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The HTC Touch Diamond officially went on sale today for Alltel customers. The Touch Diamond first hit the US scene on Sprint and now its made it’s way to Alltel. Alltel customers should be rejoicing with this latest edition to the Alltel phone lineup. The phone is available both online at Alltel.com and at Alltel retailers for $249.99 with a two year contract.

Verizon Wireless and Photobucket announced the availability of a new mobile photo service on select Verizon Wireless handsets that enables Verizon Wireless customers to easily send photos from a mobile device to a Photobucket album. The application will launch exclusively for Verizon Wireless customers and is available for download from Verizon Wireless mobile storefront by texting ‘photob’ to 2777, in the Community and Sharing category of the Verizon Wireless Get It Now catalog or by visiting photobucket.com/mobile.

Jennifer Byrne, director of digital media at Verizon,said, “Mobile phones are adding a new dimension to sharing images between friends, colleagues or family members. Photobucket is bringing Verizon Wireless customers a new and easy way to share their photos and videos in real-time, without needing to move to a PC to upload and send them.”

“Photobucket is thrilled to team up with Verizon Wireless to provide a quick and easy photo sharing solution for people on the go,” said Alex Welch, President of Photobucket. “Photobucket has always been committed to making photo sharing fun and easy. The Photobucket Mobile Uploader for Verizon Wireless unlocks the full potential of camera phone photos, allowing users to easily save and share images online more easily than they would using traditional digital cameras.”

To utilize the application, Verizon Wireless subscribers sign up for a Photobucket account – which can be created for free at http://photobucket.com – and enter their log-in information to link their Verizon Wireless account to their Photobucket online photo album. Once the accounts are connected, the application instantly uploads photos already saved on the phone to the user’s Photobucket account. The Photobucket Mobile Uploader then automatically sends any future photos directly to the same Photobucket account.

Verizon is the first carrier in the United States to be offering the Photobucket Mobile Uploader and the application will be available initially on 13 handsets. The service is available now from Verizon Wireless, which enables the user to send unlimited mobile photos to their Photobucket account for a monthly subscription fee of $2.99.

Drum roll please…………the first touch screen BlackBerry smartphone with the world’s first “clickable” touch screen – will be available beginning Nov. 21 in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $199.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.

There you have it. Get ready to throw down $200 all you Verizon customers. This is definitely the phone you’ll want to have. Want to get your hands on one now, if so check out Blackberry Storm phones for sale.

Tomorrow is shaping up to be a crazy day around the country. Not only is tomorrow possibly one of the biggest presidential election days ever, but the Blackberry Bold is set to hit AT&T shelves across the country. That means not only will there be lines at the election booths, but there will surely be lines at AT&T stores. If you can tomorrow would probably be a good day to take off from work. What a day it’s going to be!

Where will you be waiting in line first, at the election booths or at an AT&T store?

Just a few weeks after T-Mobile launched the G1, T-Mobile has launched the Motorola MOTOZINE ZN5. The MOTOZINE ZN5 is available for purchase today online at tmobile.com and select T-Mobile stores throughout the US. Some of the main features of the MOTOZINE ZN5 include a 5 megapixel camera with xenon flash, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and MP3 player. With all the hype surrounding the G1 it will be interesting to see how many people buy the MOTOZINE ZN5. The 5 megapixel camera with the xenon flash will definitely be a selling point.

Today Sprint released the details of its new ETF structure. The structure will work as follows:

“The current ETF of $200 will decrease by $10 increments per month beginning in month six of a wireless customer’s contract. Nine months later (the 15th month of the contract), Sprint customers have the lowest pro-rated ETF fee in the industry of $100. What’s more, the ETF could drop as low as $50 before a customer’s contract term expires.”

The only catch is this applies to Sprint customers with a new contract starting November 2, 2008.  So if you renewed your contract recently then you’re out of luck.

The lowered ETF fees are a step in the right direction. I think that consumers are more interested in the phone rather than the service provider. It’s all about choices and consumers want to spend their money wherever they want and they don’t want to have to choose between a limited selection that their carrier provides.

I wouldn’t call the Slate the most feature rich cell phone on the market, but again it’s the worlds slimmest cell phone with a full qwerty keyboard so it has that going for it. The phone only has 20MB of memory built in and no external memory card so you have to wonder how much music you can listen to and how many pictures you can take. You can see all the photos and features for the Pantech Slate now.

When I drive home each day I see a large billboard for Boost Mobile. The board says the classic phrase, “where you at”. My question is, where is Boost Mobile at? I must say that I don’t know many people that use Boost Mobile. However it looks like Boost Mobile, owned by Sprint, is making an effort to get the Boost Mobile name out there. In a press release this week Sprint acknowledged their commitment to push Boost Mobile in these hard economic times. We’ll see how much traction they get. Here are a few highlights from the press release:

“In addition, Boost Mobile, Sprint’s prepaid business, is being refocused to compete aggressively for customers impacted by the current economic environment with a lower per-minute rate and other attractive pricing options. Boost Mobile offers phones and pre-paid services with no long-term contracts, credit checks or activation fees, primarily on the Nextel National Network.In early 2009, Boost Mobile plans to introduce Boost Unlimited on the iDEN network, offering a nationwide home calling area for one monthly fee - an excellent value in today’s economic times.”

Sprint said in a press release this week that they are committed to continuing the growth of their Nextel Network (push-to-talk). The desire for push-to-talk phone has declined recently in the consumer market. Push-to-talk is used more in business settings, construction and field workers more than anywhere else. The main manufacturer of Nextel phones has been Motorola. To help Sprint reiterate their commitment they have signed a long term deal with Motorola. You might recall some of the latest Nextel phones that were announced in recent months; Motorola i576, BlackBerry Curve 8350i, LG LX400, Samsung Z400, Sanyo Pro 200, Sanyo Pro 700 and Motorola Renegade(TM) V950.

“The iDEN network is a key differentiator for Sprint, as it allows us to offer products and services no other carrier in the industry can match. We continue to build on our support for our industry-leading push-to-talk Nextel Direct Connect franchise through our aggressive marketing efforts which exploit the unique features and functionality of the iDEN network,” said Dan Hesse, CEO of Sprint. “In 2008, we expanded our product portfolio with a new line of Sprint phones, which combine industry-leading push-to-talk with the ultra-fast speed of Sprint Mobile Broadband (EV-DO Rev. A) and Sprint’s largest voice coverage, offering greater choice and flexibility to our customers. We are focusing on plans to continue our push-to-talk leadership and bring more innovation to our customers going forward.”

“Motorola has had a long and successful strategic relationship with Sprint, and we look forward to further strengthening this partnership,” said Sanjay Jha, co-chief executive officer and CEO of Mobile Devices, Motorola. “With its unique experience and functionality, iDEN has a loyal customer base and will continue to be an important part of Motorola’s portfolio. We actively support Sprint’s initiative and share its commitment and enthusiasm for the iDEN network.”

I don’t think that Sprint Nextel will try to target everyday consumers, but will continue to go after businesses that have a need for push-to-talk phones.

That’s right, starting today Wal-Mart will be selling the T-Mobile G1. Not only is Wal-Mart selling the G1, but they are selling it at a far cheaper price then T-Mobile offers it for. You can purchase the G1 with a two-year agreement for $148.88. That’s over $30 cheaper than you can buy it for online at tmobile.com or any of their retail stores.  The G1 will not be sold in all Wal-Mart stores. It will only be sold where T-Mobile has 3G coverage.