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Word has it Rogers will be shoving out the Wi-Fi Pearl sometime soon, doubling up on previous speculation. This would be pretty big news, as it would be a helluva great release valve for Canadian wireless data rates, and the first step towards their rumored UMA service.
UPDATE: A rep just told me that they’ll have the Wi-Fi Curve, and confirmed the coming UMA service in around a month’s time. Still no word on a Bold date, but likely a month or two after the US.
Our buddies over at QuicklyBored just got wind that the Wi-Fi Pearl will be coming to Canadian customers this summer with an accompanying UMA (calls over Wi-Fi) service similar to T-Mobile’s Hotspot @Home. We had heard hopeful whispers of a Christmas release, but alas, no dice. Also, QB’s editor, Kyle, just picked up a BlackBerry 8330, and is looking to pimp it out. Any suggestions?
Fresh out of CTIA we have the announced release of T-Mobile’s Wi-Fi-enabled Pearl on April 15th. Yep, it’ll work with Hotspot @Home, so BlackBerry calls can cruise over your internet connection to save minutes, costing a scant $10/month. T-Mo kicked off the 8820 last week, and the Wi-Fi Curve came out back in the Fall, so they’re rocking the full Wi-Fi BlackBerry lineup now. No word on pricing, but if it’s anything like AT&T’s offering, you can expect it to be around $200 on a two-year contract. Nice way to kick off CTIA, let’s see what else we’ve got in store…
In a dual cyclone of Wi-Fi awesomeness, the BlackBerry 8120 and 8320 have both hit Orange UK. All the usual goodies are here, inluding Wi-fi (with UMA voice support), 3.5 mm headphone jack, video capture on a 2 megapixel camera, and the push e-mail we all know and love.
The Wi-Fi Alliance, fine folks who set the standards for interoperability across Wi-Fi devices, has recently released a white paper which establishes a new certification geared specifically to handsets using VoIP. This Wi-Fi Certified Voice-Personal accreditation aims to ensure call quality by testing a, b, g, and n versions of Wi-Fi, protected-access 2, multimedia, and of particular interest to BlackBerry is the optional Power Save testing. These are all established certifications that the Wi-Fi Alliance has had for awhile now.
Continue reading ‘Wi-Fi Alliance establishes VoIP standards’
The FCC has released the docs and testing information for the BlackBerry 8120, giving us hope, however vain, of a North American release. The recently-cleared instruction manual for the BlackBerry 8120 doesn’t reveal too much that’s new about the Wi-Fi, GSM Pearl. UMA (voice handoff to Wi-Fi) is working soundly, making T-Mobile’s Hotspot@Home a likely target for the new device.
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