Gizmodo Australia » release

Why Has The BlackBerry Storm 2 Unveiling Been So Weird?

Dan Nosowitz — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:00:00 +0000

The BlackBerry Storm 2 is the followup to Verizon’s most buzzed-about phone of last year—so why has the announcement been so halfassed, weird and clumsy? And, more importantly, where the hell is Verizon?

The Storm 2 is one of the most leaked phones I can remember, starting way back in April, and yet the rollout has been handled with the dexterity of a walrus performing surgery. Basically, Verizon hasn’t given the Storm 2 the go-ahead from its TA (technical acceptance) process, and seems unwilling to formally announce the phone until that happens—why, we don’t know, since RIM already popped it on their site. Further, the review units have been trickling out rather than flooding, resulting in only a few actual reviews (Mossberg’s weird non-announcement announcement certainly does not count as a review).

CrackBerry has a theory on why the release of the Storm 2 has been so surprisingly sloppy, although it’s certainly no excuse. CrackBerry mostly puts the blame on Verizon’s TA system, for not passing the Storm 2 soon enough, and on RIM for delivering an unfinished OS on the hardware which would result in a slower approval. Check out their take here. [CrackBerry]

Google Makes Wave With Limited Release

Chris Oaten — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:25:13 +0000

If you haven’t caught on to the phenomenon that is Google Wave, it’s probably about time you did. It’s Google’s game-changing application combining email, live collaboration and messaging, which goes only a small way towards explaining its potential. About 100,000 people have been invited to its beta workout. Here’s a snippet from Attack of the Show, via Techcrunch, that might help bring Wave’s potential into focus.

The 3G iPhone Is Official

Mark Wilson — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:32:07 +0000

Just now at WWDC, Steve Jobs confirmed the long-rumoured 3G iPhone. People said they wanted 3G and 56% said it was too expensive. “Today we’re introducing the iPhone 3G.”

Here are the additional key details, updated as they’re announced:

Key Features:
Charcoal Back
Solid Metal Buttons
Same 3.5″ Display
Camera
Flush Headphone Jack
Dramatically Improved Audio

3G Advantage
Showing a EDGE vs 3G comparison loading a webpage, 3G took 21 seconds. EDGE…waiting…waiting…uhh…59 seconds! Same phone, same location. 2.8X faster – and they claim loads webpages faster than Nokia N95 (33 seconds) or Treo 750 (34 seconds).

Battery Life
5-6 hours of browing
24 hours of audio battery

And GPS!

And it’s coming to 70 countries over the “next several months.”

More Affordable
$199 for 8GB

Rumour: 3G iPhone Launching In June On Optus

Nick Broughall — Thu, 22 May 2008 01:06:14 +0000

The guys from Current.com.au obviously got more out of CeBIT than I did – apparently somebody on the Optus stand told them that the 3G iPhone would be launching in June.

Not only that, but apparently it will cost around about the $700 mark.

Considering that officially, both Optus and Vodafone have been keeping very quiet on the whole iPhone front (probably from fear of evil Steve Jobs), this should be classed as rumour, but it does correlate with what our US brethren said yesterday about a worldwide June launch.

Who else can’t wait for WWDC just so we can know all the facts?

[Current.com.au - Thanks Adam!]

Rumour: iPhone Australian Release In June, Multiple Carriers, 3G

Nick Broughall — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 04:40:45 +0000

So. Very. Exciting. The Australian MacTalk Forums are reporting that Apple Australia has begun informing Apple resellers about their iPhone rollout plans.

The good news is that we’re looking at a 3G iPhone launched in the last week of June across multiple carriers and with no contract. Current resellers will also be able to sell the device, completely breaking with how the deal has been done in every other part of the world.

If this is true (and until it’s confirmed by Apple, consider it a rumour), it’s a fantastic end result for Australian consumers. The end of June date fits in perfectly with everything we’ve been hearing about a 3G iPhone too, and will coincide with the opening of Apple’s flagship Sydney store.

Having the iPhone across multiple carriers is the best option for Apple really – despite the fact that we Australians are rabid for new technology, we are only a fairly small market and shutting out a good percentage of your potential customers by locking them to a carrier isn’t good business sense.

Also allowing resellers to stock iPhones will increase their market share even more. Without a contract lock in, I’d expect to see deals at these resellers bundling an iPhone with a Mac for a special price.

In any case, we have to wait and see if this latest rumour is true. I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed – how about you?

[Australian MacTalk Forums - Thanks Andrew!]

Bill Gates Says Next Windows Coming Next Year or So

Jason Chen — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:17:26 +0000

A strange quote from Bill Gates today as he claims the next version of Windows, code-named Windows 7, is going to be released “sometime in the next year or so.” That’s way ahead of the previous estimates, which claimed Windows 7 was not going to be released in 2009 at all, but somewhere in 2010 or 2011.

A Microsoft flack covered for Bill by saying that a 2009 “release” was in line with their development cycle, and that test versions are usually put out before the actual release—which is totally not what we think Bill meant when he said “release”. What you should take away from this whole mess is that a development release is coming in 2009 (or so), and Bill Gates probably shouldn’t be making statements without checking with his people. [Reuters]