Make a Bold Statement with Colorware-Customized T-Mobile G1

As excited as they may have been about Google Android, some people just weren't too thrilled with the T-Mobile G1's color options. That is no longer an issue. Even if you're digging the new white T-Mobile G1, you can get the smartphone in whatever color combination you'd like thanks to the guys at Colorware. Yes, the same people who have dash some crazy bold colors onto devices like the MacBook and iPhone 3G have taken the paint bucket to the T-Mobile G1. Colorware, as expected, charges quite a premium for their premium paint jobs, but that's the price you pay if you want a Google Android phone that looks nothing like your neighbor's. The base price for the Colorware customization is $175, though certain colors and designs will run you a heavier premium than that. Naturally, you'll need to provide the actual cell phone itself, so you can send in the one you already have or you can go and buy a new one to be customized. The $175 price point seems to only paint the front face of the device, because Colorware is charging an extra $15 if you want new colors for the keyboard, bottom, or back. Get the mega deal with basic colors and you're looking at $220. Personally, I'm not a fan of making such a bold statement with my cell phone, but I can see how some more eccentric fashionistas may be so inclined. The blue and orange theme shown here, I must admit, is pretty hot. Via intomobile.com

Tech News Roundup: White G1, Nokia 6260, No More iPhone...

Even though the economy is taking a bit of a downturn and everyone is starting to wind things down for the holidays, the tech industry is keeping busier than ever with all sorts of interesting doo-dash to dive into your wallet. Let's see what's going on.

For the more fashion-conscious among us, there is the new white version of the T-Mobile G1, which will launch this Monday. This is in addition to the existing black and bronze models and the white G1 will retail for the same $180 asking price. Google Android just got hit with a splash of snow.

Set to wow the multimedia-inclined is the Nokia 6260 Slide. It may not be quite as sexy as a N-Series smartphone, but the 6260 Slide gets loaded with an impressive HVGA display and a 5 megapixel camera. Look for it in Q1 2009 for 299 Euro.

If you've been looking to stay connected everywhere you go, you'll be glad to hear that the Dell Mini 9 is now available with 3G. No longer do you need to feel bound to Wi-Fi hotspots. The HSDPA upgrade costs $125, but you can recover $120 of that with a w-year AT&T data contract.

Turning our attention to security, Lenovo is instituting a feature that allows users to lock ThinkPad laptops with SMS. Dubbed Lenovo Constant Secure Remote Disable, this feature allows a user to send an SMS message from a designated phone using a designated key code and it will remotely lock down the laptop.

The unlocked and unbranded GSM verson of the HTC Touch Pro is still too rich for my blood, but you can go to Verizon to find its version on sale now as the Verizon XV6850. This HTC Touch Pro Windows Mobile smartphone appears to be the same as the one being sold through Telus and Bell. Look for it on Monday for $350 with a two-year agreement.

With the new Fido branding as a budget cellular provider, there's word going around that the dog will lose the iPhone next year. In this way, the only legitimate way for Canadians to get the iPhone will be through big brother Rogers Wireless. A sad day for Fido and Apple fanboys alike.

Turning to the automotive world, we are offered a good glimpse at the 2010 Mazda3 Hatchback. This redesign appears more streamlined that the current model and it'll be powered by the same 2.5L engine as the Mazda6i, giving you access to 167hp and 168 lbs-ft of torque.

Via

T-Mobile Unveils the New T-Mobile G1 in High-Tech Fashion With Star Studded Events in New York and Los Angeles

NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES, Oct 18, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- This week, T-Mobile USA, Inc. brought together Hollywood's hottest stars and New York's elite tastemakers to celebrate the highly-anticipated launch of the new T-Mobile G1, the world's first Android(TM)-powered mobile phone in partnership with Google. At the exclusive, invite-only launch events, held in the hip SoHo neighborhood of New York on October 16 and at a private studio in the heart of Hollywood on October 17, celebrities such as Rosario Dawson, Mischa Barton and Anthony Anderson turned out to get the first look at the much-talked about device and socialize with friends at the hottest bash on both coasts.

To celebrate the debut of the T-Mobile G1, T-Mobile created a special event that brought to life the device's unique technology and applications. Stars like Juliette Lewis and Brittney Snow were amongst the lucky guests to get hands-on experience with the T-Mobile G1 and experience some of the internet's most popular destinations including Google Maps and YouTube.

At the interactive event, guests were treated to a larger than life environment to traverse and explore complete with vivid cityscape projections emulating the experience of Google Maps Street View, where Nikki Reed and Perez Hilton visited some of their favorite destinations from the palm of their hand. At the nearby ShopSavvy exhibit, fashionistas checked out items on their shopping list and used the T-Mobile G1 to find where the items are sold before heading to the on-site Famima store to stock up on imported gourmet snacks. The popular YouTube video confessional booth also kept party-goers busy. They took time-out from dancing at the T-Mobile G1 turntables DJ request area to create personal video clips that were uploaded onto the video-sharing site and viewed on the T-Mobile G1.

The parties were highlighted by a special live musical performance from The Raconteurs, led by Jack White of White Stripes fame, who traveled coast-to-coast to play hits such as "Steady as She Goes." New York club-staple DJ Cassidy kept the East Coast's elite, such as Erika Christensen going all night, while in Los Angeles LA-based DJ Vice had Stacy Keibler and Bonnie Somerville, dancing throughout the evening. The A-list crowd also helped choose the night's music, using the turntables display to select songs and the T-Mobile G1 to text their requests straight to the DJ booths.

"Combining the best of a mobile phone and the Internet, the T-Mobile G1 with Google provides everything you love about the Web in a pocket-sized phone," said Andrew Sherrard, vice president, product innovation, T-Mobile USA. "The T-Mobile G1 will connect friends and families, while placing the benefits of mobile Web at their fingertips."

The T-Mobile G1 delivers a premium, easy-to-use mobile Web and communications experience in one device. The phone's vibrant, high-quality screen slides open to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard, great for communicating with friends online or using the phone's e-mail, IM and mobile messaging capabilities. The T-Mobile G1 comes equipped with a convenient trackball for more precise, one-handed navigation. The first phone to offer access to Android Market, the T-Mobile G1 hosts unique applications and mash ups of existing and new services from developers around the world. With just a couple of short clicks, customers can find and download a wide range of innovative software applications - from games to social networking and on-the-go shopping -- to personalize their phone and enhance their mobile lifestyle.* For more information, please visit http://www.T-MobileG1.com.

About T-Mobile USA, Inc.

Based in Bellevue, Wash., T-Mobile USA, Inc. is the U.S. operation of Deutsche Telekom AG's Mobile Communications Business, and a wholly owned subsidiary of T-Mobile International, one of the world's leading companies in mobile communications. By the end of the second quarter of 2008, 125 million mobile customers were served by the mobile communication segments of the Deutsche Telekom group -- 31.5 million by T-Mobile USA -- all via a common technology platform based on GSM, the world's most widely used digital wireless standard. T-Mobile's innovative wireless products and services help empower people to connect to those who matter most. Multiple independent research studies continue to rank T-Mobile among the highest in numerous regions throughout the U.S. in wireless customer care and call quality. For more information, please visit www.t-mobile.com. T-Mobile is a federally registered trademark of Deutsche Telekom AG.

Google's Android might eventually make me a cellphone user

The phone is called HTC G1, the Google mobile operating system is Android. But it all ends up being called Google Android.

Lifehacker does a software review (A Hands-on First Look at Google Android), Gizmodo the hardware review (T-Mobile G1 Google Android Phone Review), and T-Mobile offers an Emulator you can play with to get a feel for it. David Pogue of the Times does the overview: A Look at Google's First Phone.

Sniffing comparisons to the iPhone in these reviews elude me, but I've never been tempted by one. I'm such a proponent of open source that Apple's proprietary everything has been a must to avoid.

I don't own a cell phone -- which astonishes people who assume I'm a tricked-out geek -- but later generations of this one might convert me: A keyboard, browser and lots of familiar Google apps might tip the balance, when there are more network choices than T-Mobile and a robust collection of Android add-ons.

T-Mobile, Virgin broadband ads fall foul of watchdog

The Advertising Standards Authority's (ASA's) adjudication follows a complaint from a member of the public over a T-Mobile flyer that stated: "All the benefits of home broadband, on the move. No wires, no waiting, no worries". The ASA said the flyer may mislead consumers into thinking mobile broadband would deliver the same speed and quality as traditional home broadband. T-Mobile, however, said the leaflets referred to the capacities of mobile broadband, not its speed, and "maintained that they did not make any claim that implied a direct technical comparison to fixed-line broadband", according to the ASA. The ASA, however, disagreed with T-Mobile. "We understood that mobile broadband was unlikely to offer speeds comparable with those of a high-speed, fixed-line service and that, due to the technology's reliance on obtaining a signal from mobile-telephone networks, it could not guarantee the same continuity of service," the ad watchdog said in its adjudication. "In particular, we were concerned that activities such as streaming, downloading and online gaming were unlikely to be available to mobile-broadband users to the same standard as to fixed-line broadband users," the ASA added. Under the ASA's ruling, T-Mobile can't run the same ad in the future and must "avoid the implication that their mobile-broadband service was of a comparable standard to fixed-line broadband". Virgin Media also fell foul of the ASA this week over claims in an advert that its 20Mbps fibre-optic service is the UK's fastest, attracting complaints from members of the public and from Sky. The objections centred around whether the 'fastest' claim could be substantiated in light of other providers offering up to 24Mbps services, and whether the data used by Virgin to back up its claim was wide-ranging enough. Read this Q&A The future of 4G wireless, according to Ericsson The next generation of mobile wireless will happen — but what, how and when? Ericsson's UK chief technology officer looks ahead... On the former point, Virgin said it measured throughputs — which it said are a truer indicator of real-world speed — rather than maximum theoretical download speeds. On the latter point, Virgin noted that the data used in the ad, from Epitiro, covered ISPs with 90 percent market share of UK broadband between them, and Virgin added that it had several other sources, including benchmarks from Broadband Expert, that showed it to be the fastest. The ASA, however, upheld the complaints, saying in its adjudication: "We considered, however, that readers would be used to definitions of broadband speed in terms of download speeds and were, therefore, likely to understand the claim 'fastest' as an absolute claim that implied it was not possible to obtain a broadband connection in the UK that permitted a faster maximum download speed than Virgin's service." The watchdog added: "Because we understood that it was possible in certain instances for some customers, in optimum conditions, to obtain a faster maximum broadband download speed than Virgin's 20Mb service, we concluded that such an absolute claim was misleading." The ASA also concluded that, because the Epitiro data did not cover all ISPs and did not "evaluate all broadband providers' customer bases in a sufficiently random and significant way", it couldn't be used for comparative speed claims.

T-Mobile USA Further Expands Commercial 3G Network Availability in 2008

T-Mobile USA, Inc. continues to aggressively expand its third-generation (3G) wireless broadband service, announcing today that the company will launch 3G service in and around the Washington, D.C., area in late November. At that time, the number of locations with T-Mobile’s 3G coverage will amount to more than 120 major cities across the top population centers nationwide.

This week, T-Mobile 3G coverage launched in the Sacramento, Calif., area bringing the number of major cities currently served with 3G coverage to 92. Next week, communities in and around Memphis, Tenn., and Tampa, Fla., will be the latest to reap the benefits of wireless broadband service from T-Mobile.

"We’re excited about the broad scale and reach of our 3G footprint in major cities across the nation, already accessible by tens of millions of consumers. And today, where the majority of our customers use data services, our 3G network is there for them," said Neville Ray, senior vice president of Engineering and Operations, T-Mobile USA. "Our 3G footprint will continue to expand, and we look forward to continuing to deliver the rich experiences a 3G network can bring to T-Mobile customers.”

T-Mobile’s Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)/High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) data network supports multiple 3G-capable phones available from T-Mobile, including the HSDPA-enabled T-Mobile G1 with Google, coming to select T-Mobile retail stores and available online on Oct. 22. The network can deliver download speeds of up to 1 Mbps; the faster speeds allow T-Mobile customers with 3G-capable handsets to take full advantage of new and emerging applications, such as the wide array of unique services accessible on the T-Mobile G1.

To view T-Mobile’s current 3G coverage including a complete list of major cities where 3G coverage is available, please go to the company’s Personal Coverage Check online at http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage.

About T-Mobile USA, Inc.

Based in Bellevue, Wash., T-Mobile USA, Inc. is the U.S. operation of Deutsche Telekom AG’s (NYSE:DT) Mobile Communications Business, and a wholly owned subsidiary of T-Mobile International, one of the world’s leading companies in mobile communications. By the end of the second quarter of 2008, 125 million mobile customers were served by the mobile communication segments of the Deutsche Telekom group — 31.5 million by T-Mobile USA — all via a common technology platform based on GSM, the world’s most widely used digital wireless standard. T-Mobile’s innovative wireless products and services help empower people to connect to those who matter most. Multiple independent research studies continue to rank T-Mobile among the highest in numerous regions throughout the U.S. in wireless customer care and call quality. For more information, please visit www.t-mobile.com. T-Mobile is a federally registered trademark of Deutsche Telekom AG.

Forward-Looking statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the current views of Deutsche Telekom management with respect to future events. The words "anticipate,” "believe,” "estimate,” "expect,” "intend,” "may,” "plan,” "project” and "should” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current plans, estimates, and projections, and therefore you should not place too much reliance on them. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond Deutsche Telekom`s control, including, without limitation, those factors set forth in "Forward-Looking Statements” and "Risk Factors” contained in Deutsche Telekom’s annual report on Form 20-F filed on February 28, 2008. If these or other risks and uncertainties materialize, or if the assumptions underlying any of these statements prove incorrect, Deutsche Telekom’s actual results may be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Deutsche Telekom does not intend or assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Improving cell phone reception

It was with some amusement I recently stumbled across T-Mobile's Personal Coverage Check, a service that claims you can "Check if T-Mobile coverage is right for you."

A quick digression: Ever wonder what the "t" in T-Mobile stands for? The answer is "Telekom" because the company is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. Curiously, I have always found German products to be of high quality with good customer service, but for some reason T-Mobile is different.

Read the latest WhitePaper - Windows Vista: Necessity and Opportunity

Anyway, according to T-Mobile's mapping service I should have a signal strength of between three and four bars. Judging from my very precise measurements (that is, looking at my phone), reality is a little different, with my signal usually between zero and four bars and alternating between those states on a roughly 5-minute cycle. So far I have not been able to find an explanation as to why the signal strength should wobble around so much -- perhaps you have an answer and would care to enlighten me.

Actually when I write "between zero and four bars" I should qualify that with the phrase "until two weeks ago." These days the cycle has shifted so now about every 5 minutes I get four bars for about 30 seconds and then nothing, nyet, nada, for the rest of the time. Can customer service tell me why? No. Can they do anything about it? Hah!

Slow Down? What Slow Down?

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- The economy may be in turmoil with financial markets swinging wildly amid investor uncertainty, but at T-Mobile, the nation's fourth largest wireless carrier in terms of subscribers, there is no plan to slow down on deployment of 3G wireless broadband services.

I sat down with Neville Ray, the company's senior vice president for engineering, and Cole Brodman, chief development officer, earlier this week at their headquarters to talk about how the credit crisis may affect them and whether or not it's terrible timing for the company's launch of its T-Mobile G1 cell phone built on Google's Android platform.

Ray and Brodman dispelled any concerns T-Mobile may be in trouble because of the credit crisis. Its German parent company, Deutsche Telecom, is strongly positioned to pay down debt on its balance sheet, they said. And the company has no plans to delay its rollout of upgraded network speeds and quality.

Mobile's 3G high-speed data network is live in more than 21 major metropolitan markets -- including Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle.

The Washington, D.C. area will get T-Mobile's 3G network before the end of the year, after long negotiations with federal agencies, such as the Department of Defense, to clear out spectrum that the carrier used for technological upgrades.

That deployment is important as the firm rolls out its greatly anticipated G1 Android phone, which will need the high-speed data service to fully take advantage of all the Internet features of the phone.

Ray said pre-sale orders for the G1 Android phone is about triple the carrier's initial expectations. But the firm wouldn't give hard numbers on how many pre-sales have been recorded. The executives said studies have shown cell phone service is viewed as a staple for consumers, one that many are unwilling to give up in tough economic times.

Brodman admits, however, that the phone will begin retail sales this month with lots of uncertainty as to whether consumers will be motivated to buy a new phone.

"Gravity is the issue for us. We can only control what we can control," Broadman said.