Cell Phones Zone

Verizon Wireless Casio G’zOne Brigade Offers Businesses A Tough Exterior For Extreme Conditions

Verizon Wireless and Casio today announced that the water, dust and shock resistant Casio G’zOne Brigade is available today. The Casio Brigade sports a QWERTY keyboard; an HTML browser; and Document Viewer for reviewing Microsoft Office documents and PDFs; plus Push to Talk capabilities that leverage Verizon Wireless’ 3G network for two-way communication. The Casio G’zOne Brigade is available today for $249.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.

Key features:

- Dimensions: 4.4″ (H) x 2.2″ (W) x 0.9″ (D)
- Main Display: 2.9″ 400X240 TFT display w/up to 65K colors
- External Display: 1.2″ 128×96 Mono PM–OLED display
- Tough Technology Design – Horizontal clamshell with QWERTY keypad
- 3.2 megapixel camera with flash, video capture and LED light
- Water, shock, dust, immersion, vibration, humidity, salt fog, altitude, high and low temperature storage, and solar radiation resistant conforming to MIL-STD-810F
- Field Force Manager capable – A resource management tool that provides businesses with the ability to locate and communicate with their mobile field workers
- microsd card slot
- 2.5mm headphone jack

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Bahamas Holiday up for Grabs for Phones 4u Staff

If you are fortunate to work for Phones 4u, you could potentially gain a holiday in the Bahamas as Phones 4u is having their staff compete for the opportunity to quality for one of 40 places on Survivor Island, reports an article over on mobile today.

The Nokia sponsored Survivor incentive will give Phones 4u staff the opportunity to compete for a 5 star luxury holiday for both themselves and their store, and if successful they will go to Survivor Island where they compete for 3 days for the final prize.

How it works is when the 40 staff have been chose they will all be marooned on Survivor Island without electricity and running water and will be put through a series of tasks that over 3 days will whittle them down to a final 3 who then compete against each other for the top prize of a holiday for themselves and their store at the 5 star Atlantis Resort, Paradise Island, Nassau, Bahamas.

So how do Phones 4u staffers gain this opportunity? Well its all based on customer service scores and the performance of the survivor when on the island. One way to get your staff to work hard at customer service isn’t it.

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Tablet News

You can’t hold down angels. — The Soloist

Hal Varian, Google’s Chief Economist laid down the law on the changing economics of the newspaper industry at an FTC workshop.

Even though online advertising has grown rapidly in the last five years, less than 5% of newspapers’ ad revenue comes from their internet editions, according to […]
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Opera Mini 5 Beta Launched on Android Platform

Opera Software today releases a beta version of Opera Mini 5 for Android smartphones, delivering web browsing through server side data compression by up to 90 percent before sending content to the phone. Similar to Opera Mini 5 for other mobile platforms, the Opera Mini 5 gives you tabbed browsing, Speed Dial, password manager and bookmarks. To download, simply visit m.opera.com/next with the Android browser or search for Opera Mini 5 in the Android Market.

“Android users should not have to compromise when it comes to surfing the Web on their phones. Opera Mini will give Android users a fast and cost-efficient access to their favorite Web sites and services,” said Dag Olav Norem, Vice President of Products, Opera Software.

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Westland Michigan Gets New Verizon Wireless Cell Site

The largest mobile phone network operator in the United States, Verizon Wireless has announced a new wireless cell site in Westland, Michigan that they say will increase capacity and coverage in the US State, reports an article over on trading markets.

Apparently the activation of the new Verizon cell site will benefit Big Red customers in Westland and along Cherry Hill Road between Wayne Road and Interstate 275 and also South Newburgh Rd, between Ford Rd and Palmer RD.

The new Verizon cell site has been equipped with a permanent back up generator to supply emergency power if and when required.

Verizon Wireless has stated that the period since their formation back in the year 2000 as a joint venture between parent company Verizon Communications and Vodafone, Verizon Wireless has invested some $1.4 billion in their Michigan network along with in excess of $55 billion in their nationwide network services and infrastructure.
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Casio Hitachi Brigade C741

This unique CDMA phone combines a rugged body and push-to-talk with a full QWERTY keyboard and media features. Other key features include 3-megapixel camera, memory card slot, and stereo Bluetooth.

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Internet Access: 79% Say It’s a Right

A recent survey conducted by the BBC (pdf) found that the vast majority of users around the world consider access to the Internet to be a right. The speed at which Internet access has gone from a privilege, to a luxury, and now to a right is a testament to how transformative it has been.

Across […]
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Samsung Galaxy Spica Reaches Canadian Soil

Back when the T-Mobile G1 launched for T-Mobile USA, there was a lot of speculation circling Google and their little green Android. Was it going to be a success? Would anyone even care? Considering that the G1 didn’t make that big of a splash on the consumer side of things, it was a pretty much unanimous (with some nay-sayers mixed in for good measure) vote that the G1, and the software powering it, was a game changer. At least, it would be. And now, since the launch of the Motorola Droid on the Verizon network, we’ve seen that change in perception, as the Android revolution continues to spread. The newest target? Canada.

Rogers, one of the largest wireless carriers in Canada, has just received their latest Android-powered handset. Not HTC built this time, the Samsung Galaxy Spica is a 3.2-inch, 320×480 capacitive touchscreen device, running (unfortunately) Android version 1.5. There has been word that the device will be upgraded to 2.1 eventually, so if you’re looking to pick up an Android phone, don’t let the 1.5 version hold you back too long. 2.1 is coming. If the rumors are true. It’s also got a 3.5mm audio jack, 3.2MP camera on the back, and a 2GB MicroSD card sold with the phone.

As is standard up in the Great North, a three-year deal will get you the device for $79.99. It jumps up to $349.99 on a two-year deal, and if you’re one of those people who hates contracts, it’ll be a cool $449.99. Not bad for the out-right price (if you don’t look at the software version), but we’re guessing that many Canadians out there are going to enjoy their three-year plan. Anyone up there going to go check out the Galaxy? Let us know!

[via Android Central]

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Half of Workers Still Use Smartphones when Driving

You’d think with all the coverage using a mobile phone when driving has been given people would wise up to the fact that it is dangerous, not only to themselves but other road users. However, the results of a recent survey by CareerBuilder shows that more than half of workers check email and do other tasks whilst driving on business, reports information week.

In November of 09, CareerBuilder surveyed in excess of 5200 workers and 54 percent of all workers taking part admitted to using their smartphone while on the road.

The survey even goes further by crunching the numbers down to profession which resulted in 66 percent of sales workers use a smartphone when driving, 59 percent of professional and business service workers do the same, and a big shock is that 50 percent of healthcare workers take the risk.

However, mobile workers don’t just check their mobile phone while driving as figures also show the 62 percent check during a meal, 60 percent when on holiday, 57 percent when using the bathroom, 50 percent when in bed, 25 percent when at the movies, 18 percent when on a date, 17 percent while working out, 17 percent while attending a child’s even, and 11 percent even check their smartphone when in church.

But the big issue here is that overall that 54 percent who continue to use their smartphone when driving. It is time to change that and wise up to just how big a risk you are taking with peoples lives.

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Forbes Top 20 Broadband Cities

Forbes has published its annual list of the most broadband-connected U.S. cities.

Their clickable map and list shows Raleigh, NC the most broadband connected.

Raleigh, NC:
Residents say the city’s high concentration of IT companies, research universities and state capital resources have boosted broadband and wi-fi access.

Atlanta, Ga:
High marks in both broadband availability and […]
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