Not long after introducing netbooks for consumers, AT&T has now announced that it also offers embedded netbooks and laptops for small businesses.

Coming from top manufacturers like Acer, HP and Panasonic, AT&T’s netbooks and laptops feature built-in 3G wireless connectivity, thus being able to provide small businesses with access to the carrier’s 3G network in no less than 350 cities across the US.

The devices also feature AT&T Communication Manager, for access to 20,000 domestically AT&T Wi-Fi hot spots, and more than 90,000 AT&T Wi-Fi worldwide.

AT&T sells the laptops and netbooks in collaboration with CDW. Their offering includes Acer and HP netbooks for as low as $199 (with AT&T activation thru CDW), and HP notebooks for as low as $870 (also with AT&T activation thru CDW).

You can also buy the rugged Panasonic Toughbook, “with up to $150 off of select models”.

To check out the complete offering, visit CDW’s website.

Via Press release

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Great news for all those who have an iPhone 3G S and want to jailbreak it: a jailbreak for the brand new smartphone has just been released today by an independent developer named George Hotz.

Dubbed purplera1n, the iPhone 3G S jailbreak can be downloaded from this address.

Note that you’ll need a Windows PC (Windows 7 and Mac are not supported for the moment), an iPhone 3GS with 3.0 firmware and the latest version of iTunes in order to install the jailbreak.

Also, keep in mind that the jailbreak is a beta version, so be sure to back up all your data before running it.

To read more about how exactly to run the iPhone 3G S purplera1n jailbreak, head on over to George Hotz’s blog.

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It’s not clear yet what’s the final, official name of AT&T’s Nokia 6790, but it looks like the smartphone will be called Nokia Surge, instead of Nokia Mako, as previously reported.

The unannounced handset has just appeared in a video preview, which recommends it as a pretty good S60 messaging device. For example, it’s said that the phone’s QWERTY keypad is very user friendly, while the overall built quality is good.

The known features of Nokia 6790 Surge / Mako include a QVGA display, a 2.5mm headset jack, a 2MP camera and a 1,500 mAh battery. The smartphone should be launched by AT&T sometime this month, apparently for a low price on contract.

Until then, here you have the Nokia 6790 Surge video, filmed with the Nokia E71x (already available at AT&T) and streamed live via Qik:

Via Engadget

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With Android OS freely available for everyone, some new unknown players are bound to come up with their own Android phones.

Well, we’ve already seen some of them, like  DSTL1 from General Mobile, or Kogan Agora. At least in press releases.

Well, here’s another one for you.

HIGHSCREEN  PP5420 (now, what   a name!…)from Vobis Computer to be launched in Russia next week.

The handset  seems to be an already known Mobinova Ice, with Windows Mobile 6.1 OS ripped out and replaced with Android 1.5.

HIGHSCREEN  PP5420 comes with Samsung Soul’ish looking secondary OLED display/navpad. Other specs  include:

• Qualcomm MSM7201ATM (528MHz)
• Google Android OS 1.5
• GSM: 850/900/1800/1900; WCDMA/HSDPA 7.2mbps: 900/2100, HSUPA
• 3” WQVGA flat TFT-LCD touchscreen
• 3 mpx autofocus camera
• 256MB ROM / 128MB RAM
• microSD card slot
• Wi-fi b/g, GPS, FM Radio, accelerometer
• Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR, mini USB, TV-Out
• Battery: 108 mAh
• Dimensions:  114 x 53.5 x 13mm
• Weight: 120g with battery

PP5420 will cost around 360 EUR in Russia.

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Less than one day after Verizon announced the release date of its BlackBerry Tour 9630, Sprint has now also confirmed (via its Twitter account)  that it will launch the new RIM smartphone on July 12 as well – online and through telesales for the beginning.

Unsurprisingly, Sprint will sell the Tour for the same price as Verizon: $199.99 on contract, probably after a $100 rebate.

Announced by Research in Motion on June 16, BlackBerry Tour 9630 is a global smartphone, having both GSM and CDMA/EV-DO connectivity. The device looks like a mix between the Bold and the Curve 8900 – and that’s obviously a good thing.

The Tour will come with features like: a 480 x 360 pixels display, full QWERTY keyboard, GPS, 3.5mm headset jack and a 3.2MP camera.

Canada will also get the Tour this summer, as Bell is getting ready to release it on July 15 – or maybe a bit later.

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Samsung and T-Mobile have announced a new eco phone, dubbed Samsung S3030 Eco and available as of yesterday (July 2) in the Netherlands.

The S3030 Eco is a remake of the Samsung S3030 Tobi slider, which was announced by Sammy back in November 2008 as a phone for kids.

Made out of bio-plastic, the S3030 Eco is free of BFR (brominated flame retardants) and PVC. Its charger is an eco-friendly one, while its packaging is 100% made from recyclable materials.

The new phone features MP3 player, FM radio, photo camera (probably a 1.3MP one), and MicroSD card support, up to 8 GB.

T-Mobile Netherlands is offering the Samsung S3030 Eco for €89.95 on pre-pay. No word yet if the phone will be available in other countries – although it probably will be.

Via Press release

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It looks like that rumored Microsoft Pink phone is a real device after all.

According to AdWeek, McCann’s T.A.G. ad agency was selected by Microsoft to create a marketing campaign for the Pink phone.

“Pink” is only a codename for the moment, but it’s said that the device behind this codename will feature Windows Mobile 7, high-end features, and it will be the very first Microsoft-branded smartphone.

Windows Mobile 7 should be ready as early as the fall of 2009, but the Pink phone will probably not be out before 2010.

Reportedly, the Pink handset will feature a new UI on top of WM 7, called Purple. This might be developed by Danger, the company that makes software for T-Mobile’s Sidekick series.

Well, now we have to wait for Microsoft to confirm all this, right?

Via ZDNet

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Although Orange UK offers the HTC Hero for free on select plans, Orange Spain has announced that its Hero will be sold for prices starting at €99 (with a contract agreement and a monthly plan of €29).

The new Android smartphone will be available in Spain starting next week, and it looks like customers can already pre-order it online, with a €10 discount – thus for only €89.

As a reminder, HTC Hero is HTC’s third Android handset (after the G1 and the Magic). Its features include: 3.2 inch fingerprint-resistant touchscreen display with 320 x 480 pixels, Wi-Fi, GPS, 3.5mm headset jack, 5MP camera, and the brand new HTC Sense User Interface that runs on top of Android 1.5 OS.

HTC Hero will also be available unlocked in Spain, sometime at the end of July, for about €500.

Via Gizmos.es

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Big cities in France should be getting some pretty nice mobile broadband speeds pretty soon, thanks to some new developments by their mobile carrier SFR.

SFR today announced that they are upgrading their network to support 14.4 mbps data transfer rates. Which, in itself, is nothing too new or exciting these days. Especially with max speeds rarely attainable even in a moderately crowded neighborhoods.

But SFR doing  a bit more.

The are two main reasons for why the actual data transfer rates you get on mobile network quite often fail to impress.

• Limited of radio equipment and spectrum capacity – the more people are using a particular cell, the more these resources have to be partitioned among them.
• Limited data backhaul capability from a cell tower.  You have to get the data from the cell tower to the Net somehow. This is usually done through radio relays and/or by leasing data lines from fixed internet providers. Which is not very scalable and might become mighty expensive as the amounts of data increases.

Well, SFR decided to do something interesting about the second – backhaul – problem. Instead of relying on someone, they decided to build their own fiber network from the busiest spots.

During 2009-2010 SFR decided to connect 350 of it’s busiest sites via the new optical links, covering 66% of Paris, 50% of Marseille and 50% of Lyon.

Quite an interesting and unique move for a mobile operator. It may not be that significant for now. But it could give SFR a nice leg up against competitors as the demand for mobile data explodes during the next few years, and the radio networks get upgraded to support data transfer rates of 40 (HSPA+) to 100 mbps (LTE).

Why, one can dream that, without having to worry about the backhaul costs, SFR may even allow us unhindered and very affordable use of such services as Skype video calls and P2P on a mobile network…

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NTT DOCOMO, Japan’s leading mobile carrier, has announced the upcoming availability of a new PayPal-like service that will offer customers an easy and quick way of sending money to other DOCOMO subscribers, via a DOCOMO phone.

The new mobile remittance service will be available starting July 21. It will allow users to remit up to 20,000 yen ($207) per transfer and up to 200,000 yen ($2,070) per month.

The service will only be compatible with phones that use the DoCoMo i-mode mobile Internet service on the carrier’s FOMA 3G network, and it will not be offered to corporate subscribers.

(N-04A, one of DOCOMO’s latest phones)

Operating “as a bank agent on behalf of Mizuho Bank, Ltd.”, DOCOMO’s new service will charge users as follows: 105 yen per transfer for the payer and 65 yen per transfer for the payee. However, if the remittance is credited to a monthly DOCOMO bill, or it’s deposited into a Mizuho Bank account, the payee will not be charged.

Via Press release

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