Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Dell seems to be continually offering new options on their Inspiron Mini 9 and the latest is sure to make plenty of people happy—an option for built in 3G.  The 3G option is unfortunately just for new orders and is only available on Windows XP based Mini 9s.  As for pricing, it will set you back $125 for the upgrade, which also requires you to sign up for AT&T’s DataConnect service.  The service is priced at $60 per month and requires a two-year agreement.  Of course, on the positive side, by signing that agreement you will be able to get $120 back in the form of a mail-in-rebate.  It is nice to see 3G begin to makes its way into netbooks here in the US, however at $60 a month I would prefer to have a tethering plan on my phone or just have a USB 3G solution, at least that way I would not be limited to just using the access on one notebook.

Product [Dell]

• Micro Center’s Black Friday 2008 weekend sales
• Black Friday deals round-up [updated]
• Sprint’s Cyber Monday deals: free Centro and 5 others

It looks like the Aspire One from Acer will be the next netbook to make the jump up to a 10-inch display model.  According to some recent statements by Acer Taiwan president Scott Lin, the new 10-inch Aspire One will be available sometime in February or March 2009.  Of course, just because he spilled the beans on the estimated launch date, does not he gave any good information on the specs.  The 10-inch model is rumored to carry the same features as the original Aspire One, except with the display now being 10-inches in size the casing will be slightly larger.  Hopefully, we will begin to see some other features in this model, such as the inclusion of 3G support on models released here in the US, but it looks like we are going to have to wait a bit longer to get that information.

Via [DigiTimes]

• Sony preparing a WWAN-equiped VAIO? The FCC says yes
• Micro Center’s Black Friday 2008 weekend sales
• Asus Eee PC 1002HA now available with US retailers

Originally, HP stated that a 3G-capable Mini 1000 would not be available until December.  However, at least one enterprising user seems to already have one in hand and already gotten the 3G working.  The details of this particular model are a little unclear, according to the forum posting, the user has a model #1033cl.  Based on some searching around, that model seems to be available only outside the US.  So, this is where it gets a little confusing, because he seems to be here in the US, as he mentioned that it is working on AT&T’s network. 

Now, is this a slip up on the part of HP, or are there more of these WWAN-equipped models out in-the-wild?  Fortunately, a quick check on the underside of your Mini 1000 will let you know if you have a WWAN-equiped netbook.  The slot (as pictured) can be found on the bottom and on the side of the battery slot.  Continued after the break.

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Yesterday, we learned that T-Mobile Germany customers would soon be getting the BlackBerry Curve 8900 for that nice low price of just 4.95 euros.  Now in some good news for those based here in the US, that same Curve 8900 has just made its FCC appearance.  While I would not expect such low pricing here, we can still hold out some hope.

As of now, this is nothing more than an FCC listing, which means RIM is simply playing the approval game.  We are still awaiting information regarding a release date as well as carrier information.  Although it is not expected to make a debut until sometime in Q1 of 2009, we have heard a rumor that it could be available with T-Mobile as early as Black Friday.  Of course, that is not to leave those with AT&T handing, because it is expected to be available there as well.  The Blackberry 8900 Curve will feature quad-band GSM/EDGE, a 3.2-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g , Bluetooth and GPS.

While initially I am a little disappointed by the lack of 3G support, perhaps it is important to point out that 3G may not be as necessary for everyone.  I have plenty of friends that are using a non-3G BlackBerry and are very happy with the speed, mainly because they use it for calendar and email and rarely go online.  Of course, I suppose if you are looking for that extra surfing speed, then the Bold would be the way to go, either way it looks like the Curve 8900 is going to make a welcomed addition.

Read [FCC]  Via [cellphonesignal]

• Sprint’s Cyber Monday deals: free Centro and 5 others
• Grab a Google Android G1 for $125
• Slacker 2GB WiFi player just $49 today only

RIM, along with T-Mobile Germany have just announced the availability of the BlackBerry Curve 8900.  The new Curve 8900 features a 480 x 360 resolution display, a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus, Wi-Fi, integrated GPS and a microSD card slot with support up to 16GB.

As for pricing, this is where the news becomes even better, the 8900 can be purchased for just EUR 4.95 (around $6.30 US) with a two-year agreement and EUR 359.90 (around $459 US) contract free.  As for a release, it is expected to begin shipping in mid-November.

The Curve 8900 offers a similar look as the BlackBerry Bold, but unlike the Bold it does not have any 3G support.  As of now, nothing has been stated as to when or if the Curve 8900 will be heading to the US market.  Of course, if it does get announced, the question becomes whether it will be available with T-Mobile or AT&T.  Personally I am hoping for AT&T, but either way it should make a welcomed addition, of course I am not sure we will see that low pricing from either carrier here in the US.

Read [MarketWire]

• Grab a Google Android G1 for $125
• Slacker 2GB WiFi player just $49 today only
• Sprint’s Cyber Monday deals: free Centro and 5 others

AT&T has added another of its “quick messaging phone” with the Quickfire.  This phone’s got 3G, a QWERTY keyboard, touch screen, and a 1.3 megapixel camera in a slider form factor. 

This new phone comes in colors: silver, lime, and orange.  With these kind of colors, AT&T doesn’t look like it’s aiming for business people.  The Quickfire is just a hair under $100 ($99.99).  Of course, that price requires a two-year agreement and actually sending in a mail-in rebate. 

The AT&T site has the Quickfire as “coming soon” and the actual product page is not filled out as of right now, but you can order one today on the AT&T site.

Read: [AT&T Press Release]
Product Page: [A&T Quickfire]

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The quality of cameras in phones has risen exponentially in the last few years from poor VGA to the fairly good 3 megapixel and beyond.  But there is always progress to be made, and Sony Ericsson have outlined some fairly ambitious aims in the release of their four year plan for smart phones; not only with cameras but other aspects of the phones as well.

However I will begin with cameras, and Ericsson’s vision is that by 2012 the cameras on phones will be capable of 20 megapixels and even the ability to shoot full HD video.  This is incredibly ambitious in four years, especially considering the current economic climate, but there is nothing to suggest that it cannot be done.  This will certainly have far reaching effects regarding home videos allowing near professional home films to be made via phone cameras, which would be pretty cool! 

Keep reading for more info on where Sony Ericsson plans to take phones.

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No kidding, right?  I think maybe everyone but Nokia saw it coming.  Or maybe they did too…just not at this drastic of a level. 

According to the popular market research firm Canalys, Nokia’s market share dropped down to 38.9 percent in the third quarter; which is down from 51.4 just a year earlier.  On the other hand, Apple jumped to 17.3 percent, and RIM increased to 15.2 the same quarter.

Canalys credits some of the Apple and RIM increases to new phones and new marketing strategies.  In a statement, the firm said “"The introduction of the iPhone 3G in July and Apple’s expansion into many more countries helped propel the vendor to second place globally.“  Continued.

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If you are looking around for some great, new cell phones you may want to consider checking out what T-Mobile has to offer this holiday season.  A few notable deals T-Mobile has going on are the availability of the new MOTOZINE ZN5, the T-Mobile Cameo, the Samsung Behold, the Samsung Gravity, the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220, the T-Mobile G1 (as expected), and they are even offering free plane tickets to any destination within the United States. 

Keep reading to find out more.

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Sections: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Gadgets / Other, Household, Imaging, Accessories, Web, Google

Is your G1’s 3G connection just a bit too slow for you?  7.2 Mbps moving at seemingly dial-up speeds?  T-Mobile has you covered—in at least 2 years, maybe more.  T-Mobile has announced that it will be skipping HSPA+ to go straight to 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE).  In the meantime, T-Mobile will upgrade the software to go up to 14.4 Mbps.

Okay, 4G LTE sounds impressive.  That’s 1 more G than the iPhone has, but that doesn’t mean anything unless you know what it can do.  According to a Sepember article from Reuters, when T-Mobile tested the network in a moving car on a German highway, it was able to get 170 Mbps for downloads and 50 Mbps for uploads.  To put that into perspective, the fastest I can get out of my FiOS line is 20 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload.  Needless to say, that’s quite an upgrade.  Continued after the break.

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