Latest News

Below are the top Canadian mobile stories from the past 7 days. In addition, we’ve compiled a list of notable news from around the web.

- Canadians sent 96.5 billion text messages in 2012 [Read here]
- Rogers launches $7.99 / 50MB roaming package for travel to the United States [Read here]
- Mobilicity reportedly can’t find a buyer [Read here]
- Bell and RBC strike deal to launch a mobile payment service [Read here]
- MTS celebrates 25 years of wireless service in Manitoba [Read here]
- Bell planning to launch 3 rugged Sonim push-to-talk devices this year [Read here]
- Nokia Lumia 520 now available on Koodo, TELUS May 17th [Read here]
- Bell Samsung Galaxy SII HD LTE receives Jelly Bean update [Read here]
- TELUS Q1 2013 results: subscriber base jumps to 7.7 million [Read here]
- Bell reports Q1 2013 results: subscriber base jumps 3.6% to 7,672,075 [Read here]
Rogers, Bell and Rogers Galaxy Note finally receives Jelly Bean upgrade [Read here]
- WIND launching the Galaxy S4 on May 14th [Read here]
- J.D. Power says Koodo & SaskTel have the highest Customer Satisfaction [Read here]
- Nokia Music official launch in Canada imminent [Read here]
- WIND Mobile having massive ‘lightly loved’ sale [Read here]
- Contest: Win a TELUS Galaxy S4 [Enter here]
- Contest: Win a TELUS BlackBerry Q10! [Enter here]
- Contest: Win a Bell Samsung Galaxy S4 [Enter here]
- Happy Mother’s Day!

Around the web:
- Motorola XT1058 for AT&T hits the FCC, could be XFON related [Engadget]
- Nokia announces the Lumia 928 [Engadget]
- BBC Watchdog to investigate Samsung Galaxy S 4 internal storage claims [Android & Me]
- Unannounced BlackBerry R10 Gets Leaked Gesture Tutorial Video [BerryReview]

The “Next Big Thing” is right here. This beauty – the TELUS Samsung Galaxy S4 – can be yours! Up for grabs is the White Frost GS4. This device is an update from the Galaxy S III as it packs a slimmer design, better processor, bigger screen and more features, namely Group Play, S Health, Dual Shot, Watch On, Air View, Air Gestures and Smart Scroll.

A refresher of specs has the Galaxy S4 packing Android OS Jelly Bean, 5-inch display (1920 x 1080), 1.9GHz Snapdragon quad-core processor, LTE-enabled, 13MP camera that shoots 1080p HD video, 2MP front-facing camera and a 2600 mAh battery.

TELUS reps can help you through the new features with their in-store Learning Centres, or via their video streams on Google+ or YouTube. In addition, you can check out our in-depth review of the GS4 right here.

This contest is easy to enter. All you have to do is either follow us and re-tweet this contest on Twitter (@mobilesyrup), “Like Us” on Facebook (Facebook.com/MobileSyrup), or join us on Google+. All current Facebook, Twitter and Google+ followers are automatically entered. This contest closes on May 26th and we’ll announce a winner shortly after!

Yes, the winner will also receive that stuffed tiger.
Good luck to all who enter!

Intrepid phone hackers, pay attention. The HTC One was released just a few weeks ago, but developers are already getting their hands dirty trying to eke the latest Android version out of the hardware.

CyanogenMOD 10.1 nighty builds have just been released for the HTC One and are ready to download and flash. Of course, because the device launched with a Sense build running Android 4.1.2, HTC hasn’t released a kernel source for Android 4.2.2, so there are a few aspects of the device that aren’t quite perfect. The camera, for instance, is still hit-or-miss, and crashes when taking photos with a resolution of higher than 2MP. Outgoing calls are also inconsistent; sometimes the recipient can hear you, sometimes they can’t.

But these are early days yet, and the outstanding issues should transform into outstanding performance sooner than later.

If you’re interested in checking out what the HTC One has to offer, head to XDA-Developers and read up on how to unlock your bootloader, flash a custom recovery, backup your Sense ROM and, finally, install CM10.1.

A note before you continue: though the builds are slated for the international HTC One (M7), this build will work with the North American version. Unlike the Galaxy S4, both the NA and international HTC One are identical in terms of hardware; they only differ in what radio bands they support.

Source: Google+

WIND Mobile will be adding the Samsung Galaxy S4 to their lineup next week. An email blast was sent out to interested customers informing them that the official launch date is Tuesday, May 14th. Looks like WIND has priced the GS4, in both black and white, at $699 outright and $399 on the WINDTab. In addition, the email noted that the new flagship Galaxy is “available for new and current customers on May 14th. Eligible WINDTab upgrades will be available starting June 14th.”

(Thanks Chris and Rafael!)

Nokia is throwing a celebration of its music prowess next Wednesday, May 15th in Toronto to show off “the next chapter of music discovery in Canada.”

It’s expected that Nokia Music finally land here, the free streaming radio service offered to select Lumia devices in the U.S. and around the world. Another hint of its pending arrival is buried within the “Phone Features” section of Koodo’s Nokia Lumia 520 listing, where it offers Nokia Music as an option.

Samsung is poised to release a camera-focused Galaxy S4 model with the Zoom title affixed to the end. The device is expected to be visually similar to the upcoming Galaxy S4 Mini, but thicker and with a retractable 10x optical lens attached to the back.

The smartphone will have mid-range specs for a modern device, including a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display (960×540 pixels), 8GB internal storage, 1-2GB RAM (most likely 1GB) and a dual-core processor. It will be running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean as well. Of course, the biggest focus will be a 16MP rear shooter with an optical zoom, something that few phone manufacturers have been able to properly implement.

The Nokia PureView 808 is an example of a high-profile camera-focused phone, but it lacked an optical zoom lens. Instead, it had a 41MP sensor and a fixed-focus lens that offered relatively lossless digital zoom. Using a combination of sharpening algorithms and a technique that combined several pixels into one, it produced sharp 5MP photos that suffered little when zoomed.

Samsung doesn’t need to utilize such a high-resolution camera sensor, though 16MP is still denser than the Galaxy S4. It will be interesting to see whether the company uses a sensor with larger individual pixels than the Galaxy S4, something more akin to its Android-powered Galaxy Camera.

Speaking of the Galaxy Camera, the Galaxy S4 Zoom is expected to take a bunch of cues from the point-and-shoot, including a dedicated camera button and a highly-optimized photo and video UI. The Galaxy S4 Zoom, which has been outed by the certification body Bluetooth SIG, will go by the model number SM-C101.

Samsung’s S4 strategy — releasing a flagship model and then a variety of more focused variants — is intriguing, as its capitalization of the ‘Galaxy’ brand may have the undesired affect of diluting its reputation. With a Galaxy S4 Active and Galaxy S4 Mini on the way as well, it will be interesting to see how the company markets these various devices.

Source: Hi-Tech@Mail, Bluetooth SIG
Via: SamMobile, UnwiredView

A few days ago reputable device leaker Evleaks showed an unknown LG smartphone. It had an incredibly thin bezel and a large display, reportedly 5.5-inches in size. It’s expected that this device will be a follow-up to the LG Optimus G, aptly called the LG Optimus G2, but no other details are currently known. The device has once again surfaced online, now revealed in a different angle and giving another glimpse of how thin the bezel really is. Overall, it seems that LG is taking design notes from the success of the Nexus 4 and Optimus G. Of course, this is still considered a rumour until something officially is announced.

Source: Evleaks Twitter

BlogTO has added a companion iPhone app to its torontofoodtrucks.ca portal. The locally-designed app allows frequenters of Toronto’s now-famous and ubiquitous food trucks to locate their favourite cuisine, be it cupcakes or tacos, across the city.

The interface is sleek and responsive, and the various food trucks are well distinguished from one another with high-resolution images, contact numbers and other important details. You can add favourites to quickly access the location of your ideal take-out, or browse through the growing list of fare.

Because Freshdaily, the curators of BlogTO and creators of the Toronto Food Truck portal, are pushing for the service to be a bit like an independent social network, you can take a photo or your food or the truck itself, add filters to your image and post it to the relevant section. All comments and photos are linked up to your BlogTO account, and you can share photos to Facebook or Twitter.

While it may have a limited audience, it’s a loyal one, and we’d love to see it hit Android sometime soon.

Download Toronto Food Trucks for iPhone.

Via: BlogTO

When Samsung released the Galaxy Note 8.0 in Canada a month ago there was a “Limited Quantity Available.” The same quantity is available today, but the price has been dropped by a few bucks. If you’ve been waiting for a sale to hit this tablet then Best Buy or Future Shop are game to save you $30, which takes the 8-inch Jelly Bean tablet to $400 outright.

The Wi-Fi only Galaxy Note 8.0 runs Android OS 4.1.2, has an 8-inch display (1280×800 resolution), sports the S Pen stylus, 1.6 GHz Exynos quad-core processor, 2GB RAM, 5MP camera with a 1.3MP front-facing camera, 4,600mAh battery, 16 GB Internal Storage (holds up to 64GB with a microSD card).

This is a 1-day sales blitz that ends today.
Source: Best Buy & Future Shop

That blood-spattered recurring nightmare you had as a kid may have been formed by playing too much Carmageddon. The 1997 game has been resurrected for mobile devices after earning over $400,000 on Kickstarter from the company’s founding studio, Stainless Games.

All the carnage, swearing and pedestrian-maiming mayhem is intact here, though the on-screen controls are a bit too finicky for my liking. The game doesn’t stray too hard from the original premise, but there are new goals and plenty of updated HD graphics including “buckets o’ gibs” that shine on HD screens.

I noticed a bit of frame dropping on the HTC One, but for the most part performance stayed solid; the little human sprites are not detailed, but things can get hectic onscreen when there are multiple cars vying for a piece of you.

The game’s economy revolves around Profit, a generic currency that can be used to repair your car and buy new items or unlock vehicles. Repairing your car, which you will inevitably repeat throughout the match, is easy — one tap on the top right corner — but in later levels it costs more and Profit is less freely available.

Carmageddon is free for a day to promote its launch, but is (and will continue to be) available for $1.99 on Android and $3.99 on iOS.

Via: Android Central