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The new arrival from Sony Ericsson to hit the Canadian market is the W350. This is available at Rogers for $29.99 on a 3-year plan. It’s only 10 mm thin with dimensions of 4.1 x 1.7 x 0.4 inches and weighs only 2.8 ounces.

The W350 has a flip cover that comes loaded with a Walkman MP3 functions that Similar to an iPod it comes with a scroll that you can view your music with the name of the artist, song or album, 1.3 megapixels camera, full HTML browsing, FM radio and has pre-loaded games (Guitar Legend – kinda like Guitar Hero). It has the standard features such as contacts (1000 names), Picture ID, Ring I, Alarm, Calendar, Calculator, to-do list, stopwatch, notes, voice recording and speaker phone.

We will have a video review shortly… more info at Rogers and Sony Ericsson

Michelle Digulla, General Manager of Sony Ericsson Canada said: “The W350 offers a combination of great music and phone functions in a stylish, compact form. It’s a sleek, easy to use handset, ideal for music lovers looking to get more from their mobile phone.”

Telus recently released the sexy and stylish HTC Touch Diamond – becoming the first carrier in North America to offer this!

We played around with the Diamond and it certainly lives up to its name – very shiny and glamorous. What we liked best about this touchscreen device is how easy it is to navigate and use, very intuitive and comes with the TouchFLO 3D interface, Windows Media Player and 4 GB internal memory, 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus and video capabilities, built-in GPS (through Telus Navigator). The size is 102 x 51 x 11.5mm and weighs 110 grams with a wicked and clean display of 480 x 640 pixels (2.8 inches). This comes loaded with Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional for all your e-mails.

You can surf the web via Opera Mobile and the Diamond has a scroll wheel of sorts that makes it easier to view the browser. With the clean display the web pages come out really nice and easy to read. Also, the videos crisp as well. This does not comes with a QWERTY keyboard, so If you do get a bit frustrated with the touchscreen while entering names, contacts, e-mails, text messages HTC has graciously provided a stylus to get things completed faster. We are still testing the battery life and will let you know in our next review how long it actually lasts. We were excited to initially open to box and find the phones backing to be shapes like a diamond (European model), but to our disappointment this version of the phone has a smooth backing like every phone with just the camera.

Here is our first review of the HTC Touch Diamond. More to come soon:

Telus has plans starting at $149.99 with a three-year contract, $349.99 for a 2-year contract, $399.99 for a 1-year contract. Also, this is available for $449.99 with no contract. Rate plans vary at $15 for unlimited email and IM or $30 for unlimited email, web browsing and IM).

We’re in a giving mood and it’s not even our birthday yet! Yup – time to give back and celebrate being Canadian. So, we have a brand new white HTC Touch and all you have to do is answer a very touch skill testing question. We will supply the hardware you just have to activate and get yourself a monthly plan.

The contest goes until Friday, August 22nd at 11:59pm. We will put all the names into a bowl and pick a winner. You can either leave your answer below in the comment section or send an e-mail to info@mobilesyrup.com

We did a review a few month back and you can check it out here (the device is much more exciting that our voice). The HTC Touch is a sexy beast. What you will get if you win: HTC Touch phone, battery charger, MiniUSB cable, earphones, case.

Ready for the skill testing question: What do you love about Canada?

Enjoy and good luck!

The launch date for the Rogers BlackBerry Bold is still rumoured to be August 19th. There are new pics from an upcoming flyer that show its pricing: $399.99 (3-year contract with $45 a month voice and data plan)

Ontario resident Patricia Robson is looking to launch a class action lawsuit against Rogers Wireless. The reason is those 911 service fees… these fees dispatch police, fire and ambulance services. She says that no more than $0.10 is actually required by regulators to pay for the necessary telecommunications infrastructure. Rogers currently charges $0.50 a month for its 911fees (Bell and Telus charge $0.75).

CRTC says it’s up to individual operators to justify higher 911 fees and says there is no requirement to break out a separate charge on subscriber bills.

Us Canadians – peacekeepers, caring and loyal to hockey and Tim Horton’s seem to only use our cell phones for actually talking. So 1990′s.

Senior Research Analyst,  Ramon Llamas, of global research firm IDC says “I look at a lot of Joe and Jane consumers on main street anywhere and a lot of them are pretty content with just a regular cellphone. It does what they need it to do and basically that is just to make a phone call,”

Llamas said surveys he has done have repeatedly shown that the No. 1 use for mobile phones is to make calls and not looking at photos, listen to music or read e-mails, surf the web.

Not sure when the survey was done, but we are just getting in the game when it comes to surfing the web and looking at pictures via our cell phones. With our pride and job RIM leading the trend, smartphones have become necessary to business people and affordable to consumers. The introduction of the iPhone and the joy of using touchscreens has peaked our curiosity into what a cellular devise can actually do for us – other than make calls, check e-mail… we can now surf the web (although expensive), take pictures and videos, play games.. and use the tip calculator.

Llamas goes on to inform us that the smartphone market is a minority in Canada: “They’re still going to remain in the minority mainly because these devices, basically, just aren’t for everyone”.  Tell that to Telus who’s latest tagline is “We believe in smartphones for everyone”.

“Voice and text are certainly very popular because, you know what, they’re forms of communication and that’s what people want to do.”

Interesting Canadian stats:

- Canadians also spend a big part of their time talking on cellphones 400 minutes a month, only 2nd to our friends in the USA Americans)- Canada has 20.5 million cellphone subscribers

- Canadian cellphone penetration is 63%

- After talking, texting is the next popular activity on a cellphone.  Canadians send 45.3 million text messages per day

Samsung took the time during the Beijing  Olympics and announced their latest “eco-phone.” called the “E200 Eco”. It is made from bioplastics  – materials extracted from corn. The E200 Eco has a 1.3-megapixel camera, video messaging capabilities and an MP3 player. This is Samsungs 3rd phone but its first with the entire case being bioplastic. You can hop over to Europe and get this next month… otherwise probably wait a decade for it to be in Canada.

As we informed you last week, the HTC Touch Diamond is now available at Telus. Plans start at $149.99 with a three-year contract, $349.99 for a 2-year contract, $399.99 for a 1-year contract.

Polo is the first luxury retailer to launch a mobile commerce site. David Lauren, senior vice president of advertising and son of designer Ralph Lauren said “We recognize that in America this is going after somebody who is more comfortable with technology. The truth is that in other countries, it’s becoming a part of their culture. The trend is coming, and as a fashion company it’s very important to identify trends and get ahead of them.” More here

As the mobile industry continues to heat up we found some classy quotations that are sure to go down in history as some of the best…. and these are only from this week!

Google CEO Eric Schmidt was on Mad Money with Jim Cramer and commented about mobile advertising. “We can make more money in mobile than we do in the desktop eventually… and the reason is the mobile computer is more targeted. Think about it: you carry your phone, and your phone knows all about you… we can do a very, very targeted ad. Over time we will make more money from mobile advertising… not now, but over time.”

Research in Motion COO Dennis Kavelman commented about the rising popularity of smartphones, specifically the iPhone: “iPhones get people thinking (about smartphones)… I want to buy them [Apple] a drink.”

Nokia’s VP, Mark Selby,commented on the upcoming N96 and if it will be an “iPhone killer”: “I don’t know what there is to kill.”