Single charger coming for ALL new cellphones

The European Commission has welcomed a commitment made earlier this year by the handset industry to provide a common charger for mobile phones. The first generation of new inter-chargeable mobile phones should reach the EU market from 2010 onwards.

In a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) submitted to the Commission today, the industry has committed to provide charger compatibility on the basis of the Micro-USB connector. New EU standards to ensure continued safe charger use, as well as avoidance or radio interference problems, will also be developed.

Currently, there is a plethora of chargers for mobile phones in the EU. Many of them can only charge a particular mobile phone. Almost every household has a collection of chargers that have become superfluous over time. Old chargers currently generate several thousands of tons of waste a year.

Ten companies have signed the MoU:

• Apple
• LG
• Motorola
• NEC
• Nokia
• Qualcomm
• Research in Motion (RIM)
• Samsung
• Sony Ericsson
• Texas Instruments

We can expect that this will also be happening in North America, as it does not make sense for these manufacturers to comply in the EU and not in Canada and the US. This will hopefully not only reduce the price of cellphones through economies of scale, it seems feasible that a third party will be making the chargers for every company. But also aid in the fact then when your cellphone is low on batteries, you will be able to charge it using anyones charger and not have to worry if it is compatible.

It had to be built someday

With Transformers blowing away the box office, it was only a matter of time till someone built a real transformer. Well here's a start!

Click here to see the movie

HSPA Coming to TELUS in the fall!

Thats right folks, HSPA the next evolution in cellphone technology will be coming online in Vancouver sometime this fall. This next step in cellphone technology will allow for much faster downloads and access to numerous new phones, such as the BlackBerry Bold, and Apple I-Phone (If Rogers doesnt attain exclusive rights in Canada). Essentially HSDPA is known as 3.5G technology, so for you heavy users this should come with a smile on your face :)

Read More on HSPA

Cell phones set to replace landlines?

More than a third of younger people living on their own have dumped their landline in favour of mobile phones, according to the latest figures from Statistics Canada.

Eight per cent of Canadian households have cellphones but no landline, according to the December 2008 figures from Statistics Canada's Residential Telephone Service Survey.

But that number jumps to 34.4 per cent when looking at households composed solely of 19-to-34-year-olds. Only 4.5 per cent of other households have given up their landline in favour of cellphones.

The changing habits of younger consumers helps explain the shift over the past few years as Canadians have increasingly come to rely on their cellphones for communication.

Overall, 74.3 per cent of Canadian households indicated they had a cellphone in 2008, up from 72.4 per cent in 2007 and 67.1 per cent in 2006.

Western Canada has led the way in cellphone adoption, with 84.5 per cent of Albertan households having at least one cellphone. Quebec has the lowest adoption rate with 65.5 per cent of households having cellphones.

Less than a quarter (24.8 per cent) of homes had only landlines, while less than one per cent had no phone service.

The study drew on the responses from participants of the agency's labour force survey conducted in December.

Source: Compare Cellular

Bell, Rogers and Telus, are joining forces to launch a mobile payment system called Zoompass

Some new Technology news that will change the way you pay for everyday products. Canadian mobile payment vendor, EnStream has launched a money transfer service, Zoompass that gives customers a fast and convenient way to send and receive money securely using their mobile phone. EnStream is jointly owned by Bell Canada, Rogers and Telus - Canada's three leading wireless operators.

The Zoompass mobile service ushers in a new era in electronic payments that addresses a growing desire to move money quickly and easily between friends, family, and merchants." Zoompass makes it easy to split a lunch bill, request money from parents, collect sports team fees, solicit money for a co-worker's gift, or even pay a babysitter - right from a mobile phone.

For more information, visit EnStream.com

Official BlackBerry Tour 9630

The BlackBerry Tour 9630 is Official! Yes folks, the Tour went live on RIM's website yesterday afternoon official specs include:

• World Phone Capabilities
• 3G Network
• Camera (3.2 MP)
• 256 MB Built-in Memory
• Talk Time: 5 hours
• Standby Time: 14 days
• 35 key backlit QWERTY keyboard
• Clear, high-resolution display
• Half VGA+
• 480x340 pixel screen
• Displays over 65,000 colors
• Trackball located on front face of device, ESC key to the right, Menu to the left
• Dedicated Keys: Send, End, Menu, Escape, Left/Right Convenience keys (default VAD and Camera) ,2 x Volume/Zoom, Sleep, Mute (Play/Pause)
• Intuitive icons and menus
• Bluetooth

We are as excitied as your are for this new phone as it help fill the gap TELUS has by not being able to carry the Bold and Curve 8900.

No word on the official launch date, but PCS Wireless will begin accepting pre-orders in the near future, so stay in touch.

Samsung Omnia II is officially named the "Jet"

As reported earlier in the week, the rumored new Samsung smartphone the Omnia II has now officially been unveiled. The not much has changed from the leaked news other than the name and a few specs. Thew phone is dubbed the "Jet" and has a 3.1" AMOLED tough screen, 800mhz processor and a 5 mpega pixel camera. No word on whether it will be come to TELUS as of yet, but come back in the near future to find out what carriers will offically stock the new Samsung Jet.

Source: Samsung News

More people now using mobile phones for dating

A recent survey found that nearly two-thirds of respondents have made a date via text messaging.

It seems that texting and social networking sites may be the new way to show you care-and that you don't. A recent survey of 500 Americans aged 18 and above carried out by Nokia USA, found that nearly two-thirds (64%) of them have made a date via text messaging. But it's not only for good news that they're using technology. When a relationship goes south, they turn to technology to break the news: Roughly one in every 10 (11%) of Americans have used text messaging to end a romantic relationship and 7 percent have ended a relationship via a social networking site on their mobile device.

Read More

Twitter now available from TELUS

Send and receive twitter updates from your TELUS phone

TELUS clients can now stay connected with their twitter community quickly and easily by sending/receiving updates via text messages or using their mobile browser.

What is twitter?
Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

New users can create an account for free at www.twitter.com

How clients can access twitter:

twitter text alerts:
TELUS clients that sign up for twitter alerts can send/receive “tweets” through text messages. This is ideal for someone who wants to make quick updates or get notified instantly when one of their friends tweets.

Setting up:
Clients can add their phone to twitter by visiting http://twitter.com/devices After their phone is verified, they can start sending and receiving updates instantly. To send an update, clients send their under 140 character tweets in a text message to 21212.

For additional support, clients can visit: http://help.twitter.com/forums/10711/entries/14589

twitter mobile:
Clients access twitter similar to how they do on their computer - through their browser at http://m.twitter.com. This is great for someone who wants to see updates from everyone in their twitter community at once.

3rd party applications:
There are also a growing number of 3rd party applications that provide a great way to experience twitter on the go (i.e. TwitterBerry). These applications are available on many TELUS Smartphones including most BlackBerry devices.

Pricing:
Using twitter through text messaging or the mobile browser comes at no additional cost to clients, above standard text messaging and browsing rates.

New Samsung Smartphone?

The next Samsung to come to TELUS?
Well this new phone the Samsung I8000 is dubbed the Omnia II.

The Samsung Omnia2 sports a 3.7-inch WVGA TFT resistive touchscreen, 8.1 megapixel camera with dual LED flash and VGA@30fps video recording, 150 MB internal memory, a Qualcomm processor and a microSD card slot. The connectivity includes all you may need as usual - 3G support, Bluetooth, miniUSB, GPS and Wi-Fi.

Rumors speculate that the Windows Mobile OS on board (purportedly 6.1) will be heavily customized and will bear the Samsung's TouchWiz styling with deep menu restyling (much like the latest TouchFLO 3D in HTC Touch Diamond2 and Pro2). DivX/XViD support is also expected.

Although this phone is currently just a rumour, Samsung has had a marketing campaign going where a phone is seen X-Rayed is a briefcase and the world will be shown on June 15th. And this phone bears a very similar shape to the one seen in the briefcase So check back next week to see if this rumour is real or not.

Source: GSMArena.com

BlackBerry Tour 9630 coming soon

First images of the BlackBerry Tour 9630 from TELUS are now roaming the web. Expect it to hit stores some time around mid-July. The Tour is similar in size to the Curve 8900 but comes loaded with a 3.2 megapixel camera, GPS, Bluetooth 2.0, HVGA display and a knockout cocktail of CDMA/EV-DO/GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSPA.

Come see your local PCS Wireless store in July to get your hands on your very own Tour 9630.

Source: Boy Genius Report

Welcome!

Welcome to the new PCS Wireless blog, check back a few times everyday to find out whats new in wireless technology, new TELUS information or PCS Wireless deals!