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Zune HD coming to Canada

February 21, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves Hardware, Microsoft, portable media player, x10, Zune HD2 Comments

Microsoft’s Zune HD portable media player, formerly only available in the US and UK, will be coming to Canada in the near future. Although first released in 2009, the hardware has never been available here. It’s curious that Microsoft would choose 2011 to bring their media player here, since they’ve been focusing on Windows Phone for their mobility solution as of late, including integrating many of the Zune features into their new phone platform. While the Zune software on PCs and the Xbox allows for both movie and TV rentals and purchases, it’s been noticably absent of music options here.

Q&A with Telus on 4G

February 14, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves 4G, Canadian wireless, Dual Cell, HSPA, LTE, Q&A, rollout, Telus, WiMax2 Comments

Last week, Telus announced the arrival of its Dual Cell network, which could bring theoretical speeds of up to 42Mbps to their network, which doubles the HSPA+ technology being used today. The usage of the term 4G elsewhere has been met with some confusion, but with it getting wide use in the US for competing technologies, it’s not surprising that we’re seeing it happen here in Canada as well.

To get some clarification on the use of 4G, and what plans they have for LTE, we fired off some questions to Telus, and present the response below…

HTC HD7 now available on Bell

February 10, 2011February 14, 2011 Doug Groves Bell, HTC HD7, Microsoft, The Source, Windows Phone 7, Xbox Live1 Comment

While first announced a couple of months back, Bell has now launched the HTC HD7, including availabilty at The Source outlets, or at least the one I passed by when grabbing lunch. With the number of quality games that have already been released for the platform, the larger screen real estate makes for a great mobile gaming phone. The phone also comes bundled with Bell’s TV Remote PVR app, which allows Bell TV subscribers to manage their PVR away from home. Freatures include show search, schedule recording and remote control…

Federal court kills Tory Wind Mobile decision

February 4, 2011February 10, 2011 Doug Groves canada, CRTC, Federal court, Globalive, government, legal, Public Mobile, Wind Mobile0 comment

It’s been a busy week for the Federal government and the CRTC. The latest is that Federal Court judge Roger Hughes has struck down 2009 Tory decision to overrule the CRTC when it comes to Globalive, best known as new mobile carrier Wind Mobile. The appeal to Federal Court was launched by new entrant rival Public Mobile, which claimed that the government had overstepped its bounds in allowing Wind to launch even though it didn’t meet CRTC Canadian ownership regulations. The judge has instituted a 45 day stay, which lets…

Android 3.0 Honeycomb event video

February 3, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves Android, Honeycomb, marketshare, Motorola Xoom, Nvidia, tablet, tegra, Tegra 2, Xoom5 Comments

On Wednesday, Google held a major event to showcase its new Android 3.0 OS aka Honeycomb. The new OS is aimed squarely at the growing tablet market. The new design offers a cleaner look for Android, as well as a number of new features including the web accesible market.android.com and a new push on gaming. inclduing reusable “application fragments”. If I were the conspiratorial type, I’d say that Google is deliberately attempting to redefine ‘fragment’ in the context of Android. More seriously, the OS was demonstrated running on the Motorola Xoom tablet, powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 2 dual core chipset.

Canalys shows Android overtaking Nokia in the world

January 31, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves Android, Apple, Blackberry, google, iOS, Microsoft, RIM, stats, Windows Phone 7, WP71 Comment

The latest US numbers from Canalys show that Android has now surpassed Nokia as the best selling smartphone OS in the world. Though it started off slow, Android grew from 8.7% of the market in Q4 2009 to a massive 32.9% in Q4 2010. The big drop was for Nokia, which plummeted from 44.4% to 30.6% in the same timespan. All other smartphones saw a drop as well, with Apple’s iOS dropping less than a percent, while RIM dropped almost 6%. Since Windows Phone 7 launched in the middle of…

Mobilicity and Wind offering $45 unlimited plans

January 25, 2011March 28, 2011 Doug Groves competition, data, Mobilicity, smartphone, unlimited plans, Wind Mobile0 comment

Wind Mobile and Mobilicity have been fighting tooth and nail for customers dissatisfied with the Big Three. Given Canadian love-hate relationships with Bell/Rogers/Telus, there’s a large pool to draw from. The latest volley was started by Mobilicity, which introduced a $45 unlimited plan that includes North America wide calling, data, and global text messaging. Not to be outdone, Wind Mobile has also introduced their Winter Wonder Plan, which has the same $45 price tag, and a similar set of features, though unlimited calling is limited to Canada, while Picture Messaging…

Zombies!!! for Windows Phone 7

January 13, 2011January 25, 2011 Doug Groves review, Twilight Creations, Windows Phone 7, WP7, Xbox Live, Zombies14 Comments

Zombies!!! started its (un)life as a unique board game 10 years ago from game publisher Twilight Creations. In that time a number of expansion packs and alternate rules have kept the game fresh. I’ve been a fan of it since almost the beginning, and followed the Yahoo newsgroup for the game for a number of years, including trying out some of the fan suggested alternate rules options. Now Zombies!!! made the transition to a video game on the Windows Phone 7 platform. The adaptation not only captures the feel of the tabletop game for newcomers, but enhances the experience for those who’ve played the tabletop version.

Why the Xperia Play isn’t the PlayStation Phone

January 5, 2011January 27, 2011 Doug Groves CLIE, editorial, mobile gaming, Playstation, Playstation Phone, PSP, PSP Phone, PSPPhone, SCE, SE, Sony, Sony Ericsson, Xperia, Xperia Play4 Comments

Like most high end mobile phones, it all started with a couple of decidedly blurry photos, and has graduated to clearer videos and higher quality stills. A Sony Ericsson phone sporting PSP like controls on it certainly would lead one to jump to the conclusion that Sony is coming out with the PlayStation Phone, or PSP Phone. That alone is enough to set many a heart aflutter in anticipation.

Mobile Flash’s Growing Pains

December 27, 2010November 6, 2020 Jason Adobe, Androud, Flash, Flash Mobile

I’ve recently commented on the lack of games on Android and thought that the Android market could use a good tower defense game. Of course, it would be nice to make money on my side projects, so I thought it would be really good to port my game to iOS and other modern devices, maximizing my potential market and ideally, selling a lot more games. The problem is that me and a friend working on a game don’t have the time, energy or mental fortitude to port our game to…

Windows Phone 7 Marketplace… on the cheap

December 16, 2010January 4, 2011 Dan Falone Assassin's Creed, Impossible Shoota, LG, LG Optimus Quantum, marketplace, Need For Speed, Quantum, Spin Crisis, The Harvest, Weather Bug, Windows Phone 7, WP7, Xbox Live3 Comments

Who ever said the the best things in life are free might have been on to something especially if they were talking about the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace. Before you get too excited I’m not saying everything in the Marketplace is free but there’s enough free and trial content to keep you more than busy. I’ve had my new LG Quantum running Windows Phone 7 for a couple of weeks now and despite a few minor deficiencies, that hopefully will be addressed in the next update, I have to admit…

BlackBerry PlayBook shows multitasking chops on video

December 3, 2010December 9, 2010 Doug Groves Blackberry, David Neale, PlayBook, Research In Motion, RIM, Rogers, TabLife, video3 Comments

Rogers today held their TabLife event, which invited a series of speakers to discuss the future of tablet computing in both the consumer and enterprise markets, obviously from a Rogers perspective. David Neale, Vice President of Special Projects at Research In Motion was on hand to demo the new Blackberry PlayBook and field some questions from the attendees. This short video shows the 7 inch PlayBook in action. While not yet optimized for dual core processing it nevertheless managed to show off it’s multitasking features rather well. While playing a…