Smartphones seem to be getting cheaper by the day and here’s the latest deal for a Blackberry Curve 8530, for a mere $50 (after rebates) AT&T will set you up with one of these suckers. Of course the Curve 8530 will come with the usual two year contract but it’ll also have these snazzy features and specs too
* 2.5 inch display
* Blackberry App World
* Dedicated Media Keys
* Trackpad
* Full QWERTY keyboard
* Blackberry Push Technology
* Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, or ICQ apps
* 2.0 Megapixel Camera and Camcorder
* GPS capable
* microSD card slot (up to 32 GB)
* WiFi Enabled - 802.11 b/g
* 4.3″ x 2.4″ x 0.5″
* 3.9 oz.
* Up To 5.4 hours continuous talk time
We must admit that this is a very tempting offer, a good smartphone for $50, very hard to turn done especially if your already a Sprint customer. If you’re keen as then stroll on over to the Sprint website and grab yourself a Curve.
We also managed to dig up this unboxing video from phoneDog. Whilst it’s for the Verizon version of the Curve 8530, the functionality of the unit is still the same.
On November 15th Sprint will unleash the Palm Pixi on its customers for $100. The QWERTY Pixi runs on the Palm webOS platform and features such goodies as Palm Synergy, full web browsing and linked contacts for all you social network addicts. Here are a few more detail son the Palm Pixi
* Palm webOS platform
* Dual-band CDMA2000, 3G: EvDO Rev A
* 2.63-inch multi-touch screen, 320×400 resolution Sub-HVGA display
* Microsoft Exchange Direct Push Technology, POP3/IMAP (Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, etc.)
* Integrated IM, SMS, and MMS
* Built-in GPS
* 2 Mp camera
* Audio Formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCELP, WAV
* Video Formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264
* Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity
* 8 GB memory
* microUSB connector (USB 2.0)
* 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack
* 55.0 x 111.0 x 10.85 mm
* 92.5 g
Definitely aimed at the social network fiend on the go, the Palm Pixi seems pretty good value at $100 from Sprint. It sports all the bells and whistles you would expect from a smartphone, but of course it’s all about usablility. Here’s a quick Pixi video preview from the guys at MobileBurn
If you are the proud owner of a Palm Pixi, let us know what you think of it.
For only US$150 you can get your paws on a Blackberry Curve 8350i over at Sprint, with the obligatory two-year plan of course. And the 8350i comes without a camera, quite a bizarre move as seemingly all cellphones come with at least a 2Mp image taker these days. But the 8350i does come with the following features and specifications
* QWERTY keyboard
* Send and recive emails
* Wi-Fi connectivity
* 1 GB microSD card
* Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity
* GPS capable
* 320 x 240 res colour display
* 4.4″ x 2.4″ x 0.7″
* 4.7 oz.
* 4 hours of talk time
The standard price is a whopping $480 but after ‘instant savings’ and the mail-in rebate, Sprint can offer the Curve 8350i at an astounding $150. Pretty impressive for a smartphone even if there isn’t a camera.
And just to make things even more interesting here’s the same phone with camera at exactly the same price. You think Sprint would give you at least a small discount if a camera is surplus to your requirements.
At first look the LG Lotus looks like an early design for a cellphone, a little bit hideous or a design gone horribly wrong. Yet here it is, a modern cellphone that looks, well just kinda weird. All due credit to the designer on the functionality front, QWERTY keyboard, internal and external displays, yet a square cellphone, what was he thinking or should we say drinking? But hey we’re not ones to get hung up on looks, what about the details?
* QWERTY keyboard
* Sprint One Click customised home screen
* SD slot for up to 12 GB of memory
* 2.0 Mp camera for stills and action
* NFL Mobile Live access
* Sprint Music Store
* GPS
* Web and email capable
* Speakerphone
* Blue-tooth connectivity
* Dual displays
* 3.3″ x 2.4″ x 0.7″
* 3.7 oz
* 5.5 hours of talk-time
* Text, Pic and Video Messaging
* MP3 player
All that for US$100 over at Sprint with black or purple options plus that good old two year plan. If you’re dead set on an unshackled unit, that’ll be US$300 thank you very much.
So is 2009 the year to be square? Well, obviously LG think so and we’re gonna take our hats off to them for coming up with such a unique design, but we’re just not sure if the LG Lotus is gonna sell.
All you Blackberry fans out there should mark down November 4th in your calendars. On that day, AT&T will unleash the Blackberry Bold on the world. What’s so special about the Bold? Well here’s a few choice bits and pieces on the sexy unit
* GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA
* Wi-Fi connectivity
* GPS
* 480 x 320 res LCD display
* 5 hours talktime
* 13 days standby
* 1 GB of onboard memory (expandable)
* 624 MHz CPU
* 128 MB flash memory
* Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity
* 2 Mp camera (still and video)
There appear to be a few teething troubles with the unit according to Electronista, such 3G signal issues, but we’re sure AT&T will have them ironed out by November 4th. Overall the unit looks pretty good and may be RIM’s iPhone killer. Of course the proof is in the pudding and we will shall wait to see what users have to say about the unit before passing our own judgement on the Bold.
With an intriguing moniker Sprint have unleashed the Samsung Rant mobile phone on the unsuspecting world. Are Sprint are expecting only angry users to pick up this model and vent their frustration via the QWERTY slider? We’re going to assume they would like the unit to reach a broader market! Anyway this low-end unit sports a number of cool features, so if you can handle having a phone called Rant read on
* QWERTY slider
* Access to Sprint’s Music Store and Sprint TV
* GPS
* Web and email functionality
* 2.0 Mp still and video camera
* Speakerphone
* Bluetooth connectivity
* 4.5 x 2.1 x 0.7 inch
* 4.58 oz
* 5.6 hours of talk time
* MicroSD memory card slot
The phone also has a nifty US$50 price tag after rebates and two year plan. Despite all of this though we still feel that the Rant isn’t anything to, err, rant or rave about.
Sprint are offering the HTC Touch for a remarkable US$100. We’ve talked about the Touch before but this is the best deal we’ve seen for the little sucker. It’s a neat looking phone running Windows Mobile 6.1 with the HTC Touchflo interface. Other bells and whistles include
* Access to Sprint’s Music Store and Power Vision
* MicroSD slot including a 512 MB card to get you started
* Web, email access
* Built-in 2.0 Mp camera
* Speakerphone
* Bluetooth connectivity
* Use as a modem
* Supports mp3, aac and aac plus audio file formats
* 4 hours of continuous talk time with an 1100 mAh battery
* 4.0 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches
* 4 ounces
The package includes a two year shackle, and the associated ‘Instant Savings’ and ‘Mail-in Rebate’ reduce that price tag to a mere US$100. Not a bad deal. The guys over at CNET have done a review on the Touch giving it 3.5 stars out of 5.
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