Contests

Nokia N900, N97-mini Hands-on Video, Smartphone Round Robin

By Rene Ritchie, Monday, Dec 14, 2009 a 9:16 am

TiPb-verse, the 2009 Smartphone Round Robin starts NOW! And for me, it starts with what's likely the biggest challenge -- Nokia and its dual platforms of Symbian S60 and Maemo as represented by the N97-mini and the netbook-that-thinks-its-a-smartphone, N900. Hugely popular everywhere that's not North America, it wasn't in last year's Round Robin, and truth-be-told, I've barely ever seen it before.

To get some extra help, I've got a post up at NokiaExperts.com, where I'm really hoping to get my understanding expanded a notch (or ten).

Dieter Bohn, on duty for Palm webOS has likewise triumphantly returned to TiPb's iPhone forums, and you folks really need to get in there an get him up to date on all things iPhone 3GS and 3.x.

(As extra incentive, remember that every day you post a reply on those threads (or the other Round Robin threads) you get another chance to win on of six (6!) smartphones -- one per site!)

To get things kicked off right, we've got a video after the break where likely the best man on earth for the job, Matt Miller gives me a guided tour of the N97-mini and N900, helps me with the interface, and reveals the awesome power of the platforms.

Next up, I spend the week figuring out what Symbian S60 and Maemo mean in relation to the iPhone, the smartphone space in general, and to new users considering their first platform, or veterans considering making the switch. That'll all be summed up right here on Friday. Can't. Wait.

Take SPB's Survey, Win a Smartphone, SPE Accessories, and/or SPB Software!

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Nov 17, 2009 a 2:28 pm

To quoth our good friend Phil from WMExperts (: It is time, ladies and gentlemen, for the sixth annual SPB Survey. SPB Software House is looking to get a better look at your needs in the mobile applications, and they're doing so worldwide, with the survey going out in 10 languages.

And your time may be rewarded. Three winners, picked at random, will receive the following:

TiPb Give Away: PCalc Wants Your Input -- Has 30 Promo Codes to Prove It!

By Rene Ritchie, Monday, Nov 2, 2009 a 8:45 am

PCalc [$9.99 - iTunes link] has 30 promo codes to give away to TiPb readers willing to help them out with a little survey. Here's the thing: since "free apps no longer have to stay free", and in-app purchases are now available to everyone, they're interested in knowing just which in-app purchasable features interest YOU.

Ready? Here's what you need to do:

TiPb Give Away: Tap Tap Revenge 3 Wants to Help You Get Your Groove On!

By Rene Ritchie, Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 a 10:02 pm

Tap Tap Revenge 3 [$0.99 - iTunes link] is scorching up the charts, and so to thank their fans the fine folks at Tapulous are tripling up on the give-aways.

First, if you've already got the app, they want to give you the TTR3 version of #1 hit on iTunes, “Fireflies” by Owl City for FREE for the next 7 days! That's right, just fire the game up and download away!

Caption Contest: KanyeBerry Says... What?

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Sep 15, 2009 a 10:02 am

Sorry. Had. To. Be. Memed. But as long as we're being so predictable, we might as well make it a contest. A caption contest, of course. So let's set the stage:

iPhone 3GS, blockbuster selling, uber-popular, satisfaction levels off the hook, has just won the smartphone of the year award, and is about to give its heartfelt speech, in front of proud Pappa Jobs, no less, when the boldest of Kanye West-inspired BlackBerrys storms the stage, speaker on full, auto-tune set, and just has to interrupt and say...

Celebrating 10 Years of Smartphone Communities

By Dieter Bohn, Wednesday, Sep 9, 2009 a 6:30 pm

Ten years ago today, 9/9/99, our fearless leader Marcus Adolfsson launched VisorCentral.com - a community providing news, reviews and forums focused on a single product: the Handspring Visor. The Visor, you may recall, was the PDA that was destined to start the smartphone revolution with the VisorPhone.

Ten years later, we have grown from that single small site to a network of seven different communities, each focused on a core brand of smartphone and dedicated to providing everything a user could need or want to know about their smartphone - from news to chat, reviews to ringtones, podcasts to apps, accessories to wallpapers. The Smartphone Experts Network has over 1.8 million members in our forums; on any given day there are thousands of users logged in: finding help, talking about the latest news, reviewing products, and more. We still have plenty of active members that signed up literally within days of our 9/9/99 launch. Millions of visitors every month come to us to find out the latest information for their smartphone.

And TiPb's 32GB iPhone 3G S Give Away Goes to...

By Rene Ritchie, Friday, Jun 19, 2009 a 2:01 pm

TiPb's giving away a 32GB iPhone 3G S (technically Apple gift certificate for $399). You had three chances to enter: on Twitter, by watching iPhone Live! and on our forums. And you entered in droves!

Best. Community. Ever.

Unfortunately, there can be only one winner, and for this contest, this time, the winner is...

TiPb 32GB iPhone 3G S Give Away Day Three - Last Chance to Enter!

By Rene Ritchie, Thursday, Jun 18, 2009 a 7:17 am

Tuesday was all about the Twitter. Wednesday we took it iPhone Live! Well today, we bring it back home.

Round Robin: We Have Our Winners!

By Dieter Bohn, Thursday, Jan 22, 2009 a 1:14 pm

As it did the year before, the Smartphone Round Robin needed to go into overtime again this time around -- but we're finished now! If you haven't been following along, here's what you missed: Each of the editors of our five Smartphone Experts sites swapped phones for a week or so, reviewing and leanring what it's like to wear another smarphone user's shoes. The result is the entire series of articles you see linked on this handy page, the Smartphone Round Robin of 2008.

What will you learn there? You'll learn that there was no single smartphone that 'won' the Round Robin -- but that's by design. There's no perfect smartphone out there, but there just might be the perfect smartphone to fit your needs. If you're looking to get a new smartphone soon, think about what you need it do to and then hit up these articles -- you'll find that depending on what each of us care about, we'll give you a useful perspective on whether a given smartphone matches up.

Actually, we explain it all pretty well on this page. Oh, yeah, one more thing, we are giving away fabulous prizes:

From Android Central, the T-Mobile G1, the BlueAnt Z9 Bluetooth Headset, and SPE Screen Protectors
From CrackBerry.com, the BlackBerry Bold, Spare Battery, and Case-Mate Second Skin
From The iPhone Blog, the iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset
From TreoCentral, the Treo Pro, Case-Mate Clear Armor, and Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth Headset (original)
From WMExperts, the HTC Fuze and the Celio Redfly Mobile Companion

Find out who the winners are, after the break!

Round Robin Extended: 10 More Days to Win!

By Rene Ritchie, Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008 a 9:00 am

The 2008 Smartphone Round Robin was originally scheduled to finish... in 2008! December 31st -- Today!

HOWEVER, by popular demand (read: delayed shipments, holidays, prep work for Macworld and CES, and Kevin escaping from yet another CrackBerry withdrawal facility), we're now giving everyone 10 extra days to win. That's right, from now until January 10th, you can make one more comment/forum post, per thread, per day (including this one!).