Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Tough times call for tough actions.  It seems in light of all the economic bad news, lower income folks are ditching gadgets to have just one: the iPhone 3G.  Who needs two iPods?  Who needs a netbook?  Who needs a home phone line?

Indeed, one could argue the iPhone is just a tethering application away from ditching your home line, your broadband connection, your cable or satellite company, heck—even books are not able to escape all the niches Apple’s wonder child can get its hands on.  My thinking here is tethering would allow you to use your laptop/desktop via the iPhones 3G connection, so you can ditch the $25 per month + for broadband.

See how many folks continue to flock to the iPhone, ditching other gadgets.

MORE »

A new service focused around the use of cell phones has been announced, it’s called “My Mobile Witness.“  Upon first seeing the name, I immediately felt like I wanted to bash it for being some sort of invasion of privacy-enabling service.  Turns out that isn’t the case.  My Mobile Witness is actually what it calls “a personal security device.“  It actually sounds a bit useful if not hard to anticipate when to use it.

The service works by the user taking a picture of the area they are in, a license plate, a suspicious person, or something similar.  The picture (or text message) is uploaded to a server that is apparently only viewable by police.  The situations the press release describe would prove the service to be useful: taking a picture of a street sign in an unfamiliar area, taking a picture of a marker on an unfamiliar hiking path during a storm, among others.  The information, if used for a crime, can apparently be used in court as well.

MORE »

I’ve a confession: I notice people’s phones.  It seems to be a condition I’ve developed after writing about phones for a year.  I note what kind of phone, the user, and what they are doing with it. 

So when riding a bus from a country fair (don’t ask), back to my car, I noted the older woman in front of me texting her friends.  Or at least trying to.  It was all I could do not to say, “Hey, I’ve been watching you and your phone and all you need to do to send that text is…“, but I didn’t because that is waaay too stalker-like, even for me.

See just how much we text more than call.  Hit the jump.

MORE »

So, the much talked about Blackberry Storm isn’t due out until November. Yet somehow, (as always seems to happen), new photos are circulating the ‘Net.  I caught sight of some of them, and if these are real…apparently the Storm had a little bit of a design overhaul from the last shots that were floating around.

The Vodaphone-branded Blackberry doesn’t seem to be all that worried about wooing over the glitz and glamour crowd.  Nothing too foo-foo on this phone.  It seems to be geared for the typical, well….Blackberry user. A kind of straight-forward, get the job done sort of phone.

MORE »

Looks like there just may be two new E series Nokia phones in the works if images on the ‘Net are to be trusted - the upcoming E72 and E75. Apparently, preventing leaks from those doing proto testing, or having promo videos leaked onto the web before they are supposed to be, is a problem companies are seeing more and more often. These images were initially found on the ever-popular YouTube site, before tech and gadget fans started to discover them.

It appears the E72 has the benefits of the E60 with a side sliding form factor. With text messaging, email and sms being all the rage, the full QWERTY keyboard both styles feature will probably also be considered a bonus by many.

Obviously, at this point there is no word on release date or price. Stay tuned for more updates as they come in.

Via [symbianfreak]

• iPhone is number 1 in mobile ads
• Who’s On Crack in tech: 11.21.08 edition
• HTC Touch Pro now available with Alltel

12seconds just today launched their application programming interface (API) as well as announced it’s first three partners: Tweetdeck, Blippr, and Phreadz. With the goal of 12seconds being to be the go-to platform for video status updates, they needed this step forward of a strong API.

The company is happy with their first three partners, although they are still encouraging others to hop in and play around with the code. Of their newest partners, Tweetdeck, an Adobe Air client, probably holds the crown for being known for it’s Twitter service. Blippr is a site that does short-form reviews, and Phreadz is a startup company that does threaded video conversations.

MORE »

Sections: Video, Content, Web, Web Apps, Websites, Online Music/Video

I’ve never caught an episode of Gossip Girl, but I have heard that it is about privileged teenagers who are addicted to their BlackBerry lifestyle.  I suppose this show is representative of the youth of today who can text like no tomorrow. 

It appears that toy maker Bandai is preparing the next generation of gossip girls with the Smart Berry.  Despite the name, the Smart Berry has nothing to do with the genuine BlackBerry.

MORE »

Recently, we reported on how the OpenTable Beta version has made it possible to set up a reservation at your nearest restaurant, however it would appear that restaurant reservations aren’t the only thing that have been updated for mobile technology.

Police departments in Boston, Cincinnati, and 100 other communities have adopted a text message tip-line. So if someone sees a crime being committed, all it would take is a dropped line to alert the authorities. 

So far, this new department system has produced “great drug information, specific times, dates, names of suspects, locations, pick-up times, and license plate numbers”.

MORE »

T-Mobile has just announced that as of August 29 the rates for text and picture messages will be going up. With a nice increase, the per message rate will now be the same as most other major carriers as it is going from 15 cents up to 20 cents.

These new message rate will apply only to those customers without a messaging plan, however it may also be a reason for those to escape any contract without paying an early termination fee. Of course that may require a little negotiating on your part and we expect the success level on that to vary depending on how convincing you are and also how nice or friendly feeling the service rep is.

With the way messaging rates seem to be increasing, it seems like it would be smart, even for the casual user, to subscribe to a messaging plan and ditch those per message rates.

Via [jkOnTheRun]

• Snow white Android G1 phone delayed?
• BlackBerry 8900 Curve passes through the FCC, on the way to US availability
• BlackBerry Curve 8900 simulator now available

Alltel has just added another improvement to their MyCircle calling plans. Now, in addition to voice minutes, they will have the option to include text, video or picture messaging. Current MyCircle customers will be able to send or receive unlimited messages to anyone in their Circle as well as other Alltel customers with the addition of a “My Circle message pack” which starts as low as $7.99 a month.

In addition, for those looking to send messages to friends outside of their circle or to non-Alltel customers the new messaging options include either 400 or 1000 messages and are priced at $7.99 and $12.99 a month respectively. Users looking for an unlimited messaging plan will still have the option to get the All Access Pass which costs $19.99 and allows for unlimited messaging to anyone.

Keep reading to check out the full press release.

MORE »