High School and Post Secondary students are now being offered the new Rogers Student plan.

For $25 (plus Government Regulatory Recovery Fee), high school or post secondary students with a valid student ID can get.

• 50 Daytime minutes
• Unlimited evenings and weekends starting at 6pm
• Unlimited incoming and outgoing text messages

For more information on the student plan, you can visit rogers.com/student

Colorware, the company that has brought custom colored BlackBerries to the likes of BGR, has done it again. This time they’re offering the Nexus One for customization. In case you don’t know who Colorware is, they are dedicated to the likes of customization on your favorite devices such as BlackBerry, PSP, MacBooks, Nook, XBOX 360 and others. You can personally start pimping out your brand new Nexus One so you can stand out to that person you want to impress. Pricing for customization is at $185 and you have to send yours in for the customization. Now you would be Nexus Oneless but the world isn’t going to end at that very moment. Once it comes back you should be popular again for a couple more days. If you do not have a Nexus One and want to purchase one customized and have sent by Colorware themselves, the price will set you back $810. Now $810 is a lot of money, but if you’re rich go ahead, and if you’re not you can always purchase that brand new iPad….

We’ve all heard this phrase before, “I want it but I don’t want ATT”. The speculations and rumors are heating up about the latest iPhone news and Apple breaking their ties from ATT. Now while it is not a 100% guarantee that will happen is unknown. One of Hot Hardware’s inside sources feels very confident that AT&T will lose its iPhone exclusivity during Apple’s big announcement this week. The announcement should be made following the introduction of the iSlate/iTablet/iPad and iPhone 4.0. Now if this comes to be true, sales for Apple will sky rocket. Look what not having exclusivity in Europe has done to the profits they’ve made, A LOT. The question(s) that will be asked if that does happen is where will the iPhone go next? Will Apple sell the iPhone unlocked in their stores? Who will puchase one if it is unlocked? What about Big Red, can they handle the exsessive amounts of data the iPhone clogs uses if they get it? Only time will tell. One thing is for sure though, if ATT does lose exclusivity, who will walk into their stores now?

Source Business Insider

The folks over at the Google team decided to give us a couple of invites for their newest project, Google Wave, which is still currently in beta form. At this moment, you’re probably asking yourself what a wave is and I’m here to answer that question for you. Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. Us folks here at SmartPhoneNation already have Google Wave and for the most part of our usage, it’s pretty neat. Here’s what Google Wave brings to the table:

• Live conversational email
• Options to add people to current conversations
• Organize events
• Live document sharing
• Meeting notes
• Brainstorming

So who doesn’t love contests, I know I do. There are only 25 invitations and you could possibly win one. To win an invitation, all you need to do is drop a line in the comment box on this post folks. Enter only once, duplicate entries will be excluded and winners will be notified shortly after we draw. Good luck to all.

Optimization is Google’s (NSDQ: GOOG) game and yesterday they proved it once again. Yesterday they’ve updated both mobile versions of Google with location based data. If you haven’t noticed, now at the bottom of the webpage there is an indicator showing where your location is. That’s useful in many ways. What if you wanted to search for a mall, bar, movie theater but don’t know the exact location where you’re at. Google’s new indicator uses the GPS location from where you are standing (or sitting) and locates the nearest facilities you are looking for. It beats actually going into Google Maps or using another application like Telenav. Great thinking Google, I’m sure someone would have thought of that sooner or later…

Phone junkies rejoice, Smartphone Nation is shifting its content and focus for the better. Previously, Smartphone Nation was focused on smartphone news and rumors, with a few reviews here and there. However, we are now going to be concentrating on smartphone reviews, accessory reviews, application reviews and launches, and new product launches. All of this will be revolving around the smartphone device so there will be no off topic review or launch coverage.

We have done numerous handset reviews in the past, recent reviews include BlackBerry 9700, HTC Magic, Nokia E71x, and Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. We have also reviews many accessories that revolve around smartphones including iSkin soloFX, Sony Ericsson HBH-IS800 bluetooth earphones, and the Jawbone Prime bluetooth headset. We are going to continue to do this quality of reviews while also increasing the amount of reviews posted on the website.

Gone are the days of fanny packs and burlap sacks overflowing with lengthy cables, expensive gadgets and the need for a watchful eye. Converged technology is reaching a point where devices are becoming smaller yet more powerful, consumption friendly and are an all around joy to use. Leave the MP3 player at home, skip lugging around your digital camera and quit moving your GPS from car to car. The pocket friendly smartphone has stepped up to take on those responsibilities.

The Smartphone rolls your favourite devices into one. No other device comes close to the tech-meld that phone manufacturers have been pursuing and seem to have finally attained.

So, if all these phones feature GPS, WiFi, bluetooth, intelligent syncing, instant push e-mail, music players with large capacity and cameras, how do you pick one? Let’s take a look some of the more popular offerings.

Firstly, the Apple iPhone. Entering the game a little late, the iPhone came touting a large screen with touch capabilities, a fluid and consistent user interface and it quickly become a smartphone for the masses. But with power comes responsibility, and Apple failed to delivery many features that were available on phones half a decade old, they alleviated some of the flak by having a large centralized location to get third party applications from, and boy there sure are a lot. The marketing and brand name power pushed them through the hard spot of forcing users to comply with the proprietary and draconian ways of Apple products. If you’re looking for a device that has a large spacious screen, a smooth and easy to understand interface and is thin and easy to pocket – look no further than the iPhone as a great entertainment device.

Getting down to business, next up is the Blackberry. A device that initially came out for business users with reliable messaging in mind…is still out for business users who have reliable messaging in mind. Combining a QWERTY keyboard with a platform built around rock-solid e-mail and world-wide messaging, a Blackberry is an excellent way to stay in touch with any and everybody. While RIM has been making strides in hardware and software evolution, many regular consumers who have switched to Blackberries for their stability and battery life are also noticing some of the drawbacks to a device that was aimed at business and corporate users. Memory leaks, lack of large internal storage capacities and limited customization are some sticklers that are being re-worked. But if business and personal communication with first class reliability is your desire, a Blackberry is very suitable.

This leaves us with a few other platforms that can do the above tasks and much more. One being Windows Mobile. With numerous form factors, Windows Mobile has become the de-facto standard for hardware manufacturers to slap on their devices to enter the smartphone market. Whether it’s powering a large touch screened phone with a hidden slide-out keyboard or a small clamshell/flip phone, Windows Mobile brings smartphone computing to your style…whatever it may be. Full corporate e-mail support, a plethora of third party applications – with ones dating back to the PocketPC days, and more customization than a person can handle, Windows Mobile brings the power of a desktop to your hand. Unfortunately it also brings the registry which becomes cluttered very quickly, stability issues that require soft reboots to fix, and battery life that leaves much to be desired. Having said that, if personalization and self-expression are your thing, if you like gadgets that look harmless but pack a wallop in power and potential, Windows Mobile is calling your name.

The next platform may not be well known in North America, but people all over Europe have been swooning over the S60 smartphone operating system for quite some time. Series 60 is the iteration of Symbian, offered by Nokia. Being a jack of all trades, it brings the battery life of Blackberry, the power and application potential of Windows Mobile, and the audio/video creation and consumption of the iPhone into one device. With a breach of 2 device streams, the N and E series, Nokia has created a set of phones with 2 different markets in mind. The E series, aimed at the business user, integrates tight quality control creating a physically solid device, large capacity batteries and extremely thin devices into phones that are very classy and quiet yet hold their own when compared to others. The N series pack large megapixel cameras with highly sensitive optics, large screens for viewing video and pictures, and dedicated keys for quick media access into phones that can be used for capturing, sharing and creating memories. Anytime. Anywhere.

However, with a user interface that some dread using, a round-about security model and real lack of innovation over the years, Nokia has put S60 to rest in favour of a new Symbian OS. If you’re looking for a respectable yet non-flashy, down-to-earth device with a platform that is tried, tested and true and top-notch for media and communication, take a gander at a Nokia S60 device for your needs.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Smartphone War with contenders WebOS, Android and Maemo. These platforms have already shaken up the industry by bringing open source and endless potential to anybody who owns one. Running the Linux kernel beneath a windowing environment, they allow developers to break free of the proprietary shackles that bound them and work only with the limits of their imagination.

In the mean time, if you could have any OS on your favourite hardware, what would you pick?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

Microsoft’s launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 is past due.  There has been little excitement for the release as Microsoft still falls behind Google, Research in Motion and Apple.  HTC Corp is going with Android for its top phones.  Motorola is entering the market with its focus on Android as well.   Unlike Google, Microsoft charges licensing fees to mobile makers using the software.  It seems to be a little too late for Microsoft, but only time will tell how there ‘new’ venture pans out.  Bill Gates might have to bring his genius back into the game if Microsoft wants to get its edge back.

Read more about Microsoft Mobile 6.5

Vonage is now offering cheaper international phone calls from mobile phones.  The app that can be downloaded on a Blackberry or IPhone uses Wi-Fi to make calls around the world.  Mobile users save minutes and dollars.  Vonage emphasizes that individuals can save up to 50 percent in making some international calls.  You do not have to pay those ridiculous mobile international fees.  The approval of the app comes as a bit of surprise because Apple has rejected Google for its app, Google Voice.

Read Full Story

As Q4 is set to begin. Rogers is more keen into releasing new phones. The BlackBerry 8520 is one of them. Treatz over at HowardForums just took some snapshots of the BlackBerry 8520 Dummy Phone with Rogers branding on them. The 8520 will come in black and lavender (a silver with a hint of purple?).

Rumors are that the BlackBerry 8520 is set to launch on the first week of October. Then the BlackBerry 9700 shortly after. No pricing as of yet but it won’t be to expensive since it is a low end model. Expect a price drop onthe 8310s as the 8520 might finally be the phone to kick the ol’ 83xx series off the list.  Read the full story