Bell – Page 2 – rgbFilter

What the CRTC taketh, the CRTC giveth (to Bell)

November 3, 2010November 12, 2010 Doug Groves Bell, CRTC, net neutrality, Teksavvy, throttling, UBB, Usage Based Billing2 Comments

It was only two months ago that the CRTC made a surprisingly positive ruling in helping innovation in the Canadian internet marketplace, though I was somewhat skeptical. In August they announced that incumbent DSL and cable providers, aka the big guys (Bell, Rogers, Telus, Shaw, Videotron), had to provide 3rd party ISPs with access to their networks, at a price level of 10% above cost. Part of this reasoning was in the ruling itself… Agreed that a duopoly of telephone and cable retail Internet access services is insufficient, and that…

HTC Desire Z launches on Bell November 3rd

November 2, 2010November 8, 2010 Doug Groves Android, Android 2.2, Bell, Froyo, google, HSPA, HTC Sense, htcsense.com, QWERTY slider18 Comments

Bell is the exclusive Canadian carrier for the new HTC Desire Z, an 800Mhz Android phone running the 2.2 Froyo version of Google’s operating system, and promises to bring up to 14.4 Mbps in download speeds. One of the standout features of the phone is the landscape QWERTY keyboard. Besides the keyboard, which appears up to the high standards of HTC, the phone will have a unified email application for all those who have been waiting for a merged email inbox to make life easier. It will also support HTCSense.com…

Telus Android news round-up

November 1, 2010November 9, 2010 drsquid Android, Android 2.1, Android 2.2, Bell, canada, Captivate, event, Fascinate, Froyo, Galaxy S, google, HTC, launch, Rogers, Samsung, smartphone, superphone, Telus, Toronto, Vibrant5 Comments

Over the past week there has been some interesting Android news from Telus, and we’ve collected it all in one place, just for you. HTC Desire Android 2.2 (Froyo) update available now Telus has announced that the 2.2 Froyo update for the HTC Desire is being pushed out today through an OTA (over the air) update. This is after a couple of false starts last week, when the update was released as a download online, then quickly pulled. Even without the update, the Desire is already in our opinion one…

Bell Samsung Galaxy Tab: Hands On Video

October 22, 2010October 28, 2010 Doug Groves Android, Android 2.2, Apple, Bell, Canadian, ebooks, eReader, Froyo, Galaxy Tab, google, Google Android, hands-on, iPad, Kobo, North American, Rogers, Samsung, tablet3 Comments

Although no official launch dates are announced, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is set to appear on both Rogers and Bell here in Canada, probably by the end of November. We had a chance to get our hands on one, and came away suitably impressed. The Android based tablet, seen as the second mainstream device in the tablet behind the iPad, sports a 7 inch 1024×600 display using Samsung’s Super LCD screen technology, making it about half the size of the iPad. Unlike the silver back of the European version, Samsung…

LG Optimus Quantum Hands On: video

October 15, 2010October 21, 2010 Doug Groves Bell, hands-on, LAYAR, LG, Microsoft, Optimus Quantum, Panoramic Shot, Scan Search, slider, sneak peek, video, Windows Phone 7, WP7, Xbox Live4 Comments

We take a look at the LG Optimus Quantum Windows Phone 7 device with a slideout landscape QWERTY keyboard. The slide mechanism, while a bit stiff, also feels very solid, and still doable with one hand. When holding it in landscape mode, LG made sure that the screen portion was nice and light, so that there’s a solid balance while typing. In fact, when we first got our hands on the Optimus Quantum, it barely registered as a slider. The keyboard itself ranks up there with the HTC Touch Pro…

Bell announces HTC Desire Z as coming soon

October 14, 2010October 19, 2010 Doug Groves Bell, Desire Z, HTC, HTC Desire Z, HTC Sense, htcsense.com, press release, QWERTY slider, Sense1 Comment

Although some internal documents leaked to the web a few days back, Bell has now made the launch of the HTC Desire Z official. It will be the exclusive carrier of HTC’s QWERTY keyboard Android pone. The Desire Z, powered by Android 2.2 (Froyo) and an 800MHz Qualcomm chip, will be the first in Canada to offer 14.4 megabits per second downloads. To promote the launch, Bell is running a contest to win a Desire Z, which you can enter here. The Desire Z will also be the first phone…

LG Windows Phone 7 – Optimus 7 and Quantum Hands On Video

October 12, 2010October 15, 2010 Doug Groves Bell, hands-on, LAYAR, LG, Microsoft, Optimus 8, Optimus Quantum, Panorama Shot, Scan Search, ScanSearch, slider, sneak peek, Telus, video, Windows Phone 7, WP7, Xbox Live7 Comments

At a recent LG event, we got some hands on time with LG’s two Windows Phone 7 devices headed towards the Canadian market, the LG Optimus 7 slate style phone on Telus, and the LG Optimus Quantum QWERTY slider on Bell. Both phones sport 16GB of RAM and 1GHz processors, with the real differentiator between the two being the choice of keyboard or not. The Optimus 7 has a 3.8″ screen, while the keyboard packing Optimus Quantum has a slightly smaller 3.5″ screen. During our demonstration, Frank Lee of LG…

Windows Phone 7 in Canada: What We Know So Far

October 11, 2010October 15, 2010 drsquid Bell, canada, event, HTC, LG, Microsoft, Omnia 7, Optimus Quantum, Rogers, Samsung, smartphone, superphone, Telus, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, Windows Phone 7, WP73 Comments

Today marked the big reveal of Microsoft’s reboot of it’s mobile strategy with Windows Phone 7. At 9.30 AM EST Microsoft finally pulled the covers off for the world to see the initial phones that will be available at launch (November 8th in North America), though much of the OS has already been shown in great detail prior to today. My first reaction was that the handset selection is a little slim, and there is not much innovation beyond the base ‘chassis 1’ specifications. However this is a launch of…

Samsung Galaxy Tab coming without voice to Rogers and Bell

September 17, 2010September 24, 2010 Doug Groves 3G, Apple, Bell, data plan, Galaxy Tab, google, iPad, Rogers, Samsung, smartphone, tablet, Touch Wiz, voice, WiFi2 Comments

Since it was first announced, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 7 inch Android based tablet has been getting a lot of positive press, and many who’ve had hands on experience are saying that it could be the first tablet to rival Apple’s iPad. Despite being only about half the size of the iPad, the 7 inch screen’s more 16:9 friendly aspect ratio provides what appears to be a good balance between portability and viewability. In the US, the Galaxy Tab will be launching on all the major carriers with various 3G data…

Canadian telcos to share high speed networks with 3rd party providers

September 1, 2010August 31, 2010 Doug Groves Bell, CRTC, ISP, net neutrality, ruling, Teksavvy, Telus2 Comments

Back in 2008, the CRTC ruled that internet wholesalers should have fair access to higher speed data networks controlled by incumbents such as Bell and Telus. Partly due to growth in high speed cable internet, the incumbent telcos haves have been resisting providing the high speed access to 3rd party wholesalers, to maintain a competitive edge with their cable counterparts. The original 2008 ruling was challenged and sent to federal cabinet, which sent it back to the CRTC. On Monday, the CRTC reaffirmed its position, which with means independents will…

Rogers Samsung Galaxy S Captivate coming soon, “Register today to receive updates”

August 24, 2010August 25, 2010 drsquid Android, Android 2.1, Bell, canada, Captivate, Galaxy S, google, HSPA, Rogers, Samsung, smartphone, Super AMOLED, superphone, Vibrant5 Comments

It was perfect timing: Rogers, hoping to steal a little of the thunder from Bell and Virgin with their big Galaxy S launch concert with Metric, announced their version of the Galaxy S, the Captivate (already available in the US on AT&T), the same day, August 4th 2010. While I was already pretty excited about the Galaxy S by the day of the concert, having already got to use one for a few days by then, the Rogers news was even better. The Bell Galaxy S Vibrant is a great…

Bell HTC Legend discontinued

August 23, 2010August 23, 2010 Doug Groves aluminum, AMOLED, Bell, discontinued, HTC, HTC Legend, unibody, Virgin Mobile1 Comment

It was only a couple of months ago when Bell released the HTC Legend (just after the Virgin branded one), an Android phone with a great aluminum unibody design and a gorgeous AMOLED screen. Now it looks like that the Bell version of the phone has met an untimely demise, possibly due to the inability of HTC to get enough of those AMOLED screens out. Please be advised that, due to ongoing supply constraints from the manufacturer, the HTC Legend for Bell is effective immediately being discontinued and SKUs for…