Engadget Mobile Gallery

Australian government tells Telstra to split up... or else

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 15th 2009 at 4:41PM

Australian giant Telstra is being given the ol' Ma Bell treatment this week, getting slapped with a breakup order courtesy of the government with a steep penalty for failing to comply: blockage from future spectrum acquisitions and a forced sell-off of its cable television business and its 50 percent stake in satellite operator Foxtel. We're no MBAs around here, but that certainly seems like a strong-enough motivator to get moving on a logical breakup of Telstra's many businesses, including Australia's largest wireless provider (and largest everything, come to think of it). As a final warning, there's a threat of a AUD $10 million (about $8.6 million) fine for anti-competitive misbehavior, so all things considered, Optus and Vodafone should be feeling pretty good about the situation at the moment.

[Thanks, John]

BlackBerry Bold gets Telstra's Blue Tick for having the signal strength of a champion

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 30th 2009 at 8:41PM

Say you're in the middle of nowhere -- in Australia, by the way -- and you have an urgent need to, say, download and view an Excel spreadsheet in your inbox. What's a fellow to do? Well, one option would be to take a gander at that Palm Treo Pro that has received Telstra's coveted Blue Tick certification for awesome reception in the boondocks, but the problem is that it's so hard to look at the Treo Pro with a straight face these days in light of the fact that the Pre's now an ever-constant presence in our psyche. No worries, though, there's another solid option: Telstra has now awarded the Blue Tick to the BlackBerry Bold, which means even the hardest-core road warriors should have no issue handling email from some of the harshest environs Australia's cell tower-equipped landscape has to offer.

Telstra rolling out seven Next G phones this month

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 8th 2009 at 7:08AM

Australian carrier Telstra's taking the "go big or go home" approach with its latest announcement, dropping no fewer than seven phones this month compatible with its Next G HSPA network -- table scraps for a Japanese carrier, granted, but a bounty by any other standard. Among the phones in the new lineup are the Xenon, Viewty Smart, and the Windows Mobile-powered GM730f from LG (the first version of the GM730 to launch anywhere, interestingly), the Touch Pro2 from HTC, and Sony Ericsson's W508 and W995. All will be available before the month of July draws to a close for prices ranging from AUD $30 (about $24) on contract for the W508 up to a mind-numbing AUD $1,499 (about $1,190) contract-free for the Touch Pro2.

Telstra keeps pushing, moves to 5.8Mbps on the uplink

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 29th 2009 at 8:29AM

Want to run a Miley Cyrus fansite over a data card? We might recommend you emigrate to Australia, where Telstra has just upgraded its already-impressive HSPA+ network to a whopping 5.8Mbps on the uplink, which it estimates means that customers could see speeds as high as 3Mbps in real-world use. In conjunction with the upgrade, the carrier's also letting customers know that its Turbo 21 USB modem can be updated to take advantage of the higher data rate, which refreshingly means you won't have to plunk down for any new hardware. Cheers to that.

Telstra's Turbo 21 HSPA modem reviewed: not 21Mbps but still the world's fastest

by Thomas Ricker posted Mar 24th 2009 at 5:16AM

Telstra loves to brag about being the "world's fastest national mobile broadband network." And they should after a recent 21Mbps (theoretical) upgrade to its Next G network in Australia's major cities. Of course real-world performance won't come close to that but the PC-only, Telstra Turbo 21 USB modem likely smokes any over the air setup you've been using. ZDNET tested the Turbo 21 in Sydney and found performance landing on "the right side of excellent." Performance peaked at about 6Mbps but this was variable at best. Still it was the fastest modem that ZDNET's seen in their testing. Yours, or more likely your company's, for AU$499 or AU$299 when bundled with a data pack.

Read -- Turbo 21 press release
Read -- Turbo 21 review

Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo leaving, heading back to America on June 30th

by Darren Murph posted Feb 27th 2009 at 12:15AM

Great job, thief. Just days after Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo had his HTC handset stolen at Mobile World Congress, the guy has decided that enough is enough. All kidding aside, Sol Trujillo has indeed announced his intentions to vacate his seat and return home to the United States. During his four years as head honcho, the Australian operator has managed to do quite well for itself, and as they say, there's no better time to leave than while on top. He has vowed to keep pressing on until June 30th, after which he'll hop a (presumably first class) flight back to the US of A and watch Telstra attempt to fill his shoes -- probably from a sweet shack in Key West, if we had to guess.

Telstra exec's stolen WinMo 6.5-equipped HTC phone remotely wiped?

by Ross Miller posted Feb 23rd 2009 at 5:34PM

Remember that Windows Mobile 6.5-equipped HTC phone that was stolen from the Telstra exec at MWC? Well it looks like you can forget about any hands-on videos popping up -- to quote the immortal words of Will Smith from Men in Black, the device has apparently been flashy thing'd, from afar. According to an anonymous Microsoft staffer speaking to APC, the company remotely wiped all traces of the operating system and user data from the mobile as soon as it was reported pickpocketed, so unless the thief was smart enough to immediately place it in a faraday cage, this phone's probably a bit too frazzled for the limelight right now.

Telstra exec: new Android-based HTC phone 'better' than Pre

by Chris Ziegler posted Jan 12th 2009 at 6:10AM

With Mobile World Congress a little over month away -- and Android essentially a no-show at CES -- suspense is building over what sort of action we'll see out of the Google camp at the show. Australia's Smarthouse cites a particularly cocky Telstra exec saying that he's got an upcoming HTC set that's "better and more functional" than the Pre -- and seeing how he enjoyed a Palm briefing this week, he'd have a pretty good idea. Rumor has it this Pre killer will run a version of Android with HTC tweaks and will have a huge display, which seems like a good combo if you're trying to impress a jaded smartphone buyer these days. The mystery device is expected in the second quarter of the year, which gets back to our hope that we'll see some Android heat at MWC next month; don't get us wrong, the G1 is great and all, but we're ready for some more.

[Via wmpoweruser.com]

Telstra launches improved "Country Phone" for signal in the Outback

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 28th 2008 at 4:54PM

Tired of having to stand up (way, way up) on the brumby to pull down even a single bar of EDGE from the dusty ditches of the Great Central? We hear you, Aussies -- and so does Telstra. The carrier has retooled its 165i "Country Phone" from ZTE, making it better based on usability testing and customer feedback; in this case, "better" means it's gotten a little smaller, features a nicer screen, and has gained AGPS (probably not a bad thing to have when you're in the middle of nowhere). It's ruggedized and makes use of an oh-so-rare extendable antenna for insane reception that earns it Telstra's coveted Blue Tick certification, but you still get 3G, Bluetooth, FM radio, and a 2-megapixel camera -- all told, it's all set up to be a "big hit in the bush" to steal a bit of Telstra's verbiage. It goes for $529 AUD (about $346) when it drops on December 1.

Telstra lands Samsung's touchscreen-heavy F480T

by Darren Murph posted Nov 18th 2008 at 12:11AM

Samsung's touchscreen-centric F480 isn't the freshest of the fresh right now, but it's still hot news for folks in Australia. Telstra has just added the F480T to its Next G lineup, and with it comes a 2.8-inch LCD, 5-megapixel camera, support for the outfit's 7.2Mbps data network, 200MB of onboard memory, an SD expansion slot, Bluetooth 2.0, haptic feedback and access to Mobile FOXTEL. Put it in your pocket right now for as low as free on a $60 plan for two years.

Telstra on track to roll out HSPA+ upgrade by end of year

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 6th 2008 at 5:18PM

Making good on a promise delivered at MWC earlier this year, Telstra has announced that its customers will be "the first in the world" to experience 21Mbps of blazing download speed when it launches the first phase of its HSPA Evolution network by the end of 2008. We don't have any particularly good reason to believe it'll be the iPhone 3G that's experiencing those ridiculous data rates, but by the same token, Telstra has yet to announce exactly what hardware it'll be offering at retail to go along with the service. If we had to guess, the first round will see a data card or two.

Palm Treo Pro gets props from Telstra for extreme signal strength

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 4th 2008 at 9:50AM

For our money, there's really nothing worse than dropping a few hundred bucks on a shiny new 3G toy, taking it home to the Outback, and realizing that we're getting more wallaby meat than we are reception. Happily, Telstra has a pretty unique program in the carrier world -- dubbed "Blue Tick" -- that awards certain devices in its lineup for their killer signal strength, which theoretically makes them more appropriate choices for use in rural and fringe areas where lesser phones might struggle. Interestingly, the Treo Pro is now the first smartphone in Telstra's Blue Tick range -- which they're offering for as little as zilch on a two year contract, by the by -- making it a solid choice for anyone around the world who's looking for a modern WinMo set with enough signal-pulling power to make a Motorola V365 green with envy. Only question is, can we still completely encase it in gold and hold a call?

Telstra gives data users more megabytes for same dollars

by Darren Murph posted Aug 3rd 2008 at 9:34AM

Oh sure, Telstra's Next G HSDPA network is pretty swank, but what's the use in having a potent high-speed infrastructure if it's too expensive for anyone to use? Thankfully, said carrier is finally loosening up a bit on its data pricing by giving Aussies more megabytes for the same price that they're currently paying. Starting now, $10 mobile data packages include 150MB per month (up from 20MB), while the $29 pack includes 300MB per month (up from 80MB). Additionally, excess data rates have been "reduced" on both packs, though dollars and cents weren't mentioned on that. Best of all, customers already subscribed to one of the aforesaid plans won't have to do a thing in order to see their capacities bumped.

Telstra getting BlackBerry Bold in late September

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 28th 2008 at 9:01AM

Hey Australians, how are your thumbs feeling? You have just a precious few weeks here to get 'em in shape, because Telstra has announced that it'll be bringing RIM's latest slice of mobile glory, the Bold, to its network in late September. In the meantime, CEO of Australia's Royal Flying Doctor Service was hooked up this week all John Mayer-style and presented with a Bold well ahead of its official launch date, so RIM and Telstra must be feeling pretty good about the latest firmware if they're going to actually unleash it on a real-world exec (assuming he's actually going to be clipping it to his belt day in and day out). Late September's just a little late for the global summer release RIM had originally envisioned, but there's a silver lining: Telstra says the Bold will go for a whopping goose-egg -- zero dollars, that is -- to its business customers when it goes on sale.

Pope Benedict XVI texting out messages of encouragement

by Darren Murph posted Jul 16th 2008 at 7:58AM

Don't act like you didn't know that Pope Benedict XVI was down with modern technology. As part of World Youth Day, the man himself will begin sending out texts of encouragement to pilgrims who have signed up through Telstra to receive them. A total of four gigantic "prayer walls" have been erected at the Sydney Opera House, the Domain, Darling Harbour and Randwick Racecourse in Australia, where folks will actually be able to send their own messages for all to presumably see. The first message sent out? "Young friend, God and his people expect much from u because u have within you the Fathers supreme gift: the Spirit of Jesus - BXVI." Hllujh, amn brtha.

[Thanks, zedster]