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Samsung Galaxy Nexus Now Available at Wind Mobile

Tom Gray — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:19:54 +0000

Just a quick little update here for you guys. As the title says, the Galaxy Nexus is now available through Wind Mobile.

The price is set at $599 outright, $449 on the WindTab, or $249 on the WINDTab+.

If you have been waiting for Wind Mobile to drop this phone, your long journey is over. Hit up your nearest Wind location and grab yours today.

Don’t forget about the “Leap” promo plan that is also now in effect.

$40 a month
Unlimited Canada wide calling
Unlimited Texting
Unlimited Data
Call Control – Call ID, Call forward, Missed Call Alerts, Conference calling.

This does NOT include Voicemail or Canada wide MMS.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Now Available at Wind Mobile is a post from: Android in Canada Blog

Wind Mobile to Launch Galaxy Nexus February 3rd

Tom Gray — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:45:53 +0000

After weeks of teasing and “Coming soon” pictures, Wind Mobile finally slaps an official release date on the Galaxy Nexus. Many Wind Mobile customers have been waiting somewhat patiently, but finally the wait is over.

On February 3rd Wind will sell the Galaxy Nexus for $599 full price, $449 on the WINDtab, and $249 on WINDtab+. This is great timing as well, because Wind Mobile is also offer a promo plan starting February 2nd. The promo plan is called “Leap” and comes with the following:

$40 a month
Unlimited Canada wide calling
Unlimited Texting
Unlimited Data
Call Control – Call ID, Call forward, Missed Call Alerts, Conference calling.

This promo does NOT include Voicemail or Canada wide picture messaging. So before you decide to jump on this promo to save a couple extra bucks, make sure it’s right for you. This promo will expire February 29th, and is open to all Wind Mobile customers.

Wind Mobile to Launch Galaxy Nexus February 3rd is a post from: Android in Canada Blog

Ryan’s Review: Samsung Galaxy Nexus [video]

Ryan Moore — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:29:18 +0000

Okay, so I’ve joined the Nexus rank, and recently been able to pick up my own Galaxy Nexus. Pretty sweet.

Now, this is a top-end phone. Just like a Ferrari, it’s not for everybody, but it’s pretty wicked none-the-less. As one friend described it (who’s an avid iUser), “this is a very clean interface, definitely looks very sexy and appealing, whereas the iOS is starting to get ‘clunky’.”

For those of you who aren’t in the know, the Nexus line of phones are the ‘flagship’ phones that Google collaborates with a manufacturer to build SPECIFICALLY to coincide with a new version of the Android OS. This phone is then built without any ‘top layer’ of a UI (like Sense, or TouchWiz etc…), it’s vanilla.

At this point in time, we’ve all seen plenty of Nexus videos. Tom’s reviewed his twice here (#1, #2), and even talked about some of the issues he’s seen.

So, what’s it like? Well, here’s a quick video covering some of my ‘takes’ on the phone:

Form factor

It’s a nice size… a little wide, so hard to reach everything with one hand. And it’s a little thin on the back, so it feels a little too light and you feel like it’s going to slip out of your hands.

The bezel is really nice, when you have a black screen on it’s hard to see the edge.

Display

This is probably the only real disappointment I’ve found. On ‘greys’ it’s very … hate to say pixellated, but you can make out a faint ‘linen’ look to the screen. This is especially noticed on whites where you have it on low brightness too. Blacks are VERY black, and it’s awesome.

I must say, I really do like the Roboto font. Really makes the letters easy to read. Looks so much better on the phone than on my computer.

Snappy-ness…

…really really snappy. I’ve bogged it down with just about every app I’ve downloaded and it hasn’t slowed. Sure enough exiting out to the home screen sometimes causes it to delay a refresh, but just barely noticeable.

I don’t like how it’s slow to rotate. That’s not cool.

Battery life

Not a big problem as I usually have chargers everywhere, but I haven’t noticed a super huge need to make use of them. So I can’t really comment on it.

Cool Stuff?

Data capabilities – being able to see what’s eating your data plan, just how you’re able to see what’s using up your battery. However, the numbers don’t seem to come close to each other compared to the data counter widget I’ve installed. Maybe I’ll give it some time and see.

ICS swipe to discard notifcations, same for discarding tabs on the browser or running apps.

Really good camera — fast! But there’s no changing the resolution of the photo. Here’ a sample shot, (it’s not as vibrant as I would like, but nothing a little photoshop can’t help with).

And so much other neat stuff in ICS as you’ve already seen (Google Voice Input, Panorama, face unlock, etc…)

Other than that? Issues…

Well, it’s new. I’ve had to get used to that. I’m not a fan of the stock dialer where it can’t look up people by dialing a number and it interpreting the letters.

There’s been big issue with the screenshot. I fumbled a few times trying to get it to work. But even after that, if you choose to “share” it, the end source is blurry. I’ve used blogger and G+ and they both show up blurry. I’ve gmail’d myself one and it was fine then. Backed up photos into a cloud storage (i.e. SugarSync) show them as fine… it just doesn’t make sense. I only noticed after a reader of our blog was complaining. And then funny enough, the conversation attracted the attention of a Googler (one Punit Soni) who has said that they have had an issue and are working on it.

I’ve had about 4 random reboots with it now. Now that’s about a week’s worth of use. With my Captivate I’d almost get one a day. So no complaints here.

No 4G only” switch. In my area, 2G is REALLY strong, as such it tends to want to hop back and forth. And sometimes when it hops to 2G it stays and won’t switch back. Most likely this is a cellular network issue, but I like telling the phone to STAY in 4G and not switch.

Camera is 5MP only. No option to go lower.

I REALLY miss the rich features of the Alarm Clock on my Captivate.

I got too used to GoLauncher/Launcher Pro, that I had to put on Nova Launcher to give myself a few more options.

What else?

Seriously, this is an excellent phone. And at $99 on a 3 year plan it’s a steal for a top level phone. I paid more than that for the HTC Magic AND the Captivate model I got. I bought this phone outright personally, however. You’ll have to just get your own to really feel how this thing works. How it’s snappy, the screen feels amazing… such a nice phone.

Now I have some ‘issues’, but most of them can be fixed with a 3rd party app… just wish I didn’t have to go that route.

How’s it compare to the rest? Well, below I’ve put down the list of how much it costs. Now compare that to the slew of other Androids and it fares well for cost’s sake, it’s about average, for an above average phone.. Heck, the s2 LTE is MORE expensive. It’s about average cost, but what you get is a true Android experience.

That being said, about the ‘true Android experience’, many folk’ll tell you that the Nexus is for ‘developers only’ and if you’re not going to tweak the crap out of it with ROMs and whatnot, just go with another phone. To that I say phooey. I may eventually mod it, but for now I’m enjoying what the Ice Cream Sandwich experience is supposed to feel like before some other manufacturers put their UI layer on top. It’s quite good on its own thus far, and as I’ve said, for the price it’s probably the best bang for your buck. So get it, mod it if you want, don’t if you don’t feel you need to.

So, where can you get it?

Rogers/Fido/tbaytel: $599 outright / $99 on a 3 year contract (Fido lists it as $160 on a 3 year plan)
Telus/Koodo: $649 outright / $159 on a 3 year contract (No Koodo listing yet)
Bell/Virgin: $649 outright / $159 on a 3 year contract
Wind: still coming soon - apparently just in time for Valentine’s day!
Mobilicity: Feb 6th.
SaskTel: $599 outright / $159 on a 3 year contract
Videotron: still coming soon

Ryan’s Review: Samsung Galaxy Nexus [video] is a post from: Android in Canada Blog

SaskTel, Wind and Mobilicity are getting the Galaxy Nexus ‘soon’

Ryan Moore — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:05:49 +0000

3 more Canadian cellular carriers will ‘soon’ be getting the Galaxy Nexus.

More people are starting to whet their lips:

SaskTel | Wind | Mobilicity

thanks to MobileSyrup for the tip!

Still no word from Koodo. And I’m working all my contacts within tbaytel to find out when they’ll get the phone (they get phones through Rogers, just usually a week late)

So, here’s the Rundown:

Bell – already
Virgin – already
Rogers – Jan 10th?
Fido – Jan 10th?
Telus – Jan 13th
Videotron – soon
Wind – soon
SaskTel – soon
Mobilicity – soon
tbaytel – sometime after Jan 13th
Koodo – ??

Did I miss anybody?

SaskTel, Wind and Mobilicity are getting the Galaxy Nexus ‘soon’ is a post from: Android in Canada Blog

LG Optimus 2X on Wind Mobile

Tom Gray — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 03:58:07 +0000

Wind Mobile is a fairly cheap alternative to the larger carrier, but also carry a cheap supply of phones to match. Recently Wind Mobile has been getting some fairly decent phones, granted they are no match for the some of the upcoming ones from Bell, Rogers or Telus, but for their current lineup they hold strong.

LG Optimus 2X finds a comfy spot on the shelf with a $445 sticker on it ($295 on the windtab). This phone is by far the star of Wind Mobile’s lineup.

LG Optimus 2X:

1Ghz Dual Core Processor
512 MB of Ram
4″ Display
8GB internal Storage
MicroSD Compatible up to 32GB
8MP Camera with Flash
1.3MP Front Facing Camera
1500 mAh Battery

LG Optimus 2X on Wind Mobile is a post from: Android in Canada Blog

Nexus S now officially available at WIND

Billy — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:51:23 +0000

Those currently with, or looking to join, WIND, you have another fantastic Android device to choose from. The much anticipated Nexus S has finally arrived at WIND! Over the last several days, the majority of the Canadian wireless carriers have launched the Nexus S, except Bell, but I’m sure it’s coming soon (just a little while longer Bell users).

According to WIND, the new Nexus S is available starting at $425 and, at least according to the WIND website, the device is in-stock. However in-store inventory may be different, so it’s best to call your local WIND store before heading out. The highest price paid for the device is $525, but you can score $100 off by using WindTab.

Specs include OS 2.3, 4-inch AMOLED display, NFC (Near Field Communications) capability, a 1GHz processor, and a 5-megapixel camera including a front-facing camera. Overall, pretty good.

I’m still lugging around my old Nexus One, but the Nexus S seems to be my next upgrade. What do you think?

[WIND]

Nexus S now officially available at WIND is a post from: Android in Canada Blog

Nexus S Media Event April 14th

Jon V — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:34:25 +0000

According to mobilesyrup, Future Shop is sending invites for a media event to be held on April 14th. No pricing was revealed (are you surprised?) but it will be available on Telus, Rogers, Bell, Fido, Koodo, WIND and Moblicity. The Nexus S comes with Gingerbread 2.3 and the promise of future updates which is nice since it’s a Samsung phone.

(mobilesyrup)

Nexus S Media Event April 14th is a post from: Android in Canada Blog

The State of 4G Wireless Networks in Canada

Ryan Moore — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 07:05:34 +0000

It wasn’t too long ago that we heard about 3G speeds and how they were finally crossing the border into Canada. Little old Northwestern Ontario (where I’m located) is usually one of the last hold outs before the latest implementation of technology finally went live with 3G last November.So I’m quite impressed in that a short amount of time since 4G was implemented that there’s talk about it being introduced or in some cased brought in to Canada.

What is 4G? You may remember people had referred to it as WiMax at one point in time, but essentially the 4th Generation of wireless data transmission – which allows for higher speeds and wider coverage areas.

So should you get it? That’s up to you decide. I’m currently reveling in the 3G speed – but I’m sure that, given time, I too will say “man is this slow”.

Should you want to get it here’s a list of some of the ‘roadmap’ for wireless providers for their 4G networks:

Carrier

Coverage

BELL

Available in some S. Ontario areas (Toronto / London / Kitchener / Hamilton)
check their website:
http://support.bell.ca/en-on/Mobility/Network_coverage/What_is_the_Bell_network_coverage_in_Canada

TELUS

According to their website it is live covering 95% of the population
http://www.telusmobility.com/en/ON/network/index.shtml

Rogers

Slated for LTE 2011 deployment in select cities

Sasktel

Available in some areas March 2011
Check http://www.sasktel.com/cgi/network_rollout.cgi?search=&list_file=../data/network_rollout/network-launch-schedule&list_file_ext=txt&datafields=yes&max2=20&data_file= for more details

Wind

3G+ right now

This is a chart I’ve built from doing a heck of a lot of googling – without talking to the providers directly. We can make this chart a ‘live doc’ and allow the carriers to update it.

Now true LTE should allow for up to 100Mbps downloads, however, most of what’s up on teh chart is only 21 at best. There was some recent talk of Telus having 4G keys being able to reach 42Mbps. But this is a blog for phones.

Why am I excited about this? Hopefully I’ll be eligible for an update by the time that there’s coverage in my area and I can get some blazing speed. But what’s really neat is to see that we’re not all that far behind from our American counterparts. It’s been barely the gestation time for a baby ago that we saw the Evo go live in the states. We’re seeing a closing of the gap between what happens in the states and us.

More to the story is that LTE will be a true breakthrough for wireless technology for our remote communities. The greater range and higher speeds make it a cheaper alternative to having to put in cables which will mean a shortening of the distances to remote communities for information.

Need more on 4G?

The State of 4G Wireless Networks in Canada is a post from: Android in Canada Blog

Nexus S Coming Out This Holiday Season?

Pedram — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 00:48:16 +0000

Rumours about a possible sequel to the Nexus One have been ramping up over these past few weeks but we never had anything too reliable, until today. It all started earlier this morning when Best Buy’s site had a posting saying that Nexus S for T-Mobile will be available exclusively at Best Buy this holiday season. For obvious reasons, this post was quickly pulled.

Engadget then did a little digging around on their own and found shots that lined up with the GT-i9020 on FCC filings and Wi-Fi Alliance certifications. The phone is made by Samsung, closely resembles the Galaxy S line and will use AWS 3G (at least initially) for data which would require you to use Wind for 3G in Canada. Presumably running pure Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Lastly, and most convincing of all, Engadget has a leaked gallery of the Samsung phone up. No need in me trying to explain how it looks, source links are below. As someone who still has a Nexus One and loves it to death, I’m very excited to see more of this. How about you guys?

[Engadget (1), (2), Phandroid]

Nexus S Coming Out This Holiday Season? is a post from: Android in Canada Blog

Motorola XT720 Available On WIND For $430

Pedram — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 06:59:20 +0000

This one was pretty much confirmed already. But now it’s set in stone.

WIND is selling the XT720 for $430. No contract pricing since WIND doesn’t do contracts.

How is your WIND coverage? From what I’ve tested it out in Vancouver, it’s been kind of spotty. Then again, Rogers hasn’t been the greatest these past few days so I can’t really brag about my own network either.

All the details you want are in our previous posts and source link.

[via Softpedia]

[WIND Mobile]

Motorola XT720 Available On WIND For $430 is a post from: Android in Canada Blog