The Best Android Phone Yet, Another Lumia Leaked & Wind says “It Was a Bad Idea” to Get Involved in Canada

Samsung Galaxy Nexus: the Best Android Phone We’ve Seen Yet
A new era in the impressive story of Google‘s Android operating system has just begun with the release of the Nexus.
Mashable

Motorola Motokey Social set to Like Telus November 21st
The Motokey Social and Telus will change their status to “In a Relationship” on November 21st, and you can take part of the festivities.
Engadget

4.3-Inch Nokia Lumia 900 Gets Leaked By Nokia
The Nokia Lumia 900 has found its way to YouTube thanks to none other than Nokia themselves. Apparently the Finnish phone maker posted a video to court developers, promising them the combination of “Nokia’s stunning hardware” and “a dynamic Microsoft OS.”
TechCrunch

“It Was a Bad Idea”, Says Wind Mobile Financial Backer on Entering Canada
At the end of Q3 2011 Wind Mobile amassed 358,000 subscribers and their main financial backer, Naguib Sawiris, says getting involved in Canada and launching the wireless brand “was a bad idea”.
MobileSyrup

Huawei to Acquire Symantec’s 49% Stake, Rogers to Release the BlackBerry Bold 9790 & Mobilicity Drops Monthly Rate Plans by 50%

Here are top stories we’re tracking on Tuesday, November 15th:

Huawei to Acquire Symantec’s 49% Stake in Huawei Symantec for $530 Million
Huawei announced on Monday its intentions to purchase Symantec’s 49% stake in Huawei Symantec, a joint venture between the two companies that was originally formed in 2008, giving Huawei full control of the company.
BGR

Rogers to Release the BlackBerry Bold 9790 “Just in Time for the Holiday Gift-giving Season”
The press release this morning stated that it will be available “in the coming weeks”, but Rogers wanted to be first out and have stated that this new BlackBerry 7 powered QWERTY/touchscreen will be available “just in time for the holiday gift-giving season”.
MobileSyrup

Ice Cream Sandwich Coming to Full Xperia Lineup, Sony Ericsson Confirms
Today, the forthcoming upgrade has become officially official, though details remain equally fuzzy. “We can today confirm that we plan to upgrade the entire 2011 Xperia portfolio to the next version of Android known as Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich,” the company wrote in a blog post this morning.
Engadget

Mobilicity Has Gone Crazy… Dropping Monthly Rate Plans by 50%
Coming down the pipe tomorrow is another Mobilicity promo plan that is giving customers 50% off regular rate plans for up to 1-year, plus their $10 unlimited data and $5 BlackBerry Internet Service add-ons will also be cut in half.
MobileSyrup

Today’s Mobile Brief: Apple Fixes iPhone Battery Issues & Has No Plans to Bring Siri to Older Devices, Public Mobile Launches New Download Store

Amazon Just Sliced About $200 off the Droid RAZR
Motorola’s Droid RAZR launches today for $299.99, but Amazon is selling it for just $111.11 on a new two-year contract. If you’re in the market for the world’s slimmest smartphone (at 7.8mm), then this is a heck of a deal. In any Verizon Store, the RAZR costs nearly three times as much.
Business Insider

Apple Reportedly Has No Plans to Bring Siri to Older Devices
Apple will not bring its virtual personal assistant Siri to older devices, a new report claims to confirm. MSComputerVideos founder Michael Steeber on Tuesday posted an email conversation that allegedly took place between “someone who contacted Apple with a bug report” and Apple. In the exchange, a suggestion is posed to Apple asking the company to consider offering Siri to owners of older devices as part of a special paid update.
BGR

Public Mobile Launches New Download Store
A new “Store” tab has been launched and Public Mobile customers with 1X device (C76, BUZZ or E520) can now download ringtones and wallpapers. Apparently there’s a bunch of free images, plus also items you can purchase – ringtones cost $2.50 and wallpapers are $2.00.
MobileSyrup

Apple Fixes Critical iPhone Battery Issues With iOS 5.0.1
iOS 5.0.1 is the first update to Apple’s iOS 5, which brought the notifications tray, increased performance and iCloud to the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. In addition to fixing the iOS battery issue, 5.0.1. adds multitouch gestures to the original iPad, fixes iCloud bugs and improves voice recognition for Australian iPhone users. This is the first OS update available both via iTunes and over-the-air.
Mashable

HTC Omega blessed with renders, revealing its front-facing camera

HTC's decided to throw a similar get-together to rival the kickin' shindig we had tonight, which hopefully means the company will show off the latest and greatest phones soon to grace its lineup. One such phone that's been seeing a lot of talk lately is the Omega, rumored to be one of Peter Chou's upcoming Windows Phones. Unfortunately, it's just been a faceless name on paper -- until now. Pocketnow got its hands on a rather well-detailed render of the Mango device, which shows off HTC's traditional two-toned design (this time in white and gray) and a front-facing camera. While the latter feature isn't new to the industry by any stretch of the imagination, it backs up Microsoft's confirmation Wednesday that Mango will indeed support it. Anyone up for some sweet Skype video calling?

Nokia N9 is Coming Out in More Colors

When Nokia N9 was introduced and shown to the masses through press photos, it was presented in three colors, cyan, black, and pink. Even though these colors are standards for most phones, Nokia would like to have the selection a bit paced up as they think of bringing out two additional colors in the shades of mint green and orange. It would not hurt to have other options for color choice in case you may be sick of the basic black.

The leak actually presents the two new shades, but it has not been confirmed if this photo can be trusted or not. Just to jog your memory, the Nokia N9 is the first and last MeeGo phone that will be out on circulation to select European countries, and not including America on the list. It has a keyless 3.9-inch display and specs that works wonders. Let us just wait for the release in September and count how many colors there are.

Source: PocketNow

T-Mobile Launches the Samsung Gravity TXT

T-Mobile has launched the Samsung Gravity TXT which features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and the preloaded Social Buzz app.  The Samsung Gravity TXT brings you all the messaging and social networking options you need to stay connected with family and friends. You can send a message or a photo to any wireless phone or e-mail address. Or stay connected using always-on social networking.

Basic specifications include:

Size:

Camera: 2 megapixel camera

Size: 4.41 x 2.09 x 0.55

Weight: 112g

Included battery: 1000 mAh Lithium ion

Talk time: Up to 4 hours

Standby time: Up to 300 hours

Band (frequency): 850 MHz;900 MHz;1800 MHz;1900 MHz;UMTS: Band IV (1700/2100);Band II (1900)

 

Verizon to offer Intuit's GoPayment in retail stores, free after rebate

There's nothing worse than missing out on your favorite street meat because you've only got plastic. But even smaller vendors may soon be able to process that dollar hot dog with a credit card, as Verizon Wireless is making Intuit's GoPayment card reader available in its 2,300 retail stores. The small business-friendly machine plugs into a BlackBerry, Android or iOS device to transform the smartphone or tablet into a credit card processing machine using a free app. After a $30 mail-in rebate, the hardware is free with no monthly fees and a 2.7-percent fee per transaction. Merchants who upgrade to the premium version for $12.95 per month will only have to fork over 1.7-percent fee per swipe, bringing the net income on that dollar tube of processed meat to just over 98 cents. Plus, Intuit is throwing in two months gratis for the paid version. Check out the full PR after the break, and don't forget the ketchup and mustard.

Show full PR text

Intuit GoPayment App and Credit Card Reader Now Available at Verizon Wireless Stores

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. & MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless and Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU) today announced a strategic alliance to give all small businesses – from the sole proprietor to a medium-sized business – the ability to process credit card payments on smartphones and tablets. The companies are now offering Intuit's GoPayment app and pocket-sized credit card reader in Verizon Wireless' 2,300 retail stores and business-to-business sales channels.

GoPayment makes it easier and more affordable for small businesses to process credit cards and for anyone who sells products or services to accept credit card payments wirelessly. The card reader simply plugs into the audio jack of a supported smartphone or tablet. Credit and debit cards can be swiped through the card reader or entered into the app manually. The transaction is processed immediately and funds are automatically deposited into a user's bank account within a few business days. GoPayment supports devices on Android™, BlackBerry® and iOS platforms for most popular 3G and 4G LTE smartphones and tablets.

"Intuit's GoPayment on America's most reliable network is a mobile transaction game changer, and brings another dimension of must-have technology to the small business community," said Mike Schaefer, executive director of the Business Solutions Group for Verizon Wireless. "Payments and transactions are often the biggest hurdle businesses face. Our value proposition is to streamline, simplify and enable business owners to get paid with minimal delay. This collaboration with Intuit is an important part of our strategy to bring the most innovative online and mobile tools to our customers."

"Rather than lose out on potential business, anyone who sells a product or service can now easily and affordably give their customers the option of paying with plastic," said Chris Hylen, general manager of Intuit's Payment Solutions division. "GoPayment is meeting a huge need and is one of the fastest growing mobile payment solutions in the market. With Verizon Wireless, we'll help even more people discover that they too can process credit card payments on the phones or tablets they already own."

To save time when processing payments, GoPayment offers the ability to create and sell from a list of frequently sold items. Depending on the types of goods and services sold, users can choose to apply sales tax, add tips and send customized receipts via text message and email with a map of where the transaction took place. To protect data, sensitive credit card information is never stored on the phone. The data is also encrypted – once via the card reader and a second time via the GoPayment app.

For the more than four million small businesses that use QuickBooks®, GoPayment can also sync transactions with recent versions of QuickBooks – PC, Mac and soon QuickBooks Online – to save time by reducing manual data entry. GoPayment also supports up to 50 users on one account, which is ideal for businesses with multiple employees who work in the field.

Pricing

Verizon Wireless customers can get the GoPayment credit card reader free with activation of a GoPayment account and a mail-in rebate for the $29.97 purchase price. The GoPayment mobile payment app is free and the basic service has no monthly, transaction or cancellation fees, and offers a competitive 2.7 percent discount rate for swiped transactions.

A paid version of GoPayment is also available for $12.95 a month and provides a low discount rate of 1.7 percent for swiped transactions. Intuit is offering Verizon Wireless customers two months of free service when they select this monthly paid plan.

Customers who purchase a smartphone for their GoPayment use will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan beginning at $39.99 for monthly access. Tablet and smartphone users require a data package starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data.

For additional information, please visit www.verizonwireless.com/gopayment or gopayment.com/verizon.