Telus
Telus Milestone and Hero Updates Coming in May/June
Apr 9th
Last night, at the Motorola MotoBlur party (coverage to follow) I had an interesting conversation with someone who works within Telus’ ranks. He said, unofficially, that the updates Android 2.1 for the Telus Milestone and Hero will be coming in early May for the Milestone and early June for the Hero.
The Milestone update is currently being tested in-house and is going along nicely, and likely has the same includes as the European Milestone updates.
As for the Hero, he was less conclusive, saying that the update will come, though it is unknown if it will arrive in late May/early June, or be pushed back till a later date. Considering no Hero versions have yet to be updated to 2.1 (though Sprint’s is supposed to be released today) it is not a huge surprise.
This jibes with our previous suggestion that someone dropped the ball with the Hero update, citing “lack of effort” within the company itself. Seems nobody at Telus is in a hurry to train and support new versions of their phones. Sounds like you’re becoming the new Rogers, Telus. Well done. Or not.
Telus Increases Milestone Price to Undesirable, Wants To Kill Its Own Buzz
Apr 8th
Mobile Syrup has just reported that the Milestone is now up to iPhone 3GS territory on its 3-year plans, after blitzing the country with a great advertising campaign showing off the benefits of the Android platform, and pronouncing the Milestone as “The King of Android Phones.”
On a 3-year plan with voice and data, the Milestone now costs $199.99, which is the same as an iPhone 3GS 16GB. Now I don’t know about you, but the average Telus customer walking into a retail store, seeing those two phones side-by-side, is likely not going to pick the Milestone. This is based on the lack of disseminated information about the Android platform as a whole, and the fact that, when it comes down to it, the iPhone is just way prettier than the big box of the Droid/Milestone.
Which would I pick? At that price, probably the iPhone. And I love Android. So this is quite perplexing. Of course Telus introduced the phone at $149.99 on an Introductory Price, which has now, obviously, expired, but this is eating its own lunch. The Milestone was (is) selling quite well for the company, and I wonder if they realize what that extra $50 will do to its sales margins.
We’ll never know, since Telus won’t likely release sales statistics (though they have claimed before that the phone has sold beyond their expectations), but seriously, guys, sell this phone at $99.99 on a 3-year contract and you’ll have the whole country using it.
Thoughts?
Telus Hero Update Delayed… Or Was It Ever Coming?
Apr 6th
Update Delayed. Or Just Ignored.
According to MobileSyrup, one of their tipsters informed them that “due to a lack of effort the [Telus] Hero’s update to Android 2.1 has been delayed to the first week of May.” What the heck does “lack of effort mean?” That they just don’t care? Probably. HTC’s partners have shown at best an ambivalence and at worst an antipathy to updating their devices. It took Rogers until their Magic and Dream devices were essentially illegal (unable to call 911 when GPS was enabled) to update the devices, and even then the platform stayed the same, they just added Sense UI.
So why are HTC phones so slow to update? Likely because they want you to buy a new device. Why would Telus update the Hero to 2.1 when their flagship Android phone, the Milestone, is only running 2.0.1? They’re likely waiting till the Milestone gets the 2.1 update before giving their Hero users their update. If at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if this delay becomes permanent.
And if you are Hero user, you likely know about the various 2.1 ROMs floating around that are, in fact, much better than the stock 2.1 ROM. VillainROM is a custom Hero ROM based on the Legend 2.1 Sense UI and it is fast, stable and gorgeous. Hit up XDA-Developers for more information on rooting and installing the custom ROM on your device. You won’t regret it!
(via MobileSyrup)
Telus Adds Paid Apps to Android Marketplace
Mar 26th
Someone threw the switch at Telus last night, and Milestone and Hero owners on the Telus network woke to the ability to pay for apps, a long-awaited (and recently-added-to-Rogers) feature.
Now, the presence of paid apps in the Marketplace may not seem like a huge win, since most of the best Android apps are still free, but there are a few I believe are worth paying for:
- Touiteur Premium is the best Android Twitter app on the market, in my opinion. And the premium version adds multiple-account access. £1.99
- Weatherbug Elite adds multiple widgets, multiple locations and a whole whack of cool features to the paid version, for $1.99
- Asphalt5 is the most graphically-advanced game on the Android platform at this point. Smooth as butter and oh-so-pretty. Eat that, iPhone! $6.99
- xScope Browser (Web File Task) is by far the best, feature-rich browser on the Android market, and the developer, unlike Dolphin, updates often and communicates with his fans. $2.99
That’s just a taste of the wide array of paid apps available. Now in order for devs to keep building great apps for the Android platform, buy some!
Telus putting another $650 million into their network
Mar 19th
If you’re a Telus user, your phone service should see some impressive improvements this year as Canada’s second largest carrier will be putting another $650 million, after spending $700 million last year, into both its landline and wireless services. Analysts say this could give Telus an edge against their competitors, both new and old, with an increase in data transfer speeds, especially on devices like the iPhone and BlackBerry.
Karen Radford, president of Telus Business Soultions, says that 98% of Albertans now have high-speed internet access, in part from last year’s $700 and, “[she] don’t think any other place in Canada can boast those kinds of numbers.”
So, Telus customers, have you noticed any differences already? Looking forward to even better service? Drop us a line and let us know.
See the full story here.
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Telus Really Hopping on the Android Bandwagon
Mar 4th
In the wake of the report that Motorola is hitting Canada with some new MOTOBLUR (Motorola’s custom version of Android, essentially more social networking focused) based devices this year. Telus has come forward stating they will carry the “Backflip” exclusively. No exact release date has been given, but the “Backflip” combines a full QWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen.
I’m really impressed with Telus’s enthusiasm towards Android devices. They also exclusively carry the “Milestone”, Motorola’s first stab at running the Android OS in their Smartphones (also happens to be Canada’s GSM answer to the very popular DROID running on Verizon’s CDMA network). They clearly see that there is life outside of iPhone/Blackberry devices, though it still hasn’t been full adopted by the Canadian market.
To read some specs on the “Backlip” click more
or click here to visit the Motorola website
SPECS:
- Android OS 1.5 packed into it along with MOTOBLUR
- 3.1-inch HVGA display (resolution of 320 x 480)
- Comes with a 5 MegaPixel camera with LED flash and video
- Music player
- 3.5 mm headset jack
- 1400 mAh Li Ion battery
- WiFi
- Full HTML Browser
- aGPS with Google Maps, Google Latitude, Google Maps Street View
- access to the Android Market.
- The overall dimensions are 53.0 x 108.0 x 15.3 mm with a weight of 133 grams.
Video Calling is back and bigger than ever
Feb 25th
Think back to 2007 when Rogers launched 3G video calling to a fairly uninterested Canadian market. The phone was the Samsung A706 and left a bad taste in consumers mouths for a number of reasons. Well, from what BGR is reporting the times they are a changing. With the recent launch of Telus/Bell’s HSPA+ network, the big 3 carriers are hoping this time around the response is a bit well, more enthusiastic. Bell’s Stephen Howe was quoted saying:
“By breaking down the barriers between video calling clients in Canada, we anticipate strong demand for the service — as we saw with past inter-carrier initiatives such as text and picture messaging.”
There is no set launch date, but we can’t see it being too long before an announcement is made.
What do you think? Would you jump back on the “Vision” bandwagon? Or you happy conserving what little battery life your phone offers up anyways. Leave us a comment!
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Introducing the Motorola Milestone from Telus
Feb 16th
After long last Android OS lovers no longer have to drool over our American counterparts on Verizon. The Motorola Milestone (Essentially the Canadian version of the ever popular VZW Droid) has officially been launched on Telus HSPA+ network in Canada. Yes, thats right for $199.99 on a 3 year term ($599.99 no term) you can start using one of the best Android based devices to be released to date. For all you envious Rogers customers all this means is a simple unlock to use it as well.
If you are one of the lucky ones to have it already please leave us a comment and let us know how you like it!
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Telus posts 4Q loss, gears up for future
Feb 12th
Telus (TU here in the States, T up north)stock took quite a big 4th quarter hit, reporting a $156 million (45%) drop in profits. But don’t be too worried about the Vancouver-based telecom company, as this loss seems to be the result of them gearing up for the future. In an act similar to Manchester United’s sale of soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo to Spanish giant Real Madrid (MU sold Ronaldo for $131 million, but used that money to pay off debt, rather than have it contribute to profit), Telus has been busy improving infrastructure, including their HSPA network, and preparing to fight off new entrants into the Canadian market, not to mention simply fighting through the rough global economy.
While earnings per share have dropped farther than analysts predicted (55 cents per share expected, 49 cents per share actual), Telus isn’t likely to be going away, with its $1 billion earnings for the year.
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