See all Phone Reviews here at Mobile Phone FAQ

This week, you might have heard that Apple removed over 5,000 applications from its mobile App Store. What did most of the apps have in common?  Scantily clad women. Apple’s VP of World Wide Marketing, Phil Schiller, was quoted by the New York Times: “It came to the point where we were getting customer complaints from women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kids were able to see.” Whatever the reason, the move did come as a shock to some developers. Fred Clarke, co-president of “On the Go Girls” said, “I’m shocked. We’re showing stuff that’s racier than the Disney Channel, but not by much. It’s very hard to go from making a good living to zero. For developers, how do you know you aren’t going to invest thousands into a business only to find out one day you’ve been cut off?” On the Go Girls had all fifty of their mobile applications removed from the App Store; the company was grossing thousands of dollars a day from downloads. Schiller went onto say, “We obviously care about developers, but in the end have to put the needs of the kids and parents first.” We’ve got the full Times article queued up for your reading enjoyment.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

AT&T has announced the newest addition to its Mobile TV lineup, the LG Arena. The LG Arena isn’t a new phone, having been launched a year ago, and LG has already replaced the device with a new flagship in the LG Mini, which Phone Scoop saw first hand at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The LG Arena arrives on U.S. shores with a 3”, WVGA touchscreen and 7.2Mbps HSPA networking. The phone uses LG’s own S-Class interface. For imaging, the LG Arena gets a 5-megapixel camera with auto focus and features to upload pics to popular social networking sites. Most importantly, though, the phone will use AT&T’s Mobile TV service. The LG Arena will be available online on February 26 and in stores on March 7. The phone will cost $199 with a contract agreement. AT&T’s Mobile TV is currently priced at $9.99 per month, though new users will get a 7-day trial to take the broadcast video service for a test run. Mobile TV now offers content from more than two dozen providers and content partners, including all the major U.S. TV networks.

All credits and information was found on phonescoop.com

Controlling your TV from your phone isn’t a new concept, but Verizon just made it a bit sexier. Verizon FiOS owners this week can nab a new FiOS Mobile Remote app for their Motorola Droid or HTC Imagio. The application emulates regular remote buttons, but also tosses in an icon-based favorites view of channels, in addition to an ability to sling photos from the phone to the big screen. The phone hooks into your FiOS box over your local WiFi, and requires you to download a widget for the set top box as well to get everything synced up. We’re not exactly sure why this is limited to the Droid and Imagio right now — we’re sure the Droid Eris could handle the workload, for instance — but Verizon does say that it’s working on making additional handsets compatible in the future. Check out a video demo of the functionality after the break.

All credits and information was found on engadget.com

This week at MWC, Google CEO Eric Schmidt proudly proclaimed that Android handsets are being shipped at the rate of 60,000 per day worldwide. That is a blistering pace of over 1.8 million handsets per month and over 21.8 million handsets per year. Schmidt did not indicate whether the recipient of a “shipped” handset was an end-user or a retailer, however, the number is impressive either way. As handset manufacturers continue to embrace Android and re-focus on hardware production this number is sure to climb even higher.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

Sony Ericsson set the stage for MWC by announcing three new handsets in a press event held on the day before the launch of the international mobile phone conference. Sony rolled out two new compact Android handsets based upon the design of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 and one Symbian-powered handset phone that is the big brother to the previously announced Vivaz. The X10 mini and X10 mini pro are similarly spec’d handsets with the X10 Mini Pro sporting a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The Vivaz Pro is a slightly modified version of the Vivaz and offers a QWERTY keyboard, a touchscreen interface and the Symbian S60th 5th edition operating system. All three handsets are expected to launch in Q2 2010 in select markets. Hit the jump for the full rundown of specs.

Both the mini X10 and mini X10 Pro include:

• 600 MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 processor
• 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and geotagging
• 2.55 inch QVGA touchscreen display
• aGPS
• Google Maps
• Wisepilot™ turn-by-turn navigation
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth
• Full suite of Google services
• 3.5mm audio jack
• microSD expansion with 2GB card included in the retail package
• Android 1.6 with Sony Ericsson Timescape
• UMTS HSPA 900/2100, GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
• UMTS HSPA :850/1900/2100, GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
• X10 mini will be available in Pearl White, Black, Pink, Lime, Red and Silver
• X10 mini pro will be available in Black and Red.

The Sony Vivaz Pro will feature

• slide out QWERTY keyboard
• 3.2 inch, 360 x 640 16:9 resolution touchscreen display
• 720 MHz processor
• 5.1 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, autofocus, face detection and geotagging
• 720p HD recording
• Video calling (main camera)
• WebKit web browser
• social networking support
• A-GPS
• Google Maps
• Wisepilot turn-by-turn navigation
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Bluetooth technology
• DLNA Certified (photos and audio)
• TV out (VGA resolution)
• Wi-Fi
• microSD with 8GB microSD in the package
• Symbian S60 5th edition
• UMTS HSPA 900/2100, GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
• UMTS HSPA 850/1900/2100, GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
• Available in Black and White

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

We’ve little doubt at this point that HTC’s Legend is definitely real and likely coming to a shop near you, but now we’ve got what seems to be the first official confirmation by a company that would have authority on the matter. The Netherlands’ KPN has thrown up the Legend on its site for availability likely in March, offering the Android-loving Dutch the opportunity to sign up for updates — in other words, no money’s exchanging hands just yet. As far as we can tell, these appear to be official shots of the phone offered up by HTC, so odds are good that KPN simply jumped the gun — the phone is almost certainly destined for an official unveil either by HTC or a carrier partner at MWC in a few days’ time. There are some specs here, too: 256MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM on board, AGPS, WiFi, an FM radio, 3.2-inch display and 5 megapixel camera, making this an honest-to-goodness Hero successor — and it even looks like the Legend name will be carried over for launch. Any other carriers care to step up and help bust this thing wide open?

All credits and information was found on engadget.com

Yeah, T-Mobile didn’t exactly get sexy with naming the myTouch 3G refresh, but hey, with a name so horrible from the beginning, we guess we can’t ask for much. While the name stays the same, the refreshed myTouch 3G definitely brings the slowly-aging device up a notch or two. Here’s a recap of the specifications for the new model:

• 3.5mm headset jack and updated music player
• More memory, with 288MB of RAM and an included 8GB microSD card
• Swype soft keyboard
• Preloaded applications including Barcode Scanner, Music Player, myAccount and Visual Voicemail

The new device is available starting today in T-Mobile locations as well as telesales for $149.99 with a new two year activation, and comes in both white and black color options. Merlot never had a chance.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

The folks at PPCGeeks and MobileTechWorld got their hands on what they claim are some of the initial details on Windows Mobile 7. Without citing any sources other than their inbox, both websites claim that Windows Mobile 7 will be introduced at MWC 2010 on February 15th in Barcelona. The official unveiling will reportedly focus primarily on the UI and in depth features will not be  shown. Some of the leaked information include the following snippets :

• WM7 will have a user interface derived from codename “METRO” and will be similar to the Zune HD
• The traditional Home Screen will get a whole new look and will not support custom interfaces like Sense and TouchFLO
• No Flash support as time constraints prevented its inclusion
• Will include Silverlight 3.0 with some aspects of SL 4.0 and mobile-specific features
• Applications will be installed through the Windows Mobile Marketplace only, manual installation from a storage card will not be allowed
• Say no to multitasking and yes to push notifications which may be provided by a Microsoft hosted push notifications environment
• Windows Mobile Marketplace will include a “Try before you Buy” feature and offer API support
• No .NET Compact Framework backwards compatibility so all those old apps will not work, but a portion of the data and business logic .NET CF may be ported at some point
• Browser is based upon desktop IE7 codebase, but with some IE8 functionality and is currently faster / better than the iPhone 3G
• MS is actually ahead of schedule which will surprise the analysts / journalists (seriously?)
• Full Zune and Xbox 360 Integration (Gamer tag, achievements, friends, avatars, merchandising, etc)
• No more active sync or Windows Mobile Device center. Zune software will handle all syncing
• Full support for social networking
• Devices are expected to ship by September 2010

All these details are consistent with what we have been hearing about the rumored Zune phone, though it is not clear whether the Zune Phone represents the next generation of Windows Mobile or is a completely separate entity. If this above information is indeed accurate (and that is a big “if”) and the aforementioned phone is indeed Windows Mobile 7, then there are lot of changes in store for those who are tied to the Windows Mobile platform.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

Not a week goes by that we don’t hear of investor pressure on Deutsche Telekom to strengthen its financials and offload underperforming units — T-Mobile USA included — and the American outpost is back in the spotlight this evening coming off a report out of The Wall Street Journal that a spinoff might indeed be in the works. According to our favorite “people familiar with the matter,” DT has reached out to a few banks with the goal of raising enough capital for T-Mobile through an IPO that it’d be able to continue to fund its network build-out, something that’s going to become increasingly critical as it fends off 7.2Mbps HSPA and 4G competition from all of its national competitors. There are a few scenarios allegedly being discussed, ranging from a full-on excision of T-Mobile from its corporate parent to a merger with another US wireless firm — but the plan gaining most traction internally is said to involve selling around 20 percent of the carrier to investors while hanging onto the rest, a situation that would get the underperforming unit’s financials off DT’s books. Ultimately, whatever comes of this probably won’t happen for a few months while the options get mulled, but considering what went down in the UK, this certainly seems plausible.

All credits and information was found on engadget.com

Google is looking for customer support professionals to handle its Nexus One phone, a clear sign it has recognized that its self-service support model has limits.

Digital Inspiration noticed a posting on Google’s job boards looking for a “Phone Support Program Manager, Android/Nexus One,” to be based at Google’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. “As Phone Support Program Manager for Android and the Nexus One, you are responsible for ramping up and managing operations of Google’s telephone support for our direct-to-consumer Android/Nexus One customers,” Google wrote in the ad.

Google has gotten by with a pretty bare-bones customer support operation to this point in its history. Forums, FAQs, and e-mail support are pretty much the extent of what Google offers to everyone other than paid customers of Google Apps.

But following the launch of the Nexus One, Google’s support forums were flooded with questions from customers who were having shipping and technical issues. Google attempted to direct questions to HTC and T-Mobile, its hardware and carrier partners on the Nexus One, but the Nexus One is being sold exclusively through Google at the moment, and it’s the company that customers look to when they have a complaint.

Google declined to share specific plans for Nexus One customer support provided by live human beings, but confirmed the job posting was legitimate.

“We’re working quickly to solve any customer support issues as they come up, and we are trying to be as open and transparent as possible through our online customer help forums. We continue to address all issues in as timely of a manner as possible, and we’re flexible and prepared to make changes to our processes and tools, as necessary, for an optimal customer support experience,” the company said in a statement.

It seems no matter how Google builds out its customer support team, it will likely do so in its own way. One of the job’s responsibilities will be to “define and implement scalable business practices that leverage our internal best practices in one-to-many support to create efficiencies in high-touch support activities through channels such as phone and chat,” according to the post. The person will also be responsible for coordinating support efforts with partners, such as HTC, T-Mobile, and other carriers that will eventually support the Nexus One.

All credits and information was found on gizmodo.com