It looks like Bell won’t be the only Canadian carrier to offer the Samsung Wave. According to MobileSyrup, Rogers dealerships from coast to coast have begun receiving display units. So far pricing and a release date have not been communicated to employees, but with Bell expected to launch the Bada smartphone on July 8th, we can’t imagine that Rogers will be wanting to take its time.

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This information comes from a new tipster, but we have very good reason to believe that Verizon will begin rolling out its LTE network in 25 markets starting on November 15th. While 25 markets might not sound like a lot, but apparently they’re enough to give 100 million subscribers access to the next-generation wireless network. LTE handsets will not be immediately available at launch, but Verizon is planning to release “a slew of new devices” on Black Friday which is on November 26th. LTE data plans will indeed be tiered, but Big Red won’t be pulling a Sprint and charing a $10 premium for access to its 4G network. Oh, and don’t be surprised if Verizon starts harping about how its “empowering the user” with open devices.

Thanks, C.!

The antenna issues plaguing the iPhone 4 have infuriated many iPhone users (and rightfully so), but have you ever wondered how Apple is training its employees to deal with the fiasco? Well thanks to one of our Apple connects, we now know the exact procedures AppleCare reps must follow when dealing with any reception complaints regarding the iPhone 4. Hit the jump to check them out.

1. Keep all of the positioning statements in the BN handy – your tone when delivering this information is important.

a. The iPhone 4′s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. Our testing shows that iPhone 4′s overall antenna performance is better than iPhone 3GS.

b. Gripping almost any mobile phone in certain places will reduce its reception. This is true of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, and many other phones we have tested. It is a fact of life in the wireless world.

c. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 3GS, avoid covering the bottom-right side with your hand.

d. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 4, avoid covering the black strip in the lower-left corner of the metal band.

e. The use of a case or Bumper that is made out of rubber or plastic may improve wireless performance by keeping your hand from directly covering these areas.

2. Do not perform warranty service. Use the positioning above for any customer questions or concerns.

3. Don’t forget YOU STILL NEED to probe and troubleshoot. If a customer calls about their reception while the phone is sitting on a table (not being held) it is not the metal band.

4. ONLY escalate if the issue exists when the phone is not held AND you cannot resolve it.

5. We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers – DON’T promise a free bumper to customers.

Clearly Apple is taking the position that nothing is wrong with the antenna, although that’s not surprising since most companies will never willingly admit their flagship product is potentially suffering from an unfixable flaw. But does anyone else find it interesting, if not troubling, that there is no mention of an impending software fix?

Forgive us for keeping this really short, but there’s still a lot of information we don’t know. Over the last few days, we’ve been hearing a lot of Canadian birdies singing that Rogers Wireless is planning to launch a new wireless brand in Canada. To be known as Chatr, the carrier is said to have been created solely for the purpose of putting wireless upstarts WIND Mobile and Mobilicity out of business by offering affordable handsets and great rate plans. It is said that the training of employees will begin in earnest as of mid-July, and will be followed shortly with the official launch of the brand in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, and Ottawa. We do not have specific information about pricing at the moment as that is still being worked out by the high ups, but we do know for a fact that the handsets Chatr will offer include the Nokia 1661, Nokia 2680 slide, Samsung Gravity and the LG Sapphire. We’ll be back with more as we get it.

UPDATE: We’ve got an inventory screenshot after the jump.

Thanks, X.!

We’ve not yet independently confirmed this, but one of our Sprint connects just dropped us a line to let us know that Sprint is gearing up to push out a maintenance update for the HTC EVO 4G. Said to be targeted for June 28th, the fix is said to address three things:

• Improvements to Wi-Fi performance
• Exchange Active Sync improvements which include a fix to issue including new account set up, PIN policy usage, and Exchange Server 2010 Calendar Sync
• Addresses Social Networking Sync issue with Facebook application which can improve battery performance

Thanks, S.!

Thanks to one of our Northern connects, we’re now able to confirm that the Samsung S8500 Wave will be launching in Canada on July 8th. To be available through Bell, the Bada-based Wave’s notable features include a 3.3″ WVGA Super AMOLED display, 5 megapixel camera with 720p video capture, 1GHz processor and TouchWiz 3.0. The launch memo we were forwarded mentions a retail price of $299.95, though clearly that is just a holder as the actual price has yet to be finalized and will not be passed along to employees until the 28th of June. Anyone interested?

Thanks, J.!

We interrupt our regular programming to bring you this late breaking bulleting: Fido will be launching the LG Gossip on June 1st. One of those quick messaging devices the kids are always going on about, the Gossip will retail for $90 off-contract/pre-paidand $0 on a 2-year deal. It’s definitely not an expensive phone, and for that reason the noteable specs are as follows: full-QWERTY keypad, 2.0 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.1, FM radio, 3.5mm headphone jack and quad-band EDGE. Sure, the lack of 3G kind of really sucks, but let’s be honest here… Anyone that has a desire to browse the web on a 2.4″ QVGA display needs to have their head checked. Fast. Hit up the jump for proof of pricing.

Thanks, anonymous!

Sure it might not be as sexy as the HTC Legend headed to Bell or the HTC Triumph aka Desire headed to Telus, but last night Rogers informed its employees that the Acer Liquid e has launched. Running Android 2.1 (for now), the Liquid e possesses a 3.5″ WVGA capacitive display, 5 megapixel camera with 720p video recording, Wi-Fi, GPS, tri-band 7.2Mbps HSDPA and a Snapdragon processor under clocked to 768MHz. With the device currently en route to dealerships, the Liquid e should arrive within the next few days. The price? $49.99 on a 3-year contract with voice and data or $424.99 outright.

Thanks, anonymous!

In an internal communique to employees this evening, Rogers announced that it has launched the BlackBerry Pearl 3G. Now en route and expected to arrive at dealerships across the country over the next few days, Rogers has priced the Pearl 3G at $49.99 on a 3-year contract with voice and data or $449.99 outright. Anyone planning on picking one up this weekend?

UPDATE: According to another Rogers connect, the device is now showing up in Rogers’ system with a promotional price of $29.99 on contract. Hit the jump for a screenshot.

Thanks, anonymous!

We’re in Boston and working on the road, so we brought our current mobile internet implement of choice, the Sprint Overdrive 4G. When we fired up the Overdrive we were surprised to see the mobile router connect to Sprint’s 4G WiMax network. Boston is on Sprint’s 2010 4G launch roadmap, however a release date has not been publicly communicated. Anyone in the greater Boston area with an Overdrive getting the 4G goodness?

Erase any doubts you might have had about Bell releasing the HTC Legend, because we’ve just been tipped off by one of our Bell connects that a launch party will take place in Montréal on the 27th of May. Whether or not the party coincides with the specific launch date is a matter for debate (we’re hearing the first week of June, for what it’s worth), but we’re just satisfying knowing with absolute certainly that yet another sexy smartphone is making its way to Canada.

Thanks, Supermilan1922!

Here’s the thing… We just installed the newly released iPhone OS 4.0 beta 3 and found quite a few changes. There are a lot of minor things like how the background of the multitasking interface matches the background in the iPad’s browser, but all of the big new changes are awaiting your perusal after the jump.

File Sharing

Yes, you read that right. Apple is finally going to allow you to transfer files to and from your iPhone straight from your computer. It works like this: You plug your iPhone into iTunes, head on over to the Apps page and scroll down. From there you’ll be able to drag files to and from your iPhone and your computer. We have not been able to get the feature to work as of yet, but it seems a lock that support will be enabled for more than the Mail app. That is if this feature makes it past the development stage.

Media Player Widgets

When you fire up the multitasking interface you see a new set of widgets that control the iPod application. To access it simply swipe to the left. From there you’ll be able to play, pause, move between tracks and open up the iPod app itself. Let’s hope this is just the first of many such widgets.

Multitasking: Closing Applications

Shutting down applications that were running in the background was a huge pain in the butt in previous releases, but things have been simplified in beta 3. No longer do you have to press, hold and click close for each application. Instead you simply press and hold the icon of one of the many applications you’re currently running, and you’ll be given the option to close whatever ones you wish in rapid succession. A good way to describe it is by saying it basically now works in the same way you delete apps on the iPhone.

Orientation Lock

Landscape mode was one of the many great things brought forward in OS 3.0, but now, one year after its release, Apple has finally realized that not everyone likes having the entire UI flip about thanks to the over-sensitive accelerometer. To enable orientation lock, you simply have to fire up the multitasking interface, swipe to the left and click the Portrait Lock icon. Simple, right?

Did we miss anything that you spotted? Drop us a line and we’ll update the post.

We have to admit we were pretty blown away by the responses from our exclusive pics of the Motorola RAZR3. So with this in mind (and the fact that it’s Sunday) we thought we’d have a little fun today and share a gallery’s worth of pictures and information about how this particular phone, which also happens to star in a YouTube video, came to be. All of this — and more — is available right after the jump.

First and foremost, let’s take a moment to talk about the phone itself. For something that wasn’t a smartphone, it would have had enough features and functionality to make Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Average happy had it not been killed off. Here are the key specs of the prototype:

• 850/1900MHz UMTS/HSDPA
• Quad-band EDGE
• 420MHz ARM11 processor
• 109mb RAM / 19mb ROM
• GPS
• Wi-Fi
• Symbian UIQ OS
• 2.2″ QVGA internal display
• 2″ QVGA external display (touchscreen)
• 5 megapixel camera with LED flash
• Ad hoc internet sharing
• Mesh WAN support
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
• microSD support up to 16GB
• Opera Mini browser
• MicroUSB

Now that the specs are out of the way, here’s the story behind how this particular engineering prototype surfaced this week. Travis, the gentleman who now owns it, recently spotted an eBay listing for a unnamed mobile phone that was literally in pieces. Immediately recognizing it as the same phone a Motorola rep once showed when he used to work at Rogers, Travis immediately bought the phone so he could assemble it and bring it back to life.

Pretty crazy to think this thing was scheduled to debut at the same time as the DROID, right? Anyway…

Click here to check out our Motorola RAZR3 gallery!

Thanks, Travis!

We’re sure by now you’ve all seen the video overview of the Motorola RAZR3, so instead of running with that we thought we’d do our part by sharing some previously unseen photos of the now defunct handset. There’s really nothing for us to say about the flip phone that packs a 5 megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi, 3G and Symbian UIQ, but it’s always neat to see what might have been, right? Hit the jump for some more pics!

Thanks, Travis!