Mobile Technology News

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Mobile network operator T-Mobile today announced that the first smartphone capable of fully utilizing the company’s HSPA+ network upgrade will be called the G2. Unfortunately, there were few details about the device, and the site announcing the G2 is currently unavailable.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Shortly after announcing its second Android device, the HTC Aria, AT&T today announced its third: The Samsung Captivate.

Samsung says the Captivate is “a Galaxy S smartphone,” meaning it’s very similar to the phone we got to try out at CTIA that is expected to come to T-Mobile later this year.

Specs:

• 1GHz Cortex A8 Samsung Hummingbird application processor
• Android 2.1
• Super AMOLED 4″ touchscreen display

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

T-Mobile has begun the beta of a new function called “Device Tune-up” for Android devices running version 2.1 and below.

According to the wireless carrier, “Device Tune-up is built to run in the background at all times and ‘tune-up’ the device by closing unused services that are running. [It] is different from most task killers because it does not require you to do anything. Device Tune-up will default to ‘on’.  While on, Device Tune-up proactively closes services to help the device and battery perform at their best. Most pre-loaded applications will not be affected by Device Tune-up. ”

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Starbucks, the ubiquitous U.S. coffee shop chain will begin offering totally free unlimited Wi-Fi on July 1.

Previously, Starbucks coffee shops offered different degrees of connectivity depending upon whether they had T-Mobile or AT&T hotspots inside. Once all of the corporate stores shifted fully to AT&T hotspots in 2008, customers with Starbucks loyalty cards received two free hours of Wi-Fi per day before having to pay.

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Surely no one who regularly reads Betanews is surprised I ask the question. It was inevitable, like death or Whopper Wednesday. As usual, when I ask this kind of question, I’m looking for your responses — in comments or by e-mail (joewilcox at gmail dot com). In a future post, I’ll share your responses as I did with iPad. I asked the “will you buy” iPad question here and here, and offered your answers in separate January and March posts.

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

On April 24, I put aside my Google Nexus One and purchased a white 32GB iPhone 3GS from AT&T. Two days ago, I returned the Apple smartphone and cancelled the service. My reasons should interest anyone considering AT&T and iPhone between now and June 1st, especially, and after June 7th. The first date is when AT&T jacks up early termination fees; the second, when Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 4G.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Yesterday, an updated version of Google’s Nexus One Android smartphone was released, compatible with AT&T and Rogers Canada’s 3G networks. Today, Sprint is letting everyone know that it is getting the device too.

This means that all four major wireless carriers have secured a spot for the Nexus One this year. Google sells versions of the device optimized for T-Mobile and AT&T’s wireless networks, and a version for Verizon’s network is still expected some time in the Spring, but the operator has not put out any further notices about its availability.

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

Since early Friday morning, as hundreds of commenters on T-Mobile’s and Google’s support forums are reporting, 3G data connectivity service has been completely unavailable — for some, since approximately 4:30 am Eastern Time this morning, but for a great many more users beginning at 10:00 am. Some users in recent minutes are reporting service restored, although indications from both forums are that service can come back and go away again.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Today, the first major carrier of phones with Android support, T-Mobile, announced that doubleTwist media manager is now available across all of its Android smartphones, and that the music, video, and photo sync software can now be downloaded directly from T-Mobile for Windows XP and above and OS X 10.5 and above.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

When Windows Mobile 6.5 launched four months ago Microsoft listed eight Windows Mobile 6.1 devices that would be upgradeable to 6.5. Unfortunately, at the time they were all listed as “date not yet available.”

Today, T-Mobile announced that the Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrades are available now for the HTC Touch Pro2 and HTC Dash 3G (a.k.a., HTC Rhodium).