BlackBerry roadmap leaks, touch screens, HD video and NFC ahead

We just found some slides with juicy information about BlackBerry's 2011 lineup. Spoiler alert: there's a couple of (thinner) touch phones incoming and the OS is getting modernized with better graphics, browser, video and so on.

These slides show the CDMA versions, but the specs should be similar to the GSM variants - some of the listed handsets are even dual-mode (CDMA/GSM) phones.

Starting off with the BlackBerry Monaco Touch. It looks a lot like the previously leaked images of the BB Storm 3. The phone runs BlackBerry OS 6.1 on a 1.2GHz Qualcomm processor and 768MB RAM. It has a 3.7" WVGA capacitive touchscreen (with 253DPI) and all this is packed in 11.5mm thickness.

  
BlackBerry Monaco Touch and a ponential version with physical, instead of capacitive keys

The Monaco Touch is primarily a CDMA phone with EV-DO data connectivity, but also offers quad-band EDGE and single-band UMTS, for roaming purposes most likely. Another interesting feature is the 5MP camera, which can record 720p video.

There's a second slide titled "Monaco Key ID Updates" - it's not quite clear what that's about, but it the hardware keys are physical instead of capacitive. Other than that, it seems to be the same phone.

Next up is the BlackBerry Bold Touch (a.k.a. Montana). It too has GSM/EDGE/UMTS connectivity and a 1.2GHz CPU and 768MB RAM, 5MP camera with 720p video and it's even thinner - 10.5mm. The screen is 2.8" with VGA resolution for the impressive 287DPI.

 
BlackBerry Bold Touch (Montana)

The BlackBerry Sedona and Curve Touch have similar specs, except that the Sedona is a QWERTY bar, while the Curve Touch is a touch phone. Both the BlackBerry Curve Touch and the Sedona are powered by 800MHz CPUs with 512MB RAM. The displays have the older HVGA resolution and the cameras are 5MP (the Curve Touch can record 720p video).

The Sedona would likely be known as BlackBerry Dakota in its GSM form, while the Curve Touch will be the BlackBerry Curve Apollo for its GSM version. On the other hand, it looks a lot like the Storm3 too.

  
BlackBerry Sedona • BlackBerry Curve Touch

All these phones have Wi-Fi and GPS built-in and all but the Monaco Touch pack NFC. They support Wi-Fi hotspot functionality too, thanks to BlackBerry OS 6.1.

Here are a couple of other new things in v6.1 - 24-bit color support, OpenGL acceleration for 3D graphics, optimized WebKit-based browser with fast JavaScript, plus other goodies.

  
New features in BlackBerry OS 6.1

The roadmap leaked too so we know when to expect these new phones - the Monaco Touch and the Bold Touch (Montana) are expected in Q3 of 2011, the Sedona should hit in early Q3 and finally, there's a "Malibu" phone (which may be the Curve Touch) for early 2012.

 
BlackBerry leaked roadmap

Overall, things are shaping nicely for the BlackBerry device portfolio. If only they could hurry up with the releases.

Two million WP7 devices sold, USB tethering hack now available

According to Microsoft, there are more than two million Windows Phone 7 licenses sold around the world and 93% of those have found home with satisfied users. Meanwhile the unsatisfied may be interested in the recently released USB tethering hack. It's compatible with the HTC lineup and the Dell Venue Pro.

A day before Microsoft releases its Q4 financial results, it gives us a few interesting facts to chew on.

The most important one is about the Windows Phone 7 licenses sold globally - more than two million. This means there are more than two million WP7 phones worldwide and according to Microsoft 93% of them satisfy their owners. The research also shows 90% of the WP7 users would recommend the OS to others.

Another curious fact is that 100 apps (average) are published in the Windows Marketplace every day. Today there are more than 6500 apps available there.

If you are one of those unsatisfied users, or just want to expand the capabilities of your device, there is now a USB tethering hack that allows you to hook your phone to your computer and allows it to connect to the Internet via the 3G connection. It only works on HTC-made WP7 smartphones and you'll need to jailbreak the device first. You can find the full tutorial at XDA Developers thread or use this one.

If you own a Dell Venue Pro, the tethering magic is quite simple and easy. Just follow this link for thequick tutorial.

As we previously told you, Samsung Omnia 7 also supports USB tethering and it's very easy to enable it too.

Microsoft has a lot to catch up with the rest of the competing smartphone platforms. The first big update for Windows Phone 7 is just around the corner and we bet we'll see a lot of the aspects of the OS move in the right direction.

Not-blurry photos of Samsung Galaxy S 4G for T-Mobile appear

New photos of T-Mobile's Samsung Galaxy S 4G give us a better look at the phone - and you shouldn't be surprised to hear it looks almost exactly like the Vibrant. It's similar on the inside too, save for the faster mobile data connectivity and a couple of other goodies.

The Samsung Galaxy S 4G is part of the Galaxy S line (the name really gives it away) but it uses an HSPA+ chipset capable of 21Mbps speeds. T-Mobile is calling it 4G, even though that's not technically true.

A video call camera graces the front of the Galaxy S 4G, which was omitted from the Samsung Vibrant. The regular I9000 Galaxy S does have a secondary camera though.

    
Spy shots of T-Mobile's Samsung Galaxy S 4G

Anyway, another noticeable change seems to be the color of the back - it looks matte brown instead of piano black with a blue dots "galactic" pattern. This may be the fastest way to tell the Galaxy S 4G and the Vibrant apart.

The rest of the insides are unchanged from the mainline Galaxy S. Still, the Galaxy S 4G in the photos reportedly ran Android 2.2 Froyo, which may be the OS version at launch. The launch is slated for 23 February according to leaked slides. The first official announcement was vague at best.

 
The Samsung Galaxy S 4G is expected to launch on 23 February, running Froyo

T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S 4G is exclusive to T-Mobile USA.

Motorola sums Q4 and 2010, things are starting to look good

Motorola has just published its Q4 and full 2010 results and they suggest the worst might already be behind the company. he company has sold mobile phones worth $2.4 billion and generated $72 million of net profit. Those numbers compare very favorably to the $1.8 billion revenue and $132 of loss that the company scored in the last quarter of 2009.

The good holiday quarter results have also helped reduce the loss for the full 2010 down to "only" $86 million. We'll remind you that in 2009 the mobile division of Motorola (which is now a separate company) lost over $1.3 billion so we're definitely looking at an improvement here.

In Q4 of 2010 Motorola shipped 11.3 million handsets (including 4.9 million smartphones) bringing the full 2010 tally to 37.3 million. In Q4 of 2009 Motorola only shipped 2 million smartphones so the company's obviously achieved some serious growth there.

Of course, one would expect such growth, considering that the company launched 23 Android-running smartphones in the past year alone. They are now expecting to fortify their position as one of the leading Android manufacturers with handsets such as the Tegra 2-powered Motorola Atrix, the CDMA-lovingDroid Bionic and the Xoom Honeycomb tablet.

The Motorola CEO used the occasion to reveal the target release dates of some of the company's new handsets. The AT&T-bound Atrix and the Verizon-heading 3G Xoom should come at the end of February, while the Bionic and the LTE-enabled version of the Xoom should arrive by the end of June.

For Q1 of 2011 Motorola expects lower sales and a net loss of $26 to $62 million.

Secret Loophole Allows Unlimited Data For AT&T iPhone Users

In an unadvertised loophole, AT&T has allowed some of its subscribers who have had unlimited data plans in the past to switch back.
The loophole includes anyone who owned an iPhone before June, when the limited plans took effect.
The Associated Press (AP) learned of the loophole through some of AT&T’s iPhone subscribers.
Jose Argumedo, of Brentwood, NY, told AP's Peter Svensson that he and a friend were switched back to an unlimited plan recently after they called AT&T’s customer service. Both users own an iPhone 4, and previously owned earlier iPhone models.


Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T, would not confirm the option. “We handle customers and their situations individually, and we're not going to discuss specifics,” he told Svensson.
AT&T has allowed iPhone and smartphone users with unlimited data plans to keep them when upgrading directly to a new phone. It’s the option to return to an unlimited plan after going limited that has been kept secret.
AT&T’s unlimited plan costs $30 per month. There are two limited plans -- one for $15 per month that provides 200mb of data, and another that provides 2gb for $25 per month. Above the 2gb limit, each additional gigabyte of data costs $10.
Two gigabytes of data per month is more than enough for most people.
Argumedo said he uses between 4 and 8gb per month, because he uses video and audio streaming services such as Pandora. He told Svensson that AT&T restored the unlimited plan after he threatened to go to Verizon.

2 Million Windows Phone 7 Units Sold

Microsoft reported this week that it has sold more than 2 million units of its newest Windows Phone 7 software to smartphone makers last quarter, a strong showing for the software launched in October, but still lagging behind Apple Inc’s iPhone and Google’s Android operating system.
Microsoft, which licenses the technology to companies such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and HTC Corp, also said there were more than 6,500 apps available for download on its online marketplace.


The numbers show pretty good momentum on the sales of the platform,” Al Hilwa, an analyst at tech research firm IDC, told Reuters.
“Anecdotally almost everyone who has seen the phone has commented on the style and fluidity of the interface. The apps numbers are excellent for this early stage of the lifecycle,” Hilwa said.
Despite its strong start, the software giant still lags behind its rivals.
Apple said last week it has unloaded 16.2 million units of its iPhones last quarter. Research in Motion (RIM) in December said it sold 14.2 million units of its BlackBerry smartphone during that quarter, which ended November 27.
Google, which offers its Android system to phone makers for free, said 300,000 Android devices are sold daily, which suggests more than 9 million are sold each month.

UN Reports 2 Billion Net Users Globally

Worldwide Internet usage has ballooned reaching an impressive 2 billion users, the UN telecommunications agency’s head said on Wednesday.
The number of mobile phone subscriptions has also reached a symbolic threshold -- five billion, Hamadoun Toure, secretary general of the UN's International Telecommunications Union (ITU), told AFP.
“At the beginning of the year 2000 there were only 500 million mobile subscriptions globally and 250 million Internet users,” Toure said.
“By the beginning of this year 2011 those numbers have mushroomed to over five billion mobile users and two billion subscribers to the Internet,” he added.
A statistician at ITU told the French news agency that the figure for mobile phones related to subscriptions and not individual users.


New data posted online by ITU showed that the estimated number of Internet users had reached 2.08 billion by the end of 2010, compared to 1.86 billion by the end of 2009.
The estimated of global mobile phone subscriptions reached 5.28 billion in 2010, compared to 4.66 billion a year earlier.
“The very high growth in mobile (phones) is slowing and we're reaching the end of double digit growth in mobile,” Susan Teltscher, ITU head of market information and statistics, told AFP.
As for the Internet, nearly 1 in three people in the world use it. Fifty-seven percent of those users are in developing countries.
The number of fixed broadband Internet subscriptions worldwide passed the 500 million mark for the first time in 2010, reaching 555 million, while the number of mobile broadband subscriptions reached 940 million.
Asia and the Pacific added more than 100 million Internet users to the global total to bring the number of users in that region to 857 million -- largely due to China, Teltscher said.
But the highest density of online surfers is found in Europe, followed by the Americas, former Soviet states and Arab nations, according to the ITU data. The most rapid online growth in recent years has occurred in the latter two regions.
The estimated number of Internet users in Arab states has reached 88 million, doubling in just four years. The Commonwealth of Independent States grew even faster -- 127 million people online last year, compare to 51 million in 2007, according to ITU estimates.
“They have been catching up because they had lower penetration rates before,” said Teltscher.