February 9th, 2009 — Soapbox
Image via Wikipedia
We wish we were in sunny Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress, happening from the 16th to the 19th this month. While the other three would be gawking at the fine specimens of womankind over there, I’d be more interested in harassing the nearest Nokia rep for a touch-and-feel of the N97.
But let’s take a short break from all the Nokia love we’ve been giving. How about all the other mobile phone makers? What would they be doing?
February 9th, 2009 — Symbian Style
Say hello to our new staff member of sorts. Or guinea pig, to be precise.
The Nokia 5800 Xpress Music, otherwise known as the first official phone running S60 5th Edition. To herald this new arrival, RG will now also have a new column, dedicated to S60 with a focus on 5th Ed and of course, the 5800 Xpress Music.
February 6th, 2009 — Inbox
In the previous post, we noted that the HTC Dream would finally be making its way to Singapore. In an exclusive deal with HTC, SingTel happens to be the only telco in the region to bring in the Dream, similar to what happened with the iPhone 3G. And since SingTel also happens to own Australian telco Optus, the HTC Dream’ll also be made available there as well.
A tipster alerted us to the Optus website already showing a product page for the HTC Dream, along with corresponding price plans, though actual availability is yet unknown. Unfortunately though, Singaporeans are out of luck, as the only reference to the Dream we could find at this point was the press release. On the other hand though, our sources say that SingTel price plans for the HTC Dream should be made available within the next couple of weeks, probably before the end of February.
As for the other Singapore telcos (M1 and StarHub), much like what happened with the iPhone 3G, it’s probably a long shot that the HTC Dream will be made available to either one. Then again, if you really can’t wait, enterprising individuals are already selling the HTC Dream, albeit badged as the T-Mobile G1. Online retailer Expansys Singapore for example, lists the T-Mobile G1 as being available for a cool S$1349.
Alternatively, you can always pick up an Android developer unlocked device, the Android Dev Phone 1. Dev Phones are fully unlocked, letting you use any SIM card in the device, as well as being able to flash custom Andriod builds that work with the unlocked bootloader, which doesn’t enforce signed system images. The device goes for US$399, with free shipping in the United States, but is also available in 18 other countries including Singapore, though shipping charges apply. Also, you’ll need to sign up as an Android developer for a small fee before you can buy a Dev Phone.
