Telus launches HSPA+ service with new smartphones, Motorola Milestone imminent

Telus offered a media sneak peek earlier this week, showing off some new handsets to go along with a new and improved network. Gadjo Sevilla was there.

The days of Rogers lording over the Great White airwaves as Canada's sole HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) and GSM network provider are over.

Canadian telecom rivals Bell and Telus have teamed up to share a spanking new, countrywide HSPA network. Both providers are marking this significant milestone by releasing a handful of handsets. Bell has already launched their service with the iPhone 3G S, formerly a Rogers-exclusive device, on their network, and this week it was Telus' turn to officially launch into the HSPA and GSM wireless fray.

Not only does Telus now offer an iPhone 3G S on their new network, just like everyone else, but also a new range of notable smartphones - which it expects to sell in its newly acquired Black's Photography stores as well as their regular retail outlets.

While seemingly late to the party, Telus' strategy is to offer the most variety to new and current subscribers. To wit, Telus representatives previewed the new handsets to the media just before the unveiling of the new network.

The first model they showed us was the HTC Hero, a second-generation Android OS device that uses HTC's sense user interface and specialized widgets and applications. The HTC Hero is a feature packed device sporting 3.2" capacitive touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera, a built-in GPS and complete cloud integration with all things Google. It will be available for $99.99 on a 3-year contract, or $499.99 contract free.

For the fashion-phone segment, the LG New Chocolate is unlike anything we've seen before. A touch-based, candybar phone with a wide 4.12" touchscreen that makes it look like a stretch iPhone. While not exactly a smartphone, the new Chocolate does sport Internet connectivity and a variety of applications for email, social networking, multimedia and even a 5-megapixel camera. Chocolate lovers can get their fix for $79.99 on a three-year contract, or $249.99 without a contract.

Blackberry loyalists have an option as well. The new 9700 Bold takes already-popular features from previous models and puts the lot of it into a more compact chassis. The Blackberry 9700 also introduces a new trackpad "squircle," which replaces the earlier trackball. Longer battery capacity, increased 256 MB of memory as well as a larger 3.5 megapixel camera and GPS round out the improvements of the 9700. Telus will list it at $249.99 with a three-year contract, $649.99 without.

Telus also offers the Nokia E71 smartphone, which is their Symbian series 60 device. The E71's notable features are its QWERTY keyboard, multimedia chops, VGA video telephony capabilities and built-in FM radio. It is available for $29.99 on a three-year contract or for $329.99 without a contract.

An early visit to Telus booths in Black's stores yesterday confirmed the availability of all the new handsets except for the HTC Hero, stocks of which were yet to be delivered.

Update on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 7:53AM by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Update:Motorola Milestone to land in Canada in early 2010 via Telus

Sources have also revealed that Telus is planning on bringing the Motorola Milestone Android Slider to Canada in 2010. Known in the US market as the popular Motorola Droid on the Verizon network, the Moto Milestone is seen by many as the most promising Android smartphone to date and is running the latest 2.0 version of the OS.

The  Milestone is Motorola's big play to regain its position as a handset maker and it is also the Android OS's current flagship device which improves on past functionality and even adds more useful features such as GPS with turn-by-turn directions. Below is Verizon's advert for the Droid followed by a list of specs for the Milestone.

MOTOROLA Milestone

Expected+Release-Date:	November 2009, Early 2010 (Canada)
Dimensions:	60 x 115.8 x 13.7 millimetres
Mass:	169 grams (battery included)
Software:Environment
Embedded_Operating:System:	Google Android 2.0 Browse devices running this OS
Microprocessor,;Chipset
CPU:Clock:	550 MHz
CPU:	Texas Instruments OMAP 3430 Browse devices based on this microprocessor
Memory,_Storage+capacity
RAM_capacity:	256 MiB
ROM-capacity:	512 MiB
Secondary_ROM_capacity:	14.9 GiB
Display
Display;Type:	color transflective TFT , 16777216 scales
Display_Diagonal:	3.7 "
Display_Resolution:	480 x 854
Sound
Microphone(s):	stereo
Loudspeaker(s):	mono
Audio+Output:	3.5mm
Cellular_Phone
Cellular;Networks:	GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS900, UMTS2100
Cellular_Data_Links:	CSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSUPA
Call:Alert:	40 -chord melody
Vibrating-Alert:	Supported
Control_Peripherals
Positioning-Device:	Multi-touch screen & TouchPad
Primary-Keyboard:	Slide-out QWERTY-type keyboard
Directional:Pad:	5 -way
Scroll-Wheel:	Not supported
Interfaces
Expansion_Slots:	microSD, microSDHC, TransFlash, SDIO
USB:	USB 2.0 client, 480Mbit/s micro-USB
Bluetooth:	Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Wireless+LAN:	802.11b, 802.11g
Infrared:Gate:	Not supported
Multimedia-Telecommunication
Analog-Radio:Receiver:	Not supported
Digital;Media_Broadcast-Tuner:	Not supported
Satellite;Navigation
Built-in;GPS;module:	Supported
Complementary:GPS+Services:	Assisted GPS, QuickGPS
Built-in:Digital+Camera
Main:Camera:	4.9 MP
Autofocus_(AF):	Supported
Optical-Zoom:	1 x
Built-in:Flash:	mobile light (LED)
Additional;Details
Built-in_accelerometer:	Supported
Battery:	removable
Battery_Capacity:	1390 mAh