Rogers Launches New Data Roaming Packs With Real-Time Usage Alerts

Seeing as my wife and I just returned from England and we used local SIM cards in our unlocked phones rather than get gouged have to pay for rather pricey roaming packages, this bit of news from “my best friends at Rogers” caught my attention:

Some more great news was announced today as Rogers launched new Roaming Data Passes that offer the first-ever real-time data usage alerts. If you purchase a Roaming Data Pass, you will receive real-time alerts, up-to-date within five minutes, when you use 50%, 80% and 100% of your data, so you will know how much is left in your data bucket. Once you have reached your data or time limit, you will receive a message with an option to purchase an additional pass or continue using pay-per-use data services. Once you have reached this usage threshold, you will be notified and then asked to make a choice to either continue at pay-per-use rate or to purchase a Roaming Data Pass. This way, you avoid all bill surprises from roaming data charges.

Check out all the details RedBoard.

Okay. I read the details on RedBoard and I have to admit, I’d still buy a local SIM card as that to me seems like a cheaper option. For example, for my recent UK trip, I got two SIM cards from a company called Brightroam which put our phones on the O2 UK network. In total we spent less than $40 per SIM for the 6 days we were there. That seems a lot less than what Rogers has on the table. But the catch is I had to use a local phone number. That might be a big factor for those who have to be reached by people worldwide. It wasn’t a big deal for my wife and I as we really needed the data and the occasional text message.

Back to the Rogers announcement. I say take a look at them and see if they’re worth it for you. Comments are welcome below.

RIM Releases New Blackberry Models…. A Last Ditch Effort To Save Themselves?

Today, RIM released three new Blackberry models. The big news is that they are going to be shipping with Blackberry OS 7 which is supposed to save RIM from extinction blow our socks off and finally make RIM competitive with iOS and Android. Here’s what RIM had to say about their new Blackberry models:

The new BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 and 9930 are RIM’s thinnest smartphones ever, each offering a large keyboard and brilliant touch display. The new BlackBerry® Torch™ 9810 smartphone builds on the popularity of the BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 and combines a large touch display with a convenient slide-out keyboard. The BlackBerry® Torch™ 9850 and 9860 introduce an all-new, all-touch design featuring the largest display on a BlackBerry® smartphone to date.

“This is the largest global launch of BlackBerry smartphones in our history,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO of Research In Motion. “The BlackBerry solution offers a best-in-class mobile communications experience that customers love and we think they will be thrilled by the faster performance, enhanced browsing and richer multimedia delivered by these powerful new BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Torch smartphones.”

Who cares if they’re the best Blackberries ever? Are they going to get RIM back into the smartphone game where they’re getting the asses kicked? That’s the real question. Now what about Blackberry OS 7? Here’s what they had to say about that:

BlackBerry 7 introduces a next generation BlackBerry browser with a significantly faster, more fluid web browsing experience that is among the best in the industry. Combining the dramatically improved performance of the advanced WebKit browser engine together with the powerful hardware enhancements found in the BlackBerry 7 based smartphones delivers browsing  results that are up to 40% faster than BlackBerry® 6 based smartphones and up to 100% faster than BlackBerry® 5 based smartphones*.  Additional enhancements to this next generation BlackBerry browser have also optimized zooming and panning for smoother web navigation and optimized HTML5 performance for incredible gaming and video experiences.

RIM’s new BlackBerry 7 based smartphones also feature Liquid GraphicsTM technology, with each smartphone combining a dedicated high-performance graphics processor with a blazingly fast CPU and stunning high resolution display to deliver a highly responsive touch interface with incredibly fast and smooth graphics.

I’ll believe it when I see it. RIM would be well advised to show us this OS to the world sooner rather than later. While they’re at it, is there an upgrade path for recent Blackberry models or will you have to spring for a new device to get Blackberry OS 7? Now there’s no defined timeline to see any of this, but one has to assume it’s going to be soon. That of course raises a question. RIM via their two headed CEO recently said that we couldn’t expect Blackberry OS 7 until next year. So why the sudden appearance? I say their recent troubles have forced their hand. We’ll see if the gamble pays off.

Rogers Allows You To Watch Jays Games On Your Mobile Device

I got some news from “my best friends at Rogers” today with some interesting news for Toronto Blue Jays fans:

Starting today, any Rogers customer can catch live streamed Rogers Sportsnet coverage of the remainder of the 2011 Toronto Blue Jays regular season games anywhere they want through Rogers On Demand Online and on their smartphones with Rogers On Demand Mobile. Starting at tonight’s game, customers can register with their account info to stream the live Sportsnet coverage. Blue Jays live streaming is available to all Rogers customers across Canada at no extra charge.

Check out RedBoard for more details on this new live streaming option.

Three things to point out. First the Blue Jays are owned by Rogers and so is Sportsnet. Second, Rogers customers can subscribe to the Rogers on Demand Mobile app for $5 per month. This allows subscribers to view games on their iPhone, Blackberry and Android device. Third, this is likely a response to Bell Mobile TV and the fact that you can watch TSN, CTV, and other content on your mobile device.

So, does watching the Jays on your mobile device appeal to you? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Yet Another Productivity App? Yes, But Slightly Different.

I got a press release from a company called Moredays Inc. who have a new productivity app for web, iPhone and iPad called Moredays. Here’s the idea behind this app:

MOREDAYS is an application that connects various elements of all these people. It is an application which will help you plan your time concretely, make a note of important things and share them with your friends. All this attained in a fun and simple way. A diary, planner, scrapbook, address book and notebook, all in one!

It sounds interesting. It’s in beta at the moment and you can sign up for that. If you want something more than the standard app that comes with your iDevice, this might be the ticket.