Today Google announced that it will license Tele Atlas' mapping data for another five years. An important part of the deal will allow Tele Atlas to gather info from Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps users about maps that are incorrect. This brings me to a bad mobile mapping incident I faced over the weekend ...

Saturday afternoon I attended a wedding in an area of New Jersey with which I am not overly familiar. The bride and groom provided excellent directions to the church, and they were matched by Google's Maps for Mobile on my phone in terms of accuracy. I got there in time with no problems. (Beautiful ceremony, Krysty and John!) Finding my way from the church to the reception hall was another story.

While the bride and groom provided the address of the reception hall, directions between the two places were not included in the invitation. So I turned to Google Maps for Mobile once again. The software provided what looked to be excellent directions. After mapping the route, off I (and a train of five other cars) went, relying on good old Google.

We made the first few turns no problem. Unfortunately, at a key point of the route, we came across a bridge that was closed for repairs. This completely negated the route and forced everyone to stop and calculate a new way to the reception hall. If Google Maps for Mobile had been armed with this real-time data, a different route could have been calculated in the first place, allowing the six cars in my caravan to avoid a delay and several extra miles of driving around central N.J.

Back to today's news ...

Personally, I don't care which company Google licenses its mapping data from, as long as it's accurate. To whit, Bill Henry, Tele Atlas' CEO, said "a user of Google Maps or Google Earth could correct map errors or omissions, such as missing street names, and this data would be supplied to Tele Atlas as an additional data source." Being able to provide real-time feedback and corrections to online and mobile mapping services is a key part of their effectiveness.

If someone had pointed out to Tele Atlas that the Thompson Street bridge crossing Route 22 in Martinsville, N.J., was out, my friends and I could have avoided becoming (temporarily) lost.

Creative has a better answer to the iPod touch and Zune. Creative is up with a wireless music player with Wi-Fi media sharing capabilities called the Zen X-Fi. As it can be seen in pictures those show the device sporting a chrome-and-black plastic look that's vaguely reminiscent of the iPhone, along with a nine-point directional pad. Besides certain Internet features, X-Fi will also come with an SD card slot and a built-in speaker.

According to leaked specs, the nine-point pad will offer users the option of instant messaging on Windows Live or Yahoo Messenger in a phone-style typing schema. The device will also use wireless to share media between home networked computers and access an Internet-based media pool, called a Public Home Server.

The player is named after Creative's X-Fi audio technology, which restores lost data in compressed music files to create concert-like audio effects. Users can turn to two X-Fi options—Crystalizer makes audio richer and clearer, and Expand repositions the music to sound like it's coming from in front of you, simulating listening to a live performance on stage.

We can observe the fact that touchscreen mobiles are being bombarded by OEMs. This technological advancement seems to be getting more and more interesting. The latest to hit the open, or at least leaked status is the Motorola Blaze, which seems to be a mix-match of already announced phones. While it does have a good look, we cannot help to feel that the large plastic covering is somewhat reminiscent of an old and outdated PDA design.

While a full touchscreen device, the Blaze is not a smartphone and will be running a custom OS for Verizon, however, it still does offer a decent set of specs. The Blaze will feature haptic feedback, a 2-megapixel camera, EV-DO Rev. A support, GPS, Bluetooth, MobileTV. As of now we can be pretty sure, thanks to the big Verizon logo of where the Blaze is headed, but we are still left wondering how much it will retail for and when it will become available. Hopefully, the Blaze will fall on the lower end of the pricing spectrum.

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BlackBerry BIS 2.5 is rolling out to U.S. carriers on June 29th. Heck, there’s even going to be some downtime. But, maybe that isn’t enough? Maybe you’d like more information.

We’ve definitely got you covered in that area. We just got a hold of this presentation outlining BIS 2.5 and all the various features. The sad part? As some of you know, all the sexy stuff requires BlackBerry OS 4.5 which according to the presentation will not be available until September. That’s not to say some of you aren’t running it already, but September guys? For reals? Head on over to the gallery to check it out for yourself, but we’ll break down the more interesting stuff here for all you lazy bums:

• You can save attachments including audio and video formats.
• Full list of supported downloadable attachments are: .doc, .ppt., .xls, .wpd, .txt, .html, .pdf, .zip, and the aforementioned audio / video formats.
• File size of attachments is limited to 3MB.
• The 4.5 OS will be “available for all BlackBerry’s in September.” This includes the 8100, 8800, 8820, 8300, 8310, 8120, and the 8110. No 8320 love?
• “If a BlackBerry launches before September, it will have 4.5 software.”
• Addition of push AOL email and Hotmail/MSN accounts.

It's official. After months of speculation, Motorola has finally confirmed two new additions to its MING handset lineup, the A1600 (left) and A1800 (right). Like their predecessor, the A1200, the new smart phones will run on Linux OS and come with a 2.4-inch QVGA touchscreen, Bluetooth, microSD expansion slot and FM radio.

What's new is the inclusion of the integrated GPS receiver (and image geotagging), as well as the upgraded 3-megapixel camera. Additionally, the A1800 comes with two SIM card slots that allow connection to both GSM and CDMA networks at the same time. Sadly, the new MINGs do not feature Wi-Fi or 3G connectivity, as was rumored earlier.

While both the A1600 and A1800 are targeted at the Chinese market, the former will also be launched in Asia in Q3/Q4 this year. No pricing details have been released so far.

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The latest among the 3G mobile phones from Sony Ericsson is the new and improved Sony Ericsson V600i mobile phone. This 3G phone is a trendsetter in the market with the wide range of advanced features it possesses. This candy bar phone comes in attractive silver shade with a smooth finish making it very easy to handle and even the features and the technicalities are easy to understand and are user-friendly.

With a weight of just 105 grams, this slick phone has in it a digital camera, FM radio, MP3 player, modem for Internet use, and a lot more. This triband phone that operates with networks with GSM 900, GSM 1800 and GSM 1900 offers the best network coverage wherever you go. It also comes tied up with a bundle of very interesting entertainment features.

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Message Alerts are especially valuable to people that receive many emails and SMS messages and want to be able to filter the important ones and be notified when a specific message is received. A must have applications for 24×7 operations.

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The Message Alert application runs in the background on your BlackBerry? or Windows Mobile device and is automatically launched with the OS. You can control the time of day and week when the rules/alerts are active with the settings screen.
Rules

• Can be defined based on the Subject:, From:, To: , CC: fields or the message content.
• Can also be created through the context menus in the Inbox and Address Book applications.
• The "Create Email Alert" menu for an email in the inbox it will launch the Rule definition screen. Selecting "From" on this screen will automatically populate the "From" condition with the address from the current email Actions performed when a rule is satisfied
• Continuous alert
• Customized audio and vibrate notification
• A pop-up dialog notification
• Forwarding or deleting of the e-mail, marking the e-mail as read.
• Retrieving the entire e-mail (or up to certain number of KB).
• Keep the pop-up alert notification on the screen until a key is pressed - in this way you will not miss an important message that was received and buried down in your inbox folder.
• Back up and storage of the rules via email
• Custom MP3 audio alerts
• Low battery and low memory definable alerts

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Having seen the success that the Sony Ericsson themes article had I decided to make a similar one with Nokia themes. As for the Sony Ericsson themes, there will be a number two article that will feature some new and interesting

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We're still waiting for Motorola to get real with their Motorola Z10 slider in the US. So, in the meantime, Rafe from AllAboutSymbian has posted some live shots of the Motorola Z10 in action.

Like the Motorola Z8, the Z10 features that trick kick-slider. But, with a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, onboard video editing software, and higher-quality materials, the Motorola Z10 has more to be desired. Of course, there aren't any indications that Motorola is planning to bring this desirable slider to its largest market in the US, but here's to hoping.

I just want to end by saying that Motorola needs to get off their duffs and flood the market with as many reviews of this thing as possible. The UIQ3-powered Motorola Z10 has considerable promise, but nobody will know about it if Moto doesn't blitz the media-space. Especially if Motorola hopes to get out of the major rut they seem to be so comfortable with.. In other words, where's my review unit, Moto?

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Slifter is the first mobile local product search tool, so you can get relevant local information while you are at your computer or out-and-about shopping.

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Sony Ericsson C905 Leading the launch is this 8 megapixel that is touted to be Sony Ericsson’s flagship Cyber-shot handset. It look slick and comes equipped with a host of attractive features. Specs and features at a glance: 2.4-inch QVGA TFT display 104 x 49 x 19.5mm 136g weight Quad-band GSM/EDGE UMTS and HSDPA support Stereo Bluetooth / TV-out port Built-in accelerometer for screen auto rotation Wi-Fi / usb FM radio with RDS Face detection Xenon flash and photo flash Geo tagging 2 GB Memory Stick Micro M2
Sony Ericsson F305 Two lower mid-range handsets off which F305 offers interesting gaming features to the mass market…. Sony Ericsson F305 Specs & Features 2-inch TFT display 176 x 220 pixels resolution Quad-band GSM/EDGE 2 megapixel camera (no auto focus) Built-in accelerometer Stereo loud speakers Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) Stereo FM radio The Sony Ericsson F305 offers unprecedented gaming capabilities in this price segment. But the frills end there. It is not armed with any other high-end features in an obvious attempt to keep the price down.
Sony Ericsson S302 Two lower mid-range handsets off whichthe S302 is one of the Snapshot series. Sony Ericsson S302 Specs & Features Quad-band GSM/EDGE 2-inch TFT display 176 x 220 pixels resolution FM radio M2 card slot Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) USB 2 megapixel camera (no auto focus) The Sony Ericsson S302 will start shipping in early Q4 2008, which effectively means early 2009.
Sony Ericsson K330 Sony Ericsson announced a couple of low-end devices, in competition with Nokia models in this segment. Sony Ericsson K330 Specs & Features Dual-band GSM 1.7-inch TFT display 128 x 160 pixels resolution 10MB of internal memory VGA camera (with video recording) MP3 ringtones Bluetooth FM radio LED flashlight Sony Ericsson K330 will be available in Q3 2008, which is end of this year. No word on the pricing.
Sony Ericsson J132 Sony Ericsson announced a couple of low-end devices, in competition with Nokia models in this segment. Sony Ericsson J132 Specs & Features 1.5-inch display 128 x 128 pixels resolution 4MB of internal memory Dual-band GSM Dust-resistant keypad LED flashlight Built-in FM radio No camera Night Black and Heaven Blue No prices announced yet.