iPhone MMS Fail Prompts Lawsuit

A new lawsuit has been filed in a Louisiana court against Apple and AT&T, under the Unfair Trade Practices Act. The lawsuit was filed because both companies are being accused of falsely advertising the function of MultiMedia Messaging Service (MMS) for the iPhone 3GS, and the iPhone 3.0 OS update. There has already been an iPhone 3.0.1 Beta 3 release, but still no MMS. The lawsuit is expected to represent at least 10,000 customers. AT&T claims in the fine print that “MMS support from AT&T is coming by late summer.” But fall is almost here, and I don’t think that there will be another update anytime soon, just because it’s been over 2 years since the 1st generation iPhone was released, and there has been rumors of MMS since the original release.

I do think that AT&T is working with Apple to create a MMS plan update, but I doubt that it’s going to come anytime soon. I think that this lawsuit was totally necessary, because Apple and AT&T both falsely advertised something that was highly anticipated since they started advertising the iPhone 3GS. I personally own an iPhone, and I am very upset that AT&T doesn't support MMS. So I am very interested about how this case is going to turn out. Hopefully this will help AT&T speed up the process of releasing the update.

The HTC Snap

The HTC Snap is one of the new phones in Microsoft’s line of business-oriented, low-cost, Windows Mobile smartphones, and although it has a quick and easy performance, it doesn’t really do much to stand out among the multitudes of new smartphones that have been released this year.

For starters, the Snap’s design is not too much to talk about. It’s made out a slab of black plastic that has a somewhat cheap feel, and measures 4.5 x 2.5 x 0.5 inches (HWD). It features a 2.4-inch LCD screen with the usual 320 x 240 resolution and an LED backlight. The QWERTY keyboard isn’t too bad with its curved four rows of raised keys, although they do make a very distinct click when pressed.

Concerning calls and reception, the Snap does pretty well. The quality of calls is good with the well-balanced pitch in the earpiece and wind rejection for the mic. The Snap has great reception with an EV-DO signal, and the speakerphone also does great and has plenty of volume.

When it comes to e-mail on the Snap, the phone can utilize Microsoft’s Direct Push E-mail and syncs with Microsoft Outlook and Exchange Server. A cool feature that can be considered very helpful with searching through e-mails would be HTC’s Inner Circle feature. This allows the user to select a contact from their address book and consolidate all the e-mails from that contact all into one spot. The Snap cannot create Microsoft Word and Excel documents but it can view and edit them, and it cannot edit Powerpoint presentations but can display them.

Internet Explorer Mobile 6 is what the Snap uses for its web browsing. It includes zoom support and a mouse cursors. If users of the Snap purchase Sprint’s Simply Everything plan they are able to access TeleNav-powered Sprint Navigation, live Sprint TV, and Sprint’s NASCAR and NFL Mobile Live portal.

The camera on the Snap is certainly not anything to really talk about. It’s not awful, but it’s definitely not special. It features a common 2-megapixel sensor, which means that most of the pictures you take will be too soft and not have enough contrast. The smartphone has no flash and no autofocus to assist with the blurriness or contrast, so pictures are really just about average.

Sprint is offering the HTC Snap for $149.99 (with a two-year service contract and mail-in rebates.) This phone isn’t bad, but it’s most certainly not a fantastic option when you consider all the other smartphones available for about the same price. If your looking for a great, reliable smartphone that caters to all your business needs, I personally would say that you should look in a different direction.

T-Mobile myTouch 3G Available Today August 5 2009

The highly anticipated T-Mobile myTouch 3G with Google is now available at T-Mobile retail stores as well as partner locations an online. T-Mobile is going all out to promote the new myTouch by having aerial skydivers, each dressed as a unique individual to reflect the individuality of the myTouch customer, parachute out of a plane in synchronized formations over San Francisco.

According to Chief Marketing Officer Denny Marie Post, "myTouch 3G can be personalized to wholly reflect your individuality, pride and passion, making it 100% you. We'll help this come to life from the get-go at our retail stores, where unique sample personas will be displayed to illustrate some of the many customization options. Also, our skilled myTouch 3G Retail champions will learn about our customer's interests and needs to make sure they're suited to make their myTouch unlike any other."

The myTouch 3G has a sleek and lightweight look and feel to it. In addition to that, there is a number of different accessories and pre-designed shell patterns that you can add to your myTouch which also lets you individualize accessories as well. And if you want to take it even further you can even personally design your own shell. This is accomplished by uploading a personal photo, graphic design, or by selecting shapes, logos, shapes or icons. The list of accessories is very large and includes things like gel skins and device cases to wrist straps and covers. If you go online you can find 5 different accessory packs this month. These packs vary from a music pack that includes speakers and a bonus promotional card for Amazon MP3 downloads to a fitness pack which comes with a fitness belt and arm band. even the inside of the myTouch is customizable by allowing you to customize the entire theme with all new wallpapers, icons and widgets all of which can be added directly to your myTouch from the home screen. Android market has thousands of different apps which give you further customization options.

T-Mobile has also launched a brand new application called AppPack. AppPack gives you a sample of some of the better apps out there. For the launch today, the AppPack has these free applications:

Sherpa - Learns your likes and dislikes through user feedback and behavior. Then it prioritizes recommended retailers, restaurants and attractions.

imeem Mobile - streams customized music based on your tastes. Recommends new songs, artists and albums based on your favorite songs.

WorldTour - Puts live webcams from around the world on your home screen.

Phonebook - An upgraded and more personalized phonebook for Android.

Movies by Flixster - Movie reviews with a little something extra. Through Facebook integration you can find friends who want to see the same movie or read reviews from your friends who have already seen it.

There are also 3 T-Mobile apps: T-Mobile My Account, T-Mobile Visual Voicemail and T-Mobile Mobile Backup.

There are also many other popular phone features on the myTouch like ones that come from T-Mobile's partnership with Google. You can get one touch access to things like Google Search by voice, Google Maps with Street View, Picasa and YouTube.

Designed by HTC, the T-Mobile myTouch 3G will be available at all T-Mobile retail stores nationwide. The myTouch is going to run you $200 with the signing of a two-year contract. Don' live next to a T-Mobile store? Don't worry, you can also get your myTouch online at www.T-MobilemyTouch.com. The myTouch is only available in 3 different colors: black, white and merlot.