If there’s one thing us bloggers hate, it’s a mystery, but we’re going to have to get past that for this one as pictures said to be of an unannounced and unknown HTC Android device have found their way onto the internet. Sadly any details beyond those we can spot with our own eyes are nowhere to be found, but unless our peepers have deceived us, we’re certain we’re looking at a WVGA display, camera of unknown megapixels with flash, trackball and touch-sensitive menu keys. So what say you, people? Any thoughts/wishes as to what we’re looking at here? Three larger pics after the jump.

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You guys might have heard that we’ve (Beejive and BGR) been plugging away at TweetGenius behind the scenes since we announced our initial partnership. The entire program has been redone from the ground up and there’s literally too many fantastic changes and new features to list, but we’ll try and give you a taste of some:

• Innovative direct-from-application Twitpic photo uploading
• Inline image viewing for Twitpic, Twitgoo, img.ly, TweetPhoto, yfrog images
• GPS location posting
• Themes: comes with two different themes for viewing tweets. More are coming soon!
• Shortcut icons (reply, retweet, direct message)
• Status bar to show you necessary information like time, signal status, etc

Those are just a couple examples of what’s been changed, but what you’ll find is that the program is incredibly quick and gives users a desktop-class Twitter experience. We’re happy to announce that as a special thank you to all our original customers, TweetGenius v1.0.9 will be exclusively available to them for a period of two weeks before our worldwide launch. And, it’s available immediately for download. Hit the break for some screenshots and the download link!

Read [TweetGenius download link for existing TweetGenius customers, OTA and Desktop-based installations]

Read [TweetGenius signup page to be notified when TweetGenius is available for purchase]

But U2 doesn’t love BlackBerry, nor give a shit about them. That’s the feeling I get after attending the kick-off concert for U2’s 360 U.S. tour. What’s incredible is that after thinking about this strange and odd pairing of two corporate brands, it makes less sense than I even previously thought. For starters, it’s a pretty large investment to be the title and only sponsor for a huge national or worldwide tour — major money. If we had to guess we’d say RIM paid a minimum of $7M and a maximum of $15M. What’s so unsettling is how disconnected RIM was from the event. Sure, there were a couple banners strewn about Soldier Field, but no one noticed. And the folks that did notice didn’t care. Instead of using this opportunity to push their brand forward, it almost seems like just a second thought to throw some quick marketing dollars to try act like your company is doing something in the consumer and “cool” department.

There are really two main reasons to do something as big as this: one is to get a huge return on your investment. If RIM spends $10M (we averaged our guessed figures) and signs up a boatload of new BlackBerry subscribers (or even just does upgrades and sells hardware) there’s a good chance they’d quickly make that $10M back plus more (profit). The second reason which is more likely for a company as large as RIM, is just to have brand presence, reinforce your identity to consumers, and possibly reach a new demographic that you can later market and sell to. But again, I saw enough BlackBerrys at the event. More iPhones than BlackBerrys (everyone was taking videos on their iPhones so apparently everyone in America bought the new 3GS), but still, a shitload of BlackBerrys. And no one is switching to a friggin’ BlackBerry from an iPhone just because they saw a couple dusty BlackBerry banners at a U2 concert.

So I ask again, what’s the purpose of sponsoring a tour like this if you’re going to throw up some lame signage and call it a day? Seriously, there wasn’t a single BlackBerry logo on the main screen on the stage, nothing on the video monitor — zilch. There was a dingy 5×5 ft booth that looked like a hot dog stand converted into something with a BlackBerry logo right outside the stadium and that’s about it. Did Live Nation tell you to bugger off? Did U2 say they didn’t want a brand to be integrated into their show anymore than you were already? If so, this is a pretty shitty investment and makes RIM seem desperate to just find something to get involved with to try and hold on to what’s left of the hype (which is quickly, quickly fading) surrounding the BlackBerry Tour launch. Sure it’s a nice tie-in for upcoming product launches like the Storm 2 and BlackBerry 9700, but there’s zero involvement.

Why didn’t RIM have 10 RIM reps at the venue demoing products an hour before the concert started? Doing giveaways? Getting people excited or at least engaged? Why couldn’t you sell devices and do activations at every stadium/arena on the tour and clean up? You couldn’t even do some RIM accessories with U2 logos on them? Seriously? Do you understand how many drunk 50-year-olds would buy BlackBerry/U2 leather holsters, skins, etc. for their devices at the concert? This might go back to what they could and could not do in terms of licensing agreements, merchandising restrictions, promotional and marketing guidelines, but if so, it was a pretty stupid idea to half-ass something that could have been a major coup for your company and brand in a time when it’s much needed.

For $10M, RIM could have set up shop at 50 college campuses across the country and done hands-on sessions with students showing off how cool a BlackBerry can be compared to Apple’s iPhone. “Look, you can get Twitter on your BlackBerry and you can stream music even while the application is in the background!” or maybe “look how fantastically it integrates with your college email account.” “Look, even Yelp! is on the BlackBerry now and it will even show you where the best place to get chicken wings at 3AM is.” and the obvious sexy angle: “you guys use Macs? No problem. We just launched BlackBerry Desktop for Mac which will sync all of your stuff over so you can use all of your Mac applications you’re used to using. Have fun — import your photos into iPhoto and enjoy the fact that we geo-tag your pictures automatically!”

For $10M RIM could have made a meaningful commercial that demonstrated why a BlackBerry is better than an iPhone instead of Bono on LSD channeling his previous commercial he did for the iPod with Apple. For $10M RIM could have launched an actual developer program where they, you know, focus on making software development easier and better? Maybe have real support and real documentation that makes sense? All RIM has to do is copy Apple and for the most part, they’ll win. Yet they refuse. They start things and never finish them and their follow-through is horrible just like how this U2 sponsorship turned out to be. I was actually a tad bit excited, or at least a little bit hype. “BlackBerry sponsored this entire thing? That’s kind of cool.” Then all I saw were a couple banners like the one above and everyone pleasantly using iPhones. And some dude buying nachos.

Steve Richter! Our friends at AT&T pinged us earlier this month to see if we wanted to give away a new Sony Ericsson W518a to celebrate the launch of its AT&T Share Facebook app. We wouldn’t dream of depriving our readers of the chance to win a shiny new handset of course, so we were happy to oblige. Steve’s comment was randomly chosen as the winner earlier this week and he will be receiving his new Sony Ericsson W518a some time next week. Woo hoo! There you have it boys and girls; if you haven’t already checked out the AT&T Share Facebook app, we definitely recommend that you do so. After all, there are plenty more prizes to be had — why should Steve have all the fun?

Well boys and girls, welcome to the final installment of Carrier Wars — the series of features in which we call upon our readers who represent each of the four major US wireless carriers to report the 3G speeds they’re experiencing across the country. It’s been quite a trip but the fourth and final carrier, T-Mobile USA, is now accounted for, which means its time to line everyone up side by side and see where the chips fell. So sit back, relax and hit the jump to see how your carrier stacks up against the competition.

To quickly recap where we’re at right now: AT&T was first up and recorded a pretty respectable average download speed of 933kbps, besting next in line, Verizon Wireless, by a solid 232kbps. The nation’s number three carrier, Sprint Nextel, was next to bat and it knocked one out of the park. Sprint set the bar quite high with an average download speed of 1361kbps, leaving T-Mobile with quite a hill to climb should it manage to register an upset. Tmo has the newest 3G network with the least amount of congestion however, so number four could definitely swoop in and surprise us all, Right? Right? Yeah, not so much.

• Average download speed: 786kbps
• Median download speed: 748kbps
• Average upload speed: 177kbps
• Median upload speed: 136kbps

According to the speeds experienced and recorded by our readers, T-Mobile slides into the number three slot having bested Big Red by 85kbps. On the upload side of things, T-Mobile comes in dead last with an average speed of 177kbps, just short of the equally pathetic 180kbps put up by AT&T. Of note, T-Mobile was definitely the most consistent carrier our readers tested — the speed test results were very level compared to the sharp peaks and deep valleys found in other carrier’s test results. In fact, trimming the download data to omit oddities as we did with the three other carriers barely affected T-Mobile’s numbers at all: Dropping the top and bottom five results left us with a download average of 767kbps and cutting the top and bottom 10 yielded 773kbps.

All things considered, Tmo has poured a lot into its 3G network — despite being insanely late to the party — so these results are somewhat disheartening. Subscribers shouldn’t despair, however. T-Mobile has no intention of getting caught with its pants down twice and it is already hard at work developing its 4G network, which will reportedly be deployed not long after the big boys’ LTE setups get the green light.

Let’s take a quick look at everything lined up nice and pretty:

Average Download Speed

1. Sprint: 1361kbs
2. AT&T: 933kbps
3. T-Mobile: 786kbps
4. Verizon: 701kbps

Average Upload Speed

1. Verizon: 322kbps
2. Sprint: 267kbps
3. AT&T: 180kbps
4. T-Mobile: 177kbps

There you have it folks — the final act of Carrier Wars is officially a wrap. While these numbers shouldn’t be considered absolute or scientific, they certainly give an accurate representation of each carrier’s 3G network speeds as experienced by our readers. So what does everyone think? Did the carriers’ performances land where you thought they would or were you surprised by our findings? Hit the comment section and be heard.

Again; for those interested, here is the data collected for T-Mobile.

Disclaimer: The results of these tests are not collected in a controlled environment and therefore should not be considered to represent a concrete indication of the above carriers’ 3G network speeds and/or performance in general. These results merely provide the average 3G network speeds of the above carriers as experienced by those readers who performed speed tests and shared their results. Stop whining.

One of the greatest features of the iPhone 3GS compared to older iPhone models is the camera. Yes, at 3 megapixels it’s still lagging behind the rest of the industry where resolution is concerned and yes, it still doesn’t have a flash (though 90 percent of flashes on mobile phones are just about useless). Despite its shortcomings however, the 3GS’ shooter still manages to capture some wonderfully solid images in good lighting and some way-better-than-average pics in dim lighting. As is often the case, third party app developers have hit the iPhone in full force where the camera is concerned in order to make good hardware even better thanks to creative and functional software. The cream of the crop falls into the paid category in some cases, but if you’re just beginning to explore the optics on your iPhone it’s always best to start out with some free options before you start emptying your wallet. So if you’re a photography fan with an iPhone 3GS (or any model for that matter), hit the jump for a list of 10 essential free iPhone apps that will help make your iPhone-captured photos shine.

Note: All links are iTunes links.

1. Flash for Free: One of three great free photography apps from developer Michael Moon, Flash for Free applies a software flash to images taken by your iPhone. In other words, it lightens/brightens pics with minimal noise or distortion. The are a few paid apps that do a better job but for the low, low price of nada, Flash for Free is a terrific option.
2. HDR for Free: Again from Moon, HDR for Free is a great app that allows you to enhance the contrast between light and dark areas of a photo. The app supports nine preset degrees of HDR.
3. Crop for Free: Moon’s third free photo utility, Crop for Free does exactly what the title implies. It crops photos. For free. While there are a few apps in this list that will crop your shots as well, none are as quick and easy as Crop for Free when all you need is a quick crop.
4. Pixel Perfect: This gem by Code Monkeys at Work is free for a limited time so hit the link now or forever be bound by the constraints of the Lite version. It allows you to apply a variety off effects to your pics including sepia, brightness, saturation and hue, and adjust the intensity of relevant effects.
5. PanoLab: Originate Labs’ lite version of PanoLab Pro allows you to stitch together multiple photos to create a single panoramic image. This version has several limitations and its UI isn’t as intuitive as other options, but for the occasional quick panorama it’s a perfectly usable app.
6. Mill Colour: Our favorite in this list off apps without question, The Mill’s photo editing app is simply awesome. Mill Colour allows you to apply a variety of effects to an image and then fine tune (to a ridiculous degree) the lift, gamma, gain and saturation of the image. You can also choose to forgo the available effects and just fine tune the image to your heart’s desire. The UI is fantastic the quality of the resulting images is second to none. Get it — now.
7. Zipix Lite: The name might lead you to believe there is a full version floating around out there but for the time being, the buck stops here. Neurigen’s Zipix Lite app is a quick and easy photo enhancer that automatically adjusts a variety of variables to optimize a photo. If you’re a beginner and there’s something awry with an image you just snapped, odds are good it can be fixed in about 5 seconds by Zipix Lite with zero effort. The app also supports zooming and cropping.
8. PhotoBox: This app by Christopher Comair is easy to use but don’t let its simplicity fool you. It features 13 awesome filters that result in some terrific photo effects, again with zero effort on your part.
9. Polarize: Also by Christopher Comair, this app allows you to take a new photo or import an existing image, frame it in a Polaroid-like white border and apply a polarizing effect that results in a cool retro look. You can also write a title across the bottom of the frame as your parents used to do with physical Polaroids.
10. Flickit: Great, so you’ve got a bunch of awesome photos on your iPhone thanks to all these great free apps. Now what? Green Volcano Software’s Flickit app allows you to link your Flickr account for easy photo uploads via EDGE, 3G or Wi-Fi. You can set default metadata to be applied to all uploads (including applying any number of your current Flickr tags) or adjust the data for each individual photo, control visibility settings and even geotag your photos all in an incredibly sexy UI. It’s so good it really shouldn’t be free.

There you have it folks — 10 awesome free apps that are sure to impress. Hit the comments and let us know what you think once you’ve checked them out and definitely let us know if there are any great free apps out there we missed.

What’s better than scoring a shiny new phone? Scoring a shiny new phone for free, of course… AT&T is hitting Facebook hot and heavy these days and why wouldn’t it? After all, Facebook is where all the cool kids hang out, or so we hear, and they spend plenty of time there. Here’s a thought: Why not take a break from stalking your ex-girlfriend from high school — dude, it’s not going to happen — and actually use Facebook for something productive? You know, like winning free stuff for example. Hit the jump to learn about AT&T’s new Facebook app and for your chance to win a free Sony Ericsson W518a from your pals here at BGR.

AT&T’s new Facebook app, dubbed AT&T Share gives AT&T fans chances to win a bunch of cool stuff. Here’s how it works — simply install the AT&T Share Facebook app to gain access to the campaign. You will then embark on a series of “missions”, if you participate that is. Fulfilling them will earn you reward points toward cool stuff and chances to win a variety of prizes including phones, gadgets, VIP tickets to this year’s Warped Tour, tickets to sporting events, service credits and more. To give you an idea of what kind of missions we’re talking about here, the first one is running now through next week and simply requires you to film a video of yourself explaining what you like most about AT&T apps, games and music. Upload the video, link it in the AT&T Share Facebook app and boom, you’ve got a chance to have your video featured on AT&T’s new App Center website as a well as a chance to win an AT&T gift card or a Sony Ericsson phone.

Sure that’s simple enough, but it’s a well known and scientifically proven fact that BGR readers are better than other people. Since AT&T is well aware of this, it was more than happy to throw in a little something extra for you guys. Of course you should still hit the AT&T Share app for chances to win a bunch of great stuff but we’re giving away a shiny new Sony Ericsson W518a of our own and only BGR readers can win. Here’s how it works:

• Head over to Facebook and check out the AT&T Share app.
• Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. That’s it! Just leave a comment and you’re entered for a chance to win.
  
• If you don’t use Facebook, don’t worry — you still have a chance to win the W518a. Just leave a comment below explaining why you still haven’t signed up for Facebook and you’re in.
• Please enter once and only once. Leave more than one comment and you’ll be disqualified.
  
• The contest is open in the US only to everyone age 18 and older.
• We’ll run the contest until next Friday, August 21st at 11:59PM ET.
  

Well what are you waiting for, people? Go check out the Facebook app — or tell us why you avoid Facebook like the plague — and get to commenting for your chance to score a Sony Ericsson W518a courtesy of AT&T and your good friends here at BGR. Good luck!

What a long strange trip it’s been, mobile fans. Our Carrier Wars series has managed to tons of conversation surrounding the state of wireless carriers here in the US. Sure a lot of it is senseless banter, but beyond that there are legions of subscribers who are genuinely interested in learning what kind of performance BGR readers from across the country experience on their respective carriers. We told you each of the big four here in the US would be covered and sure enough, here we are at the last stop: T-Mobile USA. While T-Mobile’s 3G network is still in its infancy — albeit horribly late in the game — subscribers are often quick to sing Tmo’s 3G performance praise. Well T-Moblers, it’s your time to shine. If you have a 3G-ready handset and happen to find yourself in a covered region, we want to know what kind of speed you’re seeing. Remember, an ideal report includes handset model, AVERAGE download speed, AVERAGE upload speed and a link to a screenshot of your test. Feel free to throw your maximum speed numbers in there as well but they don’t concern us. Ok — hit the comments section and get to work!

It’s here, mobile fans. The moment you’ve been waiting for. The results you’ve been itching for. The numbers you’ve been clamoring for. The… Ok, you get the idea. Last week we asked Sprint subscribers to test their 3G handset speeds and show us what their carrier of choice is made of. Well the results are in and they might just surprise you. So how does the nation’s number three carrier stack up against the big boys? Hit the jump to find out.

As we’re sure you’ll recall, so far AT&T is sitting pretty with an average download speed of 933kbps and Verizon came in a bit lower at 701kbps according to our readers. Now, people, it’s Sprint’s turn. With subscribers still fleeing at a shockingly alarming rate, one might be lead to believe the carrier’s network just isn’t up to par. Well, if our Sprint-subscribed readers are any indication, that couldn’t be any further from the truth:

• Average download speed, EV-DO Rev. A: 1361kbps
• Median download speed, EV-DO Rev. A: 1310kbps
• Average upload speed, EV-DO Rev. A: 267kbps
• Median upload speed, EV-DO Rev. A: 245kbps

Wow. Sprint’s average EV-DO Rev. A download speed bested AT&T by a huge margin — 428kbps — and it nearly doubled Verizon’s showing amongst our readers. Upload speeds fell right between the two aforementioned carriers, besting AT&T’s pathetic 180kbps but falling well short of Verizon’s 322kbps. There was far less data where upload speeds are concerned however, as less than half of readers who provided valid data included upload speeds in their reports. Why? We have no idea.

As with each of the last two carriers whose 3G speeds we polled, we shaved the top and bottom five results, then 10, and took a look at the numbers once again:

• Average download speed, top and bottom five results discarded: 1345kbps
• Average download speed, top and bottom 10 results discarded: 1333kbps

Quite clearly, Sprint’s numbers were impressively consistent — shaving the top and bottom 10 still left us with a downlink average only 28kbps lower than the raw average.

Last but not least, our old school EV-DO Rev. 0-loving Sprinters:

• Average download speed, EV-DO Rev. 0: 466kbps
• Median download speed, EV-DO Rev. 0: 326kbps
• Average upload speed, EV-DO Rev. 0: 97kbps
• Median upload speed, EV-DO Rev. 0: 76kbps

So, Rev. 0 was quite a bit slower than Verizon’s Rev. 0 numbers so if you’re on Sprint with an older 3G handset, it might be time to think about upgrading and taking advantage of that blistering Rev. A speed showcased by our readers.

That wraps up this installment of the carrier comparison you love to hate and hate to love. How did Sprint do? Were you expecting big numbers from Old Yeller or did the results blow your mind? Let us know in the comments section and get ready for the next and final segment of Carrier Wars.

For those interested, here is the supporting data for Rev. A and here is Rev. 0.

Disclaimer: The results of these tests are not collected in a controlled environment and therefore should not be considered to represent a concrete indication of the above carrier’s 3G network speeds and/or performance in general. These results merely provide the average 3G network speeds of the above carrier as experienced by those readers who perform speed tests and share their results. Stop whining.

Welcome back to Carrier Wars, the ongoing feature where we ask our readers to post their 3G speed test results, we collect the data and dish the outcome, and then a bunch of people whine about said outcome in the comments section. So far we have AT&T clocked in with raw averages of 933kbps down/180kbps up and Verizon Wireless on the books with raw averages of 701kbps down/322kbps up. Next up to bat: Sprint. While Verizon and AT&T bicker about who has the nation’s “fastest” or “most reliable” 3G network, Sprint is apparently flying under the radar by advertising “America’s most dependable 3G network”. Well Sprint fans, it’s time for you to break out those 3G handsets and latch on to Sprint’s uber-dependable network — we want your speed test results.

Please post your test results in the comments section of this post and you get extra points for linking a screenshot. We only care about 3G and we absolutely must know what handset you’re using; again, this is to separate EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. 0. So what are you waiting for Sprinters? Get moving!

Note: Don’t forget guys, we want phone model, average download speed AND average upload speed! If you’re wondering how to perform a speed test on your phone, check the first few comments below for links to various options.

Well folks, the numbers are in. Last week we asked Verizon Wireless subscribers to break out their favorite EV-DO handsets and see how Big Red’s 3G network stacks up against the competition. So far we’ve only covered one of the big US carriers, AT&T, so Verizon represents our second of four. Despite terrible results in some regions, AT&T’s 3G network set the bar pretty high with a raw average of 933kbps on the downlink side — yeah, we were shocked also — but clocked an atrocious 180kbps raw uplink average. So, how did VZW stack up against AT&T? You’ll just have to hit the jump to find out.

The results below are as of 11am Eastern this morning so tests posted in the comments after that point in time are not accounted for. Also, most readers complied with our request to specify which handset they were using to perform their speed tests. Some however, did not. We specifically asked for this info in order to separate EV-DO Rev. A phones from older, slower EV-DO Rev. 0 phones. Apropos, any results that did not have a handset model listed and weren’t obviously Rev. A (pretty easy to tell as Rev. 0 upload speeds have a ceiling just north of 150kbps) were omitted. We also omitted results that only listed max speeds, since they mean absolutely nothing. Ok, here goes:

• Average download speed, EV-DO Rev. A: 701kbps
• Median download speed, EV-DO Rev. A: 440kbps
• Average upload speed, EV-DO Rev. A: 322kbps
• Median upload speed, EV-DO Rev. A: 286kbps

As you can see Verizon came in well short of AT&T on the download side, averaging 232kbps slower than its GSM rival. In other words, according to the results posted by our readers across the country, AT&T’s network is a whopping 33 percent faster than Verizon’s on the downlink side. The median download speed was also significantly lower than AT&T’s; 440kbps compared to 840kbps. The tide takes a sharp turn where upload speeds are concerned however, as Verizon’s raw average of 322kbps trumps AT&T by 142kbps, or a massive 79 percent.

As with AT&T, the numbers were a bit skewed by tall peaks and deep valleys. As such, we trimmed the downlink data just like we did with AT&T’s numbers and — again to our surprise — VZW’s results were affected even more than the AT&T results:

• Average EV-DO Rev. A download speed, top and bottom five results discarded: 629kbps
• Average EV-DO Rev. A download speed, top and bottom 10 results discarded: 583kbps

Bottom line: If you gobble up a lot of data as most smartphone users do, Verizon is definitely not the quickest draw in the West. If uploading and sharing video, images, etc is your thing however, Verizon’s EV-DO Rev. A-capable handsets wipe the floor with AT&T. Granted, an average speed of 322kbps is still pretty pathetic but it’s nowhere near as pathetic as AT&T’s average of 180kbps.

For those of you still holding on to the past and rocking EV-DO Rev. 0 phones, here’s how your gray-haired handsets fared amongst our readers:

• Average download speed, EV-DO Rev. 0: 548kbps
• Median download speed, EV-DO Rev. 0: 569kbps
• Average upload speed, EV-DO Rev. 0: 60kbps
• Median upload speed, EV-DO Rev. 0: 55kbps

Rev. 0 handsets on VZW apparently aren’t too shabby on the download side but as expected, upload speeds are a total disaster. We only saw results from 28 Rev. 0 users however, so take these numbers with a grain of salt.

Well there you have it people — did Verizon come in where you thought it would? Surprised? Shocked? Indifferent? Sound off in the comments section below and stay tuned for the next installation of Carrier Wars.

For those who want to play with the numbers, here is the data for Rev. A and here is the data for Rev. 0. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: The results of these tests are not collected in a controlled environment and therefore should not be considered to represent a concrete indication of the above carrier’s 3G network speeds and/or performance in general. These results merely provide the average 3G network speeds of the above carrier as experienced by those readers who perform speed tests and share their results. Stop whining.

You knew we weren’t going to leave well enough alone — it’s just not our style. Following yesterday’s post calling out AT&T for terrible 3G service in the NYC area and the subsequent number crunch that revealed things aren’t as bad elsewhere, BGR readers were left wanting more. What about Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile? How do they stack up to “the nation’s fastest 3G network”? Well folks, it’s time to find out. We’re going to hit each of the big four and find out exactly what’s what. AT&T was first in line and next up is Big Red. If you’re on Sprint or T-Mobile don’t worry, we’ll be hitting you as well next week.

So now it’s time for roll call — you know the drill. If you’re a Verizon Wireless subscriber, hit the comments section below and let us know how your network stacks up. We want results from your speed tests and we also want to know where you are and what handset you’re using. Again, bonus points if you link a screenshot. Remember, we’re only interested in 3G for the time being so break out those EV-DO handsets and get to work.

Well the numbers are in folks, and we’re pretty surprised to reveal that AT&T’s 3G network might not be the travesty many thought it was. Don’t get us wrong — it is in fact abysmal in countless areas across the country. According to results recorded by our readers however, it’s also pretty solid in many areas. Some quick background: Yesterday, we posted about how terrible AT&T 3G is for us in the NYC area. We then asked readers to let us know where they are, what phone they’re using and results of an AT&T’s 3G speed test. Many complied — so why not take a look at the numbers?

After going through the comments and weeding out speed tests from other networks and chatter, we were left with about 200 results as of just after 11:30am this morning. Readers posted from all around the country using a variety of different phones. Generally, the bulk of the results came from iPhones and BlackBerrys, and locales were in and around major cities for the most part. Here’s what we found:

• Average download speed: 933kbps
• Median download speed: 840kbps
• Average upload speed: 180kbps
• Median upload speed: 215kbps

As you can see, things might not be so bad after all. An average download speed in the mid-900s is actually pretty respectable, comparatively. Upload speeds are a disaster on the the other hand, but we know they’re limited for the time being so not much can be done there.

Truth be told, we were blown away by some of the results. Several users posted download speeds above 2,000kbps with the fastest result skewing our data a bit at 3,663kbps (from Austin, TX) [UPDATE: the commenter who posted this result made a mistake, as pointed out below (he was on Wi-Fi). The numbers have been updated with his 3G speed test results]. Speaking of skewing, we did notice that the median download speed was noticeably lower than the average speed, so we decided to trim the results a bit and see what would happen:

• Average download speed, top and bottom five results discarded: 920kbps
• Average download speed, top and bottom 10 results discarded: 914kbps

Dropping the top and bottom 10 results delivers an average speed that is slower by almost 20kbps. Long story short, there were definitely more people on the low end of the spectrum than on the high end.

So in the end, what have we learned? There are areas where AT&T’s 3G service is definitely solid. There are even areas where it’s blazing fast. Unfortunately, it looks like there are many more areas where the carrier’s 3G service is less than adequate — we had several results in the double-digits which is flat out atrocious. People complain far louder than they praise of course, so until AT&T can step up its game in major cities where service is lacking we’ll continue to hear about how bad things are far more often than we hear about how good they are.

As for the iPhone 3GS actually seeing anything close to 7.2Mbps any time soon… Yeah, we’re not holding our breath.

Here is the data, if anyone else wants to play with the numbers. [Updated data now available]

Disclaimer: The results of these tests are not collected in a controlled environment and therefore should not be considered to represent a concrete indication of the above carrier’s 3G network speeds and/or performance in general. These results merely provide the average 3G network speeds of the above carrier as experienced by those readers who perform speed tests and share their results. Stop whining.

You might have heard of a little Twitter client called TweetGenius around these parts… Ok, maybe it’s not so little, but you know what I mean. What started out as a side project just for me (and lucky friends) to use quickly grew into a public software offering. We’ve been so blown away by the feedback and sales that we have been struggling to keep up with our original roadmap and between me and you, our roadmap is intense. Well, what’s the next step to make TweetGenius better, faster, more solid and more feature-rich? Beejive. Probably my favorite software development company for the BlackBerry and iPhone OSes, Beejive’s social messaging vision and service is the perfect partner for TweetGenius going forward.

We’re happy to partner with Beejive on TweetGenius. If you already bought a license, don’t worry — you’ll still get supported and free upgrades like we initially promised. If you haven’t however, TweetGenius is going back into closed beta until we’re ready to re-release it. Trust us, it’s going to be worth the wait. With our innovative UI and upcoming feature-set coupled with Beejive’s experience with instant communication, TweetGenius will continue to be the go to Twitter client for the BlackBerry platform. If Twitter isn’t your thing, that’s alright. You never know what else we might be working on.

Read

A sometimes overlooked feature that has been made incredibly simple on the iPhone is the ability to subscribe to a variety of calendars. Many are familiar with CalDAV as it adds a quick and easy way to keep your iPhone or iPod touch in sync with your Google Calendar, but did you know you can also add a wide range of publicly available calendar subscriptions in a matter of seconds? One of the more common subscriptions is the US holidays calendar but you can also quickly and easily add TV show schedules, network premier schedules, sports team schedules, movie releases, concert tour schedules and plenty more to your iPhone calendar. Hit the jump to find out how.

The easiest way to add calendar subscriptions is to start by finding a good directory. There are a few decent ones out there but for the purposes of this quick how-to we’ll use iCal World (another popular one is iCalShare). Simply pull the site up in Safari on your iPhone and have a look through the various available subscriptions. When you find one you like — yep, you guessed it — click on it.

Provided the link is alive of course, Safari will ask you’d like to subscribe to the calendar in a pop up message. Tap “Subscribe” and your iPhone will do just that. Once you see a confirmation message you’re good to go, and you can even tap “View Events” in the pop up to see your new events in the Calendar app.

As with most things, there is a “but” involved. You’ll find that many of the calendars you try to subscribe to are no longer maintained. As such, it can take a bit of searching to find what you’re looking for. Once you do find it though, adding the subscription to your iPhone couldn’t be easier.

About 50 rungs further down the innovation ladder, some new Apple patent applications revealed this morning are definitely less interesting and complex than the few we covered last week. In fact, considering some of the technology has already existed for quite some time we’re not even sure why Apple is attempting to patent a few of these things. In any case however, it’s never a bad idea to stop and take a look at where the iPhone and iPhone OS may be headed in the future so let’s start at the top. The drawing above depicts an object identification interface that would allow the iPhone to recognize and deliver information about an object as a result of analyzing a photo/image or by scanning a bar code/RFID tag. Novel? Definitely not. Useful? Probably. Hit the jump for more.

This next patent application covers something Apple was very proud of as a recent addition to iPhoto ‘09 — facial recognition. The difference here is that Apple envisions using the technology for controlling access and various handset functions which, if you ask us, doesn’t sound overly appealing or useful. In fact, we’d venture to say it’s less intuitive than other currently available options… Like typing a password.

Here we have a message filtering patent application that describes various methods for controlling and filtering different text-based communications:

Control application includes an instructional tool or study aid where the administrator sets one or more modes, such as language, vocabulary, grammar, spelling, punctuation and/or other content of a text-based communication based on, for example, a user’s age or grade level. This can be especially useful, for example, such as when a child’s grades go down. A parent can then institute a condition to improve a child’s grades. For example, the control application may require a user during specified time periods to send messages in a designated foreign language, to include certain designated vocabulary words, or to use proper designated spelling, designated grammar and designated punctuation and like designated language forms based on the user’s defined skill level and/or designated language skill rating. If the text-based communication fails to include the required language or format, the control application may alert the user and/or the administrator/parent of the absence of such text.

Well isn’t Apple conscientious?

Next up are a couple of patent applications pertaining to messaging that are designed to make things a bit easier and more efficient. Above is a group messaging feature that will check the delivery status of sent messages after a predetermined time interval and alert the sender when certain recipients have not read the message. Status reports, mmm. The differentiating factor here we suppose, is the interface.

Related to the patent above, Apple also filed an application for a process that would notify users of unread messages and emails or new voicemails from a specific contact before a new message is delivered to said contact. Not a bad idea.

Last but not least — actually it probably is least — the ability to change voice output. Fair enough…

Despite the restrictions involved in playing back audio files, users of media devices may wish to change the audio output of audio files. A mother, for example, might wish to change the narrator’s voice in a pre-recorded, commercially available audiobook to her own voice, so that her child can listen to the audiobook as narrated in the mother’s voice in her absence. In another scenario, a student listening to a lecture as a podcast file might want to change the audio of certain sections of the lecture to sound like someone else’s voice, so as to emphasize important parts of the lecture.

Sounds like more trouble than it’s worth if you ask us, but perhaps there’s more of a demand for Oprah’s voice reading steamy romance novels than we were aware of.

[Via Unwired View]

Read (object identification)
Read (facial recognition)
Read (group messaging delivery status)
Read (unread message alerts)

My, my, what a long road we’ve traveled. We’re back at it just like we promised. We combed through the BlackBerry Tour we had a while ago, but now that we have a Verizon unit in hand it’s a whole new ball game. We’re writing this review without looking at or referring to the previous Part 1 we did, so if some of it is a little similar in some places, it’s just because those parts of the device have not changed. Read on to get a glimpse of what we thought about the BlackBerry Tour for Verizon!

Screen:

The 480×360 screen is nothing new to BlackBerry lovers. The BlackBerry Curve 8900 features this display and while larger, the BlackBerry Storm does as well. The Bold seems like an outcast as it’s the only BlackBerry to utilize a 480×320 resolution LCD. Personal preference aside (I like the resolution of 480×320 better), the BlackBerry Tour’s screen is nothing short of stunning. It’s not a huge panel but it packs a punch. Colors are rich, there’s a great amount of contrast yet not too much, and text and graphics look as sharp as ever. Additionally it looks like there’s a harder plastic covering the LCD than there is on the Bold and 8900 and this is a good thing, people. It feels solid, not scratch-prone and is a display that we’re proud RIM has transitioned to as their standard screen for the Tour and other BlackBerry handsets to come. There’s that pesky black bezel around the LCD but it’s a minor annoyance and not a big deal.

Voice Calling:

Hello, Verizon. Yes, I can hear you. If those two sentences don’t tell you where this section is heading, you should probably stop reading. We realize the BlackBerry Tour is also launching on Sprint but since they didn’t send us a review unit, they won’t get included and we have nothing to compare the Verizon service or unit to. Back to voice calling… It’s an awesome experience with Verizon on the Tour. Especially compared to the other unit we reviewed, this is really solid. Calls came through loud and clear, callers could hear us perfectly on the other end (as opposed to sounding “tinny” like before) and even in low service areas we didn’t drop a single call. What’s equally impressive is how fast Verizon connects the call — almost instantly.

Since all phones are phones at heart, it’s nice to have a BlackBerry on Verizon’s network. BlackBerry devices in general (especially the latest family) usually offer great voice calling but coupled with Verizon’s network, we’re not sure it gets any better.

Speaker / Speakerphone:

The speaker and speakerphone function on the Tour are great. You can really tell this was designed as a business device. There’s only one speaker on the left side since the 3.5mm headset jack is on the right (the middle “speaker” doesn’t count since it’s not really a speaker — just somewhere for audio to flow out of) but we haven’t noticed this to be an issue. Besides a Nextel device or the HTC Touch Pro2, it’s one of the loudest and most useful speakerphones we’ve used.

One thing that’s a little strange is that while the speakerphone is quite loud, ringtones and audio in general plays back at a lower volume than the Bold does. It’s not that low — it’s louder than the 8900’s speaker — but lower than the Bold’s as far as audio reproduction goes. The high-end is a little lacking but hey, everything is relative and it’s a mobile phone.

Something that many BlackBerry fans will be pleased as punch to know, is that the vibrate feature on the Tour is aggressively strong. Probably the strongest vibrate on any recent BlackBerry, you can’t really miss it.

OS:

The BlackBerry Tour for Verizon ships with OS 4.7.1 and can be thought of as a non-touch Storm OS. It’s practically identical, just made for trackball navigation and QWERTY keyboard entry as opposed to touch (though some could argue that the Storm OS itself isn’t even designed for fingers… never mind) and for better or worse is practically the same operating system that you’re used to. It’s quick, responsive, and besides a couple random bugs here and there (nothing that got in the way of usability) it’s really solid. We’ve been pounding on two different BlackBerry Tours now and haven’t had a single reset, crash, or any other issue that would affect you in a major way.

Hardware:

In the interest of being upfront with everyone, we had some hardware issues with the first BlackBerry Tour we received. Verizon and RIM swiftly swapped it out for us and the one we’re using now is 100% good to go. Even the other Tour we reviewed from months ago didn’t exhibit the hardware problems we noticed and it’s pretty safe to say that you shouldn’t experience any major hardware problems.

Moving on to the actual hardware of the device, it’s great. Looking at it from a larger viewpoint, the device is incredibly well built. It doesn’t creak, it doesn’t waddle if you try to type on it when it’s on a desk or solid surface, there are no loose parts, and it seems again that RIM has improved their manufacturing and assembling processes. Getting granular, things are also perfect. The volume buttons and camera shutter button for instance aren’t mushy, they’re firm but not hard to press. The four main navigational buttons (Send, Menu, Back, End) also are perfectly sized and offer great feedback when navigating. The trackball might be too recessed for some but after a while of use, it’s not that big of a deal and you get used to using it.

We’ve been messing with a Tour on and off for the last three or four months and we have to say again, it really excels as a business device and we think it will stand up to various punches, nicks, drops, kicks, and the like without issue.

Keyboard:

Another QWERTY review? You bet. A true mashup of the BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Curve 8900 keys, the BlackBerry Tour offers a great compromise. The keys aren’t as mushy as the Bold keys, they’re a little harder and a little “clackier”, something found on the 8900. As far as size goes, they’re roughly 20% larger than the 8900’s keys and are nicely sculpted. We’ve found the best and most efficient way to type on the Tour is not to press on an entire key but on the angled area of a key. This let’s you pound through emails with relative ease and doesn’t really let your finger hit more than one key a time. The BlackBerry Tour keyboard is a keyboard you’d come to expect from RIM — simple, easy to use, and perfectly laid out. It’s a winner.

Design:

While highly subjective, we find the BlackBerry Tour to be striking. It’s such a true BlackBerry if you think about it. Unlike the BlackBerry 8900 and BlackBerry Storm, the Tour is boxier but we think better. It’s a little thicker, but it’s comfortable to hold and use, and seems perfectly proportioned. RIM did an awesome job of letting all the components work together. The dark chrome bezel meshes beautifully with the soft-touch rubberized sides and the glossy black navigational buttons blend with the black screen and upper earpiece section, blending perfectly with the black powder-coated QWERTY keyboard. The camera lens cover flows perfectly into the back battery cover, also with a soft-touch rubberized finish.

Battery Life:

Battery life is really impressive. Coming from a heavy, heavy BlackBerry Bold user, the Tour is straight up refreshing. With the exact same usage patterns and same applications installed, I’ve been able to get double to battery life using the Tour compared to the Bold. I’m not sure why — CDMA devices typically use more battery than their GSM counterparts and the battery on the Tour is 1400mAh compared to 1500mAh on the Bold — but battery life is fantastic.

Email, voice calling, music playing, web browsing, Twittering (cheap plug), BlackBerry Messenger — all a go with great battery life.

Annoyances:

How could we review the BlackBerry Tour without complaining about Wi-Fi? We always say it, but whatever the reason — cost, weight, size — it doesn’t really matter. The BlackBerry Tour is Verizon’s flagship device for the Summer and there’s a glaring hole in it. We realize Verizon has the best voice and data network in the country with the most coverage. We applaud them. But, there are some places where service is bad, the buildings are too thick, the location is too remote. And that’s where you need Wi-Fi.

In general, using the device has been really pleasant. Besides a brief stint with an 8900 it’s the first time I’ve switched from my Bold since last June and I’ve been very happy aside from a couple slowdowns here and there. The 624MHz CPU on the Bold is nice and this is slower I believe by about 100MHz, give or take. Will the average user notice the difference? No. They’ll be too ecstatic coming from the Curve 8330 but it’s worth pointing out nonetheless. And hey, if that’s all we have to moan about, Verizon and RIM are doing something right, right?

Conclusion:

While the BlackBerry Tour lacks Wi-Fi and sports a slightly slower processor compared to the BlackBerry Bold, we can confidently say when it’s released later this month it will be the best BlackBerry on the market. We won’t look ahead, we’ll focus on what is in front of us and if we do that, the Tour is the top dog. It’s on a superb network, it’s extremely professional and durable, and it’s incredibly pocketable and versatile. 2009 BlackBerrys include 256MB of RAM and 3.2 megapixel AF cameras which are probably the only two things people would change about the Bold. Add in a smaller and arguably sexier package and you’ve got a sure shot winner. There’s no question this is the finest CDMA BlackBerry to date and if you’re on a CDMA network (Verizon or Sprint) this is a no-brainer. Besides being a fantastic handset, it’s a world device that will work practically anywhere on the planet, thus eliminating a difficult barrier of entry (people who want Verizon) for globe-trotters. RIM really knows hardware and it shows, and if you’re ok with the BlackBerry OS then we suggest you give the BlackBerry Tour a long and hard look come Sunday the 12th.

A trio of Apple patent applications unearthed this morning may help shed some light on future features and functionality headed to a new crop of iPhones. Then again we all know how easy it is for patents to lead absolutely nowhere. The first and most notable of the bunch is a haptic feedback concept employing a “grid of piezoelectronic actuators” that combine to form a fully tactile touchscreen. In theory, the device could vibrate these actuators in different combinations and at different frequencies to provide a variety of tactile responses. Interesting as it may be, this isn’t the first apple patent to cover a haptic feedback solution for a touchscreen — another notable concept came in late 2007 and has yet to bear fruit. At the same time, it’s good to see that Apple recognizes the downsides of touchscreen-only devices and is working on creative solutions for the problem. From the application:

However, one of a touchscreen’s biggest advantages (i.e., the ability to utilize the same physical space for different functions) is also one of a touchscreen’s biggest disadvantages. When the user is unable to view the display (because the user is occupied with other tasks), the user can only feel the smooth hard surface of the touchscreen, regardless of the shape, size and location of the virtual buttons and/or other display elements. This makes it difficult for users to find icons, hyperlinks, textboxes or other user-selectable input elements that are being displayed, if any are even being displayed, without looking at the display.

The other two patents covered this morning are also of interest, the second covering fingerprint identification as an input method. This concept also addresses the usage of a touchscreen without the need to look at it during operation — providing a system whereby a device will be able to identify different fingers by fingerprint and the mere touch with a specific finger will result in a corresponding function. In other words, while in a certain mode an iPhone might perform the following functions when touched anywhere by the following fingers:

Last up this morning is an application that places an RFID tag reader in the actual display panel of a device, allowing it to read RFID tags. We’re not sure exactly how a device will benefit from having the RFID antenna in the screen as opposed to in another area of the case but hey, patent attorneys need something to do on slow days, too.

[Via MacRumors]

Read (tactile touchscreen)
Read (fingerprint ID)
Read (RFID)

Well boys and girls (and especially CDMA BlackBerry-lovers), your much-awaited BlackBerry Tour launch date is getting closer and closer. To try and make it easier on you, we’ve got our hands on a retail Verizon BlackBerry Tour and put together a quick unboxing for you. Part 2 of our popular BlackBerry Tour review will be coming soon, but in the meantime, couple sneak peaks:

• The battery door isn’t all glossy anymore which was scratch city. It’s got soft-touch rubber on the outer part and the inner part is a carbon-fiber material. Really, really sharp.
• The dark chrome bezel which is also found on the BlackBerry Onyx looks stunning on the Verizon Tour.
• The device comes with a BlackBerry leather holster!

You’ll have to wait until the second part of the review is done for more, but in the meantime, check the gallery!

Click on over to our Verizon BlackBerry Tour Unboxing gallery!

Over the past few month, we’ve seen several sites run cost comparisons on the latest and greatest smartphones from each of the top four carriers in the US. Good — presenting readers with cost analysis is always a good idea. We’re finding that just about all of these comparisons do so on the high end of the spectrum however, comparing the cost of owning each of these great smartphones along with the most expensive plans available from their respective carrier. Fair enough, we suppose. The simple fact of the matter is that not everyone is interested in an expensive unlimited plan though. For these people, comparing the maximum possible cost of several smartphones definitely makes for an exciting read, but we don’t know how useful it really is.

Unlimited plans continue to gain popularity as cost is driven down but the fact of the matter is that they’re just not for everyone. As such, rather than compare the highest possible cost of four popular smartphones maybe it makes a bit more sense to compare their relative entry-level costs — the base price, where most comparisons happen. Yeah, let’s give that a shot…

T-Mobile G1

Handset: $149.99
Monthly cost [UPDATED]: $29.99 voice plan (300 minutes, unlimited weekends), $24.99 T-Mobile G1 Unlimited Web (unlimited Web/email/data)

$54.98/month — $1,319.52 over 2 years + $149.99 for the phone

Total: $1,469.51 (excludes SMS/MMS, starting at $5/month)

Sprint, Palm Pre

Handset: $199.99 (after $100 rebate)
Activation fee: $36
Monthly cost [UPDATED]: $69.99 Everything Data Plan (450 minutes, unlimited nights/weekends, unlimited mobile to mobile, unlimited Web/email/data, unlimited SMS/MMS, unlimited GPS navigation)

$69.99/month — $1,679.76 over 2 years + $235.99 for the phone plus activation (after $100 mail-in rebate)

Total: $1,915.75 (after $100 mail-in rebate)

Verizon Wireless, BlackBerry Storm

Handset: $149.99
Activation fee: $35
Monthly cost: $39.99 voice plan (450 minutes, unlimited nights/weekends, unlimited mobile to mobile), $29.99 Email and Web for BlackBerry (BIS, Web)

$69.98/month — $1,679.52 over 2 years (excluding SMS/MMS) + $184.99 for the phone plus activation

Total: $1,864.51 (excludes SMS/MMS, starting at $5/month)

AT&T, Apple iPhone 3GS 16GB

Handset : $199
Activation fee: $36
Monthly cost: $39.99 Nation 450 w/Rollover (450 minutes, 5000 night/weekend minutes, unlimited mobile to mobile), $30 Data Plan for iPhone (unlimited Web/email/data)

$69.99/month — $1,679.76 over 2 years + $235 for the phone plus activation

Total: $1,914.76 (excludes SMS/MMS, starting at $5/month)

———————–

So what have we learned here? Look at your potential purchases from your own unique perspective. Wireless plans are complicated and should not be handled on an even playing field; each carrier has similarly priced plan options that feature both high and low points. For example, the bare-bones entry plan for the G1 reduces the two-year cost of the handset dramatically compared to the three other handseys but it only affords the user 300 minutes each month and doesn’t include free nights as other plans do. It’s all about give and take. Most importantly perhaps, don’t go to an AT&T/Sprint/T-Mobile/Verizon Wireless shop and expect to get help that is in your best interest. Don’t take media or a blogger’s word for it wither. Determine what matters most to you — whether it’s more minutes, unlimited messaging, etc — and do your own research with those things in mind. An educated consumer is a happy consumer.

Mmmmm, Flash. As part of the Open Screen Project, Adobe is actively working with developers and manufacturers to make feature-rich Flash content accessible on mobile devices. In its latest achievement tied to this morning’s announcement, Adobe demos Flash support on the brand-spanking new HTC Hero — the first Android device to support Flash (officially). In short, it’s smooth, sexy and usable. Adobe’s Adrian Ludwig shows off the Hero’s Android Web browser and its ability to gobble up Flash-based video, Flash objects on web pages and even Flash-based games. There is one line in particular from the demo video that grabbed our attention though: “This is one of the first devices out there that has really great flash capabilities.” Ouch. No love for S60 handsets? Maemo tablets? Fair enough. Hit the read link to check out the demo and prepare to drool over the Hero even more than you already did this morning.

Read

When it comes to branding, marketing, advertising, PR and the general concepts surrounding efforts to sell stuff, Apple is one of the best in the business — hands down. Love Apple products or hate them, there’s really no question it knows how design an attractive product and make it even more attractive using marcom. As such, the company is always meticulous with the messages it delivers, the wording it chooses and the quality of its marketing/advertising — well, almost always.

Its latest product, the iPhone 3GS, is a smash hit. It launched this past Friday in fewer countries than the iPhone 3G did last year and still managed to sell over a million handsets in its opening weekend — more units than its predecessor in fact. Remarkable. There is a major fault in Apple’s new handset however, that we likely wouldn’t have seen under Stevo’s watch: the branding. Yes, we’re sure Jobs played a major role in naming the device and we can’t believe “3GS” is what the crew in Cupertino landed on but considering how peculiar and unfriendly to search engines the name is, one would think the company would take particular care in referring to the handset. Nope. According to Apple, the official name of its new handset is “iPhone 3GS”. Fair enough. Take a look at Apple’s website at the time of this writing however, and you’ll find no less than a hundred references to the “iPhone 3G S” — with a space between the “3G” and the “S”. Crazy. This is also how the handset was presented when it was introduced earlier this month: “3G S”.

To be honest, we can’t remember ever having seen Apple fail so massively in this department. It may seem trivial but companies take branding extremely seriously for several reasons and all of these reasons play key roles in the marketing/sales processes. Apple is cleaning up its site and changing “3G S” to “3GS” but even now there are still a few omissions. The screen cap above was taken this morning and it shows less than a quarter of a page with four mistakes alone.

So welcome back, Mr. Jobs. Time to get to work.

Are you enjoying your brand new iPhone 3G S? Did you get a 16GB or a 32GB? Well, that won’t matter if people are experiencing what we are. There seems to a problem with sound files on the 3G S and the result after they’re triggered. After they are done playing — like the unlock sound, SMS sound, for instance — the iPhone emits a high-frequency tone. No, we’re not kidding. Something pretty high around 15KHz. We’ve confirmed this isn’t a local isolated issue with our phone, and since some people can’t hear these types of high-pitched tones, your iPhone might produce it yet you’d never notice.

We’re 99% sure it’s software related because if you set the phone to vibrate, big surprise, no high-pitched tone. So, anyone out there experiencing this? It’s amazing this was skipped over in the many reviews published, but oh well. Hopefully Apple fixes it soon because this is kind of painful and pretty outrageous. Hit us up and let us know!

It’s no secret that we had our issues with Nokia’s 5800 XpressMusic, but has the Nokia N97 changed our minds? It is, after all, their flagship device and is packed to the rim with goodies. We already said the Touch Pro2 was the best Windows Mobile device to come out of HTC, is the N97 the Pro2’s match for the Symbian world? Hit the breakage for the review and what we thought!

Keyboard:

It’s hilarious that when Nokia finally listens and tries to make a somewhat normal QWERTY keyboard layout (we bitched and moaned that the Z key was always incorrectly right under the A key on previous devices) they mess it up even more. Like honestly, you’re expecting people to use something with the spacebar key stage right? If the layout isn’t bad enough, the keys certainly are. While the texture of the keys is actually pretty stirring, there’s absolutely positively the smallest tactile feedback imaginable when pressing in a key. For comparisons sake, the T-Mobile G1, whose keys aren’t the best in that department, is worlds better than the N97’s keyboard. It’s really disappointing because Nokia just can’t seem to nail this keyboard area. You could argue that there’s a virtual on-screen keyboard, but that’s so useless we’re not going to entertain the idea of you bringing it up.

Screen:

Man… this is a tough area. Some people are going to viciously attack us for saying this, but, is this the best you can do Nokia? If it is, you’re out of touch with the entire cell phone world because this is one of the most disappointing screens we’ve seen in a long, long time. Besides being a poor resistive touchscreen with good resolution — it’s poor because they try and allow it to decipher touch actions separately from select actions — it looks like there’s a weave pattern behind the display. It gets really infuriatingly annoying. We’re assuming it’s the digitizer, but seriously, learn how to make a touch display. This isn’t 2003. Every single flagship phone has a display 10x better than yours. If you want us to break them down because you’re too out of touch to realize it, we’re glad to do so:

• HTC’s Dream and Magic — wonderful bright and crisp capacitive displays
• RIM’s BlackBerry Storm — awesomely vibrant capacitive display
• Palm’s Pre — packed tight with resolution, vivid and capacitive
• Apple’s iPhone 3G/3G S — an amazingly accurate clear capacitive display with incredible accuracy

Noticing a trend here?

Hardware / Build quality:

Nokia has been around the block for a long, long time. They’ve had their share of hiccups, but man… they know how to make a phone and make it solid. And a sexy phone at that. The N97 might feel lighter than you’d expect at first, but it really has a quality feel all around. The metal bezel is actually plastic and is probably the cheapest-feeling part of the device. But all in all, the build quality is top notch and we shouldn’t expect anything less from the world market leader Nokia. The 5 megapixel camera also doesn’t disappoint — just what you’re used to if you’re a Nokia Nseries fan.

Feel:

This is kind of the same as build quality in a way, because the feel of the device will change depending on the build quality, but the overall feel of the Nokia N97 in your hand is a pleasant one for the most part. Not a huge fan of the matte finish/texture on the back of the device, but button placements are very standard Nokia and comfortable. Power button on top, dedicated two-stage camera shutter key, volume keys, etc.

Connectivity:

This is the second Nokia handset with tri-band HSDPA and it’s awesome they’ve finally come around. In addition to the UMTS sex appeal, you’ve also got a quad-band EDGE radio, Bluetooth 2.0, an FM transmitter (yep, it will allow you to tune to a radio station and listen to your music), A-GPS, and Wi-Fi all built in. Very, very cool.

Phone calling / speakerphone:

There’s no if, ands or buts about it — Nokia seriously knows how to make for some damn good voice calling. Their radios are usually on point (besides the disastrous Nokia E71-2 scenario and we guess some 5800 problems), but for the most part it doesn’t get much better than Nokia. Some could argue RIM is almost on Nokia’s level in terms of RF performance and voice quality, but Nokia, in our view still has a slight edge. Phone calls made with the N97 were loud and sounded bright instead of dull like some phones we’ve been testing. Callers reported to hear us just fine and sometimes thought we were calling from a land line phone.

One thing that’s funny about Nokia is that their speakerphones range from horrible to pretty good. We’d say the N97’s is right in the middle. It’s no where as loud or clear as the Touch Pro2’s but it’s decent enough to be used. Anyone ever had a Nokia phone where the ear speaker was louder than the actual speakerphone? We have!

Usability:

Here’s one fairly large issue for us — the slide/flip up screen. The mechanism is actually very well-built, but it’s the angle of the screen and the non-adjustableness (forgive us) that get us going. For instance, to see the screen at the perfect angle when flipped up means that the keyboard is going to be pointing straight up at the ceiling. Wait, what? Yeah — you can barely use the keyboard comfortably when navigating through on screen applications and the like. It might not be a big deal for some, but for a keyboard that it feels like your typing on a pad of Post Its, it’s a big deal for anyone remotely interested in typing something.

The directional pad also suffers from the same issue as we mentioned earlier in the keyboard section — zero feedback. It’s unfortunate but it really doesn’t enable you to accurately navigate as well as it should. As far things like home screen widgets go, they’re cool. But just because you have live widgets on your home screen doesn’t mean people will overlook how out of date and poorly designed S60 is becoming. It’s almost like Nokia keeps bandaging the OS up and it’s starting to get more and more difficult to use and less and less relevant.

Conclusion:

Nokia tried really hard here, but to be honest, speaking from my personal opinion, the second I saw the N97 announcement I skipped right over it in my head. I’m the biggest N95-4 fan you’ll find — but S60 5th Edition with a resistive screen, horrible keyboard and horrible navigational buttons? No thank you. The problem with the Nokia N97 is — and please don’t take this the wrong way — that this exact phone could have been launched 2 years ago and no one would have blinked. What other phone can you take out of it’s current place, drop back two years, and have no one question where it came from? Take the Palm Pre for better or worse, and bring it back to 2007. People would have heart attacks. What about the iPhone? Well, you know how that turned out. BlackBerry Storm? People would have broken through glass to get it. But, no one really would care about the N97 and that, besides not being a device we enjoyed using, is the larger issue. Nokia has lost its place in the sun when looking at the consumer smartphone market and until they get back on track, RIM, Apple, Windows Mobile, Palm and Android are going to continue eating more and more of their lunch.

With the ever-increasing popularity of handsets like the iPhone, Pre, Curve, Storm and so on, US mobile users are clearly warming up to devices tied to unlimited data plans. In fact, many would argue that owning a smartphone without unlimited data is mind boggling. In July of 2008, Nielsen estimated that 14 percent of US wireless subscribers had unlimited data plans. Following the tremendous success of devices like the iPhone 3G and BlackBerry Storm, we’re certain this number has ballooned since Nielsen’s report. Considering there are over 275 million wireless subscribers here in the US, we’re probably looking at somewhere around 50 million unlimited data plan-toting people currently gobbling up the nation’s wireless bandwidth.

Devices by RIM, Apple and Palm take advantage of unlimited data plans and keep a data connection alive at all times. Why wouldn’t they? This active data connection allows apps to go from dormant to useful with minimal delay — when it comes to UX of course, every millisecond counts. Enter S60 devices. Because the US is pretty low on the totem pole when it comes to Nokia’s target markets, S60 handles data differently. Abroad of course, unlimited data plans are not in abundance as they are here. Data is more expensive so every kilobit counts. As such, S60 handsets leave it up to applications to initiate a new data session each time they need to communicate. Since data sessions are then closed when an app is done communicating, users save money by minimizing throughput. Abroad, this is a great cost-saving feature. In the US, it’s merely a burden.

Since BGR HQ just took on a few new Nokia handsets, we were promptly reminded of S60’s connectivity data connectivity issues. As it happens however, a Nokia rep alerted us to a solution. Buried deep within the device settings where even most S60 power users we discussed the matter with couldn’t find it, there is a simple setting that can be adjusted to keep your data connection alive. On your S60 handset go to Settings -> Connection -> Packet Data, change “When Needed” to “When Available” and then key in your Access Point. You’ll now find that your handset keeps a data connection alive and when you launch data-dependant apps, they will spring to life much faster than before. Of course battery life will be affected to some extent, but you’ll have to decide which you value more: longevity where battery life is concerned or efficiency where usage is concerned. Unfortunately, it’s a choice S60 users are currently forced to make.

HTC has been seriously the little (now big) engine that could. Does anyone even remember what the T-Mobile Pocket PC (Wallaby) looked like? Now the number one Windows Mobile manufacturer in the world, they show no signs of stopping — they even added Android to their portfolio. But let’s be honest, you’re here to check out the much-awaited update to the viciously popular HTC Touch Pro, the HTC Touch Pro2. So let’s get to steppin’, hit the jump and find out what we really think of the TP2.

Design:

Design is always going to be subjective, right? But you can most of the time appreciate a phone’s industrial design even if it’s not something you’d drop a wad of cash on. The Touch Pro2 is probably one of the sexiest Windows Mobile devices we’ve ever seen. Rounded edges, chrome bezel, huge screen, minimalistic buttons — all great things. What’s even more exciting, however, is that the design is completely functional. There’s not one single thing the designers did that gets in the way of real usability and let’s face it, this device is really the high-end corporate user’s dream device, so there shouldn’t be any complaints in this department.

Hardware / Keyboard:

It’s really exciting to watch newer products being released but it’s a little bit more exciting to see evolutions of previous handsets morph into something else. HTC told us that people really missed not having the tilting screen of the HTC TyTN II so they incorporated that back in. Additionally, people thought the HTC Touch Pro was a little too small and cramped, so they practically made the Touch Pro2 a HTC Touch HD with slide-out QWERTY. And oh man, what a slide-out QWERTY it is. Shaquille O’Neal himself (also a very happy TweetGenius user, might we add) would have zero problems typing on this thing. The keys are very, very spacious and have a great feel to them. It’s a plastic feel which is totally fine (even if they are really made out of aluminum), because it’s a quality feel. Something Palm should learn a thing or two from.

On a different note, have we mentioned how absolutely incredible HTC’s new soft keyboard is? Anyone using an HTC Magic or who has installed a non-Google build on their Android device (not a Google version) will know what we’re talking about. It’s almost as good as the iPhone’s keyboard and this is coming from using it on a resistive screen. Really top notch stuff here.

Screen:

If there was a such thing as the world’s greatest, the Touch Pro2’s screen would surely be in the running. It probably wouldn’t win, though. It’s really something HTC has no control over, but the fact that this is a resistive screen as opposed to a capacitive screen is a major strike against it. Really, they can’t do anything about it since Windows Mobile practically makes you use a fingernail to hit menu options. Once you accept the screen is resistive, though, it’s a damn good one. Unlike the Touch Pro where the screen wasn’t as responsive as everyone wished, the Touch Pro2’s screen is incredibly sensitive and responsive — paging through screens, sliding through TouchFLO menus and the like are all smooth as butter.

The actual resolution of the display is 800×480 and it’s a whopping 3.6″ measured diagonally. In addition to being highly responsive, it’s vivid, bright, clear and crisp.

TouchFLO 3D:

We have touched on TouchFLO 3D in many different sections of this review as you have read and will read below. But, to focus on just TouchFLO 3D, a lot has been added since the Touch Diamond and Touch Pro. For starters, it’s finally landscape! If that wasn’t enough, HTC has gone ahead and built upon the Touch HD’s TF3D by adding in a Stocks page, revamped Weather page and a new Calendar page. All extremely welcome additions.

Phone:

What good is a phone if the phone doesn’t work? While voice calling in very old versions of Windows Mobile was a pain in the ass, Windows Mobile 6/6.1 has made it bearable. Luckily HTC’s TouchFLO interface makes it rather enjoyable. Anyone who has used a recent HTC device knows this pretty well, but on the software side, everything is cleanly laid out. Your recent call log is integrated with the dialpad, and you have the option to flip between a standard voice call and a video call. Don’t get excited; that’s for international users only because it’s a carrier-supported feature.

As far as the hardware goes, calls we made and received came through loud and clear. Literally. The ear speaker on the TP2 is a little bit higher than you’d anticipate but you get used to it very quickly and it proved to work without any issues. Volume on the in ear speaker was sufficient enough to provide audible call quality on the streets of New York City and our callers could hear us quite well, too.

Messaging:

HTC has excelled at making Windows Mobile a more-usable platform. What in the hell would the world look like without it? What’s more interesting with the latest version of TouchFLO is the messaging integration. In addition to having phone calling, you’ve now got access to your entire communication history with all of your contacts. Once you click on a specific contact, you’re able to see all the recent calls, all recent emails, all recent text messages, and even Facebook updates all in a neat and clean interface. It’s rather remarkable.

Integration of these features isn’t just skin deep either — you can even click on a contact’s thumbnail image in an email and start a conference call that way as an example. Really cool stuff that’s incredibly useful.

Speakerphone / Conference calling:

This is one of the big selling points of the new Touch Pro2 — the speakerphone and Straight Talk. The brilliant part of HTC’s heavily-customized TouchFLO interface is what they’ve been able to do with conference calling. You can literally just hit 4, or even 5 numbers or contacts, and instantly, the Touch Pro2 will transform from a phone, to a mobile conference room and conference all parties together. You’ll also get options to individually drop certain parties from the call while it’s in progress. But, look, what good is some bad ass conference calling software without some business-grade speakerphone action? As soon as you flip the handset over so the screen is face down on your desk (or whatever surface really), the call will instantly change over to speakerphone. Ok, cool, we guess. Most speakerphones suck and you can barely hear them. Not here, though. Besides being super loud and clear for you to listen to, the Touch Pro2 has got dual microphones. One for noise-cancelling and one to actually pickup your voice for uh, talking. This makes for an absolutely wonderful conference calling experience — it’s the best we’ve ever used on a mobile phone. Plus, if that wasn’t enough, there’s a dedicated mute button right in the middle of the speaker so you can hurl insults and nasty words at your boss while he’s talking. While muted, of course.

Battery life:

The TouchPro2 ships with a large 1500mAh battery and it’s pretty good. HTC quotes talk time over a UMTS connection at a whopping six and half hours. Unfortunately, since our review unit is a Euro-spec unit, we weren’t able to participate in sexy 3G-calling voice tests. Their quoted EDGE talk times are listed at about eight and half hours, and we can pretty much say those numbers are incredibly close to being accurate.

On EDGE and Wi-Fi, our unit constantly got us through a full day of work. This included heavy email using a Microsoft Exchange Server with ActiveSync configured, a ton of web browsing using Opera and Skyfire, staying logged into IM with BeeJive for Windows Mobile, and some light to medium voice calling. On 3G, however, we’re pretty sure our battery life would have been reduced by at least 35%, let’s say. That’s an estimate, but a pretty conservative one. To make two paragraphs short: the Touch Pro2 has very good battery life but your usage patterns will obviously vary, thus your battery will as well.

Connectivity:

It’s pretty much a standard nowadays for any high-end device; quad-band GSM/EDGE, tri-band UMTS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 or higher and GPS. Unfortunately, the Touch Pro2 we reviewed didn’t have three UMTS bands, just two. These are the 900/2100MHz UMTS/HSPA bands that are incompatible with North America’s 3G bands. Since 3G is such a standard feature in today’s world, we couldn’t enjoy the TP2 as much as we’d have liked to. Don’t fret, though — when you get your own Touch Pro2 you’ll be pleased as punch with all the connectivity options loaded in here.

Minor annoyances:

There’s a few things that aren’t quite perfect here. The camera, while being a decent 3.2 megapixel sensor, didn’t get upgraded like the Touch Diamond2 did. We would have loved for a 5 megapixel shooter in here. Additionally HTC has removed the flash module. Handset makers don’t get it twisted — leave the motherloving flash in your phones.

This isn’t much of an annoyance since the hardware works quite well, but in fairness we figured we should point out that the Touch Pro2 actually runs more of the less the same internal hardware as the original Touch Pro did. It’s not a bad thing like we said, but anyone hoping for a major spec bump, you won’t really find it here.

Lastly, there isn’t a directional pad anymore on the front of the device. This isn’t the worst thing to happen, but it was really nice having that on the front part of the Touch Pro to make navigating a little bit easier. The trade off is that the screen is obviously larger which does help when using touch selections as opposed to hardware keys.

Conclusion:

It’s pretty apparent that there will be an HTC Touch Pro2 in your own carrier’s flavor pretty soon. In the U.S. alone, just from leaked photos and information floating around, T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon will all get their own version of the device. What’s even better is that they will all be roughly the same. The keyboards won’t range from usable to world’s dumbest configuration (cough, Touch Pro, cough) and we have a feeling the physical exterior will be pretty close to the stock HTC units as well.

This is an incredibly interesting summer, though. You’ve got this device, the Nokia N97, the Palm Pre, the iPhone 3G S, the Google G2, and a bunch more handsets to choose from. How will you make up your mind? Form factors are pretty similar with the aforementioned devices. Most have a physical QWERTY slide-out or flip up, and all have on screen keyboards except for the Palm Pre. We can’t say that one OS is better than the other for your taste and usage, but we can confidently recommend the Touch Pro2 as the best Windows Mobile device in the world. That might not make your decision any easier, but as long as you’re considering a Windows Mobile phone, the Touch Pro2 is going to be the reigning champ for a long, long time. Or at least until HTC releases the Touch Pro3.

Regardless of what phone you end up choosing, one thing is 100% certain, folks. It’s going to be a hot summer.

With rumors of a Sprint-bound tri-mode CDMA/WiFi/WiMAX handset gaining traction, we thought it might be a good time to talk about what is as opposed to what could be. Sure, a tri-mode handset would be amazing but without official word from Sprint it’s still just speculation. 3G is so 2000 and late, Sprint is the only carrier with a live 4G network here in the US… So what’s up? Hit the jump for a full assessment of where Sprint 4G is at right now and where it’s confirmed to be going in the near future.

The following markets are live or will be live before 2009 is out, according to Sprint (alphabetical order):

• Atlanta
• Baltimore
• Chicago
• Charlotte
• Dallas/Ft. Worth
• Honolulu
• Las Vegas
• Philadelphia
• Portland
• Seattle

At least the following markets will launch in 2010, according to Sprint:

• New York
• Boston
• Washington, DC
• Houston
• San Francisco Bay Area

As far as hardware goes, the dual mode U300 is currently available and it supports both 3G and 4G. Other devices Sprint has stated will reach market throughout 2009 and 2010 include a single-mode 4G data card, embedded laptops, “Small-office-home-office devices”, 4G personal hotspot devices and a 4G phone. In other words, things have most definitely been slow going but Sprint finally appears to be kicking things into high gear. In fact, the company is poised to have a substantial 4G network in place with a respectable portfolio of devices before the competition even gets its feet off the ground. 4G personal hotspot? Yes, please.

Yesterday, news that the Palm Pre was capable of synchronizing content with iTunes hit just about every tech and gadget blog on the planet. In fact, it even reached mainstream media blogs that typically shy away from little tidbits. Really? Fair enough — it’s pretty cool for Pre proponents to know that their future handsets will sync with iTunes out of the box. The level of excitement over this story got us thinking though… If people are this excited that the Pre can sync with iTunes, does that mean they think many current handsets cannot sync with iTunes?

If the answer is yes, that is most definitely not the case. While it is indeed true that many handsets lack the ability to sync with iTunes out of the box, it’s 2009, people — there’s an app for that. There are many, many solutions for syncing your phone with iTunes in fact; from OEM and Apple-sourced solutions to third party plug-ins and utilities. Here at BGR we have two apps in particular that we are fond of, both developed by third-parties: iTunes Agent for Windows PCs and iTuneMyWalkman for Mac.

Without getting too into the particulars, both of these awesome free applications allow you to sync iTunes with any device capable of connecting as a drive. Smartphones, dumb phones, flash drives or even digital cameras if you’re so inclined — if it has a mass storage mode, you can sync it. Several OEM options are a bit cleaner in terms of appearance and dedicated functionality but none are as universal the aforementioned apps. Since we go through phones like they’re candy, we can’t be bothered with 10 different OEM sync solutions. Even if you only get a new phone every year though, why bother with learning new sync software if you change brands? So, if you’ve been looking for a way to sync your phone with iTunes quickly, easily and even automatically, definitely give our recomendations a shot and let us know what you think.

We’ve been getting an enormous response to the news that Best Buy’s Palm Pres will go for $100 less (well, basically) and we hit up Best Buy to try and get some answers on various questions you guys have been asking. Straight Talk Express style. Hit the jump for some possibly valuable info that could save your ass from going home without webOS in your pants.

Scott Anderson, director of merchandising at Best Buy Mobile took some time out to clarify the following for us:

Q: First off, what’s up with the stock situation? Forget rumors, Dan Hesse himself has said there’s probably a greater chance of getting a nice Sprint customer service rep than nailing a Pre on launch day. How’s Best Buy’s stock going to be?

A: Like most of the significant handset launches, we expect inventory to be in limited supply for the first 4-8 weeks.

Q: What about preorders? A lot of people are incredibly excited over the Palm Pre and that the device will be available at Best Buy with an “instant” mail-in-rebate. Will you guys be doing any preorders, reservations, etc? How will you deal with long lines if there are some?

A: The addition of the Palm Pre expands our already large assortment of smartphones. We are excited about the opportunity to present consumers with many choices and solutions as they look to meet their individual mobile technology needs. Best Buy Mobile is initiating a “ticketing process” beginning on June 6.  Meaning, if any store were to sell through all of its inventory, the store would begin to log customer names in an effort to prioritize them for the next shipment’s arrival.

Q: Ok, cool. Will every Best Buy location be selling the Pre or is there a “limited” launch like we reported a little while back?

A: Every Best Buy Mobile store that offers Sprint phones, which is nearly 1,000 stores, will have the Pre.

So there you have it folks. If you have any additional questions hit us in the comments and we’ll try and pass them on. You can also stop by Best Buy Mobile for free upgrade checks to see if you’re eligible for a new smartphone. That will help to speed things up on launch day, you know, if you’re the nice person type.

We just got a tip from a very proven tipster who informed us that Palm and Sprint were set to make a big announcement in the Wall Street Journal on May 19th. They said that there’s a very good chance of Palm and Sprint announcing the Pre release date then. Confusing, eh? Well, if we were betting boys, our money would be on Tuesday the 19th. We will soon see!