The Sonim XP5520 Bolt is heading to Bell and it’ll be available this month. However there’s something bigger happening in the background. The Bolt is a push-to-talk (PTT) device – thus giving customers instant communication – and will run on Bell’s HSPA+ network, so this service will also be launching this month.
We’ve received an internal doc that states “Bell’s PTT has several competitive advantages over the competition’s iDEN technology” – namely TELUS’ Mike Network. Bell will be partnering up with Kodiak for the PTT rollout and data speeds will apparently be 1,000 times faster that TELUS’ PTT network. Bell PTT devices will be capable of speeds of 21Mbps, vs. Mike’s 56KB.
The Sonim is the first device that will be available, along with some sort of PTT rate plan. In addition, Bell will be launching a PTT app that “will be enabling PTT on smart/superphones”. Currently there are two devices that have been approved: Samsung Galaxy S II and the BlackBerry Curve 9360. As to how the app will work, the doc says that both apps will run in the background, the GSII will be operated by touching the display, while the 9360 “convenience key will be assigned as PTT button. The customer will also have the option of using their trackpad to highlight and select the app base PTT button.”
In addition, there are future plans to launch LTE-capable push-to-talk devices. A previous doc showed the Sonim XP5520 Bolt launching on April 10th so we’ll probably see an announcement next week.
More soon!
(Thanks tipster!)
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