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Big day for Rogers and Fido customers today in Manitoba. Both carriers have flipped the LTE switch on in Manitoba this morning – specifically in Winnipeg, Brandon, Victoria Beach, Grand Beach, Selkirk, Steinbach and Ste. Anne. The speeds are right inline with other Canadian locations that have LTE, coming in at 36 Mbps download and above 10 Mbps upload.

Rogers and regional carrier MTS recently entered into an “extended network sharing agreement” that will see LTE expanded to 90% of Manitoba’s population over the next five years.

Facebook is holding some unknown media event on June 20th. Early thoughts were that the massive social networking site would unveil some sort of news reader app, but fresh rumours this morning have taken an entirely different direction.

According to sources at TechCrunch, Facebook will possibly bring video capabilities to photo-sharing service Instagram. This news echos a previous report that claimed Facebook was internally testing a video feature that gives users the ability to easily share 5 – 10 seconds videos. No other details are listed, but videos on Instagram would be a natural move and directly compete against Twitter’s Vine app (which allows only 6 second videos).

Instagram was snatched up by Facebook last year for $1 billion and currently has over 100 million users. The app is available on the iPhone and Android devices (plus can be side-loaded on BlackBerry).

Source: TechCrunch

Yet another report of LTE network expansion across Canada – this time over in Nova Scotia. TELUS customers are reporting that Sydney, NS has been lit up with LTE (Long Term Evolution) speeds, which are clocking in at 27 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload. TELUS’ LTE coverage map currently shows Sydney as a ‘future’ rollout, so this could mean that testing is being done in the area.

Sydney has a population of about 30,000 and they seem to be receiving lots of love recently. A month ago Rogers went live in their “LTE Max” network, plus Bell (as expected) plans to make LTE available to their customers in the region.

Source: TELUS
(Thanks Curtis!)

Word on the web was that Samsung and Jay-Z teamed up for a $20 million partnership that would see some sort of collaboration. On Twitter tonight it was revealed that Galaxy owners will be the first to ‘unlock’ his new album called “Magna Carta Holy Grail” a few days before it’s officially available.

According to the dedicated site it seems there’ll only be 1 million codes available and only Galaxy S III, Galaxy S4, and Galaxy Note 2 users are eligible. Owners will need to download the Magna Carta app in Google Play on June 24th, then the frenzy starts on July 4th at 12:01am when the million codes will be released to the masses. The fine print also notes that “Normal data rates apply. Void where prohibited.”

Earlier this week we received an invitation to a Nokia even in New York City on July 11th. This is when the Lumia EOS is expected to be unveiled – a Windows Phone 8 smartphone that’s rumoured to have a 41MP camera with Xenon flash, 4.5-inch OLED display (1280×768 resolution), wireless charging and 32GB of internal storage. Over the past few weeks several pictures of the EOS have leaked online that show a polycarbonate body, which is similar to previous Nokia Lumia devices like the Lumia 925, 920 and 820.

Now more images have arrived online that reveal Nokia could be coming to market with an aluminium variant of the EOS. Of course, nothing is confirmed as these could also be early prototype designs. We’ll bring you all the details from the event in July.

Source: Engadget

The biggest news to come out of last week was Apple’s unveiling of iOS 7. In addition, various devices were launched by Canadian carriers and also LTE coverage was expanded. Below are the top stories from the past seven days, plus notable news from around the web.

- Minuum beta for Android set for release “early next week” [Read here]
- Apple announces iOS 7 with overhauled interface, AirDrop support and more [Read here]
- Homescreen icon comparison: iOS 6 vs iOS 7 [Read here]
- Amazon Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ now available in Canada [Read here]
- Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 LTE coming to Canada this Summer [Read here]
- Mobilicity says TELUS has officially terminated acquisition plans [Read here]
- iOS 7 coming this fall to iPhone 4, iPad 2 users and above [Read here]
- WIND selling nano SIM cards for $25 [Read here]
- WIND Mobile deal in limbo over national security concerns [Read here]
- Google acquires community-based navigation app Waze [Read here]
- Rogers and Fido going live with LTE in Manitoba on June 17th [Read here]
- Nokia invites us to ‘see more’ on July 11th [Read here]
- HTC One coming to Mobilicity and Videotron? [Read here]
- Microsoft opening 100 “Windows Stores” within Future Shop and Best Buy [Read here]
- HTC One Mini “will go on sale by August,” a few more specs revealed [Read here]
- BlackBerry Q10 now available at Videotron [Read here]
- Sonim XP5560 BOLT 2 coming to Bell July 4th [Read here]
- TELUS and Rogers to start selling the iPad [Read here]
- Samsung Galaxy Ace IIe finds a home at Videotron and Eastlink [Read here]
- Eastlink releases the BlackBerry Q10 [Read here]
- Contest: Win a Rogers Samsung Galaxy S4 [Enter here]

Around the web:
- HTC applies for ‘Fetch’ trademark [Engadget]
- Analyst Claims BlackBerry Z10 & Q10 Sales Are “Much Stronger Than Thought” [BerryReview]
- Microsoft reportedly paying developers $100,000 or more to build apps [TheVerge]

This could be the first Huawei device to make it onto Virgin Mobile. If you’re looking for a low-cost device that has an older version of Android loaded onto it (probably won’t ever be upgraded) then the Huawei Y201 might be for you. The Y201 runs OS 2.3 Gingerbread, has a 3.5-inch touchscreen (320 X 480 resolution), 3.2MP camera and has a 1,250 mAh battery. This is available now on Prepaid for $80.

Source: Virgin
(Thanks tipster!)

Mobilicity, who’s currently going through their own carrier issues, has one of the best deals going for a BlackBerry Z10. Originally launched on their network a couple months ago for $599.99 now sees a cut of $100. This seems to be a Father’s Day promo and only available ‘while supplies last.”

$500 outright for the Z10 is a solid deal. Check out our Z10 review here.

Source: Mobilicity

A few weeks ago Motorola announced their new flagship smartphone – the Moto X. The Android-powered device will comes with some unique specs and features. Dennis Woodside, Motorola’s CEO, was quoted as saying “We know when it’s in your pocket, we know when it’s in your hand, it’s going to know when you want to take a picture and fire up the cameras… The device will know when you’re in the car and it’s moving at 60mph and you’ll interact with it differently, more safely.”

Specs of the Motorola X have surfaced online before, but reputable and reliable device leaker evleaks has put his stamp on the device, noting it’ll come with a 720p touchscreen display, 1.7GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor (MSM8960), 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, 10-megapixel camera, 2-megapixel front-facing camera and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

Previous rumoured specs of the X phone were 4.7-inch full HD screen, NVIDIA Tegra 4i processor, 16MP camera, 5MP front-facing camera and come in various colour options. So for now, consider this a rumour until something official from Motorola arrives.

Moto confirmed the Moto X will be “available this summer, every Moto X sold in the USA will be assembled in Fort Worth, Texas, making it the first smartphone ever assembled domestically.”

Source: Twitter (evleaks)

The Samsung Galaxy S4 – “Your Life’s Companion” – has seen sales surpass 10 million since its release in May. We have one here, courtesy of Rogers, and have decided to give it away!

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. You can have a gander at our full in-depth review here.

Like all of our contests, this one 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 June 30th and we’ll announce a winner shortly after!

Good luck to all who enter!