Now that literally everyone on the planet except Bell and Telus themselves has accepted that the Canadian carriers are moving away from CDMA, the rumors are really starting to heat up -- and there's a twist this time around. Rather than wait for LTE, the Financial Post is reporting that Canada's two CDMA giants will proceed directly to HSPA posthaste, dropping $1 billion in the process to try to get a network up and running in just one year's time. Furthermore, they won't be trying to outbuild one another; instead, FP's sources report that Bell and Telus will be partnering in an effort to take the Rogers juggernaut head-on. It's starting to look more and more like CDMA is becoming a burden and a competitive disadvantage for the carriers that are still on it -- and if this all goes down, Rogers had better be looking over its shoulder.

[Thanks, Justin S.]

We're not sure what sort of mind-altering tricks Bell and Telus pulled on him, but Canada's minister of industry, Jim Prentice, is taking an entirely less confrontational tone after meeting with the carriers following their decisions to start charging 15 cents for incoming text messages. He'd originally sounded pretty fired up over the plans -- which involved absolutely zero collusion whatsoever, we're sure -- but now says he "would encourage consumers dissatisfied with existing plans to seek alternatives" after being assured by both Bell and Telus that customers charged for spam texts would be able to get the charges removed. Given everything we know about billing issues and customer service calls, that's... shall we say, not exactly reassuring.

[Via MobileSyrup]

Merely hours after getting up close and personal with press shots of Sanyo's Katana Eclipse, folks up in Canada can now reach out and grab their own. Bell Mobility is offering said flip phone for $49.95 on a tear-jerking 3-year contract, $99.95 on a 2-year plan, $224.95 on a 1-year plan or $274.95 sans an agreement. Specs wise, you're looking at a 1.3-megapixel camera, 10MB of internal memory, integrated MP3 player, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, a 2-inch internal display (complemented by a 1-inch screen on the outside) and a 2-way speakerphone to boot. So, does simple do it for ya?

[Via mobilesyrup]

Last we checked, "er" isn't located anywhere within the word "Bell" or "Bell Mobility." For whatever reason, that didn't stop the Canadian telecom company from spending big bucks in order to create a new marketing push focused on the two letters. Reportedly, the "Today Just Got Better" campaign will be plastered just about everywhere in the Great North here shortly, leaving onlookers confused and unconsciously drawn to the name. Is this really where we're at as a society? Creating ads that have no connection to the brand just to garner attention? Sigh.

That CDMA version of HTC's Touch Dual that some FCC lab got to fiddle around with a while back is now packaged up all nice and pretty for cash-flush consumers to enjoy. It's not Verizon, Sprint, or Alltel that's celebrating the release, though -- for this particular release, you've gotta look north just a little bit to Bell Mobility. The phone features Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, GPS, a 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and a $399.95 CAD off-contact price that drops all the way down to $99.95 if you're willing to sign your life away for three years. Our knee-jerk reaction is, "we'll just hold out for the Diamond on Telus," but if you insist on a slider with this kind of form factor, it's the only way to fly.

[Via MobileSyrup]

MobiTV has been around for quite awhile, and although it has seen its fair share of ups and downs, today's a day for celebration in the offices that remain. After hitting the 3 million mark in February, the company is now claiming that its benefiting from some 4 million subscriptions. Charlie Nooney, MobiTV's CEO, was quoted as saying that the firm was "thrilled to be on the cusp of mass market acceptance for mobile entertainment in North America." We don't know if we'd go that far just yet, but here's a tip of the hat to you anyway.

[Via RCRWireless, image courtesy of PDAsNews]

The rumors are certainly nothing new, but rumblings over official announcements from both Bell and Telus regarding their newfound love for all things GSM have reached a rolling boil in the past few days. The latest little tidbit comes from UBS, whose fortune tellers say that both Canadian carriers should be outing some transition plans in the near future in the hope of better positioning themselves to compete with rival Rogers, get cooler handsets on board, and realize some synergy with the overwhelming majority of carriers around the world. Bell and Telus are both staying completely tightlipped for the moment, but one remaining question is whether they'll be going with HSPA or moving straight to LTE -- a distinct possibility, considering that the 4G tech should be ramping up right around the time that the carriers could realistically put the gears in motion. You ready to cry uncle yet over there, UMB?

[Thanks, Mario and Jay]

Though it's a common practice in the US, charging customers for incoming text messages isn't terribly common up in Canada. Don't worry though, Canadians -- your days of being chronically undercharged are drawing to a close thanks to suspiciously closely-timed announcements from Bell and Telus that they'll start chalking up 15 cents per inbound message for anyone not on a messaging plan starting in August. The country's industry minister is none too pleased about the change (the dude must get like a thousand texts a day, after all), sending out letters to Bell and Telus' head honchos requesting meetings before the new charges take effect. We'll see where this goes, but we certainly wouldn't get our hopes up.

Read - Bell, Telus customers to pay for incoming text messages
Read - Ottawa moves to forestall texting revolt [Via Smart Mobs]

Fired up to capitalize on some of the hype Sprint has managed to drum up for the Instinct down in the States, Samsung's taking its iPhone fighter north of the border for a promised intro later this summer. Bell Mobility is the lucky partner (seriously, Telus, you probably should've hustled Samsung a little harder for this one), launching at price points ranging from $149.95 up to $449.95 for a three-year contract all the way down to zero commitment. Features and software look like they're all carrying over from their stateside cousin, although the UI's looking just a little bit less Sprint-ified (read: no yellow tinge). Nice.

[Via MobileSyrup]

Update: There are rumors that Telus is slated to pick it up, too, but we haven't seen anything solid just yet. We'll let you know.

Update 2: Yep, Telus is down with it -- exclusivity be damned! Thanks, howi!

Hey Canadians: looking for a quick, easy, cheap (well, sort of cheap) way to show some national pride? We think we've got just the ticket, and so does Bell. Turns out they'll be launching the m530 music flip with Canadian Olympic Team branding next month for $99.95 CAD (about $99) on a three-year plan or $299.95 CAD (about $298) prepaid. You're not going to blow anyone away with the features, though -- unless your friends and family are blown away by barn-burners like 1.3 megapixel cameras, stereo Bluetooth, and somewhat unattractive external music controls.

[Via Mobile In Canada]

Your yank friends south of the border know this one better as the Glimmer for Alltel (and soon for US Cellular), but you Bell customers out there in Canada are finding this one in stores now as the Vantage. The Shine-esque slider stakes most of its reputation on a full touchscreen to augment the numeric keypad, but you also get EV-DO, GPS, stereo Bluetooth, and up to 4GB of expansion via microSD. Just be sure to bring your wallet, and preferably those of a couple friends: contract-free it'll run you $424.95 CAD (about $418), while a full three years of servitude gets that knocked down to a more palatable $199.95 CAD ($195).

[Via cell phones etc. and MobileSyrup]

Far be it from Bell to sit back and let Telus have all the fun, the other Canadian CDMA juggernaut has gone ahead and added RIM's BlackBerry Curve 8330 to its roster as well. This one will run between $249.95 CAD and $549.95 CAD (ouch!) ranging from a three-year plan to an outright, free and clear purchase, offering a 2 megapixel cam, 96MB of onboard storage with a microSD slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, EV-DO, and GPS -- in other words, precisely everything you'll get from its Telus, Sprint, and Verizon cousins. Head down to the shop, do a little dance of joy, and revel in your little jump start here, Bell users, because your American friends have a few more weeks to wait on this one.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

The clever souls at PhoneNews seem to have cobbled together info from dcd's posts at XDA-Developers and other places on how to get gpsOne -- this technology uses both satellite and your provider's network to determine location -- up and running on CDMA HTC Titan sets. Once your handset -- including PPC-6800, XV6800, Mogul, P4000, and likely others -- is tweaked, applications like TomTom, Google Maps, and other GPS tools will be available for your navigational enjoyment. This hack will require that you unlock your handset, update the device's software, and then update the baseband radio firmware to get at the goods. Instructions and all the files you'll need -- software updates are listed for Alltel, Sprint, Verizon, Bell, and Telus -- are available by hitting the read link. Of course, this'll likely blow your warranty away, so fiddlers beware and if you're even a little concerned, it may be patience will pay off as a provider update could bring this in the future.

Update: Fixed credit for the work, thanks everybody for clarifying