Bell Re-launches the Early Hardware Upgrade Program, SkyDrive and Windows Phone Cozy Up & Samsung Claims 300 Million Phones Sold in 2011

Bell Re-launches the Early Hardware Upgrade Program
Bell gave customers in a contract the option to upgrade early by their “Early Hardware Upgrade” Program (HUP). The associated costs would be $15 multiplied by the number of months you have left on your contract.
MobileSyrup

Samsung Claims 300 Million Phones Sold in 2011
We may not be total whizzes when it comes to numbers, but 300 million sure seems like a big one and Samsung is no doubt pretty chuffed with it. Unsurprisingly, it attributes much of those sales to its flagship Galaxy S2 phone, which has been phenomenally popular in the smart phone world since its launch in April.
Cnet

Top 10 Tips for Using Your Feature Phone as a Smartphone
Maybe you don’t need a smartphone, or you don’t want the high monthly data bill. Don’t worry, because you can do nearly all the mobile tricks they can if you know how to use your feature phone.
Mashable

SkyDrive and Windows Phone Cozy up, Apps Can Now Directly Integrate With the Cloud
Microsoft, in an effort to continue integrating SkyDrive into Windows Phone, made a few changes to the cloud service’s API this week. The new adjustments now give third-party Windows Phone apps full access to SkyDrive, complete with the ability to upload and share pictures, videos and docs.
Engadget

iPhone 4S Deemed Best iPhone Yet by Owners, Galaxy Nexus Runs Impressive 4G LTE Speed Test & Public Mobile Introduces U.S. Roaming

iPhone 4S Deemed Best iPhone Yet by Owners
A recent study carried out by ChangeWave Research found that 96% of iPhone 4S owners are satisfied with their smartphone, with 77% of survey respondents having said they were very satisfied with the new iPhone and 19% claiming to be somewhat satisfied. About 1% said they were somewhat unsatisfied with the phone and another 1% said they were very unsatisfied.
BGR

Verizon-branded Galaxy Nexus Runs Impressive 4G LTE Speed Test on Two Bars
How fast can the Samsung Galaxy Nexus run on Verizon’s 4G network? Pretty darn fast, according to a freshly leaked video. Originally spotted by the folks over at Phandroid, the clip shows a Verizon-branded Galaxy Nexus performing rather admirably on a speed trial from Speedtest.net, reaching download speeds of 8.5Mbps, and upstream rates of 2Mbps — all on just two bars of signal.
Engadget

Public Mobile Introduces U.S. Roaming
Today Public went south. The ber entry level cost conscious carrier has introduced U.S roaming. In an internal doc we received it states that their “roaming coverage has expanded with the addition of a new US roaming partner. Customers can now talk and text in the continental United States, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands (Alaska and Montana are not included).
MobileSyrup

Want to Find If Your Phone Has Carrier IQ? There’s an App for That
It’s hard to even find out if your phone has Carrier IQ installed, but now an Android developer created an app that does exactly that. Voodoo Carrier IQ detector is an Android app, and it’s currently available for free on the Android Market.
Mashable