Cingular offers BlackBerry Connect for Palm Treo 650

This week saw the joint announcement by Cingular Wireless and RIM of the introduction of BlackBerry Connect for users of the Palm Treo 650. Push email services are critically important for many mobile professionals and this new service will be welcome news for all Treo 650 fans.

Among other things, BlackBerry Connect provides:

• Push Corporate Email Services
• Wireless Calendar Synchronization
• Attachment Viewing
• Remote Address Lookup

Tim Roper US Region Vice President of Palm said during the announcement:

“Treo 650 already is one of the most compelling mobile-computing devices available today for business users, and the BlackBerry Connect functionality gives Cingular customers another great reason to adopt Treo as a vital business-productivity tool.”

Cingular has unlimited BlackBerry Connect services starting at $44.99 per month. The Palm Treo 650 with Cingular can be bought on Amazon starting at $44.99 on a new plan. More information on the services are available from PalmOne and Cingular.

[Source Cingular Press Release]

10 cool things you can do with your cell phone

Nowadays cell phones can do almost anything, but now there is more to add to the list. Some of these cool features may not be available yet or are for specific models only, but rest assured with the increase in cellular technology it is on the way.

1. ID that song: Next time you hear a catchy song on the radio, you don’t have to try to memorize the lyrics so you can Google it when you get home. Now all you need to do is dial a code number, hold the phone to the speaker for a few seconds and within moments you’ll see the artist, title and album appear. This is only available with select models.
2. Have your phone wake you with music: Tired of your normal buzzer alarm clock from the 1980s? With some new models, including the LG Chocolate, you can select music as your alarm.
3. Text message a landline phone: Companies are now starting to offer text to landline messaging. Your text message is sent from your cell phone to a landline and is converted to a voice message that is played back on the landline.There is a small charge for this, but nonetheless interesting.
4. Scan in a business card: Ever wanted to get someone info off of their business card, but they only had one? Ok probably not, but some models have features where you can take a picture of a business card and have the picture trasferred to your phone book.
5. Have your text messages read back to you: Vemail Voice Email 2.0 (http://www.nch.com.au/vemail/index.html) enables usuers to read e-mail and easily reply by speaking. This application is $28 but can sure be useful for people on the go. More…

   Theoretically related Articles

   • Cell phone emergency tricks and tips
   • Blackberry’s Precious Pearl - 8100, no longer just a number
   • The 9 use cell phone charger!

   If you enjoyed your this article, please show your support by visiting our sponsors. Thanks!

Sprint’s Palm Treo 700wx with GPS - Vodafone/Cingular Treo 750 on the way?

Sprint are expected to release the new Palm Treo 700wx next week with a host of great new features included double the RAM from the 700w and built-in GPS. sprintusers.com has what looks to be an official specs sheet. This new PDA will operate on the Sprint EV-DO Mobile Broadband network and have access to Sprints Power Vision network services.

The 700wx is expected to be released to business customers from 27 August with an offering at retail sales outlets from 3 September.

Treo 750…

In other Treo news, the Treo 750 is expected to be released in just two weeks time 12 September for the European market on Vodafone’s 3G network. As expected, the 750 will run Windows Mobile 5.0. While no official details have been released, it is hoped that the 750 will be an antenna-less design and have built-in wifi - something that has been lacking from all Treo handsets to date.

Reuters reports:

Palm is to launch the new handset to Vodafone customers in a number of European countries including the U.K., Germany, Spain, Italy and Netherlands as it attempts to win back the confidence of a market it once dominated with its Palm Pilot device.

PDAStreet is speculating that shortly after it’s release, Cingular users should expect a US version…

How does your provider and brand score?

Forrester Research released a recent survey asking how much they trust their provider, and their handset brand. Forrester Research asked 4,700 consumers across the USA and compiled all of the information and gave the major providers and brands grades.

Lets get right to the report cards, first the providers:

• Verizon: C
• Cingular: C-
• Sprint: D-

Now for the mobile brands:

• Palm: B+
• Motorola: B
• LG Electronics: C-
• Samsung: D-

[To read more, check out Yahoo!]

Samsung releases first ultra-thin slider to US

Samsung has been doing their homework lately, trying to push out some new stylish phones that phone lovers will enjoy.
Released under Cingular, the SGH-D807 is one of the first candy bar like sliders released in America. It is said to be released during the summer, but everyone knows release dates are alway a guess. The D807 isn’t just thin though, it has plenty of goodies packed into it.

• 97 x 52 x 14.9 mm
• Bluetooth
• 1.3 megapixel camera with video
• mp3 player
• microSD external memory slot
• WAP 2.0 compliant browser with EDGE technology

To read an extensive review, continue to Mobiledia.

Old handset on Cingular? Better upgrade quick

If you are with Cingular Wireless and have been looking for incentive to upgrade your aging handset, Cingular might be able to help you make that decision sooner rather than later.

To encourage subscribers to update their handsets to ones which operate on the newer GSM band, Cingular will soon begin charging its subscribers still on the older services a $5 per month surcharge.

As part of Federal regulations, carriers are required to provide analog cell services until sometime in ‘08, but that doesn’t mean they have to make it easy for people to stay.

Cingular:

“Customers can avoid the charge by switching to our GSM network and equipment. The combination of coverage, service quality, devices, and advanced features on GSM is superior to TDMA.”

Fair enough I say. So, ditch that old brick and upgrade to something new and exciting, whose battery lasts more than 90 minutes on standby, else you’ll pay for it.

[Full story on Yahoo! News]