and I got it new for $45, GTB 38 is the model number.
MobileWindow: I can’t find that Bluetooth receiver you referred to. Who makes it?
It is on a website called sourcingate.com
It won’t let me post the link for some reason
hello everyone. im an elec/comp engineer and have been thinking about writing my own apps for a winmobile phone. ive been reading a lot about various restrictions that manufacturers and service providers (especially verizon) put on their phones. Im also looking to purchase a new phone in the next couple of weeks and deciding between the saga(verizon) and the epix(att). does anyone have experience or can give a better explanation as to the type or restrictions that these companies put on their devices. Also aside from the Visual C++ software what sdk’s do you use for these phones?
Well, I can speak for Verizon Wireless, because my wife, and basically my whole family other than myself works for them. The main issue you can run into is voiding your warranty on the phone. I can also tell you that as long as you would be able to do a hard reset and put the phone back to factory before taking it in, you should be fine. I am not sure what kind of system log or event log these keep in the event of a hard reset though, so I would be careful, because if you void the warranty, and need a replacement for one of these devices, most are in the $500+ range if you have to pay out of pocket with no help from the Wireless company. So basically, there is no real restriction place on the device in the way of tweaking (other than GPS being disabled for anything other than VZ Navigator), but unless you have unlimited funds to replace it, be careful with what you do.
one more quick question. any way to active a pda phone without the data plan. just phone service. i have wifi pretty much everywhere i go.
Sir:
I am a Mac user that needs to upgrade my Treo 650. I want to get away from Palm. Syncing is a pain with palm. I am considering the Samsung i770 but I need to be sure that it can sync with a Mac. I need to sync with Notes, Address book, and calendar. Also Documents-To-Go is what I use to sync my Word files between my Mac and Treo and would need the same functionality from the i770. I hate to loose some functionality of Pal utilities like PassWord Wallet, I don’t know if I can get such a utility for the i770. Lastly, as the i770 will be CDMA and GSM I assume if I am overseas that I can make phone calls through WiFi connection and incur no cost for the call. Please avise-
Thanks,
Jeff
In reference to Konner’s question; Verizon used to only require a data package with Blackberry, however they just made a policy change, and it will be required with all smartphones at this point, however they did lower the cost to match the Blackberry price, which I believe is $30 a month. There may be some loophole in that, but I don’t think so.
As for the Mac stuff that Jeff ask about, I know Blackberry uses Docs to Go, but unfortunately, I am Mac Illiterate, but will ask my Cousin, who is a trainer for Verizon and a Mac user, because I am sure he has all those answers. The one thing I do know is that the i760 could not make calls over Wi Fi, and I don’t believe that the 770 will either. There may be some type of mobile Skype application that would accomplish this, but you will have to research that.
Also to update everyone, I have checked this phone out, and it is pretty nice. The optical mouse is a little tricky, but you can adapt it to work more like a track ball, just scroll up, down, left, right, and that felt better to me. Other phones that I have recently checked out are the HTC Touch Pro, did not like that at all, nice keyboard, but otherwise, no good. Also the Samsung Omnia is a very cool phone for Touch Screen Fanatics. The i770 would get my full endorsement if it still had a slide out keyboard, the blackberry style keys just don’t work with my hands very well. Otherwise, a solid phone.