The advantage that the new network would give them over their competition is the fact that they would be able to bundle all of their services together. So far, they offer a number of disjointed services including television, Internet, home phone, Sim free Samsung Galaxy Tab and even some home security solutions. In the statement that was released today by Kelvin Shepherd, the President of MTS, he said that he was going to be giving users the opportunity to sign up for a number of new offerings that are bundled together, and promised that their new offerings would be ones that “no other service provider in Manitoba can match.”

The upgrade was announced quite some time ago and has been a long time coming. It is certainly a big step forward for users in the Manitoba area and should supply increased speed and connectivity for users in that area. MTS will continue to support devices that run on their current CDMA network for quite some time, and are not planning on dropping those coverages any time soon. Users should be thrilled about this news and in the future will probably have some very interesting packages to look forward to.

PureMobile carries a wide range of mobile phone accessories and phones such as Sim Free HTC Desire HD, Samsung Galaxy Tab etc.

In a recent interview with Steve Walker, the global head of marketing for the company, he said that their first Android devices including the Sim Free Sony Ericsson X10 and X10 mini were devices that they released to test the waters, and that, looking back, they know that they were a learning experience that they are going to have to deal with for quite some time.

Walker also went on to say that the company did not anticipate how popular Android would become with the consumer base. With last year being the first year that Android was as viable of a platform as it has become, their first handsets were perhaps a little bit behind in terms of strength and capability. Now, the company is looking forward to how they can and will change the way that they tackle the Android platform through the release of some very popular phones.

“The hardware played second fiddle,” he said regarding the X10 and Sim Free Sony Ericsson X10 Mini. Now, the company is looking to have the hardware play the supposed first fiddle and be their main selling point for future Android releases from Sony Ericsson. It will be interesting to see if they make any other huge smart phone announcements in the coming weeks for devices that run on the Android platform. With CES firmly in our sites, you can bet on a small dry spell moving forward.

If you are looking to get your hands on this newest device from Nokia you are going to have to be a little patient as the N8 is not scheduled to be released until the third quarter.  However, when the N8 does finally hit the shelves it is expected to carry a price tag around $494.

While the Nokia N8 is set to be one of the pricier handsets on the market when it is finally released it will also be one of the highest quality mobile devices that you can buy.  The 12 megapixel camera is just crazy when compared to other similar mobile devices.  Combined with a 16GB storage capacity you can certainly take a lot of high quality pictures with this mobile device.  Throw in the HD recording and WebTV and this will be a high powered smartphone that is capable of making more than just phone calls.  Even with the high price tag I expect the Nokia N8 to be a big hit with all of these loaded features when it is finally released sometime during the third quarter of 2010.

While it would be pretty crazy for Microsoft to sue one of its biggest and most important hardware manufacturers for patent infringement HTC is taking no chances by purchasing the Microsoft license.  It is rather unfortunate that HTC has to pay Microsoft royalties in order to use Google’s operating system these recent developments may be more of an indictment on Google than the other mobile device manufacturers. 

By forcing their Windows Mobile/Windows Phone partners to purchase a license to run Google’s Android platform Microsoft is leaving open the option of a lawsuit with Google itself down the line.  While this is a rather unfortunate turn of events for other companies such as HTC it is a nasty necessity if they want to utilize the Android platform without further possible lawsuits from Microsoft.  The cost of the Microsoft licenses far outweighs the potential damage that could be caused by a lawsuit for patent infringement.

In car navigation will also be covered with the Garmin Asus A10 as the mobile device will come with a dashboard mount as well.  The mount will have speakers built in which will allow for amplification of the device’s voice commands making it easy to hear and understand.  While Garmin Asus has not revealed all of the details about the A10 it is expected to come with a 5 megapixel camera as well.  The Garmin Asus A10 is expected to be available in Europe in mid 2010.  There has been no word as of yet of how much this new mobile device will cost.

If you are constantly on the go and walking around a big city or taking public transportation the Garmin Asus A10 might just be the mobile device you have been looking for.  You will never need to use battery draining mobile apps again to find your way around a big, unfamiliar city.  With the Garmin Asus A10 and its built in preexisting map feature you will not have to drain as much battery life while you use your mobile device to find your way around town.  I will be extremely interested to see what other features are included with this very mobile handheld device and if it will give the Nexus One a run for its money.

While LG has been busy launching these two new mobile devices Samsung has also been working on a new Android device themselves.  Samsung just announced its first Android powered smartphone for the Korean market with the Galaxy A, otherwise known as the SHW-M100S.  This mobile device is set to ship with Android 2.1, a 3.7 inch WVHA AMOLED display, 720 MHz CPU, mobile TV onboard, DivX playback, a 5 megapixel camera, HD video recording, A-GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi.  Availability on the SK Telecom network is scheduled for the end of this month.

Judging by the specs of the these three new mobile devices the Korean market is set to get their hands on some high quality Android devices.  The Samsung device appears to have the best features with their 720 MHz CPU, 5 megapixel camera and HD video recording.  While the Galaxy A may be the most powerful device out of the three the two devices from LG are certainly not lacking in high quality smartphone features.  The 3.5 inch WVGA display and DMB mobile TV will be sure to excite many consumers in the Korean market.

It has been a long time coming for these smartphone manufacturers to release new Android devices to the Korean market LG and Samsung appear to have set the bar pretty high with this latest trio of Android smartphones.

While the release of the Nexus One Vodafone is a little bit anticlimactic with the release of the Incredible in the United States I am sure that there are a few Brits out there that have been waiting for a while to get their hands on one of the Android devices from Nexus One. 

There will be varying levels of contracts available for British subscribers.  The Nexus One is expected to be available for an 18 or 24 month contract with prices starting at 25 pounds per month.  Also, it looks like there will be 1GB of 3G data allowance that is included with a 1GB WiFi allowance via BT Openzone hotspots.  While these are not exactly the best price plans I have come across it is hard to complain when you can get this great mobile device for no money up front.

For all of the smartphone junkies in Britain this announcement that the Nexus One is set to launch in the UK on the Vodafone network will come as pleasant news.  Google has been a little slow in rolling out some of their top end Android devices in the UK but have finally come around to releasing one of their most popular devices with the Nexus One.  This great handheld device will surely attract more customers to the ever growing Android market and is poised to help Google continue its growth in the mobile device community.  Maybe the HTC Pure will show up next.

This is a great new contest that the people at Snaptic are putting on.  While obesity continues to become a larger and larger problem in this country it is very rare that we will look to our mobile devices, like the Nexus One,  to help us get out and exercise more.  Sure there are already a few apps out there that are designed to make exercising easier and thus more likely to happen but there are no apps currently designed to get people to exercise regularly.

I certainly applaud Snaptic for their initiative here with this new contest they are putting together.  It would be great if this project set off a whole new line of Android apps that were designed to get people outside and exercising more frequently.  Since smartphones are becoming such a huge part of our every day lives it only makes sense to try and include some sort of applications that will help people better themselves and get into shape.  Of all of the various ways we are trying to fight obesity this is one of the more creative things I have seen.  I think this is a great idea and can not wait to see what type of apps are developed so that I can use them myself to help push me to get outside and exercise this spring and summer.

At its recent WES conference RIM unveiled the all new Pearl 3G.  This new device which is being rumored as the Pearl 9100 becomes the very first RIM device with 802.11n WiFi support.  The new Pearl 3G also features a 3.2 megapixel camera, 256MB of internal storage with microSD expansion up to 32GB, GPS, triband HSDPA with quadband GSM / EDGE, and a 360 x 400 display. 

RIM is also making this new device available in “several lustrous colors” and two different keypad configurations a numeric 14 key and more traditional SurePress 20-key.  However, there is no indication that the rumored QWERTY version will actually make it to retail or that the company intends for users to be able to swap modules themselves. 

Consumers can expect the phone to launch with various carriers in May.  Since the devices have both AWS and 850 / 1900MHz 3G versions I would expect to see this mobile device launched on the AT&T and T-Mobile networks.

Since the original BlackBerry Pearl was so popular and lasted on the market virtually unchanged I would expect much of the same from RIM and their new Pearl 3G.  After seeing what the different specs were going to be for these new devices I think it is safe to predict that the new Pearl 3G will be just as successful as its predecessor if not more so.  Being a part of the 3G network will be a big boost to this already fantastic mobile device.

If you share in my pain then you may be just as excited as I am about the upcoming release of Android 2.2.  According to a user over at 4chan Android 2.2 is set to come equipped with the ability to allow automatic updating.  This is even better news than a mass updating feature that I was hoping for.  Now Android users will not have to touch anything with their apps and they will be able to update automatically.  While having the ability to multi-select which apps you would like to see updated does have its own functionality this feature of downloading an app and turning on the automatic updating seems to be much more user friendly.  Having that ability to “set it and forget it” will be a great feature if it is actually going to be included in the latest Android 2.2 release.  I know I am certainly hoping that the days of manually updating each of my apps one by one are a thing of the past and automatic app updates are a way of the future, even for the Nexus One.