Its that time of the month again when Apple release the latest beta for iOS 5 to devs. Much like before, its been less than two weeks since the last beta came out for the masses. This time its beta 7 and the changelog is quite long.

The beta can be downloaded from Apple site or via an OTA update straight from your iOS 5-bearing iDevice. The latest beta brings bug fixes and improvements.

 

 

 

With the ending of sales for all webOS powered hardware devices from HP, it leaves the future for webOS up in the air. HP has not officially committed what they are going to do with it, but they are open to the idea of licensing it or selling it. At the moment, there are many reports that Samsung is talking to HP about the possibility of purchasing the webOS for their own use. There are a variety of reasons for this, but the idea that the Galaxy Tab could run the webOS is an interesting thought and one that could help the sales of the 10.1 tablet.

 

At the moment, Samsung is involved with legal battles with Apple in California, Germany and Australia over patent infringement issues with their Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer. The purchase of webOS would bring with it a number of patents which could help them in their legal matters in various courts around the world right now.

 

Since Google has purchased Motorola Mobility, Samsung now has an immediate competitor in Google and the Xoom tablet that they did not have before. Having the Xoom and Galaxy Tab running the Android OS puts Samsung at a disadvantage and the way to improve that situation would be to have your own OS to separate one from the competition. Buying webOS would accomplish that difference and add a powerful OS to drive the Galaxy Tab.

 

 

The great thing about web apps is that you can access all of your information on the go, and we have introduced ways to use Google Apps on a variety of devices like mobile phones and tablets. But its inevitable that you will occasionally find yourself in situations when you do not have an Internet connection, like planes, trains and carpools. When we announced Chromebooks at Google I/O 2011, we talked about bringing offline access to our web apps, and now we are taking our first steps in that direction. Gmail offline will be available today, and offline for Google Calendar and Google Docs will be rolling out over the next week, starting today.

Gmail Offline is a Chrome Web Store app thats intended for situations when you need to read, respond to, organize and archive email without an internet connection. This HTML5-powered app is based on the Gmail web app for tablets, which was built to function with or without web access. After you install the Gmail Offline app from the Chrome Web Store, you can continue using Gmail when you lose your connection by clicking the Gmail Offline icon on Chrome "new tab" page.

Google Calendar and Google Docs let you seamlessly transition between on and offline modes. When you are offline in Google Calendar, you can view events from your calendars and RSVP to appointments. With Google Docs you can view documents and spreadsheets when you do not have a connection. Offline editing is not ready yet, but we know its important to many of you, and we are working hard to make it a reality. To get started using Google Calendar or Google Docs offline, just click the gear icon at the top right corner of the web app and select the option for offline access. 

 

Download Google Offline

Require Google Chrome Browser v12 or later

 

 

 

 

The Mozilla team is actively working on their Android offering and one of them took the time to show off their latest work Firefox for Android Honeycomb tablets. The changes affect the UI, making it more Honeycomb-like and more suitable for big screens.

 

 

The theme is the first thing that changes its cleaner, so it fits better with the Honeycomb style, which differs quite a bit from the non-tablet versions of the OS. The distinctive Firefox elements have been preserved howeverb.

 

 

Speaking of tabs, how they are displayed changes according to the screen orientation. In landscape mode, they are thumbnails and in portrait mode, they are put together in a single dropdown menu to save space. In either mode, tabs are permanently visible.

 

 

Sony Ericsson Xperia arc S is the fastest Xperia smartphone up to date with a 1.4GHz Scorpion single-core processor and running on Android 2.3.4 out of the box.

The Xperia arc S is almost identical with its arc predecessor but the processor. The new arc S is based on Qualcomm MSM8255T Snapdragon chipset, which features a 1.4GHz processor, Adreno 205 GPU and 512MB RAM.

The rest of the specs are pretty much the same a 4.2" FWVGA Reality display with Mobile BRAVIA engine, an 8 megapixel camera with Sony Exmor R sensor and 720p video recording and the same impressive connectivity options including HDMI port.

The Xperia arc S also preserves the original arc design and has the same measurements and size.

Sony Ericsson Xperia arc S will run on Android 2.3.4 Gingebread out of the box the same version that will tick inside the newly announced Xperia neo V and will become available to the whole Xperia 2011 lineup later this year.

In case you have missed the news about the Android 2.3.4 update, you can learn everything about it here. It will bring USB on-the-go, Sony 3D sweep panorama for the camera, even better Facebook integration, Swype-like text input (T9 Trace), integrated screen capture, Video chats via Google Talk and more.

 

 

Google has just announced that the latest version of the Android SDK in now available to developers. Classified as a minor feature update, the new Android SDK brings, as usual, a new set of APIs that should allow developers to create better apps that are compatible with a wider range of devices.

 

The focus of the SDK update is mainly on making compatibility with different screen sizes and resolutions easier. Previously Android 3.2 was said to be the Honeycomb version best suited to 7-inch tablets and now you can see why its just that it will be much easier to developers to make apps that fit better on those now.

 

 

 

Information regarding an upcoming HTC Android smartphone has just leaked on the web. Known as the Runnymede, it is going to be the first phone born out of the HTC and Beats by Dr. Dre collaboration.

The specifications of Runnymede are as follows:

• 4.7-inch, 800x480 display
• 1.5GHz single-core Qualcomm MSM8255
• 768MB RAM, 16GB internal storage
• 8 megapixel rear camera with LED flash, backlit sensor, 28mm wide-angle lens and f/2.2 focal length
• 720p video recording at 60fps
• 1.3 megapixel front camera
• DLNA
• Less then 10mm thick
• Android 2.3.4, Sense 3.5
• Bundled Beats by Dr. Dre headphones

 

The specs of the device puts it a notch below the likes of the HTC Sensation and Galaxy S II. Only interesting bits are the massive 4.7-inch display, camera specs and the Beats Audio technology, along with the bundled headphones.

 

 

 

The Dolphin browser is among the most popular mobile browsers out there and now its available on the iPhone. If offers special finger-drawn gestures feature so that you can easily and quickly go to a specified page, scroll up and down, and more.

 

The gesture system offers you preset gestures or you can opt to create custom ones. Creating your own custom gestures, however, is a bit dodgy as the browser mistakes what you’re drawing to be something only remotely similar to it and would make you erase the preset, instead of creating a new gesture.

 

 

So, is this finally it Nokia first Windows Phone 7 handset? Could be its allegedly from a presentation for a carrier and shows a device very much like the Sea Ray. Its called Nokia 703.

 

The slide even lists some specs, which are unfortunately unreadable. Well, almost unreadable you can clearly make out the categories and if you stare at it long enough, you start seeing even the fine print.

 

Take this with a pinch, or better yet a handful of salt, but we think it says "LCD 480x800 pixels 3.7 inches" next to the "DISPLAY" label. And that looks an awful lot like "5MP" and "720p@30fps" next to the camera. As for the memory, it seems like it says 8GB storage and 512MB RAM. Horatio of CSI would be proud of us.

 

The Samsung Galaxy S II is getting new garbs in the UK it will be available in White now as well the original Black starting today. The rest of the specs 4.3-inchSuperAMOLED Plus screen, 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, 8MP camera and so on are unchanged.

 

The white Galaxy S II should be available through all major retailers and it should start appearing on their sites and store shelves today. In case you missed it, you can check out more views of the white version of Samsung droid flagship over here.

 

Clove UK just put up the white Galaxy S II on their site £492 and they have confirmed that its coming tomorrow, September 1st. Amazon has the white Galaxy S II as well they have set the price at £490 (the black one is £472) and there is a label saying that the phone will be released September 13th.

 

 

 

 

Looks like a New MeeGo Update is coming soon, Very soon... like TOMORROW. I know Nokia Gave up this Beatuiful OS but Developers did not. MeeGo 1.2.1 first repos image will be released tomorrow 1,September 2011 but its not the final version yet.

MeeGo 1.2.1 will be branched around Aug-10-2011 and released around Sep-01-2011. The release will include the MeeGo Repos and Tablet 1.2.1 images. 1.2.1 will be the end of the 1.2-based releases.

 

 

But this not the final version its just a stabilization phase towards the final release, the Final release is coming with some improcments nad bug fixes, but no Noticable GUI changes or New Features. It will start Rolling-out N900 image and MeeGo repos on 6,October  to 11,October... so MeeGo Fans Get your N900's Ready to flash this new version!

 

Final Version Release Date

 

 

MeeGo 1.2.1 will be the LAST version of the MeeGo 1.2.x release and the 1.3 Coming Early 2012.

 

source

 

 

The popular mobile software developers from SPB Software have released a Symbian^3 compatible-version of their SPB Shell 3D user interface. The customization package is available immediately through the company website, so everyone with a Symbian^3 device and $15 to spare can get a taste of it.

 

The SPB Shell 3D UI brings a complete overhaul of the user interface of the smartphone that solves most of the usability issues and adds some welcome eye-candy to the mix. And while the pricing might seem a bit steep at first, its probably worth it as it comes as a novel facelift to the widely criticized for their usability Symbian smartphones.

 

Video Below!

 

 

 

ATT and HTC just announced the Jetstream, an Android 3.1 Honeycomb tablet with 4G LTE and HSPA+ capabilities. So far, so good. It has a 10.1-inch display and a 1.5GHz dual-core processor to power the tablet, which also sounds pretty great. Additionally, the HTC Jetstream is capable of 1080p HD video recording and playback. Excellent. And if you really wanted it, the HTC Scribe tablet pen works with this thing, too. It will cost you 699.99 USD with a new, two-year contract!

HTC First 4G LTE/HSPA+ Tablet Available Sept. 4 Nationwide First Tablet To Feature Android 3.1 (Honeycomb)

• Customers can purchase HTC Jetstream, AT&Ts first 4G LTE/HSPA+ tablet, online and in company-owned retail stores starting September 4.
• HTC Jetstream is HTC first tablet running on the Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) operating system which was specifically built for tablets.
• Tablet features a 10.1-inch HD display, Snapdragon 1.5 GHz dual core processor and front and rear facing cameras.
• For the first time, AT&T customers can receive discounted tablet pricing after committing to a two-year agreement for a new $35, 3GB monthly data plan.
• For a limited time, HTC Scribe an optional digital pen accessory will be available at no additional cost.

 

Customer Benefits

Exclusive to AT&T customers, HTC Jetstream is the company’s first 4G LTE/HSPA+ tablet.  It runs the Android™ 3.1 (Honeycomb) operating system and represents the first iteration of the HTC Sense™ user experience on Honeycomb.  HTC Jetstream boasts a large 10.1” WXGA high-resolution display for an immersive entertainment experience, third-generation Snapdragon 1.5 GHz dual core processor for fast multi-tasking and instant screen refresh. A rich web browsing experience supports Adobe® Flash® Player and an enhanced HD video experience with1080p playback and capture.

 

 

Android 3.1 (Honeycomb)

HTC Jetstream is AT&T first tablet to showcase the Android™ 3.1 OS.  The brand new operating system was designed from the ground up for devices with larger screens.  It improves on Android favorites with new interactive and resizeable widgets plus improved multi-tasking, browsing, notifications, and customization.  The new version of the platform also features Google Maps 5.0 with 3D-like interaction, access to over three million Google eBooks, incognito mode for browsing internet with no history tracking and Google Talk with video chat over Wi-Fi.

 

Price and Availability

On September 4, the tablet will be available exclusively to AT&T customers online and in company-owned retail stores for $699.99 with a new two-year contract.

AT&T postpaid tablet customers now have a new $35, 3 GB monthly data plan option with a two-year contract. Customers who do not choose a long-term commitment may still select one of two existing monthly billing options:

• Postpaid:  $14.99 for 250 MB or $25 for 2 GB. Customers on the 2 GB plan who exceed their monthly data allotment will be charged $10 per 1 GB of overage.  Charges will appear on customers’ monthly wireless statements.
• Prepaid:  $14.99 for 250 MB or $25 for 2 GB. Customers on the 2 GB plan who exceed their monthly data allotment may choose to purchase an additional 2 GB for $25.  Charges will appear on customers’ credit card statements.

HTC Jetstream Specifications

• LTE (700/AWS)
• HSPA+/HSPA/UMTS (850/1900/2100 MHz)
• EDGE/GPRS (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• Android 3.1 (Honeycomb)
• HTC Sense™ UX for tablets
• Display: 10.1” WXGA HD screen
• Processor:  Third-generation Snapdragon 1.5GHz dual-core processor
• Camera: Front Facing 1.3 MP, Rear facing 8 MP and Dual LED Flash
• Battery: 7,300 mAh
• Expandable Memory:  MicroSD up to 32 GB
• Dimensions: 7” (l) x 9.87” (w) x 51” (d)
• Weight: 25 ounces

 

 

Adobe has just released a new app for the iOS devices that lets you edit PDF documents from your smartphone or tablet. Now, I know touchscreen devices are not the most comfortable things to edit documents on, but it is certainly nice to be able to make a few minor changes on the go.

 

And the great news is that the application, called CreatePDF by the way, also supports a number of other document (docx, doc, xlsx, xls, pptx, ppt, rtf etc.) and image (ai, psd, indd, jpg, bmp, png, gif, tiff) formats.

 

The sad part is that the app does not come cheap. Adobe asking price is a penny under $10, which is certainly more than what I’d pay for a document editor/PDF creator. Then again, if you need a PDF creator on your mobile, you do not have too many apps to choose from, so you might think otherwise.

 

Verizon Wireless has backed off the deal on the Samsung Galaxy S II and is not going to offer it. The good news is this has happened for a reason Verizon will jump on the next best thing Samsung DROID Prime.

The next Google phone is believed to be made by Samsung and should be announced soon as Nexus Prime. The Nexus Prime is supposed to pack similar or even better specs as the Galaxy S II and run on Android Ice Cream Sandwich, so the Verizon users will not be disappointed.

The rumored model name is SCH-i515 DROID Prime and the targeted launch is somewhere in October.

According to BGR the info comes from a trusted to Verizon Wireless source, but there is no harm to take all this with a pinch of salt. Its also interesting this spicy piece of intel leaks just before the Galaxy S II launch in the USA, but we guess everything will start making sense soon.

 

 

Nokia is no stranger to Near-Field Communication, however it is only now that the environmental conditions match up with the devices Nokia plans on releasing.

 

At a recent presentation in Hong Kong, Nokia announced that from now on, NFC functionality will feature on all Nokia devices, a move that would subsequently boost uptake and implementation of the technology, especially when you consider that Nokia sell around 100 million smartphones a year.

 

Nokia VP, Ilari Nurmi also spoke of peripheral NFC devices coming from Nokia in the near future, including speakers, headsets, and of course other NFC-enabled phones. Despite their clear support for the technology, an estimated guess would say that perhaps Nokia's low-end handsets will not feature NFC, but than again, stranger decisions have been made.

 

This all coincides nicely with the inclusion of Nokia latest Symbian Belle, NFC handsets, the 600, 700 and 701. Albeit demonstrating the most romantic/sickeningly cheesy use of NFC in an advert ever, this video features such NFC-enabled handsets being used to promote Chinese Foursquare competitor, Jiepang, who've partnered with Nokia on the project.

 

 

Few months back HTC had decided that it would be better to start selling their phones with locked bootloader and so they did exactly that, resulting in the Thunderbolt 4G, Desire S, Incredible S, EVO 3D, Sensation and the Sensation 4G to be sold with locked bootloaders.

 

Later though they realized that they were wrong to lock the bootloaders, this realization aided immensely by the uproar in the Android community who prefer to have complete access to their software. This made HTC revise their bootloader policy and the first phone to benefit from this was the Sensation.

 

Soon HTC quietly unlocked the bootloader on the EVO 3D as well and now we are hearing news that the Sensation 4G has been unlocked as well. This leaves just three more phones still stuck with locked bootloaders but I guess they will be unlocked soon too.

 

 

Welcome to the latest next-gen iPhone rumor roundup. This time we get a glimpse of a front plate that looks almost identical to the one used in the current iPhone 4. The plate belongs to the N94 prototype, which reportedly looks just like the current iPhone 4 but has a dual-core A5 chip inside hence the 4S moniker.

 

The front plate has EVT1 posted on it, which translates as Engineering Verification Testing 1 and has a March 03rd, 2011 date stamped on as well.

 

According to DigiTimes.com sources the next generation iPhone will have a sub-4"display and it will drop the glass back panel design and go with metal. The same sources claim that the 4.0-4.2-inch rumor is more of a market-assumption than real fact. The display of the iPhone 5 (or 4S) will probably offer a slightly edged-out bezel but still be no more than 3.5-3.7 inches.

 

Back to the front panel that leaked it looks so similar to the one on the iPhone 4 that it could end up being the new lower-cost iPhone 4 8GB that should emerge as soon as the next iPhone hits the shelves.

 

Also some rumors point out that the 4S will come out alongside the 5, sporting a dual-core chip and nothing more. The iPhone 5 on the other hand will offer a faster processor, an 8MP snapper, larger display and maybe a redesigned body. We won't be betting on two iPhone announcement this September (or October).

 

Nokia just tweeted that Nokia C701 offers some good 1,000 nits of brightness. That means it takes the title of Brightest display off the NOVA display on the LG Optimus Black, which clocked it at only 700 nits.

According to rumors, LG is working on a 1,000 nit display too. If 700 and 1,000 nits sound abstract for you, check out the display section of our Optimus Black review. The iPhone 4, for example, maxed out at 483 nits.

Testing the contrast and brightness levels on a Symbian phone is a challenge as Nokia still does not provide a switch to disable the automatic brightness brightness control. So, we may have to hold off our display test on this one until its time for a retail review, just to make sure we do it properly.

Is it just me, or does Nokia have a thing for bright displays lately? The Nokia X7 4-inch display posted the highest brightness for any AMOLED we have tested and now they are aiming for brightest LCD too.

 

 

Over the years, Explorer and its forerunners have gone through several major iterations:

 
File Manager in Windows 3.1

 
Explorer in Windows XP

 

 
Explorer in Windows 7

Its a bit daunting but also pretty exciting to have the opportunity to revisit and rethink this cornerstone of our product. Many of you who are reading this are among the most extreme power usersof the file management tools in Explorer and likely start from a different perspective than the broad base of customers. As we approach the work to improve file management in Windows, we do so knowing many of you have long ago given up on Explorer and are using some of the wide variety of add-ons or alternatives.

 

Explorer in Windows 8

 

 

Microsoft has published a very detailed post about the new Explorer in Windows 8. It brings the ribbon interface well known from the latest MS Office packages. Many of you may not like it, but wait until you hear all about it.

The Explorer in Windows 8 brings at front a lot more functions thanks to those ribbons, there are a lot more customizable settings and even some old goodies back from XP are brought once again to life.

According to Microsoft, the new Explorer has three major goals: to optimize the management tasks, to create a streamlined command experience and respect the Explorer heritage. Well, all these sound like a big advertising talk, but it’s not. Those three goals have been taken very seriously to create a better Explorer.

So, the ribbon UI. Many people still disapprove the MS Office ribbons and use older version just to avoid it. I have to admit the ribbon UI is awkward in the beginning, but then you get used to it and starts feeling natural. The new Explorer utilizes exactly the same UI.

The ribbon UI has four tabs that should concern you the most File, Home, Share and View. Clicking on File opens a sub-menu where you find some trivial functions plus Open Command Prompt Menu where you can run the CMD in the current folder as normal user or admin. Thank you, Microsoft, for listening to our requests.

The Home tab hosts almost every of the most important elements of the Explorer Copy, Paste, Cut, Properties, Delete, Rename, etc. Some old fellas return from the past too Move to and Copy to. There are also Copy Path and Paste Shortcut keys. As you can see, the Home tab should be the place for the average Explorer user.

The Share tab allows you to Email, Zip, Print, Fax, Burn to CD and Share things with just one click.

The view tab will spare you the right clicks it hosts all the viewing options from Windows 7 plus switches for navigation and preview panes, groups and columns, file name settings (hide extensions, show hidden files, etc.), Refresh and more.

All those tabs are fully customizable and all functions in there have a dedicated keyboard shortcut (also customizable).

If you think the ribbon UI is a mess, you can rearrange, add or remove items in the tabs, assign them your own shortcuts, so every tab can fit your needs. But there is more you can minimize the ribbon UI in a lot smaller line of shortcuts. It can look much like the previous Windows versions and have all this functions still available for you. This should satisfy those who are not fans on the ribbon UI.

There are additional tabs that appear at some occasions picture files, libraries, etc.

I mentioned something about panes above in the View tab. There are three of them navigation (the left one), preview and details. The preview on details are now on the right instead at the bottom (as in Windows Vista/7) and show all the available file info. This way Microsoft fully utilizes the wide aspect screens.

Have you have ever heard about the Quick Access Toolbar? It includes a few small shortcuts at the very top left corner of a window. For example the QAT in Office 2010 has Save, Undo and Redo shortcuts by default. The Explorer 8 offers the a QAT in every window. Its fully customizable too, you can add whatever you want there.

One last thing, the Up key is back.

 

 

 

It was only three days ago when the press shot of the HTC Omega leaked. Today, we have several live shots of the Windows Phone 7.5 Mango device, along with a price tag.

 

 

The pictures of the device which you are seeing below are taken from an Algerian website, where the HTC Omega is being sold of the equivalent of approximately €400. It is important to note the Orange logo on one of the shots. It is most likely one of the operators which will offer the smartphone when launched.

As far as specs go, we already know that the phone will feature a 3.8-inch SLCD WVGA display, an 8 megapixel snapper with LED flash plus a 720p camcorder, and a Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon core with a 1.5GHz processor and 512MB RAM.

 

 

 

Good NEWS to all Samsung Galaxy S II owners . The Korean company has just announced an official extended battery for its top dog smartphone that has 2000 mAh worth of juice.

 

The price that needs to be paid for the extra endurance is an increase in thickness of 1.5mm over the original 1650 mAh battery. Naturally, the new thicker battery does not fit under the old battery cover, so Samsung is shipping the new battery with a replacement back panel.

 

 

From the first photos of those replacement covers, provided by the xda-developers forum, they will not be making the phone much thicker overall they just level the slim back with the previously protruding camera lens and chin.

 

The new battery and cover are already on sale, but specific market availability is pretty much a mistery. The pricing isn’t particularly attractive, with Samsung Italy listing the combo for €45, but unfortunately, that’s how it usually goes with official accessories.

 

 

You certainly waited long, our American friends, but your patience will finally be rewarded. Tonight Samsung is going to unveil the US versions of its Galaxy S II smartphone and it appears that it will be even hotter than its European sibling.

 

There is good evidence that the US-bound Super AMOLED Plus screen will be stretched from 4.3" up to 4.5".

 

It seems its the FCC that suggest the dimensions of the Sprint version of the Galaxy S II will have a larger screen than that of the European version. If the screen-to-bezel ratio is preserved the Epic Touch as the devices is reportedly called will come with the 4.5" Super AMOLED Plus. Now we've seen a screen just like that on the AT&T-bound Infuse 4G, which was the first Super AMOLED Plus device ever, so the technology is obviously there.

 

Yesterday we saw a spyshot of a reportedly unannounced device, while Samsung is also planing a juicyUnpacked event on September 1st at the annual IFA in Berlin. So we guess, we should be hearing more news from the South Korean company.

 

 

 

Well, finally. Motorola DROID BIONIC is coming to Verizon US on September 8th. This comes from the official DROID BIONIC Twitter account, so its as legit as it gets. Its been almost 8 months since we first heard about the Motorola DROID BIONIC and after countless leaks, its finally closing to release.

 

 

The numerous leaks have been constantly adding or changing the specs of the phone but according to the latest rumors, DROID BIONIC will pack a 4.3-inch qHD display, a TI OMAP4430 SoC with dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 CPU and PowerVR SGX540 GPU, an 8 megapixel rear camera capable of recording 1080p video and a VGA front camera, an HDMI 1.4 compliant port, Android OS 2.3.4, Webtop capabilities and last but not least, some 4G LTE support.

 

 

 

With less than 48 hours left until the official launch event, and a press shot of the U.S. bound Samsung Galaxy S II droids already out, today, we have the press shots of Sprint Wireless version of the trio for you.

The device most likely name will be Samsung Epic Touch quite a logical choice, given the fact that the Galaxy S version for Sprint is the sliding QWERTY packed, Samsung Epic. This fact of course, dismisses the previous speculation that the Sprint version of the Galaxy S II will carry the name Samsung Within.

 

From the trio of Galaxy S II droids in the United States, the Epic Touch is probably the most conservatively styled one. It is also the only device from the bunch, whose front is not branded with an operator logo.

 

 

I bought an HTC Sensation from the closest HTC Supplier to me "Jovitronix" and decided to review it, HTC were actually late comers to the Dual-Core game, which is unusual for the company that has a reputation for being first to everything, but will their HTC Sensation be worth it!? See yourself on the Review Below!

Hardware

First thing you will notice about the Sensation is that it is huge, due to its whopping 4.3 inch display. As you can see, its bigger than the iPhone 4 and the Wildfire S. The phone feelssmall, however, and I do not find it any less comfortable in my hand than my iPhone 4, primarily due to the rounded edges of the unibody frame that fit nicely into the palm, and its solid weight of 148g. Its also only 11.3mm thick, which is slimmer than the Wildfire S.

Inside you will find a 1.2GHz Dual Core snapdragon processor powering this beast, with 768MB of RAM and 1GB of internal storage plenty of room for your apps and with an expandable SD slot underneath the back cover of up to 32GB your media should be fine as well. Speaking of the back cover, in typical HTC style, its very difficult to open and you will not find yourself doing any quick SIM swaps or battery replacements on the go. Of course it also comes with the usual Bluetooth 3.0, Gyros, Compass and other standard modern smartphone features.

On the back of the device you will see the 8MP camera on the top left with dual LED flash, speaker on the right and multiple pin holes which I assume are microphone sensors for better background noise reduction.

Along the left hand-side you will find a volume rocker and a micro USB slot. I have always found that the volume rockers on HTC handsets are a bit flimsy and hard to tell, if you press in the middle area, whether it will turn the volume up or down. On the top of the device there is the normal 3.5mm headphone jack and a lock button again a bit flimsy and sunk into the handset almost completely. There is nothing on the right or bottom of the handset.

On the front you have your proximity sensor, an earphone grill with embedded LED notification light, and the front facing VGA camera; along the bottom is the default HTC Android configuration of buttons. Whats interesting about the front is that there is a curved element to it, This makes it easy to know when you have reached the end of the screen and gives an overall slightly better grip with your thumb when holding it in one hand.

Display

As I have already mentioned, the display on the Sensation is pretty large, 4.3-inch in fact, and I felt it deserved its own sub-section because its just so damn gorgeous.

At 540 x 960 px the display has actually fewer pixels that the iPhone s 3.5-inch retina display, but this qHD display which gives it 35% more pixels than the normal 4.3 display, meaning you not only get more on the screen, but the standard icons and widgets are in a higher resolution and thus noticeably crisper.

The 960 x 540 pixels provide a 16:9 ratio which means that its practically perfect for portable media. So what you will be getting is a huge screen that has a pretty high resolution and some very nice colours overall great for watching movies on the go.

However it does have some shortcomings, such as poor viewing angles. When compared to the iPhone 4 you will immediately notice that the Sensation has a slightly slight poorer display in terms of the resolution and is harder to read at extreme angles not that you are likely to be in a situation when you have to read at 170 degree angle, but if you want to share your viewing with others, the outside friends may not be able to see the content very clearly.

One more advantage is that the monster of a screen is made from Gorilla Glass, which means its highly durable against scratches and scuffs, and is even more protected by the slight curve of the front which stops the display from ever actually touching the surface you lay it on.

Software and Performance

Sense 3.0 has arrived on this device and its safe to say that its the best Sense so far. There are some new features, like the lock screen that provides shortcut links to apps and a mini HUD for Stocks, photos and multiple other "lock screens". But the biggest addition to sense 3.0 is the 3D aspect to everything navigating the home screens is like turning a cube and swiping rapidly will give you a spinning carousel display of all your home screens. This is a nice gimmick, but there’s no real benefit apart from a fancy trick in seeing all of your home screens flying around.

You will also find an updated and immersive weather application, as well as the new instant capture camera which is a great addition no prizes for guessing what it does. One of my favourite new features is HTC Watch an iTunes-like app for Android that lets you purchase or rent movies on the go. The best part about it is that it uses progressive downloading which means you can start watching the film while the rest of it is downloading. However, it does seem that you can only watch it on the device and not on a computer, which is a real let down when you compare it to the simplicity of iTunes.

Apart from a few minor adjustments mentioned above there are few additional features to Sense that we have not seen before there is the new launcher page with your apps that shows "All", "Favourite" and "Downloaded", as well as the Quick Settings tab in the notification bar but all of these were already present in Sense on Gingerbread.

With a 1.2GHz dual core snapdragon you would be expecting some pretty radical speeds and to the most part the Sensation does not disappoint. On the whole the OS is fairly snappy, at least the fastest Sense experience I have ever used, launching and switching apps is quick and web pages seem to load quickly, in fact quicker that on my iPhone 4 on the same WiFi network.

But the Sense UI is like all Sense UIs before it it works nice and snappy if you are using it lightly, but as soon their intense widgets come into play and you start getting that processor whirling then you are going to notice a slight lag from time to time nothing that will make you think the phone has frozen, but enough to question whether there is any hardware acceleration in this device. I know I keep making comparisons to the iPhone 4, but its a good base to test features and speed to; and I am sorry to say this will not be as fast as your single core iPhone 4.

Now I know some people are benchmark crazy and while I think that everyday usage is a far better indication of a device capabilities, it does not hurt to give you some idea of what to expect. The Quadrant benchmark scored in at around 2000, which is a very respectable score. While Linpack hovered around 45 MFLOPS which is equally impressive.

To sum up the Sense 3.0 performance I would say that its resource-intensive eyecandy, and while it sure is pretty, the functionality and stability is just not there to be considered an iPhone 4 iOS killer. However, even the power users will not find anything wrong with this phone and if you are not doing anything too challenging for the processor then you will not notice a thing wrong with performance.

 

For some time now Samsung presence has been a large part of the Apple supply chain, but it looks like Apple are now turning their attentions elsewhere.

Most will be aware of the various law suits that have recently befallen Samsung, courtesy of Apple. An ongoing issue that has notably and most recently lost Samsung sales across Europe for its biggest tablet the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The hostility that undoubtedly exists between the two companies isn’t isolated, especially with this latest development.

Samsung have been producing integral parts for a host of Apple products for some time now and were in line to produce the next generation of Apple A6 multi-core processors, the same processors destined for the iPad 3 and the iPhone 6 next year, however now it looks like Apple are prepared to deal another financial blow to the Korean tech giant by severing ties yet further and taking their business elsewhere.

DigiTimes have picked up on recent shifts going on in the Apple supply chain, including a recent visit to packaging and testing firm, Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL). From said visit, it appears that Apple officials were assessing how viable working on the upcoming A6 processors together could be. SPIL at this time denies any such discussions have taken place, but assuming it is the case, this reinforces the losses being made by Samsung and their altercations with Apple.

Tests have also been rumored to be underway with TSMC on both the A5 and A6 chips, this would in fact push the story home further, showing that Apple have already gone elsewhere for their manufacturing needs, including on their current generation processors and as such taking the exclusivity of manufacture from Samsung to boot.

 

 

Only days after the official announcement, Three UK said it will start offering the Samsung Galaxy W at some point in September. And while we do not have the exact date nor how much the carrier will ask for the device, we think its safe to bet Sammy smartphone will be offered for free on contracts starting at about 25-30 GBP.

As a reminder, the Galaxy W is a high-end smartphone with a single-core 1.4GHz processor, 3.7-inch S-LCD WVGA touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera on the back, VGA front-facing camera for video calls, HSPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS, 4GB of internal memory, memory card slot, while Android 2.3 Gingerbread is running the show. In a nutshell, its like a slightly improved version of the original Galaxy S with a smaller screen Galaxy S comes with a 4-inch display.

 

Video Below!

 

 

An online community used by developers of Nokia phone apps has been hacked.

The company warned that members personal information, including dates of birth and email addresses may have been stolen.

So far no-one has claimed responsibility for the attack and no compromised information has yet appeared elsewhere on the internet. Nokia developer forums have been temporarily shut down while the security breach is investigated.

A Screneshot of an Email I got from Nokia this Morning

 

It said: "A database table containing developer forum members email addresses has been accessed, by exploiting a vulnerability in the bulletin board software that allowed an SQL Injection attack."

SQL attacks are a common method of breaking a website security. Typically, hackers will target an open part of the system, such as a log-on screen, and attempt to confuse it by injecting code that it was not designed to cope with.

"Initially we believed that only a small number of these forum member records had been accessed, but further investigation has identified that the number is significantly larger," said the statement. Nokia did not reveal the scale of the hack, but suggested that it may have been extensive. The company said that no credit card details had been taken, but warned that additional contact details, such as Skype addresses, may have been stolen.

 

source

 

 

 

Sprint and HTC issued a small firmware update for the HTC Evo 4G to fix a number of bugs and make the phone run as smoothly as possible. Here are the bugs and improvements the new firmware (version 4.53.651.1) brings:

• Integrated voice recognition accuracy with voice search and voice-to-text
• Image size issue with contact transfer over Bluetooth
• Images cut off in Picasa
• Group contacts not in alphabetical order
• Out of memory, Unable to send SMS

 

Sprint said the update will be released in stages over the next 1-2 weeks. So when you manually try to initiate the update, you may receive a message that no update is available. The carrier asks you to be patient and check back later, or act when the update is automatically sent to your device.

 

 

 

A few days back Razer had launched a website, pcgamingisnotdead.com, where they talked about how, well, PC gaming is not really dead and that it is superior to console gaming. They also put up a counter on their site that hinted at an upcoming product but it was not clear what it would be. But we know now.

Yesterday, Razer announced their first ever gaming laptop, the Razer Blade, which they claim to be the world first true gaming laptop. The focus in this product has been on achieving the highest possible performance in the thinnest possible form factor.

The Razer Blade is the thinnest notebook in its class, measuring just 0.88-inch in thickness, thinner than even the MacBook Pro which is 0.95-inch thick. It has a 17-inch, 1920 x 1080 resolution, LED backlit display. To power this beast the Blade will be running on an 2.8GHz Intel Core i7 2640M processor, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M GPU with 2GB of dedicated memory and NVIDIA Optimus Technology.

The entire machine is made from aluminum with a classy black finish. On the left side you will find all the ports, including one USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports. The large keyboard is backlit and has a chicklet design.

But perhaps the biggest feature of the Razer Blade is the touchscreen display on the side of the keyboard that uses Razer’s Switchblade UI. The display shows you game information when you use a separate mouse and acts as a regular trackpad otherwise. Above this are ten user configurable keys with an LCD inside each that changes according to their function. You can assign an infinite number commands and macros to these keys for use in-game or otherwise.

 

 

We have to admit that the HTC Holiday looks in a much better shape in its pictures today, than the last time we spotted it. There are also a couple of screenshots to confirm the specs of the device.

As far as the above mentioned are concerned, there is nothing which we do not know since the last time. One of the first LTE droids for ATT will pack a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, 4.5-inch screen with qHD resolution and LTE support. An 8MP camera with an LED flash will be in charge of taking photos and videos, while a 1.3MP front unit will assist you in your video calls.

 

 

The HTC Holiday will be running Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread with Sense 3.0 UI, promising a worthy amount of eye candy for the large screen.

 

 

One of the cool things about the Android Market on the web is that it pushes apps directly to your Android device instead of downloading it and then making you transfer it manually to the device. Nokia had a system on their Ovi Store where they would instead send an SMS to your phone with a link to download the app, but this was not very convenient. So now they have Android Market style push support for sending apps directly to your phone, thanks to Nokia Drop.

 

This works similar to on Android phones. You go to the Ovi Store through your web browser, then click on an application and if it is a free app it is sent instantly to your phone and gets installed automatically. Alternatively if your phone is connected to your PC then the application is downloaded on to the PC and gets installed on the phone automatically.

 

 

Facebook The Famous Social Website has just Made some Modifications on his New "Bar", The FB Bar was meant to be the way to chat and send messages to your Online and Offline Friends that takes all the right corner of the FB Page.

The Modification came as a shock to all facebook users as suddnely the bar split into two bars one on the Top and one on the bottom, the bottom one is till the same with a spepreta scrolling but the Top one is DISASTER !!

As you can see on the screenshot above the top bar shows all your frineds activity who comment on who's wall and who like what... and so on, the bar is a like a Home News feed but it gives you a detailed live feed of your friends activity on the facebook. and also got a spepretare scroll bar which is confusing as Now you have three scroll bars on facebook!!

Tell us what you think on comments!

 

 

 

Nearly everyone at the time was aware of the arduous birth of the white iPhone 4 but making such top products whiter than white is anything but exclusive to the likes of Apple. Other top-end smartphones which have more recently been able to parade around in a white lick of paint include the Android powered Samsung Galaxy S II and the LG Optimus White.

 

It now appears to be the LG Optimus 3D turn to don the white however, as shots have cropped up from the back rooms of UK mobile retailer Phones 4u alongside its darker, more traditional twin.

Both white and black Optimus 3D models are available right now from the Phone 4u website, however the white is only available on Orange, O2 and Vodafone, whereas the classic black 3D is also available on T-Mobile as well. This might change down the line but as it stands, there's no sign of the white stuff heading for the magenta "T".

 

 

The HTC Vigor that was previously leaked through benchmark scores has surfaced again and this time through a decent pair of pictures, showing the entire front and rear side.

 

From the looks of it the phone does look a bit similar to the HTC Incredible S, particularly from the back. Then again, all HTC phones look similar these days. On the front is a large touchscreen rumored to be 4.3-inch in size and having a resolution of 1280 x 720, if the benchmark results that leaked last time are to be believed. There is also a front video call camera on the top right and on the top left is what looks like could be the Verizon logo, being edited out. The touch sensitive buttons below the display do not seem like they rotate the way they do on the Incredible S.

On the back see the camera lens of what could most likely be an 8 megapixel sensor with dual LED flash, surrounded by the tell-tale Verizon red ring. You can see the Vigor name clearly written on the sticker below but as with the first image it seems the DROID name has been edited out again. You can see the loudspeaker slot below along with a sign that says that the phone will have the HTC Sense UI.

On the hardware front the Vigor is expected to have a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with Adreno 220 GPU, 1GB of RAM, 16GB internal memory and running on Android 2.3.4. It is also said to have the Beats Audio, the result of the recent alliance between HTC and the Beats by Dre brand.

 

 

RIM is putting a clever new spin to the old share what song you are listening to trick by letting you share the actual tracks, not just the mere artist/track name info. Enter BBM Music its an add-on for BlackBerry Messenger 6, that lets people create a 50 song collection and share it with their friends.

 

 

BBM Music itself is free, but you will have to pay a $4.99 subscription a month. But the thing is, the subscription is always the same, no matter how many friends you add.You can listen to your 50 tracks and to the 50 tracks of each of your friends, or as RIM puts it "More friends = More music".

 

It sounds a bit limiting, but chances are you are listening to much of the same music that your friends are, so there will be no shortage of good music. BBM Music is also a good way for find new artists and tracks you can follow your friends listening tastes through a timeline and their comments.

 

 

Google is killing off its Slide team and shutting down most of the mobile apps that the team created in order to focus more on Google plus.

 

Google purchased Slide last year for about $200 million and the team was thought to give the search giant a much-needed boost in the social side. Since then, Larry Page has taken over as CEO and has implemented a majorreorganization. The Slide team had been operating independently and apparently did not have a real role in Page Google. Slide former CEO, Max Levchin, will be leaving the company.

 

I cannot say I am really surprised, as Google is all-in with Google+ and Page is really focusing the company efforts on fewer products "more wood behind fewer arrows." Slide created apps like Pool Party and the just-released Photovine and these duplicated features that are in the Google+ apps. In fact, the Photovine app did not even work with Android.

 

Just because iOS 5 is still not available for the end users, that does not mean developers cannot start making apps for the upcoming version of Apple mobile OS. bit.ly decided to help them out by releasing the iOS 5 compatible SDK to allow individuals and companies to make shorter URLs from their apps and take advantage of the new share-to-Twitter functionality which will be baked directly into iOS 5. Of course, bit.ly SDK will also keep the iOS 4 support via Twitter OAuth.

 

At the moment, the new bit.ly SDK is available to developers who have signed the applicable NDAs from Apple.

 

Mobile phone took a long way to get where it is today, boasting more processing power than some PCs few years ago. Thanks toPDT.com, we can graphically show you that road, from the influence of "Star Trek," "Saved By The Bell" and Barbie to the first text message, iPhone and more.

 

 

 

It looks like someone only recently bought the burgeoning tablet market to Logitech attention and so now they are coming out with one tablet accessory after another in quick succession to make up for the lost time. The first one was Tablet Keyboard for the iPad and Android tablets, then came theFold-Up Keyboard for the iPad and now comes with Joystick, again exclusively or the iPad.

 

The Joystick basically latches onto your iPad display and manipulates the virtual D-Pad on the screen. This gives better control over the game and being transparent does not veil the screen content the way your non-transparent thumb does.

 

Having said that this is not the first time we are seeing something like this. Fling, for example, has the exact same joystick made for the iPad that they launched a while back. They even cost nearly the same, with Fling costing $19.95 and the Logitech costing $19.99, however, you can get a pair of Flings for just $10 more.

 

 

Dubai: New figures released by global technology research firm Gartner show that Nokia is clearly the market leader by sales of smartphones and less expensive feature phones in the Middle East and Africa (MEA).

Contrary to public perception that the iPhone and BlackBerry lead the pack in the region as the preferred choices for smartphone buyers, Gartner second-quarter figures show that Nokia sold more smartphones than any other manufacturer.
Second-quarter figures for the region have not been released publicly and were provided by Gartner at Gulf News' request.

Gartner gathers its numbers quarterly from each of the phone manufacturers independently and then crunches the numbers for analysis.

"Nokia is still the leader in smartphones as well as all phones in this market due to its strong brand recognition it has enjoyed over the past years and good value for money it has to offer," said Annette Zimmermann, principal analyst from Gartner offices in Munich.

"In the Middle East and Africa, Symbian will remain the most preferred platform during 2011. Nokia also recently introduced full Arabic language support for its Ovi store. Regional customisation has always been one of Nokia's strengths and something that other competing platforms do less of," she said.

 

Rising sales
Figures reveal across both the Middle East and Africa that Nokia sold 21.8 million devices in total both in smartphones and feature phones to claim 51 per cent of the regional market, more than all of its competitors combined.

Regionally, Samsung was ranked second in sales with 6.3 million units sold for 14.8 per cent of the market with Research in Motion coming in third with 2.4 million units sold for 7.8 per cent of the market.

As for regional smartphone sales only, Nokia was still the dominant manufacturer in the second quarter in the region with sales of 3.2 million Symbian units to take 41.9 per cent of the Middle East and Africa market.

Research in Motion ranked second for smartphone sales, Gartner said, with 2.4 million units sold representing 31.7 per cent of the market. Android took third spot with one million smartphones sold for 13.7 per cent of the market.

Zimmermann said analysis predicts, however, that Nokia Symbian market share will erode in coming years as it moves to the Windows 7 platform.

"Android is growing share in this region thanks to the many device manufacturers who are backing this platform.

Nokia is currently in a transition phase so we will see Symbian's share decline over the next 2-3 years, while at the same time Microsoft's share will grow rapidly as Nokia adopts the Windowsphone 7 platform," she said.

Android-based phones are expected to grow stronger in the market as the platform "is moving down the price-tiers in this market as the device vendors who support Android want to push their phones to the mass market.

Examples are devices from ZTE, Huawei as well as Micromax. In the Middle East and Africa we expect Android to become the leading platform later in 2012," Zimmermann said.

 

Android surge
Canalys reported that Android has taken almost 50 per cent of the global market with in "excess of 107.7 million units shipped in the second quarter of 2011" an increase of 73 per cent year on year.

Hamza Saleem, senior research analyst, IDC Middle East, Turkey and Africa, said figures showing Nokia's dominance in the region are not surprising given the Finnish phone maker's longstanding relationship with consumers in the region.

"As Nokia churns out cheaper Symbian phones in an MEA market that has always been very pro Nokia," Saleem told Gulf News. "These phones have seen a good demand and Nokia has the low end of the market covered, which in the end does the bulk of the Nokia sales."

A slower growing demand for Android in the region is also helping Nokia stay on top, he said.

"The Android phones still have to see the same US and European uptake. Nokia still seems to have a foothold after many tries by Samsung to uproot them," Saleem said from Dubai offices.

"App stores which have made these Androids famous still don't have the local content needed to succeed here. In addition, the app stores have come late to this market."

 

Sales of mobile phones grow 8% in quarter
Sales of mobile phones across all designs and features increased in the second quarter across the Middle East and Africa (MEA), said Annette Zimmermann, principal analyst of Gartner.

Figures show that a total of 42.8 million mobile devices were sold in the MEA region. "Sales in the Middle East and Africa grew quarter on quarter by 8 per cent, smartphones grew even more quarter on quarter, by 24 per cent," she said.

"Smartphones as a portion of overall sales were 18 per cent in the second quarter, up two percentage points from the first quarter. This shows the growing user interest in devices with open operating systems."

 

 

Nokia Maps for Symbian is one of the best SatNav apps around and Nokia dev team is intent on making it better. Beta Labs just released a test version of Nokia Maps 3.08 with Weather, which brings a number of improvements, especially in the UI department.

 

The new version offers more information before you start and while you’re driving, with an emphasis on live traffic info. It also comes with an attractive-looking dedicated weather app, which shows forecasts by the hour.

 

Nokia Maps 3.08 with Weather offers several easy access options to start navigating there are buttons right on the home screen, you can navigate to a contact, a long tap gives you "Drive to" and "Walk to" options and finally, you have the Just drive options, which shows info on speed, speeding warnings and traffic info.

 

 

Samsung will showcase a revamped version of its Galaxy S II with LTE support and more, and its due to be unveiled next week at the IFA 2011 expo in Berlin. It will also launch a new version of the Galaxy Tab 8.9 slate, which could land in just three days on August 29th at an event held in New York.

 

The Galaxy S II will have a bigger 4.5-inch SuperAMOLED Plus display, a multi-mode LTE/WCDMA/GSM radio inside, NFC, a slightly beefier 1850mAh battery and finally, a snappier 1.5GHz dual-core processor. Sounds a little like a Galaxy S II Plus, Specs aside, it will feature a revamped back panel, which is quoted to look made out of brushed aluminum.

 

The Galaxy Tab 8.9 will receive LTE support, the latest version of Android 3.2 and much like the Galaxy S II LTE, a faster 1.5GHz dual-core processor. Aside from those differences it will retain its 8.6mm thickness and 455g weight to remain a very comfortable slate to use.

 

Believe it or not, its going on a year now since we were first introduced to Google idea of bringing the internet to your TV, with soft launches of its Logitech Revue and Sony TV products last September. Now, apparently Google is working on bringing its system to the UK within the next six months according toa Telegraph report sourcing Eric Schmidt.

Anyone who is followed Google TV knows that its been a pretty turbulent year to say the least. Not too long ago prices were drastically slashed by Logitech and Sony to help move its products off the shelves at Best Buy-retailers, which is great news for UK buyers looking to get the Google set-top-boxes at an affordable price.

For those of you out there who do not know much about these set-top-boxes, allow me to help fill you in. Google TV is a connected TV platform from the search giant, which integrates Google's Android operating system and the Linux version of Google Chrome browser, which creates an interactive television overlay on top of existing internet television.

 

 

It was only a couple of days ago when we saw HTC Bliss in clear shots, and expressed regret that we could not peak at the latest HTC Sense 3.5 which the device is rumored to run. It looks that the folks in China have heard us today, we get to present you a couple of fresh screenshots of HTC Sense 3.5 running on the yet unannounced HTC Bliss.

The most noticeable visual change in Sense 3.5, compared to 3.0, is the look of the home screen. As you can see above, the typical HTC look, which we have gotten so used to over the past couple of years, has given way to a layout, which features separate menu and phone buttons, along with quick access widgets on the left side. There is also a new notification center display of the wireless network which the device is connected to. The rest of the UI does not appear to be dramatically different from Sense 3.0. We have a few more screenshots of it below.

 

 

 

 

 

The PlayBook OS version 2.0.0.2992 has leaked in screenshots form and the screens show the Playbook new email client suspiciously lacks an option for setting it up with a BlackBerry BES and BIS account. Also there is an Android Emulator icon in the main menu, which means that the compatibility project between droid apps and QNX may be late but is still coming.

 

The accounts screen in the settings menu shows the available options to configure an email account. They include Exchange/ActiveSync, IMAP, POP, CalDAV, CardDAV, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn but there is no BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) or BlackBerry Internet Server (BIS) on there. This could mean that QNX is on track to join the other smart OSes and use the same integrated email, calendar and contacts sync options.

 

 

Finally on the following screenshot we can clearly see an Android Emulator icon in the apps menu. This encourages us to think that the project is still ongoing and that we wil see better results from it real soon.

 

There is no information yet on when we could expect the PlayBook OS version 2.0 to land on the Playbook but if these pictures are proof then we could expect them pretty soon.

 

 

As we reported three days ago, HTC is hosting an event on September 1st. HTC is supposed to announce the WP7 Mango-based Eternity and Omega on this event. Today we have an official picture of HTC Omega. The smartphone looks like most other HTC handsets and has a white/silver paintjob.

HTC Omega is rumored to feature a 3.8-inch SLCD WVGA display, an 8 megapixel snapper with LED flash plus a 720p camcorder and should be based on Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon core with a 1.5GHz processor and 512MB RAM. As the rumors has it, the Omega might be just a codename and its retail name may be HTC Radar.

 

 

Although Samsung had announced bada 2.0 back in February during MWC 2011, it took them quite a long time to release it. But it seems Samsung has not forgotten about its little pet project as today we got news of Samsung making bada 2.0 live and also releasing the SDK to anyone willing to visit their website, register and download the 368KB file.

 

Among the list of changes in bada 2.0 include a new user interface, improved multi-tasking, support for OpenAL, NFC, speech-to-text and text-to-speech, Wi-Fi Direct, in-app ads, push notifications and HTML5. But then again, we already knew all that.

 

Samsung legal department has sent a Cease and Desist letter to a person claiming it is in possession of leaked Nexus Prime firmware. The Korean manufacturer wants it back, because its obviously an exclusive Samsung property and not to be released to the public.

Yes, thats the confirmation you have been looking for the third Google phone Nexus Prime will be once again made by Samsung.

According to the rumors, it will sport 4.5-inch new generation Super AMOLED screen and might be based on Samsung Exynos SoC with a powerful 1.5GHz dual-core processor.

Google Nexus Prime is supposedly the first droid running on Ice Cream Sandwich and as the rumor has it, it might get an October release. We expect even more leaks as we get closer to the official announcement.

 

 

We are not far away from the official announcement of the US Galaxy S 2 and we finally have a render of the Sprint, ATT, and T-Mobile variants. Unfortunately, due to Hurricane Irene, the official announcement event has been delayed until Tuesday, August 30th.

All three of the Galaxy S 2 variants feature the four button layout found on most Android phones today, and we like it that way. This time around, the hardware changes are minimal across the devices, which we are just fine with, as the international Galaxy S 2 is beautifully designed. Most of the handsets have curves along the corners, with T-Mobile variant being the most dramatic.

While it could just be the angle, I like ATT version the most, as it seems to resemble the original more closely with its hard edges, yet still retains an elegance. Either way, the differences are minimal, and most will not get caught up on aesthetics, as each phone holds the same power.

Notably missing is Verizon, who has apparently passed on the Galaxy S 2. With the rumored Samsung Stratosphere on the way, I think we will see some striking similarities between it and the Galaxy S 2 line. LTE radios are the main reason most of Verizon 4G smartphones are so thick, and given that the Galaxy S 2 thinness is something Samsung likes to boast about, maybe Verizon LTE Galaxy S 2 was just a bit too thick to hold on to that Galaxy S 2 name. Of course, that's all speculation and none of that could be true.

 

 

We have been speculating about what will Samsung reveal next week in Berlin for quite some time now. Thanks to the Korean company own Unpacked Android app, we can now tell you which devices will be announced at IFA, exactly a week from today.

As you can see from the picture above, the trio of gadgets includes Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, Galaxy Note, and the Bada OS running Wave 3.

 

The Galaxy Tab 7.7 will most likely be running Android latest Honeycomb 3.2, which was updated to support smaller screens as well. The Wave 3 on the other hand, will be packing the latest Bada OS. The Galaxy Note is definitely the big question mark here, since we do not know anything about it for the moment.

 

 

 

One of the cool features of google plus mobile app is instant upload i.e upload the pictures or video as you shoot instantaneously to the google+ social network.

 

 As cool as it sounds, sometimes it is not welcomed by everyone. By default instant upload is turned on in your google+ mobile application. Now for example, lets say you are using a limited data plan or have less battery, when you take a picture or a video, your google+ mobile app will immediately upload the media to your google plus account which might cause you run data overages or drain your battery.

 

If you are running into above constraints, the good news is, you can disable instant upload or configure to upload photo or video only when you are on a WiFi / mobile charging.

 

Here are the steps of how to disable or configure instant upload settings:

• In you google+ application, go to Settings
• Goto the bottom section where you wil find Instant Upload (You can uncheck to disable Instant upload altogether)
• If you choose to use Instant Upload only through WiFi, click on the Instant Upload Settings option
• Click on the Mobile Uploads settings and choose Photo and Video via Wi-Fi only
• If you choose to save battery, Check the Battery uploads option (This will enable to upload photo, video only when charging)

 

New reports this morning are suggesting the update to the late Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread is currently underway for Egypt. This Sensation Update include some fixes and update to the latest Android OS version.

Folks that have received the update are saying it was around 41 Mb and was a fairly fast and easy process, as well as bringing the phone software version up to 1.45.401.2.

Here is the changelog:

• Software stability
• Improved battery life
• Improvements to Trace dictionary
• Improvements to screen responsiveness
• Improvements to video playbook
• Improvements regarding device reboots
• Improvements to icon pixilation
• Improvements to Wi-Fi connection
• Improvements to screen
• Video Chat via GTalk or CDMA
• Performance Improvements

How To Update?

 

To update your Sensation over the air (WiFi Connection Needed):

1. Go to the Home screen
2. Tap Menu > Settings > System updates > HTC software update
3. Your Sensation will automatically download and install any available updates. You may need to power your phone off and back on to complete the software upgrade.

 

 

Not too long ago we reported that Samsung Galaxy S2 would be coming to T-Mobile as the Samsung Hercules. Now, there are rumors floating around to an imminent launch date for Sprint version of the Galaxy S2, thanks to a teaser video Samsung released yesterday which shows the GS2s stateside release and a few distinct software features like The Now Network very own Visual Voicemail icon.

 

In the video, its hard to make out what the screen on the phone reads, but if you look closely at the end of the video around the 47 seconds mark, it shows what clearly is a different phone, and a date of 9/9 with a Kansas City site. If you know anything about Sprint, you would know that its headquarters is in the Kansas City area. Maybe its just a coincidence, maybe not.

 

 

It is well known to everyone these days, that the Samsung made Super AMOLED screens are the standard to beat in the mobile industry. LG surely thinks so. The Korean company yet to be launched AH-IPS display for mobile devices, just received the prestigious Quality & Performance Mark from Intertek a global testing and certification company. What particularly important about this award for LG, is that it has been achieved by comparing its display with no other but Samsung Galaxy SII Super AMOLED screen.

Now on with some numbers. The award winning AH-IPS display from LG measures 4.5-inch and has HD(720×1280 pixels) resolution with 329ppi. Samsung Galaxu SII Super AMOLED unit on the other hand, measures 4.3-inch and settles for WVGA (480×800 pixels) resolution and 217ppi.

All in all, the LG unit trumped the Samsung made screen in color accuracy and power consumption by a significant margin. In the color accuracy test, the LG display scored a rating of 0.012, compared with 0.037 for the Super AMOLED from Samsung. Here, it is important to note that the lower the color accuracy value is, the smaller the gap between original and reproduced color.

In the power consumption test, the AH-IPS screen was found to consume a constant level of power, measured at 624mW, compared to 1130mW of the Super AMOLED, while boasting 600 nits of brightness. In plain words, the LG screen is significantly more power efficient than its competitor.

 

 

RIM is putting a clever new spin to the old "share what song you are listening to" trick by letting you share the actual tracks, not just the mere artist/track name info. Enter BBM Music its an add-on for BlackBerry Messenger 6, that lets people create a 50 song collection and share it with their friends.

 

You can listen to your 50 tracks and to the 50 tracks of each of your friends, or as RIM puts it "More friends = More music".

 

It sounds a bit limiting, but chances are you are listening to much of the same music that your friends are, so there will be no shortage of good music. BBM Music is also a good way for find new artists and tracks you can follow your friends listening tastes through a timeline and their comments.

 

 

BBM Music itself is free, but you will have to pay a $4.99 subscription a month (after a free trial month). But the thing is, the subscription is always the same, no matter how many friends you add (and consequently, how much music you have access to).

 

Songs in the playlists you have created are cached on the memory card, so you do not have to worry about exhausting your data allowance or spotty reception.

 

You get to listen to all songs you have access to at no extra charge and you can swap out 25 of the 50 songs in your profile each month. If you really like a track, you can also hit the buy option, which purchases the song from the Amazon MP3 music store. This will free up room in your 50 songs profile to try out new tracks.

 

 

Hot on the heels of the new Symbian Belle phones are two Nokia phones that yet again redefine affordability. Meet the Nokia 100 and Nokia 101 both are S30 phones targeting developing markets and have color screens and long lasting batteries on offer.

 

The Nokia 101 is slated to cost just €25 ($35) but packs quite a bit of features its a dual-SIM phone (900/1800MHz, no dual-standby), with a 1.8" 128x160 pixels display, microSD card slot (for cards up to 16GB), MP3 player, 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio and a powerful 103-phon loudspeaker.

 

The Nokia 100 is cheaper still at €20 ($30) and is a single-SIM device that is stripped of everything but the essentials. It has an FM radio and the same color screen as the 101. Its battery lasts even longer up to 7 hours of talk time and 35 days of standby. It has a flashlight too and comes in a wide variety of colors.

 

 

Following Canon and Nikon lead Sony too has launched some new cameras. This time we have two EVIL cameras and two SLT cameras from their NEX and Alpha series respectively.

 

The first of the EVIL twins is the Sony NEX-5N, which is the updated version of the NEX-5 launched last year. Sony claims it has the world shortest shutter lag for interchangeable lens camera (only 20ms) and an extremely quick auto-focus mechanism. The new 5N also shoots 1080p videos in 60fps, up from the 30fps in last year’s model. It also has a 16.1 megapixel sensor and will come with a 18.55mm kit lens for $700 in September.

 

 

The NEX-7, on the other hand, has all the features of the NEX-5N and adds a built-in OLED digital viewfinder, sorely missing on all the other NEX models, along with a whopping 24.3 megapixel APS-C sensor. The NEX-7 will sell for $1,350 and will arrive in November.

 

 

The two Alphas, the A65 and the A77 feature the same 24.3 megapixel APS-C sensor found in the NEX-7 and once again Sony claims these to be the fastest in their class. The A77 has a 12fps burst shoot mode and a 19-point auto-focus system with 11 cross-sensors whereas the cheaper A65 gets 10fps burst mode and a 15-point auto-focus system with 3 cross-sensors. The A77 also gets double control dials and a top-mounted data display. Both these cameras have the world first XGA OLED viewfinder with 2359k dot resolution and 100% frame coverage. Both can also do 1080p recording in 50fps or 25fps. The A65 will be available for $900 body-only and the A77 for $1,400 body-only, both arriving in October.

 

 

Sony Ericsson has just announced the Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread update for the 2011 Xperia lineup and the first phone that will run on 2.3.4 out of the box the Xperia neo V.

The Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread update will hit the whole Xperia lineup from this year PLAY, Arc, neo, pro, mini, mini pro, active and ray. It will bring along a few nice features:

 

• Sony 3D sweep panorama functionality - you can take panorama shots and watch them (in 2D) on your phone, (in 2D) on your HTDV or (in 3D) on your 3D HDTV
• Screen capture - grab a screenshot anywhere from your Xperia
• Enhanced Facebook integration
• Google Talk with Video Chat (for Xperia phones with front-facing camera)
• Swipe text input - works just like Swype, but it's called T9 trace
• USB on-the-go functionality - it works only when you've connected your Xperia phone to the Sony Ericsson LiveDock. It supports wired and wireless USB accessories such as keyboard, mouse and gamepads. There is no word on USB drives support yet.

Video Below!

 

Samsung released two dual-SIM phones the Star II Duos and the Metro Duos plus a regular-looking slider the Metro 3752 single-SIM slider in India. All three devices are feature phones and prices will be in the $92-$150 range. Availability information is not yet available.

 

The Metro 3752 slider is the local variant of the Samsung C3750. It does not bare the Duos name and is a single-SIM device. Some of its noteworthy features are the 2.4" display and a 3.2MP snapper on the back. It will cost around $114 but more information is yet to become available.

The Star II Duos is the most-capable of the three and is almost identical to the Star II aside from the fact that it offers dual-SIM stand-by and a slightly bigger battery at 1200mAh. It will cost around $150 but there is no official word on carriers or availability.

The Metro Duos is a mid-range dumb phone and offers the same dual-SIM stand-by, a 2.2" non-touch display and more. It will be offered by the Tata Docomo network on contract for $92.

 

Less than two hour ago Apple Board of Directors announced that Steve Jobs resigned as the company Chief Executive Officer. His place will be taken by Jobs trusted Tim Cook, who up until now was Apple Chief Operating Officer.

 

Steve Jobs stepping down as Apple CEO does not mean he is quitting Apple. The Board of Directors has elected him to be the company Chairman and has also put Tim Cook on the Board as well.

 

Here's what Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech commented on behalf of Apple's Board:

Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company. Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.

 

 

Although this comes a bit of a shock to all of us, it was not at all unexpected. Just a few months ago, right before the announcement of the iPad 2, Steve Jobs was on a medical leave for couple of weeks, but managed to get on stage for the iPad 2 event.

 

Currently, there is no official explanation for Steve Job resignation, but in a short letter to the company Board he makes it quite clear:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's chief executive, I would be the first to let you know. 

Unfortunately, that day has come. I hereby resign as chief executive of Apple. 

I believe Apple brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

 

 

 

Samsung has worked up a new naming scheme for its Androids and today we are seeing the first phones to abide by the new rules. Of course, old models fit the new naming scheme too, but what Samsung has done is codified the tiers (low, mid, high, premium, and Super Smart).

First, here is how the new naming scheme works Samsung Android phones will carry the Galaxy name and will be put into one of five categories signified by a letter. A few special suffixes will denote special features too.

Lets take a look the new Samsung Galaxy W its a W phone so, its relatively high up on the ladder and focuses on looks and performance. Basically, its a mid-tier device and goes for clean, sleek look.

So far, so good. Lets look at another model from a couple of months ago the I9103 Galaxy R. It goes for a dual-core 1GHz CPU and packs a 4.2-inch SC-LCD screen. The R line offers premium devices, so you can expect things like this good alternatives to the S line for non-powerusers.

The Galaxy S line is well known and continues to carry Samsung flagship droid. I have a feeling there will be only one or two phones in this class at any given time so, you get the latest Galaxy S and what you’ll have is the best Samsung has to offer. There is nothing new here really, just the Galaxy S II.

Of course, part of navigation the gadget world is getting the most bang for your buck. The Galaxy M Pro B7800 offers a 1GHz CPU, 5MP camera and a relatively high-ppi screen. Its part of the performance on a budget M series.

The "Pro" tag has so far traditionally stood for a phone with a physical QWERTY and sure enough the Galaxy M Pro has one.

I mentioned the S line, some might have thought I forgot about the I9001 Galaxy S Plus I have not. The Plus suffix means that Samsung has taken an old design and have bumped up a small subset of its features, in this case the CPU (from 1GHz to 1.4GHz). The Galaxy S Plus is not actually a flagship model. In the future, we might see Plus models with better cameras, or screens or another upgrade.

There is a third suffix LTE which obviously indicates 4G LTE connectivity. This is great since all the carriers started tagging on "4G" to phones that didn’t actually have 4G the new system makes it much clearer. There aren’t any LTE models yet, at least not ones that officially carry the suffix.

 

Its been four days since HP announced they will discontinue the webOS phones and tablets. Since that day a lot has happened.

First, HP slashed the TouchPad price to $99 in the USA. Hours later most of the retailers were out of stock. The same thing is expected to happen in Europe any day now, but there is nothing official so far and no significant price cut has been witnessed on a large scale though some users report temporary price drops at some retailers.

Second, Microsoft has made a move to the webOS developers, offering them free Windows Phone tools, phones and training.

Thirdly, the Android community stepped up and founded a project that aims to port the open-source Android to the Touchpad in an attempt to breathe life into the otherwise nice-looking hardware.

Today HP went ahead and did the same thing with the just released HP Palm Pre 3. The US geeks might have been lucky to get cheap TouchPads, but they will not be able to do the same with Pre 3. HP is cancelling the Pre 3 launch there before it's even happened.

The European HP Pre 3 however is already rolling out so HP now plans its next logical move slashing the price of the phone down to $99 (SIM-free). The price cut is expected any moment now in France and in the UK. The Pre 3 is already out of stock in Germany so it won't get it is out of the promotion before it's ever happened.

 

 

 

It seems that HTC first 10.1 Honeycomb slate, dubbed Puccini or Jetstream, is all but confirmed for an appearance on the ATT network with true 4G capabilities yes, LTE support.

Fresh images of the device have leaked and this time we can really have a proper look at it. Also the some of the specs have been revealed like the 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1 gig of RAM, 16GB on-board storage, an 8 MP snapper with dual-LED flash, LTE support, a 10.1-inch WXGA resolution (1280×800) and finally a Sensed-out Android Honeycomb OS.

There is no official info still on when to expect the Puccini/Jetstream to land o AT&T network but by the look of things it will be officially announced pretty soon and will land the title of the first LTE tablet from the operator. ATT has been quoted saying been quoted saying it will release around twenty LTE devices this summer so it makes sense.

 

 

 

Facebook has often been chided in the past for disregarding its user privacy but over the years they kept adding more options to further protect your data from those whom you do not want to share it with. But today they have released what is perhaps the biggest update that brings a host of new options, taking privacy to a whole new level.

 

First of all, you can now change who can see your profile page information from your profile with a simple drop down menu. You can also see how your profile will look to others, whether they are your friends or not.

 

Tired of being tagged in photos you do not want to without your permission? The new review feature will let you choose which pictures you appear in and you can then approve or reject pictures as you like. You also get to approve which of the tagged pictures appear in your profile. You can also tag anyone on Facebook now, not just your friends, and the new review feature can let them choose whether to be tagged.

 

 

You can also delete all the photo tags from your profile, remove the tags themselves from the images or message the images owner to take the image down.

 

Now when you are posting on Facebook, you can also choose to make the post publicly visible or only to your friends. You can also share it with a select group of your friends or a community that you may be part of. You can also change who can view the post after you post it, in case you change your mind.

 

 

Lastly, now you can also choose to add your location to your posts.

 

 

 

Nokia just announced the new C3-01 Gold Edition, which is based on the original C3-01 Touch and Typebut with a twist. The twist in this case is the luxurious 18-carat gold plating, the speedier 1GHz processor, the ceramic-feel keyboard and a matching gold theme. The device is exclusively made to cater to Eastern Europe and the Middle East and has already started shipping in selected markets. It will cost around €220 before taxes and operator subsidies.

 

This could be a reincarnation of the C3-01.5 phone that was leaked last month with a 1GHz processor. We may even see a gold-less C3-01 with the updated processor hit other markets as well.

The Series 40-based device is a quad band GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and HSDPA 850/900/1900/2100 phone. There's a 2.4-inch QVGA resistive touchscreen, 1GHz processor, HSDPA up to 10.2 Mbps and HSUPA up to 2 Mbps, WLAN b/g/n standards, 5 MP fixed-focus snapper on the back with LED flash and a MicroSD card slot with support for up to 32GB of additional storage.

 

Other features include the Nokia Messaging, Nokia Communities (for Facebook and Twitter), the Nokia Series 40 browser and, of course, Ovi Store for downloading additional apps.

 

It seems a cheaper 8GB version of the iPhone 4 has entered its manufacturing stages. According to two unknown sources for Reuters, Asian suppliers are assembling the iPhone 4 with a lower memory capacity and the new 8GB flash drive is being manufactured by an undisclosed Korean company. It could be Samsung Electronics although there is no official confirmation on this. The new lower-capacity iPhone 4 will be ready for launch within weeks.

 

When the iPhone 4 was officially launched by Apple, an 8GB 3GS model was released for a cheaper price. It seems logical for this to happen again after Apple new iPhone is announced.

 

Also according to Reuters sources Apple is aiming at a September launch for the iPhone 5 (or 4S), which will supposedly have a bigger display, a revamped antenna design and a better 8MP camera. Apple is rumored to have assigned production of their next iPhone to two manufacturers Pegatron and Hon Hai, and the total number of planned devices should be around 45 million.

 

 

 

Nokia pulled the cover off Symbian Belle, which will debut with the three new models (600, 700 and 701). It succeeds Anna and brings more improvements to the Symbian OS to quote the press release, "All in all, Symbian Belle provides Nokia most competitive, seamless and intuitive Symbian experience so far."

 

 

By the sound of it, this new version brings more improvements to the homescreen than Anna did. The homescreen now consists of up to six rather than three panes and the widgets that live on those panes will be available in five different sizes. The widgets can be resized too, which gives you even more flexibility.

 

 

 

The way multitasking works has changed too instead of the old task switcher, you can now flick between live images of your open apps. Unfortunately, we did not see a screenshot of that, it sounds pretty cool. The main menu is now flat its vertically scrollable and all the shortcuts are placed on the same screen, no more folders.

 

 

 

Video Below!

 

 

The current Rumor Land resident the HTC Bliss has come out of the closet for a couple of new snapshots in the wild. This is the first time we get to see the device sporting a blur-free real-life look following the previous leak but we can only see the hardware exterior and none of that Sense 3.5 UI we are so hoping to check out.

The Bliss was previously only seen on blurry spy shots and on a mockup but we do have an idea what punch it will pack under its hood. It will have a single Qualcomm MSM7x30 800MHz processor with the Adreno 205 GPU and Android Gingerbread 2.3. The display was of unknown resolution and size but judging by the side-to-side picture with the Desire S we can safely assume it has the same 3.7-incher at the front. The resolution might be HVGA or WVGA.

 

 

As for the HTC Sense UI 3.5 we are itching to find out more. We could get a taste of it soon when one of HTC events kicks in on September 1st in London.

 

 

 

 

A Dutch court just issued a preliminary injunction that bans the sales of the Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy S II and Galaxy Ace because they infringe on a single Apple patents. The ban should come into effect on October 13th if nobody does something about it. Samsung however is confident they will deal with the supposedly infringed patent by removing the Gallery app from the phones and are taking it easy.

The court ruling hits on Samsung Netherlands branch, which is reportedly key to Samsung distribution network in Europe, but the reality is Samsung is unlikely to stop sales. The good thing for Samsung is that the court ruled Samsung is not infringing any other of the Apple patents claimed in this case. The Gallery patent is not even that serious as it's not registered in some EU member-states.

The judge also commented that Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 10.1v are also violating Apple patents but did not issue a ban on them. Apple is pursuing a ban o those too, so we will have to wait and see how this plays out the Tab 10.1 was already banned in Germany after a temporary EU-wide ban, which later turned out to be outside of the German court jurisdiction.

 

Full Court Report (.pdf)

 

 

 

Nokia 600

The Nokia 600 is the cheapest of the trio and the loudest phone of the company so far. It has a standard issue 3.2-inch capacitive TFT touchscreen with nHD resolution (360 x 640 pixels), a 1GHz processor, a 5 megapixel fixed-focus camera with LED flash and 720p video recording, 2GB internal storage and a microSD card slot with 2GB card pre-installed.

The Nokia 600 might be the cheapest but it is the richest one when it comes to connectivity. There is everything in this phone penta-band 3G with HSPA (14Mbps HSDPA and 5.7Mbps HSUPA), quad-band GSM support, Bluetooth 3.0, NFC capabilities, Wi-Fi b/g, GPS with A-GPS, FM radio and transmitter with internal FM radio antenna and a 3.5mm audio jack.

The Nokia 600 is expected in Q3 this year in black, white, pink and lime colors. Its Symbian Belle will be sweetened by the NFC versions of Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja.

 

Nokia 700

According to Nokia, the Nokia 700 is the company most compact and eco-friendly smartphone to date. It features a 3.2-inch ClearBlack AMOLED nHD screen, a 1GHz processor, a 5 megapixel fixed-focus snapper with LED flash and 720p video recording, 2GB internal storage and microSD slot.

Nokia 700 connectivity package is quite impressive too - quad-band GSM and penta-band 3G support with HSPA, Bluetooth 3.0, NFC capabilities, Wi-Fi b/g, GPS with A-GPS, FM radio and a 3.5mm audio jack.

The Belle-running Nokia 700 is also expected in Q3 this year in Cool Grey, Silver/White, Coral Red, Peacock Blue and Purple.

 

Nokia 701

The Nokia 701 is inspired by the design of C7 and utilizes a 3.5-inch ClearBlack LED-backlit IPS TFT nHD screen, a 1GHz processor, an 8 megapixel fixed-focus snapper with dual-LED flash and 720p video recording, a front-facing video-call camera, active noise cancellation, 8 GB internal memory expandable via a microSD card slot.

Its connectivity is exactly the same as the Nokia 700 there is quad-band GSM and penta-band 3G support with HSPA, Bluetooth 3.0, NFC capabilities, Wi-Fi b/g, GPS with A-GPS, FM radio and a 3.5mm audio jack.

 

 

The iPhone 5 (4s) will most probably feature a dual-mode CDMA and GSM version in order to cater to both ATT and Verizon networks and hence be a truly global device.

According to this person, an app has been registered from a single dual-mode iPhone device in testing, supposedly the next iPhone, running on iOS 5 and using two separate mobile network codes and mobile country codes. The MNC/MCC codes were used for ATT and Verizon at the same time.

Now this could just be a device in testing and there is no certainty as to whether Apple will be able to release the device in time for its still-unconfirmed September 7th release.

 

 

HTC sent out the invites for their 1 September event but they were coy about what they will be showing - but they did promise food, drinks and lots of techy fun. A report now claims that only Windows Phone 7 phones will be on the gadget menu.

The prime suspects are the HTC Eternity and the HTC Omega. Both will be running Windows Phone 7 Mango and those should be among the first Mango devices as 1 September is exactly the rumored datewhen Mango should become available.

The HTC Eternity will have a monstrous 4.7" S-LCD screen, an 8MP camera, a 1.5GHz processor, or so we heard anyway. The HTC Omega reportedly has a similar 1.5GHz CPU and an 8MP camera, but a smaller 3.8" screen.

The HTC Eternity should be one of the first LTE-enabled devices to hit AT&T and according to rumors, its slated for a December launch. The Omega on the other hand should go to T-Mobile. Of course, if HTC does announce the two during their events across Europe, you can bet we will see Euro versions of the phones too.

 

Wait for Our Full Coverege!

 

Color us surprised! It was only last week that Nokia was done with the i-dotting and t-crossing of the Symbian Anna update and now they are ready to unveil the next Symbian iteration. Called Belle, the next Symbian version will be announced in just a couple of days, when the timer set up on the Nokia Facebook page reaches zero.

The Finnish company was obviously trying to build up some hype, suggesting that we held our collective breaths as the next big thing in Symbian approaches. However, someone forgot to rename the flash presentation and it was going by "Belle teaser" initially, so there won't be many surprises when the curtain is lifted.

Of course, Nokia could always surprise us by garnishing the Symbian Belle announcement with a new Symbian handset. There have been plenty of those in the rumor mill recently, but the 1GHz Nokia 700 seems like the most likely candidate if a new handset is to be unveiled on Wednesday.

Plus, we still do not know when the Belle update will actually be seeded to users so we would be looking forward to finding that out too. So stay tuned and we will keep you updated.

 

Updating to Symbian Anna using Ovi Suite

With Ovi Suite, you can do a variety of tasks. Back-up your contacts, download apps or add music or videos to your phone, as well as update your phone software.

First things first, pop over to the Nokia Ovi Suite page and download it to your computer. Attach your phone to the PC using your data cable. As is usual when you attach something new to a PC, the PC will need to install various drivers, which will be done automatically for you. You will know when this is complete when a little bubble in the lower right of your screen will tell your Nokia phone is ready to go.

Load up Ovi Suite and wait for it to go through the load-up sequence. It will probably look for your connected phone at this point, but should not take longer then 15 seconds. Once Nokia Ovi Suite has discovered your phone, you will notice the welcome screen will show you some content that may be useful to you. Ignore that for the time being and cast your eye to the top of that page, where you will see the Update button on the right. Clicking it will take you to the update page. Its here that your phone will be examined by Ovi Suite and new software will be displayed if there is any available at the time.

Nokia Ovi Suite on PC.

Note that if your software update does not fully complete for some reason, you can use the "reinstall" command on the software update page to give the stalled update process a kick-start!

Updating to Symbian Anna using the Software Update app

On your Nokia Symbian^3 smartphone, you will find that the Software Update app is the easiest way to check for new updates to the phone software. Not only the main software, but also for other apps, such as the built in Music player or Nokia Maps, for example. As this method downloads large amount of data straight onto your phone, we would advise you use this method if you have got WiFi access. Otherwise, you could be charged by your operator for the download.

To find the Software Update app, follow these steps: Menu > Applications > SW update. Your phone will then automatically search the update server to see if there is anything that needs updating on your phone. If it does, you will see it appear on the screen waiting for you mark the tick box next to it and to press the update button on the bottom left of your screen. We would recommend that you enable your phone to check for software updates automatically for you. That way, you do not have to keep checking all day for the update. It should inform you when its ready for download. You can enable this in the Software Update app settings:

Updating to Symbian Anna using NSU

There is a couple of versions of Nokia Software Updater available. If you are using a PC and already have NSU installed, you can use that. When it comes to downloading it again, the download site may refer you onto updating the device through the phone itself using the Software Update app. If its a Mac you are using, then the Nokia Beta Lab guys have created NSU for Mac.

Plug a data cable into the micro-USB slot on your phone and the other end into your PC or Mac and load up NSU on your machine. NSU will start to recognise the phone thats connected and suitably contact the software server to determine if there is any new versions. If there is something to update, it will show you on screen and you will be prompted to press the install button on the bottom of NSU. Otherwise, you’re left with the exit option.

Nokia Software Updater for Mac

Updating to Symbian Anna using *#0000#

Open up the dialler from the homescreen and type *#0000#. This will show you a Device updates screen. Here you have got the current software version number and some other information, too. Press Options, followed by the Check for updates option that pops up. This will contact the Nokia software update server and let you know if there is a new update to download. If the update is there, you will be prompted to accept the download.

 

 

Updating to Symbian Anna on a Nokia N8

 

According to Sony Ericsson, Xperia Play users are more likely to pay for games than other Android smartphone owners. As a matter of fact, the Swedish-Japanese handset maker said that more than 75% of people with the first PlayStation-certified device are "paying to play." The company head of market development Dominic Neil-Dwyer said that their gaming-focused device is "reversing a trend of a majority not paying for games."

 

At the moment there are about 150 games optimized for the Xperia Play that fully take advantage of the phone side-sliding gamepad, resembling the one Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) has. Among the publishers that are releasing these games are major companies like EA and Gameloft.

 

 

It must feel quite good to be a Nokia N8 owner these days. First, there was the Symbian Anna update, which deals with quite a few of its usability issues and now Nokia brought the news that there is a camera update in the works for their former flagship.

The Nokia N8 camera update beta has already been released so if you do not mind a few bugs you do not need to wait anymore to get it. Just head to the Nokia Beta Labs website and take it for a spin. A registration is required though and you will need to have an N8 thats already running the Anna update.

The camera update itself is pretty major bringing a new UI that, according to Nokia, gives you faster access to essential camera controls. The UI was certainly one of the worst parts of the N8 camera and we appreciate Nokia's efforts to finally do something about it.

The other thing that got boosted by the update is video recording. The N8 finally got its video framerate cranked up to 30 fps and the continuous auto-focus features. So far, those were only available through an unofficial mod.

 

 

It seems that Sony Ericsson is getting back to the Walkman brand. The latest model to sport the prestigious logo is the Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman. It is quite similar to the new Xperia mini, but with a slightly bigger screen and a strong focus on music.

The Live with Walkman is a Gingerbread droid, powered by a 1GHz processor. The screen is 3.2" TFT with HVGA resolution and scratch-resistant coating. The phone measures 56.5 x 106 x 14.2 mm and weighs 115g, making it slightly taller and heavier than the Xperia mini.

 

 

Other than that, the specs of the Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman are pretty much like those of the Xperia mini quad-band 2G, tri-band 3G, A-GPS, Wi-Fi with DLNA and hotspot, Bluetooth with A2DP, 5MP main camera with LED flash, 720p video recording and VGA secondary camera, the new music-loving Sony Ericsson has stereo speakers with xLOUD technology and the trademark Walkman music player. The 1200mAh battery is good for up to 17 hours and a half of music playback.

 

Choosing a browser was much simpler in the past. There were fewer choices available and usually there would be a clear winner. These days you have a lot more options available and all of them are more or less similar. So which one should you choose for the best browsing experience?

 

Some things such as the UI and features are subjective. You might like the look of a particular browser that someone else will not or there might be a particular feature in a browser that you must have that others might not care for much. But there is one things that is not subjective and that is performance. It has to be the very best regardless of the browser you choose. So today we decided to leave everything else aside and compare this aspect of the web browsers available for Windows to see which one came out on top.

 

This means we will only be running benchmarks on them and comparing the scores. We have chosen the five major browsers available on the Windows platform: Internet Explorer 9, Firefox 6, Chrome 13, Safari 5 and Opera 11. Each browser was on the very latest stable version currently available from its developer.

 

As for the benchmarks, we chose four of the most popular browser benchmarks available today: Sunspider, Peacekeeper, V8 Benchmark Suite and the HTML5 test. We refrained from performing page load tests as they would vary depending on the Internet connection speed at the time of testing, making comparisons difficult.

 

 

The machine we ran the browsers on had a pretty standard configuration and wasn’t particularly high-end. It was running Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit on a 3.10GHz AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition CPU, 4GB DDR2 RAM and NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT GPU connected to a 1920×1080 resolution display.

 

Browsers performed below:

 

 

As you can see, Chrome consistently outperforms all the other browsers in almost every test. It even outstrips Safari in every benchmark by a healthy margin, despite running on the same basic WebKit engine. Other browsers were not too far back though, except for IE9, which apart from the impressive Sunspider score, lagged behind in every other benchmark.

 

 

 

The iOS 5 beta 6 was released via an OTA update a couple of days ago and it already got its jailbreak via the Sn0wbreeze v2.8 beta 6 tool.

 

The iOS 5 beta 6 itself brings some bug fixes but nothing too major. You can get it OTA directly from your iPhone issues-free. The jailbreak brings developers full access to the OS, but the jailbreak is a tethered one again so your device will need to be jailbroken anew every time your restart or power-off your phone.

 

The only device thats skimping on the spoils is the iPad 2 no jailbreak there.

 

 

Skype will buy the GroupMe messaging service in order to expand its group messaging capabilities and gain points on the mobile battleground. People close to the deal say that the chat giant will cash out the whopping $85 million although Skype itself has not yet disclosed this information officially.

 

GroupMe is a very young company, started in 2010 and has around twenty employees. During the course of its first year it earned around $11 million in funding from the likes of Betaworks, First Round Capital, Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst and more.

 

Skype CEO Tony Bates has said that he is been in talks with GroupMe for a few months, around the time Skype was in negotiations with Microsoft, which is currently acquiring Skype for $8.5 billion. He has also said that Skype will keep GroupMe as a standalone brand, located in New York City, and look for points of integration with Skype service portfolio. The ultimate goal for Skype is to get to 1 billion active users and the company believes this would be done with the mobile ecosystem, where GroupMe would be a great asset to Skype.

 

 

The LG Optimus Sol that we saw yesterday has been promoted to official status. The Optimus Sol comes with LG’new 3.8-inch, 800 x 480 resolution, 'Ultra AMOLED' display, which according to LG has a two-fold advanced reflection rate compared to standard AMOLED displays, which gives it better clarity outdoors and lower image quality degradation.

The LG Optimus Sol also has a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8225 Snapdragon processor, 512MB RAM, 2GB of ROM, expandable memory with 2GB microSD card included, 5 megapixel auto-focus camera on the back and VGA camera on the front, quad-band GSM and dual band 3G network support, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, A-GPS, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct and a 1,500mAh battery with a new power management system which according to LG gives the Optimus Sol 20-30 percent boost in battery life. All this in a 9.8mm thick body.

 

Remember iZettle, the smart card reader we talked about couple of months ago? Well it is now available in Sweden in limited numbers. The first 2,000 folks who downloaded the free iZettle app and registered will get the device while the rest of the country will have to wait a little longer. Then, once proven successful, the company will undoubtedly roll-out its neat accessory across Europe.

 

Unlike Square which plugs into the iPhone headphone jack, iZettle takes advantage of the dock connector. Its also a bulkier device than Square which is kinda expected considering that it reads the smart card chip content.

 

 

 

When it comes to Twitter clients, Android users are really spoilt for choice, there is a wealth on the Market that are worth looking at. You can, of course, go with the default Twitter for Android application, however this is a little lacking in features and you may want try out one of the many third-party offerings available, such as Seesmic, TweetDeck or Tweetcaster. But the burning question is, which one is the best?

I look for three things in a good Twitter client:

• Features: I want something more than simply being able to tweet and re-tweet.
• Usability: I don’t want to spend an hour learning how the program actually works before I start using it.
• User interface: I like bling and eye-candy, so naturally I want a Twitter client that does its job with a little flair!

 

As an avid Tweeter, I have tried out pretty much all the Twitter clients available for Android and I can safely say that I have finally found one which fulfills all three of my requirements! Plume is a feature-rich and well designed Twitter client available for Android devices running Android 1.5 and above. The app is free, though you will have to put up with ads intruding your timeline if you want to remove these, then Plume Premium is available for €1.99 from the Market.

Looking at Plume, you get the feeling that the developers have really kept these three things in mind whilst they were designing the application. Lets take a closer look at Plume to find out whether it is the Twitter client to have out there.

Introduction

Plume, from developers Level Up Studio is a feature-packed, highly customisable Twitter client available for Android devices running Android 1.5 and above. The application has also been optimised for Honeycomb tablets. The developers say that Plume will "change the way you feel about Twitter" and whilst I was testing this program, I certainly did get whiffs of this.

The previous Twitter clients for Android have been a bit bland and boring especially if you have migrated from iOS. They did their job well but tended to be quite simple and not exactly eye-catching. But Plume is different. Its crawling with features and the best part about it is you can play around and tweak almost every aspect of the program to give you an ideal tweeting experience.

 

Features

Plume has everything you will need in a Twitter client. You can tweet, retweet, upload pictures, shorten links and so on. Your mentions and direct messages are easily accessible via icons at the bottom or, on devices running Android 2.0 and above, you can swipe through columns.

 

To tweet, you pull down on the top of the screen to reveal the New Tweet box, which I find aesthetically pleasing and a refreshing change to most Twitter clients, where you simply tap on an icon.

 

In the tweet box, there are icons allowing you to shorten links automatically and insert mentions and hash tags. This feature does save you a lot of time hunting round your keyboard to try and find the relevant keys. Plume saves all the hash tags you use and can also analyse your timeline or your individual tweets for the most commonly used hash tags, allowing you to pick them out easily.

 

If you are a keen Bit.ly user, then you can enter your details into Plume as well, allowing you to track your posted links. Links in tweets can either be viewed via the default Android browser or via the in-built browser in Plume, however this can be a little temperamental at times and does not offer the best browsing experience.

Customisation

Plume is probably the most customisable Twitter client out there on the Market. You can tweak and adapt the app exactly to how you want it, such as the colour of your tweets, whether you want to hide user avatars to allow for a faster loading time, or whether you want to use the pull to refresh system.

You can also choose different themes to suit your mood. Personally I am fond of the dark theme, but if this depresses you then you can change to a nice bright one!

On a Tablet

Plume makes excellent use of the larger screen on Honeycomb devices and presents you with a column view for your tweets, mentions and direct mentions (though this can be customised), a bit like TweetDeck.

Plume on Honeycomb devices has all the features of the phone version. Another useful hint is that the Honeycomb-optimized version and the normal phone version are one and the same, so you can use the same client on both devices.

Download _{(Android Market)}

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This is a classic example of the saying that there is an opportunity in every loss. In this case, Microsoft is taking advantage of webOS demise by offering its developer community "free phones, dev tools, and training."

As you can see above, the words come from no other but Brandon Watson - the senior director of Windows Phone 7 development in Microsoft.

 

 

Hot on the heels of the PlayStation 3 price cut comes the news of a new cut-price Nintendo Wii. But the new price tag is not the only feature, as this new cheaper Wii will also be considerably smaller than the current model.

The new Wii features a horizontal design that sits flat on your table and is barely wider than the slot loading DVD drive on the front. Unfortunately, this new Wii loses the ability to work with GameCube games and accessories.

The new Wii will be available in a Family Edition, which will contain the new console, the Wii Remote Plus controller, nunchuck accessory and copies of Wii Sports and Wii Party. The current Wii will be discontinued upon the launch of the new one.

 

 

During the next couple of weeks, Vodafone UK will start selling the Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray. While we do not have the exact date, we do see that the smartphone got its page on the carrier "Coming Soon" pages where those interested can leave their email and be instantly notified when the Big Red is ready to take their money.

Pricing was not unveiled, but its safe to bet the Xperia Ray will be offered free of charge with a number of contracts starting at about 30 GBP per month. If you recall, that money will get you the Android 2.3 Gingerbread-running device which specs include a smallish 3.3-inch 854×480 touchscreen, solid camera, HSPA, Wi-Fi, GPS and so on. In a nutshell, its a smartphone that sits somewhere between the Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini and Xperia Neo. If thats something you want hit this link to proceed to Vodafone website to sign-up for the "its here" alert.

 

 

HTC obviously preparing something bit for September 1st as the company is reportedly organizing four simultaneous meet-up events across Western Europe. HTC is inviting everybody who is interested and says it will reveal "whats next" and that it will have "a few phone treats". On the last public event of this type, the company showed the HTC Sensation to the world for the first time.

Rumors suggest that the Taiwanese company could officially announce the Ruby, Bliss and probably their first Honeycomb tablet the HTC Puccini. We might be looking at multiple announcements here and we have made a round-up of the possible candidates. Jump after the break to see whats what.

Also the 3D-less EVO Design 4G was just listed as a supported device over at Gameloft site. The Design 4G is rumored to have a single-core processor and though the name suggest it will be a US device, but who knows, it might have an Euro-bound twin.

 

 

Despite being one of the major players on the Android phone market, HTC has still not fully entered the tablet battle the Taiwanese giant is yet to announce a tablet, running on Android Honeycomb. It looks however, that the launch of the device is nearing as today, we stumbled into more screenshots of the company yet to be announced, first Android Honeycomb tablet, which is known by the name HTC Puccini.

 

 

Unlike the last time we saw screenshots of the upcoming device, it is now clear that HTC has managed to implement its wildly popular Sense UI into the Android OS. Logically, this means that along with the familiar Android functionality, we can expect to see a lot of eye candy on the tablet’s 10″ screen.

 

We already know that the HTC Puccini will be launched in the United States by AT&T under the name HTC Jetstream. It will be one of the first devices to run on the company newly built LTE network. The tablet CPU is expected to be a 1.5 GHz dual-core unit, which will power some of the company Android phones like the HTC Ruby.

 

 

Verizon Wireless Droid Incredible 2 is by no means a bad device. However, its also not the best thing you can buy these days, especially when we know that the Motorola Droid Bionic will be launched in the near future. Still, its a decent smartphone with pretty good specs that include a 4-inch WVGA touchscreen, 8-megapixel camera on the back, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, while Android 2.2 Froyo is running the show.

And now, it will be available in white. Best Buy will exclusively sell the white version of HTC-made device, offering it for $149 on a two-year contract with Verizon Wireless.

 

 

If you were wondering what would happen to all those TouchPads sitting in warehouses after HP decided to abandon webOS, you now have the answer. HP just announced a mouth-watering discount on the ill-fated tablet, with the base 16GB model now costing a mere $99 and the 32GB for $150.

Of course this means that now everybody wants one. Most places that were accepting bookings for the device are now flashing the "Out of Stock" sign and you would have to be lucky to get one. Thats just for the online stores though. Starting August 20, you can get the TouchPad at the new price in brick and mortar stores, but again, only if you get there in time cause I believe there will be quite a demand for these at those prices. But if you do get one it would be quite a steal. The TouchPad may not have done so well but it still is a decent tablet and for that price is terrific value.

 

 

An anonymous VP at AT&T has indicated that the iPhone 5 will be launched in early October, and employees should "expect things to get really, really busy". Thats a slight push back from the mid-September timeframe that was previously expected, but no doubt iPhone loyalists will be able to hold out for a few more weeks. iOS 5 is set to launch in the fall, though other rumours have suggested that an October 7 launch is a no go. As far as specs go, LTE and a bigger screen are high on the list of speculated features, but whatever it launches with, demand is bound to be high .

Its not particularly exciting to hear about AT&T getting the iPhone 5, but certainly expected. Here is hoping Verizon, or at least some other major U.S. carrier will also offer the next iOS smartphone around the same time. T-Mobile and Sprint may very well have something to offer, but its hard to say if it will be the iPhone 5 or something else.

 

It always seemed rather improbable that Apple would release two generation of its tablet in a single year, but a part of us really wanted to believe it will happen. Yet, the Wall Street Journal just took stage and killed whatever hopes we had left for seeing a Retina display-packing iPad 3 this year.

 

According to the publication, the Cupertino-based company is aiming at starting trial-production of the iPad 3 in October, so the official launch cannot realistically come sooner than the start of next year.

 

So we should be getting the iPad 3 and its sweetly sounding 2048 by 1536 pixels display no earlier than 2012. And if you think about it, the difficulties manufacturing the high-res screen might not be only thing thats holding it back.

 

With the resolution quadrupled, the next iPad will probably need at least twice the processing power of the current edition to deliver the same performance. And, except for the Nvidia Tegra 3, there probably will not be any other mobile chipsets with quad-core CPUs available until the start of 2012. Unless Apple has a new chip up its sleeves.

 

 

 

HTC UK has just created a public event on Facebook that will take place on the first of September, which coincidently is when IFA 2011, which bills itself as "the world largesttrade show for consumer electronics and home appliances", kicks off in Berlin. The event is titled "Join us to see whats next", so we will leave it to your imagination to figure out what that actually means.

I think we will see their first Android tablet, the successor to the Sensation, which I have been lead to believe isknown internally as "Ruby", and some possible updates to the midrange portfolio. We have huge doubts that we will see anything shown off running Ice Cream Sandwich since Google will likely want to control the marketing message of their new operating system. Oh and there is also likely going to be countless demos of the new features that are bound to appear in the next version of Sense, which is good news if you are in the small camp that actually likes it.

 

The rumors that Samsung will be producing the next generation Google phone are heating up. Today edition suggests that the next Google phone, the Nexus Prime, will launch in October and will be the first device to run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Reportedly, it will pack a 4.5" screen with 720p resolution probably the new generation SuperAMOLEDs we heard of yesterday. If thats true, it will mean going back to PenTile matrixes.

Rumors go on to say that the Nexus Prime will be powered by a chipset that will make even the Galaxy S II look slow a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and a PowerVR SGX540 GPU running at a higher clock speed than we've ever seen so far.

Samsung is already teasing their Berlin Unpacked event, which will precede IFA. Its expected that they will show the I9250 supposedly a Android Ice Cream Sandwich phone with a 4.65" screen with 720p resolution.

This sounds very much in line with the Nexus Prime and if its not Prime itself, it might be Samsung own version of the phone. Also, a September announcement and an October launch seem good.

 

 

Carrier billing for Android has landed in Europe Vodafone is the first operator to do it, starting with the UK and it will soon enable it in Germany too. Vodafone is expected to expand the service to other countries and other carriers should follow suit.

 

Carrier billing works by charging your phone bill for the apps purchases, so you do not need a credit card. The simpler process should boost app sales, or so Vodafone hopes.

 

The service will initially work only for people who bought their droid through Vodafone. It should eventually offer it to everyone of their customers, regardless on where they got their phone.

 

Carrier billing works for both pay monthly and pre-paid users. To avoid any shocking bills at the end of the month, single purchases are limited to £30 and the total cost of apps is limited to £250 per month.

 

 

Well, someone really needs to start doing QA on the commercials phone companies make check out this (now pulled) BlackBerry ad. Its a "#BB7FanNight" party with people saying how cool the new BlackBerry OS 7 and the phones running it are.

Hey… that keyboard kind of looks like an Android keyboard. Is BlackBerry saying Android on-screen keyboard is so good that they have copied it? No, wait false alarm. Its just an actual Android phone check out the Home button.

 

Its not as bad as when Nokia ad that used a stock photo of a girl holding an iPhone, but still if you are going to have people gushing over how cool your new OS and phones are, make sure they are actually using your new OS and phones.

 

 

Good news for all Angry Birds fans, a new Rio episode, called Airfield Chase, has gone live and it brings the first half of the 30 new levels.

 

The update is now available for the iOS users via the Apple App Store and the Android ones via the Amazon App Store. I guess the update will become available in the Android Market a week later, as usual.

 

The Airfield Chase episode will have 30 levels, 15 of which are now playable. The next 15 levels should become available in about a month. After that there will be just one episode left to conclude Angry Birds Rio. Frankly, its about time! All this episodic thing has gone too far already.