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This week: The mysterious AT&T XFON, a cheeky Windows Phone commercial, and more! This is
the Mobile Nations Monday Brief!
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Greetings mobile delegates, I'm Ashley Esqueda, and you're tuned into the Mobile Nations Monday
Brief. First up this week, Android Central with some close-to-concrete evidence of a
new Motorola phone, courtesy of notorious Twitter user EV Leaks. We've been hearing
whispers of a rumored Motorola flagship nicknamed the "X Phone" for a while now, and back in
March, we caught a glimpse of a different Moto phone that sources claimed was definitely
NOT the X-Phone... but these two look awfully similar. The most interesting part of these
shots is that this XFON seems to be running stock Android, and XFON ATT is used for the
model number. Might we see this phone unveiled at upcoming Google I/O? Could this be Motorola's
major leap back into the top-tier flagship Android market post-Google acquisition? Will
they go big with the screen, or stick with a more reasonable 4 to 5-inch display, and
go for mega battery life instead? All that remains to be seen, so for now, we'll have
to make do with leaks, rumors, and some speculation by you on the Android Central forums and in
the comments. Stay tuned to Android Central dot com for any new developments!
Crackberry was busy last week putting together a Canadian buyer's guide for the newly-released
BlackBerry Q10, the BB10 phone with a physical keyboard. There are barely any differences
to be found between each carrier's hardware, but there are a lot of choices in terms of
plans and pricing. Kevin and the Crackberry team compiled handy-dandy guide to buying
a Q10 in the Great White North, and just like the UK counterpart, it's packed full of information
about each carrier's upfront and subsequent costs. It looks like you'll be paying $199
up front for a Q10 on all three major Canadian carriers, but Rogers has a limited-time exclusive
on the white Q10, and has the broadest coverage map and some upgraded speeds available, so
that's something to take into consideration when figuring out where to go to get your
Q10. Crackberry also has an easy to use coverage map for Canadian carriers, as well as information
on how your payment plans and contracts will work. It's a valuable source of straightforward
information, so head over to Crackberry dot com to take a look if you need it.
Windows Phone Central had a fun week last week, with Microsoft unveiling a new commercial
encouraging smartphone owners, "Don't fight. Switch." How are they doing that, exactly?
By setting up an all-out melee at a wedding between iPhone and Galaxy S owners on opposite
sides of the aisle. VIDEO
It's a bold change from Microsoft's previous ad campaigns, and one Danny and the WPC crew
are hoping takes off like Samsung's "Next Big Thing" ads mocking Apple users. I'd like
to echo the statement in the commercial, that fanboy fighting over smartphone supremacy
makes you look like a crazy person, and provides lots of lols for those of us who either don't
care, or see pros and cons in every OS and device. If you want more Windows Phone, you
know where to go: WPCentral dot com.
Lastly, iMore's been gearing up for WWDC in June, and as they get closer and closer to
June 10th, the infamous Apple rumor mill is back in full swing and tossing out "insider
sources" saying all kinds of things. First, we heard that Apple was pulling engineers
off of OS TEN to work on iOS7, which caused a lot of mainstream media to shout from the
rooftops that both iOS7 and OS 10.9 were both "delayed." Rene Ritchie and Peter Cohen posted
a series of articles last week reminding everyone that you can't delay a product without a release
date, and that regardless of what's happening now, this rumor crops up every single year,
and new builds of iOS and OS TEN are shipped without much drama. The other, more interesting
rumor in my eyes is the one about Bloomberg's insider insisting Jony Ive was focusing on
new Calendar and Mail apps with not just visual changes, but software design and interface
usability alterations as well. There are a lot of iPhone users out there using third
party email and calendar apps, and if the rumors are true, it seems Sir Ive is leading
the charge to get users back onto Apple's first-party app library. Keep up with all
the rumors at iMore dot com, and take solace in the fact that we'll only have to deal with
a chunk of them for about another month. Then we get a whole NEW batch of rumors... yay.
That's it for your Mobile Nations Monday Brief. You can subscribe to our YouTube channel at
youtube.com/mobilenations, check out our dazzling and informative podcasts at mobilenations.com/shows,
and you can follow me on Twitter @ashleyesqueda. Nations, you have been briefed!