Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

The boys at BGR announced they are hearing word that Wal-Mart will have a 4GB version of the iPhone and sell it at a Wal-Mart-y low low price of $99.  A couple of commenters suggested they’d heard the same thing inside Wal-Mart.  If this is true, we are about to see some major changes.

Certainly there are those that suggest the data is fee is too high for Jonny Consumer, and that may be for some, but not most.  Here are the facts: the iPhone currently bests the Razr in volume; the iPhone is outselling Windows Mobile phones; 10,000 apps in the app store is a big draw all on its own.  Now, drop the entry fee to play and this party gets rolling.

MORE »

Genius.  Why trust the ability of the pizza franchise worker to jot down your order correctly when you can simply SMS your order in and be assured you get mushrooms and meatballs, not anchovies and steak tartar?  Apparently one out of five of us already are and this has forced Papa Johns, pizza purveyor, to start to focus on their new mobile site.

MORE »

Sections: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile, Gadgets / Other, Lifestyle, Web, Web Apps, Websites

Vlingo Corporation has introduced a free voice-based iPhone application called vlingo, that interacts with other iPhone applications.  It is not your run-of-the-mill voice-activated dialing app.

In addition to voice-dialing, you can also voice activate a Yahoo! or Google search, a Google Map search, and even update your status on Twitter and Facebook.  You simply open the vlingo application, press and hold the “press and speak” button on your screen, and then say whatever it is you want to search for or update.  Vlingo claims that users can speak normally—that is, no special commands are necessary for vlingo to work.  It will be interesting to see how well this works in everyday use.

Read [vlingo]

• The disruptive spectre of a $99 Wal-Mart iPhone
• “20% of pizza orders coming from SMS and online” - Papa John
• Filefront giving away 20,000 beta keys for Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine

Sections: Apple, Communications, Cellphones, Mobile, Web, Downloads, Web 2.0

Ever since Microsoft acquired Danger, it was always rumored that Microsoft might, one day, come out with a phone based off of the Zune.  What makes this rumor different than previous ones is that CNBC claims that a good Microsoft source is reporting that their newest project, named the Pink, is actually a Zune phone. 

MORE »

HTC front man, Peter Chou made three interesting comments on Friday.  HTC is surprising just about everyone with the products they put out now under their own brand.  How good are things for HTC?  Check out these almost outlandish statements below:

How would Palm fit into HTC’s master plan?  Follow to find out.

MORE »

We all know the iPhone has become quite popular.  Just look around next time you’re in a place with a lot of people—whether it be a subway, train station, airport, city street or college campus, chances are you’ll see at least one person with an iPhone walking around.  They almost seem to mock those of us who are stuck with Verizon or other carriers that aren’t AT&T (well, until the Storm, that is).  There are actual numbers to prove that the iPhone is popular: mobile ad traffic.

According to AdMob, an ad network for mobile websites and apps, the iPhone is the leader in ad traffic for mobile devices.  It holds 4.1 percent of ad requests for October.  That doesn’t sound like much, but it comes out to 236 million requests in one month.  In July, it was only 28 million requests.  Of those 236 million requests, 62.8 percent were from the U.S.  That’s pretty impressive considering the iPhone is still the number 2 phone in the U.S., behind the Motorola RAZR.  5 percent of the requests came from the UK, with another 8 percent coming from all of Asia.  Continued after the break.

MORE »

Sections: Apple, Communications, Cellphones, Mobile, Web

This is where we call out the tech moves that seem odd, out of touch or just plain straight up smokin’ crack.  This week sees posturing, positioning and flat out insanity. 

This close to the holidays, everyone is hoping what is bolted down to the table withstands the storm.  (No, not that Storm). Here is what caught my eye this week:

Crazy texts from AT&T Marketing
Music sold on media
Apple’s lacking 2.2 update
BB Storms underwhelming intro
Touch on HP’s laptop

Follow me into the madness.

MORE »

As a frequent traveler, I am awash in trip confirmations, hotels, and rental car info.  I often forget who I’ve told I am going away and who I’ve not.  TripIt aims to change all that.  By simply forwarding them your confirmation emails, they scan the doc and import in the pertinent information into their system and put it out there for you and anyone you give access to.  Talk about handy.

I’ve been using TripIt for a bit now and must say it works as promised.  It takes email forwarded from sites like Travelocity and Expedia as well as from the airlines directly and travel agents.  Entering in new trips was effortless and the data entered was spot on.  Even when JetBlue changed a flight time on me, I forwarded the email wondering if it would throw their system for a loop; nope, it changed my data just as I hoped.

My contacts could easily find my trip info and when i was on the road, accessing the data was a snap.  I enjoy the service but had some questions.  Luckily, Gregg Brockway, CEO and founder of TripIt was willing to answer my questions.  Gregg comes out of the travel industry and seems to know his stuff.

MORE »

Sections: Gadgets / Other, Lifestyle, Transportation, Web, Web Apps, Websites

Rumors this morning suggest T-Mobile was hoping to spring a fresh white G1 phone for the holidays.  The word is there is a problem with the white paint causing the delay.  The Android phone was launched only in basic black.

Website TMO suggests the white paint is chipping.  Thankfully, the faulty paint was caught by T-Mobile but the delay will push an intro until after Thanksgiving.  This could push the hot phone’s sales downward as Black Friday brings out the masses in a buying mood.

The tipster originally said the white should be in stores by October 22.  We’ve pushed well past that date and now we hear after Thanksgiving.  Surely few are waiting for the white if they desire the G1, but T-Mobile has to wonder how this will hurt them this holiday season.

I like the white option.  And hey, without the iPhone’s cracks, it could be a better deal.

Source: [IntoMobile]

• The disruptive spectre of a $99 Wal-Mart iPhone
• “20% of pizza orders coming from SMS and online” - Papa John
• Glimpse at the iPhone of 2012

PhoneFusion announced yesterday that their Fusion Voicemail + is coming to the Android platform that will allow users to view their voicemails and listen to them in any order they choose.  This was a big selling point of the original iPhone and now it is coming to the Android platform.

Currently, PhoneFusion offers this software for free to Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Linux, Palm and Symbian phones via their downloaded application.  PhoneFusion announced the addition of the Android to their compatible platforms at the Under the Radar: Mobility event.  The company says the application will be available before the end of this year.

Find out more about this app.  Click more to follow.

MORE »