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Scott Adams, creator of “Dilbert”, made a segment of his cartoon back in 1997 that spoke about Bell Canada. With all the restructuring and re-branding changes that are happening currently at the new Bell(er), I’m curious if this is still the case. Check it out here

Back-to-School season is upon us and Nokia has stepped up with another contest that ensures we keep our country filled with A.D.D. students.

The contest is called “Back to School in Red or Blue: Show your Colours” and you have the chance to win a Rogers Wireless Nokia 5310 XpressMusic phone in either in red or blue.

The object of the contest is to send a picture of yourself wearing a red and blue outfit (sounds more American than Canadian). The contest lasts until 11:59pm EST September, 25th, 2008… with the celebrity judge Tara Spencer-Nairn who will pick 5 winners based on colour co-ordination, style and fashion sense.

For those (like me) who didn’t know who Tara Spencer-Nairn is… she plays Karen Pelly on Corner Gas. Full details here…. and also, check out this screenshot of the prizes you can win.

Bell Canada and Telus are expected to announce this week that they will share estimated $1 billion cost to upgrade thier CDMA networks to HSPA network, putting more pressure and competition for Rogers Wireless. Nokia Siemens Networks is said to be the vendor that will provide Bell Canada and Telus with the HSPA network upgrade. Read whole article here from the Financial Post

With all the hype with touchscreens these days we recently played around with the Samsung Instinct (aka the “Apple Eater” or “iPhone Killer”).

This is a light device, only at 4.4 ounces and comes loaded with many great features such as a 2.0 mega pixel camera that has video recording capabilities, 3G connectivity to the web, GPS and a music player. Samsung wants people to directly compare this to the iPhone and in our review we take a peek into this touchscreen to see if it even comes close to the iPhone 3G:

This is available at Telus for $129.99 on a 3-year plan… also at Bell(er)

If you’re a student and looking to get the Nokia 6086, Sony Ericsson W350a or W580i you might want to check out the latest student promo from Rogers called the “Student 10″. It’s a “limited-time-offer” plan that informs you to “Hurry”, but the offer is good until November 3rd. It gives you the ability to – unlimited – talk and text to 10 people. There are two levels: $25 and $45.

The $25 plan give you:
MY10™ Unlimited Local Talk, Text and Picture / Video Messaging2 to your top 10 friends, 100 Weekday Minutes, 1,000 Evening and Weekend Minutes and 500 Incoming Minutes

The $45 plan give you:
MY10™ Unlimited Canada-wide Talk, Text and Picture / Video Messaging2 to your top 10 friends, 450 Weekday Minutes, UNLIMITED Evening and Weekend Minutes, UNLIMITED Incoming Minutes

Now, the most important part is to ensure that you read the fine print located here:

For your light reading… Here is a summary:

1. You must present your Valid student identification required to be eligible for a Student Plan.
2 Unlimited local calls, text, picture and video messages applicable to the 10 phone numbers designated on the MY10 list. Unlimited Canadian Long Distance calling included in Canada-wide MY10 and applies only to calls initiated/received from customer’s Rogers Wireless phone anywhere in Canada to/from the MY10 list. Long distance, text to landline and roaming charges are extra where applicable. MY10 terms of service: Only 10-digit Canadian-based phone numbers are eligible for the MY10 service. Customer’s own Rogers Wireless phone number, voicemail retrieval number and special numbers such as 1-800/1-900 not accepted.

3 Premium messages (U.S., international, roaming, MSN alerts, contests and promotions) excluded.

4. Offer expires November 3, 2008 and is only available on new activations and hardware upgrades. Tunes expire 6-12 months after purchase (depending on tune selected). Additional tunes $2/tune.

5. Includes unlimited on-device mobile browsing using the Rogers Mobile Internet Browser only and is only available on select Rogers certified devices (PDAs such as BlackBerry or Windows Mobile devices, PC cards and non-Rogers certified devices not eligible). Data usage incurred on ineligible devices or while tethering (use of device as wireless modem) or while using applications subject to pay-per-use charges of $15/MB for the first 5 MB, $10/MB for next 5 MB, $5/MB for next 10 MB and $0.50/MB thereafter. Data transmission charges of $0.03/kb apply when roaming outside Canada. Visit rogers.com/mobileinternet for details. 36-month term commitment required for Rogers Vision bonus eligibility.

6. Name display compatible device required. Incoming callers with blocked numbers, calls originating outside Canada, or from callers whose wireless carrier/landline provider either does not have this service available or does not have an interconnectivity agreement with Rogers cannot be identified by Name Display.

7. Mobile Backup is a service that backs up contacts saved on your phone (not SIM card). The application must be downloaded to a compatible phone. Visit rogers.com/mobilebackup for details and applicable conditions.

± A $6.95 monthly System Access Fee (non-government fee), a monthly 50¢ 911 Emergency Access Fee (non-government fee) and a one-time $35 Activation Fee applies in addition to the monthly service fee. Local airtime over the allotted monthly minutes in the plan, long distance and roaming charges, any additional service options selected and applicable taxes are extra and are also billed monthly. *Pricing based on subscription to a 3-year term service agreement. Early cancellation fees apply.

DoApp created a $.99 cent whoopie cushion iPhone App that was eventually rejected by Apple. Wade Beavers, DoApp’s vice president of strategy, said Apple had never hinted that a program that mimics bodily functions would be considered inappropriate. “Sometimes you feel like you’re in line with the Soup Nazi,” Beavers said, referring to a Seinfeld episode in which a soup vendor capriciously banished patrons. “It’s a really good deal to be part of the Apple thing, and you don’t want to say anything to rock the boat. No soup for you! Your apps are gone!” Read whole article in the Globe here

The newest report to come out regarding BlackBerry was by ChangeWave Research. They surveyed 3,567 consumers before the beloved Apple iPhone 3G launched and asked if there is potential for RIM devices in the consumer market. The results show consumers are “hungry” for all varieties of BlackBerry. More info and charts here

The drama continues… Seller “endlessconnections” from Sugar Land, Texas has put the not yet released BlackBerry Pearl 8220, otherwise know as the Kickstart, up for grabs on eBay.

The title of the item is ” BlackBerry Kickstart Unlocked Unbranded Hot Item ! BOLD”. Not sure why the Bold is put there, mostly likely to have more keyword hits. This is RIM’s first attempt into the flip phone market. Only 6 bids are in and the current bid is $660 and ends September 3rd at 14:37:05 PDT.

Check it out at eBay here

Source: EngadgetMobile

Touchscreen bonanza! Earlier this month, Scotia Capital analyst John Henderson said: “On the other hand, Telus is expected to launch (exclusively) a new touch screen BlackBerry this fall, which could steal some of the Bold’s Thunder, albeit temporarily.” And this week, packaging show up on the web for the anticipated launch of the BlackBerry “Storm” touchscreen in the United States.

With all the touchscreen talk this week, us Canadians felt left out… so it looks like our buddies over at BlackBerrySync.com has done some heavy investigating.They confirmed that their two close Telus sources said that Telus is set to launch the BlackBerry Thunder 9530 “before or around Christmas.” No word on price yet.

Exciting stuff…more to come soon!

A far cry from the recent Samsung models we have seen: Instinct, Jack and ACE. Looks like Rogers is set to release the Samsung T336 TALKSPOT enabled phone. (TALKSPOT allows you to make unlimited calls with your cell when you are in your home over WiFi and not get charged the minutes)

The T336 will be avaailable for $49.99 on a 3-year term or $219.99 outright. This grey flip phone has an external screen, an internal screen with 176×220 resolution, a camera with 4x digital zoom and support for Bluetooth 2.0

Source: Cellphones