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In order to address the issue some users faced with its Voice Search feature, Google has released the Android 2.3.6 update starting with the Nexus S. The frustrating problem would have the feature active itself without any user input, making the devices unusable at times. The news broke on the Google Mobile Help Forum.
AT&T gave a clue that the iPhone 3GS was on its way out Friday after it dropped the price of a refurbished iPhone 3GS down to $9. The terms still demand a two-year contract but put it at its lowest official, non-promotional price yet. New devices are still on sale.
Telus on Monday became one of the first major North American carriers to mostly drop early termination fees and changing how it handles upgrades. Taking a cue from its sub-label Koodo, subscribers don't pay an arbitrary fee but instead pay off the "device balance," or the amount left on the unsubsidized price that wasn't paid when the user signed onto a contract. Like Koodo's Tab, the remaining balance goes down over the length of the contract and can be paid off at any time.
One of the iPhone 4's last carrier launches quietly arrived Wednesday as Apple brought the phone to Koodo in Canada. The 16GB version of the smartphone is available on the typical Canadian option of a three-year contract for $160 but can also be had on the carrier's distinctive Tab plan. Subscribers can get as much as $150 off of the price of a contract-free iPhone, dropping it to $500, and have about 10 percent of their total phone plan's rate contributed towards the Tab each month.
Google's range-topping Nexus S reached Canada for the first time on Thursday as a trio of carriers have picked it up. The Telus version is the definitive model so far and is the first in North America to work on the 850MHz and 1,900MHz bands, beating out AT&T's. It also has one of the lowest superficial prices for the Android 2.3 phone, costing $180 on a three-year plan, but goes up to $550 contract-free.
RIM's BlackBerry Pearl Flip could be available in a version for CDMA networks as early as next month. Alleged sources of BlackBerrySync today claim the previously GSM-only clamshell will be launched on CDMA as the Pearl Flip 8230 and would debut first on Canadian provider Telus as early as February with a "very reasonable" price as well as the same black and pink colors as the phone only available through Rogers in Canada and T-Mobile in the US.
Canadian cell carrier Fido is poised for an overhaul that will change its role in the market, a claim by purported sources of the Financial Post says. Under this new strategy, the Rogers sub-brand would more closely compete with Telus' Koodo, Bell's Solo and Virgin Mobile with an emphasis on lower-cost plans and a wider selection of phones than today's selection, which is partly a subset of Rogers' own lineup. Among other changes, the controversial $7 System Access Fee would be dropped to reduce the practical monthly rate.
