RAmos' Android-based W7 MID gets real - real familiar

We had a pretty clear indication that this one was coming, but it looks RAmos has finally gotten official with its once mysterious Android-based MID, now known from here on out as the W7. As rumored, this one is a Rockchip-powered device, and packs a 4.8-inch, 800 x 480 touchscreen, 720p video support (via HDMI output, presumably), built-in WiFi, and no 3G, although that apparently could still be in the cards for the future. It also just so happens to bear more than a passing resemblance to eviGroup's recently-debuted Wallet Android MID, and another, non-existent MID / tablet you might have heard of. What's more, RAmos also seems to have taken the opportunity to debut a few other, non-Android-based MIDs and PMPs, including the T11TE (which apparently boasts 1080p output over HDMI), the T9HD, and the T7 -- although details on those are few and far between at the moment.

AT&T Offering Cheap Refurbished iPhone 3G Units

AT&T is apparently selling refurbished iPhone 3G units on the cheap according to the company's Facebook page. The current ad is now offering the 8GB unit for $49 while the 16GB is retailing for $99.

Send real postcards right from your BlackBerry

The heyday of the postcard, it appears, is long past. With the widespread use of email and mobile devices, people can snap their own pictures from anywhere and send them to friends, along with an accompanying text note. When was the last time you got a postcard in the mail? They were always nice, and I kind of miss them. A company called Hippopost is trying to bring back the physical postcard, but they're doing it in a new way. It works right from your mobile devices, and since the company was founded by ex-RIM employees, you can do it all right from your BlackBerry. The service works intuitively. After you download the application, you can snap pictures, attach a text note, and send it right from your device. Hippopost takes care of the physical card and the task of mailing it out. Apparently it will take seven to 10 days for delivery. And the USPS wonders why we say snail mail with a begrudging tone. How do you pay for the card? You don't. How do you pay for printing? You don't. How do you pay for postage? You don't. Hippopost takes care of everything free, for up to two postcards per day. You can buy credits for additional postcards if you want, but two per day seems like plenty. The service is ad-supported, and as you can see in the image above, it's of the non-intrusive type. Head to http://mobile.hippopost.com/ from your BlackBerry browser to get started. If nothing else, you'll get the novelistic experience of sending out an old fashioned post card.

Palm Pre NOT going to Verizon?

We heard rumors that Verizon might get the Palm Pre but it looks like other rumors to the contrary are swirling. On the heels of various sites reporting that Verizon will get the iPhone, TheStreet says that Verizon has shelved the idea of offering the Palm Pre. Verizon's Lowell McAdam previously told investors the Pre was coming in six months. It looks like the company has had a change of heart. This news, if true, would not be welcome news for Verizon or Palm. Verizon has a large network but offers the lamest phones on the market. Offering the Palm Pre would give Verizon users the latest and greatest (besides the iPhone). Palm needs all the partners it can get if it plans to gain ground on the iPhone so a partnership with Verizon makes a lot of sense. According to TheStreet there are several reasons why Verizon had a change of heart. Although sales of the Palm Pre have been okay, they haven't been the "blockbuster" type of sales that people were counting on.

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 9/21/2009

Feeling overloaded with BlackBerry news and rumors? We know the feeling. We hear new things almost every day, and it can be tough to keep up with it all. that's why we're bringing you BlackBerry News from the Wire every Thursday. We'll catch you up on everything 'Berry that happened over the course of the week. Not only that, but we'll rank 'em by importance, so you can more easily skim the items and read the ones of most significance. If you only have time to read one article, for instance, you might want to head down to our 5-star section. It's All the BlackBerry News Fit to Geek. Is the BlackBerry 9700 the best yet? The BlackBerry 9700 is coming. When, exactly, we're not sure, but with all the press it has received lately, the release date can't be far off. Further building the hype, Boy Genius Report has reviewed the 9700. The newest member of the Bold family has many upgrades over its predecessor, and also over the recently released Tour. As the BGR guys say, the Tour is the best BlackBerry on the market right now, but that will only last until the 9700 hits shelves — which according to them appears to be November 11 on T-Mobile and AT&T.. The review is filled with descriptions and pictures, and in the end I can almost guarantee you'll walk away impressed. This is only the first review. Look for a production model review just before release. Tour trackball problems "no longer an issue." Over the past few weeks a sore spot on the BlackBerry Tour emerged: a faulty trackball afflicted a number of models. A report from TownHall Investment Reserach estimated that up to 50 percent of Sprint Tours were returned. According to both Verizon and Sprint, these claims are not only overblown, but are no longer an issue. Both carriers admitted that there was a problem, but that they addressed it with RIM, and that the issue is dead. Verizon went on to say that instances of return for the Tour "are some of the lowest among any of our smart phones." So if your trackball is faulty, rest assured that it's not an issue…or something like that. A complete walk-through of Desktop Software for Mac Amid hype and anticipation for new BlackBerry devices this year, one of the biggest release might actually be software. That would be Desktop Software for Mac. We've taken a look at the software, and have even downloaded the leaked version. Even so, nothing will compare to the comprehensive walk-through at the Inside BlackBerry blog. One big notation: backup files will now be stored as .bbb files, rather than .ipd for BlackBerry data and .cab files for the contents of on-board memory. They say the release is "just around the corner," so expect an announcement sometime next week. (Now watch, it will drop later today or tonight.) Curve 8520 to hit Rogers soon Rogers employees have begun training procedures for the BlackBerry Curve 8520, which means that the device is nearing a release. It won't be as nice, shiny, or generally awesome as the 9700, but it should prove a low-cost option. The unofficial word for now: first week of October. The 9700 won't be far behind, as Rogers should have it before the two US carriers. U2 mobile album "a complete bust." In last week's News From The Wire we discussed U2's mobile album, recently release on App World. No, I didn't download it, mainly because I like music for music and don't need the extras, but mainly because I really dislike U2. Turns out, it would have been an enormous waste of time anyway. Get this: it's not even a full album. It just streams clips, which renders it nothing more than a promotional vehicle. Which is fine and good, but it's not an album, so please don't hype it as one. mocoNews.net, which provided the "complete bust" quote, notes further disappointments, including the release date, September 14, which came over two months after U2's tour began. The platform might have a future, but the maiden voyage has been less than impressive. Verizon pushing YouTube app to Storm users One thing I do not enjoy about the BlackBerry is how carriers can push applications to your device. True, these are usually just shortcuts to download the actual app, but it's yet another desktop icon that you have to hide or stuff into a dud folder. This time it's the YouTube app, which Verizon has begun pushing to Storm users. You might like the app, but an email would suffice. No need to push the app our way, without our express permission. Look for the icon to pop up on your non-Storm Verizon device soon.

It’s Official! MMS Coming to the iPhone This Friday

It was announced a few weeks back but it was confirmed again today on AT&T's Facebook page. MMS for iPhone will be available this Friday. We know you've been eager for this service so we wanted to offer a quick update on the launch plans for MMS on Friday, Sept. 25. Late morning, Pacific Time, on Friday, the new carrier settings update enabling MMS should be live and ready …to download through iTunes. This will come in the form of a carrier update that you will have to download via iTunes. Yay!

MyProfiles Lets You Create Different Profiles for Your iPhone

I remember my good old Nokia 8210. It was about 10 years ago and this nice little piece of technology would already let me create different profiles to fit different situations of the day. For example, I had a "night" profile where everything was silent with no vibration; I had a "work" profile where everything was silent with vibrations; I had a "normal" profile where everything would ring and vibrate, etc… Fast-forward 10 years and about 10 other cellphones later, and here I am, with a $560 iPhone not capable of creating different profiles. It's not a big surprise. Apple is deliberately handicapping the iPhone and releasing must-have features (hint: copy/paste) one at a time. Fortunately for iPhone users, there is the jailbreak community which really helps make the iPhone the best phone by developing all these important features that Apple won't let you have until year 2027. MyProfiles is one of these great applications only available for jailbroken iPhones, and lets you create different profiles for your iPhone. Find yourself constantly changing the settings on your iPhone depending on what you're doing or where you are? How about getting alerted when a critical email comes in from your boss? What about being able to sleep at night without being disturbed, unless it's a call from a loved one? Wish you didn't have to keep changing the auto-lock function when you're charging at your desk? Do all of this and more with MyProfiles! Features: Custom alerting of email based on Subject, Sender, Sent Only to You, and Mail Accounts. Custom alerting of SMS messages and missed calls based on caller phone #. Modify the Vibrate Pattern so you can be quietly alerted to a specific email. Repeating Alerts for Email, SMS, and Missed Calls. Silence Calls via WhiteList or BlackList Escalating Rings and Vibrate 1st then Ring Adjust WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, Push Email, Auto Lock, and 3G based on Location, Time of Day, and more. Automatic rules engine to enable profiles Manual Override Profile by holding down the home button and pressing up and down on the Volume buttons. I haven't personally tried MyProfiles but I hear great things about it, even though it's still in beta. MyProfiles is available for jailbroken iPhones only via Rock Your Phone.

AT&T MMS Coming This Friday

Not that any of you AT&T customers really need the reminder. Regardless, the wait is almost over folks, AT&T is finally flipping the MMS switch for all of their iPhone customers this Friday, September 25th. Sure, this day marked in your calendars but would any of you like to take bets on whether or not the network will buckle when you have every single iPhone owner sending picture after picture all day long? Don't be too upset when the person you are sending the image to tells you they have not gotten it yet. That's more than likely to happen unless AT&T really used this extra time wisely and indeed beef up their network for the flood gates they are about to open… Still, according to some of our readers, it seems as if AT&T is currently sending out text messages reminding you of this day that so many of you cherish. "Picture &video message(MMS) will be available for iphone on 9/25. While we prepare your account for MMS capability, the current " view my message" experience will be turned off but your ability to send and receive text messages will not be affected." How many of you have received this message?

iTunes 9.0.1 Fix the Out-of-Order Episodes Bug for You?

With the release of the iTunes 9.0.1 update last night, we downloaded it and proceeded to run some tests, and lo and behold, it seems that annoying out-of-order podcast bug is gone for us. You remember the one, where you'd sync a number of episodes and instead of being sorted numerically, up or down, (i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4) they were randomly assigned (i.e. 1, 4, 2, 3). If you've installed iTunes 9.0.1, and tested out the sync sequencing, let us know if you're back in order as well.

Could We See an iPhone on Verizon by the Holidays?

Could we see a combination CDMA/HSPA iPhone hit Verizon before the holidays? No, we don't think so either, but that's the rumor we're hearing again. Of course, we're no stranger to iPhone on Verizon rumors, whether they be wishful thinking or the result of ongoing, longterm Apple/carrier negotiations that may or may not ever amount to anything, it's ironic that rumors about America's most reliable network are almost always anything but… Given the limited remaining lifespan on CDMA (Verizon's going LTE for 4G) and market (primarily the US — even Bell and Telus in Canada are going HSPA), it just seems like such an un-Apple-like thing to do. Then again, Verizon's customer base is no doubt a huge temptation for Apple. Given how many iPhones they sell on AT&T, if they hit Verizon, we can only imagine the market share shift. (Not to mention the load balancing of network traffic that would hopefully follow). Again, we're not getting our hopes up. We don't think we'll see an iPhone on Verizon any time soon, especially not before the holidays. Let's face it, it's almost October already and the window to effectively launch and market the iPhone on a new US network by then is rapidly diminishing from slim to none.