Rogers Now Offering ZTE Rock and Samsung Rugby

Two of my favorite rugged-type phones can now be had through Roger Wireless. The ZTE Rock F165 (right) and Samsung Rugby A836 (left) are just my type of phones: built to last!

ZTE Rock F165 Features:

• Durable and awesome design
• Comes with bad-ass antenna
• 2MP camera
• 2GB expandable memory
• With MusicStore, radio and mobile TV services

Samsung Rugby A836 Features:

• Rain, humidity, drop, shock, vibration, dust and unicorn resistant
• Will still function in extreme temperatures
• External speakerphone button
• 1.3MP camera
• 8GB expandable memory

Check out ZTE Rock here and Samsung Rugby here.

Nokia 5730 XpressMusic Partially Reviewed

"Blue" is probably the first word that came into your mind when you first saw the image above. "Odd" or "weird" is a close second, I bet. Well, those were my first thoughts when I laid my eyes on the new Nokia 5730 XpressMusic.

The guys over at mobile-reviews got their hands on a Nokia 5730 and promptly made a partial review of the phone. The QWERTY slide-out keyboard is a nice touch, especially with its dot matrix font, but seems a bit out-of-place in my opinion. The phone comes with 128MB of RAM and a microSD card slot, a good 4.5 hours of talk-time, EDGE, and built-in GPS. The 5730 also comes with the standard music player that comes with the N Series of phones.

The Nokia 5730 XpressMusic will be out this April in Europe and would sell for about $289. No word yet if it will be available anywhere else.

N73 + Swollen Batteries = ??

I checked my Nokia N73 Music Edition as soon as I read this news.

Apparently, Nokia admitted that some BP-6M batteries they used in N73 have swollen up. This is a normal occurrence for lithium-ion batteries, but are supposed to happen after it has aged several years. It's good to mention that there's no risk involved, aside from having an enlarged battery that may prove hard to fit into the charger or mobile phone.

No worries though. Head over the nearest Nokia Service Center and they'll give a free replacement after verifying your claims.

[source]

US Cellular Bags Samsung's SCH-r470 TwoStep

The ultra cool Samsung SCH-r470 flip phone is now officially on US Cellular. The SCH-r470, or the TwoStep, boasts several standard features such as a 1.3 megapixel camera, stereo speakers, microSD slot, Bluetooth, and of course, a music player complete with external controls.

The TwoStep comes on red, purple, and orange colors. It supports upto 8 GB microSD with a Talk Time of upto three hours.

[source]

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic European Release Date

Both the UK and North American cellphone consumers can't wait to get their hands on Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. The only difference is UK's going to get their wishes earlier than us.

On January 23, the 5800 Xpress Music will be available in the UK. The first S60 5th Edition device will have a price tag of £249, or roughly $380.

Nokia Comes With Music Service Doing "Okay"

Nokia's recent music service, Comes With Music, is doing just fine according to reports. "Initial sales had been okay, but not earth shattering." according to an unnamed source.

Some would say its because of the economy, while some blame pirating pirates getting their music off the web. The refusal of major UK carriers to Comes With Music-handsets are not helping either.

Do you have a CwM-equipped phone? Do you use the service at all? Me, I get my mp3's for free.

Nokia N96 Firmware Update Now Available

An update to Nokia N96's firmware in now available for the North American public. The said update includes Switch 4.0, improved Bluetooth, and fixed alarm among other things.

What concerns us mp3 phone enthusiasts is that the N96 Music Player no longer hangs when refreshing the libarary if the General Settings Date separator is set to ":". I'm pretty sure that's a big chip off of some people's shoulder. There's nothing I hate more than my phone freezing.

The N96 firmware update can now be had through Nokia Software Updater.

Rentobile: Rent Cellphones

Rentobile offers a pretty straightforward service: rent a cellphone. For a monthly fee ($20 to $50), you can rent a cellphone and use it as long as you want. When you get tired of it, then return it and get another one.

After an hour of doing the math, I find this service pricey. There's a bit of a discount if you opt to be a member, though. I would maybe give it a go if say I would like to try out a phone before buying it.