Samsung Canada celebrates 25 years by launching Galaxy Note 10.1

Samsung celebrates 25 years in Canada by launching the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. A hybrid of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy Note, the $499 tablet features the ability to view apps in split-screen mode, the use of the Samsung S-Pen on included Samsung apps and all the benefits of a 1.4GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. The Note 10.1 is WiFi only, and should be available in Staples and other popular places where tablets are sold.

The Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 enables users to create content anytime, anywhere with the value added S-Pen,” said Paul Brannen, Vice President, Enterprise Business Solutions, Samsung Canada. “The S Pen offers active content creation and productivity, while the Note 10.1 is the ideal screen size to consume multimedia – whether watching videos or looking at files on-the-go. This truly provides Canadians with a unique and true multitasking experience.” 

Carrier hiccups giving buyers grief on iPhone 5 launch day

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

We've been through iPhone launches before so one would think that Canadian carriers would have figured out how to compensate for the demand of new signups.

Walking through the downtown core today we saw that a Telus store had closed its doors to customers because of a nationwide outage that hit at 7:30 in the morning and that hasn't yet been resolved. The Telus outage seems to have affected their website with users being unable to access their accounts. The issue was resolved late in the afternoon.

Click to read more ...

Nokia lays the smackdown on competing smartphone map services

Nokia Canada has just posted a graphic on Facebook comparing its mapping service against its competition. Citing the features coming to the still unreleased, unpriced and unavailable Lumia 920 versus the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy SIII (out since June) and the Apple iPhone 5 (out today). Nokia has had a head start in the mapping department since it purchased Navteq in 2007 for $8.1 billion.

Source: Nokia Canada

BlackBerry outage hits Europe, Mideast and Africa

Research In Motion reported a BlackBerry outage in parts of Europe, Mideast and Africa early this morning through its Twitter and Facebook accounts. This is not the way the BlackBerry maker wants to be remembered on the biggest product launch of the year, rival Apple's iPhone 5 begins selling in a few hours.

"We are currently experiencing a BlackBerry service issue impacting some users in Europe, Middle East and Africa," the company said in a statement.

BlackBerry says it is working urgently to fix the service.

"All relevant support teams are working to resolve the issue. We apologise to any customers who may be affected."