Amazon has moved further into the mobile phone retail business. According to Amazon, the site, which is currently in beta, offers a wide selection of cell phones from AT&T and Verizon Wireless, and more carriers will be added.



The site is bound to garner a lot of interest by offering free two-day shipping and even waiving activation fees on some handsets. Customers will be guided through all phases of purchase.
AmazonWireless currently offers more than 120 phones, including a great selection of smart phones and the latest models for shoppers on a budget. Customers can shop for phones by carrier, phone feature, price, color and brand. The site’s shopping cart guides customers through each stage of the purchase process, where customers will find familiar Amazon features like bestseller lists, detailed product descriptions and customer reviews.
At its launch, users can use their Amazon.com accounts or create new accounts. Phones can be returned if shipped back unopened and in their original packaging, within 30 days and Amazon will foot the bill for return shipping.

While the press release promotes AmazonWireless.com, visiting that URL forwards you to http://wireless.amazon.com where the new interface is found.

Samsung’s upcoming and first Google Android smartphone, the GT-I7500 Galaxy, is now available from O2.com Germany. With visual previews released featuring an early prototype. There weren’t any noticeable differences in terms of user-interface.



The Samsung Galaxy now features micro USB and a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack and therefore both, the charger/USB cable as well as the stereo headset can be replaced with non-Samsung accessories; a positive development.
Samsung Galaxy GT-I7500 reports 192 mb of internal ram and 3d hardware acceleration and compass, This handset features include a 3.2-inch 16M AMOLED touch screen display, a 5 megapixel camera with power LED, 8GB of storage with MicroSD expansion for up to 32GB more, WiFi, GPS, Blurtooth, and 1500mAh BatterY.

According to TechRadar's recent report, O2 UK has confirmed that they'll be releasing the Android-powered Samsung i7500 Galaxy in August, though the pricing is yet to be announced. O2 Germany is offering it for €69.99 (about $98) on contract, so we can expect almost the same price for the UK customers, or even completely free on some monthly plan.

Labels: Samsung Galaxy

Here’s some good news, at least for those Sprint customers expecting more from their default carrier. Sprint wants its future phones, at least the smart ones, to have WiFi capabilities. According to a Sprint spokesperson WiFi will be there “in all its major devices going forward”. The brief announcement was made while Sprint was confirming that a future BlackBerry Tour capable of WiFi connectivity will be available sometime next year.

We salute Sprint’s decision to require WiFi from the manufacturers it works with. It’s never too late, Verizon! AT&T, you can do it too!

Samsung has joined with T-Mobile Europe and the Elite Model Management agency to release a few more special edition phones - Samsung Elite C3050 and the Samsung Elite Preston S5600. These two cell phones will be available in the Netherlands, and will available only in an exclusive white version.

The Samsung Elite Preston S5600 that will come with a Ti Sento Charming bracelet, while the SamsungElite C3050 will have a Ti Sento phone strap. No word on whether these two Samsung phones will be available only in the Netherlands or will become available in other European countries too

The BlackBerry Tour is, at this point, the hottest RIM smartphone around. While Sprint and Verizon are ready to start selling it in stores south of the border, Canadians can count on Bell to offer the device.

The Tour will apparently start selling in Canada tomorrow although we were expecting it to be available starting July 17. Bell will be selling the phone for $249.95 CAD with a regular 3-year contract or for $699.95 CAD without a contract. In case you badly want the Tour we advise you to wake up early in the morning tomorrow and head to the nearest Bell store hoping they have received the Tour. Otherwise you’ll have to wait 5 more days to get it! That’s right, there aren’t enough units so some Bell stores might not be able to sell any BlackBerry Tour tomorrow.

Most phones out there come with a regular 3.5mm jack ready to accommodate your favorite phones and bring your favorite music to your favorite ears. And when we say most phones we certainly don’t mean HTC phones. According to HTC a “vast majority of devices we launch after Hero” will be fitted with a nice, revolutionary, 3.5mm headphone jack. That standard feature is coming to future HTC phones so the company definitely deserves our applause for the day. We could use some insight on those future HTC handsets now that we know they’re not going to need a headphone adapter.

As you might have expected, AT&T has started to sell even cheaper iPhone 3G phones. And I am not talking about those new prices announced for the 8GB and 16GB models at WWDC. AT&T has now more refurbished phones waiting for new customers. The refurbished 8GB model will cost you $79 while the refurbished 16GB model will cost you just $129. Unfortunately the 2-year new contract is still mandatory which means you will still be paying lots of precious dollars every month to AT&T. At these prices an iPhone is still more affordable than ever so if you’re not willing to pay $199 for an iPhone 3GS then a refurbished handset is just what you need.

T-Mobile USA has clearly announced that it has no plans to launch the HTC Hero in the USA. That doesn’t mean that T-Mobile UK will not bring HTC’s latest Android phone in the UK. In fact the UK carrier will launch the HTC Hero and it’s going to call it the G2 Touch. It’s not exactly clear what Hero will actually be available in the UK so we’re counting on T-Mobile UK to tell us more soon. Is it the keyboard version?

What we do know is that the G2 Touch will be available for free with a new 18-month contract as long as you’re willing to commit to a plan of at least $60 per month. What Hero will you choose? The one offered by T-Mobile UK or the one coming from Orange UK?

This video shows a quick look at the user interface on Sony Ericsson Rachael running Android.

Labels: Sony Ericsson XPERIA