Big day for Bell and smartphones as they add the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 on top of the Pal Treo Pro launch a little earlier in the day. Thankfully the BlackBerry seems to have its pricing lined up and will squeeze your piggy bank for $29 on a three-year contract, a steep $349 on 2, $449 for 1-year and is $499 off contract altogether — though the $29 is apparently only until the end of March. Telus is also prepping this flippier BlackBerry for launch, though no word on a date for that just yet. In case you’ve forgotten the pink or black 8230 features GPS capabilities, 128MB of memory, external 1.6-inch and internal 2.4-inch displays, and the oh-so novel 4.6 OS. Grab it now on Bell’s site if you’ve been dreaming of the same ol’ BlackBerry in an entirely new and interesting package.

Update: Pricing updated as site was updated.

Filed under: Cellphones

Bell Canada launches first CDMA BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hot on the heels of Amazon’s highly anticipated Kindle 2 launch comes this: news that Hearst Corporation — which publishes iconic magazines including Cosmopolitan and Esquire along with the San Francisco Chronicle — will be launching its own wireless e-reader. While many may be quick to label this forthcoming device as a Kindle competitor, the concept behind this is far more elaborate than simply knocking Amazon from its perch. In an effort to “preserve the business model that has sustained newspapers and magazines” while moving forward with technology, Hearst is planning to ship a larger-than-usual reader (around the size of a standard sheet of paper), giving publishers (and advertisers, by extension) about the same amount of space as they’re used to when pushing out e-articles. Reports suggest that the device — which will do the monochrome thing until a color version debuts later — could land as early as this year, with Hearst & Friends planning to sell them to publishers and “take a cut of the revenue derived from selling magazines and newspapers on these devices.” No exaggeration here — this may be the biggest news we’ve heard for print media in years, not to mention the promise of an all-new e-reader for gadget nerds to swoon over.

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

Hearst to launch wireless e-reader, potentially revolutionize print media originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is just too good. We knew VMware was working on this sort of thing, but watching it in action is almost too much magic for our fragile hearts to comprehend. VMware MVP lets you run multiple mobile operating systems on a mobile device as virtual machines. It works exactly as you might hope something like this to work — you can switch between operating systems on the fly, with full graphics acceleration and touchscreen interaction. You can even view both operating systems running simultaneously (in this case Windows CE 6 and Android), with info on just how much power each OS is swiping from your poor little mobile CPU. Performance isn’t perfect, of course, but as mobile hardware gets better and the desire for multiple mobile operating systems on the same device becomes unbearable, we see good things happening here. VMware expects to release the software in 2009, video is after the break.

Continue reading VMware MVP weds Windows CE and Android in unholy matrimony on dual-boot N800

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

VMware MVP weds Windows CE and Android in unholy matrimony on dual-boot N800 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PC World – After the former COO of game developer Acclaim David Perry Twittered about the new PSP2 and its lack of a UMD drive, the Internet started paying attention to Sony’s oft-forgotten game handheld. Perry wrote, “I hear Sony FINALLY has the PSP 2. And thank goodness, they’ve removed the stupid battery-sucking UMD disc drive. I’m excited!”

Source:
Will Sony’s Next PSP Lose the UMD Drive?
(PC World)

It’s apparently not quite the same fire hazard that the truth in advertising standard-bearer Quickfire is, but NTT DoCoMo doesn’t seem to be taking any chances with its newly-launched BlackBerry Bold, with the Japanese carrier now suspending sales of the smartphone after some reports of it getting a bit too toasty for comfort. Apparently, some 30 users reported that the keyboard “heated up” while the phone was recharging, although it’s not clear if that’s due to the charger or the handset itself. For its part, RIM says that the issue “appears to be specifically limited to the BlackBerry Bold devices sold in Japan,” and that expects to be able to fix the problem and resume sales of the Bold “shortly.” In the meantime, stay frosty, Japan.

[Via Yahoo! News / AFP]

Filed under: Cellphones

NTT DoCoMo halts BlackBerry Bold sales after reports of overheating originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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